Most of you know that the National Genealogical Society Conference this year will be held here in Salt Lake City (April 28-May 1). But you may not know that the conference locations for 2011 and 2012 have also been selected. They are:
Mark your calendars!
Transpera, the mobile video delivery tech firm and ad network, has raised $2 million worth of a $5 million third round of funding, per an SEC filing. Transpera has raised over $10.2 million in funding, the bulk of which came in its second round in 2008.
Founded in 2007, Transpera’s previous backers include Flybridge Capital Partners, Intel (NSDQ: INTC) Capital and First Round Capital. The company did not respond to a request for confirmation.
Media companies including CBS Interactive (NYSE: CBS), Disney (NYSE: DIS), MTVN (NYSE: VIA) and Showtime currently use Transpera’s mobile video delivery and ad platform to monetize their mobile content. Chairman and CEO Frank Barbieri said mobile video CPMs were hovering in the $30 to $40 range last year.
Related
Sources have told PickupTrucks.com that the Ford F-150 is going to get a new 6-cylinder engine option in addition to the 3.5L V6 EcoBoost that will be available in the lineup by the end of 2010. Insiders say that the F-150 is slated to get the same 3.7L Ti-VCT V6 that made its debut in the 2011 Ford Mustang.
The engine will be the base option offered with the F-150 on top of the EcoBoost V6, which will cost more.
The 3.7L V6 will be available before the end of 2012 on the XL and STX models. Ford hasn’t offered a V6 engine option for the F-150 since the 2008 model year.
– By: Omar Rana
Source: PickupTrucks.com
I’ve had good experiences with home inspectors. I’ve had terrible experiences with home inspectors. I know people who flip homes and act like their great home inspector’s name is a state secret. I don’t blame them. The one time I couldn’t use my good home inspector because he was booked up? That was a sad, sad day. So, how do you find a good home inspector?
In my experience, choosing a home inspector solely because he or she was recommended by your realtor is not a good idea. Now, I know that most realtors and home inspectors are incredibly ethical and would not dream of working together to cover up problems to get you to buy a home. In fact, I know realtors who won’t recommend home inspectors just in case buyers think they’re working together in this way. Unfortunately, there are some realtors who are not so ethical and will work together with a home inspector who also has flexible ethics to push a sale through by hiding a house’s flaws. I experienced this a few homes back and, unfortunately, I am not alone.
A better way to find a good home inspector is to ask friends, family, or if you are moving to a location where no one you know lives, your future neighbors who are new to the neighborhood for recommendations. Once you have a pool of prospective candidates, ask for references, ask if they have insurance and ask the Better Business Bureau about them.
Do you have a home inspector that does a great job?
Photo: SXC
Post from: Blisstree
By now – the beginning of a new decade and well into the 21st century – it’s a story we’ve long come accustomed to: the music industry is dying a slow, painful, sputtering death at the hands of the Internet.
According to analyst firm Forrester’s latest report, 2009 was “a lousy end to an even lousier decade” for the music industry and we shouldn’t expect much different until at least 2013. Last year, as a matter of fact, was one of the worst years yet, with a 13% decline from the year before.
Sponsor
For much of the report, the numbers only confirm what we’ve already come to expect over the past decade. Music industry revenues in 2009 were $6.3 billion, less than half what they were in 1999, and people spent 32% less in 2009 on music than they spent in 2008.
Of course the economy can’t be helping these numbers, but Forrester sees this as a trend that is going to continue until it gradually starts to even out in 2013. By 2014, the company predicts music industry revenue to level off at around $5.5 billion with digital sales taking up most, but not all, of the slack.
The report also has one interesting event to note for 2012 and, no, it isn’t the destruction of the world at the hands of a Mayan death clock – digital music sales will finally surpass sales of physical media like CDs and vinyl.
While it goes on to say that 2010 will be a better year than 2009 for the growth rate of spending on digital music, the overall numbers will likely trend downwards after that, as shown in the graph above.
