Wired's Oscar Picks, Where Math Nerds, Hackers and 3-D Spectacles Win

The Oscars are great, but let's face it: It's a party for Hollywood's most pretty, popular kids. And at the end of the night, they — not the dweebs — take home most of the little gold men.

Not that the Oscars aren't geek-friendly — surely more than a few members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences would qualify as film nerds. And while the winners tend to skew more arty and dramatic than anything, each year a few geeks sneak their way down the red carpet. (David Fincher, who are you wearing?!)

But imagine if the Oscars took place in a parallel universe where the things that get geek juices flowing also garnered Academy votes. Where movies get judged more on subject matter (badass female hackers, for example) or filmmakers' nerdy ambitions (a swooping 3-D adaptation of The Invention of Hugo Cabret) than the traditional metrics. That's what we've done with this alternate-reality take on the Academy Awards 2012.

So, without further ado, may we present the Wired Oscars. Our winners may not leave victorious from whatever-it's-called-now theater, but they will always be winners to us.

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired

Agree? Disagree? Tell us what movies, actors and filmmakers you would stuff in the Oscars envelopes this year.

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Kenseth holds off Earnhardt to win wild Daytona 500

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Nokia Lumia 900 to be released in Europe on April 9th. Lumia 610 on June 11th.

Nokia has presented at the MWC 2012 the Nokia Lumia 900 version for Europe as well the newest and most affordable member of their Windows Phone 7 phone family, the Lumia 610. The biggest question left open was the release date of these phones. Today, Mobilefun site had advanced with these dates.

The Lumia 900 is, according with this site, to be released on the April 9th. The top-end WP7 by Nokia, featuring a 1.4 Ghz processor, stands out from the other models essentially by his a 4.3? display and front-face camera. One curious detail is also, according with the same source, that this phone will arrive with WP7 Tango OS version.

The Nokia Lumia 610, the first 256 Mb RAM phone operating with a WP7 OS, should arrive only on June 11th and it will be destined mainly to youngsters due to his lower price tag that is expected to be 189 Euros before taxes.

[Via]

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Amazon Leads Price War: Drops AWS Pricing Again, Leans Heavy on Reserved Instances

According to Amazon's blog today, the company is now on their 19th price cut since AWS debuted, but who's counting? Well, they are, apparently. The company is lowering pricing on EC2 instances, ElastiCache, Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) and Amazon Elastic Map Reduce are all dropping significantly. Significantly, Amazon is heavily emphasizing its price cuts on Reserved Instances.

The EC2 pricing is dropping by up to 10% for on-demand instances. If you're consuming Reserved Instances, Amazon is dropping prices up to 37%.

Amazon is also appealing to heavy users with its price cuts, offering volume discounts of 10% for customers that own more than $250,000 of Reserved Instances for additional Reserved Instances. After the $2 million mark, Amazon is offering a 20% discount, and Amazon is asking customers to call if they pass the $5 million threshold.

The prices for RDS are dropping by similar amounts. If you're using on-demand RDS, pricing drops by up to 10%. Amazon has shaved pricing as much as 42% for Reserved Instances of RDS. Likewise, ElastiCache is dropping by up to 10% if you use on-demand instances. (ElastiCache doesn't have reserved pricing on its pricing page.)

What's interesting, aside from the actual price drop, is the emphasis Amazon is putting on the Reserved Instances. By moving more customers to Reserved Instances, Amazon can better plan its capacity needs for the next few years and helps lock customers into using AWS. Companies could switch to RackSpace, Google or another provider – but they'd be losing some significant chunks of change in doing so.

This seems like a pretty smart move on Amazon's part, and I'm wondering how long it's going to take for other providers to introduce something similar. As far as I know, Amazon is the only major player offering this kind of pricing scheme and seems to be handily undercutting the other players.

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Smoked By Symbian? Yup That’s Right Smoked By Symbian!

By now everyone is familiar with the “Smoked By Windows Phone” challenge right? If not this is where you take any non-Windows Phone and do little head to head with a Windows Phone in everyday tasks.

Ali from My Nokia Blog got to have spend a little quality time with the Nokia 808 and decided to take it over to the “Smoked By Windows Phone” booth for the challenge.   The challenge was picked and it was the good old take a picture and send it in a text message challenge.

After the challenge was over Ali had fresh 100 euro’s and more than few people now have respect for Symbian. The secret to the win is the fact that like the Windows Phone you can unlock the 808 and go straight to the camera buy pushing the shutter key.  Unlike the Windows Phone which takes two seconds to fire up the camera the 808 takes less than a second!

Let’s also remember that the Nokia 808 that Ali was using was a prototype which means that the 808 will only be faster and snappier when in comes out in the 2 Qtr of this year!

I already have a few dollars set aside in my personal Nokia 808 fund…How about you?

Kevin Everett
Proud Nokia Geek since 1997 who loves to collect old Nokia phones (owns everything from the 1992's Nokia 100 up to the very latest Nokia N9) and is very happy to share his knowledge with you. He is a writer for Daily Mobile and Nokia Innovations. Enjoy his Nokia nerd knowledge and feel free to follow him on twitter https://twitter.com/#!/NokiaKnowings
http://www.nokiainnovation.com/

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T-Mobile US customers to get unlimited calling for $10

Current customers will soon be able to call any mobile number, regardless of carrier, for a flat rate of $10. The new feature does not require a contract, and can be added or removed from a particular plan at will.

This is great if you're planning on making more calls for a specific time period, like when on a business trip and don't want the incurred expense for calls to other mobile carriers. You can then remove the unlimited calls add-on when you don't need it any more.

The new feature is set to be introduced in the United States and Puerto Rico on April 4th.

Source

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Obama moves G-8 summit from Chicago to super-secure location

(AP Photo/Cliff Owen) President Barack Obama addresses the American Israel Public Affairs …How will it play in Chicago?

As recently as January 25, Chicago's Chamber of Commerce was talking up the economic benefits of hosting the Group of Eight summit of economic powers and playing down the prospects for disruptions that could affect the talks and tarnish the Windy City's image.

On Monday, President Barack Obama pulled the plug on his adoptive hometown's hopes and announced he was moving the annual summit to the super-secure Camp David retreat on Maryland's Catoctin Mountain.

"To facilitate a free-flowing discussion with our close G-8 partners, the President is inviting his fellow G-8 leaders to Camp David on May 18-19 for the G-8 Summit, which will address a broad range of economic, political and security issues," White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement.

Asked why Obama had opted to move the summit, which is expected to focus on Europe's debt crisis and ways to boost the global economy, National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor emailed that the president felt Camp David "would provide an informal and intimate setting to have a free-flowing conversation."

"He very much looks forward to coming to his hometown for a critically important NATO summit, as planned," Vietor added. That meeting will take place on May 20-21.

The Chicago Chamber of Commerce had no immediate comment. But in a late-February statement, President and CEO Jerry Roper and Lori Healy, executive director of the Chicago G-8 and NATO Host Committee, invited businesses to a briefing to highlight how the two summits "present an exciting opportunity to highlight our extraordinary city to the world."

CBS Radio's Mark Knoller, who keeps painstaking track of presidential doings, wrote on Twitter that "it will be the first time Pres. Obama has hosted foreign leaders at Camp David in his 22 visits to date." He also noted that Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, invited 19 world leaders over the course of 149 visits to the secluded retreat.

More popular Yahoo! News stories:

• Egypt Islamist lawmaker fired for nose job

• Obama, appearing with Netanyahu, sees 'difficult months' ahead in Iran standoff

• Romney hoping for a 'reset' among voters, after a long and heated primary

Want more of our best political stories? Visit The Ticket or connect with us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or add us on Tumblr. Handy with a camera? Join our Election 2012 Flickr group to submit your photos of the campaign in action.

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Can corporations accused of abetting torture abroad be sued?

On Tuesday the Supreme Court will hear a challenge brought by 12 Nigerian plaintiffs who say a Shell oil subsidiary  aided and abetted acts of murder, rape and systematic torture by the Nigerian government in the early 1990s.

At issue is whether corporations can be sued in U.S. courts for violations of human rights committed abroad.

