Conservative Group Airs Ad Against Schumer for Support of Hagel

Anyone who thinks that Senator Charles E. Schumer’s support for Chuck Hagel’s confirmation as defense secretary - a critical boost to his prospects â€" will deflate the opposition should think again.

The moneyed conservative political committee American Future Fund is starting an advertising campaign against Mr. Schumer in New York, contending that his support was part of a craven bid to one day become the Senate Democratic leade and archly asking, “What did President Obama promise him”

The spot is just the beginning of what is expected to be several such highly local advertisements pressing Democratic senators to vote against Mr. Hagel, most likely directed at lawmakers with large Jewish constituencies.

Stuart Roy, a strategist with the group, said that the ad was to run on cable television in New York and that there would be ads like it in other states as well as some national advertising in the lead-up to Mr. Hagel’s Jan. 31 confirmation hearing.

Mr. Schumer’s announcement this week that he supported Mr. Hagel was a potentially pivotal moment; his opposition would have most likely scu! ttled Mr. Hagel’s confirmation. Mr. Schumer’s office had no comment on the advertisement but referred a reporter to his interview Friday morning on the Nachum Segal radio program, on which the host pressed him to defend his support for Mr. Hagel.

“I had my doubts about Chuck Hagel, and in fact made them public on the ‘Meet the Press’ show,’’ Mr. Schumer said.

But, he said, after meeting Mr. Hagel at the president’s request, he was convinced Mr. Hagel had changed some of his views against military action in Iran and on his previous calls for discussion with groups like Hamas.

Arguing that some of the statements most often seized upon by Mr. Hagel’s opponents are from several years ago - for instance, Mr. Hagel’s argument that military action against Irn was “not feasible” dates to 2006 - Mr. Schumer said, “Hagel convinced me that he had changed his views,’’ and “that the world had changed and he had changed with them.”

Mr. Schumer said that when he asked Mr. Hagel what he would do if faced with a choice of a nuclear-armed Iran and United States military involvement that Mr. Hagel said, “Then we’d have no choice but to take action.”

Mr. Schumer said he knew “I’d get flak” for supporting Mr. Hagel. But, he said, “I made the right choice.”

Live Coverage of Obama\'s Second Inaugural

President Obama begins his second term in office this weekend and Times reporters in Washington will be providing live updates and analysis starting at 9 a.m. on Monday and running through the inaugural ceremony.

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The Caucus Click: Paying Tribute to King on Lincoln\'s Steps

Christopher Gregory for The New York Times Students of Watkins Elementary School lined the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Friday in Washington to pay homage to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

For Obama, Second Term Brings a New Look

The White House has released the new official portrait of President Obama. Shot on Dec. 6, by White House photographer Pete Souza, the portrait features Mr. Obama, smiling broadly, standing in the Oval Office. The portrait is a slight departure from the 2009 version, which featured a close-up shot of then President-elect Obama, with a solemn expression and a blander background.

Inaugural Planners Spotlight Eight Citizens

A retired nurse, a 26-year-old who was denied health insurance, a soldier injured in Afghanistan and a laid-off auto worker who got her job back after President Obama moved to rescue the auto industry are among eight “citizen co-chairs’’ of Monday’s inaugural festivities, inaugural planners are to announce Thursday morning.

The co-chairs, all ordinary Americans who have met Mr. Obama during his travels, will participate in Saturday’s National Day of Service and ride a float in the inaugural parade. They will also attend the inaugural balls.

“Every day, I’m inspired by the determination, grit, and resilience of the American people,” Mr. Obama said in a statement about their roles. “The stories of these extraordinary men and women highlight both the progress we’ve made and how much we have left to do. They remind us that when we live up to the example set by the American people, there is no limit to how bright our future can be.”

Previous inaugurals have not includedcitizen co-chairs; Mr. Obama’s inaugural planners say the president hopes he is beginning a new tradition. The eight people his committee selected dovetail with his political agenda; each spotlights a different theme or initiative of the Obama presidency.

They are:

Ida Edwards, a retired nurse from Petersburg, Va., who witnessed the civil rights movement and the passing of the Civil Rights Act as a young woman.

Erica Chan, 26, of San Francisco, who was denied health insurance because of a pre-existing condition. After Mr. Obama’s health bill became law, she had life-saving brain surgery.

Lily Griego of Denver, a single mother working two jobs who volunteered for the president’s re-election campaign. Her son is attending college with the help of Pell grants and other financial aid favored by the president.

Kenyetta Jones, a 27-year veteran at the General Motors ! Powertrain Plant in Toledo, Ohio, who was laid off for 13 months during the economic downturn in 2009. A year later, she got her job back after the auto industry bailout.

Liz McCartney of New Orleans, a co-founder of the St. Bernard Project, a nonprofit organization that seeks to rebuild homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina within St. Bernard Parish in New Orleans. She has begun a similar project in the New York/New Jersey area in the wake of the storm Sandy.

Rob Hach of Alta, Iowa, who with his wife, Tara, started Anemometry Specialists, a small renewable energy business, 10 years ago. He has been in the wind energy business since 1994; over the past decade, his business has grown to include 27 employees.

David Hall of Washington, a former Air Force staff sergeant who was named a pilot, only to be excluded for “homosexual conduct” in August 2002 - a practice that ended after Mr. Obama signed a repeal of the military’s “don’t ak, don’t tell’’ policy.

Petty Officer Second Class Taylor Morris, originally from Cedar Falls, Iowa, who was injured by an improvised explosive device during his first deployment to Afghanistan and is now a quadruple amputee. Mr. Obama met him at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and then surprised him during a White House tour to award him the Purple Heart.

This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: January 17, 2013

An earlier version of this article misspelled the given name of one of the "citizen co-chairs" of the inaugural festivities. The GM employee who got her job back after the auto industry bailout is Kenyetta Jones, not Kenyatta.

Arizona Congresswoman Hires Immigrant Activist After She Details Raid

PHOENIX â€" Erika Andiola, the young immigrant activist who prompted outrage on social media last week after her messages and tearful video chronicled the arrests of her mother and brother during an immigration raid here, is the new outreach director for Representative Kyrsten Sinema, the freshman congresswoman known for her staunch opposition to Arizona’s stance on illegal immigration.

The hiring is at once recognition of Ms. Andiola’s connections in the Latino community and a statement by Ms. Sinema, who as a state senator delivered one of the most scathing critiques of Arizona’s controversial immigration legislaton, S.B. 1070, debating its main sponsor, Russell Pearce, for hours on the Arizona House floor.

