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Monday, April 29, 2013
Deal of the Day ? Loaded 15.6? Dell Inspiron 15R Special Edition Core i7 1080p laptop
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Sunday, April 28, 2013
Higher expectations for digital media at NewFronts
FILE - This undated image released by Columbus 81 Productions shows comedians Jerry Seinfeld, left, and Michael Richards, former co-stars in the popular comedy "Seinfeld," in a scene from the finale of Seinfeld's web series, ?Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.? The Digital NewFronts will run Monday through Friday, as media companies like Google, Hulu and Vevo make presentations of their upcoming programming to advertisers in New York. Crackle, the Sony Pictures Entertainment digital network, is expected to promote the second season of Jerry Seinfeld?s Web series ?Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.? (AP Photo/Columbus 81 Productions)
FILE - This undated image released by Columbus 81 Productions shows comedians Jerry Seinfeld, left, and Michael Richards, former co-stars in the popular comedy "Seinfeld," in a scene from the finale of Seinfeld's web series, ?Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.? The Digital NewFronts will run Monday through Friday, as media companies like Google, Hulu and Vevo make presentations of their upcoming programming to advertisers in New York. Crackle, the Sony Pictures Entertainment digital network, is expected to promote the second season of Jerry Seinfeld?s Web series ?Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.? (AP Photo/Columbus 81 Productions)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Last year, the inaugural Digital NewFronts didn't skimp on the hype.
Google, Hulu, Yahoo and others made brash, glitzy presentations to advertisers trumpeting their ascendancy in a rapidly changing media landscape. Even Jay-Z dropped by.
There will be plenty of the same this week in New York at the second Digital NewFronts, the digital world's take on the annual TV "upfront" tradition. But ahead of this year's five-day-long overture to Madison Avenue, the talk is of both the great progress of digital entertainment and unrealized promises.
"It was absolutely a learning experience," Doug McVehil, senior vice president of content and programming for the music video destination Vevo, says about last year's NewFronts."I know there's some things we can do better this year both at the presentation itself and in terms of follow-up. But we're all fairly new at this. This is a young thing for the digital media industry."
In 12 months' time, the industry has come a long way. Netflix's first major original series, "House of Cards," proved that streaming video can compete with the most prestigious cable programs. Google's YouTube rolled out its 100-plus funded channels in a bid to bring higher quality videos (and thus advertisers) to its platform. One of the biggest TV stars, Jerry Seinfeld, launched a handsome Web series, "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee."
But some of the digital series touted last year have disappointed. Although Yahoo's "Bachelor"-spoof "Burning Love" has proved a modest hit, its Tom Hanks animated sci-fi series, "Electric City," didn't live up to its creator's reputation. While the top YouTube channels have grown considerably, several of its star-driven efforts have fizzled.
"Last year, there were some big promises about not only the quality but the volume of shows that people are going to make," says Eric Berger, executive vice president of digital networks for Sony Pictures TV, which owns the video site Crackle. "If you look back over the course of the year, as we talked to brands and agencies, there're some questions about quality and about the volume of things that were actually produced."
Crackle didn't participate in the NewFronts last year but will this year. It will be promoting, among other shows, an upcoming second season of Seinfeld's series.
Naturally, growing pains are inevitable, especially when so much is changing so fast. The wide array of NewFront presenters this year exhibits the evolving nature of media companies.
New presenters include The Wall Street Journal and Conde Nast, both venerable publishers known for their print products. But Conde Nast earlier this year launched online series slates for two of its magazines (GQ and Glamour), with plans to do the same for its other properties, including Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. The Journal, more than any other newspaper, has developed live video programing with its "WSJ Live" app.
"The Journal has really transformed itself since News Corp.'s acquisition into a complete content provider and not just business, finance and economics," says Michael Rooney, chief revenue officer for The Journal, explaining its entry to the NewFronts. "The world still needs to learn and understand about that and what we have to offer."
Yahoo will come into its presentation on the heels of acquiring the rights to archival clips to all 38 years of "Saturday Night Live." YouTube recently announced that in May it will begin a series of theme weeks to highlight its premium channels, starting with comedy. On Sunday night, Vevo will kick off the fourth year of its flagship program "Unstaged," a concert live stream. (Vampire Weekend will perform with Steve Buscemi directing the webcast.)
Performances will play a big part of Vevo's presentation, with appearances by Carly Rae Jepsen, Kendrick Lamar and Jessie Ware. But McVehil says at this year's NewFronts, brands want more than a good show.
"As we mature, I think it's going to be about people looking hard at real numbers and performance and judging companies based on that more than how sexy their presentation was," McVehil says.
Some companies are going it alone. NBCUniversal's digital division, having been a part of the NewFronts last year, held a separate event in New York last week, as did the gaming network Machinima. The talent agency CAA will preview its clients' digital projects this week, but not in an official NewFront.
