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Obama seeks support for attacking Syria while pursuing diplomacy

Obama: No boots on the ground in Syria

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Obama says to Congress and all Americans: watch the video of Syrian victims
• President Obama says time is needed to consider Russian proposal
• Syria's agreement to a Russian proposal changes the equation
• Obama says a continuing credible military threat is necessary

Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama tried Tuesday to sell a military intervention he never wanted to an American public that opposes it, telling the nation that he needed authorization to attack Syria as leverage in a newly emerged diplomatic opening from Russia.

Calling the United States "the anchor of global security," Obama offered moral, political and strategic arguments for being ready to launch limited military strikes while trying to negotiate a diplomatic solution to what he called Syria's violation of a global ban on chemical weapons.

"Our ideals and principles, as well as our national security, are at stake in Syria, along with our leadership of a world where we seek to ensure that the worst weapons will never be used," Obama said in making the case that the United States must act when dictators such as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "brazenly" violate international treaties intended to protect humanity.

The 15-minute nationally televised speech initially was planned as Obama's final push to win support from a skeptical public and Congress for his planned attack on Syria for what his administration calls a major chemical weapons attack on August 21 that killed more than 1,400 people in suburban Damascus.

New offer impacts Obama's challenge

However, Monday's unexpected diplomatic overture by Russia changed the strategic and political equation. Under the Russian plan, which still lacks any details, Syria would turn over its chemical weapons stockpiles to international control.

That would meet Obama's main criterion of ending the chemical weapons threat by the al-Assad regime.

However, Russia canceled a U.N. Security Council meeting it had called for Tuesday and rejected an initial proposal by France for the framework of a resolution, raising questions about whether the diplomatic effort was serious or a stall tactic to put off a U.S. attack on Syria.

For Obama, the Russian proposal prompted by a seemingly off-the-cuff comment by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry further muddied an already complex challenge in Syria compounded by public concerns of another possible military quagmire.

The president called the Russian offer an encouraging sign, but warned that "it's too early to tell whether this offer will succeed, and any agreement must verify that the Assad regime keeps its commitments."

Therefore, he said, he asked Congress to postpone a vote for now on authorizing military force against Syria.

In addition, the diplomatic push will provide more time for United Nations inspectors to report their findings on the August attack and allow his administration to continue rallying support for an international response, the president said.

Military to remain current posture

At the same time, Obama said he ordered the U.S. military to maintain its "current posture to keep the pressure on Assad and to be in a position to respond if diplomacy fails."

Kerry made the same argument at a congressional hearing Tuesday, telling legislators that "nothing focuses the mind like the prospect of a hanging."

However, congressional support for military action reflected public opposition. A CNN/ORC International poll released Monday said 59% of respondents opposed congressional authorization of military action, while 72% said American strikes would achieve no significant goals.

In an instant poll of people who watched the speech Tuesday night, 61% favored Obama's approach compared to 37% who opposed it.

The CNN/ORC International survey showed almost two-thirds of respondents thought the Syria situation would be resolved through diplomatic efforts, while 47% said Obama made a convincing case for military action compared to 50% who said he didn't.

By CNN's best estimate, the sample of poll respondents -- 37% Democrats, 20% Republicans and 43% independents -- was about seven percentage points more Democratic than the general public.

Critics call the situation faced by Obama his own doing for a confused Syria policy that he has never fully explained.

"There's a degree of incoherence that I have never seen the likes of," veteran Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona told CNN on Tuesday.

In the most emotional part of the speech, Obama cited the videos his administration made public that showed victims of the Syrian sarin gas attack.

"The images from this massacre are sickening: men, women, children lying in rows, killed by poison gas, others foaming at the mouth, gasping for breath, a father clutching his dead children, imploring them to get up and walk," the president said in emphasizing the horror of chemical weapons.

"The question now is what the United States of America and the international community is prepared to do about it, because what happened to those people -- to those children -- is not only a violation of international law, it's also a danger to our security," Obama added.

Directly addressing questions he received from members of Congress and letters from the public, the president insisted that any U.S. military strike would be limited in scope and mission.

No American boots on the ground

"I know that after the terrible toll of Iraq and Afghanistan, the idea of any military action -- no matter how limited -- is not going to be popular," he said, later declaring: "I will not put American boots on the ground in Syria. I will not pursue an open-ended action like Iraq or Afghanistan. I will not pursue a prolonged air campaign like Libya or Kosovo. This would be a targeted strike to achieve a clear objective, deterring the use of chemical weapons and degrading Assad's capabilities."

At the same time, he rejected criticism that such a limited military response would prove meaningless, saying "the United States military doesn't do pin pricks."

"Even a limited strike will send a message to Assad that no other nation can deliver," Obama said. "I don't think we should remove another dictator with force. We learned from Iraq that doing so makes us responsible for all that comes next. But a targeted strike can makes Assad -- or any other dictator -- think twice before using chemical weapons."

He described the U.S. role in the world as "doing more than forging international agreements; it has meant enforcing them."

"The burdens of leadership are often heavy, but the world's a better place because we have borne them," Obama said before making a direct appeal to both sides of the political spectrum.

