Former US soldier accused of fighting with al Qaeda group in Syria

via YouTube

Video of US Army veteran Eric Harroun filming militants celebrating a crashed helicopter was cited in the FBI affadavit. This clip has not been edited or verified by NBC News.

By Ian Johnston, Staff Writer, NBC News

A former U.S. soldier has been charged with fighting with an al Qaeda group in Syria after allegedly posting photographs of himself posing with military hardware on the internet, officials said in a statement.

Eric Harroun, 30, of Phoenix, Ariz., was accused of using a rocket-propelled grenade while fighting with the al-Nusrah Front, an alias of al Qaeda in Iraq, according to a statement issued on Thursday by the U.S. Attorney?s Office in the Eastern District of Virginia.

?Harroun, a U.S. citizen who served with the U. S. Army from 2000 to 2003, was charged by criminal complaint with conspiring to use a destructive device outside of the United States, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, if convicted,? the statement said.

?According to an affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, Harroun allegedly crossed into Syria in January 2013 and fought with members of the al-Nusrah Front against the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria,? it added. ?The affidavit alleges that Harroun was trained to use an RPG by members of the terrorist organization and that he fired an RPG and posted online multiple photographs of himself carrying or posing with RPGs and other military weapons.?

?Harroun allegedly participated in attacks led by the al-Nusrah Front and was part of an RPG team, for which he carried anti-personnel and anti-armor rockets,? it said.

600 terrorist attacks
Al Qaeda in Iraq has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization since October 2004.

?The al-Nusrah Front is one of several aliases used by the 'al Qa?ida in Iraq' terrorist organization, and since November 2011 the group has claimed responsibility for nearly 600 terrorist attacks in Syria,? the statement said.

U.S. officials have called for Assad to step down in Syria and have offered non-lethal support to the rebels, but there is concern about militant groups like al Qaeda affiliates fighting alongside other rebel forces.

Israel fears al Qaeda elements will establish themselves close to the border and threaten to fire chemical weapons and long-range rockets captured from the Syrian army into Israel.

The statement said Harroun appeared in a federal court in Alexandria, Va., Thursday.

Harroun was arrested on Wednesday upon returning to the United States at an airport outside Washington, Reuters said. He has a hearing scheduled for Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

He was medically discharged from the army after being injured in a car accident, according to an affidavit in support of a criminal complaint, Reuters reported.

The criminal charge of "conspiring to use a destructive device outside of the United States" carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.

Harroun appeared in two videos that indicated he was engaged in military action with rebel forces against the Syrian government, Reuters reported. In one video, he said: "Bashar al-Assad, your days are numbered. ... Where(ever) you go we will find you and kill you," according to the affidavit.

In March, the FBI conducted three voluntary interviews of Harroun at the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul, during which he stated that he wanted to fight with the Free Syrian Army against the Assad regime, the affidavit added.

Harroun allegedly told the FBI that during his fighting in Syria he shot about 10 people but did not know whether he killed any of them, the affidavit said, according to Reuters. He also said he hated al Qaeda and did not know any al Qaeda members, the affidavit said. On Wednesday in the United States, the FBI conducted another voluntary interview during which Harroun allegedly said that he knew the al-Nusrah Front had been designated a terrorist organization, according to the affidavit.

The U.S. Attorney's office said a lawyer would be appointed for Harroun, Reuters reported.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Syria chaos looms large over Obama's Israel trip

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Rental Reimbursement - Insurance Forum

I need some advice.........

I was in an auto accident last month, some guy blew through a stop-sign and t-boned my car.

I walked away with out a scratch, but my car had almost $12,000 of damage.

I reported the accident to the company (GEICO) immediately and they said an inspector would be there within 48 hours. Well, 48 hours and no call from an inspector. 3 days, 4 days, no call. I keep calling Geico and they say he's backed up and will get to me soon. Well, 10 days later he shows up to look at the car.

In the interim, I go out and rent a car. I have rental reimbursement of 30 days/$1,500 on my policy. The car is in the shop and all parts are ordered, but there's one part that's on a "nation-wide backorder" and to date (I'm almost at the end of the 30-day rental) it has not showed up.

So, here's my question: What are my chances of getting GEICO to pay for my rental past the 30 day period? In all fairness, they said they would inspect my car within 2 days, but it took 10 days. At the very least, I think they should pay for those extra 8 days.

And, I rightfully can't blame the insurance company that a part is out of stock, but it may take another few weeks for that part to show up.

Before I call the company, I thought someone might have some ideas on how to go about this.
Thanks........

Source: http://www.insurance-forums.net/forum/p-c-insurance-forum/rental-reimbursement-t51131.html

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Amanda Bynes Wants Drake To ?Murder? Her Coochie

Amanda Bynes Wants Drake To “Murder” Her Coochie

Crazy Amanda Bynes apparently has her eye on rapper Drake, tweeting about the Canadian rapper being “hot” and then writing she “wants him to murder her va**na”. The former child star has been behaving strangely the past year, recently showing off her new look along with crazy comments on Twitter. Amanda Bynes posted a photoshopped ...

Amanda Bynes Wants Drake To “Murder” Her Coochie Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/03/amanda-bynes-wants-drake-to-murder-her-coochie/

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FOR KIDS: Teens seek invention protection

Increasingly, young researchers seek patents to defend their innovations against theft

Increasingly, young researchers seek patents to defend their innovations against theft

By Kellyn Betts

Web edition: March 22, 2013

Enlarge

Credit: Stuart Burdford / iStock Photo

While adult engineers, scientists and other inventors submit most patent applications, there is no age limit. This year, 17 of the Intel Science Talent Search semifinalists and finalists ? all teens -- either have applied for a patent or have already received one. Additionally, another 20 semifinalists and finalists plan to seek a patent on their inventions.

Their experiences suggest that all students who invent something, even if they don?t participate in a science fair, should at least know about patents. And if they are interested in obtaining a patent, they should apply as early as possible! If they wait too long, they could lose the opportunity to guard their ?intellectual property? against theft.

