Since launch, Nintendo's base Wii U Deluxe Set has shipped with Nintendo Land; while a fine game, it's not exactly a system seller. The console may soon be more enticing, as Nintendo is replacing its original bundle with a new Mario & Luigi Deluxe Set. The $300 kit now pairs a 32GB black Wii U with ...
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/7ORNg1NR_hg/LOS ANGELES (AP) — "Sherlock" starring Benedict Cumberbatch will return to public TV in January, keeping company on Sunday nights with the "Downton Abbey" crowd.
Season three of the modern Sherlock Holmes mystery series will began Jan. 19, PBS said Wednesday. It was previously announced that the fourth season of "Downton" will begin Jan 5.
The scheduling reflects PBS' new strategy of pairing dramas on Sunday, part of a broader effort to build "flow within a given night in our schedule," said Beth Hoppe, PBS' chief programming executive.
Prime-time viewership on Sunday, home to primarily British dramas, grew 26 percent last season with the new approach, Hoppe said, and "Sherlock" and "Downton Abbey" were seen as good partners.
Overall, PBS' prime-time ratings were up 7 percent last season compared to the year before, Hoppe said.
"Downton Abbey," the hit drama about the lives and loves of landed gentry and their servants, will be preceded by a Dec. 1 special, "Return to Downton Abbey." Hosted by Susan Sarandon, it will offer a look at past seasons and a peek at the one ahead.
As in the past, the drama's new season already is in progress on Britain's ITV. PBS has resisted timing the U.S. to the U.K. airings, saying the January debut works better for its schedule — a move that's allowed spoilers to cross the Atlantic.
But PBS relented with BBC's "Sherlock," which is scheduled closer to its yet-to-be announced British airing, Hoppe said.
Other returning U.K. dramas include "Call the Midwife" and "Mr. Selfridge" starring Jeremy Piven, both debuting Sunday, March 30, and "The Bletchley Circle" on April 13.
The busy Benedict Cumberbatch, whose current movies include "The Fifth Estate" and "12 Years a Slave," is part of another PBS program, "Hawking," a Jan. 29 documentary about British physicist Stephen Hawking as told by him. Cumberbatch, who played Hawking in a 2004 TV movie, is a friend of the scientist and appears in the film, Hoppe said.
A lineup of science and nature programming for April includes a three-part special with the working title "Inside Animal Minds," debuting April 9 on "Nova."
More midseason programs scheduled to air on public TV stations:
— "Salinger" (Jan. 21), an "American Masters" documentary about the late "The Catcher in the Rye" author J.D. Salinger that includes interviews with his friends and colleagues.
— "Barrymore" (Jan. 31), a "Great Performances" presentation of Christopher Plummer's stage performance as John Barrymore.
— "The Amish: Shunned" (Feb. 4), an "American Experience" documentary that follows seven former members of the Amish community as they adjust to a new life.
— "Story of the Jews" (March 25), a five-part series with historian and author Simon Schama examining the Jewish experience from ancient times to now.
— "Muscle Shoals" (April 21), an "Independent Lens" look at the fertile musical Alabama breeding ground, with the perspectives from Mick Jagger, Etta James, Clarence Carter and others.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration is appealing to dog and cat owners for information as it struggles to solve a mysterious outbreak of illness and deaths among pets that ate jerky treats.
In a notice to consumers and veterinarians published Tuesday, the agency said it has linked illnesses from jerky pet treats to 3,600 dogs and 10 cats since 2007. About 580 of those pets have died.
The FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine has run more than 1,200 tests, visited pet treat manufacturing plants in China and worked with researchers, state labs and foreign governments but hasn't determined the exact cause of the illness, the FDA statement said.
"This is one of the most elusive and mysterious outbreaks we've encountered," Bernadette Dunham, a veterinarian and head of the FDA vet medicine center, said in the statement.
Pets can suffer from a decreased appetite, decreased activity, vomiting and diarrhea among other symptoms within hours of eating treats sold as jerky tenders or strips made of chicken, duck, sweet potatoes or dried fruit.
