iPhone users are already speaking to their mobiles via ‘Siri’. Articulation technology is avant-garde fast, with car manufacturers demography it on board, writes DAVIN O'DWYER
FROM THE bad-natured HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey to the accessible Kitt in Knight Rider, the computers and robots of our dreams for the approaching accept one affair in accepted – they allocution to us and, about added importantly, they listen. That eyes of captivation conversations with acquainted computers adeptness assume like the bottle of science fiction but, amazingly, it’s a approaching that is already assuming signs of accepting arrived.
At Nuance, the leaders in voice-recognition technology, they alarm it the “Siri effect” – humans are allurement questions of their iPhones in their millions, the aboriginal assurance that voice-recognition technology is accessible to go mainstream.
The close has just opened its all-embracing address in Dublin, creating added than 40 jobs and, anticipation from the technologies that Nuance is alive on, this is a aggregation assertive to transform how we collaborate with technology – it’s not traveling to stop at smartphones, not by a connected shot.
One of the a lot of accessible applications for this avant-garde alternation archetype is the car. At Apple’s Common Developers Conference endure week, the Cupertino tech behemothic appear the “Eyes Free” adaptation of its voice-activated claimed assistant, which will accomplish it ideal for accomplishing in cars – BMW, General Motors, Mercedes, Land Rover, Jaguar, Audi, Toyota, Chrysler and Honda were said to be advancing to accept the technology with an activation button on the council wheel. Eyes break on the alley and easily on the wheel, rather than on the touch-screen device.
One notable absentee from the account of aboriginal ally with Apple’s “Eyes Free” arrangement was Ford, which has been beat its own agnate technology for a few years now. Recently, Ford and Nuance gave a affectation of some of the technologies they are co-operating on at Ford’s European analysis centre in Aachen in western Germany.
The accident approved the amount to which the auto industry is action on a voice-controlled approaching – the adeptness to accept music, get admonition and acknowledgment to argument messages, all things that humans are acclimated to accomplishing with bland affluence these days, becomes appreciably safer if conducted via articulation control.
Ford alien its Ford Sync technology in its US models aback in 2007, but will be introducing the chip communications and ball arrangement in European models alone after this year. Built by Microsoft and powered by Nuance’s voice-recognition technology, it allows for an impressively affected akin of assurance with the car. It’s not absolutely Kitt, obviously, but it illustrates the simple power, and promise, of articulation control.
“Mobility has afflicted from the Model T to the iPhone,” says Pim van der Jagt, managing administrator of the Aachen analysis centre. Solving the botheration of how to accommodate the adaptable communications technology of today and tomorrow with carriage technology is a key claiming for the big car makers.
Ford Sync uses Bluetooth to acquaint with iPhones, Blackberries and Android smartphones, acceptance for calls to be accomplished by announced command and argument letters to be dictated.
Van der Jagt is aboveboard about Ford’s contempo woes, acknowledging that artefact superior was a key acumen for its banking problems. With that in mind, absorption on convalescent the active acquaintance through the appliance of bleeding-edge technology is a cornerstone of its connected recovery, he says.
Of course, it’s not simple for a car maker to become a tech company, and the latest bearing of Ford’s in-car advice and ascendancy system, featuring an 8in touchscreen, and dubbed MyFord Touch, has been aggress by believability and account problems.
The difficulties with MyFord Touch illustrates the claiming faced by all companies as they face a software-dependent future. Still, Ford Sync has so far been deployed on four actor cars in the US, and the aggregation is aiming for 13 actor Sync barter common by 2015, including 3.5 actor in Europe.
Ford is aswell casting affluence of account about how approaching technology adeptness radically advance the active experience, alone some of which await on articulation recognition.
According to van der Jagt, Ford and added car manufacturers are co-operating on a defended advice agreement amid cars that will acquiesce for real-time cartage and assurance advice to be transmitted amid vehicles, potentially awfully convalescent alley safety.
The astute timeline for the accomplishing of those aggressive affairs is abounding years in the future, but articulation ascendancy is a added actual accession to our active ambiance – the problems airish by parsing animal accent patterns, eliminating accomplishments babble and compassionate assorted accents are badly challenging, but the solutions accept bigger badly in contempo years.
“Voice technology has accomplished above artlessly recognising what has been said, to now cover accustomed accent processing that understands what we mean, to admission agreeable and accomplish specific outcomes,” says Stefan Ortmanns, a chief vice-president of adaptable engineering at Nuance.
2012年6月27日星期三
2012年6月26日星期二
Canada, Israel assurance activity deal
The two countries active an acceding on activity cooperation Tuesday that will acquiesce for added accord over ability development projects and renewable ability research. Joe Oliver, Canada’s Minister of Accustomed Resources, active the acceding forth with Israeli Activity and Water Assets Minister Uzi Landau in Tel Aviv.
Ahead of a account appointment planned for Thursday, Mr. Oliver said in a account there was “tremendous opportunities for Canada and Israel to abet added carefully on activity issues.”
As appear in the Banking Post endure week, Mr. Oliver flew to the Jewish accompaniment on Friday to altercate how Canada could advice the country advance its afresh apparent massive anarchistic oil and gas deposits. Endure year Israel apparent shale oil deposits that are believed to be a part of the better in the world.
“Large underground oil shale formations accept been apparent in Israel, its all-inclusive abeyant is currently getting explored, and area are getting able for an amplification of activities,” addendum an extract from Tuesday’s agreement.
The London-based Apple Activity Council estimates the Shfela Basin, southwest of Jerusalem, contains up to 250 billion barrels of shale oil. The ability places the country third globally in shale oil resources, abaft just the United States and China, and rivals the 250 billion barrels of accepted oil affluence controlled by Saudi Arabia.
Offshore, the country is said to acquire added than 16 abundance cubic anxiety of anarchistic accustomed gas deposits. Those discoveries accept apparent a affecting turnaround for Israel’s activity fortunes, as decades of antecedent analysis had accurate fruitless.
A 1997 chargeless barter acceding amid Canada and Israel excludes areas such as able casework and banking investment. It is cryptic whether this new acceding would finer aggrandize chargeless barter admission to those areas.
Paul Duchesne, a agent for Accustomed Assets Canada, said the acceding “builds on 15 years of able bartering relations beneath the FTA,” abacus the administration hopes it will “further access mutual barter in the activity sector.” However, he did not say whether those increases would appear as a aftereffect of any expansions to chargeless trade.
Collaboration amid the two countries on development issues in fact began years afore the academic chargeless barter acceding came into force. The Ottawa-based Canada-Israel Industrial Analysis and Development Foundation was accustomed in 1994 to advice firms in both countries authorize analysis and development partnerships and continues to advance mutual administration assets and expertise.
Henri Rothschild, admiral of the foundation, said the acceding will accomplish his job easier artlessly by accretion acquaintance of Canada’s affability to added all-around markets.
“Global technology partnerships are traveling to become added and added important in the years advanced and as countries like Brazil, Turkey and China body all-around networks and attending for partners; a lot of added countries adulation to accomplice with Canada we just don’t acknowledge abundant the befalling that we accept for architecture bridges alfresco of this country,” Mr. Rothschild said.
“So the acceding active by Minister Oliver is a actual acceptable affair for Canada and creates afterimage for opportunities in added countries.”
While Canada is a acclaimed apple baton in shale abstraction technology, Israel aswell has a acclaimed acceptability for addition and the country is already accidental to the development of Canada’s oil sands. The upgrader technology that has been online at the Long Lake activity website in arctic Alberta back 2009 was developed by Israel’s Ormat Industries.
Israel has little acquaintance with accustomed ability development, decidedly with the basic and technologically accelerated action of extracting shale oil and gas. But the area has been advancing in Canada for decades and Mr. Oliver believes Canadian ability and ability could advice Israel added bound attain activity independence.
Ahead of a account appointment planned for Thursday, Mr. Oliver said in a account there was “tremendous opportunities for Canada and Israel to abet added carefully on activity issues.”
As appear in the Banking Post endure week, Mr. Oliver flew to the Jewish accompaniment on Friday to altercate how Canada could advice the country advance its afresh apparent massive anarchistic oil and gas deposits. Endure year Israel apparent shale oil deposits that are believed to be a part of the better in the world.
“Large underground oil shale formations accept been apparent in Israel, its all-inclusive abeyant is currently getting explored, and area are getting able for an amplification of activities,” addendum an extract from Tuesday’s agreement.
The London-based Apple Activity Council estimates the Shfela Basin, southwest of Jerusalem, contains up to 250 billion barrels of shale oil. The ability places the country third globally in shale oil resources, abaft just the United States and China, and rivals the 250 billion barrels of accepted oil affluence controlled by Saudi Arabia.
Offshore, the country is said to acquire added than 16 abundance cubic anxiety of anarchistic accustomed gas deposits. Those discoveries accept apparent a affecting turnaround for Israel’s activity fortunes, as decades of antecedent analysis had accurate fruitless.
A 1997 chargeless barter acceding amid Canada and Israel excludes areas such as able casework and banking investment. It is cryptic whether this new acceding would finer aggrandize chargeless barter admission to those areas.
Paul Duchesne, a agent for Accustomed Assets Canada, said the acceding “builds on 15 years of able bartering relations beneath the FTA,” abacus the administration hopes it will “further access mutual barter in the activity sector.” However, he did not say whether those increases would appear as a aftereffect of any expansions to chargeless trade.
Collaboration amid the two countries on development issues in fact began years afore the academic chargeless barter acceding came into force. The Ottawa-based Canada-Israel Industrial Analysis and Development Foundation was accustomed in 1994 to advice firms in both countries authorize analysis and development partnerships and continues to advance mutual administration assets and expertise.
Henri Rothschild, admiral of the foundation, said the acceding will accomplish his job easier artlessly by accretion acquaintance of Canada’s affability to added all-around markets.
“Global technology partnerships are traveling to become added and added important in the years advanced and as countries like Brazil, Turkey and China body all-around networks and attending for partners; a lot of added countries adulation to accomplice with Canada we just don’t acknowledge abundant the befalling that we accept for architecture bridges alfresco of this country,” Mr. Rothschild said.
“So the acceding active by Minister Oliver is a actual acceptable affair for Canada and creates afterimage for opportunities in added countries.”
While Canada is a acclaimed apple baton in shale abstraction technology, Israel aswell has a acclaimed acceptability for addition and the country is already accidental to the development of Canada’s oil sands. The upgrader technology that has been online at the Long Lake activity website in arctic Alberta back 2009 was developed by Israel’s Ormat Industries.
Israel has little acquaintance with accustomed ability development, decidedly with the basic and technologically accelerated action of extracting shale oil and gas. But the area has been advancing in Canada for decades and Mr. Oliver believes Canadian ability and ability could advice Israel added bound attain activity independence.
2012年6月25日星期一
Science for the people
Somehow, science and the Pakistani association accept never absolutely formed a bond. There is consistently a little tension, some suspicion and affluence of misunderstanding. Our suspicion does not advice our adeptness to anticipate rationally, analyse alarmingly and innovate for the future. It would be arbitrary to say that the accountability of this confounding lies alone on the greater association at ample — I believe, that we as scientists, accept not performed our locations either.
As I absolved aback from the Cambridge Science Festival, an anniversary accident captivated in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that attracts bags of accepted citizens every year, I asked myself how appear a agnate accident does not yield abode in Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad or every added aloft city-limits of Pakistan?
The science anniversary that I am cerebration and talking about is not an accident area acceptance advertise their projects and attempt for a prize, but a anniversary that absolutely celebrates science in a way that makes it attainable to the accepted man and woman, both association and illiterate. What we charge is a altercation of how science continues to appulse our lives and what lies ahead. What are the transformative account and how can those, who are in this acreage for a active and those who are not, account from it equally. What I would like to see, is a accepted man, who was not afforded any education, get aflame to forward his babe to academy so she can abstraction science.
The accident at the Cambridge Science Anniversary — area I had the befalling to present — was blue-blooded “Big Account for Busy People”. Speakers, including myself, had alone 5 account to allocution about a big abstraction pertaining to our analysis and altercate it and its implications for the accepted public. The audience, which was able-bodied aloft a thousand people, included association from all races, opinions, religions and, of course, ages. Following the five-minute presentations, there was a five-minute window for questions and answers. The capacity ranged from accessories that ascertain affected accessories to academician mapping and moral decision-making, crumbling and the world, the new superconductors and real-world origami. The abridgement of any accurate affair was advised as the abstraction was to altercate big account in simple words that would appoint a broader community. Agnate contest through the advance of 10 canicule affianced kids and adults, alive and non-working people, men and women and discussed the applications and fundamentals of science and created a faculty that science is air-conditioned and that we charge it. If a high-tech, almighty artistic and innovation-conscious city-limits like Cambridge feels that science is bare for its development, the case for Pakistan’s charge for science is aswell acutely obvious.
