My favorite thing about the Independence Day sequel is the fact that Michael B. Jordancouldpossibly be taking on the lead role in the film. We’ve been hearing conflicting reports about whether or not Will Smith is in or out, but I am personally pulling for Jordan to star in the sequel to the original blockbuster. But today we have another update on the film. Apparently, two separate scripts have been written for the sequel, one with Will Smith in the lead and another without. Click inside to learn more.
Will Smith may or may not be returning to reprise his role as Captain Steven Hiller in the upcoming Independence Day sequel, according to director Roland Emmerich.
According to The Playlist, Smith’s role in the film is still uncertain and has caused writer Jamie Vanderbilt to write two separate scripts: one with Smith and one without.
Emmerich, currently promoting the Blu-ray/DVD release for White House Down, revealed to The Playlist that trying to get the film together was “A daily battle…the budget, the schedules, the actors…” but that “It’s looking good.” Emmerich also addressed the question of whether or not the film would be broken up into two parts. “I thought about spending four years of my life on one movie and I didn’t want to turn into something from the movie. It’s a movie about aliens, I don’t want to turn into an alien.”
Supposedly actors Bill Pullman and Jeff Goldblum will also return for the sequel as President Whitmore and David Levinson. Independence Day 2 is set to be released July 3, 2015.
It sounds like things are definitely in a state of limbo right now, and it’s going to be interesting to see how things turn out. I’m sure lots of folks want to see Will Smith come back and do the damn thing, but I’m rooting for Jordan… with his sexy ass. LOL, no but he’s hella talented too. Hopefully, whichever way they go with casting, the sequel is as good a time as the first.
Brazil's General Superintendency of Prisons of Alagoas (SGAP) released this photo last Dec. 31 of a cat caught with contraband taped to its body at a medium-security prison in Alagoas state.
AP
Brazil's General Superintendency of Prisons of Alagoas (SGAP) released this photo last Dec. 31 of a cat caught with contraband taped to its body at a medium-security prison in Alagoas state.
AP
January:
"Cat Caught Smuggling Contraband Into Brazilian Prison." Gothamist
June:
"Cat Caught Smuggling Cell Phones Into Prison" (in Russia). The Moscow Times
Last week:
"Cannabis Cat On Drugs Run Collared At Moldova Jail." BBC News
So, we've got reports of:
— "Saws, drills, headset, memory card, cell phone, batteries and a phone charger" being" strapped to a cat in Brazil.
— "Two cell phones with batteries and chargers" being taped to a cat's back in Russia.
— And now, "bags of cannabis" concealed inside the "oversize decorative collar" worn by a cat in Moldova.
In each case, the felines were nabbed as they either climbed over or through fences. In Moldova, the cat had been "seen repeatedly entering and exiting a small hole in a prison fence," according to Gawker.
According to the reports, the cats aren't talking.
Earlier today we learned that Beyoncé MAY be releasing a new album in December but earlier this month we learned FOR SURE that she is readying the release of her first calendar for 2014. Today we get to check out a behind the scenes video that was shot during Bey‘s calendar shoot … and as you can see in the embed above, homegirl looks HOT in every single photo. If you’ve ever wanted to spend a year with Beyoncé, now’s your chance … and this behind the scenes video gives you a taste of the year to come with her :)
FILE - In this Dec. 1, 2012 file photo, Hal Needham arrives at the 4th Annual Governors Awards at Hollywood and Highland Center's Ray Dolby Ballroom in Los Angeles. Needham, a top Hollywood stuntman who turned to directing rousing action films including "Smokey and the Bandit" and "The Cannonball Run," died Friday, Oct. 25, 2013, his business managers told the Los Angeles Times. He was 82. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - In this Dec. 1, 2012 file photo, Hal Needham arrives at the 4th Annual Governors Awards at Hollywood and Highland Center's Ray Dolby Ballroom in Los Angeles. Needham, a top Hollywood stuntman who turned to directing rousing action films including "Smokey and the Bandit" and "The Cannonball Run," died Friday, Oct. 25, 2013, his business managers told the Los Angeles Times. He was 82. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
Hal Needham arrives at the 4th Annual Governors Awards at Hollywood and Highland Center's Ray Dolby Ballroom on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
FILE - In this Dec. 1, 2012 file photo, Hal Needham arrives at the 4th Annual Governors Awards at Hollywood and Highland Center's Ray Dolby Ballroom in Los Angeles. Needham, a top Hollywood stuntman who turned to directing rousing action films including "Smokey and the Bandit" and "The Cannonball Run," died Friday, Oct. 25, 2013, his business managers told the Los Angeles Times. He was 82. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hal Needham, a top Hollywood stuntman who turned to directing rousing action films including "Smokey and the Bandit" and "The Cannonball Run," has died. He was 82.
His business managers tell the Los Angeles Times that Needham died Friday in Los Angeles.
A former paratrooper, Needham appeared in thousands of TV episodes and hundreds of movies, performing and designing stunts and new equipment to execute them.
Needham jumped from planes, was dragged by horses and wrecked cars — breaking 56 bones in the process.
