Last Blue Moon Until 2015, Visible Tonight

The last blue moon until 2015 will appear in the night sky Friday, cosmically timed to correspond with a private memorial service for astronaut Neil Armstrong.
"A blue moon is (a) full moon that occurs as the second full moon in a given month," according to space.com. The first full moon this month was on Aug. 1, space.com says, and the next blue moon will occur in July 2015.
Whether stargazers in Metro Detroit will be able to see the display depends on Mother Nature. The forecast Friday is for a high of 94 degrees with sunny skies during the day, but with clouds expected at night, The National Weather Service says.
A private memorial service for Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, who died Aug. 25 in Ohio at age 82, will be held Friday, the Associated Press reports.
"Armstrong’s family has suggested paying tribute to him by looking at the moon and giving the astronaut a wink," according to the AP.

NASA says watch for the Blue Moon August 31st

Washington, D.C. – When someone says “Once in a Blue Moon,” you know what they mean:  Rare, seldom, even absurd.
This year it means August 31st.
For the second time this month, the Moon is about to become full.  There was one full Moon on August 1st/2nd, and now a second is coming on August 31st.  According to modern folklore, whenever there are two full Moons in a calendar month, the second one is “blue.”

 Cue up the Elvis records! “Blue Moon…. You saw me standing alone, without a dream in my heart, without a love of my own.” In song and literature, blue moons have long symbolized lost love and melancholy. Elvis set the standard for lunar heartbreak in his 1956 pop hit “Blue Moon.” But will the moody Moon of August 31st actually turn blue?  Probably not. Most Blue Moons look pale gray and white, indistinguishable from any other Moon you’ve ever seen.  Squeezing a second full Moon into a calendar month doesn’t change the physical properties of the Moon itself, so its color remains the same. With that caveat in mind, however, be aware that on rare occasions it can happen. A truly-blue Moon usually requires a volcanic eruption. Back in 1883, for example, people saw blue moons almost every night after the Indonesian volcano Krakatoa exploded with the force of a 100-megaton nuclear bomb. Plumes of ash rose to the very top of Earth’s atmosphere, and the Moon … it turned blue!

Smoke from volcanoes and forest fires can cause the Moon to turn blue.

Krakatoa’s ash was the reason. Some of the plumes were filled with particles 1 micron wide, about the same as the wavelength of red light.  Particles of this special size strongly scatter red light, while allowing blue light to pass through. Krakatoa’s clouds thus acted like a blue filter. People also saw blue-colored Moons in 1983 after the eruption of the El Chichon volcano in Mexico. And there are reports of blue Moons caused by Mt. St. Helens in 1980 and Mount Pinatubo in 1991. Certain forest fires can do the same trick.  A famous example is the giant muskeg fire of Sept. 1953 in Alberta, Canada.  Clouds of smoke containing micron-sized oil droplets produced lavender suns and blue Moons all the way from North America to England. There are plenty of wildfires burning in the hot, dry USA this month.  If any of them produce smoke with an extra dose of micron-sized particles, the full Moon might really turn blue. On the other hand, maybe it will turn red.  Often, when the moon is hanging low, it looks red for the same reason that sunsets are red.  The atmosphere is full of aerosols much smaller than the ones injected by volcanoes.  Measuring less than a micron in diameter, these aerosols scatter blue light, while leaving the red behind. For this reason, red Blue Moons are far more common than blue Blue Moons. Sounds absurd? Yes, but that’s what a Blue Moon is all about. Step outside at sunset on August 31st, look east at the moonrise, and see what color presents itself.

Syrian rebels get Egypt's president's support

In this picture taken by semi-official Mehr News Agency, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, left, looks on as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, right, confers with Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, center, and an unidentified man at summit of the Nonaligned Movement as in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Aug. 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Raouf Mohseni, Mehr News Agency) Photo: Raouf Mohseni, Associated Press / SF 

 

Tehran -- In a sweeping message that Iran is on the wrong side of Syria's civil war, Egypt's new president urged the world Thursday to support the rebels seeking to topple Bashar Assad and suggested that Tehran could risk a deepening confrontation with regional powers over the fate of the government in Damascus.
The stinging comments by President Mohammed Morsi - making his first visit to Iran by an Egyptian leader since the 1979 Islamic Revolution - was another blindside blow for Iran as host of an international gathering of nonaligned nations.
His speech, delivered while seated next to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, prompted Syria's delegation to walk out of the gathering.
Iran's leaders have insisted that the weeklong meeting, which wraps up Friday, displayed the futility of Western attempts to isolate the country over its nuclear program.
But Iran also was forced to endure criticism from Morsi and another high-profile guest, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who cited concerns about Iran's human rights record and called its condemnations of Israel unacceptable.
It's highly unlikely that Iran would abandon Assad as long as there is a chance for him - or at least the core of his regime - to hang on. Iran counts on Syria as a strategic outlet to the Mediterranean and a conduit to its anti-Israeli proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon.
But the meeting highlighted how much Iran is out of step with the rest of the region over Syria. Other major rebel backers at the conference included Persian Gulf states led by Iran rival Saudi Arabia.

