Microsoft vs. Google trial over patents finishes up

SEATTLE (Reuters) - A Google expert witness testified on Tuesday that Microsoft will make roughly $94 billion in revenue through 2017 from its Xbox game console and Surface tablet that use Google's patented wireless technology.


Michael Dansky, an expert for Google's Motorola Mobility unit, testified on the last day of a high stakes trial over patents between Microsoft and Google in Seattle. The $94 billion figure he cited also includes a wireless adapter that Microsoft no longer sells. It was not clear how far back he was counting past revenues.


Microsoft declined comment on the figure.


The week-long trial in a Seattle federal court examined how much of a royalty Microsoft Corp should pay Google Inc for a license to some of Motorola's patents. Google bought Motorola earlier this year for $12.5 billion, partly for its library of communications patents.


Motorola had sought up to $4 billion a year for its wireless and video patents, while Microsoft argues its rival deserves just over $1 million a year.


If U.S. District Judge James Robart decides Google deserves only a small royalty, then its Motorola patents would be a weaker bargaining chip for Google to negotiate licensing deals with rivals.


The rapid rise of smartphones has sparked an explosion of litigation between major players disputing ownership of the underlying technology and the design of handsets.


Apple Inc and Microsoft have been litigating in courts around the world against Google and partners like Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, which use the Android operating system on their mobile devices.


Apple contends that Android is basically a copy of its iOS smartphone software, and Microsoft holds patents that it contends cover a number of Android features.


In return, Motorola and some other Android hardware makers launched countering legal action.


Before trial, Robart said testimony about patent license agreements between Microsoft, Motorola and other tech companies could be disclosed to the public, along with other sensitive financial information.


However, the judge reversed himself this week and said he was bound by appellate precedent to keep that information secret. On Tuesday he cleared the courtroom and heard two hours of testimony in secret.


During the open session, Dansky said Motorola's video patents are crucial to Microsoft and other tech companies, and deserve a high royalty.


"You will have a difficult time selling smart phones or tablets," Dansky said, without Motorola's technology.


Robart is not expected to release a ruling for several weeks as both companies must file further legal briefs.


The case in U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington is Microsoft Corp. vs. Motorola Inc., 10-cv-1823.


(Reporting by Lisa Dembiczak; Writing by Dan Levine; Editing by Richard Pullin)


Read More..

Jack Taylor scores 138 points for Grinnell

After a poor shooting weekend, Grinnell guard Jack Taylor was given the green light to shoot his way out of a slump.

It only took 108 shots for Taylor to make a mockery of the college basketball record books.

Taylor scored 138 points to shatter the NCAA scoring record in Division III Grinnell's 179-104 victory over Faith Baptist Bible on Tuesday night in Grinnell, Iowa.

Taylor, a 5-foot-10, 170-pound sophomore from Black River Falls, Wis., made 27 of 71 3-point attempts, was 52 of 108 overall from the field and added seven free throws on 10 attempts in 36 minutes.

"It felt like anything I tossed up was going in," Taylor told The Associated Press.

Rio Grande's Bevo Francis held the NCAA scoring record with 113 points against Hillsdale in 1954. In 1953, Francis had 116 against Ashland Junior College. Frank Selvy is the only other player to reach triple figures, scoring 100 points for Division I Furman against Newberry in 1954. The previous Grinnell record was 89 by Griffin Lentsch last Nov. 19 against Principia.

Under coach David Arseneault, the Pioneers press and shoot 3s like nobody else in the country in any level. They've led the nation in scoring for 17 of the past 19 seasons while ranking first nationally in 3-point shooting for the 15 of those past 19 years. But none of them have had a night quite like Taylor — who never saw this coming.

Taylor recently transferred to Grinnell, located about 50 miles east of Des Moines, after playing one season for Wisconsin-La Crosse. He struggled in his debut at the nearby Wartburg Tournament over the weekend by hitting only 11 of 41 shots — including only 6 of 34 3-point attempts Still, he averaged 23.5 points a game.

But Taylor started Tuesday's night game off slow — at least according to his standards. His coaches figured the best way to get him on track was for him to keep chucking, so that's what Taylor did.

