Sunday, March 31, 2013

Can I Set Back Color Of Datetime Picker? - VB.NET | Dream.In.Code


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    #1 yogesh7136 ?Icon User is offline

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    Posted Yesterday, 09:19 PM

    There is no property to set the back color of Datetime Picker, is there another way to set backcolor of it?

    Is This A Good Question/Topic? 0

    Replies To: Can i set back color of Datetime Picker?

    #2 lar3ry ?Icon User is online

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    Re: Can i set back color of Datetime Picker?

    Posted Yesterday, 09:52 PM

    View Postyogesh7136, on 29 March 2013 - 10:19 PM, said:

    There is no property to set the back color of Datetime Picker, is there another way to set backcolor of it?


    It's a VERY weird thing... supposedly, you can use .CalendarMonthBackground or .CalendarTitleBackColor, but I can't get it to work. The properties are in the property list, they're in the docs too, but it doesn't seem to work at all.

    #3 andrewsw ?Icon User is online

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    Re: Can i set back color of Datetime Picker?

    Posted Today, 01:36 AM

    Yes, weird. It seems that MS in their wisdom haven't filled in these properties (excuse the silly pun! groan).

    There is code here at SO to achieve this, but it is in C# and needs translation; but it requires creating a custom control that extends DateTimePicker.

    
const int WM_ERASEBKGND = 0x14;   protected override void WndProc(ref System.Windows.Forms.Message m) {      if(m.Msg == WM_ERASEBKGND)      {        Graphics g = Graphics.FromHdc(m.WParam);        g.FillRectangle(new SolidBrush(_backColor), ClientRectangle);        g.Dispose();        return;      }        base.WndProc(ref m); }


    #4 CharlieMay ?Icon User is online

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    Re: Can i set back color of Datetime Picker?

    Posted Today, 05:47 AM

    Quote

    Starting with Windows Vista and depending on the theme, setting this property might not change the appearance of the calendar. For example, if Windows is set to use the Aero theme, setting this property has no effect. This is because an updated version of the calendar is rendered with an appearance that is derived at run time from the current operating system theme. If you want to use this property and enable the earlier version of the calendar, you can disable visual styles for your application. Disabling visual styles might affect the appearance and behavior of other controls in your application. To disable visual styles in Visual Basic, open the Project Designer and uncheck the Enable XP visual styles check box. To disable visual styles in C#, open Program.cs and comment out Application.EnableVisualStyles();

    Doesn't solve your problem but it explains why those properties seem to have no affect. Unless you want everything to have that old ugly Win 98 look and feel :(

    This post has been edited by CharlieMay: Today, 05:55 AM


    #5 lar3ry ?Icon User is online

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    Re: Can i set back color of Datetime Picker?

    Posted 6 minutes ago

    View Postandrewsw, on 30 March 2013 - 02:36 AM, said:

    There is code here at SO to achieve this, but it is in C# and needs translation; but it requires creating a custom control that extends DateTimePicker.
    Well, I have it translated (thanks to the folks at developerfusion.com...
    
 Const WM_ERASEBKGND As Integer = &H14      Protected Overrides Sub WndProc(ByRef m As System.Windows.Forms.Message)         If m.Msg = WM_ERASEBKGND Then             Dim g As Graphics = Graphics.FromHdc(m.WParam)             g.FillRectangle(New SolidBrush(Color.AliceBlue), ClientRectangle)             g.Dispose()             Return         End If          MyBase.WndProc(m)     End Sub 

    This sets the BackColor of the form itself, so if anyone knows offhand, how to use this to extend another control, we have a workaround.

    Page 1 of 1


    Source: http://www.dreamincode.net/forums/topic/317172-can-i-set-back-color-of-datetime-picker/

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    China "resolutely opposes" U.S. curbs on IT imports: state media

    By Megha Rajagopalan

    BEIJING (Reuters) - China expressed "resolute opposition" and "strong dissatisfaction" with a new U.S. cyber-espionage rule limiting imports of Chinese-made information technology products, state media reported on Saturday.

    The remarks underscore growing tension between the world's top two economies after the United States accused China of backing a string of hacking attacks on U.S. companies and government agencies.

    China says the accusation lacks proof and that it is also a victim of hacking attacks, more than half of which originate from the United States.

    The new provision, tucked into a funding bill signed into law on Thursday, requires NASA, as well as the Justice and Commerce Departments, to seek approval from federal law enforcement officials before buying information technology systems from China.

    The United States imports about $129 billion worth of "advanced technology products" from China, according to a May 2012 report by the U.S. Congressional Research Service.

    State media including Xinhua, the China Daily and the People's Daily, quoted a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce as saying the U.S. bill "sends a very wrong signal".

    "This will directly impact partnerships of Chinese enterprises and American business as they conduct regular trade," said Shen Danyang, the commerce ministry spokesman.

    "This abuse of so-called national security measures is unfair to Chinese enterprises, and extends the discriminatory practice of presumption of guilt," the article in the official People's Daily said, quoting Shen. "This severely damages mutual trust between the U.S. and China."

    The United States should eliminate the law, Shen said.

    Technology security lawyer Stewart Baker wrote in a blog post this week that China could claim that the United States is violating World Trade Organization rules.

    However, because Beijing hasn't signed a WTO agreement setting international rules for government procurement, it may not be successful in its challenge, Baker said.

    Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei also urged the U.S. to abandon the law at a news conference on Thursday.

    "This bill uses Internet security as an excuse to take discriminatory steps against Chinese companies," he said.

    (Reporting By Megha Rajagopalan)

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-resolutely-opposes-u-curbs-imports-state-media-052921146.html

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    Internet Riches: The Simple Money-Making Secrets of Online ...

