Sunday, December 30, 2012

Report: Sony Xperia Z to launch on January 15th, beating out next Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S IV

1. rusticguy posted on 1 hour ago 7 2

Lol ... they have to write iphone in every article :)

2. lee480 posted on 1 hour ago 6 1

Look likes Apple's reign is about to end.

5. rusticguy posted on 1 hour ago 3 2

Not until media is there ... as Apple manages media pretty well. Even if Apple rfeleases a crap screen entire media goes drooling over how good it looks.

4. cGmC11 posted on 1 hour ago 1 0

Sound like that AT&T will unveil this phone in your unpacked event at CES!

11. InspectorGadget80 posted on 53 min ago 0 0

That's what I'm hoping for :) if i dont get the GS IV this will be my top pick

16. PhoneArenaUser posted on 37 min ago 0 0

Some rumors says that Sony Xperia Z (a.k.a. Yuga) will be for Asia market while other model also known as Odin will be for the rest markets.

7. techguy22 posted on 1 hour ago 2 0

beat the next iphone for sure. its not like iphone 5s gonna be any different from its predecessor. sure apple will find a new gimmick for it just like the 4S . but S4 i doubt it. 1080P on S4 is gonna be awesome. iphone will get 1080P in 2030

8. joey18 posted on 58 min ago 0 8

another android phone and poor battery

10. rickywinataa posted on 53 min ago 3 0

well, droid razr maxx HD doesn't has poor battery. what kind of smartphone today has battery life as good as 3310 anyway

19. networkdood posted on 13 min ago 0 0

another opinion that has no validity

9. InspectorGadget80 posted on 53 min ago 2 0

If the GS IV won't come out before then I'll be buying the XPERIA Z. Xperia Z or the GS IV was my top two phones for 2013

12. skymitch89 posted on 47 min ago 1 0

Just another company for Apple to sue for no reason.

14. lee480 posted on 44 min ago 4 0

Apple won't sue Sony. Steve Job built Apple based on Sony's model. Even if Apple sues Sony, Sony has million times more patents than Apple.

17. PhoneArenaUser posted on 35 min ago 0 0

"Sony has million times more patents than Apple."

Reasonable patents.

15. unzip7 posted on 39 min ago 0 0

I wonder does anyone know why SPRINT does not sell SONY phones?? There must be a conflect of intress?

18. networkdood posted on 15 min ago 1 0

2GB RAM should be standard for any phone

20. networkdood posted on 12 min ago 0 0

ok, so 'what' exactly about this phone will make me want to buy it?

21. Berzerk000 posted on 8 min ago 0 0

Mainly, the camera. Sony is known for having some of the best cameras. That and with a 1080p display with their own Bravia engine, the best processor out right now, and their amazing build quality, it seems to be a pretty great package.

22. Dacha posted on 4 min ago 0 0

Wrong translation by PhoneArena once again. The original article states a January 15th announcement not release date.

23. ryq24 posted on 3 min ago 0 0

announcing it is one thing , when it will be available in the market is another. so far, history shows sony is not very good in this department.

Report: Sony Xperia Z to launch on January 15th, beating out next Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S IV

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/phonearena/ySoL/~3/BZVOZ4mooI4/Report-Sony-Xperia-Z-to-launch-on-January-15th-beating-out-next-Apple-iPhone-and-Samsung-Galaxy-S-IV_id38156

Charles Durning Webster Ny amber alert Mcdonalds Restaurants Open on Christmas Day jessica simpson santa tracker

Dot Earth: Peabody Coal Sales Ticker Next to 'Clean Energy' Claim

Dec. 29, 12:38 a.m. | Updated below |Electricity, including that generated by coal combustion, has been a boon for humanity. In fact, there?s much truth in the headline on Indur M. Goklany?s new analysis for the anti-regulatory Cato Institute: ?Humanity Unbound: How Fossil Fuels Saved Humanity from Nature and Nature from Humanity.? (I?ll post more on that paper soon, including an interview with Goklany.)

But that does not come close to justifying what you see on the home page of Peabody Energy, the largest coal company in the free world:

Coal Sales and a Clean Energy Claim

Just to the right of a ticker-style, real-time tally of tons of coal sold (about eight tons per second or so) is the message that the company is the* ?global leader in clean energy solutions??

Pollution from coal burning, in the United States and particularly in developing countries, has big impacts on public health, and the climate impact from coal-generated carbon dioxide could be enormous if the world?s still-vast reserves are heavily exploited. We?ve been stuck on the coal rung of what Loren Eiseley called ?the heat ladder? of energy history for too long.

I sent a site link and the video clip above to Nicholas Muller of Middlebury College and William D. Nordhaus and Robert O. Mendelsohn of Yale, authors of this influential 2011 paper in American Economics Review: ?Environmental Accounting for Pollution in the United States Economy.? One of its many conclusions was that ?coal-fired power plants have air pollution damages larger than their value added.?

