Hotel In Santa Clarita - Samsung Debuts World's First Curved Display Smartphone

Source       - http://news.cnet.com
By             - Dara Kerr
Category   - Hotel In Santa Clarita
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Hotel In Santa Clarita

Samsung has won the race to be the first phone manufacturer to launch a flexible smartphone. The company announced late Tuesday evening that the Galaxy Round incorporates the latest in flexible screen technology, along with other unique features.

The device resembles the Galaxy S3 and S4, but it has slight dip in the middle that causes the phone to curve along a vertical axis. The phone's body itself is rigid, so it doesn't exactly flex or bend -- but rather has a stationary curve that is said to fit the contours of a person's face. The company says that this curvature lets users controls their apps, music, and photos more easily.

"As a result of its unique curved design, users can take advantage of round integration experiences like the Roll Effect that enables user to check information such as date, time, missed call and battery easily when home screen is off, and the Gravity Effect for creating visual interaction with the screen by tilting the device," Samsung wrote in a statement. "When the Galaxy Round's display is off while the music player is running, a short press to the left of the device will play the previous track while a short press to the right will play the next track. For pictures and videos, the Side Mirror feature enables users to gain access to list of the album content with a left and right tilt."

The Galaxy Round has a 5.7-inch 1080p screen that has an HD Super AMOLED display. The device is 7.9mm thick, weighs 154g, and has a 2800mAh battery. It runs Android 4.3, has 3GB of RAM, and a 2.3GHz quad-core processor. The smartphone also has a 13-megapixel camera

Rumors have been floating the last few weeks that Samsung was working on a flexible display smartphone; and photos of the device even leaked on the Web earlier today. 

The product release comes as Samsung faces a slowdown in its core smartphone market. This means the company must find other ways to wow buyers and get them to pay for new devices. A curved display could be one factor that attracts those consumers.

Curved displays, however, are not entirely new to the market. Nokia and Apple have reportedly been working on curved displays for years, and LG recently announced that it plans to launch its first bendable smartphone dubbed the G Flex within a few weeks.

The Galaxy Round will first launch in South Korea in "Luxury Brown" and more colors are forthcoming. It's not yet clear when the company plans to launch the smartphone internationally.

Vacations In Santa Clarita - To Live a Longer, Healthier Life: Delay Aging, Don’t Just Cure Disease

Source       - http://www.washingtonpost.com/
By              - Tara Bahrampour
Category    - Vacations In Santa Clarita
Posted By   - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Vacations In Santa Clarita

Delaying aging and the infirmities associated with old age would make populations healthier overall and could save trillions of dollars over the next five decades, a new study says.

While research has focused largely on diseases such as cancer or heart disease, the elimination of these diseases would have less effect on longevity and quality of life than delaying aging itself, according to the study, which appears this month in Health Affairs. 

This is because older people tend to suffer from a combination of ailments brought on by aging, said the study, which was conducted by scientists from the University of Southern California, Harvard University, Columbia University, the University of Illinois at Chicago and other institutions.

“When we treat someone with cancer, or heart disease, or stroke, we are treating a manifestation or byproduct of biological aging -- the underlying process marches on unaltered by this approach to disease,” said Jay Olshansky, a professor at the University of Illinois School of Public Health in Chicago and a co-author of the study.

“This means that even if we succeed for a time in extending life by treating disease, either that disease or another will emerge with time….Slowing aging alters the risk of all diseases simultaneously by attacking the origins of all of the things that go wrong with us as we grow older.”

The study cited research into the genetics of centenarians and animal studies of caloric restriction, as well as hormone manipulation, altering insulin-signaling pathways, and removal of senescent cells as showing potential for delaying the aging process.

The study coincides with Google’s September announcement that its next startup, Calico, will focus on delaying aging and extending the human lifespan. Another California-based company, SENS research foundation, also seeks to repair the damage done in the aging process.

Currently, a long life does not necessarily mean a healthy life; disability rates have increased along with life expectancy, the study said. The current population of young Americans is expected to have higher incidences of health problems like obesity and diabetes than their older counterparts, according to projections using federal data.

The number of Americans over 65, now around 43 million, is expected to more than double in the next fifty years, to 106 million. Around 28 percent are currently disabled, and the decades-long gains in the functional status of older Americans ended in 2002, the study said.

