AP PHOTOS: Where your online data get stored

In this undated photo made available by Google, hundreds of fans funnel hot air from the computer servers into a cooling unit to be recirculated at a Google data center in Mayes County. Okla. The green lights are the server status LEDs reflecting from the front of the servers. (AP Photo/Google, Connie Zhou)

In this undated photo made available by Google, hundreds of fans funnel hot air from the computer servers into a cooling unit to be recirculated at a Google data center in Mayes County. Okla. The green lights are the server status LEDs reflecting from the front of the servers. (AP Photo/Google, Connie Zhou)

This undated photo made available by Google shows colorful pipes sending and receiving water for cooling Google's data center in Douglass County, Ga. On the right is a G-Bike, which the company says is the vehicle of choice for employees to travel around the vast centers. (AP Photo/Google, Connie Zhou)

This undated photo made available by Google shows the Internet wiring at Google's data center in Berkley County, S.C. The fiber optic networks connecting the company's sites can run at speeds that are more than 200,000 times faster than a typical home Internet connection. (AP Photo/Google, Connie Zhou)

This undated photo provided by Facebook shows the server room at the company's data center in Prineville, Ore. The revelations that the National Security Agency is perusing millions of U.S. customer phone records at Verizon and snooping on the digital communications stored by nine major Internet services illustrate how aggressively personal data is being collected and analyzed. (AP Photo/Facebook, Alan Brandt)

This undated photo made available by Google shows the campus-network room at a data center in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Routers and switches allow Google's data centers to talk to each other. The fiber cables run along the yellow cable trays near the ceiling. (AP Photo/Google, Connie Zhou)

Internet companies such as Apple, Facebook and Google have vast amounts of data on you.

These include the photos and video you share, the email you send and receive and the musings you broadcast to friends on what you are thinking or eating. Internet companies store all this information at data centers they run around the world. When you're ready to read your email, the message gets pulled from a computer at one of these centers. When you're sharing a photo, the image gets transmitted to one of these computers and stored there until someone else views it.

When the government requests information on a customer, with the presentation of a subpoena or court order, the Internet service company taps these same computers to access the data.

Now comes a report on a clandestine program code-named "PRISM." As described by The Washington Post, PRISM gives the U.S. government access to email, documents, audio, video, photographs and other data belonging to foreigners on foreign soil who are under investigation. The newspaper said participating companies and services include AOL Inc., Apple Inc., Facebook Inc., Google Inc., Microsoft Corp., Yahoo Inc., Skype, YouTube and Paltalk. Companies that responded to Associated Press inquiries say they only provide the government with user data required under the law.

In any case, like pieces of a puzzle, the bits and bytes left behind from people's electronic interactions can be cobbled together to draw conclusions about their habits, friendships and preferences using data-mining formulas and increasingly powerful computers.

It's all part of a phenomenon known as "Big Data," a catchphrase increasingly used to describe the science of analyzing the vast amount of information collected through mobile devices, Web browsers and check-out stands. Analysts use powerful computers to detect trends and create digital dossiers about people.

It all starts with the data you make available to store at these data centers. Each center has clusters of computers and large Internet pipelines to connect the machines to the rest of the world. Each company typically has several of these centers around the world, helping to meet growing demand for its services and guard against service disruptions should one site fail.

Here's a photographic look at some of these data centers.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-06-07-NSA-Phone%20Records-Big%20Data-Photo%20Gallery/id-6def995caf424e04bd12c16eb1a33799

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PSA: Acer Iconia W3 up for pre-order at Office Depot, Staples starting at $350

It's always refreshing when a product catches us by surprise, but thanks to several leaks, the Acer Iconia W3 definitely didn't fall into that category. So, when it was unveiled at Computex 2013, we were ready for it in all its 8.1-inch 1,280 x 800, dual-core Intel Atom, Windows Pro 8 glory. The wee slate also ushered in Microsoft's temporary offer of Office for free on 10-inch or smaller Windows Pro tablets, and you can now pre-order the 32GB version at Staples for $380 or $350 from Office Depot, while a 64GB version from Amazon will run you $430. An optional keyboard should arrive soon for $90, so if you've been coveting a small form-factor Windows tab -- RT-free -- hit the source.

Filed under: Tablets, Acer

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Source: Amazon, Staples, Office Depot

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Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 and 8.0 spotted in golden brown hues

Do you wish Samsung would color its newer Android tablets in a shade other than washing machine white? You may be in luck: @evleaks claims to have images of both the Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 and 8.0 in what's billed as a "gold-brown" tint. There aren't any details of when these earthier variants could launch, or if other colors would tag along. Knowing Samsung's willingness to offer a rainbow-like selection of devices, though, brown might not arrive alone.

Filed under: Tablets, Samsung

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Via: Phone Arena

Source: @evleaks (1), (2)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/09/samsung-galaxy-tab-3-7-0-and-8-0-spotted-in-golden-brown-hues/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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My Top 5 Internet Marketing Tips by Jeff Schuman - ArticleCity.com ...

How to earn money Online with Online marketing

by: Jeff Schuman

I have a pretty good idea now what works based on my eight years of doing Internet marketing. There are many ways to develop an online business and advertise online, but here are my top 5 marketing tips based on my own proven success record.

1. Build your email list. It is interesting that that was the focus of my efforts when I started back in 2002. This is still solid advice today.

A mailing list you develop relationships with really can pay you back many times over. Think of it as an asset that will always be there for you even if other parts of your Internet business are not.

2. Use article marketing. There are so many things you can do with an article, but using it as a traffic source from article directories continues to work.

Online business owners will find your article and publish it on their blog or ezine. If you have a good title people read your articles which can lead to more traffic for you.

Search engines will also pick up articles from article directories. They will rank those based on the quality of the information and the use of keyword phrases they want for their searchers

3. Blog and social bookmark. Consistently adding content to a blog is an excellent source of marketing for your business.

Bookmarking your articles into social directories using a service such as Only Wire really makes a difference in terms of how search engines spider your site.

