Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/193866897?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
HBT: Is identity fraud rampant in baseball?
In the wake of the ?Leo Nunez? and ?Fausto Carmona? identity fraud incidents, the New York Times has a story in which people around baseball talk about how widespread the problem is feared to be:
Few in baseball were surprised that two well-established players had misrepresented themselves. The fear is that the problem could be much more widespread. One agent said more than a dozen players could soon lose their contracts because of age and identity issues.
?These are like time bombs,? Mark Newman, the Yankees? senior vice president for baseball operations, said by telephone from the Dominican Republic while scouting there last week.
For his part Newman, as well as others in baseball, believe that the problem will get better. Still: as long as there are millions to be gained by an 18 or 19 year-old passing himself off as 16, this problem is going to persist.
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Vintage Plushenko wins 7th European title
Russia's Evgeni Plushenko celebrates after performing in the Men's Free Skating program competition at the European Figure Skating Championships in Sheffield, England, Saturday Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
Russia's Evgeni Plushenko celebrates after performing in the Men's Free Skating program competition at the European Figure Skating Championships in Sheffield, England, Saturday Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
Russia's Artur Gachinski performs on his way to coming second in the Men's Free Skating event at the European Figure Skating Championships in Sheffield, England, Saturday Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
Florent Amodio of France performs in the Men's free skating event at the European Figure Skating Championships in Sheffield, England, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. Amodio placed third in the competition.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
Italy's Carolina Kostner celebrates on the podium after winning gold in the Women's free skating event at the European Figure Skating Championships in Sheffield, England, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
Italy's Carolina Kostner, center, winner of the gold medal, laughs as she stands with silver medal winner Kiira Korpi of Finland, left, and bronze medal winner Elene Gedevanishvili of Georgia following the Women's Free Skating event at the European Figure Skating Championships in Sheffield, England, Saturday Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
SHEFFIELD, England (AP) ? Defying his aching left knee and advancing age, Evgeni Plushenko had a career-best performance Saturday to win his seventh European figure skating title.
Throwing in an unexpected quadruple jump to a compelling routine to "Tango de Roxanne" from the Moulin Rouge soundtrack, the 2006 Olympic champion scored a personal-best 176.52 points in the free skate to total 261.23 ? his highest overall mark.
"I'm called the king by many people and I try to live up to that name. I want to remain the king for a long time to come," the 29-year-old Plushenko said.
If Plushenko is the king, then Carolina Kostner is surely the queen of European skating.
On a day to remember for a relative veteran of the women's competition, the 24-year-old Italian captured a fourth continental title in a six-year span by executing a flawless, if limited, free skate to build on her lead from the short program. Topping both segments, the elegant Kostner finished with 183.55 points, more than 16 clear of second-place Kiira Korpi of Finland.
With 18-year-old Artur Gachinski finishing second in the men's competition, Russia left the meet with seven medals out of a possible 12 ? two years before the country hosts the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.
The spectators at Motorpoint Arena were already on their feet when Plushenko ? dressed in a glitter-lined black outfit ? finished his breathtaking routine in a blaze of glory, repeatedly pumping his fists in the direction of the judges.
Even with Gachinski, who led Plushenko by 0.09 points after the short dance, and three other rivals to come, the greatest male skater of his generation knew the gold was again his ? 12 years after winning his first continental title.
"I did a little bit of history in figure skating today," an overjoyed Plushenko said.
Gachinski couldn't match his mentor, idol and training partner.
The bronze medalist from last year's worlds scored 161.47 points in his free skate to total 246.27, a personal best too.
Defending champion Florent Amodio of France rallied from fifth place to take the bronze with an overall score of 234.18, ahead of Michal Brezina of the Czech Republic (229.30).
Plushenko hopped onto the podium to collect the 18th major medal of an illustrious career that he is set to stretch, amazingly, to Sochi. He started off in seniors in 1997.
"I felt like I did eight years ago out there," said Plushenko, the only living male skater with 3 Olympic medals to his name. In addition to his gold from Turin, Plushenko has silvers from Salt Lake City and Vancouver.
Plushenko has a history of back and knee problems: He is going to Germany in two weeks for surgery on his left knee, a procedure that will keep him out of the world championships. He said he didn't do a quad during his play-it-safe short program on Thursday because it would have taken three or four minutes for his body to recover.
Lo and behold, Plushenko opened the free skate with a quad toe loop ? which earned the maestro 11.59 points ? that set the tone for the rest of his joyous, near-flawless routine that had the crowd tranfixed.
The veteran skater denied he had played mind games with his rivals, insisting instead that his medical team had performed miracles.
"Today, the problems with my meniscus were overcome," he said. "Today, I skated at full capacity."
His intimidating score, which was nearly three points better than his previous best of 258.33 he achieved in winning Olympic gold in Turin, left him way clear of the field.
Gachinski, Javier Fernandez of Spain and Amodio were still to come but following Plushenko was virtually impossible.
Needing the skate of his young life, Gachinski opened up stylishly with a quad toe-double toe-double loop and another quad toe, but was marked down on his latter jumps.
"I am still happy," Gachinski said. "This is my second Europeans and I got a second."
Tomas Verner of the Czech Republic was third after the short program but flopped in the free, slumping to fifth and allowing Amodio to climb onto the podium despite the Frenchman not managing a quad.
"It was a difficult experience but I'm proud," Amodio said. "I started to feel like the real Florent Amodio again."
Consistency was the key to Kostner's victory.
After seeing Korpi ? her closest challenger after the short program ? botch her opening two jumps, wobbling at the end of a triple to-triple toe and placing her hand on the ice after a triple salchow, Kostner knew a safe routine would ease her to gold.
Nailing her jumps, she scored 120.33 points, comfortably the best of the night.
"I think I have done better programs this year but I'm happy how I dealt with the pressure I put on myself," Kostner said.
Korpi captured the silver with 166.94 points despite coming fourth in the free skate, to better her two bronzes from 2007 and '11. Elene Gedevanishvili took the bronze, 1.01 points further back, to bump the Russians off the podium for the first time this competition.
