Thursday, January 31, 2013

Facebook?s Q4 Payments Revenue, Including Less Than $5M In Gifts, Was Flat At $256M After $66M Revenue Charge

facebook-money-360Facebook has been making some efforts to grow new business areas beyond advertising in areas like Gifts and Facebook Credits in apps, but so far the company has failed to convert that into meaningful growth. The company today reported Q4 revenues of $256 million for payments -- which includes services like Facebook Credits and its new Gifts service. While this looks like a 45% increase on Q3, it actually includes 24 months of "historical transactional information" that it's using to count towards future refunds and chargebacks, worth some $66 million. "Adjusting for the $66 million of revenue in the extra month of December, Payments and other fees revenue would have been essentially flat year-over-year," it noted.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/s0azqnY2g80/

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Your employer may share your salary data

The Equifax credit reporting agency, with the aid of thousands of human resource departments around the country, has assembled what may be the most powerful and thorough private database of Americans? personal information ever created, containing 190 million employment and salary records covering more than one-third of U.S. adults.

Some of the information in the little-known database, created through an Equifax-owned company called The Work Number, is sold to debt collectors, financial service companies and other entities.

"It's the biggest privacy breach in our time, and it?s legal and no one knows it?s going on," said Robert Mather, who runs a small employment background company named Pre-Employ.com. "It's like a secret CIA."


Despite all the information Americans now share on social media and websites, and all the data we know companies collect on us, one piece of information is still sacred to most people: their salaries. After all, who would post their salary as a status update on Facebook or in a tweet?

But salary information is also for sale by Equifax through The Work Number. Its database is so detailed that it contains week-by-week paystub information dating back years for many individuals, as well as other kinds of human resources-related information, such as health care provider, whether someone has dental insurance and if they?ve ever filed an unemployment claim. In 2009, Equifax said the data covered 30 percent of the U.S. working population, and it now says The Work Number is adding 12 million records annually.

How does Equifax obtain this sensitive and secret information? With the willing aid of thousands of U.S. businesses, including many of the Fortune 500. Government agencies -- representing 85 percent of the federal civilian population, including workers at the Department of Defense, according to Equifax -- and schools also work with The Work Number. Many of them let Equifax tap directly into their data so the credit bureau can always have the latest employment information. In fact, these organizations actually pay Equifax for the privilege of giving away their employees' personal information.

Equifax turns around and sells some of this data to third parties, including debt collectors and other financial services companies.?

Equifax declined to be interviewed, but in an emailed statement to NBCNews.com, it confirmed that it shares "employment data" with debt collectors and others, and said it does so in compliance with Fair Credit Reporting Act guidelines.?

"In all cases, these entities must have a permissible purpose to request employment information," Equifax spokesman Timothy Klein said.?

He also said consumers give these third parties the right to access the data "at the time of application" for credit.

"A consumer grants verifiers (creditors) and their assigned debt collectors the right to verify employment should the consumer default on their account," he said.?

Data for debt collectors
Companies sign up for The Work Number because it gives them an easy way to outsource employment verification of former workers. Firms hate taking these calls, which usually come when a former employee is applying for a new job, because they are a costly distraction for human resources departments and open the firm up to lawsuits if someone says something disparaging about the former employee. So they contract with The WorkNumber, which automates the process. In exchange, firms upload their human resources data to The Work Number, which was part of an independent St.Louis-based firm named TALX until it was acquired by Equifax in 2007 for $1.4 billion.

The Work Number offers consumers some benefits. It provides an easy way for prospective landlords to verify an applicant's income, for example. Consumers tell the Work Number they want a one-time access code, which they then give to a landlord so he or she can verify that the potential tenant can really afford the apartment.

But The Work Number serves dual purposes. It?s also a massive database that Equifax monetizes in a variety of ways, despite the reassuring-sounding messages found all over TheWorkNumber.com.

"Can just anyone get my income information from The Work Number?" reads one passage. Answer: "No. You have to give someone authorization to get your income information from the service."

Employers who sign up for the service go to great pains to reassure workers that their data is safe and secret. Columbia University, when it explained to employees it was transitioning to The Work Number, posted this on the school's website:

"You are the only person who can authorize access to your salary information."

But Kathy Sandy of Sommerville, N.J. was surprised to find that a debt collector had accessed information from her report two years ago, something she learned only when she obtained her "consumer disclosure" from The Work Number. Because the data is considered a credit report, consumers are entitled to one free report every year. The report shows what data the report contains, and what entities have seen it.

Sandy's Work Number report, which she shared with NBC News, is 22 pages long -- an amazingly detailed history of every paycheck she had received for years. The first page of the report lists "verifiers who have requested your data in the past 24 months." On the list is "Pressler and Pressler," a law firm that specializes in debt collection. The firm had sued her in small claims court over a credit card debt that she says she was already repaying.

"I found out debt collectors can access this information, which is strange," Sandy said. "I assumed with The Work Number, for that information, you had to have a (passcode) ? but they got in, and got it somehow without my consent."

In brochures where Equifax advertises sale of the data, it's not shy about the source.

"The Work Number specializes in employment and income verification. It's direct from the source: the employer. It's current, as of the last pay period. It's delivered quickly -- on demand," says one brochure, titled "Portfolio Monitoring."

In his statement to NBC News, Klein confirmed that "pay rate" information is shared with third parties, including "mortgage, auto and other financial services credit grantors," as authorized under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

He denied that salary information is sold to debt collectors, however.

"Debt/Collection agencies may request employment information -- which may be nothing more than verifying that a consumer is working where they say they are ? if it qualifies under permissible purpose," he wrote. "Collections agencies are not provided salary information."

That contradicts an assertion made recently by Equifax CEO Richard Smith in 2009, when he talked about how detailed The Work Number data is.

"With FirstSearch and TALX we can provide information about a debtor?s location, income and employment," said Smith in an interview published on NYSE Magazine?s website, referring to The Work Number?s former parent company. "That can help prioritize which accounts to pursue first. If they?re employed, that business has a better shot at collecting what is owed to them."

Klein said Smith misspoke when describing TALX?s services, and reiterated that salary information on consumers is not sold to debt collectors.

'Unbelievably scary'
With or without the income data, The Work Number data is incredibly valuable to debt collectors -- and it may come as a surprise to many workers that their employers, directly or unwittingly, help debt collectors.

Equifax markets The Work Number specifically to student loan issuers. In another brochure on the firm's website, Equifax brags that The Work Number makes debt collectors' jobs easier.

"The Work Number produced a 5.5 percent lift in Right Party Contact and a 7.3 percent lift in Collections Resolution versus current skip-trace methods," the "case study" brochure says.

Equifax?s resale of The Work Number data doesn?t stop there. It also offers "portfolio monitoring" to financial firms who might want to market their products to consumers ? or to get early warning on someone who might soon land in financial trouble. It calls this "proactive managing of risk."?

