Republican Hagel faces GOP critics at hearing

WASHINGTON ? Republican Chuck Hagel, President Barack Obama's nominee for defense secretary, is facing GOP critics who have challenged his past comments on Israel, Iran and nuclear weapons.

The former two-term senator from Nebraska is the lone witness at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Thursday that could be crucial in determining whether he will win Senate confirmation to succeed Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in Obama's second-term national security team. Two former committee chairmen ? Democrat Sam Nunn and Republican John Warner ? will introduce the nominee.

If confirmed, Hagel, a decorated Vietnam combat veteran, would be the first enlisted man and first Vietnam veteran to serve as defense secretary.

Hagel has the announced backing of about a dozen Democrats and the tacit support of dozens more who are unlikely to embarrass the president by defeating his Cabinet pick. One Republican ? Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi ? has said he will vote for his former colleague.

Six Republicans, including four members of the Armed Services panel, have said they will oppose Hagel's nomination. Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, the top GOP lawmaker on the committee, has said he and Hagel are "too philosophically opposed" on issues such as defense spending, nuclear weapons and the Middle East.

Crucial for Hagel will be the questioning by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Hagel and McCain are fellow Vietnam veterans who once had a close relationship during their years in the Senate, but politics and Hagel's opposition to increased troop numbers in Iraq divided the two men.

McCain has praised Hagel's military service but said he had serious concerns about positions the nominee has taken on various issues. He said he is reserving judgment until after the hearing. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., earlier this month described Obama's selection as an "in-your-face" pick but was a bit less critical this week.

"Who are we getting ? the guy today or the guy who said things before?" Graham said Tuesday after a 20-minute meeting with Hagel. Graham said he doesn't doubt Hagel's "personal integrity, but I do have real concerns about his policy positions."

The hearing will be the first time Hagel publicly addresses the barrage of criticism that he is not sufficiently pro-Israel or tough enough on Iran. In the past, Hagel has questioned the efficacy of unilateral sanctions on Iran, arguing that penalties in conjunction with international partners made more sense. He has also been criticized for his comments about the influence of a "Jewish lobby" and his view of gay rights.

He addressed several of the issues in a 112-page questionnaire to the committee in which he said his wartime experience would shape his decisions about using military force.

"I understand what it is like to be a soldier in war," wrote Hagel. "I also understand what happens when there is poor morale and discipline among the troops and a lack of clear objectives, intelligence and command and control from Washington. I believe that experience will help me as secretary of defense to ensure we maintain the best fighting force in the world, protect our men and women in uniform and ensure that we are cautious and certain when contemplating the use of force."

In his responses, Hagel adopted a hard line on Iran and its possible pursuit of a nuclear weapon. He echoed Obama's view that all options are feasible to stop Tehran, praised the rounds of penalties and warned of "severe and growing consequences" if Iran balks at international demands.

Questioned about all options, Hagel said, "If confirmed, I will focus intently on ensuring that the U.S. military is in fact prepared for any contingency."

He said that he would continue to put in place the "smart, unprecedented and effective sanctions against the Iranian regime" that Congress and the Obama administration have adopted in recent years.

The criticism of Hagel has surprised some of Hagel's strongest backers.

"This idea that's being propagated that he might be soft on adversaries. Chuck Hagel's not soft on anybody, particularly himself," said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., a member of the Armed Services Committee, in a conference call with Hagel allies. "He drives hard. He's someone who searches for the right approach and the right policy."

Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.wral.com/republican-hagel-faces-gop-critics-at-hearing/12046321/

Tilted Kilt Barbara Palvin Yahoo Fantasy Football Nick Foles Auguste Rodin Breaking Amish Indianapolis explosion

Microchip moves information around in 3-D: From left to right, back to front, and up and down

Jan. 30, 2013 ? Scientists from the University of Cambridge have created, for the first time, a new type of microchip which allows information to travel in three dimensions. Currently, microchips can only pass digital information in a very limited way -- from either left to right or front to back.

The research is published Jan. 31 in Nature.

Dr Reinoud Lavrijsen, an author on the paper from the University of Cambridge, said: "Today's chips are like bungalows -- everything happens on the same floor. We've created the stairways allowing information to pass between floors."

Researchers believe that in the future a 3D microchip would enable additional storage capacity on chips by allowing information to be spread across several layers instead of being compacted into one layer, as is currently the case.

For the research, the Cambridge scientists used a special type of microchip called a spintronic chip which exploits the electron's tiny magnetic moment or 'spin' (unlike the majority of today's chips which use charge-based electronic technology). Spintronic chips are increasingly being used in computers, and it is widely believed that within the next few years they will become the standard memory chip.

To create the microchip, the researchers used an experimental technique called 'sputtering'. They effectively made a club-sandwich on a silicon chip of cobalt, platinum and ruthenium atoms. The cobalt and platinum atoms store the digital information in a similar way to how a hard disk drive stores data. The ruthenium atoms act as messengers, communicating that information between neighbouring layers of cobalt and platinum. Each of the layers is only a few atoms thick.

They then used a laser technique called MOKE to probe the data content of the different layers. As they switched a magnetic field on and off they saw in the MOKE signal the data climbing layer by layer from the bottom of the chip to the top. They then confirmed the results using a different measurement method.

Professor Russell Cowburn, lead researcher of the study from the Cavendish Laboratory, the University of Cambridge's Department of Physics, said: "Each step on our spintronic staircase is only a few atoms high. I find it amazing that by using nanotechnology not only can we build structures with such precision in the lab but also using advanced laser instruments we can actually see the data climbing this nano-staircase step by step.

"This is a great example of the power of advanced materials science. Traditionally, we would use a series of electronic transistors to move data like this. We've been able to achieve the same effect just by combining different basic elements such as cobalt, platinum and ruthenium. This is the 21st century way of building things -- harnessing the basic power of elements and materials to give built-in functionality."

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Cambridge, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Reinoud Lavrijsen, Ji-Hyun Lee, Amalio Fern?ndez-Pacheco, Doroth?e C. M. C. Petit, Rhodri Mansell, Russell P. Cowburn. Magnetic ratchet for three-dimensional spintronic memory and logic. Nature, 2013; 493 (7434): 647 DOI: 10.1038/nature11733

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/matter_energy/physics/~3/PL8nx83-Zv4/130130132407.htm

boardwalk empire iOS 6 Release Date Canelo Alvarez Chavez vs Martinez Yunel Escobar Irish Daily Star seth macfarlane

Homeownership rate slips, rental vacancies up

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The share of privately owned homes edged down in the fourth quarter and rental vacancies rose, government data showed on Tuesday, underscoring the challenges still confronting the housing market recovery.

The homeownership rate slipped to 65.4 percent from 65.5 percent in the third quarter, the Commerce Department said.

While the housing market recovery appears to be gaining traction, high unemployment and stringent lending standards are keeping many from owning a home.

The homeownership rate peaked at 69.2 percent in 2004 at the height of a housing market boom fueled by cheap credit.

In the fourth quarter, the home ownership rate was pulled down by a 1.4 percentage points decline in ownership among the 35-44 age group.

The residential rental vacancy rate ticked up to 8.7 percent from 8.6 percent in the third quarter. It peaked at 11.1 percent in the third quarter of 2009.

Owner-occupied housing units made up 56.6 percent of total housing units, while renter-occupied units made up 30.0 percent of the inventory in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Vacant units that were held off market comprised 5.5 percent of the total housing stock. The share of empty privately owned houses was steady at 1.9 percent.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/homeownership-rate-slips-rental-vacancies-164338594--business.html

norfolk state st patrick s day parade duke invisible children garbage pail kids st bonaventure ncaa tournament 2012

Mexican church urges to forgive killers with 'Brother Narco' video

by Associated Press

kvue.com

Posted on January 29, 2013 at 7:27 PM

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- An order of Roman Catholic priests in Mexico has produced a video urging relatives of drug cartel victims to adopt a Christ-like forgiveness by pardoning even the killers, hitting a sensitive nerve in a country that has suffered an estimated 70,000 estimated drug gang killings or more.

