E-mail Marketing ? A Free Lunch With a Side of Spam - SiteProNews

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One of my favorite westerns is the ?Good, The Bad and The Ugly?. You may recall Clint Eastwood is one of the good guys in this movie. He personifies the western hero who comes to the rescue. On the other hand, you have Lee Van Cleef who plays Clint?s bad partner and Eli Wallach who plays the ugly partner. These three characters personified all the attributes of the western hero/anti-hero.

Since WWW stands for the Wild Wild West (aka world wide web), we can? think of e-mail as one of the good guys that helped firms promote their businesses on the Internet. During the past few years, however, e-mail spamming has become one of the ugly facts of life online.

The good news is that legitimate e-mail marketing is still alive and well.

It is also still mostly free. ?If you are like most business owners, you spend a considerable amount of time and money trying to create qualified leads for your sales staff. ?Having owned, operated and/or managed a number of thriving businesses over the years, I have come to appreciate the fact that many forms of lead generation provide great results. This includes leads generated by newspaper ads, coupons, yellow page ads and direct mail. While these forms of lead generation systems have proven to be effective at making our phone ring in the past, they have also proven time consuming, hard to track and expensive.

Take direct mail, for instance. ?With the cost of a first class stamp currently at 46 cents apiece, designing, constructing, stuffing and mailing a single circular from one business to another is going to cost you a minimum of $1. If you want to send your mailer to 1,000 businesses, this is going to represent a significant financial risk. Since the average rate of return on direct mail is a scant one to two percent, it isn?t exactly a sure thing as to whether your firm will break even on the campaign, let alone turn a profit.

However, sending the same offer or newsletter via e-mail will cost you little more than the time it takes to craft the offering. ?While there is a right way and a wrong way to go about creating a legitimate e-mail database, if you belong to networking groups, attend business functions, or in other ways come into contact with potential customers, getting permission to send them a monthly newsletter is as simple as asking permission. (This means you shouldn?t be branded as a spammer).

You can also include forms on your website, landing pages and social networks that will allow interested parties to sign up to receive your white paper, e-book or newsletter at the click of a mouse. ?Providing an easy way to let your prospects opt-in is just another way of connecting with an ever-growing audience.

Opt-in data bases are even better than purchased databases because these prospects want to receive your information. By automating parts of this process, you can touch prospects with less effort, lower costs and send out information and articles with greater frequency.

Creating a newsletter is a snap, since there are websites such as constantcontact.com, icontact.com and mailchimp.com that provide a low-cost service that includes everything you need to construct newsletters, invitations and offers, all via their template driven system.

Want to send out a birthday or holiday greeting to those on your mailing list? ?Try jibjab.com a website that contains hundreds of customizable e-cards and video cards that you can send to as many people in your database as you care to, for a flat $9.99 per year. ?We recently sent out a series of holiday video cards that were a huge success because they were humorous and because we added our staff?s headshots into the action. (If you haven?t seen this site you don?t know what you are missing.)

Best of all, all of the above-mentioned forms of online promotion are cost-effective and spam-free. ?If anyone receiving your newsletter wants to opt-out, all they have to do is click a link on the newsletter to be removed from your mailing list. Of course, that doesn?t mean that spammers do not exist.

What?s Scary! Really Scary!

The bad news is that there is no end in sight for spamming. Anyone who receives e-mail usually receives tens or even hundreds of unsolicited e-mails every day. ?According to cyber security firm Symantec, in 2012 72.89 percent of all e-mail received worldwide was considered spam. ?While most of us employ one form or other of spam filter to keep from being buried alive by spam, Symantec recommends a few other ways to reduce the amount of unwanted e-mails coming your way.

Some Simple Ways Stop E-mail Spam

This topic deserves a standalone blog post, so we?ll highlight the most important points only:

1. Do not give away your primary e-mail address when registering online. Use a secondary or special address for registrations.

2. Unless you are a salesperson, don?t include your e-mail address in the public profiles visible by everyone.

3.?Choose an e-mail address that is difficult to guess.

4. Never respond to spam e-mails such as asking to unsubscribe ? this will confirm your e-mail address validity rather than unsubscribe you.

5. Use a spam filter on your computer or in your corporate network.

6. Use the ?Report spam? option within your e-mail client so you never receive e-mails from this sender again.

7. Update your anti-viral software on a regular basis.

The problem with spam is there is no way to legitimately take your name off the spammers e-mail list.

E-Mail Spam ? The Ugly Truth

Not only are spammers raking in millions of dollars, so are the companies

that sell them their lists. A number of freeware and free apps are also used to collect e-mail address illegitimately. Some are even being used to infect the computers, tablets and Smartphone?s of unsuspecting consumers and business owners worldwide. This ugly truth is becoming more than a nuisance, it?s epidemic. ?It is threatening all our livelihoods. ?Governments have been woefully inadequate at protecting consumers. They have done a poor job of going after and prosecuting these spammers, hackers and cyber criminals. However, that doesn?t mean there is nothing you can do to defend yourself.

Is there anything you can do about unsolicited commercial e-mail?

Unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE) can come from various organizations, companies or be the product of ?computer viruses.? Companies or individuals can get your e-mail address from the Web. Other sources exist such as marketing lists that you sign up to that often get passed between companies. Unsolicited commercial e-mails generally also come from outside the U.S. Many of these UCE originate from countries like Ireland and those in European Union. This means it is quite difficult to stop the occurrence of UCE ? it is a global phenomenon. Generally, there is little you can do to prevent unsolicited commercial e-mails being sent to you.

Here is what you can do if you receive UCE:

In the vast bulk of cases of UCE?s e-mails, the e-mail headers are not valid.

*E-mail headers may be forged so replying to the e-mail merely results in you sending UCE to the innocent person whose e-mail address was forged.

*It is not advised to respond to an e-mail address to ?opt-out? of a list unless the address is from a recognized organization. These e-mail addresses may also be false or are used to confirm the unwanted e-mail was originally sent to a valid and active e-mail account.

*Responding to a website that supposedly lets you remove yourself from the list is also not advised. This is because once you access the website your details are logged. You could also you be exposed to pornography.

It is possible to determine the location (rather than the user or the e-mail address) from where the e-mail was sent. If you are able to look at the e-mail headers, you will then be able to determine the IP address of the Internet Service Provider (ISP) whose services were used to send the e-mail. Finding out exactly where UCE has come from can be difficult and time-consuming.

If you have determined the location of the sender of these mails, then it may be possible to send an e-mail to abuse@isp to complain ?about the e-mail. However, adult e-mails are not illegal in many countries including Ireland. If you do succeed in sending an e-mail complaint to abuse@isp and the material is illegal in the jurisdiction it originated in or in breach of the Acceptable Use Policy of the sender?s ISP, the ISP can disconnect the sender. However, it might be unable to tell you the name of the sender due to international data protection regulations. In many cases, the sender just moves to a different ISP and starts the process again.

Just like the characters in the movie, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, e-mail has a way of showing us the best and the worst the Internet has to offer. E-mail has saved billions of dollars for businesses worldwide. It has also cost billions in return. While e-mail can be a two-edged sword, it can also be a godsend to businesses looking for a way to increase their exposure. It has helped thousands of businesses survive the tough financial times that are upon us today. ?Just bear in mind that the when it comes to working the Web, only the good guys play by the rules.

