Cloud emailing service?Mailjet, which competes with more established outfits like??SendGrid,?Postmark,?MailChimp?and?Mailgun, has raised $3.3 million from Alven Capital and private investors, the company is announcing today. Previously, Mailjet had just $300,000 from e-Founders on hand to finance its operations.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/nO9ehMWfQKI/
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PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) ? Banged-up Teddy Bridgewater came off the bench to throw two-second half touchdown passes, and John Wallace kicked a 29-yard field goal with 1:41 left to send Louisville to the BCS with a 20-17 victory against Rutgers on Thursday night.
In a game between one team headed to the Big Ten and another bound for the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Big East handed out its second-to-last bid to a school that entered the league during its last massive rebuild in 2005 and watched its athletic program blossom.
The Cardinals will be going to the BCS for the second time, first since 2006. Either the Orange or Sugar Bowl will be the destination.
Louisville (10-2, 5-2) will share this Big East title with Rutgers (9-3, 5-2), Syracuse and possibly even Cincinnati, but the BCS bid will go to the Cardinals. The BCS standings will be used to break the tie and there is no doubt Louisville, with the best overall record in the conference, will be on top.
Bridgewater didn't start a week after getting roughed up in a loss to Connecticut. He broke his left wrist and sprained his right ankle. He entered for the first time in the second quarter and finished with 263 yards passing and threw a pair of TD passes in the third quarter to wipe out a 14-3 deficit.
James Burgess picked off a pass that bounced off Timmy Wright's hands with 3:53 left in Rutgers territory, and Bridgewater hit Andrell Smith on a slant for 30 yards to put Louisville in field goal range. Wallace booted through the short kick to give Louisville the lead.
Rutgers' last chance ended when Gary Nova threw deep, but his receiver stopped short, and Terrell Floyd made an over the shoulder interception with 1:06 left. Nova bent over and grabbed his helmet in disgust.
The Scarlet Knights, the only team that has played in the Big East since it started playing football in 1991, probably will have only one more shot to win the conference for the first time before moving to the Big Ten.
Louisville can add one of the biggest wins in school history to an already memorable week for the school, which was in Conference USA just 10 years ago. The Cardinals clinched a spot in the Bowl Championship Series a day after announcing they were joining the ACC.
Rutgers was up 14-3 at half after Nova hooked up with his big receivers for two long TD passes ? an 85-yarder to Brandon Coleman and a 68-yard play by Mark Harrison.
The Scarlet Knights were poised for another big play in the third quarter when a fake field goal turned into a touchdown pass from holder J.T. Tartacoff to DC Jefferson. It would have made the score 21-3, but an illegal man down field penalty wiped out the play and Rutgers punted from the Louisville 31.
Everything changed from there.
Bridgewater and the Cardinals put together a 90-yard drive that took 14 plays and nearly eight minutes and cut the lead to 14-10 when the quarterback flipped a pass to Jeremy Wright, who scooted 14 yards for a touchdown.
The Cardinals needed only 16 more seconds to take the lead.
Burgess stuck kick returner Jeremy Dearing in the chest, forcing a fumble recovered by Calvin Pryor. Bridgewater went right to work, floating a perfect deep ball to DeVante Parker for a 20-yard touchdown pass.
Just like that, it was 17-14 and Scarlet Knights fans fell silent.
Bridgewater had the Cardinals on the move again in the fourth quarter when a high pass bounced off the hands of Eli Rogers and into the arms of Rutgers' Lorenzo Waters, who returned the interception to the Louisville 42.
The Scarlet Knights turned the turnover into Nick Borgese's tying 38-yard field goal with 7:48 left.
Fans waved white towels, and AC/DC blared from the loud speakers. But that was the last big play Rutgers could muster.
Louisville ended up tossing oranges in the air when it was over and exchanging high-fives with a small group of its fans in a corner of the stadium.
The Cardinals might end up in New Orleans instead of Miami, depending on how the rest of championship weekend plays out. Surely, they will be fine with either.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bridgewater-leads-louisville-bcs-040135347--spt.html
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ScienceDaily (Nov. 28, 2012) ? Arrchaeologists from the University of Rhode Island, the Israel Antiquities Authority, and the University of Louisville have discovered the remains of a fleet of early-19th century ships and ancient harbor structures from the Hellenistic period (third to first century B.C.) at the city of Akko, one of the major ancient ports of the eastern Mediterranean. The findings shed light on a period of history that is little known and point to how and where additional remains may be found.
The discoveries were presented on November 15 and 17 in Chicago at the annual meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research by URI assistant professors Bridget Buxton and William Krieger on behalf of the Israel Coast Exploration project.
According to Buxton, three of the four well-preserved shipwrecks found off the coast south of Akko were first detected using a sub-bottom profiler in 2011. Later, storms stripped off several meters of inshore sediments and temporarily revealed the wrecks, as well as an additional large vessel. The wrecks are now reburied.
During the brief time the shipwrecks were exposed, the Israel Antiquities Authority investigated one of them: a 32 meter vessel which still preserved its brass gudgeon (rudder socket) and many small artifacts, such as plates, a candlestick, and even a cooking pot with bones in it. Laboratory analyses completed this summer by the IAA revealed that the ship's wood came from Turkey. The team believes these ships may have belonged to the Egyptian navy under Admiral Osman Nurredin Bey, whose ships were severely damaged in his attempt to capture Akko in the Egyptian-Ottoman War of 1831. The town eventually fell to Egyptian land forces under Ibrahim Pasha in 1832.
"These ships have occasionally been exposed and buried again by storms since we found them," Buxton said. "We're in a race against time to find other ships in the area and learn from them before storms totally dislodge or destroy them."
Although shipwrecks from the 1800s are not the highest priorities in a region where civilization goes back thousands of years, Buxton is excited by the discovery for what it tells her about where much older ships may be found.
"Like many underwater archaeologists I'm very interested in finding a well-preserved example of an ancient multi-decked warship from the Hellenistic age," said Buxton. "These ships were incredible pieces of technology, but we don't know much about their design because no hulls have been found. However, a combination of unusual environmental and historical factors leads us to believe we have a chance of finding the remains of one of these ships off the northern coast of Israel."
Buxton believes that the ships they are looking for are likely buried in the coastal sediment, which has built up over the centuries through natural processes. However, time is not on their side. "That protective silt is now being stripped away," she said. "And it's being stripped away a lot faster than it was originally dumped, by a combination of development, environmental changes, and the effects of the Aswan Dam." The Nile River has historically deposited large quantities of silt in the area, but the dam has significantly reduced the flow of silt.
