Chrome OS dev channel gains Quickoffice powers, lets users edit native Excel and Word files

Chrome OS hardware continues to proliferate, and on the software front, Google continues to add features to the platform in the hopes of persuading more folks to exit the traditional PC paradigm. Today marks a significant step in achieving that latter goal, as the dev channel of Chrome OS has received the ability to edit Excel and Word files thanks to Quickoffice integration. While it's not ready for public consumption just yet, it shows that Google's getting close to fulfilling its promise to deliver native doc editing to the Pixel and other Chromebooks.

Should you be among those on the dev channel of Chrome OS, you can enable the functionality now by going to chrome://flags, enabling document editing and restarting your machine. According to developer François Beaufort -- the man who discovered the functionality -- editing's still a glitchy process, but the more folks that use the feature now, the faster the problems can be found and fixed. The power of productivity is in your hands, people, so get cracking squashing those bugs!

Filed under: Software, Google

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Via: The Next Web

Source: Fran?ois Beaufort (Google+)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/28/chrome-os-dev-channel-edit-native-excel-word-docs/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Lenny Dykstra released from prison

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Former All-Star outfielder Lenny Dykstra has been released from a California prison after serving time for bankruptcy fraud.

Dykstra, 50, who had a 12-year career with the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies, was freed, according to federal Bureau of Prisons records, but no other details were available. A message left for his attorney Christopher Dybwad was not immediately returned Friday.

Dykstra was sentenced in December to 6 ? months in prison for hiding baseball gloves and other heirlooms from his playing days that were supposed to be part of his bankruptcy filing. He already had served seven months in custody awaiting sentencing.

The prison term ran concurrently with a three-year sentence for pleading no contest to grand theft auto and providing a false financial statement.

Dykstra, who bought a mansion once owned by hockey star Wayne Gretzky, filed for bankruptcy four years ago, claiming he owed more than $31 million and had only $50,000 in assets.

After the filing, Dykstra hid, sold or destroyed at least $200,000 worth of items without the permission of a bankruptcy trustee, prosecutors said.

He pleaded guilty last summer to one count each of bankruptcy fraud, concealment of assets and money laundering.

Dykstra is now on three years' probation and must complete 500 hours of community service, participate in a substance abuse treatment program and pay $200,000 in restitution.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lenny-dykstra-released-prison-182754350.html

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Astronomer studies far-off worlds through 'characterization by proxy'

Apr. 25, 2013 ? A University of Washington astronomer is using Earth's interstellar neighbors to learn the nature of certain stars too far away to be directly measured or observed, and the planets they may host.

"Characterization by proxy" is the technique used by Sarah Ballard, a post-doctoral researcher at the UW, to infer the properties of small, relatively cool stars too distant for measurement, by comparing them to closer stars that now can be directly observed.

Ballard is lead author of a study accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal that used this method and observations from the Kepler Space Telescope to learn the nature of the distant star Kepler-61.

Our understanding of the size and temperature of planets depends crucially on the size and temperature of the stars they orbit. Astronomers already have a robust way to discern the physical properties of solar-type stars -- those like the sun -- by measuring the light they emit at different wavelengths and matching that to synthetically created spectra.

"The challenge is that small stars are incredibly difficult to characterize," Ballard said. Those theoretical methods don't work well for what are called M-dwarf stars, lower-mass stars about half the size of the sun and smaller -- which is too bad, because such stars make up about three-quarters of the universe.

Ballard is using the characterization by proxy method to try to fill this knowledge gap. She is building on what she calls "truly remarkable" work by astronomer Tabetha Boyajian, now at Yale University, who uses a near-infrared interferometer -- an array of telescopes working in unison studying light wavelengths a bit longer than visible light -- to resolve the physical size of relatively nearby stars.

Ballard said her characterization by proxy method takes "full advantage that there now exists this precious sample" of relatively nearby stars that have been directly measured. You could say the method borrows a bit from Greek mathematician Euclid, whose first "common notion" held that things that equal the same thing must necessarily also equal each other.

In the new paper, Ballard and co-authors used this reasoning to learn about Kepler-61b, a planet orbiting near the inner edge of the habitable zone of the distant, low-mass star Kepler-61, about 900 light-years away in the Cygnus Constellation. A star's habitable zone is that swath of space just right for an orbiting planet's surface water to be in liquid form, thus giving life a chance.

