The A Capella War

Two A Capella groups at the same university compete against eachother. [Accepting/Semi-literate]

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Echo_Rose

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May I reserve Gage Golightly please?

Edit: And, Angels on the Moon by Thriving Ivory

BleedingLover

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iPhone 5S ile ilgili dedikodular yeniden alevlendi

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iPhone 5S iddialar? yeniden alevlendi. Resmi lansman? birka? ay ?nce yap?lan, ?lkemizde de yak?n zamanda sat??a sunulan iPhone 5'in devam? olarak planlanan yeni modelin Haziran ay?nda lanse edilebilece?ini ve taikp eden s?re?te kullan?c?larla bulu?abilece?ini daha ?nceki haberlerimizde sizlerle payla?m??t?k. iPhone i?in eski takvimine yani Haziran'da tan?tma ve Temmuz'da sat??a ??karma stratejisine geri d?nmek istedi?i bildirilen Apple, iPhone 5S ile birlikte tasar?m ve donan?m baz?nda ciddi de?i?iklikere gidebilir.

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Full HD ??z?n?rl?kl? yeni nesil Android telefonlar?n ve yenilik?i Windows Phone modellerinin rekabet ??tas?n? iyiden iyiye artt?aca?? ak?ll? telefon pazar?nda, iPhone 5S donan?msal anlamda Apple'?n en g??l? silah? olacak gibi g?r?n?yor. ?Yeni modelle ilgili olarak alt? ?izilen en ?nemli detay, artacak bellek kapasitesi. Pek ?ok kayna?a g?re iPhone 5S'nin kapasite se?eneklerinde 128GB'l?k bir versiyon da olacak. Bilindi?i ?zere hem iPhone hem de ?st seviye Android telefonlarda en y?ksek dahili bellek kapasitesi ?u an i?in 64GB. Grafik kalitesiyle ilgi uyand?ran pek ?ok mobil oyunun art?k 1GB ve ?st? dosya boyutuna sahip olmas?, ?te taraftan y?ksek ??z?n?rl?k videolar?n h?zla yayg?nla?mas? kar??s?nda ?reticilerin daha y?ksek kapasitesi ak?ll? telefon modelleri sunmas? s?rpriz olmayacakt?r. ?u anki sekt?re geri bildirimlerine g?re, 128GB ilk defa Apple iPhone 5S ile birlikte pazara girebilir. Tabi ilk olman?n bedeli, daha y?ksek maliyet olarak kar??m?za ??kacak. iPhone 5 fiyatlar?n? dikkate ald???m?zda, 128GB'l?k iPhone 5S i?in s?zle?mesiz yurt d??? fiyat? 1000$ s?n?r?na dayabilir.

?

iPhone 5S i?in bir ba?ka g?ncelleme ise i?lemci taraf?nda olacak. A6 i?lemcisiyle birlikte t?m sekt?re ?a??rtmay? ba?aran Apple, A7 ile birlikte Cortex-A15 DNA's? ta??yan ancak ciddi ?zelle?tirmeler i?eren bir ?ip ortaya koyabilir. ?ift mi yoksa d?rt ?ekirdekli mi olaca?? hen?z bilinmeyen i?lemci ayn? zamanda PowerVR 6 serisi yepyeni bir GPU ile daha y?ksek oyun performans?n?n zeminini haz?rlayacak gibi g?r?n?yor. Kameras? da geli?tirilecek olan iPhone 5'e ?zellikle d???k ???kl? ortamlarda daha y?ksek foto?raf kalitesi i?in iki adet LED Flash ekleyebilece?i konu?ulan Apple, tasar?m konusunda da farkl?l?k yapacak. ?u ana adar beyaz ve siyah renkli iPhone modelleri sunan Apple, ?zellikle Nokia Lumia serisinin farkl? renklerle elde etti?i ba?ar?ya paralel olarak iPhone 5S i?in 6-8 farkl? kasa rengi sunabilir.