His best-known directing efforts involved 1970s Burt Reynolds action comedies, including "Smokey," ''Cannonball Run" and "Stroker Ace." He also directed Arnold Schwarzenegger in "The Villain."
In a Twitter posting, Schwarzenegger calls Needham an icon.
Serena Williams of the USA returns a shot to Jelena Jankovic of Serbia during their semifinal tennis match at the WTA Championship in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2013. The world's top female tennis players compete in the championships which runs from Oct. 22 until Oct. 27.(AP Photo)
Serena Williams of the USA returns a shot to Jelena Jankovic of Serbia during their semifinal tennis match at the WTA Championship in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2013. The world's top female tennis players compete in the championships which runs from Oct. 22 until Oct. 27.(AP Photo)
Serena Williams of the USA returns a shot to Jelena Jankovic of Serbia during their semifinal tennis match at the WTA Championship in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2013. The world's top female tennis players compete in the championships which runs from Oct. 22 until Oct. 27.(AP Photo)
Li Na of China shouts after defeating Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic during their semifinal tennis match at the WTA Championship in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2013. The world's top female tennis players compete in the championships which runs from Oct. 22 until Oct. 27.(AP Photo)
Jelena Jankovic of Serbia returns a shot to Serena Williams of the USA during their semifinal tennis match at the WTA Championship in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2013. The world's top female tennis players compete in the championships which runs from Oct. 22 until Oct. 27.(AP Photo)
Jelena Jankovic of Serbia returns a shot to Serena Williams of the USA during their semifinal tennis match at the WTA Championship in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2013. The world's top female tennis players compete in the championships which runs from Oct. 22 until Oct. 27.(AP Photo)
ISTANBUL (AP) — Serena Williams, in obvious discomfort and walking slowly during changeovers, struggled past Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 on Saturday and will play Li Na in the final of the WTA Championships.
Li advanced to her first WTA Championships final by sweeping 2011 winner Petra Kvitova 6-4, 6-2, setting up a showdown Sunday between the two oldest players in the tournament.
It's only the second time in the history of the event that two players over 30 — Williams at 32 and Li at 31 — have made it to the last four. The season-ending tournament brings together the top eight players in the world.
It was not clear what was bothering Williams. She did not move well on the court and frequently held her head wrapped in a towel during changeovers. Williams tried to keep the points short and often winced.
Jankovic was unable to take advantage of whatever was bothering Williams, who is one win from her fourth WTA Championship and 11th title of the year.
Williams wasted a match point and failed to serve out the match at 5-2, and Jankovic won two straight games. Williams squandered two more match points before finally closing it out with a smash.
By reaching the final, Li will improve two places to a career-high No. 3 ranking. It's the highest ranking for an Asian woman.
Like Williams, the Chinese player is unbeaten in four matches, after failing to advance from the group stage in the previous two years.
Kvitova, the youngest player in the tournament at 23, trailed 3-0 before tying the match at 4-4.
But a backhand winner from Li broke Kvitova again and she closed out the set with a service winner.
Kvitova had no reply to Li's forehand and was broken again in the second set to fall behind 3-2. After saving a break point, Li hit an ace to go up 4-2.
Kvitova dropped serve again and netted a backhand on Li's second match point for her 29th unforced error.
Li improved her career record to 4-3 against Kvitova, who won Wimbledon in 2011 — the same year Li won the French Open.
This undated photo provided by the City of Roseville shows Sammy Duran. Duran is a suspect in the shooting of three law enforcement officers that occurred in Roseville, Calif., Friday, Oct. 25, 2013. (AP Photo/City of Roseville)
This undated photo provided by the City of Roseville shows Sammy Duran. Duran is a suspect in the shooting of three law enforcement officers that occurred in Roseville, Calif., Friday, Oct. 25, 2013. (AP Photo/City of Roseville)
Police converge on a house where Sammy Duran is suspected to be residing on Friday, Oct. 25, 2013, in Roseville, Calif. Duran is a suspect in the shooting of three law enforcement officers that occurred Friday. Roseville police Lt. Cal Walstad told reporters that officers believe they have the suspect surrounded in a house, although he was not in custody. (AP Photo/The Sacramento Bee, Randall Benton) MAGS OUT; LOCAL TV OUT (KCRA3, KXTV10, KOVR13, KUVS19, KMAZ31, KTXL40); MANDATORY CREDIT; ONLN OUT; IONLN OUT
Police converge on a house where Sammy Duran is suspected to be residing on Friday, Oct. 25, 2013, in Roseville, Calif. Duran is a suspect in the shooting of three law enforcement officers that occurred Friday. Roseville police Lt. Cal Walstad told reporters that officers believe they have the suspect surrounded in a house, although he was not in custody. (AP Photo/The Sacramento Bee, Randall Benton) MAGS OUT; LOCAL TV OUT (KCRA3, KXTV10, KOVR13, KUVS19, KMAZ31, KTXL40); MANDATORY CREDIT; ONLN OUT; IONLN OUT
Police converge on a house where Sammy Duran is suspected to be residing on Friday, Oct. 25, 2013, in Roseville, Calif. Duran is a suspect in the shooting of three law enforcement officers that occurred Friday. Roseville police Lt. Cal Walstad told reporters that officers believe they have the suspect surrounded in a house, although he was not in custody. (AP Photo/The Sacramento Bee, Randall Benton) MAGS OUT; LOCAL TV OUT (KCRA3, KXTV10, KOVR13, KUVS19, KMAZ31, KTXL40); MANDATORY CREDIT; ONLN OUT; IONLN OUT
Police converge on a house where Sammy Duran is suspected to be residing on Friday, Oct. 25, 2013, in Roseville, Calif. Duran is a suspect in the shooting of three law enforcement officers that occurred Friday. Roseville police Lt. Cal Walstad told reporters that officers believe they have the suspect surrounded in a house, although he was not in custody. (AP Photo/The Sacramento Bee, Randall Benton) MAGS OUT; LOCAL TV OUT (KCRA3, KXTV10, KOVR13, KUVS19, KMAZ31, KTXL40); MANDATORY CREDIT; ONLN OUT; IONLN OUT
ROSEVILLE, Calif. (AP) — A federal immigration officer was shot and three local police officers were wounded Friday during a violent confrontation with a suspect in a Sacramento suburb.
