Will The Next iPhone Keep Ahead of Android?

If Apple?s regular release schedule is to be trusted, we should expect a new iPhone this summer. Will it be called the iPhone 5S with small improvements over the iPhone 5? Or will the pressure from rival Android phones force Apple to go big and make a complete overhaul?

So far, the rumor mills point to an incremental upgrade ? no revolutionary changes. So let?s read the tealeaves and try to predict what will be changed. And remember, this is all conjecture with no official information forthcoming from Apple.

New Flash and Better Camera
I like to start with the fun stuff, like the camera. Certainly, the next iPhone could get a megapixel upgrade. There are some Android phones that brag 13 Megapixels, and while it?s possible Apple could increase the resolution of their camera, I think a more interesting upgrade would be the inclusion of a new, smart flash that incorporates Phillips multi-color LED. To match ambient light, the camera could elect to use a white flash (in fluorescent or colder lighting) or a yellow flash to match warmer room tones (candlelight, camp-fires, or accent lighting).

Faster
Now for the guts of the new phone: leaked photos published by iOSDoc imply the iPhone will be getting an upgrade from its current dual core A6 processor to a quad core A7 processor. Yes, more cores mean a faster phone, but is this a life-changing speed improvement? Um, no.

Bigger Screen is Doubtful
There have been tons of rumors about Apple increasing the screen size from 4 inches to 4.8 inches to compete with some of the Android ?Phablets? like the Note. But this rumor seems a little thin with CEO Tim Cook stating publically on Apple?s Q1 2013 Earnings Call that he thinks Apple made the right decision to stick with a smaller screen.

Wireless Charging
Unlike current wireless charging where you have to put a device onto a pad that?s plugged into a power source, Apple has applied for a patent to use something called Near Field Magnetic Resonance (NFMR). With this technology, a home base (a computer or larger device) serves as a hub that can charge the phone anywhere within a meter?s proximity. This could also be a boon for selling more Mac laptops if they become the primary vehicle for wireless NFMR charging.

Biometric Fingerprint Security
Rumors are flying about a fingerprint sensor on the home key to allow for biometric security. This could be a smart idea if Apple wants to shore up public perception of the device?s security before rolling out the Near Field Communications (NFC) wave-to-pay technology that turns your phone into a credit card.

IOS 7
For the first time ever, I am including an IOS update in the ?Fun Rumors? category. While the iPhone operating system (currently IOS 6) is not usually an opportunity for big innovation, this portion of the company has recently been taken over by Jonathon Ive, Apple?s superstar design guru. He is no doubt feeling pressure to bring his genius to bear on software (good luck with that) and may surprise us with a few cool new tricks. I expect a Siri upgrade at the very least, and a determination to show that Apple?s maps have recovered from the debacle of the IOS 6 roll out.

Lower Cost iPhone
Where Android phones pose the greatest clear and present danger to the iPhone is on price. Many models are free with a 2-year contract. So the $199 price tag of the iPhone with a 2-year contract is just too steep for many. The biggest price pressure is coming from emerging markets like China and Brazil, where Apple has to lower the price of their only phone in the initial land grab for new smartphone users.

[Related: Do Apple Products Ever Go On Sale?]

If Apple introduces a free-on-2-year-contract phone, this lower cost version will almost certainly still be able to access faster LTE data networks. It will possibly have a slower Snapdragon System on a Chip (SOC) processor from Qualcomm. It might include a bigger battery, which could increase the phone?s thickness from the current 7.6 mm to a rumored 8.2 mm. It could have a lower resolution camera. And the most interesting possibility: its case could be from a cheaper plastic or fiberglass, which could allow for a multitude of colors.

Bottom Line
The inclusion of a cheaper iPhone could be a huge boon to consumers. If you?ve been holding out until Apple?s flagship device became more affordable, don?t let the slightly diminished technical specs deter you. The beauty of the iPhone is that it?s intuitive and fun to use ? but that?s a function of the operating system, not the hardware. If it were me, I?d wait to buy until the consumer testers run the cheaper iPhone through it?s paces and make sure there?s nothing glaringly wrong, and then I?d get it. That is, if Apple actually releases two versions as part of its traditional June release cycle.

Have predictions of your own? Let us know on our Facebook page.

