Crowds of people shop at Myeongdong, a main shopping street in Seoul, amid a tense situation over North Korea's threat of war, on Sunday.
By Jim Maceda, Correspondent, NBC News
SEOUL, South Korea ? As the war drums keep beating on the Korean Peninsula, one would expect to see anxiety on the streets of Seoul, where 10 million people live just 30 miles from 700,000 North Korean soldiers and well within range of thousands of heavily dug-in artillery pieces.?
Instead, people in South Korea's capital have been calmly going about their business. No boarding up of homes or work places. No distribution of emergency drugs or gas masks. Restaurants and hotels are full. The city is bustling.
Don?t these people know that hundreds ? or even thousands ? could die if the North launches a full-scale attack, as it has threatened to do?
?It?s postive thinking,? explained Kwak Keumjoo, a professor of psychology at the Seoul National University. ?If you keep thinking about fear and threats, life wouldn?t be worth it. So people here have a defense mechanism. They tell themselves, ?OK, it will be all right?, or ?Somebody will help us,? or ?I don?t believe it?s really going to happen.??
Keumjoo said it?s not as much a state of denial as a numbness, brought about by living under a constant threat, 60 years after the bloody Korean War ended, not with a peace treaty, but with an open-ended cease-fire.
Claiming they will soon be engaged in a war with South Korea, North Korean officials are advising foreigners to leave the region. Pyongyang is expected to carry out a show of force with a missile that will land in the ocean. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
To survive, Seoulites rarely talk about the North. They bury their worry in the deep recesses of their minds and put their faith in their own system.
?South Koreans have the view that justice and democracy will always win out,? said Keumjoo.
?We?re not worried about the war? Yoo-Lim, In-Young and Na-Young are all sophomores at Seoul?s Ewha University. During a recent lunch break, none of them was gazing at the horizon, looking for a mushroom cloud.
?We read the papers, listen to the radio, go online,? said Yoo-lim. ?And we?re not worried about the war.?
Why is she so calm when the media has reached a fever pitch? ?Repetitive learning,? she replied. ?The north has done this over and over.?
But what about fire drills? Getting under desks? Bracing under bunkers?
?No, there?s nothing like that,? said Na-Young in between giggles. ?We?re just used to North Korean threats from time to time.?
That?s not to say Seoul lives in a fantasy world.
Jim Maceda / NBC News
An entrance to one of Seoul's many underground malls that also functions as a temporary shelter.
Shopping mall bunkers Beneath its downtown streets, a maze of malls and passageways interconnect into one of the world?s largest underground shelters, big enough, officials say, to protect 2 million citizens from any potentially withering pounding by North Korea?s heavy conventional weapons ? but not a nuclear attack.
Ironically, the malls are converted underground bunkers left derelict after the Korean War. Today, many buildings here have basement parking lots that descend six or seven levels, and serve as temporary shelters as well.
On the 15th of most months, sirens announce the beginning of a 15-minute civil drill, where drivers are supposed to pull their vehicles over to the curb and head for the closest shelter, clearing the streets.
But, with no real alert taking place now for some 60 years, Seoulites have understandably become complacent. Drivers stay in their vehicles; pedestrians stop and keep chatting.
?If there was an attack I wouldn?t know where to go,? Julie Yoo, a freelance journalist, admitted. ?
?The Korean men call their reserve units, government officials and bureaucrats have their specially designated shelters, but Korean women, like myself, have no option but to stay at home and watch TV for guidance.?
In fact, if there ever was a nuclear attack here, Seoul has only one bunker where you might survive that kind of attack ? under the Presidential Palace.
Jim Maceda / NBC News
One of Seoul's many underground malls which also functions as a temporary shelter.
?But I?m not worried,? said Yoo. ?It?ll never happen!?
?We have to study!? In towns along the border, news reports speak of some preparations, like pamphlets distributed to locals, advising them of what signs to look for ? sudden thick clouds or large numbers of birds or fish mysteriously dying.
But only 30 miles away, In-Young has anything but war signals on her mind.
?No one is saying ?Oh there?s gonna be a war, we?re all gonna die!,?? she blurted out. ?No, all our friends care about are exams coming up in two weeks ? we have to study!?
Jim Maceda is an NBC News foreign correspondent based in London, currently on assignment in Seoul, South Korea.
