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Inexpensive printed sensors, transistors, and memory devices that aren't as speedy or as high-capacity as silicon devices could enable the widespread use of sensors in places that aren't cost-effective today. Disposable devices could monitor and store information about the temperature of drugs, the safety of food during shipping, or air quality.
Researchers at the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), which is owned by Xerox, have been developing a suite of materials for making printed electronics, including sensors and transistors. This week at the Printed Electronics USA conference in Santa Clara, California, PARC announced details about two partnerships to develop products based on its research prototypes. PARC will work with Norwegian company Thin Film Electronics to make higher-capacity printed memory devices that incorporate the research center's printed transistors. And PARC is working with Soligie of Savage, Minnesota, to develop products based on its printed temperature sensors.
Much of the excitement around printed electronics has centered on the potential to replace silicon electronics in complex devices such as display screens so that they can roll up. For these types of applications, researchers are working to match silicon's performance in materials that are just as fast and efficient, but flexible and inexpensive.
These more sophisticated printed electronics may be a few years from commercialization. "We want to go to market in simpler applications to prove that printed electronics can work today," says Davor Sutija, CEO of Thin Film. The company's 20-bit printed memory devices will be in toys early next year.
Products integrating these postage-stamp-sized memory devices will include playing cards paired with online games. Kids will use the cards to transfer their playing history between a PC and a handheld device. For a toy or a game that requires only a small amount of memory, using silicon-based memory like flash is impossibly expensive. "When you're only storing a small amount of data in lots of places, the cost threshold is right for printed electronics that cost a few cents," Sutija says.
Thin Film's memory devices are made on long reels of plastic using roll-to-roll printing, the same basic process used to churn out newspapers. They sandwich a layer of electrically sensitive polymer between top and bottom layers of wire-like electrodes that are perpendicular to one another. Where the electrodes cross, it creates a charge-storage device called a capacitor. When a small voltage is applied to the capacitor, the orientation of the polymer in the capacitor changes; this change in orientation makes the "1" and the "0."
Source: http://feeds.technologyreview.com/click.phdo?i=c6635abaaffde986b66333da1f5fc2db
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Inexpensive printed sensors, transistors, and memory devices that aren't as speedy or as high-capacity as silicon devices could enable the widespread use of sensors in places that aren't cost-effective today. Disposable devices could monitor and store information about the temperature of drugs, the safety of food during shipping, or air quality.
Researchers at the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), which is owned by Xerox, have been developing a suite of materials for making printed electronics, including sensors and transistors. This week at the Printed Electronics USA conference in Santa Clara, California, PARC announced details about two partnerships to develop products based on its research prototypes. PARC will work with Norwegian company Thin Film Electronics to make higher-capacity printed memory devices that incorporate the research center's printed transistors. And PARC is working with Soligie of Savage, Minnesota, to develop products based on its printed temperature sensors.
Much of the excitement around printed electronics has centered on the potential to replace silicon electronics in complex devices such as display screens so that they can roll up. For these types of applications, researchers are working to match silicon's performance in materials that are just as fast and efficient, but flexible and inexpensive.
These more sophisticated printed electronics may be a few years from commercialization. "We want to go to market in simpler applications to prove that printed electronics can work today," says Davor Sutija, CEO of Thin Film. The company's 20-bit printed memory devices will be in toys early next year.
Products integrating these postage-stamp-sized memory devices will include playing cards paired with online games. Kids will use the cards to transfer their playing history between a PC and a handheld device. For a toy or a game that requires only a small amount of memory, using silicon-based memory like flash is impossibly expensive. "When you're only storing a small amount of data in lots of places, the cost threshold is right for printed electronics that cost a few cents," Sutija says.
Thin Film's memory devices are made on long reels of plastic using roll-to-roll printing, the same basic process used to churn out newspapers. They sandwich a layer of electrically sensitive polymer between top and bottom layers of wire-like electrodes that are perpendicular to one another. Where the electrodes cross, it creates a charge-storage device called a capacitor. When a small voltage is applied to the capacitor, the orientation of the polymer in the capacitor changes; this change in orientation makes the "1" and the "0."
Source: http://feeds.technologyreview.com/click.phdo?i=c6635abaaffde986b66333da1f5fc2db
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Soon after the commission finished ? with 11 of its 18 members backing the package of deep spending cuts and revenue increases ? Mr. Obama issued a statement praising the panel?s work. Without embracing any particular ideas, he said he would review them all as he looks for ways to ?correct our fiscal course.?