Visit the new?Science News for Kids?website?and read the full story:?Teens seek invention protection

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/349150/title/FOR_KIDS_Teens_seek_invention_protection

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Where Are the Black Appointees?

The numbers are stark: of President Obama?s nine new Cabinet appointments, three are women and one is Hispanic.

This has prompted African-Americans, who voted for Obama in record numbers, to question whether they are getting their fair share of representation.

READ MORE That Elephant Won?t Hunt

Ohio Democrat Marcia Fudge, who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus, sent Obama a letter last week saying that his appointments ?have hardly been reflective of this country?s diversity.? She noted numerous phone calls from constituents to the offices of the CBC?s 42 members ?questioning why none of the new appointees will be able to speak to the unique needs of African Americans.?

It?s totally understandable that the CBC wants to see more African-Americans with a seat at the table, and it?s the group?s job to keep the heat on the president. But not all CBC members share the criticism voiced by their chair.

READ MORE Congress Passes Bill to Avert Shutdown

Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA) points out the obvious?that the president himself is black and that Eric Holder as attorney general is still in the Cabinet and responsive to the black community. ?Much more important than the personalities are the policy priorities,? Fattah told The Daily Beast, adding that he is confident that when the Cabinet selection process is complete, it will reflect the country.

A few months ago, it was women complaining that the president wasn?t keeping his promise of diversity, and women weren?t being named to top positions commensurate with their clout at the ballot box. That has since worked out to everybody?s satisfaction, and after Fudge?s letter was made public, White House officials, led by Valerie Jarrett, assured her that nominees who would please her are being vetted. When press secretary Jay Carney was asked at his Monday briefing about the lack of black appointees, he replied cryptically, saying the process is not yet complete and that ?posts that will be empty have not all been filled.?

READ MORE The Wild Wild West Bank

At least four Cabinet-level posts are awaiting nominees: Commerce, EPA, U.S. trade representative, and the Small Business Administration. ?If it turns out he has made an insufficient number of black appointments, he will deserve to get some hassle,? says David Bositis, a senior research associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, which focuses on issues of concern to the black community. ?At this time, I give him the benefit of the doubt.?

At Monday?s announcement at the White House of Thomas Perez to head the Labor Department, a number of African-American leaders were among the invited guests, and Bositis cites their presence as evidence that Obama is not aloof to the community. Ben Jealous, who heads the NAACP, is a regular visitor at the White House, along with MSNBC?s Al Sharpton, who is there so often that Bositis quips they must have a room for him.

READ MORE O?Reilly Defends Obama Against Bachmann

If Democrats held a majority in the House, then the CBC?s relationship with the White House would be different. They?d be chairing committees, and they?d have more access because they would have power. ?They?re in a really unpleasant situation in terms of clout?they have virtually none,? says Bositis. ?[Obama] meets with black leaders all the time, not occasionally, but they?re not necessarily members of the black caucus.?

It?s probably not a coincidence that Fudge?s letter arrived at the White House soon after Obama met with the Hispanic caucus to discuss immigration reform.

READ MORE Why Paul Ryan?s Star Dimmed

?A lot of this could be bruised egos,? says Kimberly Adams, an associate professor of political science at East Stroudsburg University. She points to a website noting it is 675 days and counting since Obama met with the black caucus. ?They?re saying, ?We?re still relevant,?? says Adams, who is writing a book on the utility and evolving role of the black caucus.

In her research, she says, she finds that the CBC?s priorities of focusing on unemployment, education, poverty, and health care have not changed since the group was founded with just nine members in 1969. ?Whether he meets with them or not, he?s well aware of their concerns,? says Adams, adding that black unemployment, 13.8 percent compared to 7.7 percent overall, is ?worthy of conversation.? That is a conversation that more black Cabinet members might bring out of the shadows and into the forefront of the country?s priorities.

Related from The Daily Beast

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/where-black-appointees-044210329--politics.html

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Baffling blood problem explained: 60-year-old health mystery solved

Mar. 20, 2013 ? In the early 1950's, a 66-year-old woman, sick with colon cancer, received a blood transfusion. Then, unexpectedly, she suffered a severe rejection of the transfused blood. Reporting on her case, the French medical journal Revue D'H?matologie identified her as, simply, "Patient Vel."

After a previous transfusion, it turns out, Mrs. Vel had developed a potent antibody against some unknown molecule found on the red blood cells of most people in the world -- but not found on her own red blood cells.

But what was this molecule? Nobody could find it. A blood mystery began, and, from her case, a new blood type, "Vel-negative," was described in 1952.

Soon it was discovered that Mrs. Vel was not alone. Though rare, it is estimated now that over 200,000 people in Europe and a similar number in North America are Vel-negative, about 1 in 2,500.

For these people, successive blood transfusions could easily turn to kidney failure and death. So, for sixty years, doctors and researchers have hunted -- unsuccessfully -- for the underlying cause of this blood type.

But now a team of scientists from the University of Vermont and France has found the missing molecule -- a tiny protein called SMIM1 -- and the mystery is solved.

Reporting in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine, UVM's Bryan Ballif, Lionel Arnaud of the French National Institute of Blood Transfusion, and their colleagues explain how they uncovered the biochemical and genetic basis of Vel-negative blood.

"Our findings promise to provide immediate assistance to health-care professionals should they encounter this rare but vexing blood type," says Ballif.

The pre-publication results were presented online, March 18, 2013, and the finalized report will be published, as an open-access article, in the next edition of the journal.

(Last year, Ballif and Arnaud identified the proteins responsible for two other rare blood types, Junior and Langeris, moving the global count of understood blood types or systems from 30 to 32. Now, with Vel, the number rises to 33.) New DNA tests

Before this new research, the only way to determine if someone was Vel-negative or positive was with tests using antibodies made by the few people previously identified as Vel-negative following their rejection of transfused blood. Not surprisingly, these antibodies are vanishingly rare and, therefore, many hospitals and blood banks don't have the capacity to test for this blood type.

