Time Warner Cable taps into Starz Play and Encore Play

Many subscribers of Starz and Encore have known the joy of free, on-demand movies for some time now, but customers of Time Warner Cable are more likely accustomed to another feeling -- one of exclusion. Fortunately, that all changes today, as Time Warner now provides access to Starz Play and Encore Play. The services are free to subscribers of the pay channels, and are accessible both over the web and via apps for Android and iOS. As it stands, Starz Play offers access to 400 titles (including 300 movies), while Encore Play offers somewhere in the neighborhood of 900 titles, 300 of which are movies. Signing into Starz Play and Encore Play is simply a matter of plugging in your Time Warner Cable ID, which is used for authentication with the Play system. Naturally, the latest announcement serves as a nice complement to TWC TV, and could also prove itself a worthwhile Plan B for times when Netflix is on the fritz.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/24/time-warner-taps-into-starz-play/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Rotation-resistant rootworms owe their success to gut microbes

June 24, 2013 ? Researchers say they now know what allows some Western corn rootworms to survive crop rotation, a farming practice that once effectively managed the rootworm pests. The answer to the decades-long mystery of rotation-resistant rootworms lies -- in large part -- in the rootworm gut, the team reports.

The findings appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Differences in the relative abundance of certain bacterial species in the rootworm gut help the adult rootworm beetles feed on soybean leaves and tolerate the plant's defenses a little better, the researchers report. This boost in digestive finesse allows rotation-resistant beetles to survive long enough to lay their eggs in soybean fields. Their larvae emerge the following spring and feast on the roots of newly planted corn.

"These insects, they have only one generation per year," said University of Illinois entomology department senior scientist Manfredo Seufferheld, who led the study. "And yet within a period of about 20 years in Illinois they became resistant to crop rotation. What allowed this insect to adapt so fast? These bacteria, perhaps."

Controlling rootworms is an expensive concern faced by all Midwest corn growers, said study co-author Joseph Spencer, an insect behaviorist at the Illinois Natural History Survey (part of the Prairie Research Institute at the U. of I.). Yield losses, the use of insecticides and corn hybrids engineered to express rootworm-killing toxins in their tissues cost U.S. growers at least $1 billion a year.

In a 2012 study, Seufferheld, Spencer and their colleagues reported that rotation-resistant rootworm beetles were better able than their nonresistant counterparts to tolerate the defensive chemicals produced in soybeans leaves. This allowed the beetles to feed more and survive longer on soybean plants. The researchers found that levels of key digestive enzymes differed significantly between the rotation-resistant and nonresistant rootworms, but differences in the expression of the genes encoding these enzymes did not fully explain the rotation-resistant beetles' advantage. Seufferheld and his colleagues thought that microbes in the rootworms' guts might be helping them better tolerate life in a soybean field.

To test this hypothesis, graduate student Chia-Ching Chu analyzed the population of microbes living in the guts of rootworm beetles collected from seven sites across the Midwest. Some of these sites (including Piper City, Ill.) are hot spots of rotation-resistance and others (in Nebraska and northwest Missouri, for example) lack evidence of rotation-resistant rootworms.

Chu found significant and consistent differences in the relative abundance of various types of bacteria in the guts of rotation-resistant and nonresistant rootworms (see graphic). These differences corresponded to differing activity levels of digestive enzymes in their guts and to their ability to tolerate soybean plant defenses.

The researchers found other parallels between the composition of gut microbes and the life history of the rootworms. The beetles' gut microbial structure corresponded to the insects' level of activity (rotation-resistant rootworms are usually more active), and also paralleled -- in a graduated fashion -- the plant diversity of the landscapes they inhabited. (Rotation-resistant rootworms are most abundant in regions where rotated corn and soybean fields are the dominant components of the agricultural landscape.)

To determine whether the microbes were in fact giving the rotation-resistant beetles an advantage, the researchers dosed the beetles with antibiotics. Low-level exposure to antibiotics had no effect on any of the beetles, but at higher doses the rotation-resistant beetles' survival time on soybean leaves fell to that of the nonresistant beetles. Antibiotics also lowered the activity of digestive enzymes in the rotation-resistant beetles' guts to that of their nonresistant counterparts.

