Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) keeps Vitor Belfort from fighting in Las Vegas, Nev., but that could change though.
Coming off two "Knockout of the Night" finishes over top-ranked middleweights Michael Bisping and Luke Rockhold, "The Phenom" returns to the light heavyweight division to rematch former Pride champion Dan Henderson on Nov. 9 in Goiania, Brazil.
His decision to decline a bout against Tim Kennedy and move up to fight Henderson at 205 was made after he realized he had done enough to earn another title shot in the middleweight division. The only chance he returns to the Octagon at 185 pounds would be in a championship fight.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission won’t allow Belfort to use TRT in Las Vegas, once he tested positive in the state back in 2006 for an illegal substance, 4-hydroxytestosterone, in his first fight with Henderson. That’s one of the reasons why he hasn’t fought there since his first-round knockout loss to Anderson Silva.
However, Belfort revealed in an interview toUOLthat he was already on the testosterone replacement therapy when he fought Silva, back in 2011.
"I’ve (been doing this) for three years," Belfort said. "I did some exams and they saw I had low testosterone levels. The doctor said ‘Vitor, we need to do something. I don’t know if you agree with this, but it’s important that you do it.’ And it was done."
"If you has something, if you need something, do it the right way. That’s what I do. I do blood tests all the time… It’s a process that you have to do."
Belfort wants to fight the winner or Chris Weidman vs. Anderson Silva, who meet at UFC 168, and he would accept to stop using TRT if that’s one of the conditions on him earning the shot at the gold.
"I’ve already said that, if they agree with it, I would (stop doing TRT)," he said. "No problem at all. If they want me to get there in a disadvantage, that’s ok.
"But they already told me that’s not the problem," he continued. "UFC told me ‘you can’t get in there in disadvantage.’ The thing is, I’m in normal testosterone levels with TRT. That’s the treatment. People don’t seem to understand that I’m the only guy that does blood tests. Many fighters don’t do this, many use illegal stuff and are not tested like I am. I’m tested all the time. Week after week, month after month. I have to keep the levels normal to make it fair."
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — A 6.6-magnitude earthquake rocked central Chile on Thursday, causing buildings to sway in the capital and nervous people to run out into the streets.
But Chile's emergency services office said no damages to infrastructure were immediately reported and discarded the possibility of a tsunami.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake's epicenter was located about 65 kilometers (40 miles) southwest of the city of Coquimbo. Its depth was 10 kilometers (6 miles).
Chile is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries. A magnitude-8.8 quake and the tsunami it unleashed in 2010 killed more than 500 people, destroyed 220,000 homes, and washed away docks, riverfronts and seaside resorts.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Leaders of a Senate panel that oversees U.S. intelligence issues said Thursday it has approved a plan to scale back how many American telephone records the National Security Agency can sweep up. But critics of U.S. surveillance programs and privacy rights experts said the bill does little, if anything, to end the daily collection of millions of records that has spurred widespread demands for reform.
Legislation by the Senate Intelligence Committee, which was approved by an 11-4 vote, would increase congressional and judicial oversight of intelligence activities. It also would create 10-year prison sentences for people who access the classified material without authorization, according to a statement released by committee chairwoman Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., the panel's top Republican.
Just how far it would scale back the bulk collection of Americans' telephone records was unclear.
The statement said the plan would ban bulk collection of records "under specific procedures and restrictions." Chambliss spokeswoman Lauren Claffey said some of the telephone metadata collection would continue, so long as intelligence officials followed rules for how it can be used.
Only certain people would have access to the phone data, according to the bill. It also would bar the NSA from obtaining the content of the phone calls. The current program only allows the NSA to collect phone numbers and times of calls and cannot listen in on phone calls without a warrant from a secret court.
"The threats we face — from terrorism, proliferation and cyberattack, among others — are real, and they will continue," Feinstein said in the statement. "Intelligence is necessary to protect our national and economic security, as well as to stop attacks against our friends and allies around the world."
She said "more can and should be done" to increase transparency of the surveillance and build public support for privacy protections.
But Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, said the legislation allows the bulk collection to continue under certain safeguards. He called the safeguards a positive first step but said the NSA should stop sweeping up Americans' phone records and only obtain those that are connected to a specific terror plot.
Privacy advocates who have long called for the end of broad government snooping bristled at the bill, which they said would merely legalize the surveillance that the NSA has quietly undertaken since 2006.
"It's fitting that Senator Feinstein took Halloween to remind us why she's the favorite senator of the NSA's spooks," said David Segal, executive director of advocacy group Demand Progress. "Using squishy public relations language, she is striving to leave the impression that her bill reins in the NSA's mass surveillance programs — but it does nothing of the sort. ... Lawmakers must immediately recognize this legislation for the sham that it is — and reject it outright."
The Senate intelligence bill rivals one put forward earlier this week, by House and Senate judiciary committees, that would eliminate the phone data collection program that was revealed earlier this year in classified documents that were released to the media by NSA leaker Edward Snowden.
The dueling legislation means that Congress ultimately will have to decide how broadly the U.S. government can conduct surveillance on its own citizens in the name of protecting Americans from terror threats.
Polls indicate that Americans widely oppose the surveillance program.
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Follow Lara Jakes on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/larajakesAP
NEW YORK (AP) — It's not coincidental that the stars of "Scandal" live tweet during episodes. They're encouraged to do so.
When several of the show's actors recently visited New York to promote the premiere of season three, ABC made sure to book Kerry Washington on a return flight to Los Angeles that offered Wi-Fi. Other cast members had their trips extended so they could be available on the social networking site.
Joshua Malina, who plays U.S. attorney David Rosen, relishes having a presence on Twitter. He describes his tweets as "self-promotion and dumb jokes."
A few examples:
—"Okay, how do we make the old chargers obsolete?" — first thing spoken at every Apple meeting about a new product."
—"Please watch Kerry Washington tonight on Kimmel as she continues her courageous battle against underexposure!"
—"If Lamar Odom and Khloe Kardashian can't make it, then ... nothing I can think of."
Malina may love Twitter but he wasn't an early fan.
