Comfort Research Zeus Hero Gaming Chair

When it comes to gaming accessories, the difference between a mediocre piece of equipment and the tool that helps clinch victory can come down to something as simple as comfort. When your success depends upon concentration and reflexes, and when late night raids stretch for hours, being comfortable is paramount. So why are you sitting in a crummy old office chair? Furniture maker Comfort Research brings us the Zeus Hero Gaming Chair, which reimagines the office chair with gamer-friendly looks and a built-in 2.1-channel sound system, letting you rock and rumble with every explosion, beat down, and battle.

Design
The Zeus Hero gaming chair looks a lot like other office chairs, with adjustable height, curves to support your hips and spine, and an integrated headrest. The armrests are height adjustable, and you can move the seat's recline angle and rocker spring tension quite easily. The design is also surprisingly comfortable; when I first sat in the chair, I felt a more-cushioned feel than I expected, but it was still firm enough to support my posture.

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Some basic assembly is required, but it's all fairly straightforward, and the illustrated instruction sheet is mercifully free of any hard-to-understand or poorly translated verbiage. Using the provided Allen wrench, I was able to put the chair together in about 20 minutes. Once fully assembled, the chair measures 46 by 28 by 30 inches (HWD). The height can be adjusted up to four inches, and the armrests can each be raised three inches each.

The Zeus Hero is more than just a sleek looking chair?it's for gamers, and while the mesh fabric and versatile design make gaming comfortable, the real treat is the 2.1 sound system built into the chair. On the back of the chair is the Zeus Hero's subwoofer, which thumps and bumps with just enough force so that you feel it as much as hear it. In addition to the chest-thumping bass of the sub, there are also two stereo speakers set just above the shoulders to each side of the headrest. Where the subwoofer handles the bass, these little guys do the rest.

The chair is upholstered with black fabric and leather, with blue trim adding a hint of flair to separate the Zeus Hero from your run-of-the-mill office chair. The fabric is a stretchy mesh, with the same sort of synthetic fiber feel that you'd find in athletic equipment. It's soft enough for comfort, and has the added benefit of letting sound pass through it without muffling.

On the right hand side of the chair, built into the side of the seat cushion, is a small input and control panel for the speakers with two 3.5mm stereo jacks. One is for audio input, and the other is for output, in the event that you have two chairs and want to connect both to the same audio source.?You can connect all manner of gaming and media devices, so if you want to use the chair with your iPod, or your Nintendo DS, or even an old Walkman or Gameboy, it's as easy as plugging in a cable.

On the control panel, there's also a power connector. Yes, you'll need to plug in your chair in order to juice up the speakers and subwoofer. While the AC adapter's 8-foot power cord should be long enough for most people to stay plugged in while in front of their PC, it will significantly reduce how far you can roam past that.

Comfort Research covers the Zeus Hero Gaming Chair with a 30-day warranty. This isn't long at all, so pay close attention during that first month to catch any possible defects.

Performance
When I fired up Team Fortress 2 on the Maingear Nomad 17 Ultimate, I was delighted by the game's screwball tunes. I was popped by every gunshot, and rumbled by each explosion. In DC Universe Online, my ears were filled with appropriately heroic music, and I was pounded by bass every time a punch was landed by myself or an opponent. Overall, it all sounded pretty good.

The position of the speakers makes it feel as if all of the sounds are coming from just behind you. I suppose it's understandable, since the speakers are, in fact, right behind you, but it took some getting used to after regularly using a Tritton headset with 5.1 surround. If you play games that take advantage of surround sound, you might find yourself at a loss dropping from multiple speakers to just two.

A few music test tracks also let me put the sound system through its paces. The thumping sounds of "Silent Shout" by The Knife, our standard bass test track, throbbed through me with every beat. The subwoofer is positioned so that you'll feel the low end, but those around may not. Listening to Jimi Hendrix wailing on the instrumental version of "Little Wing," the sound came through a bit tinny, but with no perceptible buzz. Unlike the subwoofer, however, these speakers will be heard. If you've got family or roommates around, make sure they're cool with your noisy gaming, because this chair blasts it all out loud and clear.

Conclusion
While the Zeus Hero isn't superb in terms of pure audio quality, it sounds good, and the built-in design makes for a more immersive experience during gameplay. The chair is comfortable, and the height and armrests provide enough adjustment so most people can find a position that works for them. It's not an Eames, and the speakers aren't on, say, a Bose level, but the combination of the two is compelling enough to make it a solid addition to an office or game room.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/K_BxCRSKMP4/0,2817,2417165,00.asp

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Maasai face eviction from ancestral lands to make way for Dubai hunting firm

Tanzania plans to reduce Maasai areas by 40 percent, citing 'overgrazing.' A mass protest fell apart this week, but Maasai women took up the cause and organized their own sit-in.

