Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/313114254?client_source=feed&format=rss
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মঙ্গলবার, ১৮ জুন, ২০১৩
Jay-Z announces new album with Samsung deal
NEW YORK (AP) ? Jay-Z is teaming up with Samsung to release his new album, unveiling a three-minute commercial during the NBA Finals on Sunday and announcing a deal that will give the music to 1 million users of Galaxy mobile phones.
The new album, called "Magna Carta Holy Grail," will be free for the first 1 million android phone owners who download an app for the album. Those who do so will get the album on July 4, three days before its official release, according to a Sunday statement.
Samsung is a leader in the mobile phone market and has been steadily chipping away at Apple's share of the market with its Galaxy phones. The deal with Jay-Z is yet another example of how mobile companies are using music to lure new consumers.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jay-z-announces-album-samsung-deal-030621411.html
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সোমবার, ১৭ জুন, ২০১৩
Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (Mid 2013)
Road warriors and jet travellers rejoice, we've found a laptop that will last all day and well into the night. The newest Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (Mid-2013) lasted an astonishing 15-and-a-half hours on a battery test that makes most current mainstream ultrabooks and ultraportables cough and die after four to six hours. The fact that the system gives up very little if any day-to-day performance is astounding. This isn't a low-powered slate tablet that gives up computing performance in exchange for battery life. With the latest MacBook Air 13-inch, you have a fully functional ultraportable laptop with extremely long battery life, as it should be. If you need to do real work on a plane, train, or out in the field, get a MacBook Air 13-inch. It's our new Editors' Choice winner for mainstream ultraportable laptops.
Design and Features
Almost physically identical to the previous Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (Mid 2012), the new MacBook Air 13-inch continues on in almost the same chassis as the previous model. The MacBook Air has an all-aluminum construction, tapering from 0.11 inches thick in the front to 0.68 inches in the back. It's essentially the same chassis Apple has been using for the past three years, which is in turn a slightly modified version of the chassis they've been using since 2008. While not necessarily the thinnest laptop on the market anymore, it is still as thin and portable as it ever has been. The side panels house a pair of USB 3.0 ports (one left, one right), a Thunderbolt port (which can be used as a mini-DisplayPort for external monitors), a headset jack, a SDXC card slot, dual microphones and the system's MagSafe 2 power connector. The twin microphones are new, and will help others hear you during FaceTime sessions. In the future, under OS X Mavericks, the dual mic setup will help the system pick out your voice when you're using Siri. MagSafe 2 is the same connector that was introduced with last year's MacBook Air and MacBook Pro with Retina Display. The new MacBook Air tips the scales at a svelte 2.91 pounds, which is in the same ballpark as competitors like the Dell XPS 13-MLK (2.96 pounds) and the Acer Aspire S7-191-6640 (2.63 pounds with extended battery).
The MacBook Air has a backlit keyboard that's comfortable to type on, and a glass-surface, multi-touch trackpad. The system doesn't have a touch screen or touch screen option, but that's no deal breaker on a Mac, since OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion isn't optimized for touch anyway. The display measures 13.3 inches and has a screen resolution of 1,440 by 900. This is lower than the 1,920 by 1,080 resolution you'll get on systems like the Acer S7-191-6640 and Dell XPS 13-MLK, but you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference while watching a video at this screen size. If you need a higher resolution on a Mac, consider the MacBook Pro 13-inch (Retina Display).
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What's Inside
The interior of the MacBook Air has been updated, with a new fourth-generation Intel Core i5-4250U processor and new PCIe-based Flash Storage. The 128GB flash memory module is mated to the motherboard with a new, faster PCIe connector, which makes the system react a little faster than the SATA-based flash storage of last year's model. The flash storage is physically smaller than last year's, according to ifixit.com, which means that third party upgrades will again be scarce. The base system comes with a 128GB flash storage unit, with about 102GB free when you take it out of the box. There are 256GB and 512GB options available on Apple's website. If you want more system memory, you'll have to order the system with it pre-installed (8GB total for $100 more). The memory is built into the motherboard, with no upgrade slots for additional memory DIMMs. The system comes with a 54 WHr battery, which is an improvement over the 50WHr battery in last year's model. Like all MacBooks and many ultrabooks these days, the battery in the MacBook Air 13-inch is not user replaceable.