Human rights groups hope the high court will reverse a 2010 lower court decision that held that corporations - unlike individuals - cannot be sued under the Alien Tort Statute, a  federal law that allows foreigners to bring lawsuits in U.S. federal court for violations of international human rights law.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs, who were associated with the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People,  allege in court papers that the Nigerian military, assisted by Shell's operations in the region, "engaged in a widespread and systematic campaign of torture, extrajudicial executions, prolonged arbitrary detention, and indiscriminate killings constituting crimes against humanity to violently suppress the movement."

In court papers, lawyer Kathleen M. Sullivan, representing Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., a holding company for Shell, says the lower court was right to find that international law does not recognize corporate responsibility for the alleged offenses.

Sullivan says the Nigerian plaintiffs "fail to demonstrate that international law, with the requisite specificity and universal acceptance, imposes responsibility on corporations for the offenses alleged here. "

Ralph G. Steinhardt, a law professor at George Washington Law School, says the lower court got it wrong.

"The lower court in this case was alone among federal courts of appeals in concluding that corporations never - under any circumstance - have obligations under international law," says Steinhardt who filed a brief representing international law scholars on behalf of the Nigerian plaintiffs. "Four other courts of appeals have explicitly reached an opposite conclusion."

The United States government  has filed a brief in support of the plaintiffs.

"The United States has taken the position that whatever complexities may arise in future cases, the absolute rule adopted by the court of appeals in this case is wrong, " says Steinhardt.

The Alien Tort Statute was part of the first piece of legislation adopted by the U.S. Congress in 1789 largely for the purpose of making sure that foreigners injured by violations of international law could use U.S. courts to get compensation.

Only in the 1980's was the Alien Tort Statute used to enforce human rights law.

Peter Weiss, vice president of the non-profit group Center  for Constitutional Rights, was the first to use the Alien Tort Statue to go after individuals who had committed human rights crimes abroad. Later the statute was applied to corporations with ties to the United States.

"The interesting thing is that until the Second Circuit decision came down, the question of whether a corporation  can be sued under the Alien Tort Statue was never raised. Not by defendants, and not by judges," says Weiss. "Then all of a sudden the Second Circuit  said it is not part of customary international law to be able to sue corporations  for human rights violations. "

Weiss says that if the Supreme Court rules against liability for corporations, it will still leave open the possibility of suing individuals in those corporations who may have been guilty of committing  crimes, but that is a much harder case to prove.

John B. Bellinger III, who served as the legal adviser to the Department of State during the Bush administration, argues  that the Supreme Court should curb the Alien Tort Statute.

"More than 120 lawsuits have been filed in federal courts against 59 corporations for alleged wrongful acts in 60 countries," Bellinger writes in a recent opinion piece for the Washington Post .

He says that few of the lawsuits against entities such as ExxonMobil and Coca-Cola have resulted in judgments, "but most cases have dragged on for years, and some companies have settled rather than submit to protracted and reputation-damaging litigation."

On the diplomatic front he said the Obama administration should be concerned about reciprocity. The administration "would certainly object if foreign governments were to encourage lawsuits in their courts against U.S. companies for perceived violations of international law, such as against the manufacturers of drone aircraft."

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Google Play combines Market, Books, Music and Videos

Android took a major step today as Google unified it's Google Music, Google Videos, Google Books and Android Market services into one. The new one-stop store goes by Google Play.

Google Play is Google's effort to put all of its downloadable content, be it apps, movies, music or eBooks and make it easily accessible using Cloud syncing. This would allow you to easily get any music tracks, videos and eBooks you purchase to all of your Android devices, just like with the apps from the Android Market so far.

To make the switch from Android Market to Google Play, the search giant will release an update for the Android Market app on devices running Android 2.2 or later over the coming days. So, from now on, it's officially Google Play, Google Play Music, Google Play Books and Google Play Movies.

How much music and videos, you ask? The company says that you can store up to 20,000 of your own songs plus any of the millions available for purchase in the Google Play itself. And with the app and video count growing literally by the minute, you can be sure that Google will certainly target global market dominance.

And to make sure it attracts more and more users, Google Play will be celebrating its launch by slashing prices on a ton of applications, books, music and movies. Sadly, the full power of Google Play will only be available in the United States at launch, while the rest of the world will have to have to sit on the sideline, looking enviously.

Finally, here's Google's introductory video to Google Play.

Source

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Orange enlist HTC One X, One S and Sony Xperia U

Orange is building up its Android lineup with some of the hottest MWC debuts and an Intel-powered droid of their own. The HTC One X and One S are headed to Orange UK, which will also get an exclusive white version of the Sony Xperia U.

There isn't a whole lot of info on those three phones. Orange UK will have them on the shelves some time in Q2 this year. Pricing and additional availability details will be announced later on.

The One X is HTC's first quad-core phone, while the One S is the first one with Krait cores. You can read our hands-on impressions from the MWC floor for more info on these phones.

The Sony Xperia U is a compact dual-core with an exchangeable color detail at the bottom but the rest of the phone is black - Orange UK's exclusive version will be white. We have a hands-on with the black one, check it out to see the cool backlight trick it does.

Orange will also be selling the Intel Atom-powered reference design to end users. Provisionally called Orange Santa Clara, the phone will launch under a different name.

Source 1 ? Source 2

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Verizon Wireless to release Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 4G LTE Tablet on March 1

Verizon Wireless to release Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 4G LTE Tablet on March 1
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February 29, 2012Verizon Wireless to release Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 4G LTE Tablet on March 1

First announced at CES 2012, the new Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 tablet is ready to be released at Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and Verizon Wireless online on March 1st.  This compact tablet device is powered by a 1.4 GHz dual-core processor and it has a 7.7-inch Super AMOLED Plus touchscreen display at 1280x800 resolution for enjoying movies, pictures and games.  Priced at $499.99 with a new two-year customer agreement, the tablet offers customers quick access the Web with its HTML 5 Web browser, streaming music, Samsung Media Hub entertainment and more via Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network, with mobile broadband data plans starting at $30 monthly access for 2 GB of data.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 can also be used to control your home entertainment system, with the "Peel Smart Remote" feature controlling televisions, audio players and other home entertainment systems. You can also connect this tablet with your HDTV via a HDMI Multimedia Dock and built-in HDMI port.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 features:

- 7.7-inch Super AMOLED Plus display (1280x800)

- Android 3.2 Honeycomb -- supports Google Mobile Services, including Gmail, YouTube, Google Talk with video chat, Google Search, Google Maps, as well as access to Google Books, movie rentals and more than 400,000 apps on Android Market

- 3.2-megapixel rear-facing camera with LED flash, full 720p recording and 1080p playback (1080p playback through HDMI dock or adapter)

- Front-facing 2-megapixel camera for video chat

- 16 GB on-board storage (actual formatted capacity is less)

- Support for up to 32 GB  microSD card

February 29, 2012 in 4G LTE , Mobile Tablets, Tablet PC | Permalink

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AP survey: More optimism about US jobs and economy

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy is improving faster than economists had expected. They now foresee slightly stronger growth and hiring than they did two months earlier — trends that would help President Barack Obama's re-election hopes.

Those are among the findings of an Associated Press survey late last month of leading economists. The economists think the unemployment rate will fall from its current 8.3 percent to 8 percent by Election Day. That's better than their 8.4 percent estimate when surveyed in late December.

By the end of 2013, they predict unemployment will drop to 7.4 percent, down from their earlier estimate of 7.8 percent, according to the AP Economy Survey.

The U.S. economy has been improving steadily for months. Industrial output jumped in January after surging in December by the most in five years. Auto sales are booming. Consumer confidence has reached its highest point in a year. Even the housing market is showing signs of turning around.

"The economy is finally starting to gain some steam, with consumers and businesses more optimistic about prospects in 2012," said Chad Moutray, chief economist at the National Association of Manufacturers.

On Friday, the government will issue the jobs report for February. Economists expect it to show that employers added a net 210,000 jobs and that the unemployment rate remained 8.3 percent.

The AP survey collected the views of two dozen private, corporate and academic economists on a range of indicators. Among their forecasts:

— Americans will save gradually less and borrow more, reversing a shift toward frugality that followed the financial crisis and the start of the Great Recession.

— Obama deserves little or no credit for declining unemployment. Only one of the 19 economists who answered the question said Obama should get "a lot" of credit. They give most of the credit to U.S. consumers, who account for about 70 percent of economic growth, and businesses.

