bartlett rutherford

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Microsoft touts Xbox One as all-in-1 entertainment

Kareem Choudhry, left, development manager for Microsoft Corp.'s Kinect motion-sensing device for the Xbox, demonstrates the level of detail in the camera of the new Kinect for the next-generation Xbox One entertainment and gaming console system to a visiting journalist, right, during a demonstration, Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Redmond, Wash. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

A group of visiting journalists try out the improved motion-detecting capabilities of the new Kinect controller for Microsoft's next-generation Xbox One entertainment and gaming console system, Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Redmond, Wash. The new Kinect, which will come standard with the Xbox One can also see users in total darkness and has a wider field of view than the previous Kinect device in use with the Xbox 360. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Photographers crowd around Microsoft Corp.'s next-generation Xbox One entertainment and gaming console system after it was officially revealed, Tuesday, May 21, 2013, at an event in Redmond, Wash. It's been eight years since the launch of the Xbox 360. The original Xbox debuted in 2001, and its high-definition successor premiered in 2005. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Don Mattrick, president of interactive entertainment business for Microsoft Corp., speaks after unveiling the next-generation Xbox One entertainment and gaming console system, Tuesday, May 21, 2013, at an event in Redmond, Wash. It's been eight years since the launch of the Xbox 360. The original Xbox debuted in 2001, and its high-definition successor premiered in 2005. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

A controller for Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox One entertainment and gaming console system is on display after its unveiling Tuesday, May 21, 2013, at an event in Redmond, Wash. The Xbox One, a next-generation entertainment console that promises to be the one system households will need for games, television, movies and other entertainment, will go on sale later this year. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

REDMOND, Wash. (AP) ? Microsoft thinks it has the one.

The company unveiled the Xbox One, an entertainment console that wants to be the one system households will need for games, television, movies, sports and other entertainment. It will go on sale later this year, for an undisclosed price.

For the past two years, Microsoft's Xbox 360 has outsold its rivals. But it's been eight years since that machine came out, and Microsoft is the last of the three major console makers to unveil a new system. In those eight years, Apple launched the iPhone and the iPad, "FarmVille" rose and fell and tablets began to threaten desktop computers, changing how people interact with games and beyond.

Now, the stakes are high as Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo are all using their latest machines not only to draw gamers but also to command the living room. The goal is to extend their reach beyond loyal legions of hardcore gamers and to become as important to our lives at home as smartphones have become to our lives on the go.

Don Mattrick, Microsoft's president of interactive entertainment business, said the company has spent the past four years working on an "all-in-one home entertainment system."

At an hour-long unveiling at the company's Redmond, Wash., headquarters on Tuesday, Microsoft executives used voice controls to switch back and forth seamlessly between watching live TV, listening to music, playing a movie and browsing the Internet ? all while running apps for stuff like fantasy football and Skype chats on the side of the screen.

"It really extends the home entertainment experience," Gartner analyst Brian Blau said.

He said the console seems to appeal to "more than just a core gamer in the family" and should be of interest to all types of audiences, from sports players to TV viewers to those who are "social and want to share things."

The Xbox One unveiling follows Nintendo Co.'s launch of the Wii U in November and Sony Corp.'s tease in February of the upcoming PlayStation 4. Each of the new consoles has shifted away from simply serving as gaming machines, as they incorporate streaming media apps and social networking features.

People will be able to connect their cable or satellite set-top box and watch TV through the Xbox One. It will have its own channel guide and allow viewers to change channels by voice command.

Senior Vice President Yusuf Mehdi demonstrated how the console switched quickly between channels after saying show names such as "Mary and Martha" or commands like "watch MTV." His voice command of "What's on HBO?" brought up the channel guide for HBO.

"No more memorizing channels or hunting for the remote control," Mehdi said.

The interface for the TV goes well beyond the functionality in the Wii U, which still requires users to press buttons to change the input source on the TV. Xbox One seamlessly flipped between games, movies and TV shows with voice commands.