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    Source: http://newsp.com/internet-marketing-news/internet-riches-the-simple-money-making-secrets-of-online-millionaires

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    Saturday, March 30, 2013

    Hasty embrace for some lawmakers on gay marriage

    FILE - In this May 11, 2010 file photo, Kay Hagan, D-N.C. speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. For years, American opinion on gay marriage has been shifting. Now Washington is tripping over itself trying to catch up. In less than two weeks, seven sitting senators _ all from moderate or Republican-leaning states _ announced their support, dropping one by one like dominos. Taken together, their proclamations reflected a profound change in the American political calculus: For the first time, elected officials from traditionally conservative states are starting to feel it's safer to back gay marriage than risk being the last to join the cause. (AP Photo/Harry Hamburg, File)

    FILE - In this May 11, 2010 file photo, Kay Hagan, D-N.C. speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. For years, American opinion on gay marriage has been shifting. Now Washington is tripping over itself trying to catch up. In less than two weeks, seven sitting senators _ all from moderate or Republican-leaning states _ announced their support, dropping one by one like dominos. Taken together, their proclamations reflected a profound change in the American political calculus: For the first time, elected officials from traditionally conservative states are starting to feel it's safer to back gay marriage than risk being the last to join the cause. (AP Photo/Harry Hamburg, File)

    FILE - In this Nov. 6, 2012 file photo, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. is seen in St. Louis. For years, American opinion on gay marriage has been shifting. Now Washington is tripping over itself trying to catch up. In less than two weeks, seven sitting senators _ all from moderate or Republican-leaning states _ announced their support, dropping one by one like dominos. Taken together, their proclamations reflected a profound change in the American political calculus: For the first time, elected officials from traditionally conservative states are starting to feel it's safer to back gay marriage than risk being the last to join the cause. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson. File)

    FILE - In this March 28, 2012 file photo, Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. For years, American opinion on gay marriage has been shifting. Now Washington is tripping over itself trying to catch up. In less than two weeks, seven sitting senators _ all from moderate or Republican-leaning states _ announced their support, dropping one by one like dominos. Taken together, their proclamations reflected a profound change in the American political calculus: For the first time, elected officials from traditionally conservative states are starting to feel it's safer to back gay marriage than risk being the last to join the cause. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

    FILE - In this Sept. 17, 2012 file photo, Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont. speaks in Billings, Mont. For years, American opinion on gay marriage has been shifting. Now Washington is tripping over itself trying to catch up. In less than two weeks, seven sitting senators _ all from moderate or Republican-leaning states _ announced their support, dropping one by one like dominos. Taken together, their proclamations reflected a profound change in the American political calculus: For the first time, elected officials from traditionally conservative states are starting to feel it's safer to back gay marriage than risk being the last to join the cause. (AP Photo/Matt Gouras, File)

    FILE - In this March 21, 2013 file photo, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington. For years, American opinion on gay marriage has been shifting. Now Washington is tripping over itself trying to catch up. In less than two weeks, seven sitting senators _ all from moderate or Republican-leaning states _ announced their support, dropping one by one like dominos. Taken together, their proclamations reflected a profound change in the American political calculus: For the first time, elected officials from traditionally conservative states are starting to feel it's safer to back gay marriage than risk being the last to join the cause. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

    (AP) ? As the Supreme Court considered two landmark cases on gay marriage this week, the flood of activity across the street in the Capitol was not lost on Chief Justice John Roberts.

    "As far as I can tell, political leaders are falling all over themselves to endorse your side of the case," Roberts told lawyers urging the court to rule that married gay couples should receive federal benefits.

    Roberts was hardly exaggerating. In the span of two weeks, seven senators have announced support for gay marriage, despite representing moderate or Republican-leaning states where such a move long has been considered a major political risk. One by one they fell like dominos, declaring on Facebook or quietly issuing a statement to say that they, too, now support gay marriage.

    Taken together, their proclamations reflected a profound change in the American political calculus: For the first time, elected officials from traditionally conservative states are starting to feel it's safer to back same-sex marriage than to be among the last to join the cause.

    For some Democrats, like Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill and Montana Sen. Jon Tester, the reversal would have been almost unfathomable just a few months ago as they fought for re-election. The potential risks were even greater for other Democrats like North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan and Alaska Sen. Mark Begich, already top GOP targets when they face voters next year in states that President Barack Obama lost in November. It was less than a year ago that voters in Hagan's state approved a ban on gay marriage.

    Those four Democrats and two others ? Mark Warner of Virginia and Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia ? were swept up in a shifting tide that began to take shape last year, when Obama, in the heat of his re-election campaign, became the first sitting president to endorse gay marriage. Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, a potential contender in the next presidential election, followed suit in mid-March.

    As support among party leaders builds, rank-and-file Democrats appear wary of being perceived as hold-outs in what both parties are increasingly describing as a civil-rights issue.

    "They're reflecting what they're seeing in the polls ? except the most extreme of the Republican base," former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, a Republican who supports gay marriage, said in an interview. "From a purely political perspective, if you want to be a leader of the future, you look at the next generation. They are overwhelmingly in favor of this."

    Reince Priebus, the national chairman of the Republican Party, cautioned in a USA Today interview that the GOP should not "act like Old Testament heretics."

    Among Republicans, whose party platform opposes gay marriage, the shift in position has mostly been limited to former lawmakers and prominent strategists. Still, a distinct change in tone was palpable this month when Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, a whom presidential candidate Mitt Romney vetted last year as a potential running mate, declared his support, citing a personal conversion stemming from his son coming out to him as gay.

