When Samsung launched the original Galaxy Note last year, it was the most powerful phone on the market but it was also criticised for being either too big to be a phone or too small to be a tablet, and its ‘S Pen’ stylus wasn’t as easy to use as the standard pen or pencil that it was touted as a replacement for.
It went on, nonetheless, to sell more than 10million units. My own initially negative feelings were soon banished after I spent more time with it and saw others excited about its possibilities. The screen was good, it was fast for web browsing, gaming and watching movies or TV. The Note became a useful travelling companion because it fits easily on even the smallest train or plane table, but is more than big enough for what most people need.
Now, however, the new Note II has been launched. Its screen is extraordinary – the new HD Super Amoled 5.5” display is more compelling than ever, its 1.6MHz quad-core processor is faster than ever, the battery lasts longer and the S Pen has been updated to provide huge improvements over its predecessor. Although it’s just 0.7” larger than the Galaxy S3 mobile phone, the device feels very different. It's totally unlike anything else on the market.
So while the Note II is merely an iterative improvement over its predecessor it feels far more fully formed. This is a device that now recognises my handwriting fast enough to be usable, and allows me to annotate pictures or web pages with the ease that the original Note lacked. While a return to the stylus felt like a retrograde step, now Samsung have added ‘Air View’ a feature that allows you to see previews of, say, emails or calendar appointments if you hover the S Pen over an item, or pop out a video and keep it on screen while you’re doing something else. It makes a real difference and largely works very well. While I struggled to make the S Pen gestures work consistently – often the device interpreted the line that’s supposed to introduce a space as a hyphen – even these too are broadly helpful.
Samsung, too, have made the S Pen more fully integrated – simply pull it out and up pops a new, blank note, for instance. All of these factors combine to make the Note look lovely, and feel even better to use. The Note deserves to sell many more than its popular processor, in part down to Samsung's own decent software.
If there are faults, they feel like very subjective quibbles – it is still too big for most people to want to use it as a phone, but that’s unlikely to surprise prospective purchasers. It’s not a total replacement for pen and paper but it’s good enough for using on the go if you need to, and the new feature that lets you add a note on the ‘back’ of a digital photograph is genius.
It’s also really too big to be used one handed, even in ‘One handed mode’ where the keyboard sits to one side. But how often do you have to use a device such as this one handed? The camera isn’t perfect, but the searing power of the device more than makes up for that with its high speed web browsing. I couldn’t find an app that made it remotely struggle, and it has a battery life that is plenty for most transatlantic flights.
On 4G, it will offer an overall experience as yet unprecedented in the UK. With the added bonus of Android Jelly Bean and Google Now, it’s hard to find any reason not to recommend the Galaxy Note. At around £30 per month, or roughly £500 unlocked, it’s not bad value either – for that money you're getting an extraordinary phone and a stunning tablet.
Specifications: Screen size: 5.5" CPU: 1.6GHz, quad core, ARM Cortex A9 Screen resolution: 720 x 1280 Height: 151.1mm Width: 80.5mm Depth: 9.4 mm Weight: 180g Memory slot: MicroSD up to 32GB Camera: 8mp Front facing camera: 1.9mp Video camera: 1080p Camera flash: 1 x LED Bluetooth v4.0; FM Radio; WiFi; GPS; 4G
The Academy Award-nominated star of The Green Mile was 54.
Oscar-nominated actor Michael Clarke Duncan, whose imposing presence and deep voice lent heft to such films as The Green Mile, Sin City, and Daredevil, died Monday in Los Angeles from heart attack complications. He was 54.
Born in Chicago, Duncan worked as a bouncer and a as bodyguard for various celebrities before getting his first major role in 1998 in Armageddon. Duncan befriended Armageddon star Bruce Willis, who helped Duncan to land his most famous role; playing hulking death row inmate John Coffey in The Green Mile, Duncan earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Duncan subsequently solidified his status as a top character actor with such films as The Whole Nine Yards, Daredevil, Sin City, and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. He also put his rich, deep voice to good use in such animated fare as Brother Bear and Kung Fu Panda.
Duncan had suffered from health issues after a heart attack in July. He is survived by his fiancé, Omarosa Manigault.
Duncan "suffered a myocardial infarction on July 13 and never fully recovered," a written statement from Joy Fehily said.
Clarke died at a Los Angeles hospital where he had been since having the heart attack more than seven weeks ago.
According to TMZ, it was Duncan's girlfriend Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth, a reality star and former contestant on "The Apprentice," who had acted quickly and provided lifesaving efforts when he had the heart attack.: Duncan reflects on his large body
Most recently he was on the TV series, "The Finder," on the Fox network.
His co-star Mercedes Masohn tweeted: "Today is a sad day. Michael Clark Duncan passed away this morning. Known for his moving performance in The Green Mile. RIP MCD. You'll b missed."
Read other tributes to the late actor
According to Entertainment Weekly, the TV series was canceled in May.
A towering and hulking figure, the 6-foot-5-inch Duncan also was known for his deep voice.
A Chicago native, Duncan went to college at Alcorn State University in Mississippi with plans to major in communications, but he dropped out and moved home.
In his 20s, he worked digging ditches for Peoples Gas during the day and as a bouncer at night. He told CNN in 1999 that his coworkers at the gas company called him "Hollywood" because he'd often talk about becoming a movie star.
"I'd be digging a ditch and they'd say, 'Hey, man, Bruce Willis wants to talk to you about a movie.' And they'd just crack up laughing," he said while doing press for 'The Green Mile.'
"Those coworkers had no way of knowing how that joke would turn on them."
In 1990, he decided to measure up his nickname and he moved to Los Angeles. He worked as a bodyguard then got a part in a commercial as a drill sergeant.
More roles followed -- often ones that depended more on his 315-pound frame than his acting ability. He was a guard in "Back in Business," a bouncer in "A Night at the Roxbury," a bouncer for 2 Live Crew in "The Players Club," and a bouncer at a bar in the Warren Beatty film "Bulworth."
In 1998, he landed his first significant movie part, playing Bear in the film "Armageddon," where a crew of drillers from an oil rig save the Earth from an asteroid.
