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Thursday, 28 February 2013
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The Best Family Safety Websites and Blogs from Safe Sound Family ...
Posted by SSF in Family Safety
Keeping our families safe and sound is more than a priority, it?s who we are and it drives everything we do. It?s a sense of responsibility that we work hard to fulfill, seeking out the most current information and advice on how to protect ourselves and our family members during every stage of life?infancy and teenage years to the elderly?and in every situation?natural disaster, home security, internet safety. Fortunately, information abounds on the internet through blogs written by safety experts, parents and caregivers?all who care enough to share their knowledge to help keep others safe.
We?ve compiled a collection of 50 safety blogs that we think are the best out there. They?re divided into sections to organize larger safety categories like Home Safety, Self-Defense and Child Safety, to make navigating easier. Each blog offers a general description of what you can expect and three popular blog posts we think you?ll want to check out. As we?d like to keep this resource fresh and constantly evolving, don?t hesitate to let us know if you find a safety blog you consider worthy of our list.
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Online Safety Blogs and Websites
Parent Further
Research based advice from parents and professionals to share information and tools that give parents a positive, strength based approach to parenting to make all of the little steps of everyday living add up to a successful future. All content is overseen by members of the Advisory Board for Family Strengths National Research Project and Parent Engagement. Topics include high risk behaviors, technology and media, and discipline and values.
3 of our favorite posts from Parent Further:
Do Something.Org
The website for the organization, DoSomething.org is meant to educate teens about real world issues they care about and face every day, but it is such a useful resource, the entire family will benefit. A new campaign is launched each week to harness their youthful energy and use it toward learning about issues and contributing to positive social change. Some of the many causes include bullying and violence, animal cruelty, and discrimination.
3 of our favorite posts from DoSomething.org:
Get Game Smart
Designed by Microsoft to guide families toward safer, healthier video gaming and online media, Get Game Smart helps parents and kids choose the right games, content, and online access settings. Includes tips from experts as well as a blog on current video game and Internet safety topics to ensure smart media choices.
3 of our favorite posts from Get Game Smart:
Cyberbullying Research Center
This web site for the Cyberbullying Research Center provides information on adolescent use and misuse of technology. Parents, educators and anyone who works with children and teens will find resources from facts, statistics and personal stories of those who have been impacted, on how to? prevent and respond to online aggression.
3 of our favorite posts from Cyberbullying Research Center
Common Sense Media
Created to improve kids? and families? lives by providing trustworthy information in the midst of the ever-growing world of media and technology. With media so often ?the other parent,? the role it plays is very influential. The Common Sense Media site rates and reviews movies, games, books, music and more, providing parents with a background and summary to help them make the best choices for the family.
3 of our favorite posts from Common Sense Media:
Baby Safety Blogs and Websites
SAF Baby
Founded by Sandra Blum and Samantha Fox, this site strives to share detailed information about safe and non-toxic alternatives for babies and children. In addition to helping small manufacturers of green products get the word out, the site offers the real scoop on the safe alternatives to dangerous and potentially dangerous family products.
3 of our favorite posts from SAF Baby:
Baby Safety Concerns
Great resource for parents looking to keep up with the latest infant and baby safety information from daily product recalls to health and home safety, where most accidents happen. Specific attention is categorized by baby proofing, product safety, health and safety and baby skin safety.
3 of our favorite posts from Baby Safety Concerns:
Baby Safe Homes
Family owned and operated, Baby Safe Homes began after a frustrating and time consuming experience baby-proofing their home after the birth of their first child. Realizing the lack of good information out there, this website is the result of more than a decade of research and experience to help families make their homes baby and child safe. They blog on topics from product recalls, safety products and child safety issues.
3 or our favorite posts from Baby Safe Homes:
Consumer Reports Baby
A familiar and trusted name in product ratings and reviews, the Consumer Reports Babies & Kids web pages are packed with the most recent products for the youngest family members. You?ll find recalls, ratings and reviews on most every product out there, as well as informative posts on child safety.
3 of our favorite posts from Consumer Reports Baby:
On Safety
The official blog site of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission provides families with the latest safety information on topics such as childproofing, product recalls, and fire and poison prevention. On Safety is a thorough go-to guide for most any family safety issue.
3 of our favorite posts from On Safety:
Baby Product Experts
Representing hundreds of locally owned and operated baby products in the U.S. and Canada that carry the Baby Product Experts certification seal, this site is a directory of stores as well as a personal shopper to help parents find the best value, selection and safety in the products they choose for their children. The site also has an updated product recall list, helpful parenting articles, newsletter and blog.
3 of our favorite posts from Baby Product Experts:
Child Safety Blogs and Websites
Child Safety Blog
This child safety site blogs on topics most relevant to kids today. From toys for the youngest tots to car safety, water safety, Internet, health and nutrition, it?s covered here in a user friendly, conversational tone. Posts are easy to navigate and are archived by month, providing a plentiful supply of information.
3 of our favorite posts from Child Safety Blog:
The Bump Blog
Named a top women?s website by Forbes, The Bump and its partner site, The Knot, are hugely popular, and for good reason. The Bump has resources, news and blog posts for women who are pregnant, have a baby, toddler, or preschooler. Baby names, gear, and tools are just a few topics covered. Categorized by pregnancy and baby?s age, each is given specific attention to safety.
3 of our favorite posts from The Bump:
Kid Power
Fueled by Kidpower Teenpower Fullpower International, the global non-profit organization dedicated to the teaching of positive and practical safety skills for people of all ages. Kidpower?s site provides expert advice on types of violence affecting our families, specifically our kids, like bullying, molestation, child abuse and kidnapping.
3 of our favorite posts from Kidpower:
Safe Kids
Preventing unintentional childhood injury?the leading cause of death and disability in kids ages 1 to 14?is the mission of Safe Kids USA.? Education, providing safety devices for needy families, and advocating for better laws to keep kids safe are just some of the things done by their hundreds of organizations. The website provides current news on child safety, product recalls, safety basics and guides.
3 of our favorite posts from Safe Kids:
The Parent Report
An extension of the internationally syndicated radio program, The Parent Report, the website continues the conversations on the radio show based on interviews with experts on the topic of raising children. Information covers issues such as safety from before baby through toddler and teen to provide parents with helpful resources and advice.
3 of our favorite posts from The Parent Report:
Healthy Children
HealthyChildren.org is powered by the American Academy of Pediatrics, and is backed by more than 60,000 pediatricians. A valuable source of information on the many programs, activities, guidelines, and recommended resources of AAP, this site has an entire section called Safety & Prevention, committed to helping families keep kids safe at home, at play, and on the go.
3 of our favorite posts from Healthy Children:
Safety Mom
Founded by Alison Rhodes, now known as The Safety Mom, after her child died from SIDS, Rhodes is committed to saving the lives of children. Her site covers family safety topics from environmental toxins to nutrition and sports injuries?there?s nothing you won?t find on the sites Safety Mom Menu. In addition to valuable articles, tips and advice, she has a newsletter and blog to connect readers.
