Tornado spotted north of Sacramento, weather service says

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A ?low-level tornado apparently was spotted Tuesday afternoon in an area north of Sacramento, the National Weather Service said.

The tornado was reported about 1:30 p.m. between Corning and Red Bluff about 100 miles north of Sacramento, according to meteorologists.

"We're pretty certain that it was a tornado," Dan Keeton, a meteorologist in the agency's Sacramento office, told The Times.

He said the Weather Service had dispatched a team to the area to assess possible damage, gather eyewitness accounts and collect other evidence. But preliminary reports "indicate a fairly low-end tornado," Keeton said.

The tornado was caused when the same storm system hitting the Los Angeles area passed through Northern California, leaving a mass of cold air in its wake. That triggered thunderstorms north of Sacramento that caused the tornado to form, Keeton said.

No other details were immediately available.?

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Map shows general area where tornado was spotted. Credit: Google Maps

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/lanowblog/~3/eSpVph0bObg/tornado-spotted-sacramento.html

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Florida governor expands Medicaid

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By Maggie Fox, Senior Writer, NBC News

Florida governor Rick Scott, one of the biggest critics of President Obama?s health reform efforts, said Wednesday he would do the administration?s bidding and expand the Medicaid program.

But Scott said he was doing the expansion on his own terms: for three years only, while the federal government is footing the entire bill.

?While the federal government is committed to paying 100 percent of the cost of new people in Medicaid, I cannot, in good conscience, deny the uninsured access to care,? Scott said in a news conference.

?We will support a three-year expansion of our Medicaid program under the new health care law, as long as the federal government meets their commitment to pay 100 percent of the cost during this time. This legislation would sunset after three years and need to be reauthorized.?

Scott denied he was giving in to the administration. ?It is not a white flag of surrender to government-run health care,? he said.

The 2010 Affordable Care Act was designed to transform health care in the United States, which most experts agree currently costs too much and leaves far too many people without health insurance.?It was meant to provide more care to people who can?t buy insurance by forcing states to expand Medicaid.

The hope was to add about 16 million of the poorest people to the rolls -- about half of those who need health insurance. But after a series of challenges to the law, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that the Medicaid expansion requirement went too far. While most of the Affordable Care Act was constitutional, the court ruled, the federal government could not force states to offer Medicaid to more people.

The Congressional Budget Office projects that 12 million people will become newly eligible for Medicaid in the states that choose to expand their offerings by 2022.?The law required states to extend Medicaid to people earning up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $14,800 for single people and $31,000 for a family of four.

Many Republican governors immediately said they wouldn?t expand Medicaid.

Texas governor Rick Perry turned down $76 billion in federal matching funds that would have helped pay to do it over the first five years. ?We?re just not going to be a part of ? socializing health care in the state of Texas,? Perry told reporters in July.

South Carolina?s Nikki Haley said expanding Medicaid would bring people out who were already qualified -- and she said that her state would go broke taking care of them, even if the federal government paid the bill for those who would newly qualify. In addition, states will have to start paying a very small percentage in 2017.

But health care experts predicted that many red states would not turn away free money from the federal government.

Arizona governor Jan Brewer said her state would expand Medicaid to about 300,000 residents in her state of the state address last month. Michigan governor Rick Snyder made his announcement Feb. 6: His state will add about 320,000 people to the joint state-federal health insurance plan for the low-income.

?I am forced to accept it as today?s reality and I have decided to expand Nevada?s Medicaid coverage,? Nevada governor Brian Sandoval, another Republican, ?said in December.

Republican-leaning holdouts include Alabama, Louisiana, Idaho, Mississippi, South Carolina, Maine and 12 others.

Scott said he wasn?t happy, but said he was facing reality.

?There are no perfect options. Our options are either having Floridians pay to fund this program in other states while denying health care to our citizens or using federal funding to help some of the poorest in our state with the Medicaid program as we explore other health care reforms,? he said.

Left-leaning groups applauded.

?Now about 613,000 Florida women stand to gain the security of quality health coverage and the ability to get the care they need, when they need it, without facing huge medical bills,? said Judy Waxman of the National Women?s Law Center.

?Combined with other reforms in the Affordable Care Act, this expansion would reduce the percentage of uninsured women in Florida from 25.3 percent to 5.8 percent.?

Scott says he?s not against health reform, he just doesn?t like the approach taken in the 2010 health reform law.

?Before I ever dreamed of standing here today as Governor of this great state, I was a strong advocate for better ways to improve health care than the government-run approach taken in the President?s health care law,? he added.

?I believe in a different approach. But, regardless of what I -- or anyone else -- believes, a Supreme Court decision and a presidential election made the President?s health care mandates the law of the land.?

Scott says he will still refuse to set up a state health insurance exchange, leaving the federal government to run it.

