Small Business SEO Advisory: 2013 Resolutions - YouMoz | SEOmoz

Small business internet marketers were happy to say goodbye to 2012. Those infamous Google Updates, Panda and Penguin, had every small business SEO ducking for cover. Thousands of small businesses may never recover fully from the drop in rankings. Ever the resilient profession, ambitious SEO?s started ?link removal? practices they desperately hoped would fix the SEO mistakes that led to their downfall. In a hurry to undo the damage, some businesses actually paid to remove links that only months before they had paid to create! Adding salt to the wounds, small businesses also had to figure out what to do with social media newcomers, the monster that is Google+ and that other one...Pinterest, while still fumbling around with Facebook and Twitter.

If 2012 made you want to throw in the towel, the following stats will make you want to think again:

• In 2011, Google had more than 1.7 trillion searches. Source: Google Official History
• 92% of internet users use search engines (59% on a daily basis), 71% purchase products online and over 80% research products/services online before buying. Source: ComScore qSearch

So let?s leave 2012 behind and turn our attention to these tips that will help you filter out the hype and focus on sustainable SEO tactics.

Get Better SEO Metrics

Before I spend even one minute or a single dollar on a new project, I define goals and a measure of success. I recommend you do the same using these metrics:

1. Non-branded organic visits - SEO is not about creating brand awareness, it?s about capturing existing demand for your products/services via industry keyword searches, NOT your brand keywords. Brand keywords refer to words that people use who already know your business (i.e., Albert Moving). Non-brand keywords are the keywords that refer to your category (i.e., moving companies). When evaluating your SEO campaign, you want to exclude those people who use your brand name when they search.

First, set up your Google Analytics account. Once the data starts coming in, keep an eye on your organic non-paid search traffic. Log in to analytics and on the left side of the screen, select Traffic Sources ? Sources? Search ? Organic.

Then, select Advanced Segments ? Non Paid Search Traffic.

Now, look at the non-branded keywords and you?ll see the number of visits per keyword. Use the Analytics calendar feature to compare the numbers to the previous month. Track the changes each month and you?ll know how well your SEO campaign is working.

2. Comparative Ranking Scores ? At my company, we developed our own webgrader with which you can compare your organic traffic to your competitor. Every business and industry will have different scores. The important thing to track is where you stand in relation to your competitors. Once you have that critical piece of information, you?ll know where you fall short on your link building efforts for your targeted keywords. We produced this tutorial to explain exactly how the webgrader works.

3. Phone Call Tracking - You don?t have an accurate measure of your SEO and online marketing campaign performance if you?re not tracking the source of your phone calls. Once you start tracking calls, you may find that some or all of your campaigns are more successful than you think! There are many call tracking tools available through companies such as calltrackingmetrics.com and www.callrail.com.

Your business name, address and phone number (or NAP) is the core information that makes up your basic online listing identity. Properly installed, most call tracking numbers do not interfere with the search engines? indexing of your actual phone number. Most phone tracking scripts use a cookie and a javascript rewrite to determine the source of the call and show the website visitor the phone number that?s been assigned to the particular campaign. For example:

• 888-555-5000 is your actual phone number.
• Your website visitor clicks a link from a Google Adwords ad.
• The tracking script replaces (or overwrites) your actual phone number with a trackable replacement number like 888-555-9999. Upon landing on your website, the visitor that originated from that Adwords ad sees the tracking number, 888-555-9999. When the visitor calls the tracking number, the call tracking system reroutes the call to ring to your actual number.

Execute Your Content Marketing

Content marketing emphasizes the creation of useful and compelling content that educates and informs. It doesn?t sell or push; it draws people in. To guide your writing, think about the problems people encounter that are related to your industry. For example, a furniture store owner could write about how to repair or conceal furniture scratches. A dry cleaner could write about how to care for delicate fabrics so they last longer. Face it, no one wants to link to content that is all about you and your business. Content marketing is a solid, long-term SEO strategy because it makes information shareable and link-worthy.

Content marketing is part strategy and part tactic. A well-executed content marketing program includes:

• Good researchers and writers to develop content that is useful to your target audience, but also related to your targeted keywords.
• Content that is published to other websites through guest blogging, social media, videos/webinars, infographics and so on.
• Content on your website that people will want to share on social networks.

Quality over Quantity

2012 taught us that more links aren?t always better. Most small business websites that I look at have a few hundred links. Yet many SEO agencies are still selling programs that promise thousands of links in a month. In 2013, ask some questions about where those links will be placed. Go for quality over quantity. Keep these SEO tips in mind:

• Focus on root domain links - don?t get caught up with lots of links on the same domain. Get one link and move on. When you find a site that gives you an unlimited number of links by merely commenting on their content, you may feel like you?re making progress, but you?re not. Don?t waste your time.
• Look at domain authority of linking domains - that content you?ve written is a precious commodity. Don?t waste it! Make sure you look at the domain authority of the website before placing your content. Check the open site explorer tool on SEOmoz to get the data. The higher the domain authority, the better.
• Look at the website - Is it littered with ads and poor quality or even tawdry content? If you don?t feel comfortable associating your business with the content on a website, don?t.

Bonus: Social Signals and Rich Snippets

2012 showed us that Google will continue to give us carrots like social signals and rich snippets in the search results for Authorship, Ratings, and Videos. Right now, you should:

• Set up Google+ authorship so you can link content you publish on your website to your Google+ profile. This can help you stand out in the search results.
• Use schema.org to markup any local, video, product and address information. When you use schema.org, search engines get structured information that helps improve search result quality.
• Increase social media activity. At the very least, keep your Google+, Facebook and Twitter pages updated and active. Reportedly, Google+ pages appear in search results for 30% of brand term searches for brands with G+ pages, up from 5% in February 2012.

Always take advantage of these valuable (and free) SEO incentives and keep on the lookout for more in 2013.

Follow these tips to get your 2013 SEO off to the right start.

Source: http://www.seomoz.org/ugc/small-business-seo-advisory-2013-resolutions

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Braintree?s New Payments Layer Lets Users Sign Up For Apps Without Re-Entering Their Credit Card Data

Braintree, an Accel and NEA-backed payments company that’s now processing more than $6 billion a year, is launching a new payments layer that lets users sign up to pay for goods and services without having to re-enter their credit card details. Say you use one app in Braintree’s network — like Airbnb. If you’re a new user to Uber, you won’t have to re-enter your credit card all over again because it may be stored in Braintree’s network. They’re calling it Venmo Touch, which keeps the brand of the startup Braintree bought in August for $26.2 million. When you sign up for an app in the Venmo network, you’ll have the option of saving your credit card details in it so they can be used in other apps on the platform. The idea is that by removing one step of friction, more users will go through and complete transactions. The default is checked to opt in users, and Braintree is keeping the initial beta really small with apps like HotelTonight, TaskRabbit and Wrapp. “There’s tremendous overlap in the customer bases of these apps,” said Braintree CEO Bill Ready. “Putting in your card information into an app is painful and people are doing it 10 to 15 times.” Braintree recognizes that a credit card might belong to a particular user through device fingerprinting, which collects a number of attributes about a device to create a unique ID. Ready wouldn’t reveal what inputs the company is using to fingerprint devices, but they could include the device model, browser, network and so on. You’d use enough inputs (potentially hundreds) to create enough combinations so that it would be highly improbable to create duplicates. They also don’t store financial details locally on the phone. “Your data is stored in the cloud,” Ready said. “If we see anything suspicious, we can prompt for the CVV again.” Braintree has about 35 million uniques on its network and processes more than $6 billion in transactions a year. $1.5 billion of that is on mobile devices. The company’s clients include Uber, Rovio, LivingSocial, Airbnb, Fab.com, GitHub, OpenTable, LevelUp, TaskRabbit and HotelTonight. They charge 2.9 percent plus 30 cents of each transaction. Ready says the business is profitable even after paying the payment networks and credit card companies their transaction fees. The company has raised at least $69 million in two rounds from Accel Partners, NEA, Greycroft Partners and

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/RKEGkgX8xI0/

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napaman.com: Secret to Making the World's Best Negroni Cocktail!

