Amazon to open market in second-hand MP3s and e-books

A new market for second-hand digital downloads could let us hold virtual yard sales of our ever-growing piles of intangible possessions

WHY buy second-hand? For physical goods, the appeal is in the price – you don't mind the creases in a book or rust spots on a car if it's a bargain. Although digital objects never lose their good-as-new lustre, their very nature means there is still uncertainty about whether we actually own them in the first place, making it tricky to set up a second-hand market. Now an Amazon patent for a system to support reselling digital purchases could change that.

Amazon's move comes after last year's European Union ruling that software vendors cannot stop customers from reselling their products. But without technical support, the ruling has had no impact. In Amazon's system, customers will keep their digital purchases – such as e-books or music – in a personal data store in the cloud that only they can access, allowing them to stream or download the content.

This part is like any cloud-based digital locker except that the customer can resell previous purchases by passing the access rights to another person. Once the transaction is complete, the seller will lose access to the content. Any system for reselling an e-book, for example, would have to ensure that it is not duplicated in the transaction. That means deleting any copies the seller may have lying around on hard drives, e-book readers, and other cloud services, since that would violate copyright.

Amazon may be the biggest company to consider a second-hand market, but it is not the first. ReDigi, based in Boston, has been running a resale market for digital goods since 2011. After downloading an app, users can buy a song on ReDigi for as little as 49 cents that would costs 99 cents new on iTunes.

When users want to sell an item, they upload it to ReDigi's servers via a mechanism that ensures no copy is made during the transfer. Software checks that the seller does not retain a copy. Once transferred, the item can be bought and downloaded by another customer. ReDigi is set to launch in Europe in a few months.

Digital items on ReDigi are cheaper because they are one-offs. If your hard drive crashes and you lose your iTunes collection you can download it again. But you can only download an item from ReDigi once – there is no other copy. That is the trade-off that makes a second-hand digital market work: the risk justifies the price. The idea has ruffled a few feathers – last year EMI sued ReDigi for infringement of copyright. A judge denied the claim, but the case continues.

Used digital goods can also come with added charm. ReDigi tracks the history of the items traded so when you buy something, you can see who has owned it and when. ReDigi's second-hand marketplace has grown into a social network. According to ReDigi founder John Ossenmacher, customers like seeing who has previously listened to a song. "It's got soul like an old guitar," he says. "We've introduced this whole feeling of connectedness."

It could be good for business too if the original vendors, such as iTunes, were to support resale and take a cut of the resell price. Nevertheless, Amazon's move bucks the industry trend. Microsoft's new Xbox, for example, is expected not to work with second-hand games.

But the market could change rapidly now that Amazon's weight is behind this, says Ossenmacher. "The industry is waking up."

This article appeared in print under the headline "Old MP3, one careful owner"

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Huawei's MWC 2013 news: Join us Sunday (live blog)

Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei's Consumer Business Group, holds the Ascend Mate, a 6.1-inch phablet that the company debuted in January.

(Credit:
screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

BARCELONA, Spain--On Sunday, we'll find out how well Huawei is doing meeting its ambition to become a top-tier smartphone manufacturer.

That's when the up-and-coming company plans to debut a brand-new phone at a Mobile World Congress at a press conference. CNET will be there to provide all the details about that phone -- you can expect a premium
Android model -- and likely other news as well.

CNET UK's Luke Westaway, photographer Sarah Tew, and I will supply news updates, photos, and commentary from the event. It starts at 3 a.m. PT, which is 2 p.m. local time in Barcelona.

You can tune into the live blog here:

Huawei's Mobile World Congress press conference

Huawei got its start with networking equipment, but it's working hard, along with fellow Chinese handset maker ZTE, to become a consumer brand, too.

It hasn't had much success cracking into the top tier of the U.S. handset market, but it's pumping out a steady stream of new devices running Google's Android operating system. At
CES, Huawei debuted the Ascend Mate a phablet with a whopping 6.1-inch screen, and the Ascend D2, which looks small in comparison with a 5-inch screen.

That work has raised Huawei's profile in the last year. But Huawei gets unwanted extra attention, too, as it faces Chinese espionage scrutiny from the U.S. government.

As usual, we'll use ScribbleLive to for blow-by-blow coverage starting about 15 minutes before the press conference begins.

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Elderly Abandoned at World's Largest Religious Festival

Every 12 years, the northern Indian city of Allahabad plays host to a vast gathering of Hindu pilgrims called the Maha Kumbh Mela. This year, Allahabad is expected to host an estimated 80 million pilgrims between January and March. (See Kumbh Mela: Pictures From the Hindu Holy Festival)

People come to Allahabad to wash away their sins in the sacred River Ganges. For many it's the realization of their life's goal, and they emerge feeling joyful and rejuvenated. But there is also a darker side to the world's largest religious gathering, as some take advantage of the swirling crowds to abandon elderly relatives.

"They wait for this Maha Kumbh because many people are there so nobody will know," said one human rights activist who has helped people in this predicament and who wished to remain anonymous. "Old people have become useless, they don't want to look after them, so they leave them and go."

Anshu Malviya, an Allahabad-based social worker, confirmed that both men and women have been abandoned during the religious event, though it has happened more often to elderly widows. Numbers are hard to come by, since many people genuinely become separated from their groups in the crowd, and those who have been abandoned may not admit it. But Malviya estimates that dozens of people are deliberately abandoned during a Maha Kumbh Mela, at a very rough guess.

To a foreigner, it seems puzzling that these people are not capable of finding their own way home. Malviya smiles. "If you were Indian," he said, "you wouldn't be puzzled. Often they have never left their homes. They are not educated, they don't work. A lot of the time they don't even know which district their village is in."

Once the crowd disperses and the volunteer-run lost-and-found camps that provide temporary respite have packed away their tents, the abandoned elderly may have the option of entering a government-run shelter. Conditions are notoriously bad in these homes, however, and many prefer to remain on the streets, begging. Some gravitate to other holy cities such as Varanasi or Vrindavan where, if they're lucky, they are taken in by temples or charity-funded shelters.

In these cities, they join a much larger population, predominantly women, whose families no longer wish to support them, and who have been brought there because, in the Hindu religion, to die in these holy cities is to achieve moksha or Nirvana. Mohini Giri, a Delhi-based campaigner for women's rights and former chair of India's National Commission for Women, estimates that there are 10,000 such women in Varanasi and 16,000 in Vrindavan.

But even these women are just the tip of the iceberg, says economist Jean Drèze of the University of Allahabad, who has campaigned on social issues in India since 1979. "For one woman who has been explicitly parked in Vrindavan or Varanasi, there are a thousand or ten thousand who are living next door to their sons and are as good as abandoned, literally kept on a starvation diet," he said.

According to the Hindu ideal, a woman should be looked after until the end of her life by her male relatives—with responsibility for her shifting from her father to her husband to her son. But Martha Chen, a lecturer in public policy at Harvard University who published a study of widows in India in 2001, found that the reality was often very different.

Chen's survey of 562 widows of different ages revealed that about half of them were supporting themselves in households that did not include an adult male—either living alone, or with young children or other single women. Many of those who did live with their families reported harassment or even violence.

According to Drèze, the situation hasn't changed since Chen's study, despite the economic growth that has taken place in India, because widows remain vulnerable due to their lack of education and employment. In 2010, the World Bank reported that only 29 percent of the Indian workforce was female. Moreover, despite changes in the law designed to protect women's rights to property, in practice sons predominantly inherit from their parents—leaving women eternally dependent on men. In a country where 37 percent of the population still lives below the poverty line, elderly dependent relatives fall low on many people's lists of priorities.

This bleak picture is all too familiar to Devshran Singh, who oversees the Durga Kund old people's home in Varanasi. People don't pay toward the upkeep of their relatives, he said, and they rarely visit. In one case, a doctor brought an old woman to Durga Kund claiming she had been abandoned. After he had gone, the woman revealed that the doctor was her son. "In modern life," said Singh, "people don't have time for their elderly."

