MRSA study slashes deadly infections in sickest hospital patients

May 30, 2013 ? Using germ-killing soap and ointment on all intensive-care unit (ICU) patients can reduce bloodstream infections by up to 44 percent and significantly reduce the presence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in ICUs. A new Department of Health and Human Services-funded study released today tested three MRSA prevention strategies and found that using germ-killing soap and ointment on all ICU patients was more effective than other strategies.

"Patients in the ICU are already very sick, and the last thing they need to deal with is a preventable infection," said Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Director Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D. "This research has the potential to influence clinical practice significantly and create a safer environment where patients can heal without harm."

The study, REDUCE MRSA trial, was published in today's New England Journal of Medicine and took place in two stages from 2009-2011. A multidisciplinary team from the University of California, Irvine, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) carried out the study. A total of 74 adult ICUs and 74,256 patients were part of the study, making it the largest study on this topic. Researchers evaluated the effectiveness of three MRSA prevention practices: routine care, providing germ-killing soap and ointment only to patients with MRSA, and providing germ-killing soap and ointment to all ICU patients. In addition to being effective at stopping the spread of MRSA in ICUs, the study found the use of germ-killing soap and ointment on all ICU patients was also effective for preventing infections caused by germs other than MRSA.

"CDC invested in these advances in order to protect patients from deadly drug-resistant infections," said CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. "We need to turn science into practical action for clinicians and hospitals. CDC is working to determine how the findings should inform CDC infection prevention recommendations."

MRSA is resistant to first-line antibiotic treatments and is an important cause of illness and sometimes death, especially among patients who have had medical care. Three-quarters of Staphylococcus aureus infections in hospital ICUs are considered methicillin-resistant. In 2012, encouraging results from a CDC report showed that invasive (life-threatening) MRSA infections in hospitals declined by 48 percent from 2005 through 2010.

"This study helps answer a long-standing debate in the medical field about whether we should tailor our efforts to prevent infection to specific pathogens, such as MRSA, or whether we should identify a high-risk patient group and give them all special treatment to prevent infection," said lead author Susan Huang, M.D., M.P.H., associate professor at the UCI School of Medicine and medical director of epidemiology and infection prevention at UC Irvine Health. "The universal decolonization strategy was the most effective and the easiest to implement. It eliminates the need for screening ICU patients for MRSA."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/uyG54QFY7E0/130530095016.htm

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Why animals compare the present with the past

May 30, 2013 ? Humans, like other animals, compare things. We care not only how well off we are, but whether we are better or worse off than others around us, or than we were last year. New research by scientists at the University of Bristol shows that such comparisons can give individuals an evolutionary advantage.

According to standard theory, the best response to current circumstances should be unaffected by what has happened in the past. But the Bristol study, published in the journal Science, shows that in a changing, unpredictable world it is important to be sensitive to past conditions.

The research team, led by Professor John McNamara in Bristol's School of Mathematics, built a mathematical model to understand how animals should behave when they are uncertain about the pattern of environmental change. They found that when animals are used to rich conditions but then conditions suddenly worsen, they should work less hard than animals exposed to poor conditions all along.

The predictions from the model closely match findings from classic laboratory experiments in the 1940s, in which rats were trained to run along a passage to gain food rewards. The rats ran more slowly for small amounts of food if they were used to getting large amounts of food, compared to control rats that were always rewarded with the smaller amount.

This so-called 'contrast effect' has also been reported in bees, starlings and a variety of mammals including newborn children, but until now it lacked a convincing explanation.

Dr Tim Fawcett, a research fellow in Bristol's School of Biological Sciences and a co-author on the study, said: "The effects in our model are driven by uncertainty. In changing environments, conditions experienced in the past can be a valuable indicator of how things will be in the future."

This, in turn, affects how animals should respond to their current situation. "An animal that is used to rich conditions thinks that the world is generally a good place," Dr Fawcett explained. "So when conditions suddenly turn bad, it interprets this as a temporary 'blip' and hunkers down, expecting that rich conditions will return soon. In contrast, an animal used to poor conditions expects those conditions to persist, and so cannot afford to rest."

The model also predicts the reverse effect, in which animals work harder for food when conditions suddenly improve, compared to animals experiencing rich conditions all along. This too has been found in laboratory experiments on a range of animals.

The Bristol study highlights unpredictable environmental fluctuations as an important evolutionary force. "Rapid changes favour individuals that are responsive and able to adjust their behaviour in the light of past experience," said Dr Fawcett. "The natural world is a dynamic and unpredictable place, but evolutionary models often neglect this. Our work suggests that models of more complex environments are important for understanding behaviour."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/aIWs62NcHWE/130530142003.htm

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HTC says Samsung is constraining its component supply as a ?competitive weapon?

HTC Samsung Component Supply

HTC?s latest flagship Android phone, the HTC One, has been a big success for the struggling smartphone vendor. The company confirmed recently that it had sold approximately 5 million units into?sales?channels as of last week, and if it hadn?t been for component shortages, HTC likely would have sold even more handsets. Regarding component shortages, it?s not always a production issue that causes problems in HTC?s supply chain and an interesting tidbit emerged earlier this week as?HTC president for the North Asian region,?Jack Tong, spoke to members of the press in Taiwan.

[More from BGR: How to fix one of the Galaxy S4?s most infuriating problems]

Just two short years ago, HTC was a leading smartphone vendor. Samsung has since grown to dominate the industry alongside Apple, and the company seemingly isn?t afraid to step on a few toes in order to ensure that it stays on top.

[More from BGR: Video: Tim Cook talks iOS 7, Android apps from Apple, TV and more in 81-minute interview]

As HTC?s Jack Tong recounted his company?s troubles following the launch of the HTC Desire, he slipped in a pretty huge accusation. Tong said that the Desire initially launched with an AMOLED display supplied by Samsung. After the phone started gaining momentum and sales picked up, the executive says Samsung suddenly couldn?t supply it with panels anymore.

?We found that key component supply can be used as a competitive weapon,? Tong told reporters, according to Focus Taiwan.?HTC ended up having to redesign the Desire and relaunch it without the Samsung-built AMOLED displays.

This article was originally published on BGR.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/htc-says-samsung-constraining-component-supply-competitive-weapon-162510808.html

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Paul Graham: 37 Y Combinator Companies Have Valuations Of Or Sold For At Least $40M

Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham just tweeted an interesting data point about the valuations of YC startups. As of now, Graham says that 37 Y Combinator companies, out of 511 startups, have valuations of or sold for at least $40 million.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/9FGYb37ANks/

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'Friend' of suspect in UK slaying arrested

LONDON (AP) ? Counterterrorism police on Saturday were questioning a friend of Michael Adebolajo, one of two suspects in the savage killing of a British soldier. The friend, Abu Nusaybah, was arrested immediately after he gave a television interview telling his story about how Adebolajo came to be radicalized.

In his interview, Nusaybah said Adebolajo became withdrawn after returning from a visit to study in Kenya, where he claimed he had been physically and sexually abused in detention. Nusaybah also alleged that the U.K.'s security services tried to recruit Adebolajo after he returned to Britain.