As I put it in my note to them, ?I find it hard to reconcile your calculation of coal?s big externalized costs with such a juxtaposition (coal sales and ?clean energy? leadership):

You can read the reply from Mendelsohn below, followed by more from Bob Keefe of the Natural Resources Defense Council and Vic Svec, a spokesman for Peabody Energy:

Here?s Mendelsohn:

We did not make any company specific estimates of damage. If Peabody is responsible for 23 percent of U.S. coal and if each ton of Peabody coal causes the average damage from coal in the U.S., the burning of Peabody coal is causing $12 billion of damage from traditional health related air pollutants and almost $16 billion of damage including greenhouse gases every year. Few companies can boast more.

I also asked him if they?d gotten any significant pushback on their findings so far. Here?s his reply:

Academically, there has been nothing but positive feedback so far. Politically, so far, there is no push back. However, if there was ever a hint of legislation based on our work, I am sure that it would heat up considerably.

I sent the same query to Bob Keefe, a spokesman for the Natural Resources Defense Council. He put his reaction bluntly:

Juxtaposing its coal sales against its shamefully blatantly false claims of being ?a global leader in clean energy solutions? is baffling ? but also indicative of Peabody Energy?s inexplicable approach to the environment and the communities in which it operates.

The only way you could possibly believe Peabody?s claim that it ?advances environmental excellence? is if you believe breathing pollution and toxins is part of a good health routine.

Peabody consistently ranks as one of the worst polluters on the planet. If it put only a fraction of the time and money it spends on fighting environmental safeguards into actually pursing clean energy solutions, we?d all be better off.

See these links for more:

?The 15 Worst Companies For The Planet? (Business Insider Green Sheet)

Green Rankings, the 2009 List (Newsweek)

?Climate-denying Indiana Regulator helps ALEC Coal Companies Delay EPA Climate Rules? (Polluter Watch)

Finally, here?s the response from Vic Svec from Peabody:

We note on the front page of our website that Peabody Energy is the world?s largest private-sector coal company and a global leader in sustainable mining and clean coal solutions. One of the great untold environmental stories is the enormous progress in clean energy that has occurred in recent decades.

We forget to celebrate the enormous progress that has been made in clean coal in recent decades. The core U.S. coal statistic is this: criteria emissions from coal use in the U.S. have declined a stunning 87% since 1970, during a time when coal use has nearly tripled. ?Smokestacks? for coal plants have now become steam stacks, thanks to wet and dry ESPs, baghouses, low-NOx burners, SCRs, activated carbon injection and a host of other technologies.

In addition, using coal in large centralized plants dramatically reduces the burning of fuel wood and waste that causes enormous indoor air pollution in developing nations. And we know that low-cost coal-fueled electricity has helped to bring about an explosion of electrotechnologies: your coal-fueled mail delivery ? e-mail ? has dramatically lower emissions than traditional mail.

New supercritical coal plants represent another leap forward. Consider the Prairie State Energy Campus, with more than $1 billion in clean coal technologies and criteria emissions some 80% below the existing coal fleet? along with a carbon dioxide emission rate some 40% below existing plants. Prairie State is also a great example of green jobs, with thousands of workers involved in construction of the large coal plant. And Prairie State has a cost of fuel that less than one-third that of even currently suppressed U.S. natural gas prices.

Ironically, U.S. environmentalists have been a major reason more supercritical coal plants haven?t been used in the United States, even taking credit for killing state-of-the-art new coal construction in the past decade. China is building far more such plants because they recognize that coal is essential to power a healthy economy and the new generation of coal plants offer great environmental advantage. Also, Peabody is proud to be the only non-Chinese partner in GreenGen, which just started up in Tianjin, China, as a major coal gasification plant that will ultimately reuse carbon dioxide for enhanced oil recovery.

Coal has been the fastest growing fuel in the world for the past decade, and has been projected to pass oil as the world?s largest energy source next year. Its abundance and low-cost profile make coal essential for powering the world?s best economies and helping to move hundreds of millions of people to cities? and to the middle class. Those are enormous societal benefits, and technology can ensure that his be done in an environmentally friendly way.

Dec. 29, 12:09 a.m. | Updated |
* There?ve been several interesting developments related to the section marked with an asterisk:

1) In a comment, Peter Gleick noted that, while I wrote that the company said it is a global leader in clean energy solutions, it actually stated on its home page that it is ?the global leader in clean energy solutions.? I?ve changed the text from ?a? to ?the.?

2) Another commenter, Bob Armstrong, protested, quoting from the Web site as follows:

No , it says: ?Peabody Energy is the global leader in CLEAN COAL solutions and advances environmental excellence in coal mining and use.?

It turns out they?re both right, in that it said what Gleick asserted when I recorded my video loop of the page on Dec. 19 and now says what Armstrong quoted.

I?ll ask Vic Svec why the wording changed. Perhaps the first version was not supported by the facts?

Source: http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/28/a-coal-sales-ticker-next-to-a-clean-energy-claim/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Maria Montessori clint eastwood Julian Castro Blue Moon August 2012 Eddie Murphy Dead michelle obama robin roberts

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Timeline of Top Political Stories of 2012

American politics had plenty of press coverage in 2012. A presidential election was held Nov. 6. Key ballot issues passed as voters accepted legalized marijuana and gay marriage. Congress has yet to avert a financial pitfall that could happen once the new year starts. Despite the overload of political stories from 2012, some stood out more than others throughout the year.

