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Friday, March 29, 2013
Gymnastics squad headed to Tuscaloosa Regional | DU Today
The No. 15 University of Denver gymnastics squad will take part in the Tuscaloosa Regional at 5 p.m. MDT April 6 at Coleman Coliseum against host No. 3 Alabama, No.9 Utah, No. 23 Kent State, No. 30 BYU and No. 35 Iowa State, the NCAA announced Monday.
?It?s always exciting to compete at the NCAA Regionals,? says head coach Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart. ?We?re looking forward to competing in a very strong region. Alabama is a great place to go and a great place to compete, and I?m confident that it?s going to be a great competition.?
DU?s rotation order for the Regional will be: bye, floor, vault, bye, bars, beam.
The Pioneers have qualified for the NCAA Regionals all 15 seasons of Kutcher-Rinehart?s tenure. Denver will look for its fourth trip to the NCAA Championships since turning Division I in 1984. A year ago, the Pioneers finished fourth at the Champaign Regional.
Denver finished second at Saturday?s Western Athletic Conference Championship, falling to Boise State by a tenth of a point. The Pioneers will head to the NCAA Regionals with a 22-3 record. DU won the WAC regular season title with a 4-0 mark. Denver will be the 15th-ranked team in the country heading into the Regional.
Alabama and Utah are two of the four programs to win a NCAA Championship in the sport?s history. The Crimson Tide have won back-to-back national titles and Utah is the only program in history to qualify for every NCAA Championship meet.
?It?s without a doubt going to be a challenging competition,? Kutcher-Rinehart says. ?There are only four teams in the country to ever win an NCAA Championship and two of the four are in our region. With that said, I have confidence that this team can compete in that type of atmosphere, and we?re looking forward to the meet.?
DU, BSU and Southern Utah made the WAC a three-bid league this year.
The top-two teams at each of the six regionals will advance to the NCAA Championships April 19-21 in Los Angeles, Calif. Event winners and the top-two all-arounders from non-advancing teams will also qualify for the nation?s final meet of the season.
Read more at denverpioneers.com
Source: http://blogs.du.edu/today/news/gymnastics-squad-headed-to-tuscaloosa-regional
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Monday, March 25, 2013
US to continue support of Syrian opposition
BAGHDAD (AP) ? Secretary of State John Kerry says he was sorry to learn that the leader of the Western-backed Syrian opposition coalition has resigned, but that it won't affect the U.S. effort to try to force Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down.
Mouaz al-Khatib (moo-AZ' al-khah-TEEB'), the leader of the Syrian National Coalition, announced his plans Sunday, citing what he called insufficient international support.
Kerry, who made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Sunday, says the U.S. will continue to work with opposition leadership on the delivery of aid. Kerry told reporters that such a transition in such an opposition group inevitable and that Khatib's departure doesn't change U.S. policy. Kerry said the fight is about, quote, "an opposition that is bigger than one person and that opposition will continue."
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NCAA Tournament LIVE SCORES, UPDATES: Gonzaga vs. Wichita State; Syracuse vs. Cal On Saturday
No. 4 Michigan beats No. 5 VCU 78-53
No. 3 Michigan State beats No. 6 Memphis 70-48
No. 1 Louisville beats No. 8 Colorado State 82-56
No. 6 Arizona beats No. 14 Harvard 74-51
No. 12 Oregon beats No. 4 Saint Louis 74-57
No. 3 Marquette beats No. 6 Butler 74-72
No. 9 Wichita State beats No. 1 Gonzaga 76-70
No. 4 Syracuse beats No. 12 Cal 66-60
Syracuse wins 66-60. C.J. Fair scored 18 on 6/14 shooting. Southerland had 14 points and 9 rebounds.
Solomon gets a layup to go and now Cal is down 6 with 6.9 seconds left. Timeout.
Solomon gets an offensive rebound on an airball and makes a layup PLUS the foul. 22.9 seconds left. Southerland has fouled out. Solomon misses the free throw and Fair gets the rebound.
Crabbe makes a running jumper a few feet inside the 3-point line to cut the lead to 64-56 with 29.1 seconds left.
First, Syracuse fails to get a good inbounds pass in and fumbles the ball out of bounds. Then Cal's inbounds pass flies out of bounds. Just terrible turnovers. 62-54 Syracuse. 36.5 seconds left.
Baye Keita was left wide open down low and threw down a two-handed dunk. 62-53 Syracuse with 40.1 seconds left. Baye Keita commits a foul on the other end.
Carter-Williams goes 1/2 from the line to make it 60-53, Cobbs is called for a charge but it looked like Carter-Williams was moving the entire time.
Triche ges fouled and only makes 1/2. Cal respondes with an easy layup from Cobbs to make it 59-53.
Syracuse threw it away but Cal recovered and stepped out of bounds.
Cal goes right to Wallace on the right side and he swishes a 3 to cut the lead to seven. We have a game! 58-51 Syracuse.
Crabbe knocks down a long 3 from the left wing to cut the lead to 10. Now Fair goes to the line for Syracuse and misses BOTH.
Baye Keita went up for a dunk and got fouled. Only made 1/2. 57-44 Syracuse.
Southerland makes both. 56-44 with 3:23 left and Cal turns it over again.
Carter-Williams drives to his right and stretches out to get the layup. Then Cal turns it over and commits a foul. 54-44 Cuse and Southerland going to the line with 3:38 left.
Cobbs got fouled on a layup and made 1/2. 52-44 Syracuse.
Robert Thurman working hard on the offensive rebounds and got a put-back to go to cut the lead to seven. But Southerland somehow got a one-handed runner from the baseline to go. 52-43 CUSE with 4:29 left.
Both teams traded baskets and then Cal's Richard Solomon made a layup to cut it to 8. 49-41 CUSE with 5:28 left.
A moving screen is called on Syracuse's Baye Keita and Cal gets the stop they needed. Cal down 10 and now David Kravish will go to the line after getting fouled on a dunk attempt.
Cobbs gets his first bucket of the second half and now Syracuse leads 45-33 with 8:24 left.
Cal hasn't made a field goal in approximately 7 minutes. Cuse leads 44-31 with 10:45 left.
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Saturday, March 23, 2013
First message sent from space to be preserved by Library of ...
The 2012 National Recording Registry With a Twist
Van Cliburn, Pink Floyd, Simon & Garfunkel Recordings Marked for Preservation
From the cultural significance of Chubby Checker's song-and-dance phenomenon and the historic moment of Van Cliburn's triumphant Cold War performance in Moscow to the artistry of Cuban bassist Israel "Cachao" Lopez's all-star jam sessions, the 2012 inductees to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress reflect the diversity and creativity of the American experience. The Librarian of Congress, James H. Billington, today announced the selection of 25 sound recordings to the registry, marked for preservation because of their cultural, artistic and historic importance to the nation's aural legacy.
