If Java on the desktop isn't dead yet, its latest security update should go a long way toward convincing people it should be.
How urgent is this new security update? Urgent enough that Oracle included patches for Java in its October 2013 Critical Patch Update (CPU -- what an acronym), as part of the company's efforts to get security fixes for Java out the door quarterly rather than three times a year.
Of the 127 fixes in this update, slightly fewer than half -- 50 -- were fixes for remote-exploit issues in Java. And 12 of those were exploits that could have granted an attacker complete control of the OS. Ouch.
What's more, the vast majority of those Java fixes are client-only problems -- meaning exploits that happen exclusively on a client machine, not a server.
If any one thing has been an aggressive contributor to the decline of Java as a desktop technology, it's the way the product has been shown time and again to be deeply insecure. Oracle keeps promising it has the issue under control, even when the vast majority of the security bugaboos that have been detected go back to before Java changed hands from Sun to Oracle in 2010.
Oracle has used that fact to its advantage, claiming, "When we acquired Sun, [it] was not in a position to fully fund the security team," as stated by Cameron Purdy, Oracle vice president of cloud applications and Java EE (Enterprise Edition) during JavaOne back in September. Purdy also owned up to not making the Java security team robust enough and indicated that a major source of problems is when people running older editions of Java don't update.
Fair enough, but the damage done to Java as a desktop and client-side technology may well be permanent. Mozilla has been blacklisting older versions of Java since 2012, and Google is now moving toward ditching support for such plug-ins entirely. No great loss there -- when was the last time, apart from a corporate portal or a site based on mid-2000s technology, you actually needed a Java plug-in to make a site work?
Google's move could also be its way of indirectly deprecating what is now more than ever a competitor's technology. Google is doubling down on Go, Native Client, and Dart, and according to my colleague Galen Gruman may be leaving (the Java-powered) Android behind in favor of Chrome OS.
None of this is a patch -- pun intended -- on Java as a server-side technology. The JVM's untapped possibilities have long been one of its best-kept secrets, and the sheer amount of server-side Java used in businesses promises it won't be going anywhere for a long time to come.
But Java as a desktop force shows no signs of making a roaring comeback, and with each hammering-home of the message that it's an insecure, outdated technology, the odds get a little worse.
Despite Kanye West's arguments for his girlfriend's importance in Hollywood, "Keeping up with the Kardashians" iconic lady, Kim Kardashian will not receive a star on the "Hollywood Walk of Fame."
During his interview on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," on Wednesday, October 9th, the rapper argued that his reality star girlfriend and baby mama should receive a star on the legendary sidewalk, saying, "I want to shout out to the stars on the Walk of Fame because they said something about they're not going to put my girl on the Walk of Fame because she's a reality star," he said. "People are so so dated and not modern. There's no way Kim Kardashian shouldn't have a star on the Walk of Fame."
However, sticking to their original stance, Ana Martinez, a spokeswoman for the Walk and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, told Yahoo's omg! "We don't have reality stars on the Walk of Fame. We don't have a category for it. We're happy to consider reality stars once they get nominated for, or win, an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar." She then concluded, "We'll consider them when they're legitimate actors or singers."
Recognizing she has heard Mr. West's argument, Martinez finished, "I know he loves her, and it's all very sweet, but she doesn't qualify. I hate to say it, but a lot of people just don't like her," adding, "No one has ever nominated her."
Rapha has been a one-stop-shop for all kinds of cool bike accessories since launching its first collection in 2004; in addition to the stylish wearables, they’ve got a small batch of prints and publications dedicated to the joy of road climbs and racing. Now, they're adding leisure travel to the mix with an eight volume collection of City Cycling Guides.
S
The eight colorful titles in the black box set are dedicated to showing the best way to navigate European hotspots on two wheels. Each of the pocket-sized softcovers contains easy-to-read maps of do-able urban adventures in a specific city: Paris, Milan, London, Barcelona, Antwerp and Ghent, Copenhagen, Berlin, and Amsterdam.
