Follow the "Freeze First" Rule to Prevent Yourself from Wasting Food

Has this ever happened to you? You make a big pot of soup, stew, or other dish thinking you'll freeze a batch for convenient meals later...only you never get around to freezing it and then you have to toss the batch. The Kitchn recommends a "Freeze first, eat second" rule to solve this problem.

Basically, as soon as you've finished cooking the food, set aside the extra portion you want to freeze. Then you no longer have to worry about forgetting to get those meals into the freezer and you can stop wasting so much food in the kitchen.

Waste Not: Freeze First, Eat Second | The Kitchn

Photo by Calgary Reviews

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/nFSJFx4aHjw/follow-the-freeze-first-rule-to-prevent-yourself-from-wasting-food

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Microsoft retiring Messenger on March 15th, wants you to use Skype instead

While we knew Microsoft Messenger was due to retire sometime in the first quarter of this year, we now have a confirmed date. According to The Next Web, Redmond has informed users via email that they have until March 15th to use the IM platform, after which they will need to hop on to Skype to chat with their Messenger pals. Your buddy list will automatically be migrated to the VoIP-focused offering. Desktop users of the outgoing service (globally except mainland China, where it will live on) should receive a banner notification to install Skype and, as it turns out, clicking on said banner will also uninstall Messenger. Road warriors are also taken care of, with Microsoft account support already baked into iOS, Android and Windows Phone 8 versions of the Skype app. Nostalgia notwithstanding, fans of the long-standing MSN descendent can at least take solace in the broader set of features Skype sports.

Filed under: Internet, Microsoft

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Via: The Next Web

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/ySwIXFfIapk/

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By a landslide, 2012 smashes heat record for the U.S.

WASHINGTON (AP) ? America set an off-the-charts heat record in 2012.

A brutal combination of a widespread drought and a mostly absent winter pushed the average annual U.S. temperature last year up to 55.32 degrees Fahrenheit, the government announced Tuesday. That's a full degree warmer than the old record set in 1998.

Breaking temperature records by an entire degree is unprecedented, scientists say. Normally, records are broken by a tenth of a degree or so.

The National Climatic Data Center's figures for the entire world won't come out until next week, but through the first 11 months of 2012, the world was on pace to have its eighth warmest year on record.

Scientists say the U.S. heat is part global warming in action and natural weather variations. The drought that struck almost two-thirds of the nation and a La Nina weather event helped push temperatures higher, along with climate change from man-made greenhouse gas emissions, said Katharine Hayhoe, director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University. She said temperature increases are happening faster than scientists predicted.

"These records do not occur like this in an unchanging climate," said Kevin Trenberth, head of climate analysis at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. "And they are costing many billions of dollars."

Last year was 3.2 degrees warmer than the average for the entire 20th century. Last July was the also the hottest month on record.

Nineteen states set yearly heat records in 2012. Alaska, however, was cooler than average.

U.S. temperature records go back to 1895 and the yearly average is based on reports from more than 1,200 weather stations across the Lower 48 states.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. last year also had the second most weather extremes on record, behind 1998. There were 11 different disasters that caused more than $1 billion in damage, including Superstorm Sandy and the drought, NOAA said.

The drought was the worst since the 1950s and slightly behind the dust bowl of the 1930s, meteorologists said. During a drought, the ground is so dry that there's not enough moisture in the soil to evaporate into the atmosphere to cause rainfall. And that means hotter, drier air.

The last time the country had a record cold month was December 1983.

"A picture is emerging of a world with more extreme heat," said Andrew Dessler, a Texas A&M University climate scientist. "Not every year will be hot, but when heat waves do occur, the heat will be more extreme. People need to begin to prepare for that future."

___

Seth Borenstein can be followed at http://twitter.com/borenbears

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-roasts-hottest-record-landslide-180545899.html

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Kidnapped Texas boy to be reunited with family (Providence Journal)

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AaramShop PRO: 10 ways to encourage customer reviews online ...

Customer reviews are a hugely important in ecommerce for improving your conversion rate, and?can lead to an uplift of 18% in sales.

Research has shown that 61% of customers read online reviews before making a purchase decision and 63% of customers are more likely to make a purchase from a site that has user reviews.

Annoyingly though, customers generally can?t be bothered to leave their feedback.?As such you need to find ways of encouraging your customers to leave their feedback without coming across as desperate.

It?s a topic we?ve previously touched on in posts looking at?how to organise ecommerce product reviews?and?how to optimise reviews for higher conversion rates.

And here are 10 tips to help you drive up the number of reviews on your site...

1. Ask the question

It's an obvious one, but you need to make sure you're asking people for their feedback wherever possible. Obviously don't flood your site with?calls-to-action?begging for reviews, but think about places where it wouldn't seem out of context to request feedback.

Tesco isn't alone in asking shoppers to leave reviews on every product page, which ensures that customers are aware that their feedback is important.

2. Make it easy

There?s always the concern that removing all barriers to leaving reviews will result in a tidal wave of spam and useless comments ?- at Econsultancy we use the dreaded CAPTCHA for our comments section but spammers still slip through the net.

However any amount of form filling is going to put off most reviewers, so you need to make it as easy as possible to leave a review.?For example, if a customer is already logged into your site then there is no reason to make them validate themselves again in order to leave feedback.

Personally the only site I ever leave reviews on is Lovefilm, and that?s because you can rate a movie just by giving it a number of stars out of five.

While a four out of five star rating isn?t as valuable to your conversion rate as a written review, it?s still a great way of making it easy for users to leave their feedback, which in turn might encourage others to write a review.

3. Put reviews where people can see them

Customers aren?t going to read or leave comments if they don?t know they can, so it?s important to think about the placement of product reviews on the page.

All the stats show that reviews are vital for reassuring customers and increasing sales, so put your star ratings and links to reviews above the fold in a place where they can?t be missed.

Kiddicare?is a great example of this ? every product image shown on its homepage includes a star rating, and product pages include links to reviews immediately under the price.

4. Solicit reviews by email

The best time to capture a product review is when the customer has just received their new item and is still excited about using it.

Taking into account your own delivery times, send out an email a week or 10 days after the customer received the product to say you hope they are enjoying their new iPad/jeans/headphones and ask them to leave feedback.

If they?re enjoying the product they?re likely to be open to telling people how much they love it, and if they hate it they might want to warn others off buying it.

Which leads me to my next point...

5. Publish good and bad reviews

It might seem like a good idea to filter out the bad reviews from your site, but in reality people expect to see negative feedback and won?t trust the reviews if they are all glowing.

So although it might seem counterintuitive, it?s important to publish negative feedback as not only does it reassure buyers, but it also means that customers will be confident that their comment will actually be published if they take the time to write a review.

6. Incentivise

While it's probably a bad idea to offer a discount or reward to everyone who leaves a review, there are ways of incentivising feedback that doesn?t undermine the whole process.

For example, you could run a monthly prize draw for all customers who leave a review. This doesn?t need to be overtly plastered across the site, but you could mention it in post-sales emails or by placing a flyer in the product packaging.

