Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/robinson-cano-drops-scott-boras-as-agent-hires-jay-z/
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Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Syria accuses rebels of setting fire to oil wells
BEIRUT (AP) ? Heavy shelling in a neighborhood in the northern city of Aleppo sent civilians fleeing for their lives on Sunday, and the state news agency accused rebels trying to topple the government of setting fire to three oil wells.
Syria's civil war has battered the country's infrastructure and torn its social fabric. After more than two years of conflict, neither President Bashar Assad's regime nor the rebels fighting for his ouster appear close to victory.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said civilians were vacating the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood of Aleppo under heavy shelling by government forces. Rebels took over parts of the neighborhood late last week and were still clashing with Assad's troops who are trying to push them out. The Observatory, which relies on a network of contacts inside Syria, said four people, including two children, were killed in the shelling.
In the east, the state news agency, SANA, said rebels had set fire to three oil wells in the province of Deir al-Zour, causing a daily loss of 4,670 barrels of oil and 52 cubic meters of natural gas. It accused "terrorists," the government's term for rebels, of setting the fires after fighting among themselves about how to divide the oil.
Rebels battling Assad have seized large areas of territory in Syria's oil-rich east, including a number of oil fields. Although they lack the ability to exploit them, their loss represents a setback to the cash-strapped government they are trying to overthrow.
SANA said rebels have burned a total of nine wells in recent months. The three set ablaze on Sunday are the only ones still burning.
Also on Sunday, the government and the opposition blamed each other for killing a group of people found dead near the Lebanese border.
The Observatory said the bodies of 11 people, including eight women, were found near the town of Talkalakh in Homs province. The group said they were killed when government forces stormed the area. But SANA blamed rebels for the "massacre," saying they stormed the area, killed 10 people and looted homes and shops.
In another development, the head of the Syrian opposition's umbrella body said the group's military chief planned to visit Arab countries to solicit military aid. The trip follows a declaration last week by the Arab League that its member nations have a "right" to aid the Syrian opposition. Mouaz al-Khatib, the head of the Syrian National Coalition, told the Qatari daily Al Sharq of Gen. Salim Idris's travel plans, but did not say which countries he would visit.
Syria's conflict began in March 2011 with protests calling for Assad's ouster. It has since become a civil war, with hundreds of independent rebel groups across Syria fighting Assad's forces. The government says the war is an international conspiracy to weaken Syrian being carried out by terrorists on the ground. The U.N. says more than 70,000 people have been killed.
___
Associated Press writers Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, and Brian Murphy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syria-accuses-rebels-setting-fire-oil-wells-142049239.html
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How would you change Samsung's Series 9?
It's not that many devices that we ever really go to bat for, but Samsung's Series 9 Ultrabook has a small place in our heart. When we reviewed the mid-2012 refresh, we could only find a few problems -- the flaky trackpad, the limited storage options and the fact it was a bit on the pricey side. We've known for a while that Samsung's product engineers scour your comments for useful suggestions, so if you bought one of these, why not share your experiences with 'em?
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/10GMm7WhmV8/
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The best and worst of April Fool's Day on the Internet
Internet 
Google
3 hours ago
A wise man once called April Fools' Day "the worst day of the Internet of the year," and odds are that you'll feel the same at some point on Monday. It's April 1, the day when "don't trust anyone" isn't just a casual motto ? one of very few mantras that'll help you retain your sanity.
There, there. It'll be ok. We're here to hold your hand through this terrible day by keeping track of some of the best and worst April Fools' Day jokes on the Internet.
"I encourage everybody to watch as many videos as possible before YouTube deletes everything tonight," Antoine Dodson (of "Bed Intruder" song fame) in a video announcing that YouTube is closing down in order to go through all the videos submitted in the last eight or so years to select the best video on the Internet.
Don't worry though! It's not a popularity contest, folks! "Gangnam Style has the same chance of winning as a video with 40 views of a man feeding bread to a duck" Salar Kamangar, CEO of YouTube, explains.
The nominees for "best video" will be announced starting at 9 a.m. PT on April 1. "This announcement will resume for 12 hours every day for the next two years," we're told in a blog post by YouTube's competition director, Tim Liston.
Meet Gmail Blue: It's like the old thing ... just more blue
"In trying to bring email into the 21st century, we were faced with the challenge," Google project manager Richard Pargo explains in a video, "how do we completely redesign and recreate something while keeping it exactly the same? The answer is Gmail Blue."
We have a difficult time believing that the Gmail team wasn't trying to kick Microsoft a bit over it's upcoming project, codenamed Windows Blue.
Google "Nose" all
How do wet dogs smell? How about victory? And what do ghosts smell like, for that matter? Google Nose, a new Google Search feature, can help you find out. Thanks to over 15 million "scentibytes," you can get a whiff of all the things you want ? or even identify scents with "Android Ambient Odor Detection."
Yo-ho-ho-ho, a treasure hunter's life for me!
While on a deep-water dive intended to help expand the underwater Street View collection, the Google Maps team discovered a treasure map belonging to the infamous pirate William "Captain" Kidd. The team has scanned the map and added a "Treasure Mode" to Google Maps, encouraging everyone to work together in order to decipher the map's encrypted symbols.
