Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/02/the-bachelorette-announcement-premiere-dates-revealed/
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Thursday, February 28, 2013
A Runner's Guide to Exercise Induced Asthma | Fitness, Health and ...
Jackie Joyner-Kersee
This track-and-field star, four-time Olympian, and three-time gold medalist was diagnosed with asthma as a freshman at UCLA.
Paula Radcliffe
Running a marathon is difficult, winning one is?very?difficult, and winning one with asthma is near impossible. ?But that?s what British long-distance runner Paula Radcliffe has done?seven times. The current world record holder in the marathon, Radcliffe was diagnosed with exercise-induced asthma as a teenager.
What do I have in common with both of these athletes?
Last weekend my husband and I were talking about knowing how to breathe, while running, in a way that helps prevent asthma symptoms. That quickly lead to a conversation about what professional athletes have accomplished despite being diagnosed with asthma. At the time, neither of us could name any but we were sure they existed.
After an asthma attack during a run (about 6 months ago) I experienced a fear of it happening again. That fear [temporarily] changed my running. I waited for perfect weather conditions to run outside, I hesitated to increase my pace and I wouldn?t run by myself. With time that fear subsided and was followed by a [temporary] frustration of feeling limited. Then, there was determination. For about 6 weeks I?ve been determined to figure out how I can run with asthma. If Olympic medalists can do it so can I. I?m learning my limits and how to work around them. If I have to slow down to keep running I slow down. Slowing down is always better than having to stop. I still have a lot to learn but I?m determined to not let asthma keep me from running.
What Has Worked For Me || Tips for Running With Asthma
- Be honest with yourself about your limits and work around them. I know I can?t run outside when it?s 16 degrees or colder particularly if it?s windy. According to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology,?people with exercise-induced asthma have airways that are overly sensitive to sudden changes in temperature and humidity, especially when breathing colder, drier air.
- Warm up before you work out. Warm up for about 10 minutes with a gradual increase in intensity.
- If it?s cold and you?re running outside, cover your mouth and nose to warm the air before it enters the lungs.
- Use an inhaler and know the timing that works for you. I use my inhaler 30 minutes before EVERY workout.
- Know your body.?If you?re running and you notice that you?re breathing is becoming labored and shallow, slow down your pace dramatically and walk. Concentrate on taking long, calm, and deep breaths.
Did you know either of these athletes had asthma? Is there anything that you have learned how to work around and keep running?
?
Tagged: asthma, inspiration, running, Top 5, training
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Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Scientists reconstruct Russia meteor trajectory
Relying on videos of the meteor as it streaked across the sky over the Ural mountains, a pair of Colombian astronomers say they have reconstructed the space rock's orbit.
This dashcam video frame grab shows a meteor streaking across the sky of Russia?s Ural Mountains earlier this month.
Nasha gazeta/www.ng.kz/AP/File
EnlargeA duo of Colombian scientists say they have reconstructed the orbit of the meteor that exploded earlier this month over?Chelyabinsk, Russia.?
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This is a virtual exploration of th epreliminary orbit computed by Zuluaga & Ferrin (2013). Scientific details can be found at arxiv:1302.5377Relying on videos of the meteor from?Chelyabinsk's Revolutionary Square?and in the nearby city of Korkino, astronomers Jorge Zuluaga and Ignacio Ferrin at the University of Antioquia in Medellin, Colombia, triangulated the speed and position of the meteorite as it fell to Earth.
Zuluaga and?Ferrin's?conclusion rests on the assumptions that a 20-foot hole in the ice of?Lake Chebarkul was caused by a fragment of the meteor, and that this fragment was traveling along the same trajectory as its parent body. Divers have yet to find a meteorite in the lake.?
The pair were inspired by blogger Stefan Geens, who analyzed video of the shadows cast by light poles in?Revolutionary Square as the blazing meteor passed overhead. Using simple trigonometry, Geens estimated the path of the meteor, noticing that it squared nicely with an image of the meteor's contrail that just happened to have been picked up by a European weather satellite.?
In a paper published online at arXiv.org,?Zuluaga and?Ferrin took Geen's analysis further, using a gravitational analysis to reconstruct the path of the rock going back four years before impact. Their analysis indicates that the meteor was one of the Apollo asteroids, a class of space rocks whose elongated orbits occasionally cross that of our planet. There are about 5,200 known Apollo asteroids, the largest of them being 1866 Sisyphus, a six-mile wide rock discovered in 1972. Sisyphus is comparable in size to the impactor thought to have caused a global extinction event some 66 million years ago, ending the age of the dinosaurs.?
In an effort to prevent a repeat of this sort of event, European Space Agency officials announced a plan to smash a spacecraft into an Apollo asteroid?in 2022?to alter its orbit, just for practice. The target of the joint European/US Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment mission, a rock named?65803 Didymos, poses no threat to our planet in the?foreseeable?future, unless of course the mission goes seriously wrong and Didymos is knocked into our path.??
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Newly spotted comet to buzz Mars in 2014
Lisa Grossman, physical sciences reporter
A Martian sunset, as seen by NASA's Spirit rover in 2005.
(Image: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, Texas A&M, Cornell, JPL, NASA)
There's a new comet in town, and it is making a beeline for Mars. If projections of its orbit are correct, the icy visitor will buzz the Red Planet in October 2014.
Dubbed C/2013 A1, the comet was discovered on 3 January by prolific comet hunter Robert McNaught at Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wales, Australia. Colleagues at the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona found images of the comet in their catalogue that date back to 8 December 2012, giving additional information about its movements.
These observations allowed astronomers to trace the comet's likely path around the sun. The calculated trajectory has C/2013 A1 crossing Mars' orbit on 19 October 2014, according to Australian blogger Ian Musgrave.
That doesn't necessarily mean a collision will occur. The best estimates right now have the comet passing a safe distance of 900,000 kilometres from the Martian surface. Asteroid 2012 DA14 got much closer to Earth last week, skimming by at a distance of 34,400 kilometres. But with so little data in hand, the calculations are not precise. It's possible the comet will miss Mars by as much as 36 million kilometres - or it could smack right into the planet. "An impact can't be ruled out at this stage," Musgrave wrote.
From Earth, we should be able to see the comet and Mars sitting side by side through small telescopes. And from Mars, the comet could be as spectacular as the expected "supercomet" ISON, which will come into view this year and could outshine the full moon.
Assuming the comet's orbit brings it close enough - but not too close - to Mars, the object should be visible either by rovers on the surface or the armada of Mars-orbiting satellites, which have a history of snapping spectacular shots of the Red Planet and its neighborhood.
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J.C. Penney sales plunge, much worse than expected
(Reuters) - J.C. Penney Co Inc
The poor results for the quarter, which included the holiday season, capped a rough first year for Penney's turnaround. The company's shares fell 8 percent in after hours trading.
Chief Executive Ron Johnson, who was brought in to revive the chain after running Apple Inc's retail business, tried to put a positive forward spin on events.
"Sales and customer traffic were below our expectations in 2012, but as we execute our ambitious transformation plan, we are pleased with the great strides we made to improve jcpenney's cost structure, technology platforms and the overall customer experience," he said in a statement.
Analysts had already been expecting same-store sales to decline 27.8 percent, but the even weaker figure put huge pressure on Johnson.
"He's going to have recover this year or he's done," said Ron Friedman, retail practice leader at the consulting firm Marcum LLP. "He's running out of time. He has to have it turned around by the third quarter."
Penney reported a net loss of $552 million, or $2.51 per share in the 14 weeks ended February 2, compared with a loss of $87 million, or $0.41 per share for a 13-week period a year earlier.
Excluding restructuring charges and non cash pension plan expenses, the company posted an adjusted loss of $1.95 per share, as net sales fell 27 percent to $3.88 billion. The loss was nearly three times worse than even the most pessimistic Wall Street estimate tracked by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, while sales were also below forecasts.
Gross margin was 23.8 percent of sales, down 6.4 percentage points from a year earlier. The company blamed lower-than-expected sales and a higher level of sales on clearance.