"My sister was an early adopter. She lives in a remote area and what I could tell used Twitter to let my parents know that she was still alive. ... I thought, 'This thing is not gonna catch on.'"
Now he admits to sometimes crafting tweets and saving them for later.
"Occasionally I'll be driving around trying to formulate," he said. "The beauty of it is the enforced brevity forces you to craft your tweets, if you're attempting to be funny to really sort of pare it down so it's just right. I will work something over and over. Other times I'll read what's going on and instantly react."
Malina has no problem sparring with people who tweet him.
"Certainly these strangers who interact with me aren't holding back. People will tweet, 'You're ugly,'" he laughed. "I also have very, very thick skin ... so I don't mind reading the bad stuff."
He even prefers the negative over the positive.
"The good stuff is in a way less entertaining to read. I mean it's nice but you know ... people who want to really go after you I enjoy interacting with. I don't think I've ever actually been offended by anything anyone has written and I sort of hope people take it in the same spirit."
Malina doesn't hold back with celebs.
"Any celebrity that goes on Twitter and spouts off as if we should care what they say is opening himself or herself up to ridicule by anyone else."
"Scandal" airs Thursdays on ABC at 10 p.m. Eastern.
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Alicia Rancilio covers entertainment for The Associated Press. Follow her online at http://www.twitter.com/aliciar
Kentucky head coach John Calipari watches his team during their Blue-White NCAA college basketball scrimmage, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2013, in Lexington, Ky. The Blue team won 99-71. (AP Photo/James Crisp)
Kentucky head coach John Calipari watches his team during their Blue-White NCAA college basketball scrimmage, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2013, in Lexington, Ky. The Blue team won 99-71. (AP Photo/James Crisp)
Kentucky men's coach John Calipari speaks to the audience waiting for the start of the NCAA college basketball team's Big Blue Madness, Friday, Oct. 18, 2013, in Lexington, Ky. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
Kentucky head coach John Calipari watches his team during their Blue-White NCAA college basketball scrimmage, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2013, in Lexington, Ky. The Blue team won 99-71. (AP Photo/James Crisp)
Michigan State head basketball coach Tom Izzo responds to a question during the Big Ten Conference NCAA college basketball media day Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013, in Rosemont, Ill. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo listens to a question during the Big Ten Conference NCAA college basketball media day Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013, in Rosemont, Ill. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Every time Kentucky coach John Calipari starts to praise his latest crop of talented freshmen, he's just as quick to point out that it is a work in progress.
As the Wildcats take the first step toward coming together, Calipari will also have to remind his players to get through those growing pains quickly, because they are now the team to beat in college basketball.
Kentucky — with a collection of high school All-Americans — was ranked No. 1 in The Associated Press' preseason Top 25, a significant step considering the Wildcats finished 21-12 last season and were upset by Robert Morris in the first round of the NIT.
It's Kentucky's third preseason No. 1 and first since 1995-96 when the Wildcats won the national championship. The other preseason No. 1 was in 1980-81.
Kentucky was ranked for just one week in the final 16 polls of last season but Calipari enters this season with a roster featuring two returnees — Alex Poythress and Willie Cauley-Stein — and six freshmen who were selected McDonalds All-Americans last season.
To say that a ninth national championship is this year's goal is an understatement considering Kentucky has social media and blogs suggesting an unbeaten season is possible.
Calipari would just like to get to the Nov. 8 opener against North Carolina-Asheville first. The Wildcats begin the exhibition season Friday.
"It's a nice honor, but it's way too early to figure out who's the best team in the country," Calipari said. "We may be very talented, but I can't imagine us being the best team in the country at this point."
Kentucky beat out Michigan State in a close vote from the 65-member panel.
The Wildcats received 27 first-place votes and 1,546 points. The Spartans, who return four starters from the team that lost to Duke in the NCAA tournament's round of 16, snared 22 first-place votes and 1,543 points.
It won't take long for the schools to settle the issue. Kentucky and Michigan State meet on Nov. 12 at the State Farm Champions Classic in Chicago.
"A 1-2 matchup is a win-win deal," Spartans coach Tom Izzo told the AP. "If you win, you understand where you are and what you have as a team. If you lose, you've got time to figure out what you need to do to get better. I'm not sure, though, how kids and fans will react to winning or losing that game."
Of his team's ranking, Izzo added, "it's exciting because it means a group of people think we're good, and we've got a chance to be great."
Defending national champion Louisville received 14 first-place votes and was third while Duke, which received the other two No. 1 votes, was fourth.
Kansas was fifth, followed by Arizona and Michigan. Oklahoma State and Syracuse tied for eighth and Florida rounded out the Top Ten.
Ohio State was 11th and was followed by North Carolina, Memphis, VCU, Gonzaga, Wichita State, Marquette, Connecticut, Oregon and Wisconsin.
The last five ranked teams were Notre Dame, UCLA, New Mexico, Virginia and Baylor.
The last preseason No. 1 not to be ranked in the final poll of the previous season was Indiana in 1979-80.
Indiana was the preseason No. 1 last season and the Hoosiers were fourth in the final poll.
Gonzaga was No. 1 in the final poll last season and 18 teams in that final poll were in the preseason Top 25.
The Atlantic Coast Conference had the most teams in the preseason Top 25 with five and the Big Ten had four. The new American Athletic Conference, the Big 12 and Pac 12 all had three ranked teams.
Though Kentucky's objective is winning its second NCAA title in three seasons, playing like it's the nation's best is also a priority for the Wildcats a year after falling from the poll weeks after starting No. 3.
The consensus is that Calipari landed his best in a series of No. 1 recruiting classes. The group features Julius Randle, James Young, 7-footer Dakari Johnson, Marcus Lee and identical twin guards Aaron and Andrew Harrison, along with in-state standouts Dominique Hawkins and Derek Willis.
Along with Cauley-Stein, Poythress and senior reserves Jarrod Polson and Jon Hood, Kentucky has a mix of experience somewhat similar to the 2011-12 title team led by Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.
