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Sunday, February 12, 2012

Apple said to be in 'crunch mode' to ready 'iPad 3' apps for on-stage demos, ads - Apple Insider

Apple said to be in 'crunch mode' to ready 'iPad 3' apps for on-stage demos, ads

By Josh Ong

Published: 08:40 PM EST (05:40 PM PST)

As evidence continues to point toward an early March launch for the next-generation iPad, a new report claims that Apple is now in "crunch mode" as it prepares for on-stage demonstrations and television commercials highlighting apps for the device.

Sources intimated to The Next Web on Thursday that the Cupertino, Calif., company's selection process is proceeding at an "increased rate." Of course, it is to be expected that Apple would be under more pressure as the event approaches, but the report does triangulate other recent reports that have pegged a Retina Display-equipped third-generation iPad for an early March launch.

Apple has traditionally showcased some of its own apps, such as GarageBand and iMovie, as well as exemplary third-party apps at its media events for new iOS devices. According to the report, the company is placing an emphasis on "graphics-oriented applications with high-definition assets" to spotlight the rumored Retina Display on the device.

The iPad maker is also reportedly forwarding some apps to its advertising partner TWBA/Chiat/Day as the agency readies commercials for the third-generation tablet. Author Matthew Panzarino noted that the process is entering its "final phase" and is on a tight deadline for the presentation and subsequent television broadcast.

Speculation surrounding the so-called "iPad 3" has reached a fever pitch in recent days as more specific details appear to have emerged. AllThingsD reported on Thursday that the special event for the next-gen tablet will take place during the first week in March. The publication also affirmed that the tablet will have a resolution of 2,048 by 1,536 pixels, a "much faster" processor and improved graphics performance. Also on Thursday, The New York Times cited an Apple employee as saying the new iPad will have a "truly amazing" screen.

In addition, several photos purportedly of next-generation iPad components have surfaced this week. Images of an alleged back panel for the device appeared to show "very different" mounts for the logic board and a larger battery, as well as a "different" camera and LCD display. Meanwhile, a picture that may have been of the outside of a back panel suggested that Apple does not plan to make any major design changes to the form factor of the device. Finally, a photo has emerged of a high-resolution LCD panel manufactured by Sharp that "seems to be" bound for the next iPad.

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Activists: Assad Forces Kill 60 in Syria's Homs, Hospitals Overwhelmed - Voice of America

Activists: Assad Forces Kill 60 in Syria's Homs, Hospitals Overwhelmed | Middle East | English /*

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RSS Feed February 09, 2012Activists: Assad Forces Kill 60 in Syria's Homs, Hospitals Overwhelmed Edward Yeranian| Cairo

Photo: Reuters Wounded men are seen in the Sunni Muslim district of Baba Amr in Homs, Syria, February 8, 2012.

Syrian rights activists say government forces have bombarded the rebellious central city of Homs for a sixth day, killing at least 60 people and leaving makeshift hospitals overwhelmed as divided world powers struggled to end the violence.

The activists said Thursday relentless government shelling and rocket strikes on Homs were creating a worsening humanitarian crisis, with rebel-dominated neighborhoods lacking water and electricity and running low on basic supplies. They said the onslaught that began early Saturday has killed hundreds of people, making it the deadliest attack on Homs of the 11-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's autocratic rule.

U.S.-based rights group Human Rights Watch said those responsible for "horrific attacks" on residential neighborhoods "will have to answer for them."

VOA spoke with a Syrian activist in Homs who goes by the alias Abo Emad to conceal his identity. He said Syrian security forces are not letting up on their assault, adding that even walking one block from the building where he is hiding can be deadly.

“Everyday is worse than the day before," he said of the government assault. "More deaths, more casualties, more injured people, more destroying buildings every day.”

Abo Emad said there is very little access to mobile phones or land lines. He added that hospitals are overflowing with injured people and there are not enough doctors or medical supplies to care for the wounded.

Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in London told Alhurra TV that sporadic shelling is affecting parts of Homs, including Khaldiyeh and Bayadah, but that the heaviest onslaught is on the Baba Amr district, where conditions are extremely difficult.

Government forces are focusing on Baba Amr as it has been a center of the opposition.