Feb. 29: Fiscal cliff appears

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke coined the term "fiscal cliff" in late February during testimony before Congress. The fed chief said, "A massive fiscal cliff of large spending cuts and tax increases," according to the Nightly Business Report. The chairman went on to say he hoped Congress will "figure out ... long-run fiscal improvement without having it all happen at one date."

Feb. 29: Rush Limbaugh's "slutgate"

Politico noted Rush Limbaugh's controversial remarks he made regarding Sandra Fluke, the 30-year-old Georgetown law student who testified before Congress in favor of free contraception from insurance providers. The talk show host proceeded to call the young woman a "slut" and a "prostitute" for alleging she's being "paid to have sex" on campus.

March 1: Andrew Breitbart's death

Conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart died of a massive heart attack near his home in Los Angeles. Fox News reported the websites Breitbart founded announced his "unexpected" death from "natural causes." Breitbart helped bring down former Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York during his scandal in the late spring of 2011.

April 10: Rick Santorum dropped out of GOP race

The Washington Post revealed Rick Santorum's decision to drop out of the GOP primary race in mid-April. The former senator from Pennsylvania was the last major opponent for front-runner Mitt Romney who became the de facto nominee at that point in the election cycle.

May 17: Romney's "47 percent" remark

Time magazine reveals Yale's top quote of 2012 was made by Romney as he became the presumptive GOP nominee. During a fundraiser in Florida, one supporter secretly video recorded the Republican businessman saying, "There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what ... who are dependent on government, who believe that they are victims." Romney then said it wasn't his job to worry about those people. Several missteps like this made the founder of Bain Capital look like he was out of touch with ordinary Americans.

Sept. 11: Libya consulate deaths

Four Americans, including Ambassador John Christopher Stevens, were killed when insurgents stormed and burned the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya. A five-person review board concluded security was woefully short at the facility during a time of unrest in Libya. The State Department in general was held accountable for the lives of the four citizens, in addition to a lack of funding for proper security at the consulate in eastern Libya.

Nov. 6: General election results leaned to left with gay marriage, marijuana

Several election issues leaned to the left as results came in Tuesday night into Wednesday morning on Election Day. The Associated Press reports Maine and Maryland approved ballot measure legalizing gay marriage. Those results were the first time voters approved gay marriage. Washington state and Colorado legalized recreational marijuana use on the same day Americans re-elected Barack Obama.

Dec. 17: Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, died

The longest-serving member of the Senate died at the age of 88. Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, was elected to the Senate in 1962. The Washington Times notes Inouye was the first Japanese-American elected to Congress. Only one senator remains who was first elected during the Vietnam era -- Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

William Browning is a research librarian specializing in U.S. politics.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/timeline-top-political-stories-2012-165000711.html

octavia spencer meryl streep oscars school shooting ohio billy crystal oscar winners 2012 billy crystal oscars 2012 angelina jolie oscars

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

A White Christmas In Store For Metro Detroit As Winter Storm Closes In

Detroit Free Press:

After just enough snow falls today for a white Christmas, meteorologists will be watching to see how many inches southeast Michigan can expect from a storm headed to the region on Wednesday.

Current forecasts of a storm system moving in from the south show three to six inches of snow will start falling Wednesday morning, accumulating through Wednesday night, National Weather Service meteorologist Sara Schultz said today.

Read the whole story at Detroit Free Press

"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/24/a-white-christmas-in-stor_n_2359581.html

haley barbour peoples choice awards 2012 ford recalls robert kardashian chicago weather forecast narcolepsy narcolepsy

Monday, December 24, 2012

Afghan policewoman kills US adviser in Kabul

Afghan policemen watching down from top of the Kabul police headquarters, following the killing of an American advisor in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Dec. 24, 2012. An Afghan policewoman killed an American adviser at the Kabul police headquarters on Monday, a senior Afghan police official said. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

Afghan policemen watching down from top of the Kabul police headquarters, following the killing of an American advisor in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Dec. 24, 2012. An Afghan policewoman killed an American adviser at the Kabul police headquarters on Monday, a senior Afghan police official said. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

An Afghan policeman stands guard outside of Kabul police headquarters gate, where an American advisor was killed in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Dec. 24, 2012. An Afghan policewoman killed an American adviser at the Kabul police headquarters on Monday, a senior Afghan police official said. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

Afghan policemen stand guard outside of Kabul police headquarters, where a an American advisor was killed, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Dec. 24, 2014. An Afghan policewoman killed an American adviser at the Kabul police headquarters on Monday, a senior Afghan police official said. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

A member of security escorts a U.S. convoy in to the Kabul police headquarters, where a an American advisor was killed in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Dec. 24, 2012. An Afghan policewoman killed an American adviser at the Kabul police headquarters on Monday, a senior Afghan police official said. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

American security men get into a U.S. vehicle, outside of Kabul police headquarters, where an American advisor was killed in the Kabul police headquarter in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Dec. 24, 2012. An Afghan policewoman killed an American adviser at the Kabul police headquarters on Monday, a senior Afghan police official said. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? An Afghan policewoman shot and killed an American adviser outside the police headquarters in Kabul on Monday, the latest in a rising tide of insider attacks by Afghans against their foreign allies, senior Afghan officials said.

