How Many Apps Does an App Need to Sell to Be in the Top Apps List?

When the App Store was fresh and new, you'd see different apps pop up in the Top Apps list. Those Top Apps lists were actually usable. But ever since Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja and whatever else decided to squat down, it's the same damn apps over and over. So how popular does an app have to be to crack these lists?

According to Distimo, a paid app needs to be downloaded over 4,000 times a day to hit the top 10 list. A free app needs to crack 72,000 a day. A top 10 grossing app would need to bring in $47,000 in paid downloads every single day. Not exactly chump change! If you're trying to crack the top 50, it gets slightly easier. Paid apps need to just clear 950 apps a day (and 12 grand a day for most grossing) while free apps need to be downloaded 23,000 times. If you're trying to make it as an app developer, those numbers are your magic numbers. [Distimo via UberGizmo]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/how-many-apps-does-an-app-need-to-sell-to-be-in-the-top-641026988

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BlackBerry whacked with downgrades after dismal earnings

BlackBerry Earnings Analyst Downgrades

You get the feeling that it?s going to be a rough week for BlackBerry. Barron?s points out the company get hit with three separate downgrades from analysts on Monday in the wake of its hugely disappointing earnings report last week. The most bearish analyst flagged by Barron?s is?Deutsche Bank?s Brian Modoff, who cut BlackBerry?s price target to $6 and who says the company?s hardware business has actually become its biggest weakness. Instead of making smartphones, Modoff thinks BlackBerry should instead focus on its BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 platform that he says is the company?s most valuable remaining asset.

[More from BGR: Leaked image points to September 5th launch for Verizon?s HTC One]

?Unfortunately, we believe that continuing to run the devices business could be their Achilles heel,? Modoff writes. ?If they choose to keep plowing money into marketing BB10 devices across the globe, it will create a heavy cash burn unless the uptake begins to quickly gain traction.?

[More from BGR: MacBook Air continues to crush ultrabooks]

Needham & Co. analyst Charlie Wolf, meanwhile, thinks the company has some short-term upside because its QWERTY-equipped BlackBerry Q10 and Q5 models ought to sell well with diehard fans who want to have full keyboards on their smartphones. However, he warns that we shouldn?t see this slight boost as the start of a long-term recovery.

?Q10 sales could quickly ramp significantly once the smartphone is rolled out since the installed base of BlackBerry owners in the enterprise has been stuck on older models for so long,? he writes. ?But the potential sharp rise in sales could be short lived since the installed base in the business market is not that large any more. Recalling the comments of reviewers, virtual keyboards have taken over in a few short years. So even diehard BlackBerry fans may think twice before upgrading to the Q10.?

The latest earnings results were so discouraging that even analysts who maintained their ratings on the company found it very hard to believe it has a future as a competitive smartphone platform.?Goldman Sachs analyst Simona Jankowski, for instance, maintained a Neutral rating for BlackBerry shares but slashed her price target from $17 to $12 and said that BlackBerry 10 had no hope of competing with iOS or Android in the mobile market.

?Our prior fundamental valuation used a scenario analysis that assigned 20% probability to the bull case (i.e. a turnaround based on traction with BB10) and 80% probability to the sum-of-the-parts base/bear case (i.e. continued share declines),? she writes. ?We no longer assign any probability to the bull case, given the disappointing traction of BB10 in the first full quarter since the launch.?

This article was originally published on BGR.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blackberry-whacked-downgrades-dismal-earnings-001548383.html

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Doink the Clown passes away

All WWE programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves, trademarks, logos and copyrights are the exclusive property of WWE, Inc. and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. ? 2013 WWE, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This website is based in the United States. By submitting personal information to this website you consent to your information being maintained in the U.S., subject to applicable U.S. laws. U.S. law may be different than the law of your home country. WrestleMania XXIX (NY/NJ) logo TM & ? 2013 WWE. All Rights Reserved. The Empire State Building design is a registered trademark and used with permission by ESBC.

Source: http://www.wwe.com/inside/doink-the-clown-passes

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FCC meets Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 with foreign LTE bands

The FCC has met with the SM-T315 which is an overseas variant of the? Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0. While this version of Sammy's slate includes support for LTE, these are not the bands that are compatible with U.S. carriers. There is connectivity with AT&T's HSPA pipeline while the LTE is meant for countries like South Korea. The 8 inch size is obviously meant to compete with the 7.9 inch Apple iPad mini and if you need to have an 8 inch Samsung built slate in the U.S. with LTE connectivity, there is always the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 is equipped with an 8 inch screen with resolution of 1280 x 800. This works out to a pixel density of 189ppi. Under the hood is a dual-core 1.5GHz Samsung Exynos 4 processor with 1.5GB of RAM onboard. 16GB of native storage can be expanded with the 64GB capacity microSD slot and the 5MP camera on pack captures video in 1280 x 720 at 30fps. There is also a 1.3MP front facing snapper while a 4450mAh cell keeps the power humming. Android 4.2 is pre-installed out of the box.

source: FCC via Engadget

Source: http://www.phonearena.com/news/FCC-meets-Samsung-Galaxy-Tab-3-8.0-with-foreign-LTE-bands_id44678

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98% Before Midnight

All Critics (146) | Top Critics (38) | Fresh (142) | Rotten (3)

Hawke and Delpy remain as charming as ever, and their combined goofiness is more endearing than annoying.

Love is messy here, life cannot be controlled, satisfaction is far from guaranteed. Romance is rocky at best. But romance still is.

Though "Before Midnight" is often uncomfortable to watch, it's never less than mesmerizing - and ultimately, a joy to walk with this prickly but fascinating couple again.

"Before Midnight" is heartbreaking, but not because of Jesse and Celine. It's the filmmakers' passions that seem to have cooled.

Before Midnight is fascinating to watch, and so long as Celine and Jesse are communicating, there's still hope.

How (Jesse and Celine) try to rekindle that flame is what drives Midnight, a film that feels so authentic it's like overhearing a conversation you're not sure you should be hearing.

Loving words mix with personal attacks, the magic moments with the unintended slights, as we witness the occasional desperation of imperfect people doing the best they can when life moves beyond meet-cute and courtship. That's authentic.

Linklater and his players bring an end to the fantasy and welcome the thrilling ups and bitter downs of reality to this love story.

Like the first two films, it reflects the real world in a way that seems almost preternatural. It's just that, here, the real world is a harsher, more disappointing place.

The duo, clearly so comfortable in their characters' skin, indulge in intelligent banter, sharp humour and emotional truths.

So much better written than contemporary novels, this film is a literary as well as cinematic achievement to cherish. For grown-ups.

As before, it's often very funny, with Jesse and Celine swapping Woody Allen-esque one-liners - nicely snarky, appealingly abrasive.