KEF is a leading innovator in home theater sound systems. One of their highly sought after models, the KHT3005SE comes in a limited edition option. The Purist’s Edition as they call it, comes in either black or white high gloss finish. According to KEF: With inert cast aluminium enclosures housing some of the world’s most advanced high end audio technologies, each satellite and the dedicated three-way centre speaker boasts the latest incarnation of KEF’s legendary Uni-Q® array for even dispersion throughout the room, with ‘tangerine’ waveguides for even sweeter HF response. The accompanying 250W subwoofer delivers massive, tightly controlled bass; and upright or horizontal, out of sight or in pride of place, SmartBass™ functionality means that it’ll be playing in minutes.
Visit KEF for more information.
Facebook has become extremly popular in the past year, so much that it has some parents questioning the health value with their kids. Parents are becoming worried that their
IMG: Sxc.hu
children, most of them being teenagers are becoming addicted to it. There are several experts that have advice on the topic, but I want to ask you a few questions:
1. Do they spend more time on Facebook then on their books?
2. Do they get their homework done?
3. Are their grades dropping?
4. Are they accessing their facebook page on their cell phone when they are at school?
If you answered yes to more than one of these, you most likely have a problem or a possible problem on your hands that you want to start looking at now. ABC News has an interview (which I posted below) of a girl that realized she was becoming obsessed and went as far as asking her sister to give her a new password and once a week to change it at the beginning of the week (Monday) and not give it to her until Friday so she could monitor her own time online.
Here’s a few tips they have for you:
To read more follow the link: Tips for Controlling your Teens Facebook time.
Post from: Blisstree
Erin Kutz wrote:
Gryphon Networks, a Norwood, MA, telecommunications and marketing services company, raised $7 million in a Series C venture funding round, according to an SEC filing. The funds come from Waltham, MA-based Symmetric Capital and include a combination of cash and stock from Gryphon’s Series A and Series B rounds, says Gryphon CFO Eric Bornhofft. The company did not disclose what portion of the $7 million was cash. The company uses the Software as a Service model to deliver contact governance, compliance and contact management solutions.
Bruce V. Bigelow wrote:
Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, an early stage San Diego biotech developing specialized biosensors for drug discovery applications, says it has signed a collaboration agreement with the Ferring Research Institute, the peptide research center established in San Diego by Ferring Pharmaceuticals.
Last month, when Crinetics got a small business research grant of nearly $238,000, the startup said its technology is focused on developing biosensors that utilize a family of receptor molecules on cell walls called G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). The biotech says it’s own work is focused on studying endocrine GPCRs that can be used in assays for drug molecules, allowing researchers to rule candidate drugs in or out at an earlier stage and thus potentially speeding up pharmaceutical R&D.
In its statement yesterday, Crinetics says it will apply components of its GPCR Dynamics assay platform to a Ferring proprietary drug discovery target. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Stephen Betz, a Crinetics scientist and spokesman, said no further details would be released about Ferring’s drug target or the agreement itself.
“Our strategy is to initially fund through grants and contracts, with the hope of attracting venture funding in this new year,” Betz writes in an email. “We have the first SBIR grant…and have other applications outstanding. The Ferring deal is by no means exclusive (though certainly the content of their project is) and we are also in discussions with other companies and so hope to have other ‘Ferring-type’ deals in the not-too-distant future. We think we can help a lot of people.”
Based in Saint-Prex, Switzerland, Ferring Pharmaceuticals specializes in developing drugs in the areas of urology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, gynecology, and fertility.
Google’s location-aware features can feel creepy at times, but in the case of mobile searches they can make life a heck of a lot easier. Queries made from most mobile devices can now include suggestions optimized for your current location.
The basic idea is to reduce how much you need to fumble with your phone and give you the most relevant query suggestions possible. Let’s say I’m sitting around in Tampa, Florida and searching for a museum. It’s more likely that I might be that I’m looking for some quick info on the Museum of Science and Industry than for Louvre and now my Google search suggestions reflect that. Then again, the entire system isn’t without flaws, unless people around my area are really more likely to search for the University of South Carolina than for a Florida college.
