The internet is all about the free flow of ideas, right? Collaboration! Discourse! Sharing! The day to day reality of what we do online may not always be quite so idealistic and ideologically motivated, but the open underpinnings are there. Except, of course, when they're not at all. This visualization, published by Sebastian Sadowski, uses Google's transparency data to visualize all the things the company has been asked to censor.
Look, we?ve all heard the rumors that Google is toiling away on a smartwatch, and the company has said the Nexus Q isn?t completely dead, so part of that recent report from the Wall Street Journal doesn?t completely out of the blue. That said, Google is reportedly also working on an Android-powered game console in response to murmurs of a similar Apple gaming push in the works.
Pretty ballsy, if you ask me.
We can?t know for sure how good Google?s intuition is when it comes to Apple?s gaming ambitions, but the folks in Cupertino are clearly looking at gaming with some level of interest ? iOS 7 includes improved support for game controllers, and was at one point rumored to be working on its own controller hardware.
As the past few weeks have illustrated nicely though, there?s plenty of jostling among established gaming companies as they attempt to lay claim to our living rooms, and yet Google apparently wants to throw itself headlong into the fray. In light of this potential hardware push, Google Play game services doesn?t just look like a shot across Apple Game Center?s bow ? it?s a way for developers to create Android games with that incorporate some of the features that console gamers have all but taken for granted at this point.
If this information pans out and Google does release an Android-powered console at some point in the near future, the company?s problem isn?t just the pressure it faces from entrenched players like Sony, Microsoft, and even Apple. The past year has seen plenty of upstart hardware companies attempting to shoehorn Android into tiny little packages with tiny price tags, and with varying levels of success.
One of those ambitious little doodads garnered more attention than the rest ? it?s damned near impossible to think the words ?Android game console? and not follow up with ?Ouya.? Hell, Amir Efrati?s WSJ report points out that Google has been paying particularly close attention to the Kickstarted startup, which guided its namesake device to a retail launch earlier this week after spending the past few months shipping pre-release versions to backers and developers. The Ouya temporarily sold out on Amazon, and it?s still backordered on Best Buy?s website ? not too shabby, considering its unabashedly geeky pedigree.
At this point it?s tough to say whether that?s a result of extreme demand for the $99 console or just limited supplies, but either way it seem as though a decent chunk of people have been waiting for this. That said, the company is awfully cagey on what it specifically hopes to get out of this retail push. During a recent chat CEO Julie Uhrmann wouldn?t disclose how many units would need to be sold at retail for her to consider the Ouya successful ? she instead responded with platitudes about how she wanted Ouya to be available to everyone to wanted one.
Uhrmann also said that she didn?t want anyone on the team even thinking of Ouya 2.0 until this current model has established a foothold in the market. It?s a curious thing to hear from the head of company that will probably live and die based on the strength of its annual hardware refreshes. The incentive is there to keep iterating and iterating and iterating until the Ouya succeeds ? is Google (or whatever hardware partners it may tap) prepared to do the same?
And all that said, early reactions of the Ouya have been a mixed bag. I?ve been fiddling with an Ouya myself for the past few days, and though a full review is forthcoming, my first impressions can essentially be summed up with a single syllable: meh. And the Ouya is just one example ? now there are GameSticks and Gamepops and MOJOs, to say nothing of a whole host of Shenzhen specials. Sony and Microsoft have the top-end well accounted for, and the race to the bottom for Android gaming in the living room has already begun.
So, when it comes down to it, can Google really crack the game console market? It?s possible, sure. Google may just be able to use its resources and developer clout to carve out a niche in a stupendously crowded gaming environment. It?s also worth noting that video game history is littered with the carcasses of dead, ill-conceived consoles, consoles that had great controllers, great games, and even net connectivity ahead of their time. The lesson to be learned from those dusty heaps of plastic is that (sadly) innovation is no guarantee of success, so Google is going to have to be terribly, terribly clever if it wants to have any lasting impact in our living rooms.
A tornado watch has ended for parts of west central manitoba -- Swan River - Duck Mountain - Porcupine Provincial Forest? areas.
Robin Dyck of Environment Canada says there were no reported funnel cloud sightings in this province.
"We did have watches on the Saskatchewan side of the border,?? near Nipawin,?White Fox and Carrot River regions."says Dyck.? "We had some reports of some funnel clouds, However no confirmed touchdowns were reported."
In the Winnipeg area? it should become clear later this evening.
Listen, we're all for waiting until the last possible minute, but that time is now. If you happen to be looking for a deal on Google's fancy new music service, the clock is ticking. Once June 30th rolls around, Google Play Music All Access's $7.99 price tag will bump up to the standard $9.99 a month. That's a full $2 a month more for access to those millions of unlimited songs. You can sign up at the source link below -- that same page can also hook you up with a free 30-day trial, if not paying money is your thing.
LONDON (Reuters) - British consumer morale has risen to its highest level in just over two years this month, boosted by increasing optimism about the economy and a greater willingness among households to splash out on big purchases.
Market research company GfK said on Friday that its monthly consumer confidence index rose to -21 in June from -22 in May. That was its highest level since May 2011 and matched expectations in a Reuters poll.
The data adds to signs from industry surveys that Britain's still-weak economy is gaining steam.
The Bank of England forecasts 0.5 percent growth in the current quarter, up from a 0.3 percent expansion in the first three months of the year.
June's rise in the GfK index follows a five-point jump in May, and takes it well above its average level for the past year of -26.
"A one-point rise is not in itself important, but what matters more is that it is another marker in what now appears to be a clear upward trend," said Nick Moon, managing director of social research at GfK.
The figures contrast with official data on Thursday that showed consumers' real disposable income fell at its fastest pace since 1987 in the first three months of the year.
"What makes this apparent good cheer somewhat surprising ... is that the improvement comes at a time when there has been a flurry of recent reports showing that people are not only getting worse off, but they are likely to continue to do so," said GfK's Moon.
