Thursday 25 July 2013

Google introduces Chromecast, a $35 HDMI streaming solution for televisions (video)

Google introduces Chromekey, an HDMI streaming device for televisions

Google's Chromecast is Mountain View's next foray into the television market: a $35 HDMI dongle that mirrors content watched nearby on a tablet, smartphone or computer. Hrm, that sounds familiar. The two-inch device runs "a simplified version of Chrome OS" and requires separate USB power; connect it to your local WiFi network and similarly connected devices work with Chromecast. It can be ordered right now on Google Play and will apparently ship in "1 - 2 days" -- of note, the device seems US-only for now, as our UK colleagues are showing a "not available in your country" prompt. Early buyers get three months of free Netflix with the purchase -- it's also heading to retail via Best Buy on July 28th. Google ended its presentation with a quick word that Chromecast functionality will eventually come embedded in various other devices, and that it's working on getting other countries access "as quickly as possible." No specs were given during the presentation, but its Google Play page lists the device as HDMI-CEC compatible, and it uses 2.4GHz 801.11 b/g/n WiFi. Given the separate USB power required, the $35 nets you a Chromecast device, an HDMI extended, a USB power cable, and a separate power adapter.

Apps that work with the device include a "Cast" button that allows users to push video to their televisions and control various aspects remotely (volume, play, pause, etc.). "Once Chromecast is plugged in, you just go to YouTube on your smartphone," Google reps said. "You'll see the cast button in your UI and you press it -- Chromecast will pull the info you requested from the cloud and play it on your TV."

A demonstration on stage showed YouTube video being pushed "via the cloud," thus enabling other apps to be used while a video is being viewed on a television screen. Netflix was up next, and it has similar remote control functionality. Google Play movies and television (expectedly) also work with Chromecast, and Google delightedly demonstrated it with Vin Diesel vehicle Fast Five.

One final feature was shown off, with full Google Chrome functionality projected to the TV and controlled remotely with a "standard $500 Windows 8 laptop." The feature is "still in early days," so it's currently a beta product, but the promise is certainly there: the ability to easily project content via web browser to televisions.

Update: We've added Chromecast's first commercial (which demonstrates much of the device's functionality) just after the break, and a source link with Google's formal announcement.

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Source: Google

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/a5-_VBqmoFk/

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Tuesday 23 July 2013

Understanding What A Personal Bankruptcy Means For You ...

Personal Bankruptcy

Personal Bankruptcy

After you have filed for bankruptcy, enjoy your life. It?s not uncommon to be overwhelmed by the filing process. That stress could lead to complete depression, if you do not take the necessary steps to fight it. Once the process if over, your life will improve.

Be certain that you can differentiate between Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Chapter 7 is the best option to erase your debts for good. All of your financial ties to the people you owe money to will disappear. On the other hand, filing for bankruptcy under Chapter 13 means you will have 60 months to pay your debts back. Both options have advantages and drawbacks, so do your research before deciding.

You should never pay for your first consultation with a bankruptcy attorney. Make the most of this free consultation by asking lots of questions. Since most attorneys offer free consultations, meet with a few attorneys before deciding who to hire. Choose an attorney who is experienced, educated and well-versed in bankruptcy laws. It is not necessary to come to a decision immediately following the meeting. You have lots of time for consulting with other lawyers.

If you?re thinking of getting divorced, evaluate the financial consequences of doing so. Divorcing will only complicate your financial situation. You may find that both you and your spouse must file for bankruptcy following divorce. It is always wise to think twice about divorcing.

In the event your bankruptcy case gets dismissed due to your own error, it is possible to re-file. Generally though, there is only a window of 30 days after the first filing to refile after dismissal has occurred. You can avoid these errors by verifying all your information before it is submitted to the court.

Make sure the paperwork you file is accurate. Even attorneys make mistakes, so you better stay on top of it. Some attorneys may be overloaded, so they may omit or misremember details, which can lead to inaccuracies. That is why you must stay on top of every piece of your paperwork, and make sure it is done correctly.

Do not think of filing for personal bankruptcy as a shameful thing. Going through bankruptcy can cause you to lose a lot of self-esteem. Try not to give in to these feelings, as they are of no help to you and they can affect your emotional health. If you are filing for bankruptcy and you are thinking negatively about the situation, make an effort to stop that now.

