Cuba: 100 produce markets to become private coops

cuba

Marc Frank Reuters

3 hours ago

STR / AFP/Getty Images

An elderly man sells fruit and vegetables in a market of Havana, on April 20, 2012. One hundred Cuban produce markets are shifting to member-owned cooperatives.

HAVANA - One hundred state-run produce markets and 26 other establishments were scheduled to become private cooperatives on Monday as Communist-run Cuba continues to shed secondary economic activity in favor of individual initiative and markets.

The cooperatives will be the first outside of agriculture since all businesses were nationalized in 1968.

The government says many more establishments will follow, beginning in 2014, as an alternative to small and medium-sized state businesses in retail and food services, transportation, light manufacturing and construction, among other sectors.

The produce markets were supplied exclusively by the state, which also set prices and wages.

As cooperatives they will now purchase produce from any source and set their own prices, with the exception of a few state supplied staples, for example rice, chick peas and potatoes in Havana.

At one of the dozens of Havana markets set to become cooperatives this week, the mood was festive on Saturday as workers painted the dark and dingy premises, fixed broken bins and in general spruced up the place on their last day as state employees.

"We were given the choice of working as a cooperative member or being laid off," Antonio Rivera, a worker turned member, said.

"I think we will be better off so I joined," he said.

On Sunday the 100 markets took inventory and made other preparations, before their adventure into the country's growing "non-state" sector began.

President Raul Castro, who took over from his brother Fidel in 2008, has already taken steps to deregulate small private businesses in the retail sector, lease small state shops and taxis to individual employees and fallow state lands to would-be small farmers in search of improved production and efficiency.

According to the government, more than 430,000 people now work in the non-state sector which consists of private entrepreneurs, their employees and individuals who own or lease taxis and the like.

The figure does not include some 2,000 agricultural cooperatives and 400,000 small farmers.

Market economics hailed

The new cooperative markets average 15 or fewer members and will lease their premises from the state.

They will function independently of state entities and businesses, set prices in cases where they are not fixed by the state, operate on a democratic basis, divide profit as they see fit and receive better tax treatment than individually owned businesses, according to a decree law published in December.

The law allows for an unlimited number of members and use of contracted employees on a three-month basis.

The newly elected administrator of one market said that for weeks they had been making contact with farm cooperatives in preparation for Monday, and could also buy from individual farmers and state farms and wholesale markets.

"I'm sure the public will benefit. The produce will be of better quality, there will be better service and people will go where the prices are the lowest," he said, asking his name not be used because he feared he would get into trouble for talking to a foreign journalist.

"There will be more competition and the winners will be those who do the best job," he said, adding, "everything will depend on us and we will have to look for merchandise wherever because if we don't we will not make anything."

Consumers appeared to support the measure, though some fretted over a possible increase in prices.

"They should have done this long ago," Soledad Martinez said as she shopped at the market on Saturday.

"Now there will be a greater variety and we will be treated better. I just hope prices decrease a bit and do not go up," she said.

Cuban authorities began discussing three years ago how to transform bankrupt small and medium-sized state businesses - plagued by pilfering, embezzlement and general inefficiency - into cooperatives.

The Communist Party adopted a sweeping five-year plan to "update" the economy in 2011, which included moving more than 20 percent of the state labor force of 5 million people into a new "non-state" sector of private and cooperative businesses.

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663286/s/2e017b50/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Cbusiness0Ccuba0E10A0A0Eproduce0Emarkets0Ebecome0Eprivate0Ecoops0E6C10A488676/story01.htm

torn acl derrick rose injury st louis news correspondents dinner i am legend san antonio spurs greta van susteren

Hartford Mayor Looks To Reshape His Administration

HARTFORD ??

When Jared Kupiec resigned as Mayor Pedro Segarra's chief of staff on June 3, he was the fourth high-ranking city official to leave in the past year.

Kupiec's exit was the latest in a string of departures that included the fire chief and chief operating officer. Key leadership positions in the human resources and information technology offices also haven't been filled.

But, far from being concerned, Segarra said he sees the openings as an opportunity to recalibrate and rebuild his administration, and to improve communication ? something considered lacking in areas of city government.

"It's time for me to evaluate what's working and what can be improved," Segarra said. "We are going to look carefully at all aspects of city government and push ourselves to work more efficiently and effectively to address the burdens our taxpayers face."

It's been a difficult year for Segarra. Last winter, his collaboration with the city council began to dissolve. The legislative body, which once approved most appointments and initiatives put forth by the mayor, began to rebuff his ideas. Members said they weren't getting enough information beforehand, and they hadn't been approached for their own thoughts and opinions.

At the same time, Kupiec ? considered the mayor's liaison to state and local politicians ? didn't develop relationships with councilors and was often at odds with the city's former chief operating officer, David Panagore, observers said.

Segarra and other city leaders are now working to repair some of the damaged relationships.

"Obviously, there will still be disagreements," said Juan Figueroa, a former state representative who is serving as the mayor's interim chief of staff, "but, ultimately, it's finding out what can be done and compromising so we can service the residents of this city."

'Off Course'

While Segarra's relationships with some council members began to unravel earlier this year, rapport with others was never established to begin with, observers said.

"We weren't speaking to each other, we were speaking at each other," Councilman Kenneth Kennedy, a Democrat, recalled. "The mayor and the council's relationship really got off course."

Kupiec, 30, worked as a deputy campaign manager for former gubernatorial candidate Ned Lamont before being hired by Segarra in 2010.

"He didn't come into the job with a host of local relationships," Shawn Wooden, the council president, said of Kupiec. "I'd like to see dramatic improvements between the chief of staff and council in terms of communication and the timeliness of what's communicated. We want to know what's happening with major initiatives, what's happening with city departments."

Kupiec did not return a call seeking comment for this story.

Council members, who are charged with approving several key mayoral appointments, said they haven't been asked to provide input on candidates for the open positions and were notified of the mayor's selections only a short time before the public became aware of them.

"I don't think the mayor has been very inclusive with some of the decisions he's made," Kennedy said, "and he hasn't taken the council into account when proposing major budget or policy initiatives."

Councilors in April indicated that they would not approve Segarra's top choices for chief operating officer and corporation counsel ? Saundra Kee Borges and Figueroa, respectively. Council members said at the time that they weren't consulted about the appointments and didn't like the direction the administration was going in. The mayor later withdrew his nominations.

Kee Borges, a former city manager, has been Hartford's corporation counsel since 2010. Figueroa worked previously as president of Connecticut's Universal Health Care Foundation and general counsel of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund.

"You can't keep a big appointment a secret because someone might disagree with you," Kennedy said. "I just saw some arrogance that basically conveyed: We're the government, we can do what we want."

Relationships within the administration were strained as well. Panagore, the former chief operating officer, said that he and the chief of staff both reported directly to the mayor. And although one is a political appointment and the other is not, the city charter isn't clear about which one has authority over the other. Some responsibilities overlap, he said.

