Silent Skype calls can hide secret messages

Got a secret message to send? Say it with silence. A new technique can embed secret data during a phone call on Skype. "There are concerns that Skype calls can be intercepted and analysed," says Wojciech Mazurczyk at the Institute of Telecommunications in Warsaw, Poland. So his team's SkypeHide system lets users hide extra, non-chat messages during a call.

Mazurczyk and his colleagues Maciej Karaś and Krysztof Szczypiorski analysed Skype data traffic during calls and discovered an opportunity in the way Skype "transmits" silence. Rather than send no data between spoken words, Skype sends 70-bit-long data packets instead of the 130-bit ones that carry speech.

The team hijacks these silence packets, injecting encrypted message data into some of them. The Skype receiver simply ignores the secret-message data, but it can nevertheless be decoded at the other end, the team has found. "The secret data is indistinguishable from silence-period traffic, so detection of SkypeHide is very difficult," says Mazurczyk. They found they could transmit secret text, audio or video during Skype calls at a rate of almost 1 kilobit per second alongside phone calls.

The team aims to present SkypeHide at a steganography conference in Montpellier, France, in June.

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

All comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.

If you are having a technical problem posting a comment, please contact technical support.

Read More..

British team flies to Myanmar for buried Spitfire planes

LONDON: A team hunting for a rumoured hoard of World War II Spitfire planes in Myanmar left Britain on Saturday to start the dig, comparing the excitement to the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb.

The 21-strong team believe there could be 36 of the iconic single-seat British fighter aircraft buried in sealed crates up to 10 metres (33 feet) beneath Yangon airport, a wartime airfield, with more at two other sites in Myanmar.

Britain, the former colonial power in what was then Burma, is thought to have buried the brand new planes in 1945 as they were surplus by the time they arrived by sea.

The dig, set to start at Yangon airport on Monday, has excited military history and aviation enthusiasts around the world.

There are thought to be fewer than 50 airworthy Spitfires left in the world and the digs could potentially double their number if they remain in pristine condition.

Project leader David Cundall told AFP that getting a first glimpse of Spitfire would be like the 1922 discovery of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb.

"It's similar to the Tutankhamun find in Egypt many years ago and Lord Carnarvon said to Howard Carter when he was looking through the hole 'can you see anything?' , and he said, 'yes, wonderful things', and I'm going to say the same thing," he said.

Cundall, a farmer and aircraft enthusiast, has been on a long chase for the rumoured lost Spitfires.

"We've interviewed eight eyewitnesses pointing to the exact spot," he said.

"Some have told us in great detail how they were buried, the depth and the configuration all fits correctly the location.

"After 17 years you do get a little bit weary but there's now enough energy left in me to finish the project, and I'd like to do it as soon as possible: get the airplanes back to the UK, have them restored and see them flying at airshows."

Speaking at London Heathrow Airport before flying out, lead archeologist Andy Brockman said: "The evidence so far takes us to a particular part of former RAF Mingaladon. What our job is now is to follow those strands of evidence and turn all the rumour and speculation and hypothesis into facts in the ground from the archaeology that we discover."

Cundall's share of any planes found will be 30 per cent, his agents will have 20 per cent, while the Myanmar government will keep 50 per cent, according to agreements they have signed.

"There are very few Spitfires that you can actually say are 100 per cent original; these are brand new Mark XIV Spitfires," he said.

"The fuselages were wrapped in brown paper, grease paper to preserve them, the wooden joints were tarred to keep the water out.

"They did go to an awful lot of trouble to bury these.

"It was a tool of war, yes, but I'm trying to make it a tool of friendship to bring Burma and Britain closer together."

- AFP/xq

Read More..

Google may need history lesson on blocking rivals' products

With its decision to block Windows Phone users from accessing Google Maps, Google isn't the first browser maker to block users from accessing content with a competitive product. Microsoft has done the same in the distant and not-so-distant past. But that's still no excuse for what looks like nothing other than a petty, short-sighted move on Google's part.

Back in 2001, Microsoft was slammed for making MSN.com incompatible with browsers other than IE. Microsoft officials said the problem wasn't intentional and rewrote the site to work with non-Microsoft browsers. But the outcry -- even from the head of the Worldwide Web Consortium, Tim Berners-Lee -- was fast and furious.

More recently, I've heard from users frustrated because they couldn't access the Microsoft Careers site using Chrome. (A quick check today indicates those problems seem to have been resolved, either by Microsoft or Google.) And I can verify I've been unable to listen/view Webcasts on Microsoft's Investor site using anything other than IE, though this issue also seems to have been fixed some time in the last few days/weeks. Huzzah!

Am I citing Microsoft's transgressions to excuse Google? Hardly. Given that Windows Phone has only 3 percent market share in the U.S., compared with
Android's 54 percent, one could argue Google doesn't have the time/incentive to make sure its Maps work well with Windows Phone. I'm not buying that, though.

As others have noted and seemingly proved, Google's blocking of IE/Windows Phone users isn't attributable to Microsoft using its own Trident rendering engine instead of Webkit -- despite Google's claims to the contrary.

Google Maps works fine in IE10 on
Windows 8 and Windows RT and those products use the same Trident rendering engine that Windows Phone does. The two IE10 browsers are not completely identical; there are a number of features in IE10 on Windows 8 that aren't supported in IE10 on Windows Phone, including some programming interfaces, ActiveX, and VBScript. Nonetheless, the evidence is mounting that Google intentionally is redirecting Windows Phone users who are attempting to access its maps via IE.

Maybe the Googlers are trying to pay back Microsoft for trying and largely failing to get the U.S. Federal Trust Commission to take antitrust action against the company. Or maybe they're mad that Microsoft is managing to convince many/most of the Android licensees to pay Microsoft patent-licensing royalties to head off potential legal action.

I don't know how many of we the 3 percent need/want to use Google Maps via the browser. Whether it's a few (including me, on more than one occasion) or many, the move to block Windows Phone users still looks short-sighted. Wouldn't it make more sense to encourage those using your competitors' products (Bing, IE) to access your technology instead of theirs? Maybe you'll win over a new customer or three in the process.

I'm not the first to say it, and I'm sure I won't be the last. Google should brush up on its history lessons. It's emulating the old Microsoft. Even though Google largely beat the antitrust rap this time, maybe its luck won't hold out forever....

This story originally appeared on ZDNet under the headline "Google shouldn't forget history when blocking its competitors' products."

Read More..

Best Pictures: 2012 Nat Geo Photo Contest Winners

• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Winner: Places

  Photograph by Nenad Saljic

  A full moon illuminates the Matterhorn peak near Zermatt, Switzerland, in the winning image in the contest's Places category.

  Full moons occur every 29.5 days or so as the moon moves to the side of Earth directly opposite the sun, reflecting the sun's rays off its full face and appearing as a brilliant, perfectly circular disk.

  (Read more about full moons.)

  Published January 4, 2013

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Winner: People

  Photograph by Micah Albert

  A picture of women scavenging refuse from a landfill in Dandora, Kenya, is the winning image in the People category of the National Geographic Photo Contest.

  The Dandora landfill, located in eastern Nairobi, is one of the largest in Africa.

