rubicon therapist: October 2013

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Washington Nationals hire Matt Williams as manager

FILE - In this April 20, 2013 file photo, Arizona Diamondbacks third base coach Matt Williams chats with William Geivett, assistant general manager of the Colorado Rockies, before the first inning of a Major League Baseball game in Denver. Williams is the new manager of the Washington Nationals. The Nationals will hold a news conference Friday to introduce Williams as the team's fifth manager since it moved to Washington from Montreal in 2005. He replaces Davey Johnson, who is retiring. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

FILE - In this May 1, 2013 file photo, Arizona Diamondbacks' Gerardo Parra, right, kisses the head of third base coach Matt Williams in the dugout prior to a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants, in Phoenix. Williams is the new manager of the Washington Nationals. The Nationals will hold a news conference Friday, Nov. 1, 2013, to introduce Williams as the team's fifth manager since it moved to Washington from Montreal in 2005. He replaces Davey Johnson, who is retiring.(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

FILE - In this April 8, 2011 file photo, Arizona Diamondbacks coach Matt Williams watches a game against the Cincinnati Reds, in Phoenix. Williams is the new manager of the Washington Nationals. The Nationals will hold a news conference Friday, Nov. 1, 2013, to introduce Williams as the team's fifth manager since it moved to Washington from Montreal in 2005. He replaces Davey Johnson, who is retiring. (AP Photo/Paul Connors, File)

FILE - In this Aug. 26, 2013 file photo, Arizona Diamondbacks third base coach Matt Williams gets a high-five from players after he took batting practice prior to a baseball game against the San Diego Padres, in Phoenix. Williams is the new manager of the Washington Nationals. The Nationals will hold a news conference Friday, Nov. 1, 2013, to introduce Williams as the team's fifth manager since it moved to Washington from Montreal in 2005. He replaces Davey Johnson, who is retiring. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

This photo taken in 2012 shows Matt Williams of the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team, in Scottsdale, Ariz. Williams is the new manager of the Washington Nationals. The Nationals will hold a news conference Friday to introduce Williams as the team's fifth manager since it moved to Washington from Montreal in 2005. He replaces Davey Johnson, who is retiring. (AP Photo/Matt York)

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than a decade ago, when Matt Williams was still a third baseman, and Mike Rizzo was still climbing the front-office rungs, the future general manager thought he noticed the makings of a future skipper.

Well, here they are. Williams will make his debut as a major league manager with the Washington Nationals, a hiring announced by Rizzo on Thursday, one day after the World Series ended.

"Matt played with intensity as a player, but he also was a terrific teammate. You talk to the guys that he played with, and they swear by him. He was always team first, and self second. He was the consummate team player and a great teammate. He was a leader in the clubhouse, by example and also a vocal leader," Rizzo said.

"As a manager candidate, I feel he has the same fire, same desire, and the same team-first attitude that will be taken well by the players," Rizzo added. "He's always been a players' guy as a player, and I think he'll continue to be a players' guy as a manager."

Rizzo was a part of the Arizona Diamondbacks' front office when the expansion team entered the majors in 1998, and he became their scouting director two years later along the way to becoming Washington's GM. Williams played in Arizona from 1998-2003, part of a 17-year career that also included time with the San Francisco Giants and Cleveland Indians.

Williams, a five-time All-Star and a four-time Gold Glove recipient, is the first player mentioned in the Mitchell Report — the accounting of baseball's Steroids Era that was released in December 2007 — to become a manager in the majors. The San Francisco Chronicle reported in 2007 that records indicated Williams purchased more than $10,000 worth of growth hormone, steroids and other drugs while with the Diamondbacks in 2002. According to the newspaper, Williams said in an interview a doctor advised him to try growth hormone to heal a severe ankle injury during spring training that year.

"It certainly was something we discussed. We didn't agonize over it. ... In the interview process, we asked about it," Rizzo said.

"Matt was extremely candid about the Mitchell Report and owned up to it," Rizzo continued. "He certainly showed accountability for it. He wants to only be judged by his coaching and managing going forward."

The Nationals will hold a news conference to introduce Williams at their stadium on Friday. He replaces the retired Davey Johnson, who won the NL Manager of the Year award for leading Washington to a majors-leading 98 wins and the NL East title in 2012, then announced before this season that 2013 would be it for him in the Nationals' dugout.

After entering the season with sky-high expectations — and, famously, Johnson's "World Series or bust" declaration — the Nationals missed the playoffs, going 86-76 and finishing 10 games out of first place in the division.

The 47-year-old Williams was the third-base coach for the Diamondbacks the past three seasons. He has only brief managerial experience at any level, having spent some time in the Arizona Fall League and five weeks as a midseason fill-in at Double-A in the minors.

"There are different routes to the manager's office," Rizzo said. "I think experience is important, but you can get experience in many different ways."

While he was not willing to discuss other personnel moves, Rizzo certainly did make it sound Thursday as if some — and perhaps most — of Johnson's coaching staff from the end of last season will remain with the Nationals, a group that includes bench coach Randy Knorr, pitching coach Steve McCatty and hitting coach Rick Schu.

"We're not going to have a lot of turnover," Rizzo said.

"Suffice it to say, there's not going to be a whole transforming of the coaching staff. We're going to try to keep some consistency," he said. "But we're not at the point yet where we can announce what the coaching staff consists of."

___

Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-10-31-Nationals-Manager/id-616b3a63e858437aad52ec790bc6dd00
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Israel strikes Russian weapons shipment in Syria

In this image taken from video obtained from the Shaam News Network, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, people try to extinguish a fire on the roof of a building, allegedly caused by shelling in Homs, Syria, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013. President Bashar Assad's government met a key deadline in an ambitious plan to eliminate Syria's entire chemical weapons stockpile by mid-2014 and avoid international military action. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP Video)

BEIRUT (AP) — Israeli warplanes attacked a shipment of Russian missiles inside a Syrian government stronghold, officials said Thursday, a development that threatened to add another volatile layer to regional tensions from the Syrian civil war.

The revelation came as the government of President Bashar Assad met a key deadline in an ambitious plan to eliminate Syria's entire chemical weapons stockpile by mid-2014 and avoid international military action.

The announcement by a global chemical weapons watchdog that the country has completed the destruction of equipment used to produce the deadly agents highlights Assad's willingness to cooperate, and puts more pressure on the divided and outgunned rebels to attend a planned peace conference.

