More games set for 3DS

A new game in the critically acclaimed Legend of Zelda series headlined Nintendo's latest raft of announcements for the 3DS system. Scheduled for launch closer to the holiday season, the new Legend of Zelda title takes place in the same world as the Link to the Past game for the Super Nintendo. The new title will take advantage of the Nintendo 3DS's 3D capabilities, while also allowing series hero Link to become a drawing and "move within walls". The third game in the Yoshi's Island series of platformers has also been announced for the handheld, starring Mario and titular hero Yoshi the dinosaur. Other upcoming 3DS titles starring Mario and/or Luigi include: role-playing game Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Brothers, puzzle/platformer Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move, Mario Golf: World Tour and a new Mario Party title. Additionally, Nintendo also shed light on other upcoming 3DS titles, such as platformer Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, role-playing game Bravely Default, puzzler Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy and RPG title Shin Megami Tensei IV. Wii U The company's focus was clearly on the 3DS, but that didn't stop them from shedding more light on selected Wii U developments. For one, Nintendo has confirmed that a software update for the home console is due next week. The new update will address oft-derided loading times and add a few new functions. On the gaming side of things, the company has confirmed that eagerly anticipated puzzler Pikmin 3 will launch in August, while Super Nintendo cult classic Earthbound will be available to download soon in Europe.

Google signs deal to buy, upgrade Provo city fibre network

Google has announced that it expects Provo, Utah, to be its third fibre city after Kansas City and Austin. The internet giant has signed an agreement to acquire iProvo, a fibre-optic network owned by the city. It plans to upgrade the network to gigabit technology and to complete network construction to enable every home along the existing iProvo network to connect to Google Fiber. The agreement with Provo awaits approval when the city council votes on 23 April. Google said it intends to start upgrading the network as soon as the deal is closed. The company plans to offer its free 5 Mbps service to every home on the network for at least seven years, provided they pay a USD 30 activation fee. The faster Google Fiber Gigabit Internet service and TV service will also be made available. Gigabit Internet service will be free for 25 local public institutions, such as schools, hospitals and libraries.

Analyzing varying reactions to Boston bombings

It is an odd thing how times like these tell us so much about the way America is viewed by the rest of the world. It seems, despite how "damaged" our image may be on the world stage, other nations still care when our citizens are senselessly killed. These compassionate sentiments have emerged via several channels, both official and otherwise. The official responses to the bombing have been aggrieved and compassionate, with our Western allies voicing their shock and outrage. Even more interesting than the official responses, however, have been the unofficial responses. People from around the world have flocked to the Internet to create memes and image macros expressing their support for the United States. Many of these images poke fun at America’s perceived tendency to overreact to terrorist threats, but also suggest that in this situation, someone has to pay. Even more interesting is the fact that Iran has come out condemning this bombing, in a backhanded sort of way. Of course, some Iranians took to the Internet to express their grief and sympathy, which was nice enough in its own right. But when Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei released a statement condemning the bombing for killing innocents, he made sure to point out that Iran would condemn any such attack in any country. He also did his best to reinforce his government’s anti-American image by throwing in some rhetoric about Western civilization being on the verge of collapse and railing against America’s drone strikes in the Middle East. This sort of odd mixture of goodwill and condemnation isn’t anything new when it comes to American-Iranian relations. A year ago, Somali pirates captured some Iranian sailors. The U.S. Navy found them and brought the Iranians back home and was met with what can only be described as reluctant gratitude. The funny part is that just days earlier, Iran had complained about the presence of the U.S. Navy in the Persian Gulf. It’s really an odd waltz that the U.S. and Iran are dancing. And while Iran’s leaders like to beat their chests and talk tough about the decadent evils of the west, many Iranians gathered for a candlelight vigil in the wake of 9/11. So, let this be a lesson to anyone who views Iranians as somehow evil or mindlessly opposed to America; it’s not that cut and dried, and it’s too easy to homogenize countries into one faceless group. Another unlikely sympathizer came out of the woodwork: Cuba. For those who aren’t familiar with U.S. policy toward Cuba, it has not been kind over the years. We tried to undermine their government for years during the Cold War via various means, and to this day we still have a trade embargo in place against Cuba preventing U.S. companies from doing business there. So, we aren’t exactly the best neighbors when it comes to Cuba. That’s why Cuba’s overtures of sympathy over the Boston bombing are all the more remarkable. Americans themselves differed greatly in their reactions to the attack. By and large, it’s safe to say that the majority of Americans were mortified and deeply wounded by the events unfolding in Boston. But a contingent of Americans is trying to try to use the bombing as an opportunity to put other such events around the world into perspective. They are arguing that bombings such as this are commonplace in some areas of the world, and that Americans are wrong for not being up in arms over each of those bombings, which are oftentimes more harmful than the ones in Boston. This view really fails to take into account that the more common an event is, the less newsworthy it is. Of course every bombing in Iraq and Afghanistan is horrific; not once has any sane person claimed that the Boston bombing matters more because those peoples’ lives are somehow more valuable. But bombings in some areas of the Middle East are quite commonplace, and as such aren’t the focus of much media attention. A bomb going off in a major U.S. city draws attention from around the world because it’s so rare and shocking that everyone is caught off guard. As much as people tripping over themselves to be politically correct are trying to use this bombing to prove a point, the point they’re making is diminished when we stop and consider what they’re actually saying. Is America the only nation in the world making a big deal out of these bombings? No, countries around the world are reacting to it and treating it as a wake-up call. In all of their arguing, these folks are so keen to blame America for trivializing other bombings that they forget the rest of the world does it, too. Do you see England holding a press conference to denounce each and every bombing taking place in Iraq? Is France up on their bully pulpit condemning every new incident of mob violence in India? A bombing in Boston is different, everyone knows it’s different, and to think otherwise is utterly laughable.