    Rather than blast Portman for flouting party dogma or failing an ideological litmus test, Republican leaders shrugged, indicating that even if Republicans, as a party, aren't prepared to back gay marriage, they won't hold it against those in their ranks who do.

    In the Republican-controlled House, where most members come from districts heavily skewed to one party or the other, GOP leaders are not wavering publicly from their staunch opposition. When the Obama administration stopped defending in court the Defense of Marriage Act, which bars legally married gay couples from receiving federal benefits, it was House Republicans who took up the mantle. Democrats said Thursday that Republicans have spent as much as $3 million in taxpayer funds to defend the law, now being challenged at the Supreme Court.

    "It's like immigration. The party realizes they are on the losing side of some of these issues," said former Rep. Jim Kolbe, an Arizona Republican. Kolbe came out as gay in 1996 while in office and will mark another milestone in May when he and his longtime partner marry in Washington.

    "They want to make the shift, but you have got to do it in a politic and strategic way," Kolbe said. "It's a matter of how and when you take down one flag and run up the other."

    Kolbe and Whitman joined dozens of other prominent Republicans in signing a friend-of-the-court brief urging the Supreme Court to strike down the law barring federal recognition of gay marriages. But with House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, still defending the law and social conservative groups vowing payback for those who abandon it, prospects are slim that Congress will move any time soon to repeal it on its own.

    "It's sort of a bandwagon effect among the cultural elite," said Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council, which opposes gay marriage. "Some of these politicians who have changed their position, those who live in more conservative states, may pay for that shift with a defeat in their next election."

    If public opinion continues to move in the direction it has been for the past 15 years, what's true for the next election may not be true just a few years down the line ? even for Republicans.

    When Gallup first asked in polls about gay marriages, in 1996, just 27 percent felt they should be valid. That figure climbed to 44 percent two years ago, and reached a majority by November, when 53 percent said gay marriages should be recognized. Among independents, a key barometer for politicians, support has jumped 23 points to 55 percent, including a six-point gain since 2010.

    Even among Republicans, support has grown by 14 percentage points since 1996, although there's been no significant movement among Republicans since 2010, when 28 percent backed legal marriage.

    "A lot of Republicans have come to the conclusion we can't live one life in private but advocate another life in public," said Republican strategist Alex Castellanos. "We all know families who are loving parents of the same gender who are raising great kids."

    ___

    AP Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.

    ___

    Follow Josh Lederman on Twitter: http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP

    Associated Press

    Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-03-29-Gay%20Marriage/id-4e66d2c043654a96b291ede31bb8a8b9

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    Report: US Patent And Trademark Office Denies Apple's iPad Mini Trademark Application, Deemed ?Merely Descriptive?

    ipad-with-ipad-miniRight after it launched the iPad mini, Apple filed a trademark application for the name with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). As Patently Apple noticed earlier today, however, the USPTO will likely refuse Apple’s trademark filing because, the reviewer argues, “the applied-for mark merely describes a feature or characteristic of applicant?s goods.” The letter?was mailed to Apple on January 24, but only made public in the last few days. Apple can still respond to this notice and correct its application, though it’s hard to see how Apple could argue against the USPTO’s argument that ‘mini’ is ‘merely descriptive.’ “The applied-for mark merely describes a feature or characteristic of applicant?s goods.” The word ‘mini,’ the reviewer argues, just describes that the iPad mini is indeed “a small sized handheld tablet computer” and just describes the mini’s features. It is not, the reviewing attorney says, “a unitary mark with a unique, incongruous, or otherwise nondescriptive meaning in relation to the goods and/or services.” The USPTO would only grant apple the trademark to the full iPad mini name if the company coulhow that the word ‘mini’ has now acquired a “distinctiveness.” In addition, Patently Apple also notes, the reviewer also denied the application for now because Apple should have provided the USPTO with a specimen other than its own product website, even though Apple always uses these for its trademark applications and this was never a reason for a denial before. The reviewer also believes that there is a “likelihood of confusion” between Apple’s existing iPad trademarks and this new iPad? mini application, which, to be honest, doesn’t make a lot of sense. Here is the letter the USPTO sent to Apple in January: USPTO Refuses Apple’s iPad mini Trademark Application

    Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/xL16BBltNvs/

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    Common gene variants explain 42 percent of antidepressant response

    Friday, March 29, 2013

    Antidepressants are commonly prescribed for the treatment of depression, but many individuals do not experience symptom relief from treatment. The National Institute of Mental Health's STAR*D study, the largest and longest study ever conducted to evaluate depression treatment, found that only approximately one-third of patients responded within their initial medication trial and approximately one-third of patients did not have an adequate clinical response after being treated with several different medications. Thus, identifying predictors of antidepressant response could help to guide the treatment of this disorder.

    A new study published in Biological Psychiatry now shares progress in identifying genomic predictors of antidepressant response.

    Many previous studies have searched for genetic markers that may predict antidepressant response, but have done so despite not knowing the contribution of genetic factors. Dr. Katherine Tansey of Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London and colleagues resolved to answer that question.

    "Our study quantified, for the first time, how much is response to antidepressant medication influenced by an individual's genetic make-up," said Tansey.

    To perform this work, the researchers estimated the magnitude of the influence of common genetic variants on antidepressant response using a sample of 2,799 antidepressant-treated subjects with major depressive disorder and genome-wide genotyping data.

    They found that genetic variants explain 42% of individual differences, and therefore, significantly influence antidepressant response.

    "While we know that there are no genetic markers with strong effect, this means that there are many genetic markers involved. While each specific genetic marker may have a small effect, they may add up to make a meaningful prediction," Tansey added.

