An iPhone priced below $200 would devastate RIM and Nokia – and Apple’s margins

Both Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal now believe Apple (AAPL) is seriously considering launching a cheap iPhone. Speculation about this has been going on for years. But the probable price range mentioned by Bloomberg is a huge shock: The rumored retail price range of $100 to $150 is far below what had earlier been assumed. The iPhone 5 tends to sell for more than $700 in emerging markets. The 2-year old iPhone still costs more than $500. That is the reason why iPhone market share is fading below 5% in major markets like Brazil. But industry experts had widely assumed that the retail price of a low-end iPhone would be somewhere around $250 to $300. Even this would trigger radical changes in the handset markets around the globe.
[More from BGR: iPhone 5 now available with unlimited service, no contract on Walmart’s $45 Straight Talk plan]
Anything under $200 would be an earthquake. Smartphones with capacitive touch screens and 1 GHz processors selling under $150 at retail cannot have operating margins above 15%. Nokia (NOK) has 70 million unit quarterly feature phone volumes and a lot of experience in tight cost control. Yet even Nokia cannot get the operating margins of its latest and most desirable Asha models costing less than $150 much above 10%. You can only lower touch screen quality or processing power of a low-end iPhone so far. Moving to a resistive touch screen or a 600 MHz processor would splinter the iOS app market.
[More from BGR: CES has sadly become a complete waste of time]
If Apple truly is willing to dive into the sub-$200 gutter, the impact on vendors from RIM (RIMM) and Nokia to HTC (2498) and LG (066570) would be devastating. The best-selling prepaid smartphone in the United Kingdom right now may be the Huawei Ascend G300, a device with 4-inch display, 5 megapixel camera and 2.5 GB of internal memory that sells for about $160. This is the sweet spot of the budget smartphone market from Europe to Asia. It is quite possible to do a cheap iPhone with these specs, priced at $150 in the fourth quarter of 2013 and shoot for maybe a 10% operating margin.
That device would sell a hundred million units in a year with no marketing, if the production can be ramped up fast enough. It would reverse the market share losses Apple has recently suffered from Brazil to Germany literally in a quarter or two. But would Apple really be willing to tolerate the massive margin hit such a product would trigger? Being the champion of the mobile software market is worth a lot. But a sub-$150 iPhone would carry the obvious risk of cannibalizing the $650 iPhone sales deeply and permanently. The performance requirements created by the iOS app market prevent Apple from constraining the budget iPhone with truly low-end components.
Of course, the strategic impact of a bargain basement iPhone would be momentous. Apple would get to play Attila the Hun and literally wipe out smaller rivals who couldn’t possibly undercut a $150 iPhone on price. It is worth noting that one of the best-selling Nokia feature phones, the Asha 311, costs about $140 in retail. If Bloomberg is right, Apple is preparing to attack with a smartphone priced to the level of a feature phone that was created specifically for Africa and India.
It is clear that Apple is being forced into a corner. Google (GOOG) Play app revenue growth is now far faster than iOS app revenue growth. Instat claims that the page views of Android smartphones have started soaring above page views of iPhones across various markets. Apple cannot allow Google to gain hegemony in mobile content consumption in Asia, Latin America and Africa. Something has to be done. But the plunge into deep budget territory that Bloomberg is describing is very difficult to believe.

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Samsung sets sights on RIM’s corporate users

Now that Samsung (005930) has bested Apple in the consumer smartphone market, at least where shipment volume is concerned, the company is setting its sights on Research in Motion’s (RIMM) corporate user base. The company is investing heavily in enterprise devices that incorporate a higher level of security and reliability than consumers require. Various government agencies and corporations aren’t fully sold on RIM’s upcoming BlackBerry 10 operating system and are still unsure if will satisfy their needs. As a result, they have begun to explore alternatives for their employees.
[More from BGR: iPhone 5 now available with unlimited service, no contract on Walmart’s $45 Straight Talk plan]
“The enterprise space has suddenly become wide open,” Kevin Packingham, chief product officer for Samsung Mobile USA, said in an interview with Reuters. “The RIM problems certainly fueled a lot of what the CIOs are going through, which is they want to get away from a lot of the proprietary solutions.”
[More from BGR: CES has sadly become a complete waste of time]
The executive revealed that Samsung’s corporate market ambitions advanced after its flagship Galaxy S III smartphone gained various security certifications. He noted that companies “want something that integrates what they are doing with their IT systems,” and that “Samsung is investing in that area.” Packingham said that enterprise has been a focus of the company for a long time and its products have finally evolved enough to “really take advantage” of the market.
“We knew we had to build more tech devices to successfully enter the enterprise market,” he said. “What really turned that needle was that we had the power of the GS3.

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Three top U.S. wireless carriers to embrace BlackBerry 10

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Three of the top U.S. cellphone carriers signaled this week that they would support Research In Motion's BlackBerry 10 products, the first of which are due to be unveiled Jan 30, offering a hopeful sign for RIM's comeback effort.
Executives at Verizon Communications , AT&T Inc and T-Mobile USA all said they are looking forward to the devices, which will be crucial for RIM's chances of regaining lost ground from rivals such as Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics .
"We're hopeful its going to be a good device," Lowell McAdam, chief executive of Verizon Communications, majority owner of the biggest U.S. mobile service Verizon Wireless.
"We'll carry it," McAdam said in an interview at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
BlackBerry 10 is RIM's next-generation mobile operating platform and it is preparing to launch new smartphones later this month. Word that major carriers will offer the devices is good news for RIM.
RIM, which once commanded the lead in the smartphone market, has rapidly lost ground to Apple's iPhone and Samsung's line of Galaxy products, especially in North American and European markets, as customers abandon its aging BlackBerry devices.
It has been testing the new BlackBerry 10 devices with carriers so they can assess their compatibility with networks.
No. 4 U.S. mobile provider T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom , also plans to carry the new BlackBerry 10.
"We're extremely optimistic that it's going to be a successful product and our business customers are extremely interested in it," Chief Executive John Legere said.
AT&T has promised to support the BlackBerry 10 platform, according to Chief Marketing Officer David Christopher, but he would not discuss specific devices.
However, AT&T handset executive Jeff Bradley made it clear that the No. 2 U.S. mobile operator would carry the phone.
"It's logical to expect our current (BlackBerry) customers will have the best BlackBerry devices to choose from in the future," Bradley said.

