Aha radio explained: streaming audio hits the road | Phone News

First came a radio in your dashboard, and then came ? well, that was about it, bar a possible USB slot or a fancy iPod dock. Radio, however, no longer means just Classic FM and a crackly MW stations with the arrival of Aha by Harman?s web-based text-to-speech concierge service.

Announced at Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona as part of Ford?s AppLink alongside Spotify, Aha by Harman effectively makes web content as easy to use as a good old-fashioned radio.

Not surprisingly, it all starts with an app. Aha is available for iOS and Android tablets and smartphones, though the emphasis is definitely on the latter.

"While Aha works on tablets, we find that most drivers do not expect to use or bring their tablets into the car. For that reason, we?ve focused on building smartphone apps for iOS and Android," Robert Acker, VP of connectivity for Harman and GM of Aha?s business, explained to TechRadar.

This time it?s personal

Internet radio has been how drivers in the USA have been entertained on the road for yonks, but Aha isn?t just about supplying drivers with linear radio stations. "Aha aims to bring a wealth of web-based content into vehicles in a radio-like format," says Acker.

"This of course includes internet radio and on-demand music services, plus much more. In all, Aha offers 30,000 stations of audio to choose from spanning music, news, podcasts, audiobooks, social media news feeds, location-based services and more. By making web-based content as easy to use as radio, we can expand beyond music services and do much more."

In terms of pure linear radio stations offered by Aha, that 30,000 figure doesn?t include the CBS and Slacker stations broadcast in the USA, but it does add all the radio stations in the UK.

It also creates spoken word content tailored to the driver. "We use text-to-speech (TTS) recognition for Facebook and Twitter updates read aloud, and other location-based stations," says Acker.

Aha even includes the self-explanatory Hungry and Coffee local search options. "In the future you may see us use TTS for email and texts, but that feature isn?t live today," says Acker. Nor is there any integration of Siri/voice control yet, but we may see that in future.

The Porsche man

Whether a new connected car app such as Aha achieves greatness has much to do with where and how it?s available, and here Harman is making progress. In terms of being a built-in feature from the get-go, the full Aha experience is presently available only in Porsche vehicles in the UK, though it will soon be available on the Ford Sync AppLink ? and more manufacturers? platforms will follow, we?re told.

Harman promises that by the end of 2013 Aha will be integrated into vehicles by more than 10 car makers, which in total represent more than 50 per cent of all cars sold in the USA/Canada and up to 30 per cent in Europe, including Acura, Chrysler, Ford, Honda, Porsche and Subaru.

However, Aha is also a retrofit option. "In addition to working with top car makers to install Aha at the factory, the top three aftermarket manufacturers Alpine, Kenwood and Pioneer also manufacture head units that drivers can have installed in existing vehicles," says Acker. Getting the Griffin iTrip accessory is another way to get Aha in the car for a pittance.

TechRadar: Audio news

Source: http://www.newsphone.org/aha-radio-explained-streaming-audio-hits-the-road/

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Mila Kunis Calms Down Nervous British Reporter, Is Totally Awesome

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/mila-kunis-calms-down-nervous-british-reporter-is-totally-awesom/

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VW Golf wins European Car of the Year

Paul A. Eisenstein , The Detroit Bureau ? ? ? 5 hrs.

The Volkswagen Golf has been named the European Car of the Year for 2013, beating out a wide array of alternatives from around the world.

The seventh-generation VW hatchback soundly beat out its closest competitors in balloting by 58 automotive journalists from 22 European countries. The Golf scored 414 votes compared to 202 for the Subaru BRZ sports car, which took second place, and the 189 votes tallied by the Volvo V40.

?People are looking for commitment and trust,? said Martin Winterkorn, chairman of the Volkswagen AG Board of Management, during an award presentation the night before the formal opening of the 2013 Geneva Motor Show. ?They are looking for substance and value more than ever before.?

COTY jurors gave a number of reasons for their choice, pointing to the fit and finish of the new Golf, the number of different body styles and powertrains, and the new models significant improvement in fuel economy.

?It was a massive win,? said Steve Cropley, one of the judges, and editor of Britain?s Autocar magazine.

The Detroit Bureau: The Bugatti Veneno: 222 mph, 0 to 60 in 2.8 seconds -- at $4m

This marks the second time the Golf has won the European honor, previously taking home the trophy in 1992. It is only the second car to win the Car of the Year honor twice.

The latest version of the Golf was introduced late last year and VW is unveiling several new versions during this week?s Geneva show, including a diesel-powered wagon it claims will get better than 70 miles to the gallon.

