Los Angeles schools do $30 million iPad deal with Apple

The Los Angeles Unified School District has agreed to a $30 million deal with Apple to put iPads into the hands of every student at 47 schools over the next two years, according to the LA Times.

The iPad deal is a pilot program: the LA Unified School District is the second-largest in the nation, with a total population of over 660,000 students and more than 1,100 schools. This will put iPads in the hands of 35,000 of those students. The iPads will come pre-loaded with educational software and include three-year warranties, including district-wide allowances for repair and replacement of damaged units.

A unanimous vote from the Board of Education favored Apple despite protestations from Microsoft, which encouraged the school district to avoid a "one-size-fits-all" solution. That idea was dismissed by district staff, contending that Apple offers the better product.

A teachers union representative asked for a delay in the vote and said the money should instead be used to rehire staff, but those pleas fell on deaf ears. The district wants to move ahead with the iPad plan to accommodate future state and federal computer-based testing of students.

The $30 million is being raised through the issuance of school bonds - an unusual move, though not unprecedented. Bond issuances are most often used for major capital projects like new construction.

Source: LA Times via The Loop

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Intel joins Alliance for Wireless Power's Board of Directors

The Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP), a consortium working to establish a new wireless charging standard, hasn't been around for terribly long -- Samsung and Qualcomm joined forces to create the organization just over a year ago -- but it's planning to make waves as quickly as possible. One of the most effective ways to do exactly that, then, would be to persuade large players in the mobile industry to join along, and Intel certainly meets that qualification. The company announced this afternoon that it has officially joined the A4WP's Board of Directors. This move doesn't guarantee that we'll be soon seeing Intel-powered devices with built-in wireless charging capabilities, but it's at least a solid indication that the folks in Santa Clara are mindful of (and intrigued by) the potential that near-field magnetic resonance tech holds.

Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals, Mobile, Intel

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Tornado spotted near Denver airport terminal

DENVER (AP) ? A tornado warning for Denver International Airport is over and no damage has been reported.

Passengers had to take shelter in bathrooms and stairwells for about a half-hour Tuesday after the warning was issued. The National Weather Service said a confirmed tornado was spotted in the area.

Television coverage showed the airport's normally busy concourse was completely empty during the warning period.

As the storm passed, police briefly blocked traffic from Interstate 70 to Pena Boulevard, which connects the interstate to the airport. Dark clouds blanketed parts of the horizon over the plains to the east.

Severe thunderstorms could still produce some strong winds and hail in the area and across Colorado's eastern plains.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tornado-spotted-near-denver-airport-terminal-203115248.html

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Greece's public TV still off despite court ruling

ATHENS, Greece (AP) ? State TV channels in Greece remained off-air Tuesday as the political storm over the future of public broadcaster ERT raged on, despite a court ruling that the prime minister's decision to pull the plug was wrong.

The threat of a snap general election was averted late Monday after a meeting between Conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and his center-left coalition partners, who strongly oppose his June 11 decision to close ERT and fire its staff of nearly 2,700.

The three-party talks came as Greece's high court ruled the government should not have switched off the public TV signal, despite conceding that it had the right to restructure the broadcaster.

Samaras had indicated he wants a leaner and more efficient replacement by late August. But he offered coalition partners to start programming sooner under a transition broadcaster, and the three leaders agreed to continue negotiations. They will meet again Wednesday.

Samaras is under pressure from Greece's international bailout lenders to continue with austerity reforms in return for continued payouts from their 240 billion euro ($320 billion) rescue program.

Late Tuesday, Samaras met with senior creditor representatives who are in Athens for a new inspection of the country's efforts to right its recession-crippled economy and to narrow budget deficits.

Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras said after the talks that "significant progress" has been made, but provided no further details.

Though an imminent election over ERT's closure appears to have been averted, analyst George Tzogopoulos said the ongoing political crisis was making the government coalition look weak.

"The signal that is now sent to our partners in Europe and the markets is that this coalition is not stable any longer," said Tzogopoulos, a senior researcher at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy.

Fired ERT workers have continued live broadcasts streamed online and satellite, helped by the Geneva, Switzerland-based European Broadcasting Union, which represents the continent's public broadcasters.

On Tuesday, the EBU urged the government to restore ERT's signal immediately, citing the court ruling. Samaras has also faced criticism from international human rights groups and the powerful Greek Orthodox Church.

And in Brussels, EU Commission spokesman Olivier Bailly said the commission expects the Greek authorities to "respect" legal decisions.

