Lineup at the border is going to get worse with cutbacks

There are few things in life I detest as much as lineups. When I see one, I make an instant calculation: How badly do I need whatever it is I’ll be standing in line for and how much of my life am I going to waste in the process. Unless it’s life-saving ear cap I’m in search of, I usually bolt.

In some cases, however, I haven’t had a choice. One of our sons attended university in Washington state. That meant that for five years, I had to travel back and forth, picking him up and dropping him off. As often as I could, I arranged the trips so I could avoid the horrendous lineups at the Peace Arch border crossing, one of the most notorious in the country for waiting times. If that meant leaving at 5 a.m., so be it.

One time, when I had no option about when we left, we got snarled in a three-hour jam-up at Peace Arch. It was a Saturday morning, the worst time to go. As I sat there stewing, I’d watch the odd car drive down the near-vacant Nexus line, and I’d curse myself. For years, I had been saying our family needed to get Nexus cards, especially given how often we travelled to the U.S. Finally, in my son’s last year at school, we went through the interviews and got our golden tickets to border freedom. And as happy as I was at the time, I couldn’t help thinking how stupid I’d been to wait until my son was almost finished school before getting it.

I was reminded of my idiocy recently as I read stories about the chaos anticipated at Canada-U.S. border crossings this summer. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has already begun cutting employee hours and is expected to furlough 5,000 staff next month, all because Congress and U.S. President Barack Obama couldn’t reach an agreement to cut federal spending. This triggered automatic spending cuts.

Officials at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are already predicting waits up to 50 per cent longer at major airports and at some of the busiest land crossings. Think about that: A three-hour lineup at Peace Arch is now, quite possibly, going to be a five- or six-hour lineup. I can’t imagine there are people desperate enough to want to do that. But I suppose the lure of a bargain will make people do just about anything.

If you’re thinking about applying for a Nexus card as you read this, well, there are problems there as well. A process that can now take several months is expected to take even longer because staff cuts will reach into that area of border services as well. So it’s unlikely to help you before the end of the summer.

Beyond the life-wasting factor associated with long border lineups, there are real implications for trade. Canada does about $500-billion in trade annually with the U.S. and a lot of it flows through the borders. In 2010, it was calculated that nearly 29,000 trucks crossed the Canada-U.S. border daily. Canadians take more than 39 million trips to the U.S. every year, while Americans return the favour more than 20 million times.

Recently, I moved back to use my rural abode set on 500 acres as a home office after two years of sharing a factory space with my manufacturer and inventor partner. It was getting too busy, noisy and dusty there.

But handy. Because since the industrial estate was only about 30 minutes from the nearest regional city, we had a landline, ADSL and 50 GB of internet data access a month for a reasonable rate.

Being assured that the new wireless modems would enable me to work from the home office – another 30 minutes further away – I took the plunge. There is no ADSL available; no NBN (and no word available about when), so wireless is the only option.

I am now paying twice the dollars for less than half the data allowance. I started on 8 GB and used it up within two weeks because I had underestimated completely how much info is sent via video, and how many different sites to which I upload stuff to keep my social media happening. I’ve never really had to add it all up before.

The modem is tucked into the corner bedroom nearest this spot and in theory should beam its five bars into the rest of the space so all my devices can connect. And usually it does.

But it feels like there is just not enough wireless to go round, despite the fact that my nearest neighbours are three kilometres away.

Yes, this is a rant and, yes, I am feeling very frustrated. But at the same time, this article is a word of warning to the wise; those who would love to enact a sea or tree change and are quietly confident that the internet network of Australia will support them in this endeavour.

The 4.99in Super AMOLED display is gorgeous. It has a Full HD, 1,920x1,080 resolution with a high pixel density of 441ppi. While that's certainly impressive, the HTC One has the same resolution but a smaller screen, so a higher pixel density of 468ppi and the Sony Xperia Z has the same size screen and resolution, so has a matching 441ppi. What's important is that on all three phones everything looks pin-sharp and there's no danger of spotting individual pixels.

It’s worth noting that you can't directly compare the Galaxy S4 to LCD-based Full HD handsets, such as the HTC One. This is because Samsung continues to use a Super AMOLED display with a PenTile pixel arrangement. Simply put, this means there are only two coloured sub-pixels per pixel instead of three. The reduced colour resolution is made up for by the excellent contrast and blacks that AMOLED provides (as well as lower power usage), but it’s a matter of taste which screen type you prefer. When we saw the phone we found its screen bright and colourful, but we'll save a full opinion for when we can do a proper side-by-side comparison.

As expected, the screen can be operated just by hovering your finger over it, giving rise to two new features. Air View lets you hover over content, such as an email or photo, to preview it without having to open it. Air Gesture lets you change tracks, scroll through a web page or answer a call with a wave of your hand. We haven't had chance to try the system out yet, but this should make fine-control of the touchscreen operating system that little bit easier.

The curse of contactless technology

I’m often teased for my failure to join the 21st century (or even the 20th for that matter) but I recently received my first iPhone headset cash card and it quite simply made me sad.