Judge gunned down in Quetta sectarian attack

QUETTA, Aug 30: Gunmen shot dead a judge along with his driver and security guard here on Thursday.
Sources said Additional District and Sessions Judge Zulfiqar H. Naqvi was going to his office from the Government Officers Residence Colony at around 8am when the gunmen waiting for him at a railway crossing in the Chalam housing society opened fire on his car.
The security guard and the driver were identified as Abdul Shakoor and Essa Khan.
Capital City Police Officer Mir Zubair Mehmood said the judge and the two other men received multiple bullet injuries and died on the spot.
The attackers escaped on motorcycles after firing on the car from two sides.
Police sources said the judge was the target of the attack which appeared to be sectarian.
But Mr Mehmood said it was too early to say anything about the motive of the killers. “We are investigating the incident.”
The sources said that the security guard himself suffered multiple wounds and he was unable to fire back.
Police and FC personnel took the bodies to the civil hospital.
Balochistan High Court’s Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa took notice of the judge’s killing and said the attackers should be arrested without delay.
He and other judges went to the hospital and expressed grief over the murder of Mr Naqvi.
According to family sources, Mr Naqvi had received threatening calls a month ago. His mother said she had asked her son to quit the job.
The body of Mr Naqvi will be taken to Karachi for burial.
Police raided various areas and took some suspects into custody for questioning.
The police sources said two teams – one headed by the DIG Investigation and the other by the CID SP – had been set up to investigate the killings.
Balochistan Chief Minister Aslam Raisani condemned the killing of the judge and ordered the inspector general of police to immediately arrest the killers.
The Balochistan Bar Association also condemned the killing of Judge Zulfiqar Naqvi and urged the government to arrest the murderers.

The Best tribute to Shaheed Nawab Bugti is to continue struggle for freedom – Nawab Brahumdagh Bugti

Chief of Baloch Republican Party Nawab Brahumdagh Khan Bugti paid richest tributes to Shaheed Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti on his sixth martyrdom anniversary. Talking to a reference organized in the residence of Mir Afzal Bugti in Quetta in tribute to Shaheed-e-Azam Nawab Akbar Bugti on his martyrdom anniversary, Nawab Brahumdagh Bugti said that the best way to pay tribute to Shaheed Nawab Akbar Bugti is to continue the struggle for freedom. He said Baloch people have to unite to safeguard their national interests and freedom. We salute the sacrifices of Baloch martyrs who watered the plant of freedom with their precious blood.

He said today is not a day of mere sorrow and grieve, although Shaheed Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti was isolated from us physically by the occupying state but today is also a day of national pride and honor for us because Shaheed Nawab Akbar Bugti in his very old age, disregarding his physical ailment, sat up to cure the whole Baloch nation that was suffering from the disease of slavery. He made us proud by sacrificing his life in that age along with his comrades and gave a new life to the Baloch national struggle for freedom. Today the nation is struggling against tyranny, oppression and occupying following the foot prints of Shaheed Nawab Akbar Bugti.

Nawab Brahumdagh Khan Bugti further said that today we all have to show unity as the enemy is not missing any opportunity against Baloch & committing a systematic genocide. Baloch youth are abducted, tortured and their mutilated dead bodies are found. If the freedom struggle ended unsuccessfully, then the very existence of Baloch nation will be wiped out. It is our national duty to accelerate the struggle. This day, the martyrdom anniversary of Shaheed Nawab Akbar Bugti and the sacrifices of Baloch martyrs not only demand condolence references, they demand practical struggle from us. If we do not become cure of the wounds and tears of Baloch mothers and sisters and continue to remain victims of subdivision then the enemy will kill and finish us all one by one. Today, we have to take a solemn pledge that we fulfill the mission of Baloch martyrs by getting rid of group differences and personal interests and we will fulfill the dream of a free, independent and a prosperous Balochistan for which our martyrs sacrificed their blood.

Baloch Republican Party’s central deputy organizer Dr. Basheer Azeem, BRP women wing leader Banuk Hooran Baloch, BRP leader Mir Wadood Raisani and other leaders including Agha Ashraf Dilsoz of Char Jamaati Ittihad (Four Parties Union), Mir Afzal Bugti, BRSO organizer Irshad Baloch also addressed to the participants on this occasion and paid richest rich tributes to the life, struggle and sacrifice of Dada-e-Baloch Shaheed Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti on his sixth martyrdom anniversary.

