Rejection Of Estrogen Therapy Kills Thousands.

NEW HAVEN - According to Yale researchers, the widespread rejection of estrogen therapy during the last decade may have led to nearly 50,000 unnecessary deaths.

Hormone replacement therapy fell out of favor after a 2002 federally funded study found that it led to an increase in breast cancer, heart disease and stroke.

But Yale researchers say estrogen only therapy can save lives for post-menopausal women who have had hysterectomies.

They say the danger was for women who still had their uteruses who took estrogen combined with another hormone.

Chimpanzees and orangutans remember distant past events.

Chimpanzees and orangutans were able to remember past events when presented with sensory reminders, a new study shows.

Both species found where a useful tool was hidden three years after performing a task only four times.
They were also able to recall a unique event two weeks later. 

The team say their work, published in Current Biology, shows memory for past events is not unique to humans. 

Chimps and orangutans were presented with two boxes in different rooms, one of which had useful tools, the other useless ones. In order to get a reward they had to successfully retrieve the useful tools.

Three years later, without witnessing them being hidden, they retrieved the useful tools correctly.
Instant recollection 
It has been well established in humans that sensory cues like songs and smells can help transport our minds back to the past.

The team, led by Gema Martin-Ordas of Aarhus University, Denmark, used the same principle. They found that cues - keeping the experimental set up the same - triggered the apes' memories.
 

They observed that 90% of the apes who experienced the event three years earlier found the tool in the correct location almost instantly.

"Our data, and other emerging evidence, keep challenging the idea of non-human animals being stuck in time," said Dr Martin-Ordas.

"We show not only that chimpanzees and orangutans remember events that happened two weeks or three years ago, but also that they can remember them even when they are not expecting to have to recall those events at a later time.

"What this shows is that the episodic memory system in humans is not as unique as we thought it was, as we share features with non-human primates." 

This could mean the capacity to remember past event could have evolved before humans were present, she told BBC News.
"I think it's important to know who we are and what makes us unique. Learning about what other species can do gives us a more comprehensive picture about humans."

Conscious replay Michael Corballis from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, who was not involved with the work, said the study moves us significantly closer to showing that chimpanzees and orangutans have human-like episodic memory "in defiance of what some of us have maintained".

But while humans can recall what, where and when something happened, the apes were missing the "when" component, he added.

"There is no indication that the animals remembered when the earlier event occurred. This is not to say the animals had no inkling of this, and in any case we humans are often hazy about the locations of events in time.
"My guess is that great apes, and perhaps even rats, have episodic memories similar to our own, probably less rich and detailed, but similar in essence."

The authors of the work note there is no way of telling whether or not the animals had a conscious recollection of these past events. 

But Dr Corballis said this could be overly pessimistic, as previous studies of activity in the hippocampus of rats "do seem to provide evidence of conscious replay of event".

Mars' atmosphere destroyed by 'catastrophic' event four billion years ago.

An analysis of data returned by the Curiosity rover, which landed on the planet a year ago, suggests there was a major upheaval which could have been caused by volcanic eruptions or a massive collision which stripped away the atmosphere. 

The rover has returned its first measurements of the makeup of gases, including argon, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, in the Martian atmosphere. 

The results, published in two parallel studies in the journal Science, allow scientists to better understand how the Martian climate changed, and understand whether it ever had the right conditions for life. 

Dr Chris Webster at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, lead author on one of the studies, said the data enabled direct comparisons with the Earth’s climate. 

“As Mars became a planet and its magma solidified, catastrophic outgassing occurred while volatiles were delivered by impact of comets and other small bodies”, Dr Webster said.

 

“Our Curiosity measurements are – for the first time – accurate enough to make direct comparisons with measurements done on Earth on meteorites using sophisticated large instrumentation that gives high accuracy results.” 

The team believe a major event destroying the atmosphere must have happened around four billion years ago. 

The different ratio of two forms of the gas argon on Mars and Earth suggests some huge event changed their relative amounts, the scientists said. 

Monica Grady, professor of planetary sciences at The Open University, who did not write the studies, told The Guardian: “It’s really great that two separate studies using different instruments and techniques have given the same composition. 

“These findings reverse the results from the Phoenix mission and clear up some confusion over the composition of the Martian atmosphere.” 

According to a study of rock samples published last month, Mars had an oxygen-rich atmosphere more than a billion years before Earth. 

Rocks collected from the surface of the Gusev crater by Nasa's Spirit rover were found to contain five times as much nickel as Martian meteorites found on Earth. 

This suggests that the surface rocks, which are at least 3.7 billion years old, formed in an oxygen-rich environment while the meteorites, aged between 180 million and 1.4 billion years, did not. 

Dr Paul Mahaffy from Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Centre, who was the lead author on the other paper, said further analysis needed to be done before humans could be put on Mars. 

“From a practical standpoint we need to know the composition [of the atmosphere] today, and how it is changing, so that we can prepare for the eventual arrival of human explorers.”

Google and Microsoft earnings disappoint.

Two of the world's biggest technology companies, Google and Microsoft, have badly missed earnings expectations for the second quarter.

Google reported profits of $9.7bn (£6.4bn), up 16% from a year ago but less than analysts were expecting.
Microsoft made $4.5bn in the second quarter, but announced that it would take a $900m charge relating to poor sales of its Surface tablet.

Shares in both companies fell by more than 4% in after-hours trading.

Declining PC sales - which recently saw their longest slide in five years - have hurt Microsoft's efforts to boost its business with the sale of its Windows 8 operating software.

Last week, the company also announced that it would cut the price of its Surface tablet amid sluggish sales.
More mobile
 
While Google's profits were up by more than 16% since last year, the company missed analyst expectations.
The main driver of Google's profits - advertising revenue - was up 15%.

More of Google's advertising revenues is coming from mobile adverts, which are cheaper. 
 