The acting, the dialogue and direction are superb.

None of the films is faultless in itself, but, tinted with complementary tones, the complete cycle comes as close to perfection as any trilogy in cinema history.

Marvelous. It's impossible to shake the feeling that we are merely eavesdropping on reality. Witty, wise, and -- most important of all -- truly romantic in ways that movies usually aren't.

It's been 18 years since Hawke, Delpy and Linklater introduced us to Jesse and Celine, and their story just gets richer, funnier and more punchy each time we see them. In 1995's Before Sunrise, they were idealistic 23-year-olds.

Hawke and Delpy are as believably real as any screen couple can ever be.

This is one of the few sequels for which the cliche 'eagerly awaited' is truly applicable.

Predictably, it's just as great as the first two.

By the end, Before Midnight inches towards a dawn of charm. But it's a troubled trip.

As an organic experiment in collaboration between actors and director, it is a triumph, co-created and co-owned by Delpy, Linklater and Hawke.

Hawke and Delpy, who are both credited on the script too, have never found co-stars to bounce off more nimbly or bring out richer nuances in their acting.

The performances and dialogue are wonderfully naturalistic; a reminder that the best special effects are often the cheapest.

Before Midnight is about the nature of long-term relationships, and the way love deepens and grows but also finds itself subject to the complications of maturity. Smart, insightful, and poignant.

For those who witnessed Jesse and Celine's tentative getting together as inter railing students almost twenty years ago, it's reassuring to see them still in love.

Brilliantly directed, superbly written and impeccably acted, this is a thoroughly enjoyable, thought-provoking and emotionally engaging drama that perfectly complements the previous two films.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/before_midnight_2013/

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How to Save Sharks off Cuba s Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico [Slide Show]

Is it possible to create a sustainable fishery for sharks before the ocean's top predators are gone?

By Melissa Gaskill

SHARK SHACK: A typical Cuban fishing boat that targets sharks in the country's coastal waters. Image: ROBERT HUETER, MOTE MARINE LABORATORY

• 

  How does a Venus flytrap know when to snap shut? Can it actually feel an insect?s tiny, spindly legs? And how do cherry blossoms know when to bloom? Can they...

  Read More??

Throughout 2011 researchers from the University of Havana prowled fishing docks in Caba?as and Cojimar on Cuba?s northwestern coast. The teams met returning fishing boats, noted the type and number of fish caught, and asked crews where they had fished, how long and what effort was involved. Oceanic whitetip sharks regularly appeared in catches, and fishermen reported hauling in smaller ones and using them as bait. Researchers say this could indicate the presence of a whitetip nursery area nearby.

So far, that is the only piece of good news from a widespread, collaborative effort by scientists and policy makers to fill in gaps in our knowledge of sharks in Cuban waters. That knowledge is needed to determine how to save these apex predators in the Gulf of Mexico as a whole. The regional population of Oceanic whitetips and other shark species may have declined by as much as 99 percent since the 1950s, according to Doug Rader, chief oceans scientist with the nonprofit advocacy group Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). Populations have plummeted in part because sharks are often swept up as incidental by-catch.

>> View the slide show here.

Researchers have documented at least 54 species of sharks in Cuban waters, many of them important to low-tech, small-scale fisheries. But shark fishermen are reporting decreases in their catches, likely due to the accidental capturing of sharks by boats targeting other species of fishes. Little historical data exist for Cuban fisheries, making it hard to compare targeted and untargeted shark catches over the long term. "We have to go on discussions with fishermen, which is helpful but not truly quantitative," says Robert Hueter, a shark researcher at Florida's Mote Marine Laboratory.

There also is little data about the presence of shark nurseries and the frequency of the species?s migration in Cuban waters.

This lack of dataspurred U.S., Cuban and Mexican scientists to launch the Trinational Initiative for Marine Science and Conservation in 2007. The group set six research priorities, including expanding knowledge of sharks in Cuban waters in order to support conservation decisions for the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean. The ambitious effort currently involves scientists from the EDF, Mote Marine Laboratory, Mexico's El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, and the University of Havana's Center for Marine Research.

The port surveys are one part of their work. During a nine-day research cruise in February 2013 a multinational group of scientists aboard the Felipe Poey collected water, plankton and sediment samples on the south side of Cuba around Golfo de Batabano and Isla de Juventud. They also interviewed fishermen harvesting finfish, tuna, and lobster in the area (pdf). A key objective of the cruise was tagging sharks, but although researchers had estimated five to 10 sharks per 100 hooks cast, Hueter says, ?We caught three sharks total, or 1.44 per 100 hooks set.? The low numbers as well as discussions with fishermen suggest that overfishing in the area has affected shark populations.

Port surveys planned later this year for Batabano and Jucaro Bay on the south coast may confirm these suspicions. Scientists will also look for evidence of another whitetip nursery?a possibility given the location?s ecological similarity to the nursery area on the north side of the island.

A cruise planned for the fall will explore the Jardines de la Reina archipelago and Golfo de Ana Maria, two popular ecotourism areas where researchers expect to tag higher numbers of sharks. The group will eventually compile tagging, observational data and port surveys to create a formal habitat classification system. The system will describe the distribution and abundance of sharks in Cuban waters to help determine their habitat needs, Rader says, an important first step toward protecting them. "Most scientists believe sharks are critical to the resilience and robustness of marine systems, and that one of the best ways to maintain a warming and acidifying marine environment is to rebuild robust shark populations," he adds.

Source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-to-save-sharks-off-cubas-coast-and-in-the-gulf

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Fed Up Teachers Refuse to Teach Summer School in Texas

Summer school in Dallas is lacking one critical component.

On Tuesday, classes began in the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) with about 6,000 students, and a very limited amount of teachers.

?We?ve never had a shortage for summer school, never. And I?ve been in DISD for about 12 years,? Angela Davis, president of the National Education Association, a teachers group, told a Dallas television station.

So, what?s the problem?

---

Teachers blame Superintendent Mike Miles, a leader who they claim has a very heavy hand when it comes to management. Davis told the television station that teachers were very stressed during the school year.

Michael Messer, regional organizer for Save Texas Schools in Dallas-Fort Worth, agreed.

?Since the board hired Mike Miles to be superintendent, his heavy-handed approach has left the teachers and staff demoralized,? Messer told TakePart. ?The school board and Mike Miles decided to fire two principals and approximately 400 teachers in late May. Many experienced teachers have left the profession in response to these harsh measures. At some point, you have to expect people to start standing up for themselves, even if their typical response to administrative adversity is to grin and bear it for the students.?

Messer said that teachers can refuse to teach summer school because their contracts do not obligate them to do so. Teachers are only paid a daily rate for teaching summer classes.