"Vel- blood is one of the most difficult blood types to supply in many countries," the scientists write, "This is partly due to the rarity of the Vel? blood type, but also to the lack of systematic screening for the Vel?type in blood donors."

In response, the UVM and Paris researchers developed two fast DNA-based tests for identifying Vel-negative blood and people. These tests can be easily integrated into existing blood testing procedures -- and can be completed in a few hours or less.

"It's usually a crisis when you need a transfusion" says Ballif. "For those rare Vel-negative individuals in need of a blood transfusion, this is a potentially life-saving time frame." Protein hunters

To make their discovery, Arnaud and coworkers in Paris used some of the rare Vel-negative antibody to biochemically purify the mystery protein from the surface of human red blood cells. Then they shipped them to Ballif in Vermont.

The little protein didn't reveal its identity easily. "I had to fish through thousands of proteins," Ballif says. And several experiments failed to find the culprit because of its unusual biochemistry -- and pipsqueak size. But he eventually nabbed it using a high-resolution mass spectrometer funded by the Vermont Genetics Network. And what he found was new to science. "It was only a predicted protein based on the human genome," says Ballif, but hadn't yet been observed. It has since been named: Small Integral Membrane Protein 1, or SMIM1.

Next, Arnaud's team in France tested seventy people known to be Vel-negative. In every case, they found a deletion -- a tiny missing chunk of DNA -- in the gene that instructs cells on how to manufacture SMIM1. This was the final proof the scientists needed to show that the Vel-negative blood type is caused by a lack of the SMIM1 protein on a patient's red blood cells. Your blood

Today, personalized medicine -- where doctors treat us based on our unique biological makeup -- is a hot trend. "The science of blood transfusion has been attempting personalized medicine since its inception," Ballif notes, "given that its goal is to personalize a transfusion by making the best match possible between donor and recipient."

"Identifying and making available rare blood types such as Vel-negative blood brings us closer to a goal of personalized medicine," he says. "Even if you are that rare one person out of 2,500 that is Vel-negative, we now know how to rapidly type your blood and find blood for you -- should you need a transfusion."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Vermont. The original article was written by Joshua E. Brown.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Bryan A. Ballif, Virginie Helias, Thierry Peyrard, C?cile Menanteau, Carole Saison, Nicole Lucien, S?bastien Bourgouin, Maude Le Gall, Jean-Pierre Cartron, Lionel Arnaud. Disruption ofSMIM1causes the Vel- blood type. EMBO Molecular Medicine, 2013; DOI: 10.1002/emmm.201302466

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/-uMHpjXsRVA/130320155104.htm

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Vankoryth Detente

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Hollywood News

Hollywood News

Pippa Middleton Dating a New Man?[The Frisky] Simon Cowell Gets Hitched??[HollyWire] General Hospital Goes Through a Shake-Up?[Right Celebrity] Jennifer Aniston Planning Two Weddings??[The Celebrity Cafe] Jessica Sutta Spotted in Miami?[The Blemish] Seth Meyers Talks SNL Future?[The Huffington Post] Gwyneth Paltrow’s Diet Changed Her Marriage?[Anything Hollywood] Meet Transgender MMA Fighter: Fallon Fox?[The Dirty] Kate Upton Flashes ...

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Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/03/hollywood-news-2/

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Amazon CEO recovers Apollo engines from Atlantic

In this image provided by Bezos Expeditions, workers inspect a thrust chamber of an Apollo F-1 engine recovered from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in March 2013. An expedition led by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos pulled up two rocket engines, including this one, that helped boost Apollo astronauts to the moon. Bezos and NASA announced the recovery on Wednesday, March 19, 2013. The sunken engines were part of the Saturn V rocket used to bring astronauts to the moon during the 1960s and 1970s. After liftoff, they fell into the ocean as planned. (AP Photo/Bezos Expeditions)

In this image provided by Bezos Expeditions, workers inspect a thrust chamber of an Apollo F-1 engine recovered from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in March 2013. An expedition led by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos pulled up two rocket engines, including this one, that helped boost Apollo astronauts to the moon. Bezos and NASA announced the recovery on Wednesday, March 19, 2013. The sunken engines were part of the Saturn V rocket used to bring astronauts to the moon during the 1960s and 1970s. After liftoff, they fell into the ocean as planned. (AP Photo/Bezos Expeditions)

This image provided by Bezos Expeditions shows a thrust chamber of an Apollo F-1 engine on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in March 2013. An expedition led by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos pulled up two rocket engines, including this one, that helped boost Apollo astronauts to the moon. Bezos and NASA announced the recovery on Wednesday, March 19, 2013. The sunken engines were part of the Saturn V rocket used to bring astronauts to the moon during the 1960s and 1970s. After liftoff, they fell into the ocean as planned. (AP Photo/Bezos Expeditions)

This image provided by Bezos Expeditions shows growths on a Saturn V rocket stage structure on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in March 2013. An expedition led by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos pulled up two rocket engines that helped boost Apollo astronauts to the moon. Bezos and NASA announced the recovery on Wednesday, March 19, 2013. The sunken engines were part of the Saturn V rocket used to bring astronauts to the moon during the 1960s and 1970s. After liftoff, they fell into the ocean as planned. (AP Photo/Bezos Expeditions)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Rusted pieces of two Apollo-era rocket engines that helped boost astronauts to the moon have been fished out of the murky depths of the Atlantic, Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos and NASA said Wednesday.

A privately funded expedition led by Bezos raised the main engine parts during three weeks at sea and was headed back to Cape Canaveral, Fla., the launch pad for the manned lunar missions.

"We've seen an underwater wonderland ? an incredible sculpture garden of twisted F-1 engines that tells the story of a fiery and violent end," Bezos wrote in an online posting.

Last year, the Bezos team used sonar to spot the sunken engines resting nearly 3 miles deep in the Atlantic and 360 miles from Cape Canaveral. At the time, the Internet mogul said the artifacts were part of the Apollo 11 mission that gave the world "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

Bezos now says it's unclear which Apollo mission the recovered engines belonged to because the serial numbers were missing or hard to read on the corroded pieces. NASA is helping trace the hardware's origin.

