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published: 2013-06-29 21:57:17
We know it's tough to be away from your virtual arsenal in games like Call of Duty and Battlefield, which is why it's nice that mobile series like Gun Club are around, giving our itchy trigger fingers a scratch while we're out on the go. Gun Club 3 is set to deploy this fall and, this time, there's some actual gameplay involved.For those of you familiar with the Gun Club series, you wouldn't be faulted for wondering why a mobile app is being included on a gaming website. Well, that's because the upcoming Gun Club 3 is going to feature actual gameplay mechanics, allowing players to actually shoot AT something rather than just hold down the trigger and smile and the pretty sounds the app makes.
In case that's a little to obtuse, here's a visual representation of what I'm talking about. First we'll take a gander at Gun Club 2, which only really allows you to load the guns and then hold down on the trigger.
Now you see what I mean? Along with ogling the lovely death dealers, now players can take them out on a variety of shooting ranges and unleash their fury. Players will be tested on speed and accuracy and also be able to compete in two-player duels. There's even leaderboards to climb to the top of and a slew of Achievements to unlock.
Due out this Fall for Android and coming to iOS shortly after, Gun Club 3 finally turns an amusing app into a bona fide mobile game. And just like the previous games, it'll be free of charge and constantly updated with new content.
?Our team has been using skill-based sport shooting as a key point-of-reference for this release, along the lines of Olympic events, professional competitions and shooting ranges,? said Director Ingmar Lak. ?Having refined the simulation accuracy and mechanics of Gun Club over the past few years, we know the millions of users have wanted an arena for gauging their abilities. And they can now take this to the next step, testing their skills against other players.?
Source: http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Gun-Club-3-Add-Gameplay-Android-iOS-Fall-57122.html
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AFP-Getty Images
Opponents of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi burn a Freedom and Justice Party office Friday in Alexandria, Egypt.
By M. Alex Johnson and Jeff Black, NBC News
A U.S. citizen killed on Friday in Alexandria, Egypt, site of anti-government protests, was identified as Andrew Pochter, the U.S. Embassy in Cairo told NBC News on Saturday.
Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, said the 21-year-old student was from Chevy Chase, Md.
In a statement, the school said Pochter was an intern at AMIDEAST, a nonprofit group not affiliated with Kenyon that is engaged in international education, training and development.
"We are providing appropriate consular assistance from our Embassy in Cairo and our Bureau of Consular Affairs at the State Department," a State Department said.
Al Jazeera and Reuters, both quoting doctors and Egyptian security officials, and the Egyptian state news agency MENA reported Friday that Pochter died from a stab wound to the chest in Alexandria.
Gen. Amin Ezzeddin, a senior security official in Alexandria, told Reuters that the American was using a mobile phone camera near an office of President Mohammed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood as it was being attacked by protesters. He died at a military hospital, Ezzeddin said.
At least 80 other people have been wounded in the Alexandria protests, MENA reported.
The protests are part of the buildup to nationwide "June 30" demonstrations marking a year since Morsi's election. Morsis opponents hope to force early presidential elections, citing a range of social and economic issues.
Morsi's supporters have promised that they will also take to the streets to defend the Muslim Brotherhood-backed government.
"There are no services. We can't find diesel or gasoline," Mohamed Abdel Latif, an accountant, told Reuters. "We elected Morsi, but this is enough."
Charlene Gubash of NBC News contributed to this report from Cairo, Egypt.
Related:
This story was originally published on Fri Jun 28, 2013 4:45 PM EDT
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The timing of the deletion of emails from NDSU President Dean Bresciani?s inbox has always been interesting. It appears as though the mass-deletion of tens of thousands of emails took place between the time when an open records request from Forum Communicatinos was fulfilled and when an open records request from Legislative Council was received.
The folks at Forum Communications have gone back and compared the results of their open records request with the one from Legislative Council and found inconsistencies involving dozens of emails:
The newspaper compared the results of its own open records request for Bresciani?s emails, made in March, with those that the North Dakota Legislative Council received after a similar request in April and found that 53 emails were missing from the results of the council?s request.
Nearly all of the emails in the Legislative Council?s request were sent by Bresciani, with few incoming emails that would sit in an inbox, suggesting that at least part of the president?s inbox was deleted sometime after The Forum?s open records request was fulfilled in late April.
The missing emails, mostly innocuous replies to Bresciani from fellow school employees, are just a fraction of the 45,375 emails that were allegedly deleted from Bresciani?s account sometime in the two weeks leading up to the Legislative Council?s request for the president?s emails ? a possible violation of the state?s open records law. The emails are now at the heart of a probe by Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem?s office.
This in and of itself may not be all that shocking a revelation. A few dozen innocuous emails probably aren?t a big deal in the grand scheme of things. But what it absolutely shows is that emails were disappearing.
And, despite previous claims from university system officials that they couldn?t verify if emails had been deleted or not, they are now acknowledging that fact. ?After being asked about the 53 missing emails identified by the Forum, NDSU and North Dakota University System officials confirmed Friday that ?a large number of emails? have been deleted,? reports Kyle Potter. ?Bresciani and other university staff initially said they couldn?t verify whether any emails had been deleted from Bresciani?s account.?
Also, Bresciani?s claim that his system was ?compromised? has been shot down:
[Bresciani] also suggested his account may have been compromised by university system staff in a ?personally directed and malicious? effort against him. But Wallman and Feldner said in the statement that the only outsiders who accessed the president?s account were fulfilling open records requests.
Days ago I had filed an open records request with NDUS spokeswoman Linda Donlin asking for the log information showing the deletion of the files. After initially acknowledging my request I?ve gotten no further communications for Donlin (who is part of the staff upheaval going on, it seems) but a university system source has given me a screen shot of the log showing the deletion of emails:
We can now dismiss a lot of the spin and self-serving explanations coming from President Bresciani?s office and other sources and focus on some facts:
The questions that need to be answered is who deleted the emails, and were they deleted inadvertently or as an conscious effort to avoid an open records request? The latter, remember, is potentially a felony.
Word I?m getting from university system sources is that there were thousands of emails now-discovered that weren?t turned over to the legislature. That, if true, is damning.