    "We have a very long way to go to identify genetic markers that can usefully guide the treatment of depression. There are two critical challenges to this process," said Dr. John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry. "First, we need to have genomic markers that strongly predict response or non-response to available treatments. Second, markers for non-response to available treatments also need to predict response to an alternative treatment. Both of these conditions need to be present for markers of non-response to guide personalized treatments of depression."

    "Although the Tansey et al. study represents progress, it is clear that we face enormous challenges with regards to both objectives," he added. "For example, it does not yet appear that having a less favorable genomic profile is a sufficiently strong negative predictor of response to justify withholding antidepressant treatment. Similarly, there is lack of clarity as to how to optimally treat patients who might have less favorable genomic profile."

    Additional research is certainly required, but scientists hope that one day, results such as these can lead to personalized treatment for depression.

    ###

    Elsevier: http://www.elsevier.com

    Thanks to Elsevier for this article.

    This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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    Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127522/Common_gene_variants_explain____percent_of_antidepressant_response

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    Gene discovery may yield lettuce that will sprout in hot weather

    Mar. 28, 2013 ? A team of researchers, led by a University of California, Davis, plant scientist, has identified a lettuce gene and related enzyme that put the brakes on germination during hot weather -- a discovery that could lead to lettuces that can sprout year-round, even at high temperatures.

    The study also included researchers from Arcadia Biosciences and Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, India.

    The finding is particularly important to the nearly $2 billion lettuce industries of California and Arizona, which together produce more than 90 percent of the nation's lettuce. The study results appear online in the journal The Plant Cell.

    "Discovery of the genes will enable plant breeders to develop lettuce varieties that can better germinate and grow to maturity under high temperatures," said the study's lead author Kent Bradford, a professor of plant sciences and director of the UC Davis Seed Biotechnology Center.

    "And because this mechanism that inhibits hot-weather germination in lettuce seeds appears to be quite common in many plant species, we suspect that other crops also could be modified to improve their germination," he said. "This could be increasingly important as global temperatures are predicted to rise."

    Most lettuce varieties flower in spring or early summer and then drop their seeds -- a trait that is likely linked to their origin in the Mediterranean region, which, like California, characteristically has dry summers. Scientists have observed for years that a built-in dormancy mechanism seems to prevent lettuce seeds from germinating under conditions that would be too hot and dry to sustain growth. While this naturally occurring inhibition works well in the wild, it is an obstacle to commercial lettuce production.

    In the California and Arizona lettuce industries, lettuce seeds are planted somewhere every day of the year -- even in September in the Imperial Valley of California and near Yuma, Ariz., where fall temperatures frequently reach 110 degrees.

    In order to jump-start seed germination for a winter crop in these hot climates, lettuce growers have turned to cooling the soil with sprinkler irrigation or priming the seeds to germinate by pre-soaking them at cool temperatures and re-drying them before planting -- methods that are expensive and not always successful.

    In the new study, researchers turned to lettuce genetics to better understand the temperature-related mechanisms governing seed germination. They identified a region of chromosome six in a wild ancestor of commercial lettuce varieties that enables seeds to germinate in warm temperatures. When that chromosome region was crossed into cultivated lettuce varieties, those varieties gained the ability to germinate in warm temperatures.

    Further genetic mapping studies zeroed in on a specific gene that governs production of a plant hormone called abscisic acid -- known to inhibit seed germination. The newly identified gene "turns on" in most lettuce seeds when the seed is exposed to moisture at warm temperatures, increasing production of abscisic acid. In the wild ancestor that the researchers were studying, however, this gene does not turn on at high temperatures. As a result, abscisic acid is not produced and the seeds can still germinate.

    The researchers then demonstrated that they could either "silence" or mutate the germination-inhibiting gene in cultivated lettuce varieties, thus enabling those varieties to germinate and grow even in high temperatures.

    Other researchers on the study were: Post-doctoral researcher Heqiang Huo and staff researcher Peetambar Dahal, both of the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences; Keshavulu Kunusoth of Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, India; and Claire McCallum of Arcadia Biosciences, which provided the lettuce lines with variants of the target gene to help confirm the study's findings.

    Funding for the study was provided the U.S. Department of Agriculture -- National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the National Science Foundation.

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    Story Source:

    The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Davis.

    Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


    Journal Reference:

    1. H. Huo, P. Dahal, K. Kunusoth, C. M. McCallum, K. J. Bradford. Expression of 9-cis-EPOXYCAROTENOID DIOXYGENASE4 Is Essential for Thermoinhibition of Lettuce Seed Germination but Not for Seed Development or Stress Tolerance. The Plant Cell, 2013; DOI: 10.1105/tpc.112.108902

    Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

    Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

    Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/l_5Ao2sF1pE/130329125309.htm

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    Climate Change Endgame In Sight? (Powerlineblog)

    Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

    Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/295458137?client_source=feed&format=rss

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    Lenovo C540


    The Lenovo C540 ($499 list as configured) is a basic all-in-one desktop geared toward those with modest computing needs who want to save space without breaking the bank. It's a Windows 8-equipped system kitted out with an excellent 23-inch display and an energy-saving processor. If you're on the market for a reasonably-priced system that can tackle daily home productivity tasks, like surfing the web or watching movies, it's a solid choice.


    Design and Features
    Since all of its components are tucked away into a relatively thin display, the Lenovo C540's plastic chassis bears more of a resemblance to a monitor than an all-in-one desktop. Rather than utilizing an easel-type design like the Acer Veriton VZ2650G-UG645X, its 23-inch display is propped up by a sleek aluminum stand. Taken together, its glossy black chassis and silver aluminum stand create an appealing two-tone finish similar to that of our current Editors' Choice for entry-level all-in-one desktops, the Gateway One ZX4970G-UW308. At 16.8 by 22.2 by 7.7 inches (HWD), it's compact enough to conserve desk space and reduce clutter.

