Google's 2013 April Fools' gags start with the shutdown of YouTube

Gotta hand it to Google -- the boys and girls in Mountain View can have some serious fun for April Fools' Day. Each year we get a handful of awesomely funny announcements and videos, including such gems as Google Translate for animals or Google Racing.

Google's getting started a day early this year. This morning it posted a video to YouTube announcing that it's received enough entries to finally pick the best video, and that YouTube will shut down at midnight tonight until 2023, at which time the winner will be announced.

Thanks for all your great entries.
YouTube finally has enough videos to begin selecting a winner.
What do you think is the #bestvideo on YouTube?

We've been thrilled with all of the diverse, creative entries we've seen so far, and we can't wait to begin the process of selecting the best video. We'll be announcing the winner in 10 years. 

The cameos are worth watching as well. Antoine Dodson as a judge? Of course. Taking a shot at unboxings? Love it. iJustine, Rafi Fine. David from "David after Dentist" fame. Awesomesauce.

Check out the video after the break, and get ready for more from Google on Monday.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/c9rQTdFiLhE/story01.htm

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Tetris Blitz to offer deeper, faster take on classic puzzle game

This ain't your daddy's Tetris - get as many rows as you can in two minutes and customize with power-ups

At GDC 2013, we took some time to talk with EA about the latest mobile iteration of the classic puzzle game franchise, Tetris. Tetris Blitz promises to be a whole new experience: there's no failure, just two frantic minutes of dropping blocks and lining up rows as quickly as possible.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/XO2eQp090IE/story01.htm

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After 55 years, Ohio's Easter Eggshelland comes to an end

By Kim Palmer

CLEVELAND (Reuters) - After more than 50 years, loyal fans have one last chance to visit the Easter bunny and other Easter-themed mosaics made of thousands of brightly colored eggs on a lawn in an eastern suburb of Cleveland.

The displays have drawn thousands of visitors each year to the sprawling lawn of Betty and Ron Manolio in Lyndhurst, Ohio, but the 55th annual event this year will be the last.

Eggshelland was created by Ron Manolio, 80, who died in August. This final display is dominated by a 16-foot by 15-foot portrait of the man who each year spent months hollowing out and hand-painting anywhere from 3,000 to 10,000 eggs. A message below the picture reads "thank you all, and goodbye."

This year, Manolio's children and grandchildren set up the 21,630 eggs in 24 colors in a display entitled "A Labor of Love" in tribute to their grandfather. The egg mosaics depict a 45-foot cross, an Easter bunny and an EGGSHELLAND sign propped up in front of the couple's house.

"Our children did this their entire lives. They thought everyone does this," Betty Manolio told Reuters. But the months it takes to design and two to three weekends for installation are too much for the family to keep up.

Egg mosaics in past years have depicted characters from Sesame Street, Winnie-the-Pooh, and Harry Potter and spring scenes.

Manolio said that because her husband was the creative force behind project, it would be too difficult to continue Eggshelland without him.

"Actually, I was amazed we were doing it for 55 years," she said. "If he (Ron) was still around I think we would do it until we both died. I'm going to miss it next year."

Others will miss Eggshelland too. On a typical day, cars line up on their street and around the corner to catch a glimpse the display that began with a mere 750 eggs saved over the course of a year in 1957. At Eggshelland's peak in the 1970s local police were called to direct traffic.

Local and national media have described Eggshelland as a childhood fantasy land but in truth the phenomena has quite an adult following including a website dedicated to its 55-year history and its creators (http://eggshellandeaster.tripod.com), and a 2004 award-winning documentary on their efforts.

Eggshelland will be up until April 5th. After that, Manolio hasn't yet decided what will happen to the eggs. Previously, they stored the eggs for the year and replaced those that had broken.

"We haven't decided what to do with them. We've gotten some calls," Manolio said. "My grandchildren, of course, told me to put them on eBay."

(Editing by Jackie Frank)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/55-years-ohios-easter-eggshelland-comes-end-154749492.html

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Celebrate Game of Thrones season 3 by making your own paper flying dragons

HBO’s popular fantasy series Game of Thrones is back tonight with episode 1 of season 3. You can get in on the fun with the Paper Flying Dragons book by Pat Murphy. This book includes fully illustrated punch out parts that will allow you to create 12 paper dragons includes: 5 foot long flyers, 5 [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/03/31/celebrate-game-of-thrones-season-3-by-making-your-own-paper-flying-dragons/

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Chopper crash kills five South African soldiers on rhino patrol

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Five South African soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash on Saturday while they were on patrol for rhino poachers in the Kruger National Park, the defense department said on Sunday.

A spokesman said the five were taking part in "Operation Rhino", in which the army is trying to stop the slaughter of the animals for their horns, worth more than their weight in gold. The cause of the crash is under investigation.

On Wednesday, three suspected poachers were killed in a shoot-out with rangers in the vast Kruger, where the killing of the animals has become rampant.

So far this year, 188 rhinos have been poached in South Africa, 135 in Kruger alone, according to government figures released this week.

In 2012, 668 rhinos were poached in South Africa, a 50 percent rise on the previous year and double the number killed illegally in 2010.

Surging demand from newly affluent consumers in Vietnam and China, where rhino horn is highly prized for medicinal purposes, is behind the onslaught.

South Africa hosts most of the world's white rhino - over 18,000 - and about 40 percent of the rarer black rhino.

Many of the poachers in Kruger come from poor villages in neighboring Mozambique. Elsewhere in Africa, the poaching of elephants for their ivory has also been on the rise.

(Reporting and writing by Ed Stoddard; Editing by Andrew Roche)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chopper-crash-kills-five-south-african-soldiers-rhino-082649187.html

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Total Defense for Business

Whoever is in charge of IT at a small business has a lot of things to worry about with a fairly limited budget and limited time to accomplish everything. Total Defense for Business offers small businesses an integrated cloud security platform that allows the administrator to handle endpoint security and Web and email filtering from a single management console. Endpoints have to be kept up-to-date with anti-malware tools, email threats need to be filtered out before the messages reach the user's inbox, and malicious?or inappropriate?sites need to be blocked. Total Defense for Business offers a fairly robust policy framework to handle all three different tasks to make the administrator's daily to-do-list easier to manage.

Total Defense for Business is a feature-packed cloud security platform where all the elements are tightly integrated. Total Defense offers anti-malware protection for endpoints, Web and email, such as detecting and removing malware on the endpoint, scanning emails and taking action when malware is detected, and blocking websites attempting to download malware. A robust rules engine allows administrators to create filtering policies and define granular application controls. I created email and Web policies to restrict file downloads, control what files could be uploaded or emailed (for data leak prevention), and prevent users from accessing certain sites and applications which violate corporate policy.

