বৃহস্পতিবার, ২৮ ফেব্রুয়ারী, ২০১৩

With 'SNL' gig, Kevin Hart continues to rise

This Feb. 26, 2013 photo released by NBC shows cast member Jason Sudeikis, left, and guest host Kevin Hart during rehearsals for "saturday Night Live," in New York. Hart will host the show on Saturday, March 2, with musical guest Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. (AP Photo/NBC, Dana Edelson)

This Feb. 26, 2013 photo released by NBC shows cast member Jason Sudeikis, left, and guest host Kevin Hart during rehearsals for "saturday Night Live," in New York. Hart will host the show on Saturday, March 2, with musical guest Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. (AP Photo/NBC, Dana Edelson)

(AP) ? Like most people who get the chance to host "Saturday Night Live," Kevin Hart is excited to have the gig.

Unlike most hosts, Hart is proving to be complicated.

For starters, the 32-year-old comedian-actor doesn't like making eye contact. When he writes his jokes, he has to do it in a "think tank" ? alone, in his home.

He also has to stand on top of an apple box when performing. Sometimes, he has to stand on two of them.

That's why collaborating with the "SNL" cast and crew feels like a new process for Hart, who is hosting the NBC show this weekend.

"I am what you would a call a genius," said Hart, as the "SNL" cast and crew burst into laughter.

"So this process here is a little different. ... A lot of people came in the room and were looking into my eyes and it threw me off a little bit," he says jokingly, but in a serious tone. "So I just closed my eyes and let them talk and kind of took it all in. And then I recited everything they said."

Hart was in good spirits and self-deprecating ? as usual ? as he shot "SNL" promos with Jason Sudeikis and Bobby Moynihan on Tuesday.

His hosting gig on "SNL" is another notch on his growing resume: He hosted last year's MTV Video Music Awards, has appeared on ABC's "Modern Family" and starred in the romantic comedy "Think Like a Man."

He's also the star of the BET parody series "Real Husbands of Hollywood" (Tuesday, 10 p.m. EST) with Robin Thicke and Nick Cannon. The Philadelphia-born Hart said he's "anxious," but not worried, about hosting "SNL."

"You can't get nervous about what you love to do. This is what I love to do, so the opportunity to do it on this stage is ridiculous," he said.

Duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, known for their hit "Thrift Shop," will perform Saturday night. Hart says he's a fan of group ? sort of.

"I am a fan now 'cause I found out who they were when I realized they were going to be on the show with me. So because of the Internet and the Google search, I Googled them," he said, as others laughed. "I educated myself ? almost another genius move of mine ? to think to Google somebody that I didn't know."

So is Hart enjoying the group's massive, multiplatinum anthem about buying used clothes?

"I didn't hear that. Didn't hear that one. Don't know what that one is," he said. "But I heard some other stuff. Don't really know the titles. But I know (Macklemore's) white ? from Google."

___

Online:

http://www.khartonline.com/index.html

___

Follow Mesfin Fekadu on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MusicMesfin

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-02-28-People-Kevin%20Hart/id-383961ec88964a35a89cf8a02cd6cbd1

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Eric Holder: Gay Marriage Is the Next Civil Rights Issue

From ABC's Chris Good, Pierre Thomas, Jason Ryan, Jack Cloherty, and Jack Date:

President Obama has "evolved" on gay marriage, his administration opposes the federal law against it, and now Attorney General Eric Holder says it's the next big civil-rights issue.

In an exclusive, wide-ranging interview on Wednesday, ABC's Pierre Thomas asked Holder how the Justice Department will approach the U.S. Supreme Court challenge to California's Prop. 8 marriage ban.

RELATED: Eric Holder Says Sequester Makes America Less Safe

While Holder declined to hint whether his department would take sides by filing a brief in the case, Holder did address gay marriage as an issue.

"From my perspective, this is really the latest civil-rights issue," Holder told ABC News. "It is the question of whether or not American citizens are going to be treated with equal protection of the laws. And so with regard to Prop. 8, we're in the process now of deciding what position we're gonna take."

In a February 2011 letter to House Speaker John Boehner, Holder announced the administration's intention to drop its defense of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) ban on gay marriage-a holdover from the last Justice Department, which had similarly sought to uphold the law.

RELATED: Eric Holder: Home-Grown Terrorists Threat Rivals Overseas

The Justice Department's move was seen as a victory for gay-rights advocates, who had listed overturning DOMA among a handful of top priorities for the Obama administration since the president took office.

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/eric-holder-gay-marriage-next-civil-rights-issue-120807561--abc-news-politics.html

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Alcatel One Touch Fire preview: This anemic Firefox phone might be a tough sell

Alcatel One Touch Fire Hands-onAlcatel One Touch Fire

Another day, another Firefox OS-powered handset here at Mobile World Congress. We had the chance to take a hands-on look at Alcatel?s first Firefox phone on Tuesday and walked away with some distinctly tepid impressions. As a disclaimer, the software we played with was in beta, but Firefox and Alcatel are planning to launch these phones within months, so any performance enhancements they hope to achieve will have to be pushed out relatively quickly.

[More from BGR: Why every rival tech company should be scared to death of Samsung]

From a hardware perspective, there?s nothing wrong with the One Touch Fire. In fact, its soft-touch back, 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen with?165 ppi, 3.2-megapixel camera and HSPA radio are nothing to scoff at in the budget phone market. Alcatel is clearly aiming for first-time smartphone users in developing regions with this phone, and as such it has a perfectly acceptable, possibly even above-average bit of hardware on its hands.

[More from BGR: Hands on with NVIDIA?s blazing fast Tegra 4 reference tablet]

The problem, however, is in the software.

Firefox OS is slow, slow, slow. Swipes from screen to screen take forever to process. Apps frequently crash, a surprising fact given that they?re all HTML5-based, and the user experience is frustratingly bogged down by an OS that struggles to keep up with even the most deliberate user interactions. It?s aggravating to use, and calls to mind the experience of attempting to navigate Android 4.2 on an original Nexus S ? except in this case, it?s the hardware that outclasses the software, not the other way around as in the case of the Nexus S.

There are some interesting software enhancements, including app search by keyword, allowing discovery without specific apps in mind. Carrier-based billing that gives customers without a credit card a viable way to purchase new content is also a nice touch. But neither of those things make up for the lackluster experience of actually using the device.

Needless to say, we are not sold on Firefox OS just yet. Perhaps future development will render the software a bit more user-friendly, but as we noted yesterday with the ZTE Open, Mozilla might not have the luxury of time with competitors like Nokia?s (NOK) Asha lineup and budget Android phones coming to market that are cheaper and more capable.