The MacBook Air comes with the standard mix of full-version software built into OS X Mountain Lion, including FaceTime, Photo Booth, iPhoto, iTunes, Safari, Mail, Calendar, and Apple's App Store. This is good, because it means that the system isn't burdened by extraneous trial software. Windows PC makers are learning from this example: both the Acer S7-191-6640 and the Vizio 14-Inch Thin + Light (CT14-A4) come with Microsoft Signature prep, which removes all of the trialware and bloatware that would've come pre-loaded on a typical Windows retail system.
The system boots in only about 10 seconds, and wakes from sleep even faster. This is no doubt due to the MacBook Air's speedy flash storage and the fact that the system hasn't yet had too many programs installed yet. Apple completely abandoned optical drives last year as an obsolete technology, you can install files you've downloaded from the Internet, copied over from a USB drive, or use the Apple App Store to install new programs. The new MacBook Air comes with 802.11ac Wi-Fi, which is backward-compatible with dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi. You should use the system with Apple's newly updated AirPort Extreme or another 802.11ac router if you need transfer rates approaching 1 Gbps. Speaking of speedy transport, the MacBook Air comes with a 10Gbps dual channel Thunderbolt port, which as stated earlier can interface with a mini-DisplayPort. For Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI, and other interfaces like FireWire 800, you'll need to buy an optional dongle from Apple or another provider. You'll be able to use an Apple TV or adapter cables for a multi-monitor setup after you've upgraded to OS X Mavericks later this year, but having HDMI built in would make this system that much closer to perfect. The MacBook Air 13-inch comes with Apple's one-year standard warranty with 90 days of phone support.
Performance
The system's new 1.3GHz Intel Core i5-4250U processor with integrated Intel HD Graphics 5000 is nominally clocked 400Mhz slower than the 1.7GHz i5-3427U processor in the last MacBook Air, but both will turbo up to 2.6GHz if needed. The lower base clock speed no doubt helps the system stretch out battery life. The new MacBook Air 13-inch lasted a staggering 15 hours 33 minutes on our battery rundown test. That is more than double the six hours we get from the best ultrabooks using 3rd-generation Intel Core processors like the high-end ultrabook Editors' Choice Asus Zenbook Prime Touch UX31A-BH15T (6:38). Most systems return far less battery power, like the five hours for the Dell XPS 13-MLK (4:56) or four hours like on the Sony VAIO Fit 14 (SVF14A15CXB) (4:08).
The downside of the lower-clocked processor is that the MacBook Air is a bit slower on the multimedia benchmark tests (Handbrake and Photoshop CS6), where it lags the Windows systems with faster-clocked Core i5 processors. On the flipside, the MacBook Air is still two to four times faster than Intel Atom-powered Windows 8 slate tablets on the Handbrake test, and those Atom-powered tablets can't run the Photoshop CS6 test at all. The integrated Intel HD Graphics 5000 of the new MacBook Air shows a much-improved Heaven benchmark score over previous MacBook Airs and other systems with Intel HD Graphics 4000. Essentially, since there is an obvious upgrade path for users who want a faster multimedia workhorse (namely the MacBook Pros), the tradeoff for battery life is well worth it for the general business and consumer user.
With double the battery life of the strongest current Windows 8 competition, the Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (Mid 2013) adds epic untethered usability to a highly portable system. While systems like the Acer Aspire S7-191-6640 and Vizio CT14-A4 start to approach the MacBook Air's portability, none can approach that level of work utility away from a power outlet. The MacBook Air 13-inch (Mid 2013) is the system you want to be using if you need to deliver real work away from your desk. The fact that it can return such a long battery life while still using a mainstream processor is astonishing. Make no mistake, this simple score shows that laptops haven't conceded the battery life prizes to the mobile OS tablets yet. The MacBook Air 13 is close, but not quite perfect, since it lacks a built in HDMI-out port and the slower-clocked processor returns slower multimedia performance on benchmark tests than rivals. That said, due to its excellent battery life, portability, and its very good day-to-day performance, we have no qualms in giving the Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (Mid 2013) the Editors' Choice for ultraportable laptops.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/RQKu0aAPPZY/0,2817,2420468,00.asp
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Music: A Most Uncommon Gift | Sheffield Gazette and Digital Fish ...
By RA Monaco
It was a cornet for playing music, so I thought, yet it inspired empathy, built confidence, honored fallen heroes and saved lives, including my own.
It was a cornet that became a window into the minds and hearts of the indigent and their families whose disenfranchised cultures were oppressed and ignored.? It was an instrument to feel the world, a ticket for travel, a gift.
It inspired possibilities unforeseen, to challenge the compromise of fundamental rights and civil liberties of the developmentally disabled, mentally ill and criminally accused.
