Democrat Elizabeth Warren holds a small lead over Republican Sen. Scott Brown in the Massachusetts Senate race, according to a poll released Monday night — the third in two days showing Warren ahead.
The Suffolk University survey finds Warren leading Brown by four percentage points, 48 percent to 44 percent. The survey’s margin of error is four percentage points.
Though Warren leads, Brown is viewed slightly more favorably in the new poll. Brown is viewed favorably by 60 percent of the poll’s respondents and unfavorably by 29 percent. Warren was viewed favorably by 52 percent and unfavorably by 33 percent.
After watching the first episode of “Revolution,” you may have questions. With any luck, some of those questions are answered in this interview with the show’s executive producer and showrunner, Eric Kripke.
“Revolution,” which also counts J.J. Abrams and “Iron Man” director Jon Favreau among its executive producers, takes place 15 years into the future, in a world in which all electricity — anything that can throw a spark or carry a charge — doesn’t work any more. The country has been taken over by various factions and militias, and in Monday’s premiere, the Matheson family was torn apart by Captain Neville (Giancarlo Esposito), a high-ranking officer doing the bidding of those running the Monroe Republic.
According to the producers, we’ll see flashbacks to the early days of the blackout in upcoming episodes, and Esposito, who talked about playing Neville in a recent interview, says viewers will learn more about the hardscrabble lives of average citizens and the “world of ease” occupied by high-ranking Monroe Republic officials. Fellow cast member Elizabeth Mitchell promised lots of “swashbucking sword action” in this interview.
EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson stated in a press release Monday night that “Train’s life and work were dedicated to protecting American families and communities from pollution and environmental threats, and his leadership helped set the path for the ongoing work of the EPA.”
While we still don’t know exactly when Microsoft will unleash Office 2013 and Office 365 upon the world, we do know how much they’ll cost. While standalone versions, licensed for use on a single computer, will still be available, the new strategy makes it more affordable for many homes and business to opt for a subscription package instead. Office Home and Student 2013 (with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote) will cost $139, while Home and Business adds Outlook for $219, and the top of the line Professional package includes all of those along with Access and Publisher for $399. Compare those to the two Office 365 packages, which promise customizations that follow their users around, expanded cloud storage, access to all of the apps and automatically receive any future updates that come out for them.
Office 365 Home Premium will cost $99 per year, with 20GB of SkyDrive storage and 60 minutes of Skype calling per month and access on five computers, along with the ability to change out the devices at any time, and use “full featured apps” temporarily on any PC. It’s a single subscription for up to 5 users, and will have a 30 day free trial available. Alternatively, small businesses with 1-10 employees could opt for Office 365 Small Business Premium that also comes with all the apps, but lets each user install it on up to 5 different PCs or Macs, along with 25GB Outlook storage, an organization-wide 10GB cloud drive plus 500MB for each user, online meetings and even website hosting. That also has a free trial, but costs $149 per user, per year. If you can’t wait, buying Office 2010 or Office 2011 for Mac as of October 19th entitles users to a free upgrade to Office 2013 or one year of Office 365 free.
Clearly, Microsoft would prefer it if users took advantage of the new pay-per-year offerings, but what do you think? Check out all the details from Microsoft’s blog and check list linked below (or our preview) as well as a few of their examples after the break, and let us know if you’ll be upgrading or switching over to an alternative like Open Office.
COSTA MESA, Calif. — Republican Mitt Romney says a video clip in which he said that nearly half of Americans think they are “victims” was “not elegantly stated.” But he says President Barack Obama’s approach is “attractive to people who are not paying taxes.”
Romney spoke to reporters Monday evening in a hastily called news conference after the emergence of a video in which the GOP presidential nominee told donors that almost half of American voters “believe that they are victims.”
This building’s animation might look like it’s computer generated but it’s actually done with good ol’ fashioned human hands. Literally. People are inside each room and shut each window to create a building wall that looks like pixels. More »
A device to be proud of, that’s what LG hopes the Optimus G can be, and it has thrown the works at the new Android flagship to achieve it. LG has long stood in the shadow of fellow South Korean firm Samsung, but the Optimus G is a showcase of the company’s own abilities in design and component manufacture. Just as Samsung does with its Galaxy flagships, piecing together the best parts of its supply chain, LG has crafted its own tour de force.