4. Focus on 1 or 2 keyword phrases. You should build a targeted keyword list to use in all for all of your online promotions. Your keyword list can be used to build webpages around those targeted phrases.

However, you are best to focus on a couple of your primary keyword phrases in your marketing efforts. Hyperlink those keyword phrases over and over in the resource box of your articles and you can quickly climb up the search engine depending on how competitive the phrase is.

Be realistic in the phrases that you target. Choosing long tail keyword phrases will help you rank more quickly. However a competitive phrase can be worth the effort in terms of long term traffic once you have made it to page 1 of Google for that phrase.

5. Automate and outsource. The only way to develop a full-time Internet business is to get more work done.

Automate as much of your online marketing efforts as you possibly can. Outsource what you don't have time to do or do not like to do.

These are five of my best Internet marketing tips. These are based on what is working for me and for other Internet marketers as well.
Jeff Schuman invites you to visit his make money at home website for free JV With Jeff training, blog marketing, and starting your own make money online business. Visit it now to find one real way you can finally make money online!

http://www.Team-Schuman.com

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Rookie Shawn Stefani shoots 66 to lead at St. Jude

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) ? Rookie Shawn Stefani has been through enough scrambling around the mini-tours trying to make it to the PGA Tour that a quadruple bogey wasn't going to shake his confidence or his concentration.

Even if it cost him the lead.

Stefani overcame the bad hole that dropped him down Saturday and shot a 4-under 66 to take the third-round lead in the St. Jude Classic.

"I feel like I hit one bad shot on 11, and that was the putt that I missed for a triple," Stefani said showing off his sense of humor. "I know that sounds crazy, but you know I hit the club that I wanted to hit. Unfortunately, was the wrong club at the wrong time."

The 31-year-old Texan rebounded with four birdies over his final five holes to move back atop the leaderboard. He finished with eight birdies to go with that quadruple bogey to reach 12-under 198 at TPC Southwind.

"It's who gets over it fastest and who moves on the fastest," Stefani said. "And to finish the way I did with three birdies on the last three was great. But I was just out there just playing the game and having fun. That's what I'm here for is to play the best I can and have fun with it, and I did that today."

Harris English was a stroke back after a 69, finishing out of the lead for the first time this week. He sounded happy it wasn't worse after playing with Stefani.

"Shawn played so good on the front side, he birdied 10 I thought this guy's going to shoot 60," English said.

Thirteen players shot at least 4 under on a day with easier pins on the small, firm greens and very little wind.

Scott Stallings, Patrick Reed and Nicholas Thompson were 8 under. Stallings had a 67, Reed shot 64, and Thompson had a 66.

Phil Mickelson was another stroke back after a 65 with his best round yet after not playing the previous three weeks. His day could have been even better if not for three bogeys along with six birdies and an eagle. Mickelson said he needs to be a little bit sharper with each swing.

"There were a couple of tee shots that didn't catch the fairway," he said. "I've got to get that ball in the fairway. And I did a better job of it today and consequently I was able to make a lot of birdies because I could be aggressive from there. I also just have to miss it in the proper spot too."

Pins will be in tougher locations Sunday, and Mickelson said any wind could create the potential for the leaders to shoot over par. Only Stallings has won on tour among the players ahead of Mickelson, who has 41 career wins with four majors as he tunes up his game for the U.S. Open next week at Merion.

"I feel like I'm playing well enough where I can go out and shoot a low round tomorrow," Mickelson said. "I expect the course to play different tomorrow than it did today. Today was set up for moving day. The tees were up, the pins were in easy spots, no wind. ... I'm looking forward to tomorrow's final round."

This is just the 17th career tour event for Stefani, who earned his way onto the PGA Tour by finishing sixth on the Web.com Tour money list in 2012 in a two-time win season. He played the U.S. Open in 2009 at Bethpage, missing the cut. In March, he had the lead after the first and second rounds at the Tampa Bay Championship before tying for seventh in his best finish yet.

"I'm much more prepared with my game than I was then, and I'm feeling a lot more comfortable with it," Stefani said. "It's been a tough year for me. I've stayed patient with it and tried to keep going and focusing on all the things I usually do. But it's tough."

Stefani went off in the final group with English, who had a share of the lead after 18 and had the lead to himself after 36 holes.

English opened strong with two birdies in his first three holes to become the first to get to 12 under here this week. But the 23-year-old English bogeyed Nos. 5 and 8 with his playing partner getting his third birdie on No. 9 to take the lead to himself.

Stefani hit his approach on the par 4 to 7 feet to set up the birdie, helping him make the turn at 11 under. He then birdied No. 10 rolling in a 12-footer to go to 12 under with a two-stroke lead over English.

Then the rookie ran into trouble on the island green of the par-3 No. 11.

Stefani went with a wedge and said a gust of wind caught it in the air, sending it into the water short of the island green. He took his drop and then hit into the back bunker where he had a buried lie. He got the ball out but didn't clear the slope, so the ball rolled back into the bunker. He pushed an 8-footer past the hole 4 feet before finally salvaging a quadruple bogey.

But Stefani birdied No. 14 and got a big par save on No. 15 after his tee shot rolled into the water near the green. He took a drop, then chipped in from 49 feet to avoid dropping another stroke and stay within a shot of English with a big smile of relief.

Stefani finished with a 3-footer for birdie on No. 16, a 17-footer for birdie on No. 17 and capped his round with an 8-footer on No. 18 just after English made a 14-footer to move back into the lead for a few moments

English had plenty of luck himself.

On the par-4 12th, his approach to the green went left and bounced off the top of a grandstand and hit off a woman before rolling into a greenside bunker. English saved par by hitting his shot within a foot of the hole to stay at 10 under.

Notes: Eric Meierdierks aced the 167-yard eighth with an 8-iron. ... Only Dustin Johnson (2012), Lee Westwood (2010) and Dicky Pride (1994) have won this event in their first start here since the tournament moved to TPC Southwind in 1989. ... This year, the third-round leader has won 11 of the 21 stroke-play events on tour.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rookie-shawn-stefani-shoots-66-lead-st-jude-220201533.html

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Rubio to continue ?dancing with the one that brung him? (Powerlineblog)

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Gaming Torrent Trackers Shut Down Citing Legal Threats ...