Related links:
Google + Hangout with Richard Engel on North Korea tensions
North Korea warns foreigners to leave South
Full North Korea coverage from NBC News
Who is North Korea's secretive leader? Here is what we know
North Korea's overseas apologists dismiss 'propaganda'
TOKYO (Reuters) - The yen fell to fresh multi-year lows and Japanese stocks touched near five-year highs on Tuesday as effects of the Bank of Japan's aggressive reflationary campaign reverberated through markets, while Asian equities rose on solid U.S. earnings.
European markets were likely to rise, with financial spreadbetters predicting London's FTSE 100, Paris's CAC-40 and Frankfurt's DAX to open as much as 0.7 percent higher. U.S. stock futures were up 0.1 percent, suggesting a firm Wall Street open.
The BOJ's bold measures sent Japanese government bond yields down sharply across the curve, prompting a global drive in search of higher-yielding assets and pushing sovereign bond yields lower in the United States and the euro zone.
Some currency traders attributed the Thai baht's surge to a 16-year high against the dollar to investors borrowing yen cheaply to invest in higher-yielding assets in Thailand.
Benign Chinese inflation data also boosted sentiment as it kept hopes that an expansive monetary stimulus will stay in place to support the world's second-largest economy, but escalating tensions in the Korean peninsula took a toll on South Korean shares and its currency.
The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1 percent, led by Australian shares which gained 1.4 percent on rises in blue chip financials and miners.
"It's hard to say which direction the market will go but I think near term the biggest catalysts will be the results from the U.S. earnings season," said Haris Khaliqi, research analyst at Foster Stockbroking.
Alcoa Inc, the largest U.S. aluminium producer, kicked off U.S. earnings on Monday, reporting an increase in quarterly profit on Monday and easing concerns about corporate results in the first three months of 2013.
South Korean markets were weighed by concerns over North Korea, with Seoul shares capped after a fall and the South Korean won briefly dipping to a fresh 8-month low of 1,145.3 per dollar earlier.
North Korea suspended its sole remaining major project with the South on Monday, the Kaesong industrial park, amid speculation that it will take some sort of provocative action - another nuclear weapons test or missile launch.
China's annual consumer inflation eased to 2.1 percent in March from February's 3.2 percent while producer price deflation deepened, data showed on Tuesday.
"The lower inflation will greatly ease investors' concerns that policymakers would begin to tighten monetary conditions," said Haibin Zhu, chief China economist at JPMorgan Chase in Hong Kong.
The Australian dollar rose to a high of $1.0448 from around $1.0424, before drifting back. Australian assets are sensitive to economic indicators out of China, as it is Australia's largest export destination.
JAPAN STILL LEADS
The yen was expected to stay under pressure, while Japanese shares were seen garnering sustained support from the unprecedented scale of the stimulus unveiled late last week by the new BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda.
Japan's Nikkei stock average index struck its highest since August 2008 in the morning, before profit taking wiped out most of the early gains.
David Baran, co-founder of Tokyo-based hedge fund Symphony Financial Partners, expected Japan's markets to perform in a similar way to U.S. markets after the U.S. Federal Reserve first opted for quantitative easing four years ago with an asset buying programme. Both the Standard & Poor's Index and the Dow Jones industrial average have hit all-time highs during the last couple of weeks.
The Nikkei, currently at around 13,200, remains far below a lifetime high of 38,915.87 notched on December 29, 1989.
Early in Asia on Tuesday, the dollar hit 99.67 yen, its highest since May 2009, while the euro climbed as far as 129.935 yen, its highest since January 2010.
The Aussie dollar soared to 103.81 yen, the highest since July 2008.
Traders expect the dollar to trade at 100 yen as soon as this week, as the reaction to the BOJ's strategy spreads.
"Markets are increasingly focused on the notion that larger JGB purchases, at longer maturities, by the BOJ could push Japanese domestic long-term investors elsewhere," said Vassili Serebriakov, strategist at BNP Paribas.
Firmer stocks underpinned risk appetite in Asian credit markets, tightening the spread on the iTraxx Asia ex-Japan investment-grade index by 3 basis points.
But gold suffered, as investors ignored tension between the two Koreas, and shifted funds to equities for better returns.
"I can say the chart point doesn't look good. The bond and stock markets are more interesting than gold," said Ronald Leung, chief dealer at Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong Kong.
U.S. crude futures rose 0.4 percent to $93.75 a barrel and Brent rose 0.6 percent to $105.24.