An Obama administration official confirmed the Israeli airstrike overnight, but provided no details. Another security official said the attack occurred late Wednesday in the Syrian port city of Latakia and that the target was Russian-made SA-125 missiles.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the attack. There was no immediate confirmation from Syria.

Since the civil war in Syria began in March 2011, Israel has carefully avoided taking sides, but has struck shipments of missiles inside Syria at least twice this year.

The Syrian military, overstretched by the civil war, has not retaliated, and it was not clear whether the embattled Syrian leader would choose to take action this time. Assad may decide to again let the Israeli attack slide, particularly when his army has the upper hand on the battlefield inside Syria.

Israel has repeatedly declared a series of red lines that could trigger Israeli military intervention, including the delivery of "game-changing" weapons to the Syrian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah group.

Israel has never officially confirmed taking action inside Syria to avoid embarrassing Assad and sparking a potential response. But foreign officials say it has done so several times when Israeli intelligence determined that sophisticated missiles were on the move.

In January, an Israeli airstrike in Syria destroyed a shipment of advanced anti-aircraft missiles bound for Hezbollah, according to U.S. officials. And in May, it was said to have acted again, taking out a shipment of Iranian-made Fateh-110 missiles at a Damascus airport.

The Fateh-110s have advanced guidance systems that allow them to travel up to 200 miles (300 kilometers) per hour with great precision. Their solid-fuel propellant allows them to be launched at short notice, making them hard to detect and neutralize.

Israel has identified several other weapons systems as game changers, including chemical weapons, Russian-made Yakhont missiles that can be fired from land and destroy ships at sea, and Russian SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles. Israel's January airstrike is believed to have destroyed a shipment of SA-17s.

Syrian activists and opposition groups reported strong explosions Wednesday night that appeared to come from inside an air defense facility in Latakia. They said the cause of the blasts was not known.

The announcement Thursday that Syria had completed the destruction of equipment used to produce chemical weapons came one day ahead of a Nov. 1 deadline set by the Hague-based watchdog, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

But while some experts portrayed the step as a milestone, others said it has little impact as long as Syria still has its entire remaining stockpile of functioning chemical weapons.

"Only after those weapons have been destroyed or removed from Syrian control will the state be demilitarized," said David Reeths, director at HIS Jane's Consulting.

With the initial stage of verification and destruction of weapons machinery completed, the hard task now begins.

The executive committee of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has until Nov. 15 to decide how best to permanently destroy Syria's chemical weapons program and its stockpile of deadly mustard gas, sarin and precursor chemicals.

It's not yet clear how and where the arsenal will be destroyed, but carrying out the work in Syria or transporting the chemical weapons out of the country for destruction elsewhere are both fraught with risks amid the ongoing civil war. The country is believed to have around 1,000 metric tons of chemical weapons.

Assad has so far met all required deadlines according to the strict timeline, demonstrating his willingness to go to great lengths to avoid international military action.

"This is a clear indication of the Syrian government's wish to cooperate and abide by its commitments," said Syrian lawmaker Issam Khalil. He said Syria knows "full well that the U.S. has not ceased its hostile policies toward Syria and will attempt to exploit any excuse — however small and inconsequential — to carry out a military strike against Syria."

The U.S.-Russian deal to destroy Syria's stockpile averted a U.S. military strike against the Syrian government that appeared certain in August, following a chemical weapons attack near Damascus that killed hundreds the U.S. blamed on Assad.

By making him a partner in implementing the disarmament deal, the agreement appears to have restored some of Assad's legitimacy while angering his opponents, who now balk at attending political transition talks the U.S. hopes will begin in Geneva in November.

No final date has been set for the talks, and there have been disagreements among opposition groups on whether to attend or not, and the conditions for taking part. Syria's main opposition group in exile, the Syrian National Coalition, postponed its general council meeting in Istanbul from Friday to Nov. 10, pending further discussions on the highly divisive talks.

U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, currently in Damascus, has urged both sides to come to the talks without preconditions. But both have placed seemingly unrealistic conditions for attending.

At a Senate hearing in Washington on Thursday, Sen. John McCain said Assad, who was about to be toppled a year ago, has "turned the tide" while continuing to slaughter innocent civilians.

Fighting continued at a high pace across many parts of the country, including in the town of Safira, in northern Aleppo province. Experts say the town is home to a chemical weapons production facility, as well as storage sites.

Activists said troops were advancing Thursday in the town, capturing several neighborhoods and causing casualties on both sides.

Also on Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based Syria watchdog, said more than 120,000 people have been killed since the start of the country's conflict nearly three years ago. In July, the U.N. estimated 100,000 have died in the conflict since March 2011. It has not updated that figure since.

The violence underscored the dangers the chemical weapons' inspectors face as they race against tight deadlines in the midst of an ongoing civil war.

Earlier this week, the inspectors said they had completed their first round of verification work, visiting 21 of 23 sites declared by Damascus. They were unable to visit two sites because of security concerns, the inspectors said.

On Thursday, the chemical weapons agency said the two locations were, according to Syria, "abandoned and ... the chemical weapons program items they contained were moved to other declared sites, which were inspected."

It was not immediately clear if the facility in Safira was one of the two sites.

Commenting on the two sites, OPCW spokesman Michael Luhan said, "it was just deemed too risky." He told the AP that Syrian authorities were not able to offer the necessary security guarantees for inspectors to visit those sites.

He added, however, that the Syrian side provided "quite compelling documentary evidence" that equipment in one of the sites was moved to another location that inspectors did visit.

___

Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands. Associated Press writers Robert Burns in Washington, Albert Aji in Damascus and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-10-31-Syria/id-a138341aa4f04ab7a77aeaf1d441a5d4
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Gaming technology unravels 1 of the most complex entities in nature

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Contact: Rob Dawson
rob.dawson@bbsrc.ac.uk
01-793-413-204
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

Computational research unveils secrets in the human carbohydrate bar-code

BBSRC-funded researchers at the University of Manchester's Institute of Biotechnology have used the power of off-the-shelf computer gaming technology to capture previously unobservable atomic movements. The research is helping to chart one of nature's most complex entities known as "glycomes" - the entire complement of carbohydrates within a cell.

This novel solution provides a new understanding of these vital biomolecules which play a role in everything from neuronal development, inflammation and cell structure, to disease pathology and blood clotting.

Understanding the shapes of major biological molecules has revolutionised areas like drug development and medical diagnostics, but the shape of complex carbohydrates has been largely ignored.