S
These are punctuated with hand-drawn illustrations and info on where to find cafes, shops, sights, even Wi-Fi access. Etiquette and essential info is outlined in the back, along with more rigorous routes for folks ready for a serious day on the pavement. And because it might not be realistic to bring your ride with you overseas, there’s also info on hires and sharing for those interested in a casual afternoon experiencing life like a local. Buy some for yourself here for $40. [Rapha via notcot]
The Microsoft Answers forum is abuzz with a problem that seems to affect many people trying to update from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1. It's a show-stopper that throws up two Blue Screens when the Win 8.1 installer reboots. Microsoft has a couple of suggestions for recovering from the problem, but at this point it doesn't look like the solutions fix the problem. Further confounding the situation, the problem existed back in June, with the Windows 8.1 Preview Milestone, and apparently hasn't been fixed.
Martin Dixon posted the seminal question shortly after Microsoft released the Windows 8.1 bits. Here's how he describes his update:
I have downloaded the Windows 8.1 update from the store but cannot get it to install. Each time I try, I get to the point where it is "getting my devices ready", then the PC restarts to a blue screen with error message. It then tries to recover the installation, fails, then restores Windows 8. When the system boots up after this, I get a message saying:
"Couldn't update to Windows 8.1
Sorry, we couldn't complete the update to Windows 8.1. We've restored your previous version of Windows to this PC.
0xC1900101 - 0x40017"
There is no explanation as to why the update could be completed.
Microsoft Support Engineer Ravish Govind posted two different methods for trying to work around the problem -- unplug external devices and try again; and update all drivers. Neither approach worked, for any of the people posting on the Answers forum.
Suspicions have turned to graphics drivers, but nobody's figured out the source of the problem, much less its cure. Parris at EpicReviewsTech posted a video explaining how to recover from the problem in Windows 8.1 Preview Milestone -- but he didn't find a fix, and the bug manifests itself differently with the Windows 8.1 RTM online update.
If you're encountering BSODs with 0xC1900101 - 0x40017, it would be a very good idea to hop over to the Answers forum and post details about your hardware configuration. Maybe Microsoft can find a solution.
Costa Gavras presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award by Mumbai Academy of Moving Images chairman Shyam Benegal
MUMBAI -- The 15th Mumbai Film Festival opened Thursday evening with an opening ceremony that saw lifetime achievement awards being presented to Costa Gavras and Indian film icon Kamal Haasan. The ceremony also included the traditional lighting of a lamp, which was done by top Bollywood actress Sonakshi Sinha. She was accompanied by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Images chairman and veteran director Shyam Benegal and MAMI trustee Amit Khanna, among other dignitaries.
“I’m happy to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Mumbai Film Festival,” said Gavras who was presented the award by Benegal. “It is wonderful to see Indian cinema has a large local audience watching their films. I wish the festival best of luck.” The festival's program includes a retrospective of Gavras' works including his acclaimed political thriller Z.
Leading actor-director-producer Kamal Haasan was bestowed with the Indian Lifetime Achievement Award, which was presented by the chief minister of Maharashtra state (of which Mumbai is the capital), Prithviraj Chavan.
“There never was a method to my acting. I simply had great teachers, some of whom are present here tonight -- I respect them a lot,” said Haasan in his acceptance speech. “Festivals have also taught me a lot and I am humbled to have received this honor.”
“The state of Maharashtra supports and will continue to support this festival. I have been a huge fan of Mr. Gavras and Kamal Haasan,” Chavan remarked, adding that he saw Z "when I was in college and it had an impact on me." While referring to himself as "the odd man out in this gathering of great film-makers and artists," Chavan said that among other pressing issues faced by the film industry, the government would be considering the long-discussed proposal of establishing a Bollywood museum in Mumbai's Film City studio complex.
The opening ceremony was held at the festival's main venue, Liberty Theatre in south Mumbai, an art deco cinema with old world charm. The cinema was built in 1947, the year of India's independence from British rule. MFF has been moving from one venue to another in the absence of a permanent site, something that Benegal asked government for in his opening address.
MFF is presented by Reliance Entertainment with MAMI, an industry body featuring leading Indian film figures, founded in 1997 by the late filmmaker Hrishikesh Mukherjee.
This year's festival competition jury is presided over by Driving Miss Daisy director Bruce Beresford, with fellow members including French actress Nathalie Baye, Japanese film-maker Masato Harada, Indian actress Konkona Sen Sharma and Canada-based Indian director Deepa Mehta.
