Selasa, 31 Januari 2012

Mary Tyler Moore honored for lifetime achievement (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? Mary Tyler Moore made it after all.

The 75-year-old actress, who as Mary Richards "turned the world on with her smile" in her groundbreaking 1970s sitcom "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," received the lifetime achievement award at Sunday night's 18th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.

"MTM. There's probably not a person in the civilized world who doesn't know what that means," said Dick Van Dyke, her former co-star in the equally appealing 1960s sit-com "The Dick Van Dyke show," as he introduced her.

He noted Moore's achievements as an Oscar-nominated actress, a dancer and a Hollywood executive whose MTM Enterprises has produced several other hit TV shows.

As she accepted her award, Moore revealed how the civilized world almost never did hear of MTM, who was told in the opening theme song of her show each week, "You're gonna make it after all."

When she entered show business at age 18 in 1955, Moore said, there were already six others Mary Moores in the Screen Actors Guild.

Told to change her name, she quickly added Tyler, the middle name of both her and her father, George.

"I was Mary Tyler Moore. I spoke it out loud. Mary Tyler Moore. It sounded right so I wrote it down on the form, and it looked right," she said. "It was right. SAG was happy, my father was happy, and tonight, after having the privilege of working in this business among the most creative and talented people imaginable, I too am happy, after all."

Before the awards show Van Dyke had stopped on the red carpet to remember working with Moore on his show.

"She was 23 and had never done comedy. I never saw somebody pick it up so fast. I still have a crush on her," he said.

The show's audience, including Moore's former co-star Betty White, showered both her and Van Dyke with standing ovations, leading Van Dyke to remind them, "I'm just a presenter."

Van Dyke and Moore were so believable as husband and wife Rob and Laura Petrie on "The Dick Van Dyke Show" that many viewers thought they were married in real life.

As Laura Petrie, Moore also turned Capri pants into a fashion trend during the show's run.

Van Dyke noted they fit her so well, which created such a concern during that more conservative era, that she was limited to wearing them in only one scene per show.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_en_ce/us_sag_awards_mary_tyler_moore

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Rick Santorum says 3-year-old daughter recovering, and he's back to campaigning

Rick Santorum said that his 3-year-old daughter has now 'turned a corner' after being diagnosed with pneumonia. Santorum is schedule to speak in Missouri and Minnesota Monday.?

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum said Sunday his daughter Bella is recovering from pneumonia after a rough 36 hours.

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Santorum spoke with Florida supporters by telephone from 3-year-old Bella's hospital room and said doctors hope she can go home in the next few days.

The former Pennsylvania senator also said, "We're going to get out on the campaign trail later tomorrow [Monday] ... heading out to the Midwest, and start campaigning in the next states as we move this campaign forward."

RECOMMENDED: 10 things to know about Rick Santorum

Santorum scheduled a speech Monday in Missouri and another event in southwest Minnesota ? two states with early February contests. He then planned to head to Colorado and Nevada for events Tuesday.

Santorum is scheduled for an afternoon appearance at St. Charles Community College in Cottleville, Mo., followed by an evening event in southwestern Minnesota. His event at a Pizza Ranch in Luverne, Minn., would make him the first 2012 presidential candidate to campaign in the state this year.

Minnesota holds its precinct caucuses next week, but the results of a preference poll are nonbinding. Texas Rep. Ron Paul is airing TV ads in the state. Santorum and Paul have all but conceded Florida, where Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are competing hard for a win Tuesday.

"I feel very, very good about where we are and where the campaign is going," the candidate said.

But during the call with Florida voters, Santorum? opened with remarks about his daughter. "She without a doubt has turned the corner," he said. But he cautioned she "isn't out of the woods yet."

Santorum called his daughter's improvement a "miraculous turnaround" after an unexpected detour from the campaign just days before Tuesday's Florida primary.

Santorum got to his home in Virginia around midnight Friday for a quick break to do his taxes, but found his daughter "was not doing well."

"I was up with her a lot of the night," he said. "By the end of the day, it was really, really clear she was struggling."

Saturday evening, Santorum aides announced Bella had been admitted to the hospital and they canceled his morning interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" and church services in Miami. His aides later canceled his trip to Florida and instead sent his 20-year-old daughter to campaign for him.

Santorum described the situation as a "very, very tough night last night" but said by late Sunday Bella was "alert and back to her own beautiful, happy girl."

"It's been a very hectic 36 hours," Santorum said. "Life in the Santorum family has dramatically improved since the late afternoon."

RECOMMENDED: 10 things to know about Rick Santorum

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/o8hhGfqLKQk/Rick-Santorum-says-3-year-old-daughter-recovering-and-he-s-back-to-campaigning

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Senators back bill to OK Keystone (Politico)

Senate Republicans on Monday introduced a bill that would have Congress approve the Keystone XL pipeline instead of waiting for President Barack Obama to grant a permit.

The proposal puts the senators on a similar but distinct track from House GOP leaders seeking to take control of the issue away from the White House.

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The Senate bill ? co-sponsored by 43 Republicans and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) ? would greenlight the pipeline outside of Nebraska. Inside the Cornhusker State, Nebraskan officials would have as long as they need to find an alternative route.

"We tried to address any and all concerns that have been raised," Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), one of the bill's lead sponsors, told POLITICO last week. Hoeven said Congress has the authority under the Constitution's Commerce Clause to oversee commerce with foreign powers.

The Congressional Research Service this month ruled that Hoeven's bill ? and by extension a similar bill introduced Tuesday by Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) ? meets constitutional muster. "And so we have the constitutional authority to do it and this just says, 'OK, we move forward with the project, it's deemed approved,'" Hoeven said.

The bill's sponsors include Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Foreign Relations ranking member Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) and Energy and Natural Resources ranking member Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). In the House, Poe has attracted 11 co-sponsors so far, including Oklahoma Democrat Dan Boren.

But House Republican leaders are rallying behind a bill from Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) that would allow the independent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve the permit while still taking it out of the hands of the White House and State Department.

"I think either bill holds up to constitutional scrutiny," Terry said last week. "I think [the] public would be more in favor of giving it to an agency that's experts in pipelines than just having Congress making that decision."

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 10:43 a.m. on January 30, 2012.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/politico_rss/rss_politico_mostpop/http___www_politico_com_news_stories0112_72148_html/44354965/SIG=11mmbkvmn/*http%3A//www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/72148.html

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GOP tries new strategy to get Canada pipeline

Republican lawmakers will try to force the Obama administration to approve the Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL pipeline by attaching it to a bill that Congress will consider next month, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said on Sunday.

