The 4 best (and worst) return policies this holiday shopping season

Shoppers beware: Failing to read a store's return policy could leave your friends and relatives stuck with unwanted gifts. Here are the stores with the four best (and four worst) return policies for 2012 holiday shopping.?

By Karla Bowsher,?Contributor / October 27, 2012

A woman fills her car with gas from Costco in Los Angeles, California, in this 2011 file photo. According to Bowsher, Costco boasts one of the best return policies among retailers for the holidays.

Lucy Nicholson/Reuters/File

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If you fail to read a store?s return policy before shopping there, you could get stuck with an item that doesn?t work out. But if you fail to read return policies before gift shopping, it?s a friend or relative who could get stuck with an unwanted item.

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Fortunately, just about every store?s return policy can be found online these days, and they?re not hard to read if you know what questions to ask?

How to interpret a return policy

In-store purchases

1. What?s the time window for return??This is especially important for gifts. For example, if you buy a Christmas gift on Black Friday from a store with a 30-day return window, the recipient won?t be able to return it after Christmas.
2. Will the refund be in the original form of payment??Some stores issue certain refunds only in the form of store credit ? especially for gift returns.

Online purchases

1. What?s the time window for return?
2. If you return an online purchase by mail, will you have to pay for the return shipping? (And will the refund be in the original form of payment?)?Most stores will make you pay to ship a return, which is why the next question is important.
3. Are online purchases returnable to brick-and-mortar stores? (And will the refund be in the original form of payment?)

The best return policies

The following stores offer a return window of at least 90 days, provide a full refund, and allow online purchases to be returned to stores?

Costco

• Time window??None for most items (the exceptions ? TVs, projectors, computers, cameras, camcorders, tablets, MP3 players, and cell phones ? must be returned within 90 days).
• E-purchases returnable to stores??Yes ? and they?ll even refund the shipping.
• E-purchases returnable by mail??Yes, they?ll email you a UPS label, although you?ll have to take the package to a UPS drop-off spot.
• Note:?Costco even allows returns of Photo Center purchases that you?re dissatisfied with ? just call 866-459-9284. They?ll also refund your membership fee at any point if you?re dissatisfied.

L.L. Bean

• Time window??None.
• E-purchases returnable to stores??Yes.
• E-purchases returnable by mail??Yes, but you pay the return shipping unless you?re an L.L. Bean Visa cardholder.
• Note:?L.L. Bean never charges to ship purchases to you either.

Nordstrom

• Time window??None.
• E-purchases returnable to stores??Yes, with the packing slip and the?credit card?used for the purchase.
• E-purchases returnable by mail??Yes, but you pay the return shipping.

Zappos.com

• Time window??365 days.
• E-purchases returnable to stores??N/A (Zappos is online only).
• E-purchases returnable by mail??Yes, if the item is in the condition you received it in and in the original packaging. You?ll receive a prepaid return shipping label.
• Note:?Zappos never charges to ship a product to you either.

Worst return policies

If a gift recipient wants to return your gift, these stores will only offer them store credit, so make sure the gift recipient is a fan of the store or avoid gift-shopping there?

Babies R Us

• Time window??90 days for most items (see?policy?for exceptions).
• E-purchases returnable to stores??Yes, but only for store credit.
• E-purchases returnable by mail??Yes, with the original packaging and any paperwork, but you pay the return shipping unless the purchase was damaged or defective.
• Note:?In-store purchases returned to a store are generally refunded in the original form of payment, but gifts are an exception. So even if you bought a gift in a store and it was returned to a store, the recipient will still only receive store credit ? assuming they have a gift receipt.

Kohl?s

• Time window??None.
• E-purchases returnable to stores??Yes, with receipt. If you don?t have a receipt ? or if you have a gift receipt ? you can still return the item but only for store credit.
• E-purchases returnable by mail??Yes, but you pay the return shipping.
• Note:?If a gift was purchased in a store, it must be returned to a store and can still be returned only for store credit.

Macy?s

• Time window??180 days for most items (see?policy?for exceptions).
• E-purchases returnable to stores??Yes, with invoice, for most items (excludes area rugs).
• E-purchases returnable by mail??Yes, with invoice and return form, for most items (excludes bridesmaid dresses), but you pay the return shipping.
• Note:?Gifts can be returned only for store credit, and food and gourmet gifts are nonreturnable.

Toys R Us

• Time window??90 days for most items (see?policy?for exceptions).
• E-purchases returnable to stores??Yes, but only for store credit.
• E-purchases returnable by mail??Yes, with original packaging and any paperwork, but you pay the return shipping unless the purchase was damaged or defective.
• Note:?In-store purchases returned to a store are generally refunded in the original form of payment, but gifts are an exception. So even if you bought a gift in a store and it was returned to a store, the recipient will still only receive store credit ? assuming they have a gift receipt.

Karla Bowsher covers consumer, retail, and health issues for?Money Talks News, a consumer/personal finance TV news feature that airs in about 80 cities as well as around the Web. This column first appeared in Money Talks News.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/jzQX16gJ7n8/The-4-best-and-worst-return-policies-this-holiday-shopping-season

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Longtime GOP Senate moderate Arlen Specter dies

FILE - In this May 17, 2010 file photo, Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa. campaigns in New Cumberland, Pa. Former U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, longtime Senate moderate and architect of one-bullet theory in JFK death, died Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012. He was 82. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

FILE - In this May 17, 2010 file photo, Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa. campaigns in New Cumberland, Pa. Former U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, longtime Senate moderate and architect of one-bullet theory in JFK death, died Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012. He was 82. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

FILE -This November 1965 file photo shows Arlen Specter posing for a portrait. Former U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the Republican-turned-Democrat who played a key role in many Supreme Court nominations, died Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012. . He was 82. (AP Photo, File)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) ? Former U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, the outspoken Pennsylvania centrist whose switch from Republican to Democrat ended a 30-year career in which he played a pivotal role in several Supreme Court nominations, died Sunday. He was 82.

Specter, who announced in late August that he was battling cancer, died at his home in Philadelphia from complications of non-Hodgkins lymphoma, said his son Shanin. Over the years, Arlen Specter had fought two previous bouts with Hodgkin's disease, overcome a brain tumor and survived cardiac arrest following bypass surgery.

Specter rose to prominence in the 1960s as an aggressive Philadelphia prosecutor and as an assistant counsel to the Warren Commission, developing the single-bullet theory that posited just one bullet struck both President Kennedy and Texas Gov. John Connally ? an assumption critical to the argument that presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. The theory remains controversial and was the focus of Oliver Stone's 1991 movie "JFK."

In 1987, Specter helped thwart the Supreme Court nomination of former federal appeals Judge Robert H. Bork ? earning him conservative enemies who still bitterly refer to such rejections as being "borked."

But four years later, Specter was criticized by liberals for his tough questioning of Anita Hill at Clarence Thomas' Supreme Court nomination hearings and for accusing her of committing "flat-out perjury." The nationally televised interrogation incensed women's groups and nearly cost him his seat in 1992.

Specter, who had battled cancer, was Pennsylvania's longest-serving senator when Democrats picked then-U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak over him in the 2010 primary, despite Specter's endorsements by President Barack Obama and other Democratic leaders. Sestak lost Specter's seat to conservative Republican Rep. Pat Toomey by 2 percentage points.

