Te reo M?ori choice for Windows 8, Office 2013, and the Internet ...

For ten years Microsoft has been collaborating with Te Taura Whiri i te Reo M?ori (the M?ori Language Commission) and language experts to bring free te reo M?ori interfaces to the technology that millions of Kiwis use every day.

In preparation for M?ori Language Week 2013, Microsoft has announced today that the choice to use te reo M?ori in Windows 8, Office 2013, Outlook.com, and Internet Explorer 10 is available now.

?We are thrilled to continue our support for te reo M?ori,? says Paul Muckleston, Managing Director of Microsoft New Zealand Limited. ?We are grateful for the hard work that so many people have done to make it possible to weave this taonga into the very latest of tablet, smartphone, PC, and cloud technologies.?

?We are also announcing our support for a new initiative that can bring free te reo M?ori translations to the Internet with the Microsoft Translator Hub in the future,? says Muckleston.

?Microsoft?s ongoing commitment to te reo M?ori deserves to be celebrated,? says Glenis Philip Barbara, Chief Executive of Te Taura Whiri i te Reo M?ori. ?Microsoft has worked with translators to develop and polish top notch translations for more than 100,000 phrases and they provide a truly immersive experience. It is exciting to see our language so comprehensively supported in the Microsoft products that are widely used in our community.?

Glenis adds that support for te reo M?ori in technology is essential for investing in tamariki by offering an interface from their school years. This allows youth to be immersed in te reo for life.?

New support for te reo M?ori in Microsoft products includes the following.

• In Windows 8, te reo M?ori can be applied to the desktop and the modern touch-friendly interface, as well as the included apps for Mail, Calendar, People, Weather, Maps, Games, Music, Finance, News, Defender (the included free anti-virus software) and more.?
• The new Internet Explorer 10 web browser for Windows 7 and Windows 8 can also be used with te reo M?ori menus and options.?
• With Office 2013, te reo M?ori can be applied to Outlook 2013, Word 2013, Excel 2013, PowerPoint 2013, and OneNote 2013. The free online email service Outlook.com also has the option to be used in te reo M?ori.
• Windows Phone 8 now offers te reo M?ori support for the Regional Settings (this will display things like the time and date in te reo M?ori).

All of these te reo M?ori options are available today at no extra cost, through a simple change in the Language Settings (Windows 8 and Internet Explorer 10, Outlook.com, and Windows Phone 8), or with a free download (Office 2013 from http://aka.ms/Office2013inTeReo). Previous versions of Windows and Office are also supported.

Anne Taylor, Customer Marketing Manager at Microsoft New Zealand Limited, has been a champion of te reo M?ori within Microsoft from the outset. She says the work involved in the development of this M?ori language support would not have been possible without many people working towards a common goal. Individual contributors include Haami Piripi, Huhana Rokx, Sharon Armstrong, Wiha Raki-Hawea, Lee Smith, Te Haumihiata Mason, Te Taka Keegan, Tom Roa, Roger Lewis, Wareko Te ?ngina, Eva Mahara, Hohepa MacDougall, John Moorfield, and Dave Moskovitz.

Taylor says, ?On behalf of Microsoft, I would like to thank everyone who has helped to make te reo come to life in a technological context, and Te Taura Whiri i te Reo M?ori for their encouragement and recognition of the work that has been done.?

?We encourage everyone to try these te reo M?ori interfaces for themselves,? says Anne. ?Our vision is that everyone can immerse themselves in te reo M?ori when they use our technology, to keep the language vibrant with the community leaders who know it well, and to revitalise and grow language use among children and learners.?

Waikato University Senior Lecturer in Computer Science, Dr Te Taka Keegan, has worked closely with Microsoft to develop the te reo M?ori interfaces. He says there is a need for greater access to technology to facilitate the use of the language on an everyday basis.??

Dr Keegan says, ?Microsoft?s 10 years of work has laid a foundation for te reo M?ori in the technology environment and highlighted how te reo M?ori can be used in modern contexts.?

?The impact of Microsoft's work is far reaching, giving future generations of M?ori language speakers the expectation that their computing and technology can, and more importantly should, be available in te reo M?ori.?

Building on this work, Microsoft New Zealand Limited announced today that it would support the establishment of a new charitable foundation for te reo M?ori language experts and advocates to bring free te reo M?ori translations to the Internet.