This article was originally published on BGR.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/alcatel-one-touch-fire-preview-anemic-firefox-phone-010510244.html

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Holography helps firefighters see through flames

Firefighters may soon be able to see through flames and find people trapped in burning buildings, according to details of a new holographic imaging technique described Tuesday.

Some fire departments already use infrared cameras to see through smoke, but these cameras use zoom lenses to collect and focus light. The intense infrared radiation emitted by flames can overwhelm the camera sensors and limit their use, the researchers explain.

The new technique developed by Pietro Ferraro at the National Institute of Optics in Italy and his colleagues makes use of a lens-free digital holography technology in the infrared range.

Holography is a means of producing 3-D images of an object using two beams of light: an object beam and a reference beam. The object beam is shone onto the object being imaged. The reflected light is combined with the reference beam to create a pattern that encodes a 3-D image.

In the new technique described in the journal Optics Express, a beam of infrared laser light is widely dispersed throughout a smoke-and-flame-filled room. A holographic imager records the reflected light and decodes it to reveal what lies behind the inferno.

"The result is a live, 3-D movie of the room and its contents," the Optical Society, which publishes the journal, notes in a news release. "The next step to moving this technology to the field is to develop a portable tripod-based system that houses both the laser source and the IR camera."

John Roach is a contributing writer for NBC News. To learn more about him, check out his website. For more of our Future of Technology series, watch the featured video below.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/imaging-technique-lets-firefighters-see-through-flames-1C8564100

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2013 Mayor's Small Business Award Winners | Maui Now

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Young Small Business Person of the Year: David ?Boze? Kapoi, Pride Ink Tattoo founder and Polynesian-style tattoo artist

Young Small Business Person of the Year:
David ?Boze? Kapoi (Pride Ink Tattoo).

By Sonia Isotov

A tattoo artist, two restaurants, a zip lining activity, and a transportation company were among the top winners at the annual 2013 Mayor?s Small Business Awards celebration held at the King Kamehameha Golf Club last week.

Sponsored by Maui County Office of Economic Development and produced by the Maui Chamber of Commerce, the event was attended by members of the Maui County small business community, representatives of key business organizations,

Exceptional Small Business (10 or fewer employees) Paris Nabayi (Cilantro Mexican Grill)

Exceptional Small Business (10 or fewer employees):
Paris Nabayi (Cilantro Mexican Grill).

government and friends and family of award nominees and winners.

?Small business is Maui County?s most important economic engine, and we should never forget the sacrifices that business owners make every day to keep their businesses operating,? said Mayor Arakawa, in a public statement yesterday.

?They [small business owners] take on risk, work long hours, and put their personal assets on the line while providing jobs, services and goods to our community. We are fortunate to have such a strong small business community in Maui County and are privileged to honor them.?

Exceptional Small Business (11-25 employees) David & Ululani Yamashiro (Ululani?s Hawaiian Shave Ice LLC)

Exceptional Small Business (11-25 employees):
David & Ululani Yamashiro (Ululani?s Hawaiian Shave Ice LLC).

The winners in each category are as follows:

Outstanding Non-Profit Business Habitat for Humanity Maui

Outstanding Non-Profit Business:
Habitat for Humanity Maui.

Lifetime Achievement Award The Late Douglas Wayne ?Butch? Akina & Sandra Akina (Akina Aloha Tours)

Lifetime Achievement Award:
The Late Douglas Wayne ?Butch? Akina & Sandra Akina (Akina Aloha Tours).

Related Stories:

Source: http://mauinow.com/2013/02/26/2013-mayors-small-business-award-winners/

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বুধবার, ২৭ ফেব্রুয়ারী, ২০১৩

Bernanke signals continued support for low rates

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Federal Reserve's low interest-rate policies are giving key support to an economy still burdened by high unemployment, Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress on Tuesday. Bernanke signaled that the Fed's efforts to keep borrowing costs low will continue.

In a statement, Bernanke acknowledged that the Fed's aggressive program to buy $85 billion a month in Treasurys and mortgage bonds to keep rates low could eventually ignite inflation or unsettle investors. Several Fed policymakers said at their most recent meeting that the Fed might have to scale back its bond purchases because of those risks.

But Bernanke, delivering the Fed's semiannual report to Congress, said the risks remained contained for now.

On budget policy, Bernanke urged Congress to replace the automatic spending cuts due to start Friday with more gradual reductions in budget deficits in the short run.

Bernanke's testimony to the Senate Banking Committee is being watched by investors concerned about the doubts raised by some Fed officials about whether the bond purchases should continue. The bond purchases represent the third round of a program intended to strengthen sectors such as housing and autos through lower borrowing costs.

"Keeping longer-term interest rates low has helped spark recovery in the housing market and led to increased sales and production of automobiles and other durable goods," Bernanke said.

Bernanke addressed concerns that the Fed's purchases, which have pushed its balance sheet above $3 trillion, could trigger high inflation.

"Inflation is currently subdued and inflation expectations appear well-anchored," he said. "We do not see the potential costs of the increased risk-taking in some financial markets as outweighing the benefits of promoting a stronger economic recovery and more-rapid job creation."

Bernanke said that over the past six months, the economy has grown moderately but unevenly. He said the pause in growth seen in the final three months of 2012 "does not appear to be a stalling-out of the recovery." He said growth appears to have picked up in the past two months.

Shortly before Bernanke spoke, several reports pointed to surprising economic strength: Americans' confidence in the economy rebounded this month, new-home sales jumped in January to the highest level since 2008, home prices rose at a healthy pace in December compared with a year ago and profits of U.S. banks jumped last quarter to the highest level in six years.

On the battle in Washington over how to restrain budget deficits, Bernanke said it's important not to cut the deficit too much while economic growth remains fragile. He noted that the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the automatic spending cuts that take effect Friday would trim growth by 0.6 percentage point this year.

"Congress and the administration should consider replacing the sharp, front-loaded spending cuts required by the sequestration with policies that reduce the federal deficit more gradually in the near term but more substantially in the longer run," Bernanke said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-02-26-Bernanke/id-b55e253eeca84e2c9f247e5f2168cd29

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Code.org Video: You Know Coding Is Cool Because Zuckerberg, Gates, Will.i.am And Chris Bosh Say So

If you're dissatisfied with your dead-end job, watching this new Code.org video might push you over the edge and have you quitting before the end of the work day. The way professional coders like Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates (who have made billions typing out ones and zeros) talk about it, coding is the most creatively fulfilling job you could have.

