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Tim Cook: Apple Watch Will Replace Car Keys
From Huffington Post

Apple Watch will replace your car keys and its battery will last the whole day, Apple Inc's Chief Executive Tim Cook told the Telegraph in an interview.

The watch is designed to replace car keys and the clumsy, large fobs that are now used in many vehicles, Cook told the newspaper.

Its battery will last the whole day, and will not take as long to charge as an iPhone, the report quoted Cook as saying. (http://bit.ly/1EUmh57)

Apple Watch will also work as a credit card through Apple Pay, Cook told the paper, but did not mention how user verification will work with the watch.

The rollout of the watch might pose a challenge for Apple's stores, which may involve "tweaking the experience in the store," the Telegraph said, citing Cook's conversation with the staff at Apple's Covent Garden store in London.

Last March, Apple unveiled CarPlay, which lets drivers access contacts on their iPhones, make calls or listen to voicemails without taking their hands off the steering wheel.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported that the iPhone maker is looking at making a self-driving electric car, and is talking to experts at carmakers and automotive suppliers.

In the interview, Cook said that the Apple Watch will operate a special rewards system, track the user's activity and "be correct to 50 milliseconds."

Apple was not immediately available for comment.

The company has scheduled a special event on March 9, where it is expected to showcase Apple Watch, which will be launched in April.

Facebook Looking To Use Software To Prevent Suicide
From American Live Wire

Suicidal people are increasingly posting their pleas and final words online using social media, and Facebook is one of the more common sources. With access to this level of personal information, and status history, Facebook feels that they can use their software to prevent suicides. By alerting Facebook of certain posts and social media behaviors, they will be able to post messages on user's accounts to give them access to immediate crisis prevention.

Either way, Facebook still encourages their users to report any suspicious mental health activity to their local resources or authorities. Sometimes there are posts that warn of homicidal behavior, and these should have action taken to avert them as well. Facebook currently allows all users the ability to report posts to their administrators for various reasons, including violent threats and suicidal threats.

New Facebook alerts will ask users some questions when suspected activity is reported or detected. These pop-ups will send a meaningful message to the user and give them the option to get immediate help from either a friend or a hotline worker.

Sometimes all these people need is a chance to be heard, and they think that nobody cares enough to listen. Other times they lack the resources to get help, or the mental capacity to seek help on their own. Often time help has to come to them, as they will usually not go out of their way to seek assistance.

This assistance will only be effective if the user happens to be on Facebook at the time that the alerts are triggered. If a user creates a post that gets reported later and they are not online, they will not be contacted by other means yet. There are some concerns for how effective this service will be, but the aim is to save as many lives as they can while knowing that they probably won't be able to save them all.

'Jihadi John' Latest Terrorist to Come From West London Neighborhood
From NBC News

The man believed to be the masked ISIS executioner "Jihadi John" was part of a network of Islamist extremists, according to intelligence agencies, and is just the latest — although the most notorious — of several terrorists to emerge from the west London district neighborhood where he grew up.

Mohammed Emwazi, identified Thursday as the suspected killer of least four hostages including two Americans, went to school in Ladbroke Grove, a stone's throw from some of the British capital's most affluent zones.

He was being monitored by Britain's spy agency, MI5, which attempted — and failed — to prevent him traveling overseas to support terrorism.

The 26-year-old college graduate, who once dreamed of being a soccer player, became the global face of ISIS when he first appeared in August in an ISIS video heralding the beheading of U.S. journalist James Foley. He is still at large, most likely in Syria, possibly in Iraq.

Investigators are now seeking a clearer picture of how the Kuwaiti-born Londoner became one of the world's most hunted militants.

But Emwazi is merely the most notorious terrorist to emerge from Ladbroke Grove and is surrounding streets.

Court documents seen by NBC News show MI5 previously linked him to a number of other extremists supporting terrorism in Somalia, where al-Qaeda affiliate al Shabab has been waging an insurgency.

The 2012 document, related to "control orders" that limit the movement of terror suspects, names Emwazi as a member "of a network of United Kingdom and East African based Islamist extremists which is involved in the provision of funds and equipment to Somalia for terrorism-related purposes."

It links Emwazi to Bilal el-Berjawi, a senior al Shabab figure who grew up less than a mile away and was killed by a U.S. drone in Somalia in 2012.

Berjawi first joined militants in Somalia in 2006 and then returned to Britain in 2007 to help raise funds.

Emwazi also lived a few streets away from one of four men arrested in October and charged with an ISIS-inspired plot to shoot police or military personnel on the streets of London.

Tarik Hassane, a 21-year-old medical student nicknamed "The Surgeon," was arrested at his home in Ladbroke Grove on October 7 and is due to stand trial in June charged with intending to commit acts of terrorism, or assisting others to commit such acts, last summer.

The area was the scene of a dramatic terror arrest — captured on video — of two of those responsible for attempting to bomb London's transit system in July 2005, just two weeks after suicide bombers killed 52 commuters in the city.

Muktar Said Ibrahim and Ramzi Mohammed, later jailed for life for their role in the failed attacks, emerged from their Ladbroke Grove apartment surrounded by armed police.

Stephen Hawking fears human aggression could 'destroy us all,' calls for more empathy
From Yahoo News

A theory of everything might be impossible to come by — but a theory of humankind's potential destruction is not, says Stephen Hawking.

The British theoretical physicist fears that human aggression may be the tragic flaw that could lead to our demise.

"The human failing I would most like to correct is aggression," Hawking said, according to a blog post on the website for London's Science Museum. "It may have had survival advantage in caveman days, to get more food, territory or partner with whom to reproduce, but now it threatens to destroy us all."

A major nuclear war could be the end of civilization and possibly the human race, he said.

"The quality I would most like to magnify is empathy. It brings us together in a peaceful, loving state," he added.

These thoughts were offered in response to a two-part question from Adaeze Uyanwah, a 24-year-old from California.

Stephen Hawking & I at the @sciencemuseum. I learnt so much from this amazing man! You also have to see the museum! pic.twitter.com/fSeDr083BD
— Londons Guest (@LondonGuest) February 20, 2015

Uyanwah, who was on a special tour of the Science Museum guided by Hawking, asked which common human features he would most want to magnify or alter.

She beat out 10,000 contestants from around the world to become the city's "Official Guest of Honor."

Talking to #StephenHawking was truly inspirational and he has such an awesome sense of humour! pic.twitter.com/IKoXlWUu9z
— Londons Guest (@LondonGuest) February 20, 2015

"It's incredible to think that decades from now, when my grandchildren are learning Stephen Hawking's theories in science class," she said, "I'll be able to tell them I had a personal meeting with him and heard his views firsthand."

British actor Eddie Redmayne won the Oscar for Best Actor on Sunday night for his portrayal of the acclaimed physicist in "The Theory of Everything."

League of Legends e-sports controversy sparked over Twitch stream
From PCGamer

'Spectate Faker' is a Twitch stream that uses OP.GG to broadcast the matches of League of Legends pro player Lee "Faker" Sang-Hyeok. It's a simple enough concept, and yet the stream has sparked controversy—with Riot's president, Marc Merrill, saying it "reeks of harassment and bullying.".

The source of the problem is an exclusivity deal between Faker and streaming service  Azubu—one of a number of exclusive deals the site has with Korean e-sports pros.

Azubu went so far as to send a DMCA notice to the Twitch stream's owner, "StarLordLucian". New problem: Azubu doesn't own the content being streamed by Spectate Faker. While they have exclusive rights to broadcast Faker's streams, Spectate Faker isn't a direct re-stream of that perspective—rather, it's the view from a sanctioned third-party spectator. That footage is owned by Riot.

Here's where things get a bit complicated. Riot's own terms of service claim the following:

We'll start with our golden rule – you can use League of Legends IP as the basis for a fan project that you're giving away for free or that's only generating ad revenue ... as long as you comply with the guidelines outlined below for using our IP. As a matter of fact, as long as you comply with our Guidelines, we think it's great if you create awesome, free and original content for League of Legends fans.

"StarLordLucian" claims that his stream follows those guidelines. He describes Azubu's DMCA takedown request as "illegal," and claims the only ones with the the ability to end the stream are Riot themselves. To verify this,  the Daily Dot spoke to an actual real life lawyer, Bryce Blum, who largely agreed with SLL's statement. Blum's conclusion: "That content isn't Faker's to license—it's Riot's."

So far, Riot hasn't issued a takedown request. But let's go back to Marc Merrill's statement. The Riot head took to Reddit to explain his thoughts on the issue:

If you can't see how this potentially harms Faker and/or anyone else in this situation, then that is more reinforcement that we need to take the appropriate action to protect players from this type of unique situation.

As to the comments about our API, of course we want 3rd party devs to do cool things with spectator. But when people utilize one of its components to harm / harass an individual, then we need to potentially re-evaluate our rules.

As for "StarLordLucien's" position, he has posted on Reddit numerous times, most recently with the following:

I know some people will disagree with this and bring up ethics, but I think this whole issue is about a lot more than Faker. It's about Riot not enforcing their own legal terms of service. It's about a co-owner of Riot Games being completely out of touch with esports and the spectator mode. It's about a company (Azubu) issuing a false DMCA claim for content they didn't even own. These are issues that will affect the future of the game and the spectator mode. All of this needs to be debated for the future of League of Legends and esports.

Right now nothing my stream does is illegal or against the League of Legends terms of service. Riot can always change their terms. And Riot can DMCA my stream at anytime, as they have the power to put any League related IP or Project to an end.

If Riot does DMCA my stream that will be the end of it, I won't counter them or try to make a new stream. But I won't be listening to anyone else from Riot or on Reddit lecture to me about morals anymore. To those people I say, I'm doing this stream because I can legally and it's allowed by League of Legends' legal terms."

Finally, and most recently, Faker's team, SK Telecom T1, have released their own statement through their Facebook page:

First of all, SKT and other pro eSports teams have started streaming business last year to help ensure stable environment for players to play professionally. Not only has the streaming deal expressly helped with players' with their professional activities, it also has been a good medium through which a pro gamer's value is recognized.

Unfortunately, some of the fans have been re-broadcasting Faker's (and other SKT T1 players') games through the spectator mode, and this has negatively affected players' streaming business. Faker, a member of the SKT T1, also expressed discomfort over the current situation where his summoner name and videos of his games are being broadcasted with no consent.

SKT T1 team and its players truly appreciate the fans' fantastic support and interest. However, we would like to politely request the re-broadcasting of our players' games without our consent to be stopped.

Minecraft on HoloLens Developed by New Microsoft Studio
From VRFocus

Last month saw Microsoft announce the hugely intriguing HoloLens, a head-mounted display (HMD) that allows users to see and interact with holograms. The company touched upon the technology's potential to change videogames, showcasing two unique experiences based around the popular Minecraft franchise that it purchased last year. Shortly after the projects were revealed a member of Mojang, the developer behind the original Minecraft, noted that it wasn't working on either one of them. Recently it's been revealed just who is developing at least one of these demos.

The LinkedIn profile for Hololens Studio Manager Daniel McCulloch reveals that Holobuilder, as one of the Minecraft projects is called, is developed by FIT. The studio doesn't appear to have any past work credited to it, suggesting that this is a new team. The Holobuilder experience allows users to build their own creations in the Minecraft world in entirely new ways. It's not clear if it will go on to become a full commercial title for Hololens when it hits the market, or if it will simply serve as a tech demo for the device. It's not clear just who is behind the other Minecraft experience at this point in time.

Details about the release of HoloLens itself are scarce at this point in time, having only made its initial showing at a press conference. Microsoft could well be showcasing it at next week's Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, California, USA. That said, the company has confirmed that it will be bringing the kit to its own Build developer conference in the same city in April 2015. Could other Microsoft-owned studios such as 343 Industries and Turn 10 also be working with the kit?

[Google announces a collaboration with Softcard, heats up mobile payment battle with Apple and Samsung.]

Google, Softcard Mobile Payment Partnership Targets Apple Pay
From InformationWeek

Google announces a collaboration with Softcard, heats up mobile payment battle with Apple and Samsung.

Google has officially inked a deal with mobile payments solution provider Softcard and announced a collaboration with US wireless carriers Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T. It's a major step forward for the Internet giant, which is looking to compete with Apple and Samsung in the mobile payments arena.

As part of the deal, Google is acquiring technology and intellectual property from Softcard, which will likely be used to improve upon the current capabilities of the Google Wallet app. Consumers can use the app, which is similar to Apple Pay, to tap their phones to pay for purchases in select brick-and-mortar stores.

Softcard, originally founded as Isis, launched in 2013 as a joint venture from AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile to bring NFC-based mobile payments to US consumers. In addition to an unfortunate but necessary renaming process, the project struggled as a result of poor user experience and limited support for credit cards.

Hopefully Softcard's technology will fare better as part of Google's offerings. Starting later this year, Google reports, the Google Wallet app and tap-and-pay functionality will come pre-installed on Android phones running KitKat or higher from Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T.

Current Softcard users can continue to tap and pay through the app for the time being, the company reports, and more information on the evolution of its Google partnership will be available in coming months.

The news from Google and Softcard arrives amid a flurry of activity in the mobile payments space. Tech companies are scrambling to compete with Apple Pay, which is already available on the iPhone and has already started making waves. The app recently became available to consumers on certain JetBlue routes to pay for in-flight purchases.

Despite its influence, Apple could face major competition from Samsung, which most recently upped its strategy with the acquisition of mobile payment startup LoopPay. The company uses technology that doesn't require NFC to operate. This move could put Samsung ahead of Apple Pay, Google Wallet, and Softcard, all of which depend on NFC to process payments.

Background: NFC in the smartphone and payment terminal allows NFC radios to transmit information and complete payment transactions. It's effective, but also requires retailers to upgrade their in-store payment machines, which is pricey.

As far as the biggest tech companies are concerned, it's only a matter of time before smartphones replace cash and cards. Google's latest move will bring mobile payments to a larger audience, and pre-installing the app could influence more Android users to adopt mobile wallets.

The bigger question is, will mobile payments eventually replace traditional currency? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Treatment reduces kids' peanut allergy risk up to 86%
From USA Today

For years, parents were told that the best way to prevent kids from becoming allergic to peanuts was to withhold peanuts from their children's diet.

That advice couldn't have been more wrong, a new study shows.

For the first time, researchers have shown that children who are regularly fed small amounts of peanuts from their infancy are actually less likely than others to develop peanut allergies.

Babies regularly given peanuts for at least four years cut their risk of peanut allergy by an average of 81%, compared to children who avoided peanuts, according to a study published today in The New England Journal of Medicine. Authors note that this regimen should only be attempted under a doctor's supervision, because allergic reactions to peanuts can be life-threatening.

The results are "without precedent," said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which helped fund the study of 640 children. "The results have the potential to transform how we approach food allergy prevention."

The prevalence of peanut allergies has doubled in the past decade, increasing to 3% of children in developed countries, according to the study, presented Monday at a meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology in Houston.

And while peanut allergies are still relatively rare, they have had an outsized influence at schools and daycare centers, many of which have banned nuts from classrooms and cafeterias in order to prevent potentially deadly reactions.

In 2000, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that parents withhold peanuts from children at risk of allergies until age 3. The academy withdrew that recommendation in 2008, after the number of cases of peanut allergy continued to rise.

British researchers decided to carefully test whether avoiding peanuts was making allergies more common.

