Engadget Giveaway: win a new iPad (32GB with AT&T), courtesy of Rebtel!

Engadget Giveaway win a new iPad, courtesy of Rebtel!

Nothing like a good post-Father's Day contest to get you fired up for the week, and this time we have a new iPad up for grabs. The offering is made possible by Rebtel, the largest independent VoIP provider. The service recently launched its own iPad-specific app, which will hook you up with calls and texts over WiFi and 3G. It's free to chat it up with other folks using Rebtel, while you can get ahold of everyone else at an inexpensive cost. As for other platforms, Android and Windows Phone clients are on the way later this year. As an added bonus, the service is also throwing in a credit of $100 to the winner (see rules for details). As always, head downward and leave a comment in order to win!

Continue reading Engadget Giveaway: win a new iPad (32GB with AT&T), courtesy of Rebtel!

Engadget Giveaway: win a new iPad (32GB with AT&T), courtesy of Rebtel! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Jun 2012 11:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Readers Write: Conservatives can't compromise; Retirement is for cheap learning

Letters to the Editor for the weekly print issue of June 18, 2012:?How can a conservative compromise with a position that is totally against his or her own political, economic, and social philosophy? An?important option for one's retirement years is learning stuff, at a low cost.

June 18, 2012

How can a conservative compromise?

The May 28 DC Decoder article "Why Congress is gridlocked" reports on the reasons Capitol Hill in-siders give for the gridlock. The third point, "A lack of institutional knowledge," is a valid point. The newer members are not beholden to other members of Congress in mutual back-scratching or to the lobbyists plying their trade on the Hill.

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As for socialization, they are in Washington to work, not attend parties. Yes, they have a lot to learn, but they know that they have a purpose higher than being reelected at the next election.

The "hyperactive news media" (the fourth point) is a valid issue as well, but these former Hill staffers and scholars can't blame the media itself for news leaks. News leaks come from the Congress members themselves or aides working in their offices. It is the responsibility of a free press to report what it knows.

As a retired manager of a major media outlet in New York, I recall the stultifying effect that the Federal Communications Commission's "fairness doctrine" had on programming.

The seventh reason ("You get the Congress you vote for") says: "Americans say they want compromise in their government. But they don't vote for compromisers." To this I say: Happily, we still have a core of conservative citizens in the Untied States. How can a conservative compromise with a position that is totally against his or her own political, economic, and social philosophy?

Arthur Thompson

Atchison, Kan.

Low-cost learning for happy retirement

Margaret Price's Money column "Retirement is more than savings" in the May 21 issue failed to mention an important option for one's retirement years: learning stuff.

In my year and four months of retirement I've taken a master gardener class and a master naturalist class, two drawing classes, and a class on Milton; taken classes on T.S. Eliot, Plotinus, and St. Augustine through my church; participated in German discussion groups through my local senior citizens center; and attended numerous lectures and films at a nominal cost.

My fellow students are energetic, lively, interested, and interesting people getting the most out of their retirement years. I can't foresee ever running out of new enthusiasms to explore.

Kathryn Tanner

Savannah, Ga.?

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Winds, high temperatures fan Colorado wildfires

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Fujitsu Lifebook LH532

Among budget-priced laptops, there's a good rule of thumb to always bear in mind: Appearances can be deceiving. Case in point: the Fujitsu Lifebook LH532 mainstream laptop looks great on the shelf, with a sleek-looking design covered in stickers that highlight features like USB 3.0 and Wireless Display. But despite a roster of appealing features, it came up short, with sputtering performance and a short-lived battery.

Design
The Lifebook LH532 has a glossy-black plastic chassis, and with blue LED indicator lights, a glowing blue power button, a black matte rubber soft-touch finish across the lid, and Fujitsu's infinity snake logo in polished chrome. Weighing 4.5 pounds and measuring 1.41 by 13.19 by 9.45 inches (HWD), the Lifebook LH532 is roughly the same size as the Editors' Choice Dell Inspiron 14z (Core i5) ($750 direct, 4 stars).

