Lexington Ranked as Most Sedentary U.S. City

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Although it's known for its beautiful horse farms and as the "Thoroughbred Capital of the World," Lexington, Kentucky has gained a new distinction -- as the most sedentary city in the United States.

Along with Indianapolis in Indiana and Jackson, Mississippi it ranked among the most exercise-phobic cities in the nation, according to a new ranking by Men's Health magazine.

Seattle, San Francisco and Oakland, California were the most physically active.

"What hurt Lexington most was the actual amount of activity, or exercise, people reported engaging in -- any physical activity at all, which was relatively low. And they did have higher rates of deaths from deep vein thrombosis (DVT) as well," said Matt Marion, deputy editor of Men's Health.

Apple granted patent on webpage scrolling behaviors, media granted patent on crazy

So Apple got yet another patent granted today, and now there’s yet another media firestorm over whether it means Cupertino will be able to sue every other phone manufacturer out of business, or at least out of the business of making multitouch devices. And, as usual, most of the hysteria is based on a fundamental misinterpretation of what the patent claims actually say, and what behaviors they actually cover in iOS. I don’t know why we keep repeating this sad cycle, but I do know that it’s always, always better for us to read the claims and try to figure them out for ourselves — and in this case, they’re actually pretty narrow.

China Now Apple App Store's Second Biggest Market

Apple iOS developers might want to start focusing their energies on building appsfor Asian countries. According to a Distimo report, China is now the number two market for the App Store in terms of total download volume.

Although the U.S. retains its title as the biggest market, Distimo's report shows that there has been meteoric growth in China, as well as the rest of Asia, over the past six months. However, there has been a decrease in download volume in certain Western countries, like France and Germany.

For example, South Korea has a very high download volume, given the country's small size. This is significant in light of the fact that South Korea's App Store lacks a gaming category, which Distimo previously found to be the largest single app classification in the U.S. and Europe.

Are Aircraft Carriers Slowly Becoming Obsolete?

For seven decades, they’ve been the ultimate symbol of American power. When conflicts break out across the globe, U.S. Navy aircraft carriers — fast, mobile and each packing more firepower than most countries’ entire air force — have been the first responders, more often than not. “When word of crisis breaks out in Washington, it’s no accident the first question that comes to everyone’s lips is: where is the nearest carrier?” Bill Clinton famously said.

But today’s 1,000-foot-long, nuclear-powered supercarriers and their air wings are expensive, costing up to $15 billion just to build. Plus, the latest anti-ship missiles could render them vulnerable to attack. It’s for those reasons that one influential Navy officer is proposing the Pentagon rethink its approach to building and deploying carriers.

Rain helps crews fighting east Texas wildfire

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – Heavy rains over east Texas early on Wednesday gave firefighters some relief in battling a devastating wildfire that has displaced 1,800 people and destroyed dozens of homes, authorities said on Wednesday.

Up to two inches of rain fell overnight soaking a swath of Texas from San Antonio to the Louisiana border -- only a temporary reprieve given the drought conditions in the area, but welcome nonetheless.

"We're very grateful for it, and these guys are hopefully going to get some rest today, and work on some equipment, and catch up," Richard Reuse of the Texas Forest Service told Reuters.

He said rainfall helped shrink the Dyer Mill Fire, which has been burning an hour outside Houston since Sunday, to 5,280 acres.

As NASA winds down, the Europeans start making their own shuttle

With just one flight to go, NASA is winding down the 30-year-old Space Shuttle program. The European Space Agency, on the other hand, is all systems go, with a green light to start building its Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV).
IXV is quite different from the NASA shuttle, using a lifting body design instead of wings, with some flaps and thrusters to provide control. Another change is that it lifts off for space on the nose of a small Vega rocket, and splashes down in the Pacific Ocean instead of landing on a runway. In that way it more closely resembles America's initial forays into space, such as the splash-down orbiter designs of the Mercury Program.

This bionic dog has four prosthetic legs

You can't keep a good dog down, at least not Naki'o, a pooch who lost all four paws at just five weeks old. But with the help of some fancy new prosthetics, he's bounding around like any other dog.