While the company has been adapting, the change has hurt Google's bottom line. 

Chief executive Larry Page said that adapting to mobile was a challenge the company was embracing.

"The shift from one screen to multiple screens and mobility creates tremendous opportunity for Google," he said.

On a conference call to discuss earnings, Mr Page mentioned the company's revamped AdWords programme, which has been well-received.

Ohio's unemployment rate increases to 7.2 percent for June; about 413,000 were unemployed.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Officials say Ohio's unemployment rate rose to 7.2 percent in June with a loss of 12,500 jobs, the second largest of any state that month.

The state's unemployment rate had remained at 7 percent for the previous two months.

The U.S. Department of Labor released the data on Thursday. Unemployment rates increased in 28 states in June, partly because more Americans began searching for work and not all of them got jobs. The government doesn't count people as unemployed unless they are actively looking for work.

The number of unemployed workers in Ohio in June was almost 413,000, up by about 8,000 compared to May. The state's rate in June 2012 was 7.3 percent.

Ohio's rate has consistently remained below the nation's rate, which was 7.6 percent last month.

Unleashing the undead: Virus tracker program lets Jamboree Scouts turn others into ‘zombies'

Participants at the Boy Scouts of America’s National Jamboree are turning each other into virtual creepy crawlies by the thousands this week.

It’s part of an educational game Virginia Tech researchers designed to show how disease spreads.
The Virus Tracker combines technology with the age-old game of tag. At the 10-day Jamboree, Scouts can earn points by “infecting” other players through a “virus” on bar-coded labels that are attached to their Scout IDs. Codes can be activated at scanning stations or by smartphones that have downloaded the Virus Tracker app. Individuals and troops that amass the most points each day win.

The goal is to stay human.
Colin Slavin, 15, whose Scout troop is based in Germantown Hills, Ill., called the chance to turn other Scouts into zombies “really cool.”

Players can sign up when they visit the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute’s tent at The Cloud, a technology area at the Jamboree where Scouts also learn about robotics, engineering, computer science and mobile communications.

Slavin heard about the virus program from other Scouts and had to try it for himself Thursday.
After filling out a brief computer survey, he tagged four other people before his brief rampage was stopped by an approaching thunderstorm, which forced officials to shut down the system.

“It was real easy,” Slavin said. “It’s like, ‘Yep, you’re infected. I got you. I win.’ It’s just like a large, incredibly different (game of) tag.”

Kristy Collins, VBI’s education program manager for grades K-through-12, said about 3,000 of the estimated 30,000 Scouts at the Jamboree have participated so far. The labels are waterproof, enabling Scouts to participate even when they’re doing other activities, such as rafting or learning how to SCUBA dive.

Some of the participants’ gamer tags have included names like “B1ack.Plague” and “blaime.the.zombie.”
It’s not the first time technology and the undead have banded together. In 2005, the Humans vs. Zombies tag game was made popular at Goucher College in Maryland. It quickly spread to college campuses and communities nationwide. That version uses socks, foam-dart guns and red or green bandanas and requires reporting “tagged” zombies on a website.

The Virus Tracker system has been used twice before at the USA Science and Engineering Festival. This week marks the first time the Virus Tracker app has been used and the first time the institute has been to the Scouts Jamboree, Collins said.

Researchers are using data collected at the Jamboree to create an “infection tree” to show how individual Scouts spread the zombie virus within their population. The data will show how diseases such as the flu can become pandemics.

At times, “vaccines” are sent out through the system to turn the zombies human again if the Scouts answer an epidemiology question correctly. The Virus Tracker keeps count of things such as the number of infected and inoculated participants. Scouts without access to smartphones can still register by computer at the tent and distribute labels to other Scouts, thereby “infecting” them with the “virus.”

“The first thing everybody says is ‘is it real?’” Collins said. “And we say, no it’s not real. We’re not giving you the flu. We kind of laugh about that.”

The Scouts are then invited to help spread the zombie virus.
“And then they’re like, ‘yeah, man, I really do!” Collins said.

Brain ultrasound to help treat depression, anxiety.

Sending ultrasound waves to specific areas of the brain can alter patients' moods, a new study has found.

The discovery by University of Arizona researchers has led them conduct further investigations with the hope that this technique could one day be used to treat conditions such as depression and anxiety.

Dr. Stuart Hameroff, professor emeritus of the UA's departments of anesthesiology and psychology and director of the UA's Center for Consciousness Studies, is lead author on the first clinical study of brain ultrasound.

Hameroff became interested in applying ultrasound to the human brain when he read about a study by colleague Jamie Tyler at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, who found physiological and behavioral effects in animals of ultrasound applied to the scalp, with the waves passing through the skull.

Hameroff knew that ultrasound vibrates in megahertz frequencies at about 10 million vibrations per second, and that microtubules, protein structures inside brain neurons linked to mood and consciousness, also resonate in megahertz frequencies. Hameroff proposed testing ultrasound treatment for mood on human brains.

"I said to my anesthesiology colleagues, 'we should try this on chronic pain patient volunteers'," he said.

His colleagues respectfully suggested he try it on himself, first. Hameroff acquiesced.

After 15 seconds with an ultrasound transducer, a standard ultrasound imaging device, placed against his head, Hameroff felt no effect.

"I put it down and said, 'well, that's not going to work.' And then about a minute later I started to feel like I'd had a martini," he said.

His mood was elevated for the next hour or two, Hameroff said.

Aware that his experience could be a placebo effect, an imagined effect derived from his expectation to feel a change, Hameroff set out to properly test the treatment with a clinical trial.

With research committee and hospital approval, and patient informed consent, Hameroff and his colleagues applied transcranial ultrasound to 31 chronic pain patients at The University of Arizona Medical Center-South Campus, in a double blind study in which neither doctor nor subject knew if the ultrasound machine had been switched on or off.