"Congress created the National Recording Registry to celebrate the richness and variety of our audio heritage and to underscore our responsibility for long-term preservation, to assure that legacy can be appreciated and studied for generations," said Billington. "Our challenge, however, continues to be finding collaborative and innovative ways to protect and make available this unmatched legacy to the public."
Under the terms of the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000, the Librarian, with advice from the Library's National Recording Preservation Board (NRPB), is tasked with annually selecting 25 recordings that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and are at least 10 years old. The selections for the 2012 registry bring the total number of recordings to 375.
The selections named to the registry feature a diverse array of spoken-word and musical recordings-representing nearly every musical category-spanning the years 1918-1980. Among this year's selections are Simon and Garfunkel's 1966 album, "Sounds of Silence"; "The Dark Side of the Moon" by Pink Floyd, which received the highest number of public nominations among this year's picks; the soundtrack to the popular movie "Saturday Night Fever"; the 1918 trendsetting "After You've Gone" by Marion Harris; "Cheap Thrills," Janis Joplin's second release with Big Brother and the Holding Company; the radio broadcast featuring Will Rogers' 1931 folksy insights in support of Herbert Hoover's unemployment-relief campaign during the Great Depression; and Artie Shaw's breakthrough hit, "Begin the Beguine."
Additions to the registry feature notable performances by Leontyne Price, Ornette Coleman, The Ramones, The Bee Gees, Clarence Ashley, Doc Watson, Philip Glass, Betty Carter, Junior Wells, Jimmie Davis, Frank Yankovic, The Blackwood Brothers and The Neville Brothers.
Nominations were gathered through online submissions from the public and from the NRPB, which comprises leaders in the fields of music, recorded sound and preservation. The Library is currently accepting nominations for the next registry at the NRPB website (www.loc.gov/nrpb/). Several of the selections on the registry were public nominations.
As part of its congressional mandate, the Library is identifying and preserving the best existing versions of each recording on the registry. These recordings will be housed in the Library's Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation in Culpeper, Va., a state-of-the-art facility that was made possible through the generosity of David Woodley Packard and the Packard Humanities Institute, with benefaction from the U.S. Congress. The Packard Campus (www.loc.gov/avconservation/) is home to more than 6 million collection items, including nearly 3.5 million sound recordings.
After 10 years of collaborative effort and the 2010 release of the first-ever-conducted comprehensive study on the state of recorded-sound preservation in the U.S., last month the Library unveiled its plan to save the nation's endangered aural legacy (PDF). This blueprint makes 32 recommendations-long-term and short-term-covering infrastructure, preservation, access, education and policy strategies. Among them are the application of federal copyright law to pre-1972 sound recordings; creation of a national directory of all recorded sound collections and a national discography; and establishment of university-based degree programs in audio archiving and preservation.
Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution. The Library seeks to spark imagination and creativity and to further human understanding and wisdom by providing access to knowledge through its magnificent collections, programs and exhibitions. Many of the Library's rich resources can be accessed through its website at www.loc.gov.
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/22/first-message-sent-from-space-to-be-preserved-by-library-of-cong/
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Microsoft did not violate Google patent: ITC judge
By Diane Bartz
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp did not violate a patent owned by Google subsidiary Motorola Mobility when it made its popular Xbox, an administrative law judge at the International Trade Commission said in a preliminary decision issued on Friday.
A final ITC decision in the case is due in July.
The fight over the Xbox video game console is related to the larger smartphone patent war between Apple, Microsoft and the mobile phone makers who use Google's Android software, including its subsidiary Motorola Mobility.
Motorola Mobility accused Microsoft of infringing five patents when it filed its complaint in 2010. Four have been dropped.
One patent remains, according to the ITC docket for the case. That patent allows devices to communicate wirelessly over short distances.
If the ITC finds that a company infringes upon a patent, the infringing product can be barred from importation into the United States.
"We are pleased with the administrative law judge's finding that Microsoft did not violate Motorola's patent and are confident that this determination will be affirmed by the commission," said David Howard, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel, Microsoft, in an emailed statement.
Google said it was disappointed.
"We are disappointed with today's determination and look forward to the full commission's review," said spokesman Matt Kallman in an emailed statement.
Tech companies have spent billions of dollars to buy patent portfolios that they can use defensively or offensively, and still more money litigating the cases around the world.
The long-running Xbox case has seen many twists and turns since it was filed in late 2010.
In April 2012, ITC Judge David Shaw said in a preliminary decision that Microsoft infringed four patents and did not infringe on a fifth.
But instead of deciding the case, as is usual, in June 2012, the trade panel sent the case back to the judge for reconsideration.
In January, following an antitrust settlement with federal regulators, Google asked a trade panel to drop two patents from the complaint because they were essential to a standard. These types of patents ensure interoperability and get special treatment.
Google had promised the Federal Trade Commission that it would no longer request sales bans based on the infringement of standard essential patents because they are supposed to be broadly licensed on fair and reasonable terms.
The FTC, U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office argue that companies should not request sales bans when filing infringement lawsuits based on patents that are essential to a standard in most cases. Standard essential patents ensure that devices are interoperable.
The ITC is a popular venue for patent lawsuits because it can bar the importation of infringing products and because it issues decisions relatively quickly.
Motorola Mobility filed related lawsuits against Microsoft in federal courts in Wisconsin and Washington. They are both stayed pending an ITC decision.
The case is at the International Trade Commission, No. 337-752.
(Reporting by Diane Bartz)
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FCC chief Genachowski to step down, touts expanded broadband
By Alina Selyukh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Julius Genachowski said on Friday he will step down as chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission in the coming weeks after four years on the job, and touted his record of working to expand broadband Internet service to Americans.
Genachowski, whose term was due to end in June, told FCC staffers he would be leaving his post "in the coming weeks" but did not give a date. He told Reuters after his announcement that he has no career plans lined up for after his FCC tenure ends.
"I'm still focused on the work of the agency," Genachowski said, adding that he expects the FCC, which maintains a Democratic majority, to keep its policy direction after he leaves.
Asked to describe his tenure at the FCC in three words, Genachowski answered "unleashing broadband's benefits."
His exit from the agency that oversees U.S. telecommunications and broadcast policies was widely expected at the start of President Barack Obama's second term in January. Obama will nominate a successor to Genachowski, who has headed the FCC since 2009.