A political moderate, Specter was swept into the Senate in the Reagan landslide of 1980.

He took credit for helping to defeat President Clinton's national health care plan ? the complexities of which he highlighted in a gigantic chart that hung on his office wall for years afterward ? and helped lead the investigation into Gulf War syndrome. Following the Iran-Contra scandal, he pushed legislation that created the inspectors general of the CIA.

As a senior member of the powerful Appropriations Committee, Specter pushed for increased funding for stem-cell research, breast cancer and Alzheimer's disease, and supported several labor-backed initiatives in a GOP-led Congress. He also doggedly sought federal funds for local projects in his home state.

The former Democrat was not shy about bucking fellow Republicans.

In 1995, he launched a presidential bid, denouncing religious conservatives as the "fringe" that plays too large a role in setting the party's agenda. Specter, who was Jewish, bowed out before the first primary because of lackluster fundraising.

Despite his tireless campaigning, Specter's irascible independence caught up with him in 2004. Specter barely survived a GOP primary challenge by Toomey by 17,000 votes of more than 1.4 million cast. He went on to easily win the general election with the help of organized labor, a traditionally Democratic constituency.

Specter startled fellow senators in April 2009 when he announced he was switching to the Democratic side, saying he found himself "increasingly at odds with the Republican philosophy." Earlier in the year, he had been one of only three Republicans in Congress ? and the only one facing re-election in 2010 ? who voted for President Barack Obama's economic stimulus bill.

He also said he had concluded that his chance of defeating a GOP challenger in the 2010 party primary was bleak. But he said the Democrats couldn't count on him to be "an automatic 60th vote" to give the party a filibuster-proof majority.

Specter outspent Sestak, a retired Navy vice admiral, but Sestak attacked him as a political opportunist who switched parties to save his job. A memorable campaign ad used Specter's own words against him: "My change in party will enable me to be re-elected."

Specter was diagnosed in February 2005 with stage IV Hodgkin's disease, a cancer of the lymphatic system. Announcing the diagnosis with his trademark doggedness, Specter said: "I have beaten a brain tumor, bypass heart surgery and many tough political opponents and I'm going to beat this, too."

He wrote of his struggle in a 2008 book, "Never Give In: Battling Cancer in the Senate," saying he wanted to let others facing similar crises "ought to know they are not alone."

Cancer handed him "a stark look at mortality" and an "added sense of humility," Specter told The Associated Press.

Intellectual and stubborn, Specter played squash nearly every day into his mid-70s and liked to unwind with a martini or two at night. He took the lead on a wide spectrum of issues and was no stranger to controversy.

Born in Wichita, Kan., on Feb. 12, 1930, Specter spent summers toiling in his father's junkyard in Russell, Kan., where he knew another future senator ? Bob Dole. The junkyard thrived during World War II, allowing Specter's father to send his four children to college.

Specter left Kansas for college in 1947 because the University of Kansas, where his best friends were headed, did not have Jewish fraternities. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1951 and Yale law school in 1956. He served in the Air Force from 1951 to 1953.

Friends say his childhood circumstances made him determined, tough and independent-minded. Specter considered his father's triumphs the embodiment of the American dream, a fulfillment that friends say drove him to a career in public life.

He entered politics as a Democrat in Philadelphia in the early 1960s, when he was an assistant district attorney who sent six Teamsters officials to jail for union corruption.

After working on the Warren Commission, he returned to Philadelphia and challenged his boss, James Crumlish, for district attorney in 1965. Specter ran as a Republican and was derided by Crumlish as "Benedict Arlen." But Crumlish lost to his protege by 36,000 votes.

It was to be the last time until 1980 that Specter would win an election to higher office, despite three attempts ? a 1967 bid for Philadelphia mayor, a 1976 loss to John Heinz for Senate and a 1978 defeat by Dick Thornburgh for governor.

Specter lost re-election as district attorney in 1973 and went into private practice. Among his most notorious clients as a private attorney was Ira Einhorn, a Philadelphia counterculture celebrity who killed his girlfriend in 1977.

Finally, in 1980, Specter won the Senate seat vacated by retiring Republican Richard Schweiker, defeating former Pittsburgh Mayor Pete Flaherty.

After leaving the Senate in January 2011, the University of Pennsylvania Law School announced Specter would teach a course about Congress' relationship with the Supreme Court, and Maryland Public Television launched a political-affairs show hosted by the former senator.

A funeral was scheduled for Tuesday in Penn Valley, Pa., and will be open to the public, followed by burial in Huntingdon Valley, Pa.

He is survived by his wife, Joan, and two sons, Shanin and Steve, and four granddaughters.

___

Associated Press writers Ron Todt in Philadelphia and Lara Jakes contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-10-14-Obit-Arlen%20Specter/id-7cc00c0e2c5c49d790d3f5a86cc914a0

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The Trembling Uterus: Cyber Threats History: The Beginning (1960s)

In the early years of the 21st century the word "hacker" has become associated with people lurking into dark rooms and anonymously terrorizing cyberspace. But hacking and phreaking have been around since the 1960s when computers were true behemoths housed in restricted laboratories accessible only to a few geeks. Back in those days it was impossible for any teenager to buy a computer and only accredited professionals were allowed the privilege of programming these powerful machines.

The original hackers were only students, computer programmers and systems designers, adherent of a new subculture that originally emerged in the 1960s around the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)'s Tech Model Railroad Club (TMRC). The members of this model train group "hacked" their electric trains, tracks, and switches to make them perform faster and differently. A hack was simply an elegant or inspired solution to any given problem.

Later, a few of the members of the TMRC transfer their curiosity and rigging skills to the new mainframe computing systems being studied and developed on campus. At this time, MIT employed some nerds to do some artificial intelligence and computer research. These guys actually created the models for the machine you are working on right now and were truly the first programmers and engineers in the field of IT.

This new Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, with its huge mainframe computers, became the staging ground for the first computer hackers emerging at MIT. At first, "hacker" was a positive term for a person with a mastery of computers who could push programs and systems beyond what they were originally designed to do. For these early pioneers, a hack was a feat of programming prowess and such activities were greatly admired as they combined expert knowledge with a creative instinct.

These early computer hackers were programming enthusiasts, experts primarily interested in modifying programs to optimize their performance, customize them for specific applications, or just for the fun of learning how things worked. Very often, the shortcuts and modifications produced by these hackers were even more elegant than the original programs they replaced or circumvented. In fact, the most elegant?and enduring?hack from this period is the UNIX operating system, developed in the late 1960s by Dennis Ritchie and Keith Thompson of Bell Labs. ?

1947

Lieutenant Grace Murray Hopper discovers a moth trapped between relays in a Navy computer, the Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator. She calls it a "bug," and the operators affixed the moth to the computer log, with the entry: "First actual case of bug being found". Later, Grace Hopper put out the word that they had "debugged" the machine, thus introducing the term "debugging a computer program". ?

?

1948

Norbert Wiener published "Cybernetics," a major influence on later research into artificial intelligence and coined the term "cybernetics" from the Greek word meaning to "steer" or "navigate" ? ?

1949

Hungarian-American scientist John von Neumann formulates the theory of self-replicating programs, providing the theoretical basis for computers that hold information in their "memory."
???
?

