Silicon Motion Technology last week announced it has begun shipping USB drive manufacturers samples of a new USB 3.0 controller chip for flash drives that could boost their performance by up to 50 percent.
The company said the new SM3267 integrated controller is expected to deliver up to 160 megabyte-per-second read times and 60 megabyte-per-second write speeds through a single channel; that would be a 30 percent to 50 percent performance improvement over today's USB 3.0 flash drive technology.
Even though the USB 3.0 specification has the capability to support 4.8Gbps throughput speeds, the speed of a USB 3.0-enabled flash drive is dictated by the speed of the accessing flash devices in the drive. Today, most consumer-USB 3.0 flash drives support about 100MB/s read speeds.
"We are pleased to announce that SM3267 has received design-ins from most of our current USB controller customers, including many top-tier OEMs, and we expect SM3267-based USB 3.0 flash drives will be commercially available starting in the fourth quarter of 2013," Wallace Kou, CEO of Silicon Motion, said in a statement.
The new integrated chip will also be able to run at lower voltages, from 5 volts to 1.2 volts, enabling a 25 percent to 30 percent lower USB flash drive device temperature compared with other USB 3.0 flash controller products in the market, Silicon Motion said.
The new IC will support the vast majority of NAND flash technology, including new triple-level cell (TLC), multilevel cell (MLC), high speed Toggle, and ONFI DDR NAND manufactured by Samsung, Toshiba, SanDisk, SK Hynix, Micron and Intel.
The new chip has already passed both USB-IF compliance testing and WHCK (Windows Hardware Certification Kit) tests for Windows 7 and Windows 8.
The new IC is available in a Chip-on-Board (COB) and in a 48-pin QFN green package.
Everything old is…well, newly old again in the latest of Dynamite Entertainment's big New York Comic Con–related announcements, as the publisher brings in writer Bill Willingham -- whose smash Fables series for DC's Vertigo imprint predated much of the fairy-tales-in-the-real-world trend -- for a new series that re-creates its characters in the Steampunk genre.
"This is a story where I get to have my cake and eat it, too," Willingham said of Legenderry: A Steampunk Adventure. "I get to work with some of my favorite characters from comic books, prose and film, but also get to create brand-new versions of each one of them." Amongst those characters are the Green Hornet, Flash Gordon and Vampirella, alongside lesser-known creations like Jack Kirby's Captain Victory, all of whom will be reinvented in the updated-Victorian style for the seven-issue series.
Described as "one of the most talented, hardworking, and innovative creators in our industry" by Dynamite's CEO and Publisher Nick Barrucci, Willingham has been quietly developing what he calls Legenderry's "world in which the great heroes of our stories live in the flesh" for four years, with artist Johnny Desjardins developing the visual look of the characters for Sergio Fernandez Davila to illustrate in the series itself.
Legenderry launches in January 2014, with the first issue available in comic book stores and online.
ROME -- A family friend of actor James Gandolfini announced at a news conference Friday that an autopsy showed "The Sopranos" star died of a "heart attack of natural causes" and "nothing else was found in his system."
The 51-year-old Emmy-winning actor suffered the heart attack in the bathroom of his room at the Hotel Boscolo in Rome while on vacation with his teenage son, Michael, and sister, Michael Kobold told reporters.
"James came here on vacation with family," Kobold said. "On Wednesday he went to visit the Vatican, and had dinner at the hotel with his son while waiting for his sister ... All are devastated for his loss. He was a loving father."
Kobold said that it could take up to 10 days of red tape to repatriate Gandolfini's body, but the family is hoping that, with the help of Italian authorities, it will happen in the middle of next week so that a funeral could be held in New York next Thursday, Friday or Saturday.
"He was happy, healthy, on vacation with his son," Kobold said. "He was fine."
Medical staff attempted to resuscitate Gandofini after his son found him in the bathroom, but he was pronounced dead at about 11 p.m. local time (5 p.m. ET) Wednesday at Policlinico Umberto I hospital, which is a three-minute drive from the hotel.
Famous for his role as mob boss Tony Soprano in hit HBO show "The Sopranos," Gandolfini was on a celebratory trip to Italy with his 13-year-old son, who had just graduated from junior high school and won a soccer championship.
Experts said a heart attack was a common cause of death for a man in his 50s.
Dr. John Harold, president of the American College of Cardiology and a heart specialist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said that ?in many patients who have a heart attack, the first symptom is sudden death and they don?t even make it to a hospital.?
Tributes have flooded in for the actor, who won three Emmy Awards and three Screen Actors Guild awards for playing Soprano from 1999-2007.
He also appeared in a number of big-screen roles, including the crime drama "Killing Them Softly" and "Zero Dark Thirty," a film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden.
Academy Award winner Kathryn Bigelow, who directed Gandolfini in ?Zero Dark Thirty,? said she was devastated by the news of his death.
"James was such an enormous talent, and an even greater spirit. I will be forever grateful for the privilege of working with him, and shall cherish his memories always," she said in a statement.
Nicole Kidman said Gandolfini was ?such a great actor,? describing his death as ?a big loss.?
?Sending love and prayers to James? family. He will be greatly missed,? she said in a statement to eonline.com.
Brad Pitt described Gandolfini as ?a ferocious actor, a gentle soul and a genuinely funny man." ?I am fortunate to have sat across the table from him and am gutted by this loss.?
