When most people hear that Facebook upgrades are on the way, they're probably not hoping for more tracking software. But according to a new Wall Street Journal report, that's exactly what they're going to get.
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Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/9Qk3sHZZ3EQ/facebook-is-testing-software-that-tracks-your-cursors-1454924765After being sidelined for more than two years because of knee injuries, bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz will finally fight again at UFC 169 Feb. 1 against interim belt-holder Renan Barao. Cruz last fought and won with a unanimous decision over now flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson in October of 2011.
After that, Cruz was selected as a coach of The Ultimate Fighter, opposite his rival Urijah Faber. The two had fought twice before and were set to have a rubber match after coaching TUF.
Cruz tore his ACL in a knee and was forced out of the fight. Barao stepped in to fight Faber in an interim title bout, which he won.
[Related: Johny Hendricks suffered second-degree burns while shooting commercial for UFC 167]
Cruz' recovery was delayed by a second ACL tear and surgery. Barao has defended his interim title twice in the meantime.
The main event of UFC 169 will include another title bout as featherweight champ Jose Aldo defends against Ricardo Lamas. Lamas has won four straight bouts heading into his long-awaited title shot.
Aldo has not lost in over seven years and 16 fights. He last fought and won at UFC 163, when he stopped Chan Sung Jung in the 4th round.
UFC 169 will take place SuperBowl weekend in Newark, New Jersey. Newsday first reported the two title match ups.
Follow Elias on Twitter @EliasCepeda
Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/dominick-cruz-returns-bantamweight-title-unification-bout-jose-151130199--mma.htmlAs predicted by a recently-leaked update timetable, the Sprint Samsung Galaxy S4 is today getting its Android 4.3 Jelly Bean update. Sprint's GS4 is the second U.S. model to get the upgrade, following Verizon's rollout on Monday. In addition to bringing the GS4 up to what is, for the moment, the latest version of Android, the update also adds support for the Galaxy Gear smartwatch, while implementing Samsung's KNOX enterprise security layer.
If the leaked timetable is to be believed, updates for AT&T and T-Mobile's Galaxy S4s should follow on Nov. 13 and 18 respectively.
Sprint subscribers, hit the comments and let us know how you're getting on with the new firmware.
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/qPEC3-KC_xo/story01.htmThe long sleek body of a kayak makes it highly efficient at slicing through the water, but for unexperienced paddlers it also makes it easier to flip than a canoe. And that can be a terrifying experience, unless you're on the water in Olivier Feuillette's Subo which transforms from a kayak to a fully sealed submarine in just seconds.
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Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/gdzWYvFWY5o/dont-worry-about-this-kayak-flipping-it-transforms-in-1454853955There is little to enjoy about plane travel in America anymore, but if you have flown Delta Airlines anytime in the last year, you've probably already encountered its delightfully subversive airline safety video. It's your standard "seat-doubles-as-a-flotation-device" information, but with all sorts of fun visual gags mixed in. When I first saw it, it not only put a grin on my face, but it also kept my attention all the way through, as I waited for the next cheeky joke. Check it out.
Now, Virgin America is taking the safety video challenge. "We thought, what better way to shake things up than to re-imagine the safety video through the language of music and dance?" Virgin America writes on its site. Here it is:
Virgin America's safety video is directed by the Step Up 2 film director.
Adweek has these details on the makers of the video:
"There's a 'robot rap,' a gyrating nun and countless back-breaking dance moves, all filmed by Step Up 2: The Streets director Jon M. Chu (who also did this recent Microsoft Surface ad) and choreographed by frequent Chu collaborators Jamal Sims and Christopher Scott."
For its part, Delta has updated its in-flight safety message for the holidays. Enjoy.
A brief holiday-themed safety presentation from Delta.
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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 30-Oct-2013
ShareContact: Nan Broadbent
press@seismosoc.org
408-431-9885
Seismological Society of America
SAN FRANCISCO, October 30, 2013 -- Earthquake early warning systems may provide the public with crucial seconds to prepare for severe shaking. For California, a new study suggests upgrading current technology and relocating some seismic stations would improve the warning time, particularly in areas poorly served by the existing network south of San Francisco Bay Area to north Los Angeles and north of the San Francisco Bay Area.
A separate case study focuses on the utility of low cost sensors to create a high-density, effective network that can be used for issuing early warnings in Taiwan. Both studies appear in the November issue of the journal Seismological Research Letters (SRL).
"We know where most active faults are in California, and we can smartly place seismic stations to optimize the network," said Serdar Kuyuk, assistant professor of civil engineering at Sakarya University in Turkey, who conducted the California study while he was a post-doctoral fellow at University of California (UC), Berkeley. Richard Allen, director of the Seismological Laboratory at UC Berkeley, is the co-author of this study.
Japan started to build its EEW system after the 1995 Kobe earthquake and performed well during the 2011 magnitude 9 Tohoku-Oki earthquake. While the U.S. Geological Survey(USGS)/Caltech Southern California Seismic and TriNet Network in Southern California was upgraded in response to the 1994 Northridge quake, the U.S is lagging behind Japan and other countries in developing a fully functional warning system.
