Google releases Android 3.1, announces Android Ice Cream Sandwich

At Google I/O 2011 today, the company made a bunch of Android announcements. First off, Android 3.1 is now official, offering the following features for users and developers:

  • Open Accessory API. This new API provides a way for Android applications to integrate and interact with a wide range of accessories such as musical equipment, exercise equipment, robotics systems, and many others.
  • USB host API. On devices that support USB host mode, applications can now manage connected USB peripherals such as audio devices. input devices, communications devices, and more.
  • Input from mice, joysticks, and gamepads. Android 3.1 extends the input event system to support a variety of new input sources and motion events such as from mice, trackballs, joysticks, gamepads, and others.
  • Resizable Home screen widgets. Developers can now create Home screen widgets that are resizeable horizontally, vertically, or both.
  • Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) Applications can now receive notifications when external cameras are attached and removed, manage files and storage on those devices, and transfer files and metadata to and from them.
  • Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) API for audio. Developers can directly manage on-demand or interactive data streaming to enable VOIP, push-to-talk, conferencing, and audio streaming.

The company also talked about its next version of Android, codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich, which is slated for Q4 2011. While we don't know what version number it will have, rumors have previously suggested Android 4.0. The big change with Ice Cream Sandwich will be that it works on all devices. That means Google will be porting features from Android 3.0 (codenamed Honeycomb) to the smartphone, including the holographic user interface, more multitasking, the new launcher, and richer widgets.

In addition to the OS updates, Google also shared more information about the Android ecosystem. Over the past two and a half years, the company has shipped eight releases of Android. There are now more than 310 Android devices around the world and 100 million activated Android devices so far.

Google also revealed that there are now 400,000 new Android devices activated every day. In December 2010, the company was activating 300,000 Android phones daily.

The search giant also noted there are 200,000 free and paid applications available in the Android Market, but we've known this since December 2010.

Last but not least, the company revealed there are 4.5 billion apps installed from the Android Market. That's impressive, because just last month we were at 3 billion installed apps. Because Android is open, the platform's users can download apps from more than one app store.

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100,000 Facebook Apps have been leaking user data accidentally for years [Updated]

Security company Symantec has posted a notification on their blog that reveals a flaw in the Facebook web application API that has allowed apps nearly complete access to user?s accounts. This includes profiles, photos, chat and the ability to mine customer information. Updates below.

Fortunately, says Symantec, these third-party apps may not have realized that they even had the ability in the first place. Facebook has been informed that the issue exists and they have taken ?corrective action? to eliminate the vulnerability.

Faceboook IFRAME applications, which are embedded web apps, had inadvertently been leaking access tokens to advertisers and analytics platforms. Symantec estimates that close to 100k apps were leaking info.

We estimate that as of April 2011, close to 100,000 applications were enabling this leakage. We estimate that over the years, hundreds of thousands of applications may have inadvertently leaked millions of access tokens to third parties.

At this point the leaking of access tokens, which act as keys to user information, to third parties has apparently been corrected by Facebook, but the vulnerability has existed for months. While Symantec does not believe that any of the developers of these applications where aware of their ability to access user data, it is not completely clear if they were or not.

There is no good way to estimate how many access tokens have already been leaked since the release Facebook applications back in 2007. We fear a lot of these tokens might still be available in log files of third-party servers or still being actively used by advertisers.

They recommend that all users of Facebook who are concerned with the issue to change their password immediately. Changing their password will invalidate these tokens and remove a third-party apps ability to access their profile.

We also recommend changing your password on your Facebook account as a security precaution. The fact of the matter is that this vulnerability has now been fixed, but those access tokens that were issued may still be in the databases of third party vendors. If you do not change your password they still have access to that information.

Now that the vulnerability has been made public, some of these may attempt to take advantage of the extensive access to mine user data or much more. A full explanation of the vulnerability can be found at Symantec?s site.

Update. Facebook has posted an article on its developer blog, acknowledging that it is working with Symantec to improve security. They also state that they are now requiring that all applications use the newer OAuth 2.0 process for obtaining access keys.

Today, we are announcing an update to our Developer Roadmap that outlines a plan requiring all sites and apps to migrate to OAuth 2.0, process the signed_request parameter, and obtain an SSL certificate by October 1.