Recently, I had the best Negroni cocktail that I?ve ever had at Il Buco Alimentari,? in NYC.

That cocktail, the color of faded Venetian draperies, displayed a pitch-perfect balance of sweetness and bitterness; it sported a sensational middle palate with a lush, syrupy texture, and had a long, lingering, bitter cherry, finish. I can still taste it a month later.

The Il Buco Alimentari Negroni.

The Negroni is said to have originated in Florence, Italy, in 1919, at Caffe Casoni when Count Camillo Negroni reputedly asked the bartender to strengthen his favorite drink, the Americano, by replacing the soda water with gin.

The drink became so popular so quickly that it was soon called the ?King of Aperitives.? Eventually, the originator?s name was affixed to the cocktail.

I?m sure the Count never imagined that one day he?d become the spirit(ual) leader of drinkers around the world.

One taste of the Negroni at Il Buco Alimentari and I knew that I had to learn how to ace this cocktail at home. So I asked Melissa, the bartender, for her secrets to make the perfect Negroni, which is basically a concoction of three spirits:

Equal parts of:

Gin

Campari

Sweet Italian vermouth

Mixology 101: Stir, do not shake, the mixture of three spirits over ice, pour into old-fashioned glasses filled with ice (different ice, not the same ice used to mix the concoction) and, if desired, squeeze the oil from a strip of orange rind over the drink, and then add the rind.

Sounds simple. But the mixing?s a mathematical nightmare: which gin, which vermouth, and does one really add equal parts?

Campari is central to any Negroni and is the one part you don?t substitute when formulating a strategy to mix The Best-Ever Negroni.

This was an assignment for napaman akin to decoding the human genome. And equally as important to humanity if you agree that what happens daily at 5 o?clock somewhere in the world is critically important to the survival of mankind everywhere in the world.

Melissa told me that she uses Breuckelen Distilling?s Glorious Gin, a NY-made gin (Breuckelen is the old Dutch spelling for the borough in which it?s made).

The secret ingredient in the Il Buco Alimentari Negroni.?Should be on the UN watch list as a dangerous weapon of mass intoxication.

This one night, she also replaced Carpano Antica, the sweet vermouth typically used here, for Cocchi di Torino, a more focused, slightly edgier, sweet Italian vermouth. It?s a complex, very intense vermouth; if Cocchi were a psychiatric patient, you wouldn?t learn in five years of psychoanalytic couch therapy what makes it so moody and intense.

San Francisco skyline; I had to head off to San Francisco to conduct basic Negroni research.

Back home, in California, I contacted my favorite wine and spirit retailer, K&L Wine, in San Francisco, and asked the dynamic Duo of Daves (Dave Driscoll and Dave Othenin-Girard) if they could order Cocchi and Breuckelen Distilling?s Glorious Gin for me. And also sell me some other branded gins for the exercise I was about to undertake.

?No problem? they chirped in unison in their standard echo-like fashion to please this customer.

While waiting for the gins and vermouth to arrive, I thought I?d be smart to conduct some basic bar research, to better understand how different brands of gin and vermouth altered Melissa?s recipe.

So I visited two of my favorite bars/hotels in San Francisco, both which happen to be Kimpton properties, the classy, high-end, boutique lodger, in whose hotels I often stay.

I visited Jasper?s Corner Tap, where I have enjoyed one of my favorite burgers ever in San Francisco. (This hunk o? beautiful bovine is served on an original, crusty bun that is as memorable as the meat.)

I figured that if they know as much about mixing as they know about meat, this would be a solid place to start my Negroni research. I was right.

Barman Dan Wootton agreed that not all gins, and not all vermouths, are created equal. So he set up a trial of drinks to make his case.

Each was made with equal parts of three spirits, each contained Campari and Cocchi, which I?d already determined in tests is a superior vermouth for Negronis, better than Carpano Antica or even VYA Sweet Vermouth.

Do not lose sight of the fact that VYA Dry Vermouth is the secret to making the world?s best martini. But that?s another story and to fully understand how to make the World?s Best Martini, go here:

http://www.napaman.com/napamancom/2007/05/vya_the_stephen.html

And do not lose sight of the fact that Carpano Antica made some stellar Negronis in the course of my research, not the least of which was the Negroni made at Bistro Don Giovanni, in Napa town. Here they mix No. 209 gin, Campari and Carpano Antica. Fabuloso.

But back to Dan; he made three Negronis to prove his point.

Ginning at Jasper?s Corner Tap

The one made with Old Tom Ransom Gin from Oregon was muddied and unfocused.

The one made with Aviation Gin from Portland, which was Dan?s preferred Negroni of the trial, was a bit too clean; for me, it exhibited too much vanilla on the finish.

I selected the Negroni made with Martin Miller?s Reformed London Dry Gin, Westbourne Strength, as ?Negroni of the Night.? It was sensational. Properly named, it Reformed my opinion about which gin makes the best Negroni.?

Dan and assistant general manager Jose Carlos Delgado pointed out that to meet the demand for Negronis, Jasper?s Corner Tap actually has devoted one wine/beer tap to? Negronis!?

That?s right, they pull a pressurized Negroni off one of their bar taps and the beverage is? FANTASTIC!

To make their wildly popular ?draft Negroni,? they mix one part each of Campari and Plymouth Gin and for the third part, they mix Cinzanno and Punt e Mes, an Italian vermouth. This is a sensational, house-ready, Negroni. And it?s On Tap!

Over time, I?ve also come to respect and enjoy the spirits, wine and food at the Fifth Floor restaurant and bar, in another Kimpton San Francisco property, the Palomar Hotel.

As the Fifth Floor is a Mecca for Martini- and Negroni-drinkers, I knew it was time to visit an old friend here, Amy Goldberger, head sommelier at Fifth Floor.

In turn, she introduced me to Brian Means, the affable and skilled barman who mixed many variations of the Negroni on my visit so that I could test the impact of different gins and different vermouths.

Bartender Brian Means at the Fifth Floor.?You could say that Brian Means business when he makes you a Negroni.

Plymouth gin produced a rusty, rustic, serviceable Negroni; Martin Miller?s Reformed London Dry Gin, Westbourne Strength, produced a superior cocktail with a sensational middle palate, and a sunburned finish.