In addition to the console, Microsoft unveiled a new version of its camera-based Kinect system with better motion and voice detection, including the ability to recognize faces, tell if you're smiling or talking and gauge your heart rate. In a demonstration, the new sensor detected up to seven people in front of it. Microsoft said the new Kinect will be included with the Xbox One and is deeply integrated into the system, but it won't necessarily always be watching users in their living rooms.

"There's the ability for you to manage the privacy settings so you can turn it off," Marc Whitten, Microsoft's chief product officer of interactive entertainment business, said in an interview in his office after Tuesday's presentation. "Just like the 360, the biggest thing for us is that you are in control of your privacy."

The company also introduced a more ergonomic Xbox controller, with a slightly different layout from the Xbox 360 controller and trigger buttons that vibrate. The new console will also add the ability to play Blu-ray discs, matching what Sony has in its older PlayStation 3.

The Xbox One won't require a constant connection to the Internet, but having it will be useful for many of the gaming and entertainment features. The Xbox has been popular largely because of its Xbox Live service, which lets users play games online with other players with annual plans that cost as much as $60 a year.

"The box wants to connect to the Internet," Whitten said. "That said, we understand the Internet is flakey. It doesn't always work. We want to make sure you can still play your games, watch movies and watch TV if the Internet is down."

Despite talk that Microsoft might restrict the use of games previously owned by others, the company confirmed that the Xbox One will indeed play used games, but it didn't provide details on how that would work. It said games for the Xbox 360 won't work on the new system because the underlying technology is different, though the company said it will continue to make games for the older machine. Whitten said the Xbox 360 "is going to be incredibly vibrant for some time to come."

Among the games previewed for Xbox One were the military shooter "Call of Duty: Ghosts" from Activision Blizzard Inc., soccer extravaganza "FIFA 14" from Electronic Arts Inc. and racing simulator "Forza Motorsport 5" and time bender "Quantum Break," both from Microsoft Game Studios. Microsoft said more games will be shown at next month's E3 video game conference in Los Angeles.

The company said there will be more than 15 games available exclusively on the Xbox One in its first year, eight of them new franchises. In recent years, the Xbox has been the exclusive home to such popular gaming franchises as sci-fi shooter "Halo" and alien shoot-'em-up "Gears of War."

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said Tuesday's presentation was more general than what Microsoft will likely give at E3, where games will be central as thousands of game industry insiders, bloggers and journalists gather for the annual industry conference.

"They didn't focus on games," he said. "They focused on everything else."

That everything else includes a multiyear agreement between Microsoft and the National Football League to develop new interactive viewing experiences for pro football games through such products as the Xbox One and Microsoft's Surface tablet computer. Fans will be able to watch games, chat with other fans, view statistics, access highlights in real time and gather fantasy information about players and teams ? all on a single screen. For those who prefer multiple screens, fans can get an even deeper experience on mobile devices such as tablets.

Microsoft is also branching into creating original content beyond games, following the trend of other technology companies such as Amazon.com Inc. and Netflix Inc. Director Steven Spielberg will produce a TV series based on the "Halo" games.

The original Xbox debuted in 2001, and its high-definition successor premiered in 2005. The Xbox represents a small fraction of Microsoft's overall revenue, but it is an important consumer-facing business for Microsoft and offers a way to direct traffic to other Microsoft-owned services, including Skype. Microsoft's stock fell 23 cents, or less than 1 percent, to close Tuesday at $34.85.

Nintendo kicked off the next generation of gaming in November with the launch of the Wii U, the successor to the popular Wii system. The Wii U features an innovative tablet-like controller, though its graphics is on par with the previous-generation Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo said the console sold just 3.45 million units by the end of March, well below expectations.

Sony was next, teasing plans for its upcoming PlayStation 4 ? without showing the actual box ? at a February event in New York. The reaction to that console, which featured richer graphics and more social features, was mixed. The PS4 is expected by the holidays.