"Maybe my cold shooting from the weekend was affecting me," Taylor said. "But then they started to drop."

Taylor had 58 points at halftime.

Then he got hot.

Taylor was 32 of 58 shooting — including 18 3s — in the final 20 minutes and averaged an astounding four points a minute in the second half.

"I don't think reality has set in yet," Taylor said.

Faith Baptist's David Larson also had a big game, scoring 70 points on 34-of-44 shooting.

Carmelo Anthony and the New York Knicks were amazed by Taylor's feat when they heard about it after their victory in New Orleans.

"I never heard of nothing like that. That's like a video game," Anthony said, an incredulous look on his face. "How can you shoot 100 times, though?"

He joked that from now on when someone asks if he's taking too many shots, he'll mention "that someone shot it 108 times."

Raymond Felton also was astounded by the 108 shots.

"His elbow has got to be sore," Felton said.

___

AP Sports Writer Brett Martel in New Orleans contributed to this report.

___

Follow Luke Meredith on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/LukeMeredithAP

Read More..

“Hitchcock” trains lens on the love story of Alfred and Alma
















NEW YORK (Reuters) – She won Oscar gold for her uncanny performance as Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, but Helen Mirren‘s latest portrayal finds her as the power behind the throne — or, more precisely, the director’s chair.


In “Hitchcock,” Mirren stars opposite Anthony Hopkins as legendary director Alfred Hitchcock’s devoted wife Alma Reville, and early buzz has her a contender for another Oscar nomination.













The film, which opens in limited release on Friday, explores the domestic life of one of Hollywood‘s most iconic and revered directors, set during the days of his struggle to put the ground-breaking 1960 classic, “Psycho” on the silver screen.


Toggling back and forth between his on-set battles with censors and his cast including Janet Leigh (Scarlett Johansson), Vera Miles (Jessica Biel) and Tony Perkins (James D’Arcy), and his strained relationship with Alma as she copes with his well-documented obsession with his ravishing leading ladies, “Hitchcock” treats film fans to a glimpse of bygone Hollywood.


But it paints a more nuanced and sympathetic portrait of the director Hopkins called “a damaged man” than the recent television film “The Girl,” which dramatized the hell Hitchcock put Tippi Hedren through during filming of “The Birds.”


“It’s a great role,” Mirren said of Alma, a film editor and assistant director in her own right who ceded the spotlight to her husband, but as the film makes clear was involved in virtually every aspect of his films and even re-cut “Psycho” into the masterpiece it is known as today.


“So, you don’t turn that down,” she told Reuters.


Having won her Oscar as one of the world’s most famous women, Mirren said she finds herself drawn to “the ones I don’t know anything about, like Alma. Those are the most fun.”


With little to go on, Mirren said she turned to the 2003 book “Alma Hitchcock: The Woman Behind the Man,” by the couple’s daughter Patricia, who also acted in several Hitchcock films.


“I’m not that much of a film buff that I knew about Alma, and I had no idea about Hitchcock‘s private life,” she said, adding the book aimed “to bring her mother out of the shadows.”


HITCH THE BRAND


By all accounts making the movie about the movies was a joy, with Mirren and Hopkins co-starring in their first film together under first-time director Sacha Gervasi (“Anvil: The Story of Anvil”), who fixed a script that had made the rounds.


Hopkins described it as the “most fun” since his Oscar-winning role in the thriller “Silence of the Lambs.”


Mirren recalled rushing off to work each day: “I couldn’t wait.” And it helped that the actors have the same approach.


“There’s no mystery to it … They talk about chemistry, and Helen agrees with me, there’s no such thing. You know your part, she knows hers, and off you go, hope it works,” Hopkins said.


But Mirren and Hopkins, who is also being touted for an Oscar nomination, parted ways when speculating on how the auteur director, who never won an Oscar during five decades of work, would have fared in the Hollywood of today.


“He would have despaired,” Hopkins said. “It would have been anathema to him. That kind of artistry is gone.”


Corporate control means “you have eight or nine producers on the set, everyone’s got a say in the scripts, and even craft services!”


