Dijit updates remote, NextGuide apps with integrated profiles, Hulu-powered videoclips

Dijit updates remote, NextGuide apps with better integration, relevant Hulu video clips

The folks over at Dijit have been busy as the year draws to an end, issuing updates for both their universal remote app and NextGuide tablet app that promises to help us escape traditional grids. The newest version of the Dijit remote (a free app that brings control features when paired with Griffin's Beacon) is now integrated with NextGuide, allowing users to share profiles across the software, the welcome addition of a "record to DVR" button for DirecTV subscribers, a refreshed UI, accessibility enhancements and finally support for iThing screens of various shapes, sizes and resolutions. The NextGuide app itself also has a new feature, with "Clips" which pulls in additional short videos from Hulu that tie into whatever actor, show or anything else you may be watching, plus an easier setup process and autofill search box. The apps themselves are free, snag them at the source links below.

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Source: Dijit Remote (iTunes), NextGuide (iTunes)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/23/dijit-updates-remote-nextguide-apps-with-integrated-profiles-h/

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NRA On Guns: Organization Opposes Any New Restrictions

WASHINGTON ? An unwavering National Rifle Association said Sunday that new gun regulations would not make children safer and that a White House task force on gun violence may try to undermine the Second Amendment.

The organization blasted "a media machine" that it said relishes blaming the gun industry for each new attack like the one that occurred just over a week ago at a Connecticut elementary school.

"Look, a gun is a tool. The problem is the criminal," said Wayne LaPierre, the CEO of the nation's largest gun-rights lobby, in a television interview.

LaPierre hardly backed down from his comments Friday, when the NRA broke its weeklong silence on the shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

LaPierre's assertion that guns and police officers in all schools are what will stop the next killer drew widespread scorn, and even some NRA supporters in Congress are publicly disagreeing with the proposal. Rep. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., called it "the most revolting, tone deaf statement I've ever seen." A headline from The New York Post summarized LaPierre's initial presentation before reporters with the headline: "Gun Nut! NRA loon in bizarre rant over Newtown."

LaPierre told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday that only those armed guards and police would make kids safe.

"If it's crazy to call for putting police and armed security in our schools to protect our children, then call me crazy," LaPierre said. "I think the American people think it's crazy not to do it. It's the one thing that would keep people safe."

He asked Congress for money to put a police officer in every school. He also said the NRA would coordinate a national effort to put former military and police officers in schools as volunteer guards.

The NRA leader dismissed efforts to revive the assault weapons ban as a "phony piece of legislation" that's built on lies. He made clear it was highly unlikely that the NRA could support any new gun regulations.

"You want one more law on top of 20,000 laws, when most of the federal gun laws we don't even enforce?" he said.

LaPierre said another focus in preventing shootings is to lock up violent criminals and get the mentally ill the treatment they need.

"The average guy in the country values his freedom, doesn't believe the fact he can own a gun is part of the problem, and doesn't like the media and all these high-profile politicians blaming him," he said.

Some lawmakers were incredulous, yet acknowledged that the political and fundraising might of the NRA would make President Barack Obama's push for gun restrictions a struggle.

"I have found the statements by the NRA over the last couple of days to be really disheartening, because the statements seem to not reflect any understanding about the slaughter of children" in Newtown, said Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent.

He said the NRA is right in some of the points it makes about the causes of gun violence in America.

"But it's obviously also true that the easy availability of guns, including military-style assault weapons, is a contributing factor, and you can't keep that off the table. I had hoped they'd come to the table and say, everything is on the table," Lieberman said.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said LaPierre was "so extreme and so tone-deaf" that he was making it easier to pass gun legislation.

"Look, he blames everything but guns: movies, the media, President Obama, gun-free school zones, you name it. And the video games, he blames them," Schumer said.

But Lieberman didn't seem to be buying it. He said the NRA's stand on new gun rules means passing legislation next year won't happen easily.

"It's going to be a battle. But the president, I think, and vice president, are really ready to lead the fight," he said.

Obama has said he wants proposals on reducing gun violence that he can take to Congress in January, and after the Dec. 14 shootings, he called on the NRA to join the effort. The president has asked Congress to reinstate an assault weapons ban that expired in 2004 and pass legislation that would end a provision that allows people to purchase firearms from private parties without a background check. Obama also has indicated that he wants Congress to pursue the possibility of limiting high-capacity magazines.

