Google intros Android Studio, an IDE for building apps

On stage at I/O today, Google just announced Android Studio, an integrated development environment for building apps. Based on IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition, this new environment works as a WYSIWYG for creating applications, essentially, letting you make changes and get a preview in real time, boosting productivity and making it easier to build nice-looking apps with a bit less effort. There's a wide variety of emulators for previewing apps, so even if you don't have a particular device on hand, you can still make sure everything's working as intended. Also on display today was a new development console, offering up optimization tips, revenue graphs, beta-tester control and usage metrics pulled from analytics. All of these features will make things easier to manage for developers, giving them more time to create more polished apps that work well on a variety of Android devices.

Gallery: Google I/O 2013: Android Studio and Google Play metrics

Filed under: Software, Google

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/15/google-android-studio/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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National Weather Service gets big computing boost

By Tom Brown

MIAMI | Wed May 15, 2013 8:37pm EDT

MIAMI (Reuters) - The U.S. National Weather Service is getting a quantum jump in computing power that will significantly improve its forecasting and storm tracking abilities to better protect the country from severe weather.

"This is a game changer," Louis Uccellini, who took over as director of the National Weather Service in February, told Reuters in an interview, calling it "the biggest increase in operational capacity that we've ever had."

The Weather Services' global and national weather prediction efforts have long been hampered by aging technology and a lack of computer power to support day-to-day operations. But Uccellini said that was all due to change through upgrades of its IBM system that will give it more than 25 times the computer power it has today.

Over the next two years, the results should be apparent through enhancements across the whole range of products and services the Weather Service produces, focusing on everything from routine weather to tornadoes and hurricanes to floods, droughts and blizzards.

With the U.S. economy vulnerable to severe weather events that can cost billions of dollars a year, the boost in computing power is sure to come as good news to many, especially given concerns that climate change is fueling more extreme weather.

That includes millions of people living in hurricane danger zones and U.S. oil and gas producers in the Gulf of Mexico, which is frequently threatened by tropical cyclones.

The Gulf accounts for about 20 percent of U.S. oil production. About 30 percent of U.S. natural gas processing plant capacity and 40 percent of the country's refining capacity is concentrated on the Gulf Coast.

A primary IBM machine in Reston, Virginia, and an auxiliary computer in Orlando, Florida, both will be getting the upgrades, which were largely made possible through $25 million in funding from the "Hurricane Sandy supplemental" bill recently approved by Congress, Uccellini said.

He spoke from the Weather Service's headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, on the eve of a report issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Wednesday about its performance up to and during Hurricane Sandy last year.

The Weather Service is a branch of NOAA, which is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

To be sure, meteorologists say the Weather Service and its Miami-based National Hurricane Center did a good job forecasting the onslaught of Sandy, which the NOAA report said had caused more than 200 deaths and more than $50 billion in damages in the United States.

But the report makes no mention of the fact that a European forecast predicted Sandy's so-called "left hook", which put it on a track from the east into New Jersey and New York, days ahead of the Weather Service, which initially indicated the storm would remain out at sea.

'SECOND TO NONE'

That lag, which Uccellini himself has described as "a miss," raised complaints among many in the meteorological community about the United States having lost its edge in weather forecasting.

The United States was a pioneer in so-called numerical weather prediction, or the science of using computer models and mathematical simulations of the atmosphere for weather forecasting.

But the National Weather Service lost its leadership in computer modeling years ago, especially when it comes to medium-range projections, and Uccellini acknowledged as much in his comments to Reuters.

Performance measures consistently show the United States trailing the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) when it comes to providing the most accurate global forecasting model, he said.

"They are the No. 1 model, there's no question about that," Uccellini said.

Computer models, which help meteorologists develop forecasts, simulate how weather conditions might develop based on an initial set of atmospheric and oceanic conditions. The highest resolution models, which can tie up huge amounts of supercomputing resources, pick up on more fine-grain details and tend to produce the most accurate predictions.

"A whole string of model improvements and enhancements" would be made possible through the increase in the Weather Service's computing power, Uccellini said, adding that the U.S. goal was to catch up with the Reading, England-based ECMWF, and ultimately to surpass it in modeling skill.

