22nd European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 23-26 June 2014, CCH Congress Center Hamburg

Public release date: 15-Oct-2013
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Contact: Chiara Benetti
pressoffice@etaflorence.it
39-055-500-2280
Eta Florence Renewable Energies

The leading international platform for dialogue between research, industry, policy and business of biomass

Business-to-Business, Business-to-Science, Science-to-Industry

The particular quality of the EU BC&E combines one of the largest biomass science and technology conference with a leading Biomass industry and technology exhibition, attracting the entire professional Biomass community from around the globe.

This event is held at different venues throughout Europe and is trend-setting for the Biomass technologies and applications. It provides a state-of-the-art Biomass Exhibition and Scientific Conference, as well as innovative Parallel Events and represents the entire Biomass value chain.

A taste of issues at stake

"In the last years the research community has accomplished significant progress in all fronts of biomass and bioenergy with key breakthroughs in several areas. In parallel the guiding principles on biomass sustainability raised ethical, trade, business-related, and policy issues associated to biomass availability, competition amongst the different uses of biomass as well as endless discussions on the complex issue of land use raising uncertainties in the mind of consumers, the civil society and the policy makers. The research community appears divided especially when modelling and predictive work is concerned ensuing in further confusion for the stakeholders. Simultaneously it is recognised by all that biomass and bioenergy is the main avenue that has to be driven upon if we are to attain the European and global climate change targets that have been set. Only the biomass & bioenergy industry can bridge the gap by undertaking reliable and well reasoned investments with social responsibility and political accountability" - Industry Committee Coordinator, Kyriakos Maniatis, European Commission, DG ENER.

Therefore, the key focus of the 22nd EU BC&E will be interaction between research, industry and policy makers. For this purpose the conference programme will be structured to satisfy the needs of both the wider audience and the scientific specialists by involving close interactions between the pure science, the industrial exploitation of the results of the research and the policy makers who provide the framework for research and industry. The programme will offer overviews of the latest scientific findings, industrial progress and political landscape and will extend from biomass itself to conversion processes for biofuels, bioenergy and biorefineries and to industrial applications and impacts on the environment.

"This will be a challenge for organisers and participants alike, but interaction and integration of the 3 main arms of the conference (research, industry and policy) are essential if biomass is to make a continued significant contribution to the developing low-carbon economy. Indeed, Europe has ambitious targets for 2020 and beyond for sustainable biomass, bioenergy, biofuels and biorefineries" - Technical Programme Chairman, David Baxter, European Commission, JRC.

The 2014 Conference marks the first edition where the call for abstracts is open not only for scientific presentations but also for industry-oriented presentations. To attract and engage industry, the Executive Committee has decided to set up an Industry Committee to deal with the continuously increasing number of industry-oriented abstracts and to promote the interests and needs of the Bioenergy Industry.

Why Hamburg?

Hamburg clearily represents an ideal location for the 22nd edition of the EU BC&E. Winner of the European Green Capital Award in 2011, it has, in fact, achieved high environmental standards and good performance levels in terms of cycling and public transport indicators and has defined targets and future plans with respect to climate change. It has set ambitious climate protection goals such as reducing its CO2 emissions by 40% by 2020 and by 80% by the year 2050.

###

Background of the European Biomass Conference and Exhibition

For over 30 years now, the European Biomass Conference and Exhibition - European BC&E - has combined a well-renowned international Scientific Conference with an Industry Exhibition. The European BC&E is held at different venues throughout Europe and ranks on top of the world's leading events in the biomass sector.

It provides a high-level scientific programme and parallel events which attract participants from a wide ranging background: Researchers, engineers, technologists, standards organisations, financing institutions and policy and decision makers.
Such a global exchange platform of current knowledge in turn attracts industrial exhibitors, making the conference events a significant tool for technology transfer and innovation.

This event is supported by European and international organizations such as the European Commission, UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Natural Sciences Sector, WCRE - the World Council for Renewable Energy, EUBIA - the European Biomass Industry Association, UNICA - Sugarcane Industry Association, Brazil , BEC Biomass Energy Committee, China and other organisations.

The Technical Programme is coordinated by the European Commission, Joint Research Centre.

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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: 15-Oct-2013
[


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| Share

]

Contact: Chiara Benetti
pressoffice@etaflorence.it
39-055-500-2280
Eta Florence Renewable Energies

The leading international platform for dialogue between research, industry, policy and business of biomass

Business-to-Business, Business-to-Science, Science-to-Industry

The particular quality of the EU BC&E combines one of the largest biomass science and technology conference with a leading Biomass industry and technology exhibition, attracting the entire professional Biomass community from around the globe.

This event is held at different venues throughout Europe and is trend-setting for the Biomass technologies and applications. It provides a state-of-the-art Biomass Exhibition and Scientific Conference, as well as innovative Parallel Events and represents the entire Biomass value chain.

A taste of issues at stake

"In the last years the research community has accomplished significant progress in all fronts of biomass and bioenergy with key breakthroughs in several areas. In parallel the guiding principles on biomass sustainability raised ethical, trade, business-related, and policy issues associated to biomass availability, competition amongst the different uses of biomass as well as endless discussions on the complex issue of land use raising uncertainties in the mind of consumers, the civil society and the policy makers. The research community appears divided especially when modelling and predictive work is concerned ensuing in further confusion for the stakeholders. Simultaneously it is recognised by all that biomass and bioenergy is the main avenue that has to be driven upon if we are to attain the European and global climate change targets that have been set. Only the biomass & bioenergy industry can bridge the gap by undertaking reliable and well reasoned investments with social responsibility and political accountability" - Industry Committee Coordinator, Kyriakos Maniatis, European Commission, DG ENER.

Therefore, the key focus of the 22nd EU BC&E will be interaction between research, industry and policy makers. For this purpose the conference programme will be structured to satisfy the needs of both the wider audience and the scientific specialists by involving close interactions between the pure science, the industrial exploitation of the results of the research and the policy makers who provide the framework for research and industry. The programme will offer overviews of the latest scientific findings, industrial progress and political landscape and will extend from biomass itself to conversion processes for biofuels, bioenergy and biorefineries and to industrial applications and impacts on the environment.

"This will be a challenge for organisers and participants alike, but interaction and integration of the 3 main arms of the conference (research, industry and policy) are essential if biomass is to make a continued significant contribution to the developing low-carbon economy. Indeed, Europe has ambitious targets for 2020 and beyond for sustainable biomass, bioenergy, biofuels and biorefineries" - Technical Programme Chairman, David Baxter, European Commission, JRC.

The 2014 Conference marks the first edition where the call for abstracts is open not only for scientific presentations but also for industry-oriented presentations. To attract and engage industry, the Executive Committee has decided to set up an Industry Committee to deal with the continuously increasing number of industry-oriented abstracts and to promote the interests and needs of the Bioenergy Industry.

Why Hamburg?