  Published January 4, 2013

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Photograph by Jason Ching

  Published January 4, 2013

  
  

');

---

 $'+ doc.ngstore_price_t +'';
html += ' $'+ doc.ngstore_saleprice_t +'';
} else {
html += ' $'+ doc.ngstore_price_t +'';
}
html += '

';

$("#ecom_43331 ul.ecommerce_all_img").append(html);




o.totItems++;

}// end for loop
} // end if data.response.numFound != 0

if(o.totItems != o.maxItems){
if(o.defaultItems.length > 0){
o.getItemByID(o.defaultItems.shift());
} else if(o.isSearchPage && !o.searchComplete){
o.doSearchPage();
} else if(!o.searchComplete) {
o.byID = false;
o.doSearch();
}
}// end if
}// end parseResults function

o.trim = function(str) {
return str.replace(/^\s\s*/, '').replace(/\s\s*$/, '');
}

o.doSearchPage = function(){
o.byID = false;

var tempSearch = window.location.search;
var searchTerms ="default";
var temp;

if( tempSearch.substr(0,7) == "?search"){
temp = tempSearch.substr(7).split("&");
searchTerms = temp[0];
} else {
temp = tempSearch.split("&");
for(var j=0;j 0){
o.getItemByID(o.defaultItems.shift());
} else if(o.isSearchPage){
o.doSearchPage();
} else {
o.doSearch();
}

}// end init function

}// end ecommerce object

var store_43331 = new ecommerce_43331();





store_43331.init();

Read More..

Debt Limit Negotiating Tactic? No Negotiating

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden walk away from the podium after Obama made a statement regarding the passage of the fiscal cliff bill in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Analysis

New for 2013: In the Washington, D.C. fiscal wars we’ve gone from everything must be on the table to politicians declaring they won’t debate.

The fiscal cliff deal either averted disaster or compounded the problem, depending on who you ask. It certainly created new mini-cliffs in a few months as Congress and the president square off on the debt ceiling, spending cuts and government funding. But it also made sure the vast majority of Americans won’t see as big a tax hike as they might have.

President Obama was pretty clear late on New Year’s night as he reacted to Congress’s passage of a bill to take a turn away from the fiscal cliff. He won’t negotiate with Republicans about the debt ceiling.

“Now, one last point I want to make,” said the president, before wrapping up and hopping on Air Force One for a redeye to Hawaii. “While I will negotiate over many things, I will not have another debate with this Congress over whether or not they should pay the bills that they’ve already racked up through the laws that they passed.”

(Read more here about the Fiscal Cliff)

That’s pretty clear. No debt ceiling negotiation. Then he added for emphasis: ”Let me repeat: We can’t not pay bills that we’ve already incurred. If Congress refuses to give the United States government the ability to pay these bills on time, the consequences for the entire global economy would be catastrophic — far worse than the impact of a fiscal cliff.”

But in Washington, saying you won’t do something these days has almost become like an opening bid. At least, that’s how Republicans are treating the president’s line in the sand.

“The president may not want to have a fight about government spending over the next few months, but it’s the fight he is going to have because it’s a debate the country needs,” wrote Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican, in an op-Ed on Yahoo! News about 36 hours later. “For the sake of our future, the president must show up to this debate early and convince his party to do something that neither he nor they have been willing to do until now.”

“We simply cannot increase the nation’s borrowing limit without committing to long overdue reforms to spending programs that are the very cause of our debt,” McConnell said.

The national debt is soon set to reach $16.4 trillion. That’s not a problem that can be solved with one bill or budget. And the two sides will have to figure out some sort of way to talk about entitlement/social safety net reform – meaning things like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security – in addition to cutting spending and, most importantly, hope for an improving economy, to deal with those deficits.

House Speaker John Boehner, who has several times now failed to reach a big, broad fiscal deal with President Obama, told colleagues, according to The Hill newspaper, that he’s done with secret White House negotiations. He wants to stick with the constitutional way of doing things, with hearings and bills that are debated on Capitol Hill rather than hatched by the vice president and Senate Republicans.

Okay. Obama won’t negotiate on the debt ceiling. McConnell won’t not negotiate on the debt ceiling. Boehner doesn’t to do things by the book.

But McConnell won’t negotiate on taxes any more.

“Predictably,” McConnell had written earlier in his post, “the president is already claiming that his tax hike on the ‘rich’ isn’t enough. I have news for him: the moment that he and virtually every elected Democrat in Washington signed off on the terms of the current arrangement, it was the last word on taxes. That debate is over.”

It’s a new chapter in the ongoing fiscal saga in Washington. Back when the two sides were talking about a grand bargain or a big deal – some sort of all-inclusive reform that would right the listing deficit with one flip of the rudder – the popular trope was that “everything must be on the table.” That’s basically how Obama put it back in the summer of 2011 when he and Boehner failed to reach a grand bargain. He wanted higher taxes – they were calling them revenues back then. More recently, after Obama won the election and when he and Boehner were trying to hammer out another grand bargain to avert the fiscal cliff, Boehner wanted entitlements on the table. That means he wanted to find ways to curb future spending.

Both sides are declaring they won’t debate certain points, but this far – a full two months – before the mini-cliffs start, those are easier declarations to make than they will be when the government is in danger of defaulting or shutting down.

Even though they’re trying to take elements off the table, both men hope that coming negotiations can be a little more cordial and a little less down-to-the wire.

“Over the next two months they need to deliver the same kind of bipartisan resolution to the spending problem we have now achieved on revenue — before the 11th hour,” wrote McConnell.

“The one thing that I think, hopefully, in the New Year we’ll focus on is seeing if we can put a package like this together with a little bit less drama, a little less brinksmanship, not scare the heck out of folks quite as much,” said Obama.

That’ll be tough if neither side will talk about what the other side wants to talk about.

Read More..

Vesta's crater carbon came from asteroids

Lisa Grossman, reporter

(Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA)

The mini-planet Vesta took a beating in its past - but the ordeal may have delivered carbon to its surface. A new map of dark material in Vesta's craters shows that the huge rocks that formed them brought carbonaceous material along for the ride.

Vesta's surface is marked by material as black as coal, most of it on and around craters like the one in the 3D model above. It wasn't clear, though, where this carbon-rich material had come from. The answer seems to lie in images taken last year that show two gigantic impact craters which must be the results of 50 to 60-kilometre-wide rocks smacking into Vesta's southern hemisphere.

New analysis shows that the first impact brought something with it. A team led by Vishnu Reddy from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Lindau, Germany, mapped the dark stuff on Vesta's surface. They found that it is concentrated around the huge southern craters, and figured that it arrived in the earlier of the two impacts, 2 to 3 billion years ago. Computer simulations of the impact confirmed that it could have created the patterns of dark material we see today.

That suggests that carbon was delivered to Vesta via an asteroid. And Vesta was probably not the only object to receive such a package, the team says. The same delivery system could have brought one of the essential building blocks of life to Earth.

Journal reference: Icarus, 10.1016/j.icarus.2012.08.011

Read More..

Primary schools to receive new teachers twice a year

SINGAPORE: From 2015, primary schools will receive a new batch of teachers twice each year - instead of the current arrangement where new teachers are deployed in June - following changes to the timing of the annual intake of the Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) (Primary) programme.

