Category: News

GUANTANAMO BAY — After a lengthy exchange in which Kobie Flowers, an attorney for Omar Khadr, sought to establish that preparatory material used by FBI Special Agent Robert Fuller, who interrogated Khadr six times at Bagram Air Field in October 2002, included material derived from abusive treatment — something Fuller resisted, but not firmly — Flowers introduced a twist. “I’m going to ask a question from Mr. Khadr,” Flowers said, in reference to his absent client, who he said passed him questions to ask Fuller. “Did you hear of any torture or mistreatment going on at Bagram?”

Fuller asked if Flowers wanted to give him “fact or rumor.” Answer as you like, Flowers replied. “I’m not aware of any factual information, but there were rumors as to some techniques,” Flowers said, like “yelling at detainees. Music played. Like I said, I don’t have factual knowledge of that.” He was, Flowers helped him remember, aware of at least one military interrogator who was court-martialed for detainee mistreatment, and possibly a second.

Flowers continued, passing on a second question from Khadr: “Did you hear of any detainee deaths?”

“I did hear about one,” Fuller answered. (Two detainees are known to have died in U.S. custody in Bagram in 2002: Dilawar and Habibullah. Both were killed by U.S. forces in the detention facility in December 2002, after Fuller interrogated Khadr that October. It isn’t clear to me whether Fuller is referring to one of them, or referring to a contemporaneous other death he knew about.)

The prosecution challenged the relevance of Flowers’/Khadr’s questions, but Flowers replied that they spoke to whether an environment existed at Bagram conducive to uncoerced statements. Fuller added that as per FBI protocol at the time — something documented in a recent Justice Department inspector general report into FBI activities at military and CIA detention centers — he did not Mirandize Khadr, though he conceded that usually providing Miranda rights ensures the court-certified voluntariness of a statement.

Amazon? Not playing around with publishers when it comes to ebook deals. Penguin’s contract ran out on April 1, so Amazon can’t sell their ebooks. So Amazon’s cut the price of Penguin’s actual hardcovers to $9.99 ebook pricing. More »

Two third-year students who share the goal of earning an MD and PhD have been awarded Goldwater scholarships.

Zachary Kloos, who is majoring in biochemistry and economics, and Caitlin Powell, who is studying biomedical engineering, received the awards, which are named for former U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater. The scholarships recognize outstanding potential and commitment to excellence in science, engineering and mathematics.

Powell, from Cranberry Township, Pa., was 6 when she told her parents she wanted to find a cure for cancer. At 12, she decided she wanted to become a biomedical engineer.

She plans to earn her PhD in biomedical engineering and to research and develop new drug delivery and tissue engineering therapies to treat cancer. She intends to combine laboratory research and medical practice to aid in the fight against the disease.

She currently works with Oju Jeon, a postdoctoral researcher, in the lab of Biomedical Engineering Professor Eben Alsberg. They are developing a hydrogel that can be formed with ultraviolet light for use as a scaffolding to guide cellular repair of tissue and to deliver chemicals and drugs to cells at controlled rates for disease therapeutics and regenerative medicine. Prior to working in Alsberg’s lab, Powell worked at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, tracking the expression of muscle tissue proteins in the fetal heart at different stages of development.

“The skills that I have learned in the lab and the principles used in biomaterials, tissue engineering, and drug delivery will help me when I go on to graduate/medical school and ultimately, when I do my own research years down the road,” Powell said. “I’m very lucky to have the opportunity to conduct so much research at such a young age and early stage in my career. ”

Powell is a member of the Alpha Eta Mu Beta Biomedical Engineering Honors Society, Gamma Sigma Alpha Greek Scholastic Honors Society, Mortar Board National Honors Society and membership chair of Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honors Society; and a recipient of several research fellowships and scholarships.

She’s currently musical director of Solstice Women’s A Cappella, the university’s by-audition women’s a cappella group; a director at Delta Gamma fraternity; vice president for finance of the Panhellenic Council; and a member of the Case Footlighters, which puts on student-run musicals.

She will use the scholarship to help pay for next year’s tuition. “I have a lot a big dreams,” Powell said, “and receiving this award makes me feel like I am making the first steps down the path to making those goals a reality.”

Kloos, from Columbus, plans to earn a PhD in immunology, conduct infectious disease research in developing countries and become a policy advisor to the World Health Organization.

Working in a lab at Ohio State University as a high school student, Kloos investigated drug delivery systems to treat complications from spinal cord injury. In the lab of Peter Zimmerman, at CWRU’s Center for Global Health and Diseases, he’s helped develop an assay that allows for simultaneous detection of infection by the four human malaria parasites, as well as a filarial worm that causes lymphatic filariasis, commonly called elephantiasis. Kloos has verified the sensitivity and specificity of this assay by analyzing blood samples from 2,700 residents of Papua New Guinea.

The assay will allow for more accurate surveillance of malarial and filarial infection in affected populations. Next, Kloos will examine the extent of genetic variation in the filarial worm, Wuchereria bancrofti (Wb). “Understanding the genetic factors that differentiate Wb strains could greatly improve the efficacy of programs aimed at controlling and preventing Wb infection,” he said.

In pursuit of his second major, Kloos has served as a research assistant to Silvia Prina, assistant professor of economics. He spent last summer helping Prina design and implement a microsavings program targeted to poor women in Nepal. During his stay, Kloos saw the need for investment in early childhood education. Upon returning to the U.S., he and a group of his friends canvassed for donations and initiated an aluminum can collection program on campus, raising more than $4,000 to build a kindergarten in a Nepali village. While visiting Nepal, he was also deeply affected by reports of a local cholera outbreak that killed more than 200 people, reinforcing his desire to become involved in infectious disease research.