She did this by comparing it to temperature size averages from four spectroscopically similar stars between 12 and 25 light-years away in the Ursa Major and Cygnus constellations. A light-year is about 6 trillion miles.

A funny thing also happened along the way: Kepler-61 turned out to be bigger and hotter than expected, which in turn recalibrated planet Kepler-61b's relative size upward as well -- meaning it, too, would be hotter than previously thought and no longer a resident of the star's habitable zone.

All of this caused Ballard to informally subtitle the paper, "How Nearby Stars Bumped a Planet out of the Habitable Zone."

Funding for the research came from NASA and its Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/Pqnj7kUN2vI/130426114641.htm

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Now the House Takes on Immigration

The Senate has been hogging the spotlight on immigration over the past few months, starting in February with an agreed-upon set of principles from a bipartisan ?Gang of Eight? senators and ending this week with a fully drafted bill and at least 11 hours of hearings.

Now it?s the House?s turn, starring the enigmatic Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., an immigration attorney and 20-year veteran of Congress who assumed the helm of the committee this year. Goodlatte matters a great deal ?in this debate, but it still isn't clear exactly what he will do. And that's fine with him.

We learned a tad more about Goodlatte?s approach to immigration at a press conference Thursday. The committee is unveiling two small immigration bills this week as discussion pieces for House members?one creating an agricultural visa program and one requiring employers to use an electronic verification system.

Those bills aren't all, Goodlatte assured. More proposals are coming, and they will address all of the big areas, including the 11 million to 12?million undocumented immigrants currently in the country. The message to the anxious immigration-reform advocates who fear a ?piecemeal? approach is this: Don?t freak out. We just have to do this our own way.

Since it became clear after last year?s elections that immigration was going to be a top issue in Congress, Goodlatte has been resolutely unwilling to make declarations about where he stands. That is no small feat as stakeholders and reporters clamor for any tidbits that might inform the chances for the legislation.

Does he support legalization of the current undocumented population? Will his committee vote on a comprehensive bill being drafted by a House Gang of Eight that does not include him? That will all be worked out, he told me cheerfully in February as I chased him on the way out of a hearing.

Goodlatte was slightly more informative on Thursday, indicating a willingness to look at all proposals on immigration and emphasizing the need to include Democrats in the legislative process.?

But there are no committee votes scheduled and no promises of anything more than lots of hearings. It sounds a lot like delay tactics if not for the intensity with which he describes how the current immigration system is broken and needs to be fixed.

Goodlatte is starting from the beginning with his own caucus. He has already briefed 100 House Republicans on basic immigration law and the areas that need improving, and he will continue to hold small sessions to explain the basics. He is encouraging Democrats to do the same.?

Despite the vagueness, there were three important nuggets of information gleaned Thursday?from this sometimes frustratingly opaque lawmaker. They are:?

The undocumented population won?t be left out.?Goodlatte opened his press conference referring to ?11 million people who live in the shadows.? They are real people with real problems trying to find a better way to help their families.? Asked specifically whether he supports legalization of this group, as the Senate gang has proposed, he said that in order to deal with immigration reform generally, ?You have to get to that point.?

Goodlatte reiterated statements from other conservative Republicans working toward a broad immigration overhaul in saying that he does not favor ?a special path to citizenship? but is open to ?some kind of legal status.?

Like many Republicans involved in crafting a bigger immigration package, Goodlatte stressed that his own support for a path to citizenship is dependent on a real commitment to shoring up enforcement on the border and at United States worksites.

"Piecemeal" approach not set in stone.?Rumors have been swirling all year that the House would be unwilling to take up a major immigration bill, with lawmakers preferring to pass a series of smaller bills on isolated issues. Many House Republicans are insisting on a separate border-security bill that doesn?t include unpopular provisions for their party, like the Dream Act for undocumented youth or probationary legalization for the broader unauthorized population.

The "piecemeal" strategy has been considered by advocates to be the death knell of the reform effort.

Goodlatte isn?t adopting a piecemeal approach, at least we don't think so. He?is?taking a piece-by-piece approach in analyzing immigration, but he made it clear Thursday?that when it comes down to actual committee votes, border security by itself ?does not have to be addressed in one separate bill.?