  1. Other political news of note

    1. NBC/Marist poll: Romney leads Gingrich by 15 in Fla.

      Mitt Romney may be on his way to a decisive victory in the Florida GOP primary Tuesday, according to a new NBC News-Marist poll.

    2. Santorum resumes campaign as daughter improves
    3. Ahead in new polls, Romney aims for Newt knockout
    4. Gingrich labels Romney a 'liberal'
    5. GOP tries new strategy to get Canada pipeline

President Barack Obama earlier this month denied TransCanada's application for the oil sands pipeline, citing lack of time to review an alternative route within a 60-day window for action set by Congress.

The denial does not block TransCanada from reapplying and the company intends to do just that.

But Republicans have since been looking for a vehicle to claim the $7 billion project as their own, and Boehner said that would be a House Republican energy and highway bill.

"If (Keystone) is not enacted before we take up the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act, it will be part of it," Boehner said on ABC's "This Week" news program.

Environmentalists and some Democrats oppose Keystone, citing higher greenhouse gas emissions, while most Republicans say it would create needed jobs.

Story: With oil pipeline to US on hold, Canada eyes China

Republicans in the Senate also plan to introduce a Keystone bill. Some Senate Democrats back the pipeline, but its passage is not guaranteed in the body.

Parts of the House Republican plan, such as opening up the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration, stand little chance of passing the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate.

Attaching Keystone to a pending deal to extend payroll tax cuts for workers, which has greater bipartisan backing than the highway bills, is another vehicle Republicans are considering.

Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46181992/ns/politics-capitol_hill/

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Senin, 30 Januari 2012

Belgium strikes on day of EU summit (AP)

BRUSSELS ? Belgian trade unions organizing a nationwide strike Monday called on leaders attending the European Union summit in Brussels to move away from austerity measures and start boosting growth and employment.

The 27 EU leaders converging on Brussels for their informal summit were largely unaffected by a train and public transport strike, even though some had to come through a small military airport instead of the main one in Brussels.

"We used our military plane ? very small ? but it functions. It is quite cold, but nevertheless we came," said Finland Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen.

Belgium's three main unions have called for efforts to reinvigorate the European economy by centering on taxing multinationals and boosting public investment instead of slashing public services and imposing a pension reform that forces people to work longer and cuts payments in some cases.

One of the country's airports was closed and Brussels' international airport suffered cancellations, delays and diversions. Traffic delays were limited since many people either worked from home or took a day off.

Trade union leaders converged at the summit building for a small demonstration, demanding a better deal for the workers.

"What we need is growth. Growth creates jobs. And you don't get growth when you suck the oxygen out of the economy by austerity, austerity, and then some," said Christian Democrat union leader Marc Leemans.

Overall, 23 million people are jobless across the EU, 10 percent of the active population.

As part of the demonstration at the summit building, union leaders delivered a symbolic "eurobond" ? pressing for a joint pooling of debt in the eurozone, a measure that has been steadfastly opposed by Germany. Struggling member states like Greece, Portugal and Ireland would benefit most from such bonds.

"At this stage, the poor members states are left in misery and the rich stand by and watch," said Leemans.

After two years of centering summit efforts on austerity and ways to keep debt down, the leaders are assessing ways to spur employment on Monday.

"Only now, we are talking about work and employment. It is too late, but better now than never," said socialist trade union leader Rudy De Leeuw.

Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo said both could go hand in hand.

"Restoring growth that is what is essential for us. Also, we need more budgetary discipline. Together these two elements offer a way out of the crisis," Di Rupo said.

To help jump-start the EU toward more growth and employment, the EU Commission is proposing to the summit leaders to redirect euro82 billion in existing funds toward countries in dire need of help to fix their labor market.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_belgium_strike

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Quix Mixer Hangs Around Looking Cool

I have found through experimentation that one of the best hand mixers available to man is a power drill with a ballon whisk clamped into the chuck. It will fluff up egg whites and cream in no time, is free (assuming you already own the drill and whisk) and is about as butch as you [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/hUAt1Ex0ldE/

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School bans fuzzy boots used to hide cell phones (Reuters)

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) ? Singer Nancy Sinatra may have had boots made for walking, but she never attended Pottstown Middle School.

Starting Monday the Philadelphia suburban district is banning the wearing of fuzzy open-top boots, including the popular Ugg brand, to middle school classes because students have been stashing cell phones in the loose footwear, according to district director of community relations John Armato.

"Cell phones are a problem for obvious reasons," Armato said.

Superintendent Reed Lindley said the school principal asked for the boot ban "because of the classroom disruptions that are resulting from ringing cell phones."

Students at the school can avoid going toe-to-toe with school officials by wearing boots that lace up and usually have a snugger fit.

First time offenders will get detention, and subsequent violations include two detentions, followed by confiscation of the phone, Armato said.

Middle school parent Adrienne Beyer said she thinks the ban is extreme.

"I understand there may be a handful of kids that shove cell phones down their boots, but why does the handful have to ruin it for the other 600 students? But, I said to my daughter, 'It's a rule and we're going to follow it,'" Beyer said.

Ugg sheepskin boots originated in Australia and New Zealand and have become popular with pre-teens and teenagers in the United States in recent years.

(Editing By Barbara Goldberg and Greg McCune)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120129/us_nm/us_boots_uggs_pennsylvania

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Minggu, 29 Januari 2012

All Day Pajamas, Boisterous Debates, and Fixing the Oscars

?Literature of the 0.1 Percent: At Last, the latest of Edward St. Aubyn?s masterful novels of privilege and the ways it warps its victims,? by Jessica Winter. An author who comes from privilege writes his fifth and perhaps final autobiographical novel about his advantaged yet anguished main character, Patrick Melrose. Winter praised the book saying, ?At Last suggests, boredom?not therapeutic epiphany, not substance-aided euphoria? may finally cure the series? now-middle-aged Melrose.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=ad5548fa323767394374abeecab57124

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Hacker group Anonymous targets Mexican websites (Reuters)

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) ? The activist hacker group Anonymous attacked three Mexican government websites on Friday in protest at a proposed bill that seeks to toughen local laws about online file-sharing.

The affected sites belong to the Interior Ministry, the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. The homepage of the Interior Ministry remained offline by mid-afternoon.

