Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/287827396?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Thursday, February 28, 2013
Evernote for iOS updated with new PDF viewer and Snippets for iPad
Earlier today, Evernote pulled the trigger on version 5.2 of its iOS application. The newfangled software introduces an updated PDF viewer that adds multi-page viewing, screen rotation lock, two-page display within landscape mode and the ability to search text inside a file. Other new app features include plain text note formatting and offline Notebook support for business accounts. iPad users now have access to Snippets list viewing, Business Notebook syncing and the ability to download third-party Trunk software from within the app. If your device is running iOS 5.0 or later and you'd like to sample this smorgasbord of new features, head on over to the App Store or visit the source link below.
Source: iTunes, The Evernote Blog
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/28/evernote-ios-updated-pdf-viewer-snippets/
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Barbara Walters returning to 'The View' on Monday
NEW YORK (AP) ? Barbara Walters says she's returning to "The View" on Monday.
She's been sidelined for several weeks. But now she's "had enough rest and it's time to come back," Walters reported by phone during Tuesday's edition of the ABC talk show.
Walters was hospitalized on Jan. 19 after fainting and cutting her head at a party in Washington. The 83-year-old said she had chickenpox and a fever at the time but didn't realize it. She suffered a concussion and got six stitches. She was released 10 days later and since then, has been resting in her New York home.
"No more chickenpox," she told her fellow panelists in the studio during her phone call.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/barbara-walters-returning-view-monday-164021415.html
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Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Observatory: Ant Species Losing Ground to Venomous Kind
[unable to retrieve full-text content]An aggressive species is being displaced in North America by a more aggressive ? and potentially dangerous ? species, according to a new study.
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Oil fluctuates on Italy election, US economic data
NEW YORK (AP) ? The price of oil bounced around Tuesday as investors weighed the implications of political uncertainty in Italy, a rash of U.S. economic indicators and the latest assessment of the economy from the head of the Federal Reserve.
Benchmark crude for April delivery was down 50 cents at $92.61 a barrel in morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price dropped below $92 earlier, and also briefly rallied into positive territory.
Stock and commodities markets were initially rattled by the possibility of political paralysis in Italy after nearly complete results in crucial national elections showed no clear front-runner. Investors worried that the uncertainty could intensify Europe's debt crisis.
"It seems that Italy is repeating the same story as Greece, bringing renewed uncertainty about European political and economic conditions and further volatility and nervous trading across the markets," said a report from Sucden Financial Research in London.
Oil cut into the early losses after U.S. economic data showed further improvement in sales of new homes and housing prices, as well as an increase in consumer confidence. U.S. stock indexes rose, looking to reverse a sharp decline on Monday.
The focus now turns to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who delivered the central bank's semiannual report on the economy to Congress. In his opening remarks, Bernanke signaled that the Fed's efforts to keep borrowing costs low will continue.
Investors will also be monitoring fresh information on U.S. stockpiles of crude oil. Data for the week ending Feb. 22 are expected to show a build of 2.6 million barrels in crude oil stocks, according to a survey of analysts by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.
In London, Brent crude was down $1.35 at $113.09 on the ICE futures exchange.
In other energy futures trading on Nymex:
? Wholesale gasoline fell6 cents at $3.20 a gallon.
? Heating oil dropped 5 cents to $3.04 a gallon.
? Natural gas fell 1 cent to $3.40 per 1,000 cubic feet.
__
Pablo Gorondi in Budapest contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/oil-fluctuates-italy-election-us-economic-data-163549191--finance.html
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Relatives add drama to King Richard III saga
The bones of Richard III, who reigned for two years, have been discovered in Leicester, England, and they indicate that his spine was twisted by scoliosis and that he received eight head wounds in battle. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.
By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News
Nine distant relatives of King Richard III are demanding that the British government reverse its decision to have his skeleton reburied at Leicester Cathedral, near the parking lot where it was found, and give it a resting place in York instead.
The open letter, published late Sunday by British newspapers such as The Telegraph and the Daily Mail, is just one of several efforts seeking a burial at York Minster for the more than 500-year-old remains, which were discovered last year by researchers from the University of Leicester. This month, the researchers said DNA analysis and other forensic tests proved "beyond reasonable doubt" that the skeleton was that of Richard III.
The English monarch reigned for just two years before he was killed in battle in 1485, but he was immortalized in William Shakespeare's play, "Richard III," in which he was portrayed as a hunchbacked villain. Richard III's legions of modern-day fans say he wasn't really all that bad ? and the row over what to do with his bones has added a new twist to the drama.
"We, the undernamed, do hereby most respectfully demand that the remains of King Richard III, the last Plantagenet King of England and our mutual ancestor, be returned to the city of York for formal, ceremonial reburial," the statement from his relatives says. "We believe that such an interment was the desire of King Richard in life and we have written this statement so that his wishes may be fully recognised and upheld. King Richard III was the last King of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty which had ruled England since the succession of King Henry II in 1154.
"We, the undernamed blood descendants, unreservedly believe that King Richard is deserving of great recognition and respect and hereby agree to dutifully uphold his memory.
"With due humility and affection, we are and will remain His Majesty?s representatives and voice."
The statement was signed by nine individuals who have traced their ancestry back to Richard III's siblings. The nine signers are?Charles E. Brunner, Stephen Guy Nicolay, Vanessa Maria Roe, Jacob Daniel Tyler, Paul Tyler, Raymond Torrence Bertram Roe, Linda Jane Roe, Eleanor Bianca Lupton and Charlotte Jane Lupton. Richard died childless and thus has no direct-line descendants.
Even before the remains were found, the British Ministry of Justice granted a license putting the University of Leicester in charge of the parking-lot dig and the disposition of any remains found there."The University of Leicester specified in its application that reinterment would occur in Leicester Cathedral if the remains were proved to be those of King Richard III," the institution said in a statement.
The university is currently working with the cathedral and Leicester's city council on plans for his reburial by August 2014. In the meantime, researchers are continuing to study the remains.
The long lead time means that the tug of war between Leicester and York, two cities that are 100 miles (160 kilometers) from each other, could continue for months. There are even those who want to see the remains interred in London's Westminster Abbey. But the nine relatives behind this week's open letter have no more standing than the other descendants of Richard III's family, who doubtless number in the thousands by now.
In that light, Leicester seems to have the strongest case, by virtue of legal grounds as well as the less rigorous "finders, keepers" rule and the dictum that possession is nine-tenths of the law. Do you disagree? Feel free to weigh in with your comments below.