(Additional reporting by Ian Chua and Thuy Ong in Sydney, China Economics Team in Beijing and Lewa Pardomuan in Singapore; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
In autism, age at diagnosis depends on specific symptomsPublic release date: 9-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Matthew Maenner mjmaenner@wisc.edu 608-890-0752 University of Wisconsin-Madison
MADISON The age at which a child with autism is diagnosed is related to the particular suite of behavioral symptoms he or she exhibits, new research from the University of WisconsinMadison shows.
Certain diagnostic features, including poor nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviors, were associated with earlier identification of an autism spectrum disorder, according to a study in the April issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Displaying more behavioral features was also associated with earlier diagnosis.
"Early diagnosis is one of the major public health goals related to autism," says lead study author Matthew Maenner, a researcher at the UWMadison Waisman Center. "The earlier you can identify that a child might be having problems, the sooner they can receive support to help them succeed and reach their potential."
But there is a large gap between current research and what is actually happening in schools and communities, Maenner adds. Although research suggests autism can be reliably diagnosed by age 2, the new analysis shows that fewer than half of children with autism are identified in their communities by age 5.
One challenge is that autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are extremely diverse. According to the criteria outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR), the standard handbook used for classification of psychiatric disorders, there are more than 600 different symptom combinations that meet the minimum criteria for diagnosing autistic disorder, one subtype of ASD.
Previous research on age at diagnosis has focused on external factors such as gender, socioeconomic status, and intellectual disability. Maenner and his colleagues instead looked at patterns of the 12 behavioral features used to diagnose autism according to the DSM-IV-TR.
He and Maureen Durkin, a UWMadison professor of population health and pediatrics and Waisman Center investigator, studied records of 2,757 8-year- olds from 11 surveillance sites in the nationwide Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). They found significant associations between the presence of certain behavioral features and age at diagnosis.
"When it comes to the timing of autism identification, the symptoms actually matter quite a bit," Maenner says.
In the study population, the median age at diagnosis (the age by which half the children were diagnosed) was 8.2 years for children with only seven of the listed behavioral features but dropped to just 3.8 years for children with all 12 of the symptoms.
The specific symptoms present also emerged as an important factor. Children with impairments in nonverbal communication, imaginary play, repetitive motor behaviors, and inflexibility in routines were more likely to be diagnosed at a younger age, while those with deficits in conversational ability, idiosyncratic speech and relating to peers were more likely to be diagnosed at a later age.
These patterns make a lot of sense, Maenner says, since they involve behaviors that may arise at different developmental times. The findings suggest that children who show fewer behavioral features or whose autism is characterized by symptoms typically identified at later ages may face more barriers to early diagnosis.
But they also indicate that more screening may not always lead to early diagnoses for everyone.
"Increasing the intensity of screening for autism might lead to identifying more children earlier, but it could also catch a lot of people at later ages who might not have otherwise been identified as having autism," Maenner says.
###
The new study was supported by grants from the Autism Science Foundation and the CDC. In addition to Maenner and Durkin, co-authors include Laura A. Schieve and Catherine E. Rice of the CDC, Christopher Cunniff of the University of Arizona, Ellen Giarelli of Drexel University, Russell S. Kirby of the University of South Florida, Li-Ching Lee of Johns Hopkins University, Joyce S. Nicholas of the Medical University of South Carolina, and Martha S. Wingate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
-- Jill Sakai, 608-262-9772, jasakai@wisc.edu
SIDEBAR:
Highlighting UW research during Autism Awareness Month
As the nation observes April as Autism Awareness Month, the Waisman Center at the University of WisconsinMadison is one of only 15 centers in the country dedicated to advancing knowledge about intellectual and developmental disabilities such as autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
Waisman Center researchers and clinicians from many disciplines seek answers to the autism puzzle as they study the causes and consequences of ASD in addition to developing novel approaches to treatment and providing services and support to individuals with ASD and their families.
Some researchers are analyzing public health data to identify factors affecting early diagnosis (see main story). Others are using brain imaging tools to better understand the relationship between white matter, brain development and connectivity in individuals with and without autism. Andy Alexander, professor of medical physics and psychiatry, and Janet Lainhart, professor of psychiatry, recently showed that white matter composition is different in the brains of individuals with autism.