The season will determine whether Kentucky is able to deliver, but Aaron Harrison likes the group he's playing with.
"No one really understands how competitive practices are and how good this group is," he said after Tuesday's Blue-White scrimmage. "I'm really blessed to be a part of a great group like this."
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AP Basketball Writer Jim O'Connell In New York, and AP Sports Writer Larry Lage in East Lansing, Mich., contributed to this report.
Reporting for another day of duty, Chloe Moretz showed up on the set of “If I Stay” in Vancouver, Canada on Wednesday (October 30).
The “Kick-Ass 2” cutie looked pretty intense as she filmed scenes on an outdoor location along with costar Mireille Enos. “If I Stay” is about a fatal car accident involving a 17-year-old musician and her boyfriend.
Meanwhile, Miss Moretz’s new flick “Carrie” is scaring the hell out of audiences the world over, and it sounds like she poured her all into the gig.
Chloe told press, "The role of Carrie is an incredibly emotional role. It's probably the most vulnerable I've ever been as an actor, so in some ways it's kind of terrifying for people to see it, but at the same time it's very exciting and kind of an awakening for me because it's something I've never done before."
Audio for this story from Tell Me More will be available at approximately 3:00 p.m. ET.
The Obama administration is defending the Affordable Care Act over its faulty website, and reports that Americans are losing insurance coverage because of the law. To sort out the truth from the rumors, host Michel Martin speaks with Mary Agnes Carey of Kaiser Health News and technology developer Clay Johnson.
Microsoft's Windows Azure suffered from an issue on Wednesday that affected a management feature in the compute section of the public cloud, and remained unresolved Thursday morning.
Microsoft first updated the Windows Azure Service Dashboard at 2:35 AM UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) on Wednesday: "We are experiencing an issue with Compute in North Central US, South Central US, North Europe, Southeast Asia, West Europe, East Asia, East US and West US."
About 17 hours later the company posted a message saying that manual actions to perform so-called swap deployment operations may fail, and users should therefore delay them. Microsoft was still struggling to solve the issue on Thursday morning. But the company seemed to be on the right track saying that it "was continuing to validate and deploy mitigation for this issue."
The swap deployment operation is related to how services are deployed on Microsoft's cloud. Azure offers two deployment environments for cloud services: a staging environment in which users can test their system, and a production environment. The two are separated only by the VIP (virtual IP) addresses used to access them, and the swap deployment operations are used to switch them and turn the staging environment into the production environment.
The company hasn't elaborated on what caused the issue, but the fact that it affected all regions raises questions about how Microsoft has constructed the management portion of its cloud. The time it has taken Microsoft to fix the issue also puts the company in a less than favorable light. But fortunately for Microsoft and users, the issue hasn't affected the ability to run applications on Azure.
Microsoft has apologized for any inconvenience this has caused its customers.
Salesforce.com has long had a public AppExchange software marketplace, but now it's going to give customers the ability to create their own private AppExchanges where employees can download applications to use in their jobs.
Private AppExchange is generally available as of Friday to customers running Salesforce.com's Enterprise and higher editions, said Sara Varni, senior director of AppExchange marketing. However, those customers can give employees who don't use Salesforce.com itself access to the private store for $5 per user per month.
Enterprise application stores are rapidly coming into favor as companies seek to appease workers who are used to the generally painless experience of consumer app stores like Apple's iTunes. The managed app store model also gives enterprises a way to place a layer of governance over the software and devices employees are using, even as they provide easier access to software.
"The whole goal of private AppExchange is to empower the CIO to say yes," Varni said. While IT departments curate and oversee which applications get into the store, based on pre-determined permissions, employees can download them when they wish, she added.
In February, Gartner released a report predicting that 25 percent of enterprises will have their own app stores by 2017.
Salesforce.com is clearly hoping to keep its current customers from using rival vendors' technology, such as BMC's recently launched AppZone, to build out these stores.
Customers can use Private AppExchange to deliver any Web, mobile or desktop application to any device, with centralized authentication through Salesforce.com's recently launched Identity service.
Stores can also be customized to reflect a company's brand or various departments' needs, according to Salesforce.com.
Salesforce.com didn't run a formal beta program for Private AppExchange, but sought input from about 50 customers into its design. "Given our conversations, we know customers are hungry for this," Varni said.
The development effort was made easier given that much of the plumbing was already there, given the public AppExchange, said Ryan Ellis, senior director of product management.
Private AppExchange doesn't solve every problem related to enterprise app stores, such as the potential complexity of tracking software licenses and subscriptions as users download and use various applications.
It's possible to integrate Private AppExchange stores with third-party license management systems, Varni said.
Salesforce.com has also integrated Private AppExchange with its Chatter collaboration software. This means that "organizations can enable their employees to discover, discuss, rate and self-support applications collaboratively versus just being pointed to a generic app store and left to fend for themselves," Constellation Research vice president and principal analyst Alan Lepofsky [cq] said.
Chris Kanaracus covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Chris' email address is Chris_Kanaracus@idg.com
Enjoying some family bonding, Michelle Williams took her daughter Matilda to school with the help of her own mother Carla Williams this morning (October 28).
The “Shutter Island” stunner kept warm with a cream cable-knit sweater as she wished her little girl a happy 8th birthday before sending her off to her classes.
Matilda’s father Heath Ledger tragically passed away back in 2008 from a prescription drug overdose. At the time, Michelle told press, “I am the mother of the most tender-hearted, high-spirited, beautiful little girl who is the spitting image of her father.”
“All that I can cling to is his presence inside her that reveals itself every day. His family and I watch Matilda as she whispers to trees, hugs animals, and takes steps two at a time, and we know that he is with us still. She will be brought up in the best memories of him.”
Every year we have a really sweet time checking out all of the cool costumes celebrities and their families don for Hallowe’en. As the parties start kicking off this weekend, I suspect we’ll see some pretty cool stuff, and today we have our first look at Jersey Shore star Nicole ‘Snooki’ Polizzi‘s fam. Little Lorenzo is not so little anymore, but he makes a pretty adorable Cowardly Lion in their Wizard Of Oz-themed celebration. Of course Snooki is Dorothy… in a mini-dress and red stilettos, LOL. And you gotta give it up to Jionni– what a trooper he is, as Scarecrow. Anyway, they look totally adorable together. Peep the gallery for more!
