Nestle, the world’s biggest food group, has reported rising sales but says it is having a “challenging year”.
The Swiss company said its sales in the first three months of 2012 were 21.4 billion Swiss francs ($23.4 billion), up 5.6% from the same period last year.
The group behind KitKat and Nespresso said that the trading environment had been subdued in many developed markets.
But it added that in most emerging markets “conditions remain dynamic and rich in growth opportunities”.
Nestle, the world's biggest food group has reported rising sales but says it is having a "challenging year"
Nestle struggled in 2011 with the strength of the Swiss franc, which cut its earnings by 13.4% in the full year.
But in the past six months the Swiss central bank has been intervening to weaken its currency and support the country’s exporters.
Nestle said an expected “improved raw material environment” in the second half of the year together with rising prices meant it could maintain its forecast of improved earnings and profit margins for the full year.
It did not comment on the deal it is expected to finalize this month to buy Pfizer’s infant nutrition business for about $9 billion.
Researchers from UK Medical Research Council’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology have succeeded in mimicking the chemistry of life in synthetic versions of DNA and RNA molecules.
The work shows that DNA and its chemical cousin RNA are not unique in their ability to encode information and to pass it on through heredity.
The work, reported in Science, is promising for future “synthetic biology” and biotechnology efforts.
It also hints at the idea that if life exists elsewhere, it could be bound by evolution but not by similar chemistry.
In fact, one reason to mimic the functions of DNA and RNA – which helps cells to manufacture proteins – is to determine how they came about at the dawn of life on Earth; many scientists believe that RNA arose first but was preceded by a simpler molecule that performed the same function.
However, it has remained unclear if any other molecule can participate in the same unzipping and copying processes that give DNA and RNA their ability to pass on the information they carry in the sequences of their nucleobases – the five letters from which the genetic code is written.
The classic double-helix structure of DNA is like a twisted ladder, where the steps are made from paired nucleobases (RNA is typically a single helix).
Researchers have succeeded in mimicking the chemistry of life in synthetic versions of DNA and RNA molecules
Philipp Holliger and a team of colleagues created six different DNA- and RNA-like molecules – xeno-nucleic acids, or XNAs – by replacing not the nucleobases but the sugar groups that make up the sides of the ladder.
“There’s a lot of chemistry that seeks to build alternative nucleic acids, and people have been modifying the bases, the sugars and the backbone, but what we were focusing on was the type of nucleic acid or polymers that would retain the ability to communicate with the natural DNA,” Dr. Philipp Holliger explained in an interview for the Science podcast.
Because the nucleobases themselves were the same as those of DNA and RNA, the resulting molecules were able to join with their natural counterparts.
The effect is similar to work recently published in Nature Chemistry, showing that another sugar-substituted DNA analogue could be made to pair up with DNA itself.
But the crucial point in creating a full “synthetic genetics” is a set of nucleic acids like DNA and RNA that can not only carry genetic information, but would also allow it to be changed and passed on – evolution and heredity.
That requires a set of helper molecules called polymerases, which, once DNA or RNA “unzip” and expose their genetic information, help create new DNA molecules from those instructions.
Dr. Philipp Holliger and his colleagues have developed polymerases that efficiently transcribe the code of their synthetic DNA to natural DNA and then from that back to another synthetic DNA.
The process of evolution was encouraged in the lab; one of their DNA analogues was designed to cling to a particular protein or RNA target, those that failed to do so were washed away.
As successive copies of those that stuck were made, variations in the genetic code – and the resulting structure the molecules took on – led to ever more tightly attached XNAs.
“We’ve been able to show that both heredity – information storage and propagation – and evolution, which are really two hallmarks of life, can be reproduced and implemented in alternative polymers other than DNA and RNA,” Dr. Philipp Holliger explained.
“There is nothing <<Goldilocks>> about DNA and RNA – there is no overwhelming functional imperative for genetic systems or biology to be based on these two nucleic acids.”
In an accompanying article in Science, Gerald Joyce of the Scripps Research Institute wrote that “the work heralds the era of synthetic genetics, with implications for exobiology [life elsewhere in the Universe], biotechnology, and understanding of life itself”.
But the work does not yet represent a full synthetic genetics platform, he pointed out. For that, a self-replicating system that does not require the DNA intermediary must be developed.
With that in hand, “construction of genetic systems based on alternative chemical platforms may ultimately lead to the synthesis of novel forms of life”.
The suspicious death of Mary Pinchot Meyer, one of President John F. Kennedy’s mistresses, just months after his death, has sparked numerous conspiracy theories.
A new book claims that socialite Mary Pinchot Meyer, a beautiful divorcee who was close friends with the Kennedys and is widely known for having a lengthy affair with the playboy President, was shot in a cover-up operation by the CIA.
Mary’s Mosaic: The CIA Conspiracy to Murder John F. Kennedy. Mary Pinchot Meyer, and Their Vision of World Peace by Peter Janney alleges that, in her preoccupation with her lover’s assassination and ensuing personal investigation, Mary Pinchot Meyer may have gotten so close to the “truth” that the CIA found her to be a threat.
As a result, CIA operatives staged a shooting to make it look like Mary Pinchot Meyer died due to a sexual assault that turned violent.
Whether or not the theory is true, there are a number of questionable components to the story of the months leading up to Mary Pinchot Meyer’s death on October 12, 1964.
Mary's Mosaic: The CIA Conspiracy to Murder John F. Kennedy. Mary Pinchot Meyer, and Their Vision of World Peace by Peter Janney
Her ex-husband, Cord Meyer, was a CIA agent himself and the couple were card-carrying members of Georgetown’s starry social set, which included then-Senator John F. Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline.
The couples became close friends, along with Mary Pinchot Meyer’s sister Antoinette (who went by Tony) and her husband Ben Bradlee, who was a bureau chief for Newsweek but later went on to be the managing editor of The Washington Post.
Another couple that they spent time with was Mary Pinchot Meyer’s Vassar classmate Cicely d’Autremont and her husband James Angleton, who was the chief of the counter surveillance for the CIA.
Mary Pinchot Meyer, widely known for having a lengthy affair with JFK, was shot in a cover-up operation by the CIA
In the book, the author claims that Mary Pinchot Meyer would often bring marijuana and LSD to her trysts with the President.
During their conversations while on these hallucinogens, Mary Pinchot Meyer reportedly tried to appeal to JFK’s pacifist nature and urged him to seek peaceful solutions to such worldwide crises like the Cold War and the Cuban missile crisis.
At the time, LSD was not illegal, and many, including Harvard professor Timothy Leary, advocated its use because they believed it helped people expand their knowledge base.
Peter Janney’s book is not the first to draw conclusions between Mary Pinchot Meyer’s friendship with Timothy Leary and her intentions with her relationship with JFK.
He goes on to say that Mary Pinchot Meyer was later murdered by the CIA, who he believes organized JFK’s assassination in an effort to stop him from preventing violent escalation that they wanted in the Cold War.
Though The Huffington Post thought that the book rested largely on substantial assumptions, these theories have been in existence for some time.
One question lies in the existence- and retrieval- of Mary Pinchot Meyer’s diary that included writings about her affair with JFK.
Within a day of her murder, Ben Bradlee went over to her home to find the diary and, though the door was locked, he found James Angleton.
The CIA spymaster said that he also was looking for the diary but claimed that it was because his wife – Mary Pinchot Meyer’s friend – had asked him to.
The whereabouts of the diary today are uncertain.