Hamburg clearily represents an ideal location for the 22nd edition of the EU BC&E. Winner of the European Green Capital Award in 2011, it has, in fact, achieved high environmental standards and good performance levels in terms of cycling and public transport indicators and has defined targets and future plans with respect to climate change. It has set ambitious climate protection goals such as reducing its CO2 emissions by 40% by 2020 and by 80% by the year 2050.

###

Background of the European Biomass Conference and Exhibition

For over 30 years now, the European Biomass Conference and Exhibition - European BC&E - has combined a well-renowned international Scientific Conference with an Industry Exhibition. The European BC&E is held at different venues throughout Europe and ranks on top of the world's leading events in the biomass sector.

It provides a high-level scientific programme and parallel events which attract participants from a wide ranging background: Researchers, engineers, technologists, standards organisations, financing institutions and policy and decision makers.
Such a global exchange platform of current knowledge in turn attracts industrial exhibitors, making the conference events a significant tool for technology transfer and innovation.

This event is supported by European and international organizations such as the European Commission, UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Natural Sciences Sector, WCRE - the World Council for Renewable Energy, EUBIA - the European Biomass Industry Association, UNICA - Sugarcane Industry Association, Brazil , BEC Biomass Energy Committee, China and other organisations.

The Technical Programme is coordinated by the European Commission, Joint Research Centre.

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

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/efre-2eb101513.php
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Bibiano Fernandes won’t feel he’s the One FC champion until he beats Soo Chul Kim

Bibiano Fernandes became One FC’s interim bantamweight championship with his win over Koetsu Okazaki last May, but he won’t feel the real champion until he beats Soo Chul Kim.

Kim was sidelined after his TKO victory over Leandro Issa last year when he claimed the 135-pound title, and the bantamweights are set to meet at One FC 11’s main event on Oct. 18 in Singapore.

Fernandes, a former Dream bantamweight and featherweight champion, wants to add another title to his record.

"Soo Chul Kim is the champion and I respect him," Fernandes told MMAFighting.com. "To get where he is today, I need to work. He’s the first, I’m the second until the day I fight him."

A multiple-time jiu-jitsu world champion, Fernandes has worked hard to become a well-rounded fighter, and training with the likes of Matt Hume, Tim Boetsch and UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson is helping him to get there.

"Demetrious and I help each other a lot," he said. "We mix it up, every day he has something to ask and so do I. We learn a lot training together. His stand up game is really good. He’s fast and has a great cardio. This kid’s cardio is impressive, so he’s helping me a lot."

Kim is coming off three consecutive wins, including two knockout stoppages, but the Brazilian doesn’t worry about his opponent’s game.

"I’ve trained a lot and will be ready on fight night," Fernandes said. "I’ve done everything I had to do, now it’s time to make it happen.

"I don’t focus on what the other guy can do," he continued. "Sometimes you can train this thing and other thing happens in the fight. I just watch his tapes to see what he does best, like his right hand, but that’s it. I know what he does, but I’ll be ready to surprise him. I can surprise him in a lot of ways. I know what he does, so I’ll decide what I’ll do against him."

Kim believes he has the one-punch knockout power to finish the fight, but that’s the king of pre-fight talk Fernandes has already heard in the past.

"He can say whatever he wants, but we’ll see what happens inside the cage," he said. "Joachim Hansen had heavy hands, (Kid) Yamamoto had heavy hands, (Hiroyuki) Takaya knocked everybody out. Everybody said they’d knock me out and that they had heavy hands, but they couldn’t do it. I’ll be ready for his hands and for anything else when the time comes."

Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2013/10/16/4800302/bibiano-fernandes-wont-feel-hes-the-one-fc-champion-until-he-beats
Category: redskins   Walking Dead Season 4   today show   Miriam Carey   LC Greenwood  

Ancient 'Mega-Clawed' Creature Had Brain Like a Spider's

The discovery of a fossilized brain in the preserved remains of an extinct "mega-clawed" creature has revealed an ancient nervous system that is remarkably similar to that of modern-day spiders and scorpions, according to a new study.

The fossilized Alalcomenaeus is a type of arthropod known as a megacheiran (Greek for "large claws") that lived approximately 520 million years ago, during a period known as the Lower Cambrian. The creature was unearthed in the fossil-rich Chengjiang formation in southwest China.

Researchers studied the fossilized brain, the earliest known complete nervous system, and found similarities between the extinct creature's nervous system and the nervous systems of several modern arthropods, which suggest they may be ancestrally related. [Photos of Clawed Arthropod & Other Strange Cambrian Creatures]

The arthropod family

Living arthropods are commonly separated into two major groups: chelicerates, which include spiders, horseshoe crabs and scorpions, and a group that includes insects, crustaceans and millipedes. The new findings shed light on the evolutionary processes that may have given rise to modern arthropods, and also provide clues about where these extinct mega-clawed creatures fit in the tree of life.

"We now know that the megacheirans had central nervous systems very similar to today's horseshoe crabs and scorpions," senior author Nicholas Strausfeld, a professor in the department of neuroscience at the University of Arizona in Tucson, said in a statement. "This means the ancestors of spiders and their kin lived side by side with the ancestors of crustaceans in the Lower Cambrian."

The newly identified creature measures a little over an inch long (3 centimeters), and has a segmented body with about a dozen pairs of attached limbs that enabled it to swim or crawl.

"Up front, it has a long pair of appendages that have scissorlike components — basically an elbow with scissors on the end," Strausfeld told LiveScience. "These are really weird appendages, and there has been a long debate about what they are and what they correspond to in modern animals."

Previously, researchers suggested megacheirans were related to chelicerates, since the extinct creature's scissorlike claws and the fangs of spiders and scorpions have similar structures, said Greg Edgecombe, a researcher at the Natural History Museum in London, England.

"They both have an 'elbow joint' in the same place, and they both have a similar arrangement of a fixed and movable finger at the tip," Edgecombe told LiveScience. "Because of these similarities, one of the main theories for what 'great appendage arthropods' are is that they were related to chelicerates. Thus, our findings from the nervous system gave an injection of new data to support an existing theory."

Fossilized brain images

The researchers used CT scans to make 3D reconstructions of features of the fossilized nervous system. The scientists also used laser-scanning technology to map the distribution of chemical elements, such as iron and copper, in the specimen in order to outline different neural structures.

Though finding a well-preserved ancient nervous system is rare, the new study highlights the potential for similar discoveries, the researchers said.

"Finding ancient preservation of neural tissue allows us to analyze extinct animals using the same tools we use for living animals," Edgecombe said. "It suggests there should be more examples out there."

About a year ago, Edgecombe and his colleagues found a different fossilized brain that revealed unexpected similarity to the brains of modern crustaceans.

"Our new find is exciting because it shows that mandibulates (to which crustaceans belong) and chelicerates were already present as two distinct evolutionary trajectories 520 million years ago, which means their common ancestor must have existed much deeper in time," Strausfeld said in a statement. "We expect to find fossils of animals that have persisted from more ancient times, and I'm hopeful we will one day find the ancestral type of both the mandibulate and chelicerate nervous system ground patterns. They had to come from somewhere. Now the search is on."

