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Well, look what we have here. Just a little over two weeks after we spied the Samsung SM-C101 at the Bluetooth SIG, the handset turns up at the FCC looking for approval. As we mentioned previously, it's what could very well be the rumored Galaxy S 4 Zoom, an S 4 handset with a large camera -- essentially a sequel to the Galaxy Camera, but with phone capabilities. Indeed, the FCC report states the SM-C101 has quad-band GSM, AT&T-compatible HSPA+, NFC, WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 LE. However, there is no mention of LTE, which leads us to doubt this device is destined for the US (though this doesn't guarantee we won't see a US-bound variant down the road). The listing is otherwise light on details, though we do hope that the speculations of a 16-megapixel camera turn out to be true. At least it seems we won't have long to find out.
ISTANBUL (AP) ? Turkish riot police used tear gas and water cannon Friday to end a peaceful sit-in by hundreds of people trying to prevent trees from being uprooted in an Istanbul park. The dawn raid ignited a furious anti-government protest that took over the city's main square and spread to other cities.
In a victory for the protesters, an Istanbul court later ordered the temporary suspension of the project to uproot the trees. But demonstrators around the country kept up protests denouncing what they called a heavy-handed crackdown and a government seen as displaying increasingly authoritarian tendencies.
Police took action on the fourth day of the sit-in against a government plan to revamp Taksim square. Officers clashed with angry demonstrators in surrounding areas, firing tear gas canisters and pushing people back with water cannon. A cloud of smoke from the gas filled the square and scattered protests continued into the night.
In solidarity with protesters in Istanbul, some 5,000 people gathered at a park in the capital, Ankara, swelling into a busy street nearby. They chanted anti-government slogans and called on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to resign. Police used tear gas to push back a group that tried to march toward the Parliament building.
Protests were also held in a dozen other cities, including one that drew thousands in the third-largest city of Izmir, reports said.
The Istanbul protesters were demanding the square's Gezi Park be protected from plans that include the construction of a shopping mall. Many also aired grievances against Erdogan, whose style has become increasingly uncompromising during his government's third successive term.
Last week, the government enacted a law restricting the sale and advertising of alcohol, a move that has alarmed secular Turks.
Earlier this week, the government went ahead with a ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of a disputed third bridge across the Bosporus Strait that some say will destroy the few remaining green areas of the sprawling city. It also named the bridge after a controversial Ottoman sultan believed to have ordered a massacre of a minority Shiite Muslim group, instead of choosing a more unifying figure.
Protesters in Gezi Park held up a large poster Friday with a caricature depicting Erdogan as an Ottoman sultan with a caption that read: "The people won't yield to you."
Protester Serdar Sanman accused Erdogan of "trying to install his dictatorship."
Erdogan's Islamic-rooted, conservative government has a strong support base in the mainly Muslim but secular country, and many of the protesters appeared to be from more secular-leaning sections of society.
In Ankara, demonstrators held up posters reading: "Don't Interfere in my Lifestyle" and "Resist the Dictator." Many drank beer and other alcoholic beverages during the protest in defiance of the alcohol restrictions, raising their drinks as they chanted "Cheers Tayyip!" They lined the pavement with empty beer and liquor bottles and cans.
Erdogan this week dismissed the Istanbul protesters' demands, saying the government would go ahead with the renovation plans "no matter what they do." The forestry minister said more trees would be planted than those uprooted at Gezi.
The dawn raid was the latest in a series of aggressive crackdown on protests. Human rights activists frequently accuse Turkish police of using inordinate force to break up protests and of excessively using tear gas and pepper spray against protesters.
Interior Minister Muammer Guler said that authorities would investigate the reports of disproportionate use of force. Still, he defended the crackdown, saying officers were carrying out their duties against an illegal occupation of the park.
In Istanbul, several protesters were injured when a wall they climbed on collapsed during a police chase, and at least two people ? including a journalist ? were hit in the head by tear gas canisters. Two opposition legislators were among several hospitalized after being affected by the gas, the private Dogan news agency reported.
Istanbul Gov. Huseyin Avni Mutlu said 12 people were treated in hospitals for injuries and least 13 people were detained.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the U.S. was concerned about the number of people injured as police dispersed protesters.
"We believe that Turkey's long-term stability, security and prosperity is best guaranteed by upholding the fundamental freedoms of expression, assembly and association, which is what it seems these individuals were doing," she told reporters. "These freedoms are crucial to any healthy democracy."
Psaki said the U.S. was still gathering information about the incident.
There was very little coverage of the protests on television channels in Turkey, reflecting the environment of self-censorship by the media, which has, among other things, been pressured into dismissing staff too critical of the government.