In the vernacular of psychological variables, this cornet transformed the air it required into attitudes, values and fears over a lifetime.? It revealed a road to discovery of desires, interests and passion.? It became a vehicle for a journey that continues where the destination is not known.
This is where the journey began. Eisenhower was president and then Kennedy when I last remember my mother?I was just entering Junior High and then without warning she was gone. From that moment, the choices that one makes in life, understanding the world and the guidance in plotting the course of a lifetime was all on me.
Before my mother passed she talked my father into purchasing a cornet for me.? I can recall overhearing the discussion as my father protested that it would end up in the closet?money wasted.? While everyone was singing ?I Want to Hold Your Hand? and ?She Loves You, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah,? I was listening to Al Hirt play Java and Never On Sunday?such a weird kid some might have thought.
Consumed with the colossal challenge of raising my much younger brother and sister, my father had little time for me though he always told me that I was capable of whatever I chose in life?I believed him and now understand the value of that most uncommon gift.
He got me a job at eleven years old in the back of a carryout pizza place working until 2 AM for sixty-five cents per hour?I?ve worked ever since.? It was his way of keeping me out of trouble and off the streets.? No one ever again looked at my report card?even to see whether I went to school.? Every decision and step in my life from that moment on was mine and only mine to make.
Almost a teenager, I was left to interpret the world as best as I could and then live with my choices?survival is an innately human instinct.? I was praised for being a hard worker and while in high school I worked with my grandmother in the back of another restaurant ?she emigrated from Italy never having the opportunity to go to school.
In her late 70?s, she worked every day and never raised her voice or repeated herself, she expected me to listen and do exactly what she said without discussion.?? I was the only grandchild of 28 who was given that opportunity and it was an honor to work with her.? She was all business all the time.? Affectionately, I called her ?Big G.?
By 1970 I was a Marine and a crew chief on a Huey helicopter.? Ironically, I found that my early training on the cornet was my ticket to keep me from a tour of the garden spot of the world?Vietnam.?? I played ?Taps? at a great many military funerals in a time when we were not heroes, but baby killers.
As a member of the USMC Drum and Bugle Corps, I played at changing of command ceremonies and parades and soon found myself playing with former members of the James Brown Band around Memphis Tennessee the year after Martin Luther King was assassinated.? Fortunately for me, I learned that musicians are color blind?our ears don?t see color especially if you can play.? I believe my mother would be proud.
Upon my discharge, I returned to Chicago and became a carpenter?something I?ve always enjoyed.? I worked on the Sears Tower.? I put down 60 floors of baseboard at the Newberry Plaza and have the knees to prove it.? But, once again, my early training on the cornet was to influence my life as I began to get calls from local R & B bands around town needing a trumpet player for their horns sections.
It was around 1972 when horn sections and groups like Chicago, Blood Sweat and Tears and Tower of Power were becoming very popular here in the City.? The clubs on Rush Street?Mothers and Rush Up?had show bands and they wanted horns.? Mostly, I worked with R & B bands?soul bands we called them?and began to tour from Chicago to cities like Boston and Kansas City.? This was all getting in the way of my gig as a Local 7 Union carpenter which paid good money at the time.
Since there were plenty of guitar players around and not many trumpet players?so I thought?I decided to get more serious about studying the instrument.? This was not a decision that garnered much respect from my father?s family?the smart cousins that went to college didn?t serve in the military and weren?t expected to get a trade.? They, and their parents never hesitated to project their condescending attitudes that they saw me as immature and irresponsible?a musician.
Importantly, in 1974, I went to see the Buddy Rich Band at Mr. Kelly?s.? Alone, they sat me at a little table right in front of the band.??? To this day, I can recall feeling like the hair on my head was being blown straight back?maybe it was the goose bumps on the back of my neck.? That night changed my life in more ways than I could?ve imagined.? I went into a practice room for 10 years after that?five hours a day, alone.
What I learned in those years was how to work at something, how to concentrate and dedicate myself alone in a practice room.? I learned that perfecting the simplest one note was often the most difficult.? From this, I experienced the highest form of collaboration that placed me in the most exact and precise mental space in the universe with 16?sometimes as many as 50?other people selflessly creating a whisper and then a roar so much larger than my own.
What I learned took me across Europe for several years where I played at famous places like Montmartre and Tivoli then back to California again where I worked with many behind the scenes studio musicians with whom I shared this journey. ??These were the people you hear each and every day yet rarely see their faces.