Another clue erring on the side of the conspiracy is that while Mary Pinchot Meyer’s ex-husband included a statement of support for the police investigation of her murder, his assistant supposedly said that it was a lie and he did truly believe it to be a standard “in house rub out”.
In an interview shortly before his death in 2001, Cord Meyer said that “the same sons of b****es that killed John F. Kennedy” killed his ex-wife.
Police arrested Robert Crump, a man who was found near the scene of the crime, but had no connection to the murder weapon, which was never found, or any prior history with Cord Meyer.
According to a senior Chinese journalist, police knew British businessman Neil Heywood had been murdered in Chongqing last November and that a cover-up began immediately.
Police panicked when they realized the case could be linked to top politician Bo Xilai and his wife, Gu Kailai.
It was only this month that authorities named Gu Kailai as a suspect and promised an investigation.
Bo Xilai has been sacked, amid China’s biggest political scandal in decades.
Neil Heywood was found dead in a hotel in Chongqing on 15 November 2011. Local officials initially said he died of excessive drinking.
Chinese police panicked when they realized Neil Heywood case could be linked to top politician Bo Xilai
Police who arrived at the hotel immediately knew he was killed, and panicked after they realized the case was linked to Bo Xilai, said the journalist.
Three of the investigators asked to resign out of fear. It was at this point that ex-police chief Wang Lijun became involved, the source said.
In January, Wang Lijun told his boss Bo Xilai about the case. He was sacked and subsequently sought refuge at the American consulate in Chengdu, where he reportedly told US officials about the murder and sought to defect.
That sparked the biggest political scandal in China in years, ahead of a leadership change in Beijing due to get under way in October.
State media have reported that Gu Kailai and Zhang Xiaojun, an orderly at Bo Xilai’s home, have been arrested. Bo Xilai is also under investigation for ”serious discipline violations”.
American company Princess Cruises says it deeply regrets that one of its ships failed to stop to help a fishing boat adrift in the Pacific Ocean.
Two of the three Panamanians on board the disabled vessel later died.
Princess Cruises said that although passengers on the cruise ship had spotted the castaways and alerted staff, the captain had not been told.
The one surviving fisherman – Adrian Vasquez, 18 – was later rescued after 28 days at sea.
Adrian Vasquez had reported that – after 16 days adrift – he and his companions saw a cruise ship sailing past, despite desperate attempts to flag it down.
Three birdwatchers on board the cruise ship – the Star Princess – said they had spotted the fishermen waving for help and told ship staff, but had been unable to persuade them to change course.
Princess Cruises says it deeply regrets that Star Princess ship failed to stop to help a fishing boat adrift in the Pacific Ocean
In a statement, Princess Cruises said a preliminary investigation had found that there appeared to have been a “breakdown in communication” in relaying the passengers’ concern.
It said Captain Edward Perrin and the officer of the watch were not notified.
“Understandably, Captain Perrin is devastated that he is being accused of knowingly turning his back on people in distress,” the statement said.
“Had the captain received this information, he would have had the opportunity to respond.”
Princess Cruises added that it understood its responsibility under the law of the sea to help any vessel in distress, and said its ships had been involved in more than 30 rescues over the past decade.
It said the investigation was continuing.
Adrian Vasquez was eventually rescued 1,000 km (620 miles) off the mainland, near the Galapagos Islands.
He said he survived after his friends died thanks to a sudden rainstorm that replenished his drinking water supplies.
Adrian Vasquez told the Associated Press he still felt anger at the ship he saw sail past two weeks before his rescue.
The notoriously dry continent of Africa is sitting on a vast reservoir of groundwater, say scientists who have mapped in detail the amount and potential yield of this groundwater resource across the continent.
They argue that the total volume of water in aquifers underground is 100 times the amount found on the surface.
The team have produced the most detailed map yet of the scale and potential of this hidden resource.
Writing in the journal Environmental Research Letters, they stress that large scale drilling might not be the best way of increasing water supplies.
Across Africa more than 300 million people are said not to have access to safe drinking water.
Demand for water is set to grow markedly in coming decades due to population growth and the need for irrigation to grow crops.
Freshwater rivers and lakes are subject to seasonal floods and droughts that can limit their availability for people and for agriculture. At present only 5% of arable land is irrigated.
Now scientists have for the first time been able to carry out a continent-wide analysis of the water that is hidden under the surface in aquifers. Researchers from the British Geological Survey (BGS) and University College London (UCL) have mapped in detail the amount and potential yield of this groundwater resource across the continent.
Scientists have mapped in detail the amount and potential yield of this groundwater resource across Africa
Helen Bonsor is from the BGS is one of the authors of the paper. She says that up until now groundwater was out of sight and out of mind. She hopes the new maps will open people’s eyes to the potential.
“Where there’s greatest ground water storage is in northern Africa, in the large sedimentary basins, in Libya, Algeria and Chad,” she said.
“The amount of storage in those basins is equivalent to 75 m thickness of water across that area – it’s a huge amount.”
Due to changes in climate that have turned the Sahara into a desert over centuries many of the aquifers underneath were last filled with water over 5,000 years ago.
The scientists collated their information from existing hydro-geological maps from national governments as well as 283 aquifer studies.
The researchers say their new maps indicate that many countries currently designated as “water scarce” have substantial groundwater reserves.
However, the scientists are cautious about the best way of accessing these hidden resources. They suggest that widespread drilling of large boreholes might not work.
Dr. Alan MacDonald, lead author of the study, said: “High yielding boreholes should not be developed without a thorough understanding of the local groundwater conditions.
“Appropriately sited and developed boreholes for low yielding rural water supply and hand pumps are likely to be successful.”
With many aquifers not being filled due to a lack of rain, the scientists are worried that large-scale borehole developments could rapidly deplete the resource.
According to Helen Bonsor, sometimes the slower means of extraction can be more efficient.
“Much lower storage aquifers are present across much of sub-Saharan Africa,” she explained.
“However, our work shows that with careful exploring and construction, there is sufficient groundwater under Africa to support low yielding water supplies for drinking and community irrigation.”
The scientists say that there are sufficient reserves to be able to cope with the vagaries of climate change.
“Even in the lowest storage aquifers in semi arid areas with currently very little rainfall, ground water is indicated to have a residence time in the ground of 20 to 70 years.” Dr. Helen Bonsor said.
“So at present extraction rates for drinking and small scale irrigation for agriculture groundwater will provide and will continue to provide a buffer to climate variability.”
Intel confirms details of the first smartphone to be powered by one of its processors.
The XOLO X900, made by the Indian manufacturer Lava, will go on sale on 23 April priced at about 22,000 rupees ($420).
Lava has teamed up with Indian retail chain Croma to distribute the device across the country.
The move follows Intel’s previous failed attempt to break into the smartphone market.
A tie-up with manufacturer LG in 2010 fell flat, with no models going into production.
Meanwhile, chips designed by British-based ARM and the American firm Qualcomm now dominate the market.
XOLO X900, made by the Indian manufacturer Lava, will go on sale on 23 April priced at about 22,000 rupees ($420)
Details of Intel-powered smartphones made by Motorola Mobility and Lenovo are expected soon.
The chip maker announced the partnerships at the Consumer Electronics Show in Barcelona in January.
Intel’s tie-up with Motorola Mobility is seen as most significant as the company is in the process of being purchased by Google.
The Atom-based chip promises more efficient battery consumption, as well as Intel’s own “hyper threading technology” allowing for enhanced multi-tasking.
The XOLO X900 – which features an 8-megapixel camera – will run initially on Android Gingerbread, Google’s smartphone operating system.
