Korean operators warn Europe of "curse" of 4G networks

BARCELONA (Reuters) - South Korean telecom executives have a message for European cousins who have long looked on in envy at the highly connected Asian market: Be careful what you wish for.

South Korea, the world's most wired country with 30 percent of its 50 million mobile users on superfast networks, has inspired many European operators ahead of their own rollout of networks based on LTE, or fourth-generation technology.

But SK Telecom Co Ltd , the country's largest operator with more than half of the market, and second player KT Corp , told Reuters that although the rollout of faster networks had been good for consumers, they were still struggling to make money on the technology 18 months after launch.

"Our European colleagues complain that the explosion in data has not fully happened for them, that it did not come to reality," Suk-Chae Lee, the head of KT Corp, told Reuters at the Mobile World Congress on Tuesday.

"In Korea, they are data crazy. We have unprecedented demand. We cannot handle it. But the issue we have is that they are not willing to pay enough. So, the fundamental problem is, can we make any money out of it?"

South Korea is often held up by European governments as the model they would most like to replicate, with superfast networks enabling millions of people to shop online, communicate and become more productive.

The country has three operators who have been forced to fight for every consumer, spending heavily on marketing and handset subsidies and continually offering more for less to lure in and keep their subscribers.

"The traffic increases but the revenue does not necessarily follow," SK's chief technology officer Jae W Byun said in an interview.

"We have seen about a $13 increase in average revenue per user compared with 3G. So, it is good money, but it may not be enough to justify the huge investment needed in LTE."

Byun added that the profitability of LTE would improve as SK expects the number of subscribers on the technology to grow to 60 percent by the end of the year, from 30 percent currently.

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European operators such as Telefonica SA and France Telecom SA , weighed down by regulation, competition and economic woes, are betting that the billions of dollars of investment needed for 4G networks will eventually be offset by an increase in customer prices.

Their optimism will be tested when 4G services reach more subscribers in Germany, France, Scandinavia and Britain this year.

In contrast, in the United States AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications Inc are surfing the 4G wave to grow sales and profits, but that has much to do with the fact that they have a combined 70 percent share of their home market.

The lessons from Korea are not all harsh, though.

SK's Byun said rolling out faster networks could enable a mobile operator ranked number two or three to become market leader because the improvement to the consumer is so significant.

But he also noted that once one operator launched 4G, others had to follow quickly or face being left behind.

"If you want to change the game, then take a risk and invest," said Byun.

Customers of both firms on average consume 1.8 to 1.9 gigabytes of data per month, with users spending hours watching video on YouTube, browsing the web and social networking on smartphones and tablets.

According to research from Cisco, an average smartphone user on slower 3G networks consumes around 342 megabytes. South Korea's leap to 1.8 gigabytes followed an 80 percent jump in mobile data traffic on 2G, 3G and 4G networks in 2012.

"LTE is very beneficial to the people but still the big question remains, can we go on?" KT's Suk-Chae Lee said. "It is a blessing to customers but it is a curse on the operators."

The problem will likely get worse, with analysts at Citi predicting 70 percent of the country's mobile users would be on 4G networks by 2014.

SK says it cannot predict when the network will break even because it depends on marketing costs. Its rival noted that with technology developing so quickly, companies have to continually develop new infrastructure, giving less time to recoup the cost.

"The question remains, how do you build out a network while ensuring that the builder gets a minimum return for their investment?" KT's Suk-Chae Lee said. "It is a dilemma."

(Additional reporting by Miyoung Kim in Seoul; Editing by Dan Lalor and David Holmes)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/korean-operators-warn-europe-curse-4g-networks-115105261--finance.html

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Senate Dems bill light on deficit cuts in 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Democratic legislation in the Senate to replace $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts would result in very modest deficit savings through the end of the budget year, most if not of all of them through higher taxes on millionaires.

Instead, officials say the bill would spread the savings out over a decade in a move sponsors say is designed to prevent damage to a shaky economic recovery.

The Democrats' approach to the latest episode of budget brinkmanship comes as the two political parties vie for public support in advance of across-the-board cuts due to kick in on Friday.

The Senate is expected to vote on Thursday on rival Democratic and Republican alternatives to replace the spending cuts, known in Washington-speak as a sequester. Both bills are expected to fail.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-02-27-US-Budget-Democrats/id-e82f2ff820ac4aab9d9b00b6555afa90

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Why do Republicans so hate Michelle Obama? (Americablog)

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Skype Pilates: Because Sometimes It's Just Too Darn Cold Outside ...

Spring is coming. It is--I mean, eventually! But for now, it can still get awfully chilly, and I don't know about you, but the cold factor can leave me with a serious case of anti-motivation in going to the gym.

So here's one way to get in a personalized workout without actually going anywhere: Skype or Google+!

Denise Posnak is the founder of MyBOD Wellness, a Skype-based Pilates and yoga program. She and her staff offer live video sessions in order to give clients one-on-one attention for less than what a typical personal trainer might cost (the first 45-minute session is $35; a ten-pack of sessions is $430, and you can share them with friends anywhere in the world for no additional cost). You book a session online for Skype or Google+, meet your teacher on a video call, and do the workout. Possibly while still in your pajamas.

So to help jumpstart our brr-it's-cold-Monday motivation levels, Denise shared these two exclusive Pilates moves:

The NEW Jane Fonda
This is a classic twist--but with a Pilates twist! Every time you turn to the side, pull in your abs and squeeze your waistline like a dish towel being wrung dry. Hold on each side and don't let your core pop.
Reps: Do three slowly on each side, and then 10 quickly, keeping your form the whole time.

MyBOD Rockette
Lift up your hips, and kick your right leg upward--without moving the rest of your body. Keep your abs engaged and squeeze your left glute, then repeat on the left.
Reps: Do five times on each side.

Gotta love technology! Would you ever try a training session online?

More cool workouts:
* This workout makes you burn more fat and calories after you're done!
* Highly pinnable Pinterest workouts
* Get rid of the muffin top with these Pilates moves

Photos: Denise Posnak

Source: http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/blogs/vitamin-g/2013/02/skype-pilates-because-sometimes-i.html

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The Super-Slim Xperia Tablet Z Feels Like Sony?s Finest Tablet Yet

After Sony released a string of curious Android tablets that failed to catch on, the company had no choice but to go back to the drawing table and try something different.?That something different wound up being the Xperia Tablet Z, easily one of its most conventional designs yet ? a choice that may end up paying off nicely. Now that the decidedly non-kooky Xperia Tablet Z is gearing up for an appearance stateside, we tracked one down here at MWC to get a glimpse at what Sony?s tantalizingly thin tab brings to the table.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/MdytxIz4RzQ/

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Investors face another Washington deadline

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors face another Washington-imposed deadline on government spending cuts next week, but it's not generating the same level of fear as two months ago when the "fiscal cliff" loomed large.

