WindowsAndroid is ICS running on your Windows box, we go mouse-on

There are a few options available to those wanting to run Android apps on a Windows machine. The first, and oldest, is the official Android emulator; there's also Bluestacks, which has been around for a while. Today another contender emerges -- WindowsAndroid, from Chinese startup SocketeQ. Unlike the emulator, it runs Android natively on your Windows PC, and unlike Bluestacks it brings to life the full Android OS, not just individual apps. Essentially, it's full-blown open-source Android running natively, in a window, on Microsoft's desktop OS.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/JnGCQwu2HR0/story01.htm

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Why Is The Government In The Flood Insurance Business? | WFPL

There's a quick, one-word explanation for why the federal government started selling flood insurance: Betsy.

Hurricane Betsy, which struck the Gulf Coast in 1965, became known as billion-dollar Betsy. Homes were ruined. Water up to the roofs. People paddling around streets in boats. Massive damage.

This would be the time when you'd expect people to be pulling out their flood insurance policies. But flood insurance was hard to come by. You could get fire insurance, theft insurance, car insurance, life insurance. Not flood.

"There was a lack of data," says Eric Smith, president and CEO of Swiss Re in the Americas. "One of the bedrock principles of insurance is it has to be something that's somewhat measurable. You have be able to calculate its frequency, its severity. How often this going to occur and how much damage is it going to do?"

A few years after Betsy, in 1968, the government decided it would take on the job of selling flood insurance. Some people hated this idea. If private insurance companies wouldn't sell policies to people who wanted to live in flood zones, they argued, why should the government?

This argument did not win the day. The government created flood maps, gathered data, and set up the National Flood Insurance Program.

"I think it generally worked out OK overall, until Katrina," says Mark Browne, a professor of risk management and insurance at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. "Katrina was a major loss for the National Flood Insurance Program. It blew through its money and went into deficit.

"This is why flood insurance is a tricky business. You can have a quiet three decades, then a huge hurricane plows into a major city. Suddenly you're back in the red."

Over the past few years, the National Flood Insurance Program has had to borrow $17 billion from the government.

So were the critics right? Is the government running a bad business? Maybe not. After a big national disaster, Browne argues, the government is on the hook anyway. It might as well collect some money by selling insurance.

The head of the National Flood Insurance Program says the program plans to repay the money it borrowed from the government ? but it may take 20 or 30 years to do so.

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Millions of Americans who live close to water have occasion to think about flood insurance. In the United States, if you want to buy flood insurance, the odds are you're going to be buying it from the United States government. The National Flood Insurance Program was intended to pay for itself, set the premiums at a rate that they finance the payments.

But the program is currently a money loser, which only got worse after Hurricane Sandy. David Kestenbaum of NPR's Planet Money team has this story about how the government got into the flood insurance business.

DAVID KESTENBAUM, BYLINE: There's a quick, one-word explanation for why the government started selling flood insurance. That word: Betsy.

WINDELL CURALL: Hurricane Betsy hit in 1965, September 9th.

MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: Windell Curall runs a local levee district in Louisiana but he remembers that exact date for a different reason.

CURALL: It hit on my 14th birthday.

KESTENBAUM: Wow.

CURALL: The uninvited guest.

KESTENBAUM: Windell's family lived south of New Orleans, a place he describes as half land, half water. His family had lived there for generations. And on that day, in 1965, something like 30 relatives came over to take refuge.

CURALL: Uncles, aunts and first cousins. And they came up to, I say, the high country. They left land that was about three feet above sea level to come to our house, which about five feet about sea level.

KESTENBAUM: He remembers the storm hitting with terrifying winds. Then the eye of the storm. Then the winds, from the opposite direction.

CURALL: I remember attic door getting blown off from the wind pressure, and they actually out and nailed it shut.

KESTENBAUM: The storm became known as Billion Dollar Betsy. Homes were ruined. Water up to the roofs. People paddling around streets in boats. All that stuff. Massive damage.

And this would be the time when you'd expect people to be pulling out their flood insurance policies. But - they couldn't. Flood insurance was really hard to come by. You could get fire insurance, theft insurance, health insurance, car insurance, life insurance. But not flood insurance.

Eric Smith works in the insurance industry. He is president and CEO of Swiss Re in the Americas.