They tested babies ages 4 months to 11 months for peanut allergies with standard skin-prick tests. Those who had strong reactions to peanuts were excluded from the experiment for their own safety, according to the study.

Researchers randomly assigned the others to either avoid peanuts or to consume the equivalent of 24 peanuts week, divided into three meals. Most babies consumed the peanuts in the form of a snack called Bamba, made from puffed corn and peanut butter. Babies who didn't like the puffed snacks got peanut butter.

Researchers then retested children for peanut allergies at age 5.

Eating peanuts helped all children, including those with mild reactions to peanuts during early tests. In this group, 35% of kids who avoided peanuts developed full-blown allergies, compared to 11% of those who ate peanuts -- a 70% reduction in risk.

Among kids with no sensitivity to peanuts at the beginning of the study, 14% who avoided peanuts became allergic, compared to 2% of those who were fed peanuts -- an 86% reduction in risk, the study says.

Doctors don't know whether children will continue to be protected from peanut allergies if they stop earing peanuts regularly, says Gideon Lack, the study's lead author and a professor at King's College London. Researchers hope to answer this question by continuing the follow the children.

The treatment appears safe. The rate of hospitalizations and serious complications was the same among children who ate peanuts and in those who avoided them.

The new study is "good news, in that we know now that we can do something to reverse the increasing prevalence of peanut allergy," says Todd Mahr, chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics' section on allergy and immunology, who wasn't involved in the new study.

But parents shouldn't try this diet on their own, says Rebecca Gruchall, chair of allergy and immunology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Parents of high-risk babies should see a doctor, who can perform appropriate tests to show whether the peanut regimen used in the study is safe for their child.

Because the study included only babies at high risk, doctors don't know whether the regimen is safe for babies who are strongly allergic to peanuts, says Gideon Lack, the study's lead author and a professor at King's College London.

Doctors also don't know whether the regimen will benefit babies at low risk for peanut allergies, says Scott Sicherer, a professor of pediatrics and researcher at the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at Mount Sinai in New York who wasn't involved in the new study.

"We can presume that eating peanut earlier is still a good idea (for average-risk kids), but this study does not really address that," Sicherer says. "We just do not know if eating it so soon might backfire."

Doctors can't say for sure what has led peanut allergies to become more common, although the new study suggests that telling parents to withhold peanuts may have made the problem worse, Mahr says. He notes that many allergic conditions have been increasing.

Lack says the rise in peanut allergies may be tied to the increase in eczema and the immune system's complex reaction to peanuts.

In children with eczema, skin can become so irritated that it cracks and bleeds. That can allow babies to be exposed to peanut dust through the skin, Lack says. Peanut protein is commonly found in the household dust.

Children exposed to peanuts through the skin may react very differently than those whose first experience of a peanut comes through the digestive tract.

According to this hypothesis, the body's immune system reacts to peanut protein entering through breaks in the skin much as it would to germs or parasites that enter the body through cuts in the skin: it attacks. The immune system continues to overreact whenever it encounters peanut protein, Lack says.

The immune system doesn't overreact, however, if it first encounters peanuts in the digestive tract, Lack says. The body encounters lots of different kinds of proteins that way, after all.

Eleanor Garrow-Holding, whose son is allergic to peanuts and other food, says the study results are exciting. She is also the president and CEO of a patient support group called the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Connection Team.

"While we still don't have all the answers," she says, "I think any parent who worries their child may develop a peanut or other food allergy has much to be hopeful about due to these results."

The study was funded by a variety of sources, including the Atlanta-based National Peanut Board. Peanut manufacturers weren't involved in designing the study, analyzing data or writing the report.

Apple will launch iOS public previews to get more eyeballs on bug hunt
From ComputerWorld

Apple will launch an invite-only public beta of iOS 8.3 next month, then expand the program this summer with iOS 9, according to online reports.

The public preview -- Apple's first for iOS -- will follow the debut of a similar program last year for OS X Yosemite, the Mac operating system.

"With a public preview, you get much broader and thorough testing," said Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research. "Problems with early versions of iOS show that Apple needs this, that they can't rely on internal and private testing before general availability."

9to5Mac.com first reported on the impending iOS beta program; other media outlets, including Recode.net, later claimed the report was legitimate. Both cited unnamed sources.

According to 9to5Mac.com, Apple will use its invitation-only AppleSeed program to publicly offer iOS 8.3 starting in mid-March. Registered Apple developers have had access to a preliminary version of iOS 8.3 for two weeks.

AppleSeed is not currently taking new participant requests, Apple stated on the program's FAQ page.

After Apple introduces iOS 9 at its annual developer conference in June -- a now-standard practice -- the Cupertino, Calif. company will expand the beta to the general public. 9to5Mac.com said that Apple would restrict the iOS 9 public preview to 100,000 customers.

That two-step process would mimic last year's introduction of the first OS X public beta since 2000.

In April 2014, Apple kicked off a public preview of the then-current OS X Mavericks with a sneak peek at version 10.9.3, an impending update to Mavericks. Two months later, Apple executive Craig Federighi announced a public beta of OS X Yosemite, Mavericks' successor, from the stage at Apple's WWDC (Worldwide Developer Conference).

Apple limited the Yosemite public beta to a million users.

"More eyeballs," said Gottheil when asked what Apple hoped to achieve with the iOS beta.

Apple could use those extra eyes: Almost invariably, the initial version of an iOS edition requires quick bug quashing. Last year, for example, Apple issued its first update to iOS 8 just one week after the official launch, but then pulled the update almost immediately after reports flooded social media and the company's own support forum that customers' iPhone 6 and 6 Plus smartphones couldn't connect to a cellular network.

iPhone owners quickly lashed out at Apple, with some excoriating the company for not testing the flawed iOS 8.0.1 update.

Gottheil also mentioned software quality, and brought up the discussion last month about a perceived slump at Apple, one that other analysts also echoed. "Some of the software [development] discipline has relaxed," Gottheil argued. In theory, a public preview should catch the most egregious bugs before the mobile operating system is more broadly released.

The success of the OS X Yosemite public preview -- even though that OS was also criticized for containing bugs -- likely emboldened Apple to dive into the far more popular iOS, said Gottheil.

"But given the nature of automatic updates, this is really more a matter of setting expectations and communicating the state of the product than a change in the process," said Gottheil, referring to the idea -- accepted by some, rejected by others -- that software is always a work in progress.

"With a public beta, Apple can do what they did with Siri, say 'This is not a finished product, software is not 100% bug-free,'" said Gottheil. "They can say, 'We told you,' when problems crop up."

[It's looking unlikely that PS Plus DriveClub will ever see the light of day.]

Free PS Plus Version of DriveClub May Have Been Canceled
From Crave Online

It's looking unlikely that PS Plus DriveClub will ever see the light of day.

It's looking likely that the planned PS Plus version of DriveClub, which was set to include a track and a handful of cars for players to race with in order to entice them into buying the full game. However, with the game having now been out in the wild for a short while, it seems that Sony is backtracking on this deal and may not release the PS Plus version of the game after all.

In an interview with the Metro, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe president and CEO Jim Ryan addressed the much-delayed PS Plus DriveClub and was reluctant to claim that it was still something they were working on. Here's the excerpt from the interview:

GC: Is there still going to be the free PlayStation Plus version?

JR: That's still being looked at.

GC: You can't guarantee that it will ever happen?

JR: I can't say anything at this stage.

Judging by this statement it seems likely that PS Plus DriveClub has been canned, and though that would mean Sony would be breaking its promise to consumers, it's perhaps a smart idea at this point. With DriveClub having experienced a myriad of server problems upon its release, leaving important aspects of the game completely inaccessible, interest has inevitably dwindled. While the game is up and running now, there is likely not a large enough market to warrant releasing a free version of the game right now.

DriveClub was initially scheduled to be a release game that was going to release in its entirety for free on PS Plus. However, it fell behind schedule and Resogun was offered to subscribers of Sony's PS4 online service in its place, with a PS Plus edition of the game said to be releasing around the time of its launch.

Unfortunately, the game's awful online issues prevented this from being the case, though Jim Ryan insists that this won't be the case with any of the company's other first-party releases, saying: "One would hope, and certainly we've learnt an awful lot from the Driveclub experience, that those mistakes, once made, should not be repeated."

[The company's $1 billion data center in Maiden, N.C. employs only 50 full-time workers.]

Apple's $2 billion won't bring a lot of jobs to Ireland or Denmark
From Fortune

The company's $1 billion data center in Maiden, N.C. employs only 50 full-time workers.

What's not to love about Apple building a pair of giant data centers in Ireland and Denmark, each the size of 30 football fields?

Especially when they come — as the one in Ireland does — with outdoor education space, a walking trail for the community and a plan to restore native trees to the Derrydonnell Forest.

I can see the benefits:

• Environmental: Powered by 100% reusable energy in a part of the world where the climate helps cool the server farms
• Political: Helping to defuse the European Commission's accusations that Apple only sees Ireland as a tax shelter
• Bookkeeping: Apple gets to spend some of its $158 billion in offshore cash overseas, without paying U.S. taxes on those earnings.

What I don't see is a lot of jobs — except in Apple's press release, where jobs are mentioned in three of the nine paragraphs. Here are two of them:

Apple supports nearly 672,000 European jobs, including 530,000 jobs directly related to the development of iOS apps. Since the App Store's debut in 2008, developers across Europe have earned more than €6.6 billion through the worldwide sale of apps.

Apple now directly employs 18,300 people across 19 European countries and has added over 2,000 jobs in the last 12 months alone. Last year, Apple spent more than €7.8 billion with European companies and suppliers helping build Apple products and support operations around the world.

By contrast, Tim Cook's quote, from the same press release, is careful not to over-promise:

This significant new investment represents Apple's biggest project in Europe to date. We're thrilled to be expanding our operations, creating hundreds of local jobs.

Apple declined to specify how many permanent jobs the new data centers would create. It did not dispute a report, however, that when all was said and done, its $1 billion data center in Maiden, N.C. created only 50 full-time jobs.

Tony Abbott's speech may increase Muslim feelings of alienation
From The Age

There were three key issues raised in Tony Abbott's heralded national security speech on Monday. All of them are problematic.

First, stripping terrorists of their Australian citizenship or associated rights such as re-entering the country – following Britain, France and Canada - risks exporting Australia's problems abroad.

If as the Prime Minister says, Australia has the best security agencies in the world, we are well-equipped to deal with such people. Far more equipped than Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, where our rejected jihadists will fuel the conflicts, in breach of Australia's pledge just five months ago at the United Nations to do everything it can to stem the flow of foreign fighters to the Middle East.

Granted, the proposal expands and updates an existing law that strips citizenship from anyone who fights with a foreign government against Australia. Today, more of our fights are against non-state actors such as Islamic State or the Taliban.

And at a pub test level, what if a terrorist like Abdul Nacer Benbrika – who wanted to blow up the MCG – were to hatch another plot when he is released from jail in two years from now?

But it's hard to shake the feeling the government wants to emphasise terrorism as a border protection issue because that is its strong suit. Border protection is one part of the problem but, overwhelmingly, extremists are being radicalised in Australia. The internet renders dangerous ideologies entirely borderless.

The government's own terrorism review, released on Monday, stresses the "much more significant 'home grown' element" to the current threat.

Second, there's the push for stronger prohibitions on "vilifying, intimidating or inciting hatred". For most of recent memory, the Coalition wanted to loosen such limits on free speech by watering down Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.

The new move would use the criminal code instead and any new laws would obviously apply to everyone, not just Muslim preachers. Nevertheless, Mr Abbott is sending a signal to the Muslim community that six months ago the government wanted to increase free speech for the general community and now it wants to curb free speech for Muslims.

This will only increase the sense among Muslims that they are being singled out.

The same goes for Mr Abbott's remark that he wished Muslim leaders would join Western leaders in calling Islam a religion of peace.

ASIO has always been at pains not to alienate the Muslim community, which is a vital source of information on extremists. Mr Abbott isn't the first to call on Muslim leaders to be more vocal in condemning violence, but his harsh tone and the odd contrast with Western leaders has likely offended a wide section of the Muslim community – needlessly.

In Nigeria, Boko Haram Loses Ground to Chadians
From New York Times

Chad's army has made its deepest push yet into Nigeria in a three-front regional war against Boko Haram, entering a town 50 miles from a beleaguered Nigerian state capital that has been surrounded for months by the militant group, Nigerian security officials said Wednesday.

Chadian soldiers fought their way on Tuesday into the town of Dikwa, which had been in militant hands for at least the last five months, and to an important spot on the road between Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, and the Cameroonian border.

At the same time, the Nigerian Army was reported to have recaptured the nearby garrison town of Monguno, from which 1,000 of its soldiers fled the month before in the face of a Boko Haram attack.

The Nigerian Army had no official comment on the Chadian advance, but Chadian state television made note of it Wednesday evening, saying there had been heavy losses on the Boko Haram side in the fight for Dikwa, and that two Chadian soldiers had been killed.

A ranking official in Maiduguri — the Borno State governor's security adviser, Hussaini Monguno — confirmed that the Chadians "have advanced to Dikwa." A Nigerian military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, also confirmed the advance into the town. The Chadian push has become a sensitive point for the Nigerian military, which has admonished journalists for highlighting it.

Analysts have cautioned that it is too soon to say whether the new Chadian offensive will turn the tide against a terrorist group that has successfully held the Nigerian Army at bay for nearly six years, has captured significant territory in the northeast, and is practiced at fading back into the bush when confronted with superior firepower.

And Boko Haram's campaign of violence against civilians continues unabated: On Tuesday, a suicide bomber killed at least 36 in the Borno town of Biu. The group's presumed leader, Abubakar Shekau, pledged in a newly released video to disrupt coming elections in Nigeria. On Saturday, the militants attacked the town of Gombe, dropping leaflets that warned people not to vote.

The push by the Chadians is a rare occasion in which a military force has gone on the offensive against Boko Haram in the six-year insurgency. The Chadian Army is experienced in antiterrorist operations in semidesert territory, like the kind encountered in Boko Haram's heartland.

The new push against Boko Haram comes at a critical time in the political fortunes of the Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan, whose failure to end the insurgency was expected to weigh heavily against him on Election Day. The vote has already been postponed once, in part, analysts said, because Mr. Jonathan's prospects were so shaky. Elections are now set for March 28.

In a separate episode, officials in Niger said that a plane bombed a group of mourners in the border village of Abadam, mistaking them for a Boko Haram cell.

The plane "did not take off from either Niger or Chad," a leading regional official said. The Nigerian military denied responsibility, though refugees from Nigeria have in the past complained of indiscriminate bombing raids by the country's military.

[They launched an online protest following the murder of a 20-year-old student]

Turkish Men Are Wearing Miniskirts to Fight For Women's Rights
From TIME

They launched an online protest following the murder of a 20-year-old student


Some men wear skirts to show solidarity with women who have been protesting against violence against women since the recent murder of Ozgecan Aslan, a 20-year-old woman, during a march in Istanbul on Feb. 21, 2015.

Men throughout Turkey and neighboring Azerbaijan are donning miniskirts to honor Özgecan Aslan, a 20-year-old student who was allegedly murdered after fighting off a sexual assault by a minibus driver.

After Aslan's burned body was found by a riverbed, the BBC reports, young people in Turkey were galvanized to protest violence against women. And these protests took place both on the streets and on the Internet,

On Wednesday, a group of men in Azerbaijan are believed to have started the hashtag #ozgecanicinminietekgiy, which translates to "wear a miniskirt for Ozgecan." Since then, the hashtag has become viral.