"To my friends on the right, I ask you to reconcile your commitment to America's military might with the failure to act when a cause is so plainly just," he said. "To my friends on the left, I ask you to reconcile your belief in freedom and dignity for all people with those images of children writhing in pain and going still on a cold hospital floor, for sometimes resolutions and statements of condemnation are simply not enough."

He concluded by challenging "every member of Congress and those of you watching at home tonight to view those videos of the attack, and then ask what kind of world will we live in if the United States of America sees a dictator brazenly violate international law with poison gas and we choose to look the other way?"

McCain, Graham react

McCain and fellow GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina responded by saying Obama failed to speak forcefully enough "about the need to increase our military assistance to moderate opposition forces in Syria, such as the Free Syrian Army."

They called for the United States and its allies on the U.N. Security Council to "immediately" offer a resolution "that lays out what steps Syria would have to take to give up its chemical weapons, including making a full and accurate declaration of all of its chemical weapons and granting international monitors unfettered access to all sites in Syria that possess these weapons."

"This resolution would have to threaten serious consequences if the Assad regime does not comply," they said, calling for an up-or-down vote by the Security Council, where Syrian allies Russia and China have so far blocked any U.N. action against Syria.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, a Maryland Democrat and staunch Obama supporter who is undecided on Syria, praised him for "a very good job" but said his position on the issue remained unchanged.

"It was not a wasted speech," said Cummings, noting his constituents are tired of war. "I thought he made a great moral argument."

Obama's reluctance on Syria

For two years, Obama resisted calls by conservative hawks such McCain to back rebels fighting the al-Assad regime, saying the United States sought no role in the Syrian civil war.

When evidence of chemical weapons use emerged earlier this year, and Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon helped al-Assad's forces gain the upper hand, Obama agreed in June to provide military aid to the rebels.

The August attack clearly crossed a "red line" he declared earlier against chemical weapons use, prompting his decision for what he hoped would be an international military response against Syria.

However, Britain's Parliament voted against joining a military response, denying Obama a normally reliable ally. He then decided to seek authorization from Congress to provide political cover and buy time to build a broader international coalition.

Now legislators from both parties are threatening to oppose a resolution authorizing a military response, and Obama has asked for time to let the diplomatic process play out.

Kerry heads to Geneva on Thursday for talks with his Russian counterpart, who first offered his government's proposal Monday after Kerry earlier said Syria's turning over its chemical weapons was the only way to avoid a U.S. attack.

Syria agreed Tuesday to the Russian proposal, with Foreign Minister Walid Moallem saying his government was ready to disclose the location of its chemical weapons, halt production, and show its facilities to representatives of Russia, the United Nations, and other unspecified states.

At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that "all of this will only mean anything if the United States and other nations supporting it tell us that they're giving up their plan to use force against Syria."

"You can't really ask Syria, or any other country, to disarm unilaterally while military action against it is being contemplated," Putin said in an interview with a Russian television network.

Obama: Threat of strikes still critical

For his part, Obama sought to persuade Americans of the opposite -- that the diplomatic stirrings by Russia and Syria occurred because of the credible threat of a military attack intended to deter Syria from using its chemical weapons again.

The president has not said whether he would launch strikes without the support of Congress.

Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of eight senators is working on an alternative resolution to the one authorizing military action already passed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It would include "guidelines, reporting process and benchmarks that have to be met," McCain told CNN.

On the House side, Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said he was working on a version of a resolution that would authorize a military response if the diplomatic process failed to yield an acceptable result in 30 days.

The Obama administration has launched a sweeping lobbying effort, with the president meeting on Capitol Hill on Tuesday with senators from both parties as part of a series of classified briefings, hearings and other consultations on the Syria issue.

Since Friday, the administration has spoken with at least 93 senators and more than 350 members of the House, a White House official said Tuesday.

Despite such outreach, indications were that the congressional push wasn't working.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, the top-ranking Republican in the Senate, announced Tuesday he will vote against authorizing military action on Syria.

So did Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, who won the seat vacated by Kerry when he became secretary of state.

A running CNN vote count showed most members of Congress remained undecided, with significant opposition in both chambers among the much smaller numbers who have announced their decision leaving the outcome in doubt.

George Clooney film opens Venice festival

George Clooney and Sandra Bullock sign autographs on the red carpet

Oscar-winning actors George Clooney and Sandra Bullock have helped launch the 70th Venice Film Festival with their 3D sci-fi thriller Gravity.

The Hollywood duo were joined by the film's Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron at Wednesday's world premiere.
Shot in 3D, Gravity tells of two astronauts who are cast into deep space when debris destroys their shuttle.
Nicolas Cage, Matt Damon, Zac Efron and Scarlett Johansson are among the other stars expected over the next 10 days.
Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci heads this year's competition jury.
Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher and British film-maker Andrea Arnold are among those helping him decide which of the 20 titles in contention should win this year's Golden Lion award.
They include Terry Gilliam's dark fantasy The Zero Theorem, in which Damon appears alongside double Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz, and Johansson's Scotland-set sci-fi tale Under the Skin.
Joe, starring Cage as a violent ex-convict, is also in the competition line-up, as is Parkland, a historical drama set on the day President John F Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.
High School Musical star Efron forms part of its large ensemble cast, playing the doctor who examined JFK's body at the Dallas hospital that gives Peter Landesman's film its name.
For the first time, two documentaries are up for the Golden Lion: Errol Morris's The Unknown Known: The Life and Times of Donald Rumsfeld, and Sacro GRA, a film about Rome's ring road.
British hopes rest on Gilliam's film, Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin and Philomena - Stephen Frears' fact-based film about an Irish woman, played by Dame Judi Dench, trying to locate the son she gave up for adoption in the 1950s.