Introducing Windows XP Bugti Edition

26 August 2012 - 6th Martyr's Anniversary of Shaheed Nawab Akbar Baloch

IBM buys flash memory firm

SAN FRANCISCO — IBM on Thursday announced a deal to buy a US firm specializing in high-performance solid state memory, which is fast replacing spinning disks used to store data in computer hard drives.

IBM did not disclose financial terms of the agreement to acquire Texas Memory Systems (TMS), which is based in Houston.

What TMS has to offer compliments "Smarter Computing" systems promoted by IBM as ways to increase performance and efficiency of technology networks, according to IBM systems storage and networking general manager Brian Truskowski.

"Solid state technology, in particular, is a critical component of our new Smarter Storage approach to the design and deployment of storage infrastructures," he said.

He said it was also "part of a holistic approach that exploits flash in conjunction with disk and tape technologies to solve complex problems."

Solid state drives with flash or RAM memory can operate faster while using less electricity than drives that rely on spinning disks. Solid state memory is common in smartphones and tablets as well as ultra-slim laptop computers.

"The products are designed to help companies improve performance and reduce server sprawl, power consumption, cooling, and floor space requirements," IBM said as it extolled benefits of solid state drives for data centers.

Well-Rounded: Sun Stays Nearly Spherical, Even When It Freaks Out

EnlargeCourtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.MORE IMAGES

Picture-Perfect: Mars Orbiter Snaps Photo of Curiosity Rover after Touchdown

 The 11-year solar cycle swoops between peaks of intense magnetic activity—apparent as sunspots, coronal loops and flares—and relative quiescence, when the sun's face is free of blemishes. New research shows that despite this tumult, the sun remains remarkably constant in its globular shape—findings that have left researchers scratching their heads.

Earth's closest star is one of the roundest objects humans have measured. If you shrank the sun down to beach ball size, the difference between its north-south and the east-west diameters would be thinner than the width of a human hair, says Jeffery Kuhn, a physicist and solar researcher at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. "Not only is it very round, but it's too round," he adds. The sun is more spherical and more invariable than theories predict.

Scientists have long tried to assess the sun's shape, in part because understanding its structure would help them predict when a flare might shoot toward Earth and disrupt communication satellites and power grids. Measuring the orb has been tricky, however, and no two observations have matched exactly, Kuhn says. Researchers accounted for the discrepancies by assuming the sun's figure varied with the solar cycle.

To measure the sun's precise shape, Kuhn and his colleagues analyzed images captured by the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) carried on board NASA'sSolar Dynamics Observatory. They shared their findings online August 16 in Science. The HMI snaps nearly 15,000 portraits of the sun daily. It measures the sun's magnetic field flux and seismic surface ripples generated by constantly churning plasma. In this August 1 image, the solar disk captured by the HMI (right) shows the sun's light intensity the other view, obtained by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on the spacecraft, renders the sun in extreme ultraviolet.

In the last two years, the sun's activity has exploded after a long period of relative quiescence, giving Kuhn and his colleagues an opportunity to watch the evolution of the solar cycle. Previous instruments for observing the star were mostly ground-based, and thus had to peer through the blur of Earth's atmosphere. Researchers may have thus measured atmospheric changes correlated with the solar cycle and not changes in the star itself, Kuhn says.

Although the HMI images are crisper and more accurate than ground-based observations, researchers still need to account for tiny movements of the spacecraft and distortions in its lenses. To sort out the sun's movements from those of the probe, they rotate the satellite and combine multiple images to eliminate distortions. The probe takes nearly a full day to roll through its calibration and does so every six months.

—Marissa Fessenden

Walnuts 'improve sperm health'

Eating around two handfuls of walnuts a day improves sperm health in young men, a study in the journal Biology of Reproduction suggests.

Sperm shape, movement and vitality improved in men who added walnuts to their diet over 12 weeks.

The fatty acids found in these nuts are thought to have helped sperm development. It is not known if this would help improve male fertility.

About one in six couples are infertile, with 40% of these due to a male factor.

Dr Allan Pacey, senior lecturer in andrology at the University of Sheffield said: "It would be relatively easy to poke fun at studies like this, but there is increasing evidence to show that aspects of a man's diet can affect the number and quality of sperm produced by his testicles."

The researchers say the next step is to work with couples who are attending infertility clinics to determine if placing sub-fertile men, with poor semen quality, on a walnut diet results in better success conceiving.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

Walnuts provide a rich source of omega-3, which we suspect may have been responsible for the improvements we observed.”

