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In the midst of the big debate about “background checks,” I thought it important to weigh in on the issue and profess my full and total support for background checks… |
Category: News
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Why I totally support background checks… for members of Congress and the Obama administration
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Urgent health warning issued over Adya Clarity detox liquid containing aluminum, sulfuric acid
The non-profit Consumer Wellness Center (www.ConsumerWellness.org) has issued a consumer health warning over Adya Clarity, a “detox” product that was seized by the FDA in 2012 and tested at over 1200ppm aluminum. The product is currently being marketed through a series… -
Cyprus bank bailout agreement is pure theft: 40% of private deposits to be looted from selected accounts
A brand new looting arrangement has been reached concerning Cypriot banks. It involves seizing the funds of all accounts over 100,000 euros, then stealing up to 40% of those funds sometime over the next few weeks, or whenever EU bureaucrats get around to deciding exactly… -
Vaccine victory: Widespread resistance from parents to HPV jab for daughters shows truth is spreading far and wide
Parents with young daughters are increasingly wising up to the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine scam, according to a new study published in the journal Pediatrics. Based on the latest figures, more than 16 percent of parents in 2010 rejected popular HPV vaccines like… -
Amazon Web Services ramps up mobile development
Hold the phone! Amazon Web Services is launching a mobile applications initiative. According to a company job post, AWS seeks a software development engineer for a new iOS/Android AWS initiative to be based in Palo Alto, Calif.
The ideal candidate will have built a “top 25 app;” and want to build a “brand new service from the ground floor,” according to the job post.It continued:
“In this role, you will be responsible for creating and owning world-class production tablet and web client applications across major platforms including iOS and Android . You must be willing to insist on the highest standards for quality, maintainability, and performance. You will ensure that engineering best practices are followed and that software is designed to be responsive, reliable and maintainable.”
TechCrunch first reported the news Sunday night.
Developers typically access AWS from their PCs but smartphones and tablets are quickly supplanting laptops and PCs as devices of choice for more workers so it would make sense for AWS to turn more attention to those form factors. And, the company added Android and iOS(s appl) support to the AWS management console so users can keep an eye on their services from their device of choice.
While this posting talks about client app development rather than SDK, it is also possible that AWS will devise its own mobile backend as a service (MbaaS) — something that GigaOM Pro analyst Janakiram MSV posited in a post (subscription required) a few weeks ago. According to MSV:
“AWS has all the required building blocks to expose mobile backend services. Amazon EC2, Amazon S3, Amazon DynamoDB, and Amazon RDS already form the backbone of many mobile applications today. The AWS SDK for Android and iOS makes it easy for developers to consume these services.”
General purpose platforms as a service (PaaSes) neglected this mobile segment — a gap that startups like Kinvey, Parse, Stackmob, and Kii rushed to fill. Now, PaaS players are adding more mobile capabilities — witness Microsoft’s addition of mobile services to Windows Azure last summer.
I will update this story if and when Amazon responds to requests for comment.
Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.- What Amazon’s new Kindle line means for Apple, Netflix and online media
- How tomorrow’s mobile-centric data centers will look
- Analyzing the wearable computing market
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Youth with diabetes at greater risk following transition from pediatric to adult care
Type 1 diabetes is a condition in which the body does not produce insulin and cannot convert sugar, starches and other food into energy. Generally diagnosed during childhood or adolescence, the disease requires lifelong access to medical care and intensive daily self-management.As children with Type 1 diabetes grow into young adults, they must leave their pediatric health care providers for adult providers. But the timing of this process and its impact on the young people’s health had not been fully explored.In a new study published in the April issue of the journal Pediatrics and currently available online, UCLA researchers found that young people with Type 1 diabetes who had transitioned from pediatric to adult care were 2.5 times more likely to have chronically high blood glucose levels, putting them at higher risk for heart attacks, strokes, blindness and kidney failure later in life.The estimated median age of patients when this transition occurred was 20.1 years, the researchers said, and 77 percent had left pediatric care by age 21.The findings suggest that young adults need additional support and guidance when leaving their pediatric providers to avoid the risk of poor diabetes control.“The transition to adulthood can include changes in health care providers, insurance and often living situations as patients move from high school to college or work,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Debra Lotstein, an associate clinical professor of pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA. “These transitions can be challenging for anyone, but youth with a chronic health problem like diabetes are at risk of losing the support of their health care providers and their family that helps them stay healthy. When this transition goes poorly, it increases the risk of worse health outcomes in adulthood.”Previous research on youth with Type 1 diabetes in the U.S. had looked primarily at young people from a single diabetes specialty center or a single geographic area, or it had examined youth at just one point in time — either before or after leaving pediatric care. The current study, however, involved the largest national cohort of youth with Type 1 diabetes in the U.S. to be followed over a period of time.Researchers analyzed data from the multi-center SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study, which has tracked children and young adults with diabetes from six centers across the country since 2002. The cohort included 185 adolescents and young adults with Type 1 diabetes who were enrolled in the study in the year after their diabetes was diagnosed. The youth included in these analyses were cared for by pediatric diabetes physicians at the time of their initial study visit and were followed for an average of 4.5 years.The authors found that a young patient’s type of insurance — public versus private insurance, for instance — made no difference in the switch to adult care, but they did observe that older patient age, lower levels of parental education and lower baseline blood-glucose levels were independently associated with increased odds of transitioning to adult care.“One surprise was that those patients with poor diabetes control were more likely to stay with their pediatric providers, compared to others,” Lotstein said. “We theorized that that the doctors have a higher level of concern for those patients with poor control and may care for them longer in an attempt to prevent their condition from worsening.”The next stage in the research, the authors said, is to directly follow young adults transitioning to adult care to see what happens as they age and to examine how different types of support aimed at easing the transition affect health outcomes.The SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Additional study authors included Michael Seid (Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center); Dr. Georgeanna Klingensmith (University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine); Doug Case, (Wake Forest University School of Medicine); Jean M. Lawrence, (Kaiser Permanente Southern California); Dr. Cathernine Pihoker (University of Washington); Dr. Dana Dabelea (Colorado School of Public Health); Elizabeth J. Mayer-Davis, (University of North Carolina); Dr. Lisa K. Gilliam (Kaiser Permanente Northern California) Dr. Sarah Corathers (Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center); Dr. Giuseppina Imperatore (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention); Dr. Lawrence Dolan (Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center); Andrea Anderson (Wake Forest University School of Medicine); Ronny A. Bell, (Wake Forest University School of Medicine); and Beth Waitzfelder, (Center for Health Research, Kaiser Permanente, Hawaii).The authors have no financial ties to disclose.For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter. -
Monitoring Progress Toward Successful K-12 STEM Education: A Nation Advancing?