We charge to appoint the scientists and engineers at our universities and colleges to yield the bulletin to the next generation. There may not be a lot of analysis demography abode at anniversary and every administration in our universities, but there is still affluence of absorbing analysis and adroitness amidst our advisers that could appoint the broader community. But perhaps, the arch altercation in favour of a science anniversary is to actualize a faculty of wonder, adroitness and afflatus a part of our youth. We charge the ‘Sputnik’ moments for our society, the ‘Eureka’ activity in our accouchement to accept in the changes that association needs. There is never abundant of rational thinking, quantitative approaches and avant-garde spirit in any society, and our association in particular, is abbreviate in accumulation if it comes to these capital ingredients. A faculty of admiration can aswell do wonders for our people.
As I absolved aback from the Cambridge Science Festival, an anniversary accident captivated in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that attracts bags of accepted citizens every year, I asked myself how appear a agnate accident does not yield abode in Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad or every added aloft city-limits of Pakistan?
The science anniversary that I am cerebration and talking about is not an accident area acceptance advertise their projects and attempt for a prize, but a anniversary that absolutely celebrates science in a way that makes it attainable to the accepted man and woman, both association and illiterate. What we charge is a altercation of how science continues to appulse our lives and what lies ahead. What are the transformative account and how can those, who are in this acreage for a active and those who are not, account from it equally. What I would like to see, is a accepted man, who was not afforded any education, get aflame to forward his babe to academy so she can abstraction science.
The accident at the Cambridge Science Anniversary — area I had the befalling to present — was blue-blooded “Big Account for Busy People”. Speakers, including myself, had alone 5 account to allocution about a big abstraction pertaining to our analysis and altercate it and its implications for the accepted public. The audience, which was able-bodied aloft a thousand people, included association from all races, opinions, religions and, of course, ages. Following the five-minute presentations, there was a five-minute window for questions and answers. The capacity ranged from accessories that ascertain affected accessories to academician mapping and moral decision-making, crumbling and the world, the new superconductors and real-world origami. The abridgement of any accurate affair was advised as the abstraction was to altercate big account in simple words that would appoint a broader community. Agnate contest through the advance of 10 canicule affianced kids and adults, alive and non-working people, men and women and discussed the applications and fundamentals of science and created a faculty that science is air-conditioned and that we charge it. If a high-tech, almighty artistic and innovation-conscious city-limits like Cambridge feels that science is bare for its development, the case for Pakistan’s charge for science is aswell acutely obvious.
We charge to appoint the scientists and engineers at our universities and colleges to yield the bulletin to the next generation. There may not be a lot of analysis demography abode at anniversary and every administration in our universities, but there is still affluence of absorbing analysis and adroitness amidst our advisers that could appoint the broader community. But perhaps, the arch altercation in favour of a science anniversary is to actualize a faculty of wonder, adroitness and afflatus a part of our youth. We charge the ‘Sputnik’ moments for our society, the ‘Eureka’ activity in our accouchement to accept in the changes that association needs. There is never abundant of rational thinking, quantitative approaches and avant-garde spirit in any society, and our association in particular, is abbreviate in accumulation if it comes to these capital ingredients. A faculty of admiration can aswell do wonders for our people.
2012年6月24日星期日
For Appearance Bug stores, the farewells are about to begin
They alarm it the retail graveyard, because no amount how hot a abundance may be in its heyday, allowance are it won't outduel Father Time. If a banker is down to its endure stitch of mojo, it is active like others that already ability accept been advised abiding .
So it goes with one of the region's oldest actual accoutrement chains: Appearance Bug. Sprung from what began as a Philadelphia banker 70 years ago, it is on a afterlife advance to its final comatose place, a blow in the angry antagonism to advertise moderately priced clothes and accessories to women.
The specialty alternation — a mainstay of band arcade centers back its aboriginal abundance opened (and still stands today) on the Black Horse Pike in Audubon, N.J., in the 1960s — will abandon in the advancing months afterwards a bootless attempt to authority its own adjoin Walmart, Kohl's, and others now accepted a part of budget-conscious, or alleged middle-market, shoppers.
The adjustment to do abroad with Appearance Bug and its alloyed assortments for women of all shapes and sizes comes from Ascena Retail Group Inc., which bought the alternation and its sister brands Lane Bryant and Catherines in a accord admired at about $900 actor beforehand this month. All three chains had formed the amount of Bensalem-based Charming Shoppes Inc., a aggregation that began trading about on Wall Street in 1971.
About bisected of Appearance Bug's 600 food are accepted to vanish by year's end, if their leases expire. The fate of the others is beneath clear.
Some may be adapted to Dress Barn, Justice, or Maurices food — brands already endemic by Ascena, a Suffern, N.Y.-based association that paid Charming Shoppes stockholders $7.35 a allotment in the accord that bankrupt June 15. Administrative offices for what is larboard of Charming Shoppes abide in Bensalem, for now.
Ascena did not accomplish aggregation admiral accessible for this article, but on the day of the acquisition, admiral and arch controlling David Jaffe batten agilely about Charming's two plus-size accoutrement brands, Lane Bryant and Catherines. Both are beheld as able because they bazaar actually to larger-size women with fashionable merchandise.
That aforementioned day, however, Jaffe ashen no time circumlocutory about Appearance Bug. He appear that the added barren alternation — which Charming Shoppes had abominably approved to bankrupt afore the auction — would be shut down by aboriginal 2013.
"The Lane Bryant and Catherines businesses are acutely commutual to our added concepts, and we apprehend them to accommodate seamlessly," Jaffe said in a able account that day.
Fashion Bug had been on the abatement for years, afterwards rapidly accretion through the 1970s into the aboriginal 1990s, if Charming Shoppes was still abundantly getting run by associates of the founding Sidewater and Wachs families.
"Specialty retail and appearance is a absolutely boxy game," said Erin Armendinger, managing administrator of the Jay H. Baker Retailing Centermost at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, area Ascena's Jaffe and onetime Charming Shoppes arch controlling Dorrit Bern are lath members. "You're alone as acceptable as your endure season."
"I anticipate it absolutely started to about-face acerb [for Appearance Bug] if you started to see the dispatch of the Wal-Marts and the Kohl's of the world," said Thomas A. Filandro, chief customer analyst at Susquehanna Financial Group, who has followed Charming Shoppes for the investment association for about 20 years.
Big-box chains like those accept airtight up the barter who, decades earlier, acclimated to about-face for moderately priced beautiful fashions to specialty food such as Appearance Bug that competed with administration stores.
Morris and Arthur Sidewater opened their aboriginal store, Charming Shoppes, on Frankford Avenue in Philadelphia in 1940. They teamed up with David and Ellis Wachs to accessible a additional abundance in Norristown a decade later. Their aboriginal Appearance Bug fabricated its admission in that Audubon, N.J., arcade centermost in the 1960s.
By the aboriginal 1990s, Appearance Bug had opened its 1,000th store. But things had already amorphous to unravel.
In August 1995, the aggregation assassin Bern, a above controlling at Sears, Roebuck & Co., as CEO, to rein in and restructure the company. She led Charming Shoppes through a alternation of acquisitions that adapted it into a above amateur in the design, accomplish and auction of accouterment for plus-size women.
Charming bought the Modern Woman plus-size accoutrement alternation in 1999, the 433-location Catherines Food Corp. in 2000, and 651 food acceptance to Lane Bryant in 2001.
But Appearance Bug food came to be beneath focused — a business archetypal bedevilled by the accession of the big boxes and their bargain accoutrement in some of the actual aforementioned arcade centers. Stocked with an array of plus-size accoutrement alongside accouterment for abate women and, with capricious reliability, offerings for juniors, the mix did not angle out.
"If I asked 1,000 people, `What does Appearance Bug beggarly to you?' they'd say, ‘Who's Appearance Bug?'?" Filandro said.
The chain's abatement was precipitious. As afresh as 2007, added than 1,000 Appearance Bug food generated $1 billion in anniversary sales, Filandro said.
Then, amid 2007 and 2011, about 400 Appearance Bug food were shuttered. The aggregation aswell absent Bern as CEO in a pitched proxy action with hedge-fund investors.
So it goes with one of the region's oldest actual accoutrement chains: Appearance Bug. Sprung from what began as a Philadelphia banker 70 years ago, it is on a afterlife advance to its final comatose place, a blow in the angry antagonism to advertise moderately priced clothes and accessories to women.
The specialty alternation — a mainstay of band arcade centers back its aboriginal abundance opened (and still stands today) on the Black Horse Pike in Audubon, N.J., in the 1960s — will abandon in the advancing months afterwards a bootless attempt to authority its own adjoin Walmart, Kohl's, and others now accepted a part of budget-conscious, or alleged middle-market, shoppers.
The adjustment to do abroad with Appearance Bug and its alloyed assortments for women of all shapes and sizes comes from Ascena Retail Group Inc., which bought the alternation and its sister brands Lane Bryant and Catherines in a accord admired at about $900 actor beforehand this month. All three chains had formed the amount of Bensalem-based Charming Shoppes Inc., a aggregation that began trading about on Wall Street in 1971.
About bisected of Appearance Bug's 600 food are accepted to vanish by year's end, if their leases expire. The fate of the others is beneath clear.
Some may be adapted to Dress Barn, Justice, or Maurices food — brands already endemic by Ascena, a Suffern, N.Y.-based association that paid Charming Shoppes stockholders $7.35 a allotment in the accord that bankrupt June 15. Administrative offices for what is larboard of Charming Shoppes abide in Bensalem, for now.
Ascena did not accomplish aggregation admiral accessible for this article, but on the day of the acquisition, admiral and arch controlling David Jaffe batten agilely about Charming's two plus-size accoutrement brands, Lane Bryant and Catherines. Both are beheld as able because they bazaar actually to larger-size women with fashionable merchandise.
That aforementioned day, however, Jaffe ashen no time circumlocutory about Appearance Bug. He appear that the added barren alternation — which Charming Shoppes had abominably approved to bankrupt afore the auction — would be shut down by aboriginal 2013.
"The Lane Bryant and Catherines businesses are acutely commutual to our added concepts, and we apprehend them to accommodate seamlessly," Jaffe said in a able account that day.
Fashion Bug had been on the abatement for years, afterwards rapidly accretion through the 1970s into the aboriginal 1990s, if Charming Shoppes was still abundantly getting run by associates of the founding Sidewater and Wachs families.
"Specialty retail and appearance is a absolutely boxy game," said Erin Armendinger, managing administrator of the Jay H. Baker Retailing Centermost at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, area Ascena's Jaffe and onetime Charming Shoppes arch controlling Dorrit Bern are lath members. "You're alone as acceptable as your endure season."
"I anticipate it absolutely started to about-face acerb [for Appearance Bug] if you started to see the dispatch of the Wal-Marts and the Kohl's of the world," said Thomas A. Filandro, chief customer analyst at Susquehanna Financial Group, who has followed Charming Shoppes for the investment association for about 20 years.
Big-box chains like those accept airtight up the barter who, decades earlier, acclimated to about-face for moderately priced beautiful fashions to specialty food such as Appearance Bug that competed with administration stores.
Morris and Arthur Sidewater opened their aboriginal store, Charming Shoppes, on Frankford Avenue in Philadelphia in 1940. They teamed up with David and Ellis Wachs to accessible a additional abundance in Norristown a decade later. Their aboriginal Appearance Bug fabricated its admission in that Audubon, N.J., arcade centermost in the 1960s.
By the aboriginal 1990s, Appearance Bug had opened its 1,000th store. But things had already amorphous to unravel.
In August 1995, the aggregation assassin Bern, a above controlling at Sears, Roebuck & Co., as CEO, to rein in and restructure the company. She led Charming Shoppes through a alternation of acquisitions that adapted it into a above amateur in the design, accomplish and auction of accouterment for plus-size women.
Charming bought the Modern Woman plus-size accoutrement alternation in 1999, the 433-location Catherines Food Corp. in 2000, and 651 food acceptance to Lane Bryant in 2001.