George Clooney, Sandra Bullock and Alfonso Cuaron discuss Gravity

Bookmaker Paddy Power has ranked Philomena as second favourite to win the Golden Lion, behind Stray Dogs - the only Chinese language film in the competition.
"This year's festival favourites pack a powerful punch," said a spokesman. "We predict Stray Dogs however to have just a bit more bite than the rest of the pack."
Special awards will be presented this year to US director William Friedkin, Polish filmmaker Andrzej Wajda and the Italian writer-director Ettore Scola.
Clooney, Bullock and Cuaron attended a press conference for their film on Wednesday before attending its gala screening at the festival's Palazzo del Cinema.
Early reviews were fulsome in their praise, with the Hollywood Reporter describing it as a "jaw-dropping space thriller" boasting "breath-catching tension and startling surprise".
Variety's reviewer echoed those sentiments, saluting "a nervy experiment in blockbuster minimalism" that "offers in abundance the sort of eye-popping, screen-filling spectacle that demands to be viewed in a [movie] theatre".

Vietnam internet restrictions come into effect

 

 

Vietnam has more than 30 million internet users

A controversial law banning Vietnamese online users from discussing current affairs has come into effect.

The decree, known as Decree 72, says blogs and social websites should not be used to share news articles, but only personal information.
The law also requires foreign internet companies to keep their local servers inside Vietnam.
It has been criticised by internet companies and human rights groups, as well as the US government.
Vietnam is a one-party communist state and the authorities maintain a tight grip on the media.
Dozens of activists, including bloggers, have been convicted for anti-state activity in the country this year.
The new law specifies that social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook should only be used "to provide and exchange personal information".
It also prohibits the online publication of material that "opposes" the Vietnamese government or "harms national security".
Last month the US embassy in Hanoi said it was "deeply concerned by the decree's provisions", arguing that "fundamental freedoms apply online just as they do offline".
Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based group that campaigns for press freedom worldwide, has said the decree will leave Vietnamese people "permanently deprived of the independent and outspoken information that normally circulates in blogs and forums".
The Asia Internet Coalition, an industry group that represents companies including Google and Facebook, said the move would "stifle innovation and discourage businesses from operating in Vietnam".

G Display phone screen offers 'highest resolution'

 

 LG says the new screen shows crisper images and sharper text

LG has announced what it says is the highest resolution smartphone screen to date.

The 5.5in (14cm) component features 538 pixels per inch and supports 2560 by 1440 pixel video playback.
That is higher than the 1080p high definition format, but less than 4K Ultra HD.
LG said the phone screen was also the slimmest available. However, analysts suggested consumers might struggle to appreciate the difference.
The South Korean firm's display division was the fourth biggest maker of screens used in phones and tablets in 2012 based on revenue, according to research firm NPD DisplaySearch.
Samsung sold the most, followed by Japan Display and Sharp.
LG said its latest technology would offer "more lifelike and crisp images" than what was already available on the market.
"The new Quad HD panel will enable users to enjoy a full view of PC-version web pages at a single glance without image distortion," it said.
"Also, even when enlarging the screen, users will be able to enjoy undistorted and sharper text."

 

 

China's Oppo was one of the first handsets to offer a screen capable of showing the 1080p HD resolution in full

Although the firm said it had taken steps to reduce power consumption, one expert suggested using the tech would take its toll on a phone's battery.
"There's only so much detail that a human eye can pick up in a 5.5in screen regardless of how many pixels you manage to cram into it," said Windsor Holden, from the tech consultants Juniper Research.
"Beyond a certain point there is a distinct law of diminishing returns. There's also the fact that the more pixels you have, the more work your graphics processor has to do.
"That has an impact on battery life, which is already being assaulted by a host of other applications throughout the day."
When the HTC J Butterfly and Oppo Find 5 handsets launched last year - the first to feature 5in screens offering 440ppi and "full HD 1080p" - reviewers suggest they did offer a noticeable improvement on what had come before.
However, tech research firm IHS Electronics & Media agreed that screen resolution might become less of a distinguishing factor in the future.
"LG Display will be targeting this screen at the premium market, so showing that it is pushing the technology is important to its business," said analyst Daniel Gleeson.
"But I think we're hitting the point at which consumers are going to focus on other issues when they decide which device to buy because so many handsets already feature a very high resolution."

China web users arrested over posts on Sina Weibo

 

 

Lei Feng, a soldier who died aged 22, is used as a model citizen in propaganda posters

Four people have been arrested in China over posts made on Twitter-like website Sina Weibo, state media has reported.

