Sunday, April 28, 2013

Apple reassures developers who didn't get WWDC tickets that videos, Tech Talks will be coming soon

Apple reassures developers who didn't get WWDC tickets that videos, Tech Talks will be coming soon

With Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference -- WWDC 2013 -- selling out in under 2 minutes, Apple has published a shot news blurb on their News and Announcements for Developers hoping to assuage the disappointment of those who couldn't score a ticket by reiterating that videos will be coming quickly this year, and that Tech Talks will once again be following in the fall.

Thank you for your unprecedented interest in WWDC.

Enthusiasm for WWDC 2013 has been incredible, with tickets selling out in record time. For those who can?t join us in San Francisco, you can still take advantage of great WWDC content, as we?ll be posting videos of all our sessions during the conference. We?ll also be hitting the road this fall with Tech Talks in a city near you. Hope to see you there.

Tech Talk tickets have traditionally gone to developers who didn't attend WWDC, so no big surprise there. Videos have likewise been coming more quickly in recent years than previous years, though this year certainly looks to be even quicker still.

If you missed out on a WWDC ticket, does any of this make you feel any better? Would even live streams of the sessions and a major increase in the amount of evangelists and Tech Talks make any difference?

Source: News and Announcements for Developers

    


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/HX0VFz4-mfY/story01.htm

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ORNL analysis predicts losses from extreme weather damage could ...

Researcher tackles unprecedented county-by-county economic loss forecast

Research in impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability science has the potential to improve preparation for extreme weather events like Superstorm Sandy, which cost dozens of lives and billions of dollars in damages. Image credit: iStockphoto

Research in impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability science has the potential to improve preparation for extreme weather events like Superstorm Sandy, which cost dozens of lives and billions of dollars in damages. Image credit: iStockphoto

(hi-res image)
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U.S. economic losses from extreme weather could at least double by 2050, according to an Oak Ridge National Laboratory analysis published this month in the online edition of the journal Global Environmental Change.

"A side effect of America's growth has been the tendency to put more people, infrastructure and assets in harm's way, and when a storm comes through, that increased exposure drives up economic losses," said author Benjamin Preston, deputy director of ORNL's Climate Change Science Institute, who studied historical data from more than 3,000 U.S. counties and used predictive modeling in the assessment. Preston works in impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability science, a field devoted to analyzing the effects of climate change on people, governments and industries.

So far in the twenty-first century, Americans have seen hefty price tags for extreme weather damage. The bulk of disaster losses are associated with extreme events in highly populated, wealthy areas. In 2011 alone the U.S. witnessed a record 14 weather disasters causing $1 billion or more in damages each. Climate change will likely cause such disasters to occur with greater frequency and severity, as projected in a 2012 Special Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Preston sought to quantify what population growth and continued development might mean for future losses, independent of any changes in the frequency or intensity of severe weather events associated with climate change. He used county data about population and wealth from 1960 to 2009 to plot each county's socioeconomic exposure through time. Then he used the historical data to generate predictions of exposure until 2054.

Counties in the Southeast and Southwest could experience the most rapid growth in wealth and exposure, he found, while those in the already densely populated Northeast and West Coast will become exposed to risk more slowly.

Preston projected that current annual U.S. disaster losses of $10 billion to $13 billion could increase by a factor of 1.8 to 3.9 by 2050. Whether losses double or quadruple depends on two different assumptions researchers make when projecting losses based on socioeconomic exposure.

"A commonly used assumption is that losses increase in direct proportion with exposure," Preston said. "So, if a community grows to be twice as wealthy, it will lose twice as much when disaster strikes."

Based on this traditional assumption Preston calculated that future losses would grow slightly faster than the economy as a whole, quadrupling by the year 2050. In a second approach, Preston based his calculations on losses reported in recent Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster assistance applications. This empirical approach suggested losses will grow more slowly than the economy, only doubling by 2050?a difference of billions of dollars compared to loss projections under the traditional assumption. According to Preston, this result suggests that communities may become more resilient to extreme weather as they develop.

Regardless of differences between the two approaches, Preston underscores that losses from extreme events are increasing across the U.S., even without accounting for the potential effects of climate change.

"Despite uncertainties in projecting economic losses of extreme weather events, this study reflects how the U.S. continues to grow more vulnerable to extreme events," Preston said.

Improving projections for population growth and development, as well as changes in climate, could inform social and political debate over whether individual communities should invest in changes now to protect their people and property in the future.

UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE's Office of Science. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit http://science.energy.gov/.

The study was funded by ORNL's Laboratory Directed Research and Development program, which supports strategic investments in promising research areas.? Katie Elyce Freeman, April 26, 2013

Source: http://www.ornl.gov/info/features/get_feature.cfm?FeatureNumber=f20130426-00

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Friday, April 26, 2013

Engadget Mobile Podcast 178 - 04.26.13

Engadget Mobile Podcast 178 - 04.26.13

New phones usually enjoy a big comfortable seat in the limelight when they land. This week, however, there's a lot less elbow room thanks to the recent deluge. But, despite much more muscular competition, that cheeky Asha 210, still manages to get in there first. Enjoy the show.

Hosts: Myriam Joire (tnkgrl), Brad Molen, Joseph Volpe

Producer: James Trew

Music: Tycho - Coastal Brake (Ghostly International)

Hear the podcast

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Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/26/engadget-mobile-podcast-178-04-26-13/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Who Actually Uses Math at Work?

Let's admit it together. We all kind of suck at math. It's okay! Numbers are evil. And back in high school when you were forced to struggle through Algebra and Geometry and Algebra again and if you were especially unlucky, Calculus, you probably thought to yourself when in the hell would you ever use all those stupid theories, equations and computational silliness in real life. And the truth is you won't use them! Who needs math! More »
    


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/CYNsqg1mBCY/who-actually-uses-math-at-work

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5-year-old Mensa member learned to read while using the toilet

Gus Dorman puts together a puzzle picture of the Periodic Table of Elements (Rob Dorman/ABC News)He?s one of the youngest members of Mensa, but a 5-year-old boy from Collinsville, Ill., earned his stripes in a pretty conventional manner: learning to read on the toilet.