[Related: Where to Get the Most Money for Your Old Gadgets]

Special thanks to the folks at Bay Street Emeryville for providing the location.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/upgrade-your-life/next-iphone-keep-ahead-android-160901301.html

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Amanda Knox to Be Extradited to Italy?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/amanda-knox-to-be-extradited-to-italy/

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Shot Pakistani teen Malala Yousafzai writing book

FILE - In this undated file photo provided by Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England, Malala Yousufzai, the 15-year-old girl who was shot at close range in the head by a Taliban gunman in Pakistan, reads a book as she continues her recovery at the hospital. Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager shot in the head by the Taliban, is writing a memoir. Publisher Weidenfeld and Nicolson said Thursday March 28, 2013 it will release "I am Malala" in Britain this fall. Little, Brown will publish it in the United States.A Taliban gunman shot Malala on Oct. 9, while she was on her way home from school in northwestern Pakistan. (AP Photo/Queen Elizabeth Hospital, File)

FILE - In this undated file photo provided by Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England, Malala Yousufzai, the 15-year-old girl who was shot at close range in the head by a Taliban gunman in Pakistan, reads a book as she continues her recovery at the hospital. Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager shot in the head by the Taliban, is writing a memoir. Publisher Weidenfeld and Nicolson said Thursday March 28, 2013 it will release "I am Malala" in Britain this fall. Little, Brown will publish it in the United States.A Taliban gunman shot Malala on Oct. 9, while she was on her way home from school in northwestern Pakistan. (AP Photo/Queen Elizabeth Hospital, File)

LONDON (AP) ? Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager shot in the head by the Taliban as she returned home from school, is writing a book about the traumatic event and her long-running campaign to promote children's education.

Publisher Weidenfeld and Nicolson announced that it would release "I am Malala" in Britain and Commonwealth countries this fall. Little, Brown and Co. will publish the 15-year-old's memoir in the United States and much of the rest of the world.

"Malala is already an inspiration to millions around the world. Reading her story of courage and survival will open minds, enlarge hearts, and eventually allow more girls and boys to receive the education they hunger for," said Michael Pietsch, executive vice president and publisher of Little, Brown.

A Taliban gunman shot Malala on Oct. 9 in northwestern Pakistan. The militant group said it targeted her because she promoted "Western thinking" and, through a blog, had been an outspoken critic of the Taliban's opposition to educating girls.

The shooting sparked outrage in Pakistan and many other countries, and her story drew global attention to the struggle for women's rights in Malala's homeland. The teen even made the shortlist for Time magazine's "Person of the Year" in 2012.

Malala was brought to the U.K. for treatment and spent several months in a hospital undergoing skull reconstruction and cochlear implant surgeries. She was released last month and has started attending school in Britain.

Malala said in a statement Wednesday that she hoped telling her story would be "part of the campaign to give every boy and girl the right to go to school.

"I hope the book will reach people around the world, so they realize how difficult it is for some children to get access to education," she said. "I want to tell my story, but it will also be the story of 61 million children who can't get education."

Publishers did not reveal the price tag for the book deal, estimated by the Guardian newspaper at 2 million pounds ($3 million).

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-03-28-Britain-Malala/id-68c0998a9bb349f586ab1de89881a914

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Man pleads not guilty to extorting A&M professor

HOUSTON (AP) ? James Arnt Aune was regarded as a fine scholar, mentor and friend by students and his fellow professors at Texas A&M University, where he headed the school's Department of Communication.

But Aune, who jumped to his death from the roof of a campus parking garage in January, battled depression in recent years. He struggled with the administrative duties of being a department head, and he was badly shaken by his 2007 battle with prostate cancer, which he survived but which forced him to face his own mortality, his widow said.

"He never really came all the way back," Miriam Aune said of his surviving cancer.

He began drinking heavily, and in December he started a sexually explicit online relationship with what he thought was an underage girl, according to prosecutors. He was soon contacted by a man purporting to be her outraged father, who threatened to expose Aune unless he paid him $5,000.

Aune paid the man $1,500, but he didn't know if he could come up with the rest, authorities say. He confessed to his wife, who pledged to stand by him, but about a week later, the 59-year-old Aune jumped to his death after sending a final text: "Killing myself now. And u will be prosecuted for black mail."