Adebolajo and another man are suspected of killing 25-year-old soldier Lee Rigby, hacking at his body with knives and a meat cleaver, on a London street in front of dozens of passersby on Wednesday afternoon. Both suspects were shot by police at the scene and are hospitalized under guard in stable condition.

The BBC said Nusaybah was arrested by police outside its studios Friday night immediately after recording the interview.

"This interviewee had important background information that sheds light on this horrific event," the broadcaster said in a statement. "And when we asked him to appear and interviewed him, we were not aware he was wanted for questioning by the police."

Metropolitan Police confirmed that a 31-year-old man was arrested Friday night in London on suspicion of "the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism." He is in custody at a London police station, police said, adding that the arrest was not directly related to the killing of Rigby.

Nusaybah told the BBC that he believed Adebolajo changed after he was allegedly detained and abused by security forces in a Kenyan prison cell last year. After that, Adebolajo became "less talkative ... he wasn't his bubbly self," Nusaybah said.

He also said that Adebolajo told him that Britain's security service, the MI5, followed him upon his return to the U.K. to find out if he knew certain individuals and then to ask if he would work for the security service.

"He was explicit in that he refused to work for them," Nusaybah told the BBC. It was not immediately possible to verify the claims by Nusaybah.

Two Muslim hard-liners described Adebolajo as a recent convert to Islam.

Anjem Choudary, the former head of the radical group al-Muhajiroun, told The Associated Press that Adebolajo was a Christian who converted to Islam around 2003. He took part in several demonstrations by the group in London, Choudary said.

Omar Bakri Muhammad, who now lives in Lebanon but had been a radical Muslim preacher in London, said Adebolajo attended his London lectures in the early 2000s.

Police have not officially named the two suspects. British media has named the second suspect as Michael Adebowale; that was confirmed Saturday by a British government official who requested anonymity because she was not authorized to speak about the investigation.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-05-25-EU-Britain-Attack/id-348fd7e701054c3d9c10f125e3cceda1

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Celebrity Prom Photos: President Obama, Brad Pitt, Lady Gaga & Many More!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/05/celebrity-prom-photos-president-obama-and-more/

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Baby Neanderthal Breast-Fed for 7 Months

A baby Neanderthal who lived in what is now Belgium about 100,000 years ago started eating solid food at 7 months old, revealing a new aspect of the evolution of breast-feeding.

The precision of this estimate is courtesy a new technique that uses elements in teeth to determine when breast-feeding started and stopped. Though researchers can't be sure the young Neanderthal's pattern was typical of its kind, such a breast-feeding pattern is not unlike that seen in many modern humans.

"Breast-feeding is such a major event in childhood, and it's important for so many reasons," study researcher Manish Arora, a research associate at Harvard's School of Public Health, told LiveScience. "It's a major determinate of child health and immune protection, so breast-feeding is important both from the point of view of studying our evolution as well as studying health in modern humans." [The Facts on Breast-Feeding (Infographic)]

Reconstructing breast-feeding

Until now, however, no one had an effective way of looking at bones and reconstructing breast-feeding history. Past attempts had relied on moms' memories of when they started supplementing breast milk with solid food and when they weaned their babies. Those memories can be fuzzy years after the fact, Arora said.

He and his colleagues had an advantage: A large study of pregnant women in Monterey County, Calif., that started when the women were only 20 weeks along in their pregnancies and followed them for years. At seven years and onward, the mothers were asked to donate a baby tooth their child had lost. Arora and his colleagues analyzed the teeth for biomarkers that matched changes in the child's breast-feeding status. The researchers also conducted a similar analysis in macaques.

They found that both in humans and macaques, the ratio of the elements barium and calcium in the teeth revealed what the baby had been eating when those teeth formed. The researchers analyzed the enamel (the outer layer of the tooth) and the dentine (the mineralized layer that supports the enamel).

The parts of the teeth that form in the gums before birth have very little barium, Arora said, probably because only a small amount of the element gets into the fetus through the placenta. After birth, barium spikes and stays high in the tooth enamel and dentine. If a baby transitions to formula, the barium levels get even higher, as formula has even higher levels of barium than breast milk. [10 Scientific Tips for Raising Happy Kids]

The profile changes again when babies (or macaques) start adding solid food to their diet of breast milk.

"You find the amount of barium we can absorb from solid foods such as vegetables and meats is different from what we get from breast milk, so we can see this period of exclusive breast-feeding," Arora said.

The researchers could pinpoint weaning with great precision. For example, researchers knew one baby macaque had been separated from its mother and abruptly weaned at 166 days of life. The tooth analysis method estimated that this weaning occurred between 151 and 183 days of life ? a matter of just weeks' difference from the actual date.

A baby Neanderthal's meals

Barium has the advantage of resiliency compared with other elements, so Arora and his colleagues tested their new method on a very old tooth. They used a molar from the Scladina Neanderthal, a fossilized juvenile found in Belgium.

Similar patterns as in humans and macaques appeared: a barium increase at birth, which stayed high until the Neanderthal was about 7 months old. At that point, the tooth indicated, the Neanderthal baby went into a transitional diet, consuming breast milk supplemented by solid food. The pattern is one that today's parenting experts would likely approve. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusively breast-feeding babies for at least six months after birth, followed by the gradual introduction of solid foods.

The Neanderthal's mixed diet continued for seven months until 14 months of age, when the baby abruptly weaned. No one knows what happened, Arora said. It's possible the Neanderthal became separated from its mother, or perhaps the mother got pregnant or gave birth to a younger sibling and cut her older child off from the breast.

So far, Arora and his colleagues have tested only the Scladina Neanderthal, and they aren't sure whether its weaning pattern is typical of the species.

"We would very much like to do this on more Neanderthal samples and even beyond Neanderthal samples, on other extinct primates leading up to modern humans," Arora said. The goal would be to create an evolutionary map of breast-feeding practices in primates, he said.

This line of research could also reveal insights into the long-term health effects of breast-feeding. Researchers could recruit children with and without certain health conditions and look at their teeth for an objective measure of how long they were breast-fed, Arora said.

The researchers report their findings Thursday (May 23) in the journal Nature.

Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitterand Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook& Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/baby-neanderthal-breast-fed-7-months-170337020.html

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How Einstein's theory of special relativity helped find a new planet (+video)

To find the planet, astronomers used Einstein's theory as it pertains to the intensity of a beam of light. The method could add more exoplanets to a growing list, no 'wobble' or 'transit' required.

By Pete Spotts,?Staff writer / May 14, 2013

Kepler space telescope is designed to search for Earth-like planets in the Milky Way galaxy. The telescope has been in space since 2009, but scientists keep finding new ways to use it ? even using special relativity ? to find extra-solar planets.

Courtesy of NASA / AP

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With a little help from Einstein's theory of special relativity, astronomers have discovered a planet orbiting a star some 2,000 light-years away using a new approach that was barely a gleam in its proposers' eyes a decade ago.