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FILE - From left are 2012 file photos showing NBA basketball players Kris Humphries, Kevin Garnett, Kris Joseph, Paul Pierce, Jason Terry and Gerald Wallace. The Brooklyn Nets will acquire Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett from the Boston Celtics in a deal that was still developing as the NBA draft ended, according to a person with knowledge of the details. Yahoo Sports, which first reported the talks, said the Nets would also get veteran Jason Terry from Boston and send Gerald Wallace, Kris Joseph, the expiring deal of Kris Humphries and three future first-round picks to Boston. The trade can't be completed until July 10, after next season's salary cap is set, so pieces were still being discussed early Friday, June 28, 2013. (AP Photo/File)
FILE - From left are 2012 file photos showing NBA basketball players Kris Humphries, Kevin Garnett, Kris Joseph, Paul Pierce, Jason Terry and Gerald Wallace. The Brooklyn Nets will acquire Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett from the Boston Celtics in a deal that was still developing as the NBA draft ended, according to a person with knowledge of the details. Yahoo Sports, which first reported the talks, said the Nets would also get veteran Jason Terry from Boston and send Gerald Wallace, Kris Joseph, the expiring deal of Kris Humphries and three future first-round picks to Boston. The trade can't be completed until July 10, after next season's salary cap is set, so pieces were still being discussed early Friday, June 28, 2013. (AP Photo/File)
Former Boston Celtics head coach Doc Rivers holds his new Los Angeles Clippers jersey during a press conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday, June 26, 2013. Rivers was introduced as the Clippers' new coach and senior vice president of basketball operations. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
FILE - In this Nov. 18, 2012 file photo, Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers gestures for a traveling call against the Detroit Pistons in the first half of an NBA basketball game in Auburn Hills, Mich. Rivers will be the next coach of the Los Angeles Clippers if the NBA approves the rare but not unprecedented trade of an active coach, a Boston Celtics official told The Associated Press on Sunday night, June 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson, File)
BOSTON (AP) ? Letting Doc Rivers go to the Los Angeles Clippers was the first sign. Getting rid of Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett clinched it.
The Boston Celtics are rebuilding.
The Celtics have agreed to the terms of a deal that would send the two remaining members of the Big Three that won the 2008 NBA title to the Brooklyn Nets for a package of draft picks and players. Garnett is a future Hall of Famer, but it's Pierce's departure that signals the end of an era for the league's most-decorated franchise.
"It's sad to see everybody leave Boston. You just want them to go someplace where they have a chance to win, and they have," Rivers said at Clippers draft headquarters late Thursday night. "It's a great trade for Boston, too; not now, later. Danny wanted to rebuild, and that's what he's doing."
The longest-tenured member of the Celtics, Pierce is the team's captain, a 10-time All-Star and a likely Hall of Famer. He is the second-leading scorer in the history of the NBA's most-decorated franchise, and also is in the team's top seven in rebounds, assists, steals, games and minutes played.
Garnett is also a future Hall of Famer, though only the last six years of his career were in Boston. It's Pierce, who slipped to 10th in the 1998 draft and has been a Celtic ever since, who had a chance to spend his entire career with the franchise and add his name to a list that includes Hall of Famers Larry Bird, Bill Russell and John Havlicek.
(But not Bob Cousy, Robert Parish or even Red Auerbach.)
"(It's) sort of sad. You hate to see it," said Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau, who was an assistant on the Celtics 2008 championship team. "But that's the NBA. It's constant change, and you have to be ready to adapt. I think what Paul Pierce did for that franchise and Kevin ? I think's it's good for them. They have an opportunity to continue on.
"Good for the Celtics, where they can start their rebuilding."
Pierce was drafted in the Rick Pitino era when the Celtics, already in the midst of the longest championship drought in franchise history, were a year removed from the second-worst record in the NBA (a mark that was not good enough to land them the top prize in the draft, Tim Duncan).
He helped the team reach the Eastern Conference finals in 2002. But, convinced that they were not likely to go farther, Ainge was brought in the next year to tear things apart again.
Boston plummeted back into the NBA lottery and again bad luck prevented them from landing a franchise player like Kevin Durant. Instead, Ainge swung deals for Garnett and Allen that earned the Celtics their NBA-record 17th championship in the very first year.
But Garnett was injured the next year, and Kendrick Perkins went down in Game 6 of the finals in 2010, when the Celtics lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in seven games. Then came two eliminations by Miami and, after five straight division titles, a third-place finish and first-round loss to the New York Knicks.
Ainge was convinced that the time had come to start over.
Rivers' exit was negotiated with the Clippers, landing Boston a first-round draft choice in 2015 and freeing the Celtics from the $21 million remaining on his contract. Garnett and Pierce will go to Brooklyn as soon as the deal can be finalized on July 10.
Yahoo Sports, which first reported the talks, said the Nets would also get veteran Jason Terry from Boston and send Gerald Wallace, Kris Joseph, the expiring deal of Kris Humphries and first-round picks in 2014, 2016 and 2018 to the Celtics. Boston is left with Rajon Rondo, Jeff Green and Avery Bradley, along with Jared Sullinger and first-round draft pick Kelly Olynyk, a 7-footer from Gonzaga.
Tim Hardaway, a scout for the Miami Heat, said: "We don't have to worry about Boston no more."
Not next year, at least.
But the Celtics will have two first-round picks in four of the next five drafts, including the loaded one expected for next year.
"The Celtics wanted draft picks and they wanted to drop contracts. I was one of those contracts," Rivers said from California on Friday in an interview with CBS radio in Boston. "It's a hard thing to do, but I think it's the right thing to do."
___
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NORTH BAY ? After a number of accounting and advising firms have found a focus in serving the specific needs of the North Bay wine industry, demand from a different beverage category ? craft beer ? is highlighting another niche for tax and bookkeeping.
Many North Bay accounting firms with clients in both industries drew parallels between brewing and winemaking, including the heightened financial reporting requirements required as alcohol producers.
Yet as craft beer explodes in popularity in the North Bay and beyond, the accounting and tax nuances facing an ever-growing roster of craft brewers are becoming a topic of increased interest for the region?s large and small brewers alike.
Tom McCormick
?For many years, a lot of us were driving in the dark, trying to help each other. It was easier to get someone to help you with equipment and sourcing ingredients than finances,? said Tom McCormick, executive director of the industry trade group, the California Craft Brewers Association. ?It?s just now beginning to develop where we?re seeing some people who are popping up to serve our industry.?
Sonoma County craft breweries, along with distillers and cider makers, were responsible for nearly $450,000 in outside accounting,? tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll services in 2012, according to the first-ever Sonoma County Craft Beverage report released last week by the Sonoma County Economic Development Board.