"The Work Number is part of our employment and income verification service. It provides continual track of changes to your customer or client portfolio, delivered on demand per your schedule," it says. "Simply submit a portfolio of customer or client accounts and The Work Number does the rest. ... Using The Work Number to stay abreast of employment changes can expand your ability to mitigate risk while maximizing product and service potential."

Mather has been in the employer data business for more than 20 years, and he says that if Americans suspected their employers were giving away their personal information to a credit bureau, they'd be shocked.

"The story here is how (The Work Number) is getting this information," he said. "When people find out, no respectable employer will continue to do this."

Larry Ponemon is a privacy expert who operates The Ponemon Institute, a consulting firm. He said he?d never heard of companies selling employer data to debt collectors.

"Are you joking? Oh my god, I'm shocked," Ponemon said when the business was described to him. "This is unbelievably scary. I consider payroll information very sensitive and private." In studies he's conducted, salary data is always among the information consumers say is most private.

"If the public knew about this, there would be such outrage," he said. "It's just ... really depressing."

Paul Stephens, director of policy and advocacy at the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, had heard of The Work Number, but only because some consumers have complained to his agency that the data in its database is inaccurate. Some workers find that when they try to use the information for employment verification, their titles are outdated or otherwise misrepresent their work history, which can be embarrassing for a job applicant.

When told that the data is sold to third parties, he said he was under the impression the data was not shared.

"I think it is something that would be offensive to many people. One typically considers salary information to be shared by your employer just with IRS," he said.?

A glance at the language on The Work Number's website suggested to Stephens that the firm is legally within its rights to share the information, however.

"You get into the 'permissible purpose' doctrine," he said. "Debt collectors have a permissible purpose to look at your credit information. It was my impression that the data was only being given out when employees released it."

'Secret' process?
Data brokers are under heightened scrutiny in Washington, D.C., lately. There are two separate congressional investigations of the industry, and the Federal Trade Commission announced in December that it had begun an inquiry into how brokers obtain their information. Equifax received an inquiry letter from the FTC, but only for the data broker portion of its business involving non-financial data, such as criminal background records and address information.

Credit reporting agencies, such as The Work Number, are distinct from data brokers and are governed by special rules. Ironically, those special rules may open the door for Equifax -- and the credit-reporting side of its business -- to resell the salary information, says Katrina Blodgett, a lawyer with the Federal Trade Commission. She is one the agency?s experts on the Fair Credit Reporting Act.?

The FTC filed a case against TALX and Equifax in 2008 for allegedly failing to provide employers with sufficient notice about their disclosure responsibilities under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Equifax admitted no wrongdoing and paid a small fine. ?

Blodgett said the Fair Credit Reporting Act and subsequent updates give consumers specific legal rights, such as the ability to dispute errors in credit reports. But it also creates permissible purposes for access, including giving financial service companies the right to review credit reports of consumers they do business with.?

"It?s not as easy as it should be to say whether debt collectors can get your consumer reports, because it depends on the circumstance," she said, adding that she believed Equifax could have the right to sell the salary information to debt collectors because it is part of a credit report.

Much attention has been paid to the use of credit reports by human resource departments in recent years, and Congress gave job applicants special rights when a credit report is used during the job interview process. The reverse isn?t true, however, Blodgett pointed out.

"There are special restrictions on how credit reports can be used in hiring decisions, but there are no special restrictions on how employment reports (such as salary information) is used for non-employment purposes," she said.

She said she wasn?t surprised that Equifax is selling the information in The Work Number.

"They are a credit bureau. They sell credit information to lenders," she said.

Mather wants the sale of employee information halted. His firm also performs third-party employment verification, but he does not resell the data he collects.

"I strongly believe there is no reason to resell employee information to debt collectors without the permission of the employer and employee," he said. "This 'secret' process needs to stop. I hope eventually a simple law is passed making it required to get the permission of the employee BEFORE his information is resold. It simply should NOT be used for any other purpose except for employment purposes without permission. In my view, it is a betrayal of trust."

Consumers who want to see what information The Work Number has on their employment history can visit this page on the TheWorkNumber.com. While reports are available online, consumers may have to fill out a form and mail it to The Work Number in some cases.

* Follow Bob Sullivan on?Facebook.

* Follow Bob Sullivan on?Twitter.

Melissa and Ryan Will sit with Bob Sullivan. As new homeowners, every penny counts, and they find a few extra ones by refinancing their car and taking stock of their expenses.

More from Red Tape Chronicles:

Source: http://redtape.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/29/16762661-exclusive-your-employer-may-share-your-salary-and-equifax-might-sell-that-data?lite

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Wednesday, January 30, 2013

10 Least Expensive Private Colleges and Universities

The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. Be sure to explore The Short List: College and The Short List: Grad School to find data that matters to you in your college or grad school search.

Private colleges often come with hefty price tags, which can be an automatic turnoff for prospective students. Close to 43 percent of incoming freshmen said they "carefully considered" cost when choosing which school to attend, according to an annual survey of more than 190,000 first-time, full-time students by the University of California--Los Angeles.

For price-conscious students, the cost of private school can be difficult to reconcile against their less expensive public counterparts. Average private school tuition for the 2012-2013 school year was $28,946, compared with $8,176 (in-state) and $18,855 (out-of-state) at public institutions, according to data reported by 1,088 ranked public and private universities in an annual survey by U.S. News.

[Discover tips and resources to help pay for college.]

But private does not always equal expensive. The average tuition and fees at the 10 least expensive private schools was $7,558 in 2012-2013--more than $21,000 below the average for private institutions--and some schools still fall far below that average.

At Berea College, a private liberal arts school in Kentucky, tuition and fees totaled just $980 for 2012-2013, less than any other private or public school, with the exception of military academies. In fact, all students at Berea work on campus in exchange for free tuition, and some receive financial aid to cover the cost of fees.

Tuition and fees at Brigham Young University--Provo, a private university in Utah, totaled $4,710 for 2012-2013, roughly $24,200 below the average sticker price for a private school and almost $3,500 less than average in-state tuition at public universities.

At BYU, a Mormon university, religious affiliation factors into the lower than average cost. Tuition for students who are not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was $9,420 for 2012-2013, still far below the national average, thanks to a subsidy from the church, according to the school's website.

[Learn how your tuition dollars are spent.]

Several of the least expensive private schools are designated as Rank Not Published (RNP), which means they fell in the bottom one fourth of their ranking category. U.S. News calculates a numerical rank for these schools, but has decided not to publish them. Unranked colleges, which do not submit enough data for U.S. News to calculate a ranking, were not considered for this report.

Below are the 10 private colleges and universities with the lowest tuition and fees for the 2012-2013 school year (figures do not include room and board, books, and other miscellaneous costs):

School name (state) 2012-2013 tuition & fees U.S. News rank and category
Berea College (KY) $980 75, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Brigham Young University--Provo (UT) $4,710 68, National Universities
Arkansas Baptist College $7,800 RNP, Regional Colleges (South)
Rust College (MS) $8,300 RNP, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Lane College (TN) $8,560 RNP, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Concordia College (AL) $8,590 RNP, Regional Colleges (South)
Mid-Continent University (KY) $8,810 RNP, Regional Colleges (South)
Blue Mountain College (MS) $9,230 23, Regional Colleges (South)
Amridge University (AL) $9,260 RNP, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Life University (GA) $9,342 RNP, National Liberal Arts Colleges

Don't see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News College Compass to find tuition data, complete rankings, and much more.

