NBN bringing 1Gbps network to Aussies by the end of 2013

Don't want to trek it to Provo, Utah -- or Austin or Kansas City -- to get 1Gbps internet courtesy of Google Fiber? By the end of this year, you can venture Down Under to get comparable speeds courtesy of Australia's National Broadband Network (NBN). The wholesale price for the network's 1Gbps service will be AU$150 (about $155) per month, with an additional fee to be tacked on by ISPs. NBN will also roll out 250Mbps and 500Mbps services by December, naturally for a lower monthly cost. Sure, 1Gbps speeds may not be necessary for the average household, but leave it to Japan to make those numbers look positively puny with its recently launched service offering 2 Gbps down. Planning that next vacation around internet speeds might just be the way to go.

Filed under: Internet

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Via: The Age

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/8pZjjIB60po/

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2014 Jaguar F-Type Test Drive

On Sale Date: Now

Price: $69,895?$92,895

Competitors: Porsche Boxster, Porsche 911 Carrera, Audi R8, Aston Martin V8 Vantage, Chevrolet Camaro, Mercedes-Benz SLK

Powertrains: supercharged 3.0-liter V-6, 340 hp, 332 lb-ft; supercharged 3.0-liter V-6, 380 hp, 339 lb-ft; supercharged 5.0-liter V-8, 495 hp, 460 lb-ft; 8-speed automatic, RWD

EPA Fuel Economy (city/hwy): 20/28; 19/27 (S); 16/23 (V8 S)

What's New: The last two-seat roadster Jaguar produced was a little car called the E-Type. Perhaps you've heard of it. That hunk of metal is widely regarded as the most beautiful automobile ever made. Fifty years later, Jaguar introduces its successor with the F-Type.

Modern car design restrictions such as fuel-efficiency and crash standards make it an even taller order to follow a gem like the E-Type, but Jaguar's low-slung new roadster is stylish in its own right, with a strong character line that begins in the front fascia and runs back through the car's muscular haunches. To improve aerodynamics, recessed door handles deploy when a sensor is touched and the key fob is nearby. There's also a spoiler hidden in the trunk that rises when the car hits 60 mph. The F-Type catches eyes when stationary, but on the road, shooting through turns, the car turns heads.

First teased as the C-X16 concept at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show, the F-Type's foundations lie in the XK's platform. But compared with the bigger Jag 2-door, the F-Type rides on a 5.1-inch-shorter wheelbase and is 12.7 inches shorter in overall length. The F-Type's all-aluminum chassis is roughly 50 percent recycled material, which reflects Jaguar/Land Rover's recent corporate commitment to reducing waste.

The car comes in three trims, each with a separate engine tune, all of which have a start-stop function. Both V-6 engines are supercharged, with 340 hp in the base version and 380 hp in the S. The V8 S model uses, you guessed it, a supercharged V-8 that makes a bonkers 495 hp. In ascending order of horsepower, the engines catapult the F-Type to 60 mph in 5.1 seconds, 4.8 seconds, and 4.2 seconds. All engines come paired to a ZF 8-speed automatic transmission?the same one found in the Ram 1500 and a host of other vehicles?that can be manually controlled via paddle shifters or the center shift lever.

Both S trims come equipped with an Adaptive Dynamics suspension system that gathers information from 13 inputs at up to 100 times per second and makes instantaneous adjustments to the dampers. All three models feature Dynamic Mode, which holds gears to redline in manual-shift mode, raises the stability control intervention threshold, and adjusts the steering and engine settings. Dynamic Mode also stiffens up the suspension in the S models. For increased traction coming out of corners, the V-6 S features a mechanical limited-slip differential, while the more powerful V8 S has a predictive electronic limited-slip differential.