The archaeologists found the ships and another early modern vessel within Akko's modern harbor while testing their equipment in preparation for an ongoing survey out in deeper water. The sub-bottom profiler detects anomalies below the sea floor. "It's the gift that keeps on giving," Buxton said. "We found so many targets to explore that we didn't have time to check all of them, but even just having information about where things are helps Koby (Jacob Sharvit, director of the IAA Maritime Antiquities Unit) know where to look after any big storms."
One line of buried targets detected off the southern seawall of old Akko is particularly suggestive. Continuing excavations in this area over the summer revealed an alignment between these targets and a newly-discovered slipway and shipshed structure, which continued out under the sea floor 25 meters from the Ottoman city wall. The feature resembles other naval shipsheds found in places such as Athens where they were used to haul up ancient warships. The excavation project was initially undertaken to strengthen the eroding sea wall, but it also revealed Hellenistic masonry, pottery vessels, an ancient mooring stone, and a stone quay 1.3 meters below the modern sea level. The possibility that much more of the Hellenistic port lies well-preserved under the sea floor is exciting for the archaeologists, because it means that shipwrecks from earlier centuries that have so far not been found at Akko may simply be buried deeper down in the sediment.
"We've got fragmentary historic records for this area in the Hellenistic period, and now we've found a very important feature from the ancient harbor. Ancient shipwrecks are another piece of the puzzle that will help us to rewrite the story of this region at a critical time in Mediterranean history," she said.
Located on the northern coast of Israel, the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Akko is one of the few cities in the Mediterranean with more than 5,000 years of maritime history. Also known as Acre, Ake and Ptolemais, its port was an important waypoint for the Phoenicians, Romans, Crusaders, Ottomans and other ancient maritime empires. In the Hellenistic period, it was bitterly fought over by the rival empires of Egypt and Syria.
"Understanding the history and archaeology of Akko's port is crucial to understanding the broader issues of maritime connectivity and the great power struggles that defined the history of the Eastern Mediterranean during the Hellenistic Age," Buxton said.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/8q_Wb5wi43U/121128162207.htm
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Fitness and Nutrition Nutrition Information Fats and Oils Information
Information provided by Linus Pauling Institute - Published: 2012-11-29
Literally hundreds of clinical trials, including some that have gained widespread attention, have been done on the possible benefits of omega-3 fatty acids for the prevention of heart disease - producing conflicting results, varied claims, and frustrated consumers unsure what to believe.
A recent analysis done by scientists in the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University, published in the Journal of Lipid Research, has sorted through many of these competing findings, and it helps to explain why so many of the studies seem to arrive at differing conclusions.
The review concludes that both fish consumption and dietary omega-3 fatty acid supplements may still help prevent heart disease; that some fatty acids, from certain sources, are more effective than others; that these compounds may have enormous value for serious health problems other than heart disease; and that the very effectiveness of modern drug therapies for heart disease may be one explanation for the conflicting findings on the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids.
?After decades of studying omega-3 fatty acids, it?s clear that they have value in primary prevention of heart disease,? said Donald Jump, author of the analysis, a principal investigator in the Linus Pauling Institute, and professor in the OSU College of Public Health and Human Sciences.
?It?s less clear how much impact fish oils have in preventing further cardiovascular events in people who already have heart disease,? Jump said. ?The studies done several decades ago showed value even for that patient population, but the more recent studies are less conclusive. We believe that one explanation is the effectiveness of current state-of-the-art treatments now being offered.?
Some of the earliest work that raised interest in omega-3 fatty acids was done in the 1970s with Greenland Inuits, who ate large amounts of fish and were found to have unusually low levels of cardiovascular disease. But, Jump said, millions of people now at risk for cardiovascular disease take medications such as statin drugs for high cholesterol; fibrates for high triglycerides; anti-thrombotics to thin their blood; and other drugs with anti-inflammatory or anti-arrhythmia effects.
Fish oils can have positive effects on virtually all of these same cardiovascular risk factors, Jump said, but so can the drugs.
?Some of the early studies done on fish oil were prior to so many effective medications being widely available and heavily used,? Jump said. ?And people often forget that nutrients, like fish oils, are less potent than prescription drugs, and often have their best value when used for extended periods.
?When so many people in these studies are taking a regimen of medications to address the same issues that fish oil might also affect, it?s easy to understand why any added benefit from the fish oils is more difficult to detect,? he said.
The point, Jump said, is not that omega-3 fatty acids have no value - they do. But for studies of their value in cardiovascular disease, which are often done when patients are taking other medications, that value is less clear.
A wide body of other research, he says, makes it clear that omega-3 fatty acids also have health benefits that go beyond cardiovascular disease. They have been shown to improve visual acuity; improve cognitive function and reduce dementia; reduce inflammation and perhaps some types of cancer, such as colon cancer; and reduce total mortality.
Among the findings of this review:
?We still believe the evidence is strong that the EPA and DHA content in heart tissues and blood is important to health and to the prevention of cardiovascular disease,? Jump said. ?To meet the current recommendations for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease, individuals are advised to consume 200-300 milligrams of combined EPA and DHA per day.?
This research was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Institutes of Health.
About the Linus Pauling Institute: The Linus Pauling Institute at OSU is a world leader in the study of micronutrients and their role in promoting optimum health or preventing and treating disease. Major areas of research include heart disease, cancer, aging and neurodegenerative disease.
This web page is from the Disabled World Fats and Oils Information section which provides: Information on good and bad fats and oils including trans fats saturated and unsaturated fats.
- Why We Need Essential Fatty Acids - Your body needs essential fatty acids for optimal health and wellbeing.
- Omega 3 6 and 9 Fatty Acids - Omegas 3, 6 & 9 are the three important groups of Essential Fatty Acids (EFA's). They are important because if eaten regularly together with fruit and fresh green vegetables, they can benefit both our health and our skin.
- Omega 3 Fatty Acids and Fish Oil - Found primarily in fish oil omega 3 fatty acids are an important part of a healthy diet plan. The body uses omega 3 fatty acids to create eicosanoids which control cell division and growth throughout the body. The fish oil omega 3 fatty acids are the most easily used by the body. The body does not produce them on its own.
- Omega-3 Fatty Acids May Benefit Cancer Patients Undergoing Major Operations - Studies found nutritional supplements containing a form of omega 3 fat significantly reduced weight loss among inoperable cancer patients.