Gandolfini also made a good impression on the ordinary people he met.
An employee at the Hotel Boscolo told Italy's la Repubblica newspaper that during his stay the actor had signed autographs and was ?very friendly with us from hotel's staff and with other guests in the restaurant. A nice person.?
NBC News' Ian Johnston, Reuters and Mads Frese contributed to this report.
Earlier today I found myself searching for my keys and?lo and behold?a certain song popped into my head. And what a wonderful tune it is. Both versions.
10 minutes with: a space scientist Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock explains how the Clangers inspired her love for space science and why she ignored the career adviser who told her to train as a nurse instead
Source: TheGuardian Posted on:
Friday, Jun 21, 2013, 8:58am Views: 11
When your business decides to upgrade its phone system for improved business communications, you need to be able to fully trust the service capabilities of your business phone provider. They have to possess skills that can successfully complete the job while remaining within your budget, meeting your deadline and avoiding extended system downtime.
At TelWare, our project management system can guide you through the design and installation of your new phone system and ensure your system goes live on completion day and meets all of your business objectives.?We also provide one point of contact that will be responsible for your installation. This is vital for simplifying lines of communication and assuring a successful delivery.
?Our technicians create a ?roadmap? for each client, so they know what to expect during their system?s changeover,? says Mike Canipe of TelWare. ?We understand that switching phone systems is often a major undertaking, and that?s exactly why our technicians see your phone system upgrade to its successful completion.?
Our technicians take specific steps to complete each client?s phone system upgrade. Your business can expect the following from our project management services, including:
Initial orientation meeting: For this initial meeting, we identify the site, the configuration of the switch, feature plans, layout of equipment, feasibility and conduct a thorough inspection.
Demonstration: We provide a presentation of equipment, project plan and quotes.
Business needs examination: We work with you to identify your specific needs and the customer service model you provide. This ensures your system is customized to fit your business needs perfectly.
Go live day: Your key contact person, technicians and trainers attend the first day of service. The focus is very much on support and guidance as you start using the new technology. Most initial training is accomplished on this day.
Training schedules: To maximize your investment in equipment and to ensure your staff is confident in using the new system, we will work with you to develop a training and development schedule for your staff.
We will be collaborating together to create your business?s desired telephone system. Working with our project?management?offers your business a variety of benefits, including:
Stay within budget:?By using a project management system, your budget remains a priority in your phone system upgrade. At every phase of the installation you are provided with cost-effective options so your business can remain comfortably safe from spending over your planned budget.
Ensure?efficient?installation:?One of the main responsibilities of a project management team is to not only see your project through to completion, but to ensure that it is done properly. With technicians monitoring every step of your upgrade, you can trust that your system is being installed as?efficiently?as possible to fit your specifications.
Minimize system down time:?The point of upgrading your phone system is to improve your communication with your customers. That?s why project management teams collaborate on risk management techniques, so during your phone system?s upgrade they can anticipate and avoid complications that could extend your business?s downtime.
?Our project management services are the central process in phone system upgrades,? explains Canipe. ?Our project managers? goal is to remain within your budget while meeting your deadline with as little to no downtime as possible so you can get back to work.?
To learn more about project management for business?communications?or to schedule an appointment, call Mike Canipe with TelWare at 704-598-4700 or email Mike. Our project managers look forward to helping you upgrade your phone system so your business can continue to grow!
Summer is rearing its sweaty head, and there's nothing we can do to stop it. We can fight back though, and our very own Giz readers have offered up some stellar ideas on how to beat the heat until it slinks off into a corner and leaves us all alone. Time to start building your arsenal.
My wife bought a sno-cone maker last week. Shaved ice with suggary syrup poured over the top eaten with a little plastic spoon is a pretty nice way to take your mind off the heat and have fun. It works here in Dallas where it's been known to get a little warm in the summer.
Clothing is key. I'm a sweaty dude that walks everywhere in a hot/humid part of the world. I try to banish as much cotton from my wardrobe as possible.
If you can afford it, the modern smartwool/icebreaker/ibex merino stuff is amazing. Much better than any of the high-tech synthetics in my experience. Cotton undershirts get soaked and feel clammy all day if you wear them under a dress shirt. Synthetics that are good at wicking and dry quickly when exposed to air flow, but suck when worn under another layer. And they get stinky. Wool is kinda miraculous, being able to wick, dry quickly when exposed to air and (critically) remain comfortable when completely waterlogged.
My icebreaker wool hoodie is my go-to garment for clammy summer nights when a t-shirt is too light but a sweatshirt is too sweaty. I've got some wool underwear that's pretty nice, too, but even a wool zealot has trouble spending $30 for something that you fart in.
Also, a broad brimmed hat. I call it my Hat of Pragmatism. My son calls it the Explorer Hat. My wife calls it "that thing". Whatever you call it, it makes wandering around in the sun a lot more enjoyable.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) ? UCLA's route to the College World Series finals has been nothing if not adventurous.
The Bruins, who have been winning in Omaha despite a scuffling offense, got a two-run double from Pat Valaika to build a cushion, and then record-setting closer David Berg survived a rocky ninth inning to finish a 4-1 victory over top-seeded North Carolina on Friday night.