The PGDE (Primary) programme is a one-year diploma course conducted at the National Institute of Education. Currently, its graduates are deployed along with their counterparts in the Diploma in Education and Bachelor of Arts (Education) or Bachelor of Science (Education) programmes.

With the change, graduates from the PGDE (Primary) will be posted to their schools in January, instead of June.

Responding to TODAY's queries, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said the key reason for the change is to "better support the schools' manpower needs at the primary level".

Its spokesperson said: "This will allow for two batches of trained teachers to graduate from the different programmes in NIE to be posted to the primary schools ... each year, thereby reducing the schools' waiting time to fill vacancies for trained teachers."

To effect the change, the intake for PGDE (Primary) will be shifted from July to January - starting this year.

The MOE spokesperson said that email notifications were sent in April last year to those who were due to enrol in the programme in July this year - many of whom are currently doing contract teaching - but will now start their course in January next year.

"School leaders with untrained teachers in their schools affected by this change were similarly informed," she said.

While primary school principals whom TODAY spoke to welcomed the change, one untrained teacher who had been due to start the PGDE (Primary) programme this year was upset that he has to wait another six months to begin classes.

The 30-year-old teacher, who wanted to be known only as Mr Tan, said he found out about the change in February last year after MOE replied to his email query on the starting date of his course.

He claimed that he has not received an official notification.

After spending the past year doing contract teaching, Mr Tan said he would have to continue for another year because of the change.

It is not clear how many prospective trainee teachers are affected by the shift in the timing of the intake this year, as the MOE did not reply to queries on the intake size of the PGDE (Primary).

The current teaching force is about 33,000 strong. On average, 2,000 new teachers are recruited each year.

Principals said the change was timely, given how more teachers are taking up MOE initiatives such as the Part-Time Teaching Scheme (PTTS), and the enhanced Professional Development Leave (PDL) scheme which allow teachers with at least six years' service to take leave at half pay to undergo professional development.

Punggol View Primary Principal Kelvin Tay said: "Having two batches would ease issues that come up when teachers are away, such as on maternity leave or professional development, and it would help fill deployment gaps."

As the school calendar begins in January, Nanyang Primary School Principal Lee Hui Feng noted that getting new teachers in the same month will reduce changes to teaching personnel in the middle of the school year.

- TODAY/xq

Read More..

Apple to buck the trend in sour computer market, says analyst

Apple's iPad.

(Credit:
Apple)

Apple will be one of the few companies to thrive this year in the midst of weak computer buying from the corporate crowd.

Global corporate spending on Windows PCs and
tablets fell by 4 percent last year, according to a report out yesterday from Forrester Research. Spending is likely to be flat this year as companies slowly replace old Windows PCs with new
Windows 8 devices.

But Apple is "one vendor that will buck this trend," the research firm said in its report. The company is expected to sell $7 billion worth of Macs and $11 billion of iPads to corporate customers this year. Those numbers are predicted to rise to $8 billion worth of Macs and $13 billion of iPads next year.

Despite a decline in PC spending, Windows 8 computers still dominate the corporate market. But Apple has seen greater demand for the Macs among business users over the past few years. And more companies have adopted or at least allowed the use of the
iPad by employees at a time when the overall PC industry is hurting.

"Unless the vendor's name is Apple or perhaps Lenovo, the computer equipment market will still struggle in 2013, with no better growth in sight until 2014," Forrester said in its report. "The 4 percent growth in PCs in 2013 looks more promising, but that is mostly due to growth in tablets, which we count in the broader PC category. It will not be until 2014 when the economic expansion strengthens that CIOs will feel confident enough to commit funds to refreshing their aging stack of PCs, servers, storage devices, and peripherals."

Forrester is eyeing an 8 percent increase in Windows 8 devices and PCs come 2014. But even that growth will be less than the double-digit gains projected for Apple, Android, and Linux products.

Read More..

What Lives in Your Gut?

As we enter a new year, many of us will start thinking—if only temporarily—about improving our diet and lifestyle habits. Maybe you'll resolve to drink more water, eat less fat, get more exercise.

But what does your gut want? A new citizen science project aims to find out.

"What diet should you be eating to achieve an optimal, healthy microbiome in your gut? We don't know yet but finding out could be the key to helping people overcome many chronic diseases," said Jeff Leach, co-founder of the American Gut project.

(Read about the secret world of microbes in the January 2013 issue of National Geographic magazine.)

The concept of the crowd-funded project is simple: Pay $99, get a sample collection kit, and mail back a test tube containing "a little bit of brown" swabbed from your used toilet paper. Participants will also be asked to log their food intake for three days and answer a detailed questionnaire about how and where they live.

"Are you a vegetarian? Were you born via C-section? Do you live in a rural or urban area? Do you have dogs? All of these things can influence your microbiome," Leach said.

In return, participants will receive an analysis revealing what organisms dwell in their gut and showing how their own microbial ecosystem compares to others—including a group of hunter-gatherers Leach has been studying in Tanzania. (That research has not yet been published, but he says it reveals "big differences" between the guts of people who consume a Western diet of highly processed foods and those who eat more traditional diets.)

"There's been a lot of research about the human microbiome recently, but the general public never gets to figure out what's in their gut unless you do something like this," said Leach.

Microbes play several vital roles in the gut, including maintaining the mucosal lining of the gastrointestinal tract, protecting against pathogens, and helping the body harvest calories and digest fiber.

Having too much or too little of certain bacteria could contribute to inflammation, a key factor in many chronic diseases. Recent studies have linked diabetes and obesity to imbalances in gut bacteria.

"We want people to understand that this is a major aspect of their health that's in their control," Leach said. "You're born with your genes, but you can shift your microbiome through diet and lifestyle changes."

About a thousand people have joined the project so far, and Leach is hoping another 3,000 or more will sign up to receive a kit before the February 1 deadline.

For more information, visit the American Gut Project http://humanfoodproject.com/american-gut/.

Read More..

Quadruple Amputee Gets Two New Hands on Life

It's the simplest thing, the grasp of one hand in another. But Lindsay Ess will never see it that way, because her hands once belonged to someone else.

Growing up in Texas and Virginia, Lindsay, 29, was always one of the pretty girls. She went to college, did some modeling and started building a career in fashion, with an eye on producing fashion shows.

Then she lost her hands and feet.

Watch the full show in a special edition of "Nightline," "To Hold Again," TONIGHT at 11:35 p.m. ET on ABC

When she was 24 years old, Lindsay had just graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University's well-regarded fashion program when she developed a blockage in her small intestine from Crohn's Disease. After having surgery to correct the problem, an infection took over and shut down her entire body. To save her life, doctors put her in a medically-induced coma. When she came out of the coma a month later, still in a haze, Lindsay said she knew something was wrong with her hands and feet.

"I would look down and I would see black, almost like a body that had decomposed," she said.

The infection had turned her extremities into dead tissue. Still sedated, Lindsay said she didn't realize what that meant at first.

"There was a period of time where they didn't tell me that they had to amputate, but somebody from the staff said, 'Oh honey, you know what they are going to do to your hands, right?' That's when I knew," she said.

