Hands-On, Photos, First Impressions

The comments we kept hearing made here and there to the product demo team were somewhat lacking in energy, in effervescence, in excitement. It was almost as if were were at the iPhone 4S presentation, being shown that infamous "upgrade" of the iPhone 4. The thing is that specialist tech journos are demanding people, inevitably hoping that each time a replacement for a top-selling smartphone like the Galaxy S3 comes along it'll make a clean break with its predecessor and trigger a brand new "wow" effect. But that element of surprise was nowhere to be see last night. In comparison, Sony and HTC have been far more daring with the design of their latest high-end mobiles.

The S4 that's due to land in the UK and Europe runs on a 1.9 GHz quad-core Qualcomm S600 processor rather than Samsung's own Exynos 5 octa-core processor. From what we saw in our brief hands-on, the handset seemed smooth and responsive, although that's no smart card. Everything ran perfectly smoothly—from games and web browsing to flicking though menus.

The Galaxy S4 will be available with 16, 32 or 64 GB of onboard storage, which can be boosted by up to 64 GB via the microSD card slot. There are photo/video cameras with backlit sensors on the front and back of the S4, with 2 Megapixels for the front-facing webcam and 13 Megapixels for the main rear-facing camera, which films 1080p Full HD video and has an LED flash.

The Galaxy S4 lets users launch all kinds of functions without even touching the screen. You can, for example, preview a photo album without necessarily having to physically open it—just place your finger a few millimetres above the screen and the phone responds accordingly. That works for e-mails too. You can then flick through web pages or a photo album by making a swipe motion (left to right) with your finger just above the surface of the display. Great! But what's the point? Well, it means you can keep using your phone even when your hands are dirty (in the kitchen or garden, for example) or wet.

Similarly, the Smart Scroll function offers hands-free scrolling. You can therefore scroll up or down a web page by tilting the phone backwards or forwards, or by simply moving your eyes. In our tests, the phone-tilting option seemed to work pretty well but the head/eye tracking mode proved rather less reliable.

Samsung has also added all kinds of new features to the camera. For starters, Dual Camera lets you simultaneously shoot the scene and the photographer, who's face gets stuck onto the final photo as a little thumbnail (there are several layouts to choose from). There are loads of photo filers to play around with and a new burst mode that captures several shots before stitching the various poses together into a single picture. It seems pretty cool, but we need more time to play around with these functions to see just how practical and/or effective they are to use.

Dennis Baker, who programs the festival's short films and manages its data and internal technology, joined as a volunteer in 2003 after retiring from his job teaching auto shop at Silverado High School in Mission Viejo. His work for the festival extends year-round. When he's not busy planning the next shorts program, Baker updates the database of contact phone numbers and emails and maintains records of past programs.

"I can list the films we showed in the film festival eight years ago, and the ones we didn't," Baker said Tuesday morning while taking a momentary breather at the festival's Newport Beach headquarters.

He and other volunteers operate in a tight cluster of second-floor offices in a nondescript building near UC Irvine. Inside, posters of "Milk," "Beasts of the Southern Wild" and other recent hits line the walls; plastic bins, DVDs and paperwork are crammed in between desks and TV screens. Often, workers squeeze past each other in the narrow hall.

If the paste starts going a little brown then don’t stress because apparently that’s totally fine and it just means the flour is cooking. Okay now REMOVE FROM HEAT. My mother wrote this in all caps on the recipe card and so it must be important. I don’t know what happens if you keep it on the heat but I don’t think I wanna find out.

3. Next, add the milk and get whisking. Don’t stop whisking. Are you using full cream milk? Mum says that reduced fat milk won’t work in this sauce, she seriously told me this at least six times while we were out buying the ingredients and so I think we should all listen. As you're whisking periodically check that there are no lumps hiding out in the grove of the saucepan. [I just made up a little IC card about checking for lumps, to the tune of TLC's “No Scrubs” and it's definitely making this bechamel process more enjoyable. You can have that idea, take it.

4. When the milk looks fully blended into the sauce and lump free, return it to the heat and keep whisking continuously until the bechamel boils and thickens. Anticipate that this part of the process will take forever, or at least 10 minutes. Pro tip: Don’t give the whisking job to someone with a limited attention span. [My mother keeps yelling “DON’T STOP! KEEP WHISKING!” at my girlfriend every time she loses focus and forgets to whisk which is approximately every 30 seconds and it would be hilarious if my girlfriend didn't look so terrified]. Keep whisking!

Reading Community Players serves up a delightful treat

The Brewster sisters are back and up to their gentile version of murder in Reading Community Players current production of the always delightful classic comedy “Arsenic and Old Lace.” The play may have been around since 1939, but the characters and dialogue are still very funny and refreshingly family-friendly – are rare treat in today’s entertainment world.

