A quick heads-up for anyone using the beta version of SwiftKey 4.3 — an updated version is now available from beta.swiftkey.net. The new SwiftKey beta 4.3.0.149 adds fixes various bugs — including issues when moving between layouts and problems causing the keyboard to jump around the screen — while adding some new localization features. This latest version ensures the currency key matches your phone's locale, and implements Punjabi, Icelandic, Bulgarian, Azerbaijani, Russian Windows and Turkish keyboard layouts.
Grab the new version from the source link, or click below to check out our recent hands-on preview of SwiftKey 4.3.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is appealing to its allies in Congress, on Wall Street and across the country to stick with President Barack Obama's health care law even as embarrassing problems with the flagship website continue to mount.
The website's troubled debut was overshadowed by the partial government shutdown that started the same day the website went live. Last week, Obama and Democrats walked away from a no-holds-barred fight with Republicans over debt and spending with a remarkable degree of unity, made all the more prominent by the deep GOP divisions the standoff revealed.
The debt-and-spending crisis averted for now, the spotlight has shifted to Obama's health care law and the web-based exchanges, beset by malfunctions, where Americans are supposed to be able to shop for insurance. The intensified focus has increased the pressure on Democrats to distance themselves from Obama's handling of the website's rollout as both parties demand to know what went wrong and why.
As the administration races to fix the website, it's deploying the president and top officials to urge his supporters not to give up.
"By now you have probably heard that the website has not worked as smoothly as it was supposed to," Obama said Tuesday in a video message recorded for Organizing for America, a nonprofit group whose mission is to support Obama's agenda. "But we've got people working overtime in a tech surge to boost capacity and address the problems. And we are going to get it fixed."
Whether through the website or other, lower-tech means, the administration needs millions of Americans to sign up through the exchanges for the law to succeed. While the website has become an easily maligned symbol of a law that Republicans despise, Obama said it's important Americans realize that "Obamacare," with its various patient protections, is much more.
"That's why I need your help," Obama told OFA's supporters.
The group has been organizing a multitude of events and social media campaigns around the health care law's implementation. OFA said those efforts will continue, but the group isn't adjusting its strategy in response to the website's issues.
Obama has turned to longtime adviser Jeffrey Zients to provide management advice to help fix the system. Zients, a former acting director of the Office of Management and Budget and a veteran management consultant, will be on a short-term assignment at the Health and Human Services Department before he's due to take over as director of Obama's National Economic Council next year.
Meanwhile, Vice President Joe Biden and top White House officials held a call with business leaders Tuesday about the health law and other issues. Business Forward, a trade group friendly to the White House, said the administration asked the group to invite leaders to hear directly from Biden.
In Congress, even staunch supporters of the law like House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Steny Hoyer, the Democratic whip, have said the website's rollout was unacceptable. In a potentially worrying sign for Obama, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., is calling for the White House to extend the open-enrollment period past March 31 in light of the glitches.
On Wednesday, the administration is sending Mike Hash, who runs the health reform office at HHS, to Capitol Hill to brief lawmakers on the law's implementation.
An invitation to the breakfast meeting obtained by The Associated Press says it's restricted to members of Congress. But only Democrats were invited to that session, prompting protest from House Speaker John Boehner, whose spokesman called it a "snub" and said the administration should brief House Republicans, too, in the name of transparency and accountability. Joanne Peters, a spokeswoman for HHS, said officials would be happy to honor additional briefing requests.
___
Reach Josh Lederman at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP
GENEVA/BEIJING (Reuters) - Western countries accused China on Tuesday of arresting activists, curbing Internet use and suppressing ethnic minorities, as the United Nations formally reviewed its rights record for the first time since Xi Jinping became president.
The United Nations Human Rights Council, which reviews all U.N. members every four years, convened in Geneva, where sharply opposing views of China's human rights record were exposed.
Uzra Zeya, acting assistant secretary in the U.S. State Department's bureau of democracy, human rights and labor, said China should cease using harassment, detention and arrest to silence human rights activists and their families and friends.
"We're concerned that China suppresses freedoms of assembly, association, religion and expression..., harasses, detains and punishes activists..., targets rights defenders' family members and friends and implements policies that undermine the human rights of ethnic minorities," Zeya said.
China's special envoy Wu Hailong, who led Beijing's delegation in Geneva, said talks with other countries in Geneva had been "open, candid... and cooperative."
But he added that some of the accusations leveled at China had been "based on misunderstandings and prejudices."
Hours before the session began, Tibetan activists scaled the building and unfurled a banner reading: "China fails human rights in Tibet - U.N. stand up for Tibet".
In Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said it was willing to work with other countries on human rights as long as it was in a spirit of mutual respect.
"But we firmly oppose those kinds of biased and malicious criticisms," she added, referring to the Tibetan protest.
U.N. security detained the four activists from Denmark and Britain for several hours, and a spokeswoman for Students for a Free Tibet later said they had not been charged and were expected to return to their home countries.
POVERTY A KEY CONCERN
China faces criticism from some Western countries including the United States for what they say is the religious repression of ethnic minorities, including Tibetans and Muslim Uighurs in the vast western Xinjiang region.
China has responded to unrest in both regions by intensifying a crackdown by security forces, and Xi, who took office in March, has showed no sign of easing harsh policies.