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Carl Weiss is one of the good guys who has been helping clients work the Web to win since 1995. He is president of WSquaredMediaGroup.com a digital marketing agency and owner of Jacksonville-Video-Production.com. ?You can speak with him live on the air every Tuesday at 4 p.m. EST on Blog Talk Radio.

Source: http://www.sitepronews.com/2013/01/31/e-mail-marketing-a-free-lunch-with-a-side-of-spam/

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Zimmerman wants to delay trial for Martin shooting

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) ? Attorneys for the former neighborhood watch volunteer charged with shooting Trayvon Martin to death on Wednesday asked for more time to prepare his case, saying prosecutors had been slow to turn over evidence.

At the same time, Zimmerman's lead attorney, Mark O'Mara, renewed his request for donations to George Zimmerman's legal defense, which he said could cost up to $1 million.

"The state has virtually unlimited resources to prosecute George," O'Mara said on Zimmerman's defense fund website. "To finance his defense, however, George relies on the generosity of individuals who believe he is innocent."

Spokesman Shawn Vincent said Zimmerman's attorneys want his second-degree murder trial to be moved from June to November. Zimmerman has pleaded not guilty.

A hearing in which Zimmerman will argue he was acting in self-defense is scheduled for April. The judge has said that hearing will be at least 45 days before the trial.

Prosecutors did not immediately respond to emails and phone calls about the defense request.

O'Mara said prosecutors had been slow to turn over evidence. As an example, he said someone from State Attorney's Office had removed Martin's cell phone from an evidence locker to have it sent to California for analysis, but the state has refused to give him any information about the agency and the type of tests being run on the phone. He also said prosecutors had made it difficult for O'Mara to get answers to administrative questions from a chief investigative agent and had refused to forward them other information on Martin and a witness.

O'Mara also asked the public to donate more money for his defense, saying on the web site that Zimmerman's defense fund has raised more than $314,000 since he was charged. Of that amount, $95,000 was spent on bail, almost $62,000 was spent on Zimmerman's living expenses during the past eight months and $56,100 was spent on security. The pricey living expenses were the result of Zimmerman having to stay at extended-stay hotels until he could find a place to rent after his bail conditions were changed to restrict him to Seminole County, Fla., according to the statement on the website said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/zimmerman-wants-delay-trial-martin-shooting-222949259.html

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An Infrared TV Which Uses Remote Controls as Pixels

Forget 4K displays. Artist Chris Shen has different ideas about how a TV should look—so he built a display from 625 linked remote controls to produce images using their infrared bulbs. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/SDIUHPKvVt0/an-infrared-tv-which-uses-remote-controls-as-pixels

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US jobless claims drop to 5-year low of 330,000

In this Jan. 15, 2013, photo, Racheel Weston, stood in line with a few hundred other job seekers, during the job fair that the Miami Marlins hosted at Marlins Park in Miami. The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level in five years, a positive sign that layoffs have fallen and hiring may pick up. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

In this Jan. 15, 2013, photo, Racheel Weston, stood in line with a few hundred other job seekers, during the job fair that the Miami Marlins hosted at Marlins Park in Miami. The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level in five years, a positive sign that layoffs have fallen and hiring may pick up. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

In this Thursday, Jan. 10. 2013, photo, Business management student Matthew Brathwaite, 22, originally from Jamaica, middle, applies for a overnight logistics position at a Target job fair in Los Angeles. The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level in five years, a positive sign that layoffs have fallen and hiring may pick up. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The number of Americans seeking unemployment aid fell last week to the lowest level in five years, evidence that employers are cutting fewer jobs and may step up hiring.

The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly unemployment benefit applications dropped 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 330,000. That's the fewest since January 2008.

The four-week average, a less volatile measure, fell to 351,750. That's also the lowest in nearly five years.

The decline may reflect the government's difficulty adjusting its numbers to account for layoffs after the holiday shopping season. Layoffs spike in the second week of January and then plummet. The department seeks to adjust for those seasonal trends, but the figures can still be volatile.

If the trend holds up, fewer applications would suggest the job market is improving.

"Encouraging news on the U.S. jobs front, even when you remove all of the noise," said Jennifer Lee, an economist at BMO Capital Markets. "Weekly data are noisy, particularly at this time of year, so keep that in mind."

Applications are a proxy for layoffs. They have fluctuated between 360,000 and 390,000 for most of last year. At the same time, employers added an average of 153,000 jobs a month. That's just been enough to slowly push down the unemployment rate, which fell 0.7 percentage points last year to 7.8 percent.

There have been other positive signs for the economy and job market.

The once-battered housing sector is recovering, which is boosting construction and home prices. Home builders started work in 2012 on the most new homes in four years. And sales of previously occupied homes reached their highest level in five years last year. Still, home building and sales remain below the levels consistent with a healthy economy.

More home building will likely increase job growth. In December, the economy gained 30,000 construction jobs ? the most in 15 months. And economists expect construction firms to add more jobs this year as the housing recovery strengthens.

Patrick Newport, an economist at IHS Global Insight, forecasts that construction companies will add 140,000 jobs this year, up from a meager 18,000 in 2012.

The number of people continuing to claim benefits is also falling. There were nearly 5.7 million people receiving unemployment aid in the week ended Jan. 5, the latest data available. That's down from almost 5.9 million in the previous week.

The overall economy grew at an annual rate of 3.1 percent in the July-September quarter. But economists believe activity slowed considerably in the October-December quarter to a rate below 2 percent or less, in part because companies cut back on restocking.

Less restocking leads to slower factory production, which weighs on economic growth.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-24-Unemployment%20Benefits/id-a6235dac75d94b9fa27b3a1a377d7a47

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Numark iDJ Live II DJ controller hands-on

If there's one company that comprehensively caters to the entry-level and intermediate DJ, there's a good chance it's Numark. While the firm has released a whole bunch of stuff at NAMM this year, perhaps its most mainstream offering is the iDJ Live II. If you remember the original, it was a lightweight controller (both physically, and metaphorically) designed for use with Djay on iOS. This time around the little fella gets a redesign, and a few functionality tweaks. Most notable, is that while the first iteration only gave you the option of iOS connectivity -- via the 30-pin adaptor -- this time you have the choice of Lightning, 30-pin, or straight up USB. Thus, you can now bring the iDJ Live II out to work with your Mac or PC, too. Once again, it's built with Algoriddim's Djay in mind, be it the desktop or iOS version, and we got our hands on it to take it for a spin. Head past the break for the lowdown.

Gallery: Numark iDJ Live II hands-on

First things first. This is very much a fun, consumer product. It would be unfair to call it an accessory, but it's definitely meant for casual use at parties etc. The unit itself is very light, made entirely of plastic, and feels very different to the heavier DJ controllers you might be used to. The iDJ Live II, however, does look much better than the first iteration, with the slightly squared design and the lower-profile platters at least making it look a little less toy-like than before. The plastic finish still feels the same, as does the action and resistance of the platters, knobs and faders (which is serviceable). The controls available give you everything you need to perform all the mixing basics, with high and low-frequency EQ, channel volume control, a crossfader, and even rudimentary scratching (though it really is more of a novelty). If you've ever used Djay for any amount of time though, you'll know that this is plenty enough to get a set going, and having the physical controller there just makes it all that more enjoyable / easy. While purists and old hands might see products such as these as over simplified, the ease of use, and broad appeal makes them ideal for the curious, and that can only be a good thing. Sadly there is no word on price or availability at this time, but we'd be surprised if it wasn't comfortably under $100 when it does finally make its way onto shelves. Check the video below for the hardware tour.