U.S. News surveyed more than 1,800 colleges and universities for our 2012 survey of undergraduate programs. Schools self-reported a myriad of data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News's data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Colleges rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News's rankings of Best Colleges or Best Graduate Schools. The tuition and fees data above are correct as of Jan. 29, 2013.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/10-least-expensive-private-colleges-universities-174610869.html

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Oil rises to near $96 ahead of US data

BANGKOK (AP) ? The price of oil rose slightly Monday, a sign of investor confidence in the U.S. economy's recovery ahead of the release of data this week on jobs, home sales and the country's overall growth.

Benchmark oil for March delivery was up 8 cents to $95.96 per barrel at late afternoon Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 7 cents to close at $95.88 on the Nymex on Friday after a report showed a cooling off in new U.S. home sales.

The U.S. government will release monthly durable goods figures later Monday, and the National Association of Realtors will report on pending home sales for December. Later in the week, reports on weekly jobless claims and employment data for January are due.

Analysts expect to see continuing signs of a sluggish recovery, even amid lowered expectations for fourth-quarter economic growth for 2012, to be released by the U.S. Commerce Department on Wednesday.

"If 4Q growth comes in at the 1.5 percent we expect, it will have averaged 2 percent over the past four quarters ... Slow and steady is the name of the game," analysts at DBS Bank Ltd. in Singapore said in a market commentary.

Brent crude, used to price international varieties of oil, fell 28 cents to $113 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

In other energy futures trading on Nymex:

? Wholesale gasoline fell 0.8 cent to $2.882 per gallon.

? Natural gas fell 7.4 cents to $3.37 per 1,000 cubic feet.

? Heating oil fell 0.1 cent to $3.048 a gallon.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/oil-rises-near-96-ahead-us-data-093837768--finance.html

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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Super Bowl coaches bristle at Obama's comments

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's comments that he would "think long and hard" before letting a son play American football were shrugged off by Super Bowl coaches on Monday but there was some agreement from players that the game needed to evolve.

Obama's stance came in an interview with the New Republic, published on Sunday, where he was asked how he squares his love of the game with rising awareness of the impact of repeated head injuries on football players.

"I'm a big football fan, but I have to tell you if I had a son, I'd have to think long and hard before I let him play football," said Obama.

"And I think that those of us who love the sport are going to have to wrestle with the fact that it will probably change gradually to try to reduce some of the violence," he said.

San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh was dismissive of Obama's comments.

"Well I have a four-month old, almost five-month old son, Jack Harbaugh, and if President Obama feels that way then there will be a little bit less competition for Jack Harbaugh when he gets older," he told reporters.

Brother John Harbaugh, coach of the Baltimore Ravens, the other team in Sunday's Super Bowl, said he didn't agree with Obama and stressed the game had much to offer.

"Football is a great game ... It's challenging, it's tough, it's hard. There is no game like football. It's the type of sport that brings out the best in you. It kind of shows who you are.

"I think it's a huge part of our educational system in this country. And it's going to be around for a long time," he said.

The 49ers' outside linebacker Aldon Smith said players were well aware of the risks involved.

"I think the game has been like it always has. It's a physical game. Everybody plays hard. Guys get hit sometimes and that's what we all know coming into the game.

"We all signed up for it. It's not like we signed up and thought we were going to play tennis," he said.

Concerns over the risk of brain injury from repeated concussions suffered by players in the NFL are growing with hundreds of former players involved in legal action against the league.

The NFL, America's most popular television sport and a $9 billion a year industry, has introduced tougher rules and regulations regarding the treatment of concussion.

Ravens center Matt Birk said he understood Obama's concerns and felt the game was beginning to change.

"I have three sons and I think anyone who is a parent can relate to that. Certainly it is a dangerous game and we're finding out more and more, every day, the long-term effects that this game can have.

"I think it's a joint effort with the (NFL) commissioner, with coaches, with players, with everybody, everybody that wants to watch and make this game as safe as it can be. I think we're making strides in that," he said.

San Francisco cornerback Tarell Brown agreed.

"It's definitely a dangerous sport, but at the end of the day the league is doing a great job of putting in place things to help players with safety," he said.

"I can understand where President Obama is coming from ... but at the same time the league is doing a great job of preventing a lot of those things."

(Editing by Ian Ransom)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/super-bowl-coaches-bristle-obamas-comments-031036722--nfl.html

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Twitter's Vine features porn video as 'Editor's Pick' thanks to 'human error'

13 hrs.

Since Vine, Twitter's video-sharing service, launched on Thursday, it's been plagued by all sorts of woes. We noticed that it lacks privacy settings and?abuse prevention measures, Facebook prevented it from finding any friends through the social network, and now ... well, now pornographic?content has slipped?into Vine's?"Editor's Picks" section.

Vine's a rather neat service, in theory. If you've got an iOS device, you can create and share Vine videos. All you have to do is point your iPhone (or iPod Touch) at something and press your finger to the screen to record a clip up to six seconds in length (both sound and motion are captured, of course). Once done, you can share it to Vine, Twitter and Facebook. You can also use the app to browse through popular videos and those featured as "Editor's Picks."

And that's where Vine's latest troubles appear. On Monday morning, a video shared by "nsfwvine" ??an account created for the sole purpose of posting pornographic videos to Vine (hence the "Not Safe For Work" part of the name)???received the service's "Editor's Pick" badge of honor.

While the video did lose the "Editor's Pick" badge later in the morning, it was not removed from the service. Instead, it now carries a warning message declaring that the video?"may contain sensitive content" and requires a tap to be viewed. (From what we can tell, this warning message is automatically added to videos which are reported as inappropriate by Vine users.)

We have reached out to Twitter for more information regarding how the video in question?? which shows a young woman and a?sex toy?? was chosen as an "Editor's Pick." We wondered if some sort of automated process may be involved in the selection. A Twitter spokesperson explained that an actual person was actually to blame. "A human error resulted in a video with adult content becoming one of the videos in Editor's Picks," she wrote in an email to NBC News. "[U]pon realizing this mistake we removed the video immediately. We apologize to our users for the error."

We have also contacted Apple, as we suspect the Cupertino-based company is probably not all too happy about pornographic content being?prominently?featured in an iOS app. (It has banned apps for far less racy issues in the past.)

In the meantime, obscene material continues to flood into Vine. Several accounts ? including "nsfwvine" ? have been posting pornographic clips since Vine launched last week. Not all of porn clips?carry the "sensitive content" warning yet and it's not clear if any have been removed so far.

"Wow. How did this happen, Vine?" a user asked?on one of the videos, while another wondered "[c]an I flag this as inappropriate more than once?"