ERIC SMITH: There was a lack of data. One of the principles, the bedrock principles of insurance is its got to be something that's somewhat measurable. You have to be able to calculate its frequency and its severity and, you know, how often is this going to occur and how much damage will it do

KESTENBAUM: A few years after hurricane Betsy, in 1968, the government decided it would take it on the job of selling flood insurance. Some people hated this idea. If private insurance companies wouldn't sell policies to people who wanted to live in flood zones, why should the government.

That argument did not win the day. The government created flood maps, gathered data, and set up the National Flood Insurance Program.

MARK BROWNE: I think it generally worked out OK, overall, until Katrina.

KESTENBAUM: Mark Browne is a professor of Risk Management and Insurance at University of Wisconsin Madison.

BROWNE: Katrina came. And Katrina was a major loss for the National Flood Insurance Program. Now, blew through its money and went into deficit.

KESTENBAUM: This, frankly, is the other reason why flood insurance is a tricky business. You could have a quiet three decades - 30 years - and then, bam, a huge hurricane plows into a major city. Suddenly you got to pay out all this money.

And on the heels of Katrina there was - you may remember - Rita and Wilma. The National Flood Insurance Program had to borrow money from the government. A lot of money, $17 billion dollars.

BROWNE: That's a lot of money to borrow.

(LAUGHTER)

BROWNE: That's exactly right.

KESTENBAUM: The debt got worse after Sandy. So were the critics right? Is the government running a bad business. Mark Browne says maybe that's the wrong way to look at it. After a big national disaster, the government is on the hook anyway. It might as well collect some money by selling insurance.

And all that money the program had to borrow, David Miller, who oversees the National Flood Insurance Program, says the plan is to pay it back.

DAVID MILLER: If I look at the rates now, and where I am and what's expected and when I can project. We can repay the debt. It would be over a long time.

KESTENBAUM: He says it could take 20 or 30 years.

David Kestenbaum NPR News

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

INSKEEP: Think of this Public Radio station as your insurance that you get MORNING EDITION every day. But you can continue to follow us throughout the day on social media. We're on Facebook. We're also on Twitter. Among other handles we are @morningedition and @nprinskeep.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

INSKEEP: It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Source: http://wfpl.org/post/why-government-flood-insurance-business

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Dubious Sith Rumor: J.J. Abrams Will Direct Next Star Wars

Even though God in Heaven has prohibited man from directing both Star Trek and Star Wars at the same time—lest he be sent into a pit of tar and screaming—we've got (anonymous) two reports saying J.J. Abrams will make Star Wars VII. Seriously. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/ZIAY79qQLaA/dubious-imperial-rumor-jj-abrams-will-direct-next-star-wars

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Video: Dempsey on Afghanistan, cyber-attacks & Petraeus

>>> today at the pentagon when two men sat down press corps and announced a policy change that will change while this has been happening by itself and over the course of the last decade in our two wars, this officially opens up a ton of jobs and new pathways to leadership for women. about those two men, one of those was the outgoing defense secretary leon panetta . the other was a decorated veteran, bronze star recipient, four-star army general , chairman of the joint chiefs of staff . he is general martin dempsey , and days before the big announcement at the pentagon, ted koppel sat down with him for our broadcast tonight.

>> we all wear the same uniform and we all fire the same weapons. most importantly, we all take the same oath.

>> reporter: and with that the chairman of the joint chiefs and the outgoing secretary of defense signed an order rescinding a 1994 rule that bars women from direct ground combat. tonight we're going to tell you a little about this low-key, low-profile four- star general . today he made history. but when the occasion calls for it, he's not above poking a little fun at himself.

>> you will pick up the chorus and i will point to you and you, you better deliver, because i'm the chairman.

>> reporter: they used to call sinatra chairman of the board. you're my kind of team

>> this guy is know sinatra, but he is chairman of the joint chiefs of staff . right there at the front of the war novel " billy lynn 's long halftime walk" and it is a terrific book, a plug from the chairman of the joint chiefs . worth reading, general william dempsey . except his name is martin dempsey , not william. and until i brought it to the publisher's attention, no one had noticed. that probably wouldn't have happened to omar bradley or colin powell . but general dempsey is little known outside the military. married, one son, two daughters, all of whom have served in the army, general martin dempsey is the highest ranking officer in the armed forces and principal military adviser to the president.

>> this is a card.

>> reporter: on his desk at the pentagon is a small wooden box with what looks like a collection of baseball cards .

>> and so i'll just pull a handful out of this box and cycle them into my money clip.

>> reporter: these are young soldiers who died while general dempsey was demacommanding u.s. forces in baghdad.

