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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Doctors Are Testing Special K as an Instant Depression Remedy [Drugs]
Iran claims it has produced laser-guided shells (AP)
TEHRAN, Iran ? Iran's state TV is reporting the country has produced laser-guided artillery shells, capable of hitting moving targets with high accuracy.
The Monday report quoting Defense Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi also says that the shell was an "intelligent" munition with the capability to identify its own targets.
The report was accompanied by footage showing an artillery piece firing a shell, followed by an explosion in the desert.
The report does not give details on specifications of the shell. It could not be independently verified.
Iran occasionally announces the production and testing of military equipment, ranging from torpedoes to missiles and jet fighters.
The country's military has run a program dating from 1992 which aims at self-sufficiency in producing modern weaponry.
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Monday, January 30, 2012
Blues singer Etta James remembered in Los Angeles (Reuters)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? Hundreds of mourners gathered at a Los Angeles-area church on Saturday to remember rhythm-and-blues singer Etta James, saying she overcame great personal and professional hurdles to sing "the times that she lived."
During a two-hour service that featured performances by pop stars Stevie Wonder and Christina Aguilera, the Rev. Al Sharpton eulogized James as a woman who rose from a tough childhood and poured her pain into her music.
Aguilera performed a version of "At Last," James' show-stopping hit and best-known song.
James died at 73 at a Riverside, California, hospital on January 20 from complications of leukemia, prompting numerous tributes from artists and musicians who were influenced by her work, including Mariah Carey and Aretha Franklin.
"People need to understand that when they hear the music Etta James sang, she sang the times that she lived," Sharpton told friends and family at Greater Bethany Church City of Refuge church in the Los Angeles suburb of Gardena.
"She put our pain and our dreams and our love and our need for one another in her vocal chords, but the difference between her and other artists is somehow you felt she meant what she was saying."
James, who was born to a teenage single mother, won wide acclaim and three Grammys, but saw numerous ups-and-downs in her career and personal life. She struggled with obesity and heroin addiction, ran a hot-check scheme and had troubled relationships with men.
But, Sharpton said, James should be remembered for blazing a trail for the entertainers who followed her.
"Etta was the one that brought class ... generations behind will try but never quite have the strut and swagger and talent of Etta James," he said.
"At last you (Etta) can get the gratitude of the savior now. Go on home Etta. Get your reward now ... you beat them Etta. You won Etta. Get your reward Etta. At last. At last. At last."
James won her first Grammy in 1995 for her album, "Mystery Lady: The Songs of Billie Holiday." She also won Grammys in 2003 and 2005, and a lifetime achievement award in 2003 from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which gives out the Grammys.
James is survived by her husband, Artis Mills, two sons Donto and Sametto who played in James' backing band, and four grandchildren.
(Writing by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by David Bailey)
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Sunday, January 29, 2012
PFT: Bears hire Chiefs' Emery as GM
APSo why is Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger planning to park his rear end on the other side of Art Rooney?s desk and ask hard questions about the future of the offense?
It could be that Roethlisberger wants to ensure that quarterbacks coach Randy Fichtner replaces Bruce Arians as the next offensive coordinator of the Steelers.
?When I get back, I?m going to go up to Mr. Rooney?s office and ask him what he wants from me, what he wants from this offense, because I think that?s a viable question for him,? Roethlisberger said recently.? ?He?s our owner and our boss, so I really would like to know kind of what he wants and where he sees our offense going because I?d like to tell him where I see us going.?
Roethlisberger surely sees the offense going toward Fichtner, who has joined Ben in Hawaii for the Pro Bowl and who has worked with the quarterback since 2007, when coach Mike Tomlin hired him.? Fichtner previously ran a spread offense at Memphis, and Peter King explained last night on NBC SportsTalk that Fichtner was instrumental in helping Roethsliberger reintegrate into the roster after a four-game suspension to start the 2010 season.
And so the deeper question is whether Rooney wants to change the offense, or whether he simply wanted to change the coordinator.? If it was a matter of dumping Bruce Arians and promoting Fichtner, the move probably would have happened by now.
Some may wonder why Rooney would possibly want to retreat to a more traditional Steelers attack ? play great defense, run the ball extensively, and pass selectively not extensively.? That would seem to be an unusual decision, given the presence of three very good young receivers:? Mike Wallace, 2011 team MVP Antonio Brown, and Emmanuel Sanders.
But here?s the thing.? Receivers who catch a lot of passes eventually command a lot of money.? So if the Steelers continue to stretch the field, it could force them to stretch their wallet and/or salary cap in order to keep the pieces in place.? Competent running backs, generally speaking, are much cheaper, more interchangeable, and far easier to find.