The F-Type's interior is luxurious but not over the top. As opposed to the flagship XJ's ostentatious cabin, the F-Type's leather-bound surfaces and silver trimmings balance plushness and sportiness?with the scale tipping toward the sporty side. Occupants sit low, with a driver-oriented cockpit defined by a buttress on the right edge of the center console that doubles as a passenger grab-handle. The center stack has a large touchscreen, and just below that are three glass-fronted knobs that make HVAC simple. The instrument cluster consists of two traditional gauges sandwiching a digital information screen. The F-Type's fanciest parlor trick is its retractable air vents placed in the dash above the instrument panel. Intended to improve the cabin's cleanliness, the vents rise only when sensors throughout the car decide the extra airflow is necessary. Excessive? Maybe. Cool? Definitely.

Tech Tidbit: To increase chassis stiffness, engineers typically add a brace that spans the front shock towers. But to do that on the F-Type would interfere with the low profile designers wanted for the nose. So from the very beginning the team designed an integrated structure into the frame that connects the two sides and increases structural integrity by 30 percent. The smart engineering paid off. Whether driving hot laps in the 380-hp V6 S around Spain's Circuito de Navarra or pushing the 495-hp V8 S on twisty mountain roads in the Spanish Pyrenees, our F-Type remained well behaved with minimal cowl shake.

Driving Character: After winding our way through an endless string of roundabouts outside of Pamplona, Spain, we hit the open country roads in the base V-6. Speeding through sweeping curves and along scenic straightaways, it was easy to find a comfortable driving rhythm thanks to the responsive steering (the variable-ratio rack is Jaguar's quickest) and the balanced chassis. Despite the occasional pause, the 8-speed automatic impressed us with its prompt shifts as we climbed from lush valley floors to the arid mountain elevations. Before long we found ourselves shifting exclusively with the steering wheel paddles for greater control and, most important, to coax the engine into emitting its gloriously distinctive exhaust note as often as possible.

At Spain's three-year-old Circuito de Navarra racetrack, we unleashed the F-Type V6 S at full throttle. Here the car's dynamics were on full display, with a flat attitude through each curve and the utmost poise to increase driver confidence. We also found that shifts were noticeably sharper in Dynamic Mode as opposed to manual sport mode. If we had one issue on the track, it was with the brakes. The V6 S comes with 15-inch vented discs in front, up from the 13.9-inch pies in the base F-Type; both have 12.8-inch vented discs in the rear, while the V8 S takes a step further with 14.8-inch rear vented discs. Heading into turns at full speed in the V6 S, we found ourselves wishing the brakes had more initial bite and a slightly firmer pedal. Our concerns were reaffirmed later that day on slick mountain roads, where our confidence in the brakes left us approaching hairpins with caution.

Finally, it was time to drive the V-8 S. After just a few seconds behind the wheel it was clear why Jaguar saved this version for last: its extra 115 horses make the V-6 models feel positively lethargic. A little raw, a whole lot more powerful, and absolutely thrilling to drive, the instant torque and power of the F-Type V8 S provides a glee from dipping into the gas pedal that's impossible to resist. Had we never driven the V-8 we would have found both V-6 versions to be more than adequate, but 495 hp has a way of recalibrating one's impression of power.

Favorite Detail: Ask anyone who's driven the F-Type for thoughts on the car, and within the first few sentences the exhaust note will be mentioned. The gurgly, sputtering blips during downshifts and upshifts are intoxicating, urging you to play with the paddle shifters like a kid with a new toy on Christmas morning. Each audible flutter of the exhaust curls the corners of your lips upward, and at full throttle, it's impossible not to let out a laugh. Although the V-8's slightly more muted, base-heavy tone doesn't seep through the soft top's three layers of insulation as loudly as the V-6's higher-pitch note, both engines make the F-Type an audibly wonderful place to be on a sunny day with the top down.

Driver's Grievance: Although we found the driving dynamics of the F-Type to be excellent overall, the steering feedback and transmission occasionally left us wanting. Sometimes the transmission seemed indecisive when asked to quickly shift several gears in automatic mode, and the steering, while good, could have been chattier on rougher roads.