Helicopters were circling overhead and armored vehicles and other police cars flocked to the area Friday night as officers attempted to capture the suspect. The shooting occurred Friday afternoon in Roseville, a suburb about 20 miles northeast of the state capital.
In anticipation of the standoff lasting through the night, local residents were being bused to a community center to spend the night.
Roseville police Lt. Cal Walstad told reporters that officers had the suspect surrounded in a house and had spoken with him on the phone, although he was not in custody. Walstad identified him as Samuel Nathan Duran, 32, of Roseville.
Walstad said the federal immigration officer was shot in the leg as he and other officers made initial contact at about 3 p.m. with Duran, a wanted parolee. During a later exchange of gunfire, after Duran fled, two Roseville police officers were hit by gunshots — one in the jaw and the other in the shoulder — and a third officer sustained shrapnel wounds from rounds that hit near them, Walstad said. Two of the officers were listed in stable condition at Sutter Roseville Medical Center, and a third was in serious condition.
Police Chief Daniel Hahn said the Roseville officers were all male and veteran members of the force. Hahn said none of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening. No civilian injuries have been reported.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice said that agency's officer was stable and alert after being taken to Sutter Roseville Medical Center.
Deborah Hoffman, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, confirmed that Duran is a parolee and that she has been asked not to provide any more information about why he had been imprisoned or when he was released.
The incident created scenes of panic and chaos in a typically quiet middle class suburb of about 120,000. Walstad described multiple shooting sites as the suspect tried to escape a swarm of descending law enforcement agents, and reporters on the scene described hearing several volleys of gunfire.
Walstad said Duran was believed to be carrying an "assault-type weapon."
Law enforcement officers had been looking for Duran in the area for at least 10 days before finding him on Friday afternoon, Walstad said. When they found him, Walstad added, he opened fire, wounding the federal immigration officer, who was on the scene to provide support for the Roseville police.
Walstad said the house the suspect is in is on the corner of Sixth Street and Hampton Drive; when Duran first entered the home, the residents called 911, and police advised them to escape through a sliding glass door in the back.
Classing it up for a business meeting, Eva Mendes stepped out in New York City on Tuesday (October 22).
The "Training Day" star looked pretty in a light salmon blouse, navy blue skirt, and heels as she made her way inside.
Currently, the 39-year-old actress has a new clothing line out with New York & Company, which takes inspiration from thrift shops.
In an interview with The Edit, Eva explained, "I think it comes back to not having the means to buy what you wanted. I've never grown out of being that girl.''
NEW YORK (AP) — The marriage of actor Orlando Bloom and model Miranda Kerr has ended — even as Bloom tackles one of the most romantic roles in history, Romeo.
Publicist Robin Baum released a joint statement Friday that said Kerr and Bloom — two of the most beautiful people on the planet — "have been amicably separated for the past few months" and "recently decided to formalize their separation" after six years together.
The 36-year-old actor, who starred in "The Lord of the Rings" and "Pirates of the Caribbean" films, and the 30-year-old supermodel were married in 2010. They have a 2 1/2 year-old son, Flynn.
Bloom is making his Broadway debut as Romeo in director David Leveaux's revival of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" opposite Condola Rashad, who has back-to-back Tony Award nominations for "Stick Fly" and "The Trip to Bountiful." Reviews have been mostly negative and the show has struggled at the box office.
Kerr, a top Victoria's Secret model, first met Bloom backstage at a lingerie fashion show in New York in 2006. The Australian-born beauty recently worked with chemists to help develop an organic beauty line.
In an interview in September, Bloom said he was excited to be making his American stage debut and taking his career on a new course. He said he was planning to join the Royal Shakespeare Company after college but director Peter Jackson whisked him to New Zealand for "The Lord of the Rings" and then he was off on a movie career — "Black Hawk Down," the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise, "Elizabethtown" and "Kingdom of Heaven."
"I feel like this is what I was supposed to be doing or at least part of what I was supposed to be doing. I found myself doing movies — which were wonderful and amazing and I love — I've got a collection of movies at home that my son is going to absolutely drool over when he's the right age," he said. "But for Orlando and for the actor in me, this process is so rewarding and I just feel like I'm going to be a different actor after this. I already feel like a different actor."