?He started reading when he was 18 months old,? Rob Dorman told the Suburban Journal about his son, Gus, whom he found perusing a paper in the bathroom. ?He was sitting on the porta-potty reading a newspaper. I noticed that he liked to look at maps so I put one up. In about a week's time, he had memorized everything on it. He's just always been very clever.?

In addition to reading at an exceptionally early age, Gus has also memorized every element on the periodic table, along with every country in the world and all 50 U.S. states.

?They teach me stuff I already know,? Gus told the Suburban Journal when asked about his kindergarten experience.

His parents agreed, saying Gus has been struggling at school because the coursework is simply too easy for him.

?He's so far advanced, he is bored and he gets into trouble,? Rob Dorman said. ?He thinks he's a bad kid but he just needs to be challenged.?

Last month, the Dormans decided to get their son's IQ formally tested. His tests showed an IQ score of 147, meaning he qualified for membership in Mensa, which requires an IQ of 130 for individuals of any age to join.

Mensa is the world?s oldest and largest high-IQ society. It describes its goals as being ?to identify and to foster human intelligence for the benefit of humanity; to encourage research into the nature, characteristics, and uses of intelligence; and to provide a stimulating intellectual and social environment for its members"

Mensa has more than 100,000 members in more than 100 countries, according to the group?s website.

Interestingly, there have been a number of toddlers admitted to Mensa over the past few years. The Mensa website even provides a guide for parents wondering if ?my child is bright.?

In May 2012, Mensa welcomed a 2-year-old Canadian girl into its ranks. Of course, even with her exceptional IQ, little Emmelyn Roettger was still prone to human needs. During an appearance on NBC?s ?Today" show, Roettiger caught the show?s hosts off guard when she bluntly announced, ?I need to poop.?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/5-old-mensa-member-learned-read-while-using-192904073.html

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Ceramic foam cleans up exhaust gases

Ceramic foam cleans up exhaust gases [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 25-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Dr. Panayotis Dimopoulos
Panayotis.Dimopoulos@empa.ch
41-587-654-337
Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA)

Novel gas catalysts

Conventional catalytic cleaning units for exhaust gases are made with a regular honeycomb structure. The catalytically active layer, which contains valuable noble metals such as platinum, rhodium or palladium, is deposited on the surface of this one-piece, or monolithic, ceramic substrate. The hot exhaust gases flow through the catalyst in a non-turbulent manner. However, since most of the flow occurs in the middle of the catalyst, this region becomes exhausted more rapidly than the peripheral areas of the monolith, which remain more or less unused. In order to extend the service life of the unit, it must be made longer. But longer also means more surface area, more noble metal content and therefore higher cost.

Efficiency originating at Empa

Empa researchers from the Internal Combustion Engines Laboratory, under the leadership of Panayotis Dimopoulos Eggenschwiler, have succeeded in finding an innovative solution to this problem. The team is working on a catalytic substrate made of ceramic foam which, in future, will replace the conventional monolithic structure. For the same catalytic performance the novel device is significantly cheaper than the monolith-based unit. In contrast to the latter, the ceramic foam has in an irregular structure much like a sponge which causes the gas passing through it to flow in a turbulent manner, distributed equally throughout the whole of its volume. Although the foam catalyst actually has less surface area than the monolith, this area is much more efficiently utilized. As a result, to achieve the same effect as a conventional catalytic unit, the ceramic type requires only one third as much expensive noble metal and only half the physical length.

Despite the fragility of the ceramic foam, with the help of colleagues from Empa's High-Performance Ceramics Laboratory the scientists succeeded in increasing the mechanical strength of the material many times over. Currently the research team is working to optimize the structure of the ceramic the foam substrate has a greater air resistance than the monolith, which results in a slight comparative increase in fuel consumption. Using sophisticated computer simulation techniques, the Empa team has developed foam structures which reduce the air resistance without affecting the necessary turbulence.

Although at the moment the foam catalyst is being manufactured purely on the laboratory scale at Empa, industrial contacts are already showing interest in the new device. The Belgian material technologies company Umicore is a partner in the project, as is Fiat Powertrain Technologies. The foam catalyst is being proven in a diesel test vehicle on the Empa site. In addition, over the last 18 months a vehicle fitted with the innovative new catalyst belonging to the Industriellen Werke Basel (IWB) has been driven around in a long-term test eventually intended to cover at least 150,000 km.

Cheaper catalysts despite more stringent exhaust gas standards

The Foamcat represents the ideal alternative to the monolithic catalyst, above all for small diesel vehicles. After the Euro 6 exhaust-gas standard comes into force in September 2014, polluting emissions from diesel motors will be obliged to sink significantly. In particular, after this date a nitrogen monoxide catalyst will be compulsory. In combination with a particle filter and the conventional hydrocarbon and carbon dioxide catalyst, this will make exhaust gas treatment for diesel automobiles significantly more expensive. With its greatly reduced requirement of expensive noble metals, Empa's Foamcat will help to minimize these costs.

###


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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Ceramic foam cleans up exhaust gases [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 25-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Dr. Panayotis Dimopoulos
Panayotis.Dimopoulos@empa.ch
41-587-654-337
Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA)

Novel gas catalysts

Conventional catalytic cleaning units for exhaust gases are made with a regular honeycomb structure. The catalytically active layer, which contains valuable noble metals such as platinum, rhodium or palladium, is deposited on the surface of this one-piece, or monolithic, ceramic substrate. The hot exhaust gases flow through the catalyst in a non-turbulent manner. However, since most of the flow occurs in the middle of the catalyst, this region becomes exhausted more rapidly than the peripheral areas of the monolith, which remain more or less unused. In order to extend the service life of the unit, it must be made longer. But longer also means more surface area, more noble metal content and therefore higher cost.