St. George Dry Rye Gin, made in Alameda, CA, produced a Negroni that was flavored with bandages and Mercurochrome, and which had long lasting bitter notes.

Fords Gin, from England, produced a watery, non-descript beverage with not much of a middle palate and no memorable finish. Call it the Mitch McConnell Negroni ? absolutely no personality.

Brian Means in his laboratory... er, I mean bar, planning a few more Negroni combinations to try.

We tried a Negroni made with Greenhook Ginsmiths Gin from Brooklyn, NY, which Brian wangles from a special source as it is not commercially available in this market. It produced a drink with slow attack and slow release; there were a few floral notes and a hint of cucumber. This might be the Negroni to have if you?re planning to have more than two Negronis, as the flavor build-up is slow.?

But I?m in search of the one-off, single best Negroni you can make at home, not one of which you need to drink a bathtubful to obtain a flavor hit.

(By the way, let?s not forget to mention that the bar area of the Fifth Floor is THE place in San Francisco to have a sensational, rich, burger ? order it with ?the works?? -- with a side of fries. Major delicious.

If your server is Dillon, he will guide you through all the other spirit and food options on the bar menu. This is one of my favorite after-hours destinations in San Francisco; it is quiet, comforting, secluded. The drinks and service are first-class.)

When my bottles of Breuckelen Distilling?s Glorious Gin and Cocchi finally arrived at K&L Wine, I started to conduct mixology trials at home.

After determining that Cocchi sweet vermouth makes the best Negroni, I mixed the cocktail using many different gins.

Here?s what I discovered, on my way to selecting my all-time favorite, Best Ever Negroni. In order of preference, from least liked to best liked:

Boodles Gin

Not much of anything. The spirits and flavors do not integrate with one another. There is a succession of tastes, including cinnamon and ripe fruit, but overall, the Negroni lacks luster, focus and zip. 89 points out of 100.

Hendrick?s Gin

Here?s a gin I often like for martinis, but in auditioning for The Negroni Idol, this straight-forward gin produces a rather straight-forward, rather pedestrian, cocktail. There?s not much ?there? there.

A rather simple drink, missing the complexity and alluring character found in other Negronis in this taste test.

91 points out of 100.

Plymouth Gin

Somewhat soapy, pallid, pastel-flavored in the Negroni. Even with the addition of bitters and an orange peel, this gin underwhelms in the cocktail.

This gin is far more successful as an ingredient in a martini.

91 points on its own, 94 points when made with bitters.

No. 209

The best US gin you can use for martinis. Bar none. In any bar.

But for Negronis made with Cocchi, this very floral, very botanical, gin produces a beverage that is a bit sloppy, and unfocused. Almost socially backward and embarrassing. Still, it produces a refreshing cocktail. Much better when combined with Carpano Antica vermouth. 95 points.

Breuckelen Distilling?s Glorious Gin

A winner by any standard of comparative measurement.

The presence of Cocchi lengthens the finish considerably.

Love this gin for the Negroni, though when tasted straight, on its own, it?s a rather mundane, lackluster spirit. How curious. 96 points.

?

Martin Miller?s Reformed London Dry Gin, Westbourne Strength

This gin makes a sensational Negroni; the cocktail is bright in the mouth, bouncy and alive on the palate.

The cocktail is vibrant, and does what a proper cocktail before dinner is meant to do: arouse one?s appetite. 98 points.

In short:

Miller?s Reformed London Dry Gin, Westbourne Strength, makes a superior Negroni when mixed in equal parts with Cocchi di Torino sweet vermouth and Campari.

This combination of spirits produces an Academy Award-worthy Negroni.

(For the record: Miller?s Reformed London Dry Gin is distilled in the UK, then shipped to Iceland where it is blended with Icelandic waters and bottled. How curious! How delicious!)

Here?s what happened next:

Thinking that I?d found the Holy Grail Recipe for The Perfect Negroni, I called my friend Eileen, who is the bartender at Tra Vigne, in St. Helena, and who is, in my humble opinion, the best bartender in Napa Valley.

?I want to make you a Negroni and get your feedback,? I offered.

I made my Negroni with equal parts of Miller?s Reformed London Dry Gin, Cocchi and Campari, and as good as it was, Eileen improved it!

She suggested upping the gin to 1.5 oz. while keeping the Cocchi and Campari at 1 oz. each.

?The extra gin softens the drink, reduces the perceived sweetness, and generally makes for a better cocktail,? Eileen concluded.

And she was right.

So now you have all the trade secrets ? the ingredients, the ratios, and bartender tips -- to make The Perfect Negroni at home. So what are you waiting for...?

Want to taste the best commercial Negronis?

In NY, go to:

Il Buco Alimentari, 53 Great Jones Street,

Tel: 212-837-2622?

In San Francisco, go to:

Jasper?s Corner Tap, 401 Taylor, off the lobby of the Serrano Hotel.

Tel: 415-775-7979.

The Fifth Floor, on the 5^th floor of the Palomar Hotel, 12 Fourth St.

Tel: 415-348-1555.

In Napa Valley, go to:

Bistro Don Giovanni, 4110 Howard Lane, Napa.

Tel: 707-224-3300.

Tra Vigne, 1050 Charter Oak Avenue, St. Helena.

Tel: 707-963-4444.

Source: http://www.napaman.com/napamancom/2013/01/secret-to-making-the-worlds-best-negroni-cocktail.html

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Scientists unveil a superbug's secret to antibiotic resistance

Jan. 30, 2013 ? Worldwide, many strains of the bacterium Staphyloccocus aureus are already resistant to all antibiotics except vancomycin. But as bacteria are becoming resistant to this once powerful antidote, S. aureus has moved one step closer to becoming an unstoppable killer. Now, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have not only identified the mechanism by which vancomycin resistance spreads from one bacterium to the next, but also have suggested ways to potentially stop the transfer.

The work, led by Matthew Redinbo, professor of chemistry at UNC's College of Arts and Sciences, addresses the looming threat of incurable staph infections -- a global public health problem that has mobilized scientists across disciplines to work together to identify the Achilles heel of these antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

"We used to live in a world where antibiotics could readily cure bacterial disease," said Redinbo. "But this is clearly no longer the case. We need to understand how bacteria obtain resistance to drugs like vancomycin, which served for decades as the 'antibiotic of last resort.'"

In his work, Redinbo and his team targeted a bacterial enzyme known as Nicking Enzyme in Staphyloccoccus, or NES. The enzyme has long been known to interact with plasmids, circular pieces of double-stranded DNA within bacteria that are physically separate from the bacterial chromosome. Plasmids commonly contain antibiotic-resistance genes, and can make the machinery necessary to transfer these genes from an infected bacterium to an uninfected one.

By revealing the crystal structure of NES, the researchers found that this enzyme nicks one strand of the plasmid at a very specific site -- and in a very specific way. It turns out that NES forms two loops that work together to pinch one strand of the plasmid at a particular groove in the DNA to cut it. This strand is now free to leave its host and transfer to a nearby bacterium, making them resistant to vancomycin.