June's improvement in the GfK index was largely driven by consumers' greater willingness to spend on expensive items, which Moon attributed to special offers from retailers.
But this alone was not enough to account for the steady rise in morale over the past 12 months, he said.
"The overall trend in confidence over the last year is clearly upwards and not driven purely by special offers. So the paradox is that while we are getting worse and worse off, we are feeling more positive."
The survey was conducted from May 31 to June 16 and was carried out by GfK on behalf of the European Commission.
(Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
BOSTON (Reuters) - Accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was indicted by a federal grand jury on Thursday on charges of killing four people in the largest mass-casualty attack on U.S. soil since September 11, 2001.
The 30-count indictment filed in Boston federal court charges the 19-year-old ethnic Chechen with setting off two homemade pressure-cooker bombs in a crowd of thousands at the race's finish line and with committing a carjacking and engaging in a gunbattle with police before his April 19 arrest.
Tsarnaev could be executed if convicted. His public defender, Miriam Conrad, declined to comment on the charges, which include use of a weapon of mass destruction, bombing a public place and carjacking during four days that traumatized the Boston area.
"Today's charges reflect the serious and violent nature of the event ... the defendant's alleged conduct forever changed lives," said Carmen Ortiz, the U.S. Attorney in Massachusetts. She said she had met with several of the people who were wounded in the attack and relatives of those who were killed.
"We will do all that we can to pursue justice, not only on their behalf but on behalf of all of us," Ortiz said.
The April 15 bombing was followed by the shooting of a campus police officer in Cambridge, a carjacking and a late-night gunbattle with police in the nearby suburb of Watertown. Dzhokhar's 26-year-old brother Tamerlan died in the gunbattle, which led to a daylong lockdown of most of the Boston area.
That evening, Dzhokhar was found hiding in a boat in a resident's backyard and arrested after police fired a hail of bullets.
The brothers started preparing for the attack more than two months earlier, when Tamerlan traveled to a New Hampshire fireworks store to buy 48 mortar shells containing about eight pounds (3.6 kg) of explosive powder, according to the charges.
Three people died in the bomb attacks: 29-year-old restaurant manager Krystle Campbell, 23-year-old graduate student Lingzi Lu and 8-year-old Martin Richard. Days later, the pair killed a campus policeman in their attempt to escape arrest, the charges said.
The younger Tsarnaev was not present at the indictment, and Ortiz declined to comment on his condition or where he was being held. He was badly injured in the April 19 gun battle and had been held in a prison hospital west of Boston. He is scheduled to be arraigned on July 10.
EXECUTION LOOMS?
Ortiz said U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder would make the final decision on whether to seek the death penalty. Legal experts said that while the large scale of the attack could motivate the government to seek the death penalty, his defense could argue that he did not fully understand his actions.
"There will be claims about his youth, about his role, the theory that it was his brother that was pulling all the strings and that this guy was a secondary mover," said Richard Broughton, an assistant professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and a former federal prosecutor.
"We haven't really had a case like this," said Karen Greenberg, director of the center on national security at Fordham Law School in New York. "Because of the lethality of this attack, it really is different from other terrorism prosecutions we've seen for a long time."
Since the World Trade Center attack in 2001, most such prosecutions have focused on failed plots, such as shoe bomber Richard Reid, who tried to blow up a plane over the Atlantic in December 2001 and is now serving a life sentence. In 2006 a jury rejected the death penalty for Zacarias Moussaoui, convicted as one of the conspirators behind the September 11, 2001 attacks.
In November, 2012, a federal judge in Massachusetts sentenced Rezwan Ferdaus to 17 years, including a decade of supervised release, after he pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a plot to a plot to fly remote-controlled planes into the U.S. Capitol building and the Pentagon. He was arrested in a sting operation after undercover agents provided him with inert explosives that he told them he planned to use.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev had been on a U.S. government database of potential terrorism suspects and Russia has twice warned the United States that he might be an Islamic militant, according to U.S. security officials.
A congressional hearing after the bombing focused on whether the FBI paid sufficient heed to Moscow, which has been in bitter conflict with Islamic militants in Chechnya and other parts of the volatile northern Caucasus region.
The Tsarnaev brothers' ethnic homeland of Chechnya, a mainly Muslim province that saw centuries of war and repression, no longer threatens to secede from Russia. But it has become a breeding ground for a form of militant Islam whose adherents have spread violence to other parts of Russia, and may have inspired the radicalization of the Boston bombers.
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei (AP) ? The upcoming regional security summit in this tiny Southeast Asian sultanate is the sort of venue where North Korea has often managed to open up sideline discussions with Seoul and Washington. This time, while there will be plenty of talk about Pyongyang, there is little chance of substantive talk with it.
North Korea has sought negotiations with the U.S. and South Korea but has ignored their demands that it first honor prior commitments to move toward nuclear disarmament. At high-level diplomatic talks beginning this weekend, it can expect the cold shoulder from those countries and others frustrated by Pyongyang's insistence on developing nuclear weapons.
After a December long-range rocket launch, a February nuclear test and weeks of threats to launch nuclear strikes against South Korea and the United States, North Korea earlier this month made a surprise offer for separate talks with its rivals. Government delegates from the two Koreas met and agreed to hold senior-level talks on non-nuclear issues, but the agreement collapsed because of a protocol dispute. The United States responded coolly to Pyongyang's appeal for direct negotiations, which some analysts view as a familiar effort to win aid in return for ratcheting down tensions.
"While it is certainly preferable for North Korea to pursue diplomatic rather than missile or nuclear tests, all of North Korea's neighbors by now are well aware of North Korea's history of diplomatic initiatives as just another tool through which North Korea has sought to consolidate gains following periods in which North Korean brinkmanship has driven political tensions to high levels," Scott Snyder, a Korea specialist at the Council on Foreign Relations think tank, wrote in a blog post.
