Cultural evolution changes bird song

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Thanks to cultural evolution, male Savannah sparrows are changing their tune, partly to attract "the ladies."

According to a study of more than 30 years of Savannah sparrows recordings, the birds are singing distinctly different songs today than their ancestors did 30 years ago ? changes passed along generation to generation, according to a new study by University of Guelph researchers.

Integrative biology professors Ryan Norris and Amy Newman, in collaboration with researchers at Bowdoin College and Williams College in the U.S., analyzed the songs of male Savannah sparrows (Passerculus sandwichiensis) recorded over three decades, and found that the songs had changed distinctly from 1980 to 2011.

"The change is the result of cultural transmission of different song elements through many generations," said Norris.

Norris added that the change in tune resembles changes in word choice and language among humans.

"If you listen to how people used to talk in the 1890s and how we talk today, you would notice major differences, and this is the result of shifts in culture or the popularity of certain forms," he said. "The change in sparrow songs over time has occurred much the same way"

The sparrows, which live on Kent Island, N.B., in the Bay of Fundy, can generally sing only one song type that consists of several parts. Male sparrows learn that song early in their first year and continue to sing the same tune for the rest of their lives.

"Young male sparrows learn their songs from the birds around them," said Norris. "It may be their fathers, or it could be other older male birds that live nearby."

Each male sparrow has his own unique sound, added Newman.

"While the island's sparrows all sing a characteristic 'savannah sparrow song,' with the same verses and sound similar, there are distinct differences between each bird," she said. "Essentially, it is like karaoke versions of popular songs. It is the rise and fall in popular cover versions that has changed over time."

The research team found that, in general, each song has three primary elements. The first identifies the bird as a Savannah sparrow, the second identifies which individual is singing, and the third component is used by females to assess males.

Using sonograms recorded from singing males each breeding season, the researchers determined that, while the introductory notes had stayed generally consistent for the last 30 years, the sparrows had added a series of clicks to the middle of their songs. The birds had also changed the ending trill: once long and high-frequency, it is now shorter and low-frequency.

"We found that the ending trill of the song has become shorter, likely because female sparrows preferred this, because males with shorter trills had higher reproductive success," Norris said.

Kent Island has been home to the Bowdoin Scientific Station since it was donated by J. Sterling Rockefeller in 1932, and the birds have been recorded since the 1980s. Individual birds are also monitored throughout their lifetime.

"We know the identity and history of every single sparrow in the study population" said Norris, who has led the project with Newman since 2009. "To have 30 years of recordings is very rare, and it was definitely surprising to see such drastic changes."

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Their study appears in the January 2013 issue of Animal Behaviour.

University of Guelph: http://www.uoguelph.ca

Thanks to University of Guelph for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/126529/Cultural_evolution_changes_bird_song

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ZTE V81 tablet shows up in website ahead of MWC, touts 8-inch display and Jelly Bean

Not quite content with the release of its Grand S earlier this month, ZTE looks to be preparing a new tablet to go along with that aforementioned flagship handset. The V81 -- which will presumably make its official debut at this year's Mobile World Congress -- is, according to the company's own website, said to be boasting an 8-inch (1,024 X 768) display with a dual-core, 1.4GHz CPU (mum's the word on chipset specifics), 1GB RAM and 4GB of internal storage that can be expanded to up to 32GB via microSD. Speaking of which, other listed incisions include a full-size USB and HDMI, while a 3,700 mAh battery and Android Jelly Bean are also part of the relatively decent spec sheet. Naturally, pricing and availability details are still slim, but it shouldn't be too long before we learn more on that front -- in the meantime, there's a gallery filled with V81 press shots after the break for you to peruse over.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/29/zte-v81-android-tablet/

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The Liz Lemon Effect

Tina Fey at the 19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Jan. 27, 2013, in Los Angeles

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Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images

As the final episode of 30 Rock approaches and America prepares to bid its harried, comedy-star-herding heroine a last blerg-bye, Liz Lemon is already being celebrated by the media as one of the more memorable female characters in the history of television. Tributes are being paid. Lists of her memorable quotes have been assembled. Her image recently appeared in the supporting Lois Lane role on the cover of Rolling Stone, prompting outraged blog posts because?hello??Liz Lemon, not Jack Donaghy, is our Superman.

None of this is surprising. While the audience for 30 Rock was never massive, among many, affection for the show and Liz Lemon has always run deep. From the moment Lemon first appeared in the 2006 30 Rock pilot, bought every hot dog from a street vendor?s stand to shut up a rude New York businessman, then gave away those wieners to the tune of a song reminiscent of the theme from That Girl, we have expected Liz Lemon and Tina Fey, the show?s creator and Lemon?s real-life alter ego, to usher in a fresh, fruitful era for funny ladies on television.

By ?we,? yes, I refer to the rabble of professional writers who get paid to fill the Internet?s tubes with insightful commentary about pop culture and/or women?s issues, a group that has cranked out a lot of think pieces about Liz Lemon and Tina Fey over the years. But I also mean ladies more generally, particularly those most likely to view Fey as their official nerd and savior: sarcastic Gen Xers, third-wave feminist alumni of Ivy Leagueish universities, and anyone who considers consuming night cheese while wearing a Slanket the makings of a rock-solid Saturday evening.

If our Tina?first female head writer for Saturday Night Live and the stinging satirist behind the movie Mean Girls?could be put in charge of her own show about a woman who?s also in charge of her own show, then surely this would lead to a TV landscape in which, to borrow the title of Fey?s book, a lot of ladies would soon be walking across our LED screens wearing bossypants. At least that was the hope. Now, with all 138 30 Rock episodes in the can and just that one final send-off left to air, this seems like a good time to ask: Did the existence of Liz Lemon actually change anything for women on television?

Fey?s 30 Rock success?and let?s define success here by the show?s longevity, quality, and accolades, not its often pitiful ratings?just so happened to occur on the front end of what has been a very encouraging time for women working in the industry. More high-profile comedies?from Girls to The Big C to Enlightened to The New Girl and The Mindy Project, which serve as anchors for Fox?s Tuesday night comedy block?are being created or co-created by women and placing dynamic, dysfunctional, and funny female characters at the center of their narratives. Shows that weren?t necessarily invented by women?Parks and Recreation and Veep?also have generated buzz while casting woman as central figures in powerful positions. Are Tina Fey and/or Liz Lemon responsible for this? Maybe not directly. But many of the women riding this wave, like Kaling and Fey?s friend and partner in Golden Globes-hosting genius Amy Poehler, would likely cite Fey?s simultaneously self-deprecating and cutting sensibility?both on 30 Rock and in her previous work?as an inspiration for their own.

In fact, during a 2012 Television Critics Association panel, Eileen Heisler, one of the two female showrunners of ABC?s The Middle and a former producer for Murphy Brown, attributed TV?s lady renaissance in part to Fey. ?I think Tina Fey?and us?poked a little hole that allowed for this [proliferation of women in television],? she said, according to Deadline. As we all learned during this year?s Golden Globes, it was watching Tina Fey, among others, that helped a young Lena Dunham make it through middle school. That has to count for something.