Echoing concerns voiced by Germany and Switzerland, British ambassador Karen Pierce called on China to further reduce the number of crimes carrying the death penalty.
A Chinese diplomat told the Geneva talks: "Our government decision is to retain the death penalty but exercise strict control of its use."
Wu said minority ethnic groups in China were treated fairly, and added that a priority for authorities was to reduce poverty.
"Nearly 100 million people live in poverty. Some of them don't even have enough food and clothes. There is a saying that a 'hungry crowd is an angry crowd'. Big problems will occur if we cannot feed the poor."
Activists voiced disappointment at China's position at the session. On Friday, its delegation is due to say which of the Council's recommendations it will accept or reject.
"I think that there wasn't really an openness to criticism," Sharon Hom, executive director of Human Rights in China, told a news briefing. "It was clear from the Chinese delegation's responses that 'objective and frank' meant no criticism, or at least no criticism that they didn't control."
Some experts had thought the administration of Xi would be less hardline than his predecessors. Instead, critics say Xi has presided over a clamp down that has moved beyond the targeting of dissidents calling for political change.
For example, authorities have detained at least 16 activists who have demanded officials publicly disclose their wealth as well as scores of people accused of online "rumor-mongering".
"Xi Jinping has definitely taken the country backwards on human rights," prominent rights lawyer Mo Shaoping told Reuters.
The council has no binding powers. Its rotating membership of 47 states does not include China, although Beijing is expected to run for a place in early November. China's record was previously assessed in 2009 by the Geneva forum.
(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard, Megha Rajagopalan, Adam Rose, Michael Martina, and Beijing Newsroom; editing by Mike Collett-White)
Just look at those baby blues! We could get lost in them alllllllllllll day!
Jake divulged his process for really getting into the characters he portrays and it's totally the opposite of what you may think!
He said:
“I really, really love listening to really poppy music. I play a lot of intense characters and going the other way can help. Sometimes if you listen to something that’s the complete opposite of the feeling you’re having, you can dive even deeper. Somehow you’re not thinking so much. And then bam, you’re in it."
LOLz!! Pop music?! To each their own, we guess!
Jake also told the magazine how he gets OUT of his characters and we totally love the approach he takes!
Jake said:
"I’m obsessed with food. I love eating in general, but if I’m somewhere on location, I tend to find one restaurant and weirdly will eat one or two things that I love. Then I’ll know I’m going there at the end of the day to eat that thing. It’s like a strange catharsis to me. I don’t know what it does… but it kind of breaks the boundaries of something that’s different to what my character would eat."
LOLz!!!
That's AHMAZING!! But please, JG, start eating more! You've been looking so thin lately!! It's nice to see you looking full and fit on the cover!
We wonder what GF Alyssa Millerthinks of how skinny you are!
FILE - This Feb. 18, 2010 file photo shows television pitchman Kevin Trudeau talking with a member of his legal team at federal court in Chicago. Trudeau who is accused of misleading viewers about his weight-loss books during late-night infomercials is bound for jail again for failing to pay a $37 million civil judgment. The federal judge overseeing Trudeau's case ruled recently that U.S. Marshals would take the 50-year-old into custody following a Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013 status hearing in Chicago. (AP Photo/Sun-Times Media, John Kim) MANDATORY CREDIT, MAGS OUT
FILE - This Feb. 18, 2010 file photo shows television pitchman Kevin Trudeau talking with a member of his legal team at federal court in Chicago. Trudeau who is accused of misleading viewers about his weight-loss books during late-night infomercials is bound for jail again for failing to pay a $37 million civil judgment. The federal judge overseeing Trudeau's case ruled recently that U.S. Marshals would take the 50-year-old into custody following a Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013 status hearing in Chicago. (AP Photo/Sun-Times Media, John Kim) MANDATORY CREDIT, MAGS OUT
CHICAGO (AP) — A federal judge rejected an impassioned plea from a television pitchman for his freedom on Tuesday, ordering U.S. Marshals to lock up Kevin Trudeau for failing to pay a $37 million civil judgment.
The visibly exasperated judge had already ordered that Trudeau be jailed during a hearing in Chicago when Trudeau stood up and asked if he could address the court. The Federal Trade Commission won the judgment after accusing Trudeau of hoodwinking viewers about his weight-loss books.
"There are no more assets to turn over, your honor," the 50-year-old Trudeau insisted during a 10-minute plea, at times striking a note of desperation. "I'm going to be incarcerated ... and I don't know what to do."
Judge Robert Gettleman seemed unimpressed.
"Thank you, Mr. Trudeau," he said flatly. "My order stands."
The judge then directed two marshals to lead Trudeau out of the courtroom and take him to a nearby jail.
Gettleman, like FTC lawyers, balked at Trudeau's insistence that he is penniless — noting that he recently spent hundreds of dollars on cigars and a haircut.
On Tuesday, Gettleman added that he has seen no sign Trudeau was cooperating to verify where he does and doesn't have assets.
"I haven't seen any new information, only resistance," Gettleman said. "This has to end."
The judge said the only way Trudeau would get the message "is to incarcerate him."
Gettleman didn't say how long Trudeau would have to remain behind bars. It will be until at least Thursday, when there's another status hearing scheduled in the case, Gettleman said.