"We demand the Mexican government not continue with this law because they will take away our freedom of speech and file sharing," Anonymous said in a video posted on Youtube ahead of Friday's action.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120127/tc_nm/us_mexico_hackers

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MasterCard's QkR mobile payment system enters trial in Australia

QkR
MasterCard is all over the map when it comes to mobile payments. The credit company will partner with anyone, anywhere, anytime if it means getting new customers and making a buck on the deal. Its latest offering is called QkR, an Australian effort with support from the Hoyts chain of movie theaters and Commonwealth Bank. The initial trial run will be at La Premiere cinemas, where customers will be able to order and pay for food and beverages right from their seat with the QkR app. To initiate the transaction a you scan the QR code or tap the NFC tag attached to the arm rest, and a staff member delivers the trough of popcorn and kiddie pool of coke right to your seat. Now all we need is this sort of high-end treatment in American movie theaters. Check out the video after the break to see it in action.

Continue reading MasterCard's QkR mobile payment system enters trial in Australia

MasterCard's QkR mobile payment system enters trial in Australia originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/27/mastercards-qkr-mobile-payment-system-enters-trial-in-australia/

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Obama decries rising cost of college education (AP)

ANN ARBOR, Mich. ? President Barack Obama called Friday for an overhaul of the higher education financial aid system, warning that colleges and universities that fail to control spiraling tuition costs could lose federal funds.

The election year proposal was also a political appeal to young people and working families, two important voting blocs for Obama. But the initiative faces long odds in Congress, which must approve nearly all aspects of the president's plan.

Speaking to students at the University of Michigan, Obama said he was "putting colleges on notice" that the era of unabated tuition hikes is over.

"You can't assume that you'll just jack up tuition every single year. If you can't stop tuition from going up, then the funding you get from taxpayers each year will go down," Obama said on the final stop of a three-day post-State of the Union trip to promote components of his economic agenda.

Obama told the largely supportive student audience that the nation's economic future depended on making sure every American can afford a world-class education.

"In the coming decade, 60 percent of new jobs will require more than a high school diploma," he said. "Higher education is not a luxury. It's an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford."

The president first announced the outlines of the financial aid proposal during Tuesday's State of the Union address. His plan targets what is known as "campus based" aid given to colleges to distribute in areas such as Perkins loans or in work study programs. Of the $142 billion in federal grants and loans distributed in the last school year, about $3 billion went to these programs. His plan calls for increasing that type of aid to $10 billion annually.

He also wants to create a "Race to the Top" competition in higher education similar to the one his administration used on K-12 to encourage states to better use higher education dollars in exchange for $1 billion in prize dollars. A second competition called "First in the World" would encourage innovation to boost productivity on campuses.

Obama is also pushing for the creation of new tools to allow students to determine which colleges and universities have the best value.

Some in the higher education community are nervous that the Obama administration could be setting a new precedent in the federal government's role in controlling the rising costs of college. Following the speech, Molly Corbett Broad, president of the American Council on Education, issued a statement saying there's concern that the proposal would "move decision-making in higher education from college campuses to Washington, D.C."

Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., a former education secretary, said the autonomy of U.S. higher education is what makes it the best in the world, and he's questioned whether Obama can enforce any plan that shifts federal aid away from colleges and universities without hurting students.

"It's hard to do without hurting students, and it's not appropriate to do," Alexander said. "The federal government has no business doing this."

But Obama education secretary, Arne Duncan, said Friday that institutions of higher learning should get federal dollars based in part on their performance.

"Historically, we've funded universities whether or not they've done a good job of graduating people, whether or not they've done a good job of keeping down tuition," Duncan said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the ranking member of the House Education and Workforce Committee, said there is bipartisan concern in Congress about the rising costs of college, and he's hopeful the president's plan will open up a dialogue about the problem. Some Republicans in the past, including Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif., have offered proposals similar to the president's.

The administration has already taken a series of steps to expand the availability of grants and loans and to make loans easier to pay back. During the State of the Union, Obama spelled out other proposals to make college more affordable, such as extending a tuition tax break and asking Congress to keep loan interest rates from doubling in July.

His administration has also targeted career college programs ? primarily at for-profit institutions ? with high loan default rates among graduates over multiple years by taking away their ability to participate in such programs.

But until now, the administration has done little to turn its attention to the rising cost of tuition at traditional colleges and universities.

The average in-state tuition and fees at four-year public colleges last fall rose 8.3 percent and, with room and board, now exceed $17,000 a year, according to the College Board. Rising tuition costs have been blamed on a variety of factors, including a decline in state dollars, an over-reliance on federal student loan dollars and competition for the best facilities and professors.

___

Hefling reported from Washington.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/education/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama

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California orders hike in number of super clean cars

California, long a national leader in cutting auto pollution, pushed the envelope further Friday as state regulators approved rules to cut greenhouse gas emissions from cars and put significantly more pollution-free vehicles on the road in coming years.

The package of Air Resources Board regulations would require auto manufacturers to offer more zero- or very low-emission cars such as battery electric, hydrogen fuel cell and plug-in hybrid vehicles in California starting with model year 2018.

By 2025, one in seven new autos sold in California, or roughly 1.4 million, must be ultra-clean, moving what is now a driving novelty into the mainstream.

The board also strengthened future emission standards for all new cars, making them the toughest in the nation. The rules are intended by 2025 to slash smog-forming pollutants from new vehicles by 75 percent and reduce by a third their emissions that contribute to global warming.

"Today's vote ? represents a new chapter for clean cars in California and in the nation as a whole," said Air Resources Board chairwoman Mary Nichols.

Auto manufacturers are uneasy with some of the provisions but generally support the package, which took three years to develop. "We know the board wants to push the automakers," said Mike Love, national regulatory affairs manager for Toyota Motor Sales. "We said we're willing to go along with you and do our best."

The requirements are expected to drive up car prices. The board staff predicts that the advanced technologies needed to meet the new standards will add $1,900 to the price of a new car in 2025. But that would be more than offset by $6,000 in estimated fuel savings over the life of the vehicle, according to the board's staff.

Zero-emission autos now make up a minuscule portion of the more than 26 million cars in California, with just a few hundred fuel cell cars and about 34,000 battery electric autos on the road.

"The fact that we are going to change what consumers can buy is one of the most important things we can do," board member Ken Yeager said before the panel, at the end of a two-day hearing in Los Angeles, voted 9 to 0 to approve the rules.

Manufacturers are poised to introduce a number of new electric and plug-in hybrid models. "This year, two dozen or more new vehicles are going to come out in the market," Love said. "Everyone is trying their idea for EVs (electric vehicles), plug-ins."

Nichols said she has seen "a real change in attitudes on the part of auto companies that have seen the handwriting on the wall.... The reality is that companies see the future is going to be in electric drivetrain vehicles. They're moving there as fast they can."

But automakers do still have concerns, particularly whether consumers will buy the ultra-clean cars.