Source: http://www.disabled-world.com/fitness/nutrition/fats-oils/matter.php
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It made sense that Porsche had a 904 on hand for the introduction of what could be Porsche's most rewarding-to-drive modern coupe, the Cayman. The 904 is easily one of the prettiest Porsches ever produced and it used innovative plastic and steel construction. Porsche says only 116 were built so if you ever see one, it's a rare (and expensive) treat.
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Rand Worldwide?(OTCBB: RWWI), a global leader in providing technology solutions to organizations with engineering design and information technology requirements, announces that?IMAGINiT Technologies?has experts leading 13 Autodesk classes and is also showcasing new software and service offerings at Autodesk University (AU) 2012 (booth #836).?New software products and updates?extend the value of the Autodesk toolset and?include?IMAGINiT Utilities for Revit,?IMAGINiT Clarity, and?Scan to BIM.?IMAGINiT?s new service offerings include the Revit Health Check, Civil 3D Health Check and the newly acquired?Computational Fluid Dynamics analysis?consulting team.?The?conference takes place November 27 ? 29, 2012 at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.
?IMAGINiT?s theme of ?Your Problem. Solved.? reflects our continued focus on providing organizations with the necessary analysis and consulting to help them best achieve their design engineering goals,? says Bob Heeg, executive vice president, IMAGINiT worldwide operations, IMAGINiT Technologies. ?For 20 years, our global team of technical experts has been elevating the value derived from our customers? software investments. We maximize their ROI by training their people, optimizing their processes and extending the technology they?ve adopted. There?s no silver bullet that solves a company?s challenges, but integrating their people, processes and technology provides a winning solution every time.?
Interactive Demo Stations
IMAGINiT experts will showcase their latest products and utilities that extend the capabilities of Autodesk software to help building, civil and manufacturing organizations achieve their design engineering objectives. With experts who are focused on providing services such as implementation, data management, process automation, custom software development and consulting, IMAGINiT can provide insight on how to solve your complex CAD problems.
Attendees can view demonstrations of new products and updates to the popular?IMAGINiT Clarity,?Scan to BIM,IMAGINiT Utilities for Revit, and?IMAGINiT Utilities for Vault?productivity enhancing tools. The newly launched IMAGINiT Clarity Workshare enables BIM teams that are not using Autodesk Revit Server to improve their traditional file-based work sharing approach and fully automate Autodesk Revit software related tasks. The new Scan to BIM 2013 product advances the ability to visualize, interact and manage point clouds natively in Autodesk Revit.?A short?Scan to BIM video?highlights the product?s unique features.?Now totaling 17, IMAGINiT has just released three new IMAGINiT Utilities for Revit which include the latest tools Revit Excel Link, Parameter Concatenator and Dim Text Update.
At the iPad bar, booth visitors can navigate the ProductivityNOW portal, the industry?s leading support destination. IMAGINiT?s training and support experts invite visitors to submit their toughest CAD challenges in person or via Twitter using the hashtag #MyCADproblem. People submitting questions via Twitter during the month of November using the hashtag, will be entered into a drawing where one lucky recipient will receive a full conference pass to next year?s Autodesk University.
Valuable Service Offerings
IMAGINiT experts will highlight their deep consulting experience in the building, civil and manufacturing industries. In addition to the long established service offerings including data management and process automation, three new consulting services are being introduced.
The newest consulting service to be added to IMAGINiT offering is the?Computational Fluid Dynamics analysis?service. This highly specialized group of experts provides Computational Fluid Dynamics analysis and thermal simulation services that uncover design insight to help businesses make better design decisions faster, grow revenues and increase profits. Two other new services include IMAGINiT?s Civil 3D HealthCheck and IMAGINiT?s Revit HealthCheck, both specifically designed to help organizations ensure that they are taking full advantage of the efficiencies from their Autodesk software investment.
About IMAGINiT Technologies
IMAGINiT Technologies, a division of?Rand Worldwide, advances the way architects and engineers design, develop, and manage projects. Customers of this leading professional services and technology company include organizations in the building, infrastructure, manufacturing and facilities management industries.?Fortune 500?and?Engineering News Record?s?Top 100 organizations work with IMAGINiT Technologies to gain competitive advantages through expert technology consulting, implementation, training, and support services. As one of the world?s largest integrators of Autodesk 3D design and engineering software, the team leverages unrivalled industry experience to design systems that accelerate?innovation while improving project quality and profitability.
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ScienceDaily (Nov. 28, 2012) ? U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists working as part of an international team have completed a "shotgun sequencing" of the wheat genome, a paper published in the journal Nature reported today. The achievement is expected to increase wheat yields, help feed the world and speed up development of wheat varieties with enhanced nutritional value.
"By unlocking the genetic secrets of wheat, this study and others like it give us the molecular tools necessary to improve wheat traits and allow our farmers to produce yields sufficient to feed growing populations in the United States and overseas," said Catherine Woteki, USDA's Chief Scientist and Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics. "Genetics provides us with important methods that not only increase yields, but also address the ever-changing threats agriculture faces from natural pests, crop diseases and changing climates."
Olin Anderson and Yong Gu, scientists with USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) based at the agency's Western Regional Research Center in Albany, Calif., played instrumental roles in the sequencing effort, along with Naxin Huo, a post-doctoral researcher working in Gu's laboratory. All three are co-authors of the Nature paper.
ARS is USDA's principal intramural scientific research agency, and the work supports the USDA goal of ensuring global food security.
As the world's largest agricultural research institute, USDA is focused on reducing global hunger by increasing global cooperation and collaboration on research strategies and their implementation. For example, through the U.S. government's Feed the Future initative, USDA and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) are coordinating their research portfolio with ongoing work of other donors, multilateral institutions, and government and non-government entities at the country level to effectively improve agricultural productivity, reduce food insecurity and generate economic opportunity.
Grown on more land area than any other commercial crop, wheat is the world's most important staple food, and its improvement has vast implications for global food security. The work to complete the shotgun sequencing of the wheat genome will help to improve programs on breeding and adaptation in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa for wheat crops that could be drought tolerant and resistant to weeds, pests and diseases.
ARS is one of nine institutions with researchers who contributed to the study. The lead authors are based in the United Kingdom and were funded by the British-based Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. Funding also was provided by USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). NIFA focuses on investing in research, education and extension programs to help solve critical issues impacting people's daily lives.
The study represents the most detailed examination to date of the DNA that makes up the wheat genome, a crop domesticated thousands of years ago. The wheat genome is five times the size of the human genome, giving it a complexity that makes it difficult to study. The researchers used the whole genome shotgun sequencing approach, which essentially breaks up the genome into smaller, more workable segments for analysis and then pieces them together.