Kostner turns 25 next week, but don't expect her to last as long as Plushenko.
"I admire his courage and consistency so much, especially because I'm sure that coming back from time away from skating isn't easy," Kostner said. "This is already my 10th Europeans. I don't know if I'm going to skate that much longer."
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Sunday, January 29, 2012
Sneak preview of Remarks note-taking and PDF annotating app for iPad
Remarks is a brand new handwriting note-taking, and PDF annotating app for iPad from Readdle. I'm convinced the team at Readdle never sleeps because they release new apps, and update their catalog of existing apps, at pretty fast pace. They've focused on PDF lately, seeing a need for good editing, form filling, and annotating on iPad, and Remarks extends that expertise in a really interesting way.
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/Vsa6aGvWbBA/story01.htm
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Thunder top Warriors 120-109 to start road trip (AP)
OAKLAND, Calif. ? Kevin Durant had 37 points and 14 rebounds, Russell Westbrook dazzled with 28 points and 11 assists and the NBA-leading Oklahoma City Thunder started a critical road stretch with a 120-109 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Friday night.
James Harden scored 19 points off the bench and Westbrook added six rebounds in the Thunder's fourth straight win. Oklahoma City pulled away with a 14-3 run late in the fourth quarter to begin a string of nine of 11 away from home.
Dorell Wright scored 23 and David Lee had 19 points and seven rebounds for the Warriors, who pushed another one of the NBA's elite to the brink. While Golden State already topped Miami, Chicago and Orlando this season, rookie coach Mark Jackson's bunch came up short this time.
The Thunder overcame a few second-half lapses before flexing their muscles for good.
Westbrook's running layup extended Oklahoma City's lead to 85-77 entering the final period, and the Warriors ? in typical fashion ? turned back the momentum with a frantic fourth-quarter rally.
Nate Robinson, with the Thunder late last season, shook off a defender with a nifty behind-the-back dribble and pulled up for a mid-range jumper that sliced Oklahoma City's lead to three. He pumped his chest running back on defense, waving to fans and taunting his one-time Thunder teammates.
The celebration turned out to be premature.
Oklahoma City put away the pesky Warriors with a 14-3 run over the next highlight-filled five minutes. None more impressive than Westbrook's bounce pass to Harden, who lobbed an alley-oop that Durant finished with a powerful one-handed slam.
Serge Ibaka also had 20 points and 12 rebounds for Oklahoma City, which plays at the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday night. The Thunder also held guard Stephen Curry, who had a season-high 32 points Wednesday night against Portland, to 15 points and six assists.
The Thunder's dynamic duo showed no West Coast hangover.
Durant and Westbrook sliced and soared through the middle with ease, shredding Golden State's undersized perimeter players. The long and lengthy scorers each had nine points in the first quarter to give Oklahoma City a 26-16 lead.
The loudest noise of the period still belonged to a former Thunder teammate.
Robinson banked a shot from just beyond half court at the buzzer, bringing another sold-out crowd of 19,596 in the basketball-starved Bay Area roaring to its feet. He stared back at the Oklahoma City bench for several seconds in the 5-foot-9 guard's familiar flair, which had some added incentive.
Robinson, a three-time NBA slam dunk champion, was sent from Boston to Oklahoma City as part of the deal that brought center Kendrick Perkins to the Thunder at the trade deadline last year. After a short and unspectacular tenure, the Thunder released Robinson before this season.
The momentum carried over and the Warriors whittled the Thunder's double-digit lead with some strong contributions off the bench. Rookie Klay Thompson scored 10 of his 14 points in the second quarter and Brandon Rush gave Durant fits defensively.
Monta Ellis' free throw evened the score at 50 late in the half before the Thunder scored seven straight capped by Westbrook's jumper to go ahead 57-52 at the break.
Notes: Oklahoma City G Thabo Sefolosha didn't play in the second half because of a sore right foot. ... Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis was sitting courtside. ... The Warriors have sold out six of 11 home games this season. ... Thunder coach Scott Brooks grew up about an hour southeast of the Bay Area in Lathrop, Calif.
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Saturday, January 28, 2012
Doctors Press Boehner To Stop Mandated Insurance Code Switch ...
The American Medical Association opposes implementation of the coding system known as ICD-10, saying it would require physician offices to deal with an estimated 68,000 insurance codes -- five times more than the current 13,000.
Modern Healthcare: AMA Chief Asks Boehner To Stop ICD-10
Dr. James Madara, executive vice president and CEO of the American Medical Association, has asked House Speaker John Boehner to stop the federally mandated implementation upgrade in October 2013 of the International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision of diagnostic and procedural codes "and to call on stakeholders to assess an appropriate replacement for ICD-9" (Conn, 1/26).
The Hill: Doctors Lobby Urges GOP To Hault New Insurance Codes
The largest physicians lobby has sent House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) a letter?urging him to halt a federal requirement forcing doctors to switch to new insurance codes in 2013. The American Medical Association (AMA) says switching to so-called ICD-10 coding will require doctors' offices to deal with some 68,000 codes, more than five times the current 13,000. The change will cost medical practices anywhere between $83,290 and more than $2.7 million, depending on size ? at a time when Medicare payment rates face an almost 30 percent cut (Pecquet, 1/26).
Also in the news, the American College of Physicians urges Congress to fix the Medicare physician payment formula -
National Journal: Physicians Oppose Budget Cuts
Internal medicine physicians issued?a detailed report?on Thursday registering concerns about the political climate for health care. The American College of Physicians says looming budget cuts and political discord are likely to undermine successful programs that ensure people can get the medical care they need. The group has asked Congress to undo the mandatory budget cuts established last year, and to fix the longstanding but flawed pay formula for Medicare that perpetually threatens physicians with reimbursement cuts (Sanger-Katz, 1/26).
