New discovery of ancient diet shatters conventional ideas of how agriculture emerged

New discovery of ancient diet shatters conventional ideas of how agriculture emerged

Friday, May 17, 2013

Archaeologists have made a discovery in southern subtropical China which could revolutionise thinking about how ancient humans lived in the region.

They have uncovered evidence for the first time that people living in Xincun 5,000 years ago may have practised agriculture ?before the arrival of domesticated rice in the region.

Current archaeological thinking is that it was the advent of rice cultivation along the Lower Yangtze River that marked the beginning of agriculture in southern China. Poor organic preservation in the study region, as in many others, means that traditional archaeobotany techniques are not possible.

Now, thanks to a new method of analysis on ancient grinding stones, the archaeologists have uncovered evidence that agriculture could predate the advent of rice in the region.

The research was the result of a two-year collaboration between Dr Huw Barton, from the School of Archaeology and Ancient History at the University of Leicester, and Dr Xiaoyan Yang, Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in Beijing.

Funded by a Royal Society UK-China NSFC International Joint Project, and other grants held by Yang in China, the research is published in PLOS ONE.

Dr Barton, Senior Lecturer in Bioarchaeology at the University of Leicester, described the find as 'hitting the jackpot': "Our discovery is totally unexpected and very exciting.

"We have used a relatively new method known as ancient starch analysis to analyse ancient human diet. This technique can tell us things about human diet in the past that no other method can.

"From a sample of grinding stones we extracted very small quantities of adhering sediment trapped in pits and cracks on the tool surface. From this material, preserved starch granules were extracted with our Chinese colleagues in the starch laboratory in Beijing. These samples were analysed in China and also here at Leicester in the Starch and Residue Laboratory, School of Archaeology and Ancient History.

"Our research shows us that there was something much more interesting going on in the subtropical south of China 5,000 years ago than we had first thought. The survival of organic material is really dependent on the particular chemical properties of the soil, so you never know what you will get until you sample. At Xincun we really hit the jackpot. Starch was well-preserved and there was plenty of it. While some of the starch granules we found were species we might expect to find on grinding and pounding stones, ie. some seeds and tuberous plants such as freshwater chestnuts, lotus root and the fern root, the addition of starch from palms was totally unexpected and very exciting."

Several types of tropical palms store prodigious quantities of starch. This starch can be literally bashed and washed out of the trunk pith, dried as flour, and of course eaten. It is non-toxic, not particularly tasty, but it is reliable and can be processed all year round. Many communities in the tropics today, particularly in Borneo and Indonesia, but also in eastern India, still rely on flour derived from palms.

Dr Barton said: "The presence of at least two, possibly three species of starch producing palms, bananas, and various roots, raises the intriguing possibility that these plants may have been planted nearby the settlement.

"Today groups that rely on palms growing in the wild are highly mobile, moving from one palm stand to another as they exhaust the clump. Sedentary groups that utilise palms for their starch today, plant suckers nearby the village, thus maintaining continuous supply. If they were planted at Xincun, this implies that 'agriculture' did not arrive here with the arrival of domesticated rice, as archaeologists currently think, but that an indigenous system of plant cultivation may have been in place by the mid Holocene.

"The adoption of domesticated rice was slow and gradual in this region; it was not a rapid transformation as in other places. Our findings may indicate why this was the case. People may have been busy with other types of cultivation, ignoring rice, which may have been in the landscape, but as a minor plant for a long time before it too became a food staple.

"Future work will focus on grinding stones from nearby sites to see if this pattern is repeated along the coast."

###

University of Leicester: http://www.leicester.ac.uk

Thanks to University of Leicester for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/128302/New_discovery_of_ancient_diet_shatters_conventional_ideas_of_how_agriculture_emerged

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Disney: Sexy 'Brave' makeover just temporary

Movies

Maria Elena Fernandez TODAY

21 hours ago

A Mighty Girl

Merida, left, dressed to impress, and from the film.

It?s the before-and-after makeover heard around the world.