"We should not wait until another major quake before improving the early warning system," said Kuyuk.
Noting California's recent law that calls for the creation of a statewide earthquake early warning (EEW) system, Kuyuk says "the study is timely and highlights for policymakers where to deploy stations for optimal coverage." The approach maximizes the warning time and reduces the size of "blind zones" where no warning is possible, while also taking into account budgetary constraints.
Earthquake early warning systems detect the initiation of an earthquake and issue warning alerts of possible forthcoming ground shaking. Seismic stations detect the energy from the compressional P-wave first, followed by the shear and surface waves, which cause the intense shaking and most damage.
The warning time that any system generates depends on many factors, with the most important being the proximity of seismic stations to the earthquake epicenter. Once an alert is sent, the amount of warning time is a function of distance from the epicenter, where more distant locations receive more time.
Areas in "blind zones" do not receive any warning prior to arrival of the more damaging S-wave. The goal, writes Kuyuk and Allen, is to minimize the number of people and key infrastructure within the blind zone. For the more remote earthquakes, such as earthquakes offshore or in unpopulated regions, larger blind zones can be tolerated.
"There are large blind zones between the Bay Area and Los Angeles where there are active faults," said Kuyuk. "Why? There are only 10 stations along the 150-mile section of the San Andreas Fault. Adding more stations would improve warning for people in these areas, as well as people in LA and the Bay Area should an earthquake start somewhere in between," said Kuyuk.
Adding stations may not be so simple, according to Allen. "While there is increasing enthusiasm from state and federal legislators to build the earthquake early warning system that the public wants," said Allen, "the reality of the USGS budget for the earthquake program means that it is becoming impossible to maintain the functionality of the existing network operated by the USGS and the universities.
"The USGS was recently forced to downgrade the telemetry of 58 of the stations in the San Francisco Bay Area in order to reduce costs," said Allen. "While our SRL paper talks about where additional stations are needed in California to build a warning system, we are unfortunately losing stations."
In California, the California Integrated Seismic Network (CISN) consists of multiple networks, with 2900 seismic stations at varying distances from each other, ranging from 2 to 100 km. Of the some 2900 stations, 377 are equipped to contribute to an EEW system.
Kuyuk and Allen estimate 10 km is the ideal distance between seismic stations in areas along major faults or near major cities. For other areas, an interstation distance of 20 km would provide sufficient warning. The authors suggest greater density of stations and coverage could be achieved by upgrading technology used by the existing stations, integrating Nevada stations into the current network, relocating some existing stations and adding new ones to the network.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation funded this study.
A Low-Cost Solution in Taiwan
In a separate study, Yih-Min Wu of National Taiwan University reports on the successful experiment to use low cost MEMS sensors to build a high-density seismic network to support an early warning system for Taiwan.
MEMS accelerometers are tiny sensors used in common devices, such as smart phones and laptops. These sensors are relatively cheap and have proven to be sensitive detectors of ground motion, particularly from large earthquakes.
The current EEW system in Taiwan consists of 109 seismic stations that can provide alerts within 20 seconds following the initial detection of an earthquake. Wu sought to reduce the time between earthquake and initial alert, thereby increasing the potential warning time.
The EEW research group at National Taiwan University developed a P-wave alert device named "Palert" that uses MEMS accelerometers for onsite earthquake early warning, at one-tenth the cost of traditional strong motion instruments.
From June 2012 to May 2013 Wu and his colleagues tested a network of 400 Palert devices deployed throughout Taiwan, primarily at elementary schools to take advantage of existing power and Internet connections and where they can be used to educate students about earthquake hazard mitigation.
During the testing period, the Palert system functioned similarly to the existing EEW system, which consists of the conventional strong motion instruments. With four times as many stations, the Palert network can provide a detailed shaking map for damage assessments, which it did for the March 2013 magnitude 6.1 Nantou quake.
Wu suggests the relatively low cost Palert device may have commercial potential and can be readily integrated into existing seismic networks to increase coverage density of EEW systems. In addition to China, Indonesia and Mexico, plans call for the Palert devices to be installed near New Delhi, India to test the feasibility of an EEW system there.
###
Share
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 30-Oct-2013
ShareContact: Nan Broadbent
press@seismosoc.org
408-431-9885
Seismological Society of America
SAN FRANCISCO, October 30, 2013 -- Earthquake early warning systems may provide the public with crucial seconds to prepare for severe shaking. For California, a new study suggests upgrading current technology and relocating some seismic stations would improve the warning time, particularly in areas poorly served by the existing network south of San Francisco Bay Area to north Los Angeles and north of the San Francisco Bay Area.
A separate case study focuses on the utility of low cost sensors to create a high-density, effective network that can be used for issuing early warnings in Taiwan. Both studies appear in the November issue of the journal Seismological Research Letters (SRL).
"We know where most active faults are in California, and we can smartly place seismic stations to optimize the network," said Serdar Kuyuk, assistant professor of civil engineering at Sakarya University in Turkey, who conducted the California study while he was a post-doctoral fellow at University of California (UC), Berkeley. Richard Allen, director of the Seismological Laboratory at UC Berkeley, is the co-author of this study.