Another international team of scientists is working on a long-term project expected to result in more detailed sequencing results of the wheat genome in the years ahead. But the results published today shed light on wheat's DNA in a way that will help breeders develop hardier varieties by linking genes to key traits, such as disease resistance and drought tolerance.
Wheat evolved from three ancient grasses, and the ARS team, working closely with partners at University of California, Davis, mapped the genome of one of those three parents, Aegilops tauschii. That mapping, funded in part by the National Science Foundation, was instrumental in the study. It allowed researchers to identify the origins of many of the genes found in modern-day wheat, a key step in linking genes to traits and developing markers for use in breeding new varieties.
Wheat growers face numerous challenges each year. Acidity in the soil can make wheat difficult to grow in some areas. Stem rust, a fungal disease, can wipe out entire crops, and a particularly aggressive form of stem rust has developed the ability to knock out genetic resistance in many popular wheat varieties and is causing major losses overseas.
USDA scientists have conducted similar genomic studies that have helped to increase the productivity of dairy operations, enhance cattle breeding and improve varieties of a number of other crops, including tomatoes, corn and soybeans. In 2010, Anderson and Gu, along with other ARS staff, were part of a team that published a paper in Nature detailing the sequencing of Brachypodium distachyon, a model plant used to study wheat, barley and biofuel crops.
Recent international research collaborations have been critical to meet challenges such as combating wheat rust and increasing wheat productivity, fighting aflatoxin contamination in corn, and sequencing genomes of important crops.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by USDA/Agricultural Research Service. The original article was written by Dennis O'Brien.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/Jkz0xs6cReQ/121128143545.htm
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Internet business owners often wonder what they can do to improve their sales and get more profitability out of their business. If you would like to know this as well, consider using the tactic of email promoting. Read on to find out more about what this can do for your business.
See what the competitors do with email promoting to get ideas. You can do this easily by signing up for their e-mail lists. Seeing first-hand their email messages will allow you to make your email communication much better than theirs. Try to see what is missing in their campaigns and develop it in your own. If they offer promotions, make your promotions more attractive.
You should try and make your email messages as personal as possible. By making the email seem personalized, and less like a form letter, the recipient is less likely to ignore it. It is very easy to add their first name to the message, but take additional steps. Figure out why and when they subscribed to your emails. This kind of information can be folded into your email.
TIP! Getting accused of spamming can kill a web-based business quickly, so double-check that a visitor wishes to opt in to your mailing list by creating a confirmation procedure. Providing an opt-in option on your website will make subscribers confirm their interest in receiving emails from you.
Only send messages to those you know and those who have signed up. When you do a mass mailing to random recipients, they are often received in a spam filter. People will not recognize your brand and will not trust you at all. It?s likely that they?ll just delete your email, which simply wasted your precious time.
Ensure you have the permission from the customer if you are going to send them any emails. If you start spamming people with emails, you are going to cause customers as well as prospective customers to disregard your business altogether. Some say that they might end up not desiring to work with your company any longer.
Emails that contain only boring marketing and sales copy are mush less likely to be read than those that also include useful information. Make sure that your subscribers receive special articles that are only available via email. Also give your valued subscribers some exclusive offers only available for people on your mailing list. Always send out holiday greeting and specials. You shouldn?t simply send out emails just when you are wanting something from your customer base.
TIP! It is imperative that you never add anyone to your email list who doesn?t want to be there. People may just consider you as a spammer if you do not do this, and that will make them ignore and delete your emails.
Increasing sales on a small budget might sound daunting, but it can be done with the right email marketing campaign. Don?t fault yourself for not doing this already, but take the initiative now and get to work! Use the tips offered here and you can see your business grow.
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Astronomers have seen that the temperature of Saturn's moon Tethys has hotter regions uncannily like the 1980s arcade game character Pac-Man.
A similar feature was spotted in 2010 on Mimas, another Saturnian moon.
A report in Icarus suggests the effect is due to high-energy electrons bombarding the sides of the moons that face their direction of orbital travel.
That compacts the surfaces to a hard, icy texture that does not heat or cool as rapidly as the unaffected surface.
Thermal images of both moons were obtained by the Cassini-Huygens mission, launched in 1997 to study the Saturn system in detail.
The temperatures seen by the spacecraft are distinctly chilly - the warmest parts of Tethys were at - 183C, but inside the "mouth" of the Pac-Man shape it was 15C cooler still.
At the time of the finding of the first Pac-Man shape on Mimas, scientists were unsure what might be the cause, theorising that differing surface textures probably played a role.
The existence of another such shape nearby has cemented the idea that fast-moving electrons are responsible.
"Finding a second Pac-Man in the Saturn system tells us that the processes creating these 'Pac-Men' are more widespread than previously thought," said Carly Howett, of the Southwest Research Institute in Texas and lead author of the study.
"The Saturn system - and even the Jupiter system - could turn out to be a veritable arcade of these characters," she said.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20510109#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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Scarlett Johansson is a woman of many talents. During a visit to the Today show to promote her new film Hitchcock, the actress filled in as a last-minute weather girl -- much to the relief of weatherman Al Roker, who was battling laryngitis. Watch the video below!
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Reader vignesh_pv took Android's Ice Cream Sandwich color theme and built a home screen around it with text-based widgets, icons, and some cool system buttons.
This is another example of a simple, but good-looking screen. All you need to put it together is:
Do you have an awesome, tweaked-into-oblivion home or lock screen of your own that you'd like to share? Go ahead and post it on the #homescreenshowcase forum with a description of how you made it and it may be the next featured home screen.
The Skyline Silhouette Home Screen | #homescreenshowcase
Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/6eAU26LVdEI/the-skyline-silhouette-home-screen
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LONDON (Reuters) - France's EDF and partner Centrica have received the first UK site licence for a new nuclear plant in 25 years, paving the way for Britain's first new nuclear station since 1995.
EDF was granted the licence on Monday for Hinkley Point in Somerset, where it intends to build two of the four nuclear power reactors it plans to construct in Britain.
The Office of Nuclear Regulation's (ONR) site licence clears a major regulatory hurdle for EDF and Centrica's NNB GenCo joint venture, which also requires approval for the reactor it plans to use, permits from the Environment Agency and planning consent from the government before it can start building.
EDF and engineering partner Areva are likely to receive the green light for the use of Areva's EPR nuclear reactor in Britain before the end of the year.
