Thursday, May 17, 2012
Three-man Soyuz crew departs for space station
ALMATY, Kazakhstan (AP) — A three-man crew blasted off from a space center in southern Kazakhstan Tuesday morning on board a Russian-made Soyuz craft for a four-and-half-month stay at the International Space Station.
NASA astronaut Joseph Acaba and Russian cosmonautsGennady Padalka and Sergei Revin set off from the Baikonur facility as scheduled at 9:01 a.m. local time (0301 GMT).
Russia's space agency says the craft is due to dock with thespace station Thursday morning Moscow time and will join the three astronauts currently staying at the orbiting laboratory.
The crew, which is being commanded by retired 53-year old Russian Air Force Col. Padalka, will immediately get to work preparing for the arrival next week of privately owned SpaceX's Dragon Capsule. It will be the first time a private company has launched space station supplies.
The space station is currently occupied by Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Holland's Andre Kuipers.
Padalka is a seasoned space traveler, having spent a total of 585 days in space on three previous missions on board the now-defunct Mir station and the current International Space Station. Inglewood, California-native Acaba, who turns 45 on Thursday, on the day that Soyuz is due to dock, makes his second venture into space after his maiden orbital voyage on the shuttle in 2009. Revin, 46, is making his first trip to space.
Until NASA either brings a new craft online or private companies are able to arrange manned trips to the orbiting station, the Soviet-designed Soyuz spacecraft will remain the only means to deliver crews to the orbiting outpost.
The Russian space program has been blighted by a string of technical glitches in the recent past, raising questions over its dependability.
Tuesday's launch had been pushed back by two months due to depressurization of the spacecraft's descent module during the ground testing phase. It was the second significant postponement of a manned Russian launch in the space of a year.
A Russian Mars moon probe crashed to Earth in January in what the nation's space agency described as the result of cosmic radiation.
That came only weeks after the crash of a communications satellite and the crash in August of a supply ship destined for the space station.
LG announces Optimus UI for Ice Cream Sandwich devices
LG on Wednesday announced a new user-interface skin for its Android-powered devices running Ice Cream Sandwich. The South Korean company's Optimus UI 3.0 is said to be designed with convenience and speed in mind, and is being labeled as both unobtrusive and simple. "With smartphone hardware becoming more and more similar, it's important for manufacturers to differentiate their products from the competition through the user interface," said Dr. Jong-seok Park, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. "Both
carriers and customers tell us that they want LG phones to look and feel unique and the UI plays a big part in that. LG is really going to push the boundaries of what is possible in user interfaces starting with Optimus UI 3.0." The new UI will allows users to drag anywhere to unlock the screen, and will feature an an Icon Customizer, revamped Pattern Lock and a Voice Shutter feature to allow photos to be taken with voice commands. The Optimus UI 3.0 will debut next week with the launch of LG's Optimus LTE II in Korea. LG's press release follows below.LG'S NEW OPTIMUS UI 3.0 ADDS NEW FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS WHILE BEING UNOBTRUSIVE AND SIMPLE
New User Interface Makes the LG Smartphone Experience Faster, Simpler, More Convenient
SEOUL, May 16, 2012 – LG Electronics (LG) is introducing a new User Interface (UI) for its newest Android Ice Cream Sandwich devices, aptly named Optimus UI 3.0. Optimus UI 3.0 brings with it an array of enhanced key features, including Quick Memo™ and unique unlock functions, among other new features and functions aimed at improving LG smartphone experience."With smartphone hardware becoming more and more similar, it's important for manufacturers to differentiate their products from the competition through the user interface," said Dr. Jong-seok Park, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. "Both carriers and customers tell us that they want LG phones to look and feel unique and the UI plays a big part in that. LG is really going to push the boundaries of what is possible in user interfaces starting with Optimus UI 3.0."Optimus UI 3.0 is designed with convenience and speed in mind. A powerful memo function called Quick Memo™ enables users to jot notes on the screen using a finger. Quick Memo™ in Optimus UI 3.0 allows users to share their thoughts through social networks, text messages and e-mails more conveniently than ever before.Other new features include:– the ability to unlock the phone by dragging anywhere on the screen;
– a new Pattern Lock that allows users to preset the most frequently used function, such as the camera, which automatically opens once the phone is unlocked;
– a simpler version of Optimus UI 3.0 for new smartphone users which organizes the main applications so that they are the easiest to access;
– a new Voice Shutter that allows users to capture photos using only voice commands;
– a special camera feature that enables users to pick up the best shot among multiple images including the moment just before the shutter button is depressed;
– an Icon Customizer that provides an additional level of personalization by allowing users to set their own photos as icons and shortcut images;
– the addition of a Download category to the menu for easier organization.Optimus UI 3.0 will debut on the LG Optimus LTE II launching this week in Korea, followed by LG Optimus 4X HD in June.