— The economy has begun a self-sustaining period in which job growth is fueling more consumer spending, which should lead to further hiring.

— European leaders will manage to defuse their continent's debt crisis and prevent a global recession. But the economists think Europe's economy will shrink for all of 2012.

— The economy will grow 2.5 percent this year, up from the economists' earlier forecast of 2.4 percent. In 2011, the economy grew 1.7 percent.

The brighter outlook for jobs follows five straight months of declining unemployment. Employers added more than 200,000 net jobs in both December and January. The unemployment rate is at its lowest level in nearly three years.

One reason the rate has fallen so fast is that fewer out-of-work Americans have started looking for jobs. People out of work aren't counted by the Labor Department as unemployed unless they're actively seeking jobs.

Many economists have been surprised that the stronger economy hasn't led more people without jobs to start looking for work. If many more were looking, the unemployment rate would likely be higher.

Manufacturers have been hiring more consistently than other employers. Moutray expects factory output to rise 4 percent this year, better than in 2011. Manufacturers will have to continue hiring to keep up with demand, he said. That will help lower the unemployment rate to 8 percent by Election Day, he predicts.

"Manufacturers are relatively upbeat about production this year," Moutray said. That will require expanding factories and buying more machinery.

"All that plays into a better year than some people might have been expecting," he added.

The economists forecast that employers will add nearly 1.9 million jobs by Election Day, up from their December projection of nearly 1.8 million.

But Mike Englund of Action Economics is among those who noted that the declining unemployment is due, in part, to fewer people seeking work. Millions of those out of work remain too discouraged to start looking again, or, in the case of many young adults, haven't begun to do so.

"Most of this recent drop in the unemployment rate is due to a mass exodus" from the work force, Englund said.

The economy still has about 5.5 million fewer jobs than it did before the recession began in December 2007.

Still, the falling unemployment rate appears to be raising the public's view of Obama's economic stewardship. In an Associated Press-GfK poll last month, 48 percent said they approved of how Obama was handling the economy, up 9 points from December. And 30 percent of Americans described the economy as "good" — a 15-point jump from December and the highest level since the AP-GfK poll first asked the question in 2009.

The U.S. economy remains under threat from Europe's debt crisis. But those concerns have eased, the AP survey showed.

Several economists credited the European Central Bank's move to provide unlimited low-interest loans to banks with helping prevent an international crisis

"Time fixes all wounds," said Marty Regalia, chief economist at the U.S Chamber of Commerce. "Europe didn't come apart at the seams, and we haven't fallen into the abyss. Every day ... it becomes a little less likely that it will happen."

___

AP Economics Writer Derek Kravitz contributed to this report.

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Free Theme for Nokia Belle “Numbers by IND190″

A great series by IND190, compatible with Belle.

You can download this theme from our Symbian^3 Themes section.

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In Michigan, Mitt Romney faces day of reckoning

SOUTHFIELD, Michigan (Reuters) - Mitt Romney faces a day of reckoning on Tuesday when Michigan votes to either grant him a big victory in the Republican presidential nomination battle or hand him a humiliating defeat.

Romney was born and raised in Michigan and his father was a popular governor, but conservatives are threatening to deliver the state to Rick Santorum, who is running neck-and-neck with Romney in the polls in the final hours before voting begins.

Most Michigan polls close at 8 p.m. EST (midnight GMT).

Arizona votes as well on Tuesday and Romney has a comfortable lead there, aided by the man who beat him in the 2008 Republican presidential campaign, Arizona Senator John McCain.

All eyes are on Michigan because a victory for Santorum on what is essentially Romney's home turf would raise questions about Romney's candidacy a week before a defining day of the 2012 campaign, March 6, the "Super Tuesday" when 10 states hold contests.

"I am going to win in Michigan and I'm going to win across the country," Romney said on Monday.

His aides, contemplating the possibility of a defeat, believe Romney could survive a loss in Michigan should it occur because of this year's elongated nomination process.

"The bottom line is you want to win it but it is not as devastating as you guys want to make it out to be if we don't," said a senior Romney strategist.

Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, has made himself competitive in Michigan by pressing his conservative views on social issues and by spreading a blue-collar message about the need to rebuild the manufacturing base in the hard-hit Midwestern state.

"We've been traveling all over the state, and I'm really excited about the response. I think we're going to surprise a few people tomorrow night," Santorum said on Monday.

A Santorum win could upend the race and prompt the Republican establishment - concerned that Santorum's strong religious conservatism could make him unelectable - to search for a new candidate to join the race.

An unpredictable factor in Michigan was the ability of Democrats to vote in the Republican primary and try to thwart Romney by voting for Santorum, who many see as having little chance of defeating Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 6 election should he become the Republican nominee.

AUTO BAILOUTS

The Santorum campaign tried to encourage the crossover vote with a robocall urging Democrats to send a message to Romney because of his opposition to 2009 auto bailouts that kept thousands of Michigan workers employed.

The effort was quickly condemned by the Romney campaign as a sign that Santorum "is now willing to wear the other team's jersey if he thinks it will get him more votes."

Romney has come back from a deficit in the Michigan polls to creep ahead in some surveys, and his aides believed his campaign has the organizational strength for a good turnout.

Other Republican candidates, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul, are running far behind the two leaders and have not competed heavily, making the state a Romney-or-Santorum contest.

Romney has been hammering home his view that his experience as a private equity executive and former Massachusetts governor makes him the best candidate to defeat Obama and lead the U.S. economy back to strong job growth.

He has also been sharply critical of Santorum.

"I've spent 25 years in business," Romney said. "I understand why jobs go, why they come. I understand what happens to corporate profit, where it goes if the government takes it. This is what I've done for all my life. Senator Santorum is a nice guy, but he's never had a job in the private sector."

This kind of message is resonating among many Michigan Republicans.

"He could be more charismatic but a steady, good businessman is what we need," said John Bas of Berkeley. "Is he a rock star? No. But rock stars probably don't make good presidents."

Romney may not be a rock star, but he had one campaign for him on Monday. Kid Rock and his band joined Romney at a theatre in Royal Oak to play a song that is the signature anthem of Romney's campaign events, "Born Free."

Romney and his wife Ann watched the brief concert from the front row and clapped to the beat.

Romney persuaded Kid Rock to perform at the rally during an hour-long meeting last Thursday at the rocker's Michigan home. Kid Rock got Romney's commitment that if elected he would help the city of Detroit, the state of Michigan and U.S. troops, a Romney campaign spokesman said.

(Additional reporting by Sam Youngman; editing by Christopher Wilson)

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How Social Networks are Killing the Internet

Share this on Facebook! Tweet this to your followers! Pin it to Pinterest! Submit the link to StumbleUpon and drive tons of traffic to your site! Digg it and hopefully more eyeballs will see it (and then it will end up on Facebook through the Digg Social Reader). Isn't it great? You can cross your fingers and hope that the entire social Web sees something you like if you share it to all of your social networks. After all, we are what we share.

Dictionary.com defines the verb (used with object) 'to share' as 'to divide and distribute in shares, apportion' and 'to use, participate in, enjoy, receive, etc., jointly.' The example it gives for the later is: 'The two chemists shared the Nobel prize.' They passively shared this Noble Prize, which was awarded to both of them by a committee.

Every social network on the Web asks users to do some variation on sharing. Ultimately, the goal is to get that content in front of other users. Once a user shares, he or she momentarily feels more connected to others. But this momentary connectedness is killing us. And we are, in turn, killing the Internet with our passive, networked actions.

Renowned cyberpsychologist Sherry Turkle explains it eloquently in her latest TED 2012 talk. 'Human relationships are rich, and they're messy and they're demanding,' says Turkle. 'And we clean them up with technology. We sacrifice conversation for mere connection.'

All that 'connecting' is happening on - where else? - social networks. It happens subtly, so much that we hardly notice we are spending more time texting and talking on Facebook and Twitter than we are in real life, communicating with actual living, breathing humans. We hide behind our glass screens. And we seem like it that way.

With the advent of new Timeline social apps, such as the Digg Social Reader, WaPo Social News Reader and The Guardian UK Social Reader, it's super easy to stay on Facebook and read what your friends are reading. It's so much easier to get interesting recommendations from my quirky friend who shares some of the same tech and weird news interests as I do. Why wouldn't I leave it up to the Facebook news feed's expert algorithm to figure out exactly what I want to read? It's incredibly convenient, and lets me feel alright about being lazy.