Each week, our friends at gdgt go through the latest gadgets and score them to help you decide which ones to buy. Here are some of their most recent picks. Want more? Visit gdgt anytime to catch up on the latest, and subscribe to gdgt's newsletter to get a weekly roundup in your inbox. ...
IM+ is a messenger client for both iPhone and iPad that can combine all your favorite instant messenger clients into one easy to manage place. The new 8.0 version brings with it an updated interface that's been designed with iOS 7 in mind as well as making encrypted messaging free for everyone.
Both the free and paid versions of IM+ were updated to version 8.0. The main differences between the two is that the free version will be ad supported. If you want Skype integration, you'll also need to opt for the premium version.
You can subscribe to IM+'s own SMS replacement service, Beep from within either of the apps as an in-app purchase. Off-the-Record messaging which is encrypted on both ends, has been made free as well for either paid or free users of the IM+ service. There's nothing for you to pay for or configure any longer.
IM+ also support iCloud sync so if you download an IM+ client on another iOS device, there's no need to configure all your accounts again. As long as the device is linked to your iCloud account, all your settings will be transferred over with no effort on your part.
So, for the past few days I’ve been wanting to go to the movies because there are so many great movies out that I HAVE to see sooner rather than later. I made plans to hang out with Emma and Josh and we decided to go see a movie together … great! The problem was that they had already seen 12 Years A Slave and didn’t want to see Kill Your Darlings (Boo and Boo). I decided to just go see the movie that they wanted to see and just enjoy my time with them, even if I really didn’t want to see the movie. They chose All Is Lost starring Robert Redford (a movie you’ve probably never even heard of before now) and I was less than thrilled. About 10 minutes into the movie, my opinion of the film changed and I ended up loving it so much that I can hardly believe how wrong I was to prejudge this movie. I know that everyone is losing their shizz over Gravity (a movie that I liked but far from loved) but you have to listen to me here … All Is Lost is a film in the same vein as Gravity (ie. Man vs. Nature) but just INFINITELY better.
All Is Lost tells the tale of a sailor, Robert Redford, who is lost at sea. For the 145 minute runtime, there is probably less than 5 minutes worth of words uttered. That said, the story is so compelling and so well acted that I know I’ll need to see the movie at least one more time to take it all in. While Gravity probably is better in terms of special effects, All Is Lost is the far superior film in terms of storytelling. It reminded me of the George Clooney film The Perfect Storm (a film set at sea that I really loved based on a book I really enjoyed) but more raw, more to the point. The movie starts out without any explanation of who Redford‘s character is at all. The action starts immediately and goes to the bitter end. The ending, IMHO, is left wide open for interpretation and I know how I believe it ended but Emma saw something different. I’m just so glad I went along with Emma and Josh’s suggestion to see All Is Lost because I’m certain the movie will be one of my faves of the year. Do yourselves a favor and see this movie. At 77 years old, Robert Redford will show you why he is one of the greatest actors of our time. All Is Lost is a tour de force, I loved it entirely. I definitely think you will too.
Today I’m running downtown to pick up my race materials for a little 5K race I’m running on Sunday (my recovery run from my marathon last weekend) and I’m hoping to hang out with Ollie for a bit. Tonight, I think I’m hanging out with Josh Rosebrook … not sure what we’re gonna do but I’m sure we’ll get up to something fun :) Happy Friday!!!
ASU, Georgia Tech create breakthrough for solar cell efficiency
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
25-Oct-2013
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Contact: Margaret Coulombe margaret.coulombe@asu.edu 480-727-8934 Arizona State University
New atomic layer-by-layer InGaN technology offers perfect crystal
Did you know that crystals form the basis for the penetrating icy blue glare of car headlights and could be fundamental to the future in solar energy technology?
Crystals are at the heart of diodes. Not the kind you might find in quartz, formed naturally, but manufactured to form alloys, such as indium gallium nitride or InGaN. This alloy forms the light emitting region of LEDs, for illumination in the visible range, and of laser diodes (LDs) in the blue-UV range.
Research into making better crystals, with high crystalline quality, light emission efficiency and luminosity, is also at the heart of studies being done at Arizona State University by Research Scientist Alec Fischer and Doctoral Candidate Yong Wei in Professor Fernando Ponce's group in the Department of Physics.
In an article recently published in the journal Applied Physics Letters, the ASU group, in collaboration with a scientific team led by Professor Alan Doolittle at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has just revealed the fundamental aspect of a new approach to growing InGaN crystals for diodes, which promises to move photovoltaic solar cell technology toward record-breaking efficiencies.
The InGaN crystals are grown as layers in a sandwich-like arrangement on sapphire substrates. Typically, researchers have found that the atomic separation of the layers varies; a condition that can lead to high levels of strain, breakdowns in growth, and fluctuations in the alloy's chemical composition.
"Being able to ease the strain and increase the uniformity in the composition of InGaN is very desirable," says Ponce, "but difficult to achieve. Growth of these layers is similar to trying to smoothly fit together two honeycombs with different cell sizes, where size difference disrupts a periodic arrangement of the cells."