Apollo astronauts were launched aboard the mighty Saturn V rocket during the 1960s and 1970s. Each rocket had a cluster of five engines, which produced about 7 1/2 million pounds of thrust. After liftoff, the engines ? each weighing 18,000 pounds ? fell to the ocean as designed, with no plans to retrieve them.

Bezos and his team sent underwater robots to hoist the engines, which are NASA property. In a statement, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden called the recovery "a historic find."

Bezos plans to restore the engine parts, which included a nozzle, turbine, thrust chamber and heat exchanger. Amazon.com Inc. spokesman Drew Herdener declined Wednesday to reveal the cost of the recovery or restoration.

NASA has previously said an engine would head for the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum. If a second was recovered, it would be displayed at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, where Amazon.com is based.

The ocean floor off Cape Canaveral is strewn with jettisoned rockets and flight parts from missions since the beginning of the Space Age. What survived after plunging into the ocean is unknown.

In one of the more famous recoveries, a private company in 1999 hoisted Gus Grissom's Mercury capsule that accidentally sank in the Atlantic after splashdown in 1961. The capsule is now featured at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center.

Besides running the online retailer, Bezos founded Blue Origins, one of the companies with a NASA contract to develop a spaceship to carry astronauts to the International Space Station.

In a previous posting, Bezos?said he was inspired by NASA as a child, and by recovering the engines "maybe we can inspire a few more youth to invent and explore."

___

Follow Alicia Chang at http://twitter.com/SciWriAlicia

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-20-Apollo%20Engines/id-e924106b2f334ef49f95c43b2674b7f5

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Astrophysicists Turn to the Skies to Measure the Mass of the Neutrino (preview)

See Inside

How an almost massless particle has shaped the large-scale structure of the universe

By Sudeep Das and Tristan L. Smith

WARPED: Cosmic microwave background radiation collected by telescopes on the earth and in space has been subtly distorted by dark matter. By tracing the distortions, physicists can chart the dark matter's structure, which has been shaped by neutrinos and can, in turn, place strict limits on neutrino mass. Image: George Retseck

Measuring the minuscule mass of neutrinos has so far proved impossible?and not for lack of trying. Numerous laboratory experiments over the past few decades have succeeded only in placing loose limits on the three neutrino masses.

We have very compelling reasons to expect that the best way to measure the mass of these tiny particles is, surprisingly, to look for their influence at the largest scales of the universe. For although neutrinos are virtually massless and nearly invisible, their sheer numbers?some 1089 in the universe?make them very consequential players in the cosmos.

This article was originally published with the title The Neutrino's Secrets, Written on the Sky.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)

Sudeep Das is a David Schramm postdoctoral fellow at Argonne National Laboratory.
Tristan L. Smith is a Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=b13f8385aa6f29a3b63fabad8aef5246

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Demand Media buys arts and crafts video provider

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) ? Demand Media is buying Creativebug, a provider of how-to crafty videos, as interest grows online in arts and crafts.

Financial terms were not disclosed Tuesday.

Demand Media assigns thousands of freelancers to produce stories about frequently searched topics and then sells ads alongside the content at its own websites, which include eHow and Livestrong. The Santa Monica, Calif., company said Creativebug's educational videos complement the crafts content on eHow.

San Francisco-based Creativebug allows users to pay per class or get a subscription for unlimited classes to learn skills such as sewing, knitting, jewelry-making and printmaking.

The purchase marks another effort by the company to boost the quality and variety of its offerings. Shortly after Demand Media went public in 2011, Google Inc. changed its influential search formula to weed out websites featuring content deemed to be shallow or deficient by its ranking system. The move relegated much of Demand Media's material to the back pages of the search results that provided much of its traffic.

Demand Media has been adapting to the changes by producing longer articles and setting up its how-to video channels on YouTube and other online outlets. Meanwhile, interest in online video continues to grow and people spend more time in front of their computers than their TVs.

In addition, interest in crafts content is growing, Demand Media said. Last year 50 million viewers looked at crafts-related pages on its eHow sites, the company said.

Shares of Demand Media Inc. added 3 cents to $8.74 in morning trading.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-03-19-US-Demand-Media-Creativebug-/id-4daf2081d4b84c52a1ab9a5afed98635

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It's in the cards: Human evolution influences gamblers' decisions

Mar. 18, 2013 ? New research from an international team of scientists suggests evolution, or basic survival techniques adapted by early humans, influences the decisions gamblers make when placing bets.

The findings may help to explain why some treatment options for problem gamblers often don't work, the researchers say.

For the study, recently published in Frontiers in Psychology, scientists from McMaster University, the University of Lethbridge and Liverpool John Moores University examined how gamblers made decision after they won or lost.

They found that, like our ancestors, the gamblers relied on their past experiences to predict what might happen in the future. But in games of chance where the outcome is completely random, this strategy doesn't work.

"If you are tossing a coin and it turns up heads five times in a row, we have this strong feeling that it will turn up tails on the sixth try," explains Jim Lyons, an associate professor of kinesiology at McMaster University and lead researcher on the project. "But the chances are still exactly 50-50."

"The results of our work suggest, perhaps for the first time, that certain aspects of problem gambling behaviour may be related to hard-wired, basic neurobiological factors related to how we direct our attention," he says.

Researchers conducted two experiments to test their theory.

First, participants were asked to observe two targets being illuminated in random sequence. The researchers then gave them money to bet on which target would be illuminated.

Participants maintained the amounts of their bets regardless of whether they won or lost. But in instances where they won, they were more likely to move their bets to the other target for their next wager.

In a second experiment, participants undertook the same test with a partner. Like the first experiment, players maintained the amount of their bets regardless of whether they won or lost. If their partner correctly guessed a target, they were more likely to move on to the next target when their turn came.

Dan Weeks, a psychology researcher at the University of Lethbridge, says humans have evolved to modify their behaviour based on what they experience in the context of their location.

"Humans make rational decisions on a day-to-day basis based on experience. Think about someone picking apples in an orchard. Once the apples from the first tree are picked, it is a rational decision to move on to the next tree," he says.