The new authorization process will remove the older form of authentication that allowed for applications to obtain the authorization keys.

Update 2. Douglas Purdy, Facebook?s Director of Developer Relations, has left this response in the comments below. We are including it in the body of the post to ensure that it is noted by readers of this article.

We appreciateSymantec raising this issue and we worked with them to address it immediately. Unfortunately, their resulting report has some inaccuracies. Specifically, we?ve conducted a thorough investigation which revealed no evidence of this issue resulting in a user?s private information being shared with unauthorized third parties. In addition, this report ignores the contractual obligations of advertisers and developers which prohibit them from sharing user information in a way that violates our policies. Lastly, as you mentioned, the change we announced today on our developer blog removes the outdated API referred to in Symantec?s report.

As Purdy notes, developers of apps and advertisers working with Facebook are under contractual obligation to prohibits them from using user information in ways that violate Facebook?s policies. This would preclude them from utilizing any information obtained by improper authorization on part of Facebook?s API?s. It does not change the fact that the information was improperly accessible, a matter which Facebook promptly addressed as soon as it was brought to their attention.

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A Touch Screen That Plays Sticky

An experimental touch screen that uses variable friction to make different areas feel sticky or rough could point the way to a new paradigm in interfaces.

The touch screen uses high-frequency vibrations to create a thin layer of air between the glass and the user's finger. The finger slips easily over the layer of air but catches slightly on the glass when the vibrations are turned off. Varying the vibrations as the user's finger moves can cause different parts of the screen to feel slick or sticky.

"It adds a feeling of realism," says Vincent Lévesque, a computer scientist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. "It's more physical. It feels like there are real buttons that actually exist." Lévesque and colleagues demonstrated a prototype of the device at the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Vancouver this week.

The screen is one of a number of new devices that offer complex tactile feedback. Some mobile phones on the market, for example, use vibrations to generate a click or some other tactile signal. But the new device, called a tactile pattern display (T-PaD), is meant to do more than just buzz or click, says Ed Colgate, a mechanical engineer at Northwestern University whose team developed the touch screen.

"We're not just about giving signals," he says. "We're about giving physical sensations like the experience you have when you interact with the real world."

The T-PaD uses piezoelectric discs positioned against a glass plate. When a current is run through the discs, they vibrate at 26 kilohertz and transmit the vibrations to the glass. Lasers track the motion of a user's finger and vary the vibrations accordingly.

For instance, when a finger runs across a button, the vibrations will slow or stop, giving the impression that that part of the screen is sticky. If you drag a file into a folder, you'll feel the screen get sticky as your finger hits the target. Turning a wheel or moving a scroll bar on the screen, you'll feel your finger move over tactile "tick marks." Turning the vibrations on and off very quickly?for instance, every time a finger moves a millimeter across the screen?can make part of the screen feel rough, as if it is covered with a grating.

In a paper presented at the ACM conference, Lévesque and colleagues showed that the tactile feedback allowed people to complete tasks slightly more quickly. The users also generally liked the touch screen, although some complained that their fingers became tired after using it for a while.

"It's actually quite magic when you touch it. It's really neat," says Vincent Hayward, a mechanical engineer at Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, who is familiar with the device. However, he warns that the approach has problems?the prototype is bulky and uses a lot of power. It also provides feedback only while a finger is moving. Tapping on the screen doesn't produce any special sensation. He says that he expects the tactile displays to eventually make their way into consumer electronics. "There's a lot of engineering to be done," admits Colgate. "But it is by no means theoretically impossible."

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As Special House Race Intensifies, Washington Sends Backup

But the national political stakes became clear when the House speaker, John A. Boehner, arrived on Monday for a visit that drew a few hundred people, including residents, local dignitaries and television crews.

Mr. Boehner came to provide a spark to the struggling campaign of Jane L. Corwin, the Republican running for a vacant House seat representing New York?s 26th Congressional District, in the western part of the state. A special election scheduled for May 24 is to determine who will fill the seat left by Representative Christopher Lee. Mr. Lee resigned in February after he e-mailed a shirtless photo of himself to a woman and it appeared on the Web.

While the district is dominated by Republican voters, Ms. Corwin, a state lawmaker, has seen her lead diminish in recent weeks, as the Democratic candidate, Kathy Hochul, has repeatedly warned that older residents, a key voting group, would be hurt by a deficit-cutting plan adopted by House Republicans that calls for overhauling Medicare.