“She’s a phenomenally hard worker, she is organized and she has great experience organizing the community,” Ms. Sinema said in a telephone interview from Washington. Ms. Andiola also lives in the Ninth Congressional District, which Ms. Sinema represents and which encompasses parts of southern Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa and Chandler, as well as Tempe.

Ms. Andiola, 25, crossed the border illegally as a child and used the experience to shape her advocacy. She co-founded the Arizona Dream Act Coalition and staged protests outside the offices of Senator John McCain here and at the United States Capitol to push for immigration reform.

In November, she got a work permit under a policy put in place by the Obama administration in June giving temporary reprieve from deportation to certain illegal immigrants who came to the country as children. Wednesday was her first day on the job.

“To me, this is a great way to connect whatever is happening in Congress to the community, especially the Latino and the immigrant community,” Ms. Andiola said.

(Immigration authorities released Ms. Andiola’s mother and brother hours after their arrests, saying the case contains some of the elements covered under “prosecutorial discretion policy.”)

At Republican Retreat, Ryan Urges Unity on Fiscal Issues

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. â€" As House Republicans hunkered down here for a two-day retreat to discuss the future of their conference, Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin warned members that they had to “recognize the realities of the divided government that we have” and urged members to unite behind leadership on the coming fiscal debates.

Mr. Ryan, the chairman of the budget committee, told reporters that he thought some of the divisiveness that had plagued House Republicans under the leadership of Speaker John A. Boehner would most likely subside once members understand the coming battles and challenges.

“I think what matters most is people hve a very clear view of what’s coming so that there are no surprises, and that means setting expectations accordingly, so that we can proceed in a unified basis,” Mr. Ryan said. “And the reason we’re doing this kind of facilitation right now is we want every member to understand all of the issues and all of the consequences, so that we can come together with consensus on a plan and move forward and proceed.”

Referring to the end of the previous Congress, which left the House, the Senate and the White House racing against a deadline to pass legislation to offset across-the-board tax increases and spending cuts needed to avert a financial crisis, he added, “We have the time to do that, whereas before it was a little more rushed, and we didn’t have the time.”

The former vice presidential candidate has maintained a low profile since returning to Congress, but he surprised some when he voted with Mr. Boehner on the tax deal devised by the White ! House and Senate Republicans to avert the so-called fiscal cliff.

Mr. Ryan also signaled that his conference might be flexible when it comes to the coming debate about the debt limit.

“We’re discussing the possible virtue of a short-term debt limit extension so that we have a better chance of getting the Senate and White House involved in discussions in March,” he said.

But reining in outsize spending and a soaring deficit still remains a top Republican priority, Mr. Ryan emphasized.

“We think the worst thing for the economy for this Congress and this administration would be to do nothing to get our debt and deficits under control,” he said. “We think the worst thing for the economy is to move past these events that are occurring with no progress made on the debt and deficits.”

He added: “We know we have a debt crisis coming. This is not an ‘if’ question, it’s a ‘when’ question.”

Rosa Parks Statue to Be Added to the Capitol

Rosa Parks, the civil rights leader, will become the first African-American woman to have her likeness depicted in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall when a statue of her is installed later this year, Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, said in an interview Thursday.

Statuary Hall is ordinarily reserved for full-size statues from the states; each state sends two statues of its choosing to be put on display. The likeness of Ms. Parks was authorized by a special act of Congress in 2005; it represents the first commission by Congress for a full-size statue since the 1870s, according to the National Endowment for the Arts, which oversaw the design competition for the statue.

By dint of his job as chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, Mr. Schumer oversees artwork in the Capitol. He is also running preparations for President Obama’s inaugural ceremony at the Capitol on Monday, including the Congressional luncheon in Statuary Hall â€" events that take place, coincidentally, on the holiday commemorating the birth of another civil rights leader, the Rev. Dr. Martin Lu! ther King Jr.

“The theme involves slavery and civil rights,’’ Mr. Schumer said. “This will be the last time that we have the luncheon in Statuary Hall where Rosa Parks will not be there.’’

A Popularity Present for Michelle Obama

The latest New York Times/CBS News poll offers a gift of another sort for Michelle Obama on her 49th birthday Thursday - Americans’ positive views of her outstrip the negative by about 4 to 1.

Fifty-one percent of Americans hold a favorable opinion of Mrs. Obama on the eve of her husband’s second inauguration next week, while just 13 percent express an unfavorable view of her and the rest have no opinion.

Still, she has slipped from her personal best during the first couple’s White House years, dropping from a high of 67 percent around the 100-day mark of the president’s first term. It was also higher last September â€" 61 percent among registered voters â€" shortly after the Democratic National Convention where Mrs. Obama delivered a rousing speech.

Notably, her unfavorablerating is lower than it was in September too; the difference is just that more Americans now say they have no opinion.

Along political lines, more than 4 in 10 Republicans and independents now say they have no opinion of her. Her favorable/unfavorable ratings range from 79 percent to 2 percent among Democrats, to 43 percent to 11 percent among independents and 24 percent to 30 percent among Republicans.

She’s more popular among women than men, with a gender split of 57 percent to 44 percent. But men don’t dislike her more by sizable numbers; they’re just more apt to not have an opinion.

The national poll was conducted Jan. 11 through Jan. 15 among 1,110 adults using landlines and cellphones and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points. More results from this poll will be released on NYTimes.com after 6:30 p.m.

An Uneasy Turn at the G.O.P. Retreat

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. â€" Well, that was awkward.

Speaking to reporters on the first full day of the House Republican retreat here, Representative Greg Walden of Oregon, the new chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, fielded a question about the party’s outreach to minority candidates and groups with aplomb.

“It’s an important priority for me as chairman and for our committee as a whole,” he said, noting that he had asked Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler, a Hispanic woman from Washington State, to serve as vice chairwoman to help on that front. He added that Representatives Tom Cole and Markwayne Mullin, both of Oklahoma, were “Native Americans and Republicans” and would be helping with “the Native American effort.”

He even dutifully noted that there were “50,000 young Hispanics reaching voter age every month,” and that the Republicans needed “to figure out how to reach out better effectively into those communities.” (President Obama, in defeating Mitt Romney in November, was supported by 71 percent of Hispanic voters, who increased their share among the voting population in crucial states like Colorado and Nevada, according to exit polls).

But the conversation became a bit sticky when, near the end, a reporter pointed out that “in the vein of bad communication,” a panel talk called “Discussion on Successful Communication With Minorities and Women” was being held on Friday in the Burwell Plantation Room at Kingsmill Resort, named after a former slave-owning family.

