Hashtag #smarthtc has been trending on Twitter for more than 12 hours now. Wondering what’s it about? Well, last night Smart Communications and HTC Philippines held a big event in Opus Bar Resorts World to announce their landmark partnership; Smart Communications is now the newest and biggest carrier of HTC phones in the Philippines. As it turned out, it rained HTC smartphones that night — with …
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Jeff Hoffman, a veteran of five space shuttle flights, will be online here at 1pm to answer your questions about his experiences and opinions on the future of Nasa and human spaceflight. Please leave your questions in the comments field below Today at 1pm, we’re joined for a live web chat with Dr Jeff Hoffman , a veteran of five space shuttle flights, including the first mission to retrieve and repair the Hubble Space Telescope in 1993. Please post your questions for him below. Dr Hoffman has logged more than 1,211 hours in space and became the first astronaut to notch up 1,000 hours aboard the shuttle. He has travelled 21.5 million miles in space. He flew twice on Columbia, which was destroyed on return to Earth in 2003, and once on Atlantis, which – weather permitting – is due to launch from Kennedy Space Centre tomorrow, marking the last mission of the shuttle era. Hoffman has made numerous space walks and worked on tethered satellites that were dragged behind the space shuttle to generate electricity. He holds a PhD in astrophysics from Harvard University and is now a professor at the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT. Final space shuttle mission The space shuttle Space Nasa Ian Sample guardian.co.uk
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Continue reading …Gateway updates its ID and NV laptops with USB 3.0, Sandy Bridge and Llano internals
July 7, 2011 No Comment
Acer’s had its day ( or two ) unveiling back-to-school laptops, and now it’s its sister brand Gateway’s turn. The outfit just announced the 15.6-inch NV series and the 14-inch ID47, both of which include USB 3.0 and a choice of Sandy Bridge processors. (In the case of that entry-level NV, you can also opt for one of AMD’s fresh-off-the-line Llano chips.) But the company did more than just give its notebooks a spec bump — it also tweaked their designs, adding a chiclet keyboard to the NV series , while the metal-clad ID’s trackpad is 20 percent larger and no longer glows like a mood ring. The ID47 also has a 14-inch display crammed into a chassis usually paired with 13.3-inch panels, as well as a non-removable battery that promises up to eight hours of juice. (The NV is rated for up to four hours.) And, in an unusual twist, our friends in Canada will get additional choices, including a 15.6-inch version of the ID, as well as select models with NVIDIA Optimus . Both the ID47 and NV57 are available now, with the ID starting at $629.99 and $799 Canadian, and the NV fetching $529.99 and $499 Canadian. Check out the various configurations after the break, with lots ‘o photos below. Gallery: Gateway ID47 and NV55 / NV57 hands-on Continue reading Gateway updates its ID and NV laptops with USB 3.0, Sandy Bridge and Llano internals Gateway updates its ID and NV laptops with USB 3.0, Sandy Bridge and Llano internals originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jul 2011 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Ruling in Strasbourg say Britain was occupying force and thereby took on judicial role of sovereign government Britain was an occupying power following the invasion of Iraq and failed to carry out effective investigations into the killing of civilians, the European court of human rights has ruled in a landmark judgment. The decision by the Strasbourg court could open the Ministry of Defence to a deluge of claims and add to the pressure for further public inquiries into the behaviour of troops in and around Basra following the 2003 invasion. By extending liability beyond the UK’s territorial limits and outside the confines of Europe, the ruling will have far-reaching implications for military operations around the world. The case was brought by the Birmingham-based firm Public Interest Lawyers on behalf of Iraqis who claimed their relatives had been variously shot dead, raped, disappeared or tortured by British soldiers between 2003 and 2006. In its judgment, the court said: “Following the removal from power of the Ba’ath regime and until the accession of the Iraqi interim government, the United Kingdom (together with the United States) assumed in Iraq the exercise of some of the public powers normally to be exercised by a sovereign government. “In particular, the United Kingdom assumed authority and responsibility for the maintenance of security in south-east Iraq. In those exceptional circumstances, a jurisdictional link existed between the United Kingdom and individuals killed in the course of security operations carried out by British soldiers during the period May 2003 to June 2004. “Since the applicants’ relatives were killed in the course of United Kingdom security operations during that period, the United Kingdom was required to carry out an