Tomato genome project bears fruit

By Kate Kelland

LONDON | Wed May 30, 2012 2:56pm EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - An international team of scientists has cracked the genetic code of the domesticated tomato and its wild ancestor, an achievement which should help breeders identify the genes needed to develop tastier and more nutritious varieties.

The full genome sequence of a tomato breed known as Heinz 1706, and a draft sequence for its closest wild relative Solanum pimpinellifolium, were published in the journal Nature on Wednesday.

Researchers who carried out the work said that together the sequences provide the most detailed look yet at the functional parts of the tomato genome and show order, orientation, types and relative positions of all of its 35,000 genes.

The sequences should help researchers find the links between certain tomato genes and the characteristics they determine, and will also extend scientists' understanding of how genetic and environmental factors affect the health of a crop.

"Tomatoes are one of the most important fruit crops in the world, both in terms of the volume that we eat and the vitamins, minerals and other phytochemicals that both fresh and processed tomato products provide to our diets," said Graham Seymour, a professor of biotechnology at Nottingham University, one of 300 scientists involved in the Tomato Genome Consortium (TGC).

TOMATOES ARE NOT THE ONLY FRUIT

The tomato is also a good model to investigate the process of fruit ripening, so understanding its genome should help reveal the molecular circuits that make fruits ripen and give them their health-promoting properties, the team said.

"For any characteristic of the tomato, whether it's taste, natural pest resistance or nutritional content, we've captured virtually all those genes," said James Giovannoni from the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research at Cornell University, who was part of the U.S. tomato sequencing team.

Tomatoes represent a $2 billion market in the United States alone, while in Britain the market for tomatoes is worth around 625 million pounds ($980 million) a year.

The research also offers some insight into how the tomato and its relatives diversified and adapted to new environments over the years.

The scientists said the findings show the tomato genome expanded abruptly about 60 million years ago. Some of the genes generated during that expansion were involved in the development and control of ripening, making them particularly interesting to tomato breeders.

The TGC involved scientists in 14 countries including Argentina, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, South Korea, Britain, the United States and others.

Giovanni said the work has implications for other plant species.

Strawberries, apples, melons, bananas and other fleshy fruits share some characteristics with tomatoes, he explained, so knowledge about the genes involved in fruit ripening could potentially be applied to them, helping breeders and growers to improve food quality and cut costs.

"Now we can start asking a lot more interesting questions about fruit biology, disease resistance, root development and nutritional qualities," he said in a statement.

(Editing by Janet Lawrence)

barkley beltran space ball jim mora the weeknd echoes of silence gio gonzalez san francisco fire

When It Comes To Business, All Communication Is Marketing

Instead of leaving your marketing to others, it pays to learn the lay of the land, and then do the parts that work best for your personality ? and contract the rest (because you don?t have to do it all yourself).

For the budget conscious small business owner, there are several ways to contract help. This ranges from paying high end professionals to college interns specializing in the service that you need. Truly, when it comes to getting help, where there?s a will, there is a way.

But before you start bringing people in to help with your marketing, you need a marketing plan that you understand. To develop your strategy you can do a few things.

1.) Pay for professional training and their team. In order to be a good driver you have to practice. Teachers, doctors and administrative assistants acquire training. And when it?s time to implementing an effective marketing strategy, it pays for you to learn from successful others. The training can save you time, money (in the long run) and confusion.

2.) Read great marketing books. Some of us are working with a smaller training budget, so grab a great book and make it a habit. At a minimum, as the seasons change, learn something new about marketing. This habit will lead to creative ideas when you need them the most.

3.) Wing it and watch it work. This philosophy is more effective after you have completed number one and two. Winging it without a sound marketing mind can be dangerous. But after all the training, there comes a time when you just have to jump off and fly.

Marketing Isn?t Easy For Every Personality Type?

However, it?s necessary for every business. Truth is, when it becomes important you find ways to get it done no matter what. In ?Harness the Innovative Power of Introverts? Anita Campbell, Founder of Small Business Trends, says:

??Technology can?help introverts collaborate.?

While Anita is talking about maximizing these personalities in a company environment, technology can also help the introvert market her business without leaving her shell.

Since your website is (should be) an automatic staple to your marketing strategy, it?s a perfect initial platform for any business, especially the shy business owner.? Your website is a way to share and spread your message without having to constantly put yourself out there (in a traditional sense).

Well Chosen And Well Placed Words??

Pictures and videos on your site can speak for you while you rest or work one-on-one with a client. Since an effective website is more than just throwing up a brochure page, there?s plenty to pay attention to. To get you started or tweak what you have (as well as other aspects of your marketing) Ivana Taylor of DIYMarketing shares some must have tools for your business in ?7 Technologies Marketers Can?t Live Without.?

In ?Cultivate In-House Geniuses to Inspire Innovation??Anita also highlights the role that your employees play. She says that innovation can come from your team if you cultivate a genius environment (like Apple).? They can also become key players in your marketing strategy.

The Goal Is To Tune Your Employees In?

Create a team that gets excited by helping your clients, to turn them into experts about what you have to offer and how it can help your clients. These ground floor ambassadors hold a key position in your marketing.

When it comes to your business, all communication is marketing, so make the most of it.

Marketing Communication Photo via Shutterstock

About the Author

Jamillah Warner (Ms.J), a poet with a passion for business, is a Georgia-based writer and speaker and the Marketing Coordinator at Nobuko Solutions. She also provides marketing and communication quick tips in her getCLEAR! MicroNewsletter.

?

new york auto show khalid sheikh mohammed masters par 3 gwen stefani overeem laron landry mary j blige burger king

How Mitt Romney?s iPhone app typo explains the Internet

To be fair to Mitt Romney, his copywriters and his proofreaders ? all of whom allowed a typo spelling ?America? as ?Amercia? into Romney?s new iPhone app ? ?America? is kind of a weird word.

Yes, yes, I know about Amerigo Vespucci. But we pretty much never talk about him, and his first name, anyway, was Amerigo. No one really understands why the word that Wikipedia calls ?the feminized, latin version of his first name? is on the door to the home of the brave.

To be even more sumptuously fair to Mitt Romney, whose team as of this writing is still having trouble righting the entirely pleasing wrong word they bestowed on the world on Tuesday, typos make the world go round. The online world, anyway.

In the language of the digital elite ? meaning, not people with only 117 Facebook friends ? typos like ?teh? and ?pwn? are elegant strings, loaded with irony and history, that communicate volumes of cultural content. I can?t even explain all that content to you here. They can?t explain it. It?s elite.

The best way to get a sense of the 1337 typo humor is to correct someone on Twitter who uses ?teh? for ?the.? You?ll be laughed off the Internet.

And then to coin one of those blockbuster typos: who could even dream that big? Visit 4chan sometime and try to start a meme like ?meem? or go viral with ?vrial? ? you?ll get hacked out of town. They?ll pwn you.