When Princess Merida of ?Brave? was crowned the 11th princess at Walt Disney World this weekend, she had a new look that included not only a tiny waist, sultry eyes, and cleavage but also the teal gown that the feisty tomboy so detested in the Oscar-winning movie. It was as if Merida stepped onto the cover of ?Vogue? magazine and her rebellious spirit was photo-shopped right out of the red-headed heroine.

Nearly 212,000 of her fans weren?t having it. Through a Change.org petition, ?Keep Merida Brave,? girl empowerment blog ?A Mighty Girl,? demanded that Disney reconsider the redesign. By Wednesday, word had spread on the Internet that Disney had removed the sexified image from its official princess website, and the movement declared itself victorious.

But much of it has turned out to be as fictitious as the bow-and-arrow-carrying princess herself. The party girl image of Merida was never used on Disney?s official sites or Facebook pages, a Disney spokesperson told NBCNews.com Thursday.

?The artwork used on Merida?s official social media sites has always been the imagery from the movie ? there have been no changes," a Disney spokesperson said in a statement. "We routinely use different art styles with our characters and this rendition of Merida in her party dress was a special one-time effort to commemorate her coronation. Merida exemplifies what it means to be a Disney Princess through being brave, passionate and confident and she remains the same strong and determined Merida from the movie whose inner qualities have inspired moms and daughters around the world. ?

Merida?s new look was created for her "special coronation" and is intended to be used in a limited product line this summer and fall. Her image on her official princess page will remain intact, the spokesperson said.

?For a wedding or prom, even a tomboy is going to dress up for a special occasion,? a source familiar with the product line said, describing the idea behind Merida?s newfound glamour. ?That doesn?t change who she is or who she will continue to be or who she remains on the Disney web sites or in most of the products.?

Disney typically creates multiple artwork for each character to use in different platforms for different reasons. But the main look is always the look that everyone knows, the source said.

?It?s not like you walk into the toy aisle and Merida?s flipped over completely to this new look,? the source said. ?This was a one-time special occasion effort.?

Still, the backlash against Merida?s transformation is understandable considering that she was created as an ?anti-princess? of sorts, a tough and feisty warrior resistant to conventional beauty. Creator Brenda Chapman modeled Merida after her own teenage daughter and wants her to be representative of all teenage girls.

?Merida wouldn?t be caught dead looking like that and I think that?s what?s angering everyone,? Chapman told CNN. They?ve totally lost sight of the character in this new design. I understand, with the toys, that they don?t want to put in a lot more money creating a new body for the dolls. But this is a drawing that?s going to be put on tons of merchandise and it doesn?t cost that much money to put a lot of effort into a drawing that portrays the character as who the character is--as opposed to this grotesque, sexist depiction of her.?

The petition also decries the way Disney has introduced Merida into the Princess collection and calls it a "disservice to the millions of children for whom Merida is an empwering role model who speaks to girls' capacity to be change agents in the world rather than just trophies to be admired."

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/brave-princess-sexy-makeover-not-permanent-disney-says-1C9952299

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Cleaner, low temperature nuclear fuels?

May 7, 2013 ? The search for cleaner, low temperature nuclear fuels has produced a shock result for a team of experts at The University of Nottingham.

First they created a stable version of a 'trophy molecule' that has eluded scientists for decades. Now they have discovered that the bonding within this molecule is far different than expected. Remarkably their findings have shown that it behaves in much the same way as its counterparts in the well-known transitional metals such as chromium, molybdenum and tungsten.

The research, done by PhD student David King, which could help in the extraction and separation of the two to three per cent of highly radioactive material in nuclear waste, was led by Professor Stephen Liddle in the School of Chemistry, and has been published in the academic journal Nature Chemistry.

Professor Liddle said: "The major motivation for doing the first piece of research was to understand the nature of the chemical bonding of uranium. Now we have extended the series to enable meaningful comparisons the 'shock' is that whereas the bonding would be expected to be very different to commonly known and well understood transition metal analogues the bonding is in fact very similar. This is a real surprise and could have an effect on nuclear clean up because differences in chemical bonding are exploited in the separation processes.