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Governor sues NCAA over Penn State sex scandal

 Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett filed a lawsuit on Wednesday demanding that sanctions imposed on Penn State University over the Jerry Sandusky sex scandal be thrown out, saying they threatened to devastate the state's economy.
Corbett called the sanctions imposed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA, which include an unprecedented $60 million fine, "overreaching and unlawful."
"I cannot and will not stand by and let it happen without a fight," the Republican governor, who was accused of dragging his feet on the Penn State scandal when he was state attorney general, told a news conference.
A lawsuit Corbett filed with U.S. District Court in Harrisburg called for all Sandusky-related sanctions imposed on Penn State to be thrown out.
Sandusky, Penn State's former defensive coordinator, was convicted in June of 45 counts of sexually abusing 10 boys over 15 years, some in the football team's showers. The scandal implicated top university officials in a cover-up, including the late Joe Paterno, its longtime head football coach.
The NCAA, the governing body of U.S. collegiate sports, fined Penn State $60 million for failing to stop abuse by Sandusky. It also voided its football victories for the past 14 seasons and banned its football team from bowl games for four years.
Corbett's suit charged the NCAA and "competing colleges and universities represented on its governing boards" had "cynically and hypocritically exploited" the case "to impose crippling and unprecedented sanctions on an already weakened competitor."
The suit said stigma from the case would diminish recruitment of students and student athletes and the value of a Penn State education for decades.
According to Corbett's office, Penn State football was the second most profitable collegiate athletic program in the United States in 2010-11, when it brought in $50 million, generating more than $5 million in tax revenue.
Corbett, who spoke at State College, where Penn State University is located, said the NCAA had overstepped its bounds and the case was "a criminal matter, not a violation of NCAA rules."
Penn State University released a statement saying it was not party to Corbett's lawsuit and reiterated its commitment to comply with the NCAA sanctions. The university recently made the first payment of $12 million of the fine to a national fund to support victims of child abuse.
'WEAK CASE'
A Philadelphia-based attorney who has followed the case closely questioned its chances of success and said it was unclear if Corbett had the legal authority to file such a suit.
"It's not a frivolous lawsuit - there are real arguments to make - but, boy is it weak," said Max Kennerly, adding that courts had generally sided with the NCAA on sanctions issues.
James Schultz, general counsel for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, said the governor had a legal right to sue, as he was acting on behalf of residents and businesses "collaterally damaged" by the NCAA sanctions.
He said the sanctions harmed the state's tax revenue base and those relying on revenue from Penn State's football program.
NCAA General Counsel Donald Remy said the lawsuit appeared to be without merit and was "an affront to all of the victims" whose lives were destroyed by Sandusky.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a group that takes aim at sex abuse in the Catholic Church, but has also been vocal in other cases, criticized Corbett's action.
"At best, his lawsuit is frivolous," the group said in a statement. "At worst, it threatens to delay or derail millions of dollars that would otherwise be devoted to protecting children."
The Sandusky scandal was revealed by a grand jury Corbett convened in 2009 when he was Pennsylvania's attorney general.
State Attorney General-elect Kathleen Kane, a Democrat, has pledged to probe Corbett's handling of the case. She said last year that by convening the grand jury, Corbett failed to protect children by delaying prosecution for more than two years.
Corbett has said he would welcome an investigation.
Pennsylvania voters have also expressed dissatisfaction with Corbett's handling of the case. A Franklin & Marshall College survey of registered voters in September found that nearly two-thirds thought he had done a fair or poor job.
But Terry Madonna, a professor of public affairs at Franklin & Marshall and director of the poll, said the lawsuit would be popular among Pennsylvanians, even though Corbett might be accused of trying to further his own political ends.
The Franklin & Marshall poll found more than half of the Pennsylvania residents surveyed considered the sanctions unfair.
On Wednesday, Corbett denied any political motivation.
Kathy Punt, manager of a State College motel used by football fans, said her business had dropped 30 to 40 percent this past autumn as fewer people attended games. "We didn't get the Penn State fans who usually come in," she said.

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India may suspend lawmakers accused of sex crimes

