AI 'lifeguard' could save young swimmers from drowning

THIS goes way beyond water wings. An AI system is learning to recognise the panicky movements people make when they are drowning. The idea is that the system could one day be used to save children's lives when there are no lifeguards around.

Ultrasonic systems at swimming pools can alert lifeguards if someone is underwater too long - but few pools have them and they are no help at unguarded river banks and beaches. So Ken Sakamura and colleagues at the University of Tokyo created an AI system which could, for example, activate a body-worn flotation bag in an emergency.

To train it, the team asked a lifeguard to wear a pressure sensor and mimic the behaviour of swimmers who get into difficulty: making rapid, flailing arm movements with their body vertical. The lifeguard generated a telltale pressure change profile that the system, based on neural network software, could reliably distinguish from normal swimming.

The team want to make the system more robust by training it using more volunteers, with an accelerometer added to the sensor pack. They will present their results at the International Conference on Consumer Electronics in Las Vegas, Nevada, on 12 January.

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France seeks to grill Swiss shooter over Britons' murders in Alps

GENEVA: French police investigating the murder of a British-Iraqi family in the Alps have asked to question a Swiss gunman who killed three women in his home village, police in Switzerland said Friday.

The police in the neighbouring French region of Haute-Savoie made the request to their colleagues in the Swiss canton of Valais, where on Thursday the gunman went on a shooting spree, a spokesman told AFP.

Saad al-Hilli, his wife Iqbal and her mother Suhaila al-Allaf, were all found dead inside their estate car near Lake Annecy in Haute-Savoie on September 5, along with a French cyclist who police believe was an innocent bystander.

On Thursday, a gunman with psychiatric and drug problems killed three women and wounded two men in a shooting spree in the tiny Swiss village where he lived.

-AFP/fl

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Apple could launch 'iPhone Mini' next year, analyst says

Will the iPhone get a baby brother?

(Credit:
CNET)

Is an "iPhone Mini" on the horizon? Strategy Analytics analyst Neil Mawston thinks so. But why?

Samsung has been the clear winner in the smartphone wars, with Apple playing second fiddle. And that lead may wider further in 2013.

Based on data sent to CNET, Mawston expects Samsung to carve out a 33 percent chunk of the smartphone market this year, up from a projected 31 percent in 2012. At the same time, Apple's share will inch up to 21 percent from 20 percent last year. Samsung could sell as many as 290 million smartphones this year, while Apple is likely to sell 180 million iPhones.

The Korean handset maker has the edge over Apple in large part because it "plays in more segments," Mawston told Reuters, allowing it to "capture more volume than Apple."

To fight back, Apple may try to win over a larger base of consumers by launching a smaller, cheaper variant of the iPhone, dubbed the "iPhone Mini" by the analyst.

With the
iPhone 5 grabbing huge demand and sales, a low-end model may not be on Apple's agenda this year. But Mawston told CNET he thinks it's coming.

We believe Apple will have to launch an 'iPhone Mini' at some point over the next three years to address the hundreds of millions of prepaid users worldwide that cannot afford the current iPhone. The iPhone 5 is growing fast and profitably right now, so there is limited incentive for Apple to launch a profit-squeezing 'iPhone Mini' this year. We expect the 'iPhone Mini' to be more likely next year, in 2014, when Apple's penetration of the global postpaid smartphone market will be nearing saturation and Apple will be forced to discover fresh growth streams elsewhere.

Jefferies analyst Peter Misek also sees a low-cost iPhone in Apple's future but thinks it could launch early this summer at a price of $200 to $250. He cautions that a low-end iPhone hasn't gotten the go-ahead yet because Apple feels such a Apple iPhone 5product would bite into gross margins.

Apple and Samsung will continue to battle over market share as they introduce new flagship phones for 2013.

Samsung is expected to launch the Galaxy S4 this year. One initial report said the new phone could reach consumers this February or March, but the company quickly downplayed those rumors.

Apple will have a new iPhone on tap, most likely a refresh of the iPhone 5. Though the iPhone 5 came out last September, some analysts believe the iPhone 5S could pop up around June.

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Pictures We Love: Best of 2012

Photograph by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/AP

Powder-splattered, and powder-splattering, runners cross the finish line of The Color Run 5K in Irvine, California, on April 22. Each kilometer (0.6 mile) of the event features a color-pelting station dedicated to a single hue, culminating in the Pollock-esque riot at kilometer 5.

The "magical color dust" is completely safe, organizers say, though they admit it's "surprisingly high in calories and leaves a chalky aftertaste."

