Nvidia GeForce Experience out of closed beta (27?Jan?2013?11:18) Nvidia has announced today that its PC gaming optimization service, GeForce Experience, is now in open beta.
The tool had been in closed beta for a month.
40,000 gamers tested the app ....
RIM to have Super Bowl ad to promote BlackBerry 10 (27?Jan?2013?11:05) RIM has noted this week that it has purchased a Super Bowl ad slot to promote BlackBerry 10, the first time the company has ever done so.
The 30-second ad, which cost $3.8 million to secure ....
CEA: "AutoHop" is protected tech (27?Jan?2013?10:55) The Consumer Electronics Association has voted in support of Dish Network's "AutoHop" commercial-skipping technology.
Dish Network is currently in multiple lawsuits against CBS and other ....
Steve Wozniak: Original 'jOBS' script was 'crap' (27?Jan?2013?10:40) Earlier this week, Steve Jobs biopic 'jOBS' made its debut at Sundance, showcasing Ashton Kutcher as the late Apple co-founder.
According to one report, Apple's other co-founder, Steve Wozniak ....
40 percent of Mega resellers pull PayPal processing support (27?Jan?2013?10:24) Following a campaign by anti-piracy group "StopFileLockers," 40 percent of Mega's account resellers have pulled support for PayPal processing.
The number is significant especially because ....
In the home of the 6-0 Chicago Blackhawks, the UFC had it's sixth showing on Fox. In hockey's tradition, here are the Three Stars from the card.
No. 1 star -- Anthony Pettis: Once upon a time, Pettis was the WEC champion and had a shot at the UFC lightweight title. But then Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard fought to a draw and required a rematch, and Pettis lost to Clay Guida. But with a nasty liver kick that took out Donald Cerrone, Pettis showed he was still worthy of that title shot.
No. 2 star -- Ricardo Lamas: Speaking of title shots, Lamas made a convincing case on Saturday night for the featherweight belt. He used punishing ground and pound to make Erik Koch's face explode on the way to a TKO. Lamas has four wins in a row, and has earned the shot to be the next fighter with a shot at the featherweight belt after this weekend's fight between Edgar and champion Jose Aldo.
No. 3 star -- T.J. Grant: The lightweight division is stacked, but Grant's showing on Saturday night showed another fighter creeping into the top ranks. He elbowed his way to a win over Matt Wiman.
These are Cagewriter's Three Stars. Who are yours? Speak up in the comments, on Facebook or on Twitter.
NEW YORK (AP) ? Federal health officials say at least 16 people in five states have been sickened by salmonella food poisoning linked to ground beef.
No one has died, but half were hospitalized. Most of the illnesses have been in Michigan, but a few cases were scattered in Arizona, Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin.
Seven people ate a raw ground beef dish called kibbeh (kib-BEH') last month at a suburban Detroit restaurant that wasn't identified. Health officials say consumers should not eat uncooked meat.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the cases have been linked to last week's recall of more than 1,000 pounds of ground beef from two Michigan businesses, Troy-based Gab Halal Foods and Sterling Heights-based Jouni Meats.
SANTIAGO/CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has overcome a respiratory infection, but is still being treated for breathing problems after cancer surgery in Cuba last month, a government minister said on Saturday.
Official statements have sounded upbeat about the socialist president's condition in recent weeks, following rumors he was gravely ill in a hospital in Havana and might be unable to keep governing after being re-elected in October to a third term.
"(Chavez) has overcome the respiratory infection, although he still has a certain degree of respiratory insufficiency," Information Minister Ernesto Villegas told reporters in Chile, where Latin American and European leaders are meeting.
"Vice President (Nicolas) Maduro has estimated that Chavez could come back in weeks, but we haven't wanted to put a time frame on the president's recovery," Villegas added.
Earlier on Saturday, Maduro said Chavez, 58, was in his "best moment" since his operation 45 days ago.
"What we can share with you is that the commander is in his best moment that we have seen in all of these days of struggle," Maduro said in televised comments before dawn on Saturday, after returning from Cuba to meet with the president.
Chavez has not been seen in public since undergoing his fourth and most complex surgery to treat an illness that might jeopardize the future of his self-styled revolution.
He has never said exactly what type of cancer he has, only that the initial tumor found in mid-2011 was in his pelvic area and was the size of a baseball.
In contrast to Chavez's previous visits to Havana for treatment, officials have not published any evidence of his condition. In 2011, with great fanfare, they broadcast videos of him reading a newspaper, walking in a garden and chatting with his daughter.
In the absence of such proof this time, many Venezuelans are questioning the terse official bulletins that provide few details about his condition or treatment.
ECONOMIC POLICY
Maduro said earlier on Saturday that Chavez had ordered a series of economic decisions that would help boost Venezuelan exports, comments that came amid speculation the government was preparing a devaluation of the bolivar currency.
"He gave a series of orders that the economic team will share in the coming hours with the people of Venezuela, which are focused on building Venezuela's export capacity," he said.
He did not elaborate.
A Finance Ministry source who asked not to be identified said on Saturday the ministry was not planning on making any announcements right now.
Devaluation would make exports more competitive by lowering local production costs and spur domestic industries by making imports less competitive with locally produced goods.
It would also improve state finances by providing more bolivars per dollar of oil exports, following heavy spending in 2012 on homes for the poor and pensions for the elderly that helped Chavez win re-election.
But it would also push up consumer prices in a country that already has one of the highest inflation rates in the region.
A lack of dollars in recent weeks has left many businesses struggling to import the products they need. Some goods such as wheat flour and sugar have disappeared from supermarket shelves, partly because of import bottlenecks.
Business leaders insist a devaluation would help address the problem.
(Additional reporting by Antonio De La Jara and Alexandra Ulmer in Santiago, and Eyanir Chinea in Caracas; Editing by Helen Popper and Peter Cooney)
The landscape of the music industry continued to shift this past week as labels and film studios announced efforts to rescue the bankrupt retailer HMV, and Kim Dotcom launched his controversial cloud sharing service. Also, the co-founder of the online music platform DIGIHUBB examined some of the ways artists are using social media well.
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The Music Industry Will Fight to Save HMV
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Music labels and film studios will most likely support an organized rescue plan for the recently bankrupt music retailer HMV. Major music companies such as Universal Music, Warner Music and Sony will reportedly extend very lenient credit terms to potential buyers and offer discounted CD and DVD prices to make HMV look desirable, reported The Sunday Times. And Universal, especially wants to see the company survive:? It acquired liability for rent for 16 HMV stores when it absorbed EMI in 2012.
