– Since July, at least seven dogs in and around Los Angeles County have been burned, likely with battery acid or another chemical—and now the county is offering a $25,000 reward for help finding the person or people behind the attacks. Two of the dogs (some of which have also been attacked in Kern County) were euthanized as a result of the attacks, the Los Angeles Times reports. Most of the injured animals have been pit bulls, but a golden retriever was also burned in the attacks, the Los Angeles Daily News reports. Authorities also released a photo of an injured cocker spaniel. "We hope that the reward will encourage someone that may have heard something to step forward with information that may lead us to the person who committed these really depraved acts of cruelty," says a spokesperson for LA County Supervisor Michael Antonovich. PETA is also offering a $2,500 reward, the Daily News reports. Money is being raised for at least two of the dogs online; their GoFundMe pages are here and here. (In happier news, these 100 dogs were saved from becoming dinner.)

Expand this summary.

When you think you've seen it all, you are always proven wrong.

 The inhumanity of human's is unbearable at times.

 A young (1-2 y/o) Golden was found as a stray and brought into the Lancaster Shelter with burns down his entire back. Our doctors believe that either lighter fluid or gasoline was poured down his entire back and he was purposely set on fire!!

 He is being treated at AMC now for severe burns and we are hoping to stave off infection which is what we are most concerned about at this point. The nerves are actually "killed" by such deep burns so thankfully he is not really in pain since he was in the shelter for several days in this condition before we were able to secure his release.

 We have named him Fergus - Irish for Powerful. And of course like all Golden's he is still loving and forgiving and just wanted to be held..

 We are totally dependent upon you, our friends, for help with all of the vet bills. Any donations are always so very much appreciated so we can always be there when dogs like Fergus.

 Bless you Barry Jacobs for waiting in line today for three hours and driving for another two and saving this baby....

 (WE LATER FOUND OUT IT WAS NOT CAUSED BY FIRE, BUT WORSE, BY ACID BEING POURED ON HIM - DOWN THE LENGTH OF HIS BODY!!)

 Help spread the word! Share Tweet 1.9k total shares total shares ||||| At least 7 dogs have been found, or brought to local shelters, with what appears to be chemical burns on their backs. The L.A. County Board of Supervisors is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of a suspect in connection with apparent chemical attacks involving domestic dogs in the Antelope Valley and surrounding communities. (Photo courtesy of Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department)

 Los Angeles County officials hope a $25,000 reward will help solve the mystery of who is chemically burning dogs in the Antelope Valley.

 The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved Tuesday Supervisor Michael Antonovich’s request to offer a $25,000 reward for information about the dogs that leads to the perpetrator.

 A golden retriever and at least six pit bulls were found in the past year in Lancaster, Palmdale and Rosamond in Kern County with chemical burns. A golden retriever, named Fergus, suffered from third-degree burns on its neck and back was brought to the Lancaster animal shelter Aug. 11 and subsequently turned over to the Animal Medical Center of Southern California in West Los Angeles.

 The Sheriff’s Department and the county Department of Animal Care and Control are investigating a number of incidents of suspected animal cruelty. Investigators are trying to determine if the injuries are accidental or are intentional crimes.

 The reward offer is contingent on providing information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible.

 “We hope that the reward will encourage someone that may have heard something to step forward with information that may lead us to the person who committed these really depraved acts of cruelty,” Antonovich spokesman Tony Bell said.

 Sheriff’s officials encouraged members of the public to report similar acts of animal cruelty.

 People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has offered a $2,500 reward in this case. A GoFundMe page has also raised $25,000 as of Tuesday.

 Anyone with information is asked to call investigator Rachel Montez-Kemp at L.A. County Animal Care and Control at 661-974-8096 or Deputy Daniel Gore at the Lancaster Sheriff’s Station at 661-940-3851 or 661-948-8466.

 To provide information anonymously, call “Crime Stoppers” at 800-222-TIPS (8477), or text the letters TIPLA plus the tip to CRIMES (274637) or at http://lacrimestoppers.org. ||||| The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich ’s motion for the reward in connection with at least seven attacks since July on dogs in both L.A. and Kern counties. Dogs have been found with long burns on their back. Authorities believe they may be caused by a caustic chemical. Two of the dogs were so severely injured that they were euthanized. ||||| Crissie was brought to Lancaster shelter. She had chemical burns down her neck and back. Doggy Smiles Rescue saved her from the shelter. We now need funds to pay for her medical care.The burns went deep into her flesh. They are gaping open and bleeding.It has been two weeks since she came to the shelter.Please help us raise funds to help this loving girl. Even in her obvious pain, she is so sweet and such a love bug!Crissie deserves a chance to receive the best medical care. ||||| People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals offered a $2,500 reward Thursday for information leading to the person or people who severely burned a golden retriever, possibly with battery acid, in the Lancaster area.

 “It takes a dangerous lack of empathy to pour acid on a dog and leave him for dead on the side of the road,” PETA Senior Director Colleen O’Brien said. “PETA is urging anyone with information about this case to come forward now before anyone else is hurt.”

 The dog, who has been named “Fergus,” was brought to a Lancaster animal shelter Aug. 11 and subsequently turned over to the Animal Medical Center of Southern California in West Los Angeles for treatment, with the help of the Southern California Golden Retriever Rescue Group.

 Fergus was apparently taken to the shelter by a good Samaritan who found the wounded animal suffering from severe burns on its head and back.

 Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials have begun an investigation in hopes of finding the person or people responsible. Three other dogs have been found with similar injuries in recent weeks, at least two of them also in the Antelope Valley, although investigators have not officially linked the cases. Two of the other dogs have died.

 Doctors at the Animal Medical Center said Fergus is making an almost miraculous recovery.

 NBC4 reported Wednesday that one of its viewers had offered a $2,000 reward for information leading to the suspect or suspects.

 Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich said he will ask his board colleagues on Sept. 1 to approve a $10,000 reward.

 “With this reward, we hope to encourage the public to come forth with any information that will help us identify, apprehend and prosecute whomever is responsible for these depraved acts of cruelty,” he said.

 A Gofundme page was set up by the Golden Retriever Rescue Group in hopes of raising $10,000 to cover the dog’s medical costs. As of midday Thursday, more than $19,000 had already been raised. Rescue Group officials said excess funds will be used to assist other dogs in the group’s care. |||||


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– Good news for the fair-skinned among us: Scientists in Massachusetts have developed a drug that darkens and protects human skin without the damaging effects of ultraviolet (UV) light. Dr. David Fisher, a researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital, tells the BBC the drug initiates a series of chemical reactions that enables skin to produce sun-blocking dark melanin without exposure to dangerous UV light—which initiates the same chemical reactions, but only after damaging the skin. "Under the microscope it's the real melanin,” Fisher says. “It really is activating the production of pigment in a UV-independent fashion." The drug could be a good thing even for people who don't crave a tan: Dark pigment provides a protective barrier against UV radiation, reducing the risk of skin cancer. In an interview with STAT, Fisher says the next step will be to test the drug’s safety, with the first test subjects most likely being "individuals who are at the highest risk for developing skin cancer.” If further tests prove successful the new drug could prove to be a substitute for other self-tanning activities, like lotions, which essentially paint the skin but provide no melanin protection, and tanning beds, which expose the skin to harmful UV rays and can thus be risky. Still, according to Science News, the drug would not, on its own, be considered a substitute for sunscreen, which blocks UV rays but has the counteractive effect of leaving skin pale and vulnerable. Ideally, Dr. Fisher says, the drug would be combined with sunscreen in a single product.

A method that gives mice a tan without using ultraviolet radiation now works in human skin samples. It’s an early step in developing a lotion or cream that might provide fair-skinned folk with protection against skin cancer.

 As reported June 13 in Cell Reports, a topical drug penetrated and tanned laboratory samples of live human skin, absent the sun. Unlike self-tanning lotions that essentially stain skin brown and provide minimal sun protection, the drug activates the production of the dark form of the skin pigment melanin, which absorbs UV radiation and diminishes damage to skin cells.

 The team behind this study had worked with a different drug, the plant extract forskolin, in a 2006 study. The researchers used mice with skin like that of red-haired, fair-skinned people, who don’t tan because of a nonfunctioning protein on the surface of the skin cells that make melanin. ||||| Image copyright Getty Images

 Scientists have developed a drug that mimics sunlight to make the skin tan, with no damaging UV radiation involved.

 The drug tricks the skin into producing the brown form of the pigment melanin in tests on skin samples and mice.

 Evidence suggests it will work even on redheads, who normally just burn in the sun.

 The team at Massachusetts General Hospital hope their discovery could prevent skin cancer and even slow the appearance of ageing.

 Potent tan

 UV light makes the skin tan by causing damage.

 This kicks off a chain of chemical reactions in the skin that ultimately leads to dark melanin - the body's natural sunblock - being made.

 The drug is rubbed into the skin to skip the damage and kick-start the process of making melanin.

 Dr David Fisher, one of the researchers, told the BBC News website: "It has a potent darkening effect.