?Amercia? is still getting auto-corrected on iPhones, and it is not yet a full-fledged Wikipedia entry. But Twitter?s running with it. Given its portability, its uniqueness on Google, and the number of short-form gags it continues to spawn, Amercia has the making of a nifty, hardy little meme. The Romney campaign shouldn?t panic about Amercia. They should, stealthily, pwn it. (Sorry ? I won?t stop with that one.)

The campaign should create a WIkipedia entry this minute (are you listening @ZacMoffatt, Romney digital director who doesn?t return my calls?), and stay on top of it, showing the campaign has a sense of humor and deep tendrils in the social networks. It should hint ? with links ? at a passing understanding of leetspeak. It should rib Apple?s App Store for being slow to take proofreading changes. And it should maybe hint that Amercia is a country of ? whatever, mercy, Mitt Romney, hijinks. Twitter fun.

Amerigo Vespucci?s name was contorted to girly America and slapped on a land mass. He got way more credit than he deserved for our one nation under God. Americans owe our brand to a 16th century typo. Maybe Romney can point that out, too.

schweddy balls bill conlin kendall jenner plane crash plane crash kardashian christmas card lori berenson

Bridget's Story ? Madison Birth Center

Why did I want a natural birth?

I had my first baby all natural in a hospital setting in Woodbury, MN. My friend was able to attend as her first doula experience, this was key in helping me keep my birth all natural. I labored a long time at home and even longer in the hospital and ended up having three different nurses. I also had the last nurse as well as the midwife switched in my last two hours of laboring, this threw my psyche way off. I tried for a water birth, but the environment wasn?t as calm as it needed to be for me to mentally relax. I ended up having a significant tear, and the midwife became stressed which caused me to be stressed. Although the hospital staff honored our wishes to keep baby with us and have as little intervention as possible, it was still stressful with the lights, sounds, switching of shifts, and constant medical check ups. Yes, I had done a very long and intense birth all natural, but it wasn?t the ?natural? that I had expected and imagined. With the surprise of finding out about my second pregnancy, now being in Madison, both my husband and I felt we needed to seek out the ?natural? and less stressed setting we had imagined. We were referred to the Madison Birth Center by a family member. This was the setting that we imagined along with the care and kindness that we had hoped for. My three year old son was able to be a part of my pregnancy journey, as he was welcomed at every visit and made to be a part of these visits. The transitioning for my baby as well as my self seemed to be instinctual for me to let my body handle birth once again working as a team to bring baby forth. This time having a home birth with the Madison Birth Center, it was done in a more relaxed environment with a more focused team that allowed the transition from womb to world to happen in the natural state it was meant to be. The midwives guided me with kindness and love that built my confidence and even though this was my body and baby that had to make the birth happen, this time as compared to last time I felt I had everyone in the room supporting me and lifting me up as a team to allow the transition to be calm and natural for baby. Even with complications during and after birth, again having a significant tear, the environment was calm and relaxed. The midwife and assistants were so in tuned to me and the baby, the complications were handled calmly and professionally in a way that was so different than that in the hospital.

What did I learn from the experience?

To be successful in all that I need to do, it takes the right people around you to allow you to make it happen. I am stronger in saying exactly what I want and seeking out the ways and answers to allow it to happen. I share my two very different experiences with others and let them know not to be ?scared? into having a natural child birth in a hospital setting and to seek out the natural child birth and setting that they imagine and feel confident in doing so.

What it did for my baby?

My daughter was born on the coldest day of the year in January of 2009. After the birth I was able to lie in my bed with my daughter on my chest cuddled up under blankets as my husband kept the fire in our living room burning. Our family was able to transition smoothly and effortlessly because I did not have to leave anywhere with our daughter. For two weeks we were able to love and comfort her here in our home, we never once took her out in that time as the Madison Birth Center had follow up care done in our home. When our family practice doctor found out that we were using the Madison Birth Center, he knew they gave such great care, that he followed up with us over the phone so our first appointment was at two weeks. This allowed our daughter to transition from the womb into her home more peacefully, allowing her to feel the love of her family as she adjusted to her new world.

How has it changed me as a person? My family? My perspective?

Receiving the sincere and focused care that I did at the Madison Birth Center, I realized that more needed to be done for women to allow them a better experience on the journey into motherhood. I share my two very different ?natural? experiences with those I meet, giving them the confidence and knowledge that they can make their choices to fulfill their needs and wants for the birth they?ve imagined. Soon after my daughter?s birth, I too wanted to give back to women the type of care that I received from the Madison Birth Center. I am now a certified Placenta Encapsulation Specialist. Allowing a woman to accept her inner primal strength and support her in the transition is important, and I feel that this experience has made me stronger in accepting this and able to support and share with others. I know from the experience of the care we received as a family with my pregnancy and the care we received during the birth and the follow up, allowed us to have a quicker and stronger bond as a family. My son and my husband were as big of a part of my daughter?s birth as I was, because the support team around us ensured this bond. I was able to be strong and confident because of the level of focused and sincere care that the midwives, my friend, and my husband had during the birth. The natural state of my surroundings, the calm music and low lights allowed a peaceful transition into the world for both my daughter and I. If more births were supported in this way, it would allow the natural bond and healing of a mother and her infant to be that much stronger.

schweddy balls schweddy balls bill conlin kendall jenner plane crash plane crash kardashian christmas card

BoxPAY Debuts Its Carrier Billing Platform For Smart TVs

Betting big on the future monetization opportunities to be found in the "smart TV" ecosystem is boxPAY, a company which is now bringing the carrier billing option to TV apps and services. With boxPAY, consumers can pay for Smart TV apps or make in-app purchases by charging those purchases to their mobile phone, no registration or credit card required. Instead, the purchase would show up on the customer's next monthly bill from their mobile operator.

undrafted free agents braveheart james harden earthquake california earthquake california roy orbison the third man

Dutch lawmakers reject online piracy treaty

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) ? Dutch lawmakers adopted a motion Tuesday urging the government not to sign a controversial international treaty aimed at reining in online piracy.

The motion was another setback for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, known as ACTA, which has run into opposition around the world.

The European Union suspended efforts to ratify the treaty in February amid a storm of protest from activists who say the agreement would stifle free speech and access to information.

Lisa Neves Goncalves ? a spokeswoman for the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation ? said the government had earlier this year stated it would avoid signing the treaty until it was clear it did not breach the Dutch or EU constitutions. That clarity must come from the European Court of Justice, which the EU has asked to check whether ACTA violates any fundamental EU rights.

The treaty has been under negotiation for years. Its drafters say it is needed to harmonize international standards to protect the rights of those who produce music, movies, pharmaceuticals, fashion goods, and a range of other products that often fall victim to piracy and intellectual property theft.

The U.S. has signed the agreement. The EU and 22 EU member states signed ACTA on Jan. 26, 2012 in Tokyo.

Although the European Council ? the European Union heads of government ? unanimously approved ACTA in December, for the EU to be a party to the treaty, all 27 member countries ? including the Netherlands ? would have to formally ratify it.

