Apple iOS 7: Sleek, Elegant Software Redesign for iPhone, iPad - ABC News

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Apple product lovers, your iPhone and iPad interfaces will look radically different this year.

At Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), held at the Moscone West Center in San Francisco, Apple CEO Tim Cook and other company executives unveiled new operating systems, iOS 7 for i-devices and OS X Mavericks for Macs, as well as a new version of its MacBook Air and a sneak peek at the next MacBook Pro.

Although Apple didn't announce any new iOS devices, the big redesign featuring an array of new software upgrades in the iOS 7 operating system will make existing devices seem new.

"We want to make the best product that people use more and love more than anyone else's," Cook said.

Let's recap the major announcements:

Read more at ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/apple-ios-sleek-elegant-software-redesign-iphone-ipad/story?id=19364781#.Ubl1yvmsg1h

Musings On Mr. Snowden

Just a short time ago Edward Snowden orchestrated what could be the most consequential and largest security leak in United States history. Snowden approached The Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald with intelligence information that indicated that the United States government, through the use of phone tapping and digital data mining by the NSA, was engaged in a massive intrusion of privacy. For his part Snowden insists he isn't a “hero” as some of the American public has labeled him but rather he’s an American who is a concerned citizen. What was revealed nearly a week ago certainly has massive implications for the United States’ intelligence, anti-terrorism, and national security operations. Effectively the American debate has turned from one of political partisanship to one of “how much is too much” when it comes to intelligence gathering. What follows in the coming weeks and months will determine the effectiveness of Snowden’s actions. In the meantime the American people would do well to take the information they have been ‘gifted’ and look beyond the surface...Snowden may not be as innocent as he seems.

Consider first who Edward Snowden is: a 29-year-old former technical assistant for the CIA and former employee of the defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. He has been working at the National Security Agency for the last four years as an employee of various outside contractors, including Booz Allen and Dell. His history before these more recent occupations is less than ideal. He dropped out of high school and failed to graduate. After some time he went to a community college where he also dropped out but not before earning his GED. He enlisted and tried to become a member of the Armed Forces but was later discharged. In a more recent interview with The Guardian he remarked that the intentions with which he enlisted, the ideals, were not represented as he thought they would be by his fellow soldiers. Instead he found himself at odds. From there he became a security guard for the NSA at their headquarters and was shortly thereafter picked up by the CIA and placed abroad as an undercover operative. Through his career he has sat on the knowledge that the very government he defended and at times represented, was involved in a massive, potentially illegal, operation to gather citizens’ personal and private data for anti-terror purposes. What is known is that he had this information throughout the Bush administration and prior to Nov. 2008 was nearly at his breaking point to go public. That was until Barack Obama was elected. He felt that things would or could change under his administration. That the abuses of governmental power by the Bush/Cheney White House would cease and the public would not be the wiser. He was “disappointed”  by the outcome four years later.

The revelations that Snowden brought forth have done something few Americans believed still possible: unite the parties. Yes from Senator Lindsey Graham to John McCain and back to Dianne Feinstein the same tune is being sung. This was done in the interest of national security and there’s nothing illegal or illicit going on. It is a necessary operation. Edward Snowden is a criminal and perhaps guilty of treason. However what are the pundits saying? Two unlikely allies are also singing the same tune though not the same as Congress: Edward Snowden is a hero. Yes. Glenn Beck (former host of The Glenn Beck Show on Fox News and CEO of GBTV) and Michael Moore (director of Bowling For Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11 and Capitalism A Love Story) are on the same team. They believe what Snowden has done has helped, not hurt the country’s interests. Where does the truth lie though? Is Edward Snowden who he says he is? Hero or Villain?

The allusion keeps being made to the benefits and/or damage of Mr. Snowden’s revelations. What are they? We now know that the NSA has been secretly spying on the United States citizens’ phone records and digital data (emails, text messages, etc) for years. Under powers granted to the intelligence community after 9/11 with the Patriot Act an unprecedented amount of information was now easily and legally accessible by the government. What were before only whispers and rumors are now confirmed and exposed. We also know that though the government claims these are effective tools of anti-terror they have significant failures. The more recent example of such is the Boston Marathon Bombing. The bombers, the Tsarnaev brothers, were able to carry out their plans despite having used email, phone calls and text messaging to communicate and relay key information. But does one major lapse necessitate or justify throwing out the whole operation? What would be the difference to the case of the Underwear Bomber? The Times Square Bomber? As the saying goes, hindsight is 20/20.

Some questions immediately arose out of the aired interview between Greenwald and Snowden. When asked about his plans post-revelations Snowden insists that he’s not afraid of the consequences of his actions and fully intends and welcome a fight with the U.S. Government over the matter. Yet he fled the country presumably before the story was written by The Guardian. This would stand in stark contrast to what he said. He also lists his reasons for fleeing to Hong Kong of all places: “They have a spirited commitment to free speech.” Really? Hong Kong. A region under Chinese control, the same China that spends immeasurable amount of time seeking out dissenters and those who would speak ill of the regime. Something doesn't click. Why China? He mentions his intent or likelihood of going to Iceland. Why not go there first? Why go to China. Clearly, as he admits, he’s on edge because the CIA has locations nearby his hotel room in China and knows he can be ‘captured’ in short time. Why delay his escape? Something isn't right.

