Could this be the Windows Phone you've been waiting for? If you've been holding out for a flagship with a 6-inch 1080p display, high-resolution 20-megapixel PureView camera and the top-of-the-line processor (a quad-core Snapdragon 800), we'd suspect the answer is probably yes. We are, of course, ...St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny argues a call during the first inning of Game 1 of baseball's World Series against the Boston Red Sox Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny argues a call during the first inning of Game 1 of baseball's World Series against the Boston Red Sox Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny argues a call with umpire John Hirschbeck during the first inning of Game 1 of baseball's World Series against the Boston Red Sox Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny argues a call during the first inning of Game 1 of baseball's World Series against the Boston Red Sox Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell argues a call with umpire Dana DeMuth during the first inning of Game 1 of baseball's World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
St. Louis Cardinals' Pete Kozma can't handle a throw as Boston Red Sox's Dustin Pedroia slides into second during the first inning of Game 1 of baseball's World Series Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
BOSTON (AP) — Nearly a decade ago, the Boston Red Sox reversed The Curse.
Now they're even getting key calls turned around in the World Series, leaving them on the verge of an opening Fenway Park sweep for the third time in 10 seasons.
And not even a need for instant replay. The umpires overturned this blown call on their own.
After Dustin Pedroia was called out on a phantom force play in the first inning of Wednesday night's World Series opener, second base umpire Dana DeMuth was overruled by the other five members of his crew.
Three pitches later, Mike Napoli lined a cutter to the gap in left-center field for a go-ahead, three-run double, and the Red Sox coasted to an 8-1 rout of the St. Louis Cardinals.
"You rarely see that," Napoli said before adding, "especially on a stage like this."
Jon Lester made the early lead stand up, allowing five hits in 7 2-3 scoreless innings with eight strikeouts and a walk. David Ortiz hit a two-run homer for the Red Sox after Carlos Beltran robbed him of a grand slam on a second-inning catch that sent the star right fielder to a hospital with bruised ribs.
Boston won its ninth straight Series game, while St. Louis made three errors for just the second time this year, two by shortstop Pete Kozma and one by third baseman David Freese. A pair of Gold Glovers, pitcher Adam Wainwright and catcher Yadier Molina, allowed a popup to drop between them.
"We had a wakeup call. That is not the kind of team that we've been all season," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "And they're frustrated. I'm sure embarrassed to a point."
Game 2 is Thursday night, with 22-year-old rookie sensation Michael Wacha starting for St. Louis against John Lackey. Wacha is 3-0 with a 0.43 ERA this postseason.
Beltran is day to day after X-rays were negative.
As the World Series returned to 101-year-old Fenway Park, the oldest big league stadium, fans still basked in the memory of the 2004 sweep of the Cardinals, which ended an 86-year title drought. After that championship, then Gov. Mitt Romney helped take a blowtorch to the "Reverse the Curse" sign on Storrow Drive — which originally read "Reverse Curve" until it was edited by fans with spray paint.
This time they reversed the out.
Jacoby Ellsbury walked leading off the first, and Pedroia singled with one out. Ortiz followed with a slow bouncer to second baseman Matt Carpenter that had an outside chance of being turned into an inning-ending double play.
Carpenter made a routine 30-foot backhand flip to Kozma in plenty of time for the out. But as the shortstop approached second base, the ball bounced off the edge of his glove's webbing and fell to the ground.
DeMuth called Pedroia out on a force, indicating the ball was dropped by Kozma while making the transfer to his throwing hand.
"It was just one of those plays. He gave me a good feed and I just missed it," Kozma said.
Red Sox manager John Farrell jogged out from the dugout out to argue.
"I think we're fully accepting of the neighborhood play, but my view is that it wasn't even that," he said. "There was really no entry into the glove with the ball."
All six umpires huddled near shortstop for 30 seconds to discuss the play as Farrell looked on from the infield grass.
"Typically they're probably going to stand pat with the decision that's made in the moment," Farrell said.
Kozma believed he established sufficient possession.
"I had enough," he said.
And then crew chief John Hirschbeck then walked toward the Cardinals dugout on the third-base side, motioning with his left hand for Matheny to come out. He told him that Pedroia was being called safe, and Matheny spent 1½ minutes arguing to no avail, repeatedly jabbing his right index finger in the air.
"That's not a play I've ever seen before," Matheny said. "And I'm pretty sure there were six umpires on the field that had never seen that play before either. It's a pretty tough time to debut that overruled call in the World Series. Now, I get that trying to get the right call. I get that. Tough one to swallow."
DeMuth admitted he got it wrong.
"I stayed with the foot too long. That's how I ended up getting in trouble," he said. "And when I was coming up, all I could see was a hand coming out and the ball on the ground. All right? So I was assuming."
When he saw his crewmates converging on him, DeMuth knew he had made a mistake.
"It's an awful feeling, yeah. Especially when I'm sure I have the right call," he said.
Hirschbeck said in the end it wasn't a difficult decision for the crew.
"'When I hear all five of us say we are 100 percent, then I say, 'OK, we need to change this.' It's as simple as that," he said.
Major League Baseball started using video review to assist umpires in 2008, but only to decide whether potential home runs went over fences or were fair balls.
Under rules changes likely to be approved for next season, video will be used for virtually every call other than balls and strikes. Managers would be allowed one challenge over the first six innings and two from the seventh inning on. Officials in New York City would make the final ruling.
Speaking softly in a corner of the cramped visitors' clubhouse, Kozma seemed like a player who felt he had let his team down.
"You saw what happened the rest of the night," he said. "If I catch that ball and turn that double play, it stays nothing-nothing."
Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-10-24-World%20Series/id-474c831280a8406d92eb45ef22189194October 23, 2013 06:00 PDT | 09:00 EDT | 13:00 UTC
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>> BLACK IS THE NEW BLACK: Apple unveils slew of new iPads, MacBooks, Mac Pro, and apps, by Dan Miller: "...a brand new iPad model (the iPad Air), and added a Retina screen and an A7 processor to the iPad mini. It announced an updated line of Retina MacBook Pros while also naming December as the shipping month for its new Mac Pro (the black cylinder that looks like it belongs on Darth Vader's desktop). It showed off updated iLife and iWork suites for the Mac, iOS, and iCloud.com. And it announced that the latest version of OS X--Mavericks--would be available immediately after the event, and for free." [We count more than 200 articles in the tech press about the announcements. Here are the best.] Macworld
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>> MEANWHILE, ON MARS: Nokia World reveals phablets and tablets in Abu Dhabi, by Leo Kelion: "Nokia has unveiled its first phablets -- extra-large phones -- as well as its first tablet computer. The Windows Phone handsets introduce the ability to change which objects in a photo are in focus after it is taken.... Nokia World in Abu Dhabi is likely to be remembered as the Finnish firm's last major event before it completes the sale of its hardware unit.... Microsoft's Stephen Elop: 'Our challenge is to get more and more people to try those devices and spread the word amongst their friends.'" BBC
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>> LEXTINCTION: Microsoft drops 'RT' moniker from original Surface, hides desktop mode on new RT tablets, by Tom Warren: "Microsoft is altering its Surface RT name to just Surface today.... Microsoft is also removing the default desktop tile in Windows RT 8.1. New Windows RT devices will default to a Start Screen that does not contain the desktop tile, making it less easy to switch into the traditional desktop mode in Windows RT 8.1. Surface 2 includes this change, as does Nokia's new Lumia 2520 tablet." The Verge
>> UNPLANNED OBSOLESENCE: The decline of Wikipedia, by Tom Simonite: "The main source of those problems is not mysterious. The loose collective running the site today, estimated to be 90 percent male, operates a crushing bureaucracy with an often abrasive atmosphere that deters newcomers who might increase participation in Wikipedia and broaden its coverage." MIT Technology Review
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>> TWEET O' THE DAY: "I don't like the class division on planes, it's a microcosm of… Free upgrade? Why yes please! S'long peasants! *prances to business class*" @jaffathecake
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DANVERS, Mass. (AP) — A well-liked teacher was found slain in woods behind this quiet Massachusetts town's high school, and a 14-year-old boy who was found walking along a state highway overnight was charged with killing her.
Blood found in a second-floor school bathroom helped lead investigators to the body of Colleen Ritzer, a 24-year-old math teacher at Danvers High School who was reported missing when she didn't come home from work on Tuesday, Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said.
"She was a very, very respected, loved teacher," Blodgett said.
The suspect, Philip Chism, was arraigned on a murder charge Wednesday and ordered held without bail. The teenager, described by classmates as soft-spoken and pleasant, also did not come home from school the day before and was spotted walking along Route 1 in the neighboring town of Topsfield at about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Officials didn't release a cause of death and haven't discussed a motive in the killing.
A court filing said Ritzer and Chism were known to each other from the high school, but it did not elaborate. The arrest was made based on statements by the suspect and corroborating evidence at multiple scenes, investigators said in court documents.
Ritzer's family said they are mourning the death of their "amazing, beautiful daughter and sister."
"Everyone that knew and loved Colleen knew of her passion for teaching and how she mentored each and every one of her students," the family said in a statement provided by her uncle Dale Webster.
At his arraignment in adult court in Salem, Chism's defense attorney argued for the proceeding to be closed and her client to be allowed to stay hidden because of his age. The judge denied the request. The lawyer, Denise Regan, declined to comment outside court.
The tall, lanky teenager had moved to Massachusetts from Tennessee before the start of the school year and was a top scorer on the school's junior varsity soccer team, said Kyle Cahill, a junior who also plays soccer. He said the team had been wondering where Chism was when he skipped a team dinner Tuesday night.
"We're all just a family. It just amazes me really," Cahill said. "He wasn't violent at all. He was really the opposite of aggressive."
Ritzer had a Twitter account where she gave homework assignments, encouraged students and described herself as a "math teacher often too excited about the topics I'm teaching."
She was a 2011 graduate of Assumption College in Worcester, a school spokeswoman said Wednesday. She graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor of arts degree in math, a minor in psychology and a secondary education concentration, according to the college's 2011 commencement program.
One of her former students, Chris Weimert, 17, said she was a warm, welcoming person who would stand outside her classroom and say hello to students she didn't teach. He said she had been at the school for two years.
"She was the nicest teacher anyone could ever have. She always had a warm smile on her face," he said.
Ryan Kelleher, a senior, said students related to the young teacher, who liked to wear jeans and UGG boots just like the teenagers she taught. Kelleher, who also plays soccer, said the arrest of the soft-spoken Chism didn't make sense to him.
"From what I know about him and seeing him every day, it just doesn't add up that he would do such a thing, unless this was all an act to fool somebody," the 17-year-old said.
Ritzer lived at home with her 20-year-old brother and her sister, a high school senior. The close-knit family was often outside, barbecuing, spending time together and enjoying each other's company, neighbors said.
Mary Duffy has lived next door to the Ritzers in the suburban neighborhood in Andover since the family moved there more than two decades ago. She had known Colleen Ritzer from the time she was a baby and said the Ritzers' oldest child had just one life ambition: to be a high school math teacher.