The Bruins (47-17) will begin the best-of-three finals Monday against Mississippi State, which eliminated Oregon State with a 4-1 win in the afternoon.
"I'm proud of our team, but we still haven't accomplished what we came to do," UCLA coach John Savage said. "On to the next round."
Savage, no doubt, is relieved to advance.
The Tar Heels (59-12) twice loaded the bases in the ninth against Berg but came away with only one run, with the game ending on Landon Lassiter's flyout to center.
Berg wasn't his usual dominant self in the Bruins' first two wins, and he really struggled against the Tar Heels.
"I would say he's been pushed," Savage said. "But come on, you get run out there as much as he does, I mean, you're not going to go 1-2-3, 1-2-3. Things are going to happen.
"He's one of the major reasons why we're here. He can screw up every now and then, it's OK."
The elimination of North Carolina, which set a school record for wins, means the Atlantic Coast Conference will go without a national title in baseball again. The last ACC team to win the championship was Wake Forest in 1955. And the top seed hasn't won the College World Series since Miami in 1999.
"The end of the year, it always stinks," Carolina coach Mike Fox said. "What we did in the ninth inning is just indicative of our kids and how we played all year. Just fighting until the very end."
Both starters went six innings, with the Bruins' Grant Watson (9-3) allowing four hits and Kent Emanuel (11-5) giving up five singles and striking out seven.
UCLA opened the CWS with 2-1 victories over LSU and North Carolina State. The Bruins, with eight total runs, matched 1976 Eastern Michigan for fewest by a team in the metal-bat era that won its first three CWS games.
The Bruins scored single runs in the second and sixth innings and made it 4-0 in the seventh on Valaika's double.
North Carolina threatened in the fourth and seventh innings but couldn't push across any runs until Berg, the National Stopper of the Year, came on to start the ninth.
Cody Stubbs and Sky Bolte singled, and Berg walked Michael Russell to load the bases. Savage made a mound visit after Berg went 1-0 to Mike Zolk, whose groundout scored Stubbs.
Berg struck out Parks Jordan, and the bases were loaded again when he walked Chaz Frank. When Lassiter's fly landed in Brian Carroll's glove, the Bruins' dugout emptied in celebration.
"I have the same approach every game ? go there and try to get a pitch you can hit and see what happens," Lassiter said, "and we just fell short."
UCLA has held its opponents to two runs or fewer in 31 of 64 games and is 30-1 in those games.
Watson followed strong starts by Adam Plutko and Nick Vander Tuig with one of his own to help send the Bruins to the finals for the second time, and first since they were swept by South Carolina in 2010.
"I was trying to go pitch-to-pitch," Watson said, "and concentrate on hitting location since I know North Carolina has a bunch of great hitters. I knew I wasn't going to throw it by them at all. So I worried about locating."
Savage decided to go with Watson, who hadn't pitched in 19 days, instead of bringing back No. 1 starter Adam Plutko on four days of rest.
"I thought about it for less than five seconds," Savage said. "We know how good Grant is. He's been a big reason why we're here, and he was ready to pitch. I think he showed the whole country that he could pitch on a big stage."
Emanuel, the ACC player of the year and third-round pick of the Houston Astros, came into the game scuffling in the NCAA tournament. He had a 11.40 ERA over his last five appearances and didn't make it out of the third inning in the Tar Heels' CWS opener against North Carolina State.
The junior left-hander was solid in his 112-pitch outing. One of the two runs against him was unearned.
"Hopefully people feel like we played hard every game and represented college athletics and college baseball the right way," Fox said. "The winning is part of it certainly, but so many other special things went on throughout our season."
SAN DIEGO (AP) - As nice of a game as Pedro Ciriaco had in his Petco Park debut, the San Diego Padres came up even bigger on defense in beating the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 on Thursday night.
Second baseman Logan Forsythe, left fielder Chris Denorfia and center fielder Alexi Amarista each had a great catch for the Padres, who won for the eighth time in 10 games and popped above .500 for the second time this season.
"Those are three really great plays," manager Bud Black said. "You never know how a game is going to play out if another result happens. We talk a lot about defense as a group and what that means for our team, and the guys, they play their butts off on the defensive side."
The Padres continue to play well even though shortstop Everth Cabrera, first baseman Yonder Alonso and rookie second baseman Jedd Gyorko are on the disabled list, and left fielder Carlos Quentin continues to be slowed by injuries.
Ciriaco, obtained from Boston last Friday after Cabrera went on the DL, tripled in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning and hit a two-run homer in the eighth.
The defensive gems stood out.
The Padres had impressive catches against consecutive batters in the seventh. A retreating Forsythe made a sprawling catch of Mark Ellis' blooper and Denorfia tumbled over the low wall along the line to catch a foul ball by pinch-hitter Elian Herrera.
In the eighth, Amarista made a great diving catch of Juan Uribe's sinking liner.
"There were a lot of great plays made tonight," Forsythe said. "On that play, I just tried to get back there."
Starter Jason Marquis called the plays "pretty special. We've been making those plays all year, no matter who's out there. That's one of the reasons we've been so successful this year - not giving teams extra outs, making some spectacular plays and keeping guys out of scoring position. No matter who's out there, they're doing everything they can to keep guys off the bases and it makes out job a lot easier."