"Armageddon" was the beginning of his friendship with Bruce Willis. They appeared in four films together. And it was Willis who called 'The Green Mile' director Frank Darabont to put in a good word for Duncan.
In the Oscar-nominated film, Duncan played John Coffey, the huge black man wrongly convicted in a Louisiana town for the rapes and murders of two white girls. Coffey has supernatural powers, though; his hands can heal, even bring back the dead.
A microcosm of faith, Coffey is a messenger of hope and lost hope who develops a relationship with Tom Hanks' character, a guard named Paul Edgecomb.
Film critic Roger Ebert wrote that Duncan's performance "is both acting and being." Ebert tweeted Monday that Duncan was "A striking screen presence."
Duncan was nominated for an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor, which was won that year by Michael Caine for "The Cider House Rules."
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who starred with Duncan in the movie "The Scorpion King" said on Twitter: "When something happens, we always say it happens for a reason ... Michael Clarke Duncan 12/10/57 - 9/3/12 I'll miss you my brother."
According to the Internet Movie Database, Duncan had two completed projects that have yet to be released on a nationwide basis. He is slated to appear in "The Challenger," a boxing movie written and directed by Kent Moran. He will also appear in the Robert Townsend film, "In the Hive," about an alternative school for boys who have been kicked out of other schools.
One of his co-stars in that film was Vivica A. Fox.
"My heart is shocked and saddened!! RIP Micheal Clark Duncan. U were the most gentle giant and the most gracious of a man! U wont b 4gotten! " she tweeted.
The iPhone 5 release date will be announced on September 12
So we'll surely see a total revision of the iPhone during 2012. We've gathered together all the latest rumours on the new iPhone 5 to give us a reasonable picture of what Apple's latest handset might be like.
You'll find all the rumours below, but why not check out our new iPhone 5 rumours video first?
IPHONE 5 RELEASE DATE UPDATE
Apple has finally gotten round to sending journalists an invite to the launch of its new handset, with the iPhone 5 release date officially pegged for September 12. The shadow on the invite shows a 5, which almost definitely means Apple is to call its latest handset the iPhone 5 - so, no more 'new' then.
iPhone 5 news
ORIGINAL RUMOURS
Given the pattern of Apple's iPhone launches, we're expecting the new iPhone 5 release date to be mid to late 2012.
At Apple's WWDC 2012 event in early June we learnt a lot more about iOS 6, but there was no hardware (well, apart from new Macs). Check out the launch news as well as iOS 6: everything you need to know.
While early reports pegged the new iPhone release date for October, landing closely to last year's schedule, it seems we'll be seeing the phone in September this year as Apple looks to take on Samsung's new phone sooner rather than later, with multiple sources claiming we'll see Apple take to the stage on September 12, although claims we'll see it launch alongside the iPad Mini seem a bit outlandish.
Don't take our word for it though: our crack TR news team has a special iPhone 5 bulletin to give an 'alternative' view on what should be coming:
Adding more fuel to the September iPhone 5 release date fire is the rumour which says pre-orders for the new iPhone will start on the same date - something we've seen Apple do with other products - with stock expected to ship on September 21.
According to analyst Shaw Wu, the Cupertino firm has reduced the number of iPhone orders by 20%-25% for this quarter, ahead of the release.
It seems that Foxconn will again be manufacturing the handset. It'll put the Samsung Galaxy S3 "to shame" according to the CEO of Foxconn, Terry Gou - though he didn't say how.
According to reports, networks in both the UK and US are clearing stock and schedules ahead of the iPhone 5 release date falling in September - with German carrier Mobilcom Debitel advertising for the new iPhone in September, although this may be just guesswork.
This rumour has been further exacerbated by news that both AT&T and Verizon have reportedly told staff to forget taking holiday around the 21 Sept, which is often the biggest sign of an impending iPhone launch.
iPhone 5 name
We reckon iPhone 5 is still the possible name of the new iPhone, but it could follow the new iPad and end up being called, simply, the new iPhone. We really hope not. One thing is for sure, Apple has already filed a complaint over the ownership of the iPhone5.com URL.
Apple is apparently testing two versions of the next iPhone, which are known as "iPhone5,1" and "iPhone5,2" - so could handset number six for Apple actually be called number five?
iPhone 5 form factor
Unlike the iPhone 4S, the new iPhone will be a completely new design from what has gone before, so that means an entirely new casing as we saw with the iPhone 3G and, later, the iPhone 4.
Best alternatives to the default iPhone apps
Interestingly, someone who claimed to have seen a larger iPhone 5 prototype said in 2011 that Steve Jobs canned the new size and opted for the iPhone 4S. According to Business Insider, it was feared that a new size would create a two-tier iPhone ecosystem.
Beatweek also claimed in November 2011 that the 5-inch was scrapped "because Apple wouldn't be able to do it properly" this year. However, the Daily Mail (make of that what you will) then suggested that a four-inch version was likely and that Sony has already shipped top secret demo screens to Apple.
A new iPhone 5 backplate leaked in early May - they were acquired by 9to5 Mac, but look like the combination of a lot of the other rumours we've heard about the shape and size of the new handset. These feature bigger speaker grills as well as a four inch screen and a two-tone back with brushed aluminum .
The two-tone back was also spotted in a video from eTrade Supply, which again showed the relocation of the headphone jack as well as a smaller connector and redesigned speaker grills.
A detailed video render of all the iPhone 5 rumoured/leaked images was also uploaded to YouTube in early June.
Another video claims to show off the front panel of the new iPhone, and confirms a similar width to the iPhone 4S but will be taller and thinner. The SIM trays will also be smaller than the previous microSIM options, with the new nanoSIM style the default now for even tinier component - which is backed up by news of mobile operators stockpiling nanoSIMs.
The new iPhone may touch down at a svelte 7.6mm in thickness, making it one of the slimmest smartphones on the market, and 1.7mm thinner than the iPhone 4S.