Or you could try to gamify the process. Gamification CEO Gabe Zichermann said that even more than free stuff or exclusive content,?the most powerful incentive for consumers is status above their peers.

Though it isn?t an ecommerce example, music magazine NME rewards frequent commenters with a star next to their name and a title saying ?Top commenter?.?The same tactic could be used to encourage product reviews and also reward loyal customers.

7. Use reviews to deliver a more relevant user-experience

If you a review a product on Amazon or Lovefilm then it feeds back into your profile so you are recommended more relevant products in future.?This is a fantastic incentive as it means the user receives a more personalised experience on your site and also helps to increase your number of reviews.

It encourages them to leave further reviews and improves customer loyalty, as the more feedback they leave the more enjoyable the shopping experience becomes and vice versa.

8. Never miss an opportunity to bag a review

While researching this article I looked back at a few items I?d previously purchased on Amazon and was surprised to find that it didn?t target me for reviews on the product pages.

As you can see here, it remembered that I bought this book back in 2010 but there?s no call-to-action to ask for a product review. It might be that Amazon doesn't feel it's necessary to badger me for reviews as it already has enough, but for most sites this is a great opportunity to capture feedback.

9. Ask your fans

What?s the value of a Facebook fan? Diddlysquat unless you do something with them.

Assuming you?ve spent a fair amount of time and effort building up ?likes? on Facebook and followers on Twitter, then put your community to good use by asking them for reviews.

Again, make it as easy as possible by posting a link to the review page next to a simple question asking what they thought of your product, or whether they would recommend your service and why.

10. Turn every piece of feedback into a review

Assuming you have a great product or service that your customers enjoy using then the chances are you often receive?positive feedback either by email, telephone or social media.

Just because these aren?t submitted on your site as a review doesn?t mean they can?t be used as testimonials or praise for your business. So either ask the customer if they mind being named or are happy to leave an official review, or use it as anonymous feedback for your site.

Source: http://www.aaramshoppro.com/2013/01/10-ways-to-encourage-customer-reviews.html

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Source: http://terrybriggs.typepad.com/blog/2013/01/aaramshop-pro-10-ways-to-encourage-customer-reviews-online.html

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Samsung sees record-high 4Q profit

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest technology company by revenue, expects record earnings for the fourth quarter of 2012 as shoppers continued to snap up its smartphones and tablets.

The company said Tuesday its operating profit for the October-December quarter would be about 8.8 trillion won ($8.3 billion), up 89 percent from a year earlier and higher than expectations. It will release its full quarterly result including net profit at the end of this month.

The maker of Galaxy smartphones and tablets said fourth quarter revenue likely rose 18 percent from a year earlier to 56 trillion won.

Analysts said nearly 70 percent of the operating income for the quarter was likely generated by Samsung's mobile division that makes and sells smartphones and tablets.

Samsung's mobile business, which recently overtook Apple in smartphone sales and Nokia in mobile handsets, has driven Samsung's earnings growth in recent quarters. Samsung's quarterly operating profit has risen steadily since the final quarter of 2011, while rival mobile-phone makers such as Nokia, Research In Motion and HTC have experienced falling market share and profits.

Samsung shipped at least 60 million smartphones in the last quarter of 2012, according to analysts' estimates, about 10 percent growth from the previous quarter.

The launch in September of the Galaxy Note II, a giant smartphone with a 5.5-inch screen and a digital pen, helped Samsung retain its market dominance during the Christmas holiday season despite competition from Apple's iPhone 5, analysts said. Samsung's flagship Android device, the Galaxy S III, also sold strongly.

Jin Sung-hye, an analyst at KTB Securities, estimated Samsung shipped 15 million S III smartphones and 7 million of the Note II during the final three months of 2012. The surprise popularity of the Note II device prompted other handset makers to increase the screen size of their smartphones as consumers embrace a wider mobile-phone screen to watch videos.

Market watchers speculate that Samsung will introduce a new Galaxy S smartphone, likely to be named the Galaxy S IV, before the end of April. Samsung usually rolls out the latest iteration of its Android-based flagship smartphone before the end of the second quarter, taking advantage of the time when rivals are months away from introducing new smartphone models.

With the early rollouts of the new Galaxy S model and an update to the Note series later in the year, analysts predict Samsung will sell at least 300 million smartphones in 2013, widening its lead over Apple. Samsung's smartphone shipments likely surpassed 200 million for the first time in 2012.

The company plans to act more aggressively to increase its share of the tablet PC market this year, which is still dominated by Apple's iPad, its executives said in an October conference call. The release of mini tablets that are between the size of smartphones and standard tablets also opens up a new growth area for Samsung.

While the mobile phone division has replaced Samsung's semiconductor business as the biggest profit generator, robust demand for smartphones around the world is benefiting Samsung's semiconductor operation as well. The company is the world's largest supplier of TVs and memory chips.

Analysts said Samsung's semiconductor division fared better in the last quarter than the quarter before as higher Samsung phone sales and launches of new mobile products by its customers lifted demand for Samsung's mobile processors.

In the first quarter of this year, market watchers said the strengthening of the South Korean currency against the U.S. dollar and the Japanese yen could hurt Samsung's component businesses, which is facing seasonally weak demand for TVs and display panels. But others predict Samsung will ship more smartphones than the previous quarter, which could outweigh lower TV and panel sales.

The South Korean company has been in global legal battles with Apple, one of its biggest clients, for nearly two years. Last month, Samsung dropped its bid to seek a sales ban against Apple's mobile products in Europe, saying it would like to protect consumer choice. Samsung, which is under investigations by the European Commission over its practice of licensing key mobile patents, is maintaining its lawsuits against the iPhone maker in other countries.

Shares of Samsung Electronics fell 1 percent in Seoul after earnings release. Samsung's shares, which gained 11 percent in the fourth quarter, hit a record high level earlier this month.

If Samsung's fourth quarter results are in line with Tuesday's guidance, the company will report 29 trillion won ($27.3 billion) operating profit on revenue of 201.1 trillion won ($189 billion) for 2012.

___

Follow Youkyung Lee on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ykleeAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/samsung-sees-record-high-4q-profit-045244220--finance.html

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Texas Instruments reveals plans for DLP and OMAP-powered ...

Texas Instruments DLP? Technology Set To Deliver Greater In-Car Infotainment With New, Innovative Head-Up Display, Center Console And Dashboard Systems

Range of automotive suppliers and manufacturers showcasing cutting-edge, TI DLP-powered automotive/vehicle display systems throughout CES 2013

Video & images available at www.DLP.com/CES2013

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Today at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Texas Instruments (TI) (NASDAQ: TXN) DLP? Products, to carry on TI's longstanding commitment to the automotive industry, has revealed its latest vision for the future of in-car/vehicle infotainment with groundbreaking augmented reality (AR) head-up displays (HUD), digital dashboards, and center console systems enabled by TI DLP technology. These next-generation systems from TI mark TI DLP's first official entry into the automotive industry, and represent a notable shift forward with regards to higher resolution and brightness, expanded field of view, tactile feedback, distraction-reduced functionality, and interior design flexibility that breaks the design barriers of existing technology. Together with a number of automotive suppliers and manufacturers, TI will be demoing some of the new-era systems across the show floor during CES 2013 to offer a glimpse of what drivers and passengers can possibly experience in their cars in as little as a few years.