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian lawmakers facing sexual assault charges could be suspended from office if the country's top court rules in favor of a petition submitted after a gang-rape and murder that shocked the country.
Six state lawmakers are facing rape prosecutions and two national parliamentarians are facing charges of crimes against women that fall short of rape, said Jagdeep S. Chhokar, an official with the Association for Democratic Reforms, which tracks political candidate's criminal records.
The petition will be heard Thursday, the same day police plan to formally charge six suspects in the attack on a 23-year-old university student in New Delhi two weeks ago.
The rape triggered outrage and sparked demands for stronger laws, tougher police action against sexual assault suspect and a sustained campaign to change society's views on women.
As part of that campaign, Chief Justice Altamas Kabir agreed to hear a petition from retired government administrator Promilla Shanker asking the Supreme Court to suspend all national and state lawmakers who are facing prosecution for crimes against women.
She also asked the court to force the national government to fast-track thousands of rape cases languishing in India's notoriously sluggish court system.
In the past five years, political parties across India nominated 260 candidates awaiting trial on charges of crimes against women, Chhokar said. Parties ran six candidates for the national parliamentary elections facing such charges, he said.
"We need to decriminalize politics and surely a serious effort has to be made to stop people who have serious charges of sexual assault against them from contesting elections," said Zoya Hasan, a political analyst.
On Wednesday morning, several thousand women held a silent march to Gandhi's memorial in the capital in memory of the victim, holding placards demanding "Respect" and "Justice." Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit joined the women for a prayer session for the victim. The Gandhi memorial is a common protest site.
On Tuesday, the government set up a task force to monitor women's safety in New Delhi and to review whether police were properly protecting women. Two task forces already are examining the handling of the rape case and possible changes in rape laws.
The rape of the unidentified woman on a bus in the capital has horrified many and brought unprecedented attention to the daily suffering of women here, who face everything from catcalls and groping to rapes.
Six men arrested in the case were to be formally charged Thursday with kidnapping, rape and murder, said Rajan Bhagat, the New Delhi police spokesman. Police have said they would push for the death penalty. Another suspect underwent medical testing to determine his age since juveniles cannot be charged with murder in India.
The Bar Association of lawyers last week decided against defending the six suspects because of the nature of the crime, although the court is expected to appoint attorneys to defend them.
Media reports say 30 witnesses have been gathered, and the charges have been detailed in a document running more than 1,000 pages. Police also have detained the owner of the bus used in the crime on accusation he used false documents to obtain permits to run the private bus service.
The family of the victim — who died Saturday at a hospital in Singapore — is struggling to come to grips with the tragedy.
"She was a very, very, very cheerful little girl and she was peace loving and she was never embroiled in any controversies like this. I don't know why this happened to her," her uncle, Suresh Singh, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The family of the victim, whose name was not revealed, called for stronger rape laws to prevent such attacks from happening again and demanded swift — and harsh — justice for woman's assailants, Singh said.
"If the government can't punish them, give the rapists to the people. The people will settle the scores with them," he said.

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After ‘fiscal cliff’ drama, Republicans take it easy at closed-door meeting

WASHINGTON--Finally, a night of calm on Capitol Hill.
Beleaguered House Republicans held a closed-door meeting on the Hill Wednesday for what turned out to be a mundane gathering that followed weeks of battles over how to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. The members, many who just seemed relieved that the fiscal cliff ordeal was, for now, finished, discussed amendments to a series of procedural rules for the 113th Congress.
"It was kinda dull," said Georgia Rep. Phil Gingrey as he left the meeting after it was over. (Some members, who just seemed bored and tired by the process, had left early.)
For more than two hours, caucus members discussed 32 proposals that hardly a soul outside of Washington will ever hear about, or would likely care to hear about.
One discussion addressed the current House rule that bars lawmakers' children older than the age of 12 from joining their parent on the House floor. The proposal would allow "all children of Members of the House of Representatives, no matter what age, to accompany Members on the House floor." It failed. But the prospect that House Speaker John Boehner would publicly expel a 13-year-old from the House floor seems unlikely.
After so many emotional weeks of work on the fiscal cliff package, a dull gathering may well have been just what these lawmakers needed.
At least half a dozen members arrived at the meeting wearing open-collared shirts tucked into blue jeans, a sort of sartorial rebellion against the late nights of fierce and serious debate. Call it post-fiscal cliff chic.  Even South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who had traversed the Capitol to the House side, sported an orange baseball cap on his head and a casual green wind breaker.
The caucus-wide meeting--the first such gathering since Boehner angered many conservatives by supporting a bill that allowed taxes to increase--could have gone much differently given the intense events of the past 48 hours.  Boehner, for one, could have addressed New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's very public rant against him for not holding a vote to offer federal relief aid to victims of Superstorm Sandy.
Instead, the discussion focused on the amendments, and Boehner did not bring up the fiscal cliff drama, several lawmakers said.
But while members harboring ill feelings toward party leadership remained silent, not all wounds are healed. For instance, unconfirmed rumors prior to the meeting had hinted at a battle to unseat Boehner as speaker. And while most members said they hadn't heard anything of the sort and the speaker's office officially denies any such efforts, Michigan Rep. Justin Amash, who voted against the fiscal cliff deal, did leave the meeting saying he didn't plan to support Boehner for the position.
"I haven't made a decision on what to do yet, but as of now, I still haven't seen the changes I want to see," Amash told reporters when he left the meeting. "He's got until tomorrow."
The body will vote Thursday on Boehner's future.

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Son of LA Clippers owner found dead in Malibu

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The son of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling was found dead of an apparent drug overdose at his Malibu home, authorities said Wednesday.
The body of 32-year-old Scott Ashley Sterling was found shortly after 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, Los Angeles County coroner's Lt. Larry Dietz said.
The 77-year-old Donald Sterling, a billionaire real estate mogul who purchased the team in 1981, and wife Shelley released a statement thanking friends for sympathy, asking for privacy and saying their son was diabetic, but did not indicate what role, if any, that may have played in his death.
"Our son Scott has fought a long and valiant battle against Type 1 Diabetes," the statement said. "His death is a terrible tragedy, the effects of which will be felt forever by our family and all those who knew and loved him."
The death cast a pall on what has been a joyous season for the Clippers, normally an NBA doormat but now among the league's best teams. The team is in first place in its division and had a franchise-record 17-game winning streak that was snapped Tuesday night.
The Clippers were at Golden State on Wednesday night.
"All our thoughts and prayers go out to the Sterling family," coach Vinny Del Negro said. "Tough day for everybody in the Clippers' organization, but just thinking about Mr. and Mrs. Sterling with their loss. That's first and foremost on everybody's mind today when we had our meeting this morning. Not an easy situation. I just hope they know that we're thinking about them and that the team is, and we'll be back soon. Things like this put things in perspective real quick. I know a lot of good thoughts and prayers are in that locker room with them tonight. That's the first and foremost thing."
Team President Andy Roeser issued a statement saying "Scott was a friend to many in the Clippers' family and he will be greatly missed."
NBA Commissioner David Stern also expressed sympathies to the Sterlings.
"On behalf of the NBA family, we extend our deepest and most heartfelt condolences to Donald and Shelly Sterling on the loss of their son, Scott," Stern said.
The death at a beachfront apartment building on Pacific Coast Highway was discovered after a friend of Scott Sterling called police after not hearing from him for several days, according to a statement from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Deputies found the body and paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.
"Sheriff's homicide and Los Angeles County coroner's personnel at this time believe that Sterling died of an apparent drug overdose," the statement said.
Dietz said the death appeared to be accidental, but an autopsy was planned to determine the exact cause of death.
In 1999, the then-19-year-old Sterling was arrested for shooting his friend with a shotgun. Beverly Hills police said Philip Scheid was shot in the legs during an argument at Donald Sterling's mansion.
Scheid said he was shot from behind while running away. Sterling said he fired in self-defense after Scheid approached him with a knife. The county district attorney's office declined to file criminal charges, citing credibility problems with the victim.