But Mirren differed, imagining “he’d do brilliantly well.”


“He was a great salesman, and the Hollywood of today is so much about being a salesman and being able to sell yourself as a brand,” she explained. “He did that brilliantly. I think the two of them sold Hitch. Hitch was the faceman, he was the brand.”


“Also,” she added, “his filmmaking techniques would be incredibly successful,” given the technological advances since Hitchcock’s death in 1980.


Hitchcock was on a roll in his early 60s, with his “Psycho” follow-up, the shocking thriller “The Birds” becoming a hit and a much-loved classic. But none of the handful of films he made afterward attained their iconic status.


Mirren, 67, by contrast, truly hit her stride during her 40s, despite a steady two-decade career by that point.


Starting with the TV show “Prime Suspect” to the films “Gosford Park,” “The Queen” and “The Last Station,” she racked up four Oscar nominations and a mantel full of Emmys, which raises a question about the validity of complaints that Hollywood has no use for actresses over 40.


“I think what has changed is, the world around has changed,” Mirren said when reflecting on her success and acclaim.


“I was lucky that I hit my 40s just as the world around me was changing. Twenty years before I never would have been cast in ‘Prime Suspect’ because there were no women inspectors.”


And so, she looks forward.


“As I’ve carried on, my God, 20 years ago it was inconceivable that you’d have a female president of the United States,” she said.


“Now, the next president of America may well be a woman, and if there is a female president, that means that if a movie comes along, and there’s the president of America …” She laughs.


“You know what I mean?”


(Editing by Christine Kearney)


Movies News Headlines – Yahoo! News



Read More..

OB/GYNs back over-the-counter birth control pills

WASHINGTON (AP) — No prescription or doctor's exam needed: The nation's largest group of obstetricians and gynecologists says birth control pills should be sold over the counter, like condoms.

Tuesday's surprise opinion from these gatekeepers of contraception could boost longtime efforts by women's advocates to make the pill more accessible.

But no one expects the pill to be sold without a prescription any time soon: A company would have to seek government permission first, and it's not clear if any are considering it. Plus there are big questions about what such a move would mean for many women's wallets if it were no longer covered by insurance.

Still, momentum may be building.

Already, anyone 17 or older doesn't need to see a doctor before buying the morning-after pill — a higher-dose version of regular birth control that can prevent pregnancy if taken shortly after unprotected sex. Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration held a meeting to gather ideas about how to sell regular oral contraceptives without a prescription, too.

Now the influential American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is declaring it's safe to sell the pill that way.

Wait, why would doctors who make money from women's yearly visits for a birth-control prescription advocate giving that up?

Half of the nation's pregnancies every year are unintended, a rate that hasn't changed in 20 years — and easier access to birth control pills could help, said Dr. Kavita Nanda, an OB/GYN who co-authored the opinion for the doctors group.

"It's unfortunate that in this country where we have all these contraceptive methods available, unintended pregnancy is still a major public health problem," said Nanda, a scientist with the North Carolina nonprofit FHI 360, formerly known as Family Health International.

Many women have trouble affording a doctor's visit, or getting an appointment in time when their pills are running low — which can lead to skipped doses, Nanda added.

If the pill didn't require a prescription, women could "pick it up in the middle of the night if they run out," she said. "It removes those types of barriers."

Tuesday, the FDA said it was willing to meet with any company interested in making the pill nonprescription, to discuss what if any studies would be needed.

Then there's the price question. The Obama administration's new health care law requires FDA-approved contraceptives to be available without copays for women enrolled in most workplace health plans.

If the pill were sold without a prescription, it wouldn't be covered under that provision, just as condoms aren't, said Health and Human Services spokesman Tait Sye.

ACOG's opinion, published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, says any move toward making the pill nonprescription should address that cost issue. Not all women are eligible for the free birth control provision, it noted, citing a recent survey that found young women and the uninsured pay an average of $16 per month's supply.

The doctors group made clear that:

—Birth control pills are very safe. Blood clots, the main serious side effect, happen very rarely, and are a bigger threat during pregnancy and right after giving birth.