"These are also important findings because they suggest that, at least in some cases, these behaviours might be resistant to current behavioural intervention strategies," says co-author Digby Elliott, professor of motor control and behavioural neurosciences at Liverpool John Moores University and professor emeritus at McMaster.

Next, the team plans to examine how this sort of behaviour may change as we age, since evidence suggests problem gambling can be particularly acute in the elderly.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by McMaster University.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. James Lyons, Daniel J. Weeks, Digby Elliott. The Gambler?s Fallacy: A Basic Inhibitory Process? Frontiers in Psychology, 2013; 4 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00072

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/2AnwurvFen8/130318104745.htm

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Fighting Walrus Radio turns your iPad or iPhone into a UAV controller (video)

So, here's a situation: you'd love to your iPhone or iPad to control your UAV collection, and you're pretty obsessed with collecting as many of these UAVs as possible. Aside from undoubtedly landing yourself on an FBI watch list, you'll probably also be interested in helping the folks at Fighting Walrus Radio turn their dreams into reality. In a nutshell, the project seeks to fund an iOS hardware peripheral that operates with both Lightning and Dock Connector-equipped products -- turning 'em into "a mobile ground station for your personal unmanned aerial vehicle." It's built to report your UAV's critical flight systems and log flight data within a one mile range, and it's compatible with all MAVLink drones as well as the Parrot AR.Drone. Also, it's called the Fighting Walrus Radio. For those that need a bit more convincing, there's a demo video just after the break, while to-be customers can hit up the read link.

Filed under: Robots

Comments

Source: Indiegogo

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/RNrgXNtzS1g/

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Adoption and risk management in fish: how cichlids prevent their young from being eaten

Mar. 19, 2013 ? For a variety of reasons, many humans choose to adopt children. More surprisingly, adoption is fairly widespread in the animal kingdom, even though it would seem to counteract the basic premise of Darwin's theory of evolution, which suggests that animals should raise as many of their own offspring as possible. Understanding the rationale for adoption has challenged theorists for generations. Franziska Schaedelin and colleagues at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna now describe a new approach to the problem. The scientists present findings that suggest parents of fish exchange young with other parents to reduce the chances that their entire brood will be predated.

The results are published in the current issue of the journal Behavioral Ecology.

The phenomenon of adoption has taxed the minds of evolutionary scientists since Darwin first came up with his account of natural selection. According to Richard Dawkins's description, adoption is "a double whammy. Not only do you reduce, or at least fail to increase, your own reproductive success, but you improve someone else's." So why are animals apparently so willing to take care of young that are not related to them?

Franziska Schaedelin and colleagues at the Konrad Lorenz Institute of the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna now shed interesting light on the problem. The researchers are investigating a small cichlid fish that lives in Lake Tanganyika in southern Africa. The species is monogamous and pairs construct nesting caves to protect their eggs and fry from predators. By diving 12 meters to the lake floor, the scientists were able to collect DNA samples from over 350 parents and fry from over 30 nests. Sophisticated genetic techniques were then applied to investigate the parentage of fry in individual nests.

Most nests were found to contain fry that were unrelated to both "parents," with some nests containing fry produced by several pairs of parents. Because the locations of the nests were known, the scientists were able to show that fry had been born in nests that were separated by less than one metre to over 40 metres from their adoptive nests. Although very small fry may be able to swim several metres to a new cave without being eaten, it is highly unlikely that they could travel much longer distances. Instead it is probable that they were carried to new nests in the mouths of their parents, a mode of transport that is known to occur in cichlids. Transporting the fry to fairly distant nests would ensure that some young are protected even if all the nests in the immediate neighbourhood are predated or destroyed, so it is easy to rationalize why parents should do this. But why should other fish be willing to adopt fry that are unrelated to them?

Schaedelin suggests that foster parents may accept unrelated fry as a way of diluting predation of their own offspring. If this is so, parents should adopt fry that are not larger than their own young, as smaller fry are known to be predated first. The researchers were indeed able to show that adopted fry were the same size as native fry within broods, although they were generally larger than fry that were not offered out for adoption. It seems that parents selectively allow unrelated fry to assimilate into their own broods while also delivering their fry for adoption by others.

Sharing the care of broods among different families thus represents a kind of insurance policy against the predation of a nest. Schaedelin summarizes the findings neatly: "in a species that is so highly predated, it must have been important to develop a strategy to ensure that at least some of the young survive. It seems that fish do this by not putting all their eggs (or young) in one basket."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Veterin?rmedizinische Universit?t Wien.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. F. C. Schaedelin, W. F. D. van Dongen, R. H. Wagner. Nonrandom brood mixing suggests adoption in a colonial cichlid. Behavioral Ecology, 2012; 24 (2): 540 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/ars195

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/dq4GJvbKqzo/130319091129.htm

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The Need for Your Business to Be Online | Schools Training

Assessing and refining a company?s web presence is particularly important if they are based in, and provide most of their services or products to a large city like Toronto. Because of this, companies are either having to hire people in house to manage this aspect of their marketing and communications, usually someone with a degree in either specialization or at least one someone who has taken at least one web design course in Toronto or elsewhere. Sometimes, especially if it?s not enough full time work for one person, they will outsource it to an external company with experience in this sort of thing.

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With the growth of the internet and a web connection in virtually every home in Toronto, most companies, even small family owned business have an online presence of some sort. This is thanks to a plethora of directory websites, and multiple, competing online mapping services. Even the business directory that is normally part of a phone book is facing stiff competition from similar online services. Furthermore, individual brands, products and companies often end up with a social media presence and maybe even a blog.

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This can be through 140 character update social media platforms, or a fan page. Regardless, someone has to update these if the company is going to maintain a presence through these services. For a small business owner in a restaurant, caf? or retail establishment, it often makes sense for the owner to add this to their otherwise extensive list of responsibilities, as this is usually appealing to customers to feel that the company is an integrated part of a community. On a larger scale, the company may also feel the need to have a web page.

