Songkick

• Pros

  Makes it a breeze to find artist tour dates. Taps iTunes, Last.fm, and other sources to help you find tour dates. Free.

• Cons Requires a Facebook account to sign in. Unattractive design that doesn't mirror the beautiful look of the mobile app.
• Bottom Line

  Songkick makes it easy for music fans to keep an eye on their favorite artists' tour dates?and purchase show tickets?by alerting them to when musicians and comedians are in town.

By Jeffrey L. Wilson

Hardcore music fans have their beloved bands' tour schedules seemingly imprinted on their souls, but those of us with more casual devotions may have trouble keeping tabs on our favorite artists' performance dates. Enter Songkick, a free Web service (also available as an Android?and iOS app) that notifies you when an artist plans to come to your town. Concertgoers, consider Songkick a must-bookmark site.

How Songkick Works
You obtain concert information by logging in with your Facebook credentials (unfortunately, this is the only way to sign up), keying an artist's name into the search box, clicking the search icon, selecting the artist's database entry, and then clicking "Track." You'll know that an artist is on tour if you see a red "On Tour" sash adorning the listing. If an artist isn't on tour, Songkick simply displays "No Upcoming Events."

Songkick also lets you discover upcoming concerts by tapping your personal tastes that are recorded in other sites and services. A column on the home page's right side lets you import artist information from your Facebook, iTunes, Last.fm, Pandora, or Spotify?accounts to build? a list of performers without using Songkick's search feature?and it works surprisingly well. Songkick recognized nearly every artist?even the relatively unknown Death Grips. Songkick Concerts didn't recognize a Heems track, but overall I was impressed that the app has its ear tuned to both popular and underground acts.

The Songkick Experience
Songkick's Web site isn't as attractive as its Android app (I dare say that it's downright ugly), but it's simple to use despite lacking the slick panel-driven mobile interface. "Artists" displays a list of performer thumbnail image showing artists you manually added and those which Songkick automatically generated based on your music collection. Songkick displays the tour dates, tour venues, and locations when you click an artist link. You can also let others know if you're attending (by clicking "I'm going"/"I might go"), view similar artists, purchase tickets (from the likes of LiveNation, Stubhub!, and others sellers), and view other Songkick Concert users who plan to attend the same show (unfortunately, there's no way to interact with them).

"Calendar" displays the shows you may attend and artist tour dates. It also lets you add a date to Google Calendar if you prefer to house tour information there?a nice touch. "Locations" lets you add cities that you're willing to visit to attend shows. For example, I inputted Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, so Songkick Concerts only displayed tour dates from artists who are planning to appear in those cities. Songkick Concerts makes finding concerts very simple, and you don't have to worry about missing a show again.

Party On, Wayne
Whether you're a concert frequenter or simply want to see a live music show once in a while, Songkick is a Web site to visit. Songkick not only lets you view when your favorite performers are coming to town, but lets you purchase tickets, too. The site and mobile app quickly became my go-to app whenever the idea of attending a live show popped into in my head. Music fans: check out this site.

By Jeffrey L. Wilson

Jeffrey L. Wilson's love of all things shiny/digital has lead to jobs penning gadget- and video game-related nerd-copy for 2D-X, E-Gear, Laptop, LifeStyler, Parenting, Sync, Wise Bread, and WWE. He now brings that passion to...

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Hillsborough County sports briefs - Golf Blog

Junior Women?s tournament: The Plant City Junior Women?s Club holds its inaugural charity golf tournament April 6 at Walden Lake Golf and Country Club, 2001 Clubhouse Drive.

This event will be held to raise funds for the club?s Plant City Shoe Project. There will be trophies, prizes and a 50-50 drawing. For information contact Stephanie Eisenbach, president and Shoe Project chairwoman at (813) 468-0230 or Steph57b@yahoo.com.

Brandon Ballet golf tournament: Brandon Ballet holds a four-person golf scramble April 28 at River Hills Golf and Country Club, 3943 New River Hills Parkway.

Registration will begin at 11:30 a.m. with a shotgun start at 1 p.m. Prizes will be provided for first, second and third as well as longest drive and closest to the pin. A post-tournament dinner will be served.

Sponsorships remain available and all proceeds go to Brandon Ballet.

The cost is $85 per individual or $320 per group if you register before April 19. For information, contact Monica Frost at (813) 545-6688.

Sickle Cell Classic: The Sickle Cell Association of Hillsborough County will host an Old School Celebrity Golf Classic April 20 at Heritage Isles Golf and Country Club, 10630 Plantation Bay Drive.

The four-person scramble begins with registration at 7 a.m., a shotgun start at 8 a.m. and an awards luncheon at 12:30 p.m. Pairings will be provided for individual golfers. Awards will be presented for first, second and third along with closest to the pin and longest drive. The cost is $85 per golfer.

Former NFL and USFL defensive back Luther Bradley will host the tournament, and sponsorship opportunities remain available. For information, go to oldschoolcelebritygc.com.

Holy Innocents tourney: Holy Innocents Espicopal Church will hold a golf tournament May 18 at Bloomingdale Golfers Club, 4113 Great Golfer?s Place. The best ball scramble is $240 for foursomes and $65 for individuals. Price includes: cart, range balls, gift bag, prizes and a meal. Interested players and sponsors can contact Steve Purifoy at spurifoy@earthlink.net or (813) 495-4307.

From www.tampabay.com

Source: http://golf.blogm4u.com/2013/03/30/hillsborough-county-sports-briefs/

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Turn That Frown Upside Down??.Adventures In Aerial Fitness ...

By Kim Evans

I am an upbeat person who is usually in a good mood, but I did something that really made my day. On a recent visit to the Phoenix area, I took an aerial fitness class at Tough Lotus in Chandler AZ. According to owner instructor Marnie Valliere the class is a combination of yoga, Pilates, suspension training moves done using an aerial silk or hammock suspended from the ceiling. You will work your entire body in the 3-D space across all planes of motion, upper and lower body strength will increase, you can stretch a little deeper and have better balance.

Walking into the space you see a dozen or more hammocks suspended from the ceiling over a cheerful black and white checkered floor. Each person is instructed how to sit in the hammock to get used to being airborne. Marnie explains the philosophy behind the class, how you will benefit by lengthening your body, how you can move through a range of motion stretch better or further when you are not attached to the floor. She talked about spinal decompression, the vestibular system and how aerial fitness can benefit your balance and sense of motion. And so the class started.

In addition to the large hammock, there are loops of varying lengths to use with your feet or hands. We sat in the swing and put one foot in a sling and one two three we were off! It was important that we all lifted up at the same time so that we didn?t crash into each other. It was exhilarating to have all of the swings moving to and fro, creating a slight breeze. It was hard not to say ?Wheee!?