Even Dodgers second baseman Ellis, who committed an error in the two-run fifth, praised the Padres.
"They play very good defense," Ellis said. "They did a very good job. They obviously played better defense than we did. Obviously my error was a huge part of the game. It changed the whole momentum of the game and gave them two runs there."
Dodgers rookie Yasiel Puig homered on his first swing at Petco Park, giving him six overall and three against the Padres since his big league debut on June 3.
The Dodgers, who've been in last place in the NL West since May 6, have lost eight of 11.
It was L.A.'s first visit to Petco Park since the teams brawled on April 11 after Zack Greinke hit Padres slugger Carlos Quentin with a pitch. Quentin rushed the mound and slammed into Greinke, breaking the pitcher's left collarbone. Greinke is scheduled to start Saturday night.
Ciriaco capped his big night with a homer to left off Peter Moylan with one out in the eighth for a 6-2 lead. It was his first with the Padres and second overall.
In the seventh, Ciriaco tripled into the gap in left-center to bring in Yasmani Grandal, who reached on a leadoff, opposite-field double down the left-field line. The ball got caught behind padding on the fence and Grandal had to hold up at second.
Matt Guerrier (2-3) opened the inning in relief of starter Stephen Fife and allowed the extra-base hits to Grandal and Ciriaco before making way for Paco Rodriguez.
After Forsythe walked, Ciriaco was thrown out at home when first baseman Adrian Gonzalez raced in, scooped up Will Venable's bunt and threw to catcher A.J. Ellis for the tag. Chase Headley, who struck out in his first three at-bats, singled up the middle to bring in Forsythe.
Nick Vincent (2-0) pitched the seventh for the win.
Puig, a 22-year-old Cuban defector, drove a fastball from Marquis an estimated 406 feet into the sandy play area beyond the fence in right-center with one out in the first in his 58th big league at-bat.
Marquis was much more careful against Puig after that, striking out the phenom on sliders his next two times up.
Puig made his big league debut June 3 against the Padres, hitting two singles and making a strong throw from right field to first to complete a game-ending double play in a 2-1 Dodgers victory.
The next night, he hit two homers and drove in five runs as the Dodgers rallied to beat the Padres 9-7.
San Diego went ahead 2-1 in the fifth on consecutive RBI singles by Marquis and Forsythe. One run was unearned because of Mark Ellis' fielding error.
L.A. tied it in the sixth when Uribe's sacrifice fly brought in Hanley Ramirez.
A.J. Ellis homered off Huston Street in the ninth, his third.
Both starters went six innings.
Marquis, trying for his 10th victory, allowed two runs and seven hits, struck out five and walked one. Fife allowed two runs, one earned, and four hits, struck out six and walked one.
"We haven't seemed to be able to solve Jason Marquis," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "He continues to have our number. He seems to not give in and we kind of give in and chase a little bit and help him out at times."
NOTES: Puig has 28 hits in his first 16 games, tied for fourth in big league history behind Irv Waldron (31) in 1901, Joe DiMaggio (30) in 1936 and Bo Hart (29) in 2003. The Dodgers arrived in San Diego at about 3:30 a.m. after splitting a day-night doubleheader at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday. They did not take batting practice. ... Quentin, San Diego's LF, missed his sixth consecutive game with a sore shoulder. ... San Diego 1B Yonder Alonso will visit a hand specialist Monday to examine his broken right hand. Alonso has missed 14 games since suffering the injury last month. He's not expected back before the end of the month. ... Dodgers OF Scott Van Slyke (left shoulder bursitis) will begin a rehab assignment Friday at Albuquerque.
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Angels mount seven-run rally vs. Felix, M's
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Staring at a seven-run deficit with Seattle's Felix Hernandez on the mound Thursday night, the Los Angeles Angels could have been excused for starting to think about the weekend.
Here's a brilliant way to drum up new business if you're an optometrist. Myung Dong, an eye doctor in Jeju, South Korea, found the perfect way to convince the local elderly population that they could benefit from glasses or other vision treatments: a business card featuring a self-administered eye test.
NEW YORK (AP) ? Paula Deen should hope for more fans like Jennifer Everett of Tyler, Texas, who carried a shopping bag filled with $53 worth of merchandise from the celebrity chef's Georgia store on Thursday. A day earlier, it was revealed that Deen admitted during questioning in a lawsuit that she had slurred blacks in the past.
New Beauty Treatment: The Anti-Aging Wellness Bubble! May 21, 2013 Beauty. ?Extra's? celebrity skin care expert Nurse Jamie is the first in the country to add the wellness bubble to her anti-aging arsenal. Watch the video to find out how this 99.9 ?
Best Prices on all YOUR Health and Fitness Requirements! CLICK HERE
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Negative emotions are emotional states that tend to limit your personal perspective, decrease your ability to think rationally and increase your overall level of mental unease or distress. Current evidence indicates that negative emotional responses to stressful situations can significantly increase your risks for eventually developing a diagnosable case of the serious mental health disorder called major depression. According to the results of a study published in 2012 in the journal Psychological Science, people already affected by major depression can lose their ability to tell the difference between various types of negative emotion. In turn, this inability can prolong or reinforce a depressed state of mind.