The detailed findings of the study were published online today (Oct. 16) in the journal Nature.

Follow Denise Chow on Twitter @denisechow. Follow LiveScience @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on LiveScience.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ancient-mega-clawed-creature-had-brain-spiders-175527966.html
Tags: downton abbey   Cameron Bay   serena williams   phoebe cates   Jennifer Rosoff  

Scroogled my ass

According to Alex Kantrowitz at AdAge, Microsoft's Google-bashing Scroogled ads work. As much as I detest Google's (possibly actionable) insistence on scanning every inbound and outbound Gmail message for ad-triggering keywords, Microsoft has just as many skeletons -- albeit in different closets -- and the Microsoft transgressions are getting worse, not better.

Attack ads like the Scroogled campaign belong in dirty political mudfests at the lowest end of the gene pool, not in the computer industry where the average level of intelligence arguably approaches room temperature. American politics has degraded to the point where attack ads are indistinguishable from news broadcasts. Let's hope the computer industry doesn't fall into the same tar pit, ushered by Steve Ballmer's handpicked Executive VP of Sewage, Mark Penn.

So far, Google has refrained from slinging mud back at the 'Softies, but I wonder how much longer its reserve will hold.

Here's how AdAge characterizes the effectiveness of the Google-bashing, Microsoft-sponsored scroogled.com website:

Once viewers do hit Scroogled.com, data collected for Microsoft by Answers Research show a 45 percent favorability gap in favor of Google contracting to just 5 percent. Data collected by Answers up until this summer also show the likelihood of someone recommending Google to a friend drop by 10 percent, as opposed to a 7 percent increase for Bing, after watching the ad.

"The Scroogled campaign is having a huge impact as consumers learn the stark difference between what Google says and what Google does," wrote a Microsoft spokesman in an email. Scroogled is now on its sixth wave of ads, which have been supported collectively with $10 million dollars in spending, according to a person familiar with the campaign. They also persist despite the recent revelations about the NSA's widespread surveillance activities, something Microsoft has been tied to.

Microsoft hasn't bothered to take on Yahoo Mail -- perhaps "Yahoogled" doesn't have the same advertising ring -- but Yahoo's just as up front about its snooping as Google. From the Yahoo Mail Additional Terms of Service posting:

Yahoo's automated systems scan and analyze all incoming and outgoing communications content sent and received from your account ... to, without limitation, provide personally relevant product features and content, to match and serve targeted advertising and for spam and malware detection and abuse protection. By scanning and analyzing such communications content, Yahoo collects and stores the data. Unless expressly stated otherwise, you will not be allowed to opt out of this feature. If you consent to this ATOS and communicate with non-Yahoo users using the services, you are responsible for notifying those users about this feature.

Here's the disconnect: Just yesterday, David Pann, general manager of the Microsoft Advertising Search Group, blogged about continued progress for the Yahoo Bing network:

... changes we are making in Bing Ads and on the Yahoo Bing Network are aimed at putting our customers first ... and doing all we can to give them a competitive edge ... advertiser spend on the Yahoo Bing Network continues to grow compared to Google -- it's up 39 percent year over year while Google's share of spend is up 18 percent. A lot of that is driven by non-brand click growth, which is up 45 percent on Bing Ads due to investments in our marketplace algorithms. In addition, CPCs fell 2 percent overall as Bing Ads continues to drive improvements that benefit our advertisers. The report says "advertiser ROI has improved on Bing Ads even as the platform has been able to deliver big traffic increases with better ad-matching technology."

Source: http://www.infoworld.com/t/microsoft-windows/scroogled-my-ass-228862?source=rss_applications
Tags: Wally Bell   emily blunt  

MacBreak Weekly 372: Unapologetically Runway

Leo Laporte, Andy Ihnatko, and I talk about Apple's October 22 event invitations going out, what might be announced, and more!

Subscribe and download: TWiT.TV

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/GNrX34CIW6g/story01.htm
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Why College Freshmen May Feel Like Impostors On Campus

Psychologist Greg Walton has found that a simple intervention can help many students get the most out of college. The trick is in helping students see that setbacks are temporary, and often don't have larger implications.

Copyright © 2013 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Tens of thousands of freshman have just finished their first month in college. They've signed up for classes, met a bunch of other people and, if history is any guide, asked themselves a question: What am I doing here? Everyone else is smarter and better adjusted than I am. And for some, that question totally changes the college experience, may even cause them to drop out, which is why a researcher was determined to intervene. He told his story to NPR's Shankar Vedantam, who's here to tell it to us. Hi, Shankar.

SHANKAR VEDANTAM, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve.

INSKEEP: OK. So, what did he do?

VEDANTAM: Well, Greg Walton was looking at this fact that all students go through difficulties when they get to college, Steve. But some students look at the problems that they're facing and they draw global conclusions from them. They say this is not just a professor giving me a bad grade or someone not sitting next to me in the cafeteria. This reflects that fact that I am not ready for college, or I shouldn't be in this college at all.

INSKEEP: Because they're in this sensitive moment, and they're judging themselves.

VEDANTAM: And they feel like impostors. So, Greg Walton - who, by the way, is a psychologist at Stanford - here's how he explained it to me.

GREG WALTON: If you're walking around in an environment, asking yourself whether you belong, when something bad happens - if you get criticized, if you feel excluded or lonely - to you, in your head, you might think that it means that you don't belong, in general, in that school.

INSKEEP: And that is the moment at which you might, I suppose, socially withdraw, or just withdraw from school.

VEDANTAM: That's right. And Walton said that some minority students and some women were especially affected by this. You already feel like you don't quite belong or you stick out in class, and now you get negative feedback. And you connect the two things together, and now you feel like you really don't belong.

INSKEEP: And that's interesting, because you're suggesting that women or minorities might feel more like outsiders. There's a lot of different kinds of people that might feel like outsiders. I went to a university in eastern Kentucky, and there were a lot of people from small towns that just seemed overwhelmed by that experience in the same way you're describing.

VEDANTAM: That's exactly right, Steve. Because I think what Walton is talking about is that some students are just going to be more vulnerable than others. And he conducted an intervention to see if he could actually reverse this. He brought a bunch of freshmen in. He told them this is what earlier students who've been to this college have experienced. They went through difficult periods of time and then things got better over time, and they heard ostensibly from these earlier students who said when I first got to college, I didn't have any friends, but I realized it takes some time to make friends. And in the long run, everything worked out great. And then he had the freshmen themselves tell stories about how their own experiences matched this pattern.

INSKEEP: OK. So, all they really did was find out they're not the only people in the world who are having these feelings. How much of an effect did that have on them?

VEDANTAM: It had a remarkable effect. It improved the academic performance and well-being of students who went through the intervention compared to students who didn't go through the intervention. And what was most remarkable, Steve, is that the effects of this one-time intervention lasted the next three years of these college students' lives.

INSKEEP: Just from having, what, one brief session?

