AKKA Ski Retriever detects where you lost your skiing gear with waterproof radio tags

AKKA Ski Retriever detects where you lost your skiing gear with waterproof Bluetooth tags

AKKA wants you to find your snowsports gear, minus hours lost digging in the snow. Its Ski Retriever project, being pitched on Kickstarter, pairs a handheld 1-inch OLED display with multiple tags, with audio and visual feedback delivered as you get closer to your lost property and visible notification for both distance and direction. The tags can be connected into the base plate of your skis, through a cold-weather adhesive mount, or simply lashed to your equipment through lanyard loops. The creators have even have a list of wants they're hoping to add to the Ski Retriever if they get the necessary funding, including security geo-tagging, and certification to be used in search efforts after an avalanche. Kickstarter preorder customers will pick up a handset and two tags to start with -- the founders are hoping to raise $100,000.

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Source: Kickstarter

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Obama may round out natl. security team next week

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama may round out his new national security leadership team next week, with a nomination for defense secretary expected and a pick to lead the Central Intelligence Agency possible.

Former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska is the front-runner for the top Pentagon post. Acting CIA director Michael Morell and Obama counterterrorism adviser John Brennan are leading contenders to head the spy agency.

White House aides said the president has not made a final decision on either post and won't until he returns from Hawaii, where he is vacationing with his family. Obama is due back in Washington Sunday morning.

Obama nominated Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., as his next secretary of state in December, his first step in filling out his second term Cabinet and national security team. Kerry, as well as the nominees for the Pentagon and CIA, must be confirmed by the Senate.

Hagel, the former senator from Nebraska, is a contrarian Republican moderate and decorated Vietnam combat veteran who is likely to support a more rapid withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. If confirmed, Hagel would give Obama a whiff of bipartisanship in his Cabinet if confirmed.

Even before his nomination, Hagel's consideration for the top Pentagon job raised concerns among some of his former Senate colleagues, who questioned his pronouncements on Iraq, Israel and the Middle East. Troubling for some lawmakers are Hagel's comments and actions on Israel, including his reference to the "Jewish lobby" in the United States.

Hagel has also been criticized for comments he made in 1998 about an openly gay nominee for an ambassadorship. In an interview with the Omaha World-Herald in 1998, Hagel said he believed that for a U.S. ambassador, "it is an inhibiting factor to be gay" and referred to James C. Hormel as "openly, aggressively gay". He has since apologized for those comments.

If nominated and confirmed, Hagel would replace current Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

Morell has served as the CIA's acting director since early November, after David Petraeus resigned after admitting to an affair with his biographer.

Brennan, Obama's top counterterrorism adviser, worked at the CIA for 25 years, including a stint as station chief in Saudi Arabia. He also served as chief of staff to then CIA Director George Tenet from 1999 to 2001, when he was named the agency's deputy executive director.

___

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-may-round-natl-security-team-next-week-234100415--politics.html

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Internet Explorer zero-day exploit linked to China

9 hrs.

Delving further into the Microsoft Internet Explorer zero-day exploit found last week, which unknown hackers used to compromise the website of an influential American think tank, researchers have discovered the exploit's use on other websites and strong evidence of links to China.

"We have been able to confirm that this latest Internet Explorer zero-day is a continuation of the Elderwood Project," wrote Symantec security researchers in an official blog posting Friday.

A zero-day exploit attacks computers via a software flaw that has not yet been fixed. Elderwood refers to a common malware platform used in an ongoing series of attacks on companies and organizations, dating back to the 2009 Operation Aurora intrusions into the networks of Google and dozens of other Western corporations.

Few of the companies attacked during Aurora would confirm that they had been hit or identify their attackers, but Google did both. It pinned the blame squarely on hackers working for or with the Chinese government. (Beijing strenuously denies all allegations that it is behind any attacks.)

Meanwhile, security experts in Luxembourg and the Czech Republic identified six other sites compromised with the new Internet Explorer flaw.