The FCC is also losing its senior Republican commissioner. Robert McDowell said on Wednesday he will depart his post in a few weeks, leaving the five-member panel with two Democrats, one Republican and two vacancies.
Among the possible candidates to head the FCC is Tom Wheeler, a venture capitalist and an Obama ally and fundraiser. Wheeler headed the National Cable Television Association and the wireless industry group CTIA.
Two other possible contenders are: Lawrence Strickling, head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which advises the president on telecommunications and information policy; and Karen Kornbluh, the U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an international economic body.
The next FCC chief faces a list of projects to complete. One major one is Genachowski's plan for a complex incentive auction of spectrum that is meant to free up airwaves for better wireless Internet access.
The auction relies on TV stations to give up some of their airwaves to be auctioned off to wireless companies or opened up for shared use. The broadcasters would get a portion of the proceeds and the rest would pay for a public-safety program and go to the U.S. Treasury.
Also on the list is the delayed loosening of rules on media ownership.
Asked whether he would like to see a vote on those rules before he leaves the FCC, Genachowski said only that the commission will "continue to work on the agenda."
Later this year, a federal court will also hold hearings in a case against Genachowski's net neutrality rules for Internet service providers that could have broad implications for the breadth of the FCC's regulatory power.
'AN UNEASY DANCE'
In his FCC tenure, Genachowski oversaw an overhaul of the multibillion-dollar Universal Service Fund from a project to spread telephone service in rural America to one focused on broadband access. He also spearheaded the creation of a strategy known as the National Broadband Plan and later pushed Internet providers to step up the speediness of their services.
The FCC's priorities under Genachowski reduced the influence of U.S. broadcasters, the relationship with whom has been "an uneasy dance," according to Medley Global Advisors telecommunications policy analyst Jeffrey Silva.
Also left disappointed were liberal-leaning organizations including consumer interest groups. Harold Feld of advocacy group Public Knowledge said Genachowski is leaving more tasks for his successor to finish than most of his predecessors.
"It's true to some degree of every chairman, but this chairman in particular came in with a lot of expectations. And then, as people say, he wrote a lot of checks that he's now leaving for the next chair to figure out how to cash," Feld said.
Genachowski, who charted a centrist course in his chairmanship, defended his tenure.
"This sector has always been and will always be characterized by a robust debate," he said in the interview.
"Some people say the commission has gone too far, some people say the commission hasn't gone far enough. What we've been focused on are the right actions to drive the economy and to improve the lives of the American people."
(Editing by Will Dunham)
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Friday, March 22, 2013
Supercomputer helps Planck mission expose ancient light
Mar. 21, 2013 ? Like archeologists carefully digging for fossils, scientists with the Planck mission are sifting through cosmic clutter to find the most ancient light in the universe.
The Planck space telescope has created the most precise sky map ever made of the oldest light known, harking back to the dawn of time. This light, called the cosmic microwave background, has traveled 13.8 billion years to reach us. It is so faint that Planck observes every point on the sky an average of 1,000 times to pick up its glow.
The task is even more complex than excavating fossils because just about everything in our universe lies between us and the ancient light. Complicating matters further is "noise" from the Planck detectors that must be taken into account.
That's where a supercomputer helps out. Supercomputers are the fastest computers in the world, performing massive amounts of calculations in a short amount of time.
"So far, Planck has made about a trillion observations of a billion points on the sky," said Julian Borrill of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, Calif. "Understanding this sheer volume of data requires a state-of-the-art supercomputer."
Planck is a European Space Agency mission, with significant contributions from NASA. Under a unique agreement between NASA and the Department of Energy, Planck scientists have been guaranteed access to the supercomputers at the Department of Energy's National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The bulk of the computations for this data release were performed on the Cray XE6 system, called the Hopper. This computer makes more than a quintillion calculations per second, placing it among the fastest in the world.
One of the most complex aspects of analyzing the Plank data involves the noise from its detectors. To detect the incredibly faint cosmic microwave background, these detectors are made of extremely sensitive materials. When the detectors pick up light from one part of the sky, they don't reset afterwards to a neutral state, but instead, they sort of buzz for a bit like the ringing of a bell. This buzzing affects observations made at the next part of the sky.
This noise must be understood, and corrected for, at each of the billion points observed repeatedly by Plank as it continuously sweeps across the sky. The supercomputer accomplishes this by running simulations of how Planck would observe the entire sky under different conditions, allowing the team to identify and isolate the noise.
Another challenge is carefully teasing apart the signal of the relic radiation from the material lying in the foreground. It's a big mess, as some astronomers might say, but one that a supercomputer can handle.
"It's like more than just bugs on a windshield that we want to remove to see the light, but a storm of bugs all around us in every direction," said Charles Lawrence, the U.S. project scientist for the Planck mission. "Without the exemplary interagency cooperation between NASA and the Department of Energy, Planck would not be doing the science it's doing today."
The computations needed for Planck's current data release required more than 10 million processor-hours on the Hopper computer. Fortunately, the Planck analysis codes run on tens of thousands of processors in the supercomputer at once, so this only took a few weeks.
Read about the newest results from Planck at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-109 .
More information about the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center is online at: http:///www.nersc.gov/ .
Planck is a European Space Agency mission, with significant participation from NASA. NASA's Planck Project Office is based at JPL. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, contributed mission-enabling technology for both of Planck's science instruments. European, Canadian and U.S. Planck scientists work together to analyze the Planck data. More information is online at http://www.nasa.gov/planck, http://planck.caltech.edu and http://www.esa.int/planck .
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/space_time/nasa/~3/IXid3Ife67A/130321130202.htm
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Video: 'Sweet Spot for Risk Assets': Economist
Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.
Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/cnbc/51259274/
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Thursday, March 21, 2013
Experts suspect North behind SKorea computer crash
A customer stands in front of automated teller machines at a branch of Shinhan Bank after the bank's computer networks was paralyzed in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, March 20, 2013. Police and South Korean officials were investigating the simultaneous shutdown Wednesday of computer networks at several major broadcasters and banks. While the cause wasn't immediately clear, speculation centered on a possible North Korean cyberattack. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A customer stands in front of automated teller machines at a branch of Shinhan Bank after the bank's computer networks was paralyzed in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, March 20, 2013. Police and South Korean officials were investigating the simultaneous shutdown Wednesday of computer networks at several major broadcasters and banks. While the cause wasn't immediately clear, speculation centered on a possible North Korean cyberattack. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A customer sits in a branch of Shinhan Bank in Seoul, South Korea, after th ebank's computer networks was paralyzed Wednesday, March 20, 2013. Police and South Korean officials were investigating the simultaneous shutdown Wednesday of computer networks at several major broadcasters and banks. While the cause wasn't immediately clear, speculation centered on a possible North Korean cyberattack. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A depositor leaves after checking his account through an automated teller machine at a subway station as the bank's computer networks was paralyzed in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, March 20, 2013. Police and South Korean officials were investigating the simultaneous shutdown Wednesday of computer networks at several major broadcasters and banks. While the cause wasn't immediately clear, speculation centered on a possible North Korean cyberattack. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Employees of Korea Internet Security Center work after computer networks at two major South Korean banks and three top TV broadcasters went into shutdown mode en masse, at a monitoring room in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, March 20, 2013. Police and South Korean officials investigating the shutdown said the cause was not immediately clear. But speculation centered on North Korea, with experts saying a cyberattack orchestrated by Pyongyang was likely to blame. (AP Photo/Yonhap, Han Jong-chan) KOREA OUT
A disconnected computer monitor is seen at a newsroom of Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) at its headquarter in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, March 20, 2013. Computers networks at two major South Korean banks and three top TV broadcasters went into shutdown mode en masse Wednesday, paralyzing bank machines across the country and prompting speculation of a cyberattack by North Korea. (AP Photo/Kim Ju-sung, Yonhap) KOREA OUT
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? Computer networks at major South Korean banks and top TV broadcasters crashed simultaneously Wednesday, paralyzing bank machines across the country and prompting speculation of a cyberattack by North Korea.
Screens went blank at 2 p.m. (0500 GMT), the state-run Korea Information Security Agency said, and more than six hours later some systems were still down.
Police and South Korean officials couldn't immediately determine responsibility, but some experts suspected a cyberattack orchestrated by Pyongyang. The rivals have exchanged threats amid joint U.S.-South Korean military drills and in the wake of U.N. sanctions meant to punish North Korea over its nuclear test last month.
The latest network paralysis took place just days after North Korea accused South Korea and the U.S. of staging a cyberattack that shut down its websites for two days last week. Loxley Pacific, the Thailand-based Internet service provider, confirmed the North Korean outage but did not say what caused it.
The South Korean shutdown did not affect government agencies or potential targets such as power plants or transportation systems, and there were no immediate reports that bank customers' records were compromised, but the disruption froze part of the country's commerce.
Some customers were unable to use the debit or credit cards that many rely on more than cash. At one Starbucks in downtown Seoul, customers were asked to pay for their coffee in cash, and lines formed outside disabled bank machines.
Shinhan Bank, a major South Korean lender, reported a two-hour system shutdown Wednesday, including online banking and automated teller machines. It said networks later came back online and that banking was back to normal. Shinhan said no customer records or accounts were compromised.
Another big bank, Nonghyup, said its system eventually came back online. Officials didn't answer a call seeking details on the safety of customer records. Jeju Bank said some of its branches also reported network shutdowns.
Broadcasters KBS and MBC said their computers went down at 2 p.m., but officials said the shutdown did not affect daily TV broadcasts. Computers were still down more than five hours after the shutdown began, the news outlets said.
The YTN cable news channel also said the company's internal computer network was paralyzed. Footage showed workers staring at blank computer screens.
KBS employees said they watched helplessly as files stored on their computers began disappearing.
Last year, North Korea threatened to attack several news companies, including KBC and MBC.
"It's got to be a hacking attack," Lim Jong-in, dean of Korea University's Graduate School of Information Security. "Such simultaneous shutdowns cannot be caused by technical glitches."
The Korea Information Security Agency had reported that an image of skulls and a hacking claim had popped up on some of the computers that shut down, but later said those who reported the skulls did not work for the five companies whose computers suffered massive outages. KISA was investigating the skull images as well.
An official from the Korea Communications Commission, South Korea's telecom regulator, said in a televised news briefing that investigators speculate that malicious code was spread from company servers that send automatic updates of security software and virus patches.
LG Uplus Corp., which provides network services for the companies that suffered outages, saw no signs of a cyberattack on its networks, company spokesman Lee Jung-hwan said.
The South Korean military raised its cyberattack readiness level but saw no signs of cyberattacks on its networks, the Defense Ministry said.
No government computers were affected, officials said. President Park Geun-hye called for quick efforts to get systems back online, according to her spokeswoman, Kim Haing.
The shutdown raised worries about the overall vulnerability to attacks in South Korea, a world leader in broadband speed and mobile Internet access. Previous hacking attacks at private companies compromised millions of people's personal data. Past malware attacks also disabled access to government agency websites and destroyed files in personal computers.
Seoul believes North Korea runs an Internet warfare unit aimed at hacking U.S. and South Korean government and military networks to gather information and disrupt service.
Seoul blames North Korean hackers for several cyberattacks in recent years. Pyongyang has either denied or ignored those charges. Hackers operating from IP addresses in China have also been blamed.
In 2011, computer security software maker McAfee Inc. said North Korea or its sympathizers likely were responsible for a cyberattack against South Korean government and banking websites earlier that year. The analysis also said North Korea appeared to be linked to a 2009 massive computer-based attack that brought down U.S. government Internet sites. Pyongyang denied involvement.
The shutdown comes amid rising rhetoric and threats of attack from Pyongyang over the U.N. sanctions. Washington also expanded sanctions against North Korea this month in a bid to cripple the government's ability to develop its nuclear program.
North Korea has threatened revenge for the sanctions and for ongoing U.S.-South Korean military drills, which the allies describe as routine but which Pyongyang says are rehearsals for invasion.
Last week, North Korea's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea warned South Korea's "reptile media" that the North was prepared to conduct a "sophisticated strike" on Seoul.
North Korea also has claimed cyberattacks by the U.S. and South Korea. The North's official Korean Central News Agency accused the countries of expanding an aggressive stance against Pyongyang into cyberspace with "intensive and persistent virus attacks."
South Korea denied the allegation and the U.S. military declined to comment.
Lim said he believes hackers in China were likely culprits in the outage in Pyongyang, but that North Korea was probably responsible for Wednesday's attack.
"Hackers attack media companies usually because of a political desire to cause confusion in society," he said. "Political attacks on South Korea come from North Koreans."
Orchestrating the mass shutdown of the networks of major companies would have taken at least one to six months of planning and coordination, said Kwon Seok-chul, chief executive officer of Seoul-based cyber security firm Cuvepia Inc.
Kwon, who analyzed personal computers at one of the three broadcasters shut down Wednesday, said he hasn't yet seen signs that the malware was distributed by North Korea.
"But hackers left indications in computer files that mean this could be the first of many attacks," he said.