The India Gold competition jury is headed by Oscar winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi (A Separation) while fellow jurists include Australian film editor Jill Bilcock (Moulin Rouge), British actor-director Waris Hussein (Passage to India), Afghan director Siddiq Barmak (Osama) and Hong Kong International Film Festival director and film critic, Roger Garcia.
The festival opened with a screening of Lee Daniels'The Butler starring Forest Whitaker. The festival's closing film is The Fifth Estate, which will screen after the awards ceremony on Oct. 24.
MFF will feature more than 200 films from 65 countries, including spotlights on Spanish, French and Cambodian cinema. The festival will also pay tribute to the late Bollywood icon Yash Chopra (who passed away last October), the late Bengali director Rituparno Ghosh and the late Bollywood actor Pran.
Running alongside the festival will be the three-day Mumbai Film Mart which opens Friday.
We're getting closer and closer to the inevitable launch of the Nexus 5 and Android 4.4 KitKat, and with the device's image recently slipping out on Google Play — along with a $349 price point — there's more buzz than ever around this year's Nexus handset.
The Android Central forums are a great place to chat it up and share your Nexus 5 thought, hopes, fears and expectations as we wait for the device's arrival. Here's a quick rundown of some of the top threads at the moment:
Some two weeks behind the regular version, today OS X Mavericks Server has hit Gold Master (GM) ahead of a potentially imminent release. As usual with GM builds, unless any showstoppers are found, this is the version that will push out to customers, quite possibly before the month is out.
If you're a developer with a keen interest in the Server version of Mavericks, head on over to the Apple Developer Portal and download a copy now. If not, sit tight, we're almost there!
Chiwetel Ejiofor (right) plays Solomon Northrup, a New York freeman kidnapped into slavery in 1841 and eventually resold to plantation owner Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender).
Francois Duhamel/Fox Searchlight Pictures
Chiwetel Ejiofor (right) plays Solomon Northrup, a New York freeman kidnapped into slavery in 1841 and eventually resold to plantation owner Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender).
Francois Duhamel/Fox Searchlight Pictures
12 Years a Slave
Director: Steve McQueen
Genre: Biopic, drama
Running Time: 133 minutes
Rated R for violence/cruelty, some nudity and brief sexuality.
Just a few years before the start of the Civil War, two anti-slavery books became bestsellers in the United States. One was Uncle Tom's Cabin, the Harriet Beecher Stowe opus that went on to become the best-selling novel of the 19th Century.
The other was a memoir with a mouthful of a title: Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, a citizen of New-York, kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and rescued in 1853 from a cotton plantation near the Red River in Louisiana.
Twelve Years a Slave — successful enough to prompt multiple editions before falling into obscurity after the War — was rediscovered by scholars in the 1960s, and has now been transformed into into a wrenching, soul-stirring film from British director Steve McQueen.
The film begins with an enslaved Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) cutting sugar cane on a Louisiana plantation, then flashes back to the life he'd been leading just a few years earlier in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. There, he was a musician of stature, living with his wife and three kids in comfort and even some luxury. A free black family in a state that does not allow slavery, they inhabited a world of learning and culture.
In fact it's Solomon's talent as a violinist that leads to his downfall. He accompanies two men to Washington for what he thinks is a fiddling job, only to have them get him drunk and betray him. New York has laws protecting its African-American residents. The nation's capital does not. He wakes up in chains.
Patsy (Lupita Nyong'o, middle), another of Epps' slaves, becomes the subject of her master's unwanted attentions — and the abuse of his jealous wife.
Francois Duhamel/Fox Searchlight Pictures
Patsy (Lupita Nyong'o, middle), another of Epps' slaves, becomes the subject of her master's unwanted attentions — and the abuse of his jealous wife.
Francois Duhamel/Fox Searchlight Pictures
Without papers to establish his identity, far from anyone who knows him, Solomon is helpless when his kidnappers rename him Platt and ship him off to Louisiana to be sold. As other desperate men in chains tell him, he'll be killed if he even says his real name, let alone tries to escape. Survival means "keeping your head down," he's told.
"I don't want to survive," he gasps. "I want to live."