Building on previous advances

Working with experts in the Photon Science Institute at The University of Manchester, their latest discovery builds on their previous advances in this area of chemistry, published in the academic journal Science last year.

With funding from the Royal Society, European Research Council, and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council the team first established the method to make the 'title molecule'. For the first time they prepared a terminal uranium nitride compound which was stable at room temperature and could be stored in jars in crystallized or powder form.

Previous attempts to do this required temperatures as low as -268 ?C -- roughly the equivalent temperature of interstellar space -- therefore these compounds have, until now, been difficult to work with and manipulate, requiring specialist equipment and techniques.

Exploiting the bonding process

Professor Liddle said: "What the nuclear industry wants to do is minimise the volume of waste by extracting the radioactive elements from spent fuel. This relies on exploiting differences in the bonding, but in some circumstances it may be surprisingly similar and this is going to be important in the amelioration of nuclear waste clean-up and devising new atom-efficient catalytic cycles."

The way atoms behave in uranium bonding is still unclear and there is much debate and great interest in respect to the nature of uranium nitride materials because they have the potential to offer a viable alternative to the mixed oxide nuclear fuels currently used in reactors. Nitrides exhibit superior high densities, melting points and thermal conductivities and the process this team of researchers has developed could offer a cleaner, low temperature route reducing the amount of impurities which are difficult to remove from the waste produced by current fuels.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/XuyuxpB_4ks/130507115541.htm

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Are you a tax cheat if you shop online tax-free?

Chart shows U.S. online sales and projections

Chart shows U.S. online sales and projections

This photo taken May 2, 2013, shows Sarah Davis, co-owner of Fashionphile.com, posing with her bags in a company warehouse in the Carlsbad, Calif. The Internet company sells rare, vintage, and discontinued previous owned bags and is facing the complicated task of dealing with new state regulations on Internet sale taxes. (AP photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

This photo taken May 2, 2013, shows Sarah Davis and Ben Hemmnger, co-owners of Fashionphile.com, posing in the lobby of their Carlsbad, Calif. office. The Internet company sells rare, vintage, and discontinued previous owned bags and is facing the complicated task of dealing with new state regulations on Internet sale taxes. (AP photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

This photo taken May 2, 2013, shows Sarah Davis and Ben Hemmnger, co-owners of Fashionphile.com posing in the lobby of their Carlsbad, Calif. office. The internet company sells rare, vintage, and discontinued previous owned bags and is facing the complicated task of dealing with new state regulations on Internet sale taxes. (AP photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Buy anything on the Internet lately without paying sales tax? In all but a few states, you're probably a tax cheat.

That's right, even if Internet retailers don't collect sales tax at the time of the purchase, you're required by law to pay it in 45 states and the District of Columbia.

Here's the problem for states: hardly anyone pays the tax, and there's not much states can do about it.

The Senate is expected to pass a bill Monday making it easier for states to collect sales taxes for online purchases. Some of the nation's largest retailers are rejoicing. But small-business owners who make their living selling products on the Internet worry they will be swamped by new requirements from faraway states.

"It's a huge burden for a company like ours," said Sarah Davis, co-owner of Fashionphile.com, a California-based company that sells high-end pre-owned handbags and purses. "We don't have an accounting department, we've got my father-in-law."

Davis started the company in 1999 and now runs it with her brother-in-law. They have 26 workers and three stores, in Beverly Hills, San Diego and San Francisco. Last year, Fashionphile.com did $10 million in sales, the vast majority of it online, Davis said.

Fashionphile.com sells bags directly from its website and on eBay. The company collects sales taxes from customers who live in California, but not from people who live in other states, Davis said. Under the law, states can only require stores to collect sales taxes if the store has a physical presence in the state.

That means big retailers, such as Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Target, with stores all over the country collect sales taxes when they sell goods over the Internet. But eBay, Amazon and other online retailers don't have to collect sales taxes, except in states where they have offices or distribution centers.

