New York City's Metro Transit Authority is still plugging away on its giant project to bring the 7 train into far west Manhattan, and the scope of the construction is just as awe-inspiring as ever. The MTA just put out a crop of new pictures on Flickr, and we just can't help but see a slight comparison to a certain, classic Half-Life level of old.
     |
Pigeon Forge Fire cyprus cyprus Bracketology Erin Go Bragh St Patrick lisa vanderpump
We know you've got questions, and if you're brave enough to ask the world for answers, then here's the outlet to do so. This week's Ask Engadget inquiry is from Diego, who wants to give his son the gateway drug into photography. If you're looking to ask one of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.
"I'm an amateur photographer, and my 10-year-old son has started to show an interest in what I do on weekends. I've shown him a thing or two on my DSLR and he wants to learn the basics, but I'd prefer it if he didn't do it on my $1,500 rig. His birthday's coming up, and I'd like to get him something that he can use for himself, that lets him customize ISO, white balance, aperture etc. Naturally, I was thinking of just a regular compact camera, but if you can suggest something else that won't break the bank, I'll gladly listen. Thanks!"
So, we turned this question over to one of our photo experts, who suggested that really, if you've got the budget for it, you might as well pick up a very old, very cheap DSLR. For instance, you can pick up an old Canon Rebel XT for around $200, and while it won't be shiny and new, will let them play with features and settings beyond the average compact camera. But what do we know, eh? This is the part of the weekend where we poll our community for their sage wisdom, so have at it, chums.
Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras
Hurricane Isaac 2012 bill nye Snooki Baby terrell owens terrell owens neil armstrong little league world series
by Bill McBride on 6/23/2013 06:10:00 PM
From Alejandro Lazo at the LA Times: Motivated home buyers skip the bidding wars
[A]gents like Mathys are resorting to reconnaissance and back-channel networks to find homes that haven't yet hit the market. They're cold-calling homeowners with offers and targeting specific neighborhoods with direct mail. Some come bearing bizarre gifts in return for a listing. One agent offered a seller the use of his exotic car; one of his clients offered free dogs.Pocket listings (kept in the agent's "pocket") are always popular with agents in?a tight market. This way the agent can get both sides of the commission (or share with someone in their office - or an agent they know who will return the favor).?? Other agents and buyers hate pocket listings because they never get?a chance at buying the property - and it is usually best for the seller to actually have the property listed and see other offers.?And they're chasing so-called pocket listings, homes privately marketed among those in the know. The low-profile nature of the listings makes them hard to quantify. But agents and other real estate experts say they've become common in the booming Southland market, where the median home price shot up nearly 25% in the last year.
Mathys ? a 10-year veteran who, with his partner Tracie Kersten, specializes in high-end San Diego properties ? said he'd never before seen the market this tight or felt the need to get this creative.
emphasis added
Source: http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2013/06/real-estate-pocket-listings-in-tight.html
the parent trap invisible children kony 2012 space weather sunspots pac 12 tournament sun storm tri
CAIRO (AP) ? Wading into an increasingly volatile fray, Egypt's military on Sunday gave the nation's Islamist rulers and their opponents a week to reach an understanding before planned June 30 opposition protests aimed at forcing out the president, in a toughly worded warning that it will intervene to stop the nation from entering a "dark tunnel."
The powerful military also gave a thinly veiled warning to President Mohammed Morsi's hard-line backers that it will step in if the mostly secular and liberal protesters, who have vowed to be peaceful, are attacked during the planned demonstrations.
In a bid to project a business-as-usual image, Morsi's office said in a statement late Sunday that the president met with the army's chief, Defense Minister Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, to discuss the "domestic scene and the government's efforts to maintain the security of the nation and the safety of its citizens." There was no mention of el-Sissi's warning.
Seeking to assert Morsi's seniority over el-Sissi ? the president is the supreme commander of the armed forces ? the brief statement, alluding to June 30, said he ordered the quick completion of plans to protect the state's strategic and vital installations.
The opposition argues that Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood, despite having won a series of elections since the 2011 revolution that ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak, have squandered their legitimacy with heavy handed misrule. It contends that the Islamists have encroached on the independence of the judiciary, sought to monopolize power, and pushed through an Islamist-backed constitution, breaking promises to seek consensus.
Morsi's supporters say the opposition has shunned his offers of dialogue and now are turning to force to remove him because they have been unable to compete at the ballot box.