We've also seen a Chinese site claim to have a fully assembled iPhone 5 chassis - bringing together all the design aspects mentioned in previous leaks, including a smaller dock, relocated headphone jack, centralised front facing camera and two-tone back.
Credit: iLab Factory
We've also seen another 'complete' iPhone 5 from another site, posted side-by-side with the iPhone 4... but let's be honest, these mock-ups are appearing all over the place now.
iPhone 5 connections
If you're a fan of your current iPhone dock, then look away now: rumours surrounding that famous Apple 30-pin connector on the base of the iPhone have flared up again, with Reuters reporting that the dock connector is getting smaller to make room for a 3.5mm headphone jack on the base of the new iPhone 5.
Some rumours are even claiming Apple will opt for a smaller 8-pin option over the current 30-pin port or rumoured 19-pin version - or a slight change to a 9-pin offering that will appear on the base of the device.
The latter seems to have been confirmed by a USB cable set for the new range of Apple products - although it looks a bit dull compared to the iconic 30-pin connector of yore.
Well, it had to happen sometime didn't it?
iPhone 5 specs
Based on the roadmap of mobile chip design specialist ARM (of which Apple is a licensee), we'll see a quad-core processor debut in the new iPhone 5 - probably called the Apple A6. We've seen other quad core handsets debut in 2012, so it's not too much of a stretch to say that the new iPhone 5 will be the same.
We had expected some kind of help in terms of predicting the iPhone 5 CPU from the launch of the new iPad, but the announcement of a slightly tweaked A5X processor really didn't help things there.
According to a tip to 9to5Mac, the CPU will be the S5L8950X. Again this could be a derivative of the A5, but as 9to5Mac points out, Apple is probably working on a low-power 32nm version of the processor. As we could well have guessed, that processor will be manufactured by Samsung but designed by Apple itself.
New photos have shown what some believe to be the new internal chipset, which features an A6 power unit, which may up the level to quad-core power - or could be more to allow things like NFC on board too.
Alternative other pics have hinted that we're just going to see a dual-core power unit, which would fit with previous Apple strategy of not always going for specs...many believe dual core chips are still powerful enough, and Apple could definitely follow suit.
The same report suggests 1GB of RAM, which seems right to us.
Images of a range of internal gubbins, all claiming to be parts of the iPhone 5, have made their way onto the internet - possibly revealing more about Apple's sixth generation handset.
These are interesting for a number of reasons: the battery size update is only 10mAh, which hints at not much increase in processor power, nor screen size. However, it's perfectly plausible Apple has managed to make a more efficient version of its chipset ahead of a flagship phone launch.
The antennas inside the motherboard are updated too, so once again signal performance should be enhanced... and really does make it seem likely that we'll see some sort of 4G support.
Sensors, buttons and covers leaked
New, smaller 8-pin dock connector spied, reveals double-sided port
iPhone 5 battery leak shows minor increment which suggests dual-core processor
New iPhone motherboard gets leaked, showing antenna changes
iPhone 5 will have 4G/LTE support
After the new iPad's launch brought 4G (of sorts) to an Apple device, it's widely expected that 4G will come to iPhone 5. And with many 4G handsets already announced in the US, it can't be long before the iPhone supports 4G technologies - even if there isn't a UK spectrum auction until late this year or maybe early next.
Because of the 4G fuss over the new iPad in the UK, we'd expect this to be played down in any UK handset - or the UK might get a different version to the US entirely, although this is unlikely, since Apple would rather keep the production costs down through manufacturing only one model.
4G mobile broadband and LTE explained
Steve Jobs' iPhone 5 legacy
Many sites have reported that Steve Jobs was working hard on the iPhone 5 project, which will apparently be a "radical redesign". We shall see... but the fact the iPhone 4S was so similar to the iPhone 4 suggests that he was working on something pretty special before his death.
Check out this handy iPhone 5 video detailing the latest rumours on release date, spec and more for a quick fix of next-gen Apple fun:
The Wall Street Journal has previously reported that: "One person familiar said the fifth-generation iPhone would be a different form factor than those that are currently available… it was unclear how soon that version would be available to Verizon or other carriers."
According to Bloomberg, sources familiar with Apple's plans said Jobs "had worked closely on the redesigned phone before his death".
iPhone 5 screen size
Various sources claim the iPhone 5 will feature a larger, 4-inch screen. Digitimes quotes the source as saying that Apple is expanding the screen size "to support the tablet PC market as the vendor only has a 9.7-inch iPad in the market."
On 23 May 2011, we reported on rumours that the iPhone 5 could feature a curved glass screen. These rumours also came from Digitimes, which said that Apple has purchased between 200 and 300 special glass cutting machines because they're too costly for the manufacturers to invest in.
In March 2012, new reports suggested that the new iPhone 5 would come sporting a larger 4.6-inch retina display, while April rumours even suggested the next iPhone will use new touch technology.
During May, The Wall Street Journal cited sources as saying the device will definitely sport a 4-inch display - which seems to be the broader consensus as well - other prototypes are similar in size.
However, Apple CEO Tim Cook seemed to dampen the 'larger screen' speculation at the recent D:10 conference, saying the company has "one phone with one screen size, one resolution".
Those of you who are keen Apple watchers will, however, know that he is wrong - the currently-available 3GS does not have the same resolution as the iPhone 4 and 4S.
Whatever, it seems Sony is involved with the display and it has been making the screen since February, ramping up production from May. A larger screen will also be welcomed by developers, as Mobilebloom points out.
The consensus now is that the new iPhone 5 will sport a 4-inch screen, which is merely lengthened to enable older apps to run with black lines above and below. It will also use new in-cell technology to produce a thinner, lighter screen.
Sharp has confirmed it will start shipping displays for the next-gen iPhone in August - although it didn't reveal what size, the scoundrel, but does back up the September launch - and the company has since apparently run into supply problems (along with its fellow supplier LG) as the ramp up to the new iPhone continues.
We've seen what looks like the front panel of the new iPhone through an online video, suggesting a larger screen, 4.06-inches in size and with a 16:9 aspect ratio. The fact that the beta version of iOS 6 has a scalable option to increase the OS to fit a 640 x 1136 resolution has added more fuel to the larger screen fire.
