Samsung Galaxy S III review: Good -- but not perfect

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2 days

Wilson Rothman

Microsoft has to do it. That's what I keep telling myself. In order to convert people from the cloud-powered "ecosystems" of Apple or Google... Read more

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Rosa Golijan

At least two heads turned when I received my Samsung Galaxy S III recently. How could they not when I loudly exclaimed?? alright, practically squealed?? that "it's here, it's here." Those same two heads shook, an hour later, as their owners watched me hurl?obscenities?at the gadget.

"You were supposed to be perfect! Why aren't you perfect, you stupid ..."

Don't get me wrong,?I had high expectations for the Galaxy S III???and the smartphone met most of them. But what it failed to do is provide the perfection I craved, a reason to abandon my trusted iPhone 4S and finally switch to Android. It's just too rough around the edges (metaphorically speaking, of course, as its actual edges are flawlessly curved).

The Galaxy S III is easy on the eyes with its big, bright screen, smooth corners, and almost frighteningly slender body. It's powerful and speedy (for some benchmarks, check out Laptop Mag). It has a camera decent enough to make a basic point-and-shoot?unnecessary. It's battery will get you through a day.?And boy-oh-boy, many of Samsung's tweaks make Android look oh-so-appealing.

That's the big picture, of course. The?details ? the devil's always in those, isn't he? ? are where the Samsung Galaxy S III struggles to amaze.?

When the folks of Samsung first showed off?the device, they pushed its "natural interaction" front and center. This was supposed to be a phone that can listen, watch and respond in ways never experience before. Unfortunately the features which should make all that happen are unpolished.

The Galaxy S III is supposed to?recognize?whether you are looking at it or not,?and appropriately maintain comfortable?screen brightness levels. Either my eyes somehow elude all detection or the phone was trying to tell me to take a break from staring at it?? because it refused to keep the screen from dimming at times.

S Voice is a feature which is basically a counterpart to Apple's Siri. It is a personal assistant of sorts and supposed to recognize natural language. Unfortunately it's often unresponsive and prone to mangling commands, even if they are the simple ones provided as examples. (And don't even think about asking a Galaxy S III whether you'll need an umbrella in Tampa,?Florida on Friday. Such a complex?question, which is quickly answered by Siri, baffles the Samsung device.)

The Galaxy S III cleverly starts dialing a contact if you open his or her details then lift the phone to your ear. I quickly became enamored with this small but incredibly useful feature. Unfortunately it sometimes takes the device a moment or two to recognize that it's being held against my ear?? and I could definitely have manually placed the call by that point.

Are you noticing the pattern? The Galaxy S III is a solid phone. It has all the basics covered well, but it disappoints when it comes to the features that should have pushed it over the top. It's a sleek?rocket ship adorned with rusty bells and whistles.

So what's the verdict? Well, if you're an iPhone-obsessed individual like yours truly, stick with your beloved iOS device?? because the Galaxy S III won't impress you as much as you'd want it to. But if you're already an Android smartphone user and looking for an upgrade? Jog, don't walk, to the nearest store. Just because I don't think the Galaxy S III tears away the label of "best smartphone on the market right now" away from the iPhone 4S doesn't mean that it's not the best Android device at the moment.

Want more tech news, silly puns, or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on?Twitter, subscribing to her?Facebook?posts,?or circling her?on?Google+.

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Gov. Jerry Brown to scrap environmental exception for bullet train

After encountering criticism from environmental groups, Gov. Jerry Brown signaled Wednesday that he plans to withdraw his controversial proposal to protect the California bullet train project from injunctions sought by environmental lawsuits.

Brown's staff told key environmental groups that he would no longer include modifications to the California Environmental Quality Act in a package of legislation this month asking for $6 billion to start construction of the high-speed rail project.

A spokesman for the governor declined to comment. State senators and their staffers confirmed the governor's move.

Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) said there wasn't "a lot of stomach" for Brown's proposal among his colleagues in the Legislature.

"I think that's wise," Simitian said. "It was a bridge too far. The obvious question is, is this a decision for the long term, or will the issue of environmental exceptions be revisited in the near future? That's a question people are going to ask."

Separately, the California High-Speed Rail Authority said Wednesday that Jeff Morales, the agency's new chief executive, will be paid $365,000 annually with a $25,000 bonus after the first and second years of his service. The salary is higher than any elected official in the state, but prison doctors and some others earn higher compensation. Morales' appointment on May 29 was questioned by critics in the Legislature and by outside watchdogs, because he came directly from the authority's top consultant Parsons Brinckerhoff. Morales' predecessor, Roelof van Ark, was paid a base salary of $375,000 and given a $75,000 recruitment incentive when he was hired, a rail authority spokeswoman said.

Brown's attempt to quiet the controversy over the environmental issues is coming just ahead of the critical decision by the Legislature on the $6 billion appropriation to start construction as early as this December. The matter will be decided in a bill that is expected to be brought up early next week.

The Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council raised objections to Brown's proposal, saying it was part of a pattern to water down one of the most important pieces of environmental law in history. Critics of the bullet train, meanwhile, said it appeared that Brown wanted to protect his pet project, while leaving other businesses in the state to bear the full brunt of the law.

It appeared that the proposal was jeopardizing support for the rail project from the environmental movement, a stalwart supporter of high-speed rail along with labor unions and big engineering firms.

Dan Richard, chairman of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, had first raised the possibility of some legal protections from lawsuits in a Senate hearing, saying he would rather be able to respond to future lawsuits by mitigating problems than having his project stopped with an injunction.

Brown endorsed that idea soon after, sending proposed language to the Legislature that set a high bar for environmental suits and making the revisions retroactive to the start of this year. That measure could have affected the one suit that has already been filed by the farm bureaus of Merced and Madera counties, Madera County and others. The lawsuit contends that the environmental review of the project's segment from Merced to Fresno was inadequate.

Farmers up and down the Central Valley have said the project is destroying valuable farmland and will disrupt operations, destroy irrigation systems and puncture processing plants. In his first term in office three decades ago, Brown had his first battle with the agriculture industry, sustaining a painful political loss over a key water project. In addition to the farmers, the railroad industry has warned that the project is violating its property rights.

Kathryn Phillips, director of Sierra Club California, said the rail project was exactly the type of major construction that the environmental laws were intended to address. And she said there was little risk to the project that an injunction would stop construction.

Phillips said it would now be appropriate for the Sierra Club to support the appropriations for starting construction, since the group was a backer of the original bond proposal that was passed by voters in 2008. Even so, the project has a number of environmental obstacles to clear, including proving that it can mitigate the effect on air quality during construction in the Central Valley. She said the Sierra Club supports the idea of full mitigation, so that the use of diesel-powered construction equipment does not add to the already poor air quality in the eight counties regulated by the San Joaquin Air Pollution Control District.

ralph.vartabedian@latimes.com

chris.megerian@latimes.com

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VA looking to technology to reduce suicide risks

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Cadillac CUE makes its way to XTS, navigates with ease in NYC (hands-on)

Navigating those mean Manhattan streets is an intimidating chore for any driver, with or without a battery of high-tech in-car aides. But after an introduction to Cadillac CUE, it's easy to see the benefit of such a comprehensive system. CUE isn't your typical in-dash GPS nav -- sure it can get you on your way just as well as any other navigation system, but a bounty of sensors and displays allow you to keep your eyes on the road and avoid collisions, while also providing the smartphone integration and media playback support you'd expect from a high-end 2012 automobile. The base system, included standard with 2012 and 2013 XTS and SRX models and available as an option with the ATS, is centered around an 8-inch, 800 x 400 capacitive touch LCD with anti-scratch, anti-glare and oleophobic coatings to keep the display in tip-top shape and completely viewable from both the driver and passenger seats.

