RISE:2013 highlights: Kinect rehab, Lego lobsters, 3D printed tech and more

We were excited and honored when the administration at Northeastern University asked us to help judge its RISE:2013 Research, Innovation and Scholarship Expo. The event, held at the physical education center on the school's Boston campus, brings together an incredibly diverse array of research projects covering a impressive number of fields, including physical and life sciences, engineering, humanities, arts & design, computer and information sciences, health sciences, law, business and social sciences.

As you might imagine, scoring works across such a diverse array of concentrations is no easy task. We did, however, manage to pull out a handful of projects that will no doubt be of particular interest to our own readership. The list includes the use of a Kinect camera and PC for physical rehabilitation, the 3D printing of embedded electrical technologies, a Lego set that helps bridge the gap between crustacean and robot and a device that employs an Arduino board and video games to help stroke victims recover motor skills. Check out a video of all of the above just after the break.

Filed under: Cameras, Misc, Robots, Science, Internet, Software

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Cyprus scrambles to raise $7.5 billion by Monday after Russian rebuff

The lines at bank cash machines in Cyprus are growing longer and in some cases angrier. The European Central Bank has given the island's government until Monday to find its six billion euro share of the bailout or - it says - it'll pull the plug on the rest of the cash and banks will face collapse. The banks themselves remain closed. Faisal Islam of Channel Four Europe reports.

By Michele Kambas and Lidia Kelly, Reuters

The Cypriot finance minister left Moscow empty-handed on Friday after Russia turned down appeals for aid, leaving the island to strike a bailout deal with the European Union before Tuesday or face the collapse of its financial system.

The rebuff left Cyprus looking increasingly isolated, with the deadline looming to find billions of euros demanded by the EU in return for a 10 billion euro ($12.93 billion) bailout.

Without it, the European Central Bank said on Wednesday it would cut off emergency funds to the country's teetering banks, potentially pushing Cyprus out of Europe's single currency.

"The talks have ended as far as the Russian side is concerned," Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters after two days of crisis talks with his Cypriot counterpart, Michael Sarris.

Banks are closed on Cyprus but the ATM's are still dispensing cash as the government tries to avert a financial crisis. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

Having angrily rejected a proposed levy on tax deposits in exchange for the EU bailout, Nicosia had turned to the Kremlin to renegotiate a loan deal, win more financing and lure Russian investors to cut-price Cypriot banks and gas reserves.

Wealthy Russians have billions of euros at stake in Cyprus's outsized and now crippled banking sector.

But Siluanov said Russian investors were not interested in Cypriot gas and that the talks had ended without result.

Sarris was due to fly home, where lawmakers were preparing to debate measures proposed by the government to raise at least some of the 5.8 billion euros ($7.48 billion) required to clinch the EU bailout.

They included a "solidarity fund" bundling state assets, including future gas revenues and nationalized pension funds, as the basis for an emergency bond issue and likened by JP Morgan to "a national fire sale".

They were also considering a bank restructuring bill that officials said would see the country's second largest lender, Cyprus Popular Bank, split into good and bad assets, and a government call for the power to impose capital controls to stem a flood of funds leaving the island when banks reopen on Tuesday after a week-long shutdown.

'Playing with fire'
There was no silver bullet, however, and Cyprus's partners in the 17-nation currency bloc were growing increasingly unimpressed.

To help pay for the $13 billion European bailout, the government plans to take up to 10 percent from all savings accounts, angering those who say they aren't responsible for the economic crisis. CNBC's Sue Herera reports.

"I still believe we will get a settlement, but Cyprus is playing with fire," Volker Kauder, a leading conservative ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, told public television ARD.

There were long lines at ATMs on Thursday and angry scenes outside parliament, where hundreds of demonstrators gathered after rumors spread that Popular Bank would be closed down and its staff laid off.

"We have children studying abroad, and next month we need to send them money," protester Stalou Christodoulido said through tears. "We'll lose what money we had and saved for so many years if the bank goes down."

Cypriots have been stunned by the pace of the unfolding drama, having elected conservative President Nicos Anastasiades barely a month ago on a mandate to secure a bailout. News that the deal would involve a levy on bank deposits, even for smaller savers, outraged Cypriots, who raided cash machines last weekend.

