iPhone App Downloads Dropped In September, iPhone 4S Anticipation Pegged As Culprit

Marketing technology company Fiksu's data for the month of September shows the year's biggest drop in application downloads, a trend it claims was impacted by mobile consumers holding out for the next Apple iPhone. Last month, the company speculated that a hiatus in sales of older iPhone models was impacting app downloads, and Apple's recent admission of a drop of 3 million device sales last quarter appears to validate that claim.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/XsSRzTK_N8k/

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Napoli, Pujols swing deep into World Series lore

Texas Rangers' Mike Napoli reacts to hitting a two-RBI double off St. Louis Cardinals' Marc Rzepczynski during the eighth inning of Game 5 of baseball's World Series Monday, Oct. 24, 2011, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Texas Rangers' Mike Napoli reacts to hitting a two-RBI double off St. Louis Cardinals' Marc Rzepczynski during the eighth inning of Game 5 of baseball's World Series Monday, Oct. 24, 2011, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Texas Rangers' Mike Napoli hits a two-run double during the eighth inning of Game 5 of baseball's World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals Monday, Oct. 24, 2011, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

St. Louis Cardinals' Albert Pujols hits a solo home run during the ninth inning of Game 3 of baseball's World Series against the Texas Rangers, Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

St. Louis Cardinals' Albert Pujols stretches before Game 5 of baseball's World Series against the Texas Rangers on Monday, Oct. 24, 2011, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

ST. LOUIS (AP) ? Those massive home runs that Albert Pujols hit at Rangers Ballpark, they'll be rattling around for years to come. Same goes for those long drives that Mike Napoli delivered.

A huge swing or two or three, a masterful job on the mound, a sparkling play in the field can do more than win a World Series game. They can create a legacy that lasts forever.

Just ask "Mr. October."

"It absolutely can define a career," Reggie Jackson said by telephone this week. "I'm not saying whether that's right or wrong, but that's how it happens."

Every fall, in fact. Someone steps up ? maybe a monster talent like Pujols, perhaps a good player like Napoli given a chance when the stars align. Might even be a fringe guy ? Allen Craig for St. Louis this year, Cody Ross for San Francisco the last time around.

Napoli and the Texas Rangers can close out the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 6 at Busch Stadium on Wednesday night. If they win their first championship, the catcher who was traded twice within a week in January is destined to part of the lore.

For a long, long time.

"What year did Babe Ruth call his shot? 1932? You still see kids out there, calling their shot," Jackson said. "That game wasn't on TV, those kids didn't see it. But they've heard about it, they know about it all these years later."

Jackson hit a Game 7 home run in a 1973 win for Oakland, then earned a nickname for life when he homered three times in the Yankees' Series-clinching victory in 1977.

Suppose he'd done a little less, say, hit three balls off the wall at Yankee Stadium on that signature night. Would he still be "Mr. October"?

"Probably not," he said.

Already a three-time NL MVP, Pujols put on what many called the greatest hitting show in postseason history when he tied Series records with three home runs, six RBIs and five hits during the Cardinals' romp in Game 3.

Those are Pujols' only hits in the Series so far, with Texas often pitching around him or simply issuing intentional walks. Yet if the Cardinals win the championship, chances are his pulverizing performance will be the featured shots in replays.

In Game 5, Texas manager Ron Washington made Pujols the first player in World Series history to receive an intentional walk with nobody on base, STATS LLC said.

"I've never seen Albert Pujols before other than on TV. It's my first time seeing him. And what he did the other night, no, I wouldn't mess with that," Washington said.

Not everyone gets to savor the big stage. Ted Williams slumped in his lone World Series, fellow Hall of Famer Ernie Banks never got close.

Nolan Ryan made 773 starts over 27 seasons, yet his total Series time amounted to a relief appearance of 2 1-3 innings for the champion 1969 Mets. The Rangers president and part-owner understands the October glare.

"Well, I think there's expectations that the media and the fan base have with certain players," he said this week. "You can't judge on a short series about players, but people's expectations are Albert Pujols is capable of doing what he did the other night, and that adds to his reputation and expectations."

Texas fans are hoping Josh Hamilton can provide the same sort of shot. The reigning AL MVP went 2 for 20 in last year's World Series; this time, hobbled by a strained groin, he's just 3 for 19 without a home run.

For Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter, the franchise leader in postseason wins, it's not really right how October efforts can frame a player. And that's coming from an ace who outdueled Roy Halladay 1-0 in the deciding Game 5 of the first-round NL playoffs.

"No, not at all. I don't think it defines who you are," he said. "I think what defines who you are is, one, the consistency you put in day in and day out as a professional, and two, how you go about your business on and off the field. That defines who you are."

"Postseason is just at a different level. I think the guys that are successful maybe might be a little more relaxed and able to deal with the distractions," he said. "But I don't think that it should define ? if you scuffle in the postseason, it shouldn't define what type of player you are. That could just be that series."

Orel Hershiser sees it differently. The former Dodgers star set a major league record by pitching 59 scoreless innings to close the 1988 season, then stamped his greatness by going 3-0 with a 1.05 ERA in the postseason and leading Los Angeles to the title.

"It is fair to judge someone that way because these are the most important games of your life," Hershiser said at Rangers Ballpark. "That's the way it is; that's what October means."

"When you're growing up, you're not with your brother in the backyard pretending it's the top of the sixth inning and the middle of the season and your team's in last place. No. You're dreaming that it's the bottom of the ninth inning, Game 7 of the World Series," he said. "You wind up, and here comes the pitch."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2011-10-26-BBO-World-Series/id-73aed344dd384c59b0a3a13b577b4547

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Intel says Ultrabook prices must fall if targets are to be met (Digital Trends)

Intel is aiming for its new category of personal computer, the super slimline Ultrabook, to take 40 percent of the laptop market by the end of next year. To do this, it?ll have to achieve a number of things, including successfully fighting off the threat posed by tablet computers, and finding a way of preventing consumers taking an interest in Apple?s similarly slimline MacBook Air. Of course, this means the Ultrabook has to be a reliable, attractive and user-friendly product and, perhaps most importantly, one that is competitively priced.

