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Obama Selects Romney Adviser for Social Security Commission

President Obama announced on Monday that he planned to nominate Lanhee J. Chen, the top policy adviser to Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign, to fill an opening on an independent federal panel whose task is to recommend improvements to Social Security.

The announcement of Mr. Chen’s nomination was peculiarly timed, just a day before the health insurances marketplaces created under the Affordable Care Act â€" which Mr. Chen has argued should be repealed â€" can begin accepting customers.

Mr. Chen, 35, was born in Taiwan and grew up in California. He earned four degrees from Harvard University, where he was active in Republican politics. He is currently a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and a professor of law and public policy at Stanford University.

Mr. Chen, who specializes in health care policy, has worked in academia, campaigns and government, including stints as a health care adviser to the Bush-Cheney ticket in 2004 and as a domestic policy adviser on Mr. Romney’s 2008 presidential campaign. In 2008, he was also a senior counselor to the deputy secretary of Health and Human Services.

In 2010, he was the deputy campaign manager of Steve Poizner’s California gubernatorial campaign for eight months, before leaving in August to become a visiting scholar at the University of California’s Institute of Governmental Studies. He worked four months as the policy director of Mr. Romney’s Free and Strong America PAC, before he was tapped in April to join Mr. Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign as policy director.

Mr. Obama will nominate Mr. Chen to serve on the Social Security Advisory Board, a bipartisan panel of seven experts, who serve six-year terms and must be confirmed by the Senate.



Government Workers Get a Self-Esteem Boost, or Blow, as Shutdown Approaches

As the prospect of a government shutdown loomed closer, government agencies have been briefing their employees and contractors over whether they are deemed to provide an essential service that will continue as Congress fights over the budget. Those declared essential will report to work on Tuesday. Those considered nonessential will be furloughed while the politics are worked out on Capitol Hill. A guide to who is and who isn’t furloughed is available here.

As government functions were deemed essential or nonessential, the topic of what is and is not an essential government service was on the minds of many Twitter users. And some who appeared to be government employees were expressing how they felt about being declared “essential” or “nonessential.”

Some government employees, or their spouses, were excited to report that they were “essential”:

For people who appeared to be nonessential federal employees, there was plenty to feel bad about:

But at least one government worker proposed a way that she and her furloughed colleagues could ease the pain of being declared nonessential:

Then again, some observers of government were all too happy to give “nonessential” workers some time off:



Alabama’s Bachus Won’t Seek Re-Election in 2014

Representative Spencer BachusDave Martin/Associated Press Representative Spencer Bachus

Representative Spencer Bachus, the dean of Alabama’s congressional delegation, will not seek re-election in 2014.

Mr. Bachus was the top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee, a post he held for six years until 2012, including a stint as the panel’s chairman in the 112th Congress. He came under fire from conservatives for helping Democrats craft the bank bailout in 2008, then he led House Republicans as they pushed back against the Obama administration’s efforts to overhaul financial regulations after the 2008 financial crisis.

In a statement on Monday, Mr. Bachus, 65, said that his choice to leave was a family decision.

“It has been the greatest privilege imaginable to serve as the representative of the people of Alabama in the United States House of Representatives,” he said. “It is an honor that I never dreamed could have been possible for me and the words ‘thank you’ are far from adequate. But as Ecclesiastes 3 says, to everything there is a season, and I feel in my heart that now is the time for me to announce this decision and allow others to have the opportunity to serve.”

Though Mr. Bachus has stuck to a right-of-center agenda of small government and limited regulations in Congress, he also supported a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants as part of a broader effort to overhaul the matrix of immigration laws. Alabama has one of the strictest immigration laws in the country; some lawmakers there have argued that it would force undocumented immigrants in the state to “deport themselves.”

Before he retires in December 2014, Mr. Bachus said he would like to see the government implement a “spending reduction plan that will put the federal government on a sensible and sustainable financial path going forward.”

Mr. Bachus was elected to his 11th term in 2012 with 71 percent of the vote, his smallest margin of victory since 1996, and the first time he had faced a Democratic challenger since 1998. A native of Birmingham, Mr. Bachus is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of Alabama law school. He served in the Alabama National Guard and owned a sawmill before entering Congress. Currently, he is the chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law, and the chairman emeritus of the Financial Services panel.

Shortly after Mr. Bachus became the ranking Republican on the Financial Services Committee, his inheritance of the chairmanship was endangered in 2008, when he worked with Democrats in crafting the government’s $700 Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP, known as the bank bailout. John A. Boehner of Ohio, then the minority leader, blocked Mr. Bachus from speaking for the G.O.P. during deliberations and replaced him with Roy Blount of Missouri to lead the Republican side of talks. The legislation passed, although Mr. Bachus called his vote for the bill against the will of his constituents a “near-death experience.” After Republicans took control of the House in 2010, Mr. Bachus’s status as a prolific fundraiser for Republicans â€" and support from the incoming majority leader, Eric Cantor of Virginia â€" helped him to overcome a challenge for the committee gavel.

While he was chairman of the financial services panel, Mr. Bachus faced an ethics investigation after a “60 Minutes” report alleged that he used insider information to make stock trades. Mr. Bachus bet on a market collapse in 2008, after receiving a briefing from Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and other Bush administration officials. He denied wrongdoing and the Office of Congressional Ethics dropped its investigation in May 2012.

His decision to step down leaves an open seat in Alabama’s Sixth Congressional District, which is rated one of the most conservative congressional districts in the country by the Cook Political Report. The district includes the predominantly white middle-class suburbs of Birmingham.



Ads to Urge Obama to Reject Oil Pipeline

A new television ad scheduled for broadcast on Sunday will call on President Obama to “do the right thing” to prevent climate change by rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline.

Produced and narrated by Tom Steyer, a billionaire hedge fund manager from California, the ad is the latest attempt by his political action committee to put pressure on Mr. Obama and try to counter proponents of the pipeline.

“Mr. President, you’ve had real accomplishments when it comes to fighting climate disruption,” Mr. Steyer says in the ad, which will run on broadcast television stations in Washington on Sunday and on cable networks across the country. “Let’s do the right thing on Keystone.”

The 1,700-mile pipeline would carry crude oil from the oil sands in Alberta, Canada, to American refineries on the Gulf Coast. Proponents say the project would create jobs and help the United States reduce its dependence on oil from the Middle East.

But opponents like Mr. Steyer say it will enable oil companies in Canada to extract and distribute much more oil from the ground and will contribute to the changing climate by pumping more carbon dioxide into the air.

Critics of the pipeline have one principal target: Mr. Obama. Because the pipeline would cross the border between the United States and Canada, it must get a permit from the State Department after environmental and other reviews. Mr. Obama has said he will make the decision about whether to approve the pipeline based in part on whether those reviews conclude that the pipeline contributes significantly to carbon pollution.

In the new television spot, Mr. Steyer claims that has already been answered.

“The truth? Scientists report Keystone oil would produce as much carbon pollution as 620,000 cars every year,” he says in the ad.