Drèze is currently campaigning for pensions for the elderly, including widows. Giri is working to make more women aware of their rights. And most experts agree that education, which is increasingly accessible to girls in India, will help improve women's plight. "Education is a big force of social change," said Drèze. "There's no doubt about that."

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Pistorius Family: 'Law Must Run Its Course'

South African Olympian Oscar Pistorius is spending time his family today after the athlete was freed on $113,000 bail Friday.

"We realise that the law must run its course, and we would not have it any other way," the Olympian's uncle, Arnold Pistorius said in a statement on Saturday.

The Pistorius family expressed their gratitude that the former Olympian was allowed out of jail before the trial.

"This constitutes a moment of relief under these otherwise very grave circumstances" said Arnold Pistorius."We are extremely thankful that Oscar is now home."

Pistorius, 26, is charged with premeditated murder in the Valentine's Day shooting of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

While the prosecution argued that the world-renowned athlete was a flight risk and had a history of violence, South African Magistrate Desmond Nair, who presided over the case, disagreed.

FULL COVERAGE: Oscar Pistorius

"He regards South Africa as his permanent place of abode, he has no intention to relocate to any other country" Nair said during his two hour ruling, before concluding with, "the accused has made the case to be released on bail."

'Blade Runner' Murder Charges: Oscar Pistorius Out on Bail Watch Video

Oscar Pistorius Granted Bail in Murder Case Watch Video

Pistoriuis will have to adhere to strict conditions to stay out of jail before the trial. He must give up all his guns, he cannot drink alcohol or return to the home where the shooting occurred, and he must check in with a police department twice a week.

Oscar Pistorius is believed to be staying at an uncle's house as he awaits trial.

RELATED: Oscar Pistorius Case: Key Elements to the Murder Investigation

During the hearing, the prosecution argued that Pistorius shot Steenkamp after an argument, while the defense laid out an alternate version of events saying Pistorius mistook his girlfriend for an intruder.

Nair took issue with the head detective originally in charge of the case, who he said "blundered" in gathering evidence and was removed from the case after it was revealed he is facing attempted murder charges.

RELATED: Oscar Pistorius Case: Lead Det. Hilton Botha to Be Booted From Investigation Team

After the magistrate's decision, cheers erupted in the courtroom from the Pistorius camp. Pistorius' trial is expected to start in six to eight months, with his next pre-trial court date in June.

Reeva Steenkamp Family Reaction

Steenkamp's father, Barry Steenkamp told the South African Beeld newspaper that the 26-year-old athlete will "suffer" if he is lying about accidentally shooting 29-year-old model.

PHOTOS: Oscar Pistorius Charged with Murder

Barry Steenkamp went on to say that the Pistorius will have to "live with his conscience" if he intentionally shot Reeva.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Desperate data about desperate children

Shaoni Bhattacharya, consultant

A 13-year-old girl, Aissata Konate, a few days after getting married to 32-year-old Ely Barry in Gbon, Ivory Coast (Image: Carol Guzy/The Washington Post/Getty)

If governments could pass a simple law that would save the lives of millions of infants, they’d do it, right? And if a policy or constitution could transform the lives of women by sparing them the poor health or despair that they inevitably pass on to their children through sickness, disability, and even death, surely they would get working?

But no.

A new book, the first of its kind, together with the extensive report underpinning it, shows just how far the world has to go - even (or perhaps, especially) rich countries like the US.

Children’s Chances: How countries can move from surviving to thriving by Jody Heymann with Kristen McNeill was launched (with the accompanying report) in London last week. It aims to provide an armoury of deeply disturbing data with which to hold to account the world’s passive politicians.

It is a culmination of years of work led by Heymann, who is director of the World Policy Analysis Center and dean of the University of California, Los Angeles, Fielding School of Public Health.

She and her colleagues have sifted through (quite literally sometimes) boxes piled with paper and reams of information from organisations like UNESCO to provide the first global comparison of laws and public policies in 191 countries covering poverty, discrimination, education, health, child labour, child marriage and parental care options.

Laws really matter, found Heymann and her colleagues. Laws covering what look to be family or cultural decisions such as early child marriage or education are important because these issues determine whether a child survives or thrives.

When girls marry young, for example, they tend to drop out of school earlier and have poorer health, and, in turn, their children have poorer health.

At the book’s launch at the Royal Society in London Heymann said that sometimes just having a law can help: “What surprised me is that many people had said, 'What if policies are not fully implemented?' In fact many of these policies are so powerful that it is enough [to make a difference].”

The book, report and website aim to make the crucial information Heymann and her colleagues have gathered accessible to ordinary citizens, non-governmental organisations and policy-makers.

It’s readable, and given the Herculean task the authors had bringing it all together, makes clear sense of what they found with online maps providing a wealth of revealing information never before available, at a keystroke.

But I can’t help feeling that they are missing a trick. The tone of the book may be assertive, but it is not as forceful as its material - just too polite.

Why beat about the bush when children’s lives, health and future are at risk? Name and shame, I say. This book has the moral high ground, and scientific rigour, to do so. And it should.

At the launch, the US was rightly described as a “laggard”, but it is only by trawling through the maps that it becomes clear just how far behind it is for a rich nation.

What, for example, does the US have in common with Papua New Guinea, Liberia and Tonga?

These are three of only eight countries in the world with no guaranteed paid maternity leave. As for paternity leave, paid parental leave for sick children - forget it.

And there isn’t even protection against early child marriage. The US is right up there with Sudan and Iran, with no legal minimum age for marriage for girls or boys.

This was shocking, but the authors don’t go into surprises like this. Surely we should be told what the lack of such a law does to a developed nation like the US? Does anyone actually get married very young? If so, how young, and how common is it?

But we do know that lack of maternity leave makes a huge difference. Globally every 10-week increase in paid maternity is associated with a 10 per cent drop of newborn deaths, infant deaths and under-5 mortality rates. Staggering.

The reasons are simple. Off work, mothers are more likely to breastfeed and take their babies to be vaccinated.

Even in the US, infant mortality rates are not good for a developed nation. And recent studies show the country’s health generally is not as robust as it could be.

There are plenty of other surprises.

What does Laos do for its children that the UK doesn’t? Astonishingly, it is one of five countries in the world with father-specific paid paternity leave of over four weeks. The others are Iceland, Norway, Slovenia and Sweden.

Luxury? No. Paternity leave matters and when it's specifically allocated to men, dads are more likely to take it. Studies show that fathers who take paternity leave when it is available are much more involved with care of their children, even after a pre-existing commitment to mother and child is controlled for.

And where fathers are involved, new mothers are less likely to get depressed - and maternal depression has strong knock-on effects on children.

Then again, what makes one of the poorest African nations a better place to be a child than its neighbours? Madagascar has policies for children and families that are more progressive than many western nations, and this has paid off because its infant and child mortality rates are among the lowest in sub-Saharan Africa.

Sadly, the most powerful of the emerging economies - India and China - fare worse than many very poor countries in terms of children’s chances and healthcare.

The authors want this to be a call for action. But they need to shout louder. While they do quote the numbers of countries opting out of child-friendly policies or laws in their report, they should name the countries - and give them a report card. And likewise hail the countries (especially the poor ones) doing right by their kids.

The book does try quite hard in some ways, detailing heart-rending case studies of kids so hungry that they fall asleep at school, 9-year-olds rising at 4 am to help their parents set up street vegetable stalls before going to school, or parents who can’t take seriously ill kids to the doctor because they risk losing their jobs if they take time off…

The good news is that governments can move mountains if they find the will: saving the lives of millions of children worldwide is surely easy compared with finding a cure for AIDS or cancer?

