South Korean protesters burn an effigy of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during an anti-North Korea rally to denounce North Korea's nuclear test in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013. A day after North Korea defied U.N. warnings with a nuclear test, Pyongyang?s neighbors turned Wednesday to the business of bolstering their military preparations and sending out scientists to determine whether the detonation was as successful as the North claimed. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
South Korean protesters burn an effigy of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during an anti-North Korea rally to denounce North Korea's nuclear test in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013. A day after North Korea defied U.N. warnings with a nuclear test, Pyongyang?s neighbors turned Wednesday to the business of bolstering their military preparations and sending out scientists to determine whether the detonation was as successful as the North claimed. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A man looks through the wire fence covered with ribbons carrying messages of people's wish for the reunification of the two Koreas at the Imjingak Pavilion near the border village of Panmunjom, which has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War, in Paju, north of Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013. Defying U.N. warnings, North Korea on Tuesday conducted its third nuclear test in the remote, snowy northeast, taking a crucial step toward its goal of building a bomb small enough to be fitted on a missile capable of striking the United States. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
South Korean army soldiers patrol by the national flags and ribbons, wishing for the reunification of the two Koreas, attached on the barbed-wire fence at the Imjingak Pavilion near the border village of Panmunjom, which has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War, in Paju, north of Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013. Defying U.N. warnings, North Korea on Tuesday conducted its third nuclear test in the remote, snowy northeast, taking a crucial step toward its goal of building a bomb small enough to be fitted on a missile capable of striking the United States. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A South Korean protester shouts slogans near an effigy of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during an anti-North Korea rally to denounce North Korea's nuclear test in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013. A day after North Korea defied U.N. warnings with a nuclear test, Pyongyang?s neighbors turned Wednesday to the business of bolstering their military preparations and sending out scientists to determine whether the detonation was as successful as the North claimed.(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
South Korean army soldiers patrol along barbed-wire fences at the Imjingak Pavilion, near the demilitarized zone of Panmunjom, in Paju, South Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013. South Korea is confirming that North Korea has tested a nuclear device in defiance of U.N. orders to stop building atomic weapons. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? North Korea's neighbors bolstered their military preparations and mobilized scientists Wednesday to determine whether Pyongyang's third nuclear test, conducted in defiance of U.N. warnings, was as successful as the North claimed.
The detonation was also the focus of global diplomatic maneuvers, with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry reaching out to counterparts in Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo. President Barack Obama used his State of the Union address to assure U.S. allies in the region and warn of "firm action."
"Provocations of the sort we saw last night will only isolate them further as we stand by our allies, strengthen our own missile defense and lead the world in taking firm action in response to these threats," Obama said.
The nuclear device detonated Tuesday at a remote underground site in the northeast is seen as a crucial step toward North Korea's goal of building a bomb small enough to be fitted on a missile capable of striking the United States.
North Korea said it tested a "smaller and light A-bomb, unlike the previous ones, yet with great explosive power." Still, just what happened in the test was unclear to outsiders.
Intelligence officials and analysts in Seoul raised the possibility of another nuclear test and of ballistic missile test-launches. North Korea's Foreign Ministry said the latest test was merely its "first response" to what it called U.S. threats and that Pyongyang will continue with unspecified "second and third measures of greater intensity" if Washington maintains its hostility.
South Korea has raised its military readiness alert level, and on Wednesday it used aircraft and ships, as well as specialists on the ground, to collect air samples to analyze possibly increased radiation from the test, according to the Defense Ministry. Japanese fighter jets were dispatched immediately after the test to collect atmospheric samples. Japan has also established monitoring posts, including one on its northwest coast, to collect similar data.
Underground nuclear tests often release radioactive elements into the atmosphere that can be analyzed to determine key details about the blast. One of the main points that intelligence officials want to know is whether the device was a plutonium bomb or one that used highly enriched uranium, which would be a first for North Korea.
In 2006 and 2009, North Korea is believed to have tested devices made of plutonium. But in 2010, Pyongyang revealed it was trying to enrich uranium, which would be a second source of nuclear bomb-making materials ? a worrying development for the United States and its allies.
Generally, it takes about two days for such radioactive byproducts from the North's test site to reach South Korea, Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said Wednesday.
South Korea also said Wednesday it has deployed cruise missiles with "world-class accuracy and destructive power" that are capable of hitting any target in North Korea at any time, and is speeding up the planned deployment of ballistic missiles.
Kim said Seoul believes North Korea made test preparations at two underground tunnels and may still be able to conduct another atomic test in the second unused tunnel.
In an emergency session, the U.N. Security Council unanimously said the test poses "a clear threat to international peace and security" and pledged further action.
It remains to be seen, however, whether China will sign on to any new, binding global sanctions. Beijing, Pyongyang's primary trading partner, has resisted measures that would cut off North Korea's economy completely.
The test was a defiant North Korean response to U.N. orders that it shut down its atomic activity or face more sanctions and international isolation. It will likely draw more sanctions from the United States and other countries at a time when North Korea is trying to rebuild its moribund economy and expand its engagement with the outside world.
The test "was neither a surprise nor an occasion for panic," said Robert Hathaway, director of the Woodrow Wilson Center's Asia program. "Nonetheless, this latest provocation clearly constitutes a serious challenge to U.S. and international efforts to block the North from acquiring a nuclear weapons arsenal."