If Obama's review is "just going to be made up of a bunch of people that, for the last 20 years, have been trying to destroy the Second Amendment, I'm not interested in sitting on that panel," LaPierre said.

The NRA has tasked former Rep. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark., to lead a program designed to use volunteers from the group's 4.3 million members to help guard children.

Hutchinson said the NRA's position was a "very reasonable approach" that he compared to the federal air marshal program that places armed guards on flights.

"Are our children less important to protect than our air transportation? I don't think so," said Hutchinson, who served as an undersecretary at the Homeland Security Department when it was formed.

Hutchinson said schools should not be required to use armed security. LaPierre also argued that local law enforcement should have final say on how the security is put into place, such as where officers would be stationed.

Democratic lawmakers in Congress have become more adamant about the need for stricter gun laws since the shooting. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California is promising to push for a renewal of expired legislation that banned certain weapons and limited the number of bullets a gun magazine could hold to 10. NRA officials made clear the legislation is a non-starter for them.

"It hasn't worked," LaPierre said. "Dianne Feinstein had her ban and Columbine occurred."

There also has been little indication from Republican leaders that they'll go along with any efforts to curb what kind of guns can be purchased or how much ammunition gun magazines can hold.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., noted that he had an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle in his home. He said America would not be made safer by preventing him from buying another one. As to gun magazine limits, he said he can quickly reload by putting in a new magazine.

"The best way to interrupt a shooter is to keep them out of the school, and if they get into the school, have somebody who can interrupt them through armed force," Graham said.

LaPierre also addressed other factors that he said contribute to gun violence in America, but he would not concede that the types of weapons being used are part of the problem.

He was particularly critical of states, which he said are not placing the names of people into a national database designed to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the dangerously mentally ill. He said some states are not entering names into the system and 23 others are only putting in a small number of records.

The American Psychiatric Association responded to LaPierre's comments by saying he seemed to conflate mental illness with evil at several points.

"People who are clearly not mentally ill commit violent crimes and perform terrible acts every day," said Dr. James Scully, chief executive of the trade group. "Unfortunately, Mr. LaPierre's statements serve only to increase the stigma around mental illness and further the misconception that those with mental disorders are likely to be dangerous."

___

Associated Press writer Adam Goldman contributed to this report.

Related on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/23/nra-guns-_n_2356745.html

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If You Are Looking For An Automated Program To Earn Money ...

If You Are Looking For An Automated Program To Earn Money Online You Might Want To Read This

There are plenty of different methods to begin earning money online but you are going to see that many men and women want to try and find an automated way in order to do this. While there are lots of programs that can show you how to make money online you are going to discover that there are extremely few programs that claim to be able to do this automatically for you. Something you should be conscious of is that a few of these programs are nothing much more than scams that will not ever work, but a few may be able to begin earning you some cash. In the following paragraphs we are going to be explaining a number of the things you should be looking for when deciding to choose an automated program for earning cash online.

Any successful Online Marketer will tell you that there are particular things that are absolutely required for folks to end up becoming successful in their web based business. Three of the items are absolutely required when it comes to making cash on the web is a good selling product, the means to sell this product and also traffic. For individuals who definitely want an automated program you?re going to find that these three requirements are going to have to be something that this program can provide for you, otherwise it will not be worth it.

Building an e-mail list is something which most successful Web Marketers do, of course, if you find a good automated program which will help you with this you?ll be well ahead of the game. There are successful Internet Marketers out there today that do not have an e-mail list, but you will find that success without one will be rare. If the program is unclear about list building you can always feel free to contact them and figure out if this is part of their program and just how it works.

Whether or not you?ll be advertising affiliate links or your own website is one more thing you may want to find out about before you buy the program so you know what you are in store for. Even though promoting affiliate links would be fine, most Web Marketers will recommend you have your own website that you are driving traffic to rather than driving traffic straight to affiliate links. Affiliate marketing programs can often close down with no notice whatsoever, which means all of the work you have done in order to market this has been wasted. For individuals who have your own sites, I am sure you comprehend that if one affiliate program closes you are able to merely replace it with a different one.

The very last thing you should be looking for is some sort of guarantee that the program will achieve success or they?re going to give you your cash back. The tips that we detailed here should be able to help you in deciding whether an automated program is worth the investment or not.