Related stories:

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Source: http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/20/17034418-florida-governor-a-health-reform-foe-expands-medicaid?lite

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VW putting XL1 plug-in hybrid car into production

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OSNABRUECK, Germany (Reuters) - Volkswagen is to put into production one of the most exotic vehicles ever to carry the German group's badge - a two-seater with many features normally only seen on concept cars at motor shows.

VW will start making the hybrid XL1, which burns less than one liter of diesel per 100 kilometers, has gullwing doors, enclosed rear wheels, and camera-based mirrors, in the first half of the year, it said on Thursday.

It did not give a price - analysts have pegged the XL1 at 30,000-50,000 euros ($40,000-$67,000) - nor how many it will make. VW has permission to produce up to 1,000 annually.

Power for the XL1 is provided by a system comprising a 48-horsepower twin-cylinder diesel engine and a 27-horsepower electric motor.

Europe's biggest carmaker is a late starter on electric powertrains after saying for years that clean diesel was a better fuel-efficiency strategy than hybrids which combine a combustion engine with battery-powered electric propulsion.

Brand development chief Ulrich Hackenberg told reporters at VW's factory in Osnabrueck, Germany, where the XL1 will be made, that the new model underscored the company's growing push into plug-in hybrid technology.

The XL1, lower than a Porsche Boxster and shorter than VW's Polo subcompact, weighs no more than 795 kilograms thanks to a safety cabin and other parts made of carbon fiber plastics.

"The XL1 is a very significant technology carrier for them (VW)," said Christoph Stuermer, an analyst at Frankfurt-based research firm IHS Automotive.

Toyota Motor Corp , the world's no. 1 carmaker, introduced the Prius hybrid compact vehicle in 1997, 13 years before VW's Touareg hybrid SUV came to market in 2010, and started delivering a Prius plug-in version this year.

VW has been planning to roll out plug-in hybrid versions of its Golf hatchback in 2014 and also the Passat model, flanked by the Audi Q7 SUV, A3 compact and the Porsche Cayenne SUV, VW's electric car chief Rudolf Krebs told Reuters in December.

($1 = 0.7479 euro)

(Reporting by Andreas Cremer; Editing by Dan Lalor)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/vw-putting-xl1-plug-hybrid-car-production-165235895--finance.html

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All eyes on Venezuelan hospital, no sign of Chavez

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A banner bearing a photo of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez is displayed on a building of the Carlos Arvelo Military Hospital in Caracas, where the ailing leader is expected to continue his treatment, in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Feb. 18, 2013. Chavez returned to Venezuela early Monday after more than two months of medical treatment in Cuba following cancer surgery, and was being treated at the Caracas' military hospital, his government said. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

A banner bearing a photo of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez is displayed on a building of the Carlos Arvelo Military Hospital in Caracas, where the ailing leader is expected to continue his treatment, in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Feb. 18, 2013. Chavez returned to Venezuela early Monday after more than two months of medical treatment in Cuba following cancer surgery, and was being treated at the Caracas' military hospital, his government said. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

A supporter of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez holds up a poster of Chavez behind people waiting in line to enter a military hospital in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. Chavez is allegedly receiving treatment at this hospital, but the people in line are there for routine hospital visits unrelated to the president. Chavez's sudden return to Venezuela after more than two months of cancer treatments in Cuba has fanned speculation that the president could be preparing to relinquish power and make way for a successor and a new election. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

A woman peers through a bus window that is covered in the Spanish words: "Chavez is alive" near the military hospital where President Hugo Chavez is allegedly receiving treatment in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. Chavez's sudden return to Venezuela after more than two months of cancer treatments in Cuba has fanned speculation that the president could be preparing to relinquish power and make way for a successor and a new election. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

People drink beverages at a food stand where a poster hangs of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez near the Military Hospital in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. The government has not released a single photo of Chavez since his return from Cuba on Monday, and that has some Venezuelans doubting whether he's in the military hospital. Others insist he is there, just out of sight while undergoing treatment. Chavez, who has been undergoing cancer treatment in Cuba on and off since June 2011, has said he has had tumors removed from his pelvic region and has undergone chemotherapy and radiation treatment. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

A man hangs a banner showing a picture of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez outside the Military Hospital, where Chavez is allegedly receiving treatment, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. The banner reads in Spanish "Chavez is not a man, he is a people who advances. We will live and triumph." No one has yet publicly described a visit with Chavez at the hospital, and Bolivian President Evo Morales said on Wednesday that he had met only with relatives and doctors but was unable to see Chavez himself when he visited the hospital. Speaking at the United Nations, Morales said that Chavez "is in a very difficult spot with his health." (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ? At Caracas' military hospital, the only outward signs that President Hugo Chavez is a patient inside are the motorcades that come and go and the soldiers standing guard, some of them wearing red berets.