We already live in a world where there’s no need to leave your home to buy food, clothes, books, music, or, well, anything really. Social media saves us from the horror of actually being in the same room as our friends and internet dating means we don’t even need to go to a public place to find a mate (more on this in the future). And when we do bother to leave the house we don’t need to ask strangers for directions to our destination because we’ve got a smart phone with GPS.

And now we have contactless payment. Because on those rare times people do venture out to our ailing high street heaven forbid they actually touch anything.

Now don’t get me wrong, I realise contactless payment is not about the spread of germs or removal of human contact, it’s about keeping us safe from identity theft and card cloning, but I can’t help but feel like it’s just the next step towards a world of physical isolation, not unlike that portrayed in Demolition Man. (Surely no one can forget Sylvester Stallone being handed a towel and offered virtual sex by Sandra Bullock?)

In fact, such physical isolation is not uncommon in dystopian stories of technologically advanced societies (1984, Equilibrium, even the cute WALL-E). Sure, they’re works of fiction, but no matter how much the bottom line is at stake there’s no denying the argument that we strive for better technology in a bid to improve our lives and search for new ways to protect us from the dangers of living – dangers that in many ways make our lives fuller, more enjoyable experiences.

Instead we have the potential to get up in the morning, fire up the computer (still in pyjamas) for a spot of remote work – only speaking to the boss through a web chat or e-mail, none of that telephone malarkey. When it’s time for a break we might leave the computer for a cup of tea, but we’re soon back there to order our food shopping delivery, or choose some new pyjamas from a clothes shop’s website – while listening to our downloaded music.

Then we could jump in our cars to pick up a drive thru meal, paying with good old contactless technology and eating in our cars, before heading home for a quick spot of liking and poking on social media. If we’re feeling really adventurous we might move to the sofa to watch a film while playing with our new tablet – how about checking the app to see what constellations are overhead?

Yes, I’m pleased with many of the advances the modern world has brought us (running water and electricity are pretty great) and I’m probably sounding a little extreme, but sometimes I can’t help but think it would be nice to turn out the lights, walk outside and see the stars.

Not too long ago, a renegade Aussie (via New Zealand) director named Andrew Dominik made a film that was inexplicably inspired, yet dull, when he cast Brad Pitt as Jesse James in the horribly titled The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. It was “an authentic western” — complete with rotting teeth and wet boots — and in some ways, Dominik takes another kick at that can with Killing Them Softly, another story set on a rather different frontier. Set in post-diluvial Louisiana, Pitt reappears in the form of a modern outlaw — a hitman — sent to rub out Ray Liotta’s character after a card game goes bad. The whole vengeance, gangland thing feels a little tuckered, but thanks to Dominik’s ability to capture vast chunks of the American ethos through his lens, the movie is an emotionally bleak but artistically rewarding success. James Gandolfini offers a courageous performance as a tough guy slowly rotting on the inside and brings depth to what could have been a cardboard character. Special features include DVD, Blu-ray combo pack.

Sex, intrigue, plagues — it’s all here, and it’s all true, though it wasn’t until the last decade that historians began to celebrate the bizarre story of Johann Friedrich Struensee, an 18th century physician who eventually usurped the Danish throne and instituted several progressive policies before being punished by a vengeful church and court. Enlisted to help King Christian overcome his bouts of psychosis, Struensee (played elegantly by Mads Mikkelsen) becomes the king’s friend and confidante. He also becomes the queen’s manly lover, which complicates all of his good intentions. Expertly crafted in every sense, this Danish nominee for best foreign film contains all the elements of a classic Shakespearean drama — only communicated through believably human characters with a contemporary touch. Struensee’s democratic accomplishments predated the French Revolution, all of which makes this factual story even more riveting than it is since it reminds us how far we’ve come as a species, and a civilization, in a relatively short time. Special features include widescreen, subtitles and more.

Save cash at store with coupons

We often see stories on TV of how people are able to buy lots of groceries for a very small price, and we wonder how they do it. It is all through the use of coupons, using store ads and time planning.

In 1888, Asa Candler, a selfmade businessman, used paper tickets for free glasses of Coke to help sell his new product. These tickets were distributed through magazines and direct mailing. He offered pharmacists who were reluctant to sell the drink the first barrel of syrup free. When customers came into the pharmacies with coupons, pharmacists were quick to restock the product.

In 1909, C.W. Post distributed 1-cent coupons to help market his Grape Nuts cereal and other products. During the Great Depression, the use of coupons became widespread, and in 1940, big chain grocery stores attracted new customers with coupons.

Here are 10 steps to get you started couponing and saving money: 1. Gather the necessary items to begin the project. Find a basket or plastic file box to store and carry your supplies. You can also use a coupon organizer, a 5-by-8 index card file box with dividers, or a three-ring binder with insert sheets. Locate a comfortable table and chair for your workspace. Other things you need include sharp scissors and pencils or pens.

Purchase the Sunday newspaper. If you have family or friends who get the newspaper regularly, you might want to ask them for their coupon inserts if they don’t use them.