This will later be upgraded, Intel said, to the next incarnation of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich.
Lava has emerged as one of India’s fastest-growing companies since being founded two-and-a-half years ago.
“After our success in feature phones, with over 10 million happy customers in under three years, XOLO will be a differentiated player in the fast-growing smartphone segment,” Lava’s co-founder and director Vishal Sehgal said in a statement.
Titanic Memorial Cruise is finished as Balmoral ship has arrived in New York, after completing its journey to mark the centenary of the Titanic disaster.
The ship left Southampton on 8 April, and traced the route of Titanic’s tragic maiden voyage.
The MS Balmoral held a ceremony above the wreck on 15 April, exactly 100 years after the Titanic sank.
Many of those on board the memorial cruise had connections to the 1,500 people who lost their lives on Titanic.
Paying passengers from 28 countries had booked tickets for the cruise, many years in advance.
Balmoral cruise ship has arrived in New York after completing its journey to mark the centenary of the Titanic disaster
The organizers had tried to recreate many aspects of the famous ship’s original journey.
This included a stop at the Irish port of Cobh, which was known as Queenstown when Titanic called there in April 1912.
Some of the passengers dressed up in period costume during their 12-day journey, and the MS Balmoral’s menu included dishes inspired by those served on board the Titanic
David Merkur, an investment banker from New York and member of Match.com, has used a spreadsheet to make sure he was able to distinguish between each of the eight women he was dating.
David Merkur, 28, used the Microsoft Excel tool to record details of each of the women’s characteristics as well as progress reports on how his dates with them went.
He told Jezebel.com he emailed the spreadsheet to Arielle, a woman he had dated, after their April 4 meeting because she “worked with spreadsheets a lot too”. Arielle then forwarded the document to a group of her friends two days later which helped turn the document viral.
David Merkur, who works for real-estate finance firm Ladder Capital, wrote to Arielle: “Well, this could be a mistake, but what the hell… figured I might as well give you the whole thing. I hope this email doesn’t backfire, because I really had a great time and hope to hang again soon :)”
Perhaps most concerning was that David Merkur passed on the information without removing the girls’ telephone numbers, email addresses, full names or details about their dates, such as how he scored their appearances.
Arielle then emailed her friends: “Wanted to pass this on to you for some monday morning entertainment. I went on a date with this guy last wednesday.
“On the date, he tells me that he has a spreadsheet for tracking all of the people from Match that are <<in process>>. Naturally, I tease him and ask him to send me the spreadsheet. For some strange reason, he actually does. See below/attached. Just when I thought I had seen it all…”
The spreadsheet was split into various categories including “Monitor closely” and “Monitor casually” columns. It detailed sent text messages and email exchanges as well as the venues in which Dave and his date met.
The document detailed his thoughts on the women’s physical appearances, giving each a score out of ten, with some being awarded a 7.0 or 7.5 for their “mixed bag of pictures” on the website.
David Merkur has used a spreadsheet to make sure he was able to distinguish between each of the eight women he was dating
Arranged in alphabetical order, Arielle, the woman he sent the email to, is top of the list. Not concerned with playing it cool, he failed to remove his thoughts on her including: “Hope to see again soon.”
But judging by her message as she forwarded the spreadsheet to her friends, it now seems unlikely.
And even though David Merkur hoped to see her again, he did not think to remove flattering details about his other dates including top scores for appearances, and the fact he’d “hooked up” with one of the girls at a party.
One entry read: “OK girl, but very jappy”, a slang word for “Jewish American princess”.
And for a man who treats women so well David Merkur deems it appropriate to make a spreadsheet just to remember their names, home towns and first dates, it is perhaps unsurprising that he wrote how one stood him up, claiming a friend was in hospital.
In a second page, David Merkur lists the women he has met through friends, rather than the dating website. With these women, he had the forethought to remove their identities.
David Merkur added in the email to Arielle: “I only deleted the non-match people’s names (at the bottom) since some I’ve known for a long time.”
He told Jezebel.com he now regrets making the spreadsheet, labeling it “an extraordinarily dumb decision”.
David Merkur then explained his thought process.
He said: “I work with spreadsheets a lot… it’s a great additional tool. I work long days, go to the gym, go out on a couple of midweek dates or what not, get home late… how am I going to remember them? I’m not.
“So I made the spreadsheet. My comments aren’t malicious or mean. This was an honest attempt to stay organized.”
David Merkur told The New York Post that he was sorry for making the document.
“I sincerely regret my serious lapse in judgment in this matter and apologise to everyone,” he said.
“I am deeply remorseful.”
Jezebel.com also spoke to the woman who had been described as “jappy”.
She said he was “fidgety” when the pair met, adding: “He got up to readjust himself a few times in the middle of our conversation, which was bizarre. He kept taking his glasses off and then putting them on again.”
In reference to the tag, she said she thought it was funny he had called her that, despite being shocked he had kept a spreadsheet in the first place.
She recalled David Merkur correctly identifying her designer handbag during their date, which probably led to the tag.
“He said his mom had it,” she said.
Speaking with the Post, David Merkur added: “Suffice it to say, I will never do anything like this again.”
A British study of mobile phone calls suggests that women call their spouse more than any other person.
The situation changes as their daughters become old enough to have children, after which they become the most important person in their lives.
The study has been published in the journal Scientific Reports.
It also shows that men call their spouse most often for the first seven years of their relationship. They then shift their focus to other friends.
The results come from an analysis of the texts of mobile phone calls of three million people.
According to the study’s co-author, Professor Robin Dunbar of Oxford University, UK, the investigation shows that pair-bonding is much more important to women than men.
“It’s the first really strong evidence that romantic relationships are driven by women,” Prof. Robin Dunbar.
“It’s they who make the decision and once they have made their mind up, they just go for the poor bloke until he keels over and gives in!”
The study of mobile phone calls suggests that women call their spouse more than any other person
But the data shows that women start to switch the preference of their best friend from about the mid-30s, and by the age of 45 a woman of a generation younger becomes the “new best friend”, according to Prof. Robin Dunbar.
“What seems to happen is that women push the <<old man>> out to become their second best friend, and he gets called much less often and all her attention is focused on her daughters just at the point at which you are likely to see grandchildren arriving,” he says.
Prof. Robin Dunbar also claims that the findings suggest that human societies are moving away from a patriarchy back to a matriarchy.
The aim of the project was to find out how close, intimate relationships vary over a lifetime.
This kind of anthropological study is normally very difficult to do because it is hard for researchers to get such a big picture of people’s lives.
But by looking at an at an extremely large mobile phone database, they were able to track these changes extremely accurately.
They had access to the age and sex of the callers, who between them made three billion calls and half a billion texts over a period of seven months.
The team wanted to find out how the gender preference of best friends, as defined by the frequency of the calling, changed over the course of a lifetime and differed between men and women.
They found that men tend to choose a woman the same age as themselves – which the researchers presumed to be their girlfriend or wife – as a best friend much later in life than women do, and for a much shorter time. This occurs when they are in their early-30s, possibly during courtship, and stops after seven years or so.
Women, however, choose a man of a similar age to be their best friend from the age of 20. He remains for about 15 years, after which time he’s replaced by a daughter.
The researchers say that a woman’s social world is intensely focused on one individual and will shift as a result of reproductive interests from being the mate to children and grandchildren.
According to Prof. Robin Dunbar, the data suggests that “at root the important relationships are those between women and not those between men”.