The unexpected traction that Ms. Hochul is gaining on the issue has prompted national Democrats, who were initially going to skip the race, to jump in and try to frame it as a political test of the Republican agenda in Washington.

Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand of New York announced Monday that she, too, would head to the 26th District to campaign for Ms. Hochul, a fellow Democrat.

Mr. Boehner, appearing at a fund-raiser with Ms. Corwin on Monday, accused Democrats of engaging in political chicanery, although he did not explicitly mention the Medicare issue or take any questions from reporters on the subject.

?The Democrats,? said Mr. Boehner, Republican of Ohio, ?are hoping they can steal this election and move their agenda, which is more taxes and higher spending.?

?I think,? he added, ?that all of you being here today shows that people in western New York have a different agenda.?

Mr. Boehner also used the opportunity to note that Ms. Corwin was the ?only conservative? in the race, a remark that, aides said, was aimed at Jack Davis, a former Democrat who opted to run on the Tea Party line after failing to win the Republican nomination for Congress.

In recent weeks, Republicans have become increasingly concerned that Mr. Davis is drawing Republican support from Ms. Corwin and have concluded that the key to victory lies in raising doubts among voters about Mr. Davis?s conservative credentials.

Ms. Corwin?s campaign is running a television advertisement in the region describing Mr. Davis as a Democrat and pointing out his history of supporting Democrats, including Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader in the House and a bête noire of the right.

Mr. Boehner?s visit was welcomed by local Republicans, worried about losing a seat that their party has held for decades.

?Anytime there?s a race this tight, especially a special election, you have to bring out the firepower,? Laurie Frey, a Republican from Clarence, said.

?I?m a little worried,? Ms. Frey added. ?But it?s a heavy Republican district, and I think we will pull through in the end.?

Democrats sought to make the most, politically, of the Boehner visit. Ms. Hochul gathered with a few dozen supporters at her campaign headquarters, where she continued to hammer away at Ms. Corwin, who has steadfastly supported the Republican Medicare plan.

Ms. Hochul said that the plan would destroy Medicare and that voters in the district had an opportunity, by electing her, to send that message to Congressional Republicans.

?This election presents the clearest choice for this nation,? Ms. Hochul said. ?We can alter the national debate with one election.?

Mr. Boehner, on his visit, took time to meet with Families of Continental Flight 3407, a local group that has been pushing for stricter air safety standards since a deadly plane crash near Buffalo two years ago.

Ms. Corwin?s campaign, revealing the vigor with which the race was being fought, made a point of telling reporters that she had asked Mr. Boehner to meet with the group.

Mr. Boehner?s aides said he promised the group that he would try to address their concerns.

Stretching from the western suburbs of Rochester to the villages and towns northeast of Buffalo, the 26th District has 30,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats.

The race did not initially draw much attention outside of western New York, largely because leaders of both parties expected that Republicans would be able to keep the seat. But Ms. Hochul, after seizing on Medicare, has shown strength in polls. Her aides said she would pound away on the issue until Election Day.

Michael D. Regan contributed reporting from Clarence.

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Carcassonne iPad Review

Carcassonne iPad Review

Posted on 7th May 2011 at 10:18 by David Hing with 9 comments

The iPad is an ideal platform for board games. It's large enough for more than one person to sit round it for a local game without feeling stupid, and its touchscreen is sizeable enough to make it practical to move pieces, even if you have chubby fingers. Thus, it was only a matter of time before classic board games such as Carcassonne jumped to the platform.

The game itself is easy to learn, and is mostly based around the idea of developing the areas around the titular French town. At higher levels, though, the strategies and tactics involved can become enormously complex, although this iPad version eases you in with spoken tutorials and a full digital manual. It takes very little time to get to grips with the mechanics, with only a few references back to the documentation, and the interface is kept gloriously pristine.

There are a few different basic game-types, including a Solitaire mode that follows slightly adapted rules to the core game, plus online, local and AI matches.


The developers have done an excellent job in rendering the tiles and pieces, managing to retain the feel of a board game while still making the most of the digital format. None of the graphics feel out of place and everything emulates the physical version perfectly, with a decently tactile quality provided by the ability to drag pieces around the board.