Marnie guided us through many moves, some with one foot on the ground, some up off the ground. It was so relaxing and freeing. Finally we moved to inverting in the swing. Wow?..that was fun, and a bit nauseating! We hung upside down for a while with our legs wrapped around the sling. We put our hands on the ground to stretch out. At the end of class we pulled the hammock from tip to toe and stretched out in the cocoon for quiet time. We all got out of our silks smiling.

As I went through the day, I realized that I felt pretty awesome.

As I went through the day, I realized that I felt pretty awesome. I felt loose, no pain and relaxed. Being in the swing was akin to swimming for me, another space where you can move freely and with ease. No wonder I enjoyed it.

I think this is a great complimentary training for stand up paddling. I confess, I have some issues with getting sea sick, and anything that I can do to help to acclimate my vestibular system and be more comfortable is something that I will continue doing. I was fine inverting, but shutting my eyes was not comfortable. I plan on taking aerial fitness classes again, and even buying a system to use at home. I also liked how my spine felt afterwards?..long and strong.

NOTE: It has been four days since I took the aerial fitness class at Tough Lotus. I was a little bit sore on Monday, but that is all gone today. And when I went to the pool for my swim I realized that I was loose and pain free. My swim was focused and strong. I think that aerial fitness got me back in alignment and worked out any kinks that I may have had. And that is even after sitting on a cramped airplane for four hours on Sunday. I found a place in the Grand Rapids area that has aerial yoga, and I am going to try that soon.

- Guest Author, Kim Evans, Tough Lotus

Source: http://www.lensaunders.com/wp/turn-that-frown-upside-down-adventures-in-aerial-fitness/

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Brain scans might predict future criminal behavior

Friday, March 29, 2013

A new study conducted by The Mind Research Network in Albuquerque, N.M., shows that neuroimaging data can predict the likelihood of whether a criminal will reoffend following release from prison.

The paper, which is to be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, studied impulsive and antisocial behavior and centered on the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a portion of the brain that deals with regulating behavior and impulsivity.

The study demonstrated that inmates with relatively low anterior cingulate activity were twice as likely to reoffend than inmates with high-brain activity in this region.

"These findings have incredibly significant ramifications for the future of how our society deals with criminal justice and offenders," said Dr. Kent A. Kiehl, who was senior author on the study and is director of mobile imaging at MRN and an associate professor of psychology at the University of New Mexico. "Not only does this study give us a tool to predict which criminals may reoffend and which ones will not reoffend, it also provides a path forward for steering offenders into more effective targeted therapies to reduce the risk of future criminal activity."

The study looked at 96 adult male criminal offenders aged 20-52 who volunteered to participate in research studies. This study population was followed over a period of up to four years after inmates were released from prison.

"These results point the way toward a promising method of neuroprediction with great practical potential in the legal system," said Dr. Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Stillman Professor of Practical Ethics in the Philosophy Department and the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University, who collaborated on the study. "Much more work needs to be done, but this line of research could help to make our criminal justice system more effective."

The study used the Mind Research Network's Mobile Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) System to collect neuroimaging data as the inmate volunteers completed a series of mental tests.

"People who reoffended were much more likely to have lower activity in the anterior cingulate cortices than those who had higher functioning ACCs," Kiehl said. "This means we can see on an MRI a part of the brain that might not be working correctly -- giving us a look into who is more likely to demonstrate impulsive and anti-social behavior that leads to re-arrest."

The anterior cingulate cortex of the brain is "associated with error processing, conflict monitoring, response selection, and avoidance learning," according to the paper. People who have this area of the brain damaged have been "shown to produce changes in disinhibition, apathy, and aggressiveness. Indeed, ACC-damaged patients have been classed in the 'acquired psychopathic personality' genre."

Kiehl says he is working on developing treatments that increase activity within the ACC to attempt to treat the high-risk offenders.

###

You can view the paper by clicking here: http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1219302110.

Duke University: http://www.duke.edu

Thanks to Duke University for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127523/Brain_scans_might_predict_future_criminal_behavior

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Matthew McConaughey Rumored for Christopher Nolan's Next

Posted 10:36 PM March 28th, 2013 by Binh Ngo

After an award-winning performance in Magic Mike, Matthew McConaughey may be ready to go Interstellar. Deadline heard that the actor has been offered the lead role in Christopher Nolan's sci-fi movie.

If McConaughey accepts, he'll play a character named Cooper.

Not much is known about the plot of Interstellar other than that it may center on a group of scientists/explorers who went through a wormhole and ended up in alternate dimensions. These characters may be doing some time travel as well.

The script is written by Nolan's brother Jonathan, but Christ is doing a rewrite to incorporate in some of his own ideas so the details above may have changed.

Interstellar was originally Steven Spielberg's, but it fell to Nolan when Spielberg cleared his slate to focus on developing a more personal telling of Robopocalypse.

The movie is a joint production between Paramount and Warner Bros, and the release date has been set for November 7, 2014.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1927140/news/1927140/

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Low-power use for mobile devices: 60 GHz radio frequency chip

Mar. 29, 2013 ? As the capacity of handheld devices increases to accommodate a greater number of functions, these devices have more memory, larger display screens, and the ability to play higher definition video files. If the users of mobile devices, including smartphones, tablet PCs, and notebooks, want to share or transfer data on one device with that of another device, a great deal of time and effort are needed.

As a possible method for the speedy transmission of large data, researchers are studying the adoption of gigabits per second (Gbps) wireless communications operating over the 60 gigahertz (GHz) frequency band. Some commercial approaches have been introduced for full-HD video streaming from a fixed source to a display by using the 60 GHz band. But mobile applications have not been developed yet because the 60 GHz radio frequency (RF) circuit consumes hundreds of milliwatts (mW) of DC power.

Professor Chul Soon Park from the Department of Electrical Engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and his research team recently developed a low-power version of the 60 GHz radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC). Inside the circuit are an energy-efficient modulator performing amplification as well as modulation and a sensitivity-improved receiver employing a gain boosting demodulator.

The research team said that their RFIC draws as little as 67 mW of power in the 60 GHz frequency band, consuming 31mW to send and 36mW to receive large volumes of data. RFIC is also small enough to be mounted on smartphones or notebooks, requiring only one chip (its width, length, and height are about 1 mm) and one antenna (4x5x1 mm3) for sending and receiving data with an integrated switch.

Professor Park, Director of the Intelligent Radio Engineering Center at KAIST, gave an upbeat assessment of the potential of RFIC for future applications:

"What we have developed is a low-power 60-GHz RF chip with a transmission speed of 10.7 gigabits per second. In tests, we were able to stream uncompressed full-HD videos from a smartphone or notebook to a display without a cable connection. Our chip can be installed on mobile devices or even on cameras so that the devices are virtually connected to other devices and able to exchange large data with each other."