The man who got that text, according to prosecutors, pleaded not guilty Tuesday in a Houston federal courtroom to an extortion charge. The 37-year-old Metairie, La., resident was ordered to remain in jail without bail, and his trial is scheduled for May 28. If convicted, he faces up to two years in jail. His court-appointed attorney, Marjorie Meyers, declined to comment about the case.

Authorities allege that Aune was one of many victims of a scheme in which the man used his daughter to lure men into sexually explicit online relationships and later blackmailed them. The Associated Press isn't naming the man to protect the identity of his daughter.

In the criminal complaint, prosecutors contend that the man's daughter told authorities in Louisiana in 2011 that her father took naked photos and videos of her and used them "to scam men" through MocoSpace, a social networking website mainly for mobile devices.

On the site, "she would meet men, get their phone numbers and send them pictures and videos then (her father) would call them and say how she was his daughter and how she would need counseling and they had to pay for it."

At the time of that 2011 interview, her father was facing two counts of oral sexual battery and two counts of aggravated incest. The charges were dropped in February 2012 due to a lack of corroborating evidence, said Rachael Domiano, a spokeswoman for the 21st Judicial District Attorney's Office in Louisiana.

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday declined to comment about certain details of the alleged scheme, and it wasn't clear from the criminal complaint if prosecutors believe the defendant's daughter actually interacted with Aune, or if her image was used to allegedly dupe him.

Miriam Aune, 56, told The Associated Press that investigators told her that the defendant was the person who communicated with her husband and other men, pretending to be his daughter. She said her husband told her he began the online chats sometime in December and that by the third or fourth day after the chats began, the defendant reached out to him asking for money.

According to court records, undated texts show Aune scrambling to put money on prepaid credit cards for the defendant and asking for his forgiveness, saying "I am very sorry. It was a weak moment."

A week before his suicide, James Aune confessed to his wife. Miriam Aune said her husband never told her why he did it.

She pledged her support for him, but said he became despondent after his confession.

"I was just telling him there was nothing that we couldn't get through. We have two autistic children we have raised to adulthood. We've been through rough stuff. I thought we could get through this," Miriam Aune said.

According to a criminal complaint, the defendant continued bombarding Aune with profanity laced emails, texts and voicemails, including a Jan. 7 email in which he warned Aune that he had until noon the next day to pay or else "the police, your place of employment, students, ALL OVER THE INTERNET ...ALL OF THEM will be able to see your conversations, texts, pictures you sent ...."

On Jan. 8 at 9:21 a.m., the defendant texted, "3 more hours. If i don't hear from you the calls start," according the criminal complaint by FBI agent Nikki Allen.

At 10:29 a.m., Aune replied, "Killing myself now And u will be prosecuted for black mail."

He jumped from the parking garage roof about a minute later, shocking the A&M campus, which is about 100 miles northwest of Houston.

Miriam Aune doesn't excuse her husband's actions. She said it was his decision to go online and begin the conversations.

"It just shows you anybody can slip off the path. I know a lot of people are very surprised by this. He was very human with flaws, just like all of us," she said.

But she said it saddens her to know that some people will only remember her husband for what happened at the end of his life.

"To him, being a professor, it was a sacred duty to him. And he cared so much about his students," she said as she cried. "The people who know him, who loved him, they are not going to feel any differently about him."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/man-pleads-not-guilty-extorting-m-professor-004902354.html

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?After Love?

Photo by Stefan Wermuth/Reuters

Click the arrow on the audio player to?hear Alan Michael Parker read this poem. You can also download?the recording or?subscribe?to?Slate's Poetry Podcast on iTunes.

I wrote letters of introduction
and sent them to every embassy
of every future
just in case you need something
when you get there

including to all the outposts of wind-up afternoons
and to all the banquets where the gods disagree
and to all the bees muscling in all the flowers
and of course to every color.

In the letters I share a couple of our secrets
the story of our argument on the way to Toronto
how we drove by Toronto arguing
because you were wrong

and later the sweet closing of your body
on my Niagara Falls my Maid of the Mist my Sea World
and how in love
you breathe in as though you were laughing.
Your right hand rubs my scalp

scratching without thinking
after love
as though my head were your own.
I put that in a few of the letters.
I hope this is all okay.