The killing of the American, who worked as a contractor with the NATO command, was the first known insider attack by a woman in Afghanistan.

The woman, identified as Afghan police Sgt. Nargas, had entered a strategic compound in the heart of the capital and shot the civilian adviser with a pistol as he came out of a small shop with articles he had just bought, Kabul Governor Abdul Jabar Taqwa told The Associated Press.

Earlier, she had asked bystanders where the governor's office was located, the governor said. As many Afghans, the policewoman uses only one name.

The policewoman was taken into Afghan custody shortly after the attack but Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi said that she refused to answer questions after hours of interrogation aimed at determining her motives for the killing.

Sediqi said the assailant shot only once, striking the American in the side of the chest. He died either on the way or just upon arrival at a hospital, the spokesman added, describing her act as a "huge crime."

A NATO command spokesman, U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Lester T. Carroll, said the slain adviser was a contractor whose identity wasn't immediately released. "We can confirm that a civilian police adviser was shot and killed this morning by a suspected member of the Afghan uniformed police," Carroll said.

The attack occurred outside the police headquarters in a walled, highly secure compound which also houses the governor's office, courts and a prison. Kabul Deputy Police Chief Mohammad Daoud Amin said an investigation was under way.

Nargas, a mother of four, had worked with a human rights department of the police for two years and had earlier been a refugee in Pakistan and Iran, Amin said.

She could enter the compound armed because as a police officer she was licensed to carry a pistol, the police official said. Amin did not know whether the killer and victim were acquainted.

"Her background is very clean. We don't see that she had any connection with armed insurgent groups," Sediqi said. He added that she aroused no suspicion because she frequently went back and forth on business between the compound and the Interior Ministry where she worked.

Canadian Brig. Gen. John C. Madower, a command spokesman in Kabul, called the incident "a very sad occasion" and said his "prayers are with the loved ones of the deceased."

The killing came just hours after an Afghan policeman shot five of his colleagues at a checkpoint in northern Afghanistan late Monday. The attacker then stole his colleague's weapons and fled to join the Taliban, said deputy provincial governor in Jawzjan province, Faqir Mohammad Jawzjani.

More than 60 international allies, including troops and civilian advisers, have been killed by Afghan soldiers or police this year, and a number of other insider attacks as they are known are still under investigations. NATO forces, due to mostly withdraw from the country by 2014, have speeded up efforts to train and advise Afghan military and police units before the pullout.

The surge in insider attacks is throwing doubt on the capability of the Afghan security forces to take over from international troops and has further undermined public support for the 11-year war in NATO countries.

It has also stoked suspicion among some NATO units of their Afghan counterparts, although others enjoy close working relations with Afghan military and police.

As such attacks mounted this year, U.S. officials in Kabul and Washington insisted they were "isolated incidents" and withheld details. An AP investigation earlier this month showed that at least 63 coalition troops ? mostly Americans ? had been killed and more than 85 wounded in at least 46 insider attacks. That's an average of nearly one attack a week. In 2011, 21 insider attacks killed 35 coalition troops.

There have also been incidents of Taliban and other militants dressing in Afghan army and police uniforms to infiltrate NATO installations and attack foreigners.

In February, two U.S. soldiers ? Lt. Col. John D. Loftis and Maj. Robert J. Marchanti, died from wounds received during an attack by an Afghan policeman at the Interior Ministry in Kabul. The incident forced NATO to temporarily pull out their advisers from a number of ministries and police units and revise procedures in dealing with Afghan counterparts.

The latest known insider attack took place Nov. 11 when a British soldier, Capt. Walter Reid Barrie, was killed by an Afghan army soldier during a football match between British and Afghan soldiers in the restive southern province of Helmand.

More than 50 Afghan members of the government's security forces also have died this year in attacks by their own colleagues. Taliban militants claim such attacks reflect a growing popular opposition to both foreign military presence and the Kabul government.

In Sunday's attack, Jawzjani, the provincial official, said the attacker was an Afghan policeman manning a checkpoint in Dirzab District who turned his weapon on five colleagues before fleeing to the militant Islamist group.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-12-24-Afghanistan/id-9a5cd782bac24ade9ba97cb3809eb556

whitney houston whitney houston autopsy results obama trayvon jim yong kim

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Emotion in voices helps capture listener's attention, but in the long run the words are not remembered as accurately

Dec. 11, 2012 ? Does the emotion in our voice have a lasting effect? According to Annett Schirmer and colleagues from the National University of Singapore, emotion helps us recognize words quicker and more accurately straight away. In the longer term however, we do not remember emotionally intoned speech as accurately as neutral speech. When we do remember the words, they have acquired an emotional value; for example words spoken in a sad voice are remembered as more negative than words spoken in a neutral voice.

The study, looking at the role of emotion in word recognition memory, is published online in Springer's journal, Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience.

In anger, sadness, exhilaration or fear, speech takes on an urgency that is lacking from its normal even-tempered form. It becomes louder or softer, more hurried or delayed, more melodic, erratic or monotonous. And this emotional speech immediately captures a listener's attention. Schirmer and colleagues' work looks at whether emotion has a lasting effect on word memory.