?The commission?s majority report includes a number of specific proposals that I ? along with my economic team ? will study closely in the coming weeks as we develop our budget and our priorities for the coming year,? Mr. Obama said in a statement distributed by the White House as the president visited troops in Afghanistan.
The plan is an attempt to shave $4 trillion from projected deficits over the coming decade. It reflects the view that chronic deficits and mounting debt, driven by fast-rising health care costs and an aging population, must be addressed aggressively even as the economy requires government help to recover from a deep recession.
The package would make deep cuts ? most of them starting in 2012, given the economy?s fragility ? in both domestic and military spending. It would overhaul the tax code, eliminating or reducing the $1 trillion a year in popular tax breaks for individuals and corporations. The resulting revenues would be used mostly to slash income tax rates, but also to reduce deficits.
To ensure the solvency of Social Security for 75 years, it would raise payroll taxes for the affluent and reduce future benefits, including by slowly raising the retirement age for full benefits to 69 from 67 by 2075.
With the administration at work on Mr. Obama?s State of the Union address and the release of his annual budget in late January, officials had said privately that there was interest in borrowing the commission?s calls for overhauling the tax code and fixing Social Security ? if the panel could show the way to a bipartisan agreement. But the administration is far from such decisions as it weighs how to proceed now that Congressional Republicans have won control of the House and picked up seats in the Senate, beginning next month.
Several Republicans welcomed the commission?s plan, but were vague about the specific elements they might seek to turn into policy. Senator Michael D. Crapo of Idaho, a member of the commission who supported the plan, called for ?immediate and aggressive action.? And the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, issued a statement saying, ?It is my hope that this effort will serve as a catalyst for achieving the spending and entitlement reform that our country so desperately needs.?
But in a sign of where the political opposition might be most intense, the plan was rejected by the three House Republicans on the panel, all of whom will hold key positions in the new Congress.
Their position exposed a break with Senate Republicans, all three of whom on the commission supported the blueprint. That split in part reflects the different roles the Republicans will have in the House and Senate. While Republicans have picked up seats in the Senate, they remain in the minority there. House Republicans, having won a majority after campaigning as a conservative alternative to the Obama administration, say they are obligated to fulfill their vision rather than compromise. They also face pressure from the Tea Party movement, which has made slashing government spending the centerpiece of its agenda.
The commission did not formally vote because support for the plan written by the co-chairmen ? Erskine B. Bowles, the president of the University of North Carolina system and a former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, and Alan K. Simpson, a former Republican Senate leader from Wyoming ? fell three votes short of the 14-vote supermajority required to send the package to Congress under the terms of Mr. Obama?s executive order that established the panel.
The 11 supporters were evenly split between the parties ? five Democrats and five Republicans, along with an independent, Ann M. Fudge, the former chief executive of Young & Rubicam.
Despite that bipartisan majority, the outcome at best sent ambiguous signals about whether the White House and Congress could reach an agreement, given the political pain behind the tax and spending decisions that are required.
Several supporters said that although they backed the thrust of the plan, they would not vote for it as actual legislation given their opposition to various provisions. One such supporter was Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking Senate Democrat and Mr. Obama?s closest Senate ally. He said the package was not balanced between spending cuts and tax increases and it took ?too much away from programs that support the neediest.?
Yet even the plan?s opponents said it should serve as ?a template,? in the words of Representative Xavier Becerra, a Democrat from California.
Another opponent on the panel, Andy Stern, the former president of the Service Employees International Union, said, ?This plan deserves a vote, and this president needs to make sure that by the State of the Union he also has his own plan and his own leadership because this is the issue of our time that must be solved.?
While the committee?s deliberations underscored the deep divisions over how to address the nation?s fiscal imbalances, they also suggested opportunities for agreement between Democrats who generally oppose reductions in domestic spending, especially for Social Security and Medicare, and Republicans who oppose tax increases.
Members of both parties, for example, hailed the proposed tax overhaul because it would simplify the code, rid it of costly and confusing tax breaks and allow for lower rates. Republicans as well as Democrats supported cuts from military programs. And some Democrats endorsed the Social Security changes, with Mr. Durbin acknowledging that he had shocked his liberal allies by endorsing a slow increase in the retirement age for full benefits.
While the package will not get a vote in Congress, groups from the left and right and from business and labor mobilized as a precaution in opposition. And there were signs that the panel?s work had encouraged lawmakers who favored tough steps to reduce deficits. Fourteen moderate Senate Democrats, led by Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, wrote to Congressional leaders on Friday urging comprehensive action on a similar package.
Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and a commission member who supported the plan, said, ?I never thought there was much prospect of getting 14 votes? to meet the threshold for a vote in Congress. But even with 11 votes, he added, ?We have provided, I believe, a strong message to our colleagues and to the country of what has to be done.?
Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=d4ce68bed3d8388afcc60e094a72c6b0
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The White House and Congressional leaders are now discussing a deal to extend the reduced tax rates at all income levels, at least temporarily, perhaps for two years.
But with Senate Democrats and the White House badly splintered, and some lawmakers increasingly angry at the idea of sustaining President George W. Bush?s economic policies, the prospects of a compromise remained uncertain.
The floor action on Saturday highlighted the volatility of the issue. Mr. Obama?s plan, approved by the House on Thursday, would have extended the lower rates on income up to $250,000 for couples and $200,000 for individuals, but Democrats did not have the 60 votes required under Senate rules to muscle it forward.
Nor could they muster the votes needed for an alternative proposal, championed by Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, to end the breaks only on income exceeding $1 million.
Republicans, joined by a handful of Democrats, voted unanimously against both proposals. Most Democrats said that showed them siding with ?millionaires and billionaires? over the middle class. Republicans said they were refusing to let taxes rise on anyone, given the continuing weakness in the economy.
If Congress does not act, the tax rates expire for everyone on Dec. 31, meaning an increase across the board. The rate in the lowest bracket would rise to 15 percent from 10 percent and in the highest bracket to 39.6 percent from 35 percent.
Some Democrats suggested they were willing to let that happen and extend the fight into next year. Mr. Obama, while pronouncing himself ?very disappointed? with the outcome, told reporters he would work through the weekend on a compromise.
?With so much at stake, today?s votes cannot be the end of the discussion,? he said.
The administration and Congressional leaders have been discussing a plan that would temporarily extend all of the income tax rates, and also include a one-year extension of jobless aid for the long-term unemployed, which has started to run out.
With some Congressional Democrats fretting that the administration would give in too easily, senior White House officials said Mr. Obama was insisting on the jobless aid and the extension of other tax breaks for middle- and lower-income Americans included in the 2009 stimulus plan as a condition of any deal. Republicans said they were considering those demands.
Many other taxes, including the estate tax, the alternative minimum tax and taxes on capital gains, interest and dividends are also included in the talks.
The formal negotiations are being conducted by senior lawmakers from both parties, along with the Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, and the White House budget director, Jacob Lew. But there are also direct talks under way between the West Wing and Republicans, including the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
Mr. McConnell accused Democrats of holding show votes for political reasons but said he was optimistic that a solution would be reached before Congress adjourns. ?I am relatively confident that the end of this process will lead us into, I think, a very sensible decision not to raise taxes on anybody in the middle of a recession,? he said.
The majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said he was hopeful an agreement would be reached by Wednesday, allowing the Senate to move forward with a busy end-of-year agenda.
But some Senate Democrats are increasingly angry at the administration and wary of a deal. In a sign of the deepening divisions, White House officials had voiced their opposition to raising the threshold for the tax breaks to $1 million, saying it would do little to reduce the deficit.
The rejection of that proposal underscored a harsh defeat for Democrats in both the policy debate and on the political messaging front. Some of them lashed out at Republicans in response, accusing them of holding tax cuts for the middle class ?hostage? to secure tax breaks for the wealthy.
?I feel like I am in the twilight zone,? said Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri. ?It?s depressing to me that we have gotten to this level of posturing, that they are saying if you do not give people a tax break on their second million, that nobody gets one.?
Senate Frank R. Lautenberg, Democrat of New Jersey, said he would benefit personally from a tax cut on income above $1 million. ?I had a good business career, and I would be entitled to a tax cut for those over the million-dollar mark? he said. ?But I don?t want it. I don?t need it. What I am looking at today, I think, is a great American travesty.?
Mr. Obama?s preferred plan fell 7 votes short of the 60 needed to overcome a filibuster and advance to a simple majority vote. The vote was 53 to 36, on a bill adopted by the House on Thursday to end the cuts on income above $250,000 a year for couples and $200,000 for individuals.
Republicans voted unanimously against the House-passed bill, and they were joined by four Democrats ? Senators Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Jim Webb of Virginia ? as well as by Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut.
?You don?t raise taxes if your ultimate goal, if the main thing, is to create jobs,? said Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota, echoing an argument made repeatedly by his colleagues during the floor debate.
Mr. Schumer, pressing for his proposal, said: ?It?s not that we want to punish wealthy people. We want to praise them. But they?re doing fine, and they?re not going to spend the money and stimulate the economy.?
At a news conference after the vote, Mr. Schumer said Democrats would keep fighting to end the tax breaks for millionaires. ?We?re not giving up in three days, one week, two months, six months,? he said.