Final Book Now Available
Following a 2011 report by the National Research Council (NRC) on successful K-12 education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), Congress asked the National Science Foundation to identify methods for tracking progress toward the report’s recommendations. In response, the NRC convened the Committee on an Evaluation Framework for Successful K-12 STEM Education to take on this assignment. The committee developed 14 indicators linked to the 2011 report’s recommendations. By providing a focused set of key indicators related to students’ access to quality learning, educator’s capacity, and policy and funding initiatives in STEM, the committee addresses the need for research and data that can be used to monitor progress in K-12 STEM education and make informed decisions about improving it.
The recommended indicators provide a framework for Congress and relevant deferral agencies to create and implement a national-level monitoring and reporting system that: assesses progress toward key improvements recommended by a previous National Research Council (2011) committee; measures student knowledge, interest, and participation in the STEM disciplines and STEM-related activities; tracks financial, human capital, and material investments in K-12 STEM education at the federal, state, and local levels; provides information about the capabilities of the STEM education workforce, including teachers and principals; and facilitates strategic planning for federal investments in STEM education and workforce development when used with labor force projections. All 14 indicators explained in this report are intended to form the core of this system. Monitoring Progress Toward Successful K-12 STEM Education: A Nation Advancing? summarizes the 14 indicators and tracks progress towards the initial report’s recommendations.
Topics: Education
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Improving the Utility and Translation of Animal Models for Nervous System Disorders: Workshop Summary
Final Book Now Available
Nervous system diseases and disorders are highly prevalent and substantially contribute to the overall disease burden. Despite significant information provided by the use of animal models in the understanding of the biology of nervous system disorders and the development of therapeutics; limitations have also been identified. Treatment options that are high in efficacy and low in side effects are still lacking for many diseases and, in some cases are nonexistent. A particular problem in drug development is the high rate of attrition in Phase II and III clinical trials. Why do many therapeutics show promise in preclinical animal models but then fail to elicit predicted effects when tested in humans?
On March 28 and 29, 2012, the Institute of Medicine Forum on Neuroscience and Nervous System Disorders convened the workshop “Improving Translation of Animal Models for Nervous System Disorders” to discuss potential opportunities for maximizing the translation of new therapies from animal models to clinical practice. The primary focus of the workshop was to examine mechanisms for increasing the efficiency of translational neuroscience research through discussions about how and when to use animal models most effectively and then best approaches for the interpretation of the data collected. Specifically, the workshop objectives were to: discuss key issues that contribute to poor translation of animal models in nervous system disorders, examine case studies that highlight successes and failures in the development and application of animal models, consider strategies to increase the scientific rigor of preclinical efficacy testing, explore the benefits and challenges to developing standardized animal and behavioral models. Improving the Utility and Translation of Animal Models for Nervous System Disorders: Workshop Summary also identifies methods to facilitate development of corresponding animal and clinical endpoints, indentifies methods that would maximize bidirectional translation between basic and clinical research and determines the next steps that will be critical for improvement of the development and testing of animal models of disorders of the nervous system.
Topics: Health and Medicine | Biology and Life Sciences
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China’s coal plants are squeezing its water supply
There’s a looming water crisis coming for China’s water-hungry coal plants, according to a new report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Roughly sixty percent of China’s power plants (most of them running on coal) are located in Northern China, but only 20 percent of the country’s fresh water is found in the North.
The mismatch is a problem on a variety of levels. The “big five” state-owned utilities that operate many of these power plants are financially exposed to the water constraint, particularly because the Chinese government has set a cap on the country’s growing water use. And making these coal plants consume less water with the standard technology could ironically decrease the plants’ power efficiencies and boost their carbon emissions.
But the water constraint will only continue to grow unless the utilities do something about it. The report says that by 2030 the amount of water used by China’s power sector could grow to 124 billion cubic meters — or even 190 billion in an aggressive estimate — from 102 billion cubic meters in 2010, due a potential tripling of the country’s power plants. 190 billion cubic meters of water would constitute a quarter of the country’s capped water supply in 2030.
The good news is there are some options for the utilities. They could build more of their future power plants outside of the North and particularly in some of the more wet regions. In addition, clean power like solar panels and wind turbines don’t require as much water resources, so these renewable technologies could start to look more competitive to utilities. These options could also be more attractive than retrofitting the plants to the more water efficient, but more power inefficient, kind which would cost them collectively $20 billion for 100 GW.
