Tuesday

Shooting kills college football player, injures Giants’ pick


TOPEKA, Kan. — Washburn University’s joy over one of its own going to the pros quickly shifted to grief this weekend after a shooting killed a current Washburn football player and wounded the former member of the team who was drafted by the New York Giants just hours earlier.

Police in Topeka, Kansas, where the university is located, said officers found 23-year-old defensive back Dwane Simmons dead when they investigated gunshots shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday. Cornerback Corey Ballentine was wounded, but his injuries were not believed to be life-threatening. Ballentine, also 23, grew up in Topeka and was picked by the Giants on Saturday in the sixth round of the NFL draft.


A preliminary investigation determined that the shooting occurred during a social gathering outside a residence, Topeka police spokeswoman Gretchen Koenen said in an email Sunday evening. She said dozens of people were at the gathering and police were working to gather evidence and witness statements.

“We want to emphasize that we need those who were present to let us know what they saw,” Koenen said.

Washburn president Jerry Farley said, “This was a terrible way to end a day which should have been a day of celebration and a day to look forward to Dwane’s upcoming year at Washburn and the beginning of Corey’s professional career.”

Washburn coach Craig Schurig said Simmons’ death is heartbreaking. He said Simmons, a junior from Lee’s Summit, Missouri, maintained a great attitude even while battling through two knee injuries.

“Dwane is one of the most energetic and well-liked players I have ever coached at Washburn,” Schurig said. “Dwane’s infectious smile and love for football and his teammates was truly inspirational.”

Farley said both Simmons and Ballentine have been great representatives of the university.

It’s not yet clear how Ballentine’s injuries from the shooting might affect his football career.

In a statement Sunday, the Giants said, “We are aware of the tragic situation and continue to gather information. We have spoken to Corey, and he is recovering in the hospital. Our thoughts are with Dwane Simmons’ family, friends and teammates and the rest of the Washburn community.”

source: sports.inquirer.net

Sunday

US Corporations Taking Notice of 420 as Weed Legalization Grows


US Corporations and 420


No, Hallmark doesn’t yet have a card to mark “420.” But many other businesses inside and outside the multibillion-dollar cannabis industry are using April 20, or 4/20, to roll out marketing and social media messaging aimed at connecting with consumers driving the booming market.


On Saturday, Lyft is offering a $4.20 credit on a single ride in Colorado and in select cities in the U.S. and Canada. Carl’s Jr. is using a Denver restaurant to market a hamburger infused with CBD, a non-intoxicating molecule found in cannabis that many believe is beneficial to their health.

On 420 last year, Totino’s, a maker of frozen pizza snacks, tweeted an image of a microwave and an oven with the message: “To be blunt, pizza rolls are better when baked.”

“I think brands that associate themselves with cannabis kind of get that contact high. In other words, they’re just considered to be cooler by association,” said Kit Yarrow, consumer psychologist at Golden Gate University. “As pot becomes more legal, more discussed, more interesting to people, more widely used, then 420 becomes more mainstream as well.”

Marijuana normalization has snowballed since 2012, when Colorado and Washington were the first states to legalize recreational use. Eight more followed, including California, Oregon and Michigan. Medical marijuana is legal in two-thirds of the states, with conservative-leaning Utah and Oklahoma among recent additions.

Meantime, the CBD market has exploded. CBD oil can be found in candies, coffee and other food, drinks and dietary supplements, along with perfume, lotions, creams and soap. Proponents say CBD helps with pain, anxiety and inflammation, though limited scientific research supports those claims.

Weed Growth in Recent Years


U.S. retail sales of cannabis products jumped to $10.5 billion last year, a threefold increase from 2017, according to data from Arcview Group, a cannabis investment and market research firm. The figures do not include retail sales of hemp-derived CBD products.

Ben & Jerry’s was one of the earliest big brands to foster a connection with the marijuana culture through marketing. The Vermont-based ice cream company features Cherry Garcia and Phish Food, honoring late Grateful Dead member Jerry Garcia and the band Phish. Both bands are favorites of the marijuana-smoking crowd.

To mark 420 in recent years, Ben & Jerry’s debuted taco and burrito inspired ice cream sandwiches. This year the company partnered with a San Francisco Bay Area cannabis retailer to give customers who place delivery orders on Friday and Saturday a free pint of Half Baked, a combination of cookie dough and fudge brownie.

“We have a lot of fun, never being overt, but really playing into the moment of 420,” said Jay Curley, the company’s global head of integrated marketing.

Last year, Ben & Jerry’s also turned more serious, asking consumers to call on lawmakers to expunge prior marijuana convictions and press for pardons or amnesty for anyone arrested for smoking pot. This year the company is using the holiday to call for criminal justice reform.

“We’re actually using this as an opportunity not to tell a stoner joke like we have in the past, but to raise what we see as a much more serious issue around justice,” Curley said.

