Alcatel One Touch Evolve (T-Mobile)

Today's smartphones are getting more powerful with every release cycle, and cutting-edge hardware is becoming less expensive as newer components are made available. But not everyone needs cutting-edge hardware. If you're looking for something that will keep some cash in your pocket, T-Mobile's least expensive smartphone, the Alcatel One Touch Evolve ($27.99 up front plus $3/month for 24 months or $99.99) is worth a serious look. It doesn't offer all the bells and whistles of T-Mobile's flagship phone—and our Editors' Choice—the Samsung Galaxy S4, but it's also nowhere near as expensive. It does, however, play games, take photos, and have a modern look and feel, making it a good first smartphone for teens and frugal adults.

Design
A svelte, all-black handset, the Evolve measures 4.78 by 2.52 by 0.46 inches (HWD). A chrome band runs around the phone, and it has an angled bottom edge that looks slick and even makes it a little easier to slide the phone in your pocket. The Evolve may be inexpensive, but it doesn't feel that way. The removable plastic (T-Mobile-branded) back panel has a matte black finish with a cutout for the speaker and a minuscule rim that protects the 5-megapixel camera from scratches. Underneath, there's a removable 1400mAh battery covering the full-size SIM card and a microSD slot that supports cards up to 64GB.

On the top of the phone to the right is the Power button, next to the headphone jack in the center. On the right side, near the top, is the volume rocker. Opposite the rocker on the right side of the phone is the micro USB port, no doubt there because of the angled bottom. It's an inconvenient placement if you're right-handed and use the Evolve in landscape mode, as the cable when plugged into the phone is in the way of your fingers underneath it as they try to naturally handle the phone.

The Evolve's 4-inch, 480-by-800 TFT LCD is bright enough to be used outdoors, and images looked vibrant and well-saturated. At 233 pixels per inch, the screen serves up easily readable text. Letters look clear and crisp. Compared with Alcatel's more expensive ($169) T-Mobile phone, the Fierce, its 960-by-540 4.5-inch TFT LCD, and its 244 pixels per inch, the display on the Evolve is a lot sharper and just as bright. The viewing angles aren't great, however. If you're watching video with a friend, make sure your heads are close together.

Included with the Evolve is a micro USB cable and a larger-than-usual wall charger.  

Connectivity, Call Quality
The One Touch Evolve integrates 802.11 b/g/n dual-band Wi-Fi, A-GPS, and Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP, but there's no LTE. You'll get 3G speeds with HSPA on the GSM 850/900/1800/1900 and UMTS 850/1900/AWS bands.

In my tests, call quality wasn't bad, but it wasn't amazing either. My voice sounded clear but synthetic, with a light static over everything. Noise cancellation wasn't particularly effective outside on a busy New York City street. The person on the other end of the call complained about traffic noises interrupting my speech. My call partner's voice came through loud and clear, but was a little harsh. The speakerphone doesn't get very loud, and can be difficult to use outside in noisy environments.

T-Mobile's Wi-Fi calling lets you make phone calls over Wi-Fi networks when you're low on minutes, or when T-Mobile cellular service is less than stellar or unavailable.

Battery life was in line with other phones in this price range. In our talk tests the One Touch Evolve lasted 5 hours and 13 minutes. The Fierce, to compare, lasted 7 hours and 55 minutes.

OS, Performance
The phone runs on an 1GHz ARM Cortex A9 single-core processor and 512MB of RAM. There's 4GB of onboard storage, but only 1.03GB is available for the user. More than a couple of apps or music albums will quickly fill that, so a microSD card is strongly recommended.

Though it's running a not terribly aged Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, many of the icons have been altered by Alcatel, and look a little more childish. There can always be less bloatware, but it's not horrible here: You get Lookout Security as well as T-Mobile's Mobile Hotspot, My Account, T-Mobile Name ID, T-Mobile TV, and Visual Voicemail apps, none of which are removable. There's no word from Alcatel on whether the Evolve with receive any updates OS updates.

The on-screen keyboard defaults to Swype, which allows you to drag your finger across the keyboard, for quicker letter entry. It's an easy-to-use feature and a nice time saver. Also included is an FM radio app, where you can save your favorite station and even record audio.