On Sunday, a court compounded Morsi's troubles by saying members of his Muslim Brotherhood conspired with Hamas, Hezbollah and local militants to storm a prison in 2011 and free 34 Brotherhood leaders, including Morsi. Also, the most iconic youth figure of the 2011 revolution, Wael Ghonim, called on Morsi to step down before June 30 to prevent bloodshed.
Both sides say they intend to be peaceful on June 30, but many fear the day could descend into violence. There are worries young protesters could attack offices of the Brotherhood and its political arm, the Freedom and Justice party. Some of Morsi's hard-line supporters have vowed to "smash" the protests or have declared protesters infidels who deserve to be killed.
"Those who will spray Morsi with water will be sprayed with blood," warned one cleric.
El-Sissi, weighed in with his first public comments on the planned protests while addressing officers at a seminar Sunday.
It was his most direct warning yet that the military ? which ruled Egypt directly after Mubarak's fall until Morsi's June 30, 2012 inauguration ? could step in.
He said the country's divisions had reached a point that they were a danger to the state itself.
"Those who think that we (the military) are oblivious to the dangers that threaten the Egyptian state are mistaken. We will not remain silent while the country slips into a conflict that will be hard to control," he said in his comments, made public on the military's Facebook page.
Ostensibly, el-Sissi addressed both sides. But his demand for "genuine reconciliation" seemed to be a nod toward the opposition's stance that Morsi's past gestures of "dialogue" have been empty and a signal to him that he must make compromises.
"It is the most powerful public and direct message from the military to the president," said analyst Abdullah el-Sinnawi, thought to be close to the military. "I see this as a warning of a coup if Morsi does not find a solution."
Another analyst, Gamal Abdel-Gawad of the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic studies, said the comments signaled a change in the military's position.
"We are in a different phase now. He (el-Sissi) is giving a deadline for a solution to the president to do what he can do or else they will be forced to intervene," he said.
El-Sissi appeared to lower the threshold for what warrants intervention by the military. In earlier pronouncements, he cited the collapse or near collapse of the state.
On Sunday, however, he said the military has a "patriotic and moral responsibility" to stop Egypt from "slipping into a dark tunnel of conflict or internal fighting." He said sectarian violence and the collapse of state institutions would also justify intervention.
He urged all parties to reach a "genuine reconciliation" to defuse the crisis before June 30.
"We have a week during which a great deal can be achieved. This is a call that is only motivated by love of the nation, its presence and future," he said.
In a thinly veiled warning to Morsi's hard-line backers, el-Sissi said: "It is not honorable that we remain silent in the face of the terrorizing and scaring of our Egyptian compatriots. There is more honor in death than watching a single Egyptian harmed while the army is still around."
El-Sissi also warned that the military will no longer tolerate any "insults" to the armed forces and its leaders, apparently a reference to a series of comments by figures from the Muslim Brotherhood, from which Morsi hails, that were perceived by the military as derogatory.
After its post-Mubarak period of direct rule, the powerful military has largely stayed out of the political fray. Soon after his inauguration, Morsi pushed the military's top two generals into retirement, ending the de facto military rule of Egypt that dates back to a 1952 coup that toppled the monarchy.
Morsi appointed el-Sissi as military chief and defense minister, leading many to believe the general would be beholden to the president. But el-Sissi, through a series of subtle but telling hints, has shown a significant level of independence as well as displeasure over the policies of the Morsi administration.
Morsi's comrades in the Brotherhood have made it clear that they want the military to focus entirely on protecting the nation against outside threats, but el-Sissi has countered by making clear that maintaining the security and stability of the nation was part of the military's mandate.
Protest organizers say they will bring out crowds across the country, building on public anger over a host of problems in the country, from surging crime and rising prices to fuel shortages, power cuts and unemployment. The protests call for Morsi to step down and early elections to be held at the end of a short transitional period.
Sunday, another prominent figure from the anti-Mubarak uprising, Ghoneim, weighed in with a video posted on his Twitter account saying it was time for Morsi to go.
"I was hoping that I would thank (Morsi) for what he has done for Egypt a year after he took office. But regrettably, the conditions in Egypt now are very grave," Ghoneim said. "Please stop the strife we are approaching, for the sake of God and country, and resign before June 30."