Bottom Line: It's tricky to make direct comparisons between the F-Type and other cars because of the broad span of its engines and price. Jaguar pegs it as a Porsche 911 fighter, but that role is already filled by the XK (which barely overlaps the F-Type's price). A more appropriate direct comparison is to the Boxster, but the Jaguar makes a solid case as a slightly different type of sports car, with its front engine and distinctly Jaguar combination of luxury and style.

Jaguar says that pre-orders for the F-Type show about a 50 percent mix of the V8 S in the States, which is the car's biggest market. At more than $92,000, the V8 S is priced out of 99 percent of the population's reach, but it's also the model we would buy if coin weren't a concern. For those rich enough to buy a $70,000 convertible, the base F-Type or V6 S will make you a very happy owner, as long as you don't test-drive the V-8.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/reviews/drives/2014-jaguar-f-type-test-drive-15365539?src=rss

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Futures signal rebound as earnings, data eyed

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures advanced on Thursday, indicating the S&P 500 will rebound from a broad sell-off in the prior session ahead of data on the labor market and another round of corporate earnings reports.

Equities have been whipsawed in the past three sessions, with a 1 percent move in either direction in the S&P 500 <.spx> each day this week, the first such streak for the index since the start of February.

Worries about global demand have sparked sell-offs in commodities, which in turn have led to weakness in equities. However, some equity investors continue to use any dips as a buying opportunity.

Earnings are expected from 28 companies in the benchmark S&P index on Thursday, including Dow components Verizon Communications , Microsoft Corp and IBM .

UnitedHealth Group Inc , the largest U.S. health insurer, said its first-quarter profit had fallen, in part because of lower government payments for its private Medicare services and prescription plans for older Americans.

At 8:30 a.m., investors will eye weekly initial jobless claims data. Economists forecast a total of 350,000 new filings, compared with 346,000 in the prior week.

S&P 500 earnings are now expected to have risen 1.7 percent in the first quarter, up from the 1.5 percent estimate at the start of the month, based on actual results from 56 companies and estimates for the rest, according to Thomson Reuters data through Tuesday morning.

Of the 56 companies that have reported earnings, 66.1 percent have topped analyst expectations but only 48.2 percent have beaten revenue forecasts.

S&P 500 futures rose 5.2 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures gained 48 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 8.5 points.

Later in the session at 10 a.m., the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank releases its April business activity survey. Economists in a Reuters survey forecast a reading in the main index of 3.0 versus 2.0 in March.

Also at 10 a.m., the Conference Board will release its report on March leading economic indicators. Economists in a Reuters survey forecast a 0.1 percent increase compared with a 0.5 percent rise in February.

U.S.-listed shares of Nokia plunged 11.5 percent to $3.17 in premarket trade after a big fall in sales of its basic phones overshadowed a stronger performance from its Lumia smartphones in the first quarter, and the company said it expected operating margins to deteriorate.

European shares edged higher, with some investors seeing value after the market's worst four-day fall in nine months, although a crop of weak earnings and global growth concerns kept a lid on gains. <.eu/>

Concerns over global growth and weak demand pulled down Asian shares.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stock-futures-signal-higher-wall-street-open-085828854--finance.html

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Molecule treats leukemia by preventing cancer cell repair

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Researchers at The Jackson Laboratory have identified a molecule that prevents repair of some cancer cells, providing a potential new "genetic chemotherapy" approach to cancer treatment that could significantly reduce side effects and the development of treatment resistance compared with traditional chemotherapy.

In healthy people, white blood cells called B cells (or B lymphocytes) are a kind of sophisticated tool kit, making antibodies against pathogens or other invaders. In the process of antibody production, B cells turn on the gene known as activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID), which acts as a sort of molecular scissors that cut the chromosomes within the B cell. This is needed to rearrange pieces of the B-cell chromosomes and produce different "flavors" of antibodies that do different jobs.

