French court to rule Tuesday on UK royal photos

NANTERRE, France (AP) ? A French court will rule Tuesday on a request by a lawyer for Prince William and his wife Kate to block further publication of topless photos of the Duchess of Cambridge taken while the couple shared what he described as a deeply intimate moment on holiday.

The court in Nanterre, outside Paris, has said it will announce its ruling at noon as to whether it will to stop popular French gossip magazine Closer from reproducing the images.

The royal couple's lawyer, Aurelien Hamelle, said Monday that they were sharing a "healthy and profoundly intimate" moment when a photographer took the images. The situation was "deeply personal," he added.

Closer published 14 of the photos of a partially clad Kate in its pages on Friday. On Monday, Italian magazine Chi published a 26-page spread of the images. Chi, like Closer, is part of the Italian publishing house Mondador, owned by former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

Irish tabloid the Irish Daily Star published more topless photos of Kate over the weekend. The editor has since been suspended, and Ireland's justice minister said Monday that he would revise privacy laws in the country.

Hamelle told the court that he is seeking ?5,000 ($6,550) in damages from Closer and an injunction forcing the magazine to stop publication elsewhere, including on the Internet. He also asked the court to fine Closer ?10,000 ($13,100) a day for each day the injunction is not respected, and ?100,000 ($131,000) if the photos are sold in France or abroad.

The photos in question show the Duchess of Cambridge relaxing during a holiday at a private villa in Provence, in southern France, sometimes without her bathing suit top and, in one case, her suit bottom partially pulled down to apply sun screen.

William's St. James's Palace called the publications of the photos a "grotesque" invasion of the couple's privacy.

The case centers in part on just how private the villa was and whether, in effect, Kate was to some extent flaunting herself.

"It's not an accessible (view) from the exterior," Hamelle said of the site ? a point contested by Closer's lawyer, Delphine Pando who said the site is visible from a nearby road.

"What is certain for her (Kate's) close family as for herself is that it's something extremely troubling," Hamelle said.

Pando, the lawyer for Closer, asked the court to throw out the royal demand, arguing that the rights to the photos belong to an agency ? which sold their use to Closer. She did not give the price.

"We are not the owners of these photos," she said. "The photos are out there. If a TV show wants to show an image of this (magazine) edition, it's got nothing to do with us."

That argument echoed the stance of the editor of Chi, the Italian magazine. Alfonso Signorini told The Associated Press over the weekend that he didn't fear legal action since the photos are already in the public domain following Closer's publication.

The case is but the first of two legal actions by the royals. In a reflection of just how intent they are on protecting their privacy ? and likely dissuading paparazzi from future ventures, St. James's Palace said Sunday the family lawyers would file a criminal complaint.

The Sipa news agency reported that the Nanterre prosecutor's office opened a preliminary investigation on Monday for breach of privacy, receiving and complicity. While no one was named, it would appear to cover the photographer or photographers involved in the case and possibly Closer. The palace said it would be up to French prosecutors to decide whether to investigate and pursue a criminal case for breach of privacy or trespassing.

That second judicial action was not mentioned in Monday's proceedings, and there was no mention of the name of the photographer or photographers who took the offending pictures. There was only reference to an "agency."

Meanwhile, in Ireland, Justice Minister Alan Shatter said Monday that the country planned to introduce new privacy laws after the Irish Daily Star newspaper published the topless photographs of the princess.

"It is clear that some sections of the print media are either unable or unwilling in their reportage to distinguish between prurient interest and the public interest," said Shatter.

"Sections of the print media believe that public figures are fair game and have no right to privacy in respect of any aspect of their lives," Shatter added.

Independent Star, the company which owns the Irish Daily Star, said Monday that Michael O'Kane had been suspended as editor and an internal inquiry had been launched.

The newspaper printed some of the photographs on Saturday in editions available in Ireland, but not inside the U.K.

___

Nicole Winfield in Rome and David Stringer in London contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/french-court-rule-tuesday-uk-royal-photos-191724497.html

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The Very Best Ecommerce Website May be the One That's probably ...

The Very Best Ecommerce Website May be the One That?s probably the most Simple to use

Article by Jashandeep

Nowadays, increasing numbers of people are turning to the web to earn money. Ecommerce may be the activity of participating in internet business. Ecommerce also called Electronic Commerce may be the purchasing and selling of services and items online. What Ecommerce development produces is really a system that enables a web-based selling business to have their services towards the clients. Ecommerce consist a myriad of businesses from retail shopping, banking, trading and rental fees to non-public services for example hair and nails salons.
Ecommerce trolley- custom made shopping cart software:
? Typically, well and efficient custom shopping cart software developers would display all of the products bought through the customer, each bought item within the ecommerce trolley is hypertext linked to the page where it had been bought from, the items within the ecommerce trolley also offers a small thumbnail sized image alongside, or below it. Then there?s the system quantity, the system cost, gross item cost, discount rates if any, taxes if any and lastly the product internet total. In the finish from the ecommerce trolley there will be the gross total, discount rates, taxes, delivery charges and lastly the internet purchase total.
? Customer would also have the ability to make alterations in the ecommerce trolley. Such changes would come with difference in the system quantity, purchase quantity or getting rid of a product or perhaps adding a brand new item towards the ecommerce trolley. Any changes produced in the ecommerce trolley would result immediately and automatic recalculation of totals, taxes, discount rates and delivery costs within the ecommerce trolley.
? If Search engine optimization can perform all of the above, easily easy to customize, simple to recode if required, then ecommerce could be well suited for you. However, you should also make certain it?s standalone Ecommerce stores and never a part of some cms. Possibly the greatest drawback to a custom made shopping cart software is it won?t display the items bought how you would like it to display. You might want to simply go considering that the readymade ecommerce trolley selects to show the bought products. So you may have to choose from convince and perfection.
Why use Search engine optimization for online exposure?
? Search engine optimization developers provide conveniences and time saving techniques to make business transitions and shopping on the web. They?ve made process simpler for both the customer along with the seller. Aside from product based ecommerce websites, service oriented ecommerce websites will also be developing a rage worldwide. For instance banking, insurance, educational, web design services along with other services oriented business sites emerged.
? Web site design companies offer highly competitive and practical Search engine optimization with effective tools like shopping cart software software. Today money and time conscious clients want the very best product services, fair cost, along with a a shorter period consuming medium to buy them. Customer Search engine optimization are a good source to get these functions.
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About the writer