He added that agreeing to hold talks with the North "and come back to the table as though nothing has changed since the last six-party talks were held in 2008 would imply acceptance" of Pyongyang's rocket launches and nuclear tests.
Whether Washington and its allies ignore Pyongyang's diplomats or not, North Korea's atomic aspirations will top the agenda in talks surrounding the 27-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum, which takes place Tuesday in the Bruneian capital of Bandar Seri Begawan.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his counterparts from South Korea, China and Japan will attend the forum and could hold private meetings that touch on Pyongyang. North Korea is expected to send its longtime foreign minister, 80-year-old Pak Ui Chun, to the meeting, according to South Korea's Foreign Ministry.
Because the ASEAN forum gathers diplomats from all six countries involved in long-stalled nuclear disarmament negotiations ? the United States, China, Russia, Japan and the two Koreas ? it has previously provided a chance to use informal, sideline talks to break stalemates over the nuclear issue.
In 2011, top nuclear envoys from the two Koreas met on the sidelines of the forum in Bali, Indonesia, and agreed to work toward a resumption of the dormant six-nation talks, though the negotiations remained stalled. The Koreas' foreign ministers held sideline talks in 2000, 2004, 2005 and 2007, and top diplomats from Pyongyang and Washington also met privately in 2004 and 2008.
North Korea will likely seek similar talks in Brunei, but South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Tai-young told reporters Tuesday that officials from Seoul aren't considering meeting the North Korean foreign minister on the sidelines. In Washington, State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said Monday that he knew of no discussions planned between Kerry and Pak in Brunei, and that such talks would be "fairly unusual."
Analysts said North Korea appears to be repeating its pattern of following aggressive rhetoric with diplomatic efforts to get outside aid and concessions.
Chang Yong Seok, an analyst at the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies at Seoul National University, said Pyongyang must do something to show it's refraining from continuing nuclear activities, such as announcing some disarmament steps, if it wants to have talks.
Despite its recent bid for diplomacy, North Korea has raised renewed worries about a nuclear program that outsiders estimate to include a handful of crude nuclear bombs. Pyongyang followed up its February nuclear test, its third since 2006, with an announcement that it planned to restore all its atomic bomb fuel producing facilities. The February test drew widespread international condemnation and tightened U.N. sanctions, which subsequently led the North to issue a torrent of warlike threats and sharply raise tensions on the divided peninsula.
Recent satellite photos show signs of new tunnel work at North Korea's underground nuclear test site, the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies said in an analysis Tuesday. The analysis said it doesn't appear to indicate another atomic blast is imminent but suggests the country has continued to work on its nuclear weapons program even as tensions eased.
Other issues expected to draw keen media attention in Brunei include South China Sea territorial disputes and relations between the U.S. and China, the world's two biggest economies.
China has territorial disputes with the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia over the South China Sea and its potentially oil- and gas-rich islands. Several claimants want group discussions to create a legally binding "code of conduct" to prevent clashes in the sea, but China prefers one-on-one negotiations.
Southeast Asian countries believe that "having bilateral negotiations with a strong guy would be a losing game," said Bae Geung-chan, a professor at the state-run Korea National Diplomatic Academy in Seoul.
Analysts say China and the U.S. probably won't have sensitive talks in Brunei that could change their relations. Their leaders recently held an unusually lengthy informal summit in California, during which both countries expressed optimism that the closer personal ties forged between the leaders could stem the mistrust between the world powers.
During the summit, President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, were in broad agreement over the need for North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons, according to U.S. officials.
___
AP writer Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, contributed to this report.
In this publicity image released by Nickelodeon, Jennette McCurdy, portrays Sam, left, and Ariana Grande, portrays Cat from the Nickelodeon series "SAM & CAT." (AP Photo/Nickelodeon, Lisa Rose)
In this publicity image released by Nickelodeon, Jennette McCurdy, portrays Sam, left, and Ariana Grande, portrays Cat from the Nickelodeon series "SAM & CAT." (AP Photo/Nickelodeon, Lisa Rose)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? The leading ladies of "Laverne & Shirley" are reuniting.
Nickelodeon said Wednesday that Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams will guest star in an episode of its new sitcom "Sam & Cat."
The actresses starred as 1950s and '60s pals and roommates Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney, workers in a Milwaukee brewery. The sitcom aired from 1976 to 1983 on ABC.
"Sam & Cat" features Jennette McCurdy and Ariana Grande as friends who start a baby-sitting business.
Nickelodeon says Marshall and Williams will start filming on Wednesday. They play characters involved in a decades-old feud, tweaking the long-ago rumors of a "Laverne & Shirley" rivalry.
"Sam & Cat" creator Dan Schneider says it was an honor to write for what he called TV's" funniest female roommates" ever.
Islamist President Mohamed Morsi warned on Wednesday that political divisions in Egypt ?threaten to paralyse? the country, as at least one person was killed and scores were hurt in clashes between his supporters and opponents.
In a televised speech to mark his turbulent first year in power, ?Egypt faces many challenges. The polarisation has reached a stage that could threaten our democratic experience and paralyse the nation.?
Just hours before he spoke, Islamists had been holding a rally in his support in the Nile Delta city of Mansura when opponents began throwing rubbish at them and fighting erupted, a security official said.
In addition to the one person killed, another 237 were hurt, the health ministry said.
Two of the injured were taken to the intensive care unit of Mansura International Hospital with live bullet wounds, medics there said.
The clashes come amid widespread tension ahead of planned anti-Morsi rallies on Sunday, at which the opposition will again demand that he step down and that early elections be called.
Organisers of a campaign dubbed Tamarod (rebellion in Arabic) say they have collected more than 15 million signatures in support of a snap presidential election.
And with Islamist parties having called for their own rallies to support the president on Friday, there are fears of more unrest.