"For the first time that I recall, we will actually have computers that are bigger than the European center and we'll be running our models at higher resolution than they're running with improved physics packages and improved data assimilation," he said.

"Our goal is to exceed, to be second to none," Uccellini said.

He gave no time frame for meeting that goal, but Uccellini knows the challenges ahead. For 13 years he headed the National Centers for Environmental Prediction, the Weather Service office responsible for computer models and global forecast guidance, before taking over as head of the whole organization.

Cliff Mass, an atmospheric sciences professor at the University of Washington and a leading critic of NOAA and the Weather Service, was skeptical about surpassing the ECMWF in computer modeling skill anytime soon, at a time of fast-changing technological innovation.

But he said the increase in the Weather Service's computing power marked "a big advance" nonetheless.

"It's definitely a big positive. There's plenty else wrong in the Weather Service and NOAA, don't get me wrong. But this is certainly going to help a lot," Mass said.

Many of Mass's critiques of the Weather Service, which he writes about in closely watched blog postings, were echoed in a report issued on Tuesday by the National Academy of Public Administration, a non-profit group that helps federal, state and local governments grapple with public management challenges.

Titled "Forecast for the Future: Assuring the Capacity of the National Weather Service," the report to Congress recommends establishing a federal advisory committee to help implement changes aimed at improving operations and services across the agency.

A Weather Service spokesman, citing budget constraints, said creating a formal advisory committee may be difficult but called the report positive overall. "We see the study as reaffirming and supportive of our strategic plan, goals and vision of creating a Weather-Ready Nation," spokesman Christopher Vaccaro said in an email statement to Reuters.

The National Academy of Sciences highlighted many perceived shortcomings in the Weather Service in a hallmark report last year, which said it had been "lax in implementing changes."

(Editing by David Adams and Jim Loney)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/scienceNews/~3/65K_JswmmBk/story01.htm

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House panel set to OK cut in food stamp program

Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, May 14, 2013, during the committee's hearing on the Farm Bill, officially known as the Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2013. This is the third year in a row that farm-state lawmakers have tried to push the bill through; though it passed the Senate, the House declined to take up the bill last year after conservatives in that chamber objected to the bill's cost and insisted on higher cuts to food stamps. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, May 14, 2013, during the committee's hearing on the Farm Bill, officially known as the Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2013. This is the third year in a row that farm-state lawmakers have tried to push the bill through; though it passed the Senate, the House declined to take up the bill last year after conservatives in that chamber objected to the bill's cost and insisted on higher cuts to food stamps. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Agriculture Committee member Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, voices his concerns as lawmakers begin mark up on the Farm Bill, officially known as the Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2013, Tuesday, May 14, 2013, on Capitol Hill in Washington. This is the third year in a row that farm-state lawmakers have tried to push the bill through; though it passed the Senate, the House declined to take up the bill last year after conservatives in that chamber objected to the bill's cost and insisted on higher cuts to food stamps. The committee's ranking Republican, Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss. is at left. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The House Agriculture Committee is set to consider small cuts to the $80 billion-a-year food stamp program in an effort to appease conservatives who say the food aid has become too expensive.

The cuts are part of a massive five-year farm bill that costs almost $100 billion annually and would set policy for farm subsidies, rural programs and the food aid. The House panel will consider the legislation Wednesday, one day after the Senate Agriculture Committee approved its version.

The House bill would cut about $2.5 billion a year ? or a little more than 3 percent ? to the food stamp program, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The legislation would achieve the cuts partly by eliminating "broad-based categorical eligibility," or automatic food stamp benefits when people sign up for certain other programs.

Last year more than 47 million people used the SNAP program ? about 1 in 7 Americans ? and the cost had more than doubled since 2008. The rolls rose rapidly because of the economic downturn, rising food prices and expanded eligibility under President Barack Obama's 2009 economic stimulus law.

Republicans attacked Obama in last year's presidential campaign for his expansion of the program, and many House conservatives have refused to consider a farm bill without cuts to food stamps, which make up about 80 percent of the bill's cost.