---

He said teachers have been extremely stressed since spring 2012 when the district school board decided to increase class sizes and extend the workday by 45 minutes. They do not get the support they need to do their jobs, he said.

?These moves made the teachers? jobs more difficult by adding extra paperwork to their already busy schedule,? he said. ?It insulted them by insinuating that they did not already work enough hours to justify their salary. Anyone who is or knows a teacher understands just how much personal time they devote to grading homework, writing lesson plans, and heading after-school programs.?

An anonymous blog dedicated to issues in the Dallas school district paints a dire picture. A teacher in the district wrote that while conditions during the regular school year are tough, summer school poses its own set of problems.

?The entire student body consists of the students who failed despite all interventions. A large percentage of these same students are disruptive and unable to behave appropriately in a classroom,? she wrote. ?It?s a tough gig to jump in the trenches with so many below-level kids and get them up to speed so they can promote to the next grade.?

---

Teachers attempt to do their best in summer school with struggling students, but it?s tough. In addition, this year there is additional stress for teachers. The staff will be closely monitored with ?more spot observations.? She adds, ?In short, teachers were promised more opportunities to get fired.?

The teachers aren?t the only ones saying enough is enough. This week, the school district?s communications chief quit her job just days after the personnel chief and the operations chief quit.

Because of the shortage, students who must attend summer school in Dallas may be placed in larger classes. And more students in one classroom means less one-on-one attention. Therefore, students who were already having trouble understanding the material (or had failed the controversial STAAR exams) have less time with a teacher to explain, Messer said. ?It renders summer school an ineffective waste of taxpayer funds, and the students are more likely to repeat classes.?

---

Related stories on TakePart:

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fed-teachers-refuse-teach-summer-school-texas-233200773.html

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Tour? Battles Legal Expert Over George Zimmerman's Racism ...

During a segment on MSNBC?s The Cycle on Wednesday, host Tour? and legal analyst Lisa Bloom engaged in a tense exchange. Tour? interrupted Bloom after she failed to attribute racial motives to the language George Zimmerman used when assessing the threat he thought Trayvon Martin posed before shooting him. Bloom accused Tour? of drawing inferences from Zimmerman?s statements and ascribing motives to him that cannot be gleaned just from the recorded phone calls alone.

Bloom was asked to react to testimony given by a friend of Trayvon Martin?s who said that the late Florida teen had referred to Zimmerman as a ?crazy ass cracker? moments before he was shot. Reporter Luke Russert noted that this is the only confirmed instance where a racial epithet was used before Martin was shot.

Bloom noted that Zimmerman used profane language when describing Martin to a 911 dispatcher and later with police. She did, however, note that the language Zimmerman used was not ?racially insensitive.?

?Whoa,? Tour? interrupted. ?There was a trifecta of stereotypes used against Trayvon Martin in the initial phone call, so let?s not go too far there.?

?What are you referring to?? Bloom asked.

Tour? said that Zimmerman saying ?they always get away? and believing that Martin was carrying a gun suggests that the accused assailant was buying into racial stereotypes. Tour? said that Zimmerman was ?criminalizing black men? in those comments and fueled the perception that this was a ?radicalized situation.?

?First of all, some of what you said is not what George Zimmerman said on that recorded phone call,? Bloom said. ?Some of that is inferences that we?re drawing.?

Watch the clip below via MSNBC:

> >Follow Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) on Twitter

Source: http://www.mediaite.com/tv/toure-battles-legal-expert-over-george-zimmermans-racism-some-of-that-is-inference/

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China, euro zone threaten U.S.-led economic recovery

By Jonathan Cable

LONDON (Reuters) - Factory output in China, the world's second largest economy, weakened to a nine-month low in June, combining with a continued recession in the euro zone to threaten a global recovery led by the United States.

A day after the Federal Reserve suggested the U.S. economy was firmly on a recovery path - enough so to withdraw some monetary stimulus - data showed China's economy was stuttering.

Faltering demand pushed the flash China HSBC Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) down to 48.3 in June from 49.2, increasing pressure on the People's Bank of China to loosen the monetary reins.

Meanwhile, Markit's Flash Eurozone Composite PMI, which makes up around 85 percent of the final reading and is seen as a reliable economic growth indicator for the bloc, remained below the dividing line between growth and contraction.

It did, however, rise to 48.9 in June from May's 47.7, suggesting the decay has eased across the 17-nation bloc.

China's economy grew at its slowest pace for 13 years in 2012 and data so far this year has been weaker than forecast, bringing warnings the country could miss its 7.5 percent growth target, though possibly not by much.

It stands in contrast with U.S. data, which has been generally positive. Markit's flash U.S. Purchasing Managers' Index due later on Thursday expected to show a rise.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke sent financial markets reeling on Wednesday when he said the U.S. economy is expanding strongly enough for the central bank to begin slowing the pace of its bond-buying program later this year.

"There's a way to go - a slowdown in the Chinese economy doesn't help the outlook for the U.S. particularly, but American growth isn't entirely dependent on what happens in China," said Philip Shaw, chief economist at Investec.

"The euro zone flash PMIs are encouraging, they are consistent with the view that we will see a stabilization over the next few months."

The euro zone PMI was at its highest since March 2012, and beat forecasts in a Reuters poll of 23 economists for a more modest upturn to 48.1. But the index has been below the 50 mark dividing growth from contraction for all apart from one of the last 22 months.

A PMI covering services firms, which make up the bulk of the bloc's economy, jumped to 48.6 last month from 47.2, its highest since January but its 17th straight month below 50.

Still, that was above even the most optimistic of forecasts in a Reuters poll and smashed the median expectation for a rise to 47.5. The survey also showed firms were increasingly optimistic about the year ahead.

Markit, however, said the latest PMI data suggested the economy would contract 0.2 percent in the current quarter.

The European Central Bank has come under growing heat to take more action to help bring a quicker end to the bloc's longest recession, but economists polled by Reuters last month did not predict any easing of policy in coming months.

FRAGILE CHINA

Despite China's economy showing signs of faltering, adding to the pressure on the central bank to take steps to ease policy, the chances of a hard landing remain small.

"The chance of economic growth slipping below 7 percent is quite low, because existing measures are still effective in helping stabilize the economy," said Wang Jin, analyst at Guotai Junan Securities in Shanghai.

In a sign that there would be a wait before any sharp pick up both the Chinese and euro zone PMIs saw a continued fall in new orders. New orders in the bloc fell for the 23rd month, although at a shallower pace.

"It's suggesting that things are moving in the right direction but it's not going to happen fast. It's still a weak picture," Markit's chief economist Chris Williamson said.