Even modest scientific advancements in delayed aging would result in an additional 11.7 million healthy people over 65 by 2060, according to the study. It would also raise life expectancy by around 2.2 years.

Delaying aging would be costly because of longer entitlement outlays, but the study said that the costs could be offset by raising the age for official Social Security retirement and Medicare eligibility to 68. It also predicted that delaying aging could save $7.1 trillion in the next fifty years, as people stay in the workforce longer and live without having major medical expenses associate with aging.

Budget Hotels Santa Clarita - Is Samsung Overly Reliant On Smartphones?

Source       - http://english.chosun.com/
By             - Press Release
Category   - Budget Hotels Santa Clarita
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Budget Hotels Santa Clarita

Samsung Electronics achieved record earnings in the third quarter of this year, but experts warn that the smartphone market faces huge risks. The biggest problem is Samsung's dangerously high reliance on smartphones to drive up revenues.

Although the electronics giant did not reveal earnings by individual business division, analysts believe the mobile division, which includes smartphones, accounts for 65 percent of total quarterly operating profit of W10.1 trillion (US$1=W1,070).

In turn, Samsung Electronics accounts for 66 percent of the entire Samsung Group's revenues. That means that slow smartphone sales could rattle the entire group badly. Experts warn that Samsung must come up with new growth engines for a time when the global smartphone market is saturated. Otherwise it could go the way of former rivals Nokia and Blackberry.

Samsung is confident that its strong performance in the smartphone market will continue. Sales of the Galaxy S4 remain strong, and those of the Galaxy Note 3 released recently will be reflected in fourth-quarter earnings, according to the company.

But market conditions are not entirely favorable. Market growth for premium smartphones is slowing, and Chinese rivals are catching up quickly in low- and mid-priced phones, which have the strongest growth potential in the years ahead.

Even Apple, which stuck to high-end phones for years, has started to sell mid-priced phones as well.

It remains to be seen whether Samsung can meet its target of selling 100 million Galaxy 4Ss, said Kim Ji-woong at E*trade Securities. He said analysts lowered their earnings expectations for Samsung Electronics, triggering its share price and market cap to fall. In June, JP Morgan lowered its smartphone output forecast for Samsung, causing the company's market cap to decline by W15 trillion in a single day.

Hampton Hotels Santa Clarita - iPhone 5s Review: A Great Phone With Some More Forward Thinking Needed

Source       - http://gma.yahoo.com/
By             - JOANNA STERN
Category   - Hampton Hotels Santa Clarita
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Hampton Hotels Santa Clarita

"Forward thinking." That's the tag line you'll find splattered across Apple's iPhone 5s billboards or commercials. "It's not just what's next. But what should be next," the company writes about its latest phone on its website. 

It's Apple marketing at its best -- flowery, affirmative, well-crafted phrases -- but on paper the phone is really just a set of updated specs from its previous iPhone 5. The iPhone 5s packs only three new noteworthy features: a faster 64-bit processor, an improved camera and flash, and a new fingerprint sensor. Oh, and, of course, there's that new gold color choice. 

But when those features are combined with the iPhone 5s' beautiful aluminum design and high-quality Retina display, does the phone really pave the way for the future of smartphones? Does it set a new bar for the hundreds of other phones that will be released this year? Or is it just an example of darn good marketing?

The Good Changes
I can tell the difference between my iPhone 5s review unit and my own iPhone 5 in two ways -- the gold, shimmering hue on the back and the golden ring around the home button of Apple's 5s. 

Yes, the phone has the same elegant design as the 5, though that shouldn't bother anyone. It is still one of the most beautiful gadgets ever created. The only phone this year to even try to overshadow the iPhone's design and craftsmanship has been the HTC One. Just that one phone out of an interminable number of Android and Windows phone devices even came close to matching Apple's design prowess.

But where the iPhone 5s begins to show its first signs of forward thinking is with the fingerprint sensor now embedded in its home button. Called TouchID, the technology works just as Apple promised. Register up to five fingerprints, tap on the button and you're logged on to the phone. No need to input a password or swipe to unlock.