Retailers ranging from Kohl's Corp
The department store chain had $930 million in cash and cash equivalents at the end of the quarter.
(Reporting By Ben Berkowitz. Editing by Andre Grenon)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/j-c-penney-fourth-quarter-same-store-sales-214244824--sector.html
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Connecting the (quantum) dots: First viable high-speed quantum computer moves closer
Feb. 26, 2013 ? Recent research offers a new spin on using nanoscale semiconductor structures to build faster computers and electronics. Literally.
University of Pittsburgh and Delft University of Technology researchers reveal in the Feb. 17 online issue of Nature Nanotechnology a new method that better preserves the units necessary to power lightning-fast electronics, known as qubits (pronounced CUE-bits). Hole spins, rather than electron spins, can keep quantum bits in the same physical state up to 10 times longer than before, the report finds.
"Previously, our group and others have used electron spins, but the problem was that they interacted with spins of nuclei, and therefore it was difficult to preserve the alignment and control of electron spins," said Sergey Frolov, assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy within Pitt's Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, who did the work as a postdoctoral fellow at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.
Whereas normal computing bits hold mathematical values of zero or one, quantum bits live in a hazy superposition of both states. It is this quality, said Frolov, which allows them to perform multiple calculations at once, offering exponential speed over classical computers. However, maintaining the qubit's state long enough to perform computation remains a long-standing challenge for physicists.
"To create a viable quantum computer, the demonstration of long-lived quantum bits, or qubits, is necessary," said Frolov. "With our work, we have gotten one step closer."
The holes within hole spins, Frolov explained, are literally empty spaces left when electrons are taken out. Using extremely thin filaments called InSb (indium antimonide) nanowires, the researchers created a transistor-like device that could transform the electrons into holes. They then precisely placed one hole in a nanoscale box called "a quantum dot" and controlled the spin of that hole using electric fields. This approach -- featuring nanoscale size and a higher density of devices on an electronic chip -- is far more advantageous than magnetic control, which has been typically employed until now, said Frolov.
"Our research shows that holes, or empty spaces, can make better spin qubits than electrons for future quantum computers."
"Spins are the smallest magnets in our universe. Our vision for a quantum computer is to connect thousands of spins, and now we know how to control a single spin," said Frolov. "In the future, we'd like to scale up this concept to include multiple qubits."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Pittsburgh.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- V. S. Pribiag, S. Nadj-Perge, S. M. Frolov, J. W. G. van den Berg, I. van Weperen, S. R. Plissard, E. P. A. M. Bakkers, L. P. Kouwenhoven. Electrical control of single hole spins in nanowire quantum dots. Nature Nanotechnology, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2013.5
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
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Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Variety dropping daily publication and paywall
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Variety, the venerable trade paper that has covered Hollywood for more than a century, is dropping its daily print edition and replacing it with a weekly publication starting next month.
The publication also will have a new management structure featuring three editors-in-chief and will remove the paywall that was put up on its website three years ago.
"It was an interesting experiment that didn't work. We look forward to welcoming back longtime Variety readers when the paywall drops March 1," said Jay Penske, the chairman and CEO of Variety's parent company.
Variety's last daily print edition will be published March 18. A Tuesday-only publication will debut March 26 and will be augmented throughout the year by several special editions reporting on the industry's many awards shows and other topics of interest to Hollywood movers and shakers.
"We remain committed to a print edition of Variety and are excited that it will expand in size and scope of coverage," the paper's publisher, Michelle Sobrino, said in a story Tuesday on the paper's website (http://bit.ly/YVaMUr ).
Variety also announced that three veteran Hollywood journalists, Claudia Eller, Cynthia Littleton and Andrew Wallenstein, are assuming the titles editor-in-chief.
Eller joins the paper after 20 years with the Los Angeles Times, where she was most recently entertainment news editor. Littleton was most recently deputy editor of Variety and Wallenstein was the trade paper's television editor.
Executive editor Steven Gaydos will continue to oversee Variety's editorial department. Tim Gray, the current editor-in-chief, will remain in a leadership role, overseeing special projects and expansion of international coverage.
Variety has been a fixture in Hollywood since its founding in 1905, but like other traditional print publications has struggled in recent years as news has moved to other formats.
It was purchased last year for $25 million by Penske Media Corp., which also owns the popular Hollywood website Deadline.
___
Information from: Daily Variety, http://www.variety.com
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/variety-dropping-daily-publication-paywall-211716519.html
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BlackBerry launches first BB10 device in India at $800
MUMBAI (Reuters) - BlackBerry launched its first smartphone from its BlackBerry 10 line in India on Monday, pricing the phone at 43,490 rupees ($800).
The touch-screen BlackBerry Z10 phone, which goes on sale in India from Tuesday, will compete with Apple Inc's iPhones and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's high-end Galaxy series phones.
The Z10 has already gone on sale in the United Kingdom and Canada, and is expected to hit the United States in mid-March.
(Reporting by Aradhana Aravindan; Editing by Devidutta Tripathy)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blackberry-launches-first-bb10-device-india-800-075200336--finance.html
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March of the pathogens: Parasite metabolism can foretell disease ranges under climate change
March of the pathogens: Parasite metabolism can foretell disease ranges under climate change
Monday, February 25, 2013Knowing the temperatures that viruses, bacteria, worms and all other parasites need to grow and survive could help determine the future range of infectious diseases under climate change, according to new research.
Princeton University researchers developed a model that can identify the prospects for nearly any disease-causing parasite as the Earth grows warmer, even if little is known about the organism. Their method calculates how the projected temperature change for an area would alter the creature's metabolism and life cycle, the researchers report in the journal Ecology Letters.
Lead author P?ter Moln?r, a Princeton postdoctoral researcher of ecology and evolutionary biology, explained that the technique is an all-inclusive complement to current methods of predicting how climate change will affect disease, which call for a detailed knowledge of the environmental factors a specific parasite needs to thrive. But for many parasites, that information doesn't exist.
The more general Princeton model is based on the metabolic theory of ecology. Under this premise, all biological organisms need a balance between body size and body temperature to maintain the metabolism that keeps their organs functioning. Like any cold-blooded creature, disease-causing parasites rely on external temperatures for this balance. Scientists with knowledge of a parasite's body size and life cycle could use the Princeton metabolic model to predict how the organism would fare in altered climates.
"Our framework is applicable to pretty much any parasite, and utilizes established metabolic patterns shown to hold across a wide variety of species," Moln?r said.
"It would be impossible to ever gather enough data to develop a separate climate-change model for each existing and emerging disease in humans, wildlife and livestock," Moln?r said. "With our physiological approach, many of the parameters for a specific pathogen can be predicted based on what is known about metabolic processes in all parasites, so that the model remains applicable to new and less-studied species as well."
The Princeton model estimates the "fundamental thermal niche" of a parasite, the area between the lowest and highest temperature in which a specific parasite prospers. The researchers show that an organism already kicking around the high end of that range could die out when things heat up, while a parasite lingering at the low end could lead to novel epidemics in host populations and extend to new areas.
Because global temperatures will still differ by elevation and distance from the equator, some parasites also might "migrate" from their previous territory ? rendered inhospitable by higher temperatures ? to one more inviting. That could expose human and animal populations to new diseases to which they may have little natural resistance. Thus, having an idea of which areas a parasite might transition to is important, Moln?r said.
"As metabolism varies with temperature, parasite life-cycle components such as mortality, development, reproduction or infectivity may also vary with temperature," Moln?r said. "If, for a specific parasite, we know the temperature dependence of its metabolism, or the temperature dependence of its life-cycle components, our model allows using these temperature effects to evaluate the impact of climate change on parasite fitness, and thus the regions in which the parasite may occur in the future."
Ryan Hechinger, a biologist at the University of California-Santa Barbara, said the framework adds to recent research tempering the fear that infectious diseases will uniformly flourish as global temperatures rise. Hechinger, who focuses his research on parasite ecology and evolution, is familiar with the work but had no role in it.