Gaming Torrent Trackers Shut Down Citing Legal Threats

This week two of the largest gaming oriented BitTorrent trackers pulled the plug to prevent legal trouble. GazelleGames shut down permanently while Underground Gamer is leaving the door open for a possible restart. At this point it?s unclear which industry group is behind the legal pressure, but it appears to go beyond the occasional DMCA notice. Thousands of members, meanwhile, are looking for alternatives to resume their torrenting habits.

Founded early 2010, GazelleGames quickly grew out to become one of the larger private BitTorrent trackers dedicated to games.

Before the end of its first year the site amassed thousands of members, and this number continued to increase until a surprise message was posted by the site?s owners yesterday.

After three years it?s Game Over for GazelleGames. The decision to close the site comes a few days after the closure of Underground Gamer, another popular gaming tracker. While the exact details of the closures remain unknown to the outside world, both trackers have mentioned legal threats as motivation.

In a goodbye notice posted on the site?s frontage, GazelleGames says it wants to protect staff and users from running into trouble with the law. The site also assures its members that all personal information will be wiped.

?GazelleGames will be closing its doors. This came as a surprise to all the staff team, but it?s a move not unexpected. In light of UG?s closing five months after BG, it seemed like a prudent move to keep any legal actions from being taken upon anyone.

?So yes, it?s a precautionary measure taken in reaction to the recent movements in the torrent world. All of your contact data such as IP addresses and emails will be wiped along with the server itself.?

Gazelle Games? goodbye note

Unlike Underground Gamer, the shutdown of GazelleGames is said to be permanent. Underground Gamer is leaving the door open for a comeback but notes that all non-essential data was wiped out to protect staff and members, a fact relayed to TorrentFreak when we spoke with a tech admin at the site.

Counting in bitGAMER, this is the third large gaming tracker to shut down in a matter of months. While it?s unclear which industry group is behind the legal pressure, there have been some rumors that the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) is involved.

In an IRC chat Underground Gamer?s Lenk mentioned that there were complaints regarding games from major publishers, including FIFA 98. However, the threats came from a ?watchdog,? not EA or any of the other game makers themselves.

?That?s what you get when you have organizations whose sole purpose is scoring points by taking down sites. They don?t care about what they take down. They just do what they are paid for,? Lenk wrote.

?Companies don?t care about UG. Copyright watchdogs make it their job though,? he added.

Whoever is behind the pressure, it appears to be serious enough for the two trackers to cease their operations. The question remains whether the shutdowns will stop people from sharing games.

There are already talks to re-spawn the fallen communities at new BitTorrent trackers, as is often the case when large sites die. Other members will simply resume their sharing habits at one of the trackers that are still in the game.

Founded early 2010, GazelleGames quickly grew out to become one of the larger private BitTorrent trackers dedicated to games. Before the end of its first year the site amassed thousands...

Source: http://torrentfreak.com/gaming-torrent-trackers-shut-down-citing-legal-threats-130607/

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China's Xi Jinping meets with Obama: Will it be a 'Nixon goes to China' moment?

Some hope that it could be.

By Jenna Fisher,?Staff writer / June 7, 2013

Supporters of Chinese President Xi Jinping carry Chinese flags as they wait for the arrival of President Xi in Indian Wells, Calif., Thursday. President Obama and Xi, seeking a fresh start to a complex relationship, are retreating to a sprawling desert estate for two days of talks on high-stakes issues, including cybersecurity and North Korea's nuclear threats.

Jae C. Hong/AP

Enlarge

President?Obama?and China?s President?Xi Jinping?will meet for at least six hours?this weekend in a rare, informal t?te-a-t?te that some say could reshape the relationship between the two world powers.

Skip to next paragraph Jenna Fisher

Asia editor

Jenna Fisher is the Monitor's Asia editor, overseeing regional coverage for CSMonitor.com and the weekly magazine.

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Not since 1972, when Nixon went to China, have leaders from China and the US sat down for more than a carefully scripted visit lasting more than an hour or so. And Asia-watchers are hoping this unscripted, two-day Sino-US summit ( allowing for an extended six-hour meeting) will have equally dramatic consequences.

?A second great breakthrough in the relationship has become a Holy Grail,? Orville Schell, head of the Asia Society?s Center for US-China Relations in New York, told the Monitor''s Beijing bureau chief, ?Of course it?s hard to do, but that?s their aspiration.?

The Monitor's Peter Ford points out that the second meeting for the two leaders (when Xi was still China's vice president he met with Obama briefly) comes at key time for the US and China:

Strategic trust between the world?s top two economies is at a dangerously low level, worn away recently in a number of ways: Washington has accused Beijing of massive commercial cyberespionage; China is suspicious that President Obama?s military and diplomatic ?pivot to Asia? is a bid to contain the Asian giant?s rise; China has pressed territorial claims and clashed with US allies such as Japan and the Philippines.

Still,?writes the Monitor's Howard LeFranchi in Washington, not everyone is expecting immediate change, particularly if such urgent issues as cybersecurity are not substantially addressed:

Even though the two leaders are expected to discuss everything from military and corporate cybersecurity to?North Korea, territorial disputes in the South China Sea, and US-China trade, the summit?s emphasis on building their personal relationship leaves doubters unimpressed.

?If we actually saw a substantial agreement on countering cyberthreats ? or saw the Chinese throttle back on territorial claims, that would be significant,? says Dean Cheng, a research fellow in Chinese political and security affairs at the?Heritage Foundation in Washington.

For the rest of the story on?the "great new power relationship" between China and the US, click here.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/g-4x4hBOnIY/China-s-Xi-Jinping-meets-with-Obama-Will-it-be-a-Nixon-goes-to-China-moment

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Fiat won't take on new debt to buy Chrysler stake: CEO

VENICE, Italy (Reuters) - Carmaker Fiat SpA does not need to take on any new debt to buy out the rest of Chrysler, Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said on Friday, rebuffing concerns about the cost of the looming deal.

