Rare primate's vocal lip-smacks share features of human speech

Apr. 8, 2013 ? The vocal lip-smacks that geladas use in friendly encounters have surprising similarities to human speech, according to a study reported in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on April 8th. The geladas, which live only in the remote mountains of Ethiopia, are the only nonhuman primate known to communicate with such a speech-like, undulating rhythm. Calls of other monkeys and apes are typically one or two syllables and lack those rapid fluctuations in pitch and volume.

This new evidence lends support to the idea that lip-smacking, a behavior that many primates show during amiable interactions, could have been an evolutionary step toward human speech.

"Our finding provides support for the lip-smacking origins of speech because it shows that this evolutionary pathway is at least plausible," said Thore Bergman of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. "It demonstrates that nonhuman primates can vocalize while lip-smacking to produce speech-like sounds."

Bergman first began to wonder about the geladas' sounds when he began his fieldwork in 2006. "I would find myself frequently looking over my shoulder to see who was talking to me, but it was just the geladas," he recalled. "It was unnerving to have primate vocalizations sound so much like human voices."

That was something that he had never experienced in the company of other primates. Then Bergman came across a paper in Current Biology last year proposing vocalization while lip-smacking as a possible first step to human speech, and something clicked.

Bergman has now analyzed recordings of the geladas' vocalizations, known as "wobbles," to find a rhythm that closely matches human speech. In other words, because they vocalize while lip-smacking, the pattern of sound produced is structurally similar to human speech.

In both lip-smacking and speech, the rhythm corresponds to the opening and closing of parts of the mouth. What's more, Bergman said, lip-smacking might serve the same purpose as language in many basic human interactions -- think of how friends bond through small talk.

"Language is not just a great tool for exchanging information; it has a social function," Bergman said. "Many verbal exchanges appear to serve a function similar to lip-smacking."

Video: http://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/54745.php?from=236432

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Cell Press, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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Journal Reference:

1. Thore J. Bergman. Speech-like vocalized lip-smacking in geladas. Current Biology, 2013 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2013.02.038

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/mind_brain/child_development/~3/p8e4lTc_Z0A/130408123146.htm

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Annette Funicello, Mouseketeer and film star, dies

NEW YORK (AP) ? Annette Funicello, the most popular Mouseketeer on "The Mickey Mouse Club," who matured to a successful career in records and '60s beach party movies but struggled with illness in middle age and after, died Monday, The Walt Disney Co. said. She was 70.

She died peacefully at Mercy Southwest Hospital in Bakersfield, Calif., of complications from multiple sclerosis, the company said.

Funicello stunned fans and friends in 1992 with the announcement about her ailment. Yet she was cheerful and upbeat, grappling with the disease with a courage that contrasted with her lightweight teen image of old.

The pretty, dark-haired Funicello was just 13 when she gained fame on Walt Disney's television kiddie "club," an amalgam of stories, songs and dance routines that ran from 1955 to 1959.

Cast after Disney saw her at a dance recital, she soon began receiving 8,000 fan letters a month, 10 times more than any of the 23 other young performers.

Her devotion to Walt Disney remained throughout her life. "He was the dearest, kindest person, and truly was like a second father to me," she remarked. "He was a kid at heart."

When "The Mickey Mouse Club" ended, Annette (as she was often billed) was the only club member to remain under contract to the studio. She appeared in such Disney movies as "Johnny Tremain," ''The Shaggy Dog," ''The Horsemasters," ''Babes in Toyland," ''The Misadventures of Merlin Jones" and "The Monkey's Uncle."

She also became a recording star, singing on 15 albums and hit singles such as "Tall Paul" and "Pineapple Princess."

Outgrowing the kid roles by the early '60s, Annette teamed with Frankie Avalon in a series of movies for American-International, the first film company to exploit the burgeoning teen market.

The filmmakers weren't aiming for art, and they didn't achieve it. As Halliwell's Film Guide says of "Beach Party": "Quite tolerable in itself, it started an excruciating trend."