3 of our favorite posts from Safety Mom:
Free Range Kids
Named for her book, Free-Range Kids: How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry), Lenore Skenazy is on a mission to fight the belief that today?s kids are in constant danger from kidnappers, germs, bugs, bullies, and everything in between that today?s parents protect them from. On the site you?ll find links to her syndicated columns, her blog and what she calls ?Reassuring crime statistics? to put parents? minds at ease.
3 of our favorite posts from Free Range Kids:
?Keeping Mom Safe? Blogs and Websites
Safety Girl
The blog for the SafetyGirl.com site, which sells safety products specifically for women, provides women with information on how to stay safe no matter what the situation. Posts range from women?s health concerns to safety gear, tools and clothing, to advice and tips.
3 of our favorite posts from Safety Girl:
Women?s Self Defense Institute
Women?s Self Defense Institute is written by Steve Kardian, career law enforcement officer, detective and criminal investigator who has become a national media consultant for several high profile media avenues such as CBS, NBC, Fox News, and the New York Times. His blog is filled with self defense information, tips and warnings that every woman should know.
3 of our favorite posts from Women?s Self Defense:
Self-Defense Blog for Women
Founded of the Women?s Self-Defense Institute, Angie M. Tarighi has more than 20 years experience teaching self-defense. Through the website and blog, she works to encourage the awareness and education of women to protect themselves. Tarighi offers stats, information and tips to? empower women with the skills they need to build confidence.
3 of our favorite posts from Women?s Self-Defense
Senior Safety Blogs and Websites
Aging Wisely
The well-being of older family members is something we are all concerned about. Aging Wisely is a website for caregivers and loved ones of aging relatives who are trying to navigate this new territory in all of their lives. Whether it?s advice on how to recognize symptoms of Alzheimer?s Disease, how to prevent falls or when to consider assisted living, Aging Wisely is a thorough site to visit.
3 of our favorite posts from Aging Wisely:
Assisted Living Today
Assisted Living Today is the Web?s premier source of senior living and eldercare news and information. The site staffs a team of senior care experts who publish some fantastic articles, comprehensive guides and interviews with industry thought leaders that address a range of elder care issues as they relate to senior citizens, their loved ones and senior living caregivers.
3 of our favorite posts from Assisted Living Today:
Help! Aging Parents
Created and written by Susan, whose 97-year-old mother-in-law still lives independently in her own home. The blog is about all of those things you never knew until you had an elderly relative either in your care or your concern. Susan?s posts try to help others age well. It?s not something that comes second nature to adult children and the advice here will serve everyone well.
3 of our favorite posts from Help! Aging Parents:
Inside Elder Care
Founded by Ryan Malone, whose mother went through a long health journey which required the need for elder care. By her side the entire way, Malone was introduced to a very new set of experiences which he writes about in the site?s blog to help anyone who provides care or cares about someone who requires elder care. Very helpful information on how to? keep them safe.
3 of our favorite posts from Inside Elder Care:
IPAT ND Assistive Technology Blog
The goal of the Interagency Program for Assistive Technology is to help North Dakotans of any age or disability to enjoy life fully. Filled with information families in any geographic location can benefit from, this blog covers the technology in home safety in products such as fire detectors, the location of light switches and emergency preparedness.
3 of our favorite posts from IPAT ND Assistive Technology Blog:
Senior Home Safety Blog
Richard Ueberfluss, orthopedic physical therapist and healthcare leader, has worked to build strong relationships with physicians and senior care advisors. He also speaks on senior care safety on topics such as fall prevention and dementia care. This blog focuses on the safety issues of the elderly living at home.
3 of our favorite blog posts from Senior Home Safety Blog:
Home and Family Safety Blogs and Websites
Pet Safe
Blog of PetSafe, a company that designs pet products, you will be instantly drawn in by its love of pets. And the blog posts are a tribute to that, with a broad range of categories covering pet health, breeds, and behavior, to name a few. When it comes to specifics, any pet question or issue you have is addressed in at least one blog post.
3 of our favorite posts from PetSafe:
Ms. Clean Jeans? Clean, Organized, Family Home Blog
Blog of lifestyle expert, author, and mom of 3, Tara Aronson covers everything home and family on her reader-friendly, easy to navigate site. Blog topics on Pets, Repair, Laundry, Car? there?s no limit on her expertise. The Safe at Home section is especially helpful in everything from fire hazards, bad weather, and vacation home safety.
3 of our favorite posts from Ms. Clean Jeans:
West Bend Cares
The blog of the West Bend Mutual Insurance Company is focused on family and home safety. Blogger Scott Stueber has been with the company for over 15 years and is the father of two girls?a teen and a tween. His monthly topics cover child, pet, home, auto, and outdoor safety.
3 of our favorite posts from West Bend Cares:
Family Watchdog
?Awareness is your best defense? is the mission of Family Watchdog, a free service to help locate registered sex offenders in your area. It also offers notifications to keep updated are available with a simple sign-up. In addition, the site and articles cover safety information from vehicle recalls to food allergies.
3 of our favorite posts from Family Watchdog:
Safety Source
Part of the National Fire Protection Agency, the Safety Source blog features news and information to reduce fire related deaths, injuries and loss of property.? The site includes resources for kids and teachers, safety tips, products, videos and an immense collection up archived blogs.
3 of our favorite blog posts from Safety Source:
The Allstate Blog
Powered by the well known insurance company, The Allstate Blog covers home and family safety with hundreds of posts on almost as many topics. Homeowners will find tips and advice for the entire house and everybody in it, from children to the elderly. It also provides safety? and preventive care information on car, boat and other homeowner toys.
3 of our favorite posts from The Allstate Blog:
Culture of Safety
Specializing in the safety of community organizations, Culture of Safety shares information and advice on activities where community members recreate such as swimming lessons, fitness classes and summer camps. Fueled by West Bend Insurance, which serves community based organizations, this site is a community safety powerhouse.
3 of our favorite posts by Culture of Safety:
Totem Appliance Service Blog
Who knows more about kitchen appliance safety than an appliance? service company? The people behind this blog at Totem have no doubt seen it all when it comes to kitchen appliances and their mishaps. Realizing a niche in providing safety information about ovens, refrigerators and ranges?things we use to prepare meals everyday?this blog was born. There?s information on prevention, but also on use, cleaning and even troubleshooting problems.
3 of our favorite posts from Totem Appliance Service:
C.C. Duff Blogs
Chris Duff is a realtor and broker with a lot of on the job experience. Focused on putting client needs first, he helped develop a radio show called Real Time which, like his blog, shares important and useful information everybody can use in terms of safety in and around the home.
3 of our favorite posts from C.C. Duff Blogs:
We Make It Safer
We Make It Safer is all about bringing together consumers, manufacturers and retailers to join forces in the communication about product safety and recalls. The goal is to reduce product related injuries, illnesses, and deaths that happen every year around the world. Consumers can add their products to its account and be alerted if they are recalled. The blog keeps readers up to date on recalls and product safety issues.