Further supporting TI DLP's expansion into the automotive space, Strategy Analytics noted in its automotive electronics report* that through 2018, "High growth application areas (with unit CAAGRs in excess of 50%) include: Pure electric vehicles, head-up displays, drowsiness detection, front LED lighting, stop/start, lane departure warning, and blind spot monitoring."

"DLP technology has long been known as a leader in digital image quality and intelligent display capabilities across a variety of products and applications," said Kent Novak , senior vice president and general manager, Texas Instruments DLP Products. "For us, the world of in-vehicle infotainment, especially augmented reality head-up displays in the near future, can benefit greatly from what we can do with DLP technology, combined with TI's proven automotive processors, sensors and other products. With our partners, we're delivering the same connected, immersive experiences that consumers expect from smartphones, tablets, gaming systems, and more into the cabins of modern cars and vehicles, but in a less distracting and more usable way."

With the unique micromirror structure of DLP technology, TI has been able to develop a compact HUD system with higher brightness and clarity amid driving conditions, a much wider field of view and increased color reproduction over other display types. Software-based augmented reality elements, such as navigational indicators, real-time landmark details, or safety warnings, can be shown in relation to real-world objects in view to help keep the driver focused on the road ahead. Additionally, the size of the HUD image can also be adjusted and positioned on the windshield to best match the line of vision depending on their seating position, and thus improve the driver's ability to stay focused and alert.

For console and dashboard displays, the speed and accuracy of DLP technology, combined with infrared cameras and other TI components, such as the new "Jacinto 6" processor, allow for multipoint, touchscreen interactivity across the entire surface of the console, scalability to any size and shape, including curves, and true tactile comfort and familiarity via integration of physical dials and buttons. Additionally, full-color, high resolution video, animations, and static images to indicate vehicle information, navigation, in-car entertainment, and HVAC controls can be shown simultaneously and even repositioned to best suit the driver and passengers. Additional TI sensors can determine whether it is the driver's or a passenger's hands approaching the console and adjust the images and available functions accordingly for safety.

All DLP-powered HUD, dashboard, and console setups will be able to display content from whatever software programs and formats that manufacturers may choose, whether proprietary or 3rd party commercial/open source.

To experience all of these automotive displays firsthand, along with other new and upcoming products and advancements made possible with TI DLP technology, be sure to check us out at the following CES 2013 events, and visit our partners' exhibits throughout the show floor:

Pepcom's Digital Experience! ? Mon. January 7th, 7pm PT

Texas Instruments DLP demo suite (please email dlantowski@waggeneredstrom.com to set up meeting) ? Tue. January 8th through Fri. January 11th

To access the latest news, videos, images and other digital content from TI DLP during CES, please visit our online press page at DLP.com/CES2013. You can also follow us on Twitter at @TI_DLP, and on YouTube at YouTube.com/DLPTechnology. For the latest on other applications for DLP technology overall, please visit DLP.com.

Not attending CES? Stay connected with TI:
TI's CES activities
TI on Twitter
TI on Facebook
TI on Google +
*From Strategy Analytics' August 2011 report "Automotive Electronics system Demand Forecast 2009 to 2018," page 4

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Automotive infotainment re-defined: TI's "Jacinto 6" automotive OMAP? processor paves the way for an unparalleled in-vehicle experience

New DRA74x processor (code named "Jacinto 6") heightens performance and integrates OMAP architecture for tomorrow's in-vehicle displays, 3D navigation and high-definition multimedia

LAS VEGAS (January 7, 2013) ? Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NASDAQ: TXN) today introduced an automotive OMAP? processor built to bring unprecedented in-vehicle entertainment and telematics functionality to automobiles. Codenamed "Jacinto 6," the new DRA74x processor builds upon TI's proven OMAP 5 architecture to enable optimized automotive solutions, adding audio, analytics and radio accelerators, along with automobile interfaces and peripherals. Integrating automotive interfaces with the processor architecture can decrease an automotive infotainment customer's electronic bill of materials (BOM) by up to 25% or more, while delivering best-in-class performance capabilities. For more details, visit the Jacinto 6 web page.

"Today's consumers expect always-on connectedness, with information and entertainment at their fingertips in every environment ? at work, at home, at play and on the road," said Curt Moore, general manager of automotive for TI's OMAP product line. "Jacinto 6 links people, their vehicles and the world around them via rich user interfaces, 3D navigation, real-time, high-definition, (HD) video and other interactive capabilities. With TI infotainment processors designed into more than a dozen automobile manufacturers delivering feature-rich infotainment systems, TI is excited to work with our customers to drive automotive infotainment performance to the next level with Jacinto 6."

DRA74x automotive OMAP processor

With the OMAP 5 architecture at its foundation ? including dual ARM? Cortex?-A15 cores, dual Cortex-M4 cores and multi-Imagination Technologies' POWERVR? SGX544-MPx graphics cores ? the latest DRA74x ("Jacinto 6") processor increases ARM CPU performance up to five times and graphics (GPU) performance close to seven times as compared to the previous "Jacinto 5" offering. It also adds the following elements to the OMAP 5 processor foundation, to address specific automotive-infotainment needs:

• AEC Q100 qualification and wide-temperature support.
• Automotive interfaces: 2x CAN, MOST Media Local Bus (MLB), PCIe, Ethernet AVB, 3.3V I/Os.
• Optional 680 MHz floating-point VLIW DSP for integration of software defined radio, advanced audio and speech processing.
• Multiple high-definition camera and video input ports to enable next-generation surround-view camera and consumer devices.
• Robust software ecosystem, including support for QNX, open-source Linux, and Android.
• Pre-integration of TI's WiLink? 8Q wireless automotive connectivity solutions

Infotainment leaders echo support for TI's Automotive OMAP ("Jacinto") processor family

With an ecosystem of leading automotive partners, TI is proud to work with industry leaders to engineer the future of in-vehicle capabilities. Many of those ecosystem players leverage TI's "Jacinto" processors and applaud the launch of the latest Jacinto 6 offering:

The automotive infotainment market has shifted dramatically in the past five years, as cars transform into portable command centers," said Jugal Vijayvargiya, senior vice president of Delphi and president of Delphi Electronics & Safety. "Delphi delivers real-world solutions to drive this shift, with innovative implementations of connectivity technologies, speech recognition, audio streaming and more. We are proud to work with key partners like TI in the process, and look forward to "Jacinto 6" enhancing tomorrow's in-vehicle infotainment experiences."

