(Reuters) - Aereo, the red hot Web startup that has raised the ire of U.S. broadcasters, is planning to expand to Boston starting May 15, the company said on Tuesday.
Backed by Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp, Aereo plans to launch first with consumers who pre-registered and then more broadly to the Boston area on May 30.
Aereo is currently available in New York.
The company has caught the attention of the likes of News Corp's Fox, Walt Disney's ABC, CBS Corp and Comcast's NBC because it offers people cut-rate subscriptions to their channels.
The broadcasters collect millions of dollars in fees from cable operators to carry their stations. Aereo does not pay anything to the broadcasters.
This prompted the media companies including News Corp and Disney to file a lawsuit against Aereo. Earlier in April, a U.S. appeals court declined to temporarily shut down the online television venture.
Meanwhile the broadcasters have upped the ante: Fox is threatening to remove itself from the free airwaves and become a cable channel if the courts do not shut down Aereo.
(Reporting By Jennifer Saba in New York; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
The Sony SBH20 stereo Bluetooth headset does more things than probably any other Bluetooth headset we've ever tested. You can use it to make calls or listen to music. Or you can connect it to a pair of exercise-friendly headphones and go for a run. Or you can use it for wireless audio on your home stereo system. It even has NFC to pair with compatible devices with a single tap. And it does all this for just $49.99. It could almost be our favorite new stereo Bluetooth headset, except noise cancellation isn't great and it doesn't do voice dialing. But for a jack-of-all-trades stereo headset, this one's tough to beat.
Design, Fit, and Pairing It isn't hard to figure out Sony's design inspiration here. The SBH20 looks exactly like an iPod Shuffle. From the tiny, clip-on design, to the multitude of colors (black, white, pink, orange, and turquoise), it's easy to confuse the headset with Apple's portable music player. That's fine by me, since it's sleek and discrete. It's also reminiscent of the Jabra Clipper Bluetooth headset, which itself is a clip that attaches to your clothing. But Sony has bested both Jabra and Apple with its design here, as the clip on the back of the SBH20 can be rotated in a circle, which ensures you'll be able to secure it however you'd like, in whichever position you find most agreeable.
The device itself is a 1.31-inch square that's 0.48-inch thick. I tested the white model, which is made of sturdy plastic with a matte finish, and a silver clip on the back with Sony's logo. Depending on how you fasten it, there's a volume rocker on top, a power port on the right, and a Power button, status light, 3.5mm headphone jack, and microphone on the left. The face has a Play/Pause/Call button in the center, flanked by Previous and Next track buttons. Although these buttons are highlighted with a clear, shiny overlay, they're the same exact color as the rest of the device, which makes them difficult to see. And they're completely flat, with barely any clicky feeling, so I never really knew whether I pressed the right button until I heard it through my earbuds.
The SBH20 comes with a set of in-ear headphones, with three different rubber tips so you can get a good fit. I found both the medium and large-size tips to be quite comfortable, and the in-ear design really helped block out surrounding noise. The earphones are designed to be worn around your neck, so one earbud wire is longer than the other. But in general, the primary wire that leads up from the SBH20 is a bit short. You basically need to wear the SBH20 at your chest in order for the headphones to reach your ears. That's fine for making a call, but if you just want to listen to music, it would've been nice to have a longer wire so you can put the SBH20 in your pocket or clip it to your bag. Thankfully, you can still connect any pair of headphones you want. As long as they have a 3.5mm jack you won't have any problems.
Here's how it works: The SBH20 clips onto your shirt, then you plug a set of headphones in, so you're not tethered to whatever additional device you're connected to. I found the clipping mechanism easy to use, and wide enough to accommodate most types of fabric. The SBH20 is automatically set to Bluetooth pairing mode the first time you use it, but you can always reenter pairing mode in the future by turning it on and holding the Play button down for a few seconds. Once in pairing mode, just pair it the same way you would with any Bluetooth device. An added bonus is NFC support. If you have a device with NFC, simply tap the SBH20 to it in order to pair.
For this review, I tested the SBH20 with an Apple iPhone 5, a Sony Xperia ZL, and a laptop PC running Windows 8. I didn't experience any pairing issues or audio dropouts.