But if we learned anything from 30 Rock?aside from the fact that it?s possible to get away with putting both Jane Krakowski and Jon Hamm in black face when done in the proper comedic context?it?s that the TV business is liberally peppered with ?dummies,? as Lemon would call them. Some are actual dummies, while others may be legitimately intelligent individuals, like Jack Donaghy, who nevertheless fill their network?s programming lineup with shows that cater to dummies (MILF Island). What is great and smart does not always survive, and with every flicker of progress for TV gender equality comes a setback, like the recent cancellations of Fox?s Ben and Kate and ABC?s Don?t Trust the B---- in Apt. 23, both of which were created by women.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=8306a260f4cedb7455ab20d1eec348f5

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City of the Month: Park City, UT ? Travel Smart Blog

Last week, the acclaimed Sundance Film Festival honored the top independent movies and players. Every year, its host, Park City, Utah, takes the best supporting role for the annual celeb-studded event.

Park City is topping all the travel lists (Forbes, Travel + Leisure, Ski Magazine, Conde Nast Traveler) lately surpassing destinations such as Aspen. Why? Accessibility, creativity, and activity!

Park City is a transformed old mining town with three ski resorts surrounding it. The quaintness of Park City?s Main Street is a thin veil for souvenirs and high-end retail. And don?t be deceived by the quaint fa?ade as the price tag for a vacation in and around this city is never bargain-priced. The four block historic strip is perfect for strolling or you can step into Robert Redford?s restaurant, Zoom, which offers some delicious local fare.

Accessibility

Nobody wants to spend the better part of a day traveling into a destination. Park City is more accessible than many of the top ski resort towns ? located only 45 minutes from The Salt Lake City airport. The international airport serves many airlines; Delta Air Lines has nonstop flights from more than 100 cities. Shuttles are a better choice than renting a car.

Hotels in Park City are numerous; from the big brand hotels to the local lodges.

Creativity

It has become a hub of culinary creativity with more than 100 restaurants and some truly inspired eateries.

If dining among celebrities in a beautiful mountain setting sounds appealing, you?ll want to check-in to the Waldorf-Astoria. Get a table at Slopes, a new restaurant deemed America?s hottest hotel restaurant in 2012 by Travel & Leisure.

The Waldorf-Astoria?s renowned bar and lounge, Powder Ice Lounge, features a 14-foot sculpted ice bar (it?s literally made of ice) and is one of the most popular photo-ops in the city.

Activity

Park City features three world-class resorts ? Deer Valley Resort, Canyons Resort and Park City Mountain Resort ? that offer three seasons of fun for everyone. (I say three because spring is a transitional season when the resorts close, the snow melts, and the preparations for the summer season are taking place.)

In the winter, the powder is abundant. Park City is home to the steep mountains where the US Ski Team trains attracting the world?s top snow sport enthusiasts, and a very chic and sophisticated crowd.

The Utah Olympic Park near Park City was the site of the 2002 Bobsled, Luge and Ski Jumping competitions. Today, visitors are treated to a guided tour of the park, athlete training sessions, 70 mile-per-hour bobsled rides, zipline rides, Quicksilver alpine slide rides, Olympic museum, an interactive museum, freestyle aerial and ski jumping shows on Saturdays at noon and a variety of camps for all ages.

In the summer and fall, the resorts convert their lifts and runs into over 400 miles of trails for biking and hiking and endless activities. Deer Valley?s Mountain Biking School offers lessons for those looking to improve their skills or just a guide for some of the areas best trails.

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Source: http://www.travelsmartblog.com/2013/01/city-of-the-month-park-city-ut/

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Internet Tips - A Beginners Guide to Filtering Spam - Computer How ...

New Internet users who open email accounts can find that their joy at discovering online networking is impinged by spam. Spam, otherwise known as unsolicited electronic junk mail, is sent, often by advertising companies, to mass recipients at once. Sometimes receivers respond favorably to spam, which makes the whole process valuable to senders. Receivers who don?t want junk via electronic post however, can find spam annoying.

Spam can quickly fill your inbox and take time to wade through. In addition, if you are a conscientious Internet user you may be wary of accidentally opening spam that might contain a computer virus. Catching a Trojan or other computer virus via junk mail can add insult to injury.

Image credit: Renato Avanzini, Flickr

Spam filters

The first step to avoiding spam can be to employ an anti-spam filter tool. You can download anti-spam tools from the Internet; however, you will probably find that you already have a method of dealing with spam supplied by your email program. Windows Mail for example, provides junk email options for customers. Under the heading ?Tools? you could click on ?Junk-Email Options? and then choose how you would like to deal with potential spam via a list of choices.

[Read also: Why Gmail is The Best at Keeping Your Inbox Organized]

No automatic filtering

The first, but least safe option is to employ no automatic filtering. This would mean that you received all mail routinely whether it was junk or not. However, you could still block known spammers and other senders from whom you didn?t want to receive mail.

Low filtering

The second option is low filtering. This involves moving obvious spam to a junk folder. Low filtering can be useful if you don?t want to miss emails you want to receive that could otherwise be presumed to be junk if a higher filtering capacity was employed.

High filtering

High filtering is a great way to catch almost all forms of junk email, but it can sometimes result in messages you would have liked to receive being lost as well.

Safe list filtering should be used if you only want to receive mail from people you know and have placed on a safe list. Any other mail is automatically filtered.

[Recommended read: How to Avoid Falling for A Phishing Scam]

Permanent removal

The final option Windows offers is to opt for permanent removal of unsolicited mail. Such mail doesn?t go into a junk folder for you to check. Instead, all unsolicited messages and spam are permanently deleted before you get to see them.

Like Windows Mail, most email programs allow people to select filtering options of their choice to suit their needs. Not choosing to use a filtering system at all can be a mistake, as viruses and annoying mail are generally posted electronically to email users en masse in this fashion.

Deciding which filtering option is best for you and employing it straight away when you open an email account can be wise. By perusing the selection of choices offered by your email program regarding junk mail, you can effectively avoid most spam and safeguard your time, energy and safety as an email receiver.

About the Author: Sam Jones, the author, thinks that broadband is wonderful but that it still has some regulatory problems.

Source: http://www.computerhowtoguide.com/2013/01/guide-to-filtering-spam.html

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PaaS Provider ActiveState And The Paradox Of Aligning With HP And Cloud Foundry

Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) provider ActiveState has a sweet deal with HP. It is the official PaaS for the entire HP cloud business.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/e4do1k8gszo/

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Court foils bid to grab King Institute land worth Rs 1,500cr

??|?? January 27, 2013 ?? 08:27am ??|Contributed by manoja

CHENNAI: This is the mother of all land grab attempts. The Madras high court has foiled a conspiracy to take over 56 acres of prime piece of real estate at Guindy, where the famed King Institute of Preventive Medicine and Research stands. The market value of the land is about Rs 1,500 crore.

In September 2008, a settlement officer granted patta for the land to nine persons, throwing all norms to the winds. The high court too is partly responsible for the confusion, as it had issued an innocuous ?consider-and-pass-order? direction enabling the nine persons to stake claim for the property, even though the King Institute was in continuous possession of the land since 1899.

Justice K Chandru, slamming the officials and canceling the patta, said if the settlement officer?s order is implemented, the employees of the King Institute will have to use a rope car to reach their workplace. ?The findings of the settlement officer are wholly illegal and inconsistent,? he said.