Catherine CarpenterUCLA Centre for Human Nutrition

It is thought that infertility in men may be a result of too few sperm being made, or that the sperm have poor swimming ability, size or shape.

Walnut supplement

This study involved 117 men between the ages of 21 and 35, who were divided into two groups. One group added 2.6 ounces (75 grams) of whole-shelled walnuts to their daily diet.

The other group continued their usual diet but avoided eating tree nuts. Both groups ate a typical Western-style diet.

Lead author, Prof Wendie Robbins from UCLA's Fielding School of Public Health said: "We found a significant improvement in sperm parameters in the group that consumed the walnuts.

Healthy sperm

"The men who ate no tree nuts saw no change."

Sperm quality improved in terms of concentration, vitality, movement, shape and chromosome abnormalities.

Dr Pacey said: "The study has been well executed and my only criticism would be that the men in the walnut-eating arm of the trial could have altered other aspects of their behaviour to give the results shown in the paper.

"A better trial would be to produce tablets of walnut extract that looked identical to a placebo so that the study was completely blind.

"In spite of this, the results of the study show a small but statistically significant improvement in sperm health."

These benefits may be down to the fatty acids in the nuts.

Co-author Catherine Carpenter, from the UCLA Centre for Human Nutrition said: "Walnuts provide a particularly rich source of a-linolenic acid, a natural plant source of omega-3, which we suspect may have been responsible for the improvements we observed."

The walnuts for the study were supplied by the California Walnut Commission and the study was funded by the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health's Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health.

Iran charges Gulf royals with hypocrisy

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has rapped the Gulf Arab monarchies for seeking reforms in Syria without applying the same standards of openness for themselves.

Iran’s Press TV quoted Mr. Ahmadinejad as saying in Makkah on the sidelines of a summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) that he “was surprised in this summit [to see] that the kings of some countries were speaking against Syria while the majority of their own people do not want them [to rule].”

The Iranian President made the comment on Wednesday during a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul. Rejecting double standards, Mr. Ahmadinejad said that he was “of course waiting to see when these reforms will reach the other countries in the region”.

During the conference, Mr. Ahmadinejad warned fellow Muslim countries in the 57-nation OIC not to fall in the trap that had been laid out for them by the region’s “enemies”.

“Today, all of us have entered into a plan without realising it; a plan that has been devised by the enemy. We are showing hostility toward each other without any clear reason and perhaps based on false information and under various personal, ethnic, historical, and even religious pretexts.”

He added that “media warfare has reached its climax” with the aim of sowing divisions among the countries of the region.

RADICAL COURSE

Mr. Ahmadinejad warned that without a self-conscious and radical course correction, the domination of Israel and its allies would swamp the entire region.

The Iranian side also slammed the summit’s decision to suspend Syria from the OIC. “Before making any decisions, Syria should have been invited to the summit to discuss and defend its position,” observed Ali Akbar Salehi, Iranian Foreign Minister.

Pakistani Taliban Kill 22 Shiites in Bus Attack

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistani Taliban militants pulled 22 Shiites off buses and gunned them down in a remote northern mountain pass on Thursday, in the latest iteration of a pattern of attacks targeting religious minorities.

In the remote district of Mansehra, at least a dozen militants dressed in military fatigues stopped three buses carrying passengers on a rugged road from Rawalpindi to Astore. The militants checked the identification papers of passengers, singled out the Shiites and then shot them dead at point-blank range, police officials said.

The victims were mostly young men returning to their villages for Id al-Fitr, the Islamic festival that marks the end of Ramadan.

“The area is very remote and desolate,” said Rina Saeed Khan, an environmental journalist who traveled through the same route back to Islamabad on Wednesday. “The road is an alternate to the Karakoram Highway,” she said, referring to a famed road built by Chinese engineers.

The Babusar Top, where the killings took place, lies two hours from Astore. “There is no cellphone coverage, and you see no villages during the four-hour drive on a dirt road,” Ms. Khan said.

The episode on Thursday was similar to an attack in February in which 18 Shiites were killed after a bus was ambushed on the Karakoram Highway in the mountainous Kohistan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province. Ms. Khan said that after the February attack, travelers began using this alternate route in Kaghan Valley, which was still considered safe despite its harsh terrain. “Obviously, militants kept track of it, and they knew that people were returning to their homes for Id al-Fitr,” she said.

The Darra Adam Khel faction of the Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on the Shiites, Reuters reported. “We have targeted them because they are enemies of Sunnis and conspire against us,” Mohammed Afridi, a spokesman for the faction, was reported as saying in a telephone interview. “We will continue such attacks in the future.”