A related Facebook page for participants explains, "If a miniskirt is responsible for everything, if [wearing] a miniskirt means immorality and unchastity, if a woman who wears a miniskirt is sending an invitation about what will happen to her, then we are also sending an invitation!"

Turkish lawyer and activist Hulya Gulbahar told CNN that the protest is "very effective."

"People try to find excuses for rapes and killings," she said. "But they didn't find any in this case, because Aslan was very innocent, purely innocent. The protest shows that a short skirt is not an excuse for rape."

[Parents with young children now have a new option for tablet-based entertainment, as Google on Monday officially unveiled YouTube Kids, a new app for the video sharing site focused on enabling children to discover content for themselves.]

Google launches new YouTube Kids app on Apple's iOS
From Apple Insider

Parents with young children now have a new option for tablet-based entertainment, as Google on Monday officially unveiled YouTube Kids, a new app for the video sharing site focused on enabling children to discover content for themselves.

YouTube Kids breaks video content down into four categories: Shows, Music, Learning, and Explore. The app also includes a search function to find specific videos, and YouTube says that it will only display content appropriate for children.

Google has secured content for YouTube Kids from DreamWorks TV, Jim Henson TV, Mother Goose Club, and Talking Tom and Friends, among others. A curated selection of videos from existing kid-friendly YouTube channels is available as well.

Parents can set limits for the length of time that children can use the app, and background music and sound effects can be disabled. The search function can also be turned off, restricting viewing to only pre-approved videos.

YouTube Kids was initially leaked late last week, and reports suggested that it would debut exclusively on Android, though that is not the case. The app is available now as a free, 45-megabyte download from the App Store.

[In an elephantine spectacle with few awards surprises, the Martin Luther King, Jr. movie provided a song and two acceptance speeches for the ages]

Birdman Soared, But Selma Stole the Show at the Oscars
From Time

In an elephantine spectacle with few awards surprises, the Martin Luther King, Jr. movie provided a song and two acceptance speeches for the ages

Neil Patrick Harris looks better in tighty whities than Michael Keaton does. Lady Gaga has a secure enough soprano voice to sing four numbers from The Sound of Music, as Julie Andrews awaits offstage. One of the Birdman screenwriters has a dog named Larry, to whom he dedicated his award. If you want acceptance-speech rhetoric to soar into political eloquence, call on two rappers. And the institution of the Academy Awards can keep that mythical audience of "one billion viewers" tuned in, through interest or inertia, for prizes given to movies seen by perhaps only four million cinematic zealots.

In a show that clocked in at 3 hours and 40 minutes — the running time of Gone With the Wind, and about an hour longer than it took Ellar Coltrane to get through a dozen years of Boyhood — Alejandro G. Iñárritu's inside-showbiz Birdman copped the major awards for Picture, Director and Original Screenplay, leaving its prime competitor, Richard Linklater's Boyhood, with only the sure-thing: a Supporting Actress prize for Patricia Arquette.

Your local prognosticator went six for seven in the major awards (missing out on the Birdman Screenplay win), in a year of heavy or prohibitive favorites. Julianne Moore earned Best Actress for Still Alice, J.K. Simmons won Supporting Actor for Whiplash and Eddie Redmayne took Best Actor for The Theory of Everything. That meant no Oscar for Keaton, who during the climactic onstage Best Picture revelry affected a Beetlejuice shrug and said, "Look, it's just great to be here, who am I kiddin'?" This was in keeping with his fatalist modesty this Saturday at the Independent Spirit Awards. When Keaton was asked where he'd put his Oscar statuette, he drily replied, "Next to my Nobel."

For the first time in a year with more than five Best Picture nominees, each of the eight finalists went home with a little or a lot of Oscar love: Birdman with a big four, including Cinematography; The Grand Budapest Hotel with four on the craft side (Costume, Makeup and Hair, Production Design and Original Score); Whiplash with a surprising three (Sound Mixing and Film Editing in addition to Simmons' lock); and one each for American Sniper (Sound Editing), Boyhood (Supporting Actress), The Imitation Game (Adapted Screenplay), Selma (Original Song) and The Theory of Everything (Actor).

On a TV evening whose commercials — for Samsung (home movies), Cadillac ("Dare greatly" to an Edith Piaf theme), xfinity (a blind child imagines her own Wizard of Oz movie) and iPad (illustrating a Martin Scorsese speech) — often showed more heart and craft than the onstage shenanigans, the Oscars show worked best, as TIME's James Poniewozik suggested in his review of the show, when it was the Grammys.

Highlights: Harris's clever opening song (written by Frozen composers Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez), The Lonely Island's droll take on The LEGO Movie's "Everything Is Awesome," Tim McGraw's plangent rendition of Glen Campbell's Alzheimer's song "I'm Not Gonna Miss You," Gaga's Maria von Trappezoid and, most powerfully, a choral performance of "Glory," from Selma, that packed more emotion that the movie it represented. A few minutes later, Common and John Legend (who won the "Glory" Oscar under their real names, Lonnie Lynn and John Stephens) truly elevated the discourse with their acceptance speeches.

Common spoke of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, where Martin Luther King Jr. assembled his nonviolent protestors against the violent Alabama police 50 years ago next week. "The spirit of this bridge connects the kid from the South side of Chicago [himself], dreaming of a better life, to those in France standing up for their freedom of expression to the people in Hong Kong protesting for democracy," Common said. "This bridge was built on hope, welded with compassion and elevated by love for all human beings." Legend, pointedly applying the lessons of last year's Best Picture winner 12 Years a Slave to 2015, noted that "There are more black men under correctional control today than were under slavery in 1850. When people are marching with our song, we want to tell you that we are with you, we see you, we love you — and march on." David Oyelowo, who played King, was in tears in the audience. Chris Pine too.

The other political messages, much commented on by bloggers, were in the service of moderate causes that only Fox News could take exception to. The Imitation Game screenwriter Graham Moore, a gay man who revealed he had attempted suicide at 16, advised insecure teens to be proud and "Stay weird." Simmons: Call your parents, and don't hang up till they're done talking. Arquette plumped for equal wages for women. Redmayne: Be nice to people with ALS. Moore: Be nice to people with Alzheimer's and ALS.

Recognizing sufferers of these diseases not only helps mend the social fabric — it wins Oscars for worthy stars. Moore became the fifth consecutive Best Actress — after Natalie Portman in Black Swan, Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady, Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook and Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine — to play a woman with Alzheimer's or some other severe emotional disturbance. And Redmayne took the My Left Foot award for contorting himself into a genius with extraordinary physical limitations.

Yet these two winners seemed genuinely ecstatic when they won their predicted awards. Moore managed to remain poised through her giddiness, but Redmayne interrupted himself mid-speech with a whooping "Wow!" and nearly ripped off his tuxedo tie. Congratulations to both of them. Coming during the titanic maelstrom of an overlong awards show, that's Acting.

Twitch Announces Plans For Its Own Convention
From GameSpot

Today during a livestream presentation, video streaming site Twitch announced that it will hold its own convention later this year called TwitchCon. The event will take place September 25-26 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. This is the same venue that hosts the Game Developers Conference.

Details regarding ticket sales and panel submissions, as well as an official schedule and more, will be shared later.

TwitchCon aims to be a "celebration of all things Twitch." Attendees can mingle with each other and popular broadcasters. Meanwhile, there will be live content on display as well as presentations from top people in the field of video streaming.

"Twitch broadcasters have the most passionate fans, so we want to create an amazing experience where they can come together in person," Twitch CEO Emmett Shear said. "TwitchCon will be an opportunity for the entire community--broadcasters, game developers, viewers, and us--to play and learn together."

Twitch has also launched a dedicated TwitchCon website and Twitter account.

Are you interested in attending the first-ever TwitchCon this year? Let us know in the comments below!

Other gamer-focused conventions include MineCon (Minecraft) and BlizzCon (Blizzard Entertainment), ParadoxCon (Paradox Interactive), QuakeCon (Bethesda), PAX, and others.

TwitchCon will be organized by ReedPop, the group that also puts together big-name shows such as PAX and New York Comic-Con, among others.


Submitted by Green_Giant

Thanks to evolution, sea creatures have kept getting bigger and bigger
From The Washington Post

A new study says sea creatures follow a hypothesis called Cope's rule, which states that in a lineage, animals will get heftier as time goes on. Published Thursday in Science, the study finds that the average size of marine mammals has increased by 150 times since the Cambrian period 542 million years ago.

So why are all the whales getting chubby? They're just adding weight to a theory posited back in the 1800s: Edward Drinker Cope and his colleagues had noticed that many ancient fossils showed much smaller animals than their modern descendants. They decided this might be an evolutionary trend, not a coincidence.

It makes sense: Larger animals would be better at avoiding predators, and at catching some prey of their own; they'd be more equipped to store body fat and survive cold temperatures and famine; and they'd be able to develop and support larger, more complex brains.

Of course, Cope's rule didn't turn out to be a universal truth. If you've ever seen a fossil of a giant sloth, for example, you know that these massive sluggards went extinct in favor of much, much smaller cousins. And dinosaurs are another great example: Scientists now believe that birds, the surviving descendants of a select lucky few dinosaur species, are around because they shrank faster than their compatriots, allowing them to seek out new resources and habitats.

But in the sea, it seems, Cope's rule rules supreme. From the BBC:

It appears that the explosion of different life forms near the start of that time window eventually skewed decisively towards bulkier animals. Today's tiniest sea critter is less than 10 times smaller than its Cambrian counterpart, measured in terms of volume; both are minuscule crustaceans. But at the other end of the scale, the mighty blue whale is more than 100,000 times the size of the largest animal the Cambrian could offer: another crustacean with a clam-like, hinged shell.

To see if the theory held up in the murky deep, Stanford University research Noel Heim analyzed body size data from every available source.

"We've had at least 50 high school students working on it over the last five years," Heim told the BBC.

While not every single kind of animal got bigger over time (arthopods, such as crustaceans, have actually gotten smaller), those that were larger had many more evolutionary offspring. In other words, more modern species descended from common ancestors who were larger in size.

To confirm that evolution really did favor size, Heim and his team ran computer simulations to see which species would survive, flourish, and reproduce given different parameters. Some of the simulations allowed for random size variation, and some gave larger animals an advantage over their smaller neighbors. But the simulation that made size an advantage matched the fossil record the best, which indicates that the size change wasn't random.

Not to worry: It's not likely that whales will keep growing and growing forever.

"In the short term, there's certainly evidence [the animals] will continue to get bigger," Heim told Live Science. But over time, it would get more difficult for the marine creatures to feed (and find homes for) their gargantuan bodies -- so this evolutionary advantage definitely has its limits.

Cyclones battering Australian coast bring 'Sharknado' to life as locals find shark washed up on beach
From National Post

Two tropical cyclones in Australia have brought the campy film Sharknado to life, with residents in Lennox Head in New South Wales waking up Friday to the sight of a shark washed up on the beach after a stormy night.

A photo of the shark made the rounds on Australian TV and on social media Friday in the aftermath of Cyclone Marcia and Cyclone Lam, which battered the country's east and north coasts and caused widespread property damage, as well as flooding and power outages in some communities.

Victor Leto, who posted the photo of the big fish on Facebook, said it was about four feet in length and likely of the dusky shark species.

Australians had braced for the worst as the two severe tropical cyclones lashed the country's north and east coasts.

Cyclone Marcia made landfall as a category 5, with winds gusting up to 170 kilometres an hour, according to Australia's Bureau of Meteorology.

To the north, Cyclone Lam crossed the Northern Territory coast as a category 4 system, the bureau said. It has since been downgraded to a category 1 storm.

There have been no deaths or injuries as a result of the storms.

Malaria drug resistance poses 'enormous threat'
From CBC News

Signs of total resistance to a key anti-malarial drug have been detected in a large swath of Myanmar's border with India, raising fears for scientists who aim to eliminate the killer disease.

Artemisinin is a vital drug in the fight against malaria infections. If drug resistance spreads from Asia or independently in the continent of Africa as it has before, then millions would be left empty-handed.

In a new study, researchers used blood samples from patients with symptoms at 55 malaria treatment centres across Mynamar and its border regions to test for a resistant mutation in the plasmodium parasite.

In Friday's issue of the Lancet Infectious Diseases, researchers presented a map showing the mutation was prevalent in Mynamar's northwest border with India.

Mynamar is considered the front line in the battle against artemisinin resistance, said the study's senior author, Dr. Charles Woodrow from the Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit in Bangkok. A previous study suggests the country has substantially more malaria than other nations in southeast Asia.

"Our study shows that artemisinin resistance extends over more of southeast Asia than had previously been known, and is now present close to the border with India. This finding expands the area in which containment and elimination are needed to prevent the possibility of global spread of artemisinin resistance," the study's authors concluded.

"A vigorous international effort to contain this enormous threat is needed."

Study co-author Philippe Guerin, director of the Worldwide Antimalarial Resistance Network, said the pace of artemisinin resistance spread or emergence is alarming.

Last year, a study in western Cambodia showed switching to another anti-malarial improved the effectiveness of combination treatments based on artemisinin, but only temporarily.

The World Health Organization reported last year that malaria death rates decreased by 47 per cent between 2000 and 2013. It attributed the success to greater access to insecticide-treated bed nets, more accurate diagnostic tests and effective treatments such as artemisinin-based combinations.

The research in Friday's Lancet Infectious Diseases was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the ExxonMobil Foundation.

Euro region strengthens amid wrangling over Greece
From Chicago Tribune

Euro-area manufacturing and services strengthened this month, indicating the region's economy is building momentum even as concerns mount about a possible Greek exit from the common currency.

A composite Purchasing Managers Index for both sectors rose to 53.5 from 52.6 in January, London-based Markit Economics said on Friday. That exceeded the median forecast of economists for a reading of 53 and is the highest in seven months.

The 19-country economy grew 0.3 percent in the final three months of 2014, and Markit estimates a similar pace of growth this quarter. Germany is leading the region's recovery as a weakening currency lifts exports, while European Central Bank stimulus and a boon from cheaper energy costs is bolstering confidence about the outlook.

"Undeterred by the ongoing Greek debt crisis, economic growth is gathering momentum and looks set to gain further traction in coming months," said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit in London. "With the ECB's quantitative easing 'bazooka' due to start in March, business optimism has been boosted to its highest for three-and-a-half years."

Markit's manufacturing gauge for the region rose to 51.1 in February from 51 in January, less than economists had forecast. The services measure jumped to 53.9 from 52.7, beating estimates. A reading above 50 indicates expansion.

"Growth is looking lop-sided," Williamson said. It's "very much dependent on the services economy where lower prices are fueling growth, especially in consumer-facing sectors. The weakness of the manufacturing economy remains a major concern."

In a sign of rising optimism, hiring picked up and the rate of job creation was the strongest since 2011, according to Markit. German investor confidence rose to the highest in a year this month, buoyed by the imminent arrival of fresh stimulus, the ZEW Center for European Economic Research said on Tuesday.

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi will buy 1.1 trillion euros ($1.3 trillion) of bond purchases to stave off deflation. Consumer prices in the currency bloc fell an annual 0.6 percent in January, far from the ECB's goal of just below 2 percent. Markit said average selling prices in the euro area have been falling continuously for three years, though they declined at a slower pace this month.