?Microsoft has been researching technology that allows computers to learn how to translate from one language to another for more than a decade,? says Muckleston. ?Microsoft technology powers the free translation tool at www.bing.com/translator/ that can translate any text or website, the translations that people see in Facebook and various consumer apps, and in software that is used by professional translators to help them be more productive.?

Microsoft?s translation service has the potential to make translations to and from te reo M?ori much more accessible to anyone through the Internet, says Pare Keiha, Dean of Te Ara Poutama, Pro-Vice Chancellor M?ori at AUT University. ?Being part of the process of building a new translation service for te reo M?ori will be a wonderful experience for language students.?

He is also excited about the future possibilities. ?If we can bring this ambitious project to fruition over the coming years, professional translators will be able to use the service in their work,? says Keiha. ?It will save a lot of time, so that more things can be translated into te reo M?ori. And anyone will be able to tap into the service to get the gist of what is being said in te reo. Microsoft is taking a neutral approach so there is no restriction on which smart devices can be used to access the service.?

?Microsoft has been consulting with te reo M?ori experts over the last year about the concept of bringing this instant translation technology to everyone. Based on the words of support and encouragement we have received, we would like to work with M?ori on this voyage to translation support in these tools for te reo M?ori,? says Muckleston. ?This won?t happen overnight, and it will take a lot of hard work by Microsoft and many volunteers ? but we think it is important to start on this ambitious project now so that te reo M?ori in the technological environment can be used more widely in the future.?

The first step will be for the community to use a free tool called the Microsoft Translator Hub to immerse the computer learning technology in te reo M?ori, so that the software can learn the vocabulary and grammar of the language. This requires a large collection of works that are available in te reo M?ori and in English or another supported language.

Muckleston says, ?Microsoft offers the Translator Hub as a free service for language enthusiasts and experts to chart their own pathways towards building sophisticated machine translation engines for their own use. It?s a self-service tool that allows people to include everyone in their community who can help to build the engine.?

?Most of the work will be done by enthusiasts and volunteers, and it will be important to recognise their work,? explains Muckleston. ?Microsoft will also give the project a boost with an initial funding grant for a researcher to collect translated works and add them to the Translator Hub to get things underway.?

Based on discussions with te reo M?ori experts, Microsoft is aware that the approach that will receive the widest support in New Zealand is for an independent charitable foundation, governed and controlled by M?ori, to collect and hold the body of translated works so that it can be used not only for the Microsoft Translator Hub project, but also for other projects that will enrich the language in the future.

?We recognise that collecting these valuable translated works from community and Government stakeholders is something that needs to be handled responsibly,? says Muckleston. ?The body of translated works that will be collected will be a cultural treasure in itself, and it is too valuable to be locked into any one company?s service. We understand that it needs to be readily available for other initiatives to study the language and improve access for the entire community.?

?Microsoft?s approach puts M?ori firmly in control of the body of translated works, and the Microsoft Translator Hub project itself,? explains Evelyn Tobin MNZM, JP, and Director, K?tare Enterprises Ltd. ?This is important, because it means M?ori own the process, and the critical decisions. I encourage everyone who is interested in revitalising te reo M?ori to come forward and support this work.?

Leading New Zealand law firm Chapman Tripp has offered to help with the establishment work of the foundation on a pro bono basis.

?Our firm supports the enrichment of te reo M?ori and we are excited to be part of this project,? says Justin Graham, Senior Associate at Chapman Tripp. ?As someone who is learning te reo myself, I feel this is an important project for New Zealand, and I am delighted to be able to volunteer my time alongside people who are recognised as leaders in te reo.?

Language experts Evelyn Tobin, Pare Keiha, and Te Taka Keegan have been nominated as initial trustees for the foundation, and there is an open invitation for iwi nominees, language enthusiasts, and representatives of the Te Taura Whiri i te Reo M?ori to participate.

The charitable foundation is due to be launched soon, which will open up this project to contributions from the public. If you are interested to find out more about the project, if you have feedback for us on the proposal, or if you would like to be part of it, please get in touch with us at TeReoMaori@microsoft.com.

To find out more about Microsoft?s commitment to languages please visit the Microsoft Local Language Program website at http://www.microsoft.com/LLP/. To find out more about Microsoft?s work on language technology please visit http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/mt/.