Still, survival comes first. Sold to a Baptist preacher (Benedict Cumberbatch) who realizes there's more to him than meets the eye, and who treats him, as another slave puts it, like "prized livestock," Solomon does keep his head down. He bides his time, and urges others around him to do the same.
Inwardly, though, he's seething. And when another slave accuses him of truckling to his master, he roars, "My back is thick with scars for protesting my freedom."
McQueen keeps those scars — and the brutality that creates them — front and center in 12 Years a Slave, with incidents that scald, and searing supporting performances, particularly from Michael Fassbender (star of McQueen's previous art-house films Hunger and Shame) as a sadistic but strangely conflicted slave owner.
But it is Ejiofor — bewildered, sorely tested, morally towering — whose staggered dignity anchors the film.
John Ridley's script brings both historical sweep and an urgent intimacy to Northup's story — no small accomplishment. Rife with visceral beatings, multiple lynchings and an almost casual air of psychological cruelty, 12 Years a Slave is anything but easy to watch, but it is powerfully moving.
It's also a powerful corrective, because it so skillfully links that brutality to the sort of tranquil antebellum South that Hollywood has often peddled — the broad porches, the hoop skirts, the fields fluffy with cotton. It will be hard for audiences to see those images ever again without thinking about the savagery and injustice that propped them up.
NEW YORK (AP) — Strong third-quarter results have sent Google shares past the $1,000 mark for the first time.
Shortly after the markets opened Friday, Google Inc. shares jumped more than 12 percent to $1,002. The stock had never before surpassed $928 in regular market trading since Google went public at $85 per share nine years ago.
Late Thursday, Google reported better-than-expected third-quarter results. The numbers showed that while the company's advertising prices continue to decline, that's being offset by a larger number of people clicking on ads.
Google shares have climbed steadily for much of the past five years, more than doubling in value. But the stock has slipped slightly in recent months, while the overall market has risen, amid worries about deteriorating ad prices.
Unique skull find rebuts theories on species diversity in early humans
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
17-Oct-2013
[
| E-mail
| Share
]
Contact: Christoph P.E. Zollikofer zolli@aim.uzh.ch 41-446-355-427 University of Zurich
This news release is available in German.
This is the best-preserved fossil find yet from the early era of our genus. The particularly interesting aspect is that it displays a combination of features that were unknown to us before the find. The skull, found in Dmanisi by anthropologists from the University of Zurich as part of a collaboration with colleagues in Georgia funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, has the largest face, the most massively built jaw and teeth and the smallest brain within the Dmanisi group.
It is the fifth skull to be discovered in Dmanisi. Previously, four equally well-preserved hominid skulls as well as some skeletal parts had been found there. Taken as a whole, the finds show that the first representatives of the genus Homo began to expand from Africa through Eurasia as far back as 1.85 million years ago.
Diversity within a species instead of species diversity
Because the skull is completely intact, it can provide answers to various questions which up until now had offered broad scope for speculation. These relate to none less than the evolutionary beginning of the genus Homo in Africa around two million years ago at the beginning of the Ice Age, also referred to as the Pleistocene. Were there several specialized Homo species in Africa at the time, at least one of which was able to spread outside of Africa too? Or was there just one single species that was able to cope with a variety of ecosystems? Although the early Homo finds in Africa demonstrate large variation, it has not been possible to decide on answers to these questions in the past. One reason for this relates to the fossils available, as Christoph Zollikofer, anthropologist at the University of Zurich, explains: Most of these fossils represent single fragmentary finds from multiple points in space and geological time of at least 500,000 years. This ultimately makes it difficult to recognize variation among species in the African fossils as opposed to variation within species.
As many species as there are researchers
Marcia Ponce de Len, who is also an anthropologist at the University of Zurich, points out another reason: paleoanthropologists often tacitly assumed that the fossil they had just found was representative for the species, i.e. that it aptly demonstrated the characteristics of the species. Statistically this is not very likely, she says, but nevertheless there were researchers who proposed up to five contemporary species of early Homo in Africa, including Homohabilis, Homorudolfensis, Homoergaster and Homoerectus. Ponce de Len sums up the problem as follows: At present there are as many subdivisions between species as there are researchers examining this problem.
