Earth may be crashing through dark matter walls

Earth is constantly crashing through huge walls of dark matter, and we already have the tools to detect them. That's the conclusion of physicists who say the universe may be filled with a patchwork quilt of force fields created shortly after the big bang.

Observations of how mass clumps in space suggest that about 86 per cent of all matter is invisible dark matter, which interacts with ordinary matter mainly through gravity. The most popular theory is that dark matter is made of weakly interacting massive particles.

WIMPs should also interact with ordinary matter via the weak nuclear force, and their presence should have slight but measurable effects. However, years of searches for WIMPs have been coming up empty.

"So far nothing is found, and I feel like it's time to broaden the scope of our search," says Maxim Pospelov of the University of Victoria in Canada. "What we propose is to look for some other signatures."

Bubbly cosmos

Pospelov and colleagues have been examining a theory that at least some of the universe's dark matter is tied up in structures called domain walls, akin to the boundaries between tightly packed bubbles. The idea is that the hot early universe was full of an exotic force field that varied randomly. As the universe expanded and cooled, the field froze, leaving a patchwork of domains, each with its own distinct value for the field.

Having different fields sit next to each other requires energy to be stored within the domain walls. Mass and energy are interchangeable, so on a large scale a network of domain walls can look like concentrations of mass – that is, like dark matter, says Pospelov.

If the grid of domain walls is packed tightly enough – say, if the width of the domains is several hundred times the distance between Earth and the sun – Earth should pass through a domain wall once every few years. "As a human, you wouldn't feel a thing," says Pospelov. "You will go through the wall without noticing." But magnetometers – devices that, as the name suggests, measure magnetic fields – could detect the walls, say Pospelov and colleagues in a new study. Although the field inside a domain would not affect a magnetometer, the device would sense the change when Earth passes through a domain wall.

Dark matter walls have not been detected yet because anyone using a single magnetometer would find the readings swamped by noise, Pospelov says. "You'd never be able to say if it's because the Earth went through a bizarre magnetic field or if a grad student dropped their iPhone or something," he says.

Network needed

Finding the walls will require a network of at least five detectors spread around the world, Pospelov suggests. Colleagues in Poland and California have already built one magnetometer each and have shown that they are sensitive enough for the scheme to work.

Domain walls wouldn't account for all the dark matter in the universe, but they could explain why finding particles of the stuff has been such a challenge, says Pospelov.

If domain walls are found, the news might come as a relief to physicists still waiting for WIMPs to show up. Earlier this month, for instance, a team working with a detector in Russia that has been running for more than 24 years announced that they have yet to see any sign of these dark matter candidates.

Douglas Finkbeiner of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who was not involved in Pospelov's study, isn't yet convinced that dark matter walls exist. But he is glad that physicists are keeping an open mind about alternatives to WIMPs.

"We've looked for WIMP dark matter in so many ways," he says. "At some point you have to ask, are we totally on the wrong track?"

Journal reference: Physical Review Letters, DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.021803

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One Connect launched in Bishan-Toa Payoh Constituency

SINGAPORE: The Bishan-Toa Payoh Group Representation Constituency is the latest to get a one-stop service for private estate residents to call.

Called One Connect, the residents can use the helpline if they are unsure which agency to contact when there are estate maintenance issues.

Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen launched the service on Saturday, along with fellow Members of Parliament for the constituency.

Managed by the People's Association, One Connect also aims to promote community bonding programmes by driving the formation of interest groups.

The service has already been introduced in other estates like Nee Soon, Ang Mo Kio, and Marine Parade.

The People's Association hopes to have One Connect rolled out island-wide by March 2013.

- CNA/fa

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Recalibrate your expectations of how good an in-ear headphone can sound

I've been listening to Jerry Harvey's custom-molded in-ear headphones for years. The very first one, the UE10, was a game changer; in 2006 it was the best sounding in-ear headphone I'd heard. Now with his new Freqphase JH13 and JH16 in-ears, Harvey's done it again. The performance gains in clarity, detail, resolution, and stereo imaging are huge -- the adrenaline-pumping sound of the music you love over a set of Harvey's headphones can't be matched by any other in-ear 'phones.

The Jerry Harvey JH13 Freqphase in-ear headphone.