Surely what the NSA has done for the last twelve years, across two administrations and countless Congressional votes of approval, deserves scrutiny and trimming of the fat where necessary. Still, we mustn't forget what valuable information and protection has been gained by the goings-on within the intelligence community. As I listen to the debate about the disclosure of two government programs designed to track suspected phone and email contacts of terrorists, I do wonder if some of those who unequivocally defend this disclosure are behaving as if 9/11 never happened — that the only thing we have to fear is government intrusion in our lives, not the intrusion of those who gather in secret cells in Yemen, Afghanistan and Pakistan and plot how to topple our tallest buildings or bring down U.S. airliners with bombs planted inside underwear, tennis shoes or computer printers. Certainly the potential will always be there for the government to abuse its granted powers. How easily could the government abuse privacy from a program that granted it sweeping power to prevent another 9/11. But what evidence is there thus far that such abuse has occurred? Should we not all worry more about something that has already happened than that of what may happen. Most of the complaints we here today are not the extent the operations under the NSA have been taken thus far, but what they may become. I worry about something that’s already happened once — that was staggeringly costly — and that terrorists aspire to repeat. My reasoning for this is that I fear if in a week, a month, years or even decades another 9/11 occurs our open society that I cherish so much, and that is a great wonder of the world to aspire to, may be gone. If there were another 9/11 it is conceivable that an overwhelming majority of Americans would tell their members of Congress to do whatever is necessary, privacy be damned, to prevent this. David Simon, the creator of HBO’s “The Wire” wrote a very well written essay on this issue.

“You would think that the government was listening in to the secrets of 200 million Americans from the reaction and the hyperbole being tossed about,” wrote Simon. “And you would think that rather than a legal court order, which is an inevitable consequence of legislation that we drafted and passed, something illegal had been discovered to the government’s shame. Nope. ... The only thing new here, from a legal standpoint, is the scale on which the F.B.I. and N.S.A. are apparently attempting to cull anti-terrorism leads from that data. ... I know it’s big and scary that the government wants a database of all phone calls. And it’s scary that they're paying attention to the Internet. And it’s scary that your cell phones have GPS installed. ... The question is not should the resulting data exist. It does. ... The question is more fundamental: Is government accessing the data for the legitimate public safety needs of the society, or are they accessing it in ways that abuse individual liberties and violate personal privacy — and in a manner that is unsupervised. And to that, The Guardian and those who are wailing jeremiads about this pretend-discovery of U.S. big data collection are noticeably silent. We don't know of any actual abuse.”

As a reminder these are musings. Make sense of them what you will but I would finish off with a reference to what Sen. Angus King (I-MA) said recently: 

What if the headline, instead of ‘Obama searches records,’ had been, ‘Obama cancelled program which could have prevented nuclear attack on Miami?’
We would have the articles of impeachment already drawn up.

Texas actress arrested in ricin case - CNN

(CNN) -- A Texas actress in a troubled marriage was arrested and charged Friday in connection with ricin-tainted letters that were mailed last month to President Barack Obama and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, authorities said.

Shannon Richardson, 35, also known as Shannon Rogers and Shannon Guess, initially told the FBI that her husband, Nathaniel, sent the ricin-laced letters, but a polygraph exam found her to be "deceptive" on the matter, court papers said.

Investigators found that her computer storage devices contained the text of threatening letters sent to the president, but the couple's computer records show her husband couldn't have printed them out because he was at work at the time, an FBI arrest affidavit said.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/07/justice/ricin-letters-arrest/index.html

Blast From The Past: Photo of the original Sesame Street cast

The first season of Sesame Street aired in 1969-1970 and this photo of the cast dates from then:

The giveaway is Oscar the Grouch's orange fur...it would switch to green for the second season. Here's the first 15 minutes of the first episode:

And here's part 2, part 3, and part 4.

Non-invasive first trimester blood test reliably detects Down’s Syndrome - Science Blog

New research has found that routine screening using a non-invasive test that analyzes fetal DNA in a pregnant woman’s blood can accurately detect Down’s syndrome and other genetic fetal abnormalities in the first trimester. Published early online in Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology, the results suggest that the test is superior to currently available screening strategies and could reshape standards in prenatal testing.

Current screening for Down’s syndrome, or trisomy 21, and other trisomy conditions includes a combined test done between the 11th and 13th weeks of pregnancy, which involves an ultrasound screen and a hormonal analysis of the pregnant woman’s blood. Only chorionic villus sampling and amniocentesis can definitely detect or rule out fetal genetic abnormalities, but these are invasive to the pregnancy and carry a risk of miscarriage.

Several studies have shown that non-invasive prenatal diagnosis for trisomy syndromes using fetal cell free (cf) DNA from a pregnant woman’s blood is highly sensitive and specific, making it a potentially reliable alternative that can be done earlier in pregnancy.

An Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology study by Kypros Nicolaides, MD, of the Harris Birthright Research Centre for Fetal Medicine at King’s College London in England, and his colleagues is the first to prospectively demonstrate the feasibility of routine screening for trisomies 21, 18, and 13 by cfDNA testing. Testing done in 1005 pregnancies at 10 weeks had a lower false positive rate and higher sensitivity for fetal trisomy than the combined test done at 12 weeks. Both cfDNA and combined testing detected all trisomies, but the estimated false-positive rates were 0.1% and 3.4%, respectively.

“This study has shown that the main advantage of cfDNA testing, compared with the combined test, is the substantial reduction in false positive rate. Another major advantage of cfDNA testing is the reporting of results as very high or very low risk, which makes it easier for parents to decide in favor of or against invasive testing,” the authors wrote.

A second Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology study by the group, which included pregnancies undergoing screening at three UK hospitals between March 2006 and May 2012, found that effective first-trimester screening for Down’s syndrome could be achieved by cfDNA testing contingent on the results of the combined test done at 11 to 13 weeks. The strategy detected 98% of cases, and invasive testing was needed for confirmation in less than 0.5% of cases.

“Screening for trisomy 21 by cfDNA testing contingent on the results of an expanded combined test would retain the advantages of the current method of screening, but with a simultaneous major increase in detection rate and decrease in the rate of invasive testing,” the authors concluded.

Read more at http://scienceblog.com/63688/non-invasive-first-trimester-blood-test-reliably-detects-downs-syndrome/#sue6Xv2gvV3dsH3H.99 

Susan Rice Deserves An Apology

On Wednesday the Obama administration released 100  pages of emails that detail the process in which the Benghazi talking points were shaped. Those same talking points were the ones that U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice used on the September 16 Sunday talk shows after the attacks.

For weeks after the attack in Benghazi, Libya the Obama administration as well as State Department officials insisted that the incident was due to a anti-Muslim film posted to YouTube which had sparked outrage and violent protests across the middle east. While President Barack Obama did in fact call the attack an "act of terror" on September 12th, the day after, Press Secretary Jay Carney didn't use either "act of terror" or "terrorism" to define the Benghazi incident until late September. The emails released Wednesday highlight the strong belief by State Department officials as well as the CIA that the anti-Muslim video responsible for protests in Cairo among other locations was also to blame for the Benghazi attack that killed four Americans including the U.S. Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens.

Last fall Ambassador Rice was grilled by congressional Republicans for her part in the now erroneous talking points that were released the Sunday after the Sept. 11 attacks. Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsay Graham (R-SC) pointed to her recital of those same talking points as justification for revoking her nomination to succeed Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. After weeks of pushback between the White House and Congressional Republicans Rice withdrew her candidacy for the post. The position was later filled by then Senator John Kerry with support from Senate Republicans.

Contained within the emails released on Wednesday was the revelation that despite being critiqued for her part in the production of the Sept. 16 talking points, Ambassador Rice had no part. Rather the formation of them was between the State Department and the CIA, with minor involvement from the White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes. If anything the emails highlight inter-department  consternation over their public appearance and how it would be affected. However what is even more of interest is that these emails were released months ago to Congressional Republicans and, despite being in receipt of these, they insisted that Susan Rice should be held accountable. Her part in this, if anything, was merely to relay the pre-drafted talking points.

It remains to be seen if Senate Republicans, who were largely responsible for blocking her from the Secretary of State post, will issue a formal apology to Ms. Rice now that the public knows they had knowledge from the beginning of her confirmation process just how far she was involved. So the saying goes: "Don't shoot the messenger." Unfortunately for Ambassador Rice that was not the case.

ISS: Space station's cooling system leaking ammonia

FROM BBC NEWS: 

NASA

Astronauts on the International Space Station are dealing with a leak in the orbiting platform's cooling system.

The crew spotted particles of ammonia drifting away from the laboratory on Thursday.

Liquid ammonia is used to extract the heat that builds up in electronic systems, dumping that excess energy to space through an array of radiators.

Nasa says the crew is in no danger, but that a spacewalk may be needed to inspect the site of the leak.

The seepage is coming from the station's port side, at the far end of the backbone, or truss, structure that holds one of the laboratory's huge sets of solar arrays.

Commander Chris Hadfield reported seeing "a very steady stream of flakes".

"They were coming out cleanly and repeatedly enough that it looked like it was a point source they were coming from," he added.

Cameras were trained on the location so that engineers on the ground could get a better idea of what was happening.

Hadfield later tweeted: "It is a serious situation, but between crew and experts on the ground, it appears to have been stabilized."

Nasa believes the problem is associated with the 2B power channel, one of eight fed by the station's solar arrays.

It is not the first time that the station's cooling systems have caused problems.

A very small leak was identified in 2007, and in 2010 a complete failure of an ammonia pump led to three spacewalks to replace it.

In 2012, a spacewalk was organised to reconfigure coolant lines and isolate the problem of leaks.

Nasa said in a statement that the rate of loss of ammonia on Thursday meant the cooling loop would very likely have to be shutdown, although it stressed this would not cause the station or its occupants any difficulty.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22478364