“Men’s relationships are too casual. They often function at a high level in a political sense, of course; but at the end of the day, the structure of society is driven by women, which is exactly what we see in primates,” he explains.
Many anthropologists argue that most human societies are patriarchal on the basis that in most communities men stay where they are born whereas the wives move.
But Prof. Robin Dunbar and his colleagues are arguing that this only occurs in agriculturally based societies.
“If you look at hunter-gatherers and you look at modern humans in modern post-industrial societies, we are much more matriarchal. It’s almost as if the pendulum between the two sexes, power-wise, is swinging (back) as we move away from agriculture toward a knowledge-based economy,” he says.
Anne Hathaway has been on a strict diet in a bit to lose weight to play the role of dying prostitute Fantine in the movie adaptation of Les Miserables.
Anne Hathaway, 29, displayed the results of the regime, which saw her consuming just 500 calories a day – significantly less than the recommended daily allowance of 2,000 calories a day – as she shot scenes for the movie alongside Hugh Jackman in London.
The actress was seen wearing a pale lilac short-sleeved dress as she shot the scenes on the balcony location, standing next to Hugh Jackman – who sported unruly grey hair for his part.
Anne Hathaway’ once-lustrous long brown hair had also been replaced by a blunt crop, necessary for the role of the hungry, dying prostitute.
It is believed that Anne Hathaway has lost around 16 lbs in just three weeks in preparation for the beginning of shooting.
Anne Hathaway displayed the results of the regime, which saw her consuming just 500 calories a day, as she shot scenes for Les Miserables alongside Hugh Jackman
A source told the Daily Mirror earlier this month: “Anne is playing a destitute factory worker-come-lady of the night.
“Unfortunately, she only has 15 to 20 days to lose as much weight as possible – up to a stone-and-a-half – because she’s been filming the scenes showing her fit and healthy, almost slightly chubby.
“It’s not ideal but, as with any high-budget movie, there are strict time constraints.
“Producers have assigned her a personal trainer and she is literally eating nothing more than a couple of apples a day, and some protein – mainly in the form of a shake.”
However, producers are said to be making sure doctors keep a close eye on the actress during the short-term diet.
Meanwhile, in the movie Hugh Jackman is playing Jean Valjean, a poor man on the run from the police after he was released from prison after a 19 year stretch for stealing bread for his family.
The character is being pursued by Russell Crowe’s Inspector Javert, who released Valjean on parole, but then later decided to dedicate his life to imprisoning him again.
The film also stars Irish tenor Colm Wilkinson, who appears as the Bishop of Digne and was the original Jean Valjean in the West End and Broadway musical productions.
And it has quite the stellar cast as well as Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe, with Eddie Redmayne as Marius Pontmercy, Amanda Seyfried as Cosette, Sacha Baron Cohen as Thénardier, and Helena Bonham Carter as Madame Thénardier.
Unveiled this week at the NAB 2012, Blackmagic Cinema Camera is one of the five winners of the inaugural IABM Game-Changer Awards.
The International Association of Broadcasting Manufacturers (IABM) has established five awards to reward five products considered to have the greatest potential to revolutionize the industry. A group of experts from across the world, none of them IABM member, has reviewed products and solutions during the first two days of the NAB 2012 and has chosen the winners. NAB 2012 (National Association of Broadcasters convention) has taken place from April 14 to April 19, 2012 in Las Vegas.
This is the first year when the awards are granted and the winners are: Blackmagic Design – Cinema Camera, CAST Group – BlackTrax 6D, Dolby Laboratories – 3D, Quantel – revolutionQ, and Sony – HDC-2500.
“Once again, the 2012 NAB Show has proved to be a critical event for the launch of innovative broadcast products and solutions. Our judging panel had an exciting field from which to select winners for the IABM Game-Changer Awards, and we are confident that the products and companies we’ve honored today will be among those that fuel the continued success of our industry,” said Peter White, IABM General Director.
Blackmagic Cinema Camera promises high-quality at an attainable cost for commercials, independent film, TV production.
“This is one of the most exciting products we have ever created and its been a work in progress for a very long time. Ever since I was a telecine engineer back in the 1990′s I have wished that video cameras would include features that allowed them to perform creatively similar to film. However current digital cameras are too heavy, way too expensive and need costly accessories to work. We felt there was a need for a camera that delivered these features in a design that’s optimized for professional video shoots, as well as being a compact, elegant design that’s easily affordable. We think we have achieved that!” said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design.
Blackmagic Cinema Camera promises high-quality at an attainable cost.
Blackmagic Cinema Camera Key Features
High resolution 2.5K sensor allows improved anti aliasing and re-framing shots.
Super wide 13 stops of dynamic range allows capture of increased details for feature film look.
Built in SSD allows high bandwidth recording of RAW video and long duration compressed video.
Open file formats compatible with popular NLE software such as CinemaDNG 12 bit RAW, Apple ProRes and Avid DNxHD. No custom file formats.
Includes no custom connections. Standard jack mic/line audio in, BNC 3 Gb/s SDI out, headphone, high-speed Thunderbolt I/O technology, LANC remote control and standard DC 12-30V power connection.
Capacitive touch screen LCD for camera settings and “slate” metadata entry.
Compatible with extremely high quality Canon EF and Zeiss ZF lenses.
Supports 2.5K and 1080HD resolution capture in 24, 25, 29.97 and 30 fps.
Thunderbolt connection allows direct camera capture via included Media Express software and supports live waveform monitoring via the included Blackmagic UltraScope software.
Includes a full copy of DaVinci Resolve 9.0 color grading software.
Blackmagic Cinema Camera will be available from July 2012 for US$2,995 from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide.
The treatment of advanced Parkinson’s disease may be improved by a gel form of two common Parkinson’s medicines, levodopa-carbidopa, delivered through a tube inserted into the small intestine.
The study will be presented on April 25 as part of the Emerging Science program (formerly known as Late-Breaking Science) at the American Academy of Neurology’s 64th Annual Meeting in New Orleans April 21 to April 28, 2012.
The phase three randomized, double-blind, double-dummy clinical trial, showed that a levodopa-carbidopa intestinal gel (LCIG) (Duodopa, Abbott) had better results than levodopa-carbidopa immediate-release (IR) tablets. The study was supported by Abbott Laboratories, the company developing the new intestinal gel.
Parkinson’s disease is a brain degenerative disorder that affects around one million persons in the United States.
Most cases appear after the age of 50 and the symptoms include shaking, rigidity, slowness of movement and difficulty with walking in the early stages. In the advanced stages cognitive and behavioral problems may appear, including dementia. Other symptoms include sensory, sleep and emotional problems. Dopaminergic cells, brain cells that produce dopamine, a substance involved in controlling muscle movement, are slowly destroyed, and dopamine level drops dramatically.
Levodopa-Carbidopa Intestinal Gel showed promising results in reducing "off-time" periods in Parkinson's disease.
Pills with levodopa-carbidopa, or dopaminergic medications, are used to replace dopamine. After a period of time, a substantial number of patients develop fluctuations in the response to dopaminergic medications. This will lead to shorter intervals during which symptoms remain adequately controlled, the effects of medication will start to “wear off‘ in between medication doses. Side effects include spontaneous and involuntary movements (dyskinesias) or “off” times. “Off-time” refers to periods of the day when the medication is not working well, causing worsening of Parkinson’s disease symptoms.
The study found that the continuous LCIG reduced “off-time” by an average of nearly two extra hours per day and improved “on-time” without troublesome movements by an average of two hours per day compared to people taking standard levodopa-carbidopa.