3 of our favorite posts from We Make It Safer
MomsRising
MomsRising is an organization that has grown from a few to more than a million women who wanted to make an impact on issues facing women, mothers and families. Through this blog, they introduce, discuss, and spread the word about these issues, which cover things like toxics and health care issues.
3 of our favorite posts from MomsRising:
Before the Wheel
Empowering safe teen drivers with a positive approach is the goal of the Before the Wheel Teen Driving Program. Information about the community program all over the country, helpful videos and articles that give teens and their parents the strategies every family and community needs to ensure safe teen drivers who become safe adult drivers.
3 of our favorite posts from Before the Wheel:
Mothers Against Drunk Driving
Founded by a mother whose daughter was killed by a drunk driver, MADD is a nonprofit organization helping to protect families from drunk driving. Working toward its mission is to ?stop drunk driving and support the victims of this violent crime and prevent underage drinking,? the organization has saved 300,000 lives. The site provides information on drunk driving, victim services and underage drinking.
3 of our favorite posts from MADD:
Food Safety Blogs and Websites
Parents Connect
With the tagline, ?We?re not perfect, we?re parents,? the tone is set for this welcoming website which is one of several in the Parents Connect family along with Nickelodeon and GoCityKids to name just a couple. The site is plump with resources for every step of parenting from pregnancy to teens and parenting itself. The food safety blog offers questions every parent wants to ask and it?s answered by an expert so you know it?s trusted advice.
3 of our favorite posts from Parents Connect:
Kids With Food Allergies
The site of the Kids with Food Allergies Foundation (KFA), this site is full of practical strategies to manage food allergies. Its goal is to educate families and communities and to provide help that will save lives and improve the quality of life for children with allergies and their families. The online community is not only award-winning, but offers recipes, resources, chats and blogs.
3 of our favorite posts from Kids With Food Allergies:
Grateful Foodie
Created by a mom with two food allergic and asthmatic children, the site is dedicated to sharing a love for food, even with food allergic kids. This is a blog of resources, recipes, and tales of a real life journey of one family bridging the gap between food and allergies.
3 of our favorite posts from Grateful Foodie:
One Pot
Vancouver, Canada-based cook, Diane Brown blogs about food from the way it?s grown and harvested, shipped and processed, to the way it?s served at the table. Her Safety & More entries provide useful information and advice on food safety, kitchen safety, and kitchen tips in a welcoming manner. Quizzes on storage and food preparation and videos on how to safely sharpen knives and maintain a cutting board are just a sampling of the areas to explore.
3 of our favorite posts from One Pot:
Food Blog
This food blog of the Agriculture and Natural Resources department at the University of California, provides information on the creation and consumption of food. There?s no talking food without covering food safety. Whether you?re looking for basic safe food preparation tips or you want to know more about a foodbourne outbreak, you?ll find it here.
3 of our favorite posts from Food Blog:
Fire and Emergency Safety Blogs and Websites
Fire Safety For All
Created by Albemarie, a global supplier of fire retardants, the goal of the blog is to prevent fires and save lives. The number of home injuries and casualties due to fire is unnecessarily high. Blogs like this one are just the type of resource we need for safety tips to help prevent fires and fire related injuries in the home and outside.
3 of our favorite posts by Fire Safety For All:
Disaster Safety Review
The site of the Disaster Safety Review is powered by the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety. By knowing the risks of your geographic region, you can be better prepared for the natural hazards that could damage or even destroy your home. When you enter your zip code, a list of risks and numerous tips and instruction appear.
3 of our favorite posts from Disaster Safety Review:
FEMA
Official blog of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA is the go-to agency when American experience disaster. It is also an expert source of information, advice and resources when it comes to home emergency preparedness. Blog articles cover all types of natural disasters from fires and floods to earthquakes and Tsunamis.
3 of our favorite posts from FEMA:
MySafe: LA
You don?t have to live in Los Angeles to benefit from this terrific safety resource. The MySafe: LA organization teaches fire and life safety to grade school children, adults, seniors, and those at-risk. The site and blog offer advice, tips and resources for everything from earthquake preparedness and flooding to burn education.
3 of our favorite posts from MySafe: LA:
Earthquake Buddy Blog
Earthquake Buddy is an app that helps save lives in the case of earthquake emergency. Basically, it sends your geographic location to four buddies via instant email. The blog addresses earthquake preparedness and safety in every step and every situation, including specific locations.
3 of our favorite posts from Earthquake Buddy:
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Wednesday, 27 February 2013
PFT: 'Do you like girls?' question investigated
Getty ImagesJosh Cribbs has played his entire NFL career with the Browns after playing his college football at nearby Kent State, and he?s eager enough to stick around that he?d be willing to give the Browns a hometown discount. Just not too big a hometown discount.
Cribbs, who is about to become a free agent, said on 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland that he doesn?t have any kind of update on contract negotiations. But he?s still hoping things can be worked out.
?It?s at a standstill right now,? Cribbs said, via SportsRadioInterviews.com. ?I?m hearing a lot of different meetings are being scheduled with different teams and everything. My plan is to stay with the team as much as possible, even to take a slight pay cut. But at the same time, not huge pay cuts. And I?m trying to work with the team. I want to be a Brown. I want to end my career here. We have the coaches to do it now, to take it to the next level, and I definitely want to be there.?
According to Cribbs, he and his camp have shown more interest in getting a deal done than the Browns? front office has.
?Right now, it doesn?t seem like the interest level is there with upper management,? Cribbs said. ?I want to be a Brown. I want to continue my career here. I want to retire a Cleveland Brown, and that?s my intention. I?m gonna go as far as I can with the team to make a compromise.?
Cribbs said late last season that he was frustrated by the way he was being used (or not being used) in the Browns? offense. He still feels that way, and he isn?t sure if the new coaching staff has any plans for him.
?I know I haven?t been used to my potential,? Cribbs said. ?My thing with coaches and upper management ? mostly with upper management ? you draft guys and guys come in that?s new, they have to play. And it shouldn?t be this way. It should be the best guys that?s gonna help you win that play.?
If Cribbs wants to show that he can help a team win, he may need to do it somewhere other than Cleveland.
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Outsourcing Accounting & Bookkeeping | Langdon & Company
Accurate bookkeeping and accounting are not optional for successful businesses, but hiring a full time accounting staff to keep your company?s books can be expensive.
While every business needs the financial data that accountants and bookkeepers prepare in order to fulfill regulatory obligations and make solid business decisions, incurring the cost of a full time staff to prepare that data may not be a very good business decision at all.
Outsourcing this work to a Raleigh CPA firm can mean having the expert financial services that you need anytime while enjoying significant savings.
It should come as no surprise that outsourcing your accounting and bookkeeping work to a third party provider can cost a lot less than hiring a full time employee. The cost of health insurance, paid time off and payroll taxes for just one employee can add tremendously to the cost of hiring someone. Outsourcing your financial accounting and bookkeeping needs means that you can even save on the cost of office space.