Mobile app use leaving Web in its dust for the first time

A new report claims consumers are now spending more minutes using mobile apps than surfing the Web. Is this the beginning of the end for the Web?
According to a report by Flurry, consumers in the U.S. now spend nine percent more time with mobile apps than browsing the full Web on desktops and mobile devices. Culled from stats and data on comScore and Alexa, Flurry was able to conclude that this month, users spent 81 minutes in mobile apps versus 74 minutes on the Web.
Here's the breakdown comparison:

This $300 iPhone case had better come with an iPhone in it

There are not a lot of reasons for someone to pay $300 for an iPhone case. Perhaps it is made of $500 worth of gold and you are going to melt it down, or perhaps you are in some sort of Brewster's Millions situation where you need to spend a crazy amount of money in a short amount of time. Maybe it hides the map to a buried treasure. But I'm not finding many excuses for this one.
The Case-Mate Titanium iPhone 4 case is made out of, yes, Titanium. It "combines detailed precision work with premium materials by physically reframing the iPhone with a genuine titanium edge." OK. You also need to screw it onto your iPhone, so you know it's legit.
Did I mention the price? Yes? Let me mention it again: $300, or the price of an iPhone when bought on contract. I should probably hedge here or something, but you know what, I'm not going to. If you buy this, you are an idiot. Bing bang boom.
Case-Mate via Ubergizmo

Oil dives to 4-month low as emergency stocks unleashed

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices tumbled 5 percent on Thursday after the world's consumer nations banded together to aid the global economy by releasing emergency oil reserves for the third time ever.

Oil touched its lowest since February, before civil war halted Libya's supplies, after the International Energy Agency said it would inject 60 million barrels of government-held stocks in the global market, immediately increasing world supply by some 2.5 percent for the next month.

The move shocked traders who had been expecting the IEA to give top exporter Saudi Arabia more time to make up for the supply shortfall following OPEC's failed meeting on June 8, when other members blocked Gulf efforts to hike output.

FBI nabs ruthless Boston mob boss in California

BOSTON (AP) — Mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger was captured near Los Angeles after 16 years on the run that embarrassed the FBI and exposed the bureau's corrupt relationship with its underworld informants.

After an international manhunt, the FBI finally caught the 81-year-old Bulger at an apartment in Santa Monica along with longtime girlfriend Catherine Greig on Wednesday, just days after the government launched a publicity campaign to locate the fugitive crime boss by circulating pictures of Greig on daytime TV and on billboards, the FBI said.

The arrest was based on a tip from the campaign, the FBI said.

The FBI deemed the tip promising and began surveillance on the apartment complex just after 4 p.m. on Wednesday, federal officials said. They said agents soon spotted Bulger and Greig, and using a ruse they wouldn't explain, lured Bulger out of his apartment. They then arrested him without incident, and then arrested Greig, officials said.

U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz said the pair were using the aliases Charles and Carol Gasko.

10 real flying saucer designs that were made here on Earth

Flying saucers are generally associated with UFOs, with that "U" in there standing for "unidentified." But the saucer shape isn't just limited to aliens from outer space: there are a fair number of entirely identified terrestrial aircraft that utilize a more or less circular and saucery design.
We've got a list of ten flying saucers for you, each of which made it far enough out of someone's imagination that at the very least a proof of concept was constructed. No blurry pictures that may or may-not-be-streetlights here: these are all real designs that actually existed.

 Click Image to Enlarge

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1. Couzinet RC360 Aerodyne Frenchman René Couzinet designed this flying saucer with two counter-rotating discs that spun around the perimeter of the craft. Each disc had 50 airfoil vanes to provide lift and control. The pilot sat under the glass bubble in the middle, and six turbojet engines embedded in the body provided the lifting power while another engine underneath was for forward thrust. (Image 1 of 2) PHOTOS

Radical new propulsion system could render helicopters obsolete

It may look sort of like a lawnmower, but this aircraft from an Austrian research company uses rapidly spinning cylinders with airfoils inside to hover and maneuver just like a helicopter.
IAT21's D-Dalus vehicle doesn't look like it should be able to fly at all, but its designers say that it's poised to take over for the helicopter, offering all the same vertical take-off, hovering, and maneuverability advantages without the disadvantages of having giant spinning rotor blades to watch out for.

