Creativity brings the online booking model to recreation ... - 1

Classitivity, a searchable listing for classes, offers times, locations and the ability to book through the site, which makes it easier for the user to map recreational activities according to their choice

Beatnik: Payal Kadakia

What it is
Looking for a lunchtime yoga class? Want to take a crack at stand-up and unleash your inner Chris Rock? Classtivity.com can help. This searchable listing for classes offers times, locations and the ability to book through the site. Launched in June in New York City, the site lists some 4,000 offerings in the Big Apple?from skating and tennis instruction to beer brewing?with hundreds being added each week.

How it started
While working at Warner Music Group in New York, Payal Kadakia, a lifelong dancer, was interested in taking a ballet class but couldn?t find one at the time she wanted. ?I thought, This is ridiculous. This needs to be solved. There are so many classes being offered at this very moment, and I can?t find one of them,? she recalls. She left Warner in spring 2011 to start her business and was accepted into startup accelerator TechStars? New York location early this year.

Why it took off
Classtivity works much like OpenTable does for restaurants, offering consumers the convenience of online booking and?perhaps more intriguing?giving new businesses an opportunity to be discovered and build a client base. Classes range from $10 drop-in yoga sessions to $200 high-end cooking and creative workshops. The site seamlessly integrates the schedules that studios, gyms and other businesses run via proprietary solutions and back-end technologies. Kadakia estimates that by the end of the year, the site will list sessions from 3,500 providers in New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco, mostly acquired by word-of-mouth. Among the bigger accounts that use the site are Flywheel Sports, Dance New Amsterdam and New York Health & Racquet Club.

The business case
Classtivity takes a cut of class fees booked through the site (usually 10 to 15 percent). It?s also exploring how to broker online retail sales related to bookings; for example, reserve a yoga class, and the site might suggest a mat or tank top to purchase. (Kadakia declined to disclose revenue.)

What?s next
After the expansion to Los Angeles and San Francisco, Kadakia plans to move into Chicago and Boston. Classtivity recently unveiled a social networking component that allows users to create profiles, recommend and rate classes and follow others who have similar taste in activities. The idea, Kadakia says, is to keep people engaged and help them discover new outlets for their passions.

?Entrepreneur Inc. All rights reserved.

? Entrepreneur India December 2012

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Source: http://entrepreneurindia.in/people/offbeat/creativity-brings-the-online-booking-model-to-recreation/17029/

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Entertain me - Peachyllion

Hey fellow rper, I'm glad you took interest in my thread :)

So let me make my interests short, simple and hopefully sweet enough for you liking!

I'm looking to create a roleplay through collaborative efforts that involve much planning and test trials, filled with juicy, meaty characters going on one helluva rollar coaster ride that doesn't quite cooperate with their own agenda-- which means I'm looking for extremes. I want hot, I want cold, and everything in between. But, of course, just a pinch here and there, not too over done. And it has to be as real as you could possibly make it. As long as you try, I'm cool with that. Because I definitely don't tolerate bullshit. Not that I'm saying any of you would! I just mean, I appreciate thoughtful writing :) And if there ever comes a time you lose interest, be honest about it! I won't get offended. I would if you start faking it.

I come with expectations to be met with, and I, in turn, anticipate expectations of your own. If our needs don't match, a successful collaboration won't be possible. So I encourage you to stick with your standards; don't short change yourself.

Currently, I've been interested in exploring issues us humans face, i.e. poverty, psychological disorders, emotional/physical abuse, etc.
I also lean towards fantasy, romance, slightly adventure and action genres. I enjoy sci-fi, dystopian, and mystery, however I'm not as experienced in that as the before mentioned.

I actually have a few ideas in mind to start with, and if you're interested in exploring the human condition, PM or post below~

I look forward to potentially working with you! :)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/_SWvRHmMgJE/viewtopic.php

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Google vs. Microsoft: Santa-tracking systems go out of sync

16 hrs.

Alan Boyle , NBC News

Not even Santa Claus can avoid getting drawn into the tech clash between Google and Microsoft: The two companies have set up separate online systems to track where the Jolly Old Elf has been on Christmas Eve?? but they show him simultaneously at widely separated locations, delivering presents at a dramatically different rate.

On the official "NORAD Tracks Santa" website, powered this year by Microsoft, Santa Claus was in Rome, well past the 3-billion-present mark in his holiday rounds. At the same time, Google's Santa Tracker showed him buzzing through Agadez in the African country of Niger, not quite up to the 1-billion-present mark.

They can't both be right. Can they? Here's the word from Search?Engine?Land's Danny Sullivan, who has been tracking the discrepancy in this year's?Santa-tracking software:

"NORAD explains that it uses everything from radar to jets to track Santa. Google doesn?t explain its technology, but I suspect it tries to triangulate Santa using his cell phone signal or use of wifi hotspots.

"As for why NORAD shows Father Christmas delivering three?times the number of gifts that Google is listing, perhaps NORAD?s radars can better pinpoint presents while Google might be doing estimating.?Meanwhile? both services sometimes show presents being delivered over oceans! And why is NORAD showing Santa arriving in some places at 9pm rather than midnight, as has been the case in the past?"

Maybe this is just the sort of thing that happens when you switch software: NORAD (also known as the North American Aerospace Defense Command) has been monitoring Santa's flight as a public service since 1955, and five years ago, it teamed up with Google to keep up with the crush of Web traffic. This year, however, the NORAD Santa operation parted ways with Google and partnered with Microsoft instead.

Google stayed in the Santa game by setting up its own tracking system for "Santa's Dashboard" and Google Maps?? a system that doesn't make use of NORAD's tracking data.

Today, Canadian Maj. Gen. Andre Viens, a spokesman for NORAD, declined to intervene in the Santa-tracking war.

"It's not affecting our tracking," Viens told MSNBC. "We're not in competition with anyone. Our role, and we've been doing that for more than?50 years, is to track Santa and make sure that he has a safe and secure journey throughout the world, and throughout North America in particular."

TODAY:?Follow Santa's Christmas Eve flight

PhotoBlog: Inside NORAD's command center

Maybe it shouldn't be surprising to find?that it's so difficult to get a firm fix on Santa's position, considering how many presents he has to deliver in so little time. Some experts have speculated that the only way Santa could ?deliver gifts (or lumps of coal) to billions of homes in the course of just a few hours would be if he somehow harnessed quantum teleportation. And once you accept that, it's not that big of a leap to detect Santa in two places at once.