Negative Emotion Basics
Emotional states commonly viewed as ?negative? include anger, frustration, sadness, anxiousness, guilt, disgust and shame. All of these emotions fall within the normal realm of human experience, and their presence doesn?t indicate a problem in and of itself. However, people who tend to call forth these emotions frequently while under stress can increase their long-term chances for developing a diagnosable mental health problem, according to the results of a study released in 2012 by a multi-university research team. Mental health professionals sometimes refer to this repeated involvement in negative states of mind as a personality trait called neuroticism/negative emotionality.
Importance of Identifying Negative Emotions
The ability to properly distinguish between different types of negative emotion can help depressed people limit those emotions? effects and improve their overall state of mind, the authors of the study published in Psychological Science report. Conversely, people with major depression who can?t correctly identify their negative emotions may unintentionally extend or solidify depressed states of mind. During their research, the authors examined the ability of 53 people affected by depression to tell the difference between their negative emotions, then compared that ability to the ability of 53 people unaffected by depression. All study participants were adults with a minimum age of 18 and a maximum age of 40.
The researchers concluded that, compared to people who don?t have major depression, people affected by the disorder have a much greater tendency to report the simultaneous presence of two different negative emotional states. Depressed people also have a much harder time distinguishing between the negative emotions they report feeling. The study?s authors believe that this inability to tell the difference between negative emotions decreases depressed individuals? knowledge about their own states of mind, and therefore limits the self-awareness necessary to effectively participate in depression recovery.
Self-Distancing Skills in Depressed People
One of the critical skills for maintaining emotional stability is the ability to step back from oneself and objectively examine stressful or ?negative? experiences. People who have this self-distancing ability tend to diminish the long-term impact of negative experiences; conversely, people who lack this self-distancing skill tend to ruminate on unpleasant experiences and increase those experiences? long-term influence on mental health. In a study published in 2012 in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, a team of researchers from the University of Michigan compared the self-distancing abilities of 51 people diagnosed with major depression to the abilities of 45 people unaffected by depression. All of the study participants were asked to analyze their responses to a negative situation.
After reviewing their findings, the authors of the study concluded that depressed people have just as much inherent ability to self-distance themselves from negative experiences as people without depression. However, while people unaffected by depression tend to access their self-distancing skills when analyzing their situations, people with depression tend not to do so. When depressed people in the study did access their self-distancing skills, they typically lowered their participation in negative thinking and other aspects of neuroticism/negative emotionality. In addition, they increased their sense of self-awareness and gained a perspective that allowed them to minimalize the effects of stressful or negative situations.
Considerations
The authors of the study published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology found that people unaffected by depression tend to improve their emotional states whenever they start questioning themselves in the aftermath of stressful or negative events. However, depressed people may improve or diminish their mental states when they start self-questioning. If this questioning process remains immersed in a depressed person?s everyday perspective, it will likely contribute to a continuing depressed state of mind. However, if this questioning is done from a distanced perspective, it can help reduce the effects of depression and contribute to a more balanced state of mind.
DETROIT (AP) ? Eminem's song publisher is suing Facebook and an ad agency, saying they copied music from one of the rapper's songs.
Eight Mile Style filed a federal lawsuit in Detroit on Monday alleging that a 30-second Facebook ad broadcast online last month copied music from Eminem's 2000 song "Under the Influence."
The Detroit Free Press (http://on.freep.com/10LFB2N ) reports that the ad was featured in a webcast by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to announce Facebook Home, an interface for Android phones.
The complaint says Portland, Ore., ad agency Wieden+Kennedy copied Eminem's music "in an effort to curry favor" with Facebook by catering to Zuckerberg's personal likes and to "invoke the same irreverent theme" of the song.
Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes declined comment. A message seeking comment was left Tuesday with the ad agency.
May 21, 2013 ? Imagine a pharmaceutical prevention, treatment or even cure for Alzheimer's disease.
It is almost impossible to overstate how monumental a development that would be and how it would answer the prayers of millions.
Though science isn't there yet, a new study published in The Journal of Neuroscience spearheaded by USC Davis School of Gerontology researchers offers a tantalizing glimpse of potential solutions.
"Our data suggests the possibility of drugs that can prevent and treat Alzheimer's," said lead author, professor and lab principal Christian Pike of USC Davis. "It's just mouse data but extremely encouraging mouse data."
The team studied the effects of a class of drugs called TSPO ligands on male mice that were genetically engineered to develop Alzheimer's disease, known as 3xTg-AD mice. Because a key mechanism of TSPO ligands is to increase production of steroid hormones, it was important to ensure that the mice had low levels of testosterone and related hormones before treatment. Younger mice were castrated while, in older mice, the decrease occurred as a normal consequence of aging.
"We looked at the effects of TSPO ligands in young adult mice when pathology was at an early stage and in aged mice when pathology was quite severe," Pike said. "TSPO ligands reduced measures of pathology and improved behavior at both ages."
The most surprising finding for Pike and his team was the effect of TSPO ligands in the aged mice. Four treatments -- one per week over four weeks -- in aged 3xTg-AD mice resulted in significant lowering of Alzheimer's-related pathology and improvements in memory behavior. This finding suggested the possibility that TSPO ligands can reverse components of Alzheimer's and thus have the potential to be useful in treatment.
For humans, these findings may indeed be quite significant.