The display flips open to reveal a lit storage compartment with a USB port for connecting and charging your smartphone, while capacitive-touch buttons below the panel provide haptic feedback and a variety of control options (you can tap or slide your finger across to adjust volume, for example). Add-ons include a 12.3-inch, 1280 x 480 "instrument cluster" that provides speed and fuel information in a familiar readout, along with directions, phone call info and music selection. Also available is a slick heads-up display, which features a more subdued color pallet (compared to the vibrant LCDs) and outputs key info, including speed limits and collision warnings, while also minimizing ghosting thanks to a wedge-shaped windshield, which thins as you move from top to bottom. Two more USB ports in the center console let you sync up and charge two additional devices, while an AUX input enables older devices to pipe out tunes.

Now, much of this may seem familiar -- we took a peek at CUE at last year's CTIA -- but this is the first time that we've actually had a chance to take the tech for a spin in a drivable 2013 Cadillac XTS, and New York City seems like the perfect venue for pushing the system to its limits. Inputting a destination is as simple as typing an address into Google Maps (though CUE uses a proprietary maps app based on NAVTEQ's database). As we drove from our office near Union Square to the Financial District, the car let us know when we were cutting things a bit too close, as seat vibrations alerted us to obstacles on either side. All the while, adjusting music and climate was simple as can be, and HUD-based directions gave us little excuse to look away from the busy road. After arriving at our destination, we slid on over to the passenger seat to film the action while an expert drove. If a new Caddy is in your future, you should be able to pick up a CUE-equipped car within the next few weeks. For now, you can jump past the break for a front-seat look as we cruise on through the 212.

Gallery: Cadillac XTS with CUE hands-on

Continue reading Cadillac CUE makes its way to XTS, navigates with ease in NYC (hands-on)

Cadillac CUE makes its way to XTS, navigates with ease in NYC (hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jun 2012 15:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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H-Japan (E): Applications Harvard Academy Scholars Program

From: "H-Japan Editor, Rikiei Shibasaki" <rshiba@IP.OIT.AC.JP> List Editor: "H-Japan Editor, Rikiei Shibasaki" <rshiba@IP.OIT.AC.JP> Editor's Subject: H-Japan (E): Applications Harvard Academy Scholars Program Author's Subject: H-Japan (E): Applications Harvard Academy Scholars Program Date Written: Tue, 19 Jun 2012 08:08:30 GMT Date Posted: Wed, 19 Jun 2012 04:08:30 -0400