Gatherings for and against the president were being held around the country on Wednesday, but confrontations only erupted in Mansura, a security official said.
In Cairo?s Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the 2011 revolt that toppled president Hosni Mubarak, hundreds of anti-Morsi protesters gathered to watch the president?s speech.
Some have announced they will begin a sit-in there.
Others gathered outside the defence ministry, waving Egyptian flags and chanting against the president.
In Alexandria and several Nile Delta provinces, Islamist groups have held rallies in support of him.
Morsi promised reforms and called for dialogue in a bid to placate protesters ahead of Sunday?s rallies.
He insisted he was working for the goals of the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak in 2011,? which he is accused of failing.
?For the revolution to reach its goals, there must be reforms at the root,? he said.
Morsi repeated his call for dialogue with the opposition, amid deep tension and anxiety ahead of the Sunday protests to call on him to step down.
?We Egyptians are able to overcome this phase and overcome the challenges? All I ask of you now is to sit and discuss? to look for the positives and build on them; and to fix the negatives.?
The president admitted to making mistakes and vowed to correct them.? ?I have made many mistakes, there is no question. Mistakes can happen, but they need to be corrected,? he told a packed auditorium.
Morsi?s supporters say he is an elected president who is working to root out decades of corruption in state institutions. Any attempt to remove him from office would be a coup against democracy, they say.
His opponents accuse him of concentrating power in the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood from which he hails and of failing the aspirations for freedom and social justice that inspired the revolution against Mubarak.
Egypt?s powerful army, which has been on the sidelines of politics since Morsi?s election, warned it would intervene if violence breaks out in the country.
The military has brought in reinforcements of troops and vehicles in key cities in order to protect vital establishments in case of potential unrest, security officials said.
Any hope of slowing down Samsung?s quest to completely dominate the Android market may rest with the HTC One. Barron?s points us to a new note from Raymond James analyst Tavis McCourt, who says that while Samsung?s Galaxy S4 has posted strong early sales, it has been ?losing steam? in recent weeks thanks to a combination of ?the HTC One and reversion from the pre-launch hype for the S4.? McCourt?s research backs up other promising reports we?ve seen about early HTC One sales this month, although it?s not clear if having a hit smartphone will be enough to rescue HTC from its current financial troubles. McCourt also notes that Apple has continued to thrive while Samsung?s momentum has slowed, and that neither LG nor Motorola have been able to take advantage of Samsung?s lower-than-expected sales.
[More from BGR: iOS 7 might be more innovative than we think]
Black Sabbath, a heavy metal band, has their first No 1 album in the US Billiboard 200 chart. The new album is? titled "13." is the19th studio album from Black Sabbath.
By Piya Sinha-Roy,?Reuters / June 25, 2013
Singer Ozzy Osbourne, right, and musician Geezer Butler of the rock band Black Sabbath posing for a portrait in Los Angeles.
(Photo by Dan Steinberg/Invision/AP)
Enlarge
Veteran heavy-metal band Black Sabbath landed its first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 album chart this past Wednesday, more than four decades after the rockers debuted their first album in the United States.
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"13," the 19th studio album from Black Sabbath, sold 155,000 copies in its first week, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan, knocking last week's No. 1 album by Queens of the Stone Age off the top spot on the weekly U.S. album chart.
But the album fell one spot to second place on the British charts this week. Black Sabbath, an English rock band fronted by lead singer Ozzy Osbourne, released their debut self-titled album in North America in 1970, but were never able to notch the top spot on the Billboard 200 album chart in a career spanning 43 years.
"The news is absolutely amazing - we couldn't have imagined this would happen," guitarist and founding member Tony Iommi said in a statement. Osbourne added, "to finally have our first No. 1 album in the U.S. is another incredible milestone for Black Sabbath."
French electronic duo Daft Punk held steady for the second week at No. 2 with "Random Access Memories," which has sold 543,000 copies since its release on May 18.
Justin Timberlake's "The 20/20 Experience" saw a surge in sales last week after the album was discounted for Father's Day, with 35,000 copies sold and climbing from No. 9 to No. 3.
Country band Florida Georgia Line also benefited from Father's Day promotion sale prices, as their album "Here's to the Good Times" climbing back into the top 10 at No. 5.
Black Sabbath was one of five new debut albums in the top ten this past week.
Boy band Big Time Rush came in at No. 4 with "24/Seven," alternative-rockers Goo Goo Dolls landed at No. 8 with their latest record "Magnetic," and movie score maestro Hans Zimmer's soundtrack for Superman movie "Man of Steel" flew into No. 9.
Comedy trio The Lonely Island, fronted by former "Saturday Night Live" cast member Andy Samberg, rounded out the top 10 with their latest collection of parodies, "The Wack Album."
Overall album sales totaled 5.25 million for the week ending June 16, down 10 percent from the comparable sales week in 2012, according to Billboard.
This week's chart is likely to see a high debut from rapper Kanye West, who released his latest record "Yeezus" this past week and is currently at the top of the iTunes album chart.
On its blog today, Rdio announced that it will now support up to five people on its family plan. Previously, only three customers were able to buddy up on the music-streaming service, with monthly pricing set at $17.99 for two users and $22.99 for three. Fees for two and three users will remain the same, while four members cost $27.99 and maxing out with five listeners will set you back $32.99 per month. If you already have an account and want to get your sibs in on the actions, head to your Rdio settings and select "Unlimited Family." From there, you can invite the family to sign on.
June 24, 2013 ? Kansas State University veterinarians are warning pet owners to watch out for ticks carrying a disease that could kill cats.
Cytauxzoon felis, also known as bobcat fever, is a blood parasite that infects domestic cats and has a very high death rate. Susan Nelson, a veterinarian and clinical associate professor at Kansas State University's Veterinary Health Center, says this disease was thought to be carried only by the American dog tick, but now may be carried by the lone star tick, which is quite prevalent in northeast Kansas.
