LG 55LA8600

Pros Great picture quality. Gorgeous bezel-free design. Feature-rich. Good 3D imagery.

Cons Pricey. Tricky remote. Motion and voice features are sketchy. Bottom Line The LG LA8600 series of HDTVs offers beautiful aesthetics, sharp 2D and 3D imagery, and rich color reproduction at a premium price. You get lots of features with this series, some of which are of questionable value.

By John R. Delaney

Never let it be said that LG doesn't know how to make a fashion statement. Not only is their 55LA8600 LED backlit HDTV one of the sharpest-looking 55-inch LCD sets to grace the labs, it's a solid performer and loaded with features, although one or two of those features are not quite ready for primetime. As always, you'll pay big bucks for a top-of-the-line HDTV ($2,699.99 list), but if you want a big-screen set that offers all the latest technologies, including a 240Hz refresh rate, passive 3D, and a wealth of Web services, the LA8600 deserves a spot on your short list, right alongside our Editors' Choice plasma screen, the Samsung PN60F8500.

Design and Features
The 55LA8600 uses a so-called bezel-free design on the top and sides that gives the impression of a floating screen. However, the LA8600 isn't completely bezel-less; there is a thin (0.7-inch) glossy black bezel at the bottom edge of the panel done up in a glossy black finish and sporting a small LG logo. A band of textured metal trim around the cabinet's perimeter completes the look. While visually stunning, the 55-inch panel is susceptible to damage due to the lack of bezel support on the edges, so be careful when un-boxing this beauty.

Edge-mounted LED backlighting allows for a slim (1.3-inch) cabinet that juts out a bit at the bottom to accommodate a pair of down-firing 12-watt speakers that, aided by a rear-mounted subwoofer, deliver loud audio with a good amount of bass response for HDTV speakers. The 51-pound cabinet comes with a u-shaped stand featuring a unique swivel mechanism that actually swivels the entire stand rather than the just the cabinet. Of course, you can use the VESA-compliant mounting holes to hang the set on a wall.

There's no shortage of I/O ports here. On the left side, facing outward, are four HDMI ports and three USB ports, one of which supports the speedy USB 3.0 standard. Down-facing ports include shared component/composite AV jacks, an optical digital audio output, a LAN port, an antenna/cable jack, and a headphone/external speaker output. On the right side of the cabinet are Volume and Channel Up/Down, Settings, Select, Input, and Power buttons.

A flip-up camera and microphone array sits at the top of the cabinet, behind the screen. It can be used for Skyping as well as for gesture and voice commands. As with the Samsung PN60F8500, you have to enunciate voice commands clearly and slowly in order for them to be recognized. The voice search feature worked well enough, but it's much quicker to just change the channel and raise or lower the volume level using the remote. Likewise, the motion gesture feature is supposed to let you use your hands to turn the set on and off, raise and lower the volume, and change channels, but we were unable to get this feature to function at all. The camera was able to take somewhat blurry video and grainy stills, but is clearly intended more for video chat than recording.

Instead of a conventional, button-filled flat remote, the 55LA8600 uses the motion-sensing LG Magic Remote. The 5-inch remote is very similar to the one that ships with the LG 55LM6700, only this time around it has a shiny silver finish and sports a built-in microphone (for voice recognition) and Microphone button. It also has a 3D, Channel and Volume Up/Down, and Mute buttons, and a scroll wheel surrounded by a four-way directional pad. The Magic Remote can be used as a pointing device, similar to an air mouse, to navigate the menus, change settings, and select Web apps, but it takes some getting used to. For example, the on-screen cursor tends to stray off course quite often and can result in accidental menu selections if you're not paying close attention. After 15 minutes or so I got the hang of the remote, but like the PN60F8600's touchpad remote, it can have a frustrating learning curve if you're not patient.

The LA8600 is equipped for wired and wireless networking, and its catalog of Web apps is impressive. Streaming video apps include Netflix, Hulu Plus, Vudu, YouTube, MLB.com, CinemaNow, Crackle, and Skype. There's also a Game World channel loaded with 2D and 3D games and LG's Smart World portal, which includes hundreds of paid and free movies, TV shows, games, and lifestyle and education apps. You can also access videos, photos, and other content stored in the LG Cloud, which requires a membership.

Picture settings abound. There are seven picture presets including Vivid, Standard, Eco, Cinema, Game, and two professional calibration (ISF Expert) modes that offer extensive picture adjustments in addition to the usual assortment of picture settings. In ISF mode professionals can calibrate the set using the White Balance, CMS (Color Management System), Color Filter, and Expert Pattern options. The menu system also offers several TruMotion (de-judder) settings, as well as Black Level, Local Dimming, and Audio presets.

Performance
To test peak brightness, black level, and color accuracy we use a Klein K10-A colorimeter, SpectraCal's CalMAN 5 software, and the DisplayMate diagnostic utility. The LA8600's peak brightness topped out at 259.12 cd/m2, which is decent but not quite as bright as the Panasonic TC-L55ET60 (304.34 cd/m2). However, the panel produced a relatively dark black level of 0.027 cd/m2 for a strong contrast ratio of 9,597:1. In comparison, the plasma screen Samsung PN60F8500 reached a black level of 0.0054 cd/m2 for remarkable 55,779:1 contrast ratio .

Out-of-the-box color accuracy was good, although reds ran a little hot, as shown in the CIE chromaticity chart above (the inside of each box represents the ideal color coordinates for its corresponding color). Fortunately, the warm reds do not result in any tinting or an oversaturated picture. Viewing angles are good but not perfect; the panel dims slightly when viewed from a side angle of around 80 degrees (off-center).

Image quality on the 1920-by-1080 panel was superb. Underwater scenes from the movie Piranha on Blu-ray appeared sharp with good shadow detail, and the picture was squeaky clean with no noticeable background noise. Motion blur was also non-existent, so there's no reason to crank up the TruMotion de-judder settings.