He will use the scholarship to pay for tuition and views the award as a “call to action or beginning,” not a reward for work done. Outside of classes and research, Kloos is a member of the Case Western Reserve Squash Club.

For more information contact Kevin Mayhood, 216.368.4442.

By Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica

BP, the global oil giant responsible for the fast-spreading spill
soon to make landfall in the Gulf of Mexico, is no stranger to major
accidents.

In fact the company has found itself at the center of several of the
nation’s worst oil and gas-related disasters in the last five years.

In March 2005 a massive explosion ripped through a tower at BP’s
refinery in Texas City, Texas, killing 15 workers and injuring 170
others. Investigators later determined that the company had ignored its
own protocols on operating the tower, which was filled with gasoline,
and that a warning system had been disabled.

The company pleaded guilty to federal felony charges and was fined more
than $50 million by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Almost a year after the refinery explosion, technicians discovered that
some 4,800 barrels of oil had spread into the Alaskan snow through a
tiny hole in the company’s pipeline in Prudhoe Bay. BP had been
warned to check the pipeline in
2002, but hadn’t, according to a report in Fortune. When it did inspect
it, four years later, it found that a six-mile length of pipeline was
corroded. The company temporarily shut down its operations in Prudhoe
Bay, causing one of the largest disruptions in U.S. oil supply in recent
history.

BP faced $12 million in fines for a misdemeanor violation of the federal
Water Pollution Control Act. A congressional committee determined BP
had ignored opportunities to prevent the spill and that “draconian”
cost-saving measures had led to shortcuts in its operation.

Other problems followed. There were more spills in Alaska. And BP was
charged with manipulating the market price of propane. In that case, it
settled with the U.S. Department of Justice and agreed to pay more than
$300 million in fines.

At each step along the way, the company’s executives were contrite.

“This was a preventable incident… It should be seen as a process
failure, a cultural failure and a management failure,” John Mogford,
then BP’s senior group vice president for safety and operations, said in
an April 2006 speech about the lessons learned in Texas City. “It’s not
an easy story to tell. BP doesn’t come out of it well.”

In a 2006 interview with this reporter after the Prudhoe Bay spill, published
in Fortune, BP’s chief executive
of American operations, Robert Malone, said “there is no doubt in my
mind, what happened may not have broken the law, but it broke our
values.”

Malone insisted at the time that there was no pattern of mismanagement
that increased environmental risk.

“I cannot draw a systemic problem in BP America,” he said. “What I’ve
seen is refineries and facilities and plants that are operating to the
highest level of safety and integrity standards.”

Nonetheless Malone, who spent three decades at BP and was promoted to
the CEO of BP America shortly after the Texas refinery blast, promised
to increase scrutiny over BP’s operations and invest in environmental
and safety measures.

He told Congress that it was imperative BP management learn from its
mistakes.

“The public’s faith has been tested recently,” he said. “We have fallen
short of the high standards we hold for ourselves and the expectations
that others have for us.”

Time will tell whether the accident that killed 11 workers and sent the
Transocean Deepwater Horizon drilling rig — a $500 million platform as
wide as a football field — floating to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico
was simply an accident or something else.

Malone, who retired last year, declined to comment for this article. A
spokesman for BP was not available for comment.

Families of workers who died in the accident have already filed lawsuits
accusing BP of negligence. Congress, as well as the Minerals Management Service, the federal agency that regulates drilling in the
Gulf, were already separately investigating allegations that BP has
failed to keep proper documents about how to perform an emergency
shutdown of the Atlantis,
another Gulf oil platform and one of the largest in the world.

There are also indications that BP and Transocean, the owner of the
Deepwater Horizon rig that burned and sank, could have used backup
safety gear — a remote acoustic
switch that would stanch the flow of oil from a leaking well 5,000 feet
underwater — to prevent the massive spill now floating like a
slow-motion train wreck towards the Mississippi and Louisiana coastline.
The switch isn’t required under U.S. law, but is well-known in the
industry and mandated in other parts of the world where BP operates.

In the year before the accident, BP once again aggressively cut costs. A
reorganization stripped 5,000 jobs from its payroll, saving BP more
than $4 billion in operating costs, according to a report sent to
ProPublica by Fadel Gheit, an investment analyst for Oppenheimer.

On April 27, as the U.S. Coast Guard worked with BP engineers to guide
remote control submarines nearly a mile underwater in a futile effort to
close a shut-off valve, BP told investors that its quarterly earnings
were up more than 100 percent over the last year, beating expectations
by a large margin. After underperforming its competition throughout the
last decade, Gheit wrote, BP was the only major oil company to perform
better than the S&P 500 last year.

(Photo of fire on Transocean’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig from the U.S. Coast Guard.)

A few weeks back, President Obama made waves by announcing his support for an expansion of offshore oil drilling — a strategy that Democrats on Capitol Hill had fought hard to defeat in recent years.

Today, as the oil from an enormous spill in the Gulf of Mexico creeps toward the shores of the southern U.S., the administration is having its doubts about the new policy. David Axelrod, senior adviser to Obama, told “Good Morning America” today that there’s a moratorium on the expansion until the recent spill can be controlled and investigated.

“No additional drilling has been authorized and none will until we find out what happened here,” he said.

For the White House, the timing of the spill couldn’t have been worse. If Obama had stuck with his guns in opposing new drilling, he’d be seen as a prophet in the wake of this week’s Gulf disaster. Instead, by trying to make concessions to Republicans — most of whom won’t support a climate bill in any event — he’s simply alienated his conservation-minded supporters on the left. Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune makes the case.