Efficiency originating at Empa

Empa researchers from the Internal Combustion Engines Laboratory, under the leadership of Panayotis Dimopoulos Eggenschwiler, have succeeded in finding an innovative solution to this problem. The team is working on a catalytic substrate made of ceramic foam which, in future, will replace the conventional monolithic structure. For the same catalytic performance the novel device is significantly cheaper than the monolith-based unit. In contrast to the latter, the ceramic foam has in an irregular structure much like a sponge which causes the gas passing through it to flow in a turbulent manner, distributed equally throughout the whole of its volume. Although the foam catalyst actually has less surface area than the monolith, this area is much more efficiently utilized. As a result, to achieve the same effect as a conventional catalytic unit, the ceramic type requires only one third as much expensive noble metal and only half the physical length.

Despite the fragility of the ceramic foam, with the help of colleagues from Empa's High-Performance Ceramics Laboratory the scientists succeeded in increasing the mechanical strength of the material many times over. Currently the research team is working to optimize the structure of the ceramic the foam substrate has a greater air resistance than the monolith, which results in a slight comparative increase in fuel consumption. Using sophisticated computer simulation techniques, the Empa team has developed foam structures which reduce the air resistance without affecting the necessary turbulence.

Although at the moment the foam catalyst is being manufactured purely on the laboratory scale at Empa, industrial contacts are already showing interest in the new device. The Belgian material technologies company Umicore is a partner in the project, as is Fiat Powertrain Technologies. The foam catalyst is being proven in a diesel test vehicle on the Empa site. In addition, over the last 18 months a vehicle fitted with the innovative new catalyst belonging to the Industriellen Werke Basel (IWB) has been driven around in a long-term test eventually intended to cover at least 150,000 km.

Cheaper catalysts despite more stringent exhaust gas standards

The Foamcat represents the ideal alternative to the monolithic catalyst, above all for small diesel vehicles. After the Euro 6 exhaust-gas standard comes into force in September 2014, polluting emissions from diesel motors will be obliged to sink significantly. In particular, after this date a nitrogen monoxide catalyst will be compulsory. In combination with a particle filter and the conventional hydrocarbon and carbon dioxide catalyst, this will make exhaust gas treatment for diesel automobiles significantly more expensive. With its greatly reduced requirement of expensive noble metals, Empa's Foamcat will help to minimize these costs.

###


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/sflf-cfc042513.php

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Feds spend at least $890,000 on fees for empty accounts (Washington Post)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/301277499?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Stocks open little changed on mixed earnings news

NEW YORK (AP) ? Stock indexes are little changed in early trading on Wall Street following mixed earnings results from Apple, Ford, Boeing and other major U.S. companies.

The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index were moving between small gains and losses shortly after the opening bell Wednesday.

As of 9:45 a.m. Eastern the Dow was down seven points at 14,715 and the S&P 500 was up two points at 1,580.

The Nasdaq composite was up four points at 3,273.

Earnings will continue to roll out this week.

Online game maker Zynga reports after the closing bell. For the remainder of the week, earnings are expected from Dow Chemical, Southwest Airlines, UPS, Exxon Mobil and Burger King.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stocks-open-little-changed-mixed-earnings-news-135022820--finance.html

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Wednesday, April 24, 2013

What is a Real Estate Investing Discussion Forum? | The Niche Report

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As an real estate investor in the technological age one good place to network with other real estate investors is in a real estate investing forum. You will get plenty of information from real estate investing forums not to mention you can also get ideas of what other investors are doing with their investment deals. Forums are renowned as helpful to new investors who are still thinking of how to get started in real estate or those who would like a second opinion on the first few deals they embark on.

What is a Real Estate Investing Discussion Forum?

So what exactly is an investing forum? Basically, a forum is a place online where people could meet and discuss various real estate topics. A forum can also be called a bulletin board, newsgroup or discussion area. The main goal of an investing forum is to provide an area where real estate investors can interact with questions, answers and discuss on a given real estate topic or type of deal.

Did you know that REIClub.com has 10 discussion forums just for real estate investors to connect, learn and help them $earn??Our real estate newsgroups and discussion forums allow real estate investors to chat and share information. Best of all it?s a FREE investing tool. Here is a list and description of REIClub?s investing discussion forums that are open 24/7

REIClub Real Estate Investing Discussion Forums

  1. ?Carlton Sheets, Beginners, Courses, Gurus, General Forum
    Getting Started / Courses, Books, Events, Authors / General Questions
  2. Bird Dogs, Wholesaling, Flipping Properties Forum
    Bird Dogs, Wholesaling, Assignments, Fliipping Properties, and More
  3. Foreclosures, Short Sales, Tax Foreclosures, Tax Liens Forum
    Foreclosures, Short Sales, REO?s, Preforeclosures, Hud Homes, VA Homes, Tax Sales, Tax Liens, Tax Lien Certificates, Tax Auctions
  4. Sub2, Owner Finance, Options, Lease Options Forum
    Subject to, Owner Finance, Installment Sales, Contract for Deed, Wraps, All Inclusive Trust Deeds, Options, Lease Options, Lease Purchase
  5. Rehabbing, Landlording Forum
    Rehabbing, Contractors, Landlording, Section 8, Tenants
  6. Financing, Hard Money Lenders, Credit, Qualifying
    Hard Money Lenders, Private Lenders, Credit, Qualifying
  7. Asset Protection, Legal and Contract Issues, Income Taxes, 1031 Exchanges
    Entities, Asset Protection, Legal Issues, Contracts, Land Trusts, Quitclaims, Bankruptcy, Performance Mortgage, Income Taxes
  8. Commercial, Mobile Homes, Self Storage, Notes, Land Forum
    Commercial, MultiFamily, Office, Retail, Apartments, Self Storage, Mobile Homes, Mobile Home Parks, Wobbly Boxes, Notes, Cash Flow, Discounted Mortgages, Partials, Tails, Defaulted Paper, Land
  9. Marketing Forum
    Bandit Signs, Direct Mail, Classified Ads, Vehicle Signs, Billboards, Radio, Television
  10. Random Ramblings
    Items not specific to real estate investing

?Major Benefits Real Estate Investing Forums

Benefits of Forums #1: Investors Get Useful Ideas From Other Members

Discussing ideas with various members of the forum makes you learn new things and you also get good ideas from members. There are times that the idea you get from other forum members can be the start of a better deal or a new profit strategy. The beauty of it was you got the tip or feedback for free; and all you did was participated in a forum discussion.