Which retina is the best? We compare the high-res displays on Apple's new iPad, iPhone 4S and 2012 MacBook Pro up-close:
iPhone 5 digital wallet - NFC
There's been some speculation that Apple might include Near Field Communication (NFC) technology in the iPhone 5, turning it into a credit/debit card substitute.
With the tech being inside the Google Nexus S and Samsung Galaxy Nexus, as well as a host of other top smartphones, the time for NFC may finally be here.
The two tone back of the new iPhone 5 is perfect for the NFC antenna as well - plus the fact that Passbook in iOS 6 is very similar to the likes of Google Wallet and Microsoft's Windows Phone Wallet - which both use NFC.
On 24 June 2011 it was reported that the Google Wallet mobile payment platform could feature on the new iPhone. Eric Schmidt admitted that Google is looking to port the software to other manufacturers.
And on 31 January 2012 9to5Mac claimed to have spoken with a well-connected developer who disclosed information received from Apple iOS engineers saying they are "heavily into NFC".
The developer in question has not been named, but is working on a dedicated iOS app which includes NFC reading for mobile transactions. When questioned how confident he was on the information he had received his reply was "Enough to bet the app development on".
On April 30 2012 an Apple patent filing reinforced the idea NFC in iPhone 5 - and leaked code from something purporting to be the new iPhone also contains a lot of information on NFC in the new iPhone.
We've also seen a pic of the internals for the new iPhone (pinch of salt and all that) that shows a space perfectly formed for the contactless technology.
Apple would be a big name to add into the NFC ranks, and would help push the technology more firmly into users' pockets. The likes of Visa and Mastercard are working hard on making contactless payments a part of every day life, and while our conversations with these companies haven't yielded concrete information, they're very hopeful Apple will be coming on board soon.
iPhone 5 camera
Sony makes the camera for the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. Speaking at a live Wall Street Journal event, Sony's Sir Howard Stringer was talking about the company's camera image sensor facility in Sendai, a town that was recently ravaged by the recent Japanese earthquake and tsunami.
According to 9to5Mac, he said something along the lines of, "Our best sensor technology is built in one of the [tsunami] affected factories. Those go to Apple for their iPhones… or iPads. Isn't that something? They buy our best sensors from us."
Sources have also suggested the new iPhone could have an 8MP camera again. Indeed, Sony announced in January 2012 that it had developed new back-illuminated stacked CMOS image sensors which are smaller in size. It's also been reported that the new iPhone will have an HD front-facing camera as well.
An interesting titbit via MirrorlessRumors is that a removable iPhone back panel that would include the camera lens has been spotted in a patent document. It seems to show that the device would work either by swapping the panel, or rotating the panel to change lenses - but don't expect this to be used in the new iPhone, since Apple very much likes to keep things simple.
iPhone 5 price
If the iPhone 5 is an evolutionary step like the move from the iPhone 4 to the iPhone 4S then we'd expect the price to stay more or less the same, although in the UK higher VAT rates may well mean a higher price tag.
It's pretty much nailed on that the new iPhone will cost around £500 in the UK for a 16GB or 32GB model (depending on the capacity Apple whacks in there). Unless the iPhone 5 comes with some truly next generation technology, that pricing model should hold firm.
In the US, the iPhone 4S came in at $199 for the 16GB model, 32GB for $299 and 64GB for $399 on a two year deal - and the same will likely appear again, although there's a chance we'll see a 128GB capacity for an even higher price.
IPHONE 5 is renowned for its detailed phone reviews where we look at every aspect of a handset, and we'll be bringing you a full, in-depth iPhone 5 review when we get our hands on one.
So whether you're reading our new iPhone 5 review or the more standard iPhone 5 review, you'll know that you're getting a knowledgable and fair take on Apple's latest device. If it's worth upgrading to we'll let you know, and we'll be heavily comparing it to the best on the market... which just happen to be from Apple's courtroom adversaries, HTC and Samsung.
According to NBC News, Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, has died at age 82.
He died at 2:45 p.m. on Saturday, suffering complications following his recent cardiac bypass surgery.
On July 20, 1969, Armstrong and his partner Buzz Aldrin made history as the first people to ever walk on the moon. From the New York Times article applauding the achievement:
Two Americans, astronauts of Apollo 11, steered their fragile four-legged lunar module safely and smoothly to the historic landing yesterday at 4:17:40 P.M., Eastern daylight time. Neil A. Armstrong, the 38-year-old civilian commander, radioed to earth and the mission control room here: "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."
On Saturday, Armstrong's family confirmed his death, and released a statement:
“We are heartbroken to share the news that Neil Armstrong has passed away following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures. Neil was our loving husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend. Neil Armstrong was also a reluctant American hero who always believed he was just doing his job. He served his Nation proudly, as a navy fighter pilot, test pilot, and astronaut. He also found success back home in his native Ohio in business and academia, and became a community leader in Cincinnati. He remained an advocate of aviation and exploration throughout his life and never lost his boyhood wonder of these pursuits. As much as Neil cherished his privacy, he always appreciated the expressions of good will from people around the world and from all walks of life. While we mourn the loss of a very good man, we also celebrate his remarkable life and hope that it serves as an example to young people around the world to work hard to make their dreams come true, to be willing to explore and push the limits, and to selflessly serve a cause greater than themselves. For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request. Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink.”
NASA tweeted a reaction to the news, offering its condolences.
In a statement, President Obama called Armstrong "among the greatest of American heroes - not just of his time, but of all time."
Neil Armstrong was a quiet self-described nerdy engineer who became a global hero when as a steely-nerved pilot he made "one giant leap for mankind" with a small step on to the moon. The modest man who had people on Earth entranced and awed from almost a quarter million miles away has died. He was 82.
Armstrong died following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures, a statement Saturday from his family said. It didn't say where he died.
Armstrong commanded the Apollo 11 spacecraft that landed on the moon July 20, 1969, capping the most daring of the 20th century's scientific expeditions. His first words after setting foot on the surface are etched in history books and the memories of those who heard them in a live broadcast.
