Obama talks about renewed leadership in Asia, pact with PH, China dispute

MANILA, Philippines - Below is U.S. President Barack Obama's statement delivered during a press conference in Malacanang with President Benigno Aquino III on Monday, April 28.

Obama, who is on a two-day state visit to the Philippines, discussed about the U.S. move to renew its leadership in the Asia Pacific. Amid Filipino activists' claim of U.S. "expansionism," Obama also stressed that the U.S. had no intention to either reclaim old bases in the Philppines or build new ones.

Moreover, Obama said the U.S. goverment was reaffirming "the importance of resolving territorial disputes in the region peacefully without intimidation or coercions."

READ OBAMA'S FULL STATEMENT.

Mabuhay!

Thank you President Aquino for your warm welcome and your very kind words. With the President’s indulgence, I want to begin by saying a few words about some terrible storms and tornadoes back home in the United States.

Over the weekend, a series of storms claimed at least a dozen of lives and damaged or destroyed homes and businesses and communities across multiple states with the worst toll in areas in Arkansas. So I want to offer my deepest condolences to all those who lost loved ones. I commend the heroic efforts of first responders and neighbors who rushed to help.

I want everyone affected by this tragedy know that FEMA and the Federal government is on the ground and will help our fellow Americans in need, working with state and local officials, and I want everybody to know that your country will be there to help you recover and rebuild as long as it takes.

Now, this is my first visit to the Philippines as President, and I am proud to be here as we mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Leyte Gulf when Americans and Filipinos fought together to liberate this nation during World War II. Now, all these years later, we continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder to uphold peace and security in this region and around the world.

Mr. Benigno, I want to thank you and the Filipino people, not only for your generous hospitality today but for a friendship that has spanned generations. I’d like to add our friendship is deeper and the United States is stronger because of the contributions and patriotism of millions of proud Filipino-Americans.

As I made clear throughout this trip, the United States is renewing our leadership in the Asia Pacific and our engagement is rooted in our alliances, and that includes the Philippines, which is the oldest security treaty alliance that we have in Asia.

As a vibrant democracy, the Philippines reflects the desire of citizens in this region to live in freedom and to have their universal rights upheld. As one of the fastest growing economies in Asia, the Philippines represents new opportunities for the trade and investment that creates jobs in both countries.

And given its strategic location, the Philippines is a better partner on issues such as maritime security and freedom of navigation. Let me add that recent agreement to end the insurgency in the South gives the Philippines a historic opportunity to forge a lasting peace here at home with greater security and prosperity for the people of that region.

I was proud to welcome President Aquino to the White House two years ago, and since then we’ve worked to deepen our cooperation and to modernize our alliances. Our partnership reflects an important Filipino concept: ‘bayanihan’—the idea that we have to work together to accomplish things that we couldn’t achieve on our own.

That’s what we saw last year when Typhoon Yolanda devastated so many communities. Our Armed Forces and civilians from both our countries worked as one to rescue victims and to deliver life-saving aid—that’s what friends do for each other. And Mr. President, I want to say to you and the people of the Philippines, the United States will continue to stand with you as you recover and rebuild. Our commitment to the Philippines will not waver.

Today, I’m pleased that we’re beginning an important new chapter in the relationship between our countries, and it starts with our security with the new defense cooperation agreement that was signed today. I want to be very clear: the United States is not trying to reclaim old bases or build new bases.

At the invitation of the Philippines, American service members will rotate through Filipino facilities. We’ll train and exercise more together so that we’re prepared for a range of challenges, including humanitarian crises and natural disasters like ‘Yolanda’.

We’ll work together to build the Philippines’ defense capabilities, and work with other nations to promote regional stability, such as in the South China Sea. And I’m looking forward to my visit with forces from both our nations tomorrow to honor their service and to look ahead to the future we can shape together.

As we strengthen our bilateral security cooperation, we’re also working together with regional institutions like ASEAN and the East Asia Summit. When we met in the Oval Office two years ago, Benigno and I agreed to promote a common set of rules founded in respect for international law that will help the Asia Pacific remain open and inclusive as the region grows and develops.

Today, we reaffirm the importance of resolving territorial disputes in the region peacefully without intimidation or coercions. And in that spirit, I told him that the United States supports his decision to pursue international arbitration concerning territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

Finally, we agreed to keep deepening our economic cooperation. I congratulated President Aquino on the reforms that he’s pursued to make the Philippines more competitive through our partnership for growth and our Millennium Challenge Cooperation compact. We are going to keep working together to support these efforts so that more Filipinos can share in this nation’s economic progress because growth has to be broad-based and it has to be inclusive.

We discussed the steps that the Philippines could take to position itself for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and I encouraged the President to seize the opportunity he’s created by opening the next phase of economic reform and growth.

Today, I’m announcing that my Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker will lead the delegation of American business leaders to the Philippines this June to explore new opportunities. And I add that we’ve also committed to work together to address the devastating effects of climate change and to make Philippine communities less vulnerable to extreme storms like 'Yolanda'.

So Mr. President, let me once again thank you for everything you’ve done to strengthen our alliance and our friendship. I’m looking forward to paying tribute to the bonds between our people at the dinner tonight and on working with you as we write the next chapter in the relationship between our two countries.

source: interaksyon.com

Dell Latitude E7440: Worth anyone’s business

Achieving better mobility with your notebooks is not only the boon for consumer devices nowadays.

What we are seeing is an influx of thinner offerings with a myriad of features targeted at the business
user.

This is what Dell’s business laptop — the Dell Latitude E7440 — is all about. It takes off from current consumer offerings, such as a thin chassis and an incredible matte 1920×1080 full-HD IPS 14” display, yet provides optimum security features you won’t find in just any other similar offering.

What impressed me first about the E7440 was its silver casing made of materials such as aluminum and magnesium alloy. Before even opening it, the E7440 looked sleek and sturdy — a treat for one to see or touch. It has a thickness of only 2.1 centimeters and weighs just over one and a half kilos, surely not a hassle for people on the go.

Its 1.9Ghz Intel i5-4300U CPU and 256-GB SSD was quite evident in its boot-up speed. In just about ten seconds, I am in my Windows 8.1 main screen, ready to begin my “stress test.” But, as I checked the available applications, none of any of the widely used PC apps were installed. Bummer. So I had to make a trial subscription to Office 365 to get the suite and freeware to continue with the review. Although,
most of the time I simply made do with Internet browsing.

One major setback was that it also did not have a built-in DVD drive, something that’s quite expected of a business laptop. As such, be ready with your portable external hard drive if you want to easily install your office programs or link to the office network or cloud to sync with your business applications.

However, all in all, I had no major problems — except for instances when the system froze and I needed to reboot. Also, logging in was a pain because I opted using my Live.com account to access Windows,  something I don’t recommend. Setting up a username and password from Windows 8 itself would do.