Nevertheless, potential financial-market turmoil related to Greece threatens the recovery. Euro-area finance ministers will hold emergency talks with Greek officials Friday amid increasing pressure to find a compromise on maintaining funding to the indebted country.

Markit said its composite PMI for Germany increased to 54.3 in February from 53.5 in January. The gauge is now at its highest in seven months. France's measure rose to 52.2 from 49.3, the highest since August 2011.

Government officials, lawmakers killed in Somalia terror attack
From LA Times

Al Shabab militants attacked a hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia, where lawmakers and government officials were holding Friday prayers, killing at least 10 and severely wounding many others.

Twin explosions rocked the Central Hotel, with a suicide bomber ramming a vehicle loaded with explosives into the outside gate and a second suicide bomber attacking inside the compound, according to news reports.

Gunmen then stormed the building in a signature attack of Al Shabab, the Al Qaeda-linked group that claimed responsibility for the attack and is fighting to topple the U.N.-backed Somali government.

The hotel is near the Villa Somalia government compound, and among the dead were several government officials and lawmakers, the reports said. Many other government officials, including deputy prime minister Mohamed Omar Arte, were wounded.

"The building was badly hit, the explosion was very big. There were very many wounded people too, many of them seriously," police officer Abulrahman Ali told the Agence France-Press news service. Witness Ali Hussein said he saw 10 dead, according to AFP.

After decades of civil war, Somalia has stabilized to some extent, and Al Shabab has recently suffered a series of crucial setbacks after losing several leaders in U.S. airstrikes. It has lost control of key towns and cities but it remains capable of carrying out devastating terror attacks in Mogadishu and other Somali communities.

The terror group still targets government buildings, restaurants, cafes and hotels where officials and journalists meet. It is also believed responsible for assassinations of government officials and journalists.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud condemned the latest attack but said it would not stop Somalia from restoring peace.

"We shall continue the anti-terrorism war. This attack makes clear that terrorists don't have any respect for the peaceful religion of Islam by killing innocent Muslims," he said in a statement.

Abdi Aynte, minister of planning and international cooperation, wrote on Twitter that the militants would not break the country's spirit.

"Terrorist groups can kill and injure us, but they can never break the spirit of the Somali people. We shall overcome," he said.

[Gather round League of Legends players, for Riot Games has a wondrous tale to tell. A new champion preview page has gone live, teasing the next roster addition to the world's biggest MOBA. While cryptic at best, the page suggests the new champion will revolve around storytelling, song and the stars, via the skills of a bard.]

League of Legends champion preview teases bard character with a stary campfire tale
From PCGames


Gather round League of Legends players, for Riot Games has a wondrous tale to tell. A new champion preview page has gone live, teasing the next roster addition to the world's biggest MOBA. While cryptic at best, the page suggests the new champion will revolve around storytelling, song and the stars, via the skills of a bard.

If you head over to the champion preview page, you'll be greeted with an cosy campfire, where a chap is presumably retelling an ancient story to some kids.

"Stories are not just history." the tale states. "They can be so much more. They nourish your mind and, if told well, can even fill your belly. Some tales are warnings, reaching across time. Others uplift our souls from the yoke of everyday burdens. We laugh at fools, cheer heroes, and curse villains until the fire burns down to embers.

"Our first rule: The facts may be important, but they aren't as vital as the telling, of speaking to who we are and why we live. Details might change and fade, but truth lives with us for all time."

The story goes on to speak about ancient constellations and their hidden meanings. The final one is of some importance: known as the "Mask" according to the image files, it represents a direct link to this new mysterious champion.

"Some call it the Mountain Shrines or the Great Caretaker. Those of us from the floating villages know of an older name, a name that speaks of a universal truth. The name we took for our kind: Bard."

Riot are remaining tight lipped on any further information about this "Bard" character, but they've provided a cleaned up picture of the page background - it makes for a gorgeous wallpaper.

Scotland Yard fears 3 missing London girls left to join ISIS
From USA Today

Scotland Yard said Friday it fears that three missing teenage girls are en route to Syria through Turkey to join the terrorist group Islamic State. It appealed through social media to try to convince them to return home before they cross the border.

Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and an unnamed 15 year old, all from London's Bethnal Green Academy, flew during their mid-term break from London's Gatwick Airport to Istanbul on Tuesday, according to London Metro Police.

The third girl is not being named at the request of her family. Shamima is possibly traveling under the name of Aklima Begum, police said.

The girls, shown on airport surveillance video, are friends with a fourth student who went to Syria in December.

Police commander Richard Walton, of Scotland Yard's counter terrorism unit, said the three — described as "straight-A students" and "normal girls" — were last seen on Tuesday when they gave their families "plausible reasons" to be out for the day.

They then boarded a Turkish Airlines flight, which landed in Turkey that evening.

"We are reaching out to the girls using the Turkish media and social media in the hope that Shamima, Kadiza and their friend hear our messages, hear our concerns for their safety and have the courage to return now, back to their families who are so worried about them," said Walton

If police can locate the girls while they are stuck in Turkey, he said, "there is a possibility we can bring them home to their families."

Walton said police are concerned about the number of girls and young women who have already left or intend to travel to the part of Syria controlled by Islamic State.

"It is an extremely dangerous place and we have seen reports of what life is like for them, how restricted their lives become," he said. "It is not uncommon for girls or women to be prevented from being allowed out of their houses or if allowed out, only when accompanied by a guardian."

Walton said that if the girls made it into Syria, they might not be able to leave if they change their minds.

"The choice of returning home from Syria is often taken away from those under the control of Islamic State, leaving their families in the U.K. devastated and with very few options to secure their safe return," he said.

Last year, twin teenage sisters Zahra and Salma Halane from Manchester turned up later in Syria as "jihadi brides," The Telegraph reports. They later were widowed when their husbands died while fighting for Islamic State.

The newspaper says one of the sisters recently posted photos from Syria showing her completing self-defense training with AK47s and handguns.

In another case, police prevented a 15 year old from joining Islamic State by stopping her flight to Turkey on the runway at Heathrow.

ESL to host the world's largest Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event!
From ESL Gaming

From August the 22nd to the 23rd 2015, the second largest multifunctional arena on the globe will be playing host to ESL One Cologne, which is to be the world's largest Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament to date.

Thanks to a partnership between the LANXESS arena and ESL, ESL One Cologne will be taking place at the famous arena widely known as the home of ice hockey giants Kölner Haie. There, sixteen of the world's best Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams will duke it out in front of a roaring crowd filling a 15,000-seat stadium, which has been visited by over 28 million guests since the arena's opening in 1998.

Ulrich Schulze, managing director of pro gaming at ESL, said of the upcoming event:

We had the honor of hosting two US$250,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournaments last year as part of the ESL One esports tour, and this year we plan on stepping it up. ESL One Cologne is going to be the largest Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event in the world. Taking place in the biggest indoor arena in Germany, we're sure it'll be a massive hit with fans from all over.

ESL One Cologne will be ESL's fourth US$250,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament in just over two years. However, while previous ESL One events featured a community funded prize pool, the prize money for Cologne will be provided solely by ESL, Ulrich Schulze identifying this as proof of the company's dedication to the game's esports development and that 2015 would see ESL do even more with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive than ever before.

Stefan Löcher, CEO of ARENA management GmbH, said of ESL One Cologne:

We're very excited to be the first German arena to host an event of this kind. We are convinced that Cologne, as both a tourist destination and as a technology capital, is perfectly suited. In cooperation with our partner, ESL, we're looking forward to hosting some of the world's best esports players and their fans.

Ticket sales for ESL One Cologne will begin on the 23rd of February via Eventim and all associated ticketing agencies in Germany, with more information on tournament structure and the qualification process to be released at a later date, so stay tuned!

For more information, head over to the official event site at www.esl-one.com.

We hope to see you at the LANXESS arena in August!



Submitted by itsConnor_

The rise and fall of Mobile Gaming
From CNA Finance

In the technologically advanced world we live in today, people have access to limitless amounts of information. The barriers to entry into an industry are decreasing before our eyes. Youtube stars are popping up around the globe, unheard of companies are receiving million dollar valuations, and individuals are starting their own ventures instead of adding value to existing enterprises. These are all great benefits of the internet age for entrepreneurs; however, one negative aspect of this culture is being seen in the mobile gaming sphere. With access to all this information, consumers' attention spans are getting shorter, meaning that these mobile games have a shorter life span, and the companies in this industry need to create more value for consumers while also maximizing the profits over a shorter period of time. However, I don't see this currently happening; companies like Zynga, Glu Mobile, and King.com are still following the same model as companies like EA or Blizzard, which is why there has been such volatility within this industry.

Zynga is a perfect example for this case. When they set their IPO price at $10 a share, it seemed like a good value due to their success with games like Farmville and Mafia Wars on Facebook. What Zynga management and investors did not account for was the short lifespan of these games. Zynga had been valued based on the success of these games, yet, when the novelty wore off, consumers stopped playing these games as quickly as they started and moved on to something else. As a company with over $2 Billion, one would expect them to learn from these early faults. However, they continued down this path, following the wants of consumers, but always one step behind. In an attempt to keep up with the attention spans of consumers, Zynga made a number of large purchases of companies with newest popular games, such as OMGPop's Draw Something or Bonfire Studios' Words With Friends. However, by the time these purchases went through, the growth in popularity of these games was already waning. Zynga would never see a return on their investment from these purchases. Zynga isn't the only company who is making these same mistakes.

Glu Mobile has had some successful games since they started in 2001, but has seen volatility since their IPO similar to Zynga. However, they have never gained the attraction or popularity that Zynga once had, until they released Kim Kardashian: Hollywood in October 2014. With the popularity of the reality star, this game quickly hit the top of the app store charts and sent Glu's stock to a 52 week high of nearly $7.60 per share. Users loved this new genre of game and it eventually lead to Glu Mobile's most profitable year to date. However, less than a year later, the popularity of this game is decreasing and not holding the spotlight any longer and Glu's stock priced fell dramatically to lows in the $3.40 range. Yet, Glu has not learned from this lesson and recently signed a 5 year agreement with Katy Perry to recreate the game with this year's star. While I agree that Glu can still capitalize on the genre they have created, I will be interested to see if this is truly a new, innovative game or if it is Kim Kardashian Hollywood with a Katy Perry spin. The big question comes to: will users have the same level of interest in a similar game or has the novelty worn off? In my opinion, the novelty has worn off. There will be Katy Perry fans who will play the game, but I don't think it will attract the spotlight that the Kim Kardashian version held. This is not to mention the 5 year agreement between Glu and Katy Perry, for a game that will only peak for a few months, even if it does follow the success of Kim Kardashian: Hollywood.

King.com is one of the latest mobile gaming companies to complete their IPO. Due to the popularity of their Kandy Krush and similar games with different "skins", their IPO was priced significantly higher than Zynga's or Glu Mobile's. Despite the IPO price differences, these stocks followed the exact same pattern following their IPO. Down on the first day, followed by a bullish surge, and then a huge sell off causing the stock price to drop nearly 50%. I believe that this is all caused by the same problem, these companies are being valued based on their current success, yet people seem to forget that the focus should be more on the pipeline of games coming through, not the current popular game. By the time the market reacts to these games' success, users are already starting to lose interest in the game. While Kandy Krush has provided King.com with some early success, they have yet to prove they can provide other successful games outside of this model.

Part of the issue is that these companies are being compared to long-standing successful companies like EA and Blizzard, who tend to focus more on the hardcore gamer demographic. These console and PC games tend to focus more on skill-based interaction and users are rewarded for their long-term loyalty to a game or franchise. Games like World of Warcraft have been largely successful due to the release of compatible expansions that allow users to carry over their skills, stats, and characters between games and utilize their skills in an ever-expanding world. Mobile games, in their current state, should not follow this same business model because they tend to focus more on point and click, micro transactions, and less skill-based interaction. Users are not rewarded for long-term use like they are in online console or PC games, so they have little motivation to keep playing the game on a long-term basis. Mobile game companies need to act on this gaming culture to stay ahead of the curve and continue to see long-term success, otherwise we will be seeing an industry of one hit wonders.

'The Order: 1886' Is A Beautiful, Failed Experiment In 'Cinematic' Gaming
From Forbes

Gamers will get to play The Order: 1886 for themselves tomorrow, but today the veil drops and the press are allowed to share their opinions about the game, myself included. Ready at Dawn has done an admirable job handing out review copies well in advance, and granting an embargo a full day ahead of launch, which deserves at least a golf clap in this day and age.

And yet, the release couldn't go off without a hitch, as a few days earlier, a YouTuber started a firestorm by claiming The Order was only five and a half hours long, after he uploaded footage of what was supposed to be the entire thing online. Ready at Dawn had to come out and say that no, he was wrong, and then broke into an impassioned (but flawed) defense of short games all the same.

In the end, Ready at Dawn was technically right. The Order: 1886 is not five and a half hours long, and it probably isn't physically possible to complete it in that amount of time. However, my playthrough was no longer than seven and a half hours, and that's accounting for a handful of deaths and time spent exploring more than a few nooks and crannies. So while it may be impossible to beat the game in five hours, it's also damn hard to make it last more than eight or nine. The rigid linearity makes it difficult to wander too far outside the bounds of where the game wants you to go next, and the only way I can see the game being 9-12 hours as some have reported would be through constant and repeated death, dependent on difficulty or skill level.

Now it's clear why Ready at Dawn denied the original rumors, yet still made an impassioned defense for short games all the same. The idea was that they were going for a "quality over quantity" approach, and tried to infuse the game with a unique sensibility that integrates cutscenes with different forms of gameplay in a way that hasn't really been seen to date.

"We didn't rely on the same content," Ready at Dawn CEO Ru Weerasuriya told Eurogamer. "That's one of the things we did. We didn't want to be the one trick pony that went, all right, we're making a shooter, so basically forget everything else, you're just going to pick up a gun and you can go around and shoot at people. Not to sound like I'm putting anything down, it's actually easier to do that and say, look, that's all we're going to do."

What's clear is that all of The Order: 1886's storytelling/combat systems have one thing in common, to make the game as "cinematic" as possible. And as a result, that becomes the core problem of the game, and speaks to the thorny issue of trying to make a game feel more like a movie.

When I refer to The Order's "cinematic problem," I'm not talking about framerate drama or the now-infamous black bars that came up as issues ahead of launch. Neither of those turn out to be a big deal whatsoever. Rather, I'm talking about how the game's relentless pursuit of a "cinematic" experience makes it fail as what it actually is, a game.

Other games have tried to make more movie-like games, and many have succeeded. Right now, there are two main schools of cinematic games in existence, "Action" cinema and "Drama" cinema.



When I say "cinematic action" in regards to video game, what series springs to mind? That would likely be Uncharted, a game that's strictly linear, yet uses high-intensity set pieces, collapsing buildings, sinking ships, to make gameplay feel explosive, unpredictable and movielike. The game sometimes pans away to cutscenes in between the action so Drake can crack a joke before he returns to destroying ancient wonders of the world, but they're just dressing. The "cinematic" experience is in the gameplay itself.

But for "Drama" cinema, we have story-heavy, action-light games like Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls, The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us. These are games that rely almost entirely on choice-making through dialog trees or the occasional action prompt, and use QTEs to move the action forward, one way or another. In these games, they drag you through the story whatever the cost, sometimes even if your inability to press matching buttons gets your character killed (in the case of Heavy Rain).