Billy Steele contributed to this report.

Filed under: Misc, Peripherals

Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/SV502XTMWcA/

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Hey Android Gamers, OUYA Has Heard Your Anguished Cries And Modified Its Controller

The team behind the Ouya Android game console clearly paid a lot of attention to its looks -- they nabbed Yves Behar to design the thing, after all -- but not every component has passed muster with the masses. Thankfully, after hearing some discontent from early backers and developers, Ouya has taken some crucial feedback about the console's controller seriously and has decided to make some changes.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/dVREHRL1lJE/

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Discount Web Hosting Plans Added Online at ...

Houston, Texas (PRWEB) January 24, 2013

Website hosting is one of the requirements of owning a website. Entrepreneurs, small business owners and companies selling online make use of various hosting features on a daily basis. The SuperCheapDomainNames.com company has added discount web hosting plans to its online services.

These plans are designed to offer a low price point for new or existing businesses. Plans can be purchased in monthly or annual configurations. Discount codes from GoDaddy are accepted for these new plans.

The use of social media websites has not decreased the amount of websites that are constructed annually according to research. New Internet domain name extensions have been approved to help fill the gap leftover from the shortage of available .com and .net extensions. These new extensions are expected to be available for registration in 2013. The new hosting plans that are now available are designed to help companies of all sizes save money.

Streaming online audio and video content is now possible with faster web servers. This technology has been updated annually to improve video and audio quality. The dedicated packages for hosting that are now available from SuperCheapDomainNames.com includes multimedia streaming. These inclusions are important for companies that deliver streaming content to website visitors. Each server account now includes a generous amount of streaming bandwidth to make delivery of audio and video data effortless and error-free.

To go with the cheaper server packages, a reduction in the domain name registration costs was added this month. The current price before coupon codes are applied is $ 9.99 for any available .com, .net or .org extension. This low price can be reduced downward with any GoDaddy 2013 coupon codes found online.

This special offer for reduced prices for company services is expected to remain in place through the first quarter of this year. The news announcement for the domain price drop can be found on the Internet at http://www.chron.com/business/press-releases/article/Cheap-Domains-Website-Launches-at-4210424.php.

Additional services that are provided by this company online includes SSL certificates, dedicated IP addresses, email services and SEO services for small businesses. Any of these services can be explored on the company website by business owners or individuals.

About Super Cheap Domain Names

The Super Cheap Domain Names company has been offering its discounted services since 2010 online. As a smaller and more focused company, the packages that are offered are priced to help businesses of all sizes. The useful services like domain name registration, hosting and SSL certificates are designed by this company to help provide an easy way for anyone to start selling products or services through a website. The Super Cheap Domain Names company frequently discounts its pricing to match the demands by small business owners in all industries.

Source: http://michiganwebsitedesignllc.org/?p=344

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Gilda's Club chapter in Wis. sticks with name

FILE - In this May 4, 2012 file photo Bonnie Hanson polishes furniture in the "Baba Wawa" room at Gilda's Club in Middleton, Wis. The cancer support group said Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013 it is sticking with its name honoring comedian Gilda Radner following public outcry after the group announced a change in November. (AP Photo/Wisconsin State Journal, M.P. King, File)

FILE - In this May 4, 2012 file photo Bonnie Hanson polishes furniture in the "Baba Wawa" room at Gilda's Club in Middleton, Wis. The cancer support group said Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013 it is sticking with its name honoring comedian Gilda Radner following public outcry after the group announced a change in November. (AP Photo/Wisconsin State Journal, M.P. King, File)

MADISON, Wis. (AP) ? Stung by the overwhelmingly negative reaction to removing the name of original "Saturday Night Live" cast member Gilda Radner from a cancer support group's title, a Wisconsin chapter is borrowing one of the comedian's catch phrases for its next announcement: Never mind.

Gilda's Club Madison will remain just that, group leaders told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The board voted last week to keep the name after an avalanche of criticism in November when it announced it was switching to the more generic Cancer Support Community Southwest Wisconsin, in part out of concern that young people today were unfamiliar with Radner, who died of ovarian cancer in 1989.

"It really struck a chord with folks and all of us agreed we want people to come to Gilda's and get the help that they need," said Wayne Harris, chairman of the board for the Madison chapter. "If this is what it takes to make that happen, we're all as a group happy to make it happen."

The intention of changing to a broader name was honorable, Harris said. "In retrospect, we probably should have thought that through or understood it more," he said.

Anger over the name change, which was supposed to take effect this month, came from members of the local Gilda's Club chapter, fans of Radner who saw it as a slight to a woman who confronted cancer with dignity and humor, leaders of other clubs who reaffirmed their commitment to keeping the name, as well as Radner's husband, actor Gene Wilder.

"We started receiving emails right away," said Lannia Stenz, director of the Madison chapter. "For the most part it was simply asking 'Why did you do this? Please reconsider.' It was really, truly passionate feedback. We had some people who were angry but at the base of everything it was the love of Gilda and her story."

Reaction to the news led to a flurry of positive comments Wednesday on the Gilda's Club Facebook page and on Twitter.

"At the end of the day it's a good win," said LauraJane Hyde, who runs the Gilda's Club chapter in Chicago. "Gilda's roots were improv. As she would have said, 'Make mistakes work for you.'"

Ron Nief, a professor at Beloit College in southern Wisconsin who has made a career out of studying how generations view the world differently, said he was glad to know that Radner still resonates with people and has not been forgotten.

But Nief also said he thought the decision to keep the name was more about securing future donations and less about honoring Radner.

"They are an organization that does very good work and in order to do it they have to raise money and the name is related to their ability to raise funds," Nief said.

Stenz, leader of the Madison chapter, said the potential loss of donations "was not as much of a factor in our decision to retain the name." She said it was driven more by feedback from its board, Gilda's Club members and people in the community.

Stenz and Harris said the goal of the name change was always about making clear the group's mission, not to remove Radner's memory.

"We were just talking about changing the name that we went by legally," Harris said. While Radner would have still been a part of the organization, "in the end, they want to see Gilda's name out front," he said.

Paintings and drawings of Radner line the walls of the Madison-area chapter, which is located in the suburb of Middleton. One depicts her on top of Madison's state Capitol. Another imagines her sitting along the shores of Lake Mendota on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.

The meeting rooms are named after her "Saturday Night Live" characters, including New York-street smart reporter Roseanne Roseannadana; speech-impeded talk show host Baba Wawa, a parody of Barbara Walters; and out-of-sync editorialist Emily Litella who would say, "Never mind," after being told of her confusion.

Radner was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1986. She sought support from The Wellness Community in California, and in 1991, her friends and family started Gilda's Club on the East Coast to honor her legacy. The name was inspired by something Radner said after her diagnosis: "Having cancer gave me membership in an elite club I'd rather not belong to."

Gilda's Club Worldwide merged with The Wellness Community in 2009, and the joint headquarters in Washington changed its name to the Cancer Support Community. Local chapters were given the choice of keeping their names or changing it. Of the 53 chapters worldwide, 23 are known as Gilda's Club.

Together, the chapters deliver $40 million a year in free care to about 1 million cancer patients and their families, said Linda House, executive vice president of the national Cancer Support Community. The Madison chapter has about 2,200 members.