The Detroit Bureau: New cars, plenty of kudos, cadillac sales take a sharp upswing

The European Car of the Year award is one of the most prestigious in Europe and carries weight in many other parts of the world, including the United States, where Volkswagen has significantly increased its presence over the last several years.

But U.S. buyers will have to wait awhile for this version. Volkswagen has decided to shift production of the hatchback for North America to its plant in Puebla, Mexico, a move that should sharply reduce costs. That means the 2013 VW Golf won?t roll into American showrooms until sometime next year.

The Detroit Bureau: Kia gets edgy with new provo concept debuting at Geneva Motor Show

Copyright ? 2009-2013, The Detroit Bureau

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/volkswagen-golf-wins-european-car-year-2013-1C8683491

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France says al Qaeda chief Abou Zeid "probably" killed

PARIS (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's senior field commander in the Sahara, Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, has probably been killed in Mali, the head of France's joint chiefs of staff said on Monday.

Edouard Guillaud's remarks are the first indication from the French government that Abou Zeid died in fighting in the rugged north of Mali.

Asked on Europe 1 radio whether he had been killed, Guillaud said: "It is probable, but only probable. We don't have any certainty for the moment, (but) it would be good news."

Guillaud said that Abou Zeid's death could not be confirmed because his body had not been recovered.

Chad's army, which is fighting alongside French forces in northern Mali, said last week that it killed Abou Zeid and another al Qaeda commander in the area, Mokhtar Belmokhtar.

Guillaud said he was "extremely cautious" about reports of Belmokhtar's death, noting that some militant websites had said the al Qaeda commander behind January's mass hostage-taking in Algeria was still alive.

Abou Zeid is regarded as one of AQIM's most ruthless operators, responsible for the kidnapping of more than 20 Western hostages since 2008. He is believed to have killed British hostage Edwin Dyer in 2009 and 78-year-old Frenchman Michel Germaneau in 2010.

While his killing would deal a serious blow to al Qaeda's leadership in the region, it also raises questions about the fate of seven French hostages thought to be held in northern Mali.

After a seven-week-old campaign, French, Chadian and Malian troops have pushed Qaeda-linked fighters, who had threatened to take over Mali, back to their mountain and desert hideouts.

Guillaud said French forces had found some 50 supply caches and around 10 workshops for making bombs that could be used well outside of the immediate region.

"On the ground we are finding literally an industrialization of terrorism," he said.

(Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/french-military-chief-says-probable-al-qaeda-commander-080106463.html

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IHIF - Breaking Travel News

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Source: http://www.breakingtravelnews.com/news/article/ihif-hospitality-industry-still-missing-a-trick-with-social-media-barclays/

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Want To Build A $1B Consumer Company? Look For Long-Haul Founders And Don?t Fear Incumbents

Editor's note: Jacob Mullins is a VC at Shasta Ventures. With the recent talk about the growing ?billion dollar club? in startups, I?ve been wondering what characteristics a $1 billion consumer tech company has. As a Series A investor who primarily focuses on consumer web and mobile companies, I examined the pool of consumer companies that have had exits over $100 million within the current era of consumer tech, which I consider to be post-recession 2008. I wanted to see what I could learn and ideally reverse-engineer common characteristics that would help me identify the next big winners when I see them today or in the future.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/2U-_MBnB9Os/

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Sea lamprey genome mapped

Feb. 28, 2013 ? Beginning in 2004, a group of scientists from around the globe, including two University of Oklahoma faculty members, set out to map the genome of the sea lamprey. The secrets of how this jawless vertebrate separated from the jawed vertebrates early in the evolutionary process will give insight to the ancestry of vertebrate characters and may help investigators more fully understand neurodegenerative diseases in humans.

David McCauley, associate professor in the Biology Department in the OU College of Arts and Sciences, and Sandra W. Clifton, with the OU Center for Advanced Genome Technology, collaborated with scientists from Japan, Germany, the United States, Canada and Great Britain.

McCauley isolated and prepared the liver tissue from the single adult female sea lamprey, from which genomic DNA was isolated for sequencing. Clifton was involved in management of the sea lamprey sequencing project at the Genome Institute at Washington University in St. Louis until her retirement in 2010. The project then was taken over by Patrick Minx. Clifton participated in the discussions regarding the paper preparation, and she is a senior author on the paper. Sequencing was performed at the Genome Institute and the project was directed by Weiming Li at Michigan State University with funding provided by the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health.