See more from April 2012 >>

Why We Love It

"Vibrant color floating through the air automatically brings to mind festive Holi celebrations in India. We expect to see revelers in Mumbai but instead find a surprise in the lower third of the frame—runners in California!"—Sarah Polger, senior photo editor

"There are a lot of eye-catching photographs of the festival of Holi in India that show colored powder in midair, but this particular situation has the people all lined up in a row—making it easy to see each of their very cinematic facial expressions."—Chris Combs, news photo editor

Published January 3, 2013

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Chelsea Clinton Raises Profile During Mom's Illness

While Hillary Clinton was in the hospital it was daughter Chelsea -- not the secretary of state or the former president Bill Clinton -- who spoke for the family.

She, along with the State Department, doled out what little information the family wanted to share in a series of tweets and when her mother was released from the hospital, it was Chelsea who delivered the thanks on behalf of her parents, tweeting her gratitude to the doctors as well as those who kept her mother in their thoughts while she recovered from a blood clot.

When Hillary Clinton leaves office, possibly at the end of this month, it will be the first time since 1982 that a Clinton will not be holding a public office.

The watch will be on whether Hillary Clinton makes another run for the White House in 2016, but almost inevitably people will also be watching to see if Chelsea Clinton decides to run for office, too.

"Americans always look for dynasties: Bush, Kennedy, Cuomo, Clinton … it's some kind of continuity. There will always be pressure on her to run for public office," said Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic political strategist in New York.

"She's learning from the two best politicians in recent American history and she understands when to hold them and when to fold them," Sheinkopf said.

That sense of dynasty could also present a significant hurdle.

James Devaney/Getty Images

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"She's got to A, demonstrate that she has the charisma of her father, or B, demonstrate that she has the policy chops of her mother. And I think like most people she is somewhere in between," a former Hillary Clinton aide from her 2008 campaign said. "People are judging her through each of her parents and it's an impossible standard."

Chelsea Clinton, 32, has inched towards a possible political career in recent statements and has become more politically active.

In an interview with Vogue published in August she was more open to it than she has been in the past, telling the magazine, "Before my mom's (presidential) campaign I would have said no," but "now I don't know."

"I believe that engaging in the political process is part of being a good person. And I certainly believe that part of helping to build a better world is ensuring that we have political leaders who are committed to that premise. So if there were to be a point where it was something I felt called to do and I didn't think there was someone who was sufficiently committed to building a healthier, more just, more equitable, more productive world? Then that would be a question I'd have to ask and answer."

Clinton also spoke of a change in her private to public life:

"Historically I deliberately tried to lead a private life in the public eye," she told the magazine. "And now I am trying to lead a purposefully public life."

Besides her work as a special correspondent with NBC, Chelsea Clinton has taken on high profile roles with her father's Clinton Global Initiative. She sits on several corporate boards and has both moderated and sat on panels discussing both women in politics and childhood obesity, among other issues.

She has also worked toward making same-sex marriage legal in New York last year, as well as gay marriage referendums in Maine, Maryland, Wisconsin and Washington state, all of which were successful in November. She has also been active in superstorm Sandy recovery, most notably delivering aid to the devastated Rockaways with her father.

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New positioning technology could compete with GPS

A ground-based system that uses much stronger signals than GPS can pinpoint your location in cities and indoors

GOT a smartphone or satnav but still can't get a fix on where you are? A new positioning system could compete with GPS to make sure you never lose your bearings again.

Instead of satellites, Locata uses ground-based equipment to project a radio signal over a localised area that is a million times stronger on arrival than GPS. It can work indoors as well as out, and the makers claim the receivers can be shrunk to fit inside a regular cellphone. Even the US military, which invented GPS technology, signed a contract last month agreeing to a large-scale test of Locata at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

"This is one of the most important technology developments for the future of the positioning industry," says Nunzio Gambale, CEO and co-founder of the firm Locata, based in Griffith, Australia.

Indoor positioning is the next big thing in location-tracking technology, and companies from Google to Nokia have jumped at the chance to prevent users getting lost in cavernous shopping malls, or in the concrete canyons of big cities, where GPS struggles to keep up. But their technologies typically have a short range, and location resolutions in the order of a few metres.

By contrast, Christopher Morin of the US Air Force tested Locata's accuracy recently at White Sands, and it worked to within 18 centimetres along any axis. Morin says it should be possible to get the resolution down to 5 centimetres.

Admittedly, the tests were performed in an open desert where GPS also works beautifully. But GPS signals are weak - like a car headlight from 20,000 kilometres away - and easily blocked by solid objects. Locata's signal is far stronger, though not guaranteed to work in a complex urban environment, says David Last, consultant to the UK's General Lighthouse Authorities. "In urban areas, there are multiple blockages; propagation is principally via multi-path reflections." Such reflections can confuse receivers and reduce precision.