As outlined in their publication, the authors developed an approach where pulses of molecules were introduced to achieve the desired alloy composition. The method, developed by Doolittle, is called metal-modulated epitaxy. "This technique allows an atomic layer-by-layer growth of the material," says Ponce.
Analysis of the atomic arrangement and the luminosity at the nanoscale level was performed by Fischer, the lead author of the study, and Wei. Their results showed that the films grown with the epitaxy technique had almost ideal characteristics and revealed that the unexpected results came from the strain relaxation at the first atomic layer of crystal growth.
"Doolittle's group was able to assemble a final crystal that is more uniform and whose lattice structures match upresulting in a film that resembles a perfect crystal," says Ponce. "The luminosity was also like that of a perfect crystal. Something that no one in our field thought was possible."
The ASU and Georgia Tech team's elimination of these two seemingly insurmountable defects (non-uniform composition and mismatched lattice alignment) ultimately means that LEDs and solar photovoltaic products can now be developed that have much higher, efficient performance.
"While we are still a ways off from record-setting solar cells, this breakthrough could have immediate and lasting impact on light emitting devices and could potentially make the second most abundant semiconductor family, III-Nitrides, a real player in the solar cell field," says Doolittle. Doolittle's team at Georgia Tech's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering also included Michael Moseley and Brendan Gunning. A patent is pending for the new technology.
###
The collaboration was made possible by ASU's Engineering Research Center for Quantum Energy and Sustainable Solar Technologies (QESST) funded by National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Energy. The center, which brought the two research groups together, is directed by ASU Professor Christiana Honsberg of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. Designed to increase photovoltaic electricity and help create devices that are scalable to commercial production, the center has built partnerships with leading solar energy companies and fueled collaborations between many of the notable universities in the U.S., Asia, Europe and Australia. The center also serves as a platform for educational opportunities for students including new college courses, partnerships with local elementary schools and public engagement events to raise awareness of the exciting challenges of harnessing the sun to power our world.
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ASU, Georgia Tech create breakthrough for solar cell efficiency
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
25-Oct-2013
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Contact: Margaret Coulombe margaret.coulombe@asu.edu 480-727-8934 Arizona State University
New atomic layer-by-layer InGaN technology offers perfect crystal
Did you know that crystals form the basis for the penetrating icy blue glare of car headlights and could be fundamental to the future in solar energy technology?
Crystals are at the heart of diodes. Not the kind you might find in quartz, formed naturally, but manufactured to form alloys, such as indium gallium nitride or InGaN. This alloy forms the light emitting region of LEDs, for illumination in the visible range, and of laser diodes (LDs) in the blue-UV range.
Research into making better crystals, with high crystalline quality, light emission efficiency and luminosity, is also at the heart of studies being done at Arizona State University by Research Scientist Alec Fischer and Doctoral Candidate Yong Wei in Professor Fernando Ponce's group in the Department of Physics.
In an article recently published in the journal Applied Physics Letters, the ASU group, in collaboration with a scientific team led by Professor Alan Doolittle at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has just revealed the fundamental aspect of a new approach to growing InGaN crystals for diodes, which promises to move photovoltaic solar cell technology toward record-breaking efficiencies.
The InGaN crystals are grown as layers in a sandwich-like arrangement on sapphire substrates. Typically, researchers have found that the atomic separation of the layers varies; a condition that can lead to high levels of strain, breakdowns in growth, and fluctuations in the alloy's chemical composition.
"Being able to ease the strain and increase the uniformity in the composition of InGaN is very desirable," says Ponce, "but difficult to achieve. Growth of these layers is similar to trying to smoothly fit together two honeycombs with different cell sizes, where size difference disrupts a periodic arrangement of the cells."
As outlined in their publication, the authors developed an approach where pulses of molecules were introduced to achieve the desired alloy composition. The method, developed by Doolittle, is called metal-modulated epitaxy. "This technique allows an atomic layer-by-layer growth of the material," says Ponce.
Analysis of the atomic arrangement and the luminosity at the nanoscale level was performed by Fischer, the lead author of the study, and Wei. Their results showed that the films grown with the epitaxy technique had almost ideal characteristics and revealed that the unexpected results came from the strain relaxation at the first atomic layer of crystal growth.
"Doolittle's group was able to assemble a final crystal that is more uniform and whose lattice structures match upresulting in a film that resembles a perfect crystal," says Ponce. "The luminosity was also like that of a perfect crystal. Something that no one in our field thought was possible."
The ASU and Georgia Tech team's elimination of these two seemingly insurmountable defects (non-uniform composition and mismatched lattice alignment) ultimately means that LEDs and solar photovoltaic products can now be developed that have much higher, efficient performance.
"While we are still a ways off from record-setting solar cells, this breakthrough could have immediate and lasting impact on light emitting devices and could potentially make the second most abundant semiconductor family, III-Nitrides, a real player in the solar cell field," says Doolittle. Doolittle's team at Georgia Tech's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering also included Michael Moseley and Brendan Gunning. A patent is pending for the new technology.
