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Friday, October 25, 2013

Raw live results: October 21, 2013

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Source: http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2013-10-21/wwe-raw-results
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IBM licenses ARM's mobile processors for communications chips

IBM has licensed smartphone and tablet processor designs from ARM, which will be used in new communications and networking gear.

With the new licenses, IBM has the "capability to add mobile processing to complement our high-performance networking and mobile 'front-end' businesses -- tablets and handsets," said Michael Corrado, an IBM spokesman, in an e-mail.

[ Keep up on the day's tech news headlines with InfoWorld's Today's Headlines: Wrap Up newsletter. ]

IBM has licensed ARM's Cortex-A15, Cortex-A12, Cortex-A7 processors, which are largely for use in smartphones and tablets. IBM did not directly comment on whether it would build smartphones and tablets based on the chips, but said it will make communications and networking gear as it prepares for the "convergence of networking and consumer applications," Corrado said.

IBM has been an ARM licensee for 13 years and the deal is an extension of that partnership. IBM already makes ARM-based chips in its foundries and the companies have also partnered on chip research and manufacturing technologies.

"It certainly could be part of a larger network-to-the-endpoint offerings," said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.

IBM could also make networking chips in its foundries for its customers based on ARM's intellectual property, King said.

But the new 32-bit cores licensed by IBM have been used more in mobile devices than networking equipment. Companies like Broadcom and Cavium have instead turned to ARM's new 64-bit ARM Cortex-A57 and A53 cores for use in networking gear. The 64-bit processor designs can be tweaked to handle network tasks like packet inspection and security.

IBM won't build smartphones and tablets for consumers, King said. But the new processors could be used in communications equipment for industrial customers, he said.

As an example, he said the processors could be used in point-of-sale systems, which are becoming increasingly portable.

IBM has also licensed the Mali-450 graphics processing unit, which is not ARM's most advanced graphics processor design. The extremely low-power Cortex-M0 processor was also licensed by IBM.

The new ARM licenses won't have an effect on IBM's Power core for low-power chips.

"Our Power IP will continue to play a key role in this segment," Corrado said.

Agam Shah covers PCs, tablets, servers, chips and semiconductors for IDG News Service. Follow Agam on Twitter at @agamsh. Agam's e-mail address is agam_shah@idg.com

Source: http://www.infoworld.com/d/computer-hardware/ibm-licenses-arms-mobile-processors-communications-chips-229501
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What Happens When You Just Give Money To Poor People?

Bernard Omondi got $1,000 from GiveDirectly.

Jacob Goldstein/NPR

A couple months ago, we reported on an new charity called GiveDirectly that's trying to help poor people in the developing world in an unusual way: By sending them money with no strings attached.

The idea behind this is simple. Poor people know what they need, and if you give them money they can buy it.

But to some veterans of the charity world, giving cash is worrisome. When we first reported on this we spoke with Carol Bellamy, who used to run UNICEF, and who said people might spend the money on things like alcohol or gambling.

To see whether this was actually happening, researchers did an actual experiment. They surveyed people in Kenya who received money from GiveDirectly, and a similar group of people who didn't get money.

The results from the study are encouraging, says Johannes Haushofer, an economist at MIT's Poverty Action Lab who was one of the study's co-authors.

"We don't see people spending money on alcohol and tobacco," he says. "Instead we see them investing in their kids education, we see them investing in health care. They buy more and better food."

People used the money to buy cows and start businesses. Their kids went hungry less often.

(Full disclosure: Haushofer's co-author helped found Give Directly, but no longer works there. The study, which is described here, was done in partnership with Innovations for Poverty Action.)

I ran the results by Carol Bellamy, the former UNICEF director who had been skeptical about giving cash. "I was impressed," she said. "The return on investment was more positive than I would have anticipated."

There were two areas where the study did not find significant improvement. Even though households were spending more on health and education, it didn't seem to be having much effect. People who got money were sick just as often as those who got less. And school attendance rates for their kids didn't really change. Bellamy says those findings suggest that, while cash seems to help in the short run, it's still unclear whether it helps in the long run.

