MIT Technology Review's 2012 Business Roundup: Mobile ...

Getting lost: Glitches in Apple?s mapping program, like the one seen here, drove home the risk the company took when it replaced Google maps with its own service.

Facebook?s IPO in May should have marked a triumph for its hoodie-wearing CEO, who made social networking a dominant technology on the Web.

But now Facebook users are rapidly shifting their attention to mobile devices, and the company?s uncertain business model for those smaller screens has required it to devise new ways to make money. Its $1 billion purchase of the popular mobile photo network Instagram underscored the business significance of these shifts.

Facebook wasn?t the only company struggling to adapt to the challenges of the mobile market in 2012.

From Apple?s smartphone patent feuds and mobile mapping showdowns to Microsoft?s Windows facelift, large companies faced off with rivals and showed a surprising willingness to rethink long-established strategies. Microsoft produced its own tablet computer, the Surface, competing directly with its usual hardware partners.

Some such risks seem to have paid off. Amazon essentially undermined the e-reader market it created by introducing the now-popular Kindle Fire tablet. Others backfired: Apple stopped allowing Google Maps to be the default navigation service on its devices, only to bungle the launch of its own service. Soon iPhone and iPad users counted Google as their savior when the search company launched an iPhone and iPad map app as an alternative.

Other companies spent most of 2012 fighting off irrelevance (see Nokia and RIM) that threatened them shockingly fast. For example, MIT Technology Review named Zynga to the annual list of 50 disruptive companies at the beginning of this year because of the success it had in creating addictive games for people to play on Facebook. Today, partly because more consumers are playing games on mobile devices, Zynga has been in a financial free fall, with executives leaving in droves.

Money also flooded into early-stage startups focused on mobile services, especially apps. Yet in 2012, many independent mobile software developers, while finding themselves heavily courted to create programs within a growing number of ?ecosystems,? also often struggled to find enough users and revenues to turn a profit in an increasingly crowded market.

The need for alternative revenue streams is a major reason why more companies are focused on advancing mobile advertising and data collection technology. Take Drawbridge, a startup developing algorithms to improve ad targeting across any device, or Google, which introduced its fun ?Field Trip? app that could actually be a gold mine for location-based advertising in disguise.

Technologies that were created for mobile devices are rippling into broader areas. ARM, for example, the company that designs energy-efficient chips for mobile devices, believes its designs could soon move into data servers and PCs, where the once-dominant Intel is now racing to innovate.

More broadly, some of the most fundamental shifts this year involved the businesses that fund new technologies. The model of venture capital is changing as the costs of launching and growing software and IT startups shrink. VC are struggling with low returns, and more and more startup founders are turning instead to ?accelerators,? or programs that coach and fund nascent startups, angel investors, and ?crowdfunding? platforms like Kickstarter because they don?t need to give up as much equity as VCs demand. That trend could gain momentum: a U.S. law called the JOBS Act passed in 2012, the result being that soon any individual will be allowed to invest in a startup in return for an equity stake.

Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/news/508956/the-mobile-business-got-tougher-this-year/

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AP Roundup of GOP Governors on 'Obamacare' (TN gets just a mention)

ATLANTA (AP) -- Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who made a fortune as a health care executive, long opposed President Barack Obama's remake of the health insurance market. After the Democratic president won re-election, the Republican governor softened his tone. He said he wanted to "have a conversation" with the administration about implementing the 2010 law. With a federal deadline approaching, he also said while Florida won't set up the exchange for individuals to buy private insurance policies, the feds can do it.

In New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie held his cards before saying he won't set up his own exchange, but he's avoided absolute language and says he could change his mind. He's also leaving his options open to accept federal money to expand Medicaid insurance for people who aren't covered. The caveat, Christie says, is whether Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius can "answer my questions" about its operations and expense.

Both Republican governors face re-election in states that Obama won twice, Christie in 2013 and Scott in 2014. And both will encounter well-financed Democrats.