After having her hands and feet amputated, Lindsay adapted. She learned how to drink from a cup, brush her teeth and even text on her cellphone with her arms, which were amputated just below the elbow.

"The most common questions I get are, 'How do you type,'" she said. "It's just like chicken-pecking."

PHOTOS: Lindsay Ess Gets New Hands

Despite her progress, Lindsay said she faced challenges being independent. Her mother, Judith Aronson, basically moved back into her daughter's life to provide basic care, including bathing, dressing and feeding. Having also lost her feet, Lindsay needed her mother to help put on her prosthetic legs.

"I've accepted the fact that my feet are gone, that's acceptable to me," Lindsay said. "My hands [are] not. It's still not. In my dreams I always have my hands."

Through her amputation recovery, Lindsay discovered a lot of things about herself, including that she felt better emotionally by not focusing on the life that was gone and how much she hated needing so much help but that she also truly depends on it.

"I'm such an independent person," she said. "But I'm also grateful that I have a mother like that, because what could I do?"

Lindsay said she found that her prosthetic arms were a struggle.

"These prosthetics are s---," she said. "I can't do anything with them. I can't do anything behind my head. They are heavy. They are made for men. They are claws, they are not feminine whatsoever."

For the next couple of years, Lindsay exercised diligently as part of the commitment she made to qualify for a hand transplant, which required her to be in shape. But the tough young woman now said she saw her body in a different way now.

Read More..

Male lynxes duel to the death

Michael Marshall, environment reporter

(Image: Peter Segerström/with permission from Elsevier)

These male lynxes were fighting for control of the lands behind them, and the females that live in it. In this case both survived, but they were lucky. In the previous two battles for this territory, the incumbent male was killed.

Between 2002 and 2011, this territory changed paws three times. The first male was killed in 2002, and his killer took over the area. He was in turn killed and supplanted in 2005.

His usurper, who had the code-name L-03134, held the territory until 2008 when he was driven out. L-03134 is on the left in the photo, losing to the male who went on to take his territory. The new male has since held off a challenger who tried to claim the territory in 2011.

Long-lived animals rarely fight to the death, because it often makes more sense for the weaker animal to give up the fight and try somewhere else. But in northern Sweden, male Eurasian lynxes face intense struggles for territory. They often hold their territories for years, partly because they are rarely hunted by humans, so challengers are forced to fight particularly hard if they are to have any hope of mating.

Journal reference: Mammalian Biology - Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde, DOI: 10.1016/j.mambio.2012.11.006

Read More..

Football: AC Milan storm off pitch after racist chants

ROME: AC Milan striker Kevin-Prince Boateng stormed off the pitch on Thursday forcing the suspension of a friendly match against fourth-tier Pro Patria after racist chants from a group of fans for the opposing team.

"Pulling out was the right choice with something like this," Milan trainer Massimiliano Allegri said after the match was stopped in the 26th minute.

"We have to stop it with these uncouth acts. Italy as a country has to improve and become more civilised and intelligent," he told reporters.

Squad captain Massimo Ambrosini said: "That was intolerable, it was only a friendly! We couldn't have gone on like that, we had to give a signal."

Boateng picked up the ball, kicked it towards the Pro Patria stands and walked off the pitch of Pro Patria's home town of Busto Arsizio.

His teammates joined him despite Pro Patria players begging them to stay and whistles from many of the Pro Patria fans against the racists.

The 25-year-old Boateng, who has Ghanaian citizenship and played for Ghana at the 2010 World Cup, was previously at Tottenham, Borussia Dortmund and Portsmouth.

- AFP/jc

Read More..

Apple said to be eyeing new display tech for next iPhone

Apple's iPhone 5.

(Credit:
CNET)

Apple's use of the so-called "in-cell" touch technology in the
iPhone 5 could be short-lived according to a new report that claims the company is already eyeing alternatives for its next iPhone model.

Citing supply chain rumors, The China Times (translation) says Apple is currently evaluating technology called Touch On Display from Innolux, the company formerly named Chimei Innolux which Apple last year listed as one of its component suppliers.

The reason for the change, the report claims, is due to interference with the current in-cell technology where both the display and touch are embedded in the same panel. By comparison, the Touch On technology offers "good" touch sensitivity with minimal thickness, something that's become increasingly import as mobile phones get thinner.

Display technology has been a major feature of the iPhone since Apple's first model, which at 3.5-inches was considerably larger than most competing smartphones when it was released. Apple later increased the pixel density while keeping the 3.5-inch size, technology it called the Retina Display. That same technology ended up on the
iPad and high-end versions of Apple's
MacBook Pro notebooks.

The display continues to be one of the most expensive parts of the iPhone. A virtual teardown by IHS iSuppli last September estimated the combined display and touchscreen to cost Apple $44, putting it well ahead of the components for wireless antennas, NAND flash memory, and the A-series processor.

Rumors have swirled in recent weeks that Apple is preparing an intermediary upgrade to the iPhone 5 for release as soon as this Spring. Alleged shots of its rear casing cropped up last month on a French technology blog that's been known to get accurate shots of Apple components in the past. Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White this week said that he expects the company to roll out a "5S" model in May or June with "more color patterns and screen sizes," similar to what Apple offers on its latest iPod touch models.

Read More..

Pictures: Errant Shell Oil Rig Runs Aground Off Alaska, Prompts Massive Response

Photograph courtesy Jonathan Klingenberg, U.S. Coast Guard

Waves lash at the sides of the Shell* drilling rig Kulluk, which ran aground off the rocky southern coast of Alaska on New Year's Eve in a violent storm.

The rig, seen above Tuesday afternoon, was "stable," with no signs of spilled oil products, authorities said. But continued high winds and savage seas hampered efforts to secure the vessel and the 150,000 gallons (568,000 liters) of diesel fuel and lubricants on board. The Kulluk came to rest just east of Sitkalidak Island (map), an uninhabited but ecologically and culturally rich site north of Ocean Bay, after a four-day odyssey, during which it broke free of its tow ships and its 18-member crew had to be rescued by helicopter.

The U.S. Coast Guard, state, local, and industry officials have joined in an effort involving nearly 600 people to gain control of the rig, one of two that Shell used for its landmark Arctic oil-drilling effort last summer. "This must be considered once of the largest marine-response efforts conducted in Alaska in many years," said Steve Russell, of Alaska's Department of Environmental Conservation.

The 266-foot (81-meter) rig now is beached off one of the larger islands in the Kodiak archipelago, a land of forest, glaciers, and streams about 300 miles (482 kilometers) south of Anchorage. The American Land Conservancy says that Sitkalidak Island's highly irregular coastline traps abundant food sources upwelling from the central Gulf of Alaska, attracting large numbers of seabirds and marine mammals. The largest flock of common murres ever recorded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was in Sitkalidak Strait, which separates the island from Kodiak. Sitkalidak also has 16 wild salmon rivers and archaeological sites tied to the Alutiiq native peoples dating back more than 7,000 years.