After reading this article, you now know that there are many options available and possibilities to consider when filing for bankruptcy. Don?t let the situation overwhelm you. Look at bankruptcy as a way to begin again.

Source: http://www.uccirsoc.com/understanding-what-a-personal-bankruptcy-means-for-you/

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Creditors to take over debt-laden Yellow Pages owner Hibu

The deal is expected to more than halve its debt, reducing it to less than ?1bn, with the creditors, including Ares, Soros Fund Management and Deutsche Bank, taking control.

An agreement, which has been under negotiation since last autumn, could be ready by Thursday, when Hibu is scheduled to release its full-year results for the year to March 2013 and its first-quarter results.

The creditors are being advised by US restructuring firm Houlihan Lokey, while Hibu is being advised by Greenhill and Goldman Sachs.

The Yellow Pages owner rebranded in May last year, when Mr Pocock admitted the new name - pronounced ?high-boo? - was "just a word".

?It doesn?t mean a lot by itself, but if you turn the clock back, neither did Apple [sic] and Google or Yahoo!,? he said at the time.

Mr Pocock and chairman Bob Wigley have attempted to turn the company around by repositioning it as a local search engine and marketplace, linking shoppers with the businesses nearest to them. They are attempting to develop new digital products as revenues from the Yellow Pages phone book and other print products decline.

The future for Hibu?s 13,000 employees remains unclear.

The root of Hibu?s crippling debt pile lies in former chief executive John Condron?s ambitious and ultimately ill-fated expansion overseas in the mid-2000s, when he took over companies in Spain, the US and Latin America.

Source: http://telegraph.feedsportal.com/c/32726/f/568796/s/2ef6ac09/l/0L0Stelegraph0O0Cfinance0Cnewsbysector0Cmediatechnologyandtelecoms0C10A1938760CCreditors0Eto0Etake0Eover0Edebt0Eladen0EYellow0EPages0Eowner0EHibu0Bhtml/story01.htm

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OAKLEY x NEW ERA?Factory?59fifty Fitted Baseball Cap

OAKLEY, the eyewear based company, is back with a new colorway for their signature "Factory" styled fitted baseball cap. This New Era 59Fifty features a simple Black/White color scheme with a White crown and a Black brim. They also added a Black raised "Oakley" logo on the front panel with a matching NE flag on the side and a button on the top. If you're interested, you can grab this now from?http://www.oakley.com/

Source: http://www.strictlyfitteds.com/content/2013/07/oakley-x-new-erafactory-59fifty-fitted-baseball-cap-1

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A Peek Inside Science Inc.'s Santa Monica Tech Startup Studio [TCTV]

TechCrunch has written quite a bit about Science, the Los Angeles-based startup "studio" that's helping to create and grow some of the more interesting companies on the tech scene today. So when a few of us TechCrunch TV folks were in Los Angeles earlier this month, we made it a point to head over to Science's Santa Monica HQ to get a firsthand look at what it's really like inside. After all, a video is worth at least 1,000 words, right?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/0e0QOldVPOw/

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Sunday 30 June 2013

New NSA spying allegations rile European allies

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Obama administration faced a breakdown in confidence Sunday from key foreign allies who threatened investigations and sanctions against the U.S. over secret surveillance programs that reportedly installed covert listening devices in European Union offices.

U.S. intelligence officials said they will directly discuss with EU officials the new allegations, reported in Sunday's editions of the German news weekly Der Spiegel. But the former head of the CIA and National Security Agency urged the White House to make the spy programs more transparent to calm public fears about the American government's snooping.

It was the latest backlash in a nearly monthlong global debate over the reach of U.S. surveillance that aims to prevent terror attacks. The two programs, both run by the NSA, pick up millions of telephone and Internet records that are routed through American networks each day. They have raised sharp concerns about whether they violate public privacy rights at home and abroad.

Several European officials ? including in Germany, Italy, France, Luxembourg and the EU government itself ? said the new revelations could scuttle ongoing negotiations on a trans-Atlantic trade treaty that, ultimately, seeks to create jobs and boost commerce by billions annually in what would be the world's largest free trade area.

"Partners do not spy on each other," said EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding. "We cannot negotiate over a big trans-Atlantic market if there is the slightest doubt that our partners are carrying out spying activities on the offices of our negotiators. The American authorities should eliminate any such doubt swiftly."