Alan Boyle is the science editor for NBC News Digital, and has been tracking NORAD's Santa tracker since 1998.?Boyle's usual online?hangout is over at Cosmic Log.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/google-vs-microsoft-santa-tracking-systems-go-out-sync-1C7657754

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Randall Amster: Collision Course: On the Virtues of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids

Watch the TEDTalk that inspired this post.

Is the Earth in imminent danger from an asteroid collision? Some doomsday prophecies suggest as much, and scientists don't entirely disagree even as they remind us of the infrequency of such events (on the order of millennia) and the long odds against an impact of sufficient magnitude to imperil life on Earth. So while the threat is not zero, it's also a remote one that pales before human-caused existential threats such as those posed by cascading climate change or the prospect of thermonuclear war.

Perhaps, then, it's simply a matter of asking the question in the right way. Is the Earth menaced by asteroids? Given the news story making the rounds last spring about plans by a start-up corporation (with some very high-powered backers) to begin mining near-earth asteroids for water and precious metals, it might actually be the other way around: asteroids are in immediate jeopardy of human exploitation. The difference is that we can choose whether to tamper with asteroids; they cannot.

It is this sense of intentionality that I find most intriguing. Should we take measures to thwart an impending asteroid collision if we're able to do so? Of course. But if we expend too much energy in anticipation of such a rare and unlikely event, then we're drawing resources away from more homegrown challenges that are far less remote and much more likely to occur in our lifetimes.

NASA surveys indicate that there are about 5000 potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs) in near-earth orbit. By comparison, it's estimated that there are around 25,000 nuclear warheads on the planet. We can't say for certain how many of these it would take to annihilate life on Earth altogether; scenarios that factor in not only blast damage but also radiation and the prospect of a "nuclear winter" (in which the sun is blotted out for years or more) suggest that the number is fewer than we might like to contemplate.

Indeed, contemplating such scenarios is seemingly part of our nature, but again perhaps we're contemplating the wrong thing. Asteroids are not merely dangerous objects to fuel our apocalyptic fantasies and science-fiction screenplays. They are also part of the wondrous tapestry from whence our very lives and existence originate. As NASA observes in the description of its Near Earth Object Program:

"As the primitive, leftover building blocks of the solar system formation process, comets and asteroids offer clues to the chemical mixture from which the planets formed some 4.6 billion years ago. If we wish to know the composition of the primordial mixture from which the planets formed, then we must determine the chemical constituents of the leftover debris from this formation process -- the comets and asteroids."

Taking this logic one small step further, we can surmise that asteroids may even hold the secret to the origins of life on Earth itself, perhaps contributing organic compounds and the building blocks of water to the Earth as it was forming, thus seeding it for the eventual existence of life as we know it. It would be an ultimate irony -- albeit not an atypical one for a culture obsessed with its own demise -- if we were to take extreme measures (e.g., nuclear weapons) to obliterate an asteroid that was deemed a threat, since we might actually be nuking the cosmic equivalent of our own progenitor.Astrocide, anyone?

I guess this isn't so farfetched after all, considering what we already do to one another when we deem someone a threat to our way of life: we "go nuclear" (in the vernacular) at the least. Credible threats, even nascent ones that haven't yet fully emerged, are met with unilateral preemptive action. Might the logic of the U.S. invasion of Iraq be applied similarly to an asteroid identified as a potential threat? In the case of Iraq, we were treated to a "Shock and Awe" campaign that included the use of a MOAB (the "mother of all bombs"), and that was just the kick-off of what turned into a devastating bloodbath.

Luckily, when it comes to asteroids, at least we have politically expedient alternatives to the use of overwhelming force. As described by astronomer Phil Plait in his informative and humorous TEDx talk, a more fruitful course of action might be a "velvet gloves" approach in which a small tug from a modest-sized probe sent to synch up with the asteroid is enough to gently nudge it into a stable and non-threatening orbit. (Plait argues that this could also allow for mining said asteroid, which raises other issues, as I've previously noted.)

In principle, the application of gentle persuasion rather than brute force is a wiser choice and portends tapping into our better instincts as a species. In fact, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) set up a webpage in 1998 to address growing concerns about possible asteroid collisions with Earth. In the most likely of the unlikely scenarios, we would have ample time to collectively respond to the crisis, and it could even be a positive experience for humankind, as the GSFC observes: "It would be a project for all the world's nations to take part in. It could be a globally unifying event." (For contrast's sake, consider the dismissive, cold-shouldered tone of the bizarre blog post on USA.gov, intended to dispel rumors about the so-called Mayan Apocalypse: "The world will not end on ... any day in 2012." Comforting!)

So let's bring the conversation (literally) back down to Earth. Asteroids may pose a threat, but they are merely among a spectrum of threats that include a multitude of our own making. If the danger of an asteroid collision with the Earth has the potential to unite humankind and remind us of our interconnected lives and shared destinies, then we can surmise that more mundane threats could potentially do the same. Ultimately, the most profound collision would be one that unites humankind with our humanity.

Ideas are not set in stone. When exposed to thoughtful people, they morph and adapt into their most potent form. TEDWeekends will highlight some of today's most intriguing ideas and allow them to develop in real time through your voice! Tweet #TEDWeekends to share your perspective or email tedweekends@huf?ngtonpost.com to learn about future weekend's ideas to contribute as a writer.

?

More in Asteroids: Getting Ready

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/randall-amster/collision-course_b_2357044.html

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Health care tax hikes for 2013 may be just a start

WASHINGTON (AP) -- New taxes are coming Jan. 1 to help finance President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Most people may not notice. But they will pay attention if Congress decides to start taxing employer-sponsored health insurance, one of the options in play if lawmakers can ever agree on a budget deal to reduce federal deficits.

The tax hikes already on the books, taking effect in 2013, fall mainly on people who make lots of money and on the health care industry. But about half of Americans benefit from the tax-free status of employer health insurance. Workers pay no income or payroll taxes on what their employer contributes for health insurance, and in most cases on their own share of premiums as well.

It's the single biggest tax break allowed by the government, outstripping the mortgage interest deduction, the deduction for charitable giving and other better-known benefits. If the value of job-based health insurance were taxed like regular income, it would raise nearly $150 billion in revenue in 2013, according to congressional estimates. By comparison, wiping away the mortgage interest deduction would bring in only about $90 billion.

"If you are looking to raise revenue to pay for tax reform, that is the biggest pot of money of all," said Martin Sullivan, chief economist with Tax Analysts, a nonpartisan publisher of tax information.