Moreover, Redinbo was able to capture a snapshot of the enzyme bound to the plasmid. "As a structural biologist, it's all about the pictures for me," said Redinbo. "And it was this picture that confirmed the precise location on which NES works."

With this information, Redinbo knew the groove on the DNA that the enzyme recognize and could design a small synthetic molecule that would sit on this groove and block NES. Teaming up with colleagues at the California Institute of Technology, Redinbo did just that. The molecule prevented NES from nicking the DNA, which could prevent the resistance genes from spreading.

According to Redinbo and colleagues, this small synthetic molecule could help guide future research aimed at developing effective therapies for strains of antibiotic-resistant S. aureus.

"This is really exciting for us," said Redinbo, who is also a professor at UNC's School of Medicine and a member of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. "It opens the door for potentially stopping the spread of antibiotic resistance -- and that's exactly what we need in this post-antibiotic era."

The work was published this week in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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

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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/vCC_p0gHKnE/130130184326.htm

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Kim Dotcom?s Mega Gets A Crowdsourced Search Engine

Kim Dotcom's Mega file hosting service puts an emphasis on?privacy, which makes it impossible for Google and others to index the files its users store on the service. Even Mega itself doesn't really know what's on its servers, but that isn't stopping some intrepid developers from trying to build services on top of Mega. Mega-Search.me, for example, is a new search engine for the service, but because it can't just index the files on Mega's servers, it's a crowdsourced service that allows anyone to add links to their own files on Mega.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/1vDw0LfJ6RE/

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Mysteries of spider silk strength unraveled

Jan. 27, 2013 ? Scientists at ASU are celebrating their recent success on the path to understanding what makes the fiber that spiders spin -- weight for weight -- at least five times as strong as piano wire. They have found a way to obtain a wide variety of elastic properties of the silk of several intact spiders' webs using a sophisticated but non-invasive laser light scattering technique.

"Spider silk has a unique combination of mechanical strength and elasticity that make it one of the toughest materials we know," said Professor Jeffery Yarger of ASU's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and lead researcher of the study. "This work represents the most complete understanding we have of the underlying mechanical properties of spider silks."

Spider silk is an exceptional biological polymer, related to collagen (the stuff of skin and bones) but much more complex in its structure. The ASU team of chemists is studying its molecular structure in an effort to produce materials ranging from bulletproof vests to artificial tendons.

The extensive array of elastic and mechanical properties of spider silks in situ, obtained by the ASU team, is the first of its kind and will greatly facilitate future modeling efforts aimed at understanding the interplay of the mechanical properties and the molecular structure of silk used to produce spider webs.

The team published their results in a recent issue of Nature materials and their paper is titled "Non-invasive determination of the complete elastic moduli of spider silks."

"This information should help provide a blueprint for structural engineering of an abundant array of bio-inspired materials, such as precise materials engineering of synthetic fibers to create stronger, stretchier, and more elastic materials," explained Yarger.

Other members of Yarger's team, in ASU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, included Kristie Koski, at the time a postdoctoral researcher and currently a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University, and ASU undergraduate students Paul Akhenblit and Keri McKiernan.

The Brillouin light scattering technique used an extremely low power laser, less than 3.5 milliwatts, which is significantly less than the average laser pointer. Recording what happened to this laser beam as it passed through the intact spider webs enabled the researchers to spatially map the elastic stiffnesses of each web without deforming or disrupting it. This non-invasive, non-contact measurement produced findings showing variations among discrete fibers, junctions and glue spots.

Four different types of spider's webs were studied. They included Nephila clavipes (pictured), A. aurantia ("gilded silver face"-common to the contiguous United States), L. Hesperus the western black widow and P. viridans the green lynx spider, the only spider included that does not build a web for catching prey but has major silk elastic properties similar to those of the other species studied.

The group also investigated one of the most studied aspects of orb-weaving dragline spider silk, namely supercontraction, a property unique to silk. Spider silk takes up water when exposed to high humidity. Absorbed water leads to shrinkage in an unrestrained fiber up to 50 percent shrinkage with 100 percent humidity in N. clavipes silk.

Their results are consistent with the hypothesis that supercontraction helps the spider tailor the properties of the silk during spinning. This type of behavior, specifically adjusting mechanical properties by simply adjusting water content, is inspirational from a bio-inspired mechanical structure perspective.

"This study is unique in that we can extract all the elastic properties of spider silk that cannot and have not been measured with conventional testing," concluded Yarger.

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Journal Reference:

1. Kristie J. Koski, Paul Akhenblit, Keri McKiernan, Jeffery L. Yarger. Non-invasive determination of the complete elastic moduli of spider silks. Nature Materials, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nmat3549

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Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/vTijetqY7Dw/130128104741.htm

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Private Internet Access

Private Internet Access is a personal VPN service that manages to remain lightweight while hiding your online activity from eavesdroppers. The service's VPN technology passes all your online activity through an encrypted tunnel from your computer to the destination website so that your data remains safe at all times. If you are on an open wireless network, using a VPN service such as Private Internet Access will keep you safe from malicious individuals after your data.

There are many VPN services on the market, some of which we've reviewed, such as Symantec's Norton Hotspot Privacy which received our Editors' Choice designation, as well as VPN Direct (Premium) and proXPN. Private Internet Access, despite its unwieldy moniker, is a straightforward one-click-to-go VPN client with several advanced features that sets it apart from the competition.

Private Internet Access comes in three payment plans, at $6.95 a month, $35.95 for six months, or $39.95 for a year. Unlike many other competing products on the market, there is no free version or a trial available for users who want to check it out beforehand. I would have liked to see a cheaper one-day pass or something, but considering the monthly plan is roughly equivalent to a grande latte at Starbucks, it's not a bad deal.

A Refresher on How VPN Services Work
Your computer has an IP address assigned by your ISP. A geo-location lookup reveals the geographic location of the ISP or the data center containing the server assigning the address. You may want to change the address so that it will be harder to trace online activity back to you, or trying to access a service that is restricted by geographic region. VPN services override the IP address with one assigned by their networks, so that users can suddenly appears to be from a different country. Considering Facebook is blocked in China, Netflix is restricted outside the US, and some YouTube videos are blocked in Germany, being able to change where you are "from" is useful.

The service creates an encrypted tunnel between the computer and the destination website or network, and all data flows through the tunnel. This means even if you are using a coffee-shop hotspot, you can log into your email or access other accounts without worrying about someone eavesdropping or intercepting data. It's important to remember that the data is only protected while in transit; if the destination site is not using HTTPS, that part of the connection is unencrypted. Anyone who is sitting at that point of exit can see and harvest that information, and there are fairly complicated timing algorithms out there to identify user activity.

At the time of this writing, there are rumors that all VPN services are being blocked in China.

Installation and Getting Started
I downloaded the Windows version of Private Internet Access from the Website and installed it within seconds. I received my login credentials inside the purchase confirmation email.

Starting the software for the first time opens up a settings window where you enter the login credentials and select the region server to which you want to connect. If you don't care, you can leave it as "auto" and let the software pick. According to my tests, the app really seemed to like the New York region, but that may be because that is where I was based, and the software was simply hitting the closest server.

