Obama Officials Hold Early Budget Talks With Republicans

Four senior White House officials, led by the chief of staff, Denis R. McDonough, met with more than a dozen Senate Republicans on Thursday about prospects for bipartisan budget discussions.

The meeting was following up on groundwork from President Obama’s two recent dinners with some of the lawmakers. But a person familiar with the meeting, who would not be identified talking about the private get-together, was quick to advise against interpreting it as a sign of progress toward a grand bargain to stabilize the debt. Instead, it was described as an early step in a long process, with an end goal of both raising tax revenues and curbing the growth of spending for Medicare and other entitlement benefit programs.

The organizer for the Republicans was Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia, who also performed that role in picking attendees for an April 10 dinner with Mr. Obama at the White House.

That dinner came a month after the first such gathering that Mr. Obama arranged in March at a restaurant a couple of blocks from the White House. The March 6 dinner opened Mr. Obama’s second-term strategy of outreach to Senate Republicans, reflecting that his legislative relations with Republican leaders in Congress had hit a wall after a tumultuous two years. Since they have refused to negotiate with him further about raising taxes on the wealthy, he has turned to Republican senators who have variously signaled openness to a tax-and-spending compromise along the lines that Mr. Obama wants.

The ultimate goal of the White House strategy is to reach a deal that would get bipartisan approval in the Democratic-controlled Senate, thereby putting pressure on the Republican-controlled House. But first there has to be a deal between the Senate and the White House. The initial report on the administration officials’ trip to the Capitol suggested that the two sides have some way to go and are only now discussing what form any substantive talks would take.

Barbara Bush on Son Jeb in 2016: ‘We’ve Had Enough Bushes’

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After having a husband and a son in the White House, Barbara Bush said she did not miss “one darn thing” about life there. And she does not want another reason to go back, even if it means depriving the country of the “best-qualified man.”

On Thursday, Mrs. Bush, the former first lady and first mom, announced on the “Today” show that she does not want her son Jeb Bush to run for president.

“He’s by far the best-qualified man, but no. I really don’t,” Mrs. Bush told Matt Lauer when asked if she wanted to see Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, make a White House bid. “I think it’s a great country, there are a lot of great families, and it’s not just four families or whatever. There are other people out there that are very qualified, and we’ve had enough Bushes.”

Since before President George W. Bush left office, the political prospects of Jeb Bush have been a constant source of speculation in Republican circles. And it seems to always be Barbara Bush and former President George H.W. Bush who put a damper on the presidential rumors.

Ahead of the 2012 presidential campaign, the elder Mr. Bush told Larry King in 2010: “I think the bottom line is, he just doesn’t want to try, doesn’t want to do it.”

(In that same interview, Mrs. Bush said of Sarah Palin, who was also thought to be considering a 2012 bid: “I sat next to her once. Thought she was beautiful. And she’s very happy in Alaska, and I hope she’ll stay there.”)

Mrs. Bush joined the wife and daughters of George W. Bush on the “Today” show ahead of the dedication ceremony for the younger Mr. Bush’s library in Dallas.

“I don’t think he’ll run,” she said of Jeb Bush. “He’ll get all our enemies, half our friends.”

However, members of Jeb Bush’s own generation in the family are expressing a different preference.

In an interview with ABC News’s Diane Sawyer that was broadcast on Thursday morning former President George W. Bush had one piece of advice for his brother: “Run!”

A $2 App That Refocuses Photos Like a $400 Lytro

Photographers have been wowed by the Lytro, a camera that can refocus a shot after you take it. But the Lytro costs $400 to $500, and that’s a lot to spend for a feature that is a bit of a novelty.

A $2 iPhone app called FocusTwist uses some software processing tricks to imitate what the Lytro does. So you can take some photos with your iPhone using FocusTwist to see if it’s worth it to buy the more sophisticated Lytro.

The way the app works is to take several shots at different focus points - dozens, said the co-creator Ahbi Shelat - and then shift between the images to create the effect.

Try it here by clicking on the part of the photo you want to be in focus:

There are some tricks to getting the most out of FocusTwist images.

First, you need to frame your photo with a foreground subject that is three to six inches away. The distant subject should fill the background. So a flower in a meadow with a mountain in the distance would be a likely candidate.

When you go to take the picture, tap your screen where you see that close subject so the software knows that is the near focus point. It will figure out the other focus points itself.

Because the camera is going to take a bunch of images, it’s best if the phone is very stationary. That means using a tripod. Joby makes a nice one. If you don’t have a tripod, brace the phone against something steady. The FocusTwist software will do what it can to take the shake out of the images.