Want more tech news?or interesting?links? You'll get plenty of both if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on?Twitter, subscribing to her?Facebook?posts,?or circling her?on?Google+.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/twitters-vine-features-porn-video-editors-pick-1C8137828

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Monday, January 28, 2013

Bioinspired fibers change color when stretched

Bioinspired fibers change color when stretched [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 28-Jan-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Caroline Perry
cperry@seas.harvard.edu
617-496-1351
Harvard University

Color-tunable photonic fibers mimic the fruit of the 'bastard hogberry' plant

Cambridge, Mass. January 28, 2013 - A team of materials scientists at Harvard University and the University of Exeter, UK, have invented a new fiber that changes color when stretched. Inspired by nature, the researchers identified and replicated the unique structural elements that create the bright iridescent blue color of a tropical plant's fruit.

The multilayered fiber, described today in the journal Advanced Materials, could lend itself to the creation of smart fabrics that visibly react to heat or pressure.

"Our new fiber is based on a structure we found in nature, and through clever engineering we've taken its capabilities a step further," says lead author Mathias Kolle, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). "The plant, of course, cannot change color. By combining its structure with an elastic material, however, we've created an artificial version that passes through a full rainbow of colors as it's stretched."

Since the evolution of the first eye on Earth more than 500 million years ago, the success of many organisms has relied upon the way they interact with light and color, making them useful models for the creation of new materials. For seeds and fruit in particular, bright color is thought to have evolved to attract the agents of seed dispersal, especially birds.

The fruit of the South American tropical plant, Margaritaria nobilis, commonly called "bastard hogberry," is an intriguing example of this adaptation. The ultra-bright blue fruit, which is low in nutritious content, mimics a more fleshy and nutritious competitor. Deceived birds eat the fruit and ultimately release its seeds over a wide geographic area.

"The fruit of this bastard hogberry plant was scientifically delightful to pick," says principal investigator Peter Vukusic, Associate Professor in Natural Photonics at the University of Exeter. "The light-manipulating architecture its surface layer presents, which has evolved to serve a specific biological function, has inspired an extremely useful and interesting technological design."

Vukusic and his collaborators at Harvard studied the structural origin of the seed's vibrant color. They discovered that the upper cells in the seed's skin contain a curved, repeating pattern, which creates color through the interference of light waves. (A similar mechanism is responsible for the bright colors of soap bubbles.) The team's analysis revealed that multiple layers of cells in the seed coat are each made up of a cylindrically layered architecture with high regularity on the nano- scale.

The team replicated the key structural elements of the fruit to create flexible, stretchable and color-changing photonic fibers using an innovative roll-up mechanism perfected in the Harvard laboratories.

"For our artificial structure, we cut down the complexity of the fruit to just its key elements," explains Kolle. "We use very thin fibers and wrap a polymer bilayer around them. That gives us the refractive index contrast, the right number of layers, and the curved, cylindrical cross-section that we need to produce these vivid colors."

The researchers say that the process could be scaled up and developed to suit industrial production.

"Our fiber-rolling technique allows the use of a wide range of materials, especially elastic ones, with the color-tuning range exceeding by an order of magnitude anything that has been reported for thermally drawn fibers," says coauthor Joanna Aizenberg, Amy Smith Berylson Professor of Materials Science at Harvard SEAS, and Kolle's adviser. Aizenberg is also Director of the Kavli Institute for Bionano Science and Technology at Harvard and a Core Faculty Member at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard.

The fibers' superior mechanical properties, combined with their demonstrated color brilliance and tunability, make them very versatile. For instance, the fibers can be wound to coat complex shapes. Because the fibers change color under strain, the technology could lend itself to smart sports textiles that change color in areas of muscle tension, or that sense when an object is placed under strain as a result of heat.

###

Additional coauthors included Alfred Lethbridge at the University of Exeter, Moritz Kreysing at Ludwig Maximilians University (Germany), and Jeremy B. Baumberg, Professor of Nanophotonics at the University of Cambridge (UK).

This research was supported by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative, by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, and through a postdoctoral research fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The researchers also benefited from facilities at the Harvard Center for Nanoscale Systems, which is part of the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation.


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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Bioinspired fibers change color when stretched [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 28-Jan-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Caroline Perry
cperry@seas.harvard.edu
617-496-1351
Harvard University

Color-tunable photonic fibers mimic the fruit of the 'bastard hogberry' plant

Cambridge, Mass. January 28, 2013 - A team of materials scientists at Harvard University and the University of Exeter, UK, have invented a new fiber that changes color when stretched. Inspired by nature, the researchers identified and replicated the unique structural elements that create the bright iridescent blue color of a tropical plant's fruit.

The multilayered fiber, described today in the journal Advanced Materials, could lend itself to the creation of smart fabrics that visibly react to heat or pressure.

"Our new fiber is based on a structure we found in nature, and through clever engineering we've taken its capabilities a step further," says lead author Mathias Kolle, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). "The plant, of course, cannot change color. By combining its structure with an elastic material, however, we've created an artificial version that passes through a full rainbow of colors as it's stretched."

Since the evolution of the first eye on Earth more than 500 million years ago, the success of many organisms has relied upon the way they interact with light and color, making them useful models for the creation of new materials. For seeds and fruit in particular, bright color is thought to have evolved to attract the agents of seed dispersal, especially birds.

The fruit of the South American tropical plant, Margaritaria nobilis, commonly called "bastard hogberry," is an intriguing example of this adaptation. The ultra-bright blue fruit, which is low in nutritious content, mimics a more fleshy and nutritious competitor. Deceived birds eat the fruit and ultimately release its seeds over a wide geographic area.

"The fruit of this bastard hogberry plant was scientifically delightful to pick," says principal investigator Peter Vukusic, Associate Professor in Natural Photonics at the University of Exeter. "The light-manipulating architecture its surface layer presents, which has evolved to serve a specific biological function, has inspired an extremely useful and interesting technological design."

Vukusic and his collaborators at Harvard studied the structural origin of the seed's vibrant color. They discovered that the upper cells in the seed's skin contain a curved, repeating pattern, which creates color through the interference of light waves. (A similar mechanism is responsible for the bright colors of soap bubbles.) The team's analysis revealed that multiple layers of cells in the seed coat are each made up of a cylindrically layered architecture with high regularity on the nano- scale.

The team replicated the key structural elements of the fruit to create flexible, stretchable and color-changing photonic fibers using an innovative roll-up mechanism perfected in the Harvard laboratories.

"For our artificial structure, we cut down the complexity of the fruit to just its key elements," explains Kolle. "We use very thin fibers and wrap a polymer bilayer around them. That gives us the refractive index contrast, the right number of layers, and the curved, cylindrical cross-section that we need to produce these vivid colors."

The researchers say that the process could be scaled up and developed to suit industrial production.