“First of all, I don’t pick the rooms we meet in,” Mr. Walden said,! pointing out that the House Democrats recently held their retreat here as well, presumably meeting in the same rooms. (Mr. Obama also spent three days here this fall, preparing for his second debate against Mr. Romney.) “I pick the Democrats we’re going to take out, and that’s my job at the N.R.C.C.”

But the reporters had a few more questions for him. Did Mr. Walden think that Republicans really needed a panel discussion on how to communicate with Hispanics and women, one asked.

“Yes, of course,” he said. “Why wouldn’t we have a panel on that”

But then why, a final reporter prodded, did this panel on communicating with women and minorities include three white men: Representatives Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and Scott Rigell and Frank R. Wolf, both of Virginia

Mr. Walden, who was not responsible for putting together the event, pointed out that the panel also included several women: “a woman from CNN” (Ana Navarro) and “Sean Duffy’s wife” (Rachel Campos-Dufy). Mr. Duffy is a congressman from Wisconsin; his wife is a television personality.

Also on the list was Ms. Herrera Beutler. But, unfortunately, her name was misspelled.

TimesCast Politics: Gun Debate Moves to Capitol Hill

The Associated Press

• 0:01  Gun Reform in Congress

  Michael D. Shear breaks down the challenges facing gun law proposals in Congress.

• 5:49  Wall Street and the Debt Ceiling

  Nathaniel Popper reports on the business community’s efforts to keep Washington from hitting the debt ceiling.

• 11:02  More Cabinet Shakeups

  Peter Baker looks at the latest shakeup in the President’s inner circle, including his chief of staff.

White House Posts Videos of Children Asking Obama to Address Gun Violence

Video: Children read their letters to President Obama.

A day after President Obama called for broad new gun laws, the White House published on its YouTube channel videos of four children reading their own letters about guns.

The videos are part of what the White House promises will be an all-out effort by Mr. Obama’s administration to pass his gun proposals, drawing on the emotional reactions to the school shootings in Newtown, Conn.

But the effort â€" which shows each of the four children sitting in a chair in front of a blue vlvet curtain â€" is certain to generate criticism that the president is exploiting little children for his own political purposes.

Video: Children read their letters to President Obama.

On Wednesday, it was Mr. Obama who expressed outrage when the National Rifle Association referred to his daughters in a video that called the president a hypocrite for not supporting more armed security at schools. The White House called the video “repugnant and cowardly,” saying it crossed a line by dragging children into a political debate.

Conservatives said on Wednesday that Mr. Obama had crossed a similar line by featuring four youn! g children on the stage while he was announcing his gun plans.

The new videos take that effort one step further.

In “A letter from Hinna,” Hinna Zeejah, 8, reads aloud what she wrote to Mr. Obama in the wake of the shootings.

“Mr. President, can we do something which will stop all of these terrible problems,” she says. “Can we stop using guns I think if they are no guns on the street, no one could get hurt. Bullets don’t have eyes. It can hurt anyone.”

Video: Children read their letters to President Obama.

In another video, titled, “A letter from Julia,” Julia Stokes, 11, tells Mr. Obama that guns should be “very hard for people to buy.”

“The only thing they do is harm or kill,” Julia said. “I know that laws have to be passed by Congress, but I beg you to try ver hard to make guns not allowed.”

Video: Children read their letters to President Obama.

Follow Michael D. Shear on Twitter at @shearm.

The Caucus Click: Finishing Touches

Doug Mills/The New York Times Workers put the final touches on the stage for the inauguration on Capitol Hill on Thursday in Washington.

Rubio Outlines Elements of His New Immigration Plan

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, a Republican who is on a talking tour to publicize his proposals for an immigration overhaul, said on Thursday that tighter enforcement at the borders and in workplaces would be central to his plan, which would also offer legal status to millions of illegal immigrants.

In a meeting in New York with reporters and editors of The New York Times, Mr. Rubio said that any broad immigration legislation should create a nationwide exit system to check foreigners out of the country, to confirm that they left before their visas expired. He noted that at least 40 percent of an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the country came on legal visas but then overstayed.

Mr. Rubio said he would also insist on a nationwide program for employers to verify the legal authorization of new workers, although he did not specify whether he would favor an expansion of an existing federal electronic worker verification program or seek to create a new one.

Mr. Rubio, 41, the consrvative son of blue-collar Cuban exiles who won his Senate seat in 2010 with support from the Tea Party, has been shaking up the Republican Party’s immigration politics with his proposals to offer legal status and eventually American citizenship to immigrants here illegally. Since the November elections, many Republican leaders have said the party should find an alternative to the policy of “self-deportation” for illegal immigrants, which turned many Latino voters away from the party’s presidential candidate, Mitt Romney.

On Monday, Mr. Romney’s running mate, Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, shifted to Mr. Rubio’s approach, endorsing the senator’s principles and saying the two would work together on immigration legislation. On Wednesday, Bill O’Reilly, the conservative media personality, added his endorsement, telling Mr. Rubio he liked his program.

“I think it’s fair,” Mr. O’Reilly said, in a notable change for a comme! ntator who has been fiercely critical of illegal immigration. Since Mr. Rubio started to unveil his principles last Friday, they have also been praised by Grover Norquist, the conservative antitax crusader. He also drew support from some longtime advocates for broad legalization legislation.

One of them, Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice, called Mr. Rubio’s proposals “a very welcome and courageous statement from someone who was elected with Tea Party credentials.”

Mr. Rubio, saying immigration would be a top priority for him this year, said he was currently laying out principles and gathering support for them. As a tactical matter, Mr. Rubio is not delving too deeply into the details at this stage.

His plan would give a temporary “nonimmigrant visa” to illegal immigrants, which would allow them to remain and work in the United States. They would have to wait a “significant but reasonable” period of time before they could apply to become legal permanent reidents, going to the back of the line in the existing system. Once they became residents, they could go on like other legal immigrants to naturalize as citizens.

“There are millions of people who have applied to enter this country legally,” Mr. Rubio said. “Our message to them cannot be: you should have come illegally because it’s faster and cheaper.”

He acknowledged that major pieces of his plan remain to be worked out. According to current federal visa rosters, most Mexican-born immigrants applying to become permanent residents now face a wait of at least 17 years to receive their document â€" known as a green card â€" even if they followed the rules and were approved. Mr. Rubio’s proposal could add seven million more Mexican immigrants to those backlogs. The path to citizenship he proposes for illegal immigrants could be several decades long.

“I don’t have a solution for that question right now,” Mr. Rubio said. He said he would seek to relieve backlogs by speed! ing up gr! een cards for immigrants already in the legal line, not by creating special pathways for illegal immigrants.