1953

IBM shipped its first electronic computer, the 701. During three years of production, IBM sold 19 machines to research laboratories, aircraft companies, and the federal government.
??? ?

1956

MIT researchers built the TX-0, the first general-purpose, programmable computer built with transistors. For easy replacement, designers placed each transistor circuit inside a "bottle," similar to a vacuum tube.
???
?

1957

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

In the late 1950s, AT&T began switching its telephone networks with the implementation of fully automatic switches that used specific frequency tones to communicate between them. One of these internal-use tones was a tone of 2600 Hz which caused a telephone switch to think the call was over, leaving an open carrier line which could be exploited to provide free long-distance and international calls. Around 1957, Josef Engressia, a blind seven-year-old child with perfect pitch and an emotional fixation on telephones, accidentally discovered that whistling at certain frequencies could activate phone switches. Unaware of what he had done, Engressia called the phone company and soon after he learned to whistle the 2600 Hz pitch that interrupted long-distance telephone calls and allowed him to place a free long-distance call to anywhere in the world. ?

1959

IBM?s 7000 series mainframes were the company?s first transistorized computers. At the top of the line of computers - all of which emerged significantly faster and more dependable than vacuum tube machines - sat the 7030, also known as the "Stretch".
? ?

1960

AT&T introduces its Dataphone, the first commercial modem, specifically for converting digital computer data to analog signals for transmission across its long distance network.
??

The term "hacker" is used by MIT train enthusiasts who hacked their train sets to change how they work. Later, these same enthusiasts emerge as the first computer hackers.

The word "cyborg" is coined by Manfred Clynes.
???

1963

Programmers develop the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII), a simple computer language that allows machines produced by different manufacturers to exchange data. ?

ARPA launches Project MAC (the Project on Mathematics and Computation, also known as Multiple Access Computer, Machine Aided Cognitions, or Man and Computer). ?

1964

AT&T begins monitoring telephone calls in as effort to discover the identities of "phone freaks," or "phreakers," who use tone generators (known as blue boxes) to make free phone calls.

Online transaction processing made its debut in IBM?s SABRE reservation system, set up for American Airlines. Using telephone lines, SABRE linked 2,000 terminals in 65 cities to a pair of IBM 7090 computers, delivering data on any flight in less than three seconds. ?

1965

William D. Mathews from MIT found a flaw in a Multics CTSS running on an IBM 7094 that disclosed the contents of the password file and it is probably the first reported vulnerability in a computer system. ?

1969

Programmers at AT&T's Bell Laboratories develop the UNIX operating system, the first multi-tasking operating system.

ARPA awarded the ARPANET contract to BBN Technologies. The company selected a Honeywell DDP-516 computer configured with 24 kB of expandable core memory as the base on which they would build the switch. The physical network linked four nodes: University of California at Los Angeles, SRI (in Stanford), University of California at Santa Barbara, and University of Utah. These nodes were wired together via 50 kbps circuits creating an early network used by government research groups and universities, and the forerunner of the Internet.

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Source: http://tremblinguterus.blogspot.com/2012/10/cyber-threats-history-beginning-1960s.html

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Myotcstore.com |Achieving Good Physical Fitness And Good Nutrition

Today, maintaining health and fitness have become more important than ever before. With illnesses becoming more often, we have to equip ourselves with everything necessary to maintain health and have a good quality of life. Creating a healthy lifestyle through dieting is a healthy way of losing weight effectively. One of the challenges of individuals going on diets however is the uncontrollable urge to indulge after they have felt they have faster or suppressed cravings enough.

Health, Nutrition and Fitness are the three interrelated areas that determine an individual's sense of happiness and well being.

Health

Health involves the physical, mental and spiritual levels of the individual. A physically healthy person is one who can carry out normal daily physical activities and respond to emergencies with out undo fatigue or pain. The health part of health, nutrition and fitness is achieved through a balanced program of good nutrition, healthy physical activity, continuous education and mental activities, and social and spiritual activities.

Nutrition

The nutritional health part of health, nutrition and fitness deals with the food we consume to maintain our health and provide energy to carry on our daily lives. Nutrition is the process of nurturing or being nourished; the total of all the processes that a plant or animal uses to take in and process food substances to maintain a healthy life. A healthy nutrition life style requires a balanced diet of food selected from the five basic food groups, fruits, vegetables, naturally calcium rich dairy products or calcium enriched products, whole grains, and protein (lean meat fish, peas and beans). Other nutritional factors should also be considered.

Physical Fitness

Physical fitness part of fitness, health and nutrition is the ability to carry out daily activities, enjoy leisure activities and have a healthy immune system to resist disease and infection. Developing and maintaining good physical fitness requires a balance of good nutrition and varied physical exercise. There are there elements to physical fitness: specific fitness the ability to perform daily functions related to work or recreation, general fitness the ability to enjoy leisure time and a sense of peace with the environment, preparedness the ability to overcome or avoid emergencies.

There also three factors in achieving good physical fitness good nutrition, physical exercise and restful (sleep). The nutrition maintains the health of the cells and provides the energy to perform the exercises. Physical exercise may be used to accomplish work to earn a living, participate in athletic events, develop and maintain healthy cardiovascular system, or control body weight. Physical fitness and how physical fitness is achieved varies depending on individuals.

Source: http://blog.myotcstore.com/2012/10/achieving-good-physical-fitness-and.html

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Blood cells may offer telltale clues in cancer diagnosis

ScienceDaily (Oct. 12, 2012) ? Postdoctoral Research Fellow Devin Koestler is a biostatistician at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. He develops and applies statistical methods to large volumes of data, seeking new approaches for understanding disease, cancer in particular. Koestler and his colleagues are investigating the potential use of white blood cell variation as a diagnostic, predictive, and research tool in the study of non-blood cancers.

"There is promise here for a new diagnostic tool," says Koestler. "What we show here is not ready for immediate clinical utility, but I think it is on the right path."

Koestler is working in the Quantitative Biomedical Sciences program with Professors Margaret Karagas and Jason Moore. His focus is the development of computational and statistical tools for investigating the process of DNA methylation.

In methylation, a molecule known as a methyl group (chemically CH₃ -- three hydrogen atoms and one carbon) attaches itself to the DNA. When this occurs, the DNA function can change dramatically. An example might be the methyl group blocking the expression of a tumor-suppressing gene.

Koestler is the first author on a paper with Karagas and a host of colleagues from Dartmouth, Brown University, Oregon State University, the University of Minnesota, and the University of California. Its subject is methylation in leukocytes (white blood cells) and their association with cancer in tissues and organs other than blood, such as bladder or ovarian cancers.

"When we have an illness or a disease, that does something to our immune system," Koestler explains. "It responds by providing whatever cells are necessary to combat that threat. In the blood, the leukocytes supply that immune response."

Methylation has been studied in biopsied cells from cancer patients, in comparison to cells of cancer-free individuals. "Those studies have compellingly shown there are very striking differences in methylation patterns between cancer and cancer-free subjects," Koestler says. "This brought us to also look at patterns of methylation in blood."

The new studies, in which Koestler took part, showed differences in methylation patterns in the leukocytes of cancer patients versus cancer-free individuals. There are different types of leukocytes, referred to as subsets, each of which exhibits its own signature methylation pattern. The proportions of these identifiable subsets shift, depending on the kind of disease they may be combating.