"Automakers are mandated to build products that consumers are not mandated to buy," said Gloria Bergquist, a spokeswoman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which includes Chrysler Group, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. "If the electric vehicle infrastructure is not in place, consumers may be reluctant to buy these technologies."

Jack Nerad, Kelley Blue Book market analyst, predicted that "the added expense and lesser versatility of the 'environmental' vehicles" will continue to make them less desirable to consumers. Manufacturers might have to sell clean cars at a loss to meet the requirements, and "buyers of conventional cars will pick up the remainder of the tab," he said. One of the most disputed elements of the rules centered on a clause that in the early years of the mandate gives credits to automakers who reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of their fleets more than required. Those credits would cut the number of electric, fuel cell and plug-in hybrids the companies had to offer in California.

Jay Friedland, legislative director of Plug In America, called it "a loophole you can drive a truck through" that will undermine the 2025 goal of having ultra-clean cars make up 15% of the new vehicles sold in the state.

A zero-emission mandate is not new in California. It dates from 1990 but was progressively watered down over the years.

The state's ambitious goals to slash its greenhouse gas production renewed focus on the role that super clean cars could play.

"The steady drumbeat of the need to get off the dependence on petroleum is really what is driving this," Nichols said. "It's taken longer than we've hoped."

Starting with model year 2015, automakers will have to meet tougher standards for smog-forming emissions and, in 2017, greater limits on pollutants that contribute to global warming.

By 2025, the standards are designed to reduce the average smog-forming emissions of new cars and light trucks by 75% compared with those sold today.

The greenhouse gas limits, which would be the same as the federal government has proposed for vehicles nationally, should cut those auto emissions by a third more in 2025 than required under current standards. To meet the new limits, the board staff anticipates the auto industry will make greater use of advanced hybrid technology, stronger and lighter materials and improved emission control equipment.

If oil companies don't reach an agreement with the state to voluntarily install alternative fueling stations, such as for hydrogen fuel cells, the new rules will also require them to do so when a certain number of cars using that fuel is reached. The outlets could be placed at an existing gasoline station or a free-standing site.

"I hope the oil industry will get on board rather than dragging its feet," said board member Hector De La Torre.

bettina.boxall@latimes.com

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/science/~3/Wtx2mj-IKg4/la-me-clean-car-20120127,0,7155961.story

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Sabtu, 28 Januari 2012

U.S. growth quickens in Q4, but speed-bumps ahead (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? The U.S. economy grew at its fastest pace in 1-1/2 years in the fourth quarter of 2011, but a strong rebuilding of stocks by businesses and a slower pace of spending on capital goods hinted at softer growth early this year.

U.S. gross domestic product expanded at a 2.8 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said on Friday, a sharp acceleration from the 1.8 percent clip of the prior three months and the quickest pace since the second quarter of 2010.

It was, however, a touch below economists' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 3 percent rate, and nearly 2 percentage points was due to the build-up in business inventories.

The report supported the Federal Reserve's ultra easy monetary policy stance to nurse the recovery.

"This seems consistent with the Fed's view that the U.S. economy is going to need all the help it can get to hit escape velocity in the next couple years," said David Watt, a senior currency strategist, RBC Capital, Toronto

U.S. stock index futures turned negative after the data, while government debt prices pared losses. The euro held gains against the dollar.

Growth in the fourth quarter got a temporary boost from the rebuilding of business inventories, which was the fastest since the third quarter of 2010, after they declined in the third-quarter for the first time since late 2009.

Inventories increased $56.0 billion, adding 1.94 percentage points to GDP growth. Excluding inventories, the economy grew at a tepid 0.8 percent rate, a sharp step-down from the prior period's 3.2 percent pace.

The robust stock accumulation suggests the recovery will lose a step in early 2012.

Also pointing to slower growth, business spending on capital goods was the slowest since 2009, a sign the debt crisis in Europe was starting to take its toll.

Expectations of soft growth led the Fed on Wednesday to say it expected to keep interest rates at rock bottom levels at least through late 2014.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank, which forecast growth this year in a 2.2 percent to 2.7 percent range, was mulling further asset purchases to speed up the recovery.

The Fed warned the economy still faced big risks, a suggestion the euro zone debt crisis could still hit hard.

The economy grew 1.7 percent in 2011 after expanding 3 percent the prior year.

"The Fed is attempting to shield the economy from a potentially more severe recession in Europe," said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody's Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

"Even though the economy improved last quarter there are a number of headwinds and a lot of uncertainty surrounding Europe, emerging markets and also U.S. fiscal policy."

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told the World Economic Forum in Davos the U.S. economy still faced big challenges.

"We're still repairing the damage done by the financial crisis. On top of that we face a more challenging world. We have a lot of challenges ahead in the United States," Geithner said.

Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity, stepped up to a 2 percent rate from the third-quarter's 1.7 percent pace - largely driven by pent-up demand for motor vehicles.

The Japanese earthquake and tsunami had disrupted supplies early in the year, leaving showrooms bereft of popular models.

Spending was also lifted by moderate inflation.

A price index for personal spending rose at a 0.7 percent rate in the fourth-quarter, the slowest increase in 1-1/2 years, after rising at a 2.3 percent pace in the July-September period.

A core inflation measure, which strips out food and energy costs, increased at a 1.1 percent rate after rising 2.1 percent in the third quarter.

The increase last quarter was the smallest in a year and put this measure well below the Fed's 2 percent target.

SLUGGISH INCOME GROWTH

Sluggish income growth amid an 8.5 percent unemployment rate, which has prompted households to tap savings and credit cards to fund their purchases, is expected to weigh on consumers as the new year unfolds.

The saving rate was 3.7 percent in the fourth quarter, slowing from the prior period's 3.9 percent.

"Though the unemployment rate has improved, the jobs market remains a major challenge. Part of the decline in the unemployment rate is due to the fact that ... people have stopped looking for work," said Adolfo Laurenti, deputy chief economist at Mesirow Financial in Chicago.

"The high level of people out of the workforce and underemployed people show there isn't really much income generation to contribute to a better spending pattern."

About 23.7 million Americans are either out of work or underemployed.

The shrinking labor force suggests the economy's long-term growth potential has slipped below 2.5 percent.

A sustained growth pace of at least 3 percent would likely be needed to make noticeable headway in absorbing the unemployed and those who have given up the search for work.

Business spending grew at a sluggish 1.7 percent rate, pulling back sharply from the third-quarter's 15.7 percent pace.

Though exports held up despite slowing global demand, an increase in imports left a trade gap that sliced off 0.11 percentage point from GDP growth.

Despite an anticipated slowdown in growth this year, analysts do not believe the economy will fall into recession.