The LA8600 uses passive 3D, and comes with four sets of glasses. The panel provided good 3D depth without sacrificing background detail or luminance, and the lightweight glasses were comfortable. The 3D imagery in Sharks 3D on Blu-ray was convincing; in fact, a colleague remarked that he felt like he was watching the movie from the inside of a fish tank. As with nearly every passive 3D HDTV we've tested, the LA8600 does exhibit a trace of crosstalk when viewed from an extreme side angle, but the artifacts are not blatant enough to be considered an issue.

In Standard mode, the LA8600 consumed 106 watts of power during testing, which is on par with the Panasonic TC-L55ET60 (100 watts). With Eco mode enabled it used only 68 watts, while the ET60 used required 79 watts. With the Picture Mode set to Cinema, the LA8600 consumed 81 watts of power. The Samsung PN60F8500 consumed three times as much power for only five inches more diagonal screen size thanks to its plasma panel, eating 320 watts with Eco mode set to low.

Conclusion
Outstanding HD picture quality, solid 3D, and copious features are all characteristics of any flagship HDTV line, and the LG 55LA8600 doesn't disappoint. It may not get as bright as the more affordable Panasonic TC-L55ET60 and its picture isn't quite as stellar as the Editors' Choice Samsung PN60F8500, but it does produce dark blacks and accurate colors, is one of sharpest looking HDTVs around, and consumes much less power. Granted, neither are exactly affordable, but top-of-the-line HDTVs rarely (if ever) are. You may have to invest in a little training time to take full advantage of the remote and voice recognition feature, but these are minor annoyances, not deal breakers. If your budget doesn't allow for a $2,800 expenditure, our Editors' Choice for mid-range big-screen LCD HDTV, the Panasonic TC-L55ET60, is a stellar performer with a much more palatable price tag.

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Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 II

Pros Excellent high ISO performance. 1-inch image sensor. Wide aperture lens. Customizable controls. Large, tilting LCD. Minimal shutter lag. Raw image capture. Wi-Fi. Hot shoe with EVF support.

Cons Very expensive. Limited zoom range. In-camera battery charging only. Could be sharper at the edges of the frame at 28mm. Bottom Line The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 II compact camera offers a few worthwhile upgrades when compared with the original RX100, but comes in at a higher asking price.

By Jim Fisher

In the year since its release, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 has stood alone in the compact market as the only model with a 1-inch image sensor. The RX100 II ($749.99 direct) joins it; it's priced $100 higher, but offers some upgrades. The image sensor is now a backside-illuminated CMOS design, which gives it a one-stop advantage in noise control, and there's built-in Wi-Fi, a tilting rear screen, and support for Sony's add-on EVF. It's up to you to decide if the upgrades are worth the extra money. Both cameras are worth their price, and as the RX100 before it, the RX100 II receives our Editors' Choice award. If you're an RX100 owner that's happy with the camera's performance, there isn't enough here to justify an upgrade; but if you're in the market for a compact with best-in-class image quality, the premium that the RX100 II commands is worth it. If you're already considering the RX100, there's little reason not to take a close look at the RX100 II; in for a penny, in for a pound, as they say.

Design and Features
Despite housing a sensor that's the same size as the one in the Nikon 1 J3 mirrorless camera, the RX100 II measures just 2.3 by 4 by 1.5 inches (HWD) and weighs a mere 9.9 ounces. The J3 is 2.4 by 4 by 2.8 inches and weighs about 11.2 ounces with its lens attached; the lens doesn't offer as ambitious a zoom ratio as that of the RX100 II, and it doesn't capture as much light at comparable focal lengths. Like its predecessor, the RX100 II is able to slide into your jeans pocket. You'll be hard pressed to find a camera with a similar feature set and a larger image sensor that does so. The closest you'll get is the Ricoh GR, which packs an SLR-sized APS-C image sensor, but that camera's lens is a non-zooming 28mm wide-angle design. While it's excellent for what it is, the non-zooming design puts it in a different class of cameras in our book.

The lens is identical to that in the RX100. It's a Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* design that covers a 35mm-equivalent focal range of 28-100mm (3.6x zoom). At its widest angle the aperture opens to f/1.8, but it does narrow all the way to f/4.9 as you zoom. The 1-inch sensor is big for a compact, but it's relatively tiny compared to an SLR. So you won't always get the blurry background bokeh that you're used to seeing from larger cameras with f/1.8 lenses. The effect is most noticeable when shooting at close focus distances; at 28mm the lens can focus as close as 2 inches, and the effect is quite pronounced there when shooting at f/1.8. At the 100mm setting the minimum focus distance stretches to 1.8 feet, but even at f/4.9 you'll see some background blur when working with a subject that close.

I was pretty happy with the control over depth of field that the camera was able to muster. There are few compacts that are able to accomplish this, without resorting to some serious macro shooting. Photographers considering a camera in this price range have undoubtedly come across another one of them, the Fujifilm X20. The X20 has a smaller 2/3-inch sensor that is roughly half the size in terms of surface area. The X20 has a lens with a slightly longer zoom range, 28-112mm, and an f/2-2.8 design. It won't project quite as much light on the image sensor at its widest angle, but you'll be able to shoot at lower ISO settings thanks to the wider aperture at the telephoto end of its range. The X20 is a bit bigger thanks to a manual zoom lens design and a large, built-in optical viewfinder.

The RX100 II doesn't have a viewfinder built-in, but unlike its predecessor you can opt to add one. It supports the same EVF as the RX1 and HX50V. It's an expensive ($450) accessory, but it's an excellent EVF that serious shooters will want to consider as an add-on. The 3-inch rear LCD is hinged so that you can view it from above or below, and its 1,229k-dot resolution trumps even the 921k-dot display found on the Nikon Coolpix P7700. The extra dots on the Sony represent a layer of white pixels that combat glare from the sun, but sometimes there's no substitute for putting a viewfinder up to your eye.

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Leica APO-Summicron-M 50mm f/2 ASPH.

Pros Insanely sharp from edge to edge. No distortion. Apochromatic design. Compact. Built-in hood.

Cons Expensive. Manual focus only. Bottom Line The Leica APO-Summicron-M 50mm f/2 ASPH. is as close to a perfect lens as I've ever used, but it costs more than the latest digital M.