—Women can easily tell if they have risk factors, such as smoking or having a previous clot, and should avoid the pill.

—Other over-the-counter drugs are sold despite rare but serious side effects, such as stomach bleeding from aspirin and liver damage from acetaminophen.

—And there's no need for a Pap smear or pelvic exam before using birth control pills. But women should be told to continue getting check-ups as needed, or if they'd like to discuss other forms of birth control such as implantable contraceptives that do require a physician's involvement.

The group didn't address teen use of contraception. Despite protests from reproductive health specialists, current U.S. policy requires girls younger than 17 to produce a prescription for the morning-after pill, meaning pharmacists must check customers' ages. Presumably regular birth control pills would be treated the same way.

Prescription-only oral contraceptives have long been the rule in the U.S., Canada, Western Europe, Australia and a few other places, but many countries don't require a prescription.

Switching isn't a new idea. In Washington state a few years ago, a pilot project concluded that pharmacists successfully supplied women with a variety of hormonal contraceptives, including birth control pills, without a doctor's involvement. The question was how to pay for it.

Some pharmacies in parts of London have a similar project under way, and a recent report from that country's health officials concluded the program is working well enough that it should be expanded.

And in El Paso, Texas, researchers studied 500 women who regularly crossed the border into Mexico to buy birth control pills, where some U.S. brands sell over the counter for a few dollars a pack. Over nine months, the women who bought in Mexico stuck with their contraception better than another 500 women who received the pill from public clinics in El Paso, possibly because the clinic users had to wait for appointments, said Dr. Dan Grossman of the University of California, San Francisco, and the nonprofit research group Ibis Reproductive Health.

"Being able to easily get the pill when you need it makes a difference," he said.

___

Online:

OB/GYN group: http://www.acog.org

Read More..

One Direction's 2nd CD hits No. 1, sells 540,000

NEW YORK (AP) — One Direction's "Take Me Home" is the taking the boys to the top of the charts — and to new heights.

The group's sophomore album has sold 540,000 in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It's the year's third-highest debut behind Taylor Swift's "Red," which sold 1.2 million units its first week earlier this month, and Mumford & Sons' "Babel," which sold more than 600,000 albums in September in its debut week.

"We just want to say a massive thanks to all the fans who have supported us," band member Harry Styles, 18, said in an interview Tuesday from London. "We can send tweets and thank them, but 140 characters is never going be enough to say how much it means."

The album also debuted at No. 1 in the United Kingdom this week. The fivesome's debut, "Up All Night," came in at No. 2 in the United Kingdom last year; it was just released in March in America, where it hit No. 1 and has achieved platinum status.

"We were a little bit nervous about how people were going to take it," 19-year-old Niall Horan said of the new album during tour rehearsals. "Everyone gets that second album syndrome."

They say though they're excited, they won't be celebrating too much: "We're finishing rehearsing soon and we're going home to bed."

One Direction, who placed third on the U.K. version of "The X Factor" in 2010, is signed to Simon Cowell's Syco label imprint. In just a year, the band has become worldwide sensations, thanks to its feverish fans. They released a book and have a Nickelodeon show and 3-D movie planned. They also made the cut for Barbara Walters' most fascinating people of 2012 list, which includes New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and U.S. gold medalist Gabby Douglas.

One Direction says those experiences have helped the group mature.

"We've been working hard. We're starting to grow up," Horan said. "We're still young, but we've passed the initial teenage years. ...We've grown up quite quick in the job we have to do and we became a lot more independent."

The group — which includes Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson — will launch a worldwide tour in February. They hope to work with Katy Perry and are still trying to adjust to the celebrity and fame that has taken over their lives.

"I can see how it gets to people. I guess it's quite easy to get wrapped up in it all," Styles said. "We do the same things every other lad our age does. We go out, we have fun, we meet girls and stuff like that. Sometimes it gets written about, which, yeah, we think about it and it's absolutely crazy. It's still a bit weird thinking that that's the way it is."

___

Online:

http://www.onedirectionmusic.com/us/home/

___

Follow Music Mesfin on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MusicMesfin

Read More..