"The United States has enough momentum to offset the losses coming from Europe," said Laurenti.

Unseasonably mild winter weather helped home construction post its fastest growth pace since the second quarter of 2010, with much of the increase going to meet rising demand for rental apartments.

Spending on nonresidential structures fell. Government spending shrank for a fifth consecutive quarter, reflecting a large decline in defense and still weak state and local government outlays.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; editing by Neil Stempleman)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120127/bs_nm/us_usa_economy

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Somerset Union Museum Installs New Fence

SOMERSET NY ? The Somerset Union Methodist Episcopal Church is slowly being renovated and converted in to a museum.? The museum has just completed the installation of a six foot black metal fence around the church property.? The fence will be used to define a parking area on the south side of the building and control traffic.? However, the fence is not complete.? An eighteenth century, three foot high fence is to be removed from a donor?s property and installed with two gates across the front to the building. ?Watch for it.?? People driving by 8501 Lake Road have remarked that they think ?all the new changes add to the overall appeal of the neighborhood.? ?

The church was originally surrounded by a series of nineteen sheds used to protect the parishioner?s horse and carriages while they were attending services.? The sheds were built during the summer of 1884 and each shed was paid for by the parishioner who used it.?? They were situated on a third of an acre to the north of the church building.? The sheds are visible in a 1917 photograph of the church even though, by this time, most parishioners were driving automobiles.

Source: http://niagarafalls.wgrz.com/news/arts-culture/62736-somerset-union-museum-installs-new-fence

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Romney Fights Back

It was not a universally good night for Romney, though. He denied that he was running an ad that his campaign was, in fact, running. In the radio ad, he accuses Gingrich of calling Spanish a ?ghetto language.? When Wolf Blitzer pointed out that Romney had actually said at the end of the ad "I'm Mitt Romney and I approve this message," Romney mumbled. For the audience at home it was probably confusing, but Romney looked like he was weaseling, not owning up to his words. He also sounded like he was ducking when talking about how his investments are in a blind trust he doesn't control. True, perhaps (though some accounts he does see), but it doesn't sound good.?When Romney in response to Santorum's passionate critique of his health care plan said, "It's not worth getting angry about," you could hear those conservatives who have doubts about him say ... and that's our problem with you.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=895fd52cb27ae6ebf289cecf058d7a63

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Smartphones drive record Samsung profit (Reuters)

SEOUL (Reuters) ? Samsung Electronics Co posted a record $4.7 billion quarterly operating profit, driven by booming smartphone sales, and will spend $22 billion this year to boost its production of chips and flat screens to further pull ahead of smaller rivals.

The South Korean firm, the world's top technology firm by revenue, is locked in breakneck competition with Apple Inc in the red-hot smartphone market, and said its telecoms business earned a record 2.64 trillion won profit in October-December on increased sales of its flagship Galaxy smartphones.

October-December operating profit of 5.3 trillion won was broadly in line with its earlier estimate and topped the previous record profit of 5 trillion won in the second quarter of 2010. The profit was up 76 percent from a year ago and 25 percent higher than in the third quarter.

"This year, the smartphone market will expand to more mid-and low-end models that are affordable to the wider public," said Baik Jae-yer, fund manager at Korea Investment Management.

"Rather than focusing on market share, I would point out the strong contribution of Samsung's handset business to earnings growth and margins. The battle of the two big smartphone powers, Apple versus Samsung, will go on."

Samsung trails Nokia in the overall mobile phone market, competes with Sony Corp and LG Electronics Inc in televisions, Toshiba and Hynix in chips and LG Display in displays.

Samsung said it will increase its investment this year by 9 percent to 25 trillion won, with 15 trillion won of that going to the chips division, 6.6 trillion won on flat screens and the rest mainly to boost capacity at overseas production sites and to build research and development centers.

RIVALRY WITH APPLE

Apple, overtaken by Samsung as the world's biggest maker of smartphones in the third quarter, looks certain to have regained the top spot in the fourth quarter with record sales of 37.04 million iPhones.

Samsung did not provide its own sales volume data for the fourth quarter, but said smartphone shipments rose by around 30 percent, suggesting sales of around 36 million, in line with analysts' estimates of 35-37 million.

Samsung only entered the smartphone market in earnest in 2010, some three years after Apple first introduced the iPhone with the touchscreen template.

Samsung may not have come up with the concept, but it has adopted Apple's breakthrough idea perhaps better than any other handset maker - and now seeks to offer the Apple experience at a better price, with better functionality.

Apple is Samsung's biggest client, buying mainly chips and displays, and the two firms are locked in a bruising patent battle in some 10 countries from the United States to Europe, Japan and Australia as they jostle for top spot in the booming smartphone and tablet market.

Apple, though, is streets ahead in profitability. Apple, which generates half its revenue from the iPhone, boasts a 37.4 percent operating margin versus Samsung's 11 percent, and its $17.3 billion operating profit is almost four times what Samsung earned from selling phones, chips, flat screens and TVs combined.

"Apple had good sales, but it's very unlikely this will be a trend that will overwhelm Samsung later," said Kim Young-chan, analyst at Shinhan Investment & Securities.

"There were many end-of-year promotions and, most importantly, the impact from (Apple founder Steve Jobs') death on sales growth can't be ruled out.

"It's unlikely Samsung and Apple will fight over each other's market share, but they will eat up the market share of smaller companies like HTC and RIM."

Shares in Samsung, also the world's top maker of memory chips and TVs, have risen by close to a fifth in the past three months and hit a life high of 1.125 million won earlier this week, outperforming a 3 percent gain on the KOSPI.

The stock was up 0.3 percent in early Seoul trading at 1.116 million won, while the broader market was a touch lower.

(Additional reporting by Seoul newsroom; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Jonathan Hopfner)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120127/bs_nm/us_samsung

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Jumat, 27 Januari 2012

Obama courts Latino vote on economic tour (AP)

BUCKLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. ? President Barack Obama is courting Hispanics in politically important states, setting himself up as a champion of the crucial Latino voting bloc and as a foil to Republican candidates fighting for a share of support from the same groups.

With Latino voters voting overwhelmingly Democratic, Obama is not in danger of losing the support of a majority of Hispanics. But he does need their intensity, and a Gallup tracking poll shows that while a majority of Hispanics approve of Obama, that approval is not as high as it is among black voters.

Pitching his economic agenda during a three-day, five-state trip this week, Obama has not ignored the fact that three of the states ? Nevada, Arizona and Colorado ? all have Hispanic populations of 20 percent or more. A majority of them are Democratic, but they also could be a factor in upcoming nominating contests in those states. Nevada and Colorado hold caucuses within two weeks and Arizona has a primary Feb. 28.

