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There have been a couple of new developments in the past week regarding the Twitter API and, surprisingly, they don’t really have anything to do with Twitter at all. Rather they have to do with ‘old school’ blogging platforms WordPress and Tumblr adopting the Twitter API as their own. What this means is that people using third-party Twitter apps can now use them for WordPress as well, for example, to some degree as the implementations aren’t complete yet.

“We’ve enabled posting to and reading of WordPress.com blogs via the Twitter API. Any app that allows you to set a custom API URL will work,” WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg wrote about a week ago. “I see the Twitter API as one of the new de facto standards that as many applications should support as possible.”

It didn’t take long for Mullenweg’s words to take heed and up and coming blogging platform Tumblr also rolled out a similar feature. “Inspired by WordPress’ seriously clever use of Loren Brichter’s new Tweetie options, we’re launching our own Tweetie and Twitterrific compatible API. This Twitter-like API should make it easy for a lot of existing Twitter clients to start supporting Tumblr,” Tumblr wrote.

The support isn’t complete, for WordPress you can read and even write posts and you can geotag it as well, but more advanced fu… (read more)

Eco Factor: Zero-emission transportation vehicle powered by batteries.

Nissan VanNEXT is the work of industrial designer Victor Romero who has tried to make some deep changes in small transport vehicles in use today. The all-electric concept vehicle features a simple and efficient exterior design, with rounded frontal surfaces that better the vehicle’s aerodynamic properties.

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The latest version of the world most popular self-hosted blogging platform, WordPress 2.9, is now out and available for everyone to download and install. It’s been quite a while since the last major update, more than six months actually, and the latest version comes with a few big new features and a bunch of smaller ones as well as updates, bug fixes, the works. The biggest feature is likely the new image editor which allows users to do basic photo editing inside the post editor without having to rely on third-party tools.

“I’m here on behalf of the entire WordPress development team and community to announce the immediate availability of WordPress version 2.9 “Carmen” named in honor of magical jazz vocalist Carmen McRae (whom we’ve added to our Last.fm WP release station),” Matt Mullenweg, Automattic founder, the company behind the open-source WordPress platform and the WordPress.com blog hosting service, wrote.

With the new built-in image editor, users can crop, edit, rotate, flip, and scale images until they fit perfectly in the post. Seeing as these are 99 percent of the editing tools any blogger would ever need, the tool is a very welcome addition. It also probably means that you won’t need to fire up Photoshop, or maybe Gimp if you’re into open sourc… (read more)

Each month I update the Pocket Change Portfolio (PCP). The table below reconciles the PCP from beginning of period to end of period for November 2009, Year-To-Date (2009) and Life-To-Date. The Portfolio Returns line provides the calculated return for the three displayed periods.

Online Cash Receipts are the collected earnings from my online endeavors. Most of which is advertising on the my various blogs. The year-to-date $30.00 Online Expenses relates to registering 3 domains (DividendsValue.com, Dividends4Life.com and TheDiv-Net.com). November Dividends include $4.70 from Vanguard Long-Term Bond ETF (BLV) and $8.80 from The Procter & Gamble Company (PG). The Interest Income line is interest earned on cash balances in an ING account I set up for the PCP. The Gain/(Loss) line is for market changes to the PCP (realized and unrealized).

The portfolio was up in November, for the year and since its inception. Online earnings in November surpassed the $3,000 mark for the first time. A large portion of the increase is related to the strong interest in D4L-Premium Services. The premium service continues grow each month. The subscriber retention rate remains in the 85-90% range. Traffic on Dividend Value continues but high, but was lower than the record October level.

During the month of November, I purchased 26 shares of Nucor Corporation (NUE) providing me $36.40 in annual earnings at the current dividend rate. I also purchased 14 shares of Vanguard Intermediate-Term Bond ETF (BIV) providing me $48.30 in annual earnings at the current dividend rate.  Including the November purchases, my annual PCP dividend income is now $517.74 at the current dividend rates. I ended the month with $4,398.18 in cash, enough to purchase two or three stocks in December. Through November, I have purchased ten stocks this year, including at least one in the last seven consecutive months. I continue to believe the current cash balance and recent earnings will support the purchase of at least one stock each month.

My PCP holdings are always available by selecting the Holdings option from the menu in the header. The next PCP update will be mid-January.

(Photo: sanja gjenero)

Related Posts:

• A Winning Investment Strategy
• 10 Best U.S. Dividend Stocks
• Bonds: The Next Bubble to Burst?
• 12 Dividend Stocks With A 5-Star Strong Buy Rating
• Optimizing Your Asset Allocation

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Eco Factor: Emergency shelter designed to be powered by renewable energy.

GEOTECTURA Architectural Studio has come with a concept emergency shelter that is both green and easy to deploy. Dubbed the X2Shelter or X2S, the emergency shelter can be airdropped to unreachable disaster zones and is powered by renewable energy. The X2S can be used as a standalone tent for dwelling, sanitation and health care and can also be connected with other X2S shelters to provide shelter for many people.