Associated Press

eddie murphy ufc 143 weigh ins micron ceo glenn miller who do you think you are superpac steve appleton

Strategic Planning Made Simple, Part 6 - Profit

Strategic Planning Made Simple, Part 6 - Profit

Posted by Matt Heemstra on Mon, May 28, 2012 @ 12:01 PM

Understanding the NOW and WHERE of your Patrons, Products, Promotion, and People are key parts of developing long-term strategy.? Even if you have an understanding of all of those things, though, you?re still missing some key elements.? Most significantly, how will you know you?ve been successful?

Measuring success requires you to develop and use key performance indicators.? Key performance indicators (KPI?s) are quantifiable measurements, agreed to beforehand, that reflect the critical success factors of an organization.? There are thousands of possibilities, but for purposes of this discussion, let?s stick to financial-related KPI?s.

Perhaps the most often mentioned KPI of all is profit.? Most business owners like to talk about how profitable their businesses are.? It?s used as a measure of success - ?A person is born with a liking for profit? (Xun Zi).? But how profitable do you want to be?? And ?As profitable as possible!? isn?t an answer.?

Think about your profits NOW.? Are you satisfied with them?? Are they enough to fund the needs of your business?? What about your personal needs?? Now think about WHERE you want your profits to be.? Go back to the Patrons, Products, Promotion and People work you?ve done.? How much profit will you need to fund the WHERE for those areas?? A business who decides that a key strategy will be product development requires a much different level of profit than one who decides it needs to function with significantly less staff.

What about some financial info besides profit?? ?Happiness is a positive cash flow? (Fred Adler).? What is your cash situation NOW?? Do you have enough cash today?? Again, think about all the work you?ve already done with Patrons, Products, Promotion and People.? How much cash will you need for the WHERE?? Many business owners look at their financial statements and feel good about being profitable, yet at the same time feel like they don?t have any money.? It?s important to set profit goals; it?s equally important to think about cash needs.? If there?s a gap between your NOW and WHERE, you?ve got work to do.

So what does the profit look like in your business?? Are you satisfied?? Or wanting more?

apple ipad kony kony 2012 jim irsay the new ipad apple announcement indianapolis colts

PSA: Resetting your phone risks upsetting Google Wallet, unless you do it right

Spare a thought for Google Wallet users who have learned this the hard way, but at least you won't have to fall into the same little-known trap. Essentially, if you have a Galaxy Nexus, HTC EVO 4G LTE or any other compatible handset and you perform a factory reset, there's a high chance you'll spoil the secure element that is designed to protect your NFC chip from tampering. This disables Google Wallet and it seems there's no fix once that happens, other than calling up a friendly (and hopefully interactive) customer service agent. However, there is a way to prevent it: before factory resetting, you have to go into the Google Wallet app, choose 'Menu' then 'Settings' and 'Reset Google Wallet'. There it is -- simple enough, but evidently not advertised enough by Google or the phone manufacturers themselves.

PSA: Resetting your phone risks upsetting Google Wallet, unless you do it right originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 May 2012 06:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink PhoneArena, Phandroid  |  Android Forums (1), (2), (3), XDA  | Email this | Comments

lance ball lance ball kansas city chiefs chiefs kc chiefs kc chiefs judy garland

Video: Hedge Fund Masters Unveiled: A 'Hedge-ucation'

Unlocking the genius of the world's top hedge fund managers, with Maneet Ahuja, CNBC hedge fund specialist and "The Alpha Masters" author.

Related Links:

Business & financial news headlines from msnbc.com

Top of page

regis philbin regis and kelly reno fire regis philbin last show regis philbin last show sarah vowell fire in reno

Oil rises above $91 on Greece vote optimism

[ [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 2]], 'http://yhoo.it/KeQd0p', '[Slideshow: See photos taken on the way down]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 7]], ' http://yhoo.it/KpUoHO', '[Slideshow: Death-defying daredevils]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['know that we have confidence in', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/LqYjAX ', '[Related: The Secret Service guide to Cartagena]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['We picked up this other dog and', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JUSxvi', '[Related: 8 common dog fears, how to calm them]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 5]], 'http://bit.ly/JnoJYN', '[Related: Did WH share raid details with filmmakers?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 3]], 'http://bit.ly/KoKiqJ', '[Factbox: AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have my contacts on or glasses', 3]], 'http://abcn.ws/KTE5AZ', '[Related: Should the murder charge be dropped?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JD7nlD', '[Related: Bristol Palin reality show debuts June 19]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 1]], 'http://bit.ly/JRPFRO', '[Related: McCain adviser who vetted Palin weighs in on VP race]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj', '[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 15]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/white-house-stays-out-of-teen-s-killing-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120411/martinzimmermen.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['Titanic', 7]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/titanic-anniversary/', ' ', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/b/4e/b4e5ad9f00b5dfeeec2226d53e173569.jpeg', '550', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['He was in shock and still strapped to his seat', 6]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/navy-jet-crashes-in-virginia-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120406/jet_ap.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP', ] ]

[ [ [['did not go as far his colleague', 8]], '29438204', '0' ], [ [[' the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 4]], '28924649', '0' ], [ [['because I know God protects me', 14], ['Brian Snow was at a nearby credit union', 5]], '28811216', '0' ], [ [['The state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Rosaviatsiya', 6]], '28805461', '0' ], [ [['measure all but certain to fail in the face of bipartisan', 4]], '28771014', '0' ], [ [['matter what you do in this case', 5]], '28759848', '0' ], [ [['presume laws are constitutional', 7]], '28747556', '0' ], [ [['has destroyed 15 to 25 houses', 7]], '28744868', '0' ], [ [['short answer is yes', 7]], '28746030', '0' ], [ [['opportunity to tell the real story', 7]], '28731764', '0' ], [ [['entirely respectable way to put off the searing constitutional controversy', 7]], '28723797', '0' ], [ [['point of my campaign is that big ideas matter', 9]], '28712293', '0' ], [ [['As the standoff dragged into a second day', 7]], '28687424', '0' ], [ [['French police stepped up the search', 17]], '28667224', '0' ], [ [['Seeking to elevate his candidacy back to a general', 8]], '28660934', '0' ], [ [['The tragic story of Trayvon Martin', 4]], '28647343', '0' ], [ [['Karzai will get a chance soon to express', 8]], '28630306', '0' ], [ [['powerful storms stretching', 8]], '28493546', '0' ], [ [['basic norm that death is private', 6]], '28413590', '0' ], [ [['songwriter also saw a surge in sales for her debut album', 6]], '28413590', '1', 'Watch music videos from Whitney Houston ', 'on Yahoo! Music', 'http://music.yahoo.com' ], [ [['keyword', 99999999999999999999999]], 'videoID', '1', 'overwrite-pre-description', 'overwrite-link-string', 'overwrite-link-url' ] ]

ufc 144 james jones james jones aladdin black forest ufc 144 fight card ufc 144 results

SugarHouse Casino Hit With Its First Fines ? CBS Philly

(Credit: G. Widman/GPTMC)

By Tony Romeo

HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) ? Philadelphia?s SugarHouse Casino has been hit with the first fines since it opened in September 2010.