"Our fiber-rolling technique allows the use of a wide range of materials, especially elastic ones, with the color-tuning range exceeding by an order of magnitude anything that has been reported for thermally drawn fibers," says coauthor Joanna Aizenberg, Amy Smith Berylson Professor of Materials Science at Harvard SEAS, and Kolle's adviser. Aizenberg is also Director of the Kavli Institute for Bionano Science and Technology at Harvard and a Core Faculty Member at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard.

The fibers' superior mechanical properties, combined with their demonstrated color brilliance and tunability, make them very versatile. For instance, the fibers can be wound to coat complex shapes. Because the fibers change color under strain, the technology could lend itself to smart sports textiles that change color in areas of muscle tension, or that sense when an object is placed under strain as a result of heat.

###

Additional coauthors included Alfred Lethbridge at the University of Exeter, Moritz Kreysing at Ludwig Maximilians University (Germany), and Jeremy B. Baumberg, Professor of Nanophotonics at the University of Cambridge (UK).

This research was supported by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative, by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, and through a postdoctoral research fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The researchers also benefited from facilities at the Harvard Center for Nanoscale Systems, which is part of the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation.


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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-01/hu-bfc012813.php

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Education & Reference 2020: The Best American Science and ...

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Source: http://asokiano.blogspot.com/2013/01/education-reference-2020-best-american.html

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Businesses plan to boost their spending, gauge shows ?

22 min.

A gauge of planned business spending rose in December, a sign that business worries over tighter fiscal policy may not have held back investment plans as much as feared at the end of 2012.?

The Commerce Department said on Monday that non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for investment plans, edged higher 0.2 percent. The government also revised higher its estimate for November.?

Overall durable goods orders jumped 4.6 percent in December.?

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economywatch/businesses-plan-boost-their-spending-gauge-shows-1C8135107

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France favors Lauvergeon as EADS board chief: paper

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande wants Anne Lauvergeon, former chief executive of French nuclear reactor maker Areva, to chair the board of European planemaker EADS , French Sunday paper Le Journal du Dimanche reported.

The paper quotes a source close to the government as saying that Lauvergeon is "the choice of Francois Hollande for the presidency of the group". It added that Hollande had discussed the nomination with German chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday and that "Germany agrees with the French choice".

The paper added that three other names were on a government short-list: former ECB governor Jean-Claude Trichet, former Saint Gobain CEO Jean-Louis Beffa and former Air France CEO Bernard Attali.

(Reporting by Geert De Clercq; editing by Jane Baird)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/france-favors-lauvergeon-eads-board-chief-paper-114329968--sector.html

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Dr. Lawrence Yun on Real Estate: Speed Up Foreclosures? | Seattle ...

Speed Up ForeclosuresAt the Washington Realtors? legislative hill day this year we had an opportunity to hear from the National Association of Realtors? chief economist, Dr. Lawrence Yun. ?Dr. Yun spoke about the improving real estate market in Washington state and his optimistic outlook for our state?s housing prices to continue rising at a rate faster than the nation as a whole.

At the same time, he was concerned with the persistence of high levels of ?shadow inventory? in Washington, even while those levels have been shrinking significantly across the nation as a whole. ?Dr. Yun surmised that the legal system in Washington was one that provided more obstructions to the foreclosure process, and that was creating a huge backlog of foreclosures that should have already been back on the market. ?The striking lack of inventory in our current market is holding back a large crop of eager buyers and stifling home sales in general.

The essence of Dr. Yun?s point was that we should speed up foreclosures. ?On its face, that?s not an argument you?re likely to hear from real estate professionals. ?Our organizations are constantly working for property owners? protections and rights, and fighting fraudulent or predatory practices that force homeowners out of their homes.

This issue, however, is more complex than simply pitting banks against homeowners. ?When we really examine the broken foreclosure process in our state, and nationally, we have to make clear distinctions between the protections that distressed homeowners already have in place, and the unacceptable extensions of the actual foreclosure timelines taking place in the market.

There are an increasing number of homeowners who have realized that, even though their home is underwater and they have no intention of keeping it long-term, they can live in the home without making a payments for years on end. ?As long as the lender is inhibited from closing the actual foreclosure sale, the number of people living in homes for two and even three years, rent free, continues to build. ?The homes are a drag on the community, as these long-term foreclosures deflate nearby housing prices, instead of being resold and fixed up by the new homeowners. ?The homeowners can?t just abandon the property, because it is still legally in their name (see Zombie Titles).

The effort to shorten the timelines on these foreclosures would make no changes to the protections already built into the process for the truly distressed homeowner. ?There are already a number of steps for that person to repay their debt, work out an adjusted payment schedule, or find another means to save their home. ? These people usually have at least a year from the time they stop making payments until the foreclosure sale goes through, and those protections can and will continue to exist for them.

For those homeowners who have already been through the normal foreclosure process and are one, two, or even three years behind on payments, the process needs to be expedited. ?These folks have accepted that the home will be foreclosed upon, and the only question is when. ?It will be better for the neighborhood and, frankly, better for these former?homeowners?to move on with their lives and begin to rebuild their credit. ?This artificial backlog of foreclosure inventory has an eager market of buyers ready to move in, and our communities could benefit from a healthy gain in home sales as we continue to recover.

So, should we speed up foreclosures? ?If the current legal protections are preserved, but the unnecessary multi-year extensions can be avoided, then the answer is ?Yes.? ?Sometimes, facing up to reality and moving forward is the only way to begin correcting the difficult times we?ve been through.

? SeattleHome.com: ? Sam DeBord, Managing Broker, Realtor
Coldwell Banker Seattle: Coldwell Banker Danforth & Associates
Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Google + | Sam (at) SeattleHome.com

Source: http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlewaterfronthomes/2013/01/27/dr-lawrence-yun-on-real-estate-speed-up-foreclosures/

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FTM2012 Synchronization Frequently Take in Excess of Two Hours

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Source: http://boards.ancestry.co.uk/topics.software.famtreemaker/9408.1.1/mb.ashx

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Saturday, January 26, 2013

Well-To-Do Real Estate Broker Accused Of Raping Internet Date ...

(credit: CBS 2)

Gavel (file/credit: CBS 2)

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) ? A well-to-do real estate broker at a high-end Manhattan firm has pleaded not guilty to a rape charge brought from a young woman he met on the Internet.

As WCBS 880?s Irene Cornell reported, Lakhinder Vohra, 47, met the woman through a Web site called SeekingArrangement.com. The woman claimed Vohra attacked her on her first visit to his Wall Street apartment.

  • Well-To-Do Real Estate Broker Accused Of Raping Internet Date
  • WCBS 880's Irene Cornell Reports

The Web site caters to men like Vohra, who works for the firm Nest Seekers described as ?sugar daddies with lots of cash.? Vohra used the handle ?Daddylovesarmcandy? on the Web site and claimed to be worth as much as $10 million, according to a New York Post report.

The 26-year-old victim claimed that he threw her face down on the bed, placed his hand on her back, and raped her, the newspaper reported.