In Arizona Wednesday, where he was drawing attention to his efforts to increase manufacturing, Obama playfully interacted with a supporter who shouted out: "Barack es mi hermano! (Barack is my brother!)"

"Mi hermano ? mucho gusto (My brother, a real pleasure)," Obama shouted back.

And it was no accident that he scheduled an interview with Univision, the Spanish language network that reaches a broad swath of the U.S. Latino population, while he was in Arizona and with local Telemundo affiliates Thursday in Las Vegas and in Denver. All that while former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and the rest of the Republican presidential field were battling in Florida, another state with a key Latino voting bloc.

"It's an important community in this country and he will continue to have those interactions," White House spokesman Jay Carney said of Obama's efforts to reach out to Spanish language media.

No issue reverberates more in the appeal to Latinos than immigration.

For Obama, it reared up suddenly for him Wednesday when Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican who signed one of the toughest laws to curtail illegal immigration, greeted him at the airport tarmac in Mesa, Ariz., with a handwritten invitation for the president to join her in a visit to the Mexican border.

Obama replied coolly, noting that he did not appreciate the way she had depicted him in a book she published last year, "Scorpions for Breakfast." In the book, Brewer writes that Obama was condescending and lectured her during a meeting at the White House to discuss immigration. "He was a little disturbed about my book," Brewer told two reporters shortly after the encounter.

Obama continued to promote his economic plan Thursday in Nevada and Colorado, focusing on energy policy and his attempts to expand oil and gas exploration while also emphasizing clean energy.

"Doubling down on a clean energy industry will create lots of jobs in the process," the president said at Buckley Air Force Base in Colorado, where the Air Force has installed solar panels and tested jets that run on biofuels.

As such, he was indirectly pitching to Hispanics as well. A new Pew Research Center poll found that 54 percent of Latinos believe that the economic downturn has been harder on them than on other groups in the U.S.

"There is no question that Latinos were hard hit, especially by the bursting of the housing bubble and the resulting steep decline in construction work," Carney said Thursday. "Latinos are overrepresented in the construction industry. It's one of the reasons why, certainly, Latinos would greatly benefit from infrastructure investments that put construction workers back to work."

In 2008, Obama beat Republican John McCain by a 2-1 margin among Hispanics.

To win again, he will need that level of enthusiasm to make up for weaknesses elsewhere in his voter support. In a bright spot for Obama, the Pew poll found that even though Hispanics believe their economic condition is poor, two-thirds of those polled said they expect their financial situation to improve over the next year, whereas 58 percent of the overall population expect the same.

In his interview with Univision, Obama made a point of noting that both Romney and Gingrich have said they would veto legislation, known as the DREAM Act, that would give a pathway to citizenship to children who came to the United States illegally but who attend college or enlist in the military.

"They believe that we should not provide a pathway to citizenship for young people who were brought here when they were very young children and are basically American kids but right now are still in a shadow," Obama said. "They've said that they would veto the DREAM Act. Both of them."

At a debate Monday on NBC, however, both Gingrich and Romney said they would support modified legislation that only applied to young people who joined the military. "I would not support the part that simply says everybody who goes to college is automatically waived for having broken the law," Gingrich said.

Obama, in the interview, explicitly connected the Republican presidential field to congressional Republicans, who suffer from bottom-dwelling approval ratings right now. Asked why he had been unable to deliver on his promise for overhauling the immigration system, Obama replied:

"Well, it's very simple. We couldn't get any Republican votes. Zero. None," he said. "So this is the kind of barrier that we're meeting in Congress. We're just going to keep on pushing and pushing until hopefully we finally get a break."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_bi_ge/us_obama

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Flashback of the Day (Taegan Goddard's Political Wire)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/191907500?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Kim Kardashian Donates $50,000 to The Trevor Project

Kim Kardashian is giving back to a cause close to her heart. The reality-show star is donating $50,000 she raised in Sept. 2011 to The Trevor Project, a suicide-prevention and crisis intervention organization benefitting LGBT adolescents.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/kim-kardashian-donates-50000-trevor-project/1-a-421924?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Akim-kardashian-donates-50000-trevor-project-421924

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Kamis, 26 Januari 2012

Timberwolves, Love reach 4-year extension (AP)

MINNEAPOLIS ? Kevin Love is staying with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Love and the team agreed to a four-year contract extension worth between $60 million and $62 million, a deal that includes an early termination option for Love in the final year.

The All-Star power forward and the team faced an 11 p.m. Wednesday deadline to sign an extension. If not, Love would have become a restricted free agent this summer.

Love will make the maximum amount of salary for the four years, but he did not get the five-year deal for which he was hoping. The new collective bargaining agreement allows for franchises to give one player on the roster a five-year deal that would have been worth roughly $80 million for Love this time around.

Love said Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor and president of basketball operations David Kahn did not want to offer the five-year deal to the All-Star power forward.

"Did I want the five years? Of course," Love said on a conference call from Dallas, where the Timberwolves were scheduled to play the Mavericks on Wednesday night. "It was something I felt strongly about, but at the end of the day, a four-year deal is still great."

Oklahoma City gave Russell Westbrook a five-year deal and Chicago signed MVP Derrick Rose to a five-year deal as well.

"They're in totally different positions," Love said, pointing out that the Thunder and Bulls are both considered championship contenders while the Wolves haven't been to the playoffs since 2004.

As the clock ticked down, Love said the situation was weighing on him and he wondered if the deal would get done.

"I was willing to make a commitment for five years. They thought otherwise," he said. "I'm glad this is out of the way. It was drawn out until 8 a.m., 9 a.m. this morning."

Love ranks fifth in the league with 24.9 points per game, second with 13.9 rebounds and first with 39.4 minutes played. He has emerged as the face of the franchise and is a key building block for the team and new coach Rick Adelman.

The new collective bargaining agreement allows the Timberwolves to offer Love more money than any other team.

Love is in his fourth season in the NBA. The son of a former NBA player and nephew of a Beach Boys icon, Love was a high school star in Oregon, an All-American in his only season at UCLA and last year led the NBA in rebounding. He became the first player in more than two decades to have 30 rebounds and 30 points in the same game and became an All-Star in just his third season as a pro.

The four-year deal gives the Timberwolves some flexibility going forward and keeps that maximum offer available for point guard Ricky Rubio, No. 2 overall pick Derrick Williams or another player down the road.

"It's good to have our centerpiece," Williams said. "We need a guy like him to put up 25 and 10 every night. ... I had a feeling he would stay with the fan base he's built."