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HMV has been in existence for 92 years and is the last existing retail chain that specializes only in music and entertainment. Many, especially those holding onto the old world order of the music business are terrified of the pressure its fall will put on the industry. They feel that brick-and-mortar supermarkets and online companies like Amazon will compete even more aggressively by cutting their prices dramatically.
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At the same time, 760 staff members at DVD and games rental firm Blockbuster in Britain lost their jobs as Deloitte announced it would be closing 129 of the 528 stores in Britain within the next few weeks. Both this event and the collapse of HMV hit the retail sector of the UK hard.
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Hilco, the owner of HMV Canada is one of the top buyers for HMV in the UK and reportedly began talks with administrators Deloitte on January 18. However, there are also another 50 possible buyers looking into the purchase of HMV. And CEO Trevor Moore stated he is ?convinced? that the company can be saved because of all the interest. Other bids could potentially come from Game, the private equity firm Endless and private equity veteran Jon Moulton/Better Capital. Hilco has already been successful at improving sales at HMV Canada since he bought it in 2011.
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Kim Dotcom to Cause More Piracy Controversy with Mega
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Notorious Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom launched his new online music and film locker service Mega on January 21, even though he and three of his colleagues are still waiting to be extradited from New Zealand to the U.S. And the site?s traffic so far has showed he is still a formidable force online, according to an article in The Huffington Post. His controversial service has once again opened up concerns for many in the music industry surrounding piracy issues.
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Mega hit one million registered members within 24 hours of its launch. The extreme traffic actually shut down servers several times as the site climbed quickly to the top website in New Zealand and the 141st most-visited site in the world as of last Sunday. The site presents new users with 50 GB of free cloud storage and has already hit higher daily visits than popular sharing services Dropbox and Rapidshare.
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Dotcom?s renowned file-sharing service Megaupload was shut down by the FBI in January of last year, and he was brought up on copyright and racketeering charges. The entrepreneur announced that the new site is totally legal because of encryptions that will make accessing its files difficult. He told Reuters, ?This is not some kind of finger to the U.S. government or to Hollywood ? Legally, there?s just nothing there that could be used to shut us down. This site is just as legitimate and has the right to exist as Dropbox, Boxnet and other competitors.?
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Jack Schofeld of ZDNet pointed out that the FBI has been integral in turning Dotcom into an ?Internet folk hero;? its high-profile investigation surrounding the shutdown of Megaupload gave him an ?endless supply of free publicity.?
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Despite Mega?s strong beginning, its success will still be dependent on Dotcom?s future. However, Dotcom?s extradition is now not likely to occur because of major blunders made by New Zealand law enforcement and the spy agency GCSB when Dotcom was first arrested.
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And the new site?s legality is still up for debate, despite its creator?s insistence that it is legitimate and its tagline ?the privacy company.? Jonathan Bailey of Plagiarism Today said that committing acts of piracy using the service is inhibited by client-side encryption, which forces downloaders to need a link and an encryption key to get at files from the uploader. However, experts have already pointed out some potential problems with security and safety. Dan Goodin of Ars Technica said that Steve ?Sc00bz? Thomas has already created a product that can pull passwords from Mega?s encrypted confirmation emails. ?
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Mega has already acknowledged this bug and promised password changes in the near future.
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Maximizing the Power of Social Media
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DIGIHUBB co-founder Tom Fazakerley shared some insights about how mega-artists like Katy Perry, Jessie J and Common are successfully marketing through social media and how artists of all shapes and sizes can follow their examples in The Guardian last week. He also talked about which platforms are working particularly well.
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As he pointed out, MySpace and to an even greater degree, YouTube have enabled artists to throw their music out to a massive audience and removed boundaries within the music industry. And continuing technological shifts within the business along with the constant release of new platforms and apps are helping to make ?getting heard? easier for artists, producers and promoters and have been responsible for the careers of people like Justin Bieber. ??
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Fazakerly offered up some tips for those that want to harness the power of social networking:
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?Understand the mainstream music industry and read into what?s popular. Follow trends but make them your own; that differentiation is what separates the special few from the crowd.?
He also suggested that bloggers and vloggers need to really highlight their personalities:? ?For example, you could start a tour video diary or use a vlog to show your life outside music ? Separate your personal recordings from your professional ones by creating an account for each.?
He also noted that Twitter is key, because it keeps things short and is very easily digested by fans and potential fans:? ?Treat Twitter as if it were an online networking event; respond to as many people as you can with a personal message, engage with your fans, regularly retweet and generally build relationships.?
As he noted, Facebook is still the top social network as well as the #1 photo-sharing place on the Web, so it represents a critical visibility point:? ?Create an artist or band page to keep your work and personal life a little separate ? It?s about building a relationship with your fans and enabling as many people to discover your music.?
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Above all, he advised that artists actually have to be social on social media and check out the work of other musicians, comment and offer up helpful advice and support when appropriate. All the most successful artists on social media platforms engage in this way.
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Fazakerley concluded, ?You need to show you are innovative and understand the growing market and latest developments; only then can you let your talent and music production fly.?
Tags: HMV, Kim Dotcom, Mega, new music industry, social media marketer, Social Networking
TIP! Use paint to decorate your home on a budget. Even if your budget has no room for a large-scale improvement project, paint can work wonders.
Not many projects are as fulfilling as home improvement projects. You can really feel pride of ownership when you dedicate time to making your home the best it can be. How do you begin? This guide will give you great tips on how to get your home to look even better.
TIP! Before you go to the home improvement center, be sure to make a complete list of necessary items. When you make a list, it will be easier for you to ensure that you don?t forget anything and have to go back to the store.
If you are renovating tile floors, consider radiant heat tiles. Radiant heat tiles use electricity to heat the tiles and keep your feet warm. Fortunately for you, these are also really easy to put in if you are able to precisely follow the instructions. This is a project that you can do yourself without any help. You will be happy you did when you go into your bathroom on that first day of winter.
TIP! Think about the amount your home?s value will increase before doing a home improvement project. You want to consider those projects that will net the greatest return on your time and money.
To make a dreary or dated looking home feel vibrant and new, repaint the walls. A fresh coat of paint can completely change the look of a room. It does not cost much to paint, and it will significantly add value to your home. Use light colors that work with your decor.
