Google Maps Learns to Multitask

Google needs to remain competitive across platforms in the long run, noted Chris Silva, principal analyst at High Rock Strategy, so it can't made the technology overly complicated. "This is technology for them that is a gateway to get users to use Gmail and even Chrome," he explained. "So it is a Trojan horse for them, and they could lose that entryway if they make it too complex."

Google Maps has become the default source of directions for many users, but one feature it has notoriously lacked is the ability to provide directions to multiple destinations. On Wednesday, however, the company announced that it is now rolling out the feature at last.

"Based on your input, we're pleased to announce one of your most requested features -- directions for multiple destinations -- will begin rolling out today," said Florian Goerisch, product manager for Google Maps. "Whether you're running weekend errands or planning a cross-country tour, you can plot multiple destinations for your trip with ease -- now available for driving, walking and biking directions."

To get directions for a trip with multiple destinations, users simply create a starting point and click to add stops along the way.

Help With Reservations

"The new version of Google Maps is still, well, new," Lauren Barriere, a Google spokesperson, told TechNewsWorld. "We've been working hard to improve maps since we first announced the preview in May, with the newest addition of directions to multiple destinations.

"We'll continue to bring both familiar features and brand new ones to the new Maps over time," Barriere added.

Also new in the Google Maps update are new tools to help users manage their reservations and discover upcoming events. The reservation tool, for instance, is designed to work as it does in Google Search, pulling information from users' Gmail, Google Calendar and Google+ accounts.

Google first previewed its new features at its annual I/O developer conference earlier this year.

'More Complex Than People Think'

It isn't clear why the multiple-destinations feature wasn't available from Google Maps before, but "I think we're seeing some additions that come from their purchase of Waze and its technology," suggested Chris Silva, principal analyst at High Rock Strategy.

"Google is good at knowing when to bring the product to market," Silva told TechNewsWorld. "It could be that the multiple destinations were hampered in some algorithmic way. This technology is probably a lot more complex than people think -- directions that take you way out of the way because the computer program thinks it is better won't make for a good product."

Google's incremental additions are also "just the nature of their approach," opined Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. "They decided to keep the product simple at first and assure it worked, then added features.

"Given the Apple issues with mapping, this appears to be a very wise approach after the fact," Enderle told TechNewsWorld.

'The Attention Span of a Gnat'

Of course, Google also needs to remain competitive across platforms in the long run, Silva noted, so it can't made the technology overly complicated.

"This is technology for them that is a gateway to get users to use Gmail and even Chrome," he explained. "So it is a Trojan horse for them, and they could lose that entryway if they make it too complex."

Too-frequent change could be another problem.

"Google has the attention span of a gnat, and their advantage is they can afford to give this stuff away for free," Enderle said. "They aren't the best -- they are the cheapest."

Looking ahead, he concluded, "they could be displaced by another embedded product showing up in more popular hardware or another free offering that had a sustainable advantage and more focus/funding by the provider."

Source: http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/79161.html
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Brother MFC-J4410DW

The Brother MFC-J4410DW is a striking example of Brother's tendency to build a printer for every niche it can think of. In this case it fills in the already small jump in Brother's Business Smart series between the Brother MFC-J4310DW below and the current Editors' Choice Brother MFC-J4510DW above. Whether you think of it as the MFC-J4310DW with an automatic document feeder (ADF) added or as the MFC-J4510DW with a smaller touch screen, you won't be far off. Either way, it costs less than the MFC-J4510DW, but is close enough to it in capability to replace it as Editors' Choice.

Like all of the Business Smart series printers, the MFC-J4410DW is primarily a letter-size printer that can also handle up to tabloid-size paper (11 by 17 inches) through its manual-feed slot. If you need to print on tabloid-size paper, but only occasionally and only for one- or two-page documents, that makes it an attractive choice compared with more expensive printers with tabloid-size paper trays. It also makes for a much smaller printer?at 7.3 by 18.9 by 11.4 inches (HWD) for the MF-J4410DW.

Basics
Aside from the smaller touch screen, at 1.8 instead of 3.7 inches, the MFC-J4410DW is essentially identical to the Brother MFC-J4510DW. The only other significant difference is that Brother rates it at a slower speed. However, it actually turned out to be just a touch faster in my tests.

Like the Brother MFC-J4510DW, the MFC-J4410DW is small enough to share a desk with easily as a personal printer, but along with the ubiquitous USB port, it also includes Ethernet and Wi-Fi as connection choices, so you can share it easily on a network. Basic MFP features include the ability to print and fax from, as well as scan to, a computer, including over a network, and the ability to work as a standalone copier and fax machine. It also offers the convenience of letting you print from and scan to a memory card or USB memory key.

Like more and more printers today, the MFC-J4410DW supports mobile printing too, including both printing through the cloud and printing from a smartphone or tablet over a Wi-Fi connection. In addition, it offers Wi-Fi Direct for easy connection directly to the printer even if it's not on a network with an access point. Web-connected options let you print from and scan to various online services, including Evernote, Dropbox, and Facebook.

Paper Handling
The 150-sheet input capacity for the MFC-J4410DW's main tray is a little meager, but enough for most personal use or for light-duty use for a shared printer in a micro or small office. Very much on the plus side are the conveniences of a built-in duplexer (for printing on both sides of a page) and a manual-feed slot in the back. The manual feed not only lets you print on different paper stock without having to swap out paper in the tray, it also lets you print on paper up to 11 by 17 inches.

As with the Brother MFC-J4510DW, the MFC-J4410DW positions the main tray with the long side parallel to the front or the printer, so letter-size paper comes out with the 11-inch side first. This sideways paper feed also lets you feed tabloid-size paper, with its 11-inch side as the leading edge, through the manual feed slot. You have to feed the pages one at a time, but for occasional printing of one or two-page tabloid size documents, it's a nice extra in what's otherwise a letter-size printer.

For scanning, the MFC-J4410DW offers both a letter-size flatbed and a 20-page ADF. As with most office-oriented MFPs, the ADF lets you scan up to legal-size pages.

Setup and Speed and Output Quality
Both physical and network setup for the MFC-J4410DW was standard fare. For my tests, I connected to a network using the Ethernet port, and installed the drivers on a Windows Vista system.

The MFC-J4410DW's speed is within the typical range for its price. On our business applications suite (using QualityLogic's hardware and software for timing), I clocked it at an effective 3.7 pages per minute (ppm). That makes it a little faster than the MFC-J4510DW, at 3.3 ppm, despite Brother giving it a lower speed rating. It's also tied with the MFC-J4310DW, and a little faster than the similarly priced Editors' Choice HP Officejet 6700 Premium e-All-in-One , at 3.4 ppm.

Output quality is good enough for most business needs, but nothing to get excited about. Text quality in my tests was near the high end of the range for an inkjet MFP, making it easily good enough for most business use. Graphics were just a touch below par, which still makes them good enough for any internal business need. Depending on how much of a perfectionist you are, you may or may not consider them good enough for PowerPoint handouts and the like. Photos were comparable to the low end of what you would expect from drugstore prints.

The Brother MFC-J4410DW offers everything that made the MFC-J4510DW Editors' Choice. It delivers just as attractive a balance of speed, output quality, and MFP features, and, above all, the convenience of being able to print an occasional page at tabloid size without having to pay for a printer with tabloid-size paper trays. It's also a little less expensive than the MFC-J4510DW and a touch faster too. You have to weigh those pluses against the minus of the smaller touch screen, but, on balance, the Brother MFC-J4410DW just enough more than the MFC-J4510DW to replace it as Editors' Choice.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/YxbOQziufj8/0,2817,2422373,00.asp

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How To Take Beautiful Photos - Article - SubmitYourArticle.com

Have you looked at a stunning photo and wished that you could take such a beautiful picture? Here are a few key points that can help you improve your photography skills.