By A correspondent / April 5, 2013

Maasai herd their cattle across a tarmac road near the Rift Valley town of Suswa, about 43 miles west of the capital Nairobi, in March.

Karel Prinsloo/Reuters

Enlarge

Loliondo district, Tanzania

Tanzania announced last week it plans to evict 30,000 Maasai herders from a hefty swath of their ancestral lands in order to create a game reserve offering exclusive access for a Dubai-based hunting company.??

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Maasai activists say the proposal, which reduces their space here by 40 percent, will destroy their traditional cattle-herding livelihood. But their attempts earlier this week to hold a mass protest fell apart -- causing Maasai women to organize their own sit-ins, with as many 1,000 camping out in one town.

The government says the corridor is a necessity for conservation in the northern Loliondo region bordering the Serengeti, and charges that Maasai cattle are overgrazing the land.?

The Maasai once ranged across northern Tanzania and southern Kenya, following seasonal rains with their cattle. But over the years they have slowly been fenced into a few areas like Loliondo.

Now, they could be losing some of that land, too. According to the proposal, they?would be locked out of the planned corridor, while Ortello Business Corp. (OBC), a Dubai-based hunting outfit that has operated in Loliondo since 1992, would be granted access.

Maasai tribe members resent the prospect of soldiers and foreigners roaming fenced-off pastureland. During a 2009 drought, violence broke out between Maasai and the OBC staff, who reportedly burned houses and livestock.?

An attempt this week at a mass protest rally, ?where?some 50 local politicians threatened to resign from office, ultimately fell apart. The local politicians reneged on their promise to resign and local police outlawed public gatherings in the district, scaring many people away. Trucks of soldiers dispersed many of the demonstrators.

?I lost my faith in my government,? said one local woman, Napano Koyan.

Maasai women, dressed in traditional red shukas with shining jewelry, are now resisting on their own.?Defying both the ban on gatherings and the patriarchal Maasai culture, by midweek they began holding small sit-ins under wiry acacia trees in villages across Loliondo, where they debated?whether they should go to court or march on OBC?s camp.?

Paulina Pere, a mother of four, walked two days across the savannah, wearing sandals made from rubber tires, to attend the demonstration. She was adamant?she would not leave Loliondo.???I live on this land,? she said.???I gave birth to my children on this land, and when I die, I will go inside this land.?

Her dramatic gesture reflects the Maasai?s complete dependence on land for livestock, which they use to buy food, clothing, and school fees. ?

?I would even walk with no shoes because our land has been taken,? Ms. Pere says, adding that the loss of land ?means poverty and death? for her and other families.

Numbers of women at sit-ins have swelled in recent days, with protesters refusing to leave, despite a further deployment of government troops that are driving the muddy roads of Loliondo in open air trucks waving dark red warning flags.?

Tourism Minister Khamis Kagasheki said last week the government will not budge from its plans, described as a compromise that would divide current Maasai territory by giving about 40 percent for a wildlife zone and the rest to the Maasai for grazing.??

?There is no government in the world that can just let an area so important to conservation to be wasted away by overgrazing,? Mr. Kagasheki said.

Benjamin Gardner, a cultural geographer at the University of Washington who has studied the Maasai since 1992, says he doubts they are harming the environment.?

?The way the Maasai manage the range actually encourages wildlife,? Mr. Gardner says, citing their aversion to hunting, and prescribed burns that regenerate grass.

But?Tanzania is also in need of foreign investment. Livestock rearing, although economically productive for people in Loliondo, is less lucrative for the government than tourism.?The OBC hunting firm?s clients include the United Arab Emirates royal family, and pay so well that in the past, Tanzania?s president Jakaya Kikwete has dispatched troops to keep the hunting grounds free of ?cattle and locals.

The reporter is anonymous for security reasons.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/tyqnrsfJitY/Maasai-face-eviction-from-ancestral-lands-to-make-way-for-Dubai-hunting-firm

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Power restored to Japan nuke plant cooling system

TOKYO -- Power was restored Friday to a cooling system at a tsunami-damaged nuclear plant in Japan that failed for the second time in a month after an outage caused by construction work to keep out rats suspected of setting off the earlier blackout.

Power for the cooling system for a storage pool for fuel was restored after a two-hour break at reactor No. 3, and there was no immediate danger from the breakdown, according to Tokyo Electric Power Co., the utility that operates Fukushima Dai-ichi in northeastern Japan.

