Hands-on with the NEC Terrain: the company's first US phone in eight years

Let's face it: no rugged phone is going to get more attention today than the Galaxy S4 Active. Just the same, NEC is showing off the Terrain, its first handset for the US market since 2005. The phone, which is hitting AT&T for $99 with a two-year agreement, is mainly aimed at the enterprise (read: field technicians and other mobile workers). Since it's unlikely to reach mainstream consumers, we won't be running a full-on review, but we did take the opportunity to get hands-on. As you'd expect of a device that can be immersed in water up to 30 minutes, this thing's coated in rubber, with a sealed USB port and a secure (but removable) battery cover. It's a bit chunky for a phone, to be sure, but at 6.06 ounces it's still eminently portable. In fact, the rounded edges and soft finish make it more comfortable to hold than some of the more minimal handsets we've seen recently.

Other than that, you'll be pleased to find an unskinned version of Android, though it's 4.0 and not a newer build like 4.2. The capacitive screen responds well to taps and swipes, though the 640 x 480 resolution isn't going to knock anyone'e socks off -- and neither will the washed-out colors. Performance-wise, the dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 8960 processor means transitions happen quickly, and there isn't any tiling in the Chrome browser. We also got on well with the QWERTY keyboard, though the buttons are packed in quite tightly. And that's a good thing: it's slim pickings for anyone who wants a portrait QWERTY Android phone. Finishing up our tour, you'll find a microSD slot (to support the 8GB of built-in storage), dedicated speaker and push-to-talk buttons and dual 5MP / 0.3MP cameras, with an NFC radio under the hood. It'll be available tomorrow on AT&T's LTE network, and through the carrier's business channel, specifically. Check out the hands-on photos below -- we even got a requisite shot of it in a fish tank.

Gallery: NEC Terrain hands-on

Zach Honig contributed to this report.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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The World's First Supersonic UAV Is Ready for Takeoff

The ability to drop bombs on targets a continent away can be a huge tactical advantage (even if it is just saber-rattling). Doing so at supersonic speeds, nearly automatically, is even better. That's why the UK has spent the better part of a decade developing the Taranis, one of the biggest and fastest UAV in existence. Now it just needs to prove it can actually fly.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/58rTiTHqyEw/the-worlds-first-supersonic-uav-is-ready-for-takeoff-514058742

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Homes evacuated as wildfire flares near Denver

A military C-130 drops a load of fire retardant on a wildfire near Pine, Colo., on Wednesday, June 19, 2013. A new wildfire in the foothills southwest of Denver forced the evacuation of dozens of homes Wednesday as hot and windy conditions in much of Colorado and elsewhere in the West made it easy for fires to start and spread. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

A military C-130 drops a load of fire retardant on a wildfire near Pine, Colo., on Wednesday, June 19, 2013. A new wildfire in the foothills southwest of Denver forced the evacuation of dozens of homes Wednesday as hot and windy conditions in much of Colorado and elsewhere in the West made it easy for fires to start and spread. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

A military C-130 drops a load of fire retardant on a wildfire near Pine, Colo., on Wednesday, June 19, 2013. A new wildfire in the foothills southwest of Denver forced the evacuation of dozens of homes Wednesday as hot and windy conditions in much of Colorado and elsewhere in the West made it easy for fires to start and spread. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

Brandy Burton carries her son Caiyleb Lewis, 2, through the rubble of her family's home that was completely destroyed in the Black Forest Fire, Tuesday, June 18, 2013, in Colorado Springs, Colo. Residents were allowed back into the area for a short period of time to view the properties that sustained the most damage from the fire. The Black Forest Fire, the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history, has destroyed 502 homes and charred more than 22 square miles. It was 85 percent contained Tuesday. (AP Photo/The Colorado Springs Gazette, Michael Ciaglo) MAGS OUT

Jeff Andrews, right, assistant fire management officer for the Prescott National Forest, speaks to the media regarding the status of the Doce wildfire, on Tuesday, June 18, 2013, in Prescott, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt Hinshaw/The Daily Courier)

Ritchie Lewis, Brandy Burton and their son Caiyleb Lewis, 2, help sift through the rubble of their family's home that was completely destroyed in the Black Forest Fire, Tuesday, June 18, 2013, in Colorado Springs, Colo. Residents were allowed back into the area for a short period of time to view the properties that sustained the most damage from the fire. The Black Forest Fire, the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history, has destroyed 502 homes and charred more than 22 square miles. It was 85 percent contained Tuesday. (AP Photo/The Colorado Springs Gazette, Michael Ciaglo) MAGS OUT

EVERGREEN, Colo. (AP) ? Dozens of homes were evacuated near Denver as a wind-driven wildfire flared, one of many in the western states where hot and windy conditions were making it easy for the wild land blazes to start and spread.

