Microsoft is updating all of its built-in Windows 8.1 apps—like Xbox Music, Mail, Calendar, People and all the rest—ahead of the operating system's release later today. Excited?
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Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/mNfoLe4No_4/microsoft-is-updating-all-of-its-built-in-windows-8-1-a-1446919373LOS ANGELES (AP) — A baggage handler arrested after dry ice bombs exploded at Los Angeles International Airport planted the devices as a prank, police said Wednesday.
The motive was disclosed a day after the arrest of Dicarlo Bennett, a 28-year-old employee for the ground handling company Servisair.
"I think we can safely say he is not a terrorist or an organized crime boss. He did this for his own amusement," said Los Angeles police Deputy Chief Michael Downing, who heads the department's counter-terrorism and special operations bureau.
No one was hurt on Sunday when two plastic bottles packed with dry ice exploded in an employee bathroom and on the airport's tarmac. An unexploded device was found Monday night.
As a result of the incident, airport officials plan to meet with law enforcement authorities to examine potential security enhancements at the nation's second-busiest airport.
The meeting also will explore the handling and transport of dry ice and other hazardous materials and possible improvements to those procedures.
Arif Alikhan, deputy executive director for Homeland Security and Law Enforcement at Los Angeles World Airports, said such meetings are routine after problems.
"We'll look at all layers of security existing at the airport, including technology, physical infrastructure, the partnership of tenants, awareness of employees to potential hazardous items like dry ice," Alikhan said.
Workers at the airport must pass a criminal background check before they can get a security badge for access to restricted areas.
On Tuesday, police arrested Bennett, who was booked for possession of a destructive device near an aircraft and held on $1 million bail.
It was not immediately clear whether Bennett had a lawyer. A message left on a phone number listed at an address for Bennett was not returned.
Despite the arrest, travelers saw stepped-up security patrols at all terminals as well as the airfield, Los Angeles Airport Police spokeswoman Belinda Nettles said.
Dry ice is routinely used by aircraft catering companies and restaurants to keep perishable food safe.
Bennett took dry ice from a plane and placed a loaded bottle in an employee bathroom, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation who wasn't authorized to speak publicly and asked to remain anonymous.
The commotion caused by the explosion delayed several flights. Remnants of another device were found the same night on a tarmac outside the main international terminal.
Police had pursued a theory that the bombs were placed by a disgruntled employee due to a labor dispute.
Servisair said in an emailed statement that it had no comment beyond confirming that Bennett was an employee of Servisair at the time of incident.
The bombs were made by putting dry ice in 20-ounce plastic bottles. When a bottle is capped, pressure builds up due to a chemical reaction and can cause an explosion.
The LAX explosions recalled a May incident at Disneyland, in which police said an employee placed dry ice-packed bottles in a food cart and trash can. Both exploded; no one was injured.
NEW YORK (AP) — Nothing much interferes with "South Park" lampooning its targets.
But Comedy Central says an ill-timed power outage shut the show down Tuesday night, preventing completion of this week's scheduled episode.
Comedy Central said Wednesday that all the computers at South Park Studios were down for hours, from animation to editing to sound. The planned episode, "Goth Kids 3: Dawn of the Posers," couldn't be finished.
A repeat, "Scott Tenorman Must Die," was scheduled Wednesday night instead.
"South Park" co-creator Trey Parker says he regrets missing an air date but acknowledges. But he says after years of tempting fate by delivering the show on a last-minute basis, "I guess it was bound to happen."
"Goth Kids 3" is now scheduled for next week.
"South Park" airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. Eastern.
The FlameStower can charge USB-powered devices with fire.
The FlameStower can charge USB-powered devices with fire.
In our Weekly Innovation blog series, we explore an interesting idea, design or product that you may not have heard of yet. Do you have an innovation to share? Use this quick form to send it to us.
Hikers and campers can now keep their cameras charged with FlameStower, which uses heat from a campfire, stove or even candles to charge any device powered by a USB connection. While this can seem superfluous — powering up while getting away from it all — creators Andrew Byrnes and Adam Kell says the device can also bring power to people in developing countries where wireless technology has leapfrogged others, places where people have cellphones but not electricity.