investigation into their deaths.” Among those who died was Hazim Al-Skeini, 23, who was shot dead by a British army patrol. In his witness statement, his brother explained that, on 4 August 2003, members of his family had been in the village of al-Majidiyah for a funeral ceremony. “In Iraq, it is customary for guns to be discharged at a funeral,” the court said. “He stated that he saw soldiers shoot and kill his brother and another man – both unarmed and only about 10 metres away from the soldiers – for no apparent reason.” The court found that there had not been an effective investigation into five of the killings. It noted that in contrast, the UK has held an inquiry into the death of Baha Mousa, a hotel worker, who died while in the custody of British troops in 2003 (the inquiry’s report is due in the autumn). The UK was ordered by the court to pay damages to five of the applicants of €17,000 (£15,200) each and awarded tham jointly a further €50,000 in costs and expenses. The Strasbourg court also ruled in a second case, Al Jedda v United Kingdom, that the indefinite detention of a dual British-Iraqi citizen in a Basra facility run by UK forces was illegal. Hilal Abdul-Razzaq Ali al-Jedda, 53, was detained for three years. The army maintained that responsible for recruiting terrorists outside Iraq to commit atrocities there but no criminal charges were brought against him. Eric Metcalfe, director of the human rights group Justice, said: “The rulings send out two clear messages. The British government’s duties under human rights law do not stop at Dover, and they cannot be easily displaced by rulings of the UN security council. This is a good day for the international rule of law.” Phil Shiner, who led the team at Public Interest Lawyers said: “This is a monumental judgment … and an important day for our clients, many of whom can now force what the MoD has long-denied them – a public inquiry uncovering the truth about what the British army did to them and their loved ones.” Jim Duffy, another of the victims’ solicitors added: “The court’s judgment sends a clear message: wherever soldiers or other state agents act, they must do so whilst upholding, not violating, human rights. The violence, religious degradation, sexual abuse and, in many cases, gratuitous killing suffered by our clients must now be confronted.” Iraq European court of human rights Middle East Military Human rights Owen Bowcott guardian.co.uk
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• Jeremy Hunt satisfied about safeguards, Lords told • Volume of submissions means quick decision unlikely The government has refused to suspend consideration of News Corporation’s takeover bid for BSkyB amid the phone-hacking scandal, but the volume of submissions it has received relating to the deal means it is unlikely any final decision will be made before the end of the summer. In a question in the House of Lords, the shadow leader of the house, Lady Royall, called for a delay “in the light of the loss of public and commercial confidence in News International”, News of the World’s parent company. But the Conservative peer, Lady Rawlings, said the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, was satisfied there were “sufficient safeguards” in place to make such a delay unnecessary. The BBC reported that more than 100,000 submissions relating to the BSkyB deal had been received by Hunt in less than a week, most opposed to the takeover, and the volume meant no decision would be taken until September. Rawlings alluded to a possible delay when she said no date had been set for the decision. “The secretary of state will not be rushed, he will be fair,” she said, adding that the decision would be made purely on the issue of media plurality. Royall’s question in the Lords followed a demand on Thursday morning by the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, that the decision be suspended. He accused David Cameron of not showing leadership and being “two steps behind public opinion”. The scrutiny of the BSkyB deal came as the backlash against the News of the World intensified with the Royal British Legion dropping the newspaper as its campaigning partner over allegations that the phones of families of members of the armed forces killed in action had been hacked. Advertisers are continuing to desert the paper. The chair of the Press Complaints Commission, Lady Buscombe, described the decision to appoint the former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks to run an internal inquiry as “extraordinary”. The legion has worked with the paper to call for the military covenant, which promises fair treatment for those who fight for their country, to be enshrined in law. It said it had now suspended all relations with the News of the World and was reviewing its advertising budget with News International, which also publishes the Sun and the Times. The charity said it was “shocked to the core” by the allegations. Families of members of the armed forces killed in Afghanistan and Iraq expressed disgust that they were possibly targeted by Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator who worked for the News of the World. Jim