That Dragon Cancer: PAX Prime 2013: Brilliant Game or Punch in the Face?

I?m not exactly sure what to say about That Dragon Cancer.?The pipe-smoking, tweed-jacket-wearing games journalist brigade will likely stumble all over themselves to tell the world that this game is a brilliant masterpiece and game-of-the-year material.?I was told breathlessly by a colleague that if I did nothing else on the showroom floor at PAX Prime, I should go play the bizarre indie title hidden away at the back of the Indie booth.

?Well, what?s it about?? I asked.

?Oh, you play a father and your son has cancer.?

?Well, that sounds like a treat.?

We had a good laugh before she came around again, ?No, seriously, you need to play this game, but you?ll be in tears when you do.?

So with that kind of recommendation, I worked my way over to the booth. I was under the impression That Dragon Cancer would be some kind of touching story of a six-year old running around with a cardboard sword fighting some kind of mythical dragon in a game. Nope, not that at all. You play as coping father Ryan Green, sitting in an intensive care unit with your infant son, Joel, dying of cancer. Sound fun? It gets better. Not only are you playing as Ryan Green, but Ryan Green was literally standing directly behind me doing an interview as I was playing.

You see, the game That Dragon Cancer, is the true and ongoing story of Ryan and his infant son Joel, who has terminal cancer. You?re moving about a hospital intensive care unit from a first person perspective point-and-click ?adventure?, with your child screaming in your ears, and the objective of the demo is to try to put him back to sleep. You see, Joel is in a tremendous amount of pain and appears spends most of the entire ten minute demo shrieking in your ears. Couple that with the overwrought monologue of lead character Ryan when you click on any items in the room on top of a heart-crushing piano tinkling away and I found myself fighting back tears within minutes. I?m not sure if it was the suggestion from my friend telling me that I would be in tears and then me spending the better part of the day getting myself ready to NOT cry that caused me to really have to fight back the water works, but there I was, trying not to cry.

When I stood up to leave, I felt?bad. Ryan?s very brief story laid out in the demo (to be released late 2014) amidst the joyous swag giveaways and cosplaying around me seemed off-putting. It was only a few days later that I started to get a little miffed as to That Dragon Cancer.?It?s a real story about an infant with cancer: no analogy with dragons flying around or Braid-style story where you have to dig deep and really look into the backstory as to what?s going on. What you see is what you get. So, more of an experience than a game, do I really want to sit through 3-4 hours of living through the hells of being a father with a terminally ill child without any shiny colors or leaderboards to distract me? Just orange vinyl chairs in an infirmary and kids throwing up on me from chemotherapy?

And despite That Dragon Cancer being a true story where I could take a break from trying not to cry at the demo to see a professionally-done picture of Ryan and his family to continue to hammer the point home that this is a game but this is by no means a game,?what is the objective here? Sure, cancer awareness. But there?s also a part of me that feels like this is one of those ?Oscar bait? pictures that Hollywood will crank out every now and again; a movie so mired in dramatic performances set around horrific real world events created for the sole purpose of winning awards at film festivals. I can?t imagine Ryan Green woke up one morning and said to himself, ?You know what would take the gaming world by storm?? and immediately started a design document for That Dragon, Cancer. But where do I draw the line on my ?gaming? experiences? Do I want to play a game about a guy going through heroin withdrawal? Maybe a fun point and click adventure about being a rape survivor?

Of course I?ll be playing through That Dragon Cancer with a box of Kleenex next to me, and of course, it will have the added effect of getting me to talk further about the ?game? and in turn talking about cancer?but I?m not sure I?m excited at the prospect.

Source: http://fronttowardsgamer.com/2013/09/07/that-dragon-cancer-pax-prime-2013-brilliant-game-or-deliberate-punch-in-the-face/

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Verizon's Galaxy Note and Gear "Bundle" Saves You Zero Dollars

The Samsung Galaxy Gear is finally on the market, and gosh darn is it 'spensive. Verizon just started offering a bundle with the Gear and the Note 3 that is $600 on contract. But the bundle isn't about saving money; it's about saving suckers from buying a toy they can't play with.

Read more...

Source: http://gizmodo.com/verizons-galaxy-note-and-gear-bundle-saves-you-zero-1264748914

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Next generation iPad, iPad mini casings caught on video

Way back in January iMore mocked up the iPad 5 for you, which essentially looked like the same 9.7-inch screen in a much, much svelter iPad mini-like body. We've seen various parts leak out since then, lending credence to what we'd heard, and here's another video showing off what's alleged to be just that again, alongside the next generation iPad mini, which they claim or assume will be Retina. Unbox Therapy on YouTube:

In this video we get a closer look at what might become the iPad Mini Retina edition. We also compare the dimensions of the new iPad Mini against the dimensions of the next gen "iPad 5" that was leaked in yesterday's video.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record - er... corrupted MP3? - last year Apple had to choose between lightness, battery life, and Retina and they could only have 2 of the 3. iPad 3 and iPad 4 got Retina and battery life, iPad mini got lightness and battery life. This year it looks like Apple has put the technology together to nail all three.

Should be an exciting October. My question remains this: If the iPad mini is Retina, and the iPad 4 is light, which one will you get?