The report issued by a court in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia added to Morsi troubles. The court statement read by judge Khaled Mahgoub named two members of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood as among the conspirators along with Hamas and Hezbollah members in an attack on Wadi el-Natroun prison on Jan. 29, 2011.
The judge said his court would refer the evidence and testimonies it gathered to prosecutors so they can start their own investigation.
Morsi and the 33 Brotherhood leaders who were in jail in 2011 have maintained that they were freed by local residents. Hamas, the Palestinian chapter of the Brotherhood, has denied involvement in the attacks on prisons.
The Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party said Sunday's court statement on the Wadi el-Natroun prison break was "void and illegal." It posted on its Twitter account that Mahgoub "will end like any other judge who did not respect the law or the constitution."
The prison breaks took place during the 18-day popular uprising that toppled Mubarak's regime. The breaks involved about 11 of Egypt's 41 prisons and led to a flood of some 23,000 criminals onto the streets, fueling a crime wave that continues to this day.
____
Associated Press reporter Maggie Michael and Tony G. Gabriel contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypts-army-says-ready-save-nation-154511490.html
monkeypox nick perry 30 rock live nfl draft picks 2012 space shuttle enterprise ryan leaf ryan leaf
Hot -- "King Mo" Lawal: What's the best way to respond to a knockout loss? Returning with a knockout win. Lawal did that on Wednesday and took out Seth Petruzelli with one punch. Lawal moved on in the Bellator tournament, while Petruzelli decided to retire.
Not -- Bellator ratings: Lawal delivered the memorable knockout, but not that many people watched it live. The ratings from Wednesday's fights were nearly half that of the last Bellator fight, and they got worse for "Fight Master," Bellator's new reality show.
Hot -- "The Korean Zombie:" Chan Sung Jung mentioned last week that Anthony Pettis had cut in line for a shot at the UFC featherweight belt. Pettis suffered a training injury, so now Jung doesn't have to wait for a title shot any more. He's fighting Jose Aldo at UFC 163 in Pettis' place.
Not -- Anthony Pettis: When he suffered the knee injury, Pettis hoped that it wouldn't take too long to heal, and maybe he could slide into UFC 164 and the already-scheduled fight between T.J. Grant and lightweight champion Benson Henderson. Unfortunately, the knee injury will take longer to heal than he had hoped, and he won't be fighting on either pay-per-view card in August.
Not -- New York: The state with the largest city is also the last state to consider professional MMA fighting illegal. MMA's status in New York took a blow this week as the bill to make MMA legal and regulated never made it to a vote.
Still taking temperature -- Invicta FC: After previously showing their fights just through online streaming, the all-women's promotion is making the jump to television pay-per-views. Fans will have the chance to purchase the July 13 event, headlined by Marloes Coenen vs. Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos, via iNDemand, Dish and Avail-TVN for $14.95. Will it work?
As always, thank you for reading Cagewriter. We appreciate each and every one of you. For more Cagewriting fun, check us out on Facebook and Twitter.
Related coverage on Yahoo! Sports:
? Invicta ready for prime time
? Ricardo Lamas bypassed for title shot again
? Junior dos Santos says UFC champ ?hits like a girl?
Ravi Shankar Geminid meteor shower right to work Clackamas Town Center 12 12 12 Anne Hathaway Wardrobe Malfunction Adrienne Maloof
U.S. stocks rose in morning trading on Friday as traders regrouped following the biggest drop of the year.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 50 points, or 0.3 percent, to 14,809 after the first half-hour of trading Friday.
The Dow plunged 560 points Wednesday through Thursday after the Federal Reserve said it could wind down its bond-buying program by the middle of next year.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose eight points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,597 points. Consumer staples, which fell sharply the day before, led the way higher.
The Nasdaq composite index edged down two points, or 0.1 percent, to 3,362.
The Nikkei index in Japan rose 1.7 percent, but other Asian markets fell. European markets were mixed but made only small moves.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note edged up to 2.44 percent from 2.42 percent.
Among stocks making big moves:
? Oracle plunged $3.04, or 9 percent, to $30.17, the biggest drop in the S&P 500 index. The software maker's quarterly results showed that it's struggling to adapt as customers shift away from software installed on their own computers toward software that runs remotely.
? Darden Restaurants, which runs Olive Garden and Red Lobster, fell $1.16, or 2.3 percent, to $50.07 after rising expenses hurt its fourth-quarter earnings.