Gill, stepfather of Second Lieutenant Richard Shearer of the 1st Battalion, Staffordshire Regiment, who was killed in Iraq in July 2005 by a roadside bomb, said his family suspected their phone had been hacked but had not yet been contacted by police. He told BBC Breakfast he was unsurprised by the revelations but they were “very distressing”. The defence secretary, Liam Fox, said the latest allegations, if true, would represent an “outrageous breach of trust”, while Miliband described them as “grotesque”. Sainsbury’s and npower joined a host of other advertisers who have deserted the News of the World, at least temporarily, amid the scandal. Citing the “rising concerns of our customers”, Sainsbury’s said it was suspending advertising until the outcome of the investigation into phone hacking. Npower said it was suspending advertising and would review its future strategy. The two companies join Britain’s biggest advertiser, Proctor &Gamble, O2, Butlins, Virgin Holidays, Halifax bank, the Co-operative Group, Vauxhall and Mitsubishi in suspending deals with the newspaper. Buscombe said executives at News International needed to examine their consciences. “I think it’s extraordinary that Rupert Murdoch has asked Rebekah Brooks to lead their own internal inquiry into this,” she said. “In any other business that would not be allowed to happen. “I don’t know now whether she lied to me. All I’m saying is there are allegations out there and we have to be really careful about how we respond. And I think it’s important that all the executives at News International actually look to their own conscience. They need to give us the facts. We need to find out the facts.” Phone hacking News of the World Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers News International BSkyB Television industry News Corporation Media business Military House of Lords Haroon Siddique guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …In the Obama era, the Environmental Protection Agency has been absolutely non-controversial in the national media. Few reporters have considered its aggressive “green” tactics a job-crusher. In fact, on Wednesday night’s “Marketplace” business show on many NPR stations, that notion was mocked as a playground taunt that children might make. Reporter Adriene Hill began: Here's my best impression of politicians talking about environmental rules: “They're job killers.” “Are not.” “Are too.” “Are not.”
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Royal Caribbean Offers Guided Backend Tours (VIDEO) iNDEPENDANCE OF THE SEAS | Cruise.co.uk New England-Canada 2010.mp4 Dale_Floyd says: Deal watch: Royal Caribbean kicks off holiday sale http://bit.ly/mQoxGt
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Developers of farms in Cornwall and Lincolnshire have rushed to beat the cut in government subsidies for large-scale solar installations A huge solar farm in Lincolnshire and another in Cornwall started generating green electricity on Thursday to become the UK’s two biggest solar installations, as developers rushed to beat an imminent cut in government subsidies. The 1MW Fen Farm solar park and the 1.4MW Wheal Jane park in Truro are two of several such large-scale projects rushing to connect to the grid. They are trying to benefit from a higher level of feed-in tariff payments before the government cuts the rates by up to 75% on 1 August. When the cuts were confirmed last month , ministers defended them on the grounds that the funding for payments needed to be protected for householders. But energy industry figures and campaigners warned that making such large projects financially unviable would “crush” the solar industry and cost the UK “major manufacturing opportunities, jobs and global competitiveness”. The developers of the Truro park on the site of a disused tin mine worked around the clock to finish the project in time to beat the tariff cuts. Solarcentury and Lightsource Renewables originally planned to finish the park by the end of August. They were forced to bring both projects forward, at significant extra cost. Although the solar park in Lincolnshire was always planned for completion before August, its developers, Ecotricity, experienced similar concerns about not completing the project in time. Founder Dale Vince, said that connecting to the grid by 1 August is an insecure business. “When you think that we’re finishing three weeks ahead of the deadline, we’re cutting it fine enough for my liking,” he said. “You’ve got a situation where the grid companies aren’t that amenable. They don’t get anything out of accommodating renewable energy on the grids so it’s never an easy thing. It’s a bureaucratic process and more often than not there will be a delay.” Not all the projects are fortunate enough to have even three weeks’ leeway. Silicon Vineyards, the developer of a solar park at Benbole Farm in Cornwall, is working right up to the deadline. Despite the cut in payments – from 30.7p per Kwh currently to 8.5p from August for field-size installations over 250Kw – some companies are pushing ahead with large-scale projects that will miss the deadline. They are hoping that the government will