VEDANTAM: It seems remarkable, Steve. And I asked Walton this, because I said it's hard to imagine that this one session could have had such a big effect. He explained to me that he didn't think, actually, it was the intervention that made the difference. The reason these students did well in college is because they studied hard, they worked hard and they did well. That's why they did well. All the intervention was doing was it was removing a barrier inside their heads, this barrier that made them see a local setback as some kind of a global statement on themselves.

WALTON: What the intervention did was it prevented students from feeling that they didn't belong in general when they had negative experiences. You can then imagine how if you're feeling less vulnerable to threats, you are better able to connect with other people, to peers, to teachers and build the kinds of relationships that actually sustain performance over a long period of time.

VEDANTAM: You know, Walton gave me another analogy, Steve. He said this intervention might be like engine oil in a car. The engine oil doesn't actually make the car go forward, but it removes some of the friction inside the car and helps the engine run more smoothly, and that's what helps the car move forward.

INSKEEP: OK. So, did the young people who had the engine oil applied, did they themselves sense the difference after this intervention?

VEDANTAM: Here's the interesting thing, Steve. When Walton went back and talked with these students later on, they didn't even remember that they had done this three years ago. And Walton was very careful when he brought them in the first place not to signal that he was actually doing an intervention. He dressed up the intervention as saying you're going to be helping future freshmen deal with coming to college. So, he placed them in a role where they were seeming like they were helping others rather than being in need of help themselves.

INSKEEP: Oh, because if you just went directly at them, it's one more adult giving you one more homily. But this way, the message just sneaked up on them.

VEDANTAM: Yeah, and not just that. When you bring students in and say we're doing an intervention to help you, what's the message you're sending those students?

INSKEEP: You're messed up.

VEDANTAM: You're messed up, and you need help. And I think Walton's point is if schools want to apply this intervention, it needs to be done with some subtlety, or it could backfire.

INSKEEP: Shankar, thanks very much.

VEDANTAM: Thank you, Steve.

INSKEEP: That's NPR's Shankar Vedantam. You can follow him on Twitter @HiddenBrain. You can follow this program, as always @MorningEdition and @NPRInskeep, as well as NPRGreene.

Copyright © 2013 NPR. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to NPR. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/10/16/235188760/why-college-freshman-may-feel-like-imposters-on-campus?ft=1&f=1007
Category: Ronan Farrow   Steam Controller   survivor   pga tour   Maia Mitchell  

Kate Winslet on Co-Parenting With Her Exes: "My Children Live With Me, That Is It!"

Kate Winslet is one of the world's most beloved and decorated actresses -- and, just like the nuanced characters she's played, her real life isn't always tidy. Newly married for the third time (to Ned Rocknroll) and expecting her third child, the Oscar winner shares kids Mia Threapleton, 13, and Joe Mendes, 9, with first and second husbands Jim Threapleton and Sam Mendes. Stunning on the November cover of Vogue, Winslet, 38, fires back at rumors that Mia and Joe are globetrotting movie star kids forced to go back and forth between their parents.

PHOTOS: Kate's sexy style

"People go, 'Oh, my God! Those poor children! They must have gone through so much.' Says who?" snipes the pregnant Labor Day actress. Winslet co-parents her children -- but they're in her custody at all times, she explains.

"They've always been with me," continues the British actress, who stresses that both kids have great relationships with their respective director dads. "They don't go from pillar to post; they're not flown here and there with nannies. That's never happened."

PHOTOS: Amicable exes in Hollywood

Unlike other famous -- and completely un-famous -- divorced couples with kids, Winslet says, "My kids don't go back and forth; none of this 50/50 time with the mums and dads – my children live with me; that is it. That is it!"

PHOTOS: Nude, pregnant celebs

The Mildred Pierce star divorced American Beauty director Mendes, 48, in 2010, and quietly wed Rocknoll (Richard Branson's nephew) in December 2012. They announced they were expecting back in June of this year.

The November issue of Vogue -- featuring jaw-dropping Mario Testino-shot photos of Winslet -- hits stands Wednesday, Oct. 16.

Source: http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-moms/news/kate-winslet-on-co-parenting-with-her-exes-my-children-live-with-me-that-is-it-20131610
Tags: Ink Master   russell wilson   teresa giudice   Beyonce Haircut   Chris Siegfried  

School Lunches Join Farm-to-Table Trend (Voice Of America)

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Greek isle of Lesbos shows community spirit to migrants

Mytilene (Greece) (AFP) - Beautiful beaches, olive groves and green mountains long summed up Greece's third-largest island Lesbos, but this corner of the Aegean Sea also faces an ever-rising tide of migrants reaching its shores.

Like Italy's tiny Lampedusa, site of two recent migrant shipwreck tragedies that cost almost 400 lives, Lesbos is a gateway to the European Union and refugee traffic has soared over the past year.

But locals are not clamouring for a force field around their home, also known as Emerald Island for its rich greenery of forests and mountain peaks.

Over the past few months, the residents of the capital Mytilene and other neighbouring communities have given first aid to migrants found wandering on beaches early in the morning or trying to make their way to some village.

"Lesbos is only a thoroughfare for migrants, they all want to leave as soon as possible to get to Athens and then to other countries," said Nelly Hatzidaki from the Lesbos-based citizens' movement Co-existence and Communication in the Aegean Sea.

"That undoubtedly explains why locals have never been hostile," she added.

The island's only migrant reception centre, housed in a former military warehouse, closed down in 2010 after criticism by Greek and international NGOs that called it Europe's most unhealthy place.

From then until 2012 "the influx of migrants levelled off. But when the arrivals picked up again, police and port authorities were totally overwhelmed," said Efi Latsoudi, of a local association called "The village for all".

"They would even not make arrests for lack of (detention) space."

"At first, the authorities ignored the problem," adds Hatzidaki.

"So in November 2012 we asked migrants to gather in front of the municipal theatre. It was a shock for many people to find out that there were entire families, often with very young children."

'A dignified welcome'

Immediately people brought clothes, blankets and food for the migrants and the town hall even gave local associations the keys to a former campsite, not far from the airport.

"We opened the first self-managed reception centre," says Latsoudi proudly, pointing out that thanks to volunteers the centre can feed and take care of up to 150 migrants.

Sometimes, even police bring new arrivals to the campsite, volunteers say.

But the authorities have also closed down the reception centre on numerous occasions, leaving only the overcrowded cells of the local police station or the makeshift tents set up in a fenced-off area near the port to house the migrants.

In October, a new state reception and detention centre situated in a former military camp opened its doors, promising migrants "a dignified welcome."

The volunteers' community spirit is not impermeable however, and after a few months people have been feeling the strain.

"Residents on the island have their own economic problems, and it is a heavy burden," said Hatzidaki.

Meanwhile, undocumented migrants continue to flood into Lesbos -- this week alone, dozens of Afghans and Eritreans reached the island.

Since autumn 2012, when EU border control agency Frontex and Greek authorities clamped down on the Greek-Turkish northern land border, marked by the Evros river, migrant traffic here has surged.