More about Richard III:
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's?Facebook page, following?@b0yle on Twitter?and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
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Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Tax relief cap on investments will hit charities ? FMWF
Who We Are
FMWF was formed in 2001 to help as many women as possible reach the very highest ranks in British business and to support them once they get there with the most relevant news and features coverage, advice and networking opportunities.
The forum is intended to provide interesting and useful opportunities for women at the very top of their respective professions to make new contacts, exchange ideas and forge business alliances.
Unlike single sector groups, the Financial Mail Women?s Forum will offer its membership the distinction of drawing together senior women from all parts of industry and commerce, from the City and public service, the professions, politics and e-commerce.
As a newspaper with a strong female readership, Financial Mail hopes this initiative will help more talented women reach the very top of British business.
We want our newly designed site to work for you and will be working flat out to keep you up to date, informed and entertained. We want to provide the news, views and information that you?ll find most useful and entertaining.
And the best way for us to to do that is if you to let us know when we get it right and when we don?t. You can email us at women@financialmail.co.uk.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Source: http://www.fmwf.com/media-type/news/2013/02/tax-relief-cap-on-investments-will-hit-charities/
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Introducing Quvenzhane Wallis: Oscars' Smallest Nominee
Youngest Best Actress nominee ever lied her way into 'Beasts of the Southern Wild' audition.
By Drew Taylor
Quvenzhané Wallis at the 2013 Oscars
Photo: Jason Merritt/ Getty Images
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1702530/quvenzhane-wallis-oscars-youngest-nominee.jhtml
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Monday, February 25, 2013
Octavia Spencer's Oscar Dress 2013 Is Another Gorgeous Tadashi Shoji Design (PHOTOS)
If it ain't broke, don't fix it! That pretty much sums up Octavia Spencer's style motto. It's a rare occasion when we don't see the Academy Award-winning actress dressed in a Tadashi Shoji creation. And her fierce (and fabulous) loyalty serves her well--Octavia always looks amazing.
With that said, it was a sure bet that the 42-year-old star would be wearing Tadashi to the 2013 Oscars, like she did last year when she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. For tonight's festivities Octavia slipped into a custom, blush tulle one-shoulder ball gown by her favorite designer. She accessorized with Lorraine Schwartz jewels, an Edie Parker clutch and Prada heels.
And "The Help" star's beautiful old Hollywood updo and bold burgundy lip are the perfect finishing touches. Fairy princess fab!
Check out Octavia's Tadashi Shoji gown at the 2013 Academy Awards and tell us what you think!
PHOTOS:
See the rest of the red carpet glam:
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/24/octavia-spencer-oscar-dress-2013-photos_n_2750502.html
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Another blizzard slams Plains region
DODGE CITY, Kan. (AP) ? Blizzard conditions slammed parts of the central Plains Monday, forcing the closure of highways in the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles and sending public works crews scrambling for salt and sand anew just days after a massive storm blanketed the region with snow.
National Weather Service officials in Kansas and Oklahoma issued blizzard warnings and watches through late Monday as the storm packing snow and high winds tracked eastward across West Texas toward Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri. Forecasters also warned of possible tornadoes further southeast.
Snow covered Amarillo, Texas, where forecasters said up to 18 inches could fall, accompanied by wind gusts up to 65 mph. Paul Braun, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Transport, said whiteout conditions and drifting snow had made all roads in the Texas Panhandle impassable. Interstate 40 was closed from Amarillo to the Oklahoma state line.
"It's just a good day to stay home," Braun said.
"This is one of the worst ones we've had for a while," he said. "And we kind of know snow up here."
The weather service issued a blizzard warning for the Oklahoma Panhandle and counties along the Kansas border, warning that travel in the area would be "very dangerous" until Tuesday morning with near zero visibility and drifting snow.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol closed all highways in the Panhandle, citing slick roads and limited visibility. Trooper Betsy Randolph said the patrol advised its non-essential personnel to stay home until Wednesday.
Forecasters said up to 16 inches of snow could accumulate in some areas, with wind gusts reaching up to 55 mph.
About a dozen flights were canceled at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City. The Chicago Department of Aviation reported normal operations at Midway and O'Hare ? the bellwether air hub of the Midwest.
Matt Lehenbauer, emergency management director for Woodward County, Okla., told The Associated Press he was expecting whiteout conditions and that although there was plenty of salt and sand on hand to clear roads, delays were still likely.
"We may not get the roads cleared until midday Tuesday if we get the expected amount of snow and wind. As it's falling, in the blizzard-like conditions, we just won't be able to keep up," Lehenbauer said late Sunday.
The weather service warned of similar high winds and upward of a foot of snow across south-central Kansas. Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback amended a state of emergency declaration to include the new weather.
"This storm has the potential to be more dangerous than last week's storm," Brownback said late Sunday. The storm late last week dumped more than a foot of snow in some places, closing airports and leading to several deadly traffic accidents.
Brownback urged motorists to "stay off the road unless it's absolutely critical," adding that drivers who must travel should pack charged cellphones and emergency kits containing food, water, blankets, road flares and shovels.
"It would have been nice if we'd had a few days to recover, to do some equipment rehab," Joe Pajor, deputy director of public works in Wichita, Kan., told The Wichita Eagle. The city saw its second-highest snowfall Thursday with 14.2 inches.
The southern Kansas town of Zenda saw 18 inches of snow last week, while 17 inches fell in Hays, Kan., about 13 inches in northeast Missouri and 12 inches in parts of Kansas City.
Pajor warned that sand and salt supplies were low after last week's storm and that the city's strategy might just be to plow snow into the center of arterial streets and cut traffic to one lane in each direction. He said the city wouldn't begin to use its limited sand and salt supply until the snow stopped falling and plowing was under way.
Steve Corfidi, meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said the storm also will affect southern states and could spawn tornadoes Tuesday in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, the Florida Panhandle and Georgia.
By Monday morning, several inches of snow had fallen on much of West Texas and the Texas Panhandle, where forecasters predicted more than a foot could fall. The incoming storm sent Amarillo residents running out for last-minute supplies. Mario Delgado, 57, needed milk.
"I got all the good stuff like soup and peanut butter the other day," Delgado told the Amarillo Globe-News. "We're used to it here."
He added: "As long as you got plenty of clothes and the right kind of shoes, you'll be alright."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/2nd-blizzard-less-week-slams-plains-region-124708575.html
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Sunday, February 24, 2013
Binghamton U. gives mall shoppers a college sampler
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Source: http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20130223/NEWS01/302230047/1112/
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Snow, freezing rain to lash New England through Sunday
The Weather Channel's Kim Cunningham has the latest on a storm that's headed to New England and a second storm that's coming out of the Rockies.