The 14-inch Lifebook has comfortable soft-touch panels on the plamrest and a spill-resistant keyboard. It's not light enough to use on the go every day, but for those times you may need to work through lunch?or take your work with you to lunch?you can rest assured that it will survive your occasional slops and spills. The soft touch finish of the palmrest also covers the trackpad, which has a raised pattern of dots to indicate the touch surface. It works well enough, and the right and left mouse buttons are soft and rubbery, making them both comfortable and quiet.

The 14-inch display has 1,366-by-768 resolution, which is par for the course, letting you enjoy movies in 720p or tile windows side-by-side for multitasking. Generic stereo speakers may not produce spectacular sound, but when tested with streaming audio (Queen's "Princes of the Universe") the sound quality was clear at all but the highest volumes, though it was too quiet at low volume.

Features
While the Lifebook LH532 has all of the standard features you might expect, like an SD card reader, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi, USB 2.0, microphone and headphone jacks, and VGA and HDMI outputs for connecting an external monitor or HDTV, Fujitsu has also added plenty of unexpected premium features as well, like three USB 3.0 ports (one with charging capability), a DVD+-RW drive with dual-layer read and write support and Bluetooth connectivity. For those who don't want to hassle with an HDMI cord, the Lifebook LH532 is also outfitted with Wireless Display 2 (WiDi 2.0), which transmits HD video and audio wirelessly, through an adapter, like the Belkin ScreenCast or the Netgear Push2TV ($99 list).

The 750GB 5,400rpm hard drive found in the Lifebook LH532 is one of the largest in the category?the Dell Inspiron 14z and the Acer Aspire TimelineX AS4830T-6841 ($649.99 list, 4 stars) both offer 640GB?and Fujitsu doesn't clutter it up with a bunch of bloatware, including only a 30-day trial of Norton Internet Security Software, Microsoft Office 2010 Starter, and a Google toolbar. Fujitsu covers the Lifebook LH532 with a one-year warranty.

Performance
Fujitsu Lifebook LH532 The Lifebook LH532 is equipped with a 2.3GHz Intel Core i3-2350M dual-core processor and 4GB of RAM, similar to the 2.2GHz Intel Core i3-2330M CPU seen in both the HP Pavilion dm4-2165dx ($649.99 list, 3.5 stars) and Sony VAIO VPC-EH25FM ($599.99 list, 3.5 stars). With a faster CPU, the Lifebook LH532 beat out both in Cinebench processor speed tests?2.17 points as opposed to the HP dm4 (2.02) and the Sony VPC-EH25FM (2.11)?but without providing the same performance. In PCMark 7 performance tests, the Lifebook LH532 scored 1,802 points, falling behind both the HP dm4 (1,940) and the Sony VPC-EH25FM (1,865), not to mention the Core i5-equipped category leaders, like the Dell Inspiron 14z (2,308).

Fujitsu Lifebook LH532

The difference in performance was even more pronounced in media tasks. In Handbrake, the Lifebook LH532 took 2 minutes 45 seconds to convert our test video from one format to another. By comparison, the similarly-equipped HP Pavilion dm4-2165dx completed it in 2:22, while similarly priced Core i5 systems, like the Acer Aspire TimelineX AS4830T-6841 (1:57), completed the same test in under 2 minutes. In Photoshop CS5 the performance dropped from middling to lousy, taking 12 minutes 16 seconds to grind through a test completed in 5:22 by the slowest competitor, the HP dm4-2165dx. As expected in a system with middling performance and integrated graphics, gaming is limited to the most basic games.

The Lifebook LH532 also came up short in battery tests. It lasted only 5 hours 1 minute in MobileMark 2007, which is reasonable given the laptop's 48Wh battery, but similarly priced competitors pack larger batteries and longer life, such as the 55Wh battery in the HP dm4-2165dx (7:58) or the 65Wh battery found in the Dell Inspiron 14z (8:38).