The problem comes when I click on the social reader link, and it asks me to please reveal all of my data. Once I do that, I feel psychologically more connected to, and reliant upon, Facebook. This opportunistic relationship is killing me, and I in turn am killing the Internet.

The other month, I wrote about a new StumbleUpon feature that greatly upset the Internet. Previously, StumbleUpon users could stumble around the site and then leave if a specific link if they'd like by quickly closing out the screen. StumbleUpon would send users to the original site. The company decided to eliminate that option after users kept accidentally leaving StumbleUpon, thus interrupting their stumble experience.

The user is always right. StumbleUpon exists because of its users, and so why wouldn't the company change its ways to appease those users who spend hours on end inside the site. Who could blame them? They have everything they need inside StumbleUpon, so why leave? I am not being sarcastic. StumbleUpon is a smart, creative site that perfectly tailors to its users' individual taste graph.

StumbleUpon's Marc Leibowitz left a comment on the ditching StumbleUpon for Pinterest story that I wrote. StumbleUpon's users did not complain about the removal of the Web bar. 'Given that our normally vocal members have NOT complained about the current implementation, however, leads us to believe this may not be quite as provocative an issue as this post suggests,' he says. 'Nevertheless, as I say, we are exploring other options.' Not long after that, StumbleUpon CEO Garrett Camp blogged the following:

Our previous StumbleBar design included an 'X' button (to close the iframe if you wanted to view the original URL) but we didn't initially make this as part of the redesign for signed-in members. We received several requests for this feature over the last few weeks, so as of today we will be adding this back in for signed-in members. This lets you hide the StumbleBar to see the original link, and simply click back afterwards to return to Stumbling.

There's an easier way for users to leave StumbleUpon now. But does it matter? Users of the social Web prefer to stay inside social networks, discovery engines and other insular spaces. It's safe, it's easy and most of all, it's convenient.

Not being able to share across the Web and, instead, being able to share only on social networks, isn't new. Tristian Louis of TNL.net blogged about his experience using Path, which did not allow him to share out. 'But eventually, the inability to share over the Web started grating at me as I realize that I was trapped in Path's truck,' he writes. 'I stopped using the service.'

I have daydreams of organizing all of my friends to do a mass exodus from Facebook. But truth be told, we'd probably all quit for a week and then return, hungry for status updates, viral graphics and meandering bulletpoint-y super-sharable blog posts which hardly qualify as articles.

Facebook is an alluring black hole that welcomes us in, and asks us to stay awhile. It's possible to leave, but no matter what I always come back. I have given up on the idea of leaving. Now I just check the site more from my Facebook mobile app than the Web version, and get annoyed when I can't easily share stories and images from it. Like a smoker who needs their nicotine fix, I am a social networker and I need my data.

Louis' essay delves into the dangers of quietly moving from the Web version to the mobile app, rather than trying to figure out how to fix the Web. It's easier to just think about the apps. Smartphones are must-have accessories. He continues the essay, pointing out the user-hungry move into Facebook territory, which contributes to the death of the Internet at large, and the continual push of users into social networks - like cows into a slaughterhouse:

When­ever I bumped into a silo like Face­book, I may have grum­bled but I didn't leave. In fact, I pushed more con­tent into it, not ask­ing that it push con­tent back out. I did that because that's where the read­ers were, where I could get more users, etc...

Then PIPA/SOPA/ACTA happened, and we all freaked out. For a minute. Then it went away and we forgot, content to passively share on our social network of choice.

I will not summarize all of Louis' smart article here. Instead, I will send you out to the Internet, to the original site where this story lives. I hope you won't share the story to Facebook; instead, email it to your friends. Tell your friends to go online and Google it. Print it out and pass it around to some of your Internet-obsessed friends, in person. I promise you won't kill too many trees in the process. Do not tell your friends to do anything that feels like sharing it on a social network. Then think about it. Reminder: Don't share it on Facebook.

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Apple allegedly offered Motorola and Samsung patent licensing

Sources, close to Apple, have reportedly shared with Dow Jones Newswires that Apple has offered Motorola and Samsung patent licensing deals in order to settle some of the ongoing litigations.

Allegedly, Apple is seeking between $5 and $15 royalties per handset or roughly between 1% and 2.5% of net sales per device.

If this information turns out true it marks a shift in Apple's strategy when dealing with Google's rife operating system. It's no secret that the late Apple leader, Steve Jobs wanted nothing to do with reconciling with Android but rather wished it gone from the face of the market.

If Apple settles into patent licensing deals with Motorola and Samsung, it could receive a nice cash injection as we all know Android is flourishing in sales but also the Cupertino-based company could raise the price of making Android smartphones, thus effectively hardening the task of producing low-end droids for the mass market and making the OS less favorable for developers.

Trying to stop or otherwise slow down Android by seeking injunctions in various countries is becoming more and more tiresome a task. Samsung and others have proven that even hardware-based injunctions can be overcome in a timely manner so it's logical if Apple has decided to change their strategy. It's either that or we're witnessing a textbook the-stick-or-the-carrot type of game in action.

Microsoft is a known patent licensee to Android manufacturers and has been stigmatized for it as a bully that stifles innovation. There's no denying that if these alleged patent licensing deals go through Apple's popularity among Android fans will hit a new low.

Source | Via

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Sprint Faces Spectrum Shortage Without LightSquared Deal

By Kate Knibbs | Wed Mar 07, 2012 2:31 pm

Sprint plans to cut ties with LightSquared, raising questions about how the carrier intends to weather the spectrum crunch.

Bloomberg reports Sprint intends to end its network-sharing agreement with LightSquared after the Federal Communications Commission barred its planned network because of potential interference with crucial GPS networks. LightSquared is still trying to overcome its regulatory hurdles, but Sprint's decision indicates the potential partnership is finished, and the carrier will focus on more fruitful spectrum deals.

LightSquared received a 30-day extension to find a solution to its problems, but sources say Sprint is unwilling to extend it further. The carrier may be acting prudently by nixing the arrangement, as LightSquared has not made much progress finding a workable solution.

The LightSquared decision comes at a time when demands on Sprint's network are increasing, making its need for airwaves more urgent. Sprint still boasts an unlimited data plan, and uses the package to differentiate itself from leading carriers like Verizon and AT&T. The company also now carries the iPhone, which allows for greater data consumption, so boundless data use is likely to overwhelm the network.

The decision may also impact Sprint's scheduled 4G LTE rollout, since it leaves the carrier without a partner able to support the system. Sprint is expected to rely on its spectrum agreement with Clearwire to pick up the slack, but Clearwire's LTE system isn't set to debut until 2013.

The carrier is considering an agreement with T-Mobile, but the companies will have to tread carefully to avoid an FCC rejection. Last fall, AT&T's proposed acquisition of T-Mobile's failed to win regulator approval because of anti-trust concerns.

In the wake of the scuttled T-Mobile deal, AT&T joined Verizon in turning attention to smaller spectrum acquisitions as Sprint waited on LightSquared. Now Sprint faces a shrinking field of eligible allies, making the company's next moves especially crucial, as every major carrier scrambles to gain more spectrum.

Sprint's upcoming split with LightSquared leaves the carrier free to pursue other spectrum partners, as the company's promoted data plans will soon overwhelm its networks without added bandwidth. Sprint will be in a competitive marketplace in its spectrum search, joining other carriers trying to do the same thing, the very situation the company hoped to avoid with its prospective LightSquared partnership.

Thu Mar 08, 2012 1:17 pm | By
Apple left Sprint out of the party once again with the launch of its new LTE-capable iPad, putting the carrier at a major disadvantage to attract data-hungry subscribers.



Tue Feb 21, 2012 2:14 pm | By
LightSquared is in danger of defaulting on a large payment to one of its key partners as the company continues to face the fallout of its failed broadband network.

Wed Feb 15, 2012 3:11 pm | By
Sprint is left scrambling for spectrum, inhibiting its long-term expansion, after the Federal Communications Commission rejected LightSquared's broadband network plan.

Wed Feb 08, 2012 3:58 pm | By
Broadband startup LightSquared wants the Federal Communications Commission to set standards for GPS reliability, as it attempts to fast-track its own approval process with the regulator.