The Evolve played almost every media file I could throw at it, including FLAC, OGG, and WAV, but there's no support for 1080p video. It's capped at 720p. The rear-mounted speaker sounds tinny and doesn't provide much volume, but that's to be expected from a phone of this caliber. My headphones got plenty loud, even on the lowest volume level.

In our graphical performance tests—Nenamark and Taiji—the Evolve scored 23.5 and 9.14 frames per second, respectively. Not great scores, but good enough for an inexpensive phone. Popular games like Temple Run 2 and Fruit Ninja ran smoothly, though I suspect some of the more intense graphical games in the Google Play Store will choke the Evolve. Web browsing was very smooth, and switching between games and other apps was quick and fluid.

Camera
The 5-megapixel camera takes decent, but not great photos. Most lack proper exposure and show washed-out colors, and indoor photos are noisy, but they're not unusable. The camera is fast, though, offering quick continuous shooting when you hold down the shutter button or volume rocker. The lack of flash really limits the low-light photos you can take, and, of course, you can't use your phone as a flashlight.

The phone records 720p video and is able to keep its frame rate consistent no matter the light levels. Your footage will suffer from the lack of image stabilization, and graininess when shooting indoors, but again, for a budget phone, it's not bad. The VGA-quality front-facing camera is just that: VGA-quality. You won't see any detail unless your subject is very well lit.

Conclusion
The Alcatel One Touch Evolve isn't the best Android phone on T-Mobile. That's the Galaxy S4. But for $100 total, it's not a bad deal at all, offering good performance and features for the price.

If you need a physical keyboard you can try the free-on-contract myTouch Q, but it runs an ancient version of Android. For about $70 more, you can grab the Evolve's 4.5-inch counterpart, the Alcatel One Touch Fierce, which packs a quad-core processor and 1GB or RAM, but still lacks LTE. If you're on T-Mobile and are looking to enter the Android ecosystem with little investment, the Evolve worth a look.  It's cheap, can run apps like Facebook and Candy Crush Saga, and it looks good doing it.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/U_0W6v64A_o/0,2817,2426379,00.asp
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Note this: Samsung tablets rank highest in J.D. Power's owner satisfaction study

Purchase Experience Greatly Impacts Overall Tablet Customer Satisfaction

Samsung Ranks Highest in Owner Satisfaction with Tablet Devices

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.: 31 October 2013 --Whether a tablet is purchased online or from a retail store, price, device information, brand and model selection greatly influence overall customer satisfaction, according to the J.D. Power 2013 U.S. Tablet Satisfaction StudySM--Volume 2 released today.

KEY FINDINGS
- More than one-half (59%) of tablet owners purchase their device in a store, while 41 percent purchase online. Tablet owners who purchase their device online rate their purchase experience 8.5 (on a 10-point scale), compared with 8.3 among those who purchase at a store, and also provide a slightly higher satisfaction rating for the price of the tablet (7.8 vs. 7.5, respectively).
- Overall customer satisfaction with tablet devices is 821 (on a 1,000-point scale). Customer satisfaction among tablet owners who rate their purchase experience high (9 or 10) is 114 points higher (879) than those who rate their purchase experience lower (8 or below).
- Prior to purchasing their tablet, 50 percent of consumers rely on recommendations from friends, family members or colleagues, while 49 percent gather information from the manufacturer's website. These sources are followed by brand reputation (42%) and past experience with the brand (32%).
- Samsung ranks highest with a score of 835 and is the only manufacturer to improve across all five factors since the previous reporting period in April 2013. Samsung showed particularly strong improvement in the cost factor (25-point increase). Apple ranks second scoring 833 and performs particularly well in performance and ease of operation.

"Whether consumers prefer the online channel for competitive pricing compared with the tactile retail store experience, effectively matching owner needs with the appropriate tablet model during the purchase process goes a long way in positively influencing overall satisfaction," said Kirk Parsons, senior director of telecommunications services at J.D. Power.

The 2013 U.S. Tablet Satisfaction Study--Volume 2 is based on experiences evaluated by 3,375 tablet owners who have owned their current device for less than one year. The study was fielded between March and August 2013. The study measures satisfaction across five key factors (in order of importance): performance (26%); ease of operation (22%); styling and design (19%); features (17%); and cost (16%).