The Order: 1886 is another class entirely, a type of game only made possibly by the recent advancements in console graphics with this new generation. We're now at a point where the type of gorgeous cinematic cutscenes we've seen in games for years, can now slide smoothly into the game engine itself. In The Order's case, that means an entire game that's essentially one fluid cutscene, occasionally interspersed with moments of character control and combat.

For example, you might sit through an entire chapter of the game where you don't even touch your controller. Or, you might watch a cutscene, then move your character ten paces, then be treated to another one. But it's a blurred line between what's gameplay and what isn't. Though there are traditional combat sequences that have you roaming around shotgunning baddies hiding behind chest-high walls, any cutscene has the potential to throw a quick-time event at you at any moment, so you always have to be on your guard.

Before we get to the negatives of this set-up, I have to mention the positives. Far and away, The Order: 1886 is the best-looking game I've seen on PS4 so far. I said that if the game was going to be short, it would have to make up for it, in part, in production value, and The Order delivers that in spades. Moving in and out of cutscenes and player control is almost perfectly seamless, so much so that you often will sit staring at the screen, not knowing you have to do something because you didn't even catch the transition.

Additionally, the huge prevalence of cutscenes (probably at least two to three hours of the game's total running time, if you add up the major and minor ones), allows The Order to paint an interesting story with solid, well fleshed-out characters. I really wouldn't have imagined steampunk Victorian werewolf hunters would possibly interest me, and yet by the end, I was proven wrong. In some games, particularly shooters, there are only a handful of cutscenes throughout the game where we get anything from substance from the main characters. But after a complete playthrough of The Order, you've essentially watched a feature length film's worth of cutscenes, and the characters are able to resonate with you after so much exposure to them. On top of that, they're paired with great voice acting, decent writing and stellar animation that makes them more convincing than the casts of most games out there (also, this is the first new-gen console game I've seen do hair well).

But while The Order creates a great story experience for the limited time we spend with it, its pursuit of "cinema" ultimately makes it fail as a game. The Order separates itself from games like Uncharted and Heavy Rain by failing to adopt any of the things that made those games great.

By being so reliant on cutscenes, when you're flung into actual combat, you find there's far less thought and effort put into those encounters. As an actual shooter, The Order is as unimaginative and mundane as any game that's even thrown a random chest-high wall on the ground. It is outclassed by nearly every recent third person shooter you can think of, from Uncharted to Tomb Raider to Gears of War to The Last of Us. With all the "cinema" in the in-between moments, there's nothing left for combat itself. It's never dynamic, it's usually just waves of enemies running into a room, with you often staying behind the same piece of cover until you kill them all.



With its goal to create one fluid cutscene-based narrative, The Order loses something on the other side of the coin too. There's no player choice at all, and most of the time, you don't even feel the need to be there. Conversations play out without your help. You never choose who to kill or who to save. The story is told in spite of your presence, not with your assistance. Both Action cinematic games and Dramatic cinematic games still heavily rely on the player to either act out explosive action sequences or make hard choices that alter the course of the story. But in The Order, the pursuit of turning a game into a movie strips out the very purpose of telling a story through a game in the first place.

It's beautiful, well-made and engaging without being, in the least, fun. Combat is as dry as cover-based shooting gets, while any "puzzles" the game presents can be solved by looking around the room and finding the only object you can interact with. And with the player given absolutely no way to influence the story with their own decisions, the entire experience just feels like a misfired experiment. It looks pretty and sounds nice and even has a good story, but certainly no one is having any fun playing it.

So what's the problem? Does Ready at Dawn just not know how to make fun games? I don't think that's it. Rather, the issue here is cost, and now we circle back to the original issue of running time.

Most gamers will know that creating a cutscene is an incredibly time-consuming and costly process. It's why games normally use them sparingly, and often switch between their special cutscene engine and the regular game engine when they do so to make those moments distinctive and special.

But now, The Order is a game that is essentially one long cutscene. A damn good one, at that. The animation is amazing, the modeling and lighting and texturing is out of the world compared to rivals in the console space. More than once I just stood still and looked around in awe, something I don't think I can remember doing since maybe, the original Gears of War when it showed what the Xbox 360 was truly capable of.

So what's happened is that Ready and Dawn and Sony sunk practically all of the game's resources into production quality. That investment paid off handsomely, but the "game" aspects all suffered as a result. No room for dynamic combat, just traditional whack-a-mole shooting. No time for complex, thought provoking puzzles, just pull that one level over there. And no time for a story with conversation trees and branching story paths. Just sit back and watch these people act out our script.



Not every game needs to have a player-directed narrative, something I've said in the past, but here, it would be one aspect that would have at least helped the game feel more like a game. But paired with the fact that both combat and puzzle segments are so sparse and dry, again, it all combines to make for a somewhat unsettling interactive cutscene filled with plodding combat and insta-death QTEs.

So, in the end, is The Order: 1886 worth the $60 purchase price, knowing everything I know now? I'm not sure.

The length, as it turns out, isn't really the issue. The core problems with its "cinematic-ness" I talk about here wouldn't be fixed by simply slapping four or five more hours onto the end of it and calling it a day. But what you have to know going in is that you're paying for production value, and production value alone. I'm not sure there's even another game to compare it to. I can't remember if I've ever seen a gulf this wide between a game being absolutely gorgeous with a high quality story, yet failing so miserably in every aspect that involves actual gameplay. As such, it kind of makes scoring it with a single number maddening, and I don't envy those who have to do it. It's sort of a bizarro world version of Destiny, a game with amazingly fun gameplay yet a story so anemic it barely exists at all.

I genuinely don't know how The Order is going to be received, as I'm writing this before I'm reading scored reviews and fan reactions, but I think it's going to prove to be a very divisive title. In the end, a $60 purchase price does seem rather steep for a game that you will probably not squeeze more than 7-8 hours out of, which may ultimately be the deciding factor for many. With that said, I am glad I played it, and I feel the time was well-spent enough to recommend it to those who are curious. Can something be a bad game, but a good media...experience, overall? That may be the case here. Just know what you're getting into ahead of time: A beautiful, flawed, ambitious, tragic experiment in cinematic game storytelling.

Some signs of tension emerge among Islamic State militants
From The Washington Post


In this Tuesday, Oct . 7, 2014 file photo, Iraqi security forces hold a flag of the Islamic State group they captured during an operation outside Amirli, some 105 miles (170 kilometers) north of Baghdad, Iraq. The Islamic State group may be sprouting tentacles across the region but it is struggling in Syria, part of its heartland, where it has stalled or even lost ground in fighting with multiple enemies on multiple fronts. There are signs of tensions and powers struggles emerging among its ranks of foreign jihadis. (Associated Press)

As the Islamic State group tries to expand and take root across the Middle East, it is struggling in Syria — part of its heartland — where it has stalled or even lost ground while fighting multiple enemies on several fronts.

Signs of tension and power struggles are emerging among the ranks of its foreign fighters.

The extremists remain a formidable force, and the group's hold on about a third of Iraq and Syria remains firm. But it appears to be on the defensive in Syria for the first time since it swept through the territory last year and is suffering from months of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes and the myriad factions fighting it on the ground.

"They are struggling with new challenges that did not exist before," said Lina Khatib, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut.

Kurdish forces dealt the Islamic State its heaviest setback by driving it from the border town of Kobani in northern Syria last month. Since then, those forces have joined with moderate Syrian rebels to take back about 215 villages in the same area, according to Kurdish commanders and activists, including the Britain-based monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The gains have strained supply lines between the Islamic State group's westernmost strongholds in Aleppo province from its core territory in eastern Syria. The Kurdish-rebel forces are now expected to take the fight to some of those strongholds, particularly the large towns of Minbij and Jarablus, as well as Tal Abyad, a border crossing with Turkey that is a major avenue for commerce for the extremists.

Around the town of al-Bab, one of the IS group's westernmost strongholds, the extremists are making tactical withdrawals. Residents have noted a thinner militant presence in al-Bab.

The militants are also finding themselves bogged down in costly battles with the government forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The extremist group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, has been stuck in fierce fighting with the Syrian army near the Deir el-Zour air base, the last major Syrian military stronghold in the eastern province. IS launched an unsuccessful attack to seize the base last month, and it continues to try.

It is too early to call the shifts a turning point, but they represent the slow grind of the international campaign against the Islamic State group, which long seemed unconquerable as it seized territory stretching from outside the city of Aleppo in northern Syria's at one end to the outskirts of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad at the other.

In Iraq, the combination of coalition airstrikes, Kurdish forces, Shiite militias and Iraqi troops have pushed IS back around the edges, but the militants succeeded this week in taking new territory for the first time in months. They also raised new alarms with the presence of their affiliate in Libya.

But it was in the Syrian town of Kobani that the Islamic State suffered its worst single loss — more than 1,000 militants killed — and much of its heavy weaponry and vehicles destroyed. The January defeat followed five months of fighting by mostly Kurdish ground forces and coalition airstrikes that left about 70 percent of the town in ruins and sent tens of thousands of its residents fleeing over the nearby border into Turkey.

After the loss of Kobani, signs of fissures within the IS group have emerged.

Bari Abdellatif, a resident of al-Bab who also has fled to Turkey, said friction between Chechen and Uzbek militants recently led to clashes between the two that ended only with the intervention of Omar al-Shishani, a prominent Chechen IS commander. At least two senior figures were killed because of the internal strife, he said.

"The prolonged battle for Kobani caused a lot of tensions — fighters accused each other of treachery and eventually turned on each other," Abdellatif said.

Several other activists confirmed recent clashes between factions from different national backgrounds within IS.

Last month, a senior official with the group's Hisba, or vice police, was found beheaded in Deir el-Zour province. A cigarette was stuffed in his mouth, apparently trying to show he was killed for smoking, which is banned by IS, but there are suspicions the official — an Egyptian — was killed by the extremists who suspected him of spying.

An activist based in the group's de facto capital of Raqqa, Syria, said foreign fighters bicker over administrative and financial issues. Several militants have been killed on suspicion of spying or trying to defect.

"Daesh tries to portray itself as one thing, but beneath the surface there's a lot of dirt," the activist said, using the Arabic acronym for the group and speaking on condition of anonymity out of concern for his security.

Earlier this month, the extremists dismissed one of the group's religious officials in Aleppo province and referred him to a religious court after he objected to the immolation of a captured Jordanian air force pilot, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"IS is now beginning to struggle to keep its own forces coherent — and this is separate from all the external factors that are impacting it negatively," Khatib said.

She said the new troubles have a lot to do with the fact that IS in Syria is operating in the context of a civil war where people become greedy and refuse to cede power to others.

"Even ISIS is not immune from the warlord phenomenon that takes place in the context of civil war and is being witnessed in Syria today," she said.

In Raqqa, stepped-up coalition airstrikes in response to the Jordanian pilot's killing has shaken the group, activists say.

An anti-IS media collective called Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently said the extremists have been forcing residents to donate blood after dozens of fighters were seriously wounded. It also reported that the group recently imposed a nighttime curfew and put up nighttime roadblocks to curb desertions by members trying to reach Turkey.

While foreigners from around the globe have joined IS, many disillusioned new recruits have left or are trying to leave, finding life to be very different and more violent than they had expected.

The Observatory says the militant group has killed more than 120 of its own members in the past six months, most of them foreign fighters hoping to return home.

"When we take all these little puzzle pieces together and we assemble our mosaic, it's very clear that they're having issues. ... I believe that they are hurting," said Scott Stewart, vice president of Tactical Analysis at Stratfor, a global intelligence and advisory firm.

Faysal Itani, a resident fellow at the Atlantic Council, said it has become more difficult for IS to make substantial territorial progress, but the group still does not face any significant challenge to its rule in its strongholds.

"ISIS continues to build support among tribal groups, and attract fighters defecting from other insurgent groups," he said.

2 strong cyclones hit remote parts of northern Australia
From The Washington Post

Two powerful cyclones smashed into northern Australia on Friday, with authorities ordering coastal residents to flee their homes amid warnings the storms' violent winds and drenching rains could prove deadly.

The twin storms, dubbed the "cyclone sandwich" by locals, struck early Friday, about 2,500 kilometers (1,500 miles) apart. Cyclone Lam hit a sparsely populated stretch of the Northern Territory, while the more powerful and potentially dangerous Cyclone Marcia began crossing over small coastal towns along the eastern coast of Queensland state a few hours later, packing wind gusts up to 285 kilometers (180 miles) an hour.

"Over the next few hours, many thousands of Queenslanders are going to go through a harrowing and terrifying experience," Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said. "This is a severe cyclone. I want everyone to take all the precautions that they possibly can take."

About 30,000 people living in the Queensland town of Yeppoon and surrounding areas were expected to experience the worst of the storm. More than 100 schools were closed and nearly 900 residents in low-lying areas were told to evacuate their homes.

No immediate damage had been reported, but officials pleaded with hardened Queensland residents — no stranger to violent cyclones — to take the storm seriously. A cyclone of similar strength, Yasi, hit the state in 2011, destroying scores of homes but causing no deaths.

"This is going to be a calamity, there's absolutely no doubt about that," Queensland Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said.

The Bureau of Meteorology warned that Marcia had a "very destructive core," had intensified rapidly and was likely to cause flooding.

In the Northern Territory, Cyclone Lam struck a remote stretch of coast, tearing up trees and downing power lines, but causing no major damage as it weakened and moved further inland. No injuries had been reported.

Epic to Award $5M in Grants to Unreal Engine Developers
From PCMag

Game developers who need money to finish their project have a new option, courtesy of Epic Games.
The gaming firm on Thursday announced a $5 million grant program to fund select projects being built with and around its new Unreal Engine 4 suite of tools. The company will provide "no strings attached" grants ranging from $5,000 to $50,000, and any project that has reached the "working prototype" stage of development is eligible for nomination.

"Since Unreal Engine 4's launch, we've been amazed at the groundswell of cool projects in development by the Unreal community," Epic founder Tim Sweeney wrote in a blog post. "One thing we've heard many times: While development can be fueled by creativity and determination alone, finishing and releasing a commercial project often requires money."

Grant winners will retain their own IP and publishing rights, and can spend the money however they like. The grants are open to games on all platforms from developers anywhere in the world, as well as "cool non-game projects."

If you have a UE4 project that could use some funding, head over to the Unreal Dev Grants information page to nominate it. You'll need to demonstrate a working prototype of the project, and grants will be awarded over time, Epic said.

Sweeney said he knows the challenges of developing on a tight budget all too well.

"Epic's early projects were built on shoestring budgets funded by such sources as Tim Sweeney's lawn-mowing earnings, and Mark Rein's credit card (before they took it away from him!)," he wrote. "A small budget can make all the difference in shipping a project with the content, marketing materials, and promotional expenses necessary for it to gain traction."

NSA, Britain's GCHQ allegedly seized encryption keys for millions of phones
From The Washington Post

British and American spy agencies allegedly hacked into a Dutch company that makes SIM cards to obtain encryption keys used to shield the cellphone communications of millions of customers around the world, according to a report in The Intercept.

Citing document obtained by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, the online publication reported Thursday that Britain's GCHQ and the National Security Agency targeted Gemalto, the world's largest manufacturer of SIM cards.

The multinational firm's clients include AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and Sprint, as well as hundreds of wireless network providers around the world. It produces 2 billion SIM cards a year, The Intercept reported.

The cards are chips barely larger than a thumbnail that are inserted into cellphones, each card storing contacts, text messages, the user's phone number and an encryption key to keep the data private.