Mr. Rubio’s principles did not sound very different from outlines for an overhaul that President Obama has offered. And the senator, whose star is rising rapidly in his party, chose not to hammer on his differences with the White House. Instead, he said he was open to negotiating because he believed the timing was right to change a failing immigration system. “We just have to get this thing done for once and for all,” Mr. Rubio said.

Obama\'s 2012 Operation Turns Over a New Leaf

The next act of President Obama’s campaign organization is starting to take shape, with his former campaign manager Jim Messina leading a plan to convert the operation into a new grass-roots lobbying effort. The first project: gun control legislation.

Mr. Messina and other senior campaign officials who are not working inside the White House are planning to lead the next phase of Obama for America, the president’s network of supporters, which has steadily grown since 2007. The group will solicit money from donors to push the president’s agenda.

“People like you spoke out and demanded action,” Mr. Messina wrote in an e-mail to supporters on Thursday. “Your input, along with ideas from leaders and policymakers across the political spectrum, went into the president’s plan.”

The new group - and how it will be financed - will be announced as Mr. Obama’s supporters arrive in Washington this weekend for his inauguration. The future of the group will be discussed Sunday at an Obma Campaign Legacy Conference.

The group will be run as a separate entity from the Democratic National Committee, people familiar with the operation said, and it could be set up as a 501(c)4, a section of the tax code in which disclosure of donations is not required.

In announcing his gun control proposals, Mr. Obama pledged to put the “full weight” of his office behind the effort. In his message to supporters on Thursday, Mr. Messina called for their help.

“Common-sense changes can go a long way in keeping our streets and our schools safer â€" and there’s too much at stake to stand by and wait for action,” Mr. Messina wrote. “The president will not wait.”

Military Veterans to Dance With Obamas and Bidens at Inauguration

Four members of the armed forces who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq will take a whirl on the dance floor Monday night with President Obama, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and their wives, as part of the first dance at the Commander-in-Chief’s Ball, one of two official balls for Mr. Obama’s second inauguration.

The lucky dancers, all of them decorated with military honors, were chosen from more than 50 candidates reviewed by a selection board composed of senior leaders from the Joint Task Force-National Capital Region, which is coordinating security for the inauguration. Inaugural planners will release their names Friday morning.

They are:

Staff Sergeant Bria D. Nelson of the Air Force, who will dance with the president. Sergeant Nelson, a native of Indianapolis, enlisted on July 31, 2002, as a medical technician. She deployed to Afghanistan and was awarded the Air Force Commendation Medal. She is currently assigned to the 579th Medical Operations Squadro, Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, where she works in family health.

Gunnery Sergeant Timothy D. Easterling of the Marines, who will dance with Michelle Obama. Sergeant Easterling, a native of Barnwell, S.C., enlisted on Aug. 21, 2000, as a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defense specialist. He deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and has been awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal. He helped develop chemical and biological attack response plans for Mr. Obama’s first inauguration, and four subsequent State of the Union addresses and joint sessions of Congress, and is currently assigned to Marine Barracks in Washington as a distance learning instructor.

Staff Sgt. Keesha N. Dentino of the Army, a native of Homestead, Fla., will dance with Vice President Biden. Sergeant Dentino enlisted on July 6, 2004, as a military police officer. She deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan; her awards include! the Bronze Star Medal and four Army Commendation Medals. She is currently assigned to the 947th Military Police Detachment in Fort Myer, Va., as a patrol explosives detection dog handler and is working toward an undergraduate degree in criminal justice.

Petty Officer Patrick Figueroa of the Navy, who will dance with Jill Biden. Petty Officer Figueroa, a native of Fort Worth, enlisted on Dec. 16, 2008, as a hospital corpsman. He deployed to Afghanistan; while there, he rescued a Marine corporal who is now recuperating at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. Petty Officer Figueroa works as a manpower transfer clerk at the medical center. His awards include the Presidential Unit Citation and the Navy Unit Commendation.

The Early Word: Guns and the Public

In Today’s Times:

• The shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., appears to have swayed public opinion on guns, with a New York Times/CBS News poll showing that a majority of Americans now favor tightening gun control laws, Michael Cooper and Dalia Sussman report.

• Agreeing that President Obama will have to put everything into the effort to get stricter gun regulations passed, Congressional Democrats are divided on whether they can succeed by breaking up the president’s proposals into narrowly written bills or by taking a more guerrilla approach, Jennifer Steinhauer reports.

• Members of the United States Conference of Mayors at their winter meeting on Thursday shared with one another their experiences with theconsequences of gun violence, with many expressing support for the president’s call for tighter gun laws, Michael Cooper reports.

• Faced with the question of how to handle an imminent fight over raising the debt ceiling, Republicans are considering a short-term extension to allow more discussion about spending cuts, Ashley Parker reports.

Washington Happenings:

• Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. will meet with Gov. Dannel Malloy of Connecticut at the White House Friday.

• The 81st winter meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors continues Friday with remarks by several cabinet officials, including the secretary of health and human services, Kathleen Sebelius, and the transportation secretar! y, Ray LaHood.

As Obama Begins Second Term, Majority Approve of His Performance

President Obama heads into his second term in office with an overall positive approval rating, but the public remains ambivalent about his handling of the economy.

Fifty-one percent of Americans approve of the way Mr. Obama is handling his job, according to a survey by The New York Times/CBS News, with 41 percent disapproving. Mr. Obama’s job approval rating is similar to George W. Bush‘s at the start of his second term, but much lower than the ratings of the previous two presidents who served eight years. (President Bill Clinton‘s approval rate was 60 percent in January 1997, and Ronald Reagan‘s was 62 percent in January 1985.) More than 8 in 10 Democrats approve of his job performance, 8 in 10 Republicans disapprove and independents are evenly divided.

The public has not changed its assessment of Mr. Obama’s handling of the economy since the last-minute negotiations with Congress to avert the automatic tax increases and spending cuts that were scheduled to take affect at the end of last year. Almost half, 46 percent, approve of the way the president has been dealing with the economy and 49 percent disapprove.

The public is also closely divided over how the president is dealing with taxes. In the wake of the recent fiscal deal that raised taxes on individuals with incomes ! over $400,000, 45 percent of those surveyed approve of Mr. Obama’s handling of taxes and 47 percent disapprove.

Last month, when negotiations to forestall the fiscal crisis were at a stalemate and taxes had not yet been raised on anyone, more than half â€" 52 percent â€" approved of how Mr. Obama was taking care of taxes.

Mr. Obama’s management of the overall federal budget deficit continues to be viewed negatively: 37 percent approve and 54 percent disapprove, including a quarter of Democrats.

