Umberto Tassoni advices individuals wanting to be successful in dating to create extra effort for making another party happy and satisfied. For example, in case your partner loves art however, you detest it, for his or her sake, attend a skill exhibition together. Carrying this out means they are feel appreciated and loved. Don?t be the middle of attention constantly.
Associations enjoy adventure and every now and then doing something totally new. Doing exactly the same factor any time you are together can make the connection stale and take away excitement and fun from this. Umberto Tassoni advices couples to understand new and exciting things to do together. For example, one suggestion supplied by Umberto Tassoni would be to embark on a have a picnic and merely have some fun both of you. Every now and then surprise your companion with something they didn?t expect.Hopes fade for AstraZeneca and Rigel's arthritis pill
The mid-sized study of fostamatinib ? given as a pill rather than injected, as is the case with Humira ? showed it was not as good as Abbott's market-leading drug in controlling arthritis symptoms, AstraZeneca said on Thursday. The news is a blow for ? See all stories on this topic ?
Roquefort may contribute to French heart disease 'paradox'
The consumption of moulded cheese, including Roquefort, may contribute to the occurrence of the 'French paradox' ? the term used to explain France's ?illogically? low cardiovascular mortality rate. See all stories on this topic ?
Walk/run to benefit Arthritis Foundation | The Detroit News ?
A local Jingle Bell 5K Run/Walk and 10K Run for the Arthritis Foundation will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday at Birmingham Covington School, 1525 Covington Road , ? See all stories on this topic ?
Non-biologic therapy for rheumatoid arthritis boosts cancer risk
Font size: Decrease font Enlarge font. By David Liu, PHD. Monday Dec 17, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) ? A study in Rheumatology suggests that non-biologic disease-modifying therapy indicated to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may increase risk of cancer. See all stories on this topic ?
American Heart Association Lists Top 10 Research Advances
The AHA has published its annual list of the top 10 advances in heart disease and stroke research. It's probably worth remarking that not a single item on the list is related to drug therapy. I haven't gone back and checked past lists, but I would bet ? See all stories on this topic ?
Vegetable juice to fight heart disease
While that number may seem small, WebMD writes that ?on a public health level a reduction like that would equate to a 10% reduction in deaths due to heart disease.? ?It's promising that we can see an effect from a single dose,? researcher Dr. Leah ? See all stories on this topic ?
Not a week goes by without the mention of a rumour about a new Apple iPad. This week brought about rumours of an iPad 5 which would be the successor of the current iPad (fourth generation). It is said to be ?inspired? by the iPad Mini, which itself is based on the iPad 2 (yes we know, it starts to get confusing). A Japanese website even mentions that the tablet will be introduced in March 2013. Should that be true, it would mean that three 9.7in iPad models (plus the iPad mini) would have been released in less than one year, an upgrade cycle that will test the nerves (and the pockets) of even the staunchest Apple aficionados. This reminds me of a cartoon by the Oatmeal about?what it?s like to own an Apple product. As for improvements, one has to wonder what a new tablet will offer other than a thinner chassis, a processor swap and a camera upgrade. But Apple doesn?t have the choice. The Samsung-built Nexus 10 massively upped the ante by combining some exceptional hardware with a more than decent price tag.
Google preparing a Nexus 4 successor called X Phone?
Guess what? Motorola Mobility may finally bring out its first major smartphone following its acquisition by Google in August 2011. All the recent flagship Motorola smartphones, the Razr i or the Razr Maxx, were mere evolutions of the original Razr but a brand new handset shrouded in secrecy and rumoured to be called the X Phone may well put Motorola back in the high-end smartphone race, one dominated by Samsung and its Galaxy series. The phone is said to be launched next year and it will be interesting to see how it will be positioned vis-?-vis the existing LG Nexus 4 and how strategic partners like Samsung, Sony and LG will stomach such a launch especially after the triple whammy that was the Nexus 7, the Nexus 4 and the Nexus 10. My hunch is that the X Phone will be the Nexus 5, one which will take the iPhone 5S head on (as well as the Samsung Galaxy S4). The Nexus 4 provides with a formidable platform on which to build; possible improvements include a higher resolution, much better camera features, premium materials, bigger internal storage and a brand new version of Android, v5.0 AKA Key Lime Pie.
Windows 8 adoption rate slower than Vista?
?Lies, damned lies and statistics?, an expression popularized by celebrated American author Mark Twain comes to mind when reading an article by one of our peers from Computerworld who found out that Windows 8 accounts for only 1.6 per cent of online usage share by 22 December while Vista accounted for 2.2 per cent of online usage share by the same period of time when it launched back in 2007. There are two points worth noting; firstly, since the launch of Vista, the number of computers running Windows has almost doubled to around 1.5 billion, which means that in absolute terms, Windows 8 installations surpass Windows Vista. Then there?s the fact that NetMarketshare gathers its data ?from the browsers of site visitors? to its ?exclusive on-demand network of live stats customers?. Which means that results can sometimes be skewed; for example NetMarketshare reports that Apple iOS? marketshare of mobiles and tablets is more than twice that of Android when in reality, both platforms are likely to be much closer.