Microsoft didn't waste any time showing off the Xbox One console, new Kinect sensor and Xbox controller at the beginning of Tuesday's presentation.

___

Barbara Ortutay reported from New York. AP Business Writer Ryan Nakashima in Los Angeles and AP Pro Football Writer Barry Wilner in Boston contributed to this story.

___

Online:

http://www.xbox.com

___

Follow AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-05-21-Games-Xbox/id-18d82affeb74480791898494086c3e0c

Dancing With The Stars All Stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt space shuttle Torrey Smith Brother fiona apple CJ Spiller tracy morgan

Resistance to last-line antibiotic makes bacteria resistant to immune system

May 21, 2013 ? Bacteria resistant to the antibiotic colistin are also commonly resistant to antimicrobial substances made by the human body, according to a study in mBio?, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. Cross-resistance to colistin and host antimicrobials LL-37 and lysozyme, which help defend the body against bacterial attack, could mean that patients with life-threatening multi-drug resistant infections are also saddled with a crippled immune response. Colistin is a last-line drug for treating several kinds of drug-resistant infections, but colistin resistance and the drug's newfound impacts on bacterial resistance to immune attack underscore the need for newer, better antibiotics.

Corresponding author David Weiss of Emory University says the results show that colistin therapy can fail patients in two ways. "The way that the bacteria become resistant [to colistin] allows them to also become resistant to the antimicrobials made by our immune system. That is definitely not what doctors want to do when they're treating patients with this last line antibiotic," says Weiss.

Although it was developed fifty years ago, colistin remains in use today not so much because it's particularly safe or effective, but because the choices for treating multi-drug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii and other resistant infections are few and dwindling. Colistin is used when all or almost all other drugs have failed, often representing a patient's last hope for survival.

Weiss says he and his colleagues noted that colistin works by disrupting the inner and outer membranes that hold Gram-negative bacterial cells together, much the same way two antimicrobials of the human immune system, LL-37 and lysozyme, do. LL-37 is a protein found at sites of inflammation, whereas lysozyme is found in numerous different immune cells and within secretions like tears, breast milk, and mucus, and both are important defenses against invading bacteria. Weiss and his collaborators from Emory, the CDC, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, and Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta set out to find whether resistance to colistin could engender resistance to attack by LL-37 or lysozyme.

Looking at A. baumannii isolates from patients around the country, they noted that all the colistin-resistant strains harbored mutations in pmrB, a regulatory gene that leads to the modification of polysaccharides on the outside of the cell in response to antibiotic exposure. Tests showed a tight correlation between the ability of individual isolates to resist high concentrations of colistin and the ability to resist attacks by LL-37 or lysozyme.

This was very convincing, write the authors, that mutations in the pmrB gene were responsible for cross-resistance to LL-37 and lysozyme, but to get closer to a causative link between treatment and cross-resistance, they studied two pairs of A. baumannii isolates taken from two different patients before and after they were treated for three or six weeks with colistin. The results helped confirm the cross-resistance link: neither strain taken before treatment was resistant to colistin, LL-37, or lysozyme, but the strains taken after treatment showed significant resistance to colistin and lysozyme. (One post-colistin isolate was no more or less resistant to LL-37 than its paired pre-colistin isolate.) Like the resistant strains tested earlier, both post-colistin isolates harbored crucial mutations in the pmrB gene that apparently bestow the ability to resist treatment.

The authors point out that the apparent link between resistance to colistin and cross-resistance to antimicrobial agents of the immune system could well extend to other pathogens that are treated with colistin, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Weiss says he plans to follow up with studies to determine whether this bears out.

For Weiss, the problems with colistin are symptomatic of a much larger trio of problems: increasing levels of drug resistance, cuts in federal funding for antibiotic research, and lack of incentives for pharmaceutical companies to invest in antibiotic R&D. "We don't have enough antibiotics, and it's really important for the research community and the public to support increases in funding for research to develop new antibiotics," says Weiss.