    Like the Gateway One ZX4970G-UW308, the Lenovo C540's 23-inch display has a full HD resolution of 1,920 by 1,080, which is a step up from the 1,600-by-900 resolution found in similarly priced all-in-ones like the HP Pavilion 20-b010z. Like the system itself, the Lenovo C540's display is very easy on the eyes thanks to the ease with it dishes out rich colors and crisp text. Moreover, the inclusion of a slot-loading DVD burner allows users to take full advantage of the Lenovo C540's full HD resolution. Given its wonderful display, it's somewhat disappointing that the Lenovo C540 doesn't sport an HDMI-in port like the Gateway One ZX4970G-UW308, as it would have been right at home with Blu-ray players, HD cable boxes, and game consoles. On the other hand, the Lenovo C540's omission of a touch screen is entirely consistent with the price point; the only touch-enabled system that we've seen that's even close to this price range is the HP TouchSmart 320-1030, and it costs $200 extra. As long as you're content with navigating Windows 8 with the bundled mouse and keyboard, the Lenovo C540's display is easily the best in its price range.

    Connectivity options are passable on the Lenovo C540. The left side of the chassis sports a pair of USB 2.0 ports, headphone and mic jacks, and a 6-in-1 multicard reader. The rear, meanwhile, houses four more USB 2.0 ports, an HDMI-output, and Ethernet. Like the Lenovo C325, the Lenovo C540 doesn't feature any USB 3.0 ports. Although this isn't necessarily a fatal omission in this price point, it does have the unfortunate effect of rendering the system markedly less future-proof than, say, the Gateway One ZX4970G-UW308 or the Veriton VZ2650G-UG645X. It does, however, feature 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi connectivity, so users need not remain tethered to their routers to get online.

    The Lenovo C540 comes with a 1TB 7,200rpm HDD. Preloaded software is mercifully kept to a minimum, though its selection is on par with the rest of its class. You'll encounter the usual assortment of trialware (Microsoft Office 365, McAfee Internet Security), as well as programs you'll actually use (Power DVD), and bloatware (desktop links to Evernote and Amazon), and proprietary software (Lenovo Support, 5GB on Lenovo Cloud Storage). Lenovo covers the Lenovo C540 with one-year warranty on parts and labor.

    Performance
    Lenovo C540 The C540's 2.90GHz Intel Pentium G2020 CPU does a good job of conserving energy, without entirely forsaking processing power. For instance, its Cinebench R11.5 score of 2.27 points bested the rest of its class, with the Gateway One ZX4970G-UW308 (2.24 points) and Veriton VZ2650G-UG645X (2.18 points) trailing closely behind.

    While it's best suited for handling your basic day-to-day workload, the Lenovo C540 proved capable of handling sporadic amateur photo- and video-editing projects in our multimedia benchmark tests. Its performance in both Handbrake (1 minute 33 seconds) and Photoshop CS6 (5:51) outgunned the Gateway One ZX4970G-UW308 (2:16 and 6:08, respectively). On the other hand, don't expect the C540's integrated Intel HD Graphics 2500 GPU to stand a chance in today's visually intensive games; like the rest of its class, it came nowhere near crossing the 30 frames-per-second playability barrier in either Aliens Vs. Predators or Heaven.

    Lenovo C540

    The Lenovo C540 is a reasonably priced entry-level all-in-one desktop that average users with basic computing needs will find more than satisfactory. With an excellent 23-inch display and handsomely designed chassis, it's a good value that helps save space and money. That said, it's not well-rounded enough to unseat the Gateway One ZX4970G-UW308, which gives users USB 3.0 connectivity and an HDMI-input for a little under $100 extra. Still, it's a close runner-up that remains worth checking out.

    BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS:

    Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/mRupEN7cowY/0,2817,2417187,00.asp

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    Friday, March 29, 2013

    Officials: Arms shipments rise to Syrian rebels

    AMMAN, Jordan (AP) ? Mideast powers opposed to President Bashar Assad have dramatically stepped up weapons supplies to Syrian rebels in coordination with the U.S. in preparation for a push on the capital of Damascus, officials and Western military experts said Wednesday.

    A carefully prepared covert operation is arming rebels, involving Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar, with the United States and other Western governments consulting, and all parties hold veto power over where the shipments are directed, according to a senior Arab official whose government is participating. His account was corroborated by a diplomat and two military experts.

    The Arab official said the number of arms airlifts into Jordan and Turkey has doubled in the past four weeks. He did not provide exact figures on the flights or the size of the cargo. Jordan opened up as a new route for the weapons late last year, amid U.S. worries that arms from Turkey were going to Islamic militants, all four told The Associated Press in separate interviews. Jordan denies helping funnel weapons to the rebels.

    The two military experts, who closely follow the traffic, said the weapons include more powerful, Croatian-made anti-tank guns and rockets than the rebels have had before.

    The Arab official said there was a "master plan" for the rebels to seize Damascus. He and the diplomat spoke to the AP on condition that their identities and their nationalities not be disclosed because the operation was covert.

    "The idea is that the rebels now have the necessary means to advance from different fronts ? north from Turkey and south from Jordan ? to close in on Damascus to unseat Assad," the Arab official said. He declined to provide details, but said the plan is being prepared in stages and will take "days or weeks" for results.

    Rebels have captured suburbs around Damascus but have been largely unable to break into the heavily guarded capital. Instead, they have hit central neighborhoods of the city with increasingly heavy mortar volleys from their positions to the northeast and south.