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iPhone 5S ile ilgili olarak ger?ekle?me ihtimali g?rece daha d???k olan geli?me ise ekran boyutuyla ilgili. T?m iPhone modelleri aras?nda ilk defa son jenerasyon ile ekran boyutunu g?ncelleyerek 4-in? yapan Apple'?n, iPhone 5S'de 4.8-in? b?y?kl???nde Super HD ekran kullanabilece?i ifade ediliyor. ?ki model arka arkaya ekran boyutunda de?i?ikli?e gidilmesi, ?u ana kadar herhangi bir Apple ?r?n?nde g?rmedi?imiz bir g?ncelleme olur. Ekran boyutu olmasa bile iPhone 5S'de Apple, ekran olarak Sharp ?retimi IGZO panelleri kullanabilir. ??letim sistemi taraf?nda da iPhone 5S ile birikte yeni bir aray?ze ge?ilmesi s?z konusu olabilir. Hat?rlanaca?? ?zere Apple, iOS'in ba??ndaki ?st y?netici Scott Forstall'? kovmu? ve g?revlerini, tasar?mdan sorumlu ba?kan yard?mc?s? Jonathan Ive'e vermi?ti. Aray?zde de?i?iklik konusu ilerleyen iOS s?r?mleri i?in kezin g?z?yle dikkate al?n?rken, bunun iOS 7'de mi yoksa daha sonraki s?r?mlerde mi olaca?? hen?z tam olarak bilinmiyor.

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iPhone 5S'nin piyasaya ??kaca?? d?nemde, Samsung Galaxy S 4 ve HTC M7 gibi y?ksek donan?ml? yeni nesil Android telefonlar?n rafda olmas? bekleniyor. Di?er taraftan Windows Phone ve BlackBerry platformlar?nda da s?rpriz geli?melere tan?k olabilir. ?u anki tabloya g?re yeni y?l son derece hareketli ge?ecek gibi g?r?n?yor. Ak?ll? telefon pazar?nda rekabet k?z???rken, donan?m ve tasar?m baz?nda yenilik?i olmay? ba?aran ve yaz?l?m g?ncellemelerini d?zenli olarak sa?layan firmalar, rakiplerini geride b?rakma noktas?nda ?nemli avantajlara sahip olacaklar.

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Source: http://www.donanimhaber.com/iPhone_5S_ile_ilgili_dedikodular_yeniden_alevlendi-38529.htm

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World's Oldest Man Ever: Jiroemon Kimura Sets New Milestone

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/12/worlds-oldest-man-ever-jiroemon-kimura-sets-new-milestone/

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All eyes on them, Senate leaders seek fiscal deal

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Senate leaders rushed to assemble a last-ditch agreement to avoid middle-class tax increases and possibly delay steep spending cuts in an urgent attempt to find common ground after weeks of postelection gridlock.

An impatient President Barack Obama pressed top lawmakers to cut a deal, even one that falls short of the ambitions he and congressional leaders may once have harbored for a bigger deficit reduction package. Without a resolution, he warned, "every American's paycheck will get a lot smaller."

"Congress can prevent it from happening, if they act now," he said in his weekly Saturday radio and internet address.

Following a White House meeting Friday among Obama and congressional leaders, aides to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., began racing against the clock for a bipartisan bargain. The leaders could present legislation to senators as early as Sunday, with a vote possible on Sunday or Monday.

The guest list for the White House meeting included Reid, McConnell, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. But the key players were clearly Reid and McConnell, both of whom stayed behind briefly at the White House and huddled with their staffs and Obama's top legislative aide, Rob Nabors, in the West Wing Cabinet Room just outside the Oval Office.

Neither side expected compromise to be easy. However, McConnell and Reid voiced unexpected optimism that they could work toward a deal that could win support in both their camps.

Warned Reid: "Whatever we come up with is going to be imperfect."

Looking to add pressure on negotiators, Obama said that absent a compromise he expects Reid to put legislation on the floor to prevent tax increases on the middle class and extend unemployment benefits ? an implicit challenge to Republicans to dare to vote against what polls show is popular.

Speaking for Republicans in a Saturday radio address, Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri sought to put the burden of a deal on Obama and Reid.

"We still can avoid going over the fiscal cliff if the president and the Democrat-controlled Senate step forward this week and work with Republicans to solve this problem and solve it now," he said.

Whatever manages to pass in the Senate, with its Democratic majority, would then face a second test in the Republican-controlled House.

Boehner, a Republican speaker who has struggled recently with anti-tax rebels inside his own party, said through an aide that he would await the results of the talks between the Senate and White House. A House vote could come as late as Wednesday, the final full day before a new Congress takes office.

Officials said there was a general understanding that any agreement would block scheduled income tax increases for middle-class earners while letting rates rise at upper-income levels.

Obama was sticking to his campaign call for increases above $250,000 in annual income, even though in recent negotiations he said he could accept $400,000.

The two sides also confronted a divide over estate taxes. Obama favors a higher tax than is currently in effect, but one senior Republican, Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, said he's "totally dead set" against it. Speaking of fellow GOP lawmakers, he said they harbor more opposition to an increase in the estate tax than to letting taxes on income and investments rise at upper levels.