"We got complacent for a while and the bugs are becoming resistant. This is something we can reverse -- or make a lot better -- if we have the resources."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/GvkR-4TrerQ/130521011230.htm

homeland Miss America 2013 Aaron Swartz Gangster Squad school shooting oscar nominations C7 Corvette

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Jones still won't reveal name of son's father

Celebs

Randee Dawn TODAY contributor

5 hours ago

Getty Images file

January Jones.

And the father of January Jones' 20-month-old is ... I'm Not Telling. "That's my son's business," the actress, who plays the former Betty Draper on "Mad Men," told the New York Times on Sunday. "It's not the public's business."

Betty -- and Jones -- often divide fans. And in the Times, the actress does not come across as an easy interview. But that doesn't mean she didn't have some items of interest to share. As she told writer Ruth La Ferla, "Jack Nicholson once told me, 'You should never give your personal life away, otherwise people will pick you apart. They'll never believe in your character.'"

Speaking of that character, Jones has been concerned about her perception as icy and self-involved. "That was the fear for me," she said. "That we'd be in the third season and you'd hate the character."

Jones doesn't -- she says she understands Betty's mindset. "She has a childlike emotional response to things," she said. "You have to treat that very, very tenderly."

But back to Jones: Whether she'll name his father or not, little Xander is growing up fast and is already talking. His first word? "Mama." Second? "Back." "'Cause I keep saying, 'Put it back,'" she said.

When asked about previous comments -- like how she ate her own placenta after giving birth, she noted matter-of-factly, "It was like taking a vitamin blended into a smoothie,? adding with some sarcasm, "I'm a mammal. I nursed. I did all kinds of weird stuff."

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/january-jones-its-not-publics-business-who-my-sons-father-6C9996530

earl scruggs wrestlemania 28 game of thrones season 2 dierks bentley kenny chesney academy of country music awards brad paisley

Sony Entertainment Network web store launching in Japan on May 29th

The Sony Entertainment Network, which is already live in the US and Brazil among other countries, will launch in Japan on May 29th. As you may recall, the service is a browser-based marketplace with games, movies and other media available for download. SEN is especially targeted at PlayStation users; games and videos purchased will automatically show up in the PlayStation store. Given that Sony calls the Land of the Rising Sun home, it's high time its Entertainment Network opened its doors to Japan. And with E3 less than a month away, the world may get a taste of Sony's next-gen hardware for enjoying this service -- stay tuned.

Filed under: Gaming, Sony

Comments

Via: The Next Web

Source: Sony Computer Entertainment Japan

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/XUaEu-oagPM/

LIPA Garcinia Cambogia Little Things One Direction Bob Ross Hurricane Categories Hurricane Sandy new jersey

Hey, Congress: It's comprehensive immigration reform or nothing

Some members of Congress argue that the comprehensive immigration reform bill before the Senate is too long and that it needs to be broken up and considered piecemeal. But a piecemeal approach flies in the face of the long history of failed stand-alone immigration bills. This Congress needs comprehensive reform to save itself from itself.

Only a comprehensive reform legislative package will pull together the strange-bedfellow coalition necessary to secure enough votes for any immigration bill to pass both houses of Congress: No comprehensive legislation; no bipartisan coalition; no change.

OPINION: 5 myths about amnesty for illegal immigrants in Senate bill

As groups hold out for their priorities, each part of comprehensive immigration reform legislation is held hostage to passage of all others:

Liberal Democrats supported by ethnic interest groups want earned legalization with a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 11 million unauthorized immigrants. Libertarians in the Republican Party and other Republicans responding to business constituencies want more visas for high-skilled information technology workers and lower-skilled guest workers.

Legislators from states with large high-tech sectors want green cards for foreign graduates of US university doctoral programs in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) fields; legislators from agricultural states with vegetable, fruit, and dairy want a guest-worker program for farm workers.