The users are said to have "incited dissatisfaction with the government" by spreading rumours about a "hero" used in various propaganda posters.
Prosecutors said the group had been profiting from the activity.
The arrests come at a time when the Chinese authorities are seeking to reassert strict rules around public discourse.
"On one hand they know how popular this platform is, but they are also aware it can be a disruptive force," said BBCChinese.com editor Zhuang Chen.
"This is one of the main campaigns that the Chinese public security ministry is carrying out - to send out a clear message."
The arrested users were said to have spread rumours about Lei Feng, a deceased soldier who is often used as an example of the model Chinese citizen, a Communist Party devotee.
"Information that seriously harmed the image of Lei Feng was rapidly transmitted across the internet," the People's Daily reported, "and Lei Feng's glorious image was quickly brought into question."
Power users With almost 300 million users in the country, the social network is booming - even attracting famous names from outside of the country.
The likes of Robert Downey Jr, Paris Hilton and basketball star Kobe Bryant all have a presence on the site - although they are mostly there for marketing purposes rather than the more general discussion often found on Twitter.
Earlier this month, the government brought together some of Sina Weibo's most popular users to discuss their use of the platform.
The meeting, held at the headquarters of China's state TV network, set out seven key "minimums" for behaviour.
They included vaguely set standards for upholding the national interest, keeping with socialist values and maintaining public order.
Technology blog TechInAsia.com noted that the seven minimums appeared to be widely supported by the Sina Weibo community, but that some of the comments supporting them may have been posted by paid "opinion managers".

UK teen crowned world Microsoft Word 2007 champion

 

 

Kieran Youngman came out on top against 100 finalists in Washington DC

A student at Sawtry Community College in Cambridgeshire has become world champion at using Microsoft Word 2007.

Kieran Youngman, 17, beat more than 344,000 competitors from 90 countries to win $5,000 (£3,000) and a trophy.
Exam-testing company Certiport set online challenges featuring the 2007 or 2010 versions of Microsoft Office programs Word, Excel and Powerpoint.
The best 100 contestants were invited to the final in Washington DC - next year's will be in Anaheim, California.
Mr Youngman said: "Career-wise I think it will show any employers I know how to use a Microsoft Office product
"There's no other way to prove you know exactly what you're talking about, without certification.
"Certification is validation you know what you're doing.
"With school, I'll be able to write reports and essays and stuff and make it a bit more fancy, to hopefully get a few extra marks."
Asked how his friends back in the UK would react, he said: "I'm going to be honest... a few might not be surprised."

Bionic fashion: Wearable tech that will turn man into machine by 2015

The dress that turns transparent when the wearer is aroused. Would you try it? Dutch design collective Studio Roosegaarde have developed a sensual dress called Intimacy 2.0 together with designer Anouk Wipprecht. Made of leather and smart e-foils, it 'explores the relationship between technology and intimacy'. The high-tech panels are stimulated by the heartbeat of the wearer. Initially opaque or white, they become increasingly transparent when exposed to an electric current -- in this case a beating heart.

We might shout less at one another in the future, as it looks like we'll be wearing our hearts on our sleeves. Another garment that displays your emotions to the world is the GER Mood Sweater, by design lab Sensoree. Based on the technology of a classic lie detector test, it interprets emotions and displays mood instantly as an interactive light display. Blue means relaxed and red is nervous or angry.

Rather than bringing dirt into your house, these shoes will clean it up. Looking like something out of Star Wars, the FOKI vacuum shoes are a concept from Indonesian product designer Adika Titut Triyugo. They are equipped with a pair of rotary cleaners on the sole of each shoe and a LED display on top that indicates battery life and cleaning progress. So be a trooper and go vacuum.

It's a love/hate thing. The cycling helmet can save your life, but it doesn't look good and tends to ruin your hair. Thankfully the future offers a solution -- the Hövding. A Swedish creation, the Hövding is an "airbag for cyclists". It's worn as a collar and only expands into a full helmet if you have an accident.

The future is all about leading a stress-free life and having all the solutions for all problems at hand. Literally. For example, if you wear Lark Pro's vibrating alarm bracelet, you can slip out of bed quietly without waking your partner. It's also designed to help insomniacs improve their sleeping patterns, by picking the optimal time in a sleep cycle to wake a user up.

Don't like strangers approaching you? Then the Smoke Dress is a must-have. Designed by Anouk Wipprecht, the dress can suddenly visually obliterate itself through the emission of a cloud of smoke. Ambient clouds of smoke are created when the dress detects a visitor approaching, thus camouflaging itself within it's own materiality. Perfect if you are a fashionable socialite AND a misanthrope.

The future will be bright in all those augmented realities. Google Glass is the wearable computer that responds to voice commands and displays information on a visual display.

Tired of waiting forever at a bar before you finally get your mojito? Tired of over-crowded bars even? Soon, your best cocktail dress will also make the cocktails. The DareDroid dress uses medical technology, customized hardware and mood analysis to provide you with your favorite poison. Designed by Anouk Wipprecht.

Technology opens up new playful ways for people to interact. SENSOREE's Heart Sync is a heart synchronizing game to find out when our hearts beat as one. The players wear corsets that display their heart rate. When close to one other, each player's hood senses the other's pulse and synchronizes to it.

When two Heart Sync player's hearts have completely synchronized, the hoods swirl white and the game is won.

The field of wearable technology is rich with exploration of human emotion -- and headwear that would turn Padmé Amidala green with envy. The flirty Blinklifier is a concept by Tricia Flanagan and Katia Vega. It's fitted with LEDs that respond to specific eye-movement and could take flirting to a new level. Researchers hope the result will give people more visual clues about how their friends are feeling.