Tracking development of Homoerectus over one million years thanks to a change in perspective
Dmanisi now offers the key to the solution. According to Zollikofer, the reason why Skull 5 is so important is that it unites features that have been used previously as an argument for defining different African species. In other words: Had the braincase and the face of the Dmanisi sample been found as separate fossils, they very probably would have been attributed to two different species. Ponce de Len adds: It is also decisive that we have five well-preserved individuals in Dmanisi whom we know to have lived in the same place and at the same time. These unique circumstances of the find make it possible to compare variation in Dmanisi with variation in modern human and chimpanzee populations. Zollikofer summarizes the result of the statistical analyses as follows: Firstly, the Dmanisi individuals all belong to a population of a single early Homo species. Secondly, the five Dmanisi individuals are conspicuously different from each other, but not more different than any five modern human individuals, or five chimpanzee individuals from a given population.
Diversity within a species is thus the rule rather than the exception. The present findings are supported by an additional study recently published in the PNAS journal. In that study, Ponce de Len, Zollikofer and further colleagues show that differences in jaw morphology between the Dmanisi individuals are mostly due to differences in dental wear.
This shows the need for a change in perspective: the African fossils from around 1.8 million years ago likely represent representatives from one and the same species, best described as Homoerectus. This would suggest that Homoerectus evolved about 2 million years ago in Africa, and soon expanded through Eurasia via places such as Dmanisi as far as China and Java, where it is first documented from about 1.2 million years ago. Comparing diversity patterns in Africa, Eurasia and East Asia provides clues on the population biology of this first global human species.
This makes Homoerectus the first global player in human evolution. Its redefinition now provides an opportunity to track this fossil human species over a time span of 1 million years.
###
Literature:
David Lordkipanidze, Marcia S. Ponce de Len, Ann Margvelashvili, Yoel Rak, G. Philip Rightmire, Abesalom Vekua, and Christoph P.E. Zollikofer. A complete skull from Dmanisi, Georgia, and the evolutionary biology of early Homo. Science. October 18, 2013. doi: 10.1126/science.1238484
Ann Margvelashvili, Christoph P. E. Zollikofer, David Lordkipanidze, Timo Peltomki, Marcia S. Ponce de Len. Tooth wear and dentoalveolar remodeling are key factors of morphological variation in the Dmanisi mandibles. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). September 2, 2013. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1316052110
Research and development collaborative work with huge leverage
The new research findings on Dmanisi are based on collaborative work ongoing for many years between the Anthropological Institute at the University of Zurich and the Georgian National Museum in Tbilisi. The Dmanisi project is financed by SCOPES (Scientific co-operation between Eastern Europe and Switzerland), a research program co-funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation (SDC). This research tool operates with a comparatively modest budget, but has a major and positive impact on the research landscape in the participating countries.
Contacts:
Prof. Christoph P.E. Zollikofer
Anthropological Institute
University of Zurich
Phone: +41 44 635 54 27
E-mail: zolli@aim.uzh.ch
Dr. Marcia S. Ponce de Len
Anthropological Institute
University of Zurich
Phone: +41 44 635 54 27
E-mail: marcia@aim.uzh.ch
Please find the News release from the University of Zurich in German and with comprehensive, high-resolution images and a video of the excavation on the Mediadesk of the UZH, see http://www.mediadesk.uzh.ch/articles/2013/schaedelfund-dmanisi.html
The News release from the University of Zurich in English and with comprehensive, high-resolution images and a video of the excavation you'll find on the Mediadesk of the UZH, see http://www.mediadesk.uzh.ch/articles/2013/schaedelfund-dmanisi_en.html
[
| E-mail
| Share
]
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.
Unique skull find rebuts theories on species diversity in early humans
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
17-Oct-2013
[
| E-mail
| Share
]
Contact: Christoph P.E. Zollikofer zolli@aim.uzh.ch 41-446-355-427 University of Zurich
This news release is available in German.
This is the best-preserved fossil find yet from the early era of our genus. The particularly interesting aspect is that it displays a combination of features that were unknown to us before the find. The skull, found in Dmanisi by anthropologists from the University of Zurich as part of a collaboration with colleagues in Georgia funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, has the largest face, the most massively built jaw and teeth and the smallest brain within the Dmanisi group.