The judge sent Trudeau to jail for one night last month, warning him at the time that he'd be sent back if he wasn't more forthcoming.
4 leading international Wiley journals become open access
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
22-Oct-2013
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Contact: Ben Norman Sciencenewsroom@wiley.com 44-012-437-70375 Wiley
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., today announced the transition of four journals to the Wiley Open Access publishing program, bringing the total number of Wiley's open access titles to 28. From January 1, 2014, all newly published articles in Aging Cell, Cancer Science, Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses, and the Journal of Diabetes Investigation, will be open access and free to view, download and share.
Published in association with the Anatomical Society, Aging Cell has an Impact Factor of 5.705 and ranks third in the field of geriatrics and gerontology.
Cancer Research is published on behalf of the Japanese Cancer Association and attracts over 1,300 submissions annually worldwide. It has attained an Impact Factor of 3.479, establishing its role as the leading oncology journal in Asia.
Launched in 2007 Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses is the official journal of the International Society for Influenza and other Respiratory Virus Diseases. It is the first journal to specialize exclusively on these important areas and has an Impact Factor of 1.471.
The Journal of Diabetes Investigation launched in 2010 and has an Impact Factor of 1.77. It is the official journal of the Asian Association for the Study of Diabetes (AASD), which represents academic societies, associations and individual researchers from across East and Southeast Asia.
"There are a number of journals published by Wiley that will move to an open access publishing model over the next year. It is significant that these four journals from some of our prestigious partner associations are making the change to open access in 2014," said Rachel Burley, Vice President and Director of Open Access, Wiley. "We look forward to working with each of these associations to ensure that the journals continue to serve their communities by publishing world-leading research."
All four journals are now accepting submissions, which will be published open access from January 2014 under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) License, which permits use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
As part of the Wiley Open Access program authors, their funding agencies, or their institutions can pay an Article Publication Charge (APC), to ensure that the article is made available to non-subscribers upon publication via Wiley Online Library, as well as deposited in PubMed Central (PMC) and PMC mirror sites. Authors affiliated with, or funded by, an organization that has a Wiley Open Access Account can publish without directly paying any publication charges.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
4 leading international Wiley journals become open access
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
22-Oct-2013
[
| E-mail
]
Share
Contact: Ben Norman Sciencenewsroom@wiley.com 44-012-437-70375 Wiley
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., today announced the transition of four journals to the Wiley Open Access publishing program, bringing the total number of Wiley's open access titles to 28. From January 1, 2014, all newly published articles in Aging Cell, Cancer Science, Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses, and the Journal of Diabetes Investigation, will be open access and free to view, download and share.
Published in association with the Anatomical Society, Aging Cell has an Impact Factor of 5.705 and ranks third in the field of geriatrics and gerontology.
Cancer Research is published on behalf of the Japanese Cancer Association and attracts over 1,300 submissions annually worldwide. It has attained an Impact Factor of 3.479, establishing its role as the leading oncology journal in Asia.
Launched in 2007 Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses is the official journal of the International Society for Influenza and other Respiratory Virus Diseases. It is the first journal to specialize exclusively on these important areas and has an Impact Factor of 1.471.
The Journal of Diabetes Investigation launched in 2010 and has an Impact Factor of 1.77. It is the official journal of the Asian Association for the Study of Diabetes (AASD), which represents academic societies, associations and individual researchers from across East and Southeast Asia.
"There are a number of journals published by Wiley that will move to an open access publishing model over the next year. It is significant that these four journals from some of our prestigious partner associations are making the change to open access in 2014," said Rachel Burley, Vice President and Director of Open Access, Wiley. "We look forward to working with each of these associations to ensure that the journals continue to serve their communities by publishing world-leading research."
All four journals are now accepting submissions, which will be published open access from January 2014 under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) License, which permits use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
As part of the Wiley Open Access program authors, their funding agencies, or their institutions can pay an Article Publication Charge (APC), to ensure that the article is made available to non-subscribers upon publication via Wiley Online Library, as well as deposited in PubMed Central (PMC) and PMC mirror sites. Authors affiliated with, or funded by, an organization that has a Wiley Open Access Account can publish without directly paying any publication charges.
###
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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.
Excerpted from Alternate Histories of the World by Matthew Buchholz, out now from Perigee.
In our modern age of inter-nets, cellular telephones, and horseless carriages, we have lost much of our initial wonder at fantastic beasts and creatures. Who needs a clanking, steam-powered robot when we can carry personal computers in our pockets? Many schoolchildren no longer believe in the great river beasts of Venice or sand creatures of the Sahara. Yet the images of our monstrous past remain, forever preserved in archives, libraries, and historical records. Alternate Histories of the World collects them.
The Parthenon 432 B.C., Greece
johnc0ad
Constructed between 447 B.C. and 432 B.C. as a temple to the goddess Athena, the Parthenon has survived as a lasting symbol of the beauty, grace, and industriousness of the ancient Greeks. In addition to the structure itself, the building’s frieze has achieved particular fame as one of the best examples of sculpting in marble to come out of this period. Created (or at least supervised) by the great artist Phidias, the frieze mainly depicts a lengthy procession that includes a great number of historic and mythological figures, including many of the Olympians, Athena herself, a glimpse of a Martian warrior on horseback (pictured), and numerous classes of citizenry. Yet it’s far-fetched to believe that Martians actually rode in battle with the ancient Greeks; more likely the carving was a tribute to a visiting warrior or a kind of talisman designed to keep the building safe from Martian heat rays.