European Parliament President Martin Schulz said he was "deeply worried and shocked about the allegations of U.S. authorities spying on EU offices." And Luxembourg Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Jean Asselborn said he had no reason to doubt the Der Spiegel report and rejected the notion that security concerns trump the broad U.S. surveillance authorities.

"We have to re-establish immediately confidence on the highest level of the European Union and the United States," Asselborn told The Associated Press.

According to Der Spiegel, the NSA planted bugs in the EU's diplomatic offices in Washington and infiltrated the building's computer network. Similar measures were taken at the EU's mission to the United Nations in New York, the magazine said. It also reported that the NSA used secure facilities at NATO headquarters in Brussels to dial into telephone maintenance systems that would have allowed it to intercept senior officials' calls and Internet traffic at a key EU office nearby.

The Spiegel report cited classified U.S. documents taken by NSA leaker and former contractor Edward Snowden that the magazine said it had partly seen. It did not publish the alleged NSA documents it cited nor say how it obtained access to them. But one of the report's authors is Laura Poitras, an award-winning documentary filmmaker who interviewed Snowden while he was holed up in Hong Kong.

Britain's The Guardian newspaper also published an article Sunday alleging NSA surveillance of the EU offices, citing classified documents provided by Snowden. The Guardian said one document lists 38 NSA "targets," including embassies and missions of U.S. allies like France, Italy, Greece, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, India and Turkey.

In Washington, a statement from the national intelligence director's office said U.S. officials planned to respond to the concerns with their EU counterparts and through diplomatic channels with specific nations.

However, "as a matter of policy, we have made clear that the United States gathers foreign intelligence of the type gathered by all nations," the statement concluded. It did not provide further details.

NSA Director Keith Alexander last week said the government stopped gathering U.S. citizens' Internet data in 2011. But the NSA programs that sweep up foreigners' data through U.S. servers to pin down potential threats to Americans from abroad continue.

Speaking on CBS' "Face the Nation," former NSA and CIA Director Michael Hayden downplayed the European outrage over the programs, saying they "should look first and find out what their own governments are doing." But Hayden said the Obama administration should try to head off public criticism by being more open about the top-secret programs so "people know exactly what it is we are doing in this balance between privacy and security."

"The more they know, the more comfortable they will feel," Hayden said. "Frankly, I think we ought to be doing a bit more to explain what it is we're doing, why, and the very tight safeguards under which we're operating."

Hayden also defended a secretive U.S. court that weighs whether to allow the government to seize Internet and phone records from private companies. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court is made up of federal judges but does not consider objections from defense attorneys in considering the government's request for records.

Last year, the government asked the court to approve 1,789 applications to spy on foreign intelligence targets, according to a Justice Department notice to Congress dated April 30. The court approved all but one ? and that was withdrawn by the government.

Critics have derided the court as a rubber-stamp approval for the government, sparking an unusual response last week in The Washington Post by its former chief judge. In a statement to the newspaper, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly refuted a draft NSA inspector general's report that suggested the court collaborated with the executive branch instead of maintaining judicial independence. Kollar-Kotelly was the court's chief judge from 2002 to 2006, when some of the surveillance programs were under way.

Some European counties have much stronger privacy laws than does the U.S. In Germany, where criticism of the NSA's surveillance programs has been particularly vocal, Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger likened the spying outlined in the Der Spiegel report to "methods used by enemies during the Cold War." German federal prosecutors are examining whether the reported U.S. electronic surveillance programs broke German laws.

Green Party leaders in the European Parliament called for an immediate investigation into the claims and called for existing U.S.-EU agreements on the exchange of bank transfer and passenger record information to be canceled. Both programs have been labeled as unwarranted infringements of citizens' privacy by left-wing and libertarian lawmakers in Europe.

The dispute also has jeopardized diplomatic relations between the U.S. and some of it its most unreliable allies, including China, Russia and Ecuador.

Snowden, who tuned 30 last week, revealed himself as the document leaker in June interviews in Hong Kong, but fled to Russia before China's government could turn him over to U.S. officials. Snowden is now believed to be holed up in a transit zone in Moscow's international airport, where Russian officials say they have no authority to catch him since he technically has not crossed immigration borders.