 "Under the microscope it's the real melanin, it really is activating the production of pigment in a UV-independent fashion."

 Image copyright Nisma Mujahid and David Fisher Image caption The drug was tested on the skin sample on the right.

 It is a markedly different approach to fake tan, which "paints" the skin without the protection from melanin, sun beds, which expose the skin to UV light or pills that claim to boost melanin production but still need UV light.

 But the team is not motivated by making a new cosmetic.

 Dr Fisher said the lack of progress in skin cancer - the most common type of cancer - was a "very significant frustration".

 He added: "Our real goal is a novel strategy for protecting skin from UV radiation and cancer.

 "Dark pigment is associated with a lower risk of all forms of skin cancer - that would be really huge."

 Tests, detailed in the journal Cell Reports, have shown the melanin produced by the drug was able to block harmful UV rays.

 Eventually the scientists want to combine their drug with sun-cream to give maximum protection from solar radiation.

 Dr Fisher said everyone should "absolutely" use sun-cream but its weakness was it "keeps you pale".

 Image copyright Getty Images

 The way the drug works could also allow a ginger tan, as the genetic mutation that causes red hair and fair skin disrupts the normal process where UV light leads to dark melanin.

 It is not yet clear if the drug might have the unintended consequence of affecting the glorious hair colour, but it is thought the hair follicle is too deep in the skin for the drug to reach.

 But whether you are ginger, blonde or brunette, the drug is not yet ready for commercial use.

 The researchers want to do more safety testing, although so far there has been "no hint of problems".

 They will probably want to give it a better name than an SIK-inhibitor too.

 Matthew Gass, from the British Association of Dermatologists, said the study was a "novel approach" to preventing skin cancer.

 He added: "A lot more research has to be done before we see this sort of technology being used on humans, however, it's certainly an interesting proposition.

 "Skin cancer rates in the UK are going through the roof... any research into ways that we can prevent people from developing skin cancer in the first place is to be welcomed."

 Stopping UV damage could have an extra boon beyond cancer - slowing the appearance of ageing.

 Dr Fisher's final piece of promise for the research is: "Many people would say the obvious and most dramatic sign of ageing is what skin looks like and even casual UV damage over the years causes damage.

 "Medically it is very difficult to focus on, but if it is tremendously safe then it could keep skin healthier for longer."

 Follow James on Twitter. ||||| S

 cientists hoping to harness melanin’s protective power against skin cancer have created a class of small molecules that could help the skin produce more UV-absorbing pigments. They tested those treatments on human skin samples in the lab, and found they were able to seep in and boost pigment production.

 STAT chatted with study author and cancer researcher Dr. David Fisher about the work, published in Cell Reports.

 What did you set out to study?

 We know a lot about how pigmentation is made, so we looked for a way to find a small molecule chemical to stimulate pigmentation. We wanted to know whether it would be possible to activate real skin pigmentation without using radiation or the sun’s rays, which are damaging and dangerous. We discovered a class of compounds that have the ability to penetrate into the skin and trigger pigmentation.

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 What do you see as the potential applications for those compounds?

 We think it could offer protection. Having dark skin is associated with a really dramatically lower risk of developing skin cancer. Even individuals with just modestly darker skin have a significantly lower skin cancer risk than fair-skinned people who don’t tan, but burn. We don’t anticipate that a huge degree of darkening would be required for the protection. I’m seeing this from a cancer prevention perspective as something that would be used together with sunscreen. I would not see it as a replacement for sunscreen, because sunscreens really do prevent skin cancer.

 A photograph of skin treated with a topical drug that induces pigmentation. Nisma Mujahid and David E. Fisher

 What’s the next step in the research?

 The safety would need to be established and tested. I think probably where it would be tested first would be in individuals who are at the highest risk for developing skin cancer. |||||


Here is a news article: Oh, baby!

 Kylie Jenner is pregnant with a baby girl, multiple sources confirm to PEOPLE.

 A source tells PEOPLE the 20-year-old reality star and business mogul is due in February with her first child with rapper Travis Scott.

 “They started telling friends a few weeks ago,” says the source. “The family has known for quite some time. She is really excited and so is Travis.”

 Another source close to the family tells PEOPLE: “It is an unexpected but completely amazing turn of events that she could not be more excited or thrilled about.”

 “Everyone is overjoyed for her,” says the source. “This is the happiest she’s ever been.”

 Another insider says Scott, 25, began telling friends about the pregnancy in July. “He was so excited he couldn’t keep it in,” says the insider. “He’s been so affectionate and protective of Kylie since they found out. He can’t wait to be a dad.”

 The insider adds Jenner was worried people would find out she was pregnant before she was ready to share the news, so she “started posting old photos of herself on social media” that flaunted her flat stomach.

 “Kylie was really surprised but is so happy,” says the insider. “She wants to be a mom.”

 Reps did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

 Bob Levey/Getty

 Jenner has been dating Scott since earlier this year after splitting from her on-again, off-again boyfriend Tyga in April.

 “Kylie broke up with Tyga partly because she felt too young to get serious,” says the insider, who adds there are “no plans” currently for Jenner and Travis to wed.

 “Now she’s having a baby with a guy she just started dating,” adds the source. “People around her are really surprised. It happened really fast, but for Kylie, being with Travis is so different than anyone else. She’s so in love with him. She’s really excited.”

 Want all the latest pregnancy and birth announcements, plus celebrity mom blogs? Click here to get those and more in the PEOPLE Babies newsletter.

 The star’s baby won’t be the only new member joining the famous KarJenner brood: Jenner’s older sister, Kim Kardashian West, is also expecting via surrogate. Kardashian West shares two other children with husband Kanye West, Saint, who is 21 months old, and daughter North, who turned 4 in June.

 Jenner is also aunt to brother Rob Kardashian‘s daughter Dream, 10 months, and sister Kourtney Kardashian‘s three children: Mason, 7, Penelope, 5, and Reign, 2.

 FROM COINAGE: The Lavish Lifestyle of the Kardashian Kids

 Though Jenner and Scott’s relationship is still rather new, her family is definitely on board with the romance: A source told PEOPLE in August that the KarJenner crew “loves Travis.”

 “Kylie and Travis are doing great,” said the source. “There’s no drama with Travis. He’s a cool guy.”

 “He treats Kylie with a lot of respect and love,” added the source. “Kylie is very happy.” ||||| Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

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 Kylie Jenner is expecting her first child, a source confirms to Page Six. Her boyfriend is rapper Travis Scott.

 The 20-year-old makeup mogul and Scott, 25, have reportedly been dating since April, when they were seen holding hands at the Coachella music festival and walking arm in arm at Bentley University in Massachusetts, where Scott performed at the school’s Spring Day concert.

 A source tells us that she is expecting a baby girl. “She has been looking pregnant for about four months,” says the insider.

 The pair have already proved their permanent love for each other with ink. They Snapchatted new, matching butterfly tattoos on their ankles in June.

 In a 2016 clip of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” Kylie says 25 is a good age to have kids, with her father, Caitlyn, stating that 30 is a good age. “I feel like 30 is too late. Every psychic said that I’m only going to have two kids,” she responds.

 During a Q&A on Snapchat in October, the “Life of Kylie” star says, “I’m getting a lot of questions about kids. How many kids do I want? Do I want kids? And I do want kids, but not now.”

 A year later, Kylie is about to become a mother and is rumored to be due in February. Reportedly, Scott has been excitedly telling friends, but Jenner’s ex, rapper Tyga, posted and deleted a Snapchat of the news with the caption, “Hell nah that’s my kid,” along with a number of devil emojis.

 Jenner was dating Tyga — who fathered a child with Blac Chyna — for two years, splitting with him this past April.

 Sister Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, who are parents to daughter North, 4, and son Saint, 21 months, are also reportedly expecting via a surrogate. Their third child is said to be due in late January.

 Sounds like an excellent plotline for a TV show.

 Kourtney Kardashian has three children with Scott Disick: Mason, Penelope, and Reign. And brother Rob has reached an agreement for custody of his 10-month-old daughter with Chyna, Dream Kardashian.

 A request for comment was not immediately returned, although we hear the family is expected to confirm the news. ||||| Kylie Jenner Pregnant

 Kylie Jenner is Pregnant

 EXCLUSIVE

 Kylie Jenner is pregnant and Travis Scott is about to become a dad.

 We're told 20-year-old Kylie began telling friends earlier this month at the Day N Night Fest in Anaheim, CA.

 Sources also say 25-year-old Travis Scott, Kylie's boyfriend, has also been telling his friends. We're even told -- although we cannot verify -- that he's told friends they're having a girl.

 One source says Travis was at a recent event telling people about the pregnancy and how his life was going to change.

 If they are punking their friends with repeated pregnancy proclamations, it's super weird ... especially in light of the photo (above) which Kylie herself just posted on Snapchat.

 It's also interesting ... Kylie's been posting old pics of herself on Instagram and current shots from the chest up.

 Kylie and Travis have been together since April.

 If you're wondering what Kylie's ex, Tyga, thinks about the fetus news, he posted this on Snapchat and quickly deleted it. What do ya think -- is he bitter or relieved? |||||
A summary of this is?