The lands where the King Institute, Dr MGR Medical University, Tamil Nadu Newsprints Limited and Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board stand today originally belonged to the Adyar zamin. However, after the enactment of the Tamil Nadu Estates (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act, 1948, the entire land vested with the Tamil Nadu government. The King Institute has been functioning at the location since 1899, when the first building was built.

The nine people, who were never in possession of the land, staked claim for it for the first time in February 2002, and they sought change of nature of the land. On September 1, 2008, settlement officer C Kasthuri, who was placed under suspension later, issued patta in favour of the nine and held that all but the buildings of King Institute belonged to them. Mambalam-Guindy tahsildar and the King Institute approached the HC, seeking cancellation of the settlement officer?s order.

Special government pleader M C Swamy, representing the government, said prime property at the heart of the city would fall on private hands if the tahsildar?s petition is rejected.

Justice Chandru said: ?The settlement officer had shown undue haste and unwarranted interest in disposing of the applications made by the private persons. She had not gone into the veracity of the claim made by the private persons that they were the legal heirs of the erstwhile zamindar.?

Concluding that the woman officer had passed the orders without jurisdiction, Justice Chandru said, ?It is a clear case where private respondents have hatched a conspiracy to grab the lands which have been in possession of the government department for nearly a century, by taking recourse to dubious legal proceedings and by obtaining an order without any justification from this court.?

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Court-foils-bid-to-grab-King-Institute-land-worth-Rs-1500cr/articleshow/18191810.cms

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Source: http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-india/chennai/court-foils-bid-to-grab-king-institute-land-worth-rs-1500cr.html

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Nanohybrid with remarkable properties using a new laser-plasma process

Jan. 25, 2013 ? By achieving the synthesis of a novel nanohybrid structure by means of the pulsed laser ablation (PLA) technique, Professor My Ali El Khakani and his team paved the way for a new generation of optoelectronic materials. The combination of carbon nanotubes and lead sulfide (PbS) nanoparticles was performed using an effective and relatively simple process that offers considerable latitude for creating other nanohybrids for a variety of applications. The INRS ?nergie Mat?riaux T?l?communications Research Centre researcher's work, published in the journal Advanced Materials, presents very promising prospects for the development of third-generation solar devices, fast photodetectors, and optoelectronic switches.

In recent years, research on the photoelectronic properties of semiconductor nanoparticles, such as PbS, has been growing. The coupling of these nanoparticles with carbon nanotubes is a promising strategy for effectively generating photocurrent. The synthesis methods used by other research teams had significant limitations. "When chemically synthesizing nanohybrids, researchers used ligands, which prevented nanoparticle agglomeration, on one hand, but significantly affected the charge transfer dynamics from nanoparticles to nanotubes," said Professor El Khakani. Ligands reduce photoresponse efficiency and increase the reaction time -- two effects that were not observed in nanohybrids produced by PLA since PbS is in direct atomic contact with the nanotubes' surafce.

"At the beginning, we didn't know if the nanohybrids would form in such a way as to enable their effective use for photodetection," said Ibrahima Ka, an INRS doctoral student working under the supervision of Professor El Khakani and co-supervised by Professor Dongling Ma. "By optimizing our approach, we developed nanohybrids whose photoactivity can be almost tailored at will." By integrating the new nanohybrid material into functional photoconductive devices, the researchers were pleased to demonstrate its strong photoresponse, which overpasses the results obtained by other methods. Thus, they have been able to achieve photoresponse values as high as 670% at 633 nm and 1350% at 405 nm under conditions where other nanohybrids did not exceed 37%. Furthermore, when the material is illuminated by a laser, the photocurrent response time is 1,000 to 100,000 times faster than those reported to date for other nanohybrids.

The PLA synthesis process produces very pure nanostructures and provides greater control over nanohybrid characteristics. Professor El Khakani's results demonstrate the enormous potential of these carbon nanotubes with PbS quantum dots.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by INRS, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. I. Ka, V. Le Borgne, D. Ma, M. A. El Khakani. Pulsed Laser Ablation based Direct Synthesis of Single-Wall Carbon Nanotube/PbS Quantum Dot Nanohybrids Exhibiting Strong, Spectrally Wide and Fast Photoresponse (Adv. Mater. 47/2012). Advanced Materials, 2012; 24 (47): 6288 DOI: 10.1002/adma.201290298

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://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/ME_1DopCgu8/130125142206.htm

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Determining Your Finance Needs for Business Growth | FundWell

Before seeking a business loan, small business owners should conduct a detailed analysis of their financing needs and outline these in a proposal for their lending institution.? Why is it so important that business owners only take on the debt that they absolutely need?? Because borrowing? too much can result in wasted resources and increased costs in the long run, while borrowing too little can keep you from accomplishing your goals and put your business at risk.

Startups will have different considerations than businesses who are seeking to improve and grow their business.? Here we outline important considerations for small business owners who are seeking financing to improve or grow their business.

-Do you need money to expand your business, manage your current cash flow, or cushion against risk?? In other words, determine the strategic purpose of your loan, and whether you are seeking working or investment capital.

-Do you need a set amount of money, or would you prefer a line of credit?? This will be determined in part by whether you are seeking working or investment capital.

-Are your financial goals regarding the loan long-term or short-term?? Again, this is determined in part by the strategic purpose of your loan.? A general rule is short-term loans for short-term goals, and long-term loans for long-term goals.

-How urgent is the need for cash, and how quickly do you need the money?? This will play a major role in the type of financing you seek.? Most loans with good interest rates will take time to process, so it?s always better to plan ahead and cushion against risk, rather than to seek financing during a crisis.

-How great are your risks?? Generally the more risk your business carries, the higher the cost and qualifications for the loan.? High risk lenders tend to have fewer financing options.? Consider the market and competition for your product or service, and any other mitigating factors involved in your business.? You will want to make a sober assessment of your risks, so that you can explain them to your lender.

-What will you use the money for?? Consider whether the money will be put toward buying equipment, hiring new employees, or managing cash flow.? Plus, detailing specifically how the money will be used, as well as providing financial projections and a cash budget that details the flow of funds, and the timing of cash drains and surpluses, will go a long way in demonstrating to your lender that you are a knowledgeable and responsible borrower.

-What is the current state of your business financials and credit?? In general, it will be harder to obtain debt financing if your business has poor credit or a poor financial history.

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Source: http://thefundwell.com/2013/01/what-to-consider-when-determining-your-finance-needs-for-business-growth/

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A winning digital marketing strategy | REM | Real Estate Magazine

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Source: http://www.remonline.com/?p=14729

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6 ways to get out from under holiday debt

6 hrs.

ALEX VEIGA , The Associated Press

A wallet-emptying shopping binge and New Year's debt hangover are mainstays for many consumers.

And now that the holiday bills have arrived, many face the daunting task of whittling down the mountain of often high-interest credit card debt before it gets out of control.

That task is made more difficult this year because most paychecks have been reduced because Congress and the White House allowed a two-year reduction in Social Security payroll taxes to lapse at the end of December.

Although many cardholders have kept their credit card debt relatively low since 2010, their average debt is expected to grow by roughly 8 percent to $5,446 by the end of this year. That's the highest level in four years, according to credit reporting firm TransUnion.