"EDF Energy is now on the brink of delivering new nuclear at Hinkley Point C with an infrastructure project similar in scale to the London Olympics, delivering significant benefits in terms of jobs, skills and economic growth, both locally and nationally," EDF Energy, the UK arm of the French utility, said in a statement.
The Hinkley Point project was expected to start operating in 2018, but regulatory delays after the Fukushima disaster in Japan have pushed back the start date. It is now unlikely to be up and running before 2020.
The approval review process has cost 8 million pounds to date, a fee which EDF and Centrica will cover, the ONR said.
The British government plans to support the use of nuclear power plants in future by reforming the country's electricity market in a way that will guarantee a minimum price for low-carbon power generation, including nuclear power.
The final details of the required legislation are expected to be published this week.
(Reporting by Karolin Schaps; Editing by David Goodman)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/edf-granted-licence-uk-nuclear-plant-143652598--sector.html
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So, it?s the weekend and I've been doing my own bit to contribute to the society by heaping my electricity bill while putting in my time on the couch. I am a TV troll. I watch pretty much every TV show you can imagine. Sometimes I wonder how I have time for anything else. Anyway, I digress; back to the point of this post.
Amongst the multitude of reality shows I watch, I noticed a common trend among a majority of the characters that were in relationships: They were living together (a few with kids or planning on having kids). Basically, living like a ?married couple? and for some reason a few of the women were unhappy because "he hadn't put a ring on it."
I look at the couples around me as well and it?s the same situation. One lady in particular stands out to me. She finally got her proposal and is in the thick of planning her wedding. As part of her planning, she has come up with a list of things that must change after marriage. The list includes things like no more late nights with the boys, no friends crashing at their place, and it goes on. They?ve been living together for years and they have two kids (6 & 2). In my eyes, their situation isn?t changing; all they are doing is adding the title of husband/wife and Mrs for the lady.
They already have the companionship, they are sharing responsibilities, supporting each other's dreams and all that good stuff that marriage is supposed to be about. What motivation does the guy have to change his ways? With the current divorce rates I ask, are people getting married just to have the ceremony to splash cash and show off just how much money they are making? Or is it that people believe that the piece of paper they sign will guarantee that they will be together forever? Is getting married just another trend??
I personally feel that if you?ve got a good thing going adding the titles ?Husband? or ?Wife? can only add undue pressure to the relationship. I don?t know if I have been living in my own little bubble for so long that I'm late at noticing this trend, but if so, please forgive me but I still want to hear your thoughts.
In the world we live in today and the way ?dating? is handled, what is the point of marriage??
Source: http://www.datingish.com/769972261/what-is-the-point-of-marriage/
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JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? Zimbabwe uses laws and beatings by security forces to suppress human rights activists in the southern African nation ahead of elections planned for next year, according to a report released Monday.
The report by the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders comes as President Robert Mugabe is pushing for constitutional amendments that will allow for elections to end his ZANU-PF party's uneasy coalition government with the nation's main opposition party. That has some worried that Zimbabwe could experience the same repression and violence seen in its 2008 election, in which at least 163 people were killed and some 5,000 were tortured or beaten.
"These stories paint a very, very gloomy picture about the situation of human rights defenders in Zimbabwe," said Thomas Sibusiso Masuku, a former high court judge in Swaziland who contributed to the report.
The report highlights the struggles of several activists in Zimbabwe, mostly targeted by security forces and allegedly arrested for flimsy causes. One activist was detained for weeks and questioned about her work after police took her into custody saying her car was allegedly near the scene of a killing, according to the report. Another activist who was investigating abuses around Zimbabwe's diamond region was repeatedly harassed, it said.
A third activist told investigators that security forces abducted her from her home in 2008 while she was in pajamas. The activist said men repeatedly questioned her about other activists while beating the soles of her feet to the point she suffered from internal bleeding, according to the report. Days later, the report said that security forces took her to a police station. They refused to allow her to be admitted to a hospital, though she received some medical care.
Officials "took her back to prison, with the intravenous tubes dangling from her body," the report said.
Those not beaten often find themselves at the mercy of laws in Zimbabwe that make it difficult to hold opposition meetings or publish critical articles, according to the report. It listed several circumstances where protesters found themselves attacked by riot police while peacefully demonstrating.
Mugabe and ZANU-PF have ruled Zimbabwe since the country gained independence in 1980. But his land reform policies that have laid waste to the country's once-thriving agricultural sector and he has resorted to repression to hold on to power. After the 2008 election, Human Rights Watch accused the ruling party and its allies of involvement in the election killings.
Zimbabwe's government has issued blanket denials of human rights abuses in the past. Rugare Gumbo, a ZANU-PF spokesman, dismissed the report as "nonsense."
"We know all these reports are all sponsored by the West," Gumbo said Monday. "They are preparing in the minds of the international community that when we have elections and ZANU-PF wins, to say they were not free and fair."
He added: "Zimbabwe is a peaceful country and there is no violence."
Officials with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change could not be immediately reached for comment Monday.
While acknowledging that the situation in Zimbabwe is "unlikely to improve in the near future," officials with the group who spoke to journalists Monday in Johannesburg repeatedly declined to specifically say Mugabe needed to leave office to allow for change. However, Arnold Tsunga, a past president of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association, said a "change in the system of government" might be needed to end the apparent immunity from prosecution those who attack activists enjoy.
"These evil people who attack human rights defenders will have their backs broken ... only if they are not allowed to destroy all the evidence," Tsunga said. "We need to break the cycle of impunity if the country is to move forward."
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders is part of a French organization called the International Federation for Human Rights, an umbrella rights group based in Paris.
___
Associated Press writer Gillian Gotora in Harare, Zimbabwe, contributed to this report.
___
Jon Gambrell can be reached at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP .
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/report-zimbabwe-targets-human-rights-activists-120559456.html
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Alexia Herrera practices writing in cursive at St. Mark?s Lutheran School in Hacienda Heights, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012. Bucking a growing trend of eliminating cursive from elementary school curriculums or making it optional, California is among the states keeping longhand as a third-grade staple. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Alexia Herrera practices writing in cursive at St. Mark?s Lutheran School in Hacienda Heights, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012. Bucking a growing trend of eliminating cursive from elementary school curriculums or making it optional, California is among the states keeping longhand as a third-grade staple. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A student practices writing in cursive at St. Mark?s Lutheran School in Hacienda Heights, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012. Bucking a growing trend of eliminating cursive from elementary school curriculums or making it optional, California is among the states keeping longhand as a third-grade staple. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Zoe White practices writing in cursive at St. Mark?s Lutheran School in Hacienda Heights, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012. Bucking a growing trend of eliminating cursive from elementary school curriculums or making it optional, California is among the states keeping longhand as a third-grade staple. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Terrie Kim practices writing in cursive at St. Mark?s Lutheran School in Hacienda Heights, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012. Bucking a growing trend of eliminating cursive from elementary school curriculums or making it optional, California is among the states keeping longhand as a third-grade staple. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? The pen may not be as mighty as the keyboard these days, but California and a handful of states are not giving up on handwriting entirely.