(Credit:
Steve Guttenberg/CNET)

Years before he made headphones, Harvey mixed stage monitor sound for Kiss, Van Halen, David Lee Roth, The Cult, KD Lang, Linkin Park, and many others, and that background led to his inventing the in-ear stage monitor/headphone. He founded Ultimate Ears, but now runs Jerry Harvey Audio. The man's passion for great sound knows no bounds, and he still makes time to hit the road. Harvey was on the Van Halen tour from January through June of 2012. Perfecting in-ear headphone design balanced with working with live music keep Harvey in the game.

The new $1,099 "Freqphase" JH13 and $1,149 JH16 headphones use the same types of balanced armature drivers that were in the older JH Audio models, but everything else has been redesigned. There's a new crossover network for the separate bass, midrange, and treble drivers, and the silicone tubes that direct the sound out to your ears are tuned in a new way. My photo comparing the old and new JH13 shows how different the two headphones are.

The new JH13 nails the sound of drums' dynamic attack and punch like no other in-ear I've tested. I don't spend a lot of time listening to very loud music, but I will say the Freqphase headphones sound amazing when cranked way up. The sound never turns harsh or aggressive. Listening at saner levels, the resolution is still quite extraordinary. Classical music was well served by the new headphones' sound.

The new JH13 (left), compared with the original JH13 (right).

(Credit:
Steve Guttenberg/CNET)

I'm hearing finer details of the mixes of favorite old recordings that I've heard hundreds of times, which makes the recordings sound fresher and sometimes better than I thought they were. The Freqphase JH16's sound is similar, but it has more low bass punch and impact than the JH13. The original JH16's bass could sometimes be overwhelming and too thick for my taste, but the new '16's bass definition is excellent.

I did the bulk of my listening for these tests with the headphones plugged into my
iPod Classic, listening to Apple Lossless files. I also tried the Freqphase headphones with my ALO Rx-Mk3B portable headphone amp and AlgoRhythm Solo digital-to-analog converter. The gains in see-through transparency and sheer believability of the sound were impressive, but I didn't want to get side-tracked by what the separate amp and DAC brought to the sound, so I continued with just the
iPod Classic.

Sure, the better universal-fit in-ear headphones, such as the $400 Ultimate Ears UE 900, which also use separate bass, midrange and treble balanced armature drivers can sound great. It's the best-sounding universal fit I've heard for the money, but it pales in comparison to the JH13. The UE 900 doesn't block external noise as effectively; it has limited dynamics and bass definition/power, and reduced high-frequency extension and "air" so the Black Keys' raunchy blues are scaled back. The JH13 lets the 'Keys rock out more; the difference is far from subtle. I still love the UE 900 and recommend it in its price point, but if you can afford a great custom like the JH13 or JH16 you won't be sorry.

JH Audio offers only headphones that are custom-molded to your ear canals -- they don't make universal-fit headphones. To have a set of customs made you need to first visit an audiologist to have "impressions" of your ear canals made and sent to JH Audio's factory in Apopka, Florida. Custom headphones block external noise better than universal-fit models, so you can turn down the volume when listening in noisy environments. Customs are as effective as battery-powered noise-canceling headphones, and sound better.

The JH13's sound is a revelation, but how does it compare with full-size audiophile headphones, like the $1,000 Sennheiser HD 700? The JH13 was really good, but the HD 700 was more relaxed, richer, fuller, and even more open sounding. Still, I'd never use the HD 700 in the subway, plugged into my iPod.

My $2,000 UE Personal Reference Monitors (PRM) were "designed" by me, and built with the equalization curves I selected. My PRMs sound absolutely amazing, but the JH13s' clarity and soundstage accuracy trumps those of the PRMs. Harvey knows a lot more about what it takes to make great sound than I do!

The JH13 and JH16 Freqphase in-ear headphones advance the state of the art. They're highly recommended.

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Attack at Algeria Gas Plant Heralds New Risks for Energy Development

The siege by Islamic militants at a remote Sahara desert natural gas plant in Algeria this week signaled heightened dangers in the region for international oil companies, at a time when they have been expanding operations in Africa as one of the world's last energy frontiers. (See related story: "Pictures: Four New Offshore Drilling Frontiers.")

As BP, Norway's Statoil, Italy's Eni, and other companies evacuated personnel from Algeria, it was not immediately clear how widely the peril would spread in the wake of the hostage-taking at the sprawling In Amenas gas complex near the Libyan border.