The savings that you can enjoy does not end when you eliminate social security and medicare taxes. There are significant time savings that you will reap when you no longer have to devote time to managing an in-house accounting and bookkeeping team. Even managing just one employee takes up time that you can spend furthering your company?s goals. When you outsource your work to a professional North Carolina CPA firm, you are handing off all the headaches of hiring, retaining, training and terminating employees. Instead, you are free to focus on building your business.
Some businesses decide not to use the high quality services that a CPA offers. Instead, they find themselves hiring inexperienced employees with little to know experience using accounting software, correctly classifying assets, revenue and expenses, and in need of a great deal of training.
A Certified Public Accountant, however, provides a high level of quality with all of his or her services. This means that they have the skills necessary to provide you with accurate and complete financial analysis, including tax returns, quarterly reports, audits and compilations. While hiring a CPA to work for your business full time may not be affordable, it is affordable to outsource your work to one. You can enjoy all of the experience and technical expertise that a CPA has, at a cost that is a fraction of hiring a full time employee.
Contact Langdon & Company LLP today as they are a leading North Carolina CPA firm offering a broad range of audit, accounting, tax and advisory services in the southeastern U.S.
Source: http://www.langdoncpa.com/blog/index.php/2013/02/benefits-of-outsourcing-accounting-and-bookkeeping/
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Tuesday, 26 February 2013
Warrant issued for Vegas Strip shooting suspect
LAS VEGAS (AP) ? Police said Monday they have a warrant for a 26-year-old ex-convict identified as the prime suspect in a shooting and fiery crash that killed three people last week on the Las Vegas Strip.
"We can say with certainty that Ammar Harris is the suspect who fired the fatal shots," Las Vegas police Capt. Chris Jones told reporters at an afternoon update about a manhunt that he said would be advertised on southern Nevada billboards.
Police previously released a photo of Harris taken after his arrest last year in Las Vegas in a 2010 prostitution case. It showed Harris with tattoos on his right cheek and words on his neck above an image that appeared to depict an owl with blackened eyes. Jones said Harris should be considered armed and dangerous.
Jones said investigators were looking everywhere Harris had lived in the past. He wasn't specific.
Public records show that Harris previously lived in South Carolina and Georgia, and told a police officer when he was arrested in Miami Beach last December that he had lived in Florida for about a year.
Harris was convicted in 2004 in Orangeburg, S.C., of felony possession with intent to sell a stolen pistol, Jones said. The conviction was not in California, as police said earlier.
Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson attended the news conference and said afterward that the case was getting top priority from prosecutors and he hoped Harris would turn himself in. He said the warrant was issued Friday.
"If Mr. Harris is listening, I would urge him to surrender," Wolfson said.
Harris used the name Ammar Asim Faruq Harris when he was arrested last May in Las Vegas in the June 2010 case. He was charged with robbery, sexual assault, kidnapping and coercion with a weapon.
Las Vegas police also sought pandering by force and ex-felon in possession of concealed weapon charges stemming from allegations that Harris was a pimp and attacked a woman.
Court records show the case was dismissed last June. The prosecutor and a public defender who handled the case didn't immediately respond to messages Monday.
In Miami Beach, Harris was arrested Dec. 7 after he was accused of driving a silver 2006 Hummer H3 the wrong way on a congested street at 2 a.m. The arresting officer said Harris produced a Florida state identification card and provided a Miami address. The status of the case in Miami-Dade courts was unclear Monday.
In Atlanta, Harris was arrested in June 2004 on a felony marijuana possession with intent to distribute charge. According to court records, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge and was sentenced to three months in jail.
Fulton County jail records show Harris spent about two weeks in jail in February 2008 after a misdemeanor battery arrest. The outcome of that case was not immediately clear Monday.
In Las Vegas, investigators say Harris was driving a black Range Rover SUV when he fired shots into a Maserati before dawn Thursday, killing an aspiring rapper and causing a crash that killed two people when the Maserati slammed into a taxi that exploded in a fireball at the heart of the Strip.
Police said several other people were with Harris in the SUV as it fled the scene of the six-vehicle, chain-reaction crash on Las Vegas Boulevard near the Bellagio, Caesars Palace, Bally's and Flamingo resorts.
Jones and police homicide Lt. Ray Steiber said they were confident that Harris was the only shooter. They didn't say whether police intend to prosecute anyone else in the SUV.
But, "To anyone who is aware of his location or is assisting Ammar Harris in any way, you will be arrested and prosecuted," Jones said. "You may think you're being a friend, but keep in mind Ammar Harris is wanted for the murder of three citizens."
The SUV was the focus of an intense search before it was found Saturday parked in the garage of a gated apartment complex just a couple of blocks east of the Strip. Harris wasn't found at a nearby apartment where he was believed to have been living.
Kenneth Wayne Cherry Jr. was mortally wounded when the dark gray Maserati he was driving was peppered by gunfire from the SUV. Taxi driver Michael Boldon, 62, of Las Vegas, and passenger Sandra Sutton-Wasmund, 48, of Maple Valley, Wash., died in the taxi.
Police say the triple homicide stemmed from an altercation between Cherry and Harris in a valet area of the upscale Aria resort a block south of the crash scene at Las Vegas Boulevard and Flamingo Road.
A passenger in the Maserati was wounded in the arm, and four people from four other vehicles were treated for non-life-threatening injuries after the crash.
Las Vegas police sought help during last week's search for the Range Rover from local and federal authorities in Nevada and neighboring states of Arizona, California and Utah.
___
Associated Press writer Kate Brumback in Atlanta contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/warrant-issued-vegas-strip-shooting-suspect-230215329.html
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Samsung puts latest Exynos 5 Octa chip into a prototype tablet, we go hands-on (video)
The Exynos 5 Octa was definitely one of the biggest things to come out of CES. Given how well the regular dual-core Exynos V performs in the Nexus 10 and Chromebook, devices containing the souped-up Octa version could be really special. As you probably know already, we're looking at four Cortex-A15 cores for when you need raw performance for gaming or media creation, and then four energy-saving Cortex-A7 cores for less demanding tasks like surfing or watching video. We've just seen how fast and fluid this big.LITTLE core-switching technology is, courtesy of a Samsung reference tablet on show at ARM's booth at MWC -- check it out for yourself after the break.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Samsung
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/OGM6O4eN-Ik/
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Video: Prisoner's death sparks violence in West Bank
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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/50948541/
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ZTE Grand Memo hands-on: a Galaxy Note competitor without a stylus (video)
Nothing's changed since last we saw ZTE's Grand Memo in Hong Kong last January. But the Chinese OEM's trotting it out once again at MWC 2013 here in Barcelona, reintroducing the palm-stretching device for the global press. From the name alone, it's clear that ZTE's angling this tabletphone (sorry, no stylus included) at Samsung's successful Note line; a competition that's already been won by the recently unveiled and incredibly massive Note 8. The Grand Memo's specs have remained the same -- 5.7-inch 720p TFT display, quad-core 1.7GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro, 1GB RAM, Android 4.1.2 and 13-megapixel rear camera module -- but now we have an English-language demo to walk you through it. So check out the video tour after the break and stay tuned for our live coverage of ZTE's press event.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/25/zte-grand-memo-hands-on/
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Apple signals emerging-market rethink with India push
NEW DELHI/BANGALORE (Reuters) - As BlackBerry launches the first smartphone from its make-or-break BB10 line in India, one of its most loyal markets, the company faces new competition from a formidable rival that has long had a minimal presence in the country.