But in some cancers this process goes wrong, with AID acting out of control and creating mutations and chromosome rearrangements that make the tumor more aggressive.

Those AID-induced cancers proliferate with help from the cell-repair mechanism known as homologous recombination (HR). Researchers in the laboratory of Associate Professor Kevin Mills, Ph.D., identified a molecule called DIDS (for 4,4'-diisothiocyanatostilbene-2-2'-disulfonic acid) that blocks the DNA repair action in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), causing the cancer cells to die.

"This treatment affects every cell in the body," Mills says. "But by its mode of action it kills only tumor cells that are expressing AID, yet it is almost entirely harmless to normal, healthy cells."

The research, published in The Journal of Experimental Medicine, is the latest proof of principle for what Mills calls "genetic chemotherapy": using the mechanisms involved in genetic instability in cancer, to cause tumor cell self-destruction.

For the new paper, authors Kristin Lamont, Ph.D., a postdoctoral associate, and Muneer Hasham, Ph.D. an associate research scientist, both in the Mills laboratory, tested DIDS in normal mouse cells, mouse cancer cells, human cancer cell lines and human primary cancers. "We collected 74 different primary patient CLL samples," Lamont says, "and measured AID expression in those samples. We found that about 40 percent of them express AID, and if we treated those with DIDS in vitro, the AID-expressing ones had significantly higher levels of DNA damage and died."

Mills adds, "Demonstrating that this works on primary cancer cells moves us one step closer to eventually testing this in patients." The DIDS treatment approach, Mills adds, also addresses the issues of side effects, a major problem with standard chemotherapy.

"By its selectivity for cancer cells, DIDS reduces the issue of the really nasty side effects associated with chemotherapy treatments," Mills explains.

Moreover, the list of cancers associated with aberrant AID expression is growing, so the treatment approach could apply not only to leukemia but also a range of other cancer types.

Mills' collaborators at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York shared their expertise in DNA repair to understand the action of the DIDS molecule. "We hypothesized that the molecule would work as it did," Mills says, "but they helped us to determine exactly why and how it works."

Since the researchers submitted the paper for publication, they have developed a new and better potential treatment molecule. "One of our goals is to design an even better molecule," Mills says. "And we've done that. We now have a new molecule in that same class, that delivers significantly more potency, with just as much selectivity as the original molecule."

Cyteir Therapeutics, Inc. a startup biotechnology company founded by Mills in 2012, continues to pursue development of the new molecule for cancer therapy, while Dr. Mills and his team at Jackson will keep studying the cellular mechanisms, in the hope of finding yet more potential new cancer drugs. Cyteir Therapeutics is now ramping up the R&D efforts necessary to take the genetic chemotherapy treatment to clinical trials, possibly in 2014.

###

Jackson Laboratory: http://www.jax.org

Thanks to Jackson Laboratory for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127788/Molecule_treats_leukemia_by_preventing_cancer_cell_repair

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Swiss minister seeks level playing field on tax

By Emma Thomasson

ZURICH (Reuters) - The Swiss finance minister said on Wednesday that she wanted all countries to be treated equally in a drive to stamp out tax evasion, addressing concerns that Swiss banks had been unfairly singled out in recent years.

"We consider it very important that rules must apply to all and are engaging ourselves for a level playing field in multilateral forums," Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf told Reuters in written responses to emailed questions.

Her comments came after several leading EU countries announced a joint push against tax evasion, a message they will take to a meeting of finance officials from the Group of 20 top economies this week in Washington, which Widmer-Schlumpf will attend.

Swiss banks have repeatedly been in the firing line for aiding tax evasion, but the country often complains it is unfairly targeted compared to offshore centers elsewhere like Singapore, Miami and the Cayman Islands.