Patients reported improvements in mood for up to 40 minutes following treatment with brain ultrasound, compared with no difference in mood when the machine was switched off.

The researchers confirmed the patients' subjective reports of increases in positive mood with a Visual Analog Mood Scale, or VAMS, a standardized objective mood scale often used in psychological studies.

The discovery may open the door to a possible range of new applications of ultrasound in medicine.

Now, diabetic therapy from abdominal fats.

Good news for patients suffering from diabetes as IKDRC claims to be the first to discover insulin producing genes in abdominal fat.

 

Institute of Kidney Diseases & Research Centre (IKDRC) claims to have successfully used stem-cells to bring down dependence of type-I diabetics on insulin.
The institute has claimed to be the first to discover insulin producing cells in abdominal fat and use it in stem-cell therapy to bring down patient’s dependence on insulin. A paper regarding the same was presented by the research team of IKDRC — led by its director Dr HL Trivedi at the 12th International Congress of Cell Transplantation Society at Milan, Italy.
Speaking about the discovery, Dr Trivedi said that the team experimented with fat from the abdomen.
“We found three genes that were identical to the genes that produce insulin in pancreas. What were the genes doing in the abdominal fat was a question. But more important was that we managed to use them in stem-cell therapy to reduce diabetics dependence on insulin,” said Dr Trivedi.
He, however, clarified that so far the use of stem-cell has only helped reduced the dependence of diabetics on insulin and not in eliminating it. “In future we may be able to achieve that too,” said Dr Trivedi.
Associate professor in regenerative medicine and stem-cell therapy Dr Umang Thakkar, who presented the paper on use of stem-cell in type-I diabetes, said 20 patients were taken for the study.
“Ten of them had stem cells from abdominal fat of a donor while the remaining used cells from their own body fat. The latter group showed better response because your body tends to accept its own cells rather than from a donor. 45% reduction in insulin dependence was registered in the group that used its own body fat while it was 35% for the other group. The mean age of the group was 20 years,” said Dr Thakkar.
He said another encouraging factor was that in the group that used stem-cells from its own body fat there were no instances of ketoacidosis — a condition common among diabetics in which there is sudden spurt in blood sugar level accompanied by breathlessness. All the patients in the study group were type-I diabetics.

Cassini spacecraft set to capture "pale blue dot" of Earth.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft is poised to snap a dramatic portrait of Earth Friday, capturing a mosaic showing humanity's home in space as a pinprick of light just to one side of Saturn's spectacular rings.

Flying in Saturn's shadow as it loops behind the ringed world, Cassini's cameras will take a series of photos that will be assembled into a mosaic spanning the width of the gigantic ring system and, in the process, capturing distant Earth and its moon some 898 million miles away.

A similar mosaic was assembled in 2006, but the picture was set up for research and did not show the planet and its rings in natural color. This time around, Cassini will capture a view intended from the start for public consumption, one that will show Saturn and Earth as they would appear to an astronaut looking on from Saturn's far side.

At Saturn's enormous distance, the crescent Earth, with most of North America illuminated by the sun, will span a single pixel and will appear as a pinpoint of light in the depths of space. The view will be similar to the 2006 image and reminiscent of a shot by the Voyager 1 probe in 1990 from the edge of the solar system.
The Voyager photo was taken at the request of Carl Sagan, who marveled at the "pale blue dot" that was Earth.

Carolyn Porco, leader of Cassini's imaging team at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo., worked with Sagan on the Voyager image and hopes Friday's picture will spark a similar moment of wonder for a much broader segment of the population.

Most of the western hemisphere will be facing Saturn Friday afternoon when the Cassini spacecraft snaps a picture from the far side of Saturn.

She wants people to step outside and wave at Cassini and to "think about where we are, think about life on planet Earth, how incredibly marvelous it is, think about your own existence, just have a moment of cosmic self awareness."

"I just thought it would be a fantastic moment, a fantastic opportunity, if we could do it again, do it right, make sure the pictures are the correct camera settings, correct filters, all that stuff, do it right and let everybody know in advance so this could become a kind of interplanetary salute between robot and maker."
Along with the globe-spanning mosaic, Cassini also will zoom in on Earth with it's narrow-angle camera.
 
While the spacecraft is simply too far away to capture any detail -- "we're still going to be a pale blue dot," Porco said -- the image should show both the planet and its moon, separated by about 20 pixels.

"The moon, you know, is very much fainter than the Earth so probably we'll have to boost its brightness," Porco said. "But we should, in the narrow angle camera, be able to see both.

"I'm really hoping it's kind of a knock-your-socks-off picture with the diffuse rings in it, Saturn and so on," she said.

Cassini will snap its pictures during a 15-minute period starting at 5:27 p.m. EDT (GMT-4). Friday. The narrow-angle view of Earth and moon is expected to be released within days of the photo session, but Porco said the full mosaic will take six weeks or so to downlink, process and assemble.

Cassini, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., braked into orbit around Saturn on July 1, 2004. It completed its original four-year mission in 2008 and a two-year extension in 2010. It currently is flying through a second mission extension and scientists hope to continue collecting data through 2017.

In this 2006 Cassini image, Earth is barely visible just to one side of Saturn's rings. The picture was intended for research purposes but Friday's shot of Earth and Saturn will be optimized to show the scene in natural color.

During an ever-changing series of orbits around Saturn, Cassini has chalked up a near flawless performance, dropping off a European Space Agency probe that landed on the surface of the moon Titan and studying the enigmatic planet and its rings in exhaustive detail with state-of-the-art cameras and instruments.

The 2006 picture of Saturn, one of the spacecraft's most popular images, was taken while Cassini was behind the planet as part of a science campaign and the camera settings were adjusted accordingly. While Earth is visible in the picture, Saturn appears in hues that do not mirror what the eye would see.