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IRL: Ballistic Tough Jacket, Dell UltraSharp U2412M and an argument for disposable AA batteries

Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we talk about the gadgets, apps and toys we're using in real life and take a second look at products that already got the formal review treatment.

What a week. What a month! So far this September, Amazon, Nokia, Motorola and Apple have announced new products, and HTC is up next, with a press event scheduled for Wednesday. We'll let you speak for yourselves -- maybe you want more liveblogs -- but we here at Engadget keen to take a break from the hands-on posts and breaking news posts and talk shop about the products we already own. This week, Jason tests a rugged tablet sleeve, Don rates his Dell monitor and Darren makes the case for disposable AAs (and yes, he has a favorite brand).

Continue reading IRL: Ballistic Tough Jacket, Dell UltraSharp U2412M and an argument for disposable AA batteries

IRL: Ballistic Tough Jacket, Dell UltraSharp U2412M and an argument for disposable AA batteries originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 16 Sep 2012 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/16/irl-ballistic-tough-jacket-iphonetrip-energizer-aa-ultimate/

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Portrait likely Velazquez's first of Spanish king

DALLAS (AP) ? In preparing an exhibit on 17th century artist Diego Velazquez's early work for Spain's King Philip IV, art historians believe they discovered that a portrait by the Spanish master at Dallas' Meadows Museum is likely his first of his lifelong patron.

"Diego Velazquez: The Early Court Portraits" opens Sunday at the museum on the campus of Southern Methodist University, the result of a partnership between the Meadows and Madrid's famed Museo del Prado, Spain's national art museum. The exhibit, which the Meadows calls the most important devoted to Velazquez in the U.S. in more than two decades, will run through Jan. 13.

"What you'll see in this exhibition is the beginning of one of the most extraordinary relationships in the history of art ? that's the relationship between young Velazquez and Philip IV," said Gabriele Finaldi, the Prado's deputy director for collections.

"What you need there is an extraordinarily talented artist, which you have in Velazquez. But you also need a very far-seeing patron, and that's Philip IV, who had real personal passion for painting," Finaldi added.

Velazquez became the king's court painter in 1623, when he was only 24. It was a job he would hold until his death in 1660 at the age of 61. The exhibit focuses on his first decade working for the king.

For the first time in four centuries, the Dallas exhibit brings together two of Velazquez's early portraits of the king: the Prado's full-length portrait of him dressed all in black that was painted in the 1620s and the Meadow's bust-length portrait.

In anticipation of the show, both portraits underwent analysis at the Prado. X-rays of the Meadows portrait showed brush strokes indicating Velazquez was working out how to paint the king, helping back up the belief that it could have been his initial attempt.

"Now we think more than ever that it was the first portrait," said Mark Roglan, director of the Meadows.

The exhibit features five paintings by Velazquez, including his portrait of the poet Luis de Gongora y Argote from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, which was done a year before Velazquez became Philip IV's court painter. A Velazquez portrait of a court jester painted in the early 1630s comes from the Cleveland Museum of Art.

A portrait of Philip IV from Velazquez's workshop that has never before been seen in public comes from a private Spanish collection. The exhibition also features 16 prints, some with engraved portraits modeled after Velazquez's work.

The Prado and the Meadows began a three-year partnership in 2009 that has included an exchange of scholars, research, works of art and exhibitions. This summer the two institutions announced they will extend the collaboration for another two years.

The Meadows Museum, which opened in 1965, is the vision of a Texan who started collecting Spanish art after being inspired by visits to the Prado. Hoping to create a "Prado on the Prairie," oil financier Algur H. Meadows donated his private Spanish art collection and funds to start the museum to SMU. The Meadows' portrait of Philip IV was one of his acquisitions.

"It was a very easy and natural fit that the Prado should work closely with the Meadows," Finaldi said.

___

Online:

Meadows Museum, http://smu.edu/meadowsmuseum/

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/portrait-likely-velazquezs-first-spanish-king-172039666.html

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Romney talks tough on China gets stinging Beijing retort

Britain News.Net Friday 14th September, 2012

BEIJING Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's tough talk on China has got the hackles up of authorities in Beijing.

Romney on Thursday released a new ad on manufacturing jobs that hit out at President Barack Obama for his stance on China, describing it as devastating to the American manufacturing sector.

"Under Obama, we've lost over half a million manufacturing jobs," a narrator in the ad says. "And for the first time, China is beating us."

The ad shows data of China becoming the world's top manufacturing country in 2011, which that narrator says is a result of Obama's refusal to "stop China's cheating."