Severe cases have involved kidney failure, gastrointestinal bleeding, and a rare kidney disorder, the FDA said.
Most of the jerky treats implicated have been made in China, the FDA said.
The FDA has issued previous warnings. A number of jerky pet treat products were removed from the market in January after a New York state lab reported finding evidence of up to six drugs in certain jerky pet treats made in China, the FDA said. The agency said that while the levels of the drugs were very low and it was unlikely that they caused the illnesses, there was a decrease in reports of jerky-suspected illnesses after the products were removed from the market. FDA believes that the number of reports may have declined simply because fewer jerky treats were available.
Online:
Food and Drug Administration statement http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm371413.htm
Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-10-23-FDA-Pet%20Snack%20Warning/id-18b75d7e3cc648ab97f00e6e27dd5a30US Secretary of State John Kerry, right, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands for the media on the occasion of their meeting at Villa Taverna, the US Ambassador's residence in Rome, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013. Netanyahu and Kerry are expected to talk about Iran's nuclear programme and peace negotiations with the Palestinians. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, Pool)
US Secretary of State John Kerry, right, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands for the media on the occasion of their meeting at Villa Taverna, the US Ambassador's residence in Rome, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013. Netanyahu and Kerry are expected to talk about Iran's nuclear programme and peace negotiations with the Palestinians. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, Pool)
US Secretary of State John Kerry, right, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands for the media on the occasion of their meeting at Villa Taverna, the US Ambassador's residence in Rome, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013. Netanyahu and Kerry met in Rome during Kerry's last stop of his European tour and are expected to talk about Iran's nuclear programme and peace negotiations with the Palestinians. (AP Photo/Claudio Peri, Pool)
ROME (AP) — Israel's prime minister said Wednesday that the world should not accept what he called a "partial deal" to curb Iran's nuclear program — just as it is not allowing the Syrian government to keep any of its chemical weapons stockpile.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told America's chief diplomat that ongoing negotiations with Iran should insist that Tehran end all enrichment on uranium, get rid of any fissile material and close water plants and underground bunkers that he said are only necessary to build a nuclear bomb.
"I think a partial deal that leaves Iran with these capabilities is a bad deal," Netanyahu told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at the start of what was expected to be a daylong private meeting in Rome.
"You wisely insisted there wouldn't be a partial deal with Syria," Netanyahu said. "You were right. If (Syrian President Bashar) Assad had said, 'I'd like to keep 20 percent, 50 percent, or 80 percent of my chemical weapons capability,' you would have refused — and correctly so."
Still, Netanyahu predicted that "we're very close" to striking a deal with Iran. "And I agree with you that the goal is to get it peacefully," he said.
Israel is nervously watching the renewed nuclear negotiations between Iran and six world powers. Netanyahu has long demanded that the U.S. not ease any of its harsh economic sanctions against Tehran until the Islamic republic dismantles its nuclear weapons program.
Kerry maintained that the U.S. would continue to insist that Iran prove to the world that its nuclear program is peaceful, as Tehran says. But the negotiations, which began again this month after a six-month lull, have come nowhere near demanding the level of tough restrictions on Iran as Israel wants.
"No deal is better than a bad deal," Kerry said. "But if this can be solved satisfactorily, diplomatically, it is clearly better for everyone, and we are looking for an opportunity to be able to that."
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Follow Lara Jakes on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/larajakesAP
Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-10-23-United%20States-Iran/id-fc4d709e2f6f4cec9425f2db2f8034dbThe Official Postpartum Round-Up
I kid you not, there were at least three times when I was sitting in the hospital– having recently given birth to the wondrous creature that is Josev Grayson– and I actually thought to myself, ‘I wonder what Miranda Kerr is wearing right now.’ I have sooo been looking forward to this moment! Now on the one hand, looking at photos of the ever-fab Miranda when you haven’t flat-ironed your hair in about 2 weeks could be kinda depressing. But folks. I put on eyeliner today. So there! I’m totally winning, and I can officially enjoy these fabulous pictures of my favorite supermodel/supermom out and about, doing what she does best: hitting the pavement like it’s the damn runway. Missed you Miranda! Peep the gallery for more!