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The company?s web page might be created by a professional web designer, but the maintenance may be handled by whomever the company?s general computer support and installation, for example a graduate of IT courses in Toronto. The web page itself might be made from a template or a completely custom piece of design work. The most minimal information the page needs is contact information for the company, and a general idea of what the company does. It?s also a good chance to add some sales information and promote the goods or services the company offers. Some companies even have an online retail section. Even major search engines offer inexpensive merchandise though their website as a form of promotions. If the website is a key part of the company?s strategy, they might even hire a specialist to maintain just that aspect of the business.

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Going online is so important to a company?s marketing, that it?s now standard fare in a business administration college in Toronto. Students learn all about online marketing, both the general internet and the mobile web.

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Visit Academy of Learning College Toronto for more information on a web design course in Toronto.

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Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Need-for-Your-Business-to-Be-Online&id=7533742

Source: http://www.schools-training.com/articles/business-online.html

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Dublin tourists lead icy St. Patrick's Day parade

DUBLIN (AP) ? Never mind the fickle Irish weather. A chilly, damp Dublin celebrated St. Patrick's Day with artistic flair anyway Sunday as the focal point for a weekend of Irish celebrations worldwide.

More than 250,000 revelers braved the occasionally snowy, sleety skies to line the streets for the traditional holiday parade, a 3-kilometer (2-mile) jaunt through the city's heart involving performers from 46 countries.

Unusually, 8,000 tourists in town for the festivities led this year's procession in a "people's parade." Many donned leprechaun costumes or deployed banners and flags of their home nations or U.S. states, with the Texans making the biggest impression as they sported "Happy St. Paddy's Day, Y'All!" T-shirts.

One marcher, a 22-year-old engineer from Calgary, Canada, defiantly showed it wasn't so nippy at all ? by doing the hour-long walk shirtless, with only a painted-on shamrock covering his chest.

"It's not cold!" Oliver Feniak declared as he, like many in the leisurely paced 2 1/2-hour parade, stopped to shake hands with onlookers standing five-deep on O'Connell Bridge spanning the River Liffey.

Sunday's decision to put tourists in the vanguard was connected to a year-long tourism promotion called The Gathering that is organizing hundreds of clan reunions nationwide in hopes of boosting the economy. That's sorely needed in an Ireland struggling with 14 percent unemployment, heavy emigration and a household-debt crisis following the 2008 collapse of its Celtic Tiger boom.

St. Patrick's Day always marks the start of Ireland's full-court press for tourists. Since 1997 Dublin has expanded the holiday into a multi-day festival featuring special children's playgrounds, street amusement parks, concerts and walking tours. Irish President Michael D. Higgins is hosting a nationally televised TV show Monday night featuring many of Ireland's top artists and musicians, including Bono and Nobel-winning poet Seamus Heaney.

"We cherish the creativity, community spirit and rich culture for which we, as a nation, are renowned," Higgins said in a speech after the parade. "I have said on many occasions that while the experience of the so-called Celtic Tiger failed to live up to the best versions of Irishness, we have not been failed by our artists. In fact, our artists are a huge moral resource and great reputational asset for Ireland."

St. Patrick's Day is being marked in skylines across the world as part of a global campaign to floodlight landmarks green at night. This year the pyramids of Giza, the leaning tower of Pisa, Niagara Falls, and the Christ the Redeemer statue overlooking Rio are among dozens of iconic spots going green for the occasion.

While tens or thousands of foreigners have made a beeline for Dublin, practically the entire Irish government has gone the other direction, sending 19 ministers to 21 countries to capitalize on a marketing opportunity unique among nations.

Prime Minister Enda Kenny marched in Saturday's biggest U.S. parade in New York and is scheduled to meet President Obama at the White House on Tuesday, when the U.S. political establishment marks the Irish holiday.

It hasn't all gone smoothly. The government deputy leader, Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore, caused diplomatic waves in Atlanta, Georgia, by snubbing the second-biggest American parade in nearby Savannah ? because, Gilmore said, he didn't want to attend a dinner hosted by an Irish-American group that bans women from attending.

Most of Irish-America marked the holiday a day early, reflecting the view that such a notoriously boozy holiday shouldn't happen on a Sunday. But the Irish diaspora in most of the rest of the world stuck to marking St. Patrick's Day on March 17 as usual.

Many of Sunday's revelers suggested they were in Dublin specifically to soak up the pub atmosphere.

"We came all the way from Kansas City to drink some Guinness!' declared one banner on the parade route displayed by John Mullen, a 46-year-old lawyer, and his 17-year-old son Jack.

The senior Mullen, whose roots lie in the western county of Mayo, said he and his boy actually were golfing their way through Ireland, not drinking. He said the key to enjoying Ireland was to soak up the locals' exceptionally good conversation regardless of the foul weather.

"Yesterday we got rained on, sleeted on, snowed on as we golfed. There was even some sun here and there. It was four seasons in one round," Mullen said. "People back home say I've got the gift of the gab, but I've got no game here. The conversations here are magnificent. But you sometimes wonder how you're ever going to get out of them!"

In the world's first major St. Patrick's party Sunday, about 30,000 spectators soaked up the sun as Sydney's Irish-Australians paraded through the city. Australia always marks St. Patrick's Day on a Sunday. After the event, partiers rallying at the city's Hyde Park saw 45 Irish men and women receive Australian citizenship. That's increasingly common as tens of thousands of Irish job-seekers have made Australia a favored new home while Ireland's own economy remains in the doldrums.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/dublin-tourists-lead-icy-st-patricks-day-parade-174427300.html

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Former Miami State Senator Larcenia Bullard Dies

The Miami Herald:

Former state Sen. Larcenia Bullard was the rarest of politicians in the state Capitol: She seemed to make everyone happy and had no apparent enemies.

Read the whole story at The Miami Herald

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Former state Sen. Larcenia Bullard was the rarest of politicians in the state Capitol: She seemed to make everyone happy and had no apparent enemies.

Former state Sen. Larcenia Bullard was the rarest of politicians in the state Capitol: She seemed to make everyone happy and had no apparent enemies.