Peopled with some of the most iconic characters in theater, “Arsenic and Old Lace” is the story of a unique family, the Brewsters, who have family traditions that include plastic card. Most character actors would “kill” to play Abby or Martha Brewster and their brother Teddy, who thinks he is Teddy Roosevelt.

Landing these coveted roles are local veteran actors Diann Stewart as Abby and Ruth Martelli as Martha and Randy Miller as Teddy. The three are a joy to watch as they bring these beloved characters to life. Stewart and Martelli are perfect as the sweet spinsters whose special elderberry wine (laced with arsenic, strychnine and “just a pinch” of cyanide) has resulted in the demise of numerous lonely old gentleman. There is sibling synchronicity with these two. Put them on stage together and you are guaranteed to laugh.

Miller seems to have been born to play Teddy with his charging up the stairs that he believes to be San Juan Hill and carrying bodies to the basement where he is “digging the Panama Canal.” More guaranteed laughter.

Kevin Schanely plays their charming nephew Mortimer, who is the only normal one of the Brewsters, although he is a theater critic who may have been responsible for the demise for some plays with his scathing reviews. Schanely, a Pottstown resident, has returned to RCP after a 17-year hiatus and his return is triumphant, delivering a perfectly nuanced performance in the role made famous by Cary Grant in the film of the same name.

Adding a bit of romance to the show is Julia Hager as Mortimer’s girlfriend, Elaine. The two have a nice chemistry and their normalcy balances out the otherwise over-the-top characters.

Rounding out the family circle is Jonathan Brewster, another brother with a sinister bent, who has returned after a long absence to hide out from the law. Benjamin Ruth takes on this delightfully dark role and makes the most of it.

Samsung calls the Galaxy S 4 a “life companion” and part of the reason is a new S Health application. It’s software that tracks your exercise, weight, health goals and nutritional habits. Samsung will also be selling accessories to supplement the S Health app: Look for an optional heart rate monitor and pedometer band. The software is nice, but I think there are more robust third-party options available.

WatchOn, powered by Peel, is also included. With it you can control a television set or set top box — the phone has an IR blaster — and the content guide is quite good. It’s easy to find out what’s on television through the phone and immediately see the content.

On select Samsung televisions, the software also allows you to watch the television programming on the phone itself; handy if you have to leave the viewing area while others are watching. Don’t go too far though: The content is streamed over your local Wi-Fi network.

If it’s not yet clear that the Galaxy S 4 is feature packed, let me assure you: I’ve only briefly touched upon most of the major features. You’ll likely find more if you take your own look at the phone. So is this a problem to the casual phone user? Perhaps, but Samsung has an improved Easy Mode for these folks.

Easy Mode is what it sounds like: A simpler interface with larger buttons that show the most likely used apps and features. In fact, some of the advanced functions aren’t even accessible in Easy Mode. At first, I didn’t like that chip card, but I’ve come around to appreciate it. Why? It gives new smartphone users a way to “graduate” to the full-featured Samsung experience without them having to buy a new Samsung phone. Many of the advanced features have useful pop-up descriptions as well; all of the camera modes have them, for example. You can always tell the phone to stop showing these once you’ve learned the functionality.

I’d like to see a little more innovation in the hardware design, but it’s a design that actually works well, so it’s difficult to complain about. Samsung does have an innovative cover accessory though. It’s called the S View Cover and I love it. It protects the display but has a cut-out window that shows information from the phone; you can even take a phone call without opening it.

Even though the Galaxy S 4 looks much like the model it replaces, this phone is a big step up thanks to the innovative software features and functions that Samsung has integrated. No phone is perfect for everyone, of course. I think most people, however, would be happy to have this device in their pocket.

A smarter way to run Florida’s correctional system

There are many reasons the Legislature should embrace “Smart Justice” legislation, including significant benefits to public safety. But as the House and Senate get down to the nitty-gritty of adopting a final budget, there is an even more compelling reason: money. A lot of smart card.

The Florida Department of Corrections is working hard to eliminate a budget deficit that swelled to more than $95 million earlier this year. The Legislature and taxpayers have an obvious desire to reduce DOC spending without jeopardizing public safety. One area ripe for savings seems obvious to the Florida Smart Justice Alliance: recidivism. Simply put, the state of Florida is spending entirely too much money incarcerating the same people over and over again, without doing enough to make sure that once they get out, they stay out.

How much is too much? Florida taxpayers are spending more than a quarter-billion dollars a year to incarcerate more than 14,000 “new” inmates who had been in prison at least once before. Overall, almost half of the state’s prison population is made up of repeat offenders, at a yearly cost of $799.5 million.