Like many of its competitors, Private Internet Access uses OpenVPN SSL technology to create its encrypted tunnel. It has an extensive list of servers, with options in the United States, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Netherlands, Canada, Germany, France, Sweden, and Romania. The geographic diversity for the U.S. is staggering, with servers available in California, Denver, Florida, Ohio, Texas, "East," "Midwest" (Chicago, Ill.), and "West." The company is poised to roll out 45 more gateways worldwide with dedicated Gigabit ports this month.

Perhaps you are a power user and want more control over your network, or perhaps your ISP is overly restrictive and you need to tweak your settings. You can click on the "advanced" button on the settings screen. Under "advanced" settings, you can select the connection type, specify the remote and local ports to use, enable port forwarding, set up a VPN "kill switch," and turn on DNS leak protection. I will go in detail about these options later in the review.

The software is extremely minimalistic and lightweight. Unlike most other competitors, Private Internet Access showed no actual application window when I launched the program. All I got was a tiny lock icon in the system tray, and when I right-clicked on the icon, I saw a menu listing what servers to connect to and the option to go back into the Settings screen.

No Feedback
While I like the supremely minimalist interface, I found it frustrating when I ran into trouble because there was no way to get any kind of feedback on how to troubleshoot.

Whenever I review a VPN service, I try to schedule a trip so that I can try out the software while on the road. On my most recent trip, I ran into an unexpected snag when I tried to connect. The systray icon was green and my status message said "Connected." Yet when I tried to get to a Website, I kept getting connection errors because the browser didn't think I was connected to a network.

After a little bit of poking around and tweaking, I changed my connection type in the advanced panel from UDP (which is the default) to TCP. It turned out the particular ISP I was connected to blocked or filtered UDP ports. Now, in general, UDP filtering is rare, so this was an edge case to begin with, but nothing in the application hinted at any problems?

Next: Performance and Features

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/w_QzluIV6pE/0,2817,2414799,00.asp

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Brazil club blaze survivor: 'An angel saved my life'

Felipe Dana / AP

A fast-moving nightclub inferno claimed the lives of more than 230 people in southern Brazil.

By Keir Simmons and Laura Saravia, NBC News

SANTA MARIA, Brazil -? At 2 a.m. on Rua Dos Andradas, a crowd of young people stands in silence. There is nothing to say.

As survivors try to cope with the aftermath of the horrific nightclub fire that killed over 130 in Santa Maria, Brazil, four people have been arrested. NBC's Keir Simmons reports.

Two nights ago, on this same street, at this same time, a tragedy unfolded that is hard to comprehend.?

Outside the Kiss nightclub, where a blaze and its panicked aftermath claimed the lives of at least 230 partygoers ? most of them students at the local university ? the smell of smoke lingers in the air.

---

Now it has become a place to mourn and remember.

Among the survivors is Adreen Righi, 20, who is still trying to make sense of how the disaster unfolded.

"I was dancing with my friends," she says, recovering at home. "People started pushing. I looked at the stage and there was smoke."

Pushed over in the panic, she was trampled to the ground but still found air. ?Breathe, breathe, come on now breathe,? she told herself as others climbed over her.

Keir Simmons / NBC News

Mourners stand outside the Kiss nightclub in the early hours of Tuesday, two nights after a devastating fire killed at least 230 clubbers.

Then, she recalls, ?an angel saved my life.? A woman she didn't know pushed her outside, to safety.

In the fresh air, she hugged her friends. But some were missing.

Her classmate, Juliano, had gone to the bathroom 15 minutes before the fire. She will never see him again.

?He was a good person,? she says, ?always smiling. Making jokes. He was a good guy.?

She is ?very happy? to be alive, but adds: ?I can't explain how I feel about my friends, about the city.?

Santa Maria is in mourning, but there is also growing anger.

Investigators must now seek answers to the questions being asked here: Why did the nightclub apparently have only one exit? Why did fire extinguishers not work, as some witnesses have reported? Why did security staff briefly block exits to stop people leaving without paying their drinks tabs?

On the street outside the nightclub, a hand-made poster says: ?Nada justifica, 231 assassinatos' ? meaning ?No justification ? 231 murdered?.

The final death toll is still unclear, but the message is stark.?

Keir Simmons / NBC News

'No justification ? 231 murdered'. A sign posted outside the Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria.

Globo television said 53 seriously-injured victims remain in Porto Alegre, state capital of Rio Grande do Sul,where a support unit has also been set up with psychologists to help relatives of victims.

Police officials said four people are still under temporary arrest over the disaster. Local media reports on Monday said those detained were two owners of the Kiss club and two members of a band whose pyrotechnic display is thought to have set light to the club's sound-proofed ceiling. None of the arrests imply any criminal accusation, police said.

Protesters marched through the town late Monday, carrying flowers, balloons and placards with the names of the victims, according to Globo, which reported that as many as 30,000 took part.

Among them, Eglon Do Canto told The Associated Press: "We hope that the justice system, through its competent mechanisms, succeeds in clarifying to the public what happened, and gives the people an explanation."

Edgar Zuniga Jr, NBC News in Atlanta, contributed to this report.

Related:

Brazil nightclub fire?survivor: 'I felt?her heart stop beating'

Shoes, blood, lime slices scattered across nightclub floor

Painful memories for survivors of 2003 club fire in Rhode Island

?

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/29/16752092-brazil-club-blaze-survivor-an-angel-saved-my-life?lite

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Spain's 'doping doctor' in court

28 January 2013 Last updated at 17:17 ET

A Spanish doctor has appeared in court accused of running one of the world's largest sports doping rings.

Dr Eufemiano Fuentes's trial in Madrid comes nearly seven years after police raided his offices and seized some 200 bags of blood which were linked to a number of top cyclists.

Dozens of cyclists have been called to testify as witnesses in the trial.

Dr Fuentes, his sister and three former cycling coaches are charged with breaking public health laws.

They could not be charged with doping-related crimes because Spain had no anti-doping law at the time of their arrest.

Prosecutors must prove that the defendants' actions put the lives of the athletes at risk - something the defence is expected to deny.

Monday saw only opening legal arguments. Dr Fuentes's testimony was postponed until Tuesday morning.

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

The great international interest in this trial is linked to the claim by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) that it was told, back in 2006, that the blood bags seized were from athletes from "several sports".

However that claim will not be the focus of this trial, which is expected to look only on cycling.

A suspicion - that some evidence seized during the raids has been held back - will therefore persist.

However, Spain's anti-doping agency says it has seen no evidence to back up that suspicion.

The BBC has spoken to a Spanish long-distance runner who claimed that he was encouraged to dope via Dr Fuentes's alleged network.

I asked Dr Fuentes's lawyer, Julian Perez, if the doctor had clients who were not cyclists. "I do not know", was his response.

The case comes days after former seven times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong admitted to using banned drugs and blood doping during his cycling career.

Code-names

Spanish police carried out a series of raids on offices, laboratories and flats in Madrid, Zaragoza and El Escorial in May 2006 as part of an investigation known as Operation Puerto.

They found about 200 bags of blood or frozen plasma with labels that were believed to be code-names for Dr Fuentes's clients - athletes who were allegedly benefiting from a highly-sophisticated doping programme.