The roll call on the so-called millionaire?s tax, which also needed 60 votes to advance, was 53 to 37, with Republicans again unanimously opposed and joined this time by Mr. Feingold, Mr. Lieberman and Senators Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, Tom Harkin of Iowa and John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia.
Democrats, including Mr. Obama, have long questioned the economic basis for lower taxes for the wealthiest Americans, particularly at a time of deep concern over the nation?s rising debt. White House officials said the revenue lost to tax cuts for the rich would be better spent on tax breaks for the middle class and businesses to help promote growth.
Republicans insisted that allowing the tax rates to expire for the top two income brackets would further hamper the already tepid economic recovery.
With the economy teetering, Democrats had not brought the tax issue to the top of the legislative agenda. And by this fall, when Congressional leaders began contemplating bringing up the issue for votes, many Democrats were wary of being accused by campaign opponents of favoring a tax increase.
Some Democrats supported a temporary extension of the Bush-era tax rates at all levels, and it was quickly clear that Senate Democrats could not generate sufficient votes in favor of Mr. Obama?s plan ? so the issue was put off until after the election.
The drubbing Democrats took in the elections, as Republicans won a majority in the House and picked up six seats in the Senate, further undermined the Democrats? negotiating position. Republicans have since viewed an extension of the lower income tax rates as a foregone conclusion.
Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=52d19f4844efae925de46efb4e4d6187
For the most part, the cases were for small-scale offenses committed many years ago. Six of the nine people had served only probation for their convictions.
?The president was moved by the strength of the applicants? postconviction efforts at atonement, as well as their superior citizenship and individual achievements in the years since their convictions,? said Reid Cherlin, a White House spokesman.
All nine had applied for pardons through the normal review process at the Justice Department?s Office of the Pardon Attorney, which had recommended that the president grant clemency in each case, the department said.
By making his first clemency grants 682 days into his presidency, Mr. Obama narrowly avoided surpassing former President George W. Bush?s record for the longest wait for a presidential pardon, according to data compiled by P. S. Ruckman Jr., a political science professor at Rock Valley College in Rockford, Ill., and the editor of the Pardon Power blog. Mr. Bush issued his first set of pardons in late December of his second year as president.
Margaret Colgate Love, a former United States pardon attorney who now represents clemency seekers, said she was pleased the wait was over.
?I?m very glad he?s gotten started, and I hope that he will look seriously at the hundreds of cases that are awaiting his consideration,? she said.
Samuel T. Morison, a former staff attorney in the pardon office who left recently after 13 years, said the small-scale nature of the first round of grants suggested that the Obama administration would continue the ?conservative? approach under Mr. Bush.
?While I?m sure the grantees are all grateful, as they should be, this reflects the department?s continuing program to reserve pardon only for old and minor offenses, as they did in the Bush administration, as opposed to anyone who can demonstrate genuine rehabilitation and/or need for relief,? Mr. Morison said.
Four cases involved cocaine-related offenses: Timothy James Gallagher of Navasota, Tex., who was sentenced to three years? probation in 1982; Roxane Kay Hettinger of Powder Springs, Ga., who was sentenced to 30 days in jail and three years? probation in 1986; Edgar Leopold Kranz Jr. of Minot, N.D., who served 24 months in a military brig following a court-martial in 1994; and Floretta Leavy of Rockford, Ill., who was sentenced in 1984 to a year and a day in prison and three years on special parole.
None of the others pardoned Friday served any time for their convictions, according to a White House release.
They were: James Bernard Banks of Liberty, Utah, who was sentenced to two years? probation in 1972 for illegal possession of government property; Russell James Dixon of Clayton, Ga., who received two years? probation for a felony liquor law violation in 1960; Laurens Dorsey of Syracuse, N.Y., who was sentenced to five years? probation and restitution of $71,000 for making false statements to the Food and Drug Administration in 1998; Ronald Lee Foster of Beaver Falls, Pa., who was sentenced to a year of probation and a $20 fine for mutilating coins in 1963; and Scoey Lathaniel Morris of Crosby, Tex., who was sentenced to three years? probation and restitution of $1,200 for passing counterfeit bills in 1999.
In October, Mr. Obama denied 605 petitions for a commuted sentence and 71 requests for a pardon. Late last month, he denied 552 commutation petitions and 60 pardon requests.
Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=8b93350feabfebefcef6c5d12e936c4a
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We?ve seen some blurrycam shots of it running Gingerbread. We?ve seen crisp shots of it. We have seen Google?s CEO holding it in plain sight. Before today though, we had never seen what the Nexus S itself could do video and photo wise.