Sunday Breakfast Menu, Sept. 29

Sunday's Breakfast MenuStephen Crowley/The New York Times

The deadline for what would be the first federal government shutdown in 17 years is fast approaching, with House Republicans demanding a delay of President Obama’s new health care law as the only option for keeping the government funded past 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday. Members from both parties will appear on this week’s Sunday talk shows to discuss the next step.

NBC’s “Meet the Press” will air an exclusive interview with Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, in the wake of his 21-hour speech on the Senate floor railing against the Affordable Care Act.

Another outspoken opponent of the health care law, Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, will discuss the fight that threatens to halt government operations, on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, Representative Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, and Representative Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland, will appear on the program as well.

CNN’s “State of the Union” will turn to the Republican leadership for answers on how to handle the spending dispute, with Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Republican of Washington and one of Speaker John A. Boehner’s top deputies, speaking on raising the nation’s debt limit and infighting within her party. Senator John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming, and Howard Dean, the former Democratic Party chairman and Vermont governor - both doctors - will discuss the politics and practicality of implementing the law.

The conversation on practicality will continue on “Fox News Sunday” as Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, and Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, debate whether President Obama’s signature legislation can work, and whether any of its risks are worth closing the government over. Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the House majority whip, will also be featured on the show to discuss Republican strategy.

ABC’s “This Week” will feature former President Bill Clinton, who will weigh in on the budget battles and his work with the Clinton Global Initiative. Later, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif of Iran will delve into his recent meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry and the latest talks over Iran’s nuclear program.

“Enfoque” on Telemundo will devote its entire program to the new health care law with a special analysis on the impact and scope of the legislation. Mr. Kaine will break down benefits of the program, while Santiago Lucero of Covered California and Ed Gómez of Houston Area Community Services explain what consumers need to know about registering for the new plan. Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, will also be on to discuss his party’s stance on immigration reform and providing a path to citizenship.

The topic of immigration reform will extend to Univision’s “Al Punto” with Representative Jeff Denham, Republican of California, and Representative Joe Garcia, Democrat of Florida, on to discuss the prospect of comprehensive changes. There will also be a sit down with President Otto Pérez Molina of Guatemala, about his proposal to legalize drugs.

Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, will be on Bloomberg’s “Political Capital” offering more insight on the debt ceiling debate, and Mr. Durbin will be on the network’s “Capitol Gains” program discussing his predictions on who will be chosen to lead the Federal Reserve.

Energy Secretary Ernest J. Moniz will discuss United States energy policy on C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers.”



Clinton Aides to Help in McAuliffe Fund-Raising Efforts

Friends of Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton have come out of the woodwork to help raise money for Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic candidate for governor in Virginia who is close with the former president and served as chairman of Mrs. Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign.

In addition to Mr. and Mrs. Clinton hosting a fund-raiser for Mr. McAuliffe at their Georgetown home in Washington on Monday, a collection of longtime Clinton aides will also host a reception the same evening. The event will be held at the Dupont Circle home of Joe Lockhart, a White House press secretary during Mr. Clinton’s administration.

Other hosts include Paul Begala, James Carville, Tina Flournoy, Cheryl Mills, John Podesta, Melanne Verveer, Maggie Williams, Capricia Marshall and Mack McLarty â€" all of whom have known the Clintons, and by extension, Mr. McAuliffe, for decades. (Mr. McLarty is from Mr. Clinton’s hometown of Hope, Ark.)

Ms. Flournoy is Mr. Clinton’s current chief of staff, while Mr. Podesta and Mr. McClarty both served as chief of staff in the White House. Ms. Verveer served as Mrs. Clinton’s chief of staff in the White House. Ms. Williams, Ms. Mills and Ms. Marshall all also worked for the former first lady. Ms. Williams served as Mrs. Clinton’s campaign manager in 2008, while Ms. Mills and Ms. Marshall held key roles at the State Department when Mrs. Clinton was secretary of state.

Mr. McAuliffe, a businessman and former Democratic Party chairman, is in a close race against the Republican Ken Cuccinelli. Both parties consider Virginia, which voted for President Obama in 2008 and 2012, as an important state on the electoral map.

Mr. Clinton has attended several fund-raising events to help Mr. McAuliffe. Mrs. Clinton, who has largely avoided politics since she left the State Department in February, has a second fund-raiser planned on Mr. McAuliffe’s behalf on Oct. 15 in New York. The event is expected to bring in $25,000 per couple.



Tool Kit: A Surge in Growth for a New Kind of Online Course

A Surge in Growth for a New Kind of Online Course

Illustration by The New York Times

Online course work has been a staple of American higher education for at least a decade. But over the last few years, a new, more ambitious variant known as a MOOC â€" massive open online course â€" has challenged traditional assumptions of what an online course can be. MOOCs have exploded in that short time, redefining who can enroll in college courses, as well as where, when and even why people take online classes.

Available globally to hundreds of thousands of people at a time, these classes depend on highly sophisticated digital technology, yet they could not be simpler to use. Signing up takes less time than creating an iTunes account. You can create a user name and password and start exploring the rapidly expanding course offerings.

The major Web sites already provide dozens of courses, as diverse as basic calculus and European intellectual history. It is both new and experimental, and as much as MOOCs have evolved since beginning in recent years, enthusiasts expect many more changes. From an early focus on technical and scientific courses, for instance, offerings now include the humanities and social sciences.

While there are some significant differences among the major MOOC Web sites, they share several main elements. Courses are available to anyone with access to the Internet. They are free, and students receive a certificate of completion at the end. With rare exceptions, you cannot earn college credit for taking one of these courses, at least for now.

“For a decade, people have been asking, ‘How does the Internet change higher education,’ ” said Edward B. Rock, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania who is the institution’s senior adviser on open course initiatives. “This is the beginning. It opens up all sorts of possibilities.”

Navigating the world of MOOCs begins with three major Web sites.

EdX

Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology created this nonprofit joint venture in May 2012. It has already offered dozens of courses in subjects as diverse as physics, computer science, engineering, literature, ethics, law, medicine and economics.

Twenty-nine universities have signed up to participate, including the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Texas, Austin; Georgetown; Cornell; the Berklee College of Music; the University of Toronto; and the University of Kyoto.

Courses are offered for a designated period of time, with lectures and reading assignments provided in weekly segments. Videos of lectures are generally augmented with exercises, quizzes, labs and simulators. Like other platforms, edX emphasizes interactivity.

You can audit a course â€" meaning you don’t take exams or do writing assignments â€" or you can fulfill all of the requirements to earn a certificate of completion.

Each course’s home page provides an estimate of how many hours a week the course will require. Workloads vary widely. A Global History of Architecture, an M.I.T. class, requires at least five hours a week. Introduction to Computer Science, Harvard’s traditional introductory course, asks online students to complete eight problem sets, each of which will take 15 to 20 hours, along with two quizzes and a final project.