Lim said tracking the source of the outage would take months.
___
Associated Press writers Sam Kim and Foster Klug contributed to this report.
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Wednesday, March 20, 2013
4TB of Storage Capacity Is Your Back-Up-Everything Deal of the Day
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Monday, March 18, 2013
Boehner Adamant: Marriage Is ?Union of One Man and One Woman?
House Speaker John Boehner on Sunday said he can?t imagine changing his position on gay marriage even though a prominent Republican in the Senate did just that.
Appearing on ABC?s ?This Week,? the top Republican in the House said that fellow Ohioan Sen. Rob Portman had every right to change his own position with respect to same-sex marriage.
?Listen, I believe that marriage is the union of one man and one woman,? Boehner told interviewer Martha Raddatz ?It's what I grew up with. It's what I believe. It's what my church teaches me. And ? I can't imagine that position would ever change.?
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Portman on Friday became the first Republican in the Senate to support gay marriage ? and his switch set off a discussion among many conservatives. In an essay published on Friday in the Columbus Dispatch, he said that his reversal was based on he and his wife, Jane, learning two years ago that their son, Will, 21, was gay.
Describing Portman as a ?great friend? and ?long-time ally,? Boehner said that the senator called him to discuss the issue.
?I appreciate that he's decided to change ? his views on this. But I believe that marriage is a union of a man and a woman,? according to Boehner.
Meanwhile, the fight between Democrats and Republicans over how to address the nation?s fiscal health continues even after a week of meetings between President Barack Obama and Republicans on Capitol Hill, Boehner said. The House speaker also said he "absolutely" trusts President Barack Obama ? not that they don't have their differences.
Boehner noted that the two have a good relationship and that they're "open with each other . . . honest with each other." But the lawmaker says they're trying to bridge some big differences.
One issue they agree on: The U.S. doesn't have an immediate crisis in terms of debt.
Some conservatives criticized Obama when he said last week that the country doesn't have an immediate debt crisis.
Boehner says a debt crisis does loom in the years ahead because entitlement programs are not sustainable if they aren't changed. He says balancing the budget will help the economy.
?It?s always a good thing to engage in more conversation,? Boehner, told Raddatz. ?But when you get down to the bottom line, the president believes that we have to have more taxes from the American people, we?re not going to get very far.?
Obama urged Democrats to be open to revisions in entitlement programs and pressed Republicans to put increases in revenue onto the negotiating table in the meetings with lawmakers in his Democratic-majority Senate and Republican-led House throughout the week of March 11.
Lawmakers plan to move forward this week on competing fiscal 2014 budget blueprints as the White House continues to push for a broader agreement that would help economic recovery.
?I don?t know whether we can come to a big agreement,? Boehner said in the ABC interview. ?If we do, it?ll be between the two parties on Capitol Hill. Hopefully we can go to conference on these budgets, and hope springs eternal in my mind.?
Alan Krueger, the Obama administration?s chief economist, said in a March 15 Bloomberg Television interview that economic growth would be in the range of 2 percent to 3 percent this year. He also said that agreement in Congress that removed the immediate threat of default has helped boost the stock market, and emphasized an improving economy.
The Senate budget proposal laid out last week by Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat, would generate almost $1 trillion in new revenue while protecting Medicare and expanding Medicaid healthcare coverage for more low-income Americans.
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, last week proposed a plan for balancing the government?s books in 10 years by cutting $4.6 trillion.
Further cuts to the nation?s budget deficit will occur if lawmakers don?t act to reverse the sequestration that went into effect on March 1, with $85 billion in automatic spending cuts this year alone. Republicans are pressing for a deal that would restructure entitlement programs including Social Security and Medicare.
While the cuts have drawn criticism across the federal government, lawmakers have few pathways for major changes. The reductions total $1.2 trillion over nine years. Government agencies as diverse as the Justice Department and the Federal Aviation Administration are planning employee furloughs and cutbacks to adjust to the new funding levels.
The Obama administration has urged lawmakers to come to an agreement that would avert, or reshape, the spending cuts. Krueger, in the Bloomberg Television interview, said that the cuts would reduce economic growth by 0.6 percentage points.
The Congressional Budget Office projects that the economy will lose 750,000 jobs this year if the automatic spending cuts stay in effect through the Sept. 30 end of the federal fiscal year.
?We do not have an immediate debt crisis,? Boehner said on Sunday. ?But we all know that we have one looming. And we have one looming because we have entitlement programs that are not sustainable.?
The Associated Press and Bloomberg News contributed to this report.
? 2013 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
Source: http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Boehner-Gay-Marriage-Portman/2013/03/17/id/495006
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Sheriff: Race crash victim was driver's cousin
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? A California raceway crash killed a race car owner and the young cousin of the teenage driver whose vehicle careened off the track before it struck the two victims, authorities said Sunday.
Dale Wondergem Jr., 68, and Marcus Johnson, 14, were in the pit area when they were hit about 6 p.m. Saturday at the Marysville Raceway Park, about 40 miles north of Sacramento, according to the Yuba County Sheriff's Department. Wondergem, of Grass Valley, was pronounced dead at the scene, and Marcus Johnson, of Santa Rosa, was pronounced dead shortly after arrival at a hospital, authorities said.
Marcus Johnson was identified by authorities as the cousin of 17-year-old driver Chase Johnson, who was not injured in the collision. The younger victim was not an official member of his cousin's crew. Authorities are investigating why he was in the pit area, according to Undersheriff Jerry Read said.
The Marysville raceway was hosting the California Sprint Car Civil War Series on the opening day of its season. Wondergem owned one of the race cars at the track Saturday, but not the one involved in the crash, Read said.
The crash occurred when six or seven "winged sprint cars" were doing warm-up laps before the start of a scheduled race. Chase Johnson's car left the track at an undetermined speed and hit Wondergem and Johnson before it tipped on its side, sheriff's officials said.
The Yuba County Sheriff's Department and California Highway Patrol are investigating the cause of the crash. Investigators will conduct autopsies on the victims on Monday and Tuesday.
No one else was injured in the crash, and spectators were never in jeopardy, authorities said.
Messages left for the Marysville Raceway's spokesman and promoters were not immediately returned Sunday.
Chase Johnson of Penngrove is a senior at Petaluma High School north of San Francisco and is a fourth-generation race car driver, according to his website. He did not respond to an email seeking comment Sunday.