Gambale says the company is working on the urban angle in Australia with its Sydney Satellites project - a series of tests evaluating whether Locata can provide precise positioning for police, other emergency services and courier firms as they navigate the city's streets.

Ultimately, Locata may work alongside GPS, rather than replace it. The Jigsaw Positioning System, built by the firm Leica Geosystems, uses Locata and GPS signals. The briefcase-sized devices are already increasing coverage and guiding placement of drill rigs at the Boddington gold mine in Western Australia, operated by mining firm Newmont.

Gambale says that units small and cheap enough for smartphones should be available within five years - a similar path to the one GPS took on its way towards world domination.

Locata's technology will face competition in the race to transform indoor navigation. But it could shine in specific areas, Gambale says. Robots with Locata could easily navigate inside buildings without the complex optical systems they need at the moment. And apps that harness pinpoint location data could not only guide you around a mall, railway station or airport, but take you to the exact shelf in a shop for the product you want, he says.

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

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141 journalists killed in 2012: media watchdog

GENEVA: Last year was one of the deadliest on record for journalists, with 141 killed in 29 different countries and Syria the most dangerous place on earth for reporters, a media watchdog said Thursday.

The Swiss-based Press Emblem Campaign (PEC), which fights for the protection of journalists, said the figure was up by 31 percent on 2011.

At least 37 journalists, among them 13 working for foreign media, were killed in Syria, it said in a statement.

Four journalists are reported missing or detained: Ukrainian Anhar Kochneva, Jordanian-Palestinian Bashar Fahmi, freelance US reporter Austin Tice and another American reporter James Foley, who has contributed video to Agence France-Presse.

The situation in Somalia has deteriorated dramatically, where 19 were killed, said the PEC.

Three Latin American countries followed among the most dangerous places: Mexico with 11 journalists killed, Brazil also with 11 dead, and Honduras, where six journalists were killed.

The Philippines ranked number seven with six killed, followed by Bangladesh and India with four each, said the PEC.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists for its part said last month that 67 reporters were killed in 2012, up 42 percent from the previous year, due in large part to the Syria conflict, shootings in Somalia, violence in Pakistan and killings of reporters in Brazil.

The Paris-based press rights group Reporters without Borders (RSF) meanwhile put the number of those killed at 88 last year.

-AFP/fl

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Maybe China Mobile needs the iPhone more than it thinks

Apple's iPhone 5.

(Credit:
CBS Interactive)

China Mobile, the largest carrier in China, and the crown jewel for Apple, might be suffering by not offering the iPhone to customers, an analyst claims.

In a note to investors, Evercore Partners analyst Rob Cihra said that he believes "China Mobile could be starting to need the iPhone more." He pointed out that China Mobile's 3G market share is down 7 percent year-over-year to end 2012 at 37 percent. The company's chief competitors China Telecom and China Unicom combined for a 7 percent gain to land at 63 percent.

"China Unicom alone has added nearly 2 million more 3G subs than China Mobile year-to-date despite being almost 1/3 the size, and overall share losses look to correlate with introduction of the iPhone in Mainland China," Cihra said in the note, which was obtained and first reported on by All Things Digital.

Apple has for years been trying to woo China Mobile. The carrier currently has approximately 700 million subscribers across China, dwarfing its closest competitor, China Unicom, which has 236 million subscribers, and creating a potentially huge opportunity for Apple. However, China Mobile and Apple have been unable to come to terms. It's believed that China Mobile has held out for better terms, citing its massive size as the main reason Apple must play ball.

Last month, China Mobile president Li Yue confirmed that his company has been in talks with Apple since 2009. Li said that a snag in making the deal happen is that China Mobile uses a TD-SCDMA network that's incompatible with the
iPhone 4S and
iPhone 5. And although that issue can be overcome somewhat easily, Li said that "the business model and benefit sharing still need further discussion" before they can sign a deal.

Li didn't elaborate on what kind of "benefit sharing" his company is seeking, but it's been rumored that China Mobile wants a cut of the revenue Apple generates through its App Store on all China Mobile customers. Apple has never offered such a deal to other carriers.

Still, it Cihra is correct, China Mobile might have no choice but to temper its terms.

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Pictures: Errant Shell Oil Rig Runs Aground Off Alaska, Prompts Massive Response

Photograph courtesy Jonathan Klingenberg, U.S. Coast Guard

Waves lash at the sides of the Shell* drilling rig Kulluk, which ran aground off the rocky southern coast of Alaska on New Year's Eve in a violent storm.