But the films had songs, cameos by older stars and a few laughs and, as a bonus to latter-day viewers, a look back at a more innocent time. The 1965 "Beach Blanket Bingo," for example, featured subplots involving a mermaid, a motorcycle gang and a skydiving school run by Don Rickles, and comic touches by silent film star Buster Keaton.

Among the other titles: "Muscle Beach Party," ''Bikini Beach," ''Beach Blanket Bingo," ''How to Stuff a Wild Bikini" and "Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine."

The shift in teen tastes begun by the Beatles in 1964 and Funicello's first marriage the following year pretty much killed off the genre.

But she was somehow never forgotten though mostly out of the public eye for years. She and Avalon staged a reunion in 1987 with "Back to the Beach." It was during the filming that she noticed she had trouble walking ? the first insidious sign of MS.

When it was finally diagnosed, she later recalled, "I knew nothing about (MS), and you are always afraid of the unknown. I plowed into books."

Her symptoms were relatively mild at first, but gradually she lost control of her legs, and she feared people might think she was drunk. So she went public with her ordeal in 1992.

She wrote of her triumphs and struggles in her 1994 autobiography, "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes" ? the title taken from a Disney song. In 1995, she appeared briefly in a television docudrama based on her book. And she spoke openly about the degenerative effects of MS.

"My equilibrium is no more; it's just progressively getting worse," she said. "But I thank God I just didn't wake up one morning and not be able to walk. You learn to live with it. You learn to live with anything, you really do."

"I've always been religious. This just makes me appreciate the Lord even more because things could always be worse. I know he will see me through this."

Funicello was born Oct. 22, 1942, in Utica, N.Y., and her family moved to Los Angeles when she was 4. She began taking dance lessons the following year and won a beauty contest at 9. Then came the discovery by Disney in 1955.

"I have been blessed to have a mentor like Walt Disney," she said 40 years later. "Those years were the happiest of my life. I felt that back then. I feel the same today."

Asked about the revisionist biographies that have portrayed Disney in a negative light, she said, "I don't know what went on in the conference rooms. I know what I saw. And he was wonderful."

In 1965, Funicello married her agent, Jack Gilardi, and they had three children, Gina, Jack and Jason. The couple divorced 18 years later, and in 1986 she married Glen Holt, a harness racehorse trainer. After her film career ended, she devoted herself to her family. Her children sometimes appeared on the TV commercials she made for peanut butter.

The beach films featured ample youthful skin. But not Funicello's.

She remembered in 1987: "Mr. Disney said to me one day, 'Annette, I have a favor to ask of you. I know all the girls are wearing bikinis, but you have an image to uphold. I would appreciate it if you would wear a one-piece suit.' I did, and I never regretted it."

___

Associated Press writer Bob Thomas in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/annette-funicello-mouseketeer-film-star-dies-172321939.html

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No quick fixes expected at J.C. Penney from returning CEO

By Phil Wahba

(Reuters) - Myron Ullman's return to the helm at J.C. Penney Co Inc unnerved investors on Tuesday, as analysts said his experience was welcome but was not a cure-all for the retailer's sliding sales and dwindling cash.

Shares were down 7 percent to $14.75 in early trading. They rose almost 11 percent late Monday after Penney confirmed it had ousted Ron Johnson as chief executive, but the stock slid when the company said Ullman was back.

Ullman was CEO from 2004 to 2011, before being replaced by Johnson, whose decision to remove coupons and discounts in favor of it called everyday low pricing last year, which led to a 25 percent drop in sales in 2012.

As much as many on Wall Street were clamoring for Johnson's ouster, analysts warned that Ullman's return was not a solution as he tries to win back shoppers, mollify worried vendors and decide whether to forge ahead with some aspects of Johnson's strategy.

"Ullman makes sense in the interim, given the urgent cash situation. Ullman is also a known partner to the vendors," UBS analyst Michael Binetti wrote in a note on Tuesday.

In addition to the pricing strategy, Johnson's plan to remake Penney included the roll-out of branded boutiques within stores - an expensive proposition that many observers expect Ullman to scale back to conserve cash since store remodeling eats up cash.