Trades in the Middle Ages Circa 1400, England
johnc0ad
This hand-drawn chart depicts the emergence of the tradesman class during the Dark Ages in Europe. With the growth of cities and specialized goods, trades and apprenticeships sprang up, eventually forming the basis for a new middle class that would lift peasants out of poverty. Some of the trades listed here include blacksmith, tailor, box-maker (what we would consider a carpenter), and Zombie, spelled with the traditional Middle English, Zombye. England, like the rest of Europe, was far behind Africa and other continents when it came to killing the Living Dead. As late as 1330, Zombyes were considered to be people of respectable and enviable status, as their demands for food and shelter were minimal.
It was this misguided embrace of the Living Dead that led to the Zombye epidemic of the 1350s, or as it is commonly known, the Black Death. Between 1348 and 1350, almost half of Europe’s population was turned into Zombies due to the relentless spread of the disease. Finally, in the late 15th century, physicians began to apply the standard methods of decapitation and cranial injury to the problem, often in Plague Doctor costumes (pictured) to remain protected from bites and attacks on their persons. Yet it would take more than 150 years for the Living Dead population in Europe to recede to normal levels.
The Conference at Yalta 1945, Crimea
johnc0ad
As the war in Europe began to point to an Allied victory, the so-called Big Four arranged a meeting in Yalta, on the Crimean Sea, to discuss postwar organization and German occupation. In attendance were British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Soviet General Secretary Joseph Stalin, and Mexican Luchador and People’s Champion El Santo. The key points of the conference included: a requirement of unconditional surrender from Nazi Germany, the division of Germany into several police states, establishment of reparations and full demilitarization, an agreement to track down all Nazi war criminals and fugitives as well as the fiendish wrestler known only as the Black Skull, Eastern Europe’s de facto annexation by the Soviet Union, and an agreement that the Soviet Union would join the United Nations.
Roosevelt is in visibly poor health here and would die two months after the conference. Churchill would soon be replaced by Prime Minister Clement Attlee. Stalin and El Santo would attend the final Potsdam Conference at the final end of World War II; Stalin would stay in power until 1952, while El Santo remains the ageless, mysterious embodiment of masculinity and heroism.
Excerpted from Alternate Histories of the World by Matthew Buchholz, out now from Perigee.
The editors of The Book of Jezebel: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Lady Things, are carefully unambitious about the aim of the book: "we thought it might be fun to collect our various observations, fascinations, annoyances, and inspirations in one easy-to-use, attractive volume." On the surface, it seems like a cheeky gift book, a pseudo-serious encyclopedia that juxtaposes cellulite with the Latvian artist Vija Celmins, Clueless with Clytemnestra, the porno Deep Throat and the Native American politician Ada Deer.
But this project is somewhat more radical than its editors claim. An encyclopedia is like a map; it presents the world as the mapmaker wishes to see it. And The Book of Jezebel is a fascinating — and probably futile — attempt to remap the world according to Jezebel. Thus, "Abortion: a safe and legal method of terminating a pregnancy."
As an avid (if critical) reader of Jezebel.com, I was hoping for a more thoughtful and careful take than the blog posts that — while they deal with important and under-covered issues — can feel like clickbait or sloppy journalism, with inflammatory headlines and a habit of under-citing sources.
In some ways, the book succeeds: It mimics Judy Chicago's famous art installation, "The Dinner Party," a triangle shaped table with place settings for 39 real and imaginary women overlooked by history. The Book of Jezebel notes that, while Christian Dior dressed the wives of Nazis in occupied France, his sister passed messages for the Resistance. It posits that Magdalena Abakanowicz matters as much as Alberto Giacometti, that Elizabeth Barret Browning matters as much as her husband Robert, and that Jane Austen did not write chick lit, goddammit.
This serious aim is covered with a veneer of what passes for Sass and Wit, but can veer into simple unpleasantness, as when the entry for Cheney, Dick tells him to "go [expletive] yourself."
Anna Holmes is the founding editor of the website Jezebel, having launched the site in 2007. Her first book, Hell Hath No Fury, was published in 2002.
Anna Wolf/Grand Central Publishing
At one point, the editors mention the fictional "Joan of Snark" blog featured on the TV show 30 Rock. Per Liz Lemon, it is a "really cool feminist website where women talk about how far we've come and which celebrities have the worst beach bodies." Similarly, The Book of Jezebel is fiercely and rightfully indignant about body- and slut- shaming, but has no problem casually targeting Lindsay Lohan for showing too much skin (see: "nip slip") or the Olsen twins for their "ersatz homeless" style.
The editors also seem to miss the fact that standing up for women's bodies means standing up for all female bodies, even conventionally attractive ones. The section on the word "skinny" hints that being skinny is for the unhealthy and/or neurotic, even cross-referencing it with the "pro-ana" (or pro-anorexia) movement.