By Jim Fisher

Leica's f/2 Summicron lenses have traditionally delivered excellent performance at a reasonable (for Leica) price tag. The Summicron-M 50mm f/2 sells for a mere $2,295, and even the current version has been on the market for enough time so that used examples are available for much less. So why does the new Leica APO-Summicron-M 50mm f/2 ASPH. ($7,195 list) cost more than three times as much? Quite simply, it's as close to perfect as any that I've shot with. It's sharp from edge-to-edge, even at f/2, shows no distortion, and is completely free of chromatic aberration. It's very expensive, and chances are that you don't need a perfect lens for your camera, but we're awarding it an Editors' Choice award based on its exemplary performance.

Like most rangefinder lenses, the APO-Summicron-M is quite small. It measures just 1.9 by 2.1 inches (HD), but is a bit heavy at 10.6 ounces. Its density is in part due to its all-metal construction, but you can't discount the heft of the glass—there are eight internal lens elements, arranged in five groups. The front element is fairly small in diameter, allowing you to use 39mm screw-in filters as needed. Like most rangefinder lenses, the close focus capability is limited to 0.7 meters. Aperture ranges from f/2 down to f/16 in half-stop clicks, and there are 11 aperture blades. There's a notch on the lens barrel to aid in focus adjustment, a physical aperture ring, and a telescoping hood. The lens ships with a slip-on metal cap with a soft, black felt lining.

I used Imatest to check the performance of the lens when paired with the full-frame M (Typ 240). Its performance is, to put it lightly, impressive. We consider an image to be sharp if it manages to resolve more than 1,800 lines per picture height using a center-weighted analysis of our SFRPlus test chart. The Apo-Summicron records 2,788 lines at f/2, with sharpness that is even from edge to edge. Stopping down to f/2.8 improves its score to 3,496 lines, and it peaks at 3,843 lines at f/4. There's absolutely no distortion, and the apochromatic design means that you won't see any purple or green fringes at areas of high contrast or bokeh. To compare, the excellent Leica Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4 ASPH. managed to record about 2,300 lines at f/2, and the best performance we were able to muster was at f/8—3,680 lines. We tested that lens with the M Monochrom, a camera that benefits from an inherent advantage in sharpness due to the lack of a color filter.

If you want the absolute best 50mm lens that money can buy, the Leica APO-Summicron-M f/2 ASPH. is it. That kind of performance comes at a cost that not many are willing or able to pay. The lens is impressively small, but extremely well built. I'm not sure if I'd call anything perfect, but the APO-Summicron comes close. We're rewarding its design with a rare 5-star rating and our Editors' Choice award. Thanks to its cost, it's not a lens that many will get to shoot with, but those who do get the opportunity will undoubtedly walk away happy with the resulting images.

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Ticket to Ride (for Android)

Pros Great board game-style play. Multiplayer.

Cons No tablet/handset optimization. Crowded, confused design. No local multiplayer. Expensive. Bottom Line The play of Ticket to Ride has survived translation to mobile and is more fun than ever, but the rest of the app is a confused mess.

By Max Eddy

Ticket to Ride takes a bland, tedious sounding subject—building a railroad system—and makes it fun and entertaining. As a board game, it's considered a modern classic. Now on Android (and iOS), players from around the world can match their rail-baron skills whenever they like, if they can get past the app's irritating interface.

All Aboard!
In Ticket to Ride you build your rail empire by claiming routes between cities. You score points for each route—the longer the better—and claim them by collecting the appropriate number of colored cards from the sideboard. You score extra points for completing Tickets, lengthy, multi-city routes, and for having the longest continuous route on the board.

As a board game, Ticket to Ride can be an imposing, with tons of little pieces and cards in addition to a lengthy scoring process. The mobile version of the game does away with all the fiddly, tedious parts of the board game and lets you focus on strategy and play.

In this respect, Ticket to Ride shines. The games are fun, surprisingly brief, and frequently challenging. The tension for each round comes from having so many options—from claiming train lines, drawing cards, or drawing tickets—and only being able to choose one action. Once you start playing you can see why this is considered a classic board game.

Ticket to Ride ships with just the classic board, but expansions are available for purchase at several locations in the app.

A lengthy tutorial, comprising an entire game, uses pop-up windows to tell you what to do. I was surprised that although I couldn't turn off the tutorial and finish the game on my own, I could ignore its advice and the tutorial seemed to adapt in turn. Towards the end of the game, with my defeat all but assured, the tutorial started giving me bizarre, bad advice. It also didn't inform me of some game mechanics, like under what circumstances the pool of available cards resets.

Even without the tutorial running, the game isn't always clear about what is happening or what should happen next. Prompts to draw cards are small, displayed at the bottom of the screen, and fade quickly. It's hard to get back into the game up after you've set it aside, since you'll probably forget what you were doing.

Weirdly, the multiplayer controls appear to be split between the lobby (located in the "restaurant" section) and the screen where you begin a game. The iOS version is much simpler and also includes pass-and-play games and LAN games. The multiplayer menus of the Android version were so confusing, I wasn't sure if these features were present.

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Azerbaijan country profile

24 May 2013 Last updated at 09:29 GMT Oil-rich Azerbaijan gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 amid political turmoil and against a backdrop of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh.

It has been famed for its oil springs and natural gas sources since ancient times, when Zoroastrians, for whom fire is an important symbol, erected temples around burning gas vents in the ground.

In the 19th century this part of the Russian empire experienced an unprecedented oil boom which attracted international investment. By the beginning of the 20th century Azerbaijan was supplying almost half of the world's oil.

In 1994 Azerbaijan signed an oil contract worth $7.4bn with a Western consortium. Since then Western companies have invested millions in the development of the country's oil and gas reserves. However, the economy as a whole has not benefited as much as it might have done.

Continue reading the main story Politics: President Ilham Aliyev came to power in 2003, succeeding his father Heydar, and was re-elected in 2008. A two-term presidential limit was abolished in 2009. Critics accuse Mr Aliyev of heading an authoritarian regime which suppresses oppositionEconomy: Huge oil export revenues have funded infrastructure projects and boosted living standardsInternational: Azerbaijan and Armenia fought in the 1990s over disputed Nagorno-Karabakh; a fragile ceasefire is in place. Azerbaijan is a key transit route to Afghanistan. Relations with Iran are fractious

Country profiles compiled by BBC Monitoring

Caspian oil is now flowing through a pipeline running from Baku through Georgia to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, providing western countries with ready access to a vast new source of supply. Environmental groups have protested that the cost of this benefit is unacceptable.