Autism is a complex developmental disorder that impacts social interaction, communication and behavior. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identifies 1 in 88 children in the United States as being on the autism spectrum. Autism may be even more common, as results from a recent independent government phone survey of parents suggests the prevalence of autism to be 1 in 50 school-age children.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
In autism, age at diagnosis depends on specific symptomsPublic release date: 9-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Matthew Maenner mjmaenner@wisc.edu 608-890-0752 University of Wisconsin-Madison
MADISON The age at which a child with autism is diagnosed is related to the particular suite of behavioral symptoms he or she exhibits, new research from the University of WisconsinMadison shows.
Certain diagnostic features, including poor nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviors, were associated with earlier identification of an autism spectrum disorder, according to a study in the April issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Displaying more behavioral features was also associated with earlier diagnosis.
"Early diagnosis is one of the major public health goals related to autism," says lead study author Matthew Maenner, a researcher at the UWMadison Waisman Center. "The earlier you can identify that a child might be having problems, the sooner they can receive support to help them succeed and reach their potential."
But there is a large gap between current research and what is actually happening in schools and communities, Maenner adds. Although research suggests autism can be reliably diagnosed by age 2, the new analysis shows that fewer than half of children with autism are identified in their communities by age 5.
One challenge is that autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are extremely diverse. According to the criteria outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR), the standard handbook used for classification of psychiatric disorders, there are more than 600 different symptom combinations that meet the minimum criteria for diagnosing autistic disorder, one subtype of ASD.
Previous research on age at diagnosis has focused on external factors such as gender, socioeconomic status, and intellectual disability. Maenner and his colleagues instead looked at patterns of the 12 behavioral features used to diagnose autism according to the DSM-IV-TR.
He and Maureen Durkin, a UWMadison professor of population health and pediatrics and Waisman Center investigator, studied records of 2,757 8-year- olds from 11 surveillance sites in the nationwide Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). They found significant associations between the presence of certain behavioral features and age at diagnosis.
"When it comes to the timing of autism identification, the symptoms actually matter quite a bit," Maenner says.
In the study population, the median age at diagnosis (the age by which half the children were diagnosed) was 8.2 years for children with only seven of the listed behavioral features but dropped to just 3.8 years for children with all 12 of the symptoms.
The specific symptoms present also emerged as an important factor. Children with impairments in nonverbal communication, imaginary play, repetitive motor behaviors, and inflexibility in routines were more likely to be diagnosed at a younger age, while those with deficits in conversational ability, idiosyncratic speech and relating to peers were more likely to be diagnosed at a later age.
These patterns make a lot of sense, Maenner says, since they involve behaviors that may arise at different developmental times. The findings suggest that children who show fewer behavioral features or whose autism is characterized by symptoms typically identified at later ages may face more barriers to early diagnosis.
But they also indicate that more screening may not always lead to early diagnoses for everyone.
"Increasing the intensity of screening for autism might lead to identifying more children earlier, but it could also catch a lot of people at later ages who might not have otherwise been identified as having autism," Maenner says.
###
The new study was supported by grants from the Autism Science Foundation and the CDC. In addition to Maenner and Durkin, co-authors include Laura A. Schieve and Catherine E. Rice of the CDC, Christopher Cunniff of the University of Arizona, Ellen Giarelli of Drexel University, Russell S. Kirby of the University of South Florida, Li-Ching Lee of Johns Hopkins University, Joyce S. Nicholas of the Medical University of South Carolina, and Martha S. Wingate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
-- Jill Sakai, 608-262-9772, jasakai@wisc.edu
SIDEBAR:
Highlighting UW research during Autism Awareness Month
As the nation observes April as Autism Awareness Month, the Waisman Center at the University of WisconsinMadison is one of only 15 centers in the country dedicated to advancing knowledge about intellectual and developmental disabilities such as autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
Waisman Center researchers and clinicians from many disciplines seek answers to the autism puzzle as they study the causes and consequences of ASD in addition to developing novel approaches to treatment and providing services and support to individuals with ASD and their families.
Some researchers are analyzing public health data to identify factors affecting early diagnosis (see main story). Others are using brain imaging tools to better understand the relationship between white matter, brain development and connectivity in individuals with and without autism. Andy Alexander, professor of medical physics and psychiatry, and Janet Lainhart, professor of psychiatry, recently showed that white matter composition is different in the brains of individuals with autism.