The first thing to remember is that photography is an art. Just like art, once you understand the basics and start putting them into practice, you'll find your photography skills will improve.

Taking beautiful photos is all about light. Without light there would be no photography and taking a great photo means being in the right place at the right time to get the perfect light, particularly for outdoor shots. Variations in light conditions can make all the difference between a good photo and a great one. The best advice is to experiment and take lots of pictures under various lighting.

The amount of light that falls on your camera sensor when the shutter is opened is known as exposure and is another important factor in producing a great photo. Too much light, overexposure, will result in the photo appearing pale and washed out, while too little light, underexposure, will result in loss of details hidden in shadow.

Even if your exposure is correct, your potentially beautiful photo could be marred by lack of focus. Focus is controlled by the aperture setting. A wide aperture setting will produce a shallow depth of field while a small aperture will give a greater depth of field. Remember that you will need to increase the exposure to compensate for reduced aperture settings.

You can control items such as lighting and exposure by using additional lights and screens. You can also gain more control by arranging your subject and by using props to enhance the subject. This technique, known as staging, can add interest to your photo. It also allows you to compose your photo to get a better balance in the relationship between the subject and background.

The most important tip is to take photographs. The more you take, the more you experiment, the more experience you'll gain. Remember, practice makes perfect. Sure, you'll end up with loads of poor photos, but in the age of digital cameras, this is not a big deal. For every hundred photos you take, you'll see one that will excite you.

And don't despair. If that otherwise perfect shot is ruined by a blemish, there are always photo-editing software programs that can help you. Try Corel PaintShop Pro, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Serif Photoplus, ACDSee or Xara, just to mention a few.

A final tip, keep your eyes open and try to view every scene as a photo. Great photo opportunities are all around; you just have to see them. Good luck capturing the perfect shot!

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Source: http://articles.submityourarticle.com/how-to-take-beautiful-photos-334979

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Court: College athletes can sue EA over images

Associated Press

Posted on July 31, 2013 at 2:02 PM

Updated today at 2:02 PM

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? A federal appeals court has ruled that video game maker Electronic Arts must face legal claims by college players that it unfairly used their images without compensation.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that the Redwood City, Calif., company can't use the 1st Amendment to shield it from the players' lawsuit.

EA says it plans to appeal. The company had claimed its college-based sports games were works of arts deserving freedom of expression protection.

The court disagreed, ruling the avatars used in the company's basketball and football games were exact replicas of individual players. The court concluded that the company did little to transform the avatars into works of art.

The decision upheld a lower court ruling.

Source: http://www.wfaa.com/news/business/217792021.html

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Advanced Architecture Software Could Make Buildings More Energy ...

Since the unveiling of Frank Gehry?s titanium-skinned?Guggenheim Museum Bilbao?in 1997, we?ve grown accustomed to?eye-popping architectural statements, whether in the complex geometry of Herzog & de Meuron?s?Beijing National Stadium?(also known as the ?Bird?s Nest?) or in the precarious cantilevering of Zaha Hadid?s MAXXI?National Museum?in Rome. If it seems there?s some immensely complicated system being used to engineer these gravity-?defying arcs, ramps, and curves, that?s because there is. But that technology, known as parametric modeling, can do much more than facilitate the fantastic creations of Gehry, Hadid, and their ilk. Increasingly, parametric design is being used not just to make buildings more visually compelling but to precisely tune nearly every aspect of their performance, from acoustics to energy efficiency. It?s not as sexy an application, but it will become far more valuable to architecture and the way we live and work.

The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain.

Parametric design software automatically figures out how changing any parameter of a structure will affect other physical aspects. It?s more complex than the computer-?aided design (CAD) software that has been the industry standard since the 1980s. That software essentially works like a digital pencil; it requires a person to move a mouse around to manipulate the lines on an architectural drawing. Today?s parametric technology is more than just a drafting tool. Not only can it model a building and many of its attributes in 3-D, but it can revise a model instantly. If an architect wants to alter the pitch of a roof, for example, the walls then follow the revised roofline automatically. As Hao Ko, a design director at the architectural firm?Gensler, explains, ?The designer is setting the rules and parameters, with the computer doing the iterations. This gives designers more flexibility to explore designs, and we can make changes faster.? It also means that architects are more willing to make changes that can ultimately make a project better.

As the technology has improved, parametric models have been able to accept more and more inputs. Architects can use the software to investigate what a building could be made of or how its natural lighting could be maximized. Or they can virtualize window dimensions and ceiling heights and the way a structure is heated and cooled. ?In any project, there are a million possibilities,? says architect ?Matthew Pierce of?Perkins + Will

Phil Bernstein, an architect and vice president at the software maker?Autodesk, believes parametric technology will help make new buildings more environmentally sustainable. (This is crucial, given that buildings account for 40 percent of the world?s energy use and one-third of all carbon dioxide emissions.) The current industry standard for energy efficiency is?LEED?Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. Architects who use green features like drought-?tolerant plants and efficient heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems can apply for LEED certification.

The signature curves in Beijing?s Olympic stadium arose from a complex geometry that demanded computer modeling.

But critics of this approach point out that it?s hard to measure the outcomes. Parametric technology might provide more precise metrics. How much energy will a building actually need? Or how much might it generate? How much water will it use? These things can be determined during the design process and rapidly optimized?you can adjust the model until you get the results you?re looking for.

That was the case with Perkins + Will?s design for the?Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, in East Boothbay, Maine. The firm used software called?Ecotect?Analysis (now owned by Autodesk) to model everything from thermal performance to daylighting?the practice of placing?windows?or other openings in such a way that?natural light can reliably illuminate the interior. As the architects tinkered with the design in a computer, it calculated and analyzed such properties as the building?s floor area, its volume, and the required quantities of materials. They could simulate the thermal performance of different wall, roof, and window assemblies?and evaluate the performance against the cost. They could study how different types of glass would perform?not just in general but on the northeast wall at the building?s exact location, under conditions suggested by long-term weather data.

The MAXXI?National Museum of the 21st Century Arts?in Rome, Italy.

The benefits of parametric technology can similarly be seen in Gensler?s soon-to-be-completed?Shanghai Tower, which at 630 meters will be the second-tallest tower in the world and the tallest in China. Its twisting, curved form was an aesthetic choice, to be sure, but by plugging that geometry into a modeling tool known as?Grasshopper, the designers were able to tweak the shape to minimize the force of winds on the fa?ade. As Ko explains, ?If you have a tall tower like that, you?re studying the different degrees of rotation. It would be tedious if you had to do it manually. Using rotation as one of the parameters, you can run through the various iterations to get to the final situation.?

Idiosyncratic subdivisions

For now, the most familiar built expressions of parametric design remain extreme projects like those created by Zaha Hadid Architects, a firm that is known for avoiding corners, right angles, and familiar typologies. We see a similar avoidance of corners in the astounding 19,000 molded glass-reinforced concrete pieces and 3,500 custom curved glass panels that make up Frank Gehry?s design for the?Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation, a $100-million-plus museum scheduled to open in Paris next year.

Natural lighting was one of the elements that architects tried to maximize in the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences.

Even so, many architects (and their clients) are increasingly asserting that gesture and complexity for their own sake are not enough. Accordingly, the building industry is becoming more knowledgeable about improving a structure?s function. Architecture graduates arrive at firms armed with expertise in parametric tools such as Revit, Grasshopper, and Rhino; they may never have designed without the help of computers, and parametric modeling is familiar to them. Among builders, engineers, and architects, the adoption of advanced digital tools for what?s known as?building information modelingsurged from 28 percent in 2007 to 49 percent in 2009 and 71 percent in 2012.