The message of the research, Seufferheld said, is that the gut microbes are not just passive residents of the rootworm gut.

"They are very active players in the adaptation of the insect," he said. "The microbial community acts as a versatile multicellular organ."

"It's not just the rootworm that we have to worry about," Spencer said. "There's really this whole conspiracy between the rootworm and its co-conspirators in the gut that can respond fairly quickly, relatively speaking, to the assaults that they face."

The research team also included former postdoctoral researcher Jorge Zavala (now a professor at the University of Buenos Aires) and graduate student Matias Curzi.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/slJG9FABJYI/130624152603.htm

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Agent smartwatch SDK released, developers can start tinkering

Four days after hitting its Kickstarter goal, Agent Watches has released the SDK for its smartwatch. The watches won't ship until December, but all developers need to start working is the emulator and a Bluetooth-compatible device. Windows Phone 8 Developer Mike Hole posted a link to the tools on his blog, plus detailed notes with sample code and a how-to for the emulator. With all this info, maybe you'll write a few of the apps for the hip and sexy people from that Kickstarter video.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wearables, Microsoft

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/25/agent-smartwatch-bluetooth-sdk/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Idolian Studio 10

The budget tablet realm was once strictly reserved for no-name devices that were shoddy at best. That's all changed with companies like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Google itself offering up budget-friendly, high-quality tablets that put those fringe devices of yesteryear to shame. The Idolian Studio 10 falls somewhere in between, with a low $258 (direct) asking price, but some frustrating compromises. The sturdy aluminum frame and generous port selection are nice, but it suffers from Wi-Fi issues, bugs, and short battery life. If money is your greatest concern, I'd pony up the extra cash for a tablet like the Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9"?or save $50 with the Coby MID1065.

Design and Features
Judging by outward appearances, the Studio 10 doesn't look or feel cheap. It's got a substantial, if somewhat hefty, aluminum body that feels sturdy in the hand and yields almost no flex. At 10.1 by 6.9 by 0.4 inches (HWD) and 1.29 pounds, it's in line with the MID1065 in terms of size and weight. A plastic panel along the left edge houses a microSD card slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack, micro USB and mini HDMI ports, and a DC power input. Like the MID1065, the Studio 10 syncs via micro USB, but requires the included power brick to charge. The micro USB port also supports USB OTG, and Idolian includes an adapter for plugging in peripherals like USB mice and keyboards?both of which worked fine in my tests. ?

The 1,280-by-800 pixel IPS display isn't bad, but it's unremarkable. It gets bright and viewing angles are good. Colors skew a little cool, as whites have a bit of a blue hue, and I noticed some backlight bleeding at the edges. It's neck and neck with the Coby MID1065 on the display front, while coming a bit short of tablets like the Toshiba Excite 10 SE.

This is a Wi-Fi-only tablet that connects to 802.11b/g/n networks on the 2.4GHz frequency. During testing, the Studio 10 had some trouble reconnecting to Wi-Fi when woken from sleep?there were noticeable delays even though saved networks were within range. The tablet also supports Bluetooth 2.1 and connected easily with a pair of wireless headphones

Performance and Android
The Studio 10 is powered by a dual-core 1.6GHz Cortex-A9 processor with 1GB RAM and 16GB of internal storage. Performance is generally swift, and the Studio 10 did well on most of our benchmarks?besting the MID1065 in many categories. And while the MID1065 was plagued by choppy real-world performance, the Studio 10 feels much smoother in operation. Gaming performance is decent, with games like Temple Run 2 running without a hitch, but don't expect high framerates on more graphically intensive games like Real Racing 3.

The software loaded onto the Studio 10 is a mixed bag. It's running Android 4.1.1 "Jelly Bean," which is a step up from the MID1065's 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich," but buggy Google apps hold this tablet back. Google apps like the Play Store, Gmail, and Chrome are disabled by default?you have to dig into the settings, find Developer options, then uncheck "Hide Google Application." Idolian says it is still working out the kinks with its Google certification, but promised future firmware updates to resolve any bugs. As it stands, the Studio 10 can access the Play Store and its hundreds of thousands of apps, but I found frustrating deficiencies, like the fact that Chrome did not work during testing.