The next digital image revolution?
It's hard to overstate the impact of digital photography. Over the last two decades, virtually every aspect of how we take, keep and share photos has been transformed. But despite the explosive innovation around digital picture-taking, the end result has actually changed very little. A photo is still a photo. And a poorly focused photo is still as bad as ever.
Ren Ng aims to fix that.
Ng is the founder of Lytro, a Mountain View, CA start-up that has been lauded by tech-obsessed first-adopters and photo enthusiasts alike. The product that has everyone so excited? A compact "plenoptic" digital camera. The camera, a short square-edged tube, uses a unique sensor resembling an insect's multi-faceted eye to capture "all the light traveling in every direction in every point in space." Pair the camera with Lytro's proprietary software, and the result is an image that can be focused and refocused after it's taken. Use Lytro's special Flash widget to post that photo on your blog or site and everyone who sees it can focus and refocus on any point in the image. In the words of Wired's John Bradley -- it's "addictive."
Ren Ng aims to fix that.
Ng is the founder of Lytro, a Mountain View, CA start-up that has been lauded by tech-obsessed first-adopters and photo enthusiasts alike. The product that has everyone so excited? A compact "plenoptic" digital camera. The camera, a short square-edged tube, uses a unique sensor resembling an insect's multi-faceted eye to capture "all the light traveling in every direction in every point in space." Pair the camera with Lytro's proprietary software, and the result is an image that can be focused and refocused after it's taken. Use Lytro's special Flash widget to post that photo on your blog or site and everyone who sees it can focus and refocus on any point in the image. In the words of Wired's John Bradley -- it's "addictive."
To learn just how addictive, just click on the image below and find out for yourself.
Once we finished clicking, we spoke to Ng, asking him to explain the camera's technology in simple terms and to describe what he sees as the next evolutionary step for his company's light field technology.
Tech it Up!: So how does the camera actually work?
Ng: Unlike traditional cameras, which only capture the color and intensity of light, the light field sensor also records the angle and direction of light.
With powerful software and sophisticated algorithms, the pictures are processed by the Lytro Light Field Engine to create living pictures that can be refocused after they're snapped, shifting the perspective view, and that can switch between 2D and 3D views. People can interact with pictures directly on the camera, as well as on the desktop, the Web and on mobile devices without having to download special software.
Tech it Up!: Living pictures?
Ng: Unlike traditional cameras, you can shoot now and focus later. Pictures can be focused days, weeks, even years after they're taken.
These days, most people take digital pictures not to print them out, but to share them online with their friends and family. Not only can you share these moments, but people can also interact with them. It brings an entirely new creative approach to visual storytelling.
Tech it Up!: How hard is it to unlock that creativity?
Ng: If you are interested in getting a picture with dramatic refocus and a strong sensation of discovery within the picture, you do need to experiment with putting multiple objects in the foreground and background. We're seeing tremendous creativity from our early customers already, and we are excited to see more.
Creative Mode [an advanced setting on the camera] is great for shooting extreme macro shots, for dramatic portraiture or for amazing shots across large landscapes. We're seeing both professional photographers and serious hobbyists using Creative Mode in really fun ways.
Tech it Up!: So what's next? What else will light field technology let the photographer do?
Ng: By capturing the full light field, Lytro cameras provide an immersive 3D picture that goes beyond the conventional stereo 3D. Parallax and 3D functionality [which provides the viewer a chance to capture more of a scene, and shift the focus of that scene, like a gyroscope, adding a sense of movement] will be available later in 2012 -- any living picture taken now can be viewed on a 3D display when the software update is available.
Tech it Up!: And down the road? Where do you see the light field capability going?
Ng: Light field sensors will become increasingly more sophisticated, capturing even more light rays to be useful for more advanced scientific, medical, commercial or industrial applications. Light field videography is also possible, creating entirely new production capabilities for filmmakers.
