Sen. Chuck Schumer will unveil a new immigration bill today that seeks to fill the talent gap in the U.S. technology industry.
U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) plans to unveil an immigration bill later today that would make it easier for high-skilled immigrants to work in the United States. The “BRAINS Act” — which, sadly, has nothing to do with the impending zombie apocalypse — would boost the number of green cards available to students born outside the U.S. who receive advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields from a U.S. university.
According to Schumer’s office, the BRAINS Act (a.k.a the Benefits to Research and American Innovation through Nationality Statutes Act) is needed to plug the gap in talent vital to the booming U.S. technology industry. While the bill would operate at the federal level, Schumer touts the benefits for New York City, a popular destination for immigrants, which is now home to hundreds of tech startups, including companies like Foursquare, Tumblr, Etsy, and Kickstarter, among many others.
Schumer’s office cites a study by the Center for an Urban Future (pdf), which highlights the “lack of top-tier engineers” as the “biggest barrier” to growth for New York City’s technology sector. The study recommends lawmakers “streamline the visa process and dramatically raise the federal cap on highly qualified immigrants” — precisely the goal of the BRAINS Act.
Schumer’s bill would would provide 55,000 new green cards each year for foreign-born people who receive a master’s degree or higher in a STEM field from an U.S. university. Graduates must also have a job offer from a U.S. company in a STEM field to receive a green card under the bill. The BRAINS Act would also make it easier for students planning to study in a STEM discipline to obtain a student visa.
“It makes no sense that America is educating the world’s smartest and most talented students and then, once they are at their full potential and mastered their craft, kicking them out the door,” said Schumer in a statement. “We should be encouraging every brilliant and well-educated immigrant to stay here, build a business here, create wealth here, employ people here, and grow our economy. Fixing our broken green card system will help ensure that the next eBay, the next Google, the next Intel will be started in New York City, not in Shanghai or Bangalore or London.”
The BRAINS Act will compete in Congress with a similar bill expected soon in the House from Texas Republican Rep. Lamar Smith (of SOPA infamy). Smith’s bill would a provide up to the same 55,000 green cards as Schumer’s legislation, but foreign-born students who earn a doctorate degree in a STEM discipline will have first dibs. Student’s who receive master’s degrees in eligible fields will have access to the remaining green cards.
While few lawmakers oppose the allocation of green cards for high-skilled immigrants, Smith’s bill has come under fire from Congressional Democrats because it would eliminate the diversity visa program, which makes visas available to people from countries with low immigration rates to the U.S., according to The Hill. The House is expected to vote on Smith’s bill next week.
Schumer will officially unveil the BRAINS Act at 3 p.m. ET today at the New York General Assembly in Manhattan.
Lead image via Center for an Urban Future; Schumer image via stocklight/Shutterstock
Call of Duty: Black Ops II Wii U has what could be the series' best local multiplayer, but control issues hold it back from greatness.
Activision Blizzard has got to be feeling pretty good about getting Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 onto Nintendo Wii U. Now the publisher doesn’t have to spend $500,000 extra dollars forcing Treyarch to make a jalopy version of Call of Duty for Wii, a task the studio’s been put to sporadically since 2008 when it made the down port of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for the waggle console. Those savings will be a nice little asterisk for Activision come the end of the fiscal year when it boasts to growth-starved investors that Call of Duty is now generating even more revenue without raising development costs. Nintendo’s investors will be happy too.
Forget the suits, though. Will actual Call of Duty players care about Black Ops 2 on Wii U? After all, the series’ more than 20 million annual customers already have an Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, or PC to play on. Will Nintendo’s tablet controller really add something to the world’s favorite shooter?