To have any chance of hitting the 40 percent target, analysts believe the price of Ultrabooks needs to be reduced to those of notebooks, which sell for around $699. Two models launched by Asus this month, the UX21 and UX31 Zenbooks, are selling for $999 and $1,099 respectively.

Speaking to Reuters on Tuesday from his base in Singapore, Navin Shenoy, Intel?s vice president of sales and marketing and general manager for the Asia-Pacific region, called Intel?s 40 percent target ?challenging.?

?In order for that to happen the price has to come down,? he said. ?At some point you?ll have to be at [the $699] price point, but it doesn?t have to be overnight. It takes time to engineer a cost down.?

Shenoy believes that a reduction in cost can only come as the result of a cooperative effort between all companies involved with the Ultrabook.

?Even if we?re giving the chips away for free, we couldn?t hit the price point we want to hit if we don?t work with the rest of the industry,? he said.

Intel certainly has its work cut out if it?s going to hit its target. It won?t be helped by the fact that some companies, Sony and Dell included, have decided to hold on until next year before launching their Ultrabooks.

It?s thought they want to wait for the arrival of the new Ivy Bridge chip, which is expected to provide improved performance over the Sandy Bridge chip currently being used.

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

More from Digital Trends

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/applecomputer/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/digitaltrends/20111024/tc_digitaltrends/intelsaysultrabookpricesmustfalliftargetsaretobemet

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Dark Matter Gets Darker: New Measurements Confound Scientists (SPACE.com)

New measurements of tiny galaxies contradict scientists' best model of dark matter, further complicating the already mysterious picture of the stuff that is thought to make up 98 percent of all matter in the universe.

Dark matter, the invisible material thought to permeate the universe, can only be indirectly detected through its gravitational pull on the normal matter that makes up stars and planets.

Despite not knowing exactly what dark matter is, scientists have gradually built up a good model to describe its behavior. The model envisions dark matter made up of cold, slow-moving exotic particles that clump together because of gravity.

This "cold dark matter" model has done remarkably well describing how dark matter behaves in most situations. However, it breaks down when applied to mini "dwarf galaxies," where dark matter appears more spread out than it should be, according to the theory.

In a new study, researchers calculated the mass distribution of two dwarf galaxies using a new method that did not rely on any dark matter theories. The scientists studied the Fornax and Sculptor galaxies, which orbit the Milky Way.

However, their measurements still contradict cold dark matter theory, further entrenching the problem. [Infographic Gallery: The History and Structure of the Universe]

According to the model, the centers of galaxies should be packed with dense clumps of the invisible matter. But dark matter appears to be spread evenly throughout Fornax and Sculptor, as well as other dwarf galaxies whose mass distributions have been measured in other ways.

"If a dwarf galaxy were a peach, the standard cosmological model says we should find a dark matter 'pit' at the center," researcher Jorge Pe?arrubia of England's University of Cambridge said in a statement. "Instead, the first two dwarf galaxies we studied are like pitless peaches."

The measurements suggest that some part of the theoretical model may have to be revised.

"Our measurements contradict a basic prediction about the structure of cold dark matter in dwarf galaxies," said study leader Matt Walker of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass. "Unless or until theorists can modify that prediction, cold dark matter is inconsistent with our observational data."

Dwarf galaxies like Fornax and Sculptor are especially good places to study dark matter, because they are thought to be almost entirely made up of the stuff. Only one percent of matter in a dwarf galaxy is thought to be the normal matter that makes up stars.

To determine where and how much dark matter inhabits the dwarf galaxies, the researchers studied the motions of 1,500 to 2,500 visible stars, which reflect the gravitational forces acting on them from dark matter.

Some researchers have suggested that when dark matter interacts with normal matter it may tend to spread out, thus decreasing the density of dark matter in the centers of galaxies. However, so far, the cold dark matter model doesn't predict this.

Either normal matter affects dark matter more than scientists thought, or it isn't cold and slow-moving, the researchers said.

"After completing this study, we know less about dark matter than we did before,"?Walker said.

The findings will be published in an upcoming issue of The Astrophysical Journal.

You can follow SPACE.com senior writer Clara Moskowitz on Twitter @ClaraMoskowitz. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/space/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/space/20111024/sc_space/darkmattergetsdarkernewmeasurementsconfoundscientists

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Shibuya Eki Cast - Episode 1 : Japan Expo Centre

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Shibuya Eki et moi m?me sommes fi?res de vous pr?senter notre premi?re vid?o.
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Source: http://www.mininova.org/tor/13202224

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Cain tweaks 9-9-9 tax plan to allow exemptions (AP)

DETROIT ? Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain on Friday redefined his tax plan to exclude the poorest Americans and to allow some deductions, abandoning the zero-exemption feature of his "9-9-9" proposal that helped win headlines but would have meant a tax increase for 4 out of 5 Americans.

After sharp criticism over his one-size-fits-all plan from Republicans and Democrats alike, Cain proposed no income taxes for Americans living at or below the poverty line. He also proposed exemptions for businesses investing in "opportunity zones" as a way to give an economic jolt to rundown neighborhoods such as the one he visited in hard-hit Detroit.

Standing in front of a massive abandoned train depot with broken windows and barbed wire, Cain blamed regulation for the crumbling of the nation's cities.

"When I look at this building behind me, I see opportunity ? if we get capital gains out of the way. There are a lot of people in this country that have money, and capital gains is a wall between people with money and people with ideas," Cain told reporters after a campaign speech. "Because taxes and regulations have gotten so bad, people with money don't want to take risks."

Cain said America needs to renew its optimism and take those risks.

"I believe the American people are saying they want to move this shining city on a hill back to the top of the hill where it belongs," he said, borrowing some of President Ronald Reagan's favorite rhetoric.

Yet many of Cain's proposals for sites such as this one were likely to earn him more skeptics.

Cain's plan suggested minimum wages block low-skill workers from finding work and proposed that they be eliminated in already struggling areas. His plan also suggested that building codes and zoning in such areas should be reviewed; if businesses can make a case the regulations are hurting the economy, they may qualify for waivers.