A total of 48 men and 48 women listened to sadly and neutrally spoken words and were later shown these words in a visual test, examining word recognition and attitudes to these words. The authors also measured brain activity to look for evidence of vocal emotional coding.

Their analyses showed that participants recognized words better when they had previously heard them in the neutral tone compared with the sad tone. In addition, words were remembered more negatively if they had previously been heard in a sad voice.

The researchers also looked at gender differences in word processing. They found that women were more sensitive to the emotional elements than men, and were more likely than men to recall the emotion of the speaker's voice. Current levels of the female sex hormone estrogen predicted these differences.

Schirmer and team conclude: "Emotional voices produce changes in long-term memory, as well as capturing the listener's attention. They influence how easily spoken words are later recognized and what emotions are assigned to them. Thus voices, like other emotional signals, affect listeners beyond the immediate present."

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 Springer Science+Business Media, via AlphaGalileo.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. Annett Schirmer, Ce-Belle Chen, April Ching, Ling Tan, Ryan Y. Hong. Vocal emotions influence verbal memory: Neural correlates and interindividual differences. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 2012; DOI: 10.3758/s13415-012-0132-8

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/most_popular/~3/3JNTxYzYxnk/121211112742.htm

king cake mardi gras fun. hepatitis c symptoms david bradley david foster wallace pinterest

What You Should Know About Online Marketing! | Jim McGilvary's ...

Mistakes Are Costing You! Learn To Stop?Making ALL 189 Of Them!

Struggling With WordPress? 100+ Step-By-Step Videos Now Available!

Posted by Administrator on Dec 11, 2012 in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Have you thought about Web marketing? Do you study the industry all the time in order to promote your business? Magazines, books and videos are just a few of the resource materials available to help you learn more about web marketing. Do you know how to get yourself started? Use these tips in order find a place to start.

Put yourself in your customers? shoes. Is it simple to use? Is it engaging to read? Are orders easy to place? Using SEO techniques and struggling to attract more traffic will not get you anywhere if you do not offer quality content on your site.

It is important to have a secure system for transactions. Consider PayPal or a comparable service for secure transactions on your site. Make sure that all of your customer?s personal and payment information is sent to your server in a secure, encrypted form.

TIP! There are several distinct markets in Internet marketing. As an example, in the future title tags may be weighed less by search engines for their rankings.

Try having events and promotions for your site. A one-dollar sale is a great way to get people in your virtual door. When people enter your site to purchase the e-book, they?ll probably look around at what else you offer. Quite often these visitors not only leave with an e-book, but other products that you are selling on your website.

Use excellent graphics on your website to showcase your products and services. This gives the customer peace of mind, as they get to see a detailed photograph of what they are ordering. Be sure to add functionality that lets customers upload their own product images. Utilizing ?before and after? images can be a very effective marketing strategy.

Social Networking Sites

TIP! You may not be able to afford an expensive consultant, but there are still plenty of useful resources available for free on the Internet that can help you improve your marketing campaign. Consider joining up with an online forum, groups in your hometown, or borrowing books from your local library.

Use social networking sites to help promote your business to your target audience. Make sure to only send information to people who have opted in to your mailing list, since some social networking sites have been closing accounts or even suing people who send unwanted email.

A good technique to use with your Internet promotion is to offer a discount for customers who make a purchase over a specified amount. One example is to give a 10% discount on purchases over $100. This can increase your sales.

Video marketing is a wonderful way to advertise your business. Adding a video section to your site is the perfect way to both attract new customers and keep old ones interested. Name your video something clever, and make it unique.

TIP! Take time to learn all the basics of website creation. Find things out online about HTML or CSS to know what you need to do.

Use short-term promos to boost your PageRank on the eCommerce site. If your deal is enough to get widespread attention, it?s a way to trade money for PageRank by lowering prices to get more links. This is just like selling loss leaders for money.

You are already aware of what will make you the most money if you have a strong marketing plan. Next, you should use those products as magnets for extra sales. Find out which products people usually buy to complement your best-selling products, then promote those products. Any product that is complimentary to your main sellers will get a boost because they don?t require as much promotion as anything unrelated would.

Your advertisements will be met with disbelief by many. This is a result of overexposure to misleading or deceitful advertising. Consequently, you need to offer evidence for everything you say on your website. Consider using customer reviews and testimonials, as well as pictures, on your website. Be sure you can prove any claim you make. Don?t mistake your customers for naive or ill-informed people. Don?t take advantage of people. It is vital to gain a good reputation so that your customers will keep coming back.

TIP! If you really want to develop a niche of satisfied customers, you should try offering prizes and rewards to people who are loyal to you. Your business will earn an excellent reputation, and you will be more likely to keep your customers coming back over the long haul.

Don?t overlook emails as an important way to reach valued customers and ptential customers. Protect your emails as much as possible as you may need these in the future. Do not use free email services that will get rid of emails after a time. You need to keep old email. Consider making your own email archiving arrangements, especially if you conduct sensitive communications with customers and consultants via email.

You will get more business if you offer a number of payment options. It may seem acceptable to only accept credit cards, but it is smarter to allow people to use checking accounts and online systems like Paypal.