Bucking a growing trend of eliminating cursive from elementary school curriculums or making it optional, California is among the states keeping longhand as a third-grade staple.
The state's posture on penmanship is not likely to undercut its place at the leading edge of technology, but it has teachers and students divided over the value of learning flowing script and looping signatures in an age of touchpads and mobile devices.
Some see it as a waste of time, an anachronism in a digitized society where even signatures are electronic, but others see it as necessary so kids can hone fine motor skills, reinforce literacy and develop their own unique stamp of identity.
The debate comes as 45 states move toward adopting national curriculum guidelines in 2014 for English and math that don't include cursive handwriting, but require proficiency in computer keyboarding by the time pupils exit elementary school.
Several states, including California, Georgia and Massachusetts, have added a cursive requirement to the national standards, while most others, such as Indiana, Illinois and Hawaii have left it as optional for school districts. Some states, like Utah, are still studying the issue.
Whether it's required or not, cursive is fast becoming a lost art as schools increasingly replace pen and paper with classroom computers and instruction is increasingly geared to academic subjects that are tested on standardized exams. Even the standardized tests are on track to be administered via computer within three years.
Experts say manuscript, or printing, may be sufficient when it comes to handwriting in the future.
"Do you really need to learn two different scripts?" said Steve Graham, education professor at Arizona State University who has studied handwriting instruction. "There will be plenty of kids who don't learn cursive. The more important skill now is typing."
Cursive still has many proponents who say it benefits youngsters' brains, coordination and motor skills, as well as connects them to the past, whether to handwritten historical documents like the Constitution or to their parents' and grandparents' letters.
Longhand is also a symbol of personality, even more so in an era of uniform emails and texting, they say.
"I think it's part of your identity and part of your self-esteem," said Eldra Avery, who teaches language and composition at San Luis Obispo High School. "There's something really special and personal about a cursive letter."
Avery also has a practical reason for pushing cursive ? speed. She makes her 11th grade students relearn longhand simply so they'll be able to complete their advancement placement exams. Most students print.
"They have to write three essays in two hours. They need that speed," she said. "Most of them learned cursive in second grade and forgot about it. Their penmanship is deplorable."
For many elementary school teachers, having children spend hours copying flowing letters just isn't practical in an era of high-stakes standardized testing.
Third-graders may get 15 minutes of cursive practice a couple times a week, and after the fourth grade, it often falls off completely because teachers don't require assignments to be written in cursive. When children write by hand, many choose to print because they've practiced it more.
Dustin Ellis, fourth-grade teacher at Big Springs Elementary School in Simi Valley, said he assigns a cursive practice packet as homework, but if he had his druthers, he'd limit cursive instruction to learning to read it, instead of writing it. Out of his 32 students, just three write in cursive, he noted.
"Students can be just as successful with printing," he said. "When a kid can text 60 words a minute, that means we're heading in a different direction. Cursive is becoming less and less important."
It also depends on the teacher. Many younger teachers aren't prepared to teach cursive or manuscript, said Kathleen S. Wright, national handwriting product manager for Zaner-Bloser Publishing, which develops instructional tools.
To remedy that, the company has developed a computer program that shows kids how to form letters.
Students say virtually nobody writes in cursive except teachers and parents. School assignments are required to be typed, and any personal note, such as thank yous and birthday cards, are emails, said Monica Baerg, a 16-year-old junior at Arcadia High School.
Baerg said she learned cursive in third grade, but has never used it and has difficulty deciphering her parents' handwriting. When she has to write by hand, she prints and never has a problem with speed.
"It was kind of a waste. No one ever forced us to use cursive so it was a hassle to remember the letters," she said. "It's not necessary to write in cursive. Whatever you write in, you say the same thing."
At St. Mark's Lutheran School in Hacienda Heights, cursive remains a core subject. Students are required to write in cursive through middle school so they become fluent at it, as well as work on computers, but increasingly transfer students arrive without longhand skills, said Linda Merchant, director of curriculum and instruction. They're given a book to study and practice at home.
"We're pretty committed to keeping it," Merchant said. "There's always going to be situations when you're going to have to present your own writing."
Graham, the professor, noted that the case for cursive is becoming harder to make, due to the benefits word processing offers such as spellcheck and cutting and pasting text, but he noted there are benefits to ensuring good handwriting. "People form judgments about the quality of your ideas based on the neatness of your text," he said.
For kids, the only practical purpose for learning cursive is to sign their names.
"They should teach it just for that purpose," said student Baerg. "Everybody wants a cool signature with all the fancy loops."
_______________
Contact the reporter at http://twitter.com/ChristinaHoag .
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A Kuwaiti woman walks past a board with the names and photos of next December's election candidates in Salwa, Kuwait, Sunday, Nov. 25, 2012. There is little middle ground but plenty of high-stakes tension as Kuwait stumbles toward elections for the most politically empowered parliament among the Gulf Arab states. (AP Photo/Gustavo Ferrari)
A Kuwaiti woman walks past a board with the names and photos of next December's election candidates in Salwa, Kuwait, Sunday, Nov. 25, 2012. There is little middle ground but plenty of high-stakes tension as Kuwait stumbles toward elections for the most politically empowered parliament among the Gulf Arab states. (AP Photo/Gustavo Ferrari)
KUWAIT CITY (AP) ? The message from Kuwait's emir is blunt heading into this week's parliamentary elections: Opposition factions should express dissent in the legislature, and not in the streets. The response from the opposition is equally uncompromising: We're not satisfied with what we can accomplish through parliament, so we're boycotting the vote.
There is little middle ground as Kuwait stumbles toward its second election this year for the most politically empowered parliament in the Gulf Arab states, which serves as a check on the emir, Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah. Violent protests and crackdowns on activists ? until recently rare in Kuwait ? have contributed to the high-stakes tension.