That suggests some consumers could end up carrying at least a portion of their 2012 holiday debt, and paying interest on it, well into 2013.

"The worst thing you can do is stick your head in the sand and not begin to change," says Norma Garcia, manager of the financial services program for Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports.

Here are six tips on how to detox your finances this year.

1. Tally up what you owe
First on the debt to-do list is to take stock of the damage. That means reviewing credit card bills, bank statements, and other accounts to determine how much you owe and how that translates into monthly payments.

Experts also recommend getting a copy of your credit report if you haven't done so in more than a year.

"That way, you'll know exactly where you are, in terms of what's being reported to the credit reporting companies," says Rod Griffin, director of public education for credit reporting firm Experian.

Consumers are entitled to get a credit report from the three nationwide credit reporting companies free of charge every 12 months. Copies can be obtained at AnnualCreditReport.com.

A credit report can help you understand how your debt, and your payment history, will be perceived by potential lenders.

It also underscores the need to bring down card balances, as high balances are viewed as a sign of risk.

2. Draw up a payment plan
Paying down credit card debt requires discipline.

One oft-advised strategy for borrowers carrying balances on two or more credit cards is to rank the cards by their interest rates and then make the biggest monthly payment on the card with the highest interest rate. For the rest, only make the minimum monthly payment. The process is repeated once the card with the highest rate is paid off.

This approach reduces the portion of payments going toward interest.

Griffin says some borrowers might be better off funneling the biggest payments to the card with the lowest overall balance. That enables a cardholder to pay off a card entirely more quickly. This can provide a psychological boost and reaffirm that it's possible to conquer your debt.

Remember this: If you used credit cards to take advantage of holiday sales, you may quickly lose any savings because you're allowing balances to linger.

3. Consider a balance transfer
A survey by Consumers Union found that half of the respondents are racking up interest charges by carrying a balance.

For those who don't have a pile of cash that they can draw upon to pay down their debt, the next best option is to lower the interest charges.

You can ask your credit card issuer to do you the favor, but don't count on it. A more realistic option is to consolidate your card balances into another card with a lower interest rate.

Many card issuers extend balance transfer offers, with some providing an introductory period of a year or more to pay off the transferred balances at no interest. However, that's not set in stone.

"Your introductory period is usually forfeited if you miss a payment," says Bill Hardekopf, CEO of LowCards.com.

Banks also will typically charge a fee of 3 percent to 4 percent on the amount transferred.

The average interest rate on balance transfer cards is 12.59 percent, according to CreditCards.com. That's the rate borrowers can expect to pay after the introductory period on their cards ends. On cards offering a variable interest rate, borrowers can end up having a lower or higher interest rate.

Worried about taking on more credit cards? Griffin of Experian says credit scores put less emphasis on the number of accounts borrowers have than on how those accounts are used, namely, if your balances are high relative to the amount of credit you have available.

Experts differ on the wisdom of resorting to other options. "With a credit card, the worst thing that can happen is you default, your credit will go down," says Garcia. "With a home equity line of credit, that could have implications for your homeownership and your continued relationship with that bank."

4. Make a budget, follow it
Make a budget of your fixed household expenses, such as your mortgage or rent, utilities, car loan, insurance, and so on. Carve out a realistic amount of money for more variable costs, such as gas, groceries and entertainment.

Once you figure out a monthly plan that allows you to pay down your card debt, even if it means scrimping here and there, stick with it. The key to doing that is to remain on top of expenses.

Computer and mobile phone apps designed for tracking expenses abound. Your bank likely already has an app that can help you to keep up with charges on your accounts.

Some of the most popular apps include Mint.com and Pageonce, which draw data from bank, credit card and other accounts to give users a comprehensive view of their finances and spending. They also help organize and track expenses, sending e-mail alerts when bills are due, among other features.

Both are available for iPhones and smartphones running Google's Android operating system.

Garcia suggests one way to remove temptation from ill-advised impulse spending is to open a separate bank account without debit card privileges and have a portion of your paycheck directly deposited there. Then, you use that account to pay down your cards.

5. Use credit, don't abuse it
The best way to get back on the right financial track is to get in the habit of paying off any charges on cards right away. It helps to reframe one's understanding of what credit is, Garcia says.

"When you use a credit card, you're tapping into a deficit ? unless you plan to pay for it ? rather than a reservoir of savings," she says. "The person should ask themselves, 'Can I pay off that balance every month?' and if I can't, what's that going to cost me?"

6. Get help
Feeling overwhelmed by debt? Counseling agencies approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development offer free credit counseling, advice on making a personal budget and dealing with creditors. They can be found on www.hud.gov.?

? 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/6-ways-get-out-under-holiday-debt-1C8091330

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Apple removes photography app 500px over nudity concerns

Apple has removed the photography app 500px from the App Store over concerns that images of nudity are too easy to find. And... wow, unless there's some huge part of this story we still don't know, the jokes, ridicule, frustration, face-palming, condemnations, complaints, and triple entendres pretty much all write themselves. What makes this even more asinine is that the update that got 500px pulled was the one designed to make nude images even harder to find. Sarah Perez reports for TechCrunch:

The Apple reviewer told the company that the update couldn?t be approved because it allowed users to search for nude photos in the app. This is correct to some extent, but 500px had actually made it tough to do so, explains Tchebotarev. New users couldn?t just launch the app and locate the nude images, he says, the way you can today on other social photo-sharing services like Instagram or Tumblr, for instance. Instead, the app defaulted to a ?safe search? mode where these types of photos were hidden. To shut off safe search, 500px actually required its users to visit their desktop website and make an explicit change.

It's important to remember we're not talking with porn here. 500px doesn't allow porn. We're talking about nudity in artistic photography. Apple's always made it clear they had two developer platforms, the App Store for curated apps, and web apps for anything goes. Porn has gone the web app route. There's no reason 500px shouldn't be in the App Store with every other app that allows access to nude photos, including, as Phil Nickinson of Android Central pointed out, Instagram, Twitter, and Google+, and of course, every web browser app, including APPLE'S OWN SAFARI.

That's why any app with full web access has to display a warning for the kinds of content that can be found on the full web. If 500px didn't include the proper age rating and warning, however, it seems like that could have been easily corrected before things got so public.

I won't mention the tethering apps, knock off platform games, scam apps, and other nonsense that actually does get approved, because when you're dealing with humans, human mistakes happen. This feels like one of those mistakes, and hopefully it gets corrected quickly.

It's also important to point out that this isn't "censorship". Apple has the right to decide what's in, and what's not in their store. No government or other power forced Apple to remove any apps. They exercised their own discretion, just like Walmart does with its shelves, and NBC and the New York Times do their content. That doesn't mean it sucks any less, just that it's not censorship.

Update: The Verge received a comment from Apple PR saying 500px contained "pornographic" images and customers had complained about "possible child porn" in the app. The developer claimed it was the first 500px heard of that.

Oy.

Source: TechCrunch, The Verge

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/GA1nDDBM0jM/story01.htm

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Ben Horowitz: ?We Like To Invest In College Dropouts With Insane Ideas Going After Tiny Markets With No Way To Monetize?