Ng: Unlike traditional cameras, which only capture the color and intensity of light, the light field sensor also records the angle and direction of light.
With powerful software and sophisticated algorithms, the pictures are processed by the Lytro Light Field Engine to create living pictures that can be refocused after they're snapped, shifting the perspective view, and that can switch between 2D and 3D views. People can interact with pictures directly on the camera, as well as on the desktop, the Web and on mobile devices without having to download special software.
Tech it Up!: Living pictures?
Ng: Unlike traditional cameras, you can shoot now and focus later. Pictures can be focused days, weeks, even years after they're taken.
These days, most people take digital pictures not to print them out, but to share them online with their friends and family. Not only can you share these moments, but people can also interact with them. It brings an entirely new creative approach to visual storytelling.
Tech it Up!: How hard is it to unlock that creativity?
Ng: If you are interested in getting a picture with dramatic refocus and a strong sensation of discovery within the picture, you do need to experiment with putting multiple objects in the foreground and background. We're seeing tremendous creativity from our early customers already, and we are excited to see more.
Creative Mode [an advanced setting on the camera] is great for shooting extreme macro shots, for dramatic portraiture or for amazing shots across large landscapes. We're seeing both professional photographers and serious hobbyists using Creative Mode in really fun ways.
Tech it Up!: So what's next? What else will light field technology let the photographer do?
Ng: By capturing the full light field, Lytro cameras provide an immersive 3D picture that goes beyond the conventional stereo 3D. Parallax and 3D functionality [which provides the viewer a chance to capture more of a scene, and shift the focus of that scene, like a gyroscope, adding a sense of movement] will be available later in 2012 -- any living picture taken now can be viewed on a 3D display when the software update is available.
Tech it Up!: And down the road? Where do you see the light field capability going?
Ng: Light field sensors will become increasingly more sophisticated, capturing even more light rays to be useful for more advanced scientific, medical, commercial or industrial applications. Light field videography is also possible, creating entirely new production capabilities for filmmakers.
Poll: Half of Americans call Facebook a fad
Half of Americans think Facebook is a passing fad, according to the results of a new Associated Press-CNBC poll. And, in the run-up to the social network's initial public offering of stock, half of Americans also say the social network's expected asking price is too high.
The company Mark Zuckerberg created as a Harvard student eight years ago is preparing for what looks to be the biggest Internet IPO ever. Expected later this week, Facebook's Wall Street debut could value the company at $100 billion, making it worth more than Disney, Ford and Kraft Foods.
That's testament to the impressive numbers Facebook has posted in its relatively brief history. More than 40 percent of American adults log in to the site —to share news, personal observations, photos and more— at least once a week. In all, some 900 million people around the world are users. Facebook's revenue grew from $777 million in 2009 to $3.7 billion last year. And in the first quarter of 2012 it was more than $1 billion.
Just a third of those surveyed think the company's expected value is appropriate, while 50 percent say it is too high. Those who invest in the stock market are more likely to see shares as overvalued, 58 percent said so. About 3 in 10 investors say the expected value of shares is fair. Facebook on Tuesday lifted the expected price for its shares to $34 to $38 apiece from $28 to $35 each.
But price worries won't necessarily stop would-be investors. Half the people surveyed say they think Facebook is a good bet, while 31 percent do not. The rest aren't sure. Americans who invest in stocks roughly agree, although investors who are more "active" — those who have changed their holdings in the past month —are more negative. Nearly 40 percent say Facebook would not be a good investment.
Young adults, a majority of whom log on to Facebook daily, are more willing to dance to their hoodie-wearing piper, 28-year-old CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Among Zuckerberg's peers, adults under age 35, 59 percent say Facebook is a good bet. Compare that to the views of senior citizens: Only 39 percent age 65 and over say Facebook shares are a good investment. Nearly half of Gen X'ers (ages 35-44) say the company is a good bet, as do 55 percent of middle-aged people.
Those under 35 are the generation most interested in Facebook's IPO because they've grown up immersed in the social network. They were the first users, logging in from their college dorm rooms. Later, Facebook expanded to allow high school-age and even younger students to sign up. It's become an integral part of their lives, giving them a launching pad to spread the news of life's major developments through posts and pictures.
Conversely, it's the rare senior citizen on Facebook: Just 21 percent have an account. Half of baby boomers — the generation born in the years after World War II — have one. But most of the 56 percent of the country that's on Facebook is young — two-thirds of Gen X'ers and a staggering 81 percent of people 18-35 use the social networking site.