The video, posted by the computer education nonprofit Code.org, features shots of Facebook's incredible offices and cameos from Miami Heat center Chris Bosh and The Black Eyed Peas' Will.i.am. (Money quote from the singer: "Great coders are today's rockstars.") It's all quite glamorous, and it's a far cry from the "code monkey" image that some Americans probably have of coders. Computer programmers are no longer wearing suits and languishing in cubicles, they're running around Facebook's gorgeous Menlo Park campus wearing hoodies, instead, and making tons of money.

The reality is that coding is generally not much more glamorous than any other job, but it's also not a career path that many young people consider. Making computer engineering alluring certainly can't hurt, especially since there seems to be so many vacant coding jobs out there.

With that in mind, the video saves their most important point for last: "1 million of the best jobs in America may go unfilled... because only 1 in 10 schools teach students how to code." Code.org promotes free online coding programs and encourages people to fight to get coding taught in schools across America.

Earlier on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/27/code-org-video_n_2767453.html

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Euro zone sentiment rises for fourth month in February

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Economic and business confidence in the 17 countries using the euro improved for the fourth straight month in February, the European Commission said on Wednesday, as factories saw their order books filling up.

Economic sentiment in the euro zone rose by a better-than-expected 1.6 points to 91.1, continuing a recovery started in November last year, the Commission said.

The euro hit a session high against the dollar after the data release, before slipping back slightly to trade around 1.3093 by 1035 GMT.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected a reading of 89.8.

The euro zone was managing to eke out a small recovery, but it was too soon to be optimistic about a broader trend, Capital Economics economist Ben May said.

"Clearly the Italian election and the political uncertainty and the market uncertainty that resulted from that is potentially another trigger for a new downward leg in business and consumer sentiment, and given that this survey predates that I think you certainly wouldn't want to assume you are going to see this continued upward trend in sentiment over the months ahead," he said.

The Commission also said business morale increased by 0.36 points to -0.73, reaching a level last seen in May 2012.

The European Central Bank's unprecedented decision last year to buy the bonds of governments who ask for help calmed the euro zone crisis dramatically, removing the risk for businesses of a break-up of the currency bloc.

The mood in factories brightened in February and managers told the Commission they saw rosier outlooks on expected production and on the size of overall order books. Morale in services also drove the rise in confidence, with service confidence up slightly as managers revised past evaluations.

Optimism was due to "sharp improvements in managers' assessment of the past business situation, and to a lesser extent, their views on past demand", the Commission said.

Consumer confidence increased marginally in the euro zone, by 0.3 points. Consumers were more positive about the future economy in general, but pessimistic about their own ability to save money over the next 12 months.

For graphic on the data, click here:

http://link.reuters.com/bas36s

For European Commission data click on:

http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/db_indicators/surveys/index_en.htm

(Reporting By Ethan Bilby; editing by Robin Emmott and Rex Merrifield)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/euro-zone-sentiment-rises-fourth-month-february-100856216--business.html

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Team 4 Wheel Parts Awards Monthly Winners Who Showcase Their 4x4s

4 Wheel Parts, the world?s largest distributor of four wheel aftermarket parts, holds monthly drawings for $500 promo cards through its Team 4 Wheel Parts website. Those who join the team and show off their rigs are entered into the drawing for a chance to win.

Compton, CA (PRWEB) February 27, 2013

4 Wheel Parts, prominent retailer and service provider of aftermarket parts for off-roaders, holds drawings that award lucky winners with $500 promo cards. Team 4 Wheel Parts welcomes those who join the team by entering them into the monthly drawing. Entering is easy ? users visit the Team 4 Wheel Parts entry page and share their photos and videos. Members of the community give and get advice and showcase their vehicles ? trucks, Jeeps, ATVs ? anything 4x4.

The latest winner announced was Will Hansen, whose name was selected from hundreds of entries who joined Team4WheelParts.com. Hansen?s profile appears on the page along with his 2001 Wrangler. ?I bought my Jeep when I returned from Iraq in 2005 and have been building her up ever since,? explains Hansen. ?I?ve never had a single problem with it other than the normal wear and tear. I love taking her down to 4 Wheel Parts in Mesa to see what new stuff they have for me to buy even though the wife doesn?t like it too much.?

Jeep accessories and upgrades Hansen installed on the Wrangler include:

Headed by the company?s CEO & President Greg Adler, Team 4 Wheel Parts is a collection of off-road experts who sell, own, and live the off-roading way of life. In addition to Adler, the team includes racers Robby Gordon and Brian Deegan. The team is heavily involved with events and causes near and dear to the off-road community?s collective heart, including the King of the Hammers race, the effort to Save the Hammers, Operation Lightsabre, and Truck & Jeep Fests. Team 4 Wheel Parts also sponsors Off-Road Adventures, a monthly online magazine for enthusiasts with content that features Product Reviews, Buyer?s Guides, Tech Tips and videos.

About 4 Wheel Parts: 4 Wheel Parts is a retailer and service provider specializing in aftermarket parts for off-road and 4x4 enthusiasts. With 59 locations nationwide, 4 Wheel Parts supplements its retail centers with a robust mail-order and e-commerce distribution network to serve customers around the country and around the world. 4 Wheel Parts carries a large inventory of truck and Jeep parts whether enthusiasts are looking for a tonneau cover, lift kit, Pro Comp wheel, or other accessories.

David Beran
Transamerican Auto Parts, LLC
310-900-3882
Email Information

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/team-4-wheel-parts-awards-monthly-winners-showcase-081221384.html

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Nokia Lumia 520 tries to arrive at FCC incognito, given away by codename

Nokia Lumia 520 tries to arrive at FCC incognito, given away by codename

Nokia just tried to hustle a certain RM-914 model through the FCC, but thanks to an earlier glance at the Fed's Indonesian counterpart POSTEL, we know we're actually looking at the Lumia 520. As the Finnish outfit just announced, that model represents the new low-end of its Windows Phone 8 line, though it's decently spec'd with a dual-core 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, 4-inch 800 x 480 IPS display and 1,430mAh battery. While eschewing LTE, the device will pack various WCDMA and HSPA+ frequencies for 3G, though in this case, we're not looking at WCDMA 900 / 2100 bands, meaning it's indeed a US model. Its next stop ought to be store shelves later this quarter -- followed by your pocket, if the $183 or so WP8 handset rings your bell.

Filed under: , ,

Comments

Source: FCC

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/26/nokia-lumia-520-FCC-RM-914/

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And Now, Ubuntu for Tablets - Wait, What?