Benefits of Forums #2: It Builds Your Credibility

If you participate in? a online real estate investing forum by asking questions and providing feedback, then investors and other real estate professional will take you seriously. They will say to themselves, ?Hey this person is for real. He really knows something about real estate investing.? It?s also a huge confidence booster. Talk about the topic you are an expert in honestly and try to provide sound advice to forum members. In time these forum members will look up to you and see you as the subject matter expert. It makes you a guru in their eyes and also they will trust you and your word.

Benefits of Forums #3: Free & Open 24/7

Find and participate in a FREE online real estate investing forum that covers the gamut of real estate topics including how to get started in real estate investing, Robert Kiyosaki, real estate gurus and their courses, Private and Hard Money Lenders, Rehabbing, Landlording, Lease options, Financing ? just to list a few of the most common real estate investing discussion topics. You can post a question at anytime and usually get a response in real time by all sorts of knowledgeable and seasoned investors.Did I mention it?s also a great networking tool?

Good Luck Networking & Investing!

Short URL: http://www.thenichereport.com/?p=14559

Source: http://www.thenichereport.com/articles/what-is-a-real-estate-investing-discussion-forum/

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Facebook Home (for Android)


Install the free Facebook Home app on a compatible Android phone, and you'll find that your locked screen transforms into a gorgeous, interactive slideshow of photos and posts from your Facebook friends. Anytime you glance at your phone to check the time or see whether you've missed a call, you'll see an ever-changing background image made up of pictures of friends on vacation, updates about babies and baby-related things, and whatever else comes through your Facebook feed. Tap the screen, and you can see comments and "likes," and add your own comment or "like" to someone's activity. But ?and here's the rub?anyone else who gets his hands on your phone can, too.

The huge, gaping, show-stopping problem with Facebook Home: It lacks any security whatsoever. If you have a layer of security turned on to protect your phone, such as a PIN code or other lock, the Facebook Home app still lets anyone within arm's reach mess with your Facebook account by posting comments as if they were you. (I wish I could say I don't have any friends who would do such a thing, but that would be a bald-faced lie. And, what's worse, if you lose your phone, a perpetrator could post anything as well as read anything that shows up on your feed.) For this reason alone, I cannot recommend installing Facebook Home, even though the app's concept and visual design are superb.

If you're not deterred by the complete lack of security?maybe you don't even use a lock on your phone at all, which makes me cringe, but hey, that's your decision?Facebook Home does add a homey touch to your Android screen.

Requirements, Installation, and Setup
Not all Android devices can get Facebook Home. To run it, you'll need one of the following phones:

Facebook Home comes preloaded on the HTC First. I used both a Samsung Galaxy S III and HTC First for my testing.

Before you can install Facebook Home, you first need to have the standard Facebook app loaded, but after that, it's as simple as loading the app and authenticating it.

What You'll See
Facebook Home takes over your Android's screen and replaces it with a flowing and interactive window into your Facebook feed. If you simply toggling the screen on, the app greets you with recent updates from your Facebook friends. Newly shared photos seem to get special treatment, appearing first even if they are not the most recent updates from your network. They hang on the screen for a few seconds before whisking away and letting another image capture your attention. You can also force the next one along by swiping left or right.

A summary of information about the post, such as number of "likes" and comments" appears in simple white san serif text at the bottom right. In the bottom left corner sit two icons where you can "like" or comment on the activity, too. And that's where there's no security whatsoever. I turned a PIN lock on both the Samsung Galaxy S III and HTC First that I used in testing, turned the phones off, pressed the power button, and was able to post comments freely without being asked to enter a PIN.

If you tap the screen, your own photo appears in a small circle, and if you press it, more options appear to the left, right, and above: Facebook messenger, most recently used app (e.g., Camera, Email), and Apps, respectively. Accessing any of these functions does require the PIN or other locked code, if it's enabled, thank goodness.

The concept here, in my opinion, is that with Facebook Home installed, Facebook messenger remains front and center, right before your eyes, every time you use your phone, and thus hopefully, it becomes a more convenient application for messaging than any of the alternatives. If you want the full Facebook experience, you have to also install a third app (annoying): Facebook Messenger.

Once Facebook for Android, Facebook Messenger, and Facebook Home are all installed, you can then get the new "chat heads" feature. This feature lets you continue chatting with friends no matter which app you're using. Here's how it works: Say your sister sends you a Facebook instant message, and let's say you're using the LinkedIn app at the moment. Her profile picture will appear in a little bubble, overlaid directly on top of LinkedIn. You'll also see a red badge containing a number, indicating the amount of unread messages from her. If you have multiple conversations going, you'll see multiple disembodied heads. You can dismiss any chat by dragging the bubble-head onto an X that also appears overlaid on the screen.

If you don't install Facebook Messenger, you'll still be notified of incoming chats, but rather than see the floating heads, you'll just see a notification at the top of the screen, which you can access with a quick down-swipe.

Phone Home?
At this time, I cannot recommend anyone install the Facebook Home app due to the major security flaw that lets in arm's reach of your phone post a comment or "like" activity on your behalf without having to enter a PIN code or otherwise unlock the security you have enabled on your Android. The app itself succeeds in getting Facebook in front of your face more frequently, and for the most part, the design is quite lovely. But as long as that security hole exists, don't install Facebook Home.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/gakboIkq-fg/0,2817,2418043,00.asp

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NKorea vows to bolster nuclear arms over US report

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? North Korea is vowing to bolster its nuclear program in response to a U.S. State Department report accusing Pyongyang of human rights abuses.

Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday called the annual U.S. report proof of a hostile policy by Washington that's aimed at toppling North Korea's leadership.

The State Department last week cited defectors' reports of extrajudicial killings, disappearances, arbitrary detention, arrests of political prisoners and torture.

Last month, Pyongyang also condemned a U.N. resolution approving a formal probe into suspected widespread rights violations.