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Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/wDhOcuqbnp4/130329161245.htm

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Instant View: S&P 500 ends at new closing high

(Reuters) - The S&P 500 index posted a new closing high on Thursday, surpassing the previous record of 1565.15 set in October 2007, as investors continued a strong run that has seen the index rise nearly 10 percent in the first three months of the year.

COMMENTS:

BRIAN JACOBSEN, CHIEF PORTFOLIO STRATEGIST, INVESTMENTS GROUP, WELLS FARGO FUNDS MANAGEMENT IN MENOMONEE FALLS, WISCONSIN:

"I don't get too excited about new highs. It used to be the norm for the market to hit new highs. On an inflation adjusted basis, we'd have to get over 1720 to get to the October 2007 highs. We'd have to get to 2000 to get to the 2000 highs. Corporate profits are at record highs, so it seems only fitting that stocks should be at all-time highs.

"We may not have seen all the fallout from the crisis in Cyprus. I fear it could be used as a political foil if the Italians need to go back to the polls. If the Five Star Movement makes an even better showing the second time at the polls, that could trigger a new round of market turmoil."

TIM GHRISKEY, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, SOLARIS GROUP, BEDFORD HILLS, NEW YORK:

"It's certainly good, it means we've been in a strong recovery stock market. The rally we've had since mid-November has been driven by improving macroeconomic fundamentals, and a slowly but surely improving economy.

"There are a lot of computer-driven asset allocation programs that look at recent price trends and allocate toward the strongest asset class. So we expect those asset allocation programs come Monday morning to at least give us an initial boost toward increased cash flows into equities. Likely that positive influence lasts for several days."

CHRIS RUPKEY, MANAGING DIRECTOR AND CHIEF FINANCIAL ECONOMIST, BANK OF TOKYO/MITSUBISHI UFJ, NEW YORK:

"The Great Recession is over and now that the financial market turbulence is over, the broader stock market is back at an all-time record close. This sorry chapter in U.S. history is now behind us and good riddance. The stock market is the most leading of leading indicators and it is telling us the economic outlook in 2013 is going to be better than the doubters would have you believe."

QUINCY KROSBY, MARKET STRATEGIST, PRUDENTIAL FINANCIAL, NEWARK, NEW JERSEY

"It will go into the history books, but the key is whether we'll see any follow-through. It's important because the S&P is a broader index than the Dow and is more representative of the economy, although it doesn't have the same cachet for retail investors.

"If we get a correction, it will come from either the credit markets and Europe, a geopolitical event, or that revenue growth is waning. Then again, the sorts of things that used to cause pullbacks don't seem to bother people right now, and that is a little disconcerting. Ultimately, the market should reflect corporate earnings today and in the near future, and some of what we've heard suggests things are not stellar there."

MICHAEL MULLANEY, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER AT FIDUCIARY TRUST CO IN BOSTON:

"This is overdue. We knew it was going to come, and the only thing that prevented it from happening sooner is the tech sector. Obviously Apple hasn't performed well this year, and that held back the S&P 500 at large in a way that obviously didn't impact the Dow. It is nice to be at a new record, but we don't know how long we'll be at these levels. There could be a soft quarter ahead of us, and it wouldn't be surprising to see us consolidate. We hope the market will be higher than where it now at year end, we still think that we're in the early stages of a great rotation into stocks."

MICHAEL WOOLFOLK, SENIOR CURRENCY STRATEGIST, BNY MELLON, NEW YORK:

"It's confirmation that the risk rally is going to continue this year, despite negative developments overseas. We feel we're in phase one of a great rotation, which involves cash coming off the sidelines and into equities. Toward the end of the year and in 2014, it will start to come from bond selling. We won't see that until inflation emerges, though. So we see the equities rally continuing and think there will be very little collateral damage form the crisis in Cyprus. It could even be a net benefit, as we may see capital flight from Europe to the U.S."

BRUCE MCCAIN, CHIEF INVESTMENT STRATEGIST AT KEY PRIVATE BANK IN CLEVELAND, OHIO:

"This is a very appropriate punctuation for a great quarter that saw a lot of last year's anxieties recede. However, this could be the start to a more realistic look at the problems that still haven't gone away. Some degree of caution is probably still merited, with the problems in Cyprus probably only the beginning to what we could see in coming months.

"On an inflation-adjusted basis, we're not back to where we were. We're not really back until we eclipse that inflation-adjusted level."

(Americas Economics and Markets Desk; +1-646 223-6300)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/instant-view-p-500-ends-closing-high-202702906--sector.html

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2014 Camaro Z28: Iconic muscle car makes a comeback

2014 Camaro Z28 will be faster and lighter than a standard Camaro and designed to hit the racetrack. The 2014 Camaro Z28 will be the first Z28 sold in over a decade by Chevy.?

By Tom Krisher,?AP Auto writer / March 28, 2013

A 2014 Camaro Z28 is displayed on stage during an unveiling at the New York International Auto Show in New York, March 27, 2013

Lucas Jackson/Reuters/File

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The dream car of every 1970s teenage boy is making a comeback.

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Chevrolet is reviving the Z/28?Camaro?as a lighter, high-performance version of the muscle car. The Z/28, which debuted in 1967 and was last sold in 2002, has been reengineered for 2014 at 3,800 pounds, about 100 pounds lighter than a standard?Camaro. It's designed so that it can hit the racetrack, with the Corvette's powerful V-8 engine and bigger brakes. To shed weight, it forgoes some standard comforts, coming with a one-speaker radio, stiffer seats and manual transmission only.

"We really wanted to try to get rid of some of the mass and make it a real enthusiasts' car to be able to use for spirited driving on the street and open track days," said Mark Stielow, performance engineering manager for the Z/28.

Air conditioning is optional and there's less sound insulation. Brake rotors are made of carbon and ceramics instead of heavier steel. It's more aerodynamic than a standard?Camaro, and the suspension is even stiffer than the ZL1, another high-performance version.

"The whole car has been just kind of tauted up. It's kind of a more performance style car," Stielow said.

Even with the changes, he says the car still handles bumpy roads well, though not as well as a standard?Camaro.

Engineers also freshened up the?Camaro's?profile for 2014, reshaping the front and rear to make it more modern and athletic looking.

Alan Batey, General Motors' U.S. sales chief, said the company doesn't expect to sell a lot of Z/28s, but the car does bring back some of the brand's heritage from days when it dominated U.S. roads.

"You don't do this because of how many you're going to sell. You do this because of the statement it can make and the way it can build the brand," he said.