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/31/samsung-tablets-owner-satisfaction-j-d-power/?ncid=rss_truncated
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Study gives Catholic schools poor marks

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

31-Oct-2013

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Contact: Andy Henion
henion@msu.edu
517-355-3294
Michigan State University

EAST LANSING, Mich. A national study led by a Michigan State University economist suggests Catholic schools are not superior to public schools after all.

Math scores for Catholic students dropped between kindergarten and eighth grade, while math scores for public school students increased slightly. In addition, Catholic students saw no significant increase in reading scores or better behavioral outcomes between kindergarten and eighth grade.

"Across many outcomes, both academic and behavioral, we don't find anything that seems to point to a real benefit of Catholic schools over public schools," said Todd Elder, MSU associate professor of economics.

There are more than 2 million students in 6,700 Catholic schools in the United States, according to the National Catholic Educational Association.

The study, published in the Journal of Urban Economics, is the first to examine test scores starting in kindergarten. Results from the first national standardized tests in math and reading taken just weeks after the start of kindergarten show that Catholic school students perform much better on average than public school students.

That huge gap is likely due to higher socioeconomic status for families who send their children to Catholic schools, Elder said. "What you see is that the kids who go to Catholic schools are much, much different the day they walk in the door than the kids who go to public schools."

But if Catholic schools were truly better, as past research implies, that achievement gap would widen as the students progressed through school and it doesn't, in either math or reading, Elder said. In fact, when it comes to math scores, the public school students closed the gap considerably by the eighth grade.

"That's the shocking finding," Elder said.

While previous research has noted that Catholic school students generally outperform public students academically, it has missed the point that Catholic students essentially start off in kindergarten with an advantage that has nothing to do with the schooling itself, he said.

One possible explanation for lower Catholic school achievement is that Catholic school teachers typically make less than public teachers. The study notes that in 2008, private elementary school teachers had an average salary of $35,730 compared to $51,660 in public schools a 45 percent difference.

"Some people say Catholic schools are doing more with less," Elder said. "But these findings suggest they're not doing more with less that they may, in fact, be doing less with less."

Another possible explanation is that public schools have better designed curriculum, the study says.

Elder analyzed the data of about 7,000 students who participated in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study: Kindergarten Class of 1998-99. The students were surveyed in kindergarten, first grade, third grade, fifth grade and eighth grade.

In addition to math and reading scores, the study looked at behavioral outcomes and other factors including absences, suspensions, tardiness and repeating grades. "Taken together," the study says, "the estimates in this paper do not point to any beneficial effects of Catholic primary schooling."

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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.

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

31-Oct-2013

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Contact: Andy Henion
henion@msu.edu
517-355-3294
Michigan State University

EAST LANSING, Mich. A national study led by a Michigan State University economist suggests Catholic schools are not superior to public schools after all.

Math scores for Catholic students dropped between kindergarten and eighth grade, while math scores for public school students increased slightly. In addition, Catholic students saw no significant increase in reading scores or better behavioral outcomes between kindergarten and eighth grade.

"Across many outcomes, both academic and behavioral, we don't find anything that seems to point to a real benefit of Catholic schools over public schools," said Todd Elder, MSU associate professor of economics.

There are more than 2 million students in 6,700 Catholic schools in the United States, according to the National Catholic Educational Association.

The study, published in the Journal of Urban Economics, is the first to examine test scores starting in kindergarten. Results from the first national standardized tests in math and reading taken just weeks after the start of kindergarten show that Catholic school students perform much better on average than public school students.

That huge gap is likely due to higher socioeconomic status for families who send their children to Catholic schools, Elder said. "What you see is that the kids who go to Catholic schools are much, much different the day they walk in the door than the kids who go to public schools."

But if Catholic schools were truly better, as past research implies, that achievement gap would widen as the students progressed through school and it doesn't, in either math or reading, Elder said. In fact, when it comes to math scores, the public school students closed the gap considerably by the eighth grade.

"That's the shocking finding," Elder said.

While previous research has noted that Catholic school students generally outperform public students academically, it has missed the point that Catholic students essentially start off in kindergarten with an advantage that has nothing to do with the schooling itself, he said.