While campaigning in Virginia, Romney went further: "The president has had the chance year after year to label China a currency manipulator, but he hasn't done so. I will label China the currency manipulator they are on the first day."

The state-run Xinhua news agency responded Friday with a commentary calling Romney's remarks "as false as they are foolish" and said that it is "ironic that a considerable portion of this China-battering politician's wealth was actually obtained by doing business with Chinese companies before he entered politics."

The editorial warned that if Romney's "mud-slinging tactics were to become U.S. government policies, a trade war would be very likely to break out between the world's top two economies, which would be catastrophic enough to both sides and the already groaning global economy."

"Such blaming-China-on-everything remarks are as false as they are foolish, for it has never been a myth that pushing up the value of China's currency would be of little use to boost the chronically slack job market of the world's sole superpower, not to mention to magically turn the poor U.S. economic performance around."

Responding to the Romney ad, Obama campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith said in a statement: "President Obama has always stood up for American workers, regardless of politics. He's filed seven trade complaints against China, bringing cases at twice the rate of the Bush Administration."

"The job losses that his new ad references occurred in the first months after the President took office," Smith said. "Now, American manufacturers have added half a million jobs since January 2010 the fastest manufacturing job growth since the 1990s."

President Barack Obama has accused Romney, who founded and led private equity firm Bain Capital, of outsourcing jobs to both India and China.

The state-run Xinhua said such China-bashing had been "a cancer in U.S. electoral politics, seriously plaguing the relations between the two countries.

"It has also become a handy tool for U.S. politicians who try to court the votes and support of ill-informed voters by ratcheting up antagonistic sentiment towards China, while truly serious social and economic woes within the United States have been left unfixed."

The United States should "put its own fiscal house back in order, substantially slash its tremendous military expenditure, and optimize its economic structure", it added.

"It is advisable that politicians, including Romney, should abandon ... short-sighted China-bashing tricks and adopt at least a little bit of statesmanship on China-U.S. ties."

Source: http://www.britainnews.net/index.php?sid/209193861/scat/b8de8e630faf3631

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Sudanese protesters break into German Embassy

CAIRO (AP) ? Several hundred Sudanese protesters have stormed the German Embassy in the capital Khartoum, burning a car parked behind its gates and trash cans.

Police fired tear gas, pushing the protesters outside the embassy's gates. There appeared to be no immediate damage to the embassy's staff or building.

Most protesters dispersed, but a group marched to protest at the nearby British Embassy.

It comes after calls on state radio by a prominent Muslim cleric to protest after weekly Friday prayers in the capital against an anti-Islam film produced in the United States that denigrates the Prophet Muhammad.

Friday has seen dozens of protests across the Muslim world over the film.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sudanese-protesters-break-german-embassy-130911559.html

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Norway rules in favor of tobacco display ban

OSLO (Reuters) - A Norwegian court has upheld a ban on displaying tobacco products in stores as part of policies to safeguard public health, dealing a blow to cigarette maker Philip Morris.

Morris, maker of Marlboro cigarettes, which had claimed the ban violates a free trade agreement linking non-EU member Norway to the European Union's market rules, said it might appeal.

"As the court sees it, the display ban is necessary and that there are no alternative, less intrusive measures that can have equivalent results," the court said.

Tord Dale, political advisor to the Norwegian Health Minister, said: "We are glad that the court has decided that looking after peoples health is more important than the profits of the tobacco industry."

Since 2010, cigarette packages and other tobacco products have been covered up in Norwegian shops and are not visible to buyers, as part of policies to discourage smoking.

In April, the UK implemented a similar ban for large vendors, while smaller vendors have until 2015 before having to conform to the legislation.

The decision to rebuff Philip Morris' complaint comes less than two months before the fifth round of negotiations on the World Health Organization's global tobacco treaty in Seoul, South Korea, in November.

"We are not happy with the ruling," said Phillip Morris spokesman Nordan Helland. "We will now look carefully at the court's decision and assess if we are going to appeal."

Norway has said that if the ban was to be upheld it would follow Australia and require plain packaging of tobacco.

"I know that this ruling will be read carefully in other European countries," said Knut-Inge Klepp, director at The Norwegian Health Directorate.

"Currently we are waiting for a new strategy from the government on tobacco legislation. We are in dialogue with other European countries on the issue," he added.

Australia's landmark decision means that from December 1, cigarettes and tobacco products must be sold in plain olive green packets with graphic health warnings, such as pictures of mouth cancer and other smoking-related illnesses.

(Editing by David Holmes)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/norway-rules-favor-tobacco-display-ban-130233735--sector.html

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The Sleep Apnea Exercise Program, Health & Fitness

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Kids with food allergies can fall through the cracks

Public release date: 13-Sep-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Erin White
ewhite@northwestern.edu
847-491-4888
Northwestern University

Lower income and minority households were more likely to have a child with an undiagnosed food allergy; Of the physician-diagnosed children, 32 percent did not receive diagnostic testing

CHICAGO --- More can be done to properly manage the care of American children with food allergies, especially when it comes to diagnostic testing and recognizing non-visual symptoms of severe allergic reactions, according to a new Northwestern Medicine study.

"Every child with a food allergy should be diagnosed by a physician, have access to life-saving medication such as an epinephrine autoinjector and receive confirmation of the disease through diagnostic testing," said lead author Ruchi Gupta, M.D., an associate professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a physician at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. "Not all children are receiving this kind of care."