Jezebel.com has long been criticized for focusing on the problems of white, urban upper middle class women. The Book of Jezebel is rather better at including nonwhite voices, but still has occasional slips, including the entry for a black woman artist that includes the sentence, "But just because she creates representations of black women doesn't mean her work is all about her." Can you imagine an art encyclopedia saying, "But just because Titian paints white men doesn't mean his work is all about him?"
Also worrisome is the book's habit of leaving inconvenient facts out, particularly troublesome in the two separate entries on Indira Gandhi, which appear to have been written by two different people (or one very confused person). The first makes her sound like a feminist pioneer whose life was "cut short," while noting that she "didn't shy away from displays of traditional strength." The second comes in a special section on female dictators, and makes her sound repressive, despotic and like she probably got what was coming to her.
But much of The Book of Jezebel is genuinely funny: Chocolate is defined as "the linchpin of a massive 'feeble jokes on bumper stickers and sweatshirts' industry," and apt (catfight: "disagreement between women that, for whatever reason, you want to belittle"). It also does a wonderful job of exploring the weird and delightful corners of feminist history, as in the entry on the lawyer and activist Flo Kennedy, who — wonderfully — organized a "pee-in" on the Harvard lawns to protest the dearth of women's bathrooms.
And for now, Jezebel is the closest thing we have to an engaging and mainstream feminist news outlet. That is something to be grateful for. Jezebel may sometimes be mean, petty, biased, and irresponsible — but it is utterly necessary.
The editors of The Book of Jezebel: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Lady Things, are carefully unambitious about the aim of the book: "we thought it might be fun to collect our various observations, fascinations, annoyances, and inspirations in one easy-to-use, attractive volume." On the surface, it seems like a cheeky gift book, a pseudo-serious encyclopedia that juxtaposes cellulite with the Latvian artist Vija Celmins, Clueless with Clytemnestra, the porno Deep Throat and the Native American politician Ada Deer.
But this project is somewhat more radical than its editors claim. An encyclopedia is like a map; it presents the world as the mapmaker wishes to see it. And The Book of Jezebel is a fascinating — and probably futile — attempt to remap the world according to Jezebel. Thus, "Abortion: a safe and legal method of terminating a pregnancy."
As an avid (if critical) reader of Jezebel.com, I was hoping for a more thoughtful and careful take than the blog posts that — while they deal with important and under-covered issues — can feel like clickbait or sloppy journalism, with inflammatory headlines and a habit of under-citing sources.
In some ways, the book succeeds: It mimics Judy Chicago's famous art installation, "The Dinner Party," a triangle shaped table with place settings for 39 real and imaginary women overlooked by history. The Book of Jezebel notes that, while Christian Dior dressed the wives of Nazis in occupied France, his sister passed messages for the Resistance. It posits that Magdalena Abakanowicz matters as much as Alberto Giacometti, that Elizabeth Barret Browning matters as much as her husband Robert, and that Jane Austen did not write chick lit, goddammit.
This serious aim is covered with a veneer of what passes for Sass and Wit, but can veer into simple unpleasantness, as when the entry for Cheney, Dick tells him to "go [expletive] yourself."
Anna Holmes is the founding editor of the website Jezebel, having launched the site in 2007. Her first book, Hell Hath No Fury, was published in 2002.
Anna Wolf/Grand Central Publishing
At one point, the editors mention the fictional "Joan of Snark" blog featured on the TV show 30 Rock. Per Liz Lemon, it is a "really cool feminist website where women talk about how far we've come and which celebrities have the worst beach bodies." Similarly, The Book of Jezebel is fiercely and rightfully indignant about body- and slut- shaming, but has no problem casually targeting Lindsay Lohan for showing too much skin (see: "nip slip") or the Olsen twins for their "ersatz homeless" style.
The editors also seem to miss the fact that standing up for women's bodies means standing up for all female bodies, even conventionally attractive ones. The section on the word "skinny" hints that being skinny is for the unhealthy and/or neurotic, even cross-referencing it with the "pro-ana" (or pro-anorexia) movement.
Jezebel.com has long been criticized for focusing on the problems of white, urban upper middle class women. The Book of Jezebel is rather better at including nonwhite voices, but still has occasional slips, including the entry for a black woman artist that includes the sentence, "But just because she creates representations of black women doesn't mean her work is all about her." Can you imagine an art encyclopedia saying, "But just because Titian paints white men doesn't mean his work is all about him?"
Also worrisome is the book's habit of leaving inconvenient facts out, particularly troublesome in the two separate entries on Indira Gandhi, which appear to have been written by two different people (or one very confused person). The first makes her sound like a feminist pioneer whose life was "cut short," while noting that she "didn't shy away from displays of traditional strength." The second comes in a special section on female dictators, and makes her sound repressive, despotic and like she probably got what was coming to her.
But much of The Book of Jezebel is genuinely funny: Chocolate is defined as "the linchpin of a massive 'feeble jokes on bumper stickers and sweatshirts' industry," and apt (catfight: "disagreement between women that, for whatever reason, you want to belittle"). It also does a wonderful job of exploring the weird and delightful corners of feminist history, as in the entry on the lawyer and activist Flo Kennedy, who — wonderfully — organized a "pee-in" on the Harvard lawns to protest the dearth of women's bathrooms.