The research, reported in a series of six peer-reviewed scientific publications (see notes) with the most recent (published today) appearing in Carbohydrate Research, provides a new view of these biochemical barcodes and present new opportunities in the science of carbohydrates, such as designing drugs or biomaterials that mimic carbohydrate shape and interpreting burgeoning functional glycomics data.

Dr Ben Sattelle from the Faculty of Life Sciences said: "Carbohydrate activity stems from 3D-shape, but the link between carbohydrate sequence and function remains unclear. Sequence-function relationships are rapidly being deciphered and it is now essential to be able to interpret these data in terms of molecular 3D-structure, as has been the case for proteins and the DNA double-helix.

"By using technology designed for computer games, we have been able to investigate the previously unseen movements of carbohydrates at an atomic scale and over longer timescales than before. The insights relate carbohydrate sequence to molecular shape and provide information that will be vital for many industries.

"Carbohydrates remain extremely difficult to characterise in 3D using experiments and advances in computer technology, which exploit computer-gaming technology, have enabled us to use and develop methods that can routinely provide accurate 3D-data for this important class of biomolecules. The ability to model atomic motions in large carbohydrate polymers promises to transform our understanding of fundamentally important biological processes. For example, our approach has potential applications in the design of carbohydrate-based biomaterials, pharmaceuticals and foods."

Modelling carbohydrate motions in water is computationally demanding, meaning that simulations have been limited to short nanosecond timescales using conventional software and central processing unit (CPU) based computers. The team from Manchester achieved simulations ranging from one microsecond (the time it takes for a strobe light to flash) to twenty-five microseconds by exploiting the extra computational power of graphics processing units (GPUs) that are commonly used in game-play to produce moving images. Compared to CPU-based computers, or even supercomputing clusters of them, GPU technology allows many more simultaneous calculations to be performed.

The researchers produced the first predictions of microsecond molecular motions in glycomic building blocks and oligosaccharides. Previously unobservable atomic movements were predicted and found to be sensitive to the carbohydrate sequence. Building on these new insights, the researchers developed a new physics-based model and GPU software that allows far more realistic simulations of long carbohydrate sequences (polymers) - on microsecond and micrometer scales. Using heparan sulphate chains (Figure 1, see notes) the researchers showed that including both flexible degrees of freedom in their model, polymer linkage and ring motions, is crucial to reproduce experimental shape data and ring dynamics were implicated in sequence-dependent biological activity.

The research has culminated in a computational GPU-based method and protocol that can now be used by other researchers to explore the 3D-landscape of largely unchartered organismal glycomes in unprecedented detail.

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Gaming technology unravels 1 of the most complex entities in nature

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

31-Oct-2013

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Contact: Rob Dawson
rob.dawson@bbsrc.ac.uk
01-793-413-204
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

Computational research unveils secrets in the human carbohydrate bar-code

Understanding the shapes of major biological molecules has revolutionised areas like drug development and medical diagnostics, but the shape of complex carbohydrates has been largely ignored.

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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/babs-gtu103113.php
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Research finds severe hot flashes reduced with quick neck injection

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Contact: Kara Spak
kspak@nmh.org
312-926-0755
Northwestern Memorial Hospital

A shot in the neck of local anesthesia may reduce hot flashes by as much as 50 percent for at least six months, a recent Northwestern Medicine study found.

"We think we are resetting the thermostat in women who are experiencing moderate to very severe hot flashes without using hormonal therapies," said David Walega, MD, chief of the Division of Pain Medicine at Northwestern Memorial Hospital andNorthwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Walega presented the results of the initial study at a recent American Society of Anesthesiologists annual meeting.

Forty women between 35 and 65 years old experiencing natural or induced menopause participated in the study. The women suffered debilitating hot flashes with more severe symptoms than the typical hot flash.

"Many of the women in our study experienced repeated drenching sweats that lessen the ability to go about a day-to-day routine, including interfering with their professional lives," said Walega. " We wanted to see if this injection could provide symptom relief without hormones, as hormone therapy has been associated with an increased risk of cancer, stroke and heart disease, and there are few other viable treatment options available right now."

To administer the treatment, the doctor used low dose X-ray to guide an injection of bupivacaine hydrochloride, a commonly used local anesthetic, into a nerve bundle called the stellate ganglion, located in the neck near the "voice box." It's a 30 second procedure that must be done by a trained physician because the injection is close to important structures like the carotid artery, the vertebral artery and the spinal nerves. Injecting any of those areas could cause a seizure, loss of consciousness or other complications.

The idea came from a pain study published in 2007 in the medical journal "The Lancet," where stellate ganglion injections were performed to try to alleviate pain. In some cases, hot flashes dissipated after the injection, independent of pain relief, leading Walega's research team to wonder if this might be a safe, effective way of treating hot flashes from menopause.

Walega's patients tracked their hot flashes for two weeks before and six months after the injection. Half the group got the anesthetic; the other a placebo injection of saline, or salt-water. Those who received the anesthetic medication reported a reduction of hot flashes by a half. The benefits lasted at least six months.

Walega is now planning a larger study to further investigate the shot's effectiveness.

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Research finds severe hot flashes reduced with quick neck injection

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

31-Oct-2013

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Contact: Kara Spak
kspak@nmh.org
312-926-0755
Northwestern Memorial Hospital

A shot in the neck of local anesthesia may reduce hot flashes by as much as 50 percent for at least six months, a recent Northwestern Medicine study found.

"We think we are resetting the thermostat in women who are experiencing moderate to very severe hot flashes without using hormonal therapies," said David Walega, MD, chief of the Division of Pain Medicine at Northwestern Memorial Hospital andNorthwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Walega presented the results of the initial study at a recent American Society of Anesthesiologists annual meeting.

Forty women between 35 and 65 years old experiencing natural or induced menopause participated in the study. The women suffered debilitating hot flashes with more severe symptoms than the typical hot flash.

"Many of the women in our study experienced repeated drenching sweats that lessen the ability to go about a day-to-day routine, including interfering with their professional lives," said Walega. " We wanted to see if this injection could provide symptom relief without hormones, as hormone therapy has been associated with an increased risk of cancer, stroke and heart disease, and there are few other viable treatment options available right now."

To administer the treatment, the doctor used low dose X-ray to guide an injection of bupivacaine hydrochloride, a commonly used local anesthetic, into a nerve bundle called the stellate ganglion, located in the neck near the "voice box." It's a 30 second procedure that must be done by a trained physician because the injection is close to important structures like the carotid artery, the vertebral artery and the spinal nerves. Injecting any of those areas could cause a seizure, loss of consciousness or other complications.