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The planet is a bit larger and about twice as massive as Jupiter. It orbits its sun-like star once every 1.5 days. The team making the discovery estimates the planet's temperature at a searing 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit.

On one level, such "hot Jupiters" are a dime a dozen these days. Because they are massive and close to their host stars, they are the easiest planets to spot with virtually every planet-hunting technique astronomers have used to date.

What sets this discovery apart, however, is that the planet is the first to have been found through a process that in some ways could simplify planet hunting, researchers say. Its effectiveness is limited to big planets orbiting close to their stars, the team reporting the discovery acknowledges.

But it also holds out the hope of finding such planets when the parent stars may be too faint for other, currently used techniques. This opens the possibility of adding many more extra-solar planets to a catalog that now tops 800 of them.

No need to hunt for the wobble a planet's gravity imparts to its star's spectrum. No need to wait for a planet to pass in front of its star, known as a transit.

Instead, the team looked for a combination of three relatively small effects that wax and wane throughout a planet's orbit around a star. This delivers a different signal to a planet-hunting device like NASA's Kepler spacecraft than the eclipsing planet, or transit method, delivers, notes David Latham, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and a member of the team discovering the planet.

"The transits last just a short time, just a couple of hours," Dr. Latham writes in an e-mail. But the effects the team tracked "rise and fall continuously through the entire orbital period of the planet, roughly 36 hours, so it?s not hard to distinguish these phenomena."

And it can detect planets that don't transit their stars.

The approach was conceived 10 years ago by Harvard University astrophysicist Avi Loeb and Scott Gaudi, now an assistant professor of astronomy at The Ohio State University in Columbus, who took a cue from Albert Einstein.

One prediction of Einstein's theory of special relativity is that when an object is moving at a pace close to the speed of light, any light it emits appears more intense along the object's line of motion, forming a beam. To an observer watching the object approach, the light looks brighter than it would if the object were stationary.

The effect is most pronounced in powerful astronomical events such as gamma-ray bursts, in which matter emitting the gamma rays is accelerated to 99.9 percent of the speed of light, Dr. Loeb explains.

Indeed, to an astronomer looking directly into the beam, the effect can lead to the illusion that the light is traveling faster than its 186,000-mile a second speed limit. Such beams emanate from the poles of supermassive black holes that have gone on feeding binges. Researchers call them superluminal jets.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/bF2TBtyKJE8/How-Einstein-s-theory-of-special-relativity-helped-find-a-new-planet-video

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Jimmie Johnson races to record 4th All-Star win

Jimmie Johnson celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series All-Star auto race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., Sunday, May 19, 2013. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

Jimmie Johnson celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series All-Star auto race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., Sunday, May 19, 2013. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

Jimmie Johnson (48) leads Kasey Kahne (5) during the final laps of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series All-Star auto race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., Saturday, May 18, 2013. Johnson won the race. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

Jimmie Johnson celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR All-Star auto race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., Saturday, May 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

Jimmie Johnson (48) does a burnout after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series All-Star auto race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., Saturday, May 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

Jimmie Johnson (48) takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series All-Star auto race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., Saturday, May 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) ? Cross another milestone off of Jimmie Johnson's list. He stands alone in All-Star history.

"Five-time" became the first four-time winner of NASCAR's annual All-Star race, breaking a tie with the late Dale Earnhardt and teammate Jeff Gordon on Saturday night.

"To beat Jeff and Earnhardt, two guys that I have looked up to my whole life, two massive icons of our sport, this means the world to me," Johnson said.

He also joined the late Davey Allison as only the second driver to win back-to-back All-Star races.

It was fitting that he did it at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the track Johnson, the five-time NASCAR champion, has dominated since his 2002 rookie season. Johnson has won six points races at Charlotte, led more than 1,600 laps and the win in the $1 million Sprint All-Star Race was his second straight, fourth in 12 years. He also won in 2003 and 2006.

"The only four-time All-Star champion ? I am very proud of you," crew chief Chad Knaus radioed after Johnson took the checkered flag.

A day after Johnson overshot his pit stall during qualifying to earn a poor starting spot, his Hendrick Motorsports crew changed four tires in 11 seconds on the mandatory final spot to send Johnson back onto the track in second place for the final restart.

He lined up inside of teammate Kasey Kahne for the final 10-lap sprint to the cash, and the two battled side-by-side for a little more than a lap before Johnson cleared Kahne completely. He then sailed away to an easy victory.

"We are doing great things and we are amazing ourselves in the process," Johnson said.

Joey Logano finished second and Kyle Busch, who won two of the first four segments, was third as neither had a shot at running down Johnson once he got his No. 48 Chevrolet out front.

"The 48, once he got that clean air, he was gone," Logano said. "Second isn't anything to hang your head, but it's about the million bucks tonight."

Kahne faded to fourth and Kurt Busch, who also won two segments to give the Busch brothers a sweep, was fifth.

It was disappointing for both Busch brothers, who had the cars to beat through the first 80 laps. New scoring rules designed to stop sandbagging sent the drivers onto pit road for the mandatory final stop in order of their average finish in the first four segments.

The Busch brothers tied with an average finish of 2.0, and Kurt went down pit road as the leader based on the tiebreaker of winning the final segment.

But the two Hendrick cars beat everybody off pit road, Kyle Busch exited in third and a poor final pit stop dropped Kurt to fifth.

"Ultimately, it came down to pit road, where my guys always prove their worth," Kyle Busch said. "Unfortunately, we didn't have the best of stops and to come out third, well, that was the race right there. You have to be on the front row if you're going to win this thing."

Johnson didn't think he had a shot at winning the All-Star race after botching his qualifying run and starting 20th in the 22-car field. By staying patient through the four 20-lap segments, he was in position at the end to make his move.

"Worked our way through there and got the job done," Johnson said. "It's just dedication and drive from every member of this Hendrick Motorsports team. When we started on the front row for the last segment, I knew we had a great shot at it."

The win capped a big day for Chevrolet, which swept the first 10 spots in Indianapolis 500 qualifying shortly before racing began at Charlotte. Then Johnson, the current Sprint Cup points leader, put the manufacturer in Victory Lane.

Jamie McMurray won the 40-lap Sprint Showdown before the All-Star race to transfer into the main event, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished second to earn the other berth.

Danica Patrick won the Sprint fan vote to claim the last open spot in the race. It wasn't a big surprise that Patrick won the vote ? her fans last year elected her most popular driver of the Nationwide Series ? and her public relations team was ready with a "Thank You Fans" bumper sticker she slapped on the side of her Chevrolet before the All-Star race began. She finished 20th.

Before the race, she said she wasn't sure why her fans so ardently support her.

"I've said many times that I'm not sure what it is people like or see in me or why they cheer for me," Patrick said. "To some degree being different, being a girl, there are things there. But what is it? There are a lot of different and unique drivers out there. All I know is that I try do my best to be myself all of the time. I try to be honest with the fans and at the end of the day, even if they don't agree with what I say or do, they can respect my honesty."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-05-19-CAR-NASCAR-All-Star-Race/id-da7d12f0caff45e5b174b7bce57a7546

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North Korea fires three short-range missiles

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea fired three short-range missiles from its east coast on Saturday, South Korea's Defense Ministry said, but the purpose of the launches was unknown.