Investors in sectors most likely to be affected by the cuts, like defense, seem untroubled that the budget talks could send stocks tumbling.

Talks on the U.S. budget crisis began again this week leading up to the March 1 deadline for the so-called sequestration when $85 billion in automatic federal spending cuts are scheduled to take effect.

"It's at this point a political hot button in Washington but a very low level investor concern," said Fred Dickson, chief market strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co. in Lake Oswego, Oregon. The fight pits President Barack Obama and fellow Democrats against congressional Republicans.

Stocks rallied in early January after a compromise temporarily avoided the fiscal cliff, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index <.spx> has risen 6.3 percent since the start of the year.

But the benchmark index lost steam this week, posting its first week of losses since the start of the year. Minutes on Wednesday from the last Federal Reserve meeting, which suggested the central bank may slow or stop its stimulus policy sooner than expected, provided the catalyst.

National elections in Italy on Sunday and Monday could also add to investor concern. Most investors expect a government headed by Pier Luigi Bersani to win and continue with reforms to tackle Italy's debt problems. However, a resurgence by former leader Silvio Berlusconi has raised doubts.

"Europe has been in the last six months less of a topic for the stock market, but the problems haven't gone away. This may bring back investor attention to that," said Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.

OPTIONS BULLS TARGET GAINS

The spending cuts, if they go ahead, could hit the defense industry particularly hard.

Yet in the options market, bulls were targeting gains in Lockheed Martin Corp , the Pentagon's biggest supplier.

Calls on the stock far outpaced puts, suggesting that many investors anticipate the stock to move higher. Overall options volume on the stock was 2.8 times the daily average with 17,000 calls and 3,360 puts traded, according to options analytics firm Trade Alert.

"The upside call buying in Lockheed solidifies the idea that option investors are not pricing in a lot of downside risk in most defense stocks from the likely impact of sequestration," said Jared Woodard, a founder of research and advisory firm condoroptions.com in Forest, Virginia.

The stock ended up 0.6 percent at $88.12 on Friday.

If lawmakers fail to reach an agreement on reducing the U.S. budget deficit in the next few days, a sequester would include significant cuts in defense spending. Companies such as General Dynamics Corp and Smith & Wesson Holding Corp could be affected.

General Dynamics Corp shares rose 1.2 percent to $67.32 and Smith & Wesson added 4.6 percent to $9.18 on Friday.

EYES ON GDP DATA, APPLE

The latest data on fourth-quarter U.S. gross domestic product is expected on Thursday, and some analysts predict an upward revision following trade data that showed America's deficit shrank in December to its narrowest in nearly three years.

U.S. GDP unexpectedly contracted in the fourth quarter, according to an earlier government estimate, but analysts said there was no reason for panic, given that consumer spending and business investment picked up.

Investors will be looking for any hints of changes in the Fed's policy of monetary easing when Fed Chairman Ben Bernake speaks before congressional committees on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Shares of Apple will be watched closely next week when the company's annual stockholders' meeting is held.

On Friday, a U.S. judge handed outspoken hedge fund manager David Einhorn a victory in his battle with the iPhone maker, blocking the company from moving forward with a shareholder vote on a controversial proposal to limit the company's ability to issue preferred stock.

(Additional reporting by Doris Frankel; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/investors-face-another-washington-deadline-142758934--finance.html

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Fidel Castro makes surprise parliament appearance

Cubadebate.cu

Fidel and Raul Castro at the opening session of the National Assembly in Cuba on Sunday, Feb. 24.

By Marc Frank, Reuters

HAVANA ? Retired Cuban leader Fidel Castro made a rare public appearance Sunday by joining the opening session of the National Assembly, state media reported amid speculation the gathering could give clues on planning for a future leadership succession.

Since falling ill in 2006 and ceding the presidency to his brother, Fidel Castro has given up all official positions except as a deputy in the National Assembly. At Sunday's session, he took his seat beside brother President Raul Castro, only the second time he has graced the assembly chambers since his illness and the first since 2010.

Cubadebate.cu

Fidel Castro at the opening session of the National Assembly on Sunday, Feb. 24.

Fidel Castro's surprise appearance added to expectations, fueled by his brother, that the usually routine session might shed light on future leadership of the communist-run nation.

In a back and forth with reporters on Friday, Raul Castro joked about his eventual retirement and urged them to pay attention to Sunday's conclave, which is closed to foreign journalists.

"I'm going to turn 82; I have a right to retire already," he said. "You don't believe me? Why are you so incredulous?" he said.

The 612 deputies, who were elected in an uncontested vote February 3, are expected to name a new 31-member Council of State with Raul Castro as president, despite his quip.

The National Assembly meets for just a few weeks each year and delegates its legislative powers between sessions to the Council of State, which also functions as the nation's executive through the Council of Ministers it appoints.

Governments, Cuba watchers and Cubans will be watching to see if there are any new, and younger, faces among the Council of State members, in particular its first vice president and five vice presidents, with an average age over 70.

The new government is almost certain to be the last headed up by the Castro brothers and the generation that has ruled Cuba since they swept down from the mountains in the 1959 revolution that led to a long-running feud with Washington.

Raul Castro, 81, would begin his second term on Sunday, theoretically leaving him free to retire in 2018, aged 86.

Eighty percent of the parliament's 612 members, with an average age under 50, were born after the Revolution.

Effort to promote younger generation

Raul Castro, who officially replaced his ailing brother as president in 2008, has repeatedly called for senior leaders to hold office for no more than two, five-year terms.

"Although we kept on trying to promote young people to senior positions, life proved that we did not always make the best choice," Castro said at a Party Congress in 2011.

"Today, we are faced with the consequences of not having a reserve of well-trained replacements....It's really embarrassing that we have not solved this problem in more than half a century," he said.

The 2011 party summit adopted a more than 300-point plan to "update" Cuba's Soviet-style economic system, designed to transform it from one based on collective production and consumption to one where individual effort and reward play a far more important role.

Across-the-board subsidies are being replaced by the country's first comprehensive tax code and targeted welfare.

Fidel Castro, these days referred to as the "historic leader of the revolution," is no longer seen as wielding real power, but he has maintained a public presence through his writings, meetings with important visitors and rare appearances.

Esteban Lazo, member of the political bureau of the Community Party and vice president of the Council of State, 68, was named parliament president Sunday to replace a retiring Ricardo Alarcon, who served for 20 years.