And for now, Jezebel is the closest thing we have to an engaging and mainstream feminist news outlet. That is something to be grateful for. Jezebel may sometimes be mean, petty, biased, and irresponsible — but it is utterly necessary.
LovelyHeroku is a new breed of app that enables IT staff and developers to use their smartphones to manage their work on the Heroku platform-as-a-service (PaaS). It’s the kind of service that reflects how different work is these days now that we can carry it wherever we go.
The service is the creation of Matija Bogdanovica, a computer science professor in Croatia, and Mario Danic, a well-known open-source contributor who kickstarted the Slicehost community that he eventually sold to Rackspace. LovelyHeroku allows developers to manage tasks for apps on multiple accounts, change passwords, scale the apps and a host of other services such as mapping a new domain to the app, orchestrate SSH keys and add new collaborators.
Danic, who also built and continues to run a hosting company called 6sync, said today in a Skype interview that the inspiration for LovelyHeroku came from his own frustrations, as well as watching how people struggle to reach their system administrators when they are remote. He also talked to former customers and fellow Heroku users who said they experienced the same problem. His colleagues also said they wanted to access Heroku without opening the lid on the laptop.
There is a particular emphasis on the user interface, which Danic said is much different than it has been in the past. He said these days everything comes from the user experience. Something can be great in terms of technicalities, but if it doesn’t provide the users the right benefits in the minimum amount of time, then it’s not going to be something people use.
“I know, if you asked me this like seven years ago when I was just starting my first bigger FOSS (Free Open Source Software) projects and that Google thing, I’d [tell] you technical superiority is the most important factor,” Danic said. “Today, I think it’s the customer experience and the customer itself.”
There are more ways to access the cloud services that developers and IT managers use for their apps. Rackspace and Amazon Web Services have mobile apps for monitoring their respective services. VictorOps offers a real-time stream from a company’s enterprise monitoring system through iOS and Android mobile apps, as well as over the web. The apps are designed to keep people updated about enterprise operations with alerts, be they notifications within the app, SMS or email.
But LovelyHeroku is unique in its focus on Heroku, the most popular PaaS on the market. With that focus, the service can leverage the user experience it offers to help developers monitor their apps without the need to use other mobile services that are more broadly focused.
The good news about Google in its third-quarter results aren't hard to find: The company beat analyst estimates for revenue and earnings per share. But there is bad news, and it hints at how the company's big mobile hardware investment may be a much longer-term proposition for a profit.
Nobody, save maybe for Google's competition, is complaining about the company's revenues: $14.89 billion total, $11.92 billion net, up 12 percent from Q3 2012. The projections were for $11.7 billion revenue, and a $10.36 EPS (for the latter, Google made $10.74). Small wonder Google's shares jumped some 5 percent in after-hours trading.
One sign of how Google's business could change up with the ongoing shift away from desktops and toward mobile devices, is the dropping cost-per-click, or CPC, rate. A metric that measures the average price for an ad, CPC fell 8 percent over last year, and 4 percent from Q2, even while paid clicks rose 26 percent year-over-year and went up 8 percent from Q2.
Carolina Milanesi, a research VP at Gartner, described these steady-rather-than-drastic changes as a consequence of the movement toward mobile ads, "where there is a reluctance to pay as much." On the other hand, "the main thing is that more users are clicking on the ads that Google is serving."
Some of that may be due to the recently launched Enhanced Campaigns ad system (courtesy of its acquisition of AdMob). But other hints of how that might be happening came during the quarterly analyst conference call, where Chief Business Officer Nikesh Arora talked about how localized product-listing ads (a major component of the mobile ad strategy) and the transition "from links to answers" has been playing out.
"We’re transitioning from links to answers," he said, referring to the way Google has been reworking its results via its Hummingbird tuneup, "and product-listing ads are part of that because they're a good experience for the user, especially on mobile devices." But he declined to comment "on how that will impact going forward."
If Google plans to continue making up in volume what it loses in individual sales, it may well be one of the few entities on the planet with the muscle and the means to do so.
But Motorola Mobility, the in-house hardware side of Google's mobile strategy, hasn't experienced a turnaround of its own. Instead, it's slid even further into the red, with a Q3 loss of $248 million. At least the dip wasn't as pronounced as in Q2, where Motorola lost $342 million. Total Q3 revenue: $1.18 billion, down from $1.78 billion last year.
The real question: Is anyone even surprised by such lackluster performance? Under Google's stewardship, Motorola hasn't differentiated itself except by being remarkably underwhelming in most every respect. The U.S.-made Moto X phones have stolen no thunder from the likes of Samsung's Galaxy S4, let alone the iPhone 5s, and its "Motomaker" customization system hasn't done much for sales either.
Milanesi's observation on this point was blunt: "It is hard to see what the advantage of having Moto is, considering the fact that they have lost close to $1 billion." But she also pointed out Google is "looking years ahead, not quarters ahead, a strategy that might make earnings analysis quite complex as we do not see the quick results on investments such as Moto."
On the analyst call, CFO Patrick Pichette reiterated a similar line: The company had a quality product in the Moto X, and it was still the early days for the new Motorola. How long those early days will go on is another story entirely -- especially with the mobile market fast becoming a settled field with Apple on top, Samsung under that, and everyone else far, far behind.