###
The collaboration was made possible by ASU's Engineering Research Center for Quantum Energy and Sustainable Solar Technologies (QESST) funded by National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Energy. The center, which brought the two research groups together, is directed by ASU Professor Christiana Honsberg of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. Designed to increase photovoltaic electricity and help create devices that are scalable to commercial production, the center has built partnerships with leading solar energy companies and fueled collaborations between many of the notable universities in the U.S., Asia, Europe and Australia. The center also serves as a platform for educational opportunities for students including new college courses, partnerships with local elementary schools and public engagement events to raise awareness of the exciting challenges of harnessing the sun to power our world.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Moving on up! Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady are in contract to buy a $14 million condo in New York City, The New York Post's Page Six reports. The 36-year-old NFL player and 33-year-old supermodel have their sights set on a three-bedroom, full-floor apartment on the 47th floor of One Madison Park in the Flatiron District.
"They went for the model apartment," a source told Page Six, "which is a full-floor private residence with amazing city and river-to-river plus park views." Bundchen's ex-boyfriend Leonardo DiCaprio was reportedly a prospective buyer of the building's triplex penthouse on the 58th and 60th floor, listed for $50 million.
Bundchen and Brady, who have been married since 2009 and are parents to son Benjamin and daughter Vivian, also own an an eco-conscious mansion in Los Angeles. Their stunning home -- which has a moat -- was featured inArchitectural Digest in September 2013. Earlier this month, the Boston Herald reported that Bundchen and Brady are building a new mansion in Brookline, Mass. near downtown Boston where Brady plays quarterback for the New England Patriots.
The A-list couple came in second place on Forbes' list of Highest-Earning Celebrity Couples frome June 2012 to June 2013, $15 million behind Jay Z and Beyonce. Bundchen, Forbes' Highest-Paid of Model of the World last year, and her hubby earned an estimated combined $80 million.
The Firefox Web browser will, henceforth, require users to manually activate Java objects on sites that they visit, Mozilla has confirmed. The change is aimed at improving security and moving away from a dependence on proprietary plug-ins, but critics say it will cause untold headaches for developers, admins and less-technical end-users.
When a page that features Java elements is loaded, a red security warning will display in the address bar -- clicking on this will provide the option of activating Java. Many of those opposed to the change say that less technically savvy users might either miss the warning or simply decline to click through, out of a fear that they are compromising their security.
Java is a key underpinning of a vast amount of rich web content, including everything from games to line-of-business apps, despite its long-standing role as a major target for malicious online activity. Requiring users to click past a warning that the plugin may be unsafe before running any Java content could head off some security threats, but it's also likely to break Java apps designed to run automatically and generally create a less convenient Web experience for Firefox users.
At the center of the controversy is Mozilla engineering manager Benjamin Smedberg, who has remained resolute on the issue. He's received the bulk of community outrage in a lengthy bug tracker thread, which features several lengthy diatribes about the disruptive nature of the change.
It was pointed out, as well, that Java is also currently blocked by default in Google Chrome, though one discussion participant argued that Google's interface for activating Java -- a simpler and more obvious drop-down bar that states "java needs your permission to run" -- is more suitable.
In an announcement of the prospective change last month, Smedberg urged Web developers to move away from the use of plugins like Java.
"Even though many users are not even aware of plugins, they are a significant source of hangs, crashes, and security incidents. By allowing users to decide which sites need to use plugins, Firefox will help protect them and keep their browser running smoothly," he said.
The change seems likely to be a further damper on Firefox's reputation among institutional users, many of whom will have a lot of work to do to prepare end users and their own code. Mozilla's move to a rapid release schedule was not well received by businesses, and the company eventually added a long-term support track to help address concerns.
But Mozilla is one of the prime movers behind the general trend toward more open web technology, and may simply find the prospect of accelerating HTML5's ongoing replacement of older plug-in-based frameworks too tempting to pass up.
Email Jon Gold at jgold@nww.com and follow him on Twitter at @NWWJonGold.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel (right) talks with Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta on the second day of an European Council meeting in Brussels on Friday.
John Thys/AFP/Getty Images
German Chancellor Angela Merkel (right) talks with Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta on the second day of an European Council meeting in Brussels on Friday.
John Thys/AFP/Getty Images
European leaders released a statement on Friday saying they were concerned about alleged U.S. spying on them and expressing concern that the practice could damage relations with Washington.
In the statement, which follows a report in The Guardian newspaper that the U.S. National Security Agency monitored the calls of 35 world leaders, the EU sought to underline "the close relationship between Europe and the USA and the value of that partnership."
It stressed that intelligence-gathering "is a vital element in the fight against terrorism."
However, it said, "A lack of trust could prejudice the necessary cooperation in the field of intelligence-gathering."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose cellphone may have been tapped according to the U.K. newspaper, said the alleged spying had sown "the seeds of mistrust."
"[It] doesn't facilitate our co-operation... it makes it more difficult," she said.
NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reports from Berlin that EU leaders say they are seeking "mutually agreed upon rules of surveillance" and that they are also "considering a suspension of an agreement that allows the U.S. to track the finances of terrorist groups."
The revelations stems from documents sourced to U.S. whistleblower and former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden. The Guardian also reports that the NSA has collected 70 million phone records in France.