Paul Niehaus, one of Give Directly's founders, does think cash can have long-lasting effects. He points to a similar study in Uganda where the government gave people money and people's incomes went up — and stayed up, even years later. People had used the money to start small businesses, like metal working or tailoring clothes.

Niehaus says for him, the most interesting results from the new research were the improvements in mental health. Getting money made people happier, less stressed out.

"There is this growing realization that being poor is really stressful, and that hat can make it hard to organize your life and plan and make good decisions," Niehaus says. "If one of the things that giving people wealth is doing is enabling them to feel more sane and more in control of their life, that could ultimately be one of the more important things."

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/10/25/240590433/what-happens-when-you-just-give-money-to-poor-people?ft=1&f=1001
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Mother Knows Best

Presumably one day large numbers of people will seamlessly sign up for health care on the newly created health care exchanges. When that day comes, the Obama administration will still face its primary challenge: getting large numbers of bros—that is to say, healthy, 18- to-29-year-old single men—to sign up for Obamacare.

The economics of the Affordable Care Act make bros matter a lot. Like any insurance pool, the state exchanges will depend on buy-in from young, healthy people, who are cheaper to insure, to ballast premiums. Of the 7 million people the White House wants to sign up for the exchanges by next March, about 2.7 million of them are under the age of 35. The problem is many young people either don’t see the value in signing up for the exchanges or don’t understand how they work.

And that’s why this ad from a nonprofit promoting Colorado’s health exchange is so genius:

“Keg stands are crazy,” the ad reads. “Not having health insurance is crazier. Don’t tap into your beer money to cover those medical bills. We got it covered.” Another bro-care ad reads, “My girlfriend broke my heart, so me and the bros went golfing. Then my buddy broke my head. Good thing Mom made sure I got insurance.”

State organizations—like the creators of the “brosurance” ad—are faced with the same basic conundrum as Monday Night Football advertisers: How do you convince young men to buy something they don’t think they need? The brosurance ad was created by the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative as part of a campaign targeting groups of people who hit the insurance “sweet spot”—people who aren’t poor enough to qualify for Medicare but are unemployed or don’t get insurance through their work. Other ads feature a pregnant woman, a bike-riding hipster, and an athletic middle-aged rock climber.

Adam Fox, the group’s director of strategic engagement, says the publicity the brosurance ad has garnered shows the type of viral approach these PSAs need to have if they are going to reach young men. “This is a demographic that hasn’t really been successfully marketed to in health insurance,” Fox says. “If people aren’t going to look at it, they’re not going to learn anything.”

So, the success of Obamacare doesn’t just hinge on enrolling sick people (or a functional website, for that matter). Ultimately, young people will decide how much they and everyone else will pay depending on how many of them buy into the exchanges.

It isn’t necessarily a tough sell. In one poll, 70 percent of people under 30 said having health care was “very important” to them. Still, many young people are skeptical of whether it’s cost-effective to sign up for the exchanges, even though most of them will be eligible for subsidies. A 21-year-old in California making less than $34,470 will receive at least some help from the government to pay for a silver plan. Those who make more than $34,470 (or 300 percent of the federal poverty line) will have to pay at least $216 a month and won’t receive any federal subsidies. They can also turn down the exchanges and pay a $95 fine for the first year.

Aside from cheeky ads, how can states get young men to buy in? Enter Mom. Mothers make the health care decisions in 80 percent of families, and they’re the most effective “messengers” to persuade their kids to sign up for health care. Anne Filipic, who leads the nonprofit group Enroll America, says men may be the ultimate target for groups promoting the exchanges—they are more skeptical of health insurance and tend to visit the doctor less—but they’re focusing on women because of their decision-making role. “The messenger matters a lot,” Filipic says. “The most effective thing we can do is get moms and women the information, so in their day-to-day conversations they can be spreading the word.”

Mothers make the health care decisions in 80 percent of families, and they’re the most effective “messengers” to convince their kids to sign up for health care.