Great start for Zimbabwe

ZIMBABWE captain Brendan Taylor marked his return to form in emphatic fashion with a solid century, a career third and his second against Bangladesh, on the opening day of the first of two cricket Tests at Harare Sports Club yesterday. Report by Daniel Nhakaniso Taylor led a fightback after the tourists had thrown a couple of blows with two early wickets. But the right-hander made good use of the gift of two lives having been dropped on 35 with Zimbabwe precariously positioned at 92-3. At stumps, Zimbabwe had resurrected their innings to 217-4 with Malcolm Waller’s wicket (55) the last to fall while Taylor and Elton Chigumbura were unbeaten on 105 and six respectively. Seam bowler Robiul Islam struck in the first session to remove both openers Vusi Sibanda for five and debutant Tymcem Maruma for 10 runs after the two had made a painfully slow start having been sent in to bat by Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim who won the toss. Yesterday’s ton was also Taylor’s second consecutive century against Bangladesh after his maiden Test century against the same team almost three years ago. Taylor formed Zimbabwe’s biggest partnership with Waller of 127 runs before the latter fell to Rubel Hossain, but Zimbabwe were in better health at that stage. The momentum almost swiftly shifted in the tourists’ favour after Chigumbura was clean-bowled by Hossain, only to survive after replays showed that the latter had bowled a no-ball. In the morning, the Bangladesh pace duo of Robiul Islam and Rubel Hossain vindicated their skipper’s decision to bowl as they made life very difficult for the opening pair. Zimbabwe scored just 50 runs in the first session. Maruma, largely known as a middle order batsman, found the going tough and was lucky to survive the first over after being dropped by Shahriah Nafees in the slips off the sixth delivery of the over. While Maruma looked the most likely to go out, it was his more senior partner Sibanda who perished first after he had his middle stump dismantled by a well-directed yorker from Islam for just five runs. Islam maintained his accurate line and length and soon trapped Maruma four overs later. The entry of Masakadza (25) and Taylor and the introduction of the spinners saw the hosts increasing the run rate as they managed a 43-run third wicket partnership. Masakadza’s would become the third wicket to fall after being caught at first slip by Mahmudullah off the bowling of offspinner Enamul Haque Jnr to leave Zimbabwe in trouble on 65-3. Taylor had been short of runs recently and responded in the best way to help Zimbabwe recover from an early setback and after the match said they would try to bat as long as possible today. “The first hour will be crucial for us tomorrow (today). We will try to get through that passage of play and try to settle down and bat as long as possible. Their spinners are less of a threat here, but all the same there is still a long way to go in the game,” Taylor said after the first day of play.

Business Matters: Google Service Disruptions Show the Cloud Is Problematic – But Still the Future of Music