– According to multiple gossip outlets including TMZ, Kylie Jenner is pregnant. The 20-year-old sister of Kim, Khloe, and Kourtney Kardashian is said to be expecting a baby with boyfriend of six months Travis Scott. Both Jenner and Scott, 25, have reportedly been telling friends about the pregnancy, with Scott even said to have claimed it's a girl. TMZ acknowledges the couple could be "punking" their friends, but says it would be "super weird" if so. The gossip site also points out Kylie has been posting photos of herself from the chest up lately, or old photos, but that she recently posted a photo on Snapchat in which she could possibly be showing, per the Cut. A source helpfully tells Page Six that Jenner "has been looking pregnant for about four months." The Keeping Up With the Kardashians star and her rapper boyfriend "started telling friends a few weeks ago. The family has known for quite some time. She is really excited and so is Travis," one source tells People. Another source adds, "It is an unexpected but completely amazing turn of events that she could not be more excited or thrilled about. Everyone is overjoyed for her. This is the happiest she’s ever been." Older sister Kim is also reportedly expecting via surrogate, and that baby is rumored to be due in January.


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Surface was the single biggest genuine tech surprise of the year so far. Microsoft tantalized us with a tablet that made the iPad look stale. Its snap-on keyboard made all laptops look immediately old fashioned. And it promised The Future of Computers.

 We hadn't looked forward to something this much in a long, long time. Now it's here. And it's been just as long a time since a gadget has been so disappointing. Surface is good, but Surface RT sure isn't the future. Not yet.

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 Why it matters

 The laptop is about as far advanced as one can imagine. The MacBook Air and a horde of ultrabook clones are hitting a brick wall in terms of form and physics. The tablet, likewise, isn't exactly pushing civilization forward; it's still fundamentally a luxury device, a delightful toy for reading email on the couch or watching Netflix on an airplane. Nobody needs a tablet. It's a lovely, superfluous thing. But everyone needs a computer, unless you're planning on living by a lake and trading furs for a living.

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 Microsoft's pearly promise for Surface was to pioneer a strange new kind of gadget: all the grace and leisure of a tablet, combined with the ability to actually make stuff that a computer brings. Convenience with input. Type, edit, change. Work. Power! Microsoft claims outright that Surface will bring together the best of everything that exists—the elusive union of laptop and tablet. Or at the very least, with Surface RT, a tablet that you could actually use as your primary computer.

 The men who built the Surface from a pile of cardboard prototypes into the thing I've been using for the past week stood in front of me at their headquarters and said exactly that. Microsoft is trumpeting a historical change here. And it has a recent track record of building exceptional things. Sure, there's a Surface Pro version coming up that'll have full, powerful laptop guts, and run the same software any PC can—Microsoft's best shot at being your only computer, forever. But even this RT variant is supposed to give us some overdue synthesis. Plop it down on your desk and get things done.

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 Whether Microsoft can keep this promise matters more than anything else in technology this year. Surface could be the blueprint for the machine you'll be typing on well into the next decade. No pressure.

 Using it

 Surface is Microsoft's attempt to out-Apple Apple. The thing is designed to hell and back, and most of the time it shows. This means a lot of attention to detail—attention that sounds silly until you actually hear it—like the kickstand with an extra, custom-designed hinge to guarantee a satisfying chkkk every time it's snapped shut. Is that superficial? Only if you consider something you're going to potentially hear and touch multiple times every single day superficial. Otherwise, it's just damn thoughtful.

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 And most of the time, Surface is a thoughtful computer. It's a beautiful computer, in your hand or on a tabletop, its shifting angles clean and secure like a Danish prison. It's a little too heavy—slightly heftier than the iPad 3—but otherwise comfortable to hold, with an angled bezel that melts into your hand. There's a convenient USB port that, unlike other tablets, doesn't look like a gaping open sore on the delicately chamfered side. The screen doesn't hold up against the crispness of the iPad's retina resolution, but still manages a lovely colorful pop to suit the colorful, poppy Windows 8. All over the Surface, these little details reflect the meeting of large brains.

 But more importantly, Surface is handsome. That ineffable Hey, this thing feels good quality is lacquered all over Surface. You'll appreciate it every time you pick it up and turn it on. It's a simple, joyful experience. Open the Touch Cover keyboard/trackpad hybrid, snap out the kickstand, and lay the thing on your desk like a laptop. Start writing an essay. Flip the cover all the way around, hide the keyboard, and give yourself something substantial to grip like a tablet. Start swiping the web. Or prop the kickstand against the folded-back cover to create a stable base while you watch Netflix on a coffee table. Switching configurations is a cinch, and it's entirely intuitive. The Touch Cover feels as integral to the Surface as the binding of a book to the sandwiched pages. There's every reason to believe most computers will look and feel something like this, someday soon.

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 The Surface is instantly more charming than any Windows device that's come before it. It's nearly the perfect size, and the form is almost beyond reproach. If you want a tablet, use it like a tablet. If you want a laptop, use it like a laptop. Both modes seem right, like a genuine seachange step forward. The Next Kind of Computer can be slipped in a bag, power up a bright display nearly instantly, run an operating system that loves being touched, and equally importantly, have a keyboard you can use to actually get work done.

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 Tablets aren't for work. That's the old refrain. But if they're going to be more than great toys someday, tablets have to become every bit as viable as a desktop tower as a way to write (and edit) long emails, presentations, and poems. Surface RT is the first evidence we have that this is possible, because you'll use it like you've never used any computer before. Your brain starts to rewire itself, and it's delightful.

 Flip out the keyboard. Hit power. Swipe up to unlock. Type in your password. A dozen super-colorful tiles give you a snappy report of what's new: Who's tweeted at you, what's arrived in your inbox, news headlines, photos of your beautiful face, and incoming Facebook IMs, as they drop. You'll touch one thing, scroll to the next, swipe another, then begin typing, merging habits you've picked up since your parents first let you set hands on something that ran off batteries. Surface presents you the Internet all at once.

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 Browsing in Internet Explorer is just as easy a flopping into a couch-cushion Netflix marathon, or working in the full Microsoft Office suite. It all feels seamless, natural, a culmination of useful things. This ease, the effortless transfer between watching stuff and making stuff, reading and writing, listening and talking, it permeates Surface with the mark of The New Computer. This is what netbooks were supposed to be, before we realized they were all completely horrible: small, powerful, flexible, skinny computers that can do a ton of things easily.

 You can thank Windows 8's radicalism for that. Traditional Windows would be absolute hell to use on this—or hey, so would OS X. But Metro is the best foundation for The Next Computer I can imagine, and if you can get over UI squeamishness, you'll love it. It'll make you more powerful the more you rub your hands on it. It is that good. Or at least it could be, at some point.

 No Like

 We're not there yet. Surface is a fantastic promise, and holds fantastic potential. But while potential is worth your attention, it's not worth your paycheck. Surface RT gets so many things right, and pulls so many good things together into one package. But it is undercooked. For all Microsoft's claims to hardware perfection and software revolution, Surface RT is undone by too many little annoyances, cracks, and flaws. After the initial delight of an evolved tablet wears off, you'll groan—because Surface brings the appearance of unity, but it's really just the worst of both worlds. Instead of trading in your laptop and tablet for Surface, a cocktail of compromises that fracture the whole endeavor, you'll miss them both urgently.

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 Want to use Surface RT as a laptop? Sorry, the Touch Cover is a letdown. It's a phenomenal engineering effort, and the most terrifically-integrated mobile keyboard ever. It doesn't compare to the junky Bluetooth options you can slap against your iPad. Microsoft's keyboard cover is perfectly integrated with the device, and touch typing on it is actually possible. You can't say the same for the iPad's glass.

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 But it only approximates a real keyboard—the buttons are pressure activated, barely buttons at all, and spaced in such a way that typos are inevitable and constant. Unlike the first time you pinched an iPhone or gazed at E-ink, there's zero that's instantly intuitive about the Touch Cover. And in order for this to be a brave new computer, Touch Cover had to be instantly intuitive, an immediately responsive thing to touch and work with. But rather than feeling like you've instantly grown an extra brain lobe just by using it, Surface's mega-hyped keyboard cover feels like it requires one. You'll feel clumsy. You'll write slowly. I tried writing this review on the Surface, but I would've missed my deadline by a week. You'll get better—it will probably take weeks to hit a stride—but this thing was supposed to be a breakthrough. A perfect interface. Instead, it's just a half-broken death march up the learning curve. The trackpad, sludge-like and jerky, is even worse—particularly galling compared to the super-smooth touchscreen—and unlike the keyboard, will never get better with practice.

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 The Touch Cover also approximates, dismally, the sturdiness of a laptop: thanks to the cloth-like floppiness of the thing that's necessary for making it easy to open and close, it can't support itself on anything but a flat, rigid (apologies) surface. You can't type on your lap, like laptop. It's hard to imagine what a design solution out of this would have been, but that's Microsoft's job, not ours.