Apart from the usual Windows hang-ups, the E7440 gives the user the inherent mobility it espouses and the performance it touts with its 4GB RAM, allowing the flexibility of handling several complex computer tasks—enhancing images, watching videos online, accessing a hybrid cloud, completing office tasks, updating social media accounts, and even playing an online game (shhh…) at the
side- simultaneously, wherever I am (depending where the broadband signal is faster).

However, it did lag on several occasions, sometimes even at the login screen itself — when I had to wait for a good two minutes before I could type in my credentials. And when it began processing the subsequent requests, it again stalled for a good three minutes before the Windows 8 main screen finally appeared.




The business laptop

A good point for the E7440 is its attractive and vivid display. It boasts of a vibrant color contrast as RGB (reds, greens, blues) register on screen pretty well with incredible clarity and on vertical or horizontal viewing angles. It also offers impressive sound quality with its speakers (located at the bottom of the chassis) producing solid and loud audio levels without any tinge of distortion.

But, the keyboard was a lowdown—as it was too feeble to even follow our fingers’ instructions, flexing at the slightest amount of pressure. This oftentimes becomes irritating when you try to key in multitudes of characters at the shortest time possible, as it forces you to stop and correct what you
type.

In contrast, the touch pad offers an excellent interface to initialize programs with its smooth surface, which allows your fingers to easily traverse it. And, surprisingly, its pointing stick offers a good alternative, offering great accuracy.

Despite the obvious hang-ups, it is still worth paying a steep price for the Dell E7740 as it offers what any business user or traveller will look for in a laptop—easy to use, easy to bring along, and a solid performer they can rely on.

source: interaksyon.com

Search for MH370 enters 'critical juncture': Time to set a deadline for futile efforts?

KUALA LUMPUR - The effort to find missing flight MH370 is at a "very critical juncture", Malaysia's transport minister said Saturday as authorities mull whether to reassess a challenging search of the Indian Ocean seabed that has so far found nothing.

"The search for today and tomorrow is at a very critical juncture. So I appeal for everybody around the world to pray and pray hard that we find something to work on," Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said.

The jet is believed to have crashed in deep and remote waters far off Western Australia.

But with no results from the multi-national search operation for the Boeing 777, which vanished on March 8 carrying 239 people, Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Thursday set a one-week deadline to locate the plane by mini-submarine.

The Australian-led search effort is relying on a single US Navy submersible sonar scanning device to scour an uncharted seabed at depths of around 4,500 metres (15,000 feet) or more.

Technical hitches, including the fact that the torpedo-shaped Bluefin-21 is operating at the extent of its depth limit, made for a slow start to the search.

Launched from an Australian naval vessel, the device has so far made six deep-sea scanning runs but has detected nothing.

"We have pursued every possible lead presented to us at this stage, and with every passing day the search has become more difficult," Hishammuddin, who is heading up the Malaysian government's response to MH370, told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.

As the search and rescue effort expected to be the costliest in aviation history wears on, authorities have indicated alternative methods may be needed, including possibly deeper-diving devices.

Hishammuddin said adjustments "may include widening the scope of the search and utilising other assets that could be relevant in the search operation", but he stressed the search would not be abandoned.

source: interaksyon.com

Italy sells luxury state cars on eBay

ROME — Italy’s government on Friday said it had raised 371,400 euros ($513,200) so far in an eBay auction of luxury official cars in a symbolic effort to cut outrageous spending by ministries that has sparked public anger.

The 52 cars sold were being used by the police, the fire brigade and the defence ministry and included five BMWs and two Audis, the government said in a statement.

“The average final price was 7,142 euros,” it said.

A total of 151 chauffeured cars will be auctioned off by May 16 in an initiative that has gained broad public support and was launched by centre-left Prime Minister Matteo Renzi shortly after coming to power in February.

The cars yet to be sold include eight armoured Maseratis formerly used by the defence ministry. A brand new Maserati can cost around 100,000 euros.

The government said the official cars chosen for sale were “those that the public administration retains no longer essential for institutional ends”.

As Italy struggles to recover from a painful two-year recession, national and local authorities have been forced to cut down on thousands of official cars known as “auto blu” (blue cars) that have been for decades one of the many perks for the political class.

source: interaksyon.com

‘Hunger Games: Catching Fire’ sweeps MTV Movie Awards

LOS ANGELES | Young adult favorite “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” was voted ‘movie of the year’ and scooped top acting honors at the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday, reflecting the irreverent ceremony’s appeal to young fans.

The second installment of the hugely popular “Hunger Games” books beat out this year’s Oscar best picture winner “12 Years a Slave” in online voting that continued through much of the show.

Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson won best female and male performances for their roles as Katniss and Peeta, the two youths fighting to give hope to an oppressed society.

At the unbuttoned awards ceremony in downtown Los Angeles hosted by comedian Conan O’Brien, awards also went to the best shirtless performance for Zac Efron and best kiss, a three-way smooch between Will Poulter, Jennifer Aniston and Emma Roberts in the comedy “We’re the Millers”.

But there were also serious moments in the show. Hutcherson remembered his “Hunger Games” cast mate Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died of a drug overdose earlier this year.

“I know that if Philip were here, he would think this is really cool,” said Hutcherson.

“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” has earned more than $850 million at the worldwide box office and two more films, Mockingjay Parts 1 and 2, will complete the franchise from Lionsgate.

In one of the night’s upsets, Tris, played by Shailene Woodley in “Divergent”, won favorite character of the year, coming from behind in last-minute voting to surpass Lawrence’s Katniss. They each received more than 9 million votes.





O’Brien, 50 years old and noticeably older than most award winners and audience members, kicked off the show by trying to break the record for the most celebrity cameos in his intro, notching up 50.

Among them were Taylor Swift, who gave him a manicure, and Internet sensation Grumpy Cat, who slept in the front row of the audience.

BEST SHIRTLESS ACCEPTANCE

Among the most buzz-worthy moments of the night were Efron’s shirtless acceptance of his award, thanks to help from singer Rita Ora, and actor Seth Rogen giving his mother a prolonged kiss on stage.

The night’s musical performances included a duet by Rihanna and Eminem singing “The Monster” before they head out on tour together this summer. There was also a tribute to Paul Walker, a fixture in the street car racing franchise “Fast and Furious,” who died in a car crash last year.





The awards are an opportunity for film fans to pick their favorites, in contrast to most of the film industry awards, like the Oscars, which are voted by elite industry groups.

“The Wolf of Wall Street” and “American Hustle” got a chance to redeem themselves after walking away empty-handed from the Oscars on March 2. They each landed eight nods for the MTV awards, but also won little on Sunday.