Filed by Janie Campbell ?|?

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1. HuffPost
2. Miami

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/17/former-miami-state-senato_n_2895393.html

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Chinese PM penetrating on enhancing ties with India

By LM - Sat Mar 16, 8:54 pm

Seeking to raise team-work with India, China?s new Premier Li Keqiang told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that Beijing would like to foster a team-work and partnership with New Delhi to a ?new stage??.

Hours after his publicity as Premier yesterday, Li told Singh over phone that a extended shared team-work would minister to swelling a dual countries? space for growth and common interests.

China will, as always, ?attach good stress to a ties with India, and would like to work with it to foster their family of vital team-work and partnership to a new stage,? state-run Xinhua news group quoted him as saying.

Li, an English-speaking proxy and a reformist leader, was yesterday as inaugurated as a Premier of a world?s second largest economy by about 3,000 deputies of a National People?s Congress, famous as a rubber stamp Parliament.

Thanking Singh for congratulating him, Li pronounced China and India are a dual largest Asian powers and building nations, that are also dual ancient civilisations and rising economies.

Li pronounced by enhancing their cooperation, a dual countries can enhance their space for development, and boost common interests to foster a tolerable mercantile and amicable growth and assistance a universe sequence and complement allege in a only and reasonable direction.

?This will foster improved provision of some-more than dual billion people in a dual countries, that bears a good stress for a whole world,? he said.

Singh pronounced that a shared ties over a past few years have seen a extensive growth and continual swell in team-work and exchanges in several fields, Xinhua reported.

Source: http://www.livenewsindia.com/business-news/chinese-pm-keen-on-enhancing-ties-with-india/

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Korg iPolysix (for iPad)

Korg saw the writing on the wall for virtual plug-in synthesizers early. While other manufacturers steadfastly held to manufacturing physical instruments, Korg branched off and began creating virtual emulations of its most popular models, including the MS-20, the Wavestation, and the venerable M1 workstation?of which I owned an actual example way back in 1988 when it was released. Like Arturia's iMini, Korg iPolysix ($29.99) is an emulation of a specific analog synthesizer?in this case, the popular six-voice Polysix from 1981, which was the first relatively affordable polyphonic synthesizer. Korg iPolysix brings almost all of the real Polysix's goodness to an iPad near you?and for far less than its original list price.

User Interface and Sound Quality
For this review, I tested Korg iPolysix version 1.1 on a 16GB, Wi-Fi-only Apple iPad 3; Korg recommends an iPad 2 or later, and says it's optimized to work well on an iPad mini. The main interface looks a lot like the original's front panel, albeit in a condensed form. ?There's a key difference, though: When you turn a dial, an overlay appears above it in amber that shows the exact value down to two decimal places, which is quite useful and makes precise adjustments easy.

Tap the lower left lever, and a larger keyboard pops up that lets you adjust the width of the keys and the octave positioning. You can also tap "Kaoss Pad," which switches the instrument keyboard out for a pair of X-Y trackpads similar to what Animoog and iMini offer, plus the ability to choose from 35 types of scales and modes. Under the hood is Korg's electronic circuit modeling technology, most of which is dedicated to emulating a real Polysix. The iPad version adds a velocity controlled high-pass filter and a few other niceties the original synth didn't have. There are also 28 different internal effects.

In practice, iPolysix sounds great. The real one wasn't the world's fattest-sounding analog synth to begin with, but it was certainly versatile and fun to program, and iPolysix captures the feel of the instrument nicely. That said, presets are a little stingy; you get just fifty, and, while many sound great, the overall selection isn't particularly inspired. To be sure, iPolysix is designed for people to get down and dirty with all of the on-screen knobs and buttons, but another 50 or 100 patches would have given new users more jump-off points with which to create their own sounds.

Production Environment and Conclusions
What really makes this app interesting, though, is that you also get more than a Polysix emulation. For starters, you actually get two Polysixes; you can load sounds into two separate instances of the Polysix, and then play or record from both simultaneously. Korg iPolysix also contains a miniature composition environment; in addition to the two synths, you get a six-track drum machine and an eight-channel mixer with virtual VU meters. There's also Polyseq, a step sequencer that's part of each Polysix instance, and is great for electronic-music-style pattern composition. You can string up to 32 patterns together per song, with tap tempo and swing quantization.

In practice, this is a fun environment to compose beats and hash out song ideas, as long as you're thinking electronic music and not, say, a blues band or orchestral film score?which is perfect given iPolysix's target audience.

The latest version 1.1 adds some new features, the biggest of which is Audiobus support, which lets you stack audio from multiple apps, or stream audio from one app to another for recording. The new version also supports virtual MIDI, another between-app synchronization protocol, plus Retina screens and iCloud backup. Finally, online sharing options include Polystage, Korg's SoundCloud-based online platform for sharing and remixing songs with other iPolysix users; it requires a SoundCloud account. You can also export .WAV files, sync up with other WIST (Wireless Sync-Start Technology) apps, and control iPolysix with a USB MIDI keyboard like the Samson Carbon 49.

Korg iPolysix is a great way to get a "real" analog synth in a portable package. While the app is expensive by iPad standards, it's unbelievably cheap when compared to buying a real Polysix off of the used market?not to mention keeping it in tune and in proper working order. It's also a heck of a lot lighter to carry, and that certainly counts for something. If you do want the fattest-sounding synth, you may want to look at Arturia iMini instead, although that app lacks iPolySix's multiple-synth functionality, as well as its step sequencers, mixer, and drum machine.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/0ZjCnrIZdNU/0,2817,2416661,00.asp

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Emma Watson Takes To Twitter To DENY 50 Shades Of Grey Casting Rumors!

Well! That settles it, you guys!

Emma Watson is DEFINITELY NOT going to be letting her freak flag fly in the upcoming big-screen adaptation of Twilight fanfiction-turned-porn for moms, 50 Shades of Grey!

And how do we know that?

Because the Harry Potter starlet took to Twitter to shoot down the rumors once and for all?and in the most HIGHlarious way possible!