Six weeks have passed since Canonical's splashy debut of Ubuntu for phones, but for many here in the Linux blogosphere, the memory is still crystal-clear. It came as some surprise, then, to see follow-up news announced so soon afterward. The news this time? None other than Ubuntu for tablets.

Source: http://ectnews.com.feedsportal.com/c/34520/f/632000/s/28eefbc9/l/0L0Stechnewsworld0N0Crsstory0C773830Bhtml/story01.htm

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Hacks, Hijacks and Hunts for Chinese Data Thieves

Still smarting from a recent attack on its systems, Facebook started its week with a discovery by researchers at Bitdefender that an infected add-on at the Chrome Web Store was planting malware on its members' computers. The malware, among other things, was padding the Like counts on dummy Facebook pages.

Source: http://ectnews.com.feedsportal.com/c/34520/f/632000/s/28ee5f02/l/0L0Stechnewsworld0N0Crsstory0C773840Bhtml/story01.htm

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মঙ্গলবার, ২৬ ফেব্রুয়ারী, ২০১৩

Bernanke says Fed stimulus benefits clear, downplays risks

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke strongly defended the U.S. central bank's monetary stimulus before Congress on Tuesday, easing financial market worries over a possible early retreat from bond buys.

The Fed chairman also urged lawmakers to avoid sharp spending cuts set to go into effect on Friday, which he warned could combine with earlier tax increases to create a "significant headwind" for the modest economic recovery.

Bernanke said Fed policymakers are cognizant of potential risks from their extraordinary support for the economy, including the possibility that it might fuel unwanted inflation or stoke asset bubbles.

But, in testimony on the central bank's semi-annual report on monetary policy, he said the risks did not seem material at the moment, adding the central bank has all the tools it needs to retreat from its monetary support in a timely fashion.

"To this point, we do not see the potential costs of the increased risk-taking in some financial markets as outweighing the benefits of promoting a stronger economic recovery and more rapid job creation," Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee.

In response to the financial crisis and deep recession of 2007-2009, the Fed not only slashed official interest rates to effectively zero but also bought more than $2.5 trillion in mortgage and Treasury debt in an effort to push down long-term interest rates and spur hiring.

The Fed is currently buying $85 billion in bonds each month and has said it plans to keep purchasing assets until it sees a substantial improvement in the outlook for the labor market.

Minutes of the Fed's January 29-30 policy meeting, released last week, showed a number of officials felt the potential risks posed by the bond purchases could warrant tapering or ending them before hiring picks up. However, several others argued there was a danger in halting them prematurely.

Bernanke appeared to be in the latter camp. "The benefits of asset purchases, and of policy accommodation more generally, are clear," he said, citing improvements in the housing and auto sectors and tracing them in part to the Fed's stimulus.

"There is no risk-free approach to this situation," he said. "The risk of not doing anything is severe as well. So, we are trying to balance these things as best we can."

NO SHIFT IN POLICY COURSE

The testimony helped offset jitters in U.S. stock markets over Europe's debt crisis, with major indexes rising in the afternoon, while bond prices fell.

"What Bernanke is saying, bottom line, indicates that there will not be a reversal anytime soon in the stimulus program," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital in New York.

When asked pointedly by Republican Senator Bob Corker about whether the Fed's easy monetary policy was contributing to competitive currency devaluations globally and laying the groundwork for inflation, Bernanke was unequivocal.

"My inflation record is the best of any Federal Reserve chairman in the post-war period," he retorted. "We are not engaged in a currency war."

Democrats, for their part, seized on Bernanke's remarks to fuel their argument that looming budget cuts could have a dire economic impact, as they sought to gain political advantage over Republicans, who would rather see spending cuts than higher taxes.

Committee newcomer Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, pressed Bernanke on what she said is an implicit subsidy that large banks receive in the form of lower borrowing costs from being perceived as too big to fail.

Bernanke countered that Dodd-Frank financial reform rules had given regulators more power to wind down failing financial institutions, making the issue less of a concern.

"The subsidy is coming because of market expectations that the government would bail out these firms if they fail. Those expectations are incorrect," Bernanke said.

A PLEA ON BUDGET CUTS

In unusually direct remarks on fiscal policy, Bernanke warned the near-term spending cuts known as the sequester, which are set to take hold later this week, would threaten an already challenged economic expansion.

"The Congress and the administration should consider replacing the sharp, frontloaded spending cuts required by the sequestration, with policies that reduce the federal deficit more gradually in the near term but more substantially in the longer run," Bernanke said.

The U.S. economy braked sharply in the fourth quarter, but is forecast to grow around 2 percent or more this year. The unemployment rate has remained elevated, and registered 7.9 percent in January.

Bernanke, who appears for a second day of testimony before a House of Representatives panel on Wednesday, said persistent joblessness was a scourge with potentially long-lasting effects.

"High unemployment has substantial costs, including not only the hardship faced by the unemployed and their families, but also the harm done to the vitality and productive potential of our economy as a whole," Bernanke said.

The central bank's semi-annual report also downplayed the possibility the Fed's bond-buying might be stoking asset bubbles in certain markets.

"There has been limited evidence so far of excessive buildups of duration, credit risk, or leverage, but the Federal Reserve will continue both its careful oversight and its implementation of financial regulatory reforms designed to reduce systemic risk," it said.

(Reporting by Pedro Nicolaci da Costa; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bernanke-face-fed-critics-testimony-congress-050311854--business.html

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Many Americans are still enamored with debt

By Allison Linn, TODAY

The economy is slowly hobbling back to health, but for many Americans the rainy day fund is still looking a little dry and the credit card bill is still looking a little scary.

About 24 percent of Americans have more credit card debt than emergency savings, according to an annual survey released Monday by the personal finance website Bankrate.com.

The survey found that only about 55 percent of Americans have more emergency savings than credit card debt. About 16 percent had none of each, and the rest either didn?t know or wouldn?t answer.

The results are little changed from the same survey Bankrate.com did in 2011 and 2012. The results suggests that, in general, people?s ability to save up for a rainy day and keep a handle on credit card debt hasn?t gotten much worse in recent years - but it hasn?t improved, either.

Greg McBride, senior financial analyst with Bankrate.com, said a big problem is that people?s wages have been pretty stagnant in recent years, even as expenses for things like food and health care have edged up.

?It just leaves less money that can be put toward debt repayment or emergency savings,? McBride said.

Americans appeared to have been sobered by the Great Recession, and some people were able to get a better handle on their credit card debt in the years that followed.

The total amount of revolving debt, which is made up mostly of credit card debt, fell between 2008 and 2010, according to the Federal Reserve. Since then, it has held relatively steady at around $850 billion, the Federal Reserve data shows.

