The Daily Roundup for 06.26.2013

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

Filed under: Misc, Microsoft, Google

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/R59S3cPaRLw/

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Improve Concentration At Work: 13 Ways To Focus On The Job

1. Prioritize Tasks

You can improve your focus by tackling the big jobs first and leaving the small stuff till later. Make a list of what tasks are the most important. Your ?A List? might include anything with a deadline of today or tomorrow. The ?B List? would consist of projects needing to be completed next week, while the ?C List? catches loose ends like checking your email. ?If you fail to prioritize tasks, this can lead to organizational and distractibility issues,? says Simon Rego, PsyD, director of the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Training Program at Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City.

2. Corral Your Email

Even the most focused individuals can quickly be led astray by the incessant ping-ping-ping of incoming emails. But if a person is already prone to distraction, these incoming signals can derail the whole day. Rather than read email as it comes in all day and night, set aside specific periods of time to do this. ?Most patients find this very useful because we?re almost slaves to always having to be available to emails and phone calls,? says David Loewenstein, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

3. Limit Other Distractions

Persistent voice mails, the 24/7 availability of the Internet, and even casual conversations outside your office can drive you to distraction and away from the work at hand. As with emails, set aside specific times to check and answer voice mail messages. And depending upon what project is the most pressing, you may even consider turning off your computer to eliminate the endless allure of the world wide web. ?If you don?t turn your computer on, you don?t get distracted,? Rego says.

4. Break It Into Bite-Size Chunks

If you feel yourself becoming overwhelmed, this may well be because you?re taking on too much at one time. ?If you feel stressed or anxious, you can assume whatever task is making you feel (this way) is too big,? Rego says. ?Therefore smash it into smaller, more manageable bits.? If you?re anxious about needing to write something before the end of the week, break it down so that you feel more focused. Set realistic goals one day at a time or even one hour at a time.

5. Work In The Same Location

Working at Starbuck?s one day, the library another and your home office yet another will make you super-vulnerable to distracting external stimuli, says Rego. But if you habituate yourself to one place, your mind gets used to the area and can rev up to actually make you want to work. ?Being consistent in your environment and trying to work in the same place at the same time increases your natural tendency to do work in that area,? Rego says.

6. Find A Quiet Place To Work

The ideal would be to have a private office with a door but this isn?t always realistic in today?s world of Dilbert-like cubicles. If your boss isn?t open to giving you your own office, there are ways to minimize distractions even in a small cubicle. If you have to share your space, try to share it with someone who does more computer work than phone work and ask he or she to conduct meetings in other, more open spaces.

7. Set A Timer

Setting a timer to go off at certain intervals can help bring a wandering mind back to the task at hand. ?Have it go off as a cue to ask, ?Is what I?m doing right now one of my important A-List items? Am I on task??? says Rego. If you?re off task, this is a reminder to get back to what you were doing. You can also use a timer to try to gradually extend your attention span, from 10 minutes one week to 12 the next and 14 the next.

8. Declutter Your Workspace

Having a neat, clean work space can help improve organization and focus, but be aware that moving items around on your desk can be a double-edged sword. When cleaning your desk suddenly becomes a priority even with other deadlines looming, that could mean trouble. ?If all of a sudden it?s so important to clean [your] desk, that could be a red herring,? says Rego. ?Call it for what it is ... Be honest with yourself. What is the function of what [you?re] doing right now.?

9. Plan Your Days

Many people with ADHD find they are more efficient and productive if they use a day planner or a personal digital assistant (PDA). A compact PDA is especially useful because it can be carried with you and programmed to send messages and reminders, perhaps a 30-minute ?warning? bell before an upcoming meeting. That way you can make sure you?re prepared and on time. ?You will always have cues that will orient you,? Loewenstein says.

10. Use Relaxation Techniques

?If you have ADHD and are impulsive or distracted, that can become even greater if you are under stress,? says Loewenstein. That?s why it?s so important to take breaks where you can relax, be it just deep breathing, meditation or working with imagery. ?These things will help get people into a very focused state,? says Loewenstein. This way, you can get a sense that everything is not equally urgent and take the time to reassess. Do you need to finish this job now or can it wait? ?It gives people a chance to recalibrate,? he says.

11. Take Notes

Taking notes in a meeting or while you?re on the phone can help you remember items later. You can also use the notes to highlight new items for your A, B and C lists. And there?s another advantage. ?If you have problems processing auditory information in a meeting and become distracted, taking notes is great because you?re processing in another modality,? says Loewenstein.