The 10-minute video entitled "Brother Narco," presented this week, tells the story of Miri, a 13-year-old girl who cowers in her bedroom as a gunman and his gang kill her parents one night. The killer in a black cowboy hat later bursts with his henchmen into the church where her parents' funeral is being held. The gunmen carry a funeral wreath for the couple, and the killer lays a hand on the coffin, and then turns to leave.

Miri walks up to him in the church and hugs him.

WATCH:?

"My uncles and aunts told me .... that when I grow up, I have to do the same thing to your children," Miri says to him, speaking of revenge.? Instead, she decides to forgive him, reasoning, "Maybe somebody did the same thing to your parents, or maybe they never hugged you."

The killer is shown returning the embrace, but it is unclear what he does next.

The scriptwriter of the short film, Pauline Father Omar Sotelo, said he won't reveal if the killer ever repents of his crime. Sotelo says his group is already in pre-production for the second of a planned 12 short features, filmed in high-definition video, which will be distributed on the Internet and on social networks.

Sotelo acknowledged that such a scene might be improbable in real life, but insisted that "as mystical and utopic as it may seem, this project comes out of real-life stories."

He told of one woman he met who decided to forgive her sons' killer.

"She said "I don't want to see anyone else's children killed. That is why I pardoned my son's killer'," Sotelo recalled.

Anti-crime crusader Isabel Miranda de Wallace had a different view: "I don't think people can forgive if they don't even know what happened to the victims, if justice hasn't been done."

Miranda de Wallace led a decade-long fight to bring to justice the gang that kidnapped and killed her son. But they haven't been sentenced yet, and they delayed so long in telling where they left her son's body that the lot was built over by the time authorities could search it.

She said even getting answers is hard in a country where drug gangs have routinely dissolved the bodies of their victims in chemicals or dumped them in unmarked mass graves.

"There are a lot of people who cannot even mourn, because we haven't found the bodies of our relatives, " she said, "so how are you going to go through the process of loss and reach forgiveness if you can't even get justice?"

To some extent, it is surprising how much tolerance victims' relatives have shown. In 2011, when victims banded together to form the Movement? for Peace and Justice With Dignity, the relatives of dead drug gang suspects and the relatives of drug gang victims often marched and rallied side by side, to demand answers about their loved ones' fates.

Sotelo hardly thinks his production is the last word on the debate. But in a nation where tens of thousands of young men have been recruited to drug gangs, he said forgiveness is something the nation is going to have to deal with. The only other alternative would be to arrest or kill all of the gunmen, and -- apart from humanitarian concerns -- Mexican authorities haven't proven very capable at doing either.

"By attacking the criminals with guns, what we have done is taken violence and produced more violence," he said.

"What we have found is that these criminals have undergone a process of dehumanization," Sotelo said. "What we need to do is to reverse that process of dehumanization. How you re-humanize someone, is, well, by treating them as what they are, a human being."

Miranda de Wallace, too, acknowledged Mexico will one day face the task, but in a country where an estimated 98 percent of crimes go unprosecuted, said that day has not yet arrived.

"Without doubt, we will have to reach forgiveness," she said, "but I don't think we are at that stage yet in the national process."
?

Source: http://www.kvue.com/news/Mexican-church-urges-to-forgive-killers-with-Brother-Narco-video-188937491.html

safe house jay z and beyonce baby cpac powell the last lecture kim jong un josh powell

Whistle away the need for diapers: Vietnamese babies often out of diapers at nine months

Jan. 30, 2013 ? Western babies are potty trained later these days and need diapers until an average of three years of age. But even infants can be potty trained. A study by researchers at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, followed 47 infants and their mothers in Vietnam -- where potty training starts at birth and the need for diapers is usually eliminated by nine months of age.

Not only does eliminating the need for diapers save money and remove one practical chore for parents, but the baby's ability to control its bladder improves efficiency and reduces the risk of urinary tract infection, researchers say.

International research shows that Western babies are being potty trained later these days and average 3-4 years of age before they can take care of their own toileting needs. The situation in Vietnam is very different.

Researchers at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, followed 47 Vietnamese mothers for two years to study their potty training procedure, which begins at birth and generally eliminates the need for diapers by nine months of age. The technique is based on learning to be sensitive to when the baby needs to urinate.

"The woman then makes a special whistling sound to remind her baby," Anna-Lena Hellstr?m says. "The whistling method starts at birth and serves as an increasingly powerful means of communication as time goes on."

According to the study, women notice signs of progress by time their babies are three months old. Most babies can use the potty on their own by nine months of age if they are reminded, and they can generally take care of all their toileting needs by the age of two.

"Our studies also found that Vietnamese babies empty their bladders more effectively," Professor Hellstr?m says. "Thus, the evidence is that potty training in itself and not age is the factor that causes bladder control to develop."

Swedes have grown accustomed to the idea that babies cannot be potty trained, but that parents need to wait until they are mature, usually when they decide that they no longer want diapers. The evidence from Vietnam demonstrates that more sophisticated communication between parents and their babies would permit potty training to start and be completed much earlier.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Gothenburg, via AlphaGalileo.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Thi Hoa Duong, Ulla-Britt Jansson, Anna-Lena Hellstr?m. Vietnamese mothers' experiences with potty training procedure for children from birth to 2 years of age. Journal of Pediatric Urology, 2012; DOI: 10.1016/j.jpurol.2012.10.023

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/living_well/~3/ZTI5tRKJydg/130130082726.htm

gcb mary j blige dionne warwick patricia heaton arsenic and old lace leslie varez ward

Mute logo still appearing on new Sony released Depeche Mode single: http://www.s...

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151207753926852&set=a.460285481851.253934.49990516851&type=1

Google Fiber Olympics Schedule 2012 Olympic Medal Count 2012 Olympics 2012 Olympic Schedule 2012 NBC Olympics NBC Olympics schedule

MacNN | iPhone News: Sprint adds 28 more markets to LTE coverage

?

Expansion mostly limited to minor towns

Sprint has expanded its LTE 4G coverage to 28 more towns in the US, according an announcement. The new locations are spread out across Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Missouri, Mississippi, Minnesota, Washington, Pennsylvania, Florida, Arizona, Michigan, Louisiana, Texas, and Massachusetts. Most of them are relatively minor; some notable names include Branson, Missouri, and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Sprint is still trying to catch up to Verizon and AT&T in terms of LTE. While it has had some form of LTE since 2008, Sprint initially opted for WiMAX, a standard that has mostly fallen out of favor. The carrier is hoping to complete its LTE network by the end of 2013, something it will need to remain competitive as LTE becomes a de facto standard on tablets and smartphones.

By Electronista Staff

Source: http://feeds.smartphonemag.com/~r/iPhoneLife_News/~3/e_zgYWTfuCE/story01.htm

kareem abdul jabbar miramonte elementary school mark jenkins super bowl commercials 2012 mia amar e stoudemire m.i.a.

FBI searches office of prominent Florida doctor

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- FBI agents are searching the office of a prominent South Florida political donor.

Authorities could be seen inside the Vitreo-Retinal Consultants Eye Center in West Palm Beach late Tuesday and past midnight Wednesday.

It is the office of Dr. Salomon Melgen, who has been linked to numerous politicians through his contributions.

The FBI did not speak to reporters on the scene. Melgen could not immediately be located for comment.

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/30/3207649/fbi-searches-office-of-prominent.html

new jersey devils torn acl derrick rose injury st louis news utah jazz lawrence of arabia denver nuggets

Technology Innovation in 2013 is a Business and IT Priority ?

The proper use of technology enables businesses to be more efficient. Our recent research into technology for business innovation?found that 56 percent indicate innovative technology is very important, yet only 9 percent are very satisfied with theirs, showing plenty of room for improvement. As we enter 2013, businesses have more choices than ever for technology to improve business and IT. Our firm has identified six key technologies that give organizations significant competitive advantages: big data, business analytics, business and social collaboration, cloud computing, mobile technology and social media. Our research agenda for 2013 is designed to help organizations assess and analyze these technologies and make the best possible decisions.