[Photo Credits: Fame/Getty/Splash/INF]
Saul Loeb /AFP/Getty Images
A top White House national security aide who was secretly going on Twitter to insult other Obama administration officials and politicians from both major parties, and to question the policies he had been helping develop, is apologizing.
Jofi Joseph is also out of a job.
The Daily Beast broke the news Tuesday night that Joseph was @natsecwonk, a "mystery Tweeter who has been tormenting the foreign policy community with insulting comments and revealing internal Obama administration information for over two years." It reported that:
"During his time tweeting under the @natsecwonk name, Joseph openly criticized the policies of his White House bosses and often insulted their intellect and appearance. At different times, he insulted or criticized several top White House and State Department officials, including former National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes, Secretary of State John Kerry, and many many others."
Politico followed with word that "Joseph, 40, was fired from his job on the NSC nuclear non-proliferation team a week ago after a months-long probe into a barrage of tweets that included caustic criticisms of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and top NSC officials, especially Ben Rhodes – whom he accused of dodging questions about Benghazi."
In an email, Joseph told Politico that:
"What started out as an intended parody account of DC culture developed over time into a series of inappropriate and mean-spirited comments. I bear complete responsibility for this affair and I sincerely apologize to everyone I insulted."
Politico adds that "officials also told Joseph they suspected he was responsible for a second anonymous Twitter account '@DChobbyist' which included racier tweets about sexual encounters, escort services — and the inner workings of the State Department. ... Joseph didn't respond to a request for comment on the second account."
The @natsecwonk account disappeared from Twitter last week, but many of its tweets have been saved here. According to The Washington Post, @natsecwonk's tweets " never included classified or highly sensitive information, making a true leak investigation difficult to mount, but they often contained insider details."
@DCHobbyist's tweets are protected.
The single biggest announcement that came out of Apple's event today wasn't the iPad Air, the new MacBook Pro, or the next rev of the now-made-in-America Mac Pro -- all of which people could see coming from light years away. It was word that the next version of OS X, named Mavericks, would be available as a free Mac App Store release.
In a presentation riddled with the usual "thinner, faster, lighter, better battery life" news, this stood out as a truly strategic move and a major break from Apple's own tradition.
Word on Mavericks has been positive without being ecstatic, with its biggest attraction its tight interplay with the "Apple app fabric." Was Apple offering it for free because it didn't feel there was enough changed in the OS to warrant a price tag, despite previous updates to OS X (even minimally incremental ones) carrying a cost?
The more likely idea, as Apple itself admitted in its presentation, is to get as many people as possible -- even "complete laggards" still running Snow Leopard -- on the new platform.
Some of this might also be Apple trying to tamp down worry in its user base that the company is turning its back on the desktop and making itself into an all-iOS, all-the-time outfit. The new MacBook Pros and the revamped Mac Pro put the lie to that notion and reinforce the idea that Apple appeals first and foremost to the user willing to spend for quality. But offering the next OS X for free cements the positiona little further.
That move also sends that much more of a warning to Microsoft, which has been offering Windows 8.1 as a free upgrade for Windows 8 users (albeit via a snafu-laden rollout). In fact, Apple is one-upping Microsoft in a way: Windows 8.1 is only free for Windows 8 users, whereas Mavericks is free for users of any version of OS X. It's now also that much more likely any future point revision of OS X will also be a free upgrade, giving people who resisted switching to the Mac for that reason one less thing to hold out on.
Apple's portion of the PC market has never been large, but what Apple's lacked in market share there it's always made up handily in customer devotion and satisfaction. If this is Apple's first step toward making OS X much more of a commodity presence on its hardware, instead of what amounts to a cost-plus add-on for those who want to stay current with it, that's only likely to help.
This story, "Apple's biggest new announcement was the free OS X upgrade," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Get the first word on what the important tech news really means with the InfoWorld Tech Watch blog. For the latest developments in business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.