Based on my time spent playing the game at Nintendo’s event in New York City on Thursday, I can say without a doubt that the controller does add something, but its value to players is debatable.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 on Wii U has one major advantage over other platforms: Local multiplayer. The ability for two people to play Black Ops 2 in the same room on the same console, with one player using the television and the other on the controller’s touch screen, solves the inherent drawbacks of split-screen play. Having played a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s split-screen—which uncomfortably arranges two widescreen play fields above each other, adjusted to the side—Black Ops 2’s Wii U solution feels smooth. The fidelity on the Wii U screen takes a hit, making the multiplayer stage on a shipping dock demoed at other Call of Duty previews over the summer look more drab than usual, but it works. No one will play this way in serious competition since the Wii U’s double duty rendering the game on both screens makes running at 60 frames per second impossible, but this is casual living room play; it only needs to run well, not perfectly.
Which is why the controls are a problem. The Wii U version of Black Ops 2 creates some real cognitive dissonance when switching between the tablet controller and the Pro Controller. The button layouts on each are significantly different on their default settings. Pressing X on the tablet controller for example makes your character crouch, but you have to press in the right analog stick on the Pro Controller for the same action. When people play this game together in the same location they’re going to want to trade off and on with the tablet and the television, just like people were at the demo in New York.
Black Ops 2’s current Wii U controls are going to greatly frustrate that process. The Pro Controller itself is a problem. In Nintendo’s effort to make the controller markedly different from the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3’s controllers—even abandoning the fine design of the Wii’s existing Controller Pro—it’s placed the analog sticks above the controller’s face buttons. As simple a thing as reloading your weapon becomes awkward and cumbersome using this device.
In solo mode, the tablet controller offers you the sort of perks you’d expect. Choosing your load out, an interactive map of each stage; Wii U’s tablet controller brings the design sensibilities of DS games into the living room, and that’s no bad thing. Black Ops2’s competitive multiplayer is too fast paced to make these perks too useful, but for campaign aficionados they’re welcome additions.
Nintendo has its very own flagship Call of Duty for the first time and Activision has one more portal for sales. By 2013, when the Xbox 720 and PlayStation 4 hit the market, things will go back to the way they were with Nintendo’s machine playing host to a technologically inferior port. In 2012 though, Nintendo’s got a novel version of the game to sell at launch. If only it were 1996 and split-screen gaming was still the hottest thing around.
LG has confirmed that it's still keeping an eye on Microsoft's platform, but still doesn't want to launch a WP8 yet.
Jong-Seok Park, CEO of LG Mobile Communications, said during a press conference that the company was still intending to keep things strictly Android for the time being:
"With regards to our relationship with Google: we'll continue to collaborate with them. With regards to adoption of other operating systems, we don't have any specific platform which we will launch."
Not all over
However, TechRadar was told separately that the R&D team within LG continues to work on Windows Phone 8, as well as other options such as HTML 5, but while Microsoft's platform is under 'consideration' there are no plans to launch any more phones using it.
This makes a huge amount of sense given both HTC and Samsung are set to join Nokia on Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 platform, and with an improvement in the design language used there's a strong chance the OS could grow significantly in market share.
However, given LG encountered less than stellar sales with its Optimus 7 handset the first time round, coupled with the company's ailing fortunes in the worldwide smartphone market, it makes sense to keep working on the platform and then pull the trigger when the OS reaches maturity.
The new iPhone 5 has been launched, but that's only half the story - you want to know when and where you can get your iPaws all over the handset.
Well, the iPhone 5 launch date has been set for September 21, and pre-ordering begins on September 14.
We've spoken to all the networks to find out which will be stocking the new iPhone, and if it will feature any fancy new features we may not have seen.
Update: The networks have announced their first wave of iPhone 5 tariffs now pre-orders are up an running - which one takes your fancy?
EE, Orange and T-Mobile
EE happily announced: "EE will launch an exclusive 4G LTE version of the new iPhone when the EE customer brand launches in the coming weeks, giving customers five times faster network speeds than on 3G.
"Our Orange and T-Mobile customers will also be able to get hold of the iPhone 5 with the biggest and best network and the fastest possible 3G network speeds."
Update: Orange and T-Mobile have announced their tariffs for the iPhone 5, but we're yet to see any information regarding the 4G EE plans - expected to be announced closer to the time the network goes online.