A Stanford MBA named Roy Raymond wants to buy his wife some lingerie but he's too embarrassed to shop for it at a department store. He comes up with an idea for a high-end place that doesn't make you feel like a pervert. He gets a $40,000 bank loan, borrows another $40,000 from his in-laws, opens a store, and calls it Victoria's Secret. Makes $500,000 his first year. He starts a catalog, opens three more stores, and after five years he sells the company to Leslie Wexner and the Limited for $4 million. Happy ending, right? Except two years later, the company's worth $500 million and Roy Raymond jumps off the Golden Gate Bridge. Poor guy just wanted to buy his wife a pair of thigh-highs.
—Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) to Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) in The Social Network (2010)
In this scene, Zuckerberg has just asked Parker why his girlfriend looks so familiar; turns out the woman on Parker’s arm is a Victoria’s Secret model. Parker, founder of Napster (and the first president of Facebook), is impressing upon young Zuckerberg that the true genius behind what he calls a “once-in-a-generation-holy-shit idea” isn’t necessarily the idea itself, but the insight, drive, and perseverance to see just how far the idea can go. There’s no better example to prove his point than the story of Raymond, Wexner, and Victoria’s Secret.
In the mid-1970s, Roy Raymond did indeed walk into a department store to buy his wife lingerie, only to find ugly floral-print nightgowns—made even uglier under harsh fluorescent lights—and saleswomen who made him feel like a deviant just for being there. Realizing that other male friends felt the same way, the 30-year-old saw an opportunity to create a market where none existed: A lingerie store designed to make men feel comfortable shopping there.
Raymond imagined a Victorian boudoir, replete with dark wood, oriental rugs, and silk drapery. He chose the name “Victoria” to evoke the propriety and respectability associated with the Victorian era; outwardly refined, Victoria’s “secrets” were hidden beneath. In 1977, with $80,000 of savings and loans from family, Raymond and his wife leased a space in a small shopping mall in Palo Alto, Calif., and Victoria’s Secret was born.
To understand how novel Raymond’s idea was, it helps to have a little context. In the 1950s and ’60s, underwear was all about practicality and durability. For most American women, sensual lingerie was reserved for the honeymoon trousseau or the anniversary night; Frederick’s of Hollywood was the granddaddy of the specialty lingerie retailers. When the women’s movement of the late 1960s and ’70s called for women to liberate themselves from the bondage of bras, the intimate apparel industry responded with new designs that they claimed would give women the natural look they desired without the embarrassment of a sagging bustline. But for the most part, underwear remained functional, not fun.
Victoria’s Secret changed all that, and in the Bay Area, its sales continued to boom—thanks in large part to its catalog, which reached customers across the country. Within five years, Raymond had opened three more stores in San Francisco. By 1982, the company had annual sales of more than $4 million—yet something in Raymond’s formula was not working. According to management experts Michael J. Silverstein and Neil Fiske’s book Trading Up, Victoria’s Secret was nearing bankruptcy.
Enter Leslie Wexner, the man who had ushered in the mass-market sportswear boom with a store he called The Limited. While still in his 20s, Wexner had recognized that women were forgoing dresses for separates and casual wear. So in 1963, he opened a store “limited” just to sportswear. Wexner’s foresight paid off. The Limited grew to 11 stores by 1970, and 188 by 1977, according to a Forbes profile published that year. Wexner, now 40, was worth $50 million.
The open source Tizen mobile operating system is one of the most visible examples that Samsung isn't completely dependent on the Android mobile OS.
At the Samsung Developer Conference in San Francisco this week, Samsung held a single breakout session on developing apps using Tizen. The session was led by two engineers from Intel, which is working jointly with Samsung to create code to enable Tizen to run across multiple hardware platforms, including tablets, smartphones, cars and smart TVs.
Most of Samsung's smartphones and tablets today run Android or the company's own Bada OS. In fact, Samsung is by far the largest Android smartphone maker globally, as well as the largest maker of smartphones overall, according to IDC and others.
The company does make Windows Phone smartphones as well, though a Windows Phone session wasn't among among the 50 scheduled at the developer conference. Nearly all of the sessions focused on applications or services that work on Android.
Tizen has a modern Internet interface for use on devices, supporting HTML 5 and other Web technologies, so developers can theoretically write applications once to work on many devices. A Samsung roadmap for Tizen rollouts hasn't been announced.
At the Tizen session on Tuesday, two developers in the audience said they had different experiences with their early Tizen development efforts. Developers at MightyMeeting, a maker of business collaboration applications, have been using Tizen with promising results because of its use of HTML 5 across platforms, said Mighty Meeting CEO Dmitri Tcherevik.
On the other hand, Shivakumar Mathapathi, COO at Dew Mobility, said his company tried Tizen with Windows Phone devices and found it wasn't very stable on the Microsoft mobile OS. He didn't provide any details.
Tcherevik said that Samsung's interest in Tizen demonstrates that it's "willing to try many different things" even as a large company.
Some attendees at Samsung's first developer conference said they were glad to see Samsung to show off its distinctive features with Android at an event other than Google I/O. Here, Samsung could separate itself from other Android smartphone and tablet makers.
Contact: Alan Buis Alan.buis@jpl.nasa.gov 818-354-0474 NASA/Johnson Space Center
Built with spare parts and without a moment to spare, the International Space Station (ISS)-RapidScat isn't your average NASA Earth science mission.
Short for Rapid Scatterometer, ISS-RapidScat will monitor ocean winds from the vantage point of the space station. It will join a handful of other satellite scatterometer missions that make essential measurements used to support weather and marine forecasting, including the tracking of storms and hurricanes. It will also help improve our understanding of how interactions between Earth's ocean and atmosphere influence our climate.