The fire in the foothills about 30 miles southwest of Denver forced evacuations Wednesday affecting more than 100 people, Jefferson County Sheriff Ted Mink said. The Lime Gulch Fire in Pike National Forest was estimated at 500 acres, the U.S. Forest Service said. Mink said no structures appeared to be threatened.

"The good news is, it's a very sparsely populated area as far as houses go," Mink said.

Hundreds of firefighters in Arizona were preparing for more hot, windy weather Thursday, which could help fuel a wildfire in Prescott National Forest that has already scorched nearly 12 square miles. The blaze erupted Tuesday afternoon and led to the evacuation of 460 homes.

To the north, smoke from another fire that broke out Wednesday was visible from Grand Canyon National Park. No structures were immediately threatened.

A blaze in southern New Mexico's Gila National Forest grew to 47 square miles.

But in northern California, hundreds of residents returned home as crews aided by lower temperatures and higher humidity extended their lines around a wildfire near a main route into Yosemite National Park, officials said. Only about 50 homes on two mountain roads remained under evacuation orders, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said. The fire, sparked Sunday by a campfire that wasn't fully put out, led to the evacuation of about 800 homes at its peak.

In southern California, a nearly 6-square-mile fire in the San Bernardino National Forest was 83 percent contained.

The fire near Denver was burning in steep, heavily forested mountain terrain, south of where last year's Lower North Fork Fire damaged and destroyed 23 homes and killed three people. That fire was triggered by a prescribed burn that escaped containment lines.

Mink said the fire might have been sparked by lightning Tuesday, then quickly grew in high winds Wednesday.

Some evacuees said they were ready to leave Wednesday in minutes, having practiced fire evacuations after the Lower North Fork Fire.

Karalyn Pytel was at home vacuuming when her husband called, saying he had received an alert on his cellphone telling the family to leave. She quickly grabbed her 6-year-old daughter's favorite blanket, a laptop computer, a jewelry box and some family heirlooms before fleeing.

"I grabbed a laundry basket and just threw stuff in it. I don't even know what clothes they are," Pytel said as she arrived at an evacuation center.

Firefighters were aided by two U.S. Air Force Reserve C-130s.

C-130s also were used at a 22-square-mile wildfire near Colorado Springs that has destroyed 509 homes and killed two people since it started June 11.

In western Colorado, a wind-driven wildfire near Rangely prompted the evacuation of a youth camp Wednesday. Rio Blanco County Undersheriff Michael Joos said the camp wasn't in immediate danger, but about 40 kids and a half dozen adults were asked to leave due to high winds.

Evacuations also were ordered due to a wildfire in rural Huerfano County in southern Colorado.

Pytel was asked whether the evacuation changed her mind about living in a mountainous area at high risk for wildfires.

"No matter where you go, really, it's always something. It's either a tornado, a hurricane, an earthquake (or) a fire. For us, it's our tornado," Pytel said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-06-20-Western%20Wildfires/id-2466bb88aa9246fdba2b8eaad9a874e7

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FOR KIDS: Old, cold moss grows again

Scientists prod new growth from a plant buried for centuries

By Stephen Ornes

Web edition: June 20, 2013

Enlarge

Back from the deep freeze

This moss sprung back to life after being buried beneath ice for hundreds of years.

Credit: Courtesy of C. La Farge

Mosses are mini but mighty: Even after centuries buried beneath a glacier, some of these small, flowerless plants can regrow.

Glaciers are flowing rivers of ice. The one that trapped these mosses grew during a cool period now known as the Little Ice Age. It lasted from 1550 to 1850. The glacier buried all plant life on remote Ellesmere Island, north of the Arctic Circle. But as global temperatures have been climbing, this and many other glaciers have retreated, exposing ancient mosses.

Visit the new?Science News for Kids?website and read the full story:??Old, cold moss grows again

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/351155/title/FOR_KIDS_Old_cold_moss_grows_again

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Naked Mole Rat Cancer Prevention Trick - Business Insider

The bucktoothed, wrinkled naked mole rat may hold the secret to beating cancer in humans.

After all, the ugly creature?can live for up to thirty years (other rodents live about a tenth of that) and they are unusually resistant to cancer.

This resistance could be due to a molecule in the mole rats' connective tissues, according to a study published in the journal Nature on June 19.

Magic molecule?

This key molecule is called hyaluronan. It exists in long chains around cells holding them together in tissues. The hyaluronan chains found in mole rats are many times larger than the kinds found in shorter-lived mammals, like mice and humans.

The researchers think the long chains stop healthy cells from becoming cancer cells.

When Andrei Seluanov, of the University of Rochester, tried growing naked mole rat cells in the lab, they kept turning into a gooey, slow-moving syrup ? not normal.

The substance was so thick it was clogging the drains in his lab, he told Nature News.