Heymann and colleagues should be commended for their meticulous and arduous work. Let’s hope citizens, NGOs and movers and shakers pick up this report and wield it forcefully in the faces of governments.

Book information:
Children’s Chances: How countries can move from surviving to thriving by Jody Heymann
with Kristen McNeill
Harvard University Press
$45/£33.95

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India sets rules for new bank permits in rural push

MUMBAI : India on Friday unveiled rules for issuing new bank licences in a push to expand financial services into the country's rural hinterland where hundreds of thousands of villages have no banking outlets.

Ninety percent of India's 600,000 villages do not have banking facilities, the Reserve Bank of India says, while fewer than half of the country's 1.2 billion people have a bank account.

Private companies, public-sector groups and non-banking financial firms will be eligible to apply for licences for new banks by setting up financial holding companies, the central bank said in a statement.

Groups seeking to set up a bank "should have a past record of sound credentials and integrity, be financially sound with a successful track record of 10 years", the Reserve Bank said.

The minimum capital needed to set up a bank will five billion rupees (US$91 million).

Also, the new banks will have to open at least a quarter of their branches in rural areas with no such facilities, and foreign shareholdings in any new bank should not exceed 49 percent in the first five years.

The need to set up more banks, especially in rural areas, has become increasingly urgent as the government seeks to pay cash directly to India's poor to ensure more efficient distribution.

Indian conglomerates like the Tata Group and the Anil Ambani Reliance group, which already own financial businesses, have voiced interest in setting up banks.

The Reserve Bank is seeking to follow a path of "financial inclusion", embracing swathes of rural India which have little access to banking services, the bank's governor Duvvuri Subbarao said.

No new Indian bank has been set up since the private Yes Bank in 2004. Yes Bank now is a leading industry player.

India currently has just 26 state-run, 20 private and 40 foreign banks.

Another 2,200 rural and co-operative banks cover other parts of the country.

The Finance Ministry said it hopes the Reserve Bank will be able to start issuing licences for new banks by the end of the next financial year, which runs to March 2014.

"With all going well, with all clearances, by end of the (next) financial year we will see some success," Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Takru told reporters in New Delhi.

- AFP/ch

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iPhone Mini launch this summer makes sense, analyst says

Apple's iPhone 5.

(Credit:
CNET)

A low-priced iPhone makes a lot of sense, Morgan Stanley says, and it even could hit the market this summer. Katy Huberty, an analyst with the banking firm, noted that after her meetings with Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer, she's convinced that innovation remains a top priority for the Cupertino, Calif., electronics giant. She also believes that Apple will increase cash return to shareholders and expand carriers, distribution, and possibly price points to drive iPhone growth.

She noted that a lower priced iPhone makes sense for several reasons:

1. "iPad Mini is expanding Apple's customer base with 50 [percent] of purchases in China/Brazil representing new customers to the ecosystem."


2. "Chinese consumers show a desire to purchase the latest version of iPhone (instead of discounted older generations)."


3. "iPhone 4 demand surprised to the upside in the December quarter."

Huberty added that while an iPhone Mini would have lower gross margins and cannibalize other iPhone sales, it would boost revenue and profits.

She noted that new iPhones, including a lower-priced iPhone for emerging markets, could launch this summer, while the
iPad will likely be refreshed by mid-year. Many reports in recent weeks have pegged an iPhone Mini launch to the summer timeframe.

Huberty also expects new carrier partnerships including NTT Docomo, T-Mobile, and China Mobile in the second half of the year or 2014.

Speculation has been building that Apple will soon release a cheaper iPhone. While it continues to sell many models of its newest iPhone, many customers have been opting for the older, discounted generations. And as smartphones sales growth slows in the U.S. and other mature markets (because almost everyone has a phone), emerging markets will become even more key to future sales. A lower priced phone would help Apple sell more devices in places like China, where few people can afford to buy its priciest gadgets.

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Oscar Pistorius Granted Bail in Murder Case

Oscar Pistorius was granted bail today in a South African court, meaning he can be released from jail for the six to eight months before his trial for the allegedly premeditated killing of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Magistrate Desmond Nair, in reading his lengthy decision, said, "The issue before me is whether this accused, being who is and the assets he has [here], would seek to duck and dive all over the world."
His conclusion:
"I cannot find that he is a flight risk."

Nair said, "The accused has made a case to be released on bail."

PHOTOS: Paralympics Champion Charged in Killing

The judge also said he had to weigh whether Pistorius would be a danger to others. He noted that Pistorius has been accused of using foul language against people in arguments and once threatened to break someone's legs, but he said that was different from someone with an arrest record of violence.

"I appreciate that a person is dead, but I don't think that is enough," he said.

Nair also said he could not be influenced by the public's "shock and outrage" if Pistorius is released.

A member of Pistorius' defense team told ABC News, "he is going to be released today."

Despite the ruling, prosecutors displayed confidence, with one of them emerging from the courthouse today to say, "We still believe we have the evidence to convict Oscar Pistorius."

The court set bail at about $113,000 (1 million rand) and June 4 as the date for Pistorius' next court appearance.

The other bail conditions are: Pistorius cannot leave the country; he must hand over his passports; he cannot return to his home as long as it's an active crime scene; he needs permission to leave the Pretoria area; he must visit a police station on a daily basis and be available to a probation officer at all times via cellphone; he is not allowed any communication with prosecution witnesses; he cannot drink alcohol; and he must relinquish his firearms.

"Do you understand?" the magistrate asked him.

"Yes, sir," Pistorius replied.

Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty Images

'Blade Runner' Shocker: Lead Detective Replaced Watch Video

Speaking for the family, Arnold Pistorius, the Olympian's uncle, said, "Although we are obviously relieved that Oscar has been granted bail, this is still a very sad time for the family of Reeva and for us.

"We are grateful that the Magistrate recognized the validity and strength of our application. As the family, we are convinced that Oscar's version of what happened on that terrible night will prove to be true."

The judge's ruling came on the fourth and final day of the bail hearing for Pistorius, the Olympian accused of murdering his girlfriend on Valentine's Day.

Pistorius, who gained global acclaim for racing at the 2012 London Olympics, shot his model-girlfriend through a closed bathroom. He says he killed Reeva Steenkamp accidentally, but prosecutors alleged that he took a moment to put on his prosthetic legs, indicating that he thought out and planned to kill Steenkamp when he shot her three times through the bathroom door.

Pistorius sobbed today in court. Barry Roux, his defense attorney, said the prosecution misinterpreted the assigning of intent, meaning that the runner's intent to shoot at a supposed intruder in his home cannot be transferred to someone else who was shot -- in this case, Steenkamp.

"He did not want to kill Reeva," Roux told the court.

FULL COVERAGE: Oscar Pistorius Case

When Magistrate Nair, who overheard the bail hearing, asked Roux what the charges should be if Pistorius intended to kill an intruder, the defense attorney responded that he should be charged with culpable homicide.

Culpable homicide is defined in South Africa as "the unlawful negligent killing of a human being."

Roux also made light of the prosecution's argument that Pistorius is a flight risk, saying that every time the double-amputee goes through airport security, it causes a commotion. He said that Pistorius' legs need constant maintenance and he needs medical attention for his stumps.

The prosecution argued today that the onus was on Pistorius to provide his version of events, and his version was improbable.

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel also spoke of Pistorius' fame and his disability, even relating him to Wikipedia founder Julian Assange, who is now confined to Ecuador's London Embassy, where he has been granted political asylum.
"[Assange's] facial features are as well known as Mr. Pistorius' prostheses," Nel said.

Nel argued that Pistorius' prostheses do not set him apart, stating that it's no different to any other feature, and the court cannot be seen to treat people with disabilities accused of a crime, or famous people accused of crime, any differently.

Pistorius has said that in the early hours of Feb. 14 he was closing his balcony doors when he heard a noise from the bathroom. Fearing an intruder, and without his prosthetic legs on, he grabbed a gun from under his bed and fired through the closed bathroom door, he told the court.