? CarMax, which runs used car dealerships, reported that its first-quarter profit jumped 21 percent as sales rose. Its stock rose 63 cents or 1.4 percent, to $45.20.
A Fed policy statement and comments from Chairman Ben Bernanke started the selling in stocks and bonds Wednesday.
Bernanke said the Fed expects to scale back its massive bond-buying program later this year and end it entirely by mid-2014 if the economy continues to improve. The bank has been buying $85 billion a month in Treasury and mortgage bonds, a program that has made borrowing cheap for consumers and businesses. It has also helped boost the stock market. The Dow reached an all-time high three weeks ago of 15,409.
After Bernanake's comments, the index lost 560 points on Wednesday and Thursday, wiping out its gains from May and June. The Dow's drop on Thursday was its biggest since November 2011.
Some investors said the sell-off in stocks may be overdone. The Fed is considering easing back on its stimulus because the economy is improving. The central bank has upgraded its outlook for unemployment and economic growth.
The S&P 500 is still up 11.9 percent, for the year, not far from its full-year increase of 13.4 percent last year.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-stocks-open-higher-2-day-plunge-140307006.html
r. kelly macular degeneration whitney houston funeral judi dench bobby brown leaves funeral donnie mcclurkin whitney houston funeral live stream
The Acer Aspire R7-571-6858 might be the first desktop replacement laptop for the all-in-one desktop generation. Featuring an adjustable easel-style stand/hinge combination, it's the first laptop I've seen with a fully adjustable monitor, and more closely resembles a desktop than a laptop, with a flipping, folding, floating display design that is certainly unique. While this new design will turn heads and may hint at the shape of things to come, the overall design is dragged down by the decision to swap the touchpad and keyboard, resulting in a design that is awkward at best.
Design
With so many ultrabooks on the market, it's refreshing to see a full-bodied desktop replacement in the labs. The Aspire R7 is by no means svelte, measuring 1.1 by 14.8 by 10.0 inches (HWD) and weighing 5.22 pounds. The construction blends lightweight plastic on the lid and chassis with a metal hinge.
The most prominent feature on the Aspire R7 is the unique combination hinge and display stand, which Acer calls the "Ezel" hinge. Much like the multi-mode Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13, the Aspire R7 uses the Ezel hinge to offer four different usage modes: Notebook Mode, Ezel Mode, Pad Mode, and Display Mode. In each mode, the 15.6-inch display flips and folds to present the 1,920-by-1,080 touch display at the most comfortable angle. As desk-bound systems go, it's one of the most comfortable implementations of touch that we've used.
Notebook mode is the closest of the four to a regular clamshell laptop, with the display lining up with the back edge of the laptop chassis. In this mode, it functions much like any other touchscreen-equipped laptop, aside from the unusual keyboard layout (more on that in a moment).
In Ezel mode, the display stand allows for a monitor-like setup much more like a desktop display. In addition to looking cool, this mode has the benefit of best utilizing the touch display, letting you bring the screen closer and put it at an angle more comfortable than a regular touch-enabled laptop screen. The Ezel hinge features two adjustable hinges, and both hold firmly enough that when touching and tapping the screen, there's no noticeable screen wobble. The unfortunate side-effect of the sturdy hinges, of course, is that they are just as stiff when adjusting the angle of the display and opening the closed laptop.
Folding the Ezel hinge flat with the screen out puts the laptop into Pad Mode, which converts the Aspire R7 into something like a tablet. It's too large to simply pick up and use on the go, though it can certainly be moved from one room to the next with relative ease. Though not exactly mobile, Pad mode does make for a more comfortable table-top touch experience, and the bulk of the hinge sets the display at an angle, more like a small All-in-One system laying nearly flat. Getting the Aspire R7 out of Pad mode is sometimes difficult, with the sturdy hinges requiring some force to pry the display up and manhandle it back into position.
Finally, the display can be tipped back and flipped over, to show the screen to someone on the opposite side. We've seen similar screen-sharing concepts on the Lenovo Yoga and the Asus Taichi 21, but the Aspire R7 doesn't do much to make this dubious concept seem more reasonable?showing someone else the display requires giving up your own, and it still seems like more trouble than looking at the same screen while standing side-by-side. As with the Asus Taichi, the display sharing feature feels more like an afterthought based on the fact that the stand allows flipping the screen, added to pad out the feature list.