Stenz said she hoped the Madison community that Gilda's Club serves will embrace its decision to keep the name.

As far as lessons learned from the experience, Harris had a simple takeaway: "We're not changing our name again."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-01-23-Gilda's%20Club-Name%20Change/id-80e9a070a833402685e8f61efe78035a

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Video: UBS' Axel Weber: Financial Industry Faces Many Challenges

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/50565521/

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Just add water: How scientists are using silicon to produce hydrogen on demand

Jan. 22, 2013 ? Super-small particles of silicon react with water to produce hydrogen almost instantaneously, according to University at Buffalo researchers.

In a series of experiments, the scientists created spherical silicon particles about 10 nanometers in diameter. When combined with water, these particles reacted to form silicic acid (a nontoxic byproduct) and hydrogen -- a potential source of energy for fuel cells.

The reaction didn't require any light, heat or electricity, and also created hydrogen about 150 times faster than similar reactions using silicon particles 100 nanometers wide, and 1,000 times faster than bulk silicon, according to the study.

The findings appeared online in Nano Letters on Jan. 14. The scientists were able to verify that the hydrogen they made was relatively pure by testing it successfully in a small fuel cell that powered a fan.

"When it comes to splitting water to produce hydrogen, nanosized silicon may be better than more obvious choices that people have studied for a while, such as aluminum," said researcher Mark T. Swihart, UB professor of chemical and biological engineering and director of the university's Strategic Strength in Integrated Nanostructured Systems.

"With further development, this technology could form the basis of a 'just add water' approach to generating hydrogen on demand," said researcher Paras Prasad, executive director of UB's Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics (ILPB) and a SUNY Distinguished Professor in UB's Departments of Chemistry, Physics, Electrical Engineering and Medicine. "The most practical application would be for portable energy sources."

Swihart and Prasad led the study, which was completed by UB scientists, some of whom have affiliations with Nanjing University in China or Korea University in South Korea. Folarin Erogbogbo, a research assistant professor in UB's ILPB and a UB PhD graduate, was first author.

The speed at which the 10-nanometer particles reacted with water surprised the researchers. In under a minute, these particles yielded more hydrogen than the 100-nanometer particles yielded in about 45 minutes. The maximum reaction rate for the 10-nanometer particles was about 150 times as fast.

Swihart said the discrepancy is due to geometry. As they react, the larger particles form nonspherical structures whose surfaces react with water less readily and less uniformly than the surfaces of the smaller, spherical particles, he said.

Though it takes significant energy and resources to produce the super-small silicon balls, the particles could help power portable devices in situations where water is available and portability is more important than low cost. Military operations and camping trips are two examples of such scenarios.

"It was previously unknown that we could generate hydrogen this rapidly from silicon, one of Earth's most abundant elements," Erogbogbo said. "Safe storage of hydrogen has been a difficult problem even though hydrogen is an excellent candidate for alternative energy, and one of the practical applications of our work would be supplying hydrogen for fuel cell power. It could be military vehicles or other portable applications that are near water."

"Perhaps instead of taking a gasoline or diesel generator and fuel tanks or large battery packs with me to the campsite (civilian or military) where water is available, I take a hydrogen fuel cell (much smaller and lighter than the generator) and some plastic cartridges of silicon nanopowder mixed with an activator," Swihart said, envisioning future applications. "Then I can power my satellite radio and telephone, GPS, laptop, lighting, etc. If I time things right, I might even be able to use excess heat generated from the reaction to warm up some water and make tea."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University at Buffalo. The original article was written by Charlotte Hsu.

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. Folarin Erogbogbo, Tao Lin, Phillip M. Tucciarone, Krystal M. LaJoie, Larry Lai, Gauri D. Patki, Paras N. Prasad, Mark T. Swihart. On-Demand Hydrogen Generation using Nanosilicon: Splitting Water without Light, Heat, or Electricity. Nano Letters, 2013; : 130117162526001 DOI: 10.1021/nl304680w

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/most_popular/~3/UXDktS2gQZM/130122143224.htm

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Bahamians to Vote on Home-Grown Gambling Industry - Bahama ...

by Larry Smith

For some, this whole gambling referendum controversy is a storm in a tea pot, a mountain from a molehill, a monumental waste of money, time and energy, and so much ado about nothing.

"No matter what you do in the Bahamas, people are gonna find something wrong with it," said one of those I surveyed. "This is a simple matter of individual choice - we should be able to do what we want, within reason. It's just like the nonsense they spouted about Sunday shopping.

"Maybe we shouldn't have let web shops proliferate, but we did and that's the reality now. Try to close them and they will set up a system where you can gamble on your phone. Their assets are outside the jurisdiction, and they are very sophisticated."

As for the question of public information and transparency, "Colorado recently voted to legalise marijuana, but are only now setting up a task force to figure out how to regulate it. Why spend time and effort on that in advance?"

A referendum is a single-issue ballot that may be either binding or non-binding. For example, the Scottish government will hold an advisory referendum on the question of independence from the United Kingdom in 2014. In this case, both a white paper and draft legislation have already been published.?

Bermuda is expected to hold a referendum this year on the issue of casino gambling. The object is to develop a central casino, with tax revenue going to fund local entertainment. But in this case, the parliament has to pass a specific law to give effect to the question.

In the case of our referendum - on the regulation of web shops and the establishment of a lottery - we have only the serial and ever-mutating statements of the prime minister, some off the cuff and others communicated formally to parliament.

According to Christie, the referendum will sample opinion on the establishment of a national lottery. But the key question will be whether web shop gaming should be legalized subject to strict licensing requirements, regulatory supervision, and the payment of substantial fees and taxes.

He said the extra revenue (estimated at $20-40 million) will help fund scholarships, sports, arts and culture, as well as "a broad range of community, health, infrastructural, recreational and social outreach facilities and programmes, both public and private, throughout The Bahamas."

A 'yes' vote would give the government a mandate to proceed with legislation for the legalization, licensing, regulation, and taxation of web shops. Only some would be licensed, and the others closed down.

To qualify, operators would need to have "the necessary experience, integrity and expertise", as well as the financial resources and organizational capacity to operate in "an efficient, responsible and transparent manner".?

Operators would pay a license fee of not less than $1 million per year, coupled with a performance bond, and annual taxes similar to those levied on casinos. Web shops would also be required to contribute to the cost of the regulatory regime, as well as pay for programmes to protect players from gambling addiction.?

"Like the casinos, licenced web shops would be subject to stringent regulation by the Gaming Board," Christie said,"not only to better promote fairness but also to ensure that national and international anti-money laundering standards are scrupulously adhered to."

It is beyond me why the government did not expand these points into a simple background paper outlining the dimensions of the gambling industry, defining the terms, and generally discussing the pros and cons. That would have taken care of most of the substantive opposition to the current process.

And it is beyond me why a cabinet full of lawyers would have attempted to hold an illegal referendum in the first place. An advisory referendum is unprecedented in the Bahamas, and gambling is an issue that has always sent shudders down the backs of Bahamian politicians - who are wary of offending their church-based supporters - so you would have expected them to plot a more careful course.