But Appearance Bug food came to be beneath focused — a business archetypal bedevilled by the accession of the big boxes and their bargain accoutrement in some of the actual aforementioned arcade centers. Stocked with an array of plus-size accoutrement alongside accouterment for abate women and, with capricious reliability, offerings for juniors, the mix did not angle out.
"If I asked 1,000 people, `What does Appearance Bug beggarly to you?' they'd say, ‘Who's Appearance Bug?'?" Filandro said.
The chain's abatement was precipitious. As afresh as 2007, added than 1,000 Appearance Bug food generated $1 billion in anniversary sales, Filandro said.
Then, amid 2007 and 2011, about 400 Appearance Bug food were shuttered. The aggregation aswell absent Bern as CEO in a pitched proxy action with hedge-fund investors.
2012年6月19日星期二
Just another Win 8 tablet or something special?
Last night Microsoft held a press event to reveal...a tablet. Doesn't the world have enough tablets at this point? I was all set to put on my snarky blogger hat and take some pot shots at what Microsoft had to show us but then, I kind of started buying what they were selling.
Let's back up a little. At the most basic, the Microsoft Surface line consists of a pair (for now) of 10.6" tablets running Windows 8 or Windows RT.
Both tablets have a Gorilla Glass 2 display and magnesium casing that's supposed to make for very stiff, sturdy hardware. Both come with an integrated kickstand for hands-free viewing of content or for use as a faux-laptop with the addition of a keyboard. They both also have a full sized USB port as well as video out.
The ARM-based, Windows RT model is running on an Nvidia Tegra chip, presumably the Tegra 3+ that is being using in other Windows 8 tablets. This model comes in 32GB & 64 GB configurations and is 9.3 mm thick and weighs 676 grams (about 24 ounces). It's set to launch concurrently with Windows 8. No price given other than that it'll be comparable with similar hardware.
The Pro model runs on an Intel Ivy Bridge i5 processor. The Pro comes in 64 GB and 128 GB configurations and is a bit larger than its little brother: 13.5 mm thick and 903 grams (about 32 ounces). It'll ship a few months after the RT model and again, no price offered.
Here's an official Microsoft spec sheet with more details.
So far, so good but the specs don't really get me as excited as the apparent build quality and the cool accessories.
In addition to the tablets themselves, Microsoft showed off a pair of covers for the tablet. The Touch cover looks like an iPad Smart Cover only it doubles as a virtual keyboard and trackpad. Open the cover (it attaches to the tablet via magnets) and prop up the tablet with its kickstand and you have a laptop-esque experience. The Touch cover doesn't have physical keys but it has an accelerometer that can determine touches that are "key taps" vs touches that are a palm resting on the cover. If you're using the tablet as a tablet and flip the cover all the way back, the keyboard functions turn off. It sounds pretty nifty but we'll have to see how it works in practice.
The other cover is the Type Cover. It's a bit thicker than the Touch cover but it includes physical keys; probably better for more serious writing. Combine the Surface Pro with the Type Cover and you really do have a laptop experience when you need it.
So I find myself intrigued by all of this. The Surface Tablets, or at least Microsoft's presentation of them, have kind of an Apple vibe. I'm sure they'll be pricier than competing Windows 8 tablets but they just seem to be really high quality hardware. Of course we'll know more when we get closer to launch and review units start going out; maybe I'm just being dazzled by a new shiny.
Engadget has a quick hands-on look at the Surface RT that's worth reading (apparently the Pro was hands-off for this event) or you could hit up the Surface website for a few images and not much else yet. Or check out the first ad for Surface.
Let's back up a little. At the most basic, the Microsoft Surface line consists of a pair (for now) of 10.6" tablets running Windows 8 or Windows RT.
Both tablets have a Gorilla Glass 2 display and magnesium casing that's supposed to make for very stiff, sturdy hardware. Both come with an integrated kickstand for hands-free viewing of content or for use as a faux-laptop with the addition of a keyboard. They both also have a full sized USB port as well as video out.
The ARM-based, Windows RT model is running on an Nvidia Tegra chip, presumably the Tegra 3+ that is being using in other Windows 8 tablets. This model comes in 32GB & 64 GB configurations and is 9.3 mm thick and weighs 676 grams (about 24 ounces). It's set to launch concurrently with Windows 8. No price given other than that it'll be comparable with similar hardware.
The Pro model runs on an Intel Ivy Bridge i5 processor. The Pro comes in 64 GB and 128 GB configurations and is a bit larger than its little brother: 13.5 mm thick and 903 grams (about 32 ounces). It'll ship a few months after the RT model and again, no price offered.
Here's an official Microsoft spec sheet with more details.
So far, so good but the specs don't really get me as excited as the apparent build quality and the cool accessories.
In addition to the tablets themselves, Microsoft showed off a pair of covers for the tablet. The Touch cover looks like an iPad Smart Cover only it doubles as a virtual keyboard and trackpad. Open the cover (it attaches to the tablet via magnets) and prop up the tablet with its kickstand and you have a laptop-esque experience. The Touch cover doesn't have physical keys but it has an accelerometer that can determine touches that are "key taps" vs touches that are a palm resting on the cover. If you're using the tablet as a tablet and flip the cover all the way back, the keyboard functions turn off. It sounds pretty nifty but we'll have to see how it works in practice.
The other cover is the Type Cover. It's a bit thicker than the Touch cover but it includes physical keys; probably better for more serious writing. Combine the Surface Pro with the Type Cover and you really do have a laptop experience when you need it.
So I find myself intrigued by all of this. The Surface Tablets, or at least Microsoft's presentation of them, have kind of an Apple vibe. I'm sure they'll be pricier than competing Windows 8 tablets but they just seem to be really high quality hardware. Of course we'll know more when we get closer to launch and review units start going out; maybe I'm just being dazzled by a new shiny.
Engadget has a quick hands-on look at the Surface RT that's worth reading (apparently the Pro was hands-off for this event) or you could hit up the Surface website for a few images and not much else yet. Or check out the first ad for Surface.
2012年6月18日星期一
Legal expert
A prominent constitutional lawyer says Canada`s top bureaucrat and 64 deputy ministers who have failed to provide details about the nature of the Conservative government`s $5.2 billion in spending cuts in their departments are violating the law and should turn the information over to the parliamentary budget officer.
Joseph Magnet, a law professor at the University of Ottawa, said deputy ministers are obligated under the Parliament of Canada Act to release to Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) Kevin Page economic data their departments have collected. Refusing to give that information contravenes the law, which was among the reforms the Conservatives passed in its signature Federal Accountability Act.
``As the information the PBO requested constitutes financial or economic data, necessary for carrying out the PBO`s mandate, and is neither personal information, the disclosure of which is restricted by the (Access to Information Act), nor information contained within a Cabinet confidence, the deputy heads are required to comply with the PBO`s request,'' Magnet concluded.
Page asked Magnet for a legal opinion on departments` refusal to give information about the cuts in his battle to shed more light on the nature of the cuts and the impact on programs and services to Canadians. Page has issued two calls to departments since the March budget for information on the cuts. So far only 18 of 82 departments have complied.
However, the battle took a dramatic turn when Privy Council clerk Wayne Wouters, the country`s top bureaucrat, told Page, on behalf of all deputy ministers, that they couldn`t release the information because their hands were tied by collective agreements with federal unions that oblige them to first inform unions and employees about the cuts.
With the legal opinion, Page has again asked Wouters to release the information ``immediately'' because that information is critical for ``Parliament to exercise its constitutional role of controlling public finances.''
However, his letter to the clerk makes no reference to going to court to force the release. Page has said he was prepared to go to Federal Court if he and Wouters were unable to resolve their differences over the timing and release of information about the cuts.
``The information should have been provided as requested and both your department and other departments have not complied and are in violation of their legal obligations under the act,'' Page wrote in a letter sent to Wouters.
The parliamentary budget office was created to help parliamentarians in their key constitutional role to scrutinize the way the government raises and spends money and hold it to account.
In the opinion, Magnet and lawyer Tolga Yalkin said the Parliament of Canada act gives the budget officer the authority to request ``free and timely access to financial or economic data'' that deputy ministers have in their possession to fulfil that mandate. The only grounds for refusing are if the PBO request involves private or personal information that is restricted under the Access to Information Act, or if the data is part of a cabinet confidence.
In his original letter, Wouters doesn`t cite any of these legal grounds for these exemptions, and instead argued that the contractual obligations of collective agreements with the 18 federal unions prevented the release of any further information.
Joseph Magnet, a law professor at the University of Ottawa, said deputy ministers are obligated under the Parliament of Canada Act to release to Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) Kevin Page economic data their departments have collected. Refusing to give that information contravenes the law, which was among the reforms the Conservatives passed in its signature Federal Accountability Act.
``As the information the PBO requested constitutes financial or economic data, necessary for carrying out the PBO`s mandate, and is neither personal information, the disclosure of which is restricted by the (Access to Information Act), nor information contained within a Cabinet confidence, the deputy heads are required to comply with the PBO`s request,'' Magnet concluded.
Page asked Magnet for a legal opinion on departments` refusal to give information about the cuts in his battle to shed more light on the nature of the cuts and the impact on programs and services to Canadians. Page has issued two calls to departments since the March budget for information on the cuts. So far only 18 of 82 departments have complied.
However, the battle took a dramatic turn when Privy Council clerk Wayne Wouters, the country`s top bureaucrat, told Page, on behalf of all deputy ministers, that they couldn`t release the information because their hands were tied by collective agreements with federal unions that oblige them to first inform unions and employees about the cuts.
With the legal opinion, Page has again asked Wouters to release the information ``immediately'' because that information is critical for ``Parliament to exercise its constitutional role of controlling public finances.''
However, his letter to the clerk makes no reference to going to court to force the release. Page has said he was prepared to go to Federal Court if he and Wouters were unable to resolve their differences over the timing and release of information about the cuts.
``The information should have been provided as requested and both your department and other departments have not complied and are in violation of their legal obligations under the act,'' Page wrote in a letter sent to Wouters.
The parliamentary budget office was created to help parliamentarians in their key constitutional role to scrutinize the way the government raises and spends money and hold it to account.
In the opinion, Magnet and lawyer Tolga Yalkin said the Parliament of Canada act gives the budget officer the authority to request ``free and timely access to financial or economic data'' that deputy ministers have in their possession to fulfil that mandate. The only grounds for refusing are if the PBO request involves private or personal information that is restricted under the Access to Information Act, or if the data is part of a cabinet confidence.
In his original letter, Wouters doesn`t cite any of these legal grounds for these exemptions, and instead argued that the contractual obligations of collective agreements with the 18 federal unions prevented the release of any further information.
2012年6月17日星期日
McDowell, Furyk face long day at Olympic
McDowell was three shots behind going into the final round at Pebble Beach two years ago when he watched Dustin Johnson hit wedge toward the second green and take five more shots for a triple bogey. Just like that, the lead was gone, and so was Johnson. He closed with an 82.
McDowell was in the final group against this year at The Olympic Club, only he had company. Not only was he tied with Jim Furyk, but 11 others were within four shots of the lead.
''It doesn't feel much different than two years ago,'' McDowell said Saturday night. ''I guess I know what to expect now. That's probably the only difference. Emotionally, I went through the same experience today like I did two years ago. I was anxious and I was nervous. Two years ago, Saturday was a tough day for me. And hopefully tomorrow, I'll know what to expect for the day.''
For a U.S. Open, expect anything.
Olympic has no water hazards, one fairway bunker and only two players under par. The bogeys come from getting out of position off the tee and even on the greens. The higher scores come from players unwilling to take their lumps after a poor shot.
History has not been kind to the leaders over the last decade.
Rory McIlroy was different, but he was playing a different kind of U.S. Open at Congressional, which was soft from rain and yielded a record score. Throw out his 69 in the final round, and you have to go all the way back to Tiger Woods at Pebble Beach in 2000 to find a 54-hole leader who broke par.
Aaron Baddeley had a two-shot lead going into the final round at Oakmont. He three-putted from 8 feet for a triple bogey on the opening hole and shot 80. Retief Goosen was going for his third U.S. Open title in five years at Pinehurst in 2005 when he took a three-shot lead into the final round. It was gone in three holes and he shot 81.
Such a closing round would not seem likely for McDowell and Furyk. Not only are they U.S. Open champions (then again, so was Goosen), they have controlled games and toughness that makes them equipped for a fight against par.
''It doesn't have to look or be fancy. It has to work,'' Furyk said. ''And I think we have styles of games where we put the ball into play, we put the ball on the green and take our chance at the putt and then move on.''