Shell incident commander Susan Childs said Monday night that the company's wildlife management team had started to assess the potential impact of a spill, and would be dispatched to the site when the weather permitted. She said the Kulluk's fuel tanks were in the center of the vessel, encased in heavy steel. "The Kulluk is a pretty sturdy vessel," she said. " It just remains to be seen how long it's on the shoreline and how long the weather is severe."

—Marianne Lavelle

*Shell is sponsor of National Geographic's Great Energy Challenge initiative. National Geographic maintains editorial autonomy.

Published January 2, 2013

Read More..

Senate Swears in Historic 20th Female Senator

Today the Senate will make history, swearing in a record-breaking 20 female senators -- four Republicans and 16 Democrats -- in office.

As the 113th Congress is sworn in today on Capitol Hill, ABC "World News" anchor Diane Sawyer has an exclusive joint interview with the historic class of female senators.

Diane Sawyer's complete interview will air on "World News" and "Nightline" tonight.

"I can't tell you the joy that I feel in my heart to look at these 20 gifted and talented women from two different parties, different zip codes to fill this room," Sen. Barbara Mikulksi, D-Md., said while surrounded by the group of women senators. "In all of American history only 16 women had served. Now there are 20 of us."

Senator-elect Deb Fischer, R-Neb., today becomes the first women to be elected as a senator in Nebraska.

"It was an historic election," Fischer said, "But what was really fun about it were the number of mothers and fathers who brought their daughters up to me during the campaign and said, "Can we get a picture? Can we get a picture?' Because people realize it and -- things do change, things do change."

Tammy Baldwin Becomes First Openly Gay Senator Watch Video

Elizabeth Warren Wins Massachusetts Senate Race Watch Video

The women senators all agree that women will be getting things done in this new Congress, a sign of optimism felt for the new Congress, after the bruising battles of the 112th Congress.

"We're in force and we're in leadership positions, but it's not just the position that we hold. I can tell you this is a can-do crowd," Mikulski said of both Democrats and Republican senators in the room. "We are today ready to be a force in American politics."

And while the number of women in the Senate today makes history, many of the women agreed that they want to keep fighting to boost those numbers.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said that women are still "underrepresented" in the Senate.

"I think that until we get to 50, we still have to fight because it's still a problem," Boxer said. "I think this class as you look around, Republicans and Democrats. ... I think that because of this new class and the caliber of the people coming and the quality of the people coming, I think that hopefully in my lifetime -- and I really do hope and pray this is the case -- we will see 50 percent. "

No Sorority Here, Even With the Will to Work Together

The cooperation does not make them a "sorority," Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., says. There are real differences in ideology and personality and they don't want their gender to define them as senators.

But the women also admit that they believe having more women in the room would help in fierce negotiations, compromise and legislating on Capitol Hill, traits they say do not come as naturally to their male colleagues in the Senate. That sentiment enjoys bipartisan support among the women of the Senate.

"What I find is with all due deference to our male colleagues, that women's styles tend to be more collaborative," Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said by nature women are "less confrontational." Sen-elect Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, says that women are "problem solvers."

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., says that women have a camaraderie which helps in relationships that are key to negotiations on Capitol Hill, something she says comes natural to women more than men.

"I think there's just a lot of collaboration between the women senators and... advice and really standing up for each other that you don't always see with the men," she said.

Read More..

Ice sheets of West Antarctica are warming fast

THE ice sheets of West Antarctica are warming much faster than we thought, suggesting swathes of it could melt and send global sea levels soaring.

Climatologists have struggled to work out whether Antarctica is warming, and how quickly, because it has few weather stations and the records from some are incomplete.

David Bromwich of Ohio State University in Columbus and his colleagues filled in the gaps for one key station using statistics and data from a climate model. They conclude that temperatures since 1958 have risen about 0.46 °C per decade - more than twice as fast as previously thought (Nature Geoscience, doi.org/j351).

But Michael Mann at Penn State University in University Park says that warmer ocean water flooding in underneath the sheet poses a greater threat.

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

All comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.

If you are having a technical problem posting a comment, please contact technical support.

Read More..

US manufacturing rebounds in December

WASHINGTON: US manufacturing activity expanded slightly in December after contracting the previous month, the ISM monthly survey showed on Monday.

The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing sector index rose to 50.7 last month from 49.5 in November, with 50 the break-even line between growth and contraction.

The index has hovered around that line for the past six months, the ISM said, reflecting weakness in both US and global economic growth.

Only seven of 18 manufacturing industries covered in the ISM survey actually reported growth in the month, and overall production growth slowed.

But the employment sub-index rose to 52.7 from 48.4, showing the industry returned to hiring at a modest clip in December.

- AFP/de

Read More..

Amazon Instant Video deal: 22 popular movies for $5 each

Want to rent a movie from Amazon Instant Video? Usually it'll cost you $4-5, depending on whether you choose the SD or HD version.

Today only, Amazon is letting you buy
22 popular movies for under $5 each.

And by "popular" I don't mean "Weekend at Bernies 2" and other Z-grade flicks you usually see at this price point. This sale includes Academy Award winners, personal favorites, and titles you'll find on AFI top-100 lists.

For example, you can get "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight" for $4.98 apiece (or $3.99 for the SD versions). Other good choices for action fans: "300" and "The Matrix."

If you're into drama, check out "The Blind Side," "The Departed," "The Town," and one of my top-five favorite movies of all time, "The Shawshank Redemption."

Like classics? How about "Casablanca," "Gone with the Wind," and "Singin' in the Rain"? Like comedy? There's "The Hangover" and "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" (which I always thought was a little overrated, but to each his own). Got kids? Let 'em watch and rewatch "The Goonies" and "Happy Feet."

Like I said, there's some mighty good stuff here, and if you were to buy these flicks from, say,
iTunes, most of them would cost you $15 each. (As of tomorrow, that's probably what they'll cost again on Amazon as well.)

Needless to say, if you're looking to expand your digital video library, this is a rare opportunity to score some big hits on the cheap.

Read More..

Space Pictures This Week: Ice “Broccoli,” Solar Storm

• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Happy Trails

  Photograph by Alex Cherney, TWAN

  Amateur astronomer Alex Cherney captured these star trails as they blazed above Lake Tyrrell, a salt lake in Victoria, Australia in October 2011 and posted to The World At Night website December 25, 2012.

  (See pictures of another Australian salt lake, Lake Eyre.)

  Published December 31, 2012

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Tokyo From Space

  
  Image courtesy DLR

  The sprawling Japanese capital Tokyo looks like a funky computer chip in this image taken by Germany's Earth-observing satellite TerraSAR-X and released December 20.

  Launched in 2007, the satellite's radar sensors map Earth from 319 miles (514 kilometers) up in a near-polar orbit.

  Published December 31, 2012

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Extreme View

  
  Image courtesy SDO/NASA

  NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory snapped this extreme ultraviolet view of an active region on the sun as it rotated into view from December 16 to December 18. Ultraviolet light makes it easier to trace the whorls and loops created by superheated gas, or plasma, and the sun's magnetic field lines.

  Active solar regions such as this create space weather that, when aimed at Earth, can disrupt satellite communications and electronics. (See more pictures of solar activity and space weather.)