Meanwhile, The Washington Post suggests there might be yet another shoe to drop. The newspaper reported late Thursday that U.S. officials are warning some foreign intelligence services that Snowden had in his possession "sensitive material about collection programs against adversaries such as Iran, Russia and China."
The Post, quoting unnamed officials, writes:
"The process of informing officials in capital after capital about the risk of disclosure is delicate. In some cases, one part of the cooperating government may know about the collaboration while others — such as the foreign ministry — may not, the officials said. The documents, if disclosed, could compromise operations, officials said.
...
"In one case, for instance, the files contain information about a program run from a NATO country against Russia that provides valuable intelligence for the U.S. Air Force and Navy, said one U.S. official, who requested anonymity to discuss an ongoing criminal investigation. Snowden faces theft and espionage charges.
" 'If the Russians knew about it, it wouldn't be hard for them to take appropriate measures to put a stop to it,' the official said."
In an editorial published late Thursday in USA Today, Lisa Monaco, an assistant to President Obama for homeland security and counterterrorism, acknowledged that the rash of disclosures about U.S. intelligence gathering activities in recent months had "created significant challenges in our relationships with some of our closest foreign partners."
Monaco writes:
"No one disputes the need for careful, thorough intelligence gathering. Nor is it a secret that we collect information about what is happening around the world to help protect our citizens, our allies and our homeland. So does every intelligence service in the world.
...
"Going forward, we will continue to gather the information we need to keep ourselves and our allies safe, while giving even greater focus to ensuring that we are balancing our security needs with the privacy concerns all people share."
Thomas Friedman famously announced that "the world is flat" in his 2005 book of that name. He was writing about globalization. In Friedman's view, voice over Internet (VoIP), file sharing, and wireless were the "steroids" that have accelerated the flattening of global commerce. Today I would add video over Internet, which has become more and more prevalent as bandwidth has improved.
The two leaders in the business Web conferencing space are Cisco WebEx and Citrix GoToMeeting. A new product, My Web Conferences from a company named MyTrueCloud, promises to offer these leaders some lower-priced competition, though it lacks some of the refinements of the older products -- and the established players are both upgrading their offerings and decreasing their base prices in response to less expensive business services and free consumer offerings.
Some businesses do use consumer products for voice and video over the Internet: Microsoft Skype, Google Hangouts, and Google Voice (no video) are three I've used extensively. While these can be useful, they don't quite meet the criteria for business-grade Web conferencing.
These higher-end products are expected to simultaneously deliver desktop shares, video, and audio; to provide high reliability and high quality; to integrate with common desktop software; and to work with mobile devices. They're also expected to handle large conference broadcasts, either in the base service or via a separate product. As we will see, there's a bit of variation among the business-grade products we are considering in all of these areas, as well as some differences in the bundling strategies.
It may only be a few days since Apple announced its new 13- and 15-inch Retina MacBook Pros, but iFixit has already torn the suckers apart. And while the insides are storming, taking them apart is a whole different matter.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The Kenyan government says it believes it has recovered the remains of the four gunmen who stormed a shopping mall on Sept. 21 and killed more than 60 people.
Joseph Ole Lenku, Cabinet secretary for interior, said that on Sunday "we recovered a fourth body, which we know from CCTV footage to be that of a terrorist." He said in his message late Sunday that officials believe the remains of three people recovered at the mall last week are also "those of the terror suspects." Closed-circuit TV footage from Westgate Mall shows four gunmen taking part in the attack.
Lenku said "DNA and other investigations will confirm their identities."
So far, one gunmen has been identified: Hassan Abdi Dhuhulow, a Somali-Norwegian.
An attempt to draw out the various parts of HealthCare.gov's tech system, based on the testimony of its contractors.
Elise Hu/NPR
An attempt to draw out the various parts of HealthCare.gov's tech system, based on the testimony of its contractors.
Elise Hu/NPR
One of the major issues that's emerged since the failed rollout of HealthCare.gov is that there was no lead contractor on the project. (CGI Federal was the biggest contractor — awarded the most expensive contract — but says it did not have oversight over the other parts of the system.) Instead, the quarterbacking was left to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a subagency of the Department of Health and Human Services.
As it's become clear recently, the team at CMS did not have the in-house technological expertise to be an effective "quarterback" over a complicated and unprecedented tech system.*
The testimony of contractors on the Hill today before the House Energy and Commerce Committee illustrates the complexity of not just the system, but the procurement process that led to having different contractors responsible for separate parts of a whole that were all dependent on the reliability of other parts.
"When you have five or six different people, each optimizing their part of the process, it's easy to pass a performance problem around in an infinite loop," says Michael Slaby, who headed the technology systems behind President Obama's 2008 and 2012 campaigns.
We tried to draw out each part of HealthCare.gov based on how 4 of its 55 total contractors described it. But if you prefer reading about their responsibilities, I've laid that out below.
CGI Federal is the contractor that has developed a portion of the federal exchange, the software application known as the Federally Facilitated Marketplace, or "FFM." It's the online marketplace for shopping after you create a secure account, so it's a combination of the website and a transaction processor for taking payments after you enroll.