A poster with a large photo of Chavez smiling sits atop the Dr. Carlos Arvelo Military Hospital, but it has been there since long before the socialist leader was admitted upon his return from his latest cancer treatment in Cuba.

Some of the president's supporters shout "Viva Chavez!" and "He's back!" as they drive past the hospital, which this week has become the new center of attention in Chavez's 21-month-long cancer struggle.

The government hasn't released a single photo of Chavez since his arrival in Caracas was announced Monday, and that has some Venezuelans doubting whether he's in the hospital. Others insist he is there, just out of sight while undergoing treatment.

"There, where you see that balcony, the president is there," said Juan Carlos Hernandez, a street vendor who pointed to the ninth floor, where Chavez is said to be staying.

Hernandez, who sells snacks from a stand with a parasol, said he used to work as a military police officer and provided security at the hospital from 2004 to 2006. He said the ninth floor has a special wing with various rooms where important people are typically taken for treatment, including generals and other military officers.

The special wing of the hospital has its own private elevator, Hernandez said. "The patients are more protected because not everybody passes by."

Caravans of SUVs escorted by troops on motorcycles have arrived and left in recent days, carrying officials including Vice President Nicolas Maduro and National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello, who are among the few who say they have seen Chavez at the hospital.

Among the luxury vehicles bringing visitors was a metallic green Bentley, and those stopping by the hospital have reportedly included the president's relatives.

The government hasn't given details of any visits with Chavez at the hospital, and Bolivian President Evo Morales said Wednesday that he had met only with relatives and doctors but was unable to see Chavez himself when he visited the hospital. Speaking at the United Nations, Morales said Chavez "is in a very difficult spot with his health."

The Venezuelan leader has been undergoing cancer treatment in Cuba on and off since June 2011. He has said he has had tumors removed from his pelvic region and has undergone chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

Throughout the treatments, Chavez has not revealed the type of cancer or the location where tumors have been removed.

He hasn't spoken publicly since before his latest surgery in Cuba, on Dec. 11. The government has recently said that Chavez is undergoing more treatment for his illness but has not specified the sort of treatment.

Hospital employees declined to comment about Chavez, saying only that the floor where the president is being treated is under tight security.

Despite the extra security contingent, the hospital continues to provide medical care to hundreds of other patients every day, including both military personnel and civilians.

When Chavez's return to Caracas was announced Monday, his supporters gathered outside the hospital to celebrate while holding photos of him. But as the days have passed, their numbers have dwindled. Journalists and television cameras at the entrance have become one of the only signs of anything unusual going on.

Juan Bonaire, who works at a bakery across the street, said that apart from the stepped-up security, the area around the hospital looks much the same as always.

Outside the hospital, people put up a banner Thursday with a photo of the president and the slogan: "Chavez is not a man. He is a nation that advances. We will live and triumph."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-02-21-LT-Venezuela-Chavez/id-7938c5dd9c934c99bbaa66327fe17c34

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Pranav Mistry's Sixth Sense to go Open Source - Hurray !!!!!!

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If Pranav Mistry has his way, people around the world can build their own wearable 'SixthSense' --which uses a camera that understands human gestures -- at a cost of less than Rs 15,000 ($300) by obtaining the software he developed for free in the next few months.

Mistry, a PhD student in Pattie Maes' Fluid Interfaces Group at MIT's Media Lab, is the genius behind SixthSense, a wearable device that enables new interactions between the real world and the world of data.

"I notice that it's hard to for these kind of things to market in some sense. . . because I don't want this to comply with some of kind of corporate policy," he told PTI in Mysore on Friday on the sidelines of TED conference being held in India for the first time.

"Rather than waiting for that time to come, I want people to make their own system. Why not?"

"People will be able to make their own hardware. I will give them instructions how to make it. And also provide them key software...give them basic key software layers. . . they will be able to build their own applications. They will be able to modify base level and do anything".

MIT Media Lab’s Pranab Mistry demonstrated the latest version of his Sixth-Sense wearable gesture interface at the TEDIndia conference

on Thursday, where he showed how it could be used to compute using just a piece of paper. Sixthsense was first presented by Mistry at a TED conference in February 2009.

In his latest demo, he attached a microphone to the paper and was able to use it as a touch interface, play 3D games, watch movies, and seamlessly transition work between a PC and his interface.

The demo received a huge round of applause from the audience at TED, but he saved the best for last.”I am trying to make this tech available to people, and I will provide all the open source software for Sixth sense starting next month.” said Pranav Mistry when talking to the host Chris Anderson.