One possible explanation for lower Catholic school achievement is that Catholic school teachers typically make less than public teachers. The study notes that in 2008, private elementary school teachers had an average salary of $35,730 compared to $51,660 in public schools a 45 percent difference.

"Some people say Catholic schools are doing more with less," Elder said. "But these findings suggest they're not doing more with less that they may, in fact, be doing less with less."

Another possible explanation is that public schools have better designed curriculum, the study says.

Elder analyzed the data of about 7,000 students who participated in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study: Kindergarten Class of 1998-99. The students were surveyed in kindergarten, first grade, third grade, fifth grade and eighth grade.

In addition to math and reading scores, the study looked at behavioral outcomes and other factors including absences, suspensions, tardiness and repeating grades. "Taken together," the study says, "the estimates in this paper do not point to any beneficial effects of Catholic primary schooling."

###

---

[


| 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/2013-10/msu-sgc103113.php
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McIlroy bolts out to the lead at HSBC Champions

Rory Mcllory of Northern Ireland plays on the 8th fairway during the first round of the HSBC Champions golf tournament at the Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai, China, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013. McIlroy looked more like a two-time major champion Thursday when he opened with a 7-under 65 to build a two-shot lead in HSBC Champions. McIlroy was at his best around the turn when he made four birdies in a five-hole stretch. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Rory Mcllory of Northern Ireland plays on the 8th fairway during the first round of the HSBC Champions golf tournament at the Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai, China, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013. McIlroy looked more like a two-time major champion Thursday when he opened with a 7-under 65 to build a two-shot lead in HSBC Champions. McIlroy was at his best around the turn when he made four birdies in a five-hole stretch. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Rory Mcllory of Northern Ireland hits out of a bunker on the 8th hole during the first round of the HSBC Champions golf tournament at the Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai, China, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013. McIlroy looked more like a two-time major champion Thursday when he opened with a 7-under 65 to build a two-shot lead in HSBC Champions. McIlroy was at his best around the turn when he made four birdies in a five-hole stretch. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Rory Mcllory of Northern Ireland tees off the 8th hole during the first round of the HSBC Champions golf tournament at the Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai, China, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013. McIlroy looked more like a two-time major champion Thursday when he opened with a 7-under 65 to build a two-shot lead in HSBC Champions. McIlroy was at his best around the turn when he made four birdies in a five-hole stretch. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Martin Kaymer of Germany chips onto the 9th hole during the first round of the Shanghai HSBC Champions golf tournament at the Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai, China, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013. (AP Photo)

Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano of Spain kisses his ball on the 9th hole during the first round of the Shanghai HSBC Champions golf tournament at the Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai, China, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013. (AP Photo)

SHANGHAI (AP) — The graceful combination of power and balance. The bounce in his step after every birdie. His name at the top of the leaderboard. For at least one round, Rory McIlroy finally looked like the former No. 1 player in the world instead of a guy who hasn't won a tournament all year.

With eight birdies and hardly any stress, McIlroy opened the HSBC Champions on Thursday with a 7-under 65 for a two-shot lead over Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano and Jamie Donaldson. It was the first time since he won in Dubai last November that McIlroy has been in the outright lead after any round.

"It felt good to be out there and in control of my golf ball," McIlroy said.

Maybe it was just a coincidence that McIlroy's only win of any variety was earlier this week at Mission Hills when he rallied to beat Tiger Woods in an 18-hole exhibition. That didn't hurt his confidence, though the 24-year-old from Northern Ireland pointed to other factors that have been leading him in this direction.

He took a four-week break, spending most of that time in Northern Ireland with swing coach Michael Bannon and "getting back to what we used to do." He has a new driver and a golf ball that is softer, giving him more spin around the greens.

And perhaps most importantly, he hasn't lost his mind or his patience during the most difficult season of his young career.

"It's obviously frustrating when you've had a couple of seasons previous where you've had success, and not being able to emulate that," he said. "The way I look at it, if I have a 25-year career, nine months isn't actually that long. I wouldn't say 'restless,' but obviously there's a point in time where you're thinking to yourself, 'Right, come on, let's get this back on track.' But I've tried to stay as patient as possible."

More patience is required against a strong field at Sheshan International for this World Golf Championship.