(Additional reporting by Kevin Yao in Beijing Editing by Jeremy Gaunt.)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-euro-zone-threaten-u-led-economic-recovery-102627288.html

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Researchers determine factors that influence spinach contamination pre-harvest

Public release date: 20-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jim Sliwa
jsliwa@asmusa.org
202-942-9297
American Society for Microbiology

A team of researchers from Texas and Colorado has identified a variety of factors that influence the likelihood of E. coli contamination of spinach on farms prior to harvest. Their research is published in the July 2013 issue of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

"Microbial contamination of produce seems strongly influenced by the time since the last irrigation, the workers' personal hygiene and the field's use prior to planting of produce," says first author Sangshin Park of Texas A&M University, College Station. "These factors, together with the role of weather in produce contamination should be the targets of future research efforts to design cost-effective strategies for control of produce contamination."

E. coli contamination of spinach on farms in Colorado and Texas was 172 times more likely if the produce field was within 10 miles of a poultry farm, and 64 times more likely if irrigated by pond water, says Park.

As E. coli is commonly used as an indicator of fecal contamination with food-borne pathogens, the practice of hygieneavailability of portable toilets and hand-washing stations for workers in the fields and the absence of grazing or hay production on the fields prior to planting spinach, reduced the risk seven-fold.

Other potential risk factors tested in the study included numbers of workers, farm size, organic vs. conventional production, the use of chemical fertilizers, compost, and manure, says Park. The researchers assayed 955 spinach samples from 12 farms in the two states, finding that generic E. coli was present on 63 of them (6.6 percent).

Of particular note, the researchers tested their statistical model for spinach contamination to determine how accurately it was able to pinpoint the level of contamination. "The assessment of the predictive performance of a developed statistical model is largely omitted from food safety studies," says Park. Their methodology may serve as a useful template for future investigations of contamination on farms, he says.

"Because produce is commonly consumed raw, it would be best to prevent pre-harvest contamination by food-borne pathogens all together or at least to reduce it," says Park.

###

A copy of the article can be found online at http://bit.ly/asmtip0613b.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology is a publication of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM). The ASM is the largest single life science society, composed of over 39,000 scientists and health professionals. Its mission is to advance the microbiological sciences as a vehicle for understanding life processes and to apply and communicate this knowledge for the improvement of health and environmental and economic well-being worldwide.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 20-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jim Sliwa
jsliwa@asmusa.org
202-942-9297
American Society for Microbiology

A team of researchers from Texas and Colorado has identified a variety of factors that influence the likelihood of E. coli contamination of spinach on farms prior to harvest. Their research is published in the July 2013 issue of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

"Microbial contamination of produce seems strongly influenced by the time since the last irrigation, the workers' personal hygiene and the field's use prior to planting of produce," says first author Sangshin Park of Texas A&M University, College Station. "These factors, together with the role of weather in produce contamination should be the targets of future research efforts to design cost-effective strategies for control of produce contamination."

E. coli contamination of spinach on farms in Colorado and Texas was 172 times more likely if the produce field was within 10 miles of a poultry farm, and 64 times more likely if irrigated by pond water, says Park.

As E. coli is commonly used as an indicator of fecal contamination with food-borne pathogens, the practice of hygieneavailability of portable toilets and hand-washing stations for workers in the fields and the absence of grazing or hay production on the fields prior to planting spinach, reduced the risk seven-fold.

Other potential risk factors tested in the study included numbers of workers, farm size, organic vs. conventional production, the use of chemical fertilizers, compost, and manure, says Park. The researchers assayed 955 spinach samples from 12 farms in the two states, finding that generic E. coli was present on 63 of them (6.6 percent).

Of particular note, the researchers tested their statistical model for spinach contamination to determine how accurately it was able to pinpoint the level of contamination. "The assessment of the predictive performance of a developed statistical model is largely omitted from food safety studies," says Park. Their methodology may serve as a useful template for future investigations of contamination on farms, he says.

"Because produce is commonly consumed raw, it would be best to prevent pre-harvest contamination by food-borne pathogens all together or at least to reduce it," says Park.

###

A copy of the article can be found online at http://bit.ly/asmtip0613b.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology is a publication of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM). The ASM is the largest single life science society, composed of over 39,000 scientists and health professionals. Its mission is to advance the microbiological sciences as a vehicle for understanding life processes and to apply and communicate this knowledge for the improvement of health and environmental and economic well-being worldwide.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/asfm-rdf062013.php

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Scientists date prehistoric bacterial invasion still present in today's plant and animal cells

June 19, 2013 ? Long before Earth became lush, when life consisted of single-celled organisms afloat in a planet-wide sea, bacteria invaded the ancient ancestors of plants and animals and took up permanent residence. One bacterium eventually became the mitochondria that today power all plant and animal cells; another became the chloroplast that turns sunlight into energy in green plants.

A new analysis by two University of California, Berkeley, graduate students more precisely pinpoints when these life-changing invasions occurred, placing the origin of photosynthesis in plants hundreds of millions of years earlier than once thought.

"When you are talking about these really ancient events, scientists have estimated numbers that are all over the board," said coauthor Patrick Shih. Estimates of the age of eukaryotes -- cells with a nucleus that evolved into all of today's plants and animals -- range from 800 million years ago to 3 billion years ago.

"We came up with a novel way of decreasing the uncertainty and increasing our confidence in dating these events," he said. The two researchers believe that their approach can help answer similar questions about the origins of ancient microscopic fossils.

Shih and colleague Nicholas Matzke, who will earn their Ph.Ds this summer in plant and microbial biology and integrative biology, respectively, employed fossil and genetic evidence to estimate the dates when bacteria set up shop as symbiotic organisms in the earliest one-celled eukaryotes. They concluded that a proteobacterium invaded eurkaryotes about 1.2 billion years ago, in line withearlier estimates.

They found that a cyanobacterium -- which had already developed photosynthesis -- invaded eukaryotes 900 million years ago, much later than some estimates, which are as high as 2 billion years ago.

Previous estimates used hard-to-identify microbial fossilsor ambiguous chemical markers in fossils to estimate the time when bacteria entered ancestral eurkaryotic cells, probably first as parasites and then as symbionts. Shih and Matzke realized that they could get better precision by studying today's mitochondria and chloroplasts, which from their free-living days still retain genes that are evolutionarily related to genes currently present in plant and animal DNA.

"These genes, such as ATP synthase -- a gene critical to the synthesis of the energy molecule ATP -- were present in our single-celled ancestors and present now, and are really, really conserved," Matzke said. "These go back to the last common ancestor of all living things, so it helps us constrain the tree of life."

Since mitochrondrial, chloroplast and nuclear genes do not evolve at exactly the same rate, the researchers used Bayesian statistics to estimate the rate variation as well as how long ago the bacteria joined forces with eukaryotes. They improved their precision by focusing on plant and animal fossils that have more certain dates and identities than microbial fossils.