It's hard to see how lawmakers can avoid touching health insurance if they want to eliminate loopholes and curtail deductions so as to raise revenue and lower tax rates. Congress probably wouldn't do away with the health care tax break, but limit it in some form. Such limits could be keyed to the cost of a particular health insurance plan, the income level of taxpayers, or a combination.

Many economists think some kind of limit would be a good thing, because it would force consumers to watch costs, and that could help keep health care spending in check. Obama's health law took a tentative step toward limits by imposing a tax on high-value health insurance plans. But that doesn't start until 2018.

Next spring will be three years since Congress passed the health care overhaul, but because of a long phase-in, many of the taxes to finance the plan are only now coming into effect. Medicare spending cuts that help pay for covering the uninsured have started to take effect, but they also are staggered. The law's main benefit, coverage for 30 million uninsured people, will take a little longer. It doesn't start until Jan. 1, 2014.

The biggest tax hike from the health care law has a bit of mystery to it. The legislation calls it a "Medicare contribution," but none of the revenue will go to the Medicare trust fund. Instead, it's funneled into the government's general fund, which does pay the lion's share of Medicare outpatient and prescription costs, but also covers most other things the government does.

The new tax is a 3.8 percent levy on investment income that applies to individuals making more than $200,000 or married couples above $250,000. Projected to raise $123 billion from 2013-2019, it comes on top of other taxes on investment income. And while it does apply to profits from home sales, the vast majority of sellers will not have to worry since another law allows individuals to shield up to $250,000 in gains on their home from taxation. (Married couples can exclude up to $500,000 in home sale gains.)

Investors have already been taking steps to avoid the tax, selling assets this year before it takes effect. The impact of the investment tax will be compounded if Obama and Republicans can't stave off the automatic tax increases scheduled at the end of the year if there's no budget agreement.

High earners will face another new tax under the health care law Jan. 1. It's an additional Medicare payroll tax of 0.9 percent on wage income above $200,000 for an individual or $250,000 for couples. This one does go to the Medicare trust fund.

Donald Marron, director of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, calls the health care law tax increases medium-sized by historical standards. The center, a joint project of the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, provides in-depth analysis on tax issues.

They also foreshadow the current debate about raising taxes on people with high incomes. "These were an example of the president winning, and raising taxes on upper-income people," said Marron. "They are going to happen."

Other health care law tax increases taking effect Jan. 1:

? A 2.3 percent sales tax on medical devices used by hospitals and doctors. Industry is trying to delay or repeal the tax, saying it will lead to a loss of jobs. Several economists say manufacturers should be able to pass on most of the cost.

? A limit on the amount employees can contribute to tax-free flexible spending accounts for medical expenses. It's set at $2,500 for 2013, and indexed thereafter for inflation.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/health-care-tax-hikes-2013-080031786.html

Microsoft Tropical Storm Isaac

Raleigh church sends prayers to Newtown victims

Raleigh, N.C. ? Parishioners at Sacred Heart Cathedral in downtown Raleigh came together in shock and sadness Monday evening to pray for the victims of a massacre at a Connecticut elementary school.

"People are hurting," said parishioner Anne Werdel. "It was a great time to bring people together."

Twenty first-graders at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., were gunned down in their classrooms Friday by a heavily armed man. Six members of the school staff, the gunman and his mother also died in the rampage.

There was a sense at the Raleigh prayer service that what happened in Newtown could happen anywhere.

"I am a teacher and have children of the same age," said Michelle Dorsey. "It was just shocking and so, so sad."

Werdel said the prayers, with verses such as "Graciously listen, hear our cries of anguish" and "Spare us and save us, comfort us in sorrow," are helping the Raleigh community cope with a tragedy that has touched the nation.

"God did not cause this. It is up to us to make a world where these kinds of things do not happen," she said. "Losing a child never stops hurting. If you are human, you feel it."

Copyright 2012 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.wral.com/raleigh-church-sends-prayers-to-newtown-victims/11890478/

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Study fuels insight into conversion of wood to bio-oil

Dec. 14, 2012 ? New research from North Carolina State University provides molecular-level insights into how cellulose -- the most common organic compound on Earth and the main structural component of plant cell walls -- breaks down in wood to create "bio-oils" which can be refined into any number of useful products, including liquid transportation fuels to power a car or an airplane.

Using a supercomputer that can perform functions thousands of times faster than a standard desktop computer, NC State chemical and biomolecular engineer Dr. Phillip Westmoreland and doctoral student Vikram Seshadri calculate what's occurring at the molecular level when wood is rapidly heated to high temperatures in the absence of oxygen, a decomposition process known as pyrolysis.

The results, which could help spur more effective and efficient ways of converting farmed and waste wood into useful bio-oils, appear in a feature article on the cover of the Dec. 13 print edition of the Journal of Physical Chemistry A.

Much of the energy that can be extracted from wood exists in the cellulose found in cell walls. Cellulose is a stiff, rodlike substance consisting of chains of a specific type of a simple sugar called glucose. The paper describes a mechanism for how glucose decomposes when heated. The mechanism is somewhat surprising, Westmoreland says, because it reveals how water molecules and even the glucose itself can trigger this decomposition.

"The calculations in the paper show that although the decomposition products and rates differ in glucose and cellulose, the various elementary steps appear to be the same, but altered in their relative importance to each other," Westmoreland says.

Knowing the specifics of the decomposition process will allow researchers to make predictions about the ease of extracting energy from different types of wood from various soil types.

The researchers are now conducting experiments to verify their calculations.

The research was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. The computations were performed on Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center computers.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by North Carolina State University.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Vikram Seshadri, Phillip R. Westmoreland. Concerted Reactions and Mechanism of Glucose Pyrolysis and Implications for Cellulose Kinetics. The Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 2012; 116 (49): 11997 DOI: 10.1021/jp3085099

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

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/lz7pdxLa7Iw/121214112654.htm

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Obama: Marijuana not high priority, 'bigger fish to fry'

President Obama says recreational users of marijuana in states that have legalized the substance should not be a "top priority" of federal law enforcement officials prosecuting the war on drugs.

"We've got bigger fish to fry," Obama said of pot users in Colorado and Washington during an exclusive interview with ABC News' Barbara Walters.

"It would not make sense for us to see a top priority as going after recreational users in states that have determined that it's legal," he said, invoking the same approach taken toward users of medicinal marijuana in 18 states where it's legal.

Obama's comments on marijuana are his first following Colorado and Washington voters' approval of Nov. 7 ballot measures that legalize the recreational use and sale of pot in defiance of federal law.