Fernandez-Castano is coming off his first win of the year last week at the BMW Masters. The group at 4-under 68 included U.S. Open champion Justin Rose, former Masters champion Bubba Watson and 20-year-old Jordan Spieth, playing as though last season never ended. Another shot behind were Dustin Johnson, Paul Casey and Graeme McDowell, who remains second on the European Tour money list with hopes of catching Henrik Stenson.

The timing was crucial for McIlroy.

Not only has he failed to win a tournament, he is at No. 62 in the Race to Dubai with only two tournaments remaining to get into the top 60 and qualify for the season-ending World Tour Championship in Dubai. McIlroy won the money title a year ago.

"It's only 18 holes. It's only one round of golf," McIlroy said. "But it's definitely the way I wanted and needed to start, keeping in mind that I obviously want to play myself into Dubai and try to pick up my first win of the season, as well."

British Open champion Phil Mickelson had a chance to join McIlroy in the lead until it all went wrong. One shot behind with two holes to play, Mickelson hit two wedges into the water fronting the par-5 eighth green and took a quadruple-bogey 9. His second wedge landed some 30 feet beyond the pin and had so much spin that it raced off the green and down the bank into the water.

He hit another shot into the water on No. 9, and followed that with a brave shot to 2 feet to escape with only a bogey. He fell back to a 71.

Spieth, who went from no status at the start of the year to a spot in the Presidents Cup and No. 20 in the world, didn't arrive until Monday and has been battling jet lag this week after his first trip to China. He was 2-over through eight holes, and then played 6-under the rest of the way, as if last season never ended.

"I didn't really know what to expect out of the game this week, traveling over here and limited practice," he said. "But maybe it was good for me. My caddie helped me stay calm and stay positive, and once the putts started going in, we were just in our normal routine."

But this day ultimately was about McIlroy.

McIlroy hit a 3-wood just over the back of the par-4 16th hole and chipped to 3 feet for birdie. His 3-iron from light rough was about 20 yards short of the green on the par-5 18th, and he chipped to 5 feet for birdie. And on the par-5 second hole, another 3-iron from the rough left him 30 yards short, and he pitched that to 6 feet for birdie. The other birdie during that stretch was on No. 1, his only tee shot off line. From the rough, his 9-iron from 160 yards covered the flag and settled about 7 feet away.

"It's just learning from each week and just trying to put the pieces together," McIlroy said. "A little bit of confidence from Monday, of course, but I think it was these two previous weeks just getting back into competitive play and learning what I needed to do to improve and sort of work on those things coming into this week."

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-10-31-GLF-HSBC-Champions/id-e5d13dbcf9c342c28a0c25db0ecb6d47
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Galaxy Nexus will not get Android 4.4 KitKat

Android 4.3 is the end of the line for the Samsung-made Nexus

Galaxy Nexus owners, you might want to sit down for this. Your device won't be getting an official update to the newly-announced Android 4.4 KitKat. Quoth the Google support site:

Galaxy Nexus will not be receiving the Android 4.4 update. For more information about Galaxy Nexus, visit the Nexus Help Center.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/xYz8gXte43s/story01.htm
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Obamacare Laid Bare

Every disaster has its moment of clarity. Physicist Richard Feynman dunks an O-ring into ice water and everyone understands instantly why the shuttle Challenger exploded. This week, the Obamacare O-ring froze for all the world to see: Hundreds of thousands of cancellation letters went out to people who had been assured a dozen times by the president that “If you like your health-care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health-care plan. Period.” The cancellations lay bare three pillars of Obamacare: (a) mendacity, (b) paternalism and (c) subterfuge.

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2013/11/01/obamacare_laid_bare_319007.html
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Will Ferrell's Ron Burgundy Shares Special Halloween Message: Watch Here!

It doesn't hit theaters until Christmas Day, but Ron Burgundy is making sure you remember him this Halloween in a new "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues" video.

In the highly-anticipated sequel, San Diego's top news team heads to the Big Apple to take New York's first 24-hour news channel by storm.

Returning to their hilarious roles are Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, David Koechner, and Christina Applegate, with newcomers Harrison Ford, Kristen Wiig, and Jim Carrey providing additional starpower.

Check out Ron's message below, in which the often-clueless anchor advises viewers to dress up in their classiest suits for trick or treating.