 Perhaps most galling is the Touch Cover's $100 addition to the Surface's already pricy $400 base MSRP—akin to selling your windshield wipers separate from the car. Microsoft also offers a Type Cover, that promises actual physical keys instead of the flattened solution, but that will add critical bulk to your Surface experience—along with an extra $130. Another letdown—and a pretty outrageous one.

 But it's Windows on Surface RT that's the greatest letdown of all, the lethal letdown, because it's not Windows 8, but Windows RT. You can't tell the difference by looking at them, but you certainly will once you use it. Windows RT is underpowered (everything opens and syncs slightly too slowly), under-functional (you cannot install a single app that's not available through the Windows RT app store, which offers a paltry selection), and under-planned (the built-in apps can't feel like Lite versions of something better). You'd be right to note that many of those limitations apply to the iPad as well, but no one could mistake iOS for OS X the way RT apes Windows 8. And even if it's a plight common to tablets, Microsoft—for better or worse—has hyped Surface RT as being so much more.

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 In the end though, this is nothing more than Microsoft's tablet. And a buggy, at times broken one, at that, whose "ecosystem" feels more like a tundra. There's no Twitter or Facebook app, and the most popular 3rd party client breaks often. The Kindle app is completely unusable. There's no image editing software. A People app is supposed to give you all the social media access you'd ever need, but It's impossible to write on someone's Facebook wall through the People app, Surface's social hub; the only workaround is to load Internet Explorer. Blech. Something as simple as loading a video requires a jumbled process of USB importing, dipping in and out of the stripped-down desktop mode, opening a Video app, importing, going back into the Video app, and then playing. What.

 The app selection, overall, is worse than the already pathetic Windows Phone app fare, looking like the software equivalent to a barren Soviet grocery store. The difference is that Windows Phone, used in quick, informative bursts, skates by on the strength of its excellent with integrated features. At the moment, there's just not that much to do with Microsoft's über-tablet. Surface is weak because Windows RT is weak; a tepid tablet OS pretending to be a computer's.

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 You can do work, yes. But productivity is limited to a "preview" (beta) version of Microsoft Office. It also hurts that Office requires plunging into Windows RT's Desktop mode, where users of actual Windows 8 are able to install a decade's worth of legacy software. Normally, this would compensate. But RT users can't install any of this older software. None of it. Desktop mode is entirely worthless in RT, a cruel tease of non-functionality. It'll only remind you of how much you can't do with your Surface, and is going to confuse the living hell out of most people who buy one—especially when Surface Pro, built on x86 architecture and perfectly compatible with all of those legacy programs, steps in a few months from now.

 I pity Microsoft's retail staff.

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 Should you buy it?

 No. The Surface, with an obligatory Touch Cover, is $600. That's a lot of money. Especially given that it's no laptop replacement, no matter how it looks or what Microsoft says. It's a tablet-plus, priced right alongside the iPad and in most ways inferior.

 That could change. Maybe there will be a new Touch Cover that retains the original's terrific physical qualities while actually allowing good typing. Maybe the quasi-vaporware Surface Pro, which eschews Windows RT in favor of the real-deal Win 8, will make all the difference, opening itself up to the open seas of PC software (for several hundred dollars more). Maybe the app store will look different in a month, or a year, and have anything to offer. Maybe. But remember that Windows Phone—which has swelled from mere hundreds, to tens of thousands, to over a hundred thousand app offerings over the past two years—is still a wasteland compared to iOS and Android. Poor precedent. Maybe Windows RT will be different. Maybe.

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 But those maybes aren't worth putting money on. As much as it looked (and even felt) like it for a bit, the future isn't here quite yet.

 Microsoft Surface Stats

 Price: $500, $130 extra for Touch Cover

 Screen: 10.6-inches, 1366x768 pixels (16:9)

 Processor: 1.3 GHz Quad Core Tegra 3

 Storage: 32 GB, microSDXC expandable

 Wi-Fi: 802.11b/g/n

 RAM: 2 GB

 Connectivity: 1 USB 2.0 port, HD video out

 Weight: 1.5 Pounds

 Dimensions: 10.81 x 6.77 x 0.37 inches

 Battery: 8 hours reading/7.5 video (advertised)

 Gizrank: 2.5 ||||| Story highlights Microsoft's first tablet is beautifully designed outside but software still needs work

 One of the device's weakness is its small app selection

 The Surface starts at $499 for a 32GB model

 When Microsoft first demoed Windows 8 at the Wall Street Journal's D Conference in June 2011 , it was instantly obvious that it wasn't a Windows upgrade in the conventional sense. Instead, with its radically new, touch-centric interface, it was an attempt to reimagine the PC for the post-PC era. A wildly ambitious attempt — maybe even a visionary one.

 But for all Microsoft's power and influence over the PC industry, it was in no place to reinvent the PC single-handedly. Sure, it could write a new operating system. It could also make suggestions to its hardware-manufacturing partners, But it couldn't, you know, try to build the PC of the future.

 Except that it did.

 In June of this year, the company unveiled Surface , a pair of tablets it designed from scratch. (One, Surface with Windows RT, runs Windows RT, the version for devices based on ARM technology; the other, Surface with Windows 8 Pro, uses full-blown Windows 8 and isn't due until early next year.) They're iPad competitors, and that's important. But they're also PCs — the first ones that Microsoft has created on its own in its 37-year history. As such, they're the clearest possible expression of where the company thinks the PC should go.

 Surface for Windows RT goes on sale at Microsoft Stores and some temporary pop-up retail outlets, and at Microsoft.com , this Friday. It starts at $499 for a 32GB model: the same opening price as the current full-sized iPad, but with double the storage. Microsoft provided me with a unit for this review, and I've been using it for a little over a week.

 If you were excited by Surface based on its unveiling in June of this year , I think there's a good chance you'll be excited by the shipping product. And if the idea left you skeptical — well, you probably won't be won over by this initial incarnation.

 At that June Surface event — and then at a smaller press briefing at its Redmond, Washington, headquarters last week — company executives spent so much time lavishing praise on their own design choices and technical innovations that I wondered if they'd somehow convinced Apple's Sir Jonathan Ive to tutor them.

 It turns out that much of the self-laudatory hoopla wasn't wildly off base. The Surface hardware is indeed a beautiful piece of work, one that's worthy of comparison to Apple's designs even though many of Microsoft's specific choices are distinctly un-Applelike.

 Its slate-colored magnesium case, manufactured using a process Microsoft calls VaporMg, is really, really nice. It's good-looking, it's sturdy and it helps keep the weight down — Surface is only slightly heavier than the iPad at 1.5 pounds, even though it has got a substantially roomier 10.6″ screen. Microsoft also says that the case is pretty much scratchproof, though you might want to be careful about tossing the tablet in a backpack: I noticed that the Windows logo on the backside of my review unit began scraping off almost immediately.

 Surface has a kickstand — a fold-out flap on the back, which, when used in conjunction with a keyboard cover I'll talk about in a bit, lets you use the tablet like an undersized laptop. The care that Microsoft poured into it shows: When it's closed it's flush with the rest of the case and when it's open it keeps the tablet perfectly stable. And the hinge has a luxe feel, reminiscent of the high-end car door Microsoft says was its inspiration.

 (I just said that you can use Surface like a laptop, but when I first saw it, I wondered if the kickstand would prevent you from using it in your lap at all. Not in my experience: I was able to balance it and the keyboard cover on my thigh without worrying too much about the whole contraption tipping over.)

 That 10.6″ screen has 1366 by 768 pixels; Microsoft used its ClearType technology to improve text display, and glued the touchscreen directly on the LCD, which makes for a thinner, less reflective display. At the Redmond press event, a Microsoft engineer argued that despite the lower resolution, the screen beats the iPad's 2048 by 1536 Retina display in some circumstances; he also said that people who are 45 and above generally can't tell a Retina screen from a lower-resolution one.

 My 48-year-old eyeballs have no trouble telling the difference between iPad Retina text and the Surface's ClearType — but overall, the Surface's screen is one of the best I've seen on a tablet.

 The screen, incidentally, is 16:9, an aspect ratio designed with Windows 8′s panoramic interface in mind. It lets you see more apps without panning, and is well suited to the feature that allows you to snap a widget-like version of one app on the side of the primary program you're using. Microsoft thinks Surface buyers will use the tablet mostly in landscape mode; it works in portrait orientation too, although the aspect ratio leaves it looking like a small-but-tall magazine.

 Surface has basic cameras on the front and back, as you'd expect from any $499 tablet. It also has a USB port and a MicroSDXC slot that lets you add extra storage, two features that add to its PC-like personality. Microsoft doesn't seem to be making a claim about battery life except to say that the tablet is designed for "all day" use, and in my time with it, it lived up to that vague claim.

 One minor nit about the hardware: I found that I needed to wriggle the magnetic power connector into place in a way I don't with Apple's MagSafe connectors or even run-of-the-mill, nonmagnetic ones.

 So that's Surface's basic hardware — not flawless, but darn nifty overall. If it ran Android, people might well conclude that it was the best Android tablet on the market.

