Gigabit internet finds a new home in Omaha, Nebraska

When it comes to gigabit internet, the headline buzz usually involves Google and some mid or south western American locale. But not today. No, today, the ridiculously high-speed internet spotlight falls on Omaha, Nebraska where local provider CenturyLink is poised to launch a pilot service. Starting Monday, the telco's Lightspeed Broadband package ($150 a month for standalone service or $80 a month as a bundle) will go live for nearly 10,000 subscribers and continue to rollout to a footprint just shy of 50,000 residential and enterprise subs by October. Further expansion plans for the greater metro area all hinge upon whether CenturyLink can turn a profit on the service, but the company will continue to sign-up enterprise subs outside of this pilot zone for the next two years. The path forward -- at least, to us -- is pretty clear, Omahans: vote with your wallet if you want to preserve the gigabit bragging rights.

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Miley Cyrus Poses For Risque Photo Shoot For V Magazine (Photos/Video)

Miley Cyrus Poses For Risque Photo Shoot For V Magazine (Photos/Video)

Miley Cyrus has come a long way from her “Hannah Montana” days, showing off her body in a sexy photo spread for V Magazine. The 20-year-old singer is shown cupping her bare boob, unbuttoning her pants, and showing us her derriere! We guess she’s just being Miley! Miley Cyrus graces three different covers for V ...

Miley Cyrus Poses For Risque Photo Shoot For V Magazine (Photos/Video) Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/05/miley-cyrus-poses-for-risque-photo-shoot-for-v-magazine-photosvideo/

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Talking tissue boxes and other smart objects may be welcomed by most people

May 1, 2013 ? Just as people have embraced computers and smart phones, they may also give their blessing to talking tissue boxes and other smart objects, according to Penn State researchers.

"Smart objects will become more and more a part of our daily lives," said S. Shyam Sundar, Distinguished Professor of Communications and co-director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory. "We believe the next phase is that objects will start talking and interacting with humans, and our goal is to figure out the best ways for objects to communicate with humans."

As sensors and computers increasingly become smaller and cheaper, smart objects will appear in more homes and offices and not be hidden or shielded from interacting with people, according to the researchers. For example, smart refrigerators could talk or send tweets to signal when certain food items are almost out, or when expiration dates are nearing, according to the researchers.

"We regularly communicate with objects by collecting data from those objects," said Haiyan Jia, doctoral candidate in mass communications, who worked with Sundar. "But we wanted to test what happens when objects talk directly to us in a social situation."

Researchers videotaped participants as they reacted to a talking box of tissues that was on a desk in the laboratory. Once a laboratory worker sneezed, the tissue box said, "Bless You." The tissue box also responded with two follow-up messages: "Here, take a tissue" and "Take care!"

Participants from two other groups heard the same messages from either a laboratory worker or a talking tabletop robot, according to the researchers, who presented their findings at the 2013 Annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Paris today (May 1).

The participants found the talking tissue box just as human-like and as autonomous as the robot, even though robots are more human-looking and human-acting. In actuality, a research assistant operated both the robot and tissue box by broadcasting the pre-recorded statements to the devices.

Researchers invited the 63 subjects to participate under the guise that they were taking part in a cognitive games study. In addition to watching their reactions on videotape, researchers asked the participants to fill out a questionnaire about the lab environment, including questions on the smart objects.

People seem to strongly respond to the voice of the object, said Jia. Sundar and Jia also worked with Mu Wu and Eunhwa Jung, graduate students in mass communications, and Alice Shapiro, graduate student in learning and performance systems.

Sundar said that the study may also help manufacturers design smart objects. While designers tend to make robots look human, many people consider robots that are too humanlike creepy.

"This study shows that speech is a social cue," said Sundar. "It may be enough to make the objects more social and not necessarily more human-like in appearance."