Source: YouTube via 9to5Mac

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/Shl6Ke_YH1E/story01.htm

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Dropout Salinger creates mystique at Pa. college

In this Sept. 3, 2013, photo, Annie Rus, a college freshman from Parkton, Md., poses for a portrait in her dorm room that was once occupied by J.D. Salinger at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa. Salinger spent only one semester at the college outside Philadelphia, but he left a big impression. A scholarship in his honor allows promising creative writers to live in his dorm room. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

In this Sept. 3, 2013, photo, Annie Rus, a college freshman from Parkton, Md., poses for a portrait in her dorm room that was once occupied by J.D. Salinger at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa. Salinger spent only one semester at the college outside Philadelphia, but he left a big impression. A scholarship in his honor allows promising creative writers to live in his dorm room. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

In this Sept. 3, 2013, photo, people walk past a dormitory that J.D. Salinger once lived in on the campus at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa. Salinger spent only one semester at the college outside Philadelphia, but he left a big impression. A scholarship in his honor allows promising creative writers to live in his dorm room. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

In this Sept. 3, 2013, photo, people walk onto the campus at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa. J.D. Salinger spent only one semester at the college outside Philadelphia, but he left a big impression. A scholarship in his honor allows promising creative writers to live in his dorm room. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

In this Sept. 3, 2013, photo, Annie Rus, a college freshman from Parkton, Md., poses for a portrait in her dorm room that was once occupied by J.D. Salinger at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa. Salinger spent only one semester at the college outside Philadelphia, but he left a big impression. A scholarship in his honor allows promising creative writers to live in his dorm room. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

In this Sept. 3, 2013, photo, Annie Rus, a college freshman from Parkton, Md., poses for a portrait in her dorm room that was once occupied by J.D. Salinger at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa. Salinger spent only one semester at the college outside Philadelphia, but he left a big impression. A scholarship in his honor allows promising creative writers to live in his dorm room. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. (AP) ? Aspiring novelist Quinn Gilman-Forlini, an ardent admirer of "The Catcher in the Rye," wouldn't mind following in its author's footsteps.

In fact, the Ursinus College junior already has: She lived in J.D. Salinger's cramped old dorm room.

"A lot of people say it's really small, but I just thought it was so charming ... (with) the slanted ceiling and this old radiator," she said. "People come and knock on your door as a freshman wanting to meet you because you live there."

Jerome David Salinger attended Ursinus for only a single semester in 1938. But his mystique has endured, a legacy now further fueled by Friday's release of "Salinger," a film that attempts to shed light on the life of the intensely private man, who died in 2010.

A school directory indicates Salinger transferred from New York University to the small liberal arts campus in Collegeville, not far from Philadelphia. As a teen, he had spent time at the nearby Valley Forge Military Academy.

At Ursinus, Salinger wrote a feature called "J.D.S.'s The Skipped Diploma" for the student newspaper; most of the columns contained brief, unrelated items from cheeky observations to movie reviews. He also served as a drama critic, using the byline "Jerome Salinger" ? and he was tough.

"Though undoubtedly guilty of too few rehearsals, the players nevertheless made a courageous attempt at salvaging most of the somewhat feeble (playwright's) humor," Salinger wrote of one production.

He later dropped out, and never earned any degree. Still, the Ursinus admissions office proudly displays a 1963 letter from Salinger that professes he looks back "with a great deal of pleasure" on his time at the school ? and then asks the registrar to send a course catalog to his babysitter.

Despite that fondness, Salinger denied the use of his name in the scholarship that allows students like Gilman-Forlini to live in his room. After being contacted by the author's lawyers, the school renamed it the Creative Writing Award.

The prize, first given in 2007, goes to writers who display a "quirky brilliance," unusual perspective or a strong voice? perhaps like that of Holden Caulfield, the rebellious teen narrator of "Catcher." Winners get $30,000 per year toward the school's tuition of $44,350.

"There's plenty of scholarships for the brightest and most high-achieving students out there. We're looking for something a little different," said English professor Jon Volkmer, who directs the creative writing program and helps choose the winner.

The recipient also gets to spend his or her first year in Curtis Hall's Room 300, a space just big enough for a single bed, desk and narrow dresser. (A plaque outside the doorway mistakenly says Salinger lived there in 1939; officials plan to replace it.)

Though there is only one winner each year, Volkmer said the award has helped create a thriving community of writers on the leafy campus, which serves about 1,700 students. But not all of the recipients are necessarily Salinger fans, or even end up pursuing the craft.

Current occupant Annie Rus, an 18-year-old from Parkton, Md., conceded she never finished "Catcher" but is currently enjoying "Franny and Zooey." She is considering a major in history.

Maeve Sutherland, who graduated in 2012, said living in the room encouraged her to write more than she would have. While she said the skill has led to big accomplishments, including an international academic fellowship, "I guess I wouldn't really call myself a creative writer anymore."

Her dorm experience also coincided with Salinger's death at his New Hampshire home.

"We had a little memorial seance for him," said Sutherland. "I felt like I was living with a ghost sometimes."

Gilman-Forlini, 19, of Putnam Valley, N.Y., said she misses the third-story room and its view of tree-lined walkways below ? the same landscape that she imagines Salinger looked down on 75 years ago.

She's among many die-hard fans eager to see the new documentary. Director Shane Salerno's decade-long project ? which includes a 700-page companion biography ? contends that unpublished Salinger material will be released starting in 2015.

And though Gilman-Forlini isn't sure about her future career, she has already diverged from the path taken by her favorite author just by starting her third year at Ursinus.

"I always say that I made it farther than J.D. Salinger did in college," she said with a laugh. "So if I dropped out, it'd be OK."

___

Follow Kathy Matheson at www.twitter.com/kmatheson

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-09-06-Salinger-College%20Days/id-3953323816914330b7831e3637f8172d

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Sony's New Music Video Recorder Is Way Cooler Than It Sounds

Sony's Music Video Recorder sounds like some horribly out-of-touch YouTube generation nonsense, but the goofy gimmick is actually a slick little package that pairs high-quality audio powers with video. We're intrigued.

Read more...

Source: http://gizmodo.com/sonys-new-music-video-recorder-is-way-cooler-than-it-s-1246542360

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Why parenting can never have a rule book: Children's genetics significantly affect how they are parented

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Any parent will tell you that there is no simple recipe for raising a child. Being a parent means getting hefty doses of advice -- often unsolicited -- from others. But such advice often fails to consider a critical factor: The child. A new review of dozens of studies involving more than 14,600 pairs of twins shows that children's genetics significantly affect how they are parented.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/OK9N7vxLTm4/130903194153.htm

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Targeted military strike against Syria likely to get support from Miami?s Ros-Lehtinen

By Marc A. Caputo The Miami Herald

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen talks to the editorial board about Syria.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen talks to the Miami Herald editorial board about supporting U.S. military action in Syria.