Launches by the North of short-term missiles are not uncommon, but the ministry would not speculate whether these latest launches were part of a test or training exercise.

"North Korea fired short-range guided missiles twice in the morning and once in the afternoon off its east coast," an official at the South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman's office said by telephone.

The official said he would not speculate on whether the missiles were fired as part of a drill or training exercise.

"In case of any provocation, the ministry will keep monitoring the situation and remain on alert," he said.

A Japanese government source, quoted by Kyodo news agency, noted the three launches, but said none of the missiles landed in Japan's territorial waters.

Tension on the Korean peninsula has subsided in the past month after running high for several weeks following the imposition of tougher U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang following its third nuclear test in February.

The North had for weeks issued nearly daily warnings of impending nuclear war with the South and the United States.

North Korea conducts regular launches of its Scud short-range missiles, which can hit targets in South Korea.

It conducted a successful launch of a long-range missile last December, saying it put a weather satellite into orbit. The United States and its allies denounced the launch as a test of technology that could one day deliver a nuclear warhead.

During the weeks of high tension, South Korea reported that the North had moved missile launchers into place on its east coast for a possible launch of a medium-range Musudan missile. The Musudan has a range of 3,500 km, putting Japan in range and possibly the U.S. South Pacific island of Guam.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/north-korea-fires-three-short-range-missiles-080959746.html

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Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, CNN And Evernote Apps Coming To Google Glass Today

Google announced a number of new partner apps today on stage at Google I/O during the "Developing for Glass" session. Facebook and Twitter were the highlights of the list, which also included Evernote, Tumblr, Elle and CNN, in addition to the previously announced NYT and Path apps.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/uWF1MS1Rwxc/

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Singer Kat Edmonson gets creative with financing her music

By Jeremy Gaunt

LONDON (Reuters) - If Kat Edmonson ever becomes a household name, she can put it down not just to her talent as a jazz singer, but to some decidedly modern financing as well.

The 29-year-old Texan, an old-school chanteuse with a contemporary lilt, has funded production of her second album via a community workshop and through crowd-sourcing, essentially getting the people who like her to pay for it.

The album, "Way Down Low", has now been picked up by Sony which is "launching" the singer outside the United States as an up-and-comer in a more traditional manner.

It is a far cry from her first album, which Edmonson simply charged to her credit card.

"Go into debt and pay it back (was the idea)," the singer told Reuters in an interview after performing at a church in central London.

The 2009 album was relatively successful and she garnered enough attention to appear with Lyle Lovett on Jay Leno's "The Tonight Show" on U.S. television but she was still pretty strapped for cash. So her second album came about differently.

First, she hooked up with METAlliance, a U.S. community foundation of established music producers and audio engineers who record artists they like for free, and paid for by having music fans come in to watch how they did it.

After that, however, Edmonson needed to pay for the music to be mixed. She wanted it done by Al Schmitt, whose credits include working with Frank Sinatra, Henry Mancini, Barbra Streisand, Diana Krall and a host of jazz and rock greats.

So Edmonson put a video of her work on the crowd-sourcing website Kickstarter, offering incentives ranging from future downloads to performances at private parties in exchange for funding pledges.

"I raised $50,000," she said, and watched the album rise in the United States to No. 1 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart for new or developing acts.

SENSIBLE SHOES AND DRINKING

Edmonson doesn't call herself a jazz singer, but only out of modesty. She says she would be loathe to so link herself to the greats of the genre.

"I would be (embarrassed) to enter into a room full of scat singers," she said, referring to the jazz technique of using the voice as an improvised musical instrument.

Instead, she simply says she sings the "American Songbook" - a catalogue of generally mid-20th century songs, many from musicals. She sings them with a soft, enchanting voice that is full of expression - and jazzy, whether she likes it or not.

The traditional songbook style is on display throughout "Way Down Low", particularly on the tracks "Champagne" and "I'm Not In Love", which include witty lyrics about never drinking again and about going through life wearing "entirely sensible shoes".

But it also includes a couple of more contemporary tunes in "I Don't Know" and "Lucky", which are closer to something a muted Adele or Duffy might come up with.

The latter song has already made its mark in the United States. It has been sold for television, film and commercials and is on the soundtrack of the Tina Fey comedy film "Admission" that was released in March.

In Europe, Edmonson is planning concerts in Germany and Britain and then is scheduled to perform in July at the Montreux Jazz Festival on the same bill as George Benson.

(Reporting by Jeremy Gaunt, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/singer-kat-edmonson-gets-creative-financing-her-music-104012668.html

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'We saved the ship': WWII vets from stricken aircraft carrier gather, likely for last time

Terry Pickard / NBC News

Surviving sailors from the USS Franklin hold a reunion at Patriots Point in Charleston on Friday.

By Terry Pickard and Carlo Dellaverson, NBC News

MT. PLEASANT, S.C. -- Two dozen surviving veterans from the World War II aircraft carrier USS Franklin gathered on Friday, probably for the last time, to honor and remember one of the most remarkable naval episodes of the war.

It was before dawn on a late winter morning in 1945 when a Japanese dive bomber dropped two 500 pound bombs on the Franklin. The year-old carrier nicknamed ?Big Ben? was serving in the Pacific theater and, at that moment, had maneuvered closer to Japan than any other U.S.-flagged carrier during the war.

Sam ?Dusty? Rhodes was asleep in the ship?s bunk area when the bombs hit. Rhodes was a water tender 3^rd class and was responsible for operating the ship?s massive boilers ? and with debris from the massive explosions raining down on him, that is just what he did.

Rhodes said he and other crew members ran to the one of the unaffected firerooms and attempted to raise enough steam to light the remaining boiler. When the flame caught from Rhodes? Zippo lighter, ?that?s when the ship?s heart started to beat again,? he recalled.

Above on the flight deck, the scene was nothing short of catastrophic. The Franklin was dead in the water, listing to one side and cut off from communications as fires burned everywhere. More than 800 sailors died in the attack, with hundreds more wounded.

Terry Pickard / NBC News

Flags line the walkway to the USS Yorktown, where a '13' was painted to honor the number of the USS Franklin.

But the Franklin didn?t sink, and that is the legacy crew members like Rhodes like to remember. The Franklin would become the most heavily damaged aircraft carrier of the war to make it back to port.

?We saved the ship,? Rhodes said. ?In the Navy, you save the ship. It?s your home.?

William Schauer was a Naval electrician and fireman 1^st class, just out of high school when he reported for duty on the deck of the Franklin, three months before the attack. Looking back on that day 68 years later, he said he was certain he was going to go down with the ship that morning, and ?that was the end.?

?But we were there for a purpose,? and despite suffering such heavy losses, Schauer says he still considers their mission ? keeping the ship afloat ? accomplished.

At the reunion on Friday, Medal of Honor recipient and retired Gen. James Livingston saluted the assembled veterans. He said their ?refusal to allow her to sink? allowed the Franklin to limp back to port instead of ending up buried forever on the ocean floor. ?That?s a testimony to what you are as men,? he said.