The media rights group Reporters without Borders said the injured journalist, Ahmet Sik, and others were deliberately targeted by police and urged Turkish authorities to halt the "excessive" use of force. A Reuters photographer was also injured.
Amnesty International also deplored what it called Turkish police brutality and said some officers should be brought to justice.
Demonstrators affected by tear gas sought shelter at a luxury hotel at Taksim and were tended by guests. Police removed tents and the demonstrators' belongings and mounted barricades around the park.
The state-run Anadolu Agency said 15 demonstrators were detained in Ankara.
"The people are demonstrating against the government's intolerance toward demonstrations," said Metin Feyzioglu, who heads Turkey's lawyers' association, during the protest in Ankara. "The government must display understanding and immediately stop the violence against the demonstrators."
NASA satellites watch the demise of Hurricane BarbaraPublic release date: 31-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Rob Gutro robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
NOAA's GOES-14 satellite captured Hurricane Barbara's landfall in southwestern Mexico and movement across land, northward toward the Gulf of Mexico. This 43 second animation of NOAA's GOES-14 satellite observations from May 29 to 31, 2013, shows Barbara making landfall at the beginning of the animation, and moving toward the Gulf of Mexico by May 31. Credit: NASA GOES Project
Hurricane Barbara recently made landfall along the southern Pacific coast of Mexico and NASA's TRMM and Suomi NPP satellites captured rainfall rates within the storm, and a night-time image of landfall. NOAA's GOES satellites provided images that were made into an animation showing the landfall and movement across Mexico into the Bay of Campeche on May 31.
According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), the center of Hurricane Barbara came ashore around 19:50 UTC (12:50 p.m. PDT) on Wednesday, May 29 about 35 km (~20 miles) west of Tonala, Mexico. At landfall, Barbara was a minimal Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph.
NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP Satellite Captures Hurricane Barbara at Night
The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard the NASA-NOAA Suomi NPP satellite captured a nighttime image of Hurricane Barbara before it made landfall in southwestern Mexico. The image was taken on May 29 at 08:22 UTC (4:22 a.m. EDT). In the image city lights from Mexico City and Coatzacoalcos were seen to the north and east of Barbara's center.
VIIRS, a scanning radiometer, collects visible and infrared imagery and radiometric measurements of the land, atmosphere, cryosphere, and oceans.
NASA's TRMM Satellite Analyzes Barbara's Rainfall
NASA and the Japanese Space Agency's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite captured several images of the storm during the landfall. TRMM captured the first image of Barbara several hours after it made landfall. The image was taken at 6:46 p.m. PDT on May 29 (01:46 UTC, May 30) and showed the horizontal distribution of rain intensity within the storm. The rainfall images were created at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. To make the image, several data products from various TRMM instruments are combined. Rain rates in the center of the swath are from the TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR), and those in the outer swath are from the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI). The rain rates are then overlaid on infrared (IR) data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner (VIRS).
As is typical, after making landfall Barbara began to weaken and was a tropical storm with winds reported at 60 mph at the time of the first TRMM image. The image showed no evidence of an eye and areas of mostly light to moderate rain within the storm. Localized areas of heavier rain are evident inland northwest of the center and along the coast where the storm's circulation is drawing moist air ashore.
After making landfall, Barbara continued in a mostly northward direction across southern Mexico and began to emerge over the southern Gulf of Mexico.
The second rainfall image from TRMM was taken at 09:58 UTC (2:58 am PDT) on May 30. By that time, the National Hurricane Center had downgraded Barbara to a tropical depression with maximum sustained winds of 30 knots (~35 mph). Most of the rain associated with Barbara at that time appeared to be light with a smaller proportion of moderate rain than before and only an isolated area of heavy rain along the Gulf coast side.
TRMM data was used to create a 3-D image to look at precipitation and cloud heights. Most of the cloud tops were of low to moderate height with the exception of the one taller towering thunderstorm that reached up to around 12 km. This convective tower was associated with an area of heavy rain. In order for the storm to regenerate or maintain itself, new areas of convection like this would have to occur near the center.
GOES-14 Satellite Sees Barbara at the Gulf of Mexico
NOAA's GOES-14 satellite captured Hurricane Barbara's landfall in southwestern Mexico and movement across land, northward toward the Gulf of Mexico. In a 43 second animation of NOAA's GOES-14 satellite observations from May 29 to 31, 2013, Barbara made landfall at the beginning of the animation, and moved toward the Gulf of Mexico by May 31. The images from May 31, showed scattered showers were occurring over the Bay of Campeche and in the coastal city of Coatzacolalcos reported light rain. The animation was created by the NASA/NOAA GOES Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
What Happened to Barbara?