"All I ever heard is that she loved her job," Duffy said.
All public schools in Danvers, about 20 miles north of Boston, were closed Wednesday.
The high school's students were planning a candlelight vigil Wednesday evening.
Ritzer is the second teacher allegedly killed by a student in the U.S. this week. A Sparks, Nev., middle school teacher was allegedly shot by a 12-year-old student on Monday.
___
Associated Press writer Lynne Tuohy in Andover and news researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York City contributed to this report.
Cleveland Browns quarterback Brandon Weeden (3) is hit by Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh after a pass in the first quarter of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013 in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Richard)
Cleveland Browns quarterback Brandon Weeden (3) is hit by Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh after a pass in the first quarter of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013 in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Richard)
BEREA, Ohio (AP) — It's backup Jason Campbell's turn to start at quarterback for the Browns.
Coach Rob Chudzinksi benched struggling starter Brandon Weeden and will go with Campbell on Sunday against the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs. Campbell is the third QB to start in eight games for Cleveland, following Weeden and Brian Hoyer, who sustained a season-ending knee injury on Oct. 3.
"It's a tough decision," Chudzinski said. "I believe this is in the best interest of the team, and ultimately and gives us the best chance to win. I'm excited to see what Jason will do with this opportunity."
Campbell will be the 20th quarterback for the Browns since they returned as an expansion team in 1999. He'll make his first start for Cleveland against one of the NFL's best defenses. The Chiefs lead the league with 35 sacks.
Weeden, who began the season as Cleveland's starter before he sprained his thumb and was replaced by Hoyer, played poorly in losses to Detroit and Green Bay. He completed just 17 of 42 passes against the Packers.
Weeden politely declined to speak with reporters.
"I'm not going today, guys," he said.
Chudzinski said the choice to switch to Campbell, who has made 71 NFL starts in nine seasons, was based on "consistency and production."
"I think that looking at Jason and the things that he brings to the table, leadership, his experience, he's been productive and he's been successful in the league," Chudzinski said. "I think when you look at his arm strength and you look at his mobility and some of those things, and tie it into as far as a game plan standpoint, it's what we feel like we need for this game and gives us the best chance."
Cleveland fans have been clamoring for a change, but Chudzinksi said Weeden's lack of support was not a factor in making another change.
Chudzinski would not make a commitment to Campbell beyond this week's game.
"We're going to evaluate it on a week-to-week basis," Chudzinski said, "and the goal is to put the guy out there who gives us the best opportunity to win. Going back and forth isn't ideal, but ultimately finding the production and consistency that we need is the goal."
Campbell was passed over by Hoyer when Weeden got hurt, but the 31-year-old is excited for a chance to start again and possibly spark the Browns.
"It's an opportunity to go out there and just get back to the game and just having fun," Campbell said. "Obviously, we want to go win games and do the best we can. But at the same time we understand we're a growing football team and our goal and mission every week is to go out and win games. The one thing we can't forget is just to get back to having fun."
Campbell made one start for Chicago last season. He went 4-2 as a starter for Oakland in 2011, but had his season ended when he broke his collarbone against the Browns.
___
AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org
Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-10-23-Browns-QB%20Crisis/id-44d47ef4ce6749879c34322afdade990Danvers police are seen Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013 at the Danvers High School, investigating a report of a sudden death inside the school in Danvers, Mass. A 14-year-old Massachusetts high school student is facing a murder charge in the death of a 24-year-old teacher found dead in the woods behind the school. Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett on Wednesday identified the victim as Danvers High School teacher Colleen Ritzer, of Andover. (AP Photo/Boston Herald, Mark Garfinkel) BOSTON GLOBE OUT; METRO BOSTON OUT; MAGS OUT; ONLINE OUT NO SALES
Danvers police are seen Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013 at the Danvers High School, investigating a report of a sudden death inside the school in Danvers, Mass. A 14-year-old Massachusetts high school student is facing a murder charge in the death of a 24-year-old teacher found dead in the woods behind the school. Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett on Wednesday identified the victim as Danvers High School teacher Colleen Ritzer, of Andover. (AP Photo/Boston Herald, Mark Garfinkel) BOSTON GLOBE OUT; METRO BOSTON OUT; MAGS OUT; ONLINE OUT NO SALES
Massachusetts State Police detectives are seen at the Danvers High School, investigating a report of a sudden death inside the school, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013, in Danvers, Mass. A 14-year-old high school student is facing a murder charge in the death of a 24-year-old teacher found dead in the woods behind the school. Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett on Wednesday identified the victim as Danvers High School teacher Colleen Ritzer, of Andover. (AP Photo/Boston Herald, Mark Garfinkel) BOSTON GLOBE OUT; METRO BOSTON OUT; MAGS OUT; ONLINE OUT NO SALES
Gardner Trask, chairman of the Danvers Board of Selectman, embraces an unidentified woman inside Danvers High School prior to a press conference by Jonathan Blodget, Essex District Attorney, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013 where he announced the homicide death of Danvers math teacher Colleen Ritzer at Danvers High School in Danvers, Mass. A 14-year-old Massachusetts high school student is facing a murder charge in the death of the teacher found dead in the woods behind the school. (AP Photo/Boston Herald, Mark Garfinkel) BOSTON GLOBE OUT; METRO BOSTON OUT; MAGS OUT; ONLINE OUT NO SALES
DANVERS, Mass. (AP) — A 14-year-old high school student described by classmates as soft-spoken and pleasant was accused of killing a well-liked math teacher, whose body was found in the woods behind the school.
Law enforcement officials recovered the remains of 24-year-old Danvers High School teacher Colleen Ritzer early Wednesday, Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said. The teen, Philip Chism, was arraigned Wednesday in Salem on a murder charge and ordered held without bail.
