Video games take off as a spectator sport

Editorial: "Give video games a sporting chance"

EVERY sport has its idols and superstars. Now video gaming is getting them too. Professional gaming, or e-sports, exploded in popularity in the US and Europe last year.

The scene has been big in Asia - particularly South Korea - for about a decade, with top players such as Lim Yo-Hwan earning six-figure salaries and competing for rock-star glory in Starcraft tournaments that attract audiences in the hundreds of thousands.

The phenomenon is taking off in the West partly because of improved video-streaming technology and large financial rewards. Video games are becoming a spectator sport, with certain players and commentators drawing massive online audiences.

And where people go, money follows. The second world championship of League of Legends - a team-based game in which players defend respective corners of a fantasy-themed battle arena - was held in Los Angeles in October. The tournament had a prize pool of $5 million for the season, with $1 million going to winning team Taipei Assassins, the largest cash prize in the history of e-sports.

League of Legends has also set records for spectator numbers. More than 8 million people watched the championship finals either online or on TV - a figure that dwarfs audience numbers for broadcasts of many traditional sports fixtures.

But gamers don't need to compete at the international level to earn money. Video-streaming software like Twitch makes it easy for players to send live footage to a website, where the more popular ones can attract upwards of 10,000 viewers - enough for some to make a living by having adverts in their video streams. Gamers can go pro without leaving their homes.

Currently, e-sports productions are handled by gaming leagues - but that could soon change. Last November saw two moves that will make it even easier to reach a global online audience. First, Twitch announced it would be integrating with Electronic Arts's Origin service, a widely used gaming platform. This would let gamers stream their play at the click of a button, making it easy for people around the world to watch.

Also in November came the latest release from one of gaming's biggest franchises, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, which has the ability to live-stream via YouTube built into the game itself. Another feature allows the broadcast of in-game commentary for multiplayer matches.

"I think we will reach a point, maybe within five years, where spectator features are a necessity for all big game releases," says Corin Cole of e-sports publishing company Heaven Media in Huntingdon, UK.

David Ting founded the California-based IGN Pro League (IPL), which hosts professional tournaments. He puts the popularity of e-sports down to the demand for new forms of online entertainment. "After 18 months, IPL's viewer numbers are already comparable to college sports in the US when there's a live event," he says. "The traffic is doubling every six months."

Ting sees motion detection, virtual reality and mobile gaming coming together to make physical exertion a more common aspect of video games, blurring the line between traditional sport and e-sports. "Angry Birds could be this century's bowling," says Ting.

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Football: Everton waste chance to boost top-four bid

LIVERPOOL: Everton wasted a chance to boost their challenge for a top-four finish in the Premier League as Swansea held on for a 0-0 draw at Goodison Park on Saturday.

David Moyes' fifth-placed side would have moved within one point of fourth-placed Tottenham with a victory, but the visitors delivered a composed display to frustrate the Toffees in front of Spain coach Vicente del Bosque, who was in England to check on the form of influential Swansea forward Michu.

Del Bosque stated before Christmas that Michu will be handed a place in his squad for the friendly clash with Uruguay at the start of February, recognition for the outstanding first half of the season enjoyed by the 26-year-old.

The former Real Madrid boss will have left Merseyside equally impressed by Spanish centre-back Chico Flores and the other Swansea defenders as they kept Everton at bay.

Playing almost exclusively on the counter attack, the visitors came closest to breaking the first half deadlock when Nathan Dyer intelligently played Michu clear, threading a pass between two Everton defenders after 35 minutes.

Michu instantly attempted an audacious chip, from 20 yards, which the Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard did well to push onto his crossbar via a fingertip save.

That opening aside, the game was one of almost exclusive Everton domination, although Swansea defended the chances with relative comfort.

Steven Pienaar sent over an accurate ninth minute cross which the lively Nikica Jelavic placed just the wrong side of the left-hand post, then Leighton Baines' corner was met by a twisting header from Jelavic, with full-back Dwight Tiendalli required to clear off the Swansea line.

Just before the half hour, Ashley Williams made another goal-line clearance for the visitors, this one from Victor Anichebe's effort after Marouane Fellaini had nodded down a Phil Jagielka through-ball.

The second half opened in similar fashion with Everton midfielder Phil Neville making a rare foray close to the opposition goal and winning a corner after Michel Vorm saved his effort at the foot of his near post.

Anichebe also threatened, rising powerfully to meet a left-flank Baines corner and heading just over the Swansea goal.

Pienaar almost managed to play Jelavic clean through, at the end of a neat passing move by Everton, but Swansea's defensive organisation was first-class and the Welsh side looked well capable of ending the home side's run of having scored in 18 consecutive Premier League games.

The home crowd's growing frustration saw them join Jelavic in appealing loudly for a penalty after the forward went down following contact with Williams, an appeal which referee Phil Dowd rejected.

Seamus Coleman's deep cross from the right was headed goalwards by Jelavic and controlled by Fellaini on his chest, just two yards from the line. But the Belgian international was unable to turn and more solid defending cleared the threat.

Del Bosque had seen enough, leaving his seat in the Goodison directors' box after 77 minutes, and it proved the right call as the match petered out.

-AFP/ac

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A headphone amp and USB digital-to-analog converter for just $99 each

The Schiit Magni and Modi (left) and Schiit Asgard (right).

(Credit:
Steve Guttenberg/CNET)

Schiit Audio's very first product, the Asgard headphone amplifier, left me shaken and stirred back in 2010. It sold for $249, looked and sounded amazing, and to top things off, it was made in the U.S. -- not just assembled here. Most of the Asgard's parts are sourced from U.S. companies.

The Asgard is still in company's product line, and it's still $249. But Schiit has grown since then, and now offers a full line of more expensive headphone amps and USB digital-to-analog converters (DACs) -- which is great. But the company's most recent offerings sell for just $99 each! The Magni headphone amp and the Modi DAC are also made in America, and they sound spectacular.

They're both the same ultra-compact size, just 5x3.5x1.25 inches, and they each weigh about a pound. Both feature an all-metal case, and the design looks pretty serious. The Magni amp puts out up to 1.2 watts, so it's considerably more powerful than your average AV receiver's headphone amp. And unlike those built-in headphone amps, the Magni is not a chip-based amp that costs 20 cents. Most headphones don't need all that power -- but some headphones, like my Hifiman HE-400s, really come alive with more potent amps.

Yes, what you plug your headphones into can make or break their sound. Heck, most $1,000 receivers have marginal headphone amps. (They're not a big priority for most buyers.) But the Magni's innards feature fully discrete FET/bipolar, Class AB circuitry. That means the Magni is built like a miniature high-end speaker amplifier. I don't know of another headphone amp built that way for less than $250, and most $250-$500 amps aren't built as well as the Magni. The amp has just one set of RCA analog inputs on its backside, and a 6.3mm headphone jack on the front panel.

The Magni amp uses an external wall wart power supply; the Modi DAC is powered via the USB 2.0 asynchronous input connection. The USB is the only digital input -- there's no coaxial or Toslink optical inputs, but there's a pair of RCA analog outputs on the rear panel. The DAC handles up to 96kHz/24-bit digital audio. The Modi features switched-capacitor filtering and an active filter section, so you can run long analog cables from the Modi back to your hi-fi system without any loss of quality.

I played the Magni and Modi together, and loved the sound. Like the bigger Schiit amps I've tested, the sound is rich, with lots of detail and oomph. I started with my old Sennheiser HD 580 and Grado RS-1 headphones, and moved onto the brand-new Yamaha PRO 500, Sony MDR-1R, Noontec Zoro, and Koss Porta Pro over-the-ear and on-ear headphones, plus a few in-ear models, including Ultimate Ears UE 900s. I have quite a few more expensive desktop amps on hand, including the other Schiits at my disposal. But there was nothing about the sound of the Magni/Modi combo that I found wanting. They deliver bona-fide high-end sound quality. A lot of desktop headphone amps aren't quiet enough to use with in-ear headphones, but the Magni is.

Then I compared the Modi with the $449 Schiit Bifrost DAC, and it was easy to hear the difference. The Modi is sweet and mellow and very tolerant of cruddy-sounding low bit-rate files and streaming audio sources. But when I played great-sounding CDs, the Bifrost was a lot more transparent and detailed. There's less standing between my ears and the music. But as I did the Modi vs. Bifrost shootout, my respect for the Magni amp's sound went up. The $99 amp easily resolved the differences between the two DACs over my Hifiman HE 400 headphones. Stepping up from the Magni to the Asgard produced similar improvement, but to a much smaller degree. The Magni would still be an outstanding value for double the price.