The sites belong to a Chinese human-rights group, a group of dissident Uyghurs from Chinese Central Asia, a Hong Kong newspaper, a travel agency in Taiwan, a Russian scientific group and Capstone Turbine Corp., a California maker of wind turbines.

The compromise last month of the website of the Council of Foreign Relations was characterized by several experts as a classic "watering hole" attack, in which malware is embedded in websites thought to appeal to a select group of people in order to enable drive-by downloads.

Visitors to the website of the prestigious think tank, whose members include most former presidents and secretaries of state, are presumably important targets.

The six newly identified website infections would also seem to be watering-hole attacks. The Chinese government is known to be interested in the activities of internal dissidents, in overseas Chinese in the "near abroad" and in foreign energy technology.

Microsoft last week released a temporary "fix it" for the browser flaw, which affects Internet Explorer versions 6 through 8. Windows XP users should implement the "fix it"; users of Windows Vista, 7 and 8 should upgrade to Internet Explorer versions 9 or 10, which are not affected. (The American security company Exodus Intelligence has already found flaws in the "fix it.")

Microsoft is working on a full patch for the flaw, which, unfortunately, will not make it in time for next week's Patch Tuesday monthly round of Microsoft updates.

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

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/internet-explorer-zero-day-exploit-linked-china-1B7830850

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AP Source: Reid, Chiefs nearing deal to be coach

Philadelphia Eagles head coach Andy Reid, right, shakes hands with New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin after an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012, in East Rutherford, N.J. The Giants won 42-7. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

Philadelphia Eagles head coach Andy Reid, right, shakes hands with New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin after an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012, in East Rutherford, N.J. The Giants won 42-7. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

FILE - Philadelphia Eagles head coach Andy Reid during the first half of an NFL football game against the New York Giants Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012 in East Rutherford, N.J. Reid has been fired after 14 seasons coaching the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles made the announcement Monday, Dec. 31, 2012. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)

Philadelphia Eagles head coach Andy Reid walks on the field before an NFL football game against the New York Giants, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

(AP) ? Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs should be quite familiar by now.

The two sides spent much of Thursday in negotiations for Reid to become the Chiefs' coach, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the situation.

The discussions followed nine hours of talks Wednesday that went well enough that Reid canceled plans to interview for other openings, the person told the AP. It was unclear which details were preventing the two sides from reaching an agreement.

The Philadelphia Eagles fired Reid after 14 seasons on Monday, the same day the Chiefs parted ways with coach Romeo Crennel after the worst season in franchise history.

The search for Crennel's replacement has been led by Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt, who intends to take on more responsibility in the day-to-day operation of the franchise. Also on hand was team president Mark Donovan, who has a connection to Reid after spending six seasons as the Eagles' senior vice president of business operations.

Reid had been linked to the opening in Arizona before the Chiefs put on the press.

The Cardinals now intend to interview former Chiefs coach Todd Haley, a person familiar with their plans told the AP. Haley led the Chiefs to the AFC West title in 2010, but was fired in December 2011 and spent this past season as the offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh.

Hunt told the AP in an interview Monday that he would have final say on the next Chiefs coach, rather than embattled general manager Scott Pioli. Hunt has not said whether Pioli will be back next season, but indicated that his future could be determined by the next coach.

Various reports have indicated that Reid would be open to working with Pioli, while other reports have said he would prefer to build his own front office. If Pioli is not retained, the top candidates to replace him include former Browns GM Tom Heckert and John Dorsey, who has been integral in building the Green Bay Packers into a perennial contender.

The opening in Kansas City is attractive on several levels: The Chiefs had five Pro Bowl players and two others chosen as alternates, despite their 2-14 record, and they have the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft for the first time in franchise history.

That selection could help the Chiefs fill a gaping void at quarterback.