As a result, many online sales are essentially tax-free, giving Internet retailers an advantage over brick-and-mortar stores.

But the purchases aren't really tax free under the law.

In states with sales taxes, if you buy something from an out-of-state retailer and don't pay taxes, you are supposed to pay those taxes when you file your state tax return, said Neal Osten, director the Washington office of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Only Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon have no sales tax. Alaska has no state sales tax but does have local ones.

Unpaid sales taxes are usually referred to as "use taxes" on state income tax returns. Use taxes apply to purchases made over Internet, from catalogs, television and radio ads and purchases made directly from out-of-state companies. State officials, however, complain that few people pay these taxes, Olsten said.

"I do know about three people that comply with that," says Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., the main sponsor of the Senate bill.

Enzi's bill would empower states to require businesses to collect taxes for products they sell on the Internet, in catalogs and through radio and TV ads. Under the bill, the sales taxes would be sent to the states where a shopper lives.

Businesses with less than $1 million a year in out-of-state sales would be exempt.

The Senate is expected to pass Enzi's bill Monday. Already, the measure has survived three procedural votes. President Barack Obama supports it, but the bill faces an uncertain fate in the House where some Republicans consider it a tax increase.

Supporters say the bill is about fairness for local businesses that already collect sales taxes, and lost revenue for states. Many governors, both Republicans and Democrats, have lobbied the federal government for years for the authority to collect sales taxes from online sales.

The issue is getting bigger for states as more people make purchases online. Last year, Internet sales in the U.S. totaled $226 billion, nearly 16 percent more than the previous year, according to Commerce Department estimates.

States lost a total of $23 billion last year because they couldn't collect taxes on out-of-state sales, according to a study by three business professors at the University of Tennessee. About $11.4 billion was lost from Internet sales; the rest came from purchases made through catalogs, mail orders and telephone orders, the study said.

The study was done for the National Conference of State Legislatures.

"This is a sales and use tax which is on the books," said Michael Kercheval, president and CEO of the International Council of Shopping Centers. "This isn't a tax issue. It's a tax collection issue."

Kercheval's group is part of a broad coalition of retailers that supports Enzi's bill, including Internet giant Amazon, which says it wants a uniform national policy for collecting taxes on Internet sales.

Supporters say the bill makes it relatively easy for Internet retailers to comply. States must provide free computer software to help retailers calculate sales taxes, based on where shoppers live. States also must establish a single entity to receive Internet sales tax revenue, so retailers don't have to send them to individual counties or cities.

"The same software that allows people to figure out shipping costs by ZIP code can figure out what the taxes are," Kercheval said.

Opponents say the bill doesn't do enough to protect small businesses. EBay wants to exempt businesses with less than $10 million in sales or fewer than 50 employees.

"Complying and living under the tax laws of 50 states is a major undertaking because the process of complying with tax law goes far beyond just filling out the right forms," said Brian Bieron, eBay's senior director of global public policy. "You have to deal with the fact that all of these government agencies can audit you and can question you and can actually take you into court and sue you if they think you are doing something wrong."

Davis, the co-owner of Fashionphile.com, said even with free computer software, her business doesn't have the manpower to separate sales taxes for each state and meet each state's deadline to send in the money.

"We collect and pay sales tax here in California and we're happy to do that. We receive benefit from that. We can influence lawmakers locally on how those taxes are spent and how much those are and how they're collected," Davis said.

"I don't feel the same about Indiana."

___

Follow Stephen Ohlemacher on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stephenatap

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-05-05-Internet%20Sales%20Tax/id-5062f5fb0a654bc48bd900febd4030ec

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HSBC profits nearly double as costs and bad debts fall

By Steve Slater

LONDON (Reuters) - HSBC aims to keep the pressure on costs after first-quarter earnings nearly doubled due to the bank's three-year efficiency drive and a halving in bad debts charges.