Young people aren't just connected. They are constantly tethered to smartphones, tablets and notebook computers. Even with the rise of alternative social networks like Twitter and Google Plus, 55 percent of Zuckerberg's peers go on Facebook every day. A third log on several times a day. Despite the intensity of their use, a narrow majority of young adults predict Facebook's appeal will fade down the road (51 percent), fewer think it will stick around as a service (44 percent).
The public overall is similarly divided on the company's future. Just under half of adults (46 percent) predict a short timeline for Facebook, while 43 percent say it has staying power.
Young people are more aware of Zuckerberg and have more positive views of the CEO, who celebrated his 28th birthday on Monday. Overall, one in five Americans say they've never heard of him, 30 percent don't have an opinion and 14 percent plain don't like him. Only about a third have a good impression of the CEO, who has alienated some with Facebook's ever-changing approach to user privacy.
But 46 percent of people under 35 like him. And a scant 4 percent of those younger adults say they've never heard of him.
The privacy issue is a stinger. Three of every five Facebook users say they have little or no faith that the company will protect their personal information. Only 13 percent trust Facebook to guard their data, and only 12 percent would feel safe making purchases through the site. Even Facebook's most dedicated users are wary — half of those who use the site daily say they wouldn't feel safe buying things on the network.
As for how Facebook makes most of its money —selling ads— 57 percent of users say they never click on them or on Facebook's sponsored content. About another quarter say they rarely do.
Despite user discontent about privacy, Facebook and Zuckerberg have connected with many Americans. The survey suggests that his reputation and youth seem more like assets than liabilities. For those who have heard of the CEO, two-thirds are at least somewhat confident in his ability to run a large public company. Twenty-two percent doubt he can handle the leadership role. As for the social network he created, 51 percent of Americans clicked "Like."
The Associated Press-CNBC Poll was conducted May 3-7, 2012 by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications. It involved landline and cell phone interviews with 1,004 adults nationwide and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.
Companies ask: Does advertising on Facebook pay?
NEW YORK (AP) — Responding to extraordinary demand,Facebook said Wednesday that it would sell more stock in the company's initial public offering. But ahead of the IPO, a debate emerged between two of the nation's largest automakers: Does it pay to advertise on the social network?
General Motors, the nation's largest automaker, said it would abandon Facebook ads after concluding they were ineffective. At the same time, Ford reaffirmed its commitment to Facebook, saying their relationship was stronger than ever.
The direct financial impact of GM's move is minimal for Facebook, but the decision drew attention to the network's advertising system, which some observers regard as immature.
In a regulatory filing Wednesday, Facebook said it would add 84 million shares, worth up to $3.2 billion, to the IPO, which is shaping up to be the decade's hottest. The company's stock is expected to begin trading Friday on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker symbol "FB".
Almost half of the additional shares come from investment firms DST Global and Tiger Global. Goldman Sachs is doubling the number of shares it is selling. Facebook board members Peter Thiel and James Breyer are also selling more shares.
Since all of the additional shares come from insiders and early investors, the company won't benefit from their sale.
"It certainly does raise the question: How much higher could the stock go if institutions who know the company well think this is a good price to sell?" said Daniel Ernst, an analyst with Hudson Square Research.
On the other hand, he said, investment firms only make money by selling their stakes, and they have bills to pay. So the fact that they are selling more is only a limited indication of their confidence in the company.
The news comes a day after Facebook raised the expected price of the stock to a range of $34 to $38 per share, up from its previous range of $28 to $35.
At the high end of the price range, the IPO would raise $16 billion, without the overallotment option reserved to meet extra demand. That would make it the third-largest IPO in American history, ahead of General Motors in 2010, according to Renaissance Capital.
The IPO would value Facebook at more than $100 billion. The stock is expected to get a final price Thursday evening.
In papers filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Facebook said current shareholders are now offering approximately 241 million shares, up from about 157 million shares previously.
Even though founder Mark Zuckerberg is not increasing the number of shares he is selling, the additional sales will trim his voting control to 55.8 percent from 57.3 percent. That's because he has voting control over some of the shares owned by investment firms.
The market expects a substantial IPO "pop," or first-day price jump, said Josef Schuster, founder of IPO investment and tracking firm IPOX Schuster. But the overall stock market has been down in the last two weeks, and investor interest could flag quickly, he said.
