Short-seller Chanos still bearish on PC-makers Dell, HP: CNBC

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hedge fund manager James Chanos told CNBC on Wednesday that he was still betting against the shares of computer-makers Dell and Hewlett-Packard.

Chanos, noted for predicting the downfall of Enron and more recently a vocal bear on the Chinese economy, told CNBC that the "PC (personal computer) business is falling apart" and the industry faces structural problems.

"The real structural issue is these companies are behind the eight-ball," Chanos said. "The secular story has not gone away."

Chanos, who is president and founder of short-selling firm Kynikos Associates, has criticized Hewlett Packard for failing to keep up with competitors in the mobile and cloud computing space.

The hedge fund manager said his roughly $6 billion firm had gotten out of its Dell trade last year, then began to short the stock again in 2013. If a hedge fund manager is short a stock, he believes its price will fall.

"I shorted into the deal," Chanos said, referring to a $24.4 billion deal to take the company private for $13.65 a share.

"I'm puzzled as a financial analyst and a business analyst why this is an attractive deal," he added, noting that Dell's "cash flow is plummeting."

He said his New York-based firm has a small long position in iPad maker Apple Inc, and added he had never shorted that technology company.

Chanos also told CNBC that nutritional supplement company Herbalife is "not a viable business long-term."

Herbalife has been at the center of a war-of-words between two well-known hedge fund managers William Ackman and Carl Icahn, who are short and long the stock respectively.

Chanos, who had a short position in Herbalife in 2012 and closed out position in the fourth quarter, said the "multi-level marketing model is flawed."

(Reporting by Katya Wachtel; Editing by David Gregorio and Bob Burgdorfer)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/short-seller-chanos-still-bearish-pc-makers-dell-170158351--sector.html

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'We stand with you and we do not forget'

WACO, Texas (AP) ? President Barack Obama consoled a rural Texas community rocked by a deadly fertilizer plant explosion, telling mourners Thursday they are not alone in their grief and they will have the nation's support to rebuild from the devastation.

"This small town's family is bigger now," Obama said during a memorial service at Baylor University for victims of last week's explosion in nearby West, Texas, that killed 14 and injured 200. Nearly 10,000 gathered to remember the first responders killed in the blast, a crowd more than triple the size of West's entire population of 2,700.

"To the families, the neighbors grappling with unbearable loss, we are here to say you are not alone. You are not forgotten," Obama said to applause. "We may not all live here in Texas, but we're neighbors too. We're Americans too, and we stand with you."

The April 17 explosion left a crater more than 90 feet wide and damaged dozens of buildings, displacing many residents from their homes. The Insurance Council of Texas estimates it caused more than $100 million in damage, and crews were sifting the rubble to search for clues to what caused the explosion or whether foul play was involved.

The blast came about 20 minutes after a fire was reported at West Fertilizer. Ten of those killed were first responders who sped out to the nighttime blaze.

The memorial service honored those first responders and two civilians who tried to fight the fire and were posthumously named volunteer first responders. Among the dead were brothers Douglas and Robert Snokhous, West High School graduates who volunteered together for the town's fire department for more than 13 years.

As Obama spoke, the gymnasium lit up with the flashes of cameras and cellphones, glimmering like stars in the dimly lit room. The president spoke for 16 minutes, quoting scripture and lauding the men whose flag-draped coffins laid before him. "When you got to the scene, you forgot fear and you fought that blaze as hard as you could, knowing the danger," Obama said.

The service opened with a photo slideshow set to country music and projected onto a movie screen. It showed images of the men from their childhood, their weddings and other moments throughout lives filled with children and friends. Mourners were given programs with full-page profiles of each of the victims, describing their lives, their values and their faith.

Both the president and first lady Michelle Obama wiped away a tear as bagpipes sounded "Amazing Grace."

"How does one find such love to be willing to lay down your life so that others may live?" asked Texas Sen. John Cornyn, speaking on behalf of the state's congressional delegation. "This will forever be the legacy of those who ran toward the fire last week."

Texas Gov. Rick Perry eulogized the unpaid first responders, lamenting that each had a personal story and journey that drew to a close too soon.