Terry Pickard / NBC News

The tattered battle flag from the USS Franklin hangs on display at the USS Yorktown.

In the belly of the USS Yorktown, another decommissioned carrier that saw battle in the Pacific and now survives as the centerpiece of the Patriots Point Naval Museum in this bucolic Charleston suburb, a tattered and smoke-tinged flag is mounted overhead. It was the original battle flag that flew on the mast of the Franklin?s flight deck the day of the attack -- the same flag that Rhodes remembers looking up and noticing through the haze of black smoke after the bombs hit. Seeing it meant they still had a chance, he remembered, ?because we would strike the colors before abandoning ship.? ??

?Big Ben? made it all the way back to New York for repairs, where it sat on V-J Day when the war finally ended. It never saw action again, and was sold for scrap in the 1960s. The flag, along with the bell and a gun turret also on display at the Yorktown, are all that remain of one of the most momentous spectacles of heroism and fortitude of World War II. And with what could be the final gathering of the men who saved the ship, it is up to a new generation to remember the Franklin.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/2c12bec2/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A50C170C183253590Ewe0Esaved0Ethe0Eship0Ewwii0Evets0Efrom0Estricken0Eaircraft0Ecarrier0Egather0Elikely0Efor0Elast0Etime0Dlite/story01.htm

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Bach to the blues, our emotions match music to colors

May 16, 2013 ? Whether we're listening to Bach or the blues, our brains are wired to make music-color connections depending on how the melodies make us feel, according to new research from the University of California, Berkeley. For instance, Mozart's jaunty Flute Concerto No. 1 in G major is most often associated with bright yellow and orange, whereas his dour Requiem in D minor is more likely to be linked to dark, bluish gray.

Moreover, people in both the United States and Mexico linked the same pieces of classical orchestral music with the same colors. This suggests that humans share a common emotional palette -- when it comes to music and color -- that appears to be intuitive and can cross cultural barriers, UC Berkeley researchers said.

"The results were remarkably strong and consistent across individuals and cultures and clearly pointed to the powerful role that emotions play in how the human brain maps from hearing music to seeing colors," said UC Berkeley vision scientist Stephen Palmer, lead author of a paper published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Using a 37-color palette, the UC Berkeley study found that people tend to pair faster-paced music in a major key with lighter, more vivid, yellow colors, whereas slower-paced music in a minor key is more likely to be teamed up with darker, grayer, bluer colors.

"Surprisingly, we can predict with 95 percent accuracy how happy or sad the colors people pick will be based on how happy or sad the music is that they are listening to," said Palmer, who will present these and related findings at the International Association of Colour conference at the University of Newcastle in the U.K. on July 8. At the conference, a color light show will accompany a performance by the Northern Sinfonia orchestra to demonstrate "the patterns aroused by music and color converging on the neural circuits that register emotion," he said.

The findings may have implications for creative therapies, advertising and even music player gadgetry. For example, they could be used to create more emotionally engaging electronic music visualizers, computer software that generates animated imagery synchronized to the music being played. Right now, the colors and patterns appear to be randomly generated and do not take emotion into account, researchers said.

They may also provide insight into synesthesia, a neurological condition in which the stimulation of one perceptual pathway, such as hearing music, leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a different perceptual pathway, such as seeing colors. An example of sound-to-color synesthesia was portrayed in the 2009 movie The Soloist when cellist Nathaniel Ayers experiences a mesmerizing interplay of swirling colors while listening to the Los Angeles symphony. Artists such as Wassily Kandinksky and Paul Klee may have used music-to-color synesthesia in their creative endeavors.

In the first experiment, participants were asked to pick five of the 37 colors that best matched the music to which they were listening. The palette consisted of vivid, light, medium, and dark shades of red, orange, yellow, green, yellow-green, green, blue-green, blue, and purple.

Participants consistently picked bright, vivid, warm colors to go with upbeat music and dark, dull, cool colors to match the more tearful or somber pieces. Separately, they rated each piece of music on a scale of happy to sad, strong to weak, lively to dreary and angry to calm.

Two subsequent experiments studying music-to-face and face-to-color associations supported the researchers' hypothesis that "common emotions are responsible for music-to-color associations," said Karen Schloss, a postdoctoral researchers at UC Berkeley and co-author of the paper.

For example, the same pattern occurred when participants chose the facial expressions that "went best" with the music selections, Schloss said. Upbeat music in major keys was consistently paired with happy-looking faces while subdued music in minor keys was paired with sad-looking faces. Similarly, happy faces were paired with yellow and other bright colors and angry faces with dark red hues.

Next, Palmer and his research team plan to study participants in Turkey where traditional music employs a wider range of scales than just major and minor. "We know that in Mexico and the U.S. the responses are very similar," he said. "But we don't yet know about China or Turkey."

Other co-authors of the study are Zoe Xu of UC Berkeley and Lilia Prado-Leon of the University of Guadalajara, Mexico.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/Yq01Vu1AcRQ/130516151256.htm

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Cannes festival hit by $1 million jewel heist

Jewel thieves have stolen $1 million worth of Chopard jewelry from a hotel right off the Croisette, and while the theft being called by Deadline one of the "biggest heists to go down in recent Cannes history," it's not actually?that?unexpected.?

RELATED: Cannes, Bucking the Trend, Applauds 'The Beaver'

The Hollywood Reporter?reported that the jewelry,?set to be loaned to celebrities for their red carpet appearances,?was stolen was stolen from a= Chopard employee's hotel room in the Novotel, and that?"whole safe was taken out of the wall in the hotel room."?Police are also telling?THR?that the heist "may be an inside job" and are questioning hotel employees.?According to Le Monde?the crime occurred at?5 a.m. The festival itself was quick to note that their top prize the Palme d'Or, which is supplied by Chopard, is safe, according to the AFP.?

RELATED: Lars von Trier's 'Nymphomaniac' Is Now the 'Where's Waldo' of Hollywood Smut

Burglaries at the festival and on the French Riviera itself do not lack historical context. Let us not forget, as Scott Feinberg of?The Hollywood Reporter points out on Twitter, Alfred Hitchcock's?To Catch a Thief, which starred Cary Grant as a cat burglar took place in that locale. And there are real-life examples too.?

RELATED: Lars Von Trier Acts Out at Cannes: 'I Understand Hitler'

Earlier this year the AFP reported that thieves had stolen a million euros worth of luxury watches from the store on the Croisette's promenade in Cannes. In 2009 armed robbers stole millions of euros worth of jewelry from a Cartier shop in the city.

RELATED: You Will Now Be Jealous You're Not in Cannes

Last year at the festival two Senegalese soccer stars reported??400,000 worth of wristwatches and jewelry and???30,000 in cash stolen.?In their guide to the festival, Indiewire advises: "Also beware of pickpockets. We know of regulars who, after leaving a window open, have had all of their belongings stolen from their rented hotels and flats while they were away." Take this as you may wish, but back in 2010 Lindsay Lohan claimed her passport had been stolen at Cannes, rendering her unable to go to court.?