Johnson has been racing for three years at the Petaluma Speedway, where he's won multiple races and was last year's series champion. His father, grandfather and great-grandfather were also champion drivers in Petaluma, where the family owns a muffler shop, said Ron Lingron, the track announcer at Petaluma Speedway
"They're the first family of the Petaluma Speedway," Lingron said Sunday. "There's not a better kid you're going to find in the racing community than Chase Johnson. To have something like this put around his neck is a tragedy."
Steven Blakesley, a race announcer who was watching from the stands, said he thought Chase Johnson's car had a mechanical problem because he was driving about 90 mph and couldn't make a turn or slow down just before the crash.
"People getting hurt in the pits is extremely, extremely rare," Blakesley, who is the track announcer at Watsonville's Ocean Speedway, said Sunday. "I've never seen anything like this, and I don't know how you would even prevent it."
The sprint car circuit is seen as a stepping stone to higher levels like NASCAR and many drivers start racing as young as 15, as Johnson did, Blakesley said. Others on the circuit, where small, high-powered cars race on short dirt ovals, were older drivers whose careers had peaked earlier.
Two-time NASCAR Nationwide Series champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. began his career in sprint cars at age 15. He said current hotshot NASCAR racer Kyle Larson was racing sprint cars around California at 12 years old.
"People who can afford to go race somewhere are going to find somewhere to race," Stenhouse said. "And the crews, the people in the pits? That's almost always your friends and your family. I read somewhere somebody said those people shouldn't have been in the pits. Well, this is how it's done. This is the way of life."
The race track fatalities come less than a month after a crash on the last lap of a race at Daytona International Speedway injured at least 30 fans Feb. 23. The victims were sprayed with large chunks of debris ? including a tire ? after a car careened into the fencing that is designed to protect the massive grandstands lining the track.
At another NASCAR race in 2009 at Talladega, the crowd was showered with debris and seven fans were injured when a car sailed upside-down into the front-stretch fence on a furious dash to the finish line, showering the stands with debris. Seven fans sustained minor injuries.
And in 2010 at a National Hot Rod Association event in Chandler, Ariz., a woman was killed by a tire that flew off a crashing dragster at Firebird International Raceway.
____
Associated Press Writers Jenna Fryer and Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
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Sunday, March 17, 2013
Spurs coach Popovich says he wouldn?t want his team to go through another 20-game win streak
The Spurs went on an absolute tear to finish the 2011-12 season, and rode a 10-game winning streak into the postseason.
After sweeping the Jazz and then the Clippers in the first two rounds of the playoffs, the streak reached 18 straight, and two games into the Western Conference finals against the Thunder, it was up to 20, with the Spurs needing just two more wins to reach the NBA Finals.
Once the streak came to an end following a 20-point loss in Oklahoma City, so did San Antonio?s season. The Spurs never recovered, and lost four straight games to be eliminated from contention.
Gregg Popovich remembers the strain the streak put on his team during the most critical time of the year, which is why he said he wouldn?t want to be a part of another streak like that in the future.
From Marc Stein of ESPN.com:
?I don?t want to win 20 games in a row [again]. Now that might sound ? ?Well, who wouldn?t want to do that?? [But] it?s too much of a grind. I was hoping for a loss [in last season's playoffs]. I thought about doing things to make sure we get a loss here and there, but you can?t do that to your team.?
Pop, though, was careful to explain that a 20-game win streak for the Spurs ? in comparison to the 20 consecutive victories that Miami lugged Friday night into Milwaukee ? created such a weight because of when it was happening, with half of those W?s coming during the playoffs.
Reason being: ?When you win that many games in a row,? Pop contends, ?? you?re very likely going to lose [up] to three games when that thing is done. It?s just such a letdown. And in the playoffs you can?t afford that. Not against a team that is as young and talented as Oklahoma City.?
It?s an interesting way of looking at it, because one would think that by putting together a streak like that to end the season and then continuing it into the third round of the playoffs, a team would be peaking at just the right time.
Popovich knows the ins and outs of the game and the mental ways different things can affect his players better than anyone, however, so we?ll just have to take his word for it that a winning streak of that length entering the postseason isn?t the best way to navigate the path to a title.
Spurs coach Popovich says he wouldn?t want his team to go through another 20-game win streak | ProBasketballTalk
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Charm offensive produces no breakthroughs
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Over dinner at a swank hotel a few blocks from the White House, Republican senators wanted to know if President Barack Obama would support a gradual increase in the age of eligibility for Medicare, set at 65 since the program's inception more than four decades ago.
The president hedged, according to several at the event, recalling the discussion on a cost-saving change to Medicare that most if not all leading Democrats in Congress adamantly oppose. One later recalled that Obama "drew no bright line" in opposition, but the lawmaker came away believing that the president "would be very resistant" even if it might unlock a long-sought deal to reduce deficits and an ever-growing federal debt.
That lawmaker and some of the others describing what occurred in the meetings spoke on condition of anonymity, noting that the sessions were supposed to be private discussions.
The politically fraught moment came at the outset of Obama's widely publicized recent string of meetings with rank-and-file lawmakers. The unusual commitment of presidential time netted public praise from his most implacable critics and was supplemented by numerous conversations among lawmakers and senior White House aides.
No breakthroughs were anticipated and none emerged, and for all the warm talk, House Speaker John Boehner delivered a tart summation.
"Republicans want to balance the budget. The president doesn't. Republicans want to solve our long-term debt problem. The president doesn't," he said, while adding it was incumbent on all sides to seek common ground.
Across the hours, there were moments of levity ? and an expression of gratitude to Arizona Sen. John McCain for his service to the nation on the 40th anniversary of his release from a prisoner of war camp in Vietnam.
Evidently the food was pretty good, too.
One presidential aide left a meeting with the Senate Republican rank and file toting a carry-out bag from lunch that featured lobster salad and blueberry pie with ice cream.
"Ultimately it's a matter of the House and the Senate ... getting together and being willing to compromise," the president said as he departed the Capitol on Thursday.
Even on that point, Republicans disagree.
Over and over, they told Obama, he must lead, tone down the attacks on them and lean on Democrats to accept concessions in benefit programs.
Over and over, he told Republicans that if he is to make concessions on Medicare and elsewhere, they would have to agree to higher taxes.
On that, there was little if any give, particularly with Republicans noting that Obama's approval ratings have recently begun receding for the first time since his re-election.
At the dinner at the Jefferson Hotel more than 10 days ago, Republican senators noted that some of the changes under discussion for Medicare would raise costs for wealthier seniors and also that higher revenues might result from what one called "pro-growth tax reform."
But there was no support for raising taxes, recalled one participant at the dinner. Several said the resolve stemmed from last winter's agreement to raise tax rates in legislation that contained only skimpy spending cuts.