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/24/17076603-fidel-castro-makes-surprise-parliament-appearance-amid-leadership-speculation?lite

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Senate panel plans Tuesday vote on Lew nomination

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee says the committee will vote on Tuesday on the nomination of former White House chief of staff Jack Lew to be treasury secretary.

Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana says Lew has answered the committee's questions "in a thorough and fully transparent manner" and the committee has conducted a "thorough review" of the nominee.

Lew would succeed Timothy Geithner in President Barack Obama's second-term Cabinet.

Some of the toughest questions he faced during his confirmation hearing dealt with his short time at Citibank. Lew was a top executive during the height of the financial crisis.

On policy matters, he addressed Europe's debt crisis, U.S.-China relations and the 2010 financial regulatory overhaul.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-02-24-Treasury-Lew/id-a8a73e440d6e4851a18ef750d0968571

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Norway Offshore Oil Focus Best for Kvaerner, Aker Says

23 Feb 2013

Kvaerner ASA (KVAER), a builder of oil platforms, should focus on regaining lost market share in Norway rather than bidding for higher-risk international projects, according to Aker ASA (AKER) Chief Executive Officer Oeyvind Eriksen.

?The question is how does Kvaerner respond to the pretty brutal eye-opener that they lost all seven? engineering, procurement and construction contracts that have been awarded for projects off the coast of Norway in recent months, he told investors in Oslo today. The company should focus on Norway and re-establishing itself in ?pole position in the whole market rather than take higher risks? internationally, he said. Aker owns 41 percent of Kvaerner, making it the biggest shareholder.

Kvaerner lost out to Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. on the $1.1 billion topside contract for the Aasta Hansteen natural gas project, while Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. won the 6.1 billion kroner ($1.1 billion) Dagny topside deal. Det Norske Oljeselskap ASA awarded the topside deal for the Ivar Aasen project, worth about 4 billion kroner, to a unit of SembCorp Marine Ltd. in Singapore, it said on Feb. 7.

?The turn of the year has been a challenging one for Kvaerner,? Eriksen said. The company now needs to consider how it can restructure its business model to cut costs and enhance competitiveness, he said. ?That also entails working towards regaining its position with key clients, first and foremost with Statoil ASA (STL),? Norway?s largest oil and gas producer, he said.

Competition Intensifies

Kvaerner, based at Fornebu near Oslo, was spun off from Aker Solutions ASA (AKSO) in July 2011.

The company had an order backlog of 21.3 billion kroner as of Dec. 31, 50 percent of which is due for execution in 2013, 30 percent in 2014 and the remainder in 2015 and later, it said on Feb. 13. That compares with 10 billion kroner a year earlier.

Kvaerner is bidding for work at Woodside Petroleum Ltd.?s (WPL) Browse LNG project in the Kimberley wilderness region of Western Australia, with a final investment decision expected in the first half of this year, Kvaerner said.

?Other than Browse my personal view is that Kvaerner should really focus on the Norwegian continental shelf,? Eriksen said.

Kvaerner will adapt its ?delivery models to an increasingly competitive market,? Chief Executive Officer Jan Arve Haugan said at the company?s fourth-quarter results presentation on Feb. 13, without providing further detail.

Kvaerner posted net income of 56 million kroner, down from 81 million kroner a year earlier and beating the 35.6 million kroner average of seven analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Shares in Kvaerner rose as much as 3.8 percent and traded 3.4 percent higher as of 3:30 p.m. in Oslo, curbing its decline during the last 12 months to 15 percent and giving the company a market value of 3.6 billion kroner.

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-02-22/norwegian-offshore-oil-focus-is-best-for-kvaerner-aker-ceo-says

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/opulentuz/~3/QZ0Mm9-gNAY/1384

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Meet City Credit Union's February Teacher of the Month

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Source: http://www.wfaa.com/good-morning-texas/Meet-City-Credit-Unions-February-Teacher-of-the-Month-192522091.html

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Threat of sequestration looms as deadline approaches (cbsnews)

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Study reveals new clues to Epstein-Barr virus

Friday, February 22, 2013

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) affects more than 90 percent of the population worldwide and was the first human virus found to be associated with cancer. Now, researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have broadened the understanding of this widespread infection with their discovery of a second B-cell attachment receptor for EBV.

The new findings, which currently appear on-line in Cell Reports, reinforce current directions being taken in the development of a vaccine to guard against EBV, and raise important new questions regarding the virus's possible relationship to malaria and to autoimmune diseases.

"Our discovery that CD35 is an attachment receptor for EBV helps explain several previously unsolved observations," explains the study's senior author Joyce Fingeroth, MD, a member of the Division of Infectious Diseases at BIDMC and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

First discovered in the early 1960s, EBV is one of eight viruses in the human herpesvirus family. The virus affects nine out of 10 people at some point in their lifetimes. Infections in early childhood often cause no disease symptoms, but people infected during adolescence or young adulthood may develop infectious mononucleosis. EBV is also associated with several types of cancer, including Hodgkin's lymphoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and has been linked to certain autoimmune disorders.

"EBV was the first human virus that was discovered to be a tumor virus," explains Fingeroth. "In fact, individuals who have had infectious mononucleosis have a four times increased risk of developing Hodgkin's disease." After the initial infection, the EBV virus remains in a person's body for life.

To gain entry, viruses must first attach to their host cells. For herpesviruses, receptors on the viral envelope become connected to complementary receptors on the cell membrane. In the case of EBV, the virus gains access to the immune system by attaching to primary B cells.

Nearly 30 years ago, Fingeroth and her colleagues discovered that this attachment occurs via the CD21 protein, which until now was the only known B cell attachment receptor for EBV. The recent finding that B cells from a patient lacking CD21 can be infected and immortalized by EBV had indicated that an alternative attachment receptor must exist. The identification of this second receptor -- CD35 -- by Fingeroth's team, led by first author Javier Ogembo, PhD, of BIDMC and the University of Massachusetts Medical School, not only underscores an important finding regarding primary infection but also underscores the importance of EBVgp350/220, (the virus protein that has been found to bind to both attachment receptors) for the development of a vaccine against EBV.

"The EBV glycoprotein gp350/220 is the most abundant surface glycoprotein on the virus," notes Fingeroth, adding that these results further suggest the virus fusion apparatus is the same for both receptors. "An EBV vaccine might be able to prevent infection or, alternatively, greatly reduce a person's risk of developing infectious mononucleosis and EBV-associated cancers, without necessarily preventing the EBV infection itself."

Interestingly, she adds, whereas a human has now been identified to be lacking the CD21 receptor, no persons are known to lack CD35.

"CD35 is a latecomer in evolution and in its current form, exists only in humans," says Fingeroth. "We know that it is often targeted in autoimmune diseases and was recently identified as a malaria receptor. Our new discovery may, therefore, reveal new avenues for the exploration of unexplained links between EBV, autoimmune diseases, malaria and cancer."