;)
"We will plumb the emotional depths of everyone in the photo, then summarize their feelings with a beautifully crafted, emotion icon," Erik Murphy-Chutorian, a member of the Google+ Photos team, wrote in a post announcing the new "Your Photos +Emotion" feature.
Clicking a little button on photos uploaded to Google+ will prompt the service to add the appropriate emoticon to the image. Amusingly enough, the algorithm driving this feature seems to recognize cats, dogs, and even glasses correctly (even if it doesn't always get the mood right).
You think that's nuts? Wait until you hear about the next joke...
Zozi, a website which helps you find and purchase experiences, is offering wingsuit lessons guided by flying squirrels. Just be sure to mind all the warnings: "Experience may contain nuts. Epi-pen highly recommended. Keep arms, legs and tail inside vehicle at all times. Squirrel's cheerful mood cannot be guaranteed. Please don't mention chipmunks."
Srry, vwls cst t mch nw
Unless you fork over some cash, your tweets will no longer contain vowels, Twitter tells announced on Monday. "Everyone can use our basic service, Twttr, but you only get consonants," the company's director of product wrote in a blog post. "For five dollars a month, you can use our premium 'Twitter' service which also includes vowels." For what it's worth: Y is always free, even though it is considered a vowel by some.
"Also, the vowels in URLs will be also be free for everyone, forever," Twitter's announcement clarifies.
You can use twttr.com preview how your vowel-less tweets will look.
ThinkGeek
I always thought Bane's voice is soothing...
Walkie talkies that make you sound like Bane in "The Dark Knight Rises," a depressing car decal set for Batman (showing two gravestones and a ? well, Batman), an entry-level Play-Doh 3-D printer, an "Eye of Sauron" desk lamp, and more.
As usual, ThinkGeek's April Fools' Day selection makes us wonder which products the site will decide to actually offer in the future.
The TV your dog deserves
Sony announced "the Animalia line of technology products specially designed and created for pets" on Monday. "The introductory line-up includes Sony-branded products targeted at owners with dogs, cats and hamsters, with additional devices and networked services slated for release later this year," a press release by the electronics maker explains.
There's the Sony K9 4K TV, a television specially made for dogs, cat-friendly headphones, in-cage speakers ofr your little critters, and so on. "Sony is known for making products that enrich our lives, and the Animalia line was developed for domesticated animals who also naturally seek visual, music and emotional experiences,"Tom Barret, lead engineer for the Animalia line, is quoted as saying.
I can see my house through the bottom of the plane!
"I'm thrilled to announce that Virgin has created another world-first with the introduction of the technology required to produce the world?s first glass-bottomed plane," Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, announced in a blog post on Monday. "This technological innovation coincides with the start of Virgin Atlantic Airways? first ever domestic service to Scotland."
Glass-bottom boat operators around the world likely rolled their eyes as they saw the announcement.
Delta
Perhaps equally astonishing, Delta has found a way to make middle seats in airplanes just a tad more comfy. Their solution? Double-decker armrests.
Coming to America
The Pirate Bay, a popular site providing links to torrent files, has announced that it's moving its servers to U.S. soil. "We have worked closely with the awesome American government to establish a strong military graded server park that will endure any nuclear attacks that Kim Jong Un and his evil allies will send at us,"a blog post about the move reads.
Netflix finally gets you
You Netflix subscribers are probably used to the video streaming service giving you personalized movie suggestions under made-up categories like: "romantic dramas featuring a strong female lead." But today, those suggestions seem to be extra-bizarre. "Movies starring fruits, vegetables and fungi" ...? This Reddit thread captures that madness.
Windows Phone Almost-a-gram
Finally!The long-awaited Instagram app appeared in the Windows Phone store today. "...your #2Instawithlove prayer has been answered!" the caption, addressed to Kelvin-filter-less Windows Phone owners reads. It promises "100% free custom designed filters and borders" and "Linear and Radial Tilt-Shift blur effects for extra depth of field." But it turns out Microsoft is only teasing.
A phone the size of a bed
An alarming number of people sleep right next to their smartphone, so it was only a matter of time before someone finally made a device that you can sleep on.KDDI's zzzPhonebed is a person-sized device with the "highest resolution." After you wake up with its full-body vibration alarm, get your early morning workout by doing a running-scroll through your Twitter feed.
IKEA's foldable lawnmower
Just when you thought there was nothing else IKEA could break down and stack into a flatpack box, the furniture store goes and shows off a foldable lawnmower. It's "perfect for saving space in small gardens!" IKEA UK insists. But you can see for yourself ? here, meet GR?SSAX.
IKEA
Updating throughout the day...
Want more tech news or interesting links? You'll get plenty of both if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.
Aaand you can find Nidhi Subbaraman on Twitter or Google+.
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Monday, April 1, 2013
11 injured when car jumps onto sidewalk, knocks down scaffolding in Brooklyn
WNBC
A car rests in the middle of mangled scaffolding after jumping a curb Saturday in Brooklyn.