But those aggregate numbers don?t? tell the whole story, said Lucia Dunn, economics professor at The Ohio State University.

Her research has shown that some people were able to pay off their credit card debt around the time of the Great Recession. But those who weren?t able to get control of their debt during that period are likely still struggling with it, she said.

?For those who were not able to pay off (their credit cards) and were still carrying a balance, that balance is still growing,? said Dunn, who was not involved in the Bankrate.com survey.

Dunn said her data also has shown that people continue to have elevated levels of stress about their debt, even though the recession has officially been over since June of 2009.

??We may be out of the recession, but debt?s still a looming problem for people,? she said.

The Bankrate.com data also showed that saving up enough money for an unexpected emergency remains a thorny problem.

Nearly 4 in 10 people said they were feeling less comfortable about their savings levels than a year ago, while nearly half were feeling about the same. Only 14 percent said they were feeling better about their savings levels.

They Bankrate.com survey was of a representative sample of about 1,000 adults, and it was conducted in early February.

McBride, from Bankrate.com, said many Americans may have the goal of increasing their savings but find that they have little left over after the bills are paid.

?I think that people care about it. I think most of it is just sort of the inability to make substantive progress,? he said.

Still, McBride said he wasn?t sure that Americans will improve their financial habits once the economy improves For many Americans, he noted, thriftiness has been forced on them because their credit lines have been cut, they?ve suffered a job loss or they?ve hit another financial brick wall.

As the economy starts to strengthen further, he expects Americans will be more likely to spend their extra cash rather than save it.

?At the point where incomes do start to grow, I don?t think it means that the savings rate?s going to go up,? he said. ?I think it means that consumer spending is going to go up.?

Are you comfortable with the amount of money you have saved for an emergency?

Source: http://lifeinc.today.com/_news/2013/02/25/17059655-1-in-4-americans-have-more-credit-card-debt-than-savings?lite

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2nd major snowstorm paralyzes parts of Midwest

An unidentified man carries coffee to his vehicle across an unplowed street in Lawrence, Kan., Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. The second major snowstorm in a week battered the nation's midsection Tuesday, dropping a half-foot or more of snow across Missouri and Kansas and cutting power to thousands. Gusting winds blew drifts more than 2 feet high and created treacherous driving conditions for those who dared the morning commute. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

An unidentified man carries coffee to his vehicle across an unplowed street in Lawrence, Kan., Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. The second major snowstorm in a week battered the nation's midsection Tuesday, dropping a half-foot or more of snow across Missouri and Kansas and cutting power to thousands. Gusting winds blew drifts more than 2 feet high and created treacherous driving conditions for those who dared the morning commute. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

James Smith clears snow from sidewalks Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013, in downtown Sedalia, Mo., which received about a foot of snow overnight. The second major snowstorm in a week battered the nation's midsection Tuesday, dropping a half-foot or more of snow across Missouri and Kansas with gusting winds blew drifts more than 2 feet high creating treacherous driving conditions for those who dared the morning commute.(AP Photo/The Democrat, Bob Santnan)

A pedestrian passes snow covers cars and trees Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013 in Kansas City, Mo. The second major snowstorm in a week battered the nation's midsection Tuesday, dropping a half-foot or more of heavy, wet snow across Missouri and Kansas and cutting power to thousands. (AP Photo/The Kansas City Star, Keith Myers)

A pair of snow plows head west on US-54 Highway, clearing the snow off the roadway, near Cheney, Kan., Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. The second major snowstorm in a week battered the nation's midsection Tuesday, dropping a half-foot or more of snow across Missouri and Kansas and cutting power to thousands. Gusting winds blew drifts more than 2 feet high and created treacherous driving conditions for those who dared the morning commute. (AP Photo/The Wichita Eagle, Bo Rader)

A pedestrian crosses the street in front of a city bus stuck in the snow Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013 in Kansas City, Mo. The second major snowstorm in a week battered the nation's midsection Tuesday, dropping a half-foot or more of heavy, wet snow across Missouri and Kansas and cutting power to thousands. (AP Photo/The Kansas City Star, Keith Myers)

(AP) ? For the second time in a week, a major winter storm paralyzed parts of the nation's midsection Tuesday, dumping a fresh layer of heavy, wet snow atop cities still choked with piles from the previous system and making travel perilous from the Oklahoma panhandle to the Great Lakes.

The weight of the snow strained power lines and cut electricity to more than 100,000 homes and businesses. At least three deaths were blamed on the blizzard.

The Missouri Department of Transportation issued a rare "no travel" advisory, urging people to stay off highways except in case of a dire emergency. Conditions were so bad that some snowplows slid into ditches, underlining the danger to even well-equipped travelers.

"It's straight hell. It's snowing, blowing, drifting, everything," said Robert Branscecum, a trucker from Campton, Ill., who was hauling Wal-Mart merchandise to Dallas. He had been stranded since Monday evening at Beto Junction, about 80 miles southwest of Kansas City.

"The cars are stuck in the parking lot. Some of the trucks that tried to leave got stuck," he said. "I'm not leaving anytime soon."

Up to 10 inches had fallen in and around Kansas City, Mo., by the time the snow tapered off before midday. Mayor Sly James declared a state of emergency.

For a second straight week, schoolchildren, government workers and others caught a break as most schools and office buildings were closed. Hospitals closed outpatient centers and urgent-care clinics.

Although the amount of snow was not unusual for late February, the snow was so heavy it stressed everything it fell on.

In the northwest Oklahoma town of Woodward, a person was killed after 15 inches of snow brought down part of a roof. The storm was also blamed for the deaths of two people who were killed in rollover crashes Monday on Interstate 70 in Kansas.

Heavy snow caused roofs to cave in at businesses in Belton and Warrensburg, Mo., where 13 inches of snow fell. In Columbia, a canopy over gas pumps collapsed at a convenience store.

In a Kansas City neighborhood of apartment complexes, Matthew Meier found a large tree had been uprooted and fallen onto the back of his car.

"I was completely sure I would find the tree trunk across the engine compartment," Meier said. "But when I came outside I said, 'This doesn't look too bad at all.'"

By noon, the storm had arrived in the Great Lakes with a mixture of blowing snow, sleet and frigid rain that disrupted most forms of travel. Airlines canceled more than 280 flights at Chicago's O'Hare and Midway airports alone.

The heavy weather also blew through Iowa, which had been expected to escape any serious snowfall. Parts of the state could now get as much as a foot.

Fueled by a strong low pressure system, the crescent-shaped storm was expected to drop up to 6 inches of snow on Chicago before crawling east across Michigan toward northern New England.