Medscape: ACP Annual Report Decries 'Broken Political Culture'
The American College of Physicians (ACP) discussed progress in healthcare, and called on Congress to reach bipartisan agreements to reduce the costs of healthcare by addressing the true drivers of healthcare costs, in its annual report. During a webinar on January 26, 2012, Robert Doherty, senior vice president of governmental affairs and public policy for the ACP, made 5 specific proposals to address rising healthcare costs (Barber, 1/26).
This is part of Kaiser Health News' Daily Report - a summary of health policy coverage from more than 300 news organizations. The full summary of the day's news can be found here and you can sign up for e-mail subscriptions to the Daily Report here. In addition, our staff of reporters and correspondents file original stories each day, which you can find on our home page.
Source: http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Daily-Reports/2012/January/27/icd-10.aspx
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Insurer WellPoint's 4Q profit sinks 39 percent (AP)
INDIANAPOLIS ? WellPoint Inc.'s fourth-quarter profit sank 39 percent as investment income fell and the amount it paid in medical claims soared, but the health insurer raised its quarterly dividend and said it expects earnings growth in 2012.
The largest health insurer based on enrollment said Wednesday it earned $335.3 million, or 96 cents per share, in the three months that ended Dec. 31. That's down from $548.8 million, or $1.40 per share, in the final quarter of 2010. Adjusted net income, which excludes investment gains and losses, was 99 cents per share.
Operating revenue, which also excludes investment income or gains, climbed 5.5 percent to $15.18 billion.
The performance led to a rare miss of Wall Street expectations. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected, on average, earnings of $1.12 per share on $15.46 billion in revenue.
The Indianapolis company said medical claims, its largest expense, climbed nearly 10 percent in the quarter to $12.43 billion. In contrast, that expense fell 5 percent in the 2010 quarter. The change was driven largely by expenses tied to a California Medicare Advantage plan, WellPoint spokeswoman Kristin Binns said.
Binns also said the insurer recorded a benefit of $350 million in the 2010 quarter because claims left over from previous quarters came in lower than expected. It had no gain like that in the 2011 quarter.
Managed care companies also have been buoyed by health care use that has grown at lower-than-expected rates for the past few quarters. This trend, which may be driven by a lingering pullback on consumer spending from the recession, has helped companies consistently beat analyst expectations. Analysts have said they expect this trend to continue, but insurers say they see signs that health care use is picking up.
WellPoint competitor UnitedHealth Group Inc. said last week that growth rates still remained slower than what the industry saw before the recession, but it expects use of health care to increase steadily throughout 2012.
WellPoint said Wednesday its board approved a quarterly dividend of 28.7 cents per share that will be paid March 23 to shareholders of record on March 9.
The insurer also said expects to earn at least $7.60 per share in 2012, which would represent growth of more than 8 percent over 2011.
WellPoint operates Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in 14 states, including California, New York and Ohio.
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Join the Engadget HD Podcast live on Ustream at 5:30 pm
CES is over and we're back to our regular time when we let you peek into the recording booth where the Engadget HD podcast goes to mp3 at 5:30 pm. And we don't know about anyone else, but it sure feels good getting back to our old time slot. Embedded Ustream tools and a list of topics after the break.Continue reading Join the Engadget HD Podcast live on Ustream at 5:30 pm
Join the Engadget HD Podcast live on Ustream at 5:30 pm originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | CommentsSource: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/23/join-the-engadget-hd-podcast-live-on-ustream-at-5-30-pm/
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Tuesday, January 24, 2012
What puts Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt at odds?
LOS ANGELES?? They're arguably Hollywood's highest-profile couple, so it's only natural that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie would privately discuss the art and business of filmmaking. According to Pitt, they don't always agree.
Speaking with Reuters at Saturday's Producers Guild Awards in Beverly Hills, Pitt said that he and Jolie, who are each busy on both sides of the camera as well as raising six children together, will talk shop at the end of a long day.
Story: Jon Voight: Hollywood should fear Jolie-Pitt kids"Usually we argue shop every now and then," Pitt said, noting that they tend to differ in their approach. "She's much more decisive, she's much more quick. I've got to see everything. I've got to shop the entire eBay to know exactly what I want and what I need."
When he's stumped, Pitt said, "I'll always go to her and talk it out."
Story: Five biggest jaw-droppers of the GlobesJolie, who received the guild's Stanley Kramer Award for her directorial debut, "In the Land of Blood and Honey," said Pitt's role as a producer calls for different skills. He produced and starred in "Moneyball," one of the 10 films nominated for the Producers Guild's top prize.
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"I had to direct, I think it's different. I think he'd execute properly if he was the director," Jolie said. "But I do like to think of myself as decisive, so I'll take that."
Slideshow: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt (on this page)Regarding her first work in the director's chair, a love story set amid the harrowing destruction of the Bosnian War, Jolie said her intention "wasn't to make a political statement against anybody. It was simply to say, 'We must talk about what happened, we must try to learn from what happened, we must try to see humanity on all sides,' and if we can, then we can start to move forward."
On the other hand, Jolie admitted that she was "fascinated" by a political matter somewhat closer to home: the Republican presidential race.
Story: Jolie: Brad found me sobbing in the shower"There's that part of us that's wanting to learn about what's going on, and wanting to see who could possibly be the next president, and taking that very seriously, which it is. And then there's that other part of it that is this strange television ... these characters that we're watching. So you try to kind of separate that," Jolie said, adding that "it goes into the bizarre sometimes."
Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/46098304/ns/today-entertainment/
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Monday, January 23, 2012
Cell senescence does not stop tumor growth
Friday, January 20, 2012
Since cancer cells grow indefinitely, it is commonly believed that senescence could act as a barrier against tumor growth and potentially be used as a way to treat cancer. A collaboration between a cancer biologist from the University of Milano, Italy, and two physicists, from the National Research Council of Italy and from Cornell University, has shown that cell senescence occurs spontaneously in melanoma cells, but does not stop their growth, which is sustained by a small population of cancer stem cells. The results, published in the open-access journal PLoS Computational Biology on January 19 explain why it is difficult to treat cancer cells by inducing senescence alone.