AYCE data plan + tethering + great price = stellar offer
I rarely list a deal in the weekend roundup but this one is too good not enough to be mentioned again. Virgin Mobile with Three are the only two mobile phone operators to offer unlimited data allowance and tethering at any price (although technically T-Mobile offers tethering as an add-on for its full Monty for the same rate as its PAYG mobile broadband which is ?15 per month). But Virgin Mobile?s SIM-only AYCE+T plan costs ?12 per month on a 30-day contract, less than half Three?s cheapest all-you-can-eat data plan that includes tethering. What this means is that in theory, you could pair that that SIM with a low cost Android smartphone (like the ?49.95 Motorola Motosmart) and get a versatile hotspot that can do much more than a bog-standard Mi-fi device for the same price. Oh and you get unlimited texts and 150 minutes. Virgin Mobile piggybacks on EE?s network, which should ensure optimum mobile coverage nationwide.
When a booming business is your goal, your focus should be on Affiliate marketing to gain your customer base. Learn and apply these basic tips for successful Internet marketing. You should have a better idea of how to become great with Internet marketing.
Use the actual term ?guarantee? in your online ads when you are marketing on the Internet. This reassures customers and makes them more likely to make a purchase. There are many various guarantees that can be offered. Try different kinds of guarantees when you are setting them up. Select which guarantee is best for the product that is being sold.
It?s ok to go to other online businesses or retailers, you can propose deals of products as well as other services for a discounted price. This tactic is a sound strategy to create connections between multiple markets. This has a cumulative effect of boosting overall revenue. A great example where you can see this is on online booking agents. These agents have negotiated reduced prices on your behalf for airfare, hotels and even car rentals. This is a great option if your business sells products that can be considered supplementary to another company?s products, rather than competing products.
TIP! You cannot use a copy of another website and expect to be successful with it. Search engines have been getting extremely efficient at identifying duplicate content.
Consider using positive motivation as a method to promote your products. Be certain that people understand why your products and services are relevant to their own lives. Shoppers should know this information once they have briefly visited your website or any other page on the web that is relevant to your operations. Encourage your readers to be successful, and they will believe it too.
Your site should be very clear so that any links that you post are easily identifiable. Always ensure that your links are clearly visible and organized for the incoming traffic. Obscure or poorly placed links will often lead to less usage. This could cause one of your main pages to be losing out on a huge profitable angle.
TIP! The appearance and performance of your website is just as important as the in-store buying experience. Routinely audit and test the links, pictures, and online payment systems to identify any bugs or issues that will create difficulties for your customers.
The options at your disposal when it comes to running your business and website can be overwhelming. Make a list of what would be found on your website if it were ideal. You should select a field with which you are familiar and which brings you enjoyment for your niche website marketing efforts. You will find website marketing more simple when you have goals.
When writing content, use simple and plain language to make your points or describe your products. Actually using the word ?easy? in your content will get you some added attention. People generally dislike overly complicated things, so adding tags like ?easy to order? and ?easy to use? can entice them to use your product. This is a wonderful way to increase traffic and sales.
?Fast? is a word that is very effective in advertising campaigns and when used in conjunction with products and services, so be sure to make use of it. Many people are willing to spend a little more money if they can save some time. Make sure to emphasize how fast you can get things done, and than make sure you stick to that.
TIP! Use your email to your business advantage. Make sure these emails contain interesting information.
Split your website into sections, and have a map from which people can choose the products they?d like to see. Remember, adding variety to your page is beneficial but you still want to keep your page structured.
Offer subscription services for your most popular products. As an example, computer paper buyers might enter a subscription service to receive paper every month.
Always view your website in the way that a potential customer would. Is it truly user-friendly? Does it engage your customers? Is it user-friendly? All the SEO in the world will be pointless if your potential customers have trouble navigating your site once they get there.
TIP! To be successful as an Internet marketer, you must be positive about your business and show plenty of enthusiasm. Let people in on how much you love your products, this can help you promote your business easily.
Here is a great tip for successful internet promotion. Have a clear and stated goal on the front page of your site. This page is about selling your product. Your viewer should be able to see what you?re selling and whether they want it instantly when they see this page. If the viewer has to dig for what he or she is looking for, they are sure to leave quickly.
It?s important enough to say again and again: The increased visibility that Online marketing can give to your business is a tremendous opportunity. Most consumers now turn to the Internet to find the products and services they need. Use the tips in this article to get started, and market your business online.
OMG – Bai Ling is know for her wacky behavior fashion choices so this really shouldn’t come as a surprise. But girlfriend looks like a freakin bumble bee. I mean I can see where she was going with this – loose the hat and maybe it would be cute,. But he fluffy BRIGHT yellow hat is just too much. She should pack it away and save it for Halloween though. Girlfriend may win a prize. She gets bonus points for stepping out of her car like a lady though – so we won’t rag on her too much. What do you think?
Six new hybrid vehicle models and eight more plug-ins ?will be offered in auto showrooms in 2013 compared to this year, according to automotive forecaster Alan Baum.
In a recent report released with the Natural Resources Defense Council, Baum noted that the selection of alternative-fuel and hybrid vehicles is continuing to expand, even as traditional gasoline-powered cars become more efficient. Even large cars and trucks are getting more miles per gallon of fuel, he said.