Schools and major highways in the Texas Panhandle remained closed for a second day Tuesday. Interstate 27 reopened between Amarillo and Lubbock, about 120 miles to the south, but the Texas National Guard was still working to clear much of Interstate 40 from the Oklahoma border to the New Mexico state line.

Some other roads reopened as sunny conditions began to thaw ice and snow-packed surfaces.

Just a day earlier, whiteout conditions had made virtually all Panhandle roads impassable. A hurricane-force gust of 75 mph was recorded in Amarillo, which got 17 inches.

In Oklahoma, 600 snowplows and trucks worked to reopen roads.

Because this was the second storm in as many weeks, weary Midwesterners were annoyed that a huge blizzard could so closely follow another major storm.

Climate scientists can't say that man-made global warming is the cause of individual extreme weather events, but they say climate change in general makes such storms more likely because of what it does to the thermodynamics of the air and water.

Warmer air in general holds more moisture, and when temperatures dance around the freezing mark ? cold enough to fall as snow, but warm enough to hold lots of moisture ? the storms dump more snow, especially if part of the system has been over unusually warm ocean water.

Since 1960, much of the United States has had twice as many extreme snowstorms as it had in the 60 years before, according to a new study by top scientists that will soon appear in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. But global warming is also shortening the snow season, dramatically reducing spring snow in the Northern Hemisphere, the Global Snow Lab at Rutgers University found.

"These storms didn't just occur in a vacuum. They are fueled by record amounts of moisture in the atmosphere," Pennsylvania State University climate scientist Michael Mann said Tuesday in an email.

Mann said the unusual warmth and moisture combine with cold air dipping down from the Arctic to produce heavy snow. He said some computer weather models predict the Midwestern storm may break a record for low-pressure, which is how meteorologists measure the strength of a storm.

The back-to-back storms have raised hopes that the moisture might ease the drought conditions that have gripped the Midwest for more than a year. The snowpack now resting on the Plains will help, but it's no drought-buster, experts say.

"If we get one more storm like this, with widespread 2 inches of moisture, we will continue to chip away at the drought," said meteorologist Mike Umscheid of the National Weather Service office in Dodge City. "But to claim the drought is over or ending is way too premature."

___

Associated Press writers Betsy Blaney in Lubbock, Texas, Nomaan Merchant in Dallas, Jill Zeman Bleed and Kelly P. Kissel in Little Rock, Ark., Daniel Holtmeyer in Oklahoma City, Steve Paulson in Denver, Paul Davenport in Albuquerque, N.M., Roxana Hegeman in Wichita, Kan., and Seth Borenstein in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-02-26-US-Winter-Storm/id-86aef11347a540268cba12eda4784e66

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Extremely high estrogen levels may underlie complications of single-birth IVF pregnancies

Feb. 25, 2013 ? Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers have identified what may be a major factor behind the increased risk of two adverse outcomes in pregnancies conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF). Two papers published in the journal Fertility and Sterility support the hypothesis that extremely high estrogen levels at the time of embryo transfer increase the risk that infants will be born small for their gestational age and the risk of preeclampsia, a dangerous condition that can threaten the lives of both mother and child. They also outline a protocol that reduced those risks in a small group of patients.

Both papers addressed IVF pregnancies resulting in a single live birth, not multiple-birth pregnancies which continue to be the most significant risk factor of any assisted reproduction technology. But even single-birth IVF pregnancies are more likely than unassisted single-birth pregnancies to result in premature delivery, low birth weight and other serious complications. In the January 2013 issue of the journal, the investigators at the MGH's Vincent Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology report that freezing embryos of women who had excessively elevated estrogen at the time of egg retrieval, followed by embryo transfer in a later reproductive cycle when hormonal levels were closer to those of a natural cycle, significantly reduced the percentage of small newborns and eliminated the incidence of preeclampsia in a small group of patients.

"We've known for a long time that singleton pregnancies conceived by IVF were at higher risk of these adverse outcomes, but the reasons were unknown," says Anthony Imudia, MD, of the MGH Fertility Center, lead author of both articles. "Now we know which facet of IVF might be responsible, which will allow us to identify at-risk patients and implement ways of averting those risks."

At most fertility centers, IVF involves a sequence of coordinated events that stimulate the ovaries in a way that leads to the growth and maturation of several eggs at the same time. Prior to ovulation the eggs are retrieved for fertilization outside the mother's body. If fertilization is successful, embryos that appear to be developing normally are transferred into the woman's uterus within 5 days of egg retrieval in a process called fresh embryo transfer.

Egg cells grow and mature in ovarian sacs called follicles, which release estrogen, so the development of multiple maturing follicles can lead to significantly elevated estrogen levels. Animal studies have suggested that excessively elevated estrogen early in pregnancy can interfere with the development of the placenta, and other research has associated placental abnormalities with increased risk for both preeclampsia and delivery of small newborns.

In the June 2012 issue of Fertility and Sterility, the MGH team reported that -- among almost 300 IVF pregnancies that resulted in the birth of a single infant from 2005 through 2010 -- the women whose estrogen levels right before egg retrieval were highest had significantly greater incidence of preeclampsia and of delivering infants small for their gestational age. Women whose peak estrogen levels were at or above the 90th percentile had a nine-fold greater risk of a small infant and a five-fold greater risk of preeclampsia than women with lower peak estrogen levels.

To follow up that observation, the MGH team examined how a protocol instituted for mothers at risk of a complication of fertility treatment called ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) might affect the apparent risks associated with extremely high estrogen levels. At the MGH Fertility Center, if the estrogen levels for IVF patients exceed 4,500 pg/mL on the day they are scheduled to receive a hormonal trigger of final egg cell maturation -- indicating increased risk for OHSS -- standard practice is to counsel patients on alternatives. These included postponing the procedure until a future IVF cycle or proceeding with egg retrieval and fertilization but freezing the embryos for implantation in a later cycle to allow time for the ovary to recover.

The team's January Fertility and Sterility report compared the outcomes of 20 patients who choose to have their embryos frozen and implanted later because of their risk of OHSS with those of 32 patients with pre-retrieval estrogen levels over 3,450 pg/mL who proceeded with fresh embryo transfer. Only 10 percent of the infants of mothers who choose embryo freezing and transfer in a subsequent cycle were small for their gestational age, compared with 35 percent of the infants of mothers who had fresh embryo transfer. While the incidence of preeclampsia after fresh embryo transfer was almost 22 percent, none of the patients who chose embryo freezing with later implantation developed preeclampsia.