It's also believed Snowden is seeking political asylum from Ecuador. But Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa signaled in an AP interview Sunday that it's unlikely Snowden will end up there. Correa portrayed Russia as entirely the masters of Snowden's fate, and the Kremlin said it will take public opinion and the views of human rights activists into account when considering his case. That could lay the groundwork for Snowden to seek asylum in Russia.

Outgoing National Security Adviser Tom Donilon said U.S. and Russian law enforcement officials are discussing how to deal with Snowden, who is wanted on espionage charges. "The sooner that this can be resolved, the better," Donilon said in an interview on CNN.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi has a different take on what to do with Snowden. "I think it's pretty good that he's stuck in the Moscow airport," Pelosi, D-Calif., said on NBC's "Meet the Press." ''That's ok with me. He can stay there, that's fine."

___

Jordans reported from Berlin. Associated Press writers Raf Casert in Brussels, Greg Keller in Paris, Frances D'Emilio in Rome, Jovana Gec in Zagreb, Croatia, Lynn Berry in Moscow and Michael Weissenstein in Portoviejo, Ecuador, contributed to this report.

___

Lara Jakes and Frank Jordans can be reached on Twitter at https://twitter.com/larajakesAP and http://www.twitter.com/wirereporter

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nsa-spying-allegations-rile-european-allies-200118500.html

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Saturday 29 June 2013

Galactic miracle babies? Smallish planets survived birth in stellar maelstrom.

Astronomers say the Kepler mission found two mini-Neptune planets orbiting stars in a stellar cluster that would have been a most inhospitable environment at the time they were born.

By Pete Spotts,?Staff writer / June 26, 2013

In the star cluster NGC 6811, astronomers have found two planets smaller than Neptune orbiting Sun-like stars.

Michael Bachofner

Enlarge

In a cosmic episode of "Survivor," astronomers say they have found two mini-Neptunes, each orbiting its own star in a stellar cluster that would have been a very rough neighborhood when the planets were born.

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The discovery addresses a longstanding question: "What is the effect of the stellar environment on the process of planet formation?" writes astronomer Soren Meibom, who led the team announcing the find, in an e-mail.

The find suggests that planet formation is a more robust, insistent process than previously thought. Planets appear to form at about the same rate in dense, open clusters as they do in far more benign ones, writes Dr. Meibom, a researcher at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass. The team is publishing a formal report of its results in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.

Four other planets have been found previously orbiting stars in clusters, but they have been Jupiter's size or larger. These two new planets represent the smallest yet found in a once-dense cluster.

These are not the kind of planets that would set an astrobiologist to tingling with delight. Each planet is about three times the size of Earth. Each orbits a 1-billion-year-old, sun-like star every 16.8 days for one planet and 15.7 days for the other. These planets would be baking.

Even so, they represent the galaxy's miracle babies.

They appeared in data gathered by NASA's ailing Kepler mission. Kepler is a craft designed to orbit the sun at Earth's distance and stare at one patch of sky continuously, taking in views of some 170,000 stars. The craft detects the slight wink a planet imparts to starlight as it transits in front of its host star. The goal is to develop a planetary census, with a particular eye to estimating the number of Earth-mass planets orbiting sun-like stars at earth-like distances.

The two new planets are the first to be found orbiting stars in a cluster in Kepler's data.

The stars, Kepler 66 and 67, appear in an open cluster dubbed NGC6811, some 3,600 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus. The cluster contains?at least 450 stars.?The stars are loosely bound by their collective gravity and so disperse over time, hence the moniker "open." [Editor's note:?The original version of this story incorrectly identified how many stars the cluster contains.]

Nearly all stars form in open clusters as they condense out of common clouds of gas and dust, researchers say. Most of these open clusters are relatively sparsely populated ? perhaps forming fewer than 100 stars for each cubic parsec of space ? a cube roughly 3 light-years on a side. Even that is overpopulation by the standard's of today's sun. Its closest neighbor is Proxima Centauri, about 4 light-years away.

These less-dense clusters, such as the one that gave birth to the sun, are relatively peaceful planetary nurseries and tend to disperse quickly.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/H1d2PO1Zydw/Galactic-miracle-babies-Smallish-planets-survived-birth-in-stellar-maelstrom

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