Susan Fales, of Wilmington, N.C., strongly approves of Mr. Obama’s job performance. “A president doesn’t have unlimited power but he’s working on behalf of people like myself as best he can under the circumstances he is in,” Mrs. Fales, 49, an unemployed Democrat, said in a follow-up nterview.

John Gorden, 58, is an independent who disapproves of how Mr. Obama is handling all aspects of his job. “It seems Barack Obama is moving us closer and closer to socialism, to more of a European government,” said Mr. Gorden, a consultant in the oil and gas industry who lives in Traverse City, Mich.

Moving away from fiscal matters, almost half, 49 percent, of respondents approve of the president’s handling of foreign policy, and 36 percent disapprove.

The nationwide poll was conducted Jan. 11-15 with 1,110 adults, using landlines and cellphones, and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points. More results from this poll will be released on NYTimes.com after 6:30 p.m.

This Inauguration Brought to You by the State of New York

Brendan Hoffman for The New York Times At a menu preview of the Congressional luncheon, Senator Charles E. Schumer sampled sauces while preparing Hudson Valley apple pie with chef Shannon Shaffer.

President Obama’s home states are Hawaii and Illinois, and his second inaugural will be held in Washington, D.C., of course. But the festivities at the Capitol on Monday will have a distinctly New York flair, thanks to the man who is running them: the ulimate New Yorker, Senator Charles E. Schumer.

By dint of his job as chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, Mr. Schumer, a Democrat, will be master of ceremonies at the inauguration, and is overseeing preparations for Mr. Obama’s swearing-in and the customary Congressional luncheon that follows. Like most senators, he is not one to miss an opportunity to deliver perks back home.

So he has larded the inaugural with all things New York.

The drinking water will be provided by the Saratoga Springs Water Company, along with District of Columbia tap water â€" at the insistence of D.C. officials, Mr. Schumer said in an interview. Two of the three wines served at the luncheon are from New York: a Tierce 2010 dry riesling from the Finger Lakes region and a Bedell Cellars 2009 merlot, from North Fork, Long! Island.

“When Paul Pelosi, who is a connoisseur of California wines, tasted the wine, he said, ‘This makes the grade,’” Mr. Schumer reported.

(Mr. Pelosi, the husband of Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, was one of four taste-testers for the lunch. The others were Mr. Schumer’s wife, Iris; Diana Cantor, the wife of the House Republican leader, Eric Cantor of Virginia; and Honey Alexander, wife of Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennssee, who as senior Republican on the Rules Committee is Mr. Schumer’s junior partner in the event.)

The dessert - Hudson Valley apple pie with sour cream ice cream, aged cheese and honey â€" contains 23 New York ingredients, according to Mr. Schumer, including apples from the Hudson Valley, cheese from Cooperstown (two kinds, a Toma Celena and a Jersey Girl Colby), and honey from Rochester.

The honey was originally to come from Red Hook Honey in Brooklyn, Mr. Schumer said, but the bees and the hive were wiped out by Hurricane Sandy. “So now we have honey from Rochester,’’ he said, ‘’and it’s just as good.” The maple sy! rup is fr! om Dutchess County. “We have the best maple syrup,’’ Mr. Schumer insisted. (Take that, Senators Patrick J. Leahy and Bernard Sanders of Vermont!)

When the president, the vice president and their guests are waiting in the Capitol to make their entrance onto the West Front, they will be invited to snack on apples, cheese, syrup, honey and yogurt, plus wine - all from New York. The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir - “Grammy-award winning,” as Mr. Schumer is quick to say â€" will perform “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” at the ceremony. The school chorus from Public School 22 in Staten Island, hard hit by the hurricane, will also sing.

And in a nod to Mr. Alexander, the Lee University Festival Choir from Tennessee will also perform.

The official “inaugural picture,’’ on display at the luncheon, will be a painting of Niagara Falls by the 19th-century Danish artist Ferdinand Richardt. The luncheon chef, Shannon Shaffer, is from Maryland but trained at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. (O.K., so maybe that connection is a bit tenuous.)

But there was one aspect of Mr. Schumer’s New York-ification of the inaugural that, sadly for the senator, went awry.

“We were going to have Long Island duck,’’ Mr. Schumer said. “The duck was very good, but the preparation wasn’t great. We settled on South Dakota bison. When New York gets good bison, we’ll have that.’’

Q&A: Returning to Windows 7

Q.

I have tried it and I can’t stand Windows 8. Can I go back to Windows 7, even on a brand-new computer that had Windows 8 pre-installed

A.

Windows 8 Pro machines are eligible for “downgrade” rights to go back to an older version of Windows, but check with your computer’s manufacturer to see what is involved â€" and if it is possible to get a Windows 7 installation disc or download if you do not already have a copy of the system. Dell Computer, for example, has information here. You should also check if there are any technical support issues with installing the older system on the computer, as some drivers and the software may not work properly if they were designed for Windows 8. Microsoft’s site has its own page of information on downgrade rights.

If you are running a different version of Windows 8 or just want to downgrade on your own, you need to have a copy of Windows 7 to install on the computer. Microsoft still sells the syste and you can find it on other sites that sell software. Before you install the new system, back up your files and be prepared to reinstall all your programs.

As a security measure, Windows 8 uses the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) instead of the older BIOS software that earlier PC’s used to control basic system functions. While UEFI can prevent malicious software from booting up with the computer, its Secure Boot feature can also hinder the use of other operating systems on the computer. (If needed, sample instructions for disabling the Secure Boot can be found here.)

If downgrading the computer to Windows 7 is beginning to sound like too much of a hassle, several online guides to the new system may help you feel more comfortable with Windows 8. Microsoft has its own set of “Get to Know Windows” tutorials, but third-party guides like those found at Tom’s Hardware or Gizmodo may have a more objective point of view about using the new system; Gizmodo even suggests crea! ting a hard drive partition to have both systems on the computer.

A version of this article appeared in print on 01/10/2013, on page B8 of the NewYork edition with the headline: How to Return To Windows 7.

Four Tips for Better Sunrise Photos

Rick Sammon Be on the scene before dawn to capture light like this.

While fireworks make for spectacular pictures, they show up only so many times a year, whereas nature’s fireworks â€" sunrises and sunsets â€" are available daily.

So why don’t more of us take great dawn and dusk photos Several reasons, most of them having to do with a lack of expertise. Rick Sammon, a professional photographer, recently led a class on a visit to Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico, where tens of thousands of geese gather around the holidays to be photographed by hundreds of photographers.

Mr. Sammon shared some of the techniques he taught his students.