The layout?keyboard on bottom, touchpad on top?is almost as weird as the bizarre easel/stand and display/monitor. While the reasoning is at least logical?with a floating touchscreen you don't necessarily need a touchpad, and the angle of the floating display would block part of the keyboard in normal use?there's no ignoring the fact that the switch is otherwise difficult to justify. The traditional keyboard and touchpad arrangement wasn't arbitrary; properly placed palm rests make typing more ergonomic and on-the-go laptop use easier, and a touchpad located below the spacebar lets you navigate without having to hover over the keyboard or worry about unintentional keystrokes. This new design eliminates those important touches, and just feels like change for the sake of change.
The Aspire R7 boasts four speakers for fuller sound, with Dolby Home Theater v4 adding to the overall quality. The sound quality was actually quite good, and the volume was impressive?loud enough to disturb the neighbors, and clear enough that you might want to. Flip the display from Ezel mode to Display also switches the right and left stereo channels, to match the right and left of the person viewing the screen.
Features
The Aspire R7 places all of its ports and connectors in the bottom half of the system. While this isn't uncommon for a laptop, the desktop-like design makes it feel more like an all-in-one placing all of the ports in the monitor stand, as is seen on the Vizio All-in-One systems.
On the right is a power button and volume controls, one USB 2.0 port with power for charging devices, an SD card slot (SD, SDHC, SDXC), and a Kensington lock slot for physically securing the device. On the left is a mini DisplayPort and full-size HDMI output for connecting an external monitor or TV, and two faster USB 3.0 ports. Despite the Aspire R7's undeniably desktop-like nature, you'll have to use the built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi for networking because there's no Ethernet port to plug into. Also, the Aspire R7 has built-in Bluetooth 4.0, with support for stereo sound, as well as an integrated 720p webcam above the screen.
Though the Aspire R7 is pretty big, the storage is a bit on the small side, with a 500GB spinning hard drive paired with a 24GB solid-state drive (SSD) for snappy performance.
Acer loads up the Aspire R7 with a lot of media and social apps, like Zinio and Next Issue magazine readers, Ebay and Amazon for shopping, and an array of others, like iCookbook, Spotify, ChaCha, Netflix, HuluPlus, and Amazon Kindle all crowding the start screen. Dig in a bit more and you'll find some truely useful extras, like Skype, Acer Clear.fi (for networked media sharing), and Dragon Assistant (a voice recognition and dictation app). While the appeal of individual apps will vary by personal preference and usage patterns, it's clear that Acer has made an effort to be sure that there is plenty to do with the Aspire R7 right out of the box. Acer also covers the Aspire R7 with a one-year warranty.
Performance
The Aspire R7 planted itself firmly in the middle of the pack during multimedia tests, finishing in Handbrake in 1 minute 33 seconds and Photoshop in 5:43. By comparison, the Dell Inspiron 15z (I15Z-4801SLV) (1:33 Handbrake, 4:51 Photoshop) and the Sony VAIO T15 Touch (1:25 Handbrake, 5:21 Photoshop) both offer better performance with similar hardware. Though the use of Intel's integrated graphics solution isn't sufficient for high end gaming, a 3DMark score of 1,203 points (at Entry settings) indicate that it will do just fine handling Web browsing and video. Given the unusual design and layout of the Aspire R7, media consumption may be one of its best uses.
And while raw performance may not put the Acer Aspire R7 at the top of anyone's must-have list, it did eke out a bit more battery life than competitors, lasting 5 hours 41 minutes in our battery rundown test, outlasting the competition by nearly an hour or more.
Conclusion
In the end, however, the Acer Aspire R7 is a high-flying concept brought low by reality. While the design is daring and innovative, even among the many experimental designs being tried with convertible and touch-centric laptops, the end user experience shows it to be deeply flawed. With a swapped keyboard and trackpad layout that proves cumbersome, a floating touch screen display that adds little, and a bulky design that reduces portability, the Aspire R7 is more of a weird-looking proof of concept than a marketable product, and the middling to mediocre performance just cements it further as a product that may look cool on the shelf, but isn't the one shoppers should spend their money on.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/v19S-vp7Ags/0,2817,2420714,00.asp
Ronda Rousey Cecil Hotel Cressida Bonas Kenny Clutch Edward Gorey amber rose nba trade deadline