"Most people have probably seen a lone star tick even if they're not familiar with them by name," Nelson said. "They're the ones that have a bright white spot on their back."
Bobcat fever does not affect humans or dogs. It is called bobcat fever because bobcats are considered the main reservoir for the disease, as it is typically not fatal for them.
Most cases of bobcat fever occur from March through September, which coincides with the times cats are most likely to encounter ticks. Late spring and early summer are the peak times for ticks in Kansas.
Nelson says cats that live outside the city boundaries are at a higher risk of getting bobcat fever because they are more likely to encounter ticks in a rural environment; however, that doesn't necessarily mean that your city-living kitty can't get the disease. If your cat has contracted the disease, it can be anywhere from five to 20 days before symptoms appear.
"First, you're probably going to notice they're going to be really lethargic and tired," Nelson said. "Their appetite is going to decrease. They may feel very hot to you as they will tend to run a high fever early in the course of the disease. As the disease progresses, you might see breathing problems, dehydration and the whites of their eyes or the inside of their ears might start looking yellow as they start getting jaundiced. Their body temperature will start to drop as they near the end stages of the disease."
A cat may be infected even if you don't see a tick on the animal, because the tick may have already fed and dropped off the cat before the animal starts showing symptoms of the disease.
No vaccine is available for this disease. Treatment can be expensive and often unsuccessful, so it is important to take precautionary steps to keep your cat from being bitten. Nelson says the best thing to do is to keep your cat indoors. If you can't do that, then keep your yard well maintained -- it's a myth that ticks from fall from trees.
"If your cat likes to stay in the yard, try to keep your grass mowed down so it's not tall," she said. "The ticks tend to like the taller grasses. Keep the shrubbery trimmed short and remove debris around your house. Do daily tick checks on the cats and remember to look between their toes. If your cat lives with a dog, make sure you are using some type of tick control on the dog as it can bring ticks into your house, which can then feed on your cat."
Nelson also suggests talking to your veterinarian about types of tick control medications to determine which is best for your pet.
Tick expert Michael Dryden, university distinguished professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology at Kansas State University, tracks the lone star tick and says they are mainly found in eastern Kansas and in the Southeastern states. So far, he has not found any lone star ticks west of Clay Center, Kan., but he expects its territory will expand.
June 24, 2013 ? The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a new image of nearby spiral galaxy Messier 61, also known as NGC 4303. The galaxy, located only 55 million light-years away from Earth, is roughly the size of the Milky Way, with a diameter of around 100,000 light-years.
The galaxy is notable for one particular reason -- six supernovae have been observed within Messier 61, a total that places it in the top handful of galaxies alongside Messier 83, also with six, and NGC 6946, with a grand total of nine observed supernovae.
In this Hubble image the galaxy is seen face-on as if posing for a photograph, allowing us to study its structure closely. The spiral arms can be seen in stunning detail, swirling inwards to the very center of the galaxy, where they form a smaller, intensely bright spiral. In the outer regions, these vast arms are sprinkled with bright blue regions where new stars are being formed from hot, dense clouds of gas.
Messier 61 is part of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster, a massive group of galaxies in the constellation of Virgo (the Virgin). Galaxy clusters, or groups of galaxies, are among the biggest structures in the Universe to be held together by gravity alone. The Virgo Cluster contains more than 1300 galaxies and forms the central region of the Local Supercluster, an even bigger gathering of galaxies. The image was taken using data from Hubble's Wide Field Camera 2.
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Toyota Boosting Manufacturing Investment in Alabama, Missouri and Tennessee
$200 Million Investment for V6 Engine Machining in Huntsville, Ala., and Related Casting Parts in Troy, Mo., and Jackson, Tenn. Toyota Has Committed More Than $2 Billion to Expand North American Production Within the Past Two Years
ERLANGER, Ky. (June 20, 2013) ? Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc. (TEMA), announced today that its Alabama engine plant and Bodine Aluminum casting plants will invest a combined $200 million to boost machining capacity and engine parts production for V6 engines.
Today's announcement represents Toyota's ninth manufacturing investment in North America over the past two years that now totals more than $2 billion. The result of this new investment is more than 4,000 new jobs solidifying Toyota's commitment to designing, developing and assembling vehicles in the region.
Toyota's Alabama engine plant's $150 million investment in this project represents its fifth significant new investment since it began operations a decade ago. Toyota Alabama's total investment will be $850 million once the machining project is complete by July 2015.
As previously announced, Toyota Alabama will hire approximately 125 upon completion of its current $80 million V6 engine assembly expansion by early 2014; its total employment will be 1,150. Annual engine capacity will be nearly 750,000 units.
Toyota Alabama currently assembles 4-cylinder, V6 and V8 engines for eight of 12 Toyota vehicles assembled in North America. It is the only Toyota plant globally to produce these three types of engines under one roof.
Bodine Aluminum, wholly-owned by Toyota Motor Corporation and a manufacturer of casting parts, will invest $50 million and create a total of 40 new jobs at its plant in Troy, Mo., and 10 new jobs at its plant in Jackson, Tenn., to provide cylinder heads and blocks to Toyota Alabama. Bodine's total investment will top $650 million and will employ nearly 1,100 at its three locations once the machining project begins.
In addition to Toyota Alabama, Bodine also provides cylinder heads and blocks to Toyota's engine manufacturing facilities in Kentucky and West Virginia.
"Today's investment of $200 million into three separate Toyota facilities demonstrates Toyota's commitment to North America and our localization efforts," said Osamu "Simon" Nagata, president and CEO of TEMA. "Our committment to our local communities where we produce engines, engine parts and vehicles has never been stronger thanks to our team members and their continued focus on safety, quality and continuous improvement."
"Toyota Alabama continues to play a key role in our efforts to build engines in the region for our loyal customers," said Jim Bolte, president of Toyota Alabama. "This vote of confidence gives our team members and community partners added motivation as we move towards our vision of becoming the most admired company in the state."