Some of the most dramatic forms designed with parametric technology have come from Frank Gehry, whose Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation is soon to open in Paris.

And while such technology is useful for formally complex buildings, even simpler forms should benefit from it. Architects Nataly Gattegno and Jason Kelly Johnson of?Future Cities Lab?believe parametric design can change how we think about floor plans of houses or grid patterns of planned communities. ?Do these houses all have to be the same?? Gattegno asks. Parametric modeling ?could open up all kinds of possibilities of what a house could be.? Mass-produced housing might become less cookie-cutter, more idiosyncratic, and more economical and energy efficient.?

Similarly, the technology could reshape urban planning. Just as it can create a detailed representation of a wall, it can model an entire neighborhood to determine the optimal size and shape of the various structures in it, says Autodesk?s Bernstein.?Awkwardly scaled McMansions might be rethought?to make more efficient use of lots, building materials, and energy.?

Parametric modeling can even take human proportions and movement into account. A company called ?AnyBody Technology, for example, does full-body physical simulations for the design of cockpits or workspaces. The company has begun collaborating on R&D with architects so that a parametric model can be used to simulate a body walking through a given space. Eventually, architects could design, say, a nursing home in a way that optimized walking distances or ergonomics.

Of course, models are still mere simulations. And one thing that this modeling can?t automatically account for?yet, anyway?is human behavior. Bernstein told me that when Autodesk built its LEED-certified headquarters, its designers ?energy-modeled the hell out of it? in parametric software only to find out that the building used 30 percent more energy than they had anticipated. Why? Among other things, after the lights automatically went off at 6:30 p.m., cleaning crews turned them back on and didn?t shut them off again.

Allison Arieff is a content strategist for SPUR, an urban planning and policy think tank in San Francisco, and a contributing columnist at the New York Times.

Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/review/517596/new-forms-that-function-better/

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Dr. Nicole Hraniotis M.D. or Doctor Nicki, a Board Certified ...

Dr. Nicole Hraniotis M.D. is a skilled and experienced adolescent, adult, and child psychiatrist with an expertise in the management of psychiatric disorders, including but not limited to, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, loss or grief, relationship issues, family conflict, parenting, self-esteem, peer relationships, divorce, ADHD, and women?s mental health. Through a combination of therapeutic techniques, she identifies limiting beliefs and outmoded coping mechanisms that may be standing in patient?s way.

Dr. Nicole Hraniotis, M.D. opened a psychiatric practice in central New Jersey for people with variety of issues related to home and family as well as work and career.

Dr. Hraniotis is a Board Certified and experienced adolescent, adult, and child psychiatrist who has helped patients build richer, more rewarding lives for over 6 years. Through a combination of therapeutic techniques, she identifies limiting beliefs and outmoded coping mechanisms that may be standing in patient?s way.

For those tired of seeing a psychiatrist for only 10 minutes in a hospital or clinic, Dr. Hraniotis says: ?I offer a better alternative as I give undivided care and attention to each and every patient?.? She provides a caring environment in which the patient can identify and explore those issues that may be getting in the way of a more rewarding life and careers, or more fulfilling relationships. The goal is to provide my patients with the insight and tools they need to move beyond old, limiting beliefs and behaviors.

Dr. Hraniotis completed a Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in June 2011.? Prior to that, she completed an Adult Psychiatry Residency at the same institution.? She completed adult, child, and adolescent Consultation and Liaison psychiatry at Hackensack University Medical Center and at the Joseph M. Sanzari Children?s Hospital at Hackensack University Medical Center, as well as served as an academic instructor for UMDNJ residents and students at this location. She is currently working part time at Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank on the Consultation and Liaison psychiatric service serving both children and adults.

During her residency and fellowship, Dr. Hraniotis has particularly excelled in CBT skills, interpersonal therapy, and working with difficult family therapy situations. She demonstrated extraordinary initiative in learning about her patients and their disorders and took the time and effort to contact collaborating agencies and individuals to provide the most thorough evaluations as possible.? She has an interest and an expertise in the management of psychiatric disorders, including but not limited to, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, loss or grief, relationship issues, family conflict, parenting, self-esteem, peer relationships, divorce, ADHD, and women?s mental health.

?

Because of her extensive experience, Dr. Hraniotis provides a variety of services, including medication management plus individual psychotherapy, family therapy, children?s therapy, couples counseling, parent counseling, cognitive behavior therapy, mindfulness techniques, and sport psychiatry.

About Dr. Nicole Hraniotis, M.D.

Dr. Nicole Hraniotis, M.D., or Doctor Nicki, is a Board Certified skilled and experienced adolescent, adult, and child psychiatrist who has helped patients for over 6 years. Through a combination of therapeutic techniques, she helps identify limiting beliefs and outmoded coping mechanisms that may be standing in patient?s way. All communication is kept strictly confidential. For more information or to book an appointment, visit www.doctornicki.com or call 732-383-6255.

Source: http://emacc.org/dr-nicole-hraniotis-m-d-or-doctor-nicki-a-board-certified-psychiatrist-opens-adult-adolescent-and-child-psychiatric-practice/

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Is This Film Festival A Scam? Sometimes, It's Not So Obvious ...

The Quad Cinema, one of the venues used by the Manhattan Film Festival.

There are thousands of film festivals in North America. Of those, a majority have significant track records -- that is, their films find distribution, the filmmakers raise their profiles, or, at a minimum, the festival has a solid reputation that enhances the filmmakers' stature by proxy.?

But a slim margin exist because most filmmakers don?t make the cut. Inexperienced with the festival circuit, they scramble to find somewhere, anywhere, to screen. The looser acceptance protocols can give filmmakers a false sense of success that allows them to display multiple laurels on their websites and posters -- which are largely meaningless to anyone but the filmmakers.?

Still -- a screen is a screen, right??

IT'S A GOOD MOVIE, BUT CAN THEY PLAY IT?

"It was a fucking nightmare." That's how Mira Gibson described the premiere of her film "Warfield" at the Manhattan Film Festival last year. Certain it wouldn't be accepted at the New York Film Festival or Tribeca, the Brooklynite wanted to screen in the city and thought MFF would be a good fit. (Editor's note: Manhattan Film Festival should not be confused with the Manhattan Short Film Festival, a completely separate organization.)?

She submitted her film and entry fee through online service Withoutabox; when the film was accepted, Gibson hustled to put the final touches in post. About 10 weeks before the 2012 MFF, she sent "Warfield" in the form of a thumb drive, along with specs.

When her big night arrived, Gibson was anxious?and not because she was about to unveil a film that she'd been hyping for months to her agent, manager, family, friends, cast and crew. The venue wasn't readymade for a movie premiere: That year, the festival was screening films at The Producer's Club, a Times Square space more suited for theater work.

It proved to be an omen of things to come.

As the lights went down and the picture came up, Gibson was horrified. "It's the wrong one!" she yelled out. Her first audience was watching the version she?d submitted for acceptance?a work-in-progress with no color or audio correction, no credits or the score.

After her pleas with the projectionist failed to stop the film, Gibson learned only then that her thumb drive version, which represented thousands of dollars in final edits, was unplayable by MFF: The thumb drive was Mac-formatted and their equipment was Windows. Gibson was speechless.

While her experience would be a nightmare for any filmmaker, not every accusation of a festival?s illegitimacy is cut and dry. The Manhattan Film Festival, which wrapped its 7th edition in June, is such a case.?