Hostess, union fail to reach deal









Hostess Brands Inc, the bankrupt maker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread, said on Tuesday that it failed to reach a deal in mediation with the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco and Grain Millers Union.

The company, which operates three facilities in Illinois, including in Schiller Park and Hodgkins, said it will have no further comment until a hearing scheduled for Wednesday before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

A representative of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) did not immediately respond for comment.

The ailing company, which also makes Wonder Bread and Drake's cakes, went to bankruptcy court on Monday to seek permission to liquidate its business, claiming that its operations were crippled by the bakers' strike and that winding down was the best way to preserve its dwindling cash.

But Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain of the Southern District of New York urged the sides into a private mediation, prompted by a desire to protect the more than 18,000 jobs at stake.

The 82-year-old Hostess runs 33 bakeries, 553 distribution centers, about 5,500 delivery routes and 527 bakery outlet stores throughout the United States. Bakery operations ceased last week, though product deliveries to stores continued in order to sell already-made products.

The company has blamed union wages and pension costs for contributing to its unprofitably. Hostess Chief Executive Gregory Rayburn has also said the company's labor contracts have deterred would-be bidders for the company and its assets.

Aside from its unionized workforce, analysts, bankers and restructuring experts have said that a fleet of inefficient and out-of-date factories has also eaten up costs. They have said the brand names were likely to be more valuable once they were separated from the factories and sold to non-union competitors.



Read More..

Suspect in Mag Mile stabbing was out of jail 'barely a week'









Just one day after attending a meeting to reintroduce felons into their communities, a recent parolee with a decades-long rap sheet and history of violence stabbed an Oak Brook doctor during an attempted holdup at a Gold Coast restaurant over the weekend, authorities said Monday.


Jimmy Harris, 56, had been freed from prison just eight days earlier, authorities said.


Harris, who has past gang ties, has at least 60 arrests and nine felony convictions dating to the late 1970s, according to Chicago police, state and court records.








"This defendant is clearly a danger to the community," Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Lorraine Scaduto said in court of Harris, clad in a black sweatshirt and khaki pants with his hair in long braids. He kept his hands behind his back and answered, "Yes, sir," when the judge asked him if he understood the proceedings.


Judge Edward Harmening ordered Harris held without bond during a hearing Monday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building.


Harris, who was living at the Pacific Garden Mission homeless shelter since his release from prison, was charged with attempted murder, aggravated battery and unlawful restraint for the attack on Dr. Mir Jafar Shah and a bartender Saturday night after the Lights Festival attended by tens of thousands along the Magnificent Mile.


After an evening out with family to watch the festival, Shah, a suburban oncologist, went into the bathroom inside the Chicago Westin's Grill on the Alley restaurant, where Harris approached him from behind and announced a robbery, according to prosecutors and police. Harris stabbed the doctor in the right side of his neck and face, Scaduto said, and as the victim turned and started screaming for help, Harris punched him in the eye.


Shah tried to grab Harris' arms to "prevent him from cutting" him any further, Scaduto said, and tried to pull Harris out of the bathroom so his cries for help could be heard. Shah was finally able to break free and run back into the restaurant.


Moments later, witnesses saw Harris leaving the hotel with blood on his hands and clothes and holding a knife, Scaduto said. The bartender at the restaurant chased Harris out the door and tried to stop him on the street, but Harris turned and stabbed him once in the chest, she said.


Harris was arrested in a bathroom at the nearby Cheesecake Factory restaurant, where police recovered a bloody knife, the prosecutor said.


Shah remained in Northwestern Memorial Hospital on Monday with what prosecutors said were stab wounds to the neck and face and blurry vision from the punch to the eye. The bartender was released from the hospital after receiving stitches for the chest wound. He declined to comment when reached by phone Monday.


Harris' latest arrest came a day after he attended the Summit of Hope event at Malcolm X College, where social service officials offer assistance to former offenders in an attempt to help them "reintegrate safely into society," according to the Illinois Department of Corrections.