The idea came from a pain study published in 2007 in the medical journal "The Lancet," where stellate ganglion injections were performed to try to alleviate pain. In some cases, hot flashes dissipated after the injection, independent of pain relief, leading Walega's research team to wonder if this might be a safe, effective way of treating hot flashes from menopause.

Walega's patients tracked their hot flashes for two weeks before and six months after the injection. Half the group got the anesthetic; the other a placebo injection of saline, or salt-water. Those who received the anesthetic medication reported a reduction of hot flashes by a half. The benefits lasted at least six months.

Walega is now planning a larger study to further investigate the shot's effectiveness.

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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/nmh-rfs103113.php
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Inside The Dungeon of Doom: Kevin Sullivan on wrestling's wackiest group

In summer 1995, one year before the emergence of The nWo, WCW was stuck in a seemingly inescapable limbo. The era of Ric Flair’s thrilling rivalries against Vader, Sting and Ricky Steamboat was in the rearview mirror. Hulk Hogan had arrived one year prior, but he wasn’t being accepted by Atlanta crowds with the same maniacal frenzy that had stirred up WWE fans in the ’80s.

The lead producer of WCW at the time, Kevin Sullivan – a Boston-bred veteran brawler – needed to come up with something. He needed to do it fast. And what he came up with might be the single most absurd narrative that has ever unfolded in one of the major sports-entertainment organizations — The Dungeon of Doom.

View photos of The Dungeon of Doom's members | Watch the absurd videos inside The Dungeon's lair

A cadre of cartoonish villains that assembled in a haunted fortress, The Dungeon grew and grew to amass no fewer than 20 individual members, each more ridiculous than the next. Watching the group’s television segments today is a surreal experience and plays like a B-movie out of the mind of Troma’s Lloyd Kauffman. There were bizarre sci-fi elements like teleportation, Hogan’s turn to “the dark side” long before going Hollywood and even the first on-screen appearance of Big Show.

With the rise of YouTube, the group's run has developed a cult following thanks to its cheap production values and endlessly quotable lines like, “It’s not hot!” Fascinated by the the macabre world of The Dungeon of Doom, and the notion that its existence overlapped with the intense realism of The nWo, WWEClassics.com set out to discover the inside story. We sat down with Kevin Sullivan, the Dungeon's Taskmaster, to find out what made the group tick and why it even happened at all.

Source: http://www.wwe.com/classics/kevin-sullivan-on-the-dungeon-of-doom
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Butterflies show origin of species as an evolutionary process, not a single event

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

31-Oct-2013

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Contact: Mary Beth O'Leary
moleary@cell.com
617-397-2802
Cell Press

The evolution of new species might not be as hard as it seems, even when diverging populations remain in contact and continue to produce offspring. That's the conclusion of studies, reported in the Cell Press journal Cell Reports on October 31st, that examine the full genome sequences of 32 Heliconius butterflies from the Central American rain forest, representing five different species.

"The butterflies have performed a beautiful natural experiment for us that lets us address important questions about evolution," said Marcus Kronforst of the University of Chicago. "Even as biologists, we often think of the origin of new species as a moment in time when a new species splits from an old one, and this type of thinking is reflected in the evolutionary 'trees,' or phylogenies, that we draw. In reality, evolution is a long-term process that plays out in stages, and speciation is no different."

Kronforst and his colleagues found that the initial divergence between butterfly populations is restricted to a small fraction of the genome. In the case of the butterflies, the key genes are those involved in wing patterning. The butterfly species under study all have very different wing patterns, which are important in the butterflies' mating behavior and predator avoidance.

Comparison of those closely related, interbreeding species to a slightly more distant third species showed that hundreds of genomic changes had arisen rather quickly in evolutionary time sometime after those early differences took hold.

"We find that only a small fraction of the genome is markedly different between closely related species, but then much more of the genomemore than you'd expectshows similar differences between more distantly related species," Kronforst explained. "That indicates that the genetic changes that are important for causing speciation are tightly clustered early in speciation, but not so later on in the process; the overall pattern of genome divergence starts slow and then skyrockets."

The researchers view the process as a kind of tug-of-war between natural selection and gene flow. The result in the case of the butterflies has been a rapid divergence of species, driven by a combination of new mutations and borrowed genes. The butterfly genomes also show that the same spots in the genome have been important in multiple speciation events.

"Beyond butterflies, it is possible that this type of speciation, in which natural selection for ecology causes the origin of new species, has been important in the evolution of other organisms," Kronforst said.

###

Cell Reports, Kronforst et al.: "Hybridization reveals the evolving genomic architecture of speciation."

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Butterflies show origin of species as an evolutionary process, not a single event

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

31-Oct-2013

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Share
Contact: Mary Beth O'Leary
moleary@cell.com
617-397-2802
Cell Press

The evolution of new species might not be as hard as it seems, even when diverging populations remain in contact and continue to produce offspring. That's the conclusion of studies, reported in the Cell Press journal Cell Reports on October 31st, that examine the full genome sequences of 32 Heliconius butterflies from the Central American rain forest, representing five different species.

"The butterflies have performed a beautiful natural experiment for us that lets us address important questions about evolution," said Marcus Kronforst of the University of Chicago. "Even as biologists, we often think of the origin of new species as a moment in time when a new species splits from an old one, and this type of thinking is reflected in the evolutionary 'trees,' or phylogenies, that we draw. In reality, evolution is a long-term process that plays out in stages, and speciation is no different."

Kronforst and his colleagues found that the initial divergence between butterfly populations is restricted to a small fraction of the genome. In the case of the butterflies, the key genes are those involved in wing patterning. The butterfly species under study all have very different wing patterns, which are important in the butterflies' mating behavior and predator avoidance.

Comparison of those closely related, interbreeding species to a slightly more distant third species showed that hundreds of genomic changes had arisen rather quickly in evolutionary time sometime after those early differences took hold.

"We find that only a small fraction of the genome is markedly different between closely related species, but then much more of the genomemore than you'd expectshows similar differences between more distantly related species," Kronforst explained. "That indicates that the genetic changes that are important for causing speciation are tightly clustered early in speciation, but not so later on in the process; the overall pattern of genome divergence starts slow and then skyrockets."

The researchers view the process as a kind of tug-of-war between natural selection and gene flow. The result in the case of the butterflies has been a rapid divergence of species, driven by a combination of new mutations and borrowed genes. The butterfly genomes also show that the same spots in the genome have been important in multiple speciation events.