"These are volunteers. Ordinary individuals blessed with extraordinary courage and a determination to do what they could to save lives," he said. "They're the ones who proudly said 'not on my watch' in the moments immediately following that explosion."

Perry's remarks were followed by video of the victims' grim-faced family members remembering their lives and expressing pride for their heroism. The brother-in-law of Cody Dragoo, another volunteer firefighter, remembered how Dragoo would leave notes for his wife, Patty, when he was traveling, and how he loved hunting and NASCAR.

Obama added his appearance at the memorial service onto a long-planned trip to Texas for Thursday's opening of George W. Bush's presidential library at Southern Methodist University. Bush sent his sympathies in a statement read at the service by Baylor President Ken Starr, the former special prosecutor who investigated President Bill Clinton.

Obama's solemn reflections at the memorial required an abrupt shift in tone by the president, whose morning in Dallas was filled with smiles, music and pageantry as he and the other four living presidents celebrated one of their own. Less than an hour later, Obama was airborne over West, circling the scene of the explosion ? still a harrowing site more than a week after tragedy first touched the small Texas town.

From his helicopter, Obama saw what looked like a massive construction site, with cranes and dozens of vehicles dotting a wide swath of brown earth. Piles of burnt rubble and scorched earth were clearly visible. Obama could also see the school field first responders used as a staging ground.

Obama has made such a trip countless times before, touring damage and consoling survivors of other disasters including Hurricane Irene, Hurricane Sandy and a string of mass shootings. It was just one week ago that Obama was in Boston, offering solace to the nation at a memorial for victims of the Boston Marathon bombing, another larger-than-life tragedy that compounded the nation's grief the same week as the explosion in West.

After the service, the president and first lady were planning to visit privately with relatives and friends of firefighters killed in the explosion, the White House said.

Fire trucks and other first responders' vehicles paraded through Waco en route to the ceremony at Baylor's sports arena. The vehicles entered under an archway formed by the ladders from two fire trucks with an American flag hung between them. Many of the mourners wore the uniforms of police, firefighters and paramedics and wiped tears from their eyes.

Brian Crawford, fire chief in the Dallas suburb of Plano, attended with 11 others from his department even though they live 100 miles from West.

"With these unfortunate circumstances, it's time to show we are all a family," Crawford said. "These were our brothers and they paid the price."

As the service drew to a close, a bell was rung once for each victim, reverberating through the hall and setting off a long moment of silence.

Then, with hushed sobs breaking the quiet, a loudspeaker re-enacting a dispatcher's radio identified the victims one by one, calling each firefighter to duty for the last time:

"Until we meet again. Dispatch clear."

___

Associated Press writer Nedra Pickler in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-consoles-families-survivors-texas-blast-191048180.html

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Logitech G19s Gaming Keyboard

Makers PC gaming peripherals are in the unenviable position of having to meet gamer's simultaneous demands for top-of-the-line products and innovative products that offer new and better ways to interact with technology. Finding the balancing point between these two concerns is a tricky business. For example, Logitech G19s gaming keyboard showcases the latest trend, the inclusion of an integrated display, providing a way to track and monitor in-game information or chat with teammates without monopolizing precious screen real-estate. It's an interesting idea we've seen once or twice before, but it's not quite clear whether this will be an improvement that sticks, or a gimmick that fizzles out.

Design
The Logitech G19s made for gamers, and it's evident just from looking at the keyboard. Instead of a plain looking key-covered slab, the keyboard has extra buttons and features sprouting from every spare bit of surface area. In addition to the usual keyboard and numeric pad, you'll find integrated media controls, including a roller knob for volume adjustment. On the left end of the keyboard, you'll find 12 programmable macro buttons to the left of the standard keyboard, similar to those seen on the Editors' Choice Corsair Vengeance K90 or Logitech's own G710+ Mechanical Gaming Keyboard. Each key can be programmed with up to three different macro commands, swappable at the touch of a button.

The keys themselves can be customized, with adjustable backlighting that lets you pick any of 16 million RGB color options. You can also set the backlight color to change when you switch the keyboard into gaming mode. An integrated gaming mode switch disables the Windows key to prevent any accidental keystrokes from pulling you out of your game, and shifts from one mode to another with a sliding switch, so there's no fear of switching modes with mistaken press of a button. Plus, by assigning a different backlight color to the game mode, you'll immediately know which mode you're in.