One ring to rule them all! Use the NFC Ring, a UK-based Kickstarter project created by John McLear, to unlock doors, share pictures, share social network links, unlock phones and much more. Just fist-bump your phone or tablet or use an open-palm gesture to transfer the information. And it never needs charging. Booya!

Shine bright like a diamond ... or be the star at futuristic rave parties. The GalaxyDress by CuteCircuit is embroidered with 24,000 full color LEDs, and is believed to be the largest wearable display in the world. The LEDs are extra-thin, flexible and hand embroidered on a layer of silk. Fabulous darling!

Doing exercise without monitoring yourself be rare in the future of wearable technology. And wearing a giant watch that counts your steps is so 2012. That's where the Misfit Shine necklace comes in. It's a physical activity tracker that you can hang around your neck, or put wherever your want. The Shine's 12 dots represent your daily activity goal.

Glow in the dark with the LumiDress. Made up of ultra-thin optical fibers woven together with other synthetic fiber this dress will light up the night.

This concept dress called Bubelle by Philip's Design interacts with and predicts the wearer's emotional state by changing colors. A beautiful white can turn into a relaxed blue. Philip's dresses are made from high-tech materials and are still in the concept phase.

Skip the perfume and let your body do the ... scenting. The Smart Second Skin Dress by Jenny Tillotson is a research project aimed at creating scents for every occasion. The dress allows a user to breathe the scent of his or her choice. It can be to energize, to boost confidence or simply to smell nice.

If flexing your muscles doesn't impress the object of your affection, then it will at least impress your shirt. Radiate Athletics' new shirt lets you visually track each individual muscle's progress in real time and make adjustments to your workout on the fly. Color changes track the progress of your work out, allowing your mirror to become the only personal trainer you need.

In the future, your dress might advise you to skips that romantic walk through the fields. It might tell you that the area's greenhouse gas levels are too high. Danish design company Diffus has created the Climate Dress. It's laced with hundreds of small LEDs that will respond to greenhouse gases. They will pulse slowly when the levels are normal and flash rapidly in highly polluted areas.

Thanks to all those gadgets you can attach to your body, there will soon be no excuse not to exercise. And to avoid injuries in the future where everyone will jog to work, Sensoria Socks by Heapsylon have come up with sensor-equipped textile that couples with an activity tracker to identify injury-prone running styles. Then, using a simple app, it coaches the runner to reduce those tendencies.

HIDE CAPTION

Wear me out

Don't sweat it

Dirt Vader

Impact on the future

Sweet vibrations

Smokin' hot

Eyeing you up

What's your poison?

Sync your hearts

Heart-throb

Smize, baby

Fist-Bump your phone

Light me up!

Track it down

Shine on

Emotidress

Scentsual

Mirror, mirror on the wall

Climate control

Safety sock

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Two major conferences in the U.S. discuss the future of wearable technology
• Nano-tattoos, sleep optimization and augmented reality devices could become part of our daily lives
• Health and fitness monitors to play a large role in the future of wearable technologies

Editor's note: This week, two major conferences on wearable technology are taking place in the U.S. -- Wearable Technologies Conference in San Francisco and Wearable Tech Expo in New York City. CNN spoke to keynote speakers from both events to imagine how a day in the life of a wearable technology user might look in the year 2015.

(CNN) -- 7:00am: You wake up to a gentle vibration on your arm, you look down and see your wrist-mounted Lark Pro alarm throbbing silently. It is 7 o'clock, Friday April 25, 2015 -- time to get up to go to work.

Lark Pro is a vibrating alarm that allows people to slip out of bed quietly without waking their partner. It also helps optimize sleep patterns by waking you at the right moment in your sleep cycle. Sleep optimizing technologies are designed to help insomniacs improve their resting patterns by waking them during their lightest sleep phase. Monisha Perkash, a wearable technology inventor, says she uses her wrist alarm for this reason, to help "optimize my sleep schedule and track sleep patterns so you know you have the best night's rest."

7:10am: Before making breakfast you run your forearm across an ultraviolet reader on your wall to check your glucose levels. Your "nano-tattoo" shines back a reading that shows you are in the healthy blood-sugar range. As a diabetic, you used to have to prick your finger and take a blood sample to find out how your blood sugar was, but with the development of a nano-tattoo you now simply have to place your invisible tattoo under an ultraviolet reader.

The power of wearables comes from connecting our senses to sensors
Matt Miesnieks, CEO of Dekko

Heather Clark, inventor of nano-tattoos and an associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences in Northeastern University's Bouvé College of Health Sciences in Boston, explains that such technology "could be very user friendly, because once the sensor 'tattoo' was inserted, it would be easy and painless to take a reading using just light through the skin." Nano-tattoos are still a long way off but Clark estimates that, if they do become commercially available, they would be very cheap.

Read more: 12 amazing designs from the past 100 years

7:15am: Still half asleep you go downstairs to the kitchen and look through your cupboards for breakfast. Your Vuzix M100 assesses the nutritional value of each of the cereals on offer, and you finally decide on a mixed grain muesli, which you hope will set you up for the day with slow release energy.

You eat your breakfast with a HAPIspoon, which monitors your food intake to ensure you don't eat too quickly.

7:30am: After breakfast, you go u

'Kick-Ass 2': Not your average sequel

Jim Carrey, left, as Colonel Stars and Stripes and Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Kick-Ass in "Kick-Ass 2."