Byrnes and Kell were both studying materials science at Stanford University and at first thought about a generator wired to a toaster, but they quickly dismissed that idea. They spoke to a business school professor, who told them something that's been their guiding principle since — build something that can cook a pot of rice and charge a cellphone at the same time.
The technology is fairly simple. The FlameStower has a blade that extends out over the fire, while the other end is cooled by a reservoir of water. That means one part of the blade is hotter than the other. The temperature difference generates electricity, and semiconductors amplify the voltage to a useful amount. It gives you the same charge as connecting your phone to a laptop. The Mars Curiosity Rover uses the same technology, though its heat source comes from decaying radioactive materials.
This phenomenon of heat to electricity is called the Seebeck effect, and it doesn't generate a lot of energy, which means it wasn't that useful until people started walking around with cameras and smartphones.
"Now you have these tools that are insanely powerful, and increasingly are stingy on their energy use, so that value of the low amount of electricity is getting higher," Byrnes says.
He and Kell want to bring the FlameStower not only to stores in the U.S. but to developing countries as well. Kell recently returned from a trip to rural Kenya and Ethiopia to refine the FlameStower for users there, because around 65 percent of people in Africa have cellphones, but only 42 percent have electricity.
"[The cellphone] has been the first technology that people in rural villages are actually buying," Kell says.
Kell says products sold in developing countries are usually made to be cheaper than their counterparts in the U.S., with the exception of energy, which is much more expensive and less reliable.
Kell and Byrnes aren't the only people to come up with something like this. The BioLite CampStove and PowerPot are both pots that will charge a device and cook your food or boil water at the same time. But Kell says they weren't as successful in developing countries because people there often want to use their own pots, so the FlameStower founders made something that can work on any stove or fire.
At the moment a FlameStower costs $80, and the project is being funded on Kickstarter until late October.
Alan Yu is a Kroc fellow at NPR.
James Blake addresses the crowd during an interview with Mary Joe Fernandez after losing on day three of the 2013 U.S. Open.
James Blake addresses the crowd during an interview with Mary Joe Fernandez after losing on day three of the 2013 U.S. Open.
Neither of them is over 35 years old. One of them played in ATP World Tour events just months ago; the other did so last year. But none of that will keep recently retired tennis players Andy Roddick, 31, and James Blake, 33, from joining a circuit of senior players.
The pair will be playing in the PowerShares Series, a touring set of one-day tournaments featuring tennis legends such as Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl. By joining the tour, Roddick could eventually get a chance to play alongside his former coach, Jimmy Connors.
We will pause here to acknowledge that any of the people listed above would make short work of us on any court, under any conditions. And it can be debated that the PowerShares Series isn't a traditional senior tour, as its minimum age requirement is that players be just 30.
But we also confess to a moment of dubious shock after reading this headline in The Los Angeles Times: "Andy Roddick, James Blake join senior tennis tour."
"I am looking forward to playing on the PowerShares circuit," Roddick says, in a report on the Tennis site. "Having a chance to stay connected with tennis and compete on a limited basis through events like these fits perfectly with my life these days."
A look at the PowerShares site shows that it features a Tennis article identifying it as "the newly-named senior circuit" last year, when it changed its name from the Champions Series. The tour was founded in 2005 by a group that includes former tennis star Jim Courier, who plays in many events.
If you're wondering about the age cutoff for other senior tours, so were we:
In tennis, the ATP Champions Tour requires that players be retired and meet career criteria, such as holding a world No. 1 ranking or being a Grand Slam finalist.
While some sources report the Champions Tour requires that players are at least 35, Roddick is scheduled to play a tour event in early 2014, when he'll still be 31. The Champions Tour is also said to require a player be at least two years past their retirement; details about its policies weren't available for review at the time of this post.
In professional golf, the standard minimum age to join a senior tour is 50.
Future versions of Grand Theft Auto—at least those set in Switzerland—could include a detailed and incredibly accurate 3D model of the Matterhorn for thrill-seeking gamers to explore, thanks to a swarm of drones that recently scanned, mapped, and photographed the iconic peak.
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Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/tI7GLTN0bvQ/a-swarm-of-drones-3d-mapped-the-matterhorn-in-stunning-1445555177