Article by Waldo Kuipers, Corporate Affairs Manager, Microsoft New Zealand Limited

Source: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/nzgovtech/archive/2013/06/26/te-reo-maori-choice-for-windows-8-office-2013-and-the-internet.aspx

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George Zimmerman murder trial: Live video and chat

By Frank Jack Daniel ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's once thriving mountaineering industry is reeling from the killing by militants of 10 foreign climbers, a massacre likely to drive away all but the hardiest adventurers from some of the world's tallest and most pristine peaks. A tour company present during the attack said gunmen dressed as police ordered tourists out of tents at the 4,200-meter (13,860-foot) base camp of Nanga Parbat, the country's second highest peak, late on Saturday night, then shot them and a Pakistani guide. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/george-zimmerman-murder-trial--live-video-and-chat-222843188.html

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Is Chris Weidman the one to take out Anderson Silva?

When Anderson Silva fights Chris Weidman at UFC 162 next weekend, he will be putting his 17-fight win streak, consecutive wins record, and consecutive title defenses record on the line. Silva's last five fights have ended in a stoppage. He is the closest thing the UFC has to unbeatable.

But more and more MMA folks say Weidman is the guy who can take him out. He is undefeated, and has six wins by a stoppage. UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre has trained with Weidman and said he will beat Silva. UFC commentator Joe Rogan said Weidman has the game to take out Silva. Frankie Edgar said he thinks Weidman will win, and noted BJJ expert Roger Gracie said Weidman can submit anyone, even Gracie.

Are you on board with the Weidman hypetrain? Will he win, or will it be Silva's 18th straight? Speak up on Facebook or Twitter.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/chris-weidman-one-anderson-silva-161041788.html

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Veterans' uphill road back, struggle with suicide

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Five years ago, Joe Miller, then an Army Ranger captain with three Iraq tours under his belt, sat inside his home near Fort Bragg holding a cocked Beretta 40mm, and prepared to kill himself.

He didn't pull the trigger. So Miller's name wasn't added to the list of active-duty U.S. military men and women who have committed suicide. That tally reached 350 last year, a record pace of nearly one a day. That's more than the 295 American troops who were killed in Afghanistan in the same year.

"I didn't see any hope for me at the time. Everything kind of fell apart," Miller said. "Helplessness, worthlessness. I had been having really serious panic attacks. I had been hospitalized for a while." He said he pulled back at the last minute when he recalled how he had battled the enemy in Iraq, and decided he would fight his own depression and post-traumatic stress.

The U.S. military and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) acknowledge the grave difficulties facing active-duty and former members of the armed services who have been caught up in the more-than decade-long American involvement in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The system struggles to prevent suicides among troops and veterans because potential victims often don't seek counseling given the stigma still associated by many with mental illnesses or the deeply personal nature ? a failed romantic relationship, for example ? of a problem that often precedes suicide. Experts also cite illicit drug use, alcohol and financial woes.

The number of suicides is nearly double that of a decade ago when the United States was just a year into the Afghan war and hadn't yet invaded Iraq. While the pace is down slightly this year, it remains worryingly high.

The military says about 22 veterans kill themselves every day and a beefed up and more responsive VA could help. But how to tackle the spiking suicide number among active-duty troops, which is tracking a similar growth in suicide numbers in the general population, remains in question. The big increase in suicides among the baby boomer population especially ? linked by many to the recent recession ? actually began a decade before the 2008 financial meltdown.

Compounding the problem, the VA ? which administers health and other government benefits for veterans ? has a huge backlog of disability, medical and other claims resulting from service in the military. Eric Shinseki, head of the VA and a former Army general, promises to have the backlog erased ? but not before 2015. The Pentagon and Veteran Affairs are working to install compatible computer systems to speed up the process. And the VA just reported it had cut the backlog of claims pending more than 125 days by 15 percent in recent weeks.

John Hansman, of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, says the problem among military men and women stems from a support system that falls far short of the needs of a military and its veterans.

"One of the big problems now is that we are trying to play catch-up on 10-plus years of war. People have gone back and forth seven, eight, nine times. And now you have a force that is stretched to its limit," Hansman said.

"It's not just people who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan who are killing themselves. About 50 percent are people who've never deployed before. So there's this broader issue going on in the military. Are there even the health services in the military to take care of the troops who have deployed, who have no first-hand knowledge of war and trauma."

Miller had plenty of first-hand experience.

"I was really good at combat. I was really good at that job. It was when I was in the States that I had a problem," he said from his home in Old Town, Maine, where he and his second wife are working toward doctorates in history at the University of Maine.

He said symptoms of post-traumatic stress syndrome began building as did the effects of a number of concussions that caused mild traumatic brain injury. He had gone through elite Ranger training twice and became a jump-master in the 82nd Airborne. He ignored his symptoms because he didn't want to leave combat and his job as a platoon leader. When he finally sought help from the military during his last rotation in the United States, he found what he said was a "19th century" attitude.