Tuesday's test was North Korea's first since young leader Kim Jong Un took power over a country long estranged from the West. The test will likely be portrayed in North Korea as a strong move to defend the nation against foreign aggression, particularly from the U.S.
The U.N. Security Council recently punished North Korea for a rocket launch in December that the U.N. and Washington called a cover for a banned long-range missile test. Pyongyang said it was a peaceful launch of a satellite into space. In condemning that launch, the council demanded a stop to future launches and ordered North Korea to respect a ban on nuclear activity or face "significant action" by the U.N.
It wasn't immediately clear to outside experts whether the device exploded Tuesday was small enough to fit on a missile. A successful test would take North Korean scientists a step closer to building a nuclear warhead that could reach U.S. shores ? seen as the ultimate goal of North Korea's nuclear program.
Uranium would be a worry because plutonium facilities are large and produce detectable radiation, making them easier for outsiders to find and monitor. However, uranium centrifuges can be hidden from satellites, drones and nuclear inspectors in caves, tunnels and other hard-to-reach places. Highly enriched uranium also is easier than plutonium to engineer into a weapon.
"North Korea will want to send a message that its nuclear and missile issues cannot be resolved with sanctions and that high-level talks with the U.S. are necessary," said Cheong Seong-chang, an analyst at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea, referring to the possibility of another nuclear or missile test.
Despite tensions, he predicted U.S.-North Korea diplomatic talks could occur later this year.
"The biggest U.S. concern is whether the North has made progress in its uranium enrichment program. It's a matter of nuclear proliferation. To resolve this, the U.S. cannot help but talk with North Korea," he said.
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Associated Press writers Sam Kim in Seoul, South Korea, Eric Talmadge in Tokyo and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-02-13-NKorea/id-e4ca4a62d3024178a47d317874fbe6e4
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Instead of spending to grow virtual crops faster, Facebook gamers can turn those purchases into donations for cattle donations and fistula operations in the developing world. A new Facebook game coming to the platform in a few weeks is all about womens’ rights. Based on The New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s book about women, it’s called Half The Sky and is the fruit of a collaboration between a non-profit Games For Change and Canada’s Frima Studios, which is one of the bigger independent developers in the country. While there have been a few early projects in gaming for social causes like Darfur is Dying and social entrepreneurship game Urgent Evoke, it’s still a pretty new genre. Games For Change’s co-president Asi Rudak says that non-profits often turn to dinners and galas to raise money and awareness of humanitarian issues. And yet, games can have a much farther reach with millions of players. Games For Change put out a $1 million request for proposal and invited different game developers to suggest concepts. They raised the funds from institutions like the Rockefeller Foundation, Intel, United Nations Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Frima’s bid won. “Our vision has always been to think about games not only as entertainment, but as a way to modify behavior or teach things,” said Frima’s CEO Steve Couture. In their game, a young woman named Radhika has to go through the everyday struggles that women in the developing world confront. She realizes her daughter is very sick, but her husband doesn’t have money to take her to a doctor. Radhika has to find a way to make the money for medical treatment. “There’s a range of stories. Every time, she becomes more successful and more independent,” Rudak says. She buys a virtual goat, start to sell the milk and through that, starts her own small business. Eventually, that brings her on a journey around the world through India, Kenya, Vietnam, Afghanistan and the U.S. “The real worlds and virtual worlds are intertwined,” Rudak says. For example, when Radhika buys a goat, a player can make a donation to Heifer International. Or when she gets her daughter treated, the player can make a vaccine donation to the UN. Bigger partners like Pearson and Johnson & Johnson have offered to do book or surgical operation donations if enough players trigger them. Zynga has also
Android: There are plenty of note-taking apps for Android, but Colornote Notepad has a few unique features that make it easy and fun. The app itself makes taking, saving, and organizing notes easy, but you can put your notes on your home screen as widgets for easy access?grocery lists, shopping lists, and to-dos are all one-tap away, and you can use the widgets to open them in the app, or cross items off without even leaving your home screen. 
Every week, we share the shortcuts, workspaces, and productivity tips of our favorite experts and internet personalities. This week, however, we're giving you guys a glimpse into how we work, and all the tips and tricks that keep our blogging wheels spinning. 
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
I work almost exclusively in my home office. I'm a die hard PC gamer and love building systems, so you can pretty much guess my setup. I use a custom-built Windows 8 PC, dual monitors, and a pair of Bose Companion 2 desktop speakers. Only two speakers? Yes, because I do most of my gaming with a headset.
For my personal to-do list, if it's time-based I stick it on my calendar. If it's not, I just try to remember. That usually works out pretty well. For my calendar, I favor paper. It may sound crazy, but I just love having a huge paper calendar on my desk that I can write and draw and circle things on, with plenty of space for notes and post-its. Plus, it gives me a good reason to keep my colored pencils around.
I was told I would not be asked to incriminate myself during these interviews. Still, there are a couple of people I'd love to see do How I Work. John Cleese is funny and awesome, sure, but he also has some really interesting ideas about creativity and the space you make for it to happen. Seriously. It's kind of long, but give this video a watch. We can always get back to me when you're done.