Marijuana, or cannabis, remains classified under the Controlled Substances Act as a Schedule I narcotic whose cultivation, distribution, possession and use are criminal acts. It's in the same category as heroin, LSD and "Ecstasy," all deemed to have high potential for abuse.

Obama told Walters he does not ? "at this point" ? support widespread legalization of marijuana. But he cited shifting public opinion and limited government resources as reasons to find a middle ground on punishing use of the drug.

"This is a tough problem, because Congress has not yet changed the law," Obama said. "I head up the executive branch; we're supposed to be carrying out laws. And so what we're going to need to have is a conversation about, How do you reconcile a federal law that still says marijuana is a federal offense and state laws that say that it's legal?"

The president said he has asked Attorney General Eric Holder and the Justice Department to examine the legal questions surrounding conflicting state and federal laws on drugs.

"There are a number of issues that have to be considered, among them the impact that drug usage has on young people, [and] we have treaty obligations with nations outside the United States," Holder said Wednesday of the review underway.

As a politician, Obama has always opposed legalizing marijuana and downplayed his personal history with the substance.

Obama wrote in his 1995 memoir, "Dreams from My Father," that he would smoke pot regularly with his high school buddies who formed a "club of disaffection." The group was known as the "Choom Gang," says Obama biographer David Maraniss.

"There are a bunch of things I did that I regret when I was a kid," Obama told Walters. "My attitude is, substance abuse generally is not good for our kids, not good for our society.

"I want to discourage drug use," he added.

While the administration has not prioritized prosecutions of marijuana users and small-scale distributors in states where it's legal, it has not ceased prosecutions altogether. The Justice Department has continued raids on pot providers ? including in states where they are legal ? in an approach that experts say is more aggressive than Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush.

"I never made a commitment that somehow we were going to give carte blanche to large-scale producers and operators of marijuana ? and the reason is, because it's against federal law," Obama told "Rolling Stone" in an interview earlier this year.

It "is a murky area," Obama told the magazine, "where you have large-scale, commercial operations that may supply medical marijuana users, but in some cases may also be supplying recreational users. In that situation, we put the Justice Department in a very difficult place if we're telling them, 'This is supposed to be against the law, but we want you to turn the other way.' That's not something we're going to do."

Obama and the Office of National Drug Control Policy say the negative impacts of widespread marijuana legalization loom large.

Legalization would lower the price of "weed," thereby fueling its use and triggering more widespread negative health effects and subsequent costs of care, the administration says in its official policy position. Officials also say legalization would do little to curb drug violence or eliminate cartels.

"When you're talking about drug kingpins, folks involved in violence, people who are peddling hard drugs to our kids and our neighborhoods that are devastated, there is no doubt we need to go after those folks hard," said Obama.

"It makes sense for us to look at how we can make sure that our kids are discouraged from using drugs and engaging in substance abuse generally," he said. "There's more work we can do on the public health side and the treatment side."

Colorado and Washington are the first states to legalize recreational use of marijuana, presenting a fresh challenge for the Obama Justice Department to navigate in a second term.

While public opinion has shifted toward legalization over the past few years, Americans remain divided about the personal use of pot.

Fifty percent of American adults oppose legalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use, while 48 percent would support such a measure, according to a November ABC News/Washington Post poll. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 points.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat who personally opposed legalization, on Monday formally approved the voter-backed amendment to the state constitution legalizing recreational use of marijuana.

The measure will allow individuals to possess one ounce of pot and up to six marijuana plants and licensed stores to sell marijuana starting next year.

Washington State last week officially became the first to allow recreational use of marijuana when a voter-approved ballot measure took effect.

In both states, pot use remains illegal in public. Eighteen states have approved the use of marijuana for medicinal use with a doctor's order. Federal law still prohibits all use and sale of marijuana.

ABC News' Jason Ryan contributed to this report.

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/marijuana-users-not-high-priority-obama-210709158.html

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iTunes snubs Android Central - all of Android, actually - in annual awards

Bear with us, folks -- we're still coming to terms with this. Apple and iTunes have snubbed Android Central in its "Best of 2012" podcast listings. Instead, Apple, in its infinitely looped wisdom, has gone with some guy named Leo Laporte, a couple of people who apparently like to beat geeks, and a blue letter "e" for best technology podcasts of 2012. Hell, there's not even an Android category! Steve Jobs never would have let this happen.

But fear not. We will soldier on. The Greatest Android Podcast in the World will return yet again this evening for Episode No. 119, live at 9 p.m. EST, 2 a.m. (Thursday) GMT, and all points in between, where we once again will bring you the best of Android world, plus your e-mails and voicemails -- and we've got some stuff to give away this week, as well.

So join use tonight for the Android Central Podcast and help right this injustice. We'll be at androidcentral.com/live.

read more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/n2bbbbYG_4Q/story01.htm

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Blackberry 10 SDK reveals tight Evernote integration

The Blackberry 10 gold SDK release has revealed an interesting tidbit for Evernote partakers: the memory-prodding app seems to be tightly enmeshed with RIM's upcoming OS. It's one of the so-called Notebook options listed under the "App Integration" heading, which let you organize "actionable and non-actionable items into separate folders or topics." Evernote is listed as one of those options, and will let you sync up and access your account with Blackberry 10 devices, according to the documentation. That app is already available across all other major platforms, letting you organize documents with audio, video, photos, websites and, um, text -- then sync everything up in the cloud. Considering Evernote's recent foray into the business side of things, having the app built-in might be a nice pitch to RIM's core userbase when the new OS is finally launched.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, RIM

Comments

Via: 89 apps

Source: Blackberry API

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/z68MgUMzzlE/

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Ab Tak Cheyattar ? Till Now 76

Unless otherwise stated, all text published on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Photographs from third parties have been published under Creative Commons licenses under which they are made available by their copyright owners.