TIP! If you want to change a room and not spend a lot of money, you can paint the room utilizing a unique paint technique. It?s cheap to do such a project, while the rewards are plentiful.
Prior to starting a home improvement job, be sure to list all the actions you believe will occur from the time you start to the time you finish. When you have finished your list, show it to friends and relations who have DIY home improvement experience to make sure you haven?t left anything out. Make sure you put aside enough time to work on this project, because you never really know how long it will take to finish everything.
TIP! Before you agree to have an alarm system installed, carefully consider its advantages and disadvantages. If you spend a lot of time away from home or reside in an unsafe neighborhood, a security system is a good idea.
View things can match your home in importance to your daily life. It is also important that it looks the best it can. The tips shared here with you are excellent for keeping in mind for your projects. Consider which ones you like and create some time for you to work on them.
While some individuals choose to hire attorneys to walk them through the process of applying for a trademark, others choose to use a trademark research firm, which can cost thousands of dollars less. It is important to remember when hiring someone to do your research that they not only search through Federal and State trademark records for name similarities, but also Common-Law listings.
Many people are under the impression that they can perform their own comprehensive search utilizing the help of search engines, in addition to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (herein referred to as the USPTO). While it is a good idea to become familiar with the USPTO website, individuals sometimes believe that the data they collect from this website is truly representative of the trademarked names which are currently being used. The USPTO?s website is never a thorough way to search the name you?re hoping to trademark! The website is not updated regularly, and in addition to this, you can ONLY search Federal trademark records on the USPTO, NOT State trademark records OR Common-Law records!
It is imperative to search Federal and State trademark records AND Common-Law records because it is the only way to ensure that your search was done in a comprehensive manner. Federal and State trademarks records are looking at businesses that have either a federally registered trademark, or those who have registered a state trademark. When these records are searched, any federal or state trademarks that are either pending or registered will be visible to the researcher. Common-Law records examine those businesses who are in business but not have necessarily filed for a Federal or a State trademark. When Common-Law records are searched, thousands upon thousands of newspaper articles, city business listings, periodicals, incorporation listings, DBAs, LLCs, etc. are examined for any name similarities. Although such businesses do not have a trademark, they might have ?first-use rights? to the name. This could mean that they still have ownership over the name within their trad e area AND the capacity to take legal recourse if they determine that your name and business is the same, or similar.
If the research proves clear, the next step is to prepare and file the application. This can be done by anyone; however, the USPTO is very particular about how the application is prepared, so it?s best to leave it to professionals.
Three Steps ? Federal & State trademark search, US National Common-Law search and Application Preparation & Filing ? and the Trademark could be YOURS!
In space, dense clouds of cosmic gas and dust are the birthplaces of new stars. In visible light, this dust is dark and obscuring, hiding the stars behind it. So much so that, when astronomer William Herschel observed one such cloud in the constellation of Scorpius in 1774, he thought it was a region empty of stars and is said to have exclaimed, "Truly there is a hole in the sky here!"
In order to better understand star formation, astronomers need telescopes that can observe at longer wavelengths, such as the submillimetre range, in which the dark dust grains shine rather than absorb light. APEX, on the Chajnantor Plateau in the Chilean Andes, is the largest single-dish submillimetre-wavelength telescope operating in the southern hemisphere, and is ideal for astronomers studying the birth of stars in this way.
Located in the constellation of Orion (The Hunter), 1500 light-years away from Earth, the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth, and contains a treasury of bright nebulae, dark clouds and young stars. The new image shows just part of this vast complex in visible light, with the APEX observations overlaid in brilliant orange tones that seem to set the dark clouds on fire. Often, the glowing knots from APEX correspond to darker patches in visible light -- the tell-tale sign of a dense cloud of dust that absorbs visible light, but glows at submillimetre wavelengths, and possibly a site of star formation.
The bright patch below of the centre of the image is the nebula NGC 1999. This region -- when seen in visible light -- is what astronomers call a reflection nebula, where the pale blue glow of background starlight is reflected from clouds of dust. The nebula is mainly illuminated by the energetic radiation from the young star V380 Orionis lurking at its heart. In the centre of the nebula is a dark patch, which can be seen even more clearly in a well-known image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
Normally, a dark patch such as this would indicate a dense cloud of cosmic dust, obscuring the stars and nebula behind it. However, in this image we can see that the patch remains strikingly dark, even when the APEX observations are included. Thanks to these APEX observations, combined with infrared observations from other telescopes, astronomers believe that the patch is in fact a hole or cavity in the nebula, excavated by material flowing out of the star V380 Orionis. For once, it truly is a hole in the sky!
The region in this image is located about two degrees south of the large and well-known Orion Nebula (Messier 42), which can be seen at the top edge of the wider view in visible light from the Digitized Sky Survey.
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ESO: http://www.eso.org
Thanks to ESO for this article.
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Nearly three years after the first lawsuit was filed, a legal battle between Tustin Unified and the city of Tustin could be close to resolution.
The trial resolution will determine if Tustin Unified School District needs city approval for construction on school campuses.
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Tustin Unified vs. City of Tustin
What: Court trial between the Tustin school district and city over grading permits
When: 9 a.m. Monday
Where: Room C09, Central Justice Center, 700 Civic Center Drive West, Santa Ana
Who: Judge John Gastelum
Information: 657-622-6878 or occourts.org
Source: occourts.org
What happened with Heritage School?
Tustin Unified decided to temporarily use Heritage School, a planned elementary school on the former Tustin Marine base, to house its continuation and adult schools as well as some district staff while construction is ongoing on their former locations.
The city sued the district in August 2011 because of the move, contending that the district should have examined environmental impacts before building the $12 million campus. City representatives said at the time that the suit was filed to protect property values on the former base.
A Riverside Superior Court Judge ruled in July that the district did nothing wrong in moving students and staff to the empty 10-acre Heritage School campus at 15400 Lansdowne Road.
District representatives have said that when enough elementary age children are living on the former base, Heritage School will open as an elementary school.
A settlement is still possible, though the two public entities are set to go to trial Monday. The trial has been postponed four times, beginning in December 2010. The most recent trial date was July 17, which was continued to Jan. 28.
So far, the city has spent $774,625 on this lawsuit, said Kane Thuyen, an attorney representing the city.