It works extremely well, which is not something always said about fingerprint technology. Just try some of the ones on a Windows laptop, and you'll know that constant pop-ups and other malfunctions stand in the way of it being a seamless experience. That's not the case with Apple's solution, and it makes logging on to the phone much faster than entering a PIN or password.

The phone itself is also faster, or at least that's what Apple's 64-bit A7 chip promises. While some apps and games, including Infinity Blade 3 and Sing! Karaoke, have been built to take advantage of the processor, and the improvement over the iPhone 5 is clear when it comes to everyday activities such as launching apps or surfing the web, I haven't noticed a difference. Still, this is one fast phone; you'll be hard pressed to find lag, and it will give you the power you need in the years to come. Future thinking, indeed.

The Camera
Apple says more apps will be on the way to take advantage of the faster silicon, but its own camera app is already tapping into that speed, including the slow-mo and burst mode features. Both of the new features are really fun to play with and add a lot to the already top-notch camera experience.

And the improved camera sensor, which now captures more light, might be the biggest upgrade for most people. When it comes to performance in darker settings, especially in dimly lit restaurants, shots are noticeably better and clearer when taken with the 5s than with the iPhone 5 or 5c. Even photos I took on a bright sunny day seemed to look crisper.

The iPhone 5s' camera is one of the main reasons to buy this phone over any other out there. Yes, the Nokia Lumia 1020's 41-megapixel camera takes great shots, but it is a very chunky phone. And while the Galaxy S4 and HTC One take good shots, they do not capture photos as well balanced and crisp as the ones taken with the iPhone 5s. It's simply worth it for the better Instagrams alone.

The Non-Changes
All those aforementioned changes keep Apple's iPhone ahead of the pack in very crucial ways, but there are some other places where the case for the most forward-thinking phone hasn't been made.

The first is with battery life. Apple said users of the iPhone 5s should see a 25 percent bump in endurance, but I haven't experienced that. It could be some of the early iOS 7 battery problems, but I still have been getting a little less than a full day of juice -- about 10 hours or so. Some Android phones, such as the Moto X, seem to last at least 20 percent longer, although they are thicker and not as well-designed as the iPhone. We have come a long way since the first iPhone's five or so hours of battery life, but I haven't given up on a smartphone future that does away with ugly battery cases.

And then there is the screen. I'll be the first to admit that a 5.5-inch or 6.3-inch screen is overload for a smartphone, but there are times now when I feel the 4-inch display on the iPhone is too cramped. The Moto X's 4.7-inch display seems to be the ideal blend of screen real estate and manageability.

Lastly there is the software. Despite some people having problems adjusting to the change and some getting sick, iOS 7 is a very worthy upgrade, especially when it comes to the addition of such new features as Control Center. But as I said in my review of iOS 7, there are places where I wish Apple had gone further. Android's deep customization options and integration with Google Now provide software features that go beyond what we expect from our phones today.

The Bottom Line
The iPhone 5s is a great phone, especially if you are upgrading from the iPhone 4 or 4s, but it's not as compelling if you have the iPhone 5 or even some competing Android handsets. When it comes to camera performance, the security convenience provided by the fingerprint reader, general design and app selection and quality, the iPhone 5s is at the top of the heap and does set the bar in the crowded smartphone market.

But while the iPhone 5s is the most forward thinking iPhone and one of the best phones to have in your pocket or bag, some of those various non-changes sure do indicate that there is plenty more forward thinking Apple can do.

Hotels In Northern California - Apple iPad Mini With Sharper Display Faces Delay

Source      - http://finance.yahoo.com/
By            - Clare Jim and Reiji Murai
Category  - Hotels In Northern California
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Hotels In Northern California

Apple Inc will be unable to widely roll out a new version of the iPad Mini with a high-resolution "retina" display this month, people who work in the company's supply chain said, leaving the gadget without the sharper screen found on rival tablets from Google Inc and Amazon.com Inc.

Apple's supply chain is only now gearing up to make retina displays for the iPad Mini, which means the gadgets could be available in only limited quantities this year, if at all, and the company may miss the chance to cash in on the year-end holiday shopping season, the sources said.

Cupertino, California-based Apple has come under pressure to preserve market share and bolster sales against rivals that are rapidly raising specifications and lowering prices.