Here are some highlights of the 2014 Z/28:

UNDER THE HOOD: 7-liter (427-cubic-inch) V-8 from the Corvette that puts out more than 500 horsepower. GM wouldn't reveal a zero to 60 mph time. Six-speed manual transmission with close gear range.

OUTSIDE: Fender flares over the wheels to reduce wind drag. Extended panels at the bottom of the doors and a rear spoiler also improve aerodynamics.

INSIDE: New matte-metallic finish on the trim. Flat-bottomed steering wheel, standard Recaro seats that are more supportive for the race track. Front seats don't have power adjustments in order to save weight. Rear seats also were modified to cut pounds.

FUEL ECONOMY: Not disclosed. Likely to be less than the current?Camaro?with a manual transmission and 6.2-liter V-8, which gets 14 mpg in the city and 19 on the highway.

PRICE: Also not released. Available late in 2013. Current?Camaro?SS with a V-8 starts at $31,635.

CHEERS: Harkens back to the glory days of Chevrolet. Will be fast and fun to drive.

JEERS: Ride likely will be harsher and noisier than the standard?Camaro.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/vduwyXTKXDA/2014-Camaro-Z28-Iconic-muscle-car-makes-a-comeback

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Hasty embrace for some lawmakers on gay marriage

WASHINGTON (AP) ? As the Supreme Court considered two landmark cases on gay marriage this week, the flood of activity across the street in the Capitol was not lost on Chief Justice John Roberts.

"As far as I can tell, political leaders are falling all over themselves to endorse your side of the case," Roberts told lawyers urging the court to rule that married gay couples should receive federal benefits.

Roberts was hardly exaggerating. In the span of two weeks, seven senators have announced support for gay marriage, despite representing moderate or Republican-leaning states where such a move long has been considered a major political risk. One by one they fell like dominos, declaring on Facebook or quietly issuing a statement to say that they, too, now support gay marriage.

Taken together, their proclamations reflected a profound change in the American political calculus: For the first time, elected officials from traditionally conservative states are starting to feel it's safer to back same-sex marriage than to be among the last to join the cause.

For some Democrats, like Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill and Montana Sen. Jon Tester, the reversal would have been almost unfathomable just a few months ago as they fought for re-election. The potential risks were even greater for other Democrats like North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan and Alaska Sen. Mark Begich, already top GOP targets when they face voters next year in states that President Barack Obama lost in November. It was less than a year ago that voters in Hagan's state approved a ban on gay marriage.

Those four Democrats and two others ? Mark Warner of Virginia and Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia ? were swept up in a shifting tide that began to take shape last year, when Obama, in the heat of his re-election campaign, became the first sitting president to endorse gay marriage. Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, a potential contender in the next presidential election, followed suit in mid-March.

As support among party leaders builds, rank-and-file Democrats appear wary of being perceived as hold-outs in what both parties are increasingly describing as a civil-rights issue.

"They're reflecting what they're seeing in the polls ? except the most extreme of the Republican base," former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, a Republican who supports gay marriage, said in an interview. "From a purely political perspective, if you want to be a leader of the future, you look at the next generation. They are overwhelmingly in favor of this."

Reince Priebus, the national chairman of the Republican Party, cautioned in a USA Today interview that the GOP should not "act like Old Testament heretics."

Among Republicans, whose party platform opposes gay marriage, the shift in position has mostly been limited to former lawmakers and prominent strategists. Still, a distinct change in tone was palpable this month when Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, a whom presidential candidate Mitt Romney vetted last year as a potential running mate, declared his support, citing a personal conversion stemming from his son coming out to him as gay.

Rather than blast Portman for flouting party dogma or failing an ideological litmus test, Republican leaders shrugged, indicating that even if Republicans, as a party, aren't prepared to back gay marriage, they won't hold it against those in their ranks who do.

In the Republican-controlled House, where most members come from districts heavily skewed to one party or the other, GOP leaders are not wavering publicly from their staunch opposition. When the Obama administration stopped defending in court the Defense of Marriage Act, which bars legally married gay couples from receiving federal benefits, it was House Republicans who took up the mantle. Democrats said Thursday that Republicans have spent as much as $3 million in taxpayer funds to defend the law, now being challenged at the Supreme Court.

"It's like immigration. The party realizes they are on the losing side of some of these issues," said former Rep. Jim Kolbe, an Arizona Republican. Kolbe came out as gay in 1996 while in office and will mark another milestone in May when he and his longtime partner marry in Washington.

"They want to make the shift, but you have got to do it in a politic and strategic way," Kolbe said. "It's a matter of how and when you take down one flag and run up the other."

Kolbe and Whitman joined dozens of other prominent Republicans in signing a friend-of-the-court brief urging the Supreme Court to strike down the law barring federal recognition of gay marriages. But with House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, still defending the law and social conservative groups vowing payback for those who abandon it, prospects are slim that Congress will move any time soon to repeal it on its own.

"It's sort of a bandwagon effect among the cultural elite," said Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council, which opposes gay marriage. "Some of these politicians who have changed their position, those who live in more conservative states, may pay for that shift with a defeat in their next election."

If public opinion continues to move in the direction it has been for the past 15 years, what's true for the next election may not be true just a few years down the line ? even for Republicans.

When Gallup first asked in polls about gay marriages, in 1996, just 27 percent felt they should be valid. That figure climbed to 44 percent two years ago, and reached a majority by November, when 53 percent said gay marriages should be recognized. Among independents, a key barometer for politicians, support has jumped 23 points to 55 percent, including a six-point gain since 2010.

Even among Republicans, support has grown by 14 percentage points since 1996, although there's been no significant movement among Republicans since 2010, when 28 percent backed legal marriage.

"A lot of Republicans have come to the conclusion we can't live one life in private but advocate another life in public," said Republican strategist Alex Castellanos. "We all know families who are loving parents of the same gender who are raising great kids."

___

AP Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.

___

Follow Josh Lederman on Twitter: http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hasty-embrace-lawmakers-gay-marriage-070601942--politics.html

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Death toll from new virus reaches 11: U.N. health body

Mar 26 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $3,787,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $2,859,920 3. Matt Kuchar $2,154,500 4. Steve Stricker $1,820,000 5. Phil Mickelson $1,650,260 6. Hunter Mahan $1,553,965 7. John Merrick $1,343,514 8. Dustin Johnson $1,330,507 9. Russell Henley $1,313,280 10. Kevin Streelman $1,310,343 11. Keegan Bradley $1,274,593 12. Charles Howell III $1,256,373 13. Michael Thompson $1,254,669 14. Brian Gay $1,171,721 15. Justin Rose $1,155,550 16. Jason Day $1,115,565 17. Chris Kirk $1,097,053 18. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/death-toll-virus-reaches-11-u-n-health-164254341.html

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North Korea says it has cut last military hotline

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? Raising tensions with South Korea yet again, North Korea cut its last military hotline with Seoul on Wednesday, a link that has been essential in operating the last major symbol of inter-Korean cooperation: an industrial complex in the North that employs hundreds of workers from the South.