C.W.Griffin/Miami Herald Staff

South Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said Tuesday she will likely vote to take military action against Syria if the resolution lawmakers are set to debate this week clearly outlined President Obama?s pledge not to send troops to the troubled nation.

?I?m not there yet, but I?m leaning toward approving targeted limited airstrikes,? Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, told the Miami Herald Editorial Board, two days after she and other members of Congress where shown evidence of chemical warfare used by Syrian President Bashar Assad on his people.

But she said the strike will not lead to regime change in Syria or end further killing.

?What the vote to strike is saying to Assad is: ?You can continue to kill your people, but buddy, use bullets don?t use gas?,? she said. ?What in essence we?re saying is: ?we?re going to be there a few days, we?re going to bomb a few targets and we?re going back and you, rebels, you sort it out.??

And knowing the agenda of the rebel forces is also tricky.

?There are so many rebel groups. A lot of them have understood how to play the United States? they?re good scholars of our system. And I think that they?ve been playing us. We don?t have much trust in those rebel groups. I don?t. But I trust our U.S. military,? she said.

Even as many agree that the American public is ?war-weary,? Ros-Lehtinen, the former head of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said it?s important to take strong action against the use of nuclear weapons.

?The president said this is a red line, this is unacceptable. Now if the president says that ? ?it?s unacceptable, it?s a red line, we?ll have to look at our options??and does nothing, what I worry about is then, when we say to Iran ?all options are on the table,? Iran will shrug their shoulders and say ?we?re going to have nuclear capabilities because the United States stands for nothing. They say one thing but they do another.??

Ros-Lehtinen said Obama had no choice but to seek approval for military action.

?He needs Congress now because he wants someone to be with him. He?s standing there alone. We are standing there alone. He has ignored Congress for all of these years, has built no relations really to speak of with anyone in Congress in a strong way. And now he turns to us to give him authorization.?

She said the plan is a ?tough sell?? and the administration needs to be more forthcoming with the American people at the congressional hearings.

?The administration has got to make more evidence public.They come into us always classified and classified and classified. And it drives us crazy. The president has a few short days left to convince the American people, to build an international coalition. A lot depends on those hearings. It?s a tough sell.??

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/09/03/3603533/targeted-military-strike-against.html

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Oil down as Obama eyes Syria

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Singapore - Oil prices fell in Asian trade on Monday after United States President Barack Obama's announcement that he would seek approval from lawmakers for military action against Syria eased prospects of an imminent strike, analysts said.

New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate for delivery in October, was down $1.47 to $106.18 a barrel in mid-morning trade, while Brent North Sea crude for October fell $1.15 to $112.86.

US markets will be closed on Monday for the Labour Day federal holiday.

?Investors are sitting back for now after President Obama's decision to take the decision on a Syrian intervention to US lawmakers,? Desmond Chua, market analyst at CMC Markets in Singapore, told AFP.

After the announcement on Saturday, Obama launched an intense lobbying effort to sway sceptical lawmakers as they weigh whether to support military action against Syria for its alleged chemical weapon use, an official said Sunday.

Although Syria is not a major oil producer, traders are nervous about a broader conflict in the crude-rich Middle East region, including neighbouring Iraq, which is becoming a major exporter.

Obama's surprise decision to hand the issue to the Congress effectively pushes military action back until at least September 9, when US lawmakers return from their summer recess.

It remains to be seen if a war-weary Congress will endorse Obama's push for action.

Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday that Washington has proof the Syrian regime used sarin gas in a deadly August 21 strike on a Damascus suburb.

Hair and blood samples given to the US by emergency workers who rushed to the scene of the attack showed signs of the powerful sarin nerve gas, he said.

Chua said all eyes will be on President Obama at a G20 summit in Russia later this week, where Syria is likely to top the agenda.

?There will be keen attention among investors on discussions about Syria at the G20 summit as well as the outcome of any direct meeting between President Obama and Russian President Putin,? he said. - Sapa-AFP

Source: http://www.iol.co.za/oil-down-as-obama-eyes-syria-1.1571470

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U.S. Military Units Share IT, Save $1.2 Billion

Hubble Telescope's New Images: Galaxies Through Time

(click image for larger view) A new agreement between the Air Force, the Army and the Defense Information Systems Agency is expected to save the Defense Department more than $1 billion in future IT costs, Defense CIO Teri Takai announced in a joint statement released by the Defense Department.

The savings are expected to come through a shared IT architecture and modernization arrangement that is also expected to increase bandwidth and improve network security, DOD officials said.

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As a result of changes in force structure, the Army was looking at excess information technology capacity, according to Richard Breakiron, network capacity domain manager for the Army's chief information office. At the same time, the Air Force was looking for ways to modernize its IT architecture to meet the requirements of the future joint information environment.

[ Pick up some leadership tips. Read 5 Habits Of Highly Effective Government IT Leaders. ]

By taking advantage of the Army's upgrade to faster multi-protocol label-switching routers and its regional security stacks, the Air Force was able to identify about $1.2 billion in savings, officials said. The Army had already expected to reduce its IT budget by $785 million between fiscal years 2015 and 2019 by consolidating hundreds of network security stacks into 15 joint regional security stacks, which the Air Force now will also use, officials said.

"As [the Defense Department] continues to move aggressively towards [the Joint Information Environment], this partnership is an important step forward," said Teri Takai, DOD's chief information officer, in the DOD statement.

The upgraded MLPS routers will increase the Army's backbone bandwidth to 100 Gbps, said Mike Krieger, Army deputy CIO, in the DOD statement. At Army installations, network speeds will rise to 10 Gbps, he said. To put that in perspective, he said, Fort Hood, Texas, currently operates at 650 Mbps.

By moving to regional security stacks, the Army also expects to improve command and control capabilities and situational awareness through a single security architecture as part of a joint information environment, said Krieger.

The combination of MPLS routers and the regional security stack construct will improve performance and security, DISA Director Air Force Lt. Gen. Ronnie D. Hawkins Jr. said in the statement. "It creates a network that is fundamentally more defensible and more efficient," he said, noting that it also laid an important foundation for building the Joint Information Environment architecture.