Pyongyang has eased the near-daily war threats that characterized its public statements for weeks. But animosity lingers.

Pyongyang has rejected offers of dialogue from Washington and Seoul. It says U.S.-South Korean military drills set to end next week are meant as invasion preparation.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nkorea-vows-bolster-nuclear-arms-over-us-report-095449377.html

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Anti-smoking ads with strong arguments, not flashy editing, trigger part of brain that changes behavior

Apr. 23, 2013 ? Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at University of the Pennsylvania have shown that an area of the brain that initiates behavioral changes had greater activation in smokers who watched anti-smoking ads with strong arguments versus those with weaker ones, and irrespective of flashy elements, like bright and rapidly changing scenes, loud sounds and unexpected scenario twists. Those smokers also had significantly less nicotine metabolites in their urine when tested a month after viewing those ads, the team reports in a new study published online April 23 in the Journal of Neuroscience.

This is the first time research has shown an association between cognition and brain activity in response to content and format in televised ads and behavior.

In a study of 71 non-treatment-seeking smokers recruited from the Philadelphia area, the team, led by Daniel D. Langleben, M.D., a psychiatrist in the Center for Studies of Addiction at Penn Medicine, identified key brain regions engaged in the processing of persuasive communications using fMRI, or functional magnetic resonance imaging. They found that a part of the brain involved in future behavioral changes -- known as the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dMPFC) -- had greater activation when smokers watched an anti-smoking ad with a strong argument versus a weak one.

One month after subjects watched the ads, the researchers sampled smokers' urine cotinine levels (metabolite of nicotine) and found that those who watched the strong ads had significantly less cotinine in their urine compared to their baseline versus those who watched weaker ads.

Even ads riddled with attention-grabbing tactics, the research suggests, are not effective at reducing tobacco intake unless their arguments are strong. However, ads with flashy editing and strong arguments, for example, produced better recognition.

"We investigated the two major dimensions of any piece of media, content and format, which are both important here," said Dr. Langleben, who is also an associate professor in the department of Psychiatry. "If you give someone an unconvincing ad, it doesn't matter what format you do on top of that. You can make it sensational. But in terms of effectiveness, content is more important. You're better off adding in more sophisticated editing and other special effects only if it is persuasive."

The paper may enable improved methods of design and evaluation of public health advertising, according to the authors, including first author An-Li Wang, PhD, of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. And it could ultimately influence how producers shape the way ads are constructed, and how ad production budgets are allocated, considering special effects are expensive endeavors versus hiring screenwriters.

A 2009 study by Dr. Langleben and colleagues that looked solely at format found people were more likely to remember low-key, anti-smoking messages versus attention-grabbing messages. This was the first research to show that low-key versus attention-grabbing ads stimulated different patterns of activity, particularly in the frontal cortex and temporal cortex. But it did not address content strength or behavioral changes.

This new study is the first longitudinal investigation of the cognitive, behavioral, and neurophysical response to the content and format of televised anti-smoking ads, according to the authors.

"This sets the stage for science-based evaluation and design of persuasive public health advertising," said Dr. Langleben. "An ad is only as strong as its central argument, which matters more than its audiovisual presentation. Future work should consider supplementing focus groups with more technology-heavy assessments, such as brain responses to these ads, in advance of even putting the ad together in its entirety."

Co-authors of the study include Kosha Ruparel, MSE, James W. Loughead, PhD, Andrew A. Strasser, PhD, Shira J. Blady, Kevin G. Lynch, PhD, Dan Romer, PhD, and Caryn Lerman, PhD, of the Department of Psychiatry at Penn Medicine, and Joseph N. Cappella, PhD, of the Annenberg School for Communication.

This study was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R21 DA024419).

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/PCn9rWhdoXs/130423211716.htm

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Doctors: All Boston bomb patients likely to live

BOSTON (AP) ? In a glimmer of good news after last week's tragedy, all of the more than 180 people injured in the Boston Marathon blasts who made it to a hospital alive now seem likely to survive.

That includes several people who arrived with legs attached by just a little skin, a 3-year-old boy with a head wound and bleeding on the brain, and a little girl riddled with nails. Even a transit system police officer whose heart had stopped and was close to bleeding to death after a shootout with the suspects now appears headed for recovery.

"All I feel is joy," said Dr. George Velmahos, chief of trauma surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, referring to his hospital's 31 blast patients. "Whoever came in alive, stayed alive."

Three people did die in the blasts, but at the scene, before hospitals even had a chance to try to save them. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer who police say was fatally shot Thursday by the suspects was pronounced dead when he arrived at Massachusetts General.

The only person to reach a hospital alive and then die was one of the suspected bombers ? 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

But the remarkable, universal survival one week later of all others injured in the blasts is a testimonial to fast care at the scene, on the way to hospitals, then in emergency and operating rooms. Everyone played a part, from doctors, nurses and paramedics to strangers who took off belts to use as tourniquets and staunched bleeding with their bare hands.

As of Monday, 51 people remained hospitalized, three of them in critical condition and five listed as serious. At least 14 people lost all or part of a limb; three of them lost more than one.

Two children with leg injuries remain hospitalized at Boston Children's Hospital. A 7-year-old girl is in critical condition and 11-year-old Aaron Hern of Martinez, Calif., is in fair condition.

The surviving bombing suspect, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, is in serious condition at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center with a neck wound.

"Our training, our practicing, went a long way" to minimizing chaos so that hospitals and emergency responders worked effectively to treat the many wounded, said Dr. William Mackey, surgery chief at Tufts Medical Center.

"Trauma care is optimism translated into action," said Dr. Russell Nauta, chairman of surgery at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Mass., where the wounded transit police officer, Richard Donohue, remains in stable but critical condition.

Doctors and emergency responders approach each patient as someone who can be saved regardless of how severe the injuries appear.

And some were very bad.

"The legs came hanging on muscles and skin," said Velmahos, who did three of the four initial amputations at Massachusetts General in the early hours after the bombing. A fifth patient at the hospital had to have an amputation Thursday. Doctors had judged there was a 5 percent chance the woman's leg could be saved, so they didn't amputate right away.