?We may not think of the pickup segment in regard to fuel economy, but that?s just what?s?occurring,? Baum said, noting that Chrysler introduced a more fuel efficient version of its Ram this year.
?The automakers are literally in an all-of-the-above strategy,? he said. ?If you want a pickup truck, fine. If you want a little car, fine. If you want a hybrid or electric, that?s OK, too.?
From ?2009 to 2013, the number of hybrid vehicle models offered will have doubled to 50 and the number of plug-ins will have jumped from one to 28, said Luke Tonachel of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Baum said plug-in Honda Accords and Ford Fusions are on the horizon. A Volkswagen Jetta hybrid emerged this year and the Nissan Altima hybrid will appear in 2013, he added.?And there?s a?drive toward offering other fuel-saving technologies, like stop-start ability.
More diesel-powered?vehicles?also are being offered on the U.S. market, generally offering better fuel mileage than their gasoline counterparts, Baum noted.
Automakers? move away from gas guzzlers mean $2.50 a gallon gasoline has become their worst nightmare, he added.
?They have committed their companies to this path and that obviously will be more difficult if gasoline becomes cheap,? he said. ?The people who are buying cars are willing to spend more money and ?understand there is a cost for this new technology, but a payback as well.?
The price of gasoline has been in steep decline since August, dropping to a national average as low as $3.21. Meanwhile, vehicles traveled ?more than a mile farther per gallon in 2012 compared to 2011, Baum said. Between vehicle model years 2012 and 2013, fuel economy will climb another 0.8 percent, he added.
Still, Baum doesn?t expect to see a dramatic change in consumer behavior toward auto sales.
?I don?t think they are at the point where they think this is the norm,? he said of drivers. ?The consumers and automakers continue to believe that the long-term trend for fuel prices is high.?
Like every company, Athento has a mission, sort of a reason to exist. "Understanding Documents" would be the match for Nokia's "Connecting People" has. In order to "understand documents", state of the art technologies are being used, which are discussed later in this post.
But first, let's understand the problem in depth: Why do we need to understand documents automatically?To gain control and efficiency over information, but also because understanding documents is the begining of building business knowledge.
In this way, information is like a full 500 Horsepower car. It's powerful, yet if you can't control this power it will surely control you and your life. Same applies to technology, wich by the way is always referred as being power ?" Knowledge is Power " .
If you control information, you can increase efficiency managing CVs and reduce time from 8 minutes to 5 seconds, or reduce times in classification and manage of health documents by more than 90%.
And the best is that this new approach and enhancement over traditional document management software (which all compare with similar strengths) can be applied to many thriving scenarios. And with astonishing results in all of them. So let's take a look now into the "How" this gets done, with a summary of State of the Art technologies that provide this type of breakthrough technology, inside areas of tremendous work such as machine learning and artificial intelligence (IA):
OCR: This technology has been widely used. Its its origins date back to 1914, but since that time, many improvements have been achieved in Optical Character Recognition technologies. Although its main goal remain converting images of printed text into machine readable text, developers have worked to improve the way we use OCR engines. At the beginning OCR helped the blind, today, OCR engines help another kind of blind: machines. Computers by themselves are unable to read images.? Assisted by OCR technologies, computers and ECM software are able to index content in PDFs documents (and other images) , and also, are able to find data within document contents. Lately, developers are working to find ways humans can interact with OCR engines, one of? their achievements is for example, visual template builders that enable users to design templates to extract data using zonal OCR. Athento Capture can provide this feature that makes incredibly easy to work with structured documents.
Semantic Technology: The goal of Semantics is to understand the meaning of words. If computers are able to understand words, they can build relations between them. This mean more capabilities when searching documents. Semantics makes it similar the way humans and machines do searches, and this is critical when having tons of information. Athento is using Semantics for its self-labeling feature called Autotagging. Thanks to Semantics, Athento is able to recognize relevant words within document content (terms which describe the document content) and turns them into labels that connect to other documents which include the same terms. This makes possible to find related documents very quick.
Machine Learning: This is a branch of Artificial Intelligence. Its main goal is that computers can act without tell them what to do explicitly. Developers are trying to get computers learning in the same way we do: practicing. Software which uses ML processes are able to improve their results by training. For example, Athento Capture compares documents using Neural Networks (Artificial Neural Networks -ANN), each time it receive a document type it improves its capabilities to recognize that kind of document. This is possible because? ANN technology finds patters within documents.? That explains why Athento Capture has the most high accuracy rate in document recognition in the market (98%). Another Machine Learning applications are Natural Language Processing (which Athento uses also), Search Engines, Speech recognition, etc.
Color Comparison: Besides other image analysis technologies, as ANN, Color Comparison is gaining ground as a technique of Image Processing. Particularly,? Color Histograms are making the difference in Color comparison methods. Its benefits are speed, and insensitivity to changes in camera viewpoint. We use CH to represent the distribution of colors in an image. In Document Recognition, if two images have a very similar color distribution, it is very probable that we are talking about the same kind of document. However, Color Histograms have its limitations. At Athento, we are using CH combined with other Image Processing techniques to improve the accuracy of document recognition feature.