>> but from time to time if i forget why we're doing what we do, then i just reach in. some people don't even know i'm doing it. i just reach in my pocket and make sure i've still got my cards.

>> which part of the world do you worry about the most right now?

>> you know there's kind of a near term, long term --

>> near term.

>> -- aspect to that. i think near term it continues to be the threat of global terrorism. you know, we track a global terrorist network that is not uniquely al qaeda , but is affiliated at some level with al qaeda . what we've had to do in response is we have become a network. to defeat a network, we've had to become a network.

>> what does that mean?

>> what it means is you're not going to see these broad sweeping movements across the desert of eastern iraq in a hail mary , you know, right- hand cross , whatever it was called in 1991 . you're going to see smaller groups of military formations confronting these distributed enemy across a much wider scope.

>> that's a major change. no more massive troop deployments, lots of small covert insertions. think joint special operations , rangers, green berets , s.e.a.l.s. think paramilitary cia operatives and civilian contractors with military backgrounds. think unarmed surveillance drones and their killer cousin, the predator with its missiles. above all, think of doing more with less visibility and dispersed over a far wider battlefield. on numerous occasions in the past and again in his inaugural address , the president chose a different emphasis.

>> this generation of americans has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience. a decade of war is now ending.

>> you're telling me we're not going to be done?

>> well, i tell you what -- the language that i've actually taken to heart, which is by the end of 2014 , our war in afghanistan will be complete, but no one has ever suggested that that will end the war.

>> is it a mistake to give the american public the sense that afghanistan is essentially over? we can stop worrying about afghanistan ?

>> i think it would be a mistake to give the american people the sense that al qaeda is defeated. wherever we happen to find them. and i think that it's fair to say that there will be a part of the al qaeda threat emanating from both western pakistan and potentially afghanistan for the foreseeable future.

>> we have capabilities today that make us sort of comfortable with the use of drones, but imagine if some other entity had the capability of using drones against the united states . are we prepared for that?

>> well, i think --

>> as a nation, i mean.

>> yeah, i think we are prepared for that. i think it's maybe an inevitability.

>> there's another kind of warfare already being waged. remember what hurricane sandy did to the power grid in lower manhattan ? a cyber attack would be even more devastating.

>> there have been instances of our using cyber warfare , i'm going to say our using it, the united states , israel, against iran. there are also examples of the iranians using it against us.

>> there are reports that destructive cyber tools have been used against iran. i'm not either confirming or denying any part in that. but what it should tell you is that capability exists. and if it exists, it doesn't -- you know, whoever is using those, can't assume that they're the only smart people in the world.

>> so if we, hypothetically speaking, are using it against the iranians , we have to assume the iranians would use it against us?

>> that's a valid assumption. let me confirm that there is disruption -- this was a phrase that may not be common knowledge, but disruptive denial of services, where you overwhelm a website in order to impede people who would normally use it from using it. it is literally disruption. that happens.

>> what happens when that occurs?

>> well, literally it shuts the network down.

>> what kind of networks have been shut down?

>> there have been financial networks shut down, there have been industry networks shut down.

>> if i were to say to you that the assumption is that both the chinese and the iranians are engaged in that kind of behavior, can you confirm that?

>> i would answer that the assumption is that both nation states , which is to say governments, and individuals and groups, organizations, are engaged in trying to take advantage of vulnerabilities in cyber. that's what makes cyber so worrisome.

>> what is it you worry about?

>> well, what i worry about is that that same capability could be used to implant a destructive device that could cause significant harm to the industrial base, whether it's critical infrastructure or the financial network.

>> reporter: all of which makes the recent press frenzy over david petraeus and marital i didn't -- infidelity seem like less of an issue. to my surprise, general dempsey didn't dismiss it that easily.

>> what is it the commander would not have known before haenld or any man or woman serving under you would not have known beforehand from this situation.

>> we had a conversation about competence and character. i think over the last ten years when you're at war, you tend to value competence above all else. naturally, the nation's well-being is hanging in the balance . so the first lesson i think would be not that we've neglected the character side of this equation, but we probably are at a point where we ought to reemphasize it. maybe we can't see character from the top down. maybe you can see part of it. maybe we need the impression, maybe we need the view of those that are looking from the bottom up. i'm actually more interested in what are the colonels, lieutenant colonels saying about the colonels? what are the colonels saying about the brigadiers? competence will always be the most important thing. you can't have a man of -- or woman of incredible character who can't deliver on the battlefield because at the end of the day that's what we're accountable for. but character counts, and it counts mightily.