"With an estimated 25 million vehicles on the road today featuring HARMAN's audio and infotainment, our team works closely with partners such as TI to redefine the automotive infotainment experience," said Michael Mauser, executive vice president and co-president, infotainment and lifestyle divisions, HARMAN. "As the latest in the line of TI's reliable, scalable OMAP processors, "Jacinto 6" helps us deliver on the promise to bring consumers seamless, feature-rich infotainment capabilities for a safer, more enjoyable ride wherever they may travel."

"At Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America, we seek out technology partners such as TI that share our same passion for crafting more exciting, informative driving experiences," said David Taylor, director, research and advanced development, Panasonic Automotive Systems of America. "The launch of "Jacinto 6" is a major step forward for automotive manufacturers hoping to integrate next-generation infotainment capabilities in upcoming vehicles, and we look forward to seeing how "Jacinto 6" transforms the way passengers and drivers experience navigation, multimedia and other interactive capabilities on the road."

"For more than 10 years, TI and QNX have worked closely to enable innovative, connected automotive solutions, which have changed the way people interact with in-vehicle and carry-in electronics," said Linda Campbell, director of strategic alliances, QNX Software Systems. "Jacinto 6 brings new levels of performance, power, and optimization, enabling us to bring game-changing innovations to model year 2014 vehicles and beyond. We look forward to continued successes with TI and to working together to bring best-in-class, Jacinto-processor-based features to cars across the globe."

Availability

The DRA74x "Jacinto 6" processor will sample in mid-2013 and is expected to be available for production by the second half of 2014. As with other OMAP processors, the DRA74x is intended for high-volume automotive manufacturers and is not available through distributors.

Texas Instruments drives automotive innovation

TI's state-of-the-art semiconductor products allow manufacturers and system suppliers to deliver world-class features to the automotive market. Our extensive automotive portfolio includes analog power management, interface and signal chain solutions, along with DLP? displays, ADAS and infotainment processors, Hercules? TMS570 safety microcontrollers and wireless connectivity solutions. Complete with excellent product documentation, TI offers parts that are compliant with the AEC-Q100 and TS16949 standards, along with SafeTI? products, which also comply with ISO 26262 requirements. Click here to learn more.

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/07/texas-instruments-dlp-car-infotainment-hud/

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How Private Equity Funds Are and Should Be Using Social Media

PEHub just posted this guest article:

Can professional investors use social media?? Or, is social media strictly for teenagers and staying in touch with your friends?

Historically, institutional investors kept their investing strategy and their activities very discreet. Today, however, some are aggressively employing social media tools to discuss their strategies, deals in the pipeline, and even their political views and sporting accomplishments.

According to Jeff Bussgang, General Partner at Flybridge Capital Partners, about 10-15% of the 1,000 active venture capitalists in the U.S. blog. Fewer private equity funds are using social media for outreach, but 2xPartners, Healthpoint Capital, and MCM Capital Partners are notable exceptions.? Many investors remain ambivalent about social media because the advantages of using it are not always apparent, while the detractions can be very clear.

Private equity investing is a relationship business. As more of our personal relationships move online, social media becomes a very cost-effective way to strengthen a firm?s corporate relationships. Robert Bruner, Dean of the Darden School of Business, observed in an interview that social media is particularly important in origination because of the significance of ?weak ties? in identifying investment opportunities. In addition, he predicted that the rise in importance of online networks will make the most credible players even stronger. ?I suggest the reason for that is: as people consider doing business with others that they know primarily online, a known brand becomes a significant expediter of a potential transaction.

In 2010, I published the first-ever study of best practices in deal origination?with my coauthor Chris Farmer.? We found that some of the best-performing investors are benefiting from openly discussing their investment theses; doing so increases their perceived expertise and trustworthiness, and thus generates qualified dealflow.? Our research indicates that for these social media-savvy funds, their visibility to investors and potential portfolio companies more than makes up for whatever competitive edge they lose by giving outsiders insight into their activities.

Social media is valuable for more than just origination.? One of the core assets of a fund is its corporate network.? Investors can tap this network for executive talent, followon financings, and eventually an exit.? For example, many leading VCs, including First Round Capital and ff Venture Capital, have made their websites hubs for job-seekers, because their portfolio companies by definition are growth firms constantly in need of the best talent.

Moreover, some investors use social media specifically to reach out to companies flashing relevant ?deal signals? in order to filter the universe of companies. These investors are exploiting the wealth of information about private companies available online, increasingly leaked via social media.? For example, an increase in internet traffic is usually a sign of customer traction.? A family-run company that hires an outside CEO is flashing a signal that the firm may welcome an outside investor.? I?m the Chairman of Navon Partners, a startup with some technology designed to source new transactions based on these signals.

Given how much data PE firms can gather about other investors and companies through social media, It is understandable that they are wary of making too much of their own information available through those channels. Although Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures is arguably the single most successful VC blogger, even he has his reservations: ?Our entire firm was pretty public about our interest in [prominent startup company] Foursquare. ?The Foursquare financing was among the most competitive early round financings I?ve seen in a long time ?. There are many people in the investment business that believe you have to play your cards close to your vest or you?ll get burned. And I understand that approach. And there was certainly a few times during this transaction when I regretted how public we were with our interest in Foursquare.?

We?ve chosen one PE and one VC as case studies of how social media is being used by institutional private company investors:

MCM Capital Partners (mcmcapital.com):

MCM Capital is a lower-middle-market private equity fund based in Ohio with over $125 million under management.? MCM has implemented Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, an RSS feed, and a blog on its website. It also sends out a monthly newsletter to over 6,000 investment bankers, lenders, intermediaries, and current and potential LPs. The blog is instrumental in building their brand through a highly targeted search engine optimization campaign: MCM has identified search terms for which it ranks in the top 100 and is incorporating keywords in order to improve the ranking further. MCM uses the blog to articulate their investment theses to the investment banking community and to become a value added resource for entrepreneurs. Additionally, MCM uses the blog to place new contacts into its CRM (Microsoft Dynamics).

Since the inception of MCM?s social media efforts, overall traffic to the site has increased 13% on average each month.? Referral traffic (traffic coming from other websites, including their blog, LinkedIn, Facebook, and email newsletter) increased 119% over the three preceding months. A visitor?s average time on the site had increased from 1:32 to 3:17 minutes. 16% of visitors came from the blog or social networking sites.

ff Venture Capital (ffvc.com):

ff Venture Capital is a New York-based VC focused on investing in seed and Series A-level companies.?Since 1999, its Partners have made over 160 investments in over 55?companies. ?In addition to a blog, ffVC operates accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. ?It actively uses its blog, Facebook, and Twitter to promote portfolio companies and post value-added content. ?Facebook allows for branding and recruiting targeted towards young entrepreneurs and college students; Twitter reaches a more general audience. Their blog uses Livefyre* for comment moderation to increase user engagement. ?The portfolio executives use online community platform Kohort* to connect and learn from one another, and many use TheResumator* for social media-enabled recruiting. ff uses Slideshare to embed on its websites many presentations its Partners have delivered, many of which use beautiful images from 500px* to heighten their impact.? The firm?s Partners also have strong individual social media presences, with Partners John Frankel and David Teten having Klout* scores of 70 and 56 respectively.

ffVC?s social media campaign is still in its nascent stages, but the results thus far have been promising. Site traffic increased by 6.5% in August and September 2012 over the two preceding months. 11% of site referrals now come directly from Facebook and Twitter, according to site analytics from Parsely*.