At first glance, Total Defense for Business reminded me a lot of GFI Cloud, a cloud security platform from GFI Software. GFI Cloud also provides antivirus protection (delivered via the company's VIPRE Antivirus engine)?for the endpoint, but its focus is primarily network management, not security. GFI Cloud offers asset management, health monitoring, and remote support. Total Defense for Business is focused on keeping emails clean, blocking malicious websites, and protecting the endpoint and is essentially a cloud-based unified threat management appliance. I use Sophos UTM as a virtual appliance, and Total Defense for Business felt very similar, except without having to source a server capable of running the virtual machine image.

Getting Started
Small businesses are beginning to realize that cloud security services are cheaper and often easier to manage than on-premise hardware and software. Getting started with Total Defense is pretty simple, as all you really need is the domain's MX record and information about the Web proxy in order to direct all email and Web traffic through Total Defense's servers. There is no hardware to deploy or software to configure.?

I received the login credentials for my Total Defense account over email. Logging in, I saw the interface, with tabs for Dashboard, Filter Management, Quarantine, Archive, and Reports. Since this was my first time logging in, I was automatically directed to Filter Management where I could turn on Web and Email filtering. There are a lot of features packed into the platform, and Total Defense does a pretty good job of peppering the screens with relevant help text and links to the User Guide.

Total Defense for Business supports Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. There doesn't seem to be a way yet to apply the security policies to users on smartphones and tablets, just yet.

Total Defense sells through the channel, so businesses need to contact their local reseller or distributor to purchase an annual subscription for Total Defense for Business. The list price is $71.50 per user per year, for full Web, Email, and Endpoint functionality. While the price may seem pretty high at first, it's worth noting that the per-user license covers multiple devices. The company also offers a 15-day free trial for anyone wanting to try out the platform first. Customers can get support over the phone or open up a support ticket online.

Web Filtering
To turn on Web filtering, Total Defense needs my public-facing IP address to recognize all the traffic with that IP address as being part of my network. The service can take up to 24 hours to accept and initialize the IP address, so I had to wait before configuring my Web proxy settings. I had the option to turn on user authentication with Web filtering, which means users have to log in to prove they are authorized to use the Total Defense platform.?Next: Web and Email Filtering, Endpoint Security with Total Defense

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/0Px9xGxS5is/0,2817,2417247,00.asp

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Stanford researchers create genetic transistors, make biologic computing possible

When constructing computer circuits, most folks start with silicon and metal, but not the researchers at Stanford. The boffins in Palo Alto want to build computers out of living tissue, and to that end they've created a biological transistor, called the transcriptor. Transcriptors substitute DNA for semiconductors and RNA for the electrons in traditional transistors -- essentially, the transcriptor controls the flow of a specific RNA protein along a DNA strand using tailored combinations of enzymes. Using these transcriptors, researchers built logic gates to derive true/false answers to biochemical questions posed within living cells. Using these bio-transistors, researchers gain access to data not previously available (like whether an individual cell has been exposed to certain external stimuli), in addition to allowing them to control basic functions like cellular reproduction.

This new breakthrough -- when combined with the DNA-based data storage and a method to transmit DNA between cells the school's already working on -- means that Stanford has created all the necessary components of a biologic computer. Such computers would allow man to actually reprogram how living systems operate. Of course, they haven't built a living genetic PC just yet, but to speed up its development, the team has contributed all the transcriptor-based logic gates to the public domain. Looking to build your own biologic computer? A full explanation of the transcriptor awaits below.

Filed under: Science

Comments

Via: The Verge

Source: Stanford University, Science Magazine

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/31/stanford-genetic-transistor-transcriptor/

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Six Ways Internet Marketing Meets PR Online

In businesses today, marketing and IT are striking a chord to get the job done together better. In public relations, the partner across the aisle is Internet marketing.

The online world of content marketing requires knowledge of Internet marketing which includes search marketing, key word designation, html coding, link building, and the other tools and tricks of the trade.

In one very specific circumstance public relations (those practitioners writing content and drafting stories) needs to merge with Internet marketing.

Writing a news release slated for online publication (when using PRWeb, for example) needs the expertise of an Internet marketer and public relations pro. Here are 6 reasons why it?s good to merge strengths when publishing online news:

1. Internet marketers have sub-domains and back links that PR people have no clue about.

2. Tags and key words often need to be positioned in various combinations to strengthen SEO juice.

3. Hyperlinks can be coded not just to a web page but to a landing page that is unpublished and only accessible via a special url.

4. Tracking analytics should come full circle; most PR people aren?t engaged with data as much marketers, although they ought to be.

5. RSS codes need to be added to distribution along with social media accounts (usually the area of PR).

6. Images need to be coded for alt tags, especially if they are original photos by the client.

You can see all the ways where both areas of expertise are required to put the best foot forward when working with online content. The best success tip, however, is to compromise?because no one knows it all!

Jayme Soulati is a B-to-B social media marketing professional with core PR expertise. She is president of Soulati Media, Inc. and an award-winning blogger writing at http://Soulati.com. Trained in Chicago's PR firms, Jayme is a media relations veteran and a past president of the Publicity Club of Chicago. She is a HubSpot digital marketing consultant, content marketer and PR strategist and is working on her first e-book on blogging, her favorite topic!

@Soulati

Jayme Soulati: B-toB Social Media Marketing with PR. President, Soulati Media. Chicago's agencies. content marketing, strategist. BLOGGER! Facebook, G+.

Six Ways Internet Marketing Meets PR Online http://t.co/7E2UpF4IxH via @DJThistle - 3 hours ago

Latest posts by Jayme Soulati (see all)

Source: http://www.steamfeed.com/six-ways-internet-marketing-meets-pr-online/

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PSA: Oculus Rift development kits now shipping, some may have already arrived

Oculus Rift is in the mail! Development kits began shipping to customers on Wednesday, and even if you have yet to receive a tracking number of your own, a kit may very well be on its way. The Oculus team has been "tied up at GDC" this week, which explains the delay in sending out tracking info, but folks taking care of logistics have apparently been hard at work, prepping some 10,000 development kits for shipment. Of course, not every set will be on its way to a developer right away -- it does take time to get that many kits out the door -- but if you're expecting one at your front porch, it's likely to arrive very soon. In the meantime, the Developer Center has opened up to devs, with access to the SDK, Unity and Unreal Engine integrations, forums, wiki and other documentation. The team also published a video of its SXSW panel in full for your enjoyment -- you can catch it just past the break.

Filed under: Displays, Gaming, HD

Comments

Source: Oculus VR

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/29/oculus-rift-now-shipping/

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7 States Running Out Of Water: 24/7 Wall St.

From 24/7 Wall St.: The United States is in the midst of one of the biggest droughts in recent memory. At last count, over half of the lower 48 states had abnormally dry conditions and are suffering from at least moderate drought.

More than 80 percent of seven states were as of last week in ?severe drought,? characterized by crop or pasture loss, water shortage and water restrictions. Depending on whether the hardest-hit regions see significant precipitation, crops yields could fall and drought conditions could persist for months to come. Based on the latest data provided by the U.S. Drought Monitor, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the seven states running out of water.