In recent months, attacks on Pakistani Shiites have increased, particularly in northern regions. Analysts have increasingly criticized the government, saying it has allowed itself to be distracted from protecting the country’s religious minorities. The government is embroiled in political turmoil, with an increasingly assertive Supreme Court that has singled out senior officials.

Ms. Khan, the journalist, said that she found a lot of anger and resentment among the locals during her visit to several northern towns.

“People are very upset,” she said. “They are asking, ‘Where is the government? Where is the military?’ ”

“Locals say Sunnis and Shiites used to live in harmony 10 years ago,” she said. “Life is too tough there, and Shiites and Sunnis used to cooperate. Locals say it’s the outsiders who are doing the killings.”

The Pakistani military said Thursday that it had opened an investigation into a predawn attack by Taliban militants on the Minhas air force base in Punjab. There has been speculation that the military is planning an offensive in North Waziristan, a haven for the Taliban and operatives of Al Qaeda, and some analysts said that the attack could have been meant as a warning against military action.

“The Taliban are telling Pakistan’s leadership, ‘If you hit us here, we’ll hit you,’ ” said Arif Rafiq, an adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington.

How genetic screening could work

Genetic testing could take the form of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis also known as embryo screening.

Potentially, if couples — such as those going through IVF — wanted to determine several aspects of their child’s personality and talents, they could Photo: ALAMY

This involves testing the embryo before it goes into the womb as part of an IVF treatment.

The announcement this summer of the first complete genomic sequencing of a foetus means that within the next five years we may be able to screen for every gene that determines who we are physically and psychologically.

Prof Julian Savulescu believes we now know that most psychological characteristics are significantly determined by certain genes, and it’s quickly becoming possible to test for more and more of these genes in embryos.

Potentially, if couples — such as those going through IVF — wanted to determine several aspects of their child’s personality and talents, they could.

Fancy a child who’s likely to be altruistic? Then look for a version of the COMT gene. Want them to be faithful and enjoy stable relationships? Avoid a variant of AVPR1A.

Steer clear of a certain type of the MA0A gene, too — it’s linked to higher levels of violence in children who often suffer abuse or deprivation.

New Range Rover offers more go, more show

Land Rover has revealed an all-new Range Rover, describing it as the most capable and most luxurious version of the model yet.

On the road early next year, the newcomer is said to be lighter, stronger and more refinement.

The new Range Rover is the fourth generation of the line, which first launched in 1970. It has been completely redesigned from the ground up.

The major advance is a lightweight all-aluminium monocoque body structure, according to its creators the world’s first SUV so fitted.

It weighs in 39 per cent lighter than the steel body in the outgoing model, the new Range Rover saving in total up to 420kg with consequent gains in handling, acceleration, fuel economy and CO2 emissions.

The front and rear chassis architecture is also made from aluminium, with completely re-engineered four-corner air suspension. It is said to offer flatter, more confident cornering, with natural and intuitive steering feel.

Off-road capability, always a Range Rover selling point, has been further improved, most notably through a next-generation version the Terrain Response system, which automatically selects the most suitable vehicle settings for the type of ground being driven over.

The new Range Rover also boasts a new, cleaner looking body style. According to Design Director Gerry McGovern it was important to evolve the look but ensure the car would be instantly recognisable as a Range Rover.

“Designing the next generation Range Rover, following over 40 years of success, came with a huge responsibility to protect the DNA of such an icon,” McGovern says.

And Land Rover Global Brand Director John Edwards believes they have succeeded. “The new Range Rover preserves the essential, unique character of the vehicle – that special blend of luxury, performance and unmatched all-terrain capability,” he says.

“However, its clean sheet design and revolutionary lightweight construction have enabled us to transform the experience for luxury vehicle customers, with a step change in comfort, refinement and handling.”

Occupants will also see advantages in the new body, notably more than118mm of extra legroom in the rear seats. A new two-seat Executive Class seating package will be offered as an option..

Power options will range between the familiar supercharged V8 petrol engine, TDV6 and SDV8 diesel engines. All will drive through an eight-speed auto transmission.

Prices, which are expected to start from around £70,000, are likely to be announced when order books open in September, before the new Range Rover makes its public debut at the Paris Motor Show at the end of the month.

What to expect from Nokia's next Windows phone

Nokia's next phone could look a lot like Nokia's current flagship, with a few additions.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

On September 5, Microsoft and Nokia will introduce the world to the its first Windows Phone 8 devices. The form of that signature handset remains a mystery for now, but I'll venture a guess that from the outside, the next iteration of Nokia's flagship phone will look very similar to the Nokia Lumia 900 device we know now.