Ritzer was reported missing late Tuesday night after she didn't come home from work or answer her cellphone. Investigators found blood in a second-floor school bathroom and soon located her body, Blodgett said. He did not say how Ritzer died.
"She was a very, very respected, loved teacher," Blodgett said, calling the killing a "terrible tragedy."
The boy also was reported missing Tuesday after not coming home from school. He was spotted walking along a road in neighboring Topsfield at about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Investigators said in court documents that the arrest was made based on statements by the suspect and corroborating evidence at multiple scenes. They said they also recovered video surveillance.
At his arraignment in adult court Wednesday afternoon, Chism's defense attorney argued for the proceeding to be closed and her client to be allowed to stay hidden because of his age. The judge denied the request. The attorney declined to comment outside court.
Ritzer had a Twitter account where she gave homework assignments, encouraged students and described herself as a "math teacher often too excited about the topics I'm teaching."
She was a 2011 graduate of Assumption College in Worcester, a school spokeswoman said Wednesday. She graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor of arts degree in math, a minor in psychology and a secondary education concentration, according to the college's 2011 commencement program.
Chris Weimert, 17, was a student in Ritzer's geometry class last year. He said she had taught at the school for two years and was a warm, welcoming person who would stand outside her classroom and say hello to students she didn't teach.
"She was the nicest teacher anyone could ever have. She always had a warm smile on her face," he said.
Weimert said the suspect, who he knew from seeing him around school, "seemed like a good kid." He said, "It really threw the whole town of Danvers a curve ball."
Kyle Cahill, a junior, said he knows Chism from the soccer team. He said the 14-year-old moved to Massachusetts from Tennessee before the school year began and was a top goal scorer on the school's junior varsity team.
He called him a quiet, nice kid.
"He wasn't violent at all. He was really the opposite of aggressive," Cahill said.
Cahill said there was a soccer team dinner Tuesday night that the accused teen skipped, and team members were wondering where he was.
"We're all just a family. It just amazes me really," he said. "I'm just stunned."
Ryan Kelleher, a senior who also plays soccer, said the arrest of the soft-spoken Chism didn't make sense to him.
"From what I know about him and seeing him every day, it just doesn't add up that he would do such a thing, unless this was all an act to fool somebody," the 17-year-old said.
Kelleher took Ritzer's algebra class last year and said hello to her on Tuesday in the hallway. He said students related to the young teacher, who liked to wear jeans and UGG boots just like the students.
Ritzer lived at home with her 20-year-old brother and her sister, a high school senior. The close-knit family was often outside, barbecuing, spending time together and enjoying each other's company, neighbors said.
Mary Duffy has lived next door to the Ritzers in the comfortable, suburban neighborhood in Andover since the family moved there more than two decades ago. She had known Colleen Ritzer from the time she was a baby and said the Ritzers' oldest child had just one ambition in life: to be a high school math teacher.
"All I ever heard is that she loved her job," Duffy said.
Ritzer's uncle Dale Webster provided a brief written statement in which the family asked for privacy.
"At this time, we are mourning the tragic death or our amazing, beautiful daughter and sister," the statement read. "Everyone that knew and loved Colleen knew of her passion for teaching and how she mentored each and every one of her students."
There was no reason to believe anyone else was involved and there was no public safety danger, authorities said.
All public schools in Danvers, about 20 miles north of Boston, were closed Wednesday.
The high school's students were planning a candlelight vigil Wednesday evening.
Ritzer is the second teacher allegedly killed by a student in the U.S. this week. A Sparks, Nev., middle school teacher was allegedly shot by a 12-year-old student on Monday.
___
Associated Press writer Lynne Tuohy in Andover contributed to this report.
Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-10-23-Schools%20Closed-Homicide/id-55d0909c424d4f70b236a0e6f7966a21The decommissioned aircraft carrier Ex-USS Forrestal (CV 59) departs Naval Station Newport for a three-day cruise to Philadelphia in June, 2010.
The decommissioned aircraft carrier Ex-USS Forrestal (CV 59) departs Naval Station Newport for a three-day cruise to Philadelphia in June, 2010.
The U.S. Navy's first "supercarrier" is being sold for just 1 cent to a ship breaker.
The ex-USS Forrestal, launched in 1954 and decommissioned in 1993, is the first of three conventional (non-nuclear) carriers due to be scrapped in the coming years. The Forrestal is best known for a devastating fire in 1967 that engulfed the ship's flight deck, killing 134 sailors and wounding 161 others.
Navy crewmen try to put out a fire aboard the USS Forrestal in the Tonkin Gulf off the coast of Vietnam, July 29, 1967.
Navy crewmen try to put out a fire aboard the USS Forrestal in the Tonkin Gulf off the coast of Vietnam, July 29, 1967.
In a statement, the U.S. Navy says All Star Metals, which was awarded the contract for the ship, is developing a final tow plan to get the ship "from its current berth at the Navy's inactive ship facility in Philadelphia to All Star Metals' facility in Brownsville. The ship is expected to depart Philadelphia before the end of the year."
The minimal payment reflects the net price proposed by All Star Metals, "which considered the estimated proceeds from the sale of the scrap metal to be generated from dismantling," the statement said.
Stars and Stripes says of the ship's famous fire:
"[The] Forrestal was in the Gulf of Tonkin the morning of July 29, 1967, for the Vietnam War effort when stray voltage triggered a rocket to launch from an F-4 Phantom on the flight deck.