“This disaster changes everything,”  Brune said today in a statement. “We have hit rock-bottom in our fossil fuel addiction. This tragedy should be a wake up call. It’s time to take offshore drilling off the table for good.”

There’s also a good economic reason that offshore drilling isn’t the best way to secure the country’s energy independence. The Energy Department has determined “that access to the Pacific, Atlantic, and eastern Gulf regions would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030.”

And that was under the Bush White House.

Experience the world’s hottest mobile browser with Skyfire 2.0 (BETA) for Android. Check out the all new SkyBar™ which features: Flash Video, Explore Content, and Social Sharing of Content.

Price: Free

AndroidTapp.com Android App Review:

Pros & Cons:

Pros

• Finally play Flash Videos on mobile web browsers!
• Choose to load full desktop webpages or mobile optimized versions
• Multiple window browsing (up to 8, easy toggle)
• Pinch to zoom (on Android 2.0 and above)
• Clear session history easily upon exit to maintain anonymous browsing

Cons

• Claimed super boost in web browsing speed was not there
• Some Flash video sites show “Install Adobe Flash” versus sniffing out the Flash vid
• Voice Search gone

Features:

Skyfire Mobile Browser Android App brings full web browsing to mobile phones on many platforms and now on Android. The key feature it offers over any other Android Web Browser currently is the ability to view Flash Videos (something missing from fully capable mobile web browsers for some time now). Now you can play sports highlights from ESPN, news clips from the New York Times, high quality Vimeo vids, and music videos from Vevo (although I still found quarks in playing back some of these Flash video websites… says “Install Adobe Flash”).

Incorporated is the SkyBar along the browsers footer which entails: Video, Explore, and Share. Video sniffs out Flash video on a webpage and pops up a window when/if it finds a Flash video it can play. Explore searches trending topics based on the topics you’ve recently searched or created. Filtered are Videos, Trends, Tweets and Images. Share pops up easy sharing via other email and social apps installed on your Android phone.

A cool feature allows you to toggle browser HTTP Header types you send to a webpage; sometimes you may want to full desktop version and not be forced to view the mobile-only version. Or you may choose to view the mobile-only version for faster page load and less scrolling… either way it offers that choice by tapping the Android-slash-monitor icon in browser header.

Like other awesome browsers for Android it supports Pinch to zoom (on Android 2.0 and above), Copy and Paste, Find on Page, multiple window browsing, Bookmarks, Downloads, even a Report Broken Video feature.

Gripe Alert: Like Opera Mini for Android is supports cloud browsing, meaning webpages and assets like images are compressed on Skyfire’s servers thus sending you a smaller, faster to load page offering a boost in browsing speed; however it was not experienced in our evaluation. It was similar if not slower than the default Android browser.

Video Review: Skyfire Mobile Browser

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbePzC574L4

Usefulness:

The app is very useful for its core capability of mobile web browsing and puts the icing on the cake with all the goodies like full web browsing, playable Flash videos, content exploring and social sharing features.

Frequently Used:

If used as your default web browsing it could potentially be used multiple times daily.

Android Advice™: How to Set Skyfire as my default Browser?

Easy way: when first installed, any action that requires a web browser such as web link or Google search will prompt a window asking which browser you would like to use. Check below “Set as default” then choose Skyfire.

More involved way: say you chose the default browser when presented with the popup and want to change it later. Go to Settings from home screen » Manage Applications » Browser » tap Clear defaults » visit a URL or search to get the popup to return and follow the easy way above.

Android Advice™: I’m asked which web browser to use every time I search or click on a link, how to I remove that?

When more than one application type such as a web browser is install on Android, it gives choice on which you would like as default. See above how to set default browser.

Interface & Ease of Use:

Operating the user interface is slightly clunky but an adjustment will have you mastering it.

[JURIST] The French Justice Ministry on Thursday denied a request from former Panamanian military leader Manuel Noriega to be treated as a prisoner of war (POW). Noriega currently awaits trial in France on money laundering charges. Justice Ministry spokesperson Guillaume Didier said that Noriega will not be treated as a POW because the charges are based on breaches of common law not related to military service. Being treated as a POW would entitle Noriega to special treatment under the Geneva Convention, but Guillaume says conditions of French prisons are consistent with the requirements of the Geneva Conventions regardless. Noriega was already sentenced in absentia to 10 years in jail by a French court in 1999, but under French law is entitled to a new trial.
Earlier this week, Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli said that his government will seek the Noriega’s extradition to face charges of human rights violations in Panama. Also this week, a French judge ruled that Noriega must remain in custody until his trial. Noriega arrived in France Tuesday morning after being extradited from the US, where he had served a 17-year sentence on drug charges. He had fought extradition from the US since 2007. Last month, the US Supreme Court declined to reconsider Noriega’s petition to stop the extradition process. The US State Department had indicated that it was satisfied that France will treat Noriega as a POW if Noriega was extradited to that country.

Student Resident Assistants from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, on Saturday will celebrate the dedication of a house they built with their bare hands.

More than 100 UT students contributed more than 800 volunteer hours over the course of five Saturdays in February and March to build the 1,496-square foot house in northwest Knoxville. The home features five bedrooms and two bathrooms.

This is the ninth house built by UT Resident Assistants (RAs), in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity since 1996. The program, called Housing for Housing, is coordinated by the Department of University Housing. Student volunteers are guided through the building process by experienced Habitat for Humanity supervisors. On the first day of building, called “Blitz Day,” students are met by only a slab of concrete and piles of building supplies. By the end of the Blitz Day, walls and trusses were in place, and there was wood on the roof.

“The RAs raise money each fall semester and in the beginning we built a house each year,” said Jerry Adams, associate director of university housing. “Starting in the spring of 2000 we have built a house every other year.”