Coursera

Two computer science professors at Stanford began this commercial venture in April 2012. The original partners were Stanford, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan. Seventeen months later, Coursera has partnerships with 84 universities and offers more than 400 courses.

Yale, Duke, Wisconsin and the University of Chicago are among the participants, as are the University of Edinburgh and the École Polytechnique in France.

Because courses are free, Coursera hopes to generate revenue in other ways, like linking corporations with students who have learned specific skills. Coursera does not formally offer the option of auditing a class, but people certainly can. Anyone can simply watch the videos and do some, all or none of the reading and homework; you just would not receive a certificate at the end.



State of the Art: Sony’s Whole New Idea: Half a Camera

Sony’s Whole New Idea: Half a Camera

105 Seconds With Pogue: Sony QX: The Times’s David Pogue checks out the Sony QX camera, which adapts to smartphones.

Sony’s concept for the new QX100 is among the most brilliant in its history.

More Photos »

Unfortunately, the good idea ended with the concept. By the time the poor QX100 reached the production line, it never really had a chance.

Oh, wait â€" you want to know what it is?

It’s the answer to a long-simmering problem. Digital cameras take excellent photos, but aren’t good at transmitting them. Cellphones are great at sending pictures â€" but aren’t very good at taking them.

Sony’s masterstroke: Why not create a weird new half-a-camera that contains exactly the components that a cellphone camera lacks?

It could have a lens that really zooms. It could contain serious, professional “glass” â€" a Zeiss f/1.8 lens, with the quality, multiple glass elements and light-passing capacity that cellphones wouldn’t have in their wildest dreams. It could have manual controls, optical image stabilization and a tripod mount.

Above all, it could have a huge sensor, the digital “film.” This sensor could measure one inch diagonal â€" over 40 times the size of a cellphone’s sensor.

A large sensor gives you delicious amounts of detail, true colors and exceptional clarity in low light. A big sensor means less blur, because the shutter doesn’t have to stay open long to let in enough light.

Megapixels, on the other hand, aren’t a very big deal. Even so, Sony’s semicamera could offer 18 or 20 megapixels â€" enough for even giant prints â€" compared with the 5 or 8 megapixels on your phone.

So that’s what the QX100 ($500) is. There’s a half-priced junior version, too. More on that in a minute.

The QX100 is the craziest-looking camera you’ve ever seen. Even on close inspection, you’d swear that it’s just a lens. Not a whole camera â€" just a lens, like maybe one from somebody’s S.L.R. camera. It’s a black cylinder, 2.2 inches long, 2.5 inches across.

Somehow, into that space, Sony has crammed most of a camera. There’s a 3X telescoping zoom, with a zoom lever. There’s a real shutter button, a battery, stereo microphones and a memory-card slot.

There is not, however, a screen, because your phone already has a huge, really great one. So between this lens thing and your phone, you have all the elements of a top-notch photographic machine.

The QX can snap onto a plate bearing rubber-lined grippers. They’re spring-loaded so that they can firmly grip your phone. That’s right: You can actually attach a $500, semiprofessional zoom lens to your cellphone and take some truly excellent pictures.

To communicate with your phone, you install the clunkily named app, PlayMemories Mobile.

If you have an Android phone, and it came with an NFC (near-field communication) chip, you now just tap your phone against the QX100. That gestures “pairs” them and opens the app, ready for shooting.

If you have an iPhone or a non-NFC Android phone, things get trickier. You’re supposed to connect your phone to the private Wi-Fi hot spot generated by the QX itself â€" which, in this case, has nothing to do with the Internet.

Once you have everything set up, the phone’s screen acts as the lens’s viewfinder. Using touch controls on your phone, you can zoom in and out; take a picture by remote control; and adjust the exposure, automatic and program modes, plus aperture priority mode, manual focus and white-balance options. It all works, although the camera takes part of a second to respond to your phone taps; you should not expect pinpoint timing with your zooming or shuttering.

The QX100 is based on the best pocket camera ever made, the Sony RX100 Mark II ($750). (The Mark II is the successor to the previous best pocket camera ever made, the RX100; the Mark II offers a tilting screen, Wi-Fi transmission to your phone and even better lowlight photos.)

In other words, the QX’s pictures are truly terrific. Samples accompany this article online.



App Smart: Apps That Make the Most of iOS 7

Apps That Make the Most of iOS 7

App Smart: Best Apps for iOS7: Now that Apple has rolled out its latest mobile operating system, iOS 7, several apps take advantage of the new look and feel of iPhones.

Consumers have been lining up worldwide to buy Apple’s new iPhones, even braving a typhoon in Japan.

Infinity Blade III, a $7 iOS app.

Soundwave, a free iOS app.

TiltShiftGen 2, a $1 iOS app.

The new phones are also running on new software, the iOS 7 operating system. If you are among the nine million people who bought a new iPhone 5S or 5C during the first weekend of sales, or have just updated your old device’s software, you will want to try some new apps that make the most of the new capabilities.

One of the best tests for the new iPhones is the graphically intensive game Infinity Blade III. It’s a 3-D fantasy-battle game in which you fight your way through a mystical world, slashing with a sword controlled by finger swipes.

The game is exciting, and the graphics are its most impressive feature. They are highly detailed and are about the same quality as graphics on a gaming PC a few years ago. Infinity Blade III’s battles are a little repetitive, but the game is remarkable enough to warrant its $7 price.

Testing the new phones’ camera is also a must. But no matter how good the camera is, there’s always room for improvement. For editing photos or adding special effects like filters, try Aviary’s Photo Editor app. This app is one of my favorites for photo-tweaking thanks to its straightforward interface and powerful effects, like blurring of images or adjusting their contrast.

The app’s interface has been improved to align with iOS 7’s clean, simple look. A few improvements have made it easier to use, like putting the special filters, photo frames and customizable stickers in one location â€" the new “Supply Shop.” Best of all, the app is free, although many effects add-ons are not. It’s around $2 for a pack of filters.

A different but cool photo-effects app is TiltShiftGen 2, which adds a special distortion to a photograph so it looks like an image of a miniature or model, instead of a photo of the real world. The app looks great on iOS 7, and the controls are all simple, with intuitive gestures. TiltShiftGen is just $1.

For an unusual way to read the news, try Flipboard. This app aggregates news items from many sources. It presents items in a graphics-heavy display controlled through finger swipes to “flip” the screen to the next article. You can explore news items more deeply by tapping on them, and share what you’ve discovered over e-mail or perhaps Twitter. The app is customizable by news sources and categories, and it has been updated to look at home on iOS 7 â€" including subtle animations of the images when you tilt your iPhone. It’s highly useful, and it’s free.

Apple’s own music-playing app is built into iOS, but for a different experience check out the free Soundwave. This app is about discovering new music via a social network. For example, it can show music that your Facebook friends have played recently. More exciting is the “music map” feature, where you draw a circle on a map of your current location and the app tells you what people are listening to in that area. You can even hear snippets of music, so you can decide if you’d like to buy it later.