This is a big part of Florida’s corrections problem: We aren’t correcting inmates. In most cases we are just incarcerating them. We can’t afford to do that anymore without providing treatment for underlying issues (so often, substance-abuse or mental-health issues) and educational/vocational services to help them live law-abiding lives once they are released.

Statistics and common sense tell us that when a previous felon is caught again, he has probably committed more than just the single crime that led to this most recent arrest. If the offender has a substance abuse issue, it’s likely there are numerous crime victims whose homes or cars were broken into to help fuel his drug habit. Why would we allow that to happen? We know these inmates have addictions, and we had them captured in our prisons for years – yet in most cases we did nothing to help them address their addictions.

This isn’t about being soft on crime, to somehow excuse their criminal actions because of alcohol, drug or mental health problems. It’s about being smart on justice by using our resources to help break the cycle of crime, arrest, imprisonment, release?.?.?.?and crime again.

An excellent example of the need for a focused direction on treatment and education is House Judiciary Committee Chair Dennis Baxley’s bill (HB 7121) and its companion by Sen. Thad Altman (SB 1032), which would ensure that Florida-born inmates are able to receive a state-issued ID card or other form of identification when they leave prison.



This seemingly small item is a crucial step in an ex-inmate’s effort to secure housing, a job or even a medical prescription refill. Since lack of a job can be one of the top problems for an ex-inmate, helping them in this regard will be of tremendous benefit for society. This can be done without a significant expenditure, and in exchange Florida could realize substantial savings.

Everyone wants a safer society. Florida’s overall crime and recidivism rates have been declining as a result of the state’s deserved reputation for “get tough” criminal justice policies, effective law enforcement and a change in Department of Corrections policies regarding technical violations of probation. We now have an opportunity to lower these rates even further and realize dramatic cost savings, if we institute smart, intelligent policies that do not undercut the requirement that all prisoners serve at least 85 percent of their sentences.

With Florida spending $255 million annually on reoffenders, we must consider a different approach. We must recognize that by providing treatment for more felons who have underlying issues, we can improve public safety and save considerable tax dollars. Intelligent alternatives can lead to the desired outcomes that taxpayers expect of our policymakers.

 From the perspective of a modern retailer, data is pushing pricing and promotion strategies in two directions -- toward both national and personal pricing. Data insights, retailer infrastructure and consumer tools are developing quickly but unevenly. This gives innovative retailers an opportunity to shape the pricing and promotion practices of the future, all the while technologists are keen to develop new tools to disrupt those plans.

Yet, on the front end, consumers expect an omni-channel retail experience. In a recent survey by Empathica, more than half of smart phone users admit to using their mobile devices to do research product prices. When this research happens real-time in stores, it is commonly referred to as "Showrooming." And as such, these consumers are currently better informed than the retailers in many aspects.

 Retailers, now aware of the information gap between them and their customers, are not ignoring this trend. New data tools enable retailers to price and promote more frequently. Amazon trashed the traditional retailer model of re-pricing once a week and instead re-prices products several times per day, making thousands of small pricing adjustments for peak traffic lunch hours. Channel-wide, the breadth of products with frequent price changes exploded in 2012. During the last holiday season, we at Dynamite Data detected up to a three-fold increase in the relative quantity of price changes over 2011 across major retailers.

An increase in price changes is a significant benchmark for an increase in market efficiency, ultimately driving more real-time price competition among retailers. Although retailers are known for relying on complex and inflexible legacy systems, many are actively improving their infrastructure for the new super "showrooming" era. The ultimate goal for most merchants is to at least have the capability to dynamically price and promote at least once per day while synchronizing price across the IC card.

 Being able to react faster to market forces is just one option available to retailers looking to personalize commerce. Another is to create a value-add layer between the retailer and the consumer, simultaneously increasing pricing opacity while also strengthening the brand proposition. This might be achieved with the introduction of house brands, price segmentation or even personal pricing.

For instance, retailers such as Microcenter price their products regionally to reflect the local competitive dynamics. This price segmentation strategy is fair to the consumer and the retailer, but only possible with the type of data infrastructure that supports multiple price points on an individual item. Lowes, another franchise retailer, is also known for regionally pricing end-of-life products. For example, last summer I was able to save almost $1,000 on a refrigerator by buying it from a store a few miles away.

Shopping smart

The number of complaints against rogue vendors in Sim Lim Square speak for themselves, but if you still want to soak in the noisy, market-like atmosphere of the IT mall and spend hours hunting for some seriously good bargains, here are some common scams to watch out for to make your shopping experience a chip card.

If the shop's salesmen are hanging around outside their shop approaching tourists or potential customers, calling out "best price for you", holding calculators and blocking your way, stay away.