Jonah Hill won best comedic performance for his role as the drug-addled swindling stockbroker in director Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street,” a role for which he was nominated for the Oscar for best supporting actor.

And Jared Leto, who won the best supporting actor Oscar for his role as a transgender woman in “Dallas Buyers Club,” earned the MTV award for best on-screen transformation

The MTV Trailblazer Award went to actor Channing Tatum for his versatility in playing everything from a dancer from the wrong side of the tracks to a hero trying to save the world from danger.

Mark Wahlberg, who most recently starred in the Afghanistan war drama “Lone Survivor, received this year’s MTV Generation Award, an honor given to those who engage with the MTV audience throughout their careers.

Wahlberg, 42, joked with the much younger audience that the award probably signaled that his career was over.

“This is ‘You’re (expletive) done’,” said Wahlberg. “But you know what? It was a great run.”

source: interaksyon.com

Pacers outduel Thunder, near top seed in Eastern Conference

INDIANAPOLIS – Lance Stephenson finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists as Indiana beat Oklahoma City 102-97 to move a step closer to clinching home-court advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Paul George hit the go-ahead three-pointer with just over two minutes left for the Pacers who climbed a half-game ahead of Miami, which was idle Sunday, for the top seed in the East.

“We’ve been steadily improving,” Indiana’s David West said. “We have to keep our focus and start the playoffs strong.”

The Pacers, who lost at Miami on Friday, finished with the NBA’s best home mark at 35-6 and will complete the regular season Wednesday at Orlando.

The Heat play in Washington on Monday and host Philadelphia on Wednesday, but it’s Indiana who own the tiebreaker and control their own destiny.

Stephenson posted his NBA-leading fifth triple-double of the year. George tallied 20 points and 12 rebounds, while West scored 21 as the Pacers won for just the third time in nine games.

Kevin Durant scored 38 while Russell Westbrook added 21 points, nine boards and seven assists for Oklahoma City, which had a three-game winning streak halted. Durant was just two-of-11 from three-point range.

“We gave up too many points,” Thunder head coach Scott Brooks said.

The Thunder will play at New Orleans Monday and host Detroit Wednesday to cap the regular season.

Oklahoma City is two games ahead of the Los Angeles Clippers for the number two seed.

The Pacers led by as many as eight in the second and held a 47-45 edge at halftime.

George scored 10 in the third to help Indiana to a 74-66 lead heading into the fourth. The Pacers were up as many as 11 early in the fourth quarter.

source: interaksyon.com

Less money from Manny: Mayweather’s manager takes jab at Pacquiao-Bradley earnings

The chief executive of Floyd Mayweather’s promotional company took a jab at the recent fight between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley, saying that gate receipts from the recent fight would be dwarfed by Mayweather’s next bout.

Leonard Ellerbe said that projected gate receipts from Pacquiao-Bradley of about $8 million last Sunday — a figure confirmed by Top Rank promoter Bob Arum — pales in comparison to Mayweather’s next fight against Marcos Maidana, which has already sold tickets worth $14 million.

“People come to see Floyd Mayweather fight in big events,” Ellerbe said. “That’s why we do the kind of numbers that we do.”

Mayweather, 37, will put his perfect 45-0 record on the line against Argentina’s Marcos Maidana on May 3 in a welterweight world title clash.

Prominent advertising for Mayweather-Maidana at the MGM Grand during the week of the Pacquiao-Bradley fight incensed Arum, who went so far as to threaten never to have Pacquiao fight there again.

He derided the Mayweather-Maidana match-up as “nonsense,” no doubt further provoked by Golden Boy and Mayweather Promotions’ decision to make Maidana available to the media at the MGM Grand just hours before Pacquiao-Bradley on Saturday.

In late 2009 and early 2010, Pacquiao and Mayweather were considered the world’s top pound-for-pound fighters and record profits were expected from a showdown.

But a disagreement over pre-fight blood testing scuttled talks already complicated by the need to satisfy rival pay-per-view outlets HBO and Showtime.

Other negotiations broke down over the division of the purse, and the intervening years have brought a further chill to relations between Bob Arum’s Top Rank Promotions and Oscar de la Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions.

“It’s really hard to talk about that,” Pacquiao said. “How many years have we talked about it and it hasn’t happened?

“If he wants to fight, the fight will be on.”

Trainer Freddie Roach seems to flip-flop as to whether the bout will ever take place, saying earlier this month he thought it would if only because the pool of potential opponents for both Pacquiao and Mayweather is so small.

In the days before the Bradley fight, he seemed less optimistic, but said if it does happen it could be as a career finale for both men.

“On our side, I think Bob wants that fight to be our last fight,” Roach said.

Pacquiao looks set to clash later this year with the winner of the May 17 fight between Juan Manuel Marquez and Mike Alvarado.

Pacquiao has fought Marquez four times, and was brutally knocked out by the Mexican star in their last encounter in December of 2012.

source: interaksyon.com

Mini-sub deployed to scour ocean depths in hunt for MH370

PERTH -- Australia was Monday deploying a mini-sub to scour the Indian Ocean seabed for missing Malaysian jet MH370 at the daunting depth of 4,500 meters (15,000 feet), abandoning the search for black-box transmissions six days after the last ping was heard.

Angus Houston, the former air marshal who heads the Joint Agency Coordination Centre, revealed also that an oil slick had been sighted in the area of the search led by the Australian navy vessel Ocean Shield far off Perth.

"Ocean Shield will cease searching with the towed pinger locator later today and deploy the autonomous underwater vehicle Bluefin-21 as soon as possible," Houston said, adding it could enter the water Friday evening.

"We haven't had a single detection in six days so I guess it's time to go underwater," he told a news conference in Perth.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 went missing on March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board, and how the plane may have come to crash in the southern Indian Ocean remains a mystery.

So far no debris has been found despite an enormous search involving ships and planes from several nations.

But Houston said about two liters of the newly spotted oil slick had been collected for testing.

"I stress the source of the oil is yet to be determined but the oil slick is approximately 5,500 meters downwind ... from the vicinity of the detections picked up by the towed pinger locator on Ocean Shield," he said.

It would be a number of days before the oil could be conclusively tested ashore, but Houston said he did not think it was from one of the many ships involved in the search.

"It's very close to where the transmissions are coming from and we'll investigate it and that will take a little bit of time given that we're in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

"We don't think it's from the ships, so where is it from? So it's another lead to pursue."

'Slow and painstaking'

Houston emphasized that it was 38 days since the Boeing 777 vanished and the batteries powering the black box tracker beacons had a shelf life of only 30 days.

Ocean Shield has detected four signals linked to aircraft black boxes, helping to narrow down the vast search zone, but the last confirmed ping came on Tuesday last week and officials suspect the batteries are now dead.