The jump in profits reinforces HSBC's position as one of the strongest global banks after the financial crisis partly as a result of a radical overhaul to simplify its sprawling structure and improve profitability.

Its strong focus on Asia, which generated around two-thirds of profit in the first quarter, has also helped offset a harsh business environment, particularly in the euro zone.

Europe's largest bank moved faster and more aggressively than many of its peers to cut costs after the crisis. And it will continue to wield the knife - with a further 6,000 job cuts expected this year from businesses already put up for sale, on top of 40,000 already culled. HSBC has closed or sold more than 50 businesses since 2011.

"We're moving into calmer waters but there are still challenges ahead," Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver told reporters on a conference call.

Gulliver declined to say whether he would announce any additional cost savings at a strategy update for investors on May 15. But he said: "Clearly you can expect us to continue to focus on our cost base."

The CEO said HSBC still expected the euro zone economy to contract during 2013 and that UK economic growth remained muted.

Across Europe, HSBC's smaller rivals are playing catch-up with cost cuts to help offset rising bad debts and weak loan demand. French banks Societe Generale and Credit Agricole on Tuesday said they would keep making cuts to cope with a weak domestic economy.

In Germany, the cost of thousands of job cuts contributed to a net first-quarter loss at Commerzbank , which warned that earnings would be under pressure this year as loan-loss provisions rise.

In contrast, HSBC posted a pretax profit of $8.4 billion, up from $4.3 billion a year ago and above the average forecast of $8.1 billion from analysts polled by the company.

"We see these results as an endorsement of the strength of the franchise and its ability to generate earnings even in a sluggish macro environment," said Chirantan Barua, analyst at Bernstein. He said HSBC's strong capital position and capital generation meant it could increase its dividend by at least 30 percent this year.

COSTS

HSBC shares rose more than 3.3 percent to 737.4 pence, their highest level since mid-March, helping to drive the European benchmark <.sx7p> nearly three percent higher.

A $1.1 billion gain from disposals aided HSBC earnings as did a halving of bad debt provisions to $1.2 billion - its lowest quarterly level since before the financial crisis.

The bad debt charge fell across all regions and in particular in the United States, where HSBC is winding down its consumer business. The U.S. consumer book saw a decline in loan-loss provisions of $430 million to $544 million.

Costs in the first quarter were down 10 percent from a year ago and the bank is now saving $4 billion a year on an annualized basis, above the top end of its own target range of $3.5 billion.

HSBC wants to get costs below 52 percent of income by the end of the year from just over 53 percent on an underlying basis currently. Analysts say the bank should be able to raise its cost savings target by $1 billion a year.

The bank's investment banking division posted a 16.5 percent increase in first-quarter pretax profit from a year ago, helped by a strong performance at its equities division.

This mirrors strong results from Europe's other major investment banks such as Deutsche Bank , Barclays , UBS and Credit Suisse .

(Writing by Carmel Crimmins. Editing by Jane Merriman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hsbc-says-first-quarter-profits-jump-8-4-082552495.html

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Israel airstrikes loom over US diplomacy on Syria

MOSCOW (AP) ? Secretary of State John Kerry is making his case to Russian President Vladimir Putin for Russia to take a tougher stance on Syria at a time when Israel's weekend air strikes against the beleaguered Mideast nation have added an unpredictable factor to the talks.

Kerry arrived Tuesday in Moscow for talks with the most powerful ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.

Officials said Kerry hopes to change Moscow's thinking on Syria with two new angles: American threats to arm the Syrian rebels and evidence of chemical weapon attacks by the Assad regime.

Over the weekend, Israeli warplanes targeted what Israel claimed were caches of Iranian missiles bound for Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based terror group. Such weapons would allow Hezbollah to strike Tel Aviv and as far as southern Israel from inside Lebanese territory.

Israel's willingness to hit Syrian targets it sees as threats to its own existence has complicated the Obama administration's internal debate over what to do about Syria.

