Hands-on redux with the LG Viper on Sprint

 
Youtube link for mobile viewing

After going hands-on with the LG Viper at CES during the stylish-yet-dark Sprint party, we just  had to get our hands back on one of these devices to check it out a second time. 

The booth rep here reiterates a good point -- you're not actually looking at a final device here. Don't expect a real change in the hardware, of course, and the software's going to be pretty vanilla with stock Gingerbread and Sprint ID. But that's why the CES hands-ons with the Viper have been superficial at best.

Anyhoo, check it out, and stay tuned for pricing and availability information.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/ObnjHX3dUJs/story01.htm

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Largest bird alters its foraging due to climate change

Friday, January 13, 2012

Wandering albatrosses have altered their foraging due to changes in wind fields in the southern hemisphere during the last decades. Since winds have increased in intensity and moved to the south, the flight speed of albatrosses increased and they spend less time foraging. As a consequence, breeding success has improved and birds have gained 1 kilogram. These are the results of the study of an international research team published in the latest issue of the Science journal. However, these positive consequences of climate change may last short if future wind fields follow predictions of climate change scenarios, researchers warn.

For this study, biologists had combined data on the duration of foraging trips and breeding success over the last 40 years, as well as foraging and body mass over the last 20 years of wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans) breeding in Crozet Islands. This archipelago lies approximately in the heart of the southern Indian Ocean (halfway between Madagascar and Antarctica). It belongs to the French Southern Territories and it is located in the windiest part of the Southern Ocean. The new findings are the result of an international research team from the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS-CEBC) and the German Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ).

Thanks to miniaturised tracking devices, researchers were able to track the foraging movement of albatrosses at a distance of 3500 kilometers from the colony. They found that albatross have altered their search patterns following changes in wind conditions over the past two decades. Females used increasingly more poleward and windy areas for foraging. As a consequence their travel speed increased while the total distance covered during foraging flights did not change. "This means that they spend less time at sea while incubating the egg and thus the breeding success increases" explains Dr. Henri Weimerskirch of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS-CEBC). Researchers were surprised that both females and males have increased their body mass in one kilogram, which corresponds approximately to one tenth of their total body weight. This could be not only a result of shorter incubation periods on the nest, but also an adaptation to windier conditions.

"The wandering albatross Crozet population has decreased as a result of adult mortality on longline fishing in subtropical waters, especially females since they favour warmer subtropical waters in the north compared to the more southerly distribution of males" says Dr. Maite Louzao Arsuaga, who has been modelling albatross movement from 2009 to 2011 at the UFZ. "Due to the changing wind conditions, females are now foraging in more southward areas where such fishing is not that widespread". However, the positive effects of changing environmental conditions of the last decades will not last in the future. Climate scenarios predict that westerly winds will move even further south by 2080 and wandering albatrosses might have to fly further to find optimal conditions for flying.

The total population of the wandering albatross is currently estimated at around 8,000 breeding pairs. All populations have shown a decrease at some stage over the last 25 years. This endangered species is threatened primarily by incidental catch in fisheries, especially longline fishing at sea, whereas the introduction of alien species (such as rats or cats) are a key conservation threat for the species on breeding colonies. Additionally, the accumulation of anthropogenic debris such as plastic and fishing hooks on albatrosses have negative effects on their populations. Thus, it is important to continue with monitoring programs of population trends and distribution at sea, as well as to undertake effective conservation measures. The foraging habitat of wandering albatrosses is managed by more than one Regional Fisheries Management Organisations, which makes it difficult to implement conservation measures for the species.

The wandering albatross has fascinated people for centuries. With a wingspan of over three meters and a half, it is the largest seabird in the world, surpassing just the Andean condor (Vultur fulvus). This elegant sailor, which spends most of its life flying, breeds on remote subantarctic islands over the Southern Ocean. They travel thousand of kilometers searching for fish and cephalopods like squids, often following ships and feeding on offal. The plumage of wandering albatrosses is variable, whitening with age. The maximum known age is 55 years old. Since the rearing of chicks takes a whole year, they breed only every second year

Apart from the study published in the latest Science issue, the research team has identified the key marine areas for the conservation of wandering albatrosses in the southern Indian Ocean published in 2011 in the Journal of Applied Ecology. This study provided the first map to support the future development of a network of priority protected areas in the southern part of the Indian Ocean, which are based on habitat predictions. "Because the species has no natural enemies and is at the top of the food web, it is particularly well suited as an indicator of the health of marine ecosystems," says Dr. Thorsten Wiegand from the UFZ, who supervised the work of Dr. Maite Louzao. "This could help not only a single species, but the underlying biodiversity associated with pelagic key habitats to protect Southern Ocean. Moreover, we have developed methods of habitat modelling broadly applicable and can be used to assess changes in species distribution within the current global change scenario."