Fiat and its U.S. unit Chrysler, in which the Italian group has a 58.5 percent stake, have 21 billion euros ($27.7 billion)in liquidity that can also be used for acquisitions, Marchionne said.

The 41.5 percent Chrysler stake held by the auto workers' union healthcare trust fund VEBA could cost Fiat $3.5 billion, said Morgan Stanley in a research report on June 5.

Fiat is expected to buy the stake and then merge the two manufacturers to create the world's seventh-largest auto group by sales, but the final cost remains to be seen and there are questions about whether it will lead to a credit rating downgrade.

"We have no immediate need for financing, we will not take on any new debt," Marchionne told reporters at a conference in Venice. Asked about reports that Fiat was in refinancing talks with banks for $10 billion, Marchionne said: "No, that figure is incorrect."

Marchionne confirmed Fiat will soon conclude refinancing for a 1.95 billion euro revolving credit line. And he added that the automaker is in talks to refinance debt at Chrysler, without specifying the amount.

Banking sources have said Chrysler wants to refinance a $3 billion, six-year syndicated term loan that it took out in May 2011.

Marchionne has said in the past that Fiat may need to raise capital in connection with the Chrysler purchase.

Marchionne also on Friday reiterated Chrysler's resistance to a recall of 2.7 million older-model Jeep vehicles, adding that the automaker is preparing to supply the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) with information it had requested.

Chrysler has until June 18 to comply with the NHTSA's request and intends to do so, he said.

"We will supply them with a complete set of data," he said. "Based on all available data, these cars are absolutely safe and totally in line with what the industry was producing at the time. There is no design defect."

The NHTSA is seeking to recall the Jeep Grand Cherokee for model years 1993 to 2004 and the Jeep Liberty model years 2002 to 2007 for potential fuel leakage that could lead to a fire.

(Reporting by Jennifer Clark; Editing by Silvia Aloisi; Editing by David Holmes)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fiat-wont-debt-buy-chrysler-stake-ceo-112751268.html

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Barnes & Noble Nook Snaps offer fresh literature in $2 bites

Barnes & Noble's Nook Store has offered short-form works much like those we've seen from Amazon's Kindle Shorts section, but they haven't really been a highlight. The company's new Nook Snaps program may give those quick reads their time to shine, however. The effort will see Barnes & Noble publish three to five original shorts every other month at $2 a piece. While the bookseller is leaning on existing titles to fill out the initial catalog, it hopes that the steady supply of original material will keep us coming back.

Filed under: Internet

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Source: Barnes & Noble

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/06/barnes-and-noble-nook-snaps/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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'Thrones' author laughs at wedding reactions

TV

Ree Hines TODAY contributor

23 hours ago

Fans of HBO's "Game of Thrones" are still reeling from last week's Red Wedding shocker, in which the often unlucky Stark clan got a bit unluckier (and smaller), but they shouldn't look to author George R.R. Martin for sympathy.

The man behind the "Song of Ice and Fire" tales simply laughed when late night host Conan O'Brien showed a video clip jam-packed with extreme fan reactions that were captured as the episode aired.

"Of course, all of those clips were set up by people who had read the books 13 years ago and knew what was coming and wanted their friends and relatives and loved ones to do that," a clearly amused Martin said of the roundup. "I saw one of them saying, in a comment, 'Now you know why your nerdy friends were really depressed 13 years ago.'"

But what about the ones who are depressed today? As O'Brien pointed out, Martin has a way of getting "us to really care about characters, love them, think that they're central to everything" before brutally killing them. And it's tough stuff to watch.

The writer, who pens those murderous moments because that's just what he likes in a story, saves his sympathy for the actors on the show.

"There was one actress -- I won't say her name -- who, at (the season premiere) party, said 'Oh, please don't kill me! Please don't kill me! I don't want to die. I love doing this show.' And I know she does die, so? ."

Ouch.

"I felt very, very, very guilty," he admitted. "It's one thing to kill these characters when they're just people on paper. But when you actually meet the actors who portray them, and you know you're making people unemployed, it does bring up a certain amount of guilt feelings."

Find out if the author has anything else to feel guilty about when the season finale of "Game of Thrones" airs Sunday at 9 p.m. on HBO.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/game-thrones-author-laughs-fan-reactions-red-wedding-6C10225159

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Three Secrets to Writing Fast - Professional Blog Service

I was once sitting at a meeting where an interesting question came up, so when I got back to my office, I wrote a blog post about it, and it was up an hour later.

?How did you get that up there so fast?? someone else from the meeting asked.

?Well, I had to drive back to the office first,? I said.

My friend thought I was being a smartass, but that?s actually how and why I was able to write that blog post.

I?ve gotten to the point where I can write most things very fast. It always seems to surprise people, but it?s actually not that hard. Here are my three secrets (plus one bonus) to writing fast:

1. Write when you?re not in front of the computer

Remember, writing is not an activity you must perform with a laptop computer. That?s typing. Writing is the act of putting the right words into the right order.

That means you can write anywhere, at any time. I write when I?m in the car. I think of the basic ideas of my piece, how I want to lay it out, and any points I want to make. The blog post I mentioned earlier was one I was actually able to write in 30 minutes, because I thought about it for the entire 15 minute trip in my car.

You can write in the car, in the shower, going for a walk, or any other time you don?t have to engage the language portion of your brain somewhere else. That means you shouldn?t do it when you?re having a conversation, watching TV, or listening to talk radio.

I wrote this blog post in my car on a recent road trip.

2. Sketch out basic notes

Whenever I have a cool idea, it will often get stuck in my brain, and won?t let me work on anything else. So I write it down in my notebook, which frees it from my head, letting me work on something else. Once I do this, it also reboots my brain so I can start sketching out that idea a little better.

If I want to work on an idea for an article or post, I write down the three main points I want to make, and then think about it in the car. With that tiny bit of pen-and-paper work, I open up any logjams in my head, and I can think about the piece a lot more effectively.

3. Write like you talk

Doing this taught me to be a better writer.