“Pills have a shorter half-life, but delivering the medication via gel allows for more continuous delivery and repairs the brain levels in a more normal way. “Off” time was reduced because the infusion of LCIG helps to deliver levodopa-carbidopa continuously, thereby avoiding the fluctuating levels that occur with standard oral levodopa-carbidopa therapy and that are thought to contribute to the development of wearing off,” said study author, Dr. C. Warren Olanow, Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.
In the three-month double-blind trial, 71 patients were randomized to receive either the continuous infusion of LCIG and placebo pills or a placebo intestinal gel and pills that contained levodopa and carbidopa. At the start of the study, the average person had Parkinson’s disease for about 11 years and experienced 6.6 hours of “off-time” per day. A total of 93 percent of participants completed the study. The intestinal gel was infused through a portable pump connected to a tube implanted into the intestine (intrajejunal), similar to a feeding tube.
“It’s very similar to a feeding tube. The portable pump connected to the tube is discreet. It’s not like you’re running around with a big machine attached to you,” said Dr. C. Warren Olanow.
The results showed the intestinal gel offered significant improvements. Mean “off-time” decreased by 4.0 hours per day in patients receiving LCIG, an average of 1.91 fewer hours compared with the time in those taking the levodopa tablets. As well, mean “on-time” improved by 4.1 hours with LCIG, an average of 1.86 more hours compared with the time for the tablets. There was no significant change in “on-time” time with troublesome dyskinesia.
“Less “off-time” for people with Parkinson’s means more time during the day in which they can enjoy the benefits of levodopa-carbidopa therapy and experience improved quality of life,” said Dr. C. Warren Olanow.
The most common side effects associated with LCIG treatment involved complications due to inserting the device, abdominal pain, pain during the procedure and nausea.
Adverse events occurred in 35 (95%) patients receiving LCIG compared with 34 (100%) in the placebo group. The most common events were complications of device insertion (51%), abdominal pain (42%), procedural pain (32%), and nausea (25%). Other side effects included constipation (21%), orthostatic hypotension (18%), postoperative wound infection (17%), and incision site erythema (16%).
Treatment-related serious adverse events were reported in 5 patients (14%) in the LCIG group and in 7 patients (21%) in the levodopa-carbidopa IR tablets group.
Using LCIG procedure may avoid the need for brain surgery.
“We believe that benefits observed with this method of treatment compare favorably with other methods for treatment, such as deep brain stimulation, and avoid the need for an intracranial neurosurgical procedure,” said Dr. C. Warren Olanow.
Patients who have an anatomic impairment, are cognitively impaired, or prefer a gastrointestinal procedure over a brain operation are not good candidates for deep brain stimulation. In the same time, patients who don’t respond to levodopa are not good candidates for LCIG.
In Germany, LCIG, deep brain stimulation and apomorphine infusion, are the three treatment options used in Parkinson’s disease when conventional oral drug therapy fails to control motor fluctuations or dyskinesia, Dr. Jens Volkmann, Professor of neurology, University Clinic of Würzburg, Germany, told Medscape Medical News.
This study on levodopa-carbidopa intestinal gel was requested by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to support an application for approval in the United States.
Monique Houston, Whitney Houston’s former sister-in-law and ex-wife of Gary Houston, speaks out for the first time in an exclusive interview with Ebony.com about being shut out of the family and why the singer’s death was not a surprise for her.
Monique Houston said she is aware of the consequences and she made the mistake of speaking out years ago about what she said was a pattern of enabling within the Houston family. The result? She was cut off. Monique Houston was married to Gary Houston and the two share a son and daughter. But this time, Monique Houston says she will not be silent.
Like most people who’ve ever been affiliated with Whitney Houston and who have spoken out since the singer’s death, she says she wasn’t surprised at how her story played out. But the culprit, Monique Houston says, is that for years there’s been a pattern of enabling, and she hopes that by speaking out now, she’ll help save the next generation of the Houston clan.
EBONY: Why do you want to talk now?
Monique Houston: If it’s not now, when? I just really had to speak out about the cycle that has gone on for a number of years. Now is the time for me really to take this situation and speak about it. So that’s where I’m at now. I’ve really tried to shield my children. They’ve dealt with a lot over the years and I really try to shield them from a lot of negativity that would come their way, but now that they are adults and they’re as healthy as they can be under the circumstances, I think they’re prepared for what’s ahead and some of the realities.
EBONY: It sounds like you really weren’t all that shocked at how things unfortunately ended for your former sister-in-law, is that correct?
MH: No, I wasn’t shocked. I was caught off guard. You know, we all prayed that she would recover and …recovery with a drug addict is an ongoing process. But she just was so healthy and beautiful from the press that came out of Sparkle, that it just totally caught me off guard. I really was sitting back and looking forward to the movie actually coming out and what would happen for her with that. So I was really caught off guard, but unfortunately, I wasn’t surprised.
EBONY: When was the last time you’d actually spoken with her?
MH: Many years ago. I left right after her wedding to Bobby Brown. I left my husband around that time, and then I think I had Thanksgiving with her and Bobby and Mrs. [Cissy] Houston about a year or two after that. So that was one of the last times I had actual contact with her.
EBONY: What do you think the real issue was? You kind of say that the burden of being Whitney Houston is what ultimately killed your former sister-in-law. What do you mean about that, specifically?
MH: Well, it was a large image to live up to. I mean, the image they created for her was a part of who she was, but it wasn’t the whole person. And I feel that trying to live up to that perfect type of pop diva type of image they created for her was a lot of weight. Trying to live up to what everybody in her family wanted or needed from her was a huge responsibility for her also. And then the media just picked at her constantly and always questioned her lifestyle … I just feel like that was an awful lot of pressure.
Monique Houston, Whitney’s former sister-in-law and ex-wife of Gary, speaks out for the first time since the singer’s death
EBONY: Did you ever talk with her about that pressure back when you all still had a relationship and were talking more frequently?
MH: We never talked about the pressure, per se, but anytime that she did have down time, you could really get a general sense that she cherished it. It was an awful lot to get out there and work. The road was very demanding and tiring and Whitney was really a homebody. I believe she did love to sing, but my opinion is the performance end of it and the rigors of that really took a toll on her as well.
EBONY: How about your children? I know that they’re older, but how are they handling it? And what have you said to them about it?
MH: It was really devastating. The first thing they did was basically to come home and withdraw a little bit. My son didn’t want to go to school—he’s finishing up at Morehouse. The conversation I have had with them has been the truth over the years. My ex-husband was arrested for drugs in North Carolina (when they were kids). So here I am as a parent trying to shield them and not have them watch TV and they go to school and somebody in the first grade says, ‘Your father was arrested for drugs; he’s a drug dealer.’ You know? Or they would come at them, ‘Oh, your aunt’s this or your aunt’s that.’ Over the years, I
had to always reassure them, and educate them, and be honest with them. I’ve always been honest with them about their father’s addiction. I had to also prepare them for the reality of what would be coming out in the press, as far as their aunt was concerned.
EBONY: Are you concerned about any backlash from the Houston family, talking about some of those issues now?
MH: Not really, because I’ve been through so much with them. I basically raised my kids on my own. I’ve had a lot of different issues with my ex-husband and his wife over the years. Mrs. Houston doesn’t speak to me after I did speak out publicly about six years ago about some of the issues that I was having. I also made comments on the “Being Bobby Brown” reality show. So the relationship between my kids and the Houstons has not been a straight line. Whatever relationship they choose to have with their family in the future … I don’t feel that I could negatively affect something that hasn’t been fluid to start with. I told my kids that they have had a lifetime to get to know my children and the door was always open for access. This information I’m revealing is kind of like ‘don’t kill the messenger.’ It’s hard to hear, and a lot of people don’t want to hear it, but it’s the truth. And sometimes the truth is painful.