    But rebels in the south are fighting to secure supply lines from the border with Jordan to the capital, and the new influx of weapons from Jordan has fueled the drive, a rebel commander in a southwestern suburb of the capital said. The consensus among the multiple rebel groups was that Damascus is the next objective, he added.

    "There is an attempt to secure towns and villages along the international line linking Amman and Damascus. Significant progress is being made. The new weapons come in that context," said the commander, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of Syrian government reprisal. He said his own fighters on the capital's outskirts had not received any arms from the influx but that he had heard about the new weapons from comrades in the south.

    Syria's rebels, who are divided into numerous independent brigades, have long complained that the international community is not providing them with the weaponry needed to oust Assad, drawing out a civil war that in the past two years has killed more than 70,000 people and displaced 3.5 million Syrians, nearly a third of them fleeing into neighboring countries.

    But the United States in particular has been wary of arming the rebellion, fearing weapons will go to Islamic extremists who have taken a prominent role in the uprising. Washington says it is only providing non-lethal aid to the rebels. The U.S. involvement in the arms channels opened up by its regional allies is aimed at ensuring the weapons are not going to militants.

    The Arab official, the diplomat and the military experts said the material was destined for "secular" fighters not necessarily linked to the Free Syrian Army, the nominal umbrella group for the rebels. Jordan and other Arabs have been critical of the FSA, which they accuse of having failed as an effective or credible force because its elements lack the fighting skills and military prowess.

    The four described a system in which Saudi Arabia and Qatar provide the funding for the weapons, while Jordan and Turkey provide the land channels for the shipments to reach the rebels, while all coordinate with the U.S. and other Western governments on the shipments' destinations. All must agree for a shipment to go through. The Arab official said some of the arms are being purchased from Croatia, or from U.S. drawdowns in unspecified European countries. He said other sources were black market arms dealers across Europe and the Mideast.

    Jordanian Information Minister Sameeh Maayatah insisted the kingdom was not helping funnel weapons. "Jordan is neither assisting the Assad regime, nor its opponents," he told the AP. Instead, he argued, Jordan wants a "quick political solution" to the Syrian crisis.

    The Turkish Foreign Ministry would not confirm weapons transfer through Turkey, saying, "We have no official information to confirm such reports or claims."

    Initially, Turkey was the main route for arms smuggled to the rebels when the flow began in early 2012, but Washington was unhappy that some weapons ended up in the hands of militants, the four said in separate interviews with the AP.

    Subsequently, Jordan became an additional route, with the first airlift landing there Dec. 13, they said. Jordan insisted that its role remain clandestine so that it would not be at risk of reprisal by Assad's forces or rockets, they said. Jordan borders Syria to the south, and its frontier is within a two-hour drive of Damascus.

    U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on the sidelines of a Syrian opposition meeting in Italy last month that the weapons are ending up in the hands of secular groups. "I will tell you this: There is a very clear ability now in the Syrian opposition to make certain that what goes to the moderate, legitimate opposition is in fact getting to them, and the indication is that they are increasing their pressure as a result of that," he said, without elaborating.

    Wrapping up a summit in Qatar on Tuesday, Arab states underlined their right to arm the Syrian rebels, noting the growing frustration with Assad's regime and with what is believed to be a supply of weapons flowing to his regime from his main ally, Iran. Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are headed by Sunni Muslim governments seeking the fall of Assad's regime, which is dominated by Syria's Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. The Arab powers in particular are hoping Assad's departure would break the influence in the region of predominantly Shiite Iran and its Hezbollah allies in Lebanon.

    In an interview with the AP last week, Jordan's King Abdullah II said Assad's days were numbered, but warned of the risk that Syria might use chemical weapons against its neighbors, including Jordan. Traditionally, Damascus has been suspicious of its smaller southern neighbor, whom it accuses of being a U.S. puppet and a spy for Israel since the 1994 Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty. Despite the tensions, their common border has remained relatively quiet and open.

    The opening of the weapons pipeline through Jordan "provides a fresh approach" to Syrian rebels, said Shashank Joshi, a military expert who has been monitoring the arms flow for two years for Britain's Royal United Services Institute think tank.

    "This way opens a new front in southern Syria. It breaks free from connections with Saudi and Lebanese middlemen (in Turkey), while ensuring the weapons get to those rebels with secular, or nationalist ties, rather than the jihadists," he said.

    Sweden-based arms trafficking expert Hugh Griffiths, who has been monitoring the arms flow and collecting independent data, said some 3,500 tons of military equipment have been shipped to the rebels since the traffic began in early 2012. He said there were at least 160 airlifts of weapons deliveries from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and later Jordan, with the most recent being a shipment of unspecified material from Qatar to Turkey on Sunday.

    "Nothing compares in terms of the intensity of these flights over months-long periods at a time," said Griffiths, of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

    Two prominent independent researchers monitoring weapons traffic ? Eliot Higgins in Britain and Nic Jenzen-Jones in Australia ? said Croatian arms began appearing only recently in Syria. They include M60 recoilless guns, M79 Osa rocket launchers, and RBG-6 grenade launchers, which all are powerful anti-tank weapons.

    Griffiths said the Croatian arms are a "major game changer." He said they are "portable, but pack a much bigger explosive punch."

    The question will be whether the arms influx will tip the balance if rebels do launch an offensive for Damascus ? and whether the attempt to boost more moderate rebels over Islamists will be effective.

    Syrian opposition activists estimate there are 15-20 different brigades fighting in and around Damascus now, each with up to 150 fighters. Many of them have Islamic tendencies and bear black-and-white Islamic flags or al-Qaida-style flags on their Facebook pages. There is also a presence of Jabhat al-Nusra, one of the strongest Islamic militant groups fighting alongside the rebels. In the Damascus area, the al-Nusra fighters are active mostly in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp, but the presence is not as strong as it is in the north and east.