The paper appeared online on June 17 in advance of publication in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Matzke also is a member of UC Berkeley's Center for Theoretical Evolutionary Genomics.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/MhdJw9nXF84/130619164804.htm

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The Lane's End Weekender Pedigree: 'Good Business Sense ...

The influence and importance of the annual sales of juveniles in training have become paramount in racing. Some of the best young athletes are reserved for these sales, and every season, a notable proportion of the most important performers come out of the in-training auctions.

Most recently, Belmont Stakes winner Palace Malice was bought out of the 2011 Keeneland September sale by veteran 2-year-old sales professionals Mike Ryan and Niall Brennan for $25,000, then resold by them as a progressive juvenile in training at the 2012 Keeneland April sale for $200,000.

Those are the sorts of returns that the pinhooking pros hunt for at the yearling sales, and they find more than enough of them every year to keep their operations profitable. They also have changed the way people approach sales and breed horses.

The resellers have done so well for so long that ?there are now Kentucky breeders that spot some of their yearlings every year for the 2-year-old sales,? said veteran Florida breeder Mike O?Farrell. He said, ?They find some of their nice young horses that aren?t quite ready to hit the right spot at the yearling market, send them into training, and cut out the middle man. Why wouldn?t they? It?s good business sense.?

O?Farrell has a long view on the juvenile sales market, having been in it all his life. His father was one of the pioneers in creating the sales of horses in training, and he continues the family tradition by breeding, training, and selling sizable drafts of homebreds, primarily at the annual sales of 2-year-olds in training at the Ocala Breeders? Sales Company?s auctions in March, April, and June.

O?Farrell said that ?just like Keeneland?s September sale has become the place to buy a yearling because it offers horses for everyone, the April sale has become our go-to auction here in Florida. It wasn?t that long ago that people pointed for the February sales with their premium 2-year-olds, but now those are gone, and a good horse can bring a lot of money in April, at the same sale where other people will find very inexpensive bargains.?

As a venue for one-stop shopping, the OBS April sale is the in-training companion to the Keeneland September auction, where thousands of young horses trade annually.

On Tuesday, the OBS June sale, which last year sold 2013 Santa Anita Derby winner Goldencents, will ring down the sales season for the in-training auctions, and just on Saturday, one of the graduates from the 2013 OBS March auction of juveniles won the Willard Proctor Memorial Stakes at Hollywood Park.

In his official racing debut, Kobe?s Back broke slowly and raced last through the early furlongs of the Proctor, then smoothly raced through traffic and drew off to win the stakes by 3 1/4 lengths in 1:05 2/5 for 5 1/2? furlongs.

Bred in Kentucky by Joanne Mummert, the gray colt is by the A.P. Indy stallion Flatter out of the Well Decorated mare Well. He sold for $60,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October sale of yearlings, then was pinhooked for the juvenile sales, bringing $480,000 at OBS March three months ago out of the Niall Brennan consignment.

In Ocala yesterday, I spoke to Brennan about the colt, and he said Kobe?s Back ?was a man among boys at the October sale. Among the horses I looked at, I thought he was the best horse in the sale, and I couldn?t believe we got him. I thought surely one of the end users would snap him up for racing, but sometimes you?re there and you get lucky.?

The gray son of Flatter put himself on the short list of nearly every major buyer at the March sale with a work in :10 1/5 to speed through his work at about 44 miles per hour with a stride length of more than 24.5 feet. After an intense bidding battle, the colt was purchased by Lane?s End Bloodstock (David Ingordo) for CRK Racing, and the gray is expected to progress through the summer stakes in southern California as his immediate objectives.

With the immediate gratification of purchasing a colt like this and getting to see him in action not long thereafter, more buyers are taking a hard look at purchasing horses at all the sales of 2-year-olds in training.

Frank Mitchell is author of Racehorse Breeding Theories, as well as the book Great Breeders and Their Methods: The Hancocks. In addition to writing the column ?Sires and Dams? in Daily Racing Form for nearly 15 years, he has contributed articles to Thoroughbred Daily News, Thoroughbred Times, Thoroughbred Record, International Thoroughbred, and other major publications. In addition, Frank is a private consultant to breeders on pedigrees, matings, and conformation. He is a hands-on caretaker of his own broodmares and foals in central Kentucky. Check out Frank?s lively?Bloodstock in the Bluegrass blog.

Source: http://www.paulickreport.com/news/bloodstock/the-lanes-end-weekender-pedigree-good-business-sense/

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Report: Slowdown in health care costs to continue

WASHINGTON (AP) ? There's good news for most companies that provide health benefits for their employees: America's slowdown in medical costs may be turning into a trend, rather than a mere pause.

A report Tuesday from accounting and consulting giant PwC projects lower overall growth in medical costs for next year, even as the economy gains strength and millions of uninsured people receive coverage under President Barack Obama's health care law.

If the calculations are correct, cost spikes because of the new health care law should be contained within a relatively narrow market segment. That would come as a relief for Democrats in an election year during which Republicans plan to use criticism of "Obamacare" as one of their main political weapons.

"There are some underlying changes to the system that are having an impact, and we can expect lower increases as we come out of the recession," said Mike Thompson of PwC's Health Research Institute, which produced the study. Cost "is still going up, but not as much as it used to."

The report comes with a caveat that sounds counterintuitive at first: Self-employed people and others who buy coverage individually could well see an increase in premiums in 2014.

The reasons have to do with requirements in the health care law. For example, starting next year insurers must accept patients with pre-existing medical problems, who cost more to cover. Also, new policies have to provide a basic level of benefits more generous in some cases than what's currently offered to individual consumers.

About 160 million workers and family members now have job-based coverage and are less likely to be affected. The individual market is much smaller, fewer than 20 million people. Still, it's expected to grow significantly over the next few years as a result of the health care law, which will also provide tax credits to help many people afford their premiums.

The U.S. spends more than $2.7 trillion a year on health care, well above any other developed country. But quality is uneven, there's widespread waste and fraud, and the system still leaves about 45 million people uninsured.

For years U.S. health care spending has grown much faster than the overall economy and workers' wages, but since the recession those annual increases have slowed dramatically. The debate now is whether that's a continuing trend. The answer will be vitally important, not only for companies and their employees, but for taxpayers who foot the bill for government programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Obama's coverage expansion.

PwC's report forecasts that direct medical care costs will increase by 6.5 percent next year, one percentage point lower than its previous projection. The cost of care is the biggest component of premiums, followed by administrative expenses and overhead.

Cost-shifting to workers and efficiency measures from employers got most of the credit for slowing growth. PwC also said the health care law's push for hospitals and doctors to be more accountable may be starting to have an impact.