                                    H-Japan                              7  June 19, 2012  Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2012 11:58:06 -0700 Subject: H-ASIA: Applications Harvard Academy Scholars Program  H-ASIA June 18, 2012  Announcing The Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies, The Harvard Academy Scholars Program 2013-2014 applications open  *********************************************************************** From: H-Net Announcements <announce@MAIL.H-NET.MSU.EDU>  Harvard Academy Scholars Program  Location: Massachusetts, United States Fellowship Date: 2012-10-01 Date Submitted: 2012-06-11 Announcement ID: 195125  The Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies The Harvard Academy Scholars Program 2013-2014  The Academy Scholars Program identifies and supports outstanding scholars at the start of their careers whose work combines disciplinary excellence in the social sciences (including history and law) with a command of the language, history, or culture of non-Western countries or regions. Their scholarship may elucidate domestic, comparative, or transnational issues, past or present.  The Academy Scholars are a select community of individuals with resourcefulness, initiative, curiosity, and originality, whose work in non-Western cultures or regions shows promise as a foundation for exceptional careers in major universities or international institutions. Harvard Academy Scholarships are open only to recent Ph.D. (or comparable professional school degree) recipients and doctoral candidates. Those still pursuing a Ph.D. should have completed their routine training and be well along in the writing of their theses before applying to become Academy Scholars; those in possession of a Ph.D. longer than 3 years at the time of application are ineligible.  Academy Scholars are appointed for 2 years by the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies and are provided time, guidance, and access to Harvard University facilities. They receive substantial financial and research assistance to undertake sustained projects of research and/or acquire accessory training in their chosen fields and areas. Some teaching is permitted but not required. The Senior Scholars, a distinguished group of senior Harvard University faculty members, act as mentors to the Academy Scholars to help them achieve their intellectual potential.  Post-doctoral Academy Scholars will receive an annual stipend of $64,000, and pre-doctoral Academy Scholars will receive an annual stipend of $28,000. Applications for the 2013-2014 class of Academy Scholars are due by October 1, 2012. Finalist interviews will take place in Cambridge on December 10. Notification of Scholarships will be made in January, 2013. For complete information on how to apply visit: www.wcfia.harvard.edu/academy.     Laurence Winnie Harvard Academy for Internaitonal and Area Studies Harvard University 1727 Cambridge St. Cambridge, MA 02138 ph. 617-495-4253 f. 67-496-9592 Email: lwinnie@wcfia.harvard.edu Visit the website at http://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/academy       H-Net reproduces announcements that have been submitted to us as a     free service to the academic community. If you are interested in an     announcement listed here, please contact the organizers or patrons     directly. Though we strive to provide accurate information, H-Net     cannot accept responsibility for the text of announcements appearing     in this service.  Send comments & questions to H-Net Webstaff at URL     <webstaff@mail.h-net.msu.edu>      H-Net Humanities & Social Sciences Online Hosted by Matrix at            Michigan State University Copyright (c) 1995-2011 ************************************************************************               To post to  H-ASIA  simply send your message to:                          <H-ASIA@h-net.msu.edu>            For holidays or short absences send post to:                  <listserv@h-net.msu.edu> with message:                          SET H-ASIA NOMAIL         Upon return, send post with message SET H-ASIA MAIL         H-ASIA WEB HOMEPAGE URL:    http://h-net.msu.edu/~asia/ -------------------------End H-Japan Message------------------------ 
 

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Ionic liquid improves speed and efficiency of hydrogen-producing catalyst

ScienceDaily (June 16, 2012) ? The design of a nature-inspired material that can make energy-storing hydrogen gas has gone holistic. Usually, tweaking the design of this particular catalyst -- a work in progress for cheaper, better fuel cells -- results in either faster or more energy efficient production but not both. Now, researchers have found a condition that creates hydrogen faster without a loss in efficiency.

And, holistically, it requires the entire system -- the hydrogen-producing catalyst and the liquid environment in which it works -- to overcome the speed-efficiency tradeoff. The results, published online June 8 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provide insights into making better materials for energy production.

"Our work shows that the liquid medium can improve the catalyst's performance," said chemist John Roberts of the Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. "It's an important step in the transformation of laboratory results into useable technology."

The results also provide molecular details into how the catalytic material converts electrical energy into the chemical bonds between hydrogen atoms. This information will help the researchers build better catalysts, ones that are both fast and efficient, and made with the common metal nickel instead of expensive platinum.

A Solution Solution

The work explores a type of dissolvable nickel-based catalyst, which is a material that eggs on chemical reactions. Catalysts that dissolve are easier to study than fixed catalysts, but fixed catalysts are needed for most real-world applications, such as a car's pollution-busting catalytic converter. Studying the catalyst comes first, affixing to a surface comes later.

In their search for a better catalyst to produce hydrogen to feed into fuel cells, the team of PNNL chemists modeled this dissolvable catalyst after a protein called a hydrogenase. Such a protein helps tie two hydrogen atoms together with electrons, storing energy in their chemical bond in the process. They modeled the catalytic center after the protein's important parts and built a chemical scaffold around it.