Source: http://www.courant.com/news/breaking/hc-hartford-administration-shakeup-0629-20130630,0,374641.story?track=rss

wonderlic test texas tornado fantasy baseball jared sullinger jaleel white levi johnston 2013 srt viper

Republicans Are Rushing to Remind You That Hillary Clinton Is Old

It's no secret Republicans are worried about Hillary Clinton earning the 2016 Democratic nomination and steamrolling the fresh-faced crop of candidates they have lined up, so it's no surprise that Republicans are already reminding everyone that she is, in fact, quite old. Yes, that's the latest Republican strategy against Hillary Clinton's oft-theorized Presidential run.?

RELATED: Hillary Clinton Is Running for President, OK?

"The 2016 election may be far off, but one theme is becoming clear: Republican strategists and presidential hopefuls, in ways subtle and overt, are eager to focus a spotlight on Mrs. Clinton?s age," writes?The New York Times' Jonathan Martin. Everyone from Mitch McConnell to Scott Walker to Stuart Stevens, Mitt Romney's old?lieutenant, have gone out of their way to remind crowds recently that Clinton is 65 years old right now. By the time 2016 rolls around, she'll be 70 years old. That's so many years old. And when you compare Clinton's age to the relatively ripe crop of stars expected to contend for the Republican nomination -- Bobby Jindal (42); Marco Rubio (42); Walker (45); Rand Paul (50); Chris Christie (50) -- well, the Republicans kind of have a point.?

RELATED: Hillary Will Be Watching HGTV While Ignoring 2016 Questions

It's not the first time Clinton has faced an attack over her age, either. She's been called wrinkly and dowdy by the Republican press in the past. Her pantsuits -- those precious pantsuits! -- have been the target of Republican criticisms before. They've drawn attention to Clinton's wrinkles and crevices, her needing a rest, while she was flying across the world, leaning in and having it all as Secretary of State.?

RELATED: How Do We Tell If Hillary Is Running in 2016?

Now you're probably thinking, this is all a little rich, no? It was only last year that Barack Obama, 51 years young, soundly defeated the card carrying senior citizen Mitt Romney. Four years before, it was hope-y, change-y 46-year-old Obama who took out the balding, white-haired John McCain.

RELATED: Will Michelle Obama Lean In?

The script has flipped just so in the intervening years. The Republicans were regrouping and looking young while the Democrats were waiting on the older, experienced powerhouse waiting in the wings. But, perhaps in the most ironic twist, this "you're old" strategy is exactly what Bill Clinton used when he was elected President, too:?

A yesterday-versus-tomorrow argument against a woman who could be the last major-party presidential nominee from the onset of the baby boom generation would be a historically rich turnabout. It was Mrs. Clinton?s husband, then a 46-year-old Arkansas governor, who in 1992 put a fellow young Southerner on the Democratic ticket and implicitly cast the first President George Bush as a cold war relic, ill equipped to address the challenges of a new day. Mr. Clinton then did much the same to Bob Dole, a former senator and World War II veteran, in 1996.

So you can't say the tactic isn't tried and true. But it all adds up to a full course of obstacles facing Clinton heading into 2016. Besides attempting to become the first woman elected President, Clinton will have to overcome being old and, as The Atlantic Wire's Elspeth Reeve explained, quite short. The?diminutive?Clinton is an inch shorter than Rand Paul, the shortest of the Republican candidates, and America historically does not elect short people. She does have one advantage, though: her hair and heels give her the inches to play on an equal field with Christie, her tallest potential foe.?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/republicans-rushing-remind-hillary-clinton-old-150938163.html

kim kardashian pga tour Wendi Deng Sebastian De La Cruz The Last of Us Yeezus Flag Day 2013

BP Statistical Review Reveals Biggest Annual Increase in US Oil Production, as W

?The BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2013 - the 62nd annual report - is launched today, revealing that 2012 had the largest single-year increase in US oil production ever recorded, and new evidence of the flexibility of the world?s energy system in meeting rapid global change.

?The US recorded the world?s highest growth in production of both oil and natural gas in 2012, on the back of increasing production of unconventional hydrocarbons such as tight oil, an example of the increasing diversity of energy sources as the global market continues to adapt, innovate and evolve. With rising natural gas output driving prices lower in the US, natural gas displaced coal in power generation, causing the US to experience the largest decline of coal consumption in the world.

Elsewhere, 2012 saw the largest annual decline in world nuclear output. In Japan, where nuclear power generation all but disappeared after 2011?s Fukushima accident, higher imports of fossil fuels including liquefied natural gas (LNG) ?kept the lights on?. In Europe, where gas prices were higher than in the US, power generators took the opposite course from the US, and substituted coal for gas.
?
?For those of us in the energy industry, the challenges are about how we respond to the big shifts we are seeing ? a shift in demand towards emerging economies and a shift in supply towards a greater diversity of energy sources, including unconventionals,? said Bob Dudley, BP Group Chief Executive.

?The data show there is ample energy available. Our challenge as an industry is to make the best choices about where to invest. We want to provide energy in ways that enable us to be both safe and competitive ? deploying our strengths while reducing our risks, and managing our costs.?

The Review also revealed a drop in the growth of overall global energy consumption to 1.8% in 2012, down from 2.4% the previous year. This was partly as a result of the economic slowdown, but also because individuals and businesses responded to high prices by becoming more efficient in their use of energy. The emerging economies - the non-OECD countries - firmly established themselves as the source of what demand growth was seen, with China and India alone accounting for nearly 90% of the increase. Just twenty years ago, the emerging economies accounted for only 42% of global consumption; now that figure is 56%.

For a second consecutive year, oil supply disruptions in Africa and the Middle East were offset by growth among other Middle East producers, with record oil production in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar. Despite these supply increases, average nominal oil prices reached another record high.

Coal remained the fastest-growing fossil fuel, with China now consuming the majority of the world?s coal for the first time?but it was also the fossil fuel that saw the weakest growth relative to its historical average.

Hydroelectric and renewable energy (along with cheap natural gas in North America) competed against coal in power generation. Global biofuels output fell for the first time since 2000 due to weakness in the US, but renewables in power generation grew by 15.2% and accounted for a record 4.7% of global power output.

Global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from energy use continued to grow in 2012, but at a slower rate than in 2011. Lower coal use helped the US reduce its emissions of carbon dioxide to 1994 levels, and EU emissions declined despite coal gaining market share from natural gas in power generation.

?2012 was yet another year of adaptation to a changing energy landscape,? said Christof R?hl, BP?s Chief Economist. ?As the non-OECD economies industrialize, they unlock ever more resources. The data tell us that the industrializing part of the world not only outpaces the OECD in terms of proved reserves growth, it also contributes its fair share to energy production.?

?

?