He famously played doomed sweetheart Jack Dawson in 1997's "Titanic," but all trace of that charm and kindness is gone in Leonardo DiCaprio's current role, as cruel slaveowner Calvin Candie in Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained."
"He's the most deplorable human being I've ever read in a screenplay in my life," DiCaprio told Willie Geist on TODAY Thursday. "He was rotting from the inside. He was, you know, a young Louis the XIV that had been brought into a world of entitlement and lived his life ... essentially owning other people."
DiCaprio has said that he was uncomfortable using the N-word in the film, and told Geist that his co-stars encouraged him to do what was right for the role despite his own feelings. "It was Sam Jackson and Jamie Foxx that said, 'You really have to go all the way with this man.'"
Even filmmaker Tarantino, who created Candie's character, said the plantation owner, who forces slaves to fight to the death, was the first villain he'd written who he didn't like. Still, DiCaprio says he had to take the role.
"It was an incredibly colorful character and I just had to ... I had to play him," DiCaprio told Geist.
But he really got into the role; at one point, when Candie is making his point by pounding his hand on a table, DiCaprio actually broke a wine glass and impaled himself on the stem. But he considered going on with the scene: "The choice was I supposed to go on and finish my speech or not, and then I noticed that blood was pouring everywhere," he said. "It was very interesting to see Quentin's and Jamie's reaction off screen."
The film marks the first collaboration for DiCaprio and Tarantino, and the actor had praise for the "Pulp Fiction" filmmaker. "It really takes a director like Quentin Tarantino to say, 'Look, this is ... the time period that I want to do a film about and I want to go to these extremes,'" DiCaprio said. "'And it's also going to be an incredibly entertaining movie.'"
DiCaprio also mused on his sudden fame after his "Titanic" role, joking that he should have taken advantage of his fame then to make more movies, but noting that the success of the film gave him leverage in his career. Still, he says, he doesn't recognize the young man proclaiming himself "king of the world!" on the doomed ship.
"When you see yourself at that age, and I look at some of my earlier films, it's ... you see a different person," he told Geist. "I don't know what would it be like to have a conversation with that young man."
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I'm not 100% sure it'll work, but try and download Crystal Disk Info to see if it detects the drive as damaged in any way. That's the only thing I can think of, but I'm not really all that good at computers.
When the clock struck midnight on January 1, 2012, I declared it a ?New year, New me?. I knew that 2012 had to be different, better, more amazing than 2011. I went through an insurmountable amount of stress and anxiety when I was working for my last corporate job & made a decision to never go back to that. At the time, I had a lot of anger and resentment. I knew I needed to let go of that and focus my energy on pursuing my purpose. I couldn?t get these words out of my head that I?d heard a speaker say: ?God will place you in a holy discontent in order to get you out of certain situations.?? This hit home for me not only when it was time for me to leave my job, but at any time I feel that things are out of place. This year, I got out of my comfort zone in more ways than one, and really embraced change for probably the first time in my life. Sometimes that ?holy discontent? will force you into situations that you need to experience.
1. I embraced & reflected on the leap of faith I took in 2011. Certain sayings like ?have faith? and ?take a leap of faith? tend to sound so clich? because they are used so frequently. But the bible says, ?For we live by faith, not by sight? (2 Corinthians 5:7).?We had not planned for me to leave my job when I did, so we didn?t know just how much it was going to impact us, or how we were going to manage (especially with our third baby on the way). But it didn?t matter that we didn?t know, because God knew. He was just waiting on us to take that first step. ?When I say that I left my job almost two years ago and we haven?t missed my paycheck since, it?s not to brag. It?s to emphasize what taking a leap of faith really means ? to have complete and total trust in God regardless of the circumstance. God has indeed blessed us and our faith was strengthened once I made the leap and walked out of that corporate door.
2. I cut off my hair. I know Indie Arie wrote the song ?I am not my hair?. But the truth is, I felt like I was my hair. There were a lot of things that I didn?t like about myself but my hair wasn?t one of them. I took a lot of pride in my hair. While transitioning to become natural, I ended up having to give myself the ?big chop? after a wash left my hair a tangled & knotted HOT mess. I literally cried and hated every bit of my teeny weeny afro. I wanted to immediately go to the closest braid shop and get my hair braided not to be seen again until I grew it back out. But time constraints permitted me from doing just that. I had no choice but to face the world and embrace my new look. It turned out to be one of the best things I?ve ever done. It forced me to look at myself beyond my hair, and I jumped into a newfound confidence that I didn?t even realize I was lacking.
3. I learned to say no?and mean it. I?m a woman of my word. So if I feel like people are depending and counting on me, I feel a lot of pressure to come through for them. When I realized that I was burnt out and stressed out because I was saying yes to everyone else, and saying no to myself, I knew I needed to make some changes. I set boundaries and I blocked ?me? time off on my calendar. I can?t be everywhere for everyone at every time. So I also stopped doing for others who were always too busy to lend a hand or ear during my time of need.
4. I lost 20 pounds! Many people know that I have a serious love affair with sweets. But when I was struggling to lose my baby weight after our last born, I came to the tough realization that my metabolism is not what it was 10, 5 or even 3 years ago. I used to be able to eat absolutely anything I wanted, and barely gain a pound. I still enjoy my sweets now, but it?s all in moderation. I no longer buy cookies, cakes or doughnuts every single time I go to the grocery store. When I eat, I?m very conscious of what I put into my body. I?m now fitting into clothes I hadn?t been able to wear since before I started having kids.