Source: http://pragati.nationalinterest.in/2012/11/ab-tak-cheyattar-till-now-76/

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Hosts Underwood, Paisley ready for 5th CMA Awards

FILE - In this Nov. 9, 2011 file photo hosts Carrie Underwood, left, and Brad Paisley speak during the 45th Annual CMA Awards in Nashville, Tenn. The former ?American Idol? winner's latest album ?Blown Away? was a multi-week No. 1 on the country albums chart, she's in the midst of an arena tour and she also is up for female vocalist of the year at the CMA Awards, on Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012, airing live on ABC at 8 p.m. EDT from Nashville's Bridgestone Arena. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 9, 2011 file photo hosts Carrie Underwood, left, and Brad Paisley speak during the 45th Annual CMA Awards in Nashville, Tenn. The former ?American Idol? winner's latest album ?Blown Away? was a multi-week No. 1 on the country albums chart, she's in the midst of an arena tour and she also is up for female vocalist of the year at the CMA Awards, on Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012, airing live on ABC at 8 p.m. EDT from Nashville's Bridgestone Arena. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 9, 2011 file photo, hosts Brad Paisley, left, and Carrie Underwood speak during the 45th Annual CMA Awards in Nashville, Tenn. The former ?American Idol? winner's latest album ?Blown Away? was a multi-week No. 1 on the country albums chart, she's in the midst of an arena tour and she also is up for female vocalist of the year at the CMA Awards, on Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012, airing live on ABC at 8 p.m. EDT from Nashville's Bridgestone Arena. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 9, 2011 file photo hosts Carrie Underwood, left, and Brad Paisley speak during the 45th Annual CMA Awards in Nashville, Tenn. The former ?American Idol? winner's latest album ?Blown Away? was a multi-week No. 1 on the country albums chart, she's in the midst of an arena tour and she also is up for female vocalist of the year at the CMA Awards, on Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012, airing live on ABC at 8 p.m. EDT from Nashville's Bridgestone Arena. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) ? Spend a lot of time with a guy over five years and you get to know him pretty well. In the time Carrie Underwood has spent co-hosting the Country Music Association Awards with Brad Paisley, she's learned there's nothing fake about the man with the white hat.

Paisley's not projecting the family first, fun-loving, good-guy persona that's made him one of country music's most popular stars. That's who he is, and he's found an uncommon balance Underwood really didn't believe existed in show business.

"He's not a different person in front of the camera and a whole different person away from the cameras," Underwood said in a recent interview. "He is the way you think he is. It's really great to see how somebody has balanced family life and doing this, you know, being in our crazy world. Because a few years ago I was wondering how on Earth anybody could make that work. And seeing him and (wife) Kimberly (Williams-Paisley) ? she's superbusy, too ? being able to juggle that is very encouraging."

That doesn't mean Underwood's ready to start a family just yet.

She and husband Mike Fisher, a star player for the NHL's Nashville Predators, are at the peak of their respective careers. The former "American Idol" winner's latest album, "Blown Away," was a multiweek No. 1 on the country albums chart. She's in the midst of an arena tour and also is up for female vocalist of the year at Thursday night's awards, airing live on ABC at 8 p.m. EDT from Nashville's Bridgestone Arena.

Children are in the plan "eventually," though.

"It's so funny, I still think of myself I guess being much younger than I actually am," Underwood said. "I'm like, I'm too young to have kids when I'm 29 years old, so I'm really not. My mom had a couple in her early 20s and a lot of people do. I don't know, I guess it's a sign of my immaturity in that area. I've only been married two years. I really want to enjoy that and really figure that out a little better before we start throwing so much responsibility into that."

___

Online:

http://www.carrieunderwoodofficial.com/us/home

http://abc.go.com/shows/cma-awards

___

For the latest country music news from the Associated Press: http://twitter.com/AP_Country. Follow AP Music Writer Chris Talbott: http://twitter.com/Chris_Talbott.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-10-31-Music-CMA%20Awards/id-2006b22083514edda19aee9c2be1b502

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Top 5 Tech Tools to Organize Your Life | Home | GalTime

As I drag myself away from whiling away another hour clicking through Pinterest and dreaming of crafts and projects I am surely never going to actually do, I have to chuckle a bit at the strange dichotomy that is technology. It can be a huge black hole for those of us easily distracted by all things shiny, and yet it offers an amazing array of tools to stay organized, connected and efficient. From online calendars to menu planners to interactive to-dos and reminders, here are some of the best tools and resources to help keep you organized and on track. Whenever you can drag yourself away from that game you?re playing on Facebook, that is.

Oh, and even better: they?re all free.

The Incredible Synching Online Calendar ? Google Calendar

An online calendar with electronic reminders is an amazing tool. The last time I forgot a dentist appointment, only to be told it would be five months before I could get back on the schedule, I immediately installed Google Calendar on my smartphone. I synced across all my devices so no matter where I am I will, by golly, get that reminder to pick up the dog from the groomer. I have the family calendar sync with my husband?s phone as well so that he doesn?t miss out on the preschool open house or double book date night.

All you need to get started is a Gmail account. There are a multitude of Google Calendar apps that make it compatible with just about every device imaginable so you can add, view and edit events on the go. Have reminders sent to you via text or email. Color code events so work appointments stand apart from Jill?s upcoming soccer game; share your calendar with others; set up recurring events so you don?t have to remember to give the dog her flea treatment every month. Frankly, it?s the only way I ever make it where I need to be within a rough ballpark of the time I am expected.

Related:?4 FREE Scam Fighting Apps

Be a Task Master ? Remember the Milk

On the surface it appears to be a relatively simplistic online to-do list. The interface is basic with a few bells and whistles, yet Remember the Milk ?is a powerful tool to help you organize and manage your life. View tasks by due date (today, tomorrow, overdue, etc) or categorize tasks into lists and sort by work project, home maintenance, or self preservation (what else would you call a reminder that schedules a pedicure or organize a night out with the girls?).? Share or publish individual tasks or project lists so that you can work together with coworkers, or have hubby?s phone remind him to take out the trash so you don?t have to.

With apps for iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Android, you can manage tasks on the go. Sync with Google Calendar and have reminders sent via email, text or IM. Easily create recurring tasks so that you don?t forget to water the plants on Tuesday or pay your mortgage on time. You can even view location-specific tasks on a map so you can see if there?s anything else you can check of your list while you?re in the neighborhood.

The Family Tracker ? Cozi

Cozi ?is a great free calendar, task and to-do list application geared toward families. Cozi has a multitude of easy to use features that automatically sync between every computer and mobile device in your busy household.?

Use the online list feature to create a family to-do viewable by everyone you connect to your Cozi account. For instance, make up individual to-do lists for each family member, an up-to-date, accessible anywhere emergency contact list, vacation pack list... the possibilities are endless. There?s a grocery shopping list with pre-filled common items, or add your own, that can be updated by anyone in the family and then sent to you via text or email when you?re ready to head to the store.

Related:?Top 10 Ways to Keep Your Kids Safe on Their Cell

The family calendar allows you to color code appointments by family member, and then choose to see individual calendars or the whole family?s schedule at once.? A super handy text translator feature takes ?Meet with plumber next Thursday at 10,? and automatically adds an appointment titled ?Meet with plumber? in the right place on your calendar.?