There was no immediate word about what cutting one of the few remaining official North-South links would mean for South Korean workers who were at the Kaesong industrial complex. When the link was last cut, in 2009, many South Koreans were stranded in the North.

The hotline shutdown is the latest of many threats and provocative actions from North Korea, which is angry over U.S.-South Korean military drills and recent U.N. sanctions punishing it for its Feb. 12 nuclear test. In a statement announcing the shutdown, the North repeated its claim that war may break out any moment.

Outside North Korea, Pyongyang's actions are seen in part as an effort to spur dormant diplomatic talks to wrest outside aid, and to strengthen internal loyalty to young leader Kim Jong Un and build up his military credentials.

South Korean officials said that about 750 South Koreans were in Kaesong on Wednesday, and that the two Koreas had normal communications earlier in the day over the hotline when South Korean workers traveled back and forth to the factory park as scheduled. The hotline is used by the two countries' militaries to arrange border crossings by the workers.

Workers at Kaesong could also be contacted directly by phone from South Korea on Wednesday.

A South Korean worker for Pyxis, a company that produces jewelry cases at Kaesong, said in a phone interview that he was worried about a possible delay in production if cross-border travel is banned again.

"That would make it hard for us to bring in materials and ship out new products," said the worker, who wouldn't provide his name because of company rules.

The worker, who has been in Kaesong since Monday, said he wasn't scared.

"It's all right. I've worked and lived with tension here for eight years now. I'm used to it," he said.

Pyongyang's action was announced in a message that North Korea's chief delegate to inter-Korean military talks sent to his South Korean counterpart.

Seoul's Unification Ministry called the move an "unhelpful measure for the safe operation of the Kaesong complex."

North Korea recently cut a Red Cross hotline with South Korea and another with the U.S.-led U.N. command at the border between the Koreas. The Unification Ministry said only three telephone hotlines remain between the North and South, and those are used only for exchanging information about air traffic.

Kaesong is operated in North Korea with South Korean money and know-how and a mostly North Korean work force. It provides badly needed hard currency in North Korea, where many face food shortages.

Other examples of joint inter-Korean cooperation have come and gone. The recently ended five-year tenure of hard-line South Korean President Lee Myung-bak saw North-South relations plunge. Lee ended an essentially no-strings-attached aid policy to the North.

North Korea last cut the Kaesong line in 2009, as a protest of that year's South Korean-U.S. military drills. North Korea refused several times to let South Korean workers commute to and from their jobs, leaving hundreds stranded in North Korea. The country restored the hotline and reopened the border crossing more than a week later, after the drills were over.

Shinwon Group, a South Korean apparel maker with a factory at Kaesong, said it would call its workers on Thursday morning to check on them. Shinwon's South Korean employees stay in Kaesong for two weeks before returning to Seoul. Workers at Kaesong talked by phone with the Seoul office Wednesday morning, but there was nothing unusual about the call, said spokesman Lee Eun-suk.

Lee said that the last time the phone line was cut off between Kaesong and Seoul, it was "inconvenient" but did not affect business.

North Korea's actions have been accompanied by threatening rhetoric, including a vow to launch a nuclear strike against the United States and a repeat of its nearly two-decade-old threat to reduce Seoul to a "sea of fire." Outside weapons analysts, however, have seen no proof that the country has mastered the technology needed to build a nuclear warhead small enough to mount on a missile.

In a sign of heightened anxiety, Seoul briefly bolstered its anti-infiltration defense posture after a South Korean border guard hurled a hand grenade and opened fire at a moving object several hours before sunrise Wednesday. South Korean troops later searched the area but found no signs of infiltration, and officials believe the guard may have seen a wild animal, according to Seoul's Defense Ministry.

___

AP writers Sam Kim and Youkyung Lee contributed to this report from Seoul.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/north-korea-says-cut-last-military-hotline-135040561.html

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Robotic ants provide path to real ant brains

John Roach , NBC News ? ? ? 25 min.

Robots built to mimic ants suggest that real ants waste little, if any, mental energy deciding which way to go when they reach an uneven fork in the road, according to a new study. Instead, the ants just take the easiest route as dictated by geometry.

"The shape of their network relieves some of the cognitive load for the ants; they don't need to think about it," Simon Garnier, a biologist at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, told NBC News. "The shape of their networks has constrained their movement in a way that is more efficient for them."

The findings have implications for understanding ant biology as well as how humans design transportation networks for the flow of people, information and goods.

Garnier and colleagues have spent several years pursuing questions about the movement of ants around the environment ? how they establish complicated networks that efficiently link their nests with food, for example.

The scientific literature well documents that ants use chemical markers called pheromones to line their trails. Less clear is what goes on inside an ant's brain when it reaches an uneven fork in a built network. Does it spend a lot of time measuring angles and weighing options? Or does it just go with the flow?

The question gave the researchers a good excuse to put to work some ant-like robots they'd been building.

"We programmed our robots so that they would not actively measure the angle of the (fork in the road), they would just move and carry on," Garnier explained. And they were programmed to carry on, so to speak, in the same general direction.

Real ants carry on in this manner, which is called "exploratory behavior," in order to prevent them from running in circles around their nests, establishing a well-traveled, pheromone-laced path that leads nowhere.

The robots, called Alice, laid their own version of pheromones in the form of light, thanks to a system of cameras and projectors coordinated to illuminate the wake of each robot's path. In addition, each robot is equipped with two light sensors that mimic ant antennae so that they can follow established trails.

The experiment showed the robots, like ants, rather quickly find and establish the quickest route through a maze from point A to point B with the aid of the pheromone-like light trails, and that they can do so without weighing options when they reach a fork on the road.

Instead, ants appear programmed, like the robots, to take the easiest path ? the one with the lowest deviation from straight ahead ? without thinking about it. The combination of pheromones and networks with asymmetrical forks, the research suggests, allows ants to navigate efficiently without mentally taxing decision-making.

We humans do a similar thing when walking down a crowded street, noted Garnier. "You're just going to go wherever there is an open space, but you're not going to take into account all of the individuals one by one and everything that is around you," he said.

For people, this automated decision-making allows the brain to focus on other issues, such as the road not taken, as did the poet Robert Frost when he penned the famous lines, "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, / I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference."

The findings are reported online Thursday in the journal PLoS Computational Biology.