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Al-Jazeera buys Current TV from Al Gore

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Al-Jazeera, the Pan-Arab news channel that struggled to win space on American cable television, has acquired Current TV, boosting its reach in the U.S. nearly ninefold to about 40 million homes. With a focus on U.S. news, it plans to rebrand the left-leaning news network that cofounder Al Gore couldn't make relevant.
The former vice president confirmed the sale Wednesday, saying in a statement that Al-Jazeera shares Current TV's mission "to give voice to those who are not typically heard; to speak truth to power; to provide independent and diverse points of view; and to tell the stories that no one else is telling."
The acquisition lifts Al-Jazeera's reach beyond a few large U.S. metropolitan areas including New York and Washington, where about 4.7 million homes can now watch Al-Jazeera English.
Al-Jazeera, owned by the government of Qatar, plans to gradually transform Current into a network called Al-Jazeera America by adding five to 10 new U.S. bureaus beyond the five it has now and hiring more journalists. More than half of the content will be U.S. news and the network will have its headquarters in New York, spokesman Stan Collender said.
Collender said there are no rules against foreign ownership of a cable channel — unlike the strict rules limiting foreign ownership of free-to-air TV stations. He said the move is based on demand, adding that 40 percent of viewing traffic on Al-Jazeera English's website is from the U.S.
"This is a pure business decision based on recognized demand," Collender said. "When people watch Al-Jazeera, they tend to like it a great deal."
Al-Jazeera has long struggled to get carriage in the U.S., and the deal suffered an immediate casualty as Time Warner Cable Inc., the nation's second-largest cable TV operator, announced it is dropping Current TV due to the deal.
"Our agreement with Current has been terminated and we will no longer be carrying the service. We are removing the service as quickly as possible," the company said in a statement.
Previous to Al-Jazeera's purchase, Current TV was in 60 million homes. It is carried by Comcast Corp., which owned less than a 10 percent stake in Current TV, as well as DirecTV. Neither company announced plans to drop the channel.
In 2010, Al-Jazeera English's managing director, Tony Burman, blamed a "very aggressive hostility" from the Bush administration for reluctance among cable and satellite companies to show the network.
Even so, Al-Jazeera has garnered respect for its ability to build a serious news product in a short time. In a statement announcing the deal, it touted numerous U.S. journalism awards it received in 2012, including the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award Grand Prize and the Scripps Howard Award for Television/Cable In-Depth Reporting.
But there may be a culture clash at the network. Dave Marash, a former "Nightline" reporter who worked for Al-Jazeera in Washington, said he left the network in 2008 in part because he sensed an anti-American bias there.
Current, meanwhile, began as a groundbreaking effort to promote user-generated content. But it has settled into a more conventional format of political talk television with a liberal bent. Gore worked on-air as an analyst during its recent election night coverage.
Its leading personalities are former New York Gov. Elliot Spitzer, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Cenk Uygur, a former political commentator on MSNBC who hosts the show called "The Young Turks." Current signed Keith Olbermann to be its top host in 2011 but his tenure lasted less than a year before it ended in bad blood on both sides.
Current has largely been outflanked by MSNBC in its effort be a liberal alternative to the leading cable news network, Fox News Channel.
Current hired former CNN Washington bureau chief David Bohrman in 2011 to be its president. Bohrman pushed the network to innovate technologically, with election night coverage that emphasized a conversation over social media.
Current TV, founded in 2005 by former vice president Gore and Joel Hyatt, is expected to post $114 million in revenue in 2013, according to research firm SNL Kagan. The firm pegged the network's cash flow at nearly $24 million a year.

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Bringing Sunlight to Light an Underground Garden