EBONY: What are you hoping happens after this interview?
MH: Well my hope is for the next generation in the Houston family. I can’t really hold a lot of hope for the adults. I think a lot of the adults in the family have had a responsibility to have healthier relationships within the family and they haven’t. So I really would hope my kids and their cousins would be able to take some of the information and apply it to their lives and move forward. I hope Bobbi Kris can find a healthier lifestyle in the future. I don’t’ know what environment she is in, but that’s one reason why I came forward. I just felt like some of the denial and some of the covering, which is part of enabling, it has to stop now—not only for my children’s benefit but for her wellbeing going forward.
EBONY: You’ve expressed concern for Bobbi Kristina. Are you thinking she’s jumping into the business too soon?
MH: If this is what she wants, I believe in educating yourself or framing or studying your craft if that’s what she wants to do. I think that she does need some type of focus as far as something to do with her life and direction and I was really pleased that somebody like Tyler Perry did reach out to her. He would be an excellent mentor for her as far as some of the things he’s been through, how he’s come through and how he’s flourished. I think she could learn a lot from his story, as far as survival and recovery—that may help her. I just felt that the Oprah interview was just a little too soon, as far as timing.
EBONY: Do you have a relationship with Bobbi Kristina?
MH: No, I don’t. When I walked away, I walked away. I didn’t expect to have any continuing relationships, necessarily. I did have one with Mrs. Houston, but that fell apart. And the only thing I’ve wanted was that my children have those healthy relationships—which sometimes did not happen.
EBONY: Are they close with your ex-husband?
MH: Not at all. Not at all. That’s really, right now—in my opinion—a toxic relationship.
EBONY: What’s something you would love for the world to know about your former sister-in-law? What’s something that maybe wasn’t as obvious to the rest of us as was to you?
MH: She just had a great sense of humor and she loved to laugh. And you know, that’s the thing that I think about the most —when she was relaxed at home it was all a bunch of laughter and jokes and being silly—especially with her brothers, and her brother Michael. So that’s the biggest thing. She loved her nieces and her nephews. She loved having children around. When she would be backstage—either coming off stage or going on—when the kids were little, she liked to sit them on her lap, and I think that calmed her down a lot. So just the fun-loving person that she was. And one thing that I wish that she could have done was continue acting, and even have been in a comedy cause she just had that wit that a lot of people didn’t get to see.
The fourth day of Norway’s trial of the century begins with Anders Behring Breivik telling the court he originally planned to detonate three car bombs.
The sole car bomb Anders Breivik did set off killed eight people in Oslo. The mass killer said he decided against multiple bombs because building them was “more difficult than [he] had thought”.
Anders Breivik disputed a psychiatrist’s report describing him as insane.
Earlier, he told the court he took a year off to play World of Warcraft.
Anders Breivik described using computer games to rehearse scenarios before setting off the car bomb outside a government building in the Norwegian capital on 22 July 2011.
He said his initial targets for the three bombs were government headquarters, Labour Party offices and the royal castle, but not the royal family itself.
The fourth day of Norway’s trial of the century begins with Anders Behring Breivik telling the court he originally planned to detonate three car bombs
Anders Breivik followed his car bomb attack with a mass shooting at a Labour Party summer camp on Utoeya island, killing 69 people, many of them teenagers.
He told prosecutors he came up with idea of targeting Utoeya when it became clear that it was impossible to make more than one bomb.
Anders Breivik said he decided to choose one target for a bomb and one “based on a firing operation”.
He also considered a congress of journalists and the Labour Party summer conference.
Anders Breivik described how he joined a gun club in 2010 as part of his preparations.
He told the court he had begun planning a “suicide action” as far back as 2006.
He had expected he would have to fight his way out of the scene of the bombing and estimated his chance of survival at 5%, he said.
However, the prosecution asserted Anders Breivik began preparing his attacks no earlier than 2009.
Arriving in court, Anders Breivik made no far-right salute, unlike previous days. His lawyers had asked him not to salute.
He is behaving differently from his irritable performance on Wednesday: he is answering most of the questions put to him and seems calm.
Anders Breivik has admitted the killings but denies criminal responsibility, saying he acted to protect Norway and Europe from multiculturalism.
“Militant nationalists in Europe are divided,” Anders Breivik told the court on Thursday.
“Half of them think we should attack Muslims and minorities, the other half that we should attack elites, those responsible, and hold them accountable.”
In other points so far, Anders Breivik said:
• he was 15 when he became skeptical of Muslim immigration, and 18 or 19 when he first thought about committing violence
• he named his manifesto 2083 to represent the 400th anniversary of the Battle of Vienna, when the Ottoman Turks were defeated
• he named the guns he used in the Utoeya shootings after characters in Norse mythology
• he joined the Masons as soon as he was old enough because they were a “Christian organization that protects its members”
• he took a year’s “sabbatical” from business activities in 2006 because he was planning the “suicide action”
• he spent the year playing the online role-play game, World of Warcraft, for up to 16 hours a day
The court heard that Anders Breivik formed a company in the Bahamas that he used as a front for money-laundering. The funds were intended for nationalist activities.
The court is seeking to determine whether Anders Breivik is sane. If so, he will be jailed for at least 21 years, although that sentence can be extended by the courts.
If he is deemed insane, he will be committed to a psychiatric institution.
Survivor Bjorn Ihler, who was on Utoeya island when Anders Breivik went on his shooting spree, said it was getting “easier and easier” to see him in the dock.
“All the things he did and said disarms him in so many ways… he gets less and less dangerous in my mind,” Bjorn Ihler said.
Anders Breivik’s evidence is scheduled to last five days, concluding on Monday.
Greg Ham, the flautist of Men At Work band, has been found dead at his Melbourne home, Australian media reported.
Greg Ham, 58, will be remembered for playing the famous flute riff from the band’s biggest hit, Down Under.
Two friends found Greg Ham’s body. They became concerned about Greg Ham’s well-being having not heard from him for some time.
Local authorities have not confirmed the man’s identity. A crime scene has been established and the cause of death is being investigated.
“Because of the early stages of our investigation, we’re not prepared to go into the exact details of what has occurred,” Detective Senior Sergeant Shane O’Connell told reporters.
Greg Ham, the flautist of Men At Work band, has been found dead at his Melbourne home
Police added that relatives of the deceased still had to be notified.
Greg Ham joined Men At Work in 1979 playing flute, harmonica, saxophone and keyboards.
The band achieved international fame in the 1980s with the 1983 hit Down Under, while their album, Business As Usual, topped the Australian, US and British charts.
However, their fame was overshadowed in recent years by a copyright dispute over the Down Under flute riff.
Men At Work won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1983 before disbanding in 1985
In 2010 Australia’s Federal Court ruled band members partly copied the children’s folk tune Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree, penned more than 75 years ago.
Last year, EMI lost an appeal against the ruling and, along with songwriters Colin Hay and Ron Strykert, were ordered to pay 5% of the song’s royalties since 2002 – as well as future earnings – to the folk song’s copyright owners.
Greg Ham said at the time that he was shattered by the ruling, telling Fairfax Media: “It will be the way the song is remembered and I hate that.
“I’m terribly disappointed that that’s the way I’m going to be remembered – for copying something.”