"TSPO ligands are currently used in humans in certain types of neuroimaging. Newer TSPO ligands are at the clinical trials stage of development for treatment of anxiety and other conditions," Pike said. "There is a strong possibility that TSPO ligands similar to the ones used in our study could be evaluated for therapeutic efficacy in Alzheimer's patients within the next few years."
In light of the findings, the team will next focus on understanding how TSPO ligands reduce Alzheimer's pathology. Building on the established knowledge that TSPO ligands can act protectively by reducing inflammation, shielding nerve cells from injury and increasing the production of neuroactive hormones in the brain, the team will study which of these actions is the most significant in fighting Alzheimer's so it can develop newer TSPO ligands accordingly.
While Pike and his team acknowledged that the findings represent an exciting possibility, the researchers also stressed that it is by no means a given.
"From the optimistic perspective, our data provide very promising findings with tangible potential benefits for both the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's," Pike said. "On the pessimistic side, research scientists have developed many interventions that cured Alzheimer's in mice but have failed to show significant benefits in humans. A critical direction we are currently pursuing is successfully translating these findings into humans."
Co-authors of the study were Anna Barron (former USC Davis postdoctoral student and Molecular Imaging Center, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, Japan); Luis Garcia Segura (Instituto Cajal, Spain); Donatella Caruso and Roberto Melcangi (Department of Pharmacological and Biomolecular Sciences, Centre of Excellence on Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Milan); and Anusha Jayaraman and Joo Lee (USC Davis).
The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health in support of the USC Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, directed by Helena Chui, professor of neurology and gerontology at USC.
(Reuters) - Dell Inc said in a letter to suitors Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management that the company would not provide more information about itself unless the board determined that their proposal was "superior" to founder Michael Dell's.
Earlier this month, Icahn and Southeastern offered $12 in cash per share or additional shares to existing investors as an alternative to Michael Dell's $24.4 billion bid to take the company private.
Dell's special committee of the board of directors said in a letter on Monday that Icahn's affiliates and representatives had made a number of requests for information, including a request for data room access for a potential lender.
"Please understand that unless we receive information that is responsive to our May 13 letter, we are not in a position to evaluate whether your proposal meets that standard," the special committee said.
The committee had on May 13 asked Icahn and his ally Southeastern for more details on their proposed offer.
It had said it was not clear Icahn intended to make "an actual acquisition proposal that the Board could evaluate" or if he intended his offer as an alternative in the event the pending sale to Silver Lake and Michael Dell is not approved.
Dell reported a 79 percent slide in quarterly profit last week as personal computer sales continued to shrink.
(Reporting by Sayantani Ghosh in Bangalore; Editing by Roshni Menon)
It's been eight years and nine days since Microsoft showed the world the Xbox 360 on May 12th, 2005. Today, we see what's next. The Xbox One.
We're on-site in at Microsoft's Xbox HQ in Redmond, Washington, to check out the new Xbox. You can watch the livestream here. (Refresh this page to update)
New consoles are exciting in a way that it's hard for other product releases to match, even anticipated ones like an iPhone, because they're so infrequent. This is at least a five-year bet on Microsoft's part about what the future of gaming will look like. We've already seen what Sony and Nintendo think. Now it's Microsoft's turn.
Microsoft can only hope it's half as right as it was last time around. The 360 was built to last. That eight-year stretch of dominance makes it the oldest of the current generation of systems, and the last to be cast off in favor of a new system. Over that time the Xbox has picked up new features, like the Kinect motion sensor and ever more media streaming capabilities, but its core has remained the same.
Today's event is only supposed to run for an hour?far shorter than the almost three hours the Sony crew was on stage for the PS4 event?which means it should have a bunch of information packed into a very short time. We'll have impressions from further sessions.
All-in-One Entertainment
We're underway, and the intro video for the new Xbox has users saying that the new Xbox is going to "recognize my name, my voice, my movies" and know what you like. That's a big cue that this generation is going to focus heavily on entertainment. Don Mattrick, President of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft, says that Xbox 360 is leading the industry in entertainment, because gamers are quick to adopt new tech.
The focus for the next gen is going to focus on different types of content, and use new tech, like cloud interfacing and streaming. It's the all-in-one home entertainment system.
New Controls
The console turns on just from you saying "Xbox on". It will launch into what you were doing last. This passive listening is a huge deal for natural interface. It seems incredibly responsive in the demo, but for now it's unclear if this is an actual demo or if it's being simulated.
It also integrates right into your TV. "Xbox, watch TV" drops you right into a live television feed. The amazing part of this is that you can switch quickly from movies, TV, games, a browser or anything else, just by saying "Xbox, go to", or even just "Go to movies".
Two at Once
You can also use Windows 8's snap mode (with one app "snapped" to the side of the screen" to run another app on the side of the screen while your movie, or TV or game is playing. This is kind of an amazing addition, not just for browsing movies while watching one, like an onscreen IMDB, which is what the demo is showing, but you can also, say, snap a walkthrough for a game you're playing.
Oh, and Skype! You can use Skype while watching a movie or playing a game, too.
Watching TV
Or! You can go to ESPN to watch sports ("Xbox, go to ESPN"), and get update cards in the top of your screen whenever one of your fantasy team scores or accumulates other stats (or just snap in the full panel).