Review highlights ? energy developments

• World primary energy consumption grew by 1.8% in 2012, well below the 10-year average of 2.6%.
• Consumption in OECD countries fell by 1.2%, led by a decline of 2.8% in the US (the world?s largest decline in volumetric terms).
• Non-OECD consumption grew by 4.2%, below the 10-year average of 5.3%.
• Global consumption growth was below average for all fossil fuels and nuclear power; regionally growth was below average everywhere except Africa.
• Oil remains the world?s leading fuel, at 33.1% of global energy consumption, but oil continued to lose market share for the 13th consecutive year and its current market share is the lowest in BP?s data set, which begins in 1965.

Oil

• Dated Brent averaged $111.67 per barrel in 2012, an increase of $0.4 per barrel from the 2011 level.
• Global oil consumption grew by 890,000 barrels per day (b/d), or 0.9%, below the historical average.
• Oil had the weakest global growth rate among fossil fuels for the third consecutive year. OECD consumption declined by 1.3% (530,000 b/d), the sixth decrease in the past seven years; the OECD now accounts for just 50.2% of global consumption, the smallest share on record. Outside the OECD, consumption grew by 1.4 million b/d, or 3.3%.
• China again recorded the largest increment to global consumption growth (+470,000 b/d, +5%) although the growth rate was below the 10-year average. Japanese consumption grew by 250,000 b/d (+6.3%), the strongest growth increment since 1994.
• Global oil production increased by 1.9 million b/d, or 2.2%. OPEC accounted for about three-quarters of the global increase despite a decline in Iranian output (-680,000 b/d) due to international sanctions. Libyan output (+1 million b/d) nearly regained all of the ground lost in 2011.
• For a second consecutive year, output reached record levels in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar. Iraq and Kuwait also registered significant increases.
• Non-OPEC output grew by 490,000 b/d, with increases in the US (+1 million b/d), Canada, Russia and China offsetting unexpected outages in Sudan/South Sudan (down 340,000 b/d) and Syria (-160,000 b/d), as well as declines in mature provinces such as the United Kingdom and Norway.
• US net oil imports fell by 930,000 b/d and are now 36% below their 2005 peak. Conversely, China?s net oil imports grew by 610,000 b/d.

Natural gas

• World natural gas consumption grew by 2.2%, below the historical average of 2.7%.
• Consumption growth was above the 10-year average in South & Central America, Africa and North America, where the US (+4.1%) recorded the largest increment in the world. In Asia, China (+9.9%) and Japan (+10.3%) were responsible for the next-largest growth increments. Globally, natural gas accounted for 23.9% of primary energy consumption.
• Global natural gas production grew by 1.9%. The US (+4.7%) once again recorded the largest volumetric increase and remained the world?s largest producer. Norway (+12.6%), Qatar (+7.8%), and Saudi Arabia (+11.1%) also saw significant production increases, while Russia (-2.7%) had the world?s largest decline in volumetric terms.
• Global liquefied natural gas trade declined for the first time on record (-0.9%), while pipeline trade grew weakly (+0.5%). ?

Other fuels

• Coal consumption grew by 2.5% in 2012, well below the 10-year average of 4.4% but still the fastest-growing fossil fuel.
• Global coal production grew by 2%, with growth in China (+3.5%) and Indonesia (+9%) offsetting a decline in the US (-7.5%). Coal reached the highest share of global primary energy consumption (29.9%) since 1970.
• Global nuclear output fell by 6.9%, the largest decline on record for a second consecutive year; Japanese output fell by 89%, accounting for 82% of the global decline. Nuclear output accounted for 4.5% of global energy consumption, the smallest share since 1984. Hydroelectric output rose by an above-average 4.3%, with China accounting for all of the net increase.
• Renewable energy sources saw mixed results in 2012. Global biofuels production recorded the first decline since 2000 (-0.4%), due to a decline in the US (-4.3%). In contrast, renewable energy used in power generation grew by 15.2%, slightly above the historical average.
• Renewable forms of energy accounted for 2.4% of global energy consumption, up from 0.8% in 2002; renewables in power generation accounted for a record 4.7% of global power generation.

?

---

?Further enquiries:

Name: BP Press Office
Location: London
Phone: +44 (0)207 496 4076
Email:?bppress@bp.com

Source: http://www.rovworld.com/article6598.html

bats hunger games review jeff saturday jason smith jon corzine austin rivers austin rivers

Senate Republicans warn NFL, other leagues about Obamacare

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell is urging the National Football League and other professional sports leagues not to support President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law, calling Obamacare divisive and unpopular.

In a June 27 letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, McConnell and fellow Republican Senator John Cornyn accused the Obama administration of drawing the league into "one of the most divisive and polarizing issues of our day" by trying to enlist its help in promoting subsidized health coverage for millions of uninsured Americans.

"Given the divisiveness and persistent unpopularity of the health care law, it is difficult to understand why an organization like yours would risk damaging its inclusive and apolitical brand by lending its name to its promotion," McConnell and Cornyn told the NFL.

The two lawmakers also sent similar letters to Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, the Professional Golfers' Association and the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, or NASCAR.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told reporters on Monday that the administration was in discussions with the NFL and other sports groups.

"The NFL, for instance, in the conversations I've had, has been very actively and enthusiastically engaged because they see health promotion as one of the things that is good for them and good for the country," she said.

But the league's response to McConnell seemed less than enthusiastic.

"We have responded to the letters we received from members of Congress to inform them we currently have no plans to engage in this area and have had no substantive contact with the administration about (the law's) implementation," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello.

The Department of Health and Human Services declined to comment.

The White House and HHS are reaching out to professional sports leagues, teams and players in hopes of encouraging young men and women to sign up for health coverage through new online markets that are slated to begin open enrollment on October 1.

McConnell's letters represent a new line of Republican attack on Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. Republicans in the House of Representatives have voted 37 times to repeal or defund the law, which they see as a costly and unnecessary expansion of government.

The party is now taking aim at administration efforts to rally private sector support, including fundraising by Sebelius on behalf of the non-profit group Enroll America, which is helping to lead a private-sector grassroots campaign aimed at driving enrollment.

Democrats and other reform advocates say Republicans are trying to undermine the law's implementation ahead of the 2014 congressional elections, in which the party hopes to win control of the Senate.

Analysts say the ability of the online marketplaces, or exchanges, to attract younger beneficiaries will help determine whether Obama's signature domestic policy achievement becomes a success or a failure.

(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Eric Beech)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senate-republicans-warn-nfl-other-leagues-obamacare-231941055.html

a thousand words my sisters keeper kirby sarah palin cbi the shins atomic clock

Not a vulture but a drone: South Africa police detain cameraman

PRETORIA (Reuters) - South African police on Friday detained the owner of a radio-controlled helicopter drone carrying a camera that was filming scenes around the Pretoria hospital where ailing anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela is being treated.