To show off the geo-location and processing powers of your phone, try the $1 app Night Sky 2, an augmented-reality guide to the heavens. It will show an image of the stars and planets above your head along with data on each one as you hold your phone up to the sky and move it around. It’s fun, educational and futuristic.

Finally, Twitter has long been one of the best social-networking apps for communicating with friends. It’s also a great way to keep abreast of the news in real time. The Twitter app has just been updated to suit iOS 7’s look so it’s visually clean and simple. The iPhone’s voice-controlled digital assistant, Siri, can now search within Twitter’s messages, making it easier to find information. If you’re new to the iPhone or haven’t yet tried Twitter, now’s a great time. It’s free.

Remember to check out the “near me” tab in Apple’s App Store app, which may uncover many more cool new apps that people nearby have downloaded.

¶ Quick Call

Moves is a popular activity-tracking app on iOS. It’s designed to log where you’ve been as you’ve walked or run as part of a fitness regime, and then displays the data in a simple and beautiful way. It’s just arrived on Android, and it’s free.



Washington Mayor Deems Entire City Government ‘Essential’ to Avoid Shutdown

A shutdown of the federal government, which could come next week if Congress does not pass a stopgap budget measure, would also require the government of the District of Columbia to discontinue its nonessential spending and send some employees home.

But Mayor Vincent C. Gray on Wednesday declared all of the district’s government operations “essential,” and told the White House that all employees would continue to work even if Congress could not reach an agreement on the spending bill by Monday, the end of the fiscal year.

“It is ridiculous,” Mr. Gray said in a statement, that the district “cannot spend its residents’ own local tax dollars to provide them the services they’ve paid for without Congressional approval.”

District spending is budgeted by the mayor’s office and approved by the City Council. The budget must then be approved by Congress each year as part of federal appropriations bills. Like federal government agencies, when a shutdown looms, the district government must submit its contingency operation plans to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget.

In a letter to Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the director of the budget office, Mr. Gray said that he had determined that all operations of the district government were “essential to the protection of public safety, health and property.”

The announcement came two days after Mr. Gray said that 21,000 of the district’s 35,000 employees would be considered excepted, or deemed essential. Among that number were police officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians, school employees and some other social services workers.

The idea to keep the entire district government open during a shutdown seemed to emerge on Tuesday morning during a breakfast meeting between Mr. Gray and the City Council.

But it is unclear whether residents could actually expect the continuation of trash collection or the operation of libraries and the Department of Motor Vehicles.

The district’s attorney general, Irvin B. Nathan, told the local radio station WAMU on Tuesday that such a plan to keep the city’s government open could violate the Antideficiency Act, which prohibits spending money that has not been appropriated by Congress.



Minimal Desktop Speakers With Maximum Sound

Minimal Desktop Speakers With Maximum Sound

Three things distinguish the new Logitech Z600 desktop Bluetooth speakers. The manufacturer, Logitech, uses two as selling points and doesn’t say much about the third.

The Z600s have an eye-catching design. At about 9.5 inches high, the tapered, cloth-wrapped cylinders look a bit like miniature nuclear power cooling towers, and a textured silver-gray material that wraps them gives the speakers a Moderne look.

Another distinguishing feature is the three drivers. Two face the listener and the bass faces down. The Z600s pump out some serious volume. I thought their sound was very detailed; you can hear every little finger pick, but they are a little bright. After adjusting my iTunes equalizer, they were quite pleasing, but if you are looking for a hip-hop bass sound, these aren’t your best bet.

Keeping ornamentation to a minimum, the on-off switch is discreetly flush with the cabinet, as is the concealed auxiliary input jack. Volume is controlled by swirling your finger on the top surface of the speaker cabinet.

The one thing that Logitech doesn’t mention is all the wiring these little towers require. They are wired to one another and to a power source by stylishly flat cables. It would be nice if they could coil up in the speaker to maintain their sleek look. But how much can you fault them? After all, the speakers aren’t meant to be portable, and to maintain sound quality, sacrifices must be made.

The Z600 speakers are $150 through Logitech and other online retailers.



Gadgetwise: With New Stylus, LeapFrog Tackles Reading and Writing

With New Stylus, LeapFrog Tackles Reading and Writing

The LeapReader from LeapFrog.

For years, LeapFrog has developed tools to help children learn to read. Now, the company is turning to the second of the three R’s, writing.

Creativity Camera, a case and app that work with an iPhone or iPod Touch, from LeapFrog.

LeapFrog’s newest device, the LeapReader, is an update of its Tag Reading System, a chunky electronic stylus that sounds out words and sentences printed in LeapFrog books. The LeapReader, aimed at children ages 4 to 8, takes the lesson a bit further by instructing young learners to trace letters, encouraging them to then write their own and correcting them if the letters go astray.

The pen works only on LeapFrog books, so parents don’t have to worry about scribbles on the coffee table. And it’s compatible with the older Tag library of books.

LeapReader has a USB port to connect it to a computer for charging and downloading additional content. The pen contains 256 megabytes of memory, enough to hold up to 40 audiobooks or 175 songs, which are available from LeapFrog’s site.

Keeping in mind that children like to play, too, LeapFrog developed the Creativity Camera, a case and app that work with an iPhone or iPod Touch. Once the device is locked inside the protective case, the app uses the device’s camera to take pictures, which can then be edited and morphed to create funny faces. The camera, intended for children ages 3 to 6, includes an augmented-reality game that children can use to take pictures of imaginary fairies flying around the room.

My boyfriend and I took the Creativity Camera and the LeapReader on a recent trip to visit his nieces, ages 4 and 7. The girls responded intuitively to both devices, turning them on and getting started immediately. They were unable to choose a favorite, although the camera produced more giggles. Their mother joined in, too, helping identify words and posing for portraits.

The LeapReader starter kit, which comes with a sample activity book, costs $50 and is available at most national retailers. Additional books cost about $12 to $20. The Creativity Camera case costs $20, and the app is free.



Gadgetwise: Pro-Grade Headphones With a Striking Look

Pro-Grade Headphones With a Striking Look

The Pro40 headphones from Munitio come with an audio cable, a carrying case and a carabiner.

Munitio, an audio company based in San Diego, partnered this year with the makers of the video game Call of Duty and the sci-fi movie “After Earth” to make custom audio products. Now, it wants to bring a pair of professional-grade headphones to consumers.

Munitio has a keen eye for detail, and it shows in the construction of its new over-ear headphones, called Pro40. The headband is made of a heavy-duty polymer that still allows plenty of flexibility, and gimbal technology gives the ear cups some swivel, providing a better fit without disturbing the speaker drivers. Other features include padded ear cushions made of leather and a golden ring on the outside of the ear cup that is made of aircraft-grade aluminum and coated in titanium, giving the headphones a striking look.

Inside, you’ll find titanium-coated 40-millimeter speaker drivers and a chamber that enhances the bass. This is great for listening to pop and rock music, but the bass tends to overpower vocals. Some of the quieter music I listened to sounded murky and fuzzy.