Work to put up nets to keep out rats and other animals at Fukushima Dai-ichi plant in northeastern Japan inadvertently caused the power outage, TEPCO spokesman Akitsuka Kobayashi said. Details were not clear, and the outage was still under investigation.

A dead rat found near a switchboard was suspected of the power outage last month that led to a cooling system not working for two days at the plant.

Nuclear Regulation Authority spokesman Takahiro Sakuma said an alarm went off in the afternoon about the latest problem at reactor No. 3.

The cooling system can be turned off for two weeks before temperatures approach dangerous levels at the spent fuel storage pools. But if the water runs dry, the fuel rods, even spent ones, will spew enormous levels of radiation.

The plant went into multiple meltdowns after the March 2011 tsunami damaged backup generators and all cooling systems failed, including those for the reactors.

The plant is being decommissioned, but continues to have glitches.

Fears are growing about the safety of nuclear plants, and people have periodically staged streets protests that are rare in Japan.

Only two of the nation's 50 working power plants are up, and the government is running beefed up safety checks on the plants, including scrutinizing quake faults right below or near the plants.

Shinzo Abe, who became prime minister about three months ago, has expressed a desire to restart nuclear plants. Japan lacks natural resources and relied on nuclear energy for about a third of its electricity needs prior to March 2011. Energy imports have soared over the last two years, putting a strain on the economy.

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/04/05/3324664/fukushima-nuclear-plants-cooling.html

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Following Obama, Kerry to donate part of salary

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Three Cabinet secretaries became the latest senior administration officials to give back part of their salaries, in the spirit of government spending cuts.

The announcements that Secretary of State John Kerry, the richest Cabinet member, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew will voluntarily reduce their pay came a day after President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said they'd return 5 percent of their paychecks to the Treasury.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Kerry, however, will give his 5 percent to a charity for department employees. She said he already makes significant charitable donations.

Kerry makes $183,500 this year. His donation is worth $9,175.

The former Massachusetts senator was worth more than $184 million at the time of his 2011 Senate financial disclosure form. His wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, is heiress to the Heinz ketchup fortune and is reportedly worth more than $1 billion.

The Homeland Security Department said Napolitano would donate 5 percent of her salary to foundations that benefit Homeland Security staff. Further details were not provided.

The Treasury Department said that Lew would contribute a portion of his salary to nonprofit organizations that are supporting people and programs adversely affected by automatic government spending cuts. The amount of Lew's contributions and the organizations receiving the money were still being worked out.

___

Associated Press writer Alicia A. Caldwell and AP Economics Writer Martin Crutsinger contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-04-04-US-Kerry-Salary/id-c946338a788f487cb4b8424be7d524d2

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Facebook Home: A bigger deal than you think

Facebook Home

Facebook?s?(FB) announcement of Facebook Home, coming soon to Android, was perhaps the most impressive thing Facebook has launched since the ?like? button.?Available initially on the HTC First on AT&T (T), Facebook is trying to increase engagement, and with this new ?version? of Facebook, I can definitely see that happening. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said phones have primarily been built around apps, and with Facebook Home, that?s changing. Smartphones are now built around people, as people want to know what?s going on with those around us.

[More from BGR: Verizon CEO says he would happily drop cell phone contracts]

Facebook Home does just this, in a beautiful redesign of the Facebook experience. No longer do you have to pull up an app or a mobile website, pictures are right there for you on the lock screen. You don?t have to open your phone to see what your friends or loved ones are doing, it?s all right there in front of you. With a simple swipe of a finger, you can breeze past photos, status updates, making the experience even more natural than it was before. Zuckerberg said people look at their phones 100 times a day, so making Facebook an increasingly engaged product is smart.

[More from BGR: The outrageous way many Americans rewrite mobile phone history]

New features brought to Home are Chat Heads, Notifications, Cover Feeds and App Drawer, all designed to make navigation, engagement and use much easier and friendlier. ?We think this is the best version of Facebook there is,? Zuckerberg said during the presentation.

I couldn?t agree more. I was blown away by how engaging and easy it is to use.

The main facet to take away is not only the hundreds of millions of Android devices this will be on eventually (initially it?s launching on smartphones, but I was told a tablet version will come within the next several months), but the increased engagement, which Facebook can eventually monetize. Zuckerberg was asked about this during the Q&A portion of Thursday?s press conference, and though he laughed and claimed to forget what the question was about, monetization of Facebook Home is important.

Eventually there will be advertisements on Facebook Home, but not on the first version. What isn?t clear at this time is how Facebook will integrate ads into the product without ruining the experience, but that question isn?t for today. Wall Street wants to see more engagement, which will ultimately lead to more ads and higher revenue, and the Street got just what it wanted.