Dream Act eligibles could be given dispensation.?Asked specifically about the Dream Act, the easiest legalization piece of immigration reform for many conservatives to accept, Goodlatte indicated that kids brought to the country illegally by their parents should be considered separately.

?It should be obvious to most people that children brought here by their parents are in a different status ? than people who willfully violated immigration laws,? he said.

Going further, Goodlatte said there may be many different ways of dealing with unauthorized immigrants. ?You don?t have to consider the 11 million as one body of people. There are a number of different categories.? Criminals, for example, would not be given any legal status, he said.

The bottom line for Goodlatte and Immigration Subcommittee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., is that the House will work in its own way on its own schedule even as the Senate scrambles to pass an immigration bill this summer. Goodlatte will make sure they don?t look idle, but what actually happens on his side of the Capitol is still anyone?s guess.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., a die-hard advocate of a path to citizenship, was encouraged by Goodlatte's proclamations, even though some questions remain unanswered. "Today's press conference confirms what I have been saying publicly and privately about the new tone and new interest among Republicans. They want to solve the immigration-policy issue and not just exploit it for partisan politics," he said in a statement.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/now-house-takes-immigration-113743224--politics.html

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Max Baucus's Sudden Retirement Puts Pressure on Former Montana Governor

Rarely has a senator done so much to prepare for reelection only to, in the end, retire instead. But that?s what happened with Sen. Max Baucus, and now Democrats are scrambling to recruit the one candidate who can prevent the Montana Senate seat from falling into Republican hands.

Baucus?s sudden retirement announcement Tuesday is such a surprise because he had worked so diligently to prepare for reelection?one far from assured given Montana?s conservative bent. (As one former campaign hand put it, ?Left field? This is out of the bleachers.?) The preparation was most evident in his fundraising: The six-term incumbent raised more than $1.5 million in the first three months of 2013, a prodigious total for any lawmaker but especially for one in a relatively inexpensive state for TV advertising. He had almost $5 million cash on hand.

In his votes and rhetoric, Baucus also looked like a lawmaker bent on courting red-state voters. He was one of four Democrats to oppose his colleagues? own budget proposal and the tax increases included in it. He voted against compromise gun-control legislation that expanded background checks despite it attracting the support of four Republican senators. Even two fellow Democrats up for reelection in red states next year?Kay Hagan and Mary Landrieu?backed the measure.

And just last week, Baucus called the implementation of Obama?s health care law a ?train wreck,? even though he helped shepherd the legislation through Congress, ?That caused a tizzy among many Senate Republican officials, who speculated the senator was attempting to save his own reelection campaign by performing early damage control on a politically toxic issue. ??

But even if retirement talk has been off the public?s radar, it?s been something the senator has been considering, according to one former Baucus aide. A contributing factor, according to the source, was the septuagenarian was not eager to balance legislative fights, fundraisers and another tough reelection battle.

Although the senator?s path to reelection was always going to be difficult in a state Mitt Romney won by double digits last year, he didn?t appear as endangered as colleagues such as Landrieu in Louisiana, Mark Begich in Alaska, and Mark Pryor in Arkansas. He had yet to draw a first-tier challenger?only state Senate Majority Leader Corey Stapleton and state Rep. Champ Edmunds had declared they were running. Just last year, incumbent Sen. Jon Tester won reelection in Montana.

Baucus is the fourth consequential Democratic retirement this year, joining Sens. Tom Harkin of Iowa, Tim Johnson of South Dakota, and Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia. As with those previous retirements, his departure could give Republicans a golden opportunity to win a Senate seat and boost for their hopes of retaking the chamber.

But Democrats have been quick to suggest that former Gov. Brian Schweitzer, who left office this year, is interested in running. The popular former statewide official, who doesn?t possess a potentially harmful voting record like Baucus has, might even be a stronger candidate than the incumbent.

?Democrats have had a great deal of electoral success in Montana over the last decade, and I am confident that will continue,? Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Michael Bennet said in a statement. ?Democrats built an unprecedented ground game in Montana in 2012 when Senator Tester was reelected, and we will continue to invest all the resources necessary to hold this seat.?

Schweitzer, who won reelection as the state?s governor in 2008 with more than 60 percent of the vote, fits the model of the kind of candidate Senate Democrats like to recruit?someone who can carve out the necessary independent image for Democrats to win in red states.? He helped elect a Democratic successor, former state Attorney General Steve Bullock, into the governor?s mansion last year.