___

Freelance writer Amit Kaluskar in Dallas contributed to this report.

___

Follow Jon Krawczynski on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/APkrawczynski

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_sp_bk_ne/bkn_timberwolves_love

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French brand Courreges takes retro fashion online (Reuters)

PARIS (Reuters) ? Courreges, the futuristic fashion brand of the 1960s, is poised to bring its vinyl boots and A-line mini-dresses back into vogue, relaunching the French name online.

A year after the brand was sold for more than 10 million euros ($13.05 million) to two directors from advertising agency Young & Rubicam, Jacques Bungert and Frederic Torloting, Courreges is now also aiming to expand its perfume business.

The simple shapes and minimalist black and white palette of the couturier Andre Courreges -- a protege of Balenciaga -- had their heydey in the 1960s and 70s, rivaling Chanel and Dior, before being sold to Japanese investors in the 1980s.

A decade later Courreges and his wife Coqueline bought back the brand but it largely disappeared from sight before the purchase by Bungert and Torloting in January 2011.

"We're hoping that the brand returns, in five to 10 years, to its former stature as a global brand with its dimension of innovation that earlier made its success," Bungert told Reuters.

"When the feeling of a brand is respected, it can be reborn without losing its integrity," he added.

Currently, Courreges clothes and accessories are sold at its Paris boutique in the posh Eighth Arrondissement, where sales have risen 40 percent in a year, Bungert said. Total revenue for the brand is now about 20 million, the executives said.

Internet sales begin February 1, and women will be able to shop online for nearly all the clothes and accessories currently sold in the boutique.

Torloting said Courreges' design lends itself well to online sales, as the brand does not use the kind of delicate fabrics that could get damaged in transit.

As for perfume, Courreges' "Empreinte" and "Eau de Courreges," currently sold only in the boutique, will now be distributed more widely, and a publicity campaign, the first since 1996, is planned.

As Paris Fashion Week launched Monday with its bi-annual Haute Couture shows, Torloting said he has no intention of parading twice-yearly collections on the catwalk at the industry's fashion weeks.

Founder Andre Courreges refused to use celebrities to promote his swinging sixties styles, claiming designs such as his 1964 "Space Age" collection were created for the "ordinary woman."

"The idea of creating collections that push each other out is not very modern in our view," Torloting told Reuters.

"We don't want to manufacture our own obsolescence," he said.

(Writing by Alexandria Sage, editing by Paul Casciato)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120124/en_nm/us_fashion_courreges

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Insurer WellPoint's 4Q profit sinks 39 percent (AP)

INDIANAPOLIS ? WellPoint Inc.'s fourth-quarter profit sank 39 percent as investment income fell and the amount it paid in medical claims soared, but the health insurer raised its quarterly dividend and said it expects earnings growth in 2012.

The largest health insurer based on enrollment said Wednesday it earned $335.3 million, or 96 cents per share, in the three months that ended Dec. 31. That's down from $548.8 million, or $1.40 per share, in the final quarter of 2010. Adjusted net income, which excludes investment gains and losses, was 99 cents per share.

Operating revenue, which also excludes investment income or gains, climbed 5.5 percent to $15.18 billion.

The performance led to a rare miss of Wall Street expectations. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected, on average, earnings of $1.12 per share on $15.46 billion in revenue.

The Indianapolis company said medical claims, its largest expense, climbed nearly 10 percent in the quarter to $12.43 billion. In contrast, that expense fell 5 percent in the 2010 quarter. The change was driven largely by expenses tied to a California Medicare Advantage plan, WellPoint spokeswoman Kristin Binns said.

Binns also said the insurer recorded a benefit of $350 million in the 2010 quarter because claims left over from previous quarters came in lower than expected. It had no gain like that in the 2011 quarter.

Managed care companies also have been buoyed by health care use that has grown at lower-than-expected rates for the past few quarters. This trend, which may be driven by a lingering pullback on consumer spending from the recession, has helped companies consistently beat analyst expectations. Analysts have said they expect this trend to continue, but insurers say they see signs that health care use is picking up.

WellPoint competitor UnitedHealth Group Inc. said last week that growth rates still remained slower than what the industry saw before the recession, but it expects use of health care to increase steadily throughout 2012.

WellPoint said Wednesday its board approved a quarterly dividend of 28.7 cents per share that will be paid March 23 to shareholders of record on March 9.

The insurer also said expects to earn at least $7.60 per share in 2012, which would represent growth of more than 8 percent over 2011.

WellPoint operates Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in 14 states, including California, New York and Ohio.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/earnings/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_bi_ge/us_earns_wellpoint

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Android developers: Easier conversion tracking with AdMob

One of the biggest headaches in promoting your app is being able to work out how many downloads a specific ad campaign generated. AdMob is committed to providing app developers tools to optimize advertising spend and maximize ROI. App Conversion Tracking helps you do just that by measuring your app download campaign performance.

We’re rolling out a new feature that makes this even easier--automatic app conversion tracking for Android campaigns. All AdMob Android app download campaigns will now automatically report conversion data from the Android Market. This means that you’ll be able to see conversions from your app download campaign without configuring any special code.




To see conversion data for your Android download campaigns, simply go to the App Conversion Tracking section of your account.  You’ll be able to see the number of downloads driven by your AdMob advertising campaign. In addition, you’ll be able to keep tabs on the cost per download and conversion rate so you can better optimize your campaign.

Posted by: Morgan Hallmon, Product Manager, Mobile Ads

Pre-caffeine tech: Dotcom craziness, best friend memes!

By Helen A.S. Popkin

via BuzzFeed

Our pre-caffeine roundup is a collection of the hottest, strangest, and most amusing stories of the morning. Here's everything that you need to know before taking that first sip of coffee today

Ding, ding ding! Your time is up! This is not a drill: You can no longer avoid using Timeline on Facebook, something that until now has been optional.

Oh, and Google plans to unify its privacy policy and terms of service across its online offerings, including its flagship search, Gmail and Google+ products, to make them easier to use, but the move could attract greater scrutiny from anti-trust regulators.

Does that make Google "evil?" Meh. Not so much.

But on the other hand ...

Whether you're worried about hackers, advertisers or your own inability to keep your data locked down, it's time for a chat. Join msnbc.com's Helen A.S. Popkin? (that's me) Thursday at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT, and bring all of your questions, concerns and observations about your personal privacy, on Facebook or on the Internet in general. (Fingers crossed I don't mess it up!)

Speaking of piracy: Oh that crazy Kim Dotcom (of Megaupload infamy)! "Come for coffee, don't forget the cocaine,'" Dotcom joked in an email to the Neighborhood Watch soon after moving into his New Zealand neighborhood.