"It was not taken with the idea of making it a picture that would be good for public consumption," Porco said. "That was basically just because we were so busy when we first got into orbit, for those first two or three or four years. ... The quality of the image is just not very good.

"More than anything else, I really felt it was a wasted opportunity. If people had known in advance their picture was going to be taken, it would have been a tremendous opportunity for people to be high fiving all over the planet and for announcing to the world, you know, look how far we have come in the exploration of our solar system, we have a robot in orbit around Saturn now that is going to take our picture."

Porco never gave up hopes for a second opportunity. Three years ago, she and her staff began studying Cassini's planned trajectory to look for potential photo opportunities, occasions when the spacecraft would be in eclipse behind Saturn and out of the glare of direct sunlight.

A blow up of the 2006 image showing Earth as seen from Saturn.

As it turned out, July 19 was a good choice, one that did not interfere with normal science operations, and NASA began publicizing the encounter last month, launching a "Wave at Saturn" campaign on its web site.
"Maybe I'm too starry eyed about all this, but I know this -- when I went around giving talks about Cassini and I end my talk on that September 2006 picture, it's a picture that draws gasps from people," Porco said.
"Regardless of how cynical people are, they look at that and they see Saturn and its rings in a way they've never seen them before, and then they see Earth in the distance. It just gets people. So I was just trying to tap into that, that powerful recognition that moves people, only do it this time in advance."

A passionate advocate of space exploration, Porco set up two web competitions on her Diamond Sky Productions site, inviting the public to submit music and photos that capture the moment of the cosmic encounter. A second website, called "The Day the Earth Smiled," provides additional details.

She plans to digitize the winning entries and beam them into deep space through a radio telescope as "kind of a long-distance call to our fellow galactic citizens."

The message follows earlier one-way calls to the cosmos, starting with a message developed by astrophysicist Frank Drake and Sagan that was transmitted toward a globular star cluster in 1974 as a demonstration of the capability.

NASA's Pioneer and Voyage probes, all four now departing the solar system, were equipped with messages intended for any aliens who might encounter them in the remote future. Porco began her career with the Voyager project and worked with Sagan to pull off the 1990 Voyager 1 portrait.

"What I'm intending to do with this is make it a serious message a la the previous Drake and Sagan efforts, instruct the recipients of this message how to even read it, and encode important information about us, our planet and so on," Porco said of her "Message to the Milky Way."

One contest, called Earth Beheld, asks the public to "contribute one image that best represents planet Earth and could be understandable to an extraterrestrial recipient.

The other contest -- A Musical Celebration -- asks for compositions capturing the "spirit and significance of The Day the Earth Smiled."

"I hope, at the appropriate time, regardless where or on which side of the planet you are, that you stop what you're doing, go outside, gather together with friends and family, contemplate the utter isolation of our world in the never-ending blackness of space," she wrote on her web site.

"And then, by all means, rejoice! Hoot and holler, twist and shout, raise a glass, make a toast, dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free, or celebrate in silence. Whatever it takes. But be sure to smile, knowing that others around the world are smiling too, in the sheer joy of simply being alive on a pale blue dot."

Renovated Buddhist statue to be opened for worship in China.

BEIJING: China will open the third tallest Buddha statue in northwestern Gansu province to public viewing after two years of maintenance by archaeologists.

Built in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the centuries old statue is expected to reopen to visitors in early August in the Bingling Temple Grottoes, known for being home to China's earliest chronicle inscription in the province.

The giant statue will be assessed by experts from the cultural heritage administration before being thrown open to the public, said Shi Jingsong, head of the Research Institute of Cultural Relics Preservation at the temple.

The restoration work on it started in June 2011 to repair the damage suffered in wars during the Song, Ming, Yuan and Qing dynasties.

Its head was crumbing and the clay-made nose was destroyed. The chin, hands and clothes were also heavily mottled, state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

The latest maintenance was mainly intended to repair the face, hands and feet of the statue. The base was also reinforced.

The Chinese government put the temple under national protection of major cultural relics in 1961.

China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have jointly applied to UNESCO to have historical sites along the ancient Silk Road added to the organisation's World Heritage List.

The Bingling Temple Grottoes are among these sites.

John Buchanan quits as New Zealand's director of cricket.

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) announced on Friday that former Australian coach John Buchanan was leaving his post as director of cricket effective immediately, after just over two years in the job. "(He) is disappointed to be leaving NZC at this time, as he has enjoyed his work there," theorganisation said in a brief statement. "However, due to family circumstances, he has decided to return to Australia." 

Buchanan had reportedly been sidelined at NZC since late last year, when he supported Ross Taylor after coach Mike Hesson sacked the batsman as skipper in favour of Brendon McCullum.

He was appointed in May 2011 with a contract running through to the 2015 World Cup, with his role seen as providing "a consistent coaching philosophy" in New Zealand, while also overseeing talent identification and the selection panel.

However, the vague job description led to a tense relationship with former coach John Wright, who stepped down in May last year, and Wright's successor Hesson.

NZC did not reveal if Buchanan would receive a payout for the remainder of his contract, saying employment agreements were strictly confidential.

"NZC respects John's decision to return home and we wish him well for his future endeavours," it said.
Buchanan's eight years at the helm of the Australian side coincided with a golden era for the Baggy Greens. From 1999-2007 they claimed three World Cups and won a record 16 consecutive Test victories.

In a separate statement, NZC confirmed head selector Kim Littlejohn, who was appointed by Buchanan, would not continue in the role after his contract expires in September.

Sports ministry seeks Bharat Ratna for Dhyan Chand.

BANGALORE: The Union sports ministry has chosen hockey wizard Dhyan Chand over Sachin Tendulkar as its nominee for the Bharat Ratna.