Enroll America surveyed young people and asked who they were most likely to trust talking to them about health care. For young women, “someone like me” was the most persuasive messenger. For young men, it was their mom, followed by their spouse or girlfriend. That’s why the Obama administration has promoted the exchanges on mom-friendly media like allrecipes.com, Good Morning America, and Elle magazine. The group MomsRising is even recruiting mothers to proselytize on the law’s benefits for young people through its “Wellness Wonder Teams.” The AARP has created a site called Your Mom Means It (or, en Español, Tu Mama Sabe), with e-cards for moms to guilt their kids into signing up for the exchanges. “I don’t mind being the reason you get health insurance,” one reads. “You’re the reason that I drink wine out of a box.” Another: “As a reward for signing up for health insurance, I’ll defriend you on Facebook.”

Winning the support of moms has become its own battleground between pro- and anti-Obamacare groups. In dueling videos, Americans for Prosperity and Organizing for Action compete to capitalize on mothers’ attention to their young children’s health. Anti-Obamacare groups are also targeting young people, like Generation Opportunity, which gave a tongue-in-cheek “Youth Defender Award” to the creators of healthcare.gov for preventing people from signing up for the exchanges. (You may also remember the group’s creepy Uncle Sam ads from September.) The White House worked with Funny or Die on a Scandal spoof, and Rep. Darrell Issa used Lolcats, that memetic workhorse, to make fun of the Obamacare help line.

Of course, cat GIFs don’t do it for everyone. Young people aren’t a monolith. There are high school dropouts and those with graduate degrees; those who are covered by their parents’ insurance and those who aren’t; single men and pregnant, married women; young people who’ve never broken a bone in their body and others who have cancer. Whether or not they sign up for government health care or pay a penalty is ultimately up to them. But everyone will be better off if the bros decide to get those totally jacked biceps state-insured.

Source: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2013/10/obamacare_brosurance_and_mothers_the_affordable_care_act_s_unlikely_allies.html
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Gawker Texas Mom Ripped Off Son's Scrotum and Then Superglued It Back On | io9 Are women really bett

Gawker Texas Mom Ripped Off Son's Scrotum and Then Superglued It Back On | io9 Are women really better multitaskers than men? | Jezebel Here's a Very Awkward Marriage Proposal That Happened Live on 'Today' | Kotaku Video Game Tries To Be Cute, Is Instead Horrifying

Twitter sets $17 to $20 per share range for IPO

A Twitter app on an iPhone screen is shown in this photo, in New York, Friday, Oct. 18, 2013. The New York Stock Exchange isn't taking any chances with Twitter's initial public offering. The Big Board said Friday it would allow trading firms to conduct a dry run of their systems, Saturday Oct. 26, 2013 to prepare for Twitter's IPO. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

NEW YORK (AP) — Twitter has set a price range of $17 to $20 per share for its initial public offering and says it could raise as much as $1.6 billion in the process. The pricing is relatively conservative considering that Twitter is poised to pull off the year's hottest IPO.

Twitter Inc. said in a regulatory filing Thursday that it will put forth 70 million shares in the offering. If all the shares are sold, the underwriters can buy another 10.5 million shares.

At the $20 share price, Twitter's market value would be around $12.5 billion, roughly one-tenth of Facebook's current valuation. Twitter's value is based on 625.2 million outstanding shares expected after the offering, including restricted stock units and stock options.

The San Francisco-based short-messaging service plans to list its stock under the ticker symbol "TWTR" on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares will likely start trading in early November. Twitter will begin its IPO "roadshow" as early as Friday, meeting with prospective investors to pitch its stock.

The company's valuation is conservative. Some analysts had expected the figure to be as high as $20 billion. Back in August Twitter priced some of its employee stock options at $20.62, based on an appraisal by an investment firm.

Other publicly traded companies in the $12 billion range include tool maker Stanley Black & Decker and pharmaceutical company Forest Laboratories. LinkedIn Corp., meanwhile, stands around $27 billion based on its closing stock price Thursday.

Twitter's caution suggests that the company learned from Facebook's rocky initial public offering last year. Rather than set expectations too high, Twitter is playing it safe and will very likely raise its price range closer to the IPO, and thus fuel demand.