The investment in MPLS also "allows us to do not only [Voice over Internet Protocol], it allows us to do unified capabilities and it allows us to put much more of this capability up at the enterprise level," Brig Gen Kevin Wooton, Air Force Space Command director of communication, said.

The Army and DISA said they plan to implement the joint MPLS transport cloud and JRSS consolidation in fiscal years 2013 and 2014 to support operations in Southwest Asia and the continental United States.

GTEC (Government Technology Exhibition and Conference) is a unique platform that attracts both the government and private sector communities for learning, professional development and invaluable networking. Join over 7,000 participants, including renowned speakers and exhibitors from across Canada, in Ottawa, Oct. 7?10, and learn how to maximize your investments in strategies, systems and services which will grow your business. Register for GTEC with code MP_BTMEDIWKAXE and save $200 on Standard and Bundle Conference passes or for a Free Expo pass.

Source: http://www.informationweek.com/government/enterprise-architecture/us-military-units-share-it-save-12-billi/240160614?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Social_Business

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The Amazing Race Cast Introduced: GIF Style!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/08/the-amazing-race-cast-introduced-gif-style/

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How anthrax toxins cause illness, death

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Researchers have identified the cells in two distinct areas of the body that are simultaneously targeted for damage by anthrax toxins, eventually causing illness and sometimes death. Their findings are based on testing in mice. However, the results may contribute to the development of anthrax treatments for humans, the researchers say.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/tWFsxKAveUI/130828144843.htm

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Microsoft releases Windows 8.1 to manufacturers ahead of October 18 launch

We caught the first Windows 8.1 (aka Blue) news back in March, and after several betas and a preview, it's been bundled off to manufacturers. That's a mere five months from alpha code to gold master, a feat that Microsoft trumpeted as "an unparalleled level of collaboration" between customers and Windows product teams. Now, manufacturers will be able to ramp up their production lines with the new version in time for the holidays, as Redmond emphasized in its Blogging Windows post. Current Windows 8 owners will get the update for free, but all end users will have to hang on until the official October 18th release date. With a month and change left, though, it looks like all the ducks are in a row to herald the return of the tech world's most infamous button.

Filed under: Software, Microsoft

Comments

Source: Blogging Windows

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/08/27/microsoft-windows-8-1-rtm/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget&ncid=rss_semi

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PR tips for businesses in the marketing industry | Public Relations ...

[unable to retrieve full-text content]As a marketing business your role is to promote your client's brand and to help sell their products or services, but what about your own brand? It's a.

Source: http://publicrelationssydney.com.au/index.php/pr-tips-for-businesses-in-the-marketing-industry/

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Research team discovers new kind of signalling mechanism in plant cells

Public release date: 25-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Dr. Michael Hollmann
michael.hollmann@rub.de
49-234-322-4225
Ruhr-University Bochum

Glutamate-like receptor in Arabidopsis does not detect glutamate

Plants possess receptors which are similar to the glutamate receptors in the brain of humans and animals. Biochemists at the Ruhr-Universitt Bochum (RUB) with colleagues from the University of Wrzburg and the Agricultural University of China in Beijing have discovered that these receptors do not, however, recognise the amino acid glutamate, but many other different amino acids. The team reports in the journal "Science Signaling".

Glutamate-like receptor in Arabidopsis recognises many amino acids

To exchange information, cells send out signalling molecules that are recognised by receptors of other cells. Fifteen years ago, researchers discovered glutamate-like receptors, in short GLRs, in a plant. A team led by the RUB biochemists Prof. Dr. Michael Hollmann and Dr. Daniel Tapken has now identified the respective signalling molecules for one of the, in total, 20 GLRs from the thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana). "Surprisingly, the receptor responds not only to one amino acid, but to many different ones just not to glutamate", says Hollmann. The most effective is methionine, an amino acid that humans have to obtain from food, but which plants can produce themselves. When the research team mutated the plant so that it no longer contained the receptor AtGLR1.4, it hardly responded to methionine.

Plant receptor is an ion channel

In some respects, the receptor AtGLR1.4 behaves in a way similar to the glutamate receptors in the brain. It is a channel, so it opens activated by a signalling molecule a pore and allows various positively charged particles to flow into the cell, thus triggering an electrical signal. "A special feature of this receptor is that not all amino acids that bind to it trigger an electrical signal. On the contrary! Some suppress the signal by displacing methionine from the receptor", says Daniel Tapken.

Function of methionine receptors in plants unclear

"Why the plant recognises methionine and similar amino acids at all is still absolutely unclear", the Bochum biochemist goes on. "One possibility is that it reacts in this way to nutrient sources in the environment that contain amino acids. However, it is also possible that the plant deliberately produces amino acids itself to send signals similar to the way it happens in the human brain."

Receptors expressed in frog egg cells for analysis

For the analyses, the RUB team isolated the glutamate-like receptor from plant cells and implemented it in a cell that has no similar receptors an unfertilised frog egg cell. "It is almost impossible to examine the receptor directly in the plant", Hollmann explains. "There are so many processes operating at the same time that it is extremely difficult to filter out the critical signals."

###

Bibliographic record

D. Tapken, U. Anschtz, L.-H. Liu, T. Huelsken, G. Seebohm, D. Becker, M. Hollmann (2013): A plant homolog of animal glutamate receptors is an ion channel gated by multiple hydrophobic amino acids, Science Signaling, DOI: 10.1126/scisignal.2003762

Figure online

A figure related to this press release can be found online at: http://aktuell.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/pm2013/pm00191.html.en

Further information

Dr. Daniel Tapken, Department of Biochemistry I Receptor Biochemistry, Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Ruhr-Universitt, 44780 Bochum, Germany, Tel. +49/234/32-24233, E-mail: daniel.tapken@rub.de

Prof. Dr. Michael Hollmann, Department of Biochemistry I Receptor Biochemistry, Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Ruhr-Universitt, 44780 Bochum, Germany, Tel. +49/234/32-24225, E-mail: michael.hollmann@rub.de

Editor: Dr. Julia Weiler

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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.