The work explores the relationship between melanoma and senescence, the normal process where cells decline and eventually stop duplicating after reaching maturity. The investigators followed the long-term evolution of melanoma cell populations, monitoring the number of senescent cells. After three months, growth slowed and most of the cells turned senescent, however growth did not stop and eventually resumed its initial rate until the senescent cells had almost disappeared.
The authors mathematically modeled the experimental data using the cancer stem cell hypothesis, where a sub-group of cancer cells replicate indefinitely, and are thus unaffected by senescence. These cancer stem cells give rise to a larger population of cancer cells that can duplicate only a finite number of times. The model yielded an indirect confirmation of the presence of cancer stem cells in melanoma, an issue that is still controversial in the cancer research community.
Although a large fraction of cancer cells are susceptible to senescence, the researchers conclude that inducing senescence is unlikely to provide a successful therapeutic strategy because these cells are irrelevant for tumor growth. However, the indirect evidence of cancer stem cells in melanoma may enable the development of new methods to treat specific kinds of cancer. The challenge will be in the strong resistance to drug induced senescence that would be found in the cancer stem cells. Along this line of research, treatment of tumors would focus on targeting only these cancer stem cells, rather than every single cancerous cell.
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La Porta CAM, Zapperi S, Sethna JP (2012) Senescent Cells in Growing Tumors: Population Dynamics and Cancer Stem Cells. PLoS Comput Biol 8(1): e1002316. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002316
Public Library of Science: http://www.plos.org
Thanks to Public Library of Science for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116906/Cell_senescence_does_not_stop_tumor_growth
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Sunday, January 22, 2012
Video: Brown: 'Excellence can overcome prejudice?
Roscoe Brown, one of the Tuskegee Airmen, who served as a consultant on the film ?Red Tails? spoke with NBC?s Lester Holt about being a member of the famed flyers saying, ?we wanted to be the best.?
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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/46077462/
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Details of his vast personal fortune trail Romney (AP)
CHARLESTON, S.C. ? Under duress two days before the pivotal South Carolina primary, Republican front-runner Mitt Romney acknowledged he has invested part of his millions in the Cayman Islands, although his aides say he never used the location as a tax haven.
Neither Romney nor his campaign provided details, such as how much he has invested there, why he invested there or if he has invested any of his money elsewhere outside the United States.
Responding to a question shouted at him Thursday morning, Romney reiterated that he does intend to release the returns ? but not until April, long after the party may have chosen a nominee. "You'll hear more about that. April," he said.
In a blow to Romney's campaign, Texas Gov. Rick Perry suspended his presidential campaign and threw his support behind former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, winnowing the conservative opposition and adding to Gingrich's strength heading into Saturday's voting.
And in another blow, Republican officials in Iowa said Rick Santorum had actually edged Romney by 34 votes in the final tally of the state's leadoff caucuses. No winner has been declared because some votes are still missing.
Romney, speaking to supporters on a conference call Thursday morning, made no mention of Perry's decision or of his tax returns, instead attacking Gingrich's claims that he helped President Ronald Reagan create jobs. Romney said Gingrich is living in "fantasyland."
Romney was set to address supporters outside his Charleston headquarters Thursday morning, though it wasn't clear if he would answer questions about his tax returns, the Cayman Islands or Perry's decision.
"Gov. and Mrs. Romney's assets are managed on a blind basis. They do not control the investment of these assets," campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in an emailed response to questions Wednesday night. Romney has not personally addressed the issue, although it's likely to come up at a candidates' debate Thursday night.
Scrutiny of Romney's private-sector background couldn't come at a worse time ? just as he is riding high on a victory last week in New Hampshire's primary. He came into South Carolina with anti-Romney conservatives unwilling or unable to coalesce behind a single challenger.
Details about the personal fortune of the multimillionaire former businessman have been a nagging issue for his campaign for more than a week. On Tuesday, Romney disclosed that he pays an effective tax rate of about 15 percent, lower than what he would pay if he earned a regular paycheck like many Americans. He also called "not very much" the amount he earned in speechmaking fees, though it turned out to be $373,327.62 for 12 months in 2010 and early 2011.
Those details followed verbal miscues related to his views of work. Last week in New Hampshire, Romney told an audience he knew what it was like to worry about being "pink-slipped" and losing a job. A day later, he said, "I like being able to fire people who provide services to me" ? a comment about health insurance companies that his rivals used to paint a picture of Romney as a wealthy businessman who is out of touch with ordinary Americans.
Romney hasn't been willing to elaborate on his pledge Tuesday to release his federal tax return in April. His rivals are prodding him to do it immediately, before South Carolina's primary, a potentially decisive turn in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
At an event in Rock Hill, S.C., Romney kept away from the issue of his taxes, but he criticized Newt Gingrich and other Republicans who "jumped on that bandwagon" of criticizing free enterprise. "My goodness, I listened to Speaker Gingrich the other night talk about the enterprises I've been associated with," he said. "I'm proud of the fact that I worked in the private sector, that I've achieved success."
Romney disclosed for the first time Tuesday that, despite his wealth of hundreds of millions of dollars, he has been paying taxes in the neighborhood of 15 percent, far below the top maximum income tax rate of 35 percent, because his income "comes overwhelmingly from investments made in the past." During 2010 and the first nine months of 2011, the Romney family had at least $9.6 million in income, according to a financial disclosure form submitted in August.
Romney had been consolidating GOP support before Saturday's South Carolina primary, in which a victory could all but seal his nomination. The focus on his wealth is an unwanted distraction for him as he seeks to win votes in a state where the unemployment rate, at 9.9 percent, is among the highest in the nation, and amid rising public concern over income inequality.
President Barack Obama's campaign advisers contend voters are unlikely to back a wealthy Republican with financial-industry ties at a time of lingering economic distress.
The maximum marginal U.S. income tax rate of 35 percent applies ? in theory more than practice ? to households with taxable income of over about $388,500.