Gemalto produces the SIM cards for cellphone companies, burns an encryption key onto each and sends a copy of the key to the provider so its network can recognize an individual's phone.

According to the Intercept, GCHQ targeted Gemalto employees, scouring their e-mails to find individuals who might have access to the company's core networks and encryption key generating systems. The goal, the publication said, was to steal large quantities of keys as they were being transmitted between Gemalto and its wireless network providers.

The NSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Stealing the encryption keys makes it possible to eavesdrop on otherwise-encrypted communications without undertaking the more difficult challenge of cracking the encryption. It also avoids alerting the wireless company or the person using the phone.

The NSA's interception of phone calls and other content is bound by different legal standards. A warrant is required to target an American's calls and e-mails. In general, targeting a foreigner's communications for collection overseas does not require a warrant.

The publication cited one 2010 GCHQ document that said that agency personnel developed "an automated technique with the aim of increasing the volume of keys that can be harvested."

The document acknowledged that in searching for keys, operatives would harvest "a large number of unrelated items" from targeted employees' private communications. However, it said, "an analyst with good knowledge of the operators involved can perform this trawl regularly and spot the transfer of large batches" of keys.

The GCHQ documents also described operations targeting other major makers of SIM cards, the Intercept said.

Lenovo admits to Superfish screw-up, will release clean-up tool
From PC World

Lenovo has admitted it "messed up badly" by pre-loading software on some consumer laptops that exposed users to possible attack, and said it will soon release a tool to remove it.

"I have a bunch of very embarrassed engineers on my staff right now," Lenovo CTO Peter Hortensius said in an interview Thursday. "They missed this."

Users have been complaining since September about the third-party program, called Superfish, which injects product recommendations into search results. But it only emerged Wednesday that the program also opens a serious security hole.

The program interferes with SSL-encrypted Web traffic by installing its own root certificate in the trusted certificate store used by browsers. It then uses it to generate SSL certificates for HTTPS-enabled websites when they are visited by users. This allows it to act as a man-in-the-middle proxy between users and those secure websites.

Security experts discovered that the certificate's private key can be recovered by reverse-engineering the software, enabling malicious hackers to launch man-in-the-middle attacks when users connect to public Wi-Fi hotspots or compromised networks. This was confirmed by Robert Graham, CTO of Errata Security, who managed to extract the private key.

The fact that Superfish has left users vulnerable to attack is unacceptable, Hortensius said. He said Lenovo wasn't aware of the vulnerability until it was publicly disclosed.

The company is working to "make this right," he said. It has already published instructions for how users can remove Superfish, and it will soon release a clean-up tool that will uninstall the program and delete the root certificate it created. The tool could be released as early as later today.

Lenovo is also investigating ways to deliver the tool as an automatic patch, possibly through partners such as Microsoft and McAfee, instead of relying on users to download it from its website. It's also looking at how it might be able to remove the software from the "preload" of the affected laptops—the Windows deployment preloaded with drivers and software that's stored on the hidden recovery partition and used for factory resets.

Making this right also means setting up mechanisms to ensure something like this doesn't happen again, Hortensius said. "We'll make sure to have a much more detailed understanding of programs that go on our preload and they will not go if we think they're open to attack."

In the meantime, Lenovo has been in contact with browser and antivirus vendors to discuss ways of fixing the issue.

Browser vendors will likely add the Superfish root certificate to their blacklists, which would prevent it from being trusted by browsers even if it's not removed. However, there are other programs that use encryption, like VPN clients, that rely on the Windows certificate store to establish trust and to validate the certificates they receive. Those could be open to attack as well, if the Superfish certificate is not removed.

Initially, Firefox users were thought to be unaffected, because Firefox uses its own certificate root store rather than the one in Windows. However, the Electronic Frontier Foundation discovered 44,000 man-in-the-middle certificates signed by the same Superfish root certificate through its Decentralized SSL Observatory project, which collects data from Firefox browsers that have the HTTPS Everywhere extension installed.

"This either indicates that Superfish also injects its certificate into the Firefox root store, or that on a large number of occasions Firefox users have been clicking through certificate warnings caused by Superfish MITM attacks," the EFF said in a blog post.

"At the end of the day, we messed up badly," Hortensius said. "There is no other way to say it. We're not trying to hide. We're trying to do everything we can do to solve the problem for people and subsequently make sure this doesn't happen again."

According to Lenovo, the Superfish software was only installed on some consumer laptops sold through retail stores between September and January. The company stopped preloading the software after receiving negative feedback from users and asked Superfish to remotely disable the service for existing installations.

However, while this stopped the intrusive product recommendations, it did not remove the software or the root certificate it created. In fact, Lenovo confirmed that even if the software is uninstalled manually, the root certificate, and hence the vulnerability, is left behind. That's why the company plans to release the separate clean-up tool.

Laptops that may have come preloaded with the Superfish software are in the company's G Series, U Series, Y Series, Z Series, S Series, Flex Series, MIIX Series, YOGA Series and E Series. A complete list of potentially affected models is here.

Nicotine and Caffeine May Extend the Life of Bees
From West Texas News

The human vices nicotine and coffee are generally toxic for our tiny pollinator friends but there are many bird species that intentionally consume such poisons to kill off intestinal parasites, as such toxins in small concentrations could really help in the protection of the hives from CCD.

Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is a major issue for environment experts. CCD is generally witnessed when the wintering bees do not have enough energy to make it through. Instead they wake up in the middle of the harsh season and believe that it is the time to go out and work. Thus, they leave their nest to succumb to the harsh conditions.

CCD at first was identified as the main cause for mass decline among honeybees in 2006. Later on, the experts gave a confirmation that the widespread use of pesticides known as neonicotinoids (neonics), were polluting the fuel that these bees used in order to hibernate, prompting CCD.

In the US, the bee populations are facing a delay in the recovery due to the parasitic mites like Asia's invasive N. ceranae and disease like American Foulbrood.

In the previous studies, the researchers have found that breeding bees for cleanliness or even introducing specialized microbes can be helpful in fighting infestations. Now, a latest study has argued that the plants with caffeine and nicotine components can also prove helpful.

Researcher Lynn Adler has recently explained that intake of some of these compounds has reduced pathogen load in the bumble bee's gut. He added that most probably it not only helped the individual bees, but has also reduced the pathogen Crithidia spore load in their feces, which in turn should decrease the likelihood of transmission of the disease to other bees.

In the study, the researchers identified eight toxic compounds in all that can be medicinally used by bees. Adler added, "The more we look, the more we see that these compounds are in nectar and pollen".

NASA Prepares ISS for Commercial Flights
From PCMag

NASA is set to start reconfiguring the International Space Station with docking ports for commercial spacecraft carrying astronauts to the orbiting space laboratory.

The space agency said the remodel of the ISS is expected to be completed by the end of the year, according to Discovery News. It will be the first major overhaul of the space station since it was completed in 2011.

Since the retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet nearly four years ago, NASA and other space agencies have relied on Russia's Roscosmos to ferry crews to the ISS in Soyuz capsules launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Last month, Boeing and SpaceX announced plans to begin ferrying astronauts into space by 2017 as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

In 2012, NASA awarded $1.1 billion to Boeing, SpaceX, and Sierra Nevada Corporation to design and develop vehicles that could carry astronauts into space within five years. Last year, the space agency eliminated Sierra Nevada from the competition, inking a deal with Boeing to fly humans into space worth as much as $4.2 billion and a concurrent contract with SpaceX potentially worth $2.6 billion.

Remodeling the ISS will involve the installation of docking ports for Boeing's CST-100 and SpaceX's Dragon crew capsules, which will attach to two International Docking Adapters set to arrive at the ISS aboard an unmanned Dragon capsule later this year, Discovery News reported.

"One berthing slip will be at the front end of the Harmony connecting node, where the space shuttles used to dock. The other will be on Harmony's zenith, or up-facing, port," the site said.

NASA's space station program manager Mike Suffredini told Discovery News that relocating the Leonardo multipurpose module from the Unity to the Tranquility connection nodes will be the "biggest challenge" in the reconfiguration. The entire job will involve seven spacewalks by ISS astronauts, the first of which is set for Friday, but the relocation of the Leonardo module will be done robotically by ground control.

"This is quite a bit of work. Our plan has always been to have a docking capability in place and operational by the end of 2015 and we're on track to do that," Suffredini told Discovery News.

Bill Cosby thanks Eddie Murphy for refusing to play him on 'SNL40'
From LA Times

Comedian and movie star Eddie Murphy returned to the "Saturday Night Live" stage Sunday to celebrate the show's 40th anniversary special.

Murphy was on-screen for a few minutes, as himself, after being introduced as a cornerstone of the show, who, when its ratings were on the ropes, very well may have saved it.

Instead of doing any jokes, Murphy just spoke about his enduring feelings for the show and what it meant to him.

Well, as it turns out, there is more to the story, according to former "SNL" cast member and 40th anniversary special writer Norm Macdonald.

For more than an hour Wednesday night, Macdonald, who was one of the writers of the enormously popular "Celebrity Jeopardy" skit, tweeted about the special.

Another writer got the idea to include Murphy in the skit, which would bring "the house down," Macdonald said.

But Murphy said no -- and for a specific reason.

Here is a portion of Macdonald's tale about the return of Eddie Murphy to "SNL."









The Cosby bit was still in the show, with Kenan Thompson in the sweater, not Murphy.

Cosby is aware of Murphy's decision.

"I am very appreciative of Eddie and I applaud his actions," Cosby said through a representative on Thursday, NBC News reported.

The representative could not be reached for additional comment.

Murphy also had no comment on the situation.

"Eddie was invited to attend the show, and he attended," a representative for Murphy said.

Iggy Azalea quits Twitter because of 'hatred and pettiness' online
From The Christian Science Monitor

Cyberbullies have done it again.

Rapper Iggy Azalea announced Thursday that she would be quitting Twitter because social media has become "too negative and draining."

In a series of sign-off tweets, the Australian artist said that the "hatred and pettiness" she sees online is making her an angry person and a disservice to her fans. From now on, she said, her account will be run by her managers.

In her final tweet, Ms. Azalea called the Internet the "ugliest reflection of man kind there is."

I feel the hatred and pettiness i see online at all times is at making me become an angry person and I cannot be that.

— IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) February 19, 2015

To become nasty because of the way I feel iam treated would be a disservice to my fans and I promise i will try to keep smiling.

— IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) February 19, 2015

But I also want to let my fans know iam taking some time away from social media. I need to be happy and it is too negative and draining.

— IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) February 19, 2015

The pop star's decision came after paparazzi photos of her on vacation leaked online, drawing body shaming insults and other hateful remarks from netizens.

"[A]pparently it's ... unheard of to be a woman and have cellulite," she wrote.

Just got back from a great vacation, came online and saw apparently it's shocking and unheard of to be a woman and have cellulite. Lol.

— IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) February 19, 2015

Other personalities, also citing harassment, have recently sworn off social media.

Zelda Williams, daughter of the late comedian Robin Williams, deleted her Twitter account and abandoned Instagram after Internet trolls sent her hurtful messages and taunted her with digitally altered photos of her father.

"In this difficult time, please try to be respectful of the accounts of myself, my family and my friends," Ms. Williams wrote, according to Us Weekly.

"Mining our accounts for photos of dad, or judging me on the number of them is cruel and unnecessary," she added.

Musical artist Adele, Sports Illustrated model Chrissy Teigan, and actor Jennifer Love Hewitt are among the celebrities to have quit Twitter over the years because of online harassment and cyberbullying, Yahoo reported. (Some of them have since returned, the article said).

But one need not be famous to be a target on social media. One need not even be young, though teenagers committing suicide is easily one of the worst consequences of online abuse.

In a recent piece for The New York Times, journalist Jon Ronson examined the implications online shaming, insults, and threats can have on the lives of average, everyday people – folks who lost jobs, friends, and self-esteem because of a misplaced joke, racist comment, or a thoughtless photo posted online.

During his interviews with victims, Mr. Ronson marveled "at the disconnect between the severity of the crime and the gleeful savagery of the punishment."

"The people I met were mostly unemployed, fired for their transgressions, and they seemed broken somehow – deeply confused and traumatized," he wrote.

Thankfully, the fact hasn't gone unnoticed. Late last year, Twitter began its rollout of tools designed to fight online harassment, letting users report abusive behavior and report coordinated attacks against individuals, according to The Washington Post.

A recent Coca-Cola campaign exhorts netizens to ditch the negative and #MakeItHappy.

Sites dedicated to spreading awareness of and ultimately ending cyberbullying have sprung up around the world; StopBullying.gov, the US government's program, and DeleteCyberbullying.eu, a European initiative, are among them.

Another is Crash Override, an "online harassment task force" run by game developer Zoe Quinn and producer Alex Lifschitz, both of whom have experienced online abuse firsthand.

The site, which went live in January, connects victims to on-call experts in law, information security, counseling, law enforcement in an effort to help them overcome the trauma and take action for themselves.

"t's about trying to figure out how to move forward, how to make sense of it," Ms. Quinn told Wired.

"So much of our control over our own lives has been taken away from us," she added. "This is one way we can take it back, to decide what happens to us, and try to help other people decide what happens to them."

US cancer survival rates improving, study finds
From Fox News

The proportion of people surviving years after a cancer diagnosis is improving, according to a new analysis.

Men and women ages 50 to 64, who were diagnosed in 2005 to 2009 with a variety of cancer types, were 39 to 68 percent more likely to be alive five years later, compared to people of the same age diagnosed in 1990 to 1994, researchers found.

"Pretty much all populations improved their cancer survival over time," said Dr. Wei Zheng, the study's senior author from Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

As reported in JAMA Oncology, he and his colleagues analyzed data from a national sample of more than 1 million people who were diagnosed with cancer of the colon or rectum, breast, prostate, lung, liver, pancreas or ovary between 1990 and 2010.

Among people ages 50 to 64 diagnosed with colon or rectal cancer in 1990 to 1994, about 58 percent were alive five years later. Five-year survival rates were about 83 percent for breast cancer, about 7 percent for liver cancer, about 13 percent for lung cancer, about 5 percent for pancreas cancer, about 91 percent for prostate cancer and about 47 percent for ovarian cancer.

Among people in the same age range diagnosed between 2005 and 2009, a larger proportion survived each of the cancers except ovarian cancer. Survival rates at five years rose by 43 percent for colon or rectum cancers, 52 percent for breast cancer, 39 percent for liver cancer, 68 percent for prostate cancer, 25 percent for lung cancer and 27 percent for pancreas cancer, compared to the early 1990s.

The better odds of survival did not apply equally to all age groups, however, and tended to favor younger patients. For example, survival rose by only 12 to 35 percent for people diagnosed between ages 75 to 85.

And while there was a small improvement in ovarian cancer survival among white women during the study period, survival among black women with ovarian cancer got worse.

Advances in treatments and better cancer screenings and diagnoses are likely responsible for the overall increases in survival, the researchers write.

"In general our study shows different segments benefit differently from recent advances in oncology," Zheng said. "We need to find out the reason."

The researchers speculate that older people may not benefit equally from medical advances, because doctors may avoid aggressive care for them for fear they couldn't tolerate treatments like surgery or chemotherapy.

Also, older people and racial minorities are less likely to be included in trials of new cancer treatments, the researchers point out. They say more effort should be made to include those groups in trials so doctors have treatment guidelines based on science.

"Additional research is needed to find the reasons why there are gaps," Zheng said.