In 1987 I chose to forgo some expressed interest from the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra where the saxophone player that I had worked with in Europe, and before that Chicago, had landed.? I opted to marry, raise a family, and go to law school.? I pursued a career as a Deputy Public Defender?a straight gig as we call it?defending the indigent criminally accused and mentally ill.
Ultimately, the same skill I acquired from that cornet gave me the ability to obtain a Juris Doctor, become a trial lawyer and competently manage the burden of serious felony work and 50 to life cases, including challenging the California State Juvenile Mental Health system for the developmentally disabled.? The California Supreme Court has seen no less than 10 Habeas Corpus petitions from me on matters of constitutional dimension.
But for that cornet my mother successfully pleaded and won from my dad, the humanity of my career as a Deputy Public Defender would likely never have occurred?a subject much too difficult to explore further in this space.
Importantly, the work ethic and determination demanded by that cornet?later trumpet?helped me to realize that my father gave me what he could, as did my mother?the rest was up to me, or so I thought.
Neuroscientists like Director Nina Kraus at Northwestern?s Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory are now beginning to make a case that should require ?society to reexamine the role of music in shaping individual development.?
Music is a resource that tones the brain for auditory fitness explained Kraus who suggested that the relationship of music training is similar to physical exercise and body fitness.? Importantly, we don?t have to be particularly good at it to gain the benefits.? ?It?s just about doing it,? Kraus says.
Actively working with musical sounds enhances neuroplasticity?the brain's ability to adapt and change according to Kraus.? "A musician's brain selectively enhances information-bearing elements in sound. In a beautiful interrelationship between sensory and cognitive processes, the nervous system makes associations between complex sounds and what they mean," said the paper?s lead author.
?Musical training has a profound impact on other skills including speech and language, memory and attention, and even the ability to convey emotions vocally? according to her recent study.
In fact, musical instrument training may also reduce the effects of mental decline associated with aging according to the July issue of Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.? The study found that adults who learned music in childhood and continued to play an instrument for at least 10 years outperformed others in tests of memory and cognitive ability.
But there is also good news for those who?ve not picked up the horn for awhile and returned to playing later in life notes Brenda Hanna-Pladdy, assistant professor of neurology, radiology and imaging sciences at Emory University in Atlanta.
While it?s not exactly clear what is actually causing the beneficial effect the hunch is that ?it has to do with practicing, the continued stimulation of the brain? says senior scientist Cheryl Grady at the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Centre, in Toronto.
Immense creativity and art provided by Tom Kubis
At a time when about 14 million, or roughly 18% of the USA?s 79 million baby boomers can expect to develop Alzheimer?s or some other form of dementia in their lifetime music may hold important holistic, as well as economic benefits for society as a whole.? Just as importantly, cash-strapped school districts quick to cut music from the K-12 curriculum now seem a very short-sighted mistake.
In my perception of the world, music is an indispensable part of the human experience. To be deprived of music is to be deprived of much of the richness of being alive?it?s a gift and so much more.
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Source: http://www.chicagonow.com/sheffield-gazette-digital-fish-wrap/2013/06/music-a-most-uncommon-gift/
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রবিবার, ১৬ জুন, ২০১৩
শনিবার, ১৫ জুন, ২০১৩
Arizona Gov. Brewer secures Medicaid expansion
PHOENIX (AP) ? Ending a six-month legislative session, Arizona lawmakers endorsed a key element of President Barack Obama's health care law in a huge political victory for Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, after a lengthy fight over Medicaid expansion that divided the state's Republican leadership.
The expansion that will extend health care to 300,000 more low-income Arizonans came after months of stalled negotiations, tense debates and political maneuvering as Brewer pushed the Medicaid proposal through a hostile Legislature.
She secured her victory Thursday after lawmakers passed Brewer's $8.8 billion state budget that included the Medicaid expansion provided under a key provision of the Affordable Care Act. The Legislature's Republican leadership called it "Chicago politics" and labeled Brewer a puppet master, but Brewer remained undeterred as she prepared to sign the measures into state law.
"The day has been a red-letter day for the people of Arizona," Brewer told reporters after the budget votes Thursday. "It was a win, win, win all the way around."
Brewer, an early critic of the Affordable Care Act, surprised the nation when she acknowledged the Medicaid expansion as the law of the land in her State of the State address in January. She noted that rejecting an expansion would mean Arizona taxpayers would subsidize care for those in other states while receiving no benefits themselves.