###

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center: http://www.bidmc.harvard.edu

Thanks to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/126972/Study_reveals_new_clues_to_Epstein_Barr_virus

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'Fairy tale': Team slays giants, wins over Dalai Lama

Clive Brunskill / Getty Images, file

Gary Jones, left, and James "Big Jim" Hanson of Bradford City FC celebrate following their team's victory over English Premier League club Arsenal on Dec. 11, 2012. Only three years ago, Hanson was stacking shelves at a local supermarket. On Sunday, he'll play in front of 90,000 people at London's iconic Wembley Stadium.

By Ian Johnston, Staff Writer, NBC News

BRADFORD, England --?It is the sort of "fairy tale" story that sounds made for Hollywood.?

Led by the unlikeliest of heroes, a passionate team of underdogs emerges from the shadow of near-bankruptcy to go an improbable winning streak, eliminating a series of big-name (and huge-budgeted) rivals and bringing hope to their poverty-stricken hometown.

But the real-life story of Bradford City Football Club might be too unbelievable for even the most cliche-loving studio exec who's watched "Hoosiers" and ?"The Bad News Bears" one too many times.

Assembled for just $10,000, the team's extraordinary exploits?have spirits soaring in the Yorkshire city and far beyond.

Currently?lying in 79th place out of the 92 top clubs in England, Bradford City?will on Sunday contest a national cup final after a succession of thrilling, giant-killing triumphs over teams including Arsenal, the London-based club?valued at $1.5 billion last year.

One of Bradford's biggest stars was stacking shelves in a local supermarket not long ago. Now James "Big Jim" Hanson will find himself playing in front of 90,000 fans at London's iconic Wembley Stadium and a television audience of millions.

A representative of the Dalai Lama even wrote a letter to say the exiled Tibetan religious leader wished Bradford City's fans "every success in the big match."?

Courtesy Friends of Bradford City / Yorkshire International Business Center

The Dalai Lama was presented with a Bradford City FC jersey during a recent visit to Yorkshire.

Lying in wait for "The Bantams" will be?Swansea City, currently eighth in the top English league, and its star striker, Miguel Michu.

Michu is third in the Premier League in goals this season and Swansea's manager has warned rivals it would take $47 million in compensation for the club to let him leave. By contrast, Bradford are currently 11th in the fourth level of English professional soccer.

Mark Lawn, Bradford City's co-chairman, can hardly believe the transformation in fortunes that has seen Bradford reach the?Capital One Cup?final -- a competition traditionally known as the League Cup.

The self-made businessman put money into the 110-year-old club to help it survive after debts of about $55 million saw it threatened with bankruptcy at least twice. It has been "a labor of love" that at times prompted him to question his own sanity.

'We've created history'
Lawn, 52, recalled vomiting on the team bus on the way back from a defeat at Morecambe amid fears the club was on the verge of financial collapse. After another loss, his car was attacked by angry Bradford City fans.

"It's not really sunk in," Lawn said. "We are the only fourth-tier team to get to Wembley ever. We've created history. The town is buzzing. It's amazing ? it's just lifting the town."

"It's nearly got me believing in God again. I lost faith in God or religion in general when I lost my mother and father," he added. "I thought if we win then there's got to be summat ('something' in the Yorkshire dialect). I've said if we did do it, I will look at finding religion again."

Sitting in the club's 1911 room --?named for the year the club last won a major trophy?-- Lawn played down his team's chances.

"I just hope Swansea are easy with us ? They are a great side," he said. "I think they'll beat us, being realistic. But it's not about that for Bradford fans and Bradford City."

Once a thriving industrial city, Bradford is now?one of the most deprived places in the U.K.?Nearly a?quarter of all households are jobless, long-term?youth unemployment rates are soaring, local government spending?is being cut dramatically.

Lawn grew up in Bradford's rundown Thorpe Edge area, where many houses are owned by the local government and rented out cheaply, and recalled as a child sneaking in to watch the team play without paying.

Thorpe Edge is a place with few reasons to celebrate. Annice Brearley, an outreach worker at?Thorpe Edge Community Project, runs a program for children in which they wash cars and pack bags in local stores to raise money for trips to parts of England they would otherwise be unable to visit.

The neighborhood, she said, was "not a wealthy place ? there's a lot of people who don't have much."

But Brearley, 46, said that the team's soccer success has "nobody thinking about stuff like that."?She spent 11-and-a-half hours in line to buy a ticket for the final.?

"It's something like 102 years since anything good like this [the 1911 cup win] happened in Bradford," she said. "Nobody thinks Bradford City is going to lose. We're all really positive. It will be a brilliant day."

Not far from Thorpe Edge is the small Co-operative supermarket where hometown hero Hanson stacked shelves for two years before joining the club in 2009.?

"He used to work at the Co-op" has become a chant among supporters.

Ian Johnston / NBC News

Staff at the Co-op supermarket in Idle Village, Bradford -- Elisa Taylor, 24, her mother Ruth Taylor, and Jeanette McDonald -- will be cheering for former colleague James Hanson in Sunday's Capital One Cup final.

Former colleague Ruth Taylor said Hanson was "really lovely, a really gentle, nice lad."

"He always talked about his football," she recalled. "He loved it. We knew he were going to make it."

She insisted the 25-year-old striker would not choke after stepping into the national spotlight. "He takes it all in his stride, he's quite a laidback chap is James."

"I think he'll be really excited. It's like a big dream come true for him. He deserves it so much." she added. "They haven't had a lot to celebrate recently have Bradford. This would be a great morale booster, especially for this area. It would just go crazy."

Hannah Postles, 27, a journalist with Bradford's?Telegraph & Argus newspaper, has been covering the growing excitement in the city in articles and?a live blog.

'Big, burly men crying'
She recounted going to a bar to report on people watching the second of two semi-final games against top-tier Aston Villa on television.

"In the last four minutes, I swear I didn't breathe. It was so close, and you could see Villa firing on all cylinders," Postles said. After the final whistle, the emotion came. "Big, burly Bradford men crying is not something you see very often."

"It's hard not to find yourself getting swept up in it," she said. "It's been a massive inspiration to everyone in Bradford."

Her blog for the paper has been filled with reports of fans traveling from all over the world to attend Sunday's game.?

One, Mike Hitch, a ship's captain originally from Bradford, said he was planning to spend more than 21 hours in the air to fly halfway around the world from Tahiti to watch the game.?

"This will never happen again in my lifetime," the 46-year-old said Thursday by phone from the Pacific island. "If anything goes wrong, then I'll be looking for a sports bar in an airport."