The Bluefin-21 is equipped with side-scanning sonar and will initially focus on 40 square kilometers (15 square miles) of seafloor in the vicinity of the detected signals.

But Houston explained that the US-made vessel operates slowly, with each mission taking a minimum of 24 hours to complete.

The device needs two hours to reach the bottom where it will work for 16 hours producing a high-resolution 3D map before surfacing in another two hours.

Downloading and analyzing data requires a further four hours.

But while the mini-sub could take the search a step closer towards visually identifying any wreckage, Houston repeated his long-standing note of caution that nothing was guaranteed.

He noted that after Air France Flight AF447 crashed in the Atlantic Ocean in June 2009, it took nearly two years to retrieve the black boxes from a depth of 3,900 meters.

"However, this is the best lead we have and it must be pursued vigorously. Again I emphasize that this will be a slow and painstaking process."

The Bluefin-21, a 4.93-metre long sonar device, weighs 750 kilograms and can operate down to 4,500 meters -- roughly the depth of the ocean floor where the pings were detected.

Houston also said the search for floating material from the plane would be concluded in the coming days.

"The chances of any floating material being recovered have greatly diminished and it will be appropriate to consult with Australia's partners to decide the way ahead later this week," he added.

source: interaksyon.com

Company invents wireless pocket-sized printer

MANILA, Philippines — A technology company based in Israel is now seeking funding to roll out a pocket-sized printer that can be used through a smartphone application.

The device, dubbed as the Mini Mobile Robotic Printer, is no larger than a small perfume bottle and spills ink on the paper as it rolls over every line of text or image. The only downside is that the device it not as fast as conventional laser printers, which prints 10-20 pages a minute compared to the mobile printer’s measly 1.2 pages a minute. The company, however, is banking on the mobility of their product as they seek funding at the Kickstarter website.

“Our printer is entirely fitted for our day-to-day life. It has a rechargeable battery with a on/off switch, it connects directly to smartphones and to PCs and it allows the user to print on any size of paper,” Zuta Labs said on its project brief.

source: interaksyon.com

Faster Wi-Fi on flights leads to battle in the sky

NEW YORK/HAMBURG — Wi-Fi in the sky is taking off, promising much better connections for travelers and a bonanza for the companies that sell the systems.

With satellite-based Wi-Fi, Internet speeds on jetliners are getting lightning fast. And airlines are finding that travelers expect connections in the air to rival those on the ground – and at lower cost.

But the fast evolution of rival systems and standards, such as Ku band and Ka band, pose a big question for airlines: which one to choose?

Equipping fleets can cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and airlines don’t want to see their investment quickly become outdated due to newer technology. That’s made some cautious about signing up.

“We don’t want to end up with a Betamax,” said Peter Ingram, chief financial officer of Hawaiian Airlines, referring to the Sony video format that eventually lost out to the VHS standard, leaving many consumers with obsolete systems.

Hawaiian is still considering which system to use.

The drive for in-flight connectivity also has intensified after the disappearance on March 8 of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 with 239 people aboard. Search teams are scouring parts of the Indian Ocean for the missing aircraft, and it might have been better tracked if a satellite system capable of streaming cockpit data had been on board.

Global Market
The U.S. market for airborne Internet got a big boost last November after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration allowed passengers to use smartphones, tablets and e-readers throughout a flight, ending a long-standing ban on their use during takeoff and landing.

While the change hasn’t been adopted worldwide, the FAA’s move is expected to lead to greater use of devices, and bandwidth, on planes.

About 40 percent of U.S. jetliners already have some Wi-Fi, but the race is on to wire the rest of a growing global fleet, and to make the existing connections better.

The number of commercial planes worldwide with Wi-Fi, cell service or both is expected to more than triple over the next 10 years, to 14,000 from about 4,000 currently, with much of that growth in Asia, according to research firm IHS.

Even with a tripling, only half of the worldwide fleet will be wired in 2022, suggesting demand for new systems will last longer.

Much of the U.S. fleet will need upgrades to access satellites, since many planes currently are equipped for ground-based transmission, which is typically slower than satellite.

“Passengers of the future want to be connected when they want,” Chris Emerson, senior vice president of marketing at Airbus, told Reuters during the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg.

“Everyone wants Internet the way they have it on the ground, so it has to be cheap or free.”

Greater speed
Satellite technology will speed up onboard connections sevenfold, to about 70 megabits per second next year, fast enough to download a two-hour high-definition movie in about four minutes. Of course, that bandwidth will be shared among all of the users on the flight, which could number 200 or more.

Satellites also will allow service to reach developing markets in Asia and Latin America, and to offer expanded service in the U.S. and European markets.

Investors expect the global expansion and faster speeds will fuel greater use of services, with revenue split between the providers and the airlines.

It also will drive hardware sales, as airlines outfit aircraft with antennas, radios and routers. Honeywell, for example, makes fuselage-top antennas that link to the Global Xpress network provided by Inmarsat PLC, which operates on the Ka band.

In demonstrating the GX system at the Hamburg show, Honeywell said the system can deliver up to 50 megabits per second consistently around most of the globe, and it plans to test it on its own plane this summer, while Air China is expected to start trials with it in late 2014 or early 2015.

“GX is going to be a real game changer for airlines and their passengers from 2015 when the service comes online,” John Broughton, director of product marketing for GX at Honeywell, said in an interview.

A rival standard, Ku band, operates in a lower frequency band. While it may be able to achieve higher bandwidth than Ka band in certain areas, its overall connectivity is not as consistent, especially on long-haul flights over oceans, experts said.

Gogo used the Hamburg show to announce its 2Ku system, that will use a special dual antenna made by ThinKom Solutions Inc to raise the capacity of the Ku band system to 70 mbps, a leap from its current systems that operated at 3 to 10 mbps. Gogo also offers Ka band satellite connectivity and built its business on ground-based cell-tower technology in the United States.

“Betamax” risk

The improving systems mean customers will demand better connections. Some frequent fliers with status on several airlines say they choose flights based on Wi-Fi availability.

“It becomes an ante at the table,” said Jonathan Schildkraut, an analyst at Evercore Partners, which co-managed Gogo’s IPO last June.

But the variety of systems poses tough decisions for airlines, which risk choosing a technology that could become outdated.

Ingram, the CFO of Hawaiian Airlines, said the choice and cost of a system is especially important for his fleet since it mostly carries people on vacation – people who don’t want to be tethered to the office.

“The technology in the Wi-Fi space for trans-Pacific flying is still evolving,” he said, “so we haven’t made any final decisions yet.”

German airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG knows the perils. It originally worked with Connexion, a Boeing unit developing in-flight Wi-Fi that operated a decade ago but failed to attract enough customers.