Rooney offered no concrete clues during a recent interview with Steelers Digest editor Bob Labriola when commenting on the fact that the two Super Bowl teams have quarterbacks who passed for more than 10,000 yards combined this season and defenses that landed near the bottom of the league.
?There?s no question the league is changing and the league?s always evolving,? Rooney said.? ?And there?s no doubt that I think we?ve seen quarterback play in general this year at maybe the highest level we?ve ever seen it, from a number of players.? And so number one I think we?re fortunate to have a lot of very good quarterbacks in the league right now.? Number two, the rules have changed to allow more prolific passers.? And so I think that?s what we?re looking for for our quarterback, to be up there with the elite quarterbacks and to have that kind of production.? And so I think you have to recognize all those facts.
?The other side of the coin is I think if you look at these playoffs so far, we?re not seeing teams scoring 30 and 40 points a game.? And so I think you have to remember what playoff football is all about.? Defense still is a big part of the game.? And the games that we?ve seen for far in the playoffs, the defenses have made big plays.? And as I say, the scoring has been fairly consistent with past playoffs.? And so I think the game is evolving, but maybe not to the degree that some people would like to play it.?
Apart from the fact that the Giants scored 37 at Lambeau Field and the Pats scored 45 against the Broncos, who scored one point less than 30 against the Steelers, and the 49ers and Saints combined for 68 points and the Saints and Lions cominbed for 73 points, Rooney seems to be struggling to reconcile the recent explosion in offense with the time-honored notion that defense wins championships.
Of course, there?s also a chance that Rooney wants to continue to stretch the field, but that he doesn?t believe Fichtner is the right guy to orchestrate the attack.? Either way, these decisions about the future of the Steelers offense seem to be coming not from the top of the coaching staff, but from the top of the organization.? And it?ll be interesting to see whether Roethlisberger likes what he hears when he plops his caboose in Art Rooney?s office.
Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/01/28/bears-name-phil-emery-g-m/related/
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Ford posts big profits but misses Wall Street (AP)
DEARBORN, Mich. ? An accounting change boosted Ford's fourth-quarter net income, but without the gain the company fell short of Wall Street's expectations.
Weak sales in Europe and lower production in Thailand eroded Ford's profits.
Investors punished the stock in pre-market trading, where shares fell nearly 5 percent to $12.14.
Ford earned $13.6 billion in the fourth quarter, due to a decision to move deferred tax assets back onto its books. Without that change, the company's pre-tax operating profit totaled $1.1 billion, or 20 cents per share, missing analysts' forecasts of 25 cents.
The company lost money in Europe and Asia in the fourth quarter. But its North American operating profit rose 33 percent to $889 million.
"The quarter was really driven by North America," Chief Financial Officer Lewis Booth said.
Booth also said November flooding in Thailand, which affected its parts suppliers, had a greater impact than the company expected. Ford lost 34,000 units of production in Thailand and in South Africa, which relies on Thai-made parts. He said the company also saw higher costs for steel and other commodities. Ford spent $2.3 billion more on commodities in 2011 than the prior year, or $100 million more than it had forecast.
Europe's debt crisis weighed on car sales in that region.
For the full year, the Dearborn-based company made $20.2 billion, or $4.94 per share. Without the accounting gain, it earned $8.76 billion, or $1.51 per share, its highest operating profit since 1999. Full year revenue rose 13 percent to $136.3 billion.
Analysts had forecast full-year earnings of $1.86 per share on revenue of $127.31 billion.
Based on its full-year North American results, Ford said it will make profit-sharing payments of around $6,200 each to its 41,600 U.S. hourly employees. Employees will get their checks in March.
Ford moved $15.7 billion worth of tax credits and other assets off its books starting in 2006 because it wasn't making money so it couldn't take advantage of them. The company moved most of them back onto its books in the fourth quarter because it anticipates using them now that it's profitable.
The change will affect Ford's tax rates going forward. Ford's tax rate was 9 percent in 2010 because of the assets that were being held in the valuation allowance account. Ford's new rate will be closer to 30 percent.
Booth said the change is a strong indication that the company expects to remain profitable. Another is Ford's decision last month to reinstate a 5-cent quarterly dividend starting in March.
But Booth said the international climate remains turbulent. Ford is trying to hold the line on incentive spending in Europe, but that could cost some sales. He doesn't expect Asia to be a solid contributor to profits for several more years, as the company tries to expand there. The South American market is also getting more competitive, he said, and Ford's products there are older than some new entries.
Ford is cutting European production in the first quarter by 36,000 vehicles because of weak sales. It's also making smaller production cuts in Asia and South America, but is increasing production in North America by 18,000 vehicles.