Their full-time job is just luring you into the shop with ridiculously low prices before ripping you off. For some tourists, the physical impact of seeing the so-called "cheap price" on the calculator is often too tempting to resist. Remember - if its too good to be true, it probably is.

Another common tactic used by rogue salesmen is pressure. When the customer senses something is wrong and starts to resist, other salesmen walk over and start to convince him - not very gently - that he needs to buy the product. Before long, you find yourself being harassed by everyone in the shop - lone shoppers are the prime target for this tactic.

Don't fall for the "freebies" trick - most cameras, for example, already come in a set from the supplier with freebies like memory cards, screen protectors, and extra batteries included in the deal. Some Sim Lim vendors will claim they are throwing in these "extras" at their own cost, or even replace the original extras with cheap, parallel imported equivalents.

"I bought an Olympus Camera from a Sim Lim vendor and he said he would be throwing in a "free" 8GB memory card. I only found out later that Olympus was already having a promotion including the card and that instead of giving me the good quality Sandisk original, I received a cheap no-brand one that spoiled within a week," said undergraduate Tan Pei Ling, 22.

For hand phones and items like PSPs or handheld games, unethical salesmen claim that their item is cheaper because it is "parallel-imported" from China and Japan and thus require an "unlocking fee" to make it compatible for use in Singapore. This so-called unlocking fee can range from $20 to $100, and will never be charged by authorised retailers.

So you've checked the brand, you've haggled on the price, and you think you finally got a good deal. But don't be too sure - some vendors in Sim Lim buy back second hand cameras, phones, and even smaller items like memory cards and printer cartridges, then polish them up and sell them as new.

Common horror stories include printer cartridges which only work for a week before going empty, memory cards which already have some one else's photos on them, and hand phones which already have a strangers' personal contacts.

"I bought a "new" DSLR, and brought it home only to find that it was not working properly and the photos were all blurry. When a photographer friend of mine inspected the camera, he told me that some of the parts were old, some were new, as if someone had taken parts from different cameras and put it all together. I was totally shocked," said swimming instructor Daniel Lee, 35.

A tip from vendors: The product you look, check, and use at the counter may be swapped between counter to cashier. Make sure that you can personally see the same item being packed into your shopping bag as the one you have examined. Do not be distracted - some rogue salesmen try to get your attention as they swap it by taking out freebies or other items.

With kids zipping back and forth and bemused parents and teachers looking on, the program is among the more elaborate attempts to teach children to become financially literate.

April is holy month for the financial literacy movement that has swept the nation in the past decade, as state and federal government, nonprofits and financial firms launch town hall meetings, task forces, fairs, forums, quiz bowls, and high school visits.

There is, however, a problem with this well-intentioned effort to teach youngsters personal finance: Educators haven't found an approach that clearly works.

Repeated research has shown that classroom personal finance instruction does not translate into financial literacy or wiser financial decisions. Students don't remember what they learn, and the lessons become outdated too quickly.

Willis said programs that get students to interact with the material can work better. That's the idea with BizTown, as well as a program Junior Achievement runs that lets ninth-graders compete in a computer business simulation.

"That experiential model is really what sets Junior Achievement apart," said Gina Blayney, president of Junior Achievement of the Upper Midwest. "We put them into a competitive environment."

Other models that have been successful include cooperation from parents, and giving students the skills to find and analyze information on their RFID tag.

But while few would dispute that too many American high school graduates lack the skills to navigate their finances, many experts argue that financial literacy education has more work to do to remedy the problem.

The Jump$tart Coalition, a group that's been widely credited with popularizing financial literacy training and pushing April as a month to emphasize it, was formed in late 1996 by a coalition that included banking and credit card industry groups, the Federal Reserve Board, the National Council on Economic Education and Junior Achievement, among others.

GEO executive investigated in son's domestic-violence case

Thomas Wierdsma was asked by a Boulder attorney during a court deposition in 2011 if it was wrong to give false testimony to a federal IC card.

The senior vice president for The GEO Group Inc., the largest provider of contract prison and immigration detention services for the U.S. government, lowered his head and thought for a few seconds before answering.

The GEO Group and his company's close connections with federal immigration authorities to have his former daughter-in-law deported after she reported his son, Charles Wierdsma, to police for domestic violence.

A jury in that civil case last year found Wierdsma guilty of outrageous conduct for the actions he took after his son was arrested and convicted of regularly beating his Hungarian-born wife, Beatrix Szeremi, for more than a year. Boulder District Attorney Stan Garrett's office is investigating Thomas Wierdsma for possible criminal culpability in the matter related to his interference with the victim.

GEO Group contracts with the U.S. government to run 111 for-profit, so-called "turnkey" facilities. They include the Aurora Detention Center that GEO Group operates for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The company also operates the Southern Peaks Regional Treatment Center in Ca?on City and five reporting centers for supervised detainees around the state.