Using data from studies of ovarian, bladder, and head and neck cancers, the researchers demonstrated statistically significant correlations between the specific cancers and the methylation signatures that characterize leukocyte subsets.

"What made our study unique is that we had the methylation data on the individual leukocytes themselves, enabling us to connect the dots, and better understand the mechanisms underlying the results from previous studies."

Analyzing the relative proportions of the leukocyte types in the blood sample can help predict the onset of a particular cancer or identify and diagnose a cancer in progress. The alternative of sampling a patient's blood is far preferable to undergoing an invasive surgical biopsy.

The advantages of using methylation patterns to assess proportions of white blood cell subtypes in cancer research extend beyond the bedside to the lab bench. Archival blood samples frozen and stored at some time in the past can now be used as research material, whereas existing methods typically require fresh blood samples with intact cells to assess white blood cell subtypes.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Dartmouth College. The original article was written by Joseph Blumberg.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. D. C. Koestler, C. J. Marsit, B. C. Christensen, W. Accomando, S. M. Langevin, E. A. Houseman, H. H. Nelson, M. R. Karagas, J. K. Wiencke, K. T. Kelsey. Peripheral Blood Immune Cell Methylation Profiles Are Associated with Nonhematopoietic Cancers. Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, 2012; 21 (8): 1293 DOI: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-12-0361

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/G7losAX8ui0/121012141842.htm

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Bankrupt Solyndra seeks $1.5 billion in damages from Chinese peers

(Reuters) - Bankrupt solar firm Solyndra has filed a lawsuit against three U.S.-listed Chinese solar players, including Suntech Power Holdings Co , seeking $1.5 billion in compensation due to monopolization by these firms, according to court documents filed on Thursday.

The lawsuit was filed against Suntech, Trina Solar Ltd and Yingli Green Energy Holding Co claiming that the trio's panel prices moved in tandem - falling 75 percent in four years in the U.S.

Solyndra, which claims in the lawsuit that the trio were involved in predatory pricing and price fixing, filed for bankruptcy a year ago as it could no longer compete with plunging prices of solar panels imported from China.

U.S. solar companies launched a complaint last year alleging protectionism from Beijing for Chinese panel makers, sparking trade disputes between the two countries.

As a result of the ongoing tryst, the U.S. slapped steep final duties on billions of dollars of solar energy products from China earlier this week.

Defendants - Suntech, Trina and Yingli - came to the U.S. and raised money from the stock market and deployed that capital to "destroy" American solar manufacturers, said Solyndra in the suit filed in a Northern California district court.

"We just received notice of this complaint, but from our initial review, these are unwarranted and misguided claims from a company that has a clear history of failed technology and achievements," said Robert Petrina, Managing Director, Yingli Green Energy Americas.

The other two Chinese companies named as defendants were not available for comment outside of business hours.

Solyndra has sold everything from its remaining inventory and assembly equipment to office computers in a bid to raise money to repay creditors.

The Obama administration came under fire for missing signs of financial trouble at the California-based Solyndra and approving nearly $535 million in loans in a bid to spark a clean energy industry and create jobs through stimulus spending.

Last year, executives from bankrupt Solyndra LLC testified that a flood of cheap Chinese solar panels kept it from realizing $1.2 billion in contracts it announced in 2008.

The lawsuit is Solyndra, LLC v. Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 12-05272.

(Reporting by Thyagaraju Adinarayan and Divya Lad in Bangalore; Editing by Bernard Orr and Michael Perry)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bankrupt-solyndra-seeks-1-5-billion-damages-chinese-014000573--finance.html

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Music education in Guyana

October 13, 2012 By admin

Dear Editor,
Music education in Guyana needs resuscitation. It was left in a state of chance for too long and currently the redress is slow, but positive, and this we must be thankful for. Guyana has recently seen the establishment of the National School of Music and the National Steel Pan Programme under the Music Development Programme.
Galileo became an accomplished lutenist and would have learned early from his father the value of well-measured or quantified experimentation, an appreciation for a periodic or musical measure of time or rhythm, as well as the illuminative marriage of mathematics and experiment. Art Garfunkel actually studied art, history and mathematics in college, graduating with a master?s degree in both from Columbia University. Sting, after he graduated from high school, worked as a bus conductor, a construction labourer, and in a tax office. Eventually he attended Northern Counties College of Education and graduated with a teaching degree, where he got the inspiration for, ?Don?t Stand So Close to Me?.
It seems inseparable then that music education and learning is the corollary to solid academics, but we need more support for this thrust, and we get this from actual research. ?Children exposed to music tuition, involving training in increasingly complex rhythmic, tonal, and practical skills display superior cognitive performance in reading skills compared with their non-musically trained peers,? says a 2009 study, published in the journal,? Psychology of Music.
The aim of the study was to look at two specific reading sub-skills: ?those of vocabulary and verbal sequencing, which, according to the authors, are ?cornerstone components? in the continuum of literacy development, and a window into the subsequent successful acquisition of proficient reading and language skills, namely decoding and reading comprehension.
According to the data from this study, the role of music study on cognition was positive as regards enhanced school performance in language and literacy. Several other studies have also reported positive associations between music education and increased abilities in non-musical (example, linguistic, mathematical and spatial) domains in children. These authors say there are similarities in the way that individuals interpret music and language and, because neural response to music is a widely distributed system within the brain, it would not be unreasonable to expect that some processing networks for music and language behaviours, namely reading, located in both hemispheres of the brain, would overlap.
In the case of BBC?s 2012 Health Reporter Anna-Marie Lever Health, she found out that children who take music lessons have better hearing as adults. She confirmed this via a study in the Journal of Neuroscience, which posits that children who played an instrument, even for as little as one to five years, had enhanced brain responses to complex sound
This kind of insight should really get local educators to stop and think. There is need to re-assess not only when to teach, but also what to teach, since probing differential neural pathways and investigating their associative cognitive substrates is now firmly established and the hope is music.? ?Since the study of music assists in cognitive development, it should help local education practitioners go beyond the sometimes routine hazy methods and provide careful and credible instructional approaches that use the rich and complex conceptual structure of music and its transfer to other cognitive areas. Further afield, researchers from Hong Kong have found that children who are given musical training have better verbal memories than those who have not had. They say their findings could even help people recovering from a brain injury as well.
So now that Guyana has the National School of Music and the National Steel Pan Programme, we should respond to the local situation, especially based on what we know about the impact of music. ?We now see and understand the need for a music programme in our schools and, since not very many people know how to read music, these two schools can now give attention to both theoretical and practical training, hence certifying persons to teach in schools, even if only part-time.
Yours truly,
Bhidmattie Toolaram

Source: http://www.guyanatimesgy.com/?p=1777

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Prospective Alzheimer's drug builds new brain cell connections, improves cognitive function of rats

ScienceDaily (Oct. 11, 2012) ? Washington State University researchers have developed a new drug candidate that dramatically improves the cognitive function of rats with Alzheimer's-like mental impairment.

Their compound, which is intended to repair brain damage that has already occurred, is a significant departure from current Alzheimer's treatments, which either slow the process of cell death or inhibit cholinesterase, an enzyme believed to break down a key neurotransmitter involved in learning and memory development. Such drugs, says Joe Harding, a professor in WSU's College of Veterinary Medicine, are not designed to restore lost brain function, which can be done by rebuilding connections between nerve cells.