Public release date: 25-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Dr. Michael Hollmann
michael.hollmann@rub.de
49-234-322-4225
Ruhr-University Bochum

Glutamate-like receptor in Arabidopsis does not detect glutamate

Plants possess receptors which are similar to the glutamate receptors in the brain of humans and animals. Biochemists at the Ruhr-Universitt Bochum (RUB) with colleagues from the University of Wrzburg and the Agricultural University of China in Beijing have discovered that these receptors do not, however, recognise the amino acid glutamate, but many other different amino acids. The team reports in the journal "Science Signaling".

Glutamate-like receptor in Arabidopsis recognises many amino acids

To exchange information, cells send out signalling molecules that are recognised by receptors of other cells. Fifteen years ago, researchers discovered glutamate-like receptors, in short GLRs, in a plant. A team led by the RUB biochemists Prof. Dr. Michael Hollmann and Dr. Daniel Tapken has now identified the respective signalling molecules for one of the, in total, 20 GLRs from the thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana). "Surprisingly, the receptor responds not only to one amino acid, but to many different ones just not to glutamate", says Hollmann. The most effective is methionine, an amino acid that humans have to obtain from food, but which plants can produce themselves. When the research team mutated the plant so that it no longer contained the receptor AtGLR1.4, it hardly responded to methionine.

Plant receptor is an ion channel

In some respects, the receptor AtGLR1.4 behaves in a way similar to the glutamate receptors in the brain. It is a channel, so it opens activated by a signalling molecule a pore and allows various positively charged particles to flow into the cell, thus triggering an electrical signal. "A special feature of this receptor is that not all amino acids that bind to it trigger an electrical signal. On the contrary! Some suppress the signal by displacing methionine from the receptor", says Daniel Tapken.

Function of methionine receptors in plants unclear

"Why the plant recognises methionine and similar amino acids at all is still absolutely unclear", the Bochum biochemist goes on. "One possibility is that it reacts in this way to nutrient sources in the environment that contain amino acids. However, it is also possible that the plant deliberately produces amino acids itself to send signals similar to the way it happens in the human brain."

Receptors expressed in frog egg cells for analysis

For the analyses, the RUB team isolated the glutamate-like receptor from plant cells and implemented it in a cell that has no similar receptors an unfertilised frog egg cell. "It is almost impossible to examine the receptor directly in the plant", Hollmann explains. "There are so many processes operating at the same time that it is extremely difficult to filter out the critical signals."

###

Bibliographic record

D. Tapken, U. Anschtz, L.-H. Liu, T. Huelsken, G. Seebohm, D. Becker, M. Hollmann (2013): A plant homolog of animal glutamate receptors is an ion channel gated by multiple hydrophobic amino acids, Science Signaling, DOI: 10.1126/scisignal.2003762

Figure online

A figure related to this press release can be found online at: http://aktuell.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/pm2013/pm00191.html.en

Further information

Dr. Daniel Tapken, Department of Biochemistry I Receptor Biochemistry, Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Ruhr-Universitt, 44780 Bochum, Germany, Tel. +49/234/32-24233, E-mail: daniel.tapken@rub.de

Prof. Dr. Michael Hollmann, Department of Biochemistry I Receptor Biochemistry, Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Ruhr-Universitt, 44780 Bochum, Germany, Tel. +49/234/32-24225, E-mail: michael.hollmann@rub.de

Editor: Dr. Julia Weiler

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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/rb-rtd062513.php

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'Family Ties' creator Gary David Goldberg dies at age 68

By Alex Dobuzinskis

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Gary David Goldberg, whose hit 1980s television sitcom "Family Ties" gave a warm portrayal of generational conflict and launched the acting career of Michael J. Fox, has died at age 68, his son-in-law said on Monday.

Goldberg died of a brain tumor on Saturday at his home in Montecito, California, said his son-in-law Rob Dubbin.

"Family Ties" aired between 1982 and 1989 on network NBC and ranked second only to "The Cosby Show" in viewership between 1985 and 1987.

"With a full heart I say goodbye to my mentor, benefactor, partner, second father and beloved friend, Gary David Goldberg," Fox said in a statement. "He touched so many with his enormous talent and generous spirit. He changed my life profoundly."

In 1987, Goldberg won an Emmy for his writing work on "Family Ties," a show that also earned Fox three Emmy Awards for lead actor in a comedy series.

Born and raised in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, Goldberg worked as a waiter, traveled the world with his future wife, Diana Meehan, and ran a daycare center in Northern California before, in his early 30s, he landed a job writing for TV's "The Bob Newhart Show," according to Goldberg's website.

Goldberg went on to create his own company, UBU Productions, naming it after his Labrador Retriever, and it was through that company that he launched "Family Ties" in 1982 on NBC.

The show starred Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter as Steven and Elyse Keaton, a couple who were left-wing activists in the 1960s but went on to adopt a middle-class life as they raised four children in suburban Columbus, Ohio.

Much of the show's humor centered on the clashing values between the former hippies and their teenage Republican son, Alex, played by Michael J. Fox. Alex admired then President Ronald Reagan and read the Wall Street Journal, to the chagrin of his parents.

The Keatons' oldest daughter, Mallory, played by Justine Bateman, was less political than Alex, but differed from her mother by showing little interest in feminism.

In 2008, Goldberg told USA Today that "Family Ties" was "totally autobiographical in concept" for him.

"Diana and I were the parents, and our daughter Shana was as smart as Alex but could shop with Mallory," he told the paper.

After "Family Ties," Goldberg went on to co-create the television comedy "Spin City," which debuted in 1996 and starred Fox as the deputy mayor of New York. The show ran until 2002.

Goldberg also produced the 2005 romantic comedy "Must Love Dogs" starring Diane Lane and John Cusack.

He is survived by his wife, a brother, two children and three grandchildren.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/family-ties-creator-gary-david-goldberg-dies-age-002506815.html

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These Trippy Dripping Ink Portraits Are Face-Meltingly Creepy

When you're painting, drips are usually bad. But if you're clever enough, you can put 'em to good use. That's what artist Ben Dehaan did with his project "Uncured," by using a print loaded with some ultraviolet cured ink to create face-melting portraits worthy of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/k5uM3JgEbuQ/these-trippy-dripping-ink-portraits-are-face-meltingly-564560206

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Giant panda gives birth to twin cubs in China

A rare giant panda has given birth to a pair of infant pandas. The panda twins are the first born in captivity this year.