Sound Quality, Additional Uses, and Conclusions For calls, the microphone is built into the corner of the SBH20 right next to the headphone jack, so you need to wear it as close to your mouth as possible for the best voice quality. I always find it a bit awkward to make calls using an in-ear headset, since the sound of your own voice is so prominent in your head, but that's inescapable here. For calls made indoors, voices sound somewhat digitized, but overall clear and easy to understand. Outdoors, however, is a different story. Noise cancellation is terrible. Voices became virtually inaudible over wind and background noise, even in areas that weren't terribly noisy. But this isn't the type of headset you should use in a car, since the in-ear headphone design would make for unsafe driving conditions. So as long as you don't plan to make any calls mid-jog you should be alright.?
For receiving calls over the included headphones, the SBH20 sounds average. Voices are a little thin and robotic but otherwise clear. At top volume, the headset lasted for exactly five hours. At mid-volume, it should be able to reach Sony's quoted six hours of battery life, and Sony claims up to 200 hours of standby time.
For music, sound quality is surprisingly good. All of the songs I listened to, across a number of genres, sounded rich, powerful, and clear, and the bass didn't distort, even at top volume. Don't get me wrong; these aren't headphones for bass fiends, but there's enough bass response to please casual listeners. And the best part is that you can always swap out the bundled earbuds for another pair you prefer more. For a brief comparison, Sony's bundled buds sound better than Apple's new EarPods, but can't hold a candle to a pair of Bowers & Wilkins C5 In-Ear Headphones.
All of the controls on the face of the device work as you'd expect. The only bummers are the aforementioned sticky keys, as well as the fact that there's no way to trigger voice dialing from the SBH20 itself. You can still use it to complete voice controlled tasks, but you need to initiate them on your phone first. Range is average; I was able to walk about 10 feet away from a paired phone before the sound started to stutter. Within another 10 feet it dropped out completely.
And here's a cool feature Sony doesn't highlight: You can connect the SBH20 to any set of speakers you like, provided they use a 3.5mm jack, to make them Bluetooth-compatible. That means your computer speakers, for instance, can be plugged into the SBH20, through which you can then stream music from your device. You can even use the speakers to receive calls, although you still need to be clipped onto the SBH20 to talk back. Still, when you consider that devices created expressly for this purpose, like the Logitech Wireless Speaker Adapter, cost virtually the same amount, you realize that this is a pretty good value.
The SBH20 does a lot more than most other stereo Bluetooth headsets, and in most instances Sony hasn't piled on features at the expense of quality. With better noise cancellation and less finicky controls, the SBH20 would be a shoo-in for our budget-priced stereo Bluetooth headset of choice. As it stands, it is still a very good choice for many buyers. The Jabra Clipper is a similarly solid option, with near-identical capabilities but a slightly different look and design. The Plantronics BackBeat Go?remains our Editors' Choice for its superior voice performance, excellent noise suppression in both directions, and clear sound quality.?
Nearly half of veterans found with blast concussions might have hormone deficienciesPublic release date: 22-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Donna Krupa dkrupa@the-aps.org American Physiological Society
Condition often unrecognized, mimics symptoms of PTSD, depression
BOSTONUp to 20 percent of veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq have experienced at least one blast concussion. New research suggests that nearly half these veterans may have a problem so under-recognized that even military physicians may fail to look for it. A new study conducted by Charles W. Wilkinson, Elizabeth A. Colasurdo, Kathleen F. Pagulayan, Jane. B. Shofer, and Elaine R. Peskind, all of the VA Puget Sound Health Care System and the University of Washington in Seattle, has found that about 42 percent of screened veterans with blast injuries have irregular hormone levels indicative of hypopituitarism.
Many conditions associated with hypopituitarism mimic other common problems that veterans can suffer, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, explains study leader Wilkinson. However, unlike those other conditions, those under the banner head of hypopituitarism can be can often be well-controlled by replacing the deficient hormones. "This could be a largely missed opportunity for successful treatment," Wilkinson says.
The team will discuss their study, entitled, "Prevalence of Chronic Hypopituitarism After Blast Concussion," at the Experimental Biology 2013 meeting, being held April 20-24, 2013 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, Boston, Mass. The poster presentation is sponsored by the American Physiological Society (APS), a co-sponsor of the event. As the findings are being presented at a scientific conference, they should be considered preliminary, as they have not undergone the peer review process that is conducted prior to the data being published in a scientific journal.