By Craig Giammona, Writer, NBC News
Parts of New England braced for snow on Saturday, with Boston prepared for a mix of snow and freezing rain in the third storm to rake the area in three weekends. The mix will likely make a messy end for a powerful storm system that headed eastward after slamming much of the Midwest with snow earlier this week, meteorologists said.
As many as 1 to 3 inches of snow could fall in Boston, with the heaviest snowfall expected between Saturday night and Sunday morning.
?I?m not thrilled that we?ve got more snow coming this weekend. I?ve had enough of winter,? Boston area resident John Bonnanzio, 54, told Reuters.
But other residents were ready to make the most of the coming storm.
?I?m excited,? Jesse Beecher, 29, told Reuters. ?I went out skiing in the streets during the last one, and I?ll do the same thing again.?
A winter weather advisory was set to go into effect for much of the region starting at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
The storm system, which left much of the Midwest buried under snow, has the potential to cause flooding in the southeastern United States and was expected to bring precipitation to much of the east coast, including New York City and north into Massachusetts. The Weather Channel said parts of southern Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and northern and central Massachusetts could see up to 6 to 9 inches of snow over the weekend.
The massive storm system resulted in 570 flight cancellations on Friday, including 127 at Chicago?s O?Hare airport, Reuters said.
Meanwhile, a storm in the Pacific Northwest was expected to dump 2 to 3 feet of snow on the Cascade Mountains through the weekend, according to the National Weather Service. The weather service issued winter storm warnings for parts of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Utah on Friday.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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Saturday, February 23, 2013
Download and Install CM10.1 Nightly Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean on Galaxy S2 I9100G
Thanks to CyanogenMod team, CM10.1 Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean is now available for Galaxy S2 I9100G. And this build from the CyanogenMod team includes support for a lot of Galaxy S2 smartphones, including the Galaxy S2 I9100G. The latest nightly build is based on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean ROM, which brings some improvement along with it, including better security features. It will allow you to enjoy the latest iteration of Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean on your Galaxy S2 I9100G.
Before installing this ROM, it is pertinent to mention that ROM flashing can cause your phone to brick. While, the majority of ROMs today prevent your device from getting bricked, it is still advisable to practice caution. Because it will be your responsibility in the event of your device getting bricked.
Download
- CM 10.1 Nightly-Build 4.2.2 Jelly Bean ROM For Galaxy S2 I9100G [File: cm-10.1-20130221-NIGHTLY-i9100g.zip]
- Google Apps [File: gapps-jb-20121212-signed.zip]
Guide to Download and Install CM10.1 Android 4.2.2 Nightlies on Galaxy S2 I9100G
- Connect your Galaxy S2 I9100G with the PC, via USB cable.
- Download the above mentioned CM10.1 Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean Nightly file and copy it to the SD card of your phone.
- Disconnect your phone and switch it off. And make sure that you wait 5-6 seconds to complete the power down cycle.
- Now, you will boot the Galaxy S2 I9100G into recovery mode, by pressing and holding down the Volume Up button, alongside Home and the Power button, until the screen flashes, release the three buttons then. After a few seconds of that, the phone will enter recovery mode.
- Once in the recovery mode, take a Nandroid backup of your existing ROM. This is necessary, to enable you to recover your current ROM install, just in case the new ROM does not perform according to your liking. In order to perform a backup, select Backup and Restore, then on the next screen, select Backup again. Go back to main recovery menu after backup is complete.
- Once done, select wipe data/factory reset, select ?Yes? on next screen to confirm your action. Wait for a few minutes until the phone wipes your data. Once complete, go back to CWM recovery menu and Wipe Cache Partition and then Wipe Dalvik Cache.
- Select install zip from sdcard, then select choose zip from sdcard. Now, locate the ccm-10.1-20130221-NIGHTLY-i9100g.zip file that you copied earlier in Step 2 and select it by pressing Power button. Confirm installation by selecting Yes. Install the said zip file on the next screen. The ROM installation will begin.
- Once, the phone finishes installing the ROM, you need to re-do step 7, but choose gapps-jb-20121212-signed.zip file instead of ROM zip to install the Google apps package.
- When GApps get installed, go back to the main recovery menu and select reboot system now to reboot the phone and boot up into customized Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean ROM CM 10.1 Nightly-build. The first boot will take time, so be patient!
You are now running CM 10.1 Nightly-build Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean ROM on Galaxy S2 I9100G. If you are facing any issues, feel free to mention it in our comments section.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Wccftechcom/~3/lHfFVMhy5V4/
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Panetta, NATO partner, differ on troop numbers
BRUSSELS (AP) ? Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and his NATO counterparts are considering leaving 8,000 to 12,000 troops in Afghanistan after 2014, but it was unclear how much of that force would be American, U.S. officials said Friday.
A dispute flared, but was quickly dissipated at the NATO defense ministers gathering here to discuss the endgame of the 11-year-old war in Afghanistan.
German Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere told reporters that a post-2014 force of 8,000 to 10,000 American troops would remain in Afghanistan. Panetta denied that, saying the force of 8,000 to 12,000 would be international and the makeup was still under discussion.
Within hours, de Maiziere said his comments were "misleading," and that the force remaining would be international.
President Barack Obama has said that the last combat troops will leave Afghanistan on Dec. 31, 2014, leaving the bulk of the country's security in the hands of the Afghans.
Panetta, who will leave Obama's Cabinet when his successor is confirmed, told reporters that he and the NATO partners talked about ranges of options for the post-2014 troop force. And he said the figures reflected contributions that other nations would make, in addition to the United States.
"There's no question in the current budget environment, with deep cuts in European defense spending and the kind of political gridlock that we see in the United States now with regards to our own budget, is putting at risk our ability to effectively act together," he said. "As I prepare to step down as secretary of defense, I do fear that the alliance will soon be, if it is not already, stretched too thin."
His spokesman, George Little, told reporters that the range for an international force was 8,000 to 12,000, and that Obama had not yet decided on the size of the post-2014 force in Afghanistan.
"We will continue to discuss with allies and the Afghans how we can best carry out two basic missions: targeting the remnants of al-Qaida and its affiliates, and training and equipping Afghan forces," he said.
Panetta said officials are planning to leave troops in all sectors of the country as well as in Kabul. Pentagon officials have said the military has mapped out plans to carry on its mission of training and advising the Afghan forces and also leave a small counterterrorism force to battle insurgents.