But the estate tax was more likely to be used as a possible bargaining chip that Democrats could give away in exchange for higher rates for top earners and other Obama priorities.

Obama and Democrats want to prevent the expiration of unemployment benefits for about 2 million long-term jobless men and women, and there is widespread sentiment in both parties to shelter doctors from a 27 percent cut in Medicare fees.

Also likely to be included in the negotiations are taxes on dividends and capital gains, both of which are scheduled to rise with the new year. Also the alternative minimum tax, which, if left unchanged, could hit an estimated 28 million households for the first time and mean an average increase of more than $3,000.

The White House has shown increased concern about a possible doubling of milk prices if a farm bill is not passed in the next few days, although it is not clear whether that issue too might be included in the talks.

One Republican who was briefed on the White House meeting said Boehner made it clear he would leave in place spending cuts scheduled to take effect unless alternative savings were included in any compromise to offset them. In previous White House proposals, Obama has suggested finding enough cuts in government spending to put off the steeper cuts for up to six months.

Obama, speaking to reporters following his meeting with the congressional leaders, faulted a system that left crucial decisions to the last minute, a way of governing that he said the public finds "mindboggling."

"Outside of Washington nobody understands how it is that this seems to be a repeat pattern, over and over again," he said.

Still, Obama himself is part of the negotiating process, and his meeting with all four top leaders Friday was the first since Nov. 16. A phone call he placed Wednesday night to McConnell was the first the Republican leader had received from a Democrat on the fiscal talks since Thanksgiving.

Looking to add pressure on negotiators, Obama said he expects Reid to put legislation on the floor to prevent tax increases on the middle class and extend unemployment benefits ? an implicit challenge to Republicans to dare to vote against what polls show is popular.

The start of negotiations in the Senate marked a new endgame for discussions that have moved in fits and starts since the November election.

Boehner refused for weeks to accept any rate increases, and simultaneously accused Obama of skimping on the spending cuts he would support as part of a balanced deal to reduce deficits, remove the threat of spending cuts and prevent the across-the-board tax cuts.

Last week, the Ohio Republican presented a Plan B measure that would have let rates rise on million-dollar earners, well above Obama's latest offer for a $400,000 threshold.

Facing defeat, Boehner scrapped plans for a vote, leaving the economy on track for the cliff that political leaders in both parties had said they could avoid.

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Associated Press writers Alan Fram and Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/eyes-them-senate-leaders-seek-fiscal-deal-082435547--politics.html

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Touch Publishing Platform Onswipe Now Reaching 10M Monthly Active Users On iOS

Onswipe, a startup that helps publishers build websites optimized for iPads and other touchscreen devices, is closing out what sounds like a big year. Content published through the Onswipe platform reached 44 million unique visitors over the course of the year, the company says, and it's now reaching 10 million active users per month on iOS. (Onswipe is also available on Android and Kindle Fire, but they make a very small contribution to the total.) To put that into perspective, CEO and co-founder Jason Baptiste calculates that Onswipe's traffic now exceeds the iPad traffic for WordPress and Tumblr combined. (He based that on Quantcast's mobile traffic data for WordPress.com and Tumblr ? for example, WordPress has a reported 12.5 million mobile uniques in the US, then when you take into account that only 31 percent of that traffic comes from iOS, and only 37 percent of that comes from the iPad, you get 1.4 million uniques from the iPad.) It's a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison, since we're looking at onSwipe's global iOS traffic, not just iPad traffic in one country, but it does suggest that Onswipe has a mobile audience that's comparable to the major web publishing platforms.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/piCmkh4Gc4w/

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Source: http://www.thefloorgeek.com/2012/12/the-fundamentals-of-internet-hosting-providers/

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Source: http://olabovity.wordpress.com/2012/12/27/the-fundamentals-of-internet-hosting-providers-the-floor-geek/

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Texas gas prices increase 4 cents

HOUSTON (AP) -- The average price across Texas for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline increased 4 cents this week.

AAA Texas reported Thursday the average price increased to $3.07. Motorists in Texarkana are paying the most, with an average of $3.12 per gallon. Drivers in Beaumont are paying the least at $3.02 per gallon.

The average price for fuel in Texas is 19 cents less than the national average of $3.26.