Vohra?s attorney compared the situation to that of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the disgraced French politician and former head of the International Monetary Fund who was accused of rape by his maid in 2011. The criminal case against Strauss-Kahn was dismissed, and he has since filed a lawsuit against his accuser, Nafissatou Diallo.

In Vohra?s case, attorney Mike Saint-Pre told the court: ?What we have here is a case of extortion. Even as the woman was leaving the apartment, she was attempting to extort money from Vohra.?

Vohra was ordered held on $10,000 bail on Friday, the newspaper reported.

Please leave your comments below?

Source: http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/01/26/well-to-do-real-estate-broker-accused-of-raping-internet-date/

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Campaigners try to stop Zimbabwe gunship delivery

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) ? A regional civic campaign group says it is taking legal action to stop Zimbabwe from taking delivery of helicopter gunships from neighboring South Africa.

Willie Spies, a law expert at AfriForum, said Friday the South African military agreed to donate its surplus of aging French-designed Alouette helicopters to Zimbabwe for "imminent delivery."

He said in a statement that South Africa's Defense Ministry and its National Conventional Arms Control Committee did not respond to questions on the donation but officials of both bodies confirmed arrangements have been finalized.

The group said it wants to prevent the helicopters being used to bolster the "visibility, mobility and presence" of President Robert Mugabe's loyalist military before elections this year. Zimbabwe is under a Western arms embargo that includes French spare parts for Alouettes.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/campaigners-try-stop-zimbabwe-gunship-delivery-112017214.html

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Skin Care Issues? Follow These Helpful Pieces Of Advice | Daily ...

Skin Care

Skin Care

Healthy skin is about more than just a pretty face. The condition your skin is in can have an affect on the rest of your health, so do not take this lightly. The tips we are going to cover below will help you create healthy, beautiful skin for every part of your body.

Exfoliating goes deeper than soap and water. Use a a scrub from your favorite beauty supply brand and get rid of that dead skin. To keep from causing damage to your skin, follow this routine no more than twice a week.

One of the best strategies for beautiful skin is to keep it clean. You?ll have less acne and blotching if you just wash your face daily. Costlier is not necessarily better, and if you conduct a bit of research, you can see that this is the case.

Keep your skin protected from free-radicals by eating tons of food full of antioxidants. Green tea, dark chocolate and fruits are all rich in this. You can help avoid skin damage caused by UV rays, stress and the ravages of smoking by consuming these antioxidants.

Eat foods with a lot of Vitamin E. Vitamin E is full of antioxidants and it will rid you of many free radicals. Almonds, blueberries and papayas all contain a lot of Vitamin E. Kale and other dark, leafy greens are another option.

If your eyes are puffy, something cold will help to treat the delicate skin. Put your eye cream on whenever it is at its coldest in order to decrease puffiness; therefore, you should consider storing eye cream in your fridge. To refresh the skin under your eyes, take two cold cucumber slices and rest them on your eyes until the slices are warm.

Exfoliation is the best thing that you can do for the quality of your skin. Look for a scrub that uses small grains, and use a circular motion to rub it into your face as an easy homemade face lift. Exfoliating at least once every week will yield fresh, clean skin.

If rashes, acne or other skin maladies plague you, do not hesitate to see a dermatologist. Many skin conditions are easily cleared up with prescription creams. If you don?t get help, your problems could worsen.

Moisturizer must be used daily. You can avoid dry skin and keep a dewy, young appearance by using a moisturizer. You should definitely use moisturizer during the winter because your skin dries out easiest during this season. By choosing to use a moisturizer, you can ensure a youthful appearance.

Keeping your hands protected from the cold is an excellent skin care tip. Your skin on your hand is more sensitive and thinner than other skin, so it is easily damaged. Gloves can help your hands stay moisturized and healthy.

Your skin can be repaired to premium health simply by embracing some of the advice that has been provided to you here. Try to apply as many of these tips into your life as you can to give your skin the best chance it has of being good to you for years and years to come.

Source: http://dailyhealthboost.com/skincare-issues-follow-these-helpful-pieces-of-advice/

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Friday, January 25, 2013

Trendy Clothing for Plus Size Women's: To Look like Fashionable ...


Stylish Clothes with regard to Plus Sizes Females?s: To Seem like Stylish: There is available a common misunderstanding in the actual fantastic globe of plus sizes style that ladies need to be slim as well as slim to have the actual ability to appear elegant as well as quite. Nicely, along with attractive clothes, the particular heavier women will consider as stylish as well as gorgeous. A Person wear?t need to possess a little entire body to feel much better about your self.
Corporations possess reduced their own plus sizes females?s clothes shows, although some need removed the item range totally. It does indeed not really create sense at all since the amounts of obese or overweight females possess not necessarily been down. On another hand, it went higher than it experienced been during the actual past.
It is now very difficult to discover plus sizes females?s clothing on the actual market nowadays. The particular stores worry inventory this kind of clothes, as these people are scared which their own products will stay within their hangers for a lengthy period.
The positive thing is that there tend to be plenty of dependable providers that market larger number clothes for ladies off their sites. The Actual creative designers place in lots of initiatives to wisely style this kind of clothes. This Kind Of gowns, knitted garments, surfaces, pants, and so on tend to be solely created for ladies that have larger destroy or sides dimensions. These People are made so that these people hidden the additional figure which make females really feel much more mindful, and even humiliated sometimes.
A much more than Fifty percent of girls around the actual globe usually do not squeeze into the conventional dimensions as suggested in the actual fantastic globe of style. Consequently, numerous creative designers are actually picking out most recent stylish clothes to meet the marketplace needs through this kind of females.
You may often think that the actual outsize clothes for females will be your baggy fitted to cover the actual unneeded mass. Nicely, it is not really actually correct. As nicely as fashionable dresses, gowns, as well as trousers that should be be created for ladies who tend to be larger in dimensions.
Essentially, the concept is to cover specific areas from the body, whilst featuring the actual components which improve the benefit of the individual putting on this kind of clothes. They possess got really unique features of creating larger females appear gorgeous, whilst sketching aside the interest off their in addition-dimension components.
Along With some investigation on the actual internet, you require to run into dependable on the actual internet style shops which market this kind of clothes. Ensure which you go through their own swap plans before a person lastly make any kind of buy with these. A Person will have the actual ability to swap the merchandise if they cannot fit you whilst attempting all of them away in the personal home.
Resources: http://www.modapinks.com/trendy-clothes-with regard to-in addition-dimension-women-to-lo?