"There has been quite a bit of a 'the sky is falling' attitude from people claiming that infectious diseases are only going to get worse," Hechinger said. "We can't forget that most infectious diseases are caused by living agents. Like most living things, these agents may be negatively or positively affected by climate change. The modeling in this paper clarifies that infectious diseases may increase or decrease under climate change, specifically under global warming."
In addition, Hechinger said, the Princeton technique applies to any parasites that venture outside of a warm-blooded host, including organisms that plague humans, such as Plasmodium, the microorganism that causes malaria.
"If the parasites have stages when they are loose in the environment, they will be impacted by temperature. This goes for parasites with developmental stages in cold-blooded hosts because those hosts are affected by environmental temperatures," Hechinger said.
"So, the modeling framework can work for human malarias because there are parasite stages in cold-blooded mosquitos, or human schistosomiasis [most common in children in developing countries], where the parasite has stages in cold-blooded snails and free-living stages in the open environment," he said.
The Princeton model could potentially appertain to those disease carriers as well, Moln?r said. The framework could predict the future ranges of cold-blooded animals for use in combating invasive species, or even in the conservation of such animals as reptiles and amphibians, he said.
Moln?r worked with senior researcher Andrew Dobson, Princeton professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, as well as with second author Susan Kutz, an associate professor of veterinary medicine at the University of Calgary, and Bryanne Hoar, a graduate student in the Kutz lab.
The researchers tested their model on Ostertagia gruehneri, a species of nematode, or roundworm, that lives in the Arctic. Among the world's most widespread parasites, the larval stages of parasitic roundworms are free-living in the environment or utilize a cold-blooded intermediate host, while the adult stages live within their final hosts, and may cause conditions such as trichinosis.
Hoar and Kutz had reared O. gruehneri larvae in various temperatures, and recorded their development and survival. Moln?r and Dobson found that these observations correlated extremely well with how their metabolic model predicted the species would respond to increased Arctic temperatures. Under future conditions, the parasite's infectious season could split from what is now a continuous spring-to-fall transmission season into two longer fall and spring seasons separated by a hot, unlivable summer.
While the seasonal life of a nematode might seem trivial, what affects the parasite affects the host, Moln?r said. The researchers are broadening their model to gauge how O. gruehneri's new active seasons would alter the relationship with its primary host, the caribou. They also are investigating the recent range expansion of a nematode with a penchant for the lungs of muskoxen, a wooly bovine native to the Arctic.
Moln?r and his colleagues want to know what further population growth could be expected from these parasites as the Arctic climate continues to warm, and the eventual toll that would have on caribou and muskoxen herds.
###
Princeton University: http://www.princeton.edu
Thanks to Princeton University for this article.
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Baby Boomers Cause Generational Stress | The Military Wire ... - Blogs
According to Stress in America, a study commissioned by the American Psychological Association, Millennials are the most stressed demographic. This not only impacts our military and Veteran populations, but every community across America ? yes, even your city. Real change is required.
The study goes on to state, ?While Millennials (ages 18 to 33) and Gen Xers (ages 34 to 47) report the highest average stress levels, Boomers (48 to 66) and Matures (67 years and older) join them in reporting levels that are higher than they consider healthy. Stress has also increased for a considerable number of Americans, regardless of age.?
And guess who is responsible? The Baby Boomers. Yep, I said it. I called out the white elephant. Now before I get lynched, let me explain.
It?s all about the money ? or lack thereof ? and the Boomers are responsible for teaching and implementing the ?I?ve got mine and we?ll figure out how to get yours later? attitude. Surveys show that money tops the list of stress sources (76 percent of respondents identified it as a problem), followed by work (70 percent) and the economy (65 percent).
Under Boomer leadership, whether at home or in government, Gen Xers were the first generation to be left ?worse off? than the previous generation ? and the cycle continues.
And kids feel their parents? stress. According to Sue Shellenbarger with The Wall Street Journal, ?Most parents ? 69 percent ? say that their stress doesn?t affect their children. But the kids disagree: 91 percent of 8- to 17-year-olds said they can tell when their parents are stressed out, and many ?feel sad, worried, and frustrated as a result.??
Arianna Huffington (I?m working on being fair and balanced) even chimed in and stated, ?It?s reasonable to assume that higher levels of stress put the Millennials at higher risk for all sorts of destructive downstream consequences, from diabetes and obesity to anxiety and depression. Not surprisingly, work is one of the biggest causes of stress. The job numbers are grim, and even those lucky Millennials that land a decent job often face a workplace rife with destructive definitions of success.?
And then there is Sequestration. Those impacts are not going to be pretty. Take Fort Drum ? WWNY News reported that thousands of civilians will likely experience furlough ? I can tell you that Fort Drum?s training budget is 25% less than it was the month before, some brigades will deploy without a training rotation (not good ? this is when body bags fill up) and the installation could see a military force reduction of up to 8000 troops?and this won?t be unique to Fort Drum.
So, aside from assigning blame, which doesn?t solve anything and just creates a good headline and a defensive environment (forgive me Baby Boomers), what are we to do?
We need to think outside the box.
Some have taken that to new levels like committing a crime?because at least they?ll be able to collect unemployment.
I?m not suggesting we follow or encourage that channel of thought.
What I?m suggesting is that we first understand that ?business as usual? has gotten us to where we are today and we need to change. That is step one.
Step two?and Bottom line: we need to truly understand what the economic drivers are for our city and what future ones we need to embrace. We need to attract new business and talent into our city that will support the economic drivers. We need to reshape programs and policies so that we see an ROI ? and we need to engage the next generation?new thought leaders?and encourage input.
We have incredible leaders cycling out of our military ? many are proven, disciplined, understand hard work, have little regard for politics but understand completing a mission successfully, and know that team work is vital. What are you doing to attract this talent to your business, church, organization?or city?
Source: http://blog.seattlepi.com/militarywire/2013/02/25/baby-boomers-cause-generational-stress/
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Monday, February 25, 2013
Inhabitat's Week in Green: P1 hybrid supercar, asteroid attack lasers and mosquito inoculators
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green.
Coffee is what fuels us in the morning -- but it turns out that a cup of Joe can do much more than perk up sleepy office workers; this week a truck that runs entirely on coffee set a world record for the highest speed ever attained by a java-powered vehicle. That isn't the only green car news that broke this week -- with the Geneva Motor Show fast approaching, we've been keeping an ear to the ground for the latest from Switzerland. McLaren is set to officially unveil its 903-horsepower P1 hybrid supercar at the Geneva show, and Volkswagen will show off its new XL1 plug-in hybrid, which gets a whopping 261 miles to the gallon. Volvo, meanwhile, just launched the world's first car with external airbags to help protect pedestrians from serious injuries. But if you prefer bikes over cars, then you'll want to check out Bicycled Bikes, a unique set of bikes that are manufactured in Spain from upcycled car parts.
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/BOBGSwezW18/
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Saturday, February 23, 2013
Google Project Glass overview: why it could change telephony, bring Google Plus up and Facebook down
Introduction
Just a couple of days ago, Google released a brand new video showing real-life footage from its Project Glass, a futuristic wearable heads-up display with a mounted camera and cellular connectivity. We?ve seen Glass in action before, but now is the first time we actually get to see the user interface of the platform powering Glass as it is (this is clearly not Android, not in a recognizable form). Not just that, we get a deeper look at what Google thinks would be the practical uses for the futuristic wearable display.
Recording a video is another great examples where the hands-free nature of Google Glass shines. What makes Glass different from most head-mounted cameras though is its cellular connectivity and ability to instantly share the captured footage.
Just a couple of days ago, Google released a brand new video showing real-life footage from its Project Glass, a futuristic wearable heads-up display with a mounted camera and cellular connectivity. We?ve seen Glass in action before, but now is the first time we actually get to see the user interface of the platform powering Glass as it is (this is clearly not Android, not in a recognizable form). Not just that, we get a deeper look at what Google thinks would be the practical uses for the futuristic wearable display.
We?ve watched this video over and over again, imagining the possibilities offered by Glass. We believe Glass has the potential to be more than just a heads-up display. With cellular connectivity on board, it could well be the next big disruption since the iPhone. And with a deeply engraved social DNA, Glass could finally give Google Plus a much needed push, turn the market dynamics against Facebook, and change telephony along the way. Here is how.