The Senate approved much smaller cuts to the program, about $400 million a year. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., will have to appease all sides as he tries to push the farm bill through for the third year in a row, balancing calls from House conservatives to cut the program with Senate Democrats who are reluctant to touch it.

"I expect it to come from all directions," Lucas said last week of the food stamp debate.

The House bill would cut around $4 billion a year from food aid and farm spending, while the Senate bill would trim roughly $2.4 billion. Those reductions include more than $600 million in yearly savings from across-the-board cuts that took effect earlier this year.

Much of the savings in the House and Senate bills comes from eliminating direct payments, a subsidy frequently criticized because it isn't tied to production or crop prices. Part of that savings would go toward the deficit reduction, but the rest of the money would create new programs and raise subsidies for some crops while business is booming in the agricultural sector.

The Senate bill would eliminate direct payments immediately, while the House bill would phase out payments to cotton farmers, who rely on the program, over the next two years.

Like the Senate bill, the House measure also includes concessions to Southern rice and peanut growers who also depend on direct payments. The bills would lower the threshold for rice and peanut subsidies to kick in when prices drop.

The bill includes protections for other crops as well. Both bills would boost federally subsidized crop insurance and create a new program that covers smaller losses on planted crops before crop insurance kicks in, favoring Midwestern corn and soybean farmers, who use crop insurance most often.

This is the third year in a row that farm-state lawmakers have tried to push the bill through. Though it passed the Senate, the House declined to take up the bill last year after conservatives in that chamber objected to the bill's cost and insisted on the higher cuts to food stamps.

In 2011, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, and Lucas attempted to include the bill as part of the congressional supercommittee's effort to come up with a long-term deficit reduction plan. When that effort failed, farm bill action stalled until the next year.

House leaders have said they plan to put the measure on the floor this summer.

___

Follow Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mcjalonick

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-05-15-US-Farm-Bill/id-dfc43d5980db4f409874d5afcfb488f4

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IRS chief: Agency lacked sensitivity in screenings

Gov. Scott Walker says the IRS's targeting of conservative groups for extra scrutiny is a real threat to our freedoms, on Tuesday, May 14, 2013, in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer)

Gov. Scott Walker says the IRS's targeting of conservative groups for extra scrutiny is a real threat to our freedoms, on Tuesday, May 14, 2013, in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer)

The John Weld Peck Federal Building, shown Tuesday, May 14, 2013, in Cincinnati, houses the main offices for the Internal Revenue Service in the city. The IRS apologized Friday for what it acknowledged was "inappropriate" targeting of conservative political groups during the 2012 election to see whether they were violating their tax-exempt status. In some cases, the IRS acknowledged, agents inappropriately asked for lists of donors. The agency blamed low-level employees in a Cincinnati office, saying no high-level officials were aware.(AP Photo/Al Behrman)

President Barack Obama gestures during a joint news conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron, Monday, May 13, 2013, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, where they talked about subjects ranging from Syria's civil war to preparations for a coming summit in Northern Ireland. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The IRS acting chief acknowledged Tuesday that the agency demonstrated "a lack of sensitivity" in its screenings of political groups seeking tax-exempt status, but he said those mistakes won't be repeated.

In his first public comment on the case, Steven Miller said there was "a shortcut taken in our processes" for determining which groups needed special screening.

Miller has emerged as a key figure in the controversy over the IRS' singling out of conservative groups for extra scrutiny. President Barack Obama said Monday that if the agency intentionally targeted such groups, "that's outrageous and there's no place for it."

In an opinion piece in Tuesday's editions of USA Today, Miller conceded that the agency demonstrated "a lack of sensitivity to the implications of some of the decisions that were made." He said screening of advocacy groups is "factually complex, and it's challenging to separate out political issues from those involving education or social welfare."

"The mistakes we made were due to the absence of a sufficient process for working the increase in cases and a lack of sensitivity to the implications of some of the decisions that were made," Miller wrote.

Miller said the agency has implemented new procedures that will "ensure the mistakes won't be repeated."

The IRS apologized Friday for what it acknowledged was "inappropriate" targeting of conservative political groups during the 2012 election to see whether they were violating their tax-exempt status. In some cases, the IRS acknowledged, agents inappropriately asked for lists of donors.