Those strange test shots of nothing that popped up awhile back don?t count.
The folks over at Engadget have obtained some pretty clear images and video taken with the upcoming, Gingerbread rocking device from Samsung. While the videos aren?t mind blowing, the photo from inside one of Google?s buses is pretty darn impressive for what supposedly is a 5 megapixel camera.
And the videos:
So again, the capabilities of the camera on the Nexus S aren?t out of this world but they are very capable and that should please those of you who have been waiting for this thing to arrive.
For the most part, the cases were for small-scale offenses committed many years ago. Six of the nine people had served only probation for their convictions.
?The president was moved by the strength of the applicants? postconviction efforts at atonement, as well as their superior citizenship and individual achievements in the years since their convictions,? said Reid Cherlin, a White House spokesman.
All nine had applied for pardons through the normal review process at the Justice Department?s Office of the Pardon Attorney, which had recommended that the president grant clemency in each case, the department said.
By making his first clemency grants 682 days into his presidency, Mr. Obama narrowly avoided surpassing former President George W. Bush?s record for the longest wait for a presidential pardon, according to data compiled by P. S. Ruckman Jr., a political science professor at Rock Valley College in Rockford, Ill., and the editor of the Pardon Power blog. Mr. Bush issued his first set of pardons in late December of his second year as president.
Margaret Colgate Love, a former United States pardon attorney who now represents clemency seekers, said she was pleased the wait was over.
?I?m very glad he?s gotten started, and I hope that he will look seriously at the hundreds of cases that are awaiting his consideration,? she said.
Samuel T. Morison, a former staff attorney in the pardon office who left recently after 13 years, said the small-scale nature of the first round of grants suggested that the Obama administration would continue the ?conservative? approach under Mr. Bush.
?While I?m sure the grantees are all grateful, as they should be, this reflects the department?s continuing program to reserve pardon only for old and minor offenses, as they did in the Bush administration, as opposed to anyone who can demonstrate genuine rehabilitation and/or need for relief,? Mr. Morison said.
Four cases involved cocaine-related offenses: Timothy James Gallagher of Navasota, Tex., who was sentenced to three years? probation in 1982; Roxane Kay Hettinger of Powder Springs, Ga., who was sentenced to 30 days in jail and three years? probation in 1986; Edgar Leopold Kranz Jr. of Minot, N.D., who served 24 months in a military brig following a court-martial in 1994; and Floretta Leavy of Rockford, Ill., who was sentenced in 1984 to a year and a day in prison and three years on special parole.
None of the others pardoned Friday served any time for their convictions, according to a White House release.
They were: James Bernard Banks of Liberty, Utah, who was sentenced to two years? probation in 1972 for illegal possession of government property; Russell James Dixon of Clayton, Ga., who received two years? probation for a felony liquor law violation in 1960; Laurens Dorsey of Syracuse, N.Y., who was sentenced to five years? probation and restitution of $71,000 for making false statements to the Food and Drug Administration in 1998; Ronald Lee Foster of Beaver Falls, Pa., who was sentenced to a year of probation and a $20 fine for mutilating coins in 1963; and Scoey Lathaniel Morris of Crosby, Tex., who was sentenced to three years? probation and restitution of $1,200 for passing counterfeit bills in 1999.
In October, Mr. Obama denied 605 petitions for a commuted sentence and 71 requests for a pardon. Late last month, he denied 552 commutation petitions and 60 pardon requests.
Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=8b93350feabfebefcef6c5d12e936c4a
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"I would say that they're failing, yes," Tom Rizzo, senior director of Microsoft Online Services, told ComputerWorld. "I would say that the results have not shown that they're successful in the space. We've had customers who've gone to Google and have come back to Microsoft."
Google this week has had some success: the US General Services Administration, which manages the federal government's property and technology, announced it is switching its 15,000 employees to Gmail and Google Apps. It is the first full agency to embrace the cloud.
Rizzo decided to post on his own blog in response to this news. "There's no doubt that businesses are talking to Google, and hearing their pitch, but despite all the talk, Google can't avoid the fact that often times they cannot meet basic requirements," he wrote. "For instance, in California, the state determined that Google couldn't meet many of their basic requirements around functionality and security. Rather than address deficiencies in their product by developing a more robust set of productivity tools, Google cried foul instead of addressing these basic needs."
Google recently filed a lawsuit against the US government because it allegedly only considered Microsoft solutions. Apparently only Redmond's offerings met the requirements for consideration, and Mountain View's simply did not.
Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/41421-microsoft-google-is-failing-in-the-enterprise.html