Scientists study ocean winds for a variety of reasons. Winds over the ocean are an important part of weather systems, and in severe storms such as hurricanes they can inflict major damage. Ocean storms drive coastal surges, which are a significant hazard for populations. At the same time, by driving warm surface ocean water away from the coast, ocean winds cause nutrient-rich deep water to well up, providing a major source of food for coastal fisheries. Changes in ocean wind also help us monitor large-scale changes in Earth's climate, such as El Nio.
Scatterometers work by safely bouncing low-energy microwaves - the same kind used at high energy to warm up food in your kitchen - off the surface of Earth. In this case, the surface is not land, but the ocean. By measuring the strength and direction of the microwave echo, ISS-RapidScat will be able to determine how fast, and in what direction, ocean winds are blowing.
"Microwave energy emitted by a radar instrument is reflected back to the radar more strongly when the surface it illuminates is rougher," explains Ernesto Rodrguez, principal investigator for ISS-RapidScat at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "When wind blows over water, it causes waves to develop along the direction of wind. The stronger the wind, the larger the waves."
ISS-RapidScat continues a legacy of measuring ocean winds from space that began in 1978 with the launch of NASA's SeaSat satellite. Most recently, NASA's QuikScat scatterometer, which launched in 1999, gave us a dynamic picture of the world's ocean winds.
But when QuikScat lost its ability to produce ocean wind measurements in 2009, science suffered from the loss of the data. In the summer of 2012, an opportunity arose to fly a scatterometer instrument on the space station. ISS-RapidScat was the result.
Most scatterometer-carrying satellites fly in what's called a sun-synchronous orbit around Earth. In other words, they cross Earth's equator at the same local time every orbit. The space station, however, will carry the ISS-RapidScat in a non-sun-synchronous orbit. This means the instrument will see different parts of the planet at different times of day, making measurements in the same spot within less than an hour before or after another instrument makes its own observations. These all-hour measurements will allow ISS-RapidScat to pick up the effects of the sun on ocean winds as the day progresses. In addition, the space station's coverage over the tropics means that ISS-RapidScat will offer extra tracking of storms that may develop into hurricanes or other tropical cyclones.
Anywhere the wind blows
"We'll be able to see how wind speed changes with the time of day," said Rodrguez. "ISS-RapidScat will link together all previous and current scatterometer missions, providing us with a more complete picture of how ocean winds change. Combined with data from the European ASCAT scatterometer mission, we'll be able to observe 90 percent of Earth's surface at least once a day, and in many places, several times a day."
ISS-RapidScat's near-global coverage of Earth's ocean -- within the space station's orbit inclination of 51.6 degrees north and south of the equator -- will make it an important tool for scientists who observe and predict Earth's weather. "Frequent observations of the winds over the ocean are used by meteorologists to improve weather and hurricane forecasts and by the operational weather communities to improve numerical weather models," said Rodrguez.
Space-based scatterometer instruments have been built before, but much of what makes ISS-RapidScat unusual is how it came to be. "Space Station Program Manager Michael Suffredini offered us a mounting location on the space station and a free ride on a SpaceX Dragon cargo resupply mission launching in early 2014," explained Howard Eisen, the ISS-RapidScat project manager at JPL. "So we had about 18 months to put together an entire mission."
This accelerated timeline is a blink of an eye at NASA, where the typical project is years or decades in the making.
Free ride
Next, Eisen and his team turned to getting creative and crafty with the mission's hardware. In lieu of using newly-designed instruments, which would be expensive and take too long to develop, ISS-RapidScat reuses leftover hardware originally built to test parts of the QuikScat mission. That process involved dusting off and testing pieces of equipment that hadn't seen the light of day since the 1990s. Fortunately the old hardware seems ship-shape and ready to go. "Even though they were spares, they've done an excellent job so far," said Simon Collins, ISS-RapidScat's instrument manager at JPL. Despite their age, the old parts are more than capable of collecting the ocean wind data that ISS-RapidScat need to be a success.
In addition to old spare parts, some new hardware was needed to interface this instrument to the space station and the Dragon spacecraft. ISS-RapidScat will use off-the-shelf, commercially-available computer hardware instead of the expensive, hardened-against-radiation computer chips that are typically used in space missions. "If there's an error or something because of radiation, all we have to do is reset the computer. It's what we call a managed risk," said Eisen. The radiation environment on the space station is much less severe than that experienced en route to Mars, for example, or in more traditional sun-synchronous orbits.
Science bounty
Cost-saving decisions like this are shaping up to make ISS-RapidScat an exceptional bargain of a space mission. "We're doing things differently, and we're trying to do them quickly and cheaply," said Eisen. Considering that the typical launch alone can cost $200 million, ISS-RapidScat's estimated $26 million price tag seems like a bargain. Last year, NASA estimated the cost of a new, free-flying scatterometer satellite mission at approximately $400 million.
The real challenges of getting ISS-RapidScat into space lie in the details. One of the major headaches of such a hurried schedule has been getting the special connectors that will allow ISS-RapidScat to physically attach to the International Space Station. "They're special robotically-mated connectors that haven't been made in years," Eisen said. "We're having to convince the company that produces these connectors to make us a small run in time for the mission, and it hasn't been easy."
The logistics of operating an instrument on the space station are also tricky. "Typically, spacecraft are designed for the instruments they carry," said Collins. "In this case, it's the other way around." For example, ISS-RapidScat's docking point on the space station faces outward toward space - not down toward Earth and the ocean that the instrument is looking at. The space station's flying angle will also change as new pieces are added to it, in response to changes in the station's drag profile. ISS-RapidScat's mount can compensate for both of these challenges.
Another concern the ISS-RapidScat team confronted early on was that one of the space station's docking ports lies squarely within the field of view of the scatterometer. "Bombarding astronauts and visiting supply vehicles with microwave radiation from the instruments was out of the question, and turning the instrument off when there were things docked there would take away too much science," explained Collins. The project's engineers instead devised a plan where the instrument avoids irradiating docking vessels, but continues to scan across the vast majority of its viewing range.