F.C. Hamman, a South African freelance film-maker, was escorted away by police along with the helicopter camera he was flying with his 21-year-old son Timothy outside the clinic where Mandela, 94, has spent three weeks with a lung infection.

After nearly four hours of questioning by police, Hamman was released but the drone camera was confiscated.

"From a security point of view, they are concerned. They are inspecting our equipment to make sure it didn't violate any security regulations," Hamman told Reuters, adding police had not pressed any charges for the moment.

"We didn't realize we were breaking any laws," he said.

Hamman said he had intended to offer to media organizations the aerial shots of intense activity around the hospital, where crowds of jostling journalists have mingled with well-wishers paying tribute to South Africa's former president.

"We were careful not to fly over the hospital," he said.

The intense media scrutiny has angered some of Mandela's family. Daughter Makaziwe on Thursday lambasted foreign media "vultures" for not respecting his privacy as he lay critically ill.

Hamman said he had already used the home-built flying camera in other film projects and had also assisted police with surveillance work in operations against suspected drug-dealers in the crime-plagued Johannesburg suburb of El Dorado.

"You can't fly one of those things without a permit," one police officer said at the hospital after Hamman was escorted away. Pretoria police declined to comment further.

The incident came just hours before U.S. President Barack Obama started an official visit to South Africa, which will include stops in Pretoria, Johannesburg and Cape Town.

Asked how he thought Obama's huge security detail might react if he launched the flying "eye in the sky" in the vicinity of the president, Hamman chuckled: "That would be a mistake."

(Reporting by Siphiwe Sibeko, Dylan Martinez and Jon Herskovitz in Pretoria and Pascal Fletcher in Johannesburg; Writing by Pascal Fletcher; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/not-vulture-drone-south-africa-police-detain-cameraman-174627614.html

penn state Ernie Els Teen Choice Awards 2012 Aurora victims usher James Holmes Minka Kelly sex tape

Error 404 (Not Found)!!1

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/sciam/biology

the weather channel national grid LIPA Garcinia Cambogia Little Things One Direction Bob Ross Hurricane Categories

Nicholas Kralev: Top US Public Diplomacy Official Seeks to Explain 'Return on Investment' (VIDEO)

The State Department needs to "do a better job" of explaining to Americans what it does overseas, as well as the "return on investment" in America's diplomatic activities, Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Tara Sonenshine says on this week's episode of "Conversations with Nicholas Kralev."

"After all, the taxpayer is the Board of Governors here," Sonenshine says. She compares public diplomacy to "a giant extension cord wrapping around the world" that "takes U.S. policies, ideals and values and extends them to actual citizens" of other countries.

Sonenshine, who leaves her post July 1 after less than 15 months in it, also talks about why getting public diplomacy right has been a challenge for Washington, and about comforting the family of Anne Smedinghoff, 25, when her body was brought home from Afghanistan, where she was killed in April while serving as a public diplomacy officer.

Watch the full episode here.

?

?

?

Follow Nicholas Kralev on Twitter: www.twitter.com/nkralev

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

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nicholas-kralev/top-us-public-diplomacy-o_b_3506660.html

TWA Flight 800 Slim Whitman Ed Sheeran Jeep Recall Selma Blair George Zimmer juneteenth

Rhapsody debuts app for Windows 8 at Microsoft Build 2013

Today during Microsoft's 2013 edition of Build, Rhapsody announced that it's releasing a version of its music app designed for the Windows 8 operating system. As you might expect, the Win8 variant will bring many of the same features found on its iOS and Android counterparts, including the ability for subscribers to create playlists and stream / download songs from Rhapsody's ample library of tunes. There will be some tidbits tailored specifically for Redmond's OS, however, such as a Snap Mode for simple multitasking and an option that allows tracks to be pinned to the Metro-style home screen. The company told us the application will hit the Windows store shortly, so we'll be sure to update this post as soon as we have a link to the download.

Filed under: Cellphones, Desktops, Portable Audio/Video, Internet, Software, Mobile, Microsoft

Comments

Source: Rhapsody

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/27/rhapsody-windows-8-app/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

Ryder Cup Standings Dexter Season 7 Ryder Cup 2012 Johnny Lewis yom kippur yom kippur avengers

Social animals have more social smarts

June 26, 2013 ? Lemurs from species that hang out in big tribes are more likely to steal food behind your back instead of in front of your face.

This behavior suggests that primates who live in larger social groups tend to have more "social intelligence," a new study shows. The results appear June 27 in PLOS ONE.

A Duke University experiment tested whether living in larger social networks directly relates to higher social abilities in animals. Working with six different species of lemurs living at the Duke Lemur Center, a team of undergraduate researchers tested 60 individuals to see if they would be more likely to steal a piece of food if a human wasn't watching them.

In one test, a pair of human testers sat with two plates of food. One person faced the plate and the lemur entering the room, the other had his or her back turned. In a second, testers sat in profile, facing toward or away from the plate. In a third, they wore a black band either over their eyes or over their mouths and both faced the plates and lemurs.

As the lemurs jumped onto the table where the plates were and decided which bit of food to grab, the ones from large social groups, like the ringtailed lemur (Lemur catta), were evidently more sensitive to social cues that a person might be watching, said Evan MacLean, a research scientist in the Department Of Evolutionary Anthropology who led the research team. Lemurs from small-group species, like the mongoose lemur (Eulemur mongoz), were less sensitive to the humans' orientation.

Few of the lemurs apparently understood the significance of a blindfold.

The work is the first to test the relationship between group size and social intelligence across multiple species. The findings support the "social intelligence hypothesis," which suggests that living in large social networks drove the evolution of complex social cognition in primates, including humans, MacLean said.

Behavioral experiments are critical to test the idea because assumptions about intelligence based solely on brain size may not hold up, he said. Indeed, this study found that some lemur species had evolved more social smarts without increasing the size of their brains.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/Z-zB3ExmUAs/130626184011.htm

kim jong un Facebook Phone lollapalooza emma watson Jaromir Jagr Shain Gandee mlb

Obamacare Effect: Doctors Switching To No-Insurance Model ...

BY: Washington Free Beacon Staff
June 25, 2013 10:51 am

On Tuesday, Dr. Michael Ciampi of Newton, Massachusetts appeared on Fox & Friends to discuss the effects of Affordable Care Act on his practice. He notes many doctors have stopped accepting health insurance, and have adopted a ?pay as you go? method.

The Weekly Standard?s Tony Mecia recently wrote on this growing trend in the age of Obamacare:

There?s little doubt that the new health care law is causing concern among doctors. And the frustration runs deeper than just occasional anecdotes, such as the Orlando urologist who posted a flier on his door in late March that read: ?If you voted for Obama .??.??. seek urologic care elsewhere. Changes to your health care begin right now, not in four years.? The doctor?s story was linked on the Drudge Report, he appeared on Fox News, and a Facebook page devoted to him has more than 3,000 fans.