For media support, the Studio 10 handles Xvid, DivX, MPEG4, H.264, and AVI videos at up to 1080p resolution. For audio, you get MP3, AAC, FLAC, OGG, WAV, and WMA support. Screen mirroring worked fine using a mini HDMI cable, and the tablet was able to output video at 720p or 1080p resolution. If you absolutely need a camera on your tablet, there are front- and rear-facing 2-megapixel cameras, but they are not worth using?details are smudged, image noise is overwhelming, and dynamic range is non-existent.

In our battery rundown test, which loops a video with screen brightness set to max and Wi-Fi on, the Studio 10 lasted 3 hours, 56 minutes, which is disappointing. Compare that with the MID1065's 4 hours, 37 minutes or the Excite 10 SE's 7 hours, 37 minutes.

Conclusions
The Idolian Studio 10 may look and feel like a more expensive tablet, but it makes a number of compromises to ring in at a budget-friendly price. Chief among them is haphazard Google apps implementation that can leave novices in the dark. And even if you know your way around Android, the Studio 10 can still give you problems. Performance-wise, it's right in line with budget options like the MID1065, which is even less expensive than the Studio 10. So if you have more room in your budget, I'd recommend a tablet like the Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9", which gets you a far sharper display, better performance, and a much smoother software experience.?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/_juRByAsS-I/0,2817,2420607,00.asp

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High court to hear Obama recess appointments case

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Supreme Court on Monday waded into a major constitutional clash between President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans that could fundamentally limit a president's use of recess appointments to fill high-level administration posts.

The justices will review a federal appeals court ruling that found Obama overstepped his authority when he bypassed the Senate last year to fill three vacancies on the National Labor Relations Board.

The case ? to be decided next term ? highlights the growing partisanship that has led GOP lawmakers to stall or filibuster several of Obama's choices to head federal agencies that Republicans distrust. That includes nominees to the labor board, which has issued several union-friendly decisions, and the newly formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The Constitution gives the president the power to make temporary appointments to fill positions that otherwise require confirmation by the Senate, but only when the Senate is in recess.

At issue for the Supreme Court: What constitutes a congressional recess and does it matter when a vacancy occurs?

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., held earlier this year that recess appointments can be made only during the once-a-year break between sessions of Congress. Two judges on the panel also ruled ? for the first time ? that a vacancy must occur while the Senate is away in order to be filled during the same break.

If the Supreme Court agrees, it would make it nearly impossible for a president to use the recess power, giving the opposition party in Congress the ability to block administration nominees indefinitely.

"Should they uphold the D.C. Circuit, it would be a major blow to presidential power," said Sanford Levinson, a constitutional law professor at the University of Texas. "The rationale for recess appointments in the modern world is much more the ability of the president to staff his administration in the face of Senate hostility."

Obama has made relatively few recess appointments, 32 in his four-plus years in office, according to the Congressional Research Service. Bush made 171 such appointments and President Bill Clinton filled 139 posts that way in their eight years in office, the research service said.

The Obama administration argues the ruling is a radical departure from precedent that would invalidate hundreds of recess appointments made by presidents of both parties over more than 100 years. Those appointments include "three Cabinet secretaries, five court of appeals judges, 10 district court judges, a director of Central Intelligence, a chairman of the Federal Reserve, numerous members of multi-member boards, and holders of a variety of other critical government posts," Solicitor General Donald Verrilli said in his petition to the Supreme Court.

But all 45 Republicans in the Senate ? led by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky? have filed a friend of the court brief asserting that Obama "made an unprecedented power grab" by making the recess picks.

The nature of the president's actions, during brief Senate breaks that Congress explicitly said were not formal recesses, is driving the current legal controversy.

The case stems from Obama's decision to fill the three NLRB vacancies on Jan. 4, 2012, with Congress on an extended holiday break. At the same time, however, the Senate held brief, pro forma sessions every few days as part of the Republicans' explicit strategy of keeping Obama from filling vacancies through recess appointments. The president also used a recess appointment to install Richard Cordray as head of the financial protection agency, a nomination the GOP had blocked for a year and a half.

In taking up the case, the court said it would also consider the narrower question of whether recess appointments can be made during pro forma sessions ? where one senator gavels in and out for a few minutes every three days. The appeals court did not address the issue of how short a break can count as a recess.