Imagine an inviting green park with tall, shady trees and wide swaths of grassy lawn where you can hear live music or see theater or simply sit quietly soaking up the noonday sun.
Now, imagine that all underground in an old disused parking garage … but still with trees and grass in the bright sunlight - a little less bright, of course, on cloudy days.
This paradoxical vision is already halfway to becoming a reality in downtown Manhattan, a dream made possible partly by fiber-optic technology that can capture sunlight on high rooftops and literally pipe it down to shine further from big underground "skylights."
Dan Barasch and James Ramsey envisioned it all in 2008 when they teamed up with an idea to transform an abandoned trolley terminal, a 1.5-acre lot underneath the Williamsburg Bridge and next to the Delancey St. subway station.
They dubbed their underground park the "Lowline," a nod to Manhattan's popular Highline Park that transformed another swatch of urban blight - in that case an unused and overgrown elevated rail bed.
PHOTOS: Lowline Park Project
Since they teamed up, Ramsey, an architect and principal at RAAD Studio, and Barasch, formerly VP of strategic partnerships for PopTech, have raised more than $500,000 for the project, including a Kickstarter campaign that totaled $155,000.
This past September, Ramsey and Barasch also staged an exhibit at a warehouse on Essex Street, just above where the proposed park would exist, in an effort to show the public what the Lowline could look like.
But lighting the underground space is a challenge and that is where Ramsey's background in engineering comes in; the former NASA employee turned architect had already been working on a way to collect and funnel light when he approached Barasch about the idea of an underground park.
Ramsey and Barasch explain their concept and in more detail here:
The technology consists of fiber optic cables attached to devices Ramsey refers to as remote skylights. Equipped with GPS, these solar collectors follow and capture the sun funneling it down through the cables. The glass surface of the skylights filters out infrared and UVA rays, but still harvests the light necessary for photosynthesis to take place.
For the exhibit, Ramsey and Barasch, alongside a team of volunteers put this technology to the test; together with their team they hand fit together 600 pieces of anodized-aluminum sheets to create a curved dome, a silver canopy that cast the light down on the warehouse space. On the warehouse roof, 20 feet above, six tracking systems collected the light and piped it down to the space below.
"We looked to the way that they build space telescopes to actually cobble together a mesh of flat pieces to create a very completed curved surface, and that curved surface is calibrated to actually deploy the light," said Ramsey, who worked with infrared spectrometry while at NASA.
With the help of volunteers, including engineers and team members from RAAD Studio, the duo created a mock-up complete with moss-covered knolls and Japanese maples. For their installation, they partnered with Sun Central, a Canadian-based solar technology firm, and Arup, a design and engineering firm that is also working on the Second Avenue subway line in Manhattan.
"All of a sudden you have this idea beginning to emerge where you can take this ancient disused space underneath the city and actually turn it into a public space, a garden really, for everyone to enjoy," Ramsey said.
Both Barasch and Ramsey point out despite their success so far, they still have a long way to go before making the Lowline a reality; first, they need to convince city and MTA officials (and ultimately the state) to let them use the site, a process that Barasch says requires both political and public support.
Barasch, who resigned from his position at PopTech in March, is devoting his efforts full time to the project focusing on fundraising and engaging with members of the community.
"This is not a short-term project," Barasch said. "It's very big in terms of its integration with the overall ecosystem of the space, the neighborhood, the subway line, the community and the city and we want to do this right."
If they gain control of the terminal, Ramsey and Barasch estimate the project would cost $50 million in capital costs for construction and may take five to eight years to complete. Nevertheless, both remain determined to see the Lowline complete.
"It taps into this thing that every human actually just needs, which is public space and some semblance of being outdoors as well as being inspired by making the city more beautiful, more livable," Barasch said.
For now, the trolley terminal remains an empty, shadowy cavern with an undetermined future, but one in which Ramsey and Barasch hope they can play a part.

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Cancer Immunotherapy Where Are We Going?

The compelling concept of utilizing the patient's own immune system for a stronger and more effective way to attack cancer cells is not a new one. William Coley observed in 1891 that infections produced in patients with inoperable cancer following an injection of streptococcal organisms (Gram-positive bacteria) led to tumor shrinkage especially when the patients developed fever and other signs of a full-blown infection.1 Since then, research has embraced approaches to "train" the patient's own immune system to recognize certain biomarkers or proteins that are mainly found on cancer cells and to destroy the cells.
After several setbacks the first cellular immunotherapy, Dendreon's Sipuleucel-T (Provenge(R)), was approved for the treatment of prostate cancer in 2010. Today, new promising cancer immunotherapy approaches are in clinical trials. Most recently, researchers at the 54th American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting reported early success with a developmental-stage cell-based cancer vaccine for the treatment of leukemia and have shown remission in several patients 2,3, including a 7-year old girl who relapsed twice after chemotherapy.
Cancer immunotherapy can be thought of as either active or passive immunotherapy. The most prominent passive immunotherapies, which have revolutionized cancer therapy, are monoclonal antibodies that either target tumor-specific antigens and receptors or block important pathways central to tumor growth and survival. Therapeutic monoclonal antibodies are the market leader in the targeted cancer therapy space and include blockbusters such as trastuzumab (Herceptin(R)) or rituximab (Rituxan(R)).
In general, antibodies are significant elements of the body's adaptive immune system. They play a dominant role in the recognition of foreign antigens and the stimulation of the immune response. Therapeutic antibodies target and bind to antigens, usually proteins that are mainly expressed on diseased cells such as cancer cells. After binding, cancer cells can be destroyed by different mechanisms such as antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity, the activation of the complement system -- an important part of the immune system -- and triggering cell death.
Although very successful, especially in oncology, therapeutic antibodies have a significant limitation: they don't generate a memory response by the immune system, and thus, repeated antibody infusions are required. Further, monoclonal antibodies are only able to recognize specific proteins present of the cell surface. Monoclonal antibodies are mostly produced in cell culture systems which are often costly. Humanization of murine monoclonal antibodies by replacing of certain parts of the antibody with human sequences has improved the tolerability of antibodies and made them less immunogenic, but even fully human sequence-derived antibodies can carry some immunological risk.
Novel approaches in the passive immunization strategy include antibody drug conjugates, a combination of targeting antibody with a very potent drug such as the recently approved brentuximab vedotin (ADCETRIS(TM)) for Hodgkin lymphoma and anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL). ADCETRIS comprises an anti-CD30 monoclonal antibodyanti-CD30 monoclonal antibody and a cytotoxic (cell-killing) agent that is released upon internalization into CD30-expressing tumor cells. Currently, the development of next generations of ADCs is underway.
Alternatively, specific and durable cancer immunotherapies designed to actively "train" or stimulate the patient's intrinsic immune response have been more problematic; however, recent success stories, such as the cell-based immunotherapy Provenge, have revitalized this field. Dendreon's approach modifies the patients' own dendritic cells to present a protein specific to prostate cancer cells.
Dendritic cells are the most potent, "professional" antigen-presenting cells. They process the antigen material and present it on their surface to other cells of the immune system. Once activated, the dendritic cells migrate to the lymphoid tissues where they interact with T-cells and B-cells -- white blood cells and important components of the immune system -- to initiate and shape the adaptive immune response. To develop Provenge, each patient's own dendritic cells are harvested and then loaded ex vivo with the tumor-associated antigen. Now "presenting" the antigen, the dendritic cells are administered back into the patient to induce a potent, cell-mediated anticancer immune response resulting in tumor shrinkage and clinical benefit.
In another experimental approach for the treatment of leukemia, patients' own modified T-cells were infused back into the patients. Prior to this, the T-cells were transduced with a lentivirus to express the CD19-specific chimeric antigen receptor. CD19 is an antigen which is found on B-cell neoplasms, cancerous B-cells, and the lentivirus was the vehicle to transfer the genetic material for CD19 into the cells. A case report published in the New England Journal of Medicine stated that a patient with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) was in ongoing remission 10 months after treatment.3
These promising results have spurred continued research for new and safe ways to achieve effective tumor vaccination, and drug developers have explored many cancer immunotherapy strategies. To generate an effective antitumor immunity, therapeutic intervention should drive several functions; specifically, it should promote the antigen presentation functions of dendritic cells, promote the production of protective T-cell responses, stimulate B-cells and overcome immunosuppression characteristics that are common to tumor cells.4
Cell-based therapeutic vaccines are most frequently produced outside the patient's body and involve isolation of the specific cells, such as dendritic cells, and the introduction of preselected antigens, often with the use of specific vehicle, into the cells. The antigens can be encoded in viral vectors (frequently DNA) or administered as peptides or proteins in a suitable adjuvant and carrier through a long and cumbersome process.
During my doctoral thesis, I conducted immunization experiments using RNA as a negative control, assuming that the RNA would be degraded during the experiment thus making it impossible to use as a vaccine. The physiological role of messenger (m) RNA is to transfer genetic information from the nucleus to the cytoplasm where this information is translated into the corresponding protein. mRNA is known to be very unstable and has a relatively short half-life. But astonishingly, we were able to measure a solid T-cell immune response. We repeated the experiment and confirmed that the RNA we had produced had the potential to be used as a vaccine. Importantly, we didn't need to isolate the patients' cells: mRNA-based vaccines can be injected directly into the skin (intradermal). The mRNA-based vaccines are then taken up by antigen-presenting cells, such as dendritic cells, and are then able to induce an immune response. Importantly, mRNA-vaccines can also be synthesized quickly for any antigen sequence identified.5
The first mRNA-based vaccines (RNActive(R)) are now in the clinic for the treatment of prostate cancer and lung cancer and have demonstrated that they do what they are supposed to do - induce a balanced humoral, as well as T cell-mediated, immune response that is entirely HLA independent. The HLA (human leukocyte antigen) system is used to differentiate the body's own cells (self) and non-self cells. Additionally, RNA-vaccines do not need a vehicle such as a virus for delivery to the cells, nor do they contain virus-derived elements that are often found in DNA-vaccines. These attributes make RNActive a very safe therapeutic.
The risk of integration of the RNA into the host-genome is minimized (RNA would have been transcribed first to DNA, and then it has to be transported to the nucleus), as is the residual risk of DNA-based vaccines for inactivating or activating genes or affecting cellular regulatory elements, which can induce oncogenesis. Thus, the favorable safety profile of mRNA-based therapies broadens their potential use not only for the treatment of diseases but for use as prophylactic vaccinations. A recent proof-of-concept study using mRNA-based vaccines (RNActive) in animal models for influenza was published in Nature Biotechnology.6
Therapeutic cancer immunotherapies and vaccines have come a long way, and novel, promising approaches give hope for safe and effective treatment options. This may one day lead to the treatment of all cancers as chronic diseases.