In an opposition video, Muhammad al Muhammad, a doctor who is treating the wounded in Baba Amr, urged Syrians and the world community to protest the shelling attacks. He pointed to five children who appear to be wounded and called on Syrians to take to the streets to protest.

VOA cannot independently confirm the authenticity of the video's contents.

U.S. President Barack Obama called for an end to "outrageous bloodshed" in Syria in his latest condemnation of Mr. Assad's crackdown on the revolt. He was speaking Thursday after talks with visiting Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti.

Mr. Obama has agreed to work with Washington's European and Arab allies to organize a group of nations known as Friends of Syria to explore ways of further isolating and pressuring the Assad government to stop the violence. Western and Arab nations decided to try to form the group after seeing Russia and China block their efforts to pressure Mr. Assad through the U.N. Security Council.

Moscow and Beijing vetoed a Western and Arab-backed Syria resolution on Saturday, the second time they have done so since October. Both powers said they do not want the Council to take sides in a domestic conflict and create a possible pretext for foreign intervention in Syria.

Video footage from Homs

Arab League foreign ministers were preparing to meet in Cairo on Sunday to discuss their next moves in the crisis. Officials said the ministers will discuss whether to recognize the opposition Syrian National Council as the legitimate representative of Syria and whether to send a joint Arab League-United Nations observer mission to the country.

In other developments Thursday, Libya said it ordered Syria's top envoy and embassy staff to leave the country within 72 hours. Germany also said it is expelling four diplomats from the Syrian Embassy in Berlin after authorities arrested two men suspected of spying on Syrian opposition groups.

Rebel Colonel Riyadh al-Asaad, who heads the loosely-knit Free Syrian Army that is fighting government forces, called the Syrian regime a tyranny and asked for help to defeat it.

Map of Syria neighborhoods

Hilal Khashan, who teaches political science at the American University of Beirut, says the Syrian government is trying to retake Homs in hopes of crushing the popular revolt at a key hub.

"They have been bombarding the city for the past six days," he said. "The bombarding is so heavy that it is clear that it is setting the stage for a ground offensive. The regime has made up its mind on conquering Homs, because they feel that if they conquer Homs, much of the uprising in the country will abate.”

Wire services and VOA reporter JulieAnn McKellogg contributed to this report.

Join the conversation on our social journalism site - Middle East Voices. Follow our Middle East reports on Twitter and discuss them on our Facebook page. Related Articles Free Syrian Army (FSA) members in Saqba, a Damascus suburb, February 8, 2012. (Reuters photo)

Free Syrian Army (FSA) members in Saqba, a Damascus suburb, February 8, 2012. (Reuters photo)

Activists Say Syrian Troops Kill 50 in Homs

They say troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad attacked Homs with gunfire, rockets and shells

Turkey Wants International Conference on SyriaUN Chief: Arab League Mission to Return to Syria

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LA school in child abuse scandal reopens - CNN

A Miramonte Elementary School student was among adults and children who demanded the school return to normal Thursday.NEW: Superintendent announces that ousted teachers can return if investigation clears themNEW: Teachers union says it will file a grievance on behalf of unfairly removed facultyNEW: Student attendance is only 68%, down from 90% last weekNEW: More than 100 parents and students protest the removal of their teachers

Florence, California (CNN) -- As scandal-plagued Miramonte Elementary School reopened Thursday with a completely new staff, Los Angeles school officials announced that ousted teachers could return to the school if they clear an ongoing investigation into faculty sexual misconduct.

Meanwhile, student attendance was only 68% Thursday, down from 90% last week, and the new faculty eased students into the dramatic changes by having them write goodbye notes to their old teachers.

Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy issued a statement saying those old teachers could return as a response to the Los Angeles teachers union's claim the system didn't have a plan for the school. The union said it would file a grievance on behalf of unfairly displaced teachers.

"We again communicated with the teachers today to make explicit the fact that when the investigations are complete and nothing emerges with a particular teacher, that teacher's assignment is to be Miramonte Elementary School," Deasy said in a statement.

"Further, the ridiculous claim that LAUSD does not have a plan is, of course, also not true. We are putting our plan into action as we speak, which assures student safety and support, continues an outstanding educational experience, and helps our adults," Deasy said.