Related:

EU to Cypriots: Let us raid your savings or no bailout

Cyprus bailout backlash poses little wider risk - for now

Full business coverage from NBC News

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FAA to close 149 air traffic towers under cuts

CHICAGO (AP) ? Under orders to trim hundreds of millions of dollars from its budget, the Federal Aviation Administration released a final list Friday of 149 air traffic control facilities that it will close at small airports around the country starting early next month.

The closures will not force the shutdown of any of those airports, but pilots will be left to coordinate takeoffs and landings among themselves over a shared radio frequency with no help from ground controllers under procedures that all pilots are trained to carry out.

The plan has raised concerns since a preliminary list of facilities was released a month ago. Those worries include the impact on safety and the potential financial effect on communities that rely on airports as key economic engines for attracting businesses and tourists.

"We will work with the airports and the operators to ensure the procedures are in place to maintain the high level of non-towered airports," FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said in a statement.

The FAA is being forced to trim $637 million for the rest of the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30. The agency said it had no choice but to subject most of its 47,000 employees, including tower controllers, to periodic furloughs and to close air traffic facilities at small airports with lighter traffic. The changes are part of the across-the-board spending cuts known as sequestration, which went into effect March 1.

All of the airports targeted for tower shutdowns have fewer than 150,000 total flight operations per year. Of those, fewer than 10,000 are commercial flights by passenger airlines.

Airport directors, pilots and others in the aviation sector have argued that stripping away an extra layer of safety during the most critical stages of flight will elevate risks and at the very least slow years of progress in making the U.S. aviation network the safest in the world.

Airlines have yet to say whether they will continue offering service to airports that lose tower staff. Any scaling back of passenger service could have major economic impact for communities.

Mark Hanna, director of the Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport in Springfield, Ill., says without ground controllers as backup the risk to operate "goes up exponentially," especially at airports like his, which have such a broad mix of aircraft types: everything from privately operated Piper Cubs to the larger passenger planes of United and American airlines.

That an aviation sector as sensitive as air traffic control could become subject to political brinkmanship in Washington was especially frustrating, he said.

Hoping to escape the final cut, he and other airport directors were left to argue with the FAA about whether the closure of their facilities would adversely affect what the agency described in a letter as the "national interest."

Associated Press

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Pentagon ponders Gitmo overhaul amid growing detainee unrest

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images file

A U.S. Army guard stands ready in a "pod" inside the Camp 6 detention facility at the U.S. Naval Station Oct. 2, 2007 in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Modeled on maximum security prisons in the United States, Camp 5 and Camp 6 allow easier observation of detainees with fewer guards.

By Michael Isikoff, NBC News

The Pentagon is considering plans for a $150 million overhaul of the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba -- including building a new dining hall, hospital and barracks for the guards -- as part of an ambitious project recommended by the top general in charge of its operations, officials tell NBC News. ???

The proposed spending spree comes amid mounting signs of unrest among Guantanamo detainees that lawyers say is threatening their? lives. U.S. military officials confirmed Wednesday that the number of hunger strikers at Guantanamo has more than tripled in the last two weeks -- from 7 to 25 -- and that eight of them are being force fed through tubes. Defense lawyers said in a letter to Congress this week they have gotten reports that ?over two dozen men have lost consciousness.?

The most expensive prison that the U.S. maintains, Guantanamo Bay, may get a $150 million overhaul while remaining detainees engage in a hunger strike. NBC National Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff reports.

U.S. military officials denied any lives were in danger but acknowledged that resistance and frustration among the detainees is growing, a development that a senior general said is because they are ?devastated? that President Barack Obama?s pledge to shut down the facility has not been fulfilled.

?They had great optimism that Guantanamo would be closed,? said Gen. John Kelly, the commander of the U.S. Southern Command, when asked about the hunger strikes during testimony before the House Armed Services Committee. ?They were devastated, apparently? when the president backed off -- at least their perception -- of closing the facility.

---

?He said nothing about it in his inauguration speech,? Kelly continued, referring to President Obama. ?He said nothing about it in his State of the Union speech. He has said nothing about it. He's not -- he's not restaffing the office that? looks at closing the facility.?

