The Wadia Intuition 01 PowerDAC: American roots with Italian style ...

When Italian private equity firm Quadrivio SGR went shopping a few years ago, it wasn?t clear to everyone why they were acquiring some of the biggest names in audio during a recession. The new parent holding company, Fine Sounds SpA, which is based in Milan , now owns Audio Research Corp., Sonus Faber, Sumiko, McIntosh Labs, and Wadia Digital ? some of the biggest names in high-end audio.

Rather than gut the assets, Fine Sounds SpA infused these five stalwarts with cash, and more importantly, human capital. Italian designers and American engineers met halfway (hope they had a boat) and there has been nothing but praise for the quality of the products and even the pricing which, considering the brands, has remained fairly stable.?

Sonus Faber designer, Livio Cucuzza, who has designed some of the most beautiful loudspeakers in the world, went to work with his U.S. counterparts, and the first child of this new marriage, the Intuition 01 PowerDAC, has everyone feeling that twinkle up and down their legs.

Wadia, which is based in Saline, Michigan, has been cranking out some of the best digital products in the world under the steady hand of John Schaffer for many years. Schaffer, unlike many in the high-end world of audio refusing to see the apple about to crush the orchard, had an ?intuition? from the very beginning about the significance of the iPod and how it would change digital audio forever.?

Wadia understood that a business model dependent on selling $10,000 CD players and DACs was never going to be sustainable in the long run. So when Schaffer brought the first 170i transport to a CES show ? which was designed to turn your iPod into a music server ? people began getting nervous. His instincts were correct, and the subsequent 171i transport ($600), 151 PowerDAC, and 121 decoding computer ($1,300) were home runs and continue to sell like crazy to this day.

If you use an iPod as your main source, you have never really heard just how good it can sound unless you connect it to an audio system using a high-end component like that of Wadia?s. While not inexpensive, this gear is capable of transforming your entire system.?

The Intuition 01 is an extension of the Wadia PowerDAC concept, but in a very sleek-looking chassis, and with far more sophisticated circuitry. The Intuition 01 combines a 350 watts-per-channel Class D+ power amplifier, 32-bit AD/DA digital preamplifier, and a 32/384 DSD-capable USB DAC. There are 6 digital inputs (2 Coax S/PDIF, 1 AES/EBU, 2 Wdialink/I2S, and 1 Toslink) and two analog RCA inputs, which means that you can connect a turntable and analog tuner as well.

The design is one of the most gorgeous looking pieces of industrial design to come out of the audio industry in years, and is very light. The entire package weighs less than thirteen pounds, and sounds utterly remarkable. Connect it to a great pair of loudspeakers like the KEF LS50s, Dynaudio Focus 260s, or Sonus Faber Venere 3.0s and you will have as good an audio system as you will ever need.

While not inexpensive at $8,000 (depending on finish choices of silver, anodized black, anodized brushed chrome, nickel), the Intuition 01 may be the more forward-thinking one-box solutions to ever come out of the industry, and certainly utilizes some of the most sophisticated digital converters available.

A comparable collection of components of this quality could easily run you $15,000 or more, and that doesn?t even include the loudspeakers.

It?s pretty clear from the Intuition 01 that Fine Sounds SpA knew exactly what it was getting when it brought Wadia Digital into the fold: a wolverine tired of wearing flannel, but utterly dashing in the finest Italian wool.

Source: http://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/forza-michigan-the-wadia-intuition-01-powerdac/

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Worried about 'sextortion'? FBI shares cautionary tale

Suzanne Choney , NBC News ? ? ? 11 hrs.

The FBI is urging computer users ? young teens and parents of those teens ? to take precautions to help prevent becoming victims of "sextortion," where criminals use social networks to gain users' trust, convincing them to send lewd or pornographic photos or videos, then threatening to share them widely if more photos aren't sent.

In one recent case, a 13-year-old girl pleaded with a man who had initially gained her trust that she did not want to take her shirt off in front of a webcam, telling the extortionist she had "a life, please do not ruin it," the FBI said in a release. But eventually, stricken with fear, the teen gave into his demands.