Organized labor was guaranteed to oppose his proposal that projects funded with taxpayer dollars could pay non-union wages.

"America is ready for solutions, not more rhetoric," he said. "The American dream has been hijacked, but we can take it back."

Cain has seen a meteoric rise in recent weeks as Republican voters have moved from one candidate to another, looking for an alternative to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Stumbles, however, have plagued Cain. He initially said he would negotiate for the release of U.S. prisoners from terrorists, then reversed himself. Unclear comments on abortion forced another clarification. And then he seemed to undercut his signature tax plan.

Up to now, Cain has touted a plan to scrap the current taxes on income, payroll, capital gains and corporate profits and replace them with a 9 percent tax on income, a 9 percent business tax and a 9 percent national sales tax.

But the plan seems to be unraveling. Cain's shift on zero exemptions comes after an independent analysis showed his tax plan would raise taxes on 84 percent of U.S. households. The Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank, said low- and middle-income families would be hit hardest, with households making between $10,000 and $20,000 seeing their taxes increase by nearly 950 percent.

Households with the highest incomes, however, would get big tax cuts. Those making more than $1 million a year would see their taxes cut almost in half, on average, according to the analysis.

Cain's rivals seized on the disparity and were relentless during Tuesday's debate; President Barack Obama also decried it.

"It never felt so good being shot at," Cain laughed as he outlined new exemptions for Americans living in poverty and tax incentives for businesses to develop areas in need of economic development.

"Some of the most attractive features will be zero capital gains tax, immediate expensing of business equipment and no payroll taxes are factory-installed in the 9-9-9 plan for the whole country to benefit," Cain said.

He insisted he had not changed positions, though.

"We simply chose not to talk about this piece earlier," he told reporters. "We didn't want to put it all out there at once."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111021/ap_on_bi_ge/us_cain_economy

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Algeria ex-minister arrested in Geneva over war crimes (Reuters)

ZURICH (Reuters) ? A former Algerian defense minister has been arrested and questioned in Switzerland on suspicion of committing war crimes during Algeria's civil war, a Swiss human rights group said.

Retired army general Khaled Nezzar, 73, was arrested in Geneva on Thursday morning and questioned by the public prosecutor of the Swiss confederation, Track Impunity Always (TRIAL) said in a statement on its website.

Algeria plunged into a cycle of violence in 1992 after the military-backed authorities canceled an election Islamists were poised to win. More than 100,000 people have been killed since, mostly civilians.

Nezzar, an influential figure in the North African country's military establishment in the early 1990s, has been accused by human rights group of inciting torture, committing murder and other acts of inhumane treatment.

He was released on Friday pending further legal procedures, a spokeswoman for the Swiss prosecutor's office told Swiss news agency SDA.

No one at the Swiss public prosecutor's office or the Algerian embassy in Switzerland could immediately be reached for comment by Reuters on Saturday.

The prosecutor's office opened the investigation following accusations by TRIAL as well as complaints from two victims, SDA reported.

Swiss law allows those accused of violating international humanitarian law to be prosecuted once a suspect is on Swiss territory.

(Reporting by Caroline Copley)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111022/wl_nm/us_swiss_algeria_nezzar

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Huge turnout in Tunisia's Arab Spring election (Reuters)

TUNIS (Reuters) ? Tunisians turned out in huge numbers to vote in the country's first free election on Sunday, 10 months after Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in a protest that started the Arab Spring uprisings.

The leader of an Islamist party predicted to win the biggest share of the vote was heckled outside a polling station by people shouting "terrorist", highlighting tensions between Islamists and secularists being felt across the Arab world.

The suicide of vegetable peddler Bouazizi, prompted by despair over poverty and government repression, provoked mass protests which forced President Zine al-Abidine to flee Tunisia. This in turn inspired uprisings in Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria and Bahrain.

Rachid Ghannouchi, leader of the moderately Islamist Ennahda party, took his place in the queue outside a polling station in the El Menzah 6 district of the capital.

"This is an historic day," he said, accompanied by his wife and daughter, both wearing Islamic headscarves, or hijabs. "Tunisia was born today. The Arab Spring was born today."

As he emerged from the polling station, about a dozen people shouted at him: "Degage", French for "Go away", and "You are a terrorist and an assassin! Go back to London!"

Ghannouchi, who spent 22 years in exile in Britain, has associated his party with the moderate Islamism of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. He has said he will not try to impose Muslim values on society.

In Tunisia, ideas about Islam, and restrictions on things like alcohol, are more relaxed than in many Arab countries.

"This morning I voted for Ennahda and this evening I am going to drink a few beers," said Makram, a young man from the working class Ettadamen neighbourhood of Tunis.

Nevertheless, the party's rise worries secularists who believe the liberal traditions in Tunisia , a former French colony, are now under threat.

Across the country, queues stretching hundreds of metres formed outside polling stations from early in the morning for an election which could set the template for other Middle Eastern states emerging from the Arab Spring.

"Out of the 4.1 million people registered, more than 90 percent voted," said Boubaker Ben Thaber, Secretary-General of the independent commission that organized the vote.

That level of voter interest was never seen during Ben Ali's rule. Then, only a trickle of people turned out for elections because they knew the result was predetermined.

"This is the first time I have voted," said Karima Ben Salem, 45, at a polling station in the Lafayette area of Tunis.

"I've asked the boys to make their own lunch. I don't care ... Today I am not on duty. Or rather, I am on duty for my country," she said.

ISLAMIST INFLUENCE

Sunday's vote is for an assembly that will draft a new constitution to replace the one Ben Ali manipulated to entrench his power. It will also appoint an interim government and set elections for a new president and parliament.

Election officials say they will spend Sunday night counting the ballot papers, and are unlikely to release preliminary results until Monday.

Most forecasts are that Ennahda will not have enough seats for a majority in the assembly, forcing it to seek a coalition which will dilute its influence. Secularist parties will try to form a coalition to stop Ennahda forming a majority.

Ennahda has been at pains to assuage the concerns of secularists and Western powers. Yet observers say there is tension inside the party between Ghannouchi's moderate line and more vehement Islamists among the rank and file.