If you fancy getting in on the 4G action, EE will make it easy for you to upgrade your iPhone 5 plan from Orange or T-Mobile without an additional charge - as long as you pick a tariff at an equivalent or higher price.
The T-Mobile and Orange tariffs both start at £36 per month (on a 24 month contract), both offering unlimited texts, with T-Mobile's "Full Monty" giving you 2000 minutes and unlimited data, while Orange's "The Works" flips is around with unlimited calls and 1GB of data - T-Mobile wins this battle in our eyes.
Of course you will have to shell out for the handset as well at this price: £109 for 16GB, 219 for 32GB or £269 at 64GB.
If you're a little more flush then both networks offer £41, £46 and £51/£61 per month tariffs, which reduces the cost of the handset upfront and gives you more allowances.
Surprise, surprise Vodafone will be stocking the iPhone 5 in all its capacity (16GB, 32GB, 64GB) and colour (black and white) options - shocker we know - and interestingly the big red has it available on 12 and 24 month pay monthly plans.
In terms of 24 month contracts, its "flagship" (and most expensive) tariff is the £47 per month Red Data plan, giving you a free 16GB iPhone 5, unlimited calls and texts, plus 2GB of internet, which Vodafone has confirmed will cover you for Facetime over 3G.
You can pay as little as £33 per month over two years, but that will only get you 600 minutes, unlimited texts and a paltry 500MB of data, plus you'll need to shell out £149 for the 16GB iPhone 5.
There's also a 24 month plan for £25 per month, but this doesn't include Facetime over 3G in the 100MB of internet you get, plus you will need to fork out big money for the handset.
Opt for a 12 month plan and you'll be paying an eye-wateringly high price for your shorter contract, with Vodafone demanding as much as £349 if you plump for the 16GB iPhone at £36 per month.
O2 seems to have been a little slow of the mark with its iPhone 5 pre-order page, showing off the tariffs it has available, all of which offer unlimited texts and calls plus 1GB of data, but at varying prices.
As the allowance is the same at each price band, which starts at £26 per month and raises all the way to £63, we expect some heavily subsidised iPhones to go with them, however O2 is yet to release its handset prices.
Update: O2 has finally got its act together and put it's pre-order page up on its website - about time too.
If you fancy the 16GB iPhone 5, then you'll need to fork out £249.99 on a £26 per month contract, £99 at £36 per month and if you're prepared to pay £46 each month, you'll get it for free.
O2 will also be offering the new iPhone 5 on its Pay & Go Go Go plan with 75 minutes, 500 texts and 100MB of data: £10 a month, then every 3 months your tariff gets better and better. After 3 months everything doubles, except the price. And after 9 months you get unlimited texts.
Once again O2 has failed to provide us with handset prices for its PAYG deal – so watch this space.
"We're celebrating the fifth year of working with Apple in style," said Ronan Dunne, Chief Executive of O2 in the UK. "We're looking forward to bringing the new iPhone 5 to everyone very soon, whether they're already on O2 or not."
Three took to Facebook to make its announcement - as you might expect it's got a lovely fresh tone:
"Heard the rumours about a brand new iPhone? They're only bloomin' true! We're excited to confirm that the new iPhone 5 will be available for pre-order on Three from Friday 14th September. Register here for updates http://bit.ly/QQw0it."
Three is keeping things simple, just two 24 month contracts to choose from, the unlimited internet 500 tariff which gives you 500 minutes, 5,000 texts and unlimited data, and The One Plan offering up 2,000 minutes plus 5,000 Three to Three minutes, 5,000 texts and all-you-can-eat data for any extra £2 per month.
Excitingly Three is charging a relative pittance for the handset upfront, asking for just £79 for the 16GB iPhone 5 – the 32GB will set you back £89, while you'll need £109 the 64GB.
It will also be available as PAYG, according to Apple's store.
The Branson-powered network doesn't always have the best track record at bringing its customers the new iPhone, so we'll wait with bated breath to see if it will buck that trend in 2012.
Tesco Mobile
Yep, you read that right, super-mega-food-store-giant Tesco is getting in on the iPhone 5 game, offering up Apple's latest blower on a range of contracts.