Wed Feb 08, 2012 12:31 pm | By
Sprint gained customers last quarter but lost money from subsidizing iPhone sales, as its expensive gamble fell short of expectations.


Editorials & Opinion By Margaret Rock
A new set of badges are bringing young Boy and Girl Scouts into the 21st century, catering to an emerging group of "digital natives" integrating technological know-how into every aspect of their lives.

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Samsung’s rugged, all weather phone: Rugby Smart

After having one (or more) Android devices in every imaginable category in today’s assortment of communication devices, Samsung was left with only one, that is, having an all weather phone. 

After Panasonic Eluga and Sony’s Xperia Active, Samsung plugs the hole for tough phones with Rugby Smart. This Android smartphone has a strong built and is US Mil-STD 810F and IP67 certified for Dust, Humidity, Rain, Shock and Temperature. The phone is currently being offered by AT&T and is decently priced at $99.0. This armor-plated device can withstand submersion in 1 meter of water for upto 30 minutes.

Here is a promotional video of Rugby Smart from AT&T

The Specifications:

Finally, a hands-on video from GSMArena

[VIA]

Udit Hotchandani
I'm a technology enthusiast and mobile fanatic from India. I love sharing my knowledge with others. "I am still waiting for some company to like my work and send me a model of their latest mobile device for review" :) My twitter handle is @udit_h On Facebook, I am available at http://www.facebook.com/udit.hotchandani

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Syrian military pounds rebel areas, wounded journalists escape

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian forces shelled an opposition stronghold in Hama province, killing 20 people, on Tuesday and hit rebel-held parts of Homs, activists said, as two wounded foreign journalists trapped in the city were reported to have been smuggled safely to Lebanon.

President Bashar al-Assad sent units of an elite armored division, which is led by his brother Maher, into Homs overnight, activists said. Tanks with the words "Fourth Division Monsters" painted on them moved close to the besieged Baba Amro district.

French journalist Edith Bouvier and British photographer Paul Conroy, both wounded last week in an attack in Baba Amro, were now safe in Lebanon, a diplomat and opposition sources said. It was not clear how they escaped.

In Hama province, security forces bombarded the town of Helfaya, a hotbed of protests in the uprising against Assad.

Activists said the 20 deaths of Sunni Muslim villagers there were among at least 100 killed in the province in the last two weeks in revenge for rebel Free Syrian Army attacks on security forces commanded by members of Assad's minority Alawite sect.

The reports could not be independently confirmed. Syrian authorities tightly restrict media access to the country.

Opposition groups say hundreds of civilians have been killed or wounded in the siege of Baba Amro and other rebellious districts in Homs, where terrified residents are enduring dire conditions, without proper supplies of water, food and medicine.

Syrian forces on Tuesday launched the heaviest bombardment in their three-week assault on Baba Amro, activists said.

Assad, projecting an aura of normality in a land ravaged by 11 months of conflict over his right to power, decreed that a new constitution was in force on Tuesday after officials said nearly 90 percent of voters had endorsed it in a referendum.

Opposition groups and Western leaders seeking Assad's removal denounced Sunday's vote as a charade that diverted attention from the violence in Homs and elsewhere.

"BARBARISM"

Assad's government had "broken all the limits of barbarism". French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said.

"And when I see the Syrian president paraded around this voting station in Damascus for this phony referendum, it makes you deeply indignant," he told RTL radio.

Juppe said he felt "immensely frustrated" at difficulties in obtaining security guarantees to enable wounded civilians and Western journalists to be evacuated from Homs.

American reporter Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik were killed in Baba Amro on February 22 in a strike on a house in which Conroy and Bouvier were wounded.

The Syrian Arab Red Crescent did manage to evacuate three people from Baba Amro on Monday, but not the foreign reporters, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.

The outside world has proved powerless to halt the killing in Syria, where repression of initially peaceful protests has spawned an armed insurrection by army deserters and others.

"As long as we have not halted the massacres, we are impotent, but we are not inactive," Juppe said.

He told the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday it was time to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court and warned Assad he would be brought to justice.

Foreign powers have argued over whether to arm Syrian rebels trying to resist Assad's forces, but there is little appetite in the West for any Libya-style military intervention.

Russia and China have used their vetoes to protect Syria from any action by the U.N. Security Council, where Western and Arab powers had sought backing for an Arab League transition plan under which Assad would voluntarily relinquish office.

Qatar joined Saudi Arabia on Monday in advocating arming the Syrian rebels. "We should do whatever is necessary to help them, including giving them weapons to defend themselves," Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani said in Oslo.

Assad says he is battling a foreign conspiracy featuring "armed terrorist groups" and al Qaeda militants, while pressing ahead with political reforms toward greater democracy.

His opponents scorn his calls for dialogue as meaningless while Syrian security forces are violently repressing dissent.

The Syrian leader says the new constitution will lead to multi-party elections within three months.

The document drops a clause making Syria's Baath party the leader of state and society, allows political pluralism and limits a president to two seven-year terms.

But this restriction is not retroactive, implying that Assad, 46 and already in power since 2000, could serve two further terms after his current one expires in 2014.

The opposition dismisses the reforms on offer, saying that Assad, and his father who ruled for 30 years before him, have long paid only lip service to existing legal obligations.

(Additional reporting by Dominic Evans, Erika Solomon and Mariam Karouny in Beirut; Writing by Alistair Lyon, Editing by Rosalind Russell)

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MWC: HTC Aims for Comeback with Streamlined Phones

By Kate Knibbs | Mon Feb 27, 2012 12:15 pm

At the Mobile World Congress, the Taiwan-based company revealed its updated phone roster with the One S, One V, and One X, running on Ice Cream Sandwich, or ICS. These phones incorporate Beats Audio enhancement software, illustrating the company's dedication to enhancing its entertainment capabilities, which HTC wants to make available on a number of U.S. carriers.

The One X is the largest handset, with a 4.7 inch screen, boasting an 8 megapixel camera. The One S is similar, with a 4.3-inch AMOLED screen and the same camera. The One V is HTC's Legend phone rebranded, with the same chin design and a 3.7-inch screen.

HTC's simplified roster fulfills the company's promise to hone in on entertainment as a selling point. The new phones integrate Beats Audio software and stand out with their sleek incorporation of a number of music apps like Spotify and Soundhound. In addition, the phones feature free Dropbox storage, allowing users to effortlessly back up their media.

"Getting music on a phone is still hard for people," CEO Peter Chou said. "HTC One makes it easy."

The One series comes packed with features designed to make enjoying entertainment easier. The One X features an innovative Wi-Fi display system, "Media Link HD", which allows users to link up the phone's screen to their television. This feature shows HTC's commitment to simplifying entertainment on phones, enabling an easy link-up between media devices.

HTC took full advantage of its partnership with Beats Audio, using the music technology as a selling point on its new line. HTC's upcoming agreement with PlayStation is likely to bring about an increased focus on its handsets' gaming potential.

PlayStation licensed its PlayStation Suite to the Taiwanese company, allowing users to buy games at the PlayStation store compatible with their HTC smartphones. HTC has yet to reveal whether the One line will feature PlayStation Suite, but if it does not, it will likely not be long until HTC rolls out an updated line with the capabilities.

In addition to fortifying its entertainment and gaming portfolio, HTC hopes its simplified branding will attract customers. HTC wants to keep its product names consistent whether it sells through AT&T, Verizon, or other carriers, but the company will likely experience difficulty doing so. If HTC convinces the carriers to keep its simple line name, consumers will have an easier time sussing out the best deals, and remembering the product name.

Carriers may resist HTC's branding scheme, since the company intends to market the phones in the same way for each company. U.S. carriers typically require unique names and slightly different specs for each phone, which can make quick price comparisons difficult.

HTC is betting big on its new line in the wake of a poor fourth quarter performance, putting a premium on innovative audio and establishing partnerships with entertainment and gaming leaders to attract crowds. The company will wait until April, when the phones ship globally, to see if its gamble paid off.

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Terahertz Spectrum Makes Phones 1,000 Times Faster

By Melissa Daniels | Mon Mar 12, 2012 11:48 am

Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh have discovered a way to make smartphones 1,000 times faster using "terahertz" bandwidth, which may provide relief for the spectrum crunch.