A final election rally on Friday illustrated the party's contradictions as Suad Abdel-Rahim, a tall, glamorous female Ennahda candidate who does not wear a veil, addressed the crowd.

But many books on sale on the fringes of the rally were by writers who belong to the strict Salafist branch of Islam. They believe women should be segregated from men in public and that elections are un-Islamic.

"I'm not so optimistic about the result of the vote," said Ziyed Tijiani, a 26-year-old architect who had just cast his vote. His forefinger was stained with the blue ink used in polling stations to stop ballot fraud.

"I think the Islamists could win. It's not want I want. They may try to change the way I live," he said, accompanied by a young woman in jeans and T-shirt.

An Ennahda victory would be the first such success in the Arab world since Hamas won a 2006 Palestinian vote. Islamists won a 1991 election in Algeria, Tunisia's neighbor. The army annulled the result, provoking years of conflict.

Ennahda's fortunes may have a bearing on Egyptian elections set for next month in which the Muslim Brotherhood, an ideological ally, also hopes to emerge strongest.

Tunisia's election will be watched too in neighboring Libya, which plans elections next year after a bloody revolt ousted Muammar Gaddafi.

Tunisian election officials say they are unlikely to release preliminary results until Monday.

Tim Pawlenty, former governor of the U.S. state of Minnesota, was part of a delegation observing the vote from the International Republican Institute.

"The turnout seems to be good. The process has been orderly so far but it is too early to make any final conclusions," he told Reuters.

He said at one voting precinct he asked a man if Tunisia had left enough time to prepare for the election. "He paused, looked at me and said: 'Yes, I had 30 years preparation for this'," Pawlenty said.

(Additional reporting by Andrew Hammond in Sidi Bouzid and Abdelaziz Boumzar, Mohamed Argoubi and Warda Al-Jawahiry in Tunis; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Andrew Roche)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111023/wl_nm/us_tunisia_election

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Daily App Deals: Get a Word Translator for Your iOS Device for Free [Deals]

The Daily App Deals post is a round-up of the best app discounts of the day, as well as some notable mentions for ones that are on sale.

The Best

Update: Our apologies; it looks like this app is no longer on sale in the App Store.
Tap-Translate (iOS) (iTunes) Previously $9.99, now Free . Tap-Translate gives you word translations while browsing in mobile Safari without the need to switch applications. Get it for Free. (via LogicBuy)

Free

iOS

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/VBZEq5yrPrM/daily-app-deals--get-a-word-translator-for-your-ios-device-for-free

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Bachelorette Parties Move To The Barre From The Bar

www.nytimes.com:

JUST after 2 p.m. on a September Saturday, the heavy drinking began at Alyson Luck?s bachelorette party.

?I?m already in pain,? said Ms. Luck, 29, wearing a veil and a white sash that read ?Sexy Little Bride.?

Read the whole story: www.nytimes.com

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/20/bachelorette-parties-move_n_1022460.html

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Live long, pass it on

Chemical tags outside DNA are linked to extended life span in generations of roundworms

Web edition : Thursday, October 20th, 2011

Although long life can be inherited, it doesn?t necessarily happen through the genes.

A new study shows that the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of long-lived roundworms live five to six days longer than usual even though they no longer carry the genetic mutations that caused their grandparents? longevity. Instead, the descendants? longevity may be because they inherited epigenetic marks ? chemical tags on their DNA or DNA-associated proteins called histones ? that change gene activity without changing the genes themselves, researchers at Stanford and Harvard universities report online October 19 in Nature.

The study is the first to demonstrate that longevity can be passed from generation to generation via these chemical tags known as histone modifications rather than by DNA variations. Only a few studies have suggested that any histone modifications can be inherited, ?but this is a fairly definitive demonstration,? says Tony Kouzarides, a molecular biologist at the University of Cambridge in England.

Working with the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans, researchers led by Eric Greer and Anne Brunet at Stanford previously found specimens that live 20 to 30 percent longer than normal. These long-lived worms had mutations that disrupted their ability to make a particular epigenetic mark on a histone protein called H3. Histones are proteins that spool DNA so it fits in a cell, and they help control gene activity.

Greer and Brunet found that these worms have trouble adding three methyl groups to a particular lysine in the chain of amino acids that make up H3. This mark is almost always found on histones located near the beginning of active genes. Worms that can?t make the mark may have less-active genes or may shut down some genes entirely.

But the true test of whether a particular mark on DNA or histones is epigenetic is whether the effect can be inherited. So Greer designed a new experiment to find out whether worms that didn?t have mutations in the histone-marking genes could nevertheless inherit long lives.

?I didn?t really expect it to be inherited,? because it?s generally thought that histone marks are erased between generations, says Greer, who is now working at Harvard.

But longer lives were inherited for at least three generations, even though the descendants of the mutant worms no longer carried the DNA change that originally caused the life span extension, the researchers found. Histone marks in the long-lived progeny looked normal, but the activity of certain genes in the descendants mirrored activity in the mutant ancestor.

The life-extending ride ended abruptly between the third and fourth generations, the study found. The reason is unknown, but Brunet speculates that each generation may gradually reestablish some of the marks until a threshold is reached and the life extension is cut off.

No one knows whether the finding in C. elegans will be true for other animals or people, but many aging processes found in worms are also at work in other organisms, including humans.

?It?s always thought to be genetics ? actual mutations in the genome ? that allow people to live longer, but certainly there could be epigenetic factors involved as well,? says Brian Kennedy, chief executive officer of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Navato, Calif.

The team hasn?t yet worked out exactly how long life is passed from generation to generation. ?It?s very mysterious, and it?s always great to have a new mystery,? says Cynthia Kenyon, a molecular geneticist at the University of California, San Francisco. ?It?s a profound result.?