>> fascinating look at that character in the pentagon. our thanks to ted koppel for joining us with that tonight.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/rock-center/50582649/

marshawn lynch

New mutations discovered driving malignant melanoma

Jan. 24, 2013 ? Two new mutations that collectively occur in 71 percent of malignant melanoma tumors have been discovered in what scientists call the "dark matter" of the cancer genome, where cancer-related mutations haven't been previously found.

Reporting their findings in the Jan. 24 issue of Science Express, the researchers from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute said the highly "recurrent" mutations -- occurring in the tumors of many people -- may be the most common mutations in melanoma cells found to date.

The researchers said these cancer-associated mutations are the first to be discovered in the vast regions of DNA in cancer cells that do not contain genetic instructions for making proteins. The mutations are located in non-protein-coding DNA that regulates the activity of genes.

This non-coding DNA, much of which was previously dismissed as "junk," accounts for 99 percent of a cell's genome. A large number of oncogenic mutations in cancer have been identified in the past several decades, but all have been found within the actual genetic blueprints for proteins.

"This new finding represents an initial foray into the 'dark matter' of the cancer genome," said Levi Garraway, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber and the Broad and the article's senior author.

"In addition, this represents the discovery of two of the most prevalent melanoma gene mutations. Considered as a whole, these two TERT promoter mutations are even more common than BRAF mutations in melanoma. Altogether, this discovery could cause us to think more creatively about the possible benefits of targeting TERT in cancer treatment or prevention."

The mutations affect a promoter region -- a stretch of DNA code that regulates the expression of a gene -- adjacent to the TERT gene. TERT contains the recipe for making telomerase reverse transcriptase, an enzyme that can make cells virtually immortal, and is often found overexpressed in cancer cells. A promoter region of DNA controls the rate of a gene's transcription -- the copying of its DNA recipe into a message used by the cell to manufacture a protein.

"We think these mutations in the promoter region are potentially one way the TERT gene can be activated," said Franklin Huang, MD, PhD, co-first author of the report along with Harvard MD-PhD student Eran Hodis, of Dana-Farber and the Broad Institute.

To investigate the mutation's effect, the researchers hooked the mutant TERT promoter to a gene that makes luciferase -- a light-emitting protein. They observed that the mutant promoter increased the production of luciferase in laboratory cell lines. In the same way, the scientists presume, the mutant promoter in human pigmented skin cells can send the TERT gene into overdrive, potentially contributing to the development of melanoma.

The mutations were discovered when the scientists sifted through data from whole-genome sequencing of malignant melanoma tumors. Unlike "whole-exome" searches that examine only the protein-coding DNA of a cell's genome, whole-genome searches scan all of the DNA, including the non-coding regions.

In analyzing whole-genome data, the investigators discovered the two somatic, or not-inherited, mutations in 17 of 19 (89 percent) of the tumors. Next, they sequenced a larger number of melanoma tumors and found that the two mutations were present in 71 percent of tumors in total.

The researchers said the same mutations are present in cell lines from some other malignancies, and that preliminary evidence showed they might be unusually common in bladder and liver cancers. They also noted that the discovery of these important mutations in DNA previously not linked to cancer-causing alterations highlights the value of whole-genome searches of tumor DNA.

Other authors include Mary Jue Xu, a student at Harvard Medical School; Gregory V. Kryukov, PhD, of the Broad; and Lynda Chin, MD, of M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

The research was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health (T32 CA009172, T32GM07753, DP2OD002750, and R33CA126674), the Mittelman Family Fellowship, the American Cancer Society, the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, the Melanoma Research Alliance, and the Starr Cancer Consortium.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Franklin W. Huang, Eran Hodis, Mary Jue Xu, Gregory V. Kryukov, Lynda Chin, and Levi A. Garraway. Highly Recurrent TERT Promoter Mutations in Human Melanoma. Science, 24 January 2013 DOI: 10.1126/science.1229259

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_health/~3/7w7AmjSMqM8/130124150810.htm

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Nokia axes dividend to save cash for Lumia push

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia plans to axe its annual dividend payment for the first time in the company's recorded history to shore up its cash position against falling sales and buy time for a turnaround.

While cost cuts and asset sales have given the struggling company breathing space to keep marketing what many call its make-or-break Lumia smartphones, analysts said it was far from a recovery and was still falling behind Samsung and Apple in the smartphone race.