The research is just wrapping up, but it offers a glimpse into a solution for the spectrum crunch. Getting away from gigahertz may be the first step, not only out of progress but necessity, as consumers increasingly rely on bandwidth for data-hungry devices. Though many pieces would need to come together before it's implemented for widespread use, the development hints at an alternative solution to the traditional spectrum problem.

Scientists on the research team developed a frequency comb that spans 100 terahertz bandwidth, using the sliver of electronic spectrum between infrared and microwave light. By exploring "a silicon-based optical modulator" in the terahertz bandwidth range, the research discovered benefits in taking advantage of a different band of spectrum.

"The ability to modulate light with such a bandwidth may increase the amount of information carried by more than 1,000 times when compared to the volume carried with today's technologies," said Hrvoje Petek, physics and chemistry professor at University of Pittsburgh who led the research team. "Needless to say, this has been a long-awaited discovery in the field."

Bandwidth issues plague carriers and customers alike as millions of people increasingly rely on smartphones, as well as tablets. Mobile carriers are trying to find ways to compensate for ever-shrinking amount of bandwidth, either by throttling users, charging developers for creating data-heavy apps or creating paths around bandwidth limitations like turbocharge options.

But using terahertz bandwidth promises to surpass the difficulties of gigahertz spectrum models. The potential shows progress for the mobile industry at a time when technological developments are surpassing the infrastructure they were built on.

Before data downloads happen in the blink of an eye, however, the infrastructure of the mobile industry would need to drastically adapt. Aside from reorganizing spectrum regulation at the federal level and carriers switching their resources to a new spectrum, manufacturers would be charged with creating progressive devices that may receive data transmissions from the terahertz frequency region.

Researchers taking the lead on new discoveries for today's technology is one way the mobile industry might find answers to the spectrum crunch question. In the case of University of Pittsburgh's terahertz team, their work may find a way around this problem while launching faster speeds that use highly charged resources yet to be tapped, opening new doors for the communications industry.

Tue Mar 13, 2012 4:13 pm | By
Scottish scientists are developing an app converting sign language into text, showcasing mobile technology's capacity to evolve communication.



Tue Mar 13, 2012 4:04 pm | By
AT&T is expanding its LTE service, and Tim Cook sold off more of his stock in Apple. Meanwhile, Verizon had some sporadic outages, Apple denies Proview's claims on its iPad name and Twitter snapped up Posterous, a blogging platform.

Tue Mar 13, 2012 3:57 pm | By
Anonymous hackers struck the Vatican again, wreaking havoc despite ongoing arrests, defectors and rogue members that risk impairing future operations.

Tue Mar 13, 2012 3:42 pm | By
Yahoo is suing Facebook over alleged patent infringement, opening up untested legal territory as the social network goes public.

Tue Mar 13, 2012 2:46 pm | By
Apple's is reducing the price of the iPad 2 with the release of the new iPad, boosting the company's educational initiatives by making tablets more affordable for schools.


Editorials & Opinion By Kat Asharya
The Justice Department approved the $4.5 billion purchase of over 4,000 Nortel patents to major Android rivals like Apple and RIM, guaranteeing no end in sight to the legal battles entangling the mobile industry.

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Warm reception seen for Israeli leader in Congress

WASHINGTON (AP) — Israel's prime minister didn't close ranks with President Barack Obama on how to deal with Iran's suspect nuclear program, but he can expect a warm reception to his tough talk when he visits Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

Benjamin Netanyahu got a preview of what to expect when Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell told the pro-Israel lobby on Monday that the U.S. should use overwhelming military force against Iran if it learns Tehran has decided to build a nuclear bomb or has started to enrich uranium to weapons-grade level.

"In the weeks and months ahead, Israel and the United States face a day of reckoning," the Kentucky Republican told the America Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC. "We either do what it takes to preserve the balance of power within the broader Middle East or risk a nuclear arms race across the region that's almost certain to upend it."

On Tuesday, three Republican presidential candidates will address the AIPAC gathering, trying to establish their own pro-Israel credibility on the same day 10 states hold primary voting contests. All have said Obama has mishandled Iran.

At the start of their White House meeting Monday morning, Obama and Netanyahu tried to present a united front on the nuclear threat emanating from Iran. The U.S. leader reaffirmed that he would resort to military force, if necessary, to keep Iran from getting a bomb and said the U.S. "always has Israel's back where Israel's security is concerned."

But the two men were unable to plaster over differences on how urgently military force might be needed.

For the second time in two days, Netanyahu ignored Obama's appeal to give diplomacy and sanctions time to percolate, emphasizing Israel's right to defend itself militarily and suggesting he would not be swayed from going it alone if he thought Israel had to move faster to protect itself.

The very purpose of the Jewish state, he told Obama in a mildly lecturing tone, is "to restore to the Jewish people control over our destiny," he said.

Later in the day, before a record turnout of the pro-Israel lobby, he reasserted Israel's right to defend itself and said his country had "patiently waited" for diplomacy and sanctions to work.

"None of us can afford to wait much longer," he told AIPAC. "As prime minister of Israel, I will never let my people live in the shadow of annihilation," he said to a roaring standing ovation.

Tehran claims its nuclear program is designed chiefly to generate electricity and does not have a military component, but neither the U.S. nor Israel believes that. The head of the U.N. nuclear agency fed concerns further Monday by saying his organization has "serious concerns" that Iran may be hiding secret atomic weapons work.

Israel feels especially vulnerable to the Iranian nuclear threat because of Tehran's repeated references to the Jewish state's destruction and its arsenal of ballistic missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to the Jewish state.

Israel is much more openly skeptical than the U.S. about stopping Iran through sanctions and diplomacy because years of talks and penalties have so far failed.

Disagreements between the two allies also run deep over when a strike might be appropriate and how effective a unilateral Israeli attack might be against scattered and heavily fortified Iranian nuclear facilities.

Israel says it has not made a decision on whether to launch an attack. But some Israeli officials say the time to strike is growing short, and say Israel must act by summer if it is to act at all.

The Obama administration sees this course as dangerously premature, arguing that Tehran has not yet decided whether to actually produce atomic weapons and might still respond to non-military pressure. Because of its superior firepower, the U.S. reasons it would be able to act many months after Israel could.

Political considerations have also come into play. A unilateral Israeli strike in the coming months would threaten to ignite the Mideast, drag the U.S. into another conflict and drive up global oil prices just before U.S. presidential elections in November.

Despite the history of tension between them, Obama and Netanyahu tried to downplay their differences Monday.

Obama has little appetite for taking on Israel in an election year. And Netanyahu would have little to gain from sparring with a president whose support might be crucial if Israel decides to act alone against Iran.

But if Netanyahu has not publicly played up differences with the Obama administration over Iran, then Republican supporters in Congress have done that job for him.

Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum will be addressing AIPAC by video in between campaign stops Tuesday. They have all tried to paint Obama as an undependable partner for Israel, and as weak on Iran.

Obama noted the campaign-season rhetoric in his own address to AIPAC on Sunday, and assured conference participants that he was solidly committed to guaranteeing Israel's security.

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Wired's Oscar Picks, Where Math Nerds, Hackers and 3-D Spectacles Win

The Oscars are great, but let's face it: It's a party for Hollywood's most pretty, popular kids. And at the end of the night, they — not the dweebs — take home most of the little gold men.

Not that the Oscars aren't geek-friendly — surely more than a few members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences would qualify as film nerds. And while the winners tend to skew more arty and dramatic than anything, each year a few geeks sneak their way down the red carpet. (David Fincher, who are you wearing?!)

But imagine if the Oscars took place in a parallel universe where the things that get geek juices flowing also garnered Academy votes. Where movies get judged more on subject matter (badass female hackers, for example) or filmmakers' nerdy ambitions (a swooping 3-D adaptation of The Invention of Hugo Cabret) than the traditional metrics. That's what we've done with this alternate-reality take on the Academy Awards 2012.

So, without further ado, may we present the Wired Oscars. Our winners may not leave victorious from whatever-it's-called-now theater, but they will always be winners to us.

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired

Agree? Disagree? Tell us what movies, actors and filmmakers you would stuff in the Oscars envelopes this year.

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Can Romney seal the deal on Tuesday?