Big Data

Big data helps business and IT organizations manage and use information. Our technology innovation research?finds only 14 percent of businesses today are very satisfied with their existing big data technology. At the same time, organizations that utilize big data effectively have improved their business significantly, according to 28 percent of organizations. Our research in 2013 will build on our assessment of big data in 2012. We will do a benchmark research study on big data analytics and another on information optimization. We see that organizations are investing in information assets that require big data and the analytics associated with it to refine information and optimize business activities. Big data can have significant business value, but using it requires that IT coordinate with business on the benefits they can achieve. Making a business case for an investment in big data technology can help organizations address the top issue of it being too expensive, as found in almost half (44%) of organizations. At the same time, organizations need to ensure they have the competencies to meet big data needs, which include not just the technology for storage and access but also underlying information management issues such as data governance, data integration and data quality, which our research in 2012?found are still in embryonic form in most organizations.

Business Analytics

Our recent research on technology innovation found business analytics to be the top-ranked priority, and very important to more than half (52%) of organizations. Business analytics is not just a technology to get metrics faster but a set of processes to operate smarter with information, to better visualize and apply advanced methods such as predictive analytics, and to identify ways to better search and present information for a broad range of business constituents. Our research finds only half (51%) of organizations are satisfied with their existing processes due to lack of skilled resources. More than half of organizations say analytics are too hard to build and maintain or data is not readily available. The most time-consuming aspects of the process are data-related ones, according to 44 percent of organizations. The technology too still has room to improve, with only 20 percent being very satisfied. The most critical capabilities are in the areas of predictive analytics (49%), visual discovery (48%) and taking action on the outcomes of the analytics (46%). We also found in our next-generation business intelligence research?that the use of mobile technologies such as tablets is growing across organizations. We also found in our research a high priority to use social collaboration technology with business analytics to work together on making improvements in shorter period of time than traditional email or phone calls. Our research agenda in 2013 will investigate big data analytics and next-generation business analytics approaches building on top of our research on predictive analytics, which found that organizations still struggle to integrate predictive analytics with information architectures to support analysts and data scientists. Advancing the competencies and focusing on analytics are critical processes, but businesses also need simpler communication of results to help those responsible understand situations and consider potential recommendation actions. We hope that technology suppliers will work to better align to the human dynamics of what really happens with analytics to better support communicating observations and insights to ensure that end goals are achieved.

Business and Social Collaboration

The revolution in social media has expanded into business, bringing with it social collaboration and helping business processes by connecting people to achieve goals personally, departmentally or across an organization. This new technology was ranked the second most important technology in our research, but only 17 percent of organizations are very confident in their ability to use the technology well. With most organizations (86%) using shared folders and documents, it should be no surprise that part of the issue is related to technology. Organizations are evaluating new methods such as wall posting (45%), social recognition (41%), earning badges and awards (40%) and broadcast or Twitter-like capabilities (39%). With only a quarter of organizations being satisfied with their existing approaches, we see a lot of changes coming in 2013 in regards to the technologies selected and deployed. Our research in 2013 will examine where collaboration is critical in areas of human capital management, sales, customer engagement and even finance. Building on top of some groundbreaking research across business and vertical industries, we see business advancing rapidly with or without IT support, since business and social collaboration can be easily onboarded through the use of cloud computing. Unfortunately organizations are mixed in the methods they prefer to use to access collaboration ? embedded in applications, through Microsoft Office, embedded within tools like business intelligence or stand-alone ? making it complex to have consistency for users and their interactions. Using social collaboration with business analytics is a growing priority and organizations will need to assess their technologies to see if they meet this need. We believe that social collaboration will help bridge generational divides between workers as it becomes more easily accessible through web and mobile technologies, allowing managers and workers to engage anytime or anyplace. Focusing on the benefits of social collaboration, such as knowledge sharing, is critical as our research?finds as the top need in 49 percent of organizations.

Cloud Computing

Our research finds that businesses don?t see cloud computing as innovative technology but rather as a utility and becoming a standard method that can be easily accessed and leveraged as part of their portfolio of computing options. These faster methods to onboard applications have become easy and in most cases require little IT involvement. But beyond the simplicity for business and potential chaos for IT to eventually govern and support, the cloud computing environment is now a viable platform for IT to leverage in a multitude of methods, from IT infrastructure to developing and operating applications. The cloud computing environment can be used as a central point for integrating data and storing it for the enterprise or for customers and suppliers, but most organizations have not automated the integration of data to support business processes or business analytics and decision support. The lack of automation has increased concerns for data security, which 63 percent of organizations in our data in the cloud research?find to be a major concern. In all of our research in 2012, the preference for cloud computing is growing across lines of business and especially in areas like sales, customer service and human capital management. In 2013 we plan to further assess the advancements in cloud computing, from big data and analytics to information that can be leveraged from a broad range of applications and services.

Mobile Technology

The use of smartphones and tablets has become common among consumers who are also workers in organizations. Mobile technology is a new platform on which organizations can deploy applications and tools for a wide array of business needs. Yet our next-generation workforce management research?finds only 8 percent of organizations indicate they have everything they need on these technologies, and only a quarter more indicate they have most but not all they need available, which leaves a large number of organizations not able to meet their mobile business needs. This might be why only 20 percent are very confident in their use of mobile technology today. The debate on whether to use native applications and tools or operate across a web browser environment still looms, with native (39%) outpacing browser (33%) and a fifth having no preference. Bring your own device (BYOD) is another area of friction, where 39 percent of organizations allow this approach with smartphones and 45 percent with tablets. Organizations have many opportunities to determine how to use mobile technology effectively, and can derive many benefits. Our next-generation business intelligence research found increased workforce productivity was at the top of the list in 55 percent of organizations. Our research in 2013 will further investigate the use of tablets across the line of business, since this was found to have the largest growth planned (34%), while smartphones are more established.

Social Media

Social media is a new path for organizations to use to expand their corporate footprint to a broader audience and to gain brand awareness by marketing products and services. This new channel of opportunity enables organizations to rethink how they operate many of their business processes, including the ones that they use to find new talent and track candidates into an organization. In 2012 our research into social media and recruiting?found that only 7 percent of organizations are very confident in use of this channel, but half of organizations are planning to change how they use social media over the next year; for instance, 81 percent of organizations have identified it as a method to identify new talent pools. In 2013 we will continue to examine best practices and benefits of investments in this channel. We will also assess social media as a new channel for customers to engage with organizations through a new benchmark in next-generation customer engagement. Our research in 2012 found organizations benefit from using this channel to handle a broad range of customer questions and issues.

While new technologies can help business innovate, what?s old is still new, and requires a foundation of skills and resources. For example, with big data, those organizations that have information management competencies to automate big data efforts will find themselves further ahead, as they leverage the core skills of data integration to handle more data environments. Those organizations that use business and social collaboration to connect people and processes more efficiently than conference calls and email will better leverage their human capital investments.

At the same time new techniques can make it simpler to gain value from existing technology investments, such as advancements in the use of text to present analytics in a readable form, new methods to use visualization as a discovery tool on analytics, and the ability to engage employees by using new and more social collaborative methods. Taking advantage of this technology requires smart use of best practices, leadership from the top and agreement about the desired outcome. Organizations need to have technology in place to develop a business case with balanced evaluation criteria that are not about the vision a vendor has but rather about what the vendor can provide to advance business efforts. We use this practical approach in our vendor and product assessment methodology and rating called the Value Index?which we will be assessing over 100 vendors in 2013.

Organizations should explore resources in the company to determine if necessary skill sets exist, since their lack is the top barrier to adoption of technology according to 51 percent of organizations as found in our research. Part of this process is ability to know whether the technology can adapt to the workers? needs and capabilities, and whether it requires weeks of training. Organizations should also look to the future and examine how to use cloud computing to rent technology, and how to use mobile technology to enhance collaboration. They should also keep pace with peers and competitors through the use of benchmarks and industry comparisons.