5. I invested in myself & started my own business. As a mom and a wife, it?s natural for me to put everyone else?s needs above my own. But I made a decision to start my business this year. So I invested money and time into going to a lot of workshops, and hired a business coach ? best decision ever. By investing money up front, I was able to identify and iron out a lot of details that would?ve otherwise taken a lot more time for me to figure out.
6. I learned that everyone does not deserve the title of ?friend?. I am blessed in that I have a lot of real friends. But there were times where the line between friend and acquaintance was a bit blurry. I also realized that some of the people I had mistakenly given the ?friend? title to, were definitely not my friend at all. A friendship is a two-way street. I learned that ?some people come into your life just to teach you how to let go?. And this was definitely a lesson I needed to learn in 2012.
I have started on my list of goals and resolutions for 2013, and can?t wait because I know it?s going to be a phenomenal year!
BMWK: What are some lessons you learned this year that have made you grow as a person? What are you looking forward to in 2013?
About the author
Christine St.Vil helps moms across the country feel good and have self-care without the guilt. Through her coaching and training, she?s taken her corporate background and is helping people fulfill the most exciting position of all: a stay-at-home mom. Christine is a wife and proud mother of three.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? After 50 years of spinning webs and catching a who's who of criminals, Peter Parker is out of the hero game.
But Spider-Man is still slinging from building to building ? reborn, refreshed and revived with a new sense of the old maxim that Ben Parker taught his then-fledgling nephew that "with great power, comes great responsibility."
Writer Dan Slott, who's been penning Spidey adventures for the better part of the last 100 issues for Marvel Entertainment, said the culmination of the story is a new, dramatically different direction for the Steve Ditko and Stan Lee-created hero.
"This is an epic turn," Slott said. "I've been writing Spider-Man for 70-plus issues. Every now and then, you have to shake it up. ... The reason Spider-Man is one of the longest running characters is they always find a way to keep it fresh. Something to shake up the mix."
And in the pages of issue 700, out Wednesday, it's not just shaken up, it's turned head over heels, spun in circles, kicked sky high and cracked wide open.
Parker's mind is trapped in the withered, decaying dying body of his nemesis, Doctor Octopus aka Otto Octavius. Where's Doc Ock? Inside Parker's super-powered shell, learning what life is like for the brilliant researcher who happens to count the Avengers and Fantastic Four as friends and family.
The two clash mightily in the pages of issue 700, illustrated by Humberto Ramos and Victor Olazaba. But it's Octavius who wins out and Parker is, at least for now, gone for good, but not before one more act of heroism.
Slott said that it's Parker, whose memories envelop Octavius, who shows the villain what it means to be a hero.
"Gone are his days of villainy, but since it's Doc Ock and he has that ego, he's not going to try and just be Spider-man, he's going to try to be the best Spider-Man ever," said Slott.
Editor Stephen Wacker said that while Parker is gone, his permanence remains and his life casts a long shadow.
"His life is still important to the book because it affects everything that Doctor Octopus does as Spider-Man. Seeing a supervillain go through this life is the point ? trying to be better than the hero he opposed," Wacker said.
"Doc has sort of inspired by Peter's life. That's what I mean when he talks about the shadow he casts," he said.
The sentiment echoes what Uncle Ben said in the pages of "Amazing Fantasy" No. 15, Slott said.
Editor Stephen Wacker called it a fitting end to the old series, which sets the stage for a new one ? "The Superior Spider-Man" early next year ? because it brings Peter Parker full circle, from the start of his crime-fighting career to the end.
"In his very first story, his uncle died because of something he did so the book has always been aimed at making Peter's life as difficult as possible," Wacker said. "The book has always worked best when it's about Peter Parker's life, not Spider-Man's."
And with Octavius influenced by Parker's life ? from Aunt May to Gwen Stacy to Mary Jane ? it will make him a better person, too.
"Because Doctor Octopus knows all of those things and will make decisions on what he saw Peter going through," Wacker said. "In a way, he gets the ultimate victory as he becomes a better hero."
FILE - In this publicity film image released by Disney, Chris Hemsworth portrays Thor, left, and and Chris Evans portrays Captain America, in a scene from "The Avengers," expected to be released on May 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Disney, Zade Rosenthal, File)
FILE - In this publicity film image released by Disney, Chris Hemsworth portrays Thor, left, and and Chris Evans portrays Captain America, in a scene from "The Avengers," expected to be released on May 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Disney, Zade Rosenthal, File)
In this publicity photo provided by Warner Bros. Pictures, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as John Blake, is shown in a scene in Warner Bros. Pictures? and Legendary Pictures? action thriller ?The Dark Knight Rises," a Warner Bros. Pictures release. TM & ? DC Comics. (AP Photo/Warner Bros. Pictures, Ron Phillips)
FILE - In this file photo of a publicity film image released by Disney, Iron Man, portrayed by Robert Downey Jr., left, and Captain America, portrayed by Chris Evans, are shown in a scene from "The Avengers." (AP Photo/Disney, File)
In this publicity photo provided by Warner Bros. Pictures, Tom Hardy, center, as Bane, is shown in a scene in Warner Bros. Pictures? and Legendary Pictures? action thriller ?The Dark Knight Rises," a Warner Bros. Pictures release. TM & ? DC Comics. (AP Photo/Warner Bros. Pictures, Ron Phillips)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? The big deal for Hollywood is not the record $10.8 billion that studios took in domestically in 2012. It's the fact that the number of tickets sold went up for the first time in three years.