"Beyond butterflies, it is possible that this type of speciation, in which natural selection for ecology causes the origin of new species, has been important in the evolution of other organisms," Kronforst said.

###

Cell Reports, Kronforst et al.: "Hybridization reveals the evolving genomic architecture of speciation."

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

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/cp-bso102413.php
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UK hacking prosecutor: Brooks, Coulson had affair

LONDON (AP) — In a blockbuster declaration at Britain's phone hacking trial, a prosecutor said two of Rupert Murdoch's former senior tabloid executives — Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, later a top aide to Prime Minister David Cameron — had an affair lasting at least six years.

Prosecutor Andrew Edis made the disclosure Thursday during Coulson's and Brooks' trial on phone hacking and other charges, the first major criminal case to go to court in the hacking saga that has shaken Britain's political, judicial and media elite.

Brooks, Coulson and six other people are now on trial, including Brooks' current husband Charles. All deny the various charges against them, which range from phone hacking to bribing officials for scoops to obstructing police investigations.

Edis said the relationship between Brooks and Coulson was relevant to the hacking case because it showed they trusted one another and shared intimate information.

"Throughout the relevant period, what Mr. Coulson knew Mrs. Brooks knew, and what Mrs. Brooks knew Mr. Coulson knew," Edis said.

Edis said the affair began in 1998 and lasted about six years. If his timeline is correct, the affair ended before Coulson became Cameron's top communications director, which began after Cameron's election in 2010. Coulson started working for Cameron in 2007, when Cameron became leader of Britain's Conservative opposition party.

The affair covered the period when Brooks was the top editor of Murdoch's News of the World tabloid and Coulson was her deputy. Brooks edited the paper from 2000 to 2003, then went on to edit its sister paper, The Sun, and later became the chief executive of Murdoch's British newspaper division. Coulson edited the News of the World from 2003 to 2007.

The affair covered the crucial period in 2002 when the News of the World hacked the phone of murdered teenager Milly Dowler. Brooks has long denied knowing about that hacking. When the Dowler hacking case became public in 2011, the outrage in Britain was so great that Murdoch shut down the 168-year-old paper.

Edis said a February 2004 letter from Brooks showed there was "absolute confidence between the two of them in relation to all the problems at their work." He said the letter appeared to have been written by Brooks in response to Coulson's attempt to end the relationship.

"You are my very best friend. I tell you everything. I confide in you, I seek your advice," Brooks wrote, according to Edis. "Without our relationship in my life I am really not sure I will cope."

Edis said the affair was uncovered when police searched a computer found at Brooks' home in 2011 as part of the hacking investigation.

It's not clear whether the letter was ever sent.

Brooks married soap-opera star Ross Kemp in 2002. They later divorced and she married horse trainer Charles Brooks in 2009.

In his opening arguments Thursday, Edis said News of the World journalists, with consent from the tabloid's top editors, colluded to hack the phones of politicians, royalty, celebrities and even rival reporters in a "frenzy" to get scoops.

He said the "dog-eat-dog" environment led to routine lawbreaking that was sanctioned by those in charge of the Murdoch-owned tabloid: editors Rebekah Brooks and Coulson.

Jurors were shown email exchanges involving private investigator Glenn Mulcaire and News of the World news editor Ian Edmondson — one of the defendants — detailing the 2006 hacking of former government minister Tessa Jowell, royal family member Frederick Windsor and one-time Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who was the subject of a major kiss-and-tell story from a mistress.

Mulcaire also hacked the phones of two journalists at the rival Mail on Sunday tabloid who were working on their own story about the Prescott affair, the prosecutor said.

"In the frenzy to get the huge story ... that's what you do," Edis said.

Edis also played a recording of Mulcaire "blagging" — seeking information about a voicemail password from a service provider using a false name. He said Mulcaire — an "accomplished" blagger and hacker — made the recording himself, and also recorded some of the voicemails he hacked.

The prosecutor said the emails, the recordings and pages from Mulcaire's notebooks provided "very clear evidence" of hacking so widespread that senior editors must have known about it.

Edis said Mulcaire was paid almost 100,000 pounds a year under a contract that started in 2001 and ended when he was arrested in 2006 for hacking the phones of royal aides. He and the tabloid's royal editor Clive Goodman were briefly jailed and for years, Murdoch's media company maintained that hacking had been limited only to that pair.

That claim was demolished when the Dowler case became public in 2011. Murdoch's company has since paid millions in compensation to scores of people whose phones were hacked.

Rebekah Brooks, Coulson, Edmondson and former managing editor Stuart Kuttner all deny charges of phone hacking. The trial is expected to last roughly six months.

Mulcaire has pleaded guilty, along with three former News of the World news editors.

Edis said there are few records of what Mulcaire was paid to do by the newspaper, but that senior editors must have known of his illicit activity.

"The question is, did nobody ever ask, 'What are we paying this chap for?'" he said. "Somebody must have decided that what he was doing was worth an awful lot of money. Who was that?"

He said Rebekah Brooks, who edited the News of the World when Mulcaire was put on retainer "was actively involved in financial management" and sent editors stern emails about keeping costs down.

Under Coulson, who succeeded her as editor, Mulcaire's fee was increased to 2,019 pounds a week.

Edis said there was no evidence that Mulcaire's fees were ever questioned.

"You would question it — unless you knew all about it," Edis said.

___

Jill Lawless can be reached at http://Twitter.com/JillLawless

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uk-hacking-prosecutor-brooks-coulson-had-affair-153254405--finance.html
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Gaga, Macklemore, Kendrick Lamar to hit AMA stage

FILE - In a Thursday, Oct. 24, 2013 file photo, Lady Gaga arrives for a presentation of her upcoming new album "Artpop" at a fan event at the Berghain club in Berlin. Dick Clark productions announced Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013 that Lady Gaga, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Kendrick Lamar and Luke Bryan will perform at the American Music Awards on Nov. 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Hold your applause: Lady Gaga will perform at the American Music Awards next month.

Dick clark productions announced Thursday that Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Kendrick Lamar and Luke Bryan will also hit the stage for the Nov. 24 awards show in Los Angeles.

Previously announced performers include Miley Cyrus, One Direction, Imagine Dragons and Florida Georgia Line.

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis lead with six nominations, including artist, new artist and single of the year for "Thrift Shop." Taylor Swift and Justin Timberlake have five nominations each, while Robin Thicke, Rihanna and Florida Georgia Line have four each. Bruno Mars and Imagine Dragons are both up for three awards.