As a game itself, Carcassonne is excellent to play with a couple of friends sat around the iPad. It wouldn't be completely out of the question to use this instead of setting out a full boxed copy of the game, as it?s so easy to pass the iPad around a circle. Of course, this version will never completely replicate the physical version, but it's solid enough to at least sit on par with it.


Online matches are a slightly more troublesome affair, however. The app apparently match-makes according to skill, but it was hard to tell whether or not this was happening, as most of the games ended with an opponent mysteriously disappearing the second it looked like the game might not be going their way.

We found ourselves mostly playing against the AI opponents supplied with the game, which are broken down into Easy, Strong, Weird, Evil and Simple behaviour types. Although it isn't always clear how the Strong AI improves over the Easy AI, the Evil AI can teach you a couple of nasty tricks if you're paying attention. You?ll often find yourself cursing and softly swearing at.

Verdict
This is a beautifully realised portable version of a very well constructed board game. Even if you haven't played the original, this is a brilliant introduction that's much cheaper than buying the full boxed version. Recommended!

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As Special House Race Intensifies, Washington Sends Backup

But the national political stakes became clear when the House speaker, John A. Boehner, arrived on Monday for a visit that drew a few hundred people, including residents, local dignitaries and television crews.

Mr. Boehner came to provide a spark to the struggling campaign of Jane L. Corwin, the Republican running for a vacant House seat representing New York?s 26th Congressional District, in the western part of the state. A special election scheduled for May 24 is to determine who will fill the seat left by Representative Christopher Lee. Mr. Lee resigned in February after he e-mailed a shirtless photo of himself to a woman and it appeared on the Web.

While the district is dominated by Republican voters, Ms. Corwin, a state lawmaker, has seen her lead diminish in recent weeks, as the Democratic candidate, Kathy Hochul, has repeatedly warned that older residents, a key voting group, would be hurt by a deficit-cutting plan adopted by House Republicans that calls for overhauling Medicare.

The unexpected traction that Ms. Hochul is gaining on the issue has prompted national Democrats, who were initially going to skip the race, to jump in and try to frame it as a political test of the Republican agenda in Washington.

Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand of New York announced Monday that she, too, would head to the 26th District to campaign for Ms. Hochul, a fellow Democrat.

Mr. Boehner, appearing at a fund-raiser with Ms. Corwin on Monday, accused Democrats of engaging in political chicanery, although he did not explicitly mention the Medicare issue or take any questions from reporters on the subject.

?The Democrats,? said Mr. Boehner, Republican of Ohio, ?are hoping they can steal this election and move their agenda, which is more taxes and higher spending.?

?I think,? he added, ?that all of you being here today shows that people in western New York have a different agenda.?

Mr. Boehner also used the opportunity to note that Ms. Corwin was the ?only conservative? in the race, a remark that, aides said, was aimed at Jack Davis, a former Democrat who opted to run on the Tea Party line after failing to win the Republican nomination for Congress.

In recent weeks, Republicans have become increasingly concerned that Mr. Davis is drawing Republican support from Ms. Corwin and have concluded that the key to victory lies in raising doubts among voters about Mr. Davis?s conservative credentials.

Ms. Corwin?s campaign is running a television advertisement in the region describing Mr. Davis as a Democrat and pointing out his history of supporting Democrats, including Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader in the House and a bête noire of the right.

Mr. Boehner?s visit was welcomed by local Republicans, worried about losing a seat that their party has held for decades.

?Anytime there?s a race this tight, especially a special election, you have to bring out the firepower,? Laurie Frey, a Republican from Clarence, said.

?I?m a little worried,? Ms. Frey added. ?But it?s a heavy Republican district, and I think we will pull through in the end.?

Democrats sought to make the most, politically, of the Boehner visit. Ms. Hochul gathered with a few dozen supporters at her campaign headquarters, where she continued to hammer away at Ms. Corwin, who has steadfastly supported the Republican Medicare plan.

Ms. Hochul said that the plan would destroy Medicare and that voters in the district had an opportunity, by electing her, to send that message to Congressional Republicans.

?This election presents the clearest choice for this nation,? Ms. Hochul said. ?We can alter the national debate with one election.?