"I remember a psychologist telling me 'officers don't get PTSD.' It was a real affront."

A few days after he nearly killed himself on July 3, 2008, Miller mustered out of the service and resumed treatment for PTSD at a VA facility in Richmond, Virginia.

The treatment was helpful but his feelings about the VA are "really mixed. My take is they are a bunch of really well-meaning people. I don't know that it's resourced for the tasks." Also huge numbers of veterans ? a tiny portion of the larger population ? live in small towns, far from the cities where veteran services are available.

The American public, largely untouched by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan because an all-volunteer military did the fighting, is gradually becoming aware of the problems faced by active-duty troops and military veterans. Now, some in Congress and President Barack Obama are trying to improve on the country's ability to take care of those who have signed up to fight.

None of that, however, undoes the anguish of such people as Ashley Whisler, whose brother Kyle killed himself Oct. 24, 2010. He had been driving convoys of supplies to U.S. troops from Kuwait shortly after the American invasion in 2003. He hanged himself in his home in Brandon, Florida, seven years after leaving the military. He had returned to his family in Michigan then moved to Florida, married and had a daughter. He and his wife separated before reconciling. He worked in a tattoo parlor, tended bar and began showing increasing signs of PTSD. He hanged himself while his wife and daughter slept.

Ashley Whisler said her brother spoke of fears of being ambushed when he was driving to work in Florida. After Kyle killed himself, her brother's friends told her how Kyle repeatedly called to talk about the horrors he had witnessed in Iraq and of how he couldn't sleep if there was a thunderstorm.

While she and her parents don't directly blame the military or the VA for Kyle's death, she does not let the department off the hook.

"These guys are coming back from the war and just being thrown back into society without any kind of transition or any kind of support. It's very difficult," she said.

Joe Miller says his military training, in the end, kept him alive.

"I had a gun in my hand. The second I cocked the weapon, I was back in Ranger mode and Ranger mode is not to kill yourself."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-06-25-Military%20Suicides/id-da80c027002c411084e623f537bb00c1

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Sony announces the stylus-friendly, 6.4-inch Xperia Z Ultra with Snapdragon 800

Sony today at Mobile Asia Expo in Shanghai entered the world of the gianormous smartphone with the oversized, ultra-powered (and aptly named) Xperia Z Ultra.

The Xperia Z Ultra is a 6.4-inch monster with a 1080p display that works with a stylus (or any pencil, Sony says), runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and is powered by Qualcomm's latest, the Snapdragon 800 processor. Sony is heralding the phone as the "world's slimmest and largest full HD smartphone." At 6.5 mm, it's not quite as thin as the 6.18 mm Huawei Ascend P6 we got a look at last week, that's where the "largest full HD smartphone" comes in. (The full press release, which you can read after the break, is loaded with such caveats.)

Other specs of note include an 8-megapixel camera, a 3,000 mAh battery and 16 gigabytes of internal storage, with about 11 GB available to the user, and a microSD card slot for extra space. (Props to Sony for being up-front about the usable storage space.) It's loaded with Sony customizations and entertainment options.

The Xperia Z Ultra will be available in the third quarter (which starts next week, by the way), in black, white or purple.

read more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/r2qLAIVk_Tw/story01.htm

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New GSK diabetes drug works, but faces tough competition

LONDON (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline's experimental once-weekly diabetes drug albiglutide was effective in late-stage clinical trials, but the medicine may struggle to differentiate itself in an increasingly competitive market.

Albiglutide belongs to the same class of injectable GLP-1 drugs as Victoza, from Novo Nordisk, and Byetta and Bydureon, from Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca.

GSK said in a statement on Monday that its treatment had lowered glycated hemoglobin, an indicator of blood glucose levels, more than placebo and some other treatments in the series of trials.

Albiglutide, which has been submitted for U.S. and European regulatory approval, met its main goal in five studies, although it did not demonstrate that it was equally as good as pioglitazone in one group of patients.

The most commonly reported adverse effects in the studies were gastrointestinal, mainly nausea and diarrhea, and injection site reactions, the company said.

Given its clinical profile, industry analysts believe albiglutide may struggle to generate major sales, seeing more promise in new GLP-1 products such as Eli Lilly's dulaglutide.