There are interesting psychological studies available to you about Web marketing and site design. Psychology traits include the colors you use, your brand name or even the theme you use. When you understand how this works, your profits will improve.

TIP! Encourage customers to refer your site and offer them incentives for doing so. If you ask for five referrals in exchange for free services or a rebate, you will surely increase your sales exponentially.

Words like ?limited? add a sense of urgency and uniqueness to your advertisement. Consumers turn to the internet because they seek products outside of what the stores they can physically go to can offer them. These shoppers crave new and unique products. Selling products in a limited run often increases customers? sense of urgency about buying an exclusive item.

Marketing Plan

Now that you know where to start with your Website marketing plan, do you want to give it a go? Do you think you can apply these tips to your company? This means you need to start improving your overall marketing plan strategically. Do it, if you can!

TIP! Giving customers the opportunity to sign up for your Ezine is a highly effective online marketing technique, especially if you know how to create an Ezine that helps you build a relationship with your subscribers. Add family pictures of you to inject personality.

Are you ready to have success in the home based business industry and build it on autopilot? Click below to register for free today. See how it works here. Also check out our team benefits here

Source: http://leucabiz.com/blog/what-you-should-know-about-online-marketing/

the night they drove old dixie down levon oklahoma city bombing robbie robertson the curious case of benjamin button secret service prostitute rich ross

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Startup Weekend Winner Groupnotes Finds Plenty Of Early Appetite For Its Collaborative Education Product

groupnotesGroupnotes, a Canadian startup with a team spread across Hamilton and Toronto, Ontario, was crowned the overall winner of Startup Weekend's Global Startup Battle today. The international contest is all about launching a startup in just 54 hours, which the Groupnotes team managed with gusto, even signing on a number of customers willing to pay for early beta access before going hands on with an actual shipping product.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/dubwEKFIenk/

google play franchise tag lesotho a wrinkle in time benjamin netanyahu storm shelters nick lachey

Choosing A Missouri City Texas Import Auto Repair Shop

EUROCARE is the industry standard for Import Car Repair. We employ a full staff of knowledgeable technicians and service advisors who have mastered the art of import car care. Our staff has the benefit of the state-of-the-art equipment needed to service your vehicle properly. We pride ourselves on our top-quality workmanship, but we never sacrifice customer service. At EUROCARE, we provide a comfortable customer atmosphere ? different from the typical import car care experience.

View all articles by Jeff Anderson

It does not matter if you have a Lexus, Honda or a great Toyota you simply cannot think of being without, finding the right auto repair shop to care for your foreign car can be a difficult task. Do not fool yourself into thinking that the guy down the street can handle all of the repairs, just because he may have worked on that kind of car once or twice. When you are looking for aMissouri City, Texas import auto mechanic you should go with a specialist.

The Difference a Specialist Makes

In the past, you may have shied away from ?specialists? because of the potential for a bigger bill, but the reality is that the right import auto repair mechanic could save you thousands on needed repairs. Wondering why? When you take your car to an import auto mechanic, you?re getting a team of specialist who know what they?re doing. They?ve been through the specialized training required by many foreign car manufacturers, and they understand what they?re dealing with as soon as they open the hood. The result, then, is that you get a car repair that is faster and more accurate than anything else you might find in the larger auto repair market.

Choosing the Right Shop

You?ll probably notice that in the market for import auto repair, Missouri City, TX, has lots of choices available. How do you choose a shop

affiliate_link that?s right for you? It starts with a little bit of research on your part.

Start by asking friends, neighbors, and family members for recommendations. Don?t hesitate to take a look at their Facebook pages to see who they?ve recommended or scan their tweets to see who they really liked. Word of mouth is the best possible advertising for a shop.

When you?ve narrowed things down to a few different shops, take a quick visit to each one of them. Are they all clean and neat? Do they look like a place you?d be willing to leave your car? Do the mechanics all look like professionals? The shop?s image is just as important as their ability to repair your car.

You may also want to glance at the equipment while you?re there. Make certain they?re using state-of-the-art stuff like diagnosis software and lab scopes. If they?re not, you may want to choose a different facility to meet your needs, because finding out what?s wrong with your car is going to be fairly hit and miss.

Don?t hesitate to ask if they guarantee their work. Most shops will guarantee their work for at least a certain amount of time, and that can help give you the peace of mind necessary to move forward with the shop of your choice.

If you?re in the market for import auto repair, Missouri City, TX is going to have lots of different choices to offer you. Make certain that you do your homework, and you?ll find one that?s right for you.

Article Source: Eurocare

Source: http://www.articlesbd.com/articles/287397/1/Choosing-A-Missouri-City-Texas-Import-Auto-Repair-Shop/Page1.html

old navy walmart black friday walmart black friday Target Black Friday PacSun apple store bestbuy

George W. Bush pushes for more immigration | The Daily Caller

Former President George W. Bush ambled back into the spotlight Tuesday to laud legal immigration, a decade after he helped inflate the real-estate bubble to its 2007 peak while trying to boost homeownership among Hispanics.