You can depend on Ventana Research to provide sound facts and pragmatic guidance to help you leverage technology to gain a competitive advantage in your business and innovate in your processes and with your workforce.

Read 2013 Research Agenda

Regards,

Mark Smith

CEO and Chief Research Officer

Like this:

Be the first to like this.

Source: http://blog.ventanaresearch.com/2013/01/29/technology-innovation-in-2013-is-a-business-and-it-priority/

London 2012 Slalom Canoe Alex Morgan Misty May Treanor Lolo Jones Aly Raisman Marvin Hamlisch Megan Rossee

Netanyahu hints Israel can?t knock out Iran nuke program

Page last updated at 02:41 GMT, Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - 07:41 EST

The Times of Israel:

Benjamin Netanyahu speaking to the AJC Board of Governors in the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem ..

All photographs come from the aforementioned news sources, and full copyright ownership is maintained by those sources. This site uses the images purely for reference to the original source and educational purposes, and does not profit in any way from their use.

Israel can inflict ?significant damage? to Iranian facilities, but the US military is ?perfectly? capable of destroying them, PM says

Israel could do ?significant damage? to Iran?s nuclear program in a military strike, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week, seemingly admitting that Jerusalem would need help from the US or another country if it wanted to fully demolish Tehran?s nuclear drive.

Speaking before the board of the American Jewish Committee, Netanyahu said the United States was ?perfectly? capable of knocking out Iran?s enrichment program, widely believed to be for military purposes, Maariv reported.

Netanyahu?s statement seems to falls in line with past assessments by US officials and other experts that a unilateral Israeli strike would fall short of its goals. Official Jerusalem has maintained that it could proceed on its own should the world not act before the Iranian program crosses the ?red line? beyond which it can build a nuclear bomb.

Read the whole story: The Times of Israel

Source: http://www.phantis.com/news/netanyahu-hints-israel-can%E2%80%99t-knock-out-iran-nuke-program

purple squirrel blade runner close encounters of the third kind beyonce and jay z baby droid 4 tom brady sister dad shoots daughters laptop

Power/Religion - SISR / ISSR News and Events :: Nouvelles et ...

Call for Papers
Power/Religion: A Revanche of Reaction or a Metaphor of Revolution?

Venues: Helsinki (University of Helsinki) St Petersburg (European University at St Petersburg and Russian Christian Academy for Humanities)
Date: September 10?15, 2013

Paper proposals due May 1, 2013
After a short-lived belief in the secularization of societies, religion has returned to the political arena with a vengeance. It is one of the most controversial but also determining political issues in today?s world. The majority of contemporary wars and terrorist attacks are religiously laden. The age of theocracies is by no means over. European secular countries are trying to tackle with the issue of religious symbols in the public sphere. Religious words such as blasphemy have reappeared in political vocabulary. While the Lutheran State-Church is reduced to insignificance, in Orthodox countries the Church and the State have entered into a
mutual partnership legitimizing each other?s power claims against secular reformists. Overtly secular intellectuals in the West have turned to religious discourses in their quest for tools of cultural and political criticism in order to fight capitalism and neoliberal hegemony. Not Marx or Lenin but the Apostle Paul and Thomas M?ntzer are leading revolutionary figures today.

But is religion a reactionary force or does it involve revolutionary potentiality? Or is religion, particularly the Abrahamic religions, fundamentally twofold, originally based on a revolutionary event but developed into a power system of the Church. Or is the very power of the Church based on the fidelity to the revolutionary event in its origin? What about religious doctrines? In the Epistle to the Romans, the Apostle Paul proclaims that every person should be subject to the governing authorities (Romans 13), while in the same letter he observes that we are ?not under law but under grace? (Romans 6:14). Further, in Acts 5:29 we may read the Apostles? collective reply to the high priest who charged them not to preach in the name of Christ: ?We must obey God rather than men.? Indeed, does not religion open up a transcendent dimension of freedom within the immanence of political order? Or is it precisely this transcendent dimension of freedom ? but also that of secrecy (arcana) ? that is needed in order to legitimize clerical and political power? Presumably, there is no definitive answer to these questions, for it is quite obvious that we have to take into account historical contexts: it is probable that same religious principles that empower revolutionary militants can be used by the established Churches in order to suppress them. Or is it? This two-day conference addresses these and related questions. Papers may deal with perennial, historical or contemporary issues. Both theoretical and empirical approaches are welcome.

Schedule
Tuesday September 10
Arrival at Helsinki
19:00 Get together party / dinner
Wednesday September 11
Venue: Collegium for Advanced Studies (University of Helsinki)
9:15 ? 11:45 five papers
11:45 ? 13:15 lunch
13:15 ? 15:45 five papers
19:00 Departure from Helsinki (Ferry to St Petersburg) Thursday September 12
9:30: Arrival at St Petersburg
14:00 ? 17:30 five papers
19:00 Dinner
Friday September 13
10:00 ? 12:30 five papers
12:30 Lunch
14:00 ? 17:30 special section for additional Russian participants (in Russian)
19:00 Dinner
Saturday September 14
Sightseeing
20:00 Departure from St Petersburg (Ferry to Helsinki) Sunday September 15
8:30 Return to Helsinki

Paper Proposals
Researchers interested in presenting a paper at the conference are asked to send an abstract of no more than 300 words by the 1st of May 2013 to the following email addresses:
mika.ojakangas@jyu.fi
power.religion2013@gmail.com
NOTE: The conference will take place in Helsinki and St Petersburg.
Those participants who wish to participate in the sessions in both cities are recommended to use the opportunity to purchase a visa free cruise / hotel package to St Petersburg including two nights on board (St Peter Line / Princess Maria, Helsinki ? St Petersburg ? Helsinki) and two nights? accommodation in a hotel (four stars) in St Petersburg.
The price of the cruise / hotel package is about 250-300?. If you are interested in the package, please contact Mika Ojakangas
(mika.ojakangas@jyu.fi) before the 1st of April. See also
http://www.ferrycenter.fi/index.php?1422?
Looking forward to receiving your paper proposals,

Roland Boer (University of Newcastle, Australia) Sergey Kozin (Russian Christian Academy of the Humanities) Mika Ojakangas (University of Jyv?skyl?, Finland)

Sponsors:
Subjectivity, Historicity, and Communality Research Group (Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki) Academy of Finland (Faculty of Theology, University of Helsinki) European University at St Petersburg (http://www.eu.spb.ru/)
Russian Christian Academy for Humanities (http://rhga.ru/) Religion and Political Thought Project (Australian Research Council)

This is the fifth conference to be held in the ?Religion and Radicalism? series. To date, we have had:
Copenhagen: September 2010
Taipei: September 2011
Newcastle: October 2012
Herrnhut: March 2013
A five-volume series, under the title of Religion and Radicalism, will gather the articles from this international series of conferences.

Source: http://news.sisr-issr.org/?p=434

whitney houston last performance cpac straw poll i will always love you whitney cummings maine caucus whitney houston has died blue ivy carter

Asia stocks rise as Wall Street flirts with highs

BANGKOK (AP) ? Asian stock markets posted modest gains Tuesday as the feel-good factor lingered from near-record highs on Wall Street and signs of an upswing in U.S. manufacturing.

Analysts at DBS Bank Ltd. in Singapore said that benchmarks in South Korea and Taiwan are recuperating after recent sell-offs amid worries that the depreciating yen will hurt economic growth in those countries. South Korea release its January trade figures later this week and Taiwan reports fourth quarter economic growth.

"While exporters in Korea and Taiwan will face competition from Japanese counterparts, importers could benefit from a cheap the yen due to the high dependence on industrial supplies from Japan," DBS said in an email commentary.

South Korea's Kospi rose 0.8 percent to 1,956.25. Technology giant Samsung Electronics jumped 3.2 percent, following four consecutive days of losses. Taiwan's TAIEX advanced 0.9 percent. Acer Inc., one of the world's leading PC manufacturers, surged 6.9 percent.

Elsewhere, Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 0.9 percent to 10,924.94. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped less than 0.1 percent to 23,662.12. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.1 percent to 4,887.40.