While those stories are interesting, more troubling is a survey reported in March in the New England Journal of Medicine that found that 29 percent of the nearly 1,200 doctors interviewed said they would quit the profession or retire early if the health care reform bill passed. Add to that a reported shortage of doctors, retiring Baby Boomers, and 30 million new patients who formerly lacked insurance, and the result could be disastrous.

Source: http://freebeacon.com/obamacare-effect-doctors-switching-to-no-insurance-model/

The Conjuring SCOTUS nadal Nina Agdal wimbledon iOS 7 beta 2 scottie pippen

New laser shows what substances are made of; could be new eyes for military

Public release date: 25-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Nicole Casal Moore
ncmoore@umich.edu
734-647-7087
University of Michigan

ANN ARBOR A new laser that can show what objects are made of could help military aircraft identify hidden dangers such as weapons arsenals far below.

"For the defense and intelligence communities, this could add a new set of eyes," said Mohammed Islam, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science and biomedical engineering at the University of Michigan.

The system, which is made of off-the-shelf telecommunications technology, emits a broadband beam of infrared light. While most lasers emit light of one wavelength, or color, super-continuum lasers like this one give off a tight beam packed with columns of light covering a range of wavelengths a blend of colors. Because this beam is in the infrared region, it's invisible to human eyes. But it can illuminate deep information.

The infrared contains what scientists refer to as the "spectral fingerprinting range" frequencies at which they can detect echoes of the vibrations of the molecules that make up a solid substance. A substance's spectral fingerprint reveals which wavelengths of light it absorbed, and which it reflected. Different substances absorb and reflect different wavelengths. So by shining the new laser on a target and analyzing the reflected light, the researchers can tell the chemical composition of the target.

"A grey structure looks grey in visible light, but in the infrared, you can see not only the shape, but also what's inside it," Islam said.

The military uses spectral fingerprinting to identify targets today to a certain extent, Islam said. But it relies on the sun for the light, which can be a problem on a cloudy day or at night.

While broadband infrared lasers do exist, this one is more powerful, Islam said. His team tested a 5-watt prototype. They've built a 25.7 watt version. And they're now working on a 50-watt prototype, which is scheduled to be field tested later this year.

These higher power lasers could give an aircraft flying at higher altitudes the capacity to illuminate a region with a brightness comparable to sunlight, and then image that region. Many chemical sensors in use today work at close range, but few, if any, can do the job from a long distance.

Beyond military applications, this device has the potential to improve upon today's full-body airport screening technologies.

"Those are imaging devices looking for bumps where there shouldn't be bumps," Islam said. "They're looking for shapes that are odd or different. But they can't see the chemicals in the shapes. That's why you have to take your shoes off. But our laser can detect the chemical composition."

The researchers were able to build the laser using their patented approach that uses off-the-shelf telecom fiber optic technology and takes advantage of the natural physics of the fiber to generate the light.

In 2012, the team spent a week at Wright Patterson Air Force Base field testing a 5-watt prototype. Scientists and engineers from these entities attended: the Air Force Research Labs, SAIC, U-M spinout company Omni Sciences, and U-M. They placed the laser in a 12-story tower and directed its beam to targets approximately a mile away on a runway. Various laboratory instruments and scientific cameras were used to verify the beam quality and signal level.

###

A paper on the research is published online in Optics Letters and will appear in the July print edition.

The paper is titled, "Power scalable >25W supercontinuum laser from 2-2.5 ?m with near diffraction limited beam and low output variability." Omni Sciences, Inc. has licensed Islam's technology from the University of Michigan. Islam has a financial interest in this company. The work was funded through a contract with the Air Force Research Laboratory.

For more information

Abstract of paper: http://www.opticsinfobase.org/ol/abstract.cfm?uri=ol-38-13-2292

Mohammed Islam: http://www.eecs.umich.edu/OSL/Islam/

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

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.

Public release date: 25-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Nicole Casal Moore
ncmoore@umich.edu
734-647-7087
University of Michigan

ANN ARBOR A new laser that can show what objects are made of could help military aircraft identify hidden dangers such as weapons arsenals far below.

"For the defense and intelligence communities, this could add a new set of eyes," said Mohammed Islam, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science and biomedical engineering at the University of Michigan.

The system, which is made of off-the-shelf telecommunications technology, emits a broadband beam of infrared light. While most lasers emit light of one wavelength, or color, super-continuum lasers like this one give off a tight beam packed with columns of light covering a range of wavelengths a blend of colors. Because this beam is in the infrared region, it's invisible to human eyes. But it can illuminate deep information.

The infrared contains what scientists refer to as the "spectral fingerprinting range" frequencies at which they can detect echoes of the vibrations of the molecules that make up a solid substance. A substance's spectral fingerprint reveals which wavelengths of light it absorbed, and which it reflected. Different substances absorb and reflect different wavelengths. So by shining the new laser on a target and analyzing the reflected light, the researchers can tell the chemical composition of the target.

"A grey structure looks grey in visible light, but in the infrared, you can see not only the shape, but also what's inside it," Islam said.

The military uses spectral fingerprinting to identify targets today to a certain extent, Islam said. But it relies on the sun for the light, which can be a problem on a cloudy day or at night.

While broadband infrared lasers do exist, this one is more powerful, Islam said. His team tested a 5-watt prototype. They've built a 25.7 watt version. And they're now working on a 50-watt prototype, which is scheduled to be field tested later this year.

These higher power lasers could give an aircraft flying at higher altitudes the capacity to illuminate a region with a brightness comparable to sunlight, and then image that region. Many chemical sensors in use today work at close range, but few, if any, can do the job from a long distance.

Beyond military applications, this device has the potential to improve upon today's full-body airport screening technologies.

"Those are imaging devices looking for bumps where there shouldn't be bumps," Islam said. "They're looking for shapes that are odd or different. But they can't see the chemicals in the shapes. That's why you have to take your shoes off. But our laser can detect the chemical composition."

The researchers were able to build the laser using their patented approach that uses off-the-shelf telecom fiber optic technology and takes advantage of the natural physics of the fiber to generate the light.

In 2012, the team spent a week at Wright Patterson Air Force Base field testing a 5-watt prototype. Scientists and engineers from these entities attended: the Air Force Research Labs, SAIC, U-M spinout company Omni Sciences, and U-M. They placed the laser in a 12-story tower and directed its beam to targets approximately a mile away on a runway. Various laboratory instruments and scientific cameras were used to verify the beam quality and signal level.

###

A paper on the research is published online in Optics Letters and will appear in the July print edition.

The paper is titled, "Power scalable >25W supercontinuum laser from 2-2.5 ?m with near diffraction limited beam and low output variability." Omni Sciences, Inc. has licensed Islam's technology from the University of Michigan. Islam has a financial interest in this company. The work was funded through a contract with the Air Force Research Laboratory.