The study was published online in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the official publication of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

Data in this study is from a randomized online survey of U.S. households with children with symptoms consistent with a mild-to-severe food allergy. It's the first paper of its kind to offer insight on how pediatric food allergies are typically diagnosed and what can be done to streamline the management of the disease and keep affected children safe.

Here are key findings from the study:

70 percent report receiving a physician's diagnosis for their child's food allergy

Lower income and minority households were more likely to have a child with an undiagnosed food allergy.

Of the physician-diagnosed children, 32 percent did not receive diagnostic testing --- such as a blood, skin or oral food challenge test.

A skin test was the most popular diagnostic test with 46 percent. A blood test was second with 39 percent.

Only 1 in 5 of reported that their child received an oral food challenge test --- the gold standard of food allergy diagnoses.

"An oral food challenge might be scary for parents because their child is being fed the allergenic food," Gupta said. "Some physicians think the risks outweigh the benefits, but it is the best tool we have to diagnose a food allergy."

Here are key findings on the kind of reactions children had to the top nine food allergies, which are: egg, finfish, milk, peanut, sesame, shellfish, soy, tree nut and wheat:

Cutaneous symptoms, such as hives, puffy eyes or lips, and eczema occurred in 80 percent of food-induced anaphylactic reactions.

During severe, life-threatening reactions, hives only occurred in 40 percent of the cases and puffy eyes or lips in 34 percent of the cases.

"Not all food allergy reactions start with swelling or a rash," Gupta said. "If you suspect your child has eaten something they're allergic to and you don't see a visible sign of a reaction, you need to think about what might be going on internally."

Here are some questions to ask a child after a suspected accidental ingestion of an allergenic food:

Does your throat feel tight?

Are you having trouble breathing?

Do you feel dizzy or faint?

Does your stomach hurt?

"This study shows why it's vital that children receive an accurate diagnosis, and that parents and other caregivers know the signs of a severe reaction and are equipped to respond immediately," said Mary Jane Marchisotto, executive director of the Food Allergy Initiative (FAI), which provided financial support for the study. "We urge families to visit www.faiusa.org, where they will find the information and tools they need to understand and cope with food allergies."

###

A nonprofit founded in 1998 by concerned parents and grandparents, FAI is the world's largest private funder of food allergy research.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

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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.

Public release date: 13-Sep-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Erin White
ewhite@northwestern.edu
847-491-4888
Northwestern University

Lower income and minority households were more likely to have a child with an undiagnosed food allergy; Of the physician-diagnosed children, 32 percent did not receive diagnostic testing

CHICAGO --- More can be done to properly manage the care of American children with food allergies, especially when it comes to diagnostic testing and recognizing non-visual symptoms of severe allergic reactions, according to a new Northwestern Medicine study.

"Every child with a food allergy should be diagnosed by a physician, have access to life-saving medication such as an epinephrine autoinjector and receive confirmation of the disease through diagnostic testing," said lead author Ruchi Gupta, M.D., an associate professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a physician at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. "Not all children are receiving this kind of care."

The study was published online in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the official publication of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

Data in this study is from a randomized online survey of U.S. households with children with symptoms consistent with a mild-to-severe food allergy. It's the first paper of its kind to offer insight on how pediatric food allergies are typically diagnosed and what can be done to streamline the management of the disease and keep affected children safe.

Here are key findings from the study:

70 percent report receiving a physician's diagnosis for their child's food allergy

Lower income and minority households were more likely to have a child with an undiagnosed food allergy.

Of the physician-diagnosed children, 32 percent did not receive diagnostic testing --- such as a blood, skin or oral food challenge test.

A skin test was the most popular diagnostic test with 46 percent. A blood test was second with 39 percent.

Only 1 in 5 of reported that their child received an oral food challenge test --- the gold standard of food allergy diagnoses.

"An oral food challenge might be scary for parents because their child is being fed the allergenic food," Gupta said. "Some physicians think the risks outweigh the benefits, but it is the best tool we have to diagnose a food allergy."

Here are key findings on the kind of reactions children had to the top nine food allergies, which are: egg, finfish, milk, peanut, sesame, shellfish, soy, tree nut and wheat:

Cutaneous symptoms, such as hives, puffy eyes or lips, and eczema occurred in 80 percent of food-induced anaphylactic reactions.

During severe, life-threatening reactions, hives only occurred in 40 percent of the cases and puffy eyes or lips in 34 percent of the cases.

"Not all food allergy reactions start with swelling or a rash," Gupta said. "If you suspect your child has eaten something they're allergic to and you don't see a visible sign of a reaction, you need to think about what might be going on internally."

Here are some questions to ask a child after a suspected accidental ingestion of an allergenic food:

Does your throat feel tight?

Are you having trouble breathing?

Do you feel dizzy or faint?

Does your stomach hurt?

"This study shows why it's vital that children receive an accurate diagnosis, and that parents and other caregivers know the signs of a severe reaction and are equipped to respond immediately," said Mary Jane Marchisotto, executive director of the Food Allergy Initiative (FAI), which provided financial support for the study. "We urge families to visit www.faiusa.org, where they will find the information and tools they need to understand and cope with food allergies."

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A nonprofit founded in 1998 by concerned parents and grandparents, FAI is the world's largest private funder of food allergy research.

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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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-09/nu-kwf091312.php

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University of California sues Facebook, Wal-mart over patents

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A University of California patent licensee which has sued some of the biggest U.S. companies is taking on three more -- Facebook Inc, Wal-Mart Stores Inc and the Walt Disney Co.