Facebook's IPO was marred by technical glitches on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange in May of 2012. As a result, the Securities and Exchange Commission fined Nasdaq $10 million, the largest ever levied against an exchange. Those problems likely led Twitter to the NYSE.

Last week, Twitter disclosed that it lost $65 million in the third quarter, three times as much as in the same period a year earlier. It was the company's biggest quarterly loss since 2010. Founded in 2006, Twitter has never posted a profit, but its revenue is growing. Revenue for the latest quarter more than doubled from the same period last year, to nearly $169 million.

The IPO has been long expected. The company has been adding to its arsenal of advertising products and working to boost ad revenue in preparation. Still, it's ad revenue is small compared with Facebook. Twitter says it has more than 230 million monthly users, compared with Facebook's roughly 1.2 billion.

A big part of Twitter's appeal is in its simplicity and public nature. Users can send short messages that consist of up to 140 characters. Anyone can "follow" anyone else, but the relationship doesn't have to be reciprocal, which makes the service especially attractive for celebrities and companies that use Twitter to communicate directly with fans and customers.

AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke contributed to this story from San Francisco.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-10-24-Twitter-IPO-Pricing/id-c113897056a5418d9c3921d2d6e21088
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Thursday, October 24, 2013

Unleashing the power of the crowd

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

24-Oct-2013

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Contact: Katherine Gombay
katherine.gombay@mcgill.ca
514-398-2189
McGill University

McGill online game expands to connect global scientific community with citizen scientists

Over the past three years, 300,000 gamers have helped scientists with genomic research by playing Phylo, an online puzzle game. Now Jrme Waldisphl, the McGill computer science professor and his colleagues, who developed the game are making this crowd of players available to scientists around the globe. The idea is to put human talent to work to improve on what is already being done by computers in the field of comparative genomics.

Phylo is a cross between Tetris, Rubik's cube and an old-fashioned sliding-tile puzzle game. As gamers line up coloured rectangles that represent real genetic material (in the form of DNA sequences), they are helping to pinpoint the genetic anomalies that may be the key to a range of diseases that include diabetes, breast cancer and retinoblastoma (the most common form of malignant tumour in the eyes of children). Since it was first launched, players who range from teenagers to seniors have suggested solutions for over 4,000 puzzles based on genomic data that has already been gathered. Now these gamers will be put to use helping scientists with a whole new range of research.

Waldisphl and his colleagues are hoping that along with providing solutions to genomic problems, this process will also help to promote a better general understanding of scientific research. "Playing a game helps lower the barriers that sometimes exist between scientists and the population in general," says Waldisphl. "Since we launched Phylo, what I've most enjoyed are the conversations I've had with people who are interested in science and want to know more about the research. Our goal now is to connect thousands of scientists around the globe with hundreds of thousands of gamers."

Waldisphl and his colleagues have already fielded inquiries from scientists working on viral bioinformatics at the University of Victoria. And they hope soon to hear from many others. Phylo is already available in 10 languages, including German, Russian, Chinese and Hebrew, and a future goal is to translate the website into Japanese, Arabic and Italian.

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To access the game online: http://phylo.cs.mcgill.ca/

To contact the researcher directly: jerome.waldispuhl@mcgill.ca

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Unleashing the power of the crowd

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

24-Oct-2013

[

| E-mail

]

Contact: Katherine Gombay
katherine.gombay@mcgill.ca
514-398-2189
McGill University

McGill online game expands to connect global scientific community with citizen scientists

###

To access the game online: http://phylo.cs.mcgill.ca/

To contact the researcher directly: jerome.waldispuhl@mcgill.ca

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Share

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/mu-utp102413.php
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Aboriginal hunting practice increases animal populations

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

24-Oct-2013

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Contact: Terry Nagel
tnagel@stanford.edu
650-498-0607
Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment

Burning approach mixing practical philosophy and knowledge leads to near doubling of lizards and improves habitat

In Australia's Western Desert, Aboriginal hunters use a unique method that actually increases populations of the animals they hunt, according to a study co-authored by Stanford Woods Institute-affiliated researchers Rebecca and Doug Bird. Rebecca Bird is an associate professor of anthropology, and Doug Bird is a senior research scientist.