Those breweries ? currently 18 in Sonoma County alone ? range widely in size. The largest in the region, Petaluma?s Lagunitas Brewing Company, produced more than 250,000 barrels of beer last year and plans to produce over 2 million after expansion both locally and within a new Chicago facility, according to the EDB. Other larger-scale producers include Cloverdale?s Bear Republic Brewing Company and Boonville?s Anderson Valley Brewing Company.
Yet production volume drops significantly from there, with even venerable brewers like Santa Rosa?s Russian River Brewing Co. producing 12,480 barrels in 2011 ? the only other North Bay craft brewery producing more than 5,000 barrels that year. And even Chico?s Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, which produces nearly 1 million barrels a year as the largest craft brewer in California, still represents only 1 percent of the production of Anheuser-Busch Inbev, Mr. McCormick said.
Ken Dansie
The majority of breweries ?are essentially small businesses,? said Ken Dansie, partner in the Private Company Services Group of BPM, accountants and consultants in the North Bay. Limited resources make planning for a capital-intensive expansion more difficult, even when a large demand exists.
?When you have a small craft brewery starting to produce, the underlying capital costs just to get started are significant,? he said, noting the cost of production brewing equipment. ?Going from doing your first brew underneath your stairs to selling 1,000 barrels a year are very different things.?
As one aspect of financial planning, the tax code has continued to evolve in respect to craft brewers in recent years. While aging beer in wooden barrels once used for wine or spirits has become a widely adopted brewing technique, those beers were until recently subject to the higher excise tax reserved for liquor in California. That changed last year, when North Coast Assemblyman Wes Chesbro?s proposal to reclassify those beverages as beer was signed into law. ?
Tami Norgrove
Yet those tax issues don?t stop at California, creating another layer of complication for craft breweries distributing outside of the state and the U.S., said Tami Norgrove, chief financial officer at Bear Republic. The brewery has developed an in-house system to track those differences and other data.
?It can be challenging,? she said, with differences that include aspects such as alcohol content and volume measurements. The brewery distributes its beer in 35 states and seven countries, and ?each state has different requirements and different rules.?
Meanwhile, other tax questions still loom at the federal level, including the question of what the federal tax code considers a ?craft brewery? itself. The proposed Brewers Excise and Economic Relief Act ? more commonly known as the BEER Act ? is one proposal backed by large-scale producers that would drop the tax on mass-production brewers from $18 a barrel to $9, essentially raising the small brewer tax by $2. A competing Small BREW Act, short for the Small Brewer Reinvestment and Expanding Workforce Act ? would lower a current federal tax of $7 per barrel for those producing less than 60,000 barrels to $3.50.
Jim Craven
Yet regardless of the specific tax or industry definition for craft breweries, consumers appear to be embracing them with significant brand loyalty that in many cases starts with a direct-to-consumer experience at a brewpub-type setting, said Jim Caven, a director with Pisenti & Brinker LLP.
?Too often, we are separating our accounting info into silos,? he said. ?It?s up to the accountant to empty those silos and put them together,? he said.
One of the firm?s clients, Davis-based Sudwerk Brewing, is seeking to address those complexities by implementing a brewery-specific accounting system known as OrchestratedBEER, he said. Like similar systems developed for the wine industry and otherwise, the program allows services such as the tracking of company revenues and costs down to the ingredient level for various brews.
The system is meant to be flexible enough for breweries of different scales and approaches.
?We?re fortunate that there are a lot of very good breweries up here in Northern California. We can talk to each other, and learn from each other. Everyone is finding a different way to grow,? Ms. Norgrove said.
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AUBURN, Mass. (AP) ? A regional transit bus crashed into a house in the central Massachusetts town of Auburn, injuring seven people, a fire official said Monday.
Fire Capt. Eric Otterson said the driver of the Worcester Regional Transit Authority Bus, who was trapped for more than an hour after the 5 p.m. crash, was seriously hurt. He was taken to a hospital.
Otterson said three children and an adult were inside the Swanson Road house when the bus knocked it off its foundation by 7 to 10 feet, and had minor cuts and scrapes. He said two bus passengers had moderate scrapes. They were taken to hospitals for treatment and evaluation.
Chris Erickson, 32, who lives in the house with his wife and their three sons ages 14, 11 and 6, told The Associated Press he was at work when the bus struck their kitchen. He said two of the boys were in the nearby living room.
"They were pretty shook up," Erickson said, but weren't seriously hurt, and the family's pets weren't injured. "I just hope we can get the photo albums and the clothes out that we need."
Police Chief Andrew Sluckis told the Worcester Telegram & Gazette the driver may have had a medical episode or a problem with the brakes. Sluckis said the bus was headed toward a local shopping mall when it suddenly ran off the street, cut across a yard and hit the house.
John Carney, general manager of WRTA Transit Services, told the newspaper the driver was fairly new, but had extensive bus driving experience.
Thomas Mosley, who lives across the street, said he heard a loud bump and went to help. He said it appeared the bus had run across the lawn of a nearby dentist's office before plowing through the Ericksons' lawn and a hedge into their house. The bus landed upright.
Erickson's father, Lenny Erickson, 64, owns the house his father built it in 1949. He said he's relieved his family members weren't seriously hurt, but is saddened by the damage to the home where he grew up with his parents and two brothers.
The bus was removed from the white Cape Cod style house Monday night after the structure was shored up.
"That's the old homestead, and now they are saying they will have to tear it down," Lenny Erickson said. "It was a great place to grow up."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bus-crashes-mass-house-driver-among-7-hurt-005052840.html
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Microsoft is selective about where its first-party game franchises appear -- outside of lightweight releases like Kinectimals and Wordament, it prefers to use games as technology showcases and system sellers. It may not be picky for much longer, though, as Nikkei claims that Microsoft has reached a deal with Japan's KLab to develop Android and iOS versions of its first-party titles. The deal reportedly includes adaptations of both PC and Xbox games, and would start with a free-to-play variant of Age of Empires that could launch before the end of the 2013 fiscal year. We've reached out to Microsoft to verify the rumor, but it's clear that the arrangement could be a breakthrough for gamers who aren't wedded to Microsoft's existing mobile strategy.
Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Tablets, Microsoft
Via: Reuters
Source: Nikkei (subscription required)
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/ekWYPnOaWlI/
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Rafael Nadal of Spain, left, waves to spectators after losing to Steve Darcis of Belgium, right, in their Men's first round singles match at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships in Wimbledon, London, Monday, June 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Rafael Nadal of Spain, left, waves to spectators after losing to Steve Darcis of Belgium, right, in their Men's first round singles match at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships in Wimbledon, London, Monday, June 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Rafael Nadal of Spain reacts as he loses a point to Steve Darcis of Belgium during their Men's first round singles match at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships in Wimbledon, London, Monday, June 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Roger Federer of Switzerland stretches to return the ball to Victor Hanescu of Romania during their Men's first round singles match at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships in Wimbledon, London, Monday, June 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
Roger Federer of Switzerland returns the ball to Victor Hanescu of Romania during their Men's first round singles match at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships in Wimbledon, London, Monday, June 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, center, lies on the court after taking a fall during her Women's first round singles match against Maria Joao Koehler of Portugal at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships in Wimbledon, London, Monday, June 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
LONDON (AP) ? For the second straight year, Rafael Nadal is leaving Wimbledon early after a stunning loss to a little-known player ranked in the hundreds.
In one of the tournament's greatest upsets, an ailing Nadal was knocked out in straight sets Monday by 135th-ranked Steve Darcis of Belgium ? the Spaniard's first loss in the opening round of any Grand Slam event.
The free-swinging Darcis defeated the two-time champion 7-6 (4), 7-6 (8), 6-4 on Court 1, ending Nadal's 22-match winning streak and eliminating one of the Big Four of men's tennis on the very first day of the grass-court Grand Slam.
After serving an ace down the middle on match point, Darcis conceded he was as surprised as everyone.
"Nobody was expecting me to win," he said. "So I had to play a good match, relax, and enjoy the game. That's what I did."
There were no surprises for the other big names: Defending champion Roger Federer, bidding for a record eighth Wimbledon title, and second-seeded Andy Murray both won in straight sets on Centre Court.
Nadal was sidelined for seven months with a left knee injury after losing in the second round of Wimbledon last year. He seemed to be struggling physically Monday. He was unable to turn on the speed or use his legs to spring into his groundstrokes, limping and failing to run for some shots.
Nadal declined to blame any injury and gave full credit to the 29-year-old Darcis, who had never beaten a top-5 player before and has yet to go beyond the third round of any Grand Slam.
"I don't ... talk about my knee this afternoon," Nadal said. "Only thing that can say today is congratulate Steve Darcis. He played a fantastic match. Everything that I will say today about my knee is an excuse, and I don't like to put any excuse when I'm losing a match like I lost today."
Darcis, who had won only one previous match at Wimbledon, played the match of his life Monday, going for his shots and moving Nadal from corner to corner. Darcis amassed a total of 53 winners, compared with 32 for Nadal.
"Of course, Rafa didn't play his best tennis," Darcis said. "I could see it. So I took advantage of it, tried to fight. Maybe he was not in the best shape ever. Maybe he didn't play his best match. But I have to be proud of me, I think."
Darcis said he didn't know whether Nadal was injured, or was just troubled by the grass conditions.
"Not the day to talk about these kind of things," Nadal said. "I am confident that I will have a good recovery and be ready for the next tournaments."
Darcis finished the match in style, serving his 13th ace as Nadal failed to chase the ball.
Darcis is the lowest ranked player to beat Nadal at any tournament since Joachim Johansson ? ranked No. 690 ? defeated the Spaniard in 2006 in Stockholm. Gustavo Kuerten, in 1997, was the last reigning French Open champion to lose in the first round at Wimbledon.
Nadal was coming off his eighth championship at the French Open this month. But on this day he never looked like the player who has won 12 Grand Slam titles and established himself as one of the greatest players of his generation.
Last year, Nadal was ousted in the second round by 100th-ranked Lukas Rosol, a match that finished under the closed roof of Centre Court.
After that loss, Nadal took the rest of the year off to recover from the knee problem, missing the U.S. Open and Australian Open. Since returning to action this year, he had made it to the finals of all nine tournaments he entered, winning seven.
After winning the French Open, Nadal pulled out of a grass-court tuneup in Halle, Germany. He came to Wimbledon without any serious grass-court preparation.
"The opponent played well," Nadal said. "I had my chances. I didn't make it. So in grass (it's) difficult to adapt yourself, to adapt your game. When you don't have the chance to play before, I didn't have that chance this year, is tougher. I didn't find my rhythm."
Ten years after his first Wimbledon championship, Federer opened play on Centre Court as defending champion and looked right as home as he dismantled Victor Hanescu of Romania 6-3, 6-2, 6-0.
This was a grass-court clinic lasting 68 minutes. Federer had 32 winners, seven aces and just six unforced errors. He won 90 percent of the points when he put his first serve in. When his serve is clicking, Federer usually is unbeatable. On this day, he won his first 15 service points and 24 out of the first 25.
"I'm happy to get out of there early and quickly," Federer said. "So it was a perfect day."
Last year, Federer equaled Pete Sampras and William Renshaw with seven Wimbledon titles. He is now contending to become the first man to win the tournament eight times, which would bring his total of Grand Slam titles to 18.
Federer came out wearing a white collared jacket with orange trim, then quickly got down to business. He never faced a break point and broke six times.
Federer has a habit of making things look easy. And so it was in the opening game when, stranded at the net, he reached behind him for a reflex forehand volley that landed in for a winner. In the third set, Federer lifted a perfect backhand lob over the 6-foot-6 Hanescu for a break and a 5-0 lead.
Another Wimbledon champion, 2002 winner Lleyton Hewitt, displayed his grass-court prowess by upending 11th-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 7-5, 6-3. In a match that finished in fading light on Court 1, the 32-year-old Australian fell to his knees at the baseline, then jumped and pumped his fist as if he had just won the tournament.
Playing his 15th consecutive Wimbledon and his 57th Grand Slam overall, Hewitt has bounced back from various injuries and reached the semifinals at Queen's Club to serve notice he is still dangerous.
"I know that I can still play the game," he said. "I compete against the best guys. I play well in the big tournaments. That's why I'm still playing."
Murray, the U.S. Open champion who again tries to become the first British man to win the trophy since Fred Perry in 1936, got off to a strong start with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 win over Benjamin Becker of Germany.