Microsoft also added its own TV guide, with full voice Kinect voice controls (which seem FAR more accurate than current Kinect voice controls in this demo). You can go to any channel or program by telling the Xbox to go to it, or you can just go to a Trending page with the most popular content.
Hardware
There are three ways the Xbox One is upgraded. Hardware and new architecture, the new accessories like Kinect and SmartGlass, and a new Xbox Live.
The new architecture is what is responsible for the fast switching between apps and content. But it also means it's not backward compatible with older Xbox games. Microsoft did not address this at the show, but it's been speculated that it will use game streaming, like the PS4, to play older games on the new hardware. We'll update you once we get a chance to shake down some Microsoft employees.
Kinect is "complete redesigned" to respond to you and your voice, and is made to be more conversational. It picks up motion at 13 billionths of a second, the time it takes light photons to bounce off of you and make it back for the sensors.
New Kinect
The new Kinect has a 1080p sensor, and captures videos at 60fps and far finer detection. It detects the twist of a wrist, or how balanced you are. it can read your heartbeat while watching you exercise. This is next level stuff. The sensor field is expanded by 60 percent, and uses a modulated IR beam, and uses "time-of-flight" tech to measure the time it takes photos to travel back to the Kinect. Microsoft claims it works in complete darkness.
The controller has a ton of new features, too, like the ability for designers to send feedback right into the triggers.
SmartGlass also gets a ton of upgrades, because it's going to be treated as a native part of the platform, and not just an add-on, as it previously was.
Xbox Live is getting a massive overhaul as well. It currently runs on 15,000 servers, but it's going to go to 300,000 this year. Insane. You'll be able to access your movies, music, games, and saves from anywhere. The Xbox One is NOT always online. But developers will be able to use Microsoft's Azure computing (perform rendering tasks remotely), which would require even single player games to be online if those are used. Those aren't mandatory, but Microsoft hopes developers use them.
It also seems the new online gaming feature will restrict your ability to use used games, since they will be tied to your specific used Xbox Live account once activated online.
It will have a native editing and sharing DVR tool to snap highlights of your gameplay, and share them. Matchmaking is also more advanced, to hopefully make sure you're not repeatedly sent up against the same jerk who wipes out your whole party before they even get out of the APC. And it's going even further globally, so hopefully bring in more people to the games (though it's unclear how latency plays into this).
EA Partnership
EA's making an effort to use the new innovations from Microsoft and Xbox Live especially with a roster of new titles. FIFA 14, Madden 25, NBA Live 14, and UFC will all launch in the next 12 months, and EA promises that they will all change the way you play. They'll be powered by a new game engine called EA Sports Ignite, unveiled today.
EA Sports Ignite is supposed to make decision making and contextual contact more realistic. It will supposedly have 10 times more animation detail, called "True Player Motion", and the crowds are 3D, with dynamic sidelines. Basically, everything's going to look even more realistic.
Oh, and FIFA 14's Ultimate Team mode, the most popular mode, is exclusive to the new Xbox.
Watching the demos of the new engine on Xbox One, where you really see the detail is in the lighter contacts, like a defensive lineman trying to slip a block, or Lionel Messi shedding a tackler trying to drag him down by the arm. You can really see intricate movements and motions in a way you can't on current hardware.
Exclusive Games
Obviously, there will be some exclusive games through Microsoft Studios. It will release 15 games in the first year of the Xbox One, eight of which will be brand new franchies. Microsoft is trying to focus on new ways to play games. We got to see Forza Motorsport 5 running on the Xbox One, and the reflections, textures of the materials, and lighting looked awesome, but driving game eye porn always looks great in the cinematic cuts.
We also got a look at a new game from Remedy, responsible for the Max Payne series, called Quantum Break. It will let the choices you make affect the entire world around you. The preview was deeply confusing, with some adults talking to a little girl, a cut to a boat tearing through a bridge, the tagline "Time is the fire", and a character landing in the wreckage.
All Call of Duty downloadable content (DLC) will launch first on Xbox One.
(EA also showed new Call of Duty Ghosts features, which you can check out in full over at Kotaku, but let us just say YOU GET YOUR OWN WAR DOG WHO FOLLOWS YOU AROUND. A WAR DOG. FOR YOU. YOUR WAR DOG.)
Original Xbox Content
Xbox One wants to be immersive, personal (with smart recommendations), and social. The Studios are going to use the immersive capabilities to do new stuff with comedy, drama, sports, and all the rest of the stuff you watch on TV. It's starting with Halo.
343 Studios announced a new live-action HALO TV show created by Steven Speilberg. So, like, holy holy holy crap. Microsoft and 343 promise this will be a premium show, on par with Game of Thrones, which is mighty big talk, but we'll see.
There's also a new NFL partnership with exclusive content for the Xbox, but it seems like some in-depth fantasy stats and the ability to use natively formatted apps next to live broadcasts. Nice, but not as groundbreaking as Microsoft is making it out to be.
The New Future
This is what we were hoping Microsoft would show us. We saw a new and massively updated Kinect. New game engines, with improved graphics (but still such cold, dead eyes). There are new entertainment, and even some original content. Some issues, like backwards compatibility and streaming games, we hope will be cleared up throughout the day of events.
The Xbox One will be available "later this year," which almost certainly means in time for the holiday shopping season. For some frame of reference, the Xbox 360 was announced in May of 2005 and went on sale six months later.