Why do I say such a thing? There are a few reasons. First, the form factor would be more easily produced than creating a new design in a relatively short period. After all, the Lumia 900's look already exists in two other phones that preceded it: the Nokia N9 (originator) and the Nokia Lumia 800 (Windows Phone debut). To the latter, the Lumia 900 added 4G LTE, a front-facing camera, and a larger screen.

Second, with Nokia's financial troubles, sticking with the same basic shape, materials, and manufacturing process will cut design and machining costs. It also doesn't hurt that the handset in question has gained some notoriety for its unique design and striking color options.

Third, most of the Windows Phone 8 changes stem from software, not hardware, so there's no need to drastically alter the phone's physical design.

The new Windows Phone start screen on a Nokia Lumia 900.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

What will change
While I predict that the pumped-up Nokia Lumia sequel (to be called the Lumia 1000, perhaps) will look almost identical to the current thing, there will be one significant external change that will require more body work -- a microSD card slot. If Nokia can carve out space and connect circuitry to the top or bottom edges, the company can maintain the handset's polycarbonate slab design.

There will be other, more-subtle alterations as well. We already know that high-end Windows phones will use Qualcomm's dual-core Snapdragon S4 Plus processors. That's the same LTE-ready chipset used in the HTC One X family, and the Samsung Galaxy S3, and it's Qualcomm's fastest yet.

I also predict that the globally released "Lumia 1000" will make use of Windows Phone 8's support of HD displays, and will sport a 4.3-inch AMOLED screen with a 1,280x720-pixel HD resolution and Nokia's terrific ClearBlack display filter that cuts down glare.

NFC is also on the list of Windows Phone 8's new powers, and Microsoft's Tap + Share and digital wallet features will help give the short-range communications technology immediate life.

In addition, the future Lumia will sport Microsoft's new Windows Phone start screen (pictured above), enhanced voice commands, and better integration for third-party VoIP services (like Skype, which Microsoft now owns but has not yet natively integrated).

These are my guesses right now, but we'll let you know what really happens on September 5, when CNET covers the event in New York.

Ek Tha Tiger - Storm Continues, Racks In Rs 320 Million On Day 1

Salman Khan’s ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ has collected ‘phenomenal’ Rs 32 crores on it’s opening day.

MUMBAI: The ‘Salman Khan’ hysteria has taken over the Box Office. With Hundreds of eager fans still queuing up for weekend advance booking – the madness continues to grow.

As per the early reports, ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ has collected Rs 320 million (32 crores) at the Box Office.

Early estimates are in. And this is absolutely one ‘epic’ moment at the Box Office. As per the early reports, ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ has collected Rs 320 million (32 crores) at the Box Office. This is the highest opening ever in the history of Indian Box Office. Also, it’s a straight 40% hike from Agneepath’s record of Rs 220 million (22 crores) earlier this year.

There’s a long list of records broken by Ek Tha Tiger in city-wise collections, especially Mumbai. In Mumbai alone Ek Tha Tiger has collected approximately Rs 120 million (12 crores), which is a record-breaking high. Mumbai territory has never seen such Box Office collections.

Also in various other circuits which entered the Rs 10 million (1 crore) opening day collections ‘club’ with Salman Khan’s Bodyguard last year have recorded a significant hike for the first time.

‘Ek Tha Tiger’ has received mixed reviews from critics, but when the name ‘Salman Khan’ is attached to a film – reviews don’t matter. This is once again proved by the ongoing madness at the ticket counter, the whistles, the dancing, the screaming inside the screenings – to describe which there are no words.

To sum it up, in this very moment ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ is rewriting new rules and records at the Box Office.And it’s journey to new altitudes where no other film in history has ever gone has just begun.

One Killed eight injured in joint road Quetta

Windows 8 release version: review and gallery

Windows 8 RTM Start screen: the spacing between icons has been tweaked from the previews

Microsoft has now made the release build of Windows 8 available to developers and IT administrators with subscriptions. The empire strikes back, or the beginning of the end for Windows?

It could be either. Windows 8 has had a mixed reception from those who have tried it in preview, with complaints mainly focused on the awkwardness of combining what often feels like two different operating systems into one. Microsoft has consciously made it hard to stay in the familiar Windows desktop environment and ignore the new-style "Modern" user interface, formerly known as Metro, which is optimised for touch control. There is only one Start menu, and it uses the Modern UI, while common files types such as images and PDF documents open by default in Modern apps. It makes for a jarring experience, especially if you have a laptop or desktop PC rather than a tablet.