"This is about recovering function," he says. "That's what makes these things totally unique. They're not designed necessarily to stop anything. They're designed to fix what's broken. As far as we can see, they work."

Harding, College of Arts and Sciences Professor Jay Wright and other WSU colleagues report their findings in the online "Fast Forward" section of the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

Their drug comes as the pharmacological industry is struggling to find an effective Alzheimer's treatment. Last month, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, reported that only three of 104 possible treatments have been approved in the past 13 years.

"This 34-to-one ratio of setbacks to successes underlines the difficulty of developing new medicines for Alzheimer's," the trade group said in a news release. Development of the WSU drug is only starting. Harding and Wright must first satisfy the Food and Drug Administration that it is safe. Only then would clinical trials begin to see if a drug that works in a rat will work in a human.

Safety testing alone could cost more than $1 million, says Harding, who is looking to fund the drug's development through his and Wright's company, M3 Biotechnology Inc., the WSU Research Foundation, and ultimately large pharmaceutical company partners.

Harding, a medicinal chemist, and Wright, a neuroscientist, have been working on their compound since 1992, when they started looking at the impact of the peptide angiotensin IV on the hippocampus, a brain region involved in spatial learning and short-term memory. Typically, angiotensins have been linked to blood pressure regulation, but Harding and Wright noticed that angiotensin IV, or early drug candidates based on it, were capable of reversing learning deficits seen in many models of dementia.

The practical utility of these early drug candidates, however, was severely limited because they were very quickly broken down by the body and couldn't get across the blood-brain barrier, a cellular barrier that prevents drugs and other molecules from entering the brain. The only way the drug could be delivered was by direct brain application.

Says Harding: "We said, 'That's useless. I mean, who wants to drill holes in people's heads? It's not going to work. It's certainly not going to work for the big population.'"

Five years ago, Harding designed a smaller version of the molecule that he and Wright called Dihexa. Not only is it stable but it can cross the blood-brain barrier. An added bonus is it can move from the gut into the blood, so it can be taken in pill form.

The researchers tested the drug on several dozen rats treated with scopolamine, a chemical that interferes with a neurotransmitter critical to learning and memory. Typically, a rat treated with scopolamine will never learn the location of a submerged platform in a water tank, orienting with cues outside the tank. After receiving the WSU drug, however, all of the rats did, whether they received the drug directly in the brain, orally, or through an injection.

"Same result, every time," says Harding.

Harding and Wright also reported similar but less dramatic results in a smaller group of old rats. In this study the old rats, which often have difficulty with the task, performed like young rats. While the results were statistically valid, additional studies with larger test groups will be necessary to fully confirm the finding. Currently, the "gold standard" compound for creating neuronal connections is brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF, a growth-promoting protein associated with normal brain development and learning. Autopsies of Alzheimer's patients have found lower levels of BDNF in the brain.

In bench assays using living nerve cells to monitor new neuronal connections, Harding, Wright, and their colleagues found Dihexa to be seven orders of magnitude more powerful than BDNF, which has yet to be effectively developed for therapeutic use. In other words, it would take 10 million times as much BDNF to get as much new synapse formation as Dihexa.

"We quickly found out that this molecule was absolutely, insanely active," says Harding. These results further suggest that Dihexa or molecules like it may have applications in other neurodegenerative disease or brain traumas where neuronal connections are lost.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Washington State University. The original article was written by Eric Sorensen, WSU science writer.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. A. T. McCoy, C. C. Benoist, J. W. Wright, L. H. Kawas, J. Bule-Ghogare, M. Zhu, S. M. Appleyard, G. A. Wayman, J. W. Harding. Evaluation of metabolically stabilized angiotensin IV analogs as pro-cognitive/anti-dementia agents. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 2012; DOI: 10.1124/jpet.112.199497

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/~3/NI2Ar624njc/121011090653.htm

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The Great Kotaku Gaming Headset Roundup

Forget graphics?for my money, audio is the most vital aspect of a video game. It's the thing that makes me get lost in a game's world, that makes my pulse pound and sucks me in. But in order for a game to sound good, you've got to have the right equipment.

So much video game playing takes place late at night, or while sharing space with other people, and a deafening 7.1 surround-sound setup isn't a viable solution for many people. A good gaming headset can be worth its weight in gold. But which one to buy? I've rounded up seven of the most popular gaming headsets to see how they all stack up.

It used to be that gaming headsets were chintzy, overpriced cash-ins that lacked a fraction of the audio fidelity of comparably priced "real" headsets. Fortunately, that's changing?there has never been a better selection of great gaming headsets than there is right now.

Unfortunately, shopping for a gaming headset is notoriously difficult. What features matter, and which ones don't? How much to pay? Does wireless matter? And on top of all of that, it's very difficult to really test a headset before buying it, so you're usually taking some Internet yahoo's word for it that the headset in question actually sounds good.

Today, I am that Internet yahoo. This is my attempt to cut through the signal-to-noise mess and round up some of the most popular surround-sound gaming headsets on the market today. This list is far from comprehensive?honestly, in the time it took me to test and write up these headsets, several new models have been announced. That said, it gives a pretty good cross-section.

Going in, I had a few requirements:

• The headset had to offer surround, whether simulated or analog.
• The headset had to have a built-in microphone that allowed for voice chat.

Other than that, I'd take all comers. On consoles, I ran a number of games, from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Halo Reach on Xbox 360 to Uncharted 2 and Resistance 3 on PS3. On PC, I tested Skyrim, Far Cry 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2, as well as a bunch of other games. For my PC tests, I used a SoundBlaster X-Fi Titanium sound card, which allowed me to tweak and adjust the surround sound to optimize it. I used the same settings for each headset so that I could fairly compare them all.

With this many different headsets, this many different features, restrictions, and requirements, it's very difficult to parse them all, even here. At the end of the article, I'll make some broad recommendations, and if you have any questions about the headsets, I'll be reading the comments and will do my best to answer them.

Cross-Platform/Console Headsets

Astro A40 Headset And Mixamp

Price: $249.99 for headset and mixamp, $129.99 for Mixamp alone, $209.99 for A40 headset alone

Inputs: Optical, Coaxial, Stereo Analog, 1/8" analog, USB

Chat Works With: Xbox 360 via included cable, PS3 with additionally purchased dongle, PC via USB

Pros: The Astro Mixamp is still the most flexible gaming audio hardware you can get. The headphones are light and comfortable. Astro's audio/chat mixer remains the most elegant chat solution.

Cons: The A40 leaks audio, which means that whatever you're playing will be very audible to anyone else in the room (or apartment) with you. After several years of use, my Mixamp makes a lot of noise when I turn its knobs, which is par for the course with consumer electronics, but still annoying. They're pretty expensive.

Audio Quality: Decent. The A40's are a bit boomy for me, and there's no way to mess with the EQ on the headphones, so you're pretty much stuck with how they sound, especially on consoles. They're not bad, and were a gaming mainstay for me for a long time. That said, they're not great, and I prefer the audio quality of the newer A50's.