Mr. Boehner, on his visit, took time to meet with Families of Continental Flight 3407, a local group that has been pushing for stricter air safety standards since a deadly plane crash near Buffalo two years ago.

Ms. Corwin?s campaign, revealing the vigor with which the race was being fought, made a point of telling reporters that she had asked Mr. Boehner to meet with the group.

Mr. Boehner?s aides said he promised the group that he would try to address their concerns.

Stretching from the western suburbs of Rochester to the villages and towns northeast of Buffalo, the 26th District has 30,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats.

The race did not initially draw much attention outside of western New York, largely because leaders of both parties expected that Republicans would be able to keep the seat. But Ms. Hochul, after seizing on Medicare, has shown strength in polls. Her aides said she would pound away on the issue until Election Day.

Michael D. Regan contributed reporting from Clarence.

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Boehner Outlines Demands on Debt Limit Fight

In his most specific statement to date on what Republicans will demand in the debt ceiling fight, Mr. Boehner told the Economic Club of New York that the level of spending reductions should exceed the amount of the increase in borrowing power.

?Without significant spending cuts and changes to the way we spend the American people?s money, there will be no debt limit increase,? Mr. Boehner told members of New York?s business and finance community. ?And cuts should be greater than the accompanying increase in debt authority the president is given.? Mr. Boehner said those cuts should be in the trillions of dollars, not billions. 

In the speech, delivered ahead of a second round of debt limit negotiations with the White House and Senate Democrats on Tuesday, Mr. Boehner did not provide a timeframe for when the spending reductions would have to be imposed.

His address came after a leading Senate Democrat, Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, accused Mr. Boehner of ?playing with fire? by holding the debt limit increase hostage to a push for spending cuts and budget restrictions.

?The idea of refusing to raise the debt ceiling should be taken off the table,? Mr. Schumer said in a conference call with reporters before the speech. Mr. Schumer also said he believed that the debt limit increase should be approved by mid-July to reassure nervous credit markets, though the administration has said it can push the deadline into early August.

In his remarks, the speaker expressed strong resistance to the effort by some Senate Democrats and President Obama for an alternative to enacting specific spending cuts as the price for increasing the debt limit: ?triggers? that prompt automatic spending reductions and perhaps tax increases if Congress and the White House do not meet targets for lowering the deficit in coming years. That idea has emerged as providing the potential for compromise over the debt increase.

Mr. Boehner said the reductions should be ?actual cuts and program reforms, not broad deficit or debt targets that punt the tough questions to the future. And with the exception of tax hikes ? which will destroy jobs ? everything is on the table.?

Acknowledging that many in the financial world are uneasy about the prospect that the government might not be able to make good on its financial obligations, Mr. Boehner said it would be more damaging to the nation if Congress granted the administration?s request without taking steps to curb deficit spending and bring down the federal debt.

?It would send a signal to investors and entrepreneurs everywhere that America still is not serious about dealing with our spending addiction,? Mr. Boehner said. ?It would erode confidence in our economy and reduce the certainty for small businesses. And frankly I think it would kill even more American jobs.?

The administration has not specified the amount of the increase it is seeking in the $14.3 trillion debt limit, but the previous increase in 2010 was just under $2 trillion, and estimates are that a similar amount would be required to avoid a second politically charged vote on the debt limit before the 2012 elections.

Mr. Boehner also said the debt talks should include ?honest conversations? about how to rein in the costs of the Medicare program, and he advocated fundamental changes. Other senior Republicans acknowledged last week that any changes to the health insurance program for older Americans are unlikely to incorporate the party?s proposal to begin providing private insurance subsidies for future retirees.

The speaker managed his party?s negotiations with the White House and Senate Democrats this year over current spending and pushed his demands for cuts to the final hours, when a last-minute deal for about $38 billion in cuts avoided a federal government shutdown shortly before midnight on April 8. Asked by an audience member whether he would entertain a short-term increase in the debt limit if no deal was reached, Mr. Boehner was noncommittal.

Mr. Schumer and Roger C. Altman, an investment banker and former Clinton administration Treasury official, said the consequences for the nation?s economy could be dire if the government defaulted for the first time in its history or if the debt-ceiling talks were pushed to the brink.

?If America were to default, even for 24 hours, that would have an unprecedented and a catastrophic impact on global financial markets and on American markets,? Mr. Altman said.