The case challenging the appointments was brought by Noel Canning, a Washington state bottling company, which claimed an NLRB decision against it was not valid because the board members were not properly appointed and that the board did not have enough members to do business without the improperly appointed officials.

Since the Canning decision, a second federal appeals court in Philadelphia issued a similar opinion finding that recess appointments can be made only between sessions of the Senate. But on three earlier occasions, federal appeals courts have upheld recess appointments.

If the latest rulings stand, they could invalidate more than 1,600 NLRB decisions, and call into question the legitimacy of enforcement actions by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, many of which affect the mortgage industry.

The NLRB would effectively be shut down as a ruling against the administration would leave the board with only one member, and it needs three to conduct business.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau likewise would have to cease all investigations against mortgage lenders and other financial entities.

"It's going to be sheer chaos," said Alan Kaplinsky, a consumer financial services attorney based in Philadelphia. "If the court determines it was not valid, then literally almost every act taken by the CFPB since January 2012 will be under a huge cloud of uncertainty."

Obama used the recess appointment to install Deputy Labor Secretary Sharon Block, union lawyer Richard Griffin and NLRB counsel Terence Flynn to fill vacancies on the labor board, giving it a full contingent for the first time in more than a year. Block and Griffin are Democrats, while Flynn is a Republican. Flynn stepped down from the board last year.

The parties' roles were reversed when a Republican President George W. Bush was in the White House and Democrats controlled the Senate in the final two years of Bush's presidency. Then, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid employed the same tactic of convening the Senate every few days to keep Bush from filling vacancies through recess appointments. Unlike Obama, Bush did not press the issue.

___

Associated Press writer Mark Sherman contributed to this report.

___

Follow Sam Hananel on Twitter: http://twitter.com/SamHananelAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/high-court-hear-obama-recess-appointments-case-133614635.html

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Ecuador says Snowden seeking asylum there

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) ? Ecuador's foreign minister said Monday his country will act not on its interests but on its principles as it considers an asylum request from National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, wanted for revealing classified U.S. secrets.

Speaking to reporters through a translator at a hotel in Hanoi, Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said the asylum request "has to do with freedom of expression and with the security of citizens around the world."

Patino spoke briefly to reporters on his way to a meeting with Vietnam's foreign minister. He did not say how long it would take Ecuador to decide.

Snowden was on a flight from Hong Kong that arrived in Moscow Sunday and was booked on a flight to Cuba Monday, the Russian news agencies ITAR-Tass and Interfax reported, citing unnamed airline officials.

"We know that he's currently in Moscow, and we are ... in touch with the highest authorities of Russia," Patino said.

Anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks said Snowden was bound for Ecuador "via a safe route for the purposes of asylum, and is being escorted by diplomats and legal advisers from WikiLeaks." The organization's founder Julian Assange, was granted asylum by Ecuador last year and has been staying at the country's embassy in the United Kingdom.

The Russian reports said a plane carrying Snowden arrived in Moscow on Sunday and he was booked on a flight to Cuba on Monday. The reports cited unnamed airline officials and said he intended to travel from Cuba to Caracas, Venezuela. There was also speculation that he might try to reach Ecuador.

Snowden had been in hiding in Hong Kong for several weeks after he revealed information on the highly classified spy programs.

Patino said Ecuador would not base its asylum decision on its potential to damage the country's relationship with the United States

"There are some governments that act more upon their own interests, but we do not," Patino said. "We act upon our principles."

He added, "We take care of the human rights of the people."

Patino was to hold a news conference Monday evening in Hanoi.

WikiLeaks said it was providing legal help to Snowden at his request and that he was being escorted by diplomats and legal advisers from the group.

Assange has spent a year inside the Ecuadorean Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden to face questioning about sex crime allegations. He told the Sydney Morning Herald that his organization is in a position to help Snowden because it has expertise in international asylum and extradition law.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ecuador-says-snowden-seeking-asylum-170413690.html

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Idolian Mini Studio

Like most Apple copycats, the Idolian Mini Studio ($178 direct) looks the part, but is a far cry from the iPad mini?it shamelessly apes. It's more of a scaled down Studio 10, with essentially the same internal components and software, but a smaller and lower-resolution display. If you're on a strict budget, the Mini Studio will net you basic tablet functions on the cheap, but spending just a bit more can get you a vastly superior Google Nexus 7?or Amazon Kindle Fire HD. And if you want to go even lower, the Coby MID8065?offers similar performance and features for less.