"Bodine's 100 years as a successful American manufacturer is a direct result of our exceptional workforce in Missouri and Tennessee," said Bob Lloyd, president of Bodine. "We look forward to serving our customer in Alabama, and ultimately, our loyal customers who drive Toyotas every day."
BEIJING (AP) ? An American executive said Monday he has been held hostage for four days at his medical supply plant in Beijing by scores of workers demanding severance packages like those given to 30 co-workers in a phased-out department.
Chip Starnes, 42, a co-owner of Coral Springs, Florida-based Specialty Medical Supplies, said local officials had visited the 10-year-old plant on the capital's outskirts and coerced him into signing agreements Saturday to meet the workers' demands even though he sought to make clear that the remaining 100 workers weren't being laid off.
The workers were expecting wire transfers by Tuesday, he said, adding that about 80 of them had been blocking every exit around the clock and depriving him of sleep by shining bright lights and banging on windows of his office. He declined to clarify the amount, saying he wanted to keep it confidential.
"I feel like a trapped animal," Starnes told The Associated Press on Monday from his first-floor office window, while holding onto the window's bars. "I think it's inhumane what is going on right now. I have been in this area for 10 years and created a lot of jobs and I would never have thought in my wildest imagination something like this would happen."
Workers inside the compound, a pair of two-story buildings behind gates and hedges in the Huairou district of the northeastern Beijing suburbs, repeatedly declined requests for comment, saying they did not want to talk to foreign media.
It is not rare in China for managers to be held by workers demanding back pay or other benefits, often from their Chinese owners, though occasionally also involving foreign bosses.
The labor action reflects growing uneasiness among workers about their jobs amid China's slowing economic growth and the sense that growing labor costs make the country less attractive for some foreign-owned factories. The account about local officials coercing Starnes to meet workers' demands ? if true ? reflects how officials typically consider stifling unrest to be a priority.
Huairou district and Qiaozi township governments declined to comment.
A local police spokesman said police were at the scene to maintain order. Four uniformed police and about a dozen other men who declined to identify themselves were standing across the road from the plant.
"As far as I know, there was a labor dispute between the workers and the company management and the dispute is being solved," said spokesman Zhao Lu of the Huairou Public Security Bureau. " I am not sure about the details of the solution, but I can guarantee the personal safety of the manager."
Representatives from the U.S. Embassy stood outside the gate much of the day, and eventually were let in. U.S. Embassy spokesman Nolan Barkhouse said the two sides were on the verge of an agreement and that Starnes would have access to his attorneys. It was unclear what agreement might be reached, and subsequent attempts to contact Starnes were not immediately successful.
Starnes said the company had gradually been winding down its plastics division, planning to move it to Mumbai, India. He arrived in Beijing last Tuesday to lay off the last 30 people. Some had been working there for up to nine years, so their compensation packages were "pretty nice," he said.
Some of the workers in the other divisions got wind of this, and, coupled with rumors that the whole plant was moving to India, started demanding similar severance packages on Friday.
Christian Murck, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, said he wasn't familiar with Starnes' case, but that such hostage-taking was "not a major problem" for the foreign business community.
"It happened more often say 15 years ago than today, but it still happens from time to time," he said. "It rarely leads to personal harm to the managers involved, but there are cases when it has in years past."
MILAN (AP) -- Milan fashion designers have travel on their minds for next summer.
Designs shown on the second day of menswear previews during Milan Fashion Week had an exotic flare -- even if Miuccia Prada in particular says she was rejecting the label.
African references were predominant. There were geometric patterns, ethnic shades, baggy pants, Kaftans, shell-detailing and sandals.
The tropics also got their due, with floral and animal prints, the colors of sunsets and stormy seas and Hawaiian girl motifs.
Bermudas remain a mainstay for season -- and often make up a suit paired with a narrow jacket, and are always worn with ankle socks.
Often the exotic shared the runway with more classic looks, fitted trousers, summer slacks and button-down shirts. Jackets more often than not are worn with the sleeves pushed or rolled up.
Shoes run the gamut from thick rubber-soles to fine leather booties and loafers.
MIUCCIA PRADA
Miuccia Prada questions the very meaning of summer and the exotic in her latest menswear designs.
Prada has delivered satin floral prints that are clearly associated with the Pacific, and pairs them not with the classic linen gin-and-tonic suit, but with a traditional double-breasted pin stripe.
Her reference point in the collection is clearly the 1940s. The designer has returned to the old-fashioned carry-on luggage ? no trollies, please ? with bold designs, including tropical florals and Hawaiian girls. The period references on the luggage were also backdrops to the runway: graphic prints of palm trees, postcard sunsets and images of water.
The looks were classics ? with Prada updates. She seemed to have sports on her mind: There were satiny boxer shorts, light-weight shirts based on a baseball jacket and a retro bowling ball bag. The designer also layered short-sleeved knitwear over shirts, often with clashing patterns.
The color palette recalled stormy sea colors ? gray to teal to black ? and sunsets ? yellow to terracotta to earthy brown and black.
BOTTEGA VENETA
For next summer Tomas Maier, the acclaimed creative director of luxury goods brand Bottega Veneta, is inviting customers to walk in his shoes.
Maier used the traditional Bottega leather weave for loafers, lace-ups and even sidewalk slippers. Usually, it's reserved for women's handbags.
According to his fashion notes, "contrast" was the theme of Maier's 2014 preview collection.
The show opened with a series of suits with a soft shouldered, wide sleeved jacket and narrow pants. Contrast came in the white lines stitched into the classic look referencing the chalk marks used for fittings in bespoke tailoring, creating imaginary lapels and pockets.
MISSONI
Angela Missoni looked to West Africa for inspiration for her menswear collection for next summer: its colors, its weaves and its accents.