Israel's actions put Damascus and Moscow on notice that the U.S. and its allies may not wait for an international green light to become more actively engaged in the Syrian conflict. The administration said last week it was rethinking its opposition to arming the Syrian rebels or taking other aggressive steps to turn the tide of the two-year-old civil war toward the rebels.

At the same time, Israeli involvement in the war carries risks. Instead of prodding Russia into calling for Assad's ouster, it could bring greater Arab sympathy for Assad and prompt deeper involvement from Iran and Hezbollah, actors committed as much to preserving Assad as to fighting the Jewish state.

Although Israel hasn't officially acknowledged it carried out the airstrikes, Syrian officials on Monday were blaming Israel, calling them a "declaration of war" that would cause the Jewish state to "suffer."

Russia, alongside China, has blocked U.S.-led efforts three times at the United Nations to pressure Assad into stepping down.

U.S. officials are hoping Syria's behavior could shift Russia's stance.

"We have consistently, in our conversations with the Russians and others, pointed clearly to Assad's behavior as proof that further support for the regime is not in the interest of the Syrian people or in the interest of the countries that have in the past supported Assad," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

U.S. officials said the administration doesn't believe the weekend activity will force President Barack Obama's hand, noting that the main U.S. concern is the use of chemical weapons by Assad, while Israel's top concern is conventional weapons falling into the hands of its enemies.

The chemical weapons argument is now under surprising attack, with former war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte saying over the weekend she and fellow members of a four-member U.N. human rights panel have indications the nerve agent sarin was used by Syrian rebel forces, not by government forces.

That theory was rejected by U.S. officials. The State Department said the administration continues to believe that Syria's large chemical weapons stockpiles remain securely in the regime's control.

The Obama administration opened the door to new military options in Syria after declaring last week it strongly believed the Assad regime used chemical weapons in two attacks in March. Two days after that announcement, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said arming the Syrian rebels was a policy consideration.

Until now, U.S. efforts to bolster the rebels' fighting skills and gather intelligence on the groups operating inside Syria have been limited to small training camps in Jordan, according to two U.S. officials who weren't authorized to speak about secret activities and demanded anonymity.

There are several options for escalation, ranging from arming the rebels to targeted airstrikes and no-fly zones. However, arming the rebels is the most likely escalation, officials said.

While the Israeli actions have made Kerry's Russia efforts more unpredictable, some in Congress tried to be optimistic.

Maryland Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he hopes Kerry can persuade Russia to use its influence to convince the besieged Syrian leader that he should step down.

"Hopefully the cooperation on the (Boston) Marathon bombing will open the door there," Ruppersberger said.

After visiting Moscow for the first time since he became secretary of state, Kerry will travel to Rome for talks with members of the new Italian government, as well as meetings with Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh to discuss Middle East peace prospects.

___

Associated Press writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israel-airstrikes-loom-over-us-diplomacy-syria-205537658.html

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Microsoft touching up Windows 8 to address gripes

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Microsoft is retooling the latest version of its Windows operating system to address complaints and confusion that have been blamed for deepening a slump in personal computer sales.

The tune up announced Tuesday won't be released to consumers and businesses until later this year. The changes, part of a software package given the codename "Blue," are a tacit acknowledgment of the shortcomings in Windows 8, a radical overhaul of Microsoft Corp.'s ubiquitous operating system.

With the makeover it released last October, Microsoft hoped to play a more prominent role in the growing mobile device market while still maintaining its dominance in PCs. But Windows 8's design, which emphasizes interactive tiles and touch controls, seems to have befuddled as many people as it has impressed. One leading research firm, International Data Corp., says Windows 8 contributed to a 14 percent decline in worldwide PC sales during the first three months of the year ? the biggest year-over-year drop ever.

Meanwhile, sales of smartphones and tablet computers are booming. The biggest beneficiaries have been Apple Inc., the maker of the iPhone and iPad, and Samsung Electronics Co., which sells the most devices running on Google Inc.'s Android software. Google is also benefiting from Android's popularity through increased traffic to its services, creating more opportunities for the company to display ads.