Found in: Genes & Cells

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/335404/title/Live_long,_pass_it_on

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Decision-making: What you want vs. how you get it

ScienceDaily (Oct. 21, 2011) ? New research reveals how we make decisions. Birds choosing between berry bushes and investors trading stocks are faced with the same fundamental challenge -- making optimal choices in an environment featuring varying costs and benefits. A neuroeconomics study from the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital -- The Neuro, McGill University, shows that the brain employs two separate regions and two distinct processes in valuing 'stimuli' i.e. 'goods' (for example, berry bushes), as opposed to valuing the 'actions,' needed to obtain the desired option (for example flight paths to the berry bushes).

The findings, published in the most recent issue of the Journal of Neuroscience and funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, are vital not only for improving knowledge of brain function, but also for treating and understanding the effects of frontal lobe damage, which can be a feature of common neurological conditions ranging from stroke to traumatic brain injury to dementia.

Decision making -- selecting the most valuable option, typically by taking an action -- requires value comparisons, but there has been debate about how these comparisons occur in the brain: is value linked to the object itself , or to the action required to get that object. Are choices made between the things we want, or between the actions we take? The dominant model of decision making proposes that value comparisons occur in series, with stimulus value information feeding into actions (the body's motor system). "So, in this study we wanted to understand how the brain uses value information to make decisions between different actions, and between different objects," said the study's lead investigator Dr. Lesley Fellows, neurologist and researcher at The Neuro. "The surprising and novel finding is that in fact these two mechanisms of choice are independent of one another. There are distinct processes in the brain by which value information guides decisions, depending on whether the choice is between objects or between actions." Dr. Fellows often sees patients with damage to the frontal lobe, where decision making areas of the brain are located. "This finding gives me more insight into what is happening in the brain of my patients, and may lead to new treatments and new ways to care for them and manage their symptoms."

"Despite the ubiquity and importance of decision making, we have had, until now, a limited understanding of its basis in the brain," said Fellows. "Psychologists, economists, and ecologists have studied decision making for decades, but it has only recently become a focus for neuroscientists. For clinicians, this relative neglect is surprising; neurologists and psychiatrists have long identified poor judgment as a core feature of conditions ranging from dementia to drug addiction." The bad decisions made by such patients can lead to disastrous encounters with society and the legal system, and are an important source of distress and disability for patients and their families. "This area of study represents a paradigm shift in our perspective on frontal lobe disorders. We have known for a long time that patients with frontal lobe damage have trouble getting organized and planning to reach goals but with this new research we are now seeing that frontal injury can make it hard for patients to choose their preferred goal to begin with, or to keep track of what they want. This may explain the erratic, impulsive or inappropriate choices they sometimes make."

The study examined action-value and stimulus-value learning in patients with frontal lobe damage. "Iinvestigating a damaged area of the brain provides particularly solid evidence to prove if that area is necessary for a particular function," said Dr. Fellows. Two groups of patients with damage to different parts of the frontal lobes played games where they learned to choose either between two actions (twisting movements of a joystick) or between objects (decks of cards). They won or lost play money depending on their choices, gradually learning which choices were better. In people with damage to the orbitofrontal cortex their ability to sustain the correct choice of stimulus (the better deck of cards) was disrupted but they chose normally between different actions.

On the other hand, people with damage in a separate frontal lobe region known as the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) had the opposite deficit. They weren't as good at choosing between two actions with different values, but they could choose between objects as well as participants without brain injury. These results indicate that the orbitofrontal cortex plays an important role in linking stimuli to their subjective, relative values, and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex plays a similar role in the selection of an action based on value. It seems the brain has at least partly separate systems for deciding between actions and objects.

"As a clinician, my patients inform the research I conduct, and as a researcher, my work informs me on ways to better treat and manage patients, as well as gain new insights into brain function." Studies of patients with frontal lobe injury that trace the neural pathways of decision making, show that cognitive neuroscience tools can be applied to understand this complex behaviour, and provide new perspectives on illnesses marked by frontal lobe dysfunction.

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Journal Reference:

1. N. Camille, A. Tsuchida, L. K. Fellows. Double Dissociation of Stimulus-Value and Action-Value Learning in Humans with Orbitofrontal or Anterior Cingulate Cortex Damage. Journal of Neuroscience, 2011; 31 (42): 15048 DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3164-11.2011

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/8HH54VvPqhY/111021125707.htm

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Hawk with nail in head still free in San Francisco (Providence Journal)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/150613274?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Sprint axes unlimited data for all mobile broadband plans and mobile hotspot

We already knew that Sprint was killing off unlimited data for the hotspot plan, but today's news makes everything all official.  Starting in November, users with a mobile broadband plan (that would be a tablet, netbook, USB card, connection card or mobile hotspot device) as well as folks using the mobile hotspot plan on their smartphone will no longer have unlimited data.  Depending on your existing plan, you'll be placed in a tier that goes between 3GB and 10GB of data, with a $0.05 per MB overage in-network, and a $0.25 per MB overage while roaming.

Note that this does not affect unlimited data for smartphones.  Your Epic 4G Touch or EVO 3D will still have unlimited data.  It's still a direction we hate to see yet another carrier travel, though.  Resist the temptation Dan.  Don't kill your unlimited smartphone plans.

Source: Sprint.  Thanks everyone who sent this in!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/7R4VKZpW1nU/sprint-axes-unlimited-data-all-mobile-broadband-plans-and-mobile-hotspot

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Apple Q4 earnings fall short of expectations: $28.27 billion in revenue, $6.62 billion net profit

Apple's earnings for Q4 2011 are out, and the company has fallen short of expectations. It still managed to rake in $28.27 billion in revenue during the quarter -- up from $20.3 billion in Q4 2010 -- but that's quite a bit shy of the $29.6 billion or so analysts were counting on. Net profits came in at $6.62 billion, up considerably from the $4.3 billion seen in the same quarter last year, and Apple notes that it is indeed still a record quarter. In terms of products, the company announced that 17.07 million iPhones were sold in Q4 (a 21 percent jump from a year ago), along with 11.12 million iPads (a whopping 166 percent increase year-over-year), 4.89 million Macs (a 26 percent jump), and 6.62 million iPods (once again the one area that continues to decline, now down 27 percent from a year ago). Apple's cash pile on hand also continued to swell during the quarter, and now stands at around $84 billion. Press release is after the break.