Even so, McDowell was more interested in looking behind him on the leaderboard instead of ahead to another Sunday celebration.
''It's wide open,'' he said. ''I look at guys a 2- and 3- and 4-over par in this tournament, who I really think have a realistic shot to win,'' he said. ''There's a fine line on this golf course between 67, 68 and 75, 76. There really is. It's a tough course. You've got to execute shots well. You've got to keep the ball on the correct side of the pin. And you've got to play well.''
There's an eclectic mix of players in range.
Ernie Els is a three-time major champion. Lee Westwood is desperate for his first. Blake Adams is playing in his first U.S. Open. John Peterson, the NCAA champion from LSU, is a year removed from college. Beau Hossler, the 17-year-old wonder, still has another year of high school. Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium can overpower a golf course. Jason Dufner, a two-time winner this year, prefers to plod his way around.
Not to be entirely overlooked is Tiger Woods, though he has never come from behind - five shots, in this case - to win a major.
And then there's the history of Olympic Club, that doesn't bode well for the favorites.
The winners of the four U.S. Opens at Olympic - Jack Fleck, Billy Casper, Scott Simpson and Lee Janzen - have a combined seven majors. The guys who finished second to them - Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and Payne Stewart - collectively won 27 majors.
Perhaps that's why Olympic is known as the ''graveyard of champions,'' that and the fact that Hogan, Palmer and Watson never won another major after their close calls at Olympic. The exception was Stewart, who won the U.S. Open the following year, but then perished in a freak plane crash that fall.
As the third round was headed for a conclusion, McDowell and Furyk showed their mettle by making key pars and a late birdie. Westwood had finished his 67, and then Els came through a 68 to get into the mix.
McDowell was in the final group against this year at The Olympic Club, only he had company. Not only was he tied with Jim Furyk, but 11 others were within four shots of the lead.
''It doesn't feel much different than two years ago,'' McDowell said Saturday night. ''I guess I know what to expect now. That's probably the only difference. Emotionally, I went through the same experience today like I did two years ago. I was anxious and I was nervous. Two years ago, Saturday was a tough day for me. And hopefully tomorrow, I'll know what to expect for the day.''
For a U.S. Open, expect anything.
Olympic has no water hazards, one fairway bunker and only two players under par. The bogeys come from getting out of position off the tee and even on the greens. The higher scores come from players unwilling to take their lumps after a poor shot.
History has not been kind to the leaders over the last decade.
Rory McIlroy was different, but he was playing a different kind of U.S. Open at Congressional, which was soft from rain and yielded a record score. Throw out his 69 in the final round, and you have to go all the way back to Tiger Woods at Pebble Beach in 2000 to find a 54-hole leader who broke par.
Aaron Baddeley had a two-shot lead going into the final round at Oakmont. He three-putted from 8 feet for a triple bogey on the opening hole and shot 80. Retief Goosen was going for his third U.S. Open title in five years at Pinehurst in 2005 when he took a three-shot lead into the final round. It was gone in three holes and he shot 81.
Such a closing round would not seem likely for McDowell and Furyk. Not only are they U.S. Open champions (then again, so was Goosen), they have controlled games and toughness that makes them equipped for a fight against par.
''It doesn't have to look or be fancy. It has to work,'' Furyk said. ''And I think we have styles of games where we put the ball into play, we put the ball on the green and take our chance at the putt and then move on.''
Even so, McDowell was more interested in looking behind him on the leaderboard instead of ahead to another Sunday celebration.
''It's wide open,'' he said. ''I look at guys a 2- and 3- and 4-over par in this tournament, who I really think have a realistic shot to win,'' he said. ''There's a fine line on this golf course between 67, 68 and 75, 76. There really is. It's a tough course. You've got to execute shots well. You've got to keep the ball on the correct side of the pin. And you've got to play well.''
There's an eclectic mix of players in range.
Ernie Els is a three-time major champion. Lee Westwood is desperate for his first. Blake Adams is playing in his first U.S. Open. John Peterson, the NCAA champion from LSU, is a year removed from college. Beau Hossler, the 17-year-old wonder, still has another year of high school. Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium can overpower a golf course. Jason Dufner, a two-time winner this year, prefers to plod his way around.
Not to be entirely overlooked is Tiger Woods, though he has never come from behind - five shots, in this case - to win a major.
And then there's the history of Olympic Club, that doesn't bode well for the favorites.
The winners of the four U.S. Opens at Olympic - Jack Fleck, Billy Casper, Scott Simpson and Lee Janzen - have a combined seven majors. The guys who finished second to them - Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and Payne Stewart - collectively won 27 majors.
Perhaps that's why Olympic is known as the ''graveyard of champions,'' that and the fact that Hogan, Palmer and Watson never won another major after their close calls at Olympic. The exception was Stewart, who won the U.S. Open the following year, but then perished in a freak plane crash that fall.
As the third round was headed for a conclusion, McDowell and Furyk showed their mettle by making key pars and a late birdie. Westwood had finished his 67, and then Els came through a 68 to get into the mix.
2012年6月14日星期四
A National Security Issue That Unites
Conventional wisdom tells us that with the presidential campaign season upon us, the United States Senate is closed for business.
On the Foreign Relations Committee, we're working now to prove conventional wisdom wrong, because conventional wisdom may be convenient, but national security imperatives are too inconvenient to ignore.
That's why today we're having our second and third major hearings on the Law of the Sea Treaty, which one of my Republican friends calls "the best conservative treaty you've never heard of."
Don't take my word for it. It's a treaty that boasts an unprecedented breadth of support from Republican foreign policy experts, the United States military, and the hard-nosed, bottom line American business community.
It's an issue that President George W. Bush and I actually agreed on -- strongly, unequivocally. And it's an issue that just last week, all the living former Republican secretaries of state supported on the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal, days after former Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John Warner and Chamber of Commerce head Tom Donahue teamed up to support in their own statement of commitment.
On all these issues, I want to reiterate: don't take my word for it. I wield the gavel on our committee, but the bully pulpit belongs to many others who believe in this cause deeply.
Just listen to General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. At our first hearing on Law of the Sea, General Dempsey put it plainly: "Joining the convention would give our day-to-day maritime operations a firmer, codified legal foundation. It would enable and strengthen our military efforts, not limit them." I couldn't agree more.
He's not alone. Ask Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, and he'll tell you the same thing. Here's what he said in his testimony a couple weeks ago: "The Law of the Sea Convention is the bedrock legal instrument underpinning public order across the maritime domain. We are the only permanent member of the U.N. Security Council that is not a party to it. This puts us at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to disputes over maritime rights and responsibilities with the 162 parties to the convention, several of which are rising powers." These are strong arguments.
And today we'll hear from four admirals and two generals -- 24 stars in all, in military parlance -- who will advocate for it without hesitation.
Some will question why we're doing this now -- why pour so much energy into a treaty that's been untouched by the Senate for the last five years and collecting dust for more than 25? Well, I think the real question is -- why wait? We've effectively lived by the terms of the treaty, even as a nonparty and a holdout. But we've deprived ourselves of its benefits! We live by the rules, but we don't shape the rules, we don't take our seat at the table and grab the veto that's awaiting us there to protect our interests against China and Russia.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it best: "Joining the convention would secure our navigational rights and our ability to challenge other countries' behavior on the firmest and most persuasive legal footing, including in critical areas such as the South China Sea and the Arctic."
We need to get down to brass tacks here. We need to examine the facts and respectfully separate facts from old charges.
That's why our comprehensive hearings are so important. And it's why they'll be respectful to all sides and all perspectives, because I believe this is ultimately a test of whether facts and honest debate can still make a difference. I think they still can. My goal as chairman is to have an honest debate, not a contrived one and winnow out truth from fiction.
We started last month with our top national security leaders. Today, we'll be hearing from our most senior military commanders as well as leading opponents and even past critics. We'll also have the chance to talk with business leaders in the oil and gas, telecom and shipping industries.
On the Foreign Relations Committee, we're working now to prove conventional wisdom wrong, because conventional wisdom may be convenient, but national security imperatives are too inconvenient to ignore.
That's why today we're having our second and third major hearings on the Law of the Sea Treaty, which one of my Republican friends calls "the best conservative treaty you've never heard of."
Don't take my word for it. It's a treaty that boasts an unprecedented breadth of support from Republican foreign policy experts, the United States military, and the hard-nosed, bottom line American business community.
It's an issue that President George W. Bush and I actually agreed on -- strongly, unequivocally. And it's an issue that just last week, all the living former Republican secretaries of state supported on the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal, days after former Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John Warner and Chamber of Commerce head Tom Donahue teamed up to support in their own statement of commitment.
On all these issues, I want to reiterate: don't take my word for it. I wield the gavel on our committee, but the bully pulpit belongs to many others who believe in this cause deeply.
Just listen to General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. At our first hearing on Law of the Sea, General Dempsey put it plainly: "Joining the convention would give our day-to-day maritime operations a firmer, codified legal foundation. It would enable and strengthen our military efforts, not limit them." I couldn't agree more.
He's not alone. Ask Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, and he'll tell you the same thing. Here's what he said in his testimony a couple weeks ago: "The Law of the Sea Convention is the bedrock legal instrument underpinning public order across the maritime domain. We are the only permanent member of the U.N. Security Council that is not a party to it. This puts us at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to disputes over maritime rights and responsibilities with the 162 parties to the convention, several of which are rising powers." These are strong arguments.
And today we'll hear from four admirals and two generals -- 24 stars in all, in military parlance -- who will advocate for it without hesitation.
Some will question why we're doing this now -- why pour so much energy into a treaty that's been untouched by the Senate for the last five years and collecting dust for more than 25? Well, I think the real question is -- why wait? We've effectively lived by the terms of the treaty, even as a nonparty and a holdout. But we've deprived ourselves of its benefits! We live by the rules, but we don't shape the rules, we don't take our seat at the table and grab the veto that's awaiting us there to protect our interests against China and Russia.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it best: "Joining the convention would secure our navigational rights and our ability to challenge other countries' behavior on the firmest and most persuasive legal footing, including in critical areas such as the South China Sea and the Arctic."
We need to get down to brass tacks here. We need to examine the facts and respectfully separate facts from old charges.
That's why our comprehensive hearings are so important. And it's why they'll be respectful to all sides and all perspectives, because I believe this is ultimately a test of whether facts and honest debate can still make a difference. I think they still can. My goal as chairman is to have an honest debate, not a contrived one and winnow out truth from fiction.
We started last month with our top national security leaders. Today, we'll be hearing from our most senior military commanders as well as leading opponents and even past critics. We'll also have the chance to talk with business leaders in the oil and gas, telecom and shipping industries.
2012年6月13日星期三
Is Passbook a trojan horse for 'pay by iTunes'?
Now that the dust has settled on last night's iOS 6 announcements, much of the attention is focused not on Siri for iPad or Facetime for 3G, but Passbook.
For those of you that missed it, Passbook aggregates together various m-commerce applications in one place so that users can simply flash a QR code or similar at a participating retailer to redeem their offer.
There's nothing innovative about this per se since all these partners are, by implication, already running these offers and apps.
What it does do is what Apple always does: makes the whole thing easier.
So instead of managing a growing number of discrete siloed loyalty or payment apps across different parts of your phone screen, they can all now be in one place.
And not only that, Apple will make sure that these products are real-time/location-enhanced so that they display when the user is in the relevant shop/airport etc. They can even do so from the lock screen. The effect is to shave even more time off the process of looking for an app and opening it.
As usual, Apple has acted pretty smartly here. In a sense it's learning from what happened with plastic, where a craze for individual store cards burned brightly for a while before consumers got fed up and consolidated around a smaller number.
It's easy to see early adopting iPhone users embracing this enthusiastically.
But there's so much in it for Apple too. All those partners will be excited about the inevitable surge in consumer sign-ups prompted by Passbook. But you can bet Apple will keep the data about what its users buy and where they travel.
In fact, it's not hard to imagine conflicts emerging from this. Could retailers follow publishers in objecting to Apple's ownership of this data? I wouldn't be surprised.
But the billion dollar question is whether Passbook is Apple's stepping stone to a full blown iWallet?
At present, as far as I can see, payments can be processed using Passbook (at Starbucks for example, using a QR code) but Apple is not present anywhere in the process.
In this sense Passbook falls short of what many observers believe Apple is cooking up – ie the extension of iTunes into the high street.
The received wisdom is that Passbook will prepare the way for a much bigger launch, which will emerge when NFC is built into the expected iPhone 5 this summer.