[Americans should eat a diet higher in plants, fruits and grains because it is healthier and has a lower environmental impact, a US panel has said.]

US panel backs low-meat diet for helping planet
From BBC News

Americans should eat a diet higher in plants, fruits and grains because it is healthier and has a lower environmental impact, a US panel has said.

The report by medical and nutrition experts will be considered in the US dietary guidelines which determine school lunches to food package labels.

Cholesterol is now less of a concern, the report said, but added sugar should be limited to 200 calories a day.

The panel also backs moderate coffee drinking for the first time.

The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, which meets every five years, said a diet high in vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes, nuts and seeds was "more health promoting and is associated with less environmental impact'' than the current US diet, which is high in meat.

It is the first time the panel has made a recommendation on the environmental impact of a diet.



But their report stops short of telling people to be completely vegetarian, saying "no food groups need to be eliminated completely to improve sustainability outcomes".

The panel also backs away from a prior guideline to limit dietary cholesterol, in particular egg consumption.

The report now says the available evidence "shows no appreciable relationship" between heart disease and how much dietary cholesterol you eat, but still recommends eating less saturated fat.

Responding to concerns about caffeine for the first time, the panel said there was "strong evidence" that three to five cups a day can be part of a healthy diet, including reduced risk of diabetes and heart disease.

The panel said that recommendation count milk and added sugars, and recommended pregnant women limit caffeine to two cups of coffee a day.

Americans should eat a diet higher in plants, fruits and grains because it is healthier and has a lower environmental impact, a US panel has said.

The report by medical and nutrition experts will be considered in the US dietary guidelines which determine school lunches to food package labels.

Cholesterol is now less of a concern, the report said, but added sugar should be limited to 200 calories a day.

The panel also backs moderate coffee drinking for the first time.

The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, which meets every five years, said a diet high in vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes, nuts and seeds was "more health promoting and is associated with less environmental impact'' than the current US diet, which is high in meat.

It is the first time the panel has made a recommendation on the environmental impact of a diet.

[Hey, small spender]

A simple reason why Apple won't buy Tesla for $75B
From USA Today

By the looks of it, Apple seems to be legitimately interested in the electric car market. Speculation has intensified following a series of reports from numerous outlets, suggesting that Apple has already assigned hundreds of engineers on "Project Titan."

Investors have long dreamed of Apple (AAPL) acquiring Tesla Motors (TSLA ) , given the disruptive characteristics and cultural similarities between the two companies. Tesla has also reportedly poached over 150 employees from Apple, underscoring said cultural similarities.

But recently, entrepreneur and venture capitalist Jason Calacanis made a bold prediction: that Apple would acquire Tesla for an astounding $75 billion. Better yet, Calacanis expects this mega deal to occur within the next 18 months, even going as far as calling it "a lock" in his mind. Don't get me wrong; with Tesla as my second-largest personal holding, I'd be thrilled if it got bought out at three times the current price.

Unfortunately, that's simply way too much money.

Hey, small spender

Historically, Apple's monetary ceiling for acquisitions has been in the neighborhood of $500 million. The Mac maker usually targets small companies with negligible revenue and innovative technology that can be integrated into future Apple products. That all changed when Apple shocked investors by acquiring Beats last year for $2.6 billion, or over five times its normal maximum price.

Beats' financials left a lot to be desired, and Apple recorded $2.2 billion in goodwill with almost $640 million allocated to acquired intangible assets. Apple then assumed nearly $260 million of Beats' net liabilities.

Tesla is a lot of things, but one thing that it's not is a steal. Investors are certainly pricing in high hopes for its disruptive future. A quick look at its valuation metrics relative to other automakers is all it takes.

Company, P/S (TTM), P/B (MRQ)

• Tesla, 8, 26.3
• General Motors, 0.4, 1.7
• Ford, 0.4, 2.5
• Toyota Motor, 1, 1.6
• Honda Motor, 0.6, 1
      - Source: Reuters. TTM = trailing-12-months. MRQ = most recent quarter.

Apple has never been about big flashy acquisitions, and a $75 billion acquisition of any company is almost 30 times larger than its biggest acquisition. Even at Tesla's current $25 billion market cap, it remains a somewhat speculative investment that's arguably already priced for perfection. And we're talking about Apple buying it for three times the current price in a matter of months.

Analysts are modeling for Tesla to bring in $8.6 billion in revenue in 2016. If Apple theoretically bought the electric carmaker at the end of 2016 (and those estimates prove accurate), it'd be paying 8.7 times sales. Tesla currently has less than $5.5 billion in tangible assets on its balance sheet, so Apple would be forced to record an absurd amount of goodwill and intangible assets if it did a $75 billion deal.

Goodwill hunting

One of the biggest benefits for adopting a conservative acquisition strategy is minimizing the amount of goodwill and intangibles that sit on the balance sheet. This reduces the risk if acquisitions don't work out well. Apple is currently carrying just $9 billion in total goodwill and intangibles, or 3.4% of total assets, with much of that coming from Beats alone.

Contrast that with other tech giants for some additional perspective.

Company, Goodwill and Intangibles (MRQ), % of Total Assets (MRQ)

• Apple, $9 billion, 3.4%
• Microsoft, $29.2 billion, 16.7%
• Google, $20.2 billion, 15.4%
• Facebook, $21.9 billion, 54.5%
      - Source: SEC filings. MRQ = most recent quarter.

A single, massive $75 billion acquisition of Tesla would promptly throw decades of discipline out the window, and expose Apple and its shareholders to considerable risk. It's also not as if Apple could realize a lot of cost-saving synergies. Tesla's operations are very capital intensive since it directly manufactures vehicles, while Apple prefers to utilize contract manufacturers while keeping its supply chain incredibly lean. Most importantly, the two companies play in completely different markets, further minimizing the potential for synergies.

Sorry, Calacanis, but it's not happening.

Turkey, U.S. sign deal to train, equip Syrian opposition, official says
From Reuters

The United States and Turkey signed an agreement on Thursday to train and equip moderate Syrian opposition fighters, and Ankara will provide an equal number of trainers to work alongside their American military counterparts, a U.S. official said.

The deal with Turkey formalized plans for one of four known sites to be used in a broader program to train Syrian rebels opposed to Islamic State militants. A deal for a facility in Jordan is imminent and locations in Saudi Arabia and Qatar could be ready in a few months, the U.S. official said.

The effort to train and equip Syrian moderates to fight Islamic State rebels began to pick up steam after months of planning. The Pentagon said on Wednesday it had identified some 1,200 Syrian opposition fighters for potential training.

The U.S.-Turkey deal was signed by an undersecretary at the Foreign Ministry and the U.S. ambassador, a Turkish Foreign Ministry official said.

It provides a training facility that will require only modest security upgrades, work Ankara has already begun, an official at the U.S. military's Central Command told reporters.

"The site that they have offered is a brand new facility. It is one that we would be proud to call our own," said the U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The official said the training site Jordan planned to provide also was new and ready to use.

"We're working through some final technical agreements with them (Jordan) that we anticipate being signed any day, if it has not already been signed," the official said.

A site offered by Saudi Arabia will be ready for use within 30 to 90 days, "so it will come into the picture shortly after Jordan and Turkey," the official said. A site offered by Qatar could be ready within six to nine months, he said.

The U.S. official said Turkey demanded an equal role in the training mission and would provide the same number of trainers at its facility as the American side.

U.S. officials have said they plan to train about 5,000 Syrian fighters a year for three years under the program, which is due to begin in March. Turkey hopes the training will also bolster the weakened and divided Syrian opposition in their war against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

L.A. hospital warns 179 patients possibly exposed to 'superbug'
From Reuters

A large Los Angeles teaching hospital has told scores of patients they were possibly exposed to a drug-resistant bacterial "superbug" during endoscopy procedures that infected seven patients and may have contributed to two deaths.

The 179 patients who may have been infected by the carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE, are being offered home testing kits that would be analyzed by the University of California, Los Angeles, hospital system, UCLA officials said.

The possible exposures occurred at the UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center between October and January during procedures in which a specialized endoscope is inserted down the throat to diagnose and treat pancreatic and bile duct diseases.

Hospitals across the United States have reported exposures from the same type of medical equipment in recent years, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said it was working with other government agencies and scope manufacturers to minimize risks to patients.

The UCLA hospital system said it had been sterilizing the scopes according to the manufacturer's standards, but was now using a more rigorous process.

"The two scopes involved with the infection were immediately removed, and UCLA is now utilizing a decontamination process that goes above and beyond manufacturer and national standards," it said in the statement.

UCLA spokeswoman Roxanne Moster said both scopes in question, which the hospital started using in June 2014, had been permanently set aside and would be returned to the manufacturer.

The circumstances of the two deaths of patients known to have been infected at Ronald Reagan Medical Center were not disclosed, nor were the conditions of the five other patients also confirmed to have been infected there.

Officials at the medical center were due to address a news conference later on Thursday.

DIFFICULT TO TREAT

UCLA became aware of the outbreak late last month, the Los Angeles Times reported. Both the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services and the California Department of Public Health were notified as soon as the bacteria were detected, the UCLA statement said.

Superbug infections are difficult to treat because some of the bacteria have become resistant to antibiotics, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the germs could contribute to death in up to 50 percent of infected patients.

The complex design of the endoscopes linked to the California outbreak, known as duodenoscopes, may hinder proper cleaning, the FDA warned on Thursday.

The FDA said it wanted to raise awareness among healthcare professionals that the design is associated with a risk of multidrug-resistant infections even when a manufacturer's cleaning instructions are followed correctly.

There are three major manufacturers of the scopes: Olympus Corp, Fujifilm, and Pentax. Their disinfection recommendations were approved by the FDA.

Some experts advocate the use of disposable, single-use instruments, rather than reusable ones that must be sterilized after every procedure.

In January, Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle said that a bacteria spread through contaminated endoscopes had infected 32 people in that facility over two years.

Eleven of the patients infected from 2012 to 2014 eventually died. Since they were critically ill before being infected, it was unclear if the bacteria played any role in their deaths, health officials said.

Contaminated endoscopes also infected dozens of patients in Pittsburgh in 2012 and Chicago in 2014, health officials said. No fatalities were directly linked to those infections.

"Superbugs" have been linked to 23,000 deaths and 2 million illnesses every year in the United States, and up to $20 billion in direct healthcare costs.

[Next stage of cease-fire]

E. Ukraine Truce on Verge of Collapse
From Voice of America

A new cease-fire in Ukraine is teetering on the brink of collapse as Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russia separatist rebels are accusing each other of violating the truce around a key town which each side claims as under its control.

The Ukrainian military said on Monday that its forces have come under fire 112 times in the past day, with 88 attacks registered on the railway town of Debaltseve, a critical transport hub in Ukraine's east Donetsk region.

Five soldiers have been killed and 25 wounded in the latest attacks, which occured despite a European-brokered truce that went into effect Saturday at midnight.

On Sunday, pro-Russian rebels battling Ukrainian forces said the terms of cease-fire did not apply to Debaltseve, where thousands of government troops are said to be encircled by separatist fighters.

"You can hear there is no ceasefire,'' said a rebel fighter
with a black ski mask who gave his name as Scorpion, his nom de guerre, and blamed the fighting on Kyiv's forces. "Debaltseve is our land. And we will take Debaltseve.''

The separatists offered Kyiv's troops safe-passage out of Debaltseve, but only if they laid down their arms. A spokesman for Ukraine's military, Vladislav Seleznyov, told Reuters he rejected the proposal.

Kyiv insists that the latest truce deal put Debaltseve under government control.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said on Sunday its monitors in eastern Ukraine were turned back from Debaltseve.

Other flashpoints in the latest fighting Monday included the regional centers of Donetsk and Luhansk as well as the towns of Dokuchaievk, Vuhlehirsk and Horlivka.

Next stage of cease-fire

Withdrawal of heavy weapons from the frontlines in Ukraine is set to begin at midnight Monday under the terms of the cease-fire, negotiated late last week in Minsk, Belarus, by the the leaders of Germany, France, Ukraine and Russia.

But a Ukrainian military spokesman said such a move would be unlikely.

"One hundred and twelve attacks are not an indicator of a cease-fire. At the moment we are not ready to withdraw heavy weapons,'' Andriy Lysenko told a news briefing in Kyiv.

In another development, the European Union included two Russian deputy defense ministers on its latest Ukraine sanctions list Monday, hitting them with travel bans and asset freezes for their role in the conflict.

They are among 19 new people and nine entities the EU has sanctioned due to the Ukraine crisis.

Russia said that it would respond "appropriately" to the latest EU measures.

Ukraine and a host of Western governments accuse Moscow of stoking the rebellion in Ukraine's Russian-speaking east with arms and fighters. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied providing direct support, and claims that Russian troops seen fighting alongside rebels are volunteers.

Aggressive form of HIV that quickly turns into full-blown AIDS found in Cuba
From Fox News Latino

An especially aggressive form of the HIV virus that can develop into AIDS within 3 years rather than the usual 5 to 10 years , has been found in Cuba, Voice of America reported over the weekend.

The fear is that the disease could progress so quickly that treatment with drugs may not be effective.

The Belgian doctor Anne-Mieke Vandamme, one of the co-authors of a paper published in the journal EBioMedicine, told VOA, that Cuban health officials contacted her team.

"The Cuban clinicians had noticed that they recently had more and more patients who were progressing much faster to AIDS than they were used to," Vandamme said. "And we know that because they had been HIV-negative tested one or a maximum two years before."

The HIV virus typically latches onto one of two types of co-receptors — proteins on the membranes of cells — CCR5 or CXCR4.

Vandamme said, "In the normal progression of the HIV to AIDS, it often happens that the virus switches co-receptor. It almost always starts with using CCR5 and then it switches to CXCR4 after many years. And once it switches the progression to AIDS goes very fast."

In the Cuban patients, however, HIV appears to make the transition shortly after infection.

They also had a much higher amount of the virus in their blood than those with the less aggressive form of HIV.

While the variant, which researchers named CRF19, does appear to respond to antiretroviral drugs now in use to combat HIV/AIDS, its rapid progression makes it problematic to treat.

Vandamme told VOA that it's vital for people having unprotected sex with multiple partners to be tested for HIV early and often.

If patients are exposed to multiple strains of HIV, the different types may recombine into a new form.

The Cuban variant has been seen before in Africa, but only sporadically, and in not enough cases to study. Vandamme and her fellow researchers studied the blood of 22 Cubans with the CRF19 variant.

[Scarcity of onboard 14 nm Broadwell chip likely pushed back launch]

After a Year of Waiting ASUS ZenBook UX305 Finally Ships to U.S., Priced at $699
From DailyTech

Scarcity of onboard 14 nm Broadwell chip likely pushed back launch

ASUSTek Computer Inc. (TPE:2357) finally announced pricing and availability of its Zenbook UX305 ultra-thin/ultrabook laptop.  The 1.2 kg (2.65 lb), 12.3 mm (0.484 in.) laptop was originally announced last September, but waited months with no official word on pricing and availability.

A likely culprit was the onboard processor, a dual-core Broadwell (14 nm) chip from Intel Corp. (INTC) (namely, the Intel Core M-5Y10).  This was one of just seven Broadwell chip SKUs Intel announced last year.  Quantities of these chips were exrememely limited.

It is possible that ASUS didn't get priority in early shipments (scant as they were), or it's also possible it simply didn't want to bother with the risk of launching when volume is so low.  And of course, it's possible -- if unlikely -- that some factor other than the Broadwell SoC was responsible for the delay.