AAA Texas says gas prices may be impacted by what happens regarding the "fiscal cliff" ? budget cuts and tax hikes that would kick in on Jan. 1 unless the White House and Congress agree on a budget deal. The group says a deal will likely been seen as an economic positive, sending prices higher, while no deal could lower prices.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/texas-gas-prices-increase-4-180717856.html

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Seattle's Richard Sherman wins suspension appeal

Seattle Seahawks' Richard Sherman comes down with an interception ahead of San Francisco 49ers' wide receiver Randy Moss in the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 23, 2012, in Seattle. The Seahawks beat the 49ers 42-13. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

Seattle Seahawks' Richard Sherman comes down with an interception ahead of San Francisco 49ers' wide receiver Randy Moss in the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 23, 2012, in Seattle. The Seahawks beat the 49ers 42-13. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

RENTON, Wash. (AP) ? Even when others were suggesting he drop his case and accept his punishment, Richard Sherman never strayed from his steadfast belief that his four-game suspension would be overturned.

As unlikely as it seemed, Sherman was right.

The Seattle Seahawks will now have one of the best young cornerbacks in the NFL available for the playoffs after Sherman won his appeal of a suspension for use of performance enhancing substances on Thursday.

Gone is the lingering question about a possible suspension that hung over Sherman and the Seahawks for more than a month.

"I know what the truth is and anybody else who knows anything knows what the truth is. The truth has been told today," Sherman said on Thursday. "People can say what they want, there are always naysayers. I have great teammates and great coaches and great fans and that's all I care about."

The decision that was made by former NFL executive Bob Wallace came early Thursday morning. Sherman was called by his lawyer and simply announced in the Seahawks locker room, "I won."

High-fives ensued. Sherman took to Twitter and let his 40,000-plus followers know of his result.

A team already rolling on the field with four straight wins and an offensive output unmatched in the last half-decade of the NFL got even more good news.

"There was obviously a good amount of stress because you just don't know," Sherman said. "You know how strong your case is, how strong everything is, but it was just great to get it over with."

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in an email the league is reviewing the decision, but was declining comment due to confidentiality provisions.

Sherman was steadfast since news broke of his pending suspension that he believed he would win on appeal. Sherman's appeal was based on errors in the chain of custody of his urine sample and that there were mistakes made by the tester.

His appeal took place late last week in St. Louis.

A copy of Wallace's decision was obtained by The Associated Press. In his explanation, Wallace writes that the collection process of Sherman's urine sample on Sept. 17, the day after Seattle beat Dallas in Week 2, was not ordinary.

According to the written decision, Sherman's sample cup began leaking, to which the tester grabbed another cup and transferred the sample. Documentation of the leaking cup was not originally on the submitted report following the test and only when asked by a supervisor in October did the tester acknowledge the sample being transferred from the original cup.

The tester later gave testimony that he'd never experienced a leaking cup before, yet didn't feel the situation rose to the level of needing to be included on his report.

Wallace wrote the omission of the leaking cup from the report was a "big deal," and that, "insuring a sample is collected properly is the cornerstone of the program and when an event occurs that does not happen routinely or that the collector has never experienced while collecting the sample it is incumbent upon that collector to note what happened."

"Accordingly, Mr. Sherman's appeal is granted and the discipline is reversed," Wallace wrote.

Sherman said when he got word on Nov. 12 of the failed test he knew it had to do with the sample collected in September.

"It was a weird day, a weird testing procedure," Sherman said. "A lot of things went wrong on that day and that's why the result came out the way it did because he made mistakes and he did things wrong."

Seattle has played the last three weeks without fellow starting cornerback Brandon Browner, serving a four-game suspension for a banned substance violation.

Browner's suspension expires after Sunday's game against the Rams, so Seattle will have both of its starting cornerbacks for the postseason.

"It definitely feels good for him to take this journey and keep being on this team with us," Seattle safety Earl Thomas said. "We're getting (Browner) back and the depth that we have and the young guys got a chance to prove who they are and it's all just coming together for us."

According to STATS, Sherman is tied with Pittsburgh's Keenan Lewis for the NFL lead with 23 passes defensed. He is tied for second in interceptions with seven.

Sherman was a surprise omission from the Pro Bowl roster announced Wednesday. Despite his impressive numbers, Sherman was a first alternate at cornerback for the NFC, behind the Chicago duo of Tim Jennings and Charles Tillman, and Arizona's Patrick Peterson.

"I appreciate the league for allowing justice to be served and allowing me to continue to play," Sherman said.

___

Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-12-27-Seahawks-Sherman%20Appeal/id-c8051ce7e425499dabb3c3f101a0b131

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Pakistan: Bhutto's son launches political career

ISLAMABAD (AP) ? The 24-year-old son of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has launched his political career with a fiery speech on the fifth anniversary of his mother's assassination.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's speech Thursday comes several months before national elections are expected to be held. He is too young to participate in the elections himself, but is likely to be a key asset for the ruling Pakistan People's Party.