Greek police say 2,834 undocumented migrants were arrested in Lesbos during the first eight months of this year, compared to 253 over the same period in 2012.

"This week alone, around 70 people -- Eritreans, then Afghans," said Latsoudi.

Although arrest numbers are the only data available from the police, experts agree it provides an accurate picture of migrant traffic.

The numbers on the other Greek islands Samos, Chios and Rhodes in the eastern Aegean reveal a similar trend.

And some journeys end in tragedy. In March, at least six Syrians drowned before reaching Lesbos, while another 21 people perished in December last year.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/greek-isle-lesbos-shows-community-spirit-migrants-154730433.html
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Apple hires Burberry CEO to boost store sales

FILE - In this Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012, file photo, Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts speaks at the National Retail Federation's annual convention in New York. Apple said Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013, that Ahrendts, who used technology to drive a remarkable turnaround at Burberry, will take charge of Apple's expansion plans and retail operation, as she will become a senior vice president at the company next spring. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

FILE - In this Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012, file photo, Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts speaks at the National Retail Federation's annual convention in New York. Apple said Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013, that Ahrendts, who used technology to drive a remarkable turnaround at Burberry, will take charge of Apple's expansion plans and retail operation, as she will become a senior vice president at the company next spring. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple is entrusting the elegant stores that help define its brand to Angela Ahrendts, a respected executive who blended fashion sense with technological savvy to establish Burberry as a mark of luxury and success.

The hiring announced Tuesday is a coup for Apple Inc. Besides providing the Cupertino, Calif. company with another sharp mind, Ahrendts should help Apple deflect potential criticism about the lack of women in the upper ranks of its management.

Silicon Valley's long-running reliance on men to make key decisions has come into sharper focus as online messaging service Twitter Inc. prepares to go public. Twitter's closely scrutinized IPO documents called attention to the San Francisco company's all-male board of directors and the presence of just one woman in its executive inner circle.

Apple has one woman, former Avon Products Inc. CEO Andrea Jung, among the eight directors on its board.

Ahrendts will report directly to Apple CEO Tim Cook when she leaves Burberry to join Apple next spring in a newly created position of senior vice president of senior vice president in charge of retail and online stores.

In a memo sent Tuesday to Apple employees, Cook said he knew he wanted to hire Ahrendts from the time the two met in January and realized "she shares our values and our focus on innovation."

Ahrendts telegraphed her admiration of Apple in 2010 when The Wall Street Journal asked her if she was trying to mold Burberry into something similar to other luxury brands in the fashion industry.

"I don't look at Gucci or Chanel or anyone," Ahrendts told the Journal. "If I look to any company as a model, it's Apple. They're a brilliant design company working to create a lifestyle, and that's the way I see us."

Ahrendts' arrival comes at a crucial time for Apple and the stores that serve as the main showcase for its iPhones, iPads, iPods and Mac computers.

Like the rest of the company, Apple's stores aren't doing quite as well as they once were, primarily because tougher competition has forced the company to trim its prices.

For instance, in Apple's quarter ending in late June, average revenue per store declined 9 percent from the previous year to $10.1 million. Even more troubling, the retail division's operating profit for the quarter dropped 19 percent from last year to $667 million. Apple ended the period with 408 stores located in 13 countries.

The stores, which are staffed by nearly 42,000 workers, may have been suffering from a management void. Ron Johnson, a former Target Inc. executive credited for turning Apple's stores into a thriving operation, left the company in 2011 to become CEO of J.C. Penney Co. Johnson's successor, John Browett, left Apple in a management shake-up a year ago. Since then, the stores have been under the management of a lower-level executive and the senior vice president job remained vacant.

This will mark the first time that the Apple's senior vice president in charge of its brick-and-mortar stores also will be in charge of the company's online sales.

In his memo to Apple employees, Cook said he never had met an executive capable of doing both jobs until he got to know Ahrendts.

"She believes in enriching the lives of others and she is wicked smart," Cook wrote.

Ahrendts, 53, proved her ability to galvanize a well-established brand during the past seven years working in London as Burberry's CEO.

Burberry, established in 1856, was growing stale until Ahrendts came along to build upon the popularity of its trench coats by adding more flair and panache to the company's fashion line-up.

To help build buzz, the company brought more technology to the catwalk by streaming its fashion shows through online outlets such as Twitter. The strategy boosted Burberry's sales as Web surfers bought the fancy coats, shoes and bags the company previewed.

In the latest measure of Burberry's success under Ahrendts, the company's quarterly results released Tuesday disclosed that sales rose 14 percent to 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) in the first half of this year.

Ahrendts worked closely with Burberry's top creative officer, Christopher Bailey, who will become CEO when she leaves.

Although she is now a prominent fashion figure, Ahrendts comes from humble roots. She grew up in New Palestine, Indiana, which was a city with a population of about 2,000 in her youth. She graduated from Ball State University located about 50 miles from her home town.

___

Associated Press writer Danica Kirka in London contributed to this story.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-10-15-Apple-Burberry/id-5313b6b1c1b74af38a7b6436fbf238ab
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David Oyelowo, Kate Mara to Star in True-Life Thriller 'Captive' (Exclusive)

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David Oyelowo and Kate Mara

David Oyelowo and House of Cards star Kate Mara are toplining Captive, a true-life thriller being made by BN Films. 

Veteran director  Jerry Jameson (1980's Raise the Titanic) is directing the feature, which is also being produced with Brightside Entertainment, 1019 Entertainment and Oyelowo’s Yoruba Saxon Productions.  

The story is based on the true events that occurred in  Atlanta, Ga., on March 11, 2005. That’s when Brian Nichols, who will be played by Oyelowo in the movie, broke out of a courthouse jail and shot dead the judge assigned to his case as well as a court reporter, sheriff’s deputy, and FBI officer.

PHOTOS: 25 of Fall's Most Anticipated Movies: 'Ender's Game,' 'Catching Fire,' 'The Wolf of Wall Street' and More

While eluding a statewide manhunt, Nichols took Ashley Smith (Mara), a single mother struggling with meth addiction, hostage in her own apartment. Over the course of her ordeal, Smith used a book she had been given, Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life, to reason with her captor, with surprising results. 

Leonor Varela and Mimi Rogers are rounding out the cast. 

The script is by Brian Bird and Reinhard Denke, adapting Ashley Smith’s bestselling book An Unlikely Angel. 

Alex Garcia, Lucas Akoskin, Terry Botwick, Oyelowo, and Ken Wales will produce. Katrina Wolfe, Jonathan Gray, Ralph Winter, Elliott Lester, and Bird are executive producing.

The film is set to begin principal photography later this month.

PHOTOS: Big Stars, Big Bombs: A-Listers Fall Victim to Summer Box-Office Flops

BN Films is the international production company launched under a year ago by Garcia and Akoskin. Based in Santa Monica and Mexico City, the company has 23 projects in various stages of development, including Jonas Cuaron’s Desierto and The Jesuit, written by Paul Schrader with a cast that includes Tim Roth.