When asked about troop numbers, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters that no decision had yet been made.
The Obama administration is considering a plan to maintain 352,000 Afghan troops for the next five years as part of an effort to maintain security and help convince Afghanistan that America and its allies will not abandon it once combat troops leave in 2014, senior alliance officials said Thursday. NATO officials are also widely considering that option.
Such a change, if NATO endorses it, could increase the costs to the U.S. and allies by more than $2 billion a year, at a time when most are struggling with budget cuts and fiscal woes. Last May, NATO agreed to underwrite an Afghan force of about 230,000, at a cost of about $4.1 billion a year after 2014. It costs about $6.5 billion this year to fund the current Afghan force of 352,000, and the U.S. is providing about $5.7 billion of that.
Panetta said Friday that he can defend that spending to Congress because it would give the U.S. more flexibility and savings as it withdraws troops from Afghanistan.
Maintaining the larger troop strength could bolster the confidence of the Afghan forces and make it clear that NATO is committed to an enduring relationship with Afghanistan, a senior NATO official said.
In private meetings with other defense ministers, Panetta warned allies that Washington's fiscal impasse will have repercussions abroad, as impending budget cuts force the military to scale back its training and presence overseas.
Many of his meetings, however, centered on the plans to wind down the war in Afghanistan, including the withdrawal of 34,000 U.S. troops over the next year and the transfer of security responsibilities to the Afghan forces.
According to an Obama administration official, the Pentagon plans to reduce the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan to about 60,500 by the end of May; then to 52,500 by November, keeping a relatively stable number of troops there during the peak fighting season. The sharpest cuts in U.S. troop strength will come over the winter months as the remaining 20,500 leave after the main fighting season. There currently are about 66,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
Panetta acknowledged those ranges of numbers on Friday, but also added that the U.S. would maintain the 34,000 through the Afghan elections, then withdraw the final combat troops toward the end of 2014.
The administration officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the numbers publicly.
This is Panetta's fifth visit to Brussels for a NATO meeting ? a trip he never intended to take. Expectations were that defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel, a former Republican senator from Nebraska, would be confirmed by the Senate last week and he would travel to the meeting.
Hagel's nomination stalled, however, as it got caught up in senators' complaints about the attack in Benghazi, which left four Americans dead, including the ambassador. There are indications now that Hagel has support from enough senators to be confirmed next week.
___
Associated Press writers Don Melvin and Julie Pace contributed to this report.
___
Lolita C. Baldor can be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lbaldor
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/panetta-nato-partner-differ-troop-numbers-134115846.html
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Dazed's fashion features editor Dean Mayo Davies picks his best-of from London w...
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'Open secret': Patients who refuse treatment based on race
DETROIT (AP) ? It's been called one of medicine's "open secrets" ? allowing patients to refuse treatment by a doctor or nurse of another race.
In the latest example, a white man with a swastika tattoo insisted that black nurses not be allowed to touch his newborn. Now two black nurses are suing the hospital, claiming it bowed to his illegal demands.
The Michigan cases are among several lawsuits filed in recent years that highlight this seldom-discussed issue, which quietly persists almost 60 years after the start of the civil rights movement.
The American Medical Association's ethics code bars doctors from refusing to treat people based on race, gender and other criteria, but there are no specific policies for handling race-based requests from patients.
"In general, I don't think honoring prejudicial preferences ... is morally justifiable" for a health care organization, said Dr. Susan Goold, a University of Michigan professor of internal medicine and public health. "That said, you can't cure bigotry ... There may be times when grudgingly acceding to a patient's strongly held preferences is morally OK."
Those times could include patients who have been so traumatized ? by rape or combat, for instance ? that accommodating their request would be preferable to forcing on them a caregiver whose mere presence might aggravate the situation, she said.
Tonya Battle, a veteran nurse at Flint's Hurley Medical Center, filed the first complaint against the hospital and a nursing manager, claiming a note posted on an assignment clipboard read, "No African-American nurse to take care of baby." She says the note was later removed but black nurses weren't assigned to care for the baby for about a month because of their race.
That case is now a federal lawsuit. In a statement earlier this week, Hurley President Melany Gavulic denied Battle's claim, saying the father was told that his request could not be granted. Gavulic said the swastika tattoo "created anger and outrage in our staff," and supervisors raised safety concerns.
Hospital officials said they planned to make a statement about the matter Friday evening but offered no details.
Multiple email and phone messages left for Battle through her attorney were unreturned, and a listed number for her had been disconnected. She told the Detroit Free Press she "didn't even know how to react" when she learned of her employer's actions following her interaction with the father.
She said she introduced herself to the man and he said, "I need to see your supervisor." That supervisor, Battle said, told her that the father, who was white, didn't want African-Americans to care for his child and had rolled up his sleeve to expose the swastika.
"I just was really dumbfounded," Battle said. "I couldn't believe that's why he was so angry (and) that's why he was requesting my (supervisory) nurse."
Attorney Tom Pabst, who is representing nurse Carlotta Armstrong in a second lawsuit, said the hospital's actions left nurses in the neonatal intensive care unit "in a ball of confusion."
"She said, 'You know what really bothered me? I didn't know what to do if the baby was choking or dying. Am I going to get fired if I go over there?'" Pabst said.
The Michigan cases follow a 2010 decision by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which held that the federal Civil Rights Act prohibits nursing homes from making staffing decisions for nursing assistants based on residents' racial preferences. The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed by a black nursing assistant who sued her employer for racial discrimination.
In another federal lawsuit filed in 2005, three black employees of Abington Memorial Hospital near Philadelphia claimed they were prevented from treating a pregnant white woman by her male partner, who was a member of a white supremacist group. The man used a racial slur when forbidding any care by any African-Americans.
The complaint alleged that supervisors honored the man's request. The case was settled confidentially before going to trial, and the hospital admitted no liability. Frank Finch III, the attorney for the employees, said hospital officials also cited employee safety in their defense.
"That defense doesn't fly under the anti-discrimination law," Finch said. "Hospitals cannot use that as a defense in nonemergency situations."
He said every hospital has a policy against discrimination and "undoubtedly acquiescing to such a demand is a violation of a written, internal policy in addition to being a violation of the law."
Fordham University law professor Kimani Paul-Emile said she suspects nurses file more discrimination suits than doctors.
"With nurses and other sorts of staff, the hospital is telling them they can or cannot do something," she said. "That might go to why you might see more lawsuits brought by nurses."
She wrote an article last year in the UCLA Law Review titled "Patients' Racial Preferences and the Medical Culture of Accommodation." It was the source of the "open secrets" phrase.