The rocket struck an armed A-4 Skyhawk — piloted by a young Lt. Cmdr. John S. McCain III — rupturing the fuel tanks and sparking a chain reaction of fires and explosions on the deck, which was parked full of planes.
The crew fought the flight deck fire for an hour, but other fires blazed into the next day."
The Navy says it made the Forrestal available for donation in June 1999 as a museum or memorial, but didn't get any viable offers.
It's no secret that Windows XP is nearly six months away from its formal end-of-life support from Microsoft. Although many IT organizations have begun the migration to Windows 7 and some are testing Windows 8, a very large percentage of companies have made little effort to move from XP.
I believe users will prefer Window 7 because it's more familiar and has fewer big changes to stress about compared to Windows 8 or its newly released update, Windows 8.1. Plus, few PCs have touch capability, which is important because using Windows 8 on nontouch PCs is awkward. But there's an important reason to consider moving to Windows 8.1 despite the greater comfort of using Windows 7: Windows 8.1's better security.
[ Woody Leonhard says Windows 8.1 is a new version but the same mess. | Galen Gruman compares Windows 8.1 to OS X Mavericks. | Roger Grimes explains how Windows 8.1 stops pass-the-hash attacks. | Stay abreast of key Microsoft technologies in our Technology: Microsoft newsletter. ]
According to Dustin Ingalls, group program manager at Microsoft for Windows security and identity, one of the major problems enterprises face today is the hit-or-miss security functionality seen in users' PCs. For example, many PCs don't have a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip, which is required to encrypt a Windows 8 PC's contents via Microsoft's BitLocker encryption technology. A TPM is also required to support InstantGo (previously called Connected Standby), which keeps Metro data, apps, and tiles updated with current information through a network connection that allows automatic syncing. Microsoft is pushing for TPM 2.0 to be required on all devices by January 2015, but there's no such requirement for today's devices.
All editions of Windows 8.1 (including the RT version) now support BitLocker encryption using both TPMs and the hardware-level UEFI protection approach. The trick is to make sure your PCs are InstantGo-certified so that you can take advantage of the encryption. Microsoft is also working on biometrics for both touch and swipe readers. "The goal is to move toward biometrics for everything from the Windows Store app to logging into secure sites, as well as your OS itself," Ingalls says.
Multifactor authentication is also enhanced in Windows 8.1 with virtual smart cards (VSCs), which uses the TPM to provides two-factor authentication, just like a physical smart card does. One is factor is the password or PIN, the other is VSC, with the private key stored on the system's hard drive.
Windows Defender has been enhanced with network behavior monitoring to help stop the execution of malware. Sometimes malware is known, other times it isn't, so Defender now looks at "bad behaviors in memory, the registry, or the file system, even before signatures have been created," Ingalls says. In addition, Internet Explorer 11 scans binary extensions (ActiveX, for example) in use before potentially harmful code runs. In contrast, pre-Windows 8.1 systems may allow malicious sites to exploit vulnerabilities in binary extensions like ActiveX controls. Additionally, IE's Enhanced Protection Mode is now enabled by default in the Windows Desktop version of IE. (It was autoenabled in the Metro edition in Windows 8.0, as it still is in Windows 8.1.)
Windows 8.1 introduces Remote Data Removal, which allows organizations to remove company data (email, attachments, and orporate data that came from Work Folders) without completely wiping the personal user's data in the process. Note that this capability requires Windows Server 2012 R2 to support Work Place Join and Work Folders.
Security is always going to be a concern for both the home and corporate user, even more so when you consider many users work from home PCs and other personal devices. As an IT admin looking to ensure the greatest level of security, you should give serious consideration to adopting Windows 8.1 instead of Windows 7.
This story, "Windows 8.1: The key security improvements," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Read more of J. Peter Bruzzese's Enterprise Windows blog and follow the latest developments in Windows at InfoWorld.com. For the latest business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.
Apple unveiled two new iPads yesterday
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Nobody gives good sneer like Tom Hiddleston, back once again in the pleather leggings and goat-horned helmet to play bad guy Loki in Thor: The Dark World and pretty much steal the whole show. Amiable hunk Chris Hemsworth may play the title character in this subset of Marvel's meta-Avengers franchise, but this well-intentioned "witless oaf," as his evil foster brother describes him at one point, is practically a guest at his own party here, as scads of new characters and millions of dollars worth of CGI crowd the screen. Most of it pales into insignificance when Loki takes the stage, which isn't often enough given how wildly uneven the sections without him are. Although director Alan Taylor manages to get things going properly for the final battle in London, the long stretches before that on Asgard and the other branches of Yggdrasil are a drag, like filler episodes of Game of Thrones but without the narrative complexity, mythical heft or all-pervading sexiness.
PHOTOS: Exclusive Portraits of Chris Hemsworth
In a year when so many box-office sure bets, especially sequels, have been a bust, it's harder than usual to predict how well Thor: The Dark World will do. Tracking numbers are predicting an opening weekend somewhere in the $75 million stratosphere. Meh word of mouth could diminish returns over the subsequent weeks, but who knows. There are a lot of die-hard fans out there, especially for the Marvel-verse, but then again they can also be a very discerning and exacting audience.
The opening sequence provides backstory on the Dark Elves, sharp-beaked, pointy-eared meanies from Alfheim who date back to before the beginning of time and claim a black, gaseous substance called Aether as their all-powerful weapon of mass destruction. They're seen being vanquished (but, of course, not quite) by Thor's grandfather. Thereafter, the story basically picks up where The Avengers left off, with Loki in manacles back on Thor's home planet -- or "realm," they call it -- Asgard, after trying to take over our world and trashing New York in the process. His glass-walled, whited-out cell in the dungeon bears a striking resemblance to similar baddie-holding pens in films past, from the X-Men franchise to Skyfall; there he reads books and has heart-to-black-heart chats with his adopted mother, Frigga (Rene Russo, finally getting more to do in this installment than just standing around smiling).