Reminders can be sent to your mobile phone or email, and the calendar is easily printable for kids that aren?t yet web-connected. Cozi syncs with Outlook while selectively adding only those appointments that fall out of normal business hours, so your husband will always know when you need to work late, without also being reminded of your lunch meeting with the boss. Your calendar and lists can be viewed and modified on any mobile device by logging into the website, or downloading the app onto your iPhone or Android. Now there?s no excuse for missing Sparky?s next vaccination appointment, much to his chagrin.

Manage Your Money - Mint.com

If you have a relatively straight forward financial situation, with bank accounts and loans through traditional banking institutions, a free online financial management resource like Mint ?can make budgeting and controlling your money a snap. Once you set up a free account with your name and email, simply enter the online login information for your various bank accounts, credit cards, investment accounts and loans, and Mint will retrieve and consolidate your current balance and transaction history.? From that point on it will automatically keep your accounts up to date, with the only manual entry from you being to classify expenses it doesn?t recognize (it auto-categorizes what it can).?

Quickly and easily set customized goals for anything from paying off a debt to funding your retirement, so you can see how much you need to set aside each month to reach short and long term goals. It even suggests ways you may be able to save money by making easy changes or transferring your accounts to institutions with lower fees.

Corral your Kitchen ? Kitchenmonki.com

As much as the plan on Sunday night is to eat at home every day next week, come Wednesday you inevitably open the fridge pondering, what do I have ingredients and time to make? Chinese takeout beckons and your exhausted brain steers you to pick up the phone and dial before you can pull out that ?5 ingredients or less? cookbook.? If this sounds like a typical weeknight at your house, check out Kitchen Monki.?

Set up a free account to add and organize your own recipes, or search the Kitchen Monki database and add recipes to your collection. Use the ?Your Queue? tool to map out a week or more of menus using the Meal Planner tool. You can even create shopping lists automatically and send them to your cell phone with Mobile Monki. No more standing in the produce aisle trying to mentally plan your menu, or throwing out that kale you thought for sure you?d get around to using, but didn?t.

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Andrea Eldridge is CEO of Nerds On Call, which offers onsite?computer and laptop repair?to homeowners and small businesses. Based in Redding, Calif., it has locations in five states. Contact Eldridge at?www.callnerds.com/andrea.

Source: http://galtime.com/article/home/42454/49882/top-5-tech-tools-organize-your-life

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Why do cats and witches go together? | Way of Cats blog

Cats are so associated with Halloween I think it?s about time they got a positive holiday.

Because without cats there would be no civilization.

The deal we struck with cats, back during the dawn of agriculture, was that they take care of the rodents who ate our grain, and we would love and admire them for it. Domestication has lengthened their kitten traits and made them even more affectionate; while the further march of civilization has largely removed the original reason they were hanging around with us.

So now it?s just the love.

How did cats go from being worshiped in Egypt to being hunted down as witch familiars?

Superstition and scapegoating. In other worse, falsity.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Cats come up at Halloween just as witches do; they go together in the popular imagination. Yet, my Wiccan friends love cats at the same rate my friends of other religions do. Did you know how this particular tie-in came about? Because older ladies were once the target of actual ?witch hunts.? Then, so were their cats.

From the 15th to the 18th centuries, the Catholic Church orchestrated a moral panic about witches. It is highly ironic that the Catholic Church would be instrumental in using such beliefs in rooting out heresy, because during the medieval era such beliefs were denounced as pagan superstition. But shifts in the theology created a new emphasis on Satan, and external events (cough-Martin Luther!-cough) were creating pressures which demanded defense.

Women were generally powerless; older, widowed or unmarried, women; even more so. And, then and now, they had cats.

It?s really that simple. Cats were hunted down and killed and let the rats, who spread the Black Plague, proliferate.

Now, hundreds of years later, people celebrate Halloween with images of witches and black cats. People pick up a subliminal message: cats are scary.

Like all prejudices, they inflict harm on both the object of the prejudice, and the ones who hold it. Cats suffer from a false image, and people suffer from a lack of understanding.

Many people have living circumstances where cats would suit them better than dogs. Yet, they don?t consider cats to be a good pet choice. If asked, they cannot articulate a good reason; only excuses and false assumptions.

This upsets me on more than the level of accuracy. There are so many cats who need homes. There are so many people without pet companionship.

It is foolish for prejudice to create so much unhappiness.

See previous posts on Halloween subjects: Black Cats and Halloween and Prejudice, and a warning about Cat Safety on Halloween.

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There?s more ways to understand our cat with The Way of Cats than the article you are reading now. See all of my posts on WHY CATS DO THAT.

Thanks for stopping by! Find me on Facebook. Sign up here and get the FREE eBook, Ten Cat Tricks (Every Human Should Know.)

Through her amateur cat rescue, she cured problem cats and placed them in new homes. Learn to maximize cat enjoyment!

Source: http://www.wayofcats.com/blog/deception-and-halloween-and-cats/21532

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NASA Curiosity rover takes a bite of Martian soil

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Diseases of aging map to a few 'hotspots' on the human genome

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Researchers have long known that individual diseases are associated with genes in specific locations of the genome. Genetics researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill now have shown definitively that a small number of places in the human genome are associated with a large number and variety of diseases. In particular, several diseases of aging are associated with a locus which is more famous for its role in preventing cancer.

For this analysis, researchers at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center catalogued results from several hundred human Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) from the National Human Genome Research Institute. These results provided an unbiased means to determine if varied different diseases mapped to common 'hotspot' regions of the human genome. This analysis showed that two different genomic locations are associated with two major subcategories of human disease.

"Our team is interested in understanding genetic susceptibility to diseases associated with aging, including cancer," said PhD student William Jeck, who was first author on the study, published in the journal Aging Cell.

The team examined the large NHGRI dataset and first eliminated hereditable traits such as eye or hair color and other non-disease traits like drug metabolism. The group then focused on variants identified from GWAS that contributed to actual diseases. Combining results from all of these studies, there was enough data to arrive at statistically valid conclusions. The team then mapped the disease associations to the appropriate locations of the genome, counting the number of unique diseases mapping to specific genomic regions, in order to see if disparate diseases mapped randomly throughout the genome, or clustered in hotspots.