The Gaming Control Board has hit SugarHouse with two fines totaling $80,000, $70,000 of which is for seven incidents of gaming involving youngsters from the ages of 17 to 20, which occurred between February of last year and March of this year.

Gaming board spokesman Doug Harbach says stopping underage gaming is a tough challenge for casinos.

?The casinos will card tens of thousands of individuals during the course of a year. And some underagers will find a way, though, to get through that system. We do fine the casino for that, because they made a mistake. But, at the same time, you?re going to have these individuals who are going to try to continually get in and gamble.?

SugarHouse was fined another ten grand for incidents involving two people who gambled even though they had placed themselves on the gaming board?s self-exclusion list.

leslie carter aaron carter sister pfizer signing day 2012 football gasland college football recruiting bjork

How Buying Electronic Vapor Cigarettes Can be Life Saving?

Do you smoke? Are you addicted to the sinful cigarette? Is it true that you want to give up smoking but are unable to quit? If the answer to these questions is yes, then you need to switch to vapor electronic cigarettes. You must be aware of the harmful effects of a cigarette. It is widely known that a cigarette can damage lungs, kidney and heart in the long run. Its harmful effects are not hidden from anybody. But miraculously, electronic cigarette is free from all these harmful properties. You can freely smoke an electric cigarette without doing any damage to your body. Electric cigarettes are sophisticated devices and a marvelous scientific invention. These cigarettes give the same pleasure as given by a conventional cigarette. Yet they are harmless because they do not burn tobacco.

You must be aware of the harmful effects of tobacco.

The conventional cigarette that you have been smoking hitherto, burns tobacco and emits toxic fumes which damage the organs. However, electronic cigarette nicotine uses an aromatic liquid to create the same taste given out by your regular smoking stick. Since it does not yield harmful fumes, you can inhale this stick without causing damage to yourself. The electronic cigarette burns an aromatic liquid whose vapor gives you pleasure. As you see, it is merely vapor and not the dense smoke which is given out by a conventional cigarette. Hence, an electric cigarette can be, indeed, life-saving when it comes to smoking. If you love to smoke, then you should immediately switch to this form of smoking. You won?t feel any difference while smoking an electric cigarette. It gives the same taste as given out by your regular cigarette. The only significant difference is that instead of tobacco, it uses an aromatic steam which is 100% safe.

Health activists and doctors have, for long, spoken against smoking because of its harmful effects. Now they are, instead, advocating the use of electric cigarette since it is a medically approved and highly recommended substitute of a normal cigarette. Vapor electronic cigarettes look and taste similar to your regular cigarette. But since they give out aromatic steam, they are not harmful and they do not cause any lasting damage to our organs. Instead, they are completely safe. Plus, there are no known side effects of using them.

Smoking is an addiction and it is really hard to quit smoking. Many people resolve to quit but fail to do so because of the nicotine effect. In fact, over 90% of smokers become completely hooked to it and are unable to give it up. If you are in the same boat, then why not switch to electronic cigarette nicotine and save your lungs?

Electronic cigarettes come in multiple flavors. You can easily buy them from internet. All the products sold on internet are 100% genuine and authentic. They do not cause any side effect. Moreover, electronic cigarettes are reasonably priced and would not cost you a fortune. In any case, they are the next best alternative to quitting.

frank gore nfl games jesus montero hiroki kuroda kuroda nfl scores nfl scores

Two men shot in apparent gang-related incident in Pilsen. | DuPage ...

In what the Chicago Police Department is calling a gang-related incident, two men were shot and killed in the South-Side neighborhood of Pilsen.? The incident happened early on Monday morning, at 12:40 am.

?

Police have not released the identity of the men, aged 26 and 27 years old.? According to Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Veejay Zala, the two were sitting on the front steps of the 2200 block of South Leavett avenue just past midnight on Monday when an unidentified man approached on foot and shot both of them.

?

Zala reports that the 26 year old victim was shot in the head and was found dead on the scene.? The 27 year old victim was shot in the abdomen.? He was transported to a local hospital where he later died of his injury.

?

Prior to the shooting, the men were outside eating tacos when two unidentified men approached them and asked to buy marijuana from them.? According to police reports, the two men then shot the victims, fatally wounding each of them.? The victim shot in the head died on the stairs, while the victim injured in the abdomen managed to get inside where he collapsed in the kitchen of the home.

?

There are unconfirmed reports that the wife of one of the victims called police to report the shooting.

?

Police report that they have no suspects at this time.? If you have been the victim of a shooting or are currently being charged with assault, you need a qualified criminal defense lawyer to handle your case.? If your loved one has been charged with a crime, call for a knowledgeable DuPage County criminal defense attorney as soon as possible to ensure that your loved one receives fair legal representation.

Tags: criminal defense lawyer, DuPage county criminal defense attorney, news, Pilsen Illinois

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 26th, 2012 at 9:46 am and is filed under Criminal defense, Uncategorized, Violent Crime. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.

miami marlins marlins marlins facebook buys instagram kevin systrom amanda bynes fibonacci sequence

How To Organize A Social Media Day Meetup

[ [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 2]], 'http://yhoo.it/KeQd0p', '[Slideshow: See photos taken on the way down]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 7]], ' http://yhoo.it/KpUoHO', '[Slideshow: Death-defying daredevils]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['know that we have confidence in', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/LqYjAX ', '[Related: The Secret Service guide to Cartagena]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['We picked up this other dog and', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JUSxvi', '[Related: 8 common dog fears, how to calm them]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 5]], 'http://bit.ly/JnoJYN', '[Related: Did WH share raid details with filmmakers?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 3]], 'http://bit.ly/KoKiqJ', '[Factbox: AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have my contacts on or glasses', 3]], 'http://abcn.ws/KTE5AZ', '[Related: Should the murder charge be dropped?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JD7nlD', '[Related: Bristol Palin reality show debuts June 19]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 1]], 'http://bit.ly/JRPFRO', '[Related: McCain adviser who vetted Palin weighs in on VP race]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj', '[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 15]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/white-house-stays-out-of-teen-s-killing-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120411/martinzimmermen.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['Titanic', 7]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/titanic-anniversary/', ' ', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/b/4e/b4e5ad9f00b5dfeeec2226d53e173569.jpeg', '550', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['He was in shock and still strapped to his seat', 6]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/navy-jet-crashes-in-virginia-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120406/jet_ap.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP', ] ]