“We were a little bit unfortunate,” CEO Christoph Franz said in an interview. “We had spent millions to equip our aircraft.”

Lufthansa has since outfitted more than 90 percent of its long-haul planes with satellite connectivity.

But it is taking a step-by-step approach for other planes, outfitting about 30 Airbus A321 aircraft with a system that can stream content from an onboard server to handheld devices, but doesn’t connect to the internet.

“We need a decent provider for that, but we didn’t want our customers to wait,” Franz said. He expects a “triple-digit-million” euro investment to outfit the full fleet.

“We are ready to do this,” he said. “But we have to look at the bill. We will see which system at the end of the day turns out to be the most affordable and the fastest.”

source: interaksyon.com

Google to sell Glass to public next week

SAN FRANCISCO — Google Inc will take online orders for its Glass wearable gadget on April 15, in its biggest push to get the $1,500 wraparound Web-ready glasses out to the U.S. public.

For a limited time starting Tuesday, Google will make the wearable device available to more than just the select group of users such as apps developers in its Glass Explorer program.

In a blogpost, Google did not say how many pairs it would sell, just that the quantity would be limited.

“Every day we get requests from those of you who haven’t found a way into the program yet, and we want your feedback too,” the company said on a Thursday blogpost.

“That’s why next Tuesday, April 15th, we’ll be trying our latest and biggest Explorer Program expansion experiment to date. We’ll be allowing anyone in the U.S. to become an Explorer by purchasing Glass.”

Many tech pundits expect wearable devices to go mainstream this year, extending smartphone and tablet capabilities to gadgets worn on the body, from watches to headsets. Google has run campaigns in the past to drum up public involvement, including inviting people to tweet under the hashtag #ifihadglass for a chance to buy a pair of the glasses.

Google Glass has raised privacy concerns, prompting some legislators to propose bans on the gadget.

source: interaksyon.com

At least 9 dead as bus ferrying students collides with truck in California

LOS ANGELES -- At least nine people were killed and 32 injured on Thursday when a tour bus carrying high school students collided with a FedEx truck in Northern California, a California Highway Patrol spokeswoman said.

The Philippine embassy told InterAksyon.com that the consulate general in San Franciso is checking whether Filipinos are among the casualties.

The crash happened after the driver of the truck lost control of the vehicle, crossed over a divider on Interstate 5, hit a passenger vehicle and then the tour bus, CHP spokeswoman Fran Clader said.

Clader said the bus was carrying high school students and other passengers to Humboldt State University for a tour. The crash took place near the community of Orland, about 95 miles north of Sacramento.

She said 32 of the injured were taken to hospitals in the area. Their condition was not immediately known.

A spokeswoman for FedEx Corp said the company was aware of media reports that one of its trucks had crashed into a tour bus in California.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone involved in the tragic accident on I-5 in California," said spokeswoman Bonnie Kourvelas.

She said the condition of the truck's driver was unknown.

"We are cooperating fully with authorities as they investigate," Kourvelas said.

source: interaksyon.com

Hillary Clinton ducks shoe thrown at her during speech to scrap recyclers

A woman threw a shoe at Hillary Clinton on Thursday as the former US secretary of state was delivering a speech at a Las Vegas hotel, but Clinton dodged it and continued with her remarks.

US Secret Service spokesman George Ogilvie said the shoe-thrower was not a ticketed guest for Clinton's speech at the Mandalay Bay hotel and had been spotted by Secret Service agents and hotel security guards before the incident.

"As agents and hotel security approached her she threw a shoe and was immediately taken into custody by the Secret Service and hotel security," Ogilvie said.

Footage of the incident broadcast by KTNV-TV showed Clinton, 66, crouching to dodge an object as she stood on stage.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper reported that the former first lady joked about the incident as she continued her speech to some 1,000 people attending a metal recycling conference

"Is that somebody throwing something at me?" Clinton asked, according to the Review-Journal. "Is that part of Cirque du Soleil?"

The newspaper quoted Clinton as saying, "My goodness, I didn't know that solid waste management was so controversial."

"Good thing she didn't play softball like I did," Clinton joked, drawing cheers from the audience at the Mandalay Bay hotel/casino, according to video by KTNV.

The throwing of shoes at political figures is a form of protest in many parts of the world. In 2008 a shoe was hurled at then-President George W. Bush when he appeared at a Baghdad press conference with the Iraqi prime minister.

Clinton, who lost the Democratic presidential nomination to then-Senator Barack Obama, said at a marketing conference in San Francisco earlier this week that she was thinking about running for president again in 2016.

She has been giving speeches across the country since leaving the State Department last year.

A hotel spokeswoman told Reuters she had no information on the episode, and a spokesman for Clinton did not immediately reply to a request for comment. (with Agence France-Presse)

source: interaksyon.com

Bob Arum blows top over Mayweather posters during Pacquiao-Bradley faceoff

LAS VEGAS – Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley faced off in the final press conference for their welterweight world title rematch on Saturday, but it was promoter Bob Arum providing the fireworks.

Arum thought there was far too much Floyd Mayweather in evidence at the MGM Grand, where signs and banners promoting Pacquiao-Bradley 2 were side-by-side with materials advertising Mayweather’s May 3 fight against Argentinian Marcos Maidana.

Arum introduced Richard Sturm, President of MGM Grand Entertainment and Sports, as “the president of hanging posters and decorations for the wrong fight”.

Sturm sidestepped the criticism, but he was still sitting next to the podium when Arum closed the press conference at the MGM’s Hollywood Theater with another blast at the venue.

“In the Venetian they wouldn’t make a mistake like this,” said Arum, the founder and chief executive of Top Rank Promotions who staged Pacquiao’s 2013 bout against American Brandon Rios at the Venetian hotel-resort in the casino haven of Macau.

“They knew what fight was scheduled in three or four days and they wouldn’t have a 12-1 fight all over the building that’s going to take place three weeks from next Saturday,” Arum said.

“But that’s why one company makes a billion dollars a quarter and the other hustles to pay its debt,” he added.

The broadside from the 82-year-old Arum was a sharp contrast to the restrained comments from Saturday’s combatants, even though both Pacquiao and Bradley have said they have plenty to prove.

Bradley was stung by the outrage that greeted his split-decision triumph over Pacquiao here on June 9, 2012, with even the World Boxing Organization saying that upon review, the decision should have gone to Pacquiao.

In the build-up to the rematch, Bradley has goaded Pacquiao, saying the 35-year-old veteran has lost the “killer instinct” that made him a world champion in eight weight divisions.

Pacquiao, whose loss to Bradley was followed by a brutal knock-out loss to Juan Manuel Marquez before he righted the ship with a convincing points win over Rios, promised an entertaining bout.