The AMAs will air on ABC from the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live.

___

Online:

http://abc.go.com/shows/american-music-awards

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-10-31-Music-American%20Music%20Awards/id-31b4d9351cae4e00853b92cb48ba9a1d
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Naomi Watts on becoming Diana

Actor Naveen Andrews, left, actress Naomi Watts, director Oliver Hirschbiegel and producer Robert Bernstein, right, attend the premiere of "Diana" hosted by The Cinema Society, Linda Wells and Allure Magazine at the SVA Theater on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013 in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Actress Naomi Watts attends the premiere of "Diana" hosted by The Cinema Society, Linda Wells and Allure Magazine at the SVA Theater on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013 in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — When Naomi Watts was a struggling actress, she never would have imagined that one day she would play Princess Diana, one of the most famous women in the world, even after her death.

In fact, the thought makes her laugh.

"Yeah, that would sound a bit silly wouldn't it," said the actress at the New York premiere of the biopic "Diana" on Wednesday night.

Watts plays the Princess of Wales during roughly the last two years of her life. The story is based on the 2001 book "Diana: Her Last Love," chronicling her relationships with heart surgeon Hasnat Khan and Dodi Fayed.

Cas Anvar, who plays Fayed, would often marvel on set about the way Watts embodied the essence of Princess Diana. In fact, he says she even stayed in character between takes.

"It was quite surreal sometimes, but it was thrilling to be around, working with someone like that," Anvar said. "She kept in character all the time, so I never actually got to experience the Naomi side of things," he recalled. "I was more or less always interacting with Lady Di."

Watts says she tried to stay in character not because she's "as disciplined as Daniel Day-Lewis," but because the accent was so difficult to master.

Despite all her effort, few have been impressed with the film, which opens Friday. Reviews have been mostly negative thus far.

Naveen Andrews, who plays Dr. Khan, believes a big part of that is because Diana really was, as her nickname implies, the people's princess.

"Obviously in England, I think people feel a sense of ownership over her," he said. "They did when she was alive. Now they do that she's passed. It's a testament to her power that she can generate so much emotion and feeling."

Watts agrees: "Everyone feels they know her and they thought they had an opinion about who she was and their version of the story must be true and the comparisons that will be made inevitably."

Anvar says he thinks the strong opinions over the film are a good thing.

"Personally I would rather be part of a project that inspires massive debate and controversy than a project that just fades away with a whimper, he said. "Any kind of uproar or upheaval usually is a good thing and indicative of a good story."

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-10-31-People-Naomi%20Watts/id-89992d38f12944a796c314e3f31d3758
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Salesforce.com to offer private version of its AppExchange app store

Salesforce.com has long had a public AppExchange software marketplace, but now it's going to give customers the ability to create their own private AppExchanges where employees can download applications to use in their jobs.

Private AppExchange is generally available as of Friday to customers running Salesforce.com's Enterprise and higher editions, said Sara Varni, senior director of AppExchange marketing. However, those customers can give employees who don't use Salesforce.com itself access to the private store for $5 per user per month.

[ For a quick, smart take on the news you'll be talking about, check out InfoWorld TechBrief -- subscribe today. | Read Bill Snyder's Tech's Bottom Line blog for what the key business trends mean to you. ]

Enterprise application stores are rapidly coming into favor as companies seek to appease workers who are used to the generally painless experience of consumer app stores like Apple's iTunes. The managed app store model also gives enterprises a way to place a layer of governance over the software and devices employees are using, even as they provide easier access to software.

"The whole goal of private AppExchange is to empower the CIO to say yes," Varni said. While IT departments curate and oversee which applications get into the store, based on pre-determined permissions, employees can download them when they wish, she added.

In February, Gartner released a report predicting that 25 percent of enterprises will have their own app stores by 2017.

Salesforce.com is clearly hoping to keep its current customers from using rival vendors' technology, such as BMC's recently launched AppZone, to build out these stores.

Customers can use Private AppExchange to deliver any Web, mobile or desktop application to any device, with centralized authentication through Salesforce.com's recently launched Identity service.

Stores can also be customized to reflect a company's brand or various departments' needs, according to Salesforce.com.

Salesforce.com didn't run a formal beta program for Private AppExchange, but sought input from about 50 customers into its design. "Given our conversations, we know customers are hungry for this," Varni said.

The development effort was made easier given that much of the plumbing was already there, given the public AppExchange, said Ryan Ellis, senior director of product management.

Private AppExchange doesn't solve every problem related to enterprise app stores, such as the potential complexity of tracking software licenses and subscriptions as users download and use various applications.

It's possible to integrate Private AppExchange stores with third-party license management systems, Varni said.

Salesforce.com has also integrated Private AppExchange with its Chatter collaboration software. This means that "organizations can enable their employees to discover, discuss, rate and self-support applications collaboratively versus just being pointed to a generic app store and left to fend for themselves," Constellation Research vice president and principal analyst Alan Lepofsky [cq] said.

Chris Kanaracus covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Chris' email address is Chris_Kanaracus@idg.com

Source: http://www.infoworld.com/d/the-industry-standard/salesforcecom-offer-private-version-of-its-appexchange-app-store-229914
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Bipartisanship pitch meets skeptical Iowa voters

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Outside a state-of-the-art grain elevator, Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley talks of how Republicans and Democrats in Congress need to overcome differences that scuttled farm legislation last summer. A day later, he tells veterans at a rec center in his blue-collar, northern Iowa district that both parties should work together to help them.

"The issues surrounding our veterans should be issues that bring us together, not issues that drive us apart," Braley says in a bipartisan pitch that lacks direct criticism of Republicans over the 16-day partial government shutdown.

In this district dotted with farming towns as well as in districts around the country, the political environment is toxic for lawmakers running for re-election or seeking higher office. Polls show voters of all political stripes are down on Washington, especially after the shutdown. While people blame Republicans more, Democrats are hardly immune to criticism and easily could be fired next year. Besides, a second-term president's party typically suffers losses in midterm elections.

Braley and many other Democrats are treading carefully. They are avoiding the partisan slashing that marked the shutdown crisis, delicately presenting their party as the better bet to break the gridlock, and seeking to take advantage of a possible political opening.

A CBS News poll taken immediately after the shutdown showed more Americans see more Democrats as pursuing the right level of compromise than Republicans, 35 percent to 24 percent.