[ [ [['did not go as far his colleague', 8]], '29438204', '0' ], [ [[' the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 4]], '28924649', '0' ], [ [['because I know God protects me', 14], ['Brian Snow was at a nearby credit union', 5]], '28811216', '0' ], [ [['The state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Rosaviatsiya', 6]], '28805461', '0' ], [ [['measure all but certain to fail in the face of bipartisan', 4]], '28771014', '0' ], [ [['matter what you do in this case', 5]], '28759848', '0' ], [ [['presume laws are constitutional', 7]], '28747556', '0' ], [ [['has destroyed 15 to 25 houses', 7]], '28744868', '0' ], [ [['short answer is yes', 7]], '28746030', '0' ], [ [['opportunity to tell the real story', 7]], '28731764', '0' ], [ [['entirely respectable way to put off the searing constitutional controversy', 7]], '28723797', '0' ], [ [['point of my campaign is that big ideas matter', 9]], '28712293', '0' ], [ [['As the standoff dragged into a second day', 7]], '28687424', '0' ], [ [['French police stepped up the search', 17]], '28667224', '0' ], [ [['Seeking to elevate his candidacy back to a general', 8]], '28660934', '0' ], [ [['The tragic story of Trayvon Martin', 4]], '28647343', '0' ], [ [['Karzai will get a chance soon to express', 8]], '28630306', '0' ], [ [['powerful storms stretching', 8]], '28493546', '0' ], [ [['basic norm that death is private', 6]], '28413590', '0' ], [ [['songwriter also saw a surge in sales for her debut album', 6]], '28413590', '1', 'Watch music videos from Whitney Houston ', 'on Yahoo! Music', 'http://music.yahoo.com' ], [ [['keyword', 99999999999999999999999]], 'videoID', '1', 'overwrite-pre-description', 'overwrite-link-string', 'overwrite-link-url' ] ]

ravens ray lewis steven tyler national anthem penn state paterno newt gingrich joe paterno dead

Greg Weight on Portraits and Landscapes

Just because you didn?t get to go to that awesome photography conference doesn?t mean that you can?t learn something from the pros! Occasionally, we?ll be featuring a recommended photography lecture or interview on Phototuts+.

Today, we?re featuring Greg Weight, an Australian landscape and portrait photographer. He began work at the Yellow House in Sydney in the 1970s. For many years, he took insightful photos of artists due to his respect for them. His night landscapes and portraits of Aboriginal Australians are also not to be missed.

You can see more of Weight?s excellent photography work at his website, www.gregweightphoto.au.com.

the pirates band of misfits cleveland browns minnesota twins green bay packers bobby abreu 2012 draft chicago bears

Japan Flavor Report: Kimchi Ramune

"Oh God, this soda." The smell alone kind of makes me feel sick. As the fizz bubbles past the fallen marble, the smell?well it's like kimchi. My stomach recoils. I don't want to drink this?this Kimchi flavored Ramune.

?

??

?

The drink, from Hata-Kosen, is not new, but it made the rounds a couple weeks ago when game company Experience Inc. put up a blog post saying,?"We bought a case of such a thing! It has been unpopular with our staff? It's drinkable, but?stinks. If there is anyone in the industry who wants to drink it, come on over to our office?"

?

?

I decided to take their invitation seriously after noting on their website that they were not terribly far away?about an hour's train ride. Not that I am necessarily an industry person, but in a certain way I am, since I can introduce them to all of you. Have you ever heard of Experience Inc.??

?

?

Screen from Generation Xth Meiky? [Labyrinth] x ["cross"] Blood

?

I met with representative director?Hajime Chikami who said they were surprised how far that blog post spread and lamented that posts about their games don't get around quite like that.

?

Originally a PC dungeon crawler RPG company, Experience has begun putting an effort into Xbox 360 releases with Kadokawa Games. Their main staff is about 11 people based in Hachioji on the third floor of a small office building, but not all the work is done in-house?for one major example, character designers are hired from outside.?

?

?

I was warned that their games are for "maniacs," not just your average gamer. You have to really love difficult dungeons and have a taste for the "grotesque." Not only is the content violent (blood!), but there are also some images that might be disturbing. They originally set out to create horror games (like the Generation Xth series where students with super human powers have to investigate gruesome incidents and battle monsters), but also ended up branching out into fantasy with more typical anime-style characters in Entaku no Seito - Student of Round (i.e. "Students of the Round Table").?

?

?

None of their titles have been released in North America or Europe yet, but it sounds like it's more due to land of bandwidth on their part due to upcoming projects than lack of interest on the part of Western publishers.?

??

Now back to?that SMELL. I let Chikami and co. get back to work and performed the famous marble maneuver after giving the bottles a bit of refrigeration once I got home. Thankfully the stuff didn't explode all over my room. Yeah, I still don't want to drink this.

?

?

I put my lips to the brim and tilt. First just fizz, then the liquid, and my taste buds revolt. The crisp sweetness of original Ramune has been soured to reproduce the flavor of...fermentation. In fact, "souring agent" or maybe "acidity agent" is second on the ingredient list. Of course, for a soda, sugar is first. The other ingredients listed are "flavoring, spices, red #102, salt."

?

If you saw me taking serial sips, you might guess that I enjoyed it, but it was more just genuine confusion over the flavor. The taste is so?well it's not spicy, contrary to what the bottle would have you believe. There is no heat per se. Before I tried any, Chikami described it as "strange" (or "mysterious"). That's about it, and it's why it's hard to stop drinking it. There is just enough of something like kimchi flavor involved that the rest becomes like a puzzle to solve. I understand the kimchi flavor, but the finish is sweet, tilting the entire experience in a nauseating direction, so I have to pull away, and yet? No, no. I pull away. Dude, it's so bad, you don't even understand. And yet?NO!!?It does not surprise me one bit that they offered to let me take more if I wanted. How could anyone get through one of these, much less 30??

?

After a while I got thirsty and absentmindedly took a drink of the half finished bottle on my desk. What a mistake! I'm just gonna put this way, WAY over there (down the drain *ahem*) and see which of my friends is brave enough to drink the other one I received.

?

Kimchi image via Closet Cooking

jim mora the weeknd echoes of silence gio gonzalez san francisco fire patti labelle the weeknd the weeknd

Park of animatronic dinosaurs opening in NJ

Children play a game indoors as outside, a Tyrannosaurus T-Rex moves and growls in an inter-active display at Field Station Dinosaurs in Secaucus, N.J., Friday, May 25, 2012. There will be 31 types of life-sized dinosaurs displayed at the Jurassic expedition that opens Saturday, May 26. (AP Photo/Mel?Evans)

Children play a game indoors as outside, a Tyrannosaurus T-Rex moves and growls in an inter-active display at Field Station Dinosaurs in Secaucus, N.J., Friday, May 25, 2012. There will be 31 types of life-sized dinosaurs displayed at the Jurassic expedition that opens Saturday, May 26. (AP Photo/Mel?Evans)

Children watch and react as a Tyrannosaurus T-Rex moves and growls in an inter-active display at Field Station Dinosaurs in Secaucus, N.J., Friday, May 25, 2012. There will be 31 types of life-sized dinosaurs displayed at the Jurassic expedition that opens Saturday, May 26. (AP Photo/Mel?Evans)

Workers Oneil Rodriguez, right, and Rob Walsh prepare a Parasaurolophus display at Field Station Dinosaurs in Secaucus, N.J., Friday, May 25, 2012. There will be 31 types of life-sized dinosaurs displayed at the Jurassic expedition that opens Saturday, May 26. (AP Photo/Mel?Evans)

Workers Oneil Rodriguez, right, and Rob Walsh prepare a Parasaurolophus display at Field Station Dinosaurs in Secaucus, N.J., Friday, May 25, 2012. There will be 31 types of life-sized dinosaurs displayed at the Jurassic expedition that opens Saturday, May 26. (AP Photo/Mel?Evans)

people stop to read the information at a display at Field Station Dinosaurs in Secaucus, N.J., Friday, May 25, 2012. There will be 31 types of life-sized dinosaurs displayed at the Jurassic expedition that opens Saturday, May 26. (AP Photo/Mel?Evans)

SECAUCUS, N.J. (AP) ? A new family attraction featuring more than 30 animatronic dinosaurs opens this holiday weekend on 20 acres of woods and grass in northern New Jersey.