"Investors are a bit more confident and responding to the fact that interest rates are very low and being kept that way by central banks," said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney. "They are looking to maintain the value of their portfolios by getting themselves into an asset class more likely to be earnings a reasonable return."

Japanese banks surged on expectations they will beat earnings estimates for fiscal 2012, the Nikkei newspaper reported. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group advanced 3.6 percent. Mizuho Financial Group gained 2.4 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group rose 3.8 percent.

There will plenty of fresh data from the U.S. to drive trading this week, including retail sales, economic growth and the government's report on hiring and employment in January, which is due out Friday. More than one-fifth of the companies in the S&P 500 will report fourth-quarter earnings this week. Moreover, the Federal Reserve's policy committee begins a two-day meeting that concludes Wednesday.

Strong corporate earnings helped push the S&P 500 above 1,500 Friday, the first time in more than five years. The breakthrough happened on an eighth straight daily gain for stocks, itself a remarkable performance. That is the longest winning streak since November 2004.

But stocks cooled off by Monday. A report showed that orders for long-lasting goods rose in December by 4.6 percent, which was encouraging news about manufacturing, but stocks fell later after a disappointing report on the pace of home sales.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down or 0.1 percent at 13,881.93. The S&P 500 fell 0.2 percent to 1,500.18. The Nasdaq composite index added 0.2 percent to 3,154.30.

Benchmark oil for March delivery was up 26 cents to $96.70 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 56 cents to finish at $96.44 a barrel on the Nymex on Monday.

In currencies, the euro fell slightly to $1.3454 from $1.3456 from late Monday in New York. The dollar fell to 90.77 yen from 90.79 yen.

___

Follow Pamela Sampson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pamelasampson

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asia-stocks-rise-wall-street-flirts-highs-031129114--finance.html

amzn white house correspondents dinner phoenix coyotes bruce irvin charlie st cloud celtics nba playoffs

Possible link between electronic billboards and highway crashes

Jan. 29, 2013 ? A new study published in Traffic Injury Prevention has found that drivers take more and longer glances at electronic billboards than regular signs, indicating a possible link between these digital signs and highway crashes.

Eye-grabbing, electronic signs replacing traditional billboards along highways are meant to attract and keep the attention of passersby with bright colors and constantly changing messages. The ramifications for traffic safety have been long debated, and this study provides scientific evidence previously lacking.

The study used sophisticated eye-tracking devices to monitor the visual behaviors of experienced drivers passing traditional and electronic billboards during day and night conditions. The experimental route was a 40km long stretch of a three-lane motorway with heavy traffic running through central Stockholm, Sweden.

The electronic billboards attracted significantly more visual attention than the other traffic signs included in the study. Dwell times were longer, the visual time sharing intensity was higher, very long single glances were more frequent, and the number of fixations were greater for the electronic billboards. Although whether the electronic billboards constitute a traffic safety hazard cannot be answered conclusively based on the present data, these findings do validate existing concerns about the relationship between electronic billboards and higher crash risks.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Taylor & Francis, via AlphaGalileo.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Tania Dukic, Christer Ahlstrom, Christopher Patten, Carmen Kettwich, Katja Kircher. Effects of electronic billboards on driver distraction. Traffic Injury Prevention, 2012; : 121005134823003 DOI: 10.1080/15389588.2012.731546

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/living_well/~3/1KnyCSdoXII/130129075612.htm

black history month did groundhog see his shadow soul train don cornelius rod parsley barry sanders jr nick carter sister recruiting rankings

AT&T Trial Shows Small Cells Bring Nearly Perfect Coverage to Problem Areas

AT&T is constantly fighting to improve bandwidth on its overcrowded network, which has seen mobile data usage explode 30,000 percent between 2006 and 2012. The carrier has found a solution in small cells, which can bring nearly perfect usability to ...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/TpwDATHbSCE/

clive davis cause of whitney houston death keanu reeves whitney houston national anthem beverly hills hotel beverly hills hotel the watchmen

Special Needs Children Struggle to Obtain Quality Health - HealthyCal

By Rosa Ramirez
California Health Report

California children with special needs often receive less-than-adequate health care services, regardless of whether they are covered by private or public health insurance, a new analysis has found.

California was among the bottom six states in offering coordinated and family-oriented care to some of the state?s most vulnerable populations.

According to the report, 1 in 10 California children, or about one million, have special health needs.

Some key findings:

?California families are more likely than those in other states to reduce their working hours or stop working altogether to manage their child?s health care needs.

?41 percent of children with health insurance don?t obtain the services to meet their health needs.

?More than 40 percent of youngsters with complex health needs have a difficult time obtaining community-based services, such as finding doctors and scheduling appointments.

The health care they receive as children greatly impacts their ability to thrive as they grow and move through school, said Christina Bethell, lead author of the report and director of the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative at Oregon Health and Science University. The study was sponsored by the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children?s Health. (The Foundation is also a sponsor of HealthyCal.org.)

Part of the challenge is that researchers have only started collecting national child health data since 2001. ?Even children with the least complex health conditions, the majority are not receiving the basic quality of care,? said Bethell.

In addition, a nationwide dearth of pediatricians with sub-specializations, as well as health providers who are able to care for these children as they transition to adolescence, has become worrisome.

Most pediatricians spend an additional two-to-three years on sub-specialty training, often with little economic incentives, said Edward Schor, senior vice president at the Foundation. ?It extends their life as a trainee and postpones getting out into the world and working,? Schor said.

The study found that inadequate health care services places added financial and emotional burden on parents. About a third of California families with at least one child with health care needs are forced to cut back on working to manage their children?s access to care. These caretakers often manage multiple health services, including school-related programs, doctor?s appointments, and medical emergencies, Bethell explained.

San Francisco resident Maria de Lourdes Sanchez, 38, takes her 10-year-old son, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as an infant, to physical, speech, and occupational therapy, which keeps her from holding a full-time job.

But even outings to the Sunday mass or attending family birthday party have become rare occasions, especially now that her son is taller and stronger. Carrying him inside the family?s van is difficult for her and her husband. She?s applying to obtain a free or low-cost wheelchair ramp to make trips to her son school, medical appointments, and therapies feasible.

Echoing earlier studies, the January report found that communities of color are less likely to report their child?s special health care needs. Bethell said it could be attributed to their desire to use alternative health methods, feeling overwhelmed about having to arrange doctor?s appointments due to a language barrier, or holding jobs that do not offer them the flexibility to take time off.

With limited English skills, Sanchez recalled feeling frightened when she sought help for her son when he was months old. ?I?d take him to the doctor and say, ?My son is not breathing,?? she said in Spanish. ?The strength and courage to speak up for your children just comes out naturally.?

She now encourages other Spanish-speaking parents to ask questions, call service providers a second or third time, and show up at their offices if necessary to get health and educational services for their children. ?We have to fight for children,? she said. ?Parents are the only ones who can help them get ahead in life.?

Related Posts

No related posts.

?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 29th, 2013 at 12:00 am and is filed under Associated Press, California Health Report. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Source: http://www.healthycal.org/archives/10869

facebook ipo egypt soccer riot mike kelley puxatony phil josh harvey clemons college football recruiting rankings ground hog day 2012

GM investing $600 million to improve Fairfax paint in KCK ...

When GM?s chairman and CEO walked into the Fairfax plant on Monday, he got his first look at the place that makes the car he uses, a Buick LaCrosse.

?That?s the one I drive in Detroit as a company car, and I own one. And I get to choose anything,? Daniel Akerson said.

Akerson also came with a gift, announcing that General Motors will invest $600 million in the plant. The automaker will use the money to build and equip a 450,000-square-foot paint shop and upgrade the plant?s stamping press, among other improvements.

The investment, according to the company, ranks among the largest it has ever made in an existing plant. It will account for 40 percent of the $1.5 billion that GM plans to invest this year in its North American plants.

?This company is coming out of the gate,? Akerson said in an interview with The Star. He said the improvements would make Fairfax a ?crown jewel of our manufacturing universe.?