Continue reading Apple Q4 earnings fall short of expectations: $28.27 billion in revenue, $6.62 billion net profit

Apple Q4 earnings fall short of expectations: $28.27 billion in revenue, $6.62 billion net profit originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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French feminists say 'au revoir' to mademoiselle

'Mademoiselle' is one of the most iconic words in the French language, but French feminists are not interested.

? A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent.

Skip to next paragraph

Few words say ?French? more than ?mademoiselle.? The French title for a young or unmarried woman trips off the tongue like accordion music by the Seine. But feminists have tried to shelve it for 40 years: The word?s etymology ties to ?white goose? or a naive or silly girl, they note; its usage forces women to declare a status. Americans modernized ?Miss? to ?Ms.? Germans made ?fraulein? kaput. The Spanish spiked ?se?orita.? But ?mademoiselle? floats languidly on.

On the heels of the Dominique Strauss-Kahn scandal, feminists are taking another shot. Their goal: Banish the check box for mademoiselle on state and corporate paperwork.

Paris groups Dare Feminism and Watchdogs launched a campaign Sept. 27 that includes a ?kit.? A form letter is ready to send to whomever it may concern: ?I would be very grateful if you would cease to employ the civil title ?Mademoiselle? as well as ?maiden name? or ?spouse name? in any documents or letters addressed to me.? In Paris most women have heard of the issue, and it is getting plenty of attention on social networks. But habits die hard. Older female celebrities such as Jeanne Moreau and Catherine Deneuve insist on mademoiselle. If the check box were eliminated that would be fine, most women said. If not, no big deal. ?I don?t mind mademoiselle,? said Teresa, who is married. ?When people use it I feel younger.? Agnes, unmarried and older, called the term ?not pejorative; it?s nice.?

Marie Noelle Bas of Watchdogs says the campaign is working. A poll in Marie Claire has 72 percent ready to nix the check box.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/Pf1tlLy2SB0/French-feminists-say-au-revoir-to-mademoiselle

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The iPhone 4S has an improved GPS system with GLONASS support

The iPhone 4S has an enhanced GPS system with support for GLONASS according to Apple?s own technical specification page. The question is what is GLONASS and what does it actually mean to us in the real world? GLONASS according to its Wikipedia page stands for Globalnaya Navigazionnaya Sputnikovaya...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/V8E3H9vTCgw/

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U.S. and N.Korea to meet, analysts skeptical on progress (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? The United States and North Korea will meet on Monday and Tuesday in Geneva, the U.S. State Department said, but analysts were skeptical wider talks on ending the North's nuclear programs will resume any time soon.

The State Department stressed that it was looking for "seriousness of purpose" on the part of North Korea about curbing its nuclear ambitions and that it wanted Pyongyang to take steps to demonstrate this before any broader talks.

While State Department spokesman Mark Toner declined to lay these out, analysts cite three: improving North and South Korean relations; freezing North Korea's nuclear activities, including its uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon, and a moratorium on its nuclear and long-range missile tests.

"This is a continuation of the exploratory meetings to determine if North Korea is prepared to fulfill its commitments under the 2005 joint statement of the six-party talks and its ... international obligations as well as take concrete steps toward denuclearization," Toner told reporters.

The United States and North Korea last held such talks in late July.

Under the September 2005 deal, the North agreed to abandon its nuclear programs in exchange for economic and diplomatic incentives to be provided by other parties in the so-called six-party talks -- China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States. That agreement has since unraveled.

In an interview with Russian state news agency Itar-Tass, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il repeated his readiness to return to stalled nuclear talks "without any preconditions" -- a sign it will be difficult to get him to take steps before any eventual resumption of six-party talks.

A senior U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, suggested the U.S. desire for fresh bilateral talks was almost a stalling tactic designed to keep the North from provocations such as attacks on the South or additional nuclear or missile tests.

"Our concern is that if we don't engage that could result in miscalculations by the North Koreans as we've seen in the past," said the official. "Sometimes when engagement has been broken off it causes them to lash out in dangerous and unsettling ways."

"It's an exploratory phase and frankly it's a management strategy," the official added.

DAVIES TO SUCCEED BOSWORTH

The North has twice conducted nuclear tests and its nuclear expertise is seen by Washington as a direct threat to U.S. allies South Korea and Japan as well as to the security of the wider Asia-Pacific region.

Jack Pritchard, a former U.S. negotiator with North Korea now at the Korea Economic Institute, said the two sides seemed to be inching toward six-party talks but saw little chance of success should they resume, saying North Korea's succession issues preclude progress.

"The North Koreans are in absolutely no position to provide any elements of compromise or creativity at this point," he said. "Maybe X number of year down the road, but that's not in the cards right now."

With North Korea's Kim Jong-il preparing to be replaced by his son Kim Jong-un, there is unlikely to be consensus within its leadership on making any concessions to the United States.

In another succession, the State Department said veteran diplomat Glyn Davies, currently ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Commission in Vienna, will replace Stephen Bosworth, the part-time U.S. envoy for North Korea policy.

Bosworth, who has carried out his North Korea assignment while remaining dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, will lead the inter-agency U.S. delegation to the Geneva talks and then step down.

Davies will accompany him to those talks.

Obama came into office looking to pick up talks with the North on carrying out a 2005 multilateral aid-for-disarmament agreement.

However, after North Korea's second nuclear test took place in 2009, the Obama administration's enthusiasm for talks appeared to wane and it has adopted what is widely seen as a policy of "strategic patience" -- waiting to see if Pyongyang might be willing to come back to the negotiating table.

(Editing by Sandra Maler and Eric Walsh)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/nkorea/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111019/pl_nm/us_korea_north_usa

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Staying Sharp in New Haven: Yale brain experts discuss successful aging at free forum

Public release date: 18-Oct-2011
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Ann Whitman
awhitman@dana.org
212-223-4040 x657
DANA Foundation

WHAT: Attendees will have the chance to ask local brain experts about the aging brain and how to keep mentally fit at the Staying Sharp session on October 29 at Yale University. Part of a highly recognized series, the program will emphasize successful aging, including how to navigate the booming aging industry and factors that may predict future cognitive function. The panelists will also address issues specific to the aging brain, such as changes in memory over time and the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

A Brain Fair for all ages will follow the session, which will include information booths, demonstration tables, and hands-on activities.