Four big factors were seen as pushing costs down next year:

?Patients seeking more affordable routine services in settings like clinics springing up in retail stores, as opposed to a doctor's office or the emergency room.

?Major employers contracting directly with hospital systems that have a proven record for complicated procedures such as heart surgery and certain back operations.

?The government ramping up penalties on hospitals that have too many patients coming back with problems soon after being discharged.

?Employers' ongoing effort to shift more costs to workers through higher annual deductibles, the amount people must pay each year before insurance picks up.

By using such shifting, PwC estimates that employers may be able to drive their share of next year's cost increase even lower than 6.5 percent.

On the other hand, two big factors will push costs upward:

?The high price of new "specialty" drugs to treat serious chronic illnesses such as autoimmune diseases and some types of cancer.

?Industry consolidation, with big hospitals buying up smaller ones, as well as medical practices and rehab centers. The downside of the demand for greater efficiency by employers and government is that it may be fostering new health care monopolies.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-06-18-Health%20Care%20Costs/id-0f648f132b384932b48b0ef61a714013

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Tesla Battery Swapping Tech For Long Trips Without Charging Stops To Be Demoed June 20

Elon Musk took to Twitter early this morning (via Verge) to promote an event coming this Thursday that promises to show off new tech that allows quick swapping of Tesla battery packs for extended trips, without requiring a Supercharger stop. The move would make a Tesla Model S roadster as easy to fuel up as a gas-powered car, if not easier, getting rid of the need for extended period charging stopovers. Live pack swap demo on Thurs night at 8pm California time at our design studio in Hawthorne. Seeing is believing.— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 18, 2013 As GigaOM points out, Tesla previously?acknowledged?that it has built the Tesla S with a swappable battery, so the tech demoed on Thursday shouldn’t apply only to new models going forward or anything quite so cruel. Instead, existing Tesla drivers will likely learn exactly how the system works, which will probably involve adding battery swap stations to existing Tesla charger locations, allowing car owners to essentially trade their expended battery pack module for a fresh one on the spot. The demonstration of the swapping tech will be shown at the event and then made available via video posted to Tesla’s website later in the evening on Thursday. If it’s easy enough and smartly implemented, it should make it possible for Tesla owners to manage much longer distance trips without requiring a proper recharge, extending well beyond the?roughly?265 mile range of the Model S Performance model. So long as swapping units are available, there should be no reason why even a non-stop cross-country trip wouldn’t be possible.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/CMhIR2PNhok/

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Man on Wire: How One Man Walked on a Tightrope Between the Twin Towers

In 1974, Philippe Petit walked across a wire between New York City's Twin Towers. The feat was incredibly dangerous and incredibly illegal. Man on Wire is the amazing story of how he got there, told by the people who lived it.

Petit discovered the World Trade Center in the early 1960s in a photo in a magazine while sitting in the waiting room of his dentist's office. The building wasn't even complete yet. However, at that moment, walking between the two behemoths became his ultimate life goal. But tightrope walking between a pair of skyscrapers that were upwards of 1,300 feet each was a crazy dream?and an even crazier task to complete. It required loads of practice, a whole lot of support from a group of trusted friends and accomplices, and quite a bit of rule breaking.

Spoiler alert: Petit, of course, successfully wire-walked the Twin Towers. But the harrowing tale of how he did it is utterly thrilling. [Netflix]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/man-on-wire-how-one-man-walked-on-a-tightrope-between-513891462

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Research Management for Dummies

During my PhD I was never good at managing my research data. If you ask my former PI, I?m guessing she would actually tell you I was pretty bad. So much so, that she had an emergency lab book meeting with the rest of my group upon seeing mine when l was leaving. So it may seem a bit odd that it is now the thing that I probably focus on more than anything else in my work. When I started figshare, my main focus was liberating all of the research outputs that never see the light of day using todays methods of research dissemination. I still see this as the most important thing that needs to change in academia today. Luckily, it seems funding bodies and governments agree. Funding bodies are now asking academics to submit a research data management plan with their grant applications and the NSF recently reported that it would be assessing academics on their research ?products? not just ?publications?.

However, this is still the end of the research cycle, or at least the end of most researcher?s dealing with their outputs. There is of course all the power that has yet to be fully realised by reusing, mining and building on top the existing research. But it was all of the steps before this that I fell down on. I was bad at documenting my research in my lab book. Half of this problem was laziness and half was the fact that text based lab notebooks are not ideal for the digital world we live in. Videos and large spreadsheet datasets do not translate well to paper, even after the obligatory printing, cutting and pasting. This led to me developing my own file management system, as did lots of my colleagues, leading to massive heterogeneity in research data management plans on a case by case basis. So what can be done?

Online lab notebooks

A lot of these technologies seem to fall down in their lack of innovation. Just like in academic publishing, where text based documents have moved from paper to ipads, there is so much more that can be done with today?s technology. Some great examples of researchers who have been using or used open notebook?s for years include Carl Boettiger and Cameron Neylon. While Cameron has now moved onto a role at the Open Access giant PLOS, Carl is still being innovative with new technologies to help make his research management process automated and seamless. Open notebook science has been around since Jean Claude Bradley first coined the term back in 2006. Previous efforts to organise some standardisation of online notebooks include the wiki-based OpenWetWare. While all of these efforts look to capture the detail of a normal paper based lab book, there is potential to think further and collect all of the extra metadata in an automated manner. This can be machine settings or other processes that we rely on human documentation for at the moment.

Desktop research management tools.

One thing we have been working on internally at Digital Science is a desktop tool for managing your research output. It has a few really cool features, such as the timeline that gives you an easily browsable and filterable view of your files. This is the kind of innovation that I previously mentioned has been lacking in this space. Just like a lot of my former colleagues used ?Papers? to manage their pdf documents, now you can manage all of your research outputs using ?Projects?. The roadmap for ?Projects? looks bright with syncing between computers and the ability to push to the cloud, through services like figshare. Other players in this space include Evernote, Sharepoint and Google Docs. Evernote is an amazing organisation tool in general. They, like the other products mentioned here do sometimes fall down in this space in that academics are not their target audience, rather it is another case where forward thinking academics have taken great existing software and tried to bend it into their workflow.

Don?t be lazy.

It?s easy for me to say now that I don?t have to manage my research outputs, but putting an extra 10 minutes in at the end of the day will save you days when it comes to writing up papers or your thesis. This is something that comes back to haunt me to this day. Since leaving academia 18 months ago, I have made several trips back to the lab. Even though the papers that we are trying to get out may not benefit me career wise anymore, it is still important to me to get those findings out to the world. But there must be so many who don?t have the luxury of still working in the same town that they did their research. Likewise, there must be so many who just cannot be bothered. Herein lies the problem. I had to go back to look for files that my old team couldn?t find, as they couldn?t navigate through my chaotic management system. Folders for every month with files that have names like ?Updated characterisation of mobilised MSCs ? Use this one ? New?.