Stacking up the cards: it?s all about voice
Right after Page stepped in as CEO, he ordered a massive holistic redesign of Google?s entire product lineup. It had to be done in extremely tight deadlines - months not years. By now you can already see the fruits of it - unified modern and simplistic looks of everything starting from the traditional search engine, through Google Drive and ending with Google Plus. It is a good looking unified ecosystem with virtually no fragmentation.
Google?s strong cloud presence however is just a part of the foundation that has been laid to make Google Glass possible. Arguably the most important new piece of technology behind the ambitious heads-up Glass display that is designed to be used with no hands is voice interaction. We?ve really only recently started seeing the brilliant work done on voice recognition in Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, the first Android version that leverages Google?s ?brain,? a cloud-based artificial intelligence system that creates more patterns as you feed it more data, and thus only gets better over time.
The end result is an extremely snappy and accurate voice recognition engine that is right now working for English, and will soon be deployed to recognize other languages as well.
The menu: surprising depth
It seems like Google has managed to get Glass to listen to you at all times. You just say a pre-defined voice command like ?ok glass? at any point at time to wake it up. Supposedly, this does not require a push of a button. That alone could be huge. Other systems like Siri and Google Voice in contrast do require to be first turned off before they start listening. That is mostly because of battery life concerns, and sidestepping that manual switch on process is actually a huge deal. We?re yet to hear whether Google has indeed found a way to get Glass to actively listen to you at all times for a wake-up command, and how it has done so while keeping a reasonable battery life for the device.
What is really interesting is next - the actual user interface and menu.The ?ok glass? voice command wakes up the display and brings up the main menu. The Google Glass main menu is navigated mostly by voice. There are five commands which might seem limited, but some of them have quite a depth to them. Here is what you can do with the Glass right now:
Google Glass menu overview:
1. Google...
- images of tigers
- Jellyfish
- say something in Thai
2. take a picture
3. record a video
4. hang out with...
5. get directions to...
1. Google...
Google is the first and most diverse voice command. The ellipses (?...?) after the command indicate that you can follow it up with sub-commands.
What?s particularly exciting is how Google shows the results. You can of course look up information, but instead of the usual results page, you get a card-like view. It is somewhat similar to Google Now (more on that later), with a very brief and concise information designed to fit the small Glass display. Searching for Images is also very straightforward with pictures showing up directly on the screen.
The ?Google...? command is not just about simple search, though. It taps into Google hidden superpowers like translations so you can have Glass translate things for you on the go and also speak them to you.We also expect that all the standard Google functions will be supported - calculator, weather, time, sports scores, unit and currency conversions, people profiles, local searches, movie showtimes, health conditions, medications info, trip planning, and others.
2. take a picture
Snapping images with Glass should be an extremely rewarding and spontaneous experience - after all you can snap images everywhere almost instantly. Most importantly of course, you can shoot images while doing something with your hands. Then, even with a smartphone it takes a couple of seconds to take the device out of the pocket and fire up the camera, Glass has the potential to cut that time drastically.
So far, we are only seeing single images taken with Glass but we see no reason why a deeper menu cannot be implemented by the time of launch with standard camera options like burst shots, live filters and so on.
3. record a videoRecording a video is another great examples where the hands-free nature of Google Glass shines. What makes Glass different from most head-mounted cameras though is its cellular connectivity and ability to instantly share the captured footage.
5. get directions to...
With Google Maps in the corner of your eye at all times you can easily navigate yourself while driving, cycling, walking. Again, having your display head-mounted and your hands free is the greatest advantage to Glass.
Could it replace traditional voice calls and texts?
In the video, you can see a ton of fascinating special moments shared via hangouts. The things Google?s team captured are pretty amazing - live hangouts while skydiving, skating, running, playing with your kids, the priceless moments in life that become the best memories... Hangouts are voice calls on steroids.
Voice calls on Google Plus are completely free and messages sent through Google?s social network are free as well. Why would you need to pay for minutes when you can have all your communication with free hangouts and messages?
Let us make this clear - the carriers should be afraid of Google Glass. It has the potential to disrupt phones (we are not saying it is going to necessarily happen) and kill a golden source of income for mobile operators. After all, all those minutes you buy are an extremely profitable business. Not so much with data.
All of this technology however is not new. Free voice calls have been around since forever, and we?ve had phones supporting those services like Skype in the last two or three years (carriers viciously opposed it at first).
Google Glass? role in this is to be the enabler. A unified platform bringing voice, social, search and the cloud, everything together.
Google Glass Plus, Facebook minus
Glass has the potential to justify its existence and give it a much needed push. It could be a disruption for social networking as well if Facebook does not react.
Google Now
Google?s video indeed shows cards automatically popping up on Glass at an airport helping a user find his gate, and we have no reason to doubt Now will arrive in its full glory on Glass.
Conclusion: release date and availability
There is tremendous potential and opportunity in wearable devices. As smartphones reach 1080p displays and lag free performance with the latest chips, it seems users will start looking at them as a commodity item, much like we look at desktop and laptop computers nowadays. The hype around them after the touchscreen revolution in 2007 will start to slowly dissipate in the coming years.
The biggest minds in the industry like Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Microsoft chairman Bill Gates have both repeated over and over their belief in voice as the technology they are most excited for. We wholeheartedly agree.
Google?s Project Glass is expected to come in 2014, but it will surely evolve a lot along the way. As every new technology, it carries many risks. Not everyone wants to start walking around like a cyborg and Google will have to put huge efforts into making Glass really stylish and/or concealed. That we believe is the biggest hurdle for Glass.
Google will also have to figure out a way to monetize this eventually and serving ads definitely does not seem like a viable option on that tiny screen.
Still, we are confident in the company?s efforts and it?s motto of skating to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been. Google Glass does exactly that.
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Let Your iPhone Toot Its Own Horn With These Custom Brass Amplifiers
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'Cowboy up. I'm fixin' to ride, and Jesus is my vehicle:' Texas execute man for burning his ex girlfriend to death
- Carl Henry Blue, 48, was pronounced dead at 6:56 p.m. local time at the state penitentiary at Huntsville
- Blue was convicted of killing ex-girlfriend Carmen Richards-Sanders, 38, in her apartment in Bryan, Texas, in 1994 as she was getting ready to leave for work
- Blue threw open the door to Richards-Sanders' apartment, tossed gasoline on her and another man who was in the home at the time and set the two of them ablaze with a lighter
By James Nye
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A man convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend by dousing her with gasoline and setting her on fire was executed in Texas on Thursday after the U.S. Supreme Court refused his final appeal.
Carl Blue, 48, was convicted of the September 1994 death of Carmen Richards-Sanders, 38, at her apartment in Bryan, about 100 miles northwest of Houston.
Blue also tossed gasoline on a man in the apartment, but he survived and testified against Blue, who claimed the attack was a prank gone wrong.
Carl Henry Blue, 48, who was convicted of capital murder in the fiery 1994 death of his ex-girlfriend, was executed Thursday evening in Huntsville
In his final statements, he greeted victim?s daughter, Terrella Richards, as she entered the death chamber viewing area by telling her he loved her.
'I never meant to hurt your mama,' Blue said while strapped to a gurney in the state?s death chamber.
'If I could change that, I would. ? I forgive you. I hope you can forgive me.'
He also told his parents, watching through another window, that he loved them.
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'I did something wrong, and now I?m paying the ultimate justice,' he said. 'It may be crooked justice but I forgive those people.'
'Hang on,' he told them. 'Cowboy up. I?m fixin? to ride and Jesus is my vehicle.'
He took about a dozen breaths as the lethal drug began taking effect, said he could 'feel it,' then slipped into unconsciousness. Blue was pronounced dead at 6:56 p.m.
Carl Henry Blue, 48, was pronounced dead at 6:56 p.m. local time at the state penitentiary at Huntsville, said the Texas Department of Criminal Justice
Blue?s death was the first execution this year in the nation?s most active death penalty state.