After doomsday vision, man builds full-sized, seaworthy Noah's Ark

"I dreamed that a part of Holland was flooded," Dutch-native Johan Huibers said in an interview with Today. "The next day, I get the idea to build an ark." That Huibers did — this brick-like behemoth of a boat is "Johan's Ark."
The almost-finished vessel you see pictured above is actually Huibers' second whack at making an ark of his own. The first was a half-sized replica, though this time the Dutch construction company director decided to go whole hog. It's even seaworthy, and Huibers plans for his ark to float along the Thames in London ahead of the 2012 Olympics.

Olivia Wilde Looks Fab Without Makeup

Olivia Wilde is effortlessy gorgeous, even sans make-up! Take a look at the natural beauty as she leaves Chateau Marmont and is all smiles for photographers as they snap away. Plus, Mariah Careygives us a peek at her baby girl, Monroe, and Kate Middleton shows off her military chic style.

Intel Launches 50 Core Supercomputing Co-Processor, Nvidia Takes Notice

Intel (INTC) recently unveiled plans to commercialize its Many Integrated Core (MIC) architecture in the high-performance computing space -- dedicated supercomputers primarily used by governments and research facilities. The announcement came at the International Supercomputing Conference, where Kirk Saugen, a vice president and general manager of the Data Center Group, outlined goals to reach exaflop (quintillion computer operations per second) performance by the end of the decade, more than 100 times faster than today's top machines.

MIC is an offspring of Intel's failed Larrabee GPU initiative, an ambitious hybrid software/hardware graphics processing unit retired in late 2009. The silicon developed as part of that project is now a multi-core math co-processor well suited for demanding floating point tasks.

7 sci-fi book-to-film adaptations that TOTALLY changed the ending

It's okay for a film to modify a book a little for the sake of the medium. Heck, if they madeA Tale of Two Cities into a movie today we'd expect at least 10 explosions and a hostage standoff. But in the case of some sci-fi films, the book's ending was completely thrown out in favor of a new plot twist.

We took a look back at the most radical book-to-film ending changes, and determined if they were better or worse than the original conclusion. LINK

Researchers getting closer to 'everlasting battery'

Smartphones, tablets, and other devices have advanced significantly in power and functionality during the last decade, yet one draining issue remains: battery life.

Researchers from RMIT University in Melbourne and Australian National University have made a crucial advancement in the quest to create a perpetual battery.

In a report published in the June 21 issue of Advanced Functional Materials, the group--led by Arnan Mitchell, with assistance from Madhu Bhaskaran, Sharath Sriram and Simon Ruffell--demonstrates how applying mechanical pressure to thin piezoelectric film can generate electricity for a wide range of portable electronics.

FakeTV: Fool burglars into thinking you're at home

There's a famous Sherlock Holmes story in which Holmes uses a wax bust and some clever lighting to make it look like he's at home.

For $35 and a lot less effort, you can pull your own fast one with the FakeTV, a gadget designed to mimic the light from a television set.

The FakeTV comes with a built-in light sensor and timer. It uses LEDs to output light equivalent to a 27-inch HDTV. The pattern of light and color shifts to make it seem like you're at home and glued to the latest episode of "The Bachelorette."

The idea is to deter burglars who are prowling around your neighborhood after dark, even when you're away on a business trip or out on the town for the night. It won't stop a truly determined thief, but it could discourage a casual robber.

OpenWatch apps enable users to spy on the police

Big Brother is watching you — but now, with a new set of apps from citizens group OpenWatch, you can spy on that nosy punk right back.

Started by 23-year-old Boston University graduate and self-described “hacker” Rich Jones, OpenWatch describes itself as “a participatory citizen media project aiming to provide documentary evidence of uses and abuses of power.” To achieve this goal, Jones created two apps, CopRecorder and OpenWatch.

Both apps can secretly record audio, presumably to be used in a confrontation with an authority figure. That recording can then be anonymously uploaded to the OpenWatch servers, directly from the app. From there, Jones “analyzes” the recording to see if it contains any damning evidence. He also scrubs the recording of any information that could be used to identify the person who made the recording. The OpenWatch app can also record video, and Jones goes through the same process with those clips.