Eolas Technologies Inc and the Regents of the University of California filed lawsuits on Wednesday over four patents they believe the companies are infringing.

The patents for interactive technology, including hypermedia display and interaction, were issued to the university and licensed to Eolas, a Texas company chaired by Michael Doyle.

The company was founded to help the University of California commercialize patent technology, its website says, including patents Doyle and his team helped develop while he worked at the University of California, San Francisco.

A University of California spokesman said it considered the patents public assets and "should be paid a fair value when a third party exploits that university asset for profit."

A Facebook spokesman said the company believed the lawsuit was without merit. "We will fight it vigorously," he said.

A Wal-Mart spokesman said the world's largest retailer respects the intellectual property rights of others. "We take these allegations seriously and are looking into the matter."

Disney did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A spokesman and several lawyers for Eolas did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Two of the patents cited in the latest lawsuits were declared invalid in February by a Texas jury in a separate lawsuit. That action targeted Amazon Inc, Google Inc, Yahoo Inc and others. The process by which Eolas could launch new lawsuits concerning those same patents was unclear.

Eolas settled patent litigation with Microsoft Corp in 2007 for an undisclosed amount. The University of California said at the time its portion of the settlement was $30.4 million.

(Reporting By Sarah McBride; Editing by Richard Chang)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/university-california-sues-facebook-wal-mart-over-patents-170037375--sector.html

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European breast screening "benefits outweigh harms"

LONDON (Reuters) - National breast screening programmes in Europe save more lives by catching tumours early than they harm through over-diagnosis and women should be made more aware of benefit-risk balance, researchers said on Thursday.

In the first comprehensive review of European breast cancer screening programmes, scientists found that for every 1,000 women aged 50 to 69 screened every two years, between seven and nine lives are saved.

But in a finding likely to add to an already fierce international debate about the merits of routine screening for cancer, they also found that in the same group, four women would be "over-diagnosed" - when screening picks up a tumour that would never have presented a problem.

Stephen Duffy, professor of cancer screening at Queen Mary, University of London and one of two lead researchers on the study said the harm caused by over-diagnosis in the few women was clearly outweighed by the reduction in cancer deaths.

"(This review) reports results from screening millions of women, and confirms that the screening services are delivering the benefits expected from the research studies conducted years ago," he said as the research was published in the Journal of Medical Screening on Thursday.

"In particular it is good news that lives saved by screening outweigh over-diagnosed cases by a factor of two to one."

Over-diagnosed" breast cancers are tumours diagnosed during screening which would never have given rise to any symptoms during a woman's lifetime and would not have been diagnosed had she not been screened.

That can lead to women undergoing unnecessary and invasive treatment and suffering the physical and psychological impact of a breast cancer diagnosis that would otherwise not have come up.

The researchers also found that for every 1,000 women screened, 170 women would have at least one recall for a non-invasive assessment before a negative result could be confirmed, and 30 women would have at least one recall for an invasive procedure, such as a biopsy, before getting a negative result.

These types of results are called "false positives" and can cause stress and anxiety until a negative result is confirmed.

The issues of over-diagnosis and false positives were at the heart of rows among cancer patients and specialists in Europe and the United States which blew up in 2009 when American health officials questioned the value of routine mammograms for women at age 40 and suggested raising the annual screening age to 50.

Nordic scientists then published a study in 2010 which found no evidence that screening women for breast cancer has any effect on death rates and said it was "time to question whether screening has delivered the promised effect".

Worldwide, breast cancer is the most common cancer among women and around 1.38 million women were diagnosed it in 2008, according to the World Health Organisation's Globocan database.

In Europe, including non-European Union (EU) countries, 425,000 new cases of breast cancer were diagnosed in 2008 and 129,000 European women died of the disease.

For this latest study, the European Screening Network (EUROSCREEN) working group with members from nine European countries where screening programmes have been assessed reviewed estimates of benefit in published studies in terms of cancer deaths prevented, and the major harms such as over-diagnosis.

It also reviewed the organisation, participation rates and performance parameters of 26 screening programmes in 18 countries involving 12 million women between 2001 and 2007.

Eugenio Paci, director of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute in Florence, Italy and the co-lead researcher on the project, said the aim was to weigh up "the pros and cons of breast cancer screening" to ensure "women are fully aware of the chief benefits and harms and can make a fully informed choice" about whether to agree to be screened.

"There has been quite a lot of discussion recently over the worth of breast cancer screening," he said. "For this reason it is timely that the international group of experts has assessed the impact...and has found that it is contributing to the reduction in deaths from the disease."

He said the review's conclusions should be communicated to women in Europe and called for health authorities to improve communication with women and make the information "more accessible, relevant and comprehensible."

(Editing by Jane Merriman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/european-breast-screening-benefits-outweigh-harms-230238659.html

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Jennifer Lopez Partnering With NuvoTV, Takes Equity Stake In Cable Network

Jennifer Lopez already has her own production company, Nuyorican Productions, and now the former "American idol" judge will also be part-owner of a cable TV network, the English-language, network for Latinos, nuvoTv.

?As an artist, businesswoman, producer and Latina, I?m passionate about seeing multicultural America on TV," Jennifer Lopez said yesterday in a press release. "My partnership with nuvoTV reflects our mutual goal of creating top-quality entertainment and exciting stories that embrace the richness and beauty of Latin culture in America today.?