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* ff Venture Capital portfolio company.

Source: http://www.teten.com/blog/2013/01/08/how-private-equity-funds-are-and-should-be-using-social-media/

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Christian Orthodox believers celebrate Epiphany

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) ? Thousands of young men leapt into icy rivers and lakes across eastern Europe on Sunday to retrieve crucifixes cast by priests in ceremonies commemorating the baptism of Jesus Christ.

By tradition, a wooden cross is cast into the water and it is believed that the person who retrieves it will be freed from evil spirits.

In the central Bulgarian city of Kalofer, 350 men in traditional dress waded into the icy Tundzha River with national flags. Led by the town's mayor and encouraged by a folk orchestra and homemade plum brandy, they danced and stomped in the rocky riverbed.

In the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta, some 3,000 Orthodox believers turned out to watch priests hurl three crosses into the icy sea. Dozens? some wearing diving suits? dived into the waters to retrieve the crosses.

"We the people are so like the sea," said Romanian Orthodox Archbishop Teodosie Tomitanul. "We hope that, as the sea has been calm until now this year, our souls will be just as calm."

Some Orthodox Christian churches, including those in Russia, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon, follow a different calendar, and Sunday was Christmas Eve, with Epiphany on Jan. 19.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/christian-orthodox-believers-celebrate-epiphany-140127187.html

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EzineArticles Alert: Internet-and-Businesses-Online:List-Building ...

EzineArticles Alert: Internet-and-Businesses-Online:List-Building ...

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://krpmano.blogspot.com/2013/01/ezinearticles-alert-internet-and.html

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7 Tips to Prevent Hearing Loss for Adult Living in Maryland | Mallard ...

?7 Habits to Prevent Hearing Loss for an Adult Living in Maryland

An adult living in Maryland should follow these 7 steps(ARA) ? Hearing loss is common, but the perception that hearing loss is only caused by aging is incorrect. More than 36 million Americans have hearing loss. Changing lifestyle habits, and treating a variety of health conditions can help to prevent hearing loss. For an adult living in Maryland, now is as good a time as any to change some habits.

Seven healthy habits may help prevent or delay the onset of hearing loss:

1. Noise

Noise-induced hearing loss is the most common yet preventable cause of hearing loss. Exposure to dangerous levels of noise can occur at work, home and in many recreational activities. Wear ear plugs or muffs when operating loud equipment (i.e., lawn mowers, power saws, leaf blower, etc.) or when using firearms. Buy quieter products (compare dB ratings advertised on the products ? the smaller the better).

2. iPod/MP3 Players

Listening to MP3 players at dangerous levels can cause permanent hearing loss. You can download apps to ensure noise exposure through your iPod does not exceed dangerous decibel levels. ?Volume Limit? is a switch in the ?settings? section of your iPhone or iPod to make sure that your hearing is protected. This allows you to set a maximum level for the volume output of the media player and even put a 4-digit code on it to keep it fixed.

3. Diabetes

The National Institute of Health (NIH) has found that hearing loss is twice as common in people with diabetes. Furthermore, of the 79 million adults with pre-diabetes, the rate of hearing loss is 30 percent higher than in those with normal blood sugar levels. Moderate weight loss, eating healthy and exercise can delay or prevent type 2 diabetes among adults at-risk for diabetes.

4. Smoking

Smoking is a risk factor for hearing loss. Smokers are nearly 70 percent more likely than nonsmokers to suffer hearing loss. Exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke almost doubles the risk of hearing loss among adolescents. Studies show that smoking, age and noise exposure together increase the risk for hearing loss more than each of these factors alone.

5. Cardiovascular disease

Not only does exercise help to prevent type 2 diabetes, but cardiovascular health and hearing health appear associated. Growing evidence suggests a link between hearing loss and poor cardiovascular health.

6. Earwax (Cerumen)

Don?t swab your ear canals. Cerumen cleans and lubricates the skin of the ear canal and provides protection from bacteria, fungi, insects and water. Attempting to remove cerumen or cleaning the ear canal with a cotton swab tends to push earwax deeper into the ear canal. Excess or impacted cerumen can press against the eardrum and/or occlude the external auditory canal resulting in hearing loss.

7. See an audiologist

Susceptibility to hearing loss is often undiagnosed and unrecognized. The Audiology Awareness Campaign, a nonprofit foundation aimed at providing the public with information on hearing loss, is sponsoring the fifth annual Listen Up America Week, National Hearing Screening Week, May 14 to 18, where audiologists will offer free hearing screenings nationwide. Call 888-833-EARS (3277) or visit www.audiologyawareness.com to find an audiologist in your area.

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Source: http://mallardlanding.com/blog/7-habits-to-prevent-hearing-loss-for-an-adult-living-in-maryland/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=7-habits-to-prevent-hearing-loss-for-an-adult-living-in-maryland

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VatorNews - Social gaming platform Heyzap raises $4.3 million

Social gaming company Heyzap?has raised $4.3 million, according to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company had previously raised $3.65 million from Union Square Ventures, Chris Dixon and Naval Ravikant, bringing its total raised to just under $8 million total.

It is unclear from the filing who invested the money, but TechCrunch is reporting that the money came from existing investor Union Square Ventures, and new investor Qualcomm. VatorNews reached out to Heyzap for more information, but it could not be reached for comment.

Founded in 2008 by?Jude Gomila?and?Immad Akhund, the San Francisco-based social discovery platform?graduated from Y Combinator in 2009. The company provides users with a way to check-in to their favorite games, discover new games and find a community of gamers. It allows users to let other gamers know what they are playing, leave or find tips for their favorite games and earn badges.

Heyzap currently partners with over 2,000 developers on iOS and Android, including PocketGems, Spacetime Studios, Animoca and Digital Chocolate, and currently has 9 million users.

The news was first reported by The Next Web on Friday.

The fall of Zynga

With the fall of?Zynga?in 2012, there is a big opening in the social gaming world, and Heyzap is no doubt looking to be the company to fill it.

In October, Zynga released a statement saying that it was?lowering its outlook?based on disappointing preliminary third-quarter results. Due to Zynga?s weak performance, JP Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth lowered his estimates for Facebook?s payments revenue in 2013 to $582 million from $797 million, based on how much of its revenue would be coming from Zynga.

It was just the latest step in the declining relationship between the two companies, which had seen its once mutually beneficially partnership crumble as Zynga?s games became less popular, and the company became more dependant on Facebook for revenue, even as the amount of revenue Facebook was getting from Zynga was declining.

Then, finally, in November, Zynga and Facebook?filed documents?with the SEC to loosen the relationship between the two companies.