Under Johnson, Penney opened shops for fashion brand Joe Fresh and last week launched the first two shops in its revamped home section, long Penney's weakest business.

But Binetti and others questioned the popularity of the boutiques. Barclays Capital credit analyst Hale Holden said after a visit to a New York City store last weekend that the more traditional offerings were attracting the bulk of the traffic.

Ullman's first task will be to win back shoppers alienated by Penney's removal of coupons and the move to trendier items. Analysts warned that Penney would have to spend heavily on advertising and couponing to win back shoppers.

"Ullman inherits a customer base that, in our view, feels it has been betrayed, and he will be virtually powerless to prevent JCP from burning a substantial amount of cash in 2013," PiperJaffray analyst Alex Fuhrman said. He expects Penney to use up to $1 billion in cash this year.

Wall Street hailed Johnson in 2011, saying Penney was a stodgy old retailer in need of a makeover.

While Ullman is well regarded in the industry, Penney lagged rivals Macy's Inc and Kohl's Corp in terms of sales growth coming out of the 2007-2009 recession.

His biggest contribution, analysts said, will be his longstanding relationships with vendors, which will need to be reassured. That will potentially win Penney more time while it rights itself.

"Our best guess is given JCP's scale and relative importance combined with Mr. Ullman's historical relationship with the company's vendors probably creates a pause," Barclays' Holden said in a note.

(Reporting by Phil Wahba in New York; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/no-quick-fixes-expected-j-c-penney-returning-134315564--finance.html

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Red Epic Dragon sensor updates start tomorrow for $8,500

Red has announced that Dragon sensor updates will start tomorrow for Epic-M and Epic-X owners and, interestingly, is letting owners (and the public) see the operation for themselves at its NAB booth. The new sensor will bring 6K resolution, 120 fps at 5K and 15+ stops of dynamic range in a slightly larger format, according to Red. Early adopters will be able to pre-order now for $8,500, while Epic owners who wait until Thursday or later will be able to grab the update for $9,500. Filmmakers hoping for a new Epic-M with the Dragon instead of the Mysterium-X sensor will be able to pre-order tomorrow for $29,000 or so. Meanwhile, there's good news for those with the more budget-minded Scarlet -- they'll be able to upgrade to the Epic directly or get a 6k Dragon sensor and ASICs, with pricing details coming tomorrow and pre-orders launching on Thursday. Red may have a tough row to hoe with recent NAB news from the likes of BlackMagic Design and Vision Systems, but how many companies will actually let you watch your camera get operated on? Check the source for more.

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Source: Red

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/ijaagbS1QKM/

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Ericsson T28z review

When Ericsson launched the T28 in 1999, it was the lightest and slimmest phone on the market. It was also the first handset ever to use a lithium polymer battery. The T28 was a premium device -- Ericsson described it as "designer technology", and it was successful with business executives before the Blackberry became popular. Unlike its bar-shaped competitors, the T28 was immediately recognizable by its signature antenna stub and "active flip" keypad cover. Ericsson packed the phone with state-of-the-art features like voice dialing and an optional Bluetooth dongle. It came in three versions: T28s (GSM 1800 / 900), T28z (GSM 1900) and T28 World (GSM 1900/900). Our T28z review unit started life on VoiceStream (eventually acquired by T-Mobile). How does this classic handset stack up to our modern pocketable computers? Find out after the break.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/bX5lXiGsnBA/

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Mobile shines in exploding world of games

This file photo shows people interacting with a Samsung Galaxy smartphone, in New York, on March 14, 2013. The booming popularity of play on smartphones or tablet computers in a realm once dominated by videogame consoles was a hot theme at the major Game Developers Conference that ended in San Francisco on Friday.

The booming popularity of play on smartphones or tablet computers in a realm once dominated by videogame consoles was a hot theme at the major Game Developers Conference that ended on Friday.

Seminars, talks and panels ran the gamut from how to get smartphone games noticed in the growing sea of "apps" to behind-the-scenes looks at the creation of blockbusters tailored for consoles or personal computers.