NuvoTv announced that this would be a premier partnership focused on appealing to a modern, Latino audience that is growing rapidly and in need of new, high-quality content. Lopez will work on the creative side, managing marketing and program production as well as periodically appearing in network programming.

?Jennifer Lopez is a creative powerhouse and the perfect partner for our network and we are absolutely thrilled to have her on board with us,? Michael Schwimmer, CEO of nuvoTV said in the release. ?Jennifer?s unique combination of talent, imagination and determination, combined with her passion for great entertainment, gives nuvoTV a wonderful opportunity to redefine television tailored for English-speaking Latinos.?

With a growing Latino audience, there is more demand for television programming around that audience. Until now, there have only been a few networks focused on this demographic, and really none focused on providing Latino cultural content in English.

As Lopez told USA Today, when she was growing up there was very little programming that appealed to her heritage.

"Growing up in the Bronx as a little Puerto Rican girl watching TV and not having a lot to identify with. West Side Story was really my favorite thing because it had Puerto Ricans in it."

According to AdAge, Nuvo isn't the first television network to enlist the presence of celebrities to market its content and increase viewership. At least for Lopez, this was a natural step in the right direction.

"There is no English network that really focuses on our story," Lopez told AdAge. "I'm in this business and I do know this business on many different levels -- in music, in television, in film production, and as an actress, and in so many different ways, even in fashion. It's kind of right up my alley."

In August, nuvoTV announced it had raised $40 million to produce a new lineup of original English-language programming, illustrating "the gap in the market, along with the dire need to fill it with Latino TV shows for English-language speakers."

Related on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/13/jennifer-lopez-nuvotv_n_1880503.html

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Sprint won't be supporting HD Voice on the iPhone 5

A brief chunk of today's iPhone 5 event was dedicated to the new smartphone's support for "wideband audio" phone calls. What wideband audio offers is phone calls with audio that's been less compressed than your typical cell phone call. The average cell phone emphasizes the mid-range where most of your voice pitch resides, and heavily compresses and thus distorts the higher and lower ranges. Wideband audio still applies some compression, but it's not as harsh on the upper and lower frequencies, offering a wider range of pitch and thus more lifelike sound. For those of us with deep gravely voices or the pitch of a small child, wideband audio will make phone calls less frustrating.

Unless you're on Sprint, which apparently won't support wideband audio on the iPhone 5. According to a statement given to Phone Scoop by Sprint, the Now Network won't be offering their HD Voice service (the marketing name for wideband audio voice) on the iPhone 5.

No specific reasoning was given why Sprint won't be one of the claimed twenty carriers globally that will be supporting wideband audio on the iPhone 5, but if we had to guess, it's thanks to Sprint's implementation of the standard. On carriers that currently support wideband audio, they do it over a speedy HSPA network. Sprint, meanwhile, is doing HD Voice over their CDMA 1x Advanced network, which while faster than their current EVDO 3G offerings, isn't quite up to snuff with what HSPA can offer. Sprint does offer HD Voice on the Android-powered HTC Evo 4G LTE, though like Sprint's LTE network, only select markets will have HD Voice support by the end of the year.

We don't know what other carriers might offer support for wideband audio on the iPhone 5, but considering the dozens and dozens of carriers that will offer the device, it's disappointing to only hear the number twenty. Verizon's own HD Voice tinkering has been done with an EVDO 1x Advanced network not unlike Sprint's, so you can probably count them out too. AT&T hasn't tinkered with HD Voice at all, and given how stingy they tend to be about traffic on their network, we wouldn't expect them to either, unless they can find a way to charge for it. Sure, we don't make phone calls as often as we used to, but when we do we'd love for them to be sounding better than they currently do.

Source: Phone Scoop

HD Voice

Iphone 5

Phone Calls

Sprint

Sprint iPhone 5

wideband audio

News

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/gtRTMH9rZbk/story01.htm

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Is North Korea experimenting with change?

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) ? Deep in the North Korean countryside, in remote villages that outsiders seldom reach, farmers are now said to be given nearly one-third of their harvests to sell at market prices. Collective farms are reportedly being reorganized into something closer to family farms. State propagandists are expounding the glories of change under the country's new young leader.

In the rigidly planned economy of this Stalinist state, could this be the first flicker of reform?

A string of long-doubtful observers have become increasingly convinced that economic change is afoot, akin to China's first flirtations with market reforms 30 years ago.

But, they also warn, exactly what is happening remains a mystery.

No outsiders are known to have been to the villages, in Ryanggang province, since the new policies reportedly went into effect. No outsiders have seen the details of the June 28 government order ? "On the Establishing of a New Economic Management System in Our Own Style" ? that supposedly launched the program. Other reported reforms, from shifts in investment laws to new industrial profit-sharing regulations, are even more opaque.

Still, there are undeniable signs that the world's most closed-off society may be toying with change, from a carefully scripted campaign to soften the image of the country's young leader, Kim Jong Un, to the apparent purging of a hardline general and a series of often-cryptic official statements hinting that Pyongyang is serious about liberalizing its economy.

"My gut sense is that something is changing," said Marcus Noland of the Washington, D.C.-based Peterson Institute for International Economics and a leading scholar on the North Korean economy. Kim Jong Un "is trying to do something new."

"Whether that succeeds or not is a completely different issue," he added.

Like many other analysts, Noland remains pessimistic. The economic reforms appear to be very limited, he noted, and could quickly be abandoned if Kim changes his mind or faces opposition from his core supporters.