Harris was released from prison Nov. 9 after a 2007 armed robbery in which authorities said Harris stole and later broke several bottles of rum from a Near West Side grocery. While trying to escape, according to court records, Harris used the glass shards to cut a store security guard.


Earlier in the day, Mayor Rahm Emanuel sought to downplay the weekend stabbing as an isolated incident and spoke of the need to be vigilant against violence across the city.


"It's not about just the Magnificent Mile," Emanuel said at an unrelated new conference. "I want Roseland as safe as Ravenswood, I want South Shore as safe as Sauganash and I want Woodlawn as safe as Wildwood. And I won't rest until that happens."


jmeisner@tribune.com


wlee@tribune.com


Twitter @MidNoirCowboy



Read More..

U.S. ITC will review Apple, Samsung patent decision

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. International Trade Commission will review a judge's decision which found that Apple did not violate patents owned by Samsung Electronics in making the iPod touch, iPhone and iPad.


An administrative law judge at the ITC had said in a preliminary ruling in September that Apple was innocent of violating the patents. The ITC, which could have opted to simply uphold the judge's decision, said that it would take up the matter. A final decision is expected in January.


If Apple is found to infringe, its devices can be banned for sale in the United States.


Apple and Samsung have taken their bruising patent disputes to some 10 countries as they vie for market share in the booming mobile industry.


Apple won a huge victory in August when a U.S. jury found the South Korean firm had copied key features of the iPhone. Apple was awarded $1.05 billion in damages. That ruling is under appeal.


In its announcement that it would review the case, the ITC asked for briefings on how it should consider standard essential patents, which are normally expected to be licensed widely and on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. The use of standards helps companies ensure devices are interoperable.


Some antitrust enforcers have argued that it is wrong for companies which own standard essential patents to ask for infringing devices to be barred from the country except in extreme instances.


The commission is reviewing a decision by ITC Judge James Gildea, who said in September that Apple did not violate the four patents at issue in the case, which was filed in mid-2011.


The two standard essential patents in the complaint are related to 3G wireless technology and the format of data packets for high-speed transmission.


Apple has a parallel complaint filed against Samsung at the ITC, accusing Samsung, a major Apple chip provider as well as a global rival, of blatantly copying its iPhones and iPads. An ITC judge said in that case that Samsung infringed on four Apple patents. The full ITC will issue a final decision in February.


Apple has waged an international patent war since 2010 as it seeks to limit growth of Google's Android system. The fight has embroiled Samsung, HTC and others who use Android.


Google's Android software, which Apple's late founder Steve Jobs denounced as a "stolen product," has become the world's No. 1 smartphone operating system.


Samsung is the world's largest smartphone maker, while Apple is in third place. Many experts consider Samsung's Galaxy touchscreen tablets the main rival to the iPad, although they are currently a distant second to Apple's devices.


Samsung is also a parts supplier to Apple, producing micro processors, flat screens and memory chips - both dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips and NAND memory chips - for the iPhone, iPad and iPod. Apple has reduced orders from Samsung for chips and screens.


The case at the International Trade Commission is No. 337-794.


(Reporting By Diane Bartz; Editing by Bernard Orr and David Gregorio)


Read More..

Kaepernick, 49ers whip Bears 32-7

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — As Alex Smith stood on the sideline with a concussion, San Francisco's potential quarterback of the future went to work — and fast.

Strong-armed fill-in Colin Kaepernick made all the right throws, looking every bit a capable NFL No. 1.

Kaepernick passed for 243 yards and two touchdowns in his first career start in place of the injured Smith, and the 49ers whipped the Chicago Bears 32-7 on Monday night in a highly touted NFC showdown that hardly lived up to the hype.

"It's everything I could've ever wished for," Kaepernick said. "It feels great just to be out there."

Kaepernick threw touchdown passes to Vernon Davis and Michael Crabtree, and Kendall Hunter ran for a 14-yard score as San Francisco (7-2-1) jumped out to a big lead by scoring on each of its first four possessions — with Aldon Smith wreaking havoc on the other side of the ball with 5½ sacks.

Jason Campbell, the other quarterback in this matchup of backups for division leaders, threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Marshall in the third quarter but was sacked five times and threw two interceptions in his first start since October 2011 for Oakland.