There could also be next-generation technologies that could help solve this water, power plant problem in China, too. Are any of the cleantech companies out there working on innovative solutions that could help?
As the world gets 9 billion people by 2050, and countries like China, Brazil and India start to consume more energy per capita, water will become an increasingly constrained resource. New water management, conservation, and recycling technologies will emerge to meet this challenge.
Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.- The fourth quarter of 2012 in cleantech
- Cleantech and investment in 2013
- The next generation of battery technology
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Thanks Google Keep! EverNote sees uptick in downloads, usage
When I called Phil Libin, Evernote CEO earlier this morning to chat about Keep, in his typical matter-of-fact manner he explained that Google’s Keep app is both good and bad for his company. Bad, because he now has more competition in the market. And good because now more people are going to be aware of the overall category, which means more attention for Evernote.
Evernote CEO Phil Libin
Libin reasons that just as the Weather App on iPhone helped jump start interest in other apps like the one from say the Weather Channel, Google Keep will push the interest higher in note-taking and clipping apps like Evernote. His arguments are backed by an uptick in downloads of the Android-version of Evernote since the Keep news came out last week.
Libin wouldn’t offer any specific details (or numbers) except he acknowledged that when compared to a week ago downloads and usage are up – enough for him to notice. That said, he is of the belief that Keep wouldn’t have any impact on his company’s relationship with Google and its flourishing platform. Evernote is one of the more successful apps on most mobile platforms – iOS and Android included.
Google Keep, is Google playing catch up with rivals such as Apple, Blackberry and Microsoft (a MSFT). Most expect Google to boost the number of stock apps on Android.
Related: Sorry Google, Keep it to yourself & More on why I won’t use Google Keep: it’s not personal, it’s business.
Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.- The state of cross-platform media measurement
- Work media tools in 2012 and beyond
- Analyzing the wearable computing market
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The Right Way To Unload A Flatbed
Sure, you could unload this the “traditional” way, but this method is so much easier.
Click here to view the embedded video.
What do you think? Click “read more” to comment.
Thanks!
The post The Right Way To Unload A Flatbed appeared first on Tundra Headquarters Blog.
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Hurd? Capellas? Let’s be bold. How about Gerstner, Bradley, Bartz, Otellini as new Dell chief?
As a couple of private equity firms sorted out their bids for Dell last week a couple of names bubbled to the top of the list of prospective new (that is non-Michael Dell) CEOs.
Former IBM CEO and Chairman Louis Gerstner.
Blackstone, a PE firs interested in bidding against Silver Lake Partners and Michael Dell for the company, reportedly reached out to Mark Hurd, co-president of Oracle and former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, Dell’s nemesis. Hurd is charged, in part, with making Oracle’s hardware business as margin rich as its software business, and so far that effort has been underwhelming. Financier Carl Icahn is also pursuing Dell, according to published reports.
Some have also mentioned Michael Capellas, the former CEO of Compaq who helped engineer its sale to HP for $25 billion in 2001. Then-HP CEO Carly Fiorina drove that deal. Capellas was more recently involved with The VCE Co. created by EMC and VMware.
Dave Donatelli, EVP and GM of HP’s Enterprise Group.
But seriously people, if we’re going to play guessing games, let’s really play. Hurd and Capellas? Puh-leaze. Why not Louis Gerstner? Gerstner, who is credited with turning IBM around during his tenure there, has “got one more in him,” according to one of my panel of experts on Twitter.
Or how about Todd Bradley, HP’s PC guy who was passed over as CEO at least once and perhaps twice. What better way to strut his stuff than to reinvent HP’s biggest PC-and-server rival?
Former HP CEO and Chairman Mark Hurd
Or Dave Donatelli? The HP storage-and-servers guy is clearly not afraid to jump ship. His departure from EMC for rival HP in 2009 sparked a lawsuit.
As EVP and GM of HP’s Enterprise Group, Donatelli is responsible for “the development and delivery of server, storage, networking and technology services solutions.” That pretty much sounds like Dell’s mission statement — except for the enterprise part. As Dell’s president of software told me a week ago, Dell is more focused on SMBs than the largest enterprises, where IBM reigns.
Todd Bradley, EVP of HP’s personal systems and printing group.
And heck, if former HP CEOs carry a premium (why that might be is a mystery to some), why not Fiorina herself?
Others think Gerry Smith, who heads up Lenovo’s U.S. operations, would be an interesting pick. Or Carol Bartz, former CEO of Autodesk and then Yahoo.
Or, Y.K. Kim, CEO of Samsung Electronics America. Now there’s a company that knows from success.
Intel’s outgoing CEO Paul Otellini could be looking for work.
But, since Dell is fashioning itself as a sort of IBM for the small and medium business (SMB) set, it really needs more Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) expertise. Maybe they should hire someone from Saleforce.com or Box?
One of my Twitter experts put it this way: ”The market for SMB is pure SaaS plus cloud and only enterprises, [service providers], and government [accounts] will be buying hardware,” he noted.
If the new bids from Blackstone and activist Carl Icahn gel , Dell’s board has a few more days to sort through them and make its decision. Dealbook has a good explanation of the process as it will unfold now.
Of course, this new CEO discussion, as entertaining as it is, may be moot if the Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners buyout bid wins the day. If that’s the case, presumably Mr. Dell will remain CEO if he so desires. If not, let the games begin again.
Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.- New challenges for the IT organization
- Infrastructure Q2: Big data and PaaS gain more momentum
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Wacom Cintiq 22HD Vs. Modbook Pro: Screen Real Estate Takes On Portability For The Digital Artist
Tablets are everywhere these days thanks to the iPad, but they lack a certain finesse necessary for fine digital arts work. That’s where longtime players like Wacom and Modbook still excel. Recently, I’ve had both a Wacom Cintiq 22HD and a new Modbook Pro in the studio for testing, and both have proven immensely handy for digital drawing, painting and photo editing.
One’s clearly a desktop affair, while the other’s much more portable, but if you’ve only got the budget for one (it’s $2,000 for the Cintiq and around $3,200 for the Modbook), which to choose?
The Modbook Pro is a modified MacBook Pro, from a company that has been hacking Apple’s notebooks together with Wacom pressure sensitive screens and turning out Frankenstein Apple tablets since long before the days of the iPad. The latest Modbook Pro is based on the mid-2012 version of the non-Retina MacBook Pro, with some amazing specs to boot. Some highlights (as tested):
- 2.9GHz Intel Core i7
- 16GB 1600MHz DDR3 RAM
- Intel HD Graphics 4000 512MB
- 480GB SSD
- $4519 price as tested
- Product info page
The Modbook also retains most of the ports of the MacBook Pro, with one Ethernet, one Firewire 800, a Thunderbolt port and one USB 3.0, plus the SD and audio in/out ports. The other USB 3.0 on a standard MBP is used to power the Wacom digitizer built into the Modbook’s display, which offers 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity with the included stylus, which slides into a holster built right into the case.
You also get a slot-loading Superdrive on the Modbook Pro, along with a power button and sync button, which you press to make sure the pen is properly calibrated with the display whenever you power it on. The display itself is a matte, 13.3-inch 1280 x 800 pixel LCD, which has a textured feel that resembles paper when drawing with the included stylus.
The hardware is impressive, and feels sturdy and durable. Very sturdy, in fact, which accounts for one of its biggest drawbacks: it’s very, very heavy. At 5.4 pounds, it’s almost a pound heavier than a 13-inch MBP on its own, and since it’s a tablet designed for portability you quickly notice how hefty it actually is. Despite what you may think, it manages to not get too hot when in use, which is a huge bonus for a device that you’ll want to lie flat on your lap most of the time.
Weight issues aside, the Modbook Pro delivers as a drawing tablet. It feels very natural, and mimics the experience of paper well. With the caveat that you’re writing on that paper on top of a stone tablet from biblical times. But it meets the definition of portable, if only just, and gives you access to full Mac and Windows (through Boot Camp) programs, including Sketchbook Pro, Photoshop, Manga Studio and many other industry stand-bys. The problem is that you often want to use it on desks and other flat surfaces, and there’s no good way to change the angle.
It meets the definition of portable, if only just, and gives you access to full Mac and Windows programs.
Another issue is the on-screen keyboard. It’s the default one built into OS X, which many may not even know exists. It’s clunky, it only works with the stylus (no touchscreen input here), and it quickly has you diving for a Bluetooth keyboard if you’re doing anything other than opening and closing a drawing program. A good thing for comfort is that you can rotate the screen from the menu bar easily for portrait use.
This Wacom drawing tablet is the latest in the Cintiq line (though the 13HD will soon change that, when it hits retail). Unlike the Modbook, it isn’t a self-contained computer and must be connected to a Mac or Windows machine to work. It does have a much larger display, however, capable of true HD 1920×1080 resolution. Here’s a bit more about this bad boy:
- Features 16 customizable ExpressKeys and 2 touch strips
- 2048 levels of pressure sensitivity
- Built-in adjustable stand
- $1,999
- Product info page
The Cintiq 22HD has two big differences from the Modbook, but in a way, they actually act as pretty equal trade-offs. The Modbook Pro costs a lot more, but that price difference is about the same as you’d pay for a MacBook Pro on its own, which is exactly what you’ll need to already own if you want the Cintiq 22HD to actually do anything, since it needs to plug into a computer.
There’s also the portability factor: the Cintiq simply isn’t. It’s like any 20+ inch display, but slightly bigger on account of the adjustable angle stand and the built-in ExpressKey and touch strip controls. Plus it’s tethered to your computer via a DVI cable (and whatever adapter you require, perhaps to Thunderbolt or HDMI) and a USB cable that handles the pressure sensitivity duties. But, you can actually slide the Cintiq 22HD off its stand, should you want to lay it in your lap for comfort’s sake, though you’d better have a pretty wide and accommodating lap to use it this way.
That said, the Cintiq 22HD is a dedicated drawing tablet and its dedication to that task shows. Despite the fact that both devices use the excellent Wacom pen tech, the 22HD has double the pressure sensitivity, so it picks up more subtle changes in pen pressure, ships with a much better and more comfortable drawing stylus, and has a better, brighter display that also hase a much better viewing angle. Like the Modbook, it supports display rotation, and on its handy swivel stand, is actually easier to manhandle when used on flat surfaces.
the 22HD has double the pressure sensitivity, so it picks up more subtle changes in pen pressure.
The Cintiq is also easier to use without a keyboard, thanks to the programmable ExpressKeys. You can assign them and the touch panels to zoom, pan, scroll, undo, delete, select all, or perform virtually any function you can do with a keystroke combination. That means a lot less cause to resort to keying in commands, which ultimately saves a lot of frustration.
In some ways, comparing these two devices is like comparing an iMac to a MacBook Pro; if you need portability, you’re going to go with the latter regardless of the relative virtues of either. And the Modbook Pro is an excellent choice for demanding graphics professionals who need a portable device that has none of the trade-offs in terms of performance or software compatibility of something like an iPad or Galaxy Note 10.1.