Related posts:

  1. Trendy Clothing for Plus Size Women's: To Look like Fashionable ?
  2. ????? Womens Plus Size Clothing | Women's Plus Clothing
  3. Men?s fashion: Slim suits are the safe, fashionable move ? OSU ? The Lantern

Source: http://guidesonn.com/sizesuits/trendy-clothing-for-plus-size-womens-to-look-like-fashionable-2/

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Armstrong to help "clean up cycling"

FILE - In this July 19, 2009, file photo, Lance Armstrong crosses the finish line during the 15th stage of the Tour de France cycling race in Verbier, Switzerland. Armstrong confessed to using performance-enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France during a taped interview with Oprah Winfrey that aired Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013, reversing more than a decade of denial. (AP Photo/Laurent Rebours, File)

FILE - In this July 19, 2009, file photo, Lance Armstrong crosses the finish line during the 15th stage of the Tour de France cycling race in Verbier, Switzerland. Armstrong confessed to using performance-enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France during a taped interview with Oprah Winfrey that aired Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013, reversing more than a decade of denial. (AP Photo/Laurent Rebours, File)

FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 14, 2013, file photo provided by Harpo Studios Inc., Lance Armstrong listens as he is interviewed by talk show host Oprah Winfrey during taping for the show "Oprah and Lance Armstrong: The Worldwide Exclusive" in Austin, Texas. Armstrong confessed to using performance-enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France cycling during the interview that aired Thursday, Jan. 17, reversing more than a decade of denial. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Harpo Studios, Inc., George Burns, File)

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ? An attorney for Lance Armstrong told the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency the cyclist will cooperate with efforts to "clean up cycling," though it's the sport's governing body and world anti-doping officials who should take the lead.

In letters sent this week between attorneys for Armstrong and USADA, and obtained by The Associated Press, USADA attorney William Bock requested Armstrong testify under oath by Feb. 6, but the cyclist's attorney, Tim Herman, responds that Armstrong cannot accommodate that schedule.

Last week, Armstrong admitted to taking performance-enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France seven times.

Herman's letter said Armstrong intends to appear before the International Cycling Union's planned "truth and reconciliation" commission.

Herman says the cycling union and the World Anti-Doping Agency should take the lead in cleaning up the sport.

"As you have candidly confirmed, USADA has no authority to investigate, prosecute or otherwise involve itself with the other 95 percent of cycling competitors. Thus, in order to achieve the goal of 'cleaning up cycling,' it must be WADA and the UCI who have overall authority to do so."

The letter from USADA also confirms a Dec. 14 meeting in Denver between Bock, USADA CEO Travis Tygart, Herman and Armstrong.

"Mr. Armstrong has already been provided well over a month since our meeting in December to consider whether he is going to be part of our ongoing efforts to clean up the sport of cycling," Tygart said in a statement. "He has been given a deadline of February 6th to determine whether he plans to come in and be part of the solution. Either way, USADA is moving forward with our investigation on behalf of clean athletes."

Armstrong has been banned for life and, in his interview with Oprah Winfrey last week, said he would like to compete again.

Bock's letter does not mention the ban, though Armstrong's full cooperation could lead to a reduction, perhaps to eight years, which would allow Armstrong to compete in 2020, when he'll be 49.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-01-25-Armstrong-Doping/id-9f1ca51c40e941ef9032c90294569418

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'Galaxy Note 8.0' spotted in the wild, has traditional button setup

Android Central

We've learned much about the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 over the past week or so, from specs to a purported release date. Now we have what might be our first proper glimpse of the tablet itself out in the wild -- and it's packing a few surprises. In spy shots obtained by Italian outlet DDAY.it, we see an unknown Samsung tablet sporting a curved chassis similar to the Galaxy S3 and Note 2 -- a far cry from earlier Samsung tablet designs. The size of the tablet, and the "S Pen" holder shown in the bottom right in the pic above, would seem to confirm this as the Galaxy Note 8.0.

More surprising still is Samsung's apparent decision to eschew on-screen buttons in favor of a traditional menu, home and back setup. It's a break from usual Android tablet designs, though it could be argued that changes to Android's action bar in version 4.2 mean that on-screen controls are less important than they were back in the Honeycomb days.

We should also consider the possibility that this might not be the final Note 8.0 design. In the past, Samsung has craftily put out several pre-release versions of devices (like the Galaxy S3) in the hope of keeping the final design secret. Regardless, it's in Samsung's best interest, branding-wise, to make the Note 8.0 visually close to its smartphone line-up, and this kind of design certainly achieves that.

Previous rumors have the Galaxy Note 8.0 debuting at Mobile World Congress in late February ahead of a March launch. Reported specs include an 8-inch 1280x800 display, a 1.6GHz Exynos 4 Quad CPU, 2GB of RAM and TouchWiz'd Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. We'll be live in Barcelona next month to bring you full coverage of the Note 8.0 as it's announced.

Source: DDAY.it; via: SamMobile



Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/FPlAB8H88jU/story01.htm

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Thursday, January 24, 2013

Nintendo's Wii U Miiverse getting user communities, mobile access

Nintendo's Wii U Miiverse getting user communities, mobile access

Nintendo's Wii U-based Miiverse social network is also getting a big update later this year, including user-created communities, more than one community per title, updated usability, and a more advanced filtering system. That's in addition to a mobile phone-based application, all arriving in 2013 -- you'll be able to access the Miiverse via mobile phone a bit earlier. "Initially the experience will be browser-based, but Nintendo plans to create a dedicated Miiverse app in the future," the official PR reads.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced the updates during a Nintendo Direct video presentation this morning, though he didn't give a concrete date for the Miiverse updates or the mobile app ("spring" was the closest he got, and that's only applicable to mobile access, not the app). He did say that you'll sign into the mobile app using your Nintendo Network ID, and be able to access (and interact) with the Miiverse on-the-go.

Show full PR text

Two Zelda Games, Mario, Mario Kart and Other Fan-Favorite Franchises Planned for Wii U

Nintendo Outlines Its Vision for Wii U, Including Launching Virtual Console and How Miiverse and Second-Screen Gaming Features Will Continue to Evolve

NOTE: Multimedia available here

REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Nintendo President Satoru Iwata unleashed Wii U news in an installment of Nintendo Direct today as he outlined Nintendo's future plans for the console. Iwata revealed how the Wii U launch lineup will be bolstered by a long list of top game franchises headed for the new console. These are games that longtime players and newcomers alike will love to play, and everyone will be experiencing them in new ways, thanks to the integrated second-screen experiences enabled by the Wii U GamePad controller. Iwata also detailed a number of enhancements designed to make the Wii U game experience more social, even if people are not playing in the same room.

"The fun of video games is not only just playing games, but also sharing experiences together with people - even though they live far away, their skill levels are different or their experience does not happen at the same time," Iwata said. "We want Wii U to be the system that brings everyone together."