READ MORE: Indiewire Investigation: The Dark Underbelly of the Film Festival Circuit, Part 1

Filmmakers Philip J. Nelson and Jose Ruiz founded the event in 2006 after struggling to find an audience for their film, ?Promise of a New Day.? MovieMaker magazine selected MFF in 2012 as one of the "25 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee," largely due to its revenue sharing agreement: The festival and filmmakers split ticket sales 50/50, with the site Screen Booker taking 99-cent service fee on every ticket sold. (Filmmakers interviewed for this story say they received amounts ranging from $300-$400.)

On the surface, the festival sounds like a hidden gem among the thousands. However, after seven years, its profile remains very low (although for its first four years, its name was Independent Features Film Festival). And all the filmmakers interviewed for this story -- whether they enjoyed the festival or not?commented on its rampant disorganization, lack of communication and screening ineptitude.

CONFIRM THE LOCATION

L.A.-based filmmaker Timothy L. Anderson screened his debut feature, the Coolio-starring dark comedy "Two Hundred Thousand Dirty," at the 2013 MFF. Only available to fly to town on the day of his screening, Anderson was having lunch with a friend in midtown and prepared to do a final social media blast about the premiere when he got a call from his AD that the location on their Screen Booker page suddenly changed from the East Village?s Quad Cinema to Hunter College on the Upper East Side."I was never emailed or called at all," said Anderson about the change.?

Panic ensued: Unable to get in touch with his festival contact over the phone, Anderson rushed to the Quad for answers and found only volunteers and staff who had none. Anderson then spent two hours waiting in the lobby until Nelson showed up, who only explained that there were booking problems.

"We did postcards saying it was at the Quad and they were right next to him as we were talking,? said Anderson. ?So no one at the festival saw these and saw they were wrong? My lead actor was at the opening night party, no one said anything to him about it. I told [Nelson], ?If you walk to the Quad and find out the film is now uptown, you?re just going to go to a bar.?? With only three hours before his screening, Anderson suggested a shuttle service.

"There were such repeated instances of clusterfuck."

In a panic, Nelson found a limo company to take the people who showed up at the Quad over to Hunter College, where things weren?t much better: the film began only after the projectionist scrambled to find a working Blu-ray player. There was no festival representative there to introduce the film or moderate a Q&A afterwards.

Jon Lindstrom, also L.A.-based (you may remember him as Dr. Kevin Collins on "General Hospital"), had a similar experience when screening his debut feature, summer-getaway-gone-wrong thriller "How We Got Away With It." However, he only learned about his location change when he ran into Nelson at the Quad, where he was told his film would now play at Hunter.

"I was checking my Screen Booker page every day," said Lindstrom. "They must have changed it that day." Like Anderson, the festival shuttled audience members up to Hunter. Lindstrom?s film also started late and had technical issues.

"There were such repeated instances of clusterfuck," Lindstrom said. "There should have been backup plans, contingencies. They should have learned over so many years. I'm still rather stunned."

Location changes for screenings are a frequent occurrence at festivals (though usually filmmakers are notified directly before it has happened). Most filmmakers that Indiewire interviewed who attended MFF either last year or this year just made the most out of a lousy situation.

Solvan Naim took a slightly different tack: After spending an estimated $3,500 on promotions for the MFF screening of his debut darmedy/hip-hop musical, ?Full Circle,? at the Quad, the Brooklyn native learned from ticket buyers that the location was now Hunter College. Naim wasn't satisfied with Nelson's shuttle suggestion; when conversations stalled with Nelson and unable to get assistance from Quad owner Elliott Kanbar, Naim contacted his lawyer, Habib Bentaleb. According to Bentaleb, the festival refused to reply to his numerous emails. And then Naim received an email from Nelson stating that they were pulling his film -- a move that may violate Withoutabox?s Festival Participation Agreement. (Nelson said he was unaware of the clause. In a statement provided to Indiewire, Withoutabox said, "If we determine that a festival has violated our Terms of Service, we will take action, which may include terminating a festival's access to Withoutabox services." The company declined to comment specifically about MFF.)

Naim responded by gathering friends, actors and film crew to protest at the Quad. Naim met other filmmakers with similar MFF woes; the police even showed up and tried to get Naim and Nelson to reconcile.

Two days later, Naim rented a New York University theater and showed his film.

Next: The festival's founder responds.

Source: http://www.indiewire.com/article/is-this-film-festival-a-scam-sometimes-its-not-so-obvious

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Fracking Could Help Geothermal Become a Power Player

Why isn't there more use of geothermal energy for power plants?

By David Biello

HOT ROCKS: Geothermal power is abundant, renewable and clean. So why isn't it employed more often? Image: Photograph by Julie Donnelly-Nolan, USGS

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Here's another use for fracking: expanding access to hot rocks deep beneath Earth?s surface for energy production. In April Ormat Technologies hooked up the first such project?known in the lingo as an enhanced geothermal system, or EGS?to the nation's electric grid near Reno, Nev.

"The big prize is EGS," enthuses Douglas Hollett, director of the Geothermal Technologies Office at the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE). "The key is learning how to do it in a reliable way, in a responsible way."

By some estimates, the U.S. could tap as much as 2,000 times the nation?s current annual energy use of roughly 100 exajoules (an exajoule equals a quintillion, or 10¹⁸ joules) via enhanced geothermal technologies. With respect to electricity, the DoE concludes at least 500 gigawatts of electric capacity could be harvested from such EGS systems. Even better, hot rocks underlie every part of the country and the rest of the world. Australia's first enhanced geothermal system, spicily named Habanero, began producing power in May, and Europe has brought three such power plants online.

The idea is simple: pump water or other fluids down to the hot rocks beneath the surface. Heat from the rocks turns the water to steam. The steam rises and turns a turbine that spins a magnet to make electricity.

The technology is proved. For years people have turned naturally produced steam from hot springs and the like into electricity. A geothermal power plant in Larderello, Italy, has churned out electricity this way in Tuscany for more than a century, and big power plants can be built this way. The Geysers in California can produce 850 megawatts of electricity alone. But that's because the geothermal resource is close to the surface and obvious, thanks to hot steam rising into the sky.

Although similar natural bounty has turned Iceland into a geothermal powerhouse, there are only so many such sites around. That's where fracking, the controversial practice of pumping fluid underground to shatter shale and release oil or gas, can help. Fracking ?enhances? geothermal by making cracks in hot rocks where none existed, allowing heat to be harvested from Earth?s interior practically anywhere, although this reduces the total power produced because of the need to pump water through the system.

As an added benefit, however: geothermal power can run constantly?the hot rocks don't cool very fast?which makes it renewable and predictable. "Geothermal is homegrown, reliable and clean," says Rohit Khanna, program manager at the World Bank for its Energy Sector Management Assistance Program. That is a big part of the reason it is being pursued in developing countries such as Chile, Indonesia, Kenya and the Philippines.

In the case of the Philippines geothermal power now produces nearly 2,000 megawatts, or nearly 20 percent of the country's electricity, thanks to investments that were made in the 1990s. And Kenya, according to its ambassador to the U.S., Elkanah Odembo, would like to derive more than half its electricity from geothermal by 2030. The goal: a combination of geothermal and hydroelectric power that will make them entirely renewably powered. "The potential is there," Odembo promises. He says the Rift Valley contains an estimated 15 gigawatts of potential geothermal power. Nairobi has already become a boomtown for such development.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/~r/sciam/basic-science/~3/up8cV0_hDjY/article.cfm

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Tuna and floating objects: Mysterious links

[unable to retrieve full-text content]More than 2 000 years ago, Roman fishermen already used the natural propensity of some species of fish to gather under floating objects, to enhance their catches in the Mediterranean. Today, numerous industrial and artisanal tuna fisheries around the world exploit this "aggregating phenomenon." Over the last thirty years, seine fishing in particular has developed rapidly through the use of massive floating objects, natural at first, then more recently fish aggregation devices (abbreviated to FAD) remotely monitored using electronic beacons. Today, these floating objects enable 40% of worldwide tropical tuna catches.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/XA0ZhkNI0PY/130729083251.htm

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Hollywood celebrity visits tornado victims in Steelman Estates

Posted on: 9:28 pm, July 28, 2013, by Sarah Stewart, updated on: 08:18am, July 29, 2013

SHAWNEE, Okla. ? Most of us probably know him from his starring roles in the Lethal Weapon movies.