But if you fall within a broader group of pros and prosumers who are looking at either the entry-level Cintiq or the Modbook as a standalone solution, I’d have to go with the Cintiq. The Modbook’s portability is actually a hindrance in terms of making it comfortable for long-term use, and the Cintiq is just a better performer with more advanced, more nuanced tech on board for digital drawing and photo manipulation. Coming from the older Cintiq 12WX, the 22HD is a massive improvement, and that’s saying a lot considering how thrilled I was with the 12WX.
The Modbook Pro is a remarkable achievement and perfect for those who demand portability, but it’s much more of a niche device. The Cintiq 22HD will disappoint no one who’s in the market for this sort of thing and has the budget to buy it. The main question that remains for that group of people is whether the just-announced 13HD can suit their needs instead, and I’ll let you know the answer to that in our upcoming review.
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News story: Prime Minister’s Passover message
Prime Minister David Cameron sends greetings to Jewish communities in UK and across the world observing Pesach (Passover).
Mr Cameron, said:
I send my very best wishes to Jewish communities in Britain and internationally celebrating Passover this year.
The fact that millions of people are observing a festival which is thousands of years old shows the enduring and positive strength of your faith in our world.
And it is right that the story of the Exodus – the freeing of oppressed peoples – is not forgotten. I join you in the hope and determination that a lasting peace can be found for Israel and the wider region.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to praise the British Jewish community for their significant historic and continued contribution to life in the UK, which has helped make Britain the richly diverse and inclusive place it is today.
I wish you a happy and peaceful Pesach.
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News story: Immigration speech by the Prime Minister
Prime Minister David Cameron has today outlined plans for a cross-Government immigration system that seeks to favour those who work hard to get on in life.
The Prime Minister will said that immigration continues to have huge benefits to our nation and we can be proud of how open and diverse we are. He explained that he believes a sensible debate will help ensure that everyone who comes here pays their way and gives something back.
The speech outlined Government plans to do this by:
- stopping our benefits system from being such a “soft touch”;
- making entitlement to our key public services something migrants earn – not an automatic right; and
- bringing the full force of government together to crack down on illegal working.
Mr Cameron said:
While I have always believed in the benefits of immigration I have also always believed that immigration has to be properly controlled.
As I have long argued, under the last government this simply wasn’t the case. Immigration was far too high and badly out of control. Net migration needs to come down radically from hundreds of thousands a year to just tens of thousands.
And as we bring net migration down so we must also make sure that Britain continues to benefit from it. That means ensuring that those who do come here are the brightest and the best the people we really need with the skills and entrepreneurial talent to create the British jobs and growth that will help us to win in the global race.
And it also means ensuring that the system is fair so that we support the aspirations of hard working people who want to get on in life. This is about building that aspiration nation I have been talking about.
New measures set out by the Prime Minister include:
Cutting access to benefits for non-UK nationals after 6 months
The current Home Office Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations state that someone who enters the UK in order to seek employment means they have a ‘right to reside’ as a job seeker. This means they can claim Job Seekers Allowance and other benefits.
To ensure people cannot claim benefits indefinitely, in early 2014 we will create a statutory presumption that after 6 months an EEA national can no longer retain their status as a job seeker or retained worker and continue to claim benefits, unless they can demonstrate they have actively sought work throughout that period and have a genuine chance of finding work.
Currently some immigrants are exploiting a loophole which allows them to claim contributory benefits based on their National Insurance contributions despite not having the right to work in the UK. This can happen when someone has worked in the UK and paid NI but then overstayed their visa. Closing this loophole will prevent payment of contributory benefits to those with no right to work in the UK at the point of their claim.
We will strengthen the test people have to pass to see if they are eligible to claim income related benefits – the Habitual Residence Test. There will be an increase in the number and stronger range and depth of questions asked.
Stopping ‘something for nothing’ public services
The Government will introduce an expectation on councils to introduce a local residency test in determining who should qualify for social housing. This would mean someone would have to live in an area for say 2 or 5 years before they could even go on the waiting list.
This will stop someone from turning up and immediately gaining access to social housing. To ensure UK nationals are protected when they are moving for genuine reasons – for example for work or because of family breakdown – local authorities will have the ability to set exceptions (e.g. in relation to work mobility, armed services personnel, for people escaping domestic violence etc).
Stopping health tourism
Government wants to stop the expectation that our health service is free to the entire world and we will take new steps to ensure the NHS can claim back money that is owed for NHS treatment provided to those not entitled to it. We will look to introduce stricter charging or a requirement for non-EEA temporary migrants to have private health insurance in order to access NHS care. Countries like the US and Australia already expect people to have insurance – we want to do the same. This will ensure we can reclaim costs when people are treated by the NHS.
Crack down on illegal immigration
Key enforcement organisations will be brought together to form more local and national taskforces to target hotspots of high employment and housing abuse and there will be tougher action on rogue businesses who employ illegal workers by doubling maximum penalties to £20,000. Biometric residence permits will make it easier to identify illegal immigrants.
Rogue landlords
Government will introduce a new legal requirement for landlords to check the migration status of new tenants, so they are not renting to an illegal immigrant. Landlords/letting agents will be expected to demand suitable evidence from tenants (passport/valid visa/Biometric Residence Permit) and to keep a record. For UK nationals proving their status will be straightforward – simply showing a passport, driving licence or birth certificate in most cases.