RAs also are responsible for recruiting other student volunteers.

“We had the RAs sign up first and then get them to sign up residents,” said Rachel Edington, resident director at Humes Hall. “They’re wanting to get involved, they’re asking questions. They’re the ones sending e-mails to me saying ‘Hey are there still spots available? I’d love to help out.’ They make the process a lot easier.”

Edington said it’s not unusual for there to be a waiting list for volunteers, as the project only consists of five work days. And those work days start early.

“To wake up at 7 a.m. to do this, any other time I might not go,” said Robert Melvin, resident assistant at North Carrick Hall. “But I jump up to wake up for this. It’s just a lot of fun. Really makes me feel good to come out in whatever kind of weather it is and help this family out.”

In the featured video, volunteers are sporting “Volunteers Rock the World!” t-shirts. “Volunteers Rock the World!” is part of the Ready for the World Initiative and aims to highlight members of the UT Knoxville family who are lending a hand at home or in communities around the globe. To learn more about “Volunteers Rock the World!” and Ready for the World, visit http://www.utk.edu/readyfortheworld/rock.

We are pleased to announce that, out of the 40 great entries submitted, the 10 Finalists to the 2010 Brain Fitness Innovation Awards moving to the next round are (ordered by approximate age of end user population, from younger to older):

• Arrowsmith School,
• USA Hockey,
• Nationwide Mutual Insurance,
• University Behavioral HealthCare/ University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey,
• Allstate,
• AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety,
• Saint Luke’s Brain and Stroke Institute,
• Oakland Unified School District,
• Mental Health Association of Rockland County,
• SCAN Health Plan.

Winners will be announced during the State of Brain Fitness Innovation Webinar on May 24th, noon-1pm Pacific Time. Registration is now open ($25), and includes executive summary of SharpBrains’ 2010 market report and access to private LinkedIn network. Learn More Here.

News & Analysis

BBC “Brain Training” Experiment: the Good, the Bad, the Ugly: You probably saw the hundreds of media articles titled “brain training doesn’t work”, based on a BBC experiment. Once more, claims seem to go beyond the science backing them up … except that in this case it is the researchers, not the developers, who are responsible.

Alzheimer’s Disease Prevention or Cognitive Enhancement: an independent expert panel just released yesterday a thoughtful report on the state of the science for prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease. Before people get scared away by “there is nothing that works”, everyone should understand that this is true but different from “there is nothing we can do to reduce the probability from developing Alzheimer’s symptoms” or “there is nothing we can do today to enhance our cognitive functions today and tomorrow”.

New Resource

We have created a new section in SharpBrains.com to  contribute to the ongoing conversation on cognitive health and brain fitness, based on last year’s book by Alvaro Fernandez and Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg.  Main sections are:

Debunking 10 Brain Myths: The goal of this resource is to help you make informed decisions about brain health and cognitive fitness, based on latest scientific findings. First of all, let’s debunk some common myths.

1. Brain Fitness Fundamentals: The brain is composed of a number of specialized regions serving distinct functions. Our life and productivity depend on a variety of brain functions, not just one, and there is nothing inherently fixed in the trajectory of how brain functions evolve as we age.

2. The 4 Pillars of Brain Maintenance: Thanks to lifelong neuroplasticity and neurogenesis, our lifestyles and actions play a meaningful role in how our brains physically change. There is no “magic pill”, but the need for a multi-pronged approach.

3. Mental Exercise vs. Mental Activity: Mental exercise (or “brain training”) goes beyond mental activity in general. Mental exercise is the structured use of exercises or techniques aimed at improving specific brain functions, and can be delivered in a number of ways: meditation, cognitive therapy, cognitive training, biofeedback.

4. Making Informed Brain Training Decisions: The state of the research does not allow for strong “prescriptions” of specific products for everyone and everything: here we offer information to navigate claims and make better informed decisions.

5. Brain Fitness through the Lifespan: The same way there are many reasons to exercise our bodies, there are many reasons to exercise our brains. Here we review a few current and future applications of mental exercise through the lifespan, including education, corporate wellness, retirement communities, clinical conditions, and more.

6. Ready for the Future?: We believe that more and more  lifelong learners will look for innovative ways to integrate brain fitness to their everyday activities, and more professionals will identify opportunities to offer new services and programs. Here we discuss main trends.

7. Opening the Debate: Processing new information is a stimulating intellectual exercise, and discussing insights and open questions with a group of people can be even more stimulating. Here we offer questions for book clubs and invite you to continue the conversation via Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Have a great month of May. And please say Hello to the new neurons in your brain that weren’t up there when you woke up this morning.

Each dive in Palau was magnificent. It’s not every day you come eyeball to eyeball with creatures appearing to wonder; ‘just what are you doing with that funny contraption on your back?’ Such was the case when my dive instructor signaled me to turn around on our safety stop. To my surprise and glee, there was an enormous manta ray staring right at me. I could have touched him, but out of respect I held back as we gazed at one another. That is, after spinning my head around motioning and gurgling “HOLY MOLY!” My instructor proved that you can in fact laugh while scuba diving. I’m hooked.

The biodiversity above and underwater was captivating. Kayaking was a perfect way to catch both along the craggy limestone. Before departing on our carefully planned, 7 night kayaking, camping expedition, we took a day to paddle out for some snorkeling, and practice navigating with the waterproof expedition maps that Planet Blue provided. With countless, similar-looking, uninhabited islands you would too!

Putting our kayaks into the deep turquoise water, surrounded by jungly trees and mangroves, it occurred to me that if I were a salt water crocodile, this would be top notch. So I asked our friend who helped us launch, ‘just out of curiosity – should we keep an eye out for those wily reptiles?’ He grinned, “In Palau? Always Crocodile!”