I say illegal because there was nothing in law at the time allowing for a referendum on a non-constitutional question and no way to pay for it, although amendments were quickly passed to rectify this. Nevertheless, former PLP chairman Raynard Rigby and DNA leader Bran McCartney (among others) insist that the vote remains illegal, as no specific act of parliament has been proposed or passed as a basis for this referendum. ?

The semantic arguments over the wording of the questions themselves are inconsequential. Tough Call is no lawyer, but it would probably have been better to use the word "regularise" rather than "regulate". That would mean we are making web shop gaming conform to law - as in the regularisation of illegal immigrants. It's a fine point, but in the scheme of things does it really matter?

Last week, talk show host Jeff Lloyd argued that since the PM has said the referendum is non-binding, the government could do whatever it pleased after January 28, and therefore "we shouldn't waste a million bucks on a vote. This is nearly an insult to governance in the country. I cannot excuse the people from being pathologically confused by all the changing positions."

Former finance minister Zhivago Laing said he was confused too. "The contradictions in this process are so stark. Fred Mitchell said the government would accept the will of the people. The PM says he can't enforce the law now, but Bernard Nottage said he would if there was a 'no' vote. And Obie Wilchcombe said if there was a 'yes' vote the web shops would be closed anyway for up to three months."

Dr John Rodgers, who was instrumental in the formation of the Democratic National Alliance, told me that the Christie administration's political fate will hinge on its implementation of whatever course the referendum vote suggests. He prefers a lottery rather than the regularisation of a few web shops, but this would present the government with the problem of establishing a new gambling industry while simultaneously closing down the existing one - no easy task.

Meanwhile, the web shop owners recently dangled a big carrot by suggesting they will amalgamate after the vote and offer the public shares in a new holding company. But financial advisor Richard Coulson doubts this is feasible. "I am certain that potential investors would feel strong ethical and image objections to supporting web shops and enriching their somewhat shady owners, even if they were technically legal". ?

He questioned how the web shops could produce audited financial statements, and meet all the other requirements of the Securities Commission. "The practical difficulties are mind-boggling in trying to combine the accounts of two or more of these companies and write an acceptable prospectus. Maybe Mr. Flowers? company is big enough to try it alone, but I still think investors would shy away. It could be different offering shares in an authorized national lottery company that is majority-owned by the government - if you could show profitability."

According to lawyer Rowena Bethel, over the years there has been a significant growth of public sentiment in favour of legalising gambling because of the benefits that could be derived from it, notwithstanding the downsides. And she concedes that the evolution of web shop gaming has far outpaced the ability of law enforcement to control it.?

"Technology and changing attitudes have played a big role in this evolution," she said at a recent symposium staged by the Eugene Dupuch Law School. "I am astounded at the online gaming capabilities available to Bahamians, and the impact of dismantling such a structure has substantial destabilizing implications for the country."

Bethel is currently one of a group of experts advising the United Nations on open government. In her symposium presentation she said gaming had been identified as a threat to the stability and integrity of the global financial system. "The question is how can it be managed so that the associated risks are appropriately dealt with in the interest of all stakeholders?"

In a 2010 public consultation report on the regulation of gaming, the Irish government acknowledged that: ?Prohibition, however attractive it may seem as a means of control, simply does not work.? And many other countries in the Caribbean and elsewhere have arrived at the same conclusion, particularly as regards to Internet gambling.

"A revised regulatory architecture would recognise that gambling, while offering entertainment to many, also has significant downsides that necessitates and justifies regulation and control," the Irish report said. "Gambling should be regulated as a means of extracting revenue and for other sound public policy reasons, such as avoidance of crime and protection of vulnerable persons. It should be unlawful except pursuant to a licence granted by the gaming regulatory authority, and that, therefore, the grant of a licence should be regarded as a privilege and not a right."

Clearly, there is a great public interest motive for regularising and taxing the gaming industry here. For a long time most non-evangelical Bahamians have accepted that gambling is a fact of life that cannot be prohibited, that many Bahamians wish to engage in, and that a national lottery would be an easy way to generate revenue for good things like education, sports and culture.

The political class has been afraid to tackle this issue because of the influence of religious leaders on voters. In fact, both major parties had similar approaches in the last election - a referendum to provide political cover for the legalisation, regulation and taxation of gambling. However, the details of these approaches were never discussed by anyone.

The advantages of legalisation are to remove a major black market, with all that entails, and to generate public revenue from a multi-million-dollar unregulated business.

Unfortunately, the implementation of the PLP's approach has been incompetent and confusing. And there is little doubt that cronies will benefit from whatever happens. But let's leave aside the legal niceties, trivial objections. moral arguments and political motives for the moment and consider the overriding main issue.

There are three options going forward - or four if you count the status quo. Legalising and taxing the existing web shop industry. Banning the web shop industry and establishing a national lottery. Or setting up a lottery while allowing the existing industry to continue in some form.

Banning the web shops in favour of a lottery would leave us with the same problem we face now - how can it be done with the limited resources and capacity at our disposal? Regulating the existing industry without a lottery gives legitimacy to a criminal class who will control the market. Regulating the existing industry in competition with a lottery may be the best option.

But, as always, the devil is in the details.

There is no doubt that the web shops could be closed down under current law - which prohibits the advertising and promotion of gaming, as well as gaming itself. They could just as easily be regularized by issuing certificates of exemption - which currently make the casinos legal. At the end of the day, I tend to agree with Rowena Bethel.

"Whatever personal moral convictions we may subscribe to individually about gambling, the issue that has to be addressed, in the cold light of prevailing conditions, is how best to manage the risks posed by the current state of the illegal gambling industry in The Bahamas. The benefits must be weighed against the negatives, so that the final solution produces a result that is both pragmatic and in the broader public interest."

What do you think? Send comments to?larry@tribunemedia.net
Or visit?www.bahamapundit.com

Source: http://www.bahamapundit.com/2013/01/bahamians-to-vote-on-home-grown-gambling-industry.html

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Daily Chronicle | Recession, technology flail middle-class jobs

NEW YORK ? Five years after the start of the Great Recession, the toll is terrifyingly clear: Millions of middle-class jobs have been lost in developed countries the world over.

And the situation is even worse than it appears.

Most of the jobs will never return, and millions more are likely to vanish as well, say experts who study the labor market. What?s more, these jobs aren?t just being lost to China and other developing countries, and they aren?t just factory work. Increasingly, jobs are disappearing in the service sector, home to two-thirds of all workers.

They?re being obliterated by technology.

Year after year, the software that runs computers and an array of other machines and devices becomes more sophisticated and powerful and capable of doing tasks more efficiently that humans have always done. For decades, science fiction warned of a future when we would be architects of our own obsolescence, replaced by our machines; an Associated Press analysis finds that the future has arrived.

?The jobs that are going away aren?t coming back,? says Andrew McAfee, principal research scientist at the Center for Digital Business at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and co-author of ?Race Against the Machine.? ??I have never seen a period where computers demonstrated as many skills and abilities as they have over the past seven years.?

The global economy is being reshaped by machines that generate and analyze vast amounts of data; by devices such as smartphones and tablet computers that let people work just about anywhere, even when they?re on the move; by smarter, nimbler robots; and by services that let businesses rent computing power when they need it, instead of installing expensive equipment and hiring IT staffs to run it. Whole employment categories, from secretaries to travel agents, are starting to disappear.

?There?s no sector of the economy that?s going to get a pass,? says Martin Ford, who runs a software company and wrote ?The Lights in the Tunnel,? a book predicting widespread job losses. ?It?s everywhere.?