Paul-Emile's research cited a 2007 study at the University of Michigan Health System and others on how physicians respond to patients' requests to be assigned providers of the same gender, race or religion.
The survey of emergency physicians found patients often make such requests, and they are routinely accommodated. A third of doctors who responded said they felt patients perceive better care from providers of shared demographics, with racial matches considered more important than gender or religion.
"The notion of white patients rejecting minority physicians for bigoted reasons in emergency departments and other hospital settings is deeply troubling and uncomfortably reminiscent of the type of discrimination that the civil rights statutes were designed to eliminate," Paul-Emile wrote in her article.
Another study she cited found that patient requests for care by a physician are most often accommodated when made by racial minority patients.
Lance Gable, a law professor at Wayne State University in Detroit, said he believes such requests "are made more often than we'd like to think about" even if they aren't frequently agreed to by hospital management. He suspects a supervisor might honor them but not say anything explicit to employees and only in rare instances would signs be posted as alleged in the Flint case.
"Maybe their explanation is an accurate description of what happened ? the supervisor was scared of the father of this patient and made a decision that was ill-advised," Gable said. "It might have been the right thing to do for the safety of the staff, and it still might be a violation of anti-discrimination laws."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/patients-wont-see-nurses-different-race-203058110.html
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Wall St extends losses, Nasdaq down 1 pct
DEAR ABBY: My boyfriend, "Doug" (24), and I (22) have been in a long-distance relationship for a year, but we were friends for a couple of years before that. I had never had a serious relationship before and lacked experience. Doug has not only been in two other long-term relationships, but has had sex with more than 15 women. One of them is an amateur porn actress.I knew about this, but it didn't bother me until recently. Doug had a party, and while he was drunk he told one of his buddies -- in front of me -- that he should watch a certain porn film starring his ex-girlfriend. ...
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wall-st-opens-lower-jobless-data-143541850--finance.html
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Friday, February 22, 2013
Achieve Inbox Zero, Optimize Your Gaming Rig, and Get Advice for Your First Job
This week on the podcast we're talking about getting to inbox zero in one hour flat, the advice you need for your first job, and tweaking your gaming rig's settings for optimal performance. We're also answering your questions about how much RAM a Macbook can handle, how to travel internationally without incurring huge data roaming charges, and whether or not Chromebooks are worthwhile.
How to Listen to This Week's Episode
Here's how you can listen to our episode:
News and Top Stories
- Firefox 19 Arrives, Adds a Built-in PDF Viewer - Firefox users, the wait is finally over. Now you can read PDFs in the browser without needing a plugin. Firefox 19 also adds startup performance improvements, new features for developers, and the usual bug fixes.
- Posterous Official Shuts Down, Starts Posthaven - The last time we discussed Posterous, it was close to a year ago when we talked about how to get your data out when it eventually closed. Now that the deadline is set and Posterous will shut down on April 30th, the founders of the site have launched Posthaven, a replacement they say offers the same features and will never shut its doors on you. If you can't wait for Posthaven, or don't want to pay, Just Migrate will move your posts to Tumblr right now.
- How I Went From 1,000 Emails to Inbox Zero (and Stayed There) with Mailstrom - Inbox zero: it's the impossible dream that gets further and further away as you let your emails pile up, but you don't have to get stuck with the clutter. Thanks to an awesome webapp called Mailstrom, I finally got my thousand-email inbox under control in an hour. Here's how.
- Advice I Wish Someone Had Given Me for My First Job - Whether you're straight out of college or starting a new career path, that first job can be scary. You might think you know the ropes, but it's a lot more than just getting your work done. Here are a few tips Thorin wished someone gave him before he took his first job.
- Get More From Your Games: A Beginner's Guide to Graphics Settings - You've built a gaming PC and it's time to start playing, but you're thinking your games could look a bit better or run a bit smoother. You want to tweak your graphics settings, but you don't know where to start. We're here to help you out.
Questions and Answers
Each week we answer five questions from readers and listeners. Here's what we tackled this week.
- Can I put more than 4GB of RAM in my mid-2010 MacBook? Can Macs be overclocked? Yes, you can add up to 16GB but the common recommendation is to use 1066mHz DDR3 RAM and not anything faster. If you order from OWC they'll help you out if there's a problem. They're the easiest path for upgrading, though you might save a couple dollars via Amazon. As for overclocking, don't do it. It's almost impossible on Macs, and generally a bad idea for laptops.
- What's the most cost-effective way to use my UK smartphone when traveling in the US? Get a US SIM card from T-Mobile or AT&T with a pay-as-you-go plan. Make sure your phone is compatible with their US GSM frequencies and that they have decent coverage where you're headed. That should take care of most issues for you, but here are some other suggestions just in case.
- What are your thoughts on Chromebooks? Should I get 3G or not? The consensus: we couldn't use them for anything other than casual tasks, so if you're in that camp don't get 3G. If you're going to use it frequently, however, 3G is probably worth the extra $100.
- How can I lower my cable bill and get cheaper phone service?Buy your cable modem, call and ask for discounts every six months, and set up VOIP in your home.
Tips of the Week
Downloads of the Week
How Do I Submit a Question?
There are two ways to send in your question:
Please keep your questions as brief as possible. This means about 3-5 sentences for emails and 30-60 seconds for calls and videos. Your questions can be specific, but broader questions are generally better because they'll apply to more people. For example, "how can I breathe new life into my old PDA?" is much better than "what can I do with an old HP iPAQ 210?" Either way, we look forward to hearing from you!
Newspaper, Computer, Clock (by Brandon Hopkins), and Alert (by Dima Yagnyuk) provided by the Noun Project.
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Thursday, February 21, 2013
Sony expects to announce the PlayStation 4 tomorrow ( Feb 20th, 2013 )
Here is one of many articles about the release tomorrow: http://popcultureblog.dallasnews.com...-we-know.html/So far everything sounds cool; we might have to pay to play online which I don't mind, we could have better connections. The price of the console is at 400 dollars which is alot cheaper then when the PS3 was released at 600. I guess we have to wait to find out the release date but I'm guessing it's going to be around black friday.
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The Daily Roundup for 02.19.2013
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
HTC One unveiled
HTC One: 4.7-inch 1080p display, 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600, UltraPixel camera, Android 4.1.2 with Sense 5.
HTC One hands-on: design and hardware
The HTC One made quite an entrance in London and New York today with a slick-looking design and re-imagined Android user experience.