But prosecutors say that's implausible, that the gun's holster was found under the side of the bed where Steenkamp slept, and that Pistorius would have seen she wasn't there. Prosecutors also say the angle at which the shots were fired shows Pistorius was already wearing his prosthetics when he fired.

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First space tourist plans independent Mars mission

Jacob Aron, reporter

(Image: Sipa/Rex)

An organisation led by Dennis Tito, the first ever space tourist, has announced its intention to launch a mission to Mars in 2018 - though just who or what will be on board remains to be seen.

Tito paid $20 million to be the first paying guest of the International Space Station in 2001, marking the start of the space tourism industry. Now he has formed the Inspiration Mars Foundation, which plans to launch "an historic journey to Mars and back in 501 days", according to an announcement in advance of a press conference next Wednesday.

The announcement does not give many more details of the mission, but other speakers lined up for the press conference give some clues. Jonathan Clark of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute in Houston, Texas, a former NASA crew surgeon and recent advisor on Felix Baumgartner's supersonic skydive from near the edge of space, will probably speak about the health risks of a long-term space mission, which hints at the possibility of a crewed mission.

Also speaking are Jane Poynter and Taber MacCallum of Paragon Space Development, a company with expertise in life support in extreme environments. The pair were both members of the Biosphere 2 mission, a controversial attempt at simulating a space colony two decades ago, and have previously proposed landing a greenhouse on the moon to grow flowers there.

Speculation ahead of the announcement is rife. Wired reckons the mission will aim to be crewed. NBC
is more cautious, suggesting that the plan might be to put plants or animals on board
instead, as pulling a crewed mission together in five years would be
expensive and risky. The 2018 date is particularly favourable because the
orbits of Earth and
Mars will be closely aligned, but NASA recently scrubbed a launch that
year in favour of a 2020 sequel to its successful Curiosity rover. Bottom line: it's hard to get to Mars in a hurry.

We
also don't know whether the mission is meant to land on Mars or
merely orbit the planet. Space Adventures, which booked Tito's ISS
trip, has been selling moon fly-bys since 2005, though none has taken place so far. But even an uncrewed return mission to the surface of the Red Planet would make history if it brought Mars rocks back to Earth.

Also
to be announced is just how Tito plans to get to Mars. The obvious
answer is to use Space X's Red Dragon craft, a planned variant of the
Dragon capsule that has already serviced the ISS. Space X founder Elon Musk has promised to deliver humans to Mars within a decade, so five years might be slightly short notice. We'll find out more on 27 February.

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Cycling: Giro d'Italia to start in Belfast next year

BELFAST, United Kingdom: Another of cycling's biggest races will start in Britain next year after organisers announced on Thursday that the Giro d'Italia will be flagged off in Northern Ireland.

The 2014 edition of one of the sport's three Grand Tour races will begin in Belfast on May 10, kicking off three days of action that will also include a stage finishing in Dublin, capital of the Republic of Ireland.

Michele Acquarone, head of the Giro and managing director of Italian race organiser RCS Sport, said: "Belfast will provide spectacular backdrops for the 2014 Grand Partenza (Big Start) and will add something very special into the history of this great cycling event."

Northern Ireland tourism minister Arlene Foster added: "Plans are already in motion to make the occasion a fabulous celebration worthy of Italian cycling traditions and the maglia rosa (pink jersey) itself."

The news comes after it was annonced in December that the first three stages of the 2014 Tour de France will be in England, with two in the northern county of Yorkshire and the third finishing in London.

Traditionally, Italy's Giro - in common with the Tour de France - never strayed beyond its own national borders.

But recently both races have opted for starts abroad, with the 104-year-old Giro launched from outside Italy every two years, latterly in Denmark in 2012.

Cycling star Bradley Wiggins, who last year became the first British winner of the Tour de France and also won Olympic time-trial gold, confirmed the Giro's prestige by declaring that he wants to win this year's edition above defending his Tour title.

Ireland cycling great Stephen Roche, who won the Giro back in 1987, was present for Thursday's announcement at the Titanic Belfast visitors' centre.

"The Giro is maybe distinctive in that it is probably the second biggest event for me, in my opinion (after the Tour de France)," he said.

"When you consider the passion these people have, the passion these people have shown to us this morning, it is duplicated throughout the whole Italian nation."

He recalled that in 1987 the crowds were warm and enthusiastic.

"When you see all the people on the roadsides of Italy, the enthusiasm of poor and rich, they all come together for this event," Roche said, adding that the support he received during the Giro spurred him to success in the Tour de France.

"It gave me a lot of extra confidence for the Tour," he said. "Then you are surfing the wave and you become, I would not say unbeatable, but the fact that you have one big win under your belt, it makes the rest much more possible."

- AFP/de

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Finer details about PlayStation 4's DualShock 4 controller, Eye camera

The new DualShock 4 controller for the PlayStation 4 utilizes Micro-USB instead of Mini-USB.

(Credit:
Sony Computer Entertainment)

As Sony explained the hardware and software in the upcoming PlayStation 4 yesterday, two very important input devices -- the DualShock 4 controller and PlayStation 4 Eye camera -- also debuted. But Sony wasn't completely up front about how it will all work.

Fortunately, an official Sony press release sheds further light on the two crucial pieces of PS4 hardware.

The Bluetooth 2.1+EDR-equipped Dualshock 4 controller follows the tried-and-true design used in previous generations of PlayStation controller design, but this go around comes with more new features than ever before. Oh, and it rumbles a little harder, too.

What do you think about the new DualShock controller? Sound off in the comments below.

(Credit:
Sony Computer Entertainment)

The DualShock 4's new light bar contains three color LEDs and corresponds with the PlayStation Move motion capture interface. The LED array can change colors to match the color of a character in a video game, or alert a player to an important situation -- for example, a flashing pattern when you near death.

Say goodbye to the start and select buttons: those old standards now live within the options button placed near the top. Nearby, a share button gives gamers the ability to stream live gameplay to UStream, upload recorded gameplay videos to Facebook, and other social options. Pictures provided by Sony indicate that the DS4 may sport a rubber (or etched plastic) rear for enhanced gripping and less fumbles.

A solid look at the DS4 for the PS4.

(Credit:
Sony Computer Entertainment)

Similar to the rear touchpad on the PlayStation Vita, the DS4 introduces a two-point capacitive touch pad (with the ability to click) above the analog sticks, which opens the door for some unique gaming interactions. The sensitive six-axis accelerometer/gyroscope makes a return. Sound becomes front and center in this new design, as Sony integrated a small mono speaker as well as a stereo jack that enables a gamer to speak in a headset and simultaneously hear game audio emanating from the controller.

Other DualShock 4 features include improved analog sticks/trigger buttons, and the option to charge the controller even when the console isn't powered on. For those curious about finer details: the DS4 weighs about 0.6 ounces more than the DualShock 3, and the DS4 is only just a few centimeters different in width, height, and depth.

Meet the PlayStation 4 Eye camera (positioned on top of a TV).

(Credit:
Sony Computer Entertainment)

As for the PlayStation 4 Eye, well, it's a much more dramatic shift compared with the predecessor. The new bar-shaped Eye, of course, works with PlayStation Move (and DualShock 4) motion control, and looks on paper as a more suitable contender against a future version of Microsoft's Kinect. Why? Well, the Eye packs dual cameras that can individually capture 1280x800 pixel RAW/YUV video at 30fps (and 640x480 at 120fps or 320x192 at 240fps) each -- these figures stand way above the existing single-lens Eye and its outdated 640x480 video capture capabilities.

Those the dual-lens Eye can observe an 85-degree diagonal viewing angle (up from the previous 75 degrees) and should have little issue perceiving depth and the location of multiple players in a living room. For audio capture, the Eye can hear a great deal due to its four integrated microphones, which could make misunderstood voice commands a thing of the past. Gamers can also log in to the PS4 with the Eye's facial-recognition software.