The release version of Windows 8 is not radically different from the previews, but there are some new things. The translucent window effects of the Aero theme in Windows 7 have gone, replaced by a blander, squarer look more in keeping with the Modern UI. The Windows 8 Store is coming to life, and a few paid-for apps have appeared, though the number should increase sharply by the time of general retail availability on October 6th. Currently it is still sparsely populated, though there are a few stand-out apps such as Weather and Finance. Note that while the Store only includes Modern UI apps for install and update, it also has links to external sites for selected desktop apps.

A new start

One cosmetic but welcome change is in the way shortcuts for desktop applications appear in the Start screen. In the preview, each one was a tiny icon surrounded by a big block of wasted space. There is still plenty of wasted space, but the icons are now bigger and centralised, improving their appearance (see screenshot at top).

Microsoft has also been busy fixing bugs and fine-tuning performance. Windows 8 has demonstrated solid improvements over Windows 7 from the first preview, and the release build feels solid and brisk. Microsoft mentions several specifics: faster disk access yielding 10-20% speed-up in operations such as installing large applications; up to 35% faster resume from hibernation; much faster graphics and text rendering thanks to hardware acceleration, ranging from around 40% faster decoding of JPEG images to 438% faster drawing of rectangles, and much quicker Wi-Fi reconnection.
What this means for desktop users is that if you can learn to live with occasional Modern UI inconveniences, it is hard to go back to Windows 7 – which feels distinctly slower on the same hardware.

In transition?

Windows 8 now has a tutorial for new users

Another key question is whether Microsoft has done enough to get users past their initial disorientation. The main difference compared to the previews is the appearance of new animations at the end of the Windows 8 setup. "After your PC is ready move the mouse into any corner," says the animation aimed at keyboard and mouse users, while there is a similar effort to encourage users to swipe in from the sides if using a tablet. This is minimal though, and many will need a more detailed survival guide. Some issues, notably the existence of two versions ofInternet Explorer, are long-term annoyances.
There are signs that Windows 8 is a transitional operating system. Even if you like the Modern UI and want to work in it as much as possible, the desktop is unavoidable for some tasks, and operations - say, safely removing an external USB drive – are awkward when there is no mouse available. Go to personalise your desktop, and you will find that while the colour selection dialog is touch-friendly, the Sounds control applet is little changed from Windows 7 and awkward without a mouse. Windows has always had its share of design inconsistency, but this is the most extreme in that respect.

Things to like

Along with the niggles, there is plenty to like. Installing and updating apps from the Store is delightfully easy, and safer than running third-party installers for desktop apps. The process of purchasing music or renting a video is similar to what we have already seen from Apple, Amazon and Google, but having this fully integrated with the operating system and with the same Microsoft account you use to sign into Windows does make it more seamless to use.

Windows 8 lets you buy or rent videos as easily as in iTunes or on Android, for multiple devices including PC, Xbox and Windows Phone.

Behind the Modern UI distractions there is a big and impressive vision. For the consumer, it involves bringing together cloud, PC, tablet, Xbox and Windows Phone so that your content is available across all devices (within reason – no Office documents on Xbox), and getting settings like social media accounts and internet favourites (aka bookmarks) roam with you. The pitch to businesses is about migrating to a world of personal, touch-controlled mobile devices without losing the security and manageability Microsoft has developed for Windows PCs. Note that the forthcoming Windows Phone 8 is built on the same kernel as Windows 8, and with a similar developer platform.

Microsoft's Office suite also has a key role, differentiating Windows 8 tablets from those running Apple iOS or Google Android, and enabling tablet users to do almost all their work without unpacking a laptop.

Conclusion

Report after report shows that the Windows ecosystem is hurting, and not only because of global recession. Macs at the high end, and Apple's iPad and iPhone, and Google Android in mobile, are eroding sales of PCs and laptops.
Windows 8 is Microsoft's answer, and it is good work. The Modern UI environment is not only enjoyable for touch users, but also fixes many long-standing Windows problems around security, performance, and ease of use. Combine it with cloud services including the Windows Store, Office 2013 and Office 365, SkyDrive and Skype, and you can see that all the pieces are there.

On the other hand, Microsoft is late to the tablet game – very late. App developers busy creating apps for iOS and Android will not rush to port to Windows 8 Modern UI until they see a strong market, and in that context the last thing Microsoft needs is Windows diehards devising ways to stay permanently in the desktop world, or vowing to stick with Windows 7, and there will be plenty of both.

All this makes the fate of Windows 8 and its ecosystem a tough one to call. What is certain though is that if Microsoft had merely offered a refined, improved and faster Windows 7, the continuing decline of Windows would have been assured. Windows 8 is bold and different, and underpinned by solid technical improvements. Yes, it is confusing and inconsistent, needs more apps, and is tricky for existing Windows users getting started; but it is also the most capable tablet operating system out there and a useful upgrade for desktop users. Don't dismiss it.