?America is a nation of immigrants. ? Immigrants can help build a dynamic tomorrow. ? They invigorate our soul,? Bush said at the keynote speech of a one-day symposium on immigration?s role in the economy at the Dallas-based George W. Bush Institute.

?Growing up in Texas we have had the honor and privilege of meeting many of the newly arrived,? the former president said. ?They see education as bright future for their children, some will willingly defend the flag.?

That pitch was echoed by several panel speakers, including Steven Moore, a libertarian economist and columnist at the Wall Street Journal. On one trip to border farms, Moore enthused, he met a crop-picking Mexican who was working three low-wage jobs.

?That?s the kind of person we need in this country,? he declared.

However, a few of the panel-speakers at his event tried to argue for immigration of skilled workers, rather than the current ?family-based immigration? policy which tends to boost the flow of low-skill workers, most of whom are Hispanic.

?It is true that the Hispanic population has relatively higher rates of illiteracy ? [and assimilation] is a longer process,? compared to higher-skilled immigrants, said Richard Vedder, a libertarian economist at Ohio University.

Bush?s return to the immigration debate comes after legislators ? including then-Sen. Barack Obama ? rejected his immigration-boosting proposals three times prior to 2008. Those proposals damaged Bush?s support among conservative voters.

After their immigrant-aided victory in 2012, Democrats are renewing the push to increase immigration and to win citizenship for the roughly 11 million illegal immigrants now in the country. (RELATED: Illinois poll of Hispanics finds agreement with GOP on guns, gays, abortion)

As Washington advocates argue over immigration in 2013, ?I hope we do so with a benevolent spirit,? Bush said. ?America can be a lawful society and be a welcoming society at the same time.?

But supporters of immigration curbs say immigrants drive down wages and win jobs ahead of American blue-collar workers.

During the current recession, immigrants have won at least half of all new jobs created since 2009. Low-skill immigration also creates a bigger market for welfare programs.

But business owners continue to press for additional low-wage workers.

A panel at the Bush event was hijacked by the former owner of Pilgrim?s Pride, a chicken-processing firm, who urged easier immigration rules. The owner, Bo Pilgrim, said 40 percent of his 55,000 workers were immigrants, but he was fined $12 million the federal government?s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. ?This system is broke,? he said.

Source: http://dailycaller.com/2012/12/04/george-w-bush-pushes-for-more-immigration/

wake forest old dominion insync the duchess the duchess spice mike starr

Nokia?s plan to increase market share in 2013: Live in the past

Facebook (FB) announced on Tuesday that it will begin opening Facebook Messenger to consumers who do not have a Facebook account, starting in countries like India and South Africa, and later rolling out the service in the United States and Europe.?This is a belated acknowledgement of a staggering strategic mistake Facebook made two years ago. That is when the messaging app competition was still wide open and giants like Facebook or Google (GOOG) could have entered the competition. WhatsApp, the leading messaging app firm, had just 1 million users as late as December 2009. By the end of 2010, that number had grown to 10 million. Right now, it likely tops 200 million, though there is no current official number

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nokia-plan-increase-market-share-2013-live-past-143029569.html

21 jump street illinois primary results acapulco mexico hines ward alex smith alex smith robert deniro

David Mamet, Kathie Lee Gifford suffer losses

(AP) ? David Mamet's new play "The Anarchist" and Katie Lee Gifford's "Scandalous" will both end their Broadway runs much earlier than their creators wanted.

Producers said Tuesday night that Mamet's play starring Patti LuPone and Debra Winger portraying an inmate and warden respectively will close Dec. 16 after just 23 previews and 17 performances.

Producers of "Scandalous," a musical about the life of preacher Aimee Semple McPherson, said it will quit even earlier, after the matinee on Dec. 9 following 60 shows. Both shows got dreadful reviews and struggled at the box office.

Those two shows join "The Performers," a play set in the porn industry, with quick exits in the past few months on Broadway. "The Performers" opened and closed in November after just 23 previews and seven regular performances.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-12-04-Theater-Broadway%20Closings/id-b91163eb5de44640be889204c4d5d5f8

kate upton Jason Kidd All Star Game 2012 directv rashard lewis curacao curacao

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Column: Are you ready for some bowls?! We aren't

Northern Illinois coach Dave Doeren holds the Mid-American Conference championship trophy after his team defeated Kent State 44-37 in double overtime in an NCAA college football game, Friday, Nov. 30, 2012 in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Northern Illinois coach Dave Doeren holds the Mid-American Conference championship trophy after his team defeated Kent State 44-37 in double overtime in an NCAA college football game, Friday, Nov. 30, 2012 in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Northern Illinois quarterback Jordan Lynch (6) receives the most valuable player award after the Huskies defeated Kent State 44-37 in the second overtime in the Mid-American Conference championship NCAA college football game on Friday, Nov. 30, 2012, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Florida State's Karlos Williams (9) returns an interception as Georgia Tech quarterback Tevin Washington (13) chases in vain during the second half of the ACC Championship college football game in Charlotte, N.C., Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012. Florida State won 21-15. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

Southern California coach Lane Kiffin, left, talks with quarterback Max Wittek during the second half against Notre Dame in an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 24, 2012, in Los Angeles. Notre Dame won 22-13. (AP Photo/Danny Moloshok)

This college football bowl season is like a brand of Chex Mix that comes with a bunch of nuts you don't really care to eat.