Map by National Geographic

Algeria, the fourth-largest crude oil producer on the continent and a major exporter of natural gas and refined fuels, may not have been viewed as the most hospitable climate for foreign energy companies, but that was due to unfavorable financial terms, bureaucracy, and corruption. The energy facilities themselves appeared to be safe, with multiple layers of security provided both by the companies and by government forces, several experts said. (See related photos: "Oil States: Are They Stable? Why It Matters.")

"It is particularly striking not only because it hasn't happened before, but because it happened in Algeria, one of the stronger states in the region," says Hanan Amin-Salem, a senior manager at the industry consulting firm PFC Energy, who specializes in country risk. She noted that in the long civil war that gripped the country throughout the 1990s, there had never been an attack on Algeria's energy complex. But now, hazard has spread from weak surrounding states, as the assault on In Amenas was carried out in an apparent retaliation for a move by French forces against the Islamists who had taken over Timbuktu and other towns in neighboring Mali. (See related story: "Timbuktu Falls.")

"What you're really seeing is an intensification of the fundamental problem of weak states, and empowerment of heavily armed groups that are really well motivated and want to pursue a set of aims," said Amin-Salem. In PFC Energy's view, she says, risk has increased in Mauritania, Chad, and Niger—indeed, throughout Sahel, the belt that bisects North Africa, separating the Sahara in the north from the tropical forests further south.

On Thursday, the London-based corporate consulting firm Exclusive Analysis, which was recently acquired by the global consultancy IHS, sent an alert to clients warning that oil and gas facilities near the Libyan and Mauritanian borders and in Mauritania's Hodh Ech Chargui province were at "high risk" of attack by jihadis.

"A Hot Place to Drill"

The attack at In Amenas comes at a time of unprecedented growth for the oil industry in Africa. (See related gallery: "Pictures: The Year's Most Overlooked Energy Stories.") Forecasters expect that oil output throughout Africa will double by 2025, says Amy Myers Jaffe, executive director of the energy and sustainability program at the University of California, Davis, who has counted 20 rounds of bidding for new exploration at sites in Africa's six largest oil-producing states.

Oil and natural gas are a large part of the Algerian economy, accounting for 60 percent of government budget revenues, more than a third of GDP and more than 97 percent of its export earnings. But the nation's resources are seen as largely undeveloped, and Algeria has tried to attract new investment. Over the past year, the government has sought to reform the law to boost foreign companies' interests in their investments, although those efforts have foundered.

Technology has been one of the factors driving the opening up of Africa to deeper energy exploration. Offshore and deepwater drilling success in the Gulf of Mexico and Brazil led to prospecting now under way offshore in Ghana, Mozambique, and elsewhere. (See related story: "New Oil—And a Huge Challenge—for Ghana.") Jaffe says the Houston-based company Anadarko Petroleum has sought to transfer its success in "subsalt seismic" exploration technology, surveying reserves hidden beneath the hard salt layer at the bottom of the sea, to the equally challenging seismic exploration beneath the sands of the Sahara in Algeria, where it now has three oil and gas operations.

Africa also is seen as one of the few remaining oil-rich regions of the world where foreign oil companies can obtain production-sharing agreements with governments, contracts that allow them a share of the revenue from the barrels they produce, instead of more limited service contracts for work performed.

"You now have the technology to tap the resources more effectively, and the fiscal terms are going to be more attractive than elsewhere—you put these things together and it's been a hot place to drill," says Jaffe, who doesn't see the energy industry's interest in Africa waning, despite the increased terrorism risk. "What I think will happen in some of these countries is that the companies are going to reveal new securities systems and procedures they have to keep workers safe," she says. "I don't think they will abandon these countries."

This story is part of a special series that explores energy issues. For more, visit The Great Energy Challenge.

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Inauguration to Cost Millions But Total Price Unclear

How much will all the inaugural events cost? It's hard to say.

While most events that occur in the capital have a hard-and-fast budget, the inauguration's many moving parts, safety concerns and large geographic reach make it hard to quantify – especially before the main event.

In 2009, ABC reported the total cost of Obama's first inauguration was $170 million. While incumbent presidents historically spend less on a second inauguration, it's unclear what the total bill will be this time around. Analysis of some of the known appropriations so far puts the total at $13.637 million, but it will no doubt be a much larger price tag when everything is accounted for.