According to the documents, Zynga will no longer be obligated to?display Facebook ads, or use Facebook credits in its games on its own platform. Any games offered on its platform, or other platforms, will still have to be offered on Facebook too, though there are some exceptions regarding real-money gambling games, mobile games and games launched in China or Japan.

The lessons from Zynga

Of course, other social gaming companies will have to take some of the lessons from Zynga if they want to succeed.

"Zynga made a bet to only develop on Facebook,"?Deven?Parekh, of?Insight Partners recently?told me. "It was a risky strategy."?And one that ultimately cost the company big time, once the relationship between the two fell apart.

In addition, he said, Zynga did not create games with long lifecycles. "They did not hold interest, they weren't deep," he said, and so casual gamers eventually fled.

In the coming year, other companies, such as Kixeye and Heyzap, will be able to grow better by doing the opposite of what Zynga did.

(Image source:?http://www.heyzap.com)

Source: http://vator.tv/news/2013-01-05-social-gaming-platform-heyzap-raises-43-million

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Assad to make rare speech as Syrian rebels draw nearer

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will deliver a rare speech on Sunday about the uprising against his rule, which has killed 60,000 people and brought civil war to the edge of his capital.

With insurgents fighting their way closer to the seat of his power, state media said in a statement that Assad would speak on Sunday morning about the "latest developments in Syria and the region", without giving details.

It will be the 47-year-old leader's first speech in months and his first public comments since he dismissed suggestions that he might go into exile to end the civil war, telling Russian television in November that he would "live and die" in Syria.

Insurgents are venturing ever closer into Damascus after bringing a crescent of suburbs under their control from the city's eastern outskirts to the southwest.

Assad's forces blasted rockets into the Jobar neighbourhood near the city centre on Saturday to try to drive out rebel fighters, a day after bombarding rebel-held areas in the eastern suburb of Daraya.

"The shelling began in the early hours of the morning, it has intensified since 11 a.m., and now it has become really heavy. Yesterday it was Daraya and today Jobar is the hottest spot in Damascus," an activist named Housam said by Skype from the capital.

Since Assad's last public comments, in November, rebels have strengthened their hold on swathes of territory across northern Syria, launched an offensive in the central province of Hama and endured weeks of bombardment by Assad's forces trying to dislodge them from Damascus's outer neighbourhoods.

Syria's political opposition has also won widespread international recognition. But Assad has continued to rely on support from Russia, China and Iran to hold firm and has used his air power to blunt rebel gains on the ground.

With the conflict showing no sign of abating, Syria's deputy foreign minister visited Iran on Saturday to seek to maintain the support of Assad's main ally in the region.

Iran's Fars news agency said Faisal al-Makdad would meet President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other Iranian officials.

MISSILE BATTERIES

Despite the estimated death toll of 60,000 announced by the United Nations earlier this week - a figure sharply higher than that given by activists - the West has shown little appetite for intervening against Assad in the way that NATO forces supported rebels who overthrew Libya's Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

But NATO is sending U.S. and European Patriot surface-to-air missile batteries to the Turkish-Syrian border.

The United States military said U.S. troops and equipment had begun arriving in Turkey on Friday for the deployment. Germany and the Netherlands are also sending Patriot batteries, which will take weeks to deploy fully.

Turkey and NATO say the missiles are a safeguard to protect southern Turkey from possible Syrian missile strikes. Syria and allies Russia and Iran say the deployments could spark an eventual military action by the Western alliance.

Syria's war has proved the longest and bloodiest of the conflicts that arose out of popular uprisings in Arab countries over the past two years and led to the downfall of autocratic regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen.

The war pits rebels mainly drawn from the Sunni Muslim majority against Assad, a member of the Shi'ite-derived Alawite minority sect, whose family has ruled Syria since his father seized power in a coup in 1970.

Syria's SANA state news agency said a journalist, Suheil al-Ali from the pro-government Addouniya TV, had died of wounds sustained in an attack by terrorists, the term government media use to refer to rebels. Syria was by far the most dangerous country for journalists last year, with 28 killed.

The opposition-linked Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict from Britain through a network of activists on the ground, reported fighting and shelling on Saturday in the eastern Euphrates River town of Deir al-Zor and near the central city of Hama, as well as near Damascus.

Assad's last formal speech was delivered to parliament seven months ago, in early June. "If we work together," he said, "I confirm that the end to this situation is near."

(Editing by Roger Atwood)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/assad-rare-speech-syrian-rebels-draw-nearer-024003266.html

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Handset makers scurry to join Year of the Phablet

SINGAPORE/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Call it phablet, phonelet, tweener or super smartphone, but the clunky mobile phone - closer in size to a tablet than the smartphone of a couple of years back - is here to stay.

A surprise hit of 2012, it is drawing in more users, more handset makers and is shaping the way we consume content.

"We expect 2013 to be the year of the phablet," said Neil Mawston, UK-based executive director of Strategy Analytics' global wireless practice.

While Samsung Electronics Co Ltd has blazed a trail with its once-mocked Galaxy Note devices, now other manufacturers are scurrying to catch up.

At this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Chinese telecommunications giants ZTE Corp and Huawei Technologies Co Ltd will launch their own.

ZTE, which collaborated with Italy's designer Stefano Giovannoni for the Nubia phablet, is scheduled to launch its 5-inch Grand S, while Huawei brings out the Ascend Mate, sporting a whopping 6.1-inch screen, making it only slightly smaller than Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet.

"Users have realized that a nearly 5-inch screen smartphone isn't such a cumbersome device," said Joshua Flood, senior analyst at ABI Research in Britain.

Driving the phablet's shift to the mainstream is a confluence of trends. Users prefer larger screens because they are consuming more visual content on mobile devices than before, and using them less for voice calls - the phablet's weak spot.

And as WiFi-only tablets become more popular, so has interest among commuters in devices that combine the best of both, while on the move.

According to the latest Ericsson Mobility Report, the monthly data traffic for every smartphone will rise fourfold between now and 2018 to 1,900 megabytes.

The upshot is a market for phablets that will quadruple in value to $135 billion in three years, according to Barclays. Shipments of gadgets that are 5 inches or bigger in screen size will surge by nearly nine-fold to 228 million during the same period, though estimates vary because no one can agree on where smartphones stop and phablets start.

But that's the point, some say.

"I think phone size was a preconceived notion based on voice usage," said John Berns, a Singapore-based executive who works in the information technology industry. He recently upgraded his Note for the newer Note 2 and bought another for his girlfriend for Christmas. "Smaller was better until phones got smart, became visual."

Samsung has been both the engine and beneficiary. While other players shipped devices with larger screens earlier - Dell Inc launched its Streak in 2010 - it was only when the Korean behemoth launched the Galaxy Note in late 2011, with its 5.3-inch screen, that users took an interest.

"The Streak was launched at a time when 3-inch smartphones were standard and the leap to a 5-inch Streak was a jump too far for consumers," says Strategy Analytics' Mawston.

"The Galaxy Note was launched when 4-inch smartphones had become commonplace, and the leap to 5-inch was no longer such a chasm."