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• "Kick-Ass 2" cast and director don't reveal too much about the film's actual plot
• Actors who portray Kick-Ass, Hit-Girl and Red Mist appear via satellite
• Drew Carrey withdrew his support from the movie because of its extreme violence
• "This is not a rinse-and-repeat sequel," says director-screenwriter Jeff Wadlow

(CNN) -- Universal Pictures debuted new footage from the upcoming film "Kick-Ass 2" during a panel at San Diego Comic-Con. The stylized, violent clip introduced fans to the sequel's aesthetic and revealed several new characters, including Colonel Stars and Stripes, played by Jim Carrey.

Although Carrey -- who has withdrawn his support for the film over the violence - was not on hand, Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Red Mist) and director-screenwriter Jeff Wadlow spoke with the convention-goers. Chloe Grace Moretz, who plays fan favorite Hit-Girl, made a special appearance via satellite to discuss her character's arc.

The cast and director didn't reveal too much about the film's actual plot, although it was clear from the footage that Hit-Girl's path takes her to high school and deals with her issues following the death of her father (played by Nicolas Cage) in the first "Kick-Ass" film.

"That was a big, interesting arc that Jeff had the smart idea of putting in the movie," Moretz said. "Hit-Girl decides to give up her life of crime. She goes to high school, and what she realizes is that whether it's a drug dealer on the streets and a murder or a bad girl at school who is hating on these kids, she has to bring justice to the situation. She realizes she and Hit-Girl are the same person. It could also really touch young teenagers, because it's what they're going through in school."

For Taylor-Johnson, the sequel was an opportunity to pick up where he left off with his character. The only major difference, he said, is that he has been doing a lot of one-armed push-ups to bulk up this time around.

"It felt like a natural progression," Taylor-Johnson said of the sequel. "For my character, what's nice is that he hasn't changed at all since the first one. It's always been a conversation about when are we going to do the second one. I got a call from (producer) Matthew Vaughn saying, 'I've got someone really great who's written a fantastic script and I'd like you to read it and see what you think.' And it was a page-turner. He took these characters through a wild journey that was really complex. It took these characters to a whole new level."

Batman, Superman to team up

Mintz-Plasse's character takes on a much bigger role as the villain in this new film. Shooting those scenes was intense for the actor, but he said he feels that the journey his character takes is important to the story laid out both in the graphic novel and the film. Red Mist, who lost his father as well in "Kick-Ass," is reborn in this film as The Mother F----r, which should give an indication of his qualities.

"I was really scared to do something this intense and nerve-wracking, but Jeff (Wadlow) had a great acting coach that came onboard," Mintz-Plasse said. "We worked for a month prior to shooting and read every line and figured out what to do for the character. I'm wearing a gimp outfit in this movie. It's super dark. There's some things in the comic book that we took out, which I think was a good choice. It was very intense to play."

"Kick-Ass 2" will be in theaters on August 16, but fans are already wondering about a third film. The writers of the graphic novel, Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr., haven't actually completed a third book yet, however, and Wadlow said he's not ready to focus beyond this sequel yet.

Bell: "Veronica Mars" could be my whole life

"Also," Wadlow continued, "this is not a rinse-and-repeat sequel where we have the characters just do the same thing again. We put them through a meat grinder."

Michael Jackson's mom: 'I want to know what really happened'

Katherine Jackson: Michael's mother, 82, was deposed for nine hours over three days by AEG Live lawyers. As the guardian of her son's three children, she is a plaintiff in the wrongful death lawsuit against the company that promoted Michael Jackson's comeback concerts.

Kenny Ortega: He was chosen by Michael Jackson and AEG Live to direct and choreograph the "This Is It" shows. Ortega, who choreographed for Jackson's "Dangerous" and "HIStory" tours, testified at Dr. Conrad Murray's criminal trial that "Jackson was frail" at a rehearsal days before his death.

Dr. Conrad Murray: He was Michael Jackson's personal physician in the two months before his death, giving him nightly infusions of the surgical anesthetic that the coroner ruled led to his death. Murray, who is appealing his involuntary manslaughter conviction, has sworn that he would invoke his Fifth Amendment protection from self-incrimination and refused to testify in the civil trial. There is a chance that Murray will be brought into court from jail to testify outside the presence of the jury to allow the judge to determine if he would be ordered to testify.

Joe Jackson: Michael's father, 84, is on the witness list for the trial and may testify. The Jackson family patriarch, who lives in Las Vegas separately from his wife, has suffered several ministrokes in the last year, which some close to him say have affected him.

Prince Jackson: Michael's oldest son is considered a key witness in the Jacksons' case against AEG Live, since he is expected to testify about what his father told him about the concert promoter in the last days of his life. Prince, who turned 16 in February, is becoming more independent -- he now has a driver's license and jobs.

Paris Jackson: Michael's daughter, who turned 15 on April 3, is on the list of witnesses and was questioned by AEG Live lawyers for several hours on March 21 about her father's death. Paris is an outspoken teen who often posts messages to her 1 million-plus Twitter followers.

Blanket Jackson: Although AEG Live asked the judge to order Blanket, 11, to sit for a deposition, and he is one of the four plaintiffs suing them, Michael's youngest son will not be a witness in the trial. His doctor submitted a note to the court saying it would be "medically detrimental" to the child.