In previous versions, the catalyst was either efficient but slow, making about a thousand hydrogen molecules per second; or inefficient yet fast -- clocking in at 100,000 molecules per second. (Efficiency is based on how much electricity the catalyst requires.) The previous work didn't get around this pesky relation between speed and efficiency in the catalysts -- it seemed they could have one but not the other.

Hoping to uncouple the two, Roberts and colleagues put the slow catalyst in a medium called an acidic ionic liquid. Ionic liquids are liquid salts and contain molecules or atoms with negative or positive charges mixed together. They are sometimes used in batteries to allow for electrical current between the positive and negative electrodes.

The researchers mixed the catalyst, the ionic liquid, and a drop of water. The catalyst, with the help of the ionic liquid and an electrical current, produced hydrogen molecules, stuffing some of the electrons coming in from the current into the hydrogen's chemical bonds, as expected.

As they continued to add more water, they expected the catalyst to speed up briefly then slow down, as the slow catalyst in their previous solvent did. But that's not what they saw.

"The catalyst lights up like a rocket when you start adding water," said Roberts.

The rate continued to increase as they added more and more water. With the largest amount of water they tested, the catalyst produced up to 53,000 hydrogen molecules per second, almost as fast as their fast and inefficient version.

Importantly, the speedy catalyst stayed just as efficient when it was cranking out hydrogen as when it produced the gas more slowly. Being able to separate the speed from the efficiency means the team might be able to improve both aspects of the catalyst.

Liquid Protein

The team also wanted to understand how the catalyst worked in its liquid salt environment. The speed of hydrogen production suggested that the catalyst moved electrons around fast. But something also had to be moving protons around fast, because protons are the positively charged hydrogen ions that electrons follow around. Just like on an assembly line, protons move through the catalyst or a protein such as hydrogenase, pick up electrons, form bonds between pairs to make hydrogen, then fall off the catalyst.

Additional tests hinted how this catalyst-ionic liquid set-up works. Roberts suspects the water and the ionic liquid collaborated to mimic parts of the natural hydrogenase protein that shuffled protons through. In these proteins, the chemical scaffold holding the catalytic center also contributes to fast proton movement. The ionic liquid-water mixture may be doing the same thing.

Next, the team will explore the hints they gathered about why the catalyst works so fast in this mixture. They will also need to attach it to a surface. Lastly, this catalyst produces hydrogen gas. To create a fuel technology that converts electrical energy to chemical bonds and back again, they also plan to examine ionic liquids that will help a catalyst take the hydrogen molecule apart.

The Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis at PNNL is one of 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science at national laboratories, universities, and other institutions across the country to accelerate basic research related to energy.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. D. H. Pool, M. P. Stewart, M. O'Hagan, W. J. Shaw, J. A. S. Roberts, R. M. Bullock, D. L. DuBois. Acidic ionic liquid/water solution as both medium and proton source for electrocatalytic H2 evolution by [Ni(P2N2)2]2 complexes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2012; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1120208109

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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Wildfire destroys most homes in Colo. history

A Erickson Air Crane firefighting helicopter flys to a pond to refill its tank while fighting the High Park wildfire, west of Fort Collins, Colo., on Friday, June 15, 2012. The wildfire started Saturday and has burned over 50,000 acres. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

A Erickson Air Crane firefighting helicopter flys to a pond to refill its tank while fighting the High Park wildfire, west of Fort Collins, Colo., on Friday, June 15, 2012. The wildfire started Saturday and has burned over 50,000 acres. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

A Erickson Air Crane firefighting helicopter refills its tank in a rancher's pond while fighting the High Park wildfire west of Fort Collins, Colo., on Friday, June 15, 2012. The wildfire started Saturday and has burned over 50,000 acres. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

A thunderhead builds over the High Park wildfire and Fort Collins, Colo., on Friday, June 15, 2012. Rain could assist in fighting the wildfire that started Saturday and has burned over 50,000 acres. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

A sign warns motorist of the closure of Highway 14 through Poudre Canyon as columns of smoke rise in the distance from the High Park wildfire west of Fort Collins, Colo., on Friday, June 15, 2012. The wildfire started Saturday and has burned over 50,000 acres. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

DENVER (AP) ? Crews in northern Colorado braced for powerful fire-fanning winds Saturday as they battle a blaze that has scorched about 85 square miles of mountainous forest land and destroyed at least 181 homes, the most in state history.