We have held all along that Mitt Romney will be the Republican Party's nominee for president. Since his double win last week in Arizona and Michigan, his odds in the prediction markets have jumped above 80 percent. That's likely to go up again after Super Tuesday, since the most likely scenario has Romney winning 7 of the 10 states, Rick Santorum taking 2, and Newt Gingrich winning his home state of Georgia.

The question is whether voters in future primaries decide the race is effectively over after Tuesday and flock to Romney, or whether Santorum lives to fight another day in the polls. A big-enough night for Santorum could prolong his eventual defeat, since polls tend to be more short-sighted than markets. Here are the odds for tomorrow's individual elections:

We can predict with near certainty that Romney will win in Virginia (where only he and Ron Paul are on the ballot), his home turf of Massachusetts, neighboring Vermont, and Idaho. Gingrich likewise has odds of about 95 percent in Georgia.

Romney has 81.6 percent odds in the crown jewel, Ohio, though polls—which lag compared to markets—have him virtually tied with Santorum. (The odds swung significantly in his favor after last week's wins in Arizona and Michigan.) As we've noted before, this literally means that 1 out of 5 times, Santorum pulls off an upset win. Meanwhile, Santorum has 88.6 percent odds in conservative Oklahoma.

That leaves North Dakota and Alaska, where Romney has odds around 75 percent, and Tennessee, where Santorum leads with 57 percent of the vote.

There are 419 delegates at stake Tuesday, and Romney could take the vast majority if he meets or exceeds expectations. The former Massachusetts governor already has an 86.4 percent chance to be the Republican nominee for president, and he will still be the overwhelming favorite to win the nomination regardless of the outcome on Super Tuesday. The question is whether he can effectively seal the deal Tuesday, or leave Santorum enough delegates to hang on to even an imaginary claim to the nomination.

David Rothschild is an economist at Yahoo! Research. He has a Ph.D. in applied economics from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Follow him on Twitter @DavMicRot and email him at thesignal@yahoo-inc.com.

More popular Yahoo! News stories:

• Twitter users lobby Limbaugh advertisers to drop business (or not) over Fluke controversy

• Poll: Santorum slightly ahead in Ohio before Super Tuesday

• Mitt Romney wins the Washington state caucuses

Want more? Visit The Signal blog, connect with us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter. Handy with a camera? Join the Yahoo! News Election 2012 Flickr group to submit your photos of the campaign in action.

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U.S. to Israel: Give Iran diplomacy more time

Pres. Obama met with Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu at the White House Monday. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP …President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held one of their more studiously cordial meetings at the White House Monday. But the concerted effort to project a united front--after a few previous prickly encounters--did little to mask the fact that there are genuine differences and tensions in the allies' views on how to deal with the Iran nuclear program and in what time-frame, analysts said.

"Both the prime minister and I prefer to solve this diplomatically," Obama said at the top of his three-hour meeting with the Israeli leader, echoing the thrust of his comments to the pro-Israel lobby group the American Israel Public Affairs committee (AIPAC) Sunday. The administration has continued to push diplomacy as the key to getting Iran to agree to curb its nuclear program.

"Ultimately Iran has to make the decision to move in that direction," Obama said, adding that if that fails, however, "When I say all options are on the table, I mean it."

"Israel and America stand together," Netanyahu said Monday. But Israel reserves the right to defend itself, he asserted: Israel is "the master of its fate," he said.

"Really it's in the interest of both Netanyahu and Obama to try to put some of the past tension behind them," Haim Malka, a Middle East analyst at the Center for Strategic Studies told Yahoo News in an interview Monday. "And I think on the PR-front the atmospherics have been good."

"Obama, in his speech to AIPAC, made a strong case for his ongoing commitment to Israel's security; but at same time he was clear about maintaining his own position and not getting locked into Netanyahu's red lines," Malka continued. "I think Netanyahu came here with the clear objective to move the president on the red lines and on the timeline."

But Obama held his ground, Malka noted. "The president said very clearly —he thinks there's a chance for a diplomatic route," he said.

"In essence, [Obama's statements] are a mix of reassurance ('We've got this') and dissuasion ('Don't do this')," Colin Kahl, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East in the Obama administration, told Yahoo News by email Monday

American and Israeli leaders publicly agree that Iran will not be permitted to get a nuclear weapon—if need be, both say they will resort to military force to destroy Iran's known enrichment and ballistic missile facilities. But they disagree about whether diplomacy or force would do more to set back Iran's nuclear effort, and how much time there is to act.

"The U.S. takes the attitude that we want to permanently solve the problem of the Iran nuclear program," Patrick Clawson, deputy director of research at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told Yahoo News in an interview. "And the only way to [permanently solve the problem] is to persuade the Iranians to come to an agreement."

Obama and Netanyahu disagree however about the virtue of further negotiations with Iran.

Netanyahu "truly believes that negotiations with Iran will merely lead to stalling and delaying tactics and cover for continuation of their work on their nuclear program," a Washington Middle East expert said on condition of anonymity.

Netanyahu has called publicly for a complete halt to Iranian enrichment before any new negotiations with Iran are undertaken--a condition the United States seems unlikely to accept.

But the United States is also devising a confidence-building measure to test whether the Iranians are serious about returning to international nuclear talks, Clawson noted. Under the proposed confidence-building measure that American diplomats have been quietly discussing with international partners, Iran would be asked agree to halt its 20 percent enrichment in exchange for a suspension of new UN Security Council sanctions. (Some Iran experts say Iran may also be asked to send out its stockpile of 20 percent enriched uranium in exchange for support for a Tehran reactor that produces isotopes used to treat Iranian cancer patients.)

The confidence-building measure is seen as a more achievable, intermediate step that can help reduce the tremendous mistrust between Iran and the international community, Clawson explained, while helping put "time back on the clock" for possible negotiations to a long term deal.

More popular Yahoo! News stories:

• Obama sees difficult months ahead in Iran standoff

• Iran votes in parliamentary polls amid growing tension

• U.S. announces diplomatic breakthrough with North Korea

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Sencha Touch 2 Allows Developers to Code iOS Apps With Windows PCs

Mobile HTML5 developer framework Sencha wants to be more than just a tool to develop hybrid mobile applications. The company's roadmap for 2012 is to become an end-to-end solution for designing, developing and deploying HTML5 applications and is taking its first steps toward that goal today by releasing Sencha Touch 2 out of beta. Sencha Touch 2 gives developers a better user interface for developing HTML5 that will give consumers a more robust user experience.

Sencha also wants to play nice with the mobile development ecosystem. Touch 2 is the first framework that will allow developers to write Android and iOS apps from either a Windows PC or a Mac. That means that iOS developers are no longer tied to XCode on the Mac for building iOS apps. Presenting that freedom to developers should help Sencha win the hearts of many mobile publishers.

Sencha is focusing on three core areas for the public release of Touch 2: better consumer user experience, better developer support and development experience as well as working to improve the development ecosystem.

'We've updated and refreshed the API for Sencha Touch to make it even easier to build applications as well as out of the box we are shipping a set of full fledged built applications that developers can modify or use as their own references for locations. These are apps that use the Facebook API, apps that take advantage of custom themes,' said Aditya Bansod, senior director of product management at Sencha.

The core uses of Sencha HTML5 platform are to prototype, design, develop, package and deploy HTML5 apps. The company wants to make using the platform as painless as possible for developers and was one of the core goals for the team in updating Touch. The framework itself has been updated with a more streamlined UI for developers that Bansod describes as more 'visceral.' Sencha worked to create better performance for hybrid HTML5 apps for iOS and Android and has updated many of its native API containers to take advantage of camera, push messaging, device orientation and scrolling.

Sencha spent the most time with Touch 2 working to improve Android performance. It is well known in the mobile ecosystem that the native Android browser lacks well behind iOS and one of Sencha's primary goals was to improve that performance.

'We have spent endless amount of time working and tuning for Android. Like list performance, for example. It might seem mundane but for user experience it is so important,' Bansod said. 'I throw a list and it actually flies as far as I want it to as well as animations feel as well as they should for the platform. So, we spent time with device manufacturers understanding their implementations of WebKit and what we ended up doing is building specific implementations of our core performance APIs for each specific platform. The developer does not see this, thankfully, the developer sees one common API and we use different parts of HTML and CSS to actually do the performance work under the hood on the developers' behalf.'