In uppity other realms, Thor has been putting down insurgents alongside his warrior buddies -- the Lady Sif (Jaimie Alexander), and the "Warriors Three," Volstagg (Ray Stevenson), Hogun (Tadanobu Asano) and Fandral (Zachary Levi, stepping in for Josh Dallas) -- and preparing to take over from dad Odin (Anthony Hopkins) as king. Since the Bifrost bridge that connects Asgard to Earth was destroyed two films back, Thor has no means to travel to our world to see Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), the fetching lady scientist he became smitten with in the first movie but barely mentioned in The Avengers.
Luckily, omnipotent bridge-keeper Heimdall (Idris Elba) can see she's basically fine, albeit mightily annoyed with Thor for not staying in touch. Based in London now, she's trying to heal her wounded pride by having a blind date with nice but decidedly non-godly Richard (Chris O'Dowd, criminally underused). She dumps him unceremoniously as soon as her intern Darcy (Kat Dennings), who now has her own intern (Jonathan Howard), interrupts their meal with evidence of a space-fabric disturbance that seems familiar. While investigating the weird phenomenon, Darcy is sucked into another realm and infected with Aether, which sometimes give her scary white-free eyes, evoking happy memories of Black Swan.
PHOTOS: Behind the Scenes of 'Thor'
It turns out that The Convergence, the incredibly rare astronomical alignment of all nine realms, is beginning, hence the possibility of Bifrost-free travel between Earth and Asgard. Thor comes to collect Jane, gets slapped a few times for not calling her, and they commute back to Asgard to see its intricate landscape of cavernous assembly halls and gleaming golden towers, fashioned in the forge of many a mainframe, all impressively conceived and executed by production designer Charles Wood and visual effects supervisor Jake Morrison. That said, some of the more barren landscapes look decidedly less convincing with their papier-mache boulders and screen-like backdrops when Malekith (Christopher Eccleston), the leader of the surviving Dark Elves and his crew, come to try and collect their Aether.
The middle section is mostly a muddle, with endless cross-cutting between the Dark Elves plotting, attacking and then retreating to plot some more, earthlings Darcy and Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) worrying, and the Asgardians bickering over what they should do. The latter finally decide -- despite manifest evidence provided by two previous films that it would be a very bad idea -- to release Loki from jail so that he can fight on their side. Once Loki is back in play, magisterially sneering and loftily dispensing one-liners, the whole thing perks up again. Until, that is, he's off the scene again for reasons which can't be revealed.
The final showdown in Greenwich, London, squares off the Dark Elves and their unleashed Aether against the Asgardians and humans, managing in the process to grind most of Sir Christopher Wren's exquisite 17th century Royal Naval College buildings into a fine, powdery digitally rendered pixel dust. It's here, in this stretch, that the film finally gets its mojo back, finding the requisite balance between bombast and wise-cracks that made the first Thor work in its finest moments. Admittedly, nothing Loki-unrelated in Thor: The Dark World quite matches the hilarity of the scene in the first film where Thor strides into a pet shop and demands a horse, but the finale pleasingly gives the hardworking supports a chance to josh around, the stereoscopy comes into its own, and the editing, credited to Dan Lebental and Wyatt Smith, finds its groove. What a shame the script up until this point is too often so ramshackle and plodding, like the writers were finishing off the dialogue in between catering breaks.
With a project so firmly supervised by its studio, it's hard to tell how much director Alan Taylor should be credited or blamed for the finished result. The Dark World is certainly a far cry from the jaunty little indie crime caper Palookaville (1995) he started his career with. Since then, he's directed some great episodes on some of the very best TV series, including The Sopranos, Mad Men, and, most germane of all in this context, Game of Thrones, on which he also serves as a co-executive producer. Perhaps it's unfair to compare Thrones with The Dark World given the former has so much more scope to build its world over hours of programming, but for all the budget spent on lavish visual effects in The Dark World nothing in it quite compares to the White Walkers marching relentlessly through the snowy Northern wastes at the end of the Taylor-directed episode "Valar Morghulis."
Viewers are advised to not make for the exit as soon as the end credits start rolling and stick it out until the very end if they want to see a postscript that reveals a character who may prove central to the next film. Indeed, the end credits have two Easter-egg scenes, in keeping with the trickle of in-jokes aimed at Marvel aficionados that provides a flash-quick cameo for one of Thor's superhero companions from The Avengers.
Production: Marvel Studios
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgard, Idris Elba, Christopher Eccleston, Anthony Hopkins, Rene Russo, Kat Dennings
Director: Alan Taylor
Screenwriter: Christopher L. Yost, Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely, based on a story by Don Payne and Robert Rodat
Producers: Kevin Feige
Executive producers: Nigel Gostelow, Stan Lee, Victoria Alonso, Craig Kyle, Alan Fine, Louis D'Esposito
Director of photography: Kramer Morgenthau
Production designer: Charles Wood
Costume designer: Wendy Partridge
Editors: Dan Lebental, Wyatt Smith
Music: Brian Taylor
Not yet rated, 112 minutes
Protesters fill the Miami office of Florida state Rep. Manny Diaz Jr. on Sept. 20 to protest his stance against expansion of health coverage in the state.