The Magni and Modi come with two-year warranties. That's twice the coverage of most desktop components in their price range. Schiit has a 15-day return policy, so you can still send it back for a refund if you're not happy with the sound, but there is a 15 percent restocking fee.

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Pictures: Civil War Shipwreck Revealed by Sonar

Photograph by Jesse Cancelmo

A fishing net, likely only decades old, drapes over machinery that once connected the Hatteras' pistons to its paddle wheels, said Delgado.

From archived documents, the NOAA archaeologist learned that Blake, the ship's commander, surrendered as his ship was sinking. "It was listing to port, [or the left]," Delgado said. The Alabama took the wounded and the rest of the crew and put them in irons.

The officers were allowed to keep their swords and wander the deck as long as they promised not to lead an uprising against the Alabama's crew, he added.

From there, the Alabama dropped off their captives in Jamaica, leaving them to make their own way back to the U.S.

Delgado wants to dig even further into the crew of the Hatteras. He'd like see if members of the public recognize any of the names on his list of crew members and can give him background on the men.

"That's why I do archaeology," he said.

(Read about other Civil War battlefields in National Geographic magazine.)

Published January 11, 2013

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Poisoned Lottery Winner's Kin Were Suspicious

Urooj Khan had just brought home his $425,000 lottery check when he unexpectedly died the following day. Now, certain members of Khan's family are speaking publicly about the mystery -- and his nephew told ABC News they knew something was not right.

"He was a healthy guy, you know?" said the nephew, Minhaj Khan. "He worked so hard. He was always going about his business and, the thing is: After he won the lottery and the next day later he passes away -- it's awkward. It raises some eyebrows."

The medical examiner initially ruled Urooj Khan, 46, an immigrant from India who owned dry-cleaning businesses in Chicago, died July 20, 2012, of natural causes. But after a family member demanded more tests, authorities in November found a lethal amount of cyanide in his blood, turning the case into a homicide investigation.

"When we found out there was cyanide in his blood after the extensive toxicology reports, we had to believe that ... somebody had to kill him," Minhaj Khan said. "It had to happen, because where can you get cyanide?"

In Photos: Biggest Lotto Jackpot Winners

Authorities could be one step closer to learning what happened to Urooj Khan. A judge Friday approved an order to exhume his body at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago as early as Thursday to perform further tests.

Lottery Winner Murdered: Widow Questioned By Police Watch Video

Moments after the court hearing, Urooj Khan's sister, Meraj Khan, remembered her brother as the kind of person who would've shared his jackpot with anyone. Speaking at the Cook County Courthouse, she hoped the exhumation would help the investigation.

"It's very hard because I wanted my brother to rest in peace, but then we have to have justice served," she said, according to ABC News station WLS in Chicago. "So if that's what it takes for him to bring justice and peace, then that's what needs to be done."

Khan reportedly did not have a will. With the investigation moving forward, his family is waging a legal fight against his widow, Shabana Ansari, 32, over more than $1 million, including Urooj Khan's lottery winnings, as well as his business and real estate holdings.

Khan's brother filed a petition Wednesday to a judge asking Citibank to release information about Khan's assets to "ultimately ensure" that [Khan's] minor daughter from a prior marriage "receives her proper share."

Ansari may have tried to cash the jackpot check after Khan's death, according to court documents, which also showed Urooj Khan's family is questioning if the couple was ever even legally married.

Ansari, Urooj Khan's second wife, who still works at the couple's dry cleaning business, has insisted they were married legally.

She has told reporters the night before her husband died, she cooked a traditional Indian meal for him and their family, including Khan's daughter and Ansari's father. Not feeling well, Khan retired early, Ansari told the Chicago Sun-Times, falling asleep in a chair, waking up in agony, then collapsing in the middle of the night. She said she called 911.

"It has been an incredibly hard time," she told ABC News earlier this week. "We went from being the happiest the day we got the check. It was the best sleep I've had. And then the next day, everything was gone.

"I am cooperating with the investigation," Ansari told ABC News. "I want the truth to come out."

Ansari has not been named a suspect, but her attorney, Steven Kozicki, said investigators did question her for more than four hours.

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Today on New Scientist: 11 January 2013

Largest structure challenges Einstein's smooth cosmos

One-twentieth the diameter of the observable universe, a group of galaxies dents the cherished idea that the cosmos is uniform at large scales

Straitjacket drug halts herpes virus's escape stunt

Herpes infections recur as the virus is adept at evading our defences, but a new drug that suppresses enzymes exploited by the virus seems effective

Zoologger: Mouse eats scorpions and howls at the moon

Super-aggressive grasshopper mice are not put off by the deadly venom of the scorpions they feast on - in fact, nothing much seems to scare them

Sand tsunami pictured striking Australian coast

The spectacular wall of sand and dust appears to block out the sun like a giant wave

Astrophile: Zombie stars feed on Earth-like exoplanets

We can now learn what planets around other stars are made of - by looking at the atmospheres of white dwarfs that have swallowed up their worlds

Life will find a way, even in the midst of a hurricane

Not for the faint-hearted: to sample the microbiome of a hurricane, fly a jetliner through it

Physics not biology may be key to beating cancer

Billions of dollars spent on cancer research have yielded no great breakthrough yet. There are other ways to attack the problem, says physicist Paul Davies

Feedback: Return of nominative determinism

The last nominative determinism stories, salads of gizzards and his chestnuts, Australian graduates in outer space, and more

A comeback for virtual reality? Inside the Oculus Rift

The Oculus Rift promises an immersive gaming experience like no other. Niall Firth gets his head in the game and gives it a try

Is the US facing Flu-maggedon?

The US flu season has come early this winter, leaving many hospitals overwhelmed. But is the situation really any worse than usual?

Your body's insights into life and cosmos

The Universe Within by Neil Shubin tells stories from your body about our species, planet and universe. PLUS: a cautionary tale of inspirational scientists

Hands on with Leap Motion's gestural interface

The makers of the ultra-precise gestural interface talk big about killing off the mouse. But it looks like more than just bluster

Personal assistant for your emails streamlines your life

GmailValet aims to use crowdsourcing to give everyone a personal assistant to help deal with their emails - it could cost as little as $2 a day

DNA 'identichip' gives a detailed picture of a suspect

A new microchip-based DNA tester can identify multiple traits of an individual at a time, even where their DNA is scarce

Most fundamental clock ever could redefine kilogram

Physicists have created the first clock with a tick that depends on the hyper-regular frequency of matter itself

Nanomachine mimics nature's protein factory

An artificial ribosome that assembles proteins and peptides could make it much easier to manufacture antibiotics and exotic new materials

Muscle mimic pulls electricity from wet surface

A plastic film that repeatedly curls up and flips over when wet could power devices in remote areas or sensors embedded in sweaty clothing

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Mali hits back at Islamists with French, African backing

BAMAKO: Mali on Friday declared a state of emergency and unleashed an offensive against Islamists who control the north of the country with military backing from France, Nigeria and Senegal.

President Francois Hollande confirmed in Paris that French forces were involved in an attack aimed at repelling Al-Qaeda-linked radicals who have triggered international alarm with a push south towards the capital Bamako.

In the capital, officers said the first objective was to retake Konna, a central town that was captured by Islamist forces earlier this week, and confirmed that initial exchanges had resulted in casualties on both sides.

"As in any war, the Malian army has suffered losses, the enemy also," Colonel Oumar Dao told a press conference.

The colonel also confirmed that Nigerian and Senegalese troops were helping to support Malian forces who are, on their own, considered too weak and poorly organised to meet the challenge represented by the various Islamist groups who seized control of the north last year, taking advantage of the power vacuum created by a coup in Bamako.

Hollande gave no indication of the scale of French involvement in its former colony but said it would last "for as long as is necessary."

Sources said he had decided to authorise the deployment of French troops on Friday morning following an appeal for help from Mali's interim president Dioncounda Traore.

"Mali is facing a terrorist threat coming from the north, which the world knows for its brutality and fanaticism," Hollande said.

He said Mali's "very existence", the country's population and 6,000 French expatriates were under threat.

"France will always be there when it concerns the rights of a population that wants to live in freedom and democracy."

France had earlier advised its nationals in Mali to leave the country.

Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian held talks with US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and was due to talk to his British and German counterparts later in the day.