Sony didn't announce availability or pricing for either accessory during the PS4 reveal, but stay tuned to CNET and we'll have you covered as things unfold.

The PS4 Eye can tilt upward or downward.

(Credit:
Sony Computer Entertainment)

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NASA's Mars Rover Makes Successful First Drill

For the first time ever, people have drilled into a rock on Mars, collecting the powdered remains from the hole for analysis.

Images sent back from NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Wednesday confirmed that the precious sample is being held by the rover's scoop, and will soon be delivered to two miniature chemical labs to undergo an unprecedented analysis. (Related: "Mars Rover Curiosity Completes First Full Drill.")

To the delight of the scientists, the rock powder has come up gray and not the ubiquitous red of the dust that covers the planet. The gray rock, they believe, holds a lot of potential to glean information about conditions on an early Mars. (See more Mars pictures.)

"We're drilling into rock that's a time capsule, rocks that are potentially ancient," said sampling-system scientist Joel Hurowitz during a teleconference from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.

A Place to Drill

The site features flat bedrock, often segmented into squares, with soil between the sections and many round gray nodules and white mineral veins.

Hurowitz said that the team did not attempt to drill into the minerals or the gray balls, but the nodules are so common that they likely hit some as they drilled down 2.5 inches (6.3 centimeters).

In keeping with the hypothesis that the area was once under water, Hurowitz said the sample "has the potential of telling us about multiple interactions of water and rock."

The drill, located at the end of a seven-foot (two-meter) arm, requires precision maneuvering in its placement and movement, and so its successful initial use was an exciting and welcome relief. The rover has been on Mars since August, and it took six months to find the right spot for that first drill. (Watch video of the Mars rover Curiosity.)

The flat drilling area is in the lower section of Yellowknife Bay, which Curiosity has been exploring for more than a month. What was previously identified by Curiosity scientists as the dry bed of a once-flowing river or stream appears to fan out into the Yellowknife area.

The bedrock of the site—named after deceased Curiosity deputy project manager John Klein—is believed to be siltstone or mudstone. Scientists said the veins of white minerals are probably calcium sulfate or gypsum, but the grey nodules remain something of a mystery.

Triumph

To the team that designed and operates the drill, the results were a triumph, as great as the much-heralded landing of Curiosity on the red planet. With more than a hundred maneuvers in its repertoire, the drill is unique in its capabilities and complexities. (Watch video of Curiosity's "Seven Minutes of Terror.")

Sample system chief engineer Louise Jandura, who has worked on the drill for eight years, said the Curosity team had made eight different drills before settling on the one now on the rover. The team tested each drill by boring 1,200 holes on 20 types of rock on Earth.

She called the successful drilling "historic" because it gives scientists unprecedented access to material that has not been exposed to the intense weathering and radiation processes that affect the Martian surface.

Mini-laboratories

The gray powder will be routed to the two most sophisticated instruments on Curiosity—the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) and Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin).

SAM, the largest and most complex instrument onboard, operates with two ovens that can heat the sample up to 1,800°F (982°C), turning the elements and compounds in the rock into gases that can then be identified. SAM can also determine whether any carbon-based organic material is present.

Organics are the chemical building blocks of life on Earth. They are known to regularly land on Mars via meteorites and finer material that rains down on all planets.

But researchers suspect the intense radiation on the Martian surface destroys any organics on the surface. Scientists hope that organics within Martian rocks are protected from that radiation.

CheMin shoots an X-ray beam at its sample and can analyze the mineral content of the rock. Minerals provide a durable record of environmental conditions over the eons, including information about possible ingredients and energy sources for life.

Both SAM and CheMin received samples of sandy soil scooped from the nearby Rocknest outcrop in October. SAM identified organic material, but scientists are still trying to determine whether any of it is Martian or the byproduct of organics inadvertently brought to Mars by the rover. (See "Mars Rover Detects Simple Organic Compounds.")

In the next few days, CheMin will be the first to receive samples of the powdered rock, and then SAM. Given the complexity of the analysis, and the track record seen with other samples, it will likely be weeks before results are announced.

The process of drilling and collecting the results was delayed by several glitches that required study and work-arounds. One involved drill software and the other involved a test-bed problem with a sieve that is part of the process of delivering samples to the instruments.

Lead systems engineer Daniel Limonadi said that while there was no indication the sieve on Mars was malfunctioning, they had become more conservative in its use because of the test bed results. (Related: "A 2020 Rover Return to Mars?")

Author of the National Geographic e-book Mars Landing 2012, Marc Kaufman has been a journalist for more than 35 years, including the past 12 as a science and space writer, foreign correspondent, and editor for the Washington Post. He is also author of First Contact: Scientific Breakthroughs in the Hunt for Life Beyond Earth, published in 2011, and has spoken extensively to crowds across the United States and abroad about astrobiology. He lives outside Washington, D.C., with his wife, Lynn Litterine.

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Lead Pistorius Cop Facing Attempted Murder Charge

The South African Police Service said today that Hilton Botha, the lead investigator in the Oscar Pistorius murder case, will no longer be part of the investigation after this week's bail hearing ends.

The decision comes in light of the revelation that the detective is facing his own attempted murder charges in connection to a 2011 shooting.

"We became aware of the allegations that surfaced yesterday against the investigating officer in the Oscar Pistorius case," Police Chief Reah Piyega said at a news conference today.

Botha and other police officers allegedly fired at passengers in a vehicle two years ago.

"We were aware of the matter, it was in court, it was withdrawn and yesterday we got the decision of the NPA [National Prosecuting Authority]," she said. "At this point in time, it is premature for anyone of us to pre-judge this case."

PHOTOS: Paralympic Champion Charged in Killing

Botha will be allowed to finish the Pistorius bail application that ended its third day in court this afternoon.

Whether Pistorius is granted bail or not, Botha will not be part of the investigation team as it prepares for the Olympic sprinter's trial.

Piyega said Botha is "highly experienced" after 22 years of service and the matter "doesn't take away that experience."

Oscar Pistorius: Investigator Faces Attempted Murder Charges Watch Video

Oscar Pistorius's Bail Hearing: Prosecutors Argue Premeditated Murder Watch Video

Oscar Pistorius Bail Hearing: New Evidence Revealed Watch Video

A decision in Pistorius' bail application is expected Friday.

"With that part over, Botha has done what he was supposed to do and now we are going into the long haul of the investigation," Piyega said.

Botha is scheduled to appear in court in May on seven counts of attempted murder in connection to the October 2011 incident in which he and two other officers allegedly fired shots at a minibus they were attempting to stop. It's unclear whether any of the passengers were injured.

Botha has been outlining details this week at the Olympic runner's bail hearing of his investigation into the Feb. 14 shooting death of Reeva Steenkamp at Pistorius' home in Pretoria, South Africa. Botha was one of the first officers to arrive at the scene, where Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model, was found fatally shot three times.

Pistorius, a double-amputee who walks on carbon fiber blades, says he killed his girlfriend accidentally.

Prosecutors say they were unaware of the charges against the detective when he took the stand this week, according to The Associated Press.

"The prosecutors were not aware of those charges [against Botha]," Medupe Simasiku of the National Prosecution Agency said. "We are calling up the information so we can get the details of the case. From there, we can take action and see if we remove him from the investigation or if he stays."

FULL COVERAGE: Oscar Pistorius Case

Botha muddled testimony and eventually admitted Wednesday at Pistorius' bail hearing that the suspect's account of the Valentine's Day shooting did not contradict the police's version of events.

A spokesman for the NPA admitted today that charges pending against Botha were not helpful for the credibility of the prosecution's case, but that the case would hinge on forensic evidence, not the testimony of a police officer.