Rogue landlords who flout the rules and fail to take sufficient checks will face tough consequences, which could include a fine.
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News story: PM call with President Putin of Russia
The Prime Minister spoke to President Putin earlier today on a range of bilateral issues.
On trade, both leaders welcomed the recent deal between BP and Rosneft and commented that it was very positive to see trade between the UK and Russia on the rise. The Prime Minister added that he was looking forward to welcoming President Putin to Northern Ireland for the G8 summit.
On Syria, the Prime Minister set out the urgent need to find a political solution to the crisis. Both leaders agreed that a stable Syria was in everyone’s interest.
On the ongoing situation in Cyprus, the Prime Minister and President agreed it was important that a swift resolution was reached between Cyprus and other members of the Eurozone.
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TalkAndroid Weekly Recap for March 18 – March 24
We had another busy week at TalkAndroid so here’s a recap of all the top stories from this past week. Most of the coverage concerned the HTC One and the Samsung Galaxy S 4, but there were some juicy tidbits regarding the upcoming Motorola X phone, smartwatches and Google Glass. It’s time to get caught up and get ready for another exciting week.
Editorials
How HTC Can Get Its Groove Back
Is Android vulnerable because of Samsung’s dominance?
Accessories
Samsung’s new Game Pad accessory up for preorder for only $113
Apps
Reviews
Jetpack Jinx [Arcade & Action]
New Apps & Games
Google Babble Chat Client to Unify Now Fragmented Messaging Platforms
Glu Mobile Teases Frontline Commando: D-Day With Trailer [Video]
Google Keep now available in the Play Store
Chameleon Launcher for smartphones officially hits the Play Store
Gameloft to bring UNO and Friends to Android
New widget puts the latest Google Doodle on your home screen
App Updates
Gmail For Android Now Lets You Reply Or Archive Right From Notifications
9 Innings: Pro Baseball 2013 Update is a Hit in the Google Play Store
Google Updates Sports Results, Brings Better Grouping And More Detail
Google Play Store Version 4.0 Gets Leaked and Previewed
Google Currents adds support for audio playback in app
Adblock Plus Not Discouraged By Play Store Ban, Creates Easy Workaround
Verizon Messages update enables all devices for messages
Carriers
Leaked T-Mobile ‘UNcarrier’ Info Sheet Means New Plans Could be Right Around the Corner
T-Mobile Uncarrier Value Plans outed and detailed
Sprint allowing MNVOs to sell modified Sprint Android handsets
T-Mobile And MetroPCS Merger Receives Complete Regulatory Approval
T-Mobile Reportedly Testing LTE In Nine Major US Cities
Google
Chrome and Android to remain separate products, but expect more overlap
Google’s Nexus 5 rumored to feature a potential camera with Nikon branding
Chrome World Wide Maze Turns Any Website Into 3D Game Synced To Your Phone
Prior Head Of Android Andy Rubin Was Stubborn, Says Samsung Exec
Google Glass
Sergey Brin’s discussion on Google Glass at TED now available [Video]
Google Glass Gets Eye-Piece Patent
Hardware
NVIDIA reveals more info about Logan, Parker chips during GTC
More Mediatek-powered smartphones with 1080p displays are on the way… and soon
Phones
ASUS
ASUS will launch an Intel-powered smartphone in June
HTC
HTC One is definitely not coming to Verizon
HTC One Might Be Coming to Verizon Wireless After All
HTC One component shortages are real, HTC ‘no longer a tier-one customer’ for component suppliers
HTC Trolling Samsung Unpacked Leads To ‘One On The Street’ Video
HTC One’s BlinkFeed highlighted in new promo video
HTC One shows off BoomSound in latest commercial
HTC Updates One Availability, Will Hit North America By End Of April
HTC announces the E1 dual-SIM smartphone featuring Jelly Bean
HTC Myst slips through the FCC with AT&T LTE bands in tow
More HTC v Samsung Twitter shenanigans surface
Huawei
MetroPCS adds Huawei Premia 4G to stable of LTE devices
Huawei Ascend G700 pictures pop up online, shows a budget device headed for China
Lenovo
Lenovo announces S920 – quad-core smartphone powered by 4.2 Jelly Bean
LG
LG E980 clears the FCC, could be Optimus G Pro for AT&T
Meizu
Meizu Rumored To Launch Full HD MX3 Powered By The Exynos 5 Octa
Motorola
Motorola ‘Ghost’ heading to all four major U.S. carriers, ‘Yeti’ and ‘Sasquatch’ to AT&T
Guy Kawasaki hints at possible hardware customization for the X Phone
Motorola X Phone won’t have customizable hardware after all
Samsung
Samsung Galaxy S 4 To Get Qi Wireless Charging Accessories
Analysts say Samsung Galaxy S 4 to push Samsung back ahead of Apple
CM Developers have no plans to develop for the Galaxy S 4 smartphone
No CM support for Galaxy S 4? Not so fast says CyanogenMod team
Samsung Takes the Galaxy S 4 Software for a Spin in this Latest Video
The Galaxy S 4 costs $244 to make and utilizes 63% of Samsung’s own parts inside
Samsung Galaxy S 4 pre-registrations four times higher than Galaxy S III says UK retailer
UK to See Quad-Core Galaxy S 4 Instead of Octa-Core Version
More information on which countries get which processor in Samsung Galaxy S 4
Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini Photos Leaked
Apple beats Samsung in smartphone satisfaction according to J.D. Power
Samsung’s market share lead expected to double says analyst
More HTC v Samsung Twitter shenanigans surface
New Hack Allows Bypass Of Pin-Secured Lockscreen On Galaxy Smartphones
Sony
Sony introduces the Xperia SP smartphone to the public