It is the fifth skull to be discovered in Dmanisi. Previously, four equally well-preserved hominid skulls as well as some skeletal parts had been found there. Taken as a whole, the finds show that the first representatives of the genus Homo began to expand from Africa through Eurasia as far back as 1.85 million years ago.
Diversity within a species instead of species diversity
Because the skull is completely intact, it can provide answers to various questions which up until now had offered broad scope for speculation. These relate to none less than the evolutionary beginning of the genus Homo in Africa around two million years ago at the beginning of the Ice Age, also referred to as the Pleistocene. Were there several specialized Homo species in Africa at the time, at least one of which was able to spread outside of Africa too? Or was there just one single species that was able to cope with a variety of ecosystems? Although the early Homo finds in Africa demonstrate large variation, it has not been possible to decide on answers to these questions in the past. One reason for this relates to the fossils available, as Christoph Zollikofer, anthropologist at the University of Zurich, explains: Most of these fossils represent single fragmentary finds from multiple points in space and geological time of at least 500,000 years. This ultimately makes it difficult to recognize variation among species in the African fossils as opposed to variation within species.
As many species as there are researchers
Marcia Ponce de Len, who is also an anthropologist at the University of Zurich, points out another reason: paleoanthropologists often tacitly assumed that the fossil they had just found was representative for the species, i.e. that it aptly demonstrated the characteristics of the species. Statistically this is not very likely, she says, but nevertheless there were researchers who proposed up to five contemporary species of early Homo in Africa, including Homohabilis, Homorudolfensis, Homoergaster and Homoerectus. Ponce de Len sums up the problem as follows: At present there are as many subdivisions between species as there are researchers examining this problem.
Tracking development of Homoerectus over one million years thanks to a change in perspective
Dmanisi now offers the key to the solution. According to Zollikofer, the reason why Skull 5 is so important is that it unites features that have been used previously as an argument for defining different African species. In other words: Had the braincase and the face of the Dmanisi sample been found as separate fossils, they very probably would have been attributed to two different species. Ponce de Len adds: It is also decisive that we have five well-preserved individuals in Dmanisi whom we know to have lived in the same place and at the same time. These unique circumstances of the find make it possible to compare variation in Dmanisi with variation in modern human and chimpanzee populations. Zollikofer summarizes the result of the statistical analyses as follows: Firstly, the Dmanisi individuals all belong to a population of a single early Homo species. Secondly, the five Dmanisi individuals are conspicuously different from each other, but not more different than any five modern human individuals, or five chimpanzee individuals from a given population.
Diversity within a species is thus the rule rather than the exception. The present findings are supported by an additional study recently published in the PNAS journal. In that study, Ponce de Len, Zollikofer and further colleagues show that differences in jaw morphology between the Dmanisi individuals are mostly due to differences in dental wear.
This shows the need for a change in perspective: the African fossils from around 1.8 million years ago likely represent representatives from one and the same species, best described as Homoerectus. This would suggest that Homoerectus evolved about 2 million years ago in Africa, and soon expanded through Eurasia via places such as Dmanisi as far as China and Java, where it is first documented from about 1.2 million years ago. Comparing diversity patterns in Africa, Eurasia and East Asia provides clues on the population biology of this first global human species.
This makes Homoerectus the first global player in human evolution. Its redefinition now provides an opportunity to track this fossil human species over a time span of 1 million years.
###
Literature:
David Lordkipanidze, Marcia S. Ponce de Len, Ann Margvelashvili, Yoel Rak, G. Philip Rightmire, Abesalom Vekua, and Christoph P.E. Zollikofer. A complete skull from Dmanisi, Georgia, and the evolutionary biology of early Homo. Science. October 18, 2013. doi: 10.1126/science.1238484
Ann Margvelashvili, Christoph P. E. Zollikofer, David Lordkipanidze, Timo Peltomki, Marcia S. Ponce de Len. Tooth wear and dentoalveolar remodeling are key factors of morphological variation in the Dmanisi mandibles. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). September 2, 2013. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1316052110
Research and development collaborative work with huge leverage
The new research findings on Dmanisi are based on collaborative work ongoing for many years between the Anthropological Institute at the University of Zurich and the Georgian National Museum in Tbilisi. The Dmanisi project is financed by SCOPES (Scientific co-operation between Eastern Europe and Switzerland), a research program co-funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation (SDC). This research tool operates with a comparatively modest budget, but has a major and positive impact on the research landscape in the participating countries.