Their apparent struggles on the issue, along with other postures by their GOP colleagues elsewhere, suggest political uncertainty for Republicans as the Affordable Care Act starts to go into effect two years after clearing Congress without a single Republican vote. The risks also are acute for governors in Democratic-leaning or swing-voting states or who know their records will be parsed should they seek the presidency in 2016 or beyond.

"It's a tough call for many Republican governors who want to do the best thing for their state but don't want to be seen as advancing an overhaul that many Republicans continue to detest," said Whit Ayers, a consultant in Virginia whose clients include Gov. Bill Haslam of Tennessee, a Republican who didn't announce his rejection of a state exchange until days before Sebelius's Dec. 14 deadline.

Indeed, cracks keep growing in the near-unanimous Republican rejection of Obama's health care law that characterized the GOP's political messaging for the last two years. Five GOP-led states -- Idaho, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah -- are pressing ahead with state insurance exchanges. Ongoing monitoring by The Associated Press shows that another five Republican-led states are pursuing or seriously a partnership with Washington to help run the new markets.

Democrats, meanwhile, hope to use the law and Republican inflexibility to their advantage, betting that more Americans will embrace the law once it expands coverage. The calculus for voters, Democrats assume, will become more about the policy and less about a polarizing president.

"It shouldn't be complicated at all," said John Anzalone, an Obama pollster who assists Democrats in federal races across the country. Anzalone said Republicans could use their own states-rights argument to justify running exchanges. Instead, he said, "They are blinded by Obama-hatred rather than seeing what's good for their citizens."

Governors can set up their own exchanges, partner with Sebelius' agency or let the federal government do it. The exchanges are set to open Jan. 1, 2014, allowing individuals and businesses to shop online for individual policies from private insurers. Low- and middle-income individuals will get federal premium subsidies calculated on a sliding income scale. Eighteen states plus Washington, DC, most led by Democrats, have committed to opening their own exchanges.

The law also calls for raising the income threshold for Medicaid eligibility to cover people making up to 138 percent of the federal poverty line, or about $15,400 a year for an individual. That could add more than 10 million people, most of them childless adults, to the joint state-federal insurance program for low-income and disabled Americans. Together, the exchanges and the Medicaid expansion are expected to reduce the number of uninsured by about 30 million people within the next decade.

A Supreme Court ruling last summer made the Medicaid expansion voluntary, rather than mandatory for states. At least eight governors, all of them Republicans, have already said they have no plans to expand Medicaid.

The complexity is obvious.

National exit polls from last month's election showed that 49 percent of voters wanted some or all of Obama's signature legislative achievement rolled back. Among self-identified independents, that number was 58 percent. Among Republicans, it spiked to 81 percent. When asked about the role of government, half of respondents said the notion that government is doing too much fits their views more closely than the idea that government should do more.

Before the election, a national AP-GfK poll suggested that 63 percent of respondents preferred their states to run insurance exchanges, almost double the 32 percent who wanted the federal government to take that role. And the same electorate that tilts toward repealing some or all of the new law clearly re-elected its champion.

That's not the most important consideration for governors who face re-election in Republican states. Georgia's Nathan Deal and Alabama's Robert Bentley, who also face 2014 campaigns, initially set up advisory commissions to consider how to carry out the health care law, but they've since jumped ship. But, unlike others, Deal and Bentley aren't eyeing national office.

Three Republicans who are viewed as potential national candidates -- Rick Perry of Texas, Nikki Haley of South Carolina and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana -- were full-throated opponents. Jindal, the only one of the three who is term-limited, is the incoming chairman of the Republican Governors Association. In that role, he has co-signed more conciliatory letters to Sebelius asking questions to flesh out how the designs might work.

Republican governors also are feeling quiet pressure from hospitals and other providers.

Deal, the Georgia governor, offers the typical argument for saying no: "We can't afford it." But the law envisions the new Medicaid coverage more or less as a replacement of an existing financing situation that pays hospitals to treat the uninsured. The law contemplates cuts in that program, which already requires state seed money. The idea was that expanding Medicaid coverage would reduce "uncompensated care" costs.