RELATED: 12 Things You Didn't Know About the Inauguration

One of the main chunks missing from this year's tab is the budget for the Presidential Inaugural Committee – the group responsible for using donated money to put together this year's celebrations, including National Day of Service, the Kids' Inaugural Concert, the Parade and the Inaugural Balls.

In 2009, the PIC collected more than $53 million in donations, according to a report filed with the Federal Elections Commission 90 days after the inauguration.

Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Politically Dressed: Inauguration First Daughters Watch Video

While enthusiasm for the inauguration was running higher that year, it is possible the PIC will haul in more money this time around, as they have eliminated some of the self-imposed regulations on the kinds of donations they can accept. For his first inauguration, President Obama did not take money from corporations or gifts that exceeded $50,000.

In 2013, his committee did away with those rules. PIC spokesman Brent Colburn would not say why the change took place, insisting that each committee operates independently from the precedent set by the inaugurations before – even if staff like Colburn are repeats on the committee from 2009.

RELATED: Inauguration Weekend: A Star-Powered Lineup

The PIC also won't say how much they have already collected or even what their goal was. Colburn explained that these are "moving budgets," which won't stabilize until after the inauguration.

They have, however, released the names of donors on their website weekly. As of Friday afternoon, they were up to 993 donors.

Another leg of the costs is covered by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. They take care of the swearing-in ceremony and the Congressional luncheon. For those events they have a total budget of $1.237 million, down by about $163,000 from 2009. Whereas the PIC budget comes from donations, the American taxpayers foot the bill for the JCCIC.

Beyond those two inauguration-focused groups, there are a myriad of broader organizations that spend money on the inauguration as well.

RELATED: Plenty of Room at the Inns for 2013 Inauguration

A Congressional Research Service report from December says the government spent $22 million reimbursing local and state governments and the National Park Service for their participation in the 2009 inauguration, but that figure is low. The D.C. government alone received twice that amount, according to the mayor's office. Officials from D.C., Maryland and Virginia estimated their total need to be $75 million.

NPS got an appropriation from Congress of $1.2 million so far this year, according to communications officer Carol Johnson, and another $1.4 million went to the U.S. Park Police.

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Moth navigation probed to improve micro-drone flight

It turns out moths are far better at video games than we might have thought. When navigating through a virtual forest, hawkmoths determine their route ahead of time depending on how much of the forest they can see. Mimicking their strategy might help us improve the flying ability of the micro-drones now being built.

Moths certainly see the world differently from humans as they zip along at 25 wingbeats per second. To figure out how they use landmarks to aid their navigation, Yonatan Munk of the University of Washington in Seattle created a virtual forest containing various amounts of "fog" that obscured the virtual trees. He then tied a hawkmoth (Manduca sexta) to an input device in front of the screen. This device detected when the moth was turning and caused the visualisation to respond accordingly.

"I'm essentially giving the moth a joystick," Munk said at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology meeting in San Francisco, where he presented the research last week.

The simple animation (see video) tricked the moth into navigating through the trees it saw. Similar techniques have been used to fool fruit flies, mice and fish. When the insect thought it was about to crash into a tree, it would often flail its legs as though trying to land or slow down.

Munk and his colleagues set up three virtual environmental scenarios to see whether moths always navigate through trees in the same way. Surprisingly, they found that the moths changed their strategy depending on visibility conditions.

If virtual "fog" rendered visibility so poor that the moth had just quarter of a second to respond to approaching obstacles, it would fly in wide circles until it found a tree, which it then used as a reference point.

Next, the researchers lifted the virtual fog slightly, giving the moth about 2 seconds to respond to obstacles. Now, if trees loomed to the left or right, the moths veered sharply towards them.

Information filter

Finally, with no fog at all, the moth could see trees even a virtual kilometre away. Now there was no longer a correlation between the moth's left and right turns and the total number of trees visible to its left or right, says Munk. However, there was a correlation between its turns and the number and position of nearby trees – in other words, moths ignored visible distant trees when navigating in very clear conditions.

It's interesting that the moths appear to plan their strategy ahead of time depending on how much of their environment they can see, says Mark Willis of Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio. "We're used to thinking of insects as little stimulus-response machines."

By controlling what an insect encounters in a virtual reality world, researchers can tease apart how the creatures integrate different sensory inputs while navigating, says Willis. This information is important if we are to design effective flight navigation algorithms for micro-drones similar in size to the moths. "We're starting to understand what's going on in those beady little bug brains," Willis says.