TOWER HAS FLOATING, ZEPPELIN-LIKE ELEVATORS

The third largest city in Taiwan, Taichung, will soon have a landmark building that looks like no structure ever built. The "Floating Observatories," designed by a team from Romania-based Dorin Stefan Birou Arhitectura (DSBA), Upgrade.Studio and Mihai Cracium, is a 1,000-foot tower with large leaf-shaped observatories that float up and down the exterior of the building. Each observatory, which will be made from strong, lightweight material, will be able to carry 80 people at a time.

Conan O'Brien rips Apple's Final Cut Pro X on show

Late-night talk show host Conan O'Brien took time out of his show Thursday to take a crack at Apple's latest video-editing software, which the company released on Tuesday.

"Apple just released a new version of their famous editing software Final Cut Pro, but apparently it's so different from the last version of Final Cut, video and film editors all over Hollywood are having a hard time adjusting to it," O'Brien said. "Well our editors here at 'Conan' are some of the best in the business. They actually like the new software, in fact they prepared this video statement voicing their support for the new Final Cut Pro."

TRANSPARENT CEMENT LETS IN LIGHT

Not many people would use the word "transparent" to describe cement. But transparent cement made its debut at theItalian Pavilion during the World Expo last year in Shanghai, and its qualities are pretty remarkable.

The complete process has not been revealed by manufacturer Italcementi, but the technology is based on a matrix of cement embedded with resins that are designed to allow a certain amount of light through without compromising the material's integrity.

8 crazy movie theater gimmicks much wilder (and lamer) than 3-D

Love it or loathe it, 3-D in movies is here to stay, because Hollywood needs to attract warm bodies to the seats and tear folks away from their videogame consoles and Facebook profiles. But there's nothing new about intriguing cinema gimmicks.

With Michael Bay's recent imperial declaration for theater owners to crank up the wattage on 3-D projection bulbs for Transformers 3, let's take a look back at other goofy presentation ideas of yesteryear. Since studios are trying to entice patrons with every conjurer's trick in the book to squeeze maximum euros and yen from a film's release, maybe one of these eight kooky promotional novelties could be resurrected. (Or not.)

TSUNAMI-PROOF BUILDINGS GAINING GROUND

Geotechnical engineer Yumei Wang, who works for Oregon state, warns that it's only a matter of timebefore a tsunami hits the Pacific Northwest. Yikes. I mean, YIKES!!! Fortunately for the vulnerable populace, Wang has a plan.

She proposes that low-lying communities collaborate to construct what she calls "tsunami evacuation buildings." I think "post-wave outposts" sounds better, but that's just me. Such a building would be made from reinforced concrete and have an 18-foot first floor, wide columns connected to a deep pile foundation, a wide external stairwell, and seawalls along the exterior to dissipate waves. An open plan would allow the building to have other daily uses.

Marvel Comics KILLS Peter Parker (but Spider-Man will live on)

Oh my God! They killed Spidey! It's true. More than 10 years ago, writer Brian Michael Bendis brought Ultimate Spider-Man into the world, and today he's taken him out. According to Bendis, this isn't temporary, either. Is there a future for a Spider-Man without Peter Parker?

LulzSec closes up shop, leaks 4G LTE iPhone and iPad testing info

Well this is an interesting turn of events, isn't it? After terrorizing the Internet for 50 days, the hacker group known as LulzSec abruptly decided to call it quits, but not before dropping a huge booty of files that include hints AT&T is testing 4G LTE iPads and iPhones.

Final Cut Pro X: Apple's biggest mistake in years?

It isn't like Apple to stumble. The company's recent history is filled with one hit after the next, from the trusty iPod to the pioneering iPhone. Hell, even the company's "gambles" such as the MacBook Air or iPad have landed on solid ground. Final Cut Pro X, similarly, should have been a sure thing. It's as much the widely used tool to the professional video editing world as Photoshop is to graphic designers, or Excel is to, uh, whoever is still making spreadsheets out there.

So what happened, and why does Apple now appear to be not stumbling, but tumblingdown a steep, muddy, prickly slope in the wake of the software's release? Read on to to find out why Final Cut Pro X is the program — nay, the app — that launched a thousand complaints.

DARPA completes XC2V crowd-sourced vehicle prototype

Back in May, we showed you the winner of DARPA's XC2V crowd-sourced military vehicle competition, which supposedly was going to get turned into a fully functional prototype by June. Well, it's June, and in a remarkably non-governmental display of punctuality, they've actually gone and built the thing.