More than four years after it started selling iPhones in India, Apple Inc is now aggressively pushing the iconic device through installment payment plans that make it more affordable, a new distribution model and heavy marketing blitz.
"Now your dream phone" at 5,056 rupees ($93), read a recent full front-page ad for an iPhone 5 in the Times of India, referring to the initial payment on a phone priced at $840, or almost two months' wages for an entry-level software engineer.
The new-found interest in India suggests a subtle strategy shift for Apple, which has moved tentatively in emerging markets and has allowed rivals such as Samsung and BlackBerry to dominate with more affordable smartphones. With the exception of China, all of its Apple stores are in advanced economies.
Apple expanded its India sales effort in the latter half of 2012 by adding two distributors. Previously it sold iPhones only through a few carriers and stores it calls premium resellers.
The result: iPhone shipments to India between October and December nearly tripled to 250,000 units from 90,000 in the previous quarter, according to an estimate by Jessica Kwee, a Singapore-based analyst at consultancy Canalys.
At The MobileStore, an Indian chain owned by the Essar conglomerate, which says it sells 15 percent of the iPhones in the country, iPhone sales tripled between December and January, thanks to a monthly payment scheme launched last month.
"Most people in India can't afford a dollar-priced phone when the salaries in India are rupee salaries. But the desire is the same," said Himanshu Chakrawarti, its chief executive.
Apple, the distributors, retailers and banks share the advertising and interest cost of the marketing push, according to Chakrawarti. Carriers like Bharti Airtel Ltd, which also sell the iPhone 5, run separate ads.
India is the world's No. 2 cellphone market by users, but most Indians cannot afford fancy handsets. Smartphones account for just a tenth of total phone sales. In India, 95 percent of cellphone users have prepaid accounts without a fixed contract. Unlike in the United States, carriers do not subsidise handsets.
Within the smartphone segment, Apple's Indian market share last quarter was just 5 percent, according to Canalys, meaning its overall penetration is tiny.
Still, industry research firm IDC expects the Indian smartphone market to grow more than five times from about 19 million units last year to 108 million in 2016, which presents a big opportunity.
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd dominates Indian smartphone sales with a 40 percent share, thanks to its wide portfolio of Android devices priced as low as $110. The market has also been flooded by cheaper Android phones from local brands such as Micromax and Lava.
Most smartphones sold in India are much cheaper than the iPhone, said Gartner analyst Anshul Gupta.
"Where the masses are - there, Apple still has a gap."
'I LOVE INDIA, BUT...'
Apple helped create the smartphone industry with the iPhone in 2007. But last year Apple lost its lead globally to Samsung whose smartphones, which run on Google Inc's free Android software, are especially attractive in Asia.
Many in Silicon Valley and Wall Street believe the surest way to penetrate lower-income Asian markets would be with a cheaper iPhone, as has been widely reported but never confirmed. The risk is that a cheap iPhone would cannibalize demand for the premium version and eat into Apple's peerless margins.
The new monthly payment plan in India goes a long way to expanding the potential market, said Chakrawarti.
"The Apple campaign is not meant for really the regular top-end customer, it is meant to upgrade the 10,000-12,000 handset guy to 45,000 rupees," he said.
Apple's main focus for expansion in Asia has been Greater China, including Taiwan and Hong Kong, where revenue grew 60 percent last quarter to $7.3 billion.
Asked last year why Apple had not been as successful in India, Chief Executive Tim Cook said its business in India was growing but the group remained more focused on other markets.
"I love India, but I believe that Apple has some higher potential in the intermediate term in some other countries," Cook said. "The multi-layer distribution there really adds to the cost of getting products to market," he said at the time.
Apple, which has partly addressed that by adding distributors, did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Ingram Micro Inc, one of its new distributors, also declined comment. Executives at Redington (India) Ltd, the other distributor, could not immediately be reached.
BlackBerry, which has seen its global market share shrivel to 3.4 percent from 20 percent over the past three years, is making what is seen as a last-ditch effort to save itself with the BB10 series.
The high-end BlackBerry Z10 was launched in India on Monday at 43,490 rupees ($800), close to the 45,500 rupees price tag for an iPhone 5 with 16 gigabytes of memory. Samsung's Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2, Nokia's Lumia 920 and two HTC Corp models are the main iPhone rivals.
BlackBerry will target corporate users and consumers in India for the Z10, said Sunil Dutt, India managing director, adding that it will tie-up with banks for installment plans.
Until last year, BlackBerry was the No. 3 smartphone brand in India with market share of more than 10 percent, thanks to a push into the consumer segment with lower-priced phones. Last quarter its share fell to about 5 percent, putting it in fifth place, according to Canalys. Apple was sixth.
(Additional reporting by Aradhana Aravindan in MUMBAI and Poornima Gupta in SAN FRANCISCO; Editing by Tony Munroe, Mark Bendeich and Chris Gallagher)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/apple-signals-emerging-market-rethink-india-push-011705541--sector.html
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Monday, 25 February 2013
Oscars James Bond Tribute: Who Is Shirley Bassey?
Famed 007 singer honors franchise's musical tradition during Sunday's (February 24) ceremony.
By Kevin P. Sullivan
Shirley Bassey performs at the 2013 Oscars
Photo: Mark Davis/ Getty Images
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1702513/shirley-bassey-james-bond-oscars-tribute.jhtml
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NRA uses Justice memo to accuse Obama on guns
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The National Rifle Association is using a Justice Department memo it obtained to argue in ads that the Obama administration believes its gun control plans won't work unless the government seizes firearms and requires national gun registration ? ideas the White House has not proposed and does not support.
The NRA's assertion and its obtaining of the memo in the first place underscore the no-holds-barred battle under way as Washington's fight over gun restrictions heats up.
The memo, under the name of one of the Justice Department's leading crime researchers, critiques the effectiveness of gun control proposals, including some of President Barack Obama's. A Justice Department official called the memo an unfinished review of gun violence research and said it does not represent administration policy.
The memo says requiring background checks for more gun purchases could help, but also could lead to more illicit weapons sales. It says banning assault weapons and high capacity ammunition magazines produced in the future but exempting those already owned by the public, as Obama has proposed, would have limited impact because people now own so many of those items.
It also says that even total elimination of assault weapons would have little overall effect on gun killings because assault weapons account for a limited proportion of those crimes.
The nine-page document says the success of universal background checks would depend in part on "requiring gun registration," and says gun buybacks would not be effective "unless massive and coupled with a ban."
The administration has not proposed gun registration, buybacks or banning all firearms. But gun registration and ownership curbs are hot-button issues for the NRA and other gun-rights groups, which strenuously oppose the ideas.
Justice Department and White House officials declined to provide much information about the memo or answer questions about it on the record.