Tustin Unified did not provide an updated legal cost by publication time. According to figures dated through Oct. 31, 2011, Tustin Unified spent at least $770,113.
The district's legal fees have not increased significantly since then, said Matthew Fletcher, an attorney representing Tustin Unified.
Officials on both sides declined to comment on case details ahead of the trial.
"It's unfortunate, and it'll be nice one way or the other to get this resolved," said Councilman John Nielsen.
Opening arguments are expected to happen Wednesday, Fletcher said.
SETTLING OUT OF COURT
Both sides are still negotiating, and it's possible the two could come to an agreement before the court date. Officials have declined to comment on the likelihood of an agreement.
"As in all cases I handle, there's always a chance," Fletcher said.
Two new people joined the Tustin City Council, which could make a difference when the lawsuit comes to a head.
During campaign season, all the candidates agreed the matter should be solved as quickly as possible. Since then, council members Chuck Puckett and Allan Bernstein have been sworn in, and John Nielsen made the move from mayor to councilman.
"Everybody is hoping it can be wrapped up in terms of settlement, but those discussions continue," said city attorney David Kendig.
The Tustin School Board remains the same after the November election, with Tammie Bullard, James Laird and Francine Pace Scinto re-elected, each with about 25 percent of the vote.
WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?
The feud began in February 2010, when Tustin Unified filed the first lawsuit. The district alleged that the city delayed construction by requiring grading plans and fees for Heritage School on the former Tustin Marine base and at Tustin High School.
The next month, the city of Tustin countersued, asking for an end to construction on both campuses and alleging that grading permits were necessary to make sure water runoff during construction didn't cause storm drain pollution and lead to fines.
Despite the lawsuit and countersuit, the district continued building and opened the new quad at Tustin High in fall 2010.
The next summer, Heritage School was completed; the district could have lost the former base land if it didn't continue building, officials said at the time. In fall 2011, the Tustin High science center opened for classes.
Meanwhile the two sides have been building their cases, preparing for trial.
Feb. 2010: The district files lawsuit against Tustin, alleging the city is postponing construction at Heritage School and Tustin High.
March 2010: Tustin files a countersuit in an attempt to stop the construction at Heritage School and Tustin High.
Dec. 13 2010: Trial set to begin, but both parties decide to continue the trial for six months and hold settlement negotiations.
April 20, 2011: The city terminates negotiations.
April 29, 2011: A mandatory settlement conference is held at the Orange County Courthouse.
May 2, 2011: The trial is set to begin this day, but is postponed.
August 2011: The city sues over use of Heritage School.
June 2012: A judge rules in favor of Tustin Unified on the Heritage School lawsuit.
Nov. 14, 2011: The trial is set to begin this day, but is postponed again.
July 17, 2012: The trial is set to begin this day, but is postponed again to Jan. 28
Contact the writer: 714-796-7949 or ejames@ocregister.com
Reporting in Nature, researchers write of encoding a variety of files?jpg, mp3, txt and pdf?in strands of DNA. Lead author Nick Goldman says DNA is extraordinarily long-lasting, compared to today's hard drives and magnetic tapes. And if all the world's information were written in DNA, he says, it would fit in the back of a station wagon.
Abstraction of art began very long ago. Celebrity hundreds of years ago, work began. In fact, you can see some of the more famous abstract picture of it before. Abstract paintings made famous by Van Gogh, you can not remember. Picasso, as well as an abstract picture or two. Modigliani is known for his work of abstraction. Following singer, because a lot of people the art of abstract painting has been gaining popularity in the modern world.
What exactly is the abstraction? Abstraction is defined in several ways. First of all, the tradition of abstraction as shown in the figure does not depict reality. At first, most of the art depicting a realistic representation of something, a photo or a person or. Abstract picture does not do this. Definition of abstraction abstract painting does not depict objects of the natural world. Rather abstract picture of the non-representative and nonobjective manner using colors and shapes. This person, you can be anything, or nothing at all, just
You can easily see when you see the abstraction. Abstract figure, bold, bright, and vibrant colors. Abstraction art using bold colors that stand out that many biometric forms. Both strange and beautiful abstraction.
"Abstract expressionist" movement in the 1940s. Displays the artist's freedom of expression and movement was started by pressing the art of abstraction. It is also a school in New York was launched in the "action painting." Declared independence from the European style of work of the United States' first school was one of the school. They are mentally, I like to think of art as a form of intellectual art. This more abstract art illustration of push.
Can come to understand a little more now that you know the history of the art of abstraction. It is important to appreciate all forms of art, including a figure of odd art abstract You, you want to own a part of this work may be. It's a funny thing to see it truly.
Tags: Arts and Entertainment, Visual Graphic Arts
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Seven Americans made it out safely from the attack on a gas complex in Algeria. The overall death toll from the standoff has surpassed 80.
By Bradley Klapper,?Associated Press / January 21, 2013
Algerian firemen carry a coffin containing a person killed during the gas facility hostage situation at the morgue in Ain Amenas, Algeria, Monday. At least 81 people have been reported dead, including 32 Islamist militants, and three Americans, after a bloody, four-day hostage situation at Algeria's remote Ain Amenas natural gas plant.
Anis Belghoul/AP
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Two additional Americans were killed in last week's hostage standoff at a natural gas complex in?Algeria, bringing the final US death toll to three, an Obama administration official said Monday.
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Seven Americans made it out safely. The overall death toll from the standoff has surpassed 80.
The deceased Americans were identified as Victor Lynn Lovelady and Gordon Lee Rowan, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly about the matter. The official had no details on how the Americans died, and their hometowns were not released. The FBI has recovered the bodies of and notified the families.
Militants who attacked the Ain Amenas gas field in the Sahara had offered to release the pair in exchange for the freedom of two prominent terror suspects jailed in the United States: Omar Abdel Rahman, a blind sheik convicted of plotting to blow up New York City landmarks and considered the spiritual leader of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist convicted of shooting at two US soldiers in Afghanistan.
The Obama administration rejected the offer.
Last week's desert siege began Wednesday when Mali-based, Al-Qaeda-linked militants attempted to hijack two buses at the plant, were repelled, and then seized the gas refinery. They said the attack was retaliation for France's recent military intervention against Islamist rebels in neighboring Mali, but security experts argue it must have taken weeks of planning to hit the remote site.