Azerbaijan has large gas reserves too.

Azerbaijan became a member of the Council of Europe in 2001. Often accused of rampant corruption and election-rigging, ruling circles walk a tightrope between Russian and Western regional geo-strategic interests.

As the Soviet Union collapsed, the predominantly Armenian population of the Nagorno-Karabakh region stated their intention to secede from Azerbaijan. War broke out. Backed by troops and resources from Armenia proper, the Armenians of Karabakh took control of the region and surrounding territory.

In 1994 a ceasefire was signed. About one-seventh of Azerbaijan's territory remains occupied, while 800,000 refugees and internally displaced persons are scattered around the country.

Azerbaijan was in the media spotlight in June 2007 when Russian President Vladimir Putin offered the US the use of the Gabala radar station for missile defence as an alternative to using bases in Poland and the Czech Republic.

At one time Azerbaijan supplied almost half of the world's oil, pumped up by oil derricks such as these in Baku on the Caspian Sea

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London 2012 legacy?

ComRes poll: 22% of the public feel the Games have had a positive impact on the local economy In the second-quarter, the U.K. grew by 0.6%, double the rate of expansion for the first three months of 2013Mayor of London Boris Johnson said that the success of the Olympics and Paralympics has spurred investment

London (CNN) -- Over two-thirds of Britons believe the £9 billion ($13.8 billion) bill for the London Olympics was worth it, but economists and business leaders argue it could take years to see the economic benefits.

According to a poll by research consultancy ComRes, released on the first anniversary of the Games, 69% of participants said it was a good investment of public money.

But only 22% of the public feel the Games have had a positive impact on the local economy in their area, with 67% saying the Olympics had no impact at all.

Samuel Tombs, an economist at Capital Economics, said there was an obvious boost to UK economic growth during the Games but it was too early to see a legacy benefit.

He told CNN: "I think there are question marks over whether the £10 billion of public money spent on the games could have been better used... for example infrastructure projects such as transport, that could have yielded a higher economic return."

In the second-quarter of 2013, the U.K. grew by 0.6% -- double the rate of expansion for the first three months of the year -- suggesting Europe's third-largest economy is on track for a recovery. Tombs said the figures also showed growth in all areas of the economy, which he noted was was a first in recent years.

The UK contracted for five consecutive quarters from the second quarter of 2008, and failed to grow for another nine months in late 2011 and early 2012 as the eurozone debt crisis raged.

Although the cultural heritage of the Olympics is important, it could take years before we see its true economic value, according to Tombs.

He said: "You often fail to see a boost in tourism for the years after the Games and obviously it's very hard to reuse the facilities that have been built."

Director of Economics at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Mark Ambler, said the benefits may not be evident for at least another 10 years. He told CNN: "On this basis, the evidence I have been involved in generating and that I have seen from others suggests strongly that the UK will get a good return on its investment, although I think important parts of it are still to come."

Investment boost

On Thursday, Mayor of London Boris Johnson said that the success of the Olympics and Paralympics has spurred investment in the U.K capital.

Speaking at a press conference, he said: "Remember the fate of the Olympo-sceptics is all I would say to anyone tempted to doubt the legacy."

But according to Matthew Jaffa, spokesman for the Federation of Small Businesses, not enough is being done in the wake of the Olympics to promote "Brand London" as an exporter.

He added: "The Games have had more of an impact on London than the rest of the UK. 55% of the companies that won contracts, directly related to the Olympics, saw growth within the turnover of their business, which is positive."

Despite skepticism from some quarters of the business community, the ComRes poll -- which surveyed over 3,200 people -- also showed that nearly three-quarters of Britons would welcome the Olympic Games back given the opportunity.

Andrew Simms, political economist and and co-author of the book 'London 2012 - How Was it For Us?' said the Games were "a triumph of public endeavour... it's a very good example of what a very dynamic and focused public sector can do."

/* push in config for this share instance */cnn_shareconfig.push({"id" : "cnn_sharebar2","url" : "http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/26/business/london-olympics-poll-comres/index.html","title" : "One year on: Has the Olympics left a legacy?"});July 30, 2013 -- Updated 1427 GMT (2227 HKT) First came the discovery of the long-lost remains of England's King Richard III underneath a parking lot, now archaeologists have a new find.July 30, 2013 -- Updated 1032 GMT (1832 HKT) Edward Snowden's father defended his son's actions Monday and slammed those who would focus on the "sinner" rather than the "sins."July 30, 2013 -- Updated 0924 GMT (1724 HKT) Plumbing new depths in the battle for television ratings, abandoned babies are being given out as prizes on a controversial game show.July 30, 2013 -- Updated 1303 GMT (2103 HKT) Bestselling erotic novel "Fifty Shades" could be behind the rise in emergencies involving handcuffs, according to London firefighters.July 29, 2013 -- Updated 2143 GMT (0543 HKT) An interview with religious scholar Reza Aslan has Twitter in a tizzy. CNN's Leone Lakhani explains.July 29, 2013 -- Updated 0139 GMT (0939 HKT) CNN's Ivan Watson finds Pyongyang is sticking to its style of communist and dynastic rule -- with no access to internet or international calls. July 30, 2013 -- Updated 1341 GMT (2141 HKT) Christian "Chucho" Benitez -- the top scorer in the Mexican league last season -- dies suddenly at the age of 27.July 29, 2013 -- Updated 0140 GMT (0940 HKT) U.N. estimates thousands of women in Mali have been sexually assaulted by the rebels. Atika Shubert talks to a survivor of such assault.July 30, 2013 -- Updated 0933 GMT (1733 HKT) Explosive stage show Africa Umoja that tells South African history includes former street children in their cast.July 29, 2013 -- Updated 2214 GMT (0614 HKT) The future of Fernando Alonso at Ferrari has been thrown further into confusion after the Spaniard was publicly rebuked.July 30, 2013 -- Updated 1052 GMT (1852 HKT) Many abandoned, or 'ghost' airports, are finding new uses, such as backdrops to movies or housing complexes.Today's five most popular stories

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Apple Logic Pro X

Pros Terrific new interface will thrill pros, yet still welcome GarageBand users. New Arpeggiator plug-in is excellent. Brilliant iPad integration. Drummer plug-in can stand in for a session drummer. Tons of free downloadable content. No copy protection, unlike many of its competitors. Amazing value.