Early Birds. You can’t just showup at sunrise and expect to catch the photo. In fact, Mr. Sammon’s photo illustrating this post was taken an hour before sunrise. “You have to be there at least an hour and a half before,” he said. You may be jockeying for position with other photographers. Even if you get up at 4 a.m., you still need to do advance work. Visit a day ahead if you can, or at least check a weather site and a map to see where the sun will be coming from. “Researching your subject is very, very important.”

Sunspot. Anytime you are shooting into the sun you will have extreme light and shadow. Set your exposure for the brightest element, the sun, Mr. Sammon said. It is much easier to coax detail out of shadowy underexposed areas than to put color back into overexposed areas. To get the exposure right, learn to use your camera’s histogram and its overexposure warning. You can find out about them in the manual. When using a point-and-shoot camera, aim it at the brightest spot, press the shutter button halfw! ay to lock in that setting, then frame the photo the way you want and press the button the rest of the way. That will tell your camera to expose for the bright spot.

Made in the Shade. To enhance shadowy details, Mr. Sammon uses a feature called “shadow highlights” found in Photoshop and Lightroom. “I thought it was a sissy feature,” he said. “It turns out it is superpowerful.” It lets him recover images hidden in shadows and tone down highlights at the same time. He also applies a feature called Detail Extractor from Nik Color Efex Pro. “Usually more detail means noise,” he said, “but magically this doesn’t.”

Bring the Noise. Photos in low light risk showing a lot of “noise,” which shows up as grainy dots.  Those are typically made worse by a high ISO setting, which lets in more light. Mr. Sammon tells people not to worry about the noise. Software products like Nik Dfine, Noise Ninja â€" now in the process of being replaced by another product, Photo Ninja â€" and Topz Denoise can reduce it greatly. Many cameras also have a built-in noise reduction filter that you may have to turn on. “If you are there before sunrise you might have to shoot at ISO 1000 to get some color.” In any case, don’t worry, Mr. Sammon said: “My father used to say, ‘If a picture is so boring you notice the noise, it’s a boring picture.’”

Finally, don’t become so entranced by the sun reaching the horizon that you miss a better shot elsewhere. “Always look behind you, because that light is spectacular,” Mr. Sammon said.

A version of this article appeared in print on 01/10/2013, on page B8 of the NewYork edition with the headline: The Early Riser Catches the Dawn in Photos.

Q&A: How to Reinstall the Google Chrome Browser

Q.

The Google Chrome browser no longer works on my Windows computer. How do I delete it so I can try to install it again

A.

To uninstall Google Chrome on a PC running Windows Vista or later, close the browser program and then go to the Start menu and open Control Panel. (On Windows 8, press the Windows key and the X key to pop up a menu with Control Panel listed.) Next, click the Programs and Features icon and double-click Google Chrome in the list. Click the Uninstall button at the top of the list and confirm your intention to remove the program.

On a Windows XP system, go to the Start menu to Control Panel and select Add or Remove Programs. Double-click Google Chrome, click Remove and confirm that you would like to uninstall the browser.

If you have trouble removing the browser, check out Google’s instructions for manually yanking Chrome off a Windows system. The company has more information about uninstalling Chrome if it has been intalled systemwide, as well as for removing it from Mac and Linux systems here.

Once you have removed the nonfunctioning copy of Google Chrome from your system, you can download and install it again. If you are still having problems with the software, check Google’s page of known issues with Chrome to see if there might be a solution.

App Smart Extra: More Options for Divers

Diving apps were this week’s subject for the App Smart column. If that seems a little unseasonal then you should remember that some great diving locations are in sunny spots, and a winter getaway vacation doesn’t have to be about skiing!

Diving logs are one of the more popular app types, largely because it’s handy to be able to enter data from your dive on a smartphone the moment you conclude diving â€" instead of risking forgetting some data before you get home to a PC. On iOS the $2 DiveCrafter app is one of the more graphically elaborate apps, but though it’s much nicer to look at than some of its peers it’s also a little more basic, and doesn’t offer fully comprehensive logging for your dive activity. Its simplicity is its charm, however, and leisure divers will appreciate the fact it lets you keep track of photos from the dive in the app itself.

Windows Phone owners could check out the $3 Diving Log app, which brings detailed logging facilities along with the trademark clean, graphical user interface of Microsoft’s mobile OS.

For diving calculations, the $11 iOS app Dive Buddy Pro is popular because in one place it provides you several different types of dive calculation, and it also lets you log dives in its database with great accuracy. What this app lacks in graphical finesse and complexity, it does make up for with a sort of basic, professional feel.

PADI (the Professional Association of Diving Instructors) is one of the best-known brand names in diving, and inevitably it has a free iOS app. It’s mainly useful for finding nearby PADI-approved dive gear stores. It does manage this well, though, showing you the stores! ’ locations on a map and offering contact details such as phone numbers and websites.

Tides and currents predictions can be critical for divers, and the Android and iOS app stores are crammed with apps that offer localized tide predictions. These vary in usefulness and design, but many are free and thus they’re worth downloading to check out and see if you like them. For example the U.S. Tides app (free on Android) offers extremely clear tide data on some 3,000 port locations in the United States, and its display is designed to tell you everything you need to know at a glance.

Quick Call

The $3 iOS game app Hundreds is tricky to explain â€" against the clock you tap on circles to “grow” them until the overall score is at least 100 â€" but it’s quick to pick up and very addictive. Ideal for activating your brainduring your morning commute.

Q&A: Dealing With Duplicate Work on Dropbox

Q.

What happens if two people work on the same file at the same time in a shared Dropbox folder Does one copy of the file overwrite the other

A.

If two people are editing the same file at the same time, Dropbox saves both versions of the file in the shared folder. The service does not merge the two different files, but adds the words “conflicted copy” to the file name of the second version so it is obvious that two different copies of the same file now exist.

The file name of the second copy also lists the date that the conflict occurred between the two versions of the file. The computer name or name of the person who was working on the file is appended to the name as well, making it somewhat easier to identify the collaborator and ensure that everyone’s changes are incorporated into one final version of the document.

Q&A: Resetting a Kindle\'s Automatic Bookmark

Q.

I am rereading a book on my Kindle, but the feature that bookmarks my place on the Kindle app on my phone when I pick it up there is always wrong. Can I fix this

A.

Amazon’s Kindle tablet and Kindle software apps try to keep all your devices in sync so you can always pick up where you left off reading a book, no matter what gadget you happen to be reading it on at the time. While this can be quite useful the first time through a book, if you are reading it again or are prone to jumping around in the text, the syncing feature may have problems holding your place on the phone and other devices.

One way to get around this is to use the “Clear furthest page read” information Amazon stores for that e-book. To do so, log into your account on the Manage Your Kindle page.