The study, published Oct. 23 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, offers new insights into maintaining animal communities through ecosystem engineering and co-evolution of animals and humans. It finds that populations of monitor lizards nearly double in areas where they are heavily hunted. The hunting method using fire to clear patches of land to improve the search for game also creates a mosaic of regrowth that enhances habitat. Where there are no hunters, lightning fires spread over vast distances, landscapes are more homogenous and monitor lizards are more rare.

"Our results show that humans can have positive impacts on other species without the need for policies of conservation and resource management," Rebecca Bird said. "In the case of indigenous communities, the everyday practice of subsistence might be just as effective at maintaining biodiversity as the activities of other organisms."

Martu, the aboriginal community the Birds and their colleagues have worked with for many years, refer to their relationship with the ecosystem around them as part of "jukurr" or dreaming. This ritual, practical philosophy and body of knowledge instructs the way Martu interact with the desert environment, from hunting practices to cosmological and social organization. At its core is the concept that land must be used if life is to continue. Therefore, Martu believe the absence of hunting, not its presence, causes species to decline.

While jukurr has often been interpreted as belonging to the realm of the sacred and irrational, it appears to actually be consistent with scientific understanding, according to the study. The findings suggest that the decline in aboriginal hunting and burning in the mid-20th century, due to the persecution of aboriginal people and the loss of traditional economies, may have contributed to the extinction of many desert species that had come to depend on such practices.

The findings add to a growing appreciation of the complex role that humans play in the function of ecosystems worldwide. In environments where people have been embedded in ecosystems for millennia, including areas of the U.S., tribal burning was extensive in many types of habitat. Many Native Americans in California, for instance, believe that policies of fire suppression and the exclusion of their traditional burning practices have contributed to the current crisis in biodiversity and native species decline, particularly in the health of oak woodland communities. Incorporating indigenous knowledge and practices into contemporary land management could become important in efforts to conserve and restore healthy ecosystems and landscapes.

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The study was funded by the National Science Foundation.

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Aboriginal hunting practice increases animal populations

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

24-Oct-2013

[

| E-mail

]

Contact: Terry Nagel
tnagel@stanford.edu
650-498-0607
Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment

Burning approach mixing practical philosophy and knowledge leads to near doubling of lizards and improves habitat

###

The study was funded by the National Science Foundation.

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/swif-ahp102413.php
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Danielle Jonas Shows Off Growing Baby Bump In Exercise Photo

Danielle Jonas has got herself a baby bump — and it's absolutely adorable! While exercising at the gym Thursday, Oct. 24, Kevin Jonas' pregnant wife showed off her growing belly via Instagram.

PHOTOS: The Jonas Brothers through the years

"My belly! and my muscles getting big with Anthony Michael," the first-time mom-to-be excitedly wrote. "#preggoproblems." Alongside the caption, the brunette beauty shared a three-photo collage of her lifting weights next to her personal trainer. The Married to Jonas star wore tight black leggings and sneakers for the workout, and a light blue tank top that accentuated her expanding tummy.

PHOTOS: Famous family feuds

The couple, both 25, first announced in July they were expecting their first child together. "It's true -- Danielle is pregnant! Can't even imagine how excited we are," Kevin tweeted at the time. "I can't wait to share this with my best friend. I love you baby. One month later, the two officially announced via social media that they would be having a baby girl.

PHOTOS: The biggest boy bands of all time

As Danielle continues to keep in shape for her baby's future arrival, hubby Kevin has been trying to figure out where his professional life is headed with his famous brothers. The Jonas Brothers decided to cancel their 19-date tour earlier this month before it even began due to "a deep rift within the band."

Just this week, Kevin's younger siblings spoke out about the supposed "big disagreement over their music direction."

"Bear with us," Nick, 21, wrote via Twitter on Oct. 22. Joe, 24, then added a half hour later: "Please hold while we get our s--t together."