Like many wealthy people, the Romneys have been helped by changes in federal tax policy that have placed much lower tax rates on investment income ? from dividends, interest and capital gains from the sale of stocks and other assets ? than on wages and salaries, the source of income for most Americans.
Under the Bush-era tax cuts strongly supported by most Republicans, such investment income, including gains on securities held for a year or longer, is subject to a tax rate of 15 percent.
According to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, an average federal tax rate of 15 percent ? including both income and payroll taxes ? would apply to households with taxable incomes of from $75,000 to $100,000.
Obama and his wife paid federal taxes of just over 25 percent of their 2010 income of $1.7 million, mostly from the books he's written.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry and his wife paid roughly 24 percent of their 2010 income of $217,447.
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Thursday, January 19, 2012
Do We Need A ?GarageBand For Books??
My Dad used to take me to Long's Bookstore on the OSU campus when I was young - I'd say this was during the 1980s and very early 1990s although in my mind these afternoons spent on campus are tinged with a 1970s wash out of color, as if I were remembering my time in Kansas before Oz. We'd rumble through the stacks, picking out used titles from the basement that were beaten and worn by years of the students' buy/read/return-for-a-pittance cycle so common at universities. Most of the books there were, obviously, but Long's stocked quite a bit of ephemera including my favorite Mad Magazine digests and sci-fi. Long's is now a Barnes & Noble, its handsome neon sign taken down during a massive restructuring of OSU's student core. Most of the old book stores are gone. The local head shop, Monkey's Retreat, turned into a Taoist center. Long's and its competitor, the University Book Exchange, are gone. Even Larry's, where I went to poetry readings as a petulant high-schooler is gone. To paraphrase Joni Mitchell, they paved paradise and put up a Quizno's.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/ktwF743cmu4/
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Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Brian Williams rips Lana Del Rey in email to Gawker (Reuters)
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? Brian Williams won't be buying Lana Del Rey's next album.
In an email to Gawker chief Nick Denton, the NBC Nightly News anchor slammed Del Rey's "Saturday Night Live" performance last weekend as "..one of worst outings in SNL history."
Denton promptly plastered Williams' email on his site -- ruining NBC PR's Martin Luther King Day and sending them scrambling to scrub the internet for traces of the newsman's blunt remarks.
A flak for the network pressed the gossip hub to take down the missive, writing, "That was sent in confidence as friends and absolutely never intended to be public. A speedy removal would go a long way in maintaining the trust and respect we have for your site."
So far, Gawker appears to have ignored the request -- beyond posting it alongside Williams' message for the world to see and enjoy.
It was impolitic, but Williams was only repeating the critical consensus when he skewered the internet sensation's off-key belting.
Perez Hilton, for one, tweeted "Just watched SNL. Not only was @LanaDelRey vocally WAY off, but watching her utter lack of stage presence was cringe-worthy. #DontBuyTheHype."
However, in ripping Del Ray, Williams was also criticizing his own network and his profane communique was informal in a way that is wildly at odds with his well-coiffed, stentorian voiced persona.
Williams doesn't exactly drip with gravitas when he writes, "In my humble opinion as a loyal customer (you know I love you but the Blog View button will be the eventual cause of my death) and while I know you're in the midst of an editor change, weekends have been allowed to go awfully fallow - and it was a fallow holiday period for those of us who check your shit 10 times a day by iphone."
Time for Denton to post some Bob Schieffer texts.
(Editing by Chris Michaud)
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UK scientists find 'lost' Darwin fossils (AP)
LONDON ? British scientists have found scores of fossils the great evolutionary theorist Charles Darwin and his peers collected but that had been lost for more than 150 years.
Dr. Howard Falcon-Lang, a paleontologist at Royal Holloway, University of London, said Tuesday that he stumbled upon the glass slides containing the fossils in an old wooden cabinet that had been shoved in a "gloomy corner" of the massive, drafty British Geological Survey.
Using a flashlight to peer into the drawers and hold up a slide, Falcon-Lang saw one of the first specimens he had picked up was labeled 'C. Darwin Esq."
"It took me a while just to convince myself that it was Darwin's signature on the slide," the paleontologist said, adding he soon realized it was a "quite important and overlooked" specimen.
He described the feeling of seeing that famous signature as "a heart in your mouth situation," saying he wondering "Goodness, what have I discovered!"
Falcon-Lang's find was a collection of 314 slides of specimens collected by Darwin and other members of his inner circle, including John Hooker ? a botanist and dear friend of Darwin ? and the Rev. John Henslow, Darwin's mentor at Cambridge, whose daughter later married Hooker.
The first slide pulled out of the dusty corner at the British Geological Survey turned out to be one of the specimens collected by Darwin during his famous expedition on the HMS Beagle, which changed the young Cambridge graduate's career and laid the foundation for his subsequent work on evolution.
Falcon-Lang said the unearthed fossils ? lost for 165 years ? show there is more to learn from a period of history scientists thought they knew well.
"To find a treasure trove of lost Darwin specimens from the Beagle voyage is just extraordinary," Falcon-Lang added. "We can see there's more to learn. There are a lot of very, very significant fossils in there that we didn't know existed."
He said one of the most "bizarre" slides came from Hooker's collection ? a specimen of prototaxites, a 400 million-year-old tree-sized fungus.
Hooker had assembled the collection of slides while briefly working for the British Geological Survey in 1846, according to Royal Holloway, University of London.
The slides ? "stunning works of art," according to Falcon-Lang ? contain bits of fossil wood and plants ground into thin sheets and affixed to glass in order to be studied under microscopes. Some of the slides are half a foot long (15 centimeters), "great big chunks of glass," Falcon-Lang said.
"How these things got overlooked for so long is a bit of a mystery itself," he mused, speculating that perhaps it was because Darwin was not widely known in 1846 so the collection might not have been given "the proper curatorial care."