Autism is a complex developmental disorder that impacts social interaction, communication and behavior. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identifies 1 in 88 children in the United States as being on the autism spectrum. Autism may be even more common, as results from a recent independent government phone survey of parents suggests the prevalence of autism to be 1 in 50 school-age children.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
ATHENS (Reuters) - National Bank's plan to absorb Eurobank to form Greece's biggest banking group will be suspended until both are recapitalised, and a state bank support fund will decide if the they should merge, a Finance Ministry official said on Sunday.
National acquired 84.3 percent of Eurobank via a share swap in February with a view to absorbing it as part of broader consolidation in the banking industry to cope with fallout from Greece's debt crisis and deep recession.
But the plan raised concerns at the lenders' "troika" - European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund - that a merger would form a bank too big relative to Greece's gross domestic product.
"The final decision on the merger will be taken by the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF)," the official, who declined to be named, told reporters.
Together, the two banks need 15.6 billion euros in fresh capital to shore up their solvency ratios to levels set by the central bank after incurring losses from a sovereign debt writedown and impaired loans.
Under a recapitalisation scheme agreed with Greece's international lenders, most of the fresh capital will be provided by the HFSF, a state bank support fund, in exchange for new shares and contingent convertible bonds.
To stay private, banks must ensure that at least 10 percent of their share offerings is taken up by private investors.
"The two banks sent letters to the central bank saying it is unlikely they will be able to raise the 10 percent from the market," the official said.
This means that both banks will fall under the full control of the HFSF bailout fund.
The official also confirmed what two bankers had earlier told Reuters: that the two banks would be recapitalised separately.
After their recapitalisation, the HFSF will decide whether they will go ahead and integrate.
"I do not want to prejudge the HFSF's decision," the official said.
National's current stake in Eurobank will be severely diluted as a result of the recapitalisation and analysts expect the banks' shares to come under heavy selling pressure on Monday.
"The market was partly discounting such an outcome but did not expect decisions like the suspension of the merger to be taken so fast. I expect their shares to plunge on Monday," said Takis Zamanis, a chief trader at Athens-based Beta Securities.
(Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? A storm that toppled trees, caused scattered power outages and whipped up blinding dust storms brought blizzard conditions to parts of Colorado, where up to 20 inches of snow was expected in the mountains through Tuesday.
With forecasters predicting 6 to 11 inches, Denver Public Schools closed all schools and offices Tuesday. Colorado's largest school district, Jeffco Public Schools, was among those canceling classes.
Denver International Airport reported at least two dozen canceled flights and warned travelers to be ready for delays as planes were deiced. Strong wind before the snow delayed flights up to 40 minutes Monday night, and some arrivals were diverted to Colorado Springs.
Northern California was first to feel the lashing blasts of the storm Monday, which spread to the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys.
At least a dozen trees came down in San Francisco, police officer John Tozzini told KGO-TV, which reported that more than 20,000 utility customers lost power in the region. A swath of outages occurred across the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, the Sacramento Bee reported.
A tree smashed into a Sacramento home where four friends were playing bridge, but they didn't stop playing their game Monday, according to KCRA.
Gusts topped 80 mph at some places in Southern California. The blustery system was being fueled by a cold front.
"It's just a cold, really strong upper low," said Carol Smith, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard, Calif.
Whitecaps flecked the Pacific Ocean along the California coast, where gale warnings and small craft advisories were posted. Recreational boaters were warned to stay in port. Wind-driven swells slapped over the tops of breakwaters and turned waves into a churning froth under piers at points such as Redondo Beach and Manhattan Beach on the Los Angeles County coast.
The wind turned small wildfires into big problems in some areas, including a blaze in Fillmore about 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles that burned two homes and forced the evacuation of 84 homes.
Blowing dust forced the closure of state Route 14 in the high desert Antelope Valley north of Los Angeles due to low visibility. Officer Michael Farrell said motorists who stopped on the road were hit from behind by other cars, but no major injuries were reported.
The power went out for more than 13,000 Southern Californians because of the winds and the weather.
The rush of air had an upside: California's main power grid manager, the Independent System Operator, reported that turbines spinning within the ISO grid produced a record of 4,196 megawatts Sunday. The previous record was 3,944 megawatts on March 3.
In Arizona, gusty winds produced by a cold front enveloped Phoenix in a dusty haze and closed 34 miles of Interstate 40 in the northern part of the state for several hours Monday. At least four people were injured in a pileup when two semi-trucks jackknifed in a dust storm on I-10 in southern Arizona. The injuries were not life-threatening.