Group's website as senior vice president of project development for a company that does more than half its business with the federal government and last year reported revenues of $1.48 billion.

Neither Thomas nor Charles Wierdsma's attorneys returned calls asking for comment.

Thomas Wierdsma's jump from behind-the-scenes corporate executive to defendant happened in the spring of 2011 after his then-daughter-in-law fled a beating in her home one morning and called Boulder police, according to a police report.

Szeremi, a Hungarian immigrant with a green card making her a legal resident, had married Charles Wierdsma a year earlier after the two met through the eHarmony Internet dating site.

According to police reports, Charles Wierdsma had repeatedly beaten and threatened to suffocate and drown Szeremi over the course of their marriage before she finally reported the abuse. She told family and friends about the beatings, and they had photographed some of her injuries, but she also told them and investigators that she had been afraid to go to police.

Charles Wierdsma was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence, third-degree assault and false imprisonment. A restraining order banned him from having any contact with Szeremi.

Thomas Wierdsma became involved when he tried to evict her from the Boulder home where she and Charles Wierdsma had been living. The elder Wierdsma owned the home. He also pressured her in texts and phone calls to delete photos of her bruised face from her Facebook page, according to court documents.

After she refused, he sent her an e-mail complaining about that and stating: "I will be copying the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement with this and other information. As you know, I funded the legal work and processing fees for you to become a citizen but am now disappointed in your actions which now require legal proceedings."

A week later, the elder Wierdsma, from an Alaskan cruise ship, sent a letter to an attorney representing Szeremi. He wrote that he would be involving ICE, "with all relevant information, including her social media postings, legal actions required for her eviction and other information we possess regarding her application for citizenship."

In court-documented e-mail exchanges between Thomas and Charles Wierdsma during that time, the two discuss how deportation could be used to their advantage.

Charles Wierdsma wrote to his father that Szeremi's attorneys "have threats from our side to use the heavy hand of GEO to get Beatrix out of the country. This should be our bargaining chip going forward, not theirs."

Several weeks later, Thomas Wierdsma wrote: "Let's drop the immigration issue and particularly any involvement of Geo. If I elect to get in touch with immigration after she is evicted, that is my business and in no way related to what is currently going on."

After Thomas Wierdsma began his eviction proceedings against Szeremi, she filed a counterclaim alleging a laundry list of wrongs, including victim intimidation, abuse of process, outrageous conduct and civil conspiracy against Thomas Wierdsma, and assault, battery, false imprisonment, outrageous conduct and negligence against Charles Wierdsma.

That is when the details of the physical abuse as well as the abuse of power got a public airing, including a video of Thomas Wierdsma's threats and deposition admissions that Szeremi's attorney, John Pineau, posted on YouTube.

After a week-long trial, a jury in that civil case found that both Wierdsmas had exhibited outrageous behavior and awarded Szeremi $1.2 million. The judge later lowered the damages to $12,000, based on a state law that limits punitive damages.

Szeremi has appealed that ruling, a matter that is expected to take several more years to move through the court system.

Catherine Olguin of the Boulder District Attorney's Office said an investigator is working the case on the criminal end and that it would likely take several more months before a decision is made about criminal charges against Thomas Wierdsma. If he is charged, it could be tied to witness tampering, witness retaliation or witness intimidation.

NAB CEO Gordon Smith Addresses Smartphone Receivers

National Association of Broadcasters CEO Gordon Smith issued a deceptively simple challenge to his organization's members: Continue to innovate and find new ways to provide content to listeners on different platforms. Smith presented his annual State of the Industry address Monday morning at the 2013 NAB Show in Las Vegas.

Smith says he is optimistic about the future and broadcasters should be as well, because of how the industry has consistently been able to adapt to consumers' changing IC card. “The time has come for us to unite in our embrace of new technology, and to realize the consequences if we don't. Our future lies in innovating and spurring technology that will deliver our highly valued content to any platform for generations to come.”

Talking about radio specifically, Smith discussed the potential for including radio receivers in smartphones, “Future radios in smartphones will combine over-the-air and online content for a rich, ‘hybrid radio’ experience that provides interactive enhancements, along with potential new revenue opportunities.”

He is referring to the chip included in the majority of all smartphones sold in the United States that could function as an AM/FM receiver and would allow consumers to listen to over-the-air broadcasts without going through their cellular network like a stream does, “and that is great news for radio listeners.” While used widely in Europe, in most American phones the chips are not active.

The NAB along with broadcasters like Emmis Communications Chairman, President and CEO Jeff Smulyan, have been lobbying the wireless industry to activate the chips in the US and recently scored a big victory when Sprint agreed to turn on the chips in several of their handsets.