Royal Holloway, University of London said the fossils were 'lost' because Hooker failed to number them in the formal "specimen register" before setting out on an expedition to the Himalayas. In 1851, the "unregistered" fossils were moved to the Museum of Practical Geology in Piccadilly before being transferred to the South Kensington's Geological Museum in 1935 and then to the British Geological Survey's headquarters near Nottingham 50 years later, the university said.
The discovery was made in April, but it has taken "a long time" to figure out the provenance of the slides and photograph all of them, Falcon-Lang said. The slides have now been photographed and will be made available to the public through a new online museum exhibit opening Tuesday.
Falcon-Lang expects great scientific papers to emerge from the discovery.
"There are some real gems in this collection that are going to contribute to ongoing science."
Dr. John Ludden, executive director of the Geological Survey, called the find a "remarkable" discovery.
"It really makes one wonder what else might be hiding in our collections," he said.
____
Cassandra Vinograd can be reached at http://twitter.com/CassVinograd
____
Online:
http://www.bgs.ac.uk/discoveringGeology/geologyOfBritain/archives/jdhooker/home.html
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Tuesday, January 17, 2012
China's Wen presses Saudi Arabia for oil access (Reuters)
BEIJING (Reuters) ? Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao pressed Saudi Arabia to open its huge oil and gas resources to expanded Chinese investment, media reports said on Sunday against a backdrop of growing tension over Iran and worries over its crude exports to the Asian power.
The Saudi kingdom is China's biggest source of imported oil, and securing energy security was high on Wen's agenda in Riyadh, in part reflecting concerns about how nuclear tensions and sanctions could unsettle ties with Iran.
"China and Saudi Arabia are both in important stages of development, and there are broad prospects for enhancing cooperation," Wen on Saturday told Prince Nayef, who is a senior member of the Saudi government, according to Xinhua.
"Both sides must strive together to expand trade and cooperation, upstream and downstream, in crude oil and natural gas," said Wen, referring to access to extracting oil and gas and then processing the them.
The Xinhua report made no mention of any discussion of Iran, whose oil exports to China face pressure from new U.S. sanctions. The U.S. sanctions threat is a particular worry for China, the biggest buyer of Iranian oil. Only Saudi Arabia and Angola sell it more crude.
"Beijing is concerned with the potential response to Iranian bellicose statements and with the spike in oil prices that would ensue from greater turmoil in Syria and Iran," Michal Meidan, an analyst in London with the Eurasia Group who studies Chinese energy investment and policy, said in an emailed research note.
Late on Saturday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry denounced U.S. punishment of China's state-run Zhuhai Zhenrong Corp.
On Thursday, the Obama administration invoked U.S. law to sanction Zhuhai Zhenrong Corp, which it said was Iran's largest supplier of refined petroleum products.
"Imposing sanctions on a Chinese company based on a domestic (U.S.) law is totally unreasonable, and does not conform to the spirit or content of U.N. Security Council resolutions about the Iran nuclear issue," the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said in a statement issued on the ministry's website (www.mfa.gov.cn).
"China expresses its strong dissatisfaction and adamant opposition," said Liu.
The Obama administration said its sanctions against the Chinese company and two other firms are part of a broadening effort to target Iran's energy sector and press Tehran to curb in its nuclear ambitions, which Western governments say appear aimed at developing the means to make atomic weapons.
Iran says its nuclear activities are legitimate and entirely for peaceful ends.
China cut oil imports from Iran in January and February in a commercial dispute over contract terms, and has been looking for alternative supplies.
Yet China is unlikely to dramatically boost crude imports from Saudi Arabia, even with the Iranian worries, said Meidan, the analyst with the Eurasia Group.
"In the likely event that Iran will offer discounted oil, Chinese traders will buy more Iranian barrels and could consequently reduce their Saudi imports," she said.
"Wen will therefore need to convey both commercial and diplomatic realities to Saudi Arabia, China's number one source of crude imports, and ensure that bilateral ties remain on steady footing."
MORE TRADE TOO, PLEASE
Wen also said his government wants "strong and reputable" Chinese companies to invest in Saudi Arabia's ports, railways and infrastructure, the Chinese Xinhua news agency reported.
China and Saudi Arabia should keep deepening cooperation "in the face of changeable and complicated regional and international trends," he said, according to Xinhua.
Crown Prince Nayef is King Abdullah's half brother and became heir to the throne in October. The Xinhua report paraphrased the prince as saying that Saudi Arabia is willing to expand cooperation in energy and infrastructure.
China is already Saudi Arabia's biggest customer and the kingdom is keen to diversify its economic ties.
On Saturday, the state-run Saudi oil giant Aramco and Chinese companies finalized an initial agreement signed last year to develop a 400,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery in Yanbu, on the kingdom's Red Sea coast.
Aramco will hold a 62.5 percent stake in the joint venture formed to develop Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Co (YASREF), and Sinopec will own the rest.
In the first 11 months of 2011, top supplier Saudi Arabia shipped 45.5 million tons of crude to China, a rise of 12.9 percent over the same period in 2010, according to Chinese customs data. Angola and Iran were China's second and third biggest suppliers.
Wen is also scheduled to visit the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
(Reporting by Chris Buckley, Editing by Jonathan Thatcher)
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Volunteers wanted for planet hunt
15 January 2012
Last updated at 19:31 ET
Members of the public are being asked to join the hunt for nearby planets that could support life.
Volunteers can go to the Planethunters website to see time-lapsed images of 150,000 stars, taken by the Kepler space telescope.
They will be advised on the signs that indicate the presence of a planet and how to alert experts if they spot them.
"We know that people will find planets that are missed by the computer," said Chris Lintott from Oxford University.
"When humans have looked at data, we know they find planets that computers can't."
Continue reading the main storyFIND OUT MORE
- Join the hunt for exo-planets at the Planethunters site
- Watch Stargazing Live on BBC Two at 20:30 GMT on Monday, and 20:00 GMT on Tuesday and Wednesday, 16-18 January 2012
- Join the Talk Stargazing webchat during the programmes
The Kepler space telescope, launched in 2009, has been searching a part of space thought to have many stars similar to our own Sun.