The iPhone 5 will only be available on Pay monthly initially, but Tesco plans to release Pay as you go deals at a later date.
There's a range of 12 and 24 month contracts to choose from, starting from £25 per month, all the way up to £45 - however there's no option to get a free handset, and all contracts come with a standard 1GB of data.
Taking a look at the 16GB iPhone 5, the £25 per month contract will need you to stump up £300 for the handset and will give you 1,500 minutes and 5,000 texts - plus the 1GB of data - over two years.
A word of warning though, Tesco Mobile isn't offering a pre-order option, just a stock availability sign up - so you'll need to keep an eye out for a text saying units have arrived.
We've not heard a peep from TCW, but Phones 4U has confirmed to TechRadar that it will be stocking the iPhone 5 (shocker), but cannot give any further details at this stage. Keep one eye fixed to its 'Coming Soon' page if you want to find out more.
Update: Carphone Warehouse now has its iPhone 5 pre-order page live on its website, where you can get the sixth generation of Apple smartphone SIM-free or on contract, with O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone tariffs available to pick.
Update: Phones4U also has its iPhone 5 pre-order page up, but it looks like you can only pick it up on contract here, with the same four networks available to choose from.
iPhone 5 pre-orders TechRadar has joined forces with uSwitch to bring all the latest iPhone 5 pre-order deals from all the UK networks right to your inbox. Sign up here.
The Motorola Razr i is the latest smartphone from the now Google-owned firm, and this mid-range handset promises edge-to-edge action in the palm of your hand.
While things have been pretty quite on the Motorola front since the launch of the Razr last year – with just a smattering of mediocre handsets since - the Razr i is the most important European phone of the year for the company, so expect to see it filling TV ad space and adorning the side of buses soon.
The Motorola Razr i release date is currently pegged for October, but prices are yet to be confirmed, although as this is a mid-range handset we'd expect it to arrive at around the £300 mark SIM-free, comparable with the likes of the HTC One S and Sony Xperia S.
As with the Droid Razr M which was announced earlier this month, the Razr i shares the same industrial design as its American twin, with the sturdy, wedge-shaped aluminium frame and Kevlar back providing a solid handset which feels like it can withstand multiple knocks and bumps.
There are three rivets down each side of the Razr i, adding to that industrial feel, and while it may not be to everyone's taste, it isn't a bad looking phone and it sat nicely in our hand, with an even weight distribution welcome after the rather top-heavy Razr.
The 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Advance display is crisp and clear, although it's not a pin-sharp as the iPhone 4S or Xperia S, thanks to the 540x960 resolution – but the trump card for the Razr i is the lack of bezel, as Motorola has offered up an edge-to-edge screen, with only minimal padding above and below.
Thanks to the sleek and slender 122.5 x 60.9 x 8.3 mm dimensions of the Motorola Razr i, it feels like you're holding a huge screen, and one that's, as Motorola happily pointed out in its press conference, 15 percent larger than the iPhone 5.
It's the first Motorola handset to sport Intel inside, with the Razr i packing a 2GHz single-core processor – the first time a phone has packed such a powerful single-core chip.
This is backed up by 1GB of RAM, which power Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich. We're informed that Motorola will be upgrading the Razr i to Jelly Bean soon, although no date has been confirmed.
Motorola and Intel made a big deal about the quality of the processor inside the Razr i and to be fair, they're certainly entitled to, as the handset takes the Android operating system in its stride, allowing you to zip through homescreens and the app tray without any hint of slow down.
Head over to the internet and the Motorola Razr i really starts to show off, allowing you to load up mobile web pages in just a couple of seconds. TechRadar.com, for instance, took just four seconds to load in a usable form, and then just another couple of seconds to finish off the moving banners.
Pinch to zoom is pretty smooth and while perhaps not quite a slick as the Galaxy S3 - but remember that's a quad-core handset - it's an impressive showing with the Razr i able to keep up with rendering text and images.
Unfortunately there's no text-reflow, which is frustrating when you zoom in to read text, as you need to scroll sideways as well as down, something which the majority of handsets offer so we wonder why it's not on the Razr i.
