NASA engineers are scratching their heads over some unexpected behavior from the long-lived Spirit rover, which began its sixth year exploring Mars this month.
Spirit failed to report in to engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., last weekend, prompting a series of diagnostic tests this week to hunt the glitch's source.
The aging Mars rover did not beam home a record of its weekend activities and, more puzzlingly, apparently failed to even record any of its actions on Sunday, mission managers said.
"We don't have a good explanation yet for the way Spirit has been acting for the past few days," said NASA's Sharon Laubach, who leads the JPL team that that writes and checks commands for the rover and its robotic twin Opportunity. "Our next steps will be diagnostic activities."
Sunday marked Spirit's 1,800th Martian day, or sol, exploring a region known as "Home Plate" in the planet's expansive Gusev Crater.
Spirit and its twin Opportunity were initially expected to spend just 90 days exploring the Martian surface when they landed in succession more than five years ago this month. Opportunity is currently headed for the monster crater Endeavour on the other side of Mars.
On Sunday, Spirit apparently received commands to drive to its next waypoint, but failed to move an inch, mission managers said.
While that glitch can have any number of causes, such as Spirit not properly perceiving it was ready to drive, the rover's failure to record its daily work in its non-volatile computer memory is perplexing, they added.
By Monday, Spirit's mission controllers decided to tell the rover to find the sun with its camera on Tuesday to determine its location on Mars.
Early Tuesday, the rover beamed back that it had tried to follow the instructions of its human handlers, but couldn't find the sun.
NASA engineers believe Spirit's woes may be due to a transitory cause, such as a high-energy cosmic ray hitting the rover's electronics. On Tuesday, the rover's non-volatile memory appeared to be working fine, mission managers said.
The rovers Spirit and Opportunity have lasted more than 20 times their initial three-month mission plan, with each suffering from aches and pains associated with their longevity.
Spirit initially bounced back from a worrying computer glitch early in its mission and has since survived frigid winters on Mars and scaled a nearby hill. Both rovers have expanded scientists' knowledge of the history of liquid water on Mars during their respective missions.
While puzzling, Spirit's new glitches don't appear to be a serious concern at present, according to NASA's rover mission chief John Callas.
"Right now, Spirit is under normal sequence control, reporting good health and responsive to commands from the ground," he added.
source:http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,485345,00.html
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Jobs And Lottery Frauds. Beware!
Job Recruitment Scams
We have been aware for some time that various companies are purporting to be acting as agents on behalf of the British Embassy in recruiting Visa nationals to work in various industry sectors in the UK. The latest ploy is to make the e-mail look as if it is coming from the e-mail address of the Embassy itself and in the Ambassador’s name.
Please note that these companies are in no way connected to the British Embassy, nor are they acting on our behalf. Please note that these advertisements are not genuine. Most companies do not recruit people in this way and people should not pay any money to these companies.
Job recruitment scams
* Genuine UK companies are registered and can be checked on Companies House website.
* Anyone approached about a 'UK' job should phone the 'company' in the UK - they usually have fake numbers or check their address here.
* The British Government does not send unsolicited emails with job offers, either directly or through agents. Any such approach is likely to be from fraudsters. Government vacancies are advertised on our official websites, in the UK or in Bahrain on this website.
* There are many attempted frauds at present, often by email, targeting anyone, faking a UK connection.
* Most offers sent unsolicited by email are fraudulent.
* People who send share offers by email are often fraudsters.
* Anyone who asks for bank account details online or by phone are usually fraudsters.
* Any offer of cash - released in exchange for cash or bank account details - is likely to be fraudulent.
LOTTERY SCAMS
* All genuine UK lotteries are registered and have websites.
* If you did not buy a ticket, you cannot win a lottery.
* UK lotteries do not email winners or mention amounts won.
* You may get in touch with the Gambling Commission, who might be able to help you. They work with the Office of Fair Trading and other agencies to give advice on lottery-related frauds.
We have been aware for some time that various companies are purporting to be acting as agents on behalf of the British Embassy in recruiting Visa nationals to work in various industry sectors in the UK. The latest ploy is to make the e-mail look as if it is coming from the e-mail address of the Embassy itself and in the Ambassador’s name.
Please note that these companies are in no way connected to the British Embassy, nor are they acting on our behalf. Please note that these advertisements are not genuine. Most companies do not recruit people in this way and people should not pay any money to these companies.
Job recruitment scams
* Genuine UK companies are registered and can be checked on Companies House website.