Matt Cassel was benched midway through the season and Brady Quinn, who was playing on a one-year deal, struggled as his replacement. Reid has had success at developing quarterbacks in the past, working with Donovan McNabb ? whom he helped draft with the No. 2 pick ? during his time in Philadelphia and Brett Favre earlier in his career in Green Bay.

"What I am confident in is we'll have dramatically better play from the quarterback position in 2013," Hunt said. "I don't know whether it'll be the ultimate, long-term solution or not. We'll just have to see how it plays out."

Hunt refused to get into the details of his coaching search, a responsibility that he'd delegated to the general manager in the past. But Hunt did say that he had surrounded himself with the right "resources" to make a thorough, informed hiring.

The new coach will also report directly to Hunt, a departure from the previous 53 years of franchise history. The coach is also expected to have more say over personnel matters.

When asked to describe his ideal candidate, Hunt said: "Somebody who has demonstrated the ability to build a successful program, or been part of building a successful program. Somebody of high integrity, somebody who is a successful teacher and communicator. Somebody who has a high football IQ, but at the same time likes to roll up their sleeves and work hard."

Reid appears to fit most of those qualifications.

The Eagles were just 12-20 the past two seasons, but Reid's overall record of 130-93-1 represents the most wins in franchise history. The franchise was just 3-13 the year before he arrived, and two years later it went to the playoffs at 11-5 and second in the NFC East.

That was the first of five straight years in which the Eagles won at least 11 games, and included a trip to the Super Bowl after the 2004 season.

"He had the love and respect of every individual in this organization," Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said upon firing him. "This man is amazing to work with, smart and dedicated, and the record will speak for itself."

The past couple of years have been difficult for Reid, whose oldest son, Garrett, died at training camp after a long battle with drug addiction. Reid fired close friend and longtime assistant Juan Castillo in October and later fired defensive line coach Jim Washburn.

Now, it appears that Reid is about to get a fresh start.

"Overall the job is still attractive," Hunt said of the Chiefs, who have not won a playoff game since 1993. "The franchise remains very well respected around the league."

___

AP Sports Writers John Wawrow in Buffalo, N.Y., and Bob Baum in Tempe, Ariz., contributed to this report.

___

Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-01-03-Chiefs-Coach/id-252d356dc80247499ad204fb80278fb0

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Flesh-Eating Flies Map Forest Biodiversity

Blowfly Blowflies dine on animal carcasses ? and their feeding habits could help researchers to track mammals. Image: Flickr/bareego

The blowflies and flesh flies that settle on dead animals aren't just feasting on the carrion ? they're sampling their DNA. Scientists in Germany have now shown that this DNA persists for long enough to be sequenced, providing a quick and cost-effective snapshot of mammal diversity in otherwise inaccessible rainforests.

Researchers stumbled on the grisly cataloguing technique while studying a form of anthrax that kills chimpanzees in C?te d'Ivoire. They started sampling flies to see whether the insects could harbor the anthrax bacterium after feasting on infected bodies, but soon realized ?that detecting mammal DNA from flies could also be an extremely cool tool for assessing biodiversity?, says team leader S?bastien Calvignac-Spencer, an evolutionary biologist at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin.?

By baiting nets and traps with meat, the team collected carrion flies from Ta? National Park in C?te d'Ivoire and Kirindy Reserve in Madagascar, and found that 40% of them carried mammal DNA. The researchers sequenced this material to identify 16 mammals in C?te d'Ivoire, including six of the nine local primate species, as well as Jentink?s duiker (Cephalophus jentinki) ? an endangered antelope of which fewer than 3,500 remain. In Madagascar, the team identified four mammal species ? including two lemurs ? representing one in eight of all the island?s mammals. The work will appear on 7 January in Molecular Ecology.

Carrion luggage
The DNA is ?not gorgeous, but still usable?, says Calvignac-Spencer: his team was able to recover fragments that are several hundred base pairs long ? something that would be harder to find in animals such as mammals, whose guts are more efficient at breaking food down with acids and enzymes. ?Flies have a much less sophisticated digestive system,? he says.