The slow performance and short battery life of the Fujitsu Lifebook LH532 were disappointing, given the promise of compelling features like a spill-resistant keyboard, USB 3.0, and WiDi streaming. Unfortunately, all the clever features and design in the world can't compensate for poor performance, and the Fujitsu Lifebook LH532 falls short of competitors with similar price tags and specifications. While the $750 price tag of the Editors' Choice Dell Inspiron 14z may be a bit more than the budget-minded shopper wants to pay, alternatives closer in price to the Lifebook LH532, like the Acer Aspire TimelineX AS4830T-6841 and the Sony VAIO VPC-EH25FM provide superior performance, longer battery life, and better value for your dollar.

BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS:

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the Fujitsu Lifebook LH532 with several other laptops side by side.

More laptop reviews:
??? Fujitsu Lifebook LH532
??? Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (Mid 2012)
??? Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Retina Display)
??? Sony VAIO E15 (SVE15116FXS)
??? Sony VAIO T13 (SVT13112FXS)
?? more

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Braves place Beachy on DL, make plans for Jurrjens

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For Sustainability, Go Beyond Gross Domestic Product

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Maryland loses 7,500 jobs in May; unemployment up to 6.8%

Maryland's unemployment increased slightly to 6.8 percent in May.?

Maryland shed 7,500 jobs in May, pushing the state?s unemployment rate up to 6.8 percent and marking the third straight month of losses.

For May, Maryland ranked third in the U.S. for the largest over-the-month decrease in employment behind North Carolina and Pennsylvania, according to data released Friday by the U.S. Labor Department?

Construction jobs in the state dropped by 4,600 in May, while manufacturing lost 300 jobs. Professional and business services jobs dipped by 3,100 compared with April and financial jobs dropped by 800.

Trade transportation and utilities, meanwhile, added 1,500 jobs in the state. Education and health services grew by 2,100 jobs.

Maryland?s labor force in May was 3,087,300, down from 3,089,200 in April.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Labor Department revised Maryland?s previous job report in April. The state reported a preliminary loss of 6,000 jobs, but that has since been revised to a loss of 5,400 jobs. April?s unemployment was 6.7 percent.

Despite the losses, Maryland has added 35,600 jobs since May 2011. The state?s unemployment rate of 6.8 percent is better than the national average of 8.2 percent.

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Air Products: save energy - use oxygen and cryogenics

South African companies involved in using or producing recycled rubber products can look forward to becoming more environmentally compliant, while at the same time saving on production costs.

According to Sachin Kulkarni, Sales Manager of Bulk Gases, at industrial and specialty gas products and chemicals company, Air Products, the evolution of oxygen enrichment for cement kilns and cryogenics for rubber recycling companies, is extremely beneficial to the industry.

?These rubber recycling methodologies are finding increasing favour with companies who seek ways of reducing their carbon footprint. At the same time, they benefit from decreased operational costs and a higher profit margin,? Kulkarni explains.

Kulkarni says that oxygen enrichment evolved when cement producers sought alternative fuels to the expendable and non-renewable natural resources, such as coke and coal, for use in the cement kilns.

?They researched many options, such as waste fuel and solvents. However, the noxious fumes derived when heating these substances using traditional methods in the kilns was considered detrimental to the environment and humans,?

Kulkarni pointeds out.

Ultimately, the dilemma is one of energy versus emissions.

?One of the alternative fuels the researchers considered was waste rubber. In the late 1980s, oxygen enrichment was adopted as the ideal methodology for achieving full combustion when re-using rubber as a fuel in cement kilns.?

?Due to the fact that oxygen enrichment allows high temperatures to be reached very quickly, the impact of emissions is drastically reduced, while at the same time producing the requisite amount of heat required for the cement manufacturing process,? Kulkarni explains.

The heat produced is so intense that it effectively removes all nitrogen from the process.

While oxygen enrichment is now commonly used in cement kilns, which utilise recycled rubber as a fuel, Air Products? burner system has evolved to a stage where its optimised design allows for complete process stabilisation and maximised output.

?Air Products? expertise and experience with burner technology has been carefully developed and honed in multiple applications worldwide and our systems are considered to be huge contributors to the ongoing stewardship of the environment,? Kulkarni adds.

The return on investment of an oxygen enrichment system is excellent. Companies adopting this methodology would require an oxygen burner, an oxygen flow meter and NOx monitoring equipment, which monitors flue gases, to adequately decrease or increase oxygen flow.