President Obama Tuesday appointed one of his top management gurus, Jeffrey Zeints, to head the team working to fix what ails Healthcare.gov, the troubled website that's supposed to allow residents of 36 states enroll in coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
But even if the team gets the website working as it should, millions of Americans may still log on to discover that they aren't eligible for any health coverage at all. And that won't be due to any technical glitch. It's because their state has decided not to expand its Medicaid program.
This is not the way the health law was designed and enacted, says Bruce Siegel.
"Originally the idea was that millions and millions of Americans would get health insurance," says Siegel, president and CEO of America's Essential Hospitals, a group that represents safety net institutions around the country. "They'd get coverage through Medicaid or through private insurance on the exchanges."
Currently in most states you have to be a child, be pregnant or disabled to get Medicaid. The health law was supposed to change all that — expanding the program to include nearly everyone with incomes up to about 133 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $15,000 a year for an individual.
But in the summer of 2012, when the Supreme Court upheld the health law as constitutional, it did something unexpected, Siegel says. "They said states had the option of expanding their Medicaid program or not expanding it. And that led to a very, very different landscape than what we expected."
Even with Ohio's decision earlier this week to opt in, still only half the states have said they will expand their Medicaid programs, even though the federal government is paying the entire cost of the additional people for the first three years, and 90 percent going forward.
As a result, according to the Urban Institute, between 6 and 7 million low-income uninsured adults live in states that are so far not expanding their programs.
And some of those states have among the largest populations of low income uninsured people.
"Over 3 million of them live in just four states," says Genevieve Kenney, senior fellow and co-director of the Urban Institute's Health Policy Center. Those states are Florida, Texas, Georgia and North Carolina.
The problem, says Kenney, is that for many of those people the law offers them nothing. Because they were supposed to get Medicaid, they're not eligible to buy private insurance at the exchanges unless their incomes are above the poverty line. That's about $11,000 a year for an individual.
"I think it's going to be confusing for individuals who are applying for coverage," says Kenney. "It certainly makes the message about the new affordable coverage that's available a lot more complicated to target."
Among the people who could get left behind is Ellen Wall. She's a nanny and sometime music teacher from Atlanta. She says her income fluctuates, but most years it's right around the poverty line. She says as long as she can pay her bills, she doesn't mind earning that amount.
"I love doing what I do because I'm very good at what I do, that's why I've chosen this profession," she says. "But there are those years when it's quite lean and then I'm just barely making it. And what am I gonna do if something comes up and I'm really sick and I need some help?"
Wall doesn't have and hasn't had health insurance. She says that was a real problem a few years back when she was in the hospital after an asthma attack.
"It was kind of a very embarrassing situation to be in, not to have the health insurance that could have covered that few days that I was in the hospital," she said.
If Wall lived in a state expanding Medicaid she would clearly qualify. But so far, Georgia isn't. And her income may or may not be high enough to let her qualify for help buying private coverage on the state's exchange. So she'll likely remain working, poor and uninsured.
Most advocates say people like Wall should turn to community clinics and public hospitals if they can't get insurance. But there's a problem there, too, says public hospital advocate Siegel. The health law cut funding for public hospitals because it assumed so many more people would have insurance. But in those states that aren't expanding Medicaid, the need for free care is likely to go up instead of down.
"Many of these hospitals will be overwhelmed," Siegel says. "Some of them are already overwhelmed; many of them are already losing money, providing a high level of service to people in need. And this will simply not be a tenable position."
Public and other hospitals are among those lobbying hard for Medicaid expansion in the states that so far have opted not to expand their Medicaid programs. Some states are still considering opting in. But in others, patients left behind may have to scramble even harder to find care if they get sick.
Istanbul (AFP) - Serena Williams crushed one of the few women to have beaten her in the last 15 months as she began her defence of the WTA Championships in Istanbul with a speedily impressive win on Tuesday.
The world number one from the United States took little more than an hour and allowed only four games to Angelique Kerber, who beat her in Cincinnati last year but who was now outplayed almost from the moment she dropped serve in her opening service game.
As usual it was Williams' superbly produced serve and withering power off the ground which overwhelmed her opponent, and the 6-3, 6-1 success suggested she is as far ahead of the field as she has ever been.
Only briefly, when Kerber earned a break back point in the third game, did the German have a glimpse of getting back into it, and Williams soon denied her that with fierce straight drives on the backhand and the forehand.
Williams' composure was oceanic, and possibly disconcerting. "Tennis is tranquil for me to get out there," she said before the match. "It helps me relax and it makes me calm because I don't have to worry about all the other stuff going on."
That apparently referred to business affairs which will presumably take a back seat while she chases the record of Grand Slam titles during 2014.
Her main rival, Victoria Azarenka, looked care-worn and uncertain by comparison. She was far from consistent and might easily have lost the first set in a 7-6 (7/4) survival against Sara Errani, the sixth seeded Italian.
The world number two from Belarussia found it hard to force the pace on the slowish surface, lost three of her first four service games, and trailed 2-5.
It confirmed the impression given by her disappointing performances in Beijing and Tokyo that she has not been in the best of health, but she improved after squeezing through the first set tie-break.
"I was a little rusty at the beginning. I think it's a little bit expected after a break, and, you know, playing right away against a top player always makes it a little bit difficult because you don't have that room, adaptation. So I had to make that adaptation kind of during the match.
"But I think, you know, overall was important to take that first set. It was a big turnaround point and to stay in the moment, to really just try to find a way how to, you know, how to win points, how to win games," she said.
She was helped by Errani, whose ground strokes had been well-controlled and disguised for the first half of the match, beginning to lose some rhythm and confidence.
That was partly due to Azarenka improving her length whilst retaining her weight of shot, and from the third game onwards in the second set she at last got on top.