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.

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Football: Valdes stuns Barcelona by refusing to renew contract

BARCELONA: Barcelona keeper Victor Valdes stunned the Liga leaders by informing them he will not renew his contract when it expires next year before they even had a chance to make an offer, officials said on Friday.

The 31-year-old player's representatives met with the club on Thursday and told them of the "irrevocable decision not to renew his contract, thus avoiding entering into financial discussions," Valdes' agent Gines Carvajal said in a statement.

Barcelona sports director Andoni Zubizarreta said the club had been expecting to discuss renewing the contract for their first-choice keeper.

"We were holding the first meeting to initiate the process for renewing Victor's contract," Zubizarreta told Barca TV.

"The meeting began with us expressing the club's desire to extend his contract because we consider him to be a top class goalkeeper.

"But before we could make any proposal or discuss anything, his agent said the decision was already made and meditated, and that he will not be staying any later than June 30, 2014. It is an irrevocable decision."

Valdes has been at Barcelona since 2002.

His Facebook page was flooded with comments from fans, some angry at the news, others pleading with him to stay, asking why he wanted to go, or just wishing him the best in the future.

Despite being taken by surprise by Valdes' decision, Barcelona urged fans to show respect for their keeper.

"We are asking you to continue supporting him and to encourage him as much as you have done throughout his career," Zubizarreta said.

"He is committed to this jersey until June 30, 2014 and will defend the goal with everything he has and knows.

"Meanwhile, we will work together to see what the next steps should be, along with him and his agent, to work together to deal with this situation that arose yesterday."

Barcelona are currently 11 points clear of second-placed Atletico Madrid at the top of the Spanish league, and a massive 18 points ahead of perennial rivals and defending champions Real Madrid.

- AFP/de

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Unlimited Verizon data customers beware: Make sure your next phone is 4G

Some Verizon Wireless subscribers will do almost anything to keep their unlimited data plans. And that includes buying a new device at full price instead of signing a two year contract and taking a sweet subsidy on that new phone.

But what happens when a Verizon subscriber who bought a 3G iPhone realizes she may still see her unlimited data service slowed? In this edition of Ask Maggie, I explain the finer points of Verizon's unlimited data policy and why 3G device users need to be careful. I also help another reader decide if the Verizon Share Plan could work for him and his wife.

Did you know Verizon throttles unlimited data customers?!?!?

Dear Maggie,
Verizon is now throttling "unlimited data" customers. I just got a text stating that my data usage will be cut off. The explanation is that the "network optimization" kicked in and blah, blah, blah. I'm a little ticked off since, I just bought an iPhone to keep my unlimited data plan. Keep in mind his phone is 3G so it's not exactly blazing fast either.Verizon reps I talked to claim this policy has been in place for a while, but it's the first I have heard of it.

I think the Verizon customers need to be warned,especially since people are going out and spending $500 and $600 to buy phones at full price to keep these unlimited data plans that are not really unlimited. Can you please look into this and explain what's going on here?

Thanks,
RPreston

Dear RPreston,
You are correct that Verizon Wireless does "throttle" or slow down customers on its unlimited data plans who use excessive amounts of data.

I wrote about this in my Ask Maggie column in March last year. Verizon targets the top 5 percent of the heaviest data users. But the company uses network optimization technology to only slow down those heavy data users when the network is actually congested.

The way it works is that if you use more than 2GB of data per month, Verizon is likely to identify you as being in the top 5 percent of data users. Once you've been identified as a heavy data user, when the cell site you are in gets congested, Verizon will slow down your access until the network is no longer so crowded.

Once the congestion has subsided or you move to a different cell site that isn't congested, your speed returns to normal. Depending on how congested the network is your service could be slowed for a few minutes or for several hours.

Keep in mind this policy only applies to customers with unlimited data plans on the 3G network. Verizon doesn't slow down data for 4G customers. This means that if you have an
iPhone 5 with 4G and you live in an area where Verizon offers 4G LTE service, you should never have your data throttled or slowed down even if you use more than 2GB of data per month.

Why is there a distinction? The 3G wireless network as you note in your question is much slower. It's also much more crowded than the new 4G network. Since Verizon services more customers on a network that doesn't have as much capacity, there is more opportunity for congestion.