Do you talk to yourself in your mind? Do you have an inner monologue going in your head? (Don?t lie, I know you do.)

What tone does it take? If you?re like most people, it?s conversational. You talk like you, well, talk.

And yet, most people try to write very formally, using big words and lo-o-o-ong sentences. They ignore their inner monologue, and channel their Inner Professor. As a result, it takes three times longer than it should to write something. They think of the word they would have used, and then think of the bigger, ?smarter? word instead. Since they?re not used to writing that way, or even speaking that way, it slows them down.

If you want to write fast, write like you talk. Get your inner monologue to sound more like your public speaking voice, using the language you use in real life (assuming you?re not a chronic cusser). Imagine speaking your words out loud, as if you were giving a speech to a room full of your friends and colleagues.

After a while, you?ll be able to sync your speaking voice and your writing voice, and you?ll write down what your inner monologue is saying, exactly as it?s being said. This will save you all kinds of time from trying to use your formal writing voice when that?s something you should have left behind when you graduated from college.

BONUS: Learn how to type fast

This may seem hardly worth mentioning, but once you start doing these other things, you?ll find that you may not be able to type fast enough to keep up with your brain. If you?re still typing with two or three fingers, and cannot touch type, learn it.

(Note: If you?re still battling with the traditional QWERTY keyboard and are clocking in at 50 words per minute, consider switching to a Dvorak keyboard. I still use the QWERTY, because I can type 90 wpm; Randy Cassingham says that if you can type that fast, you won?t be any faster on the Dvorak. But if you?re running at half that speed, take a few weeks to learn the new keyboard, and you?ll find you?re blazing fast.)

Otherwise, what will happen is that you?ll find your fingers are moving slower than your brain, which means your brain will not only outrun your words, but you?ll find that you?re forgetting what you were going to say. You?ll have to stop and try to remember what it was, which is a big drag on productivity.

While there are plenty of writers who still prefer to write with a pen on a notebook or note pad, because they like to ?be in the moment,? I have retrained my brain over the years to function better in front of a keyboard. This is where I do my best work. And it saves me plenty of time to be in the moment for other things later on.

Source: http://problogservice.com/2013/06/07/three-secrets-to-writing-fast/

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Soy Sauce Overdose Sends Man into Coma

A young man who drank a quart of soy sauce went into a coma and nearly died from an excess of salt in his body, according to a recent case report.

The 19-year-old, who drank the soy sauce after being dared by friends, is the first person known to have deliberately overdosed on such a high amount of salt and survived with no lasting neurological problems, according to the doctors in Virginia who reported his case. The case report was published online June 4 in the Journal of Emergency Medicine.

Too much salt in the blood, a condition called hypernatremia, is usually seen in people with psychiatric conditions who develop a strong appetite for the condiment, said Dr. David J. Carlberg, who treated the young man and works as an emergency medicine physician at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C.

Hypernatremia is dangerous because it causes the brain to lose water. When there is too much saltin the bloodstream, water moves out of the body tissues and into the blood by the process of osmosis, to try to equalize the salt concentration between the two. As water the leaves the brain, the organ can shrink and bleed, Carlberg said.

After the man drank the soy sauce, he began twitching and having seizures, and the friends took him to an emergency room. That hospital administered anti-seizure medication, and he was already in a coma when he was taken to the hospital where Carlberg was working, the University of Virginia Medical Center, nearly four hours after the event.

"He didn't respond to any of the stimuli that we gave him," Carlberg said. "He had some clonus, which is just elevated reflexes. It's a sign that basically the nervous system wasn't working very well."

The team immediately began flushing the salt out of his system by administering a solution of water and the sugar dextrose through a nasal tube. When they placed the tube, streaks of brown material came out. Within a half hour, they pumped 1.5 gallons (6 liters) of sugar water into the man's body.

The man's sodium levels returned to normal after about five hours. He remained in a coma for three days, but woke up on his own.

For several days afterward, a part of his brain called the hippocampus showed residual effects from the seizures. But a month after the event, he showed no sign of the overdose: He was back at college, and doing well on his exams, doctors reported.

A typical quart of soy sauce has more than 0.35 pounds (0.16 kilograms) of salt, the researchers said.

Most cases of sodium overdose happen more gradually. In the 1960s and 1970s, doctors actually gave salt to patients suffering from poisoning, to initiate vomiting, until they realized its harmful effects.

Though it's rare in the United States, consuming excess salt was a traditional method for suicide in ancient China, according to the case report.

Carlberg said he believes the young man survived because the team got his sodium levels down so quickly.

"We were more aggressive than had been reported before in terms of bringing his sodium back down to a safer range," Carlberg told LiveScience. Reducing sodium levels more slowly has had poor or mixed results in the past, he said.

Follow Tia Ghose on Twitter and Google+.?Follow?LiveScience @livescience, Facebook?& Google+. Original article on?LiveScience.com.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/soy-sauce-overdose-sends-man-coma-140647636.html

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'Breaking Bad' Finale: Vince Gilligan Cried While Writing AMC Series' Ending

The finale of "Breaking Bad" will be emotional for all of us, but it sounds like creator Vince Gilligan is taking it hardest of all, since he recently admitted, "I actually cried writing the end -? 'The end' on the last episode. I haven?t since then."

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gilligan opened up about the process of crafting the "Breaking Bad" ending at a recent panel to benefit 826LA at Largo in Los Angeles.

?We sat around in the writer?s room for thousands of man hours playing a game of chess, saying, ?If we move the character from here to here to here, what happens? What?s the counter-move??? Gilligan told the audience at the panel on Tuesday night. ?Essentially we said, ?What are all the possible endings we can come up with?' And then, ?What is the ending that satisfies us the most???

In a recent interview with USA Today, Gilligan said that he spent "a lot of sleepless nights" trying to perfect the finale, admitting, "My big fear was I would wake up one day two years from now or five years from now saying, 'Oh my god, I just realized how we should have ended it.'"