Field Station: Dinosaurs in Secaucus includes a base camp and four learning stations along a three-quarter-mile trail.

Its moving dinosaurs include a 90-foot Argentinosaurus that park operators say will be visible from the Empire State Building in Manhattan, which is about 10 miles away.

The dinosaur attraction was designed in partnership with the New Jersey State Museum. It will be open each year from Memorial Day weekend to mid-November.

Associated Press

denver vs new england denver broncos vs new england patriots cruise ship sinking vernon davis starship troopers starship troopers nfl

Best Discount Web Hosting

There are many low-cost webhosting suppliers to settle on from when putting in your web site, giving everything from high-end dedicated servers to starter, shared-hosting packages. therefore what are the items you would like to seem for when yearning for discount internet hosting?

?

?Quantity of Disk Space: ?Your websites, pictures and content that you just conceive to upload to your web site takes up house, simply because the information takes up disk house on your own laptop. Most internet Web Hosting packages can have restricted house, though unless you intend on storing massive files, chances are high that you will not be needing a hole heap of house initially.

Reliability and Speed: you would like to form positive the host you choose is really reliable and quick.

everybody advertises ninety nine.99% up time, however raise to ascertain a report. once you website is down or slow not solely does one lose annoyed guests, however it'll hurt your search engine rankings still. Google spiders have numerous websites to crawl, and if yours is simply too slow it'll move on to following website.

Bandwidth: once you download things to your laptop from the web, that uses bandwidth. Similarly, when individuals visit your web site they have to download all the photographs, files and content. This puts strain on your internet Web Hosting provider's servers, therefore if you intend to possess plenty of huge pictures and files being transferred frequently, or plenty of refreshing of your pages (such as a web site forum), then you may want a lot of bandwidth.

Extras: ?Your discount internet hosting supplier ought to offer you countless extras, like cgi bin, unlimited emails, an auto responder, and web site templates.

?

These are simply many of the massive things to contemplate when seeking for the most effective discount internet hosting supplier. One different purpose when comparing costs, make certain to seem at what quantity it prices to upgrade to following Web Hosting package. As your web site grows, you wish to make certain you are not simply obtaining an honest deal currently, you wish to possess equal worth as you get larger. do not get lured in by low, introductory rates.

west virginia rob roy gaslight justin timberlake michael dyer bachmann bachmann

It's Morning in Venture Capital

This article originally ran on PEHub. If you prefer the super short version ? I?ve summarized the post in the final section.

Many observers of the venture capital industry have questioned whether its best days are behind it.? They are frustrated by the past decade of subpar returns for the sector.? The most recent report to weigh in on the troubles of the industry was produced by the esteemed Kauffman Foundation.

There are obvious reasons the industry has had less-than-desirable returns, including: massive over-funding of the sector, huge increases in inexperienced venture capitalists that took a decade to peter out, and the massive correction in the value of the public stock markets that closed many exit opportunities for half a decade.

I can?t help feel a bit of rear-view mirror analysis in all of ?VC model is broken? bears in our industry. I have been close to the tech & startup sectors for more than 20 years and I can?t think of a period in which I felt more optimistic about the innovation and value creation I see in front of us.

Looking ahead at the next decade I am excited by what I believe will be viewed as one of the best and most rational investment periods for venture capital due to seven discrete factors:

1. The number of startups being created has increased by an order of magnitude

Cloud computing and the open source movements have brought down the costs of starting a company by more than 90%.? If you want to understand the details of why this is, I covered it in detail in this post, Understanding Changes in the Software Industry.

This has led to the creation of incubators, accelerators and seed funds. From this we have seen a commensurate boom in the number of startup companies. When I was graduated from university in 1991 it was only the really committed who eschewed the corporate world for creating tech startup businesses.

When I came out of college LA Law was one of the most popular shows on TV and made being a lawyer sexy, so most of my peers made that career choice.

But in 2012 a visit to any major college in America will show you the massive increase in aspirations of our young talent to become the next Mark Zuckerberg and build a future Facebook. The movie, ?The Social Network? might have had more of an impact on creating future entrepreneurs than any other event of the past 5 years. Thank you, Aaron Sorkin!

Contrary to some press reporting, the boom in startups, the creation of accelerators and seed funds as well as the deserved popularity of AngelList do not signal doom for our industry. They are, in fact, great news for traditional venture capitalists. The most successful of these businesses will still need venture capital to scale their businesses.

They need a combination of capital and experience to separate from the rest of the pack ? the low cost of starting a business means it is even more vital to become the market leader more quickly. What the explosion in startups really means for our industry is a much bigger pipeline of potential deals if we VC?s can be patient.

Yes, it?s true that FOMO (fear of missing out) is driving some irrational behavior and valuations amongst uber competitive deals and well-financed VCs. I?ve written in detail about that in this post, ?On Bubbles, And Why We?ll Be Just Fine.?

It doesn?t seem too irrational for seed or A deals, just a bit higher than the norm. And by the C round it seems like investors feel more confident in setting a fair market value. But in a race to be sure you don?t miss the next Pinterest, some people are paying huge premiums for ?market risk? B rounds. Some will pay off, others will not.

For those patient enough to source great companies at reasonable prices and prepared to weather the next inevitable downturn, I believe firmly there will be economic rewards for discipline and patience.

2. The number of venture capital funds has shrunk by two-thirds

To really assess what opportunities the VC industry has over the next decade, one needs to first look at some of the root causes of poor returns in the past decade.

The Funding Problem

In 1998 there were around 850 VC funds and by 2000 there were 2,300.? Thomson Reuters data shows that around $10 billion of LP money went into VCs per year pre bubble. By 2000 the total LP commitments had mushroomed to more than $100 billion.

Everybody knows that most funds are 10-year funds (and that strangely 10-year fund really means 12-year funds). So it is unsurprising that an over-funding environment and the commensurate returns hangover would have lasted until about ? well ? 2012

Just why does over-funding dampen returns? For starters we saw a huge influx of inexperienced managers enter the VC industry proving clearly that being a VC is not a purely quantitative job.

But on micro level, over-funding also creates performance problems for specific companies. In a rational funding environment you might see 3 or 4 great competitors slug it out over the market, each with enough funding to prove their performance until the next milestone where the market decides whether they deserve more funding. They compete on features, price and execution.

In an over-funding environment companies are encouraged to eschew revenues in a land grab to acquire eyeballs, clicks, page views or whatever other vanity metrics give VCs the false comfort that they?re sitting on a gold mine. Try charging customers for your product when you have 12 competitors giving the product away free finances by $20 million of VC.