The offensive came a day after Mali's government appealed to France and the United Nations for help in pushing back the Islamists.

As well as capturing Konna, the rebel forces had moved about 1,200 fighters to within 20 kilometres (12.5 miles) of Mopti, a strategically important town on the frontier between rebel-held and government-held territories.

Hollande said France's support for Mali's action was legitimate in international law and in line with the wishes of the UN Security Council.

The Security Council has already given its blessing for a 3,000-strong African force to be sent to Mali but it will not be ready to deploy before September at the earliest.

That created pressure on France to act quickly and Hollande acknowledged earlier in the day that the situation had become critical.

"They are trying to deliver a fatal blow to the very existence of this country," he said. "France, like its African partners and the whole of the international community, cannot accept this.

Traore will visit Paris on Wednesday for talks with Hollande.

The Islamists' advance has exacerbated fears of Mali becoming an Afghanistan-style haven for extremists within easy reach of Western Europe.

France has led calls for an international response but had, until Friday, insisted its involvement would be limited to providing logistical support for the force being prepared, slowly, by the West African regional bloc ECOWAS.

That stance changed when the Islamists seized Konna, an advance that opened the door to an assault on the capital, according to French defence minister Le Drian.

"Given the political situation in Bamako, it would not take much for the country to fall into the most total anarchy," Le Drian said.

Le Drian said he had been struck by the level of coordination and military organisation shown by the rebels at Konna.

-AFP/ac

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Math wins the Mobile App Showdown at CES 2013

The team at Vision Objects were proud of the victory for MyScript Calculator.

(Credit:
Photo by Jason Parker/CNET)

LAS VEGAS--Every year at CES, the Mobile Apps Showdown pits dozens of downloads against one another to see which mobile app emerges as the best. This year's event was the biggest yet, and based on the excitement we saw at the event, we think it will only continue to grow.

Here's how it works: a panel of judges first narrows the pool of entrants down to 10 finalists. The developers of the finalists are then invited to present their apps to a live audience at the Mobile Apps Showdown here in Las Vegas, and the app that receives the loudest applause is crowned the winner.

This year, the 10 finalists in contention were:

At the end of the 10 presentations, the hosts of the event -- comedians, Jon Hein and Gary Dell'Abate -- did a quick roll call with their applause-o-meter. When all was said and done, it was clear by the deafening cheers and applause that the winner of the coveted award was MyScript Calculator, a groundbreaking tool that lets you perform mathematical operations with freehand writing of expressions on your touch screen.

MyScript Calculator may not sound all that sexy, but the handwriting recognition technology that powers it is unquestionably incredibly impressive. It can recognize radical symbols, trigonometric functions, and of course basic arithmetic operations. It can even solve for variables. For more details on MyScript Calculator, check out CNET's First Take.

Also, this is the first year that a single app won both the in-person App Showdown award and the online People's Choice award -- a noteworthy achievement, indeed.

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Space Pictures This Week: Australia Burns, Pulsars Wobble

Image courtesy P. Kalas, U. California, and ESA/NASA

This new Hubble Space Telescope image of a nearby star, Fomalhaut, and its surrounding disc of debris have made astronomers sit up and take notice. That's because the picture, released January 8, reveals that the debris field—made of ice, dust, and rocks—is wider than previously thought, spanning an area 14 to 20 billion miles from the star.

Scientists have also used the image to calculate the path of a planet, Fomalhaut b, as it makes its away around the star. It turns out that the planet's 2,000-year elliptical orbit takes it three times closer to Fomalhaut than previously thought, and that its eccentric path could send it plowing through the rock and ice contained in the debris field.

The resulting collision, if it happens, could occur around the year 2032 and result in a show similar to what happened when the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 crashed into Jupiter, astronomer Paul Kalas, of the University of California at Berkeley, said in a statement.

Published January 11, 2013

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James Holmes Told to 'Rot in Hell' By Victim's Dad

The father of a young woman allegedly slain by James Holmes in the Aurora movie theater massacre yelled "Rot in hell, Holmes" during a court hearing today.

The outburst by Steve Hernandez prompted judge William Sylvester to have an off-the-record conference with prosecutors and defense attorneys. Sylvester then reconvened court to address the issue while armed court deputies watched over Hernandez at the front of the gallery.

Hernandez's daughter, Rebecca Wingo, was one of Holmes' 12 murder victims when he opened fire in the crowded movie theater July 20 during the midnight showing of "Dark Knight Rises." Wingo, 32, was the mother of two young girls.

"I am terribly sorry for your loss," Sylvester told Hernandez. "I can only begin to imagine the emotions that this is raising."

He then lectured Hernandez about the decorum order in place to prevent outbursts in the courtroom.

"I meant no disrespect," Hernandez apologized, promising there would be no further trouble and he was let go.

James Holmes: Suspect in Aurora Movie Theatre Shootings Back in Court Watch Video

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Gunmen Sought in California Hostage Situation Watch Video

The judge decided on Thursday night that there is enough evidence against Holmes to proceed to trial and scheduled Holmes' arraignment for March 12. Holmes will enter a plea at the arraignment.

In an order posted late Thursday, the judge wrote that "the People have carried their burden of proof and have established that there is probable cause to believe that Defendant committed the crimes charged."

The ruling came after a three-day preliminary hearing this week that revealed new details about how Holmes allegedly planned and carried out the movie theater shooting, including how investigators say he amassed an arsenal of guns and ammunition, how he booby-trapped his apartment to explode, and his bizarre behavior after his arrest.

Holmes is charged with 166 counts, including murder, attempted murder and other charges. His shooting rampage left 12 people dead and 58 wounded by gunfire. An additional 12 people suffered non-gunshot injuries.

Sylvester also ordered that Holmes be held without bail.

Holmes' attorneys have said in court that the former University of Colorado neuroscience student is mentally ill. The district attorney overseeing the case has not yet announced whether Holmes, now 25, can face the death penalty.

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Today on New Scientist: 10 January 2013

Flesh-eating beetles turn dead parrot into skeleton

Watch a time-lapse video of beetles devouring a dead macaw to prepare its skeleton for a museum collection

Time to halt our massive waste of food - here's how

New technologies may one day save us from throwing resources at producing food that no one eats, but we can take measures now to solve the problem

Unborn sharks freeze to avoid predators

Faced with a dangerous predator, baby sharks hold their breath and stay still - even before they've been born

Sperm dance to calcium's tune en route to egg

Calcium signals helps sperm decide the best movements to bag an egg. The discovery could aid treatments for male infertility

A climate of cautious prediction

Most climate predictions err on the side of least drama, so extreme projections are often closer to reality

Global banking rules won't stop next meltdown

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Pebble smart watch set to ship to adoring backers

The crowdfunded $10 million baby of the Kickstarter world has, at long last, made good on its promise to ship products to customers

Books for 2013 - a bibliophile's guide

A wealth of new popular science titles arrive in 2013. Here's what we're looking forward to

Smartphones make identifying endangered animals easy

Everyday mobile tech takes the legwork out of tracking hard-to-find animals, and makes life easier for field biologists

The jolt we need to take on climate change

If changing temperatures and rainfall patterns kill off coffee, will that finally spur us into action?

Hints of new dark force seen in galactic smash-ups

Dark matter behaving oddly in colliding galaxy clusters may be evidence for a fifth fundamental force in the universe

Flower Power sensor gives everyone green fingers

A stick-shaped wireless sensor monitors soil nutrients, moisture, and sunlight so amateur gardeners can keep tabs on their flora

London's Boris turns turtle getting yearly scrub down

See thick-skinned Boris get a tickle from a cleaner in Sea Life London Aquarium's annual January "Deep Clean"

Flea circus tricks: Reviving a Victorian sideshow

Watch a flea juggle and walk on a tightrope in an exclusive video, as an entomologist resurrects a classic fairground act

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Venezuela stages inauguration rally without Chavez

CARACAS: With cancer-stricken President Hugo Chavez hospitalised in Cuba, tens of thousands of flag-waving Venezuelans filled the streets of Caracas on Thursday to inaugurate his new term without him.

Bands played patriotic anthems from street-side stages as citizens clad in the red of Chavez's leftist movement poured out of buses to make their way on foot toward the Miraflores presidential palace.

There, they staged a symbolic swearing-in of the people, in place of Chavez, who is too sick to re-take the oath of office himself.

Shouts of "Chavez, Chavez!" and the anti-opposition "They will not return" could be heard as Chavista militants stoked the crowds with fiery speeches.