THE BIGGER, THE BETTER

Since then Samsung has bet big on bigger: its updated Note has a 5.5-inch screen and its flagship Galaxy S3 - the best-selling smartphone in the third quarter of 2012 - has a screen that puts it in the phablet category for some analysts.

Samsung accounted for around three quarters of all phablets shipped last year, according to Barclays' Taipei-based analyst Dale Gai.

Samsung's marketing heft has paved the way for others. LG Electronics Inc accounted for 14 percent of shipments in the third quarter of last year, according to Strategy Analytics.

HTC Corp's 5-inch Butterfly - called the Droid DNA in the United States - has been selling well in places where Samsung is less dominant, according to Taipei-based Yuanta Securities analyst Dennis Chan. The first batch sold out soon after its December launch in Taiwan.

"I don't think we can say that Samsung invented phablets," said Lv Qianhao, head of handset strategy at ZTE. "But it did do a lot to promote this product category, which helped create tremendous demand."

Phablets are also proving popular in emerging markets.

A poll of nearly 5,000 readers of Yahoo's Indonesian website chose Samsung's Galaxy Note 2 as their favorite mobile phone of 2012, ahead of the iPhone 5.

Kristian Tjahjono, a technology journalist who posted the poll, said phablets were a natural fit for Indonesians who liked tablets but also liked making phone calls.

But while those in such markets who can afford them are going for the high-end devices, the door is opening for cheaper models. Tjahjono pointed to Lenovo's 5-inch S880, which has a lower resolution screen and sells for about $250, which is around a third of the price of Galaxy Note 2.

SWEET SPOT

Falling component prices will add to demand. The total cost of an upper-end phablet, its bill of materials, will likely fall to 2,000 yuan ($323) this year, says Gai from Barclays, and will halve within two years.

"One thousand yuan is a very sweet spot for China," he said.

India is also a fan.

Vivek Deshpande, who manages global strategy for Shenzhen-based mobile phone maker Zopo, says that while the Indian and Chinese markets are different, they both share a common appetite for aspirational devices: phones big enough for their owners to show off. This is changing the direction of lower end players.

"Zopo's primary focus is now on phablets," said Deshpande.

Even Samsung is pushing its own creation downmarket: In Las Vegas it will unveil the Galaxy Grand, a 5-inch device that lacks some of the resolution and muscle of its bigger brethren but will be aimed at markets like India. There is a version offering a dual SIM slot, a popular feature for those wanting to arbitrage cheaper call and data plans.

As phablets slide into the mainstream, handset makers are trying to find ways of differentiating.

As well as hiring Italian designer Giovannoni better known for his minimalist, sleek bathrooms, ZTE also came up with an onscreen keypad that inclines to one side of the screen, depending on whether the user is left- or right-handed.

Samsung, however, not only has first mover advantage, it can also build on its expertise in display.

Barclay's Gai says Samsung is expected to introduce a thinner, unbreakable AMOLED screen which will leave room for bigger batteries.

"That will put Samsung in good stead to still dominate the market," he said. Despite pressure in China, Gai estimates Samsung's share of smartphones with 5-inch or larger screens to fall only from 73 percent in 2012 to 58 percent in 2016, which is still the lion's share.

By then consumers will see the phablet for what it is, says Horace Dediu, a Finnish analyst who runs a technology blog asymco.com. Its rise is part of a wider march of computing power into wherever we reside - the living room, the train, bed or work.

"It makes sense that we're moving towards a time where we are served not by a computer or a netbook or a phone, but rather that we have these screens scattered around and available for us to play with," he said. "In a way the phablet is not a bulky phone but a very delicate computer."

(Editing by Emily Kaiser)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/handset-makers-scurry-join-phablet-211558347.html

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Home Business Mastery ? 3 Quick Tips to Generate Free Traffic

You get by giving. No way around this one as you grow your home business. Givers get. A lot. People who try to get before giving run into some hairy problems. It is called karma. But you are smart. You know the many benefits of generating free traffic and are willing to pay the content price to get the traffic and grow your work at home venture.

Forget tricks and sly approaches to boost your squeeze page views. You generate cash online by giving, and giving freely, of your time and talents.

Home Business Mastery

Tip 1 ? Create 2 to 3 Pieces of Content Daily

To really rake in the network marketing leads create 2 to 3 piece of home business content daily. Shoot 1 video and write a few blog posts. Put out value to receive value. Help people generate cash online to generate cash online. This all works so tremendously easy if you simply commit to making it work. Show up daily, create, generate free traffic.

Tip 2 ? Share the Content on Social Networking Sites

Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus carry a seriously high page rank so getting clicks through these sites means tons of link juice for you. Post your latest cash gifting blog posts on the social networks to draw in steady, free, targeted traffic. Share people?s content on FB or twitter to expand your presence.

Some of your buddies return the kind act and you reach into new, targeted audiences. Not a bad way to multiply your free traffic quickly, right?

Tip 3 ? Post Your Content to Social Bookmarking Sites

Many network marketing entrepreneurs ignore social bookmarking sites but these sites also carry serious link juice. Post your latest home business articles and videos to these networks in order to bump up your page rank and generate passive traffic through search engines and social networks.

Use the Tools But Drive with Content

Using sharing tools rocks but your content is the traffic generator. Solve problems with your blog posts to generate cash online. Entertain and inform with your internet business videos to generate steady, free traffic. What you give freely results in a wave of getting, which is a cool way to make a living.

Be willing to offer free content to help solve problems now and you find more people seeking you out to solve your problems, and these folks show up with money in hand. Some join your cash gifting or network marketing team, others pay for your services. All because you gave freely, creating helpful content on a persistent basis and sharing your know how in the right spots.

For more free tips like these CLICK HERE NOW

Please Share This Post Across Your Social Networks

Ryan Biddulph

Former fired security guard and current world traveler, Ryan Biddulph went from having a net worth of 4 cents to generating steady cash flow online while living in tropical paradises like Bali, Phuket and Hoi An. How does he help you burn your credit cards? To find out Click Here

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Source: http://cashwithatrueconscience.com/rbblog/home-business-mastery-3-quick-tips-to-generate-free-traffic/

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Flesh-Eating Flies Map Forest Biodiversity

Blowflies dine on animal carcasses ? and their feeding habits could help researchers to track mammals. Image: Flickr/bareego

The blowflies and flesh flies that settle on dead animals aren't just feasting on the carrion ? they're sampling their DNA. Scientists in Germany have now shown that this DNA persists for long enough to be sequenced, providing a quick and cost-effective snapshot of mammal diversity in otherwise inaccessible rainforests.

Researchers stumbled on the grisly cataloguing technique while studying a form of anthrax that kills chimpanzees in C?te d'Ivoire. They started sampling flies to see whether the insects could harbor the anthrax bacterium after feasting on infected bodies, but soon realized ?that detecting mammal DNA from flies could also be an extremely cool tool for assessing biodiversity?, says team leader S?bastien Calvignac-Spencer, an evolutionary biologist at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin.?