But the 67-year-old actor with the trademark raspy voice is also widely known for his humanitarian efforts.

Sunday, Danny Glover, brought those efforts here to Oklahoma.

?I?ve had the opportunity and privilege to come out here and visit with those people most affected,? Glover said, while visiting families at Steelman Estates in Shawnee.

Glover was in town for a black tie reception and fundraiser at Gaillardia Country Club, with proceeds benefiting California Celebrities Oklahoma Disaster Relief Fund.

But Glover said he didn?t just want to rub elbows with the privileged who could afford tickets to the benefit.

?I would be remiss if I didn?t come out to see and to be with those who still live the nightmare, the continuing nightmare of what has happened,? Glover said.

?It was breathtaking actually to see him in person and know that he knows us,? Kristina Miller said, who lost her home in Steelman Estates.

Glover said he feels it?s important to keep the focus on disaster ravaged communities long after the attention has shifted.

?What we do after, how we come together, how we service those who are most affected is what is most important to me,? he said.

People can donate to the California Celebrities Oklahoma Disaster Relief Fund at any First Commercial Bank location, or by phone to (405) 844-0110.

Source: http://kfor.com/2013/07/28/hollywood-celebrity-visits-tornado-victims/

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Need 3 more people for Dreams Within Eden!

roleplay/dreams-within-eden#introduction

The Haunted: - Open: Once a revered physician, but by falling into Lazarus's trap of poisoning Leonard Heyward, and was caught. Thus he became an exiled man because it was he who essentially killed Eden's favoured Dictator. It was during his short time in the Wastelands he happened upon The Silent and was able to see his point of view that Eden must fall. After the death of Leonard, he has experienced frequent visions of Leonard's "ghost", sometimes telling him things, sometimes merely asking why he was killed, or seemingly doing so to get some kind of revenge on The Haunted for killing him. (The Haunted Palace)

The Sleeper: - Open: A child, the AI who runs Gehenna, the entire underground portion of Eden City. She is a full machine covered by a human skin, in contrast with her brother, the more advanced bio-machine. She was created separately from The Enigma, and wants to find him. She was the first to be uncovered by "Mother" and the less complicated of the two. As such, she is mobile and can use her body to travel. She shows no emotions, but feels them, though it is somewhat limited. She can communicate with The Enigma through dreams. (The Sleeper)

Master Eldorado: - Open: Is an old scholar who travelled with the original people that founded Eden. There he finds the old books pertaining to how the city originally was. He is strong in his belief that it can be restored back and searches for someone that can do just that. He lives in Eden where he continues to study and teach about the history. He lives alone, sacrificing his own love life to see the city shine like it once had. He taught Leonard and Lenore hoping that they would be the ones to do just that. Now he works with the Lenore, Annabel, and others to try and get rid of Lazarus. He holds onto a book that is forbidden to anyone. He keeps it hidden in a small library that he keeps hidden away from everyone. No one, not even the people who was with him at the time Eden was found, knows about it. (Eldarado)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/joyaeSZL9KA/viewtopic.php

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Video: U.S. vs. SAC

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Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/cnbc/52615211/

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ASUS' RAIDR Express PCI-e SSD is compatible with both legacy and UEFI BIOS

These days, it's fairly easy to find a PCI Express-based SSD to transform one's desktop -- Angelbird, Fusion-io, Micron and ASUS will sell you one, just to name a few. That said, the last of those three has just revealed a new entrant that will certainly catch the eye of many, as the RAIDR Express claims to be the first PCI-e SSD to be compatible with both legacy and UEFI BIOS. The so-called DuoMode feature is joined by 240GB of storage space, sequential 830MB/s read and 810MB/s write speeds and a reported 620,000 hours mean time between failure (MTBF).

You'll also find the latest LSI SandForce controller, Toshiba-built 19nm MLC flash, and 100,000 4K read/write input/output operations per second (IOPS). The bundled RAMDisk utility allows users to dedicate up to 80 percent of a computer's available RAM for use as a high-speed virtual drive, and if you needed any further proof that it's fast, look no further than in the video after the break. Curiously, ASUS isn't talking pricing just yet, but it should start shipping in the very near future.

Filed under: Gaming, Storage, ASUS

Comments

Via: PC Perspective, Engadget Japanese

Source: ASUS

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/ZM20qs05hYs/

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Fishgate: Shouting Match Between Press And Indie Dev Phil Fish ...

Creator and lead designer of successful indie game Fez (Phil Fish) is no stranger to speaking candidly to both press and public. The newest saga of heated back and forth between Fish and journalists may have reached a fever pitch, however. The most recent exchange of anger with GameTrailers Michael Beer has left Fish bitter enough to announce on his Twitter that Fez II is canceled.

This spontaneous announcement comes from a very coarse dialogue that started when Michael Beer made some off hand comments on Gametrailers Invisible Walls show.The comments were regarding Jon Blow and Phil Fish, and their mixed reactions involving ?Microsoft?s reversal about indie devs being able to self-publish on the Xbox One. While both Fish and Blow appreciated Microsoft to allow them to publish, both devs voiced negativity towards Microsoft about the ?reversal being a redundancy of not having a better policy in the first place.

Further, both devs made comments critical of the gaming press, in regards to pestering them for opinion incessantly looking for sound bites about video game culture. Michael Beer shot back at both Fish and Blow on GT?s Invisible Walls, ?and declared: ?Don?t get f****** snicky about it!?

Beer goes on:

?If you guys want the promotion,the next time around on [your games]?.[you must be aware] you guys are out there you have to suck it up.?

The quotation I?ve featured above is the least insulting of Beer?s sentiments, who goes on to call the indie developers ?hipster tosspots? and directly calls out Fish for being a ?f****** a**hole?, all the while referring to the duo as ?Blow Fish? out of spite.

The full video?has Beer going on for some time, and gives off a sense of anger that both devs are being hypocritical given their level of success. The video showcases Beer being so insulting however, that Fish responded in full, even going as far to Tweet that Beer should kill himself for his remarks.

The two have been at each others throats ever since, with Fish has even gone as far as locking his Twitter account and officially announcing the cancellation of Fez II. ?Needless to say, ?Fishgate? has spawned and flooded the internet very quickly, and has left everyone with a wet mess. As of this moment, the whole back and forth has observably halted the development of Fez II, and has left a bitter taste in everyone?s mouth about the entire debacle.

I have a feeling we may not have heard the last of this explosive communication, and will keep you updated on further developments.