The destructiveness of the High Park Fire burning 15 miles west of Fort Collins surpassed the Fourmile Canyon wildfire, which destroyed 169 homes west of Boulder in September 2010.

More than 1,630 personnel worked on the fire Saturday, officials said in a late-night news release. The figure represents an increase of more than 100 firefighters from a day earlier.

The lightning-caused blaze, which is believed to have killed a 62-year-old woman whose body was found in her cabin, was 20 percent contained. The fire's incident commander said full containment could be two to four weeks away.

Fire information officer Brett Haberstick said crews have made progress in containing a 200-acre spot fire that erupted Thursday afternoon north of the Cache La Poudre River, a critical line of defense against northward growth.

"Two 20-person hotshot crews worked throughout the day to secure lines around the perimeter of this spot fire," the officials said in a release.

Firefighters have extinguished other incursions north of the river, but the most recent one appeared to be more serious.

National Weather Service meteorologist Kyle Fredin said some rain was expected in the fire zone Saturday evening, but it will not be enough to put the fire out.

"We need a rain that will really last all day," he said. "But it's better than dry wind at this point."

Crews faced difficult conditions Sunday with wind gusts expected to hit 50 mph along ridge tops and in Poudre Canyon and temperatures in the 90-degree range.

The fire was reported June 9 and has since raced through large swaths of private and U.S. Forest Service land. It was 45 percent contained late Saturday.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who oversees the Forest Service, met with fire managers in Fort Collins on Saturday and said "fighting this fire is going to require us to be aggressive, persistent and also patient.

"We're going to continue to work to make our forests more resilient. We're going to continue to ensure that adequate resources are provided for fighting fires and we are going to continue to make sure that we encourage appropriate stewardship of our forests," he said.

Vilsack praised Congress for allowing the government to contract additional aircraft ? particularly heavy tankers ? to fight wildfires across the West. But he called on lawmakers for budget certainty to help plan for future fires.

Vilsack is scheduled to hold a news conference with U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell in Albuquerque on Sunday.

Meanwhile in New Mexico, questions were being raised about whether bureaucratic red tape prevented firefighters from saving more homes affected by the Little Bear Fire after federal officials released transcripts of the firefighters' response.

Congressman Steve Pearce said Friday in an interview with KOB-TV (http://bit.ly/Mga1yx ) that he believed federal officials could have done more after lightning sparked the fire outside the resort town of Ruidoso on June 4. Days later, high winds sent embers more than a mile from the blaze's end, causing the inferno to grow.

But officials released transcripts of the response on the Lincoln National Forest website that suggested firefighters were attacking the blaze as soon as it was a quarter of an acre.

The fire has destroyed 242 homes and commercial structures. It had burned 59 square miles and was 60 percent contained as of Saturday night.

Parts of the area received up to three-quarters of an inch of rain Saturday, aiding the firefight but causing flash flood warnings as a result of burned over forest. Lincoln County Emergency Services ordered an evacuation for residents in low-lying areas and around creeks or streams, but they were allowed to return home in the evening.

In Arizona, a blaze in the Tonto National Forest that doubled in size to 3,100 acres. Officials said Saturday night that the fire was 15 percent contained and firefighters continued to battle unseasonably dry fuels, high temperatures and low humidity.

On Friday, a crew member broke his leg fighting the blaze, which was burning in a remote, mountainous area about 70 miles northeast of Phoenix.

___

Associated Press writer Russell Contreras in Albuquerque contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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