"Recent revelations have confirmed that various financial centers in America and Asia do not comply with international standards," Widmer-Schlumpf said, referring to the leak this month of data on thousands of holders of secret bank accounts, mostly in other centers like the British Virgin Islands.

The Swiss Bankers Association has said that only 0.05 percent of the 120,000 companies and trusts uncovered by the leak were based in Switzerland.

"Switzerland will continue to work to ensure that global standards are not only adopted by all countries, but also implemented. This concerns, for example, the identification of beneficial owners in trusts," the minister said.

Trusts, which allow assets to be held by one party on behalf of another - often unidentified - party and are common in Britain and other centers, can be abused to evade taxes.

Austria's finance minister, who has defied growing pressure for her country to follow Luxembourg's decision last week to end bank secrecy, has attacked the G20 for not tackling what she branded centers of money laundering such as the Cayman Islands, Virgin Islands or Delaware.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Swiss government said it was considering a possible solution to a long-running dispute with U.S. authorities over Swiss banks accused of helping wealthy Americans evade billions of dollars of tax.

Meanwhile, the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate said on Tuesday it hoped to yield half a billion euros in lost tax revenues from a CD it purchased containing data on secret accounts including at Credit Suisse subsidiaries, triggering police raids across the country.

Widmer-Schlumpf said she was following closely developments on the tax issue in the EU and elsewhere, adding a Swiss working group will deliver proposals by summer concerning how much client information banks should share in future.

(Reporting by Emma Thomasson; editing by Mike Collett-White)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/swiss-minister-seeks-level-playing-field-tax-150408106--finance.html

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Troika concludes Greek bailout review, next aid tranche soon: source

By Annika Breidthardt and Renee Maltezou

DUBLIN/ATHENS (Reuters) - An inspection team of international lenders has finished its review of Greece's austerity program, paving the way for another 10 billion euros aid payment, a source with knowledge of the talks said on Saturday.

The deal reached on Friday, concludes the first review by the so-called "troika" of the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank since they unlocked fresh aid in December, staving off a chaotic bankruptcy.

In exchange for the December deal in Greece's 240-billion euro bailout, Athens passed a fresh round of austerity measures.

"The third review mission of the program was completed last night in Athens with a staff level agreement," one delegate with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters.

The official added the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers and the IMF's board would each likely discuss the agreement in May, a condition for the money to actually be paid.

Klaus Regling, the head of the euro zone's rescue funds, said on Friday the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), under which Greece's rescue is handled, stood ready to disburse 10 billion euros ($13 billion) to Athens once conditions were met.

"Greece would get 2.8 billion euros after the milestones have been met. In addition, 7.2 billion (euros are) available in bonds to recapitalize the banks. This is based on a tranche already approved last December," he told reporters.

Greece has received about 200 billion euros in rescue loans since its first bailout in May in 2010. But despite imposing a 75-percent debt cut on private-sector bondholders and receiving debt relief from its official lenders last year, it is still far from a return to the bond markets.

After a meeting of European Union finance ministers, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said a 2.8 billion euro March tranche of funds had not been released yet because Greece had not fulfilled some of the bailout milestones.

"The Greek side explained it is fully committed and we hope that this will be the case by the next meeting," Schaeuble said.

The recapitalization of Greece's banks and shrinking the country's spendthrift public sector have been key issues on the agenda of talks with the troika, which resumed its visit in Athens earlier this month.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras met his coalition partners on Saturday to discuss the hot topics and the progress of the troika review. After the meeting, the deputy finance minister said talks with the troika would be wrapped up by Monday.

"I believe the ultimate details of a deal with the troika will be finalized by Monday night," Christos Staikouras said.

Greece has agreed to dismiss 15,000 public sector workers and hire as many younger employees, Staikouras said.

About 4,000 workers will leave by the end of the year and another 11,000 in 2014, party officials said. The state is expected to cut more than 180,000 by 2015.

Socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos said the troika was expected to approve the political leaders' proposals by Sunday.