"It may be rough waters for Facebook in the next few days, given that pricing has been up and up in a market that's been down and down," he said.
Facebook has more than 900 million users who log in at least once a month, but it makes only a few dollars per year from each one, chiefly through advertising. Advertisers have been complaining that it's difficult to make good use of Facebook.
A person briefed on GM's advertising said the company will stop running paid advertising on Facebook by mid-summer because advertising agencies and third-party companies that reviewed the ads determined the company wasn't getting much back for its $10 million annual investment.
The person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because GM's ad strategy is private, said the Facebook ads did not entice consumers to consider GM products.
GM will, however, maintain Facebook pages for all of its brands and models. Those pages are popular and do attract customers to products, the person said. But they don't make money for Facebook.
GM spends about $30 million a year creating content such as pictures and videos to post on the pages, the person said.
More than 3.1 million people on Facebook "like" two pages dedicated to the Camaro muscle car, and 1.2 million "like" the Chevrolet brand. GM also has brand pages for individual countries.
GM said that it constantly reviews whether its advertising in all media reaches the right age and income demographics. It could reconsider Facebook ads later in the year, the person said.
GM's advertising spending is a tiny fraction of Facebook's total 2011 advertising revenue of $3.15 billion. But the automaker's decision could be symptomatic of Facebook's weak appeal to advertisers.
The social network's chief moneymakers are so-called "display ads" — boxes that show up on the right side of Facebook's page. They're tuned to users' interests and activities, but they don't connect as well as Google Inc.'s search-based ads.
The problem may not be just Facebook's. The advertising world is set up to take advantage of one-way media like magazines and TV, not two-way channels like Facebook, and may need some time to adjust.
Ford Motor Co. is taking the opposite tack of GM. It's set to increase spending on Facebook advertising this year, said Scott Monty, Ford's global head of social media. Ford sees the site as a way to build long-term relationships with customers, not just as an online billboard.
Ford complements display ads by sponsoring stories in the news feeds of people who subscribe to its pages. People see them in the area where their attention is focused, rather than in the right-hand column, Monty said.
It also buys ads that appear when a person logs out of Facebook, with images and descriptions of products such as the Ford Mustang, he said. He wouldn't say how much the carmaker spends with Facebook.
The value of Facebook ads, Monty said, can't be measured simply by the number of clicks they get from viewers.
"It's a holistic kind of a relationship thing rather than a single transaction we're looking for," he said.
Iran nuclear output seen steady before Baghdad talks
VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran is installing more centrifuges in an underground plant but does not yet appear to be using them to expand higher-grade uranium enrichment that could take it closer to producing atom bomb material, Western diplomats say.
They say Iran's production of uranium refined to a fissile concentration of 20 percent, which it started two years ago, seems to have remained steady in recent months after a major escalation of the work in late 2011 and early this year.
Progress in Iran's controversial nuclear program is closely watched by the West and Israel as it could determine the time the Islamic Republic would need to build nuclear bombs, should it decide to do so.
Getting Iran to stop the higher-level enrichment is expected to be a priority for world powers when they meet with Iran in Baghdad next week in an attempt to start resolving the decade-old dispute over Tehran's atomic ambitions.
"It is still going strong. I hear it is unchanged," one diplomat accredited to the U.N. nuclear watchdog, which regularly inspects Iran's declared atomic sites, said about the country's most sensitive nuclear activity.
"But with installation work going on, at some point there will be an increase."
Tehran took a big step towards the capability of making nuclear weapons material after a previous attempt at diplomacy failed when, spurning U.N. demands to halt all enrichment, it instead ramped up uranium processing to 20 percent purity.
That provoked the West to impose crushing sanctions on its banks and oil exports.
A U.N. nuclear report published in February showed Iran trebling output of 20 percent uranium since late 2011 after starting up production at the Fordow underground plant near the Shi'ite Muslim holy city of Qom and later increasing it.
Another envoy said he did not expect to see a "significant expansion" of this work in the next quarterly report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Iran's nuclear program due later this month.
But installation of machines has continued, the diplomat said, referring to the centrifuges which spin at supersonic speed to increase the fissile isotope in uranium. Typically a set of 174 centrifuges is needed for one production unit.
A third Vienna-based diplomat painted a similar picture.