Jon Super / AP, file

Bradford City supporters take to the stands before their fourth-tier team's win against English giants Arsenal on Dec. 11.

Bradford City beat six teams to get to the final, reaching the quarter-finals by triumphing over Premier League team Wigan on penalties after a 0-0 draw. They then drew 1-1 against Arsenal but were victorious in the penalty shootout.

The semi-final against Aston Villa consisted of two games, ending in a 4-3 aggregate victory for Bradford.

Bradford City FC manager Phil Parkinson said that although his players earned "peanuts" compared to counterparts on the Premier League teams they had knocked out of the competition, they possessed "incredible desire."

"Bradford has had some tough times over the last few years -- and not just the football club but the city," he added. "People are now walking around with a spring in their step."

The unlikely success has left many Bradford fans confident of another victory on Sunday.

"We haven?t come this far not to win it,"??said Mark Neale, a member of fundraising group?Friends of Bradford City?who has supported the team for 50 years.?

But he said that "the mere fact they've got to Wembley means this team of players will always be legends in Bradford."

"There's not a lot of pride in Bradford, but the pride in Bradford City (soccer club) is immense and it's rubbing off on people who are not normally interested in football," said Neale, 59.

Alan Carling, of?Bradford City Supporters' Trust, said they had beaten three Premier League clubs "so we?are not phased by a fourth. Bring it on."

"Everyone has been going round Bradford with a big grin on their face.?City's achievements have caught the imagination of the world, and lifted the image of Bradford, which is often subject to condescension?from southern England," he added.

But people with little connection to the area have also been attracted by success of a true underdog.?

Carling said he was interviewed by a Japanese television crew on Wednesday, while Neale received the letter from the Dalai Lama ahead of the game.?

Neale's supporters' group had previously presented the Buddhist spiritual leader with a Bradford jersey while he was in the area, after noticing the similarity between the team's colors and his robes.

In a telephone interview, Tenzin Taklha, one of the Dalai Lama?s secretaries in Dharamsala, India, said while His Holiness was "not really" a soccer fan, Bradford's success was "a fairy tale."?

"Everyone likes these stories and likes to follow that,? he said. "May the best team win ? we?ll keep our fingers crossed."

?

?

?

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/23/17054312-fairy-tale-soccer-team-assembled-for-10000-slays-english-giants-wins-over-dalai-lama?lite

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iPhone 5 Case Review: uNu ECOPAK for iPhone 5 Review

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Source: http://www.mobiletechreview.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Board=news&Number=44268

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5K Run/Walk Aims to Raise Awareness of Missing Persons of Color ...

Missing People of Color

by BMWK Staff ?|? on February 21st, 2013 ?|?

Black and Missing Foundation, Inc. is proud to host the first annual ?Hope Without Boundaries? 5K Run/Walk on Saturday, May 25, 2013, at the National Harbor, Ft. Washington, Md. The event is being held to raise awareness of missing persons of color and in honor of National Missing Children?s Day.

Rallying together, lending support to the event and moving a call-to-action are Jacque Reid, Aunjanue Ellis, Michael Baisden, S Epatha Merkerson.

Individuals or teams who would like to register should visit: http://www.crowdrise.com/2013bamfi5k

About the author

Content and articles from the staff and guest contributors of BlackandMarriedWithKids.com

Source: http://blackandmarriedwithkids.com/2013/02/5k-runwalk-aims-to-raise-awareness-of-missing-persons-of-color/

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BUDGT Is a Simple Budget-Tracking App that Easily and Quickly Manages Your Expenses

iOS: You won't find a shortage of budgeting apps for the iPhone that can help you manage your expenses in all kinds of ways. BUDGT takes a different approach, and its simplicity makes it easy to enter in expenses, track your budget, and get out of the app as quickly as possible.

BUDGT has a clean design, and when you open the app you're immediately treated to a pie chart with your expenses. From there, it's just a couple taps to add new expenses, change your income, look at daily totals, and your entire month's expenses. BUDGT does most everything a budgeting app should, but it keeps it as simple as possible. It doesn't have the expanded feature set of our favorite iPhone budgeting app Money, but the fact it's so simple should make it appealing to anyone with a simple budget. Logging all your expenses and tracking your budget is still a bit of a chore, and nothing here is automated, but at least BUDGT makes it easy to navigate.

BUDGT (99?) | iTunes App Store via The Next Web

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/JSXjJQgg-gQ/budgt-is-a-simple-budget+tracking-app-that-easily-and-quickly-manages-your-expenses

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U.S. Gulf Coast oil spillers about to face day in court

By Kristen Hays and Braden Reddall

Thu Feb 21, 2013 8:13pm EST

(Reuters) - Nearly three years after a deepwater well rupture killed 11 men, sank a rig and spewed 4 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, BP and the other companies involved are scheduled to face their judge in court.

The trial over the worst U.S. offshore oil spill is set to start Monday in New Orleans before a federal judge and without a jury. Few expect the case, seen lasting several months, will be decided by the judge.

An eleventh-hour settlement this weekend is a possibility, but legal experts expect a resolution, at least with the U.S. Department of Justice, in the coming months. Early testimony is likely to set the tone for any settlement talks, depending on how damaging the evidence is, they said.

"This is a game of corporate chicken," said John Zavitsanos, a Houston civil litigator. "We have tangled with BP often, and they blink."

Joining well owner BP Plc in Judge Carl Barbier's courtroom will be rig owner Transocean Ltd and well cement services provider Halliburton Co.

Lined up against them will be the Justice Department, several Gulf Coast states and other plaintiffs.

BP and Transocean declined to comment on the specifics of the upcoming trial. Halliburton was not immediately available for comment.

BP has a history of settling civil cases before or during trial. Four trials began over the 2005 explosion at its Texas City refinery that killed 15 people. All were settled. Payouts totaled $3.1 billion. BP has since sold the refinery.

The stakes are higher this time, though. The Macondo well explosion and spill on April 20, 2010 affected five state coastlines, prompted a six-month ban on oil and gas drilling in the Gulf and disrupted the livelihoods of fishermen, hoteliers and others. And once a trial gets under way, a new dynamic can take hold.

"If the first couple of days are good for the plaintiffs or good for the defendants, that could shift. Once the first pitch is thrown, those odds could change," said Anthony Sabino, a business law professor at St. John's University School of Law.

Just ahead of the trial, BP won agreement from the Justice Department to exclude 810,000 barrels from the total spilt barrels estimate, but BP says the estimate is still too high. It also wants "efforts to do the right thing" afterwards taken into account and has earmarked only $3.5 billion for Clean Water Act payments, compared with its potential maximum liability of $17.5 billion.

A BP settlement with the Justice Department over such a large liability could lead to another delay of a trial that has already been postponed.