Sure, there's a handful of enticing matchups that are worthy of your time for three or so hours. But by the time you're done picking through to the good ones, you realize there's not much left.

Well, there are other things to do this holiday season.

Like, go ice skating.

Or, check out all the pretty lights.

Whatever it is, there's never been a better reason to spend some time ? some real quality time ? with your friends and family.

Believe us, you won't be missing a thing if you tune out what will soon be running virtually nonstop on your plasma screen, in all its high-def ugliness. This is nothing more than a bunch of meaningless contests between mediocre teams, a lineup that that makes "Honey Boo Boo" look like "Downton Abbey."

Call it Must-Miss TV.

The guys who run the system clearly take us as nothing but a bunch of suckers, willing to watch whatever drivel they put before us as long they attach the word "bowl" to some product they're pushing.

When the complete list of bowls was finally unveiled in all its glory Sunday night, most of the attention turned to Northern Illinois, a team that somehow made the Orange Bowl after losing to Iowa (which won 33 percent of its games) and barely beating Army and Kansas (who combined for a grand total of three victories).

But let's not take out our wrath on the ... uh, hmmm ... whatever their nickname is. We should actually be saluting the MAC champs, because they're like a single minnow swimming ahead bravely to take on the BCS sharks, all while making an already ludicrous system look even sillier.

Besides, there's plenty of bowl games that are far more objectionable than the one in Miami between the Seminoles of Florida State and the ... uh, hmm ... oh yeah, the Huskies, that's it, of Northern Illinois.

The good folks of El Paso will be subjected to a Sun Bowl featuring a team with a losing record (Georgia Tech) and perhaps the most underachieving squad in all the land (USC).

The Yellow Jackets (6-7) needed a waiver from the NCAA before they could accept their invitation. The Trojans lost five times after starting the season at No. 1.

"We're excited about a very good bowl and a great matchup," said USC coach Lane Kiffin, who we can only assume awoke the next morning to find his nose had grown by a foot or two.

But, who knows, maybe one of Kiffin's minions will go all rogue again and deflate the tires on the team buses. That way, they can't leave their hotels and no one would have to be subjected to such a marquee matchup.

Though, we must say, this game might have some car-crash appeal if held in conjunction with a Kiffin family reunion. The bratty coach already dumped his 72-year-old dad because of the team's defensive woes, and he surely would be willing to jettison a few more relatives if the Trojans lost again.

Georgia Tech, meanwhile, was blown out at home by Middle Tennessee, lost its final regular-season game by 32 points and wound up with a losing record after getting into the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game by default, the next team in line after Miami decided to spend another postseason in self-imposed lockdown.

Even after losing the ACC game, the Yellow Jackets still got the call that extended their bowl streak to 16 years in a row.

Talk about an achievement worthy of an asterisk.

But, this isn't about one particular school. There's plenty of averageness to go around.

A dozen teams received bowl bids with records of 6-6, which is often the sort of mark that gets a coach fired, not earns his team a trip at the holidays. (Or, in the case of Purdue, was bowl-worthy AND got the coach fired).

In fact, there are two games matching a pair of 6-6 teams ? Rice vs Air Force in the Armed Services Bowl at Fort Worth (sorry, our men and women in uniform) and Pittsburgh vs. Ole Miss in the BBVA Compass Bowl at Birmingham.

When those kind of teams get together, they're hoping you throw out the record book.

Instead, you should change the channel.

Yet, none of the 35 bowls could find a spot for Louisiana Tech, the highest-scoring team in the country, a squad that won nine times and barely lost to Johnny Manziel and Texas A&M in one of the most entertaining games of the season.

The Bulldogs apparently weren't too thrilled about the idea of going to the nearby Independence Bowl to dance with another team from their own state (Louisiana-Monroe). They thought they had might get a call from someone more handsome. The Independence was all, like, why you disrespectin' us, girlfriend? So they called up Ohio (University, not State), which said "yes."

"Under no circumstances did I ever think there was any possibility at all that we would not play in a bowl game," Louisiana Tech coach Sonny Dykes said. "It is a shame that our nationally recognized team and its 31 seniors have to end the season this way."

No, the real shame is that college football ends its season this way.

We're promised a playoff in 2014, but we should see through that four-team ruse. It's a way to silence everyone who wants a legitimate playoff (16 teams, minimum) and keep alive the bowl system, nothing more than a nonprofit scam lining the pockets of its operators with exorbitant salaries for the taxing job of putting on one game a year.

Maybe if the fans stop watching, there will be a true playoff.

Maybe if the fans stop buying tickets, all these meaningless games will wither up and die.

There's no better time to start than now.

Happy Bowl Season!

Now, go do something else.

___

Paul Newberry is a national writer for The Associated Press. Write to him at pnewberry(at)ap.or or www.twitter.com

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-12-03-Paul%20Newberry-120312/id-a4ca3db7ee47494ba8d5bff1e091fc37

texas tornados seattle seahawks new uniforms wisconsin recall wisconsin recall doris day buffalo sabres texas news