He did reassure fans that the ending won't be left frustratingly vague, like the abrupt cut-to-black of "The Sopranos." "There's not much in the way of ambiguity with this ending," Gilligan told USA Today. "People won't be left scratching their chins and saying, 'I wonder what's happening here.' It doesn't have to be happy or sad or anywhere in between. What mattered most to us was that the ending satisfy."

Series lead Bryan Cranston recently described the ending as a "roller coaster ride to hell," while co-star Bob Odenkirk promised that the finale "is going to be so incredible."

For more from Gilligan and a number of other showrunners, click over to THR.

The final eight episodes of "Breaking Bad" premiere August 11 at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/05/breaking-bad-finale-vince-gilligan-cried_n_3393947.html

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Soldier avoids death penalty with guilty plea

In exchange for?Staff Sergeant?Robert Bales' guilty plea in the killing of 16 Afghan civilians last year, prosecutors have agreed not to seek the death penalty. Bales did not offer any explanation for his crimes at Wednesday's hearing where he entered his plea.?

By Eric M. Johnson,?Reuters / June 5, 2013

In this file photo, Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales participates in an exercise at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif. Bales, an Army staff sergeant charged with slaughtering 16 villagers in one of the worst atrocities of the Afghanistan war, pleaded guilty Wednesday.

AP Photo/DVIDS, Spc. Ryan Hallock, File

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A U.S. Army sergeant who killed 16 Afghan?civilians in cold blood last year pleaded guilty on Wednesday to premeditated murder and other charges under a deal with military prosecutors that spares him from the death penalty.

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Staff Sergeant?Robert Bales, a decorated veteran of four combat tours in?Iraq?and?Afghanistan, admitted to leaving his Army post in the Afghan?province of Kandahar last March to gun down and set fire to unarmed villagers, mostly women and children, in attacks on their family compounds.

"As far as why, I've asked that question a million times since then," Bales said, in a calm, steady voice, when the judge pressed him for an explanation. "There is not a good reason in this world for why I did the horrible things that I did."

The slayings marked the worst case of civilian slaughter blamed on a single, rogue U.S. soldier since the Vietnam War and further strained U.S.-Afghan?relations after more than a decade of conflict in that country.

Bales, 39, now faces a life term in prison, but a military jury will decide if and when he will ever be eligible for parole after further proceedings set to begin Aug. 19.

Prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty in return for Bales' guilty plea to the murder charges he faced.

The judge, Army Colonel?Jeffery Nance, accepted the agreement at the end of a lengthy hearing during which Bales was required to recount the events in question and to convince the judge he understood his plea and the consequences of his acts.

Wearing a military dress uniform, Bales stood beside his lawyer,?Emma Scanlan, as she entered guilty pleas on his behalf to 16 counts of premeditated murder, six counts of attempted murder and seven counts of assault, as well as to alcohol and drug charges.

Reading through the list of charges himself, one at a time, later in the hearing, Bales acknowledged that he committed 10 of the slayings by shooting and burning his victims and that he killed six others by gunshot only.

"I then did kill her by shooting her with a firearm and burning her. This act was without legal justification," he said during a matter-of-fact recitation of his crimes, delivered with no visible sign of emotion.?

Intent to kill?

Asked by Nance if he had acted out of self-defense, or under orders, or whether he had any other legal justification to kill the 16 villagers, Bales replied, "No, sir."

"Could you have avoided killing them if you wanted to?" the judge asked.

"Yes, sir," he answered, adding that he "formed the intent (to kill) as I raised my weapon." Bales said that setting fire to his victims was also done with the intent to kill, and that he was aware it was "against their cultural norms."

Bales has claimed his memories of the killings are spotty, but he acknowledged seeing a lantern at one point during the rampage and that matches were later found in his possession. He said he learned from previous testimony that kerosene was used in the burnings.

Bales' wife was seated behind him in the courtroom benches at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, near Tacoma,?Washington.

Army prosecutors have said Bales acted alone and with chilling premeditation when, armed with a pistol, a rifle and a grenade launcher, he left his post twice during the night to attack civilians. He is said to have returned to base in the middle of the rampage to tell a fellow soldier: "I just shot up some people."

Defense attorneys have argued that Bales, the father of two from Lake Tapps,?Washington, was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and a brain injury even before his deployment to?Afghanistan.

Steroids and whiskey?

Under questioning from Nance, Bales said that his use of illegal steroids, which he admitted taking to improve muscle tone and recovery time from missions, also "increased my irritability and anger."

During a nine-day pre-trial hearing last fall, witnesses testified that Bales had been upset by a bomb blast near his outpost that severed a fellow soldier's leg days before the shootings.

One corporal recounted that in the hours before the rampage he, Bales and a third soldier had been drinking whiskey together while watching the Hollywood film "Man on Fire," which stars?Denzel Washington?as a former assassin bent on revenge.

Night-vision video footage taken from a surveillance balloon over the camp captured Bales' arrest, showing him walking back to the post with a bed sheet or throw rug tied around his neck like a cloak as he is confronted by three soldiers who order him to drop his weapons and then take him into custody.

One of them, drinking buddy Corporal David Godwin, testified that Bales kept repeating the words, "I thought I was doing the right thing," and, "It's bad. It's bad. It's really bad."

After Wednesday's hearing, Scanlan told reporters her client "has been waiting for the day that he can accept responsibility for what he's done."

She added that Bales wanted to make a statement of apology for his actions but that Wednesday's hearing was not the appropriate place or time.

"The forum for that is the penalty phase," she said.

Army officials said some family members of the victims are expected to give statements at the sentencing hearing in August.

The plea deal entered on Wednesday was similar to an agreement struck at Lewis-McChord in April, when Army Sergeant?John Russell?pleaded guilty to killing two fellow U.S. servicemen at a military counseling center in?Iraq, near?Baghdad's airport, in a 2009 shooting spree.

Russell was sentenced to life in prison without parole following an abbreviated court-martial stemming from one of the worst cases of violence by an American soldier against other U.S. troops.

(Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Scott Malone, Bernard Orr and Lisa Shumaker)

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/fvWlbD8Lx6k/Soldier-avoids-death-penalty-with-guilty-plea

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Dionysius Rumbaka treads into second round of 2013 Thailand ...