On one stage, an evangelical religious service was underway, and street vendors sold Chavez memorabilia on the sidewallk.

"I love the president," said Pedro Brito, a 60-year-old law professor, in a red T-shirt with the slogan "I am Chavez."

"He has done a lot for poor people, the ones who had no place to sleep of food to eat. He has shown us how to love the country."

Gladys Guerrero, 35, said she travelled by bus from the eastern state of Monagas "to repay love with love."

Vice President Nicolas Maduro hosted a meeting of leftist Latin America presidents and other foreign representatives who have come to show support for the Chavez government in a period of deep uncertainty about the future.

As pro-Chavez crowds built outside the presidential palace, the opposition called for counter-demonstrations on January 23, the day Venezuela's modern democratic era began in 1958 with the ouster of its last military dictatorship.

"We want to especially address the people of Venezuela, and summon the entire country to give a massive demonstration of force in the streets," said Miriam Montilla, a deputy speaking on behalf of the parliamentary opposition.

The Supreme Court cleared the ailing Chavez to indefinitely postpone his swearing-in and said his existing administration could remain in office until he is well enough to take the oath.

It was the last legal hurdle to a government plan for resolving the vacuum created by Chavez's illness that met fierce resistance from the opposition, which had argued it was unconstitutional.

Leopoldo Lopez, an opposition leader, said Chavez's failure to turn up to his own ceremony had created "an indefinite situation in which we can be without a president, and without clear signs that the president is governing."

Henrique Capriles, who ran unsuccessfully against Chavez in the October presidential elections, accepted the Supreme Court ruling as "binding" but said it did not end the uncertainties facing the oil-rich country.

But even without an official ceremony Venezuela's government turned the day into a celebration of Chavez, who won re-election in October by an 11-point margin, despite concerns about his failing health.

In televised speeches, on Twitter and in work places, the government has made blanket appeals for Venezuelans to turn out.

The military announced it was reinforcing security in the city and at other strategic points to ensure the day was observed peacefully.

And the government stopped a broadcaster, Globovision, from airing videos about the controversy over Chavez's non-inauguration, saying they risked inciting political "intolerance."

Globovision, known for being critical of the government, denounced the ban as an act of censorship.

It has been a month since Chavez, who is recovering from a fourth round of cancer surgery in Havana, has been seen in public -- his longest stretch of absence in 14 years in power.

The government has said that he is recovering from complications from surgery, most recently a severe pulmonary infection that had resulted in a "respiratory insufficiency."

Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said late Monday that Chavez's medical condition was unchanged.

Supreme Court president Luisa Estella Morales, who read out the decision upholding the inauguration delay, also ruled out convening a medical board to assess the health of the president.

Uruguay's President Jose Mujica was the first foreign leader to arrive here for Thursday's show of support.

Bolivian President Evo Morales, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe, and Foreign Ministers Hector Timerman of Argentina and Ricardo Patino of Ecuador were in attendance.

Maduro highlighted the expressions of support he had received from other leaders who are not attending, like Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.

In Ecuador, President Rafael Correa said the Venezuelan leader's absence would be a "blow" for Latin America.

Throughout his illness, first detected in June 2011, Chavez has refused to relinquish the powers of the presidency, even when leaving for Cuba for his latest surgery.

The charter says new elections must be held within 30 days if the president-elect or president dies or is permanently incapacitated either before he takes office or in the first four years of his six-year term.

- AFP/jc

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Apple's Schiller: A cheaper iPhone? Um, no

"Read my lips..."

(Credit:
James Martin/CNET)

LAS VEGAS -- I had always fancied that when CES comes along, Apple's devious PR people sit around and wonder which little rumor to toss out, just to turn the heads of those who gawp here.

Of course, there's no proof that this week's hearty rumor -- that Apple will produce a cheaper iPhone -- came from Cupertino, but the leak seemed timed with a stroke of mischief regardless.

So as
CES reaches its later stages, news emerges that Apple's SVP of worldwide marketing, Phil Schiller, has declared himself on the subject -- a declaration that can be roughly summarized as "Hah."

The Next Web reports that Schiller gave an interview to the Shanghai Evening News yesterday in which he said: "Despite the popularity of cheap smartphones, this will never be the future of Apple's products. In fact, although Apple's market share of smartphones is just about 20 percent, we own 75 percent of the profit."

More Technically Incorrect

Some might interpret this as: "Do you really think we're going to go grubbing around in the basement, looking for a few coins?"

Wise and regular analysts estimated that a cheaper iPhone could reach half a billion customers.

But where would the cachet be if everyone was walking around with an iPhone? Some might say it's bad enough already when everyone and her ex already has an
iPad.

In Apple's world, if something is cheaper, it has to have some palpably positive -- and, hopefully, novel -- value.

It's hard to believe Apple would create something that is simply cheap for cheap's sake.

And anyway, if this thing were to be a smaller iPhone, that would be an
iPhone 4, right?

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Embryonic Sharks Freeze to Avoid Detection

Jane J. Lee

Although shark pups are born with all the equipment they'll ever need to defend themselves and hunt down food, developing embryos still stuck in their egg cases are vulnerable to predators. But a new study finds that even these baby sharks can detect a potential predator, and play possum to avoid being eaten.

Every living thing gives off a weak electrical field. Sharks can sense this with a series of pores—called the ampullae of Lorenzini—on their heads and around their eyes, and some species rely on this electrosensory ability to find food buried in the seafloor. (See pictures of electroreceptive fish.)

Two previous studies on the spotted catshark (Scyliorhinus canicula) and the clearnose skate (Raja eglanteria)—a relative of sharks—found similar freezing behavior in their young. But new research by shark biologist and doctoral student Ryan Kempster at the University of Western Australia has given scientists a more thorough understanding of this behavior.

It all started because Kempster wanted to build a better shark repellent. Since he needed to know how sharks respond to electrical fields, Kempster decided to use embryos. "It's very hard to test this in the field because you need to get repeated responses," he said. And you can't always get the same shark to cooperate multiple times. "But we could use embryos because they're contained within an egg case."

Cloaking Themselves

So Kempster got his hands on 11 brownbanded bamboo shark (Chiloscyllium punctatum) embryos and tested their reactions to the simulated weak electrical field of a predator. (Popular pictures: Bamboo shark swallowed whole—by another shark.)

In a study published today in the journal PLoS One, Kempster and his colleagues report that all of the embryonic bamboo sharks, once they reached later stages of development, reacted to the electrical field by ceasing gill movements (essentially, holding their breath), curling their tails around their bodies, and freezing.

A bamboo shark embryo normally beats its tail to move fresh seawater in and out of its egg case. But that generates odor cues and small water currents that can give away its position. The beating of its gills as it breathes also generates an electrical field that predators can use to find it.

"So it cloaks itself," said neuroecologist Joseph Sisneros, at the University of Washington in Seattle, who was not involved in the study. "[The embryo] shuts down any odor cues, water movement, and its own electrical signal."

Sisneros, who conducted the previous clearnose skate work, is delighted to see that this shark species also reacts to external electrical fields and said it would be great to see whether this is something all shark, skate, and ray embryos do.

Marine biologist Stephen Kajiura, at Florida Atlantic University, is curious to know how well the simulated electrical fields compare to the bamboo shark's natural predators—the experimental field was on the higher end of the range normally given off.

"[But] they did a good job with [the study]," Kajiura said. "They certainly did a more thorough study than anyone else has done."

Electrifying Protection?

In addition to the freezing behavior he recorded in the bamboo shark embryos, Kempster found that the shark pups remembered the electrical field signal when it was presented again within 40 minutes and that they wouldn't respond as strongly to subsequent exposures as they did initially.

This is important for developing shark repellents, he said, since some of them use electrical fields to ward off the animals. "So if you were using a shark repellent, you would need to change the current over a 20- to 30-minute period so the shark doesn't get used to that field."

Kempster envisions using electrical fields to not only keep humans safe but to protect sharks as well. Shark populations have been on the decline for decades, due partly to ending up as bycatch, or accidental catches, in the nets and on the longlines of fishers targeting other animals.

A 2006 study estimated that as much as 70 percent of landings, by weight, in the Spanish surface longline fleet were sharks, while a 2007 report found that eight million sharks are hooked each year off the coast of southern Africa. (Read about the global fisheries crisis in National Geographic magazine.)

"If we can produce something effective, it could be used in the fishing industry to reduce shark bycatch," Kempster said. "In [America] at the moment, they're doing quite a lot of work trying to produce electromagnetic fish hooks." The eventual hope is that if these hooks repel the sharks, they won't accidentally end up on longlines.