It remains unclear exactly what new features and modifications could find their way into the next iPad Mini, which the sources said was due to be unveiled this month.

But higher-resolution screens and cameras, as well as thinner and lighter dimensions, are among the improvements users have come to expect with updated smartphones and tablets.

"If they don't put in retina ... there will be howls," said Frank Gillett, an analyst with Forrester.

Apple declined to comment about any product launches and the sources at companies in Apple's supply chain declined to be identified due to the confidentiality of the matter.

DISPLAY DISAPPOINTMENT

Apple defines retina display as resolution that is detailed enough that the human eye can't detect pixelation.

The feature is available on some full-sized iPads, and similar resolutions are available on iPad Mini competitors such as Google's Nexus 7, as well as Amazon's seven-inch Kindle Fire HDX due to go on sale this month.

The reason behind the delays in manufacturing the retina display screens for the iPad Mini were unclear. One source at a supplier said there were delays in Apple's certification of panel producers, which were given strict power-saving requirements.

LG Display Co Ltd, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's display unit and Sharp Corp all vied to manufacture the panels, supply chain sources said.

The three display makers declined to comment.

Given the time required to ramp up screen production, a retina display-equipped iPad Mini would not be available in large volumes until early next year, the sources said.

The sources expected Apple to either wait until early next year for a full-fledged launch of a retina display iPad Mini, or to make a retina version only available in limited quantities before the end of the year.

Apple has also told suppliers to reduce costs, two of the sources said, with one person saying the U.S. firm is looking at rolling out an iPad Mini with a smaller 8 gigabytes of memory.

Less memory may allow Apple to lower the price of the Mini to boost sales in emerging markets like China where cheaper tablets, many of them running Google's Android operating system, are gaining market share.

"Right now the iPad Mini is more expensive than everyone else in the 7- to 8-inch tablet segment," said Arthur Liao, an analyst for Fubon Securities in Taipei. "If it could reduce its price by even just $50, it would appeal to more consumers."

The iPad's total market share almost halved to 32.5 percent in the second quarter from a year ago, while Android devices, including Samsung's Galaxy series, gained nearly a quarter to 62.6 percent, a survey by tech research company IDC showed.

Amazon's new 7-inch Kindle Fire is priced from $229 for 16GB wifi-only models, while Google's second-generation Nexus 7 offers a similar screen size and storage capacity at the same price. By comparison, the cheapest model in Apple's current 7.9-inch iPad Mini lineup with 16GB storage size starts at $329.

Anyone expecting Apple to dramatically cut prices is likely to be disappointed, analysts said, pointing to the higher-than-expected price tag for the iPhone 5C unveiled this month.

"Don't expect the prices to be significantly lower," said one of the sources. "Even though Apple aims to cut down on component costs, it still ends up around the same as the current Mini because the new Mini will have upgraded specifications."

Family Hotels In Santa Clarita - Satellites Reveal New Views Of Pakistan's 'Earthquake Island'

Source      - http://www.nbcnews.com/
By            - Becky Oskin
Category  - Family Hotels In Santa Clarita
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Family Hotels In Santa Clarita

Earth performed the ultimate magic trick last week, making an island appear out of nowhere. The new island is a remarkable side effect of a deadly Sept. 24 earthquake in Pakistan that killed more than 500 people.

Satellite images snapped a few days after the earthquake-triggered island emerged offshore, near the town of Gwadar, reveal that the strange structure is round and relatively flat, with cracks and fissures like a child's dried-up mud pie.

The French Pleiades satellite mapped the muddy hill's dimensions, which measure 576.4 feet (175.7 meters) long by 524.9 feet (160 m) wide. Aerial photos from Pakistan's National Institute of Oceanography suggest the gray-colored mound is about 60 to 70 feet (18 to 21 meters) high.

Gwadar is about 230 miles (380 kilometers) from the earthquake's epicenter. The magnitude-7.7 earthquake was probably centered on the Chaman Fault, Shuhab Khan, a geoscientist at the University of Houston told LiveScience last week.

Geologists think the new island, named Zalzala Koh, is made of erupted mud, spewed from the seafloor when either trapped gases escaped or subsurface water was violently expelled.