Availability

Windows 8 is available from August 15th for paying members of MSDN and TechNet, Microsoft's developer and IT administrator subscriptions, and from August 16th for enterprises with Software Assurance. It will be available to purchase as part of business volume agreements from September 1st, and from October 6th for consumers and pre-installed. System requirements are 1Ghz processor, 1GB RAM (2GB for 64-bit), and a graphics card that supports DirectX 9.

Gallery

The Windows 8 lock screen

Windows 8 is now available in its release build to Microsoft subscribers.

No Aero transparency on Windows 8

The Windows 8 desktop no longer supports "Aero" translucency.

The Windows 8 store is filling up gradually

The Windows Store is still sparsely populated.

...some apps are appearing in the Windows 8 store

A few paid-for apps have appeared in the Store.

The Windows 8 legacy Start screen

Desktop apps have better Start tiles than in the preview, but still waste space.

Microwave laser fulfills 60 years of promise

Using spare chemicals, a laser bought on eBay and angst from a late-night argument, physicists have got the world's first room-temperature microwave laser working.

The achievement comes nearly 60 years after the first clunky versions of such devices were built, and could revolutionize communication and space exploration. The work is published this week in Nature¹.

The room-temperature maser relies on a crystal of organic molecules excited with an optical laser.

NPL

Before there were lasers, there were microwave lasers, or masers. First conceived in the Soviet Union and the United States during the 1950s, early maser machines were the size of a chest of drawers. They produced only a few nanowatts of power, severely limiting their usefulness.

Because of this impediment, most in the field gave up on masers and moved on to lasers, which use the same principles of physics, but work with optical light instead of microwaves. Lasers are now used in applications ranging from eye surgery to CD players.

The poor maser lived on in obscurity. It found only a few niche uses, such as boosting radio signals from distant spacecraft — including NASA's Curiosity Mars rover. Those masers work only when cooled to less than ten degrees above absolute zero, and even then they are not nearly as powerful as lasers.

Pink power

But Mark Oxborrow, a physicist at the UK National Physical Laboratory in Teddington, wondered whether a crystal containing the organic molecule pentacene might offer a breakthrough. He came across a decade-old publication by Japanese researchers²suggesting that when the electrons in pentacene are excited by a laser, they configure such that the molecule could work as a maser, possibly even at room temperature.

Nature Podcast

Geoff Brumfiel explains masers at room temperature.

00:00

Go to full podcast

Oxborrow enlisted two colleagues — materials scientists Jonathan Breeze and Neil Alford from Imperial College London — and got to work on testing this suggestion. He borrowed some spare pentacene from a lab at Imperial, and cooked it with another organic molecule known as p-terphenyl. The result was a pink crystal a few centimetres long.

Next, the team needed a powerful laser. Oxborrow located an old medical laser on eBay and drove to a warehouse in north London to pick it up. But the researchers were filled with doubts — the whole thing seemed too easy. Oxborrow admits that he was skittish about the experiment. "For about three days, I could have done it, but I didn't have the nerve to switch on that button," he says.

The final impetus came from an argument with his wife. Whereas less well-behaved people might have wallowed in the pub, "I went to the lab as a bit of therapy", says Oxborrow. "I said, 'Oh well, what the hell, let's just try it."

And it worked on the first go.

Mark Oxborrow shows off the homemade kit for purifying p-terphenyl, on the way to growing a pink maser crystal.

COURTESY OF NPL

Excited state

The laser light excited the pentacene molecules to an energy level known as a metastable state. Then a microwave passing through the crystal triggered the molecules to relax, releasing a cascade of microwaves of the same wavelength.

It was the same principle as an optical laser. "The signal that came out of it was huge," says Oxborrow, about a hundred million times as powerful as an existing maser. Alone in his lab, "I swore a lot and walked around the corridor about five times talking to myself".

"It is a considerable achievement," says Cyril Hilsum, a retired physicist who helped to develop some of the earliest solid-state lasers. "It shows great originality and great ability."

Oxborrow's device could simplify and improve masers, says Hilsum. In the long term it could find a use in communications, but it first needs to be refined.

There is plenty of room for improvement, agrees Oxborrow. Not being much of a chemist, he managed to burn the demonstration crystal as he tried to make it. "I did a bit of a crème brûlée, as it were," he says sheepishly.

Given that the singed crystal worked, he says that a more neatly made one could improve efficiency at least three fold. Hilsum adds that other tricks will be found to make the maser better. "You can be pretty sure that this is not the end of the story," he says.