Thanks to inflation, revenue generally rises in Hollywood as admission prices climb each year. The real story is told in tickets, whose sales have been on a general decline for a decade, bottoming out in 2011 at 1.29 billion, their lowest level since 1995.
The industry rebounded this year, with ticket sales projected to rise 5.6 percent to 1.36 billion by Dec. 31, according to box-office tracker Hollywood.com. That's still well below the modern peak of 1.6 billion tickets sold in 2002, but in an age of cozy home theater setups and endless entertainment gadgets, studio executives consider it a triumph that they were able to put more butts in cinema seats this year than last.
"It is a victory, ultimately," said Don Harris, head of distribution at Paramount Pictures. "If we deliver the product as an industry that people want, they will want to get out there. Even though you can sit at home and watch something on your large screen in high-def, people want to get out."
Domestic revenue should finish up nearly 6 percent from 2011's $10.2 billion and top Hollywood's previous high of $10.6 billion set in 2009.
The year was led by a pair of superhero sagas, Disney's "The Avengers" with $623 million domestically and $1.5 billion worldwide and the Warner Bros. Batman finale "The Dark Knight Rises" with $448 million domestically and $1.1 billion worldwide. Sony's James Bond adventure "Skyfall" is closing in on the $1 billion mark globally, and the list of action and family-film blockbusters includes "The Hunger Games," ''The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn ? Part Two," ''Ice Age: Continental Drift," ''Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted," ''The Amazing Spider-Man" and "Brave."
Before television, movies were the biggest thing going, with ticket sales estimated as high as 4 billion a year domestically in the 1930s and '40s.
Movie-going eroded steadily through the 1970s as people stayed home with their small screens. The rise of videotape in the 1980s further cut into business, followed by DVDs in the '90s and big, cheap flat-screen TVs in recent years. Today's video games, mobile phones and other portable devices also offer easy options to tramping out to a movie theater.
It's all been a continual drain on cinema business, and cynics repeatedly predict the eventual demise of movie theaters. Yet Hollywood fights back with new technology of its own, from digital 3-D to booming surround-sound to the clarity of images projected at high-frame rates, which is being tested now with "The Lord of the Rings" prelude "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," shown in select theaters at 48 frames a second, double the standard speed.
For all of the annoyances of theaters ? parking, pricy concessions, sitting next to strangers texting on their iPhones ? cinemas still offer the biggest and best way to see a movie.
"Every home has a kitchen, but you can't get into a good restaurant on Saturday night," said Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros. "People want to escape. That's the nature of society. The adult population just is not going to sit home seven days a week, even though they have technology in their home that's certainly an improvement over what it was 10 years ago. People want to get out of the house, and no matter what they throw in the face of theatrical exhibition, it continues to perform at a strong level."
Even real-life violence at the movie theater didn't turn audiences away. Some moviegoers thought twice about heading to the cinema after a gunman killed 12 people and injured 58 at a screening of "The Dark Knight Rises" in Colorado last summer, but if there was any lull in attendance, it was slight and temporary. Ticket sales went on a tear for most of the fall.
While domestic revenues inch upward most years largely because of inflation, the real growth areas have been overseas, where more and more fans are eager for the next Hollywood blockbuster.
International business generally used to account for less than half of a studio film's overall receipts. Films now often do two or even three times as much business overseas as they do domestically. Some movies that were duds with U.S. audiences, such as "Battleship" and "John Carter," can wind up being $200 million hits with overseas crowds.
Whether finishing a good year or a bad one, Hollywood executives always look ahead to better days, insisting that the next crop of blockbusters will be bigger than ever. The same goes this time as studio bosses hype their 2013 lineup, which includes the latest "Iron Man," ''Star Trek," ''Hunger Games" and "Thor" installments, the Superman tale "Man of Steel" and the second chapter in "The Hobbit" trilogy.
Twelve months from now, they hope to be talking about another revenue record topping this year's $10.8 billion.
"I've been saying we're going to hit that $11 billion level for about three years now," said Paul Dergarabedian, a box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. "Next year I think is the year we actually do it."
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#1 ? Daft Cunt?
Group:Normal Members
Posts:75
Joined:28-May 07
Posted Today, 11:17 AM
Any chance of seeing such a functionality implemented in the sample editor ? I tried It-alien's Morpher tool but it won't work with single-cycle waveforms for instance. Anybody else interested in this ?
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#2 ? Gooze?
Group:Normal Members
Posts:146
Joined:21-September 09
Gender:Male
Location:Bangkok
Posted Today, 01:42 PM
I'd love to mix different samples beyond just layering two sounds. But how does the sample morphing work? Is it a spectral analysis the gives a timbral mix like vocoding, an envelope analysis that matches attack and sustain from one sample to another or a signal convolution?