Zardari was made party chairman after his mother's death but has mainly played a background role as he completed his studies in the United Kingdom. His father, President Asif Ali Zardari, is co-chairman of the party.

Father and son spoke before thousands of cheering supporters in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh village in southern Sindh province, site of the Bhutto family mausoleum.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pakistan-bhuttos-son-launches-political-career-130514407.html

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New Home Sales in November Hit Fastest Pace ... - AOL Real Estate

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The Associated Press | Posted Dec 27th 2012 10:33AM
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Americans bought new homes last month at the fastest pace in more than two and a half years, adding to other recent evidence that the housing market is steadily recovering.

The Commerce Department says that sales of new homes rose 4.4 percent in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 377,000. That's the strongest pace since April 2010, when a homebuyer's tax credit boosted sales.

New home sales have increased 15.3 percent in the past year. Still, the improvement comes from depressed levels. Sales remain below the 700,000 that economists consider healthy.

Rising sales have kept the supply of available homes low, which pushes up prices. Only 149,000 new homes were for sale at the end of last month, just above a record low of 143,000 in August. More on AOL Real Estate:
Find out how to calculate mortgage payments.
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Source: http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2012/12/27/new-home-sales-in-november-2012-hit-fastest-pace-in-2-5-years/

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Bernie Madoff Bemoans The Ills Of Modern Finance In CNBC Letter

Bernie Madoff's primary occupation of being a prison inmate has apparently lost its thrill because he's taken up a new hobby: opining on the state of finance.

Madoff, who pleaded guilty in March 2009 to running one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in American history, sent a letter on Christmas Eve to CNBC and "a handful of attorneys and academics he has been communicating with" about the ills of modern finance, CNBC wrote.

Specifically, Madoff's letter addressed the increasing opacity of financial markets, which are dominated these days by flash-trading robots and "dark pools," where big banks place orders far from the prying eyes of other investors and Yahoo Finance.

The dark pools, Madoff notes, are an outgrowth of investors' fears of being fleeced like the cuddly Muppets that they are by banks "front-running" their big trades to make an extra buck.

"Institutions have always attempted to guard this buy and sell information from exposure to the market for fear of being FRONT RUN," Madoff writes, in a letter that demonstrates a real flair for unique capitalization and punctuation. "Certainly they are entitled to have this right of confidentiality. This being said, the more secret this information. The more valuable this information is to those that can obtain it."

Madoff also bemoans the proliferation of hedge funds, because he has apparently traveled back in time to the year 2004 when this was a thing people cared about. These funds milk out so much money in fees that they have to take increasing risks in order to generate any returns for their investors, Madoff weeps. Then humble mom-and-pop Ponzi-scheme operators have to Ponzi-scheme even harder to keep up.

To be fair, Madoff is not entirely wrong, at least not about financial-market opacity. Trades are increasingly hidden from the sight of regulators, making mischief more likely -- and more profitable. High-speed trading robots have overwhelmed markets in the last few years, leading to catastrophic losses for some firms. The problem has prompted meetings by regulators, but plans to truly monitor the trades are in their infancy.

As for hedge funds -- meh, who cares, they're not making any money anyway.

But then, why do we care what Bernie Madoff has to say about this or most other topics? If we want to know how to run a massive Ponzi scheme for years without detection, then we'll ask Bernie Madoff. Otherwise, you could probably throw a rock anywhere below Canal Street in Manhattan and hit somebody with more valuable thoughts about the financial system than this guy.

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/26/bernie-madoff-cnbc-letter_n_2365035.html

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Effective Internet Marketing Infographic | Online Marketing Trends

In 2012, some of the the most effective internet marketing returns were seen from companies that focused on content creation, social media, blogging, SEO, website and landing pages, email and mobile marketing.

This infographic details the prevailing trends for for effective online marketing, with some strong numbers to support each channel. It is interesting to note that 89% of marketers say that they are maintaining or increasing their budgets that focus on these trends. Perhaps this is because inbound marketing costs 61% LESS per lead than traditional, outbound marketing.

89% of marketers are maintaining or increasing their inbound budgets, most probably because inbound marketing costs 61% LESS per lead than traditional, outbound marketing.

What is working for online marketers in 2012?

Social Media:

63% of companies using social media say social media has increased marketing effectiveness ? among other benefits.