By the time of his final meeting Thursday, Obama told House Democrats that, for now at least, they needn't worry about having to make concessions like slowing the growth of cost-of-living benefits under Social Security and other programs. Republicans, he said, weren't willing to contemplate enough additional tax revenue to warrant the trade-off.
Policy differences aside, there was an undercurrent of mistrust if not long-nursed grievances among Republicans, many of whom were getting their first look up-close look at the Democrat in the White House.
Rep. James Lankford of Oklahoma told the president he had heard that his first call on election night last November had been to the leader of the Democrats' 2014 campaign committee, rather than to Boehner, the Republican speaker.
Not so, Obama replied, saying he had indeed called Boehner first, but he was asleep. "Yeah, it was an early night for us," called out one lawmaker, drawing laughs from a group that lost eight seats in November.
Later in the same meeting, Rep. Tom Price of Georgia referred to a lack of trust between the two sides. According to participants in the meeting, he chalked up Obama's delay in presenting a budget this spring to politics.
The president replied that if he were solely interested in politics he would be running a "Mediscare" campaign rather than holding meetings with Republicans.
Across the Capitol, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota singled out an interview in which he said the president accused Republicans of wanting to eviscerate Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
"Nobody here believes those programs ought to be gutted," Thune told Obama, the senator later recalled. Instead, he told the president that Republicans want to preserve the programs for the future.
The president stood his ground, saying the Republican plan to turn Medicaid and food stamps into all-purpose grants to the states would inevitably lead to deep cuts in services for the needy.
By all accounts, Medicare, which provides health care to millions of seniors, is the key to any deficit-reduction compromise.
In his budget a year ago, Obama proposed saving $305 billion over a decade from the program, although little of that derives from the sort of changes Republicans say are essential to slow the growth in health care costs.
Roughly half would come from drug companies that sell medicine to low-income Medicare beneficiaries. A $63 billion savings would come from changes in payment rules for post-hospital care facilities; $36 billion from lowering the amount of bad debt the government would cover for providers.
An additional $28 billion would come from raising premiums for wealthier seniors beginning in 2017.
Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, noted that the president had said repeatedly last winter that Congress should pass tax items they agreed on and leave others for later.
Seeking to turn the tables, he asked Obama why the White House wouldn't now agree to pass legislation to slow the growth of cost-of-living increases in Social Security and other benefit programs and increase Medicare fees for wealthier seniors, steps Obama has backed in the past.
Obama replied that Republicans would have to agree to higher taxes first, according to several lawmakers present.
Even then, it was clear when he met with Senate Democrats that Obama he would face resistance from his allies in Congress.
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who sides with Democrats, said he and Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa spoke out strongly against changes in calculating cost-of-living increases.
"It would make major cuts in Social Security benefits ... and also very significant cuts for disabled veterans," Sanders said in a telephone interview.
"I do not believe that the American people want to balance the budget on the backs of disabled veterans or widows who lost their husbands in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."
___
Associated Press writers Donna Cassata and Charles Babington contributed to this report.
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Fantasy football: PolitiFact looks at Super Bowl economic impact
The Miami Dolphins are seeking tax break subsidies to help pay for a $400 million stadium renovation.
Project supporters hope that such a massive investment will lead to more Super Bowls in the future. South Florida is competing with San Francisco to host the 50th anniversary Super Bowl in 2016. The NFL will announce the winner in May.
Stadium supporters told a state Senate committee March 6 that the public will reap benefits from the big bucks that come from a Super Bowl.
?A single Super Bowl generates over $300 million in economic benefits to South Florida and its businesses,? said Sen. Oscar Braynon, a Democrat who represents Miami Gardens, where the Sun Life stadium is located.
Longtime Dolphins lobbyist Ron Book upped the ante:
?Super Bowl L by everybody?s estimation is a $500 million economic impact to the state of Florida,? Book said.
That?s a pretty strong claim. Is there widespread agreement on that number?
The Dolphins are seeking about $200 million in public financing for about half the cost of a major stadium renovation. It would include state sales tax rebates and an increase in the Miami mainland hotel bed tax from 6 to 7 percent. County voters would have to approve the hotel bed tax increase.
A recent poll showed 73 percent of county voters are against the financing plan.
Book points to host committee study
Book pointed us to a study ? commissioned by the Super Bowl Host Committee ? about the 2007 Super Bowl in South Florida done by Sports Management Research Institute, whose clients include the NFL and other major sports entities. Total economic impact to South Florida: $463 million.
?I cannot share all of the information that we have as to the NFL?s plans for Super Bowl L,? Book wrote in an email to PolitiFact Florida. ?You must just accept that everybody in the country that wanted the opportunity to bid for Super Bowl L believes it?s a $500 million-plus economic impact to host that game.?
The 2007 Super Bowl drew about 75,000 visitors to watch the Indianapolis Colts defeat the Chicago Bears 29-17. The study Book cited examined spending on hotels, restaurants, transportation, entertainment, retail and other services during the game day and associated events.
Researchers collected data from about 3,000 visitors at airports and a half-dozen hotels ? including some lavish spots such as The Breakers in Palm Beach County. Researchers also examined other economic impact studies, hotel occupancy, surveyed businesses and other information.
The study concluded that direct economic impact from spending was about $298 million. Then it added in the spending to prepare for the Super Bowl and the induced spending from new money flowing through the area, and the total came to $463 million. The biggest winner was Miami-Dade County, followed by Broward, and then neighboring Palm Beach and Monroe counties.
The study did not subtract out the normal tourist spending that would have happened during the period without a Super Bowl.
While South Florida is already a tourist mecca in the winter even without a Super Bowl, these visitors were richer ? with an average household income of about $220,000 a year ? and spent more, the study concluded. Attendees spent more than four times the typical Broward County visitor and nearly three times that of a Miami-Dade visitor. They stayed an average of five nights and spent about $668 per day.
Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/17/3291024/fantasy-football-politifact-looks.html
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Saturday, March 16, 2013
Samsung Galaxy S 4 preview: a flagship with some familiar roots
You say you want a revolution? Too bad, because this Galaxy smartphone update is just that... an update. Samsung's newly unveiled Galaxy S 4 is an incremental step up, an evolution less "inspired by nature" and more by last year's GS III. Don't believe us? Just take a look at the two handsets side by side to see the overtly obvious heritage. Samsung's staying the course with the overall design language, though it's expanded the screen size to five inches -- now powered by a Full HD Super AMOLED display with 441 ppi (and yes, it's still PenTile).