Smith also talked about how the changing nature of in-car entertainment systems, “I have no doubt we will we continue to retain our rightful place in the automobile, and that we'll be offering not just AM, not just FM, not just HD, but an interactive, hybrid experience that gives our listeners more options than ever before.”

 Ronaldo leads Europe's top-tier competition with nine goals in nine outings. And with Galatasaray needing to score early and often, the prolific Portugal forward will likely enjoy ample chances to add to his tally.

Ronaldo opened last week's first leg with a delicate chip shot, and he needed just 45 minutes on Saturday to net his 46th goal this season in all competitions and set up another in Madrid's 5-1 rout of Levante in the Spanish league.

The last time Madrid lost by three goals or more in the Champions League was in 2008-09 when it fell 4-0 at Liverpool. Barring a similar upset by the hosts, nine-time champion Madrid is on course to reach its 24th semifinal.

Madrid will be without midfielder Xabi Alonso and center back Sergio Ramos, who will be serving a one-match suspension for accumulation of yellow cards. Backup playmaker Kaka was left off the squad for health reasons.

Young France defender Raphael Varane will likely replace Ramos alongside Pepe, while Alonso's absence could be filled by Luka Modric.

Madrid coach Jose Mourinho has designated Diego Lopez as his starting goalkeeper, meaning Spain captain Iker Casillas will watch from the dugout for the second straight match since recovering from a broken hand.

"We have a good result, but the series is not over and we need to stay alert,'' Lopez said. "They are good on the counterattack and have players who like to go one-on-one in open spaces. I expect it will be a tough game because of the crowd.

"The key is keeping calm at the back, and then looking to score a goal that would practically seal our pass to the next round.''

Galatasaray is hoping UEFA will remove the yellow card given to striker Burak Yilmaz in the first leg that rules him out of Tuesday's game. Yilmaz, who leads his team with eight goals in the tournament, was booked for supposedly diving in the area, when televised replays show he was fouled by Ramos.

If Yilmaz is not cleared to play, the Turkish leaders' hopes will largely rest on former Mourinho charges Didier Drogba and Wesley Sneijder.

Coach Fatih Terim's attack-minded game plan backfired for Galatasaray in the first game, as Madrid's scoring trio of Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, and Gonzalo Higuain all took full advantage of its exposed defense.

Midfielder Felipe Melo gave Galatasaray a 10 percent chance of going through after its stinging defeat in the Spanish capital.

"Being three goals behind means we must go all out and that will mean leaving spaces in which they can play,'' Melo said. "Nothing is impossible in football, though. As long as there is a chance, I will always believe.

Back in 2011, Creative unveiled the Recon 3D series of soundcards based off their (at the time) new Sound Core 3D chipset, which were decent soundcards for gaming and general audio, but didn’t include any real audio processing hardware (DACs, ADCs, etc.) other than the Sound Core 3D chipset itself. While the Sound Core 3D chipset is definitely impressive especially with its audio processing ability and lower power consumption, the problem with this is that with proper headphones and speakers, the sound quality on the Recon 3D series soundcards couldn’t match older Sound Blaster X-Fi soundcards such as the Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium, X-Fi Titanium HD, and even the older Audigy 2 cards, which sported superior audio hardware when compared to the Recon 3D series. This unfortunately led many audio enthusiasts and audiophiles to dismiss the Recon 3D series, which allowed other vendors such as ASUS for example to capture a large portion of the dedicated soundcard market previously dominated by chip card.

Late last year, only a year after the introduction of the Recon 3D series of soundcards, Creative unveiled the new Sound Blaster Z series of soundcards. Unlike the Sound Blaster Recon 3D series of soundcards, the Sound Blaster Z series soundcards carried real audio hardware such as dedicated Op-Amps, ADCs, and DACs, which greatly improved sound quality in addition to the Sound Core 3D audio processing chip – something that that Sound Blaster Recon 3D failed to do.

Family thrills on Gold Coast

Not a minute of it. On an action-packed family holiday with my teenage son Blair, I was bounced down a hill in a water-filled plastic plastic card, screamed my lungs out on rides at the big theme parks and went face-to-face with a tiger and a baby crocodile.

The Gold Coast is renowned for its classic family attractions and we explored and enjoyed the rides of Dreamworld and WhiteWater World, but away from the theme parks, Blair and I found a heap of activity for families to dive into. On South Stradbroke Island, where the Tallship Island Adventures cruise travels to, we were whipped around on the water in an exciting jetboat ride. We patted the dolphins at Sea World, fed tigers and held a snake and a baby crocodile at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary.