###

Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres: http://www.helmholtz.de/en/index.html

Thanks to Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116717/Largest_bird_alters_its_foraging_due_to_climate_change

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Peru court sentences Van der Sloot to 28 years

Joran van der Sloot sits in the courtroom before his sentencing at San Pedro prison in Lima, Peru, Friday Jan. 13, 2012. Van der Sloot will be sentenced Friday for the 2010 murder of Stephany Flores, a young woman he met at a Lima casino. Prosecutors have asked for a 30-year sentence for first-degree murder and theft. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

Joran van der Sloot sits in the courtroom before his sentencing at San Pedro prison in Lima, Peru, Friday Jan. 13, 2012. Van der Sloot will be sentenced Friday for the 2010 murder of Stephany Flores, a young woman he met at a Lima casino. Prosecutors have asked for a 30-year sentence for first-degree murder and theft. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

Joran van der Sloot looks over his shoulder after entering the courtroom for his sentence at San Pedro prison in Lima, Peru, Friday Jan. 13, 2012. Van der Sloot will be sentenced Friday for the 2010 murder of Stephany Flores, a young woman he met at a Lima casino. Prosecutors have asked for a 30-year sentence for first-degree murder and theft. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

Joran van der Sloot arrives to the courtroom for his sentence at San Pedro prison in Lima, Peru, Friday Jan. 13, 2012. Van der Sloot will be sentenced Friday for the 2010 murder of Stephany Flores, a young woman he met at a Lima casino. Prosecutors have asked for a 30-year sentence for first-degree murder and theft. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

Joran van der Sloot, right, arrives to the courtroom for his sentence at San Pedro prison in Lima, Peru, Friday Jan. 13, 2012. Van der Sloot will be sentenced Friday for the 2010 murder of Stephany Flores, a young woman he met at a Lima casino. Prosecutors have asked for a 30-year sentence for first-degree murder and theft. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

Joran van der Sloot, left, sits in the courtroom at San Pedro prison in Lima, Peru, Friday Jan. 13, 2012. Van der Sloot will be sentenced Friday for the 2010 murder of Stephany Flores, a young woman he met at a Lima casino. Prosecutors have asked for a 30-year sentence for first-degree murder and theft. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

LIMA, Peru (AP) ? A Peruvian court on Friday sentenced Joran van der Sloot to 28 years in prison for murder of a young woman he met at a Lima casino, even as the family of U.S. teenager Natalee Holloway sought to have him prosecuted in the U.S. over her disappearance in 2005.

The decision comes two days after the young Dutchman pleaded guilty to killing Stephany Flores, a 21-year-old business student.

The court also ordered him to pay $75,000 in reparations to the victim's family, deeming the killing "cruel" and "ferocious."

Van der Sloot showed no emotion as the court clerk read the sentence, describing how he elbowed Flores in the face then beat and strangled her with his bloodied shirt. He told the court he reserves the right to appeal the conviction and sentence.

It is the first ever imposed on him, despite prosecutors' repeated efforts to prove he was involved in Holloway's apparent death on the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba.

The judges said that due to time already served, van der Sloot's sentence would end in June 2038. But under Peru's penal system, Van der Sloot could become eligible for parole after serving half of the sentence with good behavior, including work and study.

The prosecution had sought a 30-year sentence for first-degree murder and theft.

Van der Sloot's lawyer argued he killed Flores on May 30, 2010, in a fit of rage he blamed on psychological trauma from being hounded as the prime suspect in Holloway case.

The victim's father, Ricardo Flores, complained after the sentencing that Van der Sloot was living well in a Lima prison, where he has been set apart from the general population.

"A jail isn't a five-star hotel," Ricardo Flores told reporters. "Let's hope the authorities take that into account and not just in our case."