Not only does this put Facebook in the forefront of users faces again, it could signify a thawing of the frosty relationship between Google?(GOOG) and Facebook. Facebook Home runs on both the Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean versions of Android, something that makes it available to millions of Android users, and isn?t dependent on Android updates. That?s a smart move by Facebook to not make this a forked version of Android, but something more. Google was aware of what Facebook was building, and though Google shares fell sharply on Thursday, it could be a start to bigger things between the two companies.

Facebook really impressed me with Facebook Home. Now it?s time to see how users feel about it. We?ll all find out soon enough when it launches on April 12th, available on Google Play.

This article was originally published on BGR.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/facebook-home-bigger-deal-think-132047281.html

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Economy adds fewest jobs in 9 months

WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. employers added just 88,000 jobs in March, the fewest in nine months and a sharp retreat after a period of strong hiring. The slowdown in job growth may signal that the economy is heading into a weak spring.

The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate dipped to 7.6 percent, the lowest in four years, from 7.7 percent. But the rate fell last month only because more people stopped looking for work. People who are out of work are no longer counted as unemployed once they stop looking for a job.

The percentage of Americans working or looking for jobs fell to 63.3 percent in March, the lowest such figure in nearly 34 years.

Stock futures sank after the jobs report was released at 8.

March's job gains were half the pace of the previous six months, when the economy added an average of 196,000 jobs a month. The government said hiring was even stronger in the previous two months than previously estimated. February's job gains were revised to 268,000, up from 236,000. January job growth was raised to 148,000, up from 119,000.

Several industries cut back sharply on hiring in March. Retailers cut 24,000 jobs after averaging 32,000 in the previous three months. Manufacturers cut 3,000 jobs after adding 19,000 the previous month. Financial services shed 2,000.

The number of people either working or looking for work fell by nearly 500,000 last month. It was sharpest such drop since December 2010. And the number of Americans who said they were employed dropped nearly 210,000.

Average hourly pay rose a penny, the smallest gain in five months. Average pay is just 1.8 percent higher than a year earlier, trailing the pace of inflation, which rose 2 percent in the past 12 months.

"This is not a good report through and through," Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist at brokerage firm BTIG, said in a note to clients.

Economists had hoped that the bigger pay increases in recent months would continue and boost Americans' ability to spend.

Some economists said they expect a slowdown this spring, though not as severe as in the past three years.

"We don't anticipate the slowdown becoming too severe, not when the housing recovery is firing on all cylinders, but it is a reminder that the U.S. is still unable to sustain what used to be just average rates of growth," said Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics.

The decline in the work force reflects several trends, economists say: Many of those out of work become discouraged and give up on their job hunts. And as the population ages, more people are retiring.

Most analysts think the economy strengthened from January through March, helped by the pickup in hiring, a sustained recovery in housing and steady consumer spending. Consumers stepped up purchases in February and January, even after Social Security taxes increased this year.

Still the higher taxes have reduced paychecks. And many economists say steep government spending cuts that began taking effect March 1 will slow growth in the spring and summer.

Mark Vitner, an economist at Wells Fargo Securities, thinks the economy expanded at a 3.2 percent annual rate in the first quarter. But he forecasts that growth will slow to a 2 percent annual pace in the current second quarter, and then rebound after the impact of the government spending cuts fades.

Economists expect the spending reductions will shave half a percentage point off economic growth this year. Many federal workers will experience pay cuts. And government contractors will likely cut jobs. That could also drag down overall monthly hiring.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-economy-adds-88k-jobs-123241385.html

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Conn. approves tough new gun laws

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) ? Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was expected to sign a wide-ranging bill that includes sweeping new restrictions on weapons and large capacity ammunition magazines, a response to last year's deadly school shooting in Newtown.

Following a total of more than 13 hours of respectful and at times somber debate, the House of Representatives and the Senate voted in favor of the 139-page bill crafted by leaders from both major parties in the Democratic-controlled General Assembly.

The bill passed 26-10 in the Senate and 105-44 in the House. Both were bipartisan votes.

Malloy's office said he would sign the legislation at noon Thursday during a ceremony at the state Capitol.

"I pray today's bill ? the most far-reaching gun safety legislation in the country ? will prevent other families from ever experiencing the dreadful loss that the 26 Sandy Hook families have felt," said House Majority Leader Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, referring to the families of the 20 first graders and six educators killed Dec. 14 inside Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The December massacre, which reignited a national debate on gun control, set the stage for changes in the state that may have been impossible elsewhere: The governor, who personally informed parents that their children had been killed that day, championed the cause, and legislative leaders, keenly aware of the attention on the state, struck a bipartisan agreement they want to serve as a national model.