She wrote:

LOLz! Ah-MAY-zing!

Guess this means that in real life, she's not too big a fan of the source material!

And we guess that it also means that whatever documents those hackers found confirming her for the part accidentally stumbled on to someone's very own fan fiction!

But hey! Thanks for clearing the air, Emma!

P.S. CLICK HERE to "follow" Perez on Twitter!

P.P.S. CLICK HERE to "like" Perez on Facebook!

[Image via WENN.]

Tags: 50 shades of grey, confirmation, denial, documents, emma watson, fanfiction, hackers, leak, twilight, twitter

Source: http://perezhilton.com/2013-03-17-emma-watson-twitter-denies-50-shades-of-grey

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Foursquare's BlackBerry 10 app updated to add features that iOS users already enjoy

Heads-up, BB10 users -- checking in just got a little less second-class. Foursquare has today issued an update to its BlackBerry 10 app that effectively brings it closer in line with the version already available for iOS users. For starters, there's a more compact Explore screen, and your friends can now be tagged in check-ins and comments. For big spenders (or frugal ones, we guess), Visa and MasterCard specials can now be taken advantage of by Z10 users. Per usual, it also ironed out a few miscellaneous bugs along the way, and you can get your update in the source link below.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Blackberry

Comments

Via: About Foursquare

Source: BlackBerry World

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/I57dHPIs4RY/

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Westinghouse UW40T2BW

Not long ago, if $500 was all you had in your HDTV spending budget, you likely ended up with a 27- or 32-inch set that maxed out at 720p resolution and looked like, well, a cheap TV?and it probably performed like one. These days, that same $500 gets you into a 40- or 42-inch model that offers full 1080p HD, LED backlighting, and in some cases, 120Hz refresh technology. Westinghouse's UW40T2BW{ offers LED-backlit LCD HDTVs that deliver a good picture and can handle fast-moving video. The 40-inch screen is avalable for $499.99 (list), and while it comes with some color and tinting issues, it has a powerful set of speakers for under half a grand.

Design
The UW40T2BW?offers a simple, yet attractive, cabinet design. It has very thin (0.75-inch) matte black, lightly textured top and side bezels, and a wider (1.5-inch) bottom bezel adorned with a Westinghouse logo. The cabinet measures 2.3 inches at its thickest point and weighs 27 pounds. In addition to the 40-inch panel, it houses two down-firing 10-watt speakers that are loud and powerful. The TV comes with a rectangular, no-swivel stand and has the requisite four VESA mounting holes for placement on a wall.

Touch-sensitive Menu, Input, Volume, Channel, and Power buttons sit on the right side of the lower bezel. The on-screen menu system is well-organized and includes Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, Sharpness, Color Temperature, and Hue adjustments. There are five preset picture modes (Showroom, Movie, Game, Sports, and Custom), and a handful of audio options. In addition to Bass, Treble, and Balance settings there are five audio presets (Rock, Pop, Classical, Flat, and Custom) and a Surround 3D setting. The surround effect doesn't come close to the output of a true multi-channel speaker setup, but it does give the TV a fuller-than-typical sound.

As with the 42-inch RCA LED42C45RQ, the UW40T2BW only has two HDMI ports. The same-size Insignia NS-42E480A13, on the other hand, gives you three. Both of the Westinghouse's HDMI ports are at the rear of the cabinet and face downward, making them difficult to access without tilting the TV all the way forward. They are joined by a USB port and an SPDIF audio jack. Right-facing ports include composite A/V, VGA and PC audio (analog) inputs, stereo audio outputs, and an antenna/cable coaxial jack.

The included remote is 7 inches long and contains 38 smallish buttons and a four-way arrow array. None of the buttons are backlit and there's no dedicated Picture Mode button, but it does have a button that toggles between Bright Room, Medium Room, and Dark Room backlighting settings.

Performance
In testing, the UW40T2BW's fast motion prowess was impressive; the 120Hz panel provided a smooth, stutter-free picture while watching 2012 on Blu-ray, a slight improvement in motion over the Editors' Choice (but 60Hz) RCA LED42C45RQ. Its contrast ratio, as measured with a Klein K10-A Colorimeter, was the lowest of the sub-$500 HDTVs we've recently tested, coming in at just 1,514:1. Image quality was aided some by a respectable 0.07 cd/m² black level, which helped give the overall picture a bit of much-needed pop. The RCA's black level was an inferior 0.18 cd/m², but its much brighter panel produced a contrast ratio of 1,796:1.

Color accuracy isn't good, as seen in the CIE color comparison chart below (the circles represent the measured readings, and the squares represent the ideal measurements). Red, green, and blue levels were all oversaturated, but the heavy greens had the most impact, causing tinting in skin tones and highlights. For example, in the movie Piranha, Elisabeth Shue's blond hair showed a noticeable green tinge around the edges.

The set offers relatively wide viewing angles for an LCD set. Colors remained mostly intact when viewed from the sides and the picture didn't lose luminance like it did with the Insignia NS-42E480A13. Reds appeared slightly lighter when viewed from an extreme side angle though.

The UW40T2BW used 53 watts of power during testing, which is average for a 40-inch LED backlit HDTV. The 42-inch RCA LED42C45RQ and Insignia NS42E480A13 consumed 67 watts and 64 watts, respectively.

Conclusion
If you're looking for a sub-$500 40-inch HDTV that has a 120Hz panel and is capable of displaying 1080p video, the Westinghouse UW40T2BW fits the bill. ?It could use some tweaking to correct its color accuracy issues, but still delivers a reasonably good picture, good motion handling, and respectable viewing angle performance. Still, our Editors' Choice for budget HDTVs, the RCA LED42C45RQ is a better deal, offering a 42-inch screen and a better all-around picture for $50 less.

More HDTV Reviews:
??? Westinghouse UW40T2BW
??? Insignia NS-42E480A13
??? TCL LE40FHDE3000
??? RCA LED42C45RQ
??? Samsung PN60E7000FF
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/gBig2zug2CU/0,2817,2416142,00.asp

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