"Since the first day we've been complaining about the excessive privileges" that Van der Sloot allegedly enjoyed in jail. He said he would present evidence of that at a news conference on Monday.

Unconfirmed news reports, denied by penal authorities, say Van der Sloot has also had a television and video gaming console. As in many developing nations, foreigners with money can buy superior treatment in Peru's prisons.

The Holloway case remains open and a U.S. judge on Thursday declared her dead.

Her parents want Van der Sloot to eventually be extradited to the U.S. and tried on related charges. He has been indicted on extortion charges there for allegedly accepting $25,000 in return for a promise to lead a lawyer for Holloway's mother to her daughter's remains.

Van der Sloot didn't deliver on the offer, and may have used some of that money to fly to Peru two weeks before the Flores murder.

After killing the Lima woman, he took nearly $300 in cash from Flores as well as credit cards, and was captured four days later in Chile.

Van der Sloot told police he flew into a rage when she discovered his connection to Holloway via an instant message sent to him while they were playing online poker in his hotel room.

Police forensic experts disputed that story, and the three female judges who sentenced him noted that Van der Sloot later recanted the confession, claiming it was exacted under duress and without an official translator.

The victim's family contends Van der Sloot killed Flores in order to rob her.

The imposing young man raised on a tourist island has been a staple of tabloids and true crime TV, as well as the subject of several books about Natalee Holloway.

"We've been dealing with her death for the last six and a half years," her father, Dave Holloway, said after Thursday's hearing in Birmingham, Alabama.

He said the judge's order there on his daughter's death closes one chapter in the ordeal, but added: "We've still got a long way to go to get justice."

Natalee Holloway, an 18-year-old from the wealthy Birmingham suburb of Mountain Brook, disappeared on May 30, 2005, during a high school graduation trip to Aruba, where Van der Sloot grew up.

Her body was never found and repeated searches turned up nothing even as intense media coverage brought the case worldwide attention.

Van der Sloot said he was involved in her disappearance in a videotape clandestinely made by a Dutch journalist. He later denied it, however, and has told several interviewers that he is a pathological liar.

A homicide investigation into Holloway's death remains open in Aruba though there has been no recent activity, said Solicitor General Taco Stein, an official with the prosecutor's office in Aruba.

There is no indication U.S. officials have moved to seek to extradite Van der Sloot; Peru's Foreign Ministry said this week that it has no U.S. extradition request for him.

No members of Van der Sloot's family attended the trial in Peru. His lawyer said the defendant's mother, Anita, did not want the media attention.

The defendant's father, a prominent lawyer, died of a heart attack at age 57 in February 2010.

___

Associated Press Writers Martin Villena and Franklin Briceno contributed to this report.

___

Online:

AP interactive: http://hosted.ap.org/interactives/2012/natalee-holloway

___

Frank Bajak on Twitter: http://twitter.com/fbajak

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-13-LT-Peru-Van-der-Sloot/id-6fc9ad9dce1a4592bdbb0ba4aa03eb37

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Among Small-Business Advocates, Reaction to President's Plan Is ...

The Agenda

How small-business issues are shaping politics and policy.

Advocates for small business ? including those in Congress ? had near uniformly mixed reactions to President Obama?s proposal Friday to temporarily elevate the Small Business Administration to a cabinet agency but then fold the S.B.A. into a super trade and commerce department. Uniformly mixed in that most people The Agenda contacted praised the decision to make the S.B.A. part of the cabinet but expressed caution about the consolidation proposal.

The president called for merging the S.B.A. with the Commerce Department and four trade-related agencies into, as the president put it in a speech on Friday, ?one department, with one Web site, one phone number, one mission: helping American businesses succeed.? In a conference call with reporters, Jeff Zients, deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget, said the prospective new department would comprise four broad ?pillars.? Small business and economic development would be one of those pillars, and the S.B.A would be combined with economic development programs at other agencies into one of those mission areas. (The other pillars would be trade, technology and innovation, and statistics.)

As for concerns that the new agency might dilute the S.B.A.?s authority to speak for small business inside the government, Mr. Zients seemed to suggest that all American businesses might have to ally in a global economy. ?This integrated department will be about serving America?s businesses ? small, medium and large ? as they compete in the global marketplace,? he said.