Consensus forecasts for albiglutide currently point to modest annual sales of around $440 million by 2018, according to Thomson Reuters Pharma.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle and Ben Hirschler; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gsk-diabetes-drug-works-faces-tough-competition-103245526.html

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Communications Surveillance, Protest and Control? | Paul Bernal's ...

What is the real reason that certain of the authorities are so keen on universal surveillance of communications data? Is it the fight against terrorism? It doesn?t seem very likely. It?s a supremely ineffective method of dealing with terrorism at best ? even the examples quoted by the security services as ?proof? that it works have pretty much all been swiftly debunked (see for example here). In practice, it seems, targeted, intelligence-driven, almost ?traditional? methods seem to do the job far better. So why do the authorities all around the globe seem to be so enthusiastic about communications surveillance? One word: control

Control is the key

Despotic regimes have always wanted to have as complete a level of surveillance as possible ? they want to know what is going on, who is meeting who, what they?re talking about, what they?re planning. That way, they can get control over their people. They can find subversives and dissidents, they can infiltrate those who resist or plot against them, they can snuff out the plans of their enemies before they gather sufficient momentum to have a real effect. That?s been fundamental to pretty much every oppressive regime throughout history ? and the capabilities of the internet, and in particular of internet surveillance, offer possibilities beyond the dreams of the despots of yesteryear. However, it?s not just despots who like surveillance ? or rather, it?s not just those that we usually label as ?despots? who like it. It?s anyone who wants more control ? or who thinks that things are going out of control. It?s those concerned with ?public order?. It?s those concerned with ?protest?. That, sadly, means it?s all of our governments today ? even that in the UK.

Snooping on the badger-cull protestors

News came out this week that ?Whitehall chiefs scan Twitter to head off badger protests?. As reported to the BBC, ??[t]he Department for Rural Affairs uses ?horizon scanning? software to gain an ?early warning? of public protests.? Relatively speaking, this is a primitive form of snooping ? and a legal one, since it scans public messages on social media services such as twitter. This isn?t a secret plan like PRISM, but an official and key part of the government?s communication plan ? but it reveals a good deal about how the government (and other authorities) see the potential of communications surveillance. If they can find out what people are thinking and planning, they can nip protests in the bud.

Pretty much all of this, of course, is legal, and much of it is justifiable in ?public order? terms ? but as anyone who saw the recent and deeply shocking revelations that the McLibel leaflet was co-written by an undercover police officer who had infiltrated an environmental campaign group would know, the tactics and techniques used by ?law enforcement? to deal with protestors and related groups can often stretch not just the law but our imaginations. Ideas presented and proposed for good or at least defensible reasons can easily morph into something much more sinister. Give the authorities leeway, and they use it?

The real use of communications surveillance?

?which is what, it seems likely, is one of the keys behind the enthusiasm for all kinds of communications surveillance, from the Snoopers? Charter in the UK to PRISM and so forth in the US, to all the massive new programme in India etc. They know that if they have full surveillance capabilities their ability to control what is happening will be magnified enormously. Not only can they effectively unmask protestors, they can find out who their friends are, what websites they visit, where they?re planning to meet and so on. If they take it a few steps further, they can ?block them from communicating with each other, shut down their blogs ? or warn them off with anonymous threatening emails, or leak their details to their enemies.

Does this sound far-fetched? Perhaps, but not nearly as far fetched as the McLibel story, let alone the other horrendous details surrounding police infiltration of environmental and anti-racist groups. What?s more, most of the surveillance systems planned are designed for precisely this kind of surveillance ? linking into Facebook, Google etc is far better at this that it is at fighting terrorism, paedophilia etc. Terrorists and paedophiles don?t do their planning on Facebook etc ? but those organising legal, peaceful protests like that against the badger cull DO. Terrorists and paedophiles do everything they can to keep ?dark? ? and they learn how to do so, what technology to use to bypass the authorities. Peaceful protesters don?t ? they don?t often feel that they need to, and they don?t have the capabilities. They?re the obvious targets of this kind of thing: universal internet surveillance isn?t so much about fighting the big things as it is about keeping ?public order?.

Whether that is an acceptable thing is another story. Public order IS important ? but so is the right to protest, and not just in countries like Turkey. Protest is fundamental to our democracy, to our freedom of expression, to our ability to hold our governments to account. It?s important everywhere, and letting the authorities design and operate systems to stifle and control it is something about which we should be very wary.

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Source: http://paulbernal.wordpress.com/2013/06/23/communications-surveillance-protest-and-control/

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