Amazon Releases Updated Kindle Fire HD Line

Amazon on Wednesday announced three new Kindle Fire tablets: a 8.9- and 7-inch Kindle Fire HDX and a lower-end Kindle Fire HD. The tablets feature faster hardware, better screens, improved software and a subtle new look.

"We have always wanted to build hardware that disappears and gets out of the way," said CEO Jeff Bezos, who showed off the new products at Amazon's Seattle headquarters. "When you're reading a book you don't think about the glue and the stitching."

Making hardware that customers can successfully ignore requires a manufacturer pay a lot of attention to hardware. The Amazon team has spent the last year improving its Kindle line inside and out.

Faster guts by the numbers

The result is a Kindle Fire HDX that's a beefed-up, sped-up, slimmed-down upgrade to last year's Kindle Fire HD. The third generation of Kindle Fire, the HDX comes in two sizes: 8.9 inches for $329 and 7 inches for $229 (tag on another $100 if you want a 4G connection through Verizon or AT&T.)

High-quality screens are key for devices that are built to deliver content like movies and books. The new screens are much higher resolution than the previous Fires. The 8.9-inch tablet crams in 339 pixels per square inch with a 2560-by-1600 resolution screen; the 7-incher is 1920-by-1200 with 323 pixels per square inch. Rounding out the screen improvements, the colors are more accurate and the screen automatically adjusts the contrast depending on how much ambient light there is.

The tablet is also faster, elaborate visuals like the kind in video games are smoother and speedier and there shouldn't be any lag when navigating through menus, using apps or enjoying books or movies. The internal hardware making that possible includes a new 2.2 GHz, quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM and an improved graphics engine.

For some reason, people continue to take photos with their tablets. Amazon has added an 8-megapixel camera to the back of the larger tablet and included a fat selection of editing and photo tools, like HDR and burst mode.

The third new Kindle Fire is the Kindle Fire HD, and its killer feature is a $139 price tag and slightly speedier specs than last year's model.

WYFF: Possible Slave Cabins to Be Apartments

Just four years ago, four buildings on Morris Street were condemned and set to be demolished. Now, they could become apartment homes.

Mike Bedenbaugh, executive director for The Palmetto Trust for Historic Preservation, said the organization bought the homes to save them.

Bedenbaugh said they were built in the 1850s, and he says all evidence points to them being slave cabins. Bedenbaugh says a Columbia-area couple is under contract to buy them.

He said they want to renovate the single-room homes to make them more modern, while keeping the historic look. The homes would then be rented out as apartment homes, he said. In order to make this happen, Anderson's city planning commission has to approve a rezoning request from single family to multi-family residential.  

Read more: http://www.wyff4.com/news/local-news/anderson-news/plan-could-turn-slave-cabins-into-apartment-homes/-/9654706/22096676/-/9khb4uz/-/index.html#ixzz2ftbFRghM

Burt Reynolds Movie Looking for Local Extras

Producers are looking for about 200 extras for a movie being filed in Oconee County that includes Burt Reynolds in the cast. Seneca Mayor Dan Alexander ended says filming will begin next week for the movie "Elbow Grease."
    
The 77-year-old Reynolds will be a grandfather in a family in a movie that the production company calls a Southern-themed romantic comedy.
    
Alexander says some scenes will be filmed on Lake Keowee. Other scenes will be shot in and around Seneca, as well as Walhalla and Westminster. Filming is expected to run through most of October.

Between 200 and 250 extras for the movie are needed. If you are interested, send an email and head shot to elbowgreasemovie@gmail.com.

PlaySafe Classic Raises $50,000

PlaySafe, a 501c(3), non-profit organization, raising funding in order to provide certified athletic trainers (ATCs) on a full time basis to high schools and many community sporting  events in Anderson, Pickens and Oconee Counties,  announced today that their Inaugural Kickoff Classic has surpassed $50,000 in proceeds through a sold out field of participating golfers, raffle sales, a putting green challenge, auction and the sale of sponsorships and signage. 

The August 5 event held at The Cliffs at Keowee Vineyards saluted the 1981 Clemson National Championship Football Team.  Championship Coach Danny Ford highlighted the field of returning Clemson greats including Terry Kinard, Perry Tuttle, Jeff Davis, Kyle Young  and James Trapp along with 1980 Heisman Trophy winner, George Rogers of USC. Coach Ford commented that “since George Rogers never scored a touchdown in four years against the Tigers, he was invited to participate!” 

PlaySafe works diligently each day to raise funds from individuals, corporations, foundations, and the community at large in order to secure and place full time certified athletic trainers at the high schools in the tri-county area.  

S.C. Shifts Companies to Extend Identity Theft Protection

South Carolina announced late Monday afternoon that it intends to award a contract for identity theft protection services to a company called CSID, or CSIdentity Corporation. If the contract is finalized, CSID would start providing ID theft protection to state taxpayers whose personal information was stolen by a hacker who broke into the state Department of Revenue's computers last year.

Right now, Experian is providing credit monitoring to taxpayers who signed up for the service after the data breach. Experian decided not to pursue the new contract, but it has been sending emails to South Carolinians who signed up, offering to continue its coverage, at a cost to each taxpayer of $11.88 for a year. The Experian coverage will end October 24^th for the first people who enrolled.