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The next time you go to see live jazz in a club, and the band is playing original compositions, look closely in front of the musicians. Sometimes there'll be stands holding sheet music. There's nothing wrong with this per se, especially if the music is a bit complicated. But sometimes there'll be no need for stands, as the musicians have memorized the material. It's impressive, but it also signals a certain commitment, one borne of having rehearsed and performed together often. You frequently see this in tight bands that know what they're doing.
The Chicago bassist Matt Ulery writes beautiful music in an unpretentious way. It's intricate stuff, with interlocking parts and segmented structures. It often borrows from Eastern European scales, orchestral tone colors, folky textures. (On his backpack, he sports a SXSW patch from when he toured with a rock band called In Tall Buildings.) But it doesn't sound like calculus class, as in some other ambitious works of modern jazz. It never seems to stray too far away from pretty melody over undulating rhythms, and that deceptive simplicity sets it apart.
Last year Ulery put out a grand two-disc set of music you might call "chamber jazz." By A Little Light had strings, orchestral horns and singers — the whole nine yards. But he has also long done lavish on a smaller scale with a band called Loom. A rejiggered quintet lineup (note: bass clarinet, accordion) produced this year's Wake An Echo, which the band brought to our office during a brief summer tour. Listen for yourself and decide whether you think the music is as rich as this description makes it out to be. But at least note how the band was playing without sheet music — having committed to getting this overlapping, precise stuff down pat.
Set List
"Coriander" (Ulery)
"My Favorite Stranger" (Ulery)
Personnel
Matt Ulery, bass
Marquis Hill, trumpet
Geof Bradfield, bass clarinet
Rob Clearfield, keyboards/accordion
Jon Dietemyer, drums
Credits
Producers: Denise DeBelius, Patrick Jarenwattananon; Audio Engineer: Kevin Wait; Videographers: Parker Miles Blohm, Chloe Coleman, Denise DeBelius; photo by Chloe Coleman/NPR
James Hinchcliffe, of Canada, races through turn two during practice for the IndyCar Grand Prix of Houston auto race, Friday, Oct. 4, 2013, in Houston. Practice was delayed due to surface issues in turn one. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
James Hinchcliffe, of Canada, races through turn two during practice for the IndyCar Grand Prix of Houston auto race, Friday, Oct. 4, 2013, in Houston. Practice was delayed due to surface issues in turn one. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Third place finisher James Hinchcliffe, rear, of Canada, makes a face as winner Will Power, front, of Australia, is presented the winners trophy during the second IndyCar Grand Prix of Houston auto race, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2013, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
FONTANA, Calif. (AP) — Andretti Autosport will announce a new primary sponsor Saturday to replace GoDaddy next season on the car currently driven by James Hinchcliffe.
Andretti gave no indication Friday on the progression of contract talks with Hinchcliffe, who with three wins this season gave GoDaddy its most successful season on track in its seven years with the organization.
GoDaddy joined Andretti as an associate sponsor for Danica Patrick in 2007, and the website domain provider became the primary sponsor on her car in 2010. GoDaddy moved with Patrick to NASCAR that season when she began dabbling in the Nationwide Series, and the company followed her there when she made a full-time move to the Sprint Cup Series.
But GoDaddy also stayed in IndyCar with Andretti, which planned to replace Patrick with Dan Wheldon prior to Wheldon's death in the 2011 season finale.
Hinchcliffe then got the No. 27 car and quickly developed into an IndyCar fan favorite off the track last season.
He turned it up on the track this season, winning his first career IndyCar race in the season-opener at St. Petersburg. Hinchcliffe later won in Brazil and Iowa.
Despite Hinchcliffe's success, GoDaddy has publicly said it was undecided on its future in IndyCar amid reports the company was pulling out.
With the season ending Saturday at Auto Club Speedway and Hinchcliffe on the free agent market, team owner Michael Andretti apparently felt he couldn't wait any longer and announced Friday he'd reveal a new sponsor before the race.
Blake Irving, who took over as CEO of GoDaddy in January, said in an interview with The Associated Press at the IndyCar race at Toronto that racing remained a valuable venue for GoDaddy and Hinchcliffe and Patrick were both strong brand ambassadors.
But Irving also said his long-term vision for GoDaddy was taking the company global next year, with an emphasis on World Cup and reaching Latin American markets.
JP Morgan Chase & Company headquarters in New York.
Emmanuel Dunand /AFP/Getty Images
JP Morgan Chase & Company headquarters in New York.
Emmanuel Dunand /AFP/Getty Images
In what would be the largest such settlement in U.S. history, JPMorgan Chase & Co. has reportedly reached a tentative deal with the Justice Department that would see the bank pay $13 billion to settle civil charges related to wrongdoing by some of its units just before and during the housing crisis.
The deal, sources tell news outlets including NPR, would not absolve JPMorgan from possible criminal liability.
Word of the tentative agreement emerged around 3 p.m. ET. Saturday. We posted when the news broke and followed with background and more details.
Update at 5 p.m. ET. Sources Tells NPR About The Tentative Deal:
Two sources familiar with the talks tells NPR Justice correspondent Carrie Johnson that the tentative agreement was reached Friday night and that the language of the deal is still being written. But the sources said the general outlines of what's been reported are correct.