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Viral Video Recap: Funniest Memes of the Week

A cat stuck in a box. A dramatic reading of Fifty Shades of Grey from George Takei. And another "Gangnam Style" remix. These are just three examples of the top videos that the web world watched this week.
We rounded up the most viral videos from this past week for your holiday weekend viewing pleasure. After all, what's better than explaining the significance of a philosophic cat to your mother at the dinner table?
[More from Mashable: 83 of 2012′s Best Viral Videos Crammed Into 4 Minutes]
What was your favorite video from this week? Tell us in the comments below.
12. Photobombing Stingray
Five years ago, three college girls on a Caribbean vacation got a serious case of the heebeejeebies when a stingray photobombed their “say cheese” moment. The hilarious photograph could have ended up as just a fond vacay memory if it weren’t for a friend, who shared the image on Reddit in September of this year.

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Top 5 Apps for Kids This Week

1. I Spy With Lola HD
Ages 3-8 Overall rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars Why we like it: This app effectively takes the common hunt-and-find play pattern down a notch by way of a series of carefully leveled challenges, clear labels and a playful theme. Need to know: Don't confuse this with the Scholastic I SPY titles. This is a different kettle of fish. And get the paid version. It is well worth the $2 -- there are no gimmicks or in-app purchases. Ease of use: 9/10 Educational: 9/10 Entertaining: 9/10 $1.99
Click here to view this gallery.
[More from Mashable: 10 Apps to Keep You Safe and Healthy in 2013]
Chris Crowell is a veteran kindergarten teacher and contributing editor to Children's Technology Review, a web-based archive of articles and reviews on apps, technology toys and video games. Download a free issue of CTR here.
In this week's Top 5 Kids Apps, we've got a creepy crawly feeling. Your kids can learn counting with Bugs and Numbers or take up Spanish as a hobby. There's also a beautifully-designed interactive e-book sure to capture your child's attention and spark the imagination.