Volunteer Katherine Beaupre takes phone calls from children asking where Santa is and when he will deliver presents to their house, during the annual NORAD Tracks Santa Operation, at the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, at Peterson Air Force Base, in Colorado Springs, Colo., Monday Dec. 24, 2012. Over a thousand volunteers at NORAD handle more than 100,000 thousand phone calls from children around the world every Christmas Eve, with NORAD continually projecting Santa's supposed progress delivering presents. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)
Volunteer Katherine Beaupre takes phone calls from children asking where Santa is and when he will deliver presents to their house, during the annual NORAD Tracks Santa Operation, at the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, at Peterson Air Force Base, in Colorado Springs, Colo., Monday Dec. 24, 2012. Over a thousand volunteers at NORAD handle more than 100,000 thousand phone calls from children around the world every Christmas Eve, with NORAD continually projecting Santa's supposed progress delivering presents. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)
Pope Benedict XVI holds the pastoral staff as he celebrates the Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Monday, Dec. 24, 2012. Pope Benedict XVI marked Christmas Eve with Mass in St. Peter's Basilica and a pressing question: Will people find room in their hectic, technology-driven lives for children, the poor and God? The pontiff also prayed that Israelis and Palestinians live in peace and freedom, and asked the faithful to pray for strife-torn Syria as well as Lebanon and Iraq. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
A makeshift memorial that says "W.W.F.D. God Bless You" sits in front of a home in Webster, N.Y., Monday, Dec. 24, 2012. An ex-con set a car and a house ablaze in his lakeside neighborhood to lure firefighters, then opened fire on them, killing two, engaging in a shootout with police and committing suicide while several homes burned. Authorities used an armored vehicle to evacuate the area. (AP Photo/Messenger Post Media, Jack Haley)
Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and stories that will be talked about Tuesday:
1. WHO'S KEEPING TABS ON SANTA
Hundreds of volunteers at "NORAD Tracks Santa" receive tens of thousands of calls from kids curious about St. Nick's progress on Christmas Eve.
2. POPE: MAKE ROOM FOR CHRIST
Benedict XVI marks Christmas Eve with Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, asking: Will people find room in their hectic, technology-driven lives for children, the poor and God?
3. 'IT DOES APPEAR IT WAS A TRAP'
An ex-con guns down two firefighters after luring them to his central New York neighborhood by setting a car and a house ablaze.
4. CHILD DEATHS BY GUNS
Between 2006 and 2010, 561 children age 12 and under were killed by firearms, according to the FBI.
5. AFGHAN POLICEWOMAN KILLS US ADVISER
It is the first such shooting by a woman in a spate of insider attacks by Afghans against their foreign allies.
6. WHAT OBAMA FACES WHEN HE RETURNS FROM HAWAII
Big issues awaiting the president include more 'fiscal cliff' wrangling, immigration and gun control.
7. 'THE ODD COUPLE'S' BELOVED OSCAR DIES AT 90
Jack Klugman played the gruff, down-to-earth type of guy you could imagine running into at a bar or riding on a subway.
8. FOOD PANTRIES 101
Growing numbers of food banks on university campuses may be a response to a weak economy and a sign of the latest trend in student activism.
9. HOW GUN RIGHTS ADVOCATES FEEL ABOUT TV HOST
Thousands sign a petition seeking British CNN host Piers Morgan's deportation from the U.S. over his gun control views.
10. WHERE HOPES FOR A TRUCE SEEM DOUBTFUL
After talks with President Assad, the international envoy to Syria offers no indication of progress toward ending the civil war.
Here are the stories you clicked on the most on our site
By The Editors
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1. hanbroekman 07:38 AM 12/24/12
The link for #1 is wrong
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2. Chryses 07:56 AM 12/24/12
Yes. #4. How Hollywood Is Encouraging Online Piracy, was n eye-opener for me.
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3. Stagnaro 10:20 AM 12/24/12
Admittedly, all most popular American Sceintific Stories are really interesting and fascinating. However, I find both enlightening and preoccupaying that readers showed to be no interested in papers suggesting new road, clinical in nature, in the war against today's growing epidemics, as CAD, type 2 DM, and Cancer.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Craig Mundie, one of two Microsoft Corp executives who took over Bill Gates' role at the company, has relinquished control of Microsoft's large research organization and is to retire from the company in 2014.
Mundie is taking on a new role as a senior adviser to Chief Executive Steve Ballmer, according to a memo circulated internally earlier this month but only made public on Monday.
Eric Rudder, another Microsoft veteran, is taking on responsibility for Microsoft Research, Trustworthy Computing, and the Technology Policy Group, which were all run by Mundie.
A 20-year Microsoft veteran, Mundie was one of two men hand-picked by co-founder Gates to take over leadership of the technical side of Microsoft when he retired from day-to-day work at the company in 2008.
Mundie took over responsibility for the company's long-term research activities, while Ray Ozzie became chief software architect. Ozzie left Microsoft in 2010. According to Ballmer's memo, Mundie will retire from Microsoft in 2014, when he will be 65.
Mundie's new role was first reported on Monday by the All Things D tech blog.