"Some of those cuts were made with the expectation that Medicaid would be expanded and that hospitals would be paid for portions of business that we are not being paid for now," said Don Dalton of the North Carolina Hospital Association.

Dalton's Governor-elect, Republican Pat McCrory, said as a candidate that he opposed Medicaid expansion. Dalton said his industry is leaning on McCrory and legislative leaders, though he commended "their deliberate approach." Similar efforts are underway in South Carolina, Georgia, Missouri and elsewhere.

For Democrats, Anzalone said the framing will be simpler: "You don't want to take a 9-to-1 match? That's a pretty easy investment. These governors who aren't expanding Medicaid, they're basically giving taxpayer money to the states that do."

Posted by Tom Humphrey on December 30, 2012 at 6:37 PM |

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Source: http://blogs.knoxnews.com/knx/humphrey/2012/12/ap-roundup-of-gop-governors-on.html

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Video: Florida State's Lonnie Pryor

Heather Dinich

Dinich covered ACC and Big Ten football for five seasons before joining ESPN.com in November 2007. She's an Indiana grad but somehow her favorite day of the week is Saturday.

Send questions and comments ?

Andrea Adelson

Adelson joined ESPN.com in 2010 after spending time as a college football columnist at The Orlando Sentinel. She has covered college football since her days as a University of Florida student, and lives in Orlando, Fla.

Send questions and comments ?

Source: http://espn.go.com/blog/acc/post/_/id/50588/video-florida-states-lonnie-pryor

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Hang Up and Listen: The Fistic Cliff Edition

Listen to "Hang Up and Listen" with Josh Levin, Mike Pesca, and L. Jon Wertheim by clicking the arrow on the audio player below:

In this week?s episode of?Slate?s sports podcast Hang Up and Listen, Josh Levin, Mike Pesca, and Sports Illustrated?s Jon Wertheim discuss how rookie quarterbacks Robert Griffin III and Russell Wilson led their teams to the playoffs and Adrian Peterson came up just short of the single-season rushing record. Next, they talk about the victims of the NFL?s ?Black Monday,? Avery Johnson?s firing by the Brooklyn Nets, and the volatility of the coaching profession. Finally, Puck Daddy?s Greg Wyshynski joins to assess whether the NHL?s players and owners can reach a last-minute agreement.

Here are links to some of the articles and other items mentioned on the show:

Jon?s Ratchuk: All aboard the mediocre, hipster-friendly Brooklyn Nets bandwagon.

Podcast production and edit by Mike Vuolo. Our intern is Eric Goldwein.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=05f1dc947775b1cad89502f3664c2f3c

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Fall Health Tips | Does Biotin Really Work To Make Your Hair Grow ...

I?m trying to grow my hair out, but my hair doesn?t grow very fast so I would love any tips about nutrition or other ways to get it to grow faster.Thanks!

Do you know what?s in the biotin? Biotin ? cauliflower, liver, salmon, carrots, bananas, cereals, yeast, and soy flour. Keep in mind that biotin content is reduced when food is cooked or preserved.Biotin alone is not going to do that for your hair, that?s like have a car and just use gas. You need all the healthy foods from Mother Nature, not just biotin. Save your money instead of buying hair growth products or supplements. Vogue Dec. 2010 issue has a section on biotin, etc. .The FDA don?t even approve of them. Because of inadequate quality control and inspection, supplements contaminated with heavy metals, pesticides, or prescription drugs have been sold to unsuspecting consumers. And FDA rules covering manufacturing quality don?t apply to the companies that supply herbs, vitamins, and other raw ingredients.Beginning in February 2008, they experienced one symptom after another: diarrhea, joint pain, hair loss, lung problems, and fingernails and toenails that fell off.http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/Consumer?MSNhttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16655168/wid? According Dr. Melissa Piliang, a dermatologist at the Cleveland Clinic. Americans spent an estimated $176 million on hair loss products last year, and chances are some of that money was not well spent. Don?t let charming salon owners, seductive ads or fancy gimmicks convince you otherwise.CNN, Slate, Consumer Reports, MSN, YAHOO have posted them online for years how people spend $20 billion per year on vitamins and supplements. According to Everyday Health, here?s an article that will tell you why . . . those PRODUCTS by any other name do NOT WORK. It is false advertisements.Google: ?Foods for Healthy Hair? ? the website had moved, type it in. Two others also:http://www.webmd.com/skin-beauty/feature?http://www.menshealth.com/spotlight/hair?Growing hair doesn?t come from a bottle or pills and hair products do not speed hair growth. Any hair oil, is another form to keep hair moisturized, nothing more.Sources:I know hair. I have over 4 decades of hair know-how. I have silky, shiny, soft, smooth very healthy hair down to my knees. Previously damaged by perming & dyeing in the 80?s & 90?s. I?ve known people in their 30?s whose hair stopped growing from ironing their hair in the 70?s. When I was in HS, my hair grew from bob to waist length in 3 1/2 years (not bra strap as stated earlier).