On May 30 at 22:00 UTC (6:00 p.m. EDT), Barbara was a tropical depression with maximum sustained winds near 20 knots. It was centered about 127 nautical miles north-northeast of Tehuantepec, Mexico and was moving north at 4 knots.
By Friday, May 31 at 8:05 a.m. EDT, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) noted that a weak upper level trough (elongated area) of low pressure extended over the western Gulf of Mexico is steering the remnants of Barbara. Barbara's remnants had weakened further into a trough of low pressure at the surface and stretched from 19 north latitude and 94 west longitude to 22 north and 93 west.
NHC reported that the weak mid-level circulation associated with Barbara continues to gradually dissipate and become embedded within southeasterly flow over the western Gulf of Mexico.
The East Pacific hurricane season officially begins on May 15 and runs through November 30.
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NASA satellites watch the demise of Hurricane BarbaraPublic release date: 31-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Rob Gutro robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
NOAA's GOES-14 satellite captured Hurricane Barbara's landfall in southwestern Mexico and movement across land, northward toward the Gulf of Mexico. This 43 second animation of NOAA's GOES-14 satellite observations from May 29 to 31, 2013, shows Barbara making landfall at the beginning of the animation, and moving toward the Gulf of Mexico by May 31. Credit: NASA GOES Project
Hurricane Barbara recently made landfall along the southern Pacific coast of Mexico and NASA's TRMM and Suomi NPP satellites captured rainfall rates within the storm, and a night-time image of landfall. NOAA's GOES satellites provided images that were made into an animation showing the landfall and movement across Mexico into the Bay of Campeche on May 31.
According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), the center of Hurricane Barbara came ashore around 19:50 UTC (12:50 p.m. PDT) on Wednesday, May 29 about 35 km (~20 miles) west of Tonala, Mexico. At landfall, Barbara was a minimal Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph.
NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP Satellite Captures Hurricane Barbara at Night
The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard the NASA-NOAA Suomi NPP satellite captured a nighttime image of Hurricane Barbara before it made landfall in southwestern Mexico. The image was taken on May 29 at 08:22 UTC (4:22 a.m. EDT). In the image city lights from Mexico City and Coatzacoalcos were seen to the north and east of Barbara's center.
VIIRS, a scanning radiometer, collects visible and infrared imagery and radiometric measurements of the land, atmosphere, cryosphere, and oceans.
NASA's TRMM Satellite Analyzes Barbara's Rainfall
NASA and the Japanese Space Agency's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite captured several images of the storm during the landfall. TRMM captured the first image of Barbara several hours after it made landfall. The image was taken at 6:46 p.m. PDT on May 29 (01:46 UTC, May 30) and showed the horizontal distribution of rain intensity within the storm. The rainfall images were created at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. To make the image, several data products from various TRMM instruments are combined. Rain rates in the center of the swath are from the TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR), and those in the outer swath are from the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI). The rain rates are then overlaid on infrared (IR) data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner (VIRS).
As is typical, after making landfall Barbara began to weaken and was a tropical storm with winds reported at 60 mph at the time of the first TRMM image. The image showed no evidence of an eye and areas of mostly light to moderate rain within the storm. Localized areas of heavier rain are evident inland northwest of the center and along the coast where the storm's circulation is drawing moist air ashore.
After making landfall, Barbara continued in a mostly northward direction across southern Mexico and began to emerge over the southern Gulf of Mexico.
The second rainfall image from TRMM was taken at 09:58 UTC (2:58 am PDT) on May 30. By that time, the National Hurricane Center had downgraded Barbara to a tropical depression with maximum sustained winds of 30 knots (~35 mph). Most of the rain associated with Barbara at that time appeared to be light with a smaller proportion of moderate rain than before and only an isolated area of heavy rain along the Gulf coast side.
TRMM data was used to create a 3-D image to look at precipitation and cloud heights. Most of the cloud tops were of low to moderate height with the exception of the one taller towering thunderstorm that reached up to around 12 km. This convective tower was associated with an area of heavy rain. In order for the storm to regenerate or maintain itself, new areas of convection like this would have to occur near the center.
GOES-14 Satellite Sees Barbara at the Gulf of Mexico
NOAA's GOES-14 satellite captured Hurricane Barbara's landfall in southwestern Mexico and movement across land, northward toward the Gulf of Mexico. In a 43 second animation of NOAA's GOES-14 satellite observations from May 29 to 31, 2013, Barbara made landfall at the beginning of the animation, and moved toward the Gulf of Mexico by May 31. The images from May 31, showed scattered showers were occurring over the Bay of Campeche and in the coastal city of Coatzacolalcos reported light rain. The animation was created by the NASA/NOAA GOES Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
What Happened to Barbara?