One American death was confirmed Friday, that of Texas resident Frederick Buttaccio. Five Americans had been taken out of the country before Saturday's final assault by Algerian forces against the militants.
The US official said two further Americans survived the four-day crisis at an insecure oil rig at the facility. They were flown out to London on Saturday.
Algeria?said after Saturday's assault by government forces that at least 32 extremists and 23 hostages of all nationalities were killed. On Sunday, the Algerian bomb squads found 25 more bodies, according to a security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. And a wounded Romanian who had been evacuated later died.
A look at the issues that those who govern the country will face during Barack Obama's second term. Up now: the deficit.
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President Barack Obama devotes one word ? "deficit" ? to the issue that brought Washington to the brink of fiscal crises time and again during his first term.
But it's the paragraph that follows in his inaugural address that foreshadows what's to come: more hard bargaining and more last-minute deals driven by a conviction that he wields an upper hand.
"We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of our deficit. But we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future," he says. "The commitments we make to each other ? through Medicare, and Medicaid, and Social Security ? these things do not sap our initiative; they strengthen us. They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great."
This was the language of his re-election campaign. And while his address contained no reference to either political party, his pointed rejection of "a nation of takers" was an implicit reminder of the ill-timed surfacing of Mitt Romney's declaration that Obama's support came from the 47 percent of American voters "who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it."
Searching for satisfactory and low price auto insurance usually posed as tremendous difficulties for younger drivers. Young adults and students even though do not appear to help auto insurance firms the slightest bit, considering that rate in which they are involving themselves in road fatalities and visitors violations is rising and also the responsibility and dedication for secure driving with students and teens decreasing at alarming pace. Keeping in thoughts that there?s virtually no cheap auto insurance for students may help considerably in finding a factor that won?t financially ruin you. Creating use of family members insurance plan isn?t just permitted but is also a lot more suitable for both parties if the student lives in the exact same household. Generally car insurance companies will provide substantial decreased premiums for you, since the premiums for the secondary driver are much less than a high-risk primary car owner. You will find specific states that will not permit owning separate student auto insurance if the person is younger than 18 years old.
Most likely the best factor a teen or a student is able to complete is receiving high gaps in college or university. Your score is truly the evidence which you are a dependable car owner, as you may not have the credit record due to the young age, so it will be closest thing that a car insurance firm will look at to evaluate your degree of commitment. As a good student with ideal grades and scores you?re eligible to obtain much more than 20% discount based upon the auto insurance business that you are utilizing. So maintain to the textbooks before you graduate or pass the age of 25, otherwise your student auto insurance fee may be the finish of one?s financial stability. To find college student car insurance rates people should keep an eye peeled for the offers for teenagers. Students and teens alike will only have to reach web and browse through the promotions and programs that auto insurance businesses deliver. Of course if you feel which you can?t control the lengthy procedure of insuring your car, somebody more skillful in this out of one?s household may come along and assist you.
1 should not relax too much as soon as the insurance coverage is obtained as that is simply a component of what should be carried out. Car insurance business is going to find a way to raise your premiums so you should maintain your nose clear out of trouble and also the expenses won?t alter. Under no circumstances drive whilst below influence because it might be the finish of your driving career for the next few years. Do not hesitate to utilize a taxi if you had something to drink and you?re clearly unable to operate a car yourself. And that?s yet another point, consider staying away from landing your car to practically anyone of one?s friends simply because they carry accountability for you and you?re the only one to become held accountable by auto insurance provider if violation or accident happens. At the finish of the day all the guidelines that affect the typical driver impact students as well, nevertheless the expenses are nonetheless much greater. However a young driver can nonetheless get low cost auto insurance if he plays it smart.
Singapore, Singapore -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/18/2013 -- TerraSeeds Market Technician is looking at a boom in demand for currency trading education for individuals. Customer enrollment in the company and entry of new competitors indicate the segment will grow in 2013.
Singapore is one of top four currency trading centres in the world. The well-heeled in Asia pour wealth from trade and investment into financial products. A rapid-growing segment is leveraged currency trading. This in turn boosts demand for education.
TerraSeeds Chief Trainer Binni Ong says that individuals are hungry for currency trading know how. ?Leveraged currency trading boomed in 2008 after the stock market plunge took the shine off buy-and-hold investing and stock market speculation. Stock market education declined slightly but currency trading education took off. Individuals liked the price movement that they saw and fell in love with the 50-100 times leverage that many brokers were providing.?
Singaporeans make up the company?s main customer group. The second largest group is made up of Indonesians. ?More than 70% of our foreign enrollment comes from Indonesians? Binni Ong adds. ?They are hungry for returns and like to trade and invest. Once they are satisfied word of mouth spreads very quickly in their community.? TerraSeeds is also seeing more Indian and Chinese nationals in their customer recruitment.
One other indication that currency trading education will continue to grow is the entry of new competitors. Binni Ong says that are new entrants come in only when they are bullish about the segment. Although competition will stiffen, established players like TerraSeeds are heartened the cause of this development.
About TerraSeeds Market Technician Pte Ltd TerraSeeds Market Technician is an educational provider in Strategies for Stocks, forex, Futures, Commodities and Options Trading. The company was established in Singapore in 2005 and is one of the earliest entrants into the business of educating traders. Customers come from as far as the US, UK and Japan. Chief Trainer Binni Ong is a regular interviewee in the local Chinese press. She was interviewed for her observations of the currency and stock market. Visit http://www.terraseeds.com for information.