* Anyone approached about a 'UK' job should phone the 'company' in the UK - they usually have fake numbers or check their address here.
* The British Government does not send unsolicited emails with job offers, either directly or through agents. Any such approach is likely to be from fraudsters. Government vacancies are advertised on our official websites, in the UK or in Bahrain on this website.
* There are many attempted frauds at present, often by email, targeting anyone, faking a UK connection.
* Most offers sent unsolicited by email are fraudulent.
* People who send share offers by email are often fraudsters.
* Anyone who asks for bank account details online or by phone are usually fraudsters.
* Any offer of cash - released in exchange for cash or bank account details - is likely to be fraudulent.
LOTTERY SCAMS
* All genuine UK lotteries are registered and have websites.
* If you did not buy a ticket, you cannot win a lottery.
* UK lotteries do not email winners or mention amounts won.
* You may get in touch with the Gambling Commission, who might be able to help you. They work with the Office of Fair Trading and other agencies to give advice on lottery-related frauds.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Mortgage foreclosures up 81 percent: RealtyTrac
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. foreclosure activity jumped 81 percent in 2008, with one in every 54 households getting at least one filing notice, suggesting various state laws and private programs to slow the process have been ineffective, RealtyTrac reported on Thursday.
Nearly 3.2 million foreclosure filings on 2.3 million properties were made last year, the Irvine, California-based research firm said. Filings include notice of default, auction sale or bank repossession.
"Clearly the foreclosure prevention programs implemented to date have not had any real success in slowing down this foreclosure tsunami," James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, said in the report.
Foreclosure activity did slow in the fourth quarter overall, declining 4 percent from the third quarter, but jumped nearly 40 percent from the fourth quarter of 2007.
And foreclosure activity last year was up 225 percent from 2006, the year home prices began a deep slump that prevented many homeowners from selling or refinancing.
Home prices have plunged more than 20 percent from the summer of 2006, according to Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller measures.
Filings leaped by 17 percent in December from November.
"State legislation that slowed down the onset of new foreclosure activity clearly had an effect on fourth-quarter numbers overall, but that effect appears to have worn off by December," Saccacio said. "The recent California law, much like its predecessors in Massachusetts and Maryland, appears to have done little more than delay the inevitable foreclosure proceedings for thousands of homeowners."
for more information log on to:http://uk.reuters.com/article/globalClimate/idUKTRE50E1KV20090115
Nearly 3.2 million foreclosure filings on 2.3 million properties were made last year, the Irvine, California-based research firm said. Filings include notice of default, auction sale or bank repossession.
"Clearly the foreclosure prevention programs implemented to date have not had any real success in slowing down this foreclosure tsunami," James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, said in the report.
Foreclosure activity did slow in the fourth quarter overall, declining 4 percent from the third quarter, but jumped nearly 40 percent from the fourth quarter of 2007.
And foreclosure activity last year was up 225 percent from 2006, the year home prices began a deep slump that prevented many homeowners from selling or refinancing.
Home prices have plunged more than 20 percent from the summer of 2006, according to Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller measures.
Filings leaped by 17 percent in December from November.
"State legislation that slowed down the onset of new foreclosure activity clearly had an effect on fourth-quarter numbers overall, but that effect appears to have worn off by December," Saccacio said. "The recent California law, much like its predecessors in Massachusetts and Maryland, appears to have done little more than delay the inevitable foreclosure proceedings for thousands of homeowners."
for more information log on to:http://uk.reuters.com/article/globalClimate/idUKTRE50E1KV20090115
Monday, January 12, 2009
Advisers: Obama preparing order to close Gitmo
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Barack Obama is preparing to issue an executive order his first week in office — and perhaps his first day — to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, according to two presidential transition team advisers.
It's unlikely the detention facility at the Navy base in Cuba will be closed anytime soon. In an interview last weekend, Obama said it would be "a challenge" to close it even within the first 100 days of his administration.
But the order, which one adviser said could be issued as early as Jan. 20, would start the process of deciding what to do with the estimated 250 al-Qaida and Taliban suspects and potential witnesses who are being held there. Most have not been charged with a crime.
The Guantanamo directive would be one of a series of executive orders Obama is planning to issue shortly after he takes office next Tuesday, according to the two advisers. Also expected is an executive order about certain interrogation methods, but details were not immediately available Monday.
The advisers spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the orders that have not yet been finalized.