In this scenario, iPhone users will be able to pay for goods at contactless NFC readers using their iTunes accounts, and the whole process will be sweetened by the fact that Passbook will get populated with location and time-specific offers.
For those of you that missed it, Passbook aggregates together various m-commerce applications in one place so that users can simply flash a QR code or similar at a participating retailer to redeem their offer.
There's nothing innovative about this per se since all these partners are, by implication, already running these offers and apps.
What it does do is what Apple always does: makes the whole thing easier.
So instead of managing a growing number of discrete siloed loyalty or payment apps across different parts of your phone screen, they can all now be in one place.
And not only that, Apple will make sure that these products are real-time/location-enhanced so that they display when the user is in the relevant shop/airport etc. They can even do so from the lock screen. The effect is to shave even more time off the process of looking for an app and opening it.
As usual, Apple has acted pretty smartly here. In a sense it's learning from what happened with plastic, where a craze for individual store cards burned brightly for a while before consumers got fed up and consolidated around a smaller number.
It's easy to see early adopting iPhone users embracing this enthusiastically.
But there's so much in it for Apple too. All those partners will be excited about the inevitable surge in consumer sign-ups prompted by Passbook. But you can bet Apple will keep the data about what its users buy and where they travel.
In fact, it's not hard to imagine conflicts emerging from this. Could retailers follow publishers in objecting to Apple's ownership of this data? I wouldn't be surprised.
But the billion dollar question is whether Passbook is Apple's stepping stone to a full blown iWallet?
At present, as far as I can see, payments can be processed using Passbook (at Starbucks for example, using a QR code) but Apple is not present anywhere in the process.
In this sense Passbook falls short of what many observers believe Apple is cooking up – ie the extension of iTunes into the high street.
The received wisdom is that Passbook will prepare the way for a much bigger launch, which will emerge when NFC is built into the expected iPhone 5 this summer.
In this scenario, iPhone users will be able to pay for goods at contactless NFC readers using their iTunes accounts, and the whole process will be sweetened by the fact that Passbook will get populated with location and time-specific offers.
2012年6月12日星期二
Inventory intelligence key to omnichannel retailing
Following the NRF 2012 Annual Convention and Expo in January, retail analysts from IDC Retail Insights cited omnichannel as one of the top trends for the year ahead.
Debra Weinswig of Citi agreed, noting: "Retailers need to approach omnichannel execution in a manner unlike any previous retailing innovation."
The goal of omnichannel retailing is to combine the benefit of cross-channel and mobile shopping with the unique revenue and loyalty building capabilities of the in-store retail experience. It offers apparel retailers opportunities to build deeper shopper relationships - or risk ending them, when availability promises go unmet.
But to successfully execute omnichannel retailing, apparel companies need to do more than just determine availability. They need to be armed with data that spans the boundaries of physical locations and technologies, and data that addresses both the short and long term need.
To do that, retailers need to build a foundation of integrated inventory intelligence.
According to recent research at the RFID Research Center at the University of Arkansas, the current inventory accuracy rate for apparel stores in the US averages only 65%. Understandably, with trending statistics such as this, retailers are scrambling to understand their inventory inaccuracies to the penny.
Further compounding the path to omnichannel success and inventory accuracy is the mistrust by retail sales associates of the in-store "system." Staff mistrust causes hesitant selling, wastes time double-checking inventory, and communicates lack of confidence to the shopper. Refunds and returns - essential to recovering trust - are often the weakest link.
The industry at large has been working on cross-channel technologies, but IT integration alone can't provide the intelligence that omnichannel retail requires.
Quality information depends on trustworthy, up-to-date inputs and outputs. That data needs to be organised into actionable information and integrated across silos spanning physical locations, technologies, and time.
Consider for example the vast complexity of retail supply chains. Even the most sophisticated, most accurate supply chain is at the mercy of poor-quality information from retail endpoints. Information risk begins to leak into the system from inputs and outputs outside integrated supply chains - especially where the operation is most vulnerable - inside the store.
At the back door of the store, inputs must document a complex array of sizes, styles, colours, and options, and outputs must reflect the same information on returned items. On the items themselves, inputs and outputs are coded in tags that must be compact, detailed, and tamper-resistant yet easy for store associates to remove.
At the point of sale, systems must capture transaction, loyalty-programme, gift card, and coupon data, and help detect, remove, and re-circulate anti-theft tags. And at the front door, inputs and outputs should show real-time store traffic and intercept shoplifters without intruding on the legitimate shopper's experience.
Effective omnichannel retailing needs to overcome suppliers' attempts to keep their solutions exclusive and integrate core functions such as execution, task management, and workflow as well as user interfaces and reports from sensors with high-fidelity data.
It also needs to support data integration over three key points in time - instantaneous, short-term and long-term. For example, shoppers want item- and location-specific information right now while retail executives want to track seasonality (short-term) and keep an eye towards long-term trends across regions or market segments.
Over any time period, inputs should offer end-to-end visibility across stores, distribution centres, and manufacturers as well as top-to-bottom visibility from the retail floor through regional sales and distribution centres, to the executive suite. More importantly, the information collected should be actionable and make those activities both effective and profitable.
By successfully managing these data points across systems and processes, retailers can begin to improve inventory tracking and help stores reorganise stock to maximise floor-space utilisation and sales per square foot.
More accurate forecasting, ordering, allocation, and replenishment intelligence helps stores tune their product portfolios, and make better use of fixtures, displays and other capital assets.
Data-based collaboration with supply-chain partners also raises compliance with order cycles and delivery requirements, and opens opportunities for closed-loop end-to-end collaboration with tag reclamation programs for example.
Debra Weinswig of Citi agreed, noting: "Retailers need to approach omnichannel execution in a manner unlike any previous retailing innovation."
The goal of omnichannel retailing is to combine the benefit of cross-channel and mobile shopping with the unique revenue and loyalty building capabilities of the in-store retail experience. It offers apparel retailers opportunities to build deeper shopper relationships - or risk ending them, when availability promises go unmet.
But to successfully execute omnichannel retailing, apparel companies need to do more than just determine availability. They need to be armed with data that spans the boundaries of physical locations and technologies, and data that addresses both the short and long term need.
To do that, retailers need to build a foundation of integrated inventory intelligence.
According to recent research at the RFID Research Center at the University of Arkansas, the current inventory accuracy rate for apparel stores in the US averages only 65%. Understandably, with trending statistics such as this, retailers are scrambling to understand their inventory inaccuracies to the penny.
Further compounding the path to omnichannel success and inventory accuracy is the mistrust by retail sales associates of the in-store "system." Staff mistrust causes hesitant selling, wastes time double-checking inventory, and communicates lack of confidence to the shopper. Refunds and returns - essential to recovering trust - are often the weakest link.
The industry at large has been working on cross-channel technologies, but IT integration alone can't provide the intelligence that omnichannel retail requires.
Quality information depends on trustworthy, up-to-date inputs and outputs. That data needs to be organised into actionable information and integrated across silos spanning physical locations, technologies, and time.
Consider for example the vast complexity of retail supply chains. Even the most sophisticated, most accurate supply chain is at the mercy of poor-quality information from retail endpoints. Information risk begins to leak into the system from inputs and outputs outside integrated supply chains - especially where the operation is most vulnerable - inside the store.
At the back door of the store, inputs must document a complex array of sizes, styles, colours, and options, and outputs must reflect the same information on returned items. On the items themselves, inputs and outputs are coded in tags that must be compact, detailed, and tamper-resistant yet easy for store associates to remove.
At the point of sale, systems must capture transaction, loyalty-programme, gift card, and coupon data, and help detect, remove, and re-circulate anti-theft tags. And at the front door, inputs and outputs should show real-time store traffic and intercept shoplifters without intruding on the legitimate shopper's experience.
Effective omnichannel retailing needs to overcome suppliers' attempts to keep their solutions exclusive and integrate core functions such as execution, task management, and workflow as well as user interfaces and reports from sensors with high-fidelity data.
It also needs to support data integration over three key points in time - instantaneous, short-term and long-term. For example, shoppers want item- and location-specific information right now while retail executives want to track seasonality (short-term) and keep an eye towards long-term trends across regions or market segments.
Over any time period, inputs should offer end-to-end visibility across stores, distribution centres, and manufacturers as well as top-to-bottom visibility from the retail floor through regional sales and distribution centres, to the executive suite. More importantly, the information collected should be actionable and make those activities both effective and profitable.
By successfully managing these data points across systems and processes, retailers can begin to improve inventory tracking and help stores reorganise stock to maximise floor-space utilisation and sales per square foot.
More accurate forecasting, ordering, allocation, and replenishment intelligence helps stores tune their product portfolios, and make better use of fixtures, displays and other capital assets.
Data-based collaboration with supply-chain partners also raises compliance with order cycles and delivery requirements, and opens opportunities for closed-loop end-to-end collaboration with tag reclamation programs for example.
2012年6月11日星期一
Improvements to Bomb Disposal Helmet Unveiled by Canadian Firm
Allen-Vanguard unveiled several new advances to its world-leading Med-Eng EOD 9 bomb disposal helmet today at the Eurosatory defence exhibition in Paris. These technological innovations integrate information management, video and voice commands into a sophisticated system that will reset the industry standard for operational capabilities.
The foremost of these new features is a tablet-based device that will serve not only as a helmet controller but more importantly as a visual source of critical information. By harnessing the power of a mobile device, Allen-Vanguard will provide technicians with unprecedented access either downrange or at their command post to imagery, technical information, maps, equipment manuals and an array of other information.
This new controller will be integrated with a voice-activation system that will allow technicians to control their helmet’s lights, ventilation and speaker volume in a hands-free manner so their hands are free to perform other critical tasks.
Users will also be able to capture video through one of two visor-mounted camera options. A live camera will wirelessly transmit video in real time back to a command post, while a standalone camera will record video for post-mission review. Capturing video will serve several important purposes: an excellent training tool as part of an after-action review; obtain visual evidence for forensic analysis and criminal prosecution; and enable a command post to better assist the successful completion of the mission, particularly if additional personnel must be sent downrange.
Allen-Vanguard President and CEO, Dennis Morris commented, “The integration of a tablet-based device into protective equipment, complemented by voice activation and video capture, marks a historic milestone in the evolution of bomb disposal protective equipment. These technologies will transform our EOD 9 suit and helmet ensemble into a mobile and interactive information platform. The immediate benefits for safer, more effective and streamlined operations are clear while the potential to further exploit these technologies is very exciting.”
The new features are being unveiled at Eurosatory, 11 – 15 June, as a central part of Allen-Vanguard’s comprehensive Counter-Threat Solutions for the Military EOD and public safety Bomb Disposal communities. They also demonstrate that as terrorist and criminal threats continue to evolve, so too must the solutions to defeat and mitigate them while protecting those on the front lines.
The foremost of these new features is a tablet-based device that will serve not only as a helmet controller but more importantly as a visual source of critical information. By harnessing the power of a mobile device, Allen-Vanguard will provide technicians with unprecedented access either downrange or at their command post to imagery, technical information, maps, equipment manuals and an array of other information.
This new controller will be integrated with a voice-activation system that will allow technicians to control their helmet’s lights, ventilation and speaker volume in a hands-free manner so their hands are free to perform other critical tasks.
Users will also be able to capture video through one of two visor-mounted camera options. A live camera will wirelessly transmit video in real time back to a command post, while a standalone camera will record video for post-mission review. Capturing video will serve several important purposes: an excellent training tool as part of an after-action review; obtain visual evidence for forensic analysis and criminal prosecution; and enable a command post to better assist the successful completion of the mission, particularly if additional personnel must be sent downrange.
Allen-Vanguard President and CEO, Dennis Morris commented, “The integration of a tablet-based device into protective equipment, complemented by voice activation and video capture, marks a historic milestone in the evolution of bomb disposal protective equipment. These technologies will transform our EOD 9 suit and helmet ensemble into a mobile and interactive information platform. The immediate benefits for safer, more effective and streamlined operations are clear while the potential to further exploit these technologies is very exciting.”
The new features are being unveiled at Eurosatory, 11 – 15 June, as a central part of Allen-Vanguard’s comprehensive Counter-Threat Solutions for the Military EOD and public safety Bomb Disposal communities. They also demonstrate that as terrorist and criminal threats continue to evolve, so too must the solutions to defeat and mitigate them while protecting those on the front lines.
2012年6月10日星期日
Exhibit celebrates innovations of the studio movement
Color meets glass, a match with limitless possibilities, becoming (for starters) intense, opaque, transparent, translucent, reflective, infrared, or ultraviolet.