The cloud is the future of music, but the cloud -- or parts of it -- doesn't work properly from time to time. The service disruptions of many Google applications Wednesday morning was a reminder that cloud-based services inevitably experience service problems and users can be forgiving if the company deals with the issues correctly. Word spread quickly that Gmail for Google Apps, Google Drive (the cloud-based file storage service), Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations, Google Chat and Google Analytics were experiencing service disruptions. Google apps experience occasional service disruptions, although it's rare that this many apps are affected at once. Google Drive has had three other disruptions in the previous month, according to Google's App Status Dashboard. Gmail last experienced a disruption on February 28th. Outages are unfortunate but accepted -- to some degree -- by consumers. Tumblr’s outage last month didn’t seem to hurt the company. Netflix’s service problems on Christmas Even, caused by a larger outage at Amazon Web Services, didn't leave a lasting mark. In fact, shares of Netflix are up 88% since December 26 and the company's foray into exclusive content has generated enthusiasm around the company. Pandora keeps growing in spite of regular service issues (as detailed in the comments section of the website Is It Down Right Now?). Spotify's outages in late 2011 didn’t prevent the company from more than doubling its subscribers to 6 million. Outages are inevitable because perfection is too expensive, writes Mike Pav, engineering vice president at Spanning Cloud Apps at ReadWrite. Pavs believes that achieving a 99.9% uptime would require an amount of time, money and resources that wouldn’t be worth the investment. “The extra cost inevitably would be passed along to consumers, all but negating the cloud’s cost advantages.” Instead, Pav believes Platform as a Service (PaaS) providers like Amazon Web Services should provide customers with a “well-reasoned plan” for handling any disruptions. They should say when service will be restored, report who was impact and whether data was lost, provide status updates and, once over, provide a plan to avoid future interruptions. It helps if companies upfront with people about service disruptions and outages. Dealing with unfortunate but inevitable problems comes down to good customer service. One CEO of a music B2B platform tells me his company tries to over communicate when it knows of a service instance of system wide issue. "Users are usually very understanding and appreciate the transparency." Spotify's use of social media is a good example of transparency. The music service has a Twitter account, @SpotifyStatus, that keeps users informed about unexpected outages and planned maintenance that could interrupt some users' service. The list of tweets show Spotify has had five instances of service issues in 2013 and many more in 2012. The company deals with each instance in a similar way each time: acknowledge the problem and let people know when it's been resolved. Listeners shouldn't be hesitant about a cloud-based future for music. From personal calendars to file storage, our lives are becoming more connected to servers in unknown, faraway places. Consumers have handled the occasional service disruptions and outages that throw a wrench into their lives. Music fans will be able to deal with these small bouts of adversity, too.

Egypt renew spectator ban at CAF fixtures

Thursday, 18 April 2013 11:24 Posted by Parvez Jabri E-mailPrintPDF imageJOHANNESBURG: Leading Egyptian football club Zamalek will host a CAF Champions League qualifier in an empty Cairo stadium this weekend after recent incidents triggered the renewal of a ban on spectators. Authorities allowed crowds limited to 3,000 for earlier fixtures this year involving Zamalek and fellow Cairo club Al-Ahly in the premier Confederation of AFrican Football club competition. But despite spectators being outnumbered by security forces at the 90,000-seat Borg El Arab stadium on the outskirts of Mediterranean city Alexandria, there was trouble at the matches. Zamalek supporters ripped up seats after a 7-0 thrashing of Chadian visitors Gazelle -- a strange way to celebrate a one-sided result that ensured the White Knights of overall victory. Ahly fans threw projectiles on the pitch during a game against Kenyan visitors Tusker with one landing close to the visiting goalkeeper just before the home team scored the second goal in a 2-0 win that secured qualification. While Zamalek host Saint George from Ethiopia in Cairo this weekend, Ahly visit Tunisia for a match against CA Bizertin. Both are first leg fixtures with the overall winners advancing to the lucrative mini-league phase. The incidents in Alexandria plus clashes between spectators and police in Ismaily after the home side were eliminated from the Arab Champions League convinced sports minister Farouk Al-Amry to act. "Because of incidents involving Ahly, Zamalek and Ismaily, which put the safety of fans at risk and damaged property, my ministry has decided to ban spectators from African and Arab club fixtures," he said. This is a massive blow for Ahly and Zamalek, the two most successful clubs in the Champions League with seven and five titles respectively, and serious title contenders this year. Ahly defied the odds to defeat old rivals Esperance of Tunisia and win the 2012 Champions League as the final was the only match of seven en route to glory in which spectators were permitted. Zamalek, with a much weaker team than this year, also had to play most games behind closed doors and made a timid group-stage exit after failing to win in six home and away outings. The decision to bring back closed-door fixtures drew an angry reaction from Zamalek fans with some protesting outside the sports ministry offices in Cairo this week and blocking entry to the building. A huge banner carried by fans of the White Knights read: "The stand is closed on the orders of the ministry and the ministry is closed on the orders of the stand." Egypt coach Bob Bradley told reporters: "A football match without spectators has no soul. Any footballer who has played in an empty stadium will confirm what an eerie, silent experience it is." American Bradley took over the national squad two years ago and has also suffered from the fan ban with none allowed for the opening 2014 World Cup qualifier against Mozambique in Alexandria last June. A few thousand were permitted to watch Egypt grab a 2-1 win over Zimbabwe at the same venue last month, keeping a 100 percent record in a group completed by Guinea and raising hopes of a first appearance at the finals in 24 years. "I told my players that when they look at the stands they must imagine there are 85 million supporters there because everyone in Egypt would be at the stadium if they had the chance." Egypt have one more home group fixture -- against Guinea at a venue still to be announced during September -- and it is unclear if they will suffer a similar fate as the clubs. While the national team and clubs have been allowed to fulfil international obligations, domestic football only recently resumed after a one-year ban when rioting after a match between Al-Masry and Ahly in Port Said claimed 70 lives.