“Everything is all said,” Pacquiao said. “Both fighters are doing our best to do our job in the ring and make you guys happy and to give a good fight to make people happy.”

Added Bradley: “It doesn’t really matter what we say, it only matters what we do. Me and Manny Pacquiao basically went through hell in training camp to put on a great show for the fans.”

As he moved to sit down, Bradley asked Arum if he’d hit the right notes.

“Why don’t you ask the guy whose picture is up all over building (Mayweather) when he’s going to fight somebody real?” Arum said.

“I’m not going to say that,” Bradley said with a half-laugh. “You can say that.”

Wrapping things up, Arum pleaded age as his excuse for speaking his mind.

“If whatever I said was incendiary,” he said, “I’m an old guy and I apologize.”

source: interaksyon.com

New app sheds virtual weight so faces look slimmer on ‘selfies’

TORONTO — A new app that lets users shed virtual weight so their faces look skinnier on “selfie” photos is raising concerns about health and body-image issues.

SkinneePix, for iPhone and Android devices, can trim from five to 15 pounds (2-6 kg) of virtual fat for a slimmer selfie look.



“Cameras add additional weight to photos and when you’re taking a selfie you’re also dealing with bad lighting, angles, close-ups and a lot of other factors that make people complain that the photo isn’t an accurate representation of themselves,” said Susan Green, co-founder of the Phoenix-based company Pretty Smart Women that created the app.

It was originally designed to help overweight adults show a leaner version of themselves, but Robin J Phillips, the other co-founder, said the app has also motivated people to lose weight.

“It’s a good reminder to get off the couch, turn the TV off, and go for a walk,” she said.

But some critics fear the $1.99 app, which only works on single head shots, could encourage an unhealthy body image.

Lauren Dickson, a social worker in the eating disorders and addiction clinic at the Center of Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, said the app is one of many factors that could contribute towards a young adult developing an eating disorder.

“The media obviously has some effect on people developing eating disorders, but it’s not the only variable. It’s one of many factors,” she said in an interview.

“The majority of young girls wouldn’t develop an eating disorder because of an app like this, but some might be more vulnerable and it could contribute,” Dickson added.

Green said the virtual weight loss in the app is capped at 15 pounds and the app focuses only on the face and not the entire body.

“We definitely understand that people can have body image problems and we’re not trying to contribute to that in any way,” she said.

“I think if someone who is very thin uses it and goes straight for 15 (pounds), then that’s probably not the best thing, but they could also do that in Photoshop,” Green added.

Other apps can also add or remove weight, including one called FatBooth.

source: interaksyon.com

New Formula One rules ‘unacceptable’, change needed – Ecclestone

MANAMA — Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone claimed on Sunday that this season’s controversial new Formula One rules were “unacceptable” to fans and changes were needed.

“I don’t think the way things are at the moment are acceptable to the public,” Ecclestone told www.autosport.com ahead of Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

“People buying tickets to come here expect to see what Formula 1 used to be,” he said.

The engineering marvels that are propelling F1 cars faster than before, but at a fraction of the noise and with less fuel, have not been widely welcomed in a world that revels in the roar of machinery.

World champion Sebastian Vettel has led the chorus of disapproval against the new quieter 1.6-litre turbo engines, with the reduced noise they make being compared to that of a vacuum cleaner.

When asked if things needed to change Ecclestone replied: “I think we have to, for sure.”

Ecclestone is in Bahrain to discuss the current F1 landscape with the sports chiefs and Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo.

While a big fan of the new engines he felt that they were out of place in F1.

“What is wrong is these fantastic engines,” he said.

“The engines are without a doubt incredible, the amount of power they produce for the small amount of fuel.

“But I don’t think it is F1 business. They should do it in touring cars or something – not in F1.”

He believes tweaking the engines to create more ear-splitting noise and revising the fuel limitations is required.

“I think they can do something about the noise. If they need another 10kg of fuel or something like that then I thin k everyone will agree.”

He believes changes will not count against Mercedes, who have coped best of all their pitlane rivals in adapting to the new rules, with the team’s Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton on the front row in Bahrain.

He commented: “Mercedes without any doubt have done a better job. And they should not be punished for doing a good job – we should not change the regulations to punish them.

“I think everybody is complaining really – even Mercedes. They don’t like people not being happy.”

source: interaksyon.com

Time running out in search for MH 370's black box

PERTH - Two vessels were searching underwater for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 on Saturday, as air and sea missions failed to find any sign of the plane and the clock ticked on the signal from its black box.

Up to 10 military planes, three civilian jets and 11 ships were set to take part in the protracted search in the southern Indian Ocean for the Boeing 777 which disappeared on March 8 with 239 people onboard.

"Today Australian Defence Vessel Ocean Shield and (Britain's) HMS Echo continue underwater search operations," the Joint Agency Coordination Centre said.

The vessels are hoping to pick up a battery-powered signal from the plane's black box recorder but this sound is only emitted for roughly 30 days and could soon expire.

Angus Houston, Australia's former military chief and now coordinator of the eight-nation search, admitted Friday "we're now getting pretty close to the time when it might expire".

Australia is leading the hunt for the plane which Saturday was concentrating on about 217,000 square kilometres of the Indian Ocean some 1,700 kilometers north west of Perth.

"Today's search area will focus on three areas within the same vicinity," the JACC said, adding that the forecast was for fair weather with possible showers in the remote ocean region.

No debris of Flight MH370 had yet been found but it is thought to have crashed into the southern Indian Ocean after veering dramatically off course during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Malaysian authorities believe satellite data indicates MH370 crashed in the Indian Ocean, far off Australia's western coastline.

- Slow progress -

Australian officials have pointed out that the search location and conditions are extraordinarily tough with Prime Minister Tony Abbott describing the search as "the most difficult in human history".

But he has refused to put a time frame on the mission, saying Australia owed it to the families and friends of all onboard to do everything it could to solve the mystery.

Australian officials are still trying to pinpoint the crash site.

"The Australian Transport Safety Bureau continues to refine the area where the aircraft entered the water based on continuing ground-breaking and multi-disciplinary technical analysis of satellite communication and aircraft performance," JACC said.

The centre revealed late on Friday that there had again been sightings of objects reported by ships in the search area, but as of late Friday "none were associated with MH370".

Since the plane disappeared nearly a month ago, eight nations, many of whom do not normally work together, have rallied to help track down clues to one of the world's greatest ever aviation mysteries.

Authorities still have no idea how or why the plane vanished, and warn that unless the black box is found, the mystery may never be solved.

The Ocean Shield, which is carrying a US Navy "black box" detector, and HMS Echo which has a similar capability are searching a single, converging, 240-kilometre track in hopes of finding the recorder.

However, progress is painstaking as the equipment which searches at depths of 3,000 metres or more only works when the vessels move slowly at about three knots.