But Mr. Boehner said the debt limit fight provided a unique opportunity. ?I don?t want to allow this moment that we have in our history to pass without real action to solve our long-term economic problems,? he said.

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Preventing Customers from Getting Stressed Out

The restaurant chain Boston Market had a problem: it couldn't figure out why people weren't returning even though they said they liked the food. When customers were surveyed, they themselves couldn't articulate why they didn't come back.

Then Boston Market hired Shopper Sciences, a consulting company that tried to answer the question a different way. In addition to asking dozens of customers for their opinions, it also asked them to wear a portable stress sensor while they ate. The wrist sensors, which are made by a startup called Affectiva, detect galvanic skin response?how conductive, or "clammy," the skin is. This measurement usually correlates with levels of physiological arousal, either positive excitement or negative stress.

Shopper Sciences found that diners were stressed out by eating at Boston Market. "The old Boston Market served food out of metal trays, and you were expected to eat chicken with a plastic fork," says John Ross, CEO of Shopper Sciences. "The collective gestalt was terrible." Ross says the findings helped inspire a redesign at the chain, which now offers food on real plates, with metal knives, forks, and spoons. "It's the same food quality and price point," he says, "but now it's being delivered in a new way."

With the availability of smaller, cheaper, and more powerful sensors, businesses are finding new opportunities to collect data on how their customers feel about them. Researchers have long used galvanic skin response to glean insight into people's emotions, but gathering this data required volunteers to sit still with wires strapped to their fingers or palms. Affectiva's device, called the Q Sensor, measures galvanic skin response many times per second while a subject goes about normal activities. The sensor also measures the wearer's movements and temperature. Later the device can be plugged into a computer so the information can be analyzed.

"At the highest level, emotions drive decisions," says Dave Berman, the CEO of Affectiva. "A lot of times people think they know what they feel but can't articulate it, or aren't even aware of it. We provide tools that help people better understand how their customers are feeling."

Disney is evaluating the Q Sensor and other companies' products as tools for measuring viewers' reactions to TV shows, particularly on ABC and ESPN, says Duane Varan, the chief research officer at Disney's media and advertising lab. "It's a very powerful set of measures," Varan says. However, he cautions that data from these physiological sensors could easily be misread: a high degree of arousal could mean someone liked a scene rather than having been annoyed by it.

To address such potential misreadings, Affectiva has released a facial recognition program to accompany the Q Sensor; the software can make use of video observations to help determine whether a person is reacting positively or negatively.

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Gingrich Set to Run, With Wife in Central Role

Still in her 20s when they met, Ms. Bisek had been raised in a town of 1,500, the only child of a meat packer and a secretary. A churchgoing Roman Catholic, she had attended a Lutheran college where she practiced piano five hours a day. ?Is this the wisest course for you to be taking?? Karen Olson, her best friend, recalled asking.

Today, Ms. Bisek is Mrs. Gingrich, married for 11 years, but perhaps best remembered for the six-year affair that contributed to her husband?s political downfall. His critics cast Mr. Gingrich, the former House speaker, as a hypocrite who sought to impeach a president over infidelity while engaging in it himself with Ms. Bisek, who was a Congressional aide.

Yet in a curious tale of Washington reinvention, the onetime congressman from Georgia is counting on the third Mrs. Gingrich for his political redemption.

As he prepares for a Republican presidential primary run ? he said Monday that he would formally declare his intentions on Wednesday ? Mr. Gingrich is presenting himself as a family man who has embraced Catholicism and found God, with his wife as a kind of character witness. Depending on one?s point of view, she is a reminder of his complicated past, or his secret political weapon.

Barely a sentence goes by without Mr. Gingrich uttering the words ?Callista and I.? They are constantly together ? at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, at conservative political conferences, at book signings and screenings of their documentary films. She is the voice on his audio books; her face is all over his 2012 Web site, where visitors can read ?A Note from Newt & Callista.?

At Villanova University on a recent Thursday night, Mrs. Gingrich warmed up the audience for a showing of the couple?s movie about Pope John Paul II by signing books and DVDs in her left-handed curlicue. But when asked whether she is ready for the scrutiny a campaign would bring, she smiled tightly and grew silent.