Overall Impression: The headset is okay, the mixamp is great. If you've already got a good pair of headphones, you would do well to consider just picking up the Astro Mixamp. It's capable of projecting Dolby headphone surround into any regular pair of headphones, and while you won't get voice chat, you can always cobble together a workaround. That said, the A40 is still a fine gaming headset; the big cans provide a large aural space for the headphone surround to work in, and they're nice and comfortable. This is a good option for anyone who wants a lot of versatility in their gaming audio setup.

Link: Official Site

Astro A50 Wireless

Price: $299.99 for the headset and receiver

Inputs: Optical, 1/8" Analog, USB, Optical passthrough

Chat Works With: Xbox 360 via included cable, PS3 & PC via USB

Comfort: The A50s feel much like the A40s, only they're a tad heavier?that means that after lengthy sessions wearing them, the top of my head started to get a bit sore. It wasn't a deal-breaker, and usually just meant that I should get up and take a break, but they're a tad less comfortable than the A40, though still comfortable.

Pros: The A50's remain the most impressive, best-sounding, best-designed gaming headphones I've used. There's still room for improvement, but Astro's got this thing nailed. They're expensive, but in this rare instance, you get what you pay for.

Cons: It's easy to accidentally switch the headphone/microphone mix when you touch the headset; the switch on the side feels too easy to accidentally press. While optical passthrough is great, it would also be great if the wireless mixamp had an analog output, so you could plug speakers into it, should you so choose. Very expensive.

Audio Quality: Good. The A50's offer the richest, deepest audio of the bunch here, and the closed-backed headset provides the most immersive surround sound. I wouldn't listen to music on them, but I would (and have) happily watched a movie.

Overall Impression: I recently reviewed the A50?it's Astro's most ambitious headset, and it's also their best. It's fully platform agnostic, and works just as well for PC gaming as it does for consoles. It's also tied with the Tritton as the most expensive headset I tested?but the price is borne out in the quality of the product.

Link: Official Site

Tritton Warhead Wireless

Price: $299.99 for the headset and receiver

Inputs: Optical, No passthrough, no USB

Chat Works With: Xbox 360 only

Comfort: I initially thought that the Warhead would be uncomfortable, as their angular design looks edge-covered and hard. So I was surprised by how comfortable they are?they're a sturdy set of cans that stay on your head and while they're a bit snug, they didn't feel uncomfortable at all.

Pros: I actually like how the Warhead looks?the plastic design isn't quite as appealing as the A50s, but it's still a nifty looking set of headphones. After an initial setup, the microphone can talk directly to your Xbox 360 with no required cables, which is nice if you only game and talk to people on an Xbox 360.

Cons: The user experience, however, is kind of a chore. Buttons are placed all over the headset, and it was all but impossible for me to put them on or take them off without accidentally pressing the EQ button and changing how the phones sounded. The biggest problem with the warhead, though, is that they can only be used to chat on an Xbox 360. I'm not sure why Mad Catz would pay extra money to Microsoft to license their wireless tech?the difference between this and simply plugging an Astro in to your Xbox controller feels negligible to me; if anything, it's a hassle. And the fact that the microphone won't work with anything but an Xbox 360 feels needlessly restrictive in a headset this expensive.

Audio Quality: Decent. The actual quality of the audio isn't amazing, but the surround sound is well done, and projects a good soundscape. Bass is strong and ringing, and everything is clear and punchy. It can feel a bit too clear at times, but in general the Tritton is a very nice-sounding headset, though more for gaming than movies or music.

Overall Impression: The Warhead is a decent headset, but I feel it doesn't live up to its extraordinarily steep price-tag. At $300, I want it all?a headset that can work with any system, hassle-free, that's well designed, sounds great, and will last for a long time. While the Warhead sounds fine and works well enough, its finicky controls and Xbox-only chat leave it short of those expectations.

Link: Official Site

Turtle Beach Earforce XP400

Price: $219.95

Inputs: Optical, Optical passthrough, 1/8" analog in

Chat Works With: Xbox 360 via included wireless dongle, PS3 & PC via Bluetooth

Comfort: Not bad, not great. The XP400 is a bit pinch-y, and the ear cups don't fit over my ears as comfortably as some higher priced models. That said, I usually stopped minding after a little while, and was content to wear them for extended periods of time.

Pros: The XP400 is a versatile headset, with built-in bluetooth technology that lets you pair to the PS3 and to your PC, and even answer cell phone calls. The headphone surround effect is solid, if not amazing.

Cons: Everything feels a little bit cheap, which is too bad, considering that the headset costs only a bit less than the Astro A40/Mixamp combo. The Turtle Beach mixamp is small and difficult to store properly, and it's difficult to adjust the buttons on the fly without taking the headphones off and re-examining them. The microphone is strange?I'm much more of a fan of the rubber girders that most other sets use, rather than the wired, bendable one Turtle Beach goes with. (Your mileage may vary on that, though.)

Audio Quality: Decent. The general sound quality of the XP400s doesn't quite match the A50 or the Warhead, but they're still a good-sounding set of headphones and fine for gaming. High frequencies rarely felt crushed, and there was a healthy amount of bass.

Overall Impression: The XP400 is a fair headset, though the comparably priced A40/Mixamp is better sounding, more versatile and better designed. The XP series looks like a step in the right direction for Turtle Beach, though, and if you can find them on sale somewhere (which is likely), you could certainly do worse.

Link: Official Site

PC-Only Headsets

Several of the headsets I've been trying out are for PC gaming only?they use USB to get their audio, and are incompatible with any major gaming consoles. Still, given how many people play games on PC exclusively, I thought I'd test them and share my impressions. I tested the Corsair USB headphones using their own built in audio software, and the Tiamat using the SoundBlaster X-Fi titanium sound card.

Razer Tiamat 7.1 Surround

Price: $179.99

Inputs: Analog 7.1 speaker cables only

Chat Works With: PC via USB

Comfort: While I was surprised that the Tiamat's earcups didn't quite go entirely over my ears, they're still a very comfortable set of headphones, and fine to wear for long periods of time. The cables and remote can be a bit of a bother, but it's not that difficult to get your setup working so that you're not tripping over them all the time.

Pros: The biggest pro for the Tiamat is that it's the one headset on this list that features "true" 7.1 audio. That means that there are eight speakers in all?left, right, left-center, right-center, left-rear, right-rear, center, and sub. The result in-game is remarkable, you'll really hear where everything is coming from. In fact, sometimes you'll hear it too much...

Cons: The audio quality (which I'll get to below) just isn't on par with the other headsets on the list, mainly because the Tiamat has crammed so many small speakers into a space usually reserved for one big one. I actually don't like that I'm given the option to tweak every speaker's level, and to go into my computer's EQ to try to get it to sound "right." I wound up constantly doubting that I had things optimized, and eventually just gave up and lived with what I had. Also, I had an issue with hum making its way onto my cables?whether I plugged into my motherboard's integrated 7.1 outputs or my SoundBlaster's, I always had noise on the line. I doubt that everyone will have the same problem, but it's one of the downsides of analog audio cables that something like that can even be an issue.