12. Maintain A Routine

?In general, anything that you can routinize that you know you have to do and it becomes overlearned is very, very good,? Loewenstein says. If ?you?re constantly losing things, that just puts added pressure on your life.? This could be something as simple as putting your house and car keys in the same place every day so you don?t screw up your whole day. ?That?s one less thing that can go wrong,? says Loewenstein.The same goes for your organizer, notebooks, pens and briefcase.

13. Surround Yourself With Organized People

Many successful people with ADHD have one thing in common: They?ve set up the right supports. That means getting really ?together? people around you. ?If you?re a business person, you have to make sure you?re surrounding yourself with people who are really well organized and who like to organize the day,? says Loewenstein. ?Getting the right people around you, particularly if you?re in an executive position, is absolutely invaluable.?

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/27/improve-concentration-at-work_n_3479042.html

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Weekend heat wave to bake western US

A construction worker is shown atop a roof at sunrise to beat daytime high temperatures, Thursday, June 27, 2013 in Queen Creek, Ariz. Excessive heat warnings will continue for much of the Desert Southwest as building high pressure triggers major warming in eastern California, Nevada, and Arizona. Dangerously hot temperatures are expected across the Arizona deserts throughout the week with a high of 118 by Friday. (AP Photo/Matt York)

A construction worker is shown atop a roof at sunrise to beat daytime high temperatures, Thursday, June 27, 2013 in Queen Creek, Ariz. Excessive heat warnings will continue for much of the Desert Southwest as building high pressure triggers major warming in eastern California, Nevada, and Arizona. Dangerously hot temperatures are expected across the Arizona deserts throughout the week with a high of 118 by Friday. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Construction workers gather at a new home site at sunrise to beat daytime high temperatures, Thursday, June 27, 2013 in Queen Creek, Ariz. Excessive heat warnings will continue for much of the Desert Southwest as building high pressure triggers major warming in eastern California, Nevada, and Arizona. Dangerously hot temperatures are expected across the Arizona deserts throughout the week with a high of 118 by Friday. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Pre-dawn construction, to beat daytime high temperatures, continues on a new bridge, Thursday, June 27, 2013 in Mesa, Ariz. Excessive heat warnings will continue for much of the Desert Southwest as building high pressure triggers major warming in eastern California, Nevada, and Arizona. Dangerously hot temperatures are expected across the Arizona deserts throughout the week with a high of 118 by Friday. (AP Photo/Matt York)

A construction worker is shown atop a roof at sunrise to beat daytime high temperatures, Thursday, June 27, 2013 in Queen Creek, Ariz. Excessive heat warnings will continue for much of the Desert Southwest as building high pressure triggers major warming in eastern California, Nevada, and Arizona. Dangerously hot temperatures are expected across the Arizona deserts throughout the week with a high of 118 by Friday. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Construction worker Joel Loza puts on his bandana after soaking it in water in an effort to keep cool Thursday, June 27, 2013 in Gibert, Ariz. Excessive heat warnings will continue for much of the Desert Southwest as building high pressure triggers major warming in eastern California, Nevada, and Arizona. Dangerously hot temperatures are expected across the Arizona deserts throughout the week with a high of 118 by Friday. (AP Photo/Matt York)

LAS VEGAS (AP) ? A high pressure system parking over the West is expected to bring temperatures this weekend and into next week that are extreme even for a region used to baking during the summer.

Notoriously hot Death Valley's forecast calls for 129 degrees, not far off the world record of 134 logged there July 10, 1913. The National Weather Service called for 118 in Phoenix, and at least 117 in Las Vegas on Sunday ? a mark reached only twice in Sin City.

"It's brutal out there," said Leslie Carmine, spokeswoman for Catholic Charities, which runs a daytime shelter in Las Vegas to draw homeless people out of the heat and set them up with sunscreen and bottled water.

Meteorologists are calling for highs at or above 112 through Wednesday in Las Vegas, and there isn't even relief when the sun goes down. Sunday night's low is forecast to be 92 degrees ? enough to make for a stuffy stroll down the Strip at whatever hour tourists leave the bar.

Two Elvis impersonators and a performer costumed as the iconic "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign said they still planned to keep up their routine of working the tourist corridor in the broad daylight and turning in for the evenings, heat notwithstanding.