"What we ended up with is a very interesting distribution of disease risk across the genome. More than 90 percent of the genome lacked any disease loci. Surprisingly, however, lots of diseases mapped to two specific loci, which soared above all of the others in terms of multi-disease risk. The first locus at chromosome 6p21, is where the major histocompatibility (MHC) locus resides. The MHC is critical for tissue typing for organ and bone marrow transplantation, and was known to be an important disease risk locus before genome-wide studies were available. Genes at this locus determine susceptibility to a wide variety of autoimmune diseases such as arthritis, celiac disease, Type I diabetes, asthma, psoriasis, and lupus," said Jeck.

"The second place where disease associations clustered is the INK4/ARF (or CDKN2a) tumor suppressor locus. This area, in particular, was the location for diseases associated with aging: atherosclerosis, heart attacks, stroke, Type II diabetes, glaucoma and various cancers." he added.

"The finding that INK4/ARF is associated with lots of cancer, and MHC is associated with lots of diseases of immunity is not surprising?these associations were known. What is surprising is the diversity of diseases mapping to just two small places: 30 percent of all tested human diseases mapped to one of these two places. This means that genotypes at these loci determine a substantial fraction of a person's resistance or susceptibility to multiple independent diseases," said Ned Sharpless, MD, Wellcome Distinguished Professor of Cancer Research and Associate Director of Translational Research at UNC Lineberger.

Another interesting finding was the apparent role of two biological processes in multi-disease association. In addition to the MHC and INK4/ARF loci, five less significant hotspot loci were also identified. Of the seven total hotspot loci, however, all contained genes associated with either immunity or cellular senescence. Cellular senescence is a permanent form of cellular growth arrest, and it is an important means whereby normal cells are prevented from becoming cancerous. It has been long known that senescent cells accumulate with aging, and may cause aspects of aging. This new analysis provides evidence that genetic differences in an individual's ability to regulate the immune response and activate cellular senescence determine their susceptibility to many seemingly disparate diseases.

"We call the absence of disease 'wellness', and our results suggest the genetics of wellness may be much more simple than previously suspected. Put another way, these unbiased data from about two million people suggest that your eccentric Uncle Joe, who drank and smoked, but who also lived to be 110 and was never sick a day in his life?well Uncle Joe may have just been genetically fortunate at a couple of loci," said Sharpless.

###

University of North Carolina Health Care: http://www.med.unc.edu

Thanks to University of North Carolina Health Care for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

This press release has been viewed 12 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/123655/Diseases_of_aging_map_to_a_few__hotspots__on_the_human_genome

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Sony Xperia Tablet S

Sony has done a nice job distinguishing its products from the sea of monotonous slate tablets. Its two previous efforts, the Tablet S ?and Tablet P, both featured unique designs that set them apart. Unfortunately, that didn't make them usable. The Sony Xperia Tablet S ($399/16GB list) builds on the original Tablet S's magazine-like form factor, but updates the internal components to better compete with current high-end tablets. The end result is a great combination of solid design and fast performance, although it's expensive for a tablet without a high-res screen.

Design and Features
The Xperia Tablet S looks and feels like a classier and more subdued take on Sony's first tablet. It still has the rolled-over edge, but the tapered wedge shape is gone. Instead, the tablet has a flat, brushed-aluminum back that resembles an Apple iPad??with black plastic wrapped around one end. The Xperia Tablet S measures 9.45 by 6.87 by 0.35 inches (at its thinnest point) and weighs 1.26 pounds. It's lighter than the Tablet S but not as well-balanced, making it slightly less comfortable to hold. Still, the unique design keeps the Xperia Tablet S better-balanced in the hand than most Android tablets.?

The rolled edge leaves two slightly recessed areas on the left and right sides. In the left recess is a 3.5mm headphone jack and a removable flap that covers a full-sized SD card slot, a boon for photographers. The right recess is home to Power and Volume buttons. Along the bottom edge is a removable flap for the proprietary docking port connector, flanked by two metal speaker grilles. Sony claims the tablet's enclosure can withstand some water, but this is not waterproof, so do not dunk the tablet in water. The splashproofing?explains why there are removable flaps on the ports, but the docking port flap is not attached like the SD card flap, meaning it'll be easy to misplace.?The speakers get loud by tablet standards, and while they aren't quite as harsh at top volume as many other tablets, they still lack any serious bass response, making music sound thin and tinny. An included dongle converts the docking port into a full-sized HDMI port. I would have preferred a dedicated HDMI out, even if only a micro.

Front and center is a 9.4-inch 1,280-by-800-pixel LCD, which is well below the 1,920-by-1,080-pixel displays we've been seeing on some high-end Android tablets like the Asus Transformer Pad Infinity TF700 . We wouldn't be complaining if this wasn't a premium-priced tablet. Still, the screen on the Xperia Tablet S is perfectly sharp for most uses, with deep blacks, good contrast, and vibrant colors. It's about on par with the IPS display on the less expensive Asus Transformer Pad TF300.

This is a Wi-Fi only tablet that connects to 802.11b/g/n networks on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. On a number of occasions I noticed the Xperia Tablet S had trouble reacquiring a previous connection after resuming from sleep. Sometimes this would resolve itself after a slight delay, but other times I had to reset the tablet to fully fix the issue. There's also Bluetooth 3.0 on board, but while it was easy to pair with headphones and speakers, I noticed a bit of audio delay during video playback. There is no GPS.

The 8-megapixel camera on the back of the Xperia Tablet S does a good job at keeping image noise to a minimum, but details appear waxy and lack the sharpness you'd find with any decent point-and-shoot or even most high-end smartphones. Video, even at 1080p resolution and a steady 30 frames per second indoors and out, looks pretty awful, with slow autofocus and frequently fluctuating auto-exposure. The front-facing 1-megapixel camera is even worse, but is at least serviceable for Skype calls.

Sony also sells a docking stand and a keyboard cover for the Xperia Tablet S. The docking stand ($99.99 direct) looks like the base of a desk lamp, similar to older iMacs, and charges, syncs, and provides HDMI out for the tablet when docked. The keyboard cover ($99.99) looks like a simple leather folio case, but inside is a flat touch keyboard built into the case. Unfortunately, the keys have no give to them. You might as well be using the on-screen keyboard.