Online MLM is a great internet business option. If you are looking for online Network Marketing Tips visit this video by clicking here

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Source: http://www.businesslistingnow.com/blog/if-you-are-looking-for-an-automated-program-to-earn-money-online-you-might-want-to-read-this/

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In Texas, not all joint products are legal (the value of pets)

Here we go:

Last May, the Texas Banking Commission, which regulates funerals and cemeteries [does that make sense to you?],?deep-sixed?burials?of pets in cemeteries for homo sapiens. But Texas still welcomes human burials alongside?animals in?pet cemeteries.

Do not underestimate the power of arbitrage:

?some?Texans are also opting for their own burials?sans Bootsie?in?pet cemeteries. The cost of room and board,?notes the clip, beats?its counterpart in people cemeteries by a mile. So why not think outside the box?

For the pointer I thank Lou Wigdor.

Source: http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2012/12/in-texas-not-all-joint-products-are-legal-the-value-of-pets.html

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Mozambique highway collision kills 14

MAPUTO, Mozambique (AP) ? Police in Mozambique say 14 people died when a tire burst on a speeding minibus, causing the driver to lose control and collide with an oncoming vehicle.

Radio Mozambique cited police as saying 11 people were also injured in the accident on Friday. It happened 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of the capital, Maputo.

Police say all of those killed were on the minibus that had been going too fast, and that the driver was among the injured. Some passengers in the other vehicle, also a minibus, had minor injuries.

Traffic on some highways in Mozambique is heavy at this time of year as people working in South African mines return home for the Christmas season. Many South African tourists also visit Mozambique over the holiday period.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mozambique-highway-collision-kills-14-093538667.html

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Few report sex assaults at military academies - Army News | News ...

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2012/12/ap-few-report-sex-assaults-academies-12...

By Lolita C. Baldor - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Dec 21, 2012 18:43:59 EST

WASHINGTON ? New details in a Pentagon report show that military academy students report just a fraction of the sexual assaults they say occurred in the past school year, signaling a continued reluctance by victims to seek criminal investigations.

As reported earlier this week, the report shows that reported sexual assaults at the nation's three military academies jumped by 23 percent overall this year. But officials say that at least some of the increase is the result of ongoing efforts to encourage military members and students to report unwelcome sexual contact.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in a memo released Friday that he's concerned there hasn't been greater progress in preventing sexual assault and harassment at the academies. He has asked officials to beef up prevention programs.

According to an anonymous survey of academy students, more than 50 percent of women and 10 percent of men said they experienced sexual harassment during the last school year. At the same time, a bit more than 12 percent of women and 2 percent of men enrolled in the three military academies said they experienced "unwanted sexual contact."

Those percentages are largely the same as previous years, but they indicate that far more students experience either sexual harassment or assault than the 80 who reported it in the past year. There were 65 reported sexual assaults in the 2010-2011 academic year, and 41 the previous year.

Of the 80 reported assaults, 42 victims provided information to law enforcement or their commands for an investigation, while 38 accessed medical care and other services but declined to seek an investigation.

According to Maj. Gen. Gary Patton, director of the sexual assault prevention and response office, sexual assault "continues to be a persistent problem" at the academies. But he noted that based on the survey, as much as 84 percent of the crimes go unreported.

That number is a concern, he said, and noted that sexual assaults are a problem in society more broadly. Still, he said, the military must be held to a higher standard.

Of the cases investigated this year, just eight people have been sent to court martial. Five cases have been completed and four were convicted of at least one charge. Three cases are continuing. In some cases the person being investigated was not a member of the military and thus did not fall under the jurisdiction of the department.

The documents also show that cadets and midshipmen are three times as likely to be victims of assault as active-duty troops.

Navy officials expressed concerns that the data suggests there is the perception among some Naval Academy students that a culture persists that discourages the reporting of these crimes.

"I am disappointed that we have apparently not instilled in each and every midshipman the sense that being loyal to one another means first being loyal to the service and to the uniform," said Navy Secretary Ray Mabus.

Mabus said he has asked Navy leaders to take steps to "deglamorize the use of alcohol" and foster a command climate that is more conducive to the reporting of sex crimes.

Protect Our Defenders, an advocacy group for military personnel who have been sexually assaulted, said the report shows a continuing need for changes in the command structure and the culture of the military.

"Victims are afraid to come forward because of the retaliation they face, including victim-blaming, isolation and bad performance reviews, to being kicked out with errant medical discharge like personality disorders," said the group's president, Nancy Parrish. "It's a shameful blight on our nation."

Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, co-chairman of the Military Sexual Assault Prevention Caucus, said that while the statistics are troubling, "the increased rate of reporting is in response to efforts combating this issue, both by leadership at the Defense Department, and by Congress." Those efforts, he said, will continue.

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Source: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2012/12/ap-few-report-sex-assaults-academies-122112/

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Oprah Winfrey Had Shady Style (PHOTO)

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  • Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/21/oprah-winfrey-style-photo_n_2337660.html

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    Police probe why man fatally shot 3 in rural Pa.

    Local law enforcement block off road along Rt. 22 near the Canoe Creek State Park, Pa. while investigating a shooting on Friday, Dec. 21, 2012. The suspect fired at troopers responding to Friday morning's shootings in Frankstown Township, about 70 miles west of Harrisburg. The fleeing gunman then crashed head-on into a trooper's car and got out of his truck and shot again at police, who returned fire and killed him. Blair County District Rich Consiglio says the gunman killed two men and one woman. (AP Photo/Altoona Mirror, J.D. Cavrich)

    Local law enforcement block off road along Rt. 22 near the Canoe Creek State Park, Pa. while investigating a shooting on Friday, Dec. 21, 2012. The suspect fired at troopers responding to Friday morning's shootings in Frankstown Township, about 70 miles west of Harrisburg. The fleeing gunman then crashed head-on into a trooper's car and got out of his truck and shot again at police, who returned fire and killed him. Blair County District Rich Consiglio says the gunman killed two men and one woman. (AP Photo/Altoona Mirror, J.D. Cavrich)

    Emergency responders block Juniata Valley Road on Friday, Dec. 21, 2012 in Geeseytown, Pa. A man fatally shot a woman decorating for a children's Christmas party at a tiny church hall and killed two men elsewhere in the rural central Pennsylvania township Friday before he was fatally shot in a gunfight with state troopers. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

    Pennsylvania State police Lt. George Bivens, right, talks during a news conference at the Geeseytown Fire Company about shootings along a nearby rural road that left four people dead and three Pennsylvania State troopers injured on Friday, Dec. 21, 2012 in Geeseytown, Pa. Pennsylvania state trooper Jeff Pettuci is at left. A man fatally shot a woman decorating for a children's Christmas party at a tiny church hall and killed two men elsewhere in the rural central Pennsylvania township Friday before he was fatally shot in a gunfight with state troopers. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

    Pennsylvania state trooper Jeff Pettuci talks during a news conference at the Geeseytown Fire Company about shootings along a nearby rural road that left four people dead and three Pennsylvania State troopers injured on Friday, Dec. 21, 2012, in Geeseytown, Pa. Pennsylvania State police Lieutenant George Bivens, is at right, and Capt. Maynard Gray is at left. A man fatally shot a woman decorating for a children's Christmas party at a tiny church hall and killed two men elsewhere in the rural central Pennsylvania township before he was fatally shot in a gunfight with state troopers. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

    (AP) ? Authorities in central Pennsylvania are trying to determine why a man fatally shot three people along a rural road before being killed in a gunfight with police.

    Police were still trying to piece together a timeline in the arduous investigation of the Friday shootings that began in Frankstown Township and spanned five crime scenes within a 1.5-mile radius.

    A woman decorating a church hall for a children's Christmas party was among those killed. Three state troopers were injured.

    Authorities haven't released a motive for the shootings.

    "It's going to take us some time to put this all together ... and know exactly what occurred," said Lt. Col. George Bivens, a deputy state police commissioner.

    Police did not release the names of the victims or the shooter, though they did say the man lived in Blair County, where all the shootings occurred. Clergy planned a prayer vigil Saturday for the victims, which included the woman at the Juniata Valley Gospel Church.

    The gunman and the victims weren't related, though the victims may have been, at least distantly, Blair County District Attorney Rich Consiglio said.

    Troopers were responding to a 911 call of a shooting in the township at about 9 a.m. Friday when they heard calls reporting at least one other shooting elsewhere, state police said.

    The three troopers, in patrol cars, were injured in a pursuit that began after the gunman, driving a pickup truck, fired at them, police said. One trooper injured a wrist and then was hit in the chest but was saved by body armor.

    A second trooper was injured by glass fragments in his eye and bullet fragments that hit him in the forehead, Bivens said.