Once the agencies are merged, Mr. Zients added, the S.B.A. would lose its seat at the president?s table. ?Once we have consolidation authority, once this specific proposal passes,? he said, ?we will have one integrated department that is led by a secretary who will be on top of all of the important assets and services that serve businesses.? The United States trade representative, whose office would be merged into the new department, would retain a separate cabinet position.

Leaders of the small-business committees in Congress said in separate statements that while they supported streamlining government, they would review the president?s plans carefully. ?The details will be critical,? said Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine, the top Republican on the Senate Small Business Committee. ?Of particular concern will be ensuring that entrepreneurs do not face new hurdles in obtaining assistance in starting, operating or expanding their small businesses ? whether accessing capital, pursuing exporting opportunities, or contracting with the federal government.?

Outside Congress, most small-business advocates treaded with similar care. ?On the one hand, reorganizing federal agencies to create a ?one-stop-shop? for America?s small businesses could streamline processes and make accessing information and assistance much easier,? Todd McCracken, chief executive of the National Small Business Association, said in a statement. ?On the other hand, such a reorganization could minimize the emphasis placed on small business by the federal government and lead to an even greater imbalance toward promoting the interests of large businesses over those of small business.?

John Arensmeyer, chief executive of the Small Business Majority, a group initially formed to back the administration?s health care reform, said: ?Right now small business has an independent agency that reflects its needs. The obvious concern is that by bringing this into larger agency there?s a risk that some of that voice gets lost. We know that government is held in very low esteem by small business, but the S.B.A. is an exception to that right now.?

There were some stronger views. For example, the American Small Business League, which protests the diversion of federal contracts for small business to large corporations, sided firmly with the other hand. ?This is not a move to save money,? said the league?s president, Lloyd Chapman, in a statement. ?This is a move to eliminate federal small-business contracting programs.?

But the head of one trade association for S.B.A.-backed lenders was optimistic. ?The lending policies and centralized loan operations of S.B.A. are among the more sophisticated in the federal government,? said Chris Crawford, president of the National Association of Development Companies, which represents lenders in the S.B.A.?s 504 loan program. In a reorganization, ?they become the model for the collapse of the far-flung bureaucracies into one unit called small-business lending ? worldwide. If anything, even in a larger reconstituted Commerce Department, access to credit for small businesses becomes a primary mission goal with much higher visibility.?

But opposition from the small-business constituency and its Congressional representatives, should it materialize, is only one obstacle for the administration to overcome ? many interests, and Congressional fiefdoms, are at stake. Just a few hours after the president spoke, Sen. Max Baucus, the Democratic chair of the Finance Committee, and Dave Camp, the Republican chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, jointly rejected any effort to relocate the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, an agency under their purview: ?Making it just another corner of a new bureaucratic behemoth would hurt American exports and hinder American job creation.?

And if the consolidation were to fail, those small-business advocates just might get the best of both worlds: an independent S.B.A. but with cabinet-level status.

Source: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/14/among-small-business-advocates-reaction-to-presidents-plan-is-mixed/

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Many Myanmar political prisoners to be freed: officials (Reuters)

YANGON (Reuters) ? Myanmar will free many prominent political activists on Friday in an amnesty for 651 inmates, prison officials said, as one of the world's most reclusive states continues to open up after half a century of authoritarian rule.

The United States and Europe have said freeing political prisoners is crucial to even considering lifting economic sanctions that have isolated the former British colony, also known as Burma, and, over the years, pushed it closer to China.

Among those to be freed are Min Ko Naing, a leader of a pro-democracy uprising in 1988 in which thousands of protesters were killed, and Shin Gambira, a well-known Buddhist monk who led 2007 street protests, prison officials said.

Family members and prison officials said many more political activists, including other members of the dissident "88 Generation Students Group," would be released in the second major prison amnesty in four months.

Secluded Myanmar has initiated radical reforms since a civilian government was allowed to take power in March after almost half a century of rule by the military.

Media curbs have been eased, some prisoners freed and the government has initiated a dialogue with Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has led the fight for democracy and was herself released from years of house arrest in late 2010.

Last month, Hillary Clinton became the first U.S. secretary of state to visit Myanmar in more than 50 years and said Washington stood ready to support reforms in the country and possibly lift sanctions.

The next major step in the reform process will be April by-elections in which Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) will take part.

Authorities freed about 230 political detainees in a general amnesty on October 12. A senior political adviser to President Thein Sein told Reuters in November that hundreds of political detainees may soon be released.