Super!

Vines swooping to the water provided kayak parking as we snorkeled, and I looked behind, below, all around us for croc eyeballs – at which point it would be too late anyway, so why bother? The corals were a vast array of colors, shapes and textures appearing preserved since the dawn of time.

I’ll never forget though, the eerie feeling that also hung in the air that day. It was especially prominent, listening as our paddles interrupted the buzzing, ringing sounds of the birds and insects. I couldn’t help but wonder what it must have been like for soldiers surviving in hiding for years, or decades in the caves. What it must have been like not knowing if the war was over, if it was safe to come out at all. How explosions must have shattered the stillness that now hung in the air. You could feel it, you could just feel the suffering and fear that had once dominated this beautiful place.

About the author: Jeanethe Falvey, EPA New England, on detail, EPA’s Office of Web Communications.

Rumors that three universities had banned the use of Apple’s iPad ran rampant across the blogosphere last week, leaving some to wonder whether the device had some type of hidden problem.

Those rumors, it turns out, were false.

However, iPad owners at all three–Cornell, Princeton, and George Washington universities–have faced varying degrees of connectivity issues.

via iPad ban rumors nixed at Cornell, Princeton, GWU | Apple – CNET News.

Filed under: Hybrid, Electric, Diesel

At the official kick-off event for the Progressive Insurance Automotive X-Prize in Lansing, MI today, the same cars, most of the same people and the same “news” was delivered as we heard and saw back in January at the Detroit Auto Show. Still, with the sun out and the shakedown stage of the event about to kick off at the Michigan International Speedway next week, there was a sense of excitement today that just wasn’t present in Cobo Hall four months ago. The main similarity is that Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm spoke at both events, and she’s energetic no matter what.

The Amp’d Sky (pictured), the Edison2’s Very Light Car, the Zap Alias and the Tango two-seater EV were all on hand. Aptera was listed among the teams that would be on hand, but there was no 2e to be found anywhere. Oh, and remember when there were something like 120 teams shooting for the top spot? Today there are but 28 teams left, entering a total of 36 vehicles in the mainstream (15 vehicles) and alternative (21) classes. You can see the breakdown of where these teams are from and what type of energy they are using after the jump.

The one tidbit that caught our ear today was that in the second-to-last stage of the event, the Knockout Qualifying Stage in June, the teams will only need to prove their vehicles can achieve 67 miles per gallon equivalent. During the Finals Stage a month later, they will need to reach 100 mpge, the headline target for the X-Prize. We asked why this low bar was set so close to the end of the competition, and the X-Prize’s Senior Director, Eric Cahill, said that it was a reasonable goal everyone agreed to and proves that all the competitors will at least be in the ballpark when it comes time for the final event. We don’t know how anyone who just manages to reach the June goal will be able to tweak their way to 30 more mpge in a few short weeks, but maybe that’s the kind of intense competition the X-Prize will deliver in the very near future.

Photos by Sebastian Blanco / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.

Continue reading Automotive X Prize revs up for Michigan events, Knockout Stage starts next week

Automotive X Prize revs up for Michigan events, Knockout Stage starts next week originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 09:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Over in the UK, on Thursday evening, there was a music industry panel discussion that involved a massive number of panelists (ten — which seems a bit too many) covering a wide variety of viewpoints from the music industry. Mostly they came from the traditional parts of the music industry, but the interesting participant was Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi, aka brokep, from The Pirate Bay (and now Flattr), taking part in the discussion with a group of folks who regularly call him all sorts of unfriendly things. Stuart Dredge, over at Music Ally, ran a nice live blog of the conversation, which mostly went down about as you would expect. Dredge noted that it was mostly an “industry” audience, and he worried that “there’s a bit of a kick-the-Pirate-Bay mood bubbling” in the audience.

Thankfully, it doesn’t look like things got that far. Mostly it was the typical back and forth. Industry folks whining that they can’t compete with The Pirate Bay… even as they were talking about the variety of ways they were competing with The Pirate Bay. Basically, what becomes clear is they would prefer competition that they control, rather than competition that consumers drive. Tragically, innovation doesn’t work that way.

Peter made the point that a lot of people were confusing the music industry with the recording industry, and mocked them a bit for not actually talking about culture or music:

“Most of the things we’re talking about today are about the record industry, not about the music industry. Everyone is talking about percentages… nobody is talking about music. It sounds like most people here could be selling diapers instead!”

While technically true, the discussion was about the business of music, so I think it’s fair to be discussing some numbers and the business angle. But there is a larger point to be made here. With studies showing that more music is being created, the complaints about the “death” of the industry are clearly misplaced. The real complaints from the industry types are that they aren’t able to make money off of it any more — but that doesn’t mean the music industry is in trouble at all. Instead, it’s thriving. In fact, Peter also made that point:

It’s not a right for the record industry to make a profit…. Technology has come that has made most of the record industry less valuable. We need to just move on, it’s sort of an evolution… It might not be good for people working in the record industry, but the music industry is better than ever.”

The industry folks on the panel still seem to be living in a state of denial at times, talking about how they should milk the 40 and 50 year olds who are still buying CDs, rather than really understanding the changing marketplace. My favorite laughable quote came from Guy Moot, of EMI Publishing, who said:

“The joy of ownership is a very different thing from the joy of a digital download or stream…”

Sure, it is, but the record labels have worked very, very, very hard to make it clear to people that they don’t get to “own” anything. How many times have been told “you just get a license.” If we really got to own stuff, there wouldn’t be so many complaints.