"We restored the blood supply to the leg, but all the muscles and nerves were destroyed," so the leg had to be removed, he explained.

Of the remaining five patients at the hospital with severe leg injuries, "I'm very confident that they will all keep their legs, and even more, that they will have functional legs," he said.

Although doctors are optimistic, some patients still have life-threatening wounds. Complications can range from blood clots to infections. A few still have injuries that could require amputation, said Dr. Michael Yaffe, a trauma surgeon at Beth Israel.

"We have to see how these are going to heal" over the next few weeks, he said. "Blood supply is key ... The two biggest enemies we will face in the next two weeks are maintaining a good blood supply and preventing infection."

So far, the progress has been in the right direction.

"Every day they're a little better," Yaffe said. "A lot of them have a long road of recovery ahead."

___

Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/doctors-boston-bomb-patients-likely-live-153736120.html

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How come I can't do a short course in Philosophy through the post or ...

How come I can?t do a short course in Philosophy through the post or web?
I?ve been looking everywhere and it seems you have to study at university for a degree to be able to be taught anything about it. I don?t want to use it for anything, I just want to study it for interest?s sake. I?ll do it even if it means nothing on paper.

Why? Crude providence!

Suggestion by Ardi Pithecus ?
You can do philosophy courses and get your degree on the internet. But it isn?t a ?short course?. It is the same course you get in a university, because in order to give you a degree, online schools must be accredited just like a brick-and-mortar school.

But if you want to want to study it on your own, here is my suggestion.

Begin at the beginning, which is to learn the basic topics.

The easiest way is by topic. Otherwise you forget in the 2nd book you choose to read what was said in the 1st book, and most of it won?t make sense anyway until you have a lot of concepts under your belt. Those concepts are the ?topics? in the Syntopicon. Among the topics are all of the branches of philosophy from metaphysics to aesthetics.

The Syntopicon is Volumes II and III of a 60 volume set of books in most libraries. You can read what interests you by topic?102 of them. Each chapter is only about 12 pages long, and at the end of each chapter are tons of references so you can find an author on that topic that interests you.

Angel; Animal; Aristocracy; Art; Astronomy; Beauty; Being; Cause; Chance; Change; Citizen; Constitution; Courage; Custom and Convention; Definition; Democracy; Desire; Dialectic; Duty; Education; Element; Emotion; Eternity; Evolution; Experience; Family; Fate; Form; God; Good and Evil; Government; Habit; Happiness; History; Honor; Hypothesis; Idea; Immortality; Induction; Infinity; Judgment; Justice; Knowledge; Labor; Language; Law; Liberty; Life and Death; Logic; Love; Man; Mathematics; Matter; Mechanics; Medicine; Memory and Imagination; Metaphysics; Mind; Monarchy; Nature; Necessity and Contingency; Oligarchy; One and Many; Opinion; Opposition; Philosophy; Physics; Pleasure and Pain; Poetry; Principle; Progress; Prophecy; Prudence; Punishment; Quality; Quantity; Reasoning; Relation; Religion; Revolution; Rhetoric; Same and Other; Science; Sense; Sign and Symbol; Sin; Slavery; Soul; Space; State; Temperance; Theology; Time; Truth; Tyranny; Universal and Particular; Virtue and Vice; War and Peace; Wealth; Will; Wisdom; World

There are also a few beginner?s websites, like the one by Britannica, with its own Dictionary of terms. http://www.philosophypages.com/index.htm

Only after you have the basic understanding of what philosophers have already said in history can you begin to understand the significance of what they say in the modern era. How will you know that statement made about free will by Nietzsche is not in reference to a statement made by Plato or by Averroes if you have not read a paragraph or two from Plato and Averroes on the subject?

Historicism is often extremely important when the author himself expects you to understand the context of his words. And you will not get a broader introduction than the Syntopicon, nor one that is so logically put together. There are good books out there, like the ones by Will Durant, etc. But there is nothing like the experience you get when you read through the Syntopicon. I buy separate volumes of the 60-book series through used books stores, as I find them.

After you read through those two volumes, THEN you can decide what else you want to read, because now you will have destinations to seek.

Suggestion by Flowquietly
All a university does is it gives you a potted history of philisophical types and questions, it also gives you list of books to read, the rest is a few years of reading and research, What university does not let you do is think for yourself!! you are not allowed to have any persoanl thought, if you have something to say you must research someone who has put what yopu want to say in print. This is a big drawback if you have ideas that you want to express.

By teaching yourself, you have the freesdom delve into your own ideas. These few books will get you started;

Sophies world by Jostein Gaarder ? a brief history of philosophy and philosphers
Plato?s republic
The great Learning, Annalects and the doctrine of the mean by Confucius
This web page may be of help as well;

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2yyffa/www.btinternet.com/~glynhughes/squashed/

Suggestion by Peter V
The contents of the course, and the responsibilities awaiting those with recognized qualifications, warrants something better then ?short?coursess.

You are working with people?s psychological problems, no such course justifies that.

Add your own answer in the comments!

Can someone please help me with my physics?
A block is attached to a horizontal spring and oscillates back and forth on a frictionless horizontal surface at a frequency of 4.20 Hz. The amplitude of the motion is 6.03 x 10-2 m. At the point where the block has its maximum speed, it suddenly splits into two identical parts, only one part remaining attached to the spring. (a) What is the amplitude and (b) the frequency of the simple harmonic motion that exists after the block splits?

Please show your wok? I want to understand how to do this not just get through it.

Suggestion by Pankaj
Hi Haley, I will definitely help u out in most of the Physics Problems.

original Amplitude, A0 =6.03?10-2m
original frequency, f0= 4.20Hz.
original mass of block = M
Let new Amplitude and freq be A1 and f1 respectively.

As you said the block splits into two equal halves right at mean position (where velocity will be maximum and spring is at its natural length). Two cases may arise, please read carefully:

1. Suppose this splitting takes place just before the block starts compressing the spring. The split blocks will still complete half cycle remaining in contact as if block was intact for half-cycle. This will happen because free block would be pressing attached block whose motion is being retarted by the spring till spring is maximally compressed at quarter cycle. For next quarter cycle, the free block will be continuously pressed and accelerated by the attached block. So, there will be no change in this half-cycle. And blocks will separate only when spring starts stretching.