RELATED: Cannes Downgrades Lars Von Trier To 'Persona Non Grata' Status

Perhaps one of the more ironic parts of this recent theft?and one that has not escaped the media and the jokesters on Twitter?is that it happened as Sofia Coppola's movie about teenager burglar's stealing from stars,?The Bling Ring, screened at the festival. Somehow we don't see Emma Watson being?that?method.?

?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cannes-festival-hit-1-million-jewel-heist-142412037.html

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CBS upfront: Trying not to be smug, taking digs at NBC's 'Drama'

(Strong language in second paragraph)

By Tim Molloy

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - CBS tried not to look "smug" Wednesday as it told advertisers a simple story: We're No. 1.

The network delivered its upfront presentation to ad buyers a day after ABC's Jimmy Kimmel called CBS executives "smug motherf-----s" at his own network's upfront. CBS CEO Les Moonves jokingly pledged to try to be less smug Wednesday, but couldn't resist a sharp dig at NBC's morning and late-night "drama."

Moonves said his network believes drama belongs in primetime - "not at 7 in the morning or 11:30 at night." As he spoke, an image of Matt Lauer and a sobbing Ann Curry appeared behind him, followed by a shot of Jay Leno and incoming "Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon.

In response to the shakeup in the rest of late night, CBS surprised advertisers with a surprise guest appearance from David Letterman. As he took the Carnegie Hall stage, he gave Moonves a long hug, joking, "I'm honored to be here for your pledge drive."

Advertisers gave a warm response to most of CBS's 2013-14 lineup, from the dramas "Hostages" and "Intelligence" to the new sitcoms "Mom" and "The Millers." CBS suggested the David E. Kelley advertising comedy "The Crazy Ones," starring Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gellar, might be especially popular with advertisers.

Williams took the stage to say he hasn't been on TV regularly since "Mork & Mindy" 30 years ago. He said the television landscape has changed so much since then that now there's a network for everyone.

"If you're a little child who wants to be transported to the land of make-believe, there's Fox News," he said, scoring big laughs.

As part of its pledge not be smug, CBS made a big show of how subtly it was touting its first-place status this season in total viewers. For the first time in two decades, it is also first in the key 18-49 demo.

"Relax. We're not going to give you a hard sell, because at CBS, we don't need to," said CBS president of network sales Jo Ann Ross. As she spoke, statistics and arrows highlighting the network's success were beamed on her skirt.

That wasn't the end of the self-praise.

"When you Google 'Big Bang Theory,' you get our show, not the creation of the entire universe," said CBS entertainment chief Nina Tassler.

Why all the confidence? Because CBS is the only network this season that isn't down in total viewers. It's up slightly.

But its first-place status in the 18-49 demographic has more to do with its competitors' failures than its own success. All of the four biggest networks - including CBS - are down in the demo this season. CBS is just down the least, which allowed it to surpass Fox at No. 1 as "American Idol" has lost viewers this season.

That didn't stop CBS from boasting that it no longer deserves its reputation as the old folks' network. (Kimmel said Wednesday he would stop joking about the age of CBS's audience when "my grandmother throws away her 'Mentalist' hemorrhoid donut.")

"The network that programs to everyone is number one in 18-49," Moonves told ad buyers. "When making your buys, please: Don't hold our youth against us."

Moonves said his network struggles to find new ways to make its pitch to advertisers, which he summarized as, "No. 1, No. 1, No. 1, up, up, up, the world is a beautiful place."

He said the network could further condense it into a tweet: "Upfront message easy. CBS wins everything, #dropthemic."

CBS was modest about one thing, joking about the partial blackout at the Superdome during the Super Bowl. But it was obviously misplaced modesty: As advertisers knew, the outage was the fault of the venue, not the network.

The network opened its upfront by noting the final season next year of "How I Met Your Mother." The cast sang "One More Year" to the tune of "One More Day" from "Les Miserables."

It was the second time advertisers have heard the song this week: At NBC's upfront Monday, Fallon and Leno dueted on it -- partly to prove again that there's no "drama" between them.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cbs-upfront-trying-not-smug-taking-digs-nbcs-014251033.html

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Fox schedule includes '24' return

In this Saturday, Oct. 1, 2011 photo, Seth MacFarlane poses for a portrait in Los Angeles. Fox, facing the ebbing ratings power of "American Idol," is betting big on its first miniseries and shows from heavyweight producers MacFarlane and J.J. Abrams to invigorate its schedule. The network is making its largest original-programming investment yet with a crop of 11 new series along with the miniseries from filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan for the 2013-14 season, Kevin Reilly, Fox Entertainment chairman, said Monday, May 13, 2013. That's more than double the five series it announced last year. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)

In this Saturday, Oct. 1, 2011 photo, Seth MacFarlane poses for a portrait in Los Angeles. Fox, facing the ebbing ratings power of "American Idol," is betting big on its first miniseries and shows from heavyweight producers MacFarlane and J.J. Abrams to invigorate its schedule. The network is making its largest original-programming investment yet with a crop of 11 new series along with the miniseries from filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan for the 2013-14 season, Kevin Reilly, Fox Entertainment chairman, said Monday, May 13, 2013. That's more than double the five series it announced last year. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Jack Bauer is coming back.

Fox executives said Monday that its drama "24" is returning next May for a limited run that will stretch into the summer. The adventure series with Kiefer Sutherland starring as Jack Bauer ended its original run in 2010.

Fox programming chief Kevin Reilly said creators had been thinking about doing a feature film with the original cast. But when Fox announced it was interested in doing a big event miniseries, they realized it was the perfect format.

Reilly made the announcement as part of Fox's unveiling of a new schedule for the upcoming season.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-05-13-US-TV-Fox-Schedule/id-f264364a95504ab98504e23b0e57afdb

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Shannon Brown and Monica Expecting a Baby

The R&B singer-songwriter and husband Shannon Brown are expecting their first child together this fall.

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/Li743r8KK5o/

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No, Conservatives, People Aren't Gaming the Disability Benefits ...

No, Conservatives, People Aren?t Gaming the Disability Benefits System

By: Deborah FosterMay. 12th, 2013more from Deborah Foster

?

Recently, the buzz among right wingers is that people are abusing disability benefits. They claim that people are gaming the system, shirking work, and qualifying for benefits without having a legitimate disability. Their complaints are based on the overall increase in the number of recipients over the past decade. News outlets ranging from the esteemed NPR to the worthless FOX ?news? channel have been calling the increases in people qualifying for disability benefits ?startling? and ?astonishing.? The fact that NPR was sucked into the analysis-free zone is disappointing. In response to the story they carried about disability benefits, eight former commissioners of the Social Security Administration penned an open letter criticizing the sensationalism NPR had engaged in. They pointed out that actuaries have long been predicting the increase in people receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) as a function of demographic shifts.