White House officials say they remain committed to closing Guantanamo but have been blocked from doing so by Congress, leading officials to close the small State Department office charged with finding new homes for the detainees. At the same time, Kelly ?- who took over as Southcom commander last year -- began laying the groundwork for a substantial overhaul of Guantanamo, testifying that many of the buildings there are ?falling apart.?

Brennan Linsley / AP file

A Guantanamo detainee, center, is escorted by U.S. military personnel on the grounds of the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base, Cuba, in this May 15, 2007, file photo reviewed by U.S. Department of Defense Official.

?Gitmo seems to be the one place they don?t care about spending money,? said David Remes, a defense lawyer who represents detainees, noting that the plans for the overhaul are moving forward even as the sequester is forcing costs and layoffs throughout the government.

?They will spare no expense to keep these men there rather than bring them to the United States.?

Guantanamo is already considered the country?s most expensive prison per capita by far, with an operating budget this year of nearly $177 million, which means that taxpayers are paying more than $1 million for the care and maintenance of the 166 detainees.

But Lt. Cmdr. Ron Flanders, a spokesman for the Southern Command, told NBC News that Kelly has recommended substantial new spending that includes nearly $100 million slotted to build new barracks for the 848 guards stationed at the facility. The current guard barracks are plagued by mold, he said.

In addition, Flanders said, Kelly has signed off on construction projects that include:

- a new $12 million dining hall for the troops;

- a new $11.2 million hospital and medical units for the detainees;

- a $9.9 million ?legal meeting complex? where lawyers can meet their detainee clients;

- a $10.8 million ?communications network facility? to store data, including computer records and tapes of interrogations, which has been required by a federal court order.

All these projects have been signed off by Kelly in the last few months and been forwarded to the Pentagon, where they are being reviewed by budget officials in Secretary Chuck Hagel?s office, Flanders said.

At the same time, Flanders said, the operations budget for Guantanamo has already increased substantially this year with the construction of a $40 million fiber optic cable being built from south Florida to the facility in Cuba. The cable is needed to improve Internet access, thereby allowing officials to have improved live video feeds of the military commission proceedings of the Sept. 11 hijackers.

In his testimony, Kelly emphasized that the costs of running Guantanamo are substantially higher because of its remote location at a U.S. military base on the eastern tip of Cuba.

?Everything that?s built down there is at least twice as expensive,? said Kelly. ?So a ten-penny nail costs 20 cents. So, everything is more expensive. So we have to take care of the barracks. We have to replace the dining hall?It?s literally falling apart.

?And there?s other projects?none of them have to do with creature comforts for the detainees. They?re already living humanely and comfortably, acknowledging the fact they?re in jail.?

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Obama says 'there is still time' to find diplomatic solution to Iran nuke dispute; Netanyahu hints at impatience

During his visit to Israel, President Obama said a diplomatic solution is still possible in dealing with a nuclear Iran. When addressing Israeli-Palestinian peace prospects, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel remains "fully committed to peace." NBC's Chuck Todd reports.

By Tracy Connor, Alastair Jamieson and Ian Johnston, NBC News

On his first state visit to Israel, President Barack Obama said Wednesday the United States ?will do what is necessary? to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons and was praised by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his resolve.

During a joint press conference peppered with warm exchanges, two leaders who have not always seen eye to eye stressed points of agreement, even clarifying that both Israel and the U.S. believe it would take about a year for Iran to develop a nuclear weapon,

But there were also some signs of disagreement.

While Obama said ?there is still time? to find a diplomatic solution to the problem of Iran?s uranium-enrichment program, Netanyahu emphasized the clock is ticking.

Oliwer Weiken / EPA

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (second right) and President Shimon Peres (left) welcome President Barack Obama to Israel Wednesday. All three emphasized the enduring friendship between the U.S. and Israel.

?Whatever time is left, there?s not a lot of time,? he said.

Praising Obama for mobilizing the international community, Netanyahu noted that ?diplomacy and sanctions so far have not stopped Iran's nuclear program? and called for a ?clear and credible threat of military action.?