WHO: The program is presented by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, MetLife Foundation, Yale University School of Medicine's Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, and AARP Connecticut. Featured speakers will be:

• Amy F.T. Arnsten, Ph.D., Professor of Neurobiology, Yale University
• Christopher H. van Dyck, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry, Neurobiology, and Neurology; Director, Alzheimer's Disease Research Unit, Yale University
• Robert Wickham, (moderator) Department of Psychiatry, Yale University

WHEN: Saturday, October 29, 2011
Panel Discussion and Q&A: 10:00AM 12:00PM
Brain Fair: 12:00PM 1:30PM

The events are free and open to the public and refreshments will be served.

For reservations please call 1-800 65-BRAIN (1-800-652-7246) or e-mail stayingsharp@dana.org.

WHERE: Yale University
Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall (SSS), Room 114
1 Prospect Street (Corner of Grove and Prospect)
New Haven, CT

The Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives is a nonprofit organization of more than 300 leading neuroscientists, including ten Nobel laureates, committed to advancing public awareness about the progress and benefits of brain research.

Staying Sharp is a series of public forums and educational booklets for older Americans. Since its inception in 1994, the series has been attended by more than 34,000 people in 30 cities across the United States.

###

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 18-Oct-2011
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Ann Whitman
awhitman@dana.org
212-223-4040 x657
DANA Foundation

WHAT: Attendees will have the chance to ask local brain experts about the aging brain and how to keep mentally fit at the Staying Sharp session on October 29 at Yale University. Part of a highly recognized series, the program will emphasize successful aging, including how to navigate the booming aging industry and factors that may predict future cognitive function. The panelists will also address issues specific to the aging brain, such as changes in memory over time and the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

A Brain Fair for all ages will follow the session, which will include information booths, demonstration tables, and hands-on activities.

WHO: The program is presented by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, MetLife Foundation, Yale University School of Medicine's Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, and AARP Connecticut. Featured speakers will be:

• Amy F.T. Arnsten, Ph.D., Professor of Neurobiology, Yale University
• Christopher H. van Dyck, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry, Neurobiology, and Neurology; Director, Alzheimer's Disease Research Unit, Yale University
• Robert Wickham, (moderator) Department of Psychiatry, Yale University

WHEN: Saturday, October 29, 2011
Panel Discussion and Q&A: 10:00AM 12:00PM
Brain Fair: 12:00PM 1:30PM

The events are free and open to the public and refreshments will be served.

For reservations please call 1-800 65-BRAIN (1-800-652-7246) or e-mail stayingsharp@dana.org.

WHERE: Yale University
Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall (SSS), Room 114
1 Prospect Street (Corner of Grove and Prospect)
New Haven, CT

The Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives is a nonprofit organization of more than 300 leading neuroscientists, including ten Nobel laureates, committed to advancing public awareness about the progress and benefits of brain research.

Staying Sharp is a series of public forums and educational booklets for older Americans. Since its inception in 1994, the series has been attended by more than 34,000 people in 30 cities across the United States.

###

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-10/df-ssi101811.php

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Analysis: Rise of the machines: America's jobs challenge (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? For decades, American workers and their machines advanced in tandem. As companies invested in technology, more workers were needed to operate machines.

That relationship is now looking unsteady.

Since 1999, business investment in equipment and software has surged 33 percent while the total number of people employed by private firms has changed little.

The gap between man and machine widened even further after the 2008-09 recession, helping explain why the United States is struggling to bring down an unemployment rate stuck above 9 percent.

The revolution in information technologies is taking a deeper and deeper hold in the U.S. economy.

Throughout history, technology revolutions have paved the way to forms of employment: Britain's 19th century industrial revolution threw artisans out of work but eventually created mass employment in factories.

But a decade-long drought in jobs in the United States is raising questions whether there is a fundamental shift in the structure of the labor market.

"Labor and capital are out of sync," said Tyler Cowen, an economist at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. "It seems be a growing and strengthening trend... (and) suggests there is this longer-term structural change."

To be sure, some of the struggles of the U.S. labor market reflects displacement rather than the disappearance of jobs, as improvements in technology have spawned the outsourcing of operations ranging from call centers to engineering departments in lower-wage countries.

But the spread of IT from America's factory floors to the massive service sector creates a double-whammy for workers, Cowen said.

Retailers are in the midst of the technology revolution. Research firm VDC Research estimates retailers worldwide will spend 12 percent more on installing self-check-out kiosks -- which require fewer staff -- by 2015.

In Massachusetts, supermarket chain Stop & Shop is piloting a program that allows shoppers to use their smart phones to scan groceries as they pull them off the shelves -- a move that could lead to even fewer check-out clerks.

The advance of technology throughout the economy poses a challenge for policy makers fighting high unemployment. As technology reduces the number of workers needed to produce the same amount of goods and services, the economy must grow at an even faster pace if new jobs are to be created.

JOBLESS RECOVERIES

In the 1990s, the rate at which companies boosted equipment and software investments more than doubled and output per hour surged. Employment growth generally tracked the higher rates of productivity for a time, as it had for generations.

Then something happened. After the 2001 recession, private employment growth essentially flat-lined while technology investment continued its giddy rise.

Since the Great Recession, technology investment has rebounded even more strongly and is growing more rapidly as a share of the economy than in any recovery in at least six decades.

Private employment, however, is not rebounding in tandem. At the current pace of job creation, it would take years for employment to return to pre-recession levels -- let alone absorb new entrants to the labor market.

The travel industry is a key example of how on-line technology has revolutionized a business sector.

The chief executive of Travelocity, a privately held company based in Dallas, noted how the company can sell dramatically more airline tickets and hotels rooms with fewer employees than an old-fashioned travel agent.

Online retailers also can innovate rapidly. Just a few employees with computer skills can change a market with dizzying speed.