Randy Phillips: He's president of AEG Live, the concert promoter that contracted with Michael Jackson for his "This Is It" comeback shows set to start in London in July 2009. The Jackson lawsuit says Phillips supervised Dr. Conrad Murray's treatment of Jackson in the weeks before his death, making the company liable for damages. E-mails between Phillips and other executives showed they were worried about Jackson's missed rehearsals and sought Murray's help getting him ready.

Kevin Boyle: The Los Angeles personal injury lawyer is leading the Jackson team of at least six attorneys in the wrongful death suit against AEG Live. One of his notable cases was a large settlement with Boeing on behalf of two soldiers injured when their helicopter malfunctioned and crashed in Iraq.

Perry Sanders, Jr.: Katherine Jackson's personal lawyer is helping steer the Jackson matriarch through her relations with her son's estate, probate court and the wrongful death suit. He is also known for representing the family of Biggie Smalls in their suit against the city of Los Angeles over the rapper's death investigation.

Marvin Putnam: He's the lead lawyer for AEG Live, defending against the wrongful death suit. The primary focus of his legal practice is "media in defense of their First Amendment rights," according to his official biography.

Philip Anschutz: The billionaire owner of AEG, parent company of AEG Live, is on the Jacksons' witness list. He is the force behind the effort to build a football stadium in downtown Los Angeles to lure a National Football League team to the city. He recently pulled his company off the market after trying to sell it for $8 billion.

Tim Leiweke: He was recently fired as AEG's president as Philip Anschutz announced he was taking a more active role in the company. The Jackson lawyers say Leiweke's e-mail exchanges with executives under him concerning Michael Jackson's health are important evidence in their case.

Paul Gongaware: The AEG Live co-CEO worked closely with Michael Jackson as he prepared for his comeback concerts. He testified at Dr. Conrad Murray's criminal trial that he contacted the physician and negotiated his hiring at the request of Jackson. AEG lawyers say it was Jackson who chose, hired and supervised Murray. Gongaware knew Jackson well, having been tour manager for the singer in previous years.

John Branca: He's one of two executors of Michael Jackson's estate. Branca was Jackson's lawyer until about seven years before his death. He said Jackson rehired him just weeks before he died.

HIDE CAPTION

• Jackson matriarch Katherine Jackson: "A lot of the facts that have been said are not the truth"
• Michael Jackson's "not here to speak for himself," his mother says
• "My son was a very good person," Jackson's mother testifies
• Expert says Jackson would have earned $1.5 billion from touring and sponsorship

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Michael Jackson's mother told jurors she filed a wrongful death lawsuit against AEG Live "because I want to know what really happened to my son."

Katherine Jackson, likely the final witness as her lawyers conclude their wrongful death case against the pop icon's last concert promoter, began her testimony Friday and will conclude it Monday in a Los Angeles court.

"The most difficult thing is to sit here in the court and listen to all the bad things they say about my son," Jackson testified.

The 83-year-old matriarch of the world's most famous entertainment family sat on the front row in the small courtroom for most of the 51 previous days of testimony.

"A lot of the facts that have been said are not the truth," she said. She said contrary to what an AEG Live executive wrote in an e-mail as Jackson prepared for his comeback concerts in 2009, her son was not lazy.

Paris Jackson's deposition

Paris Jackson deposition played in court

But she especially objected to an e-mail from AEG parent company's general counsel that called Jackson "a freak" on the same day his company's top executives were going to his house to sign the "This Is It" tour contract.

"He's not here to speak for himself," his mother said. She said she would "try my best" to speak for the pop icon.

Jurors leaned forward and listened closely during Jackson's testimony and as her lawyer showed them video of her son performing as a child.

The lawsuit filed by Katherine Jackson and on behalf of the singer's three children contends AEG Live is liable for the death of Jackson because it hired, retained or supervised Dr. Conrad Murray. The doctor was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

AEG Live argues it was Jackson, not their company, who chose and controlled Murray, who admitted giving Jackson nightly infusions of a surgical anesthetic the coroner ruled killed him. Its executives had no way of knowing about the dangerous treatments Murray was giving Jackson in the privacy of his bedroom, AEG Live lawyers contend.

"Why are you here?" Jackson lawyer Brian Panish asked Katherine

"Because I want to know what really happened to my son," she said. "And that's why I am here."

Panish asked Jackson how it made her feel to have been asked probing and personal questions about her family by AEG Live lawyer Marvin Putnam during a dozen hours of deposition testimony.

"It makes me feel real bad, because my son was a very good person," she said. "He loved everybody, he gave to charity, he was in the Guinness Book of World Records for giving to charity."

Putnam faces the challenge of not appearing unkind to Katherine Jackson while also trying to discredit her testimony.

"Forget it," she said as she stopped before answering Putnam's question about why she initially included, and later dropped show director Kenny Ortega as a defendant in her lawsuit.

"Forget what ma'am?" Putnam asked.

Jackson remained silent for about a minute, staring back at Putnam.

Would it help to reread the question, he asked.

"No, it wouldn't be helpful," Jackson answered curtly.

The judge finally ordered the question stricken from the record because the answer involved privileged discussions with her lawyers.