The outcome Saturday is certain to hand the ruling family and its allies a near-sweep of friendly lawmakers. Yet that is not necessarily good news for the stability of a country that has ricocheted from one political crisis to the next for nearly a year, including street clashes between security forces and an opposition coalition that ranges from hardline Islamists to youth activists.
For years, that legislature has served as a forum for the opposition to press their demands. But with the opposition's boycott likely to take them into self-exile from the political system, the worry is their new soapbox will be the street demonstrations like those that have engulfed many other Arab states in the past two years.
The potential fallout goes well beyond its borders. Any major upheavals in OPEC member Kuwait have potential repercussions on oil prices and the Pentagon's plans to use the nation as its hub for ground forces in efforts to counter the growth of Iran's military.
Gulf Arab rulers have so far ridden out the Arab Spring uprisings through a combination of factors including crackdowns and payouts to buy off potential dissenters. But the Gulf's biggest unrest by far ? a 21-month-old revolt against Bahrain's Western-allied monarchy ? shows no sign of easing and poses some the same quandaries as Kuwait for Washington: the need to maintain critical security alliances, but also to pay attention to shifting political forces in the region.
"There is a danger that the tensions between a ruling family (in Kuwait) intent on preserving its power and privilege and an energized opposition bent on security meaningful reform might escalate into open confrontation," said Kristian Coates-Ulrichsen, a research fellow who follows Gulf affairs at the London School of Economics.
"The example of Bahrain shows how everyone loses out in this scenario," he added, "but that alone is no guarantee that Kuwaitis can or will pull back from the brink."
Kuwait's protest alliance is held together by claims that the emir Al Sabah overstepped his authority by changing voting laws in an apparent attempt to undermine opposition and reformist electoral chances. Beyond that, there are a wide range of demands from all the different factions involved in the boycott, from Islamists wanting a greater say in the government to liberals wanting more openness in general.
The showdowns take forms similar to those in other parts of the region: clampdowns on Web activists and arrest sweeps against perceived backers of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group that now leads Egypt and has a resurgent profile since the Arab Spring.
Last week, Kuwait's Interior Ministry announced the arrest of four people on charges of insulting the emir with posts on Twitter. Similar arrests have taken place across the Gulf and, earlier this month, the United Arab Emirates imposed new Internet laws that can bring jail time for Web posts deemed offensive to rulers.
Kuwaiti authorities also have echoed fears from other Gulf palaces over what they view as expanding threats from the Muslim Brotherhood. Dubai's police chief, Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim, has warned of an "international plot" to overthrow the Gulf rulers.
The Islamists in Kuwait ? while a powerful force ? insist they are a distinctive, homegrown group that does not seek to topple the ruling system but wants a greater say in how the country is run. Their critics worry that this means a push toward stricter Islamic codes such as limits on non-Muslim worship or censoring artists and writers in one of the most politically open societies in the Gulf.
The past year has brought almost nonstop ? and highly complex ? political turmoil.
Islamists and their tribal allies won parliament elections in February and immediately pushed for greater clout in policy-making affairs. The Constitutional Court later disbanded parliament amid claims of flaws in the electoral district map, and reinstated the former government-friendly chamber from elections in 2009. That body, however, never managed to convene a session.
To further complicate things: The emir stunned the nation by wiping out the country's unusual four-votes-per-person system in favor of the standard one vote. Opponents say the new formula dilutes the ability of opposition groups to forge alliances and will increase the risks of vote buying and bribery.
"We will have puppetry, not a real parliament," said Mohammed al-Hatlani, a former lawmaker supporting the election boycott.
Liberal and youth groups ? while deeply opposed to the Islamist agenda ? have joined the boycott drive as a way to press for their Arab Spring-inspired demands for greater political and social freedoms. The unexpected alliance with Islamists and conservative tribes has startled even veterans of Kuwait's pugnacious politics.
Abdullatif al-Duaij, a prominent Kuwait liberal figure now living in the U.S., worries that fellow liberals looking for more openness have "lost their compass" by siding with the Islamists and others pushing the boycott.
"Today it's either you vote or you don't," he said. "There is nothing in between."
A series of protests and street clashes in recent months led the emir to order a ban on political gatherings of more than 20 people. In a message last week, he tried both threats and patriot appeals to cool down tensions.
"It is a great tragedy to have calls to take to the street," the emir said in comments carried by the official Kuwait News Agency. "Why the chaos and riots? Why the screaming and wailing and disrupting the business of the state and harming the interests of the people?"
It's all likely to leave Kuwait even more politically fractured and the new parliament facing challenges over its legitimacy.
In most of the Gulf, a parliament under pressure would matter little since elected bodies have very limited powers. Kuwait, however, stands out. Its 50-seat parliament has wide authority to pass laws and question ? or even dismiss ? members of the government.
Opposition lawmakers have publicly accused top officials, including members of the ruling family, of charges such as corruption and attempts to muzzle dissent. But even many protesters were stunned last month when an opposition leader, Musallam al-Barrack, broke taboos and openly denounced the emir. He was later arrested.
"He crossed all the red lines and shattered the boundaries of permissible opposition," said the researcher Coates-Ulrichsen. "The experience from North Africa and elsewhere in the Arab Spring shows that once these barriers are broken it is impossible to reconstruct them."
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PARKER, Texas (AP) ? Tourists and locals flocked to Southfork Ranch on Saturday, bringing flowers in memory of Larry Hagman, who played the infamous J.R. Ewing on the TV show "Dallas."
Hagman died in Dallas on Friday at age 81 due to complications from his battle with cancer.
Southfork, a ranch north of Dallas, was known to millions of viewers as the Ewing family home. Exterior shots of the house and pool were shown when the series aired from 1978 to 1991, although the show wasn't filmed there.
The ranch has been open for tours since the mid-1980s, and now sees more than 100,000 visitors each year. Each room of the house has a theme for each character.
On Saturday, J.R. Ewing's room had flowers and a card for tourists to sign.
"Today is about Larry Hagman and his family," said Janna Timm, a Southfork Ranch & Hotel spokeswoman. "He was such a wonderful person, and we will really miss him."
"Dallas" was recently revived on TNT this summer, and all of the scenes were filmed at Southfork or other places in the Dallas area. Hagman had revised his role as the scheming oilman who would even double-cross his own son.
Linda Sproule of Peterborough, Ontario, had been traveling through the U.S. the past couple of weeks and heard about Hagman's death Friday while in Dallas. She said she didn't know where Southfork was but wanted to come because she was a fan of the show in the 1980s.