For more information

Abstract of paper: http://www.opticsinfobase.org/ol/abstract.cfm?uri=ol-38-13-2292

Mohammed Islam: http://www.eecs.umich.edu/OSL/Islam/

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/uom-nls062513.php

buffalo bills st louis rams ryan tannehill pittsburgh steelers seattle seahawks space shuttle new york courtney upshaw

ACA young-adult provisions shifting health costs to insurers ...

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) provision that allows adult children to remain on their parents? health insurance policies through age 26 shifted at least $147 million in health care costs from patients and hospitals to insurance companies in 2011, according to a RAND Corp. study.

?Insurance is doing its job and picking up those costs,? said Katherine Harris, a RAND senior economist.

The research, published in the May 30 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, found that emergency room visits by uninsured young adults between the ages of 19 and 25 dropped 9% in 2011, while emergency room visits by privately insured young people rose 5%.

A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that the ACA?s dependent-coverage provision brought health insurance to about 3.1 million young Americans.

Like what you've read? ...Republish it and share great business tips!

Attention: Readers, Publishers, Editors, Bloggers, Media, Webmasters and more...

We believe great content should be read and passed around. After all, knowledge IS power. And good business can become great with the right information at their fingertips. If you'd like to share any of the insightful articles on BusinessManagementDaily.com, you may republish or syndicate it without charge.

The only thing we ask is that you keep the article exactly as it was written and formatted. You also need to include an attribution statement and link to the article.

" This information is proudly provided by Business Management Daily.com: http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/35786/aca-young-adult-provisions-shifting-health-costs-to-insurers "

Source: http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/35786/aca-young-adult-provisions-shifting-health-costs-to-insurers

URI Facebook Home Ncaa Basketball Tournament 2013 Robert Ebert chelsea handler hannibal Lena Headey

Ouya looks to make a dent in game console market - seattlepi.com

NEW YORK (AP) ? Ouya, maker of a bite-sized game console that runs Google's Android operating system, wants to take a bite out the video game triumvirate of Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo.

The console, which went on sale Tuesday for $100, lets players try games for free before buying them, a selling point Ouya (pronounced oo-yah) CEO Julie Uhrman often makes to underscore that gamers who use consoles made by "the big three" can't test games before they spend as much as $60 to purchase them.

"We are definitely disrupting the console market," Uhrman says. "I mean, there's been no startup that has had a meaningful impact on the market in decades, and we're the first. We offer something different."

So far, Ouya's pitch seems to be working. The underdog console had sold out on Amazon.com and on Target's website by Tuesday afternoon. It is available at other outlets, including Best Buy and GameStop.

The Ouya game cube measures about 3 inches on each side and hooks up to a TV set. The console comes with a single controller. Additional controllers cost $50.

There are nearly 180 games available for Ouya, ranging from the likes of "Crazy Cat Lady" to the more established "Final Fantasy III" from Square Enix. The company says more games are on the way. There are also some non-gaming apps, such as online music service TuneIn Radio.

The games are sold through Ouya's storefront, not Google Play, the app store where people buy games for Android tablets and mobile devices. Pricing is left up to individual game developers; many games are in the single digits. "Final Fantasy" is an exception at $16. Ouya takes a 30 percent cut from the game developers.

While you won't find "Grand Theft Auto IV" or the latest "Call of Duty" among the available titles, there are plenty of others from independent developers whose games may never make it onto the dominant consoles, Microsoft's Xbox, Sony's PlayStation and Nintendo's Wii.

"I don't think it's ever really going to challenge the big three, but it offers a lot to the more casual gamer," says Anthony Yacullo, a self-described "gadget geek" from Lawrenceville, N.J. Like thousands of other gamers and game developers, Yacullo already has an Ouya. He contributed at least $95 to the company through crowdfunding website, Kickstarter.

"When I'm out on the road for work and come home, I don't want to play 'Call of Duty," he says. Rather, Yacullo says he looks for games more like the ones on his phone ? except he doesn't want to be staring at his phone.

That's where Ouya comes in. Still, the new console is unlikely to present a serious challenge to high-end consoles coming out from Sony Corp. and Microsoft Corp. later this year. Ouya lacks recent blockbuster games with high-end graphics. But at a fraction of the price (the Xbox One will cost $500 and the PlayStation 4, $400), it appeals to budget-conscious gamers, gadget geeks and those looking for an alternative to gaming power-trio.

Gartner analyst Brian Blau says the measure of Ouya's success will not be the number of consoles it sells but the amount of money game developers make ?and whether there is a steady stream of new games for the device. What's missing now, he adds, is the big-name video game brands such as Activision and Electronic Arts supporting Ouya.

That could come later.

The project to build the Ouya console launched on Kickstarter last July. On Aug. 9, 2012, Ouya's funding period ended with $8.6 million pledged, more than nine times the original $950,000 goal its creators had set. More than 63,000 people donated, with 12 pledging $10,000 or more.

"We brought it to Kickstarter because we wanted to know if anybody really wanted this," Uhrman says. "We had talked with developers and industry veterans like (video game designer) Brian Fargo and Ed Fries, who is one of the founders, basically, of Xbox, and there was a general feeling that there was a void in the market place for soemthing. But we wanted to validate it."

This May, Santa Monica, Calif.-based Ouya received another $15 million in venture capital funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, other VC firms, and chip maker Nvidia.

Ouya is not the first independent game console to attempt a challenge to the big three console makers. Four years ago, a startup called OnLive launched, offering games streamed over an Internet connection, similar to the way Netflix offers streamed movies and TV shows. OnLive's small game consoles went on sale for $99 in 2010, but they never gained broad appeal or even made a dent in the traditional console market.

Another early backer, Pedro Amador-Gates, thinks Ouya should "not even go after the consoles," but rather appeal to hobbyists and do-it-yourself folks.

"This is like a baby system compared to an about-to-be upgraded gaming system," he says, referring to the Xbox one and the PS4. But, much like it was with the early cell phone games, "it will only get better."

Source: http://www.seattlepi.com/business/technology/article/Ouya-looks-to-make-a-dent-in-game-console-market-4621811.php

nurse jackie peeps nhl playoffs 2012 masters shroud of turin the borgias the masters

Boost for cars or bust? Ethanol debate heats up

WASHINGTON (AP) ? It's a dilemma for drivers: Do they choose a gasoline that's cheaper and cleaner even if, as opponents say, it could damage older cars and motorcycles?

That's the peril and promise of a high-ethanol blend of gasoline known as E15. The fuel contains 15 percent ethanol, well above the current 10 percent norm sold at most U.S. gas stations.

The higher ethanol blend is currently sold in just fewer than two dozen stations in the Midwest, but could spread to other regions as the Obama administration considers whether to require more ethanol in gasoline.