Source: http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-moms/news/danielle-jonas-shows-off-growing-baby-bump-in-exercise-photo-20132410
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An iPhone 5 Dock That's A CD Player, Your Choice Of Headphones [Deals]

As a tech enthusiast, the combination of a bluetooth speaker, iPhone 5 speaker dock, clock, and CD player can't be lost on you, especially in this delightfully different form factor. Pick it up today for only 90 bucks from Best Buy. Talk about all-in-one devices. [Best Buy]

Healthcare.gov problems are target at Hill hearing

From left, Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini, Humana CEO Bruce Broussard, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida CEO Patrick Geraghty, and other health care chief executive officers arrive at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013, to meet with White House officials regarding President Barack Obama's health care law. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio speaks during a new conference following a meeting at the Republican National Committee offices on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, left, and House Majority Leader Eric Canton of Va., right, walk away from the microphones following a news conference after a meeting at the Republican National Committee offices on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

From left, Tufts Health Plan President and CEO James Roosevelt, Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini, Humana CEO Bruce Broussard, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida CEO Patrick Geraghty, Kaiser Permanente CEO Bernard Tyson, and other health care chief executive officers arrive at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013, to meet with White House officials regarding President Barack Obama's health care law. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The principal contractors responsible for the federal government's troubled health insurance website say the Obama administration shares responsibility for snags that have crippled the system.

Executives of CGI Federal, which built the federal HealthCare.gov website serving 36 states, and QSSI, which designed the part that verifies applicants' income and other personal details, were testifying Thursday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

As the hearing began, Republican committee members said the website problems are symptomatic of deeper flaws in the Affordable Care Act, and they accused administration officials of misleading Congress with repeated assurances that the rollout was on track.

"The American people deserve something that works, or start over," said Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., adding that the administration should suspend the health law until problems are fixed.

Democrats acknowledged the website problems but defended the law, saying millions of uninsured Americans are counting on it to finally get coverage — and thousands are succeeding in signing up. They accused Republicans of trying to sabotage the law, not to fix it.

"Republicans don't have clean hands coming here," said Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J.

The hearing comes as President Barack Obama's allies are starting to fret about the political fallout. Democrats had hoped to run for re-election next year on the benefits of the health care law for millions of uninsured Americans. Instead, computer problems are keeping many consumers from signing up through new online markets.

One House Democrat says the president needs to "man up" and fire somebody, while others are calling for signup deadlines to be extended and a reconsideration of the penalties individuals will face next year if they remain uninsured.

The focus on the contractors is a first step for GOP investigators. After the failure of their drive to defund "Obamacare" by shutting down the government, they've been suddenly handed a new line of attack by the administration itself. Administration officials, including Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, are to testify next week.

Cheryl Campbell, senior vice president of CGI, suggested in prepared testimony that Congress should look beyond the contractors. HHS "serves the important role of systems integrator or 'quarterback' on this project and is the ultimate responsible party for the end-to-end performance," she said.

Overwhelming interest from consumers triggered the website problems, she said. "No amount of testing within reasonable time limits can adequately replicate a live environment of this nature," she said.

Andy Slavitt, representing QSSI's parent company, said the operation's virtual back room, known as the federal data hub, is working well despite some bugs. But his company was also involved with another part of the system, a component for registering individual consumer accounts that became an online bottleneck.

Slavitt blamed the administration, saying that a late decision to require consumers to create accounts before they could browse health plans contributed to the overload. "This may have driven higher simultaneous usage of the registration system that wouldn't have occurred if consumers could window-shop anonymously," he said.

Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., chairman of the panel's health subcommittee, said he wants to focus on the administration's decision not to allow browsing, or window-shopping. That's a standard feature of e-commerce sites, including Medicare.gov for seniors. Lack of a browsing capability forced all users to first go through the laborious process of creating accounts, overloading that part of the site.

"Who made that decision? When was it made? Why was it made?" Pitts asked.

Acknowledging what's been obvious to many outside experts, the administration said Wednesday that the system didn't get enough testing, especially at a high user volume, before going live. It blamed a compressed time frame for meeting the Oct. 1 deadline to open the insurance markets. Basic "alpha and user testing" are now completed, but that's supposed to happen before a launch, not after.