Not sure about biotin. but get you one-a-day vitamins pertaining to your appropriate gender. or even prenatal pills. you can take those regardless of you gender. it will not have any side affects. it?s just a super vitamin.

My grandfather has been a stylist for about 45 years and owns a building in vermont and even has another salon in his own house. I promise you it is very likely for hair to grow faster then the average 6 inches a year (1/2 inch every month). You can however try softee natural hair products such as Indian Hemp which can be found at your local pharmacy, drug store, or walmart. You can apply this every night before bed sectioning your hair (don?t over-saturate near scalp) and applying liberally to ends of your hair, These are natural products that help fortify and promote healthy hair growth they?re also very inexpensive for the size of the container. Then just go to sleep and shampoo and condition in the morning you may also find your own way of how much you?d like to apply depending on hair thickness, also try wearing your hair down more. I can promise my hair was extremely short at one point due to letting my friend help me over waiting to go to vermont and have my grandpa help me and now my hair is long, and very soft. Also if you dye your hair try not dying it as it stunts hair growth.

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Source: http://healthy-tips.net/fall-health-tips-does-biotin-really-work-to-make-your-hair-grow-faster-any-other-hair-growing-tips/

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New Year's Eve In Asia Becomes Big Business

CANBERRA, Australia ? Sydney's skyline erupted with tons of exploding fireworks as revelers cheered in the new year from the city's crammed harbor in the world's first major celebration for 2013.

The enthusiastic welcome to 2013 was continuing on a grand scale across Asia.

Increasingly democratic Myanmar is having a public countdown for the first time. Jakarta plans a huge street party befitting Indonesia's powering economy.

The buoyant economies of the Asia-Pacific are prepared to party with renewed optimism despite the so-called fiscal cliff threatening to reverberate globally from the United States and the tattered economies of Europe.

Celebrations were planned around the world, with hundreds of thousands expected to fill Times Square in New York City to watch the drop of a Waterford crystal-studded ball.

Major cities across austerity-hit Europe were to burn off part of their battered budgets in spectacular fireworks displays, although some municipalities ? including the Cypriot capital, Nicosia ? canceled their celebrations in light of the economic crisis. Nicosia said 16,000 euros ($21,000) saved from the canceled event will be given to some 320 needy schoolchildren.

Sydney's balmy summer night was split by 7 tons of fireworks fired from roof tops and barges, many cascading from the Sydney Harbor Bridge, in a 6.6 million Australian dollar ($6.9 million) pyrotechnic extravaganza billed by organizers as the world's largest.

Eager revelers camped Sunday night to get the best vantage points.

In Hong Kong, this year's 12.5 million Hong Kong dollar ($1.6 million) fireworks display is said to be the biggest ever in the southern Chinese city. Police expected as many as 100,000 people to watch.

One day after dancing in the snow to celebrate the first anniversary of leader Kim Jong Un's ascension to supreme commander, North Koreans were preparing to mark the arrival of the new year, marked as "Juche 102" on North Korean calendars. Juche means self-reliance, the North Korean ideology of independence promoted by national founder Kim Il Sung, who was born 102 years ago. His grandson now rules North Korea.