Pistorius has argued in court that he was closing his balcony doors when he heard a noise from the bathroom. Fearing an intruder, and without his prosthetic legs on, he grabbed a gun from under his bed and fired through the closed bathroom door, he told the court.

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Harness vast power of quantum computers… for sums

Quantum computers sound exotic but their power may lie in solving mundane equations – fast.

Until now these systems have been geared towards tasks such as factorising huge numbers, which would not be much use outside cryptography.

In 2009, Seth Lloyd at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and colleagues devised a quantum algorithm for solving systems of linear equations, such as determining two unknown variables that appear in two separate equations. This example is classroom algebra, but scale it up to millions of variables and the same mathematics drives weather forecasting, image processing and traffic analysis.

Lloyd's team showed that while the number of steps in the classical algorithm scales with the number of equations, for the quantum version, it scales with the logarithm of that number – equivalent to solving a trillion equations in a few hundred steps.

Entangled implementation

"You basically take a classical algorithm that sucks and do it in quantum parallel," says Lloyd, taking advantage of the fact that a quantum computer can perform multiple calculations at the same time.

Now Stefanie Barz's team at the University of Vienna, Austria, has got Lloyd's algorithm working on a very simple quantum computer, using two entangled photons to solve a system of two equations (arxiv.org/abs/1302.1210). Though too simple to be useful in itself, it is a neat demonstration. "It is very nice that they've been able to implement it," says Lloyd.

Meanwhile, Jiangfeng Du's team at the University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, has demonstrated Lloyd's algorithm with a four-equation system (arxiv.org/abs/1302.1946). But they used a quantum computer based on the spins of atomic nuclei that some physicists fear won't scale.

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Japan probe finds Dreamliner battery improperly wired

TOKYO: Japanese officials probing the emergency landing of a Boeing Dreamliner said on Wednesday that the plane's battery pack was improperly wired, but added this was unlikely to have caused it to overheat.

A series of problems with Boeing's next-generation aircraft sparked multiple probes around the world and the grounding of the entire Dreamliner fleet last month after the domestic All Nippon Airways (ANA) flight was forced to land.

Japanese investigators have focused on the ANA Dreamliner's main lithium-ion battery, which was severely damaged by what they believe to have been a build up of heat that resulted in uncontrollably high temperatures.

Japan's Transport Safety Board said on Wednesday it had discovered that the circuit wiring of the burned battery and another one were connected, even though this is not typical in airplanes.

However, investigators added that the battery system has a system to block a reverse current and it had remained intact so the "unusual" wiring was an unlikely culprit for the overheating.

Investigators said they would now expand the scope of their search to include the aircraft's circuit wiring.

"We have been investigating what happened, but as we haven't got to a point where we can say why it happened yet, we can't say we've made progress," Norihiro Goto, chairman of the Japan Transport Safety Board, told a press briefing.

The unusual circuit wiring may have affected the digital flight data recorder's measuring of voltage in the burned battery, investigators added.

ANA and Japan Airlines (JAL), major customers of the aircraft with more than 100 combined orders, have been hit hard by the grounding, slashing hundreds of flights, affecting tens of thousands of passengers.

- AFP/de

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Apple updates iTunes with new Composers view

Apple's latest iTunes update mostly offers bug fixes and performance enhancements but throws in one new feature.

Released yesterday afternoon, iTunes 11.0.2 adds a new Composers view by which you can sort and see your music. After applying the update, open the Preferences window in
iTunes. In the Views section, click on the checkbox to Show Composers and then close the Preferences window.

You'll see a new option at the top of your music library for Composers. Click on that option, and you'll be able to select the names of different composers to see just their songs. That may not sound too exciting, but it could prove handy as yet another way to sort your music.

The update also improves response time when you sync your playlists with a huge number of songs. It fixes a bug where certain purchases may not appear in your iTunes library. And Apple promises various unnamed improvements to stability and performance.

As always, you can apply the update directly through iTunes or download it as a fresh install from its support page.

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Florida Python Hunt Captures 68 Invasive Snakes

It's a wrap—the 2013 Python Challenge has nabbed 68 invasive Burmese pythons in Florida, organizers say. And experts are surprised so many of the elusive giants were caught.

Nearly 1,600 people from 38 states—most of them inexperienced hunters—registered for the chance to track down one of the animals, many of which descend from snakes that either escaped or were dumped into the wild.

Since being introduced, these Asian behemoths have flourished in Florida's swamps while also squeezing out local populations of the state's native mammals, especially in the Everglades. (See Everglades pictures.)

To highlight the python problem, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and its partners launched the 2013 Python Challenge, which encouraged registered participants to catch as many pythons as they could between January 12 and February 10 in state wildlife-management areas within the Everglades.

The commission gave cash prizes to those who harvested the most and longest pythons.

Frank Mazzotti, a wildlife ecologist at the University of Florida and scientific leader for the challenge, said before the hunt that he would consider a harvest of 70 animals a success—and 68 is close enough to say the event met its goals.

It's unknown just how many Burmese pythons live in Florida, but catching 68 snakes is an "exceptional" number, added Kenneth Krysko, senior herpetologist at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville.

Snakes in the Grass

Finding 68 snakes is impressive, experts say, since it's so hard to find pythons. For one, it's been unusually warm lately in Florida, which means the reptiles—which normally sun themselves to regulate their body temperature—are staying in the brush, making them harder to detect, Krysko said.

On top of that, Burmese pythons are notoriously hard to locate, experts say.

The animals are so well camouflaged that people can stand right next to one and not notice it. "It's rare that you get to see them stretched out—most of the time they're blending in," said Cheryl Millett, a biologist at the Nature Conservancy, a Python Challenge partner.

What's more, the reptiles are ambush hunters, which means they spend much of their time lying in wait in dense vegetation, not moving, she said.

That's why Millett gave the hunters some tips, such as looking along the water's edge, where the snakes like to hang out, and also simply listening for "something big moving through the vegetation."

Even so, catching 68 snakes is "actually is a little more than I expected," said Millett.

No Walk in the Park

Ruben Ramirez, founder of the company Florida Python Hunters, won two prizes in the competition: First place for the most snakes captured—18—and second place for the largest python, which he said was close to 11 feet (3.4 meters) long. The biggest Burmese python caught in Florida, nabbed in 2012, measured 17.7 feet (5.4 meters).

"They're there, but they're not as easy to find as people think," said Ramirez. "You're not going to be stumbling over pythons in Miami." (Related blog post: "What It's Like to Be a Florida Python Hunter.")

All participants, some of whom had never hunted a python before, were trained to identify the difference between a Burmese python and Florida's native snakes, said Millett. No native snakes were accidentally killed, she said.

Hunters were also told to kill the snakes by either putting a bolt or a bullet through their heads, or decapitating them-all humane methods that result "in immediate loss of consciousness and destruction of the brain," according to the Python Challenge website.

Ramirez added that some of the first-time or amateur hunters had different expectations. "I think they were expecting to walk down a canal and see a 10-foot [3-meter], 15-foot [4.5-meter] Burmese python. They thought it'd be a walk in the park."

Stopping the Spread

Completely removing these snakes from the wild isn't easy, and some scientists see the Python Challenge as helping to achieve part of that goal. (Read an opposing view on the Python Challenge: "Opinion: Florida's Great Snake Hunt Is a Cheap Stunt.")

"You're talking about 68 more animals removed from the population that shouldn't be there—that's 68 more mouths that aren't being fed," said the Florida museum's Krysko. (Read about giant Burmese python meals that went bust.)

"I support any kind of event or program that not only informs the general public about introduced species, but also gets the public involved in removing these nonnative animals that don't belong there."

The Nature Conservancy's Millett said the challenge had two positive outcomes: boosting knowledge for both science and the public.

People who didn't want to hunt or touch the snakes could still help, she said, by reporting sightings of exotic species to 888-IVE-GOT-1, through free IveGot1 apps, or www.ivegot1.org.