The memo has the look of a preliminary document and calls itself "a cursory summary" and assessment of gun curb initiatives. The administration has not release it officially.
But the NRA has posted the memo on one of its websites and cites it in advertising aimed at whipping up opposition to Obama's efforts to contain gun violence. The ad says the paper shows that the administration "believes that a gun ban will not work without mandatory gun confiscation" and thinks universal background checks "won't work without requiring national gun registration" ? ideas the president has not proposed or expressed support for.
"Still think President Obama's proposals sound reasonable?" Chris W. Cox, the NRA's chief Washington lobbyist, says in the ad.
Last month, White House spokesman Jay Carney said none of Obama's proposals "would take away a gun from a single law-abiding American." Other administration officials have said their plans would not result in gun seizures or a national gun registry.
A Justice Department official who would only discuss the issue on condition of anonymity said the NRA ad misrepresents Obama's gun proposals and that the administration has never backed a gun registry or gun confiscation.
While the memo's analysis of gun curb proposals presents no new findings, it is unusual for a federal agency document to surface that raises questions about a president's plans during debate on a high-profile issue such as restricting firearms.
Obama wants to ban assault weapons and ammunition magazines exceeding 10 rounds that are produced in the future. He wants universal background checks for nearly all gun purchases. Today, checks are only mandatory on sales by federally licensed gun dealers, not transactions at gun shows or other private sales.
His plan also includes tougher federal laws against gun trafficking and straw purchases, which occur when a person legally buys a firearm but sells it to a criminal or someone else barred from owning a weapon.
Interest in the gun issue has intensified since the December shootings in Newtown, Conn., that killed 20 first-graders and six staffers at an elementary school. The Democratic-led Senate Judiciary Committee plans to write legislation addressing some of Obama's proposals in the next week or two.
The NRA's Cox declined to say how his organization obtained the memo.
He said the commercial is running online in 15 states, including many Republican-leaning states where Democrats will defend Senate seats next year, such as Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana, Montana, North Carolina, South Dakota and West Virginia. There are also ads in papers in five states.
The memo was written under the name of Greg Ridgeway, acting director of the National Institute of Justice, the Justice Department's research arm. It is dated Jan. 4, nearly two weeks before Obama announced his plan for restricting guns, and Ridgeway's first day as acting chief.
Justice Department officials said Ridgeway was not granting interviews. He came to the institute last July from the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research institution where he studied criminal justice issues, and has a Ph.D. in statistics.
The memo says straw purchases and gun thefts are the largest sources of firearms used in crimes, and that such transactions "would most likely become larger if background checks at gun shows and private sellers were addressed."
Gun control supporters said the NRA ad and the Justice memo don't mention that the current federal background check system blocked gun sales to 2.1 million criminals and others barred from owning guns between 1994, when the checks began, and 2010. Also ignored is that Obama has proposed cracking down on straw purchases to prevent a growth in illegal transactions, they said.
Advocates of restricting guns also said the memo omitted mention of several studies that affirm the effectiveness of firearms curbs. These include a 2010 police group analysis showing more than one-third of police departments found increased criminal use of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines since the 2004 expiration of the ban on those items.
"It doesn't appear to be a serious discussion of gun violence prevention policy, never mind an expression of administration policy," said Joshua Horwitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.
The memo says that out of 11,000 annual gun homicides, an average of 35 deaths yearly are from mass shootings, defined as those with four or more victims.
"Policies that address the larger firearm homicide issue will have a far greater impact even if they do not address the particular issues of mass shootings," it says.
It says there were an estimated 1.5 million assault weapons before the 10-year ban on those firearms began in 1994, so their sheer number would weaken a new ban exempting existing weapons. Such guns accounted for just 2 percent to 8 percent of crimes before the 1994 ban, so eliminating assault weapons "would not have a large impact on gun homicides," the memo said.
Recent data on the assault weapons ban impact is scarce because since the 1990s, Congress has blocked most federal research on the effect that firearms have on public health. As part of the gun restrictions Obama proposed last month, he ordered federal scientific agencies to research gun violence.
___
Online:
White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/preventing-gun-violence
National Rifle Association: http://home.nra.org
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nra-uses-justice-memo-accuse-obama-guns-145914292.html
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Sunday, 24 February 2013
NRA uses Justice memo to accuse Obama on guns (The Arizona Republic)
Early wreck in Daytona 500 takes out favorites
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) ? An early wreck in the Daytona 500 has knocked out several top contenders, including three-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart and 2007 race winner Kevin Harvick.
Stewart, winless in 14 starts in The Great American Race, says he is "heartbroken and disappointed."
The nine-car wreck started when Kasey Kahne let off the gas to slow as they neared the first turn at Daytona International Speedway. Kyle Busch tried to do the same, but couldn't avoid contact.
Busch sent Kahne spinning across the track. Juan Pablo Montoya, 2010 race winner Jamie McMurray and defending series champion Brad Keselowski also were involved. So were Kurt Busch and Casey Mears.
The accident ended Harvick's attempt to become the first in NASCAR history to win the exhibition Sprint Unlimited, a twin qualifying race and the Daytona 500 in the same Speedweeks.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/early-wreck-daytona-500-takes-favorites-193122228--spt.html
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Saturday, 23 February 2013
Older Americans Increasingly Burdened With Debt
Retirement is supposed to be the ?golden years? for older Americans, but massive debt is tarnishing that dream. ?
A new study finds Americans aged 75 and older are becoming increasingly saddled with debt, forcing them to change their lifestyle and struggle to make ends.
The report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) found families headed by individuals 75 and older had an average amount of debt greater than 40% of their income in 2010. Families headed by Americans between normal retirement age, 55 to 64, and? just after retirement, 65 to 74, had small changes in these debt measures, and in some cases, improvements.
Debt nearly doubled for families headed by those 75 and up from 2007 to 2010, climbing from $13,665 to $27,409. The average debt for households headed by someone 55 and up was $75,082 in 2010, up more than $1,300 (adjusted for inflation) from 2007. These people are likely still working, however, making the debt burden for those 75 and older even heavier. The driver of debt for those with a household headed by an American 55 or older was housing debt, with nearly three-fourths of debt payments going toward housing.
Certified financial planner Michael Keating says about 40% of single Americans in the 65 and older category are relying on Social Security as their only source of income. The average Social Security benefit check for a retired worker was around $1,230 per month in 2012, translating into a meager $14,760 yearly before taxes. The EBRI found around 63% of all American families with heads 55 and up had debt, a figure which held steady from 2007 to 2010.
?Looking at their amount of debt is high, but look at the other side of that balance sheet,? Keating says. ?So many are relying on that as their only income, so they are adding more debt and piling on. The lack of income during the golden years is astounding.?
The EBRI also found the percentage of families with heads age 75 or older experiencing their debt increase to 38.5% in 2010 from 31.2% in 2007. The percentage total debt payments represent of income increased to 7.1% from 4.5%.
Older Americans supporting their children for longer is a likely culprit for this debt, according to certified financial planner Lauren Lyons Cole.