The exhibit opening Thursday in the new $3 million gallery at the Toledo Museum of Art makes that crystal clear.
There's Radio Light, a glowing rainbow spiraling into itself (made of blown glass, mercury, and argon gas), and Colorbox II, eight tall, narrow panels suggesting CD racks filled with slices of brilliant color; each 30-pound panel carefully baked for days in a kiln.
Color Ignited: Glass 1962-2012, shows off objects that please, tease, and tell the amazing evolution of studio glass from its humble beginnings in a Toledo garage to the glorious ways the world's best artists manipulate it. It's a material that glass pioneer Fritz Dreisbach loves for being "runny, drippy, gooey" and that inventor/artist Dominick Labino said "has absolutely no limits" in terms of color.
It's a big week for shinystuff in the Glass City; for art aficionados it's comparable to the LPGA tournament for golfers. Some 1,200 artists and connoisseurs will gather Wednesday through Saturday at the SeaGate Convention Centre and the museum for talks, demonstrations, the eyeballing of each other's creativity, and fun at the Glass Art Society's 42nd conference. This is the third time the group has held its annual meeting in Toledo; this year with a nod to two historic 1962 workshops held at the museum at which a handful of clay artists, eager to figure out how to melt glass in a small furnace like the kilns they used, met with auspicious breakthroughs.
Despite the fragility of its subject matter, Color Ignited will be fun for kids and adults. Most of these nearly 100 pieces have been borrowed from private collectors, but many are owned by the museum, which began buying studio glass in the 1960s.
It's astonishing how different glass can be made to look by varying the raw materials used to make it, the intensity and duration of heat, substances added to it, and methods for shaping. And it's a heckuva good sport, happily partnering with an array of other materials.
Enter the gallery's oversized doors and you'll face the wow! of Jun Kaneko's Colorbox II (2007). Head right for a visual history of American studio glass, and don't miss the humble beginnings: An island of pedestals hold several simple little greenish pieces made at the 1962 workshop from melting glass marbles invented by Dominick Labino when he worked for Johns Manville.
Hung on a near wall is Dan Dailey's life-sized sculpture: a thickly bespectacled man sits legs crossed, feet slippered, reading a book titled The Principles of Decor, opened to a page about rugs; a curvaceous gal leans in with a cuppa joe. Mr. Dailey didn't make this glass; he carved it from pieces of Vitrolite, a color-saturated, often opaque glass made in the United States by Libbey-Owens-Ford from 1935-1947 but no longer manufactured.
A don't-miss work is among the most recent in the show, and its creator is probably the youngest. Twilight Powered by Electricity Makes for a Brilliant New Horizon is an elephant/robot with knobby eyes and knees and hints of Seussicality. Andrew Erdos, who blew it and its little round buddy, added sterling silver for a mirrored effect, and placed the pair on a translucent white base under which four rows of LED lights softly cycle through primary colors.
Commissioned by the museum, it was blown in hollow segments and fused together, said the museum's glass curator, Jutta-Annette Page.
The exhibit opening Thursday in the new $3 million gallery at the Toledo Museum of Art makes that crystal clear.
There's Radio Light, a glowing rainbow spiraling into itself (made of blown glass, mercury, and argon gas), and Colorbox II, eight tall, narrow panels suggesting CD racks filled with slices of brilliant color; each 30-pound panel carefully baked for days in a kiln.
Color Ignited: Glass 1962-2012, shows off objects that please, tease, and tell the amazing evolution of studio glass from its humble beginnings in a Toledo garage to the glorious ways the world's best artists manipulate it. It's a material that glass pioneer Fritz Dreisbach loves for being "runny, drippy, gooey" and that inventor/artist Dominick Labino said "has absolutely no limits" in terms of color.
It's a big week for shinystuff in the Glass City; for art aficionados it's comparable to the LPGA tournament for golfers. Some 1,200 artists and connoisseurs will gather Wednesday through Saturday at the SeaGate Convention Centre and the museum for talks, demonstrations, the eyeballing of each other's creativity, and fun at the Glass Art Society's 42nd conference. This is the third time the group has held its annual meeting in Toledo; this year with a nod to two historic 1962 workshops held at the museum at which a handful of clay artists, eager to figure out how to melt glass in a small furnace like the kilns they used, met with auspicious breakthroughs.
Despite the fragility of its subject matter, Color Ignited will be fun for kids and adults. Most of these nearly 100 pieces have been borrowed from private collectors, but many are owned by the museum, which began buying studio glass in the 1960s.
It's astonishing how different glass can be made to look by varying the raw materials used to make it, the intensity and duration of heat, substances added to it, and methods for shaping. And it's a heckuva good sport, happily partnering with an array of other materials.
Enter the gallery's oversized doors and you'll face the wow! of Jun Kaneko's Colorbox II (2007). Head right for a visual history of American studio glass, and don't miss the humble beginnings: An island of pedestals hold several simple little greenish pieces made at the 1962 workshop from melting glass marbles invented by Dominick Labino when he worked for Johns Manville.
Hung on a near wall is Dan Dailey's life-sized sculpture: a thickly bespectacled man sits legs crossed, feet slippered, reading a book titled The Principles of Decor, opened to a page about rugs; a curvaceous gal leans in with a cuppa joe. Mr. Dailey didn't make this glass; he carved it from pieces of Vitrolite, a color-saturated, often opaque glass made in the United States by Libbey-Owens-Ford from 1935-1947 but no longer manufactured.
A don't-miss work is among the most recent in the show, and its creator is probably the youngest. Twilight Powered by Electricity Makes for a Brilliant New Horizon is an elephant/robot with knobby eyes and knees and hints of Seussicality. Andrew Erdos, who blew it and its little round buddy, added sterling silver for a mirrored effect, and placed the pair on a translucent white base under which four rows of LED lights softly cycle through primary colors.
Commissioned by the museum, it was blown in hollow segments and fused together, said the museum's glass curator, Jutta-Annette Page.
2012年6月7日星期四
Creativity can change young lives
Several years ago, I was employed by York Arts in ArtWorks!, a public-service project for teenagers on probation. For several months, the group worked on community and individual assignments -- beginning with the destruction of a room full of tiles.
I will always remember the look of gleeful disbelief as they were handed safety goggles and hammers and told to pound away at the stacks of tile that needed smashing for their mosaics. Or the faint hope expressed briefly in tough faces as they held up their works in progress which were always met with much-needed praise.
As the weeks passed, Kevin Lenker, the executive director in charge of the project, deftly guided these young men and women through the process of creation, its inner mysteries teaching patience and discipline and ultimately revealing some of the hidden potential within the broken pieces of their lives that encouraged seeking restoration for their crimes.
Sadly, programs like these are often the last to receive funding during times of economic downturn. Many of us rationalize that we must be logical and provide the necessities of life first. While I agree to a certain extent, it is the artistic expression -- paintings, music and the written word -- that will hearten us through the hard times and help us to find a hope for the future.
Share the timeless spark of creation with a young man and his pen can bring forth stories of entertainment and wisdom. Teach a child music and you give her the power to transform muteness into melody. Give a few kids broken tile and glass and they will bless a community with a new vision.
Within the Parkway Housing Authority lies the "Peace in Our Community" mosaic assembled by the staff and volunteers of York Arts. The montage of colorful pieces depicts three angels who appear to be keeping guard over the residents of York County. On a recent visit, I stood in the cold air, the glow of house lights and the angels' countenances seeming to mix into a mirage of heaven. Through a drizzle, we regarded one another with mutual understanding.
I closed my eyes and an image formed in my mind of a group of young people standing in the grass, in the middle of the darkness, hands in the grout, placing piece after piece of tile into the mold, making this mosaic to inspire, to encourage, or even change a life. Little earth angels, filled with the joy of doing what they love. There are many young people like this in York today.
When I was growing up the local art scene was dismally empty. Except for a few brave high school teachers and local professionals sounding the clarion call, and mostly for dance and music, anyone interested in pursuing creative endeavors was left largely abandoned. To the young dreamer, helpless without a craft, the shifting sands of life amid the demands to conform to a future I couldn't envision seemed impossible to manage. And so I left York. I moved to New York City to live and breathe the expansive creative world in that City of Dreams.
But by the time I returned to York, enter left stage, venues like York Arts; DreamWrights, welcoming families into that lemon-yellow, unpretentious slice of joy and wonder; OrangeMite Studios, where original plays and films are scripted and directed by local artists; the YCPrep Community School offering top notch musical instruction; and closest to my heart, the Professional Writing program at York College, where my own earth angels -- Dr. Madeline Yonker, Dr. Dominic Delli Carpini, Professor Cynthia Crimmins and Dr. Anthony Fredericks shared their tools and further helped me find my voice.
I will always remember the look of gleeful disbelief as they were handed safety goggles and hammers and told to pound away at the stacks of tile that needed smashing for their mosaics. Or the faint hope expressed briefly in tough faces as they held up their works in progress which were always met with much-needed praise.
As the weeks passed, Kevin Lenker, the executive director in charge of the project, deftly guided these young men and women through the process of creation, its inner mysteries teaching patience and discipline and ultimately revealing some of the hidden potential within the broken pieces of their lives that encouraged seeking restoration for their crimes.
Sadly, programs like these are often the last to receive funding during times of economic downturn. Many of us rationalize that we must be logical and provide the necessities of life first. While I agree to a certain extent, it is the artistic expression -- paintings, music and the written word -- that will hearten us through the hard times and help us to find a hope for the future.
Share the timeless spark of creation with a young man and his pen can bring forth stories of entertainment and wisdom. Teach a child music and you give her the power to transform muteness into melody. Give a few kids broken tile and glass and they will bless a community with a new vision.
Within the Parkway Housing Authority lies the "Peace in Our Community" mosaic assembled by the staff and volunteers of York Arts. The montage of colorful pieces depicts three angels who appear to be keeping guard over the residents of York County. On a recent visit, I stood in the cold air, the glow of house lights and the angels' countenances seeming to mix into a mirage of heaven. Through a drizzle, we regarded one another with mutual understanding.
I closed my eyes and an image formed in my mind of a group of young people standing in the grass, in the middle of the darkness, hands in the grout, placing piece after piece of tile into the mold, making this mosaic to inspire, to encourage, or even change a life. Little earth angels, filled with the joy of doing what they love. There are many young people like this in York today.
When I was growing up the local art scene was dismally empty. Except for a few brave high school teachers and local professionals sounding the clarion call, and mostly for dance and music, anyone interested in pursuing creative endeavors was left largely abandoned. To the young dreamer, helpless without a craft, the shifting sands of life amid the demands to conform to a future I couldn't envision seemed impossible to manage. And so I left York. I moved to New York City to live and breathe the expansive creative world in that City of Dreams.
But by the time I returned to York, enter left stage, venues like York Arts; DreamWrights, welcoming families into that lemon-yellow, unpretentious slice of joy and wonder; OrangeMite Studios, where original plays and films are scripted and directed by local artists; the YCPrep Community School offering top notch musical instruction; and closest to my heart, the Professional Writing program at York College, where my own earth angels -- Dr. Madeline Yonker, Dr. Dominic Delli Carpini, Professor Cynthia Crimmins and Dr. Anthony Fredericks shared their tools and further helped me find my voice.
2012年6月6日星期三
We troops can use Clark, Subic bases
American troops, warships and aircraft can once again use their former naval and air facilities in Subic, Zambales and in Clark Field in Pampanga as long as they have prior clearance from the Philippine government, a senior defense official said.
“They can come here provided they have prior coordination from the government,” Defense Undersecretary for defense affairs Honorio Azcueta told reporters after his meeting with Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Monday.
Coming straight from the just-concluded three-day Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Dempsey was in the country the other day for a follow-up meeting with senior defense and military officials.
Azcueta pointed out that a shift of US security focus toward the Asia-Pacific region is expected to increase with more military engagements between the two long-time allies.
Earlier, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced that the US is increasing the deployment of its naval presence in the region, without necessarily establishing permanent military bases in any country in the region.
Asked if US troops as well as their warships and fighter planes would be allowed access to their former naval base in Subic, Azcueta said yes.
“That’s what we want... increase in exercises and interoperability,” Azcueta said.
Aside from offering a safe haven for ships due to its secured location from cyclones, the former US naval base in Subic has an airfield that can accommodate civilian and military planes.
During the Vietnam war in the 1970s, Subic Naval Base, especially its airfield, was used by the US military as staging point of all its major air operations against the Vietcong.