Some Montana Democrats are also floating the name of Stephanie Schriock, the president of EMILY?s List and a Montana native. The former chief of staff to Tester doesn't have the ideal background for the red-state race, but she would command a national fundraising base.?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/max-baucuss-sudden-retirement-puts-pressure-former-montana-155457289--politics.html

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Full Samsung Knox launch delayed until a 'later date'

The Galaxy S 4 launch was also supposed to mark the release of Knox, Samsung's plan to balance home life and work through software. Unfortunately, Galaxy owners will have to live slightly off-kilter for a while longer -- the company has officially delayed full Knox service to a "later date." While the GS 4 ships with the necessary underpinnings, both distributors and providers have to fall into place before the suite is completely ready. Samsung hasn't officially said when it expects Knox to arrive in earnest, although the New York Times claims that it may appear as late as July. Whether or not that's true, the setback adds to what's becoming a hitch-prone debut for Samsung's 2013 Android flagship.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung

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5 shot to death in Illinois home, suspect killed

MANCHESTER, Ill. (AP) ? Authorities in central Illinois have yet to identify the five people who are believed to have been shot to death in their home by a man who was later gunned down by police.

The nephew of Manchester's mayor shot to death two women, two boys and a man before leading police on a chase that ended in an exchange of gunfire that left him dead, authorities said Wednesday.

Illinois State Police said they believe Rick O. Smith, 43, entered the home through the back door and shot the victims at close range with a shotgun. Two people were found in a bedroom, two in a second bedroom and the man in the hallway. A sixth victim, a 6-year-old girl, was injured and taken to a Springfield hospital.

"The offender took the 6-year-old out of the residence and put her in the hands of a neighbor," State Police Lt. Col. Todd Kilby said.

Officials have not revealed a motive for the killings. Police said the victims are related. The Scott County coroner's office says the identities of the victims will be released after autopsies are performed early Thursday.

Authorities believe Smith and the victims were acquainted, but they didn't provide details of the relationships.

A bystander called police and told them that Smith fled the home in a white sedan. A car chase ensued, leading authorities to the nearby town of Winchester, where Smith and officers exchanged gunfire. Officers shot Smith, and he later died at a hospital.

Police said they found a rifle, shotgun and large hunting knife in Smith's car.

Scott County State's Attorney Michael Hill said Smith, of rural Morgan County, had previous convictions for reckless homicide, drugs and bad checks.

Manchester Mayor Ronald Drake confirmed that Smith was his nephew, saying he hadn't spoken to Smith in two years but that he believed his nephew was unemployed. Drake said the last time Smith contacted him was to borrow tools.

In Manchester, yellow police tape surrounded the small one-story brick home where the victims were found. Manchester is a village of about 300 residents located about 50 miles west of Springfield.

"It's a close-knit community," Drake said. "Everybody talks to everybody. ... We enjoy everything that goes on (in) town. This is just a tragedy for (the) whole town."

The last homicide in Scott County was 20 years ago, in 1993.

Manchester resident Julie Hardwick, 48, said she lives in the same county housing authority complex as the victims. She said authorities told her she couldn't return to her home yet because of the investigation.

"The kids were really nice," Hardwick said of the family. "You couldn't ask for better kids."

The Rev. Robin Lyons of Manchester United Methodist Church, one of two churches in the community said, "this shows tragedy can happen anywhere."

Two area school superintendents said they received calls from county sheriffs before 6 a.m. informing them that five people had been shot to death at a house in Manchester and that a suspect was at large.

Superintendent David Roberts of the Winchester School District and Les Stevens of the North Greene Unit District No. 3 both said they immediately canceled classes when they were told of the shootings and that other school districts did the same.

Roberts said the wounded girl is a student at Winchester Grade School and her teacher was with her at the Springfield hospital.

The school will use its own counselor, nurse and other staff members to help students who need to talk, Roberts said. Other area districts have offered to help too.

Roberts said he also will call on area ministers to be available on campus. "I've found that to be helpful in the past," he said.

___

Associated Press writers Don Babwin and Jason Keyser in Chicago and David Mercer in Champaign, Ill., contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/5-shot-death-illinois-home-suspect-killed-071322758.html

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