Meanwhile, last night's State of the Union address will be the first time reporters will be able to bring their electronic devices into the House gallery, according to a post in Roll Call. Photography and video won't be allowed, but if all goes well, electronic reporting will be permitted going forward.

In attendance at the address, Steve Jobs' widow Laurene Powell, looking lovely, as President Obama name-checked her late husband in discussing the economy, and how the U.S. needs to support the next of Jobs' ilk.

That said, Samsung just topped it's last set of Apple Fanboy-bashing commercials with this.

Now go crap up everyone's Facebook wall with a bunch of pictures themed on The True Meaning of Friendship.

????compiled by Helen A.S. Popkin, who invites you to join her on Twitter and/or Facebook.?Also, Google+.??

?

Source: http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/25/10233644-pre-caffeine-tech-dotcom-craziness-best-friend-memes

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Virgin America honors Steve Jobs at 30,000 feet with tribute jet (Yahoo! News)

The Steve Job's quote was chosen from an internal competition to name the plane

List?Virgin America's new plane as one of the latest additions to the increasing number of Steve Jobs tributes that include a?posthumous Grammy, a?Mythbusters-style documentary, and a?7' bronze statue. The U.S. airline had the popular Steve Jobs quote "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish" painted on the side of an?Airbus A320.?This specific quote was chosen among the list of entries for the company's plane naming contest.

Jobs uttered the phrase back in 2005 while giving a?commencement address at Stanford University, although it originally appeared on the back cover of a 1960's American counterculture publication called?Whole Earth Catalog. "On the back cover of [Whole Earth Catalog's] final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself," Jobs said.

It's not too surprising for the company to come up with a Steve Jobs tribute. Virgin America identifies as a?tech-forward company, and offers?fleet-wide wifi as well as touchscreen displays and power outlets on board. Virgin Group head honcho,?Sir?Richard Branson, is also a?known Apple fan.

[via?MacRumors]

This article was written by Mariella Moon and originally appeared on Tecca

More from Tecca:

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/applecomputer/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_technews/20120124/tc_yblog_technews/virgin-america-honors-steve-jobs-at-30000-feet-with-tribute-jet

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Rabu, 25 Januari 2012

APNewsBreak: Army to cut combat brigades

FILE In this Jan. 24, 2012 file photo, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is sen on Capitol Hill in Washington. The U.S. Army plans to slash the number of combat brigades from 45 to as low as 32, and broadly restructure its fighting force to save money and cut the size of the service by about 80,000 soldiers, according to U.S. officials familiar with the plans. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

FILE In this Jan. 24, 2012 file photo, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is sen on Capitol Hill in Washington. The U.S. Army plans to slash the number of combat brigades from 45 to as low as 32, and broadly restructure its fighting force to save money and cut the size of the service by about 80,000 soldiers, according to U.S. officials familiar with the plans. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

(AP) ? The U.S. Army plans to slash the number of combat brigades from 45 to as low as 32 in a broad restructuring of its fighting force aimed at cutting costs and reducing the service by about 80,000 soldiers, according to U.S. officials familiar with the plans.

Officials said the sweeping changes will likely increase the size of each combat brigade ? generally by adding another battalion ? in an effort to ensure that those remaining brigades have the fighting capabilities they need when they go to war. A brigade is usually about 3,500 soldiers, but can be as large as 5,000 for the heavily armored units. A battalion is usually between 600-800 soldiers.

The brigade restructuring is intended to save money without eroding the military's ability to protect the country and wage war when needed. Army officials contend that while there would be fewer brigades, building them bigger will give them more capabilities and depth, and will reduce stress on the units.

They said specialty units, such as Army special operations forces, would not be affected by the cuts.

Reducing the overall number of brigades will also eliminate the need for the headquarters units that command and oversee them.

Officials acknowledged that merging battalions together into larger brigades could shift some soldiers to different bases across the country, although that effort could be stymied by members of Congress who don't like to see the staffing decline at bases that feed the local economy. Officials said the Army will try to limit such shifts.

The cuts come as the Pentagon puts the finishing touches on its 2013 fiscal year budget, which must reflect about $260 billion in savings in its five-year plan. Congress has ordered the Defense Department to come up with a total of $487 billion over the next 10 years, and could face cuts of double that amount if Congress can't reach an agreement to avoid automatic across-the-board reductions mandated by lawmakers last year.

Officials spoke about the budget plans on condition of anonymity because they have not yet been made public.

Military leaders, from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on down, insist they will come up with the budgets cuts without hurting the force's effectiveness. In fact, many of the top Army leaders who have been putting the budget together were around when massive budget cuts after the Vietnam war left Army units badly undermanned and ill-equipped ? leading to what they call a hollow force.

According to officials, plans call for the active duty Army to shrink from a high of about 570,000 soldiers to roughly 490,000 over the next decade or so. Initial cuts have been ongoing, and there are currently about 558,000 active duty soldiers in the Army.

Additionally, there are nearly 205,000 in the Army Reserve and close to 360,000 in the Army National Guard, the Army said Wednesday.

The Army plans to shed soldiers carefully, including through planned departures, separations for medical or behavioral problems, and by scaling back the number of people promoted or allowed to enlist and re-enlist.

One priority would be to make sure that the Army retains its mid-level officers, who routinely take up to 10 years to get to the rank of major or higher. Army leaders struggled through periods of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, using bonuses and other incentives to retain the mid-level officers they needed to command smaller units on the battlefield.

But Army officials also acknowledge that they will be forced to deny the reenlistment of many qualified soldiers, while also continuing to bring in quality recruits.

Gen. Raymond Odierno, chief of staff of the Army, has warned that cutting brigades was one way to cut the budget. And he said that shrinking the force will mean that the Army will no longer be able to handle two simultaneous conflicts ? long a requirement for the U.S. military.

But the new military strategy mapped out by President Barack Obama and his defense team envisions a shift away from the hard-fought ground wars of Iraq and Afghanistan that relied on tens of thousands of troops to battle stubborn terrorists and insurgent groups. The future military, instead, will focus more on Asian security risks such as China and North Korea, and build on partnerships in the Middle East to keep an eye on Iran.

One major reduction, already announced by Panetta, will cut the number of Army brigades stationed in Europe from four to two. Other units would rotate in and out of the region as needed.

Currently there are three brigades in Germany and one in Vicenza, Italy, and that would change so that there would be one in Germany and one in Vicenza.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-25-US-US-Army-Cuts/id-2f109480ffe240d7b7160e113a07c217

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