Still, Democrats are mindful of the risks of overplaying their hand. Gloating over the GOP's public squabbles probably wouldn't go over well with a public angry and hungering for Washington to work together. Assailing Republicans as ideological obstructionists also could give voters reason to view all politicians as the same. And acting overconfident could invite criticism that Democrats are out of touch with a public made bitter not just by the shutdown, but by weeks of problems with a health care law enacted solely by their party.

Braley has extra incentive to play nice. He is running for the Senate next year.

He also may have a case to make about bipartisanship: During the shutdown, he was one of a handful of Democratic House members to vote with Republicans on the 35 bills that would have at least partially reopened government. But he also opposed four of five resolutions that would have avoided the interruption in government services in the first place, leaving him open to Republican criticism.

A National Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman called Braley's position a "convenient display of bipartisanship."

Braley also took heat during the shutdown for a comment he made on a radio show about the House gym's closure. "There's no towel service. We're doing our own laundry down there," he said, providing comedic fodder for TV hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Jon Stewart.

Lost in the laughter, Braley says, was the point he was trying to make about lawmakers' checking politics at the gym door.

"It's a place where members come together," he later explained. "That's something we need more of, not less of."

That was precisely his message on a quick visit home this month.

In Cedar Falls, Braley told farmers he was trying to rally rural Democrats and Republicans to reach out to urban Democrats facing pressure to oppose the farm bill's cuts in food-stamp spending. He said he's reminding all lawmakers that without a farm bill, food prices could spike and prompt voters to fault lawmakers next fall.

His message: "Let's try to work together to address all of these issues, realizing there's going to have to be give and take."

Jon Mixdorf, an independent voter from Cedar Falls, was among the skeptics in the crowd. He said the congressman has to do more to make the case to angry Iowans that he's above the partisan fray.

"I don't think people can see it, at least not yet," Mixdorf said. "He's just one man and there's so much noise out there."

In Cedar Rapids, veteran Randy Dunn pressed Braley to prove his commitment to legislation that would ensure that veterans get all their benefits if another shutdown occurs by working to get it passed before Veterans' Day, Nov. 11.

"I just want you to stand up and do the right thing, because it is the right thing," Dunn said.

Today, only health care benefits — they constitute 85 percent of veterans benefits — are budgeted a year in advance. The bill would put all other benefits, such as housing and vocational training, under the same protection. It has bipartisan support in both the House and Senate. The White House has been ambivalent.

Braley said he was optimistic it could pass. "This is one of those issues that can bring us together and get us focused on what the right thing is to do," he said, "not what the politically expedient thing is to do."

For all the talk of finding common ground, some constituents remained skeptical — underscoring the challenge for Braley and other politicians.

"I'm not so sure he's any different than the rest," said Larry Van Lincker, a retired veteran from Cedar Rapids. "I think they ought to throw them all out."

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-10-31-Shutdown%20Politics/id-2f767c6bf1e04b4a9c6bfcecaed29e6f
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AnnaSophia Robb: Big Apple Monday on Set

Getting a jump start to the work week, AnnaSophia Robb reported for duty on the New York City set of "The Carrie Diaries" on Monday morning (October 28).

Clad in true 1980's style, the blonde bombshell wore a flower print coat over a white dress as she transformed in to her character for the shoot.

The show follows a pre-"Sex and the City" Carrie Bradshaw at seventeen, as she navigates through life in Manhattan.

Fans of "The Carrie Diaries" can catch an all new episode, titled "Express Yourself" on Friday, November 1 at 8/7 central on the CW.

Source: http://celebrity-gossip.net/annasophia-robb/annasophia-robb-big-apple-monday-set-951178
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Report: NSA broke into Yahoo, Google data centers

This undated photo provided by Google shows a Google data center in Hamina, Finland. The Washington Post is reporting Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013, that the National Security Agency has secretly broken into the main communications links that connect Yahoo and Google data centers around the world. The Post cites documents obtained from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and interviews with officials. (AP Photo/Google)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Washington Post is reporting that the National Security Agency has secretly broken into the main communications links that connect Yahoo and Google data centers around the world. The Post cites documents obtained from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and interviews with officials.

According to a secret accounting dated Jan. 9, 2013, NSA sends millions of records every day from Yahoo and Google internal networks to data warehouses at the agency's Fort Meade, Md., headquarters. In the last 30 days, the report Wednesday on the Post website said, field collectors had processed and sent back more than 180 million new records — ranging from "metadata," which would indicate who sent or received emails and when, to content such as text, audio and video.

The NSA's principal tool to exploit the data links is a project called MUSCULAR, operated jointly with the agency's British counterpart, GCHQ. The Post said NSA and GCHQ are copying entire data flows across fiber-optic cables that carry information between the data centers of the Silicon Valley giants.

White House officials and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees the NSA, declined to comment, the Post said.

In a statement to the Post, Google said it was "troubled by allegations of the government intercepting traffic between our data centers, and we are not aware of this activity."

At Yahoo, a spokeswoman said: "We have strict controls in place to protect the security of our data centers, and we have not given access to our data centers to the NSA or to any other government agency."

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-10-30-NSA-Yahoo-Google/id-eac0430f25be4c64a0b09d1a5e5ee4bd
Tags: engadget jay cutler seattle seahawks kim zolciak olinguito

Reviews: IPAD Air vs. Lenovo YOGA -- Lobbyist named FCC chair -- INTEL fabs ARM -- HADOOP for all -- BITCOIN jackpot

October 30, 2013 06:00 PDT | 09:00 EDT | 13:00 UTC

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>> APPLE SCORES AGAIN: The iPad Air review, by Anand Lal Shimpi: "A significant re-imagining of the original 9.7-inch iPad, the Air breathes new life into the platform... I don't know that it will curb enthusiasm over the iPad mini, particularly now that the new mini shares the same hardware platform (including display), but it levels the playing field between the two models... it's smaller, lighter and faster with absolutely no tradeoffs made in the process. The iPad Air feels like a true successor to the iPad 2." AnandTech
>>>> The iPad Air: "In exactly three years, Apple has produced an iPad that outperforms a then-brand-new MacBook." Daring Fireball
>>>> What the reviews say about the iPad Air: "If you were on the fence about buying Apple's latest large screen tablet before, you won't be after reading the reviews, which are unanimous in their praise." GigaOM
>>>> Mossberg: "It is the best tablet I've ever reviewed" AllThingsD