The Cannabis Market

Those in the marijuana marketplace also are ramping up advertising around 420. Much of the marketing about cannabis or related products takes the form of online ads, emails, text messages and social media. Shops typically offer discounts. Some host parties with food and entertainment. The larger 420 events can draw thousands of people.

Verano Holdings, whose businesses include cannabis shops, sponsors street festivals in Chicago and Tulsa, Oklahoma, where attendees can learn about marijuana products, listen to music and grab a bite. The company expects this Saturday’s festival in Chicago, going on its third year, will draw more than 4,000 people. Last year, it drew 1,500, said Tim Tennant, Verano’s chief marketing officer.

In San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, Hippie Hill will again be the site of a 420 celebration. Last year, more than 15,000 attended the event, which has transformed from a small informal gathering into a full-blown festival of corporate sponsors and commercial booths selling smoking devices, T-shirts and food.


Roger Volodarsky, whose Los Angeles-based Puffco makes portable vaporizers, has celebrated 420 since he was a teenager. Back then, he said, “420 was the day that you splurged on yourself and got high in interesting ways. It was the day that you made a gravity bong and coughed your brains out.”

Volodarksy likes that some Main Street brands are getting into the industry and the holiday.

“What’s important to me about these ad campaigns is they’re speaking to people who aren’t users and they’re normalizing the space to people who aren’t users,” he said.

Even as popularity grows, some companies will stay away from 420 as a marketing tool, said Allen Adamson, co-founder of Metaforce, a marketing consulting company.

“If you’re talking about a big brand that needs to appeal to everybody and is very risk-averse, then probably not,” he said. “I don’t think you’ll see large financial institutions doing it.”

source: usa.inquirer.net

Android system updates might soon be found right in the Play Store


An upcoming modification to the Android operating system could make the system software updates native to the Play Store, according to the site 9to5Google. This would make system updates as easy to manage as those of the applications installed on a smartphone or tablet.

9to5Google discovered that system updates could be made available via this method by digging into the source code of the next version (14.5.52) of the Play Store APK file. The idea is to make things easier for end users, since they are used to going into the Play Store to download new apps and update others, rather than poking around the system setting. Google has not confirmed this information.

The Play Store could also get an interface overhaul, including a more streamlined design and new fonts.

The current method requires users to go into “Settings,” then hit “System” and “System Update” to scan for and download Android’s latest system software updates. CE/NVG

source: technology.inquirer.net

Tuesday

World’s first 5G phone released in South Korea


SEOUL — Telecom giant Samsung Electronics on Friday released the Galaxy S10 5G, the world’s first available smartphone with built-in fifth-generation communications, as South Korea seeks to build a lead in the transformative technology.

On Wednesday the South became the first country to launch nationwide 5G services, with three superfast networks going live offering data speeds that allow users to download entire movies in less than a second.

Hours later US giant Verizon began commercial services in Chicago and Minneapolis, after rival AT&T made a 5G-based system available to selected users in parts of 12 cities in December.


South Korea’s three mobile carriers — SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus — held launch events across Seoul for the Galaxy S10 5G, whose base version costs 1.39 million won ($1,200).

Interactive virtual-reality displays and robot demonstrations were on show to tout the capabilities of the latest iteration of mobile internet speed, and new users were excited about the possibilities, especially live streaming of sports games and university lectures.

“I watch a lot of videos often, movies and lectures,” said buyer Shim Ji-hye, 38. “I hope faster speeds will help me manage my time better.”

Another user said he was most excited about virtual reality content — which includes games and even “celebrity VR dating” apps according to the country’s mobile carriers.

With 5G, said researcher Lee Sang-yoon, VR content “can be enjoyed in real time with no delay… I’ll be able to enjoy it in better resolution and speed”.

By Friday afternoon, 15,000 buyers had subscribed to the LG UPlus 5G service, and more than 10,000 to KT’s offer, the carriers said.

Figures were not immediately available from SK Telecom, the market leader.

Internet of Things

Before Friday’s roll-out of the Samsung phone, the 5G service had been restricted to a handful of specially selected users in South Korea.

Rival manufacturer LG is due to launch its V50 ThinQ, another 5G phone, in the South later this month, while in the US, Verizon’s network works with Lenovo’s Moto Z3 smartphone fitted with a special accessory.

Commercializing 5G gives South Korea the chance to build around the technology, which is crucial for the future development of devices such as autonomous vehicles and the Internet of Things.


It is expected to bring about $565 billion in global economic benefits by 2034, according to the London-based Global System for Mobile Communications, an industry alliance.

The implications of the new technology have pitted Washington against Beijing — whose firms dominate 5G technology — in an increasingly bitter standoff.

The US has pressed its allies and major economies to avoid 5G solutions from Chinese-owned telecom giant Huawei, citing security risks that technological backdoors could give Beijing access to 5G-connected utilities and other components.

Chinese entities own a total of 3,400 5G patents — more than a third of the total, according to data analysis firm IPlytics — with 1,529 of those registered by Huawei.

South Korea comes next, with its companies holding 2,051 patents, while US firms have 1,368 together.