Prosecutors said Blue walked seven miles from his home to a convenience store and had been drinking malt liquor and smoking crack behind the store when he bought 50 cents? worth of gasoline he put in a 'Big Gulp' cup.
Court records said he waited outside Richards-Sanders? apartment, then rushed in when she opened the door, telling her: 'I told you I was going to get you.' He doused Richards-Sanders and ignited her.
She was trying to start her life over after the couple broke up months earlier, 'and Carl wasn?t part of that, and that was a problem for Carl,' Shane Phelps, a prosecutor at Blue?s punishment trial, said before the execution.
In this November 15th, 2012 photo, Carl Henry Blue looks back at family and friends while being escorted back to jail after having his execution date set - Blue was convicted of killing ex-girlfriend Carmen Richards-Sanders, 38, in her apartment in Bryan, Texas, in 1994 as she was getting ready to leave for work (right)
When Blue discovered Larence Williams at the apartment, he threw what was left of the gasoline on Williams, setting him on fire.
'He had only one true love in his life ? and here she was with another guy,' recalled John Quinn, the lead defense attorney at Blue?s 1995 trial.
Hours later, Blue turned himself in to police.
'When I went to knock, she snatched the door open and had a cigarette,' Blue told police in a tape-recorded statement played at his trial.
'I wasted gas on both of them. And she caught on fire, and he caught on fire, and I took off running ? I was scared, man.'
Carl Henry Blue's execution was the second in the country this year. Texas leads the United States in total executions since the state re-introduced the death penalty in 1976
Blue?s present appeals attorney, Michael Charlton, argued in appeals this week it was a conflict of interest for one of Quinn?s co-counsels to represent him in appeals because he likely wouldn?t contend his previous work was deficient.
The conflict 'resulted in valuable and worthwhile claims not being presented to any court,' Charlton said.
The Texas Attorney General?s office said the federal appeals were meritless because Blue had waived his right to a different lawyer, negating the conflict claim.
Five years after his conviction, his death sentence was among about a half-dozen in Texas overturned by a federal judge who ruled it was improper for a former state prison psychologist to testify that the black man?s race could indicate a propensity for violence.
Blue again was sentenced to die at a second punishment trial in 2001.
At least 11 other prisoners are scheduled for lethal injection in the coming months in Texas, which executed 15 inmates last year.
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Purported pic of Retina iPad mini appears online
Retina iPad mini has made its first appearance in the underbelly of the Internet where mockups and fake pictures mix freely with truth and actual product specifications. CNET reports that a Chinese website has posted what it claims is a picture of Retina iPad mini.
In case you've been living a rock, it's worth reiterating that Apple introduced the iPad mini alongside the fourth generation iPad at a special event in San Jose, California on October 23rd last year. The iPad mini features a 7.9-inch display, FaceTime HD and iSight cameras, ultrafast wireless performance and 10 hours of battery life.
With the 'bigger' iPad featuring a Retina display of 2048x1536 resolution, many found iPad mini's 1024x768 display rather underwhelming. Speculation about Apple releasing a Retina iPad mini has been rampant almost since the day the iPad mini was announced. Most analysts and technical experts full expect Apple to release the Retina iPad mini, and now it has made its first alleged appearance.
The picture on the Chinese forum features an iPad mini-like device pictured from the bottom. The speaker grill can be seen, as can be the Apple branding on the back, which is, strangely, in a shade of blue. The pictured device is visibly thicker than the current iPad mini, which adds credence to the fact this could be a Retina version, since the Retina iPad was famously thicker than the iPad 2. On the other hand, that blue colour sticks out like a sore thumb, since no Apple devices feature that particular shade.
We're sure we'll see a lot more leaks between now and the actual launch. Keep your seat belts on. This could be a bumpy ride.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ndtv/uQAc/~3/fKDHbL00LsI/story01.htm
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Rivera throws BP for first time since knee injury
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) ? Yankees closer Mariano Rivera did more than throw on Friday. He also called balls and strikes.
The 43-year old Rivera threw 25 pitches in his first batting practice session since knee surgery last year and said he was happy with the results.
"It feels great to be on the mound," said Rivera, who expects to throw BP one or two more times. "Basically, just wanted to see hitters. I'm excited. Build up, and we'll go from there."
The first batter Rivera faced was minor leaguer Rob Segedin. After the first pitch, which the right-handed batter took, Rivera said: "Strike 1." When the next pitch was taken, Rivera said: "Strike 2, you better swing."
Segedin took the advice on the third offering, and lined what would have been a single to right center.
"There you go," Rivera said.
Rivera was limited to nine games last year, his season ending when he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee while tracking down a fly ball during batting practice in Kansas City on May 3. He had surgery to repair the injury on June 12.
"He looked great," manager Joe Girardi said. "Looked like what you'd expect him to look like, which is a good thing."
Rivera is a 12-time All-Star with 608 saves in the regular season and 42 more in the postseason. After additional BP sessions, he might throw a simulated game before starting exhibition play ahead of the Yankees' April 1 opener against Boston.
Ace CC Sabathia, likely to start that opener, threw 40 pitches during his third bullpen session and intends to throw batting practice on Monday.
"Felt good. No problems," Sabathia said.
The left-hander had arthroscopic surgery Oct. 25 to remove a bone spur from his left elbow.
Shortstop Derek Jeter, coming back after ankle surgery, continues to increase his workouts. He is hitting and fielding, and participating in an indoor running program.
"Every day is more and more," Jeter said. "More agility, more running."
Andy Pettitte, who turns 41 in June, threw 24 pitches in his initial batting practice session.
Right-hander Phil Hughes, receiving treatment for bulging disk in his upper back, said he feels significantly better and could start pool work Sunday. He might resume playing catch next week.
Notes: Jorge Posada arrived in camp as a guest instructor. The former catcher again said he has no interest in making a comeback and is talking with the team about being a part-time instructor. "I'm not second guessing myself," Posada said. "I know I can't play. So, in my mind I think I made the right decision." ... RHP David Phelps is the scheduled starter for Saturday's spring training opener against Atlanta. Position players making the trip to Kissimmee include 1B Mark Teixeira, 2B Robinson Cano and SS Eduardo Nunez. ... Reliever Joba Chamberlain is scheduled to take part in a simulated game Saturday. ... Minor league pitching prospect Mark Montgomery (back spasms) threw 28 pitches in a bullpen session.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rivera-throws-bp-first-time-since-knee-injury-153458499--mlb.html
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Friday, February 22, 2013
During Oscars Weekend, Who Will Win Box-Office Gold?
'Identity Thief' looks to take back the #1 spot, as sci-fi horror 'Dark Skies' and action flick 'Snitch' are the only new releases.
By Ryan J. Downey
Melissa McCarthy in "Identity Thief"
Photo: Universal Pictures
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1702398/identity-thief-oscars-box-office.jhtml
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Trump Twitter mystery! Who hacked The Donald?
In what appears to be the latest in a minor wave of attacks on Twitter accounts belonging to out-sized corporate entities, an out-of-character tweet from Donald Trump's verified account set the Internet abuzz, and then disappeared, shortly before noon ET on Thursday.
"These hoes think they classy, well that's the class I'm skippen," read the suspect remark issued from @realDonaldTrump. It was a glaring non sequitur following tweets such as "Republicans must be careful with immigration?don?t give our country away," and "Wow, Macy's numbers just in-Trump is doing better than ever ? thanks for your great support!"
"Yes, obviously the account has been hacked and we are looking for the perpetrator," Rhona Graff, senior vice president, assistant to the president of the Trump Organization, told NBC News via email.
This confirmation was quickly echoed by Trump himself, in a tweet that read, "My Twitter has been seriously hacked ? and we are looking for the perpetrators."
Cut off after a single rogue tweet, the Trump Twitter anomaly was far shorter than the Burger King and Jeep takeovers earlier this week. On Monday, Burger King's Twitter account was hacked and renamed McDonalds, and over the course of a hour, sent out 53 tweets (and garnered 73,421 retweets) making light of the situation. The Tuesday attack on Jeep's Twitter account ? which included the erroneous announcement that the car maker had been taken over by Cadillac ? ceased after just 10 minutes and 13 tweets.