Dozens of cyclists were allegedly implicated in the scandal, including former Tour de France winner Alberto Contador, who is expected to give evidence in the trial.

The World Anti-Doping Agency has said that it was told, at the time of the raids, that the bags of blood also related to athletes from several sports, including football and tennis.

But the trial will focus only on cyclists who, according to the chief prosecutor in the case, are the only athletes that could be identified from the bags of blood seized.

The trial is expected to last until mid-March.

If found guilty, the defendants could face up to two years in prison and a two-year professional ban.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21227052#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Say Anything In The Legislature Today: Property Tax Reforms And ...

I posted earlier today about the reduction in the state sales tax proposed by Rep. Rick Becker which will be heard before the House Finance and Tax Committee. Here are some other bills also being heard today:

HB1199, introduced by Rep. Jeff Delzer, would require that cities, counties and school districts pass their budget and tax levy in a manner that allows them to be referred by the public if a petition with signatures amounting to 10% of the qualified electors of that city/county/school district is filed.

HB1239, introduced by Rep. Ben Koppelman, would cap property valuation increases at no more than 3% a year. From the bill:

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the taxable valuation on any parcel of taxable property may not exceed by more than three percent the amount of the taxable valuation on that parcel of taxable property in the preceding taxable year, except to the extent improvements to the property have been made which were not included in the taxable valuation of the property in the previous taxable year.

HB1373, introduced by Rep. Rick Becker, would regulate law enforcement?s use of surveillance drones requiring them to obtain a warrant except in exigent circumstances such as a natural disaster or while searching for a missing person.

Tags: ben koppelman, jeff delzer, North Dakota News, property taxes, rick becker, surveillance drones

Rob Port

Rob Port is the editor of SayAnythingBlog.com. In 2011 he was a finalist for the Watch Dog of the Year from the Sam Adams Alliance and winner of the Americans For Prosperity Award for Online Excellence. He writes a weekly column for several North Dakota newspapers, and also serves as a policy fellow for the North Dakota Policy Council.

Source: http://sayanythingblog.com/entry/in-the-legislature-today-property-tax-reforms-and-drone-regulation/

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Skinny minimalist wallets part 3

Hello boys and girls. It’s time for another episode of the Skinny Wallet Show. Since our last episode (see related link section at the bottom of this post), I’ve come across several more wallets for those of you who like to keep your pocket contents as minimal as possible. 1. Dizmio – This is a [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/01/28/skinny-minimalist-wallets-part-3/

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16 die in Egypt riot after soccer violence verdict

CAIRO (AP) ? An Egyptian court sentenced 21 people to death Saturday on charges related to one of the world's deadliest incidents of soccer violence, touching off an attempted jailbreak and a riot that killed 16 in the Mediterranean port city that is home to most of the defendants.

The verdict follows deadly clashes between police and demonstrators on Friday, the second anniversary of the uprising that overthrew longtime leader Hosni Mubarak. Such cycles of violence, often lasting for weeks and costing dozens of lives, have occurred regularly over the past two years.

Die-hard soccer fans from both teams, known as Ultras, hold the police at least partially responsible for the Port Said deaths and criticize Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi for doing little to reform the force.

Al-Ahly Ultras in particular have been at the forefront of protests. But anger also is boiling in Port Said, where residents say they have been unfairly scapegoated.

Immediately after the verdict, two police were shot dead outside Port Said's main prison when angry relatives tried to storm the facility to free the defendants. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets, as well as live rounds, at the crowd outside the prison, killing 14, security officials said. Hundreds were wounded. They spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Security officials said the military is being deployed to Port Said ? the second such deployment in less than 24 hours. The army was widely used to keep order by top generals who took over after Mubarak, but the military has kept a much lower profile since Morsi was elected as president in June.

Morsi cancelled a scheduled trip to Ethiopia Saturday and instead met for the first time with top generals as part of the newly-formed National Defense Council.

The military was also deployed overnight in the city of Suez after eight people died in clashes between security forces and protesters opposed to Morsi. Another protester was killed in Ismailiya, and security officials told the state news agency MENA that two policemen were killed in Friday's protests, bringing the death toll on the second anniversary of Egypt's uprising to 11.

Judge Sobhi Abdel-Maguid read out the death sentences related to the Feb. 1 riot in Port Said that killed 74 fans of the Cairo-based Al-Ahly team. Defendants' lawyers said all those sentenced were fans of the Port Said team, Al-Masry. Executions in Egypt are usually carried out by hanging.

The judge Saturday said in his statement read live on state TV that he would announce the verdict for the remaining 52 defendants on March 9.

Among those on trial are nine security officials, but none were handed sentences Saturday, lawyers and security officials say.

Fans of al-Ahly, whose stands were attacked by rival club Al-Masry in the Feb. 1 incident in Port Said, had promised more violence if the accused did not receive death sentences. In the days leading up to the verdict, Al-Ahly fans warned of bloodshed and "retribution". Hundreds of Al-Ahly fans gathered outside the Cairo sports club in anticipation of the verdict, chanting against the police and the government.

Before the judge could read out the names of the 21, families erupted in screams of "Allahu Akbar!" Arabic for God is great, with their hands in the air and waving pictures of the deceased. One man fainted while others hugged one another. The judge smacked the bench several times to try and contain reaction in the courtroom.

"This was necessary," said Nour al-Sabah, whose 17 year-old son Ahmed Zakaria died in the melee. "Now I want to see the guys when they are executed with my own eyes, just as they saw the murder of my son."

The verdict is not expected to calm tensions between the two rival teams. The judge is expected to make public his reasons for the death sentences March 9, when the remaining 52 defendants receive their sentences.

A Port Said resident and lawyer of one of the defendants given a death sentence said the verdict was nothing more than "a political decision to calm the public."

"There is nothing to say these people did anything and we don't understand what this verdict is based on," Mohammed al-Daw told The Associated Press by telephone.

"Our situation in Port Said is very grave because kids were taken from their homes for wearing green T-shirts," he said, referring to the Al-Masry team color.

The violence began after the Port Said's home team won the match, 3-1. Al-Masry fans stormed the pitch after the game ended, attacking Cairo's Al-Ahly fans.

Authorities shut off the stadium lights, plunging it into darkness. In the exit corridor, the fleeing crowd pressed against a chained gate until it broke open. Many were crushed under the crowd of people trying to flee.

Survivors of the riot described a nightmarish scene in the stadium. Police stood by doing nothing, they said, as fans of Al-Masry attacked supporters of the top Cairo club stabbing them and throwing them off bleachers.

Al-Ahly survivors said supporters of Al-Masry carved the words "Port Said" into their bodies and undressed them while beating them with iron bars.

While there has long been bad blood between the two rival teams, many blamed police for failing to perform usual searches for weapons at the stadium.

Both Al-Ahly Ultras and Al-Masry Ultras widely believe that ex-members of the ousted regime of Hosni Mubarak helped instigate the attack, and that the police at the very least were responsible for gross negligence. It is not clear what kind of evidence, if any, was presented to the court to back up claims that the attack had been orchestrated by regime officials.