Verizon's 4G LTE network offers much more capacity than the 3G network. Think of the two networks as highways. The 3G network is a four lane dual highway where traffic moves just fine during off peak hours. But during rush hour, it may turn into a parking lot as too many
cars crowd the roadway. The 4G LTE network may be an eight lane highway with four lanes in each direction. Because the road is wider it can handle twice as many cars. So during rush hour, cars are able to still move freely.

In other words, Verizon still has plenty of capacity on its 4G LTE network. The road is bigger and there are actually fewer drivers on it. Although that is quickly changing. In October, the company said that in September its 4G LTE network handled 35 percent of its mobile data traffic. And that figure was expected to cross the 50 percent mark by the end of the year.

The Apple iPhone 4S, in black and white.

(Credit:
Apple)

So what does all of this mean for Verizon subscribers who want to keep their unlimited data plans? As you mentioned in your question, in order for existing customers who already have unlimited data plans with Verizon to keep those unlimited plans, they have to buy a device at full price. If you get a new phone and take Verizon's subsidy with a two-year contract, you have to buy a tiered plan or family share plan.

If you want to keep that unlimited data plan, my suggestion is to make sure you are buying a 4G LTE device. It sounds like you bought an older version of the iPhone that doesn't support 4G LTE. The only model that supports 4G LTE is the iPhone 5. The iPhone 4 and
iPhone 4S still operate on 3G networks.

Most if not all smartphones introduced on Verizon's network today will support 4G LTE. So if you are buying one of the latest and greatest phones, you won't have to worry about whether it's 4G or not. But if you are trying to save a little cash and you are looking at older devices or used smartphones, just be sure that the phone you purchase supports 4G LTE. If you do, you won't have to worry about Verizon throttling you. You can use as much data as you like without fear.

Unfortunately, in your situation, you already have a 3G iPhone, which paid for outright. So the only way to avoid potentially having your network service slowed is to keep usage under 2GB. Use Wi-Fi hotspots when you can. If this doesn't work for you, you can always sell your 3G iPhone and buy an iPhone 5.

I hope this advice was helpful. And good luck.

Is Verizon's Shared Data plan really worth it?

Dear Maggie,
I have Motorola Droid 2's from Verizon Wireless. The plan is to put them on Verizon's service and pay month-to-month to see how it goes. I will use mine almost exclusively for talking with minimum text messages and minimum data. My wife will use more of these services on her Droid 2 than I will. My questions are this: Does this make good economic sense for us to do this? And how do I calculate how much data to buy?

Thanks,
J

Dear J,
It sounds like you already own the Motorola Droid 2 devices that you plan to use on Verizon's network. That's good news for you since it means that you can sign up for a Verizon plan without a contract. If you don't take a subsidy for a new phone when you sign up for service, you don't have to sign a two-year service contract.

Droid 2

(Credit:
Sarah Tew/CNET)

I'm not sure what your existing service is. As I wrote in my column earlier this week, it's probably cheaper for you to use a basic feature phone if you don't plan on using data services. If you do want a smartphone and you're looking for the least expensive options, then prepaid service plans from regional carriers are often priced more aggressively than what you will find with Verizon.

But since you already have two Verizon smartphones that you've already bought, it makes sense to use Verizon service. (Sometimes you can use a Verizon phone with a prepaid service that uses Verizon's network, but that can be tricky. Your easiest bet is to just use the phones on the Verizon network.)

If you are a new customer to Verizon and you want to use smartphones on your plan, you will have to sign up for a family share plan. The least expensive plan will give you unlimited talk and text messaging for you and your wife, plus 1GB of data to share between the two of you. The total cost is $130 a month.

Since you don't think you will use much data and it doesn't sound like your wife is a heavy data user, you will probably be fine with 1GB for the month. Verizon has a tool on its Website to help you estimate how much data you will need. And there are apps you can download onto your phones that will keep track of data and also compress some of your data, so you use less data. The one I use is called Onavo.

If you find that you need more data, you can always increase your plan and get another 1GB of data for a total of 2GB of data per month for $10 more a month. And if you find that Verizon's service is too expensive and you aren't using the data services very much, you can always cancel your service. Since you didn't get a phone subsidy with your service, you are free to cancel the service at any time without any penalty. So you might as give it a shot and see how goes for you.

Good luck!

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.

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First Human Contact With Large Emperor Penguin Colony

One of the largest emperor penguin colonies in Antarctica was discovered last month by a team from the International Polar Foundation's Princess Elisabeth station.