"With the federal government out of it, he (Barbier) might well postpone ... particularly if the states indicated to him that they were continuing to talk," said Ed Sherman of Tulane University Law School in New Orleans.

"REASONABLE TERMS"

BP has committed to pay $8.5 billion to plaintiffs in a separate settlement, having already paid out $9 billion in other claims. Last year it also settled 14 criminal charges with a guilty plea and a record $4 billion in fines and penalties.

The civil claims to be covered next week could surpass these, and the trial's significance to BP was evident at a February 5 news conference in London. When Chief Executive Bob Dudley said the company would vigorously defend itself, he repeatedly looked toward his top in-house lawyer, Rupert Bondy, for moral support.

BP has repeatedly said it will settle on "reasonable terms," but Bondy drew a line in the sand this week, saying the British company now goes to trial "faced with demands that are excessive and not based on reality."

Its spill bill is already impressive: Accounting provisions total $42 billion - about 30 percent of its stock market value. It has sold assets worth $38 billion to finance compensation, clean-ups and fines. It has paid, or committed to pay, $37 billion of this. The actions have sliced $5 billion a year, or 14 percent, off its cash flow - a basic money-making measure.

And there is more to come. That is why, even on forward measures of earning power, a shrunken BP still lags its peers.

If BP is found "grossly negligent" - a key question for the trial - its fine under the U.S. Clean Water Act could be as high as $17.5 billion based on a total of 4.1 million barrels spilled and a maximum fine of $4,300 a barrel.

It could also be much lower, at a maximum $1,100 per barrel, or $4.5 billion, if BP's claim that it was "no more than negligent" is proved.

Aside from the Clean Water Act, two other claim groups come under the jurisdiction of Barbier, a federal judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Both are harder to quantify.

Economic damage claims totaling $34 billion have been made by Gulf Coast states including Louisiana and Alabama. BP has said these are excessive, and that its clean-up spending had a positive economic impact.

A third set of claims, for natural resources damage, has not even been quantified yet.

PROVING GROSS NEGLIGENCE

From Monday, phase one of the trial will focus on the level of negligence and on apportioning blame among the defendants.

Phase two will focus on the number of barrels spilled from the blown-out well.

Together, they could drag into next year, and neither phase will consider the size of any fine. But a gross negligence finding could open the way for extra costs in the form of punitive damages.

Lawyers point out that strong evidence of a reckless and willful disregard for employee safety and environmental health would be required to prove gross negligence.

"It is very difficult to prove, and that is something that these defendants are counting on," Sabino said.

Zavitsanos cited the 1970 Ford Pinto Memo as one of the few cases where the evidence was strong enough to prove gross negligence. In this case, Ford Motor Co was shown to have been aware of a design flaw and that a crash could puncture the gasoline tank and cause a fire. It was also shown to have decided to risk death and injury lawsuits rather than fix the design.

Steve Herman, one of the lead lawyers for the plaintiffs, said they contend there is "overwhelming evidence" that BP, Transocean and Halliburton "were all grossly negligent, and we look forward to laying bare that evidence for all to see."

Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange, who will speak for the states in the trial, agreed that the evidence would show BP's conduct reaches the level of gross negligence and said expert testimony would prove "very, very damaging to BP."

Strange said he plans to present BP with declarations that the spill was both predictable and preventable, and that the company fosters a "culture of callousness."

"It's a focus of profits over safety," he said in an interview on Thursday.

The companies have consistently held that whatever mistakes were made, they don't rise to the level of gross negligence.

But on Thursday, Barbier rejected BP's request that the plaintiffs not be allowed to present evidence regarding its suspension from obtaining new federal contracts following the spill, imposed last year by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The plaintiffs said that evidence may be pertinent after the first phase, so Barbier said BP could try again to block it if the issue arises once the case starts.

The case is In re: Oil Spill by the Oil Rig "Deepwater Horizon" in the Gulf of Mexico, on April 20, 2010, No. 10-md-02179, in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana.

(Additional reporting and writing by Andrew Callus; Editing by Patricia Kranz, Kenneth Barry and Diane Craft)

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/22/us-bp-spill-idUSBRE91K1CJ20130222?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

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Migraine triggers may not cause severe headaches | MNN - Mother ...

Up to 95 percent of migraine headache sufferers can identify at least one activity that will leave them pillaging the medicine cabinet for a pain reliever, according to one report. But new research suggests that self-reported triggers for migraine with aura ? visual disturbances that accompany the severe headaches ? may not be as strong as previously thought.

?

The study from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark is the first to assess whether or not self-reported migraine triggers actually cause migraine attacks.

?

The researchers recruited 27 migraine-with-aura sufferers who said that their migraines were caused by two commonly reported triggers ? bright or flickering light, strenuous exercise or both. The 17 women and 10 men ranged in age from 20 to 69 years old and suffered an average of 12 migraine attacks per year.

?

To provoke a migraine, the researchers exposed people to their self-reported triggers. Those whose migraines were usually triggered by exercise either went for an intense run or rode a stationary bike for one hour.

?

People who identified bright or flickering light as a migraine trigger were exposed to a series of three different light stimuli ? bright, flashing and flickering ? for 30 to 40 minutes per stimuli. Some people were exposed to a combination of exercise and light.

?

Just 11 percent of the study participants, or three out of 27, reported experiencing migraine with aura after exercising or after exercise and light-based stimulation. An additional three patients, 11 percent, reported experiencing a migraine without aura. Patients exposed to light stimulation alone did not experience any type of migraine.

?

The study authors were surprised by the findings, because "patients were convinced that they always or often got an attack after these trigger factors," wrote senior study author Dr. Jes Oleson in an email to MyHealthNewsDaily.

?

Health care providers typically tell migraine sufferers to avoid triggers. "This study suggests it may not be necessary to slavishly avoid a shopping list of potential triggers," said Dr. Peter Goadsby, neurologist and director of the University of California San Francisco Headache Center, who was not involved in the current study.

?

Indeed, the study authors cannot say for sure whether the cases of migraine they did observe during the study were caused by the stimuli or if they would have happened regardless of what the patient had been doing.

The researchers did not look at migraine triggers such as bright light or strenuous exercise in the context of daily activity.

?

It seems highly unlikely that millions of migraine sufferers could be wrong about their migraine triggers, Goadsby said. In an editorial that accompanies the new study, he suggested a different explanation. "Some of the stimuli that patients associate with the start of a migraine attack may not actually cause the attack, but be early symptoms," he said.

?

About 12 percent of Americans suffer from recurring migraines, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Roughly one-third of these people report experiencing an aura, which can include seeing flashing lights or zigzagging lines or having a partial loss of vision. Other common migraine triggers include changes in sleep patterns, stress, strong odors, hormonal fluctuations or certain foods.