Audio Quality: Not great. The Tiamat's big downfall is that the many small speakers used to generate the true 7.1 surround sound just can't measure up to the large drivers in the other headphones on this list, particularly the Trittons and the Astros. I messed around with the EQ on my PC

Overall Impression: Mike already reviewed the Tiamat for us, and raved about them. While I find the headset to be fine, and the surround sound to be occasionally amazing, I don't share his enthusiasm for the headset as a whole. It's easy enough to use, but restrictive in where you can use it?only with 7.1 analog outputs, and only while mucking around with the annoying in-line remote control. If you're dying to try out cool new tech and have money to burn, the Tiamats are certainly worth a shot, but there are more flexible and better-sounding headsets in this list that offer headphone surround that's almost as impressive.

Link: Official Site

Corsair Vengeance 2000 Wireless

Price: $149.99

Inputs: USB only

Chat Works With: PC via USB

Comfort: The Vengeance 2000s are a very comfortable set of headphones?something about the snug way they'd hold my ears made me prefer them to all of the other headphones I tried. They're form factor is nice, and they just feel good on your head.

Pros: For a (relatively) inexpensive set of headphones, the 2000s are a solid piece of equipment, and they sound nice. They're hassle-free to set up, hold a charge for a long time, and the wireless works as it should.

Cons: The biggest problem with the 2000s is that they're not dolby certified, and so they require you to use Corsar's own proprietary audio software. As a result, the surround sound is quite? different than the other headphones. It's not necessarily worse, but it feels more confusing and unclear, and as the software starts adding reverb to simulate room-size, it only gets more muddled. At first, I thought it was fine, but the more I played, the more I realized that things just weren't lining up with their position in the same way as on the other, Dolby certified headsets.

Audio Quality: Good. While the surround is a bit dicy, the sound quality of the 2000s is very strong. Bass is robust, highs don't get too crunchy, and everything is clear without causing audio fatigue.

Overall Impression: The Vengeance 2000s are a really good headset that are only a bit tough to recommend because they have weird surround sound. If you're not obsessive about positional audio, you could do a lot worse, but it's an odd oversight in an otherwise fine set of cans. It's particularly weird since the 1500s below do have Dolby certification. Still, the 2000s are a better than decent set of gaming headphones.

Link: Official Site

Corsair Vengeance 1500 Wired

Price: $99.99

Inputs: USB only

Chat Works With: PC via USB

Comfort: The Vengeance 1500s aren't quite as snug and comfortable as the 2000s, but they're still a very comfortable set of headphones. They're good for long gaming sessions and soft on the top of your head.

Pros: The cheapest headphones in this roundup, the 1500s are actually right up there with the big boys in terms of their features, comfort and sound quality. They don't have speakers to match the Astros or the Warhead, but they still sound pretty good would be perfectly sufficient for the average PC gamer. They're a cinch to set up and work mostly without a hitch. A good, affordable all-around PC gaming headset.

Cons: Really just the sound quality thing, described below.

Audio Quality: Decent. As I mentioned, the audio isn't up to the quality of the other headsets on this list, though they don't really sound bad exactly.

Overall Impression: The Vengeance 1500s are in an odd place in this roundup?they're the cheapest of all the headsets here, but while they don't quite match the 2000s overall audio quality, they do have certified Dolby headphone surround, and they're a generally fine set of gaming headphones. They're comfortable and easy to recommend.

Link: Official Site

Recommendations

As I mentioned at the outset, this roundup is far from comprehensive. There are just too many sets of gaming headphones on the market for one guy to round up, test, and compare them all. So, my recommendation is based only on trying these headsets, and could change as new models hit the market. That said, I think there are some clear winners here.

Which One Is Best?

I think I can safely say now that Astro really does make the best gaming headphones on the market. I use the wireless A50s every time I play video games, and when combined with the SoundBlaster X-Fi's audio enhancements, they generate extremely convincing headphone surround. They're intuitive to use, well designed, comfortable, and sound great. Best of all, they're really easy to use with every gaming platform. The A40s and Mixamp are also a worthy purchase, particularly given that you can get a Mixamp and use it with whatever kind of headphones you like.

The A50s are expensive. But you get what you pay for. And if you're not looking to spend $300 on a gaming headset (and who could blame you!), rather than spend a hundred bucks less on an inferior set of headphones, I really would recommend getting a Mixamp and using it with headphones you've already got.

Honorable Mention

The $99 Corsair Vengeance 1500s were a big surprise. Usually when it comes to audio, money really does matter?more expensive speakers just sound better. So the fact that the cheapest headset in this entire roundup has okay sound quality, offers Dolby headphone surround, and is easy to use and comfortable? well, if you're a PC gamer looking to get a gaming headset without breaking your bank, I really would recommend the Vengeance 1500s.

There will always be more gaming headsets hitting the market, and we'll keep on reviewing them here. If you've got any questions about any of these headsets, please let me know in the comments and I'll do my best to answer.

Source: http://kotaku.com/5951093/the-great-kotaku-gaming-headset-roundup

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Going With A Pension Planning Service To Outline Your Pension Plan

Going with a retirement planning service to start your pension plan

When it comes to planning your retirement you can never plan too far and too much because there is a lot of info out there. The best way to make sure that you are getting all the details you need in order to make the best calls for your future is to hire a retirement planning service from a financial counsellor. These services will may cost you a modest amount of money and the price will be depending on where you live and what company you've decided to go with. In contrast to the retirement planning software, the retirement planning service offers you that one on one consultation that will help you better understand all of your options when outlining your pensions plan.

The retirement planning service is something that you should seriously think about investigating regardless of if you may have done some research on your own before. The benefits of going with such a corporation that offers those types of service far out weighs the agony of having to pay a company a fee to assist you. In the final analysis you will both be much better off in terms of how your future is looking by simply going with a retirement planning service. You really want to ensure you are taking advantage of all the different options and funds out there available to you.

Where to find the firms

You want to make certain you research all of the different companies that can offer a retirement planning service. Don?t just look at the price they?re charging and make your decision solely on that. Remember that you generally get what you pay for when referring to such firms. This isn't any one else futures security apart from your own. This is your retirement plans ?it?s my pension plan??make certain that it gets the right care.

There are probably a lot more companies out there then you?re aware of but you may probably both start to see them everywhere once you begin looking for them. Looking for different places online is also a technique to find some local places that can offer you a retirement planning service. Just start to take a good look around and research all of your options before going handing your money over to any one company.

Aharon Deans is a Director of Access2advice.co.uk company that helps connect IFAs with new clients, who believes that should one of you or both of you have any pensions in the UK, you should begin to plan today for tomorrow, by starting your pension plan.

Source: http://blog-finance-bankruptcy.mysurechoice.com/3526/going-with-a-pension-planning-service-to-outline-your-pension-plan/

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The Galaxy S III Mini: Samsung's latest device underwhelms

The Samsung Galaxy S III Mini looks like a chip off the old block ? but its specs are firmly middle-of-the-road.?

By Matthew Shaer / October 11, 2012

Models hold a Samsung Galaxy S III Mini phone and a Galaxy S III phone during the Mini's world premiere in Frankfurt yesterday.

Reuters

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Samsung has rolled out a slimmed-down version of its popular Galaxy S III smart phone.?

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In a press statement, Samsung said the Galaxy S III Mini will ship with a 4-inch screen ? on par with the Apple iPhone 5, but smaller than the 4.8-inch display on the original Galaxy S III. (There's an undeniable irony in calling this thing "Mini," of course, considering that just a couple of years ago, before the big-screen arms race really began, a four inch display would have qualified a device for "Jumbo" status.)?