A Simple Screen
Wilkinson explains that researchers have recently recognized that traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) can cause hypopituitarisma decrease in the concentrations of at least one of eight hormones produced by the pituitary, a gland seated at the base of the brain. Studies in the last few years have suggested that between 25 and 50 percent of people who receive TBIs have low pituitary hormone levels. However, these early studies have focused on injuries that civilians are more likely to receive, such as an automobile accident.
As a research physiologist who works for the Department of Veterans Affairs, Wilkinson decided to investigate whether veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq who suffer blast injuries show a similar frequency of hypopituitarism.
He and his colleagues collected blood samples from 35 veterans coming home from these wars and diagnosed with a blast concussion about a year priorenough time for hormone changes to become evident. They then did a screen to compare blood concentrations of the eight hormones produced by the pituitary with the documented normal levels of these hormones.
Missed Opportunity for Treatment
The researchers found that about 42 percent of these veterans showed abnormally low levels of at least one of these hormones. The most common low hormone was human growth hormone, which can cause behavioral and cognitive symptoms similar to PTSD and depression, along with increases in blood lipids and changes in metabolism and blood pressure that can increase the risk of heart attack and stroke. The second most common problem was hypogonadism, changes in sexual hormones that can affect body composition and sexual function.
The researchers also saw that some veterans had abnormally low levels of vasopressin and oxytocin, hormones that have been linked to psychiatric problems and bonding. Problems with these hormone levels, in addition to growth hormone, could lead to personality changes that affect relationships with loved ones, Wilkinson explains.
He notes that the prevalence of hypopituitarism in the general population is estimated at 0.03 percent. The 42 percent prevalence that these results suggest is cause for further investigation, he says.
"We're not diagnosing definite disorders in this studythese individuals would still need a clinical evaluation," he explains. "But if even 10 percent of these veterans have hypopituitarism, it's a problem that physicians should be aware of."
Wilkinson adds that many veterans who suffer blast injuries may never see an endocrinologistand a neurologist or a psychiatrist, whom they're more likely to see for post-concussion follow-up, is unlikely to screen for hormonal deficiencies. Because low hormone levels can often be successfully treated, he says, it's a missed opportunity to help veterans. The work was supported by the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.
###
About Experimental Biology 2013
Six scientific societies will hold their joint scientific sessions and annual meetings, known as Experimental Biology, from April 20-24, 2013, in Boston. This meeting brings together the leading researchers from a broad array of life science disciplines. The societies include the American Association of Anatomists (AAA), American Physiological Society (APS), American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB), American Society for Investigative Pathology (ASIP), American Society for Nutrition (ASN), and American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET). Additional information about the meeting is online at http://bit.ly/ymb7av.
About the American Physiological Society (APS)
The American Physiological Society (APS) is a nonprofit organization devoted to fostering education, scientific research, and dissemination of information in the physiological sciences. The Society was founded in 1887 and today represents more than 11,000 members and publishes
14 peer-reviewed journals.
NOTE TO EDITORS: To receive a copy of the abstract or schedule an interview with a member of the research team, please contact Donna Krupa at DKrupa@the-aps.org, 301.634.7209 (office) or 703.967.2751 (cell) or @Phyziochick on Twitter.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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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.
Nearly half of veterans found with blast concussions might have hormone deficienciesPublic release date: 22-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Donna Krupa dkrupa@the-aps.org American Physiological Society
Condition often unrecognized, mimics symptoms of PTSD, depression
BOSTONUp to 20 percent of veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq have experienced at least one blast concussion. New research suggests that nearly half these veterans may have a problem so under-recognized that even military physicians may fail to look for it. A new study conducted by Charles W. Wilkinson, Elizabeth A. Colasurdo, Kathleen F. Pagulayan, Jane. B. Shofer, and Elaine R. Peskind, all of the VA Puget Sound Health Care System and the University of Washington in Seattle, has found that about 42 percent of screened veterans with blast injuries have irregular hormone levels indicative of hypopituitarism.
Many conditions associated with hypopituitarism mimic other common problems that veterans can suffer, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, explains study leader Wilkinson. However, unlike those other conditions, those under the banner head of hypopituitarism can be can often be well-controlled by replacing the deficient hormones. "This could be a largely missed opportunity for successful treatment," Wilkinson says.