The rig, seen above Tuesday afternoon, was "stable," with no signs of spilled oil products, authorities said. But continued high winds and savage seas hampered efforts to secure the vessel and the 150,000 gallons (568,000 liters) of diesel fuel and lubricants on board. The Kulluk came to rest just east of Sitkalidak Island (map), an uninhabited but ecologically and culturally rich site north of Ocean Bay, after a four-day odyssey, during which it broke free of its tow ships and its 18-member crew had to be rescued by helicopter.

The U.S. Coast Guard, state, local, and industry officials have joined in an effort involving nearly 600 people to gain control of the rig, one of two that Shell used for its landmark Arctic oil-drilling effort last summer. "This must be considered once of the largest marine-response efforts conducted in Alaska in many years," said Steve Russell, of Alaska's Department of Environmental Conservation.

The 266-foot (81-meter) rig now is beached off one of the larger islands in the Kodiak archipelago, a land of forest, glaciers, and streams about 300 miles (482 kilometers) south of Anchorage. The American Land Conservancy says that Sitkalidak Island's highly irregular coastline traps abundant food sources upwelling from the central Gulf of Alaska, attracting large numbers of seabirds and marine mammals. The largest flock of common murres ever recorded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was in Sitkalidak Strait, which separates the island from Kodiak. Sitkalidak also has 16 wild salmon rivers and archaeological sites tied to the Alutiiq native peoples dating back more than 7,000 years.

Shell incident commander Susan Childs said Monday night that the company's wildlife management team had started to assess the potential impact of a spill, and would be dispatched to the site when the weather permitted. She said the Kulluk's fuel tanks were in the center of the vessel, encased in heavy steel. "The Kulluk is a pretty sturdy vessel," she said. " It just remains to be seen how long it's on the shoreline and how long the weather is severe."

—Marianne Lavelle

*Shell is sponsor of National Geographic's Great Energy Challenge initiative. National Geographic maintains editorial autonomy.

Published January 2, 2013

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Senate Swears in Historic 20th Female Senator

Today the Senate will make history, swearing in a record-breaking 20 female senators – 4 Republicans and 16 Democrats – in office.

As the 113th Congress is sworn in today on Capitol Hill, ABC "World News" anchor Diane Sawyer has an exclusive joint interview with the historic class of female Senators.

Diane Sawyer's complete interview will air on World News this evening.

"I can't tell you the joy that I feel in my heart to look at these 20 gifted and talented women from two different parties, different zip codes to fill this room," Sen. Barbara Mikulksi, D-Md., said while surrounded by the group of women senators. "In all of American history only 16 women had served. Now there are 20 of us."

Senator-elect Deb Fischer, R-Neb., becomes today the first women to be elected as a senator in Nebraska.

"It was an historic election," Fischer said, "But what was really fun about it were the number of mothers and fathers who brought their daughters up to me during the campaign and said, "Can we get a picture? Can we get a picture?' Because people realize it and -- things do change, things do change."

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The women senators all agree that women will be getting things done in this new Congress, a sign of optimism felt for the new Congress, after the bruising battles of the 112th Congress.

"We're in force and we're in leadership positions, but it's not just the position that we hold. I can tell you this is a can-do crowd," Mikulski said of both Democrats and Republican senators in the room. "We are today ready to be a force in American politics."

And while the number of women in the Senate today makes historic, many of the women agreed that they want to keep fighting to boost those numbers. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said that women are still "underrepresented" in the Senate.

"I think that until we get to 50, we still have to fight because it's still a problem," Boxer said. "I think this class as you look around, Republicans and Democrats... I think that because of this new class and the caliber of the people coming and the quality of the people coming, I think that hopefully in my lifetime -- and I really do hope and pray this is the case -- we will see 50 percent. "

No Sorority Here, Even With the Will to Work Together

The cooperation does not make them a "sorority," Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., says. There are real differences in ideology and personality and they don't want their gender to define them as senators.

But the women also admit that they believe having more women in the room would help in fierce negotiations, compromise, and legislating on Capitol Hill, traits they say do not come as naturally to their male colleagues in the Senate. That sentiment enjoys bipartisan support among the women of the Senate.

"What I find is with all due deference to our male colleagues, that women's styles tend to be more collaborative," Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said by nature women are "less confrontational." Sen-elect Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, says that women are "problem solvers."

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., says that women have a camaraderie which helps in relationships that are key to negotiations on Capitol Hill, something she says comes natural to women more than men.

"I think there's just a lot of collaboration between the women senators and... advice and really standing up for each other that you don't always see with the men," she said.

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