He faced fierce pressure all night, on the field for the Bears (7-3) as starter Jay Cutler recovers from a concussion suffered eight days earlier — just like Alex Smith.

After Kaepernick's stellar night on the big stage, there's certain to be chatter of a quarterback controversy for the NFC West-leading Niners. And anyone who knows coach Jim Harbaugh knows he's all about competition — at every spot on the field.

"I usually tend to go with the hot hand, and we've got two quarterbacks with hot hands," he said. "We'll make that decision when we have to make it."

Aldon Smith took over the NFL sacks lead with 15, passing Denver's Von Miller with 13, and recorded the second-best total in franchise history behind Fred Dean's six-sack day on Nov. 13, 1983, against New Orleans. Tarell Brown and Dashon Goldson each had an interception for San Francisco's stingy defense, which shut down Campbell, Matt Forte and Co. three years after the teams last met in a 10-6 49ers home win.

"I think I have a thing for night games, I love playing at night," Smith said. "I love playing under the lights."

Kaepernick, Aldon Smith and Hunter sure made general manager Trent Baalke look good for his selections from the 2011 draft class.

And reigning NFL Coach of the Year Harbaugh earned a key victory four days after his own health issue. The 48-year-old Harbaugh underwent a minor procedure for an irregular heartbeat Thursday.

The 49ers added a safety in the fourth quarter after a replay review. With 9:24 left, former San Francisco offensive lineman Chilo Rachal was called for intentional grounding out of the end zone, but Harbaugh challenged and the review showed Rachal's knee was down in the end zone before the ball left.

"Tonight was probably the worst nightmare. We just have to find a way," Campbell said. "It's one game that we lost. We have to pick it back up next week and try to get back on the winning side. Our goals and everything still sit ahead of us."

The soft-spoken, stone-faced Kaepernick went 16 for 23 with a 133.1 passer rating. He completed 12 of his first 14 passes with a 57-yard strike to Kyle Williams that set up Davis' 3-yard TD on the next play — and he already had amassed 126 yards passing by the end of the first quarter.

The 49ers led 17-0 on Hunter's early TD run in the second, quickly topping the 14.8 points the Bears were allowing per game.

Kaepernick threw for 184 yards in the first half alone — an impressive outing for the second-year pro selected in the second round out of Nevada.

"I think after the first drive I felt really comfortable with what they were doing and what we had in our game plan," he said. "I really wasn't too nervous. I've had a lot of time in this offense. My teammates were really supportive."

Frank Gore ran for 78 yards and David Akers kicked field goals of 32, 37 and 32 yards for the 49ers, eager to defend their home field a week after settling for a frustrating 24-24 tie against the division rival St. Louis Rams.

They outgained Chicago 249-35 in a lopsided first half.

Davis got his prime-time moment just how he loves it. Eager to get more involved in the offense down the stretch this season, the tight end had a team-best six catches for 83 yards.

"It felt like somebody took the handcuffs off," Davis said. "It sends out a message we're for real and we'll step up in big games."

Campbell was slow to get up after a hit by Ahmad Brooks with 6:06 left in the third quarter, not an encouraging sign as third-string QB Josh McCown started loosening up.

Chicago dropped into a first-place tie in the NFC North with Green Bay, which owns the tiebreaker after beating the Bears in Week 2. The Bears have lost two straight following a six-game winning streak.

Things were much less stressful on the opposite sideline, where Kaepernick chatted between series with Alex Smith — who was out of uniform and dressed in red 49ers jacket on a crisp, windy fall evening at sold-out Candlestick Park.

Smith, the 2005 No. 1 overall draft pick, was ruled out earlier Monday after being evaluated by team medical director Dr. Dan Garza.

Kaepernick completed an 8-yard pass to Mario Manningham on the first snap and hit Davis twice for 34 yards during the opening drive. But he overthrew Davis in the back of the end zone on third down and Akers kicked his first field goal.

Campbell had little chance as his offensive line was overmatched all night, spoiling his first start since last October and before a broken collarbone derailed his 2011 season and forced him to miss the final 10 games.