The numbers startle even labor economists. In the United States, half of the 7.5 million jobs lost during the Great Recession paid middle-class wages, ranging from $38,000 to $68,000. But only 2 percent of the 3.5 million jobs gained since the recession ended in June 2009 are midpay. Nearly 70 percent are low-paying jobs; 29 percent pay well.

In the 17 European countries that use the euro as their currency, the numbers are even worse. Almost 4.3 million low-pay jobs have been gained since mid-2009, but the loss of midpay jobs has never stopped. A total of 7.6 million disappeared from January 2008 through June.

Experts warn that this ?hollowing out? of the middle-class workforce is far from over. They predict the loss of millions more jobs as technology becomes even more sophisticated and reaches deeper into our lives. Maarten Goos, an economist at the University of Leuven in Belgium, says Europe could double its middle-class job losses.

Some occupations are beneficiaries of the march of technology, such as software engineers and app designers for smartphones and tablet computers. Overall, though, technology is eliminating far more jobs than it is creating.

To understand the impact technology is having on middle-class jobs in developed countries, the AP analyzed employment data from 20 countries; tracked changes in hiring by industry, pay and task; compared job losses and gains during recessions and expansions over the past four decades; and interviewed economists, technology experts, robot manufacturers, software developers, entrepreneurs and people in the labor force who ranged from CEOs to the unemployed.

The AP?s key findings:

?For more than three decades, technology has drastically reduced the number of jobs in manufacturing. Robots and other machines controlled by computer programs work faster and make fewer mistakes than humans. Now, that same efficiency is being unleashed in the service economy, which employs more than two-thirds of the workforce in developed countries. Technology is eliminating jobs in office buildings, retail establishments and other businesses consumers deal with every day.

?Technology is being adopted by every kind of organization that employs people. It?s replacing workers in large corporations and small businesses, established companies and start-ups. It?s being used by schools, colleges and universities; hospitals and other medical facilities; nonprofit organizations and the military.

?The most vulnerable workers are doing repetitive tasks that programmers can write software for ? an accountant checking a list of numbers, an office manager filing forms, a paralegal reviewing documents for key words to help in a case. As software becomes even more sophisticated, victims are expected to include those who juggle tasks, such as supervisors and managers ? workers who thought they were protected by a college degree.

?Thanks to technology, companies in the Standard & Poor?s 500 stock index reported one-third more profit the past year than they earned the year before the Great Recession. They?ve also expanded their businesses, but total employment, at 21.1 million, has declined by a half-million.

?Start-ups account for much of the job growth in developed economies, but software is allowing entrepreneurs to launch businesses with a third fewer employees than in the 1990s. There is less need for administrative support and back-office jobs that handle accounting, payroll and benefits.

?It?s becoming a self-serve world. Instead of relying on someone else in the workplace or our personal lives, we use technology to do tasks ourselves. Some find this frustrating; others like the feeling of control. Either way, this trend will only grow as software permeates our lives.

?Technology is replacing workers in developed countries regardless of their politics, policies and laws. Union rules and labor laws may slow the dismissal of employees, but no country is attempting to prohibit organizations from using technology that allows them to operate more efficiently ? and with fewer employees.

Some analysts reject the idea that technology has been a big job killer. They note that the collapse of the housing market in the U.S., Ireland, Spain and other countries and the ensuing global recession wiped out millions of middle-class construction and factory jobs. In their view, governments could bring many of the jobs back if they would put aside worries about their heavy debts and spend more. Others note that jobs continue to be lost to China, India and other countries in the developing world.

But to the extent technology has played a role, it raises the specter of high unemployment even after economic growth accelerates. Some economists say millions of middle-class workers must be retrained to do other jobs if they hope to get work again. Others are more hopeful. They note that technological change over the centuries eventually has created more jobs than it destroyed, though the wait can be long and painful.

A common refrain: The developed world may face years of high middle-class unemployment, social discord, divisive politics, falling living standards and dashed hopes.

In the U.S., the economic recovery that started in June 2009 has been called the third straight ?jobless recovery.?

But that?s a misnomer. The jobs came back after the first two.

Most recessions since World War II were followed by a surge in new jobs as consumers started spending again and companies hired to meet the new demand. In the months after recessions ended in 1991 and 2001, there was no familiar snap-back, but all the jobs had returned in less than three years.

But 42 months after the Great Recession ended, the U.S. has gained only 3.5 million, or 47 percent, of the 7.5 million jobs that were lost. The 17 countries that use the euro had 3.5 million fewer jobs last June than in December 2007.

This has truly been a jobless recovery, and the lack of midpay jobs is almost entirely to blame.

Fifty percent of the U.S. jobs lost were in midpay industries, but Moody?s Analytics, a research firm, says just 2 percent of the 3.5 million jobs gained are in that category. After the four previous recessions, at least 30 percent of jobs created ? and as many as 46 percent ? were in midpay industries.

Other studies that group jobs differently show a similar drop in middle-class work.

Some of the most startling studies have focused on midskill, midpay jobs that require tasks that follow well-defined procedures and are repeated throughout the day. Think travel agents, salespeople in stores, office assistants and back-office workers like benefits managers and payroll clerks, as well as machine operators and other factory jobs. An August 2012 paper by economists Henry Siu of the University of British Columbia and Nir Jaimovich of Duke University found these kinds of jobs comprise fewer than half of all jobs, yet accounted for nine of 10 of all losses in the Great Recession. And they have kept disappearing in the economic recovery.

Webb Wheel Products makes parts for truck brakes, which involves plenty of repetitive work. Its newest employee is the Doosan V550M, and it?s a marvel. It can spin a 130-pound brake drum like a child?s top, smooth its metal surface, then drill holes ? all without missing a beat. And it doesn?t take vacations or ?complain about anything,? says Dwayne Ricketts, president of the Cullman, Ala., company.

Thanks to computerized machines, Webb Wheel hasn?t added a factory worker in three years, though it?s making 300,000 more drums annually, a 25 percent increase.

?Everyone is waiting for the unemployment rate to drop, but I don?t know if it will much,? Ricketts says. ?Companies in the recession learned to be more efficient, and they?re not going to go back.?

In Europe, companies couldn?t go back even if they wanted to. The 17 countries that use the euro slipped into another recession 14 months ago, in November 2011. The current unemployment rate is a record 11.8 percent.

European companies had been using technology to replace midpay workers for years, and now that has accelerated.

?The recessions have amplified the trend,? says Goos, the Belgian economist. ?New jobs are being created, but not the middle-pay ones.?

In Canada, a 2011 study by economists at the University of British Columbia and York University in Toronto found a similar pattern of middle-class losses, though they were working with older data. In the 15 years through 2006, the share of total jobs held by many midpay, midskill occupations shrank. The share held by foremen fell 37 percent, workers in administrative and senior clerical roles fell 18 percent and those in sales and service fell 12 percent.

In Japan, a 2009 report from Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo documented a ?substantial? drop in midpay, midskill jobs in the five years through 2005, and linked it to technology.

Developing economies have been spared the technological onslaught ? for now. Countries like Brazil and China are still growing middle-class jobs because they?re shifting from export-driven to consumer-based economies. But even they are beginning to use more machines in manufacturing. The cheap labor they relied on to make goods from apparel to electronics is no longer so cheap as their living standards rise.