Our adventure took us away from the developed areas. When we arrived at McLaren's Landing - 17km from the centre of Surfers - Bruce Nicholls, owner of the family-run business, had a delicious barbie on the go. Tourists can parasail, jetski, sand toboggan, ride a Segway and go on eco tours at Stradbroke.

"This form of nature-based tourism you can't guarantee, but it's a chance to see the natural environment," Bruce explained as we travelled in a 4WD down one of the island's three firetracks to Eastern Pacific Ocean beach.

 It looked magnificent in all its wild glory, the surf crashing on the windy beach, and Blair had a lot of fun sand-tobogganing down the dunes.

Bruce's family keeps the island in as natural a state as possible. There is no electricity, sewerage system or water - the island has generators and the water is purified. There are no predators to bother the monitor lizards and rare wallabies.

"It's a real Aussie bush experience," Bruce said as a wallaby with a little joey in her pouch approached us for a curious look.

Next up, we went zorbing. On the Gold Coast, they've taken to it with relish and call it Oz Ball - after the stoush over Phar Lap and pavlova, bouncing down hills in plastic balls could be grounds for the latest transtasman scrap.

"I wouldn't go in this one," said the assistant, who would later launch me from the top of the hill. "What? Why not?" I asked as I was diving through the hole in the middle and had belts being secured around my ankles, around my waist and over my shoulders. He assured me I'd be fine, but that I needed to be strapped in as this ride would go fast and I'd be going backwards, forwards, side to side.

His favourite was the hydro zorb - you are not strapped in and slosh around with water inside the ball - so I wondered why I was having to try the harness one. But I was told I would not be a true "zorbette"if I didn't brave the bumpy, twisty, dizzy ride that the harness zorb offered.

"Are you comfortable?" asked Peter Murray, owner of Cloud9 Seaplanes. I barely got the word "yes" out before the plane was on its side and we were looking at luxury homes near Surfers Paradise from an unusual angle. Then Peter, who flies many unsuspecting women to secluded islands where their boyfriends are waiting to provide a romantic dinner and pop the question, said he wanted to surprise a fella he knew who was driving a jetboat below us. If the driver gave us the finger, he said, he had done a good job. We dive-bombed the jetboat. I was too surprised to notice what the driver did, but enjoyed every moment of Peter's antics. The seaplane is a fun, fast way to travel and see scenery up close and from a different view.

The harness zorb is not for the faint-hearted, but all the family can enjoy the hydro zorb, which doesn't leave you feeling as dizzy. I was a bit apprehensive about swishing around inside the ball, along with 40 litres of water, as I rolled down the hill. The challenge was to stand up, start running as fast as I could when I was pushed off the platform and stay upright while the ball was speeding down the hill. Yeah, right. But it was fun. You can plan a party here and choose to replace the water in the zorb with champagne, chocolate syrup or bubble bath. One group filled the zorb with tomatoes, which provided a challenge for staff to clean up afterwards.

 "There is no way I'm doing that," declared my son Blair when I told him we were going to feed the tigers. We had just watched one of Tiger Island's magnificent young Sumatran tigers casually wrap his paws around a handler holding a milk carton for him to drink from. Blair calmed down a little when I said we wouldn't be roaming around the island enclosure - we would be feeding tigers from behind a wire fence, poking their meat through on the end of a pair of tongs. Still, it was scary when the handler had the tiger run at the fence and the photographer asked me to smile and look at him while the tiger was grabbing the piece of meat off my tongs. These beautiful animals are hypnotising and it's worth seeing them demonstrate their smart card.

I've always wanted to cuddle a dolphin so the chance to pat one at the Dolphin Discovery Presentation at Sea World seemed as close as I was likely to get. I'm sure these intelligent creatures, which learn to perform amazing tricks, wonder why they can't train us. But they humour us by striking a pose so we can get our souvenir shot. Bottlenose dolphins establish a pecking order like humans do - they maintain dominance by biting, chasing, jaw-clapping, and smacking their tails on the water. When they get aggressive they scratch one another with their teeth (I use my nails, but the principle is the same). They also show aggression by emitting bubble clouds from their blowholes, so stay clear of these when patting them. The trainer told us they enjoyed being stroked on their backs so I obliged. A dolphin's skin is amazing to touch - it's rubbery, but incredibly smooth.

Reward Conoco lawmakers for saving Alaska

Proponents of the tax cut under consideration, first proposed by Gov. Sean Parnell, believe that if the state gives up an estimated $5 to $6 billion in oil revenue over the next six years, it will induce companies to produce more oil and, according to the governor's weekly updates, “Fill the Pipeline.” Proponents also hope it will create more jobs in Alaska's oil patch, where employment recently reached a new smart card.