By baiting nets and traps with meat, the team collected carrion flies from Ta? National Park in C?te d'Ivoire and Kirindy Reserve in Madagascar, and found that 40% of them carried mammal DNA. The researchers sequenced this material to identify 16 mammals in C?te d'Ivoire, including six of the nine local primate species, as well as Jentink?s duiker (Cephalophus jentinki) ? an endangered antelope of which fewer than 3,500 remain. In Madagascar, the team identified four mammal species ? including two lemurs ? representing one in eight of all the island?s mammals. The work will appear on 7 January in Molecular Ecology.

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The DNA is ?not gorgeous, but still usable?, says Calvignac-Spencer: his team was able to recover fragments that are several hundred base pairs long ? something that would be harder to find in animals such as mammals, whose guts are more efficient at breaking food down with acids and enzymes. ?Flies have a much less sophisticated digestive system,? he says.

As well as providing inventories of species, the flies could help to track the status of endangered populations far more effectively than active searches, he suggests. For example, the Ebola virus killed thousands of gorillas in Republic of Congo and Gabon ten years ago, but active monitoring found only 44 carcasses. ?And these were gorillas!? says Calvignac-Spencer. ?Just imagine how hard it might be to monitor die-offs of bats or rodents,? he adds. ?Flies could really be precious in this context.??

?It?s an extremely simple but clever idea,? says Thomas Gilbert, a geneticist at the University of Copenhagen who last year showed that leeches can also preserve the DNA of the animals they feed on. Gilbert says that the beauty of the latest study is ?that flies are so widely distributed in comparison to our leeches. They can sample where we can't.? However, he notes that DNA is more stably preserved in leeches, so it lasts longer. ?Really, the methods are very complementary,? he says.

This article is reproduced with permission from the magazine Nature. The article was first published on January 4, 2013.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=4a28a0e4c60362e421fc5007fd04b78b

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Obama's immigration exemptions poison needed reforms, say critics ...

Advocates of a compromise reform of immigration law say their efforts are being hampered by President Barack Obama?s policy of ignoring unwanted portions of previous immigration-law compromises.

?It would be ridiculous for Republicans to actually believe that the Obama administration is going to uphold its end of any compromise,? said Rosemary Jenks, the director of government relations at NumbersUSA, which wants a reform that would invite fewer, but higher skilled, immigrants

?If Obama does not believe the existing laws apply to him, why would he believe a new compromise applies to him?? she said.

Obama has announced he will introduce a draft immigration reform bill early this year.

But his deputies also said Jan. 3 they would routinely award hardship exemptions from a penalty mandated in the 1996 immigration law. The exemptions for be provided to many illegal immigrants who have married to a U.S. citizen.

The Jan. 3 announcement follows Obama?s declaration in June 2012 that he would spend taxpayer money to grant work permits to younger illegal immigrants, said Steven Camarota, the research director at the Center for Immigration Studies.

It shows that Obama doesn?t need to get Congress? approval for the amnesty he wants, Camarota said. ?By doing all this [via regulations], he is in creating an amnesty by fiat,? unless Congress counters his unilateral moves, he said.

The announcement?received much favorable coverage in established media outlets, such as The Washington Post, and came?as the nation?s high unemployment rate rose in December.

Roughly 10 million illegal immigrants live in the United States. Many are related to U.S. citizens or legal residents. Roughly 23 million Americans are unemployed, underemployed or have dropped out of the workforce since 2009.

The 1996 provision said illegal immigrants who wanted to claim residency ? for example, after marrying a citizen ? must return to their home country for three or ten years before getting residency. The provision was intended to hinder marriages to illegal immigrants while protecting routine immigration of citizens? foreign spouses.

Under the 1996 law, illegal immigrants who had stayed in the United States for up to one year would be delayed three years before they could return. Illegals who had stayed in the U.S. for more than one year would be delayed 10 years.

By promising waivers for illegal immigrant spouses, parents and minor children of new citizens, Obama is reducing the barriers to illegal immigrants gaining residency and work-permits, said Camarota.

Illegal immigrants can apply for the new waiver without a risk of being deported, even if they have a criminal record, he said. If they get the waiver, they?ll apply for residency via the U.S. embassy in their home country. If they don?t get the waiver, he said, they?ll simply stay in the United States.

?It is it ?Heads I win, tails you lose,?? he said.

The decision makes fools of millions of law-abiding foreigners awaiting permission to immigrate, he added.

Instead of jury-rigging an expensive escape hatch for illegals, the president should have followed the constitution and asked Congress to change the law, said Camarota.

?If you want to get rid of the 3-year/10-year bar, you?ve got to go Congress, make your case, have it passed and signed into law,? he said.

?Congress specifically passed the 3-year/10-year bar in 1996 to discourage illegal immigration ? [but] we have the president simply saying I don?t like this law, so I won?t enforce it,? he said.

?There?s no difference between this [immigration exemption] and the next presidents saying ? ?I?m not going to enforce the corporate income-tax and I?ll give any corporation that doesn?t pay its income tax a waiver,?? he added.

Other immigration reform groups praised the administration?s exemption policy and urged its expansion.

?For too long, thousands of immigrants with U.S. citizen family members haven?t applied for permanent residency out of fear of being separated from their families,? said a statement form America?s Voice, which supports immigration change that helps new immigrants bring in their extended families, without regard for education, productivity, age or health.

?This new rule puts families first and allows immigrants to apply for permanent residency without having to spend months or years away from their loved ones,? the group said.

American?s Voice also said the new exemption does not go far enough.

?The family members of legal permanent residents are not yet eligible for these waivers, nor are bi-national same sex couples,? it said.

Jenks slammed other immigration groups that supported the exemption.

?There?s no question that the advocacy groups want as much immigration as possible, however it is accomplished, legally or illegally, by bending, breaking or ignoring the rules,? Jenks said.

Obama?s refusal to enforce the 1996 law will spur the arrival of new immigrants, just as the formal unemployment rate nudged up again to 7.8 percent, the same rate as in January 2009.

In December, the formal unemployment rate is 23.5 percent among teenagers, 11.5 percent among people aged below 30, 22.1 percent for younger African Americans, and 12.2 percent for younger Hispanics. Millions of additional Americans have given up looking for work, gone back to school, retired or claimed disability.

Immigration is also politically significant.

Obama?s 2012 support for Latino illegal immigrants helped him win emotional support among Latino communities, despite his unpopular economic policies.

Up to 1.76 million illegal immigrants, including 800,000 who are now younger than 18, are eligible for the work-permits that Obama made available in June, according to the Migration Policy Institute. However, only 20 percent of the eligible adults have some college experience, despite the increasing unemployment rate among low-skilled workers in a high-skill economy.

Correspondingly, many working-class and middle-class whites voters who worry about employment also dislike amnesties for illegals. But relatively few turned out to support GOP candidate Gov. Mitt Romney in Ohio, Wisconsin, Virginia, Florida and other critical states.

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Source: http://dailycaller.com/2013/01/04/obamas-immigration-exemptions-poison-needed-reforms-say-critics/

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