___
Associated Press writers Greg Risling and John Antczak in Los Angeles; Paul Davenport and Walter Berry in Phoenix; and Colleen Slevin and Catherine Tsai in Denver contributed to this story.
The play of Ravens OLB Terrell Suggs and Bengals CB Leon Hall after Achilles injuries gives?Dolphins CB Brett Grimes hope.
Will the Jets?add another back?in the draft?
A look at what prospects are being linked to the Bills in various mock drafts.
There are some fine candidates now eligible for the Patriots? Hall of Fame.
The Ravens? Super Bowl win doesn?t figure to hurt their ability to build their brand.
The Bengals have brought back the majority?of their unrestricted free agents.
The Browns? uniform-changing process?is a 24-month project.
Former Steelers S Will Allen reportedly made some interesting comments about the difference between the approach of the offense and defense in Pittsburgh.
Texans DE J.J. Watt will throw out the first pitch?in Sunday?s Rangers-Astros game.
The Colts have had a solid offseason, but there?s work left to be done.
One take on how Jaguars QB Blaine Gabbert improved last season.
Two plays involving the Titans ? one good, one not-so-good ? are still alive in a vote for the greatest in history.
The official website of the Chiefs took a closer look at Florida State DE Bjoern Werner.
A take on the beginning and (seeming) end?of the Carson Palmer era in Oakland.
The Chargers are pledging $250,000 in nutritional- and athletic-related grants.
What secondary players would be good fit for the Broncos?
A look at where some of the Eagles? free agents have landed.
The Cowboys were adept at scoring points near the end of halves and games last season.
Redskins QB Robert Griffin III apparently met?President Barack Obama on Saturday.
A take on the risk Giants WR Victor Cruz?could be taking if he doesn?t strike a longer-term deal this offseason.
The University of Illinois football team?will play?at Soldier Field, home of the Bears, for the first time in 19 years.
Do the Packers and Brett Favre still need more time apart before mending fences?
The Lions have an intriguing?new safety tandem.
Former Vikings defensive lineman Alan Page has written a?rather unique children?s book.
Former Falcons player Antoine Harris has been impressed with Mike Smith from the start.
Add Saints head coach Sean Payton?to the list of those amazed?by LeBron James.
Can Derek Landri supply some interior pressure?for the Buccaneers?
A WR prospect is working out?for the Panthers.
A take on how the Rams are building their roster.
The expansion Seahawks found a gem in the 1976 allocation draft.
Former Cardinals assistant Deshea Townsend is now Mississippi State?s DBs coach.
My first bloggish post. Never done a blog before, so I suppose it will be bad, per usual. I dunno. Anyway.
There are tons of laptops out there today, laptops are being thrown into the shadows because of the tablets and the smartphones rise. Less and less laptops are being sold, check up the statistics.
But in these dark ages, there is a shining light on the world, something that gave me hope for the future and that things will all not be tabletish devices.
The Ultrabooks.
A short summary of what ultrabooks are:
Ultrabooks are Intel Laptops that are among the more powerful variants of the laptop market, some would say it's the Intel equivalent of Macbook Air, being thin and all that.
But the ultrabook is so much more than that.
First of all it is among the more powerful laptops there is, as mentioned earlier. It has to have at least an Intel processor so it can be called an Ultrabook. Other requirements are a minimum battery life.
I feel that the requirements of Ultrabooks are pretty fuzzy at times, but if you take a quick glance on Wikipedia, the requirements changes at all time.
What's set in stone from Intel is that they are supposed to remove the bulk without compromising performance and battery life.
That's a good thing, still having a lot of juice in your device and good battery life while still making it light to carry around with. Something pretty nice.
Requirements change from time to time, but there are some requirements seen in this picture below:
As you can see, the primary thing that decides if it will be an ultrabook or not is the processor, as Intel trademarked the name Ultrabook. If it doesn't have an Intel processor, it cannot be an ultrabook, simply as taht.
The rest of it is pretty standard, however there is one major thing that Intel hasn't specified there that I kinda dislike them for.
The resolution. I've seen some laptops today that still use 1366x768. That is an awful resolution in my opinion and especially Intel, who tries to push technology, should make at least 1080p a requirement for it to be called an Ultrabook. Personally I would love to see that Intel should make at LEAST 1600x900 a requirement for the lower tier ultrabooks, while the mid- to upper tier ultrabooks must have 1080p as a requirement. It feels pretty stupid having all that graphical power, all that juice inside your computer and then have to work on some stupid low resolution when you've bought an expensive machine. If it had been a normal laptop I wouldn't have complained, but when they market it as a powerful machine, why not have 1080p?