We’ve learned today that mobile news delivery company Circa has raised another $750K on top of the $900K raised previously. The company launched its app of the same name, which allows you to follow an often-changing story in bite-sized chunked, only three months ago. A few more big names have joined in this up-round, including: Lerer Ventures, Advancit Capital, Menlo Talent Fund, Alex Bard and Eamon Leonard. Those investors join individual contributors from its previous 900K raised like Dave Morin, David Karp and Josh Spear and firms such as Quotidian Ventures and SK Ventures. When I spoke to Circa’s co-founder and CEO Matt Galligan today, he told me that he’s extremely happy about the growth of its userbase as well as how the app itself is coming along. The team announced version 1.1, which included some design and usability tweaks that Galligan is specifically proud of. Circa currently employs seven non-editorial staffers and twelve others who manage the current news categories within the app. Regarding the funding, Lerer Partner and former CEO of Huffington Post, Eric Hippeau, had this to say: We think Circa has developed the right technology and persona to capture a large audience looking for their mobile devices as their main source of news. Growth is on the horizon, as far as what types of content you’ll be able to find within Circa. Galligan told us “Right now, we’re exploring what categories that we want to go into next,” mentioning such verticals as Business and Sports. When thinking about what makes Circa different, Galligan says if you think of CNN as someone who has nailed TV coverage of news and Huffington Post as a publication who does well on the web, Circa can be that application for mobile news delivery. Circa allows you to follow an ongoing story, like Lance Armstrong admitting that he doped during his cycling career. It updates as individual bits of information come in, rather than making you read an entirely new story each and every time. Galligan also says that Circa has been approached by large news outlets that are interested in working with his company to adopt its format. With the money, it seems like Circa will continue to hire and work on perfecting what it believes will be a format that publications will want to pay closer attention to as time goes on. People who read the news on their
BAMAKO/SEGOU, Mali (Reuters) - The first West African regional forces arrived in Mali on Thursday to reinforce French and Malian troops battling to push back al Qaeda-linked rebels after seven days of French air strikes.
A contingent of around 100 Togolese troops landed in Bamako and was due to be joined by Nigerian forces already en route. Nigerien and Chadian forces were massing in Niger, Mali's neighbor to the east.
The scrambling of the U.N.-mandated African mission, which previously had not been due for deployment until September, will be a boon for France, the former colonial power in Mali.
French troops, which had moved northwards from Bamako in an armored column on Tuesday, pinned down some Islamist fighters in the small town of Diabaly. But French forces held back from launching an all-out assault as the insurgents had taken refuge in the homes of civilians, residents said.
"The Islamists are still in Diabaly. They are very many of them. Every time they hear a plane overhead, they run into homes, traumatizing the people," said one woman who fled the town with her three children overnight.
Residents in the town of Konna, to the north of the central garrison town of Sevare, said Islamists had fled as Malian soldiers backed by French troops deployed.
"Life is difficult for the people of northern Mali and the international community has the duty to help these people," said Togolese Lieutenant Colonel Mawoute Bayassim Gnamkoulamba.
"That is why we think that it is necessary for us to protect Mali and we are proud today to fulfill that mission."
French forces, numbering some 1,400 soldiers, began ground operations on Wednesday against an Islamist coalition grouping al Qaeda's North African wing AQIM and the home-grown Ansar Dine and MUJWA militants.
President Francois Hollande ordered the intervention on the grounds that the Islamists who had taken over the poor West African country's north could turn it into a "terrorist state" which would radiate a threat beyond its borders.
Hollande has pledged they will stay until stability returns to Mali but, in the first apparent retaliatory attack, al Qaeda-linked militants took dozens of foreigners hostage at a gas plant in Algeria, blaming Algerian cooperation with France.
A total of 2,500 French troops are expected in Mali but Paris is keen to swiftly hand the mission over to West Africa's ECOWAS bloc, which in December secured a U.N. mandate for a 3,300-strong mission to help Mali recapture its north.
A rebel push into central Mali was last week halted by bombings by French aircraft and the deployment of ground troops.
A convoy of armored vehicles, fuel tankers and ambulances and around 200 soldiers from Mali's eastern neighbor Niger was positioned at that eastern border, witnesses said.
A Reuters witness at the scene said heavy weapons fire rang out as troops tested artillery.
Communications with residents in Islamist-controlled towns have become more difficult as some mobile phone towers have stopped working. Residents said rebel fighters are suspicious of anyone using phones, fearing they are passing information to the enemy.
"There are no longer any police stations. (The Islamists) have dispersed across the city, mixing in with the population," said Ibrahim Mamane, a resident from the town of Gao who reached the border with Niger.
"The population is ready and is waiting for the French forces with open arms. If they attack Gao, the people will fight the Islamists with their bare hands," he added.
Reuters journalists travelling north of Bamako saw residents welcoming French troops and, in places, French and Malian flags hung side by side.
AFRICAN TALIBAN
Mali's recent troubles began with a coup in Bamako last March, ending a period of stable rule that saw a series of elections. In the confusion that followed, Islamist forces seized large swathes of the north and imposed a strict rule reminiscent of Afghanistan under the Taliban.
Military experts say France and its African allies must now capitalize on a week of hard-hitting air strikes by seizing the initiative on the ground to prevent the insurgents from withdrawing into the desert and reorganizing.
"The whole world clearly needs to unite and do much more than is presently being done to contain terrorism," Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said.
Diabaly is a country town with a population of about 35,000, about 360 km (220 miles) from Bamako and near the border with Mauritania, where AQIM has bases.
A spokesman for MUJWA confirmed that their positions in Diabaly had been fired on but said French forces had not penetrated the town itself.
Diabaly Mayor Salif Ouedrago, who fled on Wednesday, told Malian state radio: "There were deaths on the side of the jihadists. They buried their dead yesterday."
Meanwhile, the Malian army rushed reinforcements to a town closer to Bamako on Thursday after Islamist fighters were spotted near the frontier with Mauritania.
"Banamba is in a state of alert. Reinforcements have been sent. Nigerian troops expected to arrive in Bamako today could be deployed there to secure the zone," a senior Malian military source told Reuters.
An inhabitant of Banamba, 140 km (90 miles) from the capital, reported the arrival of soldiers after insurgents were seen in the Boron border area.
With African states facing huge logistical and transport challenges, Germany promised two Transall military transport planes to help fly in their soldiers.
Britain has supplied two C-17 military transport planes to ferry in French armored vehicles and medical supplies. The United States is considering logistical and surveillance support but has ruled out sending in U.S. troops.
(Additional reporting by Tiemoko Diallo and Adama Diarra in Bamako, Benkoro Sangare in Niono, Noel Tadegnon in Lome and David Lewis in Dakar; Writing by Daniel Flynn and David Lewis; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Contact: Bill Steigerwald William.a.steigerwald@nasa.gov 301-286-5017 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Titan's siblings must be jealous. While most of Saturn's moons display their ancient faces pockmarked by thousands of craters, Titan Saturn's largest moon may look much younger than it really is because its craters are getting erased. Dunes of exotic, hydrocarbon sand are slowly but steadily filling in its craters, according to new research using observations from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
"Most of the Saturnian satellites Titan's siblings have thousands and thousands of craters on their surface. So far on Titan, of the 50 percent of the surface that we've seen in high resolution, we've only found about 60 craters," said Catherine Neish, a Cassini radar team associate based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. "It's possible that there are many more craters on Titan, but they are not visible from space because they are so eroded. We typically estimate the age of a planet's surface by counting the number of craters on it (more craters means an older surface). But if processes like stream erosion or drifting sand dunes are filling them in, it's possible that the surface is much older that it appears."