Contacts:
Prof. Christoph P.E. Zollikofer
Anthropological Institute
University of Zurich
Phone: +41 44 635 54 27
E-mail: zolli@aim.uzh.ch
Dr. Marcia S. Ponce de Len
Anthropological Institute
University of Zurich
Phone: +41 44 635 54 27
E-mail: marcia@aim.uzh.ch
Please find the News release from the University of Zurich in German and with comprehensive, high-resolution images and a video of the excavation on the Mediadesk of the UZH, see http://www.mediadesk.uzh.ch/articles/2013/schaedelfund-dmanisi.html
The News release from the University of Zurich in English and with comprehensive, high-resolution images and a video of the excavation you'll find on the Mediadesk of the UZH, see http://www.mediadesk.uzh.ch/articles/2013/schaedelfund-dmanisi_en.html
[
| E-mail
| Share
]
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.
FILE - In this Monday, July 16, 2012, file photo, a consumer sits outside the entrance to the World of Coca Cola attraction in Atlanta. The Coca-Cola Co. is expected to report quarterly earnings on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
FILE - In this Monday, July 16, 2012, file photo, a consumer sits outside the entrance to the World of Coca Cola attraction in Atlanta. The Coca-Cola Co. is expected to report quarterly earnings on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Coca-Cola reported a higher quarterly profit as the world's biggest beverage maker managed to sell more of its drinks despite choppy economic conditions.
The maker of Sprite, Powerade and Vitaminwater said global sales volume edged up 2 percent for its third quarter, helped by its performance in countries such as China, India and Russia.
Still, the company conceded that it was facing an economic slowdown in many parts of the world including Mexico, where the government is also considering a tax on sugary soft drinks.
In a conference call with analysts, CEO Muhtar Kent pushed back at the suggestion that the company's days of growth were coming to an end. He noted that the company is emphasizing affordability and smaller packages to "keep the drinkers base growing" in developing markets.
That strategy is critical for "when economies also start turning up and when disposable incomes start heading north," he said.
Kent also shot down the prospect of the tax in Mexico, saying that such measures don't work and that he didn't want to discuss the matter any further because "the discussions under progress."
"We've made our case to the government," he said. The company stood by its goal to double system-wide sales by 2020, from 2009.
Back in the U.S., where soda has been under fire as well for fueling obesity rates, the Atlanta-based company rolled out smaller cans and bottles of soda that are more profitable and better suit the reduced portions people are seeking. Coca-Cola is also focusing on other drinks, such as flavored water, as Americans continue to cut back on soda.
In North America, for instance, soda volume was flat for the period, following a 4 percent decline in the previous quarter and flat growth a year ago. But uncarbonated drinks such as tea, juice and bottled water rose 5 percent. That lifted overall volume for the region by 2 percent.
Meanwhile, soda sales are faring much better in developing markets. The company said its namesake brand saw volume growth of 22 percent in India. In China, soda volume rose 8 percent.
The company blamed volatile economic conditions for more disappointing results in other parts of the world. In Europe, volume fell 1 percent. Coca-Cola also cited hurricanes for a 2 percent volume decline in Mexico.
For the quarter, the company said it earned $2.45 billion, or 54 cents per share, up from $2.31 billion, or 50 cents per share, a year ago.
Not including one-time items, earnings per share were 53 cents, which was in line with Wall Street expectations.
Revenue fell 3 percent to $12.03, hurt by structural changes and unfavorable currency exchange rates. Analysts had expected $12.05 billion, according to FactSet.
The results for the quarter were boosted by a gain related to a bottling transaction in Brazil.
Shares of Coca-Cola Co. rose 1.6 percent at $38.51. Over the past year, the stock is down almost 1 percent.
____
Follow Candice Choi at www.twitter.com/candicechoi
The Federal Reserve headquarters in Washington, D.C., where the federal government shutdown left policymakers without key economic data.
J. David Ake/AP
The Federal Reserve headquarters in Washington, D.C., where the federal government shutdown left policymakers without key economic data.