Sony unveils the Xperia L for the budget-minded who wants a best in class camera
Xiaomi
Xiaomi Mi-3 revealed with 5-inch 1080p display and Snapdragon 800 CPU
ZTE
New Mid-Range ZTE Quantum (N8910) Coming to Sprint
ZTE Grand X Quad Shown Off In Leaked Photo
Smartwatches
Samsung confirms they are ‘working very hard’ on a smartwatch to take on Apple iWatch
Google’s upcoming smartwatch is an Android project not X Lab
LG is prepping their own smartwatch as well as something similar to Google Glass
Tablets
Amazon
Is Amazon Working on a $99 7-Inch Kindle Fire HD? Rumors Say Yes
ARCHOS
Archos Releases GamePad, 97 and 80 Titanium Tablets in US
Huawei
Upcoming Huawei MediaPad 7 Vogue Press Render and Specs Leaked
Nexus
Samsung
Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 to be unveiled at IFA 2013
Samsung rumored to be developing a premium Galaxy Tab with a full Super AMOLED FULL HD display
Sony
Sony Xperia Tablet Z gets the teardown treatment
Updates
T-Mobile LTE update for Samsung Galaxy Note II pushing out
Samsung Orb Photo Feature Could Debut In Galaxy S 4 With Android 5.0 Update
Verizon Droid 4 to receive Jelly Bean update this week
Verizon Galaxy Nexus Receives Android 4.2.2, Update Rolling Out Today
Droid RAZR HD to receive new update with camera improvements and more
European models of the Sony Xperia Z reported to be getting a firmware update
Android 4.1.2 Update Causing Problems for Motorola DROID RAZR/RAZR MAXX Users
Come comment on this article: TalkAndroid Weekly Recap for March 18 – March 24
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This Is Not A Smartwatch
Confession: I have a few storage boxes in my loft that contain old, but barely used, gadgets. Stowed away, still in their boxes, as if waiting for the right time to be brought out like unloved Christmas decorations.
Ignoring the generations of well-used feature phones also put in storage (thanks to the data locked up inside their tiny brains) many of these devices are gadgets that never lived up to their promise. Which may be why I haven’t been able to throw them out. It just seems wasteful since they never had a useful life.
Among this collection there is even a smartwatch. Or rather a Bluetooth watch, to give it its correct title. The smartwatch of its day, if you will.
At first glance all these boxed-up gadgets look like they’re just waiting to be plugged in to finally start paying back the debt they owe for being made in the first place. Some even look a bit glamorous, gathering an air of mystery thanks to the pelting pace of technology evolution. But pick up yesteryear’s rejects and it soon becomes clear why they’re in stasis: they weren’t good enough to be useful. This is where the mystery stops.
Here’s what passed for a smartwatch in 2008 – made by the now defunct Sony Ericsson joint venture:
The Sony Ericsson MBW-200 Bluetooth watch was only ever an accessory to a mobile phone – and a limited accessory at that. It’s a timely reminder of the pitfalls of building a smartwatch, as the tech industry’s heavy hitters scramble their fighter jets to scream towards the next must-have wearable gadget.
Sure, Pebble has proved there’s a market for some kind of wrist-mounted gizmo that connects to your smartphone and extends the experience of carrying a pocket-sized computer around with you all day every day — but boy it better be worth it.
The MBW-200 wasn’t even good at being a watch, let alone acting as sidekick to the mobile phone. It was top heavy and chunky, so that rather than sit pleasingly on the wrist, it felt like it wanted to swing around it like a high bar gymnast. While its tiny OLED screen, resting forlornly at the bottom of the watch face, wiped a third of the markings off the dial. Aesthetically it was unbalanced and, when not displaying anything, gave the watch a vacant appearance. An ugly and uneasy conjunction of old tech and new.
(It should be noted that the MBW-200 was a range of ladies’ watches – so these devices were even smaller than other SE Bluetooth watches, leaving very little room on the dial to accommodate a screen, hence its squashed situation.)
I reckon a two-inch curved screen is the largest pane that could comfortable fit on my lady-sized wrist, without pushing into bangle territory — which illustrates a key design challenge for today’s smartwatch builders: wrists not only offer very limited real estate to build on, the plots aren’t all sized the same. Ergonomically the MBW-200 was already teetering on the brink of what’s acceptable everyday wrist wear — and its circular watch face was less than one-and-a-quarter inches in diameter.
Squeeze in a SIM tray, and could an iWatch actually become the fabled low-cost iPhone?
Another ergonomic problem with this early attempt at a smartwatch were its (physical) buttons, five in all, lined along the two strap-less sides. Being small, stiff and awkwardly placed, they required two fingers to be engaged in a pincer squeeze when pressing each one. One to push the button, the other to create an equal and opposite push from the other side to stop the watch from being shunted down your wrist.
A touchscreen watch wouldn’t necessarily need any physical buttons so shouldn’t have to contend with such anchorage issues. But wrist-mounted touchscreens face other challenges — from how to protect such a large screen from the bumps and scrapes of everyday life, to how to fit in a big enough battery to power a rich, colour touchscreen display without building a chunky, ugly mess of a watch again.
Hardware aside, the absolute worst thing about the MBW-200 was its ‘smart’ functions. They just weren’t smart enough to make it worth wearing.