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Eddie Fernandez: Now San Francisco Truly Has a 'Reason To Party'

San Francisco is not a city that needs a formal excuse to let loose and have a good time. A growing local organization, however, is providing the community with a feel-good cause to rally, err, rather party behind.

Reason To Party is a an organization whose goal is to bring together California communities and businesses to raise funds and awareness for various charities, all under the guise of having fun. The organization was founded in 2009 in San Francisco, and has already expanded to Sacramento -- with plans for cities like New York and Los Angeles within a year. To date, the organization has raised tens of thousands of dollars for a number of charities, all through the power of parties.

"Reason To Party was founded to create a new movement in philanthropy, where leaders can help the community and have fun while doing it," says Founder and Executive Director Ari Kalfayan. "Today's society -- especially millennials -- still truly care about giving back to the community, they are just looking for a new way of doing it."

Reason To Party (RTP) combines having fun with philanthropy. These parties aren't your average rubber chicken dinner fundraisers either. This Saturday, June 16, for example, the organization is partnering with the Colon Cancer Alliance (CCA) to host an event that hopes to raise tens of thousands of dollars - with all profits going directly to the CCA for cancer research and education. Not a lot of charities can say that about their contributions.

Top sponsors such as Karlsson Vodka and Barefoot Wines will be supplying complimentary beverages, to ensure the partygoers who purchased admission thoroughly enjoy themselves. The event is hosted by celebrity fashion designer Carmen Marc Valvo, whose life has been personally effected by the disease.

"We feel partnering with Reason To Party means empowering a younger demographic. Events are the perfect mechanism to speak to people we would otherwise not reach." says Valvo. "As a colon cancer survivor myself, I am passionate about getting the message out there, creating conversations and helping those in need. Not to mention, I love the concept of raising funds, awareness AND having fun while doing it."

So there you have it. Now RTP has given us all a way to deal with our Sunday hangovers with a little more ease.

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Follow Eddie Fernandez on Twitter: www.twitter.com/eddie_fernandez

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Egypt court orders parliament dissolved

CAIRO (AP) ? Judges appointed by Hosni Mubarak dissolved the Islamist-dominated parliament Thursday and ruled that Mubarak's former prime minister can stand in the presidential runoff this weekend ? setting the stage for the military and remnants of the old regime to stay in power.

The rulings effectively erase the tenuous progress from the past year's troubled transition, leaving Egypt with no parliament and concentrating rule even more firmly in the hands of the military generals who took power after Mubarak's ouster. The fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, which stands to lose the most from the rulings, called the moves a coup and vowed to rally the street against the ruling military and former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq, the presidential candidate seen by critics as a favorite of the generals and a symbol of Mubarak's autocratic rule.

As night fell, a crowd of protesters was rapidly growing in Cairo's Tahrir Square, birthplace of the uprising that toppled Mubarak last year.

Senior Brotherhood leader and lawmaker Mohammed el-Beltagy said the rulings amounted to a "full-fledged coup."

"This is the Egypt that Shafiq and the military council want and which I will not accept no matter how dear the price is," he wrote on his Facebook page.

The decisions were a heavy blow to the Brotherhood. In the parliamentary elections late last year ? Egypt's first democratic ones in generations ? the Brotherhood vaulted to become the biggest party in the legislature, with half the seats, alongside more conservative Islamists who took another 20 percent. It is hoping to win the presidency as well with its candidate, Mohammed Morsi, in this weekend's presidential run-off against Shafiq. The rulings now take away their power base in parliament and boost Shafiq.

But the court rulings also derail the broader transition to democracy, said rights lawyer Hossam Bahgat.

"The military placed all powers in its hands. The entire process has been undermined beyond repair," Bahgat said. "They now have the legislative and the executive powers in their hands and there is a big likelihood that the military-backed candidate (Shafiq) is going to win. It is a soft military coup that unfortunately many people will support out of fear of an Islamist takeover of the state."