Ah well, the feature is live, so check it out and see if there are any oddities like that in your search suggestions. [Google Mobile Blog]
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The building Number 24, is located in the burgeoning business district of high-brow Ikoyi. The structure is a Mixture of aluminium glazing and glass, with a striking no. "24" It serves to accentuate the building viz-a-vis its enviroment. |
Project Name: Number 24
architects: ACCL
status: proposed
# of floors: 8
Oracle, Arizona | Outsider Architecture
With dreams of colonizing Mars, John P. Allen, who made his millions in oil, funded the building of Biosphere 2 in the middle of the Arizona desert. (Planet earth is Biosphere 1.) The 3.15-acre sealed glass house is a dazzlingly attempt to completely recreate the conditions and environment of Earth including a rain forest, desert, marsh, and an mini-ocean.
In September 1991, seven crew members walked into Biosphere 2, which was sealed behind them. They were charged with the task of growing their own food and conducting environmental experiments while sealed for two years inside the complex.
What started as a science experiment turned into a psychological experiment. The body masses of the scientists fell over time, as did the biosphere’s oxygen levels. “Confined environment psychology” set in. Crew members grew to despise each other and found conflict in even the smallest decisions. The media and scientific community criticized the two-year, $150-million-dollar experiment, calling it “tamper-prone” and a “stunt.”
The crew stayed in Biosphere 2 for the full two years, but when they emerged, their experiment was largely dismissed as a scientific failure. It was, from a monetary perspective, a total disaster. Despite this discouraging news, a second crew entered in April of 1994 and exited prematurely in September of the same year as the management of Biosphere 2 dissolved.
Unused for many years, the facility was bought by the University of Arizona in 2007 and is now the home of many university experiments and educational programs. Visitors can now take a tour of the now non-sealed biosphere and learn about the over 3,500 exotic species growing in the dome, as well as the experiments currently taking place in it – none of which involve living inside the dome.
I hope in 3 mths they will be lower
When Paul Krugman said “Europe’s economic success should be obvious even without statistics. For those Americans who have visited Paris: did it look poor and backward? What about Frankfurt or London? You should always bear in mind that when the question is which to believe — official economic statistics or your own lying eyes — the eyes have it.” I had roughly the same reaction that Matt Welch did: having lived in London for intermittent (short) periods, I found it noticeably poorer than the United States.
It is not noticeable to tourists, mind you. London, like any
European city that wasn’t actually flattened in the war, is rich in
architectural assets that make it feel very posh–low rise buildings
older than thirty or forty years are a luxury in most American cities.
Walking around a European city, the diversity and beauty of the
architecture is dazzling.
But the standard of living in any
given profession is much lower. Preserving London’s dazzling antique
architecture has meant that most of the people I knew had much longer
and more expensive commutes than their American counterparts would.
They lived in smaller quarters that were hotter in summer and colder in
winter. At any given professional level, you found British people
doing things that only much poorer Americans would do, like bringing
lunch, hanging their clothes to dry, or going without cable (though the
Americans I knew said the cable wasn’t worth it anyway). People in
Britain are not poor. But they have a noticeably lower standard of
living than Americans do. If they were doing it in 1960’s vintage
apartment buildings and tract homes, it would be quite obvious. When I
lived there, I literally could not afford to eat meat regularly or take
the tube to work, and as a consequence wore holes in my shoes. (In
fairness, I was being paid in dollars and the exchange rate was
awful–but I wasn’t the only one walking to save money.)
I
don’t want to sound as if I’m saying Britain’s a terrible place–it’s
lovely, and I miss it. But the amount that people are able to consume
is much less than the amount Americans are able to consume, and many of
the things they forego make real difference in things like personal
comfort. (Based on my admittedly limited sample of British mattresses,
they must be unimaginably hardy sleepers). Consumption isn’t
everything. But it is something, and that is what’s being captured in
the GDP differences.