 Captive  will also mark BN’s second venture with Oyelowo, who starred in the recently wrapped Nightingale, set for a festival run next year.  

Oyelowo (WME, Inphenate, Hamilton Hodell) played Forest Whitaker’s son in Lee Daniels’ the Butler and is shooting Interstellar for Christopher Nolan.

Mara (UTA, Stone Meyer) plays ambitious reporter Zoe Barnes on House of Cards, Netflix’s hit political drama. She recently wrapped shooting Transcendence, Alcon’s sci-fi thriller starring Johnny Depp and executive produced by Nolan.

Email: Borys.Kit@thr.com
Twitter: @borys_kit

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HTC One Max and HTC Sense 5.5 video walkthrough

The HTC One Max is upon us, with a UK arrival imminent, and Sprint and Verizon launches scheduled for the holidays. We've also published our full review of the Max, with the detailed rundown of what's going on with HTC's 5.9-inch monster phone. Today we're bringing you a video walkthrough of the HTC One Max, showing the phone's hardware in detail, as well as the new software tricks in HTC Sense 5.5. Check it out above, then hit up the rest of our One Max coverage, linked below.

More: HTC One Max review; One Max specs; One Max availability

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/0mw0RlgdSVA/story01.htm
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'Avengers': Check Out Nick Fury's Wax Figure Makeover!

MTV News has an exclusive sneak peak at the Samuel Jackson character debuting at New York Comic Con.


By Alex Zalben

Source:
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1715377/nick-fury-wax-figure-reveal-madame-tussaud.jhtml

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Death toll in Philippines quake jumps to 93

CEBU, Philippines (AP) — The death toll from a 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck the central Philippine island of Bohol on Tuesday rose to 93, as rescuers struggled to reach patients in a collapsed hospital. Centuries-old stone churches crumbled and wide areas were without power.

Bohol police chief Dennis Agustin said 77 of the deaths came from the province. At least 15 others died in nearby Cebu province and another on Siquijor Island.

The quake struck at 8:12 a.m. and was centered about 33 kilometers (20 miles) below Carmen city, where many small buildings collapsed.

Many roads and bridges were reported damaged, making rescue operations difficult. But historic churches dating from the Spanish colonial period suffered the most. Among them was the country's oldest, the 16th-century Basilica of the Holy Child in Cebu, which lost its bell tower.

Nearly half of a 17th-century limestone church in Loboc town, southwest of Carmen, was reduced to rubble.

The highest number of dead — 18 — were in the municipality of Loon, 42 kilometers (26 miles) west of Carmen, where an unknown number of patients were trapped inside the Congressman Castillo Memorial Hospital, which partially collapsed. Rescuers were working to reach them, said civil defense spokesman Maj. Reynaldo Balido.

As night fell, the entire province was in the dark after the quake cut power supplies. Windy weather and rain also forced back a military rescue helicopter.

Authorities were setting up tents for those displaced by the quake, while others who lost their homes moved in with their relatives, Bohol Gov. Edgardo Chatto said.

Extensive damage also hit densely populated Cebu city, across a narrow strait from Bohol, causing deaths when a building in the port and the roof of a market area collapsed.

The quake set off two stampedes in nearby cities. When it struck, people gathered in a gym in Cebu rushed outside in a panic, crushing five people to death and injuring eight others, said Neil Sanchez, provincial disaster management officer.

"We ran out of the building, and outside, we hugged trees because the tremors were so strong," said Vilma Yorong, a provincial government employee in Bohol.

"When the shaking stopped, I ran to the street and there I saw several injured people. Some were saying their church has collapsed," she told The Associated Press by phone.

As fear set in, Yorong and the others ran up a mountain, afraid a tsunami would follow the quake. "Minutes after the earthquake, people were pushing each other to go up the hill," she said.

But the quake was centered inland and did not cause a tsunami.

Offices and schools were closed for a national holiday — the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha — which may have saved lives.

The earthquake also was deeper below the surface than a 6.9-magnitude temblor last year in waters near Negros Island, also in the central Philippines, that killed nearly 100 people.

Aledel Cuizon said the quake that caught her in her bedroom sounded like "a huge truck that was approaching and the rumbling sound grew louder as it got closer."

She and her neighbors ran outside, where she saw concrete electric poles "swaying like coconut trees." It lasted 15-20 seconds, she said.

Cebu city's hospitals quickly moved patients into the streets, basketball courts and parks.

Cebu province, about 570 kilometers (350 miles) south of Manila, has a population of more than 2.6 million people. Cebu is the second largest city after Manila. Nearby Bohol has 1.2 million people and is popular among foreigners because of its beach and island resorts and famed Chocolate Hills.

President Benigno Aquino III said he would travel to Bohol and Cebu on Wednesday.

Regional military commander Lt. Gen. Roy Deveraturda said he recalled soldiers from holiday furlough to respond to the quake. He said it damaged the pier in Tagbilaran, Bohol's provincial capital, and caused some cracks at Cebu's international airport but that navy ships and air force planes could use alternative ports to help out.

___

Associated Press writers Hrvoje Hranjski, Oliver Teves, Teresa Cerojano and Jim Gomez in Manila contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/death-toll-philippines-quake-jumps-93-112349439.html
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2nd worker dies at 49ers stadium construction site

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Construction is slated to restart Tuesday at the new $1.2 billion San Francisco 49ers showcase stadium after police and fire investigators determined a truck driver's death was a workplace accident and not a crime.

The delivery truck driver was crushed early Monday by a bundle of rebar being unloaded from his truck, officials at the scene said. It's the second worker death at the construction project.

An ambulance rushed the severely injured worker to a local hospital, where he died, according to a spokesman for Turner/Devcon, the construction company building Levi's Stadium.

"We are deeply saddened to confirm that the driver has passed away as a result of his injuries," spokesman Jonathan Harvey said.

Harvey said state workplace safety officials told them Monday that while their investigation is ongoing and could take months, "the jobsite has been deemed safe and is permitted to reopen."

The Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner's Office identified the man as Edward Erving Lake II, 60, of Vacaville. He was an employee of Gerdau Ameristeel's Napa Reinforcing Steel facility, a subcontractor working on the stadium, Gerdau's spokeswoman Kimberly M. Selph said.

In a statement, the 49ers said their "sincerest thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends and co-workers affected by this tragedy." The team also said there were plans to have support on-site Tuesday to help workers with their emotions following the tragedy.

The stadium is in Santa Clara, about 40 miles south of Candlestick Park, which it is replacing. Construction is slated to be finished in July, and crews have been working in high gear to meet that deadline. Officials say the accelerated work plan involves a highly coordinated scheme to maximize efficiency and avoid delays.

Construction firm investigators also were on-scene Monday, to see what could have been done to prevent what is now the second deadly accident at the site.

An elevator mechanic, 63-year-old Donald White, was killed at the stadium in June when he was struck by a counterweight while working in a shaft.

White worked as an elevator mechanic for more than 40 years and was employed by Schindler Elevator Corp. An investigation into his death by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is underway.