In a meeting on Wednesday, names of both superstars were discussed before Dhyan Chand, who sparked India's unmatched gold rush at the Olympics, emerged as the ministry's choice.

The ministry had weighed representations from supporters of both the greats but decided on the hockey legend, rationalising that an active sportsperson always stood a chance of earning the country's highest honour in the future.

Sports minister Jitendra Singh was also suitably impressed by a delegation led by Dhyan Chand's son Ashok Kumar, which met him on July 12 and argued in his favour. Former Indian cricket captain Bishan Singh Bedi was part of the delegation.

"The minister said he supported our views and said he would personally hand over the letter recommending my father's name for the Bharat Ratna to the Prime Minister," Ashok Kumar told TOI.

Dhyan Chand, who passed away in 1979, won three gold medals at the Olympics - in 1928 ( Amsterdam), 1932 ( Los Angeles) and 1936 ( Berlin). More than these medals, he is known as a man who singularly popularised the game and contributed to the country's aura as masters of the game during the pre-independence era.

Sources told TOI that Jitendra has batted for Dhyan Chand in his letter to PM Manmohan Singh. "The recommendation, which will be studied with scores of others, will need the seal of approval from the PM and President Pranab Mukherjee for Dhyan Chand to get the award posthumously," sources added.

"I am happy that his name has been recommended. Dhyan Chandji was always a simple man who toiled hard for hockey, never expecting any rewards in return. The Bharat Ratna would be a big honour for him as well as the game," Ashok Kumar said.

In December 2011, the government had ignored a collective plea of 82 MPs who had backed Dhyan Chand for the award. In January 2012, the ministry had forwarded the names of Dhyan Chand, shooter Abhinav Bindra and mountaineer Tenzing Norgay for the award. Incidentally, Tendulkar's name was missing as BCCI had not recommended his name.

VLC returns on iOS as VLC for iOS 2.0, supports Wi-Fi sync, Dropbox integration.

VLC Player, the swiss army knife of video players from VideoLAN, has finally returned to iOS and is available for download on the App Store, two and a half years after it disappeared.

The app, now in version 2.0, boasts of new features like Wi-Fi syncing and Dropbox integration, in addition to sync via iTunes, for playing videos of different formats. It has been completely rewritten and allows users to play all possible video file formats.

The player can play MKV, multiple audio tracks (including 5.1), and subtitles tracks (including SSA format). It also supports network streams, including HLS, MMS or RTSP.The app also offers video filters for adjusting gamma, contrast, hue, saturation, and brightness, playback speed manipulation, and fine seeking.

It brings a built-in video media library, with WiFi Upload, Dropbox integration and optional passcode lock, and integration for bluetooth headsets and AirPlay. So, users will be able to stream videos to their Apple TVs and other AirPlay compatible devices. Apart from Wi-Fi and Dropbox sync, third-party apps can also access the VLC app via the share dialog and it plays videos downloaded straight from the web, as well.

The VLC for iOS 2.0 app can be installed on iOS 5.1 or later including the first iPad, and is completely free and open source.

VLC for iOS is licensed under the Mozilla Public License Version 2 as well as the GNU General Public License Version 2(GPLv2) or later, the former needed for distribution via the App Store. The conflict in licensing terms was also the reason why the app was removed from the App Store in 2011. The app was removed because one of the contributors to the VLC code, Rémi Denis-Courmont, had an issue with App Store's rules not being in sync with GPLv2, under which VLC was licensed and had filed a complaint with Apple, after which the app was removed from the store.

Bajaj Auto quarterly profit propped up by weak rupee.

Bajaj Auto, India's second-largest motorcycle maker, reported a flat first-quarter profit that matched expectations as its exports benefited from a weaker rupee, offsetting sluggish sales volumes. 

The company posted a net profit of 7.38 billion rupees for the quarter that ended in June compared with 7.18 billion rupees a year ago. Net sales rose 2 per cent to 48.09 billion rupees. 

Analysts, on average, had expected a profit of 7.47 billion rupees on revenues of 48.65 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. 

Export volumes, which account for about a third of total sales, fell about 13 per cent in the quarter, but Bajaj reaped the benefits of a weak rupee that lost nearly 9 percent against the U.S. dollar during the period. 

"Taking into account the current trend of the rupee vis-a-vis the U.S. dollar and the current position of hedged contracts, a further benefit on account of depreciating rupee would accrue to the company in the coming quarters," Bajaj said in a statement.

TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES.

Tata Consultancy Services shares rose as much as 5.75 per cent on Friday, a day after posting April-June earnings that beat estimates and maintaining an upbeat outlook. June quarter earnings has reinforced TCS' standing as the bellwether of India's IT industry.

TCS maintained an upbeat outlook, fuelled by demand from the United States, which is the biggest market for India's $108 billion IT sector.

TCS said consolidated net profit for the quarter ended June 30 rose to Rs. 3,831 crore from Rs. 3,280 crore a year earlier. That topped the Rs. 3,780 crore average of 24 analyst estimates, according to Thomson Reuters. TCS' stellar numbers were a function of strong sales volume, the best the company has posted in the last seven quarter. (Read: How TCS fared in Q1)

Brokerages were bullish on TCS' Q1, with CLSA saying TCS has hit yet another home run. TCS should maintain its premium valuation, CLSA said, adding the stock has a potential of giving a 10 per cent return from these levels. (Read: IT stocks up on TCS Q1)
CLSA has an "outperform" call on TCS, with a target of Rs. 1,830.
Credit Suisse, which also has "outperform" call on TCS, raised its target on the stock by 12 per cent to Rs. 1,975/share. Rich valuations can be sustained, Credit Suisse said.
Morgan Stanley, which has an "overweight" call on TCS (target Rs. 1,670) said FY14 was playing out as expected for the outsourcing major.
Goldman Sachs raised its target on TCS to Rs. 1,700 from Rs. 1,600 (rating: neutral) saying the bellwether is setting growth benchmarks for the industry.
TCS shares traded 5 per cent higher at Rs. 1,743.60 on the BSE as of 2.05 p.m.