"This research is the first quantitative estimate of how much the weather on Titan has modified its surface," adds Neish.
Titan is the only moon in the solar system with a thick atmosphere, and the only world besides Earth known to have lakes and seas on its surface. However, with a frigid surface temperature of around minus 290 degrees Fahrenheit (94 kelvins), the rain that falls from Titan's skies is not water but instead liquid methane and ethane, compounds that are normally gases on Earth.
Neish and her team made the discovery by comparing craters on Titan to craters on Jupiter's moon Ganymede. Ganymede is a giant moon with a water ice crust, similar to Titan, so craters on the two moons should have similar shapes. However, Ganymede has almost no atmosphere and thus no wind or rain to erode its surface.
"We found that craters on Titan were on average hundreds of yards (meters) shallower than similarly sized craters on Ganymede, suggesting that some process on Titan is filling its craters," says Neish, who is lead author of a paper about this research published online in the journal Icarus Dec. 3, 2012.
The team used the average depth-versus-diameter trend for craters on Ganymede derived from stereo images from NASA's Galileo spacecraft. The same trend for craters on Titan was calculated using estimates of the crater depth from data derived from images made by Cassini's radar instrument.
Titan's atmosphere is mostly nitrogen with a trace of methane and other, more complex molecules made of hydrogen and carbon (hydrocarbons). The source of Titan's methane remains a mystery because methane in the atmosphere is broken down over relatively short timescales by sunlight. Fragments of methane molecules then recombine into more complex hydrocarbons in the upper atmosphere, forming a thick, orange smog that hides the surface from view. Some of the larger particles eventually rain out on to the surface, where they appear to get bound together to form the sand.
"Since the sand appears to be produced from the atmospheric methane, Titan must have had methane in its atmosphere for at least several hundred million years in order to fill craters to the levels we are seeing," says Neish. However, researchers estimate Titan's current supply of methane should be broken down by sunlight within tens of millions of years, so Titan either had a lot more methane in the past, or it is being replenished somehow.
Team members say it's possible that other processes could be filling the craters on Titan: erosion from the flow of liquid methane and ethane for example. However, this type of weathering tends to fill a crater quickly at first, then more slowly as the crater rim gets worn down and less steep. If liquid erosion were primarily responsible for the infill, then the team would expect to see a lot of partially filled craters on Titan. "However, this is not the case," says Neish. "Instead we see craters at all stages; some just beginning to be filled in, some halfway, and some that are almost completely full. This suggests a process like windblown sand, which fills craters and other features at a steady rate."
All solid materials under stress flow very slowly over time. This is called viscous flow, and it is like what happens when someone takes a scoop out of a fresh tub of whipped cream -- the material slowly flows in to fill the hole and flatten the surface. Craters on icy satellites tend to get shallower over time as the ice flows viscously, so it's possible that some of the shallow craters on Titan are simply much older or experienced a higher heat flow than the similarly sized, fresh craters on Ganymede studied in this work.
However, Titan's crust is mostly water ice, and at the extremely low temperatures on Titan, ice shouldn't flow enough to account for such a large difference in depth compared to the Ganymede craters, according to the team. Also, just like stream erosion, deformation from viscous flow tends to happen rapidly at first, then more slowly as the material adjusts, so one would expect to see a lot of partially filled craters on Titan if its surface was deforming easily through viscous flow.
As Cassini flies past Titan on its multi-year tour of Saturn and its moons, the radar instrument gradually builds up a map of the surface. To date, the instrument has provided data in strips covering approximately 50 percent of Titan's surface. The craters measured by the team are all within about 30 degrees of the equator, a relatively dry region on Titan.
"However, the presence of liquids on the surface and in the near subsurface can also cause extensive modification to crater shape, as is observed on Earth," says Neish. "In the case of Titan, liquids consist of hydrocarbons, either as wet sediments (such as those observed at the Huygens landing site) or shallow marine environments (such as the lakes observed at the north and south poles). Craters formed in similar environments on Earth lack any significant surface topography, including the absence of a raised rim, as wet sediments slump into the crater. It is possible that the lack of topography associated with marine-target impacts may help to explain the relative scarcity of impact craters observed near the poles of Titan. If Titan's polar regions are saturated by liquid hydrocarbons, craters formed in those regions may lack any recognizable topographic expression."
The team thinks these considerations are good areas for more research, but based on the data so far, the difference in depth between craters on Titan and Ganymede is best explained by filling from windblown sand, although erosion from liquids and viscous flow might contribute to the modification of Titan's craters.
NASA's Cassini mission, managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., and the NASA Postdoctoral Program, administered by Oak Ridge Associated Universities, funded the research.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and ASI, the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The radar instrument was built by JPL and the Italian Space Agency, working with team members from the US and several European countries.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Contact: Bill Steigerwald William.a.steigerwald@nasa.gov 301-286-5017 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Titan's siblings must be jealous. While most of Saturn's moons display their ancient faces pockmarked by thousands of craters, Titan Saturn's largest moon may look much younger than it really is because its craters are getting erased. Dunes of exotic, hydrocarbon sand are slowly but steadily filling in its craters, according to new research using observations from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
"Most of the Saturnian satellites Titan's siblings have thousands and thousands of craters on their surface. So far on Titan, of the 50 percent of the surface that we've seen in high resolution, we've only found about 60 craters," said Catherine Neish, a Cassini radar team associate based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. "It's possible that there are many more craters on Titan, but they are not visible from space because they are so eroded. We typically estimate the age of a planet's surface by counting the number of craters on it (more craters means an older surface). But if processes like stream erosion or drifting sand dunes are filling them in, it's possible that the surface is much older that it appears."
"This research is the first quantitative estimate of how much the weather on Titan has modified its surface," adds Neish.
Titan is the only moon in the solar system with a thick atmosphere, and the only world besides Earth known to have lakes and seas on its surface. However, with a frigid surface temperature of around minus 290 degrees Fahrenheit (94 kelvins), the rain that falls from Titan's skies is not water but instead liquid methane and ethane, compounds that are normally gases on Earth.