Source: http://celebrity-gossip.net/will-ferrell/will-ferrells-ron-burgundy-shares-special-halloween-message-watch-here-953337
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Cross-border drug tunnel had rail system, electricity

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A tunnel designed to smuggle drugs from Tijuana, Mexico, to San Diego is equipped with electricity, ventilation and a rail system, U.S. authorities said Thursday, making it one of the more sophisticated secret passages discovered along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Authorities seized more than 8 tons of marijuana and 325 pounds of cocaine in connection with the discovery, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said. Three suspects were in U.S. custody.

The tunnel links warehouses in Tijuana and San Diego's Otay Mesa industrial area. The area is filled with nondescript warehouses, making it easier to conceal trucks being loaded with drugs.

The tunnel was found Wednesday and completed only recently, ICE said. Authorities did not say exactly when it was built or whether drugs are believed to have gotten through undetected.

As U.S. border security has heightened on land, Mexican drug cartels have turned to ultralight aircraft, small fishing boats and tunnels. More than 75 underground passages have been discovered along the border since 2008, designed largely to smuggle marijuana.

The tunnels are concentrated along the border in California and Arizona. San Diego is popular because its clay-like soil is easy to dig. In Nogales, Ariz., smugglers tap into vast underground drainage canals.

The tunnel is the eighth major passage discovered in San Diego since 2006, a period during which Mexico's Sinaloa cartel has solidified its hold on the prized smuggling corridor. ICE said Wednesday's tunnel was the first in the San Diego area that was found to be used for cocaine.

U.S. and Mexican authorities did not disclose the dimensions of the tunnel.

In November 2011, authorities found a 600-yard tunnel that resulted in seizures of 32 tons of marijuana on both sides of the border, with 26 tons found on the U.S. side, accounting for one of the largest pot busts in U.S. history. The tunnel was equipped with electric rail cars, lighting and ventilation. Wooden planks lined the floor.

On Thanksgiving Day of 2010, authorities found a roughly 700-yard passage equipped with rail tracks that extended from the kitchen of a Tijuana home to two San Diego warehouses, netting about 22 tons of marijuana on both sides of the border.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cross-border-drug-tunnel-equipped-rail-system-181455709.html
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T-Mobile says it'll carry the Nexus 5, forgets to give a price or date

If you're looking to get the new Nexus 5 through T-Mobile, you're in luck. The carrier has announced that it, too, plans to carry Google's latest Android smartphone, the first to run Android 4.4. KitKat.

T-Mobile neglected to say when, or what the price will be.

More at T-Mobile.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/HdKRXbSBIeE/story01.htm
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This freakish skinless body is actually a synthetic human cadaver

Though it may look like it, this is not a still frame from a torture porn movie directed by the sadist Eli Roth. Instead, it's the new synthetic cadaver that medical students are now using to get their learn on. Instead of poking humans or operating on animals, medical students can play doctor with these frighteningly freakish zombie beasts.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/yq8lp29qc6Y/@caseychan
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Is Comcast Buying The Seattle Mayoral Election To Dodge Homegrown Competition? Not Really

The mayor of Seattle has alleged that Comcast donated significant sums to his rival ahead of the November 5 election. The money could have been donated, perhaps, in hopes of scuttling the planned public-private broadband initiative in the city that could introduce new inexpensive, and fast competitive service.

In response to a question during a Reddit AMA asking what would happen to the effort – which will likely be executed with a private firm by the name of Gigabit Squared — Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn said, ”I don’t know, but I do know Comcast gave [rival candidate] Murray a big pile of money.”

That’s a stark implication. The Washington Post reported on the situation, intimating as well that Comcast could be taking a financial interest in the outcome of the election, and therefore is donating to prevent its competitive landscape from becoming steeper.

Let’s be frank: Comcast wants less competition not more, as do all corporations. It also makes political donations, as do nearly all public companies. It also donates to specific candidates, over time, because it finds the views of those candidates more palatable to its interests and perhaps in hopes of swaying them slightly during their time in elected office.

That is simple politics. If any of that surprises you, you are a bit behind.