Photographs: Courtesy, www.pranavmistry.com

Best Features of HTC Sense 5

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The launch of the HTC One also saw the unveiling of HTC Sense 5, the latest version of HTC’s custom Android user interface. We’ve taken a close look at the new phone to find out exactly what new features Sense 5 offers



Redesigned clock widget and look
Sometimes the smallest changes are the best. HTC has redesigned its clock widget for Sense 5. The iconic flip clock that has been used in Sense for years has been usurped by an altogether more minimal, stylish alternative. Looks pretty nice, doesn’t it?

It also shows that HTC Sense 5 has a markedly different visual style from its predecessor. It’s cleaner, more neutral, and a tad more stylish.

Blink UI
One of HTC Sense’s flagship features is BlinkFeed – a whole new face for your phone, to take over from the standard Android home screen. It is made up of a series of variously-sized panels that take you to the latest updates from your RSS feeds, and social networks Facebook and Twitter. More than a thousand sources can be plugged into it.

The idea is that this will become your go-to mobile screen. HTC says it’s intended to be tailored around how people use mobile phones these days. We’re all constant content-guzzlers these days, according to HTC.

It looks a lot like the home screen of Windows Phone, but functions a lot more like the news app Flipboard, with panes arranged into pages rather than a single flowing stream of panels.

Sense TV
Here’s an additional feature that bleeds out into your living room. The combo of the HTC One’s IR transmitter and Sense 5’s Sense TV app let you control your TV using your mobile phone – effectively replacing your TV remote (hallelujah) and spelling bad news for Universal remotes like the Logitech Harmony range. However, it’ll need to work extremely well and offer a huge database of devices to extend beyond a neat extra.

Sense TV also integrates an EPG for Freeview, Freesat, Sky and Virgin Media, letting you check what’s on the box without having to use a naff third-party app. Fingers-crossed it’ll be good enough to turn our TV’s back into dumb panels for content, rather than ecosystems in their own right.

However, it has a way to go as services like Netflix an Lovefilm aren’t integrated. Making these work will come with a whole new set of challenges, though, as even when built into TVs, they’re additional modules with their own interfaces rather than core elements. We’ll take a close look when we get an HTC One in to review. 



Sync Manager
HTC is really keen on converting a few Apple fans to the cause with Sense 5. The evidence? The new Sync Manager.

This lets you wirelessly transfer content from your iTunes library to your phone, including videos, music and calendar info from your iPhone. There was some iOS integration in previous versions of Sense, but it only let you snag contacts, not weightier content.

Zoe Camera
A smartphone feature named after a girl? We may never find out who the Zoe that inspired this Sense 5 gadget is, but it’s well up to speed with the latest trends in mobile use. Zoe takes a snippet of HD video whenever you take a photo, which is then used to animate your photo gallery, making it seem much more alive.

Sense 5 can also weave these clips together to make a little slideshow about your day out on Brighton beach. Oh what fun we had. It’ll even dub music onto the clips, add-in some animated transitions and apply filters for extra hipster goodness. It’s throwaway fluff, for sure, but we can’t wait to try it out.

What’s your favorite HTC One feature?

Ubuntu for Tablets Unveiled

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Perhaps the company Canonical was recklessly appoint an official announcement of its new product in one day with such giants as HTC: the flow of news and discussions communicator HTC One could easily simply overlook the fact that, following the Ubuntu for smartphones today was presented Ubuntu for tablets.




It is rather strange that while almost all manufacturers follow the path of unification of operating systems (eg, Google Android and Apple iOS work on both smartphones and tablets, and even Microsoft is trying to combine the core of Windows and Windows Phone), Canonical has decided to launch a separate product. However, Ubuntu tablet at an early stage to the end user has a number of similar features with Ubuntu smartphone. Thus, both operating systems are more like a desktop solution than to the mobile, and so far only works on Nexus-Soup, and more specifically, Ubuntu for tablets will soon become available for the ASUS Nexus 7 and Samsung Nexus 10 .



It will happen very soon, on February 21 - that's when Canonical plans to release the so-called Ubuntu Touch Developer Preview. But, like last time, Nexus-device - it's just a device for running the operating system, and then it can be ported to a very wide range of devices. The main thing is to target the tablet had the following minimum specifications: processor architecture ARM A15, 2 GB of RAM, and at least 8 GB of internal memory. Display size may lie in a broad range of 6 (hello, Huawei Ascend Mate ) to 20 inches.

Unfortunately, the possibilities of the new OS until almost nothing is said, but we know that it will get Unity-style interface and support for multi-window mode, which can simultaneously run "Tablet" and "smartphone" application (not the screen is divided in half, and in the ratio of approximately 2:3). By the way, a little reminiscent of a similar feature in Windows 8.

In the meantime, Canonical did not share other details and did not release ready for installation, it is suggested to see videos that demonstrate some of the features of the new Ubuntu: