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Last month I tested the Logitech Slim Combo keyboard for the iPad Pro 10.5. While the keyboard is functional and useful for productivity, it's quite thick and the $150 price is tough to justify.

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For the last couple of weeks, I've been using the ZAGG Rugged Messenger for the iPad Pro 10.5. It is priced $50 less than the Logitech one ($99.99) and I prefer it for several reasons.

Slide your iPad Pro into the top case portion of the combo for protection around the edges and back of your iPad Pro. A mixture of hard plastic and a TPU frame protect the back and edges to a MIL-STD 810G rating of 6 feet. Obviously, dropping your iPad Pro on the display will likely cause it to crack, but side and edge drops may survive.

There are openings in the cover for the camera, flash, Lightning port, 3.5mm headset jack, and mics. Raised buttons for the power and volume are present too.

One of the best features of the ZAGG Rugged Messenger combo is the Apple Pencil holder found along the top (in landscape) or right (in portrait). I hate that there is no way to conveniently carry the Apple Pencil with your iPad and this feature alone may set the ZAGG Rugged Messenger apart enough to satisfy many customers.

The bottom piece is the keyboard and back cover that serves as the kickstand for your iPad Pro. It attaches via a very strong magnet in the spine and connects to your iPad via Bluetooth. A fully charged keyboard is rated to last for up to two years between charging.

There is a row of keys above the five typical keyboard rows that serve as the following shortcuts:

There are five rows of keys below this top line with a full number row, directional arrows, FN key, two CMD, Two Alt/Option, and two Shift keys. Use the FN and down arrow to toggle through three brightness levels. Use the FN and right arrow to toggle through seven keyboard backlight colors. The backlighting is more even and bright than what is present on the Logitech Slim Combo.

The keys are well spaced and have solid travel. The wrist support is long enough to be comfortable when used in a number of ways. The magnets are very strong to hold the keyboard to your iPad and also prop up your iPad.

The back piece of the keyboard has three seams in it and folds then slides up and down the back of the ZAGG case to allow you to prop up your Apple iPad Pro 10.5 in several different positions. When you pull the keyboard down from the front of your iPad Pro, your iPad wakes up and the display turns on.

The ZAGG Rugged Messenger matches the premium design of the Apple iPad Pro and is the keyboard combo I was looking for to match up with the Apple iPad Pro. It looks great and is well designed.

The ZAGG Rugged Messenger is only $99, which is about a third less than the Apple and Logitech keyboard options. I have tested all three and prefer the ZAGG design and capability. The ZAGG Rugged Messenger weighs in at a rather hefty 1.53 pounds, but with the iPad Pro it is still lighter than most laptops.

Although the keys may be a bit better designed on the Logitech Slim Combo, the price, Apple Pencil holder, backlighting options, and better use on your lap make the ZAGG Rugged Messenger a better option.

See more here:
ZAGG Rugged Messenger keyboard for Apple iPad 10.5 hands-on: Protective case and elegant keyboard combo - ZDNet

By Takura Zhangazha

The Zimbabwe Ministry of Media, Information and Broadcasting Services is in a comfort zone that its leaders probably didnt think was realistically feasible a couple of years back. This can be explained by the recent statement that the responsible cabinet minister Chris Mushowe made threatening to withhold parastatal advertisements from critical private media. Or oddly that he would encourage Zanu PF supporters not to buy any private papers (I am not sure how many supporters of the ruling party actually do that voluntarily.)

Whichever way one looks at it, the minister is making these statements not without elements of being in a comfort and control zone over the media but also with an arrogance that belies his mistaken perception that media freedom is a privilege and not a right. And it is fair to ask where is the government getting this arrogance from?

In some circles there has been debate in slight mimicry of South African political parlance, of media capture. Not only along factional lines in the ruling or opposition parties but also in relation to business interests that affect editorial policy. The jury is still out on the validity of this media capture assertion but suffice to say it is worth looking into, even if briefly.

He had sort of resurrected from his initial label as a media hangman and with IMPI sought to endear himself with the mainstream media, an endeavour that on the face of it, was quite successful especially with the private media. Never mind the stories and disputes that emerged from those members of Zimbabwes media profession that were to eventually be part of the panel.

Beyond IMPI, which Moyos successors at the ministry are yet to allow to come to full policy implementation, there was another element that brought a new comfort zone to government in its relations with the mainstream media. This was that of media ownership.

The most recent example has been the launch of a couple of local commercial stations owned by AB Communications. The others that are also now broadcasting are owned in part by the government controlled Zimbabwe Newspapers Group (Zimpapers).And in media analysis circles this is called multimedia or even cross media ownership especially if we consider the fact that Zimpapers also has a dominant newspaper division and that AB Communications has made public its intention to start a newspaper.

And both companies are angling for the yet to be issued national television licenses. And they do have the makings of television production divisions, a sign that they have enough confidence (I dont know from where) that they are likely to also acquire these licenses at a date to be determined by the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ)/ government.

The other major player in Zimbabwes media industry Alpha Media Holdings (AMH) tried to branch into radio, particularly the local commercial aspect but was denied a license in what it considered controversial circumstances. I am not sure if they are going to also try for television (a much more costly endeavour).

The end effect of these processes is that Zimbabwes media is under siege by existent and soon to be media moguls in the form of Zimpapers and AB Communications. And due to serious challenges of viability and sustainability of private media as a business, independent and objective journalism is getting harder by the day. Even those journalists that would wish to be effective freelance reporters and pursue their democratic public interest role to the hilt are now stymied by economic challenges and lack of resources to effectively do so.

It is those with resources that are not only spreading their wings across differing media platforms (newspaper to radio to television) but are also beginning to have uniform editorial policies that disable media diversity and in the final analysis determine what is news in favour of their own political or economic interests. While at the same time lauding converged newsrooms as technologically progressive when in reality they stifle news diversity and place greater commercial pressure as opposed to public interest on the shoulders of editors and journalists.

The immediate latter points are also then responsible for allegations of factional capture of the media. This is where it is a combination of business and political interests that determine news content. Hence Minister Mushowes threat that linked a purportedly over critical of government media with blanket advertising bans.

This is the background that informs central governments media comfort and control zone. And the media has to urgently shrug this government off its back sooner rather than later in the interests of democratic free expression in our country.

*Takura Zhangazha writes here in his personal capacity (takura-zhangazha.blogspot.com)

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Zim govt's 'comfort + control zone' over the media - Nehanda Radio

A South African girl born with the AIDS virus has kept her infection suppressed for more than eight years after stopping anti-HIV medicines more evidence that early treatment can occasionally cause a long remission that, if it lasts, would be a form of cure.

A South African girl born with the AIDS virus has kept her infection suppressed for more than eight years after stopping anti-HIV medicines more evidence that early treatment can occasionally cause a long remission that, if it lasts, would be a form of cure.

Her case was revealed Monday at an AIDS conference in Paris, where researchers also gave encouraging results from tests of shots every month or two instead of daily pills to treat HIV.

Thats very promising to help people stay on treatment, the U.S.s top AIDS scientist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said of the prospects for long-acting drugs.

Current treatments keep HIV under control but must be taken lifelong. Only one person is thought to be cured the so-called Berlin patient, a man who had a bone marrow transplant in 2007 from a donor with natural resistance to HIV.

But transplants are risky and impractical to try to cure the millions already infected. So some researchers have been aiming for the next best thing long-term remission, when the immune system can control HIV without drugs even if signs of the virus remain.

Aggressive treatment soon after infection might enable that in some cases, and the South African girl is the third child who achieved a long remission after that approach.

She was in a study sponsored by the agency Fauci heads, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, that previously found that early versus delayed treatment helped babies survive.

The girl, who researchers did not identify, started on HIV drugs when she was 2 months old and stopped 40 weeks later. Tests when she was 9 1/2 years old found signs of virus in a small number of immune system cells, but none capable of reproducing. The girl does not have a gene mutation that gives natural resistance to HIV infection, Fauci said, so her remission seems likely due to the early treatment.

The previous cases:

A French teen who was born with HIV and is now around 20 has had her infection under control despite no HIV medicines since she was roughly 6 years old.

A Mississippi baby born with HIV in 2010 suppressed her infection for 27 months after stopping treatment before it reappeared in her blood. She was able to get the virus under control again after treatment resumed.

At least a dozen adults also have had remissions lasting for years after stopping HIV medicines.

A study underway now is testing whether treating HIV-infected newborns within two days of birth can control the virus later after treatment stops. It started in 2014 in South America, Haiti, Africa and the United States, and some of the earliest participants might be able to try stopping treatment later this year.

Treatment might get easier if two large studies underway now confirm results reported Monday from a study testing a long-acting combo of two HIV drugs Janssens rilpivirine and ViiV Healthcares cabotegravir.

Cabotegravir is experimental; rilpivirine is sold now as Edurant and used in combination with other drugs for treating certain types of HIV patients.

After initial treatment to get their virus under control, about 300 study participants were given either daily combination therapy pills or a shot every four or eight weeks of the long-acting drug duo to maintain control.

After nearly two years, 94 percent on eight-week shots, 87 percent on four-week shots and 84 percent on daily pills had their infections suppressed, with similar rates of side effects.

The results were good regardless of whether people came monthly or every two months for their treatment. This has important policy implications, said Dr. Linda-Gail Bekker, deputy director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, and a co-leader of the conference.

The study was sponsored by the drugmakers. Results were published in the British medical journal Lancet.

Two large studies aimed at winning approval to sell the treatment are testing the monthly shots. Janssen said in a statement that good results from eight-week shots warrant reconsidering the longer approach.

If it works, this will have a huge impact on how we manage that very important group of people who are not able to access and take drugs on a day-to-day basis, such as those with mental health or drug abuse problems, said Dr. Steven Deeks, an AIDS specialist at the University of California, San Francisco. ___

See more here:
Girl's HIV Infection Seems Under Control Without AIDS Drugs - Houston Public Media

Kansas City Star

The Latest: Israeli media: Cameras may secure holy site Kansas City Star The installation of the metal detectors last week had outraged the Muslim world. The railings seen Monday are of the type used for crowd control, to create orderly lines. Israeli police declined to comment. A media report has suggested that such ... and more »

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The Latest: Israeli media: Cameras may secure holy site - Kansas City Star

The Standing Rock protesters were an unprecedented coalition of indigenous peoples, veterans, and activists of every stripe, and they faced down vicious mercenaries who targeted them with "anti-terrorist" tactics.

But the oil industry and its authoritarian pals didn't just buy muscle, they also bought ideas: hiring firms like Delve and Off the Record Strategies to secretly develop talking points and coordinate PR strategy to discredit the water protectors.

These PR firms worked with DCI Group -- a GOP PR favorite -- who created an astroturf organization called the Midwest Alliance for Infrastructure Now (MAIN) (now called Grow Americas Infrastructure Now, or GAIN).

Significantly, the PR apparatus mobilized to discredit the water protectors cut its teeth selling America on George W Bush's Iraq invasion. For example, Off the Record principle Mark Pfeifle was GWB's communications advisor for justifying the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. That's just the tip of the iceberg: the rogues' gallery of PR flacks who worked to justify the poisoning-at-gunpoint of the Standing Rock water supply are a who's who of GWB-era dark arts practitioners, and leaks of their talking points documents show that they originated the fake news that the right-wing press circulated about the water protectors.

Pfeifle, who heads Off the Record Strategies, specializes in damage control, according to a 2005 Baltimore Sun story profiling the Bush White House communications strategy to fend off domestic critics of the Iraq War.

Pfeifle's specialty is damage control. And at the moment, there is more than enough damage surrounding Bush, The Sun wrote of the campaign Pfeifle co-ran with the host of MSNBCs Deadline: White House, Nicolle Wallace, who then was a top communications advisor to President Bush. With public alarm about the war mounting and public trust of Bush plummeting, the White House has gone on the defensive with a public relations push designed to discredit his opponents. The operation has all the trappings of a political campaign including rapid-response statements targeted at opponents, using carefully compiled research.

Pfeifle isnt the only person with ties to the Iraq War who did public relations for Dakota Access. James Spider Marks led intelligence-gathering for the 2003 shock and awe campaign for Operation Iraqi Liberation. Today, he serves as a consultant to Energy Transfer Partners and sits on the advisory board of TigerSwan, the companys private security firm and a funder of the National Sheriffs Association.

With a tagline of Private Council/Public Results, Off the Record Strategies does all of its business behind the scenes and rarely issues public comments.

If we told you exactly what we do, wed have to go on the record, reads its website. Were strategic counselors with decades of high-level experience and a no-holds-barred approach to meeting and exceeding our clients needs through personal and confidential service.

Emails Show Iraq War PR Alums Led Attempt to Discredit Dakota Access Protesters [Steve Horn and Curtis Waltman/Desmog]

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, having been thrown under the bus by Donald Trump, has clearly run out of fucks to give, and so now hes not only reviving the feel-good anti-drug program that convinced kids to take drugs, not only directing fed cops to arrest people who take weed in states where its legal []

The GOPs 7-year promise to repeal and replace Obamacare ends in a flaming pile of fail.

58% of right-leaning Americans believe that colleges and universities have a negative effect on the country; only 36% of Republican-leaning voters support higher education.

Web content creators who dont have a solid SEO strategy should take note of Webtexttool. Its a service that pulls in anonymous data from their entire user base to offer crowdsourced guidance that increases your search page ranks. By analyzing prior user successes, it helps you better gauge how your posts will perform at a []

Just because English has become the common global tongue doesnt mean its the easiest language to writeeven for native speakers. If youre looking to improve your written communication skills, especially on your smartphone, take a look at Ginger Page.Ginger is a cross-platform app that offers corrections for phrasing as well as grammar. Its powered by []

The current web development landscape is rife with buzzwords and technology that gets abandoned almost as soon as its made. If youve never written a line of code before, it can be hard to figure out whats coming, whats here to stay, or how to get ahead.This Beginner Web Development Bundle is a great place []

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The media manipulators who poisoned the coverage of the Dakota Access Pipeline also sold us the Iraq war - Boing Boing