The penguin colony had previously been identified through satellite imagery by researchers from the British Antarctic Survey. The penguins themselves didn't show up very clearly, but their excrement stains on the ice did.

Expedition leader Alain Hubert, who has spent seven seasons in Antarctica, long suspected a colony existed somewhere along the vast coast near Princess Elisabeth station. "When you go on the coast," explained the Belgian explorer, "after ten minutes, penguins come out of the water to look at who you are and what you are doing."

The satellite images gave Hubert and his team a rough idea of where to start looking. When ice research brought them within 37 miles (60 kilometers) of the probable location, they hopped on their snowmobiles for a side trip. The team traversed steep crevasses from the continent's cliffs down to the ice shelf, which has been shifting 650 feet (200 meters) toward the sea each year. "We were lucky to find it," said Hubert.

They finally came upon the colony at 11 p.m. on December 3, when the sun was still shining during the Antarctic summer. Spread out on the ice were 9,000 emperor penguins, about three-quarters of them chicks. Despite his polar experience, Hubert had never seen a full colony before. "You can approach them," he said. "When you talk to them, it's like they are listening to you."

Researchers hope penguins will tell them—through population numbers and colony locations—how they are faring with climate change. Emperor penguins breed on the sea ice. If the ice breaks up early, before the chicks can fend for themselves, the chicks die and the future of the colony is imperiled.

Hubert has high hopes for his newly met neighbors because they located their nursery on top of an underwater rift, where the sea ice is less likely to melt. "They are quite clever, these animals."

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Manti Te'o's Fake Girlfriend May Have Duped Others

Notre Dame star linebacker Manti Te'o's fake girlfriend "Lennay Kekua" may have hoaxed other unsuspecting suitors.

"Catfish" movie director and actor Ariel Schulman told "Good Morning America" today that he believes there may have been "a few other people duped by the fake Lennay character."

Schulman and his brother Nev Schulman have been looking into the elaborate scam and claim to be corresponding with various players involved. They have come to believe that there were "a lot of other people that she was corresponding with before and maybe even during her relationship [with Te'o]."

Nev Schulman was the subject of the 2010 movie "Catfish," which spawned the TV series, because he himself was sucked in by an Internet pretender -- or a "catfish" -- who built an elaborate fake life.

As questions mount about Te'o's possible role in the complex scam, the number one question is whether Te'o was unknowingly ensnared, as he says, or whether he was complicit in the scam.

"I stand by the guy. My heart goes out to him," Ariel Schulman said. His brother has reached out to Te'o, but has not heard back.

"He had his heart broken," Schulman said. "He was grieving for someone, whether she existed or not. Those were real feelings."

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Te'o has kept a low-profile since the news of the scandal broke. He released a statement calling the situation "incredibly embarrassing" and maintaining that he was a victim of the hoax.

He was captured briefly by news cameras on Thursday at a Florida training facility, but has not spoken publicly.

As for the woman whose photo was used as the face of Lennay Kekua, "Inside Edition" has identified her as Diane O'Meara who is very much alive. The show caught up with her on Thursday, but she declined to comment.

ABC News' legal analyst Dan Abrams said that O'Meara may be the one person in the scandal with the power to sue since her likeness was taken and used without her permission.

As for Te'o, even if he knew about the deception, it appears that he did not do anything illegal.

"He's allowed to lie to the public. He's allowed to lie to the media. He's not allowed to lie to the authorities," Abrams said on "Good Morning America."

Questions also remain about the timeline of events and when Te'o discovered that the "love of his life," as he called her, was nothing more than a fake Internet persona.

According to Notre Dame's timeline of events, Te'o learned his girlfriend didn't exist on Dec. 6.

But in a Dec. 8 interview with South Bend, Ind., TV station WSBT, Te'o said, "I really got hit with cancer. I lost both my grandparents an my girlfriend to cancer." And on Dec. 11, he talked about his girlfriend in a newspaper interview.

Te'o alerted Notre Dame on Dec. 26 about the scam, the university said.

Click here for more scandalous public confessions.

Skeptics have also cited comments by Te'o's father Brian Te'o who told a newspaper how Kekua used to visit his son in Hawaii.

Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said the university launched their own investigation.

"Our investigators, through their work, were able to discover online chatter between the perpetrators," Swarbrick said at a Wednesday news conference. "That was sort of the ultimate proof."

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