    Capt. Islam Alloush, a spokesman for Liwaa al-Islam, a prominent rebel brigade with an Islamist ideology that is operating outside Damascus, denied any arms were being smuggled into southern Syria. "If there are any weapons being brought in, it would be from the north," he said.

    Still, he said rebels were gearing up for the battle for Damascus. "We have been preparing for it for a long time. We have our own strategy," he said. "God willing, the battle for Damascus will begin soon."

    ___

    Associated Press writers Zeina Karam and Bassem Mroue contributed reporting from Beirut.

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/officials-arms-shipments-rise-syrian-rebels-203529946.html

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    GameStop says demand hit as customers await new consoles

    By Neha Alawadhi and Malathi Nayak

    (Reuters) - Retailer GameStop Corp warned of weak sales this year as customers delay purchases ahead of the arrival of next-generation videogame consoles, but it reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results.

    The world's largest retailer of videogame products said on Thursday that it expected full-year sales to remain flat or fall by as much as 8 percent, implying revenue of between $8.18 billion and $8.89 billion. Analysts on average expect $8.86 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

    GameStop's full-year earnings forecast lagged analysts' estimates by a sizable margin. It expects a profit of $2.75 to $3.15 per share, while analysts had estimated $3.40.

    The company said same-store sales were likely to fall 5.5 percent to 8 percent this quarter.

    "The first half of the year is going to be very challenging because we're continuing the trend that we have seen in the last two or three months on sales of hardware from the current console set and sales of software," Chief Financial Officer Robert Lloyd said in an interview.

    The videogame industry is anticipating a strong finish to 2013 with the release of Take-Two Interactive Software's "Grand Theft Auto V," Electronic Arts Inc's "Battlefield 4" and at least one next-generation console by the holidays.

    As a result, consumers are postponing purchases until the fourth-quarter console introductions.

    "But we expect to return to growth in the back half of the year," Lloyd said.

    Sony Corp said last month it would release its next-generation PlayStation this year, its first videogame console in seven years. Microsoft Corp is also expected to announce the successor to its Xbox 360 later this summer.

    Global sales of traditional videogame products such as consoles have suffered because of the rising popularity of online games as enthusiasts spend more time on tablets and phones.

    U.S. sales of videogame hardware and software fell 25 percent in February, following a month-over-month downward trend that has continued since last year, according to a report by market research firm NPD.

    Games software sales were down 27 percent in February, the report said.

    GameStop has weathered the trend by focusing on selling new and used games to console owners and expanding its digital and mobile offerings, including the sale of iOS and Android devices in some stores.

    The company said revenue fell marginally to $3.56 billion in the fourth quarter ended on February 2. Analysts on average expected $3.45 billion.

    Net income attributable to GameStop rose to $261.1 million, or $2.15 per share, from $174.7 million, or $1.27 per share, a year earlier.

    Excluding items such as the deferral of digital revenue, earnings were $2.16 per share. Analysts had forecast $2.09.

    In January, GameStop cut its same-store sales forecast for the fourth quarter after customer traffic shrank over the holiday season.

    The company's shares were up 0.5 percent at $26.58 in late-morning New York Stock Exchange trading.

    (Reporting by Neha Alawadhi in Bangalore and Malathi Nayak in San Francisco; Editing by Sreejiraj Eluvangal and Lisa Von Ahn)

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gamestop-posts-higher-fourth-quarter-profit-124533295--sector.html

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    NBC executive: We're not replacing Matt Lauer

    This Feb. 8, 2013 photo released by NBC shows co-hosts Savannah Guthrie, left, and Matt Lauer during a broadcast of the "Today" show in New York. A top NBC executive says the network is not considering replacing Matt Lauer as anchor of the "Today" show. NBC News executive Alex Wallace, who oversees the troubled morning show, made the comment Wednesday, March 27, 2013, in response to reports that the network had approached CNN's Anderson Cooper about the "Today" job. (AP Photo/NBC, Peter Kramer)

    This Feb. 8, 2013 photo released by NBC shows co-hosts Savannah Guthrie, left, and Matt Lauer during a broadcast of the "Today" show in New York. A top NBC executive says the network is not considering replacing Matt Lauer as anchor of the "Today" show. NBC News executive Alex Wallace, who oversees the troubled morning show, made the comment Wednesday, March 27, 2013, in response to reports that the network had approached CNN's Anderson Cooper about the "Today" job. (AP Photo/NBC, Peter Kramer)

    (AP) ? A top NBC News executive said Wednesday the network is not considering replacing Matt Lauer as anchor of the "Today" show despite reports that Anderson Cooper of CNN was approached about the in the job.

    "Matt Lauer is the best in the business," said Alex Wallace, NBC News executive who oversees the "Today" show. "We want him in the 'Today' show anchor chair for many years to come."

    Wallace spoke after reports of a meeting with Cooper first appeared in Deadline Hollywood. The report was confirmed to The Associated Press by a source who spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions were private and was not authorized to speak to the media.

    The longtime king of morning television, "Today" has fallen behind ABC's "Good Morning America" in the ratings over the past year, particularly since the messy ouster of Ann Curry as Lauer's co-anchor last summer. There has been a flurry of stories recently retracing that decision. Lauer has said he urged the network to move more slowly with its planned changes, but a New York magazine cover story this week suggested he didn't like Curry and did little to help her.

    Whatever happened, it's clear that many "Today" viewers who did not like what happened to Curry have taken their anger out on Lauer.