2. Splitting takes place just after the spring starts stretching. clearly the free block will separate out from the system as it will continue moving with its uniform velocity as per Newton?s first law while the attached block will start retarding due spring?s force. And now we can talk of new system, new amplitude, new frequency :)

Both above cases lead to a common conclusion: New system will come into existence when spring is being stretched.

Anyways?Now, we are in a position to think ahead. As the blocks start separating right from mean position the potential energy stored in spring at that instant will be zero (U=1/2k*x^2 and x=0 here). So, all the energy is in kinetic form inside blocks. Half of this energy is carried away with free block and our new system will be having only half of the initial energy. At the time of max compression (or stretch) whole energy will be in potential form inside the spring?and half of the initial one. Hence,
(a)
1/2*k*A1^2= 1/2(1/2*k*A0^2) =
=> A1= A0*sqrt(1/2) = 6.03*10-2*0.707 = 4.2632*10-2m
(b)
mass of attached block = M/2, hence
f1= 2*3.14*sqrt(k/(M/2)) = 2*3.14*sqrt(2k/M) = [2*3.14*sqrt(k/M)]* sqrt2 = 1.414*f0 = 1.414*4.20= 5.9388Hz

Add your own answer in the comments!

Source: http://freepsychicchatonline.net/how-come-i-cant-do-a-short-course-in-philosophy-through-the-post-or-web/

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Monday, April 22, 2013

Ralph Lauren to pay $1.6 million to resolve Argentine bribery case

By Aruna Viswanatha

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Clothing retailer Ralph Lauren Corp will pay more than $1.6 million to settle a criminal and civil investigation of allegations that one of its subsidiaries bribed government officials in Argentina.

U.S. authorities agreed not to prosecute the company after allegations surfaced that it bribed Argentinian customs officials in order to clear merchandise, some of it prohibited, the U.S. Justice Department said.

The company received the lenient treatment because of its "extensive" cooperation in the inquiry and new anti-bribery training for its employees, a world-wide risk assessment it conducted and other remedial measures.

The company will pay an $882,000 penalty to the DOJ and disgorge more than $730,000 in illicit profits and interest to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the two agencies said.

Ralph Lauren did not have an anti-corruption program or provide training to employees at its subsidiary in Argentina in the five-year period over which the bribes occurred, prosecutors said.

A lawyer for the company, Thomas Hanusik, said Ralph Lauren investigated the allegations, reported them to authorities and cooperated in the government probes.

The agreement with the SEC is the first non-prosecution agreement the agency has entered in the foreign bribery context.

In recent years both agencies have stepped up efforts to enforce the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a 1970s-era law that bars bribes to officials of foreign governments.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Aruna Viswanatha; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Dan Grebler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ralph-lauren-pay-1-6-million-resolve-foreign-142545814--finance.html

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Why the U.S. Should Give Its Fracking Technology to China

Elizabeth Muller, who runs a California-based climate change monitoring group called Berkeley Earth, is urging environmentalists to help China help itself by developing its shale gas resources. Because China accounts for much of the world?s future atmospheric increase in heat-trapping gases, Muller argues that it is in everyone?s interests to help wean the country off of coal. And one of the best bets for doing that is the controversial technique of hydraulic fracturing (better known as ?fracking?), says Muller.

That caught the attention of Nick Butler, a former BP executive who writes a blog at the Financial Times (paywall). Highlighting Muller?s ?green? credentials, Butler wrote today:

Latest from Quartz:
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Shale gas is not an instant solution for China. Exploration, development and the construction of the necessary infrastructure, including pipelines to bring in water and to manage its recycling, will take time. But in China and elsewhere the development of shale and the prospect of added energy security it can bring will be overwhelmingly beneficial for China and for the world as a whole.

According to a report issued last week by the International Energy Agency, the world?s current fuel diet is only slightly cleaner than it was a quarter-century ago, despite billions of dollars spent on using more solar, wind and cleaner gasoline. The measure for this conclusion is not the rise in absolute emissions of CO2, which obviously have soared, but rather the unit measure?the amount of carbon emitted per unit of consumed energy has fallen by less than 1% since 1990, the IEA says.?

The main culprit? Coal, according to the IEA, the consumption of which keeps rising.

When you look at this slide from ExxonMobil?s 2040 outlook, you see that China accounts for a huge proportion of the rise in CO2 emissions (the ?rest of OECD? is largely the Middle East, which is forecast to burn more and more of its cheap oil to produce electricity).

It is indisputably in the interest of the U.S.?the possessor of the world?s most cutting-edge hydraulic fracturing technology?for China to successfully and rapidly develop its shale gas, and to turn down the coal furnaces.

But if my own experience is any measure, don?t count on much popular support for U.S. help. I recently served on a panel of experts projecting the geopolitics of energy, and formulating recommendations for US policy guidelines. When I suggested that the U.S. share its shale gas drilling technology with China, there was an almost audible gasp in the room. One fellow panelist finally recaptured his breath. ?Um, I don?t think we should give away our technology,? he said.