The agency blamed low-level employees in a Cincinnati office, saying no high-level officials were aware. The IRS admission was made at an American Bar Association conference.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, questioned the timing of the IRS admission. It came days before the expected release of a report on the issue by the Treasury inspector general for tax administration.

"This timing is curious," Grassley says in a letter Tuesday to Miller. "The IRS chose not to fully answer long-standing congressional questions on the issue, even though they had been posed months before this particular question was asked at the conference."

Grassley asks Miller to provide records relating to the agency's decision to disclose the targeting of tea party groups at a Friday conference rather than to members of Congress who had been asking about it for more than a year. He also asks for any communications on the issue between the IRS and the White House.

At least three congressional committees have made similar requests.

Meanwhile, two Republican governors urged Obama to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the case. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker call the allegations "Big Brother come to life." They want a special prosecutor to find out if any laws were broken and say Obama should fire any IRS employees responsible for the situation.

Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., called Tuesday for Miller to step down or for Obama to replace him.

"If the reports are accurate that Steven Miller knew about the IRS' egregious targeting of conservative groups last year and misled members of Congress about those actions, he should step down or be removed immediately," Blunt said Tuesday.

On Monday, the IRS said Miller was first informed on May, 3, 2012, that applications for tax-exempt status by tea party groups were inappropriately singled out for extra scrutiny.

At least twice after the briefing, Miller wrote letters to members of Congress to explain the process of reviewing applications for tax-exempt status without disclosing that tea party groups had been targeted. On July 25, 2012, Miller testified before the House Ways and Means oversight subcommittee, but again did not mention the additional scrutiny ? despite being asked about it.

Miller's op-ed did not address why he did not inform Congress after he was briefed.

Miller was a deputy commissioner at the time. He became acting commissioner in November, after Commissioner Douglas Shulman completed his five-year term. Shulman had been appointed by President George W. Bush.

At the congressional hearing, Rep. Kenny Marchant, R-Texas, told Miller that some politically active tax-exempt groups in his district had complained about being harassed. Marchant did not explicitly ask if tea party groups were being targeted. But he did ask how applications were handled.

Miller responded, "We did group those organizations together to ensure consistency, to ensure quality. We continue to work those cases," according to a transcript on the committee's website.

Earlier, Rep. Charles Boustany, R-La., had raised concerns with the IRS about complaints that tea party groups were being harassed. Boustany specifically mentioned tea party groups in his inquiry.

But in a June 15, 2012, letter to Boustany, Miller said that when the IRS saw an increase in applications from groups that were involved in political activity, the agency "took steps to coordinate the handling of the case to ensure consistency."

He added that agents worked with tax law experts "to develop approaches and materials that could be helpful to the agents working the cases."

Miller did not mention that in 2011, those materials included a list of words to watch for, such as "tea party" and "patriot." He also didn't disclose that in January 2012, the criteria for additional screening was updated to include references to the Constitution or the Bill of Rights.

The House Ways and Means Committee, chaired by GOP Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, is holding a hearing on the issue Friday and Miller is scheduled to testify.

The Senate Finance Committee announced Monday that it will join a growing list of congressional committees investigating the matter.

Camp and other members of the Ways and Means Committee sent at least four inquiries to the IRS, starting in June 2011. Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, sent three inquiries. And Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House oversight committee, sent at least one.

"This was a targeting of the president's political enemies, effectively, and lies about it during the election year so that it wasn't discovered until afterwards," Issa said Tuesday on "CBS This Morning." The fact is this is the kind of investigation that has to be open and transparent to the American people."

None of the agency's responses to Congress acknowledged that conservative groups had ever been targeted, including a response to Hatch dated Sept. 11, 2012 ? four months after Miller had been briefed.

The IRS issued a statement Monday saying that Miller had been briefed on May 3, 2012 "that some specific applications were improperly identified by name and sent to the (exempt organizations) centralized processing unit for further review." That was the unit in Cincinnati that handled the tea party applications.

___

Associated Press writers Jim Abrams and Henry C. Jackson contributed to this report.