High-ranking officials from the Gulf countries’ ministries of health began their three-day conference earlier this week in Kuwait. The conference is the first in the region to discuss linking screening programs for expatriates electronically and establishing an appropriate mechanism for the application of smart cards and integrated electronic links between GCC countries.

Ameer Sibai, member of the executive board of GCC health ministers, told Arab News by the phone that the conference is focused on linking health-related data electronically among the member states of the GCC.
The e-linkage aims to protect GCC citizens from disease and the spread of infections, as well as to ensure that expatriates are medically fit for the work they are recruited for and do not suffer unnecessary psychological, physical or financial burden due to medical condition. In addition, the new system aims to guarantee that the recruited foreigners are free from contagious diseases.

During the meeting, officials discussed means of developing an automated system for health information and applying the latest systems and capabilities in the field of e-health. The conference agenda also included deliberations regarding electronically linking health facilities in the region, which would entail storing data and medical records and archiving X-rays.

Qais Al-Duwairi, assistant undersecretary of public health affairs at the Ministry of Health in Kuwait, was quoted by the Kuwait state news agency (KUNA) as saying that the percentage of unhealthy expats who entered the GCC countries has decreased to 5 percent as a result of activating the e-linking system in manpower exporting countries. He noted that iris scanning and fingerprints are to be added to the screening system to prevent expats from conning officials and changing their personal data and information.

Al-Duwairi indicated that health officials worked out the details of implementing a smart card system for GCC citizens and residents, which would contain their personal health information and would simultaneously function as an e-medical file that physicians in any member state can refer to in order to understand the history of the patient’s health condition.

Ever hear of Anki? It’s an open-source flash card program brilliantly designed to automate the Ebbinghaus method of memory retention. Via a free online service called AnkiWeb, users can download any number of digital card decks from a vast database to memorize whatever their heart desires.

Languages, guitar chords, the periodic table of elements, there’s over 5000 decks available with hundreds of cards in each. I, for one, started taking up world geography. To show off my progress: Podgorica is the capital of Montenegro, Tbilisi the capital of Georgia, Nicosia of Cyprus (knew this before reading about the banking crisis), Yerevan of Armenia, Astana of Kazakhstan, and so on; didn’t Google anything at all here, and I’m admittedly a clueless American. All it took was ~25 minutes a day with Anki for two weeks.

The program works by introducing 20 new cards per session, and reviews cards from previous sessions with a frequency based on how confident you feel with your learning when tested. So for example, say I draw Cardiff and instantly remember it’s the capital of Wales:  after clicking “show” to reveal the correct answer, I choose “Easy (4 Days)” from the available options. The card is done for the day, and since I was so confident with it, I won’t have to see the card again for a full four days. If I, perchance, on the next draw mistake Mozambique for Madagascar, I can choose “Again (1 min)” to force a steady repetition and facilitate memorization, until I get it right.

All I can say is install this program on your smartphone right now if you’re a student, especially one taking college-level science. The savings on flashcards alone are well worth the five minutes it takes to download and set up the software. If you’re not in school, Anki is still extremely useful and enriching. Expand your vocabulary, fix your French pronunciation, learn the major themes of famous classical compositions… most importantly, use your brain!

For reasons that aren’t entirely clear to me, AnkiMobile for iOS costs a whopping $25 while AnkiDroid is completely free to download. You can sync up your account on AnkiWeb between all your devices, so no matter where you are Anki knows what cards you’re using. The program also makes a slew of graphs and charts to mark your progress, so you can show off your mastery of those 500 new Arabic phrases or whatever with fancy data.

Recipe collection takes on a life of its own

That wouldn’t be too strange, but most of us keep right on cutting out recipes even though we have at least five recipes for every type of dish imaginable, including tuna casserole which most of us loathe. Even if we live alone and only cook for one we continue to iPhone headset.

I’m not sure why the sight of a recipe so stirs us to keep collecting. Why the sight of yet another recipe for “easy” lasagna so excites us.

And since in my case, I’ve been snipping away for quite a long time, I’ve got a huge collection. They’re in my recipe drawers. They are all flung in there without rhyme or reason. So when I’m looking for the recipe for zucchini bread, I have to sort through 30-plus years of clippings to find it.

Oh, I started off neatly. I had a little recipe index card box. All the recipes were on neat little cards. That lasted a few years.

Then I started cramming the clippings into the index card box. After a time, I couldn’t cram anymore in. Then I shoved all the recipes into a small drawer. The collection outgrew that. Now the recipes are in two big drawers, but they’re full.

I tried to organize during the big blizzard of ‘82. I purchased photo albums with plastic pages and put the recipes in those. I labeled the pages with separate headings for meat, poultry, fish, etc. But my undoing was that I didn’t have enough albums for all the micellaneous items like pickles and mock Twinkies. So as my collection grew I resorted to tossing the recipes into the drawers.