This new service is being paid for by the state. The contract is for a maximum of $8.5 million. It could be less if fewer people sign up. The state has the option to renew the contract for up to four more years, at a cost of no more than $6.5 million a year.

State officials say the new contract will provide you with more protection. Experian is currently providing daily monitoring of all three credit bureaus, and also provides $1 million in ID theft insurance and lifetime ID theft resolution services.

CSID will monitor only one of the three credit bureaus, Transunion. But state officials say almost all credit issuers and banks report to all three credit bureaus, so monitoring only one of them is usually sufficient.

CSID will also offer $1 million of ID theft insurance and full ID theft resolution services. It will provide that ID theft resolution service to any South Carolina taxpayers whose information was stolen, even if they don't enroll in CSID's ID theft protection.

Study: Marriage Better than Chemo for Cancer Treatment

Marriage has many benefits when it comes to raising children, buying a house, and having a hand to hold during life's toughest times.

But new research suggests that, for some cancer patients, having a husband or wife could be more beneficial than chemotherapy.

New research from Harvard University shows that, for 10 common kinds of cancer, being married means patients are 20 per cent less likely to die from the disease. Married men are most likely to benefit when it comes to cancer survival.

Academics found that people who were married were more likely to get diagnosed early, before tumours could spread, and more likely to have life-saving surgery. Amazingly in some forms of cancer, including breast and colon, the benefits of being married outweighed the stated benefit of chemotherapy.

The study, of 750,000 people including those with lung and prostate cancer, also found that the effect was larger in men than in women.

Unmarried cancer patients - including those who were widowed - were 17 per cent more likely to have metastatic cancer, which spreads beyond its original site and were 53 per cent less likely to receive the appropriate therapy.

Dr Ayal Aizer, chief resident of the Harvard Radiation Oncology Programme, said: 'Our data suggests that marriage can have a significant health impact for patients with cancer, and this was consistent among every cancer that we reviewed.

'We suspect that social support from spouses is what's driving the striking improvement in survival. 

'Spouses often accompany patients on their visits and make sure they understand the recommendations and complete all their treatments.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2430365/Marriage-improves-cancer-survival-rate-20-BETTER-chemotherapy.html#ixzz2fnlk6l99 

County Considers Options for Funding Bus Routes

Anderson County's Public Works committee on Tuesday made no decision of the future of two Anderson bus routes which are in jeopardy due to lack of funding.

The Clemson Area Transit bus, which runs from the city of Anderson to Clemson, Pendleton and Central, with other stops along the way, provides transportation primarily to students attending Tri-County Technical College, Clemson and Southern Wesleyan University. The CAT bus, according to the county serves nearly 150,000 riders each year. 

The Homeland Park bus route. which served nearly 40,000 passengers last year, is also in question.

The county reported that it will take more than $350,000 annually to operate the bus routes, with $180,000 going to the CAT bus and the remainder to the Homeland Park route.

A recommendation on if or whether the county will continue to fund the buses, is expected to be presented to the full county council soon. Without a new agreement, both buses will end service at the end of 2013.

Clemson Student's Artificial Knee Design Contest Finalist

The Medical Device and Diagnostic Industry (MD+DI) trade magazine has selected a Clemson student’s device as a top 10 finalist for the Dare-to-Dream Medtech Design Challenge.

The editors of MD+DI challenged bioengineers to design their dream device under the assumption that real-world challenges are non-existent. The finalists address healthcare needs across the spectrum.

Eric Lucas, a doctoral student in Clemson University’s bioengineering department, is a Dare-to-Dream Medtech Design Challenge finalist for his design of The Engage Knee System, a knee replacement that can be selectively locked in extension by patients with weakened knees and instability.

Patients who undergo knee replacements are more likely to require additional surgeries, which will include loss of anatomy, muscle impairment and atrophy, and instability.

“There is no other existing total knee-replacement design that compensates for a weakened or damaged knee extensor mechanism,” said Lucas. “The Engage Knee System can be locked and unlocked to allow patients to freely flex the knee and engage in activities that may have been thought to be difficult or impossible.”

In addition to Lucas, the inventors of the technology include John DesJardins, assistant professor of bioengineering, and Frank Voss and Kim Chillag, orthopaedic surgeons from Columbia.

The Engage Knee has already been filed for patent and is being actively developed for eventual use in patients.

A grand prize winner and two runners up will be announced on Oct. 1 after the public votes are added to the editors’ scores.

USC Publishes Medicaid Information for South Carolina

If you’ve ever wondered how many children covered by Medicaid in South Carolina saw their dentists last year or how many prescriptions were filled for Medicaid patients in the state — if you’ve ever wondered anything about Medicaid at all — then you’re in luck. 

The University of South Carolina and the state Medicaid agency have just published a mountain of Medicaid data on a new website, schealthviz.sc.edu, which includes information about Medicaid enrollment in South Carolina, disease prevalence by county and health disparities across the state.