"The police are thugs!" yelled relatives of the deceased inside the courtroom before the judge took the bench.

As is customary in Egypt, the death sentences will be sent to the nation's top religious authority, the Grand Mufti, for approval, though the court has final say on the matter.

All of the defendants ? who were not present in the courtroom Saturday for security reasons ? have the right to appeal the verdict.

The melee was the world's deadliest soccer violence in 15 years.

The Ultras are proud of their hatred for the police, who were the backbone of Mubarak's authoritarian rule. They then then directed their chants against the military rulers who took over after Mubarak's ouster.

Ultras from several Egyptian sports clubs were engaged in deadly clashes with police near the Interior Ministry headquarters in Cairo that killed 42 people less than three months before the soccer melee in Port Said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/16-die-egypt-riot-soccer-violence-verdict-123337826.html

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Marleau leads Sharks past Avalanche 4-0

San Jose Sharks center Patrick Marleau (12) celebrates with teammates Joe Pavelski (8) and Joe Thornton (19) after scoring past Colorado Avalanche defenseman Ryan Wilson (44) during the first period of an NHL hockey game in San Jose, Calif., Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

San Jose Sharks center Patrick Marleau (12) celebrates with teammates Joe Pavelski (8) and Joe Thornton (19) after scoring past Colorado Avalanche defenseman Ryan Wilson (44) during the first period of an NHL hockey game in San Jose, Calif., Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

San Jose Sharks center Patrick Marleau, right, scores past Colorado Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov, center, of Russia, for his second goal of the first period of an NHL hockey game in San Jose, Calif., Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

San Jose Sharks center Patrick Marleau (12) celebrates with teammate Joe Thornton, left, after scoring his second goal of the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Colorado Avalanche in San Jose, Calif., Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

San Jose Sharks center Patrick Marleau (12) scores past Colorado Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov (1), of Russia, and defenseman Ryan Wilson (44) during the first period of an NHL hockey game in San Jose, Calif., Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) ? About the only thing Patrick Marleau is struggling at so far this season is finding an explanation for his record start.

Marleau became the second player in NHL history to open a season with four straight multigoal games, striking twice on the power play in the first period in the San Jose Sharks' 4-0 victory against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday.

"I'll keep taking them if they keep coming," he said. "That's for sure."

Marleau has scored exactly two goals in each game this season, joining Ottawa's Cy Denneny in 1917-18 as the only players to open a campaign with four multigoal games, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

"He obviously has a hot hand right now," defenseman Brad Stuart said. "We'll need contributions from everyone at some point. But right now Patty is playing amazing and putting the puck in the net every time he touches it it seems like."

Both of Marleau's goals came after Ryan O'Byrne took two additional minor penalties for retaliating after Stuart flattened Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog with a vicious hit.

Joe Thornton added a power-play goal in the second period, giving San Jose 10 power-play goals in four games and a franchise record 19 overall.

Thomas Greiss made 24 saves for his first career shutout and Matt Irwin got his first career goal as the Sharks are off to their best start since also winning the first four games in 2008-09.

The Avalanche lost their seventh straight game in San Jose since winning Game 1 of their first-round playoff series in 2010. After killing off 16 straight penalties coming into this game, Colorado allowed goals on San Jose's first three power plays, including two after the hit on Landeskog.

"You have a situation where a teammate is defending another teammate which is the game of hockey and in those situations we need to step up and get the job done for our teammate," Colorado coach Joe Sacco said. "We just didn't get it done. That was the difference in the game."

San Jose's power play is in midseason form in this lockout-shortened season, with 10 goals in 24 chances. Marleau has four of those goals as he is off to a scintillating start. He is the first Sharks player ever with four straight multigoal games and has outscored the Sharks' opponents, who have seven goals in four games.

"I don't know if he can keep scoring two goals every night. But he can keep his play up the way it's been," coach Todd McLellan said. "He's been skating extremely well. A ton of confidence. He's prepared to shoot the puck. He's engaged physically. It's a great reward for him. He came focused to play."

The Sharks took more than 12 minutes to get their first shot on goal, but managed to take a 2-0 lead in the first period because of stellar special teams play and a big hit by Stuart that changed the complexion of the game.

San Jose's troubled penalty-kill unit was up to the task early, allowing no shots on two power plays for Colorado. Then San Jose's dangerous power-play took over late in the period after Stuart's big hit that Landeskog felt was clean even if his coach thought it should have been a penalty.

"It was hard, that much I could tell you," he said. "I was reaching for the puck and didn't brace myself enough, Stuart stepped up and that's the way hockey always is. It was a big one. I knew he was there but I didn't think he was coming at me. Then he came and I saw him at the last second but not nearly early enough."

O'Byrne took offense and challenged Stuart to a fight. The Sharks came out of the scrum with two power plays after O'Byrne got hit with an instigator penalty and one for fighting with a facemask. Landeskog left the game briefly before returning for the second period.

Marleau and the Sharks made Colorado pay. Just 28 seconds into the first power play, Marleau whacked at a rebound and knocked it past Semyon Varlamov to give San Jose the lead.

He delivered again on the second power play after a nifty passing display from Dan Boyle to Thornton to Marleau, who tapped the puck in by the side of the net for his fourth straight two-goal game.

"We weren't playing particularly well. Then you get those two power plays and boom, boom, it's 2-0," Thornton said. "Really it was a huge momentum switch for us."

NOTES: Marleau is the first NHL player with fourth consecutive multigoal games since Alexander Mogilny had five straight in 1992-93 for Buffalo. ... Recently signed Scott Gomez made his Sharks debut on the fourth line in place of James Sheppard and also got time on the second power-play unit. ... O'Byrne got 19 minutes of penalties for his scuffle with Stuart as both players were sent off for fighting and O'Byrne got an additional 10-minute misconduct.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-01-26-HKN-Avalanche-Sharks/id-0205f226549c4ddeb3d6d8ca8779697e

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West Health Institute Unveils Kinect-based Technology on ...

SAN DIEGO, CA -- The West Health Institute, a San Diego-based non-profit medical research organization, has developed technology using Microsoft's Kinect for Windows motion-tracking platform, and is starting clinical research studies with the Naval Medical Center of San Diego.

The Reflexion Rehabilitation Measurement Tool (RMT) allows medical professionals to customize plans and schedules and potentially remotely monitor patients to ensure their exercises are on track.

The RMT is a prescribed software application that addresses musculoskeletal disease. Used with Microsoft's Kinect for Windows motion camera and a Windows 7 personal computer, the program provides interactive feedback and educational materials to help physical therapists and physicians improve patient adherence to prescribed therapy and ensure the exercises are performed correctly.

"Rehabilitation needs to happen continuously, not just when the therapist or doctor is watching, so we developed a tool to extend the expert guidance of physical therapists and make it more engaging and more effective for patients," said Dr. Ravi Komatireddy, co-inventor of the technology, visiting fellow with West Health Institute, and clinical scholar with Scripps Translational Science Institute. "We're very excited that our first collaboration is with San Diego's Naval Medical Center to see how we can further develop this technology to help veterans and the military patient community in rehab. We are trying to bring the best platforms from consumer technology and use them for therapeutic, validated clinical tools that can lower the cost of health care."