The headphones come with a detachable, Kevlar-reinforced audio cable that has an in-line three-button remote control and microphone; a molded, hard-shell carrying case; and a metal carabiner. Munitio also provides a coiled cable and quarter-inch audio adapter.

Those durable materials and finishing touches are nice additions, but they become irrelevant if the fit is uncomfortable. I found the grip tight on my head and the ear cups hot on my ears, and I had to take the headphones off after about 30 minutes.

The Pro40 headphones are available at Munitio’s Web site for $350, but you can find them at electronics retailers for closer to $300, comparable to other high-end competitors.



Gadgetwise: Watch 3-D Spectacles, Minus the Spectacles

Watch 3-D Spectacles, Minus the Spectacles

The Neo3do tablet.

The Neo3do tablet is designed for people who like 3-D but hate the glasses. It plays 3-D video and converts standard video into 3-D that you can see without the goofy spectacles.

The 3-D effect is sometimes excellent; other times ... not so much.

The most impressive demonstration I saw used a clip from the 3-D Blu-ray version of the movie “Predator.” It also worked very well with games like Angry Birds Rio and Fruit Ninja. Using Google Earth, you can also zoom into a city and then move the image with your finger, making it look as if you’re flying a helicopter over a downtown.

Streaming videos from the Web were less predictable. While some videos looked quite good, others (even some produced for 3-D) had little depth and a ghostly edge floating around some images. You also have to be holding the tablet in just the right place to get the most out of the effect.

Using the 3-D features takes a couple of steps, because you have to go through some intermediary software. For games, you have to start a 3-D games app first. To watch streaming videos you have to first start with the included jetVD app, then choose the video quality, then choose the 3-D player. When the video is running, you choose 3-D, then pick the correct format of the 3-D â€" side-by-side or over-and-under. It’s not as bad as it may sound, but it certainly makes the effect seem less magical.

But there were problems. The processing required to make 2-D video into 3-D is very demanding, and I experienced repeated freezes and errors that required me to restart the tablet.

Besides the 3-D effects, with this device you have a competent little tablet with an 8-inch screen and Android operating system 4.0.4 (better known as Ice Cream Sandwich). It has all of the familiar Google services, like Gmail, Maps, Messenger and YouTube.

It has adequate cameras in front and back - although no 3-D camera, which would seem a natural. The tablet comes with 1 gigabyte of RAM and 8 gigabytes of storage, which can be expanded with a MicroSD card of up to 32 gigabytes.

The $350 tablet is available only online, through neo3do.com and Amazon.com.



Gadgetwise: Watch 3-D Spectacles, Minus the Spectacles

Watch 3-D Spectacles, Minus the Spectacles

The Neo3do tablet.

The Neo3do tablet is designed for people who like 3-D but hate the glasses. It plays 3-D video and converts standard video into 3-D that you can see without the goofy spectacles.

The 3-D effect is sometimes excellent; other times ... not so much.

The most impressive demonstration I saw used a clip from the 3-D Blu-ray version of the movie “Predator.” It also worked very well with games like Angry Birds Rio and Fruit Ninja. Using Google Earth, you can also zoom into a city and then move the image with your finger, making it look as if you’re flying a helicopter over a downtown.

Streaming videos from the Web were less predictable. While some videos looked quite good, others (even some produced for 3-D) had little depth and a ghostly edge floating around some images. You also have to be holding the tablet in just the right place to get the most out of the effect.

Using the 3-D features takes a couple of steps, because you have to go through some intermediary software. For games, you have to start a 3-D games app first. To watch streaming videos you have to first start with the included jetVD app, then choose the video quality, then choose the 3-D player. When the video is running, you choose 3-D, then pick the correct format of the 3-D â€" side-by-side or over-and-under. It’s not as bad as it may sound, but it certainly makes the effect seem less magical.

But there were problems. The processing required to make 2-D video into 3-D is very demanding, and I experienced repeated freezes and errors that required me to restart the tablet.

Besides the 3-D effects, with this device you have a competent little tablet with an 8-inch screen and Android operating system 4.0.4 (better known as Ice Cream Sandwich). It has all of the familiar Google services, like Gmail, Maps, Messenger and YouTube.

It has adequate cameras in front and back - although no 3-D camera, which would seem a natural. The tablet comes with 1 gigabyte of RAM and 8 gigabytes of storage, which can be expanded with a MicroSD card of up to 32 gigabytes.

The $350 tablet is available only online, through neo3do.com and Amazon.com.



House Democrats Crafting Immigration Proposal

House Democratic leaders are working on a broad immigration proposal that they hope will reinvigorate the debate on Capitol Hill and pressure their Republican counterparts to pass legislation that includes a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants already in the country.

With an immigration overhaul languishing in the Republican-controlled House, taking a back seat to the fiscal fights that promise to occupy most of the fall, Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader, began working with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, as well as with Representative Xavier Becerra of California, the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, to put forth an alternative bill that she said she believes could garner bipartisan support.

Though no final decisions have been made, aides familiar with the strategy said, Democratic leadership hopes to introduce the bill in the next few weeks. Ms. Pelosi met repeatedly â€" in person and over the phone â€" with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus over the past two weeks, working closely with Representative Ruben Hinojosa of Texas, the group’s chairman.

The proposal would combine the broad immigration bill that passed through the Senate Judiciary Committee in May with bipartisan support, as well as a border security bill that also passed the House Homeland Security Committee in May with overwhelming bipartisan support.

The border-security component, drafted by Representative Michael McCaul of Texas, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, requires the Department of Homeland Security to draft a plan to gain operation control â€" defined as a 90 percent apprehension rate of those who have crossed illegally â€" of the Southwest border within five years.

Ms. Pelosi’s proposal, however, does not include the border security amendment tacked on at the end of the Senate process in June, and spearheaded by two Republican senators, Bob Corker of Tennessee and John Hoeven of North Dakota. Though the Corker-Hoeven amendment helped garner the support of roughly a dozen Republicans for the overall bill, promising $40 billion over the next decade to secure the southern border â€" including doubling the number of border agents to 40,000 and completing 700 miles of fencing â€" many were wary of the border security plan, which they said was a waste of money and would “militarize” the border.

House Democrats said their proposal will, in the words of one aide, “shake up the environment” and offer an option that can win bipartisan support.

“Any member of the House â€" Democrat or Republican, who wants comprehensive immigration reform â€" can support this bill,” the aide said. “This is something that can get the support of House Republicans who have said they’re for a bill, and obviously we believe there are more that would vote for this at the end of the day.

“There are certainly enough votes in the House to get this bill across the line.”

Though the bill would most likely pass with the help of Democratic votes, Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio would still have to agree to put the proposal on the floor for a vote, something he has been hesitant to do. The goal, Democratic aides said, is to create a situation where House Republicans are pressured to either vote on this plan â€" or to offer an alternative of their own, which very likely includes at least some form of legalization, and could proceed to negotiations between the House and the Senate.