The specs released by Samsung indicate a firmly middle-of-the-road device: A?1 GHz dual-core processor?(the Galaxy S III has a quad-core processor); a 5-megapixel camera (the camera on the original Galaxy S III has 8-megapixels); and no 4G LTE technology, which is standard on the Galaxy S III.?Pricing and carrier availability are expected to be announced later this month.?

Already, Samsung's newest device has come under some fire. Gizmodo says it's a "major letdown." And over at Slashgear, Chris Burns calls the Galaxy S III Mini an "iPhone 4-sized pea-shooter" ? a device that falls far short of the lofty precedent set by the original Galaxy S III.?

"If you?ve been following along with the strategy Samsung has been working with over the past year, you?ve noticed that they?ve been doing rather well the Samsung Galaxy S III as a single hero smartphone across the globe with no design compromises," Burns writes. "They?ve just thrown that all away with a...?disappointingly low-level afterthought in this newer handset."?

In related news, Samsung announced earlier this month that it had recorded a record-setting?$7.3 billion in operating profits in Q3 of this year. The great majority of that profit came from smart phones such as the Galaxy S III, which has performed extraordinarily well in Asian and European markets.?

To receive regular updates on how technology intersects daily life, follow us on?Twitter @venturenaut.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/txBPYsapw3E/The-Galaxy-S-III-Mini-Samsung-s-latest-device-underwhelms

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Social Loyalty Platform PunchTab Heads To Mobile: Debuts Giveaways App For iPhone

PunchTab, a social loyalty and rewards platform now backed by $5.25 million in venture funding, is expanding its platform to mobile. Until now, the company had focused on allowing businesses?and agencies to run campaigns across the social web - something that made it stand out from similar platforms, which often only target Facebook and Twitter. PunchTab, meanwhile, supports Google+, Pinterest, Instagram, Foursquare, and SoundCloud, for example. Today, the startup is launching an iPhone app called "PunchTab Giveaways," which will allow consumers to engage with publishers' contests on their phone.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/9a8WmfCsqAQ/

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Google chairman says there will be 1 billion Android devices by next year

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{cptn}","template_name":"ss_thmb_play_ttle","i18n":{"end_of_gallery_header":"End of Gallery","end_of_gallery_next":"View Again"},"metadata":{"pagination":"{firstVisible} - {lastVisible} of {numItems}","ult":{"spaceid":"2145480762","sec":""}}},{"id": "hcm-carousel-1545767789", "dataManager": C.dmgr, "mediator": C.mdtr, "group_name":"hcm-carousel-1545767789", "track_item_selected":1,"tracking":{ "spaceid" : "2145480762", "events" : { "click" : { "any" : { "yui-carousel-prev" : { "node" : "a", "data" : {"sec":"HCMOL on article right rail","slk":"prev","itc":"1" }, "bubbles" : true, "test": function(params){ var carousel = params.obj.getCarousel(); var pages = carousel._pages; // if same page, don't beacon if(("_ult_current_page" in carousel) && carousel._ult_current_page==pages.cur) return false; // keep track of current position within this closure carousel._ult_current_page = pages.cur; return true; } }, "yui-carousel-next" : { "node" : "a", "data" : {"sec":"HCMOL on article right rail","slk":"next","itc":"1" }, "bubbles" : true, "test": function(params){ var carousel = params.obj.getCarousel(); var pages = carousel._pages; // no more pages, don't beacon again // if same page, don't beacon if(("_ult_current_page" in carousel) && carousel._ult_current_page==pages.cur) return false; // keep track of current position within this closure carousel._ult_current_page = pages.cur; return true; } } } } } } })); }); Y.later(10, this, function() {(function() { try{ if (Math.floor(Math.random()*10) == 1) { var loc = window.location, decoded = decodeURI(loc.pathname), encoded = encodeURI(decoded), uri = loc.protocol + "//" + loc.host + encoded + ((loc.search.length > 0) ? loc.search + '&' : '?') + "_cacheable=1", xmlhttp; if (window.XMLHttpRequest) xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest(); else xmlhttp = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP"); xmlhttp.open("GET",uri,true); xmlhttp.send(); } }catch(e){} })(); }); Y.later(10, this, function() {Y.namespace("Media").ywaSettings = '"projectId": "10001256862979", "documentName": "", "documentGroup": "", "ywaColo" : "vscale3", "spaceId" : "2145480762" ,"customFields" : { "12" : "classic", "13" : "story" }'; Y.Media.YWA.init(Y.namespace("Media").ywaSettings); }); Y.later(10, this, function() {if(document.onclick===YAHOO.Media.PreventDefaultHandler.newClick){document.onclick=YAHOO.Media.PreventDefaultHandler.oldClick;} }); }); });

Where's The Money? - The Sequal

Do you remember this thread it asked the question "Where's The Money?"

Trying to get my head around these algo changes and potential introduction of .uk extension I am once again asking:

Where's The Money?

In the last poll developing affiliate sites did well. Some seasoned members said then that thin affiliate site would ultimately suffer, lo and behold that's pretty much what happened.

Selling to end users also did well, is the end user market on hold whilst the .uk debate rages on?

I think we can accept emd's have been devalued by G, .co.uk, .org.uk and dare I say .me.uk could lose their appeal overnight and the only safe way forward is to buy a made up word in .com extension, develop it into large brand and have an exit plan.

Any Thoughts?

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Last edited by Aiden Roberts; Yesterday at 04:31:08 PM.

Source: http://www.acorndomains.co.uk/business-discussions/108944-wheres-money-sequal.html

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How Can Landscapers & Home Improvement Companies Improve ...

Search Engine Optimization and Social Media activity are becoming more closely aligned by the day. ? This is particularly important for landscapers and home improvement?companies! ?We know that Google?s recent ?Penguin? update penalized websites with low quality links, as?discussed in my recent blog post:?Have Recent Google Changes Helped or Hindered Your SEO Success? 87% of Marketers Say They Have Been Affected!

Along with this, Google has been placing more weight on social signals in its ranking?algorithm. ?To state it simply, when you blog with?rich valuable content?and target the right keywords in your blog posts and then share your blog posts on social media?networks such as?Facebook, Twitter,?LinkedIn?and others, you will get more links as a result.

When you post content your customers or prospects think of as extremely valuable, they will share it with others. ?That means more links to your website. ?More links from social networks means Google will think you are more relevant and you will rank better in search engines.

Landscapers and Home?Improvement?companies can ?also benefit from visual Social?Networks such as?Pinterest, which enables you to include your entire portfolio with, you guessed it, links back to your website. ? And if people like what you have to show, they will share it, which means even more links!

When it comes to content on your website and links back to that content, think of it like this: ?If you want to grow a tree, you first plant a seed. ?The content on your website or blog is the seed.

A seed without water or nutrients won?t grow so you need to water and fertilize it. ?Links pointing to your content are just like that water and fertilizer. ? And the higher the quality of fertilizer you use, the better your results. ?Links work the same way, better quality links brings you better results in the form of higher?search engine ranking, more website traffic,?more high quality leads for your business and more revenue.

It really is that simple!

Want to know more? ?Here?s a good read for you from?Search Engine Watch.

Source: http://www.business2community.com/seo/how-can-landscapers-home-improvement-companies-improve-search-engine-ranking-with-social-media-0296410

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