Responding that all options are on the table, Obama said, ?We will do what is necessary to prevent Iran from getting the world's worst weapons.?

---

Still, he suggested that the U.S. and Israel might have different timetables for how and when to respond.

?Each country has to make its own decisions when it comes to the awesome decision to engage in any kind of military action. And Israel is differently situated than the United States,? Obama said.

Netanyahu also spoke of ?different vulnerabilities? but stressed the common ground.

?I appreciate the fact that the president has reaffirmed, more than any other president, Israel's right and duty to defend itself, by itself, against any threat,? he said.

The press conference, in which both men made statements and answered four questions,?also focused on the situation in Syria and the prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace.

?Israel remains fully committed to peace and to the solution of two states for two peoples,? Netanyahu said, adding that he hoped Obama?s visit and his meeting Thursday with Palestinian officials in the West Bank would ?help us turn a page in our relations with the Palestinian people.?

Asked about claims that Syrian President Bashar Assad?s regime used chemical weapons Tuesday, Obama said the U.S. is still investigating but he is ?deeply skeptical? of the government?s allegation that the opposition deployed the weapons.

?I believe Assad must go and I believe he will go,? Obama said.?

Meeting with Peres
The question-and-answer session came hours after Obama declared that Israel has "no greater friend than the United States," following a meeting with Israel?s President Shimon Peres.

Ammar Awad / Reuters

Palestinian demonstrators hold placards, some depicting President Barack Obama dressed as an Israeli soldier during a protest in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Tuesday.

Peres warmly praised Obama as ?very knowledgeable,? adding there could be ?no better? leader to take the peace process forward. He also thanked Obama for the ?lots of sleepless nights? the president had endured in support of Israel.

Earlier Wednesday, Obama was met at Tel Aviv's airport by Netanyahu and Peres, along with a military band and a host of other officials and dignitaries.

All three men gave speeches that emphasized the friendship between the U.S. and Israel ? Netanyahu spoke of the ?unbreakable alliance,? Obama the ?unbreakable bond.?

Obama, who began his speech with ?shalom,? said he was ?confident in declaring that our alliance is eternal.?

?The United States is proud to stand with you as your strongest ally and your greatest friend,? he said.

He said it was not an accident that he had made the first overseas trip of his second term in office to Israel.

?Across this region, the winds of change bring both promise and peril,? Obama said, likely a reference to the Arab Spring uprisings that saw an Islamist president voted into power in Egypt and a civil war erupt in Syria.

In his speech, Netanyahu thanked Obama for ?standing by Israel at this time of historic change in the Middle East.?

?We deeply appreciate your friendship and we share your hope that the Middle East will enjoy a future of freedom, prosperity and peace,? he added.

President Barack Obama leaves Tuesday for his first ever trip to Israel as president and the White House is already lowering expectations for that visit. The New York Times' Elizabeth Bumiller, USA Today's Susan Page and The Washington Post's Ruth Marcus discuss.

Picking up on comments Obama made before the trip ?- expressing the desire to put on a disguise and go to a Tel Aviv bar -- Netanyahu joked that he had lined up a few locations and ?even picked out a fake mustache for you.?

Obama also viewed an ?Iron Dome? air defense missile launcher, a?U.S.-funded system that was brought to the airport for him to see. The system has helped protect Israelis from Hamas rocket attacks from Gaza.

?On Thursday, the president will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank, where he can expect a mixed reception.

"It's not a positive visit," Wasel Abu Yousef, a senior official in the Palestine Liberation Organization, which is led by Abbas, told Reuters.

In Ramallah on Tuesday, Palestinian police scuffled with scores of demonstrators protesting Obama's visit.

Obama is likely to offer reassurance that the U.S. still supports the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

However, little progress on the peace process is expected during the trip.

'Horrible conclusion'
In an editorial Wednesday, the Haaretz newspaper said it would ?take a good bit of imagination to expect a breakthrough over the next two days.?

?Here lies the central danger of the visit. The Israeli government and public could conclude, based on the polite tone of the president and the lack of a threat or demonstrative pressure, that Israel is now exempt from having to initiate steps toward resuming the peace process,? it wrote.