Obama transition team spokeswoman Brooke Anderson declined comment Monday.
The American Civil Liberties Union called the order an important first step, but demanded details on how Guantanamo will be shuttered.
"What we need are specifics about the timeline for the shuttering of the military commissions and the release or charging of detainees who have been indefinitely held for years," ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said in a statement. "An executive order lacking such detail, especially after the transition team has had months to develop a comprehensive plan on an issue this important, would be insufficient."
The two advisers said the executive order will direct the new administration to look at each of the cases of the Guantanamo detainees to see whether they can be released or if they should still be held — and if so, where.
Many of the Guantanamo detainees are cleared for release, and others could be sent back to their native countries and held there. But many nations have resisted Bush administration efforts to repatriate the prisoners back home. Both Obama advisers said it's hoped that nations that had initially resisted taking detainees will be more willing to do so after dealing with the new administration.
What remains the thorniest issue for Obama, the advisers said, is what to do with the rest of the prisoners — including at least 15 so-called "high value detainees" considered among the most dangerous there.
Detainees held on U.S. soil would have certain legal rights that they were not entitled to while imprisoned in Cuba. It's also not clear if they would face trial through the current military tribunal system, or in federal civilian courts, or though a to-be-developed legal system that would mark a hybrid of the two.
Where to imprison the detainees also is a problem.
Obama promised during the presidential campaign to shut Guantanamo, endearing him to constitutional law experts, civil libertarians and other critics who called the Bush administration detentions a violation of international law.
But he acknowledged in an interview Sunday that the process of closing the prison would be harder and longer than initially thought.
"That's a challenge," Obama said on ABC's "This Week." "I think it's going to take some time and our legal teams are working in consultation with our national security apparatus as we speak to help design exactly what we need to do.
"But I don't want to be ambiguous about this," he said. "We are going to close Guantanamo and we are going to make sure that the procedures we set up are ones that abide by our constitution."
President George W. Bush established military tribunals to prosecute detainees at Guantanamo. He also supports closing the prison, but strongly opposes bringing prisoners to the United States.
sources:http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gLy-7Qsm2KeE15rL6Is9p56BcWhwD95M3RKO0
It's unlikely the detention facility at the Navy base in Cuba will be closed anytime soon. In an interview last weekend, Obama said it would be "a challenge" to close it even within the first 100 days of his administration.
But the order, which one adviser said could be issued as early as Jan. 20, would start the process of deciding what to do with the estimated 250 al-Qaida and Taliban suspects and potential witnesses who are being held there. Most have not been charged with a crime.
The Guantanamo directive would be one of a series of executive orders Obama is planning to issue shortly after he takes office next Tuesday, according to the two advisers. Also expected is an executive order about certain interrogation methods, but details were not immediately available Monday.
The advisers spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the orders that have not yet been finalized.
Obama transition team spokeswoman Brooke Anderson declined comment Monday.
The American Civil Liberties Union called the order an important first step, but demanded details on how Guantanamo will be shuttered.
"What we need are specifics about the timeline for the shuttering of the military commissions and the release or charging of detainees who have been indefinitely held for years," ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said in a statement. "An executive order lacking such detail, especially after the transition team has had months to develop a comprehensive plan on an issue this important, would be insufficient."
The two advisers said the executive order will direct the new administration to look at each of the cases of the Guantanamo detainees to see whether they can be released or if they should still be held — and if so, where.
Many of the Guantanamo detainees are cleared for release, and others could be sent back to their native countries and held there. But many nations have resisted Bush administration efforts to repatriate the prisoners back home. Both Obama advisers said it's hoped that nations that had initially resisted taking detainees will be more willing to do so after dealing with the new administration.
What remains the thorniest issue for Obama, the advisers said, is what to do with the rest of the prisoners — including at least 15 so-called "high value detainees" considered among the most dangerous there.
Detainees held on U.S. soil would have certain legal rights that they were not entitled to while imprisoned in Cuba. It's also not clear if they would face trial through the current military tribunal system, or in federal civilian courts, or though a to-be-developed legal system that would mark a hybrid of the two.
Where to imprison the detainees also is a problem.
Obama promised during the presidential campaign to shut Guantanamo, endearing him to constitutional law experts, civil libertarians and other critics who called the Bush administration detentions a violation of international law.
But he acknowledged in an interview Sunday that the process of closing the prison would be harder and longer than initially thought.