Soon after @Jeep regained control, the Twitter accounts of MTV and BET appeared to be compromised. The MTV account tweeted claims the network had been taken over by BET, and BET tweeted it was now owned by MTV. This turned out to be a publicity stunt by the networks, both owned by Viacom. As NBC News reported on Tuesday, the account of a PR representative warned of the hack ahead of time on Twitter and then both MTV and BET copped to the scheme after the "hack."
NBC News has asked the Trump Organization how Trump was able to regain control of his Twitter account so quickly, and will update this story if we receive a response.
Helen A.S. Popkin goes blah blah blah about the Internet. Tell her to get a real job on Twitterand/or Facebook.
Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/trump-twitter-mystery-who-hacked-donald-1C8462918
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Thursday, February 21, 2013
New tech changes nature of fighting crime
NEW YORK (AP) ? A 911 call comes in about a possible bomb in lower Manhattan and an alert pops up on computer screens at the New York Police Department, instantly showing officers an interactive map of the neighborhood, footage from nearby security cameras, whether there are high radiation levels and whether any other threats have been made against the city.
In a click, police know exactly what they're getting into.
Such a hypothetical scenario may seem like something out of a futuristic crime drama, but the technology is real, developed in a partnership between the nation's largest police department and Microsoft Corp., and the latest version has been quietly in use for about a year.
The project could pay off in more ways than one: The NYPD could make tens of millions of dollars under an unprecedented marketing deal that allows Microsoft to sell the system to other law enforcement agencies and civilian companies around the world. The city will get a 30 percent cut.
The Domain Awareness System, known as the dashboard, gives easy access to the police department's voluminous arrest records, 911 calls, more than 3,000 security cameras citywide, license plate readers and portable radiation detectors. This is all public data ? not additional surveillance.
Right now, it is used only in NYPD offices, mostly in the counterterrorism unit. Eventually, the system could supply crime-fighting information in real time to officers on laptops in their squad cars and on mobile devices while they walk the beat.
"It works incredibly well," said Jessica Tisch, director of planning and policy for the counterterrorism unit.
For example, officers used the system during a deadly shooting outside the Empire State Building in August. Dozens of 911 calls were coming in, and it initially looked like an attack staged by several gunmen. But officers mapped the information and pulled up cameras within 500 feet of the reported shots to determine there was only one shooter.
Analysts are cautious about the potential profits, saying that largely depends on Microsoft's sales efforts and whether any major competition arises. While there other data-drilling products made by other companies, they say the NYPD's involvement could set the dashboard apart.
"This is the kind of stuff you used to only see in movies," said analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group, a technology analysis firm. "Getting it to work in a way that police departments can use in real time is huge."
The venture began in 2009 when the NYPD approached Microsoft about building software to help mine data for the Lower Manhattan Security Initiative, a network of private and public cameras and other tools monitored by the department's counterterrorism bureau. Development cost the department between $30 million and $40 million, officials said.
"Usually, you purchase software that you try to work with, but we wanted this to be something that really worked well for us, so we set about creating it with them," said Richard Daddario, the NYPD's deputy commissioner for counterterrorism.
Officers were involved throughout the process with the programmers, offering advice on what they need during an emergency.
"It was created by cops for cops," Tisch said. "We thought a lot about what information we want up close and personal, and what needs to be a click away. It's all baked in there."
The system uses hundreds of thousands of pieces of information. Security camera footage can be rewound five minutes so that officers can see suspects who may have fled. Sensors pick up whether a bag has been left sitting for a while. When an emergency call comes in, officers can check prior 911 calls from that address to see what they might be up against.
Prospective clients can customize it to fit their organization.
Dave Mosher, a Microsoft vice president in charge of program management, said the company started to market the system in August and is looking at smaller municipalities, law enforcement agencies and companies that handle major sporting events.
He would not say whether any clients have been lined up and would not give details on the price except to say that it would depend on how much customization must be done.
Shawn McCarthy, an analyst with the research firm IDC, described the partnership ? and outcome ? as unusual in the tech world. "I see huge potential, but so much depends on the price and competition," he said.
No firm timetable has been set on when the dashboard will be rolled out to the entire 34,000-offficer department.
___
Associated Press video journalist Bonny Ghosh contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nypd-microsoft-create-crime-fighting-tech-system-174310276--finance.html
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Sony Xperia Z review
More Info
The Xperia Z is one of the main pillars of Sony's new plan to focus on mobile, gaming and imaging. In fact, it's a device that addresses all three of those areas, while also pressing reset on Sony's smartphone past. The handset ushers in a new design language, one Sony's decided to bring to its new tablet too. It's called omnibalance design, but it's best described as a combination of 90-degree angles, even weight distribution and flat glossy sides.
Once you get to look at the phone in person, all Xperias that came before it pale in comparison. The phone feels solid and you'd be hard-pressed to describe any part of it as plasticky. Between those mirrored sides, you'll find Sony's first 1080p phone display, measuring five inches and benefiting from the company's new Bravia Mobile Engine 2. Improvements to the Xperia line aren't merely cosmetic, though: Sony's added a 13-megapixel camera (featuring the HDR video-capable Exmor RS sensor) and a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro -- Qualcomm's most potent mobile processor currently available.
Meanwhile, those precious electronics are protected by a shell that's water- (IPX5/7) and dust-resistant (IP5X). It's rare to see such protection on a phone that's not being marketed as a rugged device, let alone a company's new flagship. Sony is looking to succeed in mobile and, with just a week away from the world's premier phone tradeshow, has the company created something that can stand up against current Android champions and win?
Hardware
Where to start with the hardware? How about here: this is Sony's best-looking smartphone ever. Lacking any removable panel to access the battery meant that the Xperia Z's components could be squeezed together into a slender profile measuring a mere 7.9mm (0.31 inch) and weighing in at 146g (5.15 ounces). Thanks in part to the hidden ports, light is able to bounce off the phone's white sides. In short, it's a real beauty. It's worth noting that alongside the increasingly safe choice of black and white, there's also a purple edition -- one that our Spanish team got to play with.
Where to start with the hardware? How about here: this is Sony's best-looking smartphone ever.
But while it's certainly a looker, the expanse of that 5-inch screen and accompanying bezel mean that it isn't the most comfortable smartphone we've handled. Compared with the substantial Lumia 920, the Xperia Z is slightly taller, but it's easier to grip, thanks to that slimmer shape. Put differently, it feels more like the Droid DNA than, say, the Galaxy Note II. As we noted before, reaching the phone's upper edge is a bit of a stretch if you're using it one-handed -- we're hoping Sony's incoming Xperia ZL (with its smaller dimensions) will prove a little more manageable. Thanks to one very geometric silhouette, the phone is a little uncomfortable to hold after extended use, what with those sharp corners pressing into your palms. However, we had no problems sliding it into our pockets -- something we can't say of other phones with 5-inch screens.
That glass-coated backing brings the Xperia Z into such esteemed company as the Nexus 4 and iPhone 4S, although Sony has differentiated its design by extending these glass panels to the sides too. Both the back and front include a shatter-resistant layer (not Gorilla Glass), while a glass-fiber polyamide skeleton connects all those panels together. This skeleton rounds out the corners between the panels, which helps smooth those angles at least to some extent.
Two other notable features are the Xperia Z's IPX5/7 and IP5X ratings. In real terms, Sony says the phone can handle water up to a depth of one meter, and is resistant to guided water jets. It's also designed to steer away dust from the phone's more delicate parts. To access the micro-SIM and microSD slots, as well as the micro-USB and headphone sockets, you'll need to flip out the sealed covers. There's a rubber lining behind each one, ensuring the water's kept out. We tested it in bowls of water, the shower and even gave it a quick hose down, but none of this resulted in a panicked call to Sony requesting another review unit. The flaps also feel substantial -- we have no concerns about them breaking off after extended use. Heck, you could even lift the phone up with them (not that we suggest you do that). At the same time, opening these flaps is less laborious than pulling off a battery cover or battery to access a micro-SIM slot or SD reader.