>> ANDROID FIGHTS BACK: Lenovo Yoga tablets hands-on: 3 modes, 18-hour battery, from $249, by Daniel P Howley: "The Surface isn't the only tablet with a built-in stand. Say hello to Lenovo's new Android-powered Yoga Tablets. On sale Oct. 30, these tablets come in an 8-inch version ($249 at Best Buy) and a 10-inch flavor ($299 at most major retailers). While these slates sport mid-range specs-quad-core MediaTek CPUs, 1GB RAM, 1280 x 800 displays-they literally stand out with built-in kickstands that support three use modes and a rated 18 hours of battery life." Laptop Mag
>>>> Lenovo claims battery life crown with new Yoga tablets InfoWorld
>>>> Hands on with the Lenovo Yoga Tablet: lopsided design and 18 hour runtime Ars Technica

>> WASHINGTON WIRE: Senate confirms Wheeler to lead FCC, by Brendan Sasso: "The Senate unanimously confirmed Tom Wheeler, an investor and former industry lobbyist, to be chairman of the Federal Communications Commission Tuesday. The vote was delayed for two weeks by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who expressed concern about Wheeler's views on political disclosure rules. Cruz lifted his objection after Wheeler assured him in a private meeting Tuesday that tougher disclosure requirements for the donors behind political TV ads are 'not a priority' for him." The Hill

>> CALLING OFF THE DOGS: Obama orders curbs on NSA spying on U.N. headquarters, by Mark Hosenball: "Obama recently ordered the National Security Agency to curtail eavesdropping on the United Nations headquarters in New York as part of a review of U.S. electronic surveillance" Reuters
>>>> Lawmakers propose USA Freedom Act to curb NSA's powers The Hill
>>>> Legislation unveiled to bar NSA's bulk phone metadata collection Wired

>> MONEY SHOT: Man buys $27 of bitcoin, forgets about them, finds they're now worth $886K, by Samuel Gibbs: "Kristoffer Koch invested 150 kroner ($26.60) in 5,000 bitcoins in 2009, after discovering them during the course of writing a thesis on encryption. He promptly forgot about them until widespread media coverage of the anonymous, decentralised, peer-to-peer digital currencyin April 2013 jogged his memory.... Bitcoins are stored in encrypted wallets secured with a private key, something Koch had forgotten. After eventually working out what the password could be, Koch got a pleasant surprise: "It said I had 5,000 bitcoins in there. Measuring that in today's rates it's about NOK5m ($886,000)," Koch told NRK." The Guardian

>> ATTACK O' THE DAY: MongoDB support firm says intruders may have accessed databases, by Jeremy Kirk: "MongoHQ, which provides hosting and support for the open-source Mongo database, said attackers may have accessed several of its customers' databases earlier this week... contains connection information for customer MongoDB instances, along with lists of databases, email addresses, and user credentials hashed with bcrypt... The company invalidated credentials such as IAM keys it stored for customers using Amazon Web Services for backups. MongoHQ has notified AWS of the accounts that may have been affected, and AWS is offering Premium Support for organizations that need new credentials" PCWorld

>> LOCAL BIG DATA: Cloudera positions Hadoop as an enterprise data hub, by Joab Jackson: "Cloudera has expanded the scope of its software so that it can serve as a hub for all of an organization's data, not just data undergoing Hadoop MapReduce analysis. Some of Cloudera's enterprise customers have 'started to use our platform in a new way, as the center of their data centers,' said Mike Olson, Cloudera's chairman and chief strategy officer. 'We think this is a very big deal. It will change the way the industry thinks about data,' " InfoWorld

>> FRENEMIES: Exclusive: Intel opens fabs to ARM chips, by Jean-Baptiste: "At the ARM developers' conference today, Intel partner Altera announced that the world's largest semiconductor company will fabricate its ARM's 64-bit chips starting next year... Intel will build Apple's A7, Qualcomm's Snapdragon or the Nvidia Tegra for the right price." [These are the chips used by most smartphones and tablets.] Forbes
>>>> The chip times are a-changin': "Mark LaPedus at Chip Design reported on the agreement with Intel back in February" InfoWorld

>> RICKROLL: Top reviewers on Amazon get tons of free stuff, by Lisa Chow: "You're on Amazon.com. You're buying, say, a toaster, and you're checking out the customer reviews. You assume the people writing these reviews are people like you -- people who wanted a toaster, went online and bought one. As it turns out, a lot of reviews on Amazon are written by people who are nothing like you. They're written by elite reviewers who are sent free merchandise to review products. In other words, it's possible that the guy reviewing that toaster you're looking at wasn't in the market for a toaster to begin with and didn't pay a cent for it." NPR Planet Money

>> Apple claim that iCloud can store passwords 'only locally' seems to be false Ars Technica

>> Twitter rolls out expanded previews for photos and Vines on the Web, Android and iOS TNW

>> Microsoft partners with Corona Labs to attract more Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 apps ZDNet

>> BlackBerry met with Facebook last week on potential bid Wall Street Journal (paywalled)

>> Oculus Rift will make virtual reality goggles for Android phones Gizmodo

>> Barnes & Noble's Nook GlowLight is lighter, brighter, whiter, with less Simple Touch for $119 Engadget

>> Mozilla releases 10 patches, five critical, for Firefox PCWorld

>> Google+ brings massive upgrades for its most loyal users: photographers VentureBeat

>> The ultimate guide to preventing DNS-based DDoS attacks InfoWorld

>> SAP draws fire from noisy neighbor IFS over HANA: "We can beat SAP in a straight fight for business" says IFS Computerworld UK

>> Australia's National Broadband Network posts loss of nearly $1B in past year ARN

>> AWS updates big data analytics platform with new support for Hadoop and its ecosystem TechCrunch

>> Python is the only programming language in LinkedIn's 2013 Most Demanded Skills LinkedIn (t/h Hacker News)

>> Google shows off second gen Google Glass w/ mono earbud coming later this year 9to5Google

>> TWEET O' THE DAY: "Self-destructing food packaging. Reaction yields in 3 formats: 1) Flower seeds 2) Vapor that smells like chocolate 3) A rainbow." @BoredElonMusk

FEED ME, SEYMOUR: Comments? Questions? Tips? Shoot mail to Trent or Woody. Follow @gegax or @woodyleonhard.

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Source: http://www.infoworld.com/t/technology-business/reviews-ipad-air-vs-lenovo-yoga-lobbyist-named-fcc-chair-intel-fabs-arm-hadoop-all-bitcoin-jackpot-2298?source=rss_infoworld_blogs
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