As mentioned previously the academic reward system is changing and with all things like this, the early adopters will benefit. Some of the people who have been acting in an open manner for the last few years are already seeing the benefit. C. Titus Brown, assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Michigan State University wrote in a blog post this month, ?I can tell you that my career has already been immeasurably improved by my openness, including posting our software, writing blogs, and engaging with people on twitter.? The funder disruptions in this space mean that all sorts of innovative behaviour is coming out of research labs. Publishers are taking note of this and trying to incubate these tools to get them past the point where most academic projects fail to get traction. Companies like Digital Science, the newly formed PLOS labs and Elsevier?s Scopus platform are all looking at innovative ways to work into the academic workflow. This use of new technology should bring a level of efficiency to research that academics have long been waiting for and have long deserved.

Source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=research-management-for-dummies

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Apple Unveils iTunes Radio, A Streaming Music Service With The Full Power Of The iTunes Library

Apple had no shortage of new things to announce at WWDC 2013 today, and iTunes Radio is one of the highlights. The company’s new music service has been long-rumored, but now the curtains are drawn and we can see what the Pandora-like streaming radio offering actually looks like. iTunes Radio is essentially what we’ve been hearing it would be: a streaming music service that takes your tastes into account in order to play tracks that are likely to be in line with your tastes. Apple really has essentially taken its Genius jukebox-style feature, which combs your library and builds genre-based playlists, or suggests recommended artists and tracks based on what you’re currently listening to. The difference with the new service is that it can access the entire iTunes catalog, which, at this point, is well over 26 million tracks. Sony, Universal and Warner are all on board. The service will be free for U.S. users, and will use both text and audio ads to support the free streaming. iTunes Match subscribers won’t receive ads, making the subscription service a bit more compelling. Track skipping is supported, which was something that was reported to be a sticking point in?negotiations?with music label partners leading up to this product launch. What’s striking is that it looks a lot like Pandora. On iOS, you create your custom stations, you can give a thumb up if you like a song. In the corner of every song, iOS shows a “Buy” button to make to funnel song purchases in the iTunes Store. It was probably one of the requirements to sign the deals with major music companies and could become a good revenue generator for the iTunes Store. As a reminder, Google has just introduced its own streaming music service, All Access for Google Play, which will cost users $9.99 per month after June 30 and provides complete access to 18 million songs available on Play. This service competes more with Spotify and Rdio than with Pandora. Google is also releasing an app for iOS devices to provide access to the service. Pandora, which has around 20 million tracks, offers its basic product for free, but also has a premium tier called Pandora One for $3.99 per month that drops ads, provides access to a desktop app and ups the number of skips a user is allowed per day. Apple’s iTunes Radio will arrive sometime in

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/yBYUD5Tj5Ts/

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5 things to note about NSA surveillance programs

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Edward Snowden identified himself Sunday as a principal source behind revelations about the National Security Agency's sweeping phone and Internet surveillance programs. Five things to know about the disclosures:

? THE PROGRAMS: The NSA has been collecting the phone records of hundreds of millions of Americans each day, creating a database through which it can learn whether terror suspects have been in contact with people in the U.S. While the NSA program does not listen to actual conversations, the revelation of the program reopened the post-Sept. 11 debate about privacy concerns versus heightened measures to protect against terrorist attacks. Separately, an Internet scouring program, code-named PRISM, allows the NSA and FBI to tap directly into nine U.S. Internet companies to gather all Internet usage ? audio, video, photographs, emails and searches. The effort is designed to detect suspicious behavior that begins overseas.

? THE LEAKER: A 29-year-old high school dropout who worked for consulting giant Booz Allen Hamilton has claimed responsibility for disclosing the programs to The Guardian and The Washington Post. Snowden told The Guardian that he enlisted in the Army, was dismissed after breaking both legs during a training exercise and later got a job as a security guard at a covert intelligence facility in Maryland. He says he later joined the CIA and was posted under diplomatic cover in Geneva, Switzerland. He later worked for consulting companies and claims he spent four years working as a contractor with the NSA. In a statement, Booz Allen Hamilton said he has worked for them less than three months.

? THE REASON: In interviews with The Guardian and the Washington Post, Snowden said he felt compelled to disclose the program because he wanted "to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them." Snowden says he also was disillusioned with CIA tactics to recruit spies in Geneva and was disappointed President Barack Obama did not do more to curtail surveillance programs after his 2008 election.

? THE REACTION: The government's response was fierce. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said the disclosures were "gut-wrenching to see this happen because of the huge, grave damage it does to our intelligence capabilities" and asked the Justice Department to investigate. Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said the journalists who reported on the programs don't "have a clue how this thing works; neither did the person who released just enough information to literally be dangerous." Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said she wanted to see the leaker prosecuted. Rep. Peter King, a Republican on the intelligence panel, called for Snowden to be "extradited from Hong Kong immediately." John Negroponte, a former director of national intelligence, called it "an outright case of betrayal of confidences and a violation of his nondisclosure agreement." Yet some also said Snowden's revelations should spark a debate about the secret programs and civil liberties. "I am not happy that we've had leaks and these leaks are concerning, but I think it's an opportunity now to have a discussion about the limits of surveillance, how we create transparency, and above all, how we protect Americans' privacy," said Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo.

? THE CONSEQUENCES: The NSA has asked the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation, and Snowden could face decades in prison if convicted on espionage or treason charges. The Obama administration has been particularly aggressive in prosecuting those who disclose classified information. Snowden has fled to Hong Kong, a former British colony that is now a semi-autonomous region of China. Snowden says he chose the city because he expects leaders could resist pressure from the U.S. government. Snowden also says he would "ask for asylum from any countries that believe in free speech and oppose the victimization of global privacy." Hong Kong has an extradition treaty with the United States that took force in 1998, according to the U.S. State Department website.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/5-things-note-nsa-surveillance-programs-232854835.html

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US: No plans to end broad surveillance program

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Obama administration considered whether to charge a government contractor with leaking classified surveillance secrets while it defended the broad U.S. spy program that it says keeps America safe from terrorists.

Facing a global uproar over the programs that track phone and Internet messages around the world, the Justice Department continued to investigate whether the disclosures of Edward Snowden, 29, an employee of government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, were criminal.

Meanwhile, the European Parliament planned to debate the spy programs Tuesday and whether they have violated local privacy protections. EU officials in Brussels pledged to seek answers from U.S. diplomats at a trans-Atlantic ministerial meeting in Dublin later this week.