A 3-year-old and his mother were fighting for their lives after a car jumped the curb and struck some scaffolding at the corner of Utica and Church avenues in Brooklyn around 6:50 p.m Saturday, officials said.
Twelve people were injured when a Lincoln sedan crashed through a bus stop and hit a sidewalk shed, causing it to collapse, New York Post Reported. Four of those injured by the incident are in critical condition.
A woman was driving the car with a male passenger when the accident occurred, according to The Associated Press.
The scaffolding partially collapsed and rescuers worked to secure it while others tended to the injured, officials said.
The child, his mother, and two other women in critical condition were taken to Kings County Hospital, New York Post Reported. Five people with serious but non-life threatening injuries were taken to Brookdale Hospital.
-- NBCNewYork.com
This story was originally published on Sat Mar 30, 2013 8:53 PM EDT
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New mathematical model shows how society becomes polarized
Mar. 29, 2013 ? Anyone who has spent more than a few minutes watching some of the more partisan "news" networks lurking in the bowels of cable television is aware that America has grown more polarized in recent years. What's not so certain is why. In a paper published online March 27 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a team of researchers at Stanford has devised a mathematical model that helps demonstrate what's behind the growing rift.
Hint: It's you, not them.
"We believe that polarization is less a reflection on the state of our society, but instead stems from the process people go through to form opinions," said Ashish Goel, a professor in the Department of Management Science and Engineering (MS&E) and co-author of the paper.
Prevailing theories
The prevailing sociological theory, known as homophily, is that like seeks like. Those who have similar opinions tend to aggregate together and reinforce opinions that grow more divergent from the center over time. This is the echo chamber model that would seem to gain validation in the era of talk radio, cable news and the Internet.
According to this theory, we are polarized precisely because we have greater ability to choose our social networks and news sources. We narrowly tailor our information sources by selecting them based on how closely they mirror our own tastes.
Mathematical models that try to use homophily to explain polarization have come up short, however. Most are based on something known as De Groot's model that assumes that people form opinions in a way that minimizes overall disagreement within their network of friends and relations. As a result, an individual's opinion gradually converges to an average of those in his or her network, or so the theory goes. The flaw in these models is that they predict that opinions in society as a whole can only become more uniform over time, resulting in depolarization rather than polarization.
"We show that repeated averaging of opinions always results in less divergent opinions, even in networks where the people are like-minded," said Pranav Dandekar, a doctoral candidate in MS&E and a co-author on the paper. "You can't create outliers by averaging."
A different approach
The Stanford team instead took a different approach based on a phenomenon well known in the social sciences called biased assimilation. In biased assimilation people more easily accept evidence that supports their opinion and, likewise, are prone to discredit evidence that does not fit. More specifically, people look at inconclusive evidence in a way that is most favorable to their existing point of view.
"It seems counter-intuitive that two individuals would arrive at a more divergent opinion when presented with identical information that is inconclusive, but that's what happens," said David Lee, a doctoral candidate in electrical engineering and a co-author of the paper. "You might think that seeing identical evidence would produce greater moderation and agreement, but it doesn't."
"It seems we look at the world with rose-colored blinders. We see what we want and ignore what doesn't fit," Dandekar said.
Putting the model into practice
The team has studied biased assimilation to help create Internet-based social systems that counteract polarization by what they describe as "surprising validators" -- counterbalanced evidence that is presented by otherwise well-known and trusted sources. Imagine Rush Limbaugh or Rachel Maddow taking an unexpected stance. If you were aligned with one or the other, you might be more inclined to listen to the evidence if presented by the source most similar to you on other issues.
"We want to use the insight from our mathematical analysis to create recommendation engines and online collaboration tools to help people find common ground on difficult and divisive societal issues," Lee said.
One such example is Widescope, a budgeting tool built by Goel's research group, in which people take on the role of Congress to allocate the federal budget as they see fit and to compare their budgets against those proposed by various people in Washington -- Paul Ryan and President Obama for instance -- to see where the differences are.
"What you learn when you see the two budgets side-by-side is just how similar they really are. By articulating the similarities rather than the differences we can focus on collaborating to find a solution," said Goel.
Algorithm in practice
The team used their working model of biased assimilation to also study the polarizing effects of three popular Internet-based recommender systems. Recommender systems are widely used on the Internet to deliver personalized search results, news articles and product suggestions based on the user's likes and dislikes.
It has been claimed that these systems contribute to polarization by compounding the echo chamber effect where, for example, a left-leaning user is recommended more liberal articles and a right-leaning user is recommended more conservative ones.
"The system that recommends the most relevant item to a user turns out to be always polarizing. The other two systems, which chose a random item liked by the user and recommends an item most similar to it, were polarizing only if the user was biased to begin with. It was surprising to find that biased assimilation provides a useful framework to analyze the polarizing effects of recommender systems." Dandekar said.
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Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Stanford School of Engineering, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS. The original article was written by Andrew Myers, associate director of communications for the Stanford University School of Engineering.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- P. Dandekar, A. Goel, D. T. Lee. Biased assimilation, homophily, and the dynamics of polarization. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2013; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1217220110
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
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