By Elizabeth Barber,?Contributor / June 24, 2013

A researcher holds a newborn giant panda in Wolong National Nature Reserve, Sichuan province. Giant panda Hai Zi gave birth to the world's first twin pandas this year in the reserve on Saturday.

Reuters

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In the animal kingdom, this birth was royal.

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A giant panda gave birth to twins in China on Saturday, the first pair of the rare species to be born this year, The Telegraph reported.

Born to panda-mother Haizi in Sichuan province?s Wolong Nature Reserve, in China's southwest, the two cubs join just some 1,900 pandas worldwide (including about 300 endangered animals in captivity).

"This is the first time a giant panda has given birth to twins, anywhere in the world, this year," conservation expert Liu Chunhua told The Telegraph.

While panda twins are not unusual, they pose special challenges because panda mothers tend to ignore one of the twins.? But the Chengdu Panda Breeding Research Center in China has had success in boosting the survival rate of twins by secretly swapping them. The BBC reports:

"Whenever a cub was abandoned after birth, keepers at the Chengdu centre swiftly moved it to an incubator. Panda mothers were tricked into caring for twins as staff stealthily rotated them between their mother and the incubators. The survival rate of cubs rose to 98% through this combination of maternal care and artificial support."

Generally, pandas are difficult to breed, especially in captivity. Female pandas are fertile for only about two or three days a year. Haizi became pregnant after conservationists introduced her to male pandas Bai Yang and Yi Bao in March.

Staff at the reserve have not yet been able to determine the gender of the first-born cub, as its mother is still cradling the baby animal in her arms. But staff have said that its sounds and apparent size suggest that it is healthy.?

The second cub, born some 10 minutes after its sibling, is a female cub weighing under 79.2 grams. That puts the little pink infant at about 1/900 the size of its mother.

The giant panda, the WWF?s mascot animal, is an international symbol of conservation efforts. Efforts to protect its dwindling forest habitat in China and to rescue it from poachers have surged in recent years, with the Chinese government establishing more 50 panda reserves within some 45 percent of the giant panda?s habitat. Still, some 40 percent of China's pandas do not live in protected zones.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/2zHVMOBXwqQ/Giant-panda-gives-birth-to-twin-cubs-in-China

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The genome's 3-D structure shapes how genes are expressed

June 23, 2013 ? Scientists from Australia and the United States bring new insights to our understanding of the three-dimensional structure of the genome, one of the biggest challenges currently facing the fields of genomics and genetics. Their findings are published in Nature Genetics, online today.

Roughly 3 metres of DNA is tightly folded into the nucleus of every cell in our body. This folding allows some genes to be 'expressed', or activated, while excluding others.

Dr Tim Mercer and Professor John Mattick from Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research and Professor John Stamatoyannopoulos from Seattle's University of Washington analysed the genome's 3D structure, at high resolution.

Genes are made up of 'exons' and 'introns' - the former being the sequences that code for protein and are expressed, and the latter being stretches of noncoding DNA in-between. As the genes are copied, or 'transcribed', from DNA into RNA, the intron sequences are cut or 'spliced' out and the remaining exons are strung together to form a sequence that encodes a protein. Depending on which exons are strung together, the same gene can generate different proteins.

Using vast amounts of data from the ENCODE project*, Dr Tim Mercer and colleagues have inferred the folding of the genome, finding that even within a gene, selected exons are easily exposed.

"Imagine a long and immensely convoluted grape vine, its twisted branches presenting some grapes to be plucked easily, while concealing others beyond reach," said Dr Mercer. "At the same time, imagine a lazy fruit picker only picking the grapes within easy reach.

"The same principle applies in the genome. Specific genes and even specific exons, are placed within easy reach by folding."

"Over the last few years, we've been starting to appreciate just how the folding of the genome helps determine how it's expressed and regulated,"

"This study provides the first indication that the three-dimensional structure of the genome can influence the splicing of genes."

"We can infer that the genome is folded in such a way that the promoter region -- the sequence that initiates transcription of a gene -- is located alongside exons, and they are all presented to transcription machinery."

"This supports a new way of looking at things, one that the genome is folded around transcription machinery, rather than the other way around. Those genes that come in contact with the transcription machinery get transcribed, while those parts which loop away are ignored."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/459JXnr-9hM/130623145058.htm

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Anna Kendrick in talks to march 'Into the Woods' as Cinderella

By Greg Gilman

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Anna Kendrick is in talks to play Cinderella in Disney's big screen adaptation of Broadway musical "Into the Woods," an individual familiar with the situation told TheWrap.

If "Pitch Perfect" actress' deal close then she'd be joining Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, Chris Pine, Jake Gyllenhaal, James Corden, Emily Blunt, Tracy Ullman and Christine Baranski, all of whom are either in negotiations or set to star in the Disney movie.

Rob Marshall ("Chicago") is set to direct the film about the Baker and his wife venturing into the woods to confront the witch responsible for putting a family curse on the childless couple.

Marshall is directing the film from a script by James Lapine, based on his book for the 1986 musical. Stephen Sondheim wrote the Tony-winning original score, and Marshall's longtime collaborator David Krane is working on musical arrangements for the film. John DeLuca is producing the movie, which is expected to start production in the fall.

Kendrick is currently filming another musical adaptation, "The Last Five Years," and is also set to star in Zach Braff's next directorial effort, "Wish I Was Here."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/anna-kendrick-talks-march-woods-cinderella-011929632.html

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Fugitive Snowden in Russia seeking Ecuador asylum

By James Pomfret and Lidia Kelly

HONG KONG/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Fugitive former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden is seeking asylum in Ecuador, the Quito government said on Sunday, after Hong Kong let him leave for Russia despite Washington's efforts to extradite him on espionage charges.