On May 30 at 22:00 UTC (6:00 p.m. EDT), Barbara was a tropical depression with maximum sustained winds near 20 knots. It was centered about 127 nautical miles north-northeast of Tehuantepec, Mexico and was moving north at 4 knots.
By Friday, May 31 at 8:05 a.m. EDT, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) noted that a weak upper level trough (elongated area) of low pressure extended over the western Gulf of Mexico is steering the remnants of Barbara. Barbara's remnants had weakened further into a trough of low pressure at the surface and stretched from 19 north latitude and 94 west longitude to 22 north and 93 west.
NHC reported that the weak mid-level circulation associated with Barbara continues to gradually dissipate and become embedded within southeasterly flow over the western Gulf of Mexico.
The East Pacific hurricane season officially begins on May 15 and runs through November 30.
###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
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.
?This is not your food! Don?t even think about eating it. This ? is ? not ? your ? food.? What do our words mean to dogs? Not that I?m about to stop speaking to dogs anytime soon, but I do wonder what my daily utterances signify to Millie, Piper, Upton and Finnegan, the dogs I converse with on a regular basis. Do I sound like a cross between Charlie Brown?s teacher and Gary Larson?s ?What Dogs Hear? cartoon? Are we on the same page, or even in the same book?
Chaser the Border Collie is back in the news. She initially captured headlines in 2011 as ?the smartest dog in the world? when research published in Behavioral Processes reported that she knew the names of 1,022 distinct objects. Now, Chaser?s way with words is being revisited in a special ?dog? issue of Learning and Motivation. Chaser is now being hailed a ?grammar hound? after successfully attending to syntactical relationships between words in sentences, like differentiating ?to ball take Frisbee? from ?to Frisbee take ball.? You can check out Chaser in action on her YouTube channel.
But is Chaser the dog equivalent of Beyonce, a god among mortals? Or might other dogs have a similar panache for language? And how might you test whether your dog understands your words as you intend them?
To learn more, check out my recent article over at The Bark Magazine: Do Dogs Understand Our Words?, which includes interviews with:
John Pilley, Chaser?s owner, and the author of the new research paper
Julia Fischer, Daniela Ramos and Susanne Grassmann, researchers of other dogs like Chaser
Patricia McConnell, Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, discussing what her dogs do and don?t know when it comes to words
Reference: J, Pilley. Border collie comprehends sentences containing a prepositional object, verb and direct object. Learning and Motivation. Published online May 13, 2013. doi:10.1016/j.lmot.2013.02.003.
Photo ? Chris Bott Contact at?bottyc@aol.com or www.chrisbottphoto.com
San Francisco - The patent trolls have gone far enough: Starting today, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is mounting a new, focused campaign to bust the dangerous patent that a Texas company has been using to shakedown podcasters. EFF intends to challenge the original grant of that patent before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by proving that the company, Personal Audio, did not really invent anything new.
Claiming it owns the patent that broadly covers podcasting technology, Personal Audio is the classic example of a patent troll that neither makes nor sells anything, but uses its patent as a weapon to threaten lawsuits and extort settlement fees. This particular troll has bullied prominent podcasts and podcasters, including How Stuff Works and Adam Carolla, in addition to smaller podcasters working out of their own homes.
"Patent trolls have been wreaking havoc on innovative companies for some time now," said EFF Staff Attorney Julie Samuels, who also holds the Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents. "But this particular breed of troll?targeting end users, small businesses, startups, and even individuals like podcasters for simply using everyday products?is a disturbing new threat."
EFF is partnering with the Cyberlaw Clinic at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society to use a new legal tool against this patent called the "inter partes review," which was introduced by the America Invents Act. The first step is to identify "prior art," or published examples of similar or identical ideas, that existed before October 2, 1996. EFF is putting out a call today to the podcasting community to spread the word and help us collect the prior art we need to fight this dangerous patent. EFF is also looking for financial support to take on this challenge, which?even with pro bono help?will likely cost nearly $30,000.
"A podcaster working out of a garage is unlikely to have the financial resources to fight a lawsuit," said EFF Staff Attorney Daniel Nazer. "Patent trolls like Personal Audio know this and use the threat of ruinous litigation costs as a weapon. Defeating this patent at the PTO would put an end to Personal Audio's campaign."
Because of the deep and systemic problems in the American patent system, EFF is spearheading the Defend Innovation project to advocate for reform. EFF is asking the public to sign on to our petition at defendinnovation.org and to comment on seven recommended proposals we think would make the broken system work better for software. In the meantime, EFF is doing its best to rid the world of one more bad patent in the hands of a patent troll and help out podcasters who find themselves staring down the barrel of a gun.
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Public release date: 31-May-2013
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