And the worst part is, most of these recipes I’ve never bothered to cook. I have high hopes as I flip through magazines, clipping away, and thinking “Ah, roast pork with apple dumplings would make a great dinner.” But I always find I’m fresh out of pork and apples. So another recipe gets filed in the drawer.

I think I know why I still clip recipes. It’s become habit I can’t resist like shopping at a shoe store when they’re having a half-price sale, though I know I should stay home because I really don’t need any more shoes.

One thing that’s comforting about this habit is the thought that after I’m gone, if somebody goes through my recipe drawers, that person will be bound to utter in reverent tones, “This one must have been some cook!”

 Beneficiaries of Vajpayee Arogyasri scheme in Karnataka, living in places close to the State’s borders, can now get medical attention at all networked hospitals in the city nearest to them even if they are in other States, said N. Ramesh, Regional Consultant, Mysore Division, Vajpayee Arogya Sri, Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust, Government of Karnataka.

He was speaking to The Hindu at a camp held to get more people registered for the scheme, organised by Father Muller Hospital and K. S. Hegde Medical Academy (KSHEMA) in Government Wenlock Hospital on Tuesday. The hospitals oganising the camp are part of the networked hospitals offering the scheme, said Dr. Saroja, Resident Medical Officer (RMO), Wenlock Hospital.

Dr. Ramesh said the change, effective from the current year, meant that beneficiaries from Bellary can go to Hyderabad and Kurnool, beneficiaries from Belgaum can go to Miraj and Sholapur, and beneficiaries from Raichur can go to Mehboobnagar and Hyderabad.

 Sharif from Adyar, who brought his father for treatment, said there was “no problem” and Zameela from Irathottigram, said she had got her BPL card. Kusum, an Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) worker, was one of at least five ASHA workers who were there to help their patients get registered for the scheme. Three more hospitals in the city have been inspected to see if they could be brought under the scheme. Some of the listed hospitals in Mangalore are: K.S. Hegde Hospital (KSHEMA), Father Muller Hospital, A.J. Hospital, KMC. Of 132 networked hospitals in the State, more than 70 are in Bangalore. From April, 447 hospitals (from 402) in the state will be networked for the scheme, he said.

The camp registered 144 people, of whom 40 were taken for treatment in networked hospitals. The rest did not have health problems covered under the scheme, said Dr. Ramesh.

Narayan, a resident of Derebail, looked crestfallen at the camp. He said the people at the counter had told him the BPL card was essential and he did not have the card. “I am single. I was told single persons cannot get a BPL card. What am I to do? Will I be left to die?” He said he lived in his brother’s house as he did not own a house and the brother did not belong to the BPL category.

There’s no escaping it, the Medion Erazer X7819, like most gaming laptops, isn’t just a brick, it’s the entire 6ft wall. At a 17-inch screen size, it was always going to take up desk space but once you open the thing up, it rather feels like you’ve stepped into a time warp and leapt back to the very first days of mobile computing when the term “portable machine” described a laptop that you could just about lift up.

Sure, you can rest the Medion Erazer X7819 on your thighs; hell, you can put it in your bag and carry it around with you if you want but, unless you’re heading off to a LAN party somewhere or simply moving to another room in your house, you probably wouldn’t want to. This is 3.8kg of super-mean gaming machine and, though technically a laptop, expect it to live out the majority of its existence atop your luggage tag.

Nonetheless, there’s something satisfying about the design of the Medion Erazer X7819. It’s big, it’s black, it’s got a mock brushed-metal - but actually just nicely made plastic – finish but, despite being the physical antithesis to, say, Bang & Olufsen or Apple, it’s actually very pleasant. This is machine for fragging your friends and tea-bagging n00bs and there’s no subtleties necessary.

The blue LED streaks on the outside of the lid and the three to highlight the trackpad and stereo speakers, once you open it, are further evidence to fact. As it goes, Medion could have gone a lot further with the gaudiness and we’d probably have enjoyed. It’s certainly not the light show that you get with other big brand gaming PCs, such as Dell’s Alienware range, and it’s a pity that you can’t control the colour or the brightness of the LEDs but the money has been spent wisely here and, frankly, industrial design doesn’t win you PvP deathmatches.

Freaked out by fraud

TD Canada Trust's vice-president of account recovery and fraud management admitted he was a surprised at how widespread the concern is on the Prairies. And Scott Gamble attributed the heightened awareness to the growing use of things like debit cards, smart phones, mobile banking and online shopping. The rapidly expanding use of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter also helps to spread the word about the problem.

"But I'm also happy to see that," Gamble, added, "because from my perspective, consumers are the first line of defence (against fraud). That (a high level of concern) shows a high level of awareness, and awareness is critical to people doing something about it."

Gamble said the survey shows Manitobans, and Canadians in general, are taking steps to better protect themselves from fraudsters.

For example, 56 per cent of the Prairie respondents said they shield their Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) at ATMs and retail point-of-sale terminals. And the same percentage said they only shop with online merchants they know and trust, and ensure the websites they visit have secure transaction systems before making an online purchase.

As well, 85 per cent of the Prairie respondents admitted they don't change their PINs on a regular basis -- Gamble said they should be changing them at least two or three times a year.