That man, Christopher Patrick Gunn, of Montgomery, Ala., was sentenced last month to 35 years in prison for producing child pornography through his massive online sextortion scheme, the FBI said.

For more than two years, he gained the trust of girls in a half-dozen states and in Ireland by using two ruses. One was the "new kid" approach. He created a fake Facebook profile, and posted in messages to the girls that he was new in the area and looking to make friends, said the FBI. "Once he established a level of trust, he began making demands."

In the second ruse, he pretended to be Justin Bieber on various video chat services, including Skype. (Gunn, in his 30s, does not look like the teen heartthrob, so he may have only been using text chat on the services.) Once Gunn convinced the teens he was Bieber, the FBI says, "he offered them free concert tickets or backstage passes in exchange for topless photos or webcam videos."

With either ploy, Gunn "got to know everything about the girls ? their friends? names, their schools, their parents? names ? it was like a script," Erik Doell, a special agent in the FBI?s Montgomery office who investigated the case, said in the release. "Once he got a picture, the girls would just go along with it. They would do whatever they could to keep their reputations intact."

Frighteningly, the Gunn case is hardly an isolated one.

Just last week, the FBI arrested a 27-year-old Los Angeles-area man who they say tricked women into posing nude on Skype's video chat service. The man, Karen "Gary" Kazaryan, is believed to have hacked into hundreds of women's Facebook accounts, looking at them for naked pictures. He then took on the persona of some of the women and persuaded their friends to send naked photos of themselves or appear nude on Skype, the U.S. Attorney's office said in a statement.

Also last week, an Indiana man, Richard Finkbiner, agreed to plead guilty to charges that he tricked more than a dozen teens into stripping or performing sexual acts via webcam, then using recordings of the sessions to coerce them into making even more explicit videos. He faces a sentence of 30 to 50 years in prison. (NBC News' Alex Johnson wrote about this case in 2012.)

The FBI has issued a list of "precautions" users should take when on the Internet, but really, they come off as baseline safety tips for those who aren't familiar with the Internet:

• Cover your webcam when you're not using it.
• Turn off your computer when you're not using it.
• Don't assume your anti-virus software will be a guarantee against a digital intruder.
• Don't open attachments without checking, first-hand, that they were sent to you from someone you know. "If you receive a message with an attachment from your mother at 3 a.m., maybe the message is not really from your mother," the FBI says, urging that teens be more suspicious online.
• Finally, if your computer has been compromised, or if you are receiving extortion threats, "don't be afraid" to talk to your parents or to police, the agency says.

Sextortion isn't just about letting a criminal get into your computer; it's about letting them get into your head. The first line of defense is not falling prey to social engineering. If someone has gained your trust without you really checking them out, no amount of computer security will keep them out.

And when that trust turns to fear, these criminals can get anything they want. Not letting them in ? psychologically, as well as digitally ? can make a huge difference in what happens to a young person's life.

Check out Technology, GadgetBox, DigitalLife and InGame on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/worried-about-sextortion-fbi-shares-cautionary-tale-1B8287395

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Christianity May Alter Animal Life in Amazon

Religious and cultural norms often dictate which animals should be protected, eaten or avoided at all costs. Islam prohibits consuming pork; cows are considered sacred by Hindus; and most Americans squirm at the idea of eating a horse. These varying taboos and customs can change the faunal landscape around certain groups of people.

Researchers from Stanford University investigated how three Christian influences ? evangelical, Sabbatarian?and Roman Catholic/Anglican ? may have altered animal treatment among converted indigenous communities in the Amazon. It turns out that missionaries might not only be changing hearts and minds in the region, but also biodiversity, the researchers say.