Tools created by CGI include the e-mail that is sent to the user to confirm registration, the link that the user clicks on to activate the account, and the Web page the user lands on.
QSSI built the enterprise identity management (or EIDM), better known as the front door to HealthCare.gov. It's the registration management tool — the part that allows users to create secure accounts. You have to get past the front door before getting to the marketplace. According to administration officials, high traffic led the account creation, or front door, to bottleneck, which prevented the vast majority of users from accessing the marketplace. QSSI says the bottleneck happened because of a late-in-the-game decision to force users to create an account before getting to browse the plans.
QSSI also built the Data Services Hub that is not actually a hub because it doesn't store data. It's better described as a pipeline that transfers data — routing queries and responses between various trusted data sources. For example, after you enter information about yourself, things like citizenship must be verified. The pipeline directs queries to information sources, such as government databases that verify that information, and sends the responses back to the marketplace.
Data from the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Homeland Security, Social Security and insurance carriers will be channeled by this pipeline.
Equifax is responsible for income verification data for those seeking financial assistance (subsidies) through the new health law. It does real-time verification of income and employment, and pipes it through the "hub." It verifies a user's eligibility for Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and for eligibility for tax credits and for reduced copays and deductibles for low-income applicants. This happens after a user gets through the front door, of course.
Serco's contract is to handle the paper applications. To date, the company has received about 8,000 paper applications. But, "Our challenges have included coping with the performance of the portal as that is our means of entering data just as it is for the consumer," Serco's John Lau says. The contract awarded had projected Serco to process 6 million paper applications by the end of March 2014.
*To be fair, the federal government isn't structured in a way that is inviting to the most expert technology minds. The way government hires for tech projects treats technology systems like single end products — a bridge, for example — that can be bought and built and left alone, instead of as services that roll out in stages, respond to users, and are continuously nurtured. For more on that topic, check out my Q&A with Mike Bracken, the United Kingdom's executive director of digital.
A patient believed to be one of the National Guardsmen injured near the naval base in Millington, Tenn., was taken to The Med in Memphis, Tenn., early Thursday afternoon, Oct. 24, 2013. Two ambulances arrived carrying two injured men shortly after the shooting ocurred. (AP Photo/The Commercial Appeal, Karen Pulfer Focht)
A patient believed to be one of the National Guardsmen injured near the naval base in Millington, Tenn., was taken to The Med in Memphis, Tenn., early Thursday afternoon, Oct. 24, 2013. Two ambulances arrived carrying two injured men shortly after the shooting ocurred. (AP Photo/The Commercial Appeal, Karen Pulfer Focht)
Police Chief Rita Stanback and Fire Chief Gary Graves, second from left, of Millington, Tenn., brief reporters about a shooting near a U.S. Naval Support Activity Mid-South on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2013, in Millington, Tenn. The Navy said two soldiers were wounded, though neither had life-threatening injuries. (AP Photo/Adrian Sainz)
Locates site of U.S. Navy base shooting; 2c x 3 inches; 96.3 mm x 76 mm;
MILLINGTON, Tenn. (AP) — A member of the National Guard opened fire at an armory outside a U.S. Navy base in Tennessee, wounding two soldiers before being subdued and disarmed by other soldiers, officials said Thursday.
Millington Police Chief Rita Stanback said the shooter was apprehended Thursday by other National Guard members, and that he did not have the small handgun used in the shooting in his possession by the time officers arrived. Stanback said two National Guard members were shot, one in the foot and one in the leg.
"I'm sure there could have been more injury if they hadn't taken him into custody," Stanback said.
Maj. Gen. Max Haston, Tennessee's adjutant general, said at a news conference that the victims were being treated at a local hospital and he expected them to be released.
The Tennessee National Guard late Thursday identified those shot as Maj. William J. Crawford and Sgt. Maj. Ricky R. McKenzie. The shooter's name has not been released.
In a news release, Guard spokesman Randy Harris said the two were shot while disarming the gunman.
Haston said all three of the men were recruiters. He said the shooter was a sergeant first class who had been in the Guard about six or seven years and that the victims were his superiors. He said the recruiters who were shot were based in Jackson, Tenn.
Haston characterized Thursday's activity as disheartening.
"You never think something like this is going to happen on your watch or in good old Tennessee here," he said.
Stanback said at an earlier news conference that the soldiers' conditions were not immediately known, though the Navy said on its official Twitter account that neither had life-threatening injuries.
The shooter was a recruiter who had been relieved of duty, said a law enforcement official briefed on the developments. The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Asked about this at the news conference, Haston would only say that there were "administrative policies and procedures that we were going through with him." He did not elaborate.
Stanback said the shooting happened inside an armory building just outside Naval Support Activity Mid-South. There are more than 7,500 military, civilian and contract personnel working on the base, according to the facility's official website. The facility is home to human resources operations and serves as headquarters to the Navy Personnel Command, Navy Recruiting Command, the Navy Manpower Analysis Center and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Finance Center.
The Navy said the base was briefly placed on lockdown as a precaution, though the lockdown was lifted in the afternoon.
On Thursday afternoon, yellow crime scene tape remained around the front of the building where the shooting happened. Law enforcement had blocked off streets with access to the armory, which is across the street from the army base.
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