One example is Sunbird Engineering, a Hong Kong firm that makes mirror frames for heavy trucks at a factory in southern China. Salaries at its plant in Dongguan have nearly tripled from $80 a month in 2005 to $225 today. ?Automation is the obvious next step,? CEO Bill Pike says.

Sunbird is installing robotic arms that drill screws into a mirror assembly, work now done by hand. The machinery will allow the company to eliminate two positions on a 13-person assembly line. Pike hopes that additional automation will allow the company to reduce another five or six jobs from the line.

?By automating, we can outlive the labor cost increases inevitable in China,? Pike says. ?Those who automate in China will win the battle of increased costs.?

Foxconn Technology Group, which assembles iPhones at factories in China, unveiled plans in 2011 to install one million robots over three years.

A recent headline in the China Daily newspaper: ?Chinese robot wars set to erupt.?

Candidates for U.S. president last year never tired of telling Americans how jobs were being shipped overseas. China, with its vast army of cheaper labor and low-value currency, was easy to blame.

But most jobs cut in the U.S. and Europe weren?t moved. No one got them. They vanished. And the villain in this story ? a clever software engineer working in Silicon Valley or the high-tech hub around Heidelberg, Germany ? isn?t so easy to hate.

?It doesn?t have political appeal to say the reason we have a problem is we?re so successful in technology,? says Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist at Columbia University. ?There?s no enemy there.?

Unless you count family and friends and the person staring at you in the mirror. The uncomfortable truth is technology is killing jobs with the help of ordinary consumers by enabling them to quickly do tasks that workers used to do full time, for salaries.

Check out your groceries or drugstore purchases using a kiosk? A worker behind a cash register used to do that.

Buy clothes without visiting a store? You?ve taken work from a salesman.

Click ?accept? in an email invitation to attend a meeting? You?ve pushed an office assistant closer to unemployment.

Book your vacation using an online program? You?ve helped lay off a travel agent. Perhaps at American Express Co., which announced this month that it plans to cut 5,400 jobs, mainly in its travel business, as more of its customers shift to online portals to plan trips.

Software is picking out worrisome blots in medical scans, running trains without conductors, driving cars without drivers, spotting profits in stocks trades in milliseconds, analyzing Twitter traffic to tell where to sell certain snacks, sifting through documents for evidence in court cases, recording power usage beamed from digital utility meters at millions of homes, and sorting returned library books.

Technology gives rise to ?cheaper products and cool services,? says David Autor, an economist at MIT, one of the first to document tech?s role in cutting jobs. ?But if you lose your job, that is slim compensation.?

Even the most commonplace technologies ? take, say, email ? are making it tough for workers to get jobs, including ones with MBAs, like Roshanne Redmond, a former project manager at a commercial real estate developer.

?I used to get on the phone, talk to a secretary and coordinate calendars,? Redmond says. ?Now, things are done by computer.?

Technology is used by companies to run leaner and smarter in good times and bad, but never more than in bad. In a recession, sales fall and companies cut jobs to save money. Then they turn to technology to do tasks people used to do. And that?s when it hits them: They realize they don?t have to re-hire the humans when business improves, or at least not as many.

The Hackett Group, a consultant on back-office jobs, estimates 2 million of them in finance, human resources, information technology and procurement have disappeared in the U.S. and Europe since the Great Recession. It pins the blame for more than half of the losses on technology. These are jobs that used to fill cubicles at almost every company ? clerks paying bills and ordering supplies, benefits managers filing health-care forms and IT experts helping with computer crashes.

?The effect of (technology) on white-collar jobs is huge, but it?s not obvious,? says MIT?s McAfee. Companies ?don?t put out a press release saying we?re not hiring again because of machines.?

___

What hope is there for the future?

Historically, new companies and new industries have been the incubator of new jobs. Start-up companies no more than five years old are big sources of new jobs in developed economies. In the U.S., they accounted for 99 percent of new private sector jobs in 2005, according to a study by the University of Maryland?s John Haltiwanger and two other economists.

But even these companies are hiring fewer people. The average new business employed 4.7 workers when it opened its doors in 2011, down from 7.6 in the 1990s, according to a Labor Department study released last March.

Technology is probably to blame, wrote the report?s authors, Eleanor Choi and James Spletzer. Entrepreneurs no longer need people to do clerical and administrative tasks to help them get their businesses off the ground.

In the old days ? say, 10 years ago ? ?you?d need an assistant pretty early to coordinate everything ? or you?d pay a huge opportunity cost for the entrepreneur or the president to set up a meeting,? says Jeff Connally, CEO of CMIT Solutions, a technology consultancy to small businesses.

Now technology means ?you can look at your calendar and everybody else?s calendar and ? bing! ? you?ve set up a meeting.? So no assistant gets hired.

Entrepreneur Andrew Schrage started the financial advice website Money Crashers in 2009 with a partner and one freelance writer. The bare-bones start-up was only possible, Schrage says, because of technology that allowed the company to get online help with accounting and payroll and other support functions without hiring staff.

?Had I not had access to cloud computing and outsourcing, I estimate that I would have needed 5-10 employees to begin this venture,? Schrage says. ?I doubt I would have been able to launch my business.?

Technological innovations have been throwing people out of jobs for centuries. But they eventually created more work, and greater wealth, than they destroyed. Ford, the author and software engineer, thinks there is reason to believe that this time will be different. He sees virtually no end to the inroads of computers into the workplace. Eventually, he says, software will threaten the livelihoods of doctors, lawyers and other highly skilled professionals.

Many economists are encouraged by history and think the gains eventually will outweigh the losses. But even they have doubts.

?What?s different this time is that digital technologies show up in every corner of the economy,? says McAfee, a self-described ?digital optimist.? ??Your tablet (computer) is just two or three years ago, and it?s already taken over our lives.?

Peter Lindert, an economist at the University of California, Davis, says the computer is more destructive than innovations in the Industrial Revolution because the pace at which it is upending industries makes it hard for people to adapt.

Occupations that provided middle-class lifestyles for generations can disappear in a few years. Utility meter readers are just one example. As power companies began installing so-called smart readers outside homes, the number of meter readers in the U.S. plunged from 56,000 in 2001 to 36,000 in 2010, according to the Labor Department.

In 10 years? That number is expected to be zero.

NEXT: Practically human: Can smart machines do your job?

There are 40 hours, 10 minutes remaining to comment on this story.

Source: http://www.daily-chronicle.com/2013/01/22/recession-technology-flail-middle-class-jobs/a2eizbq/

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From dark hearts comes the kindness of humankind

Jan. 22, 2013 ? The kind?ness of humankind most likely devel?oped from our more sin?is?ter and self-serving ten?den?cies, accord?ing to Prince?ton Uni?ver?sity and Uni?ver?sity of Ari?zona research that sug?gests society's rules against self?ish?ness are rooted in the very exploita?tion they condemn.

The report in the jour?nal Evo?lu?tion pro?poses that altru?ism -- society's pro?tec?tion of resources and the col?lec?tive good by pun?ish?ing "cheaters" -- did not develop as a reac?tion to avarice. Instead, com?mu?nal dis?avowal of greed orig?i?nated when com?pet?ing self?ish indi?vid?u?als sought to con?trol and can?cel out one another. Over time, the direct efforts of the dom?i?nant fat cats to con?tain a few com?peti?tors evolved into a community-wide desire to guard its own well-being.