Dionysius Rumbaka treads into second round of 2013 Thailand Open ? Badminton news

Indonesia?s talented shuttler Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka sent a warning signal to all the contestants of the SCG Thailand Open by claiming a splendid victory in the opening round on Wednesday, June 5, 2013.

This Men?s Singles encounter saw him swinging arms against the Malaysian player Goh Soon Huat in the local badminton complex of Bangkok, Thailand. Both contenders challenged each other in all departments of game and finished this tussle with a nerve-racking result of 15-21, 21-13 and 21-16.

The Indonesian shuttler lost the first set but he managed to revive his form and won the ending two games. On the other hand, Soon Huat failed to capitalise his initial lead and surrendered tamely in the pressure situation.

In the opening game, the Malaysian player amazed everyone with his flawless strategy. He showed his intentions immediately in the beginning by claiming a few consecutive points. This early advantage helped him to keep Dionysius Rumbaka grounded in the first half.

He placed a significant total of 11 before the announcement of break and then enjoyed an upper hand all the way to final result of 21-15.

However, things changed dramatically in the following game as Dionysius Rumbaka employed an effective counterattack strategy and brought the contest to right balance. This time he did not repeat previous mistakes and gained a decent advantage on the points table.

He played with great precision and put a convincing total of 11 before the interval. In the latter part of game, the Indonesian shuttler looked at the top of his game as he did not give his challenger even a single chance to come back.

Dionysius Rumbaka maintained a significant difference of eight points and won this crucial set with an impressive figure of 21-13.

This 1-1 match score position made third set consequential and both contenders were all set to out the opponent. They remained toe-to-toe until the announcement of one-minute break but then Dionysius Rumbaka struck hard and tipped the scale in his favour.

He registered a winning margin of 21-16 and qualified for the second round of Thailand Open. Now, the Indian shuttler Sai Praneeth B will be his next challenger.

Source: http://blogs.bettor.com/Dionysius-Rumbaka-treads-into-second-round-of-2013-Thailand-Open-Badminton-news-a216295

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91% Gimme The Loot

All Critics (57) | Top Critics (23) | Fresh (52) | Rotten (5)

'Gimme the Loot' is ... meandering and a little shallow. And even at 79 minutes it feels a little too long for what's essentially the film equivalent of a short story.

A thousand-watt jolt of mischief, a spunky, funky, ebullient indie that packs its 81 minutes with cinematic exhilaration.

It may be a slight movie, but it has its sunny charms.

A movie about teenage taggers in the Bronx should be fast and raw, scruffy and loose, and Adam Leon's Gimme the Loot is just that.

As it lopes along, the movie offers a warm but very sharp portrait of New York's have-nots and their uneasy relationship with the haves.

"Gimme the Loot" shouldn't be as appealing and exuberant as it is, it really shouldn't.

First-time feature director Adam Leon's shots are precise and full of detail.

The film's strong suit is its use of locations.

The film is episodic and determinedly offbeat, funny at its best, boring at its worst.

Shot on the streets of New York in a loose, freeform style, this lively comedy-drama feels somewhat underdeveloped, leaving us doubtful about its realism.

It's a great deal of fun, emotionally touching, and even surprisingly old-fashioned.

Some of the movie doesn't exactly convince, and some of the scenes have an actors-improv feel to them, but there's always plenty of humour and energy.

Endlessly entertaining, refreshingly light-hearted and bursting with summer soul, Gimme The Loot joins the pantheon of great New York movies.

It's a shaggy dog story with a certain amount of charm but not nearly enough drama.

The movie is unpolished, and it matters not a jot, because Leon has written super roles for these kids and invests their relationship with such sly feeling.

Hickson walks the line between bravado and vulnerability, while Washington has a charisma, spark and beauty that should ensure this won't be the last we see of her.

Bolstered by a low-key but assured aesthetic and a soundtrack of vintage soul and doo-wop, the film is infectiously enjoyable, with frequently amusing insights and an affable shagginess.

Out of nowhere, Adam Leon might just have delivered the first great New York film of the decade.

Charming and engaging low-budget indie with a witty script, likeable characters, a strong sense of time and place and a pair of terrific performances from its two young leads.

Funny and freewheeling, it's a joy.

A slim, low-budget coming-of-age tale whose richness lies entirely in its interstices. A keenly observed work that celebrates the unfettered joys of youth, and rewards by reminding of the power of a simple tale told well.

Simultaneously real and hopeful, "Loot" has almost no plot, but when the setting is so fresh and the characters feel so raw and alive, who needs one?

Ghetto laughs with a sophisticated point of view.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/gimme_the_loot_2012/

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On World Environment Day, OSCE Chair calls for greater attention to safety of food and energy sources

KYIV, 5 June 2013 ? On the occasion of World Environment Day, the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ukraine?s Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara, calls for greater attention to the safety of food and energy sources. This year, World Environment Day runs under the umbrella of the ?Think.Eat.Save.? campaign, which encourages people to stop wasting food and help keep the world?s natural resources safe.

?On the background of the three international ?F?s crises? ? food, fuel und finance - it?s a matter of utmost importance to keep these challenges in focus. Food security, environmental protection, green economies and renewable energy sources ? all these issues are interlinked and attached to the OSCE?s comprehensive security concept,? the OSCE Chair said.

?The world needs clean, efficient and reliable energy services to meet its long-term demand for economic growth and development,? Minister Kozhara said. ?With its call to stop wasting food, the World Environment Day also underlines the need for the sustainable use of energy and exploration of alternative energy resources, an issue that has been high on Ukraine?s OSCE Chairmanship agenda.? As a country of lasting agrarian traditions, Ukraine is strongly committed to contributing to food and energy security, which today is at the heart of economic, environmental and social development.

The Chairperson reiterated that Ukraine?s priority for 2013 is to address the impact of energy-related activities on the environment in the OSCE area and highlighted the importance of a broader use of alternative and renewable energy sources. He also called on the participating States to use the Helsinki+40 process to strengthen the Organization?s efforts in the fields of economy and environment protection.