Another impressive feature is the 8MP rear camera, and thanks to the Intel chip the app opens up in under a second. Seriously, press the icon or click the physical shutter button on the right of the Razr i and pow, you're into the camera and ready to shoot.
Auto and tap-to-focus are both present, and the Razr i takes just a second or two to snap an image and return you to shooting mode, ready for the next.
If that's not quick enough for you, Motorola has also included a burst mode which takes 10 images in under a second, allowing you to capture the perfect star jump.
There's a few options to play with in the camera app, but it's not as well tooled as some of its rivals, with basic exposure, scenes and effects controls, plus an option to use the LED flash on the back and switch between single, burst and HDR modes.
Interestingly the Razr i seems to lack a panorama mode, something which was built into Ice Cream Sandwich, but Motorola has omitted from the handset.
The rear camera is capable of capturing 1080p, full HD video, while a front facing, 0.3MP VGA quality snapper can record at 720p.
Something else we found pleasing was the relatively pure Ice Cream Sandwich software which had been installed on the phone, with Motorola shunning its previously over-the-top and clunkly skin in favour of a simpler, and in our opinion better, Android experience.
That's not so say Motorola has delivered the vanilla version of the OS, with it's own "Circles" widget adorning the homescreen, showing you the clock, weather and battery life in three handy spheres – receive a message or email and a notification will be displayed in the largest circle, allowing you to easily see who's trying to contact you.
Of course you can easily ditch this widget it if doesn't take your fancy, but we enjoyed playing with the intuitive system and the way you can flip the circles over with a flick of the finger is a sure-fire time waster in our book.
Drag down the notification bar from the top of the screen and some of you may be disappointed to see that there's no quick settings for the likes of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, but fear not as Motorola has addressed this in a slightly different way.
Head back to the homescreen, slide from left to right and instead of cycling to the last homescreen in the run (you can have up to sever on the Razr i), or even not going anywhere, you're greeted with the aforementioned quick settings.
While all the big hitters such as Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth and Mobile Data all feature, it's a tad annoying that a NFC toggle hasn't made the list, especially as the Motorola Razr i sports the wireless technology, including Android Beam - allowing you to touch two Android, NFC-enabled handsets to share content easily.
The Razr i ships with the stock Android keyboard, which while perfectly functional as a day to day input device, for those of you who will be churning out the words it still feels a little cramped, even on the 4.3-inch display.
We may well have been spoiled by phones with bigger screens, and those of you who pick up the Razr i after using an iPhone may find it suitably big, but we'd still opt for a third party option from Google Play.
For those of you who love gorging yourselves with media on your smartphone then you may be a little disappointed to learn the Razr i only comes with 8GB of internal storage, however there is a microSD card port on the left side of the handset, under a flap alongside the microSIM slot, allowing you to expand your options.
Video playback on the Motorola Razr I was impressive in the demo clips we watched at the launch event, and while the screen might not be a bright as some if its rivals, playback is smooth and colours strong making for a pleasant viewing experience.
As well as the touted performance, Intel also claims its processor manages power more efficiently than its dual-cored rivals, meaning the 2,000mAh battery housed inside the Motorola Razr i should easily see you through a day of relatively heavy usage – although we'll put that to the test during our in-depth review process.
Motorola has confirmed that the Razr i will be stocked by T-Mobile, Orange, Virgin Media, Tesco Mobile and Phones4U in the UK, and it is currently in talks with other carriers – so we wouldn't be surprised if it showed up at O2, Three and Vodafone too.
Early verdict
The Motorola Razr i is looking like a quality mid-range phone with impressive performance, intuitive user interface, a handful nice additional features and a hardy design - this is a phone we can get excited about.
If Intel's claim that its processor can provide decent battery life as well as top-notch performance rings true, and networks agree a suitably competitive price with Motorola, the Razr i could well be on to a winner.
We've already got a unit in for review, so make sure you keep an eye out for our in-depth Motorola Razr i review, which will be on the site soon.