John Roach is a contributing writer for NBC News. To learn more about him, visit his website.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653377/s/2a1c63b9/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Ctechnology0Cfutureoftech0Crobotic0Eants0Eprovide0Epath0Ereal0Eant0Ebrains0E1C9132388/story01.htm

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Kerry stikes out in Baghdad (Powerlineblog)

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Sochi organisers store snow, just in case

By Gennady Fyodorov

SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - While Moscow digs itself out of a huge snow storm that hit the Russian capital in the last few days, organizers of the Winter Olympics are worried a lack of white powder could become a problem next February.

Unseasonably warm temperatures this winter in Sochi have forced local organizers to store some 450,000 cubic meters of snow in the nearby Caucasus Mountains that surround this sub-tropical Black Sea resort.

"We've prepared seven separate areas for snow storage high up in the mountains," Sergei Bachin, general director of Roza Khutor, a ski resort in Krasnaya Polyana that will host Alpine skiing, snowboarding and freestyle Olympic competition, told Reuters.

"I want to assure all the competitors that there won't be any shortage of snow next February even if we encounter even warmer temperatures next year," he said.

"We're storing such huge amounts of snow just in case."

The snow will be covered with a "special thermo seal", to protect it from melting during the summer, Bachin said.

"We expect that about 140,000 (cubic meters) will melt away but we'll still have more than 300,000 cubic meters of snow available for next year," he predicted, saying the storage will cost his company an extra $11 million.

Nevertheless, Sochi 2014 chief Dmitry Chernyshenko has stated on several occasions that the weather has become a bigger problem for the organizers, who are frantically trying to finish all the construction projects on time, than security or the infrastructure.

Bachin, however, assured that Krasnaya Polyana, once a sleepy mountain village, about 70 kilometers from central Sochi, would be ready to host all the outdoor Olympic events next February rain or shine.

"Of the 76 Olympic test events scheduled in Krasnaya Polyana this winter a great majority had been completed and only a handful have been called off because of bad weather," he said.

"I think we've passed the test as the last major event of the season was held this weekend in nearby Laura complex."

Usually, Krasnaya Polyana has the opposite problem - too much snow and the risk of avalanches, Bachin said.

"This was a very odd winter. Even locals don't remember when was the last time they had such warm days in the mountains. It's highly unlikely we'll see the same kind of weather next year," he added.

(Editing by Alison Wildey)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sochi-organisers-store-snow-just-case-142104613--oly.html

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C. African Republic president flees to Cameroon

Foto del 2 de enero del 2013 de un soldado de Chad que apoya al presidente de la Rep?blica Centroafricana Francois Bozize, cerca de Damara, a unos 70 kil?metros (44 millas) al norte de la capital, Bangui, (Foto AP/Ben Curtis)

Foto del 2 de enero del 2013 de un soldado de Chad que apoya al presidente de la Rep?blica Centroafricana Francois Bozize, cerca de Damara, a unos 70 kil?metros (44 millas) al norte de la capital, Bangui, (Foto AP/Ben Curtis)

In this photo taken on Friday March 22, 2013 and provided on Monday March 25, 2013 by the French Army Communications Audio visual office, French soldiers arrive at Bangui airport, Central Africa Republic. Rebels overthrew Central African Republic's president of a decade on Sunday, seizing the presidential palace and declaring that the desperately poor country has "opened a new page in its history." The country's president fled the capital, while extra French troops moved to secure the airport, officials said. (AP Photo/Elise Foucaud, ECPAD)

In this photo taken on Friday March 22, 2013 and provided on Monday March 25, 2013 by the French Army Communications Audio visual office, French soldiers arrive at Bangui airport, Central Africa Republic. Rebels overthrew Central African Republic's president of a decade on Sunday, seizing the presidential palace and declaring that the desperately poor country has "opened a new page in its history." The country's president fled the capital, while extra French troops moved to secure the airport, officials said. (AP Photo/Elises Foucaud, ECPAD)

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) ? The president of Central African Republic fled to neighboring Cameroon on Monday, as the rebels who overthrew him began squabbling who would now lead the impoverished nation long wracked by rebellions.

South Africa said 13 of its soldiers were killed in a fight against the Seleka rebels over the weekend as up to 3,000 fighters attacked its troops while advancing through the capital, Bangui. It was one of South Africa's heaviest losses in combat in nearly two decades and prompted criticism about why the country's forces had intervened in such a volatile conflict.

One of the Seleka rebel leaders, Michel Djotodia, said Monday he considers himself to be the new head of state.

But another rebel leader told reporters his group does not recognize Djotodia as president, and says they will challenge his attempt to install himself at the helm. The move raises the specter of continuing unrest, amid reports of chaotic and violent looting in the capital, Bangui.

The United States is "deeply concerned about a serious deterioration in the security situation" in Central African Republic, said U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement Sunday.

"We urgently call on the Seleka leadership which has taken control of Bangui to establish law and order in the city and to restore basic services of electricity and water," the statement said.

The government of Cameroon confirmed Monday that Bozize is seeking "temporary" refuge there before leaving for another unspecified country.

The ousted president managed to get out of Central African Republic amid fierce fighting over the weekend.

South African forces who were there to aid Bozize's troops suffered casualties when they "fought a high-tempo battle for nine hours defending the South African military base, until the bandits raised a white flag and asked for a cease-fire," South African President Jacob Zuma said. "Our soldiers inflicted heavy casualties among the attacking bandit forces."

Gen. Solly Shoke, South Africa's military chief, said 3,000 rebels took part in fighting. He said the assailants were armed with mortars and heavy machine guns.

Following Bozize's ouster, divisions are already emerging over will lead the country.

In Paris, Nelson N'Jaadder, the president of the Revolution for Democracy, one of the rebel groups belonging to the Seleka rebel coalition which invaded the capital, said that his fighters do not recognize Michel Djotodia, who earlier claimed he was head of state of Central African Republic.

N'Jaadder said there was never a consensus around appointing Djotodia as their overall leader.

"We do not recognize him as president," N'Jaadder told The Associated Press by telephone from Paris. "We had agreed that we would push to Bangui in order to arrest Bozize and that we would then announce an 18-month transition, a transition that would be as fast as possible ? and not one that would last three years," he said.

"For your information, I have enough soldiers loyal to me to attack Djotodia. I am planning to take the Wednesday flight to Bangui."

N'Jaadder said that rebels had been pillaging people's homes in Bangui, including the homes of French expatriates. He said that on Monday, he had received a phone call from France's ambassador to Bangui and had presented his apology, explaining that those doing the pillaging were mostly Djotodia's men. "We came to liberate the people, not to steal from them. This is shameful. Unacceptable," he said.

The Seleka rebel coalition is made up of several rebel groups, which last December began their rapid sweep into the Central African Republic, a nation of 4.5 million located at the heart of the continent.