In a major embarrassment for the Obama administration, an aircraft thought to have been carrying Snowden landed in Moscow, and the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks said he was "bound for the Republic of Ecuador via a safe route for the purposes of asylum."

Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino, visiting Vietnam, tweeted: "The Government of Ecuador has received an asylum request from Edward J. #Snowden."

Ecuador has been sheltering WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange at its London embassy for the past year, and Ecuador's ambassador to Russia said he expected to meet Snowden in Moscow on Sunday.

Snowden, who worked for the U.S. National Security Agency in Hawaii, had been hiding in the former British colony, which returned to China in 1997, since leaking details about U.S. surveillance activities at home and abroad to news media.

U.S. authorities had said only on Saturday they were optimistic Hong Kong would cooperate over Snowden.

On Friday, U.S. authorities charged Snowden with theft of U.S. government property, unauthorised communication of national defense information and willful communication of classified communications intelligence to an unauthorised person, with the latter two charges falling under the U.S. Espionage Act.

Earlier on Sunday, a source at the Russian airline Aeroflot said Snowden would fly on from Moscow within 24 hours to Cuba, although that source said he planned to go on to Venezuela. The chief of Cuba's International Press Center, Gustavo Machin, said he had no such information though pro-government bloggers heaped praise on Snowden and condemned U.S. spying activity.

Venezuela, Cuba and Ecuador are all members of the ALBA bloc, an alliance of leftist governments in Latin America that pride themselves on their "anti-imperialist" credentials.

Ecuadorean Ambassador Patricio Alberto Chavez Zavala told reporters at a Moscow airport hotel that he would hold talks with Snowden and Sarah Harrison, a WikiLeaks representative.

CHINA AND RUSSIA CRITICIZED

Influential Democratic Senator Charles Schumer charged that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely knew and approved of Snowden's flight to Russia and thought Beijing was involved. He said that will "have serious consequences" for a U.S.-Russian relationship already strained over Syria and human rights.

"Putin always seems almost eager to stick a finger in the eye of the United States - whether it is Syria, Iran and now of course with Snowden," Schumer told CNN's "State of the Union."

"It remains to be seen how much influence Beijing had on Hong Kong," he said. "As you know, they coordinate their foreign policies and I have a feeling that the hand of Beijing was involved here."

In their statement announcing Snowden's departure, the Hong Kong authorities said they were seeking clarification from Washington about reports of U.S. spying on government computers in the territory.

The Obama administration has previously painted the United States as a victim of Chinese government computer hacking.

At a summit earlier this month, Obama called on his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to acknowledge the threat posed by "cyber-enabled espionage" against the United States and to investigate the problem. Obama also met Putin in Northern Ireland last week.

A spokesman for the Hong Kong government said it had allowed the departure of Snowden - considered a whistleblower by his critics and a criminal or even a traitor by his critics - as the U.S. request for his arrest did not comply with the law.

In Washington, a Justice Department official said it would seek cooperation with countries Snowden may try to go to and sources familiar with the issue said Washington had revoked Snowden's U.S. passport. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said revoking the passport of someone under a felony arrest warrant was routine. "Such a revocation does not affect citizenship status," she said.

"It's a shocker," Simon Young, a law professor with Hong Kong University said of the case. "I thought he was going to stay and fight it out. The U.S. government will be irate."

The issue has been a major distraction for Obama, who has found his domestic and international policy agenda sidelined as he has scrambled to deflect accusations that U.S. surveillance practices violate privacy protections and civil rights. The president has maintained that the measures have been necessary to thwart attacks on the United States.

The White House had no immediate comment on Sunday's developments.

WikiLeaks said Snowden was accompanied by diplomats and that Harrison, a British legal researcher working for WikiLeaks, was "accompanying Mr Snowden in his passage to safety."

"The WikiLeaks legal team and I are interested in preserving Mr Snowden's rights and protecting him as a person," former Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon, legal director of WikiLeaks and lawyer for Assange, said in a statement.

"What is being done to Mr Snowden and to Mr Julian Assange - for making or facilitating disclosures in the public interest - is an assault against the people."

WIKILEAKS CASE

Assange, an Australian, said last week he would not leave the sanctuary of Ecuador's London embassy even if Sweden stopped pursuing sexual assault claims against him because he feared arrest on the orders of the United States.

The latest drama coincides with the court martial of Bradley Manning, a U.S. soldier accused of providing reams of classified documents to WikiLeaks, which Assange began releasing on the Internet in 2010, and, according to some critics, put its national security and people's lives at risk.

A spokesman for Wikileaks refused to make any comment about possible routes to Ecuador. Asked why Ecuador, he replied "That is something that Mr. Snowden needs to reply to. ... It was a decision taken by him. ... Various governments were approached."

Iceland refused on Friday to say whether it would grant asylum to Snowden. Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said this month that Russia would consider granting asylum if Snowden were to ask for it and pro-Kremlin lawmakers supported the idea, but there has been no indication he has done so.

Hong Kong's South China Morning Post newspaper earlier quoted Snowden offering new details about U.S. surveillance activities, including accusations of U.S. hacking of Chinese mobile phone firms and targeting of China's Tsinghua University.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Snowden needed to be caught and brought back for trial as secrets he was carrying could do a lot of damage to U.S. interests.

"I think we need to know exactly what he has," she told CBS's "Face the Nation." "He could have a lot, lot more that may really put people in jeopardy."

Documents previously leaked by Snowden revealed that the NSA has access to vast amounts of internet data such as emails, chat rooms and video from large companies, including Facebook and Google, under a government program known as Prism.

The head of the National Security Agency, General Keith Alexander, said he did not know why it failed to prevent Snowden leaving Hawaii for Hong Kong with the secrets.

"It's clearly an individual who's betrayed the trust and confidence we had in him," he told the ABC News "This Week" program.

He said procedures had since been tightened.

"We are now putting in place actions that would give us the ability to track our system administrators, what they're doing, what they're taking, a two-man rule. We've changed the passwords. But at the end of the day, we have to trust that our people are going to do the right thing."