Though people of the Makushi?and?Wapishana tribes have traditionally believed that consuming?lowland?tapir meat can make them sick, many of them eat the animal anyway, trusting that their shamans will cure the potential illness. But people in the tribes who converted to one of the Sabbatarian faiths, such as such as Seventh-Day Adventism, and strongly rejected shamanism were much less likely to eat tapir, because their new religion made doing so taboo, the researchers found in their survey of 9,900 individuals in the Amazon. [The Aw?: Faces of a Threatened Tribe]

While the new religions might mean fewer tapirs are killed, getting rid of shamanism, especially among evangelical and?Sabbatarian?groups, seems to have hit animals that once enjoyed protection under the indigenous leaders, the researchers say. Shamans often guarded and discouraged hunting in areas of land thought to be swarming with powerful spiritual entities.

"Based on field observations, I think that the removal of shamans has translated into more killing of animals," Jos? Fragoso, a scientist at Stanford University, said in a statement. "Our perception is that they are killing more animals that are not taboo, such as pigs, and also that they are making kills in the holy areas, which were previously off-limits."

Fragoso?and his colleagues, whose research is funded by the National Science Foundation, plan to investigate whether some animals are being killed in greater numbers, according to Stanford University. Their most recent findings were published last year in the journal Human Ecology.

Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience. We're also on Facebook?& Google+.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/christianity-may-alter-animal-life-amazon-150150051.html

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Jobless claims drop, hinting at modest hiring gains

NBC News staff and wire reports ? ? ? 4 hrs.

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits dropped in the latest week, Labor Department data showed Thursday, suggesting that the labor market continues to heal, but very slowly.

The Labor Department reported that seasonally-adjusted initial claims dropped 5,000 to 366,000 in the week ended Feb. 2. The four-week moving average, considered a more accurate reading of labor market conditions because it smooths out rough spots in the data, dropped 2,250 to 350,500.

The department also said that productivity slipped in the fourth quarter by the largest amount since the first quarter of 2012, but most of that was due to temporary factors. It said productivity fell by an annual rate of 2 percent versus a rise of 3.2 percent in the third quarter.

Productivity is expected to rebound in the current period because analysts believe weak output during the fourth quarter was partially due to temporary factors like an unusually sharp decline in government spending on the military.

Data last week showed output in the overall economy contracted 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter, and analysts expect gross domestic product to return to growth early this year.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economywatch/jobless-claims-drop-hinting-modest-hiring-gains-1B8285986

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Selectpath meshes benefits, HR needs - London Free Press

Selectpath Benefits has bought Carswell Partners in a move the London company says makes it a one-stop shop for workplace benefits and human resources needs.

Selectpath, which offers financial services and benefits, and Carswell, a human resources firm, complement one another nicely, said Gordon Hart, Selectpath president.

?Now we can deliver total end-to-end solutions to employers without them having different providers,? said Hart. ?This is something we have been contemplating for a while, and it makes an awful lot of sense.?

The companies have a history of referring business to each other, and when Bill and Barb Carswell wanted to sell, Selectpath was a natural fit.

?It became an opportunity and we worked out the details,? Hart said. ?They are a complete human resources firm, doing coaching, outplacement, as well as other human resources services and we do benefits and financial planning ? we overlap.?

Both businesses also specialize in small- to medium-sized clients.

Selectpath has been in business since 1994 and has 34 employees. Carswell has been in business since 1990 and employs six workers who will join the Selectpath office on Richmond St.

Carswell will retain its name and function separately with Terry Gillis as president.

Selectpath also has a Sarnia office.

norman.debono@sunmedia.ca

Source: http://www.lfpress.com/2013/02/06/selectpath-meshes-benefits-hr-needs

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Bieber is youngest artist with five No. 1 albums

By Piya Sinha-Roy, Reuters

Published at 1:55 p.m. ET: LOS ANGELES -- Canadian pop star Justin Bieber became the youngest artist to land five chart-topping albums in the United States on Wednesday when his latest record, "Believe Acoustic," debuted atop the Billboard 200 album chart.

"Believe Acoustic," which features stripped down versions of Bieber's songs from his fourth No. 1 album, "Believe," released last June, as well as three new songs, sold 211,000 copies in its first week according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan.