“Leader Pelosi is proposing something closer to her ideal bill, and her intention is to keep the House moving forward, which is a good thing,” said Senator Charles E. Schumer, a Democrat from New York and a member of the bipartisan group in the Senate that drafted its immigration overhaul.

Though Democratic leaders had already begun talking about this new immigration strategy in recent weeks, the plan became particular urgent after two Texas Republican congressmen, John Carter and Sam Johnson, last week dropped out of a bipartisan group in the House that was hoping to introduce its own broad immigration plan.



Q&A: A Change in iTunes Radio

A Change in iTunes Radio

Finding the iTunes Radio Stations

Q. I updated the iTunes program on my computer to try iTunes Radio, but I can’t find all those online radio stations that used to be under the Radio tab. Are they gone?

A. When Apple released iTunes 11.1 last week to coincide with the arrival of its iOS 7 mobile operating system and debut of the iTunes Radio service, it shifted a few things around. If the preset channels or build-your-own-station approach of iTunes Radio do not suit you, you can still find the online radio stations list under the Internet tab in the main iTunes window when you have the Music library selected.

Likewise, you can still listen to stations you find online by going to the File menu, choosing Open Stream and pasting the URL for that station’s stream into the box. And saving a station to an iTunes playlist can help you find your favorite streams more quickly â€" just drag the station name from the station list onto an existing playlist. If you have the iTunes Sidebar open on the left, drag the radio stream to the desired playlist in the sidebar panel. If you do not have the sidebar visible (the panel can be toggled on and off under the View menu), drag the stream to the right side of the window, where the Playlists panel slides open automatically.

Along with moving things around in the Music library, the iTunes 11.1 update adds a few other features, like the ability to sync with devices running the iOS 7 software, and a shuffle option for the iTunes Genius tool that groups similar-sounding songs together. In the Podcasts library, you can now make personalized “Podcast Stations” of your favorite shows (if you have any) to collect and manage a bunch of shows together. To set up Podcast Stations, select Podcasts in the iTunes library, click the My Stations tab and then click the Settings icon on the right side of the window.

Locking the Nexus 7 Screen Orientation

Q. I just got a new Google Nexus 7 tablet. How do I keep the screen from flipping around every time I move it? I can’t find a switch on the side.

A. The new Nexus 7, a tablet by Asus running Google’s Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean) software, can rotate its screen between portrait and landscape orientation based on the way the tablet is held. If you tend to move around, or shift frequently when reading, the screen may keep trying to reorient itself.

You can lock the orientation in either portrait or landscape mode by swiping down from the top right of the screen to get to the Quick Settings box. In addition to controls for brightness, Bluetooth, airplane mode and general settings, you should see an Auto Rotate icon. Tap it to lock the screen in the orientation you prefer.

TIP OF THE WEEK Hitting the Tab key to jump through fields in a Web form can speed things up because you do not have to use the mouse to click into each box before starting to type. For sites that use a pop-up menu to select an address’s two-letter state abbreviation, most Web browsers still let you keep your hands on the keyboard. When you get to the state menu, type the first letter of your state to jump to that part of the alphabet; for example, if you live in New York, type “N.” Doing so usually jumps the menu to Nebraska (or North Carolina, depending on the site), but keep hitting the N key until New York appears â€" then tab onward to the ZIP code field.

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Lawmakers Point Fingers Over Budget Deadlock

With eight days left to avert a possible government shutdown, Congressional leaders from both parties on Sunday passed around blame and resorted to name calling, but offered no clear path to a compromise that would allow for continued financing of government operations.

In television appearances, Republicans and Democrats accused each other of being responsible for the impasse. On the CNN program “State of the Union,” Representative Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader of the House, called her opponents “legislative arsonists.”

“They’re there to burn down what we should be building up in terms of investments in education and scientific research and all that it is that make our country great and competitive,” she said.

Senator Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican, said that Democrats in the Senate would probably use “brute political power,” by trying to invoke a simple majority vote that would not rely on Republican votes, to block a bill passed by House Republicans last week that linked financing for the government to the elimination of financing for President Obama’s health care law, which is about to go into full effect.

Senate Democratic leaders are likely to respond to the House bill in the coming days by stripping out the health care provision and sending it back to the House, where Republicans will have little time to respond before the Oct. 1 deadline. Complicating matters further, Congressional Republicans have threatened to refuse to raise the government’s borrowing limit later next month, meaning the country could default on some of its debt.

Mr. Obama said last week that such a scenario would be “profoundly destructive,” and warned that if it happened “America becomes a deadbeat.”

Mr. Cruz on Sunday called on Republicans in the House and Senate to unite around the repeal of money for the health care law, which both sides often call Obamacare. Should a government shutdown occur, he said, it would be the fault of Mr. Obama and Senate Democrats, who have refused to negotiate over the health care law.

“We’ve been standing up, leading the fight to defund Obamacare,” Mr. Cruz said, adding later, “I believe we should stand our ground.”

Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, accused Mr. Cruz and Republican leaders of refusing to accept Mr. Obama’s re-election last November, which she described as in part a referendum on Mr. Obama’s health care law.

“I don’t think in America we should throw tantrums when we lose elections and threaten to shut down the government and refuse to pay the bills,” Ms. McCaskill said on “Fox News Sunday.” “The American people had a choice last November. They had a choice between someone who said, ‘repeal Obamacare,’ and President Obama.”



Sunday Breakfast Menu, Sept. 22

Sunday's Breakfast MenuStephen Crowley/The New York Times

House Republicans set the stage Friday for a budgetary fight that could lead to a government shutdown, pushing through a plan that would defund President Obama’s health care law. Senate Democrats said they would not support it.

Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas and one of the strongest proponents of eliminating spending on the health care law, will appear on “Fox News Sunday.” Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, will respond to Mr. Cruz, as well as comment on the efforts to rid Syria of chemical weapons and security issues related to the shooting at the Washington Navy Yard last week.

Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, will appear on CNN’s “State of the Union” to talk about the budget battle that could trigger the first government shutdown since 1996.

On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, will talk about the navy yard shooting, which left 12 people and the gunman dead. Also, Sandy Phillips, the mother of one of the shooting victims in Aurora, Colo., last year, will share her thoughts on strengthening gun laws.

Also on NBC, four lawmakers will weigh in on the coming budget fight: Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota; Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah; Representative Barbara Lee, Democrat of California; and Representative Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee.

Senators Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, and Representative Matt Salmon, Republican of Arizona, will appear on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” Also, former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger will weigh in on current United States diplomatic relations.

On CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS,” former President Bill Clinton will discuss Syria, the potential for a government shutdown in the United States and the possibility that his wife,  Hillary Rodham Clinton, will run for president again.

Representatives Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, and Tom Graves, Republican of Georgia and supporter of defunding President Obama’s health care law, will appear on ABC’s “This Week.”

On C-Span’s “Newsmakers,” Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, chairman of the Republican Study Committee, will talk about the budget fight.