Whichever the case may be, the fact is that Intel's 14 nm production is finally scaling up, and ASUS is finally ready to let the hammer drop.  The price and availability of the two models of the UX305 are as follows:

BASELINE

Available: Now (U.S.)

Price: $699

Hardware
• Display: 13.3-inch Full HD (FHD) (1920 x 1080 pixel, aka 1080p) LCD touchscreen
• SoC: Intel Core M-5Y10
• CPU: 2x Broadwell cores (4x threads) @ 800 MHz (base), 2.0 GHz (turbo)
• GPU: 24x shader cores (HD 5300 (GT2) bundle) @ 100 MHz (base), 800 MHz (turbo)
• Memory: 8 GB DRAM
• Storage: 128 GB SSD
• Battery Life: rated @ 10 hr.
• Ports:
   - microHDMI
   - 3x USB 3.0
• Connectivity:
   - Bluetooth 4.0
   - 802.11 b/g/n/ac

HIGH-END

Available: April 2015(U.S.)

Price: $999

Hardware
• Display: 13.3-inch WQXGA+ (3,200 x 1,800 pixel) LCD touchscreen
• (Same, otherwise)

While it's a bit tardy, as Engadget points out it may be worth the wait.  Samsung Electronics Comp., Ltd.'s (KRX:005930) (KRX:005935) ATIV Book 9 and the Lenovo Group, Ltd.'s (HKG:0992) Yoga 3 Pro pack similar specs to the high-end (WQXGA+ monitor) Zenbook UX305, but retail for $1,200 and $1,299, respectively.  Apple, Inc.'s (AAPL) 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro, meanwhile, retails for $1,099 USD while lacking a touchscreen and having an older/slower CPU.

Stocks hit near five-month high but Greek talks keep markets edgy
From Reuters

Global shares hit their highest since September and the euro firmed on Monday with investors cautiously optimistic that euro zone finance ministers would reach a funding deal for debt-laden Greece.

The prospect of Greece and its partners reaching agreement on a debt deal helped push yields on low-risk government bonds higher, though both sides struck hardline postures as the talks began at 9 a.m. ET.

"There is an underlying view that there has to be a resolution, not least because Greece apparently has little or no bargaining power," said John Bilton, head of the global multi-asset strategy team at JPMorgan Asset Management.

The MSCI all-country world stocks index, which has risen in recent days on hopes for a Greek deal and a ceasefire in Ukraine, touched its highest since Sept. 22. It was last fractionally up on the day at 427.95 points.

Tokyo's Nikkei closed at its highest since July 2007, buoyed by a record close on Friday in the U.S. S&P 500 index and after data showed Japan emerged from recession in the final quarter of 2014, although its 0.6 percent growth was less than forecast.

U.S. financial markets were closed on Monday for the Presidents' Day holiday.

The euro rose 0.2 percent to $1.1407.

"This can quickly turn sour for the euro if there is no deal today," said Susanne Galler, a strategist with Jefferies in London.

"The market consensus is for them to do a deal by the end of this week. But we think that if there's no deal today and the clock starts ticking then the euro will look increasingly vulnerable."

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 stocks index fell 0.2 percent and Germany's DAX, which hit a record high on Friday, was down 0.4 percent.

Athens' volatile stocks index fell 3.8 percent, having risen 5.6 percent on Friday, but was still at levels hit before the Jan. 25 election. Greek three-year bond yields rose 183 basis points to 17.57 percent, way below last week's 21.8 percent peak.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, elected last month on a pledge to scrap austerity measures imposed under Greece's international bailouts, said on Sunday he expected difficult negotiations but was "full of confidence".

French Finance Minister Michel Sapin hinted at a slight easing of euro zone opposition to Greek requests for an end to austerity and a new debt deal, saying Europe must respect the political change in Athens. However, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said in a radio interview he was "very skeptical" there would be a deal.

Greece's current bailout expires on Feb. 28.

BENCHMARK BONDS

Cautious optimism over Greece helped push core euro zone government bond yields higher. Benchmark German 10-year yields rose 0.3 basis points to 0.346 percent.

The dollar was broadly weaker. It fell 0.1 percent against a basket of major currencies.

The yen rose 0.2 percent to 118.46 to the dollar and sterling hit a six-week peak of $1.5441 after a Bank of England policymaker said interest rates would need to rise sooner than investors expect. It later retreated to $1.5382, down 0.2 percent on the day.

Oil held on to last week's gains after Kuwait's oil minister said lower levels of supply would support prices in the second half of this year. Brent crude was last up 0.1 percent at $61.60 a barrel, off a high for the day of $62.57. Oil topped $60 a barrel last week for the first time since December as the number of oil rigs in the United States fell.

Dollar weakness and nerves about the Greek talks drove gold higher. Spot gold last traded at $1,230.60 an ounce, off a high of $1,236.50.

Oil steadies around $61, Kuwait sees prices supported
From FirstPost

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil steadied around $61 a barrel on Monday, holding gains from last week, after Kuwait's oil minister said lower supply levels would support prices in the second half of the year.

The recent rally "will start holding gains now and hopefully in the second half of 2015 we will see better prices", the minister, Ali al-Omair, said.

Supported by signs of lower industry spending, the price of Brent crude has increased by more than 30 percent in the last four weeks. In January it hit $45.19, the lowest in almost six years, after collapsing from $115 in June due to oversupply.

Omair said the current oil surplus was now "definitely lower" than 1.8 million barrels per day.

Benchmark Brent futures traded at $60.89 a barrel, down 63 cents, by 0920 GMT. U.S. crude was down 55 cents at $52.23. Trading volumes were reduced as U.S. markets remained closed for a public holiday.

Oil markets rose strongly last week after another drop in the U.S. rig count, pushing Brent back above $60 a barrel for the first time since December.

"Now we need to watch and see if $60 can hold as a support line," said Olivier Jakob, oil analyst at Petromatrix in Zug, Switzerland. "I think that's really the level to watch on Brent."

Escalating conflicts with Islamic State militants and an attack on an oil pipeline in Libya helped support prices.
Egypt's air force bombed Islamic State targets inside Libya for the first time on Monday, a day after the group released a video appearing to show the beheading of 21 Egyptians there.

Libya's El Sarir oilfield is still unable to pump oil to Hariga port after a pipeline was attacked and set on fire on Saturday.

"The geopolitical risk is not something to write off," Jakob said.

In Asia, data showed Japan's economy rebounded from recession in the final quarter of last year but growth was weaker than expected as household and corporate spending disappointed.

Italy to weigh military action in Libya if diplomacy fails
From New Zealand Herald

Italian officials say Rome would weigh participating in any military intervention to keep the Islamic State group from advancing in Libya should diplomatic efforts fail.

Italy's defense minister has said Rome could contribute 5,000 troops. But Premier Matteo Renzi sought Monday to dispel the notion his country had already decided on military operations if launched under U.N. auspices. Renzi told the private TG5 TV news "the proposal is to wait, so the U.N. Security Council can work with a bit more conviction on Libya" diplomatically.

Senate defense commission president Nicola Latorre told The Associated Press if a diplomatic push fails, military "measures of containment" but "no war" would be considered.

Rome fears IS advances could increase the risks that terrorists, mingled among boatloads of migrants, could reach Italy from Libya.

[Common sense]

Apple doesn't need to make a car to make an Apple car
From ComputerWorld

Apple is apparently working on an electric car, but does it really need to make the complex set of investments required to manufacture and distribute these things, or does it just need to build a connected car ecosystem?

Common sense

Things changed tremendously since Apple began developing CarPlay. Excitement at the potential of using Siri to get you driving instructions and play your music has been replaced with excitement at the potential of asking Siri to drive your car.

Here are some of the ways in which connected technology will transform the way you drive. To empower these consequences, Apple doesn't need to make the vehicle; it just needs to provide the intelligence inside that vehicle. This also means you can upgrade the intelligence without upgrading the car.

Connected

In Europe, US, Russia and beyond it will soon be impossible to buy a new car without a pre-installed SIM. Europe's eCall legislation demands this, and these SIM cards will connect to an operator to emergency warnings if a vehicle is in an accident, lost or stolen (or send a ticket if you violate traffic laws). Though will you need to pay a carrier to drive your car?

Checking the fuel

Your vehicle will need to daily recharging. You'll be able to check energy levels using an app on your iPhone that will interrogate your vehicle.

Climb aboard

Your fingerprint will unlock your car, but you may also need your voice and a retina scan or numerical code to start the engine.

Intel inside

Intelligence will be inside the vehicle, so why rely on an iOS processor when you can put a more powerful chip inside the car? These vehicles will be more like Macs on wheels than iPhones you can drive, they'll also let you know if a component is failing or maintenance is required. Vehicles will book themselves in for servicing, even drive themselves to get serviced while you sleep or work.

The sensor array

Gyroscopes, accelerometers, voice and motion detection; Touch ID, speed, acceleration and more, but proximity will be the biggest deal. Proximity sensors will enable your vehicle to tell if people, obstacles or other vehicles are too close, enabling it to take intelligent remedial action.

Semi-autonomous

Let's face it, no driver really wants to give up the chance to drive their car, and that's why it makes sense to predict these vehicles will be semi-autonomous – you'll drive when you want to.

Smart cities

Smart vehicles will be able to tell transit systems where they are going. Smart city transit systems will be able to Big Data model traffic flow ever more accurately as the information they receive improves. Apple and IBM may already be building apps for this. (US drivers wasted 4.8 billion hours stuck in traffic in 2010).

Intelligent rerouting

Your car will navigate you to your destination via the least congested route, changing the route as necessary during the drive based on real world data. Like some sort of mesh network, connected cars will warn each other if accidents take place, taking evasive action on your behalf even before you see the danger.

Smart insurance

Those pay as you drive schemes may become mandatory. You will get cheaper insurance if you drive safely. If you don't, you'll pay a lot more. And, of course, your car will also be your traffic cop, driving you to the station if you make a major violation.

One more thing

It doesn't matter if it's Apple, Hyundai, Mercedes, Tesla or anyone else that brings these vehicles to market –these connected systems will gather and share huge quantities of information. This is probably why you should listen to Apple CEO, Tim Cook, in his appeal to find appropriate compromises with which to deliver the benefits of IT while protecting customer privacy.

It is critical to recognize that Apple doesn't need to build the cars to put this kind of intelligence inside vehicles. Though it could.

NASA wants to send a submarine to Saturn's moon Titan
From UPI.com

The seas of Titan, Saturn's largest moon, are no place for astronauts. The frigid bodies of liquified natural gas are a study in inhabitability. But scientists suggest it's possible some strange forms of life exist under the of icy surface of Kraken Mare, Titan's largest sea.

To learn more about this unique world -- and to probe Titan's liquid environs for signs of life -- engineers at NASA are planning to send a robotic submarine there in the future. Earlier this year, the space agency released two videos that revealed the concept in animated detail. And more recently, NASA published an info sheet on the hypothetical submarine mission.

"We have developed a practical design for a robot submersible to explore this exotic environment, drawing on experience in terrestrial AUVs/UUVs as well as spacecraft systems," NASA wrote in a recent summary.

The submarine, which engineers say would weigh a single ton, would likely be nuclear-powered. The submarine's unique shape would make the traditional strategies for depositing robotic landers and rovers on foreign planets unwise. Instead, the submarine drone would likely need to be delivered by a sort of space plane capable of soft water landing.

Once in the seas of Titan, the sub would go about analyzing the chemistry of Kraken Mare. It could dive down to the seabed, where scientists predict there might be active hydrothermal vents.

"Measurement of the trace organic components of the sea, which perhaps may exhibit prebiotic chemical evolution, will be an important objective, and a benthic sampler would acquire
and analyze sediment from the seabed," researchers wrote, alluding to the possible presence of unique life forms.

The drone could also collect data on the sea's tides, as well as study its shoreline and disappearing islands while cruising along the sea's surface.

The designs and discussions surrounding the sub mission are all quite preliminary, as researchers don't see such a feat being executed until at least 2047. Scientists at NASA will share their plans in further detail at the 46th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference next month in Texas.

[SPOILER ALERT]

'The Walking Dead' boldly ambles into existential phase
From Boston Herald

"The Walking Dead" has returned from its midseason break in an inordinately pensive mood, as if the characters are experiencing an existential crisis beyond the actual threats to their existence. Think of it as Woody Allen's "Interiors," if the key players periodically had to jam knives into the heads of slavering zombies.

This is not, by itself, a bad thing, but it speaks to a larger issue about the show over the past couple seasons, which has lurched around in unexpected ways - from focusing on just one or two characters to engaging in lengthy flashbacks to pausing to essentially catch its breath before plowing ahead with major action sequences.

The midseason return and Feb. 15 episode (and needless to say, SPOILER ALERT if you haven't watched) have both been preoccupied, to an extent, by having the will to go on. Last week, the show poignantly dwelt on saying goodbye to Tyreese (Chad Coleman), who was bitten by a zombie and eventually ushered to the other side by hallucinated visitations from those who have died before him.

In the most recent hour, written by Heather Bellson and directed by Julius Ramsay, the surviving characters sullenly march onward, while absorbing the losses of loved ones and wondering, basically, whether the battle for survival is worth it. Rick (Andrew Lincoln), the show's narrative (and only occasionally these days, moral) center, even engaged in a rather long soliloquy about the point of it all, making explicit what has always been implied by the title: That it's those struggling to maintain a semblance of their humanity, not the zombies, who are really the "walking dead."

"We tell ourselves that we are the walking dead," Rick intoned, by way of explaining means of coping with their situation.

In some respects, "The Walking Dead" has consistently confounded expectations, creating a series where character-driven soap opera and old-fashioned horror/splatter can walk hand in hand. The latter, alas, is perhaps one reason why the series has labored to earn the sort of awards attention that would justify all those billboards and ads that AMC has placed on its behalf.

The series has also shed major characters in a manner that embraces the notion this organic world is bigger than its component parts, although not all the stragglers, obviously, are created equal.

Yet even by the program's standards, these episodes have been particularly somber and philosophical, contemplating grief, death and loss in a more inward-looking way than Rick's sort-of breakdown in response to the death of his wife Lori. It's one thing to drill down into the characters, and another to risk turning an episode of a show that features zombies into an Ibsen play.

In the latest Entertainment Weekly (which like most publications, including this one, can't cover the series enough), showrunner Scott M. Gimple promised that the story "will shift quite a bit. We are going to see a show that in its look and circumstances is very, very different from what we've seen."

Frankly, only a franchise with these kind of stratospheric ratings and this much goodwill with its audience would have the audacity to test the parameters of fans' patience and loyalty by shifting gears in the manner in which "The Walking Dead" has, and continues to do. (As always, the latest episode ended with a cryptic twist, in the form of a mysterious stranger, designed to whet one's appetite for what comes next.)

Some "Dead"-heads might relish these variances in tone, while others -- as the producers acknowledge -- will gripe about the action screeching to a halt. About the only certainty if past performance offers any guide is that next week, they'll be back for more.

"Some people can't give up. Like us," Carol (Melissa McBride), a survivor if there ever was one, said near the outset of the latest hour.

While the episode's underlying message seemed to be that in spite of all the suffering, where there's life, there's hope, the more pragmatic takeaway is that as long as the ratings remain like this, the "Walking Dead" can take chances -- and the "walking dead" to which Rick referred should resign themselves to trudging onward.