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Whales Trapped Under Sea Ice Free Themselves

The killer whales trapped under ice near a remote Quebec village reached safety today after the floes shifted on Hudson Bay, according to the mayor's office in Inukjuak.

Water opened up around the area where the orcas had been coming up for air and the winds seemed to have shifted overnight, creating a passageway to the open water six miles away.

"Two men were sent to check on the whales around 8 a.m., and they found that a passage of water had been created, all of the way to the open sea," Johnny Williams, the town manager, told ABCNews.com. "The wind from the north shifted yesterday.

"This is great news," Williams said.

He said the local residents are rejoicing now that they've learned the news.

"They're all really happy and really celebrating," Williams said. "They have smiles, and are saying thank you -- everything!"

Williams said he was unsure how far the whales have moved, but that they were definitely not under the ice hole. The mayor, Peter Inukpuk, and others will be flying over the area as soon as a plane arrives from Montreal to see if the whales can be found, Williams said.

50-Foot Finback Whale Found Dead in Boston Harbor Watch Video

Killer Whale at San Diego SeaWorld Has Mysterious Wound Watch Video

Residents in the remote village of Inukjuak had been watching helplessly as at least 12 whales struggled to breathe out of a hole slightly bigger than a pickup truck in a desperate bid to survive.

The community had asked the Canadian government for help in freeing the killer whales, believed to be an entire family. The government denied a request to bring icebreakers Wednesday, saying they were too far away to help. Inukjuak, about 900 miles north of Montreal, was ill-equipped to jump into action.

Joe Gaydos, director and chief scientist at the SeaDoc Society in Eastsound, Wash., said that although the whales can go a long time without food, the length of time they can hold their breath, which they must do underwater, was the question.

"The challenge [was] to figure out where the next hole is," he told ABCNews.com before the whales found freedom. "If that lake freezes over, it's an unfortunate situation. It's a very limited chance. It's a matter of luck."

Inukjuak residents posted a video online to show the whales' struggles. In the clip, the whales are seen taking turns breathing. They can't bend their necks so they do a "spy-hopping" maneuver, Gaydos said, in order to look for another hole in the ice.

A hunter first spotted the pod of trapped whales Tuesday. It is believed that the whales swam into the waters north of Quebec during recent warm weather.

ABC News' Bethany Owings contributed to this report

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Today on New Scientist: 9 January 2013

3D print a fossil with virtual palaeontology

The combination of CT scanning and 3D printing is taking the discovery and recreation of ancient fossils into the 21st century

Bubbles of fat hint at origin of reproduction

One of life's fundamental properties - its ability to make copies of itself - may have originated with bubbles of fat that spontaneously break up

Ghostly galaxies burned off mysterious cosmic fog

Hubble's deepest views of space show that galaxies sparked the reionisation that made the universe transparent, although many are too faint for it to see

Faecal bacteria cocktail treats superbug infection

Transplanting bacteria cultured from healthy human faeces can provide an alternative treatment to faecal transplants for people with chronic infection

The science of Sherlock Holmes

The ace detective continues to enthrall us, as two new books, The Scientific Sherlock Holmes by James O'Brien and Mastermind by Maria Konnikova, show

Cardboard cockroach ranks among world's fastest robots

VELOCIRoACH can cover 26 times its body length in 1 second

Has global warming ground to a halt?

Headlines say that global warming is at a standstill. Climate sceptics are crowing, but the UK Met Office says the outlook is unchanged. What is going on?

Flu moratorium to be lifted imminently

The ban on research involving potentially pandemic mutants of H5N1 bird flu could be lifted within a few weeks

Coffee to go: Is this the end of our favourite drink?

With global warming threatening the future of the world's coffee beans, the hunt is on for ways to keep the caffeine flowing, says Stephanie Pain

US no longer lists satellites as weapons

A revised anti-arms trafficking law means Earth-orbiting satellites can now be sold abroad and may lead to a relaxation of rules that hamper space tourism

Carcinogen levels soar in Canada's tar sand lakes

Lakes near the Athabasca oil sands in Alberta contain higher levels of carcinogens than in the 1960s but it's not yet clear if this is a health risk

Time to nail the number one problem of green energy

Real progress is at last being made on the biggest headache facing renewables - how to store surplus energy for use when generation slackens

Pruney fingers give us better grip underwater

Wrinkles that form on our fingers and toes when underwater could be an evolutionary adaption that allows us to manipulate objects more easily

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Banking sector became 'too arrogant' and must change: UBS

LONDON: The banking sector "needs to change" after it became "too arrogant" in the run-up to the infamous Libor rate-rigging scandal, the head of the investment bank division of Swiss lender UBS told British lawmakers here on Wednesday.

"We all got probably too arrogant, too self-convinced that things were correct the way they were. I think the industry needs to change," Andrea Orcel told the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, which was set up to examine the Libor crisis.

"There are certainly elements of our cultures which are negative and that we need to root out. We are in the process of rooting out," he told the Commission, which is a scrutiny panel composed of lawmakers from parliament's upper and lower houses.

The Commission, established by British finance minister George Osborne, is looking into banking standards and culture in the wake of the Libor rate-rigging scandal that has rocked Barclays and UBS.

US, British and Swiss authorities last month hit Switzerland's largest bank with US$1.5 billion in fines -- the second-largest banking penalty ever -- for massive misconduct in the setting of the Libor rate.

"We are very focused on recovering the honour and standing the organisation had in the past," Orcel added on Wednesday.

"I am convinced that we have made a lot of progress. I am also convinced that we still need to do more."

The Libor rate is used as a benchmark for global financial contracts worth about US$300 trillion, and revelations that it had been rigged have harmed the reputation of the City of London financial centre, though the misconduct is believed to have occurred elsewhere as well.

The crisis erupted last June after British bank Barclays was fined £290 million by British and US regulators for attempted manipulation of Libor and Euribor interbank rates between 2005 and 2009.

Libor is calculated daily, using estimates from banks of their own rates. However, the system has been found to be open to abuse, with some traders lying about borrowing costs to boost trading positions or make their bank seem more secure.

The London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) is a flagship instrument used all over the world, affecting what banks, businesses and individuals pay to borrow money. Euribor is the eurozone equivalent.

- AFP/jc

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Google removes Maps redirect for Windows Phone

As it said it would, Google has removed a redirect that prevented Windows Phone users from accessing Google Maps via the mobile version of Internet Explorer and that instead sent them to Google.com.

The redirect generated headlines last week, with various news outlets suggesting that it was not about poor functionality on the part of mobile IE (as Google maintained) but was more about competitive behavior on the part of Google that ironically was beginning to resemble past behavior by Microsoft.

Google, of course, just dodged an antitrust bullet from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, and it continues to face an investigation by the European Union.

Google answered the recent Maps headlines with a statement issued Saturday that said in part, "In our last test, IE mobile still did not offer a good maps experience with no ability to pan or zoom and perform basic map functionality. As a result, we chose to continue to redirect IE mobile users to Google.com where they could at least make local searches." The company said it was working to remove the redirect.

According to various news reports, the Web-based Maps service on Windows Phone is now working just fine.

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2012: Hottest Year on Record for Continental U.S.

Temperatures across the continental United States soared in 2012 to an all-time high, making last year the warmest year on record for the country by a wide margin, scientists say. (Related: "July Hottest Month on Record in U.S.—Warming and Drought to Blame?")

"2012 marks the warmest year on record for the contiguous U.S., with the year consisting of a record warm spring, the second warmest summer, the fourth warmest winter, and a warmer than average autumn," Jake Crouch, a climate scientist at the National Climatic Data Center at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said in a press conference Tuesday.

According to a new NOAA report, the average temperature for the lower 48 states in 2012 was 55.3 degrees Fahrenheit (13 degrees Celsius), which is higher than the previous 1998 record by one degree Fahrenheit (0.6 degree Celsius).

A single degree difference might not seem like much, but it is an unusually large margin, scientists say. Annual temperature records typically differ by just tenths of a degree Fahrenheit.

"That is quite a bit for a whole year averaged over the whole country," said Anthony Barnston, chief forecaster at Columbia University's International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), who was not involved in the study.

2012: An Odd Year

To put that difference in perspective, said NOAA's Crouch, consider that the entire range of temperature increase between the coldest year on record, which occurred in 1917, and the previous hottest year in 1998 was just 4.2 degrees Fahrenheit (2.3 degrees Celsius).