Millett runs a public-private Nature Conservancy partnership called Python Patrol that the Florida wildlife commission will take on in the fall. The program focuses not only on eradicating invasive pythons but on preventing the snake from moving to ecologically sensitive areas, such as Key West.

Necropsies on the captured snakes will reveal what pythons are eating, and location data from the hunters will help scientists figure out where the snakes are living—valuable data for researchers working to stop their spread.

"This is the most [number of] pythons that have been caught in this short of a period of time in such an extensive area," said the University of Florida's Mazzotti.

"It's an unprecedented sample, and we're going to get a lot of information out of that."

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Pistorius Shots Said to Come From High Angle

At the second day of a bail hearing for Olympian Oscar Pistorius, a South African investigator who arrived at the scene of the Feb. 14 fatal shooting said that Reeva Steenkamp was shot from a high angle, which prosecutors say contradicts the runner's account that he was not wearing his prosthetics when he shot his girlfriend to death.

Pistorius, a double-amputee who runs on carbon-fiber blades, appeared in court for the second day in a row after his arrest in the death of girlfriend Steenkamp at his gated home in Pretoria, South Africa.

Read Oscar Pistorius' Full Statement to the Court

PHOTOS: Paralympic Champion Charged in Killing

Arresting officer Hilton Botha told the court today that the 26-year-old was standing in the master bathroom when he shot the supermodel, who was crouched in a defensive position behind a locked door in a smaller powder room. He also said that the bullets that were fired had been fired from high up, and the bullets seemed to be coming in a downward direction.

"[The angle] seems to me down. Fired down," Botha told the court.

Pistorius said Tuesday that he went to the bathroom and fired through the door before putting on his prosthetic legs.

Oscar Pistorius: Defense Presents New Evidence Watch Video

'Blade Runner' Appears in Court to Hear Murder Charges Watch Video

He said he mistakenly shot his girlfriend, thinking she was an intruder.

Prosecutors also said that they found two boxes of testosterone in the bedroom, although the defense disputes that, saying it's just herbal supplements.

The court also heard that a witness, someone about 2,000 feet away from Pistorius' home, heard nonstop fighting the morning of the shooting.

"We have a witness who says she heard non-stop shouting and fighting between 2 and 3 a.m.," said prosecutor Gerrie Nel, who added that another witness saw lights on at the time of the gunshots.

Pistorius says he spent a quiet night with Steenkamp before the shooting.

Nel said that Pistorius' actions and phone calls on the night indicate pre-planning, and that there was a "deliberate aiming of shots at the toilet from about 1.5 meters [about 5 feet]."

He says Steenkamp was shot on the right side of her body.

Officer Botha also said Pistorius should be considered a flight risk because investigators discovered that he has offshore bank accounts and a house in Italy.

"I think it would be hard to get him back," Botha told the court. "This is a very serious crime, shooting an unarmed woman behind closed door."

Prosecutors also say they may file more charges for unlicensed ammunition, after a special-caliber .38 round was found in a safe in Pistorius' home.

Botha told the court today that he arrived at Pistorius' home at 4:15 a.m. Valentine's Day to find Steenkamp already dead, dressed in a white shorts and a black vest, and covered in towels. The only thing that Pistorius said was, 'I thought it was a burglar,'" according to Botha.

The 26-year-old sprinter Tuesday denied that he willfully killed Steenkamp, telling the court that he shot the woman through his bathroom door because he believed she was an intruder.

Botha said today that he attended Steenkamp's postmortem, and that she had three entrance wounds: one on the head, one in the elbow and one in the hip.

Describing the scene to the court, Botha said that the shots fired into the bathroom were aimed at the toilet bowl.

The shooter "would have to walk into the bathroom and turn directly at the door to shoot at the toilet the way the bullets went," he said.

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Moody Mercury shows its hidden colours

Jacob Aron, reporter

(Image: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington)

It might look like poor old Mercury is feeling a bit blue, but fear not - these are false-colour images produced by NASA's Messenger space probe.

To the human eye, the closest planet to the sun is covered in a dull mottling of brown-grey splodges. Filtering the light from its surface lets researchers see chemical, mineralogical and physical differences in the planet's rocks that will help us understand its history and evolution.

In this view, white and light blue streaks show lines of material thrown up and spread across the surface by relatively recent impacts. Deep blue regions are rich in an as-yet unknown mineral, while the orange spots correspond to ancient volcanic plains.

Cheer up, Mercury, it's not that bad!

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Medini wellness projects expected to boost Malaysia's medical tourism sector

JOHOR BAHRU: Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak unveiled two projects at Medini Iskandar Malaysia on Tuesday.

The gross development value of the projects are estimated to be about RM3 billion ringgit.

The Afiniti Medini urban wellness project has a total gross floor area of some 700,000 square feet and it will be completed in 2015.

It is developed by Pulau Indah Ventures - a 50:50 joint venture project between Khazanah Nasional and Temasek Holdings.

Among the key offerings are wellness, hospitality, retail and corporate training facilities.

For example, CIMB will base its Leadership Academy, while Parkway Pantai is building a health and wellness centre.

Meanwhile, Capitaland's Ascott group will be setting up a 310-unit serviced residences, as well as a strata-titled condominium development.

Ascott says there will be 147 units with sizes ranging between 500 and 1,100 square feet

Mr Tan Boon Khai, Regional General Manager of Singapore & Malaysia, Ascott, said: "We are currently monitoring the market trends, based on the surrounding launches. Currently the going rate at least for those on sale now, it ranges between 700 to 800 ringgit psf. Our development when we launched, certainly the price is going to be very competitive."

Ascott adds that it expects to hire Malaysians as they have the local knowledge.

Mr Tan said Ascott is likely to hire over 100 local staff to run its serviced apartments operations.

Meanwhile, the second resort wellness project Avira, jointly developed by PIV and Eastern & Oriental, is expected to be ready in 2018.

About 458 terrace houses will be launched for sale in the middle of this year.

The developers said the size of each unit is about 2,200 square feet at a price tag of 420 ringgit per square foot.

The wellness component of the two projects is expected to boost Malaysia's medical tourism sector.

Mr Syed Anwar Jamalullail, Chairman of Pulau Indah Ventures, said: "Definitely it will boost medical tourism. We are hoping to get it from ASEAN region. Parkway Pantai is part of IHH, which is the second largest operator of hospitals in the world in terms of beds. So we do expect a lot of inflows from IHH, referrals."

The two wellness projects will target corporate professionals and families looking for a break from their busy lifestyle.

Including the two projects unveiled on Tuesday, Medini Iskandar Malaysia has attracted a total investment of over RM412 million ringgit.

Iskandar Investment Berhad expects those investments to generate a total gross development value of nearly 11 billion ringgit.

- CNA/de

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Apple plans Q3 launch for MacBook Air with Retina -- report

Apple's MacBook Air could be next to get Retina display treatment, according to a new report.

Apple is planning to bring the Retina display to the
MacBook Air in the third quarter of 2013, Taiwan-based paper Economic Daily is reporting today, citing sources in the company's supply chain. The Retina display will come bundled in both the 11- and 13-inch MacBook Air models, according to the report.

Apple last week cut the price by $100 of its 256GB MacBook Air to $1,399. The move was a response to it dropping the price of its
MacBook Pro with Retina down to $1,499. Apple also boosted processor speeds in its MacBook Pro line.

The Retina display has been making inroads into Apple's Mac line. The high-end display came to the MacBook Pro last year. The display is also available in Apple's iPhone, iPod Touch, and
iPad.

That the MacBook Air could be next on the list to get the Retina display isn't all that surprising. However, Apple has made no indication that it has plans to deliver the technology to any other products.

In addition to talk of improvements to the MacBook Air, another report out of Korea today said that Apple's next-generation iPad would come with GF2 display technology, a thinner alternative to what's currently running in the device. Apple's iPad Mini uses GF2 display technology. The addition of GF2 should make it easier for Apple to deliver a thinner full-sized iPad.