The Exit Problem

And of course the funding problem coincided with the stock market correction that took away most exit options for years to come. IPO markets had burned an entire cycle of retail stock investors and many institutional investors to boot.

The numbers of potential buyers had decreased dramatically both because large companies were shedding jobs and because many past buyers simply lacked resources to make acquisitions. And in a market with too much capacity (too many startups) the leverage was completely in the hand of buyers at M&A activity finally picked up.

So of course returns from 2000-2010 were subpar on average for the industry.

Today?s Normalization

Fast forward to 2012 and none of these conditions hold.

While the number of startups has increased exponentially, the number of active venture capitalists has shrunk by more than 2/3rds in the past decade to less than 750 today and still shrinking. Put simply, more deals and fewer venture capitalists mean better access to deals, more stability for winners and great returns for the best in our industry.

Money flowing into our industry has also massively downsized.? LP contributions to VC firms shrunk from 2000 and by 2005-2008 had stabilized to around $30 billion per year.? By 2010-2011 this had shrunk by half again, averaging under $15 billion.

It?s also worth noting as data would suggest from this SVB venture funding report, lower costs to build tech & operate businesses implies the possibility of lower loss ratios in portfolios. It will take some time to prove out this hypothesis, but the data above suggests it may be the case.

So it?s hard to make a compelling argument that the performance on average in the past decade will prima facie have any predictive powers in determining the next ten. In fact, the market conditions would argue for quite the opposite, which is what makes rear-view-mirror analysis so blurred.

3. There are 20x more consumers online

In 1997, the year the Kauffman Report begins its analysis; there were 70 million users online globally. In 1998 it was 150 million, 1999 250 million and by 2000 it had crossed 350 million. Even at this staggering pace it still represented less than 6% of the world?s population.

By the end of 2011 the Internet population was estimated at 2.3 billion, with 275 million in North America alone (source: Internet World Stats) and an astounding global penetration of 33% of the world?s population. Considering how much world poverty exists this penetration rate is truly mind-boggling.

Put simply ? doing business online is significantly more valuable than it has ever been. There is no sector of the economy that isn?t being transformed by the online community that is now voraciously consuming media, applications, communications and buying global products.

To ascribe past poor performance in our industry to the current market situation we face is myopic.

4. We?re online all the time and at high speed

It?s not just that more people are online, it?s that we?re online all the time.

Internet usage a decade ago was less than 1 hour per day and was restricted to narrowband communications. Today we?re online 3.1 hours per day on average, and that?s excluding the other 13 hours a day where we have our mobile devices, our connected TVs, our iPads and Kindles and soon our cars connected to the web.

The ability to interact, transact and disrupt is an order of magnitude greater at broadband speeds than at 56k dial-up modem speeds. Just how transformative is broadband? As of January 2012 consumers were watching 4 BILLION video views per day on YouTube. A decade ago the idea of even watching video online would have been laughable.

THAT is disruption. And as the recent VC fundings of Maker Studios, Machinima, Movie Clips, Big Frame and Fullscreen will attest ? opportunities for massive growth in our sector are anything but moribund. The video industry will be disrupted just as books, newspapers and music before it.

And retail, financial services, hotels, the auto industry, taxis, flowers and every inefficient or protected industry out there is being altered by technology changes that change market dynamics and create opportunities for the innovative, the nimble and the risk takers.

5. Mobility really changes everything

It?s not just that we?re connected to the Internet at higher speeds and for longer; we?re actually always tethered to the web. In fact, the majority of Americans are now carrying computers in their front pockets.

The opportunity to transact at the point of purchase increases the sheer number of revenue opportunities. This world of local meets retail meets digital advertising portends to technology disruption and with it VC opportunities.

This never existed a decade ago. Heck, this opportunity didn?t exist three years ago.

According to Google data 30% of all restaurant searches now come via mobile devices. Our societal behavior is now to look up things we want to book or purchase at the point & time of need.

The desktop web introduced banner ads that offered ?brand advertising? opportunities akin to television.? Mobile devices deliver ?bottom of funnel? sales opportunities that deliver real & immediate economic results.

Search for a restaurant, book a table, eat in 30 minutes. Search for movies times, book your tickets, see a show. Bottom of the sales funnel.

The mobile world brings enormous business opportunities and changes to business models that were unthinkable when VCs made investments ten years ago that produced the last decade of results.

And the future?

Nearly 25% of US users access the web primarily through only mobile devices and these are our youth and thus our future. It is estimated that more than 30% of all YouTube videos are now being consumed on mobile devices and I?ve seen actual data that shows in some youth genres mobile video consumption now exceeds 50% of video views.

When you look at the developing world this is the majority of users (due to lack of landline infrastructure) and it portends future opportunities in payments, entertainment, application development and services.

This doesn?t seem like the end of VC to me, it feels more like the 2^nd inning.

6. Everybody is now payment ready

Often overlooked in the importance of what has changed during the past decade is that we?re all payment ready now. We?re all one-click away from buying, watching, renting or ordering just about anything.

When you order an Amazon Kindle it comes pre-configured with your user name already configured into the device so that you can click a single button and buy shit. And buy people are doing en masse. It?s not a tablet ? it?s an order entry device!

A decade ago most of the country was fearful of entering their credit cards or using mobile banking. Today all of our banking and payment information is accessible online and we are one-click from buying from Amazon, iTunes, the AppStore and PayPal.

Businesses are also one-click from advertising through Google and now Facebook. Web businesses can now grow revenue before they can even afford sales people.

This trend is often overlooked yet the results or palpable. When businesses really work ? they explode financially at a pace that we haven?t seen in history and with limited investments to prove out this case.

If you think back to just the past couple of years we?ve seen enormous growth on limited capital in businesses like Words With Friends and OMGPop (both now Zynga) as well as Angry Birds.

This has spawned growth in related VC-backed businesses like Burstly, TapJoy and Flurry who help enable real-time transactions in mobile apps.

The whole ecosystem grows rapidly because the distance between, ?I like this application? and ?give me an upgrade? is one click with none of the traditional abandonment that comes with having to pull out your credit card.

Consider this: 5 years ago VCs were debating whether US consumers would ever adopt ?virtual goods? in the way that Asian consumers did and thus saw the popular rise of QQ (TenCent) in China (which did $5 billion in revenue in the past 12 months).

Virtual goods are in fact booming on a global basis and in many instances deliver a much higher ARPU than advertising revenue. 2012 virtual good revenue is expected to top $12 billion this year. [thank you to Kidlandia for the chart]

And here?s the thing ? 55% of the entire market of purchasers are 15 years old or younger. There is no stronger evidence of the power of one-click purchasing (as these people clearly don?t have credit cards).

Imagine how these consumers look in 10 years time. Will they really even understand cash? Unimaginable to you? Just remember that 10 years ago you had no: YouTube, Facebook, iPhone or iPad. In fact, you were cool because you had a Palm Pilot while your friends still used a Filofax (yes, you know I?m on to you).