"Our center takes a very individualized and conservative approach to ovarian stimulation, so fewer than 10 percent of our patients had extremely high estrogen levels of greater than 3,450 pg/mL," says Imudia, who is an instructor in Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology at Harvard Medical School. "If other centers validate our findings by following the same approach and achieving similar outcomes, we would recommend that each patient's hormonal dosage be adjusted to try and keep her estrogen levels below 3,000 pg/mL. If the estrogen level exceeds this threshold, the patient could be counseled regarding freezing all embryos for transfer in subsequent cycles, when her hormone levels are closer to that of a natural cycle."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Massachusetts General Hospital, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Anthony N. Imudia, Awoniyi O. Awonuga, Anjali J. Kaimal, Diane L. Wright, Aaron K. Styer, Thomas L. Toth. Elective cryopreservation of all embryos with subsequent cryothaw embryo transfer in patients at risk for ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome reduces the risk of adverse obstetric outcomes: a preliminary study. Fertility and Sterility, 2013; 99 (1): 168 DOI: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2012.08.060

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/ExYwEf6xmzQ/130225131624.htm

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Islamists threaten to kill French kidnapped in Cameroon

DAKAR (Reuters) - Gunmen claiming to be from Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamist group threatened on Monday to kill a kidnapped French family of seven if authorities in Nigeria and Cameroon do not release Muslim militants held there.

French ministers said they believed the three adults and four children seized in Cameroon's far north near the Nigerian border on Tuesday were being held by Boko Haram which has killed hundreds to try to carve out an Islamist state in Nigeria.

The first sign of the family since they were captured came in a video posted on YouTube in which they appeared surrounded by three gunmen wearing turbans and dressed in camouflage.

"We have been taken by Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad," one of the male hostages said in the video, referring to the name in Arabic of Nigeria's Boko Haram militants.

"They want the liberation of their brothers in Cameroon and their women imprisoned in Nigeria," the man added, speaking in French as he sat on the floor beside another man, a veiled woman and four children.

"A video of the French family kidnapped in northern Cameroon last Tuesday has just been posted by Boko Haram," said French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. "These images are terribly shocking and show a cruelty without limits."

The hostage-taking highlighted the risk to French citizens in Africa after Paris sent thousands of troops into Mali last month to oust al Qaeda-linked Islamists operating in the country's vast desert north.

"The president of France has launched a war on Islam and we are fighting it everywhere," said one of the apparent kidnappers, speaking in Arabic and identifying himself as a member of Boko Haram. "Implement our demands. If you leave out even one, we will kill these people."

Boko Haram, a Nigerian militant group, has previously posted videos in Hausa, a language spoken in northern Nigeria. The black and white flag that hung behind the hostages in the released video is more associated with al Qaeda-linked groups.

A spokesman for Boko Haram had denied any connection with the kidnapping at the weekend.

However, security experts in Nigeria, Africa's largest oil exporter, say that Boko Haram is made up of multiple cells, without a defined command structure.

The militant group is known to have had some links to al Qaeda factions in North Africa and Mali, but experts say they appear limited for now.

Cameroon's Communication Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary said he could not comment because his government was not aware of the video.

The governor of Cameroon's Far North Region, Augustine Fonka Awa, said he was not aware of any Boko Haram members being held in the country.

(Additional reporting by Asma Alsharif in Cairo and Joe Brock in Abuja; Writing by David Lewis; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Jon Hemming)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/islamists-threaten-kill-french-kidnapped-cameroon-183340550--finance.html

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Darden Investing In Lobster Aquaculture Farm - Business Insider

Darden Restaurants, the owner of Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and LongHorn Steakhouse chains, announced last spring that it was investing in the world's first commercial lobster farm in Malaysia. ?

In an analyst conference today, the restaurant operator explained that it "sees global demand for lobster exceeding supply." ?

Since there isn't a limitless supply of lobsters in the wild, growing lobsters in captivity will increase the supply. The company hopes this will drive down prices for consumers and provide a buffer against the rising cost of seafood. ?

According to the Orlando Sentinel's?Sandra Pedicini, Darden has partnered with a? Malaysian group on a 23,000-acre aquaculture park.?

"After several years of?research and investment in hatchery technology, we?selected Malaysia as the site, as we intend to grow a?species of spiny lobster known as panulirus ornatus?indigenous to the region. While we?re excited about?the prospects for this initiative, it will be several years?(2017) before it?s operational and even longer (2029)?before production is expected to reach scale," Darden said in a 2012 report.?

Spiny lobsters, also known as rock lobsters, are distinguished by their lack of claws and short spines.?In comparison to true lobster (Maine lobster), it's more mild and bland.

By 2029, the company plans to produce up to 40 million pounds of spiny lobster with annual revenue of $ 1 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal. ?

Now Watch: How This Maine Native Is Taking Over The East Coast With His Luke's Lobster Shacks

?

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/darden-investing-in-lobster-aquaculture-farm-2013-2

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Mid-2013 expansion for Internet names targeted

FILE- In this Wednesday June 13, 2012, file photo, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, ICANN, President and Chief Executive Rod Beckstrom, speaks on expanding the number of domain name suffixes during a press conference in London. Hundreds of Internet address suffixes to rival ?.com? should be available for people and businesses to use by the end of the year, the head of an Internet oversight agency said Monday Feb. 25, 2013. The initial ones, expected in mid-2013, will likely be in Chinese and other languages besides English, said Fadi Chehade, CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. (AP Photo/Tim Hales, File)

FILE- In this Wednesday June 13, 2012, file photo, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, ICANN, President and Chief Executive Rod Beckstrom, speaks on expanding the number of domain name suffixes during a press conference in London. Hundreds of Internet address suffixes to rival ?.com? should be available for people and businesses to use by the end of the year, the head of an Internet oversight agency said Monday Feb. 25, 2013. The initial ones, expected in mid-2013, will likely be in Chinese and other languages besides English, said Fadi Chehade, CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. (AP Photo/Tim Hales, File)

(AP) ? Hundreds of Internet address suffixes to rival ".com" should be available for people and businesses to use by the end of the year, the head of an Internet oversight agency said Monday.

The initial ones, expected in mid-2013, will likely be in Chinese and other languages besides English, said Fadi Chehade, CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

That will be followed within weeks by English suffixes that do not have competing bidders. Although the specific names won't be announced until late April, they will come from a pool of single-bidder proposals ? among them, ".aetna," ''.cadillac" and other brand names sought by companies, regional monikers such as ".vegas" and ".quebec" and generic suffixes such as ".like" and ".vacation."