North Korea has flirted with radical economic shifts before. The 17-year rule of Kim Jong Il ? whose December death paved the way for his son, Kim Jong Un, to take power ? included market experiments in 2002 and a devastating currency devaluation in 2009 that stripped millions of people of their savings. Nearly all the changes were rolled back amid internal disputes, and fears among the ruling elite that they could lead to demands for change that could spiral beyond the state's control.

Some change did quietly occur. Faced with an economy on the verge of collapse, the elder Kim's regime eventually allowed small-time markets to take root. After reportedly suffering a stroke in 2009 and picking his youngest son as his heir, Kim Jong Il announced a renewed focus on the economy and made a push to draw foreign investment and trade, particularly from China, North Korea's closest ally.

If the latest reform reports are true, they would almost certainly be driven in part by China. Beijing has long pressed Pyongyang to enact reforms similar to its own first steps toward a market economy.

For years, "the Chinese have been touting their system and their accomplishments, and the North Koreans have been politely nodding their heads and effectively doing nothing," said Evans Revere, a former U.S. diplomat with extensive contacts in the Koreas and China.

But with Pyongyang facing a series of major challenges ? dire economic straits, international isolation and a transition to the third generation of Kim family rule ? Beijing officials now believe North Korea is serious about change, he said.

What is not clear, Revere added, is whether Kim Jong Un is simply telling the Chinese what they want to hear, or if they truly intend to follow through.

And Kim himself? Since coming to power, he and his inner circle have crafted an image that carefully differentiates the new leader from his father, a distant man who turned North Korea into a nuclear power and a pariah state as its citizens sank into desperate poverty.

The younger Kim has appeared on television with his young wife and had his photograph taken on amusement park rides. His haircut and clothing mimic that of his grandfather, the country's still-revered founder, Kim Il Sung. He has visited the homes of everyday North Koreans, and slapped the backs of young soldiers.

He has also vaguely alluded to the country's economic problems, saying in his first speech, in April, that North Koreans should never have to "tighten their belts again."

But when the reports began leaking out in recent weeks about the agricultural reforms, the government response made few things clear.

An unidentified government official told the state news agency KCNA that expecting reform "is nothing but a foolish and silly dream," but added that North Korea "is effecting new innovations and creations in order to make its people enjoy modern and a highly civilized life and live in luxury and comfort."

Some of the contradiction may simply be semantics, with North Korea objecting to the word "reform" because it could look like a rejection of the policies of Kim Jong Un's father and grandfather, both of whom are officially worshipped as near-deities.

But the reported agricultural reforms, detailed mostly by South Korean news outlets and based on anonymous sources inside North Korea, are the clearest sign that significant economic change could be at hand.

Agriculture is the fragile backbone of the North Korean economy. Though less than 20 percent of the mountainous country is arable, nearly every patch of land that can be farmed ? including some parts of the capital ? is planted with rice, corn, potatoes, cabbage and more. Tractors and the fuel to operate them remain a luxury, so most work is done by hand and with the help of oxen.

On a typical collective farm, hundreds of families occupy small, identical cottages with courtyards where each family maintains a garden. On country roads across the nation, farmers can be seen hauling their crops to market, some on the back of ox-pulled carts, others on the backs of bicycles.

The reports say communal farmers in selected villages are now being given 30 percent of their harvests to sell on the open market ? tripling the amount they had earlier been allowed.

In addition, the farms' so-called work units have reportedly been reduced in size, with the labor teams cut from 10-25 people to as few as four.

If that seems like a regulatory technicality, analysts say the combination of those two changes could have immense impact, dramatically driving up agricultural production by effectively giving individual families control over sections of communal farms, and creating a profit incentive for them to produce as much as possible.

Political reform, though, is something few observers see.

North Korea is still a police state where contact with foreigners is forbidden without official permission and where rights group say well over 100,000 political prisoners are sealed off in sprawling camps.

And amid the public relations campaign for the new leader and the rumors of economic reform, rights group have noted one other change: Since Kim Jong Un took power last year, they say North Korea has dramatically ramped up security along the Chinese border. As a result, the number of North Koreans able to flee to China has dropped by nearly one-half compared to the year before.

___

Associated Press writer Jean H. Lee contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/north-korea-experimenting-change-083819505.html

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The Greatest Hits of Weird Science

Miss Sweetie Poo confronts Charles Paxton at the 2002 Ig Nobel Prize ceremony at Harvard University. Paxton and three colleagues were awarded that year's Ig Nobel Prize in biology for their study "Courtship Behavior of Ostriches Towards Humans Under Farming Conditions in Britain."

Photo by Eric Workman/Improbable Research.

I emcee the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony. Occasionally, people ask, "Do you have a top hat and a lion whip to keep the circus in order?" to which my answers are: 1) Yes, I do have a top hat, which is decaying and at this point about 50 percent duct tape; and 2) No, because lion whips are not the most efficient of tools for the task. We have something better with which to tame humans. We call her Miss Sweetie Poo.

Miss Sweetie Poo is an exceptionally cute 8-year-old girl. She ensures that every acceptance speech will be at most 60 seconds long. At the start of the ceremony, I ask Miss Sweetie Poo to demonstrate what she will do whenever a speaker exceeds his or her allotted time. This wee little girl walks all the way across the stage, looks up at the person who's droning on, and says, "Please stop. I'm bored. Please stop. I'm bored. Please stop. I'm bored. Please stop. I'm bored ..." Miss Sweetie Poo does not stop until the speaker does.