?

Some reports suggest that a constellation of situations, including a so-called trigger, must come together in order for a migraine to occur ? for instance, skipping a meal, staying up late and going for a hard run, Goadsby said. Future research may show that migraines are the product of a series of stimuli or events, he added.

?

With this in mind, it is important for migraine sufferers to look at the big picture ? situations or sequences of activities that precede a migraine attack ? in addition to suspected triggers, said Goadsby. Without that knowledge, "it may be a complete waste of time to avoid a trigger," he said.

?

The study and editorial are published today (Jan 23) in the journal Neurology.

?

Pass it on: Migraine triggers may not directly cause the severe headaches.

?

Follow MyHealthNewsDaily on Twitter @MyHealth_MHND. ?Findus on Facebook.

?

Related on MyHealthNewsDaily and MNN:

?

This story was originally written for MyHealthNewsDaily and is republished with permission here. Copyright 2013 MyHealthNewsDaily, a TechMediaNetwork company.

Source: http://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/stories/migraine-triggers-may-not-cause-severe-headaches

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Asia stocks up as takeover talk in US drives Dow

BANGKOK (AP) ? Asian stock markets picked up stream Wednesday, driven higher by reports that another big corporate takeover might be in the works in the U.S.

A report that major office supply retailers Office Depot and OfficeMax are in talks to combine their businesses sent the Dow Jones industrial average to a near-record high Tuesday. That news came on top of an $11 billion tie-up between American Airlines and US Airways, announced earlier this month, that will create the world's biggest airline.

Stock markets are often energized by speculation of takeovers. Aside from pushing up the share prices of the companies involved if the deal is regarded as a good one, investors also see big takeovers as a sign of confidence in the business and economic outlook.

Stocks were also boosted by data released Tuesday that showed German investor sentiment rising in February, way above market expectations. The index is now at its highest level for nearly three years, adding to the evidence that suggests Germany's economy will not fall into recession.

"Positive news in the form of a bigger than forecast rise in February German ZEW investor confidence helped to shore up market sentiment although perhaps the main message here is one of German outperformance rather than eurozone recovery," analysts at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong said in a research note.

Looking ahead, traders are concerned about political developments in Italy. An election this weekend could result in a split parliament, making it difficult for a coalition government to push through unpopular economic reforms.

"The eurozone is going to be a distraction throughout the year. There will be good results. And you will have bad results," said Evan Lucas, market strategist at IG Markets in Melbourne.

Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.9 percent to 11,474.65. The index briefly topped 11,500 for the first time since late 2008, despite a government report showing the country posted a record high monthly trade deficit of 1.63 trillion yen ($17.4 billion) in January.

South Korea's Kospi advanced 1.7 percent to 2,018.43. Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.3 percent to 23,201.41. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.3 percent to 5,098.70.

Among individual stocks, Australia's Woodside Petroleum rose 2.9 percent after lifting its full year net profit. BHP Billiton, the world's largest mining company, fell 1.1 percent after announcing its chief executive Marius Kloppers, will retire in May. Kloppers will be replaced on May 10 by the chief executive of BHP's non-ferrous metals division, Andrew Mackenzie.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 53.91 points to close at 14,035.67. The S&P 500 index rose 0.7 percent to 1,530.94. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.7 percent to 3,213.59.

That's despite the $1.2 trillion in automatic federal spending cuts that are scheduled to start March 1 unless Congress and the White House find a way to avoid them. Previous budget battles in Washington have rattled financial markets.

Benchmark oil for April delivery was down 5 cents to $97.06 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The March contract expires Wednesday. The contract rose 80 cents to finish at $96.66 per barrel on the Nymex on Tuesday.

In currencies, the euro fell slightly to $1.3413 from $1.3416 late Tuesday in New York. The dollar inched down to 93.41 yen from 93.44 yen.

___

Follow Pamela Sampson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pamelasampson

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asia-stocks-takeover-talk-us-drives-dow-033044519--finance.html

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Hughes could be out 2 weeks due to bulging disk

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) ? New York Yankees pitcher Phil Hughes could be sidelined for two weeks because of a bulging disk that will be treated with anti-inflammatory medication.

"I'm convinced I'll be symptom free in the next four or five days," Hughes said Wednesday. "I felt like I was kind of ahead of the game with my throwing. I threw a bunch of bullpens before I got here, and, thankfully, it's early enough in spring. It's a setback, but I still have a lot of time to get it right."

Hughes said he will be treated with the anti-inflammatory medication for four or five days. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said it could be two weeks before Hughes could resume throwing off a mound.

"Obviously, it's something you wish you weren't dealing with and, hopefully, it's nothing major," Cashman said. "We'll know within the next two weeks. The expectations and the hope from that is that he'll be fine and ready to go. But there's no guarantees until we get through the two weeks' process and see where he's at. We won't be out of the woods until we see all that stuff."

Hughes needed an injection of painkiller in September 2011 to alleviate a seven-year-old back injury that recurred. A test then found inflammation caused by a herniated disk, an injury Hughes sustained in 2004 during his first professional season. When Hughes returned that year after the injection, the Yankees pitched him out of the bullpen.

The right-hander had an MRI on Tuesday, one day after experiencing discomfort in his upper back during a defensive drill. He has not experienced any problems before in this area of the back.

"I was covering first base, and I just felt something grab," Hughes said. "Just one step, one tweak, and that was it. There was nothing leading up to it."

Hughes went 16-13 with 4.23 ERA in 32 starts for the Yankees last season. If things progress well, Hughes would start doing pool work in four or five days, and then possibly throw a couple days after that.

"If I pick up a ball in seven days, I won't be too far behind in my throwing or anything," Hughes said. "It can be recurring if I don't take care of it now. Stay off it, let it heal, don't push it, and it won't be an issue."

Hughes is making $7.15 million this year. He is eligible for free agency after the World Series.

"I am pleased that he feels a lot better than he did a couple days ago, but you still have to worry about it," manager Joe Girardi said.

Notes: Closer Mariano Rivera could throw batting practice for the first time Friday since getting hurt while shagging fly balls during batting practice last season. Baseball's career saves leader had surgery June 12 to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. ... LHP CC Sabathia (left elbow bone spur surgery) is scheduled for his third bullpen session Friday. ... Reliever Joba Chamberlain threw 28 pitches in batting practice, with one going above and behind the head of INF Eduardo Nunez. "It was close," Nunez said. "I was so scared." Chamberlain told Nunez that he was sorry. ... SS Derek Jeter (ankle surgery), who took part in pop fly drills, said he hasn't been told when he'll start a running program. The captain took all eights pitches he saw from Chamberalin in BP, and afterward gave his bat to a young fan.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hughes-could-2-weeks-due-bulging-disk-195122837--mlb.html

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Leighton in talks with Ontario Teachers to sell telco assets

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's Leighton Holdings Ltd said on Wednesday it was in negotiations to sell 70 percent of its telecommunication assets, including its NextGen Networks fiber-optic business, to Canada's Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan.