"It was a tough start for me. He is a very good grass player," Murray said. "I was ready and to win in three sets was a good start. There's always nerves at the start of a Grand Slam and I'm glad to get it out of the way and hopefully I can improve as it goes on."
It was Murray's first match on Centre Court since he beat Federer on the grass for the gold medal at last year's London Olympics ? a month after losing to Federer in the Wimbledon final. The two could meet in the semifinals this year.
The weather was mostly cloudy but dry for the beginning of the two-week championships. Among those in the Royal Box were former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Pippa Middleton, the younger sister of Prince William's wife, Kate.
In women's play, there was an early upset as fifth-seeded Sara Errani was eliminated by Puerto Rican teenager Monica Puig 6-3, 6-2.
Puig slugged 38 winners in overwhelming Errani in the first match on Court 18. The 19-year-old Puig, playing her first grass-court tournament as a pro, completely outplayed the Italian veteran with her hard-hitting baseline game.
Puig said she has been building on a recent run of success, including a third-round showing at the French Open.
"Definitely pulling off some big career wins and not being afraid to close out matches, which was my problem at the beginning of the year," she said. "Finally just having the confidence to close them out."
In other women's matches, second-seeded Victoria Azarenka overcame a right knee injury from a scary fall beating Maria Joao Koehler of Portugal 6-1, 6-2.
Azarenka screamed in pain after slipping and falling at the baseline in the second game of the second set. She sobbed on court and received medical treatment.
Playing the rest of the match with a heavy wrap on her right knee, Azarenka limped noticeably but managed to win comfortably against an opponent making her Wimbledon debut.
"I was in such pain at the beginning, it wouldn't let go," Azarenka said. "I think it calmed down."
Third-seeded Maria Sharapova, the 2004 Wimbledon champion, came through a first-set tiebreaker and beat 37th-ranked Kristina Mladenovic of France 7-6 (5), 6-3.
Sharapova drew attention over the weekend by delivering a sharp news-conference rebuke to Serena Williams over critical comments attributed to the top-seeded American in a recent magazine article. Sharapova swatted away questions about the feud Monday.
"I've said everything that I wanted to say about the issue," she said. "Wimbledon started. This is my work. This is my job. I'd really appreciate it if we move on."
Other women's winners Monday included No. 9 Caroline Wozniacki, No. 12 Ana Ivanovic and No. 16 Jelena Jankovic.
Advancing among the men were No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 10 Marin Cilic, No. 15 Nicolas Almagro and No. 18 John Isner. Janko Tiparevic, seeded No. 14, lost to fellow Serb Viktor Troicki, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (5).
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PAWS Chicago?s 36-hour Adopt-a-thon has officially ended, and 125 pets found new homes.
46 dogs, 35 puppies, seven cats, and 37 kittens were adopted.
The adopt-a-thon began Friday morning, and continued through 11 p.m. Saturday night.
PAWS Chicago is the city?s largest No Kill humane organization, focused on solutions to end the killing of homeless pets.
Source: http://wgntv.com/2013/06/23/125-pets-get-new-homes-in-adopt-a-thon/
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8 hours ago
Michael Buckner / Getty Images file
Jon Gosselin in 2012.
Once Jon Gosselin lived in a large house in Pennsylvania and his life unrolled on television in front of millions. Now, the dad of eight lives "in the woods," and says he doesn't even have an address.
Gosselin didn't clarify exactly where or how he lives, but he confirmed to VH1's "The Gossip Table" that he's taken to a more private life after living in an apartment where paparazzi and others "figured out where I was."
Gosselin, then-wife Kate, and their twins and sextuplets starred on "Jon and Kate Plus 8" for five seasons before divorcing. The show continued as "Kate Plus 8" despite Jon Gosselin suing to prevent filming of his children.
Gosselin was asked if Kim Kardashian and Kanye West should allow their newborn daughter, North, to appear on the reality show "Keeping Up With the Kardashians," and unsurprisingly, he didn't think so.
"I wanted to raise my kids off television, so I changed my mind," he said. "So I would definitely not film with my newborn child."
Gosselin was also asked if he still wore Ed Hardy clothing, the brand he favored at the height of his tabloid fame in 2009. He said no, adding "I gave all my (Hardy clothing) to my mother." Tattoo artist Hardy recently told the New York Post that an association with Gosselin "tanked" his clothing brand.
He also said he'd be interested in appearing on "Dancing With the Stars," as his ex-wife Kate Gosselin famously did in 2010. She was the fourth celebrity eliminated on the show's tenth season, and partner Tony Dovolani later joked he needed "a lot of therapy" after partnering with her.
"I feel like I could probably get further than her," Jon Gosselin said.
Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/jon-gosselin-i-live-woods-now-6C10433570
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June 21, 2013 ? People have an innate need to establish close relationships with other people. But this natural bonding behaviour is not confined to humans: many animals also seem to need relationships with others of their kind. For domesticated animals the situation is even more complex and pets may enter deep relationships not only with conspecifics but also with their owners. Scientists at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna (Vetmeduni Vienna) have investigated the bond between dogs and their owners and have found striking similarities to the parent-child relationship in humans.
Their findings are published in the journal PLOS ONE.
Domestic dogs have been closely associated with humans for about 15,000 years. The animals are so well adapted to living with human beings that in many cases the owner replaces conspecifics and assumes the role of the dog's main social partner. The relationship between pet owners and dogs turns out to be highly similar to the deep connection between young children and their parents.
The importance of the owner to the dog
One aspect of the bond between humans and dogs is the so-called "secure base effect." This effect is also found in parent-child bonding: human infants use their caregivers as a secure base when it comes to interacting with the environment. Until recently the "secure base effect" had not been well examined in dogs. Lisa Horn from the Vetmeduni's Messerli Research Institute therefore decided to take a closer look at the behaviour of dogs and their owners. She examined the dogs' reactions under three different conditions: "absent owner," "silent owner" and "encouraging owner." The dogs could earn a food reward, by manipulating interactive dog toys. Surprisingly, they seemed much less keen on working for food, when their caregivers were not there than when they were. Whether an owner additionally encouraged the dog during the task or remained silent, had little influence on the animal's level of motivation.
When the owner is replaced by a stranger
In a follow-up experiment, Horn and her colleagues replaced the owner with an unfamiliar person. The scientists observed that dogs hardly interacted with the strangers and were not much more interested in trying to get the food reward than when this person was not there. The dogs were much more motivated only when their owner was present. The researchers concluded that the owner's presence is important for the animal to behave in a confident manner.