"I remember on Friday nights we watched it, and J.R. was bigger than life in some ways," she said after taking the Southfork tour Saturday morning. "This ranch is beautiful. Being here is kind of emotional in a way."
Barbara Quinones and her husband were in town for their daughter's soccer tournament and had already planned to visit Southfork when they heard news of Hagman's death.
"We loved him because he was so ruthless," said Quinones, of Albuquerque, N.M. "This is a sad day, but I'm glad we're here."
Some of the show's stars, including Hagman, came to Southfork for the series' 25th anniversary. The Fort Worth-born actor also had visited several times before the show was revived.
"He was definitely a gentleman, a class act," said Jim Gomes, vice president of resorts at Southfork Ranch & Hotel. "He loved the fans as much as they loved him."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tourists-visit-southfork-remember-larry-hagman-225402013.html
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The stock market enjoyed some Black Friday cheer, rising sharply as shoppers braved the annual post-Thanksgiving rush. Major indexes were on track for their biggest weekly gains since early June.
Traders were encouraged by positive economic news from Germany and China, two engines of global growth. Technology stocks soared after a few weeks of selling. And early reports from retailers suggested that consumers may be ready to spend ? a sign of the economy's progress.
"Foot traffic appears heavier than we've seen in recent years, there are a lot of positive statements out of the companies themselves, and momentum appears to be strong," said JJ Kinahan, chief derivatives strategist at the brokerage TD Ameritrade.
Many stores opened earlier than ever this year, Kinahan said, allowing for earlier informal reports about their performance.
Technology stocks soared, lifting the Nasdaq composite index by more than 1 percent. Computer maker Dell, chipmaker AMD and computing giant Hewlett-Packard were the top three gainers in the Standard & Poor's 500 index. Technology rose the most among the index's 10 industry groups.
The stocks were bouncing back after confidence in tech stocks declined broadly, Kinahan said. AMD dropped sharply in recent weeks as investors fretted about its solvency. HP plunged 12 percent on Tuesday after executives said that a company HP bought for $10 billion last year lied about its finances.
The Nasdaq rose 29 points, or 1 percent, to 2,955 as of 12:30 p.m. EST. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 110 to 12,947. The S&P 500 added 12 to 1,402.
Stocks started strong after news that German business confidence rose unexpectedly in November after six straight declines. The gain in a closely watched index published by Munich's Ifo institute raised hopes that Europe's largest economy can continue to weather the continent's financial crisis.
China's manufacturing expanded for the first time in 13 months in November, the latest sign that the world's second-biggest economy is recovering from its deepest slump since the 2008 global crisis. HSBC Corp. said its monthly Purchasing Managers' Index improved to 50.4 for November. Any number above 50 indicates expansion.
The PMI measures overall manufacturing activity by surveying indicators including orders, employment and production. The result was released Thursday, when the U.S. market was closed for Thanksgiving.
Around the U.S., shoppers flocked to malls and logged on to computers to take part in the annual cheer-fueled retail rush known as Black Friday.
Target and Toys R Us welcomed buyers on Thanksgiving evening. Retailers are also trying to draw shoppers with free layaway and shipping, by matching prices of online rivals and by beefing up mobile shopping apps.
Retail is a key driver of the nation's economy. Consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity. November and December, which can account for as much as 40 percent of a retailer's annual revenue, are crucial for stores.
The Friday after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday because it begins the period in which many retailers turn profitable for the year. Traders will be looking for signs about how enthusiastically Americans are spending. That could reflect the momentum of the economic recovery.
Trading volume on Wall Street was light, with many investors away for an extended weekend after Thanksgiving. The market was to close early, at 1 p.m. EST.
The rally's strength will be tested on Monday, as many traders return to their desks and retailers begin to release hard data about their holiday sales results, Kinahan said.
"It's great when something like this happens, but on a half-day without the major players in there, it's not so surprising," he said.
European indexes added to earlier gains after Wall Street opened and closed higher. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares rose 0.5 percent. Germany's DAX and France's CAC-40 both added 0.9 percent.
Investors were monitoring developments in Brussels, where European Union leaders are trying to agree on a $1.25 trillion long-term spending plan for the 27-nation bloc. Markets expect that another meeting will be needed for an agreement.
Among the stocks making big moves:
? Research in Motion Ltd. jumped on growing optimism for an earlier-than-expected launch of its delayed BlackBerry 10 smartphone. A senior executive from the Canadian company said earlier this month that Research In Motion, or RIM, will release the latest version of its smartphone "not long after" a Jan. 30 event. One analyst saw that as an indication that the products are to be unveiled in February. U.S.-traded shares of RIM rose $1.45, or 14 percent, to $11.71.
? MAP Pharmaceuticals spiked after the company announced that the Food and Drug Administration will review its experimental migraine drug Levadex. The stock rose $2.46, or 19 percent, to $15.28.
? KIT Digital Inc., a video software and technology company, lost two-thirds of its value after the company's former chief executive accused it of blaming prior management for its financial problems. Two days earlier, KIT said it would restate its financial results because of accounting errors. The stock lost $1.34, or 65 percent to 73 cents.
Among tech's big gainers:
? Dell rose 51 cents, or 6 percent, to $9.57.
? HP added 53 cents, or 4 percent, to $12.47.
? AMD 9 cents, or 5 percent, to $1.96.
___
Daniel Wagner can be reached at www.twitter.com/wagnerreports.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-stocks-rise-sharply-black-friday-retail-rush-154329895--finance.html
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As usual, Apple though Friday night on a holiday weekend was the perfect time to push some more paper through in its ongoing patent lawsuit against Samsung. According to Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents, after Samsung asked to add the latest iPads, iPhones and iPod touches to its list of claims and the court approved the addition of the iPhone 5, Galaxy S III, Galaxy Note and Galaxy Note 10.1, Apple is trying to put six more devices on the list. Listed in the motion are the Galaxy S III running Android Jelly Bean (but not Jelly Bean itself), Galaxy Note II, Galaxy Tab 8.9 WiFi, Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, Rugby Pro and Galaxy S III mini. As usual, the case will proceed, we'll wait to hear if these requests are approved by the court and in the meantime, iThings and Galaxys alike will continue to fly off the shelves. Given the season, for now it's time to be thankful we're not one of the lawyers spending their day working on this. That leaves us plenty of time for more interesting activities, like hand-to-hand combat against fellow shoppers for the right to purchase slightly discounted items.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Apple, Samsung
Source: FOSS Patents
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/yuvox6S8RuQ/
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