Google Is Found (Kind of) Guilty in Java Trial [Google Inc]

The verdict is in for the Oracle vs. Google trial on whether Java was used improperly in the development of Android. The answer? Yes, sort of. More »

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Aldridge, Hogan spark Brighton rally over HF-L (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

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Clever Shopping Bag Only Puts a Smile on Kids' Faces When It's Full [Video]

As if kids needed another tool in their arsenal of getting what they want at a toy store, a French chain created this incredibly clever shopping bag featuring kids' faces that go from frowns to smiles when the bag is filled. More »

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Another courageous casualty in Pakistan, journalism's most dangerous country

Murtaza Razvi, an editor at one of Pakistan's leading English newspapers, was murdered in Karachi yesterday. He was one of many journalists I met on a recent trip who have refused to give up their work despite threats.

Two weeks ago I was in an office in Karachi, Pakistan, with a room full of journalists, including Murtaza Razvi, an editor at Dawn newspaper, discussing challenges facing the country?s vibrant media, including risks to covering Pakistan. Yesterday I was e-mailed that he had been murdered.

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Before I left for Pakistan a few weeks ago on a journalist exchange program sponsored by the East-West Center, I asked colleagues who reported in the country, both Pakistani and American, about their greatest challenge.

Americans complained of the government's game of ?smoke and mirrors,? a disinformation campaign that puts most other government propaganda efforts to?shame. The challenge for Pakistani journalists, on the other hand, was decidedly more severe. ?We have a completely free media in Pakistan, but no protection,? said one journalist based in Islamabad.

How severe? The country leads the world in journalist murders, the latest just yesterday.

Seven of the other eight Pakistani journalists at a meeting with my group proceeded to share stories of threats. It was common, they said, to receive a threat by a phone call from the Taliban for not getting enough quotes from them, from political parties for including the Taliban in a story or not being represented the way they saw fit, and even from Pakistan?s version of the CIA, the ISI.

But this wasn?t something that had them lining up to find a new job. It was just how things work. Most of the time the person on the other end of the line is bluffing, they said. They had gotten used to the fact that Pakistan was the deadliest country for journalists in 2010 and 2011, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. And killings there have been met with near-perfect impunity throughout the years. For some perspective, consider that there have been 19 unsolved murders of journalists since 2002. (see CPJ?s video)

When you put it that way, having to peer through smoke and mirrors to get to the heart of a story doesn't look so bad.

I visited the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting while I was in Pakistan. The ministry has jurisdiction over the rules and regulations relating to information, broadcasting, and the press. Like many Pakistanis we spoke to on this trip, the minister talked at length about how wonderful it was to have an active, independent, vibrant media that had absolutely no restrictions and how that was contributing to democracy in Pakistan.?

However, when we raised the question of safety and reported threats against journalist, Minister of Information Firdous Ashiq Awan (since replaced), without asking for details or pausing to smooth this over, said: ?Those are complete fabrications. It never happened. It?s not happening.?

We brought up the famous case of Syad Saleem Shazad, a prominent journalist who went missing after exposing Al Qaeda infiltration of the military. He had been ?warned? several times by the ISI for covering sensitive topics, according to his family. He was later found dead. The ISI, was implicated, though it denied involvement.

The minister dismissed the scenario of Shazad's murder as unproven. She did clarify that, "we condemn that sort of action." But she stuck with her statement that there were no threats or real dangers for journalists who were not "over smart." A former local journalist who now works in the ministry agreed with her.

At this point, Issam Ahmed, the Monitor?s Islamabad correspondent, who had been invited to the round table by the minister, shared a story about a time he had been reporting on a sensitive topic in northern Pakistan, when he was summoned into a car by agents to go meet with the ISI bureau chief. The car sped off at breakneck speed to the headquarters, where the chief warned him to ?not report critically.? So, Issam, said, it wasn't a death threat, but intimidation happens.