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Saturday, January 28, 2012
#SciAmBlogs Friday - Apollo 1 fire, shale gas, ambidextrous wallabies, slow loris trade, skin microbiome, and more...
January 28, 2012 |??
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Another day with ?quality over quantity? marker? have a great weekend!
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- Amy Shira Teitel ? Apollo 1: The Fire That Shocked NASA
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- Scott McNally ? Guest Post: Shale Gas ? The Low Carbon Option?
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- Krystal D?Costa ? Mourning Digitally
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- Jason G. Goldman ? Are Wallabies Left or Right Handed? Both! (Sometimes)
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- John R. Platt ? Should YouTube Ban Videos of the Adorable but Endangered Slow Loris?
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- Joanne Manaster ? YouTube SpaceLab top 60 Global Finalists Chosen!
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- Christie Wilcox ? A Marine Biologist?s Story (#IAmScience)
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- Christina Agapakis ? Microcartography
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- Glendon Mellow ? ScienceOnline2012 Sci-Art Show: The Winners
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You should follow the Blog Network on Twitter ? the official account is @sciamblogs and the List of all the bloggers is @sciamblogs/sciambloggers.
About the Author: Bora Zivkovic is the Blog Editor at Scientific American, chronobiologist, biology teacher, organizer of ScienceOnline conferences and editor of Open Laboratory anthologies of best science writing on the Web. Follow on Twitter @boraz.More??
The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.
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Fitch downgrades 5 eurozone nations (AP)
FRANKFURT, Germany ? Fitch Ratings downgraded the debt of Italy, Spain and three other countries that use the euro on Friday, a possible setback as European leaders work to contain the continent's debt crisis.
The lower government-debt ratings for Italy, Spain, Belgium, Cyprus and Slovenia could make it more expensive for these countries to borrow.
Fitch said its decision was based on the deteriorating economic outlook in Europe, a concern that Europe's bailout fund is not large enough and a belief that European leaders are not acting quickly or boldly enough to prevent the debt crisis from worsening.
The downgrade came after European financial markets had closed. The major stock indexes of Germany, France and Britain fell slightly on Friday, while the euro rose 0.83 percent to $1.3189.
Government debt ratings can play a significant role in determining countries' borrowing costs. The higher the costs the greater the likelihood of default for a heavily indebted country.
Ireland, Greece and Portugal have been cut off from bond market borrowing because of investors' fears that they might default. They have had to take bailout loans from other eurozone governments and the International Monetary Fund.
Lower debt ratings do not guarantee higher borrowing costs, however.
Borrowing costs for many European countries have fallen in recent weeks despite Standard and Poor's decision on Jan. 13 to lower its ratings for nine countries that use the euro. This reflects growing investor confidence in those countries' economic policies and the impact of the European Central Bank's decision to loan hundreds of billions of euros to banks at very low rates. Some of that money has been used to buy government bonds, which are paying higher interest rates and enabling banks to earn a tidy profit.
The latest example was on Thursday, when Italy borrowed nearly $6.5 billion in two-year bonds at an interest rate of 3.76 percent. It paid 4.85 percent in a comparable bond auction in December.
Fitch lowered its ratings for the five countries by one notch and placed a negative outlook on all of them ? meaning there is more than a 50 percent chance of a further downgrade over the next two years.
Italy was lowered to a rating of A-, while Spain was downgraded to A. The rating of a sixth country, Ireland, was affirmed at BBB+, but it also received a negative outlook.
Fitch also issued a warning to Italy, a recent focus of the crisis because of its euro1.9 trillion ($2.5 trillion) in debt and sluggish, bureaucracy-choked economy. The agency said the third-largest eurozone economy would face permanently higher borrowing costs that would make it harder to keep its debt under control. It resisted stronger ratings action because of the "strong commitment" of the new Italian government under Prime Minister Mario Monti to balance the country's budget and make Italy a better place to do business.
European leaders have been criticized for moving too slowly in tackling the crisis, which started in October 2009 when Greece admitted it was in deep financial trouble.
Led by Germany, the eurozone's largest member, governments have resisted sweeping solutions such as pooling their borrowing power in so-called eurobonds and have balked at increasing the financing of their bailout funds from euro500 billion. Efforts have focused instead on making bailed-out countries try to cut spending and reduce their budget deficits. The 17 members have also agreed to come up with a treaty requiring national laws to limit deficits.
At the World Economic Forum gathering in Davos this week, leading European finance chiefs have sought to reassure anxious global business leaders that Europe is on track to solve its debt crisis.