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Not the likeliest of partners, but common interest sometimes wins over other, more ‘ideological’ principles, YouTube and Facebook are getting a bit cozier with each other with the launch of a new feature that enables users to see what their friends share on the social network while on YouTube. It’s the latest social move for YouTube which is trying to actually deliver the tools needed for what is at heart a rather social experience, sharing movies.

“This week we’ve added another launch to the “social feature” list: a feed that pushes the YouTube videos your friends are embedding on Facebook back to your YouTube homepage. This feature is in test mode right now,” Chris Testa, software engineer at YouTube, wrote.

“But if you do want your YouTube-related Facebook activity to be syndicated back to YouTube, the key is that you just stay connected to Facebook. Alternatively, you can search for your friends using the friend finding module on the homepage, and that will also connect you to Facebook,” he added.

YouTube is just testing the waters for the moment so there may be a few hiccups and it’s not enabled by default. But if you really must know what your friends are embedding on the social network, you can test it out by going here and connect your Facebook account to your YouTub… (read more)

Eco Factor: Christmas tree created from recycled materials.

Sarah Wigglesworth Architects has designed a sustainable Christmas tree for developer Igloo, which will be displayed at the Bermondsey Square in London. The ecofriendly Christmas tree is composed of 35 recycled bike wheels, which are on loan from UK charity Re~Cycle.

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Some car trivia for the weekend was required as we get down to the business of Christmas cheer, and in this gallery we take a look at all the Car of the Year models from 1964 to today. This year, the humble Volkswagen Polo took out the title, marking the 47th since the award was incepted. The Car of the Year award is judged by seven European car magazine titles: Autocar in the UK, Stern in Germany, Vi Bilägare in Sweden, Autovisie in the Netherlands, L’Automobile Magazine in France, Auto in Italy, and Autopista in Spain.

The first Car of the Year back in 1964 was the Rover 2000, and things have come a long way since then. The Car of the Year must be a new vehicle that is available to at least five European markets in the year in question. Criteria such as design, comfort, performance, safety, practicality, ecology and economy, price and overall driveability are considered.

Perhaps surprisingly, the brand that has received the most awards in the history of the Car of the Year is Fiat, with a total of nine models, and that’s not including other Fiat Group brands such as Alfa Romeo or Lancia. Following Fiat, the company with the most success has been Renault, winning six times. The Volkswagen Polo for 2010 marks only the second time that Volkswagen has won the prize. After the jump is the full list of Car of the Year models from 1964 to 2010.

Car of the Year 1964 to 2010

1964 – Rover 2000
1965 – Austin 1800
1966 – Renault R16
1967 – Fiat 124
1968 – NSU Ro 80
1969 – Peugeot 504
1970 – Fiat 128

1971 – Citroen GS
1972 – Fiat 127
1973 – Audi 80
1974 – Mercedes S-Series W116
1975 – Citroen CX
1976 – Simca 1307 and 1308
1977 – Rover SD1
1978 – Porsche 928
1979 – Simca Horizon
1980 – Lancia Delta

1981 – Ford Escort
1982 – Renault 9
1983 – Audi 100
1984 – Fiat Uno
1985 – Opel Kadett
1986 – Ford Scorpio
1987 – Opel Omega
1988 – Peugeot 405
1989 – Fiat Tipo
1990 – Citroen XM

1991 – Renault Clio
1992 – Volkswagen Golf
1993 – Nissan Micra
1994 – Ford Mondeo
1995 – Fiat Punto
1996 – Fiat Bravo and Brava
1997 – Renault Megane Scenic
1998 – Alfa Romeo 156
1999 – Ford Focus
2000 – Toyota Yaris

2001 – Alfa Romeo 147
2002 – Peugeot 307
2003 – Renault Megane II
2004 – Fiat Panda
2005 – Toyota Prius
2006 – Renault Clio
2007 – Ford S-Max
2008 – Fiat 500
2009 – Opel Insignia
2010 – Volkswagen Polo

Source | Autoblog.it

Lens Plus Kochsalzlösung

Per sofort ist die Kochsalzlösung Lens Plus Ocupure 120ml wieder lieferbar. Scheinbar hat der Hersteller gemerkt, dass für die kleinen Flaschen doch ein Markt vorhanden ist.
Vor 2 Jahren hat AMO die extrem beliebte Grösse von 120ml aus dem Sortiment genommen, zumindest in der Schweiz. Obwohl AMO von allen Seiten für diesen Schritt kritisiert wurde, besonders von den Optikern, haben sie das beliebte Produkt trotzdem zurückgezogen. Jetzt plötzlich sehen sie ihre Felle davon schwimmen, da Ciba Vision und andere Hersteller mit der kleinen 120 milliliter Flasche weiterhin versorgen.
Die Flasche, die alles erst möglich macht: Die spezielle PhotoProtect-Flasche mit dem grünen Licht-Blocker schützt Ocupure zuverlässig vor Lichteinwirkung und bewahrt somit die antimikrobielle Wirksamkeit von Ocupure in der Flasche – Lens Plus, die intelligente Abspüllösung.