At least tentatively, Jia said this shows that people will accept smart objects. However, she added that future research should investigate if people will strongly connect with these objects and if long-term exposure to smart objects as social companions may change people's attitudes toward these objects over time.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/e56S6L4fEXo/130501091841.htm

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Mets rally past Marlins, stave off sweep

By STEVEN WINE

AP Sports Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 4:49 p.m. ET May 1, 2013

MIAMI (AP) - Unaccustomed to a rare three-run lead, the Miami Marlins couldn't hold it.

The worst-hitting team in the majors managed 13 hits Wednesday, but that wasn't enough to compensate for a bullpen meltdown, and Miami lost to the New York Mets, 7-6.

The Marlins (8-20), who have the NL's worst record, missed a chance for a three-game sweep and embark on their longest trip of the season.

"It's tough to sweep teams in the big leagues," manager Mike Redmond said. "At the end of the day we won a series, and that's huge, and hopefully something we can build off during this road trip."

The Marlins matched their best first inning of the season to take a 3-0 lead, and they were up 4-1 when the Mets rallied. Jordany Valdespin put New York ahead to stay in the sixth with his second homer, and NL RBIs leader John Buck added a two-run double in the seventh.

The Mets broke a six-game losing streak.

Marcell Ozuna, who made his big league debut Tuesday, had two of Miami's 13 hits. Wade LeBlanc gave up four runs in 5 2-3 innings, and the Marlins fell to 0-6 in his starts.

"It's frustrating getting spotted three runs and letting the other team kind of creep back in," LeBlanc said.

After LeBlanc departed, Valdespin greeted A.J. Ramos (0-1) with a home run to put the Mets up 5-4.

"It was a bad pitch up in the zone," Ramos said. "He was looking for it, and he did what he's supposed to do with that pitch. He hit it out."

Miami's relievers gave up three runs in four innings.

"Our bullpen has been great all year, and every once in a while this is going to happen," Redmond said.

Miami came from behind in the final inning to win the first two games of the series, but this time the New York bullpen - ranked next to last in the majors in ERA - protected a lead. Bobby Parnell pitched a perfect ninth for his third save in five chances.

John Buck and David Wright each had three of New York's 13 hits. NL RBIs leader Buck hit a two-run double, and Wright contributed his third homer for the Mets, who totaled only 11 runs during their losing streak.

"We got some offense going," manager Terry Collins said. "The most frustrating thing about the past six days is we've been in the games. We've given ourselves a chance, we just haven't been able to create any offense. Hopefully today is a start."

The dormant attack finally came alive in the sixth. Valdespin's second homer of the year was his sixth pinch-homer since breaking into the majors in 2012, which ties him for second place on the team's all-time list.

"For some reason he loves to come off the bench when the pressure's on," Collins said. "It's amazing what he has done as a pinch-hitter. His eyes seem to get bigger, and he seems to see the ball better."

Wright homered in the fourth, scored three times and made a barehanded grab and throw at third base in the seventh inning to keep a runner stranded at third. Afterward he was wrapped from neck to torso because of various maladies, including a stiff neck, but said he had been eager to play Wednesday.

"We need all the wins we can get, especially with the way we've been playing," Wright said. "You want to be in there and help out."

Dillon Gee (2-4) won despite allowing four runs and nine hits in five innings. The Mets had scored a total of 10 runs in his previous five starts.

Mets center fielder Juan Lagares threw out Nick Green trying to score from second on LeBlanc's one-out single in the fourth. LeBlanc took second on the play and came home on a single by Juan Pierre, sliding hard into catcher Buck's left knee to beat Lagares' throw.

LeBlanc was shaken up, but after a visit with the trainer he stayed in the game.