As well as providing inventories of species, the flies could help to track the status of endangered populations far more effectively than active searches, he suggests. For example, the Ebola virus killed thousands of gorillas in Republic of Congo and Gabon ten years ago, but active monitoring found only 44 carcasses. ?And these were gorillas!? says Calvignac-Spencer. ?Just imagine how hard it might be to monitor die-offs of bats or rodents,? he adds. ?Flies could really be precious in this context.??

?It?s an extremely simple but clever idea,? says Thomas Gilbert, a geneticist at the University of Copenhagen who last year showed that leeches can also preserve the DNA of the animals they feed on. Gilbert says that the beauty of the latest study is ?that flies are so widely distributed in comparison to our leeches. They can sample where we can't.? However, he notes that DNA is more stably preserved in leeches, so it lasts longer. ?Really, the methods are very complementary,? he says.

This article is reproduced with permission from the magazine Nature. The article was first published on January 4, 2013.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=4a28a0e4c60362e421fc5007fd04b78b

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Skype for Windows Phone update 'temporarily' kills People Hub integration

DNP Skype for Windows Phone update 'temporarily' kills People Hub

Earlier this week Microsoft updated its Skype for Windows Phone application. Making good on its plans to retire Messenger, users can now IM their buddy list from within the app. In addition, the new software push adds the ability to receive calls and messages while Skype is closed, but the changelog cautions that this feature is a "work-in-progress." While we welcome these new features with open arms, they come at somewhat of a steep price. Skype 2.1.0.241 "temporarily" kills the app's integration with Windows Phone's People Hub. Something that Microsoft plans to patch up via another update at an undisclosed time. If you can get past losing such a prominent feature for the sake of being up to date, then head on over to the Windows Phone Store to claim your 8MB prize.

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Agenda, Antiques Roadshow, and More

Want to get a jump on the new year? We're helping you with that in this round of the Android apps of the week. Get yourself in gear with a calendar app, a 5K training tool, and more. More »

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Ashton Kutcher's Steve Jobs biopic could be released in April

Ashton Kutcher's Steve Jobs biopic, titled 'jOBS,' is currently scheduled to come out this spring.

By Sandy Schaefer,?Screen Rant / January 4, 2013

Ashton Kutcher will star as Steve Jobs in the biopic 'jOBS.'

Chip East/Reuters

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jOBS star Ashton Kutcher bears an uncanny resemblance to Apple co-founder and computer/social technology innovator Steve Jobs when he was a young man, but does the cinematic biopic?have anything else to recommend itself? Well, its backers seem to believe so, as jOBS is premiering as the closing night entry at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival this month.

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Open Road Films is partnering with Five Star Feature Films on jOBS, with plans to release the movie theatrically this April. That will allow the historical flick to not be overlooked during the competitive summer season. Moreover, it?s joining fellow inspirational real-figure biopic 42 ? chronicling the experience of baseball legend Jackie Robinson ? as an alternative to that month?s big releases (Oblivion, Evil Dead,?Pain & Gain, etc.).

Kutcher?s vehicle was titled Jobs: Get Inspired at one point and runs the gamut when it comes to Steve Jobs? accomplishments; by comparison,?Aaron Sorkin?s Jobs project?- which is?currently in the scripting stage ? examines his identity and historical significance through (literally) three separate scenes-as-narrative acts, taking place at pivotal moments in his career (for more, check out this?LA Times report). That subversion of traditional biopic expectations goes even further than Steven Spielberg?s Golden Globe-nominated Lincoln.

However, that?s not true for ?jOBS, as can be gleaned from the synopsis below:

jOBS?details the major moments and defining characters that influenced Steve Jobs on a daily basis from 1971 through 2000.?jOBS?plunges into the depths of his character, creating an intense dialogue-driven story that is as much a sweeping epic as it is an immensely personal portrait of Steve Jobs? life. The filmmakers were granted unprecedented access during shooting to the historic garage in Palo Alto, that served as the birthplace to Apple Inc.