  Published December 31, 2012

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Saturn’s Dark Side

  
  Image courtesy SSI/Caltech/NASA

  This image of the unlit side of Saturn's S rings, released December 24, was taken with visible light by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

  The shadow of Saturn's innermost major moon, Mimas, is visible as a black oval south of the rings' shadow. For those with completely dust-free computer monitors, Janus, another Saturnian moon, is visible as a tiny white speck above the planet's north pole. (Learn about Saturn's major moons.)

  Published December 31, 2012

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  A River Runs Through It

  
  Image courtesy ESA/JAXA

  The European Space Agency released this picture—taken by Japan's satellite ALOS—of Italy's longest river on December 14.

  The Po river and its surrounding fields divide Italy into its northern and southern regions. The Japanese used ALOS, which they lost contact with in late April 2011, to generate precise land maps, monitor disasters, and conduct resource surveys. (Read an excerpt from National Geographic magazine about the Po river.)

  Published December 31, 2012

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Glacial "Broccoli"

  
  Image from DigitalGlobe/Getty Images

  The Moshniy glacier, located on the Russian archipelago Novaya Zemlya in the Arctic Ocean, calves chunks of ice and debris into a pattern reminiscent of broccoli in an image released December 20.

  Novaya Zemlya was a sensitive military area during the Cold War, and was also the site of the most powerful nuclear device ever detonated. The energy released by the 50-megaton "Tsar" bomb was ten times that of all the explosions set off during World War II.

  Published December 31, 2012

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Image courtesy Caltech/SSI/NASA

  Published December 31, 2012

  
  

');

---

 $'+ doc.ngstore_price_t +'';
html += ' $'+ doc.ngstore_saleprice_t +'';
} else {
html += ' $'+ doc.ngstore_price_t +'';
}
html += '

';

$("#ecom_43331 ul.ecommerce_all_img").append(html);




o.totItems++;

}// end for loop
} // end if data.response.numFound != 0

if(o.totItems != o.maxItems){
if(o.defaultItems.length > 0){
o.getItemByID(o.defaultItems.shift());
} else if(o.isSearchPage && !o.searchComplete){
o.doSearchPage();
} else if(!o.searchComplete) {
o.byID = false;
o.doSearch();
}
}// end if
}// end parseResults function

o.trim = function(str) {
return str.replace(/^\s\s*/, '').replace(/\s\s*$/, '');
}

o.doSearchPage = function(){
o.byID = false;

var tempSearch = window.location.search;
var searchTerms ="default";
var temp;

if( tempSearch.substr(0,7) == "?search"){
temp = tempSearch.substr(7).split("&");
searchTerms = temp[0];
} else {
temp = tempSearch.split("&");
for(var j=0;j 0){
o.getItemByID(o.defaultItems.shift());
} else if(o.isSearchPage){
o.doSearchPage();
} else {
o.doSearch();
}

}// end init function

}// end ecommerce object

var store_43331 = new ecommerce_43331();





store_43331.init();

Read More..

Obama Hails 'Cliff' Deal, Warns of Next Fiscal Fight

Minutes after the House of Representatives approved a bipartisan Senate deal to avert the "fiscal cliff" and preserve Bush-era tax cuts for all Americans making less than $400,000 per year, President Obama praised party leaders and wasted little time turning to the next fiscal fight.

"This is one step in the broader effort to strengthen our economy for everybody," Obama said.

Obama lamented that earlier attempts at a much larger fiscal deal that would have cut spending and dealt with entitlement reforms failed. He said he hoped future debates would be done with "a little less drama, a little less brinksmanship, and not scare folks quite as much."

But Obama drew a line in the sand on the debt ceiling, which is set to be reached by March.

"While I will negotiate over many things, I will not have another debate with this Congress over whether they should pay the bills for what they've racked up," Obama said. "We can't not pay bills that we've already incurred."

An hour after his remarks, Obama boarded Air Force One to rejoin his family in Hawaii, where they have been since before Christmas.

AP Photo/Charles Dharapak

House Republicans agreed to the up-or-down vote Tuesday evening, despite earlier talk of trying to amend the Senate bill with more spending cuts before taking a vote. The bill delays for two months tough decisions about automatic spending cuts that were set to kick in Wednesday.

A majority of the Republicans in the GOP-majority House voted against the fiscal cliff deal. About twice as many Democrats voted in favor of the deal compared to Republicans. One hundred fifty-one Republicans joined 16 Democrats to vote against the deal, while 172 Democrats carried the vote along with 85 Republicans.

The Senate passed the same bill by an 89-8 vote in the wee hours of New Year's Day. If House Republicans had tweaked the legislation, there would have been no clear path for its return to the Senate before a new Congress is sworn in Thursday.

The vote split Republican leaders in the House. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, voted yes, and so did the GOP's 2012 vice presidential candidate, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

But House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., the No. 2 Republican in the House, voted no. It was his opposition that had made passage of the bill seem unlikely earlier in the day.

The deal does little to address the nation's long-term debt woes and does not entirely solve the problem of the "fiscal cliff."

Indeed, the last-minute compromise -- far short from a so-called grand bargain on deficit reduction -- sets up a new showdown on the same spending cuts in two months amplified by a brewing fight on how to raise the debt ceiling beyond $16.4 trillion. That new fiscal battle has the potential to eclipse the "fiscal cliff" in short order.

"Now the focus turns to spending," said Boehner in a statement after the vote. "The American people re-elected a Republican majority in the House, and we will use it in 2013 to hold the president accountable for the 'balanced' approach he promised, meaning significant spending cuts and reforms to the entitlement programs that are driving our country deeper and deeper into debt."

Republicans hope that allowing the fiscal cliff compromise, which raised taxes without an equal amount of spending cuts, will settle the issue of tax rates for the coming debates on spending.

Read More..

In-depth 2012: The best long reads of the year

Read more: "2013 Smart Guide: 10 ideas that will shape the year"

Dig deeper, look closer and think harder – these are the goals of New Scientist's in-depth articles. Each one is perfect for saving in your favourite read-it-later app and curling up in front of a glowing tablet for a good long read.

These are our editors' picks of our best features of the year, and all are prime examples of the amazing breadth of big ideas that were ripe for the tackling in 2012. When you have finished digesting these readable meals, visit our in-depth articles archive if you're hungry for more.