"We'd much rather fight with the sun than fight with the drunk people," Elvis impersonator Cristian Morales said Thursday.

While the Southwest boasts the most alarming temperatures, the heat wave is driving up the mercury all over the West. Western Washington ? better known for rainy coffee shop weather ? should break the 90s early next week, according to the weather service.

Dry southern Utah is forecast to reach higher than 110 degrees, and northern Utah ? which markets "the greatest snow on Earth" ? is also expected to hit the triple digits.

The heat wave is "a huge one," National Weather Service specialist Stuart Seto said. "We haven't seen one like this for several years, probably the mid- to late 2000s."

The system's high pressure causes air to sink and warm, drawing down humidity.

"As the air warms, it can hold more moisture, and so what that does is take out the clouds," Seto said.

While those in the West take to their swimming pools or hunker down indoors during the heat wave, the eastern half of the country is set for normal and below normal temperatures driven by lower pressure.

"There's a balancing act in the atmospheric pressure," said Chris Stachelski, a weather service meteorologist based in Las Vegas.

He noted that an unusual June heat wave that's had Alaskans shedding their polar fleece in favor of bathing suits is part of a separate high-pressure system centered in the Yukon.

The hottest cities in the West are taking precautions to protect vulnerable residents during the sizzle. Police are pleading with drivers not to leave babies or pets in vehicles, and temporary cooling stations are popping up to shelter homeless people and seniors on fixed incomes who hesitate to use the air conditioning.

Officials said extra personnel have been added to the U.S. Border Patrol's Search, Trauma, and Rescue unit as people illegally crossing the border from Mexico into Arizona could succumb to exhaustion and dehydration.

Several bodies of immigrants have been found in the last week in Arizona. Agents in the Tucson sector rescued more than 170 people from the desert during a 30-day stretch in May and June when temperatures were even lower than expected in the coming days.

At low-lying Lake Mead, which straddles the Arizona-Nevada border and is anticipating 120 degrees this weekend, rangers are positioned at trailheads to discourage hikers.

Earlier in June, a group of Boy Scouts hiking in the Colorado River canyon fell victim to soaring heat. Four teenagers and an adult had to be rescued, while a 69-year-old Scout leader died.

___

Associated Press writers Robert Jablon in Los Angeles, Julie Jacobson in Las Vegas, Michelle Price in Salt Lake City and Brian Skoloff in Phoenix contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-06-27-West%20Heat%20Wave/id-871968acd75749f49c622cdf668201ac

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PFT: Photo shows Hernandez with gun in '09

AP

With more than $5 million still arguably owed to Aaron Hernandez under the contract he signed last August, the Patriots likely will fight to avoid paying him another dime.? The two-front battle relates to the final $3.25 million installment of his $12.5 million signing bonus and guaranteed base salaries for 2013 and 2014.? The guaranteed base salaries total $2.5 million.

As to the signing bonus, the team?s decision to cut Hernandez makes it much more difficult to block the final payment or to recover any of the $8.75 million already issued to Hernandez.? As to the guaranteed salaries, multiple sources have indicated that Hernandez likely will not be entitled to any further payment.

Despite the absence of forfeiture language for the guaranteed salaries, the guarantee applies only to terminations made due to injury, skill (i.e., perceived lack of it), and the salary cap.? Because the Patriots cut Hernandez pursuant to paragraph 11 of the standard player contract, which permits termination of employment when the player ?has engaged in personal conduct reasonably judged by Club to adversely affect or reflect on Club,? the guarantee evaporates.

As we understand it, that?s not merely the team?s position.? The NFLPA, we?re told, agrees with the interpretation.

While this doesn?t prevent Hernandez from filing a grievance aimed at getting the money, it?s a steep uphill climb and, frankly, the least of his concerns.

The more intriguing fight will arise in connection with the unpaid $3.25 million installment of the signing bonus.? That money already has been earned by Hernandez.? But cutting him, the Patriots apparently surrendered any ability to recover the money that has been paid or to keep the portion that hasn?t been paid.

Still, it currently appears that the Patriots will at a minimum force Hernandez to sue for the rest ? and at most try to recover as much of the previously-paid signing bonus as they can.

The problem for Hernandez is that, even though the terms of the labor deal seem to be on his side, the facts can nudge the controversy toward a bad outcome.? The problem for other players is that, if Hernandez loses, a bad precedent will be created for them.