However, in 1992 Subic Naval Base and the Clark Air Base in Pampanga, the two biggest US military bases outside mainland America, were shut down after the Philippine Senate rejected an extension of their presence in the country.
Meanwhile, China’s top newspapers expressed concern over the US plan, saying that such move might widen the rift between the two countries.
Although Panetta gave assurance that the plan was not aimed at containing China, whose fast-modernizing navy has kindled worries among its neighbors, the People’s Daily did not buy that.
“Opinion across the Asia-Pacific generally does not believe that the United States’ strategy of returning to the Asia-Pacific is not aimed at China; it’s there plain for all to see,” said a commentary in the paper, which reflects the current thinking in Beijing.
“The United States verbally denies it is containing China’s rise, but while establishing a new security array across the Asia-Pacific, it has invariably made China its target,” it said.
“This strategy is driven with contradictions and undoubtedly will magnify the complexities of Asia-Pacific security arrangements, and could even create schisms.”
The People’s Daily commentary was blunter than Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin, who responded to Panetta’s announcement by saying China hopes the United States will respect its regional interests, and by calling the Pentagon’s steps “out of keeping with the times.”
Beijing appears keen to avoid outright confrontation with the US, but the comments in state newspapers reflected persistent worries that Washington is bent on frustrating its emergence as a major power.
“After this new (US) military deployment and adjustment is completed, the intensity of US meddling in Asia-Pacific affairs will surely increase,” the Liberation Army Daily quoted a People’s Liberation Army researcher as saying.
“They can come here provided they have prior coordination from the government,” Defense Undersecretary for defense affairs Honorio Azcueta told reporters after his meeting with Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Monday.
Coming straight from the just-concluded three-day Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Dempsey was in the country the other day for a follow-up meeting with senior defense and military officials.
Azcueta pointed out that a shift of US security focus toward the Asia-Pacific region is expected to increase with more military engagements between the two long-time allies.
Earlier, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced that the US is increasing the deployment of its naval presence in the region, without necessarily establishing permanent military bases in any country in the region.
Asked if US troops as well as their warships and fighter planes would be allowed access to their former naval base in Subic, Azcueta said yes.
“That’s what we want... increase in exercises and interoperability,” Azcueta said.
Aside from offering a safe haven for ships due to its secured location from cyclones, the former US naval base in Subic has an airfield that can accommodate civilian and military planes.
During the Vietnam war in the 1970s, Subic Naval Base, especially its airfield, was used by the US military as staging point of all its major air operations against the Vietcong.
However, in 1992 Subic Naval Base and the Clark Air Base in Pampanga, the two biggest US military bases outside mainland America, were shut down after the Philippine Senate rejected an extension of their presence in the country.
Meanwhile, China’s top newspapers expressed concern over the US plan, saying that such move might widen the rift between the two countries.
Although Panetta gave assurance that the plan was not aimed at containing China, whose fast-modernizing navy has kindled worries among its neighbors, the People’s Daily did not buy that.
“Opinion across the Asia-Pacific generally does not believe that the United States’ strategy of returning to the Asia-Pacific is not aimed at China; it’s there plain for all to see,” said a commentary in the paper, which reflects the current thinking in Beijing.
“The United States verbally denies it is containing China’s rise, but while establishing a new security array across the Asia-Pacific, it has invariably made China its target,” it said.
“This strategy is driven with contradictions and undoubtedly will magnify the complexities of Asia-Pacific security arrangements, and could even create schisms.”
The People’s Daily commentary was blunter than Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin, who responded to Panetta’s announcement by saying China hopes the United States will respect its regional interests, and by calling the Pentagon’s steps “out of keeping with the times.”
Beijing appears keen to avoid outright confrontation with the US, but the comments in state newspapers reflected persistent worries that Washington is bent on frustrating its emergence as a major power.
“After this new (US) military deployment and adjustment is completed, the intensity of US meddling in Asia-Pacific affairs will surely increase,” the Liberation Army Daily quoted a People’s Liberation Army researcher as saying.
2012年6月5日星期二
Pausing Between Shots, Just to Regroup
Whether they use commercial airlines or private jets, every golfer is flying blind when it comes to finding the right cruising altitude.
Phil Mickelson’s withdrawal last week from the Memorial Tournament, after a first round in which he looked as wilted as a month-old flower arrangement, trained a spotlight on perhaps the greatest hazard golfers have to negotiate: their calendars.
How does one achieve a work-life balance that facilitates success on the course and succor off it? It’s the question that confounds golfers young and older, from the 23-year-old Rory McIlroy to Mickelson, a 21-year pro.
McIlroy and Mickelson were among the 20 players ranked in the world top 30 who were entered at the Memorial, but neither made it to the weekend. Also missing the cut was Bubba Watson, the reigning Masters champion. His game was, by his own admission, rusty after he took four weeks off to bond with the baby boy that he and his wife, Angie, recently adopted.
Despite one of the strongest fields outside the majors, the Memorial’s final day saw Tiger Woods rise to the top of a leader board in which the top 11 finishers included five players who had never won on tour. Woods was the only major champion in the top 12.
For the top players, the pursuit of FedEx points, endorsement dollars and down time can be a race with no clear winning strategy. Often, the players find themselves changing their approach on the run. After missing the cut at the Players Championship and the European Tour’s BMW PGA Championship, McIlroy called an audible and entered this week’s St. Jude Classic in Memphis.
“I just feel like I need some rounds,” he said before the Memorial. “These two-day weeks aren’t really that good for me.”
McIlroy laughed. “I’m working on a few things,” he said, “and I feel trying to put them into competition will be the best way for me to prepare going into the U.S. Open.”
McIlroy had another two-day week at the Memorial, and his United States Open title defense looks shakier than the ground on which the Open course at San Francisco’s Olympic Club was built.
It’s clear McIlroy hasn’t settled on a road map for the majors. He prepared for the Masters by not playing any competitive golf in the three weeks leading up to the tournament. It was a decision that opened him to criticism even before he faded over the weekend and finished in a tie for 40th.
Pacing is a real challenge in golf, and we’re not talking about slow play. How does one fashion a schedule in a sport in which every tournament is like a 1,500-meter run, every season is a marathon and a professional career can span decades?
The Memorial’s host, Jack Nicklaus, who won 18 majors, said that in his day players routinely drove from one tour stop to the next. The travel was arduous, especially for golfers with young families in tow. If there was an upside to the long days behind the wheel, it was that the road grooved life into a song played at 33-r.p.m. speed. Now the top players, like Mickelson, travel in private jets, enabling them to hopscotch around the country and turn each workday into a dizzying blur.
“Everything is just magnified,” Nicklaus said. “The attention is magnified. The press is magnified.”
He added, “I did occasionally play three weeks in a row, but very, very, very rarely.”
After he failed to advance to the weekend at the Players, his second consecutive start, McIlroy stopped in Rome to be with his girlfriend, the tennis player Caroline Wozniacki. On he went to London for the BMW PGA Championship, where he again played poorly.
“I might have taken my eye off the ball a little bit,” he acknowledged.
How so? “I don’t know,” he said, “maybe just not practicing as hard as I might have been.”
McIlroy’s tone was unapologetic. He’d rather take breaks in his schedule now than have too much time on his hands in 10 or 20 years.
“I don’t want to be burned out by the time I’m 30,” he said. “I want to try and prolong my career as much as I can.”
While McIlroy and Luke Donald have spent the spring swapping the No. 1 ranking, no golfer on the men’s side has been hotter of late than Jason Dufner. A former Auburn star, Dufner has won twice since tying for 24th at the Masters. He put his game on the back burner last week to serve as a volunteer coach for the Tigers’ golf squad at the N.C.A.A. championships in Los Angeles. He won’t play again until the United States Open, which starts June 14. Neither will Mickelson, who has never won the United States Open but has finished second five times, most recently in 2009.
Phil Mickelson’s withdrawal last week from the Memorial Tournament, after a first round in which he looked as wilted as a month-old flower arrangement, trained a spotlight on perhaps the greatest hazard golfers have to negotiate: their calendars.
How does one achieve a work-life balance that facilitates success on the course and succor off it? It’s the question that confounds golfers young and older, from the 23-year-old Rory McIlroy to Mickelson, a 21-year pro.
McIlroy and Mickelson were among the 20 players ranked in the world top 30 who were entered at the Memorial, but neither made it to the weekend. Also missing the cut was Bubba Watson, the reigning Masters champion. His game was, by his own admission, rusty after he took four weeks off to bond with the baby boy that he and his wife, Angie, recently adopted.
Despite one of the strongest fields outside the majors, the Memorial’s final day saw Tiger Woods rise to the top of a leader board in which the top 11 finishers included five players who had never won on tour. Woods was the only major champion in the top 12.
For the top players, the pursuit of FedEx points, endorsement dollars and down time can be a race with no clear winning strategy. Often, the players find themselves changing their approach on the run. After missing the cut at the Players Championship and the European Tour’s BMW PGA Championship, McIlroy called an audible and entered this week’s St. Jude Classic in Memphis.
“I just feel like I need some rounds,” he said before the Memorial. “These two-day weeks aren’t really that good for me.”
McIlroy laughed. “I’m working on a few things,” he said, “and I feel trying to put them into competition will be the best way for me to prepare going into the U.S. Open.”
McIlroy had another two-day week at the Memorial, and his United States Open title defense looks shakier than the ground on which the Open course at San Francisco’s Olympic Club was built.
It’s clear McIlroy hasn’t settled on a road map for the majors. He prepared for the Masters by not playing any competitive golf in the three weeks leading up to the tournament. It was a decision that opened him to criticism even before he faded over the weekend and finished in a tie for 40th.
Pacing is a real challenge in golf, and we’re not talking about slow play. How does one fashion a schedule in a sport in which every tournament is like a 1,500-meter run, every season is a marathon and a professional career can span decades?
The Memorial’s host, Jack Nicklaus, who won 18 majors, said that in his day players routinely drove from one tour stop to the next. The travel was arduous, especially for golfers with young families in tow. If there was an upside to the long days behind the wheel, it was that the road grooved life into a song played at 33-r.p.m. speed. Now the top players, like Mickelson, travel in private jets, enabling them to hopscotch around the country and turn each workday into a dizzying blur.
“Everything is just magnified,” Nicklaus said. “The attention is magnified. The press is magnified.”
He added, “I did occasionally play three weeks in a row, but very, very, very rarely.”
After he failed to advance to the weekend at the Players, his second consecutive start, McIlroy stopped in Rome to be with his girlfriend, the tennis player Caroline Wozniacki. On he went to London for the BMW PGA Championship, where he again played poorly.
“I might have taken my eye off the ball a little bit,” he acknowledged.
How so? “I don’t know,” he said, “maybe just not practicing as hard as I might have been.”
McIlroy’s tone was unapologetic. He’d rather take breaks in his schedule now than have too much time on his hands in 10 or 20 years.
“I don’t want to be burned out by the time I’m 30,” he said. “I want to try and prolong my career as much as I can.”
While McIlroy and Luke Donald have spent the spring swapping the No. 1 ranking, no golfer on the men’s side has been hotter of late than Jason Dufner. A former Auburn star, Dufner has won twice since tying for 24th at the Masters. He put his game on the back burner last week to serve as a volunteer coach for the Tigers’ golf squad at the N.C.A.A. championships in Los Angeles. He won’t play again until the United States Open, which starts June 14. Neither will Mickelson, who has never won the United States Open but has finished second five times, most recently in 2009.
2012年6月4日星期一
Have passport, will travel
Over a two-hour span on Saturday, you could comfortably visit three countries - all from the convenience of home.
Rajesh Mettupalli chose to experience the final day of the Mosaic multicultural festival on route five, along which bus drivers shuttled festival goers to three pavilions at Evraz Place: Filipinas Philippine, Hellenic Greek and Kyiv Ukrainian.
Saturday was to be a busy day for Mettupalli and his wife, whose plans included riding route five and then hopping aboard the route six bus for tastes of China, Bangladesh, Ireland, Korea and Italy.
"We can't visit personally all the countries," Mettupalli explained while waiting for a bus. "But here, we can visit the people of so many countries ... We're trying to cover them all."
Route five was one of six free transit loops that connected festival goers from the Regina Inn downtown to every Mosaic pavilion.
Route five driver Rock Legendre estimated he would have bused at least 200 people to Evraz Place on Saturday.
There was a steady stream of people lining up outside the hotel at 2: 30 in the afternoon. Many sat along the curb, leafing through their festival passports. Some were overheard discussing which pavilions offered the best food, which were must-sees for entertainment.