?A parent?s natural instinct is to help their child, and I see that over and over again,? Lyons Cole says. ?The reality is that most of our elderly are not in the position to be helping and need to learn to say, ?No,? which is a heartbreaking thing to do.?
It?s also a myth that retirees downsize in their later years, Keating adds. The lackluster housing market over the last five years forced many to stay in their homes longer because selling and relocation wasn?t cost effective.
?That?s not happening anymore,? he says. ?Especially with all of the transaction-related charges involved with selling a home and buying another one, it doesn?t make much sense to do.?
Early planning and saving is the only way to secure retirement, Keating says.
?A 401(k), a Roth IRA, that alphabet soup?that will be your main income in retirement,? he says. ?Also, right now with taxes going up, it?s the most tax-effective way to make savings because you are reducing the amount of money that is subject to income tax. It?s a scary thought, but we have to think of how to learn from these mistakes.?
Lyons Cole says to do your best to have your mortgage paid off before retirement. And if you are overwhelmed, seek professional help.
?You can figure out how to maximize what you have, and they can help with intergenerational planning,? she says. ?There are strategies that exist, including bankruptcy, but it?s really a case-by-case basis.?
Follow Kate Rogers on Twitter at @KateRogersNews
Source: http://feeds.foxbusiness.com/~r/foxbusiness/personal_finance/~3/gHCuDCAi7HQ/
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Maingear F131 Super Stock (GTX Titan)
The Maingear F131 Super Stock (GTX Titan) showcases what you can do with the latest Nvidia gaming powerhouse graphics card. With a pair of Nvidia GeForce GTX Titans in SLI configuration, you can smoothly play virtually any game in full 1080p or better resolution. It can do this with all the eye candy turned on, including tessellation, antialiasing, anisotropic filtering, and the like. If those terms didn't mean anything to you, they'll certainly thrill a hardcore gamer. While it doesn't quite reach the overall performance high of the Falcon Northwest Mach V (Triple Titan), which is our Editors' Choice for high-end gaming rigs, the F131 SS (GTX Titan) comes close. It can more than hold its own on the gaming grid, and then some.
Design and Features
The new F131 comes in a new chassis, inspired by the design of the Maingear Potenza Super Stock ($1,999 4.5 stars) we looked at last year. It's still a mid-tower chassis, but it now shares the Potenza's rectangular shape with rounded corners and vertical orientation. The chassis measures 19 by 9.25 by 11.25 inches (HWD). The F131 we received was painted in a yellow shade of automotive paint that would look at home on a Porsche 911 GT3 sports car.
You can't miss the family resemblance to the Potenza, but the F131 has much more space inside the chassis, and is consequently larger. The Potenza is a small form factor desktop, capable of holding one high-end graphics card, while the F131, while still compact compared with a larger tower, is designed to accommodate a dual-card setup. The F131's chassis holds a pair of Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSDs in a RAID 0 array (512GB) for the C: drive as well as a 2TB Seagate Barracuda hard drive for data storage. A DVD burner loads via a slot cut into the F131's front panel, in case you want to play older offline titles.
And those two graphics cards are the focus of this system, since they account for almost 40 percent of the system cost.. While a high-end gaming rig like the former high-end Editors' Choice gaming desktop Maingear Shift Super Stock (Core i7-3930K) does its thing with a top-of-the-line six-core Intel Core i7-3930K CPU and three AMD Radeon HD 7970 graphics cards, the F131 as configured here garners similar or better performance with a less powerful quad-core Intel Core i7-3770K processor and two Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan cards. The GTX Titan is a $999 supercomputer-class graphics card that sits alongside the Nvidia GeForce GTX 690 card at the top of Nvidia's gaming card line. The single-GPU equipped GTX Titan is much more power efficient than the Nvidia GTX 690 dual-GPU card and Nvidia GTX 680 single GPU cards that preceded it. Suffice to say that if you're using a single-monitor setup, the GTX Titan in SLI configuration will serve you well.
As mentioned above, the system comes with an Intel Core i7-3770K processor. If this setup seems familiar, you've probably read our review of the Falcon Northwest Mach V (Intel Core i7-3770K), which also had an overclocked i7-3770K, though the Mach V used a pair of GTX 690 cards to handle the 3D gaming performance. Maingear overclocked the i7 in the F131 up to 4.6 GHz (from the 3.5 GHz stock setting), while Falcon bumped the CPU in the Falcon Mach V (Core i7-3770K) up to 4.8 GHz. The processor is liquid cooled, allowing Maingear to ramp up the pain to these levels.
Speaking of cooling, the new F131 case is laid out to improve cooling. The graphics cards have their own pair of fans sucking air from under the chassis, and since the graphics cards are situated vertically, the hot air is ejected out of the top of the system. Another separate fan in the chassis pushes air over the system's memory and through to the liquid cooler's radiator and exhaust fan. Air moves in one direction: from the cooler bottom of the system up and out through the top. While this means that your display's cables will have to be connected to the top of the PC instead of the back, it also means more efficient temperature management overall. A plastic mesh lid covers the unsightly cabling and protects fingers from coming into contact with potentially hot graphics cards.
Speaking of connectors, the F131 has a pair of exposed USB 3.0 ports and audio ports next to the power and reset buttons on the top panel (unencumbered by the mesh lid). On the system's backplane proper are a good selection of ports, including four more USB 3.0 ports, four USB 2.0 ports (including one for BIOS recovery), a powered eSATA/USB 2.0 port, Ethernet, audio, and SPDIF audio out. On the two graphics cards, you'll find four DVI ports, two HDMI ports, and two DisplayPorts. The system we reviewed also came with a Killer Wireless-N 1202 card so you can connect to 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi networks. We tested and reviewed the system with a 30-inch 2,560 by 1,600 resolution panel connected via DVI.
The F131 comes with no bloatware pre-installed. There are simply two shortcuts on the desktop, one to get to an installer for OpenOffice, and the other to get to an installer for Microsoft Security Essentials. It's up to you to use them; hardcore gamers will likely leave them both alone. The system comes with a three-year comprehensive warranty with lifetime tech support and labor. If you want to upgrade components in the future, all you have to do is call Maingear to get pricing for the parts and ship the system back. You'll have to upgrade and replace components, because the F131 simply has no additional upgrade room for components, aside from an externally accessible hard drive bay that can swallow a 3.5-inch desktop hard drive.
Performance
The F131 SS (GTX Titan) took a look at our benchmark tests, ran through them, laughed, and kept going. It matched or surpassed previous gaming systems on our benchmark tests, only "falling short" of rivals on the CineBench test. The CineBench test rewards six-core processors, so that's no surprise. On the strenuous 3D gaming tests, the F131 returned smooth playable numbers at our highest 1080p settings (Heaven 155 fps, Aliens vs. Predator 182 fps). In fact, the F131 was even able to return playable numbers on the 2,560 by 1,600 screen with all the settings set to max (Heaven 83 fps, AvP 100 fps).