Why do adult dogs behave like human children?
The study provides the first evidence for the similarity between the "secure base effect" found in dog-owner and child-caregiver relationships. This striking parallel will be further investigated in direct comparative studies on dogs and children. As Horn says, "One of the things that really surprised us is, that adult dogs behave towards their caregivers like human children do. It will be really interesting to try to find out how this behaviour evolved in the dogs with direct comparisons."
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/8SeaNXWOkGA/130621095502.htm
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Oakland Athletics' Yoenis Cespedes, left, watches the path of his home run as Seattle Mariners catcher Mike Zunino looks on in the first inning of a baseball game on Friday, June 21, 2013, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Oakland Athletics' Yoenis Cespedes, left, watches the path of his home run as Seattle Mariners catcher Mike Zunino looks on in the first inning of a baseball game on Friday, June 21, 2013, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Bartolo Colon throws against the Seattle Mariners in the first inning of a baseball game on Friday, June 21, 2013, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma, right, looks away as Oakland Athletics' Yoenis Cespedes rounds the bases on a home run in the first inning of a baseball game on Friday, June 21, 2013, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Oakland Athletics' Yoenis Cespedes is congratulated in the dugout following his home run against the Seattle Mariners in the first inning of a baseball game on Friday, June 21, 2013, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Oakland Athletics' Coco Crisp, right, is congratulated by third base coach Mike Gallego as he rounds the bases on his home run against the Seattle Mariners in the sixth inning of a baseball game Friday, June 21, 2013, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
SEATTLE (AP) ? Yoenis Cespedes just feels more comfortable when he plays the outfield.
Cespedes homered twice and Bartolo Colon won his seventh straight start to lead the Oakland Athletics past the Seattle Mariners 6-3 on Friday night.
Limited to DH duty for seven games because of a sore hamstring, Cespedes celebrated his return to left field with a pair of two-run homers.
"Evidently he likes to play the outfield," Oakland manager Bob Melvin said. "You could see his whole demeanor today, he was just in a better mood."
Jed Lowrie and Coco Crisp also went deep for the Athletics, who maintained their one-game lead in the AL West over Texas.
Cespedes homered in the first inning and again in the ninth for his third career multihomer game ? all this month, and all when playing left field.
"I can't say I'm 100 percent yet, but it feels great to play in the outfield," Cespedes said through a translator. "When I'm in the outfield, my body's completely up, my body's on fire. The difference is when I'm a DH and I sit down in the dugout and I'm doing nothing, I feel like I'm going down a little bit."
Cespedes' hitting took some of the spotlight off Colon's pitching, but the 40-year-old right-hander was on top of his game, too. Colon (10-2) gave up three runs and seven hits over eight innings, tying unbeaten Max Scherzer of the Detroit Tigers for most wins in the American League.
Colon is 11-1 in his career at Safeco Field, the best record for any pitcher with at least seven decisions in the Mariners' home park.
"He's a veteran guy. He knows himself. He knows what works," said Crisp, who hit a solo homer in the sixth. "It's not a fluke."
Colon, who has relied heavily on his fastball this season, said he feels he's pitching as well as he has since winning the AL Cy Young Award with the Angels in 2005. He attributed his recent success to adding more off-speed pitches to the stream of fastballs.
"I think it's because I mix it up better than I did before," Colon said through a translator. "I was always a fastball guy, so now I'm mixing it more."
Mariners manager Eric Wedge, however, said Colon can dominate with only his fastball.
"He knows how to pitch. He recognizes swings," Wedge said. "He does as good a job with his fastball, his movement, where it starts and where it finishes, as anybody in the league."
Grant Balfour worked the ninth for his 18th save this season and 36th in a row dating to May 5, 2012.
Hisashi Iwakuma (7-3) lost at home for the first time this season, giving up four runs and six hits ? including three homers ? in seven innings. His home ERA rose from 0.92 to 1.46.
The matchup between two of the American League's top starters turned into a relative slugfest.
Iwakuma had never given up more than two home runs in a game, and it was the first time in 18 career home starts he allowed more than one homer. He has lost two starts in a row, both to Oakland.
"We really didn't get a whole lot of hits off of him," said Lowrie, who homered leading off the fourth. "We were able to get those big homers, that's the only way we scored off him."
Nick Franklin hit a three-run shot in the third against Colon, the first time the pitcher had allowed a home run or more than two earned runs in a game since May 14, before he started his winning streak.
Cespedes gave Oakland a two-run lead in the first inning with a shot that bounced off the upper-deck railing above the left field out-of-town scoreboard. It wasn't the first big hit Cespedes has had against Iwakuma ? he is 6 for 15 with three homers against the Mariners' starter.
The Mariners were hurt by a baserunning blunder in the sixth. After a leadoff single, Kyle Seager was thrown out trying to take two bases on a passed ball. Kendrys Morales' single and Raul Ibanez's walk gave Seattle two on with one out, but the Mariners were unable to push a run across.
Oakland added two insurance runs in the ninth off reliever Tom Wilhelmsen. Lowrie led off with a single and Cespedes followed with another homer to left field, his 15th.
NOTES: Oakland C John Jaso was a late scratch because of a left palm abrasion he got when sliding Thursday. ... Seattle promoted pitching prospect Taijuan Walker to Triple-A Tacoma. Walker, the Mariners' top pick in the 2010 draft, was 4-7 with a 2.46 ERA and 96 strikeouts in 14 starts for Double-A Jackson. ... Two of Seattle's 2013 draft picks, Austin Wilson (second round) and Lachlan Fontaine (13th), took batting practice before the game.
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June 17, 2013 ? Scientists at la Universidad Carlos III of Madrid (UC3M) have developed a system based on augmented reality that, thanks to intelligent glasses, enables a professor to see notes or comments on the contents of a lesson and to see if the students understand explanations or if, on the contrary, they are having doubts or difficulties.