At the DLD conference in Munich today, venture capitalist Ben Horowitz took the stage to discuss why he and his firm Andreessen Horowitz invests in a company and its founders. Last year, he said, Andreessen Horowitz found 2,355 companies that were potentially worth investing in that passed the company's initial screen. In the end, Andreesen Horowitz only closed 24 deals (excluding seed deals). The companies that made it, he cheekily argued, are those started by "college dropouts with insane ideas going after tiny markets with no way to monetize."

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/GDYzxcoc55U/

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Obama's inaugural: He got the social equality part down, but there ...

I love the pageantry of inaugurals. I could sit and watch them all day, which I more or less did while I wrote about the president?s address. No matter your political beliefs, there is something about inaugurations that bind us together. They are one of the few moments where ceremony links us together as Americans.

As satisfying as I found the events, which included watching the president derive such strength from his family, I found myself wanting to hear much more about his economic vision. We heard plenty about his social views, many of which I agree with when it comes to immigration, gay rights and lifting up the poor.

But he largely raced past the economic problems facing us with the debt. He didn?t speak of the role that entrepreneurs play in spurring growth. He didn?t really make the case for tax reform as a way to take our economy to a new level. And he talked not at all about opening up markets for American goods, which serves the larger political good of connecting American interests with those of emerging markets.

It?s his speech, so he gets to emphasize what he likes. But it is revealing that his core belief system includes little about the power of a market economy. Mostly today he talked about the rules needed to keep it in check. Or he highlighted the perils of a few privileging themselves over others.

Indeed, marketplaces need rules. And no society benefits if only the wealthy are making it.

But the place where the president put his economic emphasis is almost where always puts it. And that is on the cautionary aspect of our market economy.

What we heard in his address was mostly rooted in the Great Society, New Deal and progressive movement. This wasn?t a Clintonish New Democratic speech.

Once today?s pageantry fades, I worry that we are headed for at least two years of Democratic liberalism versus Republican conservatism. Maybe somewhere in that crowd were leaders from Congress and/or statehouses who were thinking about blending social equality with market economics. I don?t care what party they come from, but I sure hope they speak up soon. We need both social inclusion and the dynamics of the marketplace.

Source: http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2013/01/obamas-inaugural-he-got-the-social-equality-part-down-but-there-was-little-about-market-economics.html/

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Smith College Athletics - Squash Falls To Northeastern

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass.--Eunice Zhao and Vivian Lee both won their games as the Smith College squash team started the Pioneer Valley Invitational with a 6-2 loss to Northeastern University at Mount Holyoke on Saturday.

Zhao posted a 3-1 (11-8, 11-8, 2-11, 11-7) win over Olivia Simone at No. 2, while Lee won 11-7, 11-9, 11-9 at No. 4.? Battling a fever, Jacqueline Zhou fell 3-2 (11-9, 11-6, 6-11, 10-12, 9-11) at No. 1 to Jenny Janec.

Three other Pioneers went to extra points, starting with Carly Melillo, who fell to Seo Hyun Joo 11-4, 10-12, 2-11, 11-13 at No. 5, and Jana Chan, who lost to Hoai Tran 12-14, 7-11, 12-14 at No. 6.? Dipshikha Mahajan, like Chan and Melillo in her first year of competitive squash, also went to extra points at No. 8 with a 3-11, 10-12, 11-13 loss to Sarah Garley.

Smith will conclude the competition with a 9 am tilt against Haverford College at Amherst College.

Source: http://www.smithpioneers.com/news/2013/1/20/WBB_0120135142.aspx

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Homes for Sale Danville CA Real Estate Weekly Review January 20 ...

?2013 Bay East. ?2013 CCAR. ?2013 EBRD. All rights reserved. Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. This information is provided from three separate sources: Bay East, CCAR and EBRD. The listings presented here may or may not be listed by the Broker/Agent operating this website. Information last updated on 1/21/13 1:44 AM PST.

This IDX solution is (c) Diverse Solutions 2013.

Source: http://vickiesellshomes.com/homes-for-sale-danville-ca-real-estate-weekly-review-january-20-2013/

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Loneliness, like chronic stress, taxes the immune system

Jan. 19, 2013 ? New research links loneliness to a number of dysfunctional immune responses, suggesting that being lonely has the potential to harm overall health.

Researchers found that people who were more lonely showed signs of elevated latent herpes virus reactivation and produced more inflammation-related proteins in response to acute stress than did people who felt more socially connected.

These proteins signal the presence of inflammation, and chronic inflammation is linked to numerous conditions, including coronary heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, arthritis and Alzheimer's disease, as well as the frailty and functional decline that can accompany aging.

Reactivation of a latent herpes virus is known to be associated with stress, suggesting that loneliness functions as a chronic stressor that triggers a poorly controlled immune response.

"It is clear from previous research that poor-quality relationships are linked to a number of health problems, including premature mortality and all sorts of other very serious health conditions. And people who are lonely clearly feel like they are in poor-quality relationships," said Lisa Jaremka, a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research at Ohio State University and lead author of the research.

"One reason this type of research is important is to understand how loneliness and relationships broadly affect health. The more we understand about the process, the more potential there is to counter those negative effects -- to perhaps intervene. If we don't know the physiological processes, what are we going to do to change them?"

The results are based on a series of studies conducted with two populations: a healthy group of overweight middle-aged adults and a group of breast cancer survivors. The researchers measured loneliness in all studies using the UCLA Loneliness Scale, a questionnaire that assesses perceptions of social isolation and loneliness.

Jaremka will present the research January 19 at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology annual meeting in New Orleans.

The researchers first sought to obtain a snapshot of immune system behavior related to loneliness by gauging levels of antibodies in the blood that are produced when herpes viruses are reactivated.

Participants were 200 breast cancer survivors who were between two months and three years past completion of cancer treatment with an average age of 51 years. Their blood was analyzed for the presence of antibodies against Epstein-Barr virus and cytomegalovirus.

Both are herpes viruses that infect a majority of Americans. About half of infections do not produce illness, but once a person is infected, the viruses remain dormant in the body and can be reactivated, resulting in elevated antibody levels, or titers -- again, often producing no symptoms but hinting at regulatory problems in the cellular immune system.

Lonelier participants had higher levels of antibodies against cytomegalovirus than did less lonely participants, and those higher antibody levels were related to more pain, depression and fatigue symptoms. No difference was seen in Epstein-Barr virus antibody levels, possibly because this reactivation is linked to age and many of these participants were somewhat older, meaning reactivation related to loneliness would be difficult to detect, Jaremka said.

Previous research has suggested that stress can promote reactivation of these viruses, also resulting in elevated antibody titers.

"The same processes involved in stress and reactivation of these viruses is probably also relevant to the loneliness findings," Jaremka said. "Loneliness has been thought of in many ways as a chronic stressor -- a socially painful situation that can last for quite a long time."

In an additional set of studies, the scientists sought to determine how loneliness affected the production of proinflammatory proteins, or cytokines, in response to stress. These studies were conducted with 144 women from the same group of breast cancer survivors and a group of 134 overweight middle-aged and older adults with no major health problems.

Baseline blood samples were taken from all participants, who were then subjected to stress -- they were asked to deliver an impromptu five-minute speech and perform a mental arithmetic task in front of a video camera and three panelists. Researchers followed by stimulating the participants' immune systems with lipopolysaccharide, a compound found on bacterial cell walls that is known to trigger an immune response.