The legislation adds more than 100 firearms to the state's assault weapons ban and creates what officials have called the nation's first dangerous weapon offender registry as well as eligibility rules for buying ammunition. Some parts of the bill would take effect immediately after Malloy's signature, including background checks for all firearms sales.

Connecticut will join states including California, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts in having the country's strongest gun control laws, said Brian Malte, director of mobilization for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence in Washington.

"This would put Connecticut right at the top or near the top of the states with the strongest gun laws," Malte said.

Colorado and New York also passed new gun control requirements in the wake of the Newtown shooting, in which a 20-year-old gunman used a military-style semi-automatic rifle.

Compared with Connecticut's legislation, which, for example, bans the sale or purchase of ammunition magazines holding more than 10 rounds, New York restricted magazines to seven bullets and gave owners of higher-capacity magazines a year to sell them elsewhere. Colorado banned ammunition magazines that hold more than 15 rounds.

"There are pieces that are stronger in other states, but, in totality, this will be the strongest gun legislation passed in the United States," Betty Gallo, a lobbyist for Connecticut Against Gun Violence, said of the Connecticut bill.

But some lawmakers said they felt the legislation did not do enough to address mental health issues.

Rep. Mitch Bolinsky, a freshman Republican lawmaker from Newtown, acknowledged the legislation "is not perfect" and he hoped would be "a beginning in addressing critical mental health needs."

Rep. Douglas McCrory, D-Hartford, said he felt the bill "doesn't speak to the issue of gun violence that has permeated our cities," adding how families in his district who've lost children to gun violence have not received the same level of attention from state politicians as the Newtown families.

Many legislators spoke of balancing the rights of gun owners with addressing the horror of the Sandy Hook shooting. They've received thousands of emails and phone calls urging them to vote for or against the bill, with veteran Sen. Joan Hartley, a Democrat, saying she's never seen a more polarizing issue at the state Capitol.

But Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, whose district includes Newtown, said he felt he was representing the interests of the Sandy Hook victims as he cast his vote.

"I stand here as their voice, as their elected representative," he said, reciting the names of the 26 victims at the school.

Lawmakers appeared to still be stunned by the enormity of the massacre.

"When a child is sent to school, their parents expect them to be safe. The Sandy Hook shooting rampage was a parent's, a school system's, a community's and the nation's worst nightmare," said Republican state Sen. Toni Boucher of Wilton.

Gun rights advocates who greatly outnumbered gun control supporters in demonstrations held earlier in the day at the Capitol railed against the proposals as misguided and unconstitutional, occasionally chanting "No! No! No!" and "Read the bill!"

"We want them to write laws that are sensible," said Ron Pariseau, of Pomfret, who was angry he'll be made a felon if he doesn't register his weapons that will no longer be sold in Connecticut. "What they're proposing will not stop anything."

By the time the Senate voted around 6:30 p.m., many of the gun rights advocates had gone home, leaving behind proponents of the bill who applauded when the tally in the Senate was read. The halls were mostly empty by the time the House voted at 2:26 a.m. on Thurdsay.

House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero Jr., R-Norwalk, who helped craft the bill, said he realizes the gun owners are unhappy with the bill, but he stressed that no one will lose their legally owned guns or magazines under the legislation.

"We did our job. We did it together," he said. "We did the best we could and I think we did a good thing."

In the legislature, where Democrats control both houses, leaders waited to unveil gun legislation until they struck a bipartisan deal that they say shows how the parties can work together elsewhere. They touted the package as a comprehensive response to Newtown that also addresses mental health and school security measures, including the creation of a new council to establish school safety standards and the expansion of circumstances when someone's mental history disqualifies him or her from obtaining a gun permit or other gun credentials.

But momentum on federal legislation has stalled in Congress, and President Barack Obama has planned a trip to Connecticut on Monday to step up pressure to pass a bill.

A silent majority in favor of stronger gun control has emerged following the Newtown massacre, Gallo said.

Among the gun control advocates were Dan and Lauren Garrett, of Hamden, wearing green shirts in honor of the Sandy Hook victims. The Garretts traveled to Hartford with their 10-month-old son, Robert, to watch the bill's passage. They said they hope lawmakers will build on the proposal.

"It's just the beginning of this bill. In six months from now, it's going to get stronger and stronger," Dan Garrett said. "I think they're watching us all over the country."

___

Associated Press writers Stephen Kalin and Michael Melia in Hartford and John Christoffersen in New Haven contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/conn-governor-set-sign-gun-control-law-075015640.html

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