Even if your’re jumping the rail yards to travel cross country, one must still have a fashionable and functional attire in mind. For their January issue, Japanese magazine FUDGE puts out an editorial featuring travel worthy garments.
Continue reading for more images.
Source: Mens Model Talk
Tomorrow in Japan, the curtains will open on the Tokyo Auto Salon 2010. At the show, Honda will show a lineup of modified and customized vehicles. Joining the lineup will be the Insight Sports Modulo Concept.
“Leveraging the Insight hybrid vehicle’s advanced aerodynamic performance and fun, comfortable driving, the Insight Sports Modulo Concept expresses the joy of driving with the theme of ‘Exciting Eco,’ Honda said in a statement. “With its advanced styling featuring chiseled lines, the Modulo concept vehicle demonstrates the new value that Sports Modulo customization has to offer a next-generation hybrid.”
Check out the high-res image gallery posted after the jump.
Honda Insight Sports Modulo Concept:
Press Release:
Overview of Honda Exhibition at Tokyo Auto Salon 2010
TOKYO, Japan, January 13, 2010 – Honda Access Corporation*1, manufacturer of genuine Honda aftermarket parts and accessories, announced that it will feature a new Modulo*2 concept vehicle and new styling study models in its exhibition at the Tokyo Auto Salon 2010 with NAPAC*3, to be held from Friday, January 15, to Sunday, January 17, 2010, at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan.
*1 Honda Access Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
*2 Modulo is an original Honda customization brand.
*3 Sponsored by the Tokyo Auto Salon Association with the cooperation of the Nippon Auto Parts Aftermarket Committee (NAPAC).
*4 Gathers is a genuine audio and navigation system brand exclusively for Honda vehicles.
Tokyo Auto Salon 2010
• Honda vehicles on exhibit
< Concept model automobile(1) >
Insight Sports Modulo Concept
< Study model automobiles (2) >
Freed Styling Study
Life Styling Study 2010
< Competition automobile (1) >
Touring Modulo Insight (participated in 2009 Enjoy Endurance Race at Twin Ring Motegi)
< Production automobiles (5) >
Modulo Insight, Modulo Step WGN, Modulo Stream, Sports Modulo Civic Type R, Civic Type R Euro (vehicle with dealer options)
< Navigation system concept model (1) >
Gathers Advance
– By: Kap Shah
sinsi was the first of a few to send in the news that Facebook has new rules if your account is suspended due to a security breach. You will now be required to use McAfee’s security software to scan your computer. Have perfectly good security software from Symantec? Too bad. Use Linux? Not sure what you do. While McAfee is offering a free tool for scanning, it’s only free for six months and then you have to pay — meaning that this is really an upsell plan. Facebook claims it chose McAfee after a “competitive review process,” but that makes no sense. Why not offer up a list of ways that you can prove your computer is safe that is vendor neutral?
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What you are looking at is a lovingly-crafted Android robot plush bag created over the course of two weeks as a birthday gift. And you can totally rip this idea off.
“On and off it took about, I guess, two weeks? I needed to pick the materials, figure out the design and of course, a lot of sewing and testing. The hardest task was to come up with a design that makes it both a fully functioning plush and a fully functioning bag, while conforming to the mascot as closely as possible. The head was a big trouble also, being a hemisphere and thus required some mathematics to calculate the right size of each piece of felt. The internal space should just be enough to hold your D40 w/ lens should you wish. The external shell is very strong though so it certainly won’t drop your camera.”
The whole thing falls under Creative Commons, so if anyone wants to sell something like this, by all means, go ahead. [Flickr via nicesoda via phandroid)
[See post to watch Flash video]
PCWorld calls this a scientific test of the durability of 4 different form factor phones – slider, flip phone, touch screen (our LG Incite) and candy bar QWERTY. We on the other hand would call it gratuitous violence against some defenceless phones, and like the movie SAW, there comes a point when you just cant look away.
Commiserate with the LG Incite, which managed to cling to life, if terribly crippled, until the very end. Of course the iPhone died even before it go to the test site.
Do you feel sorry for these phones? Let us know below.