A day earlier, the military-appointed government gave the military police and intelligence the right to arrest civilians for a range of vague crimes such as disrupting traffic and the economy that would give it a mandate to crack down on protests. Many saw the move as evidence the generals are aiming to hold on to power beyond the July 1 deadline they announced for handing it over to a civilian president.

Throughout the day Thursday, military armored vehicles circulated through the streets of Cairo, playing patriotic songs, as soldiers passed out leaflets urging passers-by to vote in the presidential run-off Saturday and Sunday. The rulings also mean that the next president of Egypt will be sworn before the generals who took over from Mubarak 16 months ago rather than parliament.

After the Supreme Constitutional Court's decision was announced, a visibly energized Shafiq spoke at a rally that had the trappings of a victory celebration. Supporters chanted "We love you, Mr. President," and the 70-year-old Shafiq blew kisses to them. In his address, he lavished praise on the military and said he hoped for a dramatic shakeup in the makeup of the next parliament.

"We want a parliament that realistically represents all segments of the Egyptian people and a civil state whose borders and legitimacy are protected by our valiant armed forces," said Shafiq, a longtime friend of Mubarak and a self-confessed admirer of the ousted leader.

The race for the presidency has already deeply polarized the country. The anti-Shafiq camp views him as an extension of Mubarak's authoritarian regime. The anti-Morsi camp fears he and the Brotherhood will turn Egypt into an Islamic state and curtail freedoms if he wins. Leftist, liberal and secular Egyptians who first launched the pro-democracy uprising against Mubarak bemoaned the choice and some talked of a boycott.

Now they and the Brotherhood were all accusing the military of using the constitutional court as a proxy to change the rules of the game.

In its decisions Thursday, the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that a third of the legislature was elected illegally. As a result, it says in its explanation of the ruling, "the makeup of the entire chamber is illegal and, consequently, it does not legally stand."

The explanation was carried by Egypt's official news agency and confirmed to The Associated Press by one of the court's judges, Maher Sami Youssef.

The law governing the parliamentary elections was ruled unconstitutional by a lower court because it breached the principle of equality when it allowed party members to contest a third of seats set aside for independents. The remaining two thirds were contested by party slates.

In a separate ruling, the court said Shafiq could stay in the presidential race, rejecting a law passed by parliament last month that barred prominent figures from the old regime from running for office.

Defenders of the law argued that after a revolution aimed at removing Mubarak's rule, parliament had a right to prevent regime members from returning to power. Opponents of the law called it political revenge targeting Shafiq. The court said the law was not based on "objective grounds" and was discriminatory, violating "the principle of equality."

"This historic ruling sends the message that the era of score-settling and tailor-made law is over," Shafiq said at his rally.

Now, elections will have to be organized to choose a new parliament ? and the Brotherhood is in a weaker position than it was during its powerful showing in the first election, held over three months starting last November.

After its election victory, the Brotherhood tried to translate those gains into governing power but was repeatedly stymied by the military's grip.

At the same time, there has been widespread public dissatisfaction with the Islamist-led parliament, which many criticized as ineffective. The Brotherhood's popularity has also declined because of moves that critics saw as attempts to monopolize the political scene and advance its own power. It angered liberals, leftists and secular Egyptians when it and other Islamists tried to dominate a parliament-created panel tasked with writing the next constitution. The panel was dissolved by court order, and a new one had yet to be appointed.

The dissolution of parliament now raises the possibility the military council could appoint the panel, a step that would fuel accusations that it is hijacking the process.

The legal adviser of the Freedom and Justice Party, the Brotherhood's political arm, said the court rulings were "political," lamenting the outgoing legislature as the country's "only legitimate and elected body."

"They are hoping to hand it over to Ahmed Shafiq and make him the only legal authority in the absence of parliament. The people will not accept this and we will isolate the toppled regime," Mukhtar el-Ashry said in a posting on the party's website.

A moderate Islamist and a former presidential candidate, Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh, said the rulings amounted to a "coup" and warned that the youth, pro-democracy groups that engineered the uprising that toppled Mubarak last year would protest the court's rulings.

"Those who believe that the millions of young people will let this pass are fooling themselves," he wrote on his Twitter account.

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