Why doesn't Intel make that an requirement? I have no idea.
But apart from that, I finally bought my very first ultrabook. In fact it is not even an ultrabook, it's an ASUS version that is called a Zenbook. At the time when ASUS made this ultrabook, touchscreens were a requirement on ultrabooks, making ASUS unable to call it an ultrabook.
Solution? Call it something similar like "Zenbook".
It is not a less good device because of that, it's in fact an amazing device but I do have some complaints about the device that I just bought, although they are extremely minor and shouldn't scare away customers from buying this zenbook at all. Just some nerdy needs that I have that I fixed.
Let us first look at this zenbook, make it into a little micro unboxing.
It comes in a very cool box itself, it really feels professional compared to other kinds of laptops I've unboxed before, together with friends and what not. Some effort went into making the box look cool. The zenbook itself is not very large, it's only a 13" compared to the 15.6" I have on the left. If you're wondering what the bottle to the right is, it's a bottle with stuff you have for cleaning screens. Like, freshen up my laptop before we take pictures. Some further size comparison to it. I opted for going with a much smaller ultrabook as the size of the screen is not too important to me. I wanted a slick and small ultrabook that was light and had the requirements I was looking for.
This is where stuff starts to look pretty badass, the ultrabooks are so much smaller than a normal laptop and this picture was taken to show that. I could just simply throw out a random number here and just say it's 50% smaller or even greater than the laptop I'm comparing with. It's also around 60% lighter than the laptop, when comparing what their weight. It's pretty good as I walk home from university all day, a walk that takes around 25-30 minutes and making it less heavy on my shoulders is just great. Pretty horrible picture, but it does show how thin it is compared to a standard laptop. vs.
The keyboard is fantastic and I prefer it a lot to my older laptops keyboard. There's less risk of the buttons falling off, or something falling under the keys and stops them from working properly. It's designed to be a better keyboard, but it is not only designed for ultrabooks. I know that there are laptops with these kinds of keyboards, but I like it a lot. The backlight works excellent and in the dark you can really see the keys. vs.
Something this zenbook initially didn't impress me with was the touchpad. It felt weird using it, felt unresponsive and what not. Compared to my older laptop it felt meh but still usable. I discovered that it was because of some settings within Windows that made it feel unresponsive, but it was quickly changed once I got into the settings, same thing applied to Ubuntu when I installed it. This however is the main gripe with the ultrabook. These kinds of chargers. I can honestly say I hate them. Why do companies make the end so big? What is the point to be honest? To sell more extension sockets? I really hate these kinds of chargers, It's even more thick than the ultrabook so why this is designed like this really confuses me. This is the worst thing with the ultrabook by far. Overall it is a fantastic ultrabook, even though I haven't used it for a long time, I've owned it for around..what...5 days? But I tend to use the ultrabook more often in front of the tv rather than using my Nexus 7 instead, as I prefer the more clear picture. On that point, the display is matte, so it works AWESOME outdoors. I really wanted to try it out so I took it out on one of our sunny days and it working a lot better than my old laptop did outdoors.
Something I still can't grasp my head around is how to get into BIOS. When I first booted it up, Windows 8 was installed per default and I wanted to install Ubuntu on it instead of using Windows.
But there was no way for me to get into BIOS, as it seemed that ASUS had disabled the hotkey for getting into BIOS. Instead I had to go through Windows 8 and make it reboot into BIOS from there, where I managed to boot from my USB where I installed Ubuntu from. So I managed to get it working at least, but I still don't get up BIOS whenever I boot up.
I am slightly concerned that I will not be able to get BIOS up whenever I need it to, so I hope it'll never come to that.
There's possibly some means of going into BIOS through Ubuntu as well. But it is something I'm kinda annoyed at, as in the future I might change this drive into a SSD and I need to reinstall Ubuntu on it, how will I be able to do it when it doesn't go into BIOS first?
Hopefully it will automatically go to the next option, which is boot from USB and CD, but I have no idea yet. Maybe I need to call ASUS for it.
I do hope that Intel manages to push the Ultrabook concept out on the market. I don't think I need to make it a secret that I really like Intel and the ultrabook concept.
Let us just hope the future have something good in the future!
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Public release date: 9-Apr-2013
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