Cons Logic Remote on the iPad is a little buggy. Existing instrument and effects plug-ins, especially EXS24, are in dire need of a UI makeover. Bottom Line Apple Logic Pro X sets the standard for digital audio workstations, both on the Mac platform and overall, and it's the least expensive of the major DAWs to boot. It remains a killer package that every serious musician should at least look at closely, if not purchase immediately.

By Jamie Lendino

Apple's pro-level audio workstation software just got a huge makeover, and it's a winner. If you're a musician, producer, recording engineer, or composer, you simply have to look at Logic Pro X. Even if you're a steadfast Pro Tools wizard in a commercial setting, or are loyal to Digital Performer or Cubase—all excellent software packages—the long-awaited Logic Pro X contains some brilliant innovations that are worth examining, especially if you've also got an iPad hanging around the studio. Still just $199.99 (direct), Logic Pro X remains an amazing value, and various small upgrades throughout make it even easier than before to realize complete music projects from start to finish. Unless you need Pro Tools for compatibility with other studios, or simply because you're more familiar with it—perfectly valid reasons to go with Avid—Logic Pro is our favorite mainstream DAW and a clear Editors' Choice. 

Setup and Installation
For this review, I tested Logic Pro X on two machines: a 3.4GHz Core i7 iMac 27-inch desktop Apple loaned to us, and my own MacBook Pro 15-inch, which has a 2.6GHz quad-core i7 processor, 8GB RAM, and a 750GB Seagate Momentus XT hybrid drive I installed myself. Both machines were running OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, a requirement for the latest version of Logic. 

Logic Pro X is compatible with projects dating back to Logic 5; during the review, I had no problem opening existing projects I had done in Logic Pro 9, including those with third-party plug-ins like Izotope Ozone 5, EZDrummer 1.4, and Spectrasonics Omnisphere 1.56 engaged. Logic Pro X is also now fully 64-bit, which vastly increases the number of plug-ins instances you can run on any machine with more than 4GB of RAM. There's no more toggle to default to 32-bit mode, however; if this is a problem, you can keep your existing Logic Pro 9 install, as it runs just fine on the same machine.

Since Logic Pro X is an App Store download, you can install it on any machine you're registered on with Apple. It can now top 37GB for the full download, but you can get started with much less as the basic install. There's no hardware or software copy protection, and your purchase is safely stored in the cloud in case you ever need to reinstall it. Having no copy protection is novel and awesome in the realm of digital audio workstations, where Avid Pro Tools 11 requires a PACE iLok key, and Steinberg Cubase 7 requires its own proprietary eLicenser key. It's great if you're on a MacBook Pro with just two free USB ports—and USB hubs aren't an answer, because too many audio devices (not to mention other peripherals) prohibit using hubs in their user manuals.

With a Mac, you can also use the built-in sound card in lieu of a separate interface. Not only is it relatively clean sounding—no hiss or thin sound here—but it works perfectly fine for virtual instrument playback, with low playback latency, for composing music "in the box" with Logic Pro X, if not for recording live instruments. That's something that I've never been able to get to work reliably on the PC side, even when using supposedly low-latency, third-party ASIO drivers like ASIO4ALL—though I've seen occasional reports of success in various forums across the Internet. Either way, you'll still want at least a pair of headphones and a small USB-powered MIDI keyboard for Logic Pro X, at the very least. During testing, I had no problem alternating between using an Avid Mbox Pro to record and monitor audio, and just using the built-in headphone jack for virtual synth playback.

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Optoma X303

Pros 3D capable. Portable. Moderate price. Good range of connection choices.

Cons Rainbow effect. Image quality suffers over a VGA connection. Bottom Line The Optoma X303 XGA data projector offers a good mix of moderate price, portability, connectivity, 3D capability, and image quality suitable for typical presentations.

By Tony Hoffman

The Optoma X303 provides a good set of connection choices and solid data image quality for a lower-priced business or classroom projector. Portability and 3D capability are among its other strengths.

The X303 is a DLP-based data projector with XGA (1,024 by 768) native resolution, a 4:3 aspect ratio. It is rated at 3,000 lumens. This all-black projector is quite portable, measuring 4.6 by 12.4 by 8.8 inches, weighing 4.9 pounds, and coming with a soft carrying case. It has the same weight and dimensions as the Optoma S303, its SVGA counterpart.

It has a good selection of ports for a low-priced projector, including two VGA-in (which double as component video); monitor-out; serial; an RCA composite video jack; S-video; HDMI, 2 audio-in; 1 audio-out; and a USB type B port. It lacks a port that lets you run a presentation computer-free off of a USB thumb drive.

Data Image Quality
I tested the X303 from about eight feet away from our test screen, where it projected an image about 60 inches diagonal. The image stood up well to a fair amount of ambient light.

In our DisplayMate testing, the X303 showed data image quality suitable for typical business or classroom presentations. In text testing, type was a bit blurred at the two smallest sizes of white-on-black type, but still readable. There was slight yellow tinting in some white areas.

In testing over a VGA connection, some gray areas with hatched textures appeared greenish and showed pixel jitter. Its ability to display very light shades of gray was unusually poor. However, when I switched to an HDMI connection, the gray tint and pixel jitter disappeared, and it did a much better job with light grays.

The rainbow effect, in which little red-green-blue flashes appear in areas of high contrast—a common phenomenon in single-chip DLP projectors—was apparent in images that tend to bring it out. Still, in data images it's not likely to be an issue, even to people sensitive to it.

p>Video and Audio
The X303's video quality is suitable for relatively short clips as part of a presentation. Here, the rainbow effect in our test clips was apparent enough that it would be distracting to anyone sensitive to the effect. Some scenes appeared overly red.