The stadium project is expected to open its doors just in time to host the 50th Super Bowl, in 2016, in the heart of the Silicon Valley. The airy, open stadium would have the largest lower bowl in the league, ensuring the 68,500 fans are close to the action.

The construction costs are being paid by $800 million in seat and luxury box sales, along with a 20-year, $220 million naming rights agreement with Levi Strauss and Co. announced in May.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/2nd-worker-dies-49ers-stadium-construction-233734703--finance.html
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Amber Alert called off for 9 teens reported missing from New Mexico ranch

By Tom Winter, Andrew Blankstein, Mark Schone and Daniel Arkin, NBC News

New Mexico officials have canceled an Amber Alert issued for nine teenage boys who were reported missing from a rural New Mexico ranch for troubled youth Friday.

Police on Sunday said that the teens who had gone missing from the Tierra Blanca High Country Youth Program have been “physically accounted for by authorities,” with at least four already returned to their families.

Four of the boys — Ryan Sibbett, Michael Rozell, David Easter and Charlie Lamb — were found safe and were in the custody of their parents Saturday, according to statements from the New Mexico State Police.

It was not immediately clear if the seven other boys recovered Sunday — Bryce Hall, 17; Mayson Myers, 13; Peter Adams, 16; Oscar Ruiz, 17 and Evan Kogler, 16 — were in the custody of their parents or guardians.

At a news conference Sunday evening, state police declined to disclose where the boys were located, but raised the possibility that "the boys may have traveled as far as out of state."

A spokesman for the State Children, Youth and Families Department said law enforcement officials could not consider the boys safe until they saw them, according to the Associated Press.

An Amber Alert was issued on Friday evening for the missing boys, who were last seen at the ranch in Sierra County, N.M. The ranch serves “troubled or at-risk youths,” according to its website.

A search warrant was executed at the Tierra Blanca ranch on Friday amid an abuse investigation, The Associated Press reported, and the boys were found not to be on the property.

Scott Chandler, the program’s operator, is a person of interest, according to authorities. The ranch sprawls over 30,000 acres, according to a Dun & Bradstreet business report, and lists two employees. An attorney for the ranch, Pete Domenici Jr., did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News on Saturday.

State police on Sunday said "something" would happen "in the near future" in regards to Chandler, but declined to provide details.

Domenici issued a statement Friday in which he said that the teenagers had been “on a previously scheduled activity away from the ranch for several days. They are safe and have already been picked up by their parents, or their parents are en route to pick them up,” according to the AP.

Chandler said he learned that his ranch was under investigation for alleged abuse after an 18-year-old student died in a car accident, falling out of the back of a moving pick-up truck. Chandler said that a Sierra County Sheriff’s Department Deputy who was questioning one of the Tierra Blanca students about the accident started asking questions about alleged abuse instead, and told the student there was an investigation.  

Chandler filed a complaint last Tuesday asking a judge to stop the investigation and block the closure of the ranch.

An ongoing investigation by NBC affiliate KOB of Albuquerque found that there had been multiple police reports since 2006 in which past residents of the ranch alleged physical abuse by staff. KOB investigative reporter Chris Ramirez interviewed three of the boys on camera. One of the boys, Ryan Morgan, was too emotional to tell the story of his alleged beating, so he let his friend Mark Fleming do it instead.

Fleming described an alleged incident in which a staffer had repeatedly hit Morgan in the head with a short metal rod called a kubotan. “He just smashed his forehead repeatedly,” said Fleming, “and it went on, gosh, for hours.”

According to a police report of the incident, witnesses alleged that a staff member named Harold Gifford, a former police officer, hit Morgan on the head for an hour and a half and then threatened to castrate him. Morgan allegedly replied, “Go ahead, I don’t care,” and said that when it was over at least he would get some sleep.

Students also alleged that they had been shackled and handcuffed, forced to work and exercise of long hours, and forced to beat each other up for infractions.

Chandler held a press conference last week to say that he would be taking legal action against CYFD. At the event, KOB’s Ramirez asked Chandler if the allegations of abuse were true and if Gifford had abused any of the teenagers.

Chandler denied that Gifford had abused students, called the charges baseless and said, “It's all been very exaggerated and blown out of proportion ... We do not do anything illegal.”

Tierra Blanca Ranch is not licensed by the CYFD. The students interviewed by Ramirez said they did not meet with therapists, counselors or substance abuse specialists.

When Ramirez asked about the ranch’s credentials to work with troubled kids, Chandler said, “The proof is in the pudding.”

"We do not claim to be a facility," said Chandler. "We claim to be extensions of [the] parents."

Daniella Silva of NBC News contributed to this report. The Associated Press also contributed.

It's supposed to be a ranch geared toward helping at-risk kids. Now New Mexico investigators are trying figure out what happened to a group of boys who went missing.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663306/s/326a28ff/sc/42/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C10A0C130C20A950A7590Eamber0Ealert0Ecalled0Eoff0Efor0E90Eteens0Ereported0Emissing0Efrom0Enew0Emexico0Eranch0Dlite/story01.htm
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Review & Giveaway: Dropcam Pro Wi-Fi video monitoring with ...

Dropcam has been around since 2009, but only truly became a player in the app-enabled home security space early last year with the release of the Dropcam HD Wi-Fi video monitoring system. It separated itself from the normal cast of IP video cameras by offering an insanely easy setup process, beautiful software, and effortless mobile device integration (iOS/Android). These wireless cameras have become so popular that Dropcam is now processing more video than YouTube on a daily basis.

Building on the success of the Dropcam HD, the San Francisco-based startup is now launching the Dropcam Pro. It will not be replacing the HD, but rather joining it as ‘step-up’ version for users who want to get the absolute most out of their video monitoring setup. The Dropcam HD will now be known simply as “Dropcam.” We had the opportunity to spend an entire week with the Dropcam Pro. Keep reading to find out if it lives up to the high expectations set by its predecessor.

What does it do?

Dropcam aims to bring a fully-featured video monitoring experience to consumers by cutting out the over-technical setup process, cable running, and expensive equipment usually associated with these types of systems. The mobile apps make ‘dropping’ in on your family, pets, or empty house while you’re away on vacation an extremely simple task. Within seconds of tapping the Dropcam app you are viewing and controlling all of your cameras. They even offer a cloud-based service to add DVR-type functionality to your video streams, making it easy to jump back in time and review noted events or any specific moment in recent history. Additional features like two-way audio, 8X zoom, and a 130-degree viewing angle help it match up to other IP video cameras currently on the market.

Setup

Dropcam boasts that a new camera can be setup in just 60 seconds and our experiences absolutely confirmed this claim. In the past, the initial setup of a Dropcam HD required a Mac or PC, but the new Pro version takes advantage of Bluetooth low-energy technology to allow setup to be completed exclusively on a mobile device. This feature requires an iOS device no older than an iPhone 4S, iPad 3, or iPad mini. The first time we tested the Dropcam we went through the Mac setup process and it couldn’t have been any easier. You simply tether your new camera to your Mac or PC via USB and launch the installer app from the desktop. This setup wizard will walk you through creating a Dropcam account, connecting to Wi-Fi, and placement of the camera. The entire process really is a breeze.