Update at 4:30 p.m. ET. The Accusations:
The Federal Housing Finance Agency, as Bloomberg notes, "accused JPMorgan and its affiliates of making false statements and omitting material facts in selling $33 billion in mortgage bonds to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from Sept. 7, 2005, through Sept. 19, 2007. The regulator said executives at JPMorgan, Washington Mutual and Bear Stearns Cos., which were acquired by JPMorgan in 2008, knowingly misrepresented the quality of the loans underlying the bonds, among other things, according to the lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan."
Update at 4 p.m. ET. No Release From Criminal Liability:
"The tentative deal does not release the bank from criminal liability, a factor that had been a major sticking point in the discussions," according to Reuters' source for the story.
Update at 3:45 p.m. ET. "Moving Closer" And Some Details:
The New York Timescharacterizes the news this way: JPMorgan and Justice "are moving closer to a $13 billion settlement." The Times adds that:
"The bank would be expected to pay about $9 billion in fines, according to a person briefed on the negotiations. JPMorgan, the nation's largest bank, is also likely to spend $4 billion in relief for struggling homeowners, another person briefed on the talks said."
Update at 3:35 p.m. ET. Settlement Would Be A Record:
ABC News had previously noted that the settlement was expected to be the "largest-ever payment in the history of financial regulation," topping the "previous record when BP paid out $4.5 billion following criminal charges related to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill." Fox Business calls it the "largest-ever settlement involving a U.S. company."
Update at 3:20 p.m. ET. Deal Reportedly Reached Friday:
According to CNBC, "Attorney General Eric Holder and JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, along with two lawyers, struck the deal Friday after the market close."
Bloomberg News reports that "the settlement amount, which increased from $11 billion to $13 billion during negotiations [Friday] night, the person said, includes a $4 billion accord with the Federal Housing Finance Agency over the bank's sale of mortgage-backed securities."
3:08 p.m. ET. We're seeing multiple reports that:
— "J.P. Morgan has reached a $13 billion tentative settlement with the Justice Department." (The Wall Street Journal)
— "JPMorgan Chase has reached a $13 billion tentative deal with the Justice Department, said a person familiar with the negotiations." (CNBC)
— "JPMorgan Chase & Co. has reached a tentative resolution of all civil mortgage-related matters with the U.S. Department of Justice, a person familiar with settlement negotiations said." (Bloomberg News)
— "JPMorgan Chase & Co has reached a tentative $13 billion deal with the U.S. Justice Department to settle a range of mortgage issues, a source close to the talks said on Saturday. The settlement does not include any release from criminal liability for the bank, the source said." (Reuters)
NPR's Business Desk is working the story. We'll update as things develop.
"Said to be discussing an $11 billion national settlement with the Department of Justice over mortgage-backed securities. The securities lost value after a bubble in the housing market burst, helping to bring on the financial crisis."
Last month, as we wrote, the bank "agreed to acknowledge that it violated federal securities laws and [to] pay $920 million in penalties assessed by regulators in the U.S. and U.K. to settle charges related to the huge trading losses racked up by its London traders last year."
From left: "The Crazy Ones," "Mom" and "The Millers"
CBS is going all in on its three freshman comedies. The network has given a back nine order to Thursday comedies The Crazy Ones and The Millers, as well as Monday entry Mom.
The trio's vote of confidence comes on the heels of positive ratings -- they rank as the three most watched new comedies of the fall season -- and an early exit for fellow freshman We Are Men after just two episodes.
"We’re proud of CBS' leadership position in comedy and excited to build on it with the back nine pickups of these three new comedies," said CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler. "These series are creatively distinct, continue to improve each week and are led by strong showrunners, writing and production staffs, and feature amazingly talented casts."
The pickups mark the first full-season orders for comedies this season. For their part, ABC has handed out additional script orders for The Goldbergs and Trophy Wife, and Fox has done the same for Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Dads. (NBC's The Michael J. Fox Show was originally picked up with a full 22-episode order.)
From executive producer Chuck Lorre, Mom is averaging 7.98 million viewers and delivering a 2.6 rating among adults 18-49. The Anna Faris and Allison Janney vehicle has held on to a good portion of its lead-in, though the network is banking on improved ratings when fellow Lorre effort Mike & Molly moves into the 9 p.m. slot on Nov. 4.
The Crazy Ones, Robin Williams' return to series television alongside Sarah Michelle Gellar, came out on top when it premiered against Michael J. Fox. The David E. Kelley effort scored a 4.0 rating among adults 18-49, making it the highest-rated freshman comedy of the fall TV season and the most watched series premiere (15.6 million total viewers) across the board. It is currently averaging 13.7 million viewers and a 3.6 rating among adults 18-49.
Notched between Big Bang Theory and The Crazy Ones, The Millers opened to a 3.3 rating among adults. The Greg Garcia comedy starring Will Arnett debuted outside of premiere week, so its most current ratings do not yet include Live+Seven, but it is averaging 12.4 million viewers and a 3.2 rating with adults 18-49. It boasts some of the best retention of any fall freshman.
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I'm guessing by the fact that you're reading this that maybe you like Engadget. What I'm hoping is that you also happen to be an engineer who loves working on highly visible, globally-used products with massive scale.