In both populations, those who were lonelier produced significantly higher levels of a cytokine called interleukin-6, or IL-6, in response to acute stress than did participants who were more socially connected. Levels of another cytokine, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, also rose more dramatically in lonelier participants than in less lonely participants, but the findings were significant by statistical standards in only one study group, the healthy adults.

In the study with breast cancer survivors, researchers also tested for levels of the cytokine interleukin 1-beta, which was produced at higher levels in lonelier participants.

When the scientists controlled for a number of factors, including sleep quality, age and general health measures, the results were the same.

"We saw consistency in the sense that more lonely people in both studies had more inflammation than less lonely people," Jaremka said.

"It's also important to remember the flip side, which is that people who feel very socially connected are experiencing more positive outcomes," she said.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Ohio State University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS. The original article was written by Emily Caldwell.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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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/top_news/top_health/~3/zh6EAfrImIM/130119185019.htm

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Will tiny gadgets replace passwords? Google thinks so

47 min.

Devin Coldewey , NBC News

It may be quick, easy, and free to use your email and an ordinary password to log into things, but it's not as secure as it used to be ? and who wants to remember a bunch of passwords anyway? In a new paper,?Google engineers describe some futuristic security options.

Eric Grosse and Mayank Upadhyay, in a paper to be published later this month in IEEE Security and Privacy Magazine, explain that the world is getting too complicated for the old username/password combo to be effective anymore.

Wired got a peek at the paper, which describes a couple new methods. One that's easy enough to deploy widely is to use a tiny, unique USB key, like the Yubico pictured here, that contains a special cryptographic code that identifies you to online services.?

Such a device would help with what's called multiple-factor authorization: When you log into a site from a new computer with the correct username and password, the site might text your phone or do some other secondary check to make sure it's really you. The Yubico key does this simply and could be implemented into browsers and websites fairly easily.

Another option would be to have something on your body at all times, like a ring, that has a tiny wireless chip embedded in it. You could just tap it on the computer and it would know that you were indeed right there, using that computer to log into your email or cloud service.

Of course, in either case, if you lost your gadget or someone stole it, they've got a pretty important piece of your online security, and you'd have to get it cancelled in short order ? but that risk, in Grosse and Upadhyay's opinion, is worth it for the benefits.

The problem is that people tend to do only what's required of them, and won't move to a more sophisticated system like this until there's a very good reason to do so ? apart from the phantom threat of being hacked.

Once a few of the major Web browsers and Internet services support a few of these new methods (Google is working on making Chrome work seamlessly with the Yubico key), setup could be as simple as buying a $5 dongle.

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBCNews Digital. His personal website is?coldewey.cc.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/will-tiny-gadgets-replace-passwords-google-thinks-so-1B8038211

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Musial, Weaver were very different

By NOAH TRISTER

AP Baseball Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 12:55 a.m. ET Jan. 20, 2013

One was born in St. Louis, the other became a star there.

Aside from that, Earl Weaver and Stan Musial were about as different as two Hall of Famers could be.

"Talk about your odd couple," said George Vecsey, the longtime sports columnist for The New York Times who wrote a recent biography of Musial.

Weaver was a 5-foot-6 rabble rouser whose penchant for quarreling with umpires belied a cerebral approach to managing that has stood the test of time. Musial was a humble slugger with a funky batting stance who was beloved by Cardinals fans and respected by pretty much everyone else.

Saturday began with news of Weaver's death at age 82, and by the end of the night Musial had died, too, leaving baseball to reflect on two distinguished careers rich in contrasts.

"Earl was well known for being one of the game's most colorful characters with a memorable wit, but he was also amongst its most loyal," Commissioner Bud Selig said.

Selig later released a statement after Musial's death at age 92.

"Stan's life embodies baseball's unparalleled history and why this game is the national pastime. As remarkable as `Stan the Man' was on the field, he was a true gentleman in life," Selig said.

A three-time MVP and seven-time National League batting champion, Musial helped the Cardinals win three World Series championships in the 1940s. His popularity in St. Louis can be measured by the not one, but two statues that stand in his honor outside Busch Stadium. After his death Saturday, Cardinals of more recent vintage began offering condolences almost immediately.

"Sad to hear about Stan the Man, it's an honor to wear the same uniform," said a message posted on the Twitter account of Cardinals outfielder Matt Holliday.

Albert Pujols, who led St. Louis to World Series titles in 2006 and 2011 before leaving as a free agent before last season, offered prayers for Musial's family via Twitter.

"I will cherish my friendship with Stan for as long as I live," said a message posted on Pujols' site. "Rest in Peace."

Weaver was born in St. Louis, but his greatest success came as a manager in Baltimore. He took the Orioles to the World Series four times, winning one title in 1970.

Never a fan of small-ball strategies like bunting and stealing bases, Weaver preferred to wait for a three-run homer, always hoping for a big inning that could break the game open.

"No one managed a ballclub or pitching staff better than Earl," said Davey Johnson, who played under Weaver with the Orioles.

Johnson now manages the Washington Nationals and ran the Orioles from 1996-97.

"He was decades ahead of his time," Johnson said. "Not a game goes by that I don't draw on something Earl did or said. I will miss him every day."

While Musial could let his bat do the talking, Weaver was more than willing to shout to be heard. His salty-tongued arguing with umpires will live on through YouTube, and Orioles programs sold at the old Memorial Stadium frequently featured photos of Weaver squabbling.

Former umpire Don Denkinger remembered a game in which the manager disputed a call with Larry McCoy at the plate.

"Earl tells us, `Now I'm gonna show you how stupid you all are.' Earl goes down to first base and ejects the first base umpire. Then he goes to second base and ejects the second base umpire. I'm working third base and now he comes down and ejects me," Denkinger said.

Musial was a quieter type who spent his career far removed from the bright lights of places like New York and Boston. But his hitting exploits were certainly on par with contemporaries Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams.

"I knew Stan very well. He used to take care of me at All-Star games, 24 of them," Hall of Famer Willie Mays said. "He was a true gentleman who understood the race thing and did all he could. Again, a true gentleman on and off the field - I never heard anybody say a bad word about him, ever."

Dave Anderson of The New York Times recalled growing up in Brooklyn, rooting for Musial. Those Dodgers crowds helped give Musial his nickname, Stan the Man.

"I thought he was going to knock the fence down in Brooklyn, he'd hit it so often," Anderson said.

Musial did it despite an odd left-handed stance - with his legs and knees close together, he would cock the bat near his ear and twist his body away from the pitcher before uncoiling when the ball came.

If that was a lasting snapshot of Musial, the images of Weaver will stay just as fresh - the feisty manager, perhaps with his hat turned backward, looking up at an umpire and screaming at him before kicking dirt somewhere and finally leaving the field.

None of those histrionics should obscure the fact that in the end, Weaver often had the last laugh - to the tune of a .583 career winning percentage.

"When you discuss our game's motivational masters, Earl is a part of that conversation," Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson said. "He was a proven leader in the dugout and loved being a Hall of Famer. Though small in stature, he was a giant as a manager."