Frazer Harrison / Getty Images

The album also topped iTunes downloads charts in 63 countries, and became a hot topic on social media platforms as the singer's 34 million-strong followers on Twitter raced to purchase the record as soon as it was released.

Bieber was previously tied with former Disney star Miley Cyrus with four chart-topping albums before turning 19, and he is only one of nine artists in Billboard history to have a No. 1 album for four consecutive years.

Bieber's 19th birthday is March 1.

The singer, who failed to pick up a Grammy nomination this year despite having a top-selling album and sold-out world tour in 2012, will be hosting and performing on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" this week, the night before the Grammy awards.

Four new albums debuted in the top five of the Billboard 200 chart this week, led by "Believe Acoustic."

Bieber informs Fallon: 'Chuck Norris is my father'

Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli's 14th studio album, "Passione," landed at No. 2 with sales of 93,000, while Canadian sister duo Tegan & Sara notched No. 3 with their seventh studio album, "Heartthrob," selling 49,000 copies.

R&B singer Charlie Wilson came in at No. 4 with his latest record, "Love, Charlie," selling 44,000 copies in its first week.

Singer Beyonce saw a boost in sales following her widely praised performance at the Super Bowl in New Orleans on Sunday, which was watched by more than 108 million people.

For the week ending Sunday, Feb. 2, digital sales of Beyonce's songs "Halo," "Crazy In Love" and "Single Ladies" saw the biggest bumps. There were 19,000 digital copies of "Halo" sold, a 338 percent increase from the previous week.

The new Destiny's Child compilation album, "Love Songs," didn't see as big a bump, selling under 6,000 copies last week.

Source: http://entertainment.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/06/16871402-justin-bieber-becomes-youngest-artist-with-five-no-1-albums?lite

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NSF Director Subra Suresh to Step Down

Suresh championed interdisciplinary research and international collaborations during his fewer than three years on the job. He is leaving NSF at a critical juncture, when all government agencies are facing mandatory, across-the-board cuts

By Helen Shen and Nature magazine

Subra Suresh will leave the NSF less than halfway through his six-year term. Image: NSF

From Nature magazine

The US National Science Foundation (NSF) director Subra Suresh on 5 February announced his resignation in a letter to agency staff, cutting short a six-year term after less than three years. He said he would leave the basic research agency in late March, in order to become president of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

?In a way, I?m not surprised,? says Samuel Rankin, chair of the Coalition for National Science Funding, an advocacy group based in Washington DC. Rankin called the university job ?a once in a lifetime opportunity? for Suresh.

During his brief tenure, Suresh became a champion for interdisciplinary research and international collaborations, says Rankin. In January, the director kicked off Graduate Research Opportunities Worldwide (GROW), a programme to link graduate research fellows with labs around the world. And in 2011, he pushed to establish the Innovation Corps programme, which encourages scientists to develop business plans to commercialize NSF-funded research (See ?Scientists, meet capitalists?).?

But Suresh is leaving the NSF at a critical juncture, when all government agencies are facing mandatory, across-the-board cuts. On 5 February, President Barack Obama called for Congress to seek a short-term budget solution to avert the looming cuts, which on 1 March would begin to slash the NSF budget by 5.1%. ?He came here in the middle of all this budget cutting,? says Rankin. ?Whoever is going to be in charge is going to have to worry about that.?

A former dean of engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Suresh joined the NSF in June 2010 as the federal government began to wean itself off of a $3 billion economic stimulus package and the current budget crisis started to take shape. In his farewell missive, Suresh praised the agency?s achievements through ?the turbulent times of the recent past?.

Suresh?s announcement came as a surprise to Arthur Bienenstock, a photon scientist at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, and a member of the National Science Board, which oversees the NSF. ?I had no inkling of it and I was looking forward to his continued leadership of the foundation.?

This article is reproduced with permission from the magazine Nature. The article was first published on February 5, 2013.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=f0b9598cc9596027fc12ce8e68e1fcfe

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