As a result, there's a feverish lobbying campaign by both oil and ethanol interests that has spread from Congress to the White House and the Supreme Court.

On Monday, the Supreme Court rejected a challenge by the American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry's chief lobbying group, to block sales of E15. The justices left in place a federal appeals court ruling that dismissed challenges by the oil industry group and trade associations representing food producers, restaurants and others.

Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy, an ethanol industry group, hailed the decision as victory for U.S. consumer, who will now have greater choice at the pump.

"Now that the final word has been issued, I hope that oil companies will begin to work with biofuel producers to help bring new blends into the marketplace that allow for consumer choice and savings," Buis said.

The API had argued that E15 was dangerous for older cars.

Putting fuel with up to 15 percent ethanol into older cars and trucks "could leave millions of consumers with broken down cars and high repair bills," said Bob Greco, a senior API official who has met with the White House on ethanol issues.

The ethanol industry counters that there have been no documented cases of engine breakdowns caused by the high-ethanol blend since limited sales of E15 began last year.

"This is another example of oil companies unnecessarily scaring people, and it's just flat-out wrong," said Bob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association, an ethanol industry group.

The dispute over E15 is the latest flashpoint in a long-standing battle over the Renewable Fuel Standard, approved by Congress in 2005 and amended in 2007. The law requires refiners to blend increasing amounts of ethanol into gasoline each year as a way to decrease reliance on fossil fuels and lower greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.

The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a 16.5 billion-gallon production requirement for ethanol and other gasoline alternatives this year, up from 15.2 billion gallons last year. By 2022, the law calls for more than double that amount.

Biofuel advocates and supporters in Congress say the law has helped create more than 400,000 jobs, revitalized rural economies and helped lower foreign oil imports by more than 30 percent while reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

But the oil industry, refiners and some environmental groups say the standard imposes an unnecessary economic burden on consumers. Using automotive fuel that comes from corn also has significant consequences for agriculture, putting upward pressure on food prices, critics say.

"The ever increasing ethanol mandate has become unsustainable, causing a looming crisis for gasoline consumers," said the API's Greco. "We're at the point where refiners are being pressured to put unsafe levels of ethanol in gasoline, which could damage vehicles, harm consumers and wreak havoc on our economy."

Along with the E15 court case, the API and refiners have swarmed Capitol Hill and the White House to try to have the current mandate waived or repealed.

Charles Drevna, president of the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, which represents refineries, accused the EPA of putting politics ahead of science.

An EPA official told Congress earlier this month that the agency does not require use of E15, but believes it is safe for cars built since 2001.

"The government is not saying 'go ahead' " and put E15 in all cars, said Christopher Grundler, of the EPA's director of the office of transportation and air quality. "The government is saying this is legal fuel to sell if the market demands it and there are people who wish to sell it."

Ethanol supporters say E15 is cheaper than conventional gasoline and offers similar mileage to E10, the version that is sold in most U.S. stations.

Scott Zaremba, who owns a chain of gas stations in Kansas, scoffs at claims that E15 would damage older cars. "In the real world I've had zero problems" with engine breakdowns, said Zaremba, whose station in Lawrence, Kan., was the first in the nation to offer E15 last year.

But Zaremba said he had to stop selling the fuel this spring after his gasoline supplier, Phillips 66, told him he could no longer sell the E15 fuel from his regular black fuel hoses. The company said the aim was to distinguish E15 from other gasoline with less ethanol, but Zaremba said the real goal was to discourage use of E15. New pumps cost more than $100,000.

The American Automobile Association, for now, sides with the oil industry. The motoring club says the government should halt sales of E15 until additional testing allows ethanol producers and automakers to agree on which vehicles can safely use E15 while ensuring that consumers are adequately informed of risks.

A spokeswoman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which represents 12 major car makers, said E15 gas is more corrosive and the EPA approved it before it could be fully tested.

Older cars were "never designed to use E15," spokeswoman Gloria Bergquist said. Use of the fuel over time could create significant engine problems, she said.

The API cites engine problems discovered during a study it commissioned last year, but the Energy Department called the research flawed and said it included engines with known durability issues.

For now, E15 remains a regional anomaly. About 20 stations currently offer the fuel in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

___

Follow Matthew Daly on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/boost-cars-bust-ethanol-debate-heats-072447781.html

bracket Jason Terry Steubenville rape Beyonce Bow Down Jason Molina UCF Pigeon Forge Fire

U.S. Talks Tough on Leaker (WSJ)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/314961507?client_source=feed&format=rss

kathy ireland brooke mueller all star weekend undercover boss tupelo honey limp bizkit stations of the cross

What online privacy stuff should I actually care about??

Social media

Thorin Klosowski Lifehacker

11 hours ago

Courtesy of LifeHacker

Question: Look, I'm not really the tinfoil hat type, but everyone keeps telling me I should care a little bit about my privacy. So I ask you: what privacy-related stuff actually affects me day to day, and what should I actually be paying attention to?

Answer: Everyone has a different opinion on this, but for the bulk of us, privacy matters in a few key ways. Let's start first by talking about why people care about privacy to begin with, and what it really means in the online world.

Why we care about privacy
It seems like every week we hear about some type of invasion of privacy. Whether it's Facebook tracking us or the NSA, someone is watching what we're doing online at all the time. So, what's the point in caring anymore? It's about control.

Online privacy is about the ability to control the social information you release. It means that you are aware of what information is public about you, and you can alter that information to suit your needs. Privacy isn't about keeping things away from the public eye, it's about choosing what the public sees. This is why we hear a lot about Facebook's privacy settings, but not Twitter's. On Twitter, everything is clearly public (unless your account is private), whereas on Facebook privacy is a bit more obtuse.

That said, privacy concerns are raised when the data collected by these social networks is used for ads. This happens both online and off. Your data is worth a lot of money, and the fact they're collecting it without you really knowing about it makes a lot of people upset. Companies make money from what you do online. If you don't know that's happening it's pretty easy to see how it's considered an invasion of privacy.

Beyond that, online privacy is a much bigger issue than keeping minor details on Facebook a secret. Your Facebook profile might include private information about your health, legal issues, finances, sexuality, religion, and so much more. Even if you have your own privacy locked down, others in your social network may not, and that means information you think is private gets leaked elsewhere.

The fact is, we leave a heck of a digital trail everywhere we go and that trail can be put together to form a pretty good image of you. We've talked a lot about why you should care about your privacy before, and a reason to defend privacy isn't just because you have something to hide, it's because you probably just don't know you want it hidden yet.

The privacy settings that affect you day to day

Courtesy of LifeHacker

All that said, we understand not everyone cares about their privacy on such a large scale. And, while we disagree, it's true that certain things matter much more on a day to day basis.

Traditional wisdom says that if you don't want information public, then you shouldn't put it online. That's certainly true, but there's a lot of private information you have out there that you might not even realize is public. For most of us, this means what people see on social networks and our personal identifiable information that really matters?no tinfoil hat required.