"2012 is now more than one degree above the top of that. So we're talking about well above the pack in terms of all the years we have data for the U.S.," he added.

2012 was also the 15th driest year on record for the nation: The average precipitation total for the contiguous U.S. was 26.57 inches (67.5 centimeters), 2.57 inches (6.5 centimeters) below average.

Moreover, every single one of the lower 48 states had above average temperatures. Nineteen states had their warmest year on record and an additional 26 states experienced one of their top ten warmest years on record.

2012 was unusual in another way for the nation, according to the NOAA report. Last year was the second most extreme year on record for the U.S., with 11 natural disasters such as Hurricane Sandy and a widespread drought that each cost at least a billion dollars in losses. (See pictures of the U.S. drought.)

Global Warming at Play?

The country's record year can't be explained by natural climate variability alone, noted Kevin Trenberth, a senior scientist at the Boulder, Colorado-based National Center for Atmospheric Research.

"It is abundantly clear that we are seeing [human-caused] climate change in action," Trenberth, who also did not participate in the NOAA report, said in an email. "These records do not occur like this in an unchanging climate." (Test your global warming knowledge.)

(Also see "Climate Predictions: Worst-Case May Be Most Accurate, Study Finds.")

Just how much of a role climate change played is still unclear, however. "That's kind of hard to state at this point," NOAA's Crouch said.

"Climate change has had a role in this ... but it's hard for us to say at this time what amount of the 2012 temperature was dependent on climate change and what part was dependent on local variability."

For example, Columbia University's Barnston pointed out, an atmospheric weather pattern known as the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) was in the positive phase for much of the winter of 2012, which lead to warmer winters in the eastern U.S.

Warming Trend May Continue

There's no guarantee that the weather pattern will continue in 2013. "It could be in the negative phase, which would make it more like it was a few years ago when we had very snowy winters in the eastern part of the country," Barnston said.

The NAO is an example of "a factor that makes the U.S. annual mean temperature kind of jog up and down from year to year. It won't just gradually go straight up with global warming. It can take big dips and have big jumps."

But if climate change continues unchecked, heat records will become more common, NOAA's Crouch said.

"If the warming trend continues, we will expect to see more warmer than average years."

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Holmes Took Disturbing Photos Before Massacre

Hours before James Holmes allegedly carried out a massacre at a Colorado movie theater he took a series of menacing self-portraits with his dyed orange hair curling out of from under a black skull cap and his eyes covered with black contacts.

A prosecutor told the court after the photographs were shown that Holmes had a "depravity of human heart."

Those haunting photographs, found on his iPhone, were shown in court today on the last day of a preliminary testimony that will lead to a decision on whether the case will go to trial. The hearing concluded without Holmes' defense calling any witnesses.

The judge's decision on whether the case will proceed to trial is expected on Friday.

Holmes, 25, is accused of opening fire on a crowded movie theater in Aurora, Colo., on July 20, 2012, killing 12 people and wounding 58 others during a showing of "Black Knight Rises."

The photos presented in court showed Holmes mugging for his iPhone camera just hours before the shooting.

Click here for full coverage of the Aurora movie theater shooting.

Half-a-dozen photos showed Holmes with his clownish red-orange hair curled out from underneath a black skull cap. He wore black contact lenses in some of the pictures.

In one particularly disturbing image, he was making a scowling face with his tongue out. He was whistling in another photo. Holmes is smiling in his black contacts and flaming hair in yet another with the muzzle of one of his Glock pistols in the forefront.

James Holmes: Suspect in Aurora Movie Theatre Shootings Back in Court Watch Video

Police Testify at Hearing for Accused Colorado Gunman Watch Video

Trail of Cheetos Lead Police to Robbery Suspect Watch Video

Yet another showed him dressed in black tactical gear, posing with an AR-15 rifle.

Victims' families in the courtroom stared straight ahead, showing little emotion while the photos were shown. Tom Teves, whose son Alex was killed in the theater, kept an intense stare on the pictures.

Other photos seized from the iPhone show pictures that a detective testified were taken of the interior of the Aurora movie theater in the days leading up to the attack, on June 29, July 5 and July 11.

Before the prosecution called for the photos, public defender Tammy Brady objected. Prosecutor Karen Pearson said that the photos showed deliberation and extreme indifference. Judge William Sylvester overruled the objection and the photos were released.

In Pearson's closing statement, she said there is an abundance of direct evidence that Holmes "wanted to kill call of them. He knew what he was doing."

She said that Holmes had a "depravity of human heart" and that he "went into the theater without knowing or caring who they are." The prosecutor said he "picked the perfect venue for the perfect crime."

Pearson said prosecutors made a decision not to include all of the people who were in theaters eight and nine that night. If they had, they could have had 1,500 counts against Holmes. Instead, they included anyone who had physical injuries, including those with gunshot wounds and those who were hurt running out of the theater. There are 166 counts in all.

The judge has taken the case under advisement and there will be a status hearing or arraignment on Friday when the judge will decide whether the case will proceed to a full trial. Holmes' attorneys have not yet said whether they plan on using a insanity defense, in which case Holmes could possibly be deemed unfit to stand trial. Another possibility is that the hearing could set the stage for a plea deal.

This week's testimony has included emotional testimony from first responders, details about Holmes' elaborately booby trapped apartment, a rundown of his arsenal of legally purchased weapons and descriptions of his bizarre behavior following the shooting.

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Today on New Scientist: 8 January 2013

Mock Mars mission reveals salty surprise

Unexpected findings from the "crew members" of the Mars 500 experiment may overturn a common assumption about how our body stores and excretes dietary salt

'Exocomets' abound in alien solar systems

Planets around billions of stars may be getting pummelled by the icy dirt-balls in the same way that the young Earth once was

Australia faces another week of 'catastrophic' heat

A record-smashing "dome of heat" is causing the worst fire threat on record and forcing Australian meteorologists to add two colours to their heat maps

Black holes star in first images of high-energy cosmos

NASA's recently launched NuSTAR space telescope peers through the dust that blinds other craft to spot a supernova and two black holes

Another day at the office for NASA's robot astronaut

This fine figure of a robot is Robonaut 2 hard at work aboard the International Space Station last week

Into thin air: Storage salvation for green energy

If renewable energy is to succeed, we need to find a better way to store it. Liquid air batteries could be the answer, says Jim Giles

Tony Fadell: From iPhones to sexing up thermostats

After quitting Apple, the tech guru behind the iPod wanted to revolutionise our homes - starting with the humble thermostat

World's oldest pills treated sore eyes

Tablets found in an ancient shipwreck contain zinc carbonates - just like many of today's eye medications

Only the toughest would survive on Tatooine worlds

A new look at twin-star systems hints that life might thrive in more places than we thought, as long as it can adapt to wild climates

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Cricket: 'Passionate' Warne sorry for T20 bust-up

SYDNEY: Australian bowling great Shane Warne apologised Tuesday for the foul-mouthed Twenty20 confrontation that earned him a ban and a fine, and said he hoped he had not tarnished his legacy in the sport.

Warne admitted he had gone too far in his on-field row with West Indian batsman Marlon Samuels in Australia's Big Bash League but defended his right to show "emotion and passion".

"I'm very passionate when I play the game. I overstepped the line and hence I'm missing a game," Warne, 43, told Australian broadcaster Fox Sports.

"I thought it was a pretty harsh penalty but I was more disappointed in my own actions, especially as a captain.

"It was emotion and passion. We sometimes like to see that in sportsmen and not robots.

"I apologise to the fans and I apologise to everyone. Sitting and doing detention, it's not easy to watch the boys."

Melbourne Stars captain Warne, furious after Samuels impeded batsman David Hussey, later confronted the West Indian with an obscenity and in the following over, hurled the ball at his chest.

Samuels, playing for city rivals the Melbourne Renegades, reacted by tossing his bat towards Australia's record Test wicket-taker and the two squared up before being separated by the umpires.

Warne was banned for one match and fined A$4,500 over the row. But he expressed hope that "one little incident" wouldn't besmirch his reputation among cricket fans.

"I'd like to think of the 25 years I've been playing first-class cricket rather than just one game," he said.

"I'd like to think there's a lot of positive and good things I've done for Australian cricket and all that sort of stuff over the years.

"One little incident here or there (doesn't matter). I do apologise for my behaviour and I'm disappointed in my own reaction."