 But this tablet is defined by its operating system: Windows RT.

 Despite the lack of an "8″ in its moniker, RT has precisely the same user interface as Windows 8. It has the colorful Start screen with auto-updating Live Tiles, each leading to an app or service. It runs the same bundled Windows 8-interface apps: Internet Explorer, Bing, e-mail, a calendar, a news app and more. Everything's touch-friendly and fluid. It's not the Windows we've known, but it's a good start on an interface that might carry Microsoft through the next couple of decades of computing.

 Like Windows 8, RT has the Desktop, an area that's essentially Windows 7, except without the Start button. As with Windows 8, switching back and forth between new Windows 8-style apps and the Desktop can be an oddly disjointed experience, as if you're teleporting between two very different planets with very little warning.

 On Windows 8, the Desktop has a huge saving grace: It lets you use any old-school Windows program. Windows RT, however, can't run them. They were all written for computers based on x86 (Intel) technology, and are incompatible with Surface's ARM processor.

 So why is Desktop there at all? Mostly to run four Microsoft Office 2013 programs: Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. All come bundled with Surface, and all are largely identical to their Windows 8 counterparts, despite being "preview" editions. (Surface buyers will get the final versions free.)

 Anyone who's ever struggled to get work done on a tablet with a stripped-down office suite in a Microsoft Office world will appreciate certain things about Surface's Office apps. They support the official Office file formats perfectly and have industrial-strength features such as Word's revision tracking.

 Still, I found them the least satisfying thing about Surface. They're the one part of this product Microsoft hasn't reimagined. Instead, it has just tweaked the apps slightly, giving them a Windows 8-type look in certain areas and rejiggering everything else to make it slightly easier to use with a fingertip rather than with a mouse. They work, but the whole experience feels like an exercise in compromise. (I have my fingers crossed that Microsoft has a real Windows 8-style version of Office in the works.)

 If you plan to use Office much, you'll certainly want one of Microsoft's keyboard covers; the Touch Cover isn't included with the base $499 Surface, but a black model comes with the $599 version, and additional colors are available for $119.99 apiece. Snap one on, using the magnetic connector, and the Start screen automatically changes color to match — pretty stylish.

 The Touch Cover is super-thin and clicks on and off in a jiffy. (I did find that I occasionally had to remove it and reclick to make it work.) The keyboard's on the inside and draws power from the connector; there's no need to futz with Bluetooth or worry about charging it. The nonkeyboard side has a fleecy surface that feels great in your hand, and the whole thing folds back.

 When I first saw this cover in June, I kept an open mind about it. In fact, my mind was so open that I wondered if Microsoft had managed to produce a flat, one-piece keyboard that wouldn't leave many people pining for clacky mechanical keys.

 Actually, even at the June event, the company had tipped its hand: It also showed off the Type Cover, which is much like the Touch Cover except that it has discrete keys with real travel. If the Touch Cover had been a miracle, there wouldn't have been a need for the Type Cover.

 But if your benchmark is on-screen keyboards rather than conventional physical ones, you might be tickled with the Touch Cover. The keys are surprisingly spacious and there's no need to fumble through multiple modes to get to digits and punctuation. More important, moving the keyboard off the screen frees up the full screen resolution for whatever app you're using — a plus in all scenarios, and close to a necessity with the Desktop Office apps, all of which work better when they don't have an on-screen keyboard in the way.

 As with any unfamiliar input device, I got more comfortable with the Touch Cover as I used it. But if I were buying a Surface to use for anything other than extremely light productivity, I'd spring for the $129.99 Type Cover instead. It's also impressively thin, but comes infinitely closer to a notebook-like feel.

 Both the Touch Cover and the Type Cover sport a tiny touchpad. It's approximately the size of an unfolded matchbook, and I found it adequate in a pinch, but nowhere near as nice as a full-sized touchpad on a full-sized notebook. (With the Windows 8 experience, the bigger the touchpad, the better the experience.) With a cover on, I tended to do as much as possible from the keyboard, and simply touch the screen otherwise.

 With Office and a Desktop version of Internet Explorer as Surface for Windows RT's only major traditional-Windows apps, anyone who plunks down $499 or more for a Surface today will be largely dependent on Microsoft's Windows Store for software. That's the biggest gamble such buyers are making. Windows 8 is launching with 5,000 apps in the U.S. version of the Windows Store, most of which should be available for Windows RT; they include name-brand wares such as Evernote, Hulu, Netflix, Microsoft's own Skype, TuneIn, a bunch of games and more.

 Many of the Windows RT apps I tried make smart use of the Windows 8-style interface. Compared to the 275,000 iPad-optimized apps in Apple's store, though, there simply isn't much there. If Surface's earliest adopters are pleased with their purchase a year from now, it'll be because the Windows Store's offerings got beefier fast; if they're nonplussed, it'll be because the selection remained too meager.

 All of which leads to one question: Who should consider buying a Surface with Windows RT? Not anyone who wants the most fully fleshed-out tablet experience right now — for that, the iPad still has no rival.

 Surface offers slick industrial design, an inventive interface, full-blown Office apps that haven't been truly optimized for tablets and two very clever keyboard options. If part or all of that proposition appeals to you — and you're optimistic about the Windows Store — this tablet is worth a look. For an audacious version 1.0 product, it's impressive. Now it's up to Microsoft to prove that it's serious enough about this PC business to forge ahead with Surface until it's impressive, period. ||||| It has ports and jacks that iPad owners can only dream about: a memory-card slot to expand the storage, a video output jack and a USB 2.0 jack. You can connect almost any USB device: keyboard, mouse, flash drive, speakers, hard drive and so on.

 Each Surface model has double the storage of the same-price iPad. For example, the $500 Surface offers 32 gigabytes; the 64-gig Surface is $600.

 There are some disappointments on the spec sheet. The battery life is advertised as eight to 10 hours, less than the iPad. There’s no cellular version; it’s Wi-Fi only. The screen is very sharp (1,366 by 768 pixels), but it doesn’t approach the iPad’s Retina screen clarity (2,048 by 1,536 pixels).

 And you can charge the Surface only from its wall adapter — not from a computer’s USB jack. Microsoft’s reasoning is that you won’t have a computer to charge from, since your days of carrying both a tablet and a laptop are over. Besides, a wall outlet recharges far faster than USB can.

 The front is all touch screen. The edges of the black magnesium body are angled and crisp, like a prop from a Batman movie.

 Then there’s the kickstand. The lower half of the back is a hinged panel, held shut magnetically until you pop it out with a fingernail. It snaps to a 22-degree angle, ready to prop the tablet sturdily upright.

 A lesser kickstand would add weight, bulk or ugliness. But this one is razor-thin and disappears completely when you’re not using it.

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 You do use it, though — especially when you flip open the optional keyboard.

 Yes, keyboard. You know Apple’s magnetically hinged iPad cover? Microsoft’s Touch Cover is the same idea — same magnet hinge — except that on the inside, there are key shapes, and even a trackpad, formed from slightly raised, fuzzy material. Flip the cover open, flip out the kickstand and boom: you have what amounts to a 1.5-pound PC that sets up anywhere.

 This is nothing like those Bluetooth keyboard cases for the iPad. First, the Touch Cover is much, much thinner, 0.13 inches, cardboard thin. Second, it’s not Bluetooth; there’s no setup and no battery hit. The magnet clicks, and keyboard is ready for typing. Third, when you want just a tablet, the keyboard flips around against the back. The Surface automatically disables its keys and displays the on-screen keyboard when it’s time to type.

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 You can buy this cover, in a choice of colors, with the Surface for $100, or later for $120.

 It’s an incredibly slick idea, but the keys don’t move. You’re pounding a flat surface. If you type too fast, the keyboard skips letters. (“If you type 80 words a minute on a keyboard and 20-30 on glass, you should be in the 50s on the Touch Cover,” says a Microsoft representative.)

 Fortunately, Microsoft also offers the Type Cover ($130), with real keys that really travel. At 0.24 inches thick, it’s not as unnoticeable as the Touch Cover, but Microsoft says it’s the thinnest moving-keys keyboard on earth, and it types nicely.

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 So that’s the amazing, amazing hardware. Now the heartbreak: software.

 This computer runs Windows RT, a variation of Windows 8, which Microsoft hopes will run on all PCs from now on. RT is wildly different from the old Windows. You’ll be thrilled or appalled, depending on your fondness for change.

 In this Windows, the Start screen is a patchwork of colorful, interactive tiles. You tap one to open an app, swipe down on one to “right click” it, swipe across to reveal more pages of them. Each tile is also a tiny dashboard, showing your next appointment, latest Facebook post, today’s weather and so on. It’s fast, fluid and fun to use.

 Swiping in from the edges of the screen summons useful hidden panels. Swipe in from the top or bottom to reveal your app’s menus; from the left to switch apps; from the right for important controls like Share and Settings.

 Unfortunately, Windows RT is not the full Windows. The Surface comes with preview 2013 versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint — workable, but sometimes sluggish.