Yes, we should. Muller and Butler do not go as far as I do in suggesting that U.S. technology should be transferred free of charge. But they share the long view that shale drilling in China is in the US?s strategic interest. The perspective of technology absolutists like my fellow energy panelists?that it is never, under any circumstance, advantageous to contribute one?s engineering and scientific advances without charging for it?is the short view.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/why-u-fracking-technology-china-114833286--politics.html

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MDxHealth says U.S. meeting confirms test strength

By Gregory Blachier MONTE CARLO (Reuters) - Rafael Nadal admitted he is still trying to recapture his best form but remained optimistic for the French Open after losing his Monte Carlo crown to Novak Djokovic on Sunday. Nadal, who returned to action in March after seven months out with injury, went down 6-2 7-6 to the Serbian world number one, ending his eight-year reign on the principality's clay. "I need to put in a little bit more physical performance," the Spaniard told a news conference. "That's the real thing - to play all the points with the same intensity. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mdxhealth-says-u-meeting-confirms-test-strength-063317145--finance.html

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Germanium made laser compatible

Germanium made laser compatible [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 22-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Martin Sueess
mmartin.sueess@emez.ethz.ch
41-446-336-408
ETH Zurich

Microprocessors communicating with light

Researchers from ETH Zurich, the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) and the Politec-nico di Milano have jointly developed a manufacturing technique to render the semiconductor germanium laser-compatible through high tensile strain. In their article recently published in "Nature Photonics", they reveal how they can gen-erate the necessary tensile strain efficiently. The scientists demonstrate how to use their method to effectively alter the optical properties of germanium, which is naturally unsuitable for lasing: "With a strain of three per cent, the material emits around twenty-five times more photons than in a relaxed state," explains Martin Sess, a doctoral student at the Laboratory for Nanometallurgy headed by Ralph Spolenak and the EMEZ at ETH Zurich. "That's enough to build lasers", adds his colleague Richard Geiger, a doctoral student at the Laboratory for Micro- and Nanotechnology at the PSI and the Institute for Quantum Electronics at ETH Zurich under Jrme Faist.

High tension through microbridges

With the new method, the researchers use the slight tension generated in ger-manium when it evaporates on silicon, to bring the germanium into a laser-compatible, strechted form. This prestrain is enhanced with so-called micro-bridges: the researchers centrally notch the sides of exposed germanium strips, which remain attached to the silicon layer at both ends. The two halves of the strip thus remain connected solely by an extremely narrow bridge, which is for physical reasons precisely where the strain in the germanium grows so intense that it becomes laser-compatible.

"The tensile strain applied to the germanium is comparable to the force exerted on a pencil as two lorries pull upon it in opposite directions," says Hans Sigg, the project manager at the PSI, explaining the feat on a micrometre scale in everyday proportions. Through the expansion of the material its properties change because the individual atoms slightly move apart, which enables the electrons within the material to reach energy levels that are favourable for the generation of light particles, so-called photons.

Germanium laser for the computer of the future

The interdisciplinary research team's method could increase the performance of future computer generations considerably. After all, in order to improve comput-er performance, computer chips have constantly been made smaller and more densely packed. However, this approach will eventually reach its limits in the foreseeable future. "In order to further increase performance and speed, the individual components need to be linked more closely and communicate with each other more efficiently," explains Sess. This requires new transmission paths that are faster than today, where the signals are still transmitted via elec-tricity and copper cables.

"The future way to go is light," says Geiger. However, in order to be able to use light to transfer data, first of all light sources are needed that are so small as to fit onto a chip and react well to silicon, the base material of all computer chips. Silicon itself is not suitable for the emission of laser light, which is also the reason why it is so important for the researchers to make germanium laser-compatible: "Germanium is perfectly compatible with silicon and already used in the computer industry for the production of silicon chips," explains Geiger. If it is possible to build tiny lasers out of germanium using the new method, a system change is within reach. "We're on the right track," says Sess. The international team of researchers is currently in the process of actually constructing a germa-nium laser with the new method.

###


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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.


Germanium made laser compatible [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 22-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Martin Sueess
mmartin.sueess@emez.ethz.ch
41-446-336-408
ETH Zurich

Microprocessors communicating with light

Researchers from ETH Zurich, the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) and the Politec-nico di Milano have jointly developed a manufacturing technique to render the semiconductor germanium laser-compatible through high tensile strain. In their article recently published in "Nature Photonics", they reveal how they can gen-erate the necessary tensile strain efficiently. The scientists demonstrate how to use their method to effectively alter the optical properties of germanium, which is naturally unsuitable for lasing: "With a strain of three per cent, the material emits around twenty-five times more photons than in a relaxed state," explains Martin Sess, a doctoral student at the Laboratory for Nanometallurgy headed by Ralph Spolenak and the EMEZ at ETH Zurich. "That's enough to build lasers", adds his colleague Richard Geiger, a doctoral student at the Laboratory for Micro- and Nanotechnology at the PSI and the Institute for Quantum Electronics at ETH Zurich under Jrme Faist.

High tension through microbridges

With the new method, the researchers use the slight tension generated in ger-manium when it evaporates on silicon, to bring the germanium into a laser-compatible, strechted form. This prestrain is enhanced with so-called micro-bridges: the researchers centrally notch the sides of exposed germanium strips, which remain attached to the silicon layer at both ends. The two halves of the strip thus remain connected solely by an extremely narrow bridge, which is for physical reasons precisely where the strain in the germanium grows so intense that it becomes laser-compatible.

"The tensile strain applied to the germanium is comparable to the force exerted on a pencil as two lorries pull upon it in opposite directions," says Hans Sigg, the project manager at the PSI, explaining the feat on a micrometre scale in everyday proportions. Through the expansion of the material its properties change because the individual atoms slightly move apart, which enables the electrons within the material to reach energy levels that are favourable for the generation of light particles, so-called photons.

Germanium laser for the computer of the future

The interdisciplinary research team's method could increase the performance of future computer generations considerably. After all, in order to improve comput-er performance, computer chips have constantly been made smaller and more densely packed. However, this approach will eventually reach its limits in the foreseeable future. "In order to further increase performance and speed, the individual components need to be linked more closely and communicate with each other more efficiently," explains Sess. This requires new transmission paths that are faster than today, where the signals are still transmitted via elec-tricity and copper cables.

"The future way to go is light," says Geiger. However, in order to be able to use light to transfer data, first of all light sources are needed that are so small as to fit onto a chip and react well to silicon, the base material of all computer chips. Silicon itself is not suitable for the emission of laser light, which is also the reason why it is so important for the researchers to make germanium laser-compatible: "Germanium is perfectly compatible with silicon and already used in the computer industry for the production of silicon chips," explains Geiger. If it is possible to build tiny lasers out of germanium using the new method, a system change is within reach. "We're on the right track," says Sess. The international team of researchers is currently in the process of actually constructing a germa-nium laser with the new method.

###


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/ez-gml041913.php

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