Every year we give 10 Ig Nobel Prizes, honoring achievements that make people laugh, then make them think. The winners travel from around the world, at their own expense, to a gala ceremony at Harvard, where a bunch of genuine Nobel laureates physically present them the Ig Nobel Prize. The prize itself is made of cheap materials that are prone to disintegrate. The winners also get a piece of paper that says they have won an Ig Nobel Prize. The paper is signed by those Nobel laureates. It's a nice piece of paper to have.

The winners are a varied lot, their accomplishments a testament to the improbability?the unexpectedness?of human thought and behavior. Kees Moeliker of the Netherlands, the scientific discoverer of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard duck. Daisuke Inoure of Japan, the inventor of karaoke. Andre Geim and Sir Michael Berry of England, who used magnets to levitate a frog. (Geim was later awarded a Nobel Prize for something different, involving a pencil and some sticky tape, which in its way is just as goofy-sounding. Then he was knighted.) The team of Australian scientists who published a study called "An Analysis of the Forces Required to Drag Sheep Across Various Surfaces." Elena Bodnar of Chicago, who invented a brassiere that, in an emergency, can be quickly converted into a pair of protective face masks, one for the brassiere-wearer and one to be given to some needy bystander. Arturas Zuokas, the mayor of Vilnius, Lithuania, for demonstrating that the problem of illegally parked luxury cars can be solved by running them over with an armored tank. Don Featherstone, the creator of the plastic pink flamingo. You can see a list of all the 200 or so past winners here.

We held the first ceremony in 1991. The 22^nd First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony will occur next week, on Thursday evening, Sept. 20. We will as usual webcast it live. At parties around the world, folks will gather to see who the winners are and watch them try to ward off Miss Sweetie Poo. We compiled a "best of Miss Sweetie Poo" highlight reel here.

The Ig Nobel Prizes are just part of my work.?I collect stories about improbable research. These are things that are real, though they may at first glance appear to be anything but. They are research in the broadest sense: Someone was trying to do or discover something new. (Or they couldn't or didn't avoid doing or discovering something new.)

It can be tempting to assume that ?improbable? implies more than that?implies bad or good, worthless or valuable, trivial or important. Something improbable can be any of those, or none of them, or all of them, in different ways. Something can be bad in some respects and good in others. Improbable is, simply, what you don't expect.

My magazine, the Annals of Improbable Research, comes out six times a year, packed with reports of improbable people and things. For the past nine years, I have also been writing a weekly column, "Improbable Research," in the Guardian.?I collected a fair heap of these reports for a book that has just been published, called This Is Improbable: Cheese String Theory, Magnetic Chickens, and Other WTF Research.

Here are two improbable chunks from the book. One is even about lions.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=3195b6510736df7d1e68b951d159ef34

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Einstein's advice about email marketing metrics :Local Business ...

The whitepaper covers common email metrics, how to pick the right metrics and risks in using metrics.

Knowing the risks in using metrics is important, as metrics are only a tool and no tool is perfect. Knowing what a metrics doesn?t tell you is valuable too.

Consider this scenario: a lower campaign open rate that delivers higher revenue. As Einstein said??not everything that can be counted, counts?,?in this case just how valuable is counting opens?

That?s not just theoretical either; lower email campaign opens can deliver increased revenue.

• When considering what metrics are important the questions to answer are:
• What is the objective that needs to be measured?
• What metrics best represent this objective?
• Who is going to use this metric?
• How is it going to be used?
• Who will make the measurement?
• How is the measurement going to be made?

The key metrics are those that are?important to the business, typically those that measure business impact in terms of revenue and customers. In some cases immediate revenue may not be the objective or measureable, in which case a proxy such as clicks or other conversion goal such as online form completed might be used.

If the metric is for the CFO or in support of a business case then revenue based metrics speak the loudest. If the CFO has two investment choices, one with the case of 5% more revenue and one with 25% higher open rate its clear where the money will go.

Metrics that don?t measure direct business success have their place and use. It?s about the right metric for the right job. For the person looking after deliverability they will want bounce and spam complaints rates, whilst these metrics are of little interest to anyone else.

The standard email campaign metrics found in many broadcast solutions are unlikely to provide metrics tightly aligned to marketing objectives. For instance what if the marketing objective is to increase the number of one time customers who make a repeat purchase? Or the number of customers who renew a service contract??Create specific metrics?that measure the marketing objective.

To consider Einstein?s point that not everything that counts can be counted, I?d like to round off with some thoughts about what we can?t easily measure in email:

• How much affect an un-opened email has on subsequent emails. When someone sees the brand name and subject line, how much of an impression is left? We know that unopened emails have value too but have trouble measuring this.
• The influence of email on offline activity. That email can and does nudge activity offline is known.
• The attribution of email when it didn?t result in an immediate click. A DMA survey showed that customers are interested in the contents of an email will often not directly click on it but follow up on a website indirectly.
• The number of emails that reach the inbox and that were seen.

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!

Source: http://www.encarolina.com/einsteins-advice-about-email-marketing-metrics

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John Gin answers your questions about investing Monday at noon ...

John Gin will be answering your questions about investing and planning for retirement Monday on www.nola.com/business. John is a Private Wealth Advisor with Ameriprise Financial in Metairie, where his practice focuses on retirement planning, estate planning, tax management and multi-generational planning.

John has written the weekly Money Watch column for The Times-Picayune since 1989.

His chat starts at 12 noon right here at www.nola.com/business.

Hit "click here" to watch the chat unfold.

Source: http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2012/09/john_gin_answers_your_question_16.html

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