"That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind," Armstrong said.
In those first few moments on the moon, during the climax of heated space race with the then-Soviet Union, Armstrong stopped in what he called "a tender moment" and left a patch commemorate NASA astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts who had died in action.
"It was special and memorable but it was only instantaneous because there was work to do," Armstrong told an Australian television interviewer in 2012.
Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin spent nearly three hours walking on the lunar surface, collecting samples, conducting experiments and taking photographs.
"The sights were simply magnificent, beyond any visual experience that I had ever been exposed to," Armstrong once said.
The moonwalk marked America's victory in the Cold War space race that began Oct. 4, 1957, with the launch of the Soviet Union's Sputnik 1, a 184-pound satellite that sent shock waves around the world.
Although he had been a Navy fighter pilot, a test pilot for NASA's forerunner and an astronaut, Armstrong never allowed himself to be caught up in the celebrity and glamor of the space program.
"I am, and ever will be, a white socks, pocket protector, nerdy engineer," he said in February 2000 in one of his rare public appearances. "And I take a substantial amount of pride in the accomplishments of my profession."
A man who kept away from cameras, Armstrong went public in 2010 with his concerns about President Barack Obama's space policy that shifted attention away from a return to the moon and emphasized private companies developing spaceships. He testified before Congress and in an email to The Associated Press, Armstrong said he had "substantial reservations," and along with more than two dozen Apollo-era veterans, he signed a letter calling the plan a "misguided proposal that forces NASA out of human space operations for the foreseeable future."
Armstrong's modesty and self-effacing manner never faded.
When he appeared in Dayton in 2003 to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of powered flight, he bounded onto a stage before 10,000 people packed into a baseball stadium. But he spoke for only a few seconds, did not mention the moon, and quickly ducked out of the spotlight.
He later joined former astronaut and Sen. John Glenn to lay wreaths on the graves of Wilbur and Orville Wright. Glenn introduced Armstrong and noted it was 34 years to the day that Armstrong had walked on the moon.
"Thank you, John. Thirty-four years?" Armstrong quipped, as if he hadn't given it a thought.
At another joint appearance, the two embraced and Glenn commented: "To this day, he's the one person on Earth, I'm truly, truly envious of."
Armstrong's moonwalk capped a series of accomplishments that included piloting the X-15 rocket plane and making the first space docking during the Gemini 8 mission, which included a successful emergency splashdown.
In the years afterward, Armstrong retreated to the quiet of the classroom and his southwest Ohio farm. Aldrin said in his book "Men from Earth" that Armstrong was one of the quietest, most private men he had ever met.
In the Australian interview, Armstrong acknowledged that "now and then I miss the excitement about being in the cockpit of an airplane and doing new things."
At the time of the flight's 40th anniversary, Armstrong again was low-key, telling a gathering that the space race was "the ultimate peaceful competition: USA versus U.S.S.R. It did allow both sides to take the high road with the objectives of science and learning and exploration."
Glenn, who went through jungle training in Panama with Armstrong as part of the astronaut program, described him as "exceptionally brilliant" with technical matters but "rather retiring, doesn't like to be thrust into the limelight much."
Derek Elliott, curator of the Smithsonian Institution's U.S. Air and Space Museum from 1982 to 1992, said the moonwalk probably marked the high point of space exploration.
The manned lunar landing was a boon to the prestige of the United States, which had been locked in a space race with the former Soviet Union, and re-established U.S. pre-eminence in science and technology, Elliott said.
Neil Armstrong Host NASA 50th Anniversary Documentary
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"The fact that we were able to see it and be a part of it means that we are in our own way witnesses to history," he said.
The 1969 landing met an audacious deadline that President Kennedy had set in May 1961, shortly after Alan Shepard became the first American in space with a 15-minute suborbital flight. (Soviet cosmonaut Yuri A. Gagarin had orbited the Earth and beaten the U.S. into space the previous month.)
"I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth," Kennedy had said. "No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important to the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish."
The end-of-decade goal was met with more than five months to spare. "Houston: Tranquility Base here," Armstrong radioed after the spacecraft settled onto the moon. "The Eagle has landed."
"Roger, Tranquility," the Houston staffer radioed back. "We copy you on the ground. You've got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot."
The third astronaut on the mission, Michael Collins, circled the moon in the mother ship Columbia 60 miles overhead while Armstrong and Aldrin went to the moon's surface.
In all, 12 American astronauts walked on the moon between 1969 and the last moon mission in 1972.
For Americans, reaching the moon provided uplift and respite from the Vietnam War, from strife in the Middle East, from the startling news just a few days earlier that a young woman had drowned in a car driven off a wooden bridge on Chappaquiddick Island by Sen. Edward Kennedy. The landing occurred as organizers were gearing up for Woodstock, the legendary three-day rock festival on a farm in the Catskills of New York.
Armstrong was born Aug. 5, 1930, on a farm near Wapakoneta in western Ohio. He took his first airplane ride at age 6 and developed a fascination with aviation that prompted him to build model airplanes and conduct experiments in a homemade wind tunnel.
As a boy, he worked at a pharmacy and took flying lessons. He was licensed to fly at 16, before he got his driver's license.
Armstrong enrolled in Purdue University to study aeronautical engineering but was called to duty with the U.S. Navy in 1949 and flew 78 combat missions in Korea.
After the war, Armstrong finished his degree from Purdue and later earned a master's degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California. He became a test pilot with what evolved into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, flying more than 200 kinds of aircraft from gliders to jets.
Armstrong was accepted into NASA's second astronaut class in 1962 - the first, including Glenn, was chosen in 1959 - and commanded the Gemini 8 mission in 1966. After the first space docking, he brought the capsule back in an emergency landing in the Pacific Ocean when a wildly firing thruster kicked it out of orbit.
Armstrong was backup commander for the historic Apollo 8 mission at Christmastime in 1968. In that flight, Commander Frank Borman, and Jim Lovell and Bill Anders circled the moon 10 times, and paving the way for the lunar landing seven months later.