• In 2012, 44% of marketers acquired customers from Twitter
• US Internet users spend 3X more minutes on blogs & social networks than on email.
• The average budget spent on company blogs & social media has nearly tripled in three years.
• Social media use in the U.S. has increased by 356% since 2006.
• The top 20% of B2B marketers in social media lead generation have increased revenue by 20% in 2011.
• LinkedIn drives the most customers to B2B, Facebook drives the most conversions for B2C.
• Pinterest drives more referral traffic than Google Plus, LinkedIn and YouTube combined.
• 93% of US adult Internet users are on Facebook. 1 out of every 7 minutes online is spent on Facebook.
• The average Facebook user spends ~7 hours/month on Facebook.
• U.S. local SMBs actively use social media marketing to promote their businesses
• More than 1/2 of U.S. SMBs say social media sites play an important role in active sales. More than 1/3 of US SMBs say social media helps them get found online.
• Social media helps B2B marketers improve search results.
• Facebook has become the preferred way of sharing content, second only to email (for now).
• Most US B2B marketers agree that Facebook is an effective marketing tool. More than 1/3 of marketers say Facebook is ?critical? or ?important? to their business.
• The number of marketers who say Facebook is ?critical? or ?important? to their business has increased by 75% in three years (from 24% to 42% 2009-2012).
• More than 1/3 of marketers say Twitter is ?critical? or ?important? to their business.
• Companies that use Twitter average 2x more leads/month than those that do not.
• B2C companies with >100 followers have 146% more leads/month than those with <100.

Blogging:

B2C companies that blog generate 88% more leads per month than those who do not blog.

• In 2012 57% of marketers acquired customers from blogging.
• Companies that blog have 55% more website visitors.
• B2B companies that blog generate 67% more leads per month than those who do not.
• Blog frequency impacts customer acquisition.
• Businesses that blog 20 or more times/month get 5X more traffic than those who blog 4 or more times a month.
• Companies that blog have 97% more inbound links.
• 81% of marketers rated their blog as USEFUL or BETTER.
• Nearly 40% of US companies use blogs for marketing purposes.
• Companies with >51 blog articles experience a 77% lift in median monthly leads.
• Blog reading peaks around 10AM.

Blog articles influence purchases:

7%?EXECUTE A PURCHASE
13%?INSPIRE A PURCHASE
14% ASSURE
17% DISCOVER PRODUCTS/SERVICES
19% GET SUPPORT/ANSWERS
19% REFINE CHOICES
21% DECIDE ON A PRODUCT/SERVICE

Search Engine Optimization (SEO):

89% of US internet users search online before they make a purchase, even when the purchase is made at a local business.

• 75% of users never go further than the first page of search results. Compelling page descriptions can help you stand out.
• 46% of daily searches are for research on products or services. The more pages you have, the better chance you have of ranking high.
• 70% of the links search users click on are organic?not paid.

Website Pages:

Businesses with websites of 401-1000 pages get 6X more leads than those with?51-100 pages.

• Companies with more indexed web pages get 236% more leads.
• Companies with 51 to 100 pages generate 48% more traffic than companies with 1 to 50 pages.
• Companies see a 55% increase in leads from increasing landing pages from 10 to 15.

Email Marketing:

59% of B2B marketers say email is the most effective channel in generating revenue.

• The word ?exclusive? in email promotional campaigns increases unique open rates by 14%.
• 84% of B2B marketers use segment targeting in their email campaigns.
• 80% of customers report reading email on mobile devices.
• Morning emails get the highest CTR.

Mobile Marketing:

60% of consumers do product or service research ?several times a month? via a mobile device.

• 9 out of 10 mobile searches lead to action. Over 50% lead to purchase.
• 90% of text messages are read within
• 3 MINUTES of being delivered.
• 4 BILLION of the 6.8 BILLION people on the planet, use a mobile phone. 3.5 BILLION of them use a toothbrush.

SOURCES: JUPITER RESEARCH, OCTOBER 2008, STATE OF INBOUND MARKETING, HUBSPOT, MARCH 2012,?NETPOP RESEARCH, ARIL 2012,??EMARKETER, FEBRUARY 2011,?ABERDEEN RESEARCH, MARCH 2012,?MCKINSEY GLOBAL INSTITUTE, DECEMBER 2010,?MERCHANT CIRCLE, FEBRUARY 2011,?COMSCORE, SEARCH ENGINE LAND, 2011

Source: http://www.shebangdesign.com/effective-internet-marketing-infographic/

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Not exactly a foreign idea - Winnipeg Free Press

DARRYL DYCK / THE CANADIAN PRESS Enlarge Image

Kerry Strayton, 61, is looking to retire in places such as Colombia, Uruguay and Thailand to stretch his retirement dollar.