Equally disconcerting is that 19 per cent also said the have allowed someone to borrow their debit or credit card, 11 per cent said they've shared their credit card or debit card PINs with others, and 15 per cent said they carry their PIN in their wallet.

Mel Kiper Jr.'s latest mock draft Insider had Milliner mocked to the Eagles and called it "not a tough pick," since the crop of available free-agent cornerbacks isn't strong enough to deter the Eagles from addressing the position in the draft. The Eagles need two starting cornerbacks and so far have only signed Bradley Fletcher, who may or may not be one. They have indicated an intent to address the offensive and defensive lines in free agency, as much of the still-way-early speculation has the draft's top two offensive tackles going with the first two picks. There are a lot of ways to put clues together and convince yourself Milliner will be the pick. And if he is, it'll be hard to criticize them for it.

But I'd be surprised if it were already a done deal in the minds of the Eagles' decision-makers, and yes, the fact that they've been poking around West Virginia this week about quarterback Geno Smith is an example of why. Yes, the Eagles need cornerback help desperately. But they also need a franchise quarterback, and as the Redskins showed last year, NFL teams believe that that's worth sacrificing other plans. Michael Vick is no long-term solution. Nick Foles hasn't shown anything to make anybody feel confident that he is either. Dennis Dixon is a career backup. Arizona quarterback Matt Scott is apparently someone they're looking into as well, but he's obviously a wild card. If Smith is opening the Eagles' eyes, or if team owner Jeffrey Lurie (who attended that private workout in Morgantown) is insisting they look at a quarterback with that No. 4 pick, then things get very interesting around the Eagles and the draft.

Thing is, they're not going to clue us or anyone else in about the true depth of their interest in Smith or Matt Barkley or any of the other quarterbacks who are likely to shoot up projected draft boards in the next month. That No. 4 pick is a valuable asset, and the Eagles are wise to consider all of their options with it for as long as they can. It may be the best thing for their franchise to just stay put and take Milliner, or the best offensive or defensive linemen available there. It may be the best for them to take Smith, if they believe in him as their future at the most important position, and let him sit behind Vick for a year. (Or half a year, or whatever.) It may be that they're trying to shake up the whole landscape, get other teams wondering what they'll do and maybe dupe someone who desperately wants a quarterback (or I guess Milliner) into trading with them for that pick.

"Tom is a proven champion for monumentally growing sales for organizations and is a strategic addition to the SecureAuth team as we focus on providing identity access management for the mobile enterprise," commented Craig Lund, chief executive officer at SecureAuth. "Tom will be instrumental in expanding our customer base and continuing our aggressive year-over-year revenue growth."

"It is a great opportunity to join a fast-growing company recognized for its identity access management solution for the enterprise," stated Tom. "I look forward to applying my extensive sales experience to address the enormous need for the SecureAuth IdP solution within organizations that have a mobile workforce and have corporate resources in the cloud. My goal is to build a strong team and translate that need to market share leadership."

Tom has more than 15 years of sales, sales management, security, authentication, and identity access management experience. Prior to joining SecureAuth, Tom was the worldwide vice president of Strategic Sales and Business Development for the Cloud and Identity division of Identive that focused on the issuance of secure credentials to a smartcard via SaaS, as well as the convergence of physical/logical access. Previously, Tom was the vice president of Sales, Cloakware Division at Irdeto, a $200+ million private company, and was instrumental in selling the Cloakware Password Authority Division to Xceedium. He was also the general manager and vice president of Sales for Protocom, an Australian-based start up focused on enterprise single sign-on and authentication software, and grew its revenue to $20 million, and was later acquired by Actividentity (formerly NASDAQ ACTI, now a part of HID Global). At Actividentity, a company that focused on two factor authentication, card management systems, and single sign-on, Tom was the vice president of Commercial Sales growing the business over 300 percent in his first two years, and eventually became the vice president of Sales for both Commercial and Federal. Tom holds a BA in Communications from UC Davis.

Twitter's Jack Dorsey on 60 Minutes

The voices on the police scanner intrigued young Jack Dorsey. They never used many words but managed to

communicate quite a bit. The hours he spent listening to that radio paid off years later when, as an adult

with a cell phone, it inspired him to create Twitter. Dorsey tells Lara Logan about his brainstorm for the

popular social medium, his separation and reunion with the company and his current venture, Square, for a 60

Minutes profile to be broadcast Sunday, March 17 at 7:00 p.m. ET/PT.

Dorsey grew up in St. Louis, where his love of trains and how they work led to his obsession with the

dispatching of emergency service vehicles. Young and shy because of a speech impediment, he spent a lot of

time listening to the chatter on the police scanner. "They're always talking about where they're going, what

they're doing, and where they currently are," he says. "That is where the idea for Twitter came [from]...Now


we all have these cell phones. We had text messaging and suddenly we could update where I was, what I'm doing,

where I'm going, how I feel. And then it would go out to the entire world," he tells Logan.