The investment is not expected to add jobs but is instead GM?s affirmation of a future for the plant and its workforce of 3,900 hourly and salaried employees. Akerson said the current paint shop is nearing the end of its useful life. Not replacing it would have condemned Fairfax to obsolescence.

?We would not invest $600 million in a plant that we didn?t think would be here for a long time,? he said. ?This is a statement of permanence.?

The investment is significantly higher than the $120 million in industrial revenue bonds that the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kan., had approved last summer for the project.

Mayor Joe Reardon, who in 2009 was worried that the plant would close because of GM?s bankruptcy, knew that the automaker would spend much more on the plant but just not how much until the $600 million figure was announced.

?It?s a great day for Kansas City, Kansas, to know we will retain Fairfax for the long haul,? Reardon said.

The $600 million puts the Fairfax plant on sure footing along with Ford Motor Co.?s Claycomo plant. Last year Ford completed a $1.1 billion stamping plant at Claycomo to make metal body parts for the Transit Connect. Claycomo is slated to start building the commercial van later this year.

GM?s investment also ranks among the largest of any kind made recently in the area. The huge new Honeywell complex, which will make parts for nuclear weapons, will cost $1 billion to build and equip. The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, completed in 2011, cost $400 million.

The Fairfax announcement comes at a crucial time for GM as it moves from a fight for survival to rebuilding itself and improving the vehicles it sells. The company was in a financial mess in 2009, when a government-managed bankruptcy and bailout saved it from insolvency. Critics questioned whether the bailout would fix the automaker?s problems.

On Monday, some supporters of the bailout couldn?t resist saying that it had worked and that a major industrial company had been saved. One result, they said, was that Fairfax remained a place for workers to earn enough to be part of the middle class.

?This is important not just for this state but for the country,? said Joe Ashton, a national vice president for the United Auto Workers, who spoke Monday at Fairfax. ?The middle class is what made this country.?

Gov. Sam Brownback told the roughly 500 GM employees and local and state officials who gathered Monday at the plant that the investment was a wonderful announcement.

?Manufacturing is coming back in the U.S.,? said Brownback, a Republican. ?We build great things in Kansas, and with GM?s commitment, it means we will continue to do so.?

GM, the second-largest automaker behind Toyota, has had 11 consecutive profitable quarters. Quickening the cadence of improvements, GM this year will unveil redesigns or upgrades to about 70 percent of its vehicles. The Buick LaCrosse is set for a major upgrade, and the Chevrolet Malibu, also made at Fairfax, will be refreshed with styling changes inspired by the new Chevy Impala.

The new paint shop will use 50 percent less energy per vehicle and more environmentally friendly paint. Instead of fans that blow heated air to dry the paint, the new shop will use radiant tubes patented by GM. One process will improve a vehicle?s coating to prevent rust.

Akerson said such improvements were part of GM?s efforts to make better cars and light trucks.

?We don?t want to be competitive. We want to be great,? he said.

In 2012, GM?s global sales rose about 3 percent, and Chevrolet sold a record number of vehicles. The federal government, which invested about $50 billion to help save the company, has said it will sell its remaining stake in the company within 14 months.

But the turnaround is a work in progress. The 17.9 percent share of the U.S. market that GM snagged last year was its smallest in decades. And Fairfax idled production of the Malibu in December because of ballooning stockpiles.

Akerson said the company has changed in many ways from the old GM. It now pays executive bonuses based partly on the quality of the cars produced. Labor relations also have improved, and the UAW made many contributions, including in 2011, when it agreed that GM?s hourly employees would not get pay raises in return for profit sharing.

Akerson is known as a tough executive who speaks his mind. He once called the Toyota Prius a ?geek-mobile.? In his remarks Monday at Fairfax, he noted that the Kansas City Chiefs will get the first pick in this year?s NFL Draft.

?You need it,? he said.

Akerson concluded by saying that if GM executes its plans flawlessly, it would become the world?s most valuable automaker, would be recognized as a great place to work and have loyal and enthusiastic owners, and that would ?make GM great once again.?

?Let?s make this our legacy.?

Source: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/01/28/4035496/gm-to-invest-600-million-in-fairfax.html

tebow tebow jets romney etch a sketch jeb bush sherry arnold snooty fox el debarge

Report: States force jobless to pay needless fees

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Jobless Americans are paying millions in unnecessary fees to collect unemployment benefits because of state policies encouraging them to get the money through bank-issued payment cards, according to a new report from a consumer group.

People are using the fee-heavy cards instead of getting their payments deposited directly to their bank accounts. That's because states issue bank cards automatically, require complicated paperwork or phone calls to set up direct deposit and fail to explain the card fees, according to a report issued Tuesday by the National Consumer Law Center, a nonprofit group that seeks to protect low-income Americans from unfair financial-services products. An early copy of the report was obtained by The Associated Press.

Until the past decade, states distributed unemployment compensation by mailing out paper checks. Some also allowed direct deposit. The system worked well for people who had bank accounts and could deposit the check without paying a fee.

It also cost states millions of dollars each year to print and mail the checks.

Banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co., U.S. Bancorp and Bank of America Corp. seized on government payments as a business opportunity. They pitched card programs to states as a win-win: States would save millions in overhead costs because the cards would be issued for free. And people without bank accounts would avoid the big fees charged by storefront check cashers.

However, most of the people being hit with fees already have bank accounts. The bank-state partnerships effectively shifted the cost of distributing payments from governments to individuals. The money needed to cover those costs is deducted from people's unemployment benefits in the form of fees.

Consumer advocates like NCLC are focused on ensuring access to the direct-deposit option so that people can avoid the card fees.

The trouble, the new report says, is that many states make it difficult for people to sign up for direct deposit. The rate of people using direct deposit ranges from a national high of 82 percent in Minnesota to a low of 16 percent in Arizona, the report says.

Minnesota offers direct deposit to people when they apply for benefits, and allows them to change their payment method online or over the phone, the report says.

In Arizona, by contrast, people are automatically enrolled in the card program. After they receive the card, they must find a paper form, fill it out, and submit it by mail. There is no way to change payment methods online or over the phone.

"The difference in direct-deposit rates among states seems primarily due to how hard or easy the state makes it for workers to choose direct deposit," the report says.

In five states ? California, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland and Nevada ? unemployed people aren't offered direct deposit at all. The report says that setup is illegal under a federal law that bars states from requiring benefits recipients to open an account at a particular bank.

The federal government recommended in 2009 that people with bank accounts receive payments via direct deposit. Nearly four years later, the report says, "there is no excuse for any state not to be offering direct deposit as the first choice for payment of unemployment benefits."

Banks make more money when more people use the cards. In the past, some of their deals with states prevented states from offering direct deposit, or required states to promote the card program as a first option.

To cover the cost of issuing cards and running the programs, banks charge a plethora of fees, including charges for balance inquiries, phone calls to customer support, leaving an account inactive for a period of months, or making a purchase using a personal identification number.

Many states have eliminated some fees and improved consumer protections in the two years since NCLC published its first comprehensive review of state unemployment payments. Banks no longer charge overdraft fees, which skimmed up to $20 from the benefits of card users whose spending exceeded the balance on the card.

Pennsylvania was singled out for praise in the report. Residents of that state will save $5.2 million in card fees each year because the state switched to a lower-fee card.

In part because of the recent improvements, the report says, prepaid cards often are the best option for people who don't have bank accounts. Those people would often pay even bigger fees to storefront check cashing services.

"A well-designed prepaid card is safer, cheaper and more convenient than paying to cash a paper check," said Lauren Saunders, one of the report's authors, in a prepared statement. But she said "it is no substitute for direct deposit to an account of your own choosing."

___

Daniel Wagner can be reached at www.twitter.com/wagnerreports .

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/report-states-force-jobless-pay-needless-fees-075501034.html

bob costas bowl projections Jovan Belcher Charlie Batch Rita Ora Miguel Calero Bret Bielema

Lone GOP cabinet member steps down

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said he's stepping down. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the only Republican in President Barack Obama?s Cabinet, announced on Tuesday he is stepping down.