Finally, here’s a study for coffee lovers everywhere! Researchers who analyzed previous studies involving thousands of participants found that people who drink more coffee, whether regular or decaf, appear to have a reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Tea lovers may also rejoice. The same diabetes-reducing association was found for tea drinkers as well. The study results were published recently in Archives of Internal Medicine.

Researchers found that coffee drinkers enjoyed a 7% reduction in the excess risk of diabetes for each additional cup of coffee consumed in a day. Those who had three to four cups per day experienced 25% lower risk than those who consumed between zero and two cups of coffee each day.

For decaffeinated coffee drinkers who drank more than three to four cups per day, there was a one-third lower risk of diabetes compared to people who never consumed decaf. People who had more than three to four cups of tea had a one-fifth lower risk compared to non-tea drinkers.

Since decaf also curbed diabetes risk, researchers believe that the link probably isn’t solely related to caffeine. The study authors commented that other compounds in coffee and tea, such as magnesium, lignans or chlorogenic acids, may also play a role.

This study is timely as University of Chicago researchers recently projected that diabetes cases could double by 2034.

While this news sounds exciting, further research is needed before docs start prescribing coffee and tea. Plus, some people are more sensitive to the effects of caffeine and would need to consult with their physicians before increasing intake of coffee or tea.

What do you think of the association between reduced diabetes risk and coffee, decaf and tea?

(Image via stock.xchng)

Post from: Blisstree

Coffee, Decaf & Tea May Lower Diabetes Risk

Twitter is continuously expanding its network and it integrates more and more functionalities to provide users with the possibility to update their existing accounts and to share their actions with the world. One of the latest services offered by Twitter is text messaging and it has recently become available to users from Indonesia and Ireland. The carriers that launched this service are 3 and O2, respectively, and the new service can be activated by all customers without any additional costs.

All those who want to enjoy Twitter SMS service will not even need to learn any new tip and tricks since it is basically the same as sending a regular text message to another phone. The difference is that subscribers will thus be able to let others know about their latest achievements or important events even if they do not have access to a computer. In other words, the users from Indonesia and Ireland can now simply send an SMS to Twitter and their status message will be updated.

Furthermore, all customers can choose to activate notifications for certain users they follow, just like they can also receive direct messages. Therefore, everybody can keep track of their buddies’ actions and be able to comment in due time.

In order to activate Twitter SMS service, Indonesia users will need to send the … (read more)

Eco Factor: Sustainable development to harvest renewable energy and rainwater.

With a population of about 500,000 inhabitants, the Gold Cost is expected to grow at a rate of 16,000 inhabitants each year, doubling the population by 2030. Recognizing the need for sustainable developments, Super Colossal has come up with a green master plan for the Gold Coast Cultural and Civic Precinct.

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YouTube surely no longer needs any confirmation for its motto: ‘Broadcast Yourself’ and the one of the persons to have experienced it for himself is called Fede Alvarez. He was was offered a $30 million contract for a Hollywood movie after having uploaded a short video to YouTube.

The man is from Uruguay and his movie presents giant robots destroying Montevideo, the capital of the country, featuring amazing special effects and explosions. “Ataque de Panico!” (‘Panic Attack!’) was uploaded in November 2009 and so far it has got almost 2 million views on YouTube. Its producer spent about $300 making the video and it lasts for 4 minutes and 48 seconds.

The Hollywood proposition came from Sam Raimi, the one who directed successful movies like Spiderman or Evil Dead series. The contract he offered to Fede Alvarez follows the line of the original short movie and is a science fiction that will be filmed in Uruguay and Argentina. It seems that Fede Alvarez wants to take things from the beginning and create a new plot for the story.

“I uploaded (Panic Attack!) on a Thursday and on Monday my inbox was totally full of e-mails from Hollywood studios,” Alvarez told the BBC’s Latin American service BBC Mundo. “It was amazing, we were all shocked.” He also added that that created a pr… (read more)

Homebrew coder Copper has released the first version of Snowbros DS, a homebrew emulator that emulates Roma 6 sets of the MAME game Snow Bros. Nick & Tom.
 
 
Download: Snowbros DS v1.0 (http://dl.qj.net/nintendo-ds/homebrew-games/snowbros-ds-v10.html)
 

Eco Factor: New research points at solar panels that are up to 67% more efficient.

Scientists at Boston College have built solar cells that successfully use hot electrons to increase the cell’s power output, which could be used as a concept for better solar cells that break conventional efficiency limits. These researchers have come with solar panels that allow hot electrons to pass through before cooling, thereby increasing the cell’s output.

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