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Analysis: Amazon, Google on collision course in 2013

When Amazon.com Inc CEO Jeff Bezos got word of a project at Google Inc to scan and digitize product catalogs a decade ago, the seeds of a burgeoning rivalry were planted.
The news was a "wake-up" call to Bezos, an early investor in Google. He saw it as a warning that the Web search engine could encroach upon his online retail empire, according to a former Amazon executive.
"He realized that scanning catalogs was interesting for Google, but the real win for Google would be to get all the books scanned and digitized" and then sell electronic editions, the former executive said.
Thus began a rivalry that will escalate in 2013 as the two companies' areas of rivalry grow, spanning online advertising and retail to mobile gadgets and cloud computing.
It could upend the last remaining areas of cooperation between the two companies. For instance, Amazon's decision to use a stripped down version of Google's Android system in its new Kindle Fire tablet, coupled with Google's ambitious plans for its Motorola mobile devices unit, will only add to tensions.
The confrontation marks the latest front in a tech industry war in which many combatants are crowding onto each others' turf. Lurking in the shadows for both Google and Amazon is Facebook with its own search and advertising ambitions.
"Amazon wants to be the one place where you buy everything. Google wants to be the one place where you find everything, of which buying things is a subset," said Chi-Hua Chien, a partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. "So when you marry those facts I think you're going to see a natural collision."
Both companies have a lot at stake. Google's market capitalization of $235 billion is about double Amazon's, largely because Google makes massive net earnings, expected by analysts to be $13.2 billion this year, based on a huge 32 percent net profit margin, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. By contrast, Amazon is seen reporting a small loss this year.
Amazon shareholders have been patient as the company has invested for growth but it will have to start producing strong earnings at some stage - more likely if it grows in higher margin areas such as advertising. Google's share price, on the other hand, is vulnerable to signs of slowing margin growth.
AD CLASH
Not long after Bezos learned of Google's catalog plans, Amazon began scanning books and providing searchable digital excerpts. Its Kindle e-reader, launched a few years later, owes much of its inspiration to the catalog news, the executive said.
Now, Amazon is pushing its online ad efforts, threatening to siphon revenue and users from Google's main search website.
Amazon's fledgling ad business is still a fraction of Google's, with Robert W. Baird & Co. estimating Amazon is on track to generate about $500 million in annual advertising revenue - tiny, given it recorded $48 billion of overall revenue in 2011. By contrast, 96 percent of Google's $38 billion in 2011 sales came from advertising.
But Amazon's newly developed "DSP" technology, which taps into the company's vast store of consumer purchase history to help marketers target ads at specific groups of people on Amazon.com and on other websites, could change all that.
"From a client's perspective, the data that Amazon owns is actually better than what Google has," said Mark Grether, the chief operating officer of Xaxis, an audience buying company that works with major advertisers. "They know what you just bought, and they also know what you are right now trying to buy."
Amazon is discussing a partnership with Xaxis in which the company would help Amazon sell ads for the service, Grether noted.
Amazon did not respond to an email seeking a comment.
STARTING POINT
Amazon can bring in higher-margin revenue by selling advertising than it can from its retail operations. By showing ads for products that it may not actually sell on its own website, Amazon establishes itself as a starting point for consumers looking to buy something on the Web.
Research firm Forrester reported that 30 percent of U.S. online shoppers in the third quarter began researching their purchase on Amazon.com, compared with 13 percent who started on a search engine such as Google - a reversal from two years earlier when search engines were more popular starting points.
Amazon now sells ads that show up to the side of product search results on its website. There were 6.7 billion display ad impressions on Amazon.com in the third quarter, more than triple the number in the same period of 2011, according to comScore.
That early success is a "huge concern" for Google, whose business relies heavily on product searches and product search ads, said Macquarie Research analyst Ben Schachter.
Partly in response, Google recently revamped its product search service, Google Shopping, by charging retailers and other online sellers a fee to be listed in results.
Founded four years apart in the late 1990s, Bezos has long worried about Amazon's reliance on Google for traffic, according to people close to the company, while also being dubious about Google's high market valuation.
"He'd say: ‘This is the first time in the history of the world where the map maker is worth more than the territory that it's mapping,'" recalled the former Amazon executive of Bezos' comments about Google's popular online mapping service.
TENSIONS BUILD
Google's Android system is thriving but still has not cracked the nut of how to make money from mobile search ads and sales of digital goods like games, apps, music and video.
"If they can figure out mobile ads, that would truly be Google's second act," said Forrester analyst Sucharita Mulpuru.
But Amazon launched a broadside against Google in 2011 with the creation of its own version of Android for its Kindle Fire tablets that replaces key Google money-making services, such as a digital music and application storefront, with its own.
Not unlike Apple, "Amazon wants to control the experience on their devices," said Oren Etzioni, a University of Washington computer science professor. "That doesn't make Google happy."
The two are also clashing in cloud computing software.
Amazon started its cloud business more than six years ago, providing data storage, computing power and other technology services from remote locations. Google only launched its cloud computing business this year, but the market is growing so quickly there is still room to grab share, Etzioni said.
"I would not write Google off," he added. "Amazon has the early lead but it's very early."
TRANSACT OR DIE?
Still, mobile gadgets and cloud computing are currently tiny businesses compared with the multibillion-dollar opportunity presented by advertising and online commerce.
Google recently acquired BufferBox, a company with a network of lockers that shoppers can use to receive packages. It is also testing same-day delivery in San Francisco, hinting at growing interest in a larger role in online retail.
It is not talking about its full plans for retail, but some analysts think features such as same-day delivery or "pick-up" lockers, are valuable features it can use to enhance its existing online ad business. An ad for shoes, for example, might also make the shoes available for pick-up in a locker nearby, said Needham & Co analyst Kerry Rice.
If Google can own the search and the delivery, it will be able to provide the same experience as Amazon, with no inventory - "a higher margin, more efficient model," Chien said.
Earlier this year, Google launched a new certification service highlighting merchants that ship quickly and reliably and backing it with up to $1,000 in "purchase protection."
Google could create a database of products and send shoppers to a page that has a way to buy quickly through the company's payments service Google Wallet, Forrester's Mulpuru said.
Google could then send that transaction to the retailer who would ship the product to the consumer. That ability is critical, according to Schachter, who said if consumers lack the ability to purchase items through Google it will lag Amazon and eBay Inc.

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Flight attendant quits over Facebook coffee threat

BANGKOK (AP) — A Cathay Pacific flight attendant is out of a job after writing on her Facebook page that she wanted to throw coffee in the face of a passenger who is the youngest daughter of Thailand's ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The flight attendant caused a stir in the Thai online communities last week for posting hostile comments about Paetongtarn Shinawatra. She also posted a picture of Paetongtarn's seating number on a Bangkok-to-Hong Kong flight she worked on Nov. 25.