CNET has contacted Apple for comment on report. We will update this story when we have more information.

(Via AppleInsider)

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Confirmed: Dogs Sneak Food When People Aren't Looking

Many dog owners will swear their pups are up to something when out of view of watchful eyes. Shoes go missing, couches have mysterious teeth marks, and food disappears. They seem to disregard the word "no."

Now, a new study suggests dogs might understand people even better than we thought. (Related: "Animal Minds.")

The research shows that domestic dogs, when told not to snatch a piece of food, are more likely to disobey the command in a dark room than in a lit room.

This suggests that man's best friend is capable of understanding a human's point of view, said study leader Juliane Kaminski, a psychologist at the U.K.'s University of Portmouth.

"The one thing we can say is that dogs really have specialized skills in reading human communication," she said. "This is special in dogs." (Read "How to Build a Dog.")

Sneaky Canines

Kaminski and colleagues recruited 84 dogs, all of which were more than a year old, motivated by food, and comfortable with both strangers and dark rooms.

The team then set up experiments in which a person commanded a dog not to take a piece of food on the floor and repeated the commands in a room with different lighting scenarios ranging from fully lit to fully dark.

They found that the dogs were four times as likely to steal the food—and steal it more quickly—when the room was dark. (Take our dog quiz.)

"We were thinking what affected the dog was whether they saw the human, but seeing the human or not didn't affect the behavior," said Kaminski, whose study was published recently in the journal Animal Cognition.

Instead, she said, the dog's behavior depended on whether the food was in the light or not, suggesting that the dog made its decision based on whether the human could see them approaching the food.

"In a general sense, [Kaminski] and other researchers are interested in whether the dog has a theory of mind," said Alexandra Horowitz, head of the Dog Cognition Lab at Barnard University, who was not involved in the new study.

Something that all normal adult humans have, theory of mind is "an understanding that others have different perspective, knowledge, feelings than we do," said Horowitz, also the author of Inside of a Dog.

Smarter Than We Think

While research has previously been focused on our closer relatives—chimpanzees and bonobos—interest in dog cognition is increasing, thanks in part to owners wanting to know what their dogs are thinking. (Pictures: How smart are these animals?)

"The study of dog cognition suddenly began about 15 years ago," Horowitz said.

Part of the reason for that, said Brian Hare, director of the Duke Canine Cognition Lab and author of The Genius of Dogs, is that "science thought dogs were unremarkable."

But "dogs have a genius—years ago we didn't know what that was," said Hare, who was not involved in the new research. (See pictures of the the evolution of dogs, from wolf to woof.)

Many of the new dog studies are variations on research done with chimpanzees, bonobos, and even young children. Animal-cognition researchers are looking into dogs' ability to imitate, solve problems, or navigate social environments.

So just how much does your dog understand? It's much more than you—and science—probably thought.

Selectively bred as companions for thousands of years, dogs are especially attuned to human emotions—and, study leader Kaminski said, are better at reading human cues than even our closest mammalian relatives.

"There has been a physiological change in dogs because of domestication," Duke's Hare added. "Dogs want to bond with us in ways other species don't." (Related: "Dogs' Brains Reorganized by Breeding.")

While research reveals more and more insight into the minds of our furry best friends, Kaminski said, "We still don't know just how smart they are."

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Oscar Pistorius Describes 'Sense of Terror'

Olympian Oscar Pistorius today denied that he willfully killed his girlfriend, telling a South African court that he shot the woman through his bathroom door because he believed she was an intruder.

Pistorius, 26 and a double-amputee Olympian, was charged today with premeditated murder, or a Schedule 6 offense, which under South African law limits his chances for parole if convicted.

"I fail to understand how I could be charged with murder, let alone premeditated murder because I had no intention to kill my girlfriend," Pistorius said in a statement, read by his lawyer.

"I deny the accusation," he said. "Nothing can be further from the truth that I planned the murder of my girlfriend."

PHOTOS: Paralympic Champion Charged in Killing

Pistorius, who gained worldwide fame for running on carbon-fiber blades and competing against able-bodied runners at the Olympics, is accused of shooting his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, at his gated home in Pretoria, South Africa, Feb. 14.

In a statement read by his lawyer, the runner said he and Steenkamp went to bed together before he was awoken by a noise he thought was an intruder coming from the bathroom.

Filled with a "sense of terror," he removed the 9-mm pistol he kept hidden under his bed and, without putting on his prosthetic legs, began shooting through the bathroom door, according to his statement.

Oscar Pistorius: Was Shooting Premeditated? Watch Video

Conflicting Theories Muddle Oscar Pistorius Murder Case Watch Video

Oscar Pistorius Allegedly Fought the Night of Shooting Watch Video

"I was scared and didn't switch on the light," he said. "I got my gun and moved towards the bathroom. I screamed at the intruder because I did not have my legs on. I felt vulnerable. I fired shots through the bathroom door and told Reeva to call police.

"I walked back to the bed and realized Reeva was not in bed. It's then it dawned on me it could be her in there," he said.

That's when he realized Steenkamp was not in bed, he said in the statement. Fearing she was inside the bathroom, he says, he broke down the door using a cricket bat and carried the woman outside, where he called for help, and she soon died.

Excerpts of Prosecutor's Case Against Pistorius

Pistorius appeared in court today for the first time since his Valentine's Day arrest, as prosecutors laid out their case, insisting that the runner could not have mistaken his girlfriend for an intruder.

"[Pistorius] shot and killed an innocent woman," Gerrie Nel, the senior state prosecutor, said in court, adding that there is "no possible explanation to support" the notion that Pistorius thought Steenkamp was an intruder.

Police responding to neighbors' calls about shouting and gunshots at Pistorius' home in the guarded and gated complex in the South African capital discovered Steenkamp's body. A 9-mm pistol was recovered at the home.

Prosecutors said Steenkamp had arrived at the house with the expectation of spending the night with Pistorius. They said that Steenkamp was shot while in the bathroom, which is about 21 feet from the main bedroom, and that the two rooms are linked by a passage. The door to the toilet was broken down from the outside, prosecutors said, implying that the bathroom door had been locked.

Prosecutors believe it's a case of premeditated murder because, they say, Pistorius had to stop, put on his prosthetic legs, grab a gun and then walk 21 feet to a bathroom.

The premeditated murder charge means that he would likely be sentenced to life in prison if convicted, and that he is likely to be denied bail, which is expected to be decided later today.

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Oil spill firm to pay $400 million to fix Gulf coast

The Deepwater Horizon spill has just provided a $400-million windfall for Louisiana's environment. Transocean, which worked with BP on the stricken Macondo well, pleaded guilty last week to a violation of the US Clean Water Act, and admitted that it was negligent in the 2010 spill. The resulting multimillion-dollar fine will be used to pay for a host of environmental projects around the Gulf of Mexico.

It is the second largest fine for environmental damage in history, after the $4.5-billion fine BP had to pay out for the same spill. Transocean has two years to pay up in full.

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) will get $150 million, and another $150 million will go to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), a non-profit based in Washington DC. The NAS will use its portion to research oil-spill prevention and better ways to respond to spills. The NFWF's Timothy DiCintio says it will distribute its award between the affected Gulf Coast states, for ongoing remediation efforts such as marsh and wetland clean-up.

The remainder of the money will go directly to Louisiana's $50-billion Coastal Master Plan, which aims to restore the state's degraded coastline. The money will fund a host of projects, including restoring barrier island reefs and creating diversions on the Mississippi to repair eroded coasts.

"The way Louisiana looks at it, their coastal problems are so pervasive that the degradation from the spill was a final indignity," says DiCintio. The modifications should not only allow the state to rebuild after the lingering effects of the spill and hurricane Katrina, but also help the coast cope with future disasters.

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