Men At Work won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1983 before disbanding in 1985.
The mystery surrounding the source of cosmic rays, the highest-energy particles known in the Universe, has grown deeper.
The cosmic rays can show up with energies a million times higher than the biggest particle accelerators on Earth can produce.
Astrophysicists believed that only two sources could make them: supermassive black holes in active galaxies, or so-called gamma ray bursts.
A study in Nature has now all but ruled out gamma ray bursts as the cause.
Gamma ray bursts (GRBs) are the brightest events we know of, though their sources remain a matter of some debate. They can release in hours more energy than our Sun will ever produce.
Computer models predict that GRBs could be the source of cosmic rays – mostly subatomic particles called protons, accelerated to incredibly high speeds.
But they were also predicted to produce a stream of neutrinos, the slippery subatomic particles recently brought to fame in claims of faster-than-light travel.
The mystery surrounding the source of cosmic rays, the highest-energy particles known in the Universe, has grown deeper
So researchers at the IceCube neutrino telescope went looking for evidence of neutrino arrival that coincided with measurements of gamma ray bursts detected by the Fermi and Swift space telescopes.
But it found none – suggesting that active galactic nuclei, where supermassive black holes reside, are likely to be the source.
Given that neutrinos have such a low probability of interacting with matter as we know it, IceCube is a neutrino detector of immense proportions.
Situated at the South Pole, it consists of more than 5,000 optical sensors buried across a cubic kilometre of glacial ice, each looking for the brief blue flash of light produced when a neutrino happens to bump into atomic nuclei in the ice.
Over the course of measurements taken between mid-2008 and mid-2010, some 300 GRBs were recorded – but IceCube scientists detected none of the eight or so neutrinos that they predicted would be associated with those events.
The models that lead to such predictions are making guesses about the most violent, highest-energy processes of which physics can conceive.
Because those models include a few educated guesses, GRBs are not completely out of the running as the source of the highest energy cosmic rays we see; perhaps neutrinos are not produced in the numbers that physicists expect.
Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and their six children are enjoying a break in the Galápagos Islands to celebrate the famous couple engagement.
A source in the mayor’s office of Santa Cruz told People magazine: “We were informed that they arrived at the airport in Baltra yesterday, then they made their way over to a villa in the Galápagos Islands.”
The website also reports Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and their kids traveled by private jet and luxury yacht to get to the exclusive Royal Palm Hotel resort where they are said to be staying.
Locals posted pictures onto Twitter of the brood arriving at their holiday destination.
Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and their six children are enjoying a break in the Galápagos Islands to celebrate the famous couple engagement
Meanwhile it has been reported that Angelina Jolie, 36, cried when Brad Pitt presented her with the ring.
Brad Pitt spent a year designing the perfect engagement ring for his partner and when he gathered the rest of their family – children Maddox, 10, Pax, 8, Zahara, 7, Shiloh, 5, and three-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox – to present it, Angelina Jolie was overwhelmed by the gesture.
A source told Us Weekly magazine: “Angelina cried and smiled.”
The engagement ring was made with jeweller Robert Procop and the tablet-shaped diamond piece is estimated to be worth $500,000.
The children were also overjoyed with Brad Pitt’s proposal, after seven years together, with the source adding: “Everyone hugged once she put the ring on. She went around and showed it to each of the kids. Angie considers herself bonded to Brad for life.”
Brad Pitt, 48, has previously said the couple were being put under pressure to marry by their children.
The actor said in May last year: “The kids ask about marriage. It’s meaning more and more to them. So it’s something we’ve got to look at.”
It is believed Brad Pitt’s proposal was made at Christmas time, but he and Angelina Jolie have kept it quiet until now so the news would not overshadow her promoting directorial debut film In the Land of Blood and Honey.
A source said: “She was very busy with the movie and her Oscar campaign. She also worried that the engagement would take over press on her film and detract from that.”
No date or location for the wedding has been revealed.
Casoria Contemporary Art Museum in Naples, Italy, has started burning its artworks in protest at budget cuts which it says have left cultural institutions out of pocket.
Museum director Antonio Manfredi set fire to the first painting on Tuesday.
“Our 1,000 artworks are headed for destruction anyway because of the government’s indifference,” Antonio Manfredi said.
The work was by French artist Severine Bourguignon, who was in favor of the protest and watched it online.
Antonio Manfredi plans to burn three paintings a week from now on, in a protest he has dubbed “Art War”.
Artists from across Europe have lent their support, including Welsh sculptor John Brown, who torched one of his works, Manifesto, on Monday.
John Brown said his organization, the Documented Art Space in Harlech, North Wales, had exhibited at the Casoria museum in the past.
He said the loss of his artwork had not been particularly upsetting.
“We work in a fairly contemporary manner so the process of making art, and the interaction with people, is more important than keeping it as a precious object.”
John Brown called the burning “a symbolic act” to “protest against the way the economic crisis is being dealt with”.
“These cuts reach beyond the confines of the visual arts and affect the cohesive well-being of millions of people all over the world.”
Casoria Contemporary Art Museum director Antonio Manfredi sets fire to a Severine Bourguignon painting
Italy’s debt crisis led to the resignation of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi last year. Since his departure, the government has passed a tough package of austerity measures and other reforms.
Art institutions say they have been particularly affected by the country’s economic woes, with state subsidies and charitable donations drying up.
One of Italy’s leading galleries, the Maxxi Museum of Contemporary Art, said its funding had been cut by 43% in 2011.
When its board of directors failed to approve the 2012 budget last week, the Culture Ministry took steps to replace them with a government-appointed administrator.
International concern was also raised last year over the neglect of Pompeii, one of the world’s most precious archaeological sites.
A number of structures in the ancient city have fully or partially collapsed, including the “House of Gladiators” which fell down 18 months ago.
However, Prime Minister Mario Monti announced a 105 million Euros project to reconstruct the ruins earlier this month.
Antonio Manfredi is known as an outspoken and radical museum director.
He opened the Casoria gallery in his hometown, just outside Naples, in 2005 and several of his exhibitions have drawn the ire of the local mafia.
In 2009, a life-size effigy of an African figure was left impaled over the museum gates following an exhibition of art that dealt with prostitution – a trade occupied locally almost entirely by African immigrants and controlled by organized criminals.
Antonio Manfredi has also blamed the theft of security cameras and several attempted break-ins on the mafia.
His attempts to focus attention on his museum’s funding crisis have been crafted with a keen eye for publicity.
Last year, Antonio Manfredi announced he had written a letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel asking for asylum, saying he was fed up with the government’s failure to protect Italy’s rich cultural heritage.
He said he would take his entire museum with him if the asylum was granted, but never received a reply.
Antonio Manfredi said the latest protest will continue unless the funding situation improves.
A statement from the museum described the first burning as “political, necessary, and compelling in the face of these adverse circumstances”.
Poet Michael Tolkien, the eldest grandson of JRR Tolkien, and Gerald Dickens, the great-great grandson of Charles Dickens, are to collaborate on two new fantasy books for children.
Michael Tolkien will write two novels based on stories his grandfather read to him as a child.
Gerald Dickens will narrate the audiobook versions.
Both works are due to be released later this year.
Publisher Thames River Press said the first book, Wish, was inspired by Florence Bone’s 1923 story, The Rose-Coloured Wish.
It tells the story of two children who set out to use an evil enchanter’s wishing chain of stones to save their alpine valley, only to fall into trouble.
JRR Tolkien and Charles Dickens descendants are to collaborate on two new fantasy books for children
Michael Tolkien was introduced to the tales in the 1940s and 1950s as a child, and he later read them to his own children.