Neither KT nor SK Telecom use Huawei technology in their 5G networks, but it is a supplier to LG UPlus, the companies told AFP.

source: technology.inquirer.net

Thursday

Top iPhone games: ‘Amaze!!!’, ‘Pick Me Up’, ‘Roller Splat!’


Tile painting game “Amaze!!!”, “Pick Me Up” and “Roller Splat!” prove popular worldwide, while “Words Story” finds favor in South East Asia and “Run Race 3D” could spread around the globe after taking pole position on the United States iPhone games chart on April 2, 2019.

Two very similar tile-painting games are tussling for supremacy in North American, European and other English-speaking iOS App Stores worldwide.


In both “Amaze!!!” and “Roller Splat!”, players move a colored ball around a tiled level, with the aim of painting each and every blank square as they go.


Both released in February, with French-made “Roller Splat!” toting more impressive graphics, hitting version 1.0 and reaching top spot in several regional charts before Israeli-produced “Amaze!!!”.

Yet it’s now “Amaze!!!” that is clinching top spot in the Canadian, French and United Kingdom App Store game charts, ahead of its forerunner “Roller Splat!”, at 11 a.m. on April 2, 2019.

On the other hand, it’s “Roller Splat!” that is ahead in Germany, South Africa and the Netherlands with a number one App Store rank in the Games category.

Roller Splat!” is also close behind its rival in France and the U.K., with number two Games chart rank, one place ahead in the United States at number three and 11 spots in advance in Japan at number two.

Another iOS game currently riding high in iPhone charts around the world is ride-sharing driving sim “Pick Me Up”, in which players simply tap and hold to drive, release to brake and collect customers and cash from roads overlaid on a map background.

It is the top download in Singapore, second in Canada and South Africa, third in the U.K. and Australia, fourth in France and the Netherlands and fifth in Germany.

Guessing game “Draw It”, target puzzle “Twist Hit!” and ricochet challenge “Mr Bullet – Spy Puzzles” are also regular occurrences in regional App Store Game chart top fives.

Meanwhile, stick-figure prison break-out puzzle “Word Story” wins general approval in South East Asia, appearing as a top five download in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, while colorful wall-jumping multiplayer “Run Race 3D” is poised to become the next global success after nailing pole position in the U.S., showing good momentum elsewhere.

These games can be downloaded in the iOS App Store as they battle for the top spot in the charts. CE/JB


source: technology.inquirer.net

Tuesday

Democrats to prepare subpoenas for full Mueller report


WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee will prepare subpoenas this week seeking special counsel Robert Mueller’s full Russia report as the Justice Department appears likely to miss an April 2 deadline set by Democrats for the report’s release.

The Judiciary panel plans to vote on subpoenas Wednesday, a day after the deadline. The chairmen of several House committees asked for the full report last week after Attorney General William Barr released a four-page summary laying out the report’s “principal conclusions.” Barr said in a letter to the House and Senate Judiciary committees on Friday that a redacted version of the full 300-page report would be released by mid-April, “if not sooner.”

The planned committee vote, announced Monday morning, would not automatically issue subpoenas but authorize House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, Democrat-New York, to send them.

The panel will also vote to authorize subpoenas related to a number of President Donald Trump’s former top advisers, including strategist Steve Bannon, Communications Director Hope Hicks, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, White House Counsel Donald McGahn and counsel Ann Donaldson. Donaldson served as McGahn’s chief of staff before both left the administration.

The five were probably key witnesses in Mueller’s probe of possible obstruction of justice. The meeting notice says they “may have received documents from the White House relevant to the special counsel investigation, or their outside counsel may have, waiving applicable privileges under the law.” The subpoenas would be related to documents where executive privilege was waived “and related matters,” the notice says.

The former White House advisers were included in a massive document request the committee made last month. Nadler sent requests to 81 people connected to Trump’s political and personal dealings as he launched a wide-ranging investigation into possible obstruction of justice, public corruption and abuses of power.

Democrats have said they will not accept a redacted version of the report, which is what Barr is preparing. Barr said in the letter Friday that he is scrubbing the report to avoid disclosing any grand jury information or classified material, in addition to portions of the report that pertain to ongoing investigations or that “would unduly infringe on the personal privacy and reputational interests of peripheral third parties.”

Democrats want all of that information, even if some of it can’t be disclosed to the public. They are citing precedents from previous investigations involving presidents and also information disclosed about the Russia investigation to Republicans last year when they held the House majority.

Barr wrote in his summary that the special counsel did not find that Trump’s campaign “conspired or coordinated” with the Russian government to influence the 2016 presidential election. He said Mueller reached no conclusion on whether Trump obstructed the federal investigation, instead setting out “evidence on both sides” of the question.


Barr himself went further than Mueller in his summary letter, declaring that Mueller’s evidence was insufficient to prove in court that Trump had committed obstruction of justice to hamper the probe.

Democrats say they want to know much more about both conclusions and they want to see the evidence unfiltered by Barr. /atm

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net