INDIAN PRIME MINISTER ON ECONOMIC REBOUND.

The Prime Minister assured the industry the government will remain pro-active in ensuring economic rebound.

Admitting the economy was going through a difficult period, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday assured the industry that government will leave no stone unturned to ensure a rebound.

Singh attributed the rupee decline to widening Current Account Deficit (CAD) and global factors and hoped that the steps taken by the Reserve Bank to arrest fall of domestic currency would be reversed with the easing of speculative pressure.

As regards the economy, he said though basic fundamentals are sound and stable, the growth rate in the current financial year was likely to be lower than 6.5 per cent estimated at the time of presentation of the Budget in February.

"We will leave no stone unturned to ensure that the economy rebounds. I appeal to each one of you not to be overcome by negative sentiment," Singh said while addressing the annual meeting of industry body Assocham.

"Let me begin by stating upfront that we, like most other countries, are going through a difficult period... It (industry) is looking to the government to bring the economy back to a higher growth path. This is a legitimate expectation and is also upper most in our mind," he said.

The Prime Minister assured the industry the government will remain pro-active in ensuring economic rebound.

"When things are going well, government should interfere as little as possible. When things go badly, as they seem to be at present, it is the responsibility of the government to become pro-active," Singh said.

Noting that the most immediate cause of worry is the recent volatility in foreign exchange markets, Singh said, much of this was due to global markets reacting to the likelihood of a withdrawal of quantitative easing by the US Federal Reserve.
"Large volumes of funds were withdrawn from emerging markets and there was a depreciation in many emerging market countries... We too experienced a sharp depreciation in the rupee. In our case, it was perhaps exacerbated by the fact that our Current Account Deficit (CAD) had expanded to 4.7 per cent of GDP in 2012-13," he said.
The government, Singh said, was committed to bringing the CAD under control by addressing both the demand side and the supply side of the problem, especially to contain demand for gold and petroleum products.
"Gold imports declined sharply in June, and I hope they will stay at normal levels from now on," he added.
On petroleum sector, he said, rupee depreciation has to some extent neutralise the calibrated steps to reduce under- recoveries of the oil marketing companies.
However, he added, "our policy of adjusting prices to progressively eliminate under recovery remains".
On the supply side, he hoped, depreciation of rupee would give push to export efforts and added, the government has been trying to remove the constraints in export of iron and other ores which saw a considerable decline over the last one year.

"Looking ahead, the rupee depreciation will help Indian industry to compete effectively with other countries, both in export markets and against their imports in our markets," Singh said.
Talking about the Reserve Bank's recent initiatives to arrest rupee decline, Singh said, these steps were not meant to signal increase in long term interest rates.

"They are designed to contain speculative pressure on the currency. Once these short term pressures have been contained, as I expect they will be, the RBI can even consider reversing these pressures," he said.
Singh further said that the government is on way to conclude a free trade pact with the European Union and hoped that industry would take advantage of the agreement to increase its competitiveness.

India has already signed free trade agreements with Korea, ASEAN and others.
On CAD, Prime Minister said, the government and RBI will use all policy instruments available - fiscal, monetary and supply side interventions -- to reduce it.

"Ideally we should bring the CAD down to 2.5 per cent of GDP. It is not possible to do this in one year, but I expect that the current account deficit in 2013-14 will be much lower than the 4.7 per cent level recorded last year. It will decline further next year," Singh said.

Speaking about the economy, Singh said: "We have had one bad year. I assure you we will get out of it," adding that the fundamentals are sound and stable and medium prospects remain optimistic.

The Prime Minister further said that the government would stick to the fiscal consolidation road map and restrict the deficit to the target of 4.8 per cent of the GDP in the current financial year.

Mars had a much thicker atmosphere than today, says Indian origin scientist

The first really high-precision measurements of the composition of Mars' atmosphere suggest that the Red planet's atmosphere was much thicker than it is today, researchers, including an Indian origin scientist, say.
New findings from NASA's Curiosity rover provide clues to how Mars lost its original atmosphere, which scientists believe was much thicker than the one left today. 

"The beauty of these measurements lies in the fact that these are the first really high-precision measurements of the composition of Mars' atmosphere," said Sushil Atreya, professor of atmospheric, oceanic and space sciences at the University of Michigan. 

Atreya is co-author of two related papers published in the journal Science, and co-investigator on Curiosity's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) suite of instruments, considered the rover's cornerstone lab.
SAM measured the abundances of different gases and isotopes in samples of Martian air, according to NASA. 

Isotopes are variations of the same chemical element that contain different numbers of neutrons, such as the most common carbon isotope, carbon-12, and a heavier stable isotope, carbon-13, which contains an additional neutron. 

SAM analysed the ratios of heavier to lighter isotopes of carbon and oxygen in the carbon dioxide that makes up most of Mars' atmosphere today. 

Measurements showed that heavy isotopes of carbon and oxygen were more abundant in today's thin atmosphere compared with the proportions in the raw material that formed the planet (which scientists can deduce from proportions in the Sun and other parts of the solar system). 

This provides not only supportive evidence for the loss of much of Mars' original atmosphere, but also gives clues to how the loss occurred. It suggests that the planet's atmosphere escaped from the top, rather than due to the lower atmosphere 
interacting with the ground, NASA's said.
"The isotope data are unambiguous and robust, having been independently confirmed by the quadrupole mass spectrometer and the tunable laser spectrometer, two of the SAM suite instruments," Atreya said.

Russian activist freed one day later

MOSCOW — The anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny was released from custody Friday, a day after his conviction and sentencing, and hours after protests by his supporters had broken out in Moscow and a half dozen other cities.