The flight attendant said in her post that she called her personal adviser to ask "if it was all right to throw something on (Paetongtarn) on this flight."

"I discussed with another Thai colleague who didn't like them about going over to ridicule her dad before she steps out of the plane," she wrote. "Paetongtarn, I didn't throw coffee in her face today but she had no clue that I will keep on fighting until your clan can no longer live like fleas on the Thai soil."

Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific posted Monday on its Thailand Facebook page that the flight attendant is "no longer an employee." It did not release the name of the worker, whose Facebook handle is Honey Lochanachai.

The flight attendant said Monday on Facebook that she resigned in order to take responsibility.

Thaksin, a divisive figure in Thai politics, was ousted in a 2006 coup and lives in self-imposed exile following a 2008 corruption conviction.

His sister Yingluck has been prime minister since last year, and her opponents say she is Thaksin's proxy. She recently survived a no-confidence vote in parliament and protests organized by Thaksin's opponents.

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Flight attendant quits over Facebook post about throwing coffee on daughter of former Thai PM

BANGKOK - A Cathay Pacific flight attendant has quit her job after writing on her Facebook page that she wanted to throw coffee on a passenger who is the youngest daughter of Thailand's ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The flight attendant caused a stir in the Thai online communities last week for posting hostile comments about Paetongtarn Shinawatra. She also posted a picture of Paetongtarn's seating number.

The Hong Kong-based airline posted Monday on its Thailand Facebook page that the stewardess is "no longer an employee." It did not release the name of the flight attendant, whose Facebook handle is Honey Lochanachai. She said Monday on Facebook that she resigned to take responsibility.

Thaksin, a divisive figure in Thai politics, lives in self-imposed exile. His sister Yingluck is the current prime minister.

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Facebook letting users vote on whether to keep their voting privileges for website changes

Don’t worry, Facebook (FB) users: The company may take away your power to vote down proposed changes to its Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and Data Use Policy, but it will only be because you told them it was OK. The Next Web reports that Facebook has caved to user anger at proposed changes to its site governance documents that would, among other things, take away users’ ability to vote on future document changes. Or as The Next Web  puts it, “you’re effectively voting on whether to keep voting.” The voting process will be open for the next seven days. At the time of this writing, Facebook users are choosing to strike down the website’s proposed changes by a count of around 3,600 to 600.

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Barack Obama Gave Debbie Wasserman Schultz Two More Years... on Twitter

Because Twitter town halls and cool hashtags aren't enough, apparently, President Obama renewed Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz's position via social network  Monday afternoon. Seriously, this is the tweet from Barack Obama, and you know it's from him because of the "-bo" signoff at the very end:

    I've asked Debbie Wasserman Schultz to continue her excellent work as chair of the DNC. Thanks for all you do, Debbie. -bo
    — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 3, 2012

And that's sort of cool. It confirmed rumors that had been surfacing all day, and it bypasses the whole kerfluffle of official releases and White House press conferences and all that formal stuff. Like imagine how cool it would be if Obama named his cabinet via Twitter? Of course there's still the official part: "The Democratic Party will meet in January, after Obama's inauguration, to formally elect Wasserman Schultz to a second term as the party's leader," reports USA Today's Catalina Camia, which means that obviously, there are still things you can't do over Twitter.

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On Twitter, Obama puts question mark over mortgage deduction

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Taking to Twitter to press his case in "fiscal cliff" talks with Congress, President Barack Obama  said on Monday that tax breaks benefiting middle class families such as the mortgage interest deduction could be at risk if rates for top earners do not rise.

Obama is locked in negotiations with Congress to prevent a year-end fiscal crunch. If the administration and lawmakers fail to agree, across-the-board tax hikes and spending cuts would go into effect that analysts say would tip the economy back into recession.

The president answered questions on Twitter for about an hour on Monday as part of his campaign to pressure Republicans in Congress to accept an increase in taxes for the wealthiest Americans as part of a deficit-cutting package.

One questioner, who identified herself as Emma Robertson, expressed concern that popular tax breaks for homeownership could be threatened in an eventual deal.

"As a home owner, I worry deductions for home owners are at risk. Is that the case?" she asked in a tweet.

Obama responded that such tax breaks were important for middle class families and could be at risk if taxes for the wealthiest Americans are not increased.

"Breaks for middle class impt for families & econ. if top rates don't go up, danger that middle class deductions get hit - bo," the president said via Twitter.

Obama signs his initials - BO - to tweets that he writes himself. In this tweet, "impt" stands for important and "econ" stands for economy.

Tax cuts the originated under former President George W. Bush are due to expire at the end of the year and Obama, who was re-elected to a second four-year term last month, has pledged to let the tax rates on the top two brackets rise to their previous levels.

HIGHER RATES VERSUS FEWER DEDUCTIONS

While Republicans have agreed that more revenue can be part of any deal, they have balked at raising actual tax rates, saying they prefer to trim the federal deficit by eliminating tax deductions and loopholes in the tax code.

That distinction is central to a stalemate in the negotiations.

Asked by one questioner why he was opposed to taking away deductions from the top 2 percent of U.S. earners rather than raising their rates, Obama said such a move would not raise enough revenue unless charitable deductions were scrapped.

"Less revenue = more cuts in education," he tweeted.

He told another questioner that he was open to compromise and did not expect to get everything he had asked for in his budget proposal.

He also used his tweets to reiterate his position that taxes for middle income families should be extended.

One recent college graduate named Mandi, who used the Twitter handle "dontbeaprat" and whose picture showed a shock of purple hair, asked whether such tax cuts would help her since she did not have a full-time job.

Obama responded that tax cuts without revenue increases would result in a reduction in student loans, while work/study and college tax credits would expire.

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