Neish and her team made the discovery by comparing craters on Titan to craters on Jupiter's moon Ganymede. Ganymede is a giant moon with a water ice crust, similar to Titan, so craters on the two moons should have similar shapes. However, Ganymede has almost no atmosphere and thus no wind or rain to erode its surface.
"We found that craters on Titan were on average hundreds of yards (meters) shallower than similarly sized craters on Ganymede, suggesting that some process on Titan is filling its craters," says Neish, who is lead author of a paper about this research published online in the journal Icarus Dec. 3, 2012.
The team used the average depth-versus-diameter trend for craters on Ganymede derived from stereo images from NASA's Galileo spacecraft. The same trend for craters on Titan was calculated using estimates of the crater depth from data derived from images made by Cassini's radar instrument.
Titan's atmosphere is mostly nitrogen with a trace of methane and other, more complex molecules made of hydrogen and carbon (hydrocarbons). The source of Titan's methane remains a mystery because methane in the atmosphere is broken down over relatively short timescales by sunlight. Fragments of methane molecules then recombine into more complex hydrocarbons in the upper atmosphere, forming a thick, orange smog that hides the surface from view. Some of the larger particles eventually rain out on to the surface, where they appear to get bound together to form the sand.
"Since the sand appears to be produced from the atmospheric methane, Titan must have had methane in its atmosphere for at least several hundred million years in order to fill craters to the levels we are seeing," says Neish. However, researchers estimate Titan's current supply of methane should be broken down by sunlight within tens of millions of years, so Titan either had a lot more methane in the past, or it is being replenished somehow.
Team members say it's possible that other processes could be filling the craters on Titan: erosion from the flow of liquid methane and ethane for example. However, this type of weathering tends to fill a crater quickly at first, then more slowly as the crater rim gets worn down and less steep. If liquid erosion were primarily responsible for the infill, then the team would expect to see a lot of partially filled craters on Titan. "However, this is not the case," says Neish. "Instead we see craters at all stages; some just beginning to be filled in, some halfway, and some that are almost completely full. This suggests a process like windblown sand, which fills craters and other features at a steady rate."
All solid materials under stress flow very slowly over time. This is called viscous flow, and it is like what happens when someone takes a scoop out of a fresh tub of whipped cream -- the material slowly flows in to fill the hole and flatten the surface. Craters on icy satellites tend to get shallower over time as the ice flows viscously, so it's possible that some of the shallow craters on Titan are simply much older or experienced a higher heat flow than the similarly sized, fresh craters on Ganymede studied in this work.
However, Titan's crust is mostly water ice, and at the extremely low temperatures on Titan, ice shouldn't flow enough to account for such a large difference in depth compared to the Ganymede craters, according to the team. Also, just like stream erosion, deformation from viscous flow tends to happen rapidly at first, then more slowly as the material adjusts, so one would expect to see a lot of partially filled craters on Titan if its surface was deforming easily through viscous flow.
As Cassini flies past Titan on its multi-year tour of Saturn and its moons, the radar instrument gradually builds up a map of the surface. To date, the instrument has provided data in strips covering approximately 50 percent of Titan's surface. The craters measured by the team are all within about 30 degrees of the equator, a relatively dry region on Titan.
"However, the presence of liquids on the surface and in the near subsurface can also cause extensive modification to crater shape, as is observed on Earth," says Neish. "In the case of Titan, liquids consist of hydrocarbons, either as wet sediments (such as those observed at the Huygens landing site) or shallow marine environments (such as the lakes observed at the north and south poles). Craters formed in similar environments on Earth lack any significant surface topography, including the absence of a raised rim, as wet sediments slump into the crater. It is possible that the lack of topography associated with marine-target impacts may help to explain the relative scarcity of impact craters observed near the poles of Titan. If Titan's polar regions are saturated by liquid hydrocarbons, craters formed in those regions may lack any recognizable topographic expression."
The team thinks these considerations are good areas for more research, but based on the data so far, the difference in depth between craters on Titan and Ganymede is best explained by filling from windblown sand, although erosion from liquids and viscous flow might contribute to the modification of Titan's craters.
NASA's Cassini mission, managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., and the NASA Postdoctoral Program, administered by Oak Ridge Associated Universities, funded the research.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and ASI, the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The radar instrument was built by JPL and the Italian Space Agency, working with team members from the US and several European countries.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
In the home of the 6-0 Chicago Blackhawks, the UFC had it's sixth showing on Fox. In hockey's tradition, here are the Three Stars from the card.
We’ve learned today that mobile news delivery company Circa has raised another $750K on top of the $900K raised previously. The company launched its app of the same name, which allows you to follow an often-changing story in bite-sized chunked, only three months ago. A few more big names have joined in this up-round, including: Lerer Ventures, Advancit Capital, Menlo Talent Fund, Alex Bard and Eamon Leonard. Those investors join individual contributors from its previous 900K raised like Dave Morin, David Karp and Josh Spear and firms such as Quotidian Ventures and SK Ventures. When I spoke to Circa’s co-founder and CEO Matt Galligan today, he told me that he’s extremely happy about the growth of its userbase as well as how the app itself is coming along. The team announced version 1.1, which included some design and usability tweaks that Galligan is specifically proud of. Circa currently employs seven non-editorial staffers and twelve others who manage the current news categories within the app. Regarding the funding, Lerer Partner and former CEO of Huffington Post, Eric Hippeau, had this to say: We think Circa has developed the right technology and persona to capture a large audience looking for their mobile devices as their main source of news. Growth is on the horizon, as far as what types of content you’ll be able to find within Circa. Galligan told us “Right now, we’re exploring what categories that we want to go into next,” mentioning such verticals as Business and Sports. When thinking about what makes Circa different, Galligan says if you think of CNN as someone who has nailed TV coverage of news and Huffington Post as a publication who does well on the web, Circa can be that application for mobile news delivery. Circa allows you to follow an ongoing story, like Lance Armstrong admitting that he doped during his cycling career. It updates as individual bits of information come in, rather than making you read an entirely new story each and every time. Galligan also says that Circa has been approached by large news outlets that are interested in working with his company to adopt its format. With the money, it seems like Circa will continue to hire and work on perfecting what it believes will be a format that publications will want to pay closer attention to as time goes on. People who read the news on their![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 17-Jan-2013
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