The S.C. Department of Health and Human Services, which administers Medicaid in South Carolina — also called Healthy Connections — consumes more than a quarter of the state budget, a larger share than any other state agency.

According to the new SC HealthViz website, more than 1 million residents are enrolled in Medicaid in South Carolina, including about 40 percent of all children in the state. The agency spends more than $6 billion a year.

The new website includes such detailed information as data on pediatric dental visits (687,760 during the 2013 fiscal year), the number of prescriptions filled by Medicaid beneficiaries (7,686,139 during the same time period) and the number of Medicaid patients who visited an emergency room that year (367,052).

All this data can be drilled down even further by county, age, eligibility group and type of Medicaid plan.

For example, the website makes it possible to find the exact number of Medicaid kids in Charleston County who saw a dentist between July 1, 2012, and June 30, 2013. It was 23,921.

The website is evidence of a larger trend in health care to make big data more transparent to consumers.

The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid published information on thousands of hospitals in May, showing neighboring facilities bill Medicare vastly different prices for the same procedures.

In April, the S.C. Department of Health and Human Services published several spreadsheets online to prove many hospitals in the state posted millions of dollars in profit between 2008 and 2011.

Ana Lòpez-De Fede, director of USC’s Division of Policy and Research on Medicaid and Medicare, spearheaded SC HealthViz. Lòpez-De Fede and S.C. Medicaid Director Tony Keck were not available to answer questions about the project Friday.

Colleen Mullis, a spokeswoman for the Medicaid agency, said the department plans to officially unveil the website sometime this week in a press release.

Mullis did not know how much the project cost, but confirmed that the Medicaid agency paid for it.

"Breaking Bad" Takes Emmy for Best Drama

The Emmys lived up to its reputation as the least predictable entertainment awards show.

Television's annual night of honors, where the AMC drama "Breaking Bad" and ABC comedy "Modern Family" were judged the industry's finest on Sunday night, mixed in surprises with expected winners, and ended some winning streaks while extending others. Newcomer Netflix made its presence felt, but not in the splashy way it had hoped for.

"Nobody in America is winning their office pool," host Neil Patrick Harris said late in the CBS telecast from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles.

The best drama win for "Breaking Bad" was its first ever, and Anna Gunn won a best supporting actress award for playing the wife of Bryan Cranston's Walter White character, the chemistry teacher turned drug lord whom the series revolves around. Cranston was denied a bid for his fourth drama acting award for the show.

It was splendid publicity for "Breaking Bad," which airs its series finale next Sunday. "What a way to go out," Cranston said backstage.

"I'm biased, I love our show," added Vince Gilligan, the series' creator. "I was stunned that we won. It was a very big surprise for me."

Going into the Emmys, much speculation surrounded whether Netflix's "House of Cards" would be the first series not shown on a broadcast or cable network to win best drama. It didn't, but Gilligan said if it wasn't for streaming services like Netflix, his show wouldn't have lasted beyond its second season.

Full Story Here

Public Works Committee to Look at Saving CAT Bus System

The Anderson County Council Public Works Committee will meet tomorrow at 1 p.m. in the council chambers of the historic courthouse downtown to discuss potential funding sources to continue the Clemson Area Transit (CAT) bus system route from Anderson.

Anderson County Councilwoman Gracie Floyd said she hopes those who ride the bus or have family members who rely on the bus for transportation will attend the meeting.

Anderson County Jobless Rate Up Again in August

In August, the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained unchanged at 8.1 percent. The unemployment rate has shown little movement since April, fluctuating between 8.0 and 8.1 percent.

In Anderson County, the unemployment rate rose from 7.6 to 7.8 percent. 

Unemployed persons statewide totaled 175,602 in August, an increase of 1,165. The number of employed fell 1,526 over-the-month to 1,986,209. There was a small decline in the labor force (-361) to 2,161,811 people.

Nationally, the unemployment rate dropped to 7.3 percent from July’s estimate of 7.4 percent. 

County by County results here

S.C. Schools May Change the Way Reading is Taught

Job one for teachers in South Carolina public schools is to teach children to read, according to advocates of legislation that would refocus the state's school system.

Most educators wouldn't argue with that premise. But some are objecting to the approach put forward in a bill that will be up for debate in January called the Read to Succeed Act.

Students unable to read on grade level by third grade could have to repeat the grade, if the bill passes.

Thousands of teachers who were certified in subjects such as algebra or biology also would have to go back to school to take courses in how to teach reading, and they would probably have to pay for the training out of their own pockets.

Greenville County Schools officials say their district already has a reading program that has outperformed the state as a whole and shouldn't be required to change direction.

But the state Education Oversight Committee, an independent panel created by the South Carolina Legislature to hold schools accountable, says that only a statewide, systemic change of focus will end the cycle that leads to dropout and failure of so many students who get by without really learning how to read.

"The state has spent countless dollars in education on reading and our scores are basically still flat," said Barbara Hairfield, vice chair of the Education Oversight Committee and chairman of a subcommittee that undertook a study on the state's reading problems.

"Everybody wants to improve but everybody's out there doing their own thing, and it's not working," said Hairfield, who is also social studies curriculum coordinator for the Charleston County School District.

Full Story at USA Today Here