Rodrguez is confident that the reward for overcoming such difficulties will be a bounty of vital science information. "Because it uses much of the same hardware QuikScat did, ISS-RapidScat will allow us to continue the observations of ocean winds already started," said Rodriguez. "Extending this data record will help us observe and understand weather patterns and improve our preparedness for tropical cyclones."
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Watching Earth's winds, on a shoestring
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
30-Oct-2013
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Contact: Alan Buis Alan.buis@jpl.nasa.gov 818-354-0474 NASA/Johnson Space Center
Built with spare parts and without a moment to spare, the International Space Station (ISS)-RapidScat isn't your average NASA Earth science mission.
Short for Rapid Scatterometer, ISS-RapidScat will monitor ocean winds from the vantage point of the space station. It will join a handful of other satellite scatterometer missions that make essential measurements used to support weather and marine forecasting, including the tracking of storms and hurricanes. It will also help improve our understanding of how interactions between Earth's ocean and atmosphere influence our climate.
Scientists study ocean winds for a variety of reasons. Winds over the ocean are an important part of weather systems, and in severe storms such as hurricanes they can inflict major damage. Ocean storms drive coastal surges, which are a significant hazard for populations. At the same time, by driving warm surface ocean water away from the coast, ocean winds cause nutrient-rich deep water to well up, providing a major source of food for coastal fisheries. Changes in ocean wind also help us monitor large-scale changes in Earth's climate, such as El Nio.
Scatterometers work by safely bouncing low-energy microwaves - the same kind used at high energy to warm up food in your kitchen - off the surface of Earth. In this case, the surface is not land, but the ocean. By measuring the strength and direction of the microwave echo, ISS-RapidScat will be able to determine how fast, and in what direction, ocean winds are blowing.
"Microwave energy emitted by a radar instrument is reflected back to the radar more strongly when the surface it illuminates is rougher," explains Ernesto Rodrguez, principal investigator for ISS-RapidScat at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "When wind blows over water, it causes waves to develop along the direction of wind. The stronger the wind, the larger the waves."
ISS-RapidScat continues a legacy of measuring ocean winds from space that began in 1978 with the launch of NASA's SeaSat satellite. Most recently, NASA's QuikScat scatterometer, which launched in 1999, gave us a dynamic picture of the world's ocean winds.
But when QuikScat lost its ability to produce ocean wind measurements in 2009, science suffered from the loss of the data. In the summer of 2012, an opportunity arose to fly a scatterometer instrument on the space station. ISS-RapidScat was the result.
Most scatterometer-carrying satellites fly in what's called a sun-synchronous orbit around Earth. In other words, they cross Earth's equator at the same local time every orbit. The space station, however, will carry the ISS-RapidScat in a non-sun-synchronous orbit. This means the instrument will see different parts of the planet at different times of day, making measurements in the same spot within less than an hour before or after another instrument makes its own observations. These all-hour measurements will allow ISS-RapidScat to pick up the effects of the sun on ocean winds as the day progresses. In addition, the space station's coverage over the tropics means that ISS-RapidScat will offer extra tracking of storms that may develop into hurricanes or other tropical cyclones.
Anywhere the wind blows
"We'll be able to see how wind speed changes with the time of day," said Rodrguez. "ISS-RapidScat will link together all previous and current scatterometer missions, providing us with a more complete picture of how ocean winds change. Combined with data from the European ASCAT scatterometer mission, we'll be able to observe 90 percent of Earth's surface at least once a day, and in many places, several times a day."
ISS-RapidScat's near-global coverage of Earth's ocean -- within the space station's orbit inclination of 51.6 degrees north and south of the equator -- will make it an important tool for scientists who observe and predict Earth's weather. "Frequent observations of the winds over the ocean are used by meteorologists to improve weather and hurricane forecasts and by the operational weather communities to improve numerical weather models," said Rodrguez.
Space-based scatterometer instruments have been built before, but much of what makes ISS-RapidScat unusual is how it came to be. "Space Station Program Manager Michael Suffredini offered us a mounting location on the space station and a free ride on a SpaceX Dragon cargo resupply mission launching in early 2014," explained Howard Eisen, the ISS-RapidScat project manager at JPL. "So we had about 18 months to put together an entire mission."
This accelerated timeline is a blink of an eye at NASA, where the typical project is years or decades in the making.
Free ride
Next, Eisen and his team turned to getting creative and crafty with the mission's hardware. In lieu of using newly-designed instruments, which would be expensive and take too long to develop, ISS-RapidScat reuses leftover hardware originally built to test parts of the QuikScat mission. That process involved dusting off and testing pieces of equipment that hadn't seen the light of day since the 1990s. Fortunately the old hardware seems ship-shape and ready to go. "Even though they were spares, they've done an excellent job so far," said Simon Collins, ISS-RapidScat's instrument manager at JPL. Despite their age, the old parts are more than capable of collecting the ocean wind data that ISS-RapidScat need to be a success.
In addition to old spare parts, some new hardware was needed to interface this instrument to the space station and the Dragon spacecraft. ISS-RapidScat will use off-the-shelf, commercially-available computer hardware instead of the expensive, hardened-against-radiation computer chips that are typically used in space missions. "If there's an error or something because of radiation, all we have to do is reset the computer. It's what we call a managed risk," said Eisen. The radiation environment on the space station is much less severe than that experienced en route to Mars, for example, or in more traditional sun-synchronous orbits.
Science bounty
Cost-saving decisions like this are shaping up to make ISS-RapidScat an exceptional bargain of a space mission. "We're doing things differently, and we're trying to do them quickly and cheaply," said Eisen. Considering that the typical launch alone can cost $200 million, ISS-RapidScat's estimated $26 million price tag seems like a bargain. Last year, NASA estimated the cost of a new, free-flying scatterometer satellite mission at approximately $400 million.
The real challenges of getting ISS-RapidScat into space lie in the details. One of the major headaches of such a hurried schedule has been getting the special connectors that will allow ISS-RapidScat to physically attach to the International Space Station. "They're special robotically-mated connectors that haven't been made in years," Eisen said. "We're having to convince the company that produces these connectors to make us a small run in time for the mission, and it hasn't been easy."