The initial clinical research pilot studies will measure usability, adherence to therapy, and eventually, clinical outcomes of using Reflexion's interactive RMT.

Source: http://physical-therapy.advanceweb.com/News/Daily-News-Watch/West-Health-Institute-Unveils-New-Kinect-based-Technology.aspx

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Lakers beat Jazz 102-84 to snap 4-game skid

Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant goes up for a dunk during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Utah Jazz, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant goes up for a dunk during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Utah Jazz, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Utah Jazz forward Paul Millsap, right, goes up for a shot as Los Angeles Lakers forward Metta World Peace defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Los Angeles Lakers forward Earl Clark, left, puts up a shot as Utah Jazz forward Derrick Favors defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant reacts as a timeout is called during the first half of the Lakers' NBA basketball game against the Utah Jazz, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Metta World Peace hit five 3-pointers on his way to scoring 17 points and the Los Angeles Lakers pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat the Utah Jazz 102-84 on Friday night, snapping a four-game skid.

Dwight Howard had 17 points and 13 rebounds, Steve Nash scored 15 and Pau Gasol added 15 points off the bench. Kobe Bryant had 14 points, a season-high 14 assists and nine rebounds to help the Lakers beat the Jazz for the first time in three meetings this season. Utah's four-game winning streak came to an end.

Howard aggravated his right shoulder in the second quarter of the Lakers' loss at Memphis on Wednesday, the same injury that caused him to miss three games two weeks ago. But he showed no ill effects from the start, scoring six points in a 15-4 spurt that opened the game and gave the Lakers the lead for good.

Derrick Favors led the Jazz with 14 points off the bench. Fellow reserve Gordon Hayward scored 13 and Al Jefferson had 12. Paul Millsap and Randy Foye added 10 points each. Utah had won six of its previous seven.

Utah cut its deficit to 78-69 early in the fourth before the Lakers began dominating the final 10 minutes. World Peace hit his fifth 3-pointer and Bryant scored four points during a 14-5 spurt that pushed Los Angeles' lead to 92-74. The Lakers were 9 of 21 from long range.

The Lakers had lost 10 of their last 12 and remain seven games below .500.

The Lakers led by 12 points early in the third before Utah closed to 61-58, capped by Favors' alley-oop dunk off a pass from Earl Watson. The Lakers fought back from 3-point range. Chris Duhon and World Peace combined for three 3-pointers and Jodie Meeks dunked to keep them ahead 72-63 going into the fourth. Gasol and Millsap got into it verbally and received double technicals as the quarter was ending.

Utah closed to 47-37 at halftime.

The Lakers' 15-4 run to start the game was helped by World Peace and Nash combining for three 3-pointers. The Jazz quickly closed within two before the Lakers stretched their lead to 26-19.

NOTES: World Peace was one 3-pointer shy of equaling his career high of six set on Feb. 28, 2009, against Chicago. ... Bryant's assists were three off his career high of 15 set on Feb. 12, 2002, against Washington. ... Utah fell to 9-16 on the road.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-01-26-BKN-Jazz-Lakers/id-f6ec12b08dfe41e2b8b0a59648b8ac0d

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Exempt or nonexempt? Forget 50% rule for store managers who ...

Good news for employers that list store managers as exempt even though they spend 50% or more of their time engaging in mundane tasks like stocking, running registers and assisting customers. Managers may be multitasking but that doesn?t mean they?re nonexempt.

Recent case: Chelsie works as a manager for a Family Dollar store and joined a collective action against the retailer, claiming she was improperly classified as an exempt executive employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Chelsie claimed to spend 80% to 90% of her time performing such mundane, nonexempt work as stocking merchandise, interacting with customers and running the register. Using the traditional 50% test for exempt-versus-nonexempt work, she argued that she was clearly entitled to overtime pay for some of the 55 hours per week she averaged.

But Family Dollar argued that Chelsie had to multitask?otherwise she would not be able to manage her 80 employees, prepare financial reports, hire and fire employees and manage the labor budget. Plus, it argued, she earned $950 per week, while her subordinates made just a little over minimum wage. In addition, Chelsie worked without direct supervision and had wide discretion about whom to hire, schedule and fire.

The court agreed with Family Dollar that Chelsie was exempt under the executive exemption, even if more than 50% of her time was spent on nonmanagerial tasks. (Grace, et al., v. Family Dollar Stores, No. 3:08-MD-1932, ED NC, 2012)

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Apple?s Q1 ?13 International Sales Now 61% Of Revenues, With China Up By 67% To $6.8B, Europe Up 11% To $12.5B

Apple today posted Q1 earnings that indicated that -- despite wider problems in the European economy, and price and device competition from Android everywhere, it continues to make advances in international markets. Apple broke out sales in Greater China -- which includes the Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan -- on its balance sheet, which were up by 67% on the same quarter last year, and 26% on the last quarter, to $6.8 billion. And sales in Europe were up by 11% to $12.5 billion. Apple says that international sales overall, which also includes the wider Americas, Japan, and the Rest of Asia Pacific, were 61% of its overall revenues of $54.5 billion.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/2LgjRvIhZfY/

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Key facts about Israel's election

Key facts about Israel's general election:

?What's at stake: Voters will elect a 120-member parliament, or Knesset, Israel's 19th.

Citizens vote for party lists, not individual candidates. Seats are allocated in the Knesset according to the percentage of the vote the parties win.

?Who's running: There are 32 parties running. Key parties are the governing Likud Party, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who takes a hard line against the Palestinians and Iran; Jewish Home, led by high-tech millionaire Naftali Bennett, Netanyahu's chief rival for the support of settlers; Labor, headed by former journalist Shelly Yachimovich, emphasizing closing economic gaps; and Yisrael Beiteinu, the far-right secular party led by former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. Likud and Yisrael Beitenu have joined forces in a unified list for the election, but will continue to function as separate parties after the election. Two ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties could play key roles after the election. A party must receive at least 2 percent of votes cast to be represented in parliament. In the 2009 election, 33 parties registered to run, but only 12 got enough votes to win seats.

?Forming a government: In Israel's 64-year history, no party has ever won an outright majority of 61 seats, and the country has always been governed by a coalition. Israel's president meets with party factions to determine which party has the best chance of forming a government. The president then taps the head of that party, usually but not necessarily parliament's largest, to undertake that task. That person will have up to six weeks to form a coalition. If successful, he or she becomes prime minister; if not, the president chooses another party to try.

The Vote: There are 5,656,705 eligible voters. Most of the 10,128 polling stations across the country opened at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT, 12 a.m. ET) and close at 10 p.m. (2000 GMT, 3 p.m. ET). Exit polls will be released immediately after voting ends, and official results will trickle in throughout the night. Voter turnout in the last election in 2009 was 65.2 percent. Election Day is a national holiday, and most workers have the day off.

?Israel by the numbers: Population: Nearly 8 million, of whom 75 percent (6 million) are Jews, 20 percent (1.6 million) are Arabs and the rest are classified as "others," most of them non-Jewish immigrants. Per capita GDP is $30,500.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/key-facts-israels-election-170317417.html

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