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MojoKid writes "Historically, console add-ons that boosted the performance of the primary unit haven't done well. Any attempt to upgrade a system's core performance risks bifurcating the user base and increases work developers must do to ensure that a game runs smoothly on both original and upgraded systems. The other reason is that a number of games rely on very specific hardware characteristics to ensure proper operation. In a PC, swapping a CPU with 256K of L2 for a chip with 512K of L2 is a non-issue assuming proper platform support. Existing software will automatically take advantage of the additional cache. The Xbox 360, on the other hand, allows programmers to lock specific cache blocks and use them for storing data from particular threads. In that case, expanding the amount of L2 cache risks breaking previous games because it changes the range of available cache addresses. The other side of the upgrade argument is that the Xbox 360 has been upgraded more effectively than any previous console; current high-end versions ship with more than 10x the storage of the original, as well as support for HDMI and integrated WiFi. It would also forestall the decline in comparative image quality between console and PC platforms."

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New submitter brennanw writes "Anyone who was active on mp3.com during the late 90s/early 2000's will find Amazon.com's KDP Select awfully familiar: authors who make their works exclusive to Amazon compete for a pool of money. Any time someone 'borrows' one of their books, they get a cut of a monthly sum (700K in January, 600K for February) based on how many of their books were checked out vs. how many other author's books were checked out. This is almost identical to the 'Payback for Playback' service MP3.com provided musicians a little over a decade ago. Payback for Playback effectively destroyed the original MP3.com artist community, and I don't think KDP Select is going to be much different for the self-publishing community that is growing on Amazon."

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ananyo writes "Today the two main experiments at the Large Hadron Collider, the world's most powerful particle accelerator, submitted the results of their latest analyses. The new papers (here here and here) boost the case for December's announcement of a possible Higgs signal. Physicists working on the In the case of the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment, have been able to look at another possible kind of Higgs decay, and that allows them to boost their Higgs signal from 2.5 sigma to 3.1 sigma. Taken together with data from the other detector, ATLAS, Higgs' overall signal now unofficially stands at about 4.3 sigma."

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MrSeb writes "There are around 100 billion neurons in a human brain, forming up to 100 trillion synaptic interconnections. Neuroscientists believe that these synapses are the key to almost every one of your unique, identifiable features: Memories, mental disorders, and even your personality are encoded in the wiring of your brain. Understandably, neuroscientists really want to investigate these neurons and synapses to work out how they play such a vital role in our human makeup. Unfortunately, these 100 trillion connections are crammed into a two-pound bag of soggy flesh, making analysis rather hard. Starting small and working its way up, MIT today launched Eyewire, a crowdsourced 'game' that tasks users with wiring up the neurons in a mouse's retina. A future stage of the game will get users to find the synapses, too."

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USA TODAY
White House open to contraception compromise
Reuters
By Susan Heavey | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration is willing to work with Catholic universities, hospitals and other church-affiliated employers to implement a new policy that requires health insurers to offer birth control coverage, ...
Obama seeks compromise on contraception furorWashington Times
Obama Health Rule an Affront to Religious Groups: Ramesh PonnuruBloomberg
US Catholics angry at contraception ruleBBC News
Washington Post -Daily Beast -USA TODAY
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Globe and Mail
US Skeptical of Assad Constitutional Offer to End Violence, Uprising
Voice of America
February 07, 2012 US Skeptical of Assad Constitutional Offer to End Violence, Uprising Scott Stearns | State Department Syria says it is drawing up a new constitution as government forces continue to bombard opponents of President Bashar al-Assad.
Intervention in Syria will escalate, not stop the killingThe Guardian
Assad meets Russians, Syrian slaughter continuesABC Online
Russia to urge political settlement in SyriaSydney Morning Herald
Jerusalem Post -USA TODAY -Fox News
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Christian Science Monitor
Mitt Romney then and now: 2008 vs. 2012 presidential run
Christian Science Monitor
Mitt Romney dropped out of the 2008 GOP primary race on this date in 2008, after winning 11 states. What did Romney say then? By David Grant / February 7, 2012 Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney suspends his 2008 campaign during a speech before the ...
Contraception issue heats up as Santorum makes headwayCBS News
Romney camp downplays expectations for Tuesday votesLos Angeles Times
Colorado, Minnestota and Missouri results – liveThe Guardian
Reuters -San Francisco Chronicle -Boston.com
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Financial Times
Eastwood: A maverick who does politics his own way
Seattle Post Intelligencer
This advertisement provided by Chrysler Group LLC, shows actor Clint Eastwood, featured in an ad titled "It's Halftime In America," which aired during Super Bowl XVLI, Sunday, Feb. 5, 2012. AP Photo/Chrysler Group LLC) Photo: AP / AP LOS ANGELES (AP) ...
Clint Eastwood's Super Bowl ad too political? What about the Skechers bulldog ...Detroit Free Press
Top 10 at the movies for the week of Feb. 12New York Daily News