announce in mid-July that renewable sources of energy including solar are now eligible for a higher level of a separate subsidy scheme, Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROC). Hopes in the industry are also being pinned on the exploitation of a legal loophole in the feed-in tariff system. Ray Noble, solar specialist at the Renewable Energy Association , said companies are putting plans on hold while they seek legal advice and wait for Ofgem to indicate whether smaller solar power projects could later be increased in size and still retain the higher rates. “There’ll be some innovative ways of trying to make it work,” Noble said. “Most of the developers have kept very quiet while they lobby government to say they’re losing lots of money and that the system needs to be changed for them to make any plans.” Ecotricity’s Vince was critical of the government’s support for solar power. “Our government has got its eyes focused on big nuclear and clean coal, and solar has become an inconvenient success story. But it seems crazy to me to have a cap. We need large scale solar to make the UK more energy independent and reduce our carbon. Large-scale solar is critical if this government is serious about being the greenest ever.” Solar power Energy Renewable energy Feed-in tariffs Energy industry guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Developers of farms in Cornwall and Lincolnshire have rushed to beat the cut in government subsidies for large-scale solar installations A huge solar farm in Lincolnshire and another in Cornwall started generating green electricity on Thursday to become the UK’s two biggest solar installations, as developers rushed to beat an imminent cut in government subsidies. The 1MW Fen Farm solar park and the 1.4MW Wheal Jane park in Truro are two of several such large-scale projects rushing to connect to the grid. They are trying to benefit from a higher level of feed-in tariff payments before the government cuts the rates by up to 75% on 1 August. When the cuts were confirmed last month , ministers defended them on the grounds that the funding for payments needed to be protected for householders. But energy industry figures and campaigners warned that making such large projects financially unviable would “crush” the solar industry and cost the UK “major manufacturing opportunities, jobs and global competitiveness”. The developers of the Truro park on the site of a disused tin mine worked around the clock to finish the project in time to beat the tariff cuts. Solarcentury and Lightsource Renewables originally planned to finish the park by the end of August. They were forced to bring both projects forward, at significant extra cost. Although the solar park in Lincolnshire was always planned for completion before August, its developers, Ecotricity, experienced similar concerns about not completing the project in time. Founder Dale Vince, said that connecting to the grid by 1 August is an insecure business. “When you think that we’re finishing three weeks ahead of the deadline, we’re cutting it fine enough for my liking,” he said. “You’ve got a situation where the grid companies aren’t that amenable. They don’t get anything out of accommodating renewable energy on the grids so it’s never an easy thing. It’s a bureaucratic process and more often than not there will be a delay.” Not all the projects are fortunate enough to have even three weeks’ leeway. Silicon Vineyards, the developer of a solar park at Benbole Farm in Cornwall, is working right up to the deadline. Despite the cut in payments – from 30.7p per Kwh currently to 8.5p from August for field-size installations over 250Kw – some companies are pushing ahead with large-scale projects that will miss the deadline. They are hoping that the government will announce in mid-July that renewable sources of energy including solar are now eligible for a higher level of a separate subsidy scheme, Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROC). Hopes in the industry are also being pinned on the exploitation of a legal loophole in the feed-in tariff system. Ray Noble, solar specialist at the Renewable Energy Association , said companies are putting plans on hold while they seek legal advice and wait for Ofgem to indicate whether smaller solar power projects could later be increased in size and still retain the higher rates. “There’ll be some innovative ways of trying to make it work,” Noble said. “Most of the developers have kept very quiet while they lobby government to say they’re losing lots of money and that the system needs to be changed for them to make any plans.” Ecotricity’s Vince was critical of the government’s support for solar power. “Our government has got its eyes focused on big nuclear and clean coal, and solar has become an inconvenient success story. But it seems crazy to me to have a cap. We need large scale solar to make the UK more energy independent and reduce our carbon. Large-scale solar is critical if this government is serious about being the greenest ever.” Solar power Energy Renewable energy Feed-in tariffs Energy industry guardian.co.uk
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