Ubuntu for tablets revealed with split screen multi-tasking
Here it is: the fourth and final piece of the Ubuntu puzzle. We've seen the OS on smartphones, on TVs and of course on desktops, but the tablet version has spent a little longer in its dressing room.
Rumors claim Google will launch its own retail stores
On Friday, a report surfaced on 9to5Google that Google was making serious plans to open permanent retail locations, and it's been followed up today by the Wall Street Journal indicating the same thing.
You also might like:
- Outlook.com exits preview with 60 million active users, Hotmail UI to be retired this summer
- Reuters: Apple employee computers hacked, no evidence of stolen data
- NVIDIA intros Tegra 4i with built-in LTE, details Chimera camera tech with HDR
- NVIDIA unveils the GTX Titan, an enormous graphics card that costs $1,000 (eyes-on)
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/ylQ16JIO-yc/
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Wednesday, February 20, 2013
U.S. ready to counter China cyberattacks
WASHINGTON (AP) ? As public evidence mounts that the Chinese military is responsible for stealing massive amounts of U.S. government data and corporate trade secrets, the Obama administration is eyeing fines and other trade actions it may take against Beijing or any other country guilty of cyberespionage.
According to officials familiar with the plans, the White House will lay out a new report Wednesday that suggests initial, more-aggressive steps the U.S. would take in response to what top authorities say has been an unrelenting campaign of cyberstealing linked to the Chinese government. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the threatened action.
The White House plans come after a Virginia-based cybersecurity firm released a torrent of details Monday that tied a secret Chinese military unit in Shanghai to years of cyberattacks against U.S. companies. After analyzing breaches that compromised more than 140 companies, Mandiant has concluded that they can be linked to the People's Liberation Army's Unit 61398.
Military experts believe the unit is part of the People's Liberation Army's cyber-command, which is under the direct authority of the General Staff Department, China's version of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. As such, its activities would be likely to be authorized at the highest levels of China's military.
The release of Mandiant's report, complete with details on three of the alleged hackers and photographs of one of the military unit's buildings in Shanghai, makes public what U.S. authorities have said less publicly for years. But it also increases the pressure on the U.S. to take more forceful action against the Chinese for what experts say has been years of systematic espionage.
"If the Chinese government flew planes into our airspace, our planes would escort them away. If it happened two, three or four times, the president would be on the phone and there would be threats of retaliation," said former FBI executive assistant director Shawn Henry. "This is happening thousands of times a day. There needs to be some definition of where the red line is and what the repercussions would be."
Henry, now president of the security firm CrowdStrike, said that rather than tell companies to increase their cybersecurity the government needs to focus more on how to deter the hackers and the nations that are backing them.
James Lewis, a cybersecurity expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that in the past year the White House has been taking a serious look at responding to China, adding that "this will be the year they will put more pressure on, even while realizing it will be hard for the Chinese to change. There's not an on-off switch."
The Chinese government, meanwhile, has denied involvement in the cyber-attacks tracked by Mandiant. Instead, the Foreign Ministry said that China, too, is a victim of hacking, some of it traced to the U.S. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei cited a report by an agency under the Ministry of Information Technology and Industry that said in 2012 alone that foreign hackers used viruses and other malicious software to seize control of 1,400 computers in China and 38,000 websites.
"Among the above attacks, those from the U.S. numbered the most," Hong said at a daily media briefing, lodging the most specific allegations the Chinese government has made about foreign hacking.
Cybersecurity experts say U.S. authorities do not conduct similar attacks or steal data from Chinese companies, but acknowledge that intelligence agencies routinely spy on other countries.
China is clearly a target of interest, said Lewis, noting that the U.S. would be interested in Beijing's military policies, such as any plans for action against Taiwan or Japan.
In its report, Mandiant said it traced the hacking back to a neighborhood in the outskirts of Shanghai that includes a white 12-story office building run by the PLA's Unit 61398.
Mandiant said there are only two viable conclusions about the involvement of the Chinese military in the cyberattacks: Either Unit 61398 is responsible for the persistent attacks or they are being done by a secret organization of Chinese speakers with direct access to the Shanghai telecommunications infrastructure who are engaged in a multi-year espionage campaign being run right outside the military unit's gates.
"In a state that rigorously monitors Internet use, it is highly unlikely that the Chinese government is unaware of an attack group that operates from the Pudong New Area of Shanghai," the Mandiant report said, concluding that the only way the group could function is with the "full knowledge and cooperation" of the Beijing government.
The unit "has systematically stolen hundreds of terabytes of data from at least 141 organizations," Mandiant wrote. A terabyte is 1,000 gigabytes. The most popular version of the new iPhone 5, for example, has 16 gigabytes of space, while the more expensive iPads have as much as 64 gigabytes of space. The U.S. Library of Congress' 2006-2010 Twitter archive of about 170 billion tweets totals 133.2 terabytes.
"At some point we do have to call the Chinese out on this," said Michael Chertoff, Homeland Security secretary under President George W. Bush and now chairman of the Chertoff Group, a global security firm. "Simply rolling over and averting our eyes, I don't think is a long-term strategy."
Richard Bejtlich, the chief security officer at Mandiant, said the company decided to make its report public in part to help send a message to both the Chinese and U.S. governments.
"At the government level, I see this as a tool that they can use to have discussions with the Chinese, with allies, with others who are concerned about this problem and have an open dialogue without having to worry about sensitivities around disclosing classified information," Bejtlich said. "This problem is overclassified."
He said the release of an unclassified report that provides detailed evidence will allow authorities to have an open discussion about what to do.
Mandiant's report is filled with high-tech details and juicy nuggets that led to its conclusion, including the code names of some of the hackers, like Ugly Gorilla, Dota and SuperHard, and that Dota appears to be a fan of Harry Potter because references to the book and movie character appear as answers to his computer security questions.
The White House would not comment on the report expected Wednesday.
"We have repeatedly raised our concerns at the highest levels about cybertheft with senior Chinese officials, including in the military, and we will continue to do so," said Caitlin Hayden, spokeswoman for the National Security Council. "The United States and China are among the world's largest cyber actors, and it is vital that we continue a sustained, meaningful dialogue and work together to develop an understanding of acceptable behavior in cyberspace."
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the report reinforces the need for international agreements that prohibit cybercrimes and have a workable enforcement mechanism.
___
Associated Press writers Christopher Bodeen, Gillian Wong, Charles Hutzler and Joe McDonald contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-ready-strike-back-against-china-cyberattacks-225730552--finance.html
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RESOURCE NATIONALISM: South Africa to review mining royalties this year ? Zuma
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'Suck It, Traditional TV': How We're Going To ... - Business Insider
This article?originally appeared on TechCrunch.