Under Greece's current bailout plan agreed in November, Athens has to cut 150,000 public sector jobs overall from 2010 to 2015, about a fifth of the total, through hiring curbs, retirement and dismissals.

"We have designed a commonly accepted framework which I hope the troika will accept by Sunday night," Venizelos said. "We must close all the issues."

Lay-offs are a sensitive issue in Greece where unemployment has hit a record high of 27.2 percent and the economy is now in its sixth year of recession but recent polls show that most Greeks want the reform of the public sector and its services.

With the country's constitution protecting state workers from dismissal, Samaras said in an interview with a newspaper that the government could cut staff by scrapping job positions.

There is no doubt we need a smaller but also better public sector," Samaras said. "The constitution doesn't ban the dismissal of state workers whose position has been scrapped."

(Reporting by Annika Breidthardt and Renee Maltezou in Athens; Editing by Ron Askew)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/troika-concludes-greek-bailout-review-next-aid-tranche-102929167--business.html

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Pope names advisers to revamp Vatican bureaucracy

VATICAN CITY (AP) ? Pope Francis marked his first month as pope on Saturday by naming nine high-ranking prelates from around the globe to a permanent advisory group to help him run the Catholic Church and study a reform of the Vatican bureaucracy ? a bombshell announcement that indicates he intends a major shift in how the papacy should function.

The panel includes only one current Vatican official; the rest are cardinals and a monsignor from Europe, Africa, North and South America, Asia and Australia ? a clear indication that Francis wants to reflect the universal nature of the church in its governance and core decision-making, particularly given the church is growing and counts most of the world's Catholics in the southern hemisphere.

In the run-up to the conclave that elected Francis pope one month ago, a reform of the Vatican bureaucracy was a constant drumbeat, as were calls to make the Vatican itself more responsive to the needs of bishops around the world. Including representatives from each continent in a permanent advisory panel to the pope would seem to go a long way toward answering those calls.

In its announcement Saturday, the Vatican said that Francis got the idea to form the advisory body from the pre-conclave meetings. "He has formed a group of cardinals to advise him in the governing of the universal church and to study a revision of the apostolic constitution Pastor Bonus on the Roman Curia," the statement said.

Pope John Paul II issued Pastor Bonus in 1988, and it functions effectively as the blueprint for the administration of the Holy See and the Vatican City State, meting out the work and jurisdictions of the congregations, pontifical councils and other offices that make up the governance of the Catholic Church, known as the Roman Curia.

Pastor Bonus itself was a revision of the 1967 document that marked the last major reform of the Vatican bureaucracy undertaken by Pope Paul VI.

A reform of the Vatican bureaucracy has been demanded for decades, given both John Paul and Benedict XVI essentially neglected in-house administration of the Holy See in favor of other priorities. But the calls for change grew deafening last year after the leaks of papal documents exposed petty turf battles within the Vatican bureaucracy, allegations of corruption in the running of the Vatican city state and even a purported plot by senior Vatican officials to out a prominent Catholic as gay.

Francis' advisory group will meet in its inaugural session Oct. 1-3, the Vatican said in a statement.

The members of the panel include Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, president of the Vatican city state administration ? a key position that runs the actual functioning of the Vatican, including its profit-making museums. The non-Vatican officials include Cardinals Francisco Javier Err?zuriz Ossa, the retired archbishop of Santiago, Chile; Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Mumbai, India; Reinhard Marx, archbishop of Munich and Freising, Germany; Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, archbishop of Kinshasa, Congo; Sean Patrick O'Malley, the archbishop of Boston; George Pell, archbishop of Sydney, Australia; and Oscar Andr?s Rodr?guez Maradiaga, archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Monsignor Marcello Semeraro, bishop of Albano, will be secretary while Maradiaga will serve as the group coordinator.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-names-advisers-revamp-vatican-bureaucracy-101913286.html

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