"You are seeing this massive cornucopia of games now," Tech Savvy videogame analyst Scott Steinberg said on the final day of the weeklong GDC.

"There is an explosion in the type and variety of games and a tremendous number of ways to play."

The power of small studios and independent developers has risen along with demand for fresh and entertaining games to play on mobile devices or online as services in the Internet "cloud."

Meanwhile, new-generation consoles from Microsoft and Sony are expected to be released this year, reviving interest in immersive blockbuster titles while ramping up connections to content streamed online.

Industry tracker ABI Research said that successful launches of new Xbox and PlayStation models later this year could get console sales growing again after years of decline.

"Mobile gaming has certainly diminished the opportunities for console manufacturers in the casual game market and this has impacted Nintendo the hardest," said ABI analyst Sam Rosen.

"The evolving business models and added competition have also created additional pricing pressures that encourage price cuts sooner than manufacturers would like."

ABI said that Nintendo's freshly-released Wii U console has faced a "challenging market" since the Japanese firm shipped nearly three million units during the holiday season at the end of last year.

Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, along with established videogame titans, wooed developers at GDC while independent mobile game makers shared tips on how navigate the expanding world of play.

Games remain the most popular applications downloaded to mobile devices.

Hit games are "absolutely vital" to the success of smartphones or tablets and have expanded the range of players, Windows Phone senior marketing manager Casey McGee said while at GDC to promote the software giant's mobile platform.

Enlarge

Customers walk past a console display after purchasing Nintendo's videogame console Wii U at a shop in Tokyo, on December 8, 2012. Nintendo's Wii U console has faced a "challenging market" since the Japanese firm shipped nearly three million units during the holiday season at the end of last year.

McGee contended that players are demanding games that can be played in small doses on the move as well as titles to enjoy at home on consoles when time provides.

"It is like books and magazines," McGee told AFP. "You want some really thoughtful, deep campaign games that are like books; you read them cover to cover and sometimes go back and read them again.

"Then, there are also magazines," he continued. "Things you love for an hour, maybe you love for a week, but they turn over more. That is where you see a lot of independent games and more casual games come into play."

Research In Motion began courting app makers long before the new BlackBerry smartphone platform launched in January, vice president of global alliances Martyn Mallick said at GDC.

"Sometimes there is a misperception that the business user doesn't want to have fun," Mallick told AFP while discussing the effort to win game developers to the BB10 platform.

"That is completely false; business users love to play games."

Games are an "absolutely critical" part of a smartphone platform, he noted.

Companies that make chips powering smartphones or tablets have been busy boosting processing and graphics capabilities with mobile games in mind.

Qualcomm and rivals Nvidia, and ARM each staked out places on the GDC show floor.

A Qualcomm chip due out this year promised to deliver ultra-high-definition video along with surround sound for games on mobile devices.

"We see a lot of opportunity in the ecosystem for gaming," said Qualcomm senior director of marketing Michelle Leyden Li.

"I know a lot of folks who became gamers when they got a smartphone; we see this trend developing," she noted. "Consoles will stay. We are making gamers out of people who were not gamers before."

Longtime videogame giants including Electronic Arts and Ubisoft have weighed into the booming world of free-to-play mobile or social network games supported by ads or sales of virtual items.

"There is a ton of games out there, on every system and device, and people are more empowered than ever to make them," Steinberg said. "The hard part is going to be finding the diamond in the rough."

(c) 2013 AFP

Source: http://phys.org/news/2013-03-mobile-world-games.html

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Pope makes Easter pleas for Mideast peace

VATICAN CITY (AP) ? Pope Francis delivered a plea for peace in his first Easter Sunday message to the world, decrying eemingly endless conflicts in the Middle East and on the Korean peninsula after celebrating Mass along with more than 250,000 people in flower-bedecked St. Peter's Square.