The new island could be the result of a mud volcano. Mud volcanoes form when hot water underground mixes with sediments and gases such as methane and carbon dioxide. If the noxious slurry finds a release valve, such as a crack opened by earthquake shaking, a mud volcano erupts, according to James Hein, a senior scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Santa Cruz, Calif. Geologists from the Pakistan Navy report that Zalzala Koh is releasing flammable gas. But seafloor sediments commonly hold methane-producing bacteria, so the possible methane coming from the island isn't a clincher to its identity.

Shaking from the powerful Sept. 24 earthquake could have also loosened the seafloor sediments offshore of Pakistan, jiggling them like jelly. The great rivers coming down from the Himalayas dump tons of water-saturated sediment into the Arabian Sea every year. The new island could be a gigantic example of a liquefaction blow, when seismic shaking makes saturated sediments act like liquid, and trapped water suddenly escapes, Michael Manga, a geophysicist at the University of California, Berkeley, told LiveScience.

Similar islands have appeared offshore of Pakistan after strong earthquakes in the region in 2001 and 1945. If the earlier examples hold, the soft mud island won't last a year, disappearing under the erosive power of the pounding of waves from monsoon storms.

Six Flags Magic Mountain - Dollar Steady As U.S. Government Shutdown To Start

Source      - http://www.reuters.com/
By            - Dominic Lau
Category  - Six Flags Magic Mountain
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Six Flags Magic Mountain

The dollar held steady on Tuesday even though much of the U.S. government was due to start shutting down after Congress failed to find a compromise on a bill to fund government operations.

Competing spending measures flew back and forth between Republican-controlled House of Representatives and Democratic-led Senate late into Monday night in Washington but Congress deadlocked over Republican efforts to use the temporary spending bill as a way to delay implementation of President Barack Obama's health care program.

It comes a few weeks ahead of the next political battle to raise the federal government's debt ceiling. Failure to do the latter by mid-October could result in a historic U.S. debt default that would threaten the U.S. economy and send ripples around the globe.

S&P stock futures inched up 0.2 percent, unchanged from earlier price action after the cash index fell 0.6 percent on Monday, while U.S. Treasury futures slipped 5 ticks.

As many as one million U.S. federal employees could face unpaid furloughs, but a shutdown would be unlikely to affect the United States's sovereign credit rating.

Investors are accustomed to political battles in Washington resulting in a last-minute accord and voiced scepticism any shutdown would last for an extended period.

"It may have a knock-on effect on the timing of the potential tapering (by the Federal Reserve). It could have a knock-on effect on the production of economic data. It could have a real impact on consumption if it lasts for more than a day," said a senior trader at a foreign bank in Tokyo.

"People in the market are kind of interpreting this as a kabuki drama if you like, but we are little more concerned than that."

The dollar .DXY was down 0.1 percent against a basket of currencies. It was steady at 98.15 yen, having climbed off a one-month low of 97.50 on Monday as Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was expected to announce his economic growth and tax strategy later on Tuesday.

Japanese manufacturers' sentiment improved sharply in the three months to September to a near six-year high, a closely-watched central bank survey showed on Tuesday, cementing the case for Abe to proceed with a planned sales tax increase next year.

"This is very constructive in terms of the assessment of the current economic situation. There is no reason that Prime Minister Abe should stop raising the (sales) tax," said Masamichi Adachi, senior economist at JPMorgan in Tokyo.

Japan's Nikkei share average .N225 rose 0.3 percent after climbing as much as 1.3 percent earlier in the session.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS added 0.2 percent, though it was still not too far away from a two-week low after it slid 1.5 percent in the previous session. Regional trading activity was expected to be light with China and Hong Kong closed for National Day holiday.

China's manufacturing growth edged up only slightly last month with the official Purchasing Managers' Index rising to 51.1 from August's 51.0, but below expectations and adding to worries that its economy recovery has foundered.

In the commodity markets, gold edged up 0.2 percent to $1,329 an ounce after gaining 7.6 percent in July-September, reversing three straight quarters of decline.

Brent crude dipped 0.6 percent to around $107.7 a barrel after gaining 6 percent in the third quarter, also ending a three-quarter losing streak.