Click here to see the seven states running out of water

U.S. Department of Agriculture meteorologist and Drought Monitor team member, Brad Rippey, explained that when the drought began in 2012, the worst of the conditions were much farther east, in states like Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan ? the corn belt states. Based on pre-drought estimates, corn used for grain lost slightly more than a quarter of its potential. By the Summer of 2012, 59 percent of U.S. rangeland and pastureland was rated by the USDA as being in poor or very poor condition. The growing drought decimated national hay production, causing feed shortages, which in turn drove up prices in livestock.

By the fall of 2012, drought conditions continued to expand westward to its current epicenter ? states like Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado and Oklahoma. Rippey explained that most worrying is the drought?s effects on the winter wheat crop, which is one of the biggest crops grown in the U.S., and which is grown almost entirely in the states in severe drought. While the region has had some precipitation recently, ?winter wheat crop will need ideal conditions heading through the next few weeks just to break even. We?re still trending towards a very poor hard red winter wheat crop at this point,? Rippey said.

In addition to severe drought conditions, relatively large areas in the worst-off states are in ?exceptional? drought, which the USDA identifies as ?exceptional and widespread crop/pasture losses, shortages of water in reservoirs, streams, and wells creating water emergencies.? More than 70 percent of Nebraska is currently classified as being in a state of ?exceptional drought,? which includes Exceptional and widespread crop/pasture losses; shortages of water in reservoirs, streams, and wells creating water emergencies.

The last time the U.S. saw a drought close to this level of severity was in the 1980s, Rippey explained. But even compared to that drought, the current conditions may be worse. ?You really need to go back to the 1950s to find a drought that lasted and occupied at least as much territory,? Rippey said.

The U.S. Drought Monitor, is produced by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the seven states that had at least 80 percent of the total area classified in at least a state of severe drought as of March 14th. We also reviewed agricultural statistics, such as crop yields, in these states, using data collected from USDA state agricultural overviews. Most of these data are for 2011.

Here are seven states running out of water, according to 24/7 Wall St.:

• 7. Oklahoma

  <strong>Percent of state in severe drought:</strong> 83.2% <strong>Percent of state in extreme drought:</strong> 56.7% (4th highest) <strong>Percent of state in exceptional drought:</strong> 9.7% (6th highest) Over half the area of Oklahoma currently suffers from extreme drought ? the second worst level listed on the U.S. Drought Monitor. Oklahoma shares this distinction with just four other states. Drought conditions have actually improved since the start of the year. The percentage of the state facing exceptional drought ? the worst category of drought ? has fallen from 37% at the start of the year to less than 10% currently. In January, the USDA declared a large part of the winter wheat belt, spanning from Texas to North Dakota, as a disaster area due to the lack of moisture. According to the Scottsbluff Star-Herald, recent precipitation has not been enough to help the winter wheat crop in the state that had to be planted in dry soil. <a href="http://247wallst.com/2013/03/21/the-seven-states-running-out-of-water/#ixzz2P2lNh39V" target="_blank">Read more at 24/7 Wall St. </a>

• 6. Wyoming

  <strong>Percent of state in severe drought:</strong> 83.7% <strong>Percent of state in extreme drought:</strong> 54.7% (5th highest) <strong>Percent of state in exceptional drought:</strong> 10.1% (5th highest) Wyoming is one of the driest states in the country, a condition not likely to improve in the near future. According to the National Weather Service, the drought is expected to persist or worsen in most of the state over the next few months. The most critical drought problems are taking place in the eastern portion of the state. In the summer of 2012, Governor Matt Mead had to ask the federal government for disaster relief due to the drought. During the year before the request, ranchers working on non-irrigated land had lost about half their pasture grass and hay production because of the drought, a state agriculture official told Reuters. <a href="http://247wallst.com/2013/03/21/the-seven-states-running-out-of-water/#ixzz2P2lNh39V" target="_blank">Read more at 24/7 Wall St. </a>

• 5. South Dakota

  <strong>Percent of state in severe drought:</strong> 86.3% <strong>Percent of state in extreme drought:</strong> 67.5% (2nd highest) <strong>Percent of state in exceptional drought:</strong> 20.1% (4th highest) More than two-thirds of South Dakota suffers from extreme drought, the second highest portion of any state. Additionally, South Dakota is one of just four states where more than 20% of its area faces exceptional drought. As with many other states, much of South Dakota?s winter wheat crop was hurt by the lack of precipitation. According to the USDA, at the end of February, 66% of winter wheat crop was considered to be in poor or very poor condition, up from 31% in February 2012. <a href="http://247wallst.com/2013/03/21/the-seven-states-running-out-of-water/#ixzz2P2lNh39V" target="_blank">Read more at 24/7 Wall St. </a>

• 4. Colorado

  <strong>Percent of state in severe drought:</strong> 89.0% <strong>Percent of state in extreme drought:</strong> 48.1% (7th highest) <strong>Percent of state in exceptional drought:</strong> 21.2% (3rd highest) Colorado is one of five states where all of its area is considered to be in moderate drought, with nearly 90% of the state experiencing severe drought. With the exception of the Northeast corner of the state, the drought is expected to either persist or get worse over the next several months. Yet even most the Northeast corner is experiencing either extreme or exceptional drought. Due to the ongoing problems, several of Colorado?s largest municipal water providers are considering restricting spring and summer lawn-watering, potentially limiting landowners to watering their grass just twice a week. Crop production declined significantly in 2012 compared to 2011, with wheat production falling 9.3%, while corn production falling a whopping 29%. <a href="http://247wallst.com/2013/03/21/the-seven-states-running-out-of-water/#ixzz2P2lNh39V" target="_blank">Read more at 24/7 Wall St. </a>

• 3. New Mexico

  <strong>Percent of state in severe drought:</strong> 89.9% <strong>Percent of state in extreme drought:</strong> 49.9% (6th highest) <strong>Percent of state in exceptional drought:</strong> 4.3% (8th highest) As of early March, normal weather conditions persist in only about 0.21% of New Mexico ? the highest percentage in nearly a year. However, for most of the state problems remain. Last July, the USDA designated Cibola County as a primary disaster area due to drought. Six counties bordering Cibola, including Bernalillo County where Albuquerque is located, also qualified for natural disaster assistance. In late February, Albuquerque?s water board announced a ?drought watch,? which raised fines for wasting water to $40 for first offenders. <a href="http://247wallst.com/2013/03/21/the-seven-states-running-out-of-water/#ixzz2P2lNh39V" target="_blank">Read more at 24/7 Wall St. </a>

• 2. Kansas

  <strong>Percent of state in severe drought:</strong> 96.4% <strong>Percent of state in extreme drought:</strong> 64.6% (3rd highest) <strong>Percent of state in exceptional drought:</strong> 21.4% (2nd highest) Severe drought conditions persist in more than 96% of Kansas. Furthermore, nearly two-thirds of the state is experiencing extreme drought, while more than one-fifth is experiencing exceptional drought. The good news for Kansas is that rain in March has eased the drought, although National Weather Service meteorologist Andy Kleinsasser told the Associated Press earlier this week that the state is still experiencing ?precipitation deficits? of as much as 20 inches in many parts of the state. Kansas produces about 20% of the nation?s wheat, more than any other state. Wheat production was up 38% in 2012 compared to 2011, although the drought affecting the state probably will make this level of production unsustainable for 2013. <a href="http://247wallst.com/2013/03/21/the-seven-states-running-out-of-water/#ixzz2P2lNh39V" target="_blank">Read more at 24/7 Wall St. </a>