The audio from the projector's single 2-watt speaker is of decent quality, though on the soft side, loud enough to fill a smallish room.

Other Issues
The X303 provides 3D support for DLP-Link. It doesn't come with any of the active-shutter 3D glasses that you need, though. Though the glasses have come down in price, with pairs selling in the $30-40 range, outfitting a classroom with them is still an expensive proposition.

The X303 has a better selection of ports than the Editors' Choice Epson PowerLite 93+, a portable 2,600-lumen resolution data projector, and is slightly brighter, at least in white light. However, it lags the Epson 93+ in both data and video image quality, and its sound is much softer. One edge that it does have over the Epson 93+ is its 3D capability.

The X303 costs a bit more than the Optoma S303 while providing higher resolution. This could be an advantage in projecting smaller detail, though the S303 held its own in text testing. Otherwise their features are pretty much the same.

The X303 matches up pretty well with the BenQ MX518 as a lower-priced XGA business projector. They both have a good (and very similar) port selection, 3D capabilities, and are very portable (though the BenQ MX518 lacks a carrying case). Their data and video quality, though unspectacular, is suitable for typical business or classroom use, and their audio systems are on the soft side.

Though it lacks the bells and whistles of some higher-end models we've tested, the Optoma X303 has much to recommend it. It's quite portable, has ample connectivity choices, 3D capability, and image quality suitable for typical presentations. This budget-priced alternative should be a good fit for many schools and businesses.

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Chief Digital Officer: Hot new tech title or flash in the pan?

Computerworld - There's a new C-level executive -- the Chief Digital Officer (CDO) -- in the boardroom, charged with ensuring that companies' massive stores of digital content are being used effectively to connect with customers and drive revenue growth.

At first blush, an executive title that includes the word "digital" would seem to encroach on IT's territory. Not so, observers say -- but that doesn't mean tech leaders don't need to be prepared to work closely with a CDO somwhere down the line.

Gartner last year reported that the number of CDOs is rising steadily, predicting that by 2015, some 25% of companies will have one managing their digital goals, according to analyst Mark P. McDonald. (See also CDOs by the numbers.)

While media companies are at the forefront of this movement, McDonald says, all kinds of organizations are starting to see value in their digital assets and in how those assets can help grow revenue.

"I think everybody's asking themselves whether they need [a CDO] or should become one," McDonald enthuses. "Organizations are looking for some kind of innovation or growth, and digital technologies are providing the first source of technology-intensive growth that we've had in a decade."

While the CIO and the CDO are both concerned with digital information, their responsibilities diverge sharply.

"The role of IT in the past has been to procure and secure IT equipment for the company, lock [data] up and bolt it down," says Jason Brown, the CDO for trade show and event management company George Little Management. "Whereas with digital content, you want to get it out to the world so the rest of the world can see it and access it. I don't care about Exchange servers, Web servers or any of that stuff," continues Brown, who was hired in September 2011 as George Little's first-ever CDO, reporting to the company's CEO. (Previously he worked as a vice president of digital media for what is now events and media company UBM Canon.)

"I'm interested in building products that can be monetized," he says. "Companies need to look at their products and see areas where they can make money digitally." (For details, see Digital assets defined.)

Organizations including Sears, Starbucks, Harvard University, the City of New York and many others have hired CDOs, says David Mathison, founder of the Chief Digital Officer Club, where current and would-be CDOs can find training, job opportunities and more. Their goal? To improve efforts in digital content promotion, a motive shared by CDOs from Forbes, Columbia University and elsewhere, who described to Computerworld how they go about helping their companies take advantage of their large digital resources.

According to estimates from CDO Club founder David Mathison, the top three kinds of companies hiring CDOs today are advertising agencies, publishers and broadcasters, while the biggest growth is being seen in the non-profit sector and state and local governments.

"When I started tracking this two years ago, there were 75 CDOs worldwide in major organizations," says Mathison, who curated the first-ever CDO Summit last February. "Today there are hundreds -- more than 300 at most recent count."

Mathison started tracking CDOs in August 2011 while working at the search firm Chadick Ellig, and he has continued his analysis via conversations and interviews with corporate executives and by reviewing hundreds of resumes and online profiles.

That research, plus data from CDO Club members, indicates that salaries for a Chief Digital Officer range from $89,000 to $600,000, depending on the business sector and location, with the median falling between $250,000 and $300,000, he says.

Small and midsize businesses are moving to the cloud to host their communications capabilities. Learn how enterprise-quality phone benefits, online management, conferencing, auto attendant, and ease of use are built into a system that is half the cost of a PBX.

Read now.

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Denmark country profile

3 July 2013 Last updated at 08:10 GMT The kingdom of Denmark has, despite its relatively small size, often punched above its weight internationally.

Vikings raiding from Denmark and the other Nordic nations changed the course of 9th- and 10th-century European history; in the Middle Ages, the Union of Kalmar united all of Scandinavia under Danish leadership.

In recent times, Denmark has been known for its modern economy and extensive welfare system, while enjoying an often difficult relationship with the European Union.

The Danes rejected the euro as the national currency in a referendum in September 2000. Analysts believe that Danish fears of loss of political independence and national sovereignty outweighed any economic arguments about the benefits of joining the eurozone.

Denmark's euroscepticism put it at odds with many of its European partners seven years previously when Danish voters rejected the Maastricht Treaty which proposed monetary union and a common European defence force. Denmark had to be granted opt-outs from these provisions before the treaty was approved in 1993.

The Oresund Bridge is Europe's longest road and rail bridge. It connects the Danish capital Copenhagen with Sweden Continue reading the main story Politics: Social Democrat Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Denmark's first female PM, took office after 2011 elections ended a decade of centre-right ruleEconomy: Denmark, an EU member, has rejected the euro but pegs the krone to the single currency. The economy is services-basedInternational: Denmark has backed key international peacekeeping efforts. Danish soldiers are deployed in Afghanistan

Country profiles compiled by BBC Monitoring

The Social Democrats led a string of coalition governments for most of the second half of the last century in a country generally known for its liberal traditions.