There were so many people taking part, it’s difficult to cover them all. Will Page (whose interview we recently posted) made some good points, and Jeremy Silver, from the Featured Artist Coalition (who’s also a very interesting guy to chat with about these issues) comes off as being quite sensible in saying that file sharing of unauthorized works is here and not going away — and the industry should take some of the blame for sitting on the CD cash cow and never innovating. Rather than complaining about it, it’s time to look forward.

On that note, it seemed like the most reasonable speaker may have been David Stopps, who spoke from the perspective of an artist’s manager. He noted that the it’s absolutely possible to “compete with free,” talked up the importance of touring to make money and using the music to boost those revenues and also played down the “demise” of the record labels, by noting that “they still have the back catalogue” to milk for a long time and that their job has become a lot easier thanks to technology:

He says A&R is becoming easier for labels, because sites like Hype Machine and We Are Hunted are where A&R guys are looking to see “who’s listening to what music”. It’s less about “taking a punt” than in the old days. “Artists are building up fanbases themselves… and that can be monitored.”

He also brings up the band Metric as an example of a band that has “gone all the way” without a record deal, noting that they turned down a variety of major label deals with massive advances to “do it on their own” and that it’s working:

“They’re doing a fantastic job, they use Topspin to sell their music, and that seems to be very successful for them. We’re gonna see more of that…”

Along those lines, he also notes that The Pirate Bay can be a really great way for people to discover new music, and monetize them elsewhere, pointing to Imogen Heap, who discovered tons of people in Indonesia downloading her music in an unauthorized manner… but when she went there, she was able to sell out a 4,500 seat arena, making “a lot of money.”

Finally, he also knocks BPI and others in the industry for still thinking that DRM is a reasonable solution — pointing out that it’s totally anti-consumer:

“The problem is, nobody really asked the consumer,” he says, about attempts to put DRM on CDs. “They absolutely hated it. You put the CD into the computer and it wouldn’t play… In the future, we’ve got to bring the consumers into the business model. In fact, they already are part of the business model.”

Geoff Taylor, the head of BPI (basically the UK’s RIAA) comes off as about what you’d expect. He trashes The Pirate Bay repeatedly, claims that it’s “destroying national cultures” (with no proof, of course) and says that there needs to be “disincentives” to dealing with unauthorized file sharing.

It’s the same story as usual: they’re so focused on negative incentives for people doing stuff they don’t like, they never seem to care about creating positive incentives for those they should be targeting. That’s BPI’s problem. Not The Pirate Bay.

Anyway… given the participants, it was about what you would expect, and didn’t seem to get quite as nasty as some feared before the event. I doubt anyone’s mind was changed about anything, but it still sounded like a pretty good discussion.

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The U.S. economy grew by 3.2 percent annualized in the first three months of 2010. It wasn’t terribly strong growth, but it was the right kind of growth. As Dan Indiviglio explains, consumer spending — which generally accounts for about two-thirds of the economy — made up 80 percent of GDP growth in the first quarter of 2010. That’s good. For comparison, consumers made up less than a seventh of the economy’s 5.6% expansion in the last quarter of 2009.

Here’s another look at the economy, via the Chicago Fed’s National Activity Index:

Led by improvements in production- and employment-related indicators, the Chicago
Fed National Activity Index increased to -0.07 in March, up from -0.44
in February. Three of the four broad categories of indicators that make
up the index made positive contributions in March, while the
consumption and housing category made the lone negative contribution.

And that graph:

So yes, things are getting better. Inventories were replenished in late 2009, and consumers started spending them down in early 2010. We should expect disposable incomes to start rising in the next few quarters as steady consumer demand encourages businesses to hire again and to full-time their part-timers. Then again, the housing market — which helped drive the last boom — is still in the worst shape in the last 50 years. That’s a heavy anchor.

The moment conservationists have been dreading since the Gulf of Mexico oil spill started—that oil making landfall—appears to be upon us. This morning the Coast Guard is flying over the Gulf Coast to check out reports the crude washed ashore overnight, and more reports of oil drifting ashore are coming out of Louisiana. Crews in boats were patrolling coastal marshes early Friday looking for areas where the oil has flowed in, the Coast Guard said. Storms loomed that could push tide waters higher than normal through the weekend, the National Weather Service warned [AP].

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano set up a second base of operations to deal with potential impacts on the Gulf Coast states of Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. Meanwhile, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has declared a state of emergency, and said: “Based on current projections, we expect the oil to reach land today at the Pass-A-Loutre Wildlife Management Area. By tomorrow, we expect oil to have reached the Chandeleur Islands and by Saturday, it is expected to reach the Breton Sound. These are important wildlife areas and these next few days are critical” [Nature]. The city of New Orleans already reeks of a”pungent fuel smell” believed to come from the oil spill, as the Times-Picayune newspaper puts it.

With this news, along with yesterday’s announcement that the spill could be five times worse than first believed, the Deepwater Horizon disaster is close to becoming historically bad. The oil slick could become the worst U.S. environmental disaster in decades, threatening to eclipse even the Exxon Valdez in scope. It imperils hundreds of species of fish, birds and other wildlife along the Gulf Coast, one of the world’s richest seafood grounds, teeming with shrimp, oysters and other marine life [CBS News]. To make matters worse, experts say that marshlands are far more difficult to clean than sandy beaches. Says David Kennedy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, “It is of grave concern. I am frightened. This is a very, very big thing. And the efforts that are going to be required to do anything about it, especially if it continues on, are just mind-boggling” [AP].