 Otherwise, though, Windows RT can’t run any of the four million regular Windows programs. Or the 275,000 iPad apps. Or the 17 Android tablet apps. (That’s a joke! There are actually 19 Android tablet apps.)

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 Instead, it requires all new apps. They’re available exclusively from the online Windows App Store, and there aren’t many to choose from; for example, there’s no Facebook, Spotify, Angry Birds, Instagram, Draw Something or New York Times app. The total in the United States is about 3,500 apps so far; many are bare-bones or junky.

 In some ways, the far more intriguing prospect is the Surface Pro tablet, which Microsoft says will be available in 90 days. It has a real Intel chip inside, and can run real Windows programs. That’s right: Photoshop, iTunes, Quicken and classic PC games on your tablet.

 The Pro will be heavier (two pounds), thicker (half an inch) and much more expensive (around $1,000). For those sacrifices, of course, you could buy an ultrathin laptop — but the Surface’s keyboard cover and touch screen make it far more flexible.

 But both Surface tablets, and indeed Windows 8 itself, suffer from an insanely confusing split personality. Beneath the colorful, edge-to-edge world of RT apps, the menus, icons, taskbar and overlapping windows of the traditional Windows desktop are still there. On the Surface, that old desktop pops bafflingly and unnecessarily into view whenever you use the Office programs.

 (My complete review of Windows 8 will appear in The New York Times on Thursday.)

 That’s not all that’s wrong with Windows RT, either. There’s no speech recognition, let alone Siri; no app folders; no automated guidance in Maps. The Control Panel offers features like typing suggestions and autocorrect, but I couldn’t get them to work anywhere. Sometimes the on-screen keyboard doesn’t pop up when it’s supposed to.

 Little inconsistencies and bafflements are everywhere. Such as the way Word constantly informs me that “there is insufficient memory or disk space.” (Well, gee, Microsoft — whose fault is that?)

 Look, here’s the thing. You’d have to be fairly coldblooded to keep your pulse down the first time you see the Surface: its beauty, its potential, its instant transformation from tablet to PC. How incredible that this bold, envelope-pushing design came from Microsoft, a company that for years produced only feeble imitations of other companies’ fresh ideas.

 And how ironic that what lets the Surface down is supposedly Microsoft’s specialty: software.

 In time, maybe the Windows RT apps will come. Maybe the snags will get fixed. Maybe people will solve the superimposed puzzle of Windows RT and Windows 8. Until then, the Surface is a brilliantly conceived machine whose hardware will take your breath away — but whose software will take away your patience. ||||| Nobody asked me about my Surface. I tried flashing it all over the place. But despite my best efforts, no one seemed curious.

 At Victrola Coffee Roasters in Seattle, I sat in the front window, with a hot pink Touch Cover attached, intentionally conspicuous. Nobody mentioned it. At the airport, I broke it out at the large open-air counter of a crowded bar. I sat in a seat at the gate, facing the walkway, pounding away at its keys on my lap. On a Virgin America flight, crowded with techies, I sat up front and kept it on my tray table the entire time, swiping from app to app. On San Francisco’s Muni transit system, I tentatively typed in my seat, afraid it may be snatched on the crowded train. But no one said a word.

 The only person to comment on it was a TSA agent at the Seattle airport, who told me I didn’t need to take my iPad out of my bag.

 That’s too bad. Although nobody asked, Microsoft’s new tablet is an altogether curious device. It’s something completely new and different. It is, in some ways, better than an iPad. In some ways, worse. It’s brilliant, and yet it can be puzzling as well. Confoundingly so at times. It’s a tablet of both compromises and confusion. It is a true hybrid — neither fully a desktop nor mobile device. That’s reflected in all sorts of ways. It is Wi-Fi only, but won’t run traditional Windows applications. It has a full-featured keyboard and runs Microsoft Office — but it’s certainly meant to be touched and swiped and tapped.

 It’s different.

 Let’s at least get this out of the way: This is one of the most exciting pieces of hardware I’ve ever used. It is extremely well-designed; meticulous even.

 The backside kickstand can serve as a metaphor for the entire device. Close it, and it sits flush with the back of the tablet. It’s so tightly integrated, if you didn’t know it was there, you’d think it was just a seam for the battery compartment. It has three hinges — one of which is just to give it a satisfying sound when opening or closing. (Snap!) It’s designed to be like a car door. It’s designed to make you use it.

 And it’s quite sturdy, to boot. In Microsoft’s lab, we saw Surfaces that had been opened and closed hundreds of thousands of times. They still snapped open and shut like they were new. We wanted to see how easy it was to break one. It’s very possible, but you have to really try. We did manage to break off the kickstand by gradually leaning onto it, but I had to put nearly my full weight onto the tablet before the kickstand snapped off.

 People will break the hinge, but I don’t think as often or predictably as, say, the glass rear panel of an iPhone 4 or 4S. One other nitpick? The kickstand has a small fingerhold to make it easy to open. But this is on the left-hand side of the device. Most people are right-handed.

 And then there is the 3-millimeter-thin Touch Cover keyboard. Ever since Microsoft first unveiled the Surface, this has been a big question mark. Does it really snap on and off so easily? Is it usable? Does it even work? Yes. To everything. It’s actually quite fantastic. On this miniature keyboard, that has no actual physical keys, keystrokes fire as fast as you can type them. There is no lag. There is, however, a learning curve.

 I struggled mightily with typos and finger placement for the first 24 hours. My left wrist hurt like hell. The pinkie and ring finger on my left hand were cramped. But by day three, my hands began to relax and I was typing quickly and, for the most part, accurately. After a week, I powered along at 90 words per minute. It’s not the same speed I hit on a full size keyboard, and I still have typos galore (though far fewer) but given how much I’ve improved in a week, it’s impressive.

 Oddly, it is perhaps less effective as a cover than a keyboard. It folds over nicely, but doesn’t stay closed as well as I’d like. Several times, I opened my bag to a glow, like something out of Pulp Fiction, to find the Surface had lit up as the Touch Cover came open inside.

 The Type Cover ($130, sold separately), which has actual keys, performs even more poorly as a cover, but it’s a spectacular keyboard. I could hammer away on it at approximately normal speed from the get-go, and made fewer typos.

 One issue I did have with the Type Cover was the accidental pressing of a key. Apparently, at some point I pressed the Shift key for eight seconds, which launched a Filter Keys setting — an accessibility feature meant for users with palsy and other disabilities that may cause them to inadvertently press keys. From that moment on, the keyboard basically did not work. And because Windows 8 and Windows RT are so cloud-connected, this setting propagated itself across all my other Windows devices. It was an easy fix, and Microsoft says a software update that prevents this from happening is on the way. But I thought it spoke to how easy it can be to inadvertently do bad things with the Type Cover.

 The 720p HD cameras — front and rear — are junk. There’s no other way to put it. The camera has a significant lag time when you’re taking shots, and the image quality looks about like the last photo you snapped with your Razr V3. It should be, however, fine for Skype. Just don’t expect Nana and Papa to be able to see their little grunions clearly.

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– The creators of the hotly anticipated Microsoft Surface RT have touted it as revolutionary, improving upon the toy-like tablets of today by making it functional, with a detachable touch screen and a snappy design. So is it the future of computing? Not yet, most reviewers agree: Sam Biddle praises the RT's concept and design in a detailed review at Gizmodo that's worth a full read. But ultimately, he says it's "not worth your paycheck" in its current form, which retails around $600 give or take some pricey add-ons. Instead of being both a tablet and a laptop, it's "really just the worst of both worlds." It's also hard to use: "It's just a half-broken death march up the learning curve." Over at Wired, Mathew Honan loves the look of the machine, and like others, drools over the satisfying "snap" of its razor-thin kickstand. It's durable too, but the cameras lag and "the image quality looks about like the last photo you snapped with your Razr V3." Pretty much everyone hates the Windows RT software the machine runs on. It's a departure from Window's old operating systems—it's colorful and swipe-friendly, for starters. But Harry McCracken, writing for CNN, wonders why the new design still includes a desktop. Switching between the two interfaces "can be an oddly disjointed experience, as if you're teleporting between two very different planets with very little warning." The apps are a big letdown, writes David Pogue in the New York Times. You can't use any iPad or Android Tablet apps, nor any of Microsoft's own programs. That means no apps for Facebook, Angry Birds, or Spotify, among many others, and what is available is "bare-bones junky." His advice? Wait a few months for the Surface Pro.


WASHINGTON — Pentagon investigators concluded that a senior Defense Department official who has been mentioned as a possible candidate to be the next CIA director leaked restricted information to the makers of an acclaimed film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, and referred the case to the Justice Department, according to knowledgeable U.S. officials.

 The Justice Department received the case involving Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Michael Vickers in September, but so far it’s declined to launch a criminal prosecution, said two senior U.S. officials who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

 The case involved a determination by investigators of the Pentagon’s inspector general’s office that Vickers provided the makers of the film “Zero Dark Thirty” with the restricted name of a U.S. Special Operations Command officer who helped plan the May 2, 2011, raid on bin Laden’s hideout in Pakistan, one official said. The identities of special forces personnel can be classified in certain circumstances and making them public is against the law, according to experts.