One of the key shifts for Sencha in releasing Touch 2 is a focus on the mobile ecosystem. While competitor appMobi is almost always focused on the ecosystem, Sencha has always been about the HTML5 spec and creating better tools.

'The native packaging kit that allows you to build on Mac and Windows is totally novel in the mobile ecosystem,' Bansod said. 'We have some new UI controls in the updated APIs and that will help while building your applications as well as building apps that have much more of a look and a feel that look native-like.'

Out of the box, Sencha Touch 2 comes with several applications that can be used as guides for building with the platform. The company sent ReadWriteMobile several test devices to show this off. For iOS that includes an app called 'The Watch List' (pictured above) that shares what movies you want to see or have seen with friends. 'TouchStyle' is an app for purchasing home and fashion items. On Android applications include Sencha Radio and Sencha Jog.

It is one thing to give developers a couple sample apps but Sencha takes it a step further with its Kitchen Sink application that shows off exactly what can be done within the framework and gives source code examples. This feature is beneficial to both new programmers looking for ways to create rounded buttons or experienced developers having trouble with HTML5 audio or video integration.

Sencha wants to differentiate itself from other framework and container providers such as appMobi, PhoneGap, Conduit and Brightcove. The ability to write code from any computer available is a good start.

'PhoneGap requires that you develop in XCode on the Mac and if you are a PC developer, that is what you are stuck with. In the other rounds, appMobi has a build service and we have heard from a lot of developers that they do not want to give a third party that they do not know their private keys because that is what it requires, you have to give your sign in keys to the third party to build it for you. We want to give developers that capability locally so they do not have to trust someone else with their keys,' Bansod said.

The entire Sencha HTML5 platform will be released and updated this year. The next step is called Sencha Designer that will be used to help accelerate design aspects of building apps. Deployment will be handled through Sencha.io that will also have an update sometime in 2012. Touch 2 remains a free service as the company plans on monetizing around other aspects of the platform. Touch 2 will be issued on the GPL3 and Sencha Commercial License.

Sencha Touch 2 was released to beta in Sept. 2011 but the company is now ready to release the full version. For those that have been using the beta, much will remain the same with a few developer UI improvements.

'Sencha Touch 2 is the cornerstone behind what we are going to be doing in the next couple months around the Sencha HTML5 platform. Using Sencha Touch and the new capabilities in Touch 2 to form the cornerstone of the developer experience from designing, developing and deploying their HTML5 applications,' Bansod said.

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Wallpapers collection by “pranoy_DMF” for Nokia Device

Great serie of wallpapers shared by our mate  pranoy_DMF , great variety and something for everyone.

Download this great and more wallpapers of our section  Wallpapers for symbian.

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New Net Rates the Force Behind Monster Slam Dunks

The New York Knicks wonder what to do as Indiana Pacers forward Paul George takes it to the net in this photo from April 10, 2011. George is among those throwing down this weekend in the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest on Saturday. Photo: Darron Cummings/Associated Press

All you fans of monstrous dunks, rejoice: The uber-geeks at MIT Media Lab have figured out how to measure the force of a slam dunk, and the gadget makes its television debut during the NBA All-Star Weekend.

The nifty net will quantify the force with which guys like Derrick Williams and Paul George stuff a ball through the hoop during the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest on Saturday. The net is said to measure “slam force G’s.” We prefer the term “millijordans,” but no one asked us.

Media Lab developed the net in a partnership with Turner Sports. The results, displayed on the Sprite Intensity Meter on the bottom right of your TV screen, will determine, once and for all, if George throws down with more authority than Chase Budinger.

Yeah, it’s little more than marketing hype — “Sprite Intensity Meter” was a pretty big clue to that — but this has some real science behind it.

MIT Media Lab used conductive thread to generate a reading for the force of every slam thrown down. The fabric, as flexible as the nylon in conventional basketball nets, has long been valued for its ability to transmit electrical signals in products ranging from winter gloves to high-tech carpets. By spinning the thread through a regular basketball net and connecting it to a computer chip, mounted behind the backboard, that renders the force in a graphical output, MIT and Turner have at long last found a way to instantaneously transmit the force of a dunk from the rim to your television screen.

Will wonders never cease?

Peter Scott, VP of emerging media for Turner Sports Interactive, says Sprite proposed the idea to Turner in mid-November.

“They wanted to see how we could make the dunk contest even more exciting than it is now,” Scott says.

Scott’s people ran the idea by MIT Media Lab, which specializes in far-out ideas. They quickly seized on the idea of conductive thread and built a prototype using a…

Nerf basketball hoop. Seriously.

“Like any invention, you wait until you feel good enough that you can present them with a prototype,” Scott said.

It worked. Once Turner and MIT were confident they could pull it off with a real hoop, they bought a regulation net and rim to develop a full-scale prototype. They called the NBA in mid-January to give them the good news: It works.

Scott says the conductive thread produces an electrical current whenever the net is contracted, such as when a ball passes through it. Nothing about this changes how the net looks or functions, so it won’t affect how players perform their tricks.

To understand the varying levels of force a dunk could produce, the MIT scientists developed a statistical baseline. They notched a basketball-sized hole into a board, placed it above a basket, and dropped the ball through the board. The board served as a gate of sorts, ensuring the ball passed through it at the same speed and distance, every time, before hitting the net. By establishing a consistent level of output for that type of shot, the MIT crew could compare shots from the numerous angles and forces with which a dunk can be dunked.

The Media Lab worked with MIT’s own basketball team to develop the calibration system. To develop a range with which to assign a value for any particular dunk, players threw down with differing levels of power from all sorts of angles. The harder the throw-down, the higher the millijordans, er, slam force G’s. (MIT, taking these things very seriously, actually used joules as the unit of measurement during development.)

Dunks will be measured on a scale of zero to 100 slam force G’s. According to MIT’s scale, 100 slam force G’s should be about the equivalent of the muzzle energy of a .22 caliber round being fired. They can’t be sure of this until they confirm it during practice sessions in Orlando, but it sure sounds cool.

Once a player dunks, the conductive thread will communicate with a computer chip behind the ‘board. The chip will render a reading to a duet, which is a device that allows TV production crews to add graphics to the TV broadcast.

Looking ahead, Scott says there could be a place for this technology in basketball beyond the annual dunk-fest. He says we could even see the rest of us measuring the force of our dunks through Nerf hoops. And who knows — maybe one day slam force G’s will even be listed alongside stats like points, rebounds and assists.

For now, though, let’s sit back and revel in the fact we can, at long last, definitively quantify the force of a monster dunk.

The NBA has a video explaining the net and demonstrating its use. Yeah, there’s an ad at the beginning of it.

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Nokia preparing an Update for Nokia Belle 1st Generation phones

After yesterday’s bad news for the owners of Nokia Belle first generation phones, the Nokia N8, C7, C6-01, E7 and X7, Nokia has confirmed that a separated update is being prepared.

The Official confirmation came from discussions.europe.nokia.com forums by a moderator that have reported that Nokia is gathering feedback from the recent update released and new changes and fixes should come soon. Here’s the post in question:

[Thanks djak272 for the tip]

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iOS 5.1 could have Facebook integration

Rumors of iOS 5.1 including native Facebook integration first surfaced in January when iMore found a contact field for your Facebook ID within the contacts app in iOS 5.1 beta 3. Now, we have come across some more evidence that should confirm this rumor.

Thanks to some super sleuthing by the guys at Techie Buzz, they have noticed that updates being sent from the native iOS Facebook app once again show up as sent via 'Facebook for iPhone' or ''Facebook for iPad', depending upon your device. If you remember, Facebook stopped showing this message a while back and would only show sent via 'Mobile', which is also what you see when you post an update through the Android app. This happened around the same time when Apple dropped Facebook sharing option from Ping.

But now it seems in preparation for the Facebook integration within iOS, Facebook has changed the way updates sent from the iOS app are being reported. And this is happening just a few hours before the iPad 3 event, where Apple is likely to also announce iOS 5.1. Meanwhile, updates sent from the Android app continue to be shown as sent via 'Mobile'.

So it seems Apple and Facebook have finally put aside their differences and decided to work together. The Facebook integration should come as a welcome addition and will benefit everyone involved, the user, Apple as well as Facebook.

Source

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