Now wherever you go they?ll know you
and you?ll be asked to accompany
all of the presidents
every grain of blue
and all of the ministers
every knife of every poplar
and all of the other world?s ambassadors
every cogitating groundhog.
I wouldn?t mind being there
to see.

Although my first obligation is right here
as you rise after love
to dress back-lighted and so slowly

as each gesture rounds off
how the light feels about the room.

Everyone should know?I will tell everyone.
I can do this much.
I will write more letters more letters

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=f45d28ec40caba886dd13ecdbfbf2f95

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Dana White?s latest video blog shows he is a fan of shooting guns, riding motorcycles and apple-picking

With no fight this week, UFC president Dana White released a video blog that shows what he and his "idiot friends" do when visiting his place in Maine. Yes, there's plenty of NSFW language. Take a look and see what White and his friends are up to, including:

1. Talk one friend into trying the spiciest hot sauce ever.
2. Blow things up.
3. Shoot guns while calling each other a nickname for a cat.
4. Apple-picking, though it doesn't look like they're picking honeycrisp apples, the finest of all apple varieties.
5. Milk goats in a way that looks pretty uncomfortable for the goat.
6. Drive motorcycles.

[Also: Nick Diaz can cry foul all he wants, but he's not getting a rematch with GSP]

And a little advice for Nick the Tooth. I was once told at an Indian restaurant, after eating very spicy food, that beer or soda pop are your best bets to cool a burning mouth.

Memorable Moments from Yahoo! Sports:

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/dana-white-latest-video-blog-shows-fan-shooting-164921000--mma.html

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CBO lowers personal loan ceiling to 35%Financial Services - Zawya

By A.E. James Muscat: The Central Bank of Oman (CBO) yesterday decided to bring down the upper ceiling of personal loan portfolio of commercial banks to 35 per cent from 40 per cent of a bank's total credit, while increasing the housing loan limit to 15 per cent from 10 per cent now. The decision was taken by the board of governors, which met under the chairmanship of Dr Ali bin Mohammed bin Moosa, Deputy Chairman of the board here yesterday. It is not clear whether the decision will be implemented immediately or a grace period will be granted to local banks to comply with the revised upper limit.

Market analysts said that the increase in upper limit of mortgage finance will help real estate sector, although banks will get a lower margin compared to personal loan.
"Since it is backed by assets, the loan quality will improve and will help the growth of real economy," noted Sankar Kailasam, Head of Asset Management at Gulf Baader Capital Markets. The CBO decision was aimed at bringing in discipline among those who take personal loan. There have been concerns that a sizable amount of personal loan is used for conspicuous consumption, which include luxury cars, mobile phones and leisure travel.

In other words, the increase in will help to create more appreciating assets, than depreciating assets. Of late, the Majlis A'Shura also discussed the issue in detail. The aggregate personal loan portfolio of all banks touched OMR5.8 billion (which include mortgage finance) by end-December, 2012. This constitutes 41 per cent of the total loan portfolio of all banks at OMR14.36 billion. "So, there is ample room for banks to grow their mortgage finance portfolio," added Kailasam.

Kailasam said those commercial banks, which have already reached their upper ceiling (of 40 per cent personal loan and 10 per cent housing finance) can not grow their retail portfolio, which is generally a high margin business. However, if corporate loan grows at a faster pace, banks will be able to increase its personal loan portfolio as well.

In principle approval
The CBO board also gave an in principle approval for ahlibank to take over the assets and liabilities of Taageer Finance Company.

Further, the board approved the application of National Bank of Oman to expand its business in the United Arab Emirates by opening additional branches. In addition, the board discussed the scope for investments of Islamic banking, besides the personal and housing finance in the context of Islamic Banks.

The apex bank last year brought down interest rate ceiling on new personal loan to 7 per cent from 8 per cent, offering relief to bank borrowers. The interest rate cut was aimed at bringing down the repayment burden or indebtedness of bank borrowers, at a time interest rates across the board have witnessed a substantial fall.

? Times of Oman 2013

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? Copyright Zawya. All Rights Reserved.

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Source: http://www.zawya.com/story/CBO_lowers_personal_loan_ceiling_to_35-ZAWYA20130325041021/

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