?It has been an honor and a privilege to lead the department, and I am grateful to President Obama for giving me such an extraordinary opportunity,? LaHood, a former seven-term Republican congressman from Illinois, wrote in a letter to his staff. LaHood said he would stay in his post until his replacement is named ?to ensure a smooth transition for the department and all the important work we still have to do.?

It had long been rumored that LaHood wouldn?t stick around for a second term. Among those who have been mentioned as possible successors are former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who played a key role in boosting last year?s federal transportation bill.

The White House declined to comment on personnel rumors.

Obama tapped LaHood for his administration in 2009 as part of an effort to show he was committed to bipartisanship in Washington. But Republicans quickly criticized LaHood as being out of step with conservative principles in part by his championing additional spending on federal transportation infrastructure they said the country couldn?t afford.

In a statement on Tuesday, Obama thanked LaHood for his ?outstanding work? and his ?friendship.?

The president added: ?Years ago, we were drawn together by a shared belief that those of us in public service owe an allegiance not to party or faction, but to the people we were elected to represent. And Ray has never wavered in that belief.?

In his letter, LaHood listed a series of accomplishments he said he was proud of, including a program to stop drivers from texting while behind the wheel. He also cited the more than $50 billion in new transportation projects passed as part of Obama?s stimulus package that he said ?helped jumpstart the economy and put our fellow Americans back to work.?

LaHood said, ?I?ve told President Obama, and I?ve told many of you, that this is the best job I?ve ever had."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/transportation-secretary-ray-lahood-leave-obama-administration-184310108--politics.html

half time show halftime show 2012 kelly clarkson super bowl 2012 ok go peyton manning super bowl nsx chad ochocinco

Ty's Baby Shower Anxiety: Does Accepting Gifts From People Mean ...

Ty is having an extremely difficult time about this whole ?I?m having a baby, and my friends are giving me gifts? thing. In fact, he is even unsure what to do about the baby shower. Not only does his fiance Corri have one, but she has two (or more!) of them to attend. And with every baby shower, more gifts pile on up. With every gift that the new baby receives, Ty feels more and more uncomfortable. He knows that he can afford the stroller, diapers, etc. himself, and feels like his friends shouldn?t provide these things for him!

This morning on Ty Loves NY, Ty confessed his love for his friends and how grateful he is that they are wanting to spend the money on gifts, but it doesn?t mean that he has to be comfortable about it. But what happens if they are people who are Corri?s friends, who he doesn?t really know all to well?

---

So with Ty being uncomfortable about even attending a baby shower, he is even more uncomfortable about his friends spending money on his new baby.Is he being a baby about it? Should he man up and just accept the fact that every baby should be given a shower, because it?s a friend/family?s right to give a new infant gifts? We took to the phones to find out!

I think Ty needs some experience in the world of baby showers, don?t you? Lulu and Lala are going to try and get Ty into some showers around the tri state! Maybe with a little experience and understanding, he?ll feel comfortable when his friend?s buy Batman (baby?s nickname) a stroller.

Do you have any wise words for Ty when dealing with this situation? Have you ever had baby shower anxiety? Are you expecting a baby and attending a shower soon as well? Sound off in the comments below!

?Bryan Carstensen, 92.3 NOW

---

More From Ty On 923NOW.com

Listen to Ty Loves NY mornings from 6-10AM on 92.3 NOW FM
Follow Ty, Lulu & Lala on Twitter:?@TyBentli,?@LuluyLala
?Like??92.3 NOW On Facebook

---

Read More On 923NOW.com:

Source: http://923now.cbslocal.com/2013/01/28/tys-baby-shower-anxiety-does-accepting-gifts-from-people-mean-hes-mooching/

juliette lewis chelsea handler mitch daniels shirataki noodles prince fielder state of the union address 2012 obama state of the union 2012

The Importance Of Branding Your Business - Graphics/Video ...

The Importance Of Branding Your Business by erad(m): 11:30am On Jan 28Prior to launching an advertising campaign or developing a marketing strategy, it is crucial that you determine your brand?s identity. Simply put, a brand?s identity is its singular ?personality? that serves to identify a company or business and distinguish it from its competitors. Although ?branding? has become a buzzword popularized by entrepreneurs, many people still have trouble grasping what the term means.

So what is branding, exactly? Branding is successfully creating a brand identity that will not only make your business more appealing in comparison to your competitors, but it will also convince consumers that in a sea of prospects, your business is the only one capable of satisfying their needs. Many different components can go into developing a brand, including eye-catching designs and a unique name; however, a brand encompasses more than just a logo. It?s what clients take away from the experience of working with you. It?s what your company stands for and is known for within your market. Coming up with a brand means coming up with what your company promises to deliver, whether that?s perfectly seasoned gourmet pizzas or impeccably tailored shirts. Branding includes the overall style of your company and the meaning it has to clients. Ideally, it would motivate people to buy your products or use your services.

If you don?t define your brand, you create the possibility that someone else will do it for you, including your competitors. Defining you brand allows you to control?or at least influence?how others perceive you. An effective brand marketing strategy minimizes your company?s chances of fading into the background and solidifies your reputation as a veritable force to be reckoned with. Strong branding demonstrates that a company aspires to something greater than just business as usual. By raising your status from a basic commodity to a brand, consumers will be willing to pay a premium for your services or products.

Ultimately, branding is perhaps most essential because it increases the chances that people will remember you, even as the battle for consumers? attention (and money) rages on. A fully-developed brand identity will push your business to the forefront of consumers? minds, making them more likely to recognize you, enlist your services, and remain loyal long after the conclusion of your professional relationship. It takes a lot of time to build (and maintain) these valuable customer relationships. Let me give you a few examples of successful branding:

-Coca Cola: The majority of people instantly recognize this brand. Their logo, the Christmas songs, TV commercials, ads and cans are a part of the Coca Cola branding strategy. This brand has been around for decades, allowing its message to go from generation to generation, and all of Coca Cola?s efforts have paid off. Wouldn?t you agree it is quite hard to imagine a world without Coca Cola?

-McDonald?s: Remember when you were a kid and going to McDonald?s was a treat? Of course you do! This is why you will probably take your (future) children to come and have a quick bite here every once in a while. McDonald?s introduced Happy Meals for children, including a small toy in every meal box. A smart move, given the fact that competitors soon offered similar deals. Furthermore, they incorporated the word ?Mac/Mc? into their product names, like ?McNuggets? or the famous ?Big Mac.? These decisions have had major influence on the way customers perceive the brand.

-Apple: Apple has found a way to become one of the most popular brands in the world by branding themselves successfully. Mac computers aren?t for just anyone, nor are the iPad or the iPhone. The late Steve Jobs was known for his way of presenting new products to the public and used his black turtleneck sweater as part of his strategy. Even the use of putting an ?i? in their product names is all part of Apple?s branding strategy. The designs of the products, the campaigns and product launches are all in sync with Apple?s style and its branding.

You can say that these companies have become experts in business branding, based on their successes. Branding could be perceived as part of marketing or as a separate component, but it is definitely closely related to marketing. Before you start diving into concepts to market your business, make sure you have determined a brand identity and are aware of all the aspects that come with brand management.

from http://www.onlineadvertisingagency.info/2012/02/27/the-importance-of-branding-for-businesses/

4 Likes

Re: The Importance Of Branding Your Business by bigx(m): 5:08pm On Jan 28

Ok.

Re: The Importance Of Branding Your Business by yuzedo(m): 5:10pm On Jan 28

Ok.