The administration provided no timetable to fix extensive computer snags but said technicians are deep into the job. Its explanation, posted online in an HHS blog post and accompanying graphic, identified six broad areas of problems and outlined fixes underway but in most cases incomplete.

The HHS explanation identified some bugs that have gotten little outside attention. Technical problems have surfaced that are making the application and plan-shopping functions difficult to complete. That's a concern because those stages are farther along in the signup process than the initial registration, where many consumers have been getting tripped up. The problems are being analyzed and fixes are planned.

Meanwhile, House Democrats are starting to worry aloud about persistent problems with the rollout.

Rep. Richard Nolan, D-Minn., told The Associated Press the computer fiasco has "damaged the brand" of the health care law.

"The president needs to man up, find out who was responsible, and fire them," Nolan said. He did not name anyone.

Former White House chief of staff Bill Daley, interviewed Thursday on "CBS This Morning," said that Obama "can't just get stuck on this for the next several weeks." As for calls that Sebelius be fired, Daley said that would be like firing the captain of the Titanic "after the ship hit the iceberg."

Obama says he's as frustrated as anyone and has promised a "tech surge" to fix the balky website. White House spokesman Jay Carney said the administration will be more transparent about the problems. After more than 20 days without briefing the media, HHS will start regular sessions on Thursday, he said.

In light of the computer problems, some Democrats are saying Obama should consider extending open enrollment season beyond March 31 and revisit the penalties for individuals who don't sign up and remain uninsured. Under the law, virtually all Americans must carry health insurance starting next year or face fines.

On that point, a change in the timeline for signing up for coverage is underway, the White House said. Consumers have until Dec. 15 to apply for coverage that's effective Jan. 1. Even though open enrollment lasts until March 31, people would face a penalty if they postpone buying coverage beyond mid-February. Calling that a "disconnect," the White House said officials will soon issue policy guidance allowing consumers to sign up by the end of March without penalty.

____

Associated Press writers Josh Lederman and Laurie Kellman contributed to this report.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-10-24-Health%20Overhaul-Problems/id-b031d2ff912248758b8967355a6049de
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Microsoft exec scoffs at talk that Apple's free iWork threatens Office

Microsoft's head of communications took shots today at Apple's decision to give away its iWork productivity software, calling the move "an attempt to catch up."

In a post to the Official Microsoft Blog, Frank Shaw countered what he said was misguided at best, reality-bending at worst, coverage by the media and blogosphere on Apple's giving away iWork to new Mac and iOS device buyers.

[ Also on InfoWorld: The must-have iPad office apps, round 7. | For quick, smart takes on the news you'll be talking about, check out InfoWorld TechBrief -- subscribe today. ]

Apple made that announcement Tuesday during an 80-minute event in San Francisco, where executives touted new iPads, lower-priced MacBook Pros, and declared OS X Mavericks and the iWork apps would be free to segments of the Mac installed base.

"Seems like the RDF (Reality Distortion Field) typically generated by an Apple event has extended beyond Cupertino," Shaw wrote. "So let me try to clear some things up."

Shaw took exception to the conclusions by some pundits that the Apple maneuver was a shot at rival Microsoft, and that by throwing in iWork with a new Mac, iPhone, or iPad, Microsoft's Office franchise, the Redmond, Wash., company's business model and its tablet strategy were threatened.

"When I see Apple drop the price of their struggling, lightweight productivity apps, I don't see a shot across our bow, I see an attempt to play catch-up," said Shaw.

But Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy, saw it as exactly that: A shot. "I don't know any other way to interpret that than to say Apple was going after Microsoft," said Moorhead.

The "that" Moorhead was talking about was the slide shown behind Eddy Cue, Apple's head of Internet software and services, yesterday just before Cue announced that iWork would be free for new device buyers. That slide displayed the logo of Office 365, Microsoft's software subscription service, and cited $99 as the annual price for Home Premium, the consumer SKU.