The logistics of operating an instrument on the space station are also tricky. "Typically, spacecraft are designed for the instruments they carry," said Collins. "In this case, it's the other way around." For example, ISS-RapidScat's docking point on the space station faces outward toward space - not down toward Earth and the ocean that the instrument is looking at. The space station's flying angle will also change as new pieces are added to it, in response to changes in the station's drag profile. ISS-RapidScat's mount can compensate for both of these challenges.
Another concern the ISS-RapidScat team confronted early on was that one of the space station's docking ports lies squarely within the field of view of the scatterometer. "Bombarding astronauts and visiting supply vehicles with microwave radiation from the instruments was out of the question, and turning the instrument off when there were things docked there would take away too much science," explained Collins. The project's engineers instead devised a plan where the instrument avoids irradiating docking vessels, but continues to scan across the vast majority of its viewing range.
Rodrguez is confident that the reward for overcoming such difficulties will be a bounty of vital science information. "Because it uses much of the same hardware QuikScat did, ISS-RapidScat will allow us to continue the observations of ocean winds already started," said Rodriguez. "Extending this data record will help us observe and understand weather patterns and improve our preparedness for tropical cyclones."
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Hollywood star and serious technophile Ashton Kutcher is proudly flashing his Lenovo employee ID these days as the company' newest product engineer. Kutcher will work closely with Yoga Tablet developers on the geeky stuff, but he'll also do his thing in front of the camera. "I think Lenovo working with Ashton Kutcher could be a home run both on style and on substance," said analyst Jeff Kagan.
Lenovo's newest product engineer got a higher-profile introduction to the world than many of the company's other employees. Perhaps that's because he's also famed actor and investor Ashton Kutcher.
Lenovo announced its multiyear partnership with the Two and a Half Men star at the launch event for the company's latest tablet. Kutcher will work with engineers on the Yoga Tablet product line, Lenovo said, by offering input and making decisions on the design, specifications and software.
Lenovo's Yoga Tablet
Emotional Connection
"I think Lenovo working with Ashton Kutcher could be a home run both on style and on substance," telecommunications analyst Jeff Kagan told TechNewsWorld. "Lenovo may be the leading computer maker today, but they have really lost much in the way of their connection to the customer. Ashton Kutcher could help them reach the customer much more effectively and emotionally."
The potential for increased customer engagement is certainly part of Kutcher's appeal for Lenovo.
"He's got a huge following and a targeted audience of 18-to-24-year-olds that we're keen to go after," spokesperson Brion Tingler told TechNewsWorld. "It's a dual partnership, on the marketing side as well as on the product engineer side. He is a seasoned tech investor and has got a lot of interesting insights to bring to the process."
Serial Investor
Kutcher is well known in technology circles. The 35-year-old has invested in companies including Airbnb, Spotify, and Foursquare, among others, through his venture capital firm A-Grade Investments, as well as news summarization app Summly. He also starred as technology visionary and Apple cofounder Steve Jobs in the biopic Jobs, which was released earlier this year.
The star has a technical background, having studied biochemical engineering in college. However, it's not yet clear how those skills might transfer to the development process of a technology product.
Celebrity Tech Partnerships
Kutcher is far from the only celebrity to have a direct involvement with technology firms. Singer Alicia Keys was named creative director for BlackBerry earlier this year. Jennifer Lopez, meanwhile, is chief creative officer and majority shareholder of Viva Movil, a wireless retail firm targeting the Latino market. The company is a Verizon Wireless premium retailer. Lady Gaga, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Black Eyed Peas singer will.i.am have all made technology investments.
That said, Kutcher's partnership with Lenovo appears to run deeper than other technology-celebrity pairings given his participation in the product development decision-making process.
Lenovo announced Kutcher's involvement with the company at the same time it unveiled the new Yoga Tablet. One of Kutcher's first public tasks as part of Lenovo was to promote the tablet -- and flash his company ID card -- in a commercial.
Yoga Tablet Specs
The tablet has two key features that seem to differentiate it from competitors' devices. First, there are three ways (or modes) to position the device: Users can hold it, use the stand to sit it upright, or tilt the tablet on a surface. Second, the Yoga has up to 18 hours of battery life, Lenovo claimed.
The handle holds dual batteries, using power options more commonly found in laptops than tablets, Lenovo said, and the Yoga can charge other devices through its USB on-the-go connectivity. It runs Android 4.2, using quad-core processors. There are both 8-inch (weighing 0.88 lbs.) and 10-inch (1.35 lbs.) models, with 3G options and 16-GB or 32-GB capacity, plus Micro SD expansion. The tablet includes 1,280 x 800 displays, a 5-MP rear camera and front camera, and an optional Bluetooth keyboard for the 10-inch model that doubles as a cover.
Lenovo priced the tablets at US$249 and $299 for the 8-inch and 10-inch models respectively, while the Bluetooth keyboard is $69. The tablets are available now.
Battery Life Is Key
It is the battery life that might help the tablet stand out from competitors like the iPad, which has a 10-hour battery life.
"Battery life is one of the key measurements in customer satisfaction. Lenovo continues to lead -- today, anyway," said Kagan.
"Anything that helps differentiate a product is very important for market share," Vinita Jakhanwal, director of mobile, emerging displays and technology at IHS Electronics and Media, told TechNewsWorld. "Extended battery life is definitely a plus for any mobile device."
In summer 1995, one year before the emergence of The nWo, WCW was stuck in a seemingly inescapable limbo. The era of Ric Flair’s thrilling rivalries against Vader, Sting and Ricky Steamboat was in the rearview mirror. Hulk Hogan had arrived one year prior, but he wasn’t being accepted by Atlanta crowds with the same maniacal frenzy that had stirred up WWE fans in the ’80s.
The lead producer of WCW at the time, Kevin Sullivan – a Boston-bred veteran brawler – needed to come up with something. He needed to do it fast. And what he came up with might be the single most absurd narrative that has ever unfolded in one of the major sports-entertainment organizations — The Dungeon of Doom.