In the Your Kindle Library section, find the title of the book you are rereading and click the Actions menu button next to it. Select the “Clear furthest page read”option and click the button in the box to reset the page tracker. When you open the book on your Kindle and continue rereading, your Kindle app should now note the new place you left off when you pick up the book again on the phone.

With Skullcandy, Look Stylish While Playing Video Games

The wired Slyr gaming headset from Skullcandy.

Skullcandy is known for adding youthful flair to audio gear. So when the company acquired Astro Gaming, a maker of premium gaming accessories, it made sense that it would introduce a line of stylish, less-expensive gaming headsets with the Skullcandy brand.

The new line, introduced over several months, includes three options, Slyr, Plyr1 and Plyr2, which offer different levels of performance. All three are compatible with the Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles and PCs.

The wired Slyr headset (pronounced “slayer”), which runs about $80, features a foldable boom mic and an inline mixer that offers volume control, voice balance and muting. It also ha an equalization button that toggles among three modes to enhance your experience. For instance, you get more boom playing games like Transformers: Fall of Cybertron in the bass mode, but the precision mode offers more clarity. The sound quality is pretty good for a relatively inexpensive headset.

But the headset has a couple of audio cables that snake their way to the game controller and the TV, which can leave your living room looking cluttered. The benefit about being wired, however, is that the Slyr can also plug into most tablets and smartphones.

For a cleaner gaming area, consider shelling out $130 for Skullcandy’s Plyr2 gaming headset, which offers better sound without the wires. The controls are on the right cup, making the gaming experience more seamless. The Plyr1, which will be available in March for $180, has the same audio, but is enhanced with Dolby 7.1 Surround Sound.

But the best reason to get Skullcandy headsets are their streamlined design and eye-catching colors! , offering more style than their bulkier rivals. There are higher-quality options on the market, but with Skullcandy gear, at least you look good wearing it.

Project Basement: The Receiver

My search for a receiver is over.

As I had said in a previous installment, buying a receiver used to be easy. You got the one that sounded best in your price range, period. Now, connections are the first concern â€" will you have enough HDMI slots for the next few years

That said, I couldn’t make the purchase based on connectors and specifications alone. This is, after all, audio equipment. How could I buy without hearing it

The Pioneer Elite VSX-60

But hearing equipment is getting to be more difficult. There are a fewer independent stereo stores. As big box stores to fight “show rooming” â€" customers auditioning equipment they then buy cheaper online â€" often don’t let you listen.

For instance, I was intereted in a Sony STR-DN1030, which has excellent specs for its $500 price, including a built-in Wi-Fi, unusual for receivers in its class. H.H. gregg had the Sony and many other receivers I was interested in on display, but not a single one was plugged in. Deal breaker.

I tried a Best Buy store with a Magnolia, the higher-end home theater section. The store didn’t carry the Sony, so that model was out of the running. I was able to hear the Denon AVR2113CI, the Yamaha RX-A720BL, the Marantz NR1603, and the Pioneer Elite VSX-60.

They all met my minimum feature requirements, which meant at least five HDMI inputs, the audio surround decoders I wanted, and they had to be less than 16 inches deep to fit my shelves.

I’m glad I listened. To me the Pioneer Elite VSX-60 stood out as the obvious winner. Sound was more detailed and had more dimension than the other receivers.

But I must admit that what I did next contributed to Best Buys show-rooming problem! . I went to see which of these receivers was available from my local independent electronics dealer, Soundscape, here in Baltimore. Almost all of them, although they didn’t have the Pioneer on display.

Ethically, I was a bit torn. But if my purchase is going to keep someone in business, I think Soundscape needs me more than Best Buy. The scales tipped further when Soundscape’s owner offered a discount since I’m a regular there. That settled it.

With the VSX-60 installed I am confident I made the right choice. Even though it replaces an older NAD receiver that cost twice as much, the sound is excellent and surround sound effect is far superior.

I will admit, though, it is not quite as easy to use as my prior receivers. I haven’t figured out how to turn off the scaling, which adjusts the size and clarity of a picture to suit my TV. This comes with the territory of sophisticated new features.

Next up, the Blu-ray player.

Why Pixel Counts Don\'t Count in Cameras

With the coming of the Consumer Electronics Show, camera manufacturers will be trotting out scads of new products, but many are unfortunately falling back on an old marketing strategy.

I have been seeing manufacturers offer ever larger pixel counts for their newer models. For instance Nikon’s D5100 is still in the lineup alongside the newer and less expensive D3200. The D5100 has 16.2 megapixel sensor, the D3200 has a 24.2 megapixel sensor (there are even newer models, but I don’t have them on hand to test).

Shouldn’t that make the D3200 the better camera Logically maybe. But in fact it doesn’t, which serves to point out why you can’t shop for a camera based on the number of pixels. It’s largely meaningless when it comes to image quality.

Images taken with the Nikon D3200, top, have more noise than those taken with the D5100, even though the D3200’s sensor has more pixels.

In recent years, many manufacturers had stepped stepped away from pushing pixel counts as the primary selling point of a camera, but it’s a measure the public seems to respond to. Now it’s back in a big way.

To demonstrate why pixels are irrelevant, I have taken an ugly but illustrative image of a corner in a darkened room. Low light brings out “noise” in photographs. It’s a kind of grainy unevenness that is generally undesirable although some artists use it for effect. Both photos are taken with the same settings and lens. You can see the grain is more pronounced in the photo from the D3200, which has the higher pixel count.

Why is that Because at a certain point you’re better off having a larger pixel, wh! ich captures better quality information about the light it sees, rather than additional pixels capturing lower quality data.

To be clear, I am not singling out Nikon, or either of these cameras. They are terrific products, and I consider the D5100 one of the better bargains in its price range partly because of its ability to capture quality images in low light.

The point here is that when you are shopping for a camera, concentrate on the type and physical dimensions of the sensor. In that case, larger is better because more surface area means more ability to capture light. And though CCD sensors used to be state-of-the-art, CMOS sensors have largely surpassed them.

If you only remember one thing when shopping for a new camera it’s this: don’t be seduced by a high pixel count.

Q&A: Finding Help With Apps

Q.

I like the convenience of downloading iOS apps, but where do I go if I need help or tech support with a program for iPhone or iPad

A.

Some apps include basic help guides and support information under its settings or tools menu. Apple has links to online manuals for its own iWork for iOS software in the Help option under the Tools menu. Tapping the toolbar question-mark icon in the company’s iMovie, iPhoto or GarageBand software activates the built-in help guides for those apps; the company also has an iOS Apps Support page online .

Not every iOS app has such extensive documentation, but in many cases, you can find technical support and help guides on the app developer’s own Web site. On either the iTunes desktop version or the iOS app for Apple’s recently redesigned App Store, search for the program you need help with.