He said he decided to pay tribute to the now-neglected tale and to “recreate the spirit of the original in new dress”.
The second book, Rainbow, is based on Bone’s 1910 novel, The Other Side of the Rainbow.
Gerald Dickens said: “Wish is a timeless story which children will enjoy for years to come. Michael Tolkien has brought it to life in narrative verse.”
Right now, the US is poised to pass a new law that would permit US agents to spy on almost everything we do online. But we can stop them before the final vote.
Companies that we trust with our personal information, like Microsoft and Facebook, are key supporters of this bill that lets corporations share all user activity and content with US government agents without needing a warrant in the name of cyber-security — nullifying privacy guarantees for almost everyone around the world, no matter where we live and surf online.
If enough of us speak out, we can stop companies that profit from our business from supporting cyber-spying. Sign the petition to these key net corporations now:
The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) would allow companies doing business in the US to collect exact records of all of our online activities and hand them over to the US government, without ever notifying us that we are being watched. No warrant, no legal cause and no due process required. To make matters worse, the bill provides the government and corporations with blanket immunity to protect them from being sued for violation of privacy and other illegal actions.
The bill’s supporters claim that consumer information will be protected, but the reality is that huge loopholes would make everything we do online fair game — and nowadays, from banking to shopping, our private information is all stored on the Internet.
CISPA is being moved forward in Congress and will be voted upon in days. Let’s raise a massive outcry to stop corporations from giving the US a blank check to monitor our every move. Click below to take action:
This year, we helped stop SOPA, PIPA and ACTA — all dire threats to the Internet. Now, let’s block CISPA and end the US government attack on our Internet.
WIth hope and determination,
Dalia, Allison, Emma, Ricken, Rewan, Andrew, Wen-Hua, and the rest of the Avaaz team
John Wiley & Sons, the US publisher of For Dummies guide, is demanding a trial by jury of people accused of copying its books.
Papers filed in New York and revealed by the Torrent Freak news site said four defendants were involved.
The publisher’s lawyer said that he believed this would be the first trial of its kind based on the use of Bittorrent.
The peer-to-peer communications protocol allows users to upload and download files to each others’ computers.
John Wiley & Sons had previously filed 15 lawsuits to obtain the identities of about 200 people believed to have infringed the copyright of its titles.
It said in papers filed last October that users had “engaged in the illegal copying and distribution of Wiley’s For Dummies books through the peer-to-peer file sharing software known as Bittorrent”.
Although it said that it was unable to give a precise figure for the amount of revenue lost, it described the sum as “enormous”.
Photoshop CS5 All-In-One For Dummies had been downloaded 74,000 times over 16 months
It noted that one title – Photoshop CS5 All-In-One For Dummies – had been downloaded 74,000 times over a 16-month period. The title is sold for $45.
The firm signaled that it had tried to settle the cases and that its main intention was to stop the activity and publicize the fact that sharing books illegally denied authors their rightful compensation.
The publisher’s lawyer, William Dunnegan, said: “We are asking people who are identified by their ISPs as being copyright infringers to pay the minimum amount due under the Copyright Act as statutory damages. That sum is $750.
“For the most part people are owning up and complying with the law. However, the named defendants have not.”
The US Copyright Act allows a penalty of up to $150,000 to be imposed per infringement if the accused loses the case.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) have shied away from trying to sue individual file sharers and have instead focused on forcing ISPs to police the activity.
Ernesto Van Dersar, editor of Torrent Freak, said that if Wiley’s claim made it to trial it would be the first time that evidence against Bittorrent users would have been tested in a US court.
“The problem they have is that their evidence will be based on an IP address which is tied to an internet connection,” he said.
“They also need to prove the accused was the person who committed the act using that connection – which is very hard to do.”
According to Korea’s Electric Times Internet, “the next flagship phones of the companies are expected to adopt unprecedented materials for their main bodies, that is, ceramic for the Galaxy S3 and liquidmetal for the iPhone5, both being thin, light and highly resistant to external impacts.”
The iPhone is to debut in June during Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference, while the new Galaxy S3, also known as “Milky Way,” is scheduled to be unveiled in London on May 3, 2012.
Citing unnamed industry sources, Korean news site ETnews says Apple will use Liquidmetal technology for the next iPhone, which the outlet boldly claims will be unveiled at Apple’s annual worldwide developers conference.
ETnews adds that Apple will not be alone in using a new material for its flagship handset. Citing the same sources, it says Apple rival Samsung plans to use ceramics for its Galaxy S3 smartphone, which is expected to be unveiled next month.
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Learn how Liquidmetal redefines the performance and design pardigms institutionalized by traditional materials
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See the performance difference between Liquidmetal, stainless steel and titanium
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About Liquidmetal Technologies
Liquidmetal Technologies, Inc. (OTC:LQMT) shares are trading sharply on Wednesday on rumors that Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL) for its iPhone 5 is planning to shift its smartphone designs from glass to liquidmetal.
Patentlyapple.com citing Korea’s Electric Times Internet reported, “the next flagship phones of the companies are expected to adopt unprecedented materials for their main bodies, that is, ceramic for the Galaxy S3 and liquidmetal for the iPhone5, both being thin, light and highly resistant to external impacts.”
The company reported d total revenue of $246,000 for the latest year, compared with $4.74 million reported in 2010. LQMT’s product revenue for 2011 was $227,000, up from $40,000 reported in the previous year. Revenue from licensing and royalties totaled $19,000 in 2011.
Gross profit for 2011 totaled $87,000. The company’s net income for 2011 was $10.61 million, compared with $52,000 reported for 2010.
Shares of the company slumped in early April after disappointing results. The stock was down over 50% after reporting earnings and made a new 52-week low of $0.12. The stock is up over 41% so far this year and plunged 62% over the past one year.
The stock is now trading higher by 30% to $0.195 on over 6.24 million shares, compared to its average volume of 2.37 million shares.
Liquidmetal Technologies, Inc. is engaged in the business of developing, manufacturing, and marketing products made from amorphous alloys. The Company’s Liquidmetal family of alloys consists of a variety of coatings, powders, bulk alloys, and composites that utilize the advantages offered by amorphous alloy technology. Liquidmetal Technologies markets and sells Liquidmetal alloy industrial coatings and also manufactures, markets and sells products and components from bulk Liquidmetal alloys that can be incorporated into the finished goods of its customers across a variety of industries.
Sir Anthony Hopkins has been transformed into legendary film director Alfred Hitchcock for the upcoming film Hitchcock.
In fact it’s amazing just how much Anthony Hopkins face has been transformed with the help of a prosthetic or two.
Filming for the flick began in Los Angeles on Friday April 13 and will tell the story of Alfred Hitchcock and his wife Alma.
The film will be set at the time the famous director was making his classic 1960 film Psycho.
Anthony Hopkins has been transformed into legendary film director Alfred Hitchcock for the upcoming film HitchcockThe new film will tell the story of Alfred Hitchcock and his wife Alma
Academy Award winner Dame Helen Mirren stars at the director’s wife Alma.
The film also stars the likes of Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Biel and James D’Arcy.
Scarlett Johansson takes on the leading lady role playing Psycho star Janet Leigh.
Jessica Biel portrays Vera Miles while James D’Arcy is leading man Anthony Perkins, who played Norman Bates.
Alfred Hitchcock won two Golden Globes, eight Laurel Awards and five lifetime achievement awards.
Despite being nominated six times for an Academy Award as Best Director – he never won.