It did go out to the entire world. And now 200 million people use Twitter, and "tweet" over a billion times

every three days. Says Dorsey, "I'm most proud of how quickly people came to it and used it and in a million

different ways. They're all over the world. And Twitter enables them to take a $5 cell phone and wherever they

are, communicate with the world, for free."

Dorsey was forced out of Twitter due to internal discord. He says, his weakness was his own reticence, an

issue he still works on. "The biggest thing I've learned is that I need to communicate more. I need to be more

vocal." He understood the move but was still hurt. "I was angry...at the board...at my cofounders. I was angry

with myself," he recalls. He says he holds no grudges.

Dorsey was eventually invited back to help run his old company, but not until after he founded Square, a

mobile payment company that created software that allows anyone with a smart phone to accept a card payment.

It's becoming more and more popular, especially with smaller businesses. He brainstormed the idea with an

artist friend who was prevented from selling a work of art because he couldn't take a credit card.

Square is a world-changing idea Dorsey hopes will remove cumbersome cash from business transactions. "Money

touches every single person on this planet and at one point in their life they feel bad about it," he tells

Logan. "It feels dirty sometimes. It never feels great, but it's great when it disappears. Feels like you're

taken care of. It feels like the world is just working."

None of those qualities exists within Burt Wonderstone, a selfish and flashy Las Vegas magician who once ruled

the Strip alongside his longtime friend and partner, Anton Marvelton (Steve Buscemi), but now finds his act

has grown outdated and unpopular. Even within the confines of a comedy sketch, where he probably belongs, Burt

would seem one-dimensional and underdeveloped with his hacky jokes and tacky clothes. Stretched out to feature

length, the shtick becomes nearly unbearable — until of course, the movie doles out its obligatory

comeuppance, followed by redemption, and goes all soft and nice. By then it’s too little, too late.

“Burt Wonderstone” comes to us from director Don Scardino, a television veteran who’s a two-time Emmy-

winner for his work on “30 Rock,” and “Horrible Bosses” writers Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley.

It has some scattered laughs, many of them courtesy of Jim Carrey as a gonzo, up-and-coming street performer

with a taste for pain, clearly modeled after the Criss Angel style of stunt artistry. And there is some spark

to the scenes between Carell and his “Little Miss Sunshine” co-star Alan Arkin as the master magician who

inspired Burt as a lonely child and now lives anonymously at the nursing home where Burt is relegated to doing

card tricks.

In theory, we’re supposed to feel for Burt because we see him being bullied in a flashback at the film’s

start. The nerdy, neglected child of a hard-working single mom, Burt turned to magic for self-esteem, and

found friendship with the like-minded and equally geeky Anton. Their mentor was the old-school Rance Holloway

(Arkin), whose moves they watched repeatedly on VHS.

Thirty years later, Burt and Anton are longtime headliners at Bally’s, going through the same bit night after

night with little inspiration. For totally unexplained reasons, they hate each other — probably because Burt

has become a dismissive, abusive jerk. This is not Carell’s strong suit.

Also part of the act is their latest assistant, Jane. The role is a huge waste of Olivia Wilde, who’s stuck

playing the supportive “girl,” and isn’t given much chance to show how funny, sexy or smart she truly is.

Burt and Anton find not just their friendship but their careers in jeopardy as Carrey’s daring Steve Gray

steals away the fans and attention with more and more outlandish acts.

But it’s hard to care about how far the duo will fall or whether they can make a comeback — which is never

in question — because there’s nothing for us to hold on to as an audience. If Carell’s character is one-

note, Buscemi sadly gets even less to do besides play the sweet, beleaguered second fiddle.

“Africa is better positioned to adopt the next generation of technology than anybody else because it’s not

tied by a legacy system?.?.?.?the cost of moving forward is much cheaper,” says James Mwangi, CEO of Kenya’s

Equity Bank, whose bank became the first in the world to offer a completely mobile bank account.

But the pace of expansion has nevertheless slowed and profits slimmed as competition has intensified. “No one

will get rich buying the fourth licence in Chad and even dominant players like [Kenya’s] Safaricom are

finding it tough,” says one leading technology investor.

Besides that, pockets of innovation and technological excellence such as Kenya’s nascent Silicon Savannah –

a $10bn government initiative to turn 5,000 acres of savannah south of Nairobi into “the most modern city in

Africa” – have not yet fully taken off. “They need power and scale, otherwise you get fragmentary results,

” says Bright Simons, who invented a mobile app that detects counterfeit drugs.

The coming strides will be smaller, technology experts predict, but could be nonetheless far-reaching.

Investors see the next step as a push to spread more expensive and productive data connections – rather than

voice alone – throughout the continent. While three quarters of Africans have access to a phone, only 16 per

cent of them access the internet, down to 1 per cent in Ethiopia and South Sudan.

The majority go online via their handset rather than a desktop or laptop, yet data-enabled phones make up less

than 20 per cent of the handset market. The likes of Google, Huawei, Microsoft, Nokia, Research In Motion and

Samsung are plunging in, trying to expand the market from basic handsets to smartphones.