Still, there are close connections for several of the 18 media companies in the NewFronts. Disney Interactive has several YouTube channels and in February partnered with Vevo to produce family friendly music content.
Ad agency Universal McCann predicted deals at the NewFronts could reach $1 billion. That's still a fraction of what broadcast upfront presentations pull in, but few don't expect digital media to continue to increase their share of the advertising pie.
"We're bigger this year, both in terms of the scope of the event and the amount of content," says Mark Walker, senior vice president of Disney Interactive Entertainment. "We had a few programs before and some speculation. Now, we have conclusively demonstrated that there's a robust audience demand for the kind of high quality video content that we're producing."
___
Follow AP Entertainment Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jake_coyle
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2 police shot outside Italian premier's office
ROME (AP) ? An unemployed Italian gunman shot and seriously wounded two policemen Sunday in a square outside the premier's office in Rome just as Italy's new government was being sworn in elsewhere in the city, the interior minister said.
Shots rang out in Chigi Square near a busy shopping and strolling area shortly after 11:30 a.m. just as Premier Enrico Letta and his new ministers were taking their oaths at the Quirinal presidential office, about a kilometer (half-mile) away.
The suspected gunman, dressed in a dark business suit, was immediately grabbed by other police in the square, wrestled to the ground and taken away.
The shooting "was the tragic gesture of an unemployed man," Interior Minister Angelino Alfano told reporters after briefing Letta and his new Cabinet about the attack.
A woman passing by during the shooting was also slightly injured, Rome's mayor said. It was unclear if she was grazed by a bullet or hurt in the panic sparked by the gunfire.
It was not immediately clear if the shooting outside the Chigi Palace, which houses the premier's office and other government offices, was timed to coincide with the swearing-in ceremony. But tensions have been running high in Italy following inconclusive elections in February that left the country mired in political deadlock amid a deep recession.
The 46-year-old Letta nailed down a coalition deal only a day ago between two bitter political enemies ? his center-left forces and the conservative bloc of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi.
Reporters inside the Chigi Palace press office heard the shots and raced outside. An AP television producer saw the two wounded Carabinieri officers in the square outside the palace. One of them lay on the pavement with blood pouring out of his neck.
Alfano said the alleged gunman ? 49-year-old Luigi Preiti ? wanted to kill himself after the shooting but ran out of bullets. He said six shots were fired.
Security was immediately stepped up near key venues in the Italian capital, but Alfano said authorities were not worried about related attacks.
"The general situation of public order is not causing any worry," he said. "Our initial investigation indicates the incident is due to an isolated gesture, although further investigations are being carried out."
Doctors at Rome's Umberto I Polyclinic said the more seriously injured of the two police officers was a 50-year-old brigadier. They told reporters that a bullet had entered the right side of the officer's neck, damaged his spinal column and was lodged near his shoulder.
The doctors said it wasn't yet known if the spinal column injury had caused any paralysis.
The other victim was a 30-year-old officer who was shot in the leg and had suffered a fracture, hospital officials said.
Preiti was taken to another Rome hospital. News reports said a protective collar was seen around the man's neck.
Italian media reports said the assailant was from southern Calabria and had lived for several years in northern Italy before moving back to Calabria after his marriage fell apart.
Sky TG24 TV quoted the man's brother as saying the alleged attacker had lost his job in a construction firm and was upset over marital problems.
An aide to Foreign Minister Emma Bonino told reporters at the presidential palace that the new Cabinet members were kept briefly inside for security reasons until it was clear there was no immediate danger.
The shooting sparked ugly memories of the 1970s and 1980s in Italy, when domestic terrorism plagued the country during a time of high political tensions between right-wing and left-wing blocs.
The new Cabinet ministers were seen smiling in a group photo as news of the shooting broke and it was apparent they weren't immediately aware of the attack.
"The news arrived after the swearing-in," said Dario Franceschini, one of the new ministers. "Premier Letta is following the situation."
Metal fencing closes off Chigi Square, which flanks Via del Corso, one of Rome's most popular streets with strollers. The public can cross the square by showing identification, and sometimes people can cross it without being stopped. It was unclear if the assailant had asked permission to enter the square.