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Motorola Droid 3 getting a sizable update, but not to ICS

The Motorola Droid 3 has a large system update queued and ready to roll out, but it's just another version of Gingerbread. The 5.7.905.XT862 update checks in about 230 MB, and is chock full of fixes, patches, and enhancements -- all very welcome for most any user. With "only" 512 MB of RAM, we didn't really expect the Droid 3 to ever officially run Ice Cream Sandwich, but there's always that glimmer of hope when we see the system update prompt. What did get fixed and updated? I'm glad you asked.

• A Google Security Patch has been added to improve the security level.
• Fixed issue where the device may power ON without user interaction.
• Avoid device interruption when accessing an application prior to the storage being fully mounted on the device.
• Improvements in device stability help avoid device power cycles.
• When connected to a Bluetooth® headset or HDMI cable, the device will no longer lock up and power cycle.
• Improvements to the camera’s auto focus will reduce the shutter response time and enhance the quality of captured imagery.
• Device is enabled with the Wireless Alerting System.
• Use a wired headset without the interruption of a high pitched tone.
• Plus code dialing has been enhanced, improving the experience while traveling.
• Playback media can be heard while using a Bluetooth headset.
• Place a call to the appropriate recipient using the contact widget.
• When moving applications to the SD card, shortcuts to these Apps will remain.
• After updating the contact database from the Messaging App, the Messaging UI will display the latest contact information.
• Successfully post and play videos on Facebook.
• Purchased ringtones are now able to be downloaded, saved and used where appropriate.
• Contact pictures display properly in Google Voice.
• VZ Navigator 3D City is now preloaded.
• Resolved excessive data usages and continuous downloading for VZ Navigator® 3D City downloads.

For more information about the update process, hit the Verizon support link below. For the more experienced Android users, just start hammering on the update button. 

Source: Verizon support

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Third betas of Adobe Flash 11.3, AIR 3.3 give peeks at low-lag audio and deeper iOS support

Adobe's famous desktop browser plugin may be looking forward to a 2013 overhaul, but that doesn't mean it isn't out to improve itself in the here and now. Flash Player's 11.3 beta, for instance, rolls in low latency audio support through NetStream, designed specifically to cut back audio lag in cloud gaming. The beta also introduces support for complete keyboard control when in full-screen mode, background Flash updating on Macs, and a Protected Mode for Firefox that keeps rogue Flash files from compromising Windows PCs using Vista or later.

The AIR 3.3 beta, on the other hand, smooths the runtime's iOS experience, allowing compiled apps to run in the background more like their natively-compiled siblings. It's also friendlier to developers, with new USB debugging and simulator support that now doesn't require a physical device. Android 4.0 users aren't entirely left out, getting stylus support for AIR apps on their platform. Adobe hasn't said when the finished versions of Flash 11.3 and AIR 3.3 will reach its servers, but if you're willing to live life on the bleeding edge, you can find the download links below.

Third betas of Adobe Flash 11.3, AIR 3.3 give peeks at low-lag audio and deeper iOS support originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 05 May 2012 08:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Researchers tinker with bird flu: Are enough safeguards in place?

A new study and one to be published soon on Asian bird flu have prompted debate about safeguards during research and how much access others should have to research details.

A new study involving a genetically modified flu virus has put a spotlight on calls for tighter international oversight of biomedical research whose bugs pose a high risk of global disease outbreak if released accidentally, by terrorists, or by a rogue individual.

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It's one of two such studies ? the second to be published soon ? that have been at the center of a debate over how heavily to censor research results to avoid publishing details that could make it easier for individuals or countries to increase a virus's ability to spread among organisms it currently can't infect.

The study aimed to answer the question: How radically would a virus that scientists have linked to Asian bird flu need to evolve in order to readily spread among humans, something it rarely does now? To answer the question, the scientists genetically modified the virus until they hit on a combination of changes that could enable it to spread readily among ferrets ? a lab stand-in for humans.

A team led by University of Wisconsin virologist Yoshihiro Kawaoka found that only four changes to the virus's genetic makeup give it the traits to spread among ferrets.

The virus's potential for spread among humans is of keen interest to public-health officials. Since 2003, the World Health Organization has recorded 600 cases involving the Asian bird flu virus in humans. While the number is small, of those cases, nearly 60 percent were fatal, according to the WHO data.