• 1. Nebraska

  <strong>Percent of state in severe drought:</strong> 100% <strong>Percent of state in extreme drought:</strong> 96.1% (the highest) <strong>Percent of state in exceptional drought:</strong> 76.4% (the highest) Nebraska is unique among all states in that all areas are experiencing at least a severe drought. Worse, extreme drought conditions persist in more than 96% of the state, with a stunning 76% of the state experiencing exceptional drought. In the next worst-hit state, Kansas, just 21.4% of all area suffers from exceptional drought. Drought has hurt much of the state?s winter wheat crop, 50% of which was in poor or very poor condition at the end of February, up from just 6% last year. The National Weather Service?s Climate Prediction Center estimates that the drought in Nebraska will last ? with some improvement in conditions ? through at least the end of May. <a href="http://247wallst.com/2013/03/21/the-seven-states-running-out-of-water/#ixzz2P2lNh39V" target="_blank">Read more at 24/7 Wall St. </a>

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/30/states-running-out-of-water_n_2984979.html

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Razer Edge Pro

Razer is a well-known name in the gaming community, with its green glowing snake logo stamped on all manner of mice, keyboards, and other specialized peripherals. But Razer's newest toy?the Razer Edge Pro gaming tablet?is way more than a mere plaything. First announced as "Project Fiona" back at CES 2012, this unique device has been designed to be the tablet for PC gamers. It has been tweaked and polished over months and months of refinement with feedback from pro gamers and enthusiasts alike. Boasting a dual-core Intel Core i7-3517U Ivy Bridge processor with 8GB of RAM and an Nvidia GeForce GT 640M LE graphics card with 2GB of dedicated memory, the result is a potent Windows laptop with more graphics and gaming chops than most laptops?and easily topping tablets like the Microsoft Surface Pro?and a playing experience that brings the game closer to you while letting you take the game wherever you want to go. The Edge Pro is the rare device that reimagines what the PC experience should be and delivers something that's not just different, but better, putting a full-fledged Windows experience into a more portable design, with the hardware to use it on the go, at your desk, or in the living room. That it's made to let you game anywhere just makes it a lot more fun.

Design
The Edge Pro is big for a tablet, but it's extremely slim and light for anything remotely capable of serious gaming. Measuring 7 by 11 by 0.8 inches (HWD) and weighing 2.14 pounds, the Edge Pro is significantly thicker than other Windows tablets, like the Microsoft Surface Pro, which is just 0.53 inch thick, and weighs slightly less at two pounds. But for all this heft, you get a lot more in terms of hardware?the Edge Pro and its less expensive standard variant, the Core i5-powered Razer Edge, are also the only Windows tablets on the market today to offer both Intel Core processing and discrete graphics. As tradeoffs go, this is pretty worthwhile.

And let's not forget that even the slimmest, lightest gaming laptops are considerably less portable. Our previous Editors' Choice for portable gaming laptops, the Maingear Pulse 11, is 1.5 inches thick and weighs 3.7 pounds. Razer's own made-for-portability Razer Blade laptop is still 0.88-inch thick, and 6.6 pounds. On top of that, you aren't likely to use the laptop for gaming without at least adding a gaming mouse to the mix, and you'll need to find a table or desk to sit at while you play?but the Edge Pro lets you play anywhere, without needing a mouse for all games.

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On any other system the 10.1-inch IPS display and its 1,366-by-768 resolution would be small and inadequate?though it's the same resolution of the screen on the Maingear Pulse 11?but because you'll be bringing the Edge Pro so much closer to your face, the smaller size and lower resolution aren't much of an issue. For a larger display and higher resolution, the HDMI port found on the accessory console dock does output at 1080p.

On the back of the tablet, which is made of the same cool black aluminum seen on the Razer Blade, you'll find Razer's distinctive logo, with three intertwined snakes that glow green when powered on. When we tested the speaker quality on the Edge Pro, I was surprised by the quality of the sound. While there's no bass to speak of, the sound itself is significantly better than most tablets?there's no buzzing at high volumes, and the sound is fuller than the thin, tinny sound heard on other tablets.

Features
On the tablet you'll find a docking port (which doubles as your power connector), a headphone jack, and a full-size USB 3.0 port. The USB port is easy to spot, because it's the same brilliant green we saw on the Razer Blade. The Razer Edge Pro is equipped with 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 + HS, so it will pair up with any wireless peripherals you want.

Inside, the Razer Edge Pro is equipped with a 256GB solid-state drive, in addition to the aforementioned Intel processor and Nvidia graphics card. All of those heat generating components also require a cooling fan, and this one gets humming pretty early on?it's the only tablet we've reviewed where fan noise is a concern. But that fan is indispensable, as I measured surface temperatures between 114 and 130 degrees at various points during testing and use. It got particularly warm in the upper right-hand corner, but you won't likely be using the tablet alone during the most intense gaming. A lot of this heat buildup is dealt with by using the accessory gamepad dock, shielding the hot surfaces from your touch and giving you two external handles to hold. Handling the tablet won't be an issue while using the tablet on the desktop/console dock.

While the Edge Pro is free of any bloatware or spurious software trials, it does come with Razer's Launcher dashboard for browsing and launching games, and also comes preinstalled with Steam, saving you the step of downloading it yourself. Additionally, the Edge Pro is designed for compatibility with Steam Big Picture Mode when connected to an HDTV through the console dock.

Razer covers the Edge Pro with a one-year warranty, with an extended warranty available ($199.99 direct) to stretch it to two, and also adds a year of coverage for power cable, console dock, and gamepad dock (except battery). Docks and accessories are also covered by a one-year warranty.

While the tablet design doesn't really make for a system you can upgrade and maintain in the same way you can tweak and optimize a desktop PC, Razer tells us that the SSD inside can indeed be swapped out by the user. But tinkerer's beware?doing so will void the warranty.

Our review unit came with two docks, the Gamepad Dock ($249.99 direct), and a desktop cradle called the Console Dock ($99.99 direct). A third accessory?a keyboard for laptop-style functionality?is expected to be available in Q3 of this year, but specific details about features, availability, and pricing weren't available as of this writing.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/5-2kImcMQ9E/0,2817,2417136,00.asp

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Iran, Syria, N. Korea block first global treaty to control $70 billion arms trade

Maysun / EPA, file

Syrian Army fighters preparing themselves to shoot against Syrian Army positions in Aleppo, Syria, March 11.

By Louis Charbonneau, Reuters

UNITED NATIONS -- Iran, Syria and North Korea on Friday prevented the adoption of the first international treaty to regulate the $70 billion global conventional arms trade, complaining that it was flawed and failed to ban weapons sales to rebel groups.