?This would be a horrible conclusion. Obama and the United States are not a party to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The president of the United States is not the one who must live in a society that is being transformed as a result of the occupation and pushed to the margins of the international community,? it added.

The Jerusalem Post said that there would ?admittedly? be ?little if any headway? on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

However, its editorial said the visit would be more than just a ?charm offensive,? given the war in Syria and the prospect of Iran getting a nuclear weapon. Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful means only.

?As the leader of the Jewish people, who have been threatened with destruction by Iran?s leaders, Netanyahu wants assurances that the U.S. will launch a military strike if necessary to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran,? the Post wrote.

?Ideally, he would also like to define a mutually agreed upon ?red line? or the point at which it has been determined that diplomacy and sanctions are useless and military action must be taken,? it added.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Related:

Rough ride ahead for Obama as Palestinians, Israelis lukewarm over visit

Israel to grill Obama over possible military strike on Iran

Plenty to discuss as Obama heads to Israel

Syria chaos looms large over Obama's Israel trip

This story was originally published on Wed Mar 20, 2013 4:56 AM EDT

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Archos GamePad arrives in the States for $179

Tired of waiting for the WikiPad? Needing some immediate gratification for your thumbs? Willing to consider Archos to fill that void? If your answer to all three was a mighty, "Aye!" then you'll be glad to know that the Archos GamePad is now for sale in the US at various online retailers. The portable gaming system combines Android 4.1, a 7-inch 1,024 x 600 screen and honest-to-goodness physical buttons, all within a 0.3-inch thick enclosure that's priced between $179 and $189. The GamePad sports a 1.6GHz dual-core CPU and a Mali-400 MP GPU, and while it may lack the cachet of the WikiPad, it has the distinct advantage of being available now. And you know what? Sometimes, that's all that matters.

[Thanks, Duncan]

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Michigan woman, 75, convicted of murdering grandson

Todd Mcinturf / The Detroit News via AP

Sandra Layne is shackled after she was convicted Tuesday, March 19, in Pontiac, Mich., of second-degree murder in the shooting death of her grandson last year.

By M. Alex Johnson, staff writer, NBC News

A 75-year-old Michigan woman was convicted of second-degree murder charges Tuesday for shooting her 17-year-old grandson to death last year.

Sandra Layne of West Bloomfield, northwest of Detroit, was held without bond pending a sentencing hearing April 18, NBC station WDIV of Detroit reported.

---

In addition to the murder charge, Layne was also convicted of possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony in the shooting. Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper told WDIV that Layne was likely to face 12 to 20 years in prison for the murder conviction, plus two years for the firearms violation.

Jurors were given the option of deciding whether Layne committed first-degree murder, but they chose the lesser charge.

The death of Layne's grandson, Jonathan Hoffman, on May 18, 2012, made national headlines after it was disclosed that he was shot in the chest multiple times as he was calling 911.

Jurors were played audio of the 911 calls, in which Jonathan frantically told a dispatcher that he had been shot by his grandmother and was going to die. Although investigators previously said they found eight entry and exit wounds in his body, prosecutors said Monday during closing arguments?that he was actually shot 10 times.

Layne, who took the stand and admitted having shot Jonathan, said she had bought a gun to protect herself because her grandson sometimes brought strangers home late at night to the condominium unit they shared. She said she felt threatened and shot Jonathan in self-defense after he demanded her car and $2,000 so he could leave the state.

Jonathan's parents are divorced, and his father has previously said his son was living with his maternal grandparents while he finished classes at an alternative high school in nearby Farmington.

Jerome Sabota, Layne's attorney, told jurors in closing arguments Monday that Jonathan had a violent temper and that he used synthetic marijuana.

"Think about somebody that's 73 or 74 and this behavior is occurring in her presence," Sabota said. "She was in hysteria. She was afraid and reacted to his physical attack. That's why killed him. That's why she shot."

But Assistant County Prosecutor Paul Walton said in his closing arguments that Layne never complained of injuries and told police when they arrived at the home that she had killed her grandson.

"The first thing that she says to (the police officers) is, 'I murdered my grandson,'" Walton said.

Follow M. Alex Johnson on Twitter and Facebook.

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