Responders keep trying to stem the flow, but all the Coast Guard’s containment boom and controlled fires, and all of BP’s undersea robots, haven’t been able to stop the oil leak deep undersea. Underscoring how acute the situation has become, BP is soliciting ideas and techniques from four other major oil companies — Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Shell and Anadarko [The New York Times]. The military is trying to help BP, who’d leased the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, reach it emergency shutoff valves. “To be frank, the offer of help from all quarters is welcome,” said David Nicholas, a BP spokesman [The New York Times].

Facing a far-reaching catastrophe, today President Obama’s administration announced that the plan announced a month ago to expand offshore drilling is going on hiatus, at least until people figure out what went wrong in the Gulf. Meanwhile, the Interior Department says it will commence an immediate safety review of all the rigs and drilling platforms in the area.

Our previous posts on the Gulf Oil Spill:
80beats: Uh-Oh: Gulf Oil Spill May Be 5 Times Worse Than Previously Thought
80beats: Coast Guard’s New Plan To Contain Gulf Oil Spill: Light It on Fire
80beats: Sunken Oil Rig Now Leaking Crude; Robots Head to the Rescue
80beats: Ships Race To Contain the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

Image: NOAA

[JURIST] Former Pennsylvania judge Michael Conahan pleaded guilty Thursday on charges of accepting more than $2.6 million in kickbacks for sentencing teenagers to two private juvenile detention facilities in which he had a financial interest. The former president judge of the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years. Conahan also faces a fine of no more than $250,000 and disbarment. He will be sentenced by Judge Edwin Kosik of the US District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, who previously rejected joint plea agreements from Conahan and former judge Mark Ciavarella Jr., finding that plea bargaining to honest services fraud and tax evasion charges demonstrated that the men did not accept responsibility and that the disbarment and 87-month prison sentences were too lenient. An attorney for Ciavarella said that he plans to go to trial.
As part of an ongoing public corruption investigation, US Attorney Dennis Pfannenschmidt announced earlier this month that a twenty-eighth person has been charged with soliciting and receiving bribes and gratuities in connection with the scandal. Luzerne County District Attorney Jacqueline Musto Carroll agreed in January to drop efforts to retry 46 juveniles whose original convictions were overturned because they had been issued by a judge indicted on federal corruption charges for an alleged kickback scheme. This decision ended all efforts at retrying any of the convicted juveniles, who will now have their juvenile records cleared. The Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center issued a statement applauding the decision, indicating that “justice has finally been attained” for the juveniles. In October, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania overturned about 6,500 convictions handed down by Ciavarella between 2003 and 2008, but gave prosecutors permission to seek retrial of more than 100 youths who were still under court supervision. Conahan and Ciavarella were indicted in September, following a withdrawal of the guilty pleas they entered in February 2009.

KNOXVILLE — East Tennessee native Roy Harmon remembers how challenging it was to finance his undergraduate education at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. That was his incentive in establishing the Roy L. Harmon Jr. Endowed Accounting Scholarship in the College of Business Administration, to be awarded annually to a deserving undergraduate or graduate student majoring in accounting.

“Earning an accounting degree from UT Knoxville was a life-changing event for me,” Harmon said. “I have enjoyed a lot of personal success because of my degree and the opportunities it has afforded me. I hope to be able to provide the same opportunities for a deserving student through the creation of this scholarship.”

Harmon’s gift is part of the Campaign for Tennessee, UT’s $1 billion fundraising effort.

“I was a J. Fred Roddy Scholar when I went to UT Knoxville,” said Harmon, who graduated in 1976. “This scholarship helped finance my education. Today’s students are experiencing greater financial challenges than I did. My wife, Liza, and I are very happy to give back. Learn, earn and return is a great way to sum up our responsibilities.”

The Harmon Scholarship will be awarded annually beginning with the 2010-2011 academic year. This need-based scholarship will be offered to an undergraduate major or Master of Accountancy student who graduated from a public high school in Sullivan, Washington, Johnson, Carter, Unicoi, Hawkins, Greene or Hancock counties.

Harmon’s career has kept him in East Tennessee. After completing his undergraduate degree, he spent four years with Arthur Andersen in Chattanooga, leaving to join Park National Bank in Knoxville as CFO. Harmon then moved to Kingsport in 1989 and joined the Bank of Tennessee in Kingsport in 1991. He became CEO in 1994 at the age of 40, and 10 years later, added chairman to that title. He also serves on the board of directors of Paragon Commercial Bank in Raleigh, N.C., a bank founded in 1999 by the Bank of Tennessee.

Harmon’s community service includes being an alderman for the city of Kingsport, chairman of Fun Fest, founding board member of the Friends in Need Health Clinic and graduate of Leadership Kingsport. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Public Arts Committee of Kingsport. He is also a member of the World President’s Organization and TSCPA.

The Campaign for Tennessee is the most ambitious effort in UT’s 214 year history and places UT among the ranks of the nation’s largest public and private institutions that have sought this level of private support. The system-wide campaign supports the objectives of improved student access and success, research and economic development, outreach and globalization.

For more information about the UT College of Business Administration, visit http://bus.utk.edu.

—

C O N T A C T :

Cindy Raines (865-974-4359, [email protected])

2011 Daewoo Alpheon at the 2010 Busan Motor Show

Besides introducing Chevrolet to the South Korean market with the 2010 Camaro, GM introduced a new sedan called Alpheon – a mid-size sedan that is basically a rebadged 2010 Buick LaCrosse.

“With the introduction of the all-new Alpheon luxury sedan, we have added another attractive model to our product portfolio and our first entry in the fast-growing upper-midsize segment in Korea,” said GM Daewoo President and CEO Mike Arcamone. “I am confident that the Alpheon will surpass the demands of the most sophisticated luxury sedan buyers in Korea.”

Click here to get prices on the 2010 Buick LaCrosse.