With such a high fatality rate, researchers and public-health officials are concerned that if the virus mutates, the consequences could eclipse those of a global flu pandemic in 1918, a touchstone event in the annals of infectious disease. The pandemic is estimated to have killed between 20 million and 50 million people worldwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Understanding the potential for such genetic mutations in the virus, which can evolve rapidly, could help scientists spot a more virulent form early and point to vaccines and other treatments tailored to halt its spread, the study's researchers say.

Dr. Kawaoka's team worked with a lab-created hybrid version of the virus. None of the ferrets affected died. Even so, the genetic changes that appear to ease its spread could plausibly appear in strains outside the lab, other researchers say.

The formal report on the results appears in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature. A second research paper on the topic, from a team led by Ron Fouchier, a scientist at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, Netherlands, is slated for publication in an upcoming issue of the journal Science. Dr. Fouchier's team reportedly has used the original virus for its experiments, instead of a hybrid.

Much of the debate surrounding the papers has focused less on whether such work should be done and more on safeguards during the work and access to the details.

After reviewing drafts of the papers last fall that the two teams aimed to publish, the US National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) recommended last December that the papers be published, but with key details removed to make it harder to use the information to turn the virus into a weapon. At the end of March, the board reversed its recommendation after a panel of experts convened by the World Health Organization reviewed the studies and supported the global public-health case for publishing the papers in their full form. Also, the teams revised their papers to clarify points, including biosafety measures that the researchers used to guard against accidental release.

Discussions about adequate oversight of research into contagious diseases with the potential for global reach in the post 9/11 era have been ?perking along, but nothing has happened," says Lynn Klotz, senior science fellow with the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation in Washington. Meanwhile, the research itself has moved ahead.

?The truth of the matter is that we never hear about these things? until the research ?is done and published,? he says.

At the end of March, the US government adopted policies to more closely monitor ?dual use research of concern? involving 15 organisms or toxins that are deemed to pose the greatest potential threat to people or economic sectors such as agriculture. But those policies apply only to studies that the federal government conducts or funds.

While terrorism remains a concern, Dr. Klotz and others argue that accidental release poses the more significant immediate risk.

Testifying April 26 before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Tom Inglesby, director of the Center for Biosecurity of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, noted that in 2004, when memories of the SARS outbreak were still fresh, researchers at three labs in Asia inadvertently infected themselves with that virus. In one case, he told the panel, the researcher passed the virus along to others outside the lab, which had many layers of biosecurity measures to prevent organisms from escaping.

?Clearly, mistakes are made and accidents happen, even at high-containment labs during times of extraordinarily heightened awareness and caution,? he said.

The work done on Asian bird flu ?is of scientific interest,? Klotz acknowledges. ?But since the potential of pandemic would be so horrific, it's a scientific interest that shouldn't be pursued except under the most extreme safety conditions.?

For instance, Klotz argues for designing high-biosecurity lab facilities with a space-station-like approach to staffing. Scientists conducting the research would rely on teams of highly trained, well-paid technicians working at a lab for two to three weeks at a time before rotating out. At the end of a research stint, the outgoing team would remain in quarantine inside the facility for another week to ensure they are not inadvertently carrying the organisms they were working with.

Given the global nature of a pandemic, John Steinbruner, director of the University of Maryland's Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland, calls for the World Health Organization to regulate research into the pathogens that scientists have deemed the deadliest. He cites WHO oversight of smallpox research as an example already under way. Only two labs in the world ? one in the United States, the other in Russia ? are sanctioned to conduct the research.

Dr. Steinbruner's approach calls for an international panel of scientists that would approve research proposals, identify the people who should have full access to the methods and results, and ?hold those vetted individuals accountable for what they do with the information,? he wrote in Nature in January, as the debate over the initial NSABB recommendations heated up.

?We really do need to bring research on potential pandemic pathogens under international monitoring, and there probably should only be two or three labs in the world that do this kind of stuff,? Klotz says.

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