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Hall of Fame manager Weaver dies

HBT: The Orioles' icon had a 1,480-1,060 record over 17 seasons, including?six American League East titles, four pennants and a World Series title in 1970.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/50523403/ns/sports-baseball/

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West Quay dining and a snowy morning - A Rosie Outlook

At the end of November last year, West Quay shopping centre unveiled their new 'Dining at West Quay' food court with a host of new restaurants added to the original repertoire. ?I would have loved to go to the opening but frustratingly it was on a Thursday afternoon and we all know because of my persistent whinging at being a 9-5er that I was chained to my desk at that time. ?Because I couldn't go I was sent a voucher to 'review the Dining at West Quay experience' and the first time since then that I've been in Southampton and had some free time happened to be last night. ?I actually had a Dentist's appointment (deep joy) and as my Dentist's is opposite West Quay I dragged Tom along with the promise of dinner afterwards.
There's several new restaurants that have been added to the food court now, including Wagamamas, Caf? Rouge, Ed's Diner, Pizza Express and Wagamama, adding to their original offering of eateries like Nando's, Pizza Hut and Toby Carvery Sandwich Express (carvery sandwiches? YES please!). ?It's certainly the best selection of restaurants I've seen in one place and it's the first Ed's Diner I've seen and the funky interior really brightens up the area. Has anyone been to an Ed's Diner before? I've heard mixed reviews so I'd love to know whether it's worth a visit?

I know it sounds a bit stingy but as I was sent a ?15 gift card I didn't want to go too over and above that cost; it's a bit of a tight month for us and I didn't want to leave us too out of pocket purely for a blog feature. ?I quite fancied Wagamama or Caf? Rouge but you can barely get a main course and a drink there for ?15 so instead we plumped for an old favourite, Nando's. ?I don't need to review Nando's for you (although if you're interested they messed up bringing out our food and then overcharged us) so I'll leave references and photographs of chicken out of this post! All in all I think the addition of the new restaurants to West Quay is a great extra selling point and I'd definitely recommend a visit if you're in the area.

I've been super tired this week so when we arrived back home the only thing on the cards was my current two favourite ingredients of an evening; a blanket and Dexter. ?We've just started Season Six of Dexter after rattling through four and five in the last month, and I'm totally hooked. ?Any other Dexter fans out there? (If there is, how long did it take you to get over the Season Four finale? I'm still in shock...)

Because we're both big kids, Tom and I spent the latter half of the evening checking the weather forecast and peeking out of the window to see if any snow had arrived (we even invented a theme tune for our person 'Snow updates' - see, BIG KIDS). ?Our anticipation was rewarded in the morning with the arrival of a good few inches of crisp, white snow. ?Tom usually walks Bodhi in the morning whilst I get ready but I couldn't let him have all the fun so I layered up, pulled on my new mittens and Hunter wellington boots (it was that wet snow that looks pretty but also leaves you soaked so?shoes weren't really an option!) and we both headed out into the snow. ?The children next door were on a 'snow day' from school and were in the driveway, donned in animal onesies and wellies and ready to pelt Tom with some snowballs! (They threw one at Bodhi but he just ate it. ?Sometimes I think his personal mantra in life is 'Whatever life throws at you, EAT IT).
We had some fun in the snow before coming home and heading off to work (excuse the lack of make-up by the way, it was early!). ?In an example of excellent timing, Adrian from Apparel Uncut kindly sent me the?red beanie?(?12) I'm wearing yesterday which was urgently needed this morning! It's a proper thick knit and kept my head cosy and dry on our morning walk. ?Sadly our offices are on the seafront so the sea air means the snow isn't really settling here and we're well and truly open for business. ?No chance of a snow day for us! Hope it isn't being too much of a pain where you are; jealous of any of you who have been given a bonus day at home and are currently drinking mugs of tea by some sort of fire - that's what I'd be doing!

Source: http://www.arosieoutlook.com/2013/01/west-quay-dining-and-snowy-morning.html

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To the Ends of the Earth: The Heroic Age of Polar Exploration

Image: Scientific American

Editor?s note: On January 20, 2013, an expedition called the Shackleton Epic will begin an attempt to be the first team to authentically re-create Sir Ernest Shackleton?s voyage of survival crossing 800 nautical miles of the treacherous southern ocean, from Elephant Island to South Georgia, and the climb over it. You can follow the group?s exploits online.

You can get a sense of the danger involved to the first explorers to the poles a century ago from the Scientific American Classics special digital edition, Tragedy and Triumph: The Heroic Age of Polar Exploration (July 2012). The following, originally published with the title ?To the Ends of the Earth,? is the introduction to the edition, which compiles articles from our archive. See other special digital editions on our Classics page.

?

An era of breathless anticipation came to an end on March 7, 1912, when Roald Amundsen landed in Tasmania and sent telegrams announcing that he and his team of Antarctic explorers had reached the South Pole on December 14, 1911. Just weeks after that historic announcement?on or about March 29, 1912?Amundsen?s one-time rival for this feat of geographic primacy, Robert Falcon Scott, and the last surviving members of his five-man team perished on the windswept snow of the Ross Ice Shelf, although news of Scott?s death did not reach the outside world until months later.

Robert E. Peary and Frederick Cook had already reported success in reaching the North Pole a few years earlier, although Cook?s report was later discredited. The poles had been conquered at long last, after decades of exploration during which humans repeatedly tried, failed and finally succeeded in reaching each of these most remote corners of our world. In this special volume commemorating the passage of a century since the world learned that the South Pole had been attained, Scientific American takes a look back at its coverage of that remarkable era and the events leading up to it.

The age of polar exploration provided a wealth of information for science to sift, while at the same time fulfilling the aspirations of nations to compete with others and even to stake potential territorial claims, with all the attendant allure of financial gain. It is easy to see why the pursuit of science was a goal to be cherished and emphasized in this mix of motivations: there were many reasons to be skittish of the potential for conflict and colonialism, but little could be more noble than knowledge.

At the turn of the 20th century, all eyes turned to the poles as it became clear that these two grand prizes of exploration lay within human grasp. Polar expeditions enjoyed the interest and support of the public, governments and academies of science alike. Today?s polar scientist frequently marvels as she or he looks back at what these early scientist-explorers accomplished, as they laid the foundations that remain firm to this day in fields ranging across geology, meteorology, biology, glaciology, and more.

It was a time dubbed the ?Heroic Age? of polar exploration?who could not be moved to admire the men who set out to explore these desolate, frigid and forbidding lands? It was also an era when the simple act of going to places never before trod on by human feet would inevitably lead to scientific as well as geographic insights. The articles contained in this collection remind us of an epoch when experts debated whether the North Pole was surrounded by an inland sea that could be sailed; a thick, smooth ice sheet that could be easily traversed by a sleigh; or?as proved to be the case, to the dismay of explorers and the fascination of scientists?devastatingly unstable stretches of open water within fields of shifting sea ice. This volume takes us back to a time when educated people wondered whether the Arctic was colder than the Antarctic and whether the southern continent would be inhabited. The news columns and articles of Scientific American from that time are replete with the rich rewards that exploration brought back to the scientific world by answering these and a host of other questions.