Its most exciting moment to date has been the discovery of Kepler 22b, a planet close in size and temperature to Earth, lying about 600 light-years away.
Name check
Another nine months of data from the Kepler space telescope is being put online at the Planethunters website to coincide with three consecutive nights of BBC Two's Stargazing Live beginning on Monday 16 January.
Continue reading the main storyKepler Space Telescope
- Stares fixedly at a patch corresponding to 1/400th of the sky
- Looks at more than 155,000 stars
- Has so far found 2,326 candidate planets
- Among them are 207 Earth-sized planets, 10 of which are in the "habitable zone" where liquid water can exist
"By Wednesday we hope to have some exciting discoveries." said Dr Lintott.
The Planethunters website will have time-lapsed sequences of images of about 150,000 stars which have so far only been available to professional astronomers and their computers.
"We are very confident there are more planets lurking in there to be found," Chris Lintott explained.
Anyone spotting a potential planet can flag up the telltale data and, if a significant planet is found, they would be credited with the discovery and their name would appear in any subsequent scientific paper about the discovery.
The human brain would be particularly good at finding any weird or unusual systems says Lintott, involving variable or double stars or multiple interacting planets.
Already several planets have been discovered by the public since the site was put live last year by an international team including scientists from Yale and Oxford universities.
Astrophysicist Tim O'Brien has some top tips for budding stargazers
But sadly, volunteers cannot get a planet named after them, as planet names are derived from the stars they orbit.
Stargazing Live returns to BBC Two at 20:30 GMT on Monday and 20:00 GMT on Tuesday and Wednesday, 16-18 January 2012. Preliminary results of the planet hunt by Stargazing viewers will feature in the final programme.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/science-environment-16512017
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Monday, January 16, 2012
Revolutionary surgical technique for perforations of the eardrum
ScienceDaily (Jan. 16, 2012) ? A revolutionary surgical technique for treating perforations of the tympanic membrane (eardrum) in children and adults has been developed at the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Centre, an affiliate of the Universit? de Montreal, by Dr. Issam Saliba. The new technique, which is as effective as traditional surgery and far less expensive, can be performed in 20 minutes at an outpatient clinic during a routine visit to an ENT specialist. The result is a therapeutic treatment that will be much easier for patients and parents, making surgery more readily available and substantially reducing clogged waiting lists.
"In the past five years, I've operated on 132 young patients in the outpatient clinic at the Sainte-Justine UHC using this technique, as well as on 286 adults at the University of Montreal Hospital Centre (CHUM) outpatient clinic," says Dr. Saliba. "Regardless of the size of the perforation, the results are as good as those obtained using traditional techniques, with the incomparable advantage that parents don't have to lose an entire working day, or 10 days or more off school in the case of children."
The technique, which Dr. Saliba has designated "HAFGM" (Hyaluronic Acid Fat Graft Myringoplasty), requires only basic materials: a scalpel, forceps, a probe, a small container of hyaluronic acid, a small amount of fat taken from behind the ear and a local anesthetic. The operation, which is performed through the ear canal, allows the body by itself to rebuild the entire tympanic membrane after about two months on average, allowing patients to recover their hearing completely and preventing recurring cases of ear infection (otitis). Because it requires no general anesthetic, operating theatre or hospitalization, the technique makes surgery much more readily available, particularly outside large hospital centres, and at considerably lower cost.
"With the traditional techniques, you have to be on the waiting list for up to a year and a half in order to be operated on. Myringoplasty (reconstruction of the eardrum) using the HAFGM technique reduces waiting times, cost of the procedure and time lost by parents and children. What's more, it will help clear the backlogs on waiting lists," Dr. Saliba says.
Perforations of the eardrum
Myringoplasty is surgical procedures to repair the tympanic membrane or eardrum when it has been perforated or punctured as the result of infection, trauma or dislodgement of a myringotomy tube (also known as a pressure equalization tube). Surgical repair of the perforation will allow the patient to recover his or her hearing and prevent repeated ear infections, particularly after swimming or shower. Traditionally, these procedures are performed using what are known as overlay and underlay techniques, which require hospitalization for at least one day, and 10 to 15 days off work. Every year in Quebec, some 750 myringoplasties are performed on adult or child patients.
Details of the study
This world premiere of a new form of eardrum surgery is based on results of a four-year prospective cohort study of 208 children and adolescents, 73 of whom were treated using the new HAFGM technique. This study was published on December 16, 2011 in the scientific journal Archives of Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery by Dr. Issam Saliba, otolaryngologist (ear, nose and throat or ENT specialist), surgeon and researcher at the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Centre affiliated with the Universit? de Montr?al, where he is also professor of otology and neuro-otology. Dr. Saliba is also a surgeon and researcher at the CHUM, where he conducted a similar study, applying the same HAFGM technique to cohorts of adult patients between 2007 and 2010, with publication in the August 20, 2008 issue of the scientific journal Clinical Otolaryngology and subsequently in the February 12, 2011 issue of The Laryngoscope. The University of Montreal and Sainte-Justine University Hospital Centre are known officially as Universit? de Montr?al and Centre hospitalier universitaire Sainte-Justine, respectively.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Universit? de Montr?al, via Newswise.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- I. Saliba, P. Froehlich. Hyaluronic Acid Fat Graft Myringoplasty: An Office-Based Technique Adapted to Children. Archives of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, 2011; 137 (12): 1203 DOI: 10.1001/archoto.2011.188
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://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120116112610.htm
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Sunday, January 15, 2012
Man killed in patio of Mexican border grade school (AP)
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico ? A man has been shot to death in the courtyard of an elementary school in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez. It's an unusual event even for a city where children have enormous exposure to violence.
Prosecutors' spokesman Arturo Sandoval says gunmen wounded the man outside the school. Then when the victim ran onto the campus trying to escape, the attackers followed him and finished him off.