J. David Ake/AP
Talk to economists about the government shutdown's impact on their forecasts and you'll hear this phrase again and again:
Flying blind.
For economists and investors, "at this moment, we are flying blind," said Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve and now president of Greenspan Associates LLC, a consulting firm.
Greenspan is not alone in feeling a little lost without the compass of government reports.
"We have not been collecting the data, so we are flying blind," said Diane Swonk, past president of the National Association for Business Economics and an economist for Mesirow Financial, a financial services firm.
Even though federal offices were reopened on Thursday morning, government economists have not yet been able to pull together and release their long-delayed reports. For example, the Labor Department's September employment report should have been released on Oct. 4. But when the government shut down on Oct. 1, it sent home the workers who should have been there releasing the statistics.
That employment report is very closely watched by investors. Its regular release — precisely at 8:30 a.m. — has the power to move markets.
So when will we see it again?
Your guess is as good as anyone's. The Bureau of Labor Statistics website offers a calendar of report release dates, but the schedule has not yet been updated to reflect any post-shutdown changes. No one answers the phone.
At the Bureau of Economic Analysis, which issues reports on international trade, personal income and spending, the website read, "Please Note: BEA is currently assessing the impact of the shutdown and will post a revised release schedule as soon as possible."
The government data points — and their release times — are crucial for making decisions about investments. At BLS alone, this month's missing reports include those that measure wages, job creation, unemployment rates, import and export prices and consumer inflation.
Swonk said that while it's frustrating to wait for the release of September data, it's even more painful to think about the data that may never get collected for October.
She is especially worried about the monthly employment report because that one greatly influences Fed policymakers who set interest rates. If Fed officials don't have BLS data, then they have to make very consequential decisions in the dark.
And this week — just as BLS employees get back to their desks — is crunch time for October data collection.
According to the BLS, the government learns about Americans' job status when its "interviewers contact households by telephone and in person and ask questions regarding the labor market activity of household members during the previous calendar week which included the 12th day of the month—the reference week."
In other words, right now is when phone calls need to be completed about last week's jobs.
But will BLS have the manpower to assemble the delayed September report, and then conduct surveys for October? "It's labor intensive to collect that information," Swonk noted.
BLS officials cannot be reached to confirm what is happening.
Bottom line: October data may be skewed. And it may be a long time before anyone sees reliable numbers for September, as well as the crucial revisions for earlier months.
"You feel like you're in a fog," Swonk said.
Greenspan said he was relieved that the shutdown did not go on longer. "If we went another four or five weeks without these data, it would leave a hole in our capacity to understand what's going on," he said. But the 16-day shutdown, while not trivial, probably won't distort data enough to have a major impact on the overall accuracy of 2013 economic readings, he said.
Robert Murphy, a Boston College professor and former senior economist for the Clinton Council of Economic Advisers, agreed that the shutdown ended in time to prevent long-term harm to economic forecasts.
He believes the BLS professionals will "scramble more" this month to round up the data as quickly as possible. But for now, "we'll be flying blind for a bit," he said.
When Google acquired Android in 2005 and subsequently unveiled it in 2007, there was no such thing as ChromeOS yet. Google’s entire OS effort was on Android, and separately the company worked on the Chrome browser for desktop and mobile operating systems.
Over the last year we’ve started to see Google have success with ChromeOS in the notebook computer market. Android and ChromeOS are both based on Linux, but that’s pretty much where the similarities end. ChromeOS is a very thin client, almost everything is done via the browser.
On a personal level, I’ve now gotten to the point where I’d rather consume content on a touch screen device. I prefer swiping my finger on a screen to navigate a website rather than being forced to use a trackpad. This tells me all computers will be touchscreen soon, just like all mobile devices already are.
(UPDATE: A few people interpret this to mean I'm suggesting keyboards or mice/trackpads will be taken away. I didn't think this clarification would be required considering some Windows machines and the Chromebook Pixel have already introduced touch as an added input mechanism without taking anything away, but apparently it is necessary to make explicitly clear.)
So this raises the question — why would Google want to maintain two operating systems down the road? I don’t think they want this. And I’m trying to get my head around the possible solutions.
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Share