Many proposed suffixes, such as ".app," ''.music" and ".tech," will likely take longer, however, because multiple groups have submitted bids to run them and must work out disputes.

ICANN is overseeing the largest expansion of the Internet address system since its creation in the 1980s. Last year, nearly 2,000 businesses and groups submitted bids for about 1,400 different names. Proponents of the new suffixes are hoping the expansion will lead to online neighborhoods of businesses and groups around specific geographic areas or industries. And with easy-to-remember ".com" names long taken, they hope to offer Internet newcomers more choices.

In preparation for that expansion, Chehade said Monday that businesses and other trademark holders will be able to declare names they want protected, starting March 26, for an annual fee of up to $150 per name. IBM Corp. and Deloitte will run that system, known as the Trademark Clearinghouse.

Trademark holders will have a chance to register names ending in one of the new suffixes before registration opens to the general public. If a company chooses not to register the name right away, the Trademark Clearinghouse will notify the company when someone else tries to do so. The system, however, will not block that name from going through, and parties must work out disputes themselves, such as through arbitration.

Still to be determined is whether the system will cover variations such as misspellings or the use of a trademark as part of a longer suffix, as in "iPhoneCases." In an interview with The Associated Press, Chehade said ICANN did not want to restrict free speech or other legitimate uses.

From a technical standpoint, computers don't really care what the names are, as long as they match to a numeric Internet address that computers need to send email and locate websites.

From a business and cultural standpoint, however, the names have come to mean much more. Names are central to many companies' branding. And the Internet feels less global when Chinese, Arabic and Russian speakers have to use English characters as part of their Internet address.

ICANN received more than 100 proposals for names in other languages, the bulk of them for the Chinese equivalent of words such as "company" and "online." ICANN's board had agreed to review those first.

Proposals for about a thousand English suffixes have only one bidder, so those would be next in line. In making its recommendations, ICANN is considering the bidder's financial and technical capabilities, as well as any objections raised by the public.

Chehade said ICANN's initial recommendations are expected in late April, after which the winning bidders will work out operational and contractual details. The first of the new names are expected to be activated within months, with additional ones coming at a rate of about 20 a week.

For suffixes with multiple bidders, there is no deadline for which parties must reach agreement. ICANN plans to ultimately hold an auction if competing bidders cannot reach a compromise.

Meanwhile, ICANN said Monday that it would spread its operations to three locations around the world to cover all time zones. Headquarters will remain in Los Angeles, with hubs expected in Singapore and Istanbul, Turkey, by mid-2013. In an interview from Singapore, Chehade said the change would help ICANN avoid hiring a U.S.-centric staff as the Internet address system expands to accommodate users worldwide.

McClatchy/Tribune - MCT Information Services

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-02-25-Beyond%20Dot-Com/id-b389a4ac462d4ba8aacd81fc558fa68d

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Do It Yourself Search Engine Optimization - Professur Gestaltung ...

If your web site is not ranked in the very first couple search outcome pages, probabilities are, you are missing out a fantastic number of guests that could potentially turn out to be your consumers. This would also deem your internet site completely useless following all, what is the use of a published internet site that is not viewed by guests and internet surfer?

Search engine optimization is a method employed to obtain a higher ranking in the search engine, so as to create a lot of cost-free site visitors to your internet site.

If your web site is not ranked in the 1st couple search result pages, possibilities are, you are missing out a excellent quantity of guests that could potentially turn into your customers. This would also deem your internet site completely useless following all, what is the use of a published site that is not viewed by guests and net surfers?

Although Search engine marketing is an essential method that all webmasters want to employ in their web sites, it is absolutely not an straightforward process to do. Some massive companies are even going to the extent of paying large amount of cash to employ Search engine marketing business to optimize their internet sites.

For person who do not have the budget and would like to do-it-oneself (DIY) with search engine optimization, here are some straightforward techniques which are straightforward to understand:

Give worthwhile and informative content on your site

For most web internet sites, content material is the crucial. When writing the content of your web pages, insert vital key phrases which relate to the merchandise and services that your organization offers.

Make your content brief and concise, however informative.

Preserve your facts up-to-date so that users will go to your web web site a lot more typically. Do not neglect to include a lot of useful links, articles and guides that users can forward to one more user and add to your buyer base.

Make the general design and style user friendly

The design of your website need to be simple, good and straightforward to navigate. Do not design and style your web website in an overly-difficult way that users will discover it as well ?frightening? to browse by means of.

Differ the keyword for each and every person net web page

Feel of each possible keywords or phrases that will apply to your items and solutions.

Every single user is distinct and may not necessarily use the keyword that you expect them to variety in the search bar. Search engines provide tools which will guide you by way of locating the appropriate search phrases for search engine optimization.

Consist of definitive and visible hyper links in your web site

Delivering customers with hyperlinks which are helpful and easy to uncover is however yet another way to optimize your internet site.

Construct incoming links to your web site

Enroll in a hyperlink exchange system and begin to exchange link with other websites that are connected to your sector.

Write articles is also a good way to get cost-free incoming links to your internet site. It can also help to construct your reputation at the exact same time. like

The above listed are only some of the couple of straightforward strategies employed in Search engine optimization. The ?One Page Search Engine Optimization Checklist? provides more details and easy-to-read guide for severe webmasters who want to master the art of Search engine optimization.

Employing the appropriate search engine optimization tactics listed in the checklist, you can definitely optimize your net web site and yield extremely promising final results for your enterprise.

Source: http://www.damm-net.org/blog/2013/02/do-it-yourself-search-engine-optimization-search-engine-optimization/

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Jim Carrey wears giant feet to Oscar bash

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By Drusilla Moorhouse, TODAY contributor

Jim Carrey's "awkward spiritual journey" took him to Elton John's annual Oscars bash Sunday night -- in giant prosthetic feet.

And just in case he tripped, the goofy actor also accessorized his casual suit with tiny angel wings.

"Goin' to Elton's party. Great cause!" he tweeted about the 21st AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party. "Wearing the perfect outfit to express my awkward spiritual journey. ;^}"

He reiterated his remarks later that night: "Elton's party was fun," he wrote. "My big feet and little angel wings were an expression of my somewhat awkward spiritual journey."

Signing off with a halo emoticon, the "Yes Man" star added, "I'm a #Strangel."

It's unclear whether he's referencing the new animated short film "Strangel: The Angel of the Odd," but Carrey sure makes for one strange angel.

What do you think of Carrey's goofy getup? Tell us on Facebook!

Related Content:

Source: http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/02/25/17089626-jim-carrey-wears-giant-feet-to-elton-johns-oscar-bash?lite

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