But Fitch said that European leaders' "gradualist" approach to tackling the crisis meant that Europe will continue to face episodes of severe financial volatility that would erode government's ability to repay debt.
Fitch said the eurozone's difficulties would be compounded by a shrinking economy.
"The eurozone crisis will only be resolved as and when there is broad economic recovery," Fitch said. "It is evident that further substantial reforms of the governance of the eurozone will be required to secure economic and financial stability, including greater fiscal integration."
Greece is locked in talks to secure a crucial debt relief deal with private investors while also tackling demands from its European partners and the IMF for deeper economic reforms.
Failure on either front would force the recession-bound country to default on its debt in less than two months, pouring new fuel on the fires of Europe's debt crisis.
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Friday, January 27, 2012
Nuclear Waste Panel Urges ?Consent-Based? Approach
[unable to retrieve full-text content]With local cooperation, the panel said, the government might avoid the kind of conflicts that led to the cancellation of plans to create a vast repository at Yucca Mountain.
Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=e796546b9fc38789b412c1ca3742ca28
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Mark Shuttleworth Unveils New Head-Up Display for Ubuntu 12.04
Every time I write about Ubuntu and its (not-so) new Unity interface, I see lots and lots of comments decrying it as useless, an abomination, the worst thing to ever happen to computers, etc. Personally, I'm not so flummoxed by it, but there's no denying that Unity has been a divisive addition to Canonical's flagship Linux distribution. The choice to move application menus up to the global bar at the top of the screen has been frustrating to many, and a lot of power users find Unity too mouse-intensive. Mark Shuttleworth, Ubuntu's Self-Appointed Benevolent Dictator For Life, yesterday unveiled the next step in the Unity evolution: the Head-Up Display. According to Shuttleworth, their testing revealed that "users spent a lot of time, relatively speaking, navigating the menus of their applications, either to learn about the capabilities of the app, or to take a specific action." The goal of the new Head-Up display is to -- eventually -- replace menus altogether. Instead of clicking through menus, users type the command they require in a search box.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/zskt7K1JnQY/
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
Wikileaks founder gets talk show on Russian TV
Andrew Winning / Reuters
WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange shown arriving at the High Court in London on Nov. 2, 2011.
By msnbc.com staff
A new talk show hosted by Julian Assange, detained Internet activist and founder of the whistleblowing website Wikileaks, will air next month on Russian TV.
In a statement on his website, Assange said he will host a series of interview programs with "key political players, thinkers and revolutionaries." ?The show will appear on Russia Today (RT), a Kremlin-financed English-language satellite news network.
The program, called "The World Tomorrow," will be taped at?the?house north of London where Assange has been under house arrest since December 2010.?He is?awaiting a court decision in Britain on his extradition to Sweden to face sexual assault allegations.
"We liked a lot of the WikiLeaks revelations. It was very much in sync with what Russia Today has been reporting about the Arab Spring, and about the duplicitous policies of the US and its allies all along," Peter Lavelle, a senior journalist with RT told the Christian Science Monitor.
"I think the Russian government will be pleased [to see Assange working on RT]. It's a soft power coup for Russia," Lavelle said.
More from msnbc.com and NBC News:
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Oscar nominations announced for supporting actress (AP)
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. ? The 84th annual Academy Award nominations for supporting actress in a motion picture have been announced in Beverly Hills, Calif., by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
The nominees announced Tuesday morning are: Octavia Spencer, "The Help"; Berenice Bejo, "The Artist"; Jessica Chastain, "The Help"; Janet McTeer ("Albert Nobbs"); and Melissa McCarthy, "Bridesmaids."
The Oscars will be presented Feb. 26 at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, hosted by Billy Crystal and broadcast live on ABC.
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WealthTV 3D joining handful of 3D networks
Continue reading WealthTV 3D joining handful of 3D networks
WealthTV 3D joining handful of 3D networks originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Jan 2012 02:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Japan posts first annual trade deficit since 1980 (AP)
TOKYO ? Japan reported its first annual trade deficit since 1980 as it imported expensive energy to offset shortfalls caused by the devastating tsunami and manufacturers shifted production overseas to avoid the damage inflicted by the strong yen.
The 2.49 trillion yen ($32 billion) deficit for 2011 reflects a 2.7 percent decline in the value of Japan's exports to 65.55 trillion yen ($843 billion). In December, the trade balance was a deficit of 205.1 billion yen, according to the Ministry of Finance figures released Wednesday.
"It reflects fundamental changes in Japan's economy, particularly among manufacturers," said Hideki Matsumura, senior economist at Japan Research Institute. "Japan is losing its competitiveness to produce domestically