Shaw has lashed out at the press over reports or at bloggers over their interpretations of news before. In May, he decried negative coverage of Windows 8 in general, and the update then code-named Windows "Blue" in particular. He took special exception to news and news analysis stories that compared Blue's restoration of the Start button to Coca-Cola's "New Coke" disaster of nearly thirty years ago.

Windows Blue was later named Windows 8.1, the free update that launched last week.

More recently, Shaw called out the media over how it handled news of current Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's retirement announcement two months ago.

Source: http://www.infoworld.com/d/applications/microsoft-exec-scoffs-talk-apples-free-iwork-threatens-office-229439?source=rss_applications
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Engadget HD Podcast 372 - 10.22.13

With this week's big keynote failing to produce any Apple TV-related products, our hosts Ben Drawbaugh and Richard Lawler are left to speculate on the reasons behind Amazon's recent stock issues with the little hockey puck. As the discussion moves over to the streaming front, U-Verse live TV arrives ...

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/4oyfwj35ItQ/
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World stocks down after weaker US hiring report

BANGKOK (AP) — World stock markets fell Wednesday, hit by slower U.S. hiring and reports of tighter money market conditions in China that could check its economic recovery.

Weaker-than-expected U.S. job creation in September was a mixed cue for markets. On the plus side, it boosted the case for a full-strength continuation of the Federal Reserve's super-easy monetary policy that has boosted investment in stocks worldwide. On the downside, it suggests U.S. demand for exports will continue to be subdued, which could hurt company earnings.

The Labor Department reported that 148,000 jobs were created in September, below the consensus among analysts for around 180,000. Following revisions to back data, it means that the U.S. economy added an average of 143,000 jobs a month from July through September, down from 182,000 from April through June.

Sentiment in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan was hurt by reports the central bank refrained from injecting funds into money markets, pushing up short-term lending rates.

Markets were also down in Europe where Britain's FTSE 100 dropped 0.4 percent to 6,668.81. Germany's DAX fell 0.4 percent to 8,912.97 and France's CAC-40 tumbled 0.6 percent to 4,269.70.

Futures pointed to a retreat on Wall Street too. Dow futures were down 0.4 percent and broader S&P 500 futures lost 0.5 percent.

In Asia, China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.3 percent to 2,183.11 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 1.4 percent to 23,999.95. Taiwan's benchmark dropped 0.3 percent to 8,393.62.

China's economic growth rebounded to 7.8 percent in the third quarter but inflation and house prices have also risen, creating a balancing act for policymakers who want to shift the economy to growth driven by consumption rather than investment and exports.

Japan's Nikkei 225 tumbled 2 percent to 14,426.05 as the yen gained against the U.S. dollar, which can hurt sales and profits at Japanese exporters.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.3 percent to 5,356.10.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude for December delivery was down 78 cents at $97.53 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.38 to $98.30 on Tuesday.

The dollar fell to 97.26 yen from 98.13 yen late Tuesday. The euro fell to $1.3755 from $1.3777.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/world-stocks-down-weaker-us-hiring-report-091442801--finance.html
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T-Mobile to offer Nexus 7 LTE and Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 for $0 down

Nexus 7 LTE

Nexus 7 for $16 per month, Tab 2 for $19 per month, for two years

Along with its new tablet data announcements today, T-Mobile revealed that it'll be carrying two of the more prominent Android slates for $0 down. T-Mo will give you a Nexus 7 (2013) with LTE connectivity on a 24-month payment plan costing $16 per month, or a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 for $19 over the same period.

And just like any other tablet brought to T-Mobile, you'll get 200MB of 4G LTE data for the life of the device, with the ability to top up 500MB on a one-day pass for $5, or 1GB on a weekly pass for $10. With both the daily and weekly passes you'll get unlimited data at a reduced speed beyond the 500MB or 1GB of full-speed data.

The Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 is available now from T-Mobile, while the Nexus 7 will launch on Nov. 20. T-Mobile's also bringing its "free data for life" deal to iPad customers, along with $0 down deals for both Apple's new tablets.

Source: T-Mobile

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