In New Delhi, the festive mood was marred by the death Saturday of a young rape victim.

Hotels, clubs and residents' associations in the Indian capital decided to cancel planned festivities and asked people to light candles to express their solidarity with the victim whose plight sparked public rallies for women's safety.

"Let there be no New Year celebrations across the country. It will be a major tribute to the departed soul," said Praveen Khandelwal, secretary-general of the Confederation of All India Traders, an umbrella group of operators of shops and businesses across the country.

In a field in Myanmar's largest city, Yangon, workers were testing a giant digital countdown screen with the backdrop of the revered Shwedagon pagoda.

Arranged by local Forever Media group and Index Creative Village, a Thai event organizer, the celebration is the first public New Year countdown in Myanmar, a country ruled for almost five decades by military regimes that discouraged or banned big public gatherings.

"We are planning this public New Year event because we want residents of Yangon to enjoy the public countdown like in other countries," said Win Thura Hlaing, managing director of Forever Blossom company, a subsidiary of Forever Media.

With live music performances by celebrities, light shows, food stalls, fireworks and other activities, the countdown is expected to draw 50,000 people, Win Thura Hlaing said.

Jakarta's street party centers on a 7-kilometer (4-mile) thoroughfare closed to all traffic from nightfall until after midnight. Workers erected 16 large stages along the normally car-clogged, eight-lane highway through the heart of the city. Indonesia's booming economy is a rare bright spot amid global gloom and is bringing prosperity ? or the hope of it ? to Indonesians.

Spirits in the capital have been further raised by the election of a new, populist governor who is pledging to tackle the city's massive infrastructure problems.

The Sydney crowds were undiminished by Australian government warnings that the Washington deadlock on the U.S. debt crisis was partly to blame for a slowing Australian economy.

Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue hosted the event.

Florida tourist Melissa Sjostedt was among the thousands gathered near a southern pylon of the bridge. She said before the event that seeing the fireworks would fulfill an ambition that began a decade ago when she read about them in National Geographic magazine.

"Ever since that, I've always wanted to see this for real, live, in person," she said.

Despite a somber mood in the Philippines due to devastation from a recent typhoon, a key problem for authorities remained how to prevent revelers from setting off huge illegal firecrackers ? including some nicknamed "Goodbye Philippines" and "Bin Laden" ? that maim and injure hundreds of Filipinos each year, including many children.

A government scare tactic involving doctors displaying brutal-looking scalpels used for amputations for firecracker victims has not fully worked in the past so health officials came up with a novel idea: Go Gangnam style.

A government health official, Eric Tayag, donned the splashy outfit of South Korean star PSY and danced to his Youtube hit "Gangnam Style" video while preaching against the use of illegal firecrackers on TV, in schools and in public arenas.

"The campaign has become viral," Tayag said. "We've asked kids and adults to stay away from big firecrackers and just dance the Gangnam and they're doing it."

Hong Kong feng shui master Raymond Lo predicted 2013 would be less turbulent than 2012 because the Chinese New Year in February will usher in the year of the snake, bringing an end to the year of the dragon, which was associated with water. Water is one of the five elements in feng shui theory, the Chinese practice of arranging objects and choosing dates to improve luck.

"Water is fear. So that's why we have had so much turbulence especially in the winter months," such as doomsday prophecies, school shootings and concerns about the fiscal cliff, said Lo.

"But the good news is that the coming year of the snake is the first time that fire has come back since 2007. Fire actually is the opposite to water, fire is happiness. So therefore the year of the snake is a much more optimistic year. So you can see signs of economic recovery now," he added.

___

Associated Press writers Aye Aye Win in Yangon, Myanmar; Jean Lee in Pyongyang, North Korea; Chris Brummitt in Jakarta, Indonesia; Kelvin Chan in Hong Kong; Ashok Sharma in New Delhi; Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines; and Raphael Satter in London contributed to this report.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/31/new-years-eve-in-asia-bec_n_2386898.html

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