Shares on the Athens Stock Exchange closed 1.16 percent higher Tuesday, as investors breathed a sigh of relief that an election has been seemingly averted.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/greeces-public-tv-still-off-despite-court-ruling-143642967.html

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Shazam for iOS updated with Pulse discovery feature, redesigned tab bar on iPhone

It's been a mere few weeks since Shazam introduced those new location-based and tagging features for the tablet version of its iOS app, but the music-driven service isn't stopping there. Reaching version 6.1 on Apple's platform, today Shazam's universal application is bringing a few more tidbits to both the iPhone and iPad. Handset users, for one, will notice speedier load times within the app and a rather fresh look that focuses on displaying more info on the tab bar -- such as friend tags and chart updates. On the bigger screen, Shazam says it's improved things by allowing users to more easily delete tags from Favorites and by adding under-the-hood tweaks which should make for a smoother experience while browsing the Friends feed.

The bigger news, perhaps, is Shazam Pulse, a music discovery tool that's making its way to the iOS app, one which allows folks to quickly see and sample the music currently being tagged by people. It's worth noting that all these new features are available for Shazam and Shazam Encore, so fret not if you have one or the other.

Filed under: Portable Audio/Video, Software

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Via: Cult of Mac

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Air Force's X-51A hypersonic aircraft sets record during its final test

U.S. Air Force

The U.S. Air Force's sleek, light-colored X-51A Waverider hypersonic vehicle can be seen tucked under the wing of a B-52H Stratofortress for this week's test launch.

By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

The U.S. Air Force's $300 million, nine-year test program for a hypersonic plane ended on a high note this week, when the last of its X-51A Waverider vehicles made the longest flight of its kind. The success was made sweeter by the fact that it followed last year's high-profile failure.

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"I believe?all we have learned from the X-51A Waverider will serve as the bedrock for future hypersonics research and ultimately the practical application of hypersonic flight," Charlie Brink, X-51A program manager for the Air Force Research Laboratory Aerospace Systems Directorate, said in a news release.

The 14-foot-long (4.3-meter-long), scramjet-powered vehicle hit a top speed of Mach 5.1 during just over six minutes of flight on May 1, the Air Force said. That's the longest of the Boeing-built X-51A's four test flights, and the longest air-breathing hypersonic flight ever.

Hypersonic scramjet propulsion has been widely touted as eventually opening up the way for flights between London and New York in less than an hour. But in reality, the first?application?is more likely to come in the form of super-fast cruise missiles.

Scramjet is a short way of saying "supersonic combustion ramjet." There have been?many?efforts?through the years?to perfect hypersonic aircraft?? that is, vehicles that travel at speeds beyond Mach 5. But the Air Force says the X-51A is unique primarily because it used hydrocarbon fuel rather than hydrogen fuel. Without any moving parts, the fuel is injected into the scramjet's combustion chamber, where it mixes with the air rushing through the chamber. The fuel is ignited in a process that's been likened to lighting a match in a hurricane. ? ? ?

This week's experiment followed the flight profile used for the X-51A's earlier tests: A B-52H Stratofortress took off from California's Edwards Air Force Base, flew 50,000 feet over a Pacific test range, and then released a solid rocket booster with the plane attached. When the cruiser reached Mach 4.8, the X-51A separated from the booster and lit up its scramjet engine. The scramjet exhausted its fuel in 240 seconds. The sleek vehicle coasted for another couple of minutes and splashed down into the ocean as planned. The X-51 traveled more than 230 nautical miles and yielded 370 seconds of data, the Air Force said.

"This success is the result of a lot of hard work by an incredible team.? The contributions of Boeing, Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne, the 412th Test Wing at Edwards AFB, NASA Dryden and DARPA were all vital," Brink said. ?

From 2012: ITV's Lawrence McGinty talks about the X-51A Waverider hypersonic vehicle in advance of its third test. That test ended in failure, but this week's test was successful.

All this is a huge improvement over the previous test, which ended in failure last August. During that flight, the X-51A veered off course less than a minute after launch and crashed, due to a problem with one of its control fins. The issue was resolved after a months-long investigation. The first X-51 test was?successful in May 2010, resulting in a 200-second flight, but the second test in June 2011?was a disappointment.?

There's no immediate successor to the X-51A, but the Air Force has pledged to continue with hypersonic research. It says the lessons learned during the X-51A program "will pay dividends to the High Speed Strike Weapon program" at the Air Force Research Laboratory.

More about supersonic flight:

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Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the?Cosmic Log?community by "liking" the log's?Facebook page, following?@b0yle on Twitter?and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space,?sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

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Lindsay Lohan: In Rehab at Betty Ford ... But For HOW LONG?!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/05/lindsay-lohan-in-rehab-at-betty-ford-but-for-how-long/

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