These pages offer a window into the worlds of Amundsen, Scott, Cook, Peary and other explorers at a time when readers were also following the progress in developing flying machines and the question of whether it would cost a nickel or a dime to ride the New York subway. This was also an era of technological advance and innovation in the tools of exploration, including ships to brave the Arctic ice, early attempts to build motorized sledges, and photography capable of withstanding the extreme cold and capturing polar vistas that were sure to inspire and motivate any scientifically- minded American reader. As you read the original accounts of this extraordinary age of polar exploration, written a century or more ago, you may be reminded of the common character of exploration, science and technology, each of which celebrate the opening of new frontiers, the discovery of unknown facts and the advancement of human endeavors.

---

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A Century after Scott and Amundsen, the Antarctic Still Beckons

By John Horgan

THE NORTH POLE

The North Pole and Its Seekers
October 28, 1868

New Expeditions to the Arctic Regions
June 24, 1871

The Latest Arctic Explorations?The Remarkable Escape of the Polaris Party
June 7, 1873

Rescue of the Remaining Survivors of the Polaris
October 4, 1873

The Latest Polar Expedition
December 26, 1874

Work for Arctic Explorers
July 17, 1875

The British Arctic Expedition

The Coming Arctic Expeditions
May 22, 1875

The British Arctic Expedition
August 28, 1975

July 3, 1876
The Search for the Pole

The British Arctic Expedition
December 23 and 30, 1876

The Recent Arctic Expedition
January 20, 1877

Another Approach: Balloons and Airships

Some Suggestions for Future Polar Expeditions
February 13, 1877

Proposed New British Polar Expedition
September 20, 1879

To the North Pole by Balloon
July 13, 1895

Wellman?s Airship for His North Polar Expedition
By the Paris Correspondent of the Scientific American
July 7, 1906

The Wellman Polar Airship Expedition
By the Paris Correspondent of the Scientific American
June 22, 1907

Farther North

The American Arctic Expedition
September 14, 1878

The Peary Arctic Expedition
July 15, 1893

Nansen?s Polar Expedition
March 14, 1896

The Recent Failures of Arctic Expeditions
August 29, 1896

The Return of Lieut. Peary
September 27, 1902

The Polar Regions
June 11, 1904

Peary?s New Ship for Work in Arctic Seas
October 8, 1904

Peary and the North Pole
July 15, 1905

Peary?s Arctic Ship, The ?Roosevelt?
July 15, 1905

Peary?s ?Farthest North?
November 17, 1906

Race to the Finish: Peary and Cook

Peary?s Quest of the North Pole
July 18, 1908

Peary and? the North Pole
August 21, 1909

Dr. Cook and the North Pole
September 11, 1909

Dr. Cook?s Discovery of the North Pole
September 11, 1909

Honor to Whom Honor is Due
September 18, 1909

Commander Peary?s Discovery of the North Pole
September 18, 1909

Retrospect of the Year 1909: Exploration
January 1, 1910

?Investigating? Peary
April 22, 1911

THE SOUTH POLE

Exploring Antarctica

Antarctic Exploration
January 23, 1897

To South Polar Lands
February 13, 1897

The Voyage of the ?Discovery?
February 3, 1906

Antarctic Expeditions, Past and Present
Some Heroes of Exploration
November 11, 1911

Dr. Charcot?s Antarctic Expedition
November 30, 1907

Motoring Toward the Pole

By Motor Car to the South Pole
By J. S. Dunnet
October 19, 1907

The Shackleton Antarctic Expedition
By John Plummer
August 29, 1908

Lieut. Shackleton?s Antarctic Expedition
April 3, 1909

Lieut. Shackleton
April 9, 1910

Two Novel Motor Sleds
By Walter Langford
May 14, 1910

Race to the Finish: Amundsen and Scott

The Antarctic Expeditions
January 13, 1912

The Discovery of the South Pole
March 16, 1912

Amundsen?s Attainment of the South Pole
Progress of Antarctic Exploration
By G. W. Littlehales, Hydrographic Office, United States Navy
March 23, 1912

Capt. Scott at the South Pole
April 13, 1912

Shadows at the South Pole
June 15, 1912

The Scott Expedition and its Tragic End
A Sacrifice Made for Scientific Ideals
February 22, 1913

Achievements and Lessons of the Scott Expedition
March 1, 1913

To the South Pole with the Cinematograph
Film Records of Scott?s Ill-Fated Expedition
June 21, 1913

Science in the Heroic Age

The Height of the Antarctic Continent
By Walter Langford
June 4, 1910

The Renewed Siege of the Antarctic
January 17, 1914

Shackleton?s South Polar Expedition
The Value of His Scientific Observations
By Henryk Arctowski
June 17, 1916

Thawing Scott?s Legacy
A pioneer in atmosphere ozone studies, Susan Solomon rewrites the history of a fatal polar expedition
By Sarah Simpson
December 2001

Greater Glory
In the race to the South Pole, explorer Robert F. Scott refused to sacrifice his ambitious science agenda
By Edward J. Larson
June 2011

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[Windows 8] Cumulo integrates Dropbox, SkyDrive, Google Drive, Box, and Sugarsync into one app

Cumulo allows integrating different cloud services, such as Dropbox, SkyDrive, Google Drive, Box, and SugarSync in a single and unified view. This app is very useful for people who have accounts across many different services. Cumulo is a unique app providing a game changing service.

What is it and what does it do

Main Functionality

Cumulo is an app which integrates all your cloud storage services into a unified and simple view.

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• Integrates DropBox, SkyDrive, Google Drive, Box, and SugarSync into a unified view ? download/upload files
• Provides a transfer manager to download and upload files to all registered storages
• Play video and audio files directly from the application
• Combine photos from different providers and view them in a slideshow
• Open a file using the browser
• Take photos and videos directly from the app and upload them to any provider

Cons

• Shows all storage under one folder as opposed to separate folders for each account
• The integration with Box is faulty
• Ad supported
• You can?t download whole folders

Discussion

Cumulo makes me feel like I have one big hard drive on the internet. All my fragmented cloud storage under one folder. What makes the app more awesome is it is one of the few app which provide this service. Well, to begin with it provides integration of Dropbox, SugarSync, Google Drive, SkyDrive, and Box in a unified view.

It provides a transfer manager to download and upload all files, and it has an option to open the files in a browser. Using a lot of cloud services, one of the main problems one would come across is the many folders and duplicate directories that are created across. This clears all that problems.

Also, you can directly open and play files from the app itself. You can also combine the images from all your different services and view them in a slide show. And a very useful feature is taking of photographs directly from the app itself and uploading it. Also, the usual features like sharing and searching via the charms bar is also available.

The app makes a single root directory for all drives. Instead of this if they made a separate one for each drive organization would be easy to use. Also, I had problems while using my Box account, I guess there are a few bugs that need to be ironed out.

The app is ad supported and at times it does get irritating. And in the end an option to download folders would have been great.

Conclusion and download link

Cumulo is a great app for all users who have their digital storage fragmented over the cloud. Its integration is pretty strong and supports all the major players in the game. Productivity rates are bound to shoot up after downloading. The app has a few cons but you can ignore them as they really don?t come in the way of working of the app. In the end it is a great app to download.

Price: Free

Supported OS: Windows 8, Windows RT

Supported architectures: x86, x64, ARM

Cumulo on Windows Store

About the author: Varun View all posts by Varun

Varun H Suresh is a 18 something tech blogger, avid quizzer, self proclaimed hip-hop star, and the president of Ouagadougou. Yes, he is just another random teenager on the internet.

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