The huge generation of baby boomers has moved into the ages most highly associated with disability. People who are 50 years old are nearly twice as likely to be disabled as those who are 40, and people who are 60 are twice as likely to be disabled as those who are 50 [1]. The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities also attributes the growth in recipients of disability benefits to the substantial increase of women in the workforce and the increase in the eligibility age for Social Security from 65 to 66 [2]. In previous decades, women did not accumulate the number of years of work necessary to quality for SSDI. This is no longer true. As for the increase in the retirement age, that one year change from 65 to 66 created a pool of so many people on disability that they represent 5% of recipients. Once these individuals turn 65, they will be transferred over to Social Security retirement benefits.

Another consideration is the economic conditions that country has faced for the past five years. When employment is readily available, people with disabilities can locate work more easily. However, when the economy goes into recession, jobs are harder to come by, and people with disabilities are not as likely to be hired as their counterparts without disabilities [3]. They are also likely to be the first fired.

Conservatives also try to argue that children are receiving SSI at alarming and growing rates. The reality is that the growth in SSI for children has been measured with a gradual increase over the past decade [4]. Over this same time period, the rise in children diagnosed with neurodevelopmental or mental disabilities, such as autism, has been significant and most of the increase has been seen among wealthier families [5]. According to Serena Gordon,

?Families with incomes 300 percent above the federal poverty level ? around $66,000 for a family of four ? had a 28 percent increase in children with disabilities. Families whose income levels exceeded the poverty level by 400 percent ? about $88,000 ? saw a 24 percent increase in the number of children with disabilities.? [6]

Fortunately, the rates of physical disability among children have fallen over the past decade, but mental disability among children has seen increases of as much as 16%. If there were a financial motive for obtaining a diagnosis for one?s child, one would expect the increases in rates of disability to rise among low-income individuals, because upper income people do not qualify for SSI. Children in poverty still have the highest rates of disability, yet, there has been little increase in the diagnosis of disability among poor children over the past 10 years. The upturn in children with disabilities qualifying for SSI can be attributed to the recession. This is because more families have slipped into poverty, making them eligible to receive the benefit.

With the growth in the number of adults and children receiving disability benefits, there has been the conservative claim that people who are not really disabled are receiving benefits. For example, Shannon Bream, a Fox ?News? talking head grumbled that 8.8 million people were scamming the system by receiving benefits despite not being disabled. It just so happens that 8.8 million is the total number of Americans receiving SSDI. In other words, Ms. Bream is telling the Fox audience that every single person on SSDI is not disabled, representing a 100% fraud rate. Her words were echoed by Megyn Kelly who insisted that there is substantial fraud in the SSDI and SSI programs, despite the fact that the General Accounting Office (GAO) found no evidence of significant fraud [7]. She showed additional ignorance by endorsing the idea that people with physical disabilities were legitimately receiving benefits, but people with mental health disabilities, such as major depression, were essentially lazy and trying to use excuses not to work.

But even more mainstream voices like Joe Klein of Time magazine claim that too many people who could be working are receiving disability benefits instead. He wants to put everyone who claims to have a disability into public service jobs, because he feels more people can work than the system recognizes. His estimation that it is too easy to get SSDI or SSI is way off base. And he is not alone. Fox?s Steve Doocy is spreading the misinformation that it is ?relatively easy? to get disability payments. Charles Lane of the Washington Post echoed these sentiments by saying the benefits were too easy to get and payments were too high. Anyone who works with people attempting to get disability benefits knows that the process often takes years, and applicants have to file multiple appeals before finally being accepted into the program [8]. Today, 1 in 5 Americans or 56.7 million people have a disability, but only 14 million receive SSDI or SSI. The Social Security Administration rejects the applications of 53% of those seeking SSDI benefits, including those who file multiple appeals [9]. Only an average of 28% of applicants is accepted into the SSDI program the first time they apply with a rejection rate of 61%. The numbers are similar for SSI with a rejection rate of 54%. Showing their degree of ill health, people on SSDI or SSI are more than three times as likely to die as the rest of the population without disabilities.

There are certainly other myths perpetuated by the right wing including that SSI doesn?t really help children with disabilities or that other countries have set up better disability benefit systems than our own. The truth is that the number of people receiving disability benefits is precisely what one would expect given the country?s age demographics, poverty level, and employment rate. There is very little fraud in the program. People receive relatively meager benefits, and the process for getting these benefits is actually quite arduous. But, conservatives won?t let a few facts get in the way of their narrative.

H/T Media Matters

No, Conservatives, People Aren?t Gaming the Disability Benefits System was written by Deborah Foster for PoliticusUSA.

? PoliticusUSA, May. 12th, 2013. All Rights Reserved

Source: http://www.politicususa.com/no-conservatives-people-gaming-disability-benefits-system.html

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'Gatsby' gives 'Iron Man 3' a run for its money

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Gatsby looks almost as great as a superhero at the weekend box office.

Leonard DiCaprio's "The Great Gatsby" partied like it was the Roaring '20s with a $51.1 million debut that made it a surprisingly strong runner-up to comic-book blockbuster "Iron Man 3."

Studio estimates Sunday put "Gatsby" at No. 2 behind Robert Downey Jr.'s superhero sequel, which pulled in $72.5 million domestically to raise its total to $284.9 million after just 10 days in U.S. theaters.

With an additional $89.3 million in its third weekend overseas, "Iron Man 3" lifted its international total to $664.1 million and its worldwide haul to $949 million.

"The Great Gatsby" far exceeded expectations by distributor Warner Bros. of a $35 million to $40 million opening weekend.

Director Baz Luhrmann's 3-D adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic was a rare box-office smash for films aimed at older adults during the youth-minded summer season. According to Warner Bros., viewers over 25 made up 69 percent of the film's audience.

"It answers the question that you and I hear all the time from people over 50, 'There's nothing for me to see,'" said Dan Fellman, the studio's head of distribution. "While every studio has the $200 million tentpoles in the marketplace, you still have those who feel that it's not directed at them, which is true. So that's why I think counterprogramming like this is very important."

The weekend's other new wide release, Lionsgate's romantic comedy "Peeples," flopped at No. 4 with just $4.9 million. Produced by Tyler Perry, the movie stars Craig Robinson and Kerry Washington in a meet-the-parents-style farce.

Getting a head start on its domestic launch Friday, "Star Trek: Into Darkness" opened with $31.7 million in seven international markets. Its overseas debut included $13.3 million in Great Britain, $7.6 million in Germany and $5.5 million in Australia.

Starring DiCaprio in the title role as 1920s mystery millionaire Jay Gatsby, the latest Fitzgerald update co-stars Carey Mulligan as his lost love and Tobey Maguire as the friend chronicling their doomed romance.

It was by far the biggest debut ever for filmmaker Luhrmann, whose previous best was $14.8 million for "Australia." In just one weekend, "The Great Gatsby" nearly matched the $57.4 million domestic haul that Luhrmann's top-grossing film, the musical "Moulin Rouge!", managed in its entire run.

"Gatsby" also gave DiCaprio his second-biggest debut, behind the $62.8 million take for "Inception."

The film's success follows a bumpy road to theaters. Originally scheduled for release last December, Warner Bros. pushed it back to summer to give Luhrmann more time to finish his elaborate visual spectacle.