While you won't have to open those flaps very often, you'll be accessing that micro-USB port pretty frequently. (Not to spoil our battery performance section, but the runtime isn't great.) With all those mechanical openings covered, it would have been nice to see some form of wireless charging, given that it's already out there on rival phones like the Lumia 920, Droid DNA and Nexus 4.
Thanks to those port covers, however, the phone's streamlined perimeter is interrupted only by the power button, which will look familiar to anyone that's turned on a PlayStation Vita. Just off-center along the length of the right edge, it's made of machined aluminum (like the volume rocker just below it) although you won't get a camera button this time around. This is apparently a sacrifice that had to be made to ensure the phone would be water-resistant, but it feels like a glaring omission just the same. The micro-SIM slot is on the same side, while a single loudspeaker sits on the bottom of the right side. Unfortunately, the speaker is tinny and, even on full blast, lacks punch during video playback.
On the left edge, you'll find the covers for microSD and micro-USB, plus contacts for an as-yet-unseen dock. Flip the phone over to the glossy (but fingerprint-prone) back, and you'll note the main 13-megapixel camera, flash and secondary mic. The lens is fortunately slightly recessed, which should defend it from scratches. When we pulled the phone out of its packaging, there was a removable NFC sticker, but otherwise there are only some Xperia branding and a few serial numbers at the bottom interrupting that white surface.
On the front, there's no white paneling (aside from a sliver of the side), with a black border instead framing the 5-inch screen. Up top, you'll find the front-facing 2-megapixel camera with Sony's Exmor R sensor -- and it also supports HDR! Below the screen, there's nothing beyond the phone's mic. The Xperia Z has on-screen buttons rather than any capacitive keys.
Display
While quite a few companies have announced phones with 5-inch, 1080p displays, the Xperia Z is still one of the first to arrive for review, if not the first. The phone beams out a resolution substantially higher than the Xperia T, and as dimensions have increased only slightly (4.6 to five inches), it offers a higher screen density of 443 pixels per inch. As we said during our Droid DNA review, while there's less of a leap from 720p to 1080p compared to qHD to 720p, that's not to say you won't notice sharper fonts, richer images and a crisper view of your photos.
Comparing the Xperia Z against the only other 1080p phone we've reviewed, the Droid DNA, Sony unfortunately comes in second place
Comparing the Xperia Z against the only other 1080p phone we've reviewed, the Droid DNA, Sony unfortunately comes in second place. Sony is calling its new, thinner display the OptiContrast panel, but its performance doesn't offer the same viewing angles, or outdoor performance, of HTC's Super LCD 3 screen. In fact, turn the screen away from straight-on viewing, and you'll see a grayish discoloring that starts to obscure what's going on -- especially under bright light. While Sony says the new display construction should reduce reflection, sunshine and certain lighting conditions often made it difficult for us to read even the home screen.
As we've also seen on Sony's mobile displays in the past, black backgrounds and detail often appeared more like a dark gray. If anything, the phone is often too bright -- the Xperia Z's brightness setting could do with a wider range of contrasts and a lower base setting. Not that we'd want to lose the brightest option, as while you won't have anything to fear from rain with the water-resistant Z model, we needed one of the top brightness settings to see what we were doing on the touchscreen when the sun came out.
This is the first phone to feature Sony's improved Mobile Bravia Engine 2, which is responsible for a host of contrast and sharpness enhancements to your photos and videos (whether they were recorded on the phone or downloaded from some other source). The software will tweak darker regions to be even blacker, while distortion from lower-quality videos from the likes of YouTube is also reduced -- videos did look marginally smoother. Conversely, there's also a sharpness filter for images, which boosts edges and contrast -- apparently without adding noise, either. The additions seem a bit more aggressive than on preceding Sony phones, and when we looked at our freshly captured photos we noticed an excessive bluish tinge on some of them, regardless of white balance selections. This doesn't appear to be tied to the Bravia tweaks (which can be turned off if you don't like your photos extra-saturated) and appeared substantially reduced when we viewed them on other device, like a PC.
Camera
It's the debut for Sony's new Exmor RS sensor. Promising improved signal processing, while matching the image size of the Xperia T (up to 12 megapixels); it's a whole new sensor. The standout improvement here is HDR video, offering a bigger dynamic range of lighting in your video capture. In practice, it works well. We test a lot of cameras, and the Xperia Z's new feature generally offered better light composition during our tests. Sometimes it overcooks colors, with a bit too much noise, but we'll definitely take that in exchange for the better light balance. Check out our sample video, taken in a dimly light underground tunnel.
Naturally, HDR stills are also possible, although during our time with the camera we found the new "auto i+" setting generally offered up results that were as good (if not better) than what we got with the HDR option or manual settings tweaks. The new auto setting mostly does an excellent job adjusting ISO, white balance and toggling HDR. After we were done taking our comparison shots, we ended up leaving the phone on auto for the majority of our photos.
Most of our shots were taken on the preset 9-megapixel setting and though the phone does output images at 12 megapixels, they arrive in an awkward 4:3 ratio that doesn't really do the high-resolution screen justice.
However, when comparing both sizes to 8-megapixel images on rivals, we found those larger images offer scope for a little more detail. The 9MP images appeared almost identical in quality to the full 12MP samples, although the subject appears closer. Color reproduction was good, with HDR offering a boost to our low-light images. We did notice that HDR mode on stills was pretty gentle -- probably due to that Exmor RS sensor tweaking we heard about late last year. Compared to our photos on normal mode, there's some slight highlighting of darker areas. So it's bad news if you were hoping for the same sci-fi-esque effects you get on other HDR cameras, but it's at least more realistic.
Sony has also made adjustments to the camera interface, which at least started in a good place, with access to ISO and white balance, not to mention the ability to create shortcuts for these right on the surface camera UI. There's now a burst mode, capable of 10 frames-per-second at 9-megapixel resolution. You can now grab shots while taking video, but better still, there's no need to flip between camera and video camera modes -- just choose the appropriate record button. Also, if you've used one of Sony's point-and-shoots (or even NEX cameras) you'll find navigation and icons have been transported across. Like the button detail from the Vita, it's great to see Sony's many electronics lines finally start to converge towards each other.
Software
The Xperia Z arrives just behind the latest Android iteration. It's still Android Jelly Bean, but it's version 4.1.2. Admittedly, the additions since then are relatively minor, but Sony has the unfortunate knack for launching its best phones without the very brightest software. Since last year's Xperia models, we can now welcome Google Now to the fold, while Spotify and other apps are now accessible from the lock screen. Take a closer look at Sony's distinct take on Android and you'll find some likable additions, like the Rolodex-style gallery widget or the expandable power management widget pre-installed alongside some slightly more unnecessary space hogs, like a Walkman audio player widget or Sony's Entertainment Network.
Yep, you'll be hard-pressed to avoid Sony's media libraries when you first boot up the phone. We resisted the urge to delete these from the outset and gave them a try, regardless. Sony Select offers a gentle introduction to Google Play wares, as well as Xperia-centric music and movies. We can't fault it for offering a spot-on selection of beginner apps, but you'll find there's a lot of crossover from Google's own recommended section. The gaming options here are a little more tiresome, although you'll get some of Gameloft's better (and licensed) titles here. Again, we're not sure if anyone already versed in buying their apps and games direct from Google will need the Select service -- the icons even redirect to Google Play.
It's a shame to see so relatively little 1080p content, something to showcase that full-HD display
Sony's thrown your video collection into its new movies icon. It's also a more subtle way to usher you towards its Video Unlimited catalogue of movies and TV shows. We tried the service out, downloading a 90-minute (1GB) movie quickly enough. Prices are a little steep: we bought Mass Effect for £11.99 (it's just £8 on the UK's Google Play), while renting costs £3.49 -- the same as on Android's stock movie service. The payment process is all relatively painless once you've got your Sony Entertainment Network account up and running -- you can even use the same username from your PlayStation. Still, it's a shame to see so relatively little 1080p content, something to showcase that full-HD display. Almost everything we browsed (even Sony movies like The Amazing Spiderman) had a standard-definition option and nothing else. The player itself was at least capable; it plays back DivX videos and uses Gracenote to grab extra details, like cast lists.