Representative Tim Huelskamp, Republican of Kansas, will talk about the coming budget and debt ceiling debates on Bloomberg’s “Capitol Gains.” Also, Mitch Daniels, former Indiana governor and the president of the University of Purdue, will weigh in on gridlock in Washington, education and the possibility that he will reenter politics in 2016.

Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington AND chairwoman of the Senate Budget Committee, was on Bloomberg’s “Political Capital,” which was broadcast on Friday with repeats over the weekend.

Telemundo’s “Enfoque” features a wide-ranging interview with President Obama on topics including Syria, last week’s shooting in Washington and immigration reform. Then Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Republican of Florida, will weigh in.

Representatives Xavier Becerra, Democrat of California, and Mario Diaz-Balart, Republican of Florida, will appear on Univision’s “Al Punto” to discuss the dwindling prospects for immigration reform.



‘Creepy Uncle Sam’ Is Anti-Health Care Law Mascot

A group seeking to persuade young people to “opt out” of President Obama’s health care law posted videos on YouTube Thursday that show young patients on exam tables recoiling in fear as a character the group is calling “Creepy Uncle Sam” appears out of nowhere and looms over them.

The group, Generation Opportunity, said in a news release that the videos were part of a new, six-figure campaign to educate people between the ages of 18 and 29 about “alternatives to expensive and creepy Obamacare exchanges.”

Starting Oct. 1, uninsured Americans will be able to shop for health insurance through new online markets, or exchanges, in every state. Many low- and middle-income people will qualify for federal subsidies to help cover the cost. The Obama administration is eager for healthy young people to enroll in the exchanges, to help offset the cost of insuring older and sicker people.

Evan Feinberg, the president of Generation Opportunity, said in an interview that the group would spend “close to three-quarters of a million dollars” on the campaign, which will include not just online videos but also events at college football games, music festivals and other gatherings that tend to draw young adults. The group will ask young people to pledge not to sign up for insurance through the exchanges, Mr. Feinberg said.

“We talk to folks on a daily basis about what their options are â€" that they have ability to pay the penalty and buy health coverage that better meets their needs and their budget,” he said.

Under the Affordable Care Act, starting in January, most Americans who do not have health insurance will have to pay a tax penalty. In the first year, it will be $95, or 1 percent of family income, whichever is higher.

Generation Opportunity is based in Virginia, but Mr. Feinberg said the campaign would be national. The group received $5 million last year from Freedom Partners, a nonprofit with ties to Charles G. and David H. Koch, according to tax filings. Mr. Feinberg said he worked at the Charles Koch Institute before joining Generation Opportunity earlier this year.

One of the videos shows a nurse escorting a young woman into an exam room, saying, “I see you chose to sign up for Obamacare.” It then shows the young woman in a hospital gown, putting her feet in stirrups for a gynecological exam. Then the Uncle Sam character pops up at the end of the exam table, the young woman screams, and the words, “Don’t let government play doctor” and “Opt out of Obamacare” flash on the screen.

The videos quickly drew criticism from supporters of the health care law. Brad Woodhouse, president of Americans United for Change, a left-leaning advocacy group, called them “sick, dishonest, vile and dangerous ads to scare young people into going without health insurance.”

Ilyse Hogue, president of Naral Pro-Choice America, said in a statement that the video featuring the young woman “not only defiles our American mascot but disturbingly compared the A.C.A. to sexual assault.”

Mr. Feinberg dismissed such criticism, saying, “All the ad suggests is that Uncle Sam will play doctor.”

He added: “I’ll tell you this, we got some early feedback from folks on college campuses. A lot of people are planning on dressing as Creepy Uncle Sam for Halloween.”



Cochran Makes a Fund-Raising Push as He Eyes Re-election

Senator Thad Cochran, Republican of Mississippi and one of the Senate’s longest-serving members, is stepping up his fund-raising amid speculation that he might retire instead of run for re-election next year.

Mr. Cochran, who was first elected in 1978, has three high-dollar fund-raisers scheduled in the Washington, D.C., area over the next two months, according to e-mails his finance staff circulated to donors this week.

He is hosting a breakfast Friday morning at a Capitol Hill restaurant, charging $500 for individuals and $1,000 for political action committees. Next month, Mr. Cochran will attend another, pricier breakfast featuring former Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi at Mr. Barbour’s namesake Washington lobbying firm. And in November, the senator is staging what he’s billing as a “fall retreat” at a tony new resort in Middleburg, Va.

The Virginia gathering, which costs PACs $2,500 to attend and individuals $1,500, is particularly raising eyebrows among staffers and lobbyists. Further, Mr. Cochran has become more of a presence of late at other political events. He turned up Wednesday evening at a Washington fund-raiser for Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota, at the National Republican Senatorial Committee, for example.

Most members of Congress who are leaning toward retirement ease off the fund-raising circuit. But Mr. Cochran, who had nearly $774,000 on hand as of the end of June, is stocking his war chest to be prepared to run for a seventh term. Senate-watchers believe that the longtime Republican has not definitively decided to run again, but is closely eying the possibility of his party regaining the majority next year, which could enable him to take over as chairman of the Appropriations Committee in what could be his final term.

Mr. Cochran, who will turn 76 in December, is unlikely to face a serious threat should he run for re-election. But for the purposes of the Republican Senate campaign committee, his running would likely ensure that they do not have to devote money or much consideration to Mississippi. Mr. Cochran’s retirement would trigger an intense primary among a new generation of Republicans in the conservative state who for years watched both their senior senator and former Senator Trent Lott returning to Washington year after year.

Sources close to Mr. Cochran say that they work under the assumption that he will run again, but caution that the senator has yet to make any pronouncements about his plans for 2014.



App Smart: Apps to Keep Bill Due Dates From Sneaking Up on You

Apps to Keep Bill Due Dates From Sneaking Up on You

Bills, bills, bills. They always seem to be multiplying, and adding digital devices like smartphones and tablets to our lives only makes the pile bigger. Thankfully, those same smartphones and tablets can also help track and manage all of the bills in one place.

Bill Tracker is available for free on iOS devices, but $2 will get users an ad-free version that can sync across devices.

Bills Reminder, a free Android app.

BillMinder, a $2 iOS app.

On Apple mobile devices, a simple and useful bill payment reminder app is Bill Tracker. The app’s main interface lists your bills in the order they are due, showing the date, amount owed and other data. It is great for telling you at a glance what you need to pay, and its interface is clean and unfussy.

Adding a new bill to the system is as easy as tapping on the “+” button, selecting an account description or creating a new one â€" like “utilities” â€" and tapping in the details, labeling it as “electricity” or “gas” and so on. Once you’ve entered this information, you can identify it as a recurring bill, add any notes that you may need to prompt your memory and then save the entry.

The app has a calendar view, and you can also itemize bills and track spending by category. Due date reminders are easy to set and can be programmed to go off several times before a payment is due. When you make a payment on time, you can update the relevant entry and include information like a confirmation number.

The process of entering bill data doesn’t eat up much of your time, thanks to the app’s clean design. A version of the app with ads is free. A $2 version removes the ads and lets you sync your data among multiple devices.