The sale values the entire assets, which include NextGen and two other data centre facilities Metronode and Infoplex, at A$885 million ($916 million), Leighton said in a statement.

"The sale price represents a compelling value creating proposition for Leighton Holdings' shareholders," Leighton CEO Hamish Tyrwhitt said in the statement.

The $117.1 billion Ontario Teachers fund, Canada's largest single-profession pension plan, lined up against Australia's TPG Telecom Ltd to bid for Leighton's NextGen business, sources had previously told Reuters.

Hong Kong telecommunications company PCCW Ltd was previously reported to be interested in the two data businesses.

(A$1= $1.0353)

(Reporting By Maggie Lu Yueyang; Editing by Richard Pullin)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/leighton-talks-ontario-teachers-sell-telco-assets-041852541--sector.html

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HTC One software hands-on: Sense 5, BlinkFeed, Sense TV and new Sync Manager

Now that you're done drooling over the HTC One's shiny body, let's take a look at the phone's generous bundle of software features. Sense 5 on Android 4.1.2 is quite possibly the boldest step HTC's ever taken in terms of Android interface, in the hopes of offering a radically simple experience out of the box. First off, the phone comes with just two soft keys: Back and Home. You can still access the app-switching page by double-tapping the Home key, but instead of the old 3D interface with dozens of app cards, you'll now only get a grid of nine app cards to keep things simple. And like before, simply flick the cards up to dismiss the corresponding apps. Read on for more and our hands-on video.

Gallery: HTC One software hands-on

By default, there will only be two home screen panels out of the box: a "BlinkFeed" page and a classic Android home screen on the right. Yes, just two panels, as HTC found out that 80 percent of users have three panels or less, and surprisingly, 35 percent of the same group use just one panel! But fret not, as power users can always add more. Similarly, the app tray is set to a leaner 3 x 4 grid by default (which we found to be rather pleasing to the eye), but you can also switch back to the usual 4 x 5 version for nostalgia's sake.

Now, BlinkFeed. This is simply a Flipboard-like tile interface that sits permanently on the main home page. Created in collaboration with Mobiles Republic, this tool pulls in content from various publications and social networks (Twitter, Plurk, LinkedIn, Flickr, Zoe Share and more), as well as your calendar and TV shows from the TV app (more on that later). You won't be seeing emails here, as HTC positions BlinkFeed as a place for more ambient info rather than critical updates. Regardless, the feed can be customized to suit your needs, though the first version won't let you add custom RSS feeds just yet. On a related note, an SDK will be provided for developers to let their apps publish to the BlinkFeed. As you'd expect, fresh content automatically comes in from the top, and it does so every two hours over mobile data, but more frequently over WiFi. Either way, HTC's conducted many tests and is pretty confident that battery life won't be a big issue here. The good news is that should you eventually find this feature slightly stale, you can disable BlinkFeed altogether and just have the plain old Android home screens.

Visually, Sense 5 benefits from a new choice of font -- Roboto, in a specific weight -- along with a simpler keyboard with little gap between keys (but performance unaffected, of course) and cleaner widgets (though the classic HTC flip clock widget is still available). Likewise, the new music player has received an interface redesign, as well as a visualizer and automatic lyrics scroller. Here's hoping that HTC will eventually add a vocal suppressing feature to satisfy the karaoke freak inside you.

Continuing the multimedia theme we have the Sense TV app on the HTC One, which is actually a Peel-powered universal remote software that combines a good-looking electronic program guide with the IR blaster embedded within the phone's power button. At launch, the app will support all major US cable services along with Hulu integration, whereas the UK will get some love from the likes of Virgin Media, Sky, Freesat and Freeview. We've heard that other regions will provide similar EPG support for the One's Sense TV app, so keep an eye out for your local announcements. Alas, there's no Netflix support at launch, but we assume HTC is still working on that end.

The TV app's interface needs little explanation, and it'll come with a huge library of remote control IR codes to ensure maximum compatibility with your TV or set-top box. Once the app is activated, you can access the basic controls and recent channels in the notification tray, and you can even use the controls on the lock screen. The best part of this is that you can set to have upcoming episodes of your favorite TV shows to show up in BlinkFeed as a reminder. Pretty neat for couch potatoes, huh?

Now, here are a couple of software features that help new owners set up their HTC devices. The first one is HTC Get Started which, if you haven't seen it work with the One X+ already, lets you set up your phone from the web on your desktop. After all, it's probably easier to type out your credentials for your various email and social network accounts using the desktop keyboard and display. Additionally, the service also lets you configure your feeds, apps, sounds (including an MP3 ringtone trimmer), bookmarks, wallpapers and lock screens; so this is quite a nice improvement from the existing version of Get Started.

The second feature to support new users is a beefed up version of the HTC Sync Manager. Where previously you could only transfer iOS contacts to an HTC device over Bluetooth, now you can use the new Sync Manager to grab your various types of iOS content: contacts, calendar, pictures, DRM-free videos and DRM-free music. The trick? This is actually done via iTunes, so you'll need to make sure it has the latest backup of your iOS device before you start the migration. Sadly, there's no way to sync text messages and matching apps across the two rival platforms just yet, but it's probably just a matter of time.

Things are more straightforward with Android-to-Android migration: with phones as old as HTC devices carrying Sense 3.6, you can directly transfer the same set of data plus text messages, bookmarks and a bunch of Android settings directly from one to another, all done without going through the Sync Manager; whereas older Android devices can still only transfer contacts over Bluetooth like the good old days.

Once you get the ball rolling, you can use the cloud backup feature in Sense 5 to dump an encrypted backup on either Dropbox or Sina Vdisk (in China, where Dropbox is blocked), and these are tied to either a Facebook account or a Sina account (since Facebook is also blocked in China), so in the future you can restore by simply logging in using either credentials. Here's what you can back up: BlinkFeed, TV, home screen layout (including folders), accounts (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, Exchange and Hotmail), user dictionary, alarm clocks, widgets, apps (sans data) and over 150 system settings. Pictures and videos aren't included, as HTC believes that many users already use other methods to back them up, which is fair enough.

To summarize, this is certainly a generous and much improved package HTC is offering with the One, but in case you missed it, do also check out Zoe in our HTC One camera post. That's the real wow factor of the show.

Mat Smith contributed to this report.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, HTC

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/2JebE_XtGgM/

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