If you get an image you like, there are a couple of ways to share it. One is to e-mail it. The email will have a link to the FocusTwist site, where you can see and manipulate the image.

Or the app can post a link to Twitter (the developers are working on the ability to post to Facebook, said Mr. Shelat). But be aware that if you share to Twitter, it’s public.

Your image may also show up on the FocusTwist gallery, which you can see on the app.

Schumer and McCain Express Optimism on Chances for Immigration Overhaul

Senators John McCain and Charles E. Schumer, who are leading a push for bipartisan immigration legislation, said Thursday that they were aiming to win 70 votes in the Senate and hoped to gain the backing of a majority of senators in both parties.

Q&A: Changing How iTunes Automatically Downloads Files

Q.

How do I stop the Apple iTunes program on my work computer from automatically downloading songs and television episodes from the season pass I bought on my home computer?

A.

The iTunes program preferences include settings that let you stop the software from regularly checking for downloads bought with your Apple ID account. You can also keep the program from automatically downloading preordered content like TV show season passes, purchased movies and newly released music.

To get to these settings in iTunes, go to the Edit menu on the Windows version (or the iTunes menu on the Mac edition) and choose Preferences. In the Preferences box, click the Store tab. Here, you can turn off the check boxes next to “Always check for available downloads” and “Download preorders when available.”

The Store tab contains other settings you can adjust. In addition to turning off Automatic Downloads for Music, Apps and Books, you can choose to automatically download album artwork for music you rip from CDs and opt to keep the playback position in sync when you watch video or listen to audio files on different devices that are all using the same Apple ID account.

If you download high-definition movies, you can choose between the 720p and 1080p resolutions for files that are available in both formats. When you have finished adjusting your iTunes Store Preferences, click OK for the changes to take effect.

The Early Word: Awkward

In Today’s Times:

Having offered up plenty of unflattering critiques of his predecessor, President Obama has to find something nice to say about George W. Bush at the opening of the latter’s presidential library in Dallas on Thursday morning, Peter Baker writes. In the afternoon before heading back to Washington, the Obamas will travel to Waco, Tex., for a memorial service at Baylor University to pay tribute to the workers who died in an explosion at a fertilizer plant in nearby West, Tex.

Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia’s efforts to soften the Republican party’s image is not going terribly smoothly in the House, where Jonathan Weisman observes that legislation the Republican majority leader hoped would achieve his goal has been ignored, greeted with yawns or fought over in his caucus.

The automatic budget cuts imposed by Congress are forcing the Federal Aviation Administration to operate like a starving airline, the agency administrator told skeptical Republicans at a hearing on Wednesday, Matthew L. Wald reports.

With support from backers and critics alike, Janet L. Yellen, the vice chairwoman of the Federal Reserve, seems to be the most plausible successor to Ben S. Bernanke, the chairman of the central bank, whose term ends in January 2014, Binyamin Appelbaum writes. Other potential candidates for the job, which has been held only by men, include Timothy F. Geithner, Mr. Obama’s first Treasury secretary, and Lawrence H. Summers, the president’s former economic adviser.

Authorities searching for the person who sent ricin-laced letters to President Obama; Senator Roger Wicker, Republican of Mississippi; and a local judge have shifted their focus to a martial arts instructor, Campbell Robertson and Cynthia Howe report.

Around the Web:

Now that he is not running for re-election, Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, must decide what to do with the $4.8 million left in his campaign coffers, according to the Associated Press.

Happening in Washington:

Economic reports expected Thursday include weekly jobless claims at 8:30 a.m., followed at 10 a.m. by weekly mortgage rates.

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s agenda includes a meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan at the Naval Observatory at 8:30 a.m., then a meeting with gun safety advocates at the White House at 2 p.m.

Separate House Appropriations subcommittees will hear budget testimony from Jack Lew, the Treasury secretary; Kathleen Sebelius, the Health and Human Services secretary; and Joseph Szabo, the administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration. All hearings begin at 10 a.m.

Also at 10, a subpanel of the House Committee on Homeland Security will examine counterterrorism efforts aimed at preventing chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear attacks on American soil.

A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, at a 10 a.m. hearing, will take up the topic of securing the nation’s prescription drug supply chain.

At 2:30 p.m., a subpanel of the House Committee on Ways and Means will hold a hearing focused on the Internal Revenue Service and the 2013 tax return filing season.