Aldrin said he and Armstrong were not prone to free exchanges of sentiment.
"But there was that moment on the moon, a brief moment, in which we sort of looked at each other and slapped each other on the shoulder ... and said, `We made it. Good show,' or something like that," Aldrin said.
An estimated 600 million people - a fifth of the world's population - watched and listened to the landing, the largest audience for any single event in history.
Parents huddled with their children in front of the family television, mesmerized by what they were witnessing. Farmers abandoned their nightly milking duties, and motorists pulled off the highway and checked into motels just to see the moonwalk.
Television-less campers in California ran to their cars to catch the word on the radio. Boy Scouts at a camp in Michigan watched on a generator-powered television supplied by a parent.
Afterward, people walked out of their homes and gazed at the moon, in awe of what they had just seen. Others peeked through telescopes in hopes of spotting the astronauts.
In Wapakoneta, media and souvenir frenzy was swirling around the home of Armstrong's parents.
"You couldn't see the house for the news media," recalled John Zwez, former manager of the Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum. "People were pulling grass out of their front yard."
Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins were given ticker tape parades in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles and later made a 22-nation world tour. A homecoming in Wapakoneta drew 50,000 people to the city of 9,000.
In 1970, Armstrong was appointed deputy associate administrator for aeronautics at NASA but left the following year to teach aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati.
He remained there until 1979 and during that time bought a 310-acre farm near Lebanon, where he raised cattle and corn. He stayed out of public view, accepting few requests for interviews or speeches.
"He didn't give interviews, but he wasn't a strange person or hard to talk to," said Ron Huston, a colleague at the University of Cincinnati. "He just didn't like being a novelty."
Those who knew him said he enjoyed golfing with friends, was active in the local YMCA and frequently ate lunch at the same restaurant in Lebanon.
In February 2000, when he agreed to announce the top 20 engineering achievements of the 20th century as voted by the National Academy of Engineering, Armstrong said there was one disappointment relating to his moonwalk.
"Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."
"I can honestly say - and it's a big surprise to me - that I have never had a dream about being on the moon," he said.
In Spain,after two decades of dizzying growth,the party is over.
For most of the last decade, Spain kept its fiscal house in strict order, running small deficits or even surpluses. The country enjoyed a long boom after joining the euro zone, as low interest rates fueled a surge in construction. The boom, while it lasted, gave Spain the world’s highest rate of homeownership — with more than 8 of every 10 Spanish households owning the places they lived.
But it came to an end with the 2008 financial crisis, and the resulting recession sent Spain’s unemployment rate soaring. Spain has also seen its deficits swell and has been forced to pay high interest rates as investors worried about its solvency. Given the size of the Spanish economy and the weakness of its banks, Spain has become the biggest worry facing the European Union.
Since 2010, Spain has pushed through a series of austerity measures meant to rein in its deficit. Unhappiness over the economy brought down the center-left government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, and in November 2011, the conservative Popular Party, led by Mariano Rajoy, won a parliamentary majority in new elections.
Mr. Rajoy had the benefit of a freshly elected, single-party majority behind him, which his counterparts in Greece and Italy have lacked. But the country slid into its second recession, sending deficits and unemployment ever higher, forcing Mr. Rajoy to admit that his government would miss its deficit reduction targets.
In April 2012, Spain’s unemployment rate reached 24.4 percent, the highest in Europe and an especially stark figure given that the government had not yet begun to lay off public sector servants in any significant number.
In May, Bankia, the nation’s largest real estate lender, requested an additional 19 billion euros in rescue funds from the country, far beyond initial government estimates. In June, Mr. Rajoy performed an about face, and Spain agreed to accept a bailout of up to $125 billion for its troubled banks. Fiscal woes in its largely autonomous regions have also added to the debt burden and uncertainty facing the central government, leading the markets to keep interest rates at punishing levels.
But investments and savings continued to leave Spain at a rapid rate. According to a research note from Nomura in August, capital departing the country equaled a startling 50 percent of gross domestic product over the previous three months — driven largely by foreigners unloading stocks and bonds as well as Spaniards transferring their savings to foreign banks.
Background: Promise and Plunge
In May 2012, Jonathan Blitzer, a journalist and translator, wrote an essay for the International Herald Tribune headlined “Spain’s Yearnings Are Now Its Agony’' that traced the roots of the crisis. Here is an excerpt:
Spain is stuck in a fateful holding pattern. According to a European Commission forecast, Spain will be the only country among the currency union’s cast of 17 to remain in recession in 2013. The government’s plans to recapitalize Bankia, Spain’s fourth-largest bank, have reinforced concerns about a generalized banking crisis and costly bailouts. Spaniards, meanwhile, will have to endure the effects of $34 billion worth of cuts slated for the rest of the year.
All of this adds up to the inevitability of future hurt, and it is embittering Spaniards’ taste for the democracy they craved just a generation ago.
Spain’s fall from heady promise to Celtic gloom tells a story of democratic expectation gone sour. This tale is a profound blow to the European Union itself — a symbol of the continent’s shifting political prospects. Spain was not only one of the chief protagonists of 20th-century Europe, it also tilled the bloody soil from which the union later sprang. The Spanish Civil War was the staging ground for the defining existential drama of the century: a gory crucible of democracy, fascism and communism in conflict. Its fate entwined with Germany’s, Spain was at the center of Europe.
Spain sat out World War II, but afterward, its Axis-addled associations and blustering dictator sidelined it while Marshall Plan aid and democratic reconciliation transformed the continent. Eventually it emerged into that new Europe — only to find itself, at the cusp of a new century, again bound to Germany, now by bankers rather than bombers. And again, this seemed a boon at first.
When Spain joined the European Community in 1986, after nearly four decades of dictatorship, euphoria reigned. Finally, the country was gaining its rightful place intellectually, culturally and economically in the social democratic mainstream of Western Europe. “For Spaniards, Europe was the solution,” said Álvaro Soto Carmona, a history professor at Universidad Autónoma in Madrid. “We were no longer different,” he said; membership “opened the door to hope.”