Poul Schluter then became the first Danish prime minister from the Conservative People's Party in 1982, leading a centre-right coalition until 1993, when he was succeeded by the Social Democrat Poul Nyrup Rasmussen.

A new centre-right coalition headed by Anders Fogh Rasmussen came to power in November 2001 promising tighter immigration controls.

A third successive centre-right Rasmussen, Lars Lokke, took over as prime minister in April 2009. His government, dependent as it is on the right-wing populist People's Party to push through legislation, has witnessed immigration and integration emerge as major issues of public debate.

Denmark's progressive tightening of its immigration laws has led to charges that its strict rules violate European norms.

The country has won plaudits for its healthy economy. Its employment levels are the envy of many industrialised countries and it accommodates a competitive economic edge as well as a generous social security system.

Danish television and cinema have won international recognition, not least for their willingness to experiment. Through the late 1990s and early 2000s the Dogme movement directors often used hand-held cameras to dynamic effect in a conscious reaction against high-tech, big-budget cinema.

Greenland and the Faroe Islands are self-governing territories of Denmark.

Seafarers from Denmark have spread the country's influence throughout the world

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ThinPrint Cloud Printer (for iPad)

Pros Free. Prints all standard document types. Works with Windows or Mac. Works with non-WiFi printers, as long as the network has a WiFi access point.

Cons Software must be installed on computer as well as iPad. Prints from iPad's camera roll, but not (directly) from photo galleries. Won?t let you print from many apps. No print options. Bottom Line Cortado ThinPrint Cloud Printer (for iPad) lets you turn any networked printer into a cloud printer, but prints from a limited selection of sources.

By Tony Hoffman

As popular as the iPad is, there is still a need for effective mobile printing solutions that support it. Cortado ThinPrint Cloud Printer (for iPad), free for personal use, in effect turns any printer on a Wi-Fi network, even non-wireless models, into a cloud printer, though it requires installing a utility on a computer on that network. ThinPrint supports printing from various apps and cloud-based services. If it works with the programs you need to print from, it could well be your solution of choice.

Interface
ThinPrint Cloud Printer has a minimalist interface, from which you can only print directly from your iPad's camera roll (and not from any of its photo albums). A line of text on the app's only screen reads Print From [[the Open In/Save As icon]]. It's not a button; you have to open a document in another app (say, GoodReader or DropBox), tap the Open In/Save As icon, and tap Open in ThinPrint Cloud Printer for it to print. (It sends the document to Cortado's ThinPrint cloud, where it's processed and returned for printing. It's similar in concept to Google Cloud Print, although the latter is geared largely to the Google ecosystem.) A virtual dial shows the status of print jobs (in percentage printed). There's a question-mark icon, which simply reveals that you need to install software on the computer connected to your printer for the app to print.

Functionality
The desktop client is called Cortado ThinPrint Connector, and you can use either a Windows or Mac version. You must register with Cortado, log in on the computer and your iPad, and you're ready to go. If there is more than one printer on your network, it will select the default printer, though you can change to another printer. The app then runs in the background, enabling printing as long as your computer is turned on.

If you want to print photos from your iPad's photo albums other than the camera roll, you can do so indirectly, by using an app such as GoodReader that can access the albums. You select a photo, download it to GoodReader, and open it in ThinPrint Cloud Printer; the printing will begin automatically.

The app will support printing from any app that lets you open a document in ThinPrint Cloud Printer. They consist mainly of productivity apps (on my iPad, Pages, GoodReader, FileApp, and Documents for Free were all supported) and cloud storage services such as Google Drive and DropBox. I was also able to print from a scan utility.

Compatibility
Many other apps and utilities that I tried lacked the option to print to ThinPrint; this was true of my iPad's email client; its Safari browser, and browser and search apps such as Bing, Google, and Chrome. It can't print from EverNote, or Flickr. Although I wasn't able to print from Gmail, I could save an email to Google Drive and print it out from there.

ThinPrint Cloud Printer may be best suited for use with the Cortado Workplace cloud desktop, the company's own free file management service, which comes with 2GB of cloud storage. You can upload documents and emails from your desktop to Cortado Workplace, tap on one, and by touching the eye icon, send it to print from the cloud printer. (You could print directly from Cortado Workplace, but in my case that proved problematic as it would not recognize the printer in Workplace, though it had no problem in printing to it with ThinPrint.)

Strengths and Weaknesses
Cortado ThinPrint Cloud Printer's strengths are that it allows you to print to any designated printer on your Wi-Fi network, regardless of whether the printer is either AirPrint or Wi-Fi compatible. It's platform-neutral; either a Windows PC or a Mac can anchor the network. It can print from various productivity apps and cloud-based services, including the company's own Cortado Workplace. And it's free for personal use. On the downside, there are many common apps, browsers, and document sources that it won't print from. It doesn't support scanning, offers no print options, and doesn't preview photos.

Competition
There are other potential solutions to printing from iPads. For $19.99, Presto (which was Fingerprint 2 when I reviewed it) in effect turns any printer on your network into an AirPrint printer, and offers the ability to print from many more apps and document sources than ThinPrint. Printopia does much the same, though only for Macs. Manufacturers offer their own print apps, many of them adding useful print features, and in some cases offering scanning as well.

That said, ThinPrint Cloud Printer lets you print to any selected printer on either a Mac or a Windows network. It's free. It's not a panacea, but works with many popular productivity and cloud storage apps. If you have an iPad but your network printer doesn't support Wi-Fi, it might be just the solution you need.

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EPA Building Named For Bill Clinton; He Says That's Fitting

Former President Bill Clinton hugs House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California as another Democrat, Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, looks on at Wednesday's ceremony naming the Environmental Protection Agency headquarters for him.

Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

The environment may not come to mind when most people think about former President Bill Clinton, but on Wednesday he defended his legacy as the Environmental Protection Agency's headquarters in Washington, D.C., was renamed in his honor.

At a ceremony in the EPA complex, Clinton mentioned reading an article that questioned whether his was the right name to put on the building.

"I think it more than sort of fits — not for me, but for what we did. For what our administration did," Clinton said in remarks greeted by applause from a small crowd that included senators, a congressman and former members of his administration.