Obamas comfort amid gun legislation frustration

President Obama has repeatedly been forced into the role of comforter-in-chief, traveling to communities traumatized by killings of civilians in random spates of violence. As the president flies to Boston on Thursday morning to provide consolation in the wake of Monday’s Boston Marathon bomb attack, his ability to respond with healing words will contrast with his own frustrated attempts to respond to gun violence with legislation. On Wednesday, the Senate voted down a compromise amendment that would have expanded background checks for gun sales, the one real hope of gun control advocates who were seeking a response to the Newtown, Conn., elementary school massacre. Related Prayer service to be a ‘defiance’ of terror The president has made gun violence a top priority, but has been unable to use the bully pulpit to convince Congress to go along. ‘He’s doing absolutely everything he can to break through.’ Quote Icon “He’s doing absolutely everything he can to break through, but he’s facing the greatest resistance that any modern era president has confronted,” said Garrison Nelson, a political science professor at the University of Vermont. “Can he capture this moment? Yeah,” Nelson added. “Can he make a difference? No. And that’s the sad thing about it. He will touch the hearts, but he won’t move the needle.” Gun control advocates were downcast on Wednesday, acknowledging changes that seemed within reach weeks ago are now out of of the question until at least after 2014. Proponents, including Obama, are determined to keep the issue alive in the midterm elections. “The ongoing effort — which is to communicate as vividly as possible the tragedy going on across America — has taken hold, and polling shows that,” said Tad Devine, a Democratic strategist who has worked with Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a group pushing for more gun control. “But what hasn’t taken hold with elected officials – members of Congress — is that if they don’t get on the right side of this issue with voters, they’re going to lose their seat.” “We’re going to have to go into elections and beat people,” he added. “We’re going to have to demonstrate to elected officials [that] if they won’t do something as basic as background checks, they’re going to pay for it.” Devine did not put the blame on Obama, saying, “The bully pulpit may not be enough in this instance.” Politicians need to feel threatened from voters, he suggested, not the president. Obama and his wife, Michelle, will arrive in Boston on Thursday, for 11 a.m. services at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. “Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone in Boston,” Michelle Obama said Wednesday in her first comments about the bombings. “What happened on Monday was a reminder that in times of crisis here in America, we respond with courage and grit and selflessness. That’s exactly what we saw from the people of Boston.” Without a publicly identified suspect and motive for bombings in Boston, it is still unclear what type of response, if any, the president will mount. Under Obama’s administration and that of his predecessor, George W. Bush, the nation has already imposed rafts of security measures and antiterrorism monitoring programs. Obama has dramatically expanded the use of drones to kill terrorists and instigators of terror. But the use of cooking pots and household batteries to detonate blasts that killed three people and injured more than 170 on Monday only served to illustrate, despite all the countermeasures, how powerless the president is to stem attacks from determined criminals or deranged individuals. After episodes of gun violence, Obama has had a more obvious focal point for legislative action. Four days after Representative Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head while holding a constituent meeting, Obama traveled to the University of Arizona for a memorial service for six killed. “You see, when a tragedy like this strikes, it is part of our nature to demand explanations, to try to impose some order on the chaos, and make sense out of that which seems senseless,” he said. “Already we’ve seen a national conversation commence, not only about the motivations behind these killings, but about everything from the merits of gun safety laws to the adequacy of our mental health systems.” After 12 people were killed by a shooter in a theater in Aurora, Colo., Obama gave a nationally televised address, again calling for unity and change. “I hope that over the next several days, next several weeks, and next several months, we all reflect on how we can do something about some of the senseless violence that ends up marring this country, he said. Some of his most profound remarks, and most direct legislative response, came after the shootings in Newtown, Conn. “This is our first task, caring for our children,” he said. “It’s our first job. If we don’t get that right, we don’t get anything right. That’s how, as a society, we will be judged.” Within weeks, the White House mounted a major legislative push. Vice President Joe Biden formed a task force and came up with a long list of recommendations. Obama placed calls to senators, he gave speeches, he held dinners. Family members of the victims gave interviews, and descended on Capitol Hill to meet with lawmakers. There never was enough support to give momentum to proponents for an assault weapons ban or limits on magazine capacity. But intense negotiations produced a compromise on background checks that survived an initial filibuster last week. But in the end the National Rifle Association and allied groups, a handful of Democrats from rural states, and nearly all of the Senate Republicans combined forces to stymie the effort. Shortly after the measure failed in the Senate on Wednesday, Obama went to the Rose Garden at the White House, angry and pleading for help. “To change Washington, you, the American people, are going to have to sustain some passion about this,” he said. “You’re going to have to send the right people to Washington.”