By now many of you know the?Harlem Shake?but what you may not appreciate is the broader trend behind the video and it?has mirrored my general views on how TV will work in the future.
"Harlem Shake" is a YouTube phenomenon that, in just 2 weeks, has gone from nothing to on air on both?Jon Stewart?&?Stephen Colbert. Collectively the Harlem Shake has been viewed around 200 million times. Two weeks. 200 million views. Suck it, traditional TV.
Summary Version
Global audiences of prosumer video producers will create content that is viewed by global audiences in numbers far in excess of traditional TV. TV will enter the era of ?participation? which is a much more important trend than ?social video? even if it seems less sexy or less fundable.
It means the ?torso TV? consumption patterns will be more important than the head or the long tail for the next era of media companies.
TV of the future will not always have linear stories. I know that?s hard for many people to accept but when the medium changes from one-way broadcast to the millions to the ability to interact with each other through video it is unlikely that the future will resemble the past. Why would it?
I have started thinking about what the future might look like and I?ve started imagining what I call, ?MMOV? or massive multiplayer online video.
Sure, the revenue & margin will be significantly lower than traditional TV. ?You should only worry about this if you?re a large, traditional media company with fat margins. The future of TV will follow the rule of?Deflationary Economics?as I outline influenced by the book?The Innovator?s Dilemma.
It will enable the naturally creative but geographically and socially disenfranchised to make money doing what they love ? participating. Maybe small amounts of money for what founders reading these pages dream of but life-changing for many.
Gangnam Style Meets Torso TV
Of course you know?Gangnam Style, which is now the most viewed video in history at 1.3 billion views. Before this South Korean wonder spread across the globe I had written about a trend in global audiences that exists when the costs of production are nearly zero and the costs of distribution are also nearly free. I called this trend ?Torso TV? because the ?head? of consumption (largest number of views) was dominated by platforms that had massive distribution (think TV stations, radio or retail outlets that sell CDs and DVDs. think Apple. think Amazon) and therefore hits with high production costs were more suited to the medium.
The problem with the ?long tail? content is that only the platform provider (ie YouTube) makes money. So if you want to be a content producer and want to make money you can develop content for global ?niches? of watchers who might like: Japanese Anime, South Korean drama, Bollywood productions, reality TV on any topic ? fashion, cooking, travel.
I saw this trend with the growth of companies such as Viki, Drama Fever, Crunchyroll and the like. Global niches that turn out to be much larger than you?d imagine.
Gangnam Style is the manifestation of this trend which turned what should have likely been a medium size global audience into an global phenomenon like we?ve never seen.The Macarena?on steroids. Every now and again you can strike lightning in a bottle. Who knows why hits turn into memes? But it shows that when content is unleashed we can all appreciate it no matter of the country of origin.
Harlem Shake
For those who still don?t know the origins, the Harlem Shake?started as a small skit from a YouTuber named Filthy Frank?(10 million views as of this writing) on January 30, 2013. It was then popularized into an Internet meme 3 days later by text?an Australian group of guys called Sunny Coast Shake??in what garnered about 300,000 views in a short period of time (now at 11.3 million views).
But then the Harlem Shake went batshit crazy when?Vernon Shaw?of?Maker Studios?saw the video on Reddit and suggested that Maker should, well,?make?a video of the Harlem Shake in an office environment. That video is?the most viewed Harlem Shake?(with more than 15 million views as of today). It was loaded on the channel of?Hi I?m Rawn, a long-time YouTuber.
At 12.30pm in the afternoon the idea to create the video was hatched. They taped it at 3.30pm for 2 minutes. 1 take. Then back to work, people!
It was uploaded at around 4pm.
Maker?s talent started commenting on it and sharing it.?ShayCarl?(a Maker Studios co-founder) in particular. And then ?
Boom.
It made national news. Maker was contacted by every major news outlet. And suddenly every office in the country was doing their own version of the Harlem Shake.
And here?s the thing. This is not Gangnam Style, a catchy tune?consumed?by billions.
This is Harlem Shake, a catchy tune?produced?by tens of thousands. As of this writing nearly 50,000 versions have been created and uploaded and watched by some 200,000,000 people. Yes. Two followed by eight zeros.
It is the production angle that is most fascinating to me and the biggest unspotted trend by most venture capitalists and traditional media executives.
I have?been talking about the battle for the living room for years?and then followed up with?Why the TV Market is Ready for Disruption?with a more recent?discussion about Hollywood vs. Silicon Valley here?(the video version?with an LA interview that can be viewed here?and then a subsequent session?in NYC with Jon Miller which can be viewed here).
And I?ve opined on?why the traditional media companies aren?t well poised to win at this new TV world. and?again here.
So here?s the thing
The Broader Trend
While way too many startup companies (and investors) are focused on ?social TV? or on ?Instagram for TV? I believe they are missing the more fundamental shift in our industry.
There is a world filled with professional producers of video content who are extraordinarily talented but lack access to Hollywood. In fact,?that?s how Maker Studios got started in the first place.
I first wanted to invest in this trend by backing a company called?Filmaka. I didn?t end up investing but I always loved the concept. They help find talented film makers globally, enter them into competitions and advance the best of them toward winners that get to produce full-length films. Filmaka is the creation of?Deepak Nayar?who is the producer of films such as Buena Vista Social Club and Bend it Like Beckham.
But when you think about the movement we once called ?Web 2.0? it was the recognition of the fact that media doesn?t only want to flow one way.
Media in an age of:
- low-cost capture from mobile devices
- cheap post-production process by tools (think?Pro Tools?for audio, Instagram filters)
- cheap local storage (without which media creation is not possible)
- available bandwidth for uploading (which is assumed away as easy but only in recent years has been solved. most Internet connections have been asymmetric & optimized for downloads)
- cheap or free cloud storage (YouTube, DropBox, Facebook)
- easy sharing (through social networks or platforms like YouTube)
- social amplification (from which memes are spread) by Twitter and the like; and ?
- commenting
means specifically one thing. People are going to want to participate. Participation. We are the media. We want to be in it. Create it. Take part in it. Have a say, a vote. Think American Idol voting, where the audience gets to feel like they?re participating. And where they?re willing to pay by dialing a paid number to feel like they?re, well, participating.
And the end of the Maker Studios show,?Epic Rap Battles of History, the end the show ways ?Who won, you decide?? where the audience gets to weigh in. Participation. At whatever level.