About 15 people stepped onto Legendre's bus, including Mettupalli's group and five teenage girls who took their seats near the front and began chatting.
Their plan for Saturday, it turned out, was to ride routes four and five until their passports were stamped full.
They seemed confident they would hit their goal. They wanted to see it all.
"We don't have much knowledge of other cultures," said 17-year-old Shara Khan, "so we'd like to learn about their customs and how they function."
The bus grinded to a halt outside Banner Hall. Inside, about 150 people sat at tables awaiting the 3 p.m. Filipino dance set.
Others browsed the various booths, which offered traditional fans, purses and jewelry, among other items. Ambassadors of the Philippine Association of Saskatchewan soon took the stage and introduced the show's various dancers, who ranged in age from five to 20 years old.
The set began with a colonial Spanish ballroom dance, after which dancers took the audience through different districts of the Philippines, through various time periods and historical influences.
Meanwhile, young dancers entertained the swelling crowd inside route five's second stop - the colourful Kyiv Ukrainian Pavilion.
A giant traditional flower wreath - called a vinok - hung from the ceiling near various flags representing Ukraine's national colours and trident.
"It's a fun place to be," said Oksanna Zwarych, a member of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, of the pavilion. "And more and more (Ukrainians) are coming (to Saskatchewan), so we have a strong population in our region who have immigrated to Canada."
Route five's final stop, the Hellenic Greek Pavilion, whisked visitors away to ancient Greece. The lighting inside the Show Sale Arena was dimmed, and blue curtains draped the walls.
A group sat onstage playing Greek blues as guests listened while dining on spanakopita and baklava. Cultural displays showcased miniature ivory statues while sounds from a music festival hummed from a nearby television screen.
Back on the bus that was headed to the hotel for a fresh set of passengers, Khan and her friends sat discussing the merits of each stop. When asked about their favourite dish, they shouted in unison: "Baklava!" Khan added that she appreciated the intricacies of Ukrainian dancing.
Rajesh Mettupalli chose to experience the final day of the Mosaic multicultural festival on route five, along which bus drivers shuttled festival goers to three pavilions at Evraz Place: Filipinas Philippine, Hellenic Greek and Kyiv Ukrainian.
Saturday was to be a busy day for Mettupalli and his wife, whose plans included riding route five and then hopping aboard the route six bus for tastes of China, Bangladesh, Ireland, Korea and Italy.
"We can't visit personally all the countries," Mettupalli explained while waiting for a bus. "But here, we can visit the people of so many countries ... We're trying to cover them all."
Route five was one of six free transit loops that connected festival goers from the Regina Inn downtown to every Mosaic pavilion.
Route five driver Rock Legendre estimated he would have bused at least 200 people to Evraz Place on Saturday.
There was a steady stream of people lining up outside the hotel at 2: 30 in the afternoon. Many sat along the curb, leafing through their festival passports. Some were overheard discussing which pavilions offered the best food, which were must-sees for entertainment.
About 15 people stepped onto Legendre's bus, including Mettupalli's group and five teenage girls who took their seats near the front and began chatting.
Their plan for Saturday, it turned out, was to ride routes four and five until their passports were stamped full.
They seemed confident they would hit their goal. They wanted to see it all.
"We don't have much knowledge of other cultures," said 17-year-old Shara Khan, "so we'd like to learn about their customs and how they function."
The bus grinded to a halt outside Banner Hall. Inside, about 150 people sat at tables awaiting the 3 p.m. Filipino dance set.
Others browsed the various booths, which offered traditional fans, purses and jewelry, among other items. Ambassadors of the Philippine Association of Saskatchewan soon took the stage and introduced the show's various dancers, who ranged in age from five to 20 years old.
The set began with a colonial Spanish ballroom dance, after which dancers took the audience through different districts of the Philippines, through various time periods and historical influences.
Meanwhile, young dancers entertained the swelling crowd inside route five's second stop - the colourful Kyiv Ukrainian Pavilion.
A giant traditional flower wreath - called a vinok - hung from the ceiling near various flags representing Ukraine's national colours and trident.
"It's a fun place to be," said Oksanna Zwarych, a member of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, of the pavilion. "And more and more (Ukrainians) are coming (to Saskatchewan), so we have a strong population in our region who have immigrated to Canada."
Route five's final stop, the Hellenic Greek Pavilion, whisked visitors away to ancient Greece. The lighting inside the Show Sale Arena was dimmed, and blue curtains draped the walls.
A group sat onstage playing Greek blues as guests listened while dining on spanakopita and baklava. Cultural displays showcased miniature ivory statues while sounds from a music festival hummed from a nearby television screen.
Back on the bus that was headed to the hotel for a fresh set of passengers, Khan and her friends sat discussing the merits of each stop. When asked about their favourite dish, they shouted in unison: "Baklava!" Khan added that she appreciated the intricacies of Ukrainian dancing.
2012年6月3日星期日
Boats take to Thames for queen's jubilee flotilla
More than 1,000 boats were to sail down the Thames on Sunday in a flotilla tribute to Queen Elizabeth II's 60 years on the throne that organizers are calling the biggest gathering on the river for 350 years.
Despite cool, drizzly weather, hundreds of thousands of people are expected to line the riverbanks in London, feting the British monarch whose longevity has given her the status of the nation's favorite grandmother.
The queen and members of her family will lead the river pageant aboard a flower-bedecked royal barge, accompanied by skiffs, barges, narrowboats, motor launches, row boats and sailing vessels from around the world.
The spectacle is a tribute to Britain's past — monarchs used the river as their main highway for centuries, and naval power built the island nation's once-great empire — as well as its abiding love of boats and the sea.
Among the flotilla vessels will be several of the "Dunkirk Little Ships," private boats that rescued thousands of British soldiers from the beaches of France after the German invasion in 1940 — a defeat that became a major victory for wartime morale.
The four-day Diamond Jubilee celebrations also include thousands of street parties across the country on Sunday and a Monday pop concert in front of Buckingham Palace featuring Elton John and Paul McCartney — though not everyone in Britain will be celebrating. The anti-monarchist group Republic plans a riverbank protest as the flotilla goes by on Sunday, followed by a pub night where royal refuseniks can drown their sorrows.
The celebration kicked off Saturday with a royal day at the races, as the queen watched a horse with the courtly name of Camelot win the Epsom Derby. Jubilee festivities officially began with a 41-gun salute fired by the King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery at Horse Guards Parade in central London.
The 86-year-old monarch and her husband, Prince Philip, visited Epsom racecourse south of the capital for the Derby, one of the year's biggest horse-racing meetings. The queen waved to the 130,000-strong crowd as she was driven down the racecourse in a Bentley bearing the Royal Standard — the car's sun roof kept shut under gray skies — before settling down to watch the races from the royal box.
Dressed in a royal blue coat and matching hat over a blue-and-white floral dress, the queen was accompanied by members of the royal family including her sons Prince Andrew and Prince Edward and Andrew's daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie.
The monarch is a racing fan and horse breeder who has attended the Derby for decades and reads the Racing Post each day over breakfast, although unlike many of her subjects she does not gamble.
The queen presented prizes to some of the race winners and spoke intently to jockeys and trainers
"She's incredibly knowledgeable. Her knowledge of thoroughbreds and breeding goes way back," said Anthony Cane, chairman of Epsom Downs Racecourse.
The queen took the throne in 1952 on the death of her father, King George VI, and most Britons have known no other monarch.
Jubilee events end Tuesday with a religious service at St. Paul's Cathedral, a carriage procession through the streets of London and the queen's appearance with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren on the palace balcony.
Prime Minister David Cameron — the 12th British leader of the queen's reign — paid tribute to the monarch's "extraordinary level of physical energy, mental energy, and above all devotion to her people, to the institutions of this country, to the way our democracy works."
With pictures of the monarch splashed across newspaper front pages, the left-leaning Guardian provided a button on its website that removed all jubilee stories. But many Britons embraced the jubilee spirit — a tribute to a monarch whose popularity cuts across all ages, social classes and political affiliations.
In a jubilee gift from Britain's politicians, lawmakers from the three main parties have backed a motion calling for the tower housing Big Ben — the beloved London bell that chimes the quarter hour — to be renamed the Elizabeth Tower in the queen's honor. It's currently called the Clock Tower.
While many Britons used the long weekend to relax — and an estimated 2 million left the country on vacation — writers and religious leaders used the occasion to reflect on how Britain has changed over the queen's reign, from a war-scarred imperial power to a middle-sized power with oversized cultural clout.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual head of the Anglican Church, expressed a widely held view when he said Britain had been lucky to have Elizabeth as monarch throughout a period of rapid change.
"It seems to me that what her importance has been for most people in this country has been as a sign of stability, a sign of some kind of security," Williams said in a jubilee video message.
Despite cool, drizzly weather, hundreds of thousands of people are expected to line the riverbanks in London, feting the British monarch whose longevity has given her the status of the nation's favorite grandmother.
The queen and members of her family will lead the river pageant aboard a flower-bedecked royal barge, accompanied by skiffs, barges, narrowboats, motor launches, row boats and sailing vessels from around the world.
The spectacle is a tribute to Britain's past — monarchs used the river as their main highway for centuries, and naval power built the island nation's once-great empire — as well as its abiding love of boats and the sea.
Among the flotilla vessels will be several of the "Dunkirk Little Ships," private boats that rescued thousands of British soldiers from the beaches of France after the German invasion in 1940 — a defeat that became a major victory for wartime morale.
The four-day Diamond Jubilee celebrations also include thousands of street parties across the country on Sunday and a Monday pop concert in front of Buckingham Palace featuring Elton John and Paul McCartney — though not everyone in Britain will be celebrating. The anti-monarchist group Republic plans a riverbank protest as the flotilla goes by on Sunday, followed by a pub night where royal refuseniks can drown their sorrows.
The celebration kicked off Saturday with a royal day at the races, as the queen watched a horse with the courtly name of Camelot win the Epsom Derby. Jubilee festivities officially began with a 41-gun salute fired by the King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery at Horse Guards Parade in central London.
The 86-year-old monarch and her husband, Prince Philip, visited Epsom racecourse south of the capital for the Derby, one of the year's biggest horse-racing meetings. The queen waved to the 130,000-strong crowd as she was driven down the racecourse in a Bentley bearing the Royal Standard — the car's sun roof kept shut under gray skies — before settling down to watch the races from the royal box.
Dressed in a royal blue coat and matching hat over a blue-and-white floral dress, the queen was accompanied by members of the royal family including her sons Prince Andrew and Prince Edward and Andrew's daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie.
The monarch is a racing fan and horse breeder who has attended the Derby for decades and reads the Racing Post each day over breakfast, although unlike many of her subjects she does not gamble.
The queen presented prizes to some of the race winners and spoke intently to jockeys and trainers
"She's incredibly knowledgeable. Her knowledge of thoroughbreds and breeding goes way back," said Anthony Cane, chairman of Epsom Downs Racecourse.
The queen took the throne in 1952 on the death of her father, King George VI, and most Britons have known no other monarch.
Jubilee events end Tuesday with a religious service at St. Paul's Cathedral, a carriage procession through the streets of London and the queen's appearance with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren on the palace balcony.
Prime Minister David Cameron — the 12th British leader of the queen's reign — paid tribute to the monarch's "extraordinary level of physical energy, mental energy, and above all devotion to her people, to the institutions of this country, to the way our democracy works."
With pictures of the monarch splashed across newspaper front pages, the left-leaning Guardian provided a button on its website that removed all jubilee stories. But many Britons embraced the jubilee spirit — a tribute to a monarch whose popularity cuts across all ages, social classes and political affiliations.
In a jubilee gift from Britain's politicians, lawmakers from the three main parties have backed a motion calling for the tower housing Big Ben — the beloved London bell that chimes the quarter hour — to be renamed the Elizabeth Tower in the queen's honor. It's currently called the Clock Tower.
While many Britons used the long weekend to relax — and an estimated 2 million left the country on vacation — writers and religious leaders used the occasion to reflect on how Britain has changed over the queen's reign, from a war-scarred imperial power to a middle-sized power with oversized cultural clout.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual head of the Anglican Church, expressed a widely held view when he said Britain had been lucky to have Elizabeth as monarch throughout a period of rapid change.
"It seems to me that what her importance has been for most people in this country has been as a sign of stability, a sign of some kind of security," Williams said in a jubilee video message.
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