"With the Internet, five people in a room can get together on something and put it up to 1 percent of your visitors to test and see how it goes," said Carl Sparks, Travelocity's CEO.

The reshaping of commerce has extended far beyond online retailing. Bar code scanners made by Honeywell International Inc have sped up passenger check-ins at airports and improved the tracking of goods in warehouses.

The U.S. manufacturer expects its scanners will increasingly be adopted in hospitals, improving the productivity of nurses administering drugs, said the firm's product management director, Taylor Smith.

The rapid pace of technological advances has led some economists to speculate that information technology is a factor behind the recent trend of jobless recoveries.

"The technology now is different," said Mark Thoma, an economist at the University of Oregon. "We're way more able to replace people with smart equipment, and it's going up into new levels of the population. It's not just the manufacturing workers. It's white collar workers, too."

FUTURE JOBS

Innovation is nothing new. Nor are job layoffs as companies cut employees during recessions -- part of what economists call the "creative destruction" process that eventually rechannels less productive resources into the jobs of the future.

The labor market stagnation over the last two years is also probably due in large part to the ferocity of the recent recession, the worst to hit the United States since the Great Depression, economists say.

But the growing gap between technology investment and job growth over the past decade suggests that the traditional link between capital investment and employment is under duress.

The chairman of Google Inc, Eric Schmidt, has called the labor market a "national emergency" and argues that the U.S. government should urgently find a way to stimulate demand.

Higher profits due to technology advances are not enough to spur hiring, he said. As a nation, he said, "We're stuck."

On-line travel firms, however, show a glimmer of how technology can help create fresh demand -- essential for the creation of new jobs.

The industry has embraced smart phones and iPads in the newest twist to push last-minute travel deals -- perhaps spurring consumers to take an extra trip and boost business for airlines and hotels.

It's a technology trend that could help the whole travel market grow, albeit incrementally.

"We are hiring more engineers in the mobile space to build more mobile products," said Travelocity's Sparks. "We hire more people in marketing to handle that."

(Editing by Leslie Adler)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111019/us_nm/us_usa_economy_technology

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Skill triumphs over fish scarcity and draws experienced anglers back to overfished lakes

ScienceDaily (Oct. 18, 2011) ? Fishermen care about more than the quantity of fish in a pond. Access, beauty, distance from home and fishing regulations play into the choice of which lake to fish on a given Saturday. How deep into the woods will fishermen hike to find a lake brimming with fish? Do recreational fishermen avoid overfished lakes?

In the October Ecological Applications, Len Hunt (Centre for Northern Forest Ecosystem Research, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources) and colleagues report that when catching fish is at the top of the priority list, overfishing goes down in regions with few fishermen, but up in regions with many. Because motivations are mixed and feedback on choices isn't obvious, a self-regulating system in which fishermen naturally pick the most productive lakes and spread their impact evenly over a region can't be expected, according to the authors.

Some fish species are actually as easy, or easier, to catch when their numbers are few because they school together and stick to predictable habitat corners. Experienced anglers use knowledge, and tools like bathymetric maps and depth-sounders, to locate fish, and may catch almost as many in an overfished lake as in a thriving one.

Drawing on data from 157 lakes and diaries tracking fisherman's preferences, the authors model the effects of weighting different priorities on the health of walleye stocks in the Thunder Bay region of Ontario, on the north shore of Lake Superior. The authors recommend adapting management strategies to usage patterns, the arrangement of lakes throughout the landscape lake biology, and the dynamic relationships between them.. Simple, region-wide solutions like limiting fishing licenses can exacerbate population crashes at popular lakes. But they note that the ongoing monitoring required to tailor management is expensive and that modeling could help target landscape-scale efforts.

"Because timely monitoring of literally hundreds of lakes in a landscape will be virtually impossible, ''adaptive,'' integrative social-ecological models such as ours, extended to include regulatory tools, might provide informed solutions that are open to experimental reassessments and modification."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Ecological Society of America, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Len M. Hunt, Robert Arlinghaus, Nigel Lester, Rob Kushneriuk. The effects of regional angling effort, angler behavior, and harvesting efficiency on landscape patterns of overfishing. Ecological Applications, 2011; 21 (7): 2555 DOI: 10.1890/10-1237.1

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111018150405.htm

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Activist investor says RIM blocked meeting (Reuters)

TORONTO (Reuters) ? Jaguar Financial, a Research In Motion investor agitating for a shake-up, said two independent RIM directors canceled meetings called this week to discuss complaints about the BlackBerry maker.

Jaguar, a Canadian merchant bank that targets underperforming companies, wants RIM to replace co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie. It has also asked RIM to consider putting itself up for sale, either as a whole or in parts.

Jaguar Chief Executive Vic Alboini said on Tuesday meetings with directors David Kerr and John Richardson were canceled by RIM's counsel.

"This incident clearly demonstrates the control that management has over the independent directors," said Alboini.

But RIM insisted that Richardson had asked the company to cancel the meeting after "consideration of Jaguar's past activities," and after consultation with outside counsel.

"Mr. Richardson does not believe that Jaguar's interests are aligned with RIM's long-term shareholders, and therefore instructed the company to contact Mr. Alboini and decline a meeting at this time," RIM said in a statement.

Jaguar says shareholders representing 8 percent of RIM's stock back its demands, and investment bankers say that figure could grow if RIM fails to address their concerns.

The current co-CEOs have presided over a steady decline in the BlackBerry's share of the smartphone market and have failed to keep pace with innovations by Apple and others, Alboini and other critics say. Balsillie and Lazaridis, who share the role of chairman, exert too much power over the board, they say.

Shares of RIM closed up 3.6 percent at $23.21 in Nasdaq trade on Tuesday, as the BlackBerry maker launched a three-day developers conference in San Francisco.

At the event, RIM said it would soon launch a new operating system to power both its smartphones and the PlayBook tablet computer.

In 2009, Alboini played a crucial role in scuttling HudBay Minerals' friendly takeover of Lundin Mining, successfully appealing the Toronto Stock Exchange's approval of the transaction.

(Reporting by Pav Jordan; Editing by Frank McGurty)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111018/wr_nm/us_rim_investor

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