 Vickers, a former Army special forces operator and onetime CIA paramilitary officer, is the top intelligence adviser to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and oversees the Pentagon’s vast intelligence operations. He’s been frequently mentioned as a candidate to replace retired Army Gen. David Petraeus as CIA director.

 “Mike Vickers is an outstanding defense and intelligence professional and is well respected inside the Department of Defense and the intelligence community,” Pentagon spokesman George Little said.

 It was unclear whether the Justice Department review could hurt Vickers’ chances of being nominated to the CIA post. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on the matter.

 “When it comes to even the slightest hint that there may have been an unauthorized disclosure of classified information, there’s actually little choice but to contact Justice,” a senior defense official said. “That doesn’t mean they will do anything with it. This is a routine practice.”

 The Pentagon inspector general’s office is continuing to examine whether there were any other leaks of restricted information to the makers of the film. In a Dec. 4 letter denying a McClatchy Freedom of Information Act request for the findings, the office said the material was “currently part of an open investigation.” A spokeswoman said Monday that the report “has not yet been finalized and issued.”

 Even though the inquiry was launched at the request of Rep. Peter King, R-NY, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, the Defense Department Inspector General’s Office hadn’t informed King or any other lawmaker of its findings by midday Monday, a politically risky decision that could ignite charges that officials were trying to protect President Barack Obama during his tough re-election battle.

 King told McClatchy that the delay in notifying him “raises the question” of whether officials were trying to put it off for political reasons, but he wanted to see the full report before drawing any conclusions.

 “I’m not looking for anyone to be indicted,” he said. “But the IG does not make referrals to the Justice Department as a matter of routine. To me the fact that any information at all would be given to Hollywood producers by this administration is disgraceful.”

 “If it’s wrong enough or questionable enough for the IG to refer it to the Justice Department, that means it shouldn’t have been done.”

 The film, by director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal, originally was set for release just weeks before the Nov. 6 election. But it was delayed amid Republican complaints that it could bring Obama votes by glorifying the bin Laden operation. The premier was held last week and the film is due for a limited public release on Wednesday.

 The senior defense official, who requested anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly, wrote in an email that Pentagon officials don’t think the case “will amount to anything.” He pointed out that the Pentagon deemed as “unclassified” a transcript of a July 15, 2011, conversation among Vickers, Bigelow and Boal in which Vickers identified the U.S. special forces planner by name as someone who could be made available to brief the filmmakers. The transcript was released to Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog organization, in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

 The investigators found no evidence that White House officials were involved in any leaks of classified materials to the filmmakers, according to U.S. officials familiar with the findings. They reached that conclusion, however, without interviewing any White House officials or Panetta, who was the CIA director at the time of the bin Laden raid. Panetta reassured Congress in June — before the investigators reached their findings — that no classified information had been released to the filmmakers.

 A second U.S. official blamed bureaucratic handwringing for the delay in notifying King, not an orchestrated effort to protect the White House.

 “This does not appear to be a cover-up or a wag-the-dog media stunt,” the U.S. official said. “Rather, this is about who gets to break the law and leak information for their own benefit.”

 (EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE)

 The case is emblematic of an ongoing debate over what information the government deems to be secret, who can disclose classified material and to what degree leaks of such information jeopardize national security.

 Obama’s Justice Department has prosecuted a record number of U.S. officials for leaking secret information to the news media that critics contend shouldn’t have been classified or did no harm to national security. The most prominent case involves the ongoing prosecution of Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, who’s accused of providing thousands of secret and confidential diplomatic and military documents to WikiLeaks, the online whistle-blowing organization.

 In a Dec. 6 report, a presidential advisory panel that studied the classification issue found that “the current classification system is fraught with problems. In its mission to support national security, it keeps too many secrets, and keeps them too long; it is overly complex; it obstructs desirable information sharing inside of government and with the public.”

 “A culture persists that defaults to the avoidance of risk rather than its proper management,” the Public Interest Declassification Board said in recommending an extensive overhaul of the system.

 Steven Aftergood, who runs the Federation of American Scientists’ Project on Government Secrecy, said the release of the U.S. special forces planner’s identity “would most likely be considered sensitive, not for national security reasons, but for personal security reasons. If his name became public, it might raise security considerations for him as an individual.”

 “The boundaries of what is and what is not classified are soft and changeable. In the abstract, this person’s identity might be sensitive but unclassified,” he continued. “It’s very hard to say categorically that such information either would not or would be classified.”

 King requested the investigation in August 2011 over concerns that classified information may have been given to the makers of the bin Laden movie that might have compromised tactics used by U.S. special forces and the methods used by the CIA to gather intelligence.

 Bigelow has said that “to the best of our knowledge” she and Boal didn’t receive classified information. “We never requested classified information or was I aware that classified information was coming my way,” she said in an interview with CBS earlier this month.

 Among its other conclusions, the Pentagon investigators determined that White House and Pentagon officials discussed allowing the filmmakers to interview Vickers. They also found that the meeting with the special operations planner never took place, and that no secret special operations tactics and techniques were revealed to the pair.

 One of the filmmakers attended a June 2011 CIA award ceremony that recognized the Navy SEALs and CIA officers involved in the raid, but no effort was made to protect the special operators’ identities, investigators found.

 The investigation will create more controversy for the movie, which had its premiere Dec. 10 in Los Angeles to widespread acclaim. Human right groups and other critics are complaining that scenes of the CIA’s brutal interrogation of al Qaida detainees erroneously imply that torture provided crucial intelligence that led the agency to bin Laden’s hiding place in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

 King requested the investigation in letters to the Pentagon and CIA inspectors general in which he cited a New York Times report that Bigelow and Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. were given “top-level access to the most classified mission in history.” He also noted Bigelow’s reported attendance at the CIA ceremony.

 King asked the inspectors general to examine whether there had been any consultations between White House, Defense Department and CIA officials on providing the filmmakers access to SEAL team members or undercover CIA officers. He also requested that they look at whether any secret techniques or tactics of the SEALs or the CIA had been compromised and whether leaks about details of the raid to the news media had hurt the CIA’s intelligence collection methods or human sources.

 The Pentagon Inspector General’s Office informed King in December 2011 that it was launching a formal investigation “into actions taken by Defense Department personnel related to the release of information to the filmmakers.” The CIA Inspector General’s Office apparently declined to investigate, telling King in a Nov. 8, 2011, letter that the agency’s Office of Public Affairs was developing a written policy “that will govern future interactions with the entertainment industry.”

 In a May 23 letter, King wrote to Vickers that documents obtained by Judicial Watch in its Freedom of Information Act lawsuit “raise serious questions regarding your central role in providing classified and sensitive information to individuals without appropriate security clearances.” The documents included emails and the transcript of the conversation that Vickers had with Bigelow and Boal in which Vickers disclosed the name of the U.S. Special Operations Command planner.

 In a separate letter the same day, King expressed concerns to CIA Deputy Director Michael J. Morell about his role in the case. Morell became the acting agency chief after Petraeus resigned last month, and his name is among those mentioned as a top contender to replace Petraeus.

 In his letter to Morell, King said the Judicial Watch documents showed that the CIA had given Bigelow and Boal permission to visit at least six CIA facilities. They included secure vaults at the National Counterterrorism Center and possibly “a sensitive, covered facility” outside the CIA headquarters campus in Langley, Va., King wrote.

 The issue provided fodder during Obama’s election battle against former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, with a group of politically conservative former special forces officers producing a video in which they accused the president of taking too much credit for bin Laden’s death and allowing too many leaks of secret information about the hunt.

 (email: mtaylormcclatchydc.com, jlandaymcclatchydc.com)

 12-17-12

 ja-ba AMX-2012-12-17T18:56:00-05:00 ||||| Sources tell ABC News that the Inspector General for the Department of Defense has been preparing a report in which Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Michael Vickers is criticized for giving sensitive information to the filmmakers behind " Zero Dark Thirty."

 Specifically, Vickers is said to have disclosed to the filmmakers the identity of a member of SEAL Team Six - though not a member of the team that conducted the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound. Names of members of that team are not to be disclosed because of the potential for violent retaliation.

 Some in the Pentagon think the Inspector General is holding the report until after the current Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, retires so as to not sully or embarrass him.

 A senior defense official disputed that. "It's wrong for anyone to suggest the investigation has been held up for political reasons or to avoid embarrassment," the official said. "The investigation simply hasn't concluded. These things often take time."

 The official added that Pentagon officials "really don't think this will amount to anything."

 Documents released in May, after the conservative government watchdog group Judicial Watch obtained them through the Freedom of Information Act, revealed that in a July 14, 2011 meeting, Vickers told the filmmakers he would provide them with the name of a "planner, SEAL Team 6 Operator and Commander."

 "The only thing we ask is that you not reveal his name in any way as a consultant because . . . he shouldn't be talking out of school." Vickers said. "This at least, this gives him one step removed and he knows what he can and can't say, but this way at least he can be as open as he can with you and it ought to meet your needs."