Your Social Updates, Photos, and Other Personal StuffIt might sound obvious, but the main concern for most people is getting their digital persona under wraps. It's incredibly easy to dig up information on people, especially whenyou're doing a ton of stupid things and just leaving it out all out there.

For your own sake, keeping a clean online presence is essential for job hunting. Understanding the way privacy settings work it the first step to ensuring you're not accidentally sharing that photo of you drunk at the bar.

Privacy on social networks isn't important just for your own sake though. It's also about your friends, family, and children. Everyone is comfortable with different levels of privacy, so if you're sharing details, photos, or locations of friends, that can be pretty upsetting for some people. That's why Facebook has privacy settings that control how you're tagged in photos and locations. Again, this boils down to what privacy really means: the ability to control what's shared and who it's shared with.

Credit cards, addresses, and other personally identifiable information
It might seem obvious, but the other main privacy concern everyone can identify with is sensitive information like credit cards, credit reports, addresses, health information and other similarly personal stuff.

The fact is, we release a lot of this information online, and it's incredibly easy to dig up off your hard drive, from retailers, or after a data breach. Part of the issue here is security, but it's also about privacy.

We've talked about ways to keep this stuff private before, but in a lot of cases it's out of your hands. The best you can do is use incognito mode in your browser, and protect your online accounts as best you can so people don't sneak in to grab your information. Security and privacy are two different things, but they're so closely connected you need to pay attention to both. All this stuff is connected, and the information that identifies who you are can be combined together pretty easily.

We'd argue that these are just the most obvious, basic privacy settings you should be worried about, and there's actually a lot more out there. But this is the stuff everyone should start with, no matter who they are. After that, if you care about digging deeper,you can.

In the end, it's a pretty ruthless fight to keep your information private and continue to use the internet. We've shown you how you can protect yourself to a point (the NSA can certainly still see exactly what you're doing), how to browse the Web privately, or just give up and delete yourself from the internet forever. Once you're offline, The New York Times has a guide for keeping it that way if you're interested. If you're going to continue using the internet with the expectation of privacy, you'll be sorely disappointed, but at the very least you can lock down the data that really matters to you.

More from LifeHacker

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653377/s/2dad7892/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Ctechnology0Cwhat0Eonline0Eprivacy0Estuff0Eshould0Ei0Eactually0Ecare0Eabout0E6C10A4240A0A2/story01.htm

Farrah Abraham Sex Tape Met gala lauryn hill teacher appreciation week Jodi Arias trial cinco de mayo Mike Jeffries Abercrombie

Hong Kong lets Snowden leave to Moscow, with Cuba among possible destinations

By James Pomfret

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A former contractor for the U.S. National Security Agency, charged by the United States with espionage, was allowed to leave Hong Kong on Sunday, his final destination as yet unknown, because a U.S. request to have him arrested did not comply with the law, the Hong Kong government said.

Edward Snowden left for Moscow on Sunday and his final destination may be Cuba, Ecuador, Iceland or Venezuela, according to various reports. The move is bound to infuriate Washington, wherever he ends up.

"It's a shocker," said Simon Young, a law professor with Hong Kong University. "I thought he was going to stay and fight it out. The U.S. government will be irate."

Russia's Interfax news agency quoted a source at the Aeroflot airline as saying there was a ticket in Snowden's name for a Moscow-Cuba flight. Itar-Tass news agency cited a source as saying Snowden would fly from Havana to Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.

The South China Morning Post said his final destination might be Ecuador or Iceland.

A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was unaware of Snowden's whereabouts or travel plans.

The WikiLeaks anti-secrecy website said it helped Snowden find "political asylum in a democratic country". It did not elaborate, other than to say Snowden was "currently over Russian airspace" with WikiLeaks legal advisers.

The White House had no comment on the WikiLeaks posting.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said last week he would not leave the sanctuary of the Ecuadorean Embassy in London even if Sweden stopped pursuing sexual assault claims against him because he feared arrest on the orders of the United States.

U.S. authorities have charged Snowden with theft of U.S. government property, unauthorized communication of national defense information and wilful communication of classified communications intelligence to an unauthorized person, with the latter two charges falling under the U.S. Espionage Act.

The United States had asked Hong Kong, a special administrative region (SAR) of China, to send Snowden home.

"The U.S. government earlier on made a request to the HKSAR government for the issue of a provisional warrant of arrest against Mr Snowden," the Hong Kong government said in a statement.

"Since the documents provided by the U.S. government did not fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law, the HKSAR government has requested the U.S. government to provide additional information ... As the HKSAR government has yet to have sufficient information to process the request for provisional warrant of arrest, there is no legal basis to restrict Mr Snowden from leaving Hong Kong."

It did not say what further information it needed, but said Snowden left Hong Kong "on his own accord for a third country through a lawful and normal channel".

CHINA SAYS U.S. "BIGGEST VILLAIN"

Hong Kong, a former British colony, reverted to Chinese rule in 1997 and although it retains an independent legal system, and its own extradition laws, Beijing has control over Hong Kong's foreign affairs. Some observers see Beijing's hand in Snowden's sudden departure.

Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said earlier this month that Russia would consider granting Snowden asylum if he were to ask for it and pro-Kremlin lawmakers supported the idea, but there has been no indication he has done so.

Iceland refused on Friday to say whether it would grant asylum to Snowden, a former employee of contractor Booz Allen Hamilton who worked at an NSA facility in Hawaii.

The South China Morning Post earlier quoted Snowden offering new details about the United States' spy activities, including accusations of U.S. hacking of Chinese mobile telephone companies and targeting China's Tsinghua University.

Documents previously leaked by Snowden revealed that the NSA has access to vast amounts of internet data such as emails, chat rooms and video from large companies, including Facebook and Google, under a government program known as Prism.

In its statement, the Hong Kong government said it had written to the United States "requesting clarification" of earlier reports about the hacking of computer systems in Hong Kong by U.S. government agencies.

"The HKSAR Government will continue to follow up on the matter, so as to protect the legal rights of the people of Hong Kong," it said.

China's Xinhua news agency, referring to Snowden's accusations about the hacking of Chinese targets, said they were "clearly troubling signs".

It added: "They demonstrate that the United States, which has long been trying to play innocent as a victim of cyber attacks, has turned out to be the biggest villain in our age."

(Additional reporting by Fayen Wong in Shanghai; Nishant Kumar in Hong Kong; Alexei Anishchuk and Steve Gutterman in Moscow, and Tabassum Zakaria in Washington; Writing by Nick Macfie; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/former-nsa-contractor-snowden-leaves-hong-kong-moscow-080843121.html

Kyrgyzstan Suspects in Boston Bombing Kerry Rhodes Daft Punk Get Lucky Texas explosion Paul Kevin Curtis gucci mane