EPA/YouTube

A short clip from the comments former President Bill Clinton made on Wednesday at the renaming of the Environmental Protection Agency's headquarters in his honor.

Clinton cited actions his administration took that protected wild lands, coral reefs and old growth trees. He stressed that his EPA put in place rules to clean up exhaust from factories and vehicles and set the first air quality standards for soot.

"When I left office, there were 43 million more Americans breathing air that met federal standards, which means less asthma among young people and fewer senior citizens dying because of air pollution," Clinton said.

The former president credited the environmentalists on his team, including his Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, his EPA chief Carol Browner and his vice president, Al Gore (who was not among those at Wednesday's ceremony).

Judith Layzer, associate professor of environmental policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says that unlike Gore, President Clinton wasn't an environmentalist. But she says he stood up for the EPA in 1994. Congressional Republicans, led by Newt Gingrich, wanted to eliminate regulations. Some wanted to do away with the agency.

"Instead of backing down — the way liberals often do and the way environmentalists sometimes do and the way Clinton sometimes did — he really reared up and said, you know, we are going to protect environmental laws we are not going to let Congress gut them," says Layzer.

But Clinton's record didn't please all those who consider themselves to be environmentalists. He supported trade deals, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement that were criticized for hurting the environment. Environmentalists feared factories would move to countries without pollution laws, and polluting industries would set up just across the border with Mexico.

And although Clinton signed the international climate change treaty called the Kyoto Protocol, he failed to send it to Congress to be ratified.

In his speech Wednesday, Clinton mentioned that the Senate had made its opposition to the treaty clear to him. "It is the only bill I ever lost in Congress before I sent it to them, and an astonishing example of bipartisan cooperation in the Senate, which voted against it 98 to nothing," Clinton said.

The building that's been renamed after President Clinton is one of a string of imposing structures with limestone facades near the National Mall. It sits next to the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.

Clinton accepted his new honor in an ornate hall — with elaborately carved wooden ceiling and walls and crystal chandelier.

The former president also looked ahead during his remarks, saying that as he travels the world as an elder statesman, it is clear to him that these days leaders no longer have the option of ignoring climate change if they want to build jobs and strong economies.

"That is what the whole 21st century world is going to be about," he said.

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How to Make Nitrous Oxide or Laughing Gas

You can make nitrous oxide or laughing gas quite easily in the lab or at home. However, there are reasons why you might want to forego the preparation unless you have chem lab experience. Nitrous oxide (N2O) is also known as laughing gas. It is a colorless sweet-smelling and sweet-tasting gas that is used in dentistry and surgery because inhaling the gas produces analgesic and anesthetic effects. The gas is also used to produce the engine output of automotive vehicles and as an oxidizer in rocketry. Nitrous oxide gets the name "laughing gas" because inhaling it produces euphoria. Joseph Priestley first synthesized nitrous oxide in 1772 by collecting the gas produced from sprinkling nitric acid over iron filings, however, nitrous oxide usually is produced using Humphry Davy's method of gently heating ammonium nitrate to decompose it into nitrous oxide and water vapor:

NH4NO3 (s) ? 2 H2O (g) + N2O (g)

The key here is gently heating the ammonium nitrate to between 170°C and 240°C, because higher temperatures may cause the ammonium nitrate to detonate. People have been doing this without incident for over 150 years, so they key is to be careful. Next, the hot gases are cooled to condense the water. The best way to do this is using a pneumatic trough, which involves a tube leading from the ammonium nitrate container that bubbles the gases up through water into a collection jar. This removes the water from the reaction as well as smoke from impurities in the ammonium nitrate. The gas in the collection jar is your nitrous oxide or laughing gas, plus lesser amounts of other nitrogen oxides, including nitric oxide or nitrogen monoxide. Nitric oxide is oxidized to nitrous oxide upon exposure to oxygen, although acid and base treatments are used to remove impurities for commercial-scale production of nitrous oxide.

More Details on Nitrous Oxide Preparation

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Is 'Fifty Shades' to blame for rise in handcuff emergencies?

The wildly-popular trilogy details the S&M-flavored love story of a recent college grad and a billionaire CEO."Fifty Shades" could be behind rise in emergencies involving handcuffs, London firefighters sayThe city's firefighters have been called to 79 handcuff incidents in the past three yearsA U.S. congressman says prisoners in Guantanamo are also fans

London (CNN) -- The bestselling erotic novel "Fifty Shades of Grey" may have done more than spice up readers' love lives.

Firefighters in London say it could be to blame for a rise in the emergency calls from people stuck in all kinds of awkward situations -- some involving handcuffs.

Read more: Explaining 'Fifty Shades' wild success

The wildly-popular trilogy details the S&M-flavored love story of a recent college grad and a billionaire CEO. It's also credited with boosting sales of sex toys, driving women to hook-up sites and fueling a craze over sexual domination.

So, it's not surprising there would be a downside.

In the past three years, London's fire crews have been called to 79 incidents involving people trapped in handcuffs.

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"I'm sure most people will be Fifty Shades of red by the time our crews arrive to free them."

Such red-faced moments are among more than 1,300 calls involving people being trapped "often in everyday household items" since 2010, the fire service said.

Such calls are not just awkward; they end up costing the taxpayer. London Fire Brigade puts the cost of these 1,300 calls at £377,000 ($580,000.)

But it's not just London where E L James' erotic fiction has been making an impact.

Virginia Representative Jim Moran said the trilogy is a hit in a camp housing high-value detainees within the Guantanamo Bay prison complex.

"Rather than the Quran, the book that is requested most by the (high-value detainees) is Fifty Shades of Grey. They've read the entire series in English, but we were willing to translate it," he said in an interview with The Huffington Post.

The insight into the prisoners' reading habits was provided by military officials showing a congressional delegation around Camp Seven, the Democrat said.

"I guess there's not much going on, these guys are going nowhere, so what the hell," he is quoted as saying.

The trilogy has sold more than 32 million copies in the United States alone since the first installment was published in 2011. With a film version due for release next year, London's firefighters may have to respond to many more calls.

So, the fire brigade has a word of advice to offer: Use a little common sense.

And if you try handcuffs, always keep the keys handy.

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