However she may need to improve if she is to win a group which includes Li Na, the Chinese player whom she only narrowly beat in the final of the Australian Open at the start of the year.
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Trains in the San Francisco Bay Area were running again Tuesday after a tentative deal capped six months of contentious labor negotiations and two strikes that disrupted hundreds of thousands of daily commutes.
Limited Bay Area Rapid Transit train service began again around 6 a.m., two hours later than BART had said it would and not in time to prevent many commuters from turning to alternative transportation.
BART officials hoped trains would be running at full service in time for the afternoon commute. BART is the nation's fifth-largest rail system, with an average weekday ridership of 400,000.
Morning traffic at the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge toll plaza was snarled, and BART stations were emptier than normal, with a few people dotting platforms as news spread that the strike had ended.
Meshe Harris, 22, of Hayward had been watching the labor dispute closely, hoping it would end quickly. She had no car and somewhere important to be early Tuesday.
"I was really excited because I have to go to Daly City for an interview," Harris said while waiting for a train at the Montgomery Street station in San Francisco. "So I was hoping, thank God, that it was going to be running soon."
The settlement was reached just two days after two track workers were killed in a BART train accident in Walnut Creek. Federal investigators said the train was run by a BART employee who was being trained.
Union officials said they had warned that training managers to operate trains during a walkout could be dangerous.
Amalgamated Transit Union international president Larry Hanley said he wants a criminal investigation into the deaths.
"I'm not saying they intended to kill," Hanley said of the train's operators. "But what I am saying is there was a callous and reckless disregard for the safety of people."
BART officials said employees were trickling into work as they heard about the settlement that ended the four-day strike.
The tentative deal was announced by BART and union officials on Monday night. It still requires approval from union members and from BART's board of directors.
It contains the same economic package as a deal that nearly came together before workers went on strike last week, said Hanley, whose union represents BART train drivers and station agents.
BART and its workers had been closing in on an agreement on the typically contentious issues of wages and benefits before the deal fell apart Friday over workplace rules.
BART demanded changes to the way schedules are made and when overtime is paid. The agency also wanted to move from paper to electronic record keeping.
BART backed off on Monday from most of those issues and settled on minor changes that would allow the introduction of new technology, according to Hanley. He wouldn't be more specific, but one change BART was pushing for was having paystubs distributed electronically instead of by hand.
A vote by the rank-and-file on the tentative deal could come on Oct. 28 at the earliest, Hanley said.
BART general manager Grace Crunican said on Monday night there would be no immediate announcements on the details, as union leaders explained the agreement to their members.
However, she said it marked a compromise.
"This deal is more than we wanted to pay," she said.
The talks between BART and its two largest unions dragged on for six months — a period that saw two chaotic dayslong strikes, including one in July, contentious negotiations and frazzled commuters wondering if they would wake up to find the trains running or not.
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Thanawala and Associated Press reporter Jason Dearen reported from San Francisco. Associated Press writers Haven Daley and Terence Chea in Walnut Creek, Calif., contributed to this report.
This artist's rendering provided by World View Enterprises on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013 shows their design for a capsule lifted by a high-altitude balloon up 19 miles into the air for tourists. Company CEO Jane Poynter said people would pay $75,000 to spend a couple hours looking down at the curve of the Earth. (AP Photo/World View Enterprises)
This artist's rendering provided by World View Enterprises on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013 shows their design for a capsule lifted by a high-altitude balloon up 19 miles into the air for tourists. Company CEO Jane Poynter said people would pay $75,000 to spend a couple hours looking down at the curve of the Earth. (AP Photo/World View Enterprises)
This artist's rendering provided by World View Enterprises on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013 shows their design for a capsule lifted by a high-altitude balloon up 19 miles into the air for tourists. Company CEO Jane Poynter said people would pay $75,000 to spend a couple hours looking down at the curve of the Earth. (AP Photo/World View Enterprises)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The latest space tourism venture depends more on hot air than rocket science.
World View Enterprises announced plans Tuesday to send people up in a capsule, lifted 19 miles by a high-altitude balloon. Jane Poynter, CEO of the Tucson, Ariz.-based company, said the price for the four-hour ride would be $75,000.
While it's not quite space — that starts at 62 miles — the plan requires approval from the Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees commercial space.
Poynter said the plan uses existing technology and the first launch could be as early as the end of 2016.
"There are balloons this size that have already flown up many, many times for decades," Poynter said. "From a technical point of view this is incredibly doable, low risk."
The selling point is the view of the Earth and seeing its curve, she said. The venture isn't designed for passengers to experience weightlessness.
The flight would take 90 minutes to go up at about 1,000 feet a minute, set sail up high for 2 hours with an emphasis on smooth riding, and then come back down in 40 minutes, Poynter said. The capsule's interior will be roomy enough for its eight passengers to walk around.
Outside space expert Scott Pace, a former NASA associate administrator now space policy director at George Washington University, agreed that this is technically feasible. He said the issue is whether there's enough of a market for it to be financially doable, calling it "an interesting market test."
Pace said the while there are many space tourism ventures, it is not quite right to call the field growing. It is still embryonic. A few people have paid tens of millions of dollars to fly to the International Space Station and others have paid to fly in high altitude jets. But how many people will pay for near space experiences, he asked.
Poynter said she has no doubt that there's a market with other firms like Virgin Galactic selling so many tickets for yet-to-fly rides.
"Space tourism is here to stay," said Poynter, who also runs the space firm Paragon Space Development Corporation.
She and her husband earlier this year proposed a private venture to send a married couple to Mars in 2018.
Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2013-10-22-Space%20Tourism/id-c507bab078124fa5bde7611c3f3eee75