To get around the blockade, British U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant sent the draft treaty to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and asked him on behalf of Mexico, Australia and a number of others to put it to a swift vote in the General Assembly.

U.N. diplomats said the 193-nation General Assembly could put the draft treaty to a vote as early as Tuesday.

The head of the U.S. delegation, Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Countryman, told a group of reporters, "We look forward to this treaty being adopted very soon by the United Nations General Assembly."

He declined to predict the result of a vote but said it would be a "substantial majority" in favor.

"A good, strong treaty has been blocked," said Britain's chief delegate, Joanne Adamson. "Most people in the world want regulation and those are the voices that need to be heard."

"This is success deferred," she added.

The point of an arms trade treaty is to set standards for all cross-border transfers of conventional weapons.

It would also create binding requirements for states to review all cross-border arms contracts to ensure arms will not be used in human rights abuses, terrorism or violations of humanitarian law.

NRA: Treaty threatens gun rights
Arms control activists and human rights groups say a treaty is needed to halt the uncontrolled flow of arms and ammunition that they say fuels wars, atrocities and rights abuses.

"The world has been held hostage by three states," said Anna Macdonald, an arms control expert at humanitarian agency Oxfam. "We have known all along that the consensus process was deeply flawed and today we see it is actually dysfunctional."

"Countries such as Iran, Syria and DPRK (North Korea) should not be allowed to dictate to the rest of the world how the sale of weapons should be regulated," she added.?

The National Rifle Association opposes the treaty and has vowed to fight to prevent its ratification if it reaches Washington. The NRA says the treaty would undermine domestic gun-ownership rights.

The American Bar Association, an attorneys' lobby group, has said that the treaty would not impact the right to bear arms.

Jim Watson / AFP - Getty Images

Demonstrators from Amnesty International call for a global arms treaty in a protest outside the White House, March 22.

The main reason the arms trade talks took place at all is that the United States - the world's biggest arms exporter - reversed U.S. policy on the issue after President Barack Obama was first elected and decided in 2009 to support an arms treaty.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had told Iran's Press TV that Tehran supported the arms trade treaty. But Iranian U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee told the conference that he could not accept the treaty in its current form.

"It is a matter of deep regret that genuine efforts of many countries for a robust, balanced and non-discriminatory treaty were ignored.,? he said.

One of those flaws was its failure to ban sales of weapons to groups that commit "acts of aggression," ostensibly referring to rebel groups, he said. The current draft does not ban transfers to armed groups but says all arms transfers should be subjected to rigorous risk and human rights assessments first.

Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari echoed the Iranian concerns. "Unfortunately our national concerns were not taken into consideration," he said.

North Korea's delegate voiced similar complaints, suggesting it was a discriminatory treaty.

Russia and China made clear they would not have blocked it but voiced serious reservations about the text and its failure to get consensus.

A Russian delegate told the conference that Moscow would have to think hard about signing it if it were approved.

If adopted by the General Assembly, the pact will need to be signed and ratified by at least 50 states to enter into force.

Related:

'Not good enough': Rights groups blast draft of arms trade treaty

North Korea is no 'paper tiger', warns US official as regime puts rockets on standby

Israel to grill Obama over possible military strike on Iran

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653387/s/2a21b421/l/0Lworldnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A30C290C175153850Eiran0Esyria0En0Ekorea0Eblock0Efirst0Eglobal0Etreaty0Eto0Econtrol0E70A0Ebillion0Earms0Etrade0Dlite/story01.htm

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Arizona Child Injury: TV Tip-Over Can Cause Death | Personal Injury ...

By Breyer Law Offices on March 29, 2013 -

As Arizona child injury attorneys, we know that unstable furniture can topple over and hurt children. One of the most common types of injury is from television sets since nearly every family owns one. According to Safe Kids USA, one child dies every three weeks in the US from a TV tipping over, and nearly 13,000 more are injured. There is a huge increase in this kind of accident, and because of this, we would like to bring attention to the risk and give parents some tips on how to protect their kids from the same type of tragedy.

The Statistics

Here are some statistics about television tip-overs that parents should know:

• According to the report, young children under the age of 5 are at the greatest risk of injury from televisions tipping over.
• Head injuries and serious injuries requiring hospitalization are most common for the younger children.
• Every 45 minutes, a child is injured from a television tipping over.
• Most parents do not secure televisions to the wall.

Our Tips to Keep Your Child Safer

While there is no way to prevent all accidents, there are a few things you can do to make your child and your home a little safer. You can also ask friends and family to do the same things in their homes, especially if your children will be visiting them.

• Secure all furniture that can topple, including televisions, armoires, dressers, and mirrors to the wall.
• Crawl around on the floor at the height of your child and pull on all furniture and other items. If you can make them wiggle, your child can too. Secure them immediately.
• Do not place heavy, unsecured objects on top of furniture.
• Remove all cords, ropes or items that the child can pull on, causing something to fall down.

Contact an Arizona Personal Injury Attorney

The Husband and Wife Law Team at Breyer Law Offices has children of their own. We work hard to represent families who are grieving the loss or injury of a child because of a preventable accident. Contact us today to discuss the facts about your case.

Source: http://www.breyerlaw.com/blog/childrens-injuries/arizona-child-injury-tv-tip-over-death/

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Confederate flag at old NC Capitol coming down

A Confederate flag is seen on display at the Old Capitol, which houses the governor?s office and still hosts numerous government events, Thursday, March 28, 2013, in Raleigh, N.C. State Historic Sites Director Keith Hardison says the flag raised last week inside the House chamber is part of a historical display replicating how the antebellum building appeared in 1863. (AP Photo/Michael Biesecker)

A Confederate flag is seen on display at the Old Capitol, which houses the governor?s office and still hosts numerous government events, Thursday, March 28, 2013, in Raleigh, N.C. State Historic Sites Director Keith Hardison says the flag raised last week inside the House chamber is part of a historical display replicating how the antebellum building appeared in 1863. (AP Photo/Michael Biesecker)

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) ? A Confederate battle flag hung inside the old North Carolina State Capitol last week to mark the sesquicentennial of the Civil War is being taken down after civil rights leaders raised concerns.

The decision was announced Friday evening, hours after the Associated Press published a story about the flag, which officials said was part of an historical display intended to replicate how the antebellum building appeared in 1863. The flag had been planned to hang in the House chamber until April 2015, the 150th anniversary of the arrival of federal troops in Raleigh.

"This is a temporary exhibit in an historic site, but I've learned the governor's administration is going to use the old House chamber as working space," Cultural Resources Secretary Susan Kluttz said Friday night. "Given that information, this display will end this weekend rather than April of 2015."

Kim Genardo, the spokeswoman for Gov. Pat McCrory, said the exhibit that includes the Confederate battle flag will be relocated, possibly across the street to the N.C. Museum of History.