(Reporting By Bill Rigby; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
According to the WSJ, Acer's going to build the world's first tablet that manages to break the $100 barrier without being a glorified cheese plate. That's the good news. The bad news? You probably won't get the chance to buy it. More »
FILE - In this Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012 file photo, Addison Strychalsky, 2, of Newtown, Conn., pets Libby, a golden retriever therapy dog, during a visit from the dogs and their handlers to a memorial for the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims in Newtown. As the shock of Newtown's horrific school shooting starts to wear off, as the headlines fade and the therapists leave, residents are seeking a way forward through faith, community and a determination to seize their future. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
FILE - In this Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012 file photo, Addison Strychalsky, 2, of Newtown, Conn., pets Libby, a golden retriever therapy dog, during a visit from the dogs and their handlers to a memorial for the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims in Newtown. As the shock of Newtown's horrific school shooting starts to wear off, as the headlines fade and the therapists leave, residents are seeking a way forward through faith, community and a determination to seize their future. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
FILE - In this Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012 file photo, a woman with flowers walks past a Christmas tree which has become a memorial to the Newtown shooting victims in Newtown, Conn. In the wake of the shooting, the grieving town is trying to find meaning in Christmas. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
Monsignor Robert Weiss of St. Rose of Lima in Newtown, Conn., leads the House of Representatives and Senate in prayer during a memorial service for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting prior to a special session at the state Capitol in Hartford, Conn., Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
FILE - In this Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012 file photo, a mourner of teacher Anne Marie Murphy, who was killed at the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Newtown, Conn., hugs an officiate at St. Mary Of The Assumption Church after a funeral service in Katonah, N.Y. As the shock of Newtown's horrific school shooting starts to wear off, as the headlines fade and the therapists leave, residents are seeking a way forward through faith, community and a determination to seize their future. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle, File)
Connecticut's Bria Hartley leaves a news conference holding two teddy bears given to her by children from the Newtown Youth Basketball Association after an NCAA women's college basketball game against Hartford at the University of Hartford in West Hartford, Conn., Saturday, Dec. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) ? More messages of hope and solidarity poured into Newtown on Monday as the town prepared to observe Christmas Eve 10 days after the elementary school massacre that claimed the lives of 20 first-graders and six teachers and administrators.
Two dozen children and six adults arrived at town hall in the morning to deliver hundreds of handmade cards and snowflakes collected as they toured the state in a charter bus.
One of the organizers, Gwen Samuel of Meriden, said "we just want them to know they're not alone in their journey."
The effort was intended to give Connecticut children a chance to express their feelings about the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Police say 20-year-old Adam Lanza killed his mother before going on the shooting rampage, then committed suicide. If they know why he shot his way into the school and gunned down 26 people, they have not said.
In the week since the shooting, messages similar to the ones delivered Monday have poured into Newtown from all over the world. People have donated toys, books, money and more.
"We know that they'll feel loved. They'll feel that somebody actually cares," said 15-year-old Treyvon Smalls of Middlebury, a few towns away from Newtown. "It gives us all a chance to speak out."
As Treyvon and the students traveling with him delivered their notes, another group of roughly two dozen people met in the town hall auditorium for a prayer service that was as much therapy session as religious gathering. Attendees expressed their sorrow and fears and looked to each other for support as they talked about what happened.
The town hall has become a gathering point for those dropping off donations and in need of a place to congregate and find comfort in one another. A "'peace tree" created out of a log and adorned with a heart-shaped wreath, numerous peace signs and Christmas decorations sit in front of the town hall steps, where a large banner proclaims, "Together we birth a culture of peace."
Karen Pierce, one of the town hall's elected building managers, has been helping accept the deluge of donations and expressions of support that have been coming in all week.
"We've had people from all over the country. It is incredible, it's heartwarming, it's overwhelming. It's invigorating and exhausting," she said. "It's so uplifting and I believe that's what's been getting people through."
The town has been so inundated with donations for children that Pierce said she has redistributed some to other children dropping off their own notes and donations, saying that with their acts of kindness they too have qualified to be children of Newtown.
On Monday, she gave each of the children dropping off cards a golden stuffed monkey. She chose gold, she said, because it symbolizes a new dawn that everyone needs.
"At the same time we have this outpouring and we want to make sure we give respect for every phone call, every card, every gift, every flower, every kind word," she said. "And so that's one of the things that everyone in the community is trying to do is make sure while people are honoring us, that's the big question, how do you say to the world 'Thank you?'"
Later Monday, people throughout Newtown were expected to light luminaries outside in memory of those killed.
The idea was hatched by Nicole Russo of Fairfield, who has two nephews who attend Sandy Hook Elementary School and were unharmed. She decided to bring her neighborhood's Christmas tradition of lighting the way for Santa to Newtown.
"My husband and I were saying we feel so helpless, you know, we're 30 miles away and we're helpless," she said.
After a group of her friends got together and started a 'Luminaries of Love' outreach campaign, about 40,000 bags were donated for their project, with Yankee Candle donating 10,000 candles.
The free bags and candles were quickly scooped up on Sunday in a couple of hours with many people offering cash donations that could help fund the project in the future.
"I want to do it every year," Russo said. "We don't ever want to forget."
Like every company, Athento has a mission, sort of a reason to exist.
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