It’s hard to fault the hardware, certainly. The 4.7-inch True HD IPS+ display, offering 1280 x 768 WXGA resolution, is bright, vividly colorful, and contrast-rich, a solid alternative to Super AMOLED Plus. The in-cell touchscreen technology leaves graphics floating right beneath your fingertip, and the whole thing is responsive and swift. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 Pro helps here; LG may not have its own chipset, but the new 1.5GHz processor at the heart of the Optimus G is a hugely capable one. LG has sensibly paired it with 2GB of RAM and at least 32GB of storage.
There are a few obvious blots on the scoresheet, however. Ice Cream Sandwich is better than Gingerbread, certainly, but it’s not Android 4.1 Jelly Bean; the absence of the latest OS is unlikely to pacify those who have been stung by late or entirely absent software upgrades on previous LG phones. At least it runs with no real noticeable lag on the S4 Pro, though it does miss out on Google’s latest Project Butter improvements to UI performance.
It’s hard not to be a least a little impressed by the overall Optimus G package, though. It’s a handsome phone, and while the shifting, refracting rear glass effect may not be to everyone’s taste, it’s certainly leagues ahead of the dull black plastic of some earlier high-end LG devices. It certainly raises the bar for future PRADA collaborations, with the designer phone now feeling somewhat fussy in comparison.
In the hand, it’s surprisingly compact given the size of the display. LG has managed to edge ahead of the Galaxy S III in terms of thickness, coming in at 8.45mm versus the Samsung’s 8.6mm, but more usefully it’s a slightly narrower, shorter device, which makes for something more comfortable to hold and easier to fit into a pocket. The Optimus G feels solid, too, and flex-free despite the slimline profile.
LG still has plenty to prove with the Optimus G, and it won’t be able to do all that on launch day. Delivering consistent software improvements is an integral part of the Android experience now, and LG needs to prove that it can deliver on that rather than leave its new flagship behind. We’ll have more on the LG Optimus G in our full review.
Century Japan has unleashed their latest USB 3.0 secondary LCD monitor, the LCD-9700U3. Adopting an IPS panel, this new 9.7-inch LED-backlight monitor provides 1024 x 768 XGA resolution, 600:1 contrast ratio, 400 cd/m2 brightness and 30ms response time, and features a USB 3.0 connection interface for power input. The LCD-9700U3 retails for 19,800 Yen (about $253). [Century]
We’re in Seoul for the launch of LG’s latest flagship smartphone, the Optimus G, and we finally managed to spend a few minutes with a demo unit. This is a powerhouse — the first handset built around Qualcomm’s 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro. It features LTE, a 4.7-inch 1280×768 True HD IPS PLUS display, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of built-in storage, a 13-megapixel autofocus camera, a sealed 2100mAh battery, and NFC.
We like the simple and elegant design, which is reminiscent of LG’s Chocolate and Prada models — it’s thin (8.45mm / 0.33 inches) and reasonably light for its size (145g / 5.11oz). The front sports a glass surface with three capacitive buttons and the back showcases the company’s Crystal Reflection process — an attractive patterned glass-like finish that’s a bit of a fingerprint magnet. Materials and build quality are excellent (better than the Galaxy S III) and the Optimus G feels pleasant in hand.
You’ll find a volume rocker and micro-SIM slot on the left edge and the power / lock key on the right. There’s a notification light next to the 1.3MP front-facing camera. A standard headphone jack sits on the top side, with the micro-USB / MHL connector on the bottom. The speaker and main camera are in the back, pretty much where you’d expect them. While the display is definitely high quality, it’s not mind blowing (the One X screen still looks better) — we expected better viewing angles from LG’s True HD IPS PLUS and Zerogap Touch technologies.
Sadly, we didn’t spend much time using the software, but the Optimus G runs Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) with a skin similar to what we saw on the Optimus 4X HD and performance is definitely impressive. We’ll get more seat time with LG’s flagship over the next few days, so stay tuned for more impressions. In the meantime, enjoy our gallery below and our hands-on video after the break.
The iControlPad 2 is a Bluetooth gaming controller that is compatible with any Bluetooth-enabled gadget. The device features a 55-key keyboard, a d-pad, four face buttons, two analog nubs, two shoulder buttons, etc. What’s more, the iControlPad 2 also provides a new swiveling clamp for easier phone handling. Its 1360mAh battery offers enough juice for up to 14-hour of operating time. The iControlPad 2 is compatible with a host of emulators, including NES, SNES, Megadrive/Genesis, MAME, PC-Engine, MSX, Gameboy, Amiga and C64. [technabob and iControlPad]
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