___

Follow Stephen Ohlemacher on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stephenatap

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-05-14-IRS-Political%20Groups/id-8c961f98213b48ad86804099c248f659

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Venture capital firm wants to back Charlotte startups ...

Washington, D.C.-based venture capital firm Grotech Ventures closed a fund worth $225 million in committed capital Monday and is eager to invest some of it in Charlotte startups.

?We?re certainly going to be looking aggressively for companies to back in the Charlotte area,? said Don Rainey, a general partner at Grotech. ?All the indications are that we?ll find some to back there.?

Grotech is known for investing early in high-potential technology companies. Rainey, 53, was one of the early investors in daily deal site LivingSocial, which launched in 2008, and he?s been involved in startup communities along the East Coast for more than 25 years.

Because of the potential he?s seen in the local startup community, Rainey and his wife are moving their six children from Washington to Cornelius next month.

Rainey says Grotech is considering startups in Charlotte, Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Denver.

It has committed funds from the $225 million to 12 companies so far. None of those is in Charlotte, but Rainey said the process of determining companies to invest in will probably take two to three years.

?How much goes where really depends on the great companies we find,? Rainey said.

Grotech is looking for high-potential, growing tech companies. Generally, the firm invests in companies that have a finished or nearly finished product but haven?t yet made sales.

The latest fund brings the firm?s total capital under management to $1.3 billion.

Rainey said he?s been getting to know leaders in the Charlotte-area startup ecosystem, ?trying to plant our flags in there.?

He says he?s met with Dan Roselli, founder of uptown startup hub Packard Place and some local angel investors.

He said he?s also met with local tech startups AddShoppers and Sweet Relish.

AddShoppers is an analytics tool that shows businesses which social networks are driving the most sales.

Sweet Relish is a tool that allows online shoppers to create lists, browse and buy.

Rainey says he expects the local startup scene to succeed in what he calls the ?native expertise? of the area.

?This is a city with a great banking industry, so what do people learn? Data protection, financial advising, payment technology, general computer security,? Rainey told the Observer in March.

Rainey was a judge in the finals of the May?1 Charlotte Venture Challenge, a months-long startup competition through UNC Charlotte with a $50,000 grand prize. He also was a panelist during the Southeast Venture Conference in March, where more than 600 entrepreneurs and investors gathered in Charlotte to showcase the region?s most promising tech startups.

Source: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/05/13/4039034/venture-capital-firm-wants-to.html

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Justin Bieber pops up on 'The Simpsons'

TV

Randee Dawn TODAY contributor

6 hours ago

Justin Bieber has added another first to add to his long list of career milestones: He can now be added to the gallery of stars who have made cameo appearances on the long-running FOX series "The Simpsons."

On Sunday night, Bieber -- who in past months has experienced a series of embarrassing headlines related to overenthusiastic fans, uncooperative bouncers and other monkeyshines -- at last did something non-controversial when he showed up as himself on the episode "The Fabulous Faker Boy."

In the episode, Bieber, complete with long, wavy bangs, tries to get into a children's talent show, and is turned away by yet another bouncer who doesn't get him. "That's another 25 bucks we'll never see. God!" cartoon Bieber says in exasperation, then walks off.

Directly afterward, an on-screen note alerted viewers of an "all clear," saying "'The Simpsons' will be Bieber-free from this point on."

The pop singer seemed to be happy with the whole experience, and tweeted a shot of his character on Thursday while referring to Dan Kanter, his guitarist and musical director, in his comment: "Wait. Is that @dankanter creepin in the back? Haha."

"Simpsons" producer Al Jean told Rolling Stone, "It's just a cameo. This sentence is longer than his appearance."

He added that Bieber can thank "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening for his appearance. "I think he has a family member who was a fan," said Jean. "I think he's a fan, too. So he asked us to find a place to use him. I think (Bieber) had also met Matt and wanted to be on the show."

Of course, Bieber wasn't the only guest star on Sunday's episode; also making voice appearances were Bill Hader of "Saturday Night Live," Jane Krakowski of "30 Rock: and Patrick Stewart of "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/justin-bieber-makes-simpsons-cameo-appearance-1C9898370

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