Richard Webb: "You might not have heard of the algorithm that runs the world." I certainly hadn't, or that its mathematical foundations are starting to look a little wobbly. An eye-opening examination of how seemingly abstruse mathematics is in fact deeply embedded in modern life: "The algorithm that runs the world"

Sally Adee: Gastric bypass surgery is the best surgery you're not getting, said Dr Oz on his popular medical advice show in the US. Because of enthusiasm from people like him, this operation has become massively popular – but by whimsically hacking at our stomach, might we might be messing with a system far more complicated than anyone really understands? Samantha Murphy had the surgery and began to realise that losing 45 kilograms could come with some profound neurological trade-offs: "Change your stomach, change your brain"

Michael Le Page: Nowadays most people either haven't heard of the 1970 book The Limits to Growth, or believe – wrongly – that the research it was based on has been discredited. But the main message of Limits is perhaps more relevant than ever – that a delayed response to mounting environmental problems leads to catastrophe further down the line: "Boom and doom: Revisiting prophecies of collapse"

Richard Fisher: This is a simple story about a scientific mystery. Strange rumbles, whistles and blasts have been reported all over the world for centuries. In New York state, they are called "Seneca guns"; in the Italian Apennines they are described as brontidi, which means thunder-like; in Japan they are yan; and along the coast of Belgium they are called mistpouffers – or fog belches. Yet the cause is often unexplained – what on Earth could be behind them? "Mystery booms: The source of a worldwide sonic enigma"

Valerie Jamieson: It's been a sensational year for particle physics, but the Higgs boson isn't the only fascinating particle in town. Meet 11 more particles that change our understanding of the subatomic world: "11 particles for 11 physics puzzles"

David Robson: What is the secret of the legendary "flow state" that seems to mark out genius in everyone from piano virtuosos to tennis champions? With the latest brain stimulation techniques, it may soon be within everyone's reach, and Sally Adee writes with panache as she describes her own use of the technology during a terrifying marksmanship training session. This has everything I want to read in a story – drama, a revolutionary idea and some practical advice for anyone to try at home: "Zap your brain into the zone: Fast track to pure focus"

Graham Lawton: The writer of this article, Christopher Kemp, is a self-confessed lover of marginalia – nooks and crannies of science that are often overlooked. But as this beautifully written story reveals, those nooks and crannies often contain rich and fascinating material. Material, in fact, like ambergris: "Heaven scent: The grey gold from a sperm whale's gut"

Ben Crystall: Many people may remember the wonder material Starlite from an episode of BBC TV's Tomorrow's World – it seemed to have a miraculous ability to withstand fire and heat. So what happened to it? In this feature Richard Fisher uncovers the strange tale of Starlite and its eccentric inventor Maurice Ward, and on the way reveals fascinating details about Ward and his creation. And though Ward is dead, the story may not be over – it now looks like Starlite could get a second chance… "The power of cool: Whatever became of Starlite?"

Clare Wilson: I enjoyed working on this feature the most this year because to me it truly represents the future of medicine. New Scientist often predicts that some new medicine or technology will be available in five years' time. When it comes to using gene therapies or stem cell therapies on babies in the womb – the subject of this feature – the timeline is probably more uncertain, yet I don't see how anyone can doubt that some day it will happen: "Fetal healing: Curing congenital diseases in the womb"

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

All comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.

If you are having a technical problem posting a comment, please contact technical support.

Read More..

Football: Brazil starlet Lucas relishing PSG challenge

DOHA: Brazilian international midfielder Lucas Moura said Tuesday he is ready to embrace the "challenge" at an evolving Paris Saint-Germain.

Lucas, 20, signed from Sao Paulo in the summer on a four-and-a-half-year deal worth 40 million euros as PSG held off competition from the likes of Manchester United and Real Madrid to snare a player hailed as one of the bright hopes of the Brazilian team.

"It's a real challenge for me," said Lucas, who has scored three goals in 22 appearances for Brazil.

"PSG is in full evolution. (Sporting director) Leonardo helped me a lot to take the decision to sign when I could have continued with my former team in Brazil until season's end.

"It's a very important step in my career. There are stronger competitions in Europe. PSG has a long history with Brazilian players and I hope I'll be able to write a new page in this history."

PSG president Nasser al-Khelaifi added: "We're very happy to start the year with one of the world's best players."

Lucas, who has joined his new teammates at a training camp in Qatar, could make his debut in a friendly against Qatari champions Lekhwiya on Wednesday, four days before PSG's French Cup round-of-64 match against Arras in Calais.

Khelaifi said the club was not planning to recruit any more players in the January transfer window, adding however that "anything could happen".

"We've got a great team with some great players, I don't think we need to recruit," he said.

"We've got a month ahead of us. For the moment, we're not planning on recruiting anyone but I don't know, there could be injuries, anything can happen."

Khelaifi added: "PSG today wants to build a big European club and place itself among the best in Europe and the world.

"We have to spend money for that and act like the other big clubs. If we hadn't have spent this much, we wouldn't be at this level."

- AFP/fa

Read More..

Why I still love the Nexus 7

There's something about the holidays and the cold January that often follows in the Northeast that makes me want to curl up on the couch with a good book -- or in this day and age, a book on my e-reader or
tablet.

The
Nexus 7 debuted more than six months ago at Google's annual developer conference, but I am still a big fan of the device. And I have no trouble recommending it to tablet buyers.

In this edition of Ask Maggie, I explain why the Nexus 7 is still a good device at a decent price. One Ask Maggie reader is tired of squinting to read books on his smartphone, but he's troubled by the $200 price tag. Meanwhile, the second reader is debating whether to get the smaller 7-inch Nexus 7 mini-tablet or a bigger
Android tablet from Samsung.

Nexus 7 or e-reader?

Dear Maggie,
I am debating whether I should get the Nexus 7 or not. The primary reason is the fact that I read books from the Google Play Store on my Razr Maxx right now and would love to have a larger screen that is portable. But at this point I have managed to read on the smaller screen, and I'm not sure spending $200 for a bigger screen makes sense. I've looked at e-readers, but if I am going to spend any money on a new device, I'd like to have the ability to do other things in addition to reading books. It would be great to be able to read email, play games, watch movies, etc.

I don't like using my computer for Web browsing and reading, but my smartphone seems too small. Do you think I should spend the $200 to get another device like the Nexus 7?

Based on your experiences, what would you recommend?

Thanks,
MagicWithMeaning

Dear MagicWithMeaning,
I hear you. I also think that a smartphone is too small for reading, although I know some people who don't mind it. My colleague Stephen Shankland read the entire Steve Jobs biography on his smartphone in a single night and wrote an amazing review of the book when it came out. I am afraid if I had attempted the same thing, I would have gone blind. And I probably would have only gotten through a quarter of the book in a night.

There's an array of options when it comes to choosing a device for reading e-books.

(Credit:
Sarah Tew/CNET)

At any rate, as I said, some people really don't mind the smaller size of a smartphone. And since you can magnify the text, it's certainly doable. But it sounds like you don't find this situation ideal. And I'm with you.

I think the Nexus 7 is a terrific step up, and I highly recommend it to readers. It's very light, and the size is perfect. It's about the size of a typical paperback book and can easily be held with one hand. It fits nicely into a pocket or purse, so it's portable if you read while commuting or traveling.

And since it comes with the full Android OS, you can access just about anything from the Google Play store. I mention this because other tablets of a similar size, such as the Kindle Fire, offer only a limited catalog of books, games, and movies. Whatever is available via Amazon is what's available on the Kindle Fire. This is great if you are already using that ecosystem to purchase your books and other media. But it sounds like you are already getting books and other stuff via the Google Play store, so it makes sense for you to continue using that ecosystem.

I know the $200 price tag isn't cheap. But it's a good deal considering how much other gadgets cost. Even full-priced smartphones are $400 to $500 more than the Wi-Fi only Nexus 7 tablet.

If you're looking to do more with your device, then the mini-tablet is a good pick over something like a dedicated e-reader. But the one thing I like about e-readers is the e-ink display. I think that display is a bit easier on my eyes, and I can sit and read a book for much longer than if I am using a device like the Nexus 7, which has a backlit screen.