The keys themselves are molded plastic, coated in a UV coating to protect the keys against fading, with laser etched keycaps and two-colors?while most keys are black, the WASD and arrow keys have a silvery-grey colored keycaps for easier recognition. The keyboard also offers 110-key anti-ghosting, and six-key rollover, which will handle the multiple keystrokes of combos and rapid-fire attacks without stuttering.

The G19s has a plastic chassis, similar to that seen on the recent G710+, but instead of accenting the black plastic with orange, the G19s uses deep blue. On the underside of the keyboard, molded into the plastic chassis, are channels for managing cords for mice or headphones. A detachable wrist rest provides extra support for those who want it, and has a hydrophobic coating to resist smudging. The light plastic construction of the keyboard and wrist rest may not be to everyone's liking, but it wasn't a noticeable issue during my testing.

What was noticeable, however, was the style of key switch. Instead of using mechanical key switches?like those seen on the Corsair Vengeance K90 or the Logitech G710+?the G19s utilizes silicone membrane switches, which provide a markedly different feel. Unlike mechanical switches, which offer crisp tactile feedback, light actuating force, and register a keystroke with only a partial key press, membrane switches have a mushy feel, and require pressing each key all the way down, bottoming out the key well. While this may not be problematic in the short term, it makes for a slower, less comfortable experience, and requiring more effort for each keystroke will have an effect when you're playing League of Legends for three or four hours straight.

Features
The G19s has plenty of gamer-friendly features, but the most notable is the built-in LCD display, what Logitech calls the GamePanel. Through the small display you'll be fed a steady stream of information, from game stats to system data, VOIP information or video playback. The display is built into the keyboard with an adjustable angle hinge, so you can set the angle of the small screen to your liking. It's not the first gaming keyboard we've seen with an integrated display?we've seen similar in the Mad Catz S.T.R.I.K.E. 7 and the Razer DeathStalker Ultimate?but it is by far the most affordable.

The keyboard uses a lot of juice running that display, so the USB cable used to connect it to your PC also includes a connection for an AC power adapter?yes, you'll need to plug your keyboard into a wall outlet. Making up for this fact are two USB pass-thru connections on the keyboard, letting you plug in two additional USB devices without having to snake the cables around to plug into your desktop tower.

Logitech gives you plenty of ways to tweak and customize the G19s, and it does all of this customization through Logitech's Gaming Software 8.45. The downloadable software lets you tweak the lighting, record and edit macros, and select from pre-programmed profiles for a wide range of current games. The software is Windows-only (Windows 8/7/Vista) though, so Mac and Linux gamers are out of luck.

Performance
I tested the G19s keyboard both at work and play, and it was competent in both. As mentioned earlier, the use of membrane switches instead of mechanical does result in a slower, less efficient typing experience, but nothing too egregious?it simply puts the G19s on the same level as any other non-mechanical keyboard.

As a gaming keyboard, the G19s does especially well when the programmable macros are brought into play. MMOs, like World of Warcraft or DOTA 2 are ideal, while first person shooters, with their point and click actions, hardly use them. Recording macros is very simple; simply press the MR (Macro Record) button on the keyboard to begin recording a macro, and press it again to end recording. When tested in game, the performance was decent, but those who rely on rapid-fire attacks and flurries of activity may find themselves slowed by the membrane switches.

The integrated display suffers from the same problem as those on the Razer DeathStalker Ultimate and the Mad Catz S.T.R.I.K.E. 7, namely that the display is out of your immediate field of vision, requiring you to look away from your monitor in order to focus on a smaller image. It seems like several of the major game peripheral companies are experimenting with built-in keyboard displays of late, but it's a niche concept that has yet to really gain traction. Unless you earnestly want that extra display, your money might be better spent on a high-performance keyboard sans screen.