The decision was a quick about-face for the McCrory administration, which initially defended the display. Many people see the flag as a potent reminder of racial discrimination and bigotry.

State Historic Sites Director Keith Hardison had said Thursday the flag should be viewed in what he called the proper historical context.

"Our goal is not to create issues," said Hardison, a Civil War re-enactor and history buff. "Our goal is to help people understand issues of the past. ... If you refuse to put something that someone might object to or have a concern with in the exhibit, then you are basically censoring history."

North Carolina NAACP president Rev. William Barber was shocked Friday when he was shown a photo of the flag by the AP.

"He is right that it has a historical context," Barber said. "But what is that history? The history of racism. The history of lynchings. The history of death. The history of slavery. If you say that shouldn't be offensive, then either you don't know the history, or you are denying the history."

Sessions of the General Assembly moved to a newer building a half-century ago, but the old Capitol building is still routinely used as a venue for official state government events. McCrory's office is on the first floor, as are the offices of his chief of staff and communications staff.

The Republican governor was in the House chamber where the Confederate flag hangs as recently as Thursday, when he presided over the swearing-in ceremony of his new Highway Patrol commander.

The presentation of the Confederate battle flag at state government buildings has long been an issue of debate throughout the South. For more than a decade, the NAACP has urged its members to boycott South Carolina because of that state's display of the flag on the State House grounds.

Prior to taking his current job in North Carolina in 2006, Hardison worked as director at the Mississippi home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, which is operated as a museum and library owned by the Sons of Confederate Veterans. The group has led the fight in the South for the proud display of the Confederate flag, which it contends is a symbol of heritage, not hate.

Hardison said the battle flag was displayed with other flags described in the diary of a North Carolina woman who visited the Capitol in 1863. A large U.S. flag displayed in the Senate chamber is reminiscent of a trophy of war captured from Union troops at the Battle of Plymouth.

"I thought, wouldn't it be wonderful to recreate this?" Hardison said. "I think we were all thinking along the same vein. ... The Capitol is both a working seat of government, in that the governor and his staff has his office there. But it is also a museum."

Hardison pointed out that the national flag used by the Confederate government, with its circle of white stars and red and white stripes, is still flown over the State Capitol dome each year on Confederate Memorial Day. The more familiar blood-red battle flag, featuring a blue "X'' studded with white stars, was used by the rebel military.

David Goldfield, a history professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and author of the book "Still Fighting the Civil War," said the battle flag can hold starkly different meanings depending on a person's social perspective.

"The history of the Confederate battle flag, how it was designed and formulated, how it has been used through the years, clearly states that it is a flag of white supremacy," Goldfield said. "I know current Sons of Confederate Veterans would dispute that, saying 'Hey, I'm not a racist.' But the fact remains that the battle flag was used by a country that had as its foundation the protection and extension of human bondage."

The NAACP's Barber said the McCrory administration eventually made the right call, but questioned how the decision to hang the flag was made in the first place.

"A flag should represent a banner of unity, not division," Barber said. "A substantive symbol and sign of our best history, not our worse. We cannot deny history but neither can we attempt to revision it in a way that glorifies the shameful and attempts to make noble that which is ignoble."

___

Follow Michael Biesecker at twitter.com/mbieseck

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-03-29-Confederate%20Flag-NC%20Capitol/id-4fe11df6c30e4fb1b988eea1bfa0bbff

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95% West of Memphis

All Critics (105) | Top Critics (24) | Fresh (100) | Rotten (5)

A real-life horror story, made no less shocking by the familiarity of its early scenes.

While the "Paradise Lost" films captured events as they unfolded in the heat of battle, "West of Memphis" has the luxury of at least partial closure.

A true-crime story that begins with a notorious murder case and grows into a chilling indictment of the American justice system.

And justice for all? Hardly.

It tells the story of a terrible crime compounded by a grave injustice that's been remedied, but only in part, so it's impossible to have a single or simple response to the movie.

What sets this film apart from previous efforts to document the story is that Jackson and Walsh financed a private investigative team with legal and forensic experts who re-examined old evidence, conducted new interviews and found new witnesses.

We feel like we're watching an overlong true-crime television episode and not a movie.

I would have preferred Jackson's clinically-presented project display a bit more reverence for the three young lives that were brutally taken some twenty years ago.

Moving and gruesome, West of Memphis is an eloquent disquisition on the banality of evil.

"West of Memphis" re-examines evidence and retells the story in a methodical and procedural fashion in which even the false steps lead somewhere.

More a recap and appendix to the Paradise Lost trilogy... one can't help but feel that the celebrities involved needed this document of their efforts to appease their vanity.

The case is more intriguing than the film about it.

Isn't unnecessary, but it's often superfluous.

The film suggests these powerless, poorly educated young men were scapegoated because they would be missed by nobody of importance -- the justice system equivalent of the cannon fodder recruited from the same socioeconomic straits.

It's nice to have all the twists and turns of the iconic case contained tidily in one well-crafted film, although there are no real revelations here.

"West of Memphis" becomes a greatest-hits concert of prosecutorial misconduct, and you'll agree when the film asserts that prosecutors knew they had the wrong guys.

Incredibly, after three documentaries on the subject, there are still things to reveal about the West Memphis Three.

"West of Memphis" does nothing to displace its predecessor films as masterpieces of investigative filmmaking, but complements them as a riveting capstone to an epic and tragic tale.

West of Memphis is the real vindication - even if it is incomplete.

In the end it won't matter if this is the fourth movie about the same subject; you can never learn its lessons often enough.

West of Memphis caps off the Paradise Lost/West Memphis Three saga with a line up full of perpetrators including the media, the West Memphis PD, the legal establishment and suspect gift wrapped with a smoking gun.

Injustice in West Memphis, Arkansas

Berg lays out her case with the logic of a first-rate prosecutor and the theatricality of a born storyteller.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/west_of_memphis/

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French 'Survivor' contestant dies while on show

By Rhonda Richford, The Hollywood Reporter

Production on "Koh-Lanta," the French adaptation of "Survivor," has been stopped and the series canceled for the 2013 season following the death of a contestant during filming in Cambodia.

Channel TF1 and production company Adventure Line Productions jointly made the decision to cancel the season. "It is not really a question,? said TF1 spokesman Alexander Petit following the death of Gerald Babin, 25. ?Everyone is being flown back to France.?

No decision has been made about the long-term continuation of the series.

Gerald Babin?died Friday after suffering cardiac arrest during the first day of filming. After the group jumped from a boat and participated in a tug of war, Babin complained of cramps in his arms and was given medical attention at the scene by the staff doctor before being airlifted by helicopter to a nearby hospital. He suffered a series of cardiac arrests during the transfer before reaching the facility, the companies said.

?Adventure Line Productions, TF1 and [host]?Denis Broginart?are devastated and join in the profound sadness of Gerald?s family,? the channel said in a statement.? TF1 has flown Babin?s family to Cambodia to recover his body.?

VIDEO:?'Survivor: Caramoan': Fan Laura on Being Blindsided by Her Alliance

ALP said that all candidates had received extensive medical examinations and testing as part of the selection process.?