Article from Gamersyndrome.com

Related posts:

1. Indie Developer Phil Fish On Xbox One Self-Publishing: ?The Whole Thing Is So God Damned Reactionary?
2. Nintendo Skipping Out On Indie Developer Support For Wii U
3. Indie Gamer Chick Bundle Now Live, Get Eight Games For Four Bucks
4. Pure Indie Bundle: Eight Games For Four Bucks.
5. MineCraft Creator Behind Xbox One, Says Actual Console ?Wonderful Idea? For Developers

Source: http://gamersyndrome.com/2013/video-games/fishgate-shouting-match-between-press-indie-dev-phil-fish-hits-fever-pitch-fez-ii-canceled/

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Alabama Companies Raise $23K For Oklahoma Tornado Relief

',
calendar:'',
week:'{week}', dayClickable:'{date}', dayCurrent:'{date}', dayNone:'', day:'{date}', search:'' }, // Stored objects $container = $(loc), now = new Date(), current = now, minDate = new Date('12/5/2007'), station = wng_pageInfo.affiliateName||'kotv', months = ['January', 'February', 'March', 'April', 'May', 'June', 'July', 'August', 'September', 'October', 'November', 'December'], monthLengths = [31, 28, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31], // Helper methods renderTemplate = function(tpl, vars) { var retVal = templates[tpl]; if (typeof(retVal) === 'string') { for (var i in vars) { var regEx = new RegExp('\{' + i + '\}', 'g'); retVal = retVal.replace(regEx, vars[i]); } } else { retVal = null; } return retVal; }, // Renderers makeCalendar = function(date) { // Copy the date to a new object (so as not to overwrite the original) and set us to the beginning of the month date = new Date(date); date.setDate(1); current = date; var month = date.getMonth(), year = date.getFullYear(), firstDay = date.getDay(), out = '', days = '', colCount = 0, monthLength = monthLengths[month] + (month == 1 && year % 4 == 0 ? 2 : 1); // Figure up the month length taking into consideration leap years. Not accurate to 100+ years // Render the days before the start of the month if necessary for (var i = 0; i = minDate) { tpl = 'dayClickable'; } days += renderTemplate(tpl, {date:i}); colCount++; if (colCount % 7 == 0) { out += renderTemplate('week', {week:days}); days = ''; } } // Tack on the last week if (days != '') { out += renderTemplate('week', {week:days}); } // Render to the DOM out = renderTemplate('calendar', {days:out}); out = renderTemplate('controls', {month:months[month], year:year}) + out + templates.search; $container.html(out); // Determine whether the previous/next buttons should be shown date.setDate(1); if (date 12) { month = 1; year++; } makeCalendar(new Date(month + '/1/' + year)); } }, // Init init = function() { $container.addClass('gnmCalendar'); makeCalendar(now); }; init(); };

Source: http://www.news9.com/story/22947878/alabama-companies-raise-23k-for-oklahoma-tornado-relief

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Franklin 1-for-1 at worlds thanks to Romano

United States's Katie Ledecky looks at her time after finishing a heat of the Women's 400m freestyle at the FINA Swimming World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, July 28, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

United States's Katie Ledecky looks at her time after finishing a heat of the Women's 400m freestyle at the FINA Swimming World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, July 28, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

China's Sun Yang swims to win the gold medal in the Men's 400m freestyle final at the FINA Swimming World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, July 28, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

United States's Katie Ledecky, top, and China's Shao Yiwen compete in a heat of the Women's 400m freestyle at the FINA Swimming World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, July 28, 2013. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

China's Sun Yang shakes water from his head after finishing a heat of the Men's 400m freestyle at the FINA Swimming World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, July 28, 2013. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

China's Sun Yang douses himself with water before competing in a heat of the Men's 400m freestyle at the FINA Swimming World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, July 28, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) ? Missy Franklin has claimed gold in the first of her eight events at the world championships.

She can thank teammate Megan Romano.

Romano chased down the Australians with a powerful anchor leg, leading the United States to gold in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay. Franklin was far behind in second after a blistering start by Cate Campbell, but Natalie Coughlin and Shannon Vreeland chipped away at the deficit before Romano finished the job.

She touched in 3 minutes, 32.43 seconds, edging Alicia Coutts by 0.12. The Netherlands finished another 3 seconds behind for the bronze.

The relay win followed a dominating victory by American teenager Katie Ledecky in the women's 400 freestyle. China's Sun Yang won the first final of the night, also with a runaway win in the men's 400 free.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-07-28-SWM-Swim-Worlds/id-2a640b7a54a24bc18a39791f33c2dab1

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The Evolution of the Social Networking Site | Have You Nerd

By: Andrea Cole

In the beginning there was the Internet, a vast and lonely space occupied only by computer science majors and Trekkies. ?Then came IRC, ICQ, instant messaging, and email. And AOL saw that it was good. But man and woman were lonely and needed to interact and the dating site was created. And Match.com saw that it was good. Then the emotional teenagers needed a place to vent and complain about parents, boys, and lame teachers and the blogosphere was created. ?And LiveJournal saw that it was good. ?And then someone decided to share his music and got his friends to as well. And Napster saw that it was good. ?But the US Government disagreed. ?The US Government won. ?And soon the teenagers went to college and one day a sophomore in his Harvard dorm room hacked the network, probably swindled his friends out of millions of dollars, and created what is now one of the top three websites on the planet. ?And Facebook saw that it was good. ?And Goldman Sachs saw dollar signs.

And so the Social Networking Site is here for good.

Ok, so that was a bit simplistic and rather droll, but you get the idea.

The Internet has been used for networking since its inception. Its purpose is to send communications between computers and servers and spread information to the far corners of the world. ?So what does this mean for us? It means that the social networks we use right now are a part logical evolution of the Internet. ?Humans are naturally social creatures and enjoy the company of others and while our lives have become increasingly technology-based and some would say socially isolated, we are reaching out to others using technology-based means such as text messages, IMs, email, and social networking sites. ?Some bemoan the loss of traditional forms of interaction, but I say that the pendulum of social communication swings both ways and will eventually find a sweet spot. ?As long as we don?t end up as Borg, things will be fine.

So let?s go through a more traditional timeline of the history of the Internet and the Social Networking Site, shall we?

1957 ? USSR launches Sputnik, first artificial earth satellite and the start of global telecommunications. In response, the US forms the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) within the Department of Defense (DoD) to establish US lead in science and technology applicable to the military.

1969 ? Birth of the Internet, ARPANET commissioned by DoD for research into networking . The first node at UCLA (Los Angeles) is closely followed by nodes at Stanford Research Institute, UCSB (Santa Barbara) and U of Utah (4 Nodes).

1971 ? Michael Hart begins Project Gutenberg to make copyright-free works electronically available. The first is the US declaration of independence.

1972 ? Bolt Beranek and Newman computer engineer Ray Tomlinson invents email by adapting an internal messaging program and extending it to use the ARPANET to send messages between sites. Within a year, three quarters of ARPANET traffic is email.

1978 ? Gary Thuerk sends what is widely considered to be the first spam message, promoting DEC.

1982 ? Scott Fahlman kick-starts smiley-culture by suggesting using the and smileys to convey emotions in emails.

1984 ? Apple releases the Macintosh, the first commercially successful personal computer

1985 ? AOL is founded and grows its modest Internet connection business into one of the world?s biggest media companies.

1989 ? Tim Berners-Lee and the team at CERN invent the World Wide Web to make publishing and accessing information easier on the Internet.

1994 ? Jerry and David?s Guide to the World Wide Web is renamed Yahoo! and receives100,000 visitors. In 1995, it begins displaying advertisements.

1995 ? Search engine Alta Vista is launched by Digital Equipment Corporation, which it claims can store and index the HTML from every Internet page. The first multilingual search is introduced.

1995 ? Jeff Bezos launches Amazon.com, an online bookseller that pioneers e-commerce.

1995 ? eBay is launched to enable Internet users to trade with each other.

1996 ? The browser wars begin. Microsoft sees the Internet as a threat and integrates Internet Explorer with Windows. Netscape and Microsoft go head-to-head, intensively developing and releasing upgrades to their browsers.

1996 ? Macromedia Flash 1.0 launches to add interactive animation to webpages. Early adopters include Disney and MSN.

1997 ? AOL introduces AIM. The decline of chat rooms become imminent.

1998 ? Google debuts, pioneering a ranking system that uses links to assess a website?s popularity. Google?s distinguishes itself by maintaining a clean design compared to its competitors.