On the app’s information page, click the Ratings and Reviews tab. Under the Customer Reviews section, you shoud see an App Support button. Click or tap App Support to go to the developer’s Web site, where you can find more information and hopefully get help. The quality of the technical support may vary based on the developer.

For those using Google’s Android software, checking an app’s page in the Google Play Store is also one place to look for help. Check the Overview tab on the app’s page for links to the developer’s Web site and a tech-support e-mail address. Google has a general help guide for using the Google Play store here.

A version of this article appeared in print on 01/17/2013, on page B8 of the NewYork edition with the headline: Finding Help With Apps.

Q&A: Translating PDF to Word

Q.

I know you can save a Microsoft Word document as a PDF file, but can you go the other way and save a PDF as a Word document that can be edited

A.

Several third-party sites or shareware programs can do the job for free or for a small fee, which may be the best option if you just have a small number of files to convert. The converter page on the PDF Online site, the Smart PDF Converter page and shareware like Free PDF to Word Converter for Windows are among the options.

Adobe, which originally developed the PDF format, has instructions for converting PDF files to Word files with its $20-a-year Acrobat.com ExportPDF service on its site. The company also has conversion instructions posted for those using its Acrobat desktop software.

A version of this article appeared in print on 01/17/2013, on page B8 of the NewYork edition with the headline: Converting PDF To Word.

Tip of the Week: Monitor Your Memory

If your computer seems to be running slowly and acting as if it does not have enough memory installed, you can use software that comes with the operating system to see what is going on under the hood.

On a Windows system, open the Task Manager program by right-clicking on the Windows task bar and choosing Start Task Manager. (You can also use the keyboard shortcuts of Control-Alt-Delete or Control-Shift-Escape to summon the Task Manager.) In the Task Manager window, you can see all the programs, services and processes currently running on the computer. You can also use the Task Manager to close an application that is not responding; Microsoft has a demonstrations video online.

On a Mac, open the Activity Monitor program. Go to the Applications folder, then to the Utilities folder and double-click on the Activity Monitor icon. On Macs with the Launchpad feature, just click the Launchpad icon in the Dock, click the Other icon and open Activity Monitor. Here, you can see the amount of system memoy being used, what programs and processes are currently running and other system information. Apple has more information about using the Activity Monitor and steps for quitting a frozen or memory-hogging program on its site.

A version of this article appeared in print on 01/17/2013, on page B8 of the NewYork edition with the headline: Tip of The Week.

From Disney, a Video Game Universe on One Platform

Disney Infinity will start with interactive figures and play sets based on “Monsters University,” “The Incredibles” and “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchises.

Disney Interactive Studios went to great pains to lay out its new multiplatform gaming initiative, Disney Infinity, and with good reason. Infinity, which is to be released in June, will have a lot of elements at the start, and has the potential to grow into a behemoth.

As a new platform for Disney video games, Infinity will incorporate Disney franchises and characters, similar to Kingdom Hearts, a series of video gams that was first released in 2002. Any property from the Disney vault, including Pixar characters, could be included in the Infinity platform.

But Disney upped the ante by adding physical toys, like those used in the Skylanders video game, which has been a hot seller for Activision. Toys will include collectible figures based on popular characters and hexagonal discs that offer special powers or gadgets that can be used in the games. The games will be sold as virtual play sets that players unlock by placing a figure on a specially designed base.

Infinity will initially be compatible across all gaming consoles, and will eventually be made available online and on mobile devices. Disney plans to start the line with 17 interactive figures and three play sets based on “Monsters University,” “The Incredibles” and “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchises.

The Infinity play sets will have typical story-driven challenges in which players solve puzzles and defeat enemies. Along the ! way, players can collect characters, vehicles and gadgets and save them in a virtual “toy box” for later play.

The toy box was inspired by the “Toy Story 3” video game, which included a toy box mode that allowed customized play, similar to the way a child would play with toys: by pulling them randomly from a toy box. Recognizing the popularity of the toy box mode, Disney Interactive sought to expand that no rules mentality. With Infinity’s toy box, Sulley from “Monsters University” can fight alongside Mr. Incredible, for instance, or the pirate Jack Sparrow can take a ride in Lightning McQueen from “Cars.”

In an unprecedented move, Disney will allow Infinity players to create their own games, similar to Minecraft, and share them with the community of other Infinity users. Players can use their imaginations to create new terrains, buildings and roadways, and then add interactive experiences, like plates that trigger explosions or robots that spawn enemy fighters.

The price will be comparable to other new video game releases, with the starter pack costing $75. New play sets will be $35 each, and the collectible figures will run about $13 each, or $30 for a set of three.

Q&A: Moving from Hotmail to Outlook.com

Q.

I want to switch my Hotmail account to an Outlook.com account, but will I have to change my e-mail address

A.

Even if you switch your Hotmail account to the newer mail system at Outlook.com, Microsoft says you can still keep the old @hotmail.com address. (Users with the @live.com or @msn.com accounts can also switch to Outlook.com and keep their original addresses.) You also have the option of adding an @outlook.com address, as Microsoft outlines here.

To make the move from Hotmail to Outlook.com, log into your Hotmail account, click Options and choose “Free Upgrade to Outlook.com.” Your Hotmail account page should convert to the white Outlook.com page. In addition to keeping the same address, your password and old mail are saved after you switch.

The Outlook.com site should work with recent versions of most browsers, including Internet Explorer 8 and later, Mozilla Firefox 10 and later, Google Chrome 17 and later, and Safari 5.1 ad later for the Mac. Older browsers may not display the site properly, or will not work with it at all. (You can also continue using your account with a standalone mail program, as long as you have the correct settings.)

Microsoft plans to automatically move all Hotmail accounts over to Outlook.com. The company describes the process as “gradual,” but says Hotmail users due for the upgrade will be notified in advance.

Q&A: Taking Screenshots in Windows 8

Q.

How do you take a picture of the screen on a Windows 8 computer without having to buy special software

A.

As with earlier versions of Windows, you can still capture an image of your desktop by pressing the PrintScreen (PrtScr) key and then pasting the captured image into the system’s Paint program. (Holding down the Alt key while pressing print Screen captures just the active window, which can then be pasted into Paint and saved as an image file.)

In Windows 8, you can capture an image of the desktop by pressing the Windows and Print Screen keys at the same time. The screen briefly dims when you press the keys. The resulting image automatically lands in the computer’s Pictures folder, inside a sub-folder there called Screenshots.

The Snipping Tool, available in previous versions of Windows, is also available for taking screenshots in Windows 8. You can find instructions for using it here.