NOTES: Marlins C Rob Brantly was sidelined with a cut on the index finger of his throwing hand. His status is day to day. ... Wright improved to 8 for 13 (.615) with two homers against LeBlanc. ... On Thursday the Marlins begin their longest trip of the season, with 10 games in three cities. ... Attendance for the 12:40 p.m. start was 16,188, including several school groups.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/51738751/ns/sports-baseball/

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New Sirius XM CEO considering infotainment, in-car safety offerings

Satellite-based streaming is a successful enough enterprise for the time being, but even the most naive of executives must know that the momentum isn't sure to last. In-car LTE and cheap web-based solutions provide access to millions of tracks on demand, making other options less relevant. Doom and gloom aside, there's still an opportunity to remain afloat, and Sirius XM's new CEO, Jim Meyer, has a plan to diversify his company's portfolio of products.

The music would continue to flow, but OnStar-like options would become available as well, according to a Reuters interview with Meyer. Other services, such as weather, realtime gas prices, roadside assistance and stolen car tracking could be implemented with the company's existing satellite infrastructure, and might be offered on a subscription basis down the line. "This is going to take a while," according to the new chief executive, who said that the new products might be implemented in certain 2017 and 2018 vehicles, but likely not sooner. Sadly, he's not talking details just yet, but there may be more to share before the end of next year.

Filed under: Transportation, Wireless

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Seahorse's armor gives engineers insight into robotics designs

May 1, 2013 ? The tail of a seahorse can be compressed to about half its size before permanent damage occurs, engineers at the University of California, San Diego, have found. The tail's exceptional flexibility is due to its structure, made up of bony, armored plates, which slide past each other. Researchers are hoping to use a similar structure to create a flexible robotic arm equipped with muscles made out of polymer, which could be used in medical devices, underwater exploration and unmanned bomb detection and detonation. UC San Diego engineers, led by materials science professors Joanna McKittrick and Marc Meyers, detailed their findings in the March 2013 issue of the journal Acta Biomaterialia.

"The study of natural materials can lead to the creation of new and unique materials and structures inspired by nature that are stronger, tougher, lighter and more flexible," said McKittrick, a professor of materials science at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego.

McKittrick and Meyers had sought bioinsipiration by examining the armor of many other animals, including armadillo, alligators and the scales of various fish. This time, they were specifically looking for an animal that was flexible enough to develop a design for a robotic arm.

"The tail is the seahorse's lifeline," because it allows the animal to anchor itself to corals or seaweed and hide from predators, said Michael Porter, a Ph.D. student in materials science at the Jacobs School of Engineering. "But no one has looked at the seahorse's tail and bones as a source of armor."

Most of the seahorse's predators, including sea turtles, crabs and birds, capture the animals by crushing them. Engineers wanted to see if the plates in the tail act as an armor. Researchers took segments from seahorses' tails and compressed them from different angles. They found that the tail could be compressed by nearly 50 percent of its original width before permanent damage occurred. That's because the connective tissue between the tail's bony plates and the tail muscles bore most of the load from the displacement. Even when the tail was compressed by as much as 60 percent, the seahorse's spinal column was protected from permanent damage.

McKittrick and Meyers' research group uses a unique technique that applies a series of chemicals to materials to strip them of either their protein components or their mineral components. That allows them to better study materials' structures and properties. After treating the bony plates in the seahorse's tail with the chemicals, they discovered that the percentage of minerals in the plates was relatively low -- 40 percent, compared to 65 percent in cow bone. The plates also contained 27 percent organic compounds -- mostly proteins -- and 33 percent water. The hardness of the plates varied. The ridges were hardest, likely for impact protection -- about 40 percent harder than the plate's grooves, which are porous and absorb energy from impacts.

The seahorse's tail is typically made up of 36 square-like segments, each composed of four L-shaped corner plates that progressively decrease in size along the length of the tail. Plates are free to glide or pivot. Gliding joints allow the bony plates to glide past one another. Pivoting joints are similar to a ball-and-socket joint, with three degrees of rotational freedom. The plates are connected to the vertebrae by thick collagen layers of connective tissue. The joints between plates and vertebrae are extremely flexible with nearly six degrees of freedom.

"Everything in biology comes down to structures," Porter said.