Conclusion
While the Logitech G19s does check off several items on any gamer's checklist, like programmable macros, customizable lighting, and an integrated display. What it's missing, however, keeps it from getting a strong recommendation. The decision to use membrane switches instead of mechanical will turn away many discerning buyers, while the plastic construction and the required AC adapter will put off even those who aren't picky about key-feel. As a result, the Corsair Vengeance K90 remains the Editors' Choice for gaming keyboards, while the slightly more expensive Razer DeathStalker Ultimate is our recommendation for those demanding an integrated display.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/s7zRrkuigT0/0,2817,2418129,00.asp

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Ricin suspect released from federal custody

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) ? A federal official says the man charged with sending poison letters to President Barack Obama, a U.S. senator and a Mississippi judge has been released from jail.

Jeff Woodfin, chief deputy with the U.S. Marshals Service in Oxford, Miss., says Paul Kevin Curtis has been released from custody.

Woodfin says he doesn't know if there were any conditions on the release.

The development comes hours after officials canceled a detention and preliminary hearing on Tuesday.

Curtis was arrested Wednesday at his house in Corinth, Miss., and charged with sending ricin-laced letters to Obama, Sen. Roger Wicker and a Lee County, Miss., judge.

Through an attorney, the 45-year-old Curtis has said he is innocent.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/apnewsbreak-ricin-suspect-released-jail-171027275.html

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Lower coal prices dent Teck profit

(Reuters) - Teck Resources Ltd , Canada's largest diversified miner, reported a 40 percent fall in first-quarter adjusted profit due to lower coal prices, and said economic uncertainty may affect prices and shipments.

On an adjusted basis, the company's earnings fell to C$328 million ($319 million), or 56 Canadian cents per share, from C$544 million, or 93 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue from operations fell about 9 percent to C$2.33 billion. Coal revenue fell by C$138 million as a result of significantly lower coal prices.

Coal prices were down 28 percent from a year ago at $161 per tonne, while copper was down 5 percent, Teck said.

Teck warned in February that demand for coal would be soft through at least the first half of 2013. The company said economic uncertainty in Europe and the United States, along with lower growth rates in emerging markets was hitting demand for its products.

Coal production of 6.2 million tonnes in the first quarter was largely unchanged from a year ago.

The company said it continues to experience volatile markets for its products. It expects total coal sales in the second quarter, including spot sales, to be at or above 6.0 million tonnes.

Teck plans to produce around 24.5 million tonnes of the metallurgical coal in 2013 and 350,000 tonnes of copper.

Net profit attributable to shareholders rose to C$319 million, or 55 Canadian cents per share, from C$258 million, or 44 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier. Profit last year was affected by a $329 million after-tax charge related to the refinancing of a portion of its debt.

($1 = 1.0269 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Bhaswati Mukhopadhyay in Bangalore and Julie Gordon in Toronto; Editing by Robin Paxton, Sreejiraj Eluvangal)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lower-coal-prices-dent-teck-profit-103336611--finance.html

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Scientists map all possible drug-like chemical compounds: Library of millions of small, carbon-based molecules chemists might synthesize

Apr. 22, 2013 ? Drug developers may have a new tool to search for more effective medications and new materials.

It's a computer algorithm that can model and catalogue the entire set of lightweight, carbon-containing molecules that chemists could feasibly create in a lab.

The small-molecule universe has more than 10^60 (that's 1 with 60 zeroes after it) chemical structures. Duke chemist David Beratan said that many of the world's problems have molecular solutions in this chemical space, whether it???s a cure for disease or a new material to capture sunlight.

But, he said, "The small-molecule universe is astronomical in size. When we search it for new molecular solutions, we are lost. We don't know which way to look."

To give synthetic chemists better directions in their molecular search, Beratan and his colleagues -- Duke chemist Weitao Yang, postdoctoral associates Aaron Virshup and Julia Contreras-Garcia, and University of Pittsburgh chemist Peter Wipf -- designed a new computer algorithm to map the small-molecule universe.

The map, developed with a National Institutes of Health P50 Center grant, tells scientists where the unexplored regions of the chemical space are and how to build structures to get there. A paper describing the algorithm and map appeared online in April in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

The map helps chemists because they do not yet have the tools, time or money to synthesize all 10^60 compounds in the small-molecule universe. Synthetic chemists can only make a few hundred or a few thousand molecules at a time, so they have to carefully choose which compounds to build, Beratan said.

The scientists already have a digital library describing about a billion molecules found in the small-molecule universe, and they have synthesized about 100 million compounds over the course of human history, Beratan said. But these molecules are similar in structure and come from the same regions of the small-molecule universe.