The French version of?Survivor?has been a consistent hit for channel TF1, with a high of 8 million viewers and a 40 percent share in the 2007 season and an average of 7.4 million viewers and a 29.9 percent share in the 2012 season. Ad rates for the finale were $117,000 (?90,000) for a 30-second spot. After?The Voice, the show is the biggest hit on TF1 and considered the flagship of the channel. Since its debut in 2001, TF1 has aired 12 series and two special ?all star? editions.

Related content:

Source: http://theclicker.today.com/_news/2013/03/29/17519239-french-survivor-contestant-dies-while-on-show?lite

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Artificial spleen to treat bloodstream infections: Sepsis therapeutic device under development

Mar. 30, 2013 ? The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University announced today that it was awarded a $9.25 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to further advance a blood-cleansing technology developed at the Institute with prior DARPA support, and help accelerate its translation to humans as a new type of sepsis therapy.

The device will be used to treat bloodstream infections that are the leading cause of death in critically ill patients and soldiers injured in combat.

To rapidly cleanse the blood of pathogens, the patient's blood is mixed with magnetic nanobeads coated with a genetically engineered version of a human blood 'opsonin' protein that binds to a wide variety of bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites, and toxins. It is then flowed through microchannels in the device where magnetic forces pull out the bead-bound pathogens without removing human blood cells, proteins, fluids, or electrolytes -- much like a human spleen does. The cleansed blood then flows back to the patient.

"In just a few years we have been able to develop a suite of new technologies, and to integrate them to create a powerful new device that could potentially transform the way we treat sepsis," said Wyss founding director and project leader, Don Ingber, M.D., Ph.D. "The continued support from DARPA enables us to advance our device manufacturing capabilities and to obtain validation in large animal models, which is precisely what is required to enable this technology to be moved towards testing in humans."

The team will work to develop manufacturing and integration strategies for its core pathogen-binding opsonin and Spleen-on-a-Chip fluidic separation technologies, as well as a novel coating technology called "SLIPS," which is a super-hydrophobic coating inspired from the slippery surface of a pitcher plant that repels nearly any material it contacts. By coating the inner surface of the channels of the device with SLIPS, blood cleansing can be carried out without the need for anticoagulants to prevent blood clotting.

In addition to Ingber, the multidisciplinary team behind this effort includes Wyss core faculty and Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Science faculty member Joanna Aizenberg, Ph.D., who developed the SLIPS technology; Wyss senior staff member Michael Super, Ph.D., who engineered the human opsonin protein; and Mark Puder, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Pediatric Surgery at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School who will be assisting with animal studies.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Wyss Institute.

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/O8CKu3xNkz0/130330130531.htm

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It's not just CVS: Wellness plans tied to health insurance

By Amy Langfield, NBC News contributor

That doughnut you ate for breakfast or cigarette you smoked after lunch may be costing you more than you thought.

As insurance costs rise, workers are finding their employers are trading in the carrot for a stick and hiking?premiums upward of $1,000 annually if they don?t quit smoking or undergo urine or blood tests to assess their health. About 83 percent of U.S. companies offer incentives to employees who take part in wellness programs, and about 45 percent of those are tying the cost to the employee?s insurance premium or health savings plan, according to a new Aon Hewitt survey.

CVS Caremark drug store recently raised hackles when it told employees that its company health insurance would add a $50 monthly surcharge for workers who did not participate in its wellness program, which requires a confidential weigh-in and blood test. Many other companies are doing the same thing, but it?s almost always framed as an incentive rather than a penalty.

CVS is not alone with the surcharges.

At the not-for-profit MaineHealth group, smokers on the company insurance plan now face an annual $1,200 ?tobacco fee? if a urine test shows recent tobacco use.

Until 2011, MaineHealth had used only incentives to encourage wellness among its employees.?The combination of carrot and stick seems to work better,? said Laurie Jones Mitchell, the director of Health & Productivity for MaineHealth. ?Some people call it a ?frozen carrot.??

The tobacco fee is only one element of MaineHealth?s WebMD wellness program, which also offers cash incentives for employees who reach certain health standards. About 7 percent of MaineHealth?s 10,000 employees are currently paying the tobacco fee, Mitchell said. There has also been a big uptick in the numbers of people using the company?s free tobacco cessation programs and free tobacco medications, she said.

The size and type of the incentives (or consequences) of company wellness plans vary widely. Some only offer a $25 cash bonus for taking part, whereas others will increase your health care premiums more than $1,000 if you don't join a wellness program that requires an annual weigh-in and tests to determine blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol and nicotine levels. Those results are required to remain private with the employee's doctor or the wellness plan, but can impact how much your insurance costs.

Current law allows employers to tie the amount of the incentive up to 20 percent of the individual?s health care premium. In 2014, that percentage is expected to rise to 30 percent, and then up to 50 percent for smokers.

?Incentives are not necessarily a new thing,? said Stephanie Pronk, the Health Transformation leader for Health & Benefits at Aon Hewitt. But they are "absolutely" increasing, she said, based on Aon's survey of nearly 800 large and mid-size U.S. employers.

Aon has been studying these types of programs for about six years and found they were on the rise before the recent health care reform changes were approved. ?We were seeing an overall uptick long before that came into play,? Pronk said.

And while the numbers are increasing, many employers are remaining on the sidelines, said Howard Bye-Torre, an attorney at Stoel Rives LLP in Seattle, who advises companies dealing with wellness plans.

?Some employers don?t really want to get into the issue of their employees? health. They view it as very personal,? Bye-Torre said. Others, he said, are wary of the complicated federal regulations.

Among the complications is a possible conflict between the American Disabilities Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. While HIPAA specifically allows companies to offer financial incentives to employees who take part in wellness programs, the ADA states that any questions about an employee's health must be voluntary (and not coerced with an incentive of anything more valuable than a T-shirt or hat.)

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which administers the ADA, has declined to clarify its stance on the apparent conflict, leaving some companies to wonder if there is a legal risk, Bye-Torre said. ?Please give us guidance on these,? Bye-Torre said he and other attorneys have asked of the EEOC.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653351/s/2a1b34a1/l/0Llifeinc0Btoday0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A30C280C1750A180A10Eits0Enot0Ejust0Ecvs0Ewellness0Eplans0Etied0Eto0Ehealth0Einsurance0Dlite/story01.htm

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Odd Facts About 5 Top Car Insurance Companies | Bankrate.com

Wacky facts about the car insurance Big 5

What's the secret connection between Geico and Flo, the Progressive cashier? Which car insurance company was once owned by a tobacco company? And could that quirky University of Farmers test lab from the Farmers Insurance commercials really exist?

Climb aboard as we cruise for little-known facts and curiosities about America's top five auto insurers. Each got its start shortly before or during the Great Depression, at a time when America's highways were a far different place.