Either way, it appears that the Patriots have enhanced their ability to avoid the guaranteed salaries by cutting Hernandez, even if cutting him makes it harder to avoid paying the final $3.25 million.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/06/26/photo-emerges-of-hernandez-posing-with-glock-in-2009/related/

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Video game tech used to steer cockroaches on autopilot

June 25, 2013 ? North Carolina State University researchers are using video game technology to remotely control cockroaches on autopilot, with a computer steering the cockroach through a controlled environment. The researchers are using the technology to track how roaches respond to the remote control, with the goal of developing ways that roaches on autopilot can be used to map dynamic environments -- such as collapsed buildings.

The researchers have incorporated Microsoft's motion-sensing Kinect system into an electronic interface developed at NC State that can remotely control cockroaches. The researchers plug in a digitally plotted path for the roach, and use Kinect to identify and track the insect's progress. The program then uses the Kinect tracking data to automatically steer the roach along the desired path.?

The program also uses Kinect to collect data on how the roaches respond to the electrical impulses from the remote-control interface. This data will help the researchers fine-tune the steering parameters needed to control the roaches more precisely.

"Our goal is to be able to guide these roaches as efficiently as possible, and our work with Kinect is helping us do that," says Dr. Alper Bozkurt, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State and co-author of a paper on the work.

"We want to build on this program, incorporating mapping and radio frequency techniques that will allow us to use a small group of cockroaches to explore and map disaster sites," Bozkurt says. "The autopilot program would control the roaches, sending them on the most efficient routes to provide rescuers with a comprehensive view of the situation."

The roaches would also be equipped with sensors, such as microphones, to detect survivors in collapsed buildings or other disaster areas. "We may even be able to attach small speakers, which would allow rescuers to communicate with anyone who is trapped," Bozkurt says.

Bozkurt's team had previously developed the technology that would allow users to steer cockroaches remotely, but the use of Kinect to develop an autopilot program and track the precise response of roaches to electrical impulses is new.

The interface that controls the roach is wired to the roach's antennae and cerci. The cerci are sensory organs on the roach's abdomen, which are normally used to detect movement in the air that could indicate a predator is approaching -- causing the roach to scurry away. But the researchers use the wires attached to the cerci to spur the roach into motion. The wires attached to the antennae send small charges that trick the roach into thinking the antennae are in contact with a barrier and steering them in the opposite direction.

The paper, "Kinect-based System for Automated Control of Terrestrial Insect Biobots," will be presented at the Remote Controlled Insect Biobots Minisymposium at the 35th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society July 4 in Osaka, Japan. Lead author of the paper is NC State undergraduate Eric Whitmire. Co-authors are Bozkurt and NC State graduate student Tahmid Latif. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/matter_energy/technology/~3/INaQYtNvF54/130625121233.htm

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Study details cancer-promoting mechanisms of overlooked components in secondhand smoke

June 25, 2013 ? Tobacco smoke, diesel exhaust and oil combustion carry polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons -- PAHs that are known to cause cancer. But of these PAHs, the obviously dangerous high-molecular-weight PAHs like benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) have received the vast majority of research attention. Their low-molecular-weight cousins have been largely overlooked, in part because studies have shown that these compounds alone aren't very successful at mutating genes in cancer-causing ways.

A University of Colorado Cancer Center study published in the journal PLoS One explores two of these low-molecular-weight (LMW) PAHs -- 1-methylanthracene (1-MeA) and 2-methylanthracene (2-MeA) -- and shows that while they don't necessarily cause cancer, 1-MeA promotes conditions that will likely allow cancer to grow.

"There's a big distinction between initiating cancer and promoting it," says Alison Bauer, PhD, CU Cancer Center investigator and assistant professor at the Colorado School of Public Health. Her study showed that in a mouse cell model using a progenitor cell of lung cancer, the LMW 1-MeA promoted inflammation and increased mitogenic pathways, both of which are linked to tumor promotion. 2-MeA, while nearly structurally identical, did not.

"These LMW PAHs have been considered less of a concern," Bauer says, "but we're finding evidence that's not the case. They're not likely initiating the cancer, but it looks as if they could promote it."