The camera is not completely wireless, as it requires the unit to be plugged in at all times and does not include a battery backup for power outages or other downtime. This makes it a bit tougher to find the perfect place to setup, but it is not uncommon for these types of cameras. The actual camera is about 5 inches tall and stands on a circular base for maximum stability. The body is made of aluminum with a nice matte black finish and feels strong. It includes a plastic mounting bracket and screws in case you wish to affix the Dropcam to your ceiling or wall. The arm of the unit manually tilts to help you find the perfect viewing angle.

Video/Audio quality

The Dropcam Pro features a new six-element all-glass camera lens, more sensitive microphone with double the sampling rate of the HD model, and a louder speaker. The Dropcam Pro supports up to a 1080p HD video resolution, compared to just 720p on the regular Dropcam. However, it isn’t all about the resolution here. The new larger image sensor produces amazingly smooth video even during high-action events. I had no problem identifying people entering a room, reading a nearby sign or understanding exactly what was going on at any given moment.

Both the standard and Pro models will be recieving an over-the-air software update which will bring a new enhancement and zoom features to both systems. The zoom feature is activated in the mobile app by simply pinching on an active video feed. In my experiences the zoom feature worked smoothly and was extremely responsive. Dropcam Pro will zoom up to 8x, while the regular Dropcam can only go up to 4x due to its limited hardware capability. The ‘enhance’ feature can freeze the current frame and really bring that static image into focus. Colors become more vibrant and true to real life. I could imagine this type of feature being perfect for snapping a shot of a potential burglar or license plate of a thief outdoors.

I was most impressed by the night vision mode. In a completely dark room I was still able to dial into my video feed and get a clear picture of the items in the room and the current activities. Dropcam Pro’s low-light capabilities are seven times stronger than the original Dropcam. This improvement alone may be worth the upgrade price for some. You can choose to have the camera auto detect low-light and adjust accordingly or you can manually turn night vision on or off from the setting menu. This option comes in handy in areas with extreme variances in light levels. In this situation the camera may get confused and continually turn night vision on/off, but you can combat this by overriding the auto-detect feature and manually activating night vision.

The Dropcam Pro features a 20% larger field of view over the Dropcam, which makes it easier to get an entire room in your shot. It is worth noting that the video image will have a slight fish-eye effect due to the 130 degree field of view, but it’s not too distracting and does not take away from the overall video quality.

The audio quality is adequate. In my testing it was able to pickup conversations from all around the main viewing room with ease, and even caught sounds from a bedroom down the hall (with the doors open). Even the creak of a door was registered and clearly heard on the video feed. I do not think the overall audio quality or microphone sensitivity is less than desirable but I do think there is room to make it even better in future Dropcam releases. Carrying over from the original Dropcam, the Pro version also includes two-way audio. This means that you can broadcast sounds over the camera via a built-in speaker. This is a great way to scare off burglars or ease a baby to sleep. I used this feature to play with my dog and utterly confuse her. The projected sound is clearly audible throughout the room, but don’t expect to hold a conversation with someone through the camera as it has a slight delay that will throw off speech timing.

Cloud Video Recording (CVR) and event notifications

All Dropcam purchasers can freely ‘drop in’ on their video stream whenever they’d like, but if you’d prefer to have a recording of stream for future playback you will need to subscribe to one of Dropcam’s CVR plans. They offer a couple of plan options: $9.95/month for seven days of continuous recording, $29.95/month for thirty days, and discounts for annual subscriptions and multiple cameras.

The Dropcam Pro unit we used was equipped with the CVR service and it works exactly as advertised. I setup event notifications for both movement and sound. When Dropcam detected a change in the environment it immediately alerted me via email and/or a push notification. I was then able to pop on to my Dropcam app and re-watch the segment of video that triggered the notification. If you don’t have a CVR plan you can only jump into the live feed when you receive an alert. If you are planning to use a Dropcam for any level of security I highly recommended you opt for CVR. Don’t worry, this is the only ‘add-on’ feature to speak of for the Dropcam. A brand new beta feature coming to the web player only is Activity Recognition:

Using advanced computer vision and machine learning technology, Dropcam Cloud Recording can now recognize motion patterns in your video stream and group together like activities. Customers can name these activities and customize alerts for them.

Room for improvement

The Dropcam Pro is a truly wonderful product but there are a few areas where it could improve. The CVR works seamlessly and is a breeze to setup, but I would love to see the option for users to store their video recordings locally. I understand that in some cases it is less expensive to use Dropcam’s cloud service due to upfront hardware costs and excessive electric bills, but I think this option should be available for power users who want maximum security. To be fair, when I spoke with Dropcam CEO, Greg Duffy, he mentioned that they have been discussing this feature but haven’t launched it yet. Also, the Dropcam Pro’s 130 degree field of view is superb but I still wish it had the ability to tilt/swivel the camera remotely so it can truly capture every inch of the room. Finally, I’m not sure it is realistic to expect a completely wireless 24/7 surveillance camera, but I would like for Dropcam to include some sort of battery so it can withstand short power outages. A small built-in battery would be much more convenient and versatile than positioning a bulky UPS near the camera.

Availability and pricing

The new Dropcam Pro is available beginning today from Amazon and Dropcam.com for $199 and the original Dropcam remains at $149. Dropcam expects to offer their cameras in brick and mortar retail stores within the next few months. More on that later.

Wrap-up and giveaway

The new Dropcam Pro is a tremendously easy to setup and offers great audio/video quality for consumers and small businesses. The addition of Bluetooth LE, dual-band Wi-Fi, and a wider field of view are all worthy updates that help make the Dropcam Pro one of the best Wi-Fi video monitoring systems available. It truly makes checking in on any location as simple as can be thanks to the iOS and Android mobile apps. There are a few areas of opportunity for Dropcam but not enough to hold it back or stop me from recommending it. It may not stack up spec-for-spec with some competitors’ offerings, but it makes up for that with a brilliantly designed web interface and mobile app.

At its core, Dropcam is a software and services company. That means Dropcam gets better over time with hassle-free automatic updates to the camera, cloud service, and apps, said Greg Duffy

That type of company outlook and vision shows their dedication to costumer satisfaction and overall value of their cameras. I can absolutely recommend the Dropcam Pro as one of the best ways to monitor your family, pets, and business.

Dropcam was nice enough to provide a brand new Dropcam Pro as a giveaway for 9to5Mac readers. To be eligible to win the camera simply retweet this post and make sure you are following 9to5Mac on Twitter so we can direct message the winner. It also wouldn’t hurt to leave a comment on this article. The winner will be chosen at random next Thursday, October 17th.

Source: http://9to5mac.com/2013/10/10/review-giveaway-dropcam-pro-wi-fi-video-monitoring-with-mobile-app-accessibility/
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