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Daily Mail
Obama Renews $80 Million Bid for Science, Math Teachers
BusinessWeek
By Roger Runningen Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama said he'll request $80 million in education funding for training math and science teachers to help the US stay competitive in world commerce, reviving a budget request last year.
President cheers LI science whiz at White HouseWall Street Journal
3 Detroit students get shout-out from Obama at White House Science FairDetroit Free Press
Obama hosts White House science fairCBS News
The Associated Press -ABC News (blog) -Denver Post
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Globe and Mail
Giants' Super Bowl victory a boon for Vegas profit
Reuters
By Frank Pingue (Reuters) - Super Bowl gambling in Nevada rose to its highest level in six years and the state's sports books cashed in when the New York Giants edged the favored New England Patriots in Sunday's National Football League (NFL) title ...
Big Blue Redux? History says Giants repeat highly unlikelyCBSSports.com
Giants' Super Bowl victory a boon for VegasChicago Tribune
NBC hopes Super Bowl influence spreadsCBS News
SI.com -SB Nation -Wall Street Journal
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USA TODAY
Prosecutors want Sandusky to stay in home as part of bail
USA TODAY
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Prosecutors asked Tuesday to have Jerry Sandusky kept indoors as part of his bail conditions, citing complaints that the former Penn State football assistant was seen outside and watching children in a schoolyard from the back ...
Ex-Penn State Coach Sandusky Seeks Medical Data on AccusersSan Francisco Chronicle
AG seeks tougher bail for Jerry Sandusky, cites complaints accused sex abuser ...CBS News
Sandusky lawyer: Alleged victims 'may have collaborated'Philadelphia Inquirer

all 353 news articles »

The Guardian
PROMISES, PROMISES: Obama embraces 'super PAC'
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a reversal, President Barack Obama is embracing the big-money fundraising groups he assailed as a "threat to democracy" on the grounds they let money corrode elections. His shift is a pragmatic move to win re-election, ...
Obama criticized as campaign urges donors to give to "super PAC"NECN
US elections: curse of the Super PacsThe Guardian
Obama urges donors to embrace super PACSalt Lake Tribune
CBS News
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Brad Lucier writes "The Saylor Foundation has a vision: Free and open materials for a complete undergraduate university education. To that end, they've announced the first winners in their Open Textbook Challenge: Four textbooks were relicensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 (CC-BY 3.0) Unported license, the most open of the CC licenses, and in return the authors were awarded a prize of $20,000 for each book. See the blog entries and the accompanying press releases for details. The second wave of submissions will be accepted until May 31, 2012."

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USA TODAY
Final words of dad who killed self, young sons
USA TODAY
GRAHAM, Wash. (AP) – Before setting his house ablaze and killing himself and his two young sons, Josh Powell left a voicemail for family members saying he couldn't live without the boys and didn't want to go on anymore. By Ted S. Warren, AP Denise Cox, ...
Funeral for Powell boys scheduled for Saturday in WashingtonWashington Post
Josh Powell's final voicemail: 'I am not able to go on' (audio)Salt Lake Tribune
Funeral for Powell boys to be Saturday in Wash.Seattle Post Intelligencer

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CBC.ca
California gay marriage ban overturned, appeal planned
Reuters
By Peter Henderson and Dan Levine | SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - An appeals court on Tuesday found California's gay marriage ban unconstitutional in a case that may lead to a showdown in the Supreme Court. Supporters of the ban said they would appeal the ...
Landmark day in gay marriage battle: Celebrations, vows to fightLos Angeles Times
Reaction to the ruling declaring California's same-sex marriage ban ...Washington Post
Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groupsChristian Science Monitor
NPR -San Francisco Chronicle -CBS News
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An anonymous reader writes "If we break a bone it can take weeks or even month to heal depending on the type and severity of the break. In some extreme cases the complexity of the fracture can make it impossible to heal properly. Researchers at the University of Georgia Regenerative Bioscience Center have come up with a new solution for healing broken bones that cuts recovery time to days. It relies on the use of stem cells that contain a bone generating protein. These cells are injected in gel form directly into the area of the broken bone, where they quickly get to work forming new bone. The end result is very rapid recovery, possibly sidestepping the muscle atrophy that can come with long bone healing times. The gel has been proven to work on animals as big as a sheep and has funding from the DoD. Lets hope it is proven to work on humans in the coming years."

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redletterdave writes "Proview Technology, which currently uses the 'iPad' name on several of its products including computer monitors, stands to win up to $1.6 billion and an apology from Apple for allegedly infringing upon Proview's trademarked name to use on its bestselling tablet. Proview International, which owns subsidiaries Proview Technology in Shenzhen and Proview Electronics in Taiwan, originally registered the name 'iPad' in Taiwan in 2000 and mainland China in 2001. Proview eventually sued Apple in 2011, and even though the Cupertino-based company retaliated with a counter-suit of its own, Apple lost the case in local Chinese courts. Depending on the court's findings, Apple could be fined anywhere from $38 million to the $1.6 billion that Proview is seeking. In addition to the money, Proview also wants Apple to apologize. 'We have prepared well for a long-term legal battle,' said one of Proview's lawyers."

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An anonymous reader writes "Today Google announced the availability of a beta version of its Chrome browser for Android. Unfortunately, it's limited to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) devices. Google is trying to keep Chrome fast and easy to use, and part of that involved redesigning tabs so they work more naturally with touchscreens. 'You can flip or swipe between an unlimited number of tabs using intuitive gestures, as if you're holding a deck of cards in the palm of your hands, each one a new window to the web.' They've also including synchronization functionality that allows you to move from desktop browsing to phone or tablet browsing and pick up right where you left off."

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An anonymous reader writes "The 20th International Obfuscated C Code Contest ended on February 5th, 2012, and the list of winners has been announced. According to the page, the source code for all the winning entries 'has not been released yet.' It will be available alongside code from previous years 'in late-February to mid-March.'"

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Los Angeles Times
Handel's resignation helps Komen, crisis experts say
Los Angeles Times
The resignation today of Komen for the Cure vice president Karen Handel is another step in the right direction for the breast cancer foundation as it seeks to move forward and win some of its supporters back, crisis management experts say.
Komen VP steps down after Planned Parenthood flapReuters
After Outcry, a Top Official Resigns at Cancer CharityNew York Times
APNewsBreak: Komen exec quits after funding flapCBS News
Houston Chronicle
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