Propping open that door was money: structural funds from the union to finance much-needed infrastructure projects. At the heart of the financial power was a rejuvenated and economically vibrant Germany. The future looked secure; as had been the case in Germany, Spain’s renewed surety was wrapped up in its sense of belonging to a free and optimistic Europe.
Then came plans for the adoption of the euro in the late 1990s, and again the prospect of an ascendant Europe offered a gilded opportunity for Spain. Borders were disappearing. The euro helped inflate a booming real estate bubble, as capital migrated south from northern Europe. Banks lent liberally, and the construction industry surged. As private debt mounted, homeownership soared.
Unlike some of their European counterparts, Spanish banks were relatively well protected against the initial collapse of the American financial sector in 2008. But the global recession that followed, coupled with the bursting of the real estate bubble at home, soon devastated Spain’s economy, which had longstanding vulnerabilities that were no secret but had been overlooked in the boom years. They included chronically high unemployment, for which economists blame unwieldy labor laws. Those have now come in for an overhaul. But even in better times, Spain also lagged behind the European average in spending on research and development. Now there is talk of a worsening brain drain.
The principal remaining force driving jobs and taxable revenue is tourism, as it was in the times of Francisco Franco. It is “uniquely dispiriting,” lamented the novelist Ernesto Pérez Zúñiga, that so little has changed. Spain’s economy once was consigned to depression by Franco’s autarchic policies; now it is subjugated by the tyranny of the markets.
These days, a raft of illicit practices, crafted from old excesses, have become a rickety means of sliding by. In the years when construction and real-estate markets boomed, transactions conducted underground exceeded 20 percent of gross domestic product. Spain acquired the dubious distinction of having the highest concentration — nearly one-fifth — of all the 500-euro bills on the continent. Called “Bin Ladens” — everyone knows they exist but no one has ever seen them — they are vestiges of corruption, bribery and money laundering in the fat years.
While that bustle has cooled, many desperate Spaniards still work under the table — in some cases supplementing unemployment relief with money from ad hoc jobs. This helps explain why Spain’s deep despair has not exploded in quite the rage felt on the streets of Athens.
The Problem of Regional Debt
In January 2012, in an attempt to solve the problem of regional debt, Spain’s central government moved to shore up the finances of its 17 regional governments — some of which were having trouble paying their bills — while taking steps to tighten control over their spending.
Budget Minister Cristóbal Montoro said that the government would create a credit line and advance about $10 billion to the regions, money they were not scheduled to get until later in the year.
The regions needed the cash to pay suppliers, many of them small businesses that had not been paid in months, even years. But at the same time, Mr. Montoro said that Madrid would also seek new legislation to set penalties for regions that failed to comply with strict budget targets.
In August 2012, the most economically important region of Spain, Catalonia, asked the national government for more than €5 billion in emergency financing. The request by Catalonia followed rescue pleas by the Valencia and Murcia regions. Both said in July that they would need help from the €18 billion, or $23 billion, fund set up by the Spanish government.
While Catalonia, the home of Barcelona, has traditionally been among Spain’s most prosperous and industrial regions — accounting for almost a fifth of the country’s economic output — it had accumulated debt of €42 billion, the highest among Spanish regions. In addition, Catalonia had suffered credit rating downgrades and had been shut out of the debt markets.
Spain’s system of autonomous regions was developed in the aftermath of the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. After years of repression, regions pressed successfully for as much freedom as possible.
They are generally in charge of administering schools, universities, health and social services, culture, development and, in some cases, policing. And the central government has had little ability to interfere.
But in recent years, the regions have been faced with some intractable problems. Education and health care have been particularly problematic, because those costs have been growing. At the same time, some main sources of financing — taxes on real estate sales and building permit fees — have dried up with the collapse of the housing boom.
The Jobless Increasingly Rely on Family
As the effects of years of recession pile up, more and more Spanish families — with unemployment checks running out and stuck with mortgages they cannot pay — are leaning hard on their elderly relatives. And there is little relief in sight — employment statistics released in late July 2012 showed that the jobless rate had risen to a record 25 %.
Pensions for the elderly are among the few benefits that have not been slashed, though they have been frozen since 2011. The Spanish are known for their strong family networks, and most grandparents are eager to help, unwilling to admit to outsiders what is going on, experts say. But those who work with older people say it has not been easy. Many struggle to feed three generations now, their homes overcrowded and the tensions of the situation sometimes turning their lives to misery.
In some cases, families are removing their relatives from nursing homes so they can collect their pensions. It is a trend that has advocates concerned about whether the younger generations are going too far, even if grandparents agree to the move or are too infirm to notice.
A 2012 survey by Simple Lógica, Gallup’s partner in Spain, found a sharp increase in the number of older people supporting family members. In a telephone survey conducted in February 2010, 15 percent of adults 65 and older said they supported at least one younger relative. In the survey conducted 2012, that number had risen to 40 percent. Data compiled by an association of private nursing homes, inforesidencias.com, found that in 2009, 76 % of its member homes said they had vacancies. In 2011,98 % of them did.
Such numbers, experts say, reflect growing desperation in Spain, which has the highest unemployment rate in the euro zone. According to recent government figures,about 1 in 10 households now has no working adults.
Some experts say they believe that retired people, sharing their pensions and dipping into their savings, have been the silent heroes of the economic crisis, and that without them Spain would be seeing far more social unrest.
Accepting a European Bailout for Ailing Banks
On June 9, 2012, responding to increasingly urgent calls from across Europe and the United States, Spain agreed to accept a bailout for its cash-starved banks as European finance ministers offered an aid package of up to $125 billion. The decision made Spain the fourth and largest European country to agree to accept emergency assistance as part of the continuing debt crisis.
The original plan was for the European bailout fund to provide the money to the Spanish government, which would then use it to prop up the banks. But Spain objected after markets responded by driving up the interest rates the government had to pay, in a reflection of the extra debt it was taking on.
At a summit at the end of the month, European leaders agreed that the bailout funds could recapitalize banks directly. As a condition, though, the leaders agreed that the euro zone’s permanent bailout fund, the 500 billion euro European Stability Mechanism, could act only after a banking supervisory body overseen by the European Central Bank had been set up.