Japan started to build its EEW system after the 1995 Kobe earthquake and performed well during the 2011 magnitude 9 Tohoku-Oki earthquake. While the U.S. Geological Survey(USGS)/Caltech Southern California Seismic and TriNet Network in Southern California was upgraded in response to the 1994 Northridge quake, the U.S is lagging behind Japan and other countries in developing a fully functional warning system.
"We should not wait until another major quake before improving the early warning system," said Kuyuk.
Noting California's recent law that calls for the creation of a statewide earthquake early warning (EEW) system, Kuyuk says "the study is timely and highlights for policymakers where to deploy stations for optimal coverage." The approach maximizes the warning time and reduces the size of "blind zones" where no warning is possible, while also taking into account budgetary constraints.
Earthquake early warning systems detect the initiation of an earthquake and issue warning alerts of possible forthcoming ground shaking. Seismic stations detect the energy from the compressional P-wave first, followed by the shear and surface waves, which cause the intense shaking and most damage.
The warning time that any system generates depends on many factors, with the most important being the proximity of seismic stations to the earthquake epicenter. Once an alert is sent, the amount of warning time is a function of distance from the epicenter, where more distant locations receive more time.
Areas in "blind zones" do not receive any warning prior to arrival of the more damaging S-wave. The goal, writes Kuyuk and Allen, is to minimize the number of people and key infrastructure within the blind zone. For the more remote earthquakes, such as earthquakes offshore or in unpopulated regions, larger blind zones can be tolerated.
"There are large blind zones between the Bay Area and Los Angeles where there are active faults," said Kuyuk. "Why? There are only 10 stations along the 150-mile section of the San Andreas Fault. Adding more stations would improve warning for people in these areas, as well as people in LA and the Bay Area should an earthquake start somewhere in between," said Kuyuk.
Adding stations may not be so simple, according to Allen. "While there is increasing enthusiasm from state and federal legislators to build the earthquake early warning system that the public wants," said Allen, "the reality of the USGS budget for the earthquake program means that it is becoming impossible to maintain the functionality of the existing network operated by the USGS and the universities.
"The USGS was recently forced to downgrade the telemetry of 58 of the stations in the San Francisco Bay Area in order to reduce costs," said Allen. "While our SRL paper talks about where additional stations are needed in California to build a warning system, we are unfortunately losing stations."
In California, the California Integrated Seismic Network (CISN) consists of multiple networks, with 2900 seismic stations at varying distances from each other, ranging from 2 to 100 km. Of the some 2900 stations, 377 are equipped to contribute to an EEW system.
Kuyuk and Allen estimate 10 km is the ideal distance between seismic stations in areas along major faults or near major cities. For other areas, an interstation distance of 20 km would provide sufficient warning. The authors suggest greater density of stations and coverage could be achieved by upgrading technology used by the existing stations, integrating Nevada stations into the current network, relocating some existing stations and adding new ones to the network.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation funded this study.
A Low-Cost Solution in Taiwan
In a separate study, Yih-Min Wu of National Taiwan University reports on the successful experiment to use low cost MEMS sensors to build a high-density seismic network to support an early warning system for Taiwan.
MEMS accelerometers are tiny sensors used in common devices, such as smart phones and laptops. These sensors are relatively cheap and have proven to be sensitive detectors of ground motion, particularly from large earthquakes.
The current EEW system in Taiwan consists of 109 seismic stations that can provide alerts within 20 seconds following the initial detection of an earthquake. Wu sought to reduce the time between earthquake and initial alert, thereby increasing the potential warning time.
The EEW research group at National Taiwan University developed a P-wave alert device named "Palert" that uses MEMS accelerometers for onsite earthquake early warning, at one-tenth the cost of traditional strong motion instruments.
From June 2012 to May 2013 Wu and his colleagues tested a network of 400 Palert devices deployed throughout Taiwan, primarily at elementary schools to take advantage of existing power and Internet connections and where they can be used to educate students about earthquake hazard mitigation.
During the testing period, the Palert system functioned similarly to the existing EEW system, which consists of the conventional strong motion instruments. With four times as many stations, the Palert network can provide a detailed shaking map for damage assessments, which it did for the March 2013 magnitude 6.1 Nantou quake.
Wu suggests the relatively low cost Palert device may have commercial potential and can be readily integrated into existing seismic networks to increase coverage density of EEW systems. In addition to China, Indonesia and Mexico, plans call for the Palert devices to be installed near New Delhi, India to test the feasibility of an EEW system there.
###
Share
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A major contractor behind the federal health insurance exchange website told the government last month it didn't have enough time to test its product.
CGI Federal also told the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in a memo that it couldn't get access to computer logs that would have pinpointed potential problems. The contractor labeled that issue as "severe" as recently as June, and said a compressed schedule didn't allow enough time for adequate testing.
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform asked CGI Federal for the documents last week. It released them to the public late Tuesday.
The HealthCare.gov website is a key part of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, but its high-profile failures have marred the site since it launched Oct. 1.
Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2013-10-30-Health%20Overhaul-Problems-Warning/id-717dca321952439ab08f89710967a615