Design and Features
The Mini Studio is a tweener, with its 8-inch screen and 4:3 aspect ratio?clearly aimed to mimic the iPad mini. At 8.2 by 6.4 by 0.39 inches (HWD) and 14.8 ounces, it's relatively thin and light, but still doesn't come close to matching the fit or finish of the iPad. It feels more solidly built than the MID8065?and is a bit lighter to boot.?The aluminum back is sturdy, but the edges can feel sharp and dig into your palms over time.

A plastic panel along the left edge houses a microSD card slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack, micro USB and mini HDMI ports, and a DC power input. Like the Studio 10, the Mini Studio syncs via micro USB, but requires the included power brick to charge. The micro USB port also supports USB OTG, and Idolian includes an adapter for plugging in peripherals like USB mice and keyboards?both of which worked fine in my tests. It's a generous selection of ports compared with the Nexus 7 or the Kindle Fire HD.?

The 8-inch, 1,024-by-768 IPS display is sharp, but it's a bit too dim and colors appear too cool. Whites have a distinct blue hue to them and outdoor visibility is pretty bad. The Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD have sharper and brighter displays, while the iPad mini easily trounces the Mini Studio. It's about on par with the display on the MID8065.

This is a Wi-Fi-only tablet that connects to 802.11b/g/n networks on the 2.4GHz frequency. During testing, the Mini Studio had some trouble reconnecting to Wi-Fi networks when woken from sleep?there were noticeable delays even though saved networks were within range. The tablet also supports Bluetooth 2.1 and connected easily with a pair of wireless headphones.

Performance and Android
The Mini Studio is packing pretty much identical specs to its larger sibling?a dual-core 1.6GHz Cortex-A9 processor with 1GB RAM. Performance is generally swift, and the Studio 10 did well on most of our benchmarks?besting the MID8065 in many categories. Gaming performance is decent, with games like Temple Run 2 running without a hitch, but don't expect high framerates on more graphically intensive games like Real Racing 3.

The software loaded onto the Mini Studio is a mixed bag. It's running Android 4.1.1 "Jelly Bean," which is a step up from the MID8065's 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich," but buggy Google apps hold this tablet back. Google apps like the Play Store, Gmail, and Chrome are disabled by default?you have to dig into the settings, find Developer options, then uncheck "Hide Google Application." Idolian says it is still working out the kinks with its Google certification, but promised future firmware updates to resolve any bugs. As it stands, the Mini Studio can access the Play Store and its hundreds of thousands of apps, but I found frustrating deficiencies, like the fact that Chrome did not work during testing.

For media support, the Studio 10 handles Xvid, DivX, MPEG4, H.264, and AVI videos at up to 1080p resolution. For audio, you get MP3, AAC, FLAC, OGG, WAV, and WMA support. Screen mirroring worked fine using a mini HDMI cable, and the tablet was able to output video at 720p or 1080p resolution. If you absolutely need a camera on your tablet, there are front- and rear-facing 2-megapixel cameras, but they are not worth using?details are smudged, image noise is overwhelming, and dynamic range is non-existent.

In our battery rundown test, which loops a video with screen brightness set to max and Wi-Fi on, the Mini Studio lasted 4 hours, 55 minutes. Compare that with the MID8065's 3 hours, 11 minutes and the Nexus 7's 10 hours, 30 minutes in the same test?it's decent, but not great.

Conclusions
When it comes to small-screen tablets, you have a lot of great options, even in the budget-conscious realm. While the Idolian Mini Studio looks and feels like a premium tablet, it's lacking the software refinement that makes tablets like the Nexus 7 or Amazon Kindle Fire HD stand out. On top of that, there are a few clear compromises in terms of display quality and software polish. If you simply want the least expensive and functional tablet, the Amazon Kindle Fire (2012)?is still a good choice too. I'd recommend any of these tablets over the Mini Studio, and if you really need the microSD card slot and HDMI out, the MID8065 is a better value.?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/8zPWrjOrtiw/0,2817,2420702,00.asp

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