Capcom tries to kill used video game sales with the one-save game

Buying used video games is great for gamers who don't want to pay full price for the latest hits. You know who doesn't like used video games? Game publishers. In a very sad twist, Capcom's fighting back against the second-hand game market with a game that can only support one save file — for life.

It's been confirmed that Resident Evil: Mercenaries 3D for the Nintendo 3DS is a game that once finished, cannot be reset for complete replay. According to both the U.S. and U.K. game's instruction manual "saved data on this software cannot be reset."

Latest Batmobile unveiled by F1 designer Gordon Murray

Most of the Batmobiles the Dark Knight drives are crazy flights of fancy that could never exist in real life, so it's interesting that the Batman people went to a legendary designer of real race cars for the latest in Batmobile technology.

Military planes take center stage in Paris (photos)

PHOTOS

Initial Quality of New 2011 Models "Declined Considerably," Cautions New Study

New car shoppers will find some good news and bad in the latest Initial Quality Study: the quality of all-new 2011 models “declined considerably”, but the quality of carryover products was better than ever, according to from Power and Associates.

Japanese automakers, led by Toyota’s Lexusluxury brand, dominated this year’s Initial Quality Study, or IQS, which measures problems with new vehicles during the first 90 days of ownership. Honda jumped to second in the annual survey, but the biggest improvement was posted by perennial quality laggard Land Rover.
A variety of issues led to the unexpectedly poor performance of all-new 2011 models – the first time since 2006 that newly-launched products haven’t improved in quality compared to the vehicles they replaced.  The most notable were engine/transmission problems, according to Power Vice President David Sargent.  But there were also significant issues with the latest audio/entertainment and navigation systems.

Why the FTC Is Looking into Google

The Federal Trade Commission's rumored anti-trust investigation into Google threatens to be "the biggest federal inquiry" into the search giant to date. Is this a U.S. v. Microsoft redux? The Wall Street Journal thinks so. "Google’s search engine stature in today’s Internet age is not dissimilar to Microsoft’s control of the Windows operating system. Both companies controlled technology that other players in the field can’t do without." So what aspects of Google's business are going to come under scrutiny? Here's what experts are pointing to.

Related: Before and After: Microsoft Now Attacking Google as a Monopoly

Mobster's run almost textbook case of evasion

Boston mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger did almost everything right in evading capture for 16 years.

The notorious mobster's run from the law was remarkable for its longevity, which was due mainly to the unremarkable new identity he built for himself while on the lam.

He adopted an unassuming lifestyle, paid for everything with cash, didn't drive a car, limited his social contact to small talk and adhered to the code of silence from the mob life he left behind. When federal agents tracked him to his lair this week, it was only after targeting the one part of his past that Bulger didn't leave behind — his longtime girlfriend, Catherine Greig.

By all accounts, the two did little to ever arouse suspicion, posing as two retirees holed up in a bland white 1970s apartment complex in Santa Monica amid other buildings of the same era.

British teen hacker suspect granted bail

LONDON (Reuters) - A British teenager accused of attempting to hack the website of a national law enforcement agency and two music industry bodies was released on bail on Monday on the condition he does not try to access the internet.

Ryan Cleary, 19, is charged with attacking the website of theSerious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and sites owned by theBritish Phonographic Industry and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.

Cleary, who was arrested last week as part of a joint investigation by London police and the U.S. FBI into recent attacks on high-profile websites, was given bail after an unsuccessful appeal by prosecutors at London's Southwark Crown Court.

Next Mazda rotary engine to replace spark plugs with ... Lasers?

The auto industry has yet to make good on its promise of flying cars, butMazda engineers are said to be working on a future car technology that could actually be on the road by 2013.

It’s no secret that Mazda is readying the next-generation of its rotary engine – known internally as the 16X – but the Japanese automaker has largely kept the details of that project under wraps. However, a new report has revealed the 16X will utilize a “special kind of ignition system.”

The $25k Ferrari Office Chair

What can you do with $25K? Well, you could buy the recently launched Mini Coupe or an entry level Chevrolet Camaro. Then again, you could just pay an insane amount of money for an office chair that carries the Ferrari logo. Yep,Ferrari is now doing office chairs for $25K and people would pay that much just for a logo.