Rome was jammed Sunday with tourists and residents enjoying a warm sunny morning on the last day of a four-day weekend.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/2-police-shot-outside-italian-premiers-office-115304512.html
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Friday, April 26, 2013
Optimus G Pro for AT&T leaks out ahead of LG's US press event
Want a glimpse of what LG may have in store for the US market come the first of May? Chances are this latest render (pictured above) from @evleaks could very turn out to be AT&T's Optimus G Pro variant. From the looks of things, not much has changed design-wise since we reviewed the 5.5-inch global model, with the removable, high-gloss backplate still sporting that sub-surface pattern first introduced on the Optimus G. Even the arrangement of the rear camera, flash and speaker appear to have remained the same -- the only noticeable difference is the AT&T globe situated none too subtly below. Whether or not LG's reworked its internals remains to be seen, but with the event now less than a week away, we'll have all the answers soon enough.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, AT&T, LG
Source: EVLeaks (Twitter)
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Kinect plus projector makes anything a remote control
LOST the TV remote control again? Never mind ? just create another one on the arm of your sofa with a swish of your hand. While you are at it, why not turn the top of your coffee table into a lighting controller, so you can dim your lamps while you kick back and watch a movie. The system that makes this happen, called WorldKit, is working in Chris Harrison's lab at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. And it could be in our homes in the next five years, he says.
WorldKit combines cameras, projectors and computers to allow everyday surfaces like walls, tables, doors and worktops to host interactive controllers for gadgets including TVs, digital video recorders, hi-fis or room lighting.
The system uses a Microsoft Kinect depth camera to pinpoint which surface your swishing hand is requesting to become a controller. As you move your hand back and forth, you say out loud what you want the surface to turn into ? for example, "TV remote". WorldKit's software uses voice recognition to work out what type of remote you want and a digital projector on the ceiling beams an image of that controller onto the chosen surface. The Kinect camera then works out which buttons you are pressing. Harrison's team will demonstrate the system this week at CHI 2013, a conference on human-computer interaction, in Paris, France.
Harrison says the system will be useful when small "pico" projectors have become cheap and power-efficient enough to be dotted around our homes. "No one has yet come up with the killer app that will drive projector prices down. WorldKit might be that app," he says.
The system has other uses. For instance, it could beam interactive cookery instructions onto a kitchen worktop, creating a space for each ingredient to be placed in. These spaces then light up as software takes you through the recipe.
The technology impresses Patrick Baudisch, a computer scientist at the Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam, Germany, whose team will be presenting a way to track people in rooms using interactive floors
This article appeared in print under the headline "TV remote control..."
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Mindscapes: The woman who was dropped into her body
Mindscapes is our new column on brain science with a difference: we meet people who live with the world's most mysterious neurological conditions
Name: Louise Airey
Condition: Depersonalisation disorder
"I feel like I have been dropped into my body. I know this is my voice and these are my memories, but they don't feel like they belong to me."
It happened out of the blue. Louise Airey was 8?years old, off sick from school, when suddenly she felt like she had been dropped into her own body. "It's just so difficult to verbalise what this feels like," she says. "All of a sudden you're hyper aware, and everything else in the world seems unreal, like a movie."
She panicked, but told no one. The feeling soon passed but returned several times until, at the age of 19, a migraine triggered a sensation of being disconnected from the world that was to last 18 months. When she was in her 30s she was diagnosed with depersonalisation disorder ? an altered sense of self with all-encompassing feelings of not occupying your own body, and detachment from your thoughts and actions. It has come and gone throughout her life, but since a traumatic pregnancy 20 months ago, these feelings have remained constant.
"Other people seem like robots," Airey says. "It's like I'm watching a film, like I'm on my own in the centre of everything and nothing else is real. I'll be speaking to my children and I'll catch my voice talking and it seems really alien and foreign. It makes you feel very separated and lonely from everything, like you're the only person that is real."
Not so rare
Depersonalisation disorder is not as rare as you might think, says Anthony David at King's College London and the Maudsley Hospital: it may affect almost 1 per cent of the British population (Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, DOI: 10.1007/s00127-010-0327-7). We've all probably experienced mild versions of it at some point, in the unreal, spaced-out feeling you might get while severely jet-lagged or hung-over, for example. Now neuroscientists are beginning to uncover what goes wrong in those who persistently feel unreal. Their findings could tell us something about how we all form a sense of self, and potentially, bring a treatment for those who have the disorder.
The sense of self has much to do with our awareness of our physicality and how we interact with the outside world. The brain integrates all the information coming in from the external world and from internal sensations
There are probably several ways that change can occur, but Medford's work is looking at the emotional detachment characteristic of depersonalisation. In people who have the disorder, areas of the brain that are key to emotion are much less active than normal. These people also show unusual autonomic physical responses to external stimuli, such as evocative images (Emotion Review, DOI: 10.1177/1754073911430135).
David and his colleagues are also looking at why people with depersonalisation disorder report emotional "numbing" ? the feeling that the world is somehow alien. They have found that some areas in the brain's frontal lobes, which help keep emotions in check, are overactive, or too controlling.
Living the scream
One symptom related to this skewed brain activity is the sensation of all sounds competing against each other to be heard. It's like living inside Edvard Munch's painting The Scream, Airey says, which some critics have suggested is about depersonalisation. "The person and the landscape are screaming, you can't get any peace."
Another area of the brain that appears to be less responsive in depersonalisation is the anterior insula, responsible for integrating physical and emotional sensations. This might explain why sufferers don't feel in touch with the world, Medford says.
It's not only the outside world that seems strange, says Airey. The disorder makes it almost impossible for her to relate to herself. "Everything that you're familiar with yourself ? your thoughts, your memories ? become alien," she says. "Memories of things you've done don't feel like they belong to you; it robs you of your past. I know rationally that they're my thoughts, my voice, my memories, but they're all wrong ? that why it's so frightening. It takes away the core of who you are."
Airey says she would investigate any potential treatment. There is an epilepsy drug, Lamotrigine, that has shown some promise when combined with an antidepressant in trials. Transcranial magnetic stimulation
"Rationally knowing that I'm real, that these memories are real, that my voice is my own, but not feeling like they all belong to me is somehow worse than being away with fairies," Airey says. "It's like I'm a sane person gone mad."
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Museum find proves exotic ?big cat? prowled British countryside a century ago
Apr. 25, 2013 ? The rediscovery of a mystery animal in a museum's underground storeroom proves that a non-native 'big cat' prowled the British countryside at the turn of the last century.
The animal's skeleton and mounted skin was analysed by a multi-disciplinary team of Durham University scientists and fellow researchers at Bristol, Southampton and Aberystwyth universities and found to be a Canadian lynx -- a carnivorous predator more than twice the size of a domestic cat.
The research, published today in the academic journal Historical Biology, establishes the animal as the earliest example of an "alien big cat" at large in the British countryside.
The research team say this provides further evidence for debunking a popular hypothesis that wild cats entered the British countryside following the introduction of the 1976 Wild Animals Act. The Act was introduced to deal with an increasing fashion for exotic -- and potentially dangerous -- pets.
The academics believe such feral "British big cats" as they are known, may have lived in the wild much earlier, through escapes and even deliberate release. There is no evidence that such animals have been able to breed in the wild.
The study of the Canadian lynx, rediscovered by research team member Max Blake among hundreds of thousands of specimens at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, details records unearthed at the museum which showed the animal had originally been mislabelled by Edwardian curators in 1903 as a Eurasian lynx -- a close relative of the Canadian lynx.
The records also showed that the lynx was shot by a landowner in the Devon countryside in the early 1900s, after it killed two dogs.
"This Edwardian feral lynx provides concrete evidence that although rare, exotic felids have occasionally been part of British fauna for more than a century," said lead researcher, Dr Ross Barnett of Durham University's Department of Archaeology.
"The animal remains are significant in representing the first historic big cat from Britain."
Co-author Dr Darren Naish, from the University of Southampton, added: "There have been enough sightings of exotic big cats which substantially pre-date 1976 to cast doubt on the idea that one piece of legislation made in 1976 explains all releases of these animals in the UK.
"It seems more likely that escapes and releases have occurred throughout history, and that this continual presence of aliens explains the 'British big cat' phenomenon."
The researchers point out in their paper that Eurasian lynxes existed in the wild in Britain many hundreds of years ago, but had almost certainly become extinct by the 7th century. Laboratory analysis of the Bristol specimen's bones and teeth established it had been kept in captivity long enough to develop severe tooth loss and plaque before it either escaped or was deliberately released into the wild. Ancient DNA analysis of hair from the lynx proved inconclusive, possibly due to chemicals applied to the pelt during taxidermy.
Julie Finch, head of Bristol's Museums, Galleries & Archives, said: "Bristol Museum, Galleries and Archives were pleased to be a part of this ground-breaking research, which not only highlights the importance of our science collections, it establishes the pedigree of our 100-year old Lynx and adds to our knowledge and understanding of 'big cats' in the UK.
"Our museum collections are extensive and caring for them requires the considerable skills of our collections officers. We have an amazing collection of taxidermy animals on display and we welcome museum visitors to come along, to take a closer look and discover more about the natural world."
Dr Greger Larson, a member of the research team from Durham University and an expert in the migration of animals, said: "Every few years there is another claim that big cats are living wild in Britain, but none of these claims have been substantiated. It seems that big cats are to England what the Loch Ness Monster is to Scotland.
"By applying a robust scientific methodology, this study conclusively demonstrates that at least one big cat did roam Britain as early as the Edwardian era, and suggests that additional claims need to be subjected to this level of scrutiny."
The lynx is now on public display at Bristol museum.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Southampton, via AlphaGalileo.
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Journal Reference:
- Max Blake, Darren Naish, Greger Larson, Charlotte L. King, Geoff Nowell, Manabu Sakamoto, Ross Barnett. Multidisciplinary investigation of a ?British big cat?: a lynx killed in southern England c. 1903. Historical Biology, 2013; : 1 DOI: 10.1080/08912963.2013.785541
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Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/CDGCWic5qdo/130424222428.htm
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