Walkman, its musical counterpart, contains your own music catalog, a few free tracks from artists like Tom Odell and -- no surprises here -- Music Unlimited. Signing up for a premium subscription will net you offline playback across your compatible Sony hardware, the iPhone and other Android devices. In the UK, this rings up at £10 and there's a good amount of music on offer -- thanks to Sony's own music industry clout. The service has also recently upgraded its streaming quality to 320Kbps on Android, PS3 and PCs. But if you've already got a Spotify subscription going, we can't find much here to pull you away.
There are also a few extra apps that also land on the phone right out of the box -- some good, some less so. They include Dropbox, File Commander, Sony's WiFi-connected Media Remote for compatible TVs, OfficeSuite, Sony car (think big icons for use on the move) and Socialife. That last one is Sony's latest effort to combine your favorite RSS feeds with Twitter and Facebook updates. It's less intrusive (and resource-hungry) than the widget we remember from previous Xperia phones, but there's nothing that compelled us to use it beyond some cursory testing. For now, we'll stick to Flipboard and Pulse.
A more notable addition is Sony's new Stamina battery saver mode. Located under power management in settings, the focus here is to stop rogue apps from accessing data through your phone signal (or WiFi) when the screen is turned off. We're sure you're thinking, "Makes sense, but what about your email?" Not to worry, as your mail and the likes of Whatsapp, Twitter and Facebook can all be added to a whitelist, so that they can ping for updates whenever they please. The power management section also gives you a rosy estimate of how many hours left on standby you're likely to get. Flip the stamina mode off, and you'll see that slashed, sometimes halved. It took us a while to figure out how to give apps permission to access data (hint: you need to tap on the Stamina mode bar) but once you have, adding apps that just need data is no hassle.
However, perhaps due to the fact that we need to prod and poke the device during the review process, we didn't find any miraculous expansion of battery life through the new stamina mode. The screen was on a lot, meaning not only did the battery have to power that rich 5-inch display, but all apps were free to dip into data as needed. If you're a more casual phone user, the service could add a few extra hours of use, but we'd treat the phone's estimates of standby time with a pinch of salt.
We already touched on the improvements made to the Xperia Z's camera app, but highlights include HDR video capture, seamless camera and video modes, burst capture and an enhanced auto mode that made taking decent stills much easier. For this editor, Sony has a more usable interface than that found on the stock Android camera, which can sometimes feel a little too stripped down.
Performance and battery life
| Sony Xperia Z | LG Optimus G | HTC Droid DNA | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quadrant (v2) | 8,019 | 7,628 | 8,028 |
| Vellamo (v2.0 HTML5) | 2,198 | 1,710 | 1,752 |
| AnTuTu | 19,876 | 11,284 | 14,474 |
| SunSpider 0.9.1 (ms) | 1,900 | 1,284 | 1,150 |
| GLBenchmark 2.5 Egypt 1080p Offscreen (fps) | 29 | 31 | 31 |
| CF-Bench | 16,079 | 14,398 | 18,386 |
| Battery life (rundown test) | 5:35 | 8:43 | 6:38 |
| SunSpider: lower scores are better | |||
Qualcomm's quad-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro powers the lush 1080p screen, and is paired with 2GB of RAM, 16GB of flash memory and expansion through microSD up to 32GB. Does it sound a bit familiar? It should, as this is nearly identical to the HTC Droid DNA and (barring that microSD option and resolution boost) LG's Optimus G and Nexus 4, which at least makes for some interesting comparisons.
Curiously, the benchmark results are a mixed bag. While the Xperia Z took the lead in AnTuTu and Vellamo, it offered us a surprisingly poor score in SunSpider, a test for browser performance, and one where you'd expect a top-drawer handset to score closer to 1000ms (remember: lower numbers are better in this case). Meanwhile, CF-Bench, which tests subsystem goings-on and JavaScript performance, placed the Sony phone squarely between LG's Optimus G and HTC's Droid DNA.
However, numbers are just numbers and we found the Xperia Z to be impressively swift in most use cases. If anything, it handled processor-intensive tasks better than simple ones. We had a few issues with the phone stuttering while trying to open the task manager widget -- there's a substantial lag between your tap and the widget expanding to offer access to various wireless and brightness toggles. Similarly, when launching the camera app from a freshly booted device, it took a mind-numbing three seconds on average -- something that could be a dealbreaker for shutterbugs, especially considering the lack of a physical camera key. At least once it's running, it then launches within a more bearable timeframe. Alas, even then, launching the camera from the lock-screen still took around two seconds -- not good enough.
When launching the camera app from a freshly booted device, it took a mind-numbing three seconds on average
What concerned us more, though, was that the Xperia Z didn't go beyond six hours on our battery rundown test. Looping video at 50 percent brightness, with WiFi on (but not connected), the phone managed a little over five and a half hours on our first test. That's actually longer than the Nexus 4 which also had issues going the distance at 5:18, but less than both the Droid DNA and the 720p Optimus G. Oddly, the Z model packs a 2,330mAh power cell, versus the 2,020mAh battery found on HTC's 5-incher. So what's going on here? We repeated our test twice, as it'd be a shame for an erroneous benchmark to sully the Xperia Z's name. However, the second round added only 10 minutes. It could be that Sony's screen tech is less power-efficient than HTC's IPS Super LCD 3. That's our best guess, as there's really not much else to separate the pair -- we even ran the video clip from the flash storage, not the microSD slot.
Our UK-bound review model arrived with plenty of radio bands to share. There's quad-band GSM/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900) plus tri-band HSPA (850/900/2100) and a healthy dose of LTE on Bands 1, 3, 5, 7, 8 and 20. Unfortunately, we were unable to test the phone with an EE SIM, but across Three, EE and O2's HSPA services, we saw download speeds on HSPA+ around 4 Mbps, while uploads hovered around 1.5 Mbps. AT&T customers, with their compatible HSPA bands, are the ones most likely to benefit from importing the device early -- we've still heard no word about US pricing and availability for either the Xperia Z or the Xperia ZL.
Wrap-up
It's been five months since Sony's last phone, Xperia T, was released. During that review, we noted that while Sony had perfected the art of the press shot, the hardware really didn't live up to the fantasy. Particularly in comparison to an iPhone, Lumia or HTC's One series, it did the Sony brand a disservice. So, it's a relief to see the company now making a concerted effort to make a premium phone -- and that's what this is. If you weren't sold on the older polycarbonate look, perhaps Sony's new beauty will be more to your tastes. Exactly how much rough and tumble the Xperia Z's glossy sides will stomach remains a mystery, but after our testing period the phone is still free of scratches. We also applaud Sony for bringing water resistance to its new phone. Protection from an early watery grave often meant settling for less when it came to design or performance, but that's certainly not the case with the Xperia Z.
It's a relief to see Sony now making a concerted effort to make a premium phone -- and that's what this is
We can expect to see many, many more 1080p phones through 2013, and while the Xperia Z might not best the overall quality of HTC's 5-inch panel, the phone itself has a far more distinctive look than its competitors. While the Snapdragon S4 Pro was the best of the 2012 processor bunch, we already know what to expect from phones later this year -- maybe Sony should have waited a little longer?
Perhaps the bigger question is how to square the £300 difference (off-contract) between the Xperia Z and the Nexus 4. Both are powered by the same high-performance S4 Pro, with 2GB of RAM, but Sony's option has expandable storage, a 13-megapixel camera capable of HDR video and that 1080p display -- even if the Google phone's screen performs better outside of a pure pixel count. If the Xperia Z had trounced the Nexus in battery life, we'd have happily recommended the omnibalance smartphone, but a disappointing showing there makes it a much tougher call, and one your wallet might have to make for you.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Sony
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/bftKpd3s1BA/
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