The rebels pushed all the way to a town just outside Damara, 75 kilometers (47 miles) from the capital, before entering into talks with the government. In January, they signed a peace deal in Libreville, the capital of the neighboring nation of Gabon, agreeing to allow Bozize to carry out the last three years of his term, in return for a number of concessions.

Last week, they declared the peace deal void, saying Bozize had failed to free their prisoners and had refused to send back the South African troops that were guarding him, two of the points of the accord.

In just three days, they swept past Damara, marking the "red line" set up by a regional force to divide rebel-held territory from the area under government control, and advanced all the way to a checkpoint, PK12, just outside the capital.

The speed of the rebel advance, and the fact that they succeeded in pushing past the South African troops stationed in Bangui suggests they are well-armed, and likely benefiting from the support of neighboring nations. There has been speculation that either Chad or Sudan or Gabon had provided the rebels with arms and logistical support. Djotodia rejected that claim.

"If we picked up arms, it's not because we were pushed by this or that person," he told RFI. "It's poverty, simply put, that pushed us to pick up arms ? that's all."

The coup is expected to affect the hunt for Joseph Kony, said the commander of African troops tracking the the fugitive warlord. Bozize was a strong supporter of African efforts to dismantle Kony's Lord's Resistance Army and allowed the creation of two anti-Kony military bases in his country.

Ugandan Brig. Dick Olum, speaking from his South Sudanese military base in Nzara, said Monday he is concerned by past rebel statements that all foreign troops must leave the country. Some 3,350 African troops are currently deployed against the LRA in South Sudan and Central African Republic.

The U.S. also has anti-Kony military advisers in CAR. The U.S. Africa Command did not have any immediate comment Monday.

___

Callimachi contributed to this report from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press writers Krista Larson in Dakar, Christopher Torchia in Johannesburg and Rodney Muhumuza in Kampala, Uganda also contributed to this report.

___

Rukmini Callimachi can be reached at www.twitter.com/rcallimachi

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-25-Central%20African%20Republic-Rebels/id-b159378d172342ddaa33beed833c9c75

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Moon and asteroids share history, NASA scientists find

Mar. 25, 2013 ? NASA and international researchers have discovered that Earth's moon has more in common than previously thought with large asteroids roaming our solar system.

Scientists from NASA's Lunar Science Institute (NLSI) in Moffett Field, Calif., discovered that the same population of high-speed projectiles that impacted our lunar neighbor four billion years ago, also hit the giant asteroid Vesta and perhaps other large asteroids.

The research unveils an unexpected link between Vesta and the moon, and provides new means for studying the early bombardment history of terrestrial planets. The findings are published in the March issue of Nature Geoscience.

"It's always intriguing when interdisciplinary research changes the way we understand the history of our solar system," said Yvonne Pendleton, NLSI director. "Although the moon is located far from Vesta, which is in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, they seem to share some of the same bombardment history."

The findings support the theory that the repositioning of gas giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn from their original orbits to their current location destabilized portions of the asteroid belt and triggered a solar system-wide bombardment of asteroids billions of years ago, called the lunar cataclysm.

The research provides new constraints on the start and duration of the lunar cataclysm, and demonstrates that the cataclysm was an event that affected not only the inner solar system planets, but the asteroid belt as well.

The moon rocks brought back by NASA Apollo astronauts have long been used to study the bombardment history of the moon. Now the ages derived from meteorite samples have been used to study the collisional history of main belt asteroids. In particular, howardite and eucrite meteorites, which are common species found on Earth, have been used to study asteroid Vesta, their parent body. With the aid of computer simulations, researchers determined that meteorites from Vesta recorded high-speed impacts which are now long gone.

Researchers have linked these two datasets and found that the same population of projectiles responsible for making craters and basins on the moon were also hitting Vesta at very high velocities, enough to leave behind a number of telltale, impact-related ages.

The team's interpretation of the howardites and eucrites was augmented by recent close-in observations of Vesta's surface by NASA's Dawn spacecraft. In addition, the team used the latest dynamical models of early main belt evolution to discover the likely source of these high velocity impactors. The team determined that the population of projectiles that hit Vesta had orbits that also enabled some objects to strike the moon at high speeds.

"It appears that the asteroidal meteorites show signs of the asteroid belt losing a lot of mass four billion years ago, with the escaped mass beating up on both the surviving main belt asteroids and the moon at high speeds" says lead author Simone Marchi, who has a joint appointment between two of NASA's Lunar Science Institutes, one at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., and another at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston. "Our research not only supports the current theory, but it takes it to the next level of understanding."

The NLSI is headquartered at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. The Dawn mission to Vesta and Ceres is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Dawn is a project of the directorate's Discovery Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

To learn more about NLSI, visit: http://lunarscience.nasa.gov .

For more information about the Dawn mission, visit: www.nasa.gov/dawn .

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. S. Marchi, W. F. Bottke, B. A. Cohen, K. W?nnemann, D. A. Kring, H. Y. McSween, M. C. De Sanctis, D. P. O?Brien, P. Schenk, C. A. Raymond, C. T. Russell. High-velocity collisions from the lunar cataclysm recorded in asteroidal meteorites. Nature Geoscience, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1769

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/space_time/nasa/~3/tTc-NiRYgpQ/130325185237.htm

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Hyundai dips toe in high-end market

Paul A. Eisenstein , The Detroit Bureau ? ? ? 22 hrs.

If the name Hyundai evokes an image of low-cost econoboxes, you may want to check out the Korean carmaker?s nearest showroom. Prepare to be surprised.

At next week?s New York Auto Show, Hyundai will spotlight the 2014 Equus, the mid-cycle update of its premium-luxury sedan. The sedan will compete with high-end makes, such as the Mercedes-Benz S-Class and BMW 7-Series.

Although you can buy a basic Hyundai Accent for $15,000, a fully-equipped Equus will nudge you over the $70,000 mark.

Don?t expect much of a discount at the dealer. The average Hyundai went out the door with givebacks around $1,420, according to data gathered by TrueCar.com, a lower figure than any other major manufacturer but Honda.

The good news for Hyundai is that it broke its all-time sales record last year, and did it again in January and February. The bad news is that it is losing market share because it can?t keep up with the pace of the U.S. automotive recovery.

?We just can?t build anymore,? Hyundai Motor America CEO John Krafcik said in San Diego, where he was presiding over the first media drive of the new 3-row 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe crossover-utility vehicle. ?We?re just out of production capacity.?

In recent months, Hyundai dealers have had to get by with about half the 60- to 65-days of inventory considered normal in the automotive business.

(?A tough problem to have,? smirks analyst Joe Phillippi of AutoTrends Consulting.)