The team will discuss their study, entitled, "Prevalence of Chronic Hypopituitarism After Blast Concussion," at the Experimental Biology 2013 meeting, being held April 20-24, 2013 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, Boston, Mass. The poster presentation is sponsored by the American Physiological Society (APS), a co-sponsor of the event. As the findings are being presented at a scientific conference, they should be considered preliminary, as they have not undergone the peer review process that is conducted prior to the data being published in a scientific journal.
A Simple Screen
Wilkinson explains that researchers have recently recognized that traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) can cause hypopituitarisma decrease in the concentrations of at least one of eight hormones produced by the pituitary, a gland seated at the base of the brain. Studies in the last few years have suggested that between 25 and 50 percent of people who receive TBIs have low pituitary hormone levels. However, these early studies have focused on injuries that civilians are more likely to receive, such as an automobile accident.
As a research physiologist who works for the Department of Veterans Affairs, Wilkinson decided to investigate whether veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq who suffer blast injuries show a similar frequency of hypopituitarism.
He and his colleagues collected blood samples from 35 veterans coming home from these wars and diagnosed with a blast concussion about a year priorenough time for hormone changes to become evident. They then did a screen to compare blood concentrations of the eight hormones produced by the pituitary with the documented normal levels of these hormones.
Missed Opportunity for Treatment
The researchers found that about 42 percent of these veterans showed abnormally low levels of at least one of these hormones. The most common low hormone was human growth hormone, which can cause behavioral and cognitive symptoms similar to PTSD and depression, along with increases in blood lipids and changes in metabolism and blood pressure that can increase the risk of heart attack and stroke. The second most common problem was hypogonadism, changes in sexual hormones that can affect body composition and sexual function.
The researchers also saw that some veterans had abnormally low levels of vasopressin and oxytocin, hormones that have been linked to psychiatric problems and bonding. Problems with these hormone levels, in addition to growth hormone, could lead to personality changes that affect relationships with loved ones, Wilkinson explains.
He notes that the prevalence of hypopituitarism in the general population is estimated at 0.03 percent. The 42 percent prevalence that these results suggest is cause for further investigation, he says.
"We're not diagnosing definite disorders in this studythese individuals would still need a clinical evaluation," he explains. "But if even 10 percent of these veterans have hypopituitarism, it's a problem that physicians should be aware of."
Wilkinson adds that many veterans who suffer blast injuries may never see an endocrinologistand a neurologist or a psychiatrist, whom they're more likely to see for post-concussion follow-up, is unlikely to screen for hormonal deficiencies. Because low hormone levels can often be successfully treated, he says, it's a missed opportunity to help veterans. The work was supported by the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.
###
About Experimental Biology 2013
Six scientific societies will hold their joint scientific sessions and annual meetings, known as Experimental Biology, from April 20-24, 2013, in Boston. This meeting brings together the leading researchers from a broad array of life science disciplines. The societies include the American Association of Anatomists (AAA), American Physiological Society (APS), American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB), American Society for Investigative Pathology (ASIP), American Society for Nutrition (ASN), and American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET). Additional information about the meeting is online at http://bit.ly/ymb7av.
About the American Physiological Society (APS)
The American Physiological Society (APS) is a nonprofit organization devoted to fostering education, scientific research, and dissemination of information in the physiological sciences. The Society was founded in 1887 and today represents more than 11,000 members and publishes
14 peer-reviewed journals.
NOTE TO EDITORS: To receive a copy of the abstract or schedule an interview with a member of the research team, please contact Donna Krupa at DKrupa@the-aps.org, 301.634.7209 (office) or 703.967.2751 (cell) or @Phyziochick on Twitter.
[ | 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.
As clever as the Nest Learning Thermostat can be, its intelligence only extends as far as the front door: it hasn't really been aware of how neighbors or the seasons affect our power bills. Nest Labs is improving that connection to the outside world through Nest Energy Services, a new program that links its device to the collective, cloud-based knowledge of utility companies. When owners are with an Energy Services-aware provider, the thermostat will know when to brace for an energy "rush hour" and automatically limit its cooling during peak (read: expensive) periods. It also gives a heads-up for seasonal discounts that fine-tune the temperature schedule over the course of a few weeks. Unlike previous utility-guided approaches, Nest users can always retake control if they genuinely can't stand the heat.