1999 ? Shawn Fanning launches Napster. The peer-to-peer software enables Internet users to swap MP3 music files stored on their computers and to find each other through a central directory.

1999 ? LiveJournal is launched, enabling users to post public or private journal entries as well as create user groups based around specific topics. ?It reaches 14 million accounts in October of 2007.

2000 ? The dot-com bust.

2001 ? The merger of AOL and Time Warner is approved by US regulators. Shareholders of AOL own 55% of the new company.

2003 ? MySpace is launched, allowing people to share information about themselves, and grows to 100 million accounts in August 2006.

2004 ? As broadband increases in popularity, media companies start selling music and video online. Napster relaunches as a paid music download store and competes against Apple?s iTunes.

2004 ? Mark Zuckerberg launches Facebook at Harvard University. Within three years, the social networking site has 30 million members. By January 2011, Facebook boasts of over 600 million active users (those who logged in within the last 30 days).

2004 ? Photo sharing website Flickr is launched, coinciding with the rise in digital photography.

2005 ? Television and telephone companies feel threatened by the Internet. YouTube is launched to enable people to easily post videos online. Within a year, Google acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion despite owning its own video site. Phone companies are threatened by free Internet-based phone calls, specifically Skype, which has 53 million users. eBay acquires Skype for $2.6 billion, although it eventually fails to successfully incorporate Skype into its core business.

2005 ? Older media has been slow to catch up with new media. Rupert Murdoch?s News Corp responds by buying Intermix Media, owner of Myspace.com, for $580 million.

2005 ? Reddit launches.

2006 ? Twitter is launched. Contrasting sharply to the multitude of lengthy blog posts, Twitter messages are limited to 140 characters.

2008 ? Google turns ten. The company now dominates online advertising and has a leading presence in online mapping, webmail and online document collaboration. Google?s search engine indexes 1 trillion unique URLs and there are several billion new web pages published every day. Google encroaches on Microsoft with the launch of the Google Chrome browser.

2008 ? The mobile web reaches critical mass for advertising, according to Nielsen Mobile. In the US, there are 95 million mobile Internet subscribers and 40 million active users. US mobile penetration is 15.6%, compared to 12.9% in the UK. Mobile Internet generated $1.7 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2008.

2009 ? Actor Ashton Kutcher becomes the first person on Twitter to have a million followers subscribing to his ?tweets? and winning a friendly competition with CNN. ?I found it astonishing that one person can actually have as big of a voice online as what an entire media company can on Twitter,? Kutcher stated.

2010 ? In February, Facebook announces it has 400 million active members. That?s larger than the population of the US and UK combined. ?It has since grown to 600 million users by January of 2011.

2010 ? Pinterest launches. Weddings, crafts, foods, and blogs are changed forever. It eventually grows to become one of the best search engines on the Web.

2011 ? Google+ launches and becomes the fastest growing social network on record. However, its success is short lived as people move back to Facebook.

2012 ? Facebook reaches a billion users.

2013 ? Twitter reaches 500 million users.

2013 ? Apple?s customers have downloaded over 50 billion apps.

So that was a quick overview of what has been happening for the last fifty-odd years. ?Things are only going to get wilder from here on out and it?s best to be prepared to a whole lot flux. ?Which social networks do you or have you used? How connected do you like to be?

andrea@haveyounerd.com?

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Source: http://haveyounerd.com/2013/07/26/the-evolution-of-the-social-networking-site/

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Cakewalk for India, again

Harare: Shikhar Dhawan capitalised on three reprieves to slam his third ODI century as India maintained their stranglehold over minnows Zimbabwe with a comfortable 58-run victory in the second cricket one-dayer here on Friday.

Dhawan struck 116 as India recovered from early jolts to post a competitive 294 for eight and then restricted the hosts to 236 for nine to take a 2-0 series lead in the five-match series.

Put into bat, India were in a spot of bother at 65 for four at one stage before Dhawan and Dinesh Karthik (69) put on 167 runs for the fifth wicket to not only restore the innings but take them to a commanding total at the Harare Sports Club.

India could have won the match by a much bigger margin but a defiant late-order resistance by Elton Chigumbara (46) and Prosper Utseya (52 not out) delayed the inevitable with the duo adding 88 runs for the seventh wicket to frustrate the visitors.

Opener Vusi Sibanda (55) also provided a good start to the Zimbabwean innings, which somehow lost the momentum after his departure with five wickets falling within a span of 24 runs.

For India, Jaydev Unadkat was the pick of the bowlers with four for 41 while leg-spinner Amit Mishra accounted for two wickets.

The two teams will play the third match of the series at the same venue here on Sunday.

Zimbabwe lost opener Sikandar Raza (20) early into their run-chase as the batsman, who had top-scored with 82 in the first one-dayer, went for an expensive pull-shot against Unadkat and was holed out in the deep.

Next man-in, Hamilton Masakadza and Sibanda chose to play a more patient game and rotated the strike cleverly before opening up against Vinay Kumar?s medium-pace and Mishra?s googlies.

Both hit Mishra early on in his spell for a six each while Kumar was pulled for two boundaries in the opening over and was taken for 16 runs in his return over in the second spell as the second-wicket partnership looked threatening on an eased out pitch.

Sibanda reached his individual fifty with a hit off Mishra over long-on for six and, in the process, also took his side?s total past 100-run mark. However, Zimbabwe could not hold onto their strong position for long as Sibanda once again failed to covert his innings into a big score after dominating the Indian bowlers with his powerful hits.

Sibanda, who had escaped with a missed stumping chance after running down the pitch to Mishra, threw away his wicket and fell to Unadkat in the 21st over. His 57-ball 55 knock was laced with seven fours and two sixes.

Four balls later, Brendan Taylor (nought) ran himself out as from 109 for one, it became 109 for three for the hosts. Zimbabwe?s misery further compounded when Ravindra Jadeja had Sean Williams (5) trapped right in front of the stumps.

Next over saw the soft dismissal of Masakadza who ended up giving a simple catch to Shami Ahmed at short fine-leg going for a sweep shot. Masakadza scored 47-ball 34 which had one six over the deep midwicket.

Malcolm Waller (2) fell for Mishra?s deceptive googly as the dismissal left the run chase in tatters.

Chigumbara and Utseya waged a lonely battle and showed some resistance but their efforts did not prove enough in the end.

Earlier, the Zimbabweans spilled regulation catches and their wayward bowlers conceded 28 extras as India posted a daunting target.

Dhawan was dropped twice when on 14 and 70 and the Delhi-lad also benefited from a no-ball by Kyle Jarvis in the fifth over when he had added just three runs to his name.

The 27-year-old, however, hung on and hit his third ODI century in his 17th match to save the Indians the blushes. He hit 11 fours and two sixes.

Karthik played his part with a composed 74-ball innings which was studded with six fours as the duo denied the Zimbabweans any success for 25.4 overs.

India ended their innings in style with tail-enders Vinay Kumar (27 not out) and Ahmed (6 not out) scoring 23 from the last over with the help of three sixes and a four.

Captain Virat Kohli could only score 14 runs while the other opener Rohit Sharma (1), Ambati Rayudu (5), Suresh Raina (4) and Jadeja (15) were also out cheaply.

India suffered an early jolt with opener Rohit being dismissed in the second over as pacer Brian Vitori got his scalp in his first ball.

Dhawan was out when on three in the fifth over but survived as it turned out that Jarvis had bowled a no-ball. Then he was dropped on 14 in the ninth over with captain Brendan Taylor spilling a regulation catch, the unfortunate bowler being Jarvis. India were 38 for two then.

Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130727/jsp/sports/story_17163095.jsp

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Police to question driver after Spanish train crash kills 80

By Tracy Rucinski

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Spain (Reuters) - The driver of a Spanish train that derailed, killing at least 80 people, was under police guard in hospital on Friday after the accident, which an official source said was caused by excessive speed.

The eight-carriage train came off the tracks, hit a wall and caught fire just outside the pilgrimage destination Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain on Wednesday night. It was one of Europe's worst rail disasters.

The source had knowledge of the official investigation into a crash which brought misery to Santiago on Thursday, the day when it should have celebrated one of Europe's biggest Christian festivals.

A judge in Santiago de Compostela, capital of the northern Spanish region of Galicia, was assigned to investigate the accident. The judge ordered police to question the train's driver, named as 52-year-old Francisco Jose Garzon.

It was not clear what kind of injuries the driver had suffered. He was not arrested, but he was under a police guard at the hospital and was expected to be questioned on Friday.

State train company Renfe said the driver was a 30-year veteran of the firm with more than a decade of train driving experience. He had been driving trains on this line for about a year, the firm said.

The regional government said 95 people were still in hospital, 32 of them, including four children, in a serious condition. Medical experts were still trying to identify 13 of the bodies early on Friday, leaving distraught families to wait for definitive news.

With the festivities in Santiago cancelled on Thursday, hundreds of people went to the site of the wreck instead, where they watched cranes picking the mangled train carriages off the tracks.

"My brother-in-law lives close by and was helping pull out people, dead and alive, all night. He's very shaken. I've come now with some friends just to see how it all ends," said Manuel Garcia, one of the onlookers.

Video footage from a security camera showed the train, with 247 people on board, hurtling into a concrete wall at the side of the track as carriages jack-knifed and the engine overturned.

The train entered the bend at 190 km per hour (120 mph), according to local media reports. The speed limit on the curve was 80 km per hour (50 mph).

Investigators were trying to find out why the train was going so fast and why security devices to keep speed within permitted limits had not slowed it down.

The impact was so huge one carriage flew several meters into the air and landed on the other side of a concrete barrier. Bodies were strewn next to the tracks in the aftermath.

The dead included a U.S. citizen and a Mexican, and at least one British citizen was injured.

NATIONAL MOURNING

Train traffic resumed on Friday morning on the tracks parallel to the where the accident took place.

Spain's rail safety record is better than the European average, ranking 18th out of 27 countries in terms of railway deaths per kilometre travelled, the European Railway Agency said. There were 218 train accidents in Spain between 2008 and 2011, well below the EU average of 426 for the same period.

The disaster happened at 8:41 p.m. (1841 GMT) on the eve of a festival dedicated to St. James, one of Jesus's 12 disciples, whose remains are said to rest in Santiago's centuries-old cathedral.

The apostle's shrine is the destination of the famous El Camino de Santiago pilgrimage across the Pyrenees, which has been followed by Christians since the Middle Ages and has had a resurgence in popularity in recent decades.

Even though the festival was cancelled, pilgrims and tourists formed long lines to see the cathedral on Thursday.

"It's hard to make sense of a tragedy like this, especially on an occasion that is supposed to be joyous," said Jan Roser, a Catholic priest from Germany who had made the pilgrimage and was in Santiago for the festival.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, a native of Galicia, visited the accident site and the main hospital on Thursday. He declared three days of official national mourning.

King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia also visited the injured in hospital.

"All of Spain is united in grief with the bereaved families," the king said.

(Additional reporting by Julien Toyer and Teresa Medrano; Writing by Fiona Ortiz and Julien Toyer; Editing by Mohammad Zargham and Susan Fenton)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/police-driver-spanish-train-crash-kills-80-005156497.html

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Student loan deal faces an easy path in House

FILE - Prospective students tour Georgetown University's campus in Washington, in this Wednesday, July 10, 2013, file photo. Grants and scholarships are taking a leading role in paying college bills, surpassing the traditional role parents long have played in helping foot the bills, according to a report from loan giant Sallie Mae. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

FILE - Prospective students tour Georgetown University's campus in Washington, in this Wednesday, July 10, 2013, file photo. Grants and scholarships are taking a leading role in paying college bills, surpassing the traditional role parents long have played in helping foot the bills, according to a report from loan giant Sallie Mae. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A bipartisan Senate compromise on student loans is heading to House, where lawmakers there already have voted to link interest rates with the financial markets.

If lawmakers can iron out the relatively small differences between the House student loan bill and the version the Senate passed Wednesday, students and their parents will find interest rates lower than the ones they faced last year.

President Barack Obama encouraged the House to vote quickly on the legislation so returning students can enjoy lower rates across the board.

"I urge the House to pass this bill so that I can sign it into law right away," Obama said in a statement.

Critics, including some in the president's Democratic caucus, said borrowing for tuition, housing and books would be less expensive this fall, but the costs could soon start climbing under the Senate bill. The compromise would be a good deal for all students through the 2015 academic year. After that, interest rates are expected to climb above where they were when students left campus in the spring, if congressional estimates prove correct.

The White House and its allies said the new loan structure would offer lower rates to 11 million borrowers immediately and save the average undergraduate $1,500 in interest charges.

The bipartisan Senate bill links interest rates to the financial markets. It is similar to the bill that already had passed the Republican-led House and is like the proposal in Obama's budget earlier this year.

Undergraduates this fall would borrow at a 3.9 percent interest rate. Graduate students would have access to loans at 5.4 percent, and parents would borrow at 6.4 percent. The rates would be locked in for that year's loan, but each year's loan could be more expensive than the last. Rates would rise as the economy picks up and it becomes more expensive for the government to borrow money.

As part of the compromise, Democrats won a protection for students by capping rates at a maximum 8.25 percent for undergraduates. Graduate students would not pay rates higher than 9.5 percent, and parents' rates would top out at 10.5 percent.

If Congressional Budget Office estimates hold true, rates would not reach those limits in the next 10 years.

For the moment, most lawmakers were emphasizing the low costs immediately available, while a few were already looking for a fix in coming years.

"This bipartisan agreement is a victory for students, for parents and for our economy, and it is consistent with the House Republican bill passed in May," House Speaker John Boehner said in a statement.

"The House will act expeditiously," Boehner, R-Ohio, pledged.

The Republican chairman of the House Education Committee, Rep. John Kline of Minnesota, predicted "the bill's swift passage." And the top Democrat on the panel, Rep. George Miller of California, similarly urged Boehner to bring up the Senate bill and pass it quickly.

All seemed to portend lower rates for students, a reversal from less than a month ago.

Rates on new subsidized Stafford loans doubled to 6.8 percent on July 1 because Congress could not agree on a way to keep them at 3.4 percent. Without congressional action, rates would have remained at 6.8 percent ? a reality most lawmakers called unacceptable.

"This permanent, market-based plan makes students' loans cheaper, simpler and more certain," said Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the top Republican on the Senate education panel. "It ends the annual game of Congress playing politics with student loan interest rates at the expense of students planning their futures."

The measure's supporters suggested that the compromise was better than the status quo for students returning to campus for fall classes.

Sen. Tom Harkin, the Iowa Democrat who chairs the Senate education panel, said the legislation was not what he would have written had he had the final say. But he also said he recognized the need to restore the lower rates on students before they return to campus.

"It's the best that we can do," Harkin said.

Harkin added that a rewrite of the Higher Education Act this fall could include a comprehensive review of college costs and could revisit the loan rates for future classes.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated the bill as written would reduce the deficit by $715 million over the next decade. During that same time, federal loans would be a $1.4 trillion program.

___

Follow Philip Elliott on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/philip_elliott

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-07-25-Student%20Loans/id-1de7ca0c158e4204bce31a6a3ba59aaf

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