To view the Nintendo Direct in its entirety, visit http://www.nintendo.com/nintendo-direct. The many announcements included:

Game News

Two Zelda Games: Eiji Aonuma, the producer of The Legend of Zelda series, revealed two entries in the series for Wii U.
Super Mario is on His Way: The Nintendo EAD Tokyo Software Development team that created the Super Mario Galaxy games for Wii and Super Mario 3D Land for Nintendo 3DS is working on a new 3D Mario action game for Wii U. The game is scheduled to be playable at this year's E3.
Buckle Up!: Nintendo is also working on a new installment of the hit Mario Kart franchise. This game is also planned to be playable at E3.
Yarn Yoshi: The team that created Kirby's Epic Yarn is hard at work on the first console game to feature Yoshi as the main character since 1998's Yoshi's Story for Nintendo 64. Takashi Tezuka, director of Yoshi's Island and Yoshi's Story, is supervising the development of the new game, which is set in a fanciful world of yarn and textiles.
Wii Fit U Communities: New features coming to Wii Fit U include letting players create user communities on Miiverse from within the game. Community members can discuss exercises, BMI or weight changes and other health topics with other players as a way to encourage one another to reach their fitness goals. Similar functionality for other games is also planned.
Pikmin 3 Photos: The upcoming Pikmin 3 game includes a feature that lets players use the Wii U GamePad as a camera to share the same perspective as Pikmin and take close-up pictures of landscapes and creatures in the game and share them in Miiverse.
The Party Continues: A new installment in the Wii Party franchise is planned to launch this summer. The game features various play styles, including one that lets both players compete head-to-head using just the GamePad.
RPG Mashup: Nintendo has begun many collaborations with outside development partners to bring the best franchises and experiences to Wii U. In one such partnership, Nintendo and Atlus are working on a collaboration that features the Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei franchises. A video trailer for the game was shown in the Nintendo Direct.
A New Game from Monolith Soft: Tetsuya Takahashi and the team at Monolith Soft that worked on Xenoblade for Wii are working on a new game. A video trailer for the game was shown in the Nintendo Direct.
More on the Way: Iwata shared a new trailer for The Wonderful 101. That game and GAME & WARIO are scheduled to launch in the first half of 2013. Iwata also showed a new video for Bayonetta 2. That game and the new Super Smash Bros. installment are still on the way, but will need more development time before details can be revealed.
Virtual Console

Virtual Console for Wii U: A spring system update will add Virtual Console software to the Nintendo eShop for Wii U. The service will launch right after the spring update and will include a selection of NES and Super NES games, with Game Boy Advance games to be added in the future. The prices for NES and Super NES Virtual Console games for Wii U will be the same as they were for the Virtual Console on Wii. People who have already purchased the Wii version of a certain NES or Super NES Virtual Console game and transferred it to their Wii U console can buy the enhanced Wii U version of the same game for the reduced price of $1 for NES games and $1.50 for Super NES games.
Classic Games for 30 Cents! To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release of the Famicom in Japan (which was known as the NES in the United States), Nintendo is making one NES or Super NES game available each month now through July at the anniversary price of just 30 cents. Each game will be available at that price for 30 days, and the first is the NES game Balloon Fight, which is now available in the Nintendo eShop for Wii U.
Social and System Enhancements

Miiverse Expands to Smartphones: Starting this spring, people will be able to browse Miiverse from their smartphones. Initially the experience will be browser-based, but Nintendo plans to create a dedicated Miiverse app in the future.
System Updates: Two major updates are on the way, one in the spring and one in the summer. The updates will introduce a wide range of functionality, such as Virtual Console capabilities and shortening the time it takes users to launch software or return to the menu screen.
Remember that Wii U features parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other features, visit http://www.nintendo.com/wiiu. Standalone versions of the trailers for The Wonderful 101, Bayonetta 2, the new game from Monolith Soft and the collaboration featuring the Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei franchises can be found at http://www.youtube.com/nintendo.

About Nintendo: The worldwide pioneer in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii U[TM] and Wii[TM] home consoles, and Nintendo 3DS[TM] and Nintendo DS[TM] families of portable systems. Since 1983, when it launched the Nintendo Entertainment System[TM], Nintendo has sold more than 4 billion video games and more than 637 million hardware units globally, including the current-generation Wii U, Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo 3DS XL, as well as the Game Boy[TM], Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi[TM] and Nintendo DSi XL[TM], Super NES[TM], Nintendo 64[TM], Nintendo GameCube[TM] and Wii systems. It has also created industry icons that have become well-known, household names such as Mario[TM], Donkey Kong[TM], Metroid[TM], Zelda[TM] and Pokémon[TM]. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, please visit the company's website at http://www.nintendo.com.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/23/wii-u-miiverse-update/

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Shakespeare Stored in DNA Files

Floppy disks, jump drives, DNA? Scientists have developed a way to encode music and text files into DNA, the molecules that normally hold the instructions for life.

The new method, described today (Jan. 23) in the journal Nature, is extremely expensive right now, but eventually it could be used to store digital files without electricity for thousands of years. And since DNA is so compact, vast amounts of data could be stored in one test tube, said study author Nick Goldman, a geneticist at the European Bioinformatics Institute in the U.K.

"I've gone from being a skeptic to a believer," said David Haussler, a geneticist and computer scientist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who was not involved in the study.

And because DNA is the script of life, crucial in medicine, agriculture and other endeavors, human beings will always be pushing for ways to improve the reading and writing of DNA, Haussler told LiveScience. [ Genetics by the Numbers: 10 Tantalizing Tales ]

The team has even used the method to encode Shakespeare's sonnets.

Data deluge
From floppy disks to CDs to magnetic tapes, the technologies to store, read and write digital data become obsolete rapidly. Digital archives take a lot of space, and the files themselves, even archival magnetic tapes, need to be freshened up or rewritten every few years to prevent degradation.

Goldman and colleague Ewan Birney, also of European Bioinformatics Institute, were discussing this problem over beers one day when they realized that DNA might actually be feasible to store vast amounts of data.

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As the discovery of intact woolly mammoth DNA demonstrates, the molecule can last for tens of thousands of years as long as it's stored in a cool, dark place, they said. It doesn't require electricity to maintain, like hard drives do, can include built-in error checking, and it's incredibly compact, Goldman told LiveScience. (Earlier this year, another team demonstrated the feasibility of DNA storage, but stored a tiny amount of data and didn't include error checking.)

Storage solution
The researchers began to sketch out a way to encode the 0s and 1s of a computer file into the alphabet of letters that make up the genetic code. They then chose several digital files ?? a portion of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech, all the sonnets of Shakespeare and a photograph of their institution ? encoded them into DNA letters, and had a company in California called Agilent assemble short snippets of the DNA.

Because the method creates multiple, overlapping copies of each DNA snippet, the method also includes a built-in error-checking system. What they got back was a tiny amount of DNA, "an almost invisible fleck of dust in the bottom of a little test tube," Goldman said.

They then read the DNA-based files using a gene-sequencing machine. Using current technology, reading the DNA took more than two weeks and cost more than $10,000, Birney said at a press briefing. To store the world's existing data would be "breathtakingly expensive, perhaps costing more money than is on the planet," he said.

But the technology to read and write DNA has improved 10,000-fold over the last eight years and is likely to continue improving even more rapidly, Haussler said. In 10 years DNA could start supplanting magnetic tapes, which are currently used to store government and other long-lasting, rarely accessed archives, he estimated.

"You can't get obsessed with the fact that it may not be practical today. If you do any reasonable projection of current trends five or 10 years into the future you see that this is in the sweet spot."

Follow LiveScience on Twitter@livescience. We're also onFacebook &Google+.

? 2012 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50563296/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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