    In 2012, Lauer's positive "Q'' score was 23 ? meaning 23 percent of people who knew him considered Lauer one of their favorite broadcasters, according to Marketing Evaluations Inc., a company that measures public sentiment toward well-known personalities. Last summer that score dropped to 14 and this month stands at 9, the company said. For the first time, George Stephanopoulos of "Good Morning America" has surpassed him. Among women, who make up the bulk of morning show audiences, Stephanopoulos is nearly twice as popular as Lauer and his "GMA" partner, Robin Roberts, is nearly three times as popular, the company said.

    Where in the world is Matt Lauer? Trapped in a vortex of bad vibes with no escape in sight.

    The approach to Cooper could mean that NBC has concluded that the time is right to actively work on replacing Lauer. Or not: his contract expires at the end of 2014 and it is widely assumed that Lauer will be ready then to move on from a job he's held since 1997. Under those circumstances, a forward-looking management team would be expected to be looking at alternatives.

    "NBC News has many exploratory talks with talent inside and outside of the network, but to read anything specific into that is presumptuous," said an NBC News executive who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not allowed to discuss personnel moves.

    Lauer has talked about resetting "Today" to be more serious, with less emphasis on crime stories. NBC was criticized this week by advocates for sexual abuse victims because "Today" aired excerpts of an interview that filmmaker John Ziegler had with convicted Penn State molester Jerry Sandusky; Lauer interviewed Ziegler on the air.

    Potential internal replacements for Lauer could include Willie Geist, who co-hosts the third hour of "Today" in addition to work on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," and "Meet the Press" anchor David Gregory. Both have subbed for Lauer when he was absent.

    The question for many in the television industry is whether the "Today" show can hope to change its fortunes with Lauer at the helm. "Today" hasn't beaten "Good Morning America" for any week in the ratings since the Olympics last summer and with Roberts' return after an illness in February, the gap between the two shows hit its widest. NBC says preliminary numbers show the two shows last week were as close as they've been since December and that "Today" frequently wins among youthful news viewers.

    "This awful, false narrative campaign against Matt has certainly made him vulnerable, but Matt is still, in my opinion, the best anchor who has ever occupied that chair," said Shelley Ross, former executive producer at "Good Morning America" and "The Early Show" at CBS, where she competed against Lauer. She said she believed NBC's competitors were helping to keep negative stories about Lauer alive.

    NBC was right to replace Curry but handled it badly, she said.

    The cyclical nature of television is also likely hurting Lauer. It's a rare personality that stays beloved forever. Ross and others in the industry believe that Lauer's latest contract, which reportedly pays him $25 million a year, drove a wedge between the anchor and viewers who no longer view him as a regular guy.

    Paul Friedman, a former news executive at ABC and CBS, also said Lauer is the best he's seen in his role. But right now, ABC's "Good Morning America" is a broadcast that provides viewers with information from personalities who appear to be enjoying what they're doing.

    "I don't think the fuss in the press is what matters to viewers," said Friedman, who teaches journalism at Connecticut's Quinnipiac University. "What matters is what is seen on the air, and right now what's on the air is a cast that doesn't appear to enjoy themselves and what they're doing ? as they do at 'Good Morning America.'"

    Associated Press

    Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-03-27-TV-NBC-Lauer/id-57929acdc34a4409b7bebc4d8cfa9d47

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    Fewer children mean longer life?

    Mar. 27, 2013 ? New research into ageing processes, based on modern genetic techniques, confirms theoretical expectations about the correlation between reproduction and lifespan. Studies of birds reveal that those that have offspring later in life and have fewer broods live longer. And the decisive factor is telomeres, shows research from The University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

    Telomeres are the protective caps at the end of chromosomes. The length of telomeres influences how long an individual lives. Telomeres start off at a certain length, become shorter each time a cell divides, decline as the years pass by until the telomeres can no longer protect the chromosomes, and the cell dies. But the length of telomeres varies significantly among individuals of the same age. This is partly due to the length of the telomeres that has been inherited from the parents, and partly due to the amount of stress an individual is exposed to.

    ?This is important, not least for our own species, as we are all having to deal with increased stress,? says Angela Pauliny, Researcher from the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences at the University of Gothenburg.

    Researchers have studied barnacle geese, which are long-lived birds, the oldest in the study being 22 years old. The results show that geese, compared to short-lived bird species, have a better ability to preserve the length of their telomeres. The explanation is probably that species with a longer lifespan invest more in maintaining bodily functions than, for example, reproduction.

    ?There is a clear correlation between reproduction and ageing in the animal world. Take elephants, which have a long lifespan but few offspring, while mice, for example, live for a short time but produce a lot of offspring each time they try,? says Angela Pauliny.

    The geese studied by researchers varied in age, from very young birds to extremely old ones. Each bird was measured twice, two years apart. One striking result was that the change in telomere length varied according to gender.

    ?The study revealed that telomeres were best-preserved in males. Among barnacle geese, the telomeres thus shorten more quickly in females, which in birds is the sex with two different gender chromosomes. Interestingly, it is the exactl opposite in humans,? says Angela Pauliny.

    The journal BMC Evolutionary Biology has classified the research article ?Telomere dynamics in a long-lived bird, the barnacle goose? as ?Highly Accessed?.

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    The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Gothenburg, via AlphaGalileo.

    Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


    Journal Reference:

    1. Angela Pauliny, Kjell Larsson, Donald Blomqvist. Telomere dynamics in a long-lived bird, the barnacle goose. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 2012; 12 (1): 257 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2148-12-257

    Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

    Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

    Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/wo_0G9jQGjg/130327103045.htm

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