View photos of The Dungeon of Doom's members | Watch the absurd videos inside The Dungeon's lair
A cadre of cartoonish villains that assembled in a haunted fortress, The Dungeon grew and grew to amass no fewer than 20 individual members, each more ridiculous than the next. Watching the group’s television segments today is a surreal experience and plays like a B-movie out of the mind of Troma’s Lloyd Kauffman. There were bizarre sci-fi elements like teleportation, Hogan’s turn to “the dark side” long before going Hollywood and even the first on-screen appearance of Big Show.
With the rise of YouTube, the group's run has developed a cult following thanks to its cheap production values and endlessly quotable lines like, “It’s not hot!” Fascinated by the the macabre world of The Dungeon of Doom, and the notion that its existence overlapped with the intense realism overlapped with The nWo, WWEClassics.com set out to discover the inside story. We sat down with Kevin Sullivan, the Dungeon's Taskmaster, to find out what made the group tick and why it even happened at all.
Ready to save some cash on your tech buys? Then you've come to the right place. Our friends at sister site gdgt track price drops on thousands of products every day, and twice a week they feature some of the best deals they've found right here. But act fast! Many of these are limited-time offers, and won't last long.
Shape-shifting ultraportable laptops have taken root in the regular release cycle for companies and if you've been considering nabbing one up, now might be your chance at one from Lenovo. Two of those flexible machines see compelling discounts alongside a price drop that makes a 55-inch LG 4K Ultra HDTV a bit more affordable. Join gdgt and add the gadgets you're shopping for to your "Want" list; every time there's a price cut, you'll get an email alert!
4K HDTVs still aren't all that budget friendly, but occasionally you can find one at a bit of a discount. This LG 55-incher touts 178-degree viewing angles, Smart TV features and 3D tech with a handsome $1,500 price cut. There's also a sliding speaker that tucks away, keeping aesthetics in order when you're not watching.
Lenovo's IdeaPad 13 may catch your attention for its ability to fold back into tablet mode, but the unit also packs an Intel Core i5 processor and HD Graphics alongside 4GB RAM to wrangle tasks in Windows 8. All of that powers a 13-inch 1,600 x 900 display inside a 0.67-inch thick shell that ticks the scale at a mere 3.3 pounds.
Don't let the hideaway 30-pin connector deter you here: this UE speaker also sports wireless chops thanks to AirPlay and your apartment's WiFi network. In fact, Logitech boasts a 300-foot range with this speaker so that you can keep a device in hand while you tidy up the living space.
While this Lenovo offering isn't quite as flexible as the Yoga 13, the IdeaPad Flex 15 does offer a stand mode for media consumption and close-quarters presentations. It also wields an Intel Core i7, 15-inch touchscreen and 128GB of SSD storage.
Samsung is riding at the top of the smartphone food-chain — let's hope they remember how they got there
I was looking through the data at ABI Research today about Q3 2013 smartphone sales. At first glance, I saw the pie chart I expected to see, with Android having over 80 percent of the worldwide smartphone market and was ready to close the tab. We know Android outsells everyone, and that just wasn't news I wanted to share. But right before I clicked away, a number at the top caught my eye.
Samsung sold 35 percent of all smartphones sold in Q3 of 2013. That's a figure that's fairly easy to come up with in the past if you wanted to do a little work, but there it was, laid out just like that. After a little poking around at their data, and calling in Andrew, our financial and numbers wünderkind, we realized just what that means.
According to ABI Research, Samsung sells more smartphones than Apple, Nokia and BlackBerrycombined.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations said Wednesday it has received assurances from the U.S. government that U.N. communications networks "are not and will not be monitored" by American intelligence agencies. But chief U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky would not comment on whether the world body had been monitored in the past, as reported recently by the German magazine Der Spiegel.
Nesirky said the United Nations had been in contact with Washington about the reports that surfaced two months ago and has received a U.S. guarantee of no current or future eavesdropping.
"Back in August when these reports first surfaced, we said we would be in touch with the relevant authorities," he said. "And I can tell you that we were indeed in touch with the U.S. authorities. I understand that the U.S. authorities have given assurance that the United Nations communications are not and will not be monitored."
Nesirky would not elaborate on whether spying had taken place and declined to answer related questions. For emphasis, he held up a piece of paper that said: "No comment."
A U.S. official told The Associated Press that "The United States is not conducting electronic surveillance targeting the United Nations headquarters in New York." The official, who was not authorized to be named, spoke on condition of anonymity.
It was not clear whether foreign U.N. missions in New York could be monitored by U.S. intelligence agencies.
Former U.S. Ambassador John Bolton, who held the post at the United Nations from 2005-2006, would not comment on "what may or may not have gone on in the past" because he's no longer in government.
"That said, it seems to me that the United Nations and everybody walking through the U.N. building are perfectly legitimate intelligence targets, and I think any decision by any president to say we are not going to eavesdrop on U.N. headquarters is a mistake," he told the AP.
"There's nothing in the U.S. Constitution that says you may not eavesdrop on the U.N.," Bolton said. "Silence and a deeply emphasized 'No comment' is how you should deal with all these intelligence questions."
Der Spiegel reported that documents it obtained from U.S. leaker Edward Snowden show the National Security Agency secretly monitored the U.N.'s internal video conferencing system by decrypting it last year.
Der Spiegel quoted an NSA document as saying that within three weeks, the number of decoded communications had increased from 12 to 458. Der Spiegel also reported that the NSA installed bugs in the European Union's office building in Washington and infiltrated the EU's computer network.
The United Nations lodged objections. U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said in August that international treaties protect U.N. offices and all diplomatic missions from interference, spying and eavesdropping.
"The inviolability of diplomatic missions, including the United Nations, has been well-established in international law, and therefore all states are expected to act accordingly," Nesirky said Wednesday.
The 1961 Vienna Convention regulates diplomatic issues and status among nations and international organizations. Among other things, it says a host country cannot search diplomatic premises or seize its documents or property. It also says the host government must permit and protect free communication between the diplomats of the mission and their home country.
However, wiretapping and eavesdropping have been used for decades, most dramatically between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
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