Re: The Importance Of Branding Your Business by cr8v(f): 5:23pm On Jan 28The beautiful symphony of art and business has transformed many kiosk into departmental stores

A business with no sign is a sign of no business. Your brand is your corporate signature in the market place. It makes you stand out.
Colors
Coming up with your brand identity begins from your choice of colors. Colors convey different meaning in the mind of the beholder. Green for instance stands for nature, renewal, health etc. It will be a good color for a pharmaceutical firm for instance
Logos
With your colors in tact, you can go ahead to create a logo.?Logos are the chief visual component of a company's overall brand identity. Logo should help convey some information about the company, or be designed in a way that gives some sense of meaning about the company or its industry
Tag line
What is the slogan you should be known with. Your tagline summarizes what you stand for in a nutshell.
others
After all these are in place you can go ahead to design your corporate stationeries and others

Below is an example of our branding project, from logo creation to business cards and other stationeries

4 Likes

Re: The Importance Of Branding Your Business by ocman: 5:31pm On Jan 28

a business with sign is a dumb one

Re: The Importance Of Branding Your Business by gees_02(m): 5:33pm On Jan 28

finally, a front page thread that actually educates. nice one op.

Re: The Importance Of Branding Your Business by braine: 5:34pm On Jan 28Re: The Importance Of Branding Your Business by cash22(m): 5:45pm On Jan 28

me too

Re: The Importance Of Branding Your Business by Pharoh: 5:49pm On Jan 28

Very educative thread.

Re: The Importance Of Branding Your Business by Mr.thunzzz09(m): 6:08pm On Jan 28

this is gr8.

Re: The Importance Of Branding Your Business by tripledub: 6:11pm On Jan 28

op.
Thanks for d post. Branding is one critical success factor dat if properly done can skyrocket any business frm zero 2 cash in less than 3yrs. Our business men here in nigeria need to b taught d powers of branding to their business. Although branding is very expensive but if professionally done ll yield more profits to any business on d long run.

Re: The Importance Of Branding Your Business by kenbee(m): 6:19pm On Jan 28

thats the key identity of any serious entity. just got mine and it affected my biz positively

This post has been hiddenRe: The Importance Of Branding Your Business by bigfat01: 6:35pm On Jan 28

branding in nIgeria

Re: The Importance Of Branding Your Business by kaysy(m): 6:57pm On Jan 28

thanks to op, i think the only thing am missing out here is the slogan, my business is yet to have a singular slogan that will encapsulate all part/sections of what i really do. well i have to start thinking seriously about it now.

Re: The Importance Of Branding Your Business by Brand_new(m): 6:57pm On Jan 28Creating a great brand also goes beyond colours and logo. It includes meeting up with customers expectation thereby getting good reviews and referrals from such customers. Facebook and twitters logos would be useless without giving users a great social networking experience. Same goes for other brands who are into other kinds of business.

So branding also includes meeting up with customers expectation or giving users a wholesome experience. It is when a business achieves this that their customers would be proud to identify themselves with such businesses.

Same also goes for creating a wholesome online presence.

1 Like

Re: The Importance Of Branding Your Business by mich2012: 6:59pm On Jan 28

Nice piece

Re: The Importance Of Branding Your Business by okpara ugo: 7:02pm On Jan 28A girl will never take you serious until you give her your complimentary card, your calendar with your business name on it or a sourvenir.

Am very sure of that one. So i agree that branding is good.

Re: The Importance Of Branding Your Business by KBARBIE: 7:05pm On Jan 28

Is it possible to brand an existing product? If yes, how do you rebrand a product like indomie?

Re: The Importance Of Branding Your Business by omanifrank(m): 7:08pm On Jan 28

everytin bores to concept

Re: The Importance Of Branding Your Business by erad(m): 7:17pm On Jan 28

KBARBIE: Is it possible to brand an existing product? If yes, how do you rebrand a product like indomie?

Yes it's possible... alot of factors need to be taken into consideration though, because an image already exists and the new image is either going to enhance or correct a negative shadow the previous image might have cast on the business.Re: The Importance Of Branding Your Business by Brand_new(m): 7:26pm On Jan 28

okpara ugo: A girl will never take you serious until you give her your complimentary card, your calendar with your business name on it or a sourvenir.

Am very sure of that one. So i agree that branding is good.

A good enough reason for young entrepreneurs to start branding. Lol!Re: The Importance Of Branding Your Business by ibide(m): 7:42pm On Jan 28

Op thank u very much even my lectural do not come as far as this

Re: The Importance Of Branding Your Business by ibide(m): 7:43pm On Jan 28

Op thank u very much even my lectural didn't come as far as this

Re: The Importance Of Branding Your Business by GraphicsPlus: 8:10pm On Jan 28Good thread. But u should have changed MacDonalds to Mr. Biggs or ShopRite owing to the fact that MacDonalds hasnt come to Nigeria.

Who says Indomie needs rebranding? Pls dont say that again. Indomie currently remains the leader in the world of noddles in Nigeria.

Re: The Importance Of Branding Your Business by erad(m): 8:12pm On Jan 28

GraphicsPlus: Good thread. But u should have changed MacDonalds to Mr. Biggs or ShopRite owing to the fact that MacDonalds hasnt come to Nigeria.

Who says Indomie needs rebranding? Pls dont say that again. Indomie currently remains the leader in the world of noddles in Nigeria.

KBARBIE didn't mean that, she was just using indomie as a brand example to drive in the point of her question.Re: The Importance Of Branding Your Business by justmenoni: 9:32pm On Jan 28Re: The Importance Of Branding Your Business by osisey2010: 11:03pm On Jan 28

cr8v: The beautiful symphony of art and business has transformed many kiosk into departmental stores

A business with no sign is a sign of no business. Your brand is your corporate signature in the market place. It makes you stand out.
Colors
Coming up with your brand identity begins from your choice of colors. Colors convey different meaning in the mind of the beholder. Green for instance stands for nature, renewal, health etc. It will be a good color for a pharmaceutical firm for instance
Logos
With your colors in tact, you can go ahead to create a logo.?Logos are the chief visual component of a company's overall brand identity. Logo should help convey some information about the company, or be designed in a way that gives some sense of meaning about the company or its industry
Tag line
What is the slogan you should be known with. Your tagline summarizes what you stand for in a nutshell.
others
After all these are in place you can go ahead to design your corporate stationeries and others

Below is an example of our branding project, from logo creation to business cards and other stationeries

I'd like you to help me create a complimentary card for my business... How do I go about it and how much will it cost me?Re: The Importance Of Branding Your Business by osisey2010: 11:04pm On Jan 28

cr8v: The beautiful symphony of art and business has transformed many kiosk into departmental stores

A business with no sign is a sign of no business. Your brand is your corporate signature in the market place. It makes you stand out.
Colors
Coming up with your brand identity begins from your choice of colors. Colors convey different meaning in the mind of the beholder. Green for instance stands for nature, renewal, health etc. It will be a good color for a pharmaceutical firm for instance
Logos
With your colors in tact, you can go ahead to create a logo.?Logos are the chief visual component of a company's overall brand identity. Logo should help convey some information about the company, or be designed in a way that gives some sense of meaning about the company or its industry
Tag line
What is the slogan you should be known with. Your tagline summarizes what you stand for in a nutshell.
others
After all these are in place you can go ahead to design your corporate stationeries and others

Below is an example of our branding project, from logo creation to business cards and other stationeries

I'd like you to help me create a complimentary card for my business... How do I go about it and how much will it cost me? N.B. Subsidized rate plsRe: The Importance Of Branding Your Business by Youngzedd: 11:10pm On Jan 28

KBARBIE: Is it possible to brand an existing product? If yes, how do you rebrand a product like indomie?

Tommy tommy suppose answer this question.

What is the difference b/w Tommy tommy and Indomie, I gues you know that, the vegetables inside and packing.
Do something better than that, I product must like something, your work is to fish out what it lacks and ammend urs.

This thread reminded me of what Ewen Chai taught me then.

Re: The Importance Of Branding Your Business by gwuraiyke: 11:13pm On Jan 28NICE NIGERIAN BRANDS....THIS SHOWS THAT WE ARE NOT LEFT BEHIND!
...EHEN THIS KEDRA SPRING WHAT PRODUCT IS THAT. IT SEEMS NOT TO BE COMMON

bigfat01: branding in nIgeria

This post has been hidden

Source: http://www.nairaland.com/1177456/importance-branding-business

jesus montero hiroki kuroda kuroda gene hackman pineda john edwards heart condition mena suvari