Microsoft last month launched a new Huawei phone installed with Africa-specific applications. Users can check prayer times in Egypt, track shares in Nigeria and follow the rugby in South Africa.

Investors believe the effort to create relevant and entertaining local content will underwrite the shift, and

make the more expensive outlay appealing. At first mobile operators conceived online connections via handsets

as a useful way to generate data sales through gaming alone, but applications of web-connected handsets have

grown as innovators have developed paid-for applications. In Kenya shoppers buy goat meat with mobile money,

browse clothes and music via their handsets and lodge their savings directly on to phone accounts. People can

use Google to research topics in languages from Amharic to Zulu.

Scotland well beaten by Wales but referee ruins

The South African match official had awarded a record number of kickable penalties - 18, and 28 in all throughout the contest - with Wales' outstanding fullback Leigh Halfpenny slotting seven of them and converting Richard Hibbard's first-half try.

How Joubert found so may faults without brandishing a yellow card to any one of the offenders throughout the match is a mystery given that was the exact reason that the ten minute sin-bin was brought in to the professional game.

Johnson was too professional to let slip what he was undoubtedly feeling but confessed of Joubert's refereeing: "It didn't make for a great spectacle but we were in the same position as [Wales] when it came to his decision-making.

"But he seems like a good bloke and I don't want to be a guy who talks about a referee's performance when we lose, I don't want to do that."

Scotland's fortunate run in this Six Nations never really looked like continuing shortly after Hibbard's try midway through the first half, and the backline were starved of any real possession throughout the contest.

Despite this, winger Sean Maitland came out top of the metres made chart, and stand-off Duncan Weir also excelled in the wintry conditions.

The stand-off was unlucky not to get his name on the score sheet after narrowly losing a foot race against opposite number Dan Biggar after he had utilised his soccer skills to chip over the top of the Welsh blitz defence before prodding the loose ball towards the try line.

If Scotland had been lucky against Ireland a fortnight ago, their luck had ran out against a quality Welsh side who never really looked in danger of conceding a try save for Weir's opportunist effort and a frantic final flurry.

Once again they came out second best in the possession (43%) and territory (41%) and did not register a single line-break, although Wales only managed one themselves after winger George North burst through the Scots' defence in the move leading up to Hibbard's score.

Johnson must be slightly concerned that after scoring six tries in the opening two matches, Scotland have now gone two games without getting close to scoring a try.

"We can't go on playing Test rugby like that and we don't want to," the coach confirmed when it was pointed out that Scotland now appear to have slumped back into their old habits.

Whilst Scotland again managed to poach a couple of line outs through Jim Hamilton and Johnnie Beattie, it was the scrum which again was the main source of frustration for both coaches and spectators alike.

So many penalties were awarded that at one point Scotland hooker Ross Ford, usually a placid and restrained character, looked as if he may have taken his own frustrations out on referee Joubert, such was the lottery of his decision making which deprived either side of gaining any real superiority.

For that reason Johnson and assistant coach Dean Ryan may consider re-calling Glasgow openside John Barclay as Scotland badly need a scavenger to fight for the ball in the way that Wales' Sam Warburton and Justin Tipuric did so effectively, helping his side by winning nine turnovers and contributing to their 102 tackle completions.

If Barclay is re-called for next Saturday's finale in Paris then that would probably mean captain Kelly Brown reverting to the blindside in place of Rob Harley in what would be a reunification of the famous "Killer B's" who formed such an effective unit for both Glasgow and Scotland not so long ago.

Captain Brown, who suffered his first Murrayfield Six Nations loss, was also looking to take positives from the defeat.

"We'd worked hard on our skills all week but I felt that in our tackling we probably went a bit high and if you do that against players of their quality then you'll get found out," he sighed.

"We need to focus now on an absolutely huge match next weekend against France, we're not going to focus on the referee, rather what we need to do to get better."

After England's narrow win over Italy at Twickenham on Sunday, the eyes of world rugby will undoubtedly be on Cardiff's Millennium stadium next Saturday, but for Scotland and their supporters, the focus will be on trying to condemn a poor France side to their worst ever Six Nations finish and also register a first win at Stade De France since 1999 - coincidently the last time Scotland won the championship thanks to Wales' defeat of England at Wembley Stadium.

If history could repeat itself next weekend and Scotland beat France, coupled with a Welsh win over England, it wouldn't change much in terms of the final placing but it would confirm that Scotland are well on the road to recovery after what has been a miserable few years in the world's most famous rugby competition.

Samsung has to walk a delicate line with the Galaxy S4's design: it needs to push the envelope without screwing things up. Though the Galaxy S3 was a looker, its design continued, rather than broke away from, Samsung's long trend of thin smartphones with large displays and plastic bodies. As CNET's review said, "It won't wow you".

Some smartphone connoisseurs criticize this strategy as boiling things down to the lowest common denominator, and they're correct to a point. This time we'd like to see a more ambitious effort in terms of the display and the materials used for the handset's body. Despite rumors that the the GS4 could deliver a bendable display, that's not on our list. The technology is very cool, but it's not expected to reach consumer devices until next year.