In July, as the markets continued to pummel Spain, European finance ministers announced that the first, $37 billion installment of the bank rescue package would be disbursed by the end of the month, with the rest coming by the end of the year. They also agreed to ease Spain’s deficit targets, although new cuts were needed to meet even the adjusted goals.
In response, Mr. Rajoy released his fourth set of budget measures in seven months, a package intended to reduce the budget deficit by €65 billion, or $80 billion, over two and a half years. It included an increase in the sales tax, a measure his government had previously argued against amid concerns that it would deepen Spain’s recession by stifling consumer spending.
In late August, the Spanish government approved the creation of a so-called bad bank to absorb the most troubled real estate assets of the country’s financial institutions, helping to clear the way for Madrid to receive European rescue money for Spain’s banking industry.
The move is meant not only to let Spanish banks eventually begin to receive money from the €100 billion, or $126 billion, reserve that European finance ministers have approved, but also to restore market confidence in the country’s banking system.
The changes also give the government’s banking agency, known as the Frob, much greater powers to revamp rescued banks, as well as to limit the salaries of their top executives. Under the new rules, senior management as well as board directors of rescued banks will have their annual salaries capped at €500,000.
In the past two years, some of the directors of collapsed savings banks have walked away with multimillion-euro compensation packages, adding to the public’s resentment.
Spain has remained in investors’ line of fire over concerns about whether not only the banks, but the government itself, might soon need rescue money from Europe because of a deepening recession and the weakening finances of the country’s 17 semiautonomous regions.
Suspected Terrorists Arrested
The Spanish government said in early August 2012 that it had arrested three men suspected of having links to Al Qaeda and believed to have been planning attacks in Spain or elsewhere in Europe.
Two are citizens of the former Soviet Union and the third is a Turkish citizen, according to Spain’s interior ministry. The Turkish suspect was arrested in La Línea de la Concepción, a southern Spanish town facing Gibraltar, in a rented house where the police also found a sizable quantity of explosives. The other two men were arrested while traveling by bus near Valdepeñas, in central Spain, likely on their way to France.
The men had long been sought by intelligence services, according to the interior minister, Jorge Fernández Díaz. He said at a news conference that the men had undergone military-style training and described the quantity of explosives as sufficient “to destroy a whole bus.”
Spain had recently arrested several people believed to have links to Islamic terrorist organizations. In July, two Spanish citizens were arrested in Melilla, a Spanish enclave in North Africa, on suspicion of terrorism. In March, Spanish police arrested in Valencia a Saudi citizen described as “the librarian” of Al Qaeda, in charge of its propaganda and recruitment activities.
O treinador do Real Madrid, José Mourinho, telefonou a Cristiano Ronaldo na manhã seguinte às declarações do extremo português, que na noite de domingo disse estar triste com o clube. Nesse telefonema foi-lhe garantido que tem o apoio de todos.
Segundo o diário desportivo espanhol 'Marca', Mourinho fez o telefonema quando a estrela da sua equipa se deslocava para Portugal, onde se juntou à concentração da Selecção. "És um jogador importante aqui. Não duvides. Tens o nosso carinho e vamos ajudar-te em tudo o que necessites. Falaremos melhor quando voltares e podes ter a certeza de que estaremos aqui para ouvir o que tens a dizer e ajudar-te. Recupera-te e segue em frente", terá dito o treinador que levou o Real Madrid ao título espanhol na temporada passada.
Por seu lado, Ronaldo agradeceu as palavras de Mourinho e garantiu que o seu descontentamento - evidenciado quando não festejou os dois golos que marcou no domingo, decisivos para a primeira vitória do Real Madrid na Liga Espanhola - não afectaria o seu rendimento ou o relacionamento com outros elementos do plantel.
Ainda segundo a 'Marca', foi combinado que os dois portugueses irão reunir-se quando Ronaldo voltar após os seus compromissos com a Selecção de Portugal.
MAS...
Cristiano Ronaldo explica que não “está triste” por motivos financeiros
Desde que Cristiano Ronaldo confessou sentir-se “triste” que surgiram na imprensa espanhola e mundial especulações em torno dos motivos desse estado de espírito, tendo o dinheiro sido apontado com a principal causa.
Contudo, o craque madeirense já fez questão de esclarecer, através da sua página oficial no Facebook,que não se sente insatisfeito por questões financeiras.
Cristiano Ronaldo :
"Que eu esteja triste e o tenha dito criou uma enorme confusão. Acusam-me de querer mais dinheiro, mas há-de provar-se um dia que esse não é o ponto. Neste momento, queria só garantir aos adeptos do Real Madrid que a minha motivação, dedicação, empenho e vontade de ganhar todas as competições não serão afetados. Tenho demasiado respeito por mim próprio e pelo Real Madrid para algum dia dar menos ao clube do que aquilo de que sou capaz. Um abraço a todos os madridistas", escreveu o futebolista.
Recorde-se que Cristiano Ronaldo disse que estava triste este domingo, depois de ter marcado dois golos frente ao Granada e de ter optado por não festejá-los.
MAS ACIMA DE TUDO
Triste? Cristiano Ronaldo começa a treinar com Portugal para eliminatórias
Ainda recuperando-se de lesão, craque do Real Madrid trabalha sozinho antes de estreia contra Luxemburgo. Partida será na sexta-feira
Cristiano Ronaldo treinou nesta quarta-feira pela primeira vez com a seleção portuguesa para a estreia nas eliminatórias da Europa para a Copa do Mundo de 2014 contra Luxemburgo, sexta, mas fez um trabalho separado do restante dos jogadores convocados por Paulo Bento.
Ainda em recuperação de um "traumatismo na coxa esquerda", segundo o departamento médico da seleção, o camisa 7 treinou sozinho, acompanhando por um preparador físico. Já o zagueiro Pepe, que costuma atuar como volante com Paulo Bento, trabalhou normalmente e mostrou-se sem dores no tornozelo esquerdo.