Earlier Thursday, United Teachers Los Angeles President Warren Fletcher accused the school system of "making it up as they go along and the kids are paying the price."

"Parents and students want their teachers back," Fletcher said in a statement.

In a press conference outside the school, joined by parents, Fletcher added: "Parents' concerns have reached a new height as indicated by the parents standing behind me because they know that this is a huge disruption for every child and makes a tragic situation worse."

The system shut down the school Tuesday and Wednesday and removed the entire staff, from janitors to principal, after two teachers were charged with felony lewd acts with pupils. The reconstitution meant the school's 85 teachers were abruptly removed from the year-round school, which serves about 1,400 students in kindergarten through 6th grade.

Former Miramonte teacher Mark Berndt, 61, who resigned last year amid a school board's firing proceedings, was charged last week with 23 felony counts of lewd acts with pupils, a sheriff's spokesman said Wednesday. He is accused of taking bondage photos of more than two dozen students in his classroom, including some with suspected semen-filled spoons at their mouths.

Berndt is being held in lieu of $23 million bail, authorities said.

This week, a second teacher, Martin Bernard Springer, 49, of Alhambra, was charged with three felony charges of lewd acts with a girl under age 14.

Meanwhile, the new faculty and principal worked to put pupils at ease at the school, located in unincorporated Los Angeles County within the Florence-Firestone area, about 6 miles south of downtown Los Angeles.

"We're going to try to move as quickly as possible to get back to learning, to get back to any sort of routine at a school that has been anything but routine the last several days," said school system spokesman Tom Waldman.

School officials said staff will be calling families whose kids were absent Thursday.

One parent, Yolanda Rivera, pulled her daughter out of the school Thursday because she wasn't satisfied with the new staff.

"What guarantees me that those teachers aren't going to be like the last abusive teachers?" Rivera said to CNN. "They hurt us when they closed the school for two days. Why can't I keep my kid out of school?"

Edgar Flores kept his daughter out of school Thursday, and both protested outside the structure, along with more than 100 parents and children, who chanted to live guitar music, "We want, we want, our teachers back!"

"We need to hurt the school economically, and then they're going to realize that getting rid of the teachers was wrong," Flores said.

Gina Adelman, one of the school's new counselors, said teachers broke the ice with students by going around the room and asking each student what was their name, favorite color, favorite pet or pet name, and favorite toy. Adelman said she was transferred from from a middle school.

Students also wrote a formal goodbye note to their old teachers because the school was abruptly restaffed and kids weren't allowed to extend any farewells, Adelman said.

"There were several different messages, but most of them wrote, 'I will miss you' and 'Thank you for being my teacher,'" Adelman said. "One wrote, 'I will do my best,' and I thought that was lovely.

"There was one child who in the course of writing a note, completely unaided, said, 'You had to leave because something bad happened,'" Adelman added. "I said that was a very nice letter."

The school's new principal, Dolores Palacio, 66, said many of the new teachers had been laid off because of budget cuts in the past.

"These teachers are absolutely qualified. All of them were reviewed and investigated," said Palacio, a 31-year veteran of the school district who was retired until she was called into duty at Miramonte. "They are all qualified and experienced."

She chose to come out of retirement because "it's an elementary school and I'm a principal," she said. "It's a nice community, and the parents are wonderful, and what happened was to no fault of the parents or the children. If I could do something to help, I was happy to do it.

"It will take more than two days to get to know the staff really well," Palacio added. "The most important thing is that they want to be here."

Parents can visit the school any time, she said.

CNN's Stan Wilson and Casey Wian contributed to this report.

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Sunday, February 12, 2012

Apple said to be in &apos;crunch mode&apos; to ready &apos;iPad 3&apos; apps for on-stage demos, ads - Apple Insider

Activists: Assad Forces Kill 60 in Syria&apos;s Homs, Hospitals Overwhelmed - Voice of America

LA school in child abuse scandal reopens - CNN

Apple said to be in 'crunch mode' to ready 'iPad 3' apps for on-stage demos, ads - Apple Insider

Activists: Assad Forces Kill 60 in Syria's Homs, Hospitals Overwhelmed - Voice of America