TORONTO -- Dwindling pension benefits are forcing many Canadians to rethink how they'll spend their golden years, but that doesn't necessarily mean giving up their dreams of a sun-soaked retirement.

Some experts say with proper planning, uprooting to an exotic locale can actually help cash-strapped seniors stretch their retirement dollars.

Aside from milder temperatures, they say many of the destinations favoured by Canadians -- including parts of Mexico, Panama and Costa Rica -- offer another advantage prized by those on a fixed income: a lower cost of living.

"It's sometimes assumed that an international retirement vision or lifestyle is something that wealthy people pursue," said Rod Burylo, a Calgary-based financial adviser specializing in international retirement.

"The reality is... some people retire to Mexico because it's so darn cheap," he said.

"One could reason, therefore, that if the economy suffered and their finances suffered, they may be more inclined to retire to Mexico because... they could have a better quality of life than they could have here."

Many Canadians are having to make tough financial choices -- including prolonging their careers or downsizing their homes -- in preparing for retirement as debt-ridden governments and companies scale back benefits.

While financial considerations alone are rarely enough to prompt a drastic change of scenery, they often play an important role in the decision-making process, according to a recent survey by the BMO Retirement Institute.

The survey by one of Canada's largest banks found more than 70 per cent of Canadians aged 45 or older have given thought to where they want to live out their golden years.

But it also found that while many fantasize about retreating to faraway lands, just over 10 per cent of respondents said they were willing to follow through and leave Canadian soil.

"I think you get people moving abroad for two reasons," said Brian Burlacoff, a financial adviser with Sun Life Financial.

"You get a proportion of people who do want to spend time very purposely outside of Canada -- snowbirds, for example, in Florida or Arizona -- (and) they have a plan for that," he said.

"But the other group that you get moving away are people that have no plan and they're kind of drawing at straws because they have to find a place that's less expensive to live in order to carry out their retirement objectives."

That kind of "reactive" move, he said, is similar to trading a downtown Toronto lifestyle for a more affordable one in a neighbouring suburb.

But unlike a simple hop across municipal borders, crossing national boundaries can have serious tax and health-care implications, he warned.

And even regions where the average day-to-day costs are low can drain the savings of those without a clear budget plan, he said.

A guidebook published by the Department of Foreign Affairs lays out the potential pitfalls for those looking to retire abroad, from the loss of Canadian citizenship or residency -- and the resulting loss of health coverage -- to the intricacies of foreign tax systems.

"Many developing countries lack the resources to collect taxes on foreign-source income, so they compensate by imposing high consumption taxes or import duties," the document reads.

"Make sure you take into account all taxes, duties and fees, as well as the withholding taxes you will pay on income originating in Canada."

Burlacoff and Burylo both recommend consulting an adviser who understands the specific challenges involved, and keeping in touch throughout the preparations and after the move.

At 61, Kerry Strayton believes he's still up to a decade away from retirement, but that hasn't stopped the Richmond, B.C., resident from getting a head start on his plans to retire abroad.

He's already "actively researching" possible destinations for him and his wife, such as Colombia, Uruguay and Thailand -- places with a pleasant climate and a thriving cultural scene, that he says are accessible enough that their son and daughter will be able to visit.

Moving seems like a necessity for the couple, who Strayton says will have to live off their savings and his wife's "small, very modest" pension, given that his employer doesn't offer a pension plan of its own.

He estimates it would cost roughly $1,500 a month in one of his chosen destinations to keep the same standard of living that would cost $2,500 in Richmond.

"To be honest, living in this part of the country in particular, which is very, very expensive, it's hard to see how we would manage to have at least some kind of reasonable lifestyle," he said.

Many unknowns remain: For one thing, the couple hasn't decided whether to make a permanent move or take the more popular snowbird route.

But with several more years of squirrelling away savings ahead, the pair has some time to figure it out.

And in the meantime, Strayton said, they'll be checking out the top contenders to see which one could eventually become their new home.

?

-- The Canadian Press

Source: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/finance/not-exactly-a-foreign-idea-184783561.html

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Best Science Books 2012: Teaching Biology ? Confessions of a ...

Another list for your reading, gift-giving and collection development pleasure.

Every year for the last bunch of years I?ve been linking to and posting about all the ?year?s best sciencey books? lists that appear in various media outlets and shining a bit of light on the best of the year.

All the previous 2012 lists are here.

This post includes the following: Teaching Biology: Top Books of 2012: Historical Geology.