The study authors pro?pose that a sys?tem of greed dom?i?nat?ing greed was sim?ply eas?ier for our human ances?tors to man?age. In this way, the work chal?lenges dom?i?nant the?o?ries that self?ish and altru?is?tic social arrange?ments formed inde?pen?dently -- instead the two struc?tures stand as evo?lu?tion?ary phases of group inter?ac?tion, the researchers write.

Sec?ond author Andrew Gallup, a for?mer Prince?ton post?doc?toral researcher in ecol?ogy and evo?lu?tion?ary biol?ogy now a vis?it?ing assis?tant pro?fes?sor of psy?chol?ogy at Bard Col?lege, worked with first author Omar Eldakar, a for?mer Ari?zona post?doc?toral fel?low now a vis?it?ing assis?tant pro?fes?sor of biol?ogy at Ober?lin Col?lege, and William Driscoll, an ecol?ogy and evo?lu?tion?ary biol?ogy doc?toral stu?dent at Arizona.

To test their hypoth?e?sis, the researchers con?structed a sim?u?la?tion model that gauged how a com?mu?nity with?stands a sys?tem built on altru?is?tic pun?ish?ment, or selfish-on-selfish pun?ish?ment. The authors found that altru?ism demands a lot of ini?tial expen?di?ture for the group -- in terms of com?mu?nal time, resources and risk of reprisal from the pun?ished -- as well as advanced lev?els of cog?ni?tion and cooperation.

On the other hand, a con?struct in which a few prof?li?gate play?ers keep like-minded indi?vid?u?als in check involves only those mem?bers of the com?mu?nity -- every?one else can pas?sively enjoy the ben?e?fits of fewer peo?ple tak?ing more than their share. At the same time, the reign?ing indi?vid?u?als enjoy uncon?tested spoils and, in some cases, reverence.

Social orders main?tained by those who bend the rules play out in nature and human his?tory, the authors note: Tree wasps that police hives to make sure that no mem?ber other than the queen lays eggs will often lay illicit eggs them?selves. Can?cer cells will pre?vent other tumors from form?ing. Medieval knights would pil?lage the same civil?ians they read?ily defended from invaders, while neigh?bor?hoods ruled by the Ital?ian Mafia tra?di?tion?ally had the low?est lev?els of crime.

What comes from these arrange?ments, the researchers con?clude, is a sense of order and equal?ity that the group even?tu?ally takes upon itself to enforce, thus giv?ing rise to altruism.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Princeton University. The original article was written by Mor?gan Kelly.

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. Omar Tonsi Eldakar, Andrew C. Gallup, William Wallace Driscoll. When Hawks Give Rise To Doves: The Evo?lu?tion and Tran?si?tion of Enforce?ment Strate?gies. Evolution, 2013; DOI: 10.1111/evo.12031

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_science/~3/9pnyaww_fyE/130122143105.htm

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Obama stands his ground on fiscal debates

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama devoted one word ? "deficit" ? to the issue that brought Washington to the brink of fiscal crises time and again during his first term.

But it was the paragraph that followed in his inaugural address that foreshadowed what's to come ? more hard bargaining and more last-minute deals driven by Obama's own conviction that he now wields an upper hand.

"We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of our deficit. But we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future," he said. "The commitments we make to each other ? through Medicare, and Medicaid, and Social Security ? these things do not sap our initiative; they strengthen us. They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great."

This was the language of his re-election campaign.

And while his speech contained no reference to either political party, his pointed rejection of "a nation of takers" was an implicit reminder of Mitt Romney's infelicitous declaration that Obama's support came from the 47 percent of American voters "who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it."

In keeping with the objective of inaugural addresses, Obama chose to draw attention to the aspirations he hopes will define him rather than the conflicts that have characterized his relations with a divided Congress. He conceded that "outworn programs are inadequate to the needs of our time," but forged ahead with a call for training more math and science teachers, for building roads and even for funding more research labs.

If there was a way to reconcile such spending with demands to stabilize the nation's debt, he didn't mention it.

"Inaugural addresses are intended for the ages, not for a particular moment," said Matt Bennett, a former aide to Al Gore and a vice president of the Democratic-leaning group Third Way. "We will have to wait for the State of the Union, which is addressed directly to Congress, for a clearer sense of what he wants to do in the near-term and how he wants to get it done."

Obama's State of the Union address is scheduled for Feb. 12.

Obama and his aides approached the inaugural speech with a belief that the president had replenished his political strength with his re-election and with his end-of-year deal with Republicans that raised upper-income tax rates on some of the wealthiest Americans.

What's more, Obama delivered the speech as House Republicans were backing off earlier threats to withhold an extension of the nation's borrowing limit if not accompanied by sharp reductions in government spending. Instead, House leaders plan a vote Wednesday to raise the government debt ceiling through May 18 to avert a first-ever default on U.S. obligations.

That retreat, welcomed by the White House, takes the biggest potential crisis off the immediate horizon. But Obama and congressional Republicans still face two other fiscal deadlines: March 1, when steep automatic spending cuts in defense and domestic programs are scheduled to kick in, and March 27, when the current authority to keep government operating runs out. And then, on May 18, another debt limit crisis will loom.

"It's a matter of how you interpret it," said Jared Bernstein, the former chief economist for Vice President Joe Biden. "If you believe the Republicans will make the debt ceiling crisis a quarterly event, then this is a bad outcome. The White House playbook is that there are now enough Republican grownups in the room they can hammer out deals."

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, set a hopeful tone, declaring that the inaugural was a chance to "renew the old appeal to better angels." Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate's Republican leader, referred to the "transcendent challenge of unsustainable federal spending and debt. Republicans are eager to work with the president on achieving this common goal, and we firmly believe that divided government provides the perfect opportunity to do so."

During negotiations last month aimed at avoiding a combination of spending cuts and tax increases, Obama presented Boehner with a proposal that would have reduced spending on Medicare and other entitlement programs by $400 billion; reduced non-entitlement programs by $200 billion over 10 years; and lowered cost-of-living increases for Social Security recipients and other beneficiaries of government programs.

But Obama also wanted some increased spending and still wants more tax revenue through changes in the tax code that would force the rich to pay more, proposals Republicans reject.

Even an ally like Bernstein pointed out that when it comes to spending outside of defense and entitlements, Obama has an incompatible goal of reducing the budget as a share of the economy to the lowest levels since President Dwight Eisenhower's administration.

"It is very hard for me to square those tight budget constraints on the non-defense discretionary side of the budget and many of the aspirations I heard today," Bernstein said. "That said, I think they are exactly the right aspirations."

And there was little about finding common ground in Obama's speech.

"We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate," he said.

It was not meant as a self-critique.

___

Follow Jim Kuhnhenn on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jkuhnhenn

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-stands-ground-fiscal-debates-081042021--finance.html

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Leonardo DiCaprio Taking A ?Long Break? From Acting

Leonardo DiCaprio Taking A “Long Break” From Acting

Leonardo DiCaprio has announced he is going to take a very long break from acting. In a recent interview, the actor said he has worn himself out after doing three movies in two years and wants to focus on other interests. “I am a bit drained,” Leonardo DiCaprio told German magazine Bild. “I’m now going ...

Leonardo DiCaprio Taking A “Long Break” From Acting Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/01/leonardo-dicaprio-taking-a-long-break-from-acting/

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