For old times' sake, we brought out the Crysis and Lost Planet 2 tests, and the F131 was able to play both smoothly at 1080p (Crysis 84 fps, LP2 209 fps) and likewise at 2,560 by 1,600 with maxxed out settings (Crysis 75, LP2 145). PCMark 7, 3DMark 11, Handbrake, and Photoshop CS6 results were likewise off the charts. Essentially, the overclocked processor and two GPUs in the F131 performed as well as or better than the three GPUs in the Maingear Shift Super Stock (Core i7-3930K) and the four GPUs in the Falcon Northwest Mach V (Intel Core i7-3770K). The F131 SS also outperformed the three GTX 680 GPUs in the AVADirect X79 Gaming PC.
The Maingear F131 Super Stock (GTX Titan) proves its mettle by running through all of our benchmark tests and passing them with flying colors. It even runs through the tests at higher settings (all the eye candy turned on) and doesn't break a sweat. While a 3-way GTX Titan SLI like in our Editors' Choice Falcon Northwest Mach V (Triple Titan), could bring even more performance, you'll need to be an upper strata gamer with the wherewithal to run three 30-inch panels simultaneously to take advantage of the extra horsepower (and the $2,100 higher price tag). On a single-monitor setup, dual GTX Titan cards are more than enough for today's games and those coming in the near future, saving you the expense of an extra card and the related infrastructure. The F131 surpasses the capabilities of most high-end gaming rigs we've seen. If you have the need for smooth gameplay on a 1080p or better in a single-monitor setup, then the Maingear F131 SS (GTX Titan) should definitely be on your short list.
More Desktop Reviews:
??? Maingear F131 Super Stock (GTX Titan)
??? Falcon Northwest Mach V (Triple Titan)
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/PcCp78BIhcI/0,2817,2415723,00.asp
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Administration warns of impact of broad budget cut
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Widespread flight delays and shuttered airports, off-limit seashores and unprotected parks.
The Obama administration is painting a dire portrait of the many ways the public will feel the effects of automatic federal spending cuts due to begin March 1.
The grim picture is emerging as the White House and lawmakers count down the days until the government is forced to trim $85 billion in domestic and defense spending with hardly any leeway to save some programs from the budget knife.
In detailing the costs of the cuts, President Barack Obama is seeking to raise the public's awareness while also applying pressure on congressional Republicans who oppose his blend of targeted savings and tax increases to tackle federal deficits.
"I've been very clear that these kinds of arbitrary, automatic cuts would have an adverse impact on families, on teachers, on parents who are reliant on Head Start programs, on our military readiness, on mental health services, on medical research," Obama said Friday. "This is not a smart way for us to reduce the deficit."
Just in case those consequences didn't capture the public's attention, the White House also had Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood spell out the impact on travelers: a frequent-flier nightmare of 90-minute airport waits, limited flights and closed regional airports. Republican lawmakers dismissed LaHood's warnings as "exaggerations."
But LaHood said the cuts would require slicing more than $600 million from the Federal Aviation Administration, resulting in furloughs of one day per pay period for a majority of the agency's 47,000 employees.
"Once airlines see the potential impact of these furloughs, we expect that they will change their schedules and cancel flights," LaHood said.
Moreover, he said, the Transportation Department is looking "to likely close" air traffic control towers at 100 airports that have fewer than 150,000 flight operations per year.
"We're talking about places like Boca Raton, Fla.; Joplin, Mo.; Hilton Head, S.C.; and San Marcos, Texas," he said. All in all, nearly two-thirds of the airports are concentrated in three states ? California, Florida and Texas.
But in a statement, Airlines for America, an industry group, said the organization, the FAA and airline carriers would be meeting soon to plan for potential cutbacks. "Air transportation is a key driver of our economy, and should not be used as a political football," the statement said.
Paul Rinaldi, the president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said the reductions will not just inconvenience passengers, it will also affect local economies and result in more lost jobs. "The fact that they will not just be furloughing critical FAA personnel but closing air traffic control towers means the system will be even more compromised than anticipated," he added.
Still, top Republicans on congressional transportation and aviation panels accused the administration of unnecessary alarm.
"Before jumping to the conclusion that furloughs must be implemented, the administration and the agency need to sharpen their pencils and consider all the options," the lawmakers said in a joint statement issued by Rep. Bill Shuster, chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure; Sen. John Thune, the top Republican on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation; and Frank LoBiondo, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Aviation.
Throughout the administration, agency heads have been depicting an onerous after-effect to the cuts. The federal government is required to spell out the consequences to federal workers, but the details are also designed to warn lawmakers that the cuts could have a fearsome result: angry constituents. Some of the warnings:
? Defense Secretary Leon Panetta last week said that automatic cuts, known in Washington budget language as a sequester, would harm the readiness of U.S. fighting forces and he said the "vast majority" of the Defense Department's 800,000 civilian workers would have to lose one day of work per week, or 20 percent of their pay, for up to 22 weeks, probably starting in late April. The biggest potential losses, in term of total civilian payroll dollars, would be in Virginia, California, Maryland, Texas and Georgia, according to figures provided by the Pentagon.
? On Friday, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said cuts of more than $300 million to his agency would mean less money to solve outbreaks, fight hospital infections and keep illnesses overseas from making their way here. For instance, Dr. Tom Frieden said, the cuts could limit the agency's investigation of a tuberculosis outbreak in Los Angeles.
? At the National Park Service, employees would be furloughed, hours would be cut and sensitive areas would be blocked off to the public when there are staff shortages, according to a park service memo obtained by The Associated Press.
The giant sequoias at Yosemite National Park in California would go unprotected from visitors who might trample their shallow roots. At Cape Cod National Seashore, large sections of the Great Beach would close to keep eggs from being destroyed if natural resource managers are cut. Programs on the chopping block include invasive species eradication in Yosemite and comfort stations on the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi.
Gettysburg would decrease by one-fifth the number of school children who learn about the historic battle that was a turning point in the Civil War. And in Yosemite, park administrators fear that less frequent trash pickup would potentially attract bears into campgrounds.
Over the years, budget threats have inevitably resulted in grim warnings, no matter which administration, about calamitous consequences. Many have been avoided; others have been short-lived. But Obama administration officials say they are not exaggerating or bluffing.
The cuts, with few exceptions, are designed to hit all accounts equally. The law gives Obama little leeway to ease the pain.
Even if granted flexibility to apply the cuts with more discretion ? a legislative step Republicans say they might pursue ? White House officials say that would still require severe reductions.
"It's essentially rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic," Obama senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer said of such a proposal in a recent interview.
LaHood, in response to a question, denied that he was simply describing a worst-case scenario that would scare the public and put pressure on Republican lawmakers.
"What I'm trying to do," he said, "is wake up members of the Congress with the idea that they need to come to the table so we don't have to have this kind of calamity in air services in America."
___
Cone reported from Sacramento, Calif. Associated Press writer Joan Lowy and AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard contributed to this report.
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Follow Jim Kuhnhenn on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jkuhnhenn
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/administration-warns-impact-broad-budget-cut-223232012--politics.html
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