• The Goldilocks Planet: The 4 Billion Year Story of Earth?s Climate by Jan Zalasiewicz and Mark Williams
• What is Life?: How Chemistry becomes Biology by Addy Pross
• Secret Chambers: The Inside Story of Cells & Complex Life by Martin Brasier
• Evolution of Fossil Ecosystems, Second Edition by Paul Selden and John Nudds
• Why Geology Matters: Decoding the Past, Anticipating the Future by J. D. Macdougall
• Jewels of the Early Earth: Minerals and Fossils of the Precambrian by Bruce L. Stinchcomb
• Here on Earth: A Twin Biography of the Planet and the Human Race by Tim Flannery
• Historical Geology by Reed Wicander and James S. Monroe
• First Life: Discovering the Connections between Stars, Cells, and How Life Began by David Deamer

I?m always looking for recommendations and notifications of book lists as they appear in various media outlets. If you see one that I haven?t covered, please let me know at jdupuis at yorku dot ca or in the comments.

I am picking up most of my lists from Largehearted Boy.

For my purposes, I define science books pretty broadly to include science, engineering, computing, history & philosophy of science & technology, environment, social aspects of science and even business books about technology trends or technology innovation. Deciding what is and isn?t a science book is squishy at best, especially at the margins, but in the end I pick books that seem broadly about science and technology rather than something else completely. Lists of business, history or nature books are among the tricky ones.

And if you wish to support my humble list-making efforts, run on over to Amazon, take a look at Steve Jobs or The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks or maybe even something else from today?s list.

Source: http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/2012/12/25/best-science-books-2012-teaching-biology-2/

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Skeptical Scalpel: How lawyers deal with being sued for legal ...

The September 2012 issue of the AARP Bulletin has a story about a woman who sued an elder-law attorney for legal malpractice. Bear with me. It?s an interesting tale.

In 2004, a man consulted an elder-law attorney to set up a trust that would distribute his assets fairly. He had a daughter from his previous marriage and his wife had five children from her previous marriage. The story is a bit complicated, but his plan was that should he die first, the wife would inherit everything. Then when she died, his biologic daughter was to receive all of whatever was left of the money.

But the lawyer made an error and the trust actually was written in such a way that all six children (his daughter and his wife?s five) would get equal shares of the estate instead of his daughter getting it all.

Sure enough, the man died first and the mistake was discovered. The wife had not yet died but the man?s daughter sued the attorney for legal malpractice. He admitted the error but defended himself by saying the daughter had not yet suffered any damages so he owed her nothing. He also said the amount of money that might be left in the trust was impossible to calculate.

Based on the life expectancy of the wife and the amount of money in the trust, it was estimated that the daughter should have been entitled to over $500,000 when the wife finally dies.

The court ruled that the lawyer?s reasoning had some merit, but because of the serious nature of the error, it awarded the daughter $472,000 in damages.

Fine and dandy, right?

Not so fast. You see, lawyers don?t have to carry malpractice insurance.

Here?s how the story ends: ?[The lawyer] decided to declare bankruptcy, which released him from his obligation to pay [the daughter].?

The story doesn?t mention whether the daughter had to pay her lawyer or any other fees.

When I finished reading the article, I was infuriated. I thought back to the origins of the medical malpractice crisis. When I was a resident in the early 1970s, general surgeons were paying less than $500 per year for malpractice insurance. When commercial insurers withdrew from the market, many state medical societies hastily established physician-owned mutual insurance companies. Shortly thereafter, premium rates shot up and here we are.

I?ve often wondered what would have happened had the medical societies simply thrown up their collective hands and said, ?What are we to do? No one will insure our doctors.? Would state governments have stepped in? Would that have been a good thing or a bad thing? What about the federal government? Would we still have the ongoing crisis?

If you want to have some fun, play ?What?s My Premium?? on the New York physician-owned malpractice company?s website. You can query any specialty in any county in the state. For example, a neurosurgeon in Nassau County (suburban New York City) is currently paying $315,000 per year for malpractice coverage. OB/GYN in the Bronx? $183,247.00. In July, the New York Times reported that some hospitals in New York are dropping their malpractice insurance because they can?t afford it any longer, and they may not have enough money set aside to pay judgments against them.

The hospitals use the fact that they have little money to pay out as negotiating leverage. The hospitals tell plaintiffs to either take what little is offered as a settlement or risk getting nothing if the hospital goes bankrupt and closes.

Maybe the hospitals are learning from the lawyers. What about us physicians? Will we ever learn?

Source: http://skepticalscalpel.blogspot.com/2012/12/how-lawyers-deal-with-being-sued-for.html

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