 The senior defense official said that Vickers was asked by the Pentagon to talk to "the 'Zero Dark Thirty' filmmakers and others in the entertainment industry to provide unclassified information on the bin Laden operation. He wasn't doing this on his own. It's appropriate for department officials to work with the entertainment industry to try to inform how stories are told - especially those associated with one of the greatest intelligence and military successes of a generation."

 The official said that "Vickers is one of America's top defense and intelligence professionals who has closely guarded secrets for decades, and is highly respected in the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community."

 -Jake Tapper |||||

Write a summary.

– Michael Vickers, a senior Defense official rumored to be a possible replacement for David Petraeus at the CIA, has been referred to the Justice Department after Pentagon investigators concluded that he leaked restricted information about the Osama bin Laden raid to Zero Dark Thirty filmmakers, two senior US officials tell the Miami Herald. Vickers, the Pentagon's undersecretary for Intelligence, gave filmmakers the name of a member of SEAL Team Six who helped plan the raid—though not, ABC News reports, one of the SEALs who actually conducted the raid. But so far, the Justice Department has declined to prosecute. Vickers is Leon Panetta's top intelligence adviser, and it's not clear whether the matter will hurt his shot at the CIA directorship. One senior defense official says it's simply "a routine practice" to refer issues like this to the Justice Department, and adds that Pentagon officials doubt the case "will amount to anything," particularly since a 2011 conversation in which Vickers talked to the filmmakers about the SEAL, mentioning him by name, was deemed unclassified by the Pentagon. The Pentagon says its investigation into possible leaks related to the film is still ongoing. It was launched at Rep. Peter King's request, but his office hadn't been notified of any findings by this week. King says that "raises the question" of whether the delay was for political reasons. The Herald suggests it may have been an effort not to hurt the president's re-election chances, while ABC suggests it was to avoid embarrassing Panetta before he retires.


News article:

Fox fight: Sean Hannity calls Megyn Kelly a Clinton supporter

 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE Conservative pundit Sean Hannity leveled what he might consider the worst insult imaginable at anchor Megyn Kelly in a tweet Wednesday night, which said she "clearly" supports Hillary Clinton. USA TODAY

 This election has sparked some heated exchanges between family, friends and co-workers — and now between Fox News hosts.

 Conservative pundit Sean Hannity leveled what he might consider the worst insult imaginable at anchor Megyn Kelly in a tweet Wednesday night, saying she "clearly" supports Hillary Clinton.

 The tweet was apparently in response to Kelly's comments earlier in the evening on The Kelly File when she accused both presidential candidates of avoiding tough interviews.

 "They're both in their own version of a presidential protection program," Kelly said. She said Clinton makes sure "she is not in a place where she feels uncomfortable or anything unexpected could come at her, which is why she sat for a half an hour with Mary J. Blige, the singer, which is why she did Entertainment Tonight this evening."

 But, Kelly didn't stop there. "And Donald Trump, with all due respect to my friend at 10 o'clock, will go on Hannity, and pretty much only Hannity, and will not venture out to the unsafe spaces these days, which doesn't exactly extend the tent."

 Trump has made several appearances on Hannity's show and the Fox News personality has been a vocal supporter of Trump.

 "@megynkelly u should be mad at @HillaryClinton," Hannity tweeted, apparently unaware Kelly's admonishment was also directed at the Democratic nominee. "Clearly you support her. And @realdonaldtrump did talk to u."

 @megynkelly u should be mad at @HillaryClinton Clearly you support her. And @realDonaldTrump did talk to u. https://t.co/vsQiNMgHut — Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) October 6, 2016

 Later, Hannity answered a Twitter user who told him to "stand by your colleagues" by saying, "Sure. When they stand by me."

 Sure. When they stand by me. https://t.co/UrFbBVfEMI — Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) October 6, 2016

 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2dM7QbP ||||| So Megyn Kelly threw a lot of shade at Sean Hannity tonight and Hannity hit back by accusing her of being in the tank for Hillary Clinton.

 In other words, Christmas Day for Media Twitter.

 Cable newsers at CNN and MSNBC were very taken aback by this:

 Oh man. Wheels coming off. https://t.co/NbqsMruKtW — Vaughn Sterling (@vplus) October 6, 2016

 Megyn Kelly and Sean Hannity just went to war with each other… — Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) October 6, 2016

 Whoa. Did Hannity really tweet this? https://t.co/XUDUFNvcZ8 — Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) October 6, 2016

 Friday is the 20th anniversary of Fox News.

 What an incredible moment.

 This should be a celebratory week.

 Instead… Kelly-Hannity face-off. — Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) October 6, 2016

 The Hannity vs Megyn Kelly twitter spat is a skirmish in the coming war to define what Fox News will be in the post-Ailes era — Gabriel Sherman (@gabrielsherman) October 6, 2016

 This is basically the opposite of the truth. https://t.co/4bhlobfrsk — Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) October 6, 2016

 And a couple of Fox News regulars weighed in:

 He's tweeting during his show. — Guy Benson (@guypbenson) October 6, 2016

 And that was only the beginning:

 Things at Fox seem good! https://t.co/XxAwXI3Cyd — Chris Cillizza (@TheFix) October 6, 2016

 the triple space after hillarys name is wat sells it tbh https://t.co/7XkwHQ7RnV — darth™ (@darth) October 6, 2016

 We are about a month away from an armed, backwards-cap wearing Sean Hannity occupying some wildlife refuge with a lesser Bundy. — pourmecoffee (@pourmecoffee) October 6, 2016

 good grief, not only does Trump ONLY do Fox interviews but he'll ONLY talk to Hannity? #bubble https://t.co/yI8srBUktE — Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) October 6, 2016

 Hannity isn't risking anything. He knows he has the O'Reilly time slot on Trump TV set aside for him. Fox is house money for Hannity. — Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) October 6, 2016

 the idea megyn kelly is pro-clinton is so insane, and yet there is sean hannity saying it. — Oliver Willis (@owillis) October 6, 2016

 Hannity slamming Megyn Kelly, Twitter racists finally getting suspended, Cheri Jacobus suing Trump. I’m going to overload on the popcorn. — Ken Gardner (@KenGardner11) October 6, 2016

 Hannity's tweet at Megyn Kelly might be a firing offense if FNC wants to go that route-non-disparagement clause in most employment contracts — John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) October 6, 2016

 If you think this tweet looks childish, you should see the many unanswered texts Hannity sent to Megyn Kelly that precipitated it https://t.co/xk2Lm107G9 — (((Yair Rosenberg))) (@Yair_Rosenberg) October 6, 2016

 Hannity is now attacking other anchors at @FoxNews for not being pro-Trump. At what point does the network step in? https://t.co/5zmIf2eMTZ — (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) October 6, 2016

 Fox News really can't control @seanhannity. — Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) October 6, 2016

 was it sean hannity https://t.co/NClHLr17vV — Steve Kandell (@SteveKandell) October 6, 2016

 The Mets were doing just fine until @megynkelly came along, amirite @seanhannity? — Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) October 6, 2016

 I don't even know why @megynkelly talks to lil' @seanhannity. She has 2M twitter followers, he has far fewer. Sad. Not even same ballpark. — Marcus Hawkins (@HawkinsUSA) October 6, 2016

 Trump lost his debate because @Seanhannity only tossed him softballs, and he knows it. And so does @MegynKelly https://t.co/zPI0i57lgG — ¡Miracle MexyWhip! ن (@SooperMexican) October 6, 2016

 One of them is on verge of striking out https://t.co/snGHFqdtYV — Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) October 6, 2016

 Fox News seems like a healthy, functional place these days https://t.co/hVDmG4tnj4 — David A. Graham (@GrahamDavidA) October 6, 2016

 UPDATE –– 10/6, 10:22 pm ET: Both of them appear to have made up. More here.

 [image via screengrab]

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What is a shorter version of the above article?

– Sean Hannity isn't just feuding with Glenn Beck, apparently. Twitter was in awe Wednesday when the Fox News host slammed fellow host Megyn Kelly with "what he might consider the worst insult imaginable," per USA Today: He accused her of "clearly" supporting Hillary Clinton. Earlier Wednesday on The Kelly File, Kelly had criticized Donald Trump for avoiding tough interviews. "Donald Trump, with all due respect to my friend at 10pm, will go on Hannity, and pretty much only Hannity, and will not venture out to the unsafe spaces these days," Kelly said. However, she also made the exact same criticism of Clinton. Citing the Democrat's appearance on Entertainment Tonight on Wednesday, Kelly said Clinton ensures "she is not in a place where she feels uncomfortable or anything unexpected could come at her." It isn't clear if Hannity saw the whole Kelly segment. In what Mediaite calls "Christmas Day for Media Twitter," several journalists freaked out. "Whoa. Did Hannity really tweet this?" tweeted CNN's Brian Stelter. "Fox News seems like a healthy, functional place these days," said David A. Graham of the Atlantic, while Keith Olbermann added, "Thanks for the entertainment @seanhannity #PassPopcorn." Kelly has yet to respond.