Power for the Daewoo Alpheon comes from a 3.0L V6 engine mated a 6-speed automatic. Sales will start at the second half of 2010.

Check out the high-res gallery after the jump – just make sure you put your thumbs up when you do (you’ll see what we mean).

2011 Daewoo Alpheon:

Press Release:

GM Daewoo’s All-New Luxury Sedan Debuts at 2010 Busan International Motor Show

Alpheon is GM Daewoo’s entry into the upper-midsize segment

Busan, Korea – GM Daewoo Auto & Technology (GM Daewoo) unveiled its much-anticipated luxury sedan, the Alpheon, at the 2010 Busan International Motor Show today.

Alpheon – Stylish Luxury Sedan

The Alpheon is based on the same GM global architecture as the Buick LaCrosse, one of the three finalists for 2010 North American Car of the Year.

GM designers and engineers from Asia, Europe and North America targeted the luxury sedan as a global product that would meet the highest quality and performance standards in the most sophisticated markets.

At first glance, the Alpheon’s sculpting design flows in all directions, giving the vehicle a tightly wrapped appearance and a fast, coupe-like profile. Its dynamic and elegant body styling is highlighted by sharp side lines, short overhangs and fenders wrapped precisely around large wheel housings, giving it the presence of an upscale large sedan (2,837-mm wheelbase and 4,995mm body length).

With a unique emblem on its front “waterfall” grille, the Alpheon becomes a stand-alone luxury product brand in GM Daewoo’s product portfolio.

The innovative design philosophy continues in the Alpheon’s interior. The flowing shape of its instrument panel design offers a distinct, confident and upscale impression. The refined look is an integrated center stack design that incorporates ice-blue light-emitting diode (LED) ambient lighting along with premium infotainment features. Adding to the use of soft-touch materials and low-gloss trim panels rather than traditional wood applications is indicative of exceptional and luxurious craftsmanship.

Powered by a 3.0-liter V-6 engine combined with a six-speed automatic transmission, the Alpheon will ensure responsive performance when it is launched in the second half of this year in Korea.

– By: Omar Rana

If you were patient enough to hold out on the wave of iPad releases, and if you specifically wanted to grab a 3G capable model, then today is probably already clearly marked on your calendar. That’s because it’s April 30, the official release date of the iPad Wi-Fi + 3G in the U.S.

Customers who originally pre-ordered before Apple’s recent cut-off date should expect their iPads to arrive in the mail today, or you can try your luck with retail stores, which are going to be selling the new iPads beginning at 5 PM. today. Pre-orders for the Wi-Fi + 3G models were originally lower in volume than those for the Wi-Fi, so it’ll be interesting to see what the response is like at brick-and-mortar retail.

I personally am also very interested in seeing how soon unofficial sales start across the border here in Canada. Following the launch of the original Wi-Fi model, you could buy one the same day at a not completely ridiculous markup, so I predict the same thing this time around. Of course, international iPad users won’t yet be able to get 3G service, since no deals or pricing have been announced with carriers yet, but presumably the devices will work fine with those networks late in May when the Wi-Fi + 3G iPad ships worldwide.

Don’t just show up at the Apple store this morning expecting to pick up a new iPad, though. The launch is scheduled for 5 PM, and Apple stores across the country are closing down between 4 and 5 specifically to set up for the launch. It’s odd timing, and will no doubt cause some confusion at retail sites in terms of people coming by too early, but Apple must have a reason for not just starting the shopping day with the iPads on the shelves. Whatever the case, expect a lot of confused customers being ushered out the doors at 4 PM who are oblivious to the product launch.

The 3G capability is a killer feature for the iPad, in my opinion. Undoubtedly the iPad’s UI is a hit with consumers, as is the user experience in general, but the ability to remain connected while traveling, be it just around town or internationally (as international providers become available) elevates the device from being an amazing entertainment and media player to a lifestyle changer, in terms of both work and play.

Are you getting one? Does your local Apple Store have stock? Is there a lineup? Are you upgrading from a Wi-Fi only model? Let us know your thoughts on all things 3G iPad in the comments.

Related GigaOM Pro Research: How AT&T Will Deal with iPad Data Traffic

Opera, the plucky Norwegian web browser that’s a perennial fourth- or fifth-place finisher behind much larger players like Internet Explorer and Firefox, has acquired web-based email provider FastMail.fm for an undisclosed sum. The Australian email company has been around for almost a decade, and has a reputation for being fast and dependable, but has been overshadowed in recent years by services such as Google’s Gmail. Opera, which has its own email service built into its browser, clearly has ambitions to move beyond just browser-based mail to mobile and other platforms. The company said in a release that buying FastMail would enable it to “deliver cross-platform messaging to a wide range of devices, including computers, mobile phones, TVs and gaming consoles.”

FastMail, in explaining why it decided to accept the acquisition deal, told users in a note on its website that: “In an increasingly competitive market, we believe we need to make some big investments to take the next steps forward.” Users’ data will be moved over to Opera unless they cancel their account. FastMail also said that some of its staff will soon be moving to Opera headquarters in Norway, while one of its part-time developers who developed its photo gallery feature and new webmail interface will be working for Opera full time.

Opera recently announced that it has more than 50 million users of its desktop browser software as well as 50 million users of its mobile browser, and recently released an iPhone version — which has been downloaded by millions of users already, although Kevin wondered whether many of them are actually using it. Opera also acquired a mobile ad solutions company called AdMarvel in January for an estimated $23 million. And the company has been working on a version of its browser for interactive televisions, supporting a European standard called “hybrid broadcast broadband TV.”

Post and thumbnail photos courtesy of Flickr user idogcow