How well the film holds up in coming weeks depends on word-of-mouth from fans. Reviews for "The Great Gatsby" have been so-so, with many critics saying it sacrifices drama and substance for style and dazzle, including Lurhmann's elaborate party scenes backed by a contemporary soundtrack featuring Jay-Z, Beyonce and Lana Del Rey.

"Iron Man 3" was down a steep 58 percent from its opening weekend haul, no surprise given that its $174.1 million domestic debut was the second-biggest ever. The only film to do more business was Downey and company's ensemble adventure "The Avengers," which topped $200 million in its premiere last year.

"The Avengers" held up better in its second weekend with $103.1 million, a drop of only 50 percent. But "Iron Man 3" is on its way to becoming the biggest solo superhero hit worldwide and the second-biggest comic-book adaptation, behind the $1.5 billion "Avengers" payday.

"This is on a trajectory like no other individual superhero movie we've ever seen," said Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst for box-office tracker Hollywood.com. "In less than three weeks, this thing is honing in on a billion dollars. It's just a testament to the incredible popularity of this character."

The movie already has far surpassed the franchise best of $624 million worldwide for "Iron Man 2."

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. "Iron Man 3," $72.5 million ($89.3 million international).

2. "The Great Gatsby," $51.1 million.

3. "Pain and Gain," $5 million.

4. "Peeples," $4.9 million.

5. "42," $4.7 million.

6. "Oblivion," $3.9 million ($11.7 million international).

7. "The Croods," $3.6 million ($17.3 million international).

8. "The Big Wedding," $2.5 million ($2 million international).

9. "Mud," $2.4 million.

10. "Oz the Great and Powerful," $802,000.

___

Estimated weekend ticket sales at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada) for films distributed overseas by Hollywood studios, according to Rentrak:

1. "Iron Man 3," $89.3 million.

2. "Star Trek: Into Darkness," $31.7 million.

3. "The Croods," $17.3 million.

4. "Oblivion," $11.7 million.

5. "Les Profs," $3.7 million.

6. "Boomerang Family," $3.6 million.

7. "Scary Movie 5," $2.7 million.

8. "Evil Dead," $2.6 million.

9. "Hanni and Nanni 3," $2.3 million.

10. "The Big Wedding," $2 million.

___

Online:

http://www.hollywood.com

http://www.rentrak.com

___

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gatsby-gives-iron-man-3-run-money-152258050.html

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Despite 100 million licenses sold, Windows 8 install base estimated at 59 million

Gotham's gentry has met its nemesis: shareable bikes. The long-awaited Citibike bike-sharing program is scheduled to debut in New York on May 27, when dozens of empty bike stations already installed throughout Manhattan and west-central Brooklyn will fill up with blue, Citibank-branded bikes. Like similar (and quite successful) programs in D.C., Paris, and Minneapolis, riders will be able pick up a bike at one station and drop it off at any of the rest, making it a healthy alternative, in many cases, to riding the subway.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/despite-100-million-licenses-sold-windows-8-install-035924937.html

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Bloomberg bars reporters from client activity

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Financial data and news company Bloomberg LP says it has corrected a "mistake" in its newsgathering policies and cut off its journalists' special access to client log-in activity on the company's ubiquitous trading information terminals after Goldman Sachs complained about the matter last month.

A person familiar with the matter said Friday that Goldman Sachs became concerned about outside access after a Bloomberg reporter, investigating what she thought was the departure of a Goldman employee, told the securities firm that the employee had not logged into a Bloomberg terminal for a number of weeks.

The person was not authorized to speak publicly and gave the information on condition of anonymity.

Separately, the Federal Reserve is looking into whether Bloomberg journalists tracked data about terminal usage by top Fed officials, a spokeswoman said. The agency has contacted Bloomberg to learn more, she said.

On Saturday, CNBC reported that a former Bloomberg employee said he accessed information about terminal usage by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

The Fed spokeswoman wouldn't comment on the CNBC report. A Treasury spokesman couldn't be reached for comment.

In a memo sent to staff Friday, Bloomberg CEO Daniel Doctoroff said the company had "long made limited customer relationship data available to our journalists," but added, "we realize this was a mistake."

After the complaint last month, Bloomberg "immediately" turned off its journalists' special access and limited it to what clients can see themselves, he said.

The dispute was earlier reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Bloomberg News reporters had been able to see when any of the company's 315,000 paying subscribers, mostly stock and bond traders, had last logged into the service. They could also view the types of "functions" individual subscribers had accessed.

For instance, reporters could see if subscribers had been looking at top news stories, or if they had been gathering data on stocks or bonds, but not which stories or bonds and stocks they had looked up, said Ty Trippet, a Bloomberg LP spokesman. He said reporters could also see if subscribers were using "message" or "chat" functions to send messages to each other over the terminals, but not the recipient of the messages or their content.

Reporters were mostly getting contact information for subscribers, like telephone numbers and email addresses, Trippet said.

In his staff memo, Doctoroff said that access did not extend to "trading, portfolio, monitor, blotter or other related systems or our clients' messages."

He said senior executive Steve Ross had been appointed to the new position of client data compliance officer to review Bloomberg's policies.

No reporters have been fired over the matter, Trippet said. He declined to comment on whether any other disciplinary measures have been taken or if the company had plans to do so.

Although Goldman's concerns caused the change, JPMorgan Chase & Co. had also expressed concerns about Bloomberg journalists' access to sensitive data.

A person familiar with the matter at JPMorgan said multiple Bloomberg reporters had used the data to try to break news in the last several years. The person said Bloomberg journalists used their access attempting to find out whether disciplinary action had been taken against Bruno Iksil, a JPMorgan trader nicknamed the "London whale" who was blamed for a $6 billion trading loss last year.

One reporter knew details about the log-in times of multiple traders on a single desk and called daily to ask about potential layoffs, the person said. JPMorgan complained to the reporters about the technique but Bloomberg managers weren't made aware of a formal complaint.

The person was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and requested anonymity.

Bloomberg's Trippet said he was unaware of complaints from JP Morgan to reporters or editors.

It's not clear exactly how long Bloomberg reporters have been accessing subscriber information.

"Limited customer relationship data has long been available to our journalists," Trippet wrote in an email. The access dates back to the 1990s, when Bloomberg's news operation began. Journalists would join sales representatives on calls to clients, he said, to explain how Bloomberg's news functions work.

Bloomberg journalists are renowned for aggressive techniques in a competitive field. Bloomberg LP, whose main business is selling terminals to clients in the financial industry, employs more than 2,400 journalists.

In November 2010, the news service reported on the earnings of The Walt Disney Co. and NetApp Inc. well before the companies' scheduled releases by guessing the unprotected website addresses of the press releases before they were made public.

The public relations gaffes, which resulted in immediate but fleeting dips in the stock prices of both companies, resulted in the companies taking action to prevent a recurrence.

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AP Business Writer Bernard Condon in New York and AP Economics Writer Christopher Rugaber in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bloomberg-bars-reporters-client-activity-174947142.html

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