Strange cells

Seluanov wildly guessed that this clumping might have something to do with the mole rats' weirdness. He saw that when injected into mice the cells didn't grow tumors, but they did when they were stopped from making hyaluronan.

That was pretty strong proof.

These findings could lead to treatments for humans in the future, Seluanov told Nature News, though it will probably be a few years still.

Naked mole rats probably didn't evolve long chain hyaluronan to fight cancer, but to help squeeze through the tiny underground tunnels that these animals burrow through. Up to 80 bald and almost-blind individuals huddle into their insect-like colonies (dominated by one breeding queen) in low-oxygen conditions.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/naked-mole-rat-cancer-prevention-trick-2013-6

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Uganda aims for commercial oil output by 2016

By George Obulutsa

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Uganda is aiming for commercial output of oil by 2016 at the earliest, as the landlocked east African nation seeks cheaper energy and funds for infrastructure projects.

Explorers struck oil in east Africa's third largest economy in 2006 and Uganda estimates its crude reserves at 3.5 billion barrels, but wrangling over taxes and the viability of a local refinery have stalled production.

Uganda currently transports all of its fuel - imported primarily through Kenya's Mombasa seaport - in tankers over several hundred kilometres of road. Officials say the method is unreliable, costly and damages roads.

Fred Kabanda, principal geologist at Uganda's petroleum exploration and production department, said a 30,000 barrel a day refinery is expected to be operational in 2016 at the earliest, with output expected to double two years from then.

The third-biggest economy in east Africa aims to build the refinery as a private-public partnership with its neighbours, in exchange for a stake in the facility, he said.

In April Uganda agreed with France's Total and China's CNOOC to build a smaller refinery than it had wanted. The companies favoured a pipeline to export most of the crude via Kenya's Indian Ocean coastline, saying there was insufficient local demand for a refinery of the size Uganda proposed.

Total and CNOOC entered Uganda in 2012, taking up a third each of British explorer Tullow Oil's exploration assets for a total of $2.9 billion.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uganda-aims-commercial-oil-output-2016-121949757.html

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Lullaby Medicine for Premature Babies

Something as old as mankind itself is helping keep preterm babies alive ? the lullaby.

Research finds that music has become an important new ally for babies who are born too soon and struggle to breathe and eat.

The neonatal intensive care unit in a hospital is filled with technology that helps keep the hospital's tiniest, most fragile patients alive. At New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell ? and others across the country ? the relentless beeping of monitors fades when the music takes over. The effect on preemies is dramatic and physical.

Studies conducted by Dr. Jeffery Perlman, chief of newborn medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian, Komansky Center for Children's Health, find that gentle music therapy not only slows down the heart rate of preemies but also helps them feed and sleep better. This helps them gain weight and speeds their recovery.

A study published in May in the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatric under the aegis of the Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City, found that the type of music matters. Therapeutically designed "live" music -- and parent-preferred lullabies sung in person -- can influence cardiac and respiratory function. They also found that the melodies improved feeding behaviors and may increase prolonged periods of quiet-alert states among premature babies.

Another study published in February 2011 in the Arts in Psychotherapy by Jayne M. Standley of the National Institute for Infant and Child Medical Music Therapy at Florida State University suggests that babies who receive this kind of therapy leave the hospital sooner.

"When they hear something that is very soothing, they adapt to it," Perlman said.

For these tiny babies, music is medicine.

A pair of twins, Jessica and Joshua, were born three months premature. Their dad has been trained by a professional music therapist at the Komansky Center, and now sings to the babies in their NICU cribs in his native Turkish. And he says he has proof that it's working.

"I watched their heart rate," their father said. "You can really watch it go down, 165, 160, 155, 152. It's an amazing feeling."

Jessica Fernald's daughter Hazel was born eight weeks early. "You know babies like lullabies," Fernald said. "But you don't realize how important it is in their healing."

At Komansky, Rebecca Loveszy is the music therapist who sings to preemies such as Jadion, born with a heart defect.

When Loveszy serenades Jadion, I heard the background beeping from the monitor alarms hooked up to his tiny body almost disappear. The oxygen in Jadion's blood went up and his breathing calmed.

The effects of the music therapy appear to last ? lullabies echoing inside the intensive care unit often become the children's favorite songs and soothe them even after they leave the hospital.

Rachel Fitzsimons' son William ? now a year old ? spent 12 weeks in intensive care, and has taken a liking to the tune he listened to during his time there.

"I would sing 'Rock-a-Bye-Baby,'" said Fitzsimons. "It's the one he still responds to the most."

In an intensive care unit bristling with technology, this new field reminds us that medicine doesn't always come from a new drug or surgery ? sometimes it's as simple as parents connecting to their children with an age-old source of comfort. A gentle tune.

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/lullaby-medicine-premature-babies/story?id=19430621

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