Mr. Gingrich answered for her. ?Seems to be,? he said, with uncharacteristic tentativeness. ?We?ve talked about it for a year. It?s difficult.?

Mr. Gingrich is well aware that social conservatives are skeptical of him because he did not emphasize their issues in Congress, but also because of his two divorces and admission of infidelity. He has been meeting with religious leaders around the country to address their concerns.

Deal Hudson, president of Catholic Advocate, a conservative group, said that if Mrs. Gingrich ?wants to be first lady,? she would probably have to discuss their relationship as well.

So far she has not. Both Gingriches declined to be interviewed for this article.

?They would say they wished they had met in a different time in their lives under different circumstances,? said Jackie Cottrell, a friend who worked with Mrs. Gingrich as a staff member on Capitol Hill. ?But it?s important to note that they brought their family together in a loving way.?

Mr. Gingrich took up golf because his wife plays; she has adopted his political agenda. In 2009, after years of attending Mass to hear her sing in her church choir, he converted to Catholicism. And when Mrs. Gingrich, who plays French horn with the city band in Fairfax, Va., appears in concerts, her husband totes her black instrument case. ?I?m a band groupie and a choir groupie,? Mr. Gingrich likes to say.

How eager she is for him to run after he has been out of office since 1999 is a matter of discussion among their friends. Vin Weber, the former Republican congressman from Minnesota, said he is ?quite convinced? Mrs. Gingrich is happily on board. ?They?ve been out of public life,? Mr. Weber said, ?and I think she misses the excitement of that.?

Others say she wants her husband to run because he wants to. She has hired Ms. Olson as her chief of staff; she is also writing a children?s book, due out in September ? just in time for her to go on a book tour and reintroduce herself to the public as the primary race heats up.

?I think she has stepped out of her comfort zone more to promote the movies and the books and has found that she enjoyed that,? said Ms. Cottrell. ?That?s been a little bit of a toe in the water.?

At 45, 22 years her husband?s junior, Mrs. Gingrich always looks perfectly composed. She favors an almost retro look ? platinum hair teased and sprayed, bold-colored suits accessorized by a triple strand of pearls or eye-popping diamond jewelry. In college, friends say, she once signed up for an 8 a.m. bowling class and rolled a 200 wearing a pencil skirt.

Barclay Walsh contributed research.

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Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=1242d4d8c71c95c4d852c6a8b523b40f

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Microsoft confirmed to buy Skype for $8.5 billion

Update: Microsoft has confirmed the acquisition.

Microsoft is reported to have closed an $8.5 billion all-cash deal for the Internet voice and video calling service Skype. The Wall Street Journal says to have confirmed the news after GigaOm first reported it yesterday, and Redmond is expected to make it official in an announcement this morning. This would be the company's largest acquisition yet, ahead of the $6 billion it paid for online advertising company Aquantive in 2007.

It's been a long road for Skype, founded back in 2003, which was first acquired by eBay in 2005 for $2.6 billion in what's considered a failed experiment to have buyers and sellers communicate via voice calls on the auction site. The latter gave up on Skype in 2009, selling a 70% stake to a group of technology investors. Despite their huge user base and household name in the world of communications, Skype was still on its way to becoming profitable, but with eBay and partners anxious about the delayed initial public offering they had been pushing for a sale of the company.

It remains to be seen if the next phase of Skype's life as part of Microsoft proves a better fit than its former owner. Some suggest the service could be integrated into consumer products such as the Xbox 360 and Kinect, or into Microsoft's flagship Office suite and other enterprise offerings to compete against Cisco and Google. However, most agree that the biggest reason for Microsoft to buy Skype is Windows Phone 7.

The software giant would benefit from a competitive alternative against Google Talk with video and voice chat on Android as well as Apple's FaceTime. It also gives them a chance of working with carriers as they transition to LTE-based networks and are finally more open to routing their voice traffic through applications like Skype.

As reported earlier Google and Facebook had also shown interest in either partnering with Skype or buying the company. Given that the former already has a voice service in place it would seem that Facebook is the sore loser in this battle, but it might actually reap some benefits without having to plunk down the cash. After all, Microsoft is an investor in Facebook, and the social network already has a previous arrangement with Skype on which it can build upon.

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Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/43718-microsoft-confirmed-to-buy-skype-for-85-billion.html

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