But that is just my personal preference. I know plenty of people who don't have a problem with backlit screens. And in fact, it makes it easier to read in the dark, something that can't be done with an e-ink device.

I agree that if you're looking for the most bang for your buck, you might as well get a tablet that will give you a full browser and access to entire an app store instead of a limited-use e-reader.

Samsung Galaxy Note 2

(Credit:
Josh Miller/CNET)

But there is one option that you didn't mention in your question. What about getting a "phablet?" If you are able to upgrade to a new smartphone soon you may want to consider something like the Galaxy Note 2. With a 5.5-inch display, it's between the size of most Android smartphones and the 7-inch Nexus 7 tablet. It costs about $300 from carriers such as AT&T with a two-year contract. This is more than other smartphones such as the Galaxy S3. And it's more than the Nexus 7. But if you did need a new smartphone and you didn't want to buy a separate device, it might be a good compromise.

If a new smartphone isn't in the cards for you right now and you really are teetering on the edge of whether to buy the Nexus 7 or not, I'd say go for it. I know that $200 is nothing to sneeze at for many people. But when compared to larger tablets and full-priced smartphones, it's a bargain.

If you are strapped for cash, you could always wait a little longer to see if Google announces a cheaper version of the device. There are some reports from Asia that Google may be readying a $99 mini-tablet.

I hope this advice was helpful. And good luck!

Nexus 7 vs. Galaxy Tab 2 10.1

Dear Maggie,
I'm getting my first Android tablet, but I'm on a strict budget. I have wanted the Nexus 7 for a while, but found a great deal ($270) for a refurbished Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1. Which is better?

Thanks,
TEP

Dear TEP,
The answer to your question really depends on which screen size you like better. The Galaxy Tab 2 has a bigger 10-inch screen, while the Nexus 7 has the smaller 7-inch screen. Personally, I prefer the smaller screen to the bigger one. The smaller tablets are easier to stick in a pocket, bag, or purse. And you can hold it with one hand. I use the Nexus 7 for reading, and I find that it's fairly light and easy to hold with one hand.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1

(Credit:
Samsung)

That said, the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 is a fine device. And it has gotten decent marks from CNET and other tech reviewers. If you like that size device and you want an Android tablet, then that is a good device to consider. And the price certainly sounds right.

But if the size is really a toss-up, and you could go either way, then I would still choose the Nexus 7. CNET rated it as one of the best Android tablets on the market. And at $200 brand new, it's still $70 less than the refurbished Galaxy Tab 2 that you have found.

I hope this advice was helpful. Good luck. And Happy New Year!

Ask Maggie is an advice column that answers readers' wireless and broadband questions. The column now appears twice a week on CNET, offering readers a double dosage of Ask Maggie's advice. If you have a question, I'd love to hear from you. Please send me an e-mail at maggie dot reardon at cbs dot com. And please put "Ask Maggie" in the subject header. You can also follow me on Facebook on my Ask Maggie page.

Read More..

Space Pictures This Week: Ice “Broccoli,” Solar Storm

• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Happy Trails

  Photograph by Alex Cherney, TWAN

  Amateur astronomer Alex Cherney captured these star trails as they blazed above Lake Tyrrell, a salt lake in Victoria, Australia in October 2011 and posted to The World At Night website December 25, 2012.

  (See pictures of another Australian salt lake, Lake Eyre.)

  Published December 31, 2012

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Tokyo From Space

  
  Image courtesy DLR

  The sprawling Japanese capital Tokyo looks like a funky computer chip in this image taken by Germany's Earth-observing satellite TerraSAR-X and released December 20.

  Launched in 2007, the satellite's radar sensors map Earth from 319 miles (514 kilometers) up in a near-polar orbit.

  Published December 31, 2012

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Extreme View

  
  Image courtesy SDO/NASA

  NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory snapped this extreme ultraviolet view of an active region on the sun as it rotated into view from December 16 to December 18. Ultraviolet light makes it easier to trace the whorls and loops created by superheated gas, or plasma, and the sun's magnetic field lines.

  Active solar regions such as this create space weather that, when aimed at Earth, can disrupt satellite communications and electronics. (See more pictures of solar activity and space weather.)

  Published December 31, 2012

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Saturn’s Dark Side

  
  Image courtesy SSI/Caltech/NASA

  This image of the unlit side of Saturn's S rings, released December 24, was taken with visible light by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

  The shadow of Saturn's innermost major moon, Mimas, is visible as a black oval south of the rings' shadow. For those with completely dust-free computer monitors, Janus, another Saturnian moon, is visible as a tiny white speck above the planet's north pole. (Learn about Saturn's major moons.)

  Published December 31, 2012

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  A River Runs Through It

  
  Image courtesy ESA/JAXA

  The European Space Agency released this picture—taken by Japan's satellite ALOS—of Italy's longest river on December 14.

  The Po river and its surrounding fields divide Italy into its northern and southern regions. The Japanese used ALOS, which they lost contact with in late April 2011, to generate precise land maps, monitor disasters, and conduct resource surveys. (Read an excerpt from National Geographic magazine about the Po river.)

  Published December 31, 2012

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Glacial "Broccoli"

  
  Image from DigitalGlobe/Getty Images

  The Moshniy glacier, located on the Russian archipelago Novaya Zemlya in the Arctic Ocean, calves chunks of ice and debris into a pattern reminiscent of broccoli in an image released December 20.

  Novaya Zemlya was a sensitive military area during the Cold War, and was also the site of the most powerful nuclear device ever detonated. The energy released by the 50-megaton "Tsar" bomb was ten times that of all the explosions set off during World War II.

  Published December 31, 2012

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Image courtesy Caltech/SSI/NASA

  Published December 31, 2012

  
  

');

---

 $'+ doc.ngstore_price_t +'';
html += ' $'+ doc.ngstore_saleprice_t +'';
} else {
html += ' $'+ doc.ngstore_price_t +'';
}
html += '

';

$("#ecom_43331 ul.ecommerce_all_img").append(html);




o.totItems++;

}// end for loop
} // end if data.response.numFound != 0

if(o.totItems != o.maxItems){
if(o.defaultItems.length > 0){
o.getItemByID(o.defaultItems.shift());
} else if(o.isSearchPage && !o.searchComplete){
o.doSearchPage();
} else if(!o.searchComplete) {
o.byID = false;
o.doSearch();
}
}// end if
}// end parseResults function

o.trim = function(str) {
return str.replace(/^\s\s*/, '').replace(/\s\s*$/, '');
}

o.doSearchPage = function(){
o.byID = false;

var tempSearch = window.location.search;
var searchTerms ="default";
var temp;

if( tempSearch.substr(0,7) == "?search"){
temp = tempSearch.substr(7).split("&");
searchTerms = temp[0];
} else {
temp = tempSearch.split("&");
for(var j=0;j 0){
o.getItemByID(o.defaultItems.shift());
} else if(o.isSearchPage){
o.doSearchPage();
} else {
o.doSearch();
}

}// end init function

}// end ecommerce object

var store_43331 = new ecommerce_43331();





store_43331.init();

Read More..