By contrast, leading PC makers such as Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc., which primarily sell Windows-powered machines, have been mired in a financial funk that has battered their stocks and raised questions about their futures.

Despite the troubling signs, Microsoft insists it's pleased with Windows 8's performance.

The company, which is based in Redmond, Wash., says more than 100 million Windows 8 licenses have been sold so far, up from about 60 million licenses in January. The licensing volume "is in the same general ballpark," as Microsoft's previous operating system ? Windows 7 ? at a similar juncture of its sales cycle, according to Tami Reller, who serves as the marketing and financial chief for Microsoft's Windows business.

In an interview, Reller said Microsoft still realized changes need to be made to make Windows 8 easier to navigate and capable of taking full advantage of technology improvements that have come out since October.

"Are there things that we can do to improve the experience? Absolutely," Reller said "There is a learning curve (to Windows 8) and we can work to address that."

For now, Microsoft isn't saying what kind of changes will be introduced with the release of Blue, which the company plans to anoint with a different name when the update is available. Microsoft also isn't saying whether it will charge existing owners of Windows 8 devices to get the fixes in Blue. The company plans to release Blue in time for the holiday season.

Reller said more details about Blue will be released before Microsoft holds a developers conference in San Francisco in late June. Some of Blue's features are expected to be previewed at that conference.

If Blue is meant to make people more comfortable, the changes may incorporate more of the elements from earlier versions of Windows.

A common complaint has centered on the lack of a "start" button in the Windows 8 menu.

Other critics have pined for an option that would allow the system to begin in a desktop mode suited for running applications designed for earlier versions of the operating system. Windows 8 currently starts off showing a mosaic of interactive tiles tailored for swiping through programs with a finger instead of using a computer mouse.

Blue also might make it easier to find a set of controls ? known as "charms" in Windows 8's parlance ? that currently must be pulled out from the right side of a display screen.

Besides responding to customer feedback, Blue also will improve Windows 8's ability to work on smaller tablets with 7- and 8-inch display screens, Reller said. She declined to say whether Microsoft intends to make smaller version of its own Surface tablets. In a conference call with analysts last month, Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein said the company was working with other manufacturers to make smaller tablets.

One thing that Blue won't fix: the relatively small selection of mobile applications tailored for Windows 8. Reller said the Windows 8 store now has more than 60,000 apps. By contrast, there are more than 800,000 apps available for Apple's mobile's devices and nearly that many for Android devices, too. In one of the most glaring omissions on Windows 8, Facebook Inc. still hasn't designed an app to make its online social network more accessible on that system. Facebook has about 750 million mobile users.

Microsoft's decision to tweak Windows 8 so soon after it went on sale may reinforce perceptions that the product is a flop.

Reller is trying to frame the changes as evidence that Microsoft is becoming more agile and nimble as it responds to a rapidly evolving technology market. Smartphones and tablet computers have been at the epicenter of the upheaval, diminishing the demand for PCs as more people and businesses opt for the convenience of increasingly powerful mobile devices.

The mobile computing movement is the main reason that Microsoft made the most dramatic redesign of its Windows operating system since 1995. Given how different that Windows 8 is from its predecessors, Reller said Microsoft always knew it might have to make some adjustments less than a year after the software came out.

"It had to be a very big change to take advantage of the mobile opportunity," she said.

Analysts say one reason Windows 8 got off to a slow start is because there weren't enough devices designed to take advantage of the system's touch-screen features. But that is about to change as HP, Dell and other PC makers prepare to roll out a wide variety of laptops and tablets with displays that respond to touch. More than 2,400 devices have now been certified to run on Windows 8, up from 2,000 in January, Reller said.

Most of the touch-screen laptops will sell at prices $50 to $250 below the first wave of comparable machines running on Windows 8, reductions that Microsoft hopes will prod more people to check out the system.

"As we look at Windows 8, it's important to remember a lot of its full potential won't be realized until there are more touch devices on the market," Reller said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/microsoft-touching-windows-8-address-gripes-044749525.html

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