    The gunman was killed during a final exchange of gunfire after ramming his truck head-on into another police cruiser, authorities said. It was after that crash that the trooper shot in the wrist also was hit in the chest.

    The third trooper suffered minor injuries from the head-on crash, Bivens said. More than one weapon was seized from the truck, Bivens added, but he declined to offer more specifics.

    "I think we have three very fortunate state police members tonight," Bivens said Friday. "We are very thankful for the fact that they survived this attack. Someone was watching over them."

    Besides the woman, one man was shot at a home and the other man was shot at a crash site where the gunman had used his truck to strike another vehicle, Bivens said.

    But relatives of the victims said they were told the woman at the church was the first person shot, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported. The gunman then shot two men in the driveway of a home after a confrontation at a stop sign, one of the men's cousins, Marie Brenneman, told the newspaper.

    "This person went to their driveway with a pistol, pointed at them and started shooting," Brenneman said.

    She said both men were the shooter's neighbors in the tiny village of Geeseytown, about 70 miles west of Harrisburg, the state capital.

    "They were uneasy around him," she said.

    The woman at the church had cooked food the day before for the funeral of the church's longtime pastor, said the Rev. James McCaulley, his brother. The church still was reeling from the death of the Rev. David McCaulley when the woman returned to decorate its hall, and bullets ripped through a window, he said.

    The gunman then entered and shot one of two women before he left, the Rev. James McCaulley said.

    Police identified the five crime scenes as the church; a home and ground around the home; a crash site where another victim was killed; the point in the road where the gunman opened fire on the troopers; and where the final encounter occurred after the truck collided with the police cruiser.

    Bivens said investigators don't know if the victims were picked at random.

    McCaulley, who is the pastor of another church about 50 miles from the site of Friday's carnage, said his older brother began leading the Frankstown church in 1954.

    "He preached his last sermon at the church in October before he fell ill," McCaulley said.

    The church, which lists about 150 members in an online ad posted this month seeking an associate pastor, is close-knit, and the woman killed Friday was among its more active members, McCaulley said. She had made food for him to take home Thursday since his wife had died this year, he said.

    "The only thing I can say good at this time is that (the gunman) didn't do this 24 hours earlier when there was a big crowd in the church hall," McCaulley said. "We're devastated."

    Associated Press

    Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-12-22-Rural%20Road%20Shooting/id-36100eaa1da549c3b810eb96d914c54b

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    Himalayan dam-building threatens endemic species

    The Himalayas, the world's highest mountain range, may soon hold another record: it could become home to the greatest density of dams in the world. More than a thousand are either already operating, under construction or being planned in northern India, Nepal and Bhutan. Besides providing clean energy, they could improve flood control and access to drinking water. But they will also pose a serious threat to indigenous species.

    Hydroelectricity supplies about one-fifth of India's power, but even so nearly 300 million of the country's inhabitants have no access to electricity. More dams could help plug the energy shortfall: India's hydropower potential is estimated to be four times its current production of 39 gigawatts.

    Maharaj Pandit at the University of Delhi, India, and R Edward Grumbine at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Kunming, have now studied the impact 292 of the planned Himalayan dams will have. They used satellite imagery and published data on Himalayan species richness to estimate how each dam's location would affect forest cover and biodiversity.

    Extinctions loom

    "We project that about 1700 square kilometres of forests would be submerged or damaged by dams and related activities", says Pandit. He and Grumbine predict that such deforestation will result in the likely extinction of 22 flowering plants and 7 vertebrate species by 2025. This number would rise to 1505 flowering plants and 274 vertebrates by 2100 if construction work continues.

    Another recent study suggests the dams will be bad news for many of the Himalayas' 300 species of fish. Jay Bhatt and colleagues at the University of Delhi studied distribution of fish species in 16 Himalayan rivers, and found that those richest in biodiversity, with the greatest number of endemic species, were also those where dams will be concentrated.

    "Dozens of dam projects are already caught up in litigation due to faulty environmental impact assessments, displacement of people, inadequate compensation, destruction of traditional water and livelihood sources, and loss of biodiversity," says Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People, an informal group of organisations and individuals interested in the impact of dam-building. The combined effect of several hundred new dams would be gargantuan, he adds.

    Journal references: Pandit and Grumbine study: Conservation Biology, doi.org/j3z; Bhatt study: PLoS One, doi.org/j3x

    If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

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