"The search using sub-surface equipment needs to be methodical and carefully executed in order to effectively detect the faint signal of the pinger," Commodore Peter Leavy said.

source: interaksyon.com

Late Motown icon Marvin Gaye remembered on 75th birthday

WASHINGTON | Family, friends and fans of Marvin Gaye came together Wednesday to pay joyful hommage to the late Motown legend and native Washingtonian on what would have been his 75th birthday.

Gaye was shot and killed by his father on the eve of his 45th birthday in 1984, leaving behind a remarkable string of hits — led by “Let’s Get It On,” “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and “Sexual Healing” — that remain pop, funk and soul classics.

“When it comes to DC, there’s nothing bigger, nothing better than Marvin Gaye,” proclaimed local radio DJ Guy Lambert, emcee of a birthday soiree at Marvin, a bar-restaurant honoring the nearly two years Gaye lived in Belgium.

Spotted in the diverse 200-strong crowd were Gaye’s youngest sister Zeola, who sang backing vocals on his 1977 dance hit “Got to Give it Up,” and his longtime friend and music arranger Gordon Banks, who on guitar led a lively jam session on Marvin’s al fresco stage.

Performing as well were members of Gaye’s very first combo, the Marquees, a doo-wop quartet that came together in 1959 in the Washington basement recording studio of pioneering rhythm and blues guitarist Bo Diddley.

“Marvin goes all the way back with us. We used to do talent shows at Dunbar high school and Marvin played drums behind us,” recalled Jimmy Falwell, whose own doo-wop group the Velons is still in business after 56 years.

But, Falwell told AFP, “Washington wasn’t that good on supporting a lot of the music we were doing at that time. Most artists had to leave Washington to get their success.”

Fame awaited the young Gaye at Motown, the Detroit record label founded by Berry Gordy that revolutionized pop music in the 1960s, cranking out hits in the same production-line manner that General Motors turned out cars.

His first solo hit, “Stubborn Kind of Fellow,” charted in 1962, followed by such songs as “Can I Get a Witness,” “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)” and “Ain’t That Peculiar.”

With his smooth vocal style, Gaye was a perfect fit in duets alongside Mary Wells, Kim Weston and Tammi Terrell, with whom he recorded “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing.”

In the 1970s, reflecting the civil rights movement and the Vietnam war, Gaye’s music took a sharp political and social turn with powerful chart-toppers like “What’s Going On” and “Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler).”

But in his private life, Gaye suffered a tortured relationship with his father Marvin Gay (the “e” was added by the son), a fringe-church clergyman in Washington who had no qualms brutally beating his children.

“I hated Washington,” Gaye told his biographer David Ritz. “The place filled me with hopelessness. Nothing happened in Washington. It was all government, papers, bureaucrats and bullshit.”

Wrestling with drugs, drink and depression, and refusing to pay US taxes in protest at the Vietnam war, Gaye found inner peace in the early 1980s in seaside Ostend, Belgium, where he composed “Sexual Healing,” his last big hit.

“It was cold as I don’t know what, but it was special,” recalled Banks, who was there with him. “Nobody really knew who he was in little Ostend, so he could live without the shroud of being a superstar over there.”

The music fell silent on April 1, 1984 when, in the midst of a family altercation, Gaye was fatally shot twice in Los Angeles by his father, who used a .38 caliber pistol his son had given him to ward off intruders.

“I’m really sorry for everything that happened… I’m paying the price now,” said the elder Gay at his trial, where he got a six-year suspended sentence after pleading no contest to voluntary manslaughter.

Gay died in 1998, aged 84, but not before fathering, by another woman, the last of his five children, Antwaun Carey Gay, who until a few years ago kept his kinship with his famous brother — who he never met — a secret.

“The more spiritual part of Marvin is that which I’ve clung to the most,” Gay, 44, as tall and handsome as his lost sibling, told AFP as “Inner City Blues” wafted through the birthday fete.

“Listening to him on the radio at night, it was like, ‘That’s my brother’,” added Gay, an instructional assistant in a Virginia prison.

“And it was kind of a dream (of mine), one day seeing him, hoping that he would embrace me — and I think he would have.”

Elsewhere in Washington, next door to Gaye’s old junior high school where he sang in a glee club, a hip younger crowd marked Wednesday’s anniversary at a former Baptist church turned contemporary art space called Blind Whino.

“This was his neighborhood. He physically walked these streets,” said organizer April Watts, who regularly spins Gaye nuggets alongside modern R&B tunes on her weekend radio show.

“He had the ability to interpret a song unlike anyone else ever did or probably ever will,” she said.

“He was a maverick… He made honest music and he was extremely creative. That is his legacy.”

source: interaksyon.com

Number of Ebola cases in Guinea rises to 134; death toll at 84

CONAKRY -- Guinea's health authorities have said four new Ebola cases have been reported in the country, bringing the total number of victims to 134 with 84 fatalities.

The disease is mostly widespread in the southern regions of Gueckedou, Macenta, Kissidougou and the capital Conakry.

To curb the spread of the epidemic, the government has taken certain measures that include setting up medical isolation centers in the affected regions, disinfection of homes with suspected cases or where Ebola patients have died and mobilization of necessary resources to provide individual protective materials to the most affected zones.

The United Nations Children's Fund has equally proceeded to distribute hygiene kits to schools in areas most hit by the Ebola virus.

source: interaksyon.com

Amazon leaps into home entertainment fray with $99 Fire TV

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO — Amazon.com Inc made a play for the increasingly crowded home entertainment arena by unveiling the $99 “Fire TV” video and game streaming device on Wednesday, with hopes of boosting its main online retail business over the longer term.

The square device, which just about fits in the palm of one hand, streams content from Netflix Inc, Hulu and other video services – much like Apple TV or Google Inc’s Chromecast.

It also offers a prominent platform for Amazon’s own fast-growing streaming video service as well as its growing slate of original television programs and games. Amazon will also sell a separate controller for gaming that costs $39.99.

Amazon, which has been building its multimedia presence to tap the growing appetite for digital media, is now jumping headlong into the heated competition for consumers’ attention and an estimated $70 billion TV ad market. It took the wraps off the Fire TV at a rare Apple-style media event in New York.

Analysts were split on Amazon’s prospects. Some said its strategy to pitch the Fire TV as an option for casual gamers would set the box apart. Others were disappointed Amazon did not undercut its rivals’ prices in keeping with its pricing strategy on the original Kindle Fire tablet.

“They created a product we didn’t need,” said Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter.

The Fire TV competes in a market that is set to grow by 24 percent this year, Strategy Analytics said. But that’s off a low base: streaming boxes have still not made much of a splash, partly because game consoles from Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo — not to mention “smart” TVs and DVD players — already stream Netflix and other popular services.