Prosecutors asked for his release pending appeal, telling the judge in the city of Kirov that Navalny, a mayoral candidate in Moscow, should be free to “work” with voters before the election in September.

South Africans pay tribute to the anti-apartheid leader, who remains hospitalized.

The authorities in the capital have been intent on getting Navalny, one of the most charismatic leaders of the political protest movement over the past 18 months, onto the ballot, confident that he will be defeated by Acting Mayor Sergei Sobyanin. The aim would be to give Sobyanin a legitimate victory in the heart of Russia’s opposition movement.

That calculation — more than the street protests — appears to have been the deciding factor in the prosecutors’ motion.
One of Navalny’s closest associates, Leonid Volkov, had said after Thursday’s sentencing that if Navalny goes to prison he will drop out of the mayoral race. That may have supplied the pressure needed to get him freed.

Some of Navalny’s supporters, who believe his prosecution was politically driven, also speculated that Judge Sergei Blinov may have misunderstood the directions he was given before reading out the sentence. Russian judges typically follow the instructions of prosecutors or other higher-ups. But the chief prosecutor had originally demanded immediate incarceration after sentencing, then afterwards went back to the judge with a motion for release. 

When Navalny left the courthouse Friday morning, jubilant supporters greeted him with platters of blini, or Russian pancakes, in a dig at the judge’s name.

“What is going on now is a unique phenomenon for the Russian judiciary,” Navalny told reporters in the courtroom. “This is a strange moment: everyone was sad and everyone is happy now. It may happen again later. But for now we have a couple of spare months.”

He said he will make a decision soon whether to pursue a run for mayor or withdraw from the race.
He plans to make a triumphant return to Moscow on the overnight train from Kirov, arriving at 9:43 Saturday morning.

His lawyer told the Russian press that under the terms of his release, Navalny must remain in Moscow.
He and a co-defendant, Pyotr Ofitserov, were convicted of stealing nearly $500,000 in a timber deal that Navalny arranged in 2009 when he was an aide to the governor of the Kirov region. The charges were widely viewed as implausible and intended to remove Navalny from the political scene. Ofitserov also was freed Friday.

Blinov sentenced Navalny to five years, and Ofitserov to four, and ordered that they be taken into immediate custody, which shocked the courtroom full of supporters.

Thursday evening, thousands thronged sidewalks in the heart of Moscow in an un-permitted, last-minute rally. Red Square and nearby Manezh Square were closed off. The police said Friday morning that they had detained 200 people, including some who climbed up onto the second floor windows of the building housing the State Duma, or lower house of parliament.

An appeal of a court decision in Russia typically takes about six weeks — which would bring Navalny right up to Moscow’s election day.

A MONTH LATER TRAGEDY, UTTARAKHAND GOVERNMENTT START'S PAYING COMPENSATION.

Dehradun: A month after the worst natural calamity in Uttarakhand, the state government on Tuesday started distributing compensation to the next of the kin of those killed in the devastating floods.

The families of 51 people from the state, who lost their lives in the tragedy, were given compensation cheques of Rs. 5 lakh each at various district headquarters through the
district collectors, officials said.

Out of the Rs. 5 lakh, Rs. 3.5 lakh has been provided by the Centre and the rest by the state government.

Compensation will also be given to the next of kin of those missing, but if they are found, the families will have to return the relief money, Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna has said. An estimated 5,748 people are still missing.

The state administration is facing a number of challenging tasks like restoration of Kedarnath shrine, rebuilding of badly damaged road network, infrastructure and villages and ensuring proper rehabilitation of affected families.

The state government also plans to restart pilgrimage to Badrinath, Yamunotri and Gangotri by September end

CHIDAMBARAM RULES OUT GOLD IMPORTT BAN.

Ruling out complete ban on gold import, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday appealed to the people to moderate their demand for the precious metal which is costing the nation USD 50 billion in foreign exchange.

"We cannot completely ban import of gold. There is a long time attachment to gold in this country. I am requesting... can we for sometime moderate the demand for gold? "Can we reduce our appetite for gold? If you are buying, say 20 grams, can you buy 10 grams," he said while addressing a press conference here.

Attributing the high Current Account Deficit (CAD) to mainly gold import, Chidambaram said the inward shipments of the precious metal resulted in outgo of USD 50 billion.
"We have a CAD. USD 50 billion is the cost of gold. I am appealing to the people of India to moderate demand for gold," the Minister said.

Gold imports in June are estimated to have fallen to around 31 tonnes, down from 162 tonnes in May and 141 tonnes in April.

To curb demand, the government hiked the import duty on gold thrice in a year and raised it recently by 2 per cent, to 8 per cent. Besides, RBI too, has put restrictions on banks on importing gold.

India is the largest importer of gold and is mainly utilised to meet demand of the jewellery industry. The imports stood at around 830 tonnes in 2012-13.
In value terms, gold and silver imports are estimated to have declined substantially to USD 2.45 billion in June, from USD 8.39 billion in May.

During the first three months of the current fiscal, April-June, inward shipments stood at to USD 18.33 billion in value terms.

High imports strain the Current Account Deficit (CAD), which hit a record high of 4.8 per cent in the 2012-13 fiscal.

CAD occurs when total imports of goods, services and transfers is greater than the exports.

WORLD'S MOST ADVANCED COMPUTER ' DUMBER ' THAN A TODDLER?

One of the world's best artificial intelligence computers is only as smart as a four year old human child, a new study suggests.

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago IQ-tested one of the best available artificial intelligence systems to see how intelligent it really is.

It turned out that the computer is about as smart as the average 4-year-old, researchers said.

The UIC team put ConceptNet 4, an artificial intelligence system developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), through the verbal portions of the Weschsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence Test, a standard IQ assessment for young children.