The proposed system (Augmented Lecture Feedback System -- ALFs) seeks to improve communication between students and professors during large lecture classes like those frequently given at universities. The way they work is quite intuitive: the professor wears a pair of augmented reality glasses that enable him/her to see symbols above each student; the symbols indicate the person's state while this activity is taking place. "These symbols are activated by the students via their cell phones and are used to tell the professor that they don't understand the explanation, or that they have understood it, to ask the professor to go more slowly, or to say whether or not they know the answer to the question that the professor has just asked the class," explains one of the researchers from UC3M's Grupo de Sistemas Interactivos (Interactive Systems Group), Telmo Zarraonandia. This way, the professor knows, simply by looking at the symbol a student has displayed over his/her head, exactly what that student wishes to communicate to him/her. In addition, on the upper part of the glasses, the system shows a diagram with the aggregate of the answers given by the students, which can be particularly useful in large groups.
The main advantage of this device is that students have a new way to communicate that enables them to be in contact with the professor both immediately and privately, and without interrupting the class. "The channel that we've created will help overcome the problems of timidity or fear of speaking in front of the class that some students have," points out one of the researchers, Ignacio Aedo, a tenured professor in UC3M's Computer Science department.
This way, the professor has a source of immediate information on what the students are grasping from his/her presentation. "The hope is that this system will make for more effective lecture classes, because receiving greater feedback, continuously, will allow the professor to adapt the class based on the students' actual knowledge and understanding, giving extra examples, varying the rhythm or skipping those parts of the lesson that the students indicate that they already know or remember," concludes Aedo. Moreover, through the glasses, the system allows the professor to visualize notes or comments that s/he doesn't want to forget to mention at specific moments, and which s/he can introduce in the system prior to the class.
Education of the future
The architecture of the system is described in a scientific article published in the British Journal of Educational Technology in a special monographic edition dedicated to the education of the future. The prototype that these researchers have developed is controlled by gestures, captured with a Microsoft Kinect; using these gestures, the professor selects the support slide for an explanation, or activates predetermined questions to which the students respond by displaying a variety of symbols that they select using their cell phones. The system can identify the students using facial recognition (by previously loading their photographs to a database) or, in larger groups, by using a positioning system based on markers.
In order for the students to be able to select the symbols, they just have to connect their cell phones to the server where the system is installed. The professor, on the other hand, just needs a pair of augmented reality glasses. "Because of their ability to display information on the user's field of vision, these devices have the potential to change the way in which we carry out many of our daily tasks, as well as offering many interesting possibilities from a research point of view," comments Telmo Zarraonandia. Currently, the various models of augmented reality glasses are costly and not very ergonomic because they are too heavy and make it difficult for the professor to move, but "it is hoped that in the next few years new models will come onto the market and these will be suitable for use in class, as might be the case with the new Google glasses, which could be adapted to this system," points out Ignacio Aedo.
This research is part of TIPEx (Information Technologies for Planning and Training in Emergencies), a project that has been funded by the Ministerio de Econom?a y Competitividad (Economy and Competitivity Ministry) in which researchers from the Universidad Polit?cnica of Valencia and the Universidad Pablo de Olavide also participate; the project examines how augmented reality and other technologies can be applied to the area of emergency management.
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June 18, 2013 ? NASA announced Tuesday a Grand Challenge focused on finding all asteroid threats to human populations and knowing what to do about them.
The challenge, which was announced at an asteroid initiative industry and partner day at NASA Headquarters in Washington, is a large-scale effort that will use multi-disciplinary collaborations and a variety of partnerships with other government agencies, international partners, industry, academia, and citizen scientists. It complements NASA's recently announced mission to redirect an asteroid and send humans to study it.
"NASA already is working to find asteroids that might be a threat to our planet, and while we have found 95 percent of the large asteroids near the Earth's orbit, we need to find all those that might be a threat to Earth," said NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver. "This Grand Challenge is focused on detecting and characterizing asteroids and learning how to deal with potential threats. We will also harness public engagement, open innovation and citizen science to help solve this global problem."
Grand Challenges are ambitious goals on a national or global scale that capture the imagination and demand advances in innovation and breakthroughs in science and technology. They are an important element of President Obama's Strategy for American Innovation.
"I applaud NASA for issuing this Grand Challenge because finding asteroid threats, and having a plan for dealing with them, needs to be an all-hands-on-deck effort," said Tom Kalil, deputy director for technology and innovation at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. "The efforts of private-sector partners and our citizen scientists will augment the work NASA already is doing to improve near-Earth object detection capabilities."
NASA also released a request for information (RFI) that invites industry and potential partners to offer ideas on accomplishing NASA's goal to locate, redirect, and explore an asteroid, as well as find and plan for asteroid threats. The RFI is open for 30 days, and responses will be used to help develop public engagement opportunities and a September industry workshop.
To watch the archived video of Tuesday's asteroid initiative industry and partner day, visit: http://youtube.com/nasatelevision
For more information about NASA's asteroid initiative, including presentations from Tuesday's event and a link to the new RFI, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/asteroidinitiative
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/iCHM1qvbJ90/130618172054.htm
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Justin Rose, of England, poses with the trophy after winning the U.S. Open golf tournament at Merion Golf Club, Sunday, June 16, 2013, in Ardmore, Pa. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
Justin Rose, of England, poses with the trophy after winning the U.S. Open golf tournament at Merion Golf Club, Sunday, June 16, 2013, in Ardmore, Pa. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
President Barack Obama gestures during a speech at the Belfast Waterfront Hall on Monday June 17, 2013, in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Obama is attending the G-8 summit in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland where leaders are expected to discuss the ongoing conflict in Syria, and free-trade issues. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Miss Connecticut Erin Brady is crowned the winner of the Miss USA 2013 pageant by Nana Meriwether, Sunday, June 16, 2013, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Jeff Bottari)
Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:
1. SYRIA, ECONOMY HEADLINE G-8 SUMMIT
Obama and Russian Prime Minister Vladmir Putin will meet to discuss their differences on Syria's civil war, while thousands of police are securing the summit from protests.
2. REPORT SAYS BRITISH SPIES HACKED DIPLOMATS AT G-20
The Guardian newspaper cited documents provided by NSA leaker Edward Snowden in a report that diplomats' emails and phones were bugged.
3. TURKISH UNIONS PROMISE STRIKE AFTER PROTESTERS PUSHED BACK
The one-day walkout today comes after riot police used tear gas and roadblocks to evict demonstrators from Taksim Square.
4. WHO WILL CLOSE GUANTANAMO
Obama was to name high-powered Washington lawyer Clifford Sloan today to handle the shutdown of the military-run prison.
5. FINDING ORGANS WITHOUT DONORS
The AP's Malcolm Ritter reports scientists are working toward building hearts, lungs livers and kidneys to grow custom-made implants in labs.