Children were in class at the time of Thursday's killing. Murders in Ciudad Juarez have sometimes happened outside schools, but seldom inside.
Children in Ciudad Juarez are given training on what to do when gunfire break out. Some youngsters have required psychological counseling because of the city's drug-fueled violence.
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Keith Harrington: Offshore Wind Activists an Unmatched Force at Maryland General Assembly Opener
If measured by the turnout at the rally at the Annapolis state house yesterday, of all the issues confronting the Maryland General Assembly as it reconvenes this week, offshore wind power enjoys the most energetic public support.
Maintaining the grassroots momentum from a statewide series of packed "Wind Works" town hall forums, over 100 citizen clean energy advocates from across Maryland descended on Lawyers' Mall on Wednesday morning to greet returning state lawmakers with an unequivocal message: "Get it done in 2012! Wind works for Marylanders' health, jobs, climate and energy costs!"
Decked out in blue campaign T-shirts, wind advocates were the most visible activist presence on the opening morning of the 2012 legislative session. The impressive show of support for a cold weekday morning jibed with recent statewide poll results which showed that nearly two-thirds of Marylanders support developing the state's robust offshore wind energy resources, even if it means a small initial bump in energy costs.
Speaking to the rally crowd, state Senate Majority Leader Rob Garagiola scoffed at charges from critics that Marylanders can't afford to invest in offshore wind: "The price of coal goes up; the price of gas goes up. Does the price of wind ever go up?"
The crowd responded with a resounding, "No!"
"That's right," Garagiola continued, "It doesn't go up. This is going to save ratepayers money."
Other speakers included the state House Majority Leader Kumar Barve, climate justice and health advocate Vernice Miller Travis, Chesapeake Climate Action Network Director Mike Tidwell, MD Delegate Tom Hucker, business innovator Joe Gaskins, Johns Hopkins student Tippy Patrinos and state Senator Paul Pinsky.
After the rally, the sea of blue shirts shifted from the mall to the inside of the state house and the legislative office buildings where activists took the wind works message to legislators and other dignitaries.
On his way to address the opening session, Governor Martin O'Malley stopped to greet wind activists distributing fliers on the mall, and reiterated his support for passing the bill through the Assembly this year. The Governor's new offshore-wind energy bill is expected to drop in the next few weeks along with the rest of his ambitious legislative package. With other big ticket issues like same-sex marriage, a proposed sales or gas tax increase on the agenda, clean energy advocates certainly have their work cut out for them in keeping wind at the top of the priority list. But if advocates keep bringing the same grassroots energy they brought to Annapolis on Wednesday, that shouldn't be a problem.
Learn more about the "Wind Works for Maryland" campaign and get involved at www.marylandoffshorewind.org.
Crossposted from the Chesapeake Climate Action Network blog.
Photo Credit: Abhik Saha
?
Follow Keith Harrington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/kharring
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/keith-harrington/offshore-wind-power_b_1202446.html
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Friday, January 13, 2012
Looking forward to social business evolution in 2012
Carol Rozwell
VP Distinguished Analyst
11 years at Gartner
21 years IT industry
Coverage Areas:
by Carol Rozwell ?|? January 11, 2012 ?|? Submit a Comment
This time of year, I like to review what people think is in store for us in the coming twelve months. I?ve read through lots of material, so I thought I would summarize a few points about what I hope will change in 2012 as well as a few trends I expect will play out.
First, what I hope evolves from 2011 missteps into greater insight:
- During 2011, I talked with too many social media leaders who were still focused on the ?media? and not the ?social.? We are in the midst of a significant business disruption, but all too often the discussion centered on ?should I have a facebook page or not?? (You may want to see my blog on the top ten signals that indicate your management doesn?t get social media). Yes, this is still an issue. I did a workshop with a client before the holidays. It started out with the Business Gets Social scenario presentation in which Gartner clearly recommends that the choice of technology is the last of the eight building blocks social media leaders need to plan for. So when it came to the discussion of ?what should we do for social?? the workshop participants started arguing about whether their social strategy should be built using product A or product B. Hopefully this year the emphasis will be on the necessary behavior change to espouse social and humanize the enterprise.
- Last year, social was still just an add-on to existing business processes, not an integrated, organized effort. Gartner recommends that social media leaders explore how they can augment existing business processes with social. The critical question in my mind is how to use ?1000 eyes? (See the blog post). But too many social media initiatives are disconnected from other enterprise activities. Another real-life example ripped from the headlines (or rather my own?experience): I got a tweet from a vendor asking if I was going to join their webinar. This is a vendor I?ve worked with for years, one who regularly emails me stuff, so someone in marketing knows I am on their distribution list. When I declined the invite to the webinar, the tweeter asked me to send them my email so they could send me the slides post-event. Ah, well. Hopefully, we will make some progress in this regard, too.
Here are a few social media trends for 2012 to ponder as you develop your plans:
- Emergence of what Gartner calls the nexus for four forces: The convergence of cloud, social, mobile and information into a unified set of forces shaping almost every IT-related decision. They key is that social does not live alone. (Gartner clients may want to read the report Predicts 2012: Four Forces Combine to Transform the IT Landscape)
- Increasing customer expectation for engagement via social channels. Here is the prediction from Jeff Mann and me: By 2014, refusing to communicate with customers via social channels will be as harmful as ignoring emails or phone calls is today. Let me know if you want the entire predicts report and I can send it to you.
- Increased interest in social analytics. This includes not only the collection of social intelligence information but also the organization competency to use the intelligence for more informed decision making. Yes, we?ve been talking about data-driven decision making for years, but now its feasible and there is additional insight to be gleaned from social network interactions.
The cool thing about a new year is that it gives us the chance to start over. I hope you are doing that with a joyful heart and a boatload of enthusiasm.
Category: Collaboration Social media Social networks Strategic Planning Uncategorized community social software ? ? Tags: Change management, Collaboration, Collaboration dynamics, community, Organizational liquidity, Social media, Social networking, social software
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