The next step is to use 3D printing to create artificial bony plates, which would then be equipped with polymers that would act as muscles. The final goal is to build a robotic arm that would be a unique hybrid between hard and soft robotic devices. A flexible, yet robust robotic gripper could be used for medical devices, underwater exploration and unmanned bomb detection and detonation. The protected, flexible arm would be able to grasp a variety of objects of different shapes and sizes.

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1. Michael M. Porter, Ekaterina Novitskaya, Ana Bertha Castro-Cese?a, Marc A. Meyers, Joanna McKittrick. Highly deformable bones: Unusual deformation mechanisms of seahorse armor. Acta Biomaterialia, 2013; DOI: 10.1016/j.actbio.2013.02.045

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ASOS plans China launch in October

By James Davey

LONDON (Reuters) - The British online fashion retailer ASOS said it would launch a Chinese-language website in October, part of a strategy to be a global player and deliver over 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) of sales by 2015.

Shares in the firm, whose celebrity fans include United States first lady Michelle Obama, rose 4.7 percent on Tuesday after it posted an 11 percent rise in first-half profit and also said it would launch a Russian-language website on Wednesday.

While the UK's traditional high street stores have suffered as consumers fear for their jobs and see incomes squeezed, online retailers are faring far better. ASOS in particular has bucked the trend, helped by overseas expansion that has already seen it establish websites in the United States, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Australia.

In particular, it has tapped into demand from value-seeking, technology savvy, twenty-somethings for both branded and own-label products.

ASOS will use a different model for China from that used for its other overseas operations, which sell products shipped from a huge distribution center in Barnsley, northern England.

ASOS China will have a standalone technology platform, a local third-party distribution center, local delivery solutions and payment methods, and a larger in-country team.

Initially, the website will offer about 10 percent of ASOS's full range of 60,000 items, a share that will expand as the Chinese business grows. Set-up costs will be 8-12 million pounds over two years.

"We want to be truly global. We can't be truly global unless we're in China, and this is the start of that journey," Chief Executive Nick Robertson told Reuters. "It's a build-and-grow, learn, steady-as-she-goes type of approach."

Customers from Russia and China already access ASOS's UK site, putting them in the firm's top 10 markets.

SHARES JUMP

Shares in ASOS, which have more than doubled over the last year, were up 96 pence at 3,167 at 7:20 a.m. ET, valuing the business at 2.55 billion pounds.

"As comparables soften in H2 2012-13, we think that ASOS shares will see positive momentum," said Panmure Gordon analyst Jean Roche.

But she cut her 2013-14 and 2014-15 earnings forecasts by 4-5 percent to account for expected operating losses in China.

ASOS also announced a new long term incentive plan (ALTIP) for executives and senior management.

A "target" performance level of the scheme implies sales of 1.0 billion pounds for the 2014-15 year, while a "stretch" level implies sales of 1.3 billion pounds.

Robertson, who owns 9.4 percent of ASOS's equity, said participants had together invested 5 million pounds in the scheme.

If "stretch" targets were achieved, he said, the payout would mean a maximum dilution of 1.5 percent of ASOS's issued share capital - worth about 39 million pounds at Tuesday's prices.

"We'd have to double the size of the business," he said.

ASOS, which targets young women looking to emulate the designer looks of celebrities such as Nicole Scherzinger and Cara Delevingne, made an underlying pretax profit of 25.7 million pounds in the six months to February 28.

That compared with analysts' consensus forecasts of 25 million pounds, and was up from 23.1 million pounds in the same period of 2011-12.

The firm said six-month group revenue increased 33 percent to 359.7 million pounds, with trading momentum strong.

However, retail gross margin was 0.6 percent lower, partly reflecting lower prices and a higher proportion of UK sales, which attract 20 percent VAT sales tax.

The firm said UK retail sales rose 26 percent to 137.6 million pounds, while overseas sales increased 39 percent to 214.7 million pounds. ($1 = 0.6454 British pounds)

(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asos-plans-china-launch-october-113652503.html

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