More socially conservative Republicans as well as security hawks among Democrats want tougher border controls and work-site enforcement. Liberal Democrats and more libertarian Republicans accept increased spending on border fences and tighter controls, but only within the context of comprehensive reform.

Unless these many demands are part of an interdependent, comprehensive reform package, each of the various camps is unlikely to support each other?s individual initiatives.

But with so many contentious parts, some lawmakers have argued for a piecemeal approach. Senate Judiciary Committee Member Ted Cruz (R) of Texas called for considering smaller bits of immigration legislation that have the most bipartisan support, like an improved agricultural guestworker program, instead of imperiling legislation by including deeply divisive elements like legalization with a pathway to citizenship.

Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Robert Goodlatte (R) of Virginia, said his committee would examine these issues in a step-by-step process and then introduced a stand-alone temporary agricultural worker bill allowing up to 500,000 foreign workers.

History shows that the piecemeal approach to immigration reform doesn?t work. For example, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R) of Virginia has put forth a bill to create a nonimmigrant H-2C work visa program for agricultural workers. The bill would eliminate the limitation to seasonal work and reduce cumbersome requirements of the current H-2A temporary agricultural worker program established in 1986. It would also increase the overall numbers of agricultural workers.

But the newly introduced bill is similar to more than a dozen bills that have failed to be enacted by previous Congresses, including the Temporary Agricultural Worker Act of 1998, the Agricultural Job Opportunity Benefits and Security Act of 2000, and the Temporary Agricultural Labor Reform Act of 2007, which Representative Goodlatte introduced six years ago.

Passing stand-alone immigration bills would also require multiple bargains and agreements across parties and across interest groups.

This kind of bargaining ? called ?legislative logrolling? ? could move step-by-step, piecemeal immigration legislation forward. With this practice, a legislator agrees to trade her vote on a bill she cares less about for another legislator?s vote on a bill that is much more important to her.

For example, a New York City Democrat who wants to help high-tech businesses but cares less about agriculture might agree with a Texas Republican to vote in September for a new temporary agricultural worker program that benefits Texas, if his Texas colleague will vote in October for legislation giving green cards to foreign students who earn PhDs from US universities ? which benefits New York.

But such an approach to immigration reform would necessitate numerous, complex vote trades during a long sequence of bills being introduced and voted upon. The piecemeal approach will not work in this Congress because there is simply not enough trust among its members (and their constituencies) to enable such logrolling.

Too many members of Congress reason that if provisions others want most are considered first and passed as stand-alone legislation, the legislation they want most may not even get a vote in the House or Senate. Since lawmakers cannot trust one another to enact immigration reform piece by piece, it must be voted on all at once.

The good news is that soon after the Memorial Day break, a bipartisan House group is expected to introduce a comprehensive reform bill close enough to the Senate?s that differences could be worked out in conference.

However, Speaker of the House John Boehner did not object at the beginning of the legislative session to Rep. Goodlatte?s plan to hold extensive hearings on individual pieces of immigration legislation. If Mr. Boehner fails to support the comprehensive reform approach when the bill is introduced and opts for Rep. Goodlatte?s slow, piecemeal approach, it is unlikely the American people will see any difference from the pattern of failed immigration legislation introduced over the past few years.

Members of Congress introduce immigration bills popular with their constituencies that have zero chance of passing both houses but enable them to issue press releases stating they have done something, while, in reality, nothing changes.

ONE MINUTE DEBATE: 3 views on how US should combat illegal immigration

But polls show that the majority of Americans ? both Republicans and Democrats ? support broad immigration reform. If Congress wants to meet that demand, members will stop avoiding change by floating unrealistic, piecemeal proposals and make the tough compromises of comprehensive reform.

Rey Koslowski is an associate professor of political science at the University at Albany and a non-resident fellow of the Migration Policy Institute.