The mood of the collection was encapsulated in an intricate sand-colored crewneck sweater with pieces of red and milky shell embroidered into decorative panels. A small leather talisman sack, for a good luck charm or precious object, was worn around the neck on strands of beads.
The designer for the family label referenced the colors of the continent: indigo textile dyes from Benin, clay tones from Mali and dark olive from the rain forests of Ivory Coast.
The classically cut suits, some in bold indigo plaids and others in khaki shades with the hint of desert reds woven in, were more fitting of an adventurer than a businessman, more likely seen in a colonial hotel than a metropolitan meeting room.
CALVIN KLEIN
The Calvin Klein man for next summer keeps men in their comfort zone, with a solid focus on basics in reassuring blues. There are bomber jackets, suits with cuffed pants and classic shirts.
Designer Italo Zucchelli offers up monochromatic looks predominantly in blues: wake-up royal, soothing sky and down-to-business navy. Classic double-pocket snap-close shirts are paired with same-color pants that cuff at the ankle. They in turn are worn with a shoe of the matching color and same-color socks ? none of the black socks seen on other runways.
Bomber jackets come in white with classic blue vertical stripes, perfect for a day at the ballpark.
On the more daring end of the spectrum, sweatshirts are made of a funky mix of fabrics: One had a neoprene effect, another was chunky knit and finally there were cotton panels. Together, they create a harmonious clash fitting of the heavy metal riffs that resounded down along the runway.
FERRAGAMO
The Ferragamo summer promises to be young and carefree, with Bermuda shorts, leather sandals and a large backpack the only musts for the warm weather traveler.
To set the mood, Massimiliano Giornetti, the label's creative director, created a suitably atmospheric backdrop ? a long, white runway was set off by a big blue sky projected on a mega screen.
Giornetti at times took the summer suit trend of Bermuda shorts and a matching jacket a step further by cutting the sleeves off the jacket, or using unconventional colors such as pea green and lobster red.
The designer also favored large geometric patterns, a recurring theme in this round of preview collections, and light and billowy overcoats, which are also popular for next summer.
VIVIENNE WESTWOOD
Vivienne Westwood, the British designer known for her eccentric fashion, dedicated her latest menswear collection to Bradley Manning, an American soldier currently on trial in the U.S. for leaking classified material to the website WikiLeaks. He was arrested in May 2010 in Iraq.
Models walked down the runway wearing a large badge with a picture of the soldier on it, and the word "TRUTH" written at the bottom in bold white letters on a red background.
The collection was casual chic with African references, from the striped linen used for a long Kaftan shirt or a summer suit, to baggy pants and breeches, to geometric prints, to toe sandals and flip flops.
The show opened with a series of summer khaki slacks worn over classic shirts, perfect for a toney summer evening.
An eye for good design isn't something you're born with; you've got to learn it. But everyone has to start somewhere, and this is what it looks like when kids take their very first awkward stabs at furniture design. The results are sort of horrifyingly cute.
AAA??Jun. 23, 2013?12:06 AM ET AP PHOTOS: Supermoon looms bright in night sky By The Associated Press??By The Associated Press
The moon is seen in its waxing gibbous stage as it rises behind the helicopter from the original Batman television show, which people can ride at the New Jersey State Fair, Saturday, June 22, 2013, in East Rutherford, N.J. The moon, which will reach its full stage on Sunday, is expected to be 13.5 percent closer to earth during a phenomenon known as supermoon. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
The moon is seen in its waxing gibbous stage as it rises behind the helicopter from the original Batman television show, which people can ride at the New Jersey State Fair, Saturday, June 22, 2013, in East Rutherford, N.J. The moon, which will reach its full stage on Sunday, is expected to be 13.5 percent closer to earth during a phenomenon known as supermoon. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
A "supermoon" rises behind the Home Place clock tower in Prattville, Ala., Saturday, June 22, 2013. The biggest and brightest full moon of the year graces the sky early Sunday as our celestial neighbor swings closer to Earth than usual. While the moon will appear 14 percent larger than normal, sky watchers won't be able to notice the difference with the naked eye. Still, astronomers say it's worth looking up and appreciating the cosmos. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
A "supermoon" rises behind roadside plants growing in Prattville, Ala., Saturday, June 22, 2013. The biggest and brightest full moon of the year graces the sky early Sunday as our celestial neighbor swings closer to Earth than usual. While the moon will appear 14 percent larger than normal, sky watchers won't be able to notice the difference with the naked eye. Still, astronomers say it's worth looking up and appreciating the cosmos. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
A full moon rises beside the Bank of America corporate headquarters in downtown Charlotte, N.C., Saturday, June 22, 2013. The larger than normal moon called the "Supermoon" happens only once this year as the moon on its elliptical orbit is at its closest point to earth.(AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
A full moon rises beside an office building in downtown Charlotte, N.C., Saturday, June 22, 2013. The larger than normal moon called the "Supermoon" happens only once this year as the moon on its elliptical orbit is at its closest point to earth.(AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
Look up in the sky for a super sight: the biggest and brightest full moon of the year.
The so-called supermoon will appear 14 percent larger than normal early Sunday as our celestial neighbor swings closer to Earth. Some may think the supermoon looks more dazzling, but it's actually an optical illusion. The moon looms larger on the horizon next to trees and buildings.
The moon will come within 222,000 miles of Earth and turn full around 7:30 a.m. EDT, making it the best time to view.
Troubled former actress Amanda Bynes has unleashed yet another Twitter rant, but this time she is calling herself a “hero” for having nose surgery again. Bynes claims she was born with a birth defect, webbing in between her eyes, and has had surgery to “fix” her nose and to remove her breast implants. Amanda said, ...
The BBC's David Shukman explains the impact and cause of the haze
Pollution levels soared for a third day in a row in Singapore, as smoky haze from fires in Indonesia shrouded the city state.
The Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) hit 401 at 12:00 on Friday (04:00 GMT) - the highest in Singapore's history.
The index also reached 400 in one part of Indonesia, which is readying helicopters and cloud-seeding equipment in an effort to tackle the fires.
Indonesia has said it is unfair to blame it solely for the forest fires.
A senior official in the Indonesian president's office said fires had been spotted on land owned by 32 companies in the region, some of them based in Malaysia and Singapore.
Schools in parts of Malaysia and Indonesia have closed temporarily.
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsieng Loong warned on Thursday that the haze could remain in place for weeks.
"We can't tell how this problem is going to develop because it depends on the burning, it depends on the weather, it depends on the wind," he said.
"It can easily last for several weeks and quite possibly it could last longer until the dry season ends in Sumatra which may be September or October."
'Life threatening' Continue reading the main story
Analysis
Karishma VaswaniBBC News, Jakarta
Indonesia is struggling to contain the raging forest fires that are causing the thick smog which is enveloping Singapore, parts of Malaysia and some Indonesian cities.
On Friday, the government despatched helicopters to the worst affected areas, in a bid to create artificial rain. The plan is to seed the clouds once the temperature is a bit cooler to induce rain over the burning forestland.
It is a big challenge. Fire-fighters on the ground have been working around the clock to put out the blazes, but they have spread to peatlands and are proving to be very difficult to extinguish. Officials have complained about a lack of resources and say they desperately need some rain to help.
Indonesia's weather agency says rainfall is not likely until 29 June. Singapore and Malaysia have both urged Indonesia to do more to solve this crisis. Singapore has offered aircraft to help with the cloud-seeding operation, but there needs to be clouds in the sky for it to work. This time of year is typically the hottest and driest on the island of Sumatra.
A PSI reading above 300 is defined as "hazardous", while Singapore government guidelines say a PSI reading of above 400 sustained for 24 hours "may be life-threatening to ill and elderly persons".
"Healthy people [may also] experience adverse symptoms that affect normal activity," the government says.
The PSI dropped down to 143 at 17:00 (09:00 GMT), although this is still classed as "unhealthy".
Before this week's episode, the previous air pollution record was from September 1997 during the 1997-1998 South East Asian Haze, when the PSI peaked at 226.
Singapore resident Nicole Wu told the BBC that she had stayed indoors for the past two days.
"It's terrible. In my flat the windows are all closed with the air conditioning on," she said. "My mother has to wear a mask to go shopping."
"I can't even see what's happening outside my house due to the smog. You can't see birds [or] moving objects," she added.
Philip Koh, a doctor, told AFP news agency that the number of medical consultations he had had in the past week had increased by 20%.
Continue reading the main story
"My patients are telling me they are worried about how long this is going to last and how much higher this is going to go," he said.
In Indonesia's Riau province, where the fires are concentrated, the PSI reached 400 on Friday, the head of the local health office told the BBC.
Schools there are to remain closed until the air quality improves.
The chief of the health department Zainal Arifin said there was an "increasing number of asthma, lung, eye and skin problems due to higher CO2 levels".
"I call for residents to stay at home and reduce outdoor activities," he said.
Diplomatic strain Continue reading the main story
?Start Quote
The face masks which are in high demand in Singapore can protect against the worst of the smog... [but] are unlikely to provide total protection?
End Quote
Singapore's National Environment Agency has started providing hourly PSI updates on its website, in addition to the three-hourly updates it previously provided.
Around 300 schools in southern Malaysia have now been closed as a result of the smog. Schools in Singapore are currently closed for the holidays.
There are also reports of flight delays affecting both Singapore's Changi airport and Riau province in Indonesia.
The fires are caused by illegal slash-and-burn land clearance in Sumatra, to the west of Singapore.
The smog has strained diplomatic relations between Singapore and Indonesia - two countries that usually share good relations, the BBC's Karishma Vaswani in Jakarta reports.
Continue reading the main story
Slash-and-burn clearances
Slash-and-burn farming is a technique that involves cutting down vegetation and burning to clear land for cultivation
It is cheaper than using excavators and bulldozers
The illegal burning of forests to clear land for palm oil plantations has long been a problem in Indonesia - particularly during the dry season in the summer
Indonesia's Environment Minister Balthazar Kambuaya has said the government is investigating several palm oil companies in this respect
Some producers have already denied their companies use slash and burn land clearance
Mr Lee said Singapore had provided satellite date to Indonesia to help it identify companies involved and said that if any Singapore firms were involved, that would be addressed.
Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency said it would deploy two helicopters to conduct "water-bombing" operations, as well as planes with cloud seeding equipment.
One of the Malaysian companies named by the Indonesian presidential official denied that it was burning forest to clear land, but said some small farmers operating on its property were doing so.
Palm oil giant Sime Darby said in a statement that it was strictly following its zero-burning policy throughout its operations, but that it could not control the activities of local growers farming on its concession area.
More than 100 Indonesian firefighters are attempting to put out the fires in Sumatra.
Selina Latiff, from Novena, Singapore, filmed this footage of the smog from a 29th floor balcony
However, an official in Riau province said they were "overwhelmed and in a state of emergency".
"We have been fighting fires 24 hours a day for two weeks," Ahmad Saerozi, the head of the natural resources conservation agency in Riau, told AFP news agency.
He added that the fires were in peat around three or four metres below the ground, making it particularly hard to fight them.
"It is still burning under the surface so we have to stick a hose into the peat to douse the fire," he said.
"We take one to two hours to clear a hectare, and by then another fire has started elsewhere."
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said "all the country's resources" would be mobilised to extinguish the fires.
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Troubled former actress Amanda Bynes has unleashed yet another Twitter rant, but this time she is calling herself a “hero” for having nose surgery again. Bynes claims she was born with a birth defect, webbing in between her eyes, and has had surgery to “fix” her nose and to remove her breast implants. Amanda said, ...