Jackson returned to the stand after the lunch break but she told the judge she was tired after just a few more minutes of questioning by Putnam. The judge sent jurors home two hours early and will allow Katherine Jackson to resume her testimony Monday morning.

If jurors decide that AEG Live is liable in Jackson's death, they could award damages based on the loss of the mother's and children's relationship with him and the amount of money he was unable to earn because his life was cut short.

The wrongful death trial is about to get a lot uglier, if defense lawyers live up to the promise of their opening statements.

AEG Live lawyers this week brought up the child molestation charges against Jackson and the 2002 incident in which the pop star "dangled" his infant son on a Berlin hotel balcony.

Touring till 66?

Paris Jackson made another appearance in the trial this week -- via a video of her deposition in March. Jurors saw a clip of AEG Live lawyer Putnam asking the 15-year-old what her father told her about his "This Is It" tour:

Putnam: "Did he explain to you how long the tour was going to last?"

Paris: "I assume a long time since it was a world tour, but those usually last a long time"

Putnam: "How did you understand it was a world tour?"

Paris: "Because he told us."

Putnam: "What did he tell you?"

Paris: "That we were going around the world on tour."

Certified public accountant Arthur Erk, who has managed and audited the business affairs of many top artists, testified Wednesday that he is "reasonably certain" that Jackson would have performed 260 shows around the world as part of his "This Is It" tour. He would have earned $890 million over the three years of concerts in Europe, Asia, South America, North America and Australia, Erk said.

Jackson would have earned at least $1.5 billion from touring, endorsements and sponsorships had he not died preparing for his comeback tour, Erk said.

AEG Live's unprecedented sellout of 50 shows scheduled for London's O2 Arena in 2009 and 2010 proved there was "pent-up demand" to see Jackson live, despite controversies that had tarnished his reputation in the years since his last tour in 1998, Erk said.

An e-mail from AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips said fans bought all 750,000 tickets put on sale for 31 shows in March 2009 in just two hours. Enough buyers were registered to sell out another 100 shows, Phillips wrote.

"Dude, we're going to sell out a ridiculous amount of tickets," AEG Live Co-CEO Paul Gongaware wrote in an e-mail. "We've got to get Mikey to add more shows."

Jackson's manager quickly approved another 19 shows, bringing the total to 50.

"Ten million tickets for the rest of the world? They would have gobbled up those tickets in seconds," Erk said.

AEG Live lawyer Sabrina Strong challenged Erk's estimate, asking if any other act has ever made as much money on a tour. "No," he said. "This would have been a record-breaking world tour."

Jackson would have done another 195 shows over four more world tours before retiring from the road at age 66, Erk predicted.

Putnam called Erk's estimates "a creation, a fabrication" which suggests Jackson would have made more after age 50 that he did in the three tours during the "height of his fame."

Jackson never intended to perform after the 50 shows in London, Putnam said.

AEG Live showed jurors a video clip of Katherine Jackson's deposition, in which she said her son would joke that he "didn't want to be moonwalking on stage at 50."

"Michael said that quite a few years back and he was joking," his mother explained in her testimony Friday. "I thought it was funny and most of us said things like that. I used to think 50 was very old."

In fact, Jackson was 50 when he signed a three-year contract with AEG Live for his comeback tour, which would have likely included his famous moonwalk dance steps as he performed "Billie Jean."

"We announced that we're going to have one tour in London, that's what was announced, and it was called 'This Is It,' meaning in London, this show is it," he said. "This show is it. This is the last thing he's ever going to do. As a result of this being his final performance ever, to be at the O2 in London, there was enormous response, understandably, and therefore we sold 50 shows."

With the Jackson case ending -- which Putnam called "ridiculous" -- "now we're going to start to show what actually occurred here," he said.

No Conrad Murray testimony

AEG Live's defense team confirmed Wednesday that they would not be calling Murray to testify.

"I have no intention of calling him myself, unless it's requested, your honor," Putnam said, replying to the judge's question about his plans.

Until now, AEG Live lawyers have suggested they might call Murray, who is serving a four-year jail sentence for involuntary manslaughter, to the witness stand.

Murray's lawyer gave the Jackson and AEG Live lawyers a sworn statement from the doctor before the trial began stating that he would invoke his constitutional protection against self-incrimination by refusing to answer questions if subpoenaed.

See you in September

Jurors, who were told when the trial started in April that it could end sometime in August, appeared unfazed when Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Yvette Palazuelos told them this week that it is likely to extend into mid-September. Putnam estimated this week that he needs about 30 days in court to present his defense after the plaintiffs rest.

The jurors often have laughed and smiled in reaction to testimony and the interplay between Jackson lead lawyer Brian Panish, the judge and the AEG defense team.

For example, when Palazuelos ordered Panish to turn around and face the bench while AEG attorney Sabrina Strong cross-examined Erk, jurors seemed amused. Panish, whose seat was just in front of Strong's lectern, had been looking directly up at her at close range.

There were no laughs in the hallway after court on Tuesday when Panish and Putnam exchanged words. The two lawyers were standing about 15 feet apart, each talking to reporters, when they began directing their words at each other. The court clerk interrupted the heated conversation, threatening to summon deputies.

Palazuelos lectured the lawyers in her chambers the next morning and imposed new rules that bar them from speaking to journalists in the hallway.