A similar free app on Android is Bills Reminder from Handy Apps. It also has an unfussy design and simple controls so entering data isn’t too laborious. The app lists bills in the order they are due, annotated with the relevant payment details. Recurring bills have a blue icon, and bills with a special note have an orange icon. This feature makes it easy to spot important or one-off bills among more regular ones.

BillMinder, a $2 iOS app, has many of the same features but its interface has more detailed graphics, including prettier lists and reports of paid bills. BillMinder works much as its rivals do, so it also requires a lot of typing from you, but you may prefer its snazzier look and the detailed way it reports on your past payments.

A popular and more full-featured bill payment reminder app is Manilla. It is available free on both iOS and Android. The app feels a little like Bill Tracker thanks to its straightforward interfaces and graphics, but it has more powerful options.

Where Manilla stands out from the crowd is in its ability to connect with many popular American companies and download bill information automatically. And it is easy to use. To start the process with your Verizon cellphone bill, for example, you just enter your login information for Verizon’s Web site. The app will download your bill data from the company â€" saving you the trouble of typing in a coming bill manually.

To ease concerns about entering sensitive data into the app, which could be seen by someone who gets into your phone, the app is pass code-protected.

For such a nicely designed app, there are some curious weak points, like the limited options for customizing alerts and reminders in the way that even some of the simpler apps allow.

The popular Check app from Pageonce is similar to Manilla, but it includes additional features, like the ability to keep track of your credit cards. While it still acts as a simple bill payment, reminder and organizer app, it can also let you pay bills through your bank account or credit cards.

The app is well designed with a great-looking user interface, but it is very complex. The app does a great job of pulling all your bank and bill data into one place, but if you’re the type of person who likes to keep hands-on control over your finances and bills, it may not suit you. Check is free on iOS and Android.

Quick Call Readdle has just overhauled its popular calendar app for iOS devices into a new version, Calendar 5. It now has iPad support and its graphics are in keeping with Apple’s new iOS 7 design. The app is powerful and an improvement over Apple’s stock Calendar. It’s available for $7.



Firm That Sent 42 Million Texts Settles in Spam Case

Firm That Sent 42 Million Texts Settles in Spam Case

John Gress for The New York Times

C. Steven Baker, left, of the F.T.C. says complaints have gone down since a crackdown this year on fraudulent text messages.

WASHINGTON â€" The Federal Trade Commission said on Tuesday that it had settled charges against a Florida company and its two top executives for sending more than 42 million unwanted and deceptive text messages to consumers.

Messages sent by the company had promised free gift cards worth up to $1,000, the commission said, but when consumers tried to visit a Web site to collect the prize, they were instead connected to a site that asked for personal information, like Social Security numbers and credit card numbers. It also required them to pay for additional services to receive a gift card.

The company, Rentbro, and its principals, Daniel Pessin and Jacob Engel, both of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., were required to turn over remaining assets and to repay up to $377,321, the amount the business had collected.

The settlement came as part of a sweeping crackdown on text message fraud that the commission announced in March. The agency filed eight cases in February and March against 29 companies and individuals around the country, accusing them of sending text messages with fake offers.

Those companies sent more than 180 million spam text messages, which typically offered gift cards to national chain stores like Best Buy and Walmart.

C. Steven Baker, director of the commission’s Midwest region, said that since the agency had filed the cases, it had received many fewer complaints about such offers.

The commission charged Rentbro and the two executives with unfair or deceptive acts, in violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act. The parties agreed to the settlement but did not admit or deny wrongdoing.

Gregg E. Pessin, a lawyer in Coral Gables, Fla., who is listed in Rentbro’s corporate filings as the company’s registered agent and who said he was the father of Mr. Pessin, said the company and the two men would not comment on the case.

The Rentbro case was the second of the cases filed this year to be settled by the commission. In July, the agency assessed a penalty of $60,950 against Henry Nolan Kelly, who the commission said had sent more than 20 million unwanted text messages offering free iPads and iPhones to people who clicked on the Web link.

The financial judgment against Mr. Kelly was suspended because of his inability to pay. He agreed to cooperate with the commission in future investigations and to refrain from sending unwanted or deceptive text messages.

A version of this article appears in print on September 18, 2013, on page B2 of the New York edition with the headline: Firm That Sent 42 Million Texts Settles in Spam Case.

Bits Blog: Review Roundup: The iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C

A small number of technology journalists have had their hands on Apple’s new iPhones for about a week. And this time they had two phones to evaluate instead of one.

The consensus among reviewers was generally very positive. They agreed that even though the fancier phone, the iPhone 5S, looks almost exactly the same as its predecessor, it’s the insides that count: a smarter computing chip and a new button with a fingerprint scanner. They also liked the iPhone 5C, even though it is essentially an older iPhone repackaged in colorful plastic.

Following is a quick roundup of what some prominent technology writers had to say.

Walt Mossberg of AllThingsD called the iPhone 5S the best smartphone on the market. But he said it was a better upgrade for those who have an older iPhone, like the iPhone 4S, not last year’s iPhone 5:

I like it and can recommend it for anyone looking for a premium, advanced smartphone. If you are an iPhone fan with any model older than the iPhone 5, the new 5s will be a big step up. If you own an iPhone 5, there’s less of a case for upgrading, unless you want the fingerprint reader and improved camera. You can get the new OS free of charge.

Anand Lal Shimpi of AnandTech was impressed with the upgrades inside the iPhone 5S: the faster processor, improved camera and the fingerprint sensor for security:

As with all other S-upgrades, the biggest changes to the iPhone 5s are beneath the aluminum and glass exterior. The 5s’ flagship feature? Apple’s new A7 SoC. The A7 is the world’s first 64-bit smartphone SoC, and the first 64-bit mobile SoC shipping in a product (Intel’s Bay Trail is 64-bit but it won’t ship as such, and has yet to ship regardless).

Rich Jaroslovsky of Bloomberg News was jaded. He said that most of the improvements in the iPhone 5S were minor, and that the iPhone 5C was nothing to be excited about:

There’s nothing wrong with either phone. But there’s not much that’s pulse-quickening about them either.

Lauren Goode of AllThingsD said the cheaper iPhone 5C was a solid phone that is better than the older iPhone 5:

While the 5C looks and feels very familiar, it’s still a good phone and an improvement over the 5. But its improvements are evolutionary, not revolutionary.

Alex Kidman of ABC questioned who would buy an iPhone 5C when the iPhone 5S is so much better:

So who’s going to buy it? I’m honestly not sure outside of the heavy fashion crowd who, for one reason or another might just want color and not actual features.

David Pogue of The New York Times said both the iPhone 5S and 5C were great phones. And he said that even though the iPhone 5C is not all that innovative, it will probably still be a big seller:

It’s a terrific phone. The price is right. It will sell like hot cakes; the new iPhones go on sale Friday. But just sheathing last year’s phone in shiny plastic isn’t a stunning advance.



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