Check back for more impressions and hands on later in the day.
Donald Trump sizes up the "All-Star Celebrity Apprentice" finalists while boardroom advisor Joan Rivers looks on.
They started out as teammates on "All-Star Celebrity Apprentice," but on Sunday night, Penn Jillette and Trace Adkins faced off in a final battle for boardroom bragging rights. And the winner is ? a big guy with a ponytail.
But which one?
"I think I delivered the best ice cream, I made the best commercial, I put on the best show, I brought in the biggest celebrities and I raised the most money," Trace told Donald Trump just before the big boss made his call.
Trump just couldn't argue those points, so he named the country crooner the best of the all-star bunch (and awarded his charity, the American Red Cross, $250,000, while sponsor Walgreens kicked in $100,000 more).
As for Jillette, he had a couple of victories of his own. Although he didn't raise as much money as Adkins in the final challenge, his ice cream actually sold more pints when it hit store shelves. If that mini-win wasn't enough, the sponsor then awarded Jillette's charity, Opportunity Village, $100,000.
But there were a few people in the boardroom who didn't win anything on Sunday night -- the fired players who came back to watch the finale showdown. That group included dueling divas Omarosa and La Toya Jackson, who, thankfully, had a Gary Busey buffer between them.
What did you think of the "All-Star Celebrity Apprentice" results?
From Bat suit to leisure suit: Behold, Christian Bale and some other guys who have at times been labeled sexier than everyone else, captured in full 1970s glory while filming "American Hustle" in New York City.
Bale, Bradley Cooper and Jeremy Renner sport the bad suits, bad ties, bad hair, and good sense to star in the next project from director David O. Russell ("Silver Linings Playbook," "The Fighter"). Bale won an Oscar for "The Fighter" and Cooper was nominated for one for "Playbook."
Aby Baker / Getty Images
Suck in that gut. Christian Bale, left, and Jeremy Renner in New York on May 18.
Jennifer Lawrence (who won an Oscar for "Playbook") and Amy Adams (nominated for an Oscar for her role in "The Fighter") are also on board. The film focuses on the true story of the FBI's Abscam operation of the late '70s.
Aby Baker / Getty Images
I'm walkin' here! Bradley Cooper films "American Hustle" in New York.
Aby Baker / Getty Images
With his comb over and rose-tinted glasses, Bale's "American Hustle" is a long way from his "American Psycho."
"American Hustle" is reportedly set for a Christmas release in theaters -- just in time for awards season.
Surely Selena Gomez knew all eyes would be on her at the Billboard Music Awards. While the whole world wondered why the singer would be seated next to her on-again, off-again boyfriend, we were a little more distracted by her outfit.
Selena showed up in a skintight white Atelier Versace gown... accessorized with glow sticks? On closer inspection, we realized Gomez' dress featured neon trim, perhaps a nod to the DayGlo brights she sported in March's "Spring Breakers" -- and her ponytail and flyaway strands would certainly be welcome on the beach. A sheer panel cut from collarbone to hip added requisite sex appeal, and zipper embellishments toughened up the look.
What do you think of Selena's "Spring Breakers"-esque Billboard Awards dress?
PHOTOS:
See all the looks from the Billboard Awards 2013 blue carpet:
Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift arrives at the Billboard Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Sunday, May 19, 2013 in Las Vegas. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)
Taylor Swift in Zuhair Murad
Miley Cyrus in Balmain
Emmy Rossum in Zuhair Murad
Kelly Rowland in Rami Al Ali
Jenny McCarthy
Jennifer Lopez in Zuhair Murad
Ke$ha in Givenchy and Palladium
Alyssa Milano in Emilio Pucci
Chad Kroeger, Avril Lavigne
Chad Kroeger, left, and Avril Lavigne arrive at the Billboard Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Sunday, May 19, 2013 in Las Vegas. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)
Selena Gomez in Atelier Versace
Selena Gomez in Atelier Versace
Shania Twain
Chloe Moretz
Jennifer Nettles in Edition by Georges Chakra
Hayden Panettiere
Jennifer Morrison in Kristian Aadnevik
Psy
Z LaLa
Carly Rae Jepsen
Nayer
Amber Rose
Lecrae
Neil Perry, Kimberly Perry & Reid Perry
Audrina Partridge
Roshan Fagan
Shaun Robinson
Sky Blu
Sky Blu arrives at the Billboard Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Sunday, May 19, 2013 in Las Vegas. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)
Megan Wollover & Tracy Morgan
Cathy Guetta & David Guetta
Kacey Musgraves
Ariana Grande
Rocsi Diaz
Keaton Stromberg, Drew Chadwick, and Wesley Stromberg of Emblem3
Renee Bargh
Gabriel Mann
will.i.am
Jason Derulo
Chris Brown
Stana Katic
Ed Sheeran
Chandler Parsons
Brian Kelley & Tyler Bubbard of Florida Georgia Line
Tracy Morgan Exclusive Interview?: Billboard Music Awards Cover Shoot 2013?
Billboard takes you behind the scenes of Tracy Morgan's cover shoot. Tracy will host the 2013 Billboard Music Awards, live from Las Vegas at the MGM Grand on Sunday, May 19, airing on ABC.
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