Serialized TV with Audience Participation
I?ve been thinking a lot about what I want to fund in the video creation world. One idea I?ve been searching for is a platform that enables the creation of serialized programs with audience participation.
And this is a concept that has been at work?since at least the 17th century. An example of a great serialist was Charles Dickens?in which Oliver Twist & Nicholas Nickleby and others were written and distributed serially.
From?Wikipedia on Charles Dickens
?The installment format allowed Dickens to evaluate his audience?s reaction, and he often modified his plot and character development based on such feedback?
I have talked to several YouTuber?s about my idea but haven?t yet gotten any takers.
Here?s what I imagine. You create a narrative episodic show and do the first four episodes to get the story arc and characters going. On the fifth episode the audience gets to create it?s version of the next show. You look at submissions and pick the best one. You reshoot that episode with a higher budget and your original cast but that producer now gets a financial take in the show or gets to participate in the production or whatever. Then you move on to the sixth show with new submissions.
You need to build a platform that allows submissions, workflow, multiple story flows, awards, producer profiles and the like. It can?t just be videos on YouTube but I?ll be that YouTube is the distribution platform.
Here?s the thing ? if well done I think you could see the Harlem Shake effect where many people want to have a go at participating on the production. Most won?t be of the quality that you want but you now have tons of material and inspiration for your show and you own all of the submitted IP. You share financial results and/or fame as the incentive to participate. It?s American Idol for makers.
The first time you do it the participation will be light. The next time you?ll get more. And the fan producers all help market your show because they too want the attention. Whether they are selected or not! I repeat ? free marketing. Done by the masses.
And finally you could stitch together multiple narratives or versions of shows for people who WANT to watch all of the derivative shows. Your costs of production of these additional versions ? zero.
To all of the traditional TV people who keep telling me this ?low cost, low quality YouTube content will eventually go away. The production quality is terrible? I say, ?Please study The Innovator?s Dilemma?because it predicts the disruption of your industry presciently.? Let me remind you of the math: Gangnam Style = 1.3 billion views. Each episode of?Epic Rap Battles of History?gets between 30,000,000 ? 75,000,000 views.
And to those who keep telling me that the CPMs are too low to make a business please stop thinking about two-way entertainment in only CPM terms. ?There are many more ways to monetize an audience of fans that simply pre-roll ads.
Think creatively. Study the video game industry. The music industry. Your world is changing, too. And you have so many examples from which to build your future that you have no excuse to put your head in the sand.
MMOV
The other theme I?ve been playing around with in my head (and in the numerous debates with media execs who aspire to do startups) I?ve started calling MMOV.
It?s a play on?MMOG?(massive multiplayer online games, think?World of Warcraft).
What exactly is World of Warcraft?
It?s entertainment. With rich graphics and characters. It has a story, a world, that unfolds. It has interaction with other players. It is ? by definition ? participation. It exists precisely because there is a network. I grew up in the era where we got to play video games alone. I was?inspired by Zork. It was a computer challenging my imagination and crying out for logic and participation. It was text-based. And anything but MM or O. But it scratched the same need ? participation. Engagement.
And when the O is attached and thus other humans are on the other end of your game and when graphics are professional it is the ultimate in computer entertainment with other human beings letting young people all over the world who feel disconnected from other human beings form friendships.
I once heard a father describe how his son played World of Warcraft. He said this to me, which formed an impression, ?My son leaves World of Warcraft to play other video games with his friends. But then they always come back to World of Warcraft to talk about it with their friends. WoW is their home base.?
So WoW in a way is his son?s social network.
I imagine MMOV this way.
You start out watching video. And this might be humans but it might also be animation. It might feel like TV or might feel like an animated video game or maybe there is no difference? You start watching with friends, peers or strangers ? who might become friends or peers in the future (think that?s weird? check your Twitter stream. It?s filled with people like this. Aren?t all online communities like this?).
You watch the first ?episode? together. Then you discuss it with those in the room with you. They are watching it?synchronously. It is your job to get them watch the next video based on plot or character development you want to see. Which way do you go next? The audience decides.
And the show develops like this. No linearity. Only the evolution through a video game board with other players trying to agree how the story unfolds. Maybe for a fee you get to choose your own direction without the crowd?
Don?t like how Homeland has become a total farce like 24? Chart a different path. Don?t like that a characters in Downton Abbey gets killed or another might get banished from employment? Chart a different course.
In an online world, why wouldn?t we?
Television today is being charted by those who grew up in a one-way world of: we decide, we write, we broadcast. Doesn?t that sound like the websites of yore that implored us to read their stories?
We have too much evidence from the text-based Internet that this model doesn?t hold in an online world.
Think Zork. It?s how things were. Then think World of Warcraft. It?s how things will be. It?s why we use Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. To be part of a conversation. And even if it?s only very occasionally that you want to chime in,?it?s why UGC works. 1/9/90.
And read?this MG Siegler piece?on TechCrunch. He?s one step ahead of the rest of the market. And he?s spot on with this analysis about how Apple will enter the TV market. Spoiler ? video games.
Online Events
Finally, I?m fascinated with the future of live events. We?ve only just scratched the surface. As you now know?8 million people tuned in to watch Felix Baumgartner jump from 24 miles above the Earth?in a Red Bull capsule.
It will always be a milestone in the Internet, YouTube, Twitter, Mobile world etched in my memory. And that of my two boys.
Like many of you we were laying around watching NFL football games. And also paying attention to the Twitter. Watching only is so one-way. With our second screen we suddenly have ? participation.
And that?s where I first saw it. I know many of you knew the Felix was going to jump. I hadn?t been paying attention.
But Twitter cried out that I MUST! Tune in. NOW. As only Twitter can dictate.
So on my iPhone I clicked on a link and saw Felix going up. WTF? What is that guy doing?
I called my boys over. We sat transfixed to my iPhone. Was he really jumping from outer space? Is this real? Is this really live? Did I just click on a button and watch a man prepared to jump from that little capsule watching real-time streaming from my mobile device that I only knew about because random people (some of whom I?ve never met in real life) demanded that I do so on Twitter?
I was sincerely amazed by all of those things. And we watched. And watched. And watched. And the NFL seemed so uninteresting at that moment. I?ll never remember who was playing or who won (probably not the Eagles).
But along with 8 million people globally we shared a moment. And then?another 32 million people (at least) watched on YouTube afterward.
That fascinates me. Twitter. YouTube. Mobile. Live. Watch this space. It?s going to form a larger part of our future.
Oh. And?it won?t be brought to you by Comcast. That interests me, too.
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-future-of-television-2013-2
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