Only Austin Energy, Green Mountain Energy, Reliant and Southern California Edison have lined up for the synced climate control so far, although Nest is sweetening the deal by expanding utility-based discounts for the thermostat itself. Customers of National Grid can get an immediate $100 rebate through Nest, while those who sign up with Reliant can still receive their thermostats for free with certain plans. The deals are calculated tradeoffs for companies likely to recoup their investment down the road, but they could represent big wins for homeowners still jittery about paying up front to save money later.
Scientists with MIT's TESS project hope to build on the lessons of the successful Kepler planet-hunting mission and find planetary systems close enough for telescopes to study in detail.
By Pete Spotts / April 20, 2013
Relative sizes of Kepler habitable zone planets discovered as of April 18, 2013 in this artist's rendition provided by NASA. Scientists using NASA's Kepler space telescope have found the best candidates yet for habitable worlds beyond the solar system.
NASA Amers/JPL-Caltech/REUTERS
Enlarge
The discovery of three new super-Earths by scientists with NASA's Kepler mission is helping to reveal the bounty of extrasolar planets across the Milky Way.
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Now another team is set to build a new orbiting planet hunter that, during a two-year mission, will search for other worlds closer to our sun's neighborhood.
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which NASA approved under its Explorer program earlier this month, will be the first orbiting observatory to hunt for planets all around the sky.
NASA and the project's scientists, led by George Ricker of the Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., aim to launch the observatory in April 2017.
In essence, TESS?hopes to build on Kepler's pioneering role as an extrasolar-planet census taker and bring that nose count closer to home, where existing and future ground- and space-based telescopes can study in detail the planetary systems TESS uncovers.
Such studies "will allow us to really begin to figure out what their atmospheres are made of, what the temperature is like ? actually characterize those planets," says Doug Hudgins, project scientist for Kepler and TESS at NASA headquarters in Washington.
This kind of analysis not only will help astronomers uncover the range of solar system configurations and test ideas on how planets form and evolve. Such up-close looks also could provide evidence for life on any of the newly discovered worlds.
Among the signs researchers might look for: the presence of ozone ? a molecule made of three oxygen atoms ? and nitrogen oxides in a planet's atmosphere. On Earth, fossil evidence indicates that the first algae capable of photosynthesis, which produces oxygen, emerged some 3.5 billion years ago. On Earth, bacteria also produce copious amounts of nitrogen oxides.
The hunt for signs of life elsewhere in the galaxy is one of the drivers behind Kepler, and the inspiration for TESS. But Kepler isn't looking directly for life. Instead, it is looking for Earth-mass planets orbiting at Earth-like distances around sun-like stars in order to provide an estimate of how common such planets are.
On Thursday, Kepler's science team announced the discovery of three super-Earths in or on the boundary of their stars' habitable zones. The habitable zone is a region around the star far enough away so that a planet doesn't overheat, but close enough so it doesn't freeze either. In principle, a planet orbiting in its star's habitable zone should be able to host liquid water in stable quantities on its surface. Liquid water is seen as essential for organic life.
But the nearest of these new systems is 1,200 light-years away. Although the team speculates that one of the two super-Earths there is a water world and the other likely has a rocky surface, and while both fall into their star's habitable zone, they are too far away and their star is too dim to study with anything more than computer models.
TESS's targets should fall well within the gaze of a new generation of ground- and space-based telescopes. But those telescopes need to know where to look, Dr. Hudgins notes. And that' where TESS comes in.
Like Kepler, TESS is designed to detect planets as they pass in front of their host stars, dimming the starlight by a tiny fraction. If one could look back at the sun from beyond the solar system and watch for the wink an orbiting Earth would impart, the light would vary by just 0.000085 percent, a no-see-um in human terms.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Authorities temporarily evacuated a terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Sunday to investigate a suspicious package, which turned out to be a tube of toothpaste wrapped in duct tape, officials said.
The package was found shortly after 4 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT) in the baggage room area of Concourse B in Terminal 4, said Chris Valens, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
After about 90 minutes, the terminal was re-opened.
The New York Police Department bomb squad determined that the package was a tube of toothpaste with duct tape around it, Officer James Duffy said.
"We determined that it only contained toothpaste," Duffy said.
The evacuation comes as the country is on edge following the Boston Marathon bombings and the discovery of letters laced with ricin, a highly lethal poison, addressed to President Barack Obama and Republican U.S. Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi.
(Reporting by Jessica Toonkel; Editing by Stacey Joyce)
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Public release date: 22-Apr-2013
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