Setting aside the hassle of having to make sure watch and phone were properly paired each time you strapped the thing on, the OLED screen was ludicrously tiny: a mere 0.7 inches x 0.15 inches. Lengthier data (such as phone numbers) had to be scrolled to view, rather than being visible all at once. Not exactly helpful if you’re trying to figure out who’s calling. Incoming text messages were announced by a vibration to get your attention, and a text message icon appeared on the screen. This was fine except the actual message itself was not displayed. The screen didn’t indicate who it was from, either — both pretty huge constraints on usefulness.
The watch’s other main function was to allow you to reject or accept calls via two of its physical buttons. Rejecting a call had some value – say if you wanted to stop your phone ringing and didn’t want to go to the trouble of pulling it out of your bag/pocket to do that. But having a button to accept a call but no way to take the call without getting the phone out anyway (unless you already owned and had previously paired a Bluetooth headset with it and happened to have it to hand/in your ear)? Well, that feature could actually feel pretty dumb.
Will an Apple iWatch or a Samsung Galaxy watch or a Google Android watch let you talk directly into your wrist when someone calls you? And include a speaker so you have to lean in close to listen? It might have to in order to avoid being annoying, but that’s more kit to fit in and more stuff to power. Not to mention a new type of behaviour to think about: people talking into and listening to their wrists. (Albeit, that doesn’t seem so odd when you consider Google is trying to get people talking to their spectacles.)
And if you can make calls on a smartphone, could it actually work as a standalone phone? Squeeze in a SIM tray, and could an iWatch actually become the fabled low-cost iPhone? It’s a stretch but maybe a smartwatch has to be that useful to be, well, useful enough.
Five years is an ice age in technology terms so some of the MBW-200’s features weren’t as dumb as they look now. This watch was made to marry a dumbphone after all. And hey, some of what Sony Ericsson was doing five years ago, Pebble is doing now – which perhaps goes to show that despite a human appetite for a wrist-mounted computer, building something that genuinely works in that coveted, curved, convenient but constrained location is a harder problem than a lot of companies realise. Because a lot of companies have tried to make a smartwatch and made cupboard trash instead.
When I was given the watch, after some initial excitement at the concept of being able to screen calls and texts, the reality of its limited usefulness vs. the hassle involved with charging, pairing, wearing and actually using the dumb thing soon sunk in. And, well, to cut a long story short, this not-so-smart-watch was put back in its box for good.
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Citizen journalism at work: Unemployed British man becomes Syrian weapons expert
While some traditional journalists may not like the term, we’ve seen a growing number of examples of “citizen journalism” emerge that make it obvious how powerful that phenomenon has become — from the Pakistani programmer who live-tweeted the Osama bin Laden raid and the network of Twitter followers Andy Carvin of NPR used as a real-time newsroom to Reddit’s reporting on a mass shooting in Colorado. Now we have another to add to the list: a British blogger who goes by the name Brown Moses, who has quickly become the go-to source for information on weapons being used by terrorists in Syria.
A recent piece in The Guardian describes how the blogger — whose real name is Eliot Higgins — is able to quickly identify different forms of rockets and bombs, and how this encyclopedic knowledge has made him a crucial source not just for those who are following the news but for human-rights agencies that are documenting the strife in Syria, and even for traditional journalists like C.J. Chivers of the New York Times, a former Marine who is now an investigative reporter.
In fact, Chivers based an article he wrote for the Times earlier this year on information that was originally uncovered by Brown Moses, and gave him credit both in the NYT piece and on his own blog, saying:
“For weeks we had been watching the spread through the civil war in Syria of weapons made in the former Yugoslavia, and been admiring the work of Eliot Higgins (a.ka. Brown Moses) as he tried mapping their appearances in the videos of varied and far-flung armed groups. Thank you, Eliot, for your patience, and your fine eye, and for creating an opportunity for merging new and old forms of reporting.”
Unlike Chivers, the British blogger has no background in the military, nor did he have any expertise in munitions or military weaponry before he started following what was happening during the Arab Spring. He’s actually a 34-year-old father of one who lives in a suburb of Leicester, and was laid off from his job with a financial company in October (his wife works at the local post office).
Much like NPR’s Carvin, Higgins has spent hours building a network of bloggers and social-media users in the region, and essentially acts as a filter or curator of the content they produce — mostly YouTube videos of exploded munitions, which he then identifies using the knowledge he has built up himself as well as that of his social network. Every night, he combs through more than 450 YouTube channels.
Higgins’ obvious commitment to this task, even though he isn’t being paid, and his commitment to being as accurate as possible (“You have to be first and you have to be right,” he tells the Guardian) makes him a good example of citizen journalism at work. And his partnership with Chivers shows that this kind of journalism can be a great supplement to — not necessarily a replacement for — traditional reporting.
Post and thumbnail image courtesy of Flickr user Petteri Sulonen
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Google Glass Gets Eye-Piece Patent
Google received a big win today in the patent department regarding Google Glass. Patent 20130070338 is probably the most important patent for the Search Giant’s wearable tech. What makes it so important is the fact that it details everything regarding the eye piece. You know, the part that the whole Project Glass is centered around. The claim details how the HUD will work and interact with the user. That’s just one out of 28 claims though. If you have some free time you can read the full technical document that encompasses all 28 claims here.
I’m sure the folks at Mountain View are sleeping easier knowing that Glass is protected. No one can come after them for patent infringement. It’s a safe bet that Google will waste no time going forward with the project considering that it took the Patent Office over a year to process and accept the patent. Even with the Explorer Edition just passing through the FCC, this win should certainly put some pep into Google’s step.
source: Patent Bolt
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