The expansion is expected to help reduce the amount of uncompensated care hospitals must absorb and help cut what Brewer called a hidden health care tax that people who buy insurance pay, through higher premiums, to cover others' care.
After the Legislature secured her political win, Brewer softened her support for the health care law.
"Medicaid was here long before Obama health care. I have never liked Obama health care," she told reporters after the vote. "It has nothing to do with Obama health care."
The expansion is optional under last year's Supreme Court decision upholding the health care law, and many Republican governors rejected it.
In all, 23 states plus Washington, D.C., are moving ahead with the expansion, while 15 states have turned it down. Another 12 states are still weighing options.
Nearly all the states refusing are led by Republicans. Several of the states accepting have Republican governors, but most are led by Democrats.
Washington will pick up the entire cost of the expansion for the first three years and 90 percent over the longer haul. It's estimated that less than $100 billion in state spending could trigger nearly $1 trillion in federal dollars over a decade.
In Arizona, Republican leaders in the Legislature called the expansion a massive government overreach that would drive the federal government deeper into debt. They predicted the government promises of paying for the expansion would turn out to be false.
"This is the biggest mistake we've made in the Arizona Legislature this year and maybe ever," said Republican Sen. Kelli Ward, of Lake Havasu City.
Republicans control the Legislature and all statewide elected offices in Arizona, but the Medicaid fight highlighted internal fractures between those who want smaller government and others who, like Brewer, who said broader health care access is good for the state.
"The bottom line here is greed," said Sen. Al Melvin, a Tucson Republican who is running for governor and voted against the Medicaid expansion. "The people who want this know in their hearts that Obamacare is going to collapse under its own weight."
A newly formed coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans worked closely with Brewer to stand up to the conservative leaders who had blocked debate on the Medicaid expansion for six months. Lawmakers worked through the night Wednesday to get the plan through the House, and the Senate vote came hours later Thursday afternoon.
"I've never seen the case where a governor has rolled over her own party because she was throwing a temper tantrum," said Republican Rep. Eddie Farnsworth, of Gilbert.
Senate President Andy Biggs said lawmakers had little information about what was in the budget before passing it.
"I am deeply and profoundly disappointed at the manner at which this came down," he said.
Brewer dismissed the insults, predicting that all would be forgiven and Republican leaders would move forward together.
"Tomorrow they'll probably say 'I'm sorry' or we will just forget it," she said. "I just try to listen and let it go."
It was a year of wins and losses for Arizona's GOP.
The Legislature voted to adjourn its 2013 session early Friday morning after passing a slew of other bills, including an election overhaul that could make it more difficult for voters to obtain and return mail ballots. Biggs had to beg for extra votes to get the measure opposed by Democrats and voter outreach groups passed in the Senate.
Among the bills left on the floor was a proposal that would have prohibited abortion clinics from using Medicaid dollars to fund administrative costs and allowed for unannounced inspections, a top GOP priority.
Still, Brewer signed more than 100 bills advanced by conservative Republicans throughout the marathon session, including a measure that bars cities and counties from destroying guns turned over to police at community buyback events and instead requiring that they be resold. She also signed bills that will wildly increase campaign finance limits for state candidates and require unemployed workers to present documents showing they were fired before they can receive benefits.
Through it all, Brewer made it clear that the Medicaid expansion was her top priority. She held multiple rallies featuring low-income patients on the Arizona Capitol lawn and during the final month of the session, Brewer refused to sign any other bills until lawmakers passed a budget that included the health care expansion.
The Medicaid plan would cover people making between 100 percent and 138 percent of the federal poverty level and restore coverage to more than 100,000 childless adults who lost Medicaid coverage because of a state budget crunch. About 1.3 million Arizonans already are covered by the state's plan.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/arizona-gov-brewer-secures-medicaid-expansion-093852410.html
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বৃহস্পতিবার, ৬ জুন, ২০১৩
Military veterans need more support
The GOP is at it again, accusing the president of not knowing what is going on in the IRS. Does anyone know what's going on in the IRS? It has its own rules and procedures.
No one complains when the average citizen gets audited and their assets frozen, but audit a GOP funding and accusations are thrown around.
Members of Congress need to quit acting like spoiled brats and get to work to save this country. They get annual pay raises but send American soldiers to combat ill-equipped. In every war, the poor fight while the wealthy stay at home and get government jobs.
Why does Congress forget about the returning soldiers after sending them into combat to receive wounds they will carry all their lives? Support the veterans after they come back.
ROBERT HOSKINS
Danville
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