Francis shared in his flock's exuberance as they celebrated Christianity's core belief that Jesus Christ rose from the dead following crucifixion. After Mass, he stepped aboard an open-topped white popemobile for a cheerful spin through the joyous crowd, kissing babies and patting children on the head.

One admirer of both the pope and of the pope's favorite soccer team, Argentina's Saints of San Lorenzo, insisted that Francis take a team jersey he was waving at the pontiff. A delighted Francis obliged, briefly holding up the shirt, and the crowd roared in approval.

Francis has repeatedly put concern for the poor and suffering at the center of his messages, and he pursued his promotion of the causes of peace and social justice in the Easter speech delivered from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, the same place from where he was introduced to the world as the first Latin American pope on March 13, shortly after his election.

He said he was joyfully aiming his Easter greetings, at "every house and every family, especially where the suffering is greatest, in hospitals, in prisons." Francis prayed that Jesus would inspire people to "change hatred into love, vengeance into forgiveness, war into peace."

In his softly and slowly pronounced speech, Francis defined Easter as an "exodus, the passage of human beings from slavery to sin and evil to the freedom of love and goodness."

As popes before him have, he urged Israelis and Palestinians, who "struggle to find the road of agreement" to find the courage to resume peace talks and end a conflict that "has lasted all too long." And, in reflecting on the two-year-old Syrian crisis, Francis asked, "How much suffering must there still be before a political solution" can be found?

The pope also expressed desire for a "spirit of reconciliation" on the Korean peninsula, where North Korea says it has entered "a state of war" with South Korea. He also decried violence in Africa, where he singled out for condemnation terrorists' hostage-taking, as well as strife in Mali and warfare in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in the Central African Republican, which has driven people from their homes.

The first pontiff to come from the Jesuits, an order with special concern for the poor, and the first pope to name himself after St. Francis, a medieval figure who renounced wealth to preach to the down-and-out, Francis lamented that the world is "still divided by greed looking for easy gain, wounded by the selfishness which threats human life and the family, selfishness that continues in human trafficking, the most extensive form of slavery in this 21st century."

Earlier, wearing cream-colored vestments, Francis celebrated Mass on the esplanade in front of the basilica at an altar set up under a white canopy. He frequently bowed his head as if in silent reflection.

The sun competed with clouds in the sky Sunday, but the square was a riot of floral color in Rome, where chilly winter has postponed the blossoming of many flowers. Wind sent fluttering yellow forsythia and white lilies shone, along with bursts of lavender and pink, from potted azalea, rhododendron, wisteria and other plants. Francis thanked florists from the Netherlands for donating the flowers.

He also advised people to let love transform their lives, or as he put it, "let those desert places in our hearts bloom."

The Vatican had prepared a list of brief, Easter greetings in 65 languages, but Francis didn't read them. The Vatican didn't say why, but has said that the new pope, at least for now, is growing comfortable in his new role using Italian, the everyday language of the Holy See.

Francis also has stressed his role as a pastor to his flock, and, as bishop of Rome, Italian would be his language.

In another departure from Easter tradition, Francis won't be heading for a few days of post-holiday relaxation at the Vatican's summer palace in Castel Gandolfo, in the hills southeast of Rome. That retreat place is already occupied by his predecessor, Benedict XVI, who took up residence there in the last hours of his papacy on Feb. 28. Benedict became the first pope in 600 years to resign, and eventually is to move back to the Vatican, after a convent there is readied for him.

Francis so far has declined to move into Benedict's former apartment in the Apostlolic Palace, into the rooms whose studio overlooks St. Peter's Square. He is still in the Vatican hotel where he and fellow voting cardinals checked in on March 12, the day before they chose him in a secret conclave in the Sistine Chapel to lead the Roman Catholic church.

While Francis has just begun to make his mark on the church, he quickly made plain he has little desire to embrace much of the pomp customarily associated with the office. When he appeared on the central balcony of the basilica both times, he chose to wear the simple white cassock of pontiffs, declining ornate outfits and only accepting a red stole to be draped on him when it was time to give the crowd his solemn blessing.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-makes-easter-pleas-mideast-peace-101523086.html

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