Source: http://www.osce.org/cio/102316

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First observation of spin Hall effect in a quantum gas is step toward 'atomtronics'

June 5, 2013 ? Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have reported* the first observation of the "spin Hall effect" in a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), a cloud of ultracold atoms acting as a single quantum object. As one consequence, they made the atoms, which spin like a child's top, skew to one side or the other, by an amount dependent on the spin direction. Besides offering new insight into the quantum mechanical world, they say the phenomenon is a step toward applications in "atomtronics" -- the use of ultracold atoms as circuit components.

The spin Hall effect is seen in electrons and other quantum particles when their motion depends on their magnetic orientation, or "spin." Previously, the spin Hall effect has been observed in electrons confined to a two-dimensional semiconductor strip, and in photons, but never before in a BEC.

A quantum circuit might use spins, described as "up" or "down," as signals, in a way analogous to how electric charge can represent ones and zeros in conventional computers. Quantum devices, however, can process information in ways that are difficult or impossible for conventional devices. Finding ways to manipulate spin is a major research effort among quantum scientists, and the team's results may help the spin Hall effect become a good tool for the job.

The team used several sets of lasers to trap rubidium atoms in a tiny cloud, about 10 micrometers on a side, inside a vacuum chamber and then cool the atoms to a few billionths of a degree above absolute zero. Under these conditions, the atoms change from an ordinary gas to an exotic state of matter called a BEC, in which the atoms all behave identically. Then, the NIST team employed another laser to gently push the BEC, allowing them to observe the spin Hall effect at work.

Spin is roughly analogous to the rotation of a top, and if the top is gently pushed straight forward, it will eventually tend to curve either to the right or left, depending on which way it is spinning. Similarly, subject to the spin Hall effect, a quantum object spinning one way will, when pushed, curve off to one side, while if it spins the other way, it will curve to the other. The BEC followed this sort of curved path after the laser pushed it.

"This effect has been observed in solids before, but in solids there are other things happening that make it difficult to distinguish what the spin Hall effect is doing," says the research team's Matthew Beeler, who just completed a postdoctoral fellowship at NIST. "The good thing about seeing it in the BEC is that we've got a simple system whose properties we can explain in just two lines of equations. It means we can disentangle the spin Hall effect from the background and explore it more easily."

Conceptually, the laser setup can be thought of as an atom spin transistor -- an atomtronic device -- that can manipulate spin "currents" just as a conventional electronic transistor manipulates electrical current.

Beeler says that it is unlikely to be a practical way to build a logic gate for a working quantum computer, though. For now, he says, their new window into the spin Hall effect is good for researchers, who have wanted an easier way to understand complex systems where the effect appears. It also might provide insight into how data can be represented and moved from place to place in atomtronic circuits.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/QWJh4TZGbG8/130605133604.htm

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eBay's large retail screens could make 'window shopping' more expensive

You might argue that eBay is a virtual store of sorts already. But -- according to reports -- the auction giant is planning a new spin on the term. Reuters claims that eBay plans to place 9-foot by 2-foot screens in closed retail units in a variety of locations around New York. The idea being that real shoppers will be able to paw at the virtual stores through the glass, and have purchases delivered to them in under an hour -- ideal for those who just can't wait. There's already one client onboard -- Fith & Pacific Companies -- which plans to use the screens to launch a new fashion brand without having to kit out physical stores. The firm does plan on furnishing actual bricks and mortar outlets eventually, but won't ditch the screens after. Instead making them a permanent fixture in-store to add items that aren't always available in current stock.

Filed under: Internet

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Source: Reuters

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/hC7MXfKJoDc/

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Obama, Xi to talk cybersecurity, other issues

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Alleged high-tech spying from inside China will top the agenda when President Barack Obama sits down this weekend in California with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but other topics including Syria and China's record on human rights also will be discussed, senior Obama administration officials said Tuesday.

The White House sees cybersecurity as a leading threat to the U.S economy and national security.

A recent government report found that more than 40 Pentagon weapons programs and nearly 30 other defense technologies have been compromised by cyber intrusions from China. The cybersecurity firm Mandiant also has linked a secret Chinese military unit to years of cyber-attacks against U.S. companies.

The Chinese government denies it engages in such spying against the U.S.

The Obama administration officials said they expect the cybersecurity issue to become a standing one in relations between the two countries going forward. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to be quoted by name previewing the meeting.

Two days of private meetings between Obama and Xi are scheduled to begin Friday evening at Sunnylands, a 200-acre estate in Rancho Mirage, Calif., once owned by the late publishing tycoon Walter Annenberg. It will be their first get-together since Xi took power in March.

The schedule also includes a private dinner on Friday followed by additional talks on Saturday morning.

Beyond cybersecurity, Obama also will raise China's record on human rights, ranging from censorship to the illegal detention of dissidents.

The civil war in Syria is another likely topic for discussion, though China is seen as having less influence on that issue than Russia, because of Russia's steadfast support of Syrian President Bashar Assad, including its supplying weapons to the Assad government.

North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons will also be a topic of discussion. In a shift from his predecessor welcomed by the U.S., Xi has taken a stern tone with North Korea and has told the North to return to nuclear talks with the U.S. and other world powers. The U.S. long has pushed China to take more aggressive action against North Korea. China is the North's strongest ally and biggest trading partner.

The Obama-Xi talks will be followed by a July meeting between U.S. and Chinese officials that will focus on cyber espionage.

Taking the bilateral talks outside of the White House and to a Southern California venue with sweeping mountain views and a lush golf course is aimed at forging more personal ties between the leaders as relations between the global powers they represent become increasingly complex.

The expectation by the White House is that the setting at Sunnylands will encourage a more informal and less scripted set of discussions between Obama and Xi than U.S. and Chinese officials have had to date.

Xi and Obama first met last year when Xi was vice president and he visited the White House. Xi has a warm relationship with Vice President Joe Biden that blossomed when they traveled together throughout China during Biden's 2011 visit.

___

Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-xi-talk-cybersecurity-other-issues-215737090.html

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