Performance, Software, and Apps
Powering the Xperia Tablet S is the nearly ubiquitous quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, here clocked at 1.4GHz and paired with 1GB RAM. The base model comes with 16GB of storage for $399.99, but you can upgrade to 32 or 64GB for $499.99 and $599.99 respectively. Performance matches up well with Tegra 3 devices like the Transformer Pad TF300. Apps run smoothly and launch without delay, and high-end games play great on the Xperia Tablet S.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/wVXvsJXuRrc/0,2817,2409936,00.asp

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iPhone 5 launch draws Apple fans across Asia

Kae Shibata 20, left, and Yutaro Noji, 21, show off Apple's iPhone 5 after they bought at a store in Tokyo Friday morning, Sept. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

Kae Shibata 20, left, and Yutaro Noji, 21, show off Apple's iPhone 5 after they bought at a store in Tokyo Friday morning, Sept. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

Customers celebrate as Apple Inc. started selling iPhone 5 at a store in Tokyo Friday morning, Sept. 21, 2012. Apple?s Asian fans jammed the tech juggernaut?s shops in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore to pick up the latest version of its iPhone. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

A customer shows her new iPhone 5 at the Apple store in Hong Kong Friday, Sept. 21, 2012. Apple's Asian fans jammed the tech juggernaut's shops in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore to pick up the latest version of its iPhone. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

The new Apple Maps application is demonstrated in New York on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012. Apple released an update to its iPhone and iPad operating system on Wednesday that replaces Google Maps with Apple's own application. Early upgraders are reporting that the new maps are less detailed, look weird and misplace landmarks. It's shaping up to be a rare setback for Apple. (AP Photo/Karly Domb Sadof)

Daichi Tanaka, 31, waits in line to buy Apple's iPhone 5 outside a store in Tokyo Friday morning, Sept. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

HONG KONG (AP) ? In a now familiar global ritual, Apple fans jammed shops from Sydney to Tokyo to pick up the tech juggernaut's latest iPhone.

Eager buyers formed long lines Friday at Apple Inc. stores in Australia and Japan to be the first to get their hands on the latest version of the smartphone. In Hong Kong and Singapore, buyers had to sign up online for the chance to pick up the device at a prearranged time. The first customers in Hong Kong were greeted by staff cheering, clapping, chanting "iPhone 5! iPhone 5!" and high-fiving them as they were escorted one-by-one through the front door.

The smartphone is also being launched in the U.S., U.K., Canada, France and Germany. It will go on sale in 22 more countries a week later. The iPhone 5 is thinner, lighter, has a taller screen, faster processor, updated software and can work on faster "fourth generation" mobile networks.

Order numbers indicate the iPhone 5 has overcome initial lukewarm reviews. Apple received 2 million orders in the first 24 hours of announcing its release date, more than twice the number for the iPhone 4S in the same period when that phone launched a year ago.

In a sign of the intense demand, police in Osaka, Japan, were investigating the theft of nearly 200 iPhones 5s, including 116 from one shop alone, Kyodo News reported.

Analysts have estimated Apple will ship as many as 10 million of the new iPhones by the end of September.

Some Australian fans went to extremes to be among the first by arriving at Apple's flagship store in downtown Sydney on Tuesday ? three days ahead of the release.

Todd Foot, 24, nabbed the coveted first spot and spent about 18 hours a day in a folding chair and catching a few hours' sleep each night in a tent on the sidewalk.

Foot's dedication was largely a marketing stunt, however. He writes product reviews for a technology website that will give away the phone after Foot reviews it.

"I just want to get the phone so I can feel it, compare it and put it on our website," he said while slumped in his chair.

In Singapore, which doesn't have an Apple store, Liu Ting Ting waited 12 hours to be the first of 10,000 people in the Southeast Asian city-state granted the opportunity to buy one at a Singapore Telecommunications launch-day event.

"I have this I-need-to-be-first mentality because this is the first time I'm buying an iPhone," said Liu, who is dumping her Blackberry because she believes the iPhone 5's photo and video capabilities will help with her journalism studies.

"If I wasn't the first, I would have gone home," she said.

Not everyone lining up outside Hong Kong's Apple store was an enthusiast. University student Kevin Wong, waiting to buy a black 16 gigabyte model for 5,588 Hong Kong dollars ($720), said he was getting one "for the cash." He planned to immediately resell it to one of the numerous grey market retailers catering to visiting mainland Chinese buyers. China is one of Apple's fastest growing markets but a release date for the iPhone 5 there has not yet been set.

Mainland Chinese, who like to shop in Hong Kong because there's no sales tax and because of the strength of the yuan, will probably buy it from the resellers "at a higher price ? a way higher price," said Wong, who hoped to make a profit of HK$1,000 ($129).

Tokyo's glitzy downtown Ginza district not only had a long line in front of the Apple store, but another across the main intersection at Softbank, the first carrier in Japan to offer iPhones.

Hidetoshi Nakamura, a 25-year-old auto engineer, said he's an Apple fan because it's an innovator.

"I love Apple," he said, standing near the end of a two-block-long line, reading a book and listening to music on his iPod.

"It's only the iPhone for me."

___

Kristen Gelineau in Sydney, Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo and Faris Mokhtar in Singapore contributed to this report.

Follow Kelvin Chan on at twitter.com/chanman

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-09-21-iPhone%205%20Launch/id-534616dc9aa643298ccae2d0b2b164ba

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Pest Control Portland - Controlling Insects Through Pest Control

One of the most important investments you have is your home. The amount of money that you have in your home probably dwarfs anything else besides a business if you are a small business owner. Because of this significant amount, it is essential that you take good care of your home and protect it from anything that can cause damage to it. Taking precautions by having home insurance is a good start, as it will protect your house from fires, floods, and other types of severe weather, but there is a threat that you may have never even thought of before: bugs. Most bugs are only pests in your home, but there are some that can destroy your entire home without you knowing anything about it. For these bugs, it is very important that you contact a company to do pest control Portland in and around your home.

The number one pest that can cause damage to your home is the termite. If you have never seen one before, termites are small brown bugs that feed on wood. As most homes are made of wood, termites would be a devastating pest. The best way to combat an infestation of termites, or any other type of pest is prevention. You will definitely want to take preventative measures so the pests never have a chance to do any damage. Also, once the pests have invaded your home, they will be much more difficult to get rid of. Pest control Portland professionals will be able to help you both prevent and get rid of these bugs, so you will want to contact an exterminator as soon as possible.

There are probably many pest control Portland companies in your area, so it will be in your best interest to do a little bit of research before you choose one to spray your home. One thing that you will definitely want to ask about, especially if you have small children or babies, is what they use to kill the bugs. Some types of bug spray can be toxic to children and to animals for that matter, so you will need to ask about any toxicity issues.

Another question that you may want to ask is how often the pest control Portland representative will have to come out to your home to spray. There are ome types of insects will need to be killed over a period of time with multiple appointments, so make sure that you ask how many treatments you need and how far they will be spaced apart.

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