6. CHINA AND NORTH KOREA TO OPEN DIALOGUE
The agreement was announced after Pyongyang's surprise offer of new talks with the U.S.
7. RAIN HELPS PUT OUT COLORADO FIRES
Firefighters still said they would not have the state's most destructive fire contained until Thursday as some evacuees returned home.
8. ACCOUNTANT TAKES PAGEANT CROWN
Miss Connecticut Erin Brady, 25, strutted in a white sparkly gown and answered a question about a court ruling on DNA tests before becoming Miss USA.
9. ROSE'S BIG US OPEN MOMENT COMES AT LEFTY'S EXPENSE
A steady hand gives Englishman Justin Rose his first major championship. A wild ride gives Phil Mickelson another second place finish.
10. SPURS ONE GAME FROM NBA CHAMPIONSHIP
San Antonio beat Miami 114-104 to take a 3-2 lead in the series and push the defending champion Heat to the brink.
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? The United States and Cuba will resume talks this week on restarting direct mail service despite a deadlock between Washington and Havana over detainees that has largely stalled most rapprochement efforts, a U.S. official said Monday.
U.S. and Cuban diplomats and postal representatives will meet in Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday for technical talks aimed at ending a 50-year suspension in direct mail between the United States and the communist island. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the matter publicly before Congress is notified. Lawmakers were to be notified of the meetings starting Monday morning, the official said.
The resumption in talks does not signify any change in the Obama administration's Cuba policy, the official said, stressing that the discussions are taking place in the context of the Cuba Democracy Act of 1992 and are consistent with the U.S. interest "in promoting the free flow of information to, from and within Cuba."
Cuba and the United States have had no direct mail service since 1963, though letters do go back and forth via third countries.
In and of themselves, the discussions are not particularly significant, but the fact the two Cold War enemies are talking at all is. And, in the past, both governments have used the bilateral meetings as a pretext to discuss wider issues. In 2009, a senior State Department official in Havana for mail talks ended up staying six extra days and even spoke secretly with Cuba's deputy foreign minister ? then the highest-level meeting between the two sides in decades.
The mail talks and separate negotiations on immigration have been on hold since then over demands by Washington that Cuba release jailed American subcontractor Alan Gross.
Gross was arrested in December 2009 while on a USAID-funded democracy building program and is serving a 15-year sentence after being caught bringing communications equipment onto the island illegally.
Washington has continued to insist that no major progress in improving ties is possible while Gross is in jail. Cuba, for its part, is asking Washington to release four Cuban intelligence agents serving long jail terms in the United States. A fifth completed his sentence earlier this year and was allowed to return to Cuba after he renounced his American citizenship.
In recent months, Cuban and U.S. officials have spoken of a better working relationship, with diplomats on both sides routinely granted approval to travel outside each other's capital. But whether the behind-the-scenes thaw will result in any improvement in the countries' formal relationship is anybody's guess.
___
Haven reported from Havana.
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The billion-euro Herschel space telescope has been switched off.
Controllers on Monday emptied the satellite's fuel tanks and commanded the observatory to sever all communications.
The "passivated" spacecraft is now in a slow drift around the Sun, about 2.14 million km from Earth.
With its 3.5m mirror and three state-of-the-art instruments, Herschel was the most powerful observatory of its kind ever put in space.
In its four years of operations, it gathered pictures and other data at far-infrared wavelengths that have transformed our understanding of star formation and galaxy evolution.
The final command to turn off the communications transponder was sent from the European Space Operations Centre (Esoc) in Darmstadt, Germany, at 12:25 GMT.
The great distance to Herschel meant it took six seconds for the radio message to reach the observatory and a further six seconds for ground stations on Earth to confirm the loss of signal.
"It really was a beautiful spacecraft," said Micha Schmidt, the European Space Agency's (Esa) Herschel spacecraft operations manager.
"It never gave us too much trouble. And that allowed us to streamline things; to learn a lot about pointing the spacecraft, for example. This meant we could maximise the science," he told BBC News.
Empty tanksDecommissioning became necessary when Herschel used up the last of its superfluid helium coolant.
This had maintained the efficient working of the instruments and their detectors, which needed to be kept just fractions of a degree above absolute zero.
When the helium ran dry, Herschel was effectively blind to the objects it wanted to see on the sky.
End-of-life actions involved moving the satellite from its observation station, a gravitational "sweetspot" about 1.5 million km on the "nightside" of the Earth known as the second Lagrangian point (L2).
This will keep the 7m-long spacecraft well clear of other astronomy missions that want to use L2's very stable temperature and light conditions.
Controllers also emptied Herschel's hydrazine propellant tanks to reduce the risk of future explosion.
This involved commanding the satellite to fire its thrusters to exhaustion.
As Herschel drifts, probably in a slow tumble, it will continue to charge its batteries and provide power to the onboard computer.
"In normal circumstances, there is an automatic recovery function whereby Herschel would try to switch on the transponder, but we have overridden this," said Mr Schmidt.
"It will never contact Earth again. We could re-command it. This mode is hardwired and we can't overcome this. But we have no intention of doing that."
Next upAlthough the spacecraft operation phase may be over, the huge amount of data acquired by Herschel means that the science phase is only now getting into its stride.
Astronomers will continue to scrutinise Herschel's pictures and make discoveries long into the future.
Many of its observations will also be followed up by other telescopes that are able to see some of the same wavelengths of lights. Among them is the giant new Alma radio network in Chile.
"Herschel has been so impressive and its scientific discoveries will continue for a decade at least, if not longer. When you have a cryogenic telescope like this, you almost have to rush because you know it will operate only for a finite time - you have to get all your observations done as fast as you can. But then you go through the data and we will be doing that for a very long time to come," said Prof Alvaro Gimenez, Esa's science director.
"Herschel has taught us so much about stars and planets in our own galaxy. It has shown us how many stars form along great filaments [of gas and dust]. That's something we simply didn't know before," he told BBC News here at the Paris Air Show.
Herschel was launched in 2009 with the Planck Surveyor, which was also stationed at L2.
This telescope, which has been studying the "oldest light" in the Universe, is expected to end its mission around October and will be passivated in the same way as its sibling.
Esa's next mission to the Lagrangian point will be Gaia. Scheduled to launch in September, this space telescope will make the most precise map yet of the stars in our Milky Way Galaxy.
Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22914076#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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