The global scrutiny comes after revelations from Snowden, who has chosen to reveal his identity. Snowden has fled to Hong Kong in hopes of escaping criminal charges as lawmakers including Senate intelligence chairwoman Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California accuse him of committing an "act of treason" that should be prosecuted.

Officials in Germany and the European Union issued calm but firm complaints Monday over two National Security Agency programs that target suspicious foreign messages ? potentially including phone numbers, email, images, video and other online communications transmitted through U.S. providers. The chief British diplomat felt it necessary to try to assure Parliament that the spy programs do not encroach on U.K. privacy laws.

And in Washington, members of Congress said they would take a new look at potential ways to keep the U.S. safe from terror attacks without giving up privacy protections that critics charge are at risk with the government's current authority to broadly sweep up personal communications.

"There's very little trust in the government, and that's for good reason," said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who sits on the House Intelligence Committee. "We're our own worst enemy."

A senior U.S. intelligence official on Monday said there were no plans to scrap the programs that, despite the backlash, continue to receive widespread if cautious support within Congress. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive security issue.

The programs were revealed last week by The Guardian and The Washington Post newspapers. National Intelligence Director James Clapper has taken the unusual step of declassifying some of the previously top-secret details to help the administration mount a public defense of the surveillance as a necessary step to protect Americans.

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he was considering how Congress could limit the amount of data spy agencies seize from telephone and Internet companies ? including restricting the information to be released only on an as-needed basis.

"It's a little unsettling to have this massive data in the government's possession," King said.

One of the NSA programs gathers hundreds of millions of U.S. phone records to search for possible links to known terrorist targets abroad. The other allows the government to tap into nine U.S. Internet companies and gather all communications to detect suspicious behavior that begins overseas.

Snowden is a former CIA employee who later worked as a contractor for the NSA on behalf of Booz Allen, where he gained access to the surveillance. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine said, it was "absolutely shocking" that a 29-year-old with limited experience would have access to this material.

FBI agents on Monday visited the home of Snowden's father, Lonnie Snowden, in Upper Macungie Township, Pa. The FBI in Philadelphia declined to comment.

The first explosive document Snowden revealed was a top secret court order issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that granted a three-month renewal for a massive collection of American phone records. That order was signed April 25. The Guardian's first story on the court order was published June 5.

In a statement issued Sunday, Booz Allen said Snowden had been an employee for fewer than three months, so it's possible he was working as an NSA contractor when the order was issued.

Snowden also gave the Post and the Guardian a PowerPoint presentation on another secret program that collects online usage by the nine Internet providers. The U.S. government says it uses that information only to track foreigners' use overseas.

Believing his role would soon be exposed, Snowden fled last month to Hong Kong, a Chinese territory that enjoys relative autonomy from Beijing. His exact whereabouts were unknown Monday.

"All of the options, as he put it, are bad options," Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, who first reported the phone-tracking program and interviewed Snowden extensively, told The Associated Press on Monday. He said Snowden decided to release details of the programs out of shock and anger over the sheer scope of the government's privacy invasions.

"It was his choice to publicly unveil himself," Greenwald told the AP in Hong Kong. "He recognized that even if he hadn't publicly unveiled himself, it was only a matter of time before the U.S. government discovered that it was he who had been responsible for these disclosures, and he made peace with that. ... He's very steadfast and resolute about the fact that he did the right thing."

Greenwald told the AP that he had more documents from Snowden and expected "more significant revelations" about NSA.

Although Hong Kong has an extradition treaty with the U.S., the document has some exceptions, including for crimes deemed political. Any negotiations about his possible handover will involve Beijing, but some analysts believe China is unlikely to want to jeopardize its relationship with Washington over someone it would consider of little political interest.

Snowden also told The Guardian that he may seek asylum in Iceland, which has strong free-speech protections and a tradition of providing a haven for the outspoken and the outcast.

The Justice Department is investigating whether his disclosures were a criminal offense ? a matter that's not always clear-cut under U.S. federal law.

A second senior intelligence official said Snowden would have had to have signed a non-disclosure agreement to gain access to the top secret data. That suggests he could be prosecuted for violating that agreement. Penalties could range from a few years to life in prison. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the process of accessing classified materials more frankly.

The leak came to light as Army Pfc. Bradley Manning was being tried in military court under federal espionage and computer fraud laws for releasing classified documents to WikiLeaks about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, among other items. The most serious charge against him was aiding the enemy, which carries a potential life sentence. But the military operates under a different legal system.

If Snowden is forced to return to the United States to face charges, whistle-blower advocates said Monday that they would raise money for his legal defense.

Clapper has ordered an internal review to assess how much damage the disclosures created. Intelligence experts say terrorist suspects and others seeking to attack the U.S. all but certainly will find alternate ways to communicate instead of relying on systems that now are widely known to be under surveillance.

The Obama administration also now must deal with the political and diplomatic fallout of the disclosures. Privacy laws across much of Western Europe are stricter than they are in the United States.

"It would be unacceptable and would need swift action from the EU if indeed the U.S. National Security Agency were processing European data without permission," said Guy Verhofstadt, a Belgian member of the European parliament and a leader in the Alde group of liberal parties.

Additionally, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters Monday that Chancellor Angela Merkel would question President Barack Obama about the NSA program when he's in Berlin on June 18 for his first visit to the German capital as president. In Germany, privacy regulations are especially strict, and the NSA programs could tarnish a visit that both sides had hoped would reaffirm strong German-American ties.

In London, British Foreign Secretary William Hague was forced to deny allegations that the U.K. government had used information provided by the Americans to circumvent British laws. "We want the British people to have confidence in the work of our intelligence agencies and in their adherence to the law and democratic values," Hague told Parliament.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama was open for a discussion about the spy programs, both with allies and in Congress. His administration has aggressively defended the two programs and credited them with helping stop at least two terrorist attacks, including one in New York City.

Privacy rights advocates say Obama has gone too far. The American Civil Liberties Union and Yale Law School filed legal action Monday to force a secret U.S. court to make public its opinions justifying the scope of some of the surveillance, calling the programs "shockingly broad." And conservative lawyer Larry Klayman filed a separate lawsuit against the Obama administration, claiming he and others have been harmed by the government's collection of as many as 3 billion phone numbers each day.

Army records indicate Snowden enlisted in the Army around May 2004 and was discharged that September.

"He attempted to qualify to become a Special Forces soldier but did not complete the requisite training and was administratively discharged from the Army," Col. David H. Patterson Jr., an Army spokesman at the Pentagon, said in a statement late Monday.

___

Associated Press writers Donna Cassata, Frederic Frommer and Matt Apuzzo in Washington, Robert H. Reid in Berlin and Kelvin Chan in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

___

Follow Lara Jakes on Twitter at https://twitter.com/larajakesAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-no-plans-end-broad-surveillance-program-073602699.html

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