Tech leaders from Microsoft Corp to Apple Inc are vying for space on the TV, the traditional family entertainment center and where Americans used to spend most of their leisure time. That has changed with the advent of the smartphone and tablet.

The device is one of several initiatives by Amazon, one of the world’s largest online retailers, to play a central role in how consumers shop and spend their leisure time. Its projects range from building more warehouses to expand its same-day delivery service to developing original television shows such as the political comedy “Alpha House” starring John Goodman.

If Fire TV takes off, it could help shape the way consumers shop online. Fire TV viewers may eventually be able to use their remote to buy a product directly off a commercial, analysts said, as Amazon’s multimedia and online retail businesses become even more integrated.

“The company will eventually want to help you buy things in the living room,” Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey said. “Only Amazon can piece that entire experience together in the living room and though we don’t see evidence of that ambition here today, we should assume Amazon knows this and is planning on it.”

While the company tried to one-up existing streaming boxes with voice-activation and a line-up of games from publishers like Electronic Arts and Walt Disney Co, some remained doubtful the Fire TV will make waves upon debut.

Johnny come lately
Amazon’s biggest previous foray into tech hardware — the Kindle e-reader — succeeded because it was an early entrant in a nascent market. But the Fire TV is a latecomer to two markets that rivals had fought over for years — gaming and home entertainment.

Amazon has to wedge itself into a market split fairly evenly between various nascent technologies, all of which are challenging cable companies’ traditional death-grip on TV viewing.

But the company promised however that Fire TV, available now on Amazon.com, would be faster and easier to use than Apple TV, Google’s Chromecast or Roku Inc’s streaming video device.

It can predict what the user will watch and cue it up, Kindle unit vice president Peter Larsen said. It also has a feature that uses data from IMDB to identify the music on screen as well as the actors and their filmography as they exit and enter the screen on TV.

“When we look at the living room, how do we make the complexity disappear?” Larsen said at a rare, Apple-style New York product launch event.

Fire TV’s remote features a microphone that enables voice-activated search. Fire TV is integrated with Hulu Plus so users can see Amazon shows from their Hulu account, and Amazon said it may bring in other partners soon.

By next month, Fire TV users will be able to play thousands of video games. Amazon decided to develop the device after reading customer complaints on its website about lagging performance, cumbersome search and closed “ecosystems” on rival set-top boxes.

source: interaksyon.com

Asian shares hit four-month high on China data, Yellen

TOKYO - Asian shares hit four-month high on Tuesday after China's official PMI survey showed manufacturing managed to continue expanding in March, and dovish comments from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose by up to 0.3 percent to reach its highest level since early December.

China's official Purchasing Managers' Index increased to 50.3 in March from February's 50.2, in line with economists' forecasts. Above 50 indicates expansion, below 50 signifies contraction.

While the PMI figure alone is unlikely to dispel concerns of a slowdown in China, investor sentiment has improved on China in recent weeks as they expect Beijing will adopt a stimulus plan to achieve its growth target.

Shares were also supported after Fed chair Yellen reinforced the need for "extraordinary" commitment to support the U.S. economy, seemingly tempering expectations of a sooner-than-expected start to the rate-hike cycle.

Yellen gave a strong defense of the Fed's easy-money policies in her first public speech since becoming Fed chair two months ago, saying there remains "considerable" slack in the economy and job market.

"It seems like she expressed her own dovish ideas. There's nothing really new and the outlook of the Fed's policy has not changed that much but the markets like her remarks," Makoto Noji, senior strategist at SMBC Nikko Securities.

Emerging markets, which suffered a sharp selloff earlier this year on concerns about a turn in Fed policy, slowdown in China and political instability in some countries, appeared to have regained some stability.

MSCI emerging market index hit a three-month high on Monday, having outperformed S&P 500 since late March. Among them, Brazilian shares hit four-month high.

Rising risk appetite undermined low-return assets that had attracted safety bids last month at the height of the Ukrainian crisis.

Gold hit a seven-week low of $1,282.04 per ounce on Monday, despite Yellen's dovish comments while the yen also slipped to a three-week low against the dollar of 103.44 yen and a nine-month low against the risk-sensitive Australian dollar at 95.75.

The euro bounced back against the U.S. dollar to fetch $1.3773 even as softer-than-forecast inflation numbers put more pressure on the European Central Bank to act against the threat of deflation.

Euro zone inflation dropped to 0.5 percent in March, its lowest level since November 2009, having been in the ECB's "danger zone" of below 1 percent for six consecutive months.

However, not many market players expect the ECB to act at its policy meeting on Thursday, partly because of comments from ECB council member and Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann on Saturday.

Weidmann said that the euro zone is not in a deflationary cycle and that the ECB should not over-react to a slowdown in inflation caused largely by cyclical factors which should prove temporary.

Crude futures were off three-week highs following news Russia was withdrawing some troops on the Ukrainian border. U.S. crude futures stood at $101.41, off Friday's high of $102.24.

source: interaksyon.com

New iPhone 6 screens to enter production as early as May: sources

TOKYO — Apple Inc suppliers will begin mass producing displays as early as May for the next iPhone, expected to be launched third quarter of 2014, with a 4.7-inch screen likely to be produced first while a 5.5-inch version could be delayed, supply chain sources said.

Japan Display Inc, Sharp Corp and South Korea’s LG Display Co Ltd have all been tapped to make the screens, said the sources, who asked not to be identified.

Representatives for the three suppliers and for Apple declined to comment.

Both iPhone 6 screens will be larger than the 4.0-inch panels on Apple’s existing iPhone 5S and 5C models.

Larger iPhones, the subject of months of speculation, would mark yet another incremental tweak to the popular smartphone line and an attempt to catch up to rivals like Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.

The company that helped to define American technology innovation is under increasing pressure to once again revolutionize the gadget industry, but CEO Tim Cook, while promising only “new product categories” for 2014, has played his cards close to his chest.

Apple’s shares have languished below $600 since November 2012, in part because of worries about smartphone market saturation and its ability to stay at the forefront of tech innovation.

Both iPhone 6 screens are expected to use in-cell touch panel technology – built into the screen and allowing for thinner construction than with standard touch panel films – that was introduced with the iPhone 5, the sources said.

But due to difficulties with in-cell production technology for the larger 5.5-inch size, one of the sources said, a decision was made to begin mass production with the 4.7-inch version alone.

Production of 5.5-inch screens is expected to start several months later, with the possibility of a shift to a film sensor instead of in-cell technology for that size, the source said.

Japan Display will be the first supplier to start production, at its flagship plant at Mobara, east of Tokyo, as early as May, the sources said. The others are due to begin output around June.

source: interaksyon.com