It's the unexplored regions that could hold molecular solutions to some of the world's most vexing challenges, Beratan said.

To add diversity and explore new regions to the chemical space, Aaron Virshup developed a computer algorithm that built a virtual library of 9 million molecules with compounds representing every region of the small-molecule universe.

"The idea was to start with a simple molecule and make random changes, so you add a carbon, change a double bond to a single bond, add a nitrogen. By doing that over and over again, you can get to any molecule you can think of," Virshup said.

He programed the new algorithm to make small, random chemical changes to the structure of benzene and then to catalogue the new molecules it created based on where they fit into the map of the small-molecule universe. The challenge, Virshup said, came in identifying which new chemical compounds chemists could actually create in a lab.

Virshup sent his early drafts of the algorithm's newly constructed molecules to synthetic chemists who scribbled on them in red ink to show whether they were synthetically unstable or unrealistic. He then turned the criticisms into rules the algorithm had to follow so it would not make those types of compounds again.

"The rules kept us from getting lost in the chemical space," he said.

After ten iterations, the algorithm finally produced 9 million synthesizable molecules representing every region of the small-molecule universe, and it produced a map showing the regions of the chemical space where scientists have not yet synthesized any compounds.

"With the map, we can tell chemists, if you can synthesize a new molecule in this region of space, you have made a new type of compound," Virshup said. "It's an intellectual property issue. If you're in the blank spaces on our small molecule map, you're guaranteed to make something that isn't patented yet," he said.

The team has made the source code for the algorithm available online. The researchers said they hope scientists will use it to immediately start mining the unexplored regions of the small molecule universe for new chemical compounds.

The research was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (P50-GM067082).

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Duke University. The original article was written by Ashley Yeager.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Aaron M Virshup, Julia Contreras-Garc?a, Peter Wipf, Weitao Yang, David N. Beratan. Stochastic voyages into uncharted chemical space produce a representative library of all possible drug-like compounds.. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2013; : 130402114828001 DOI: 10.1021/ja401184g

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/matter_energy/biochemistry/~3/59XGfriSyDc/130422154945.htm

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Visual Mobile App Builder Tiggzi Relaunches As Appery.io, Adds New Enterprise Features

Exadel’s Tiggzi online mobile app development service for iOS, Android and Windows Phone launched almost exactly a year ago and today, the company is officially rebranding it as Appery.io. The reason for this change, the company told me, is to “reflect the evolution of Appery.io as well as to support where [the] platform is headed. ” The service always stood out from its competition because it focused strongly on connecting apps to existing RESTful APIs, making it more flexible than most similar visual drag-and-drop app building tools on the market. In addition, Appery.io also offers its own set of backend tools for app developers. Existing Tiggzi users and their apps will be automatically migrated to the new system and all existing apps will continue to function. Appery.io will use the same visual editor as Tiggzi.com and most of the major changes have happened on the backend, where the team added a number of new tools and features. In this new incarnation, Appery.io continues to put an emphasis on enterprise and business apps, but there is no reason why you couldn’t also use it to build and text- and data-heavy application for small and medium-sized businesses. For enterprise users, however, the service offers a number of specialized features. The integration with Exadel’s RESTxpress, for example, now makes it easy for developers to securely connect apps to existing enterprise databases (including support for Oracle databases, for example) and business application. The service allows apps to connect to applications that have to be installed behind the firewall and then makes this data available through a REST API for off-premise apps. Support for Salesforce.com and a number of similar enterprise systems is already built into the service. For developers, connecting an app to these APIs should only take a few minutes, thanks to Appery.io’s easy to use interface. Indeed, building apps is pretty easy with Appery.io, though because the tool is definitely meant for professional programmers, there is a bit of a learning curve here. ?Exadel has a broad footprint in the enterprise development space, and we recognize that mobile requires a different approach,? said Exadel CEO Fima Katz in a canned statement today. ?With mobile, customers can?t wait for long development cycles to be completed; agility and time to market are extremely important. With Appery.io enterprises can rapidly innovate and easily onboard developers of all skill levels as all the tools are visual

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/-RLG86Zvusg/

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