They found ConceptNet 4 has the average IQ of a young child. But unlike most children, the machine's scores were very uneven across different portions of the test.

"If a child had scores that varied this much, it might be a symptom that something was wrong," said Robert Sloan, professor and head of computer science at UIC, and lead author on the study.

Sloan said ConceptNet 4 did very well on a test of vocabulary and on a test of its ability to recognise similarities.

"But ConceptNet 4 did dramatically worse than average on comprehension - the 'why' questions," he said.

One of the hardest problems in building an artificial intelligence, Sloan said, is devising a computer programme that can make sound and prudent judgement based on a simple perception of the situation or facts–the dictionary definition of commonsense.

Commonsense has eluded artificial intelligence engineers because it requires both a very large collection of facts and what Sloan calls implicit facts–things so obvious that we don't know we know them. A computer may know the temperature at which water freezes, but we know that ice is cold.

"All of us know a huge number of things. As babies, we crawled around and yanked on things and learned that things fall. We yanked on other things and learned that dogs and cats don't appreciate having their tails pulled," said Sloan.

"We are still very far from programmes with commonsense - artificial intelligence that can answer comprehension questions with the skill of a child of eight," said Sloan.

3rd MEETING OF THE SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE (SC) ON CAUVERY HELD.

New Delhi: The 3rd  Meeting of the Supervisory Committee was held on 15th  July, 2013 under the chairmanship of Shri Alok Rawat, Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources at New Delhi.

At the outset, Secretary, M/o Water Resources and the Chairman of the Committee welcomed the Members and other participants.

Chairman, CWC in his opening remarks cited the present rainfall position and good monsoon situation and mentioned that the data on inflows and reservoirs in states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu indicated a better situation as compared to corresponding situation last year, as also the position prevailing at the time of 2nd Supervisory Committee meeting held on 12th June 2013.

A presentation was made thereafter by Central Water Commission and discussions were held on agenda items as under:-
The inputs of Members on the earlier proceedings of the Committee
Member Secretary informed that Government of Tamil Nadu has furnished Para wise comments on the comments dated 9/6/2013 of Govt of Karnataka on Agenda of first meeting of the Committee and also on proceeding of the second meeting of the Committee. Govt. of Puducherry has also furnished comments on the proceeding of the second meeting of the Committee. Besides, Govt of Kerala has furnished comments on the proceeding of the first meeting of the Committee held on 1/6/2013. No Comments from Govt. of Karnataka on the proceedings of second meeting have been received.

The observations on the comments of Government of Karnataka on the agenda of the first meeting of the committee by Government of Tamil Nadu were also discussed. Most of the items pertained to the notification of the committee and interpretation of various provisions of the award. This pro-tem committee is mandated with the role of implementation of the final award and not to interpretations of various provisions of award.

As regards to identification of a given water year as normal/distress, both  Government of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu gave their views. Keeping in view that so far this water year is normal as indicated by the inflows into the Karnataka reservoirs which are higher than the normal inflows and observed flow at Biligundulu  is also higher than the flows expected as per award, it was therefore felt that the issue of distress/normal water year  could be taken up subsequently as and when the eventuality arises.

Rules of Business of Supervisory Committee
The Govt. of Tamil Nadu has stated that there is no mention of approval of Rules of Business in the proceeding of the 2nd meeting of the Committee. Therefore, it has suggested modification in the Para 2.1 of the proceeding of the 2nd meeting to include the word “approval” under this item. The suggestion was agreed to by all parties and it is to confirm that the modified rules of business as appended at Annexure 2.1 M with the proceeding of the 2nd meeting are to be treated as approved rules of business of Supervisory Committee.
 
On the suggestions of Government of Puducherry regarding representative rainfall for their region, it was clarified that the rainfall data as available on IMD web site has been mentioned in the proceedings and that the data as such has not been used for estimation of flows.
 
Data Observation Location
In addition to the Data Observation Location listed under para 8.1 of the proceedings of the 1st Meeting of the Committee, state of Karnataka has earlier suggested  to include Banasursagara reservoir in Kerala, Emerald, Upper Bhavani,  and Lower Bhawani reservoir in Tamil Nadu and one G&D site on Kabini at Kerala- Karnataka border. State of Tamilnadu is of the view that Banasursagara reservoir in Kerala and Lower Bhawani reservoir in Tamil Nadu only should be included as additional observation point. Govt of Pudduchery has no objection to the request of Govt of Karnataka.

The issue of identification of additional data locations which remained inconclusive during the 1st and 2nd meeting were again discussed. It was unanimously agreed upon by all member states that the data observation stations as indicated in Clause VIII of the order dated 05.02.2007 and Para (iv) under  Guidelines for Cauvery Management Board in Chapter 8 Volume V of CWDT report may be treated as data observation locations for monitoring the implementation of award by the Committee.

Government of Puducherry mentioned that the existing discharge observation stations are located at approximately 10 km from Karaikal border  and the same need to  be relocated in or around Karaikal region so that it is clear that whether that the water reaching at Karaikal is as per award. After discussions it was agreed upon that such locations as may be identified by Pudducherry will be shared with Government of Tamilnadu, for their views on the same. Government of Kerela and Karnataka do not have any views on this aspect.

Format submission of data
State of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu agreed to continue sending the data as per CMC format.
At present the observed data at Billigundullu site at 8.00 am is being used by   for estimating the flows passing through the site vis-a-vis quantum prescribed in Clause IX of Final order of CWDT. Govt of Tamilnadu has requested for making available average daily flow estimated at  Billigundullu site on daily basis. After discussion, the Committee decided to adopt average daily flow estimated at  Billigundullu site for estimating the flows passing through the site vis-a-vis quantum prescribed in Clause IX of  Final order of CWDT. The data on average flow at Billigundulu will be shared by CWC with all the states.