(Additional reporting by Fayen Wong in Shanghai; Nishant Kumar in Hong Kong; Andrew Cawthorne, Mario Naranjo and Daniel Wallis in Caracas; Alexandra Valencia in Quito; Alexei Anishchuk and Steve Gutterman in Moscow, and Tabassum Zakaria, Mark Felsenthal, Paul Eckert and Mark Hosenball in Washington; Writing by David Stamp and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Jackie Frank)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/former-nsa-contractor-snowden-leaves-hong-kong-moscow-080843121.html

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Stocks regain ground after biggest drop of the year

Stocks finished the week with an advance Friday after a two-day plunge, suggesting that perhaps Wall Street will be successfully weaned from the Federal Reserve's easy money after all. That money has helped push stocks upward over the past four years.

By Joshua Freed,?AP Business Writer / June 21, 2013

Specialist Gregg Maloney, left, works with a trader on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Friday. Stocks rose on Friday as traders regrouped following a two-day plunge.

Richard Drew/AP

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Traders decided that the stock market has suffered enough, at least for now.

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After a two-day plunge, stocks ended the week with an advance on Friday, suggesting that?Wall?Street?may be successfully weaned from the Federal Reserve's easy money after all.

"Saner heads are prevailing," said Jim Dunigan, chief investment officer at PNC Wealth Management. "People are looking a little deeper into the message from the Fed ? the economy is getting better," he said. "At the end of the day that's a positive."

Investors had known that sooner or later the Fed would quit spending $85 billion per month pumping money into the U.S. economy.

That money has been a big driver behind the stock market's bull run the last four years. It led to low interest rates that encouraged borrowing for everything from factory machinery to commercial airplanes to home renovations. Has the economy been great? No. Unemployment is still high and U.S. growth has been anemic. But it could have been worse. Investors were confident enough in a growing economy that the Standard & Poor's 500 index hit an all-time high of 1,669 on May 21.

Then on Wednesday, the Fed said it would aim to turn off that spigot by the middle of next year as long as the economy is strong enough.

Just because investors knew it was coming didn't mean they liked it. The Dow dropped 560 points on Wednesday and Thursday.

Investors recovered their mojo on Friday. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 41.08 points, or 0.3 percent, to close at 14,799.40. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 4.24 points, or 0.3 percent to close at 1,592.43.

The gains were led by the kinds of stocks that investors favor when they want to play it safe. Makers of consumer staples, utilities, and health care companies rose the most of the 10 industries in the S&P 500 index. The only two categories that fell were technology stocks and companies that make basic materials.

Friday's gain wasn't enough to erase the market's loss for the week. The S&P 500 fell 2.1 percent for the week, and the Dow was down 1.8 percent. Stocks have now fallen two weeks in a row, and four of the past five.

The real question will be whether the sell-off continues next week, said Frank Fantozzi, CEO of Planned Financial Services. So far, the market's swoon this week appears to be more of an adjustment than the beginning of a long-term rout. "If the flow out of equities starts to increase, this might be the pullback we've been waiting for," he said.

Many investors have been predicting some kind of pullback in the market following its nearly unbroken advance since last fall. The S&P 500 index rose for seven straight months through May. So far in June it's down 2.1 percent.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note hit 2.54 percent, up from 2.42 percent late Thursday. It has risen sharply since Wednesday as investors sold bonds in anticipation that the Fed would slow, and eventually end, its bond purchases, if the U.S. recovery continues.

The yield, which is a benchmark for interest rates on many kinds of loans including home mortgages, was as low as 1.63 percent as recently as May 3.

Technology shares lagged the market after business software maker Oracle reported flat revenue late Thursday, even though analysts expected an increase. Oracle plunged $3.07, or 9 percent, to $30.14, the biggest drop in the S&P 500 index. Oracle is struggling to adapt as customers shift away from software installed on their own computers toward software that runs remotely.

The Nasdaq composite index, which is heavily weighted with technology stocks, fell 7.39 points, or 0.2 percent, to 3,357.25. Apple, the biggest stock in the index, fell $3.34, or 0.8 percent, to $413.50. Microsoft fell 23 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $33.27.

The price of gold recovered after plunging the day before. Gold rose $5.80, or 0.5 percent, to $1,292 an ounce. Crude oil fell $1.45, or 1.5 percent, to $93.69 a barrel in New York.

The dollar rose against other currencies as traders anticipated that U.S. interest rates would rise as the Fed winds down its bond purchases.

Among other stocks making big moves:

?Darden Restaurants, which runs Olive Garden and Red Lobster, fell $1.11, or 2 percent, to $50.12 after rising expenses hurt its fourth-quarter earnings.

? Spreadtrum Communications jumped $3.62, or 16 percent, to $25.91 after the Chinese smartphone chip maker said its board is considering a buyout offer valued at about $1.39 billion from Tsinghua Holdings.

? Facebook rose 63 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $24.53 after saying it will add video to its popular photo-sharing app Instagram, following on the heels of Twitter's growing video-sharing app, Vine.

A Fed policy statement and comments from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke started the selling in stocks, bonds and commodities Wednesday. Bernanke said the Fed expects to scale back its bond-buying program later this year and end it by mid-2014 if the economy continues to improve. The bank has been buying Treasury and mortgage bonds, which has made borrowing cheap for consumers and businesses. The program has also encouraged investors to buy stocks instead of bonds.

The S&P 500 is still up 11.7 percent, for the year, not far from its full-year increase of 13.4 percent last year.

___

AP Business Writer Bernard Condon contributed.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/nM5GcjoDPq0/Stocks-regain-ground-after-biggest-drop-of-the-year

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Engadget Podcast 349 - 06.21.13

"You don't have Facebook? Then how do you get on Farmville?," asks Brian as Peter explains his disdain for the world's largest social network. While Tim was relatively mum on that subject, it turns out he broke his Google Glass... somehow. So, while the aforementioned bearded wizard works on getting a replacement -- and 3D printing a better case -- feel free to hear about this week's biggest stories in consumer electronics by streaming our newest episode below.

Hosts: Tim Stevens, Peter Rojas, Brian Heater

Producer: Joe Pollicino

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/21/engadget-podcast-349-06-21-13/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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