This has allowed Hyundai to trim its incentives and allowed dealers to prey on a ?scarcity value? to fend off the bargain shoppers of Hyundai?s past. The average transaction price ? the actual figure the typical customer paid after working in discounts and options ? jumped by 5 percent, year-over-year, to $22,549 in February, according to TrueCar.

Phillippi and other analysts say they?re surprised by Hyundai?s success. It?s been just four months since the maker ? and its Korean sibling Kia -- acknowledged the two brands fudged test results and would have to restate the fuel economy numbers on 13 different models, some by six miles per gallon.

Since then, the Korean makers have settled a lawsuit and agreed to provide substantial reimbursement to the 900,000 owners affected.

Hyundai?s transition from a fire sale brand has required a shift in focus that began by targeting once-endemic quality problems and backing that up with an industry-leading, 10-year warranty program. The maker has steadily gained ground in a variety of third-party measures, notably the quality and customer service surveys by J.D. Power and Associates. The current version of the Equus outscored Lexus, the overall top brand in Power?s latest Customer Service Index.

That has Hyundai management confident they can continue to expand their presence in the luxury market. The maker will show off what it describes as a ?luxury sports coupe concept,? the HND-9, at the Seoul Motor Show next week. While the unusual ?butterfly doors? are likely a show gimmick, industry observers expect the HND-9 is a clear hint of new products to come.

That gets back to the question of where to build the cars. Hyundai has added a third shift at its Alabama factory Alabama and it has crossovers rolling out of the Kia plant in Georgia.

While Krafcik says there are ?no plans, yet,? for adding more capacity in the U.S., analysts like Phillippi stress that could change quickly. The Koreans appear to be using the moment as an opportunity to decide whether to expand, and few would be surprised if an announcement didn?t come sometime this year.

But Hyundai has learned from watching competitors? mistakes, especially when it comes to overstocking. The goal, Krafcik says, is to follow the strategy of the most successful luxury brands, and ?always be one car short of demand.?

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Copyright ? 2009-2013, The Detroit Bureau

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Kyocera DuraPro (U.S. Cellular)

The Kyocera DuraPro is U.S. Cellular's toughest cell phone. It won't break if you drop it?even in the pool. It offers good sound quality for voice calls, a very loud speaker, and decent battery life. But a dated interface and few features means it's only an average phone otherwise, and at $149.99, it's a little pricey for what you get. The DuraPro is worth a look if you need something durable, but if you want any other features, you can do better.

Design, Call Quality, and Direct Connect
Like most of the rugged phones we've tested, the DuraPro is built like a brick. It measures 4 by 2.1 by 1.1 inches (HWD) when closed, and is covered in a grippy, scratch-resistant, rubberized casing. It fit into my hand comfortably when flipped open, but felt a little too chunky in my pocket. The headphone jack on the right and power port on the left are both covered with attached rubber stoppers. There's even a latch on the back cover to make sure it stays locked in place.

The DuraPro meets military specification 810G, so it's resistant to dust, extreme temperatures, humidity, low pressure, rain, salt fog, shock, solar radiation, and vibration, among other rough conditions. It will even survive in up to three feet of water for 30 minutes. To test it, I dropped the phone on several different surfaces?from the rubberized floor of the PCMag Labs to the concrete street outside?from a height of five feet. The phone managed to flip itself open a couple of times, but didn't sustain any damage. I then placed it in a pitcher of water for 30 minutes, where it was still able to receive calls and snap photos.

On the face of the phone there's a 1-inch, monochrome 96-by-64-pixel external display that shows the battery life, missed alerts, reception, and time. Inside, the 2-inch, 320-by-240-pixel LCD looks sharp, though the color scheme is bland and depressing. The default font size is rather small, but you can make it larger. The phone's keypad, on the other hand, is excellent; the keys are large, raised, and backlit. There's plenty of space between each key, which should make it possible to dial while wearing gloves.

The DuraPro is a dual-band EV-DO Rev. A (850/1900 MHz) device with no Wi-Fi.?In New York where I tested it, U.S. Cellular phones use Sprint's network. Reception is average and voice quality is quite good. The earpiece gets very loud, and voices sound clear, though a little thin. The speakerphone isn't deafening, but I was able to hear it loud and clear over the construction going on outside of the PCMag office. Calls made with the phone also sound natural, with good noise cancellation. Calls were fine through a?Jawbone Era?Bluetooth headset, and the Nuance-powered voice dialing worked without a problem. Battery life was solid at 8 hours and 22 minutes of talk time.

Interface and Apps
If you're looking for lots of apps and features, you're not going to find them here. The Kyocera DuraPro is a rather bare bones feature phone. As mentioned above, the key word to describe the user interface is drab. From the faded teal color on the home screen, to the black-and-white everywhere else, the DuraPro just looks shabby and dated.

The main menu features a grid with 12 icons. It links to all of your basic settings and functions, from activating Bluetooth, to call history, contacts, settings, and tools. It's dated, and requires many button presses to perform even the simplest tasks.

As far as apps go, you get the standards like an alarm, calculator, calendar, stopwatch, and world clock. You can also record voice memos. To browse the Web, there's an Access NetFront 4.1 browser for reading WAP pages; desktop HTML is out. The phone also comes with a voice-enabled GPS courtesy of Navteq's Your Navigator app.

Multimedia and Conclusions
You get 64MB of free internal memory, as well as a free microSD slot underneath the battery. My 32 and 64GB SanDisk cards worked fine, but you probably won't need anything that large, since media support is virtually nonexistent. The phone has a nonstandard 2.5mm headphone jack, but comes with a converter to connect a pair of 3.5mm earbuds. Either way, the phone wouldn't recognize any of my music files. I was able to play MPEG4 video files, at a tiny, blurry maximum resolution of 320-by-240-pixels.

The DuraPro's 3.2-megapixel camera has an LED flash, but no autofocus. It snaps photos quickly, in about half a second, but then takes a good 2 seconds to save them. Test photos look decent, with acceptable color and detail, though they're a little dark overall. The camera also records video, but it's terrible. Video files max out at a minuscule 176-by-144-pixels and play back at a stuttering 10 frames per second indoors and 15 frames per second outside.

Features aside, the Kyocera DuraPro is as rugged as phones come on U.S. Cellular. If you're looking for something very basic to make occasional voice calls, and you need durability, it'll work perfectly. But if you're more interesting in texting and other features, you're better off with a phone like the $40 Samsung Character. It's a lot less expensive, has a roomy slide-out QWERTY keyboard, and doubles as a decent music player. Just make sure not to drop it, keep it away from the pool, and you're good to go.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/Bpc_A4UQw2E/0,2817,2416958,00.asp

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