The jOBS supporting cast includes character actors Dermot Mulroney (The Grey), James Woods (Straw Dogs), Matthew Modine (The Dark Knight Rises), Lukas Haas (Lincoln), J.K. Simmons (The Closer) and Lesley Ann Warren (In Plain Sight), with Joshua Michael Stern (Swing Vote) directing a screenplay written by Matt Whiteley. Based on those credentials, top-notch acting and serviceable storytelling seem in order.

Whether or not the project offers more insight into Jobs? character and motivation beyond what you could learn from his Wikipedia page ? without resorting to little more than hero worship -?is another matter. If nothing else, Kutcher?s interesting meta-casting, given his own involvement in the digital technology sector (serving as the Nikon camera spokesman, launching his own Twitter client called A.plus, investing in things like Skype, etc.).

Sandy Schaefer blogs at Screen Rant.

The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of music, film, and television bloggers. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by The Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own and they are responsible for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here.

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New Obama Rule Would Allow Some Illegal Immigrants to Sidestep ...

END-RUN? Critics say President Obama is attempting to?circumvent immigration law with the new rule

DENVER ? The Obama administration quietly issued a new rule this week designed to ease the pathway to legal status for many of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants by allowing them to sidestep a?legal requirement that they apply for a visa in their home country and wait ? the same painstaking, time consuming and expensive process that millions of foreigners seeking to legally enter the U.S. each year endure.

Under the terms of the Clinton-era law, illegal aliens must return to their country of origin to apply for a visa, and remain outside the United States for specified period of time before they can legally re-enter the country. That period of time is tied to how long the alien was unlawfully present in the U.S..

But that is slated to change under the new Obama rule, which would allow as many as 1 million illegal aliens to cut to the proverbial front of line in their quest to gain permanent legal residency inside the United States.

Beginning in March, illegal immigrants meeting certain criteria would be permitted to apply for a special ?waiver? allowing them return?home only?to pick up their visa before returning to the U.S. ? evading the legal requirement barring their?immediate re-entry.

?[I]t will become easier for undocumented immigrants who are immediate relatives of a U.S. citizen to remain in this country while they pursue legal permanent residency,? Elizabeth Llorente of Fox News Latino wrote Wednesday.

?Undocumented immigrants applying for the waiver still must leave the United States at some point to finish the process at a U.S. consular office in the country of their citizenship,? Llorente added. ?But now their time outside of the United States is expected to last only days or a few weeks.?

This is the second time in?recent months that the Obama administration has courted controversy with executive action on immigration.

In?June, the White House directed federal immigration officials to disregard certain provisions of federal law and stop deporting younger illegal immigrants who meet certain criteria. That move ? expected to affect some 800,000 illegal aliens ? prompted denunciations from many lawmakers, who criticized the move as an end-run around Congress.

?If President Obama wants to do something about illegal immigration then I challenge him to submit a proposal to Congress where it can be debated.? Rep. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) told The Observer at the time.

Advocates for stricter immigration enforcement were equally critical of Wednesday?s announcement.

?I?m not sure why Congress is even needed,? deadpanned former Congressman Tom Tancredo. ?The lawmaking process is unnecessary in Obama?s America.?

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately address the procedural and legal questions raised by critics.

?This final rule facilitates the legal immigration process and reduces the amount of time that U.S. citizens are separated from their immediate relatives who are in the process of obtaining an immigrant visa,? said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano according to a department press release.

President Obama has indicated that he will press Congress to?act on?a proposal in the coming weeks that would grant legal status to many of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants currently present in the U.S..

Source: http://thecoloradoobserver.com/2013/01/obama-rule-immigrants/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=obama-rule-immigrants

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