Warne claimed 708 Test wickets in a celebrated career but he has also courted controversy, notably when he was fined for accepting money from a bookmaker and when he was sent home from the 2003 World Cup for taking a banned diuretic.

The colourful Warne's woes continued on Tuesday when a Scottish court fined him

£500 in absentia for driving at more than 100 miles (160 kilometres) per hour on a road with a 70 mph limit.

Samuels has been replaced in the Renegades team by England batsman Alex Hales after he top-edged a Lasith Malinga delivery into his face during Sunday's eventful game, suffering a suspected fracture of the eye socket.

- AFP/jc

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Qualcomm and Wilocity roll Wi-Fi and WiGig into one chip and demo first Tri-band consumer products

LAS VEGAS--Your laptop might already have dual-band Wi-Fi, but how about Tri-band for a change?

Qualcomm and Wilocity today announced at
CES 2013 the first Tri-band reference design that combines Wireless-N (802.11n), 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and 802.11ad (also known as WiGig) in one single networking product.

The new chip is based on the Qualcomm VIVE 802.11ac Wi-Fi chip, which was launched just a few days ago, and Wilocity 802.11ad WiGig wireless technologies. It's the first chip with tri-band Wi-Fi, meaning it offers wireless networking signals in all three existing bands of the Wi-Fi standard -- 2.4GHz, the 5GHz, and 60GHz -- as well as Gigabit Ethernet.

This is a very significant development for the 60GHz 802.11ad standard, which offers up to 7Gbps wireless speed at the expense of range, which is much shorter compared with the other two. By combining it into the Wi-Fi family, end-user can have the benefit of the faster speed without having to get a separate router, or pick and choose.

The Dell Ultrabook and the first Tri-band Wi-Fi/WiGig add-in card it has on the inside for Wilocity CES 2013 demos.

(Credit:
Wilocity)

In short, the Tri-band reference design allows consumers to connect to 60GHz-enabled devices, such as docks, displays and storage at multi-gigabit speeds, while maintaining connection with 2.4GHz/5GHz Wi-Fi.

Recently the Wi-Fi Alliance and the WiGigi Alliance also announced their merger, signalling the fast adoption of the 60Ghz 802.11ad standard in the coming years.

According to Qualcomm, the latest generation tri-band wireless networking card takes advantage of the new Qualcomm VIVE 802.11ac combined with the recently ratified 802.11ad standard that enables multi-gigabit networking, data syncing, and video and audio streaming, while maintaining its wireless bus extension docking capabilities. The latest generation tri-band wireless networking card will be available in two options: the QCA9006NFC next-generation form factor (NGFF) and the QCA9006WBD half-mini card (HMC) specification.

Wilocity demoed the first commercially available product that use the new Tri-band, which is the new Latitude 6430u Ultrabook. This laptop can connection to any Wi-Fi networks (both 802.11ac and 802.11n) as well as to other 802.11ad devices for muti-gigiabit wireless connection. The demo involved the laptop being connected to its wireless 802.11ad docking station, which then adds more connector to the laptop. The two can maintain a multi-gigabit wireless connection from wtihin some 10 meet of each other.

Currently, there are not any Tri-band access point/routers on the market yet and the only use of the 60Ghz band is to connect two device in a pair. Once an access point/router is available, which is sometime this year, multiple 802.11ad devices can connect to one another, just like the way they do with regular Wi-Fi standards.

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Primitive and Peculiar Mammal May Be Hiding Out in Australia

It’d be hard to think of a mammal that’s weirder than the long-beaked, egg-laying echidna. Or harder to find.

Scientists long thought the animal, which has a spine-covered body, a four-headed penis, and a single hole for reproducing, laying eggs, and excreting waste, lived only in New Guinea. The population of about 10,000 is critically endangered. Now there is tantalizing evidence that the echidna, thought to have gone extinct in Australia some 10,000 years ago, lived and reproduced there as recently as the early 1900s and may still be alive on Aussie soil.

The new echidna information comes from zoologist Kristofer Helgen, a National Geographic emerging explorer and curator of mammals at the Smithsonian Institution. Helgen has published a key finding in ZooKeys confirming that a skin and skull collected in 1901 by naturalist John T. Tunney in Australia is in fact the western long-beaked echidna, Zaglossus bruijnii. The specimen, found in the West Kimberley region of Western Australia, was misidentified for many years.

(More about echidnas: Get to know this living link between mammals and reptiles.)

Helgen has long been fascinated by echidnas. He has seen only three in the wild. “Long-beaked echidnas are hard to get your hands on, period,” he said. “They are shy and secretive by nature. You’re lucky if you can find one. And if you do, it will be by chance.” Indeed, chance played a role in his identification of the Australian specimen. In 2009, he visited the Natural History Museum of London, where he wanted to see all of the echidnas he could. He took a good look in the bottom drawer of the echidna cabinet, where the specimens with less identifying information are often stored. From among about a dozen specimens squeezed into the drawer, he grabbed the one at the very bottom.

(Related from National Geographic magazine: “Discovery in the Foja Mountains.”)

“As I pulled it out, I saw a tag that I had seen before,” Helgen said. “I was immediately excited about this label. As a zoologist working in museums you get used to certain tags: It’s a collector’s calling card. I instantly recognized John Tunney’s tag and his handwriting.”

John Tunney was a well-known naturalist in the early 20th century who went on collecting expeditions for museums. During an Australian expedition in 1901 for Lord L. Walter Rothschild’s private museum collection, he found the long-beaked echidna specimen. Though he reported the locality on his tag as “Mt Anderson (W Kimberley)” and marked it as “Rare,” Tunney left the species identification field blank. When he returned home, the specimen was sent to the museum in Perth for identification. It came back to Rothschild’s museum identified as a short-beaked echidna.

With the specimen’s long snout, large size, and three-clawed feet, Helgen knew that it must be a long-beaked echidna. The short-beaked echidna, still alive and thriving in Australia today, has five claws, a smaller beak, and is half the size of the long-beaked echidna, which can weigh up to 36 pounds (16 kilograms).

As Helgen began tracing the history and journey of the specimen over the last century, he crossed the path of another fascinating mind who had also encountered the specimen. Oldfield Thomas was arguably the most brilliant mammalogical taxonomist ever. He named approximately one out of every six mammals known today.

Thomas was working at the Natural History Museum in London when the Tunney echidna specimen arrived, still misidentified as a short-beaked echidna. Thomas realized the specimen was actually a long-beaked echidna and removed the skull and some of the leg bones from the skin to prove that it was an Australian record of a long-beaked echidna, something just as unexpected then as it is now.

No one knows why Thomas did not publish that information. And the echidna went back into the drawer until Helgen came along 80 years later.

As Helgen became convinced that Tunney’s long-beaked echidna specimen indeed came from Australia, he confided in fellow scientist Mark Eldridge of the Australian Museum about the possibility. Eldridge replied, “You’re not the first person who’s told me that there might be long-beaked echidnas in the Kimberley.” (That’s the Kimberley region of northern Australia.) Scientist James Kohen, a co-author on Helgen’s ZooKeys paper, had been conducting fieldwork in the area in 2001 and spoke to an Aboriginal woman who told him how “her grandmothers used to hunt” large echidnas.

This is “the first evidence of the survival into modern times of any long-beaked echidna in Australia,” said Tim Flannery, professor at Macquarie University in Sydney. “This is a truly significant finding that should spark a re-evaluation of echidna identifications from across northern Australia.”

Helgen has “a small optimism” about finding a long-beaked echidna in the wild in Australia and hopes to undertake an expedition and to interview Aboriginal communities, with their intimate knowledge of the Australian bush.

Though the chances may be small, Helgen says, finding one in the wild “would be the beautiful end to the story.”

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Jodi Arias: Who Is the Admitted Killer?

Jodi Arias is a woman that many can't keep their eyes off of--a soft-spoken, small-framed 32-year-old who last year won a jailhouse Christmas caroling contest. But she is also an admitted killer who is now on trial in Arizona for the 2008 murder of her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander.

Sitting in a Maricopa County court, Arias, whose trial resumes today, cries every time prosecutors describe what she admits she did -- stab her one-time boyfriend Travis Alexander 27 times, slit his throat and shoot him in the head.

Arias grew up in the small city of Yreka, Calif. She dropped out of high school, but received her GED while in jail a few years ago. She was an aspiring photographer; her MySpace page includes several albums of pictures, one of which was called "In loving memory of Travis Alexander."