"From today's perspective, there was carnage on the road; the accident rate was a hundred times higher than it is now per driver," says Kenneth Abraham, a University of Virginia insurance law professor. "Auto insurance wasn't mandatory back then, so there wasn't massive demand, even among the people who owned vehicles."

America's top five car insurers gained their footholds by selling affordable policies to low-risk groups, particularly farmers who were being charged city rates for country driving.

"If liability insurers weren't differentiating what they charged, then farmers were basically getting screwed. So these mutual companies formed to give farmers a better deal," Abraham says.

Dead ahead: car insurance trivia you never knew about cavemen, "Mayhem" -- and Manilow!

Source: http://www.bankrate.com/finance/insurance/facts-car-insurance-companies.aspx

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SEO from a Newb&#39;s Perspective - YouMoz | SEOmoz

Author?s note: I?m new to the SEOmoz community and super excited to be contributing ? but frankly, I?m a little intimidated by all the expertise on this blog. Gulp. Read and critique with love and understanding for my beginner status, please. Here we go!

For all of you search engine optimization gurus out there, I hope my perspective is a fresh one for you. Sometimes it?s fun to temporarily place yourself back in the mindset of an ignorant beginner. You probably can?t remember the day before you understood SEO backwards and forwards, can you?

Well, I?m still there. (Yes, thank you for the supportive smiles and knowing looks.) I still don?t understand it all ? BUT I?m on my way, and I?m making progress.

Stereotypes about SEO

In college, my understanding of ?search engine optimization? was that it was for ?techie? people, a hybrid hobby of computer science and math. Where I gained this impression, I don?t remember, but I truly thought SEO could only be done by the guys who knew JavaScript and wrote code. That person wasn?t me. As an English creative writing major, I spent my time writing sonnets, short stories, and articles for the school newspaper.

I loved the blogosphere, but beyond blogging and typical Internet usage, I never considered learning more about the inner workings of the web. To me, SEO seemed like a highly complex field easily comprehended only if you?d successfully hacked into something in your lifetime ? which, as you can probably guess, I hadn?t.?

When I graduated in 2012, I realized:

1. The journalism market was shutting like a Venus flytrap,
2. I would suffer daily psychotic breakdowns if I had to teach English to adolescents, and
3. I didn?t want to dish out money for grad school.

So I started applying for every kind of job that involved words ? techie or otherwise.

I still thought careers in SEO were for people who solve Rubik?s cubes for fun, take computers apart and put them back together, and keep their scientific calculators in their back pockets ? people who live in a programmed, digital world of computer gibberish, glowing screens, and Internet forums.?

Then, as luck would have it, I got hired to do SEO.

At first, I was bewildered. Why would anybody want me to do SEO?

However, my boss told me that my present skill set as a writer would actually be a good fit for the role. Besides, he made SEO sound really exciting. As I started to research and gain a more accurate impression of SEO, I was pleasantly surprised to learn I could actually like this.?

Yes, I was unaware of how fascinating the field of SEO is today. This new era of content creation and ethical linking has my head spinning. Now that I?m doing SEO, I?m so excited about all the possibilities SEO has to offer anyone who goes about it!

Conversion from skeptic to supporter

The first thing I did after I interviewed for my online marketing job at Happy Dog Web Productions was to download the SEOMoz Pro?s ?Free Beginner?s Guide to SEO? (THANK YOU, GUYS). I took copious notes. I looked things up. I read it slow. Then I went hunting around the Internet for more information about this strange new acronym.

As a frequent ?Googler? myself, it was not news to me that people flock to the Internet like children to the candy aisle. The idea that Google is a diamond mine for marketing departments is completely logical. I already understood that traditional advertising and marketing efforts are no longer ?how we do things? after reading books like Paul Arden?s It?s Not How Good You Are, It?s How Good You Want To Be, and Seth Godin?s Purple Cow, among others. The way we reach audiences has changed. Everybody is on the Internet, looking for answers, information, reviews, e-commerce, you name it. With the short patience of the average search engine user, companies have to be easy to find and rank for the right search queries ? otherwise, well, tough luck!

I began to understand the necessity of SEO in giving companies online credibility. Visibility and respect is a hard thing to achieve when the Internet is overstuffed with information, and even if you have an amazing, relevant website, Google or Bing or Yahoo! may not see it that way, making it impossible for people to find you. But optimizing your online presence for the search engines and the user alike, both off-site and on-site, will eventually, over time, convince the search engines to reward your quality website with a higher ranking.

(Whew! See how much I?ve learned?!)

The part of SEO I?m still coming to terms with is how Google figures out rankings ? with its rules and algorithms and valuing certain practices over others. Thankfully, I?m not the only one trying to understand ?even the most seasoned professionals are constantly hopping trying to keep up with rapid-fire change in the way search engines compile rankings.

News alert: You, too, can join the fun

Overall, I understand now that good, ethical SEO concepts are not too complicated to grasp - and good, ethical SEO concepts are vital in helping companies get noticed, marketing their brand, and encouraging conversions. If your website content is online but nobody can find it, why even have it?

You don?t have to be a brilliant computer hacker to grasp SEO and how to go about it ? one of my most valuable takeaways to date. Yes, you have to be able to follow Google?s algorithmic updates and understand statistics, and having a solid research and analysis process is crucial, but there's more to SEO than the numbers.?

SEO professionals should be fairly

• Techie,
• Internet savvy, and
• Marketing-minded.

But the surprising job qualifications for the SEO person?

• Have outstanding social skills. All this guest blogging and link earning requires respect, a polite demeanor, and the ability to connect with people.
• Be strategic. Strategy goes a long way with SEO ? like setting attainable goals for keyword optimization, creating pages for SEO purposes, and brainstorming what users will want to read and find.
• Think creatively. SEO is about attracting people with great content. I never realized before how user-geared current SEO practices are, which means the SEO expert juggles marketing, public relations, and advertising hats, too!
• Write well. You don?t have to be at a Pulitzer level, but you do have to express ideas logically and write effectively for your intended audience.

When I learned that today?s great SEO has a lot to do with creating awesome content for the user, I immediately realized that this field was a good fit for me because I like words, and I?m a writer. Yay! I know I have a ways to go with the analytics and research, but I really enjoy my current role on the SEO team.

It?ll be a slow trek to reach the level of some of you Mozzers! But I?m excited about SEO and hope you enjoyed hearing from my perspective as a newb.

Source: http://www.seomoz.org/ugc/seo-from-a-newbs-perspective

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Guitar maker Gibson buys majority stake in TEAC, develops taste for electronica

That gruff American rocker, Gibson Guitar Corp., has gotten tired of its old life. Instead of just suing copycats and putting out the occasional robot axe, it's now looking to diversify, having spent $52 million on a 54 percent stake in Japanese firm TEAC. The last we heard from TEAC, it was making things like headphones and retro-styled radios, which maybe gives us a hint as to where this new partnership is headed. After all, it's not like the path between music brand and consumer electronics hasn't been trodden to a pulp already.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio/Video, HD

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Source: AV Watch (Japanese)

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/5IyNv7ea3Es/

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