Nuclear bombs require uranium enriched to 90 percent, but much of the effort required to get there is already achieved once it reaches 20 percent concentration, shortening the time needed for any nuclear weapons "break-out".
Israel - widely believed to hold the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal - and the United States have not ruled out military action to prevent Iran from obtaining atomic arms if negotiations fail to achieve this goal.
IRAN FLEXIBLE?
Iran has steadily increased uranium enrichment since 2007 and now has enough of the 3.5 and 20 percent material for some four bombs if refined further, experts say. The lower-grade uranium is the normal level required for nuclear power plants.
Tehran denies Western accusations of a nuclear weapons agenda and says it has a sovereign right to peaceful nuclear technology, repeatedly rejecting U.N. resolutions calling for a suspension of all uranium enrichment.
But it has at times appeared more flexible when it comes to the refinement to a fissile concentration of 20 percent, which it says it needs to fuel a medical research reactor in Tehran.
Experts say that initially getting Iran to stop this work could open a way to ease the deadlock.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Iran should take steps to "build confidence" in its nuclear activities.
"In particular Iran should take early action to address the concern about its production of 20 percent enriched uranium," Hague told parliament this week.
Britain, the United States, France, Russia, China and Germany are the six powers involved in diplomacy aimed at resolving the long-running row over Iran's atomic plans, which has stoked fears of a new Middle East war.
Many analysts believe it may be unrealistic to demand that Iran suspend all enrichment as its leaders have invested so much national and personal prestige in the project.
In return for allowing limited, low-level enrichment, those analysts argue, Iran would need to accept much more intrusive U.N. inspections to make sure there is no military diversion of its nuclear program.
Obama administration denies role in arming Syrian rebels
President Barack Obama's administration has repeatedly said over the past few months that it won't ship arms to Syria's outgunned opposition, warning that doing so will only escalate the bloody conflict there. But the Washington Post reported Wednesday that the U.S. has been helping to coordinate shipments of "more and better weapons" to the rebels, with Persian Gulf nations picking up the tab.State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland denied that Washington was playing any role in arming the rebels.
"With regard to any assertions with regard to lethal (aid), we are not involved in that," she said at her daily briefing.
"The United States has made a decision to provide nonlethal support to civilian members of the opposition. This is things like medical equipment. This is communications, things to help them, first of all, deal with the humanitarian aspects but also to help them to communicate better so that they can plan and be ready for the period of transition that we expect and want to see in Syria," she said.
So is Washington helping to coordinate arms shipments?
"We are obviously consulting with various states about the decisions that we've made, that they've made," Nuland said, declining repeated opportunities to explicitly criticize countries that have opted to help arm the opposition. "This is a loose coordination mechanism."
The Washington Post said that Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other gulf states were providing "millions of dollars in funding each month" to arm the opposition.
At the White House, spokesman Jay Carney also seemed to tip-toe right up to the line of confirming that other countries are arming fighters opposed to President Bashar al-Assad.
"We continue to provide nonlethal support to the opposition. And while I can only speak for the United States, we know that others are pursuing different types of support, and I'd refer you to them to characterize the nature of their actions," he told reporters.
Carney reiterated Obama's support for a ceasefire plan crafted by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan — even while acknowledging that the Assad regime has essentially ignored it.
"We continue to be very concerned about the violence in Syria by the failure of the Assad regime to fulfill any of its obligations under the Kofi Annan plan," the spokesman said.
"We've been extremely blunt about the fact that we remain very skeptical of Assad's intentions," Carney said. "We will, when appropriate and as necessary, discuss next steps."
"But we are now supporting the Annan plan, supporting that mission because it has brought about some positive developments, at the very least, a reduction, not an elimination, of violence. And ... it embodies the best option here for the political transition that Syrians so desperately want," Carney said.
Obama aides say that the deployment of U.N. observers on the ground has helped tamp down violence by Assad's forces.
"If you look at the numbers of reported deaths day by day they are down since the monitors have started patrolling. Also generally the overall level of violence is down country-wide," an Obama aide told Yahoo News on condition of anonymity.
"Obviously, though, the regime still has a long way to go to be considered in compliance with the Annan plan's six points," the aide said.
Sen. John McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, highlighted the Washington Post article on his Twitter feed, commenting: "As usual, this Administration leads from behind."
McCain has repeatedly called for the administration to arm Syria's rebels.