Forte was limited to 63 yards on 21 carries — not much better than his 41-yard day on 20 carries in the loss here in 2009, when Cutler threw five interceptions.

"I think we all let the team down at one point or another in the ballgame," Marshall said. "We're just taking turns."

San Francisco featured the opportunistic, ball-hawking defense this time after the Bears came in with an NFL-leading 30 takeaways and 19 interceptions.

"Coming in I think there may have been some questions about who may have been the better defense," Aldon Smith said. "We came out and proved a point tonight."

NOTES: The 49ers won their fourth straight Monday Night Football game, fifth in six and seventh of 10. ... San Francisco's 43 Monday Night Football victories match the Dallas Cowboys for the most. ... Bears WR Alshon Jeffery left with a knee injury in the second half.

___

Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL

Read More..

New push for most in US to get at least 1 HIV test

WASHINGTON (AP) — There's a new push to make testing for the AIDS virus as common as cholesterol checks.

Americans ages 15 to 64 should get an HIV test at least once — not just people considered at high risk for the virus, an independent panel that sets screening guidelines proposed Monday.

The draft guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force are the latest recommendations that aim to make HIV screening simply a routine part of a check-up, something a doctor can order with as little fuss as a cholesterol test or a mammogram. Since 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also has pushed for widespread, routine HIV screening.

Yet not nearly enough people have heeded that call: Of the more than 1.1 million Americans living with HIV, nearly 1 in 5 — almost 240,000 people — don't know it. Not only is their own health at risk without treatment, they could unwittingly be spreading the virus to others.

The updated guidelines will bring this long-simmering issue before doctors and their patients again — emphasizing that public health experts agree on how important it is to test even people who don't think they're at risk, because they could be.

"It allows you to say, 'This is a recommended test that we believe everybody should have. We're not singling you out in any way,'" said task force member Dr. Douglas Owens, of Stanford University and the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System.

And if finalized, the task force guidelines could extend the number of people eligible for an HIV screening without a copay in their doctor's office, as part of free preventive care under the Obama administration's health care law. Under the task force's previous guidelines, only people at increased risk for HIV — which includes gay and bisexual men and injecting drug users — were eligible for that no-copay screening.

There are a number of ways to get tested. If you're having blood drawn for other exams, the doctor can merely add HIV to the list, no extra pokes or swabs needed. Today's rapid tests can cost less than $20 and require just rubbing a swab over the gums, with results ready in as little as 20 minutes. Last summer, the government approved a do-it-yourself at-home version that's selling for about $40.

Free testing is available through various community programs around the country, including a CDC pilot program in drugstores in 24 cities and rural sites.

Monday's proposal also recommends:

—Testing people older and younger than 15-64 if they are at increased risk of HIV infection,

—People at very high risk for HIV infection should be tested at least annually.

—It's not clear how often to retest people at somewhat increased risk, but perhaps every three to five years.

—Women should be tested during each pregnancy, something the task force has long recommended.

The draft guidelines are open for public comment through Dec. 17.

Most of the 50,000 new HIV infections in the U.S. every year are among gay and bisexual men, followed by heterosexual black women.

"We are not doing as well in America with HIV testing as we would like," Dr. Jonathan Mermin, CDC's HIV prevention chief, said Monday.

The CDC recommends at least one routine test for everyone ages 13 to 64, starting two years younger than the task force recommended. That small difference aside, CDC data suggests fewer than half of adults under 65 have been tested.

"It can sometimes be awkward to ask your doctor for an HIV test," Mermin said — the reason making it routine during any health care encounter could help.

But even though nearly three-fourths of gay and bisexual men with undiagnosed HIV had visited some sort of health provider in the previous year, 48 percent weren't tested for HIV, a recent CDC survey found. Emergency rooms are considered a good spot to catch the undiagnosed, after their illnesses and injuries have been treated, but Mermin said only about 2 percent of ER patients known to be at increased risk were tested while there.

Mermin calls that "a tragedy. It's a missed opportunity."

___

Online:

Task force recommendation: http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org

Read More..