FULL COVERAGE: Jodi Arias Murder Trial

Woman Facing Death Penalty Called Jealous by Prosecutors Watch Video

Ariz. Woman Faces Death Penalty in Boyfriend's Slaying Watch Video

"Jodi wanted nothing but to please Travis," defense attorney Jennifer Wilmot said in her opening statements, but added that there was another reality – that Arias was Alexander's "dirty little secret."

Arias' attorneys want the jury to believe she killed Alexander in June of 2008 in self defense, that he abused her, and she feared for her life when she attacked him in the shower of his Mesa, Ariz., home.

Alexander's family and friends say Arias was a stalker who killed him in cold blood. They say the 30-year-old was a successful businessman who overcame all the odds. His parents were drug addicts, and he grew up occasionally homeless until he converted to Mormonism and turned his life around.

Jodi Arias Trial: A Timeline of Events in the Arizona Murder Case

"He actually had everything going for him," said Dave Hall, one of Alexander's friends. "A beautiful home, a beautiful car, a great income."

Alexander kept a blog, and in a haunting last entry, just two weeks before his murder, he wrote about trying to find a wife.

"This type of dating to me is like a very long job interview," he wrote. "Desperately trying to find out if my date has an axe murderer penned up inside of her."

Alexander did date a killer. It's now up to the jury to decide if she killed in self defense.

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World's oldest pills treated sore eyes

In ancient Rome, physicians treated sore eyes with the same active ingredients as today. So suggests an analysis of pills found on the Relitto del Pozzino, a cargo ship wrecked off the Italian coast in around 140 BC.

"To our knowledge, these are the oldest medical tablets ever analysed," says Erika Ribechini of the University of Pisa in Italy, head of a team analysing the relics. She thinks the disc-shaped tablets, 4 centimetres across and a centimetre thick, were likely dipped in water and dabbed directly on the eyes.

The tablets were mainly made of the zinc carbonates hydrozincite and smithsonite, echoing the widespread use of zinc-based minerals in today's eye and skin medications. Ribechini says there is evidence that Pliny the Elder, the Roman physician, prescribed zinc compounds for these uses almost 250 years after the shipwreck in his seminal medical encyclopaedia, Naturalis Historia.

The tablets were also rich in plant and animal oils. Pollen grains from an olive tree suggest that olive oil was a key ingredient, just like it is today in many medical and beauty creams, says Ribechini.

The tablets were discovered in a sealed tin cylinder called a pyxis (see image above). The tin must have been airtight to protect its contents from oxygen corrosion.

"Findings of such ancient medicines are extremely rare, so preservation of the Pozzino tablets is a very lucky case," says Ribechini.

The cargo of the wreck, discovered in 1989, is rich in other medical equipment, including vials and special vessels for bloodletting. This suggests that one of the passengers may have been a physician.

Journal reference: PNAS, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1216776110

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Britain: Commentator rapped over Suarez 'cheat' claim

LONDON: A British television commentator who labelled Luis Suarez "a cheat" following his controversial goal in Liverpool's FA Cup win at Mansfield on Sunday, has been spoken to by his employer.

Jon Champion, an experienced football broadcaster, made his views clear while working for satellite station ESPN who were carrying live coverage of the match between Premier League side Liverpool and fifth-tier Mansfield at the non-league club's Field Mill ground.

The ball hit Suarez on the right wrist before he put Liverpool 2-0 up in a game they eventually won 2-1 but the Uruguay striker's goal was allowed to stand by the referee.

However, as ESPN showed a replay of the incident, Champion said: "That, I'm afraid, is the work of a cheat."

But an ESPN statement issued Monday distanced themselves from Champion's comment, saying: "We take our responsibility to deliver the highest standards of coverage to our viewers.

"ESPN's editorial policy is for commentators to be unbiased and honest, to call things as they see them.

"Inevitably this can involve treading a fine line on occasion, especially in the heat of the moment.

"Comments during the Mansfield v Liverpool match caused offence where none was intended and we have spoken to our commentator about this incident."

Sunday's incident was just the latest in a series of flashpoints that have dogged Suarez since his arrival in English football, with the most high-profile being his ban for racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra last season.

"If it was someone else we probably wouldn't even be discussing it," said Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers of Suarez's goal after Sunday's match. "Sometimes these sorts of things will follow players."

"That's part of his life. He deals with it remarkably well. He's got thick skin. He's had it throughout his life and his career in this country."

And Suarez received further backing, over this incident at least, from former Liverpool defender turned football pundit Alan Hansen.

"What exactly was Suarez supposed to do?" Hansen wrote in his column in Monday's Daily Telegraph.

"Run to the referee and tell him it hit his hand? His team-mates would go berserk, and his manager would not be too impressed either.

"The first thing to make clear is Liverpool's second goal in the third round cup tie was not a deliberate handball."

Hansen added: "He (Suarez) did exactly what anyone who has ever played professional football -- and anyone who plays in the future -- would do in the same situation.

"Yesterday, Suarez simply followed the golden rule every youngster is taught when he first plays football: 'Play to the whistle.' If that whistle does not come, it's the fault of the referee, not the player."

- AFP/jc

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Panasonic's E series LCDs are feature-rich

LAS VEGAS--In 2013, Panasonic is releasing its largest line of LCDs yet, with seven different series to choose from. While the WT60 and DT60 sit at the high end, it's the three types of E series that make up the bulk of the company's offering.

The E's are comprised of the 50-inch and 60-inch ET60; the E60 in four sizes (42-, 50-, 58-, and 65-inch screens); and the entry-level EM60 at 39 inches and 50 inches.

Unusually for Panasonic, the ET60 and E60 are blessed with an embarrassment of feature-riches. The most "gadgety" addition is Swipe & Share 2.0, which lets users tap their NFC smartphone against the TV to share content -- but, really, who's going to get up from their chair to use it? In addition, the TVs feature Voice Interaction/Guidance, which allows users to speak commands into their Panasonic remote or smartphone. For connectivity purposes they both include three HDMI ports and two USB ports.

With the new "Smart TV Alliance" affiliation, the ET60 and E60 also offer My Home Screen which allows each user in the home to create their own personal home screen with shortcuts to favorite content.

The entry-level EM60 forgoes these features, but includes a "media player" with two HDMI connections and one USB port.

The Panasonic E series will be available in the U.S. in the spring 2013 with pricing to be announced.

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How Fish Evolved to Climb Waterfalls With Their Mouths

When it comes to climbing waterfalls, the Nopili rock-climbing goby really puts its teeth into it.

The inch-long (2.5 centimeter) fish uses suckers in its mouth and belly to move up steep cliffs in its rugged Hawaiian habitat. (Related "pictures: "'Walking' Fish a Model of Evolution in Action.")

Watch a video of the fish climbing.

Because its freshwater habitat is easily disturbed—by a big storm, for instance—the fish often crawl up waterfalls to return upstream.

But how this odd creature evolved to trek vertical distances of up to a hundred feet (30 meters)—the energetic equivalent of a person running a marathon—was unknown, said Richard Blob, an evolutionary biologist at Clemson University.

Now, a new paper by Blob and colleagues in the journal PLOS ONE shows that the fish uses the same movements to climb as it does to eat algae.

Before Blob and his student team could study the fish, however, they had to catch one. That proved a bit tricky. For instance, a goby would watch as a wetsuited scientist, struggling against the current, inched closer—and then would scoot away. "You don't want to attach too much personality to these animals," but they almost had a mocking expression, Blob said with a laugh.

The Nopili rock-climbing goby has two suckers for climbing.

Photograph courtesy Takashi Maie

When enough fish were eventually caught, they were taken to a field laboratory in Hawaii. There the scientists filmed them feeding on algae-covered glass and—stimulated by falling water—climbing. "They'd climb up a garden hose if you gave it to them," Blob quipped. (Also see pictures: "Nine Fish With 'Hands' Found to Be New Species.")

By watching videos of both behaviors, the team concluded that the fish uses the same overall movements. For instance, the angle and distance at which the front part of the upper jaw protrudes are nearly identical during both behaviors.

This suggests that, at some point in its evolution, the Nopili rock-climbing goby repurposed one behavior for another—a known evolutionary phenomenon known as exaptation, in which a species will "take a structure or behavior and co-opt to do something totally different."

The classic example of exaptation is bird feathers, said Blob, "which may have evolved as an insulation structure before they were co-opted, or exapted, with some evolutionary changes for use in flight."

Though it's still unknown which behavior came first, the end result is a perfectly adapted fish.

"How finely tuned these fish are to this habitat is just amazing," said Blob.

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