The Galaxy S3's was great, but it was dimmer than we had hoped. So for the GS4's screen, Samsung really needs to up its game to compete with the likes of HTC, Sony, and Motorola. Many new handsets from these mobile players feature slick edge-to-edge displays with virtually no surrounding bezel. Additionally, to stand up against the tide of massive superphones with larger-than-life displays, the Samsung Galaxy S4 better come to the party packing a 5-inch 1080p screen. If it's OLED, all the better since that's a trick Samsung's rivals can't yet top. This post tells you the full story of smartphone display technology.

Cornish Pirates weather storm to win tight game

They were playing against a motivated, relegation-threatened Moseley side, who declared before the game that the injury-hit Cornishmen were more vulnerable than usual on home soil.

Instead, the win for Pirates brings a three-game losing streak to an end ahead of a tough round of fixtures that could determine the success or failure of an entire campaign.

Moseley, with a strong wind behind them in the first half, made the better start. After narrowly failing to score the game's first try, they took three points from a penalty kicked by former Pirates full-back Ollie Thomas.

Pirates soon responded. Smith's break and chip down the right got them into the Moseley 22 and their first try eventually came from Evans on the opposite flank.

Fly-half Aaron Penberthy was unable to convert, kicking into a fierce wind from close to the touchline and USB flash drives wholesale soon retook the lead with another Thomas penalty.

Penberthy, meanwhile, fared little better from the other side with a penalty attempt of his own as a hard-fought half gradually drew to a close.

There was still time for controversy before the break when Pirates lock Gary Johnson was shown a yellow card following a melee just inside the Pirates' half. But, despite the reduced number in their pack, Pirates stood up the pressure well to see out the half just one point behind.

The visitors' lead was extended to four points within five minutes of the restart, however. Thomas judged the wind expertly to kick an early second-half penalty between the posts after the Pirates' debutant hooker Will Tanner was penalised for standing up in a scrum.



Pirates soon asserted themselves on the half. A catch-and-drive for the line was held up but they had more joy in wide areas, scoring through Smith who was unmarked on the right-hand side. Penberthy then added an excellent conversion.

Smith then found himself on the end of another try-scoring move on the hour mark. A Phil Burgess chip and charge put Thomas under pressure inside his own 22. He was then penalised and Gavin Cattle's quick tap penalty and pass found Smith with a simple run-in for his second try.

However, that progress was partially undone after some poor work from the restart and Moseley eventually mauled their way to their first try through prop Ethan Waller.

It did not prove costly in the end, as Pirates gave as good as they got in the latter stages. However, they may need to find something more in challenging league fixtures against Rotherham Titans and Bedford Blues before a season- defining British and Irish Cup clash with Munster.

Similar to the LG Optimus G that we reviewed a few days back, the first thing that you notice about the phone is its industrial design. It looks like a big rectangular glass slab with clean lines that give the phone a no nonsense persona, and there are no chrome frames or other embellishments barring the power button which stands out a little.

If you look at the phone from the sides you'll see a frame with fiberglass inserts.  We had the white coloured version of the phone as our review unit but the front is all black. The phone's design is somewhat minimalistic and Sony likes to refer to this design philosophy as 'OmniBalance'. The rounded edges on the phone are very subtle, and are hard to notice at first glance.

As we mentioned, the phone sports a 5-inch screen, which essentially dominates the front of the phone while the rest is tempered glass with a reflective coating. The display is seamless with the rest of the front and Sony says that they've brought the touch panel closer to the display. The bezel is really thin and there are no hardware controls. The phone doesn't have separate capacitive buttons for navigation and instead has onscreen buttons similar to Nexus devices. This is a welcome change and we'd like all phone makers to keep navigation consistent.

luggage tag

On the right side you'd see a big round aluminum power/screen-lock button towards the middle, and a volume rocker, also made of metal. The power button protrudes out and some might draw parallels with the crown of a watch, but we feel that it could have been done in a more subtle manner. But the positioning of this button makes one hand operation a breeze, and we're glad Sony didn't place it on the top. A flap (which doesn't feature a marking/label) hides a plastic SIM card tray that has to be pulled with the help of a fingernail by the user. To be honest, it took us a while to figure out how the mechanism worked as most phones offer a pin-hole SIM tray eject mechanism. The phone supports micro-SIMs. A small speaker grill is also located on the right side, towards the bottom.

The left side houses a microSD card slot and a Micro-USB port, with the company choosing to not mark the latter's flap. This side also has two contacts for docking the phone.

The top features a 3.5mm headphone jack, and is also covered with a flap. We felt that the plastic that held together the flaps were a little flimsy and we fear that with rough use one might end up breaking one or more of them.

The bottom doesn't have any ports but it does have a lanyard hole in case you'd like to put one around.

Overall, we feel that the Xperia Z has been designed tastefully and is looker for sure, especially considering the fact that it's designed to be water and dust proof. Usually, rugged phones are anything but aesthetically appealing.