On the inside, it has a processor setup that we're told will be either an Exynos 5 or Snapdragon depending on the region, along with 2GB of RAM, 16, 32 or 64GB of internal storage, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 2,600mAh battery. Starting to see the bigger picture here? Samsung had a good thing on its hands with the GS III and it's not willing to compromise much of the tried-and-true with the GS 4. It will launch globally in Q2, with a stateside debut on T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, US Cellular and Cricket. Until then, join us past the break for our detailed first impressions.
Check out our event hub for all the action from Samsung's Galaxy S 4 event.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Samsung, Google
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/14/samsung-galaxy-s-4-preview/
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Thursday, March 14, 2013
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Artist Showcase: Matt Tkocz by Galen Dara | Lightspeed Magazine
Matt Tkocz (mattmatters.com) is a concept designer and film illustrator working in the film industry in Los Angeles, California. He was born in Rybnik, Poland in 1986. At the age of two, his family moved to Germany where he grew up and eventually ended up studying Graphic Design. In 2008 he moved to California to attend Art Center College of Design in Pasadena where he graduated with honors with a B.S. degree in Entertainment Design in April 2012. Since then he?s dabbled in all sorts of fields in the entertainment industry.
***
?At A Boy is our cover image for this month; it has the nostalgic feel of an old photograph, a lone individual on a rocky beach with their faithful . . . cyborg? Beautifully painted, subtly humorous, a bit melancholy, where did the idea for this painting come from?
I?m very much into paintings that feel like there is a little bit of story or a greater context behind them. I?m always fascinated by ordinary scenes with an element of the extraordinary?or vice versa. And that?s what I tried to do with this painting. A peaceful moment as it could appear on a postcard, with a dash of badassness!
Your style is an awesome mix of painterly strokes, stunning atmospheric effect, and touches of photo-realistic detail. It also looks like you drew several of the architectural pieces traditionally first, pencil on paper, is that correct? What is your typical working method, how does a piece evolve from start to finish?
Yes, most of the architectural drawings were done in pencil on 17?14 sheets of tracing paper. They were part of a school assignment and our instructors made us stick to a certain process. And even though working traditionally can be frustrating and painful, the lessons you take away are invaluable and I highly recommend it to anyone. That being said, I?d rather die than go through that nightmare again!
These days I work almost exclusively digitally. A while ago I got myself a fancy, overpriced Wacom Cintiq which makes sketching on the computer almost as intuitive as on paper, but gives you the infinite flexibility you can?t get with any traditional medium.
As for my process, it is probably very similar to everyone else?s. I start out with research and rough sketches, which become more defined and detailed as I get closer to what I like, until I eventually end up with a final color illustration of the design.
You have amazing drafting skills, creating incredible building and vehicle designs. Was that always a fascination of yours? How do you go about creating these futuristic structures?
When I attempt to come up with any design (be it vehicle, character, or environment), I mostly try to figure out what the subject?s purpose in the context of the story is. Darth Vader?s dressing room has to fulfill different requirements than?let?s say?Hannah Montana?s interrogation chamber. (Everybody taking notes, yes?) Every design has its own set of attributes: Time period, form language, function, color scheme, and so forth.
Once I get a better idea of the basic needs of the design, I sketch out thoughts until I find a solution I can live with. From there, it?s mostly a matter of tweaking, detailing, and making it pretty. Along the way I always refer back to as much reference as I can, because it makes life way easier.
You are quite the storyteller, taking us to a pretty diverse array of otherworldly (and off-word) locations. Creeping around giant strawberries in Nano, traveling down into the gullet of a gigantic alien organism in Fantastic Voyage, you even delve into the realm of fantasy with Dragon Slayer. I was delighted to discover Rotation:81 and Style and Moves; two wordless illustrated collections you have put together. Can you tell us more about these books? What are your aspirations for your own storytelling?
Rotation:81 is a rough story I wrote back in college to give some context to my senior project. I didn?t want people to think that my portfolio was just a huge dump of unrelated images (which it was, to be perfectly honest). I tried to string my artwork together into a cohesive plot.
I guess my ultimate goal is to write and direct my own properties some day, be it for film or games. I don?t want to be other people?s design-bitch forever, after all. Like most, I?d rather make a living creating my own stuff.
It seems like much of your work history is connected to visual storytelling; working in the game and film industry. What have been some of the highlights you?ve experienced? Are there individuals or situations that have been pivotal to who you are as an artist?
The truth is, I graduated college less than a year ago, so I have to admit the list of my accomplishments is not very long so far. But I promise to get back to you on that as soon as I become a Design Rockstar.
Where do you usually find your inspirations? If you happen to get stuck on a project, what are some things you do to get through that?
I usually steal ideas wherever I can. The true challenge lies in covering your tracks! TED talks and documentaries are usually a great source to inspire sick thoughts, which sometimes lead to interesting imagery. When I get stuck, I ask my design pals for a second opinion. They always figure something out. Also, screenwriter Blake Snyder described a little technique in one of his infamous Save the Cat! books that stuck with me. He said, when stuck with a certain problem, to think of ?a bad way to solve it.? That usually takes the pressure off and clears the road for fresh thought.
What does a normal work day look like for you? What are you doing when you are not working on an art piece? (Do you have any non-art related hobbies?)
When I work in-house at a studio, my work day is pretty much the same as everyone else?s with an office job. Laid back studios usually have an old fashioned 9-6 work day. Others make you work 12 hours or more. When I work from home on freelance jobs, the work pace is usually more relaxed so I end up having to make up for it by working longer hours. Hobbies? I sort of had to give those up when I started this concept design thing. But I do like to write and shoot short films whenever I get the chance.
Who are some of the artists who have inspired you?
My favorite artists change frequently, it always depends on my mood. Growing up, I was a big fan of Greg Capullo, whose work absolutely blew my mind. Back then I wanted to become a comic book artist but eventually stumbled upon this whole concept design thing. The artist whose work introduced me to concept art was the great Alan Tew (who, in my opinion, doesn?t get nearly as much appreciation as he deserves). Since then I?ve drooled over many, many different artists and designers who had a big influence on my taste and style. Amongst those were rockstars like John Berkey, Neil Campbell Ross, Niklas Jansson, Paul Lasaine, to only mention a few. At this point it?s probably appropriate to apologize to all the greats out there if I happened to plagiarize their work in a too obvious manner. I?m sorry, guys, but I could not resist!
What are you working on now?
All the interesting projects have not been announced yet so I have to keep quiet for a little while longer. But on my own time I am working on an epic short film called The Time Rapist, if anyone cares.
Matt, it?s been a pleasure talking to you, Thank you!
The pleasure is all mine!
Source: http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/nonfiction/artist-showcase-matt-tkocz/
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