"The sea lamprey is a primitive jawless vertebrate that diverged from other jawed vertebrates early in the vertebrate ancestry," writes McCauley. "Because of its early divergence from other living vertebrates, the sea lamprey genome can provide insights for understanding how vertebrate genomes have evolved, and the origins of vertebrate character traits. Several important findings arise from sequencing the sea lamprey genome: Vertebrates have undergone two 'whole-genome' rounds of duplication, resulting in multiple copies of many genes present in vertebrates. One outstanding question has been the timing of these duplications in vertebrate history. Results from this project suggest that two rounds of duplication predated the divergence of the ancestral lamprey from modern jawed vertebrates. This result is important for understanding how vertebrate genomes have evolved, and in particular, for understanding if the organization of the genome is common to all vertebrates.

"Most vertebrates contain an insulating layer of cells that surround nerve cells. Cells that wrap around a nerve fiber, or axon, are enriched in a protein known as myelin. The insulating properties of myelin allow signals to be conducted rapidly along the nerve fiber, and the loss of myelin results in numerous neurodegenerative diseases in humans."

McCauley adds that lampreys lack these "wrapped" neurons, suggesting the insulated neurons are specific to jawed vertebrates. "Somewhat surprisingly, the sea lamprey genome contains multiple proteins involved in the synthesis of myelin, including its basic protein. This important finding suggests the origin of myelin predated the divergence of lampreys from the lineage leading to jawed vertebrates, but the role of these proteins in lampreys is not known. Other important findings shed light on evolution of the vertebrate adaptive immune system, and the evolution of paired appendages, such as fins in fish and fore-limbs and hind-limbs in tetrapod vertebrates such as humans and animals."

The findings recently were published in the March issue of Nature Genetics.

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Journal Reference:

1. Jeramiah J Smith, Shigehiro Kuraku, Carson Holt, Tatjana Sauka-Spengler, Ning Jiang, Michael S Campbell, Mark D Yandell, Tereza Manousaki, Axel Meyer, Ona E Bloom, Jennifer R Morgan, Joseph D Buxbaum, Ravi Sachidanandam, Carrie Sims, Alexander S Garruss, Malcolm Cook, Robb Krumlauf, Leanne M Wiedemann, Stacia A Sower, Wayne A Decatur, Jeffrey A Hall, Chris T Amemiya, Nil R Saha, Katherine M Buckley, Jonathan P Rast, Sabyasachi Das, Masayuki Hirano, Nathanael McCurley, Peng Guo, Nicolas Rohner, Clifford J Tabin, Paul Piccinelli, Greg Elgar, Magali Ruffier, Bronwen L Aken, Stephen M J Searle, Matthieu Muffato, Miguel Pignatelli, Javier Herrero, Matthew Jones, C Titus Brown, Yu-Wen Chung-Davidson, Kaben G Nanlohy, Scot V Libants, Chu-Yin Yeh, David W McCauley, James A Langeland, Zeev Pancer, Bernd Fritzsch, Pieter J de Jong, Baoli Zhu, Lucinda L Fulton, Brenda Theising, Paul Flicek, Marianne E Bronner, Wesley C Warren, Sandra W Clifton, Richard K Wilson, Weiming Li. Sequencing of the sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) genome provides insights into vertebrate evolution. Nature Genetics, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/ng.2568

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/qyZ00g1_W1M/130228171510.htm

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On the arts blogs: Swedish House Mafia, RIDM

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Dance-music DJ trio Swedish House Mafia perform to 13,000 dancing fans at the Bell Centre in Montreal on Wednesday February 27, 2013.

Photograph by: Vincenzo D'Alto , The Gazette

MONTREAL - Here's what's new on the Gazette's arts blogs Thursday. To read the full posts, click on the related links attached to this story.

Words & Music: After catching Swedish House Mafia at the Bell Centre, T'Cha Dunlevy writes:

"The three-member DJ crew is one of the biggest things in commercial dance music, remixing everyone from Coldplay to the Black Eyed Peas, when not creating its own relentlessly thumping club tracks. But while the group's crossover hits have garnered mass appeal, it did its best imitation of underground during the show, turning the Bell Centre into one giant party."

The Cine Files: Reporting from the RIDM Docville series, Liz Ferguson writes about a Thursday-night film offering:

"Psychoanalyst and cultural critic Slavoj Zizek rejoins Sophie Fiennes to put cinema and society on the couch (and himself on Travis Bickle?s bed), in The Pervert?s Guide to Ideology. (Zizek and Fiennes also made The Pervert?s Guide to Cinema, in 2006.)"

? Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

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Source: http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/music/Thursday+Gazette+arts+blogs+Swedish+House+Mafia/8028522/story.html

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