Nokia has slashed one in three jobs and has sold off assets including its company headquarters under Chief Executive Stephen Elop, who was hired from Microsoft in 2010 and promptly tied the company's fortunes to the untried Windows Phone operating system made by his former employer.

"We believe we removed the cloud of liquidity concerns," Elop told reporters on a conference call.

Nokia, which earlier this month announced it had returned to underlying profitability for the first time in a year, said the suspension of the dividend, which cost 750 million euros ($996 million) last year, would give it "strategic flexibility".

Nokia said it had paid a dividend every year since 1989, but didn't have records for earlier periods in its history, which goes back over 100 years.

The company ended the year with net cash of 4.4 billion euros, down 22 percent on a year earlier, but up on the previous quarter and above the market estimate of 3.4 billion, mostly due to a turnaround at Nokia Siemens Networks, its telecom equipment venture with Siemens.

It has also been making better use of its rich portfolio of technology patents, earning royalty payments from other technology companies. It also received $250 million from Microsoft in the quarter in return for using Windows Phone.

Some analysts have said Nokia could soon take NSN public, which would secure even more cash to keep the company running. Elop said all options were on the table for NSN's future.

LOST IN TRANSITION?

Elop is under intense pressure to show he made the right decision in February 2011 to drop Nokia's own operating system in favor of Windows Phone. He has said it would take two years for a successful transition, and that period is almost over.

"They have had two transition years now, and this year will be yet another one. The ramp-up continues. It has been way too slow," said analyst Mikael Rautanen from equity research firm Inderes.

Some investors have said Elop will need to change strategy or even leave if Nokia is unable to turn the company around. Some of the more optimistic investors cite Nokia's history of reinventing itself. It faced bankruptcy in the 1990s before it shifted to cellphones from toilet paper and rubber boots.

Nokia sold 4.4 million Lumia devices in the fourth quarter, including the new Lumia 820 and 920, which were launched in November and use the latest Windows Phone 8 software. Analysts estimate Nokia's market share in the high-margin smartphone business is only around 5 percent.

Many said quarterly sales of Lumia phones need to rise to around 10 million, with gross margins of around 20 percent, to convince investors that its smartphone strategy is working.

Supply constraints have weighed on Lumia sales, but Elop said the company was "making progress" in resolving them. He declined to specify what parts or suppliers were causing problems, but sources have cited chip shortages.

Non-smartphones still make the bulk of Nokia's revenue, but margins are thin, and analysts believe Nokia needs a successful smartphone offering if it is to survive. Its fourth-quarter sales volumes of other mobiles fell 15 percent to 80 million units, with the average selling price down 3 percent.

While Nokia's feature phone Asha has proven more popular than initially expected, analysts say that even consumers in emerging markets will eventually shift to smartphones so they can access the Internet to upload photos and go on social networking sites such as Facebook.

Some said the Lumia's recent launch in China and India could help restart growth, though it faces stiff competition from Samsung there.

Telecoms executives in Europe and the United States have said they want Nokia to succeed, to keep Samsung and Apple's power in check, but analysts have said there were few signs the two were losing their lead.

While Apple's results overnight fell short of expectations, it still shipped a record 47.8 million iPhones in the December quarter.

"It doesn't look like Apple would start losing their volume strength in any remarkable way," said Pohjola analyst Hannu Rauhala.

Nokia shares were down 8.3 percent at 3.20 euros at 1445 GMT. They had risen 70 percent over the past three months, but were also the most shorted among the euro zone's blue chips ahead of the results.

($1 = 0.7530 euro)

(Additional reporting by Jussi Rosendahl and Terhi Kinnunen; Editing by Will Waterman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nokia-axes-dividend-save-cash-111618996--sector.html

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Morning Markets January 24 - Business Insider

UPDATE:

What's interesting is that markets have mostly recovered from earlier, when things were in the red.

Apple will be a big drag on the NASDAQ today, and the S&P to some extent.

But markets are mostly ho-hom at this point, and Europe has gone from red to slightly positive.

EARLIER: The big story today, obviously, will be the Apple earnings debacle, which caused the stock to fall more than 10% after hours last night.

NASDAQ futures are going to get hammered, as the stock has such a big weighting in that index.

The question is whether Apple spreads elsewhere.

There may not be much of a reason to worry, as Apple went from $700 to $500, while the overall market made new high after new high.

Europe is down modestly across the board. Italy, for example, is down 0.35%.

Asia had a big night after China's Flash PMI hit a 24-month high.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/morning-markets-january-24-2013-1

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