The oil companies with the greatest means and ability to produce crude say they're pleased with the proposed cuts but that they still are not deep enough to get new projects going. If foregoing around a billion or more per year doesn't make Alaska “competitive” enough, we just don't know what will. How many more Targets and Olive Gardens does Alaska need to pull even with North Dakota in the race for investment?

Though there were no new commitments for new projects, there will most certainly be “new” oil even if it has to come from fields that have been around since the first time parachute pants were cool.

We're only slightly worried that there probably won't be enough additional oil produced quickly enough to keep Alaska's budget out of the red. Alaska basically dodged the fiscal crisis that hit the rest of the world, but now it seems determined to choose fiscal austerity for no apparent reason. Maybe it'll build character. Alaskans of today have gotten a little soft with all this public fiscal solvency.

The bill passed the Senate, where a similar bill stalled out last session, by an 11-9 margin. If Sens. Kevin Meyer and Pete Micciche -- two of your employees -- had not voted, that measure would've died on the vine. Instead, it's now being bandied about in the House to reach final form. People are treating passage through the House as kind of a formality at this point, but it's not a done deal yet.

Which brings us to our major concern. A few of your employees past and present, direct and associated, have been key in the oil-tax cut bill's movement through the Legislature. And when it does finally pass, they will deserve a reward.

Conoco alone will stand to gain around hundreds of millions extra in the first year the new system takes effect. Even though it's reportedly not enough, We The Concerned think that if the bill passes, certain lawmakers are due at least one percent of the extra cash -- let's say $3 million to be split among them. It's only fair. The Concerned believe in nothing if not fair compensation for job well done.

Ever since VECO employees were caught giving lawmakers cash and cheeseburgers, Alaskans are a bit more prickly about old-fashioned expressions of constituent gratitude. Besides, that kind of scratch just won't fit in a plastic Easter egg.

If Alaska ever does see enough oil produced and it tightens enough public-sector belts to soak up the tax cut, those lawmakers will deserve a very public reward for creating jobs, fighting pipeline decline, and pumping the oil patch dry faster. If all that happens, Alaskans can rejoice, and rewards can flow to them out in plain sight. But until this whole new fiscal regime proves up, you should keep the Baksheesh on the down-low.

Maybe there's an energy conference in Barbados that you could send them to? A Palm Springs vacation for the whole family? Fact-finding trip to Thailand? Maybe at some swanky spa where Pete Kott hands out the beach towels?

A new company vehicle would really make those commutes into work easier. But be careful it's not too flashy. Make sure it has satellite radio, heated seats and leather everything, but for goodness' sake, keep the exterior low-key. No gold rims or special-edition TruckNutz.

It's not like giving such perks to employees is illegal or anything. Who knows, it might even be written into some contracts these days. It just won't look right to people. But if the bonuses get too conspicuous, Alaskans might start to complain. If they do, you can just tell them they got just what they voted for. It's not as if the Legislature's conflict of interest rules have changed, and it's not like no one knew that all these people have strong ties to the companies whose bottom lines they'd be voting on. Tell them it could be worse, much worse.

Since this tax cut still isn't a done deal, maybe no one will end up deserving a bonus anyway. Maybe the House will decide to add too many new "knobs and dials" and the effort will pancake like Wile E. Coyote.

As I stepped out to run an errand last week, I grabbed my cell phone but decided to leave my bulky wallet behind. What a mistake that was. On returning home, I had a serious sugar hankering, and took a detour to a bakery only to realize I didn’t have my wallet with me. Sweet tooth be damned, when will my mobile phone also be my wallet?

I first reported on mobile payment in 2009, and the subject continues to fascinate because mobile payment always seemed to lurk around the corner, coming soon to a merchant near me. After all, the technology that makes tap-and-go payment possible is already proven, having been in wide use for many years throughout Japan and South Korea where consumers simply tap their phones against a payment terminal and they’re good to go. Called near field communications (NFC), this technology allows devices to securely communicate with each other by either direct contact or over a very short distance, usually within 1.5 inches. Payments initiate when NFC-enabled handsets communicate with point-of-sale terminals that can read the credit or debit card information stored on the device.

Back in 2009, NFC-enabled mobile payment trials were being piloted by MasterCard and Visa in various global markets. A year later, RFID tag, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless announced Isis, their joint effort to build a mobile payment network. Today, the Isis Mobile Wallet is accepted by a combined total of some 1,500 merchants in Austin and Salt Lake City, according to a tally of merchants listed on the Isis website. This pales in comparison to the 200,000 outlets where Google says its Google Wallet is accepted. Not a tiny number, but even here in the early adopter hotbed of Silicon Valley , I have never seen anyone pay goods and services with their mobile phone at point-of-sale, much less posters that say “Google Wallet accepted here.” This fast, tap-and-go mobile payment that I’ve only heard and read about for the last four years seems to be nowhere in sight.