Among other effects, Bauer and colleagues found that 1-MeA disrupts communication between cells, affecting the "gap junctions" across which adjoining cells pass information. 1-MeA also upregulates the gene COX2, which has been shown in other studies to create an over-aggressive inflammatory response -- and this inflammation in turn can promote tumor growth.

"There are many different PAHs in secondhand smoke," Bauer says. "Some are obviously dangerous like BaP, which directly mutates genes. Others, like 1-MeA, we known very little about. Think about all these PAHs like chess pieces -- first you have to know how each piece moves and then you can start looking at how they all work together."

Bauer points to these PAH mixtures as the next step in research. Eventually, knowing the effects of these mixtures could help evaluate the risks of different combustion products. The work could also lead to new therapy targets if, perhaps, some of the changes promoted by these LMW PAHs prove preventable or reversible by medicines.

"With smoking rates decreasing, we think this problem is going away, but high levels of secondhand smoke still exist in the U.S., for example in some apartment buildings," Bauer says. "And around the world, in China, Russia, Poland and many other countries, secondhand smoke is still a major issue. Knowing the effects of these LMW PAHs like 1-MeA could help us prevent or treat cancers associated with them."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/k-LDtzBAM60/130625150940.htm

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Snowden mystery deepens: All eyes on airport

Transit passengers eat at a cafe with a TV screen with a news program showing a report on Edward Snowden, in the background, at Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow Wednesday, June 26, 2013. Russia?s President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden has remained in Sheremetyevo?s transit zone, but media that descended on the airport in the search for him couldn?t locate him there. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Transit passengers eat at a cafe with a TV screen with a news program showing a report on Edward Snowden, in the background, at Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow Wednesday, June 26, 2013. Russia?s President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden has remained in Sheremetyevo?s transit zone, but media that descended on the airport in the search for him couldn?t locate him there. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Transit passengers check into a hotel at the transit zone in Sheremetyevo,airport in Moscow Wednesday, June 26, 2013. Russia?s President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden has remained in Sheremetyevo?s transit zone, but media that descended on the airport in the search for him couldn?t locate him there.(AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

An airport worker passes a TV screen with a news program showing a report on Edward Snowden at Sheremetyevo,airport in Moscow Wednesday, June 26, 2013. Russia?s President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden has remained in Sheremetyevo?s transit zone, but media that descended on the airport in the search for him couldn?t locate him there.(AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

A transit passenger takes a photo with a mobile phone in the transit zone at Sheremetyevo,airport in Moscow Wednesday, June 26, 2013. Russia?s President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden has remained in Sheremetyevo?s transit zone, but media that descended on the airport in the search for him couldn?t locate him there.(AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Transit passengers rest in the transit zone at Sheremetyevo,airport in Moscow Wednesday, June 26, 2013. Russia?s President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden has remained in Sheremetyevo?s transit zone, but media that descended on the airport in the search for him couldn?t locate him there.(AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

MOSCOW (AP) ? Moscow's main airport swarmed with journalists from around the globe Wednesday, but the man they were looking for ? National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden ? was nowhere to be seen. The mystery of his whereabouts only deepened a day after President Vladimir Putin said that Snowden was in the transit area of Sheremetyevo Airport.

An Associated Press reporter entered the area Wednesday by flying in from Kiev, Ukraine, and found ordinary scenes of duty free shopping, snoozing travelers and tourists sipping coffee, but no trace of America's most famous fugitive. If Putin's statement is true, it means that Snowden has effectively lived a life of airport limbo since his weekend flight from Hong Kong, especially with his American passport now revoked by U.S. authorities.

Adding to the uncertainty, Ecuador's foreign minister said Wednesday it could take months to decide whether to grant asylum to Snowden and that the Latin American nation would take into consideration its relations with the U.S. when doing so. Speaking during a visit to Malaysia's main city, Kuala Lumpur, Ricardo Patino compared Snowden's case to that of Julian Assange, the founder of anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, who has been given asylum in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London.

"It took us two months to make a decision in the case of Assange, so do not expect us to make a decision sooner this time," Patino told reporters.

Snowden, who is charged with violating American espionage laws, fled Hong Kong over the weekend and flew to Russia. He booked a seat on a Havana-bound flight Monday en route to Venezuela, but didn't board the plane. His ultimate destination was believed to be Ecuador.

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa shot back at critics on Wednesday, taking special aim at a Washington Post editorial that described him as "the autocratic leader of tiny, impoverished Ecuador" and accused him of a double standard for considering asylum for Snowden while stifling critics at home.