7. We?re all socially linked

And finally it can?t be ignored that we?re not only payment ready, but we?re socially connected. Look at the rapid adoption of Groupon, LivingSocial or Instagram as proof of how rapidly businesses can grow through viral means.

It?s not just that businesses can monetize more easily, when people like products or services they are diffused more rapidly through the population than has ever been the case.

Nowhere was this more evident than the rise of Zynga, one of the fastest growing companies in history. But this is also spreading through non-game types of businesses.

Evidence Fab: Just 18 months ago they started selling products and through a unique offering and a flawlessly executed social model they are reportedly on par to cross $100 million in sales in 2012.

That type of growth on limited VC dollars was unthinkable a decade ago.

Morning in VC

These seven factors are leading to better and more sustainable opportunities in venture capital than have been present at any time in our investment histories.

We have lower costs to create companies ? leading to more early stage innovation. We have a more normalized venture market with less capital and fewer firms. We have consumers who are online at higher speeds and for more of their days. People are connected all the time and when they?re mobile. Each of these pocket computers is payment ready & social linked.

Given these seven factors ? it?s hard to look in the rear view mirror and imagine you can see the future.

I believe it?s truly morning in the technology sector. And I remain convinced this bodes well for our venture capital industry.

Top image courtesy of Fotolia.com

cinnamon rolls krampus robert de niro winner of x factor cheesecake recipe leona lewis carlos beltran

Chaplain barred from celebrating Mass in South Carolina jail : News ...

CWN - May 24, 2012

A Catholic chaplain has been told that he cannot celebrate Mass in a South Carolina jail.

Msgr. Ed Lofton, who had been celebrating Mass at Charleston County jail for 15 years, was blocked from entering the facility because he was carrying altar wine. The jail?s policy bans all alcohol, and while state regulations in South Carolina make an exception for sacramental wine, Charleston County does not.

Msgr. Lofton reports that he bring a single ounce of wine to the jail, all of which he would consume himself. Prison officials told him that he must substitute grape juice. But a valid Mass cannot be celebrated without wine.

Additional sources for this story
Some links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

An appeal from our founder, Dr. Jeffrey Mirus: Dear reader: If you found the information on this page helpful in your pursuit of a better Catholic life, please support our work with a donation. Your donation helps us to reach over 2,000,000 Truth-seeking readers worldwide each year. Thank you!

Progress toward our needs in May: $13,395 to go! $50,000.00 $36,604.63 27% 73%

Sound Off! CatholicCulture.org supporters weigh in.

All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off!

colbert super pac colbert super pac sloth birth control pill recall ground hog day florida primary results black history

Morgan Stanley, others make $100 million profit on Facebook trades: WSJ

[ [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 2]], 'http://yhoo.it/KeQd0p', '[Slideshow: See photos taken on the way down]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 7]], ' http://yhoo.it/KpUoHO', '[Slideshow: Death-defying daredevils]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['know that we have confidence in', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/LqYjAX ', '[Related: The Secret Service guide to Cartagena]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['We picked up this other dog and', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JUSxvi', '[Related: 8 common dog fears, how to calm them]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 5]], 'http://bit.ly/JnoJYN', '[Related: Did WH share raid details with filmmakers?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 3]], 'http://bit.ly/KoKiqJ', '[Factbox: AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have my contacts on or glasses', 3]], 'http://abcn.ws/KTE5AZ', '[Related: Should the murder charge be dropped?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JD7nlD', '[Related: Bristol Palin reality show debuts June 19]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 1]], 'http://bit.ly/JRPFRO', '[Related: McCain adviser who vetted Palin weighs in on VP race]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj', '[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['checking the credibility of statements', 5]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/search-for-new-clues-in-etan-patz-case-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/dh/ap/ap/default/120524/patz.jpg', '630', ' ', 'Reuters', ], [ [['the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 15]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/white-house-stays-out-of-teen-s-killing-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120411/martinzimmermen.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['Titanic', 7]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/titanic-anniversary/', ' ', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/b/4e/b4e5ad9f00b5dfeeec2226d53e173569.jpeg', '550', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['He was in shock and still strapped to his seat', 6]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/navy-jet-crashes-in-virginia-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120406/jet_ap.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP', ] ]

[ [ [['did not go as far his colleague', 8]], '29438204', '0' ], [ [[' the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 4]], '28924649', '0' ], [ [['because I know God protects me', 14], ['Brian Snow was at a nearby credit union', 5]], '28811216', '0' ], [ [['The state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Rosaviatsiya', 6]], '28805461', '0' ], [ [['measure all but certain to fail in the face of bipartisan', 4]], '28771014', '0' ], [ [['matter what you do in this case', 5]], '28759848', '0' ], [ [['presume laws are constitutional', 7]], '28747556', '0' ], [ [['has destroyed 15 to 25 houses', 7]], '28744868', '0' ], [ [['short answer is yes', 7]], '28746030', '0' ], [ [['opportunity to tell the real story', 7]], '28731764', '0' ], [ [['entirely respectable way to put off the searing constitutional controversy', 7]], '28723797', '0' ], [ [['point of my campaign is that big ideas matter', 9]], '28712293', '0' ], [ [['As the standoff dragged into a second day', 7]], '28687424', '0' ], [ [['French police stepped up the search', 17]], '28667224', '0' ], [ [['Seeking to elevate his candidacy back to a general', 8]], '28660934', '0' ], [ [['The tragic story of Trayvon Martin', 4]], '28647343', '0' ], [ [['Karzai will get a chance soon to express', 8]], '28630306', '0' ], [ [['powerful storms stretching', 8]], '28493546', '0' ], [ [['basic norm that death is private', 6]], '28413590', '0' ], [ [['songwriter also saw a surge in sales for her debut album', 6]], '28413590', '1', 'Watch music videos from Whitney Houston ', 'on Yahoo! Music', 'http://music.yahoo.com' ], [ [['keyword', 99999999999999999999999]], 'videoID', '1', 'overwrite-pre-description', 'overwrite-link-string', 'overwrite-link-url' ] ]

richard hamilton paris jackson paris jackson howard stern americas got talent china aircraft carrier barbara walters most fascinating person 2011 golden globe nominations

HELP?What is it this: only the effects of ... - Health and Fitness

Question by John: HELP?What is it this: only the effects of medications, allergies to any of them or even health problem?
I started with a sore throat that day I had a fever and started taking Dipyrone and sucking lozenges. The fever passed. 3 days after a lot of sore throat went to the doctor who said I was Amidaglite. I took an injection Bezetacil and started taking an anti-inflationary called Nisulid. This day was great! Passing one day (today) started to get tingling sensations throughout the body, not given much importance. however hours ago I started having headaches and coughing !!!!! (no more sore throat)
I apologize if there is any problem with the translation, because I?m Brazilian and I can not speak English!

Best answer:

Answer by Paulio
translate this mate: you have a fucking cold? get over it.

Give your answer to this question below!

sinead oconnor braylon edwards jimmer fredette mall of america mennonite smokey robinson smokey robinson