UNCERTAIN NUMBERS

In Friday's amnesty, Min Ko Naing will be freed from Thayet Prison, a prison official and a member of his family told Reuters.

A top leader of the 1988 protests that the military crushed with heavy loss of life, he was arrested in 1989, released in 2004, and then arrested again in 2007 on charges of organizing protests.

Shin Gambira was a leader of the All-Burmese Monks Alliance, which played a prominent role in street marches in 2007 that were again violently suppressed by the junta. He was 27 years old when he was sentenced in 2007 to 68 years in prison.

"Shin Gambira will be freed later today," said a prison official in Myaungmya prison, southwest of the commercial capital, Yangon.

An official from Taunggyi prison in Shan State said two other prominent activists, Ko Jimmy and Ko Zaw Thet Htwe, would be freed there.

"We are going to take them to the bus terminal later this morning," the official said.

Phyo Min Thein, brother-in-law of Htay Kywe, one of the leaders of the "88 Generation Students Group," said: "I've got confirmation that Ko Htay Kywe and almost all members of the 88 Group and other prominent figures like Shin Gambira and U Khun Tun Oo will be released today."

The exact number of political prisoners behind bars is unclear.

Rights groups and the United Nations have put it at about 2,100. But Minister for Home Affairs Lieutenant General Ko Ko told U.N. Special Rapporteur Tom?s Ojea Quintana in August the number was 600, or about 400 after the October 12 amnesty.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), a group that tracks prisoners, had identified more than 1,000 "political prisoners." But diplomats and some independent analysts question those numbers and say they depend on different definitions of political prisoners and whether rebels or those who used force to oppose the government are included.

A review of the AAPP's list of prisoners by European diplomatic missions in Thailand suggested the number of non-combatant "prisoners of conscience" appeared to be about 600, or about 800 before October's amnesty.

Rights group Amnesty International has dropped an earlier estimate of about 2,000 political prisoners due to the conflicting definitions.

(Reporting by Aung Hla Tun; Writing by Jason Szep; Editing by Alan Raybould and Robert Birsel)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120113/wl_nm/us_myanmar_amnesty

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How the brain routes traffic for maximum alertness

ScienceDaily (Jan. 12, 2012) ? A new UC Davis study shows how the brain reconfigures its connections to minimize distractions and take best advantage of our knowledge of situations.

"In order to behave efficiently, you want to process relevant sensory information as fast as possible, but relevance is determined by your current situation," said Joy Geng, assistant professor of psychology at the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain.

For example, a flashing road sign alerts us to traffic merging ahead; or a startled animal might cue you to look out for a hidden predator.

When concentrating on a specific task, it's helpful to reconfigure brain networks so that task-relevant information is processed most efficiently and external distractions are reduced, Geng found.

Geng and co-author Nicholas DiQuattro, a graduate student in psychology, used functional magnetic resonance imaging to study brain activity in volunteers carrying out a simple test. They compared their results to mathematical models to infer connectivity between different areas of the brain. The study appeared in the Dec. 7 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

The subjects had to look for a letter "T" in a box and indicate which way it faced by pressing a button. They were also presented with a "distractor": another letter T in a box, but rotated 90 degrees.

The distractor was either similar in appearance to the target, or brightened to be more attention-getting.

Subjects did better in trials with an "attention-getting" distractor than a less obvious one, and lit up specific areas of the brain accordingly.

The new work shows that the brain doesn't always "ramp up" to deal with the situation at hand, Geng said. Instead, it changes how traffic moves through the existing hard-wired network -- rather like changing water flow through a network of pipes or information flow over a computer network -- in order to maximize efficiency.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Davis.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. N. E. DiQuattro, J. J. Geng. Contextual Knowledge Configures Attentional Control Networks. Journal of Neuroscience, 2011; 31 (49): 18026 DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4040-11.2011

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120112142259.htm

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Video: Secrets in a Small Town, Part 5

Dateline NBC

'Dateline NBC,' the signature broadcast for NBC News in primetime, premiered in 1992. Since then, it has been pioneering a new approach to primetime news programming. The multi-night franchise, supplemented by frequent specials, allows NBC to consistently and comprehensively present the highest-quality reporting, investigative features, breaking news coverage and newsmaker profiles.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032600/vp/45903962#45903962

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