"That's a challenge," Obama said on ABC's "This Week." "I think it's going to take some time and our legal teams are working in consultation with our national security apparatus as we speak to help design exactly what we need to do.
"But I don't want to be ambiguous about this," he said. "We are going to close Guantanamo and we are going to make sure that the procedures we set up are ones that abide by our constitution."
President George W. Bush established military tribunals to prosecute detainees at Guantanamo. He also supports closing the prison, but strongly opposes bringing prisoners to the United States.
sources:http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gLy-7Qsm2KeE15rL6Is9p56BcWhwD95M3RKO0
Friday, January 09, 2009
Ryan Oneal Pleads Guilty to Drug Charge
Ryan O’Neal, below, pleaded guilty on Friday to a felony drug possession charge and was sentenced to an 18-month rehabilitation program, Agence-France Presse reported. Mr. O’Neal and his son Redmond were arrested in September when authorities went to Ryan O’Neal’s home in Malibu, Calif., to check on Redmond O’Neal, who was serving three years’ probation for a previous drug charge. Ryan O’Neal pleaded guilty to one felony count of possessing methamphetamine and must return to the court for a progress report on July 10. Redmond O’Neal’s arraignment is scheduled for Feb. 20.
sources:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/10/arts/10arts-RYANONEALPLE_BRF.html?ref=arts
sources:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/10/arts/10arts-RYANONEALPLE_BRF.html?ref=arts
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
VixML Lets iPhones Flirt With Each Other
Apple's App Store has been a wild success, and it has brought mobile applications to the forefront. But creating an app can be an expensive and complicated process.
To combat this, Viximo has launched a platform that enables developers to use HTML and XML to create rich iPhone content. VixML is an optimized OpenGL-based content renderer that gives developers access to the smartphone's accelerometer, motion detector, and graphics without having to master the iPhone's software development kit.
"We wanted to create a simple yet powerful tool that would open the door to all designers, not just Web developers, and allow them to elevate the interactive experiences that people can have with the iPhone," said Rob Frasca, CEO of Viximo.
With a drag and drop interface, developers can use VixML to create dynamic content for iPhone applications. The development platform is currently in beta, and it allows designers to make new content for Viximo's TrueFlirt iPhone application.
The TrueFlirt app lets users send media-rich "flirts" to other iPhone users. These flirts can be interactive and use multi-touch, sound, video, a rudimentary physics engine, and other iPhone features. Developers can use VixML to create new flirts that are sold in the App Store, and content creators will get a cut of the revenue.
Frasca said the majority of the 10,000 programs in the App Store aren't very good because many creators are concerned about return on investment. For example, if you're only going to charge 99 cents for an app that cost $20,000 to create, a developer might take a few shortcuts. But Frasca said VixML can cut out a lot of development time, as well as lower the cost and experience needed to create strong iPhone content.
"If you know how to design a Web page, you'll know how to use this," Frasca said.
VixML currently only works with the TrueFlirt app, but it eventually will work for multiple apps across multiple operating systems, Frasca said.
source: http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/iphone/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212700943
To combat this, Viximo has launched a platform that enables developers to use HTML and XML to create rich iPhone content. VixML is an optimized OpenGL-based content renderer that gives developers access to the smartphone's accelerometer, motion detector, and graphics without having to master the iPhone's software development kit.
"We wanted to create a simple yet powerful tool that would open the door to all designers, not just Web developers, and allow them to elevate the interactive experiences that people can have with the iPhone," said Rob Frasca, CEO of Viximo.
With a drag and drop interface, developers can use VixML to create dynamic content for iPhone applications. The development platform is currently in beta, and it allows designers to make new content for Viximo's TrueFlirt iPhone application.
The TrueFlirt app lets users send media-rich "flirts" to other iPhone users. These flirts can be interactive and use multi-touch, sound, video, a rudimentary physics engine, and other iPhone features. Developers can use VixML to create new flirts that are sold in the App Store, and content creators will get a cut of the revenue.
Frasca said the majority of the 10,000 programs in the App Store aren't very good because many creators are concerned about return on investment. For example, if you're only going to charge 99 cents for an app that cost $20,000 to create, a developer might take a few shortcuts. But Frasca said VixML can cut out a lot of development time, as well as lower the cost and experience needed to create strong iPhone content.
"If you know how to design a Web page, you'll know how to use this," Frasca said.
VixML currently only works with the TrueFlirt app, but it eventually will work for multiple apps across multiple operating systems, Frasca said.
source: http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/iphone/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212700943
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