"The shamelessness of the century: Washington Post accuses Ecuador of double standard," Correa said on his Twitter page.

As a contractor for the NSA, Snowden gained access to documents that he gave to the Post and the Guardian to expose what he contends are privacy violations by an authoritarian government.

Correa complained that the international press "has managed to focus attention on Snowden and on those 'wicked' countries that 'aid' him, making us forget the terrible things against the U.S. people and the whole world that he denounced."

The airport zone where Snowden is purportedly staying serves both connecting passengers traveling via Moscow to onward destinations and passengers departing from Moscow who have passed border and security checks.

The huge area unites three terminals: the modern, recently built D and E, and the older, less comfortable F, which dates to the Soviet era. The transit and departure area is essentially a long corridor, with boarding gates on one side and gleaming duty free shops, luxury clothing boutiques and souvenir stores selling Russian Matryoshka dolls on the other. About a dozen restaurants owned by local and foreign chains serve various tastes.

Hundreds of Russian and foreign tourists awaited flights here, some stretched out on rows of gray chairs, others sipping hot drinks at coffee shops or looking out through giant windows as silver-blue Aeroflot planes land and take off.

Business ran as usual at the terminals on Wednesday morning. An Asian girl, about 10 years old, slept peacefully on her father's lap. A middle-aged mother and her teenage daughter tried out perfume samples at a duty free store, while nearby a woman in a green dress picked out a pair of designer sunglasses. A pilot was buying lunch at Burger King.

Putin insisted Tuesday that Snowden has stayed in the transit zone without passing through Russian immigration and is free to travel wherever he likes. But the U.S. move to annul Snowden's passport may have severely complicated his travel plans. Exiting the transit area would either require boarding a plane or passing through border control. Both require a valid passport or other documentation.

Hordes of journalists armed with laptops and photo and video cameras have camped in and around the airport, looking for Snowden or anyone who may have seen or talked to him. But after talking to passengers, airport personnel, waiters and shop clerks, the press corps has discovered no sign of the leaker.

Russian news agencies, citing unidentified sources, reported that Snowden was staying at a hotel in the transit terminal, but he was not seen at the zone's only hotel, called Air Express. It offers several dozen capsule-style spaces that passengers can rent for a few hours to catch some sleep. Hotel staff refused to say whether Snowden was staying there or had stayed there in the past.

"We only saw lots of journalists, that's for sure," said Maxim, a waiter at the Shokoladnitsa diner not far from Air Express. He declined to give his last name because he wasn't allowed to talk to reporters.

The departure and transit area is huge and has dozens of small rooms, some labeled "authorized personnel only," where someone could potentially seek refuge with support from airport staff or security personnel. And security forces or police patrolling the area can easily whisk a person out of sight through back doors or corridors.

There are also a few VIP lounge areas, accessible to business-class passengers or people willing to pay some $20 per hour. Snowden was not seen in those areas.

Sheremetyevo's press service declined to comment on Snowden's whereabouts. A policeman at the airport laughed off a question from an AP reporter about where he might be. "Journalists have searched this place for three days and have found nothing. Was he ever here in the first place?" the policeman asked. He spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Hong Kong officials said they allowed Snowden to leave for Moscow because the U.S. government got his middle name wrong in documents it submitted seeking his arrest. Hong Kong immigration records listed Snowden's middle name as Joseph, but the U.S. government used the name James in some documents and referred to him only as Edward J. Snowden in others, Justice Secretary Rimsky Yuen said. The U.S. also did not provide his passport number and did not respond to requests for clarification, Yuen said.

Meanwhile, WikiLeaks gave a terse update on Snowden earlier on Wednesday, saying in a statement posted to Twitter that he was "well."

WikiLeaks says that one of its staffers, Sarah Harrison, was traveling with Snowden, but the statement gave no indication if the update came from her, from Snowden, or from some other source. WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson did not immediately return a call and a text seeking further comment.

In a conference call with reporters on Monday, Assange said he was limited in what he could say about Snowden due to security concerns. He denied reports that Snowden was spending his time at the airport being debriefed by Russian intelligence officers.

_____

Yoong reported from Kuala Lumpur. Lynn Berry in Moscow and Raphael Satter in London contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-06-26-NSA-Surveillance/id-d0f1ecbdb3944b33a4e38474c6458f55

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