Comcast has donated to McGinn’s rival Ed Murray in the past through his tenure as a State Senator. So, the relationship is extant. This election cycle, Comcast has made a direct $700 donation to his campaign, and a Comcast executive named Janet Turpen also donated $500.

That sort of company-executive donation is not abnormal. For example, Yahoo and one of its executives have also donated to Murray’s mayoral electoral bid this cycle. No one is accusing Yahoo of attempting to buy a vote. Now, the Post goes on to list the following larger and less public donations by Comcast to groups that have put money behind Murray:

The Broadband Communications Association of Washington PAC, which received 94 percent of its 2013 contributions from Comcast, donated $5,000 to the group People for Ed Murray less than a month after Gigabit Squared’s pricing announcement. That was the PAC’s largest single donation. Unsurprisingly, People for Ed Murray has made significant expenditures supporting Murray’s candidacy. The Web site of the Broadband Communications Association of Washington also lists Janet Turpen as president-elect.

Comcast also donated $5,000 to the PAC called the “Civic Alliance for a Sound Economy,” or CASE, whose largest expenditures were donations to People for Ed Murray, to the tune of $52,500 — over half of the money spent by the group according to the most recent disclosures online. Their second largest expenditures was $10,000 to People for a New Seattle Mayor, a group opposing McGinn’s reelection.

So, $10,000. That’s hardly big money. Perhaps $10,000 speaks more loudly than what is normal in a mayoral election, but the sums here are not out of hand.

Comcast, in a statement provided to the Post, denied that it is trying to buy the election or unduly influence it. Which is what you would expect the company to say, of course. As a firm it is spending to have an impact. You don’t spend money for no reason, of course. Comcast is supporting Murray because it favors him over McGinn. And given that McGinn has worked on creating a competitor to Comcast, that is hardly surprising.

Still, what we lack in all of this a simple answer: Does Murray favor scrapping the public-private broadband pilot, and later the full project? That is not clear. The Post says this:

The [Murray] spokesman also committed that, if elected, Murray would honor the current agreements between Gigabit Squared and the city, “but he will also makes sure that the City monitors the company’s performance to ensure that they are delivering the promised results as the project moves forward.” In other words, the limited pilot project would likely go forward in a Murray administration, but there’s more of a question about whether the rest of Seattle would be offered gigabit service via a private-public partnership.

That strikes me as a bit weak. Could it be that Murray is less enthusiastic about the broadband initiative than McGinn? Sure. It’s not his project after all. But the intimation that Comcast is trying to shift the election perhaps to dodge this specific bit of competition feels like perhaps sensible speculation, but speculation all the same.

Murray can lay this all to rest by simply stating that he is committed to the project — if he is, of course. Simple speech is the best response to innuendo.

Top Image Credit: Flickr

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Google debuts new wireless charging pad with support for Nexus 5 and 7

Last year, Google unveiled a new wireless charging pad alongside the Nexus 4 and Nexus 10, and the company has taken advantage of 2013 to come up with another one. This new charging pad has been announced in tandem with the Nexus 5, and will include support for it and the Nexus 7. It's supposed to ...

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Ask A VC: AngelPad's Thomas Korte On NYC Expansion, The Incubator's New $7M Funding Round And More

Ask A VC: AngelPad’s Thomas Korte On NYC Expansion, The Incubator’s New $7M Funding Round And More

In this week’s special episode of Ask A VC from Disrupt Europe in Berlin, Germany, AngelPad founder and former Googler Thomas Korte talked to TechCrunch about his incubator’s strategy, expansion and more.

Korte, who launched AngelPad in 2010 with six other ex-Google employees, explained why he’s kept the incubator small, with only around 10-12 startups per session (with two sessions per year). Korte also told us that AngelPad is heading east for its next session, debuting a new session in New York City (interested founders can apply here, and the deadline is Sunday).

While AngelPad was bootstrapped for the past three years with the backing of its founders, Korte also revealed that AngelPad just raised $7 million in outside investment from undisclosed LPs.

As of January of this year, AngelPad had seen 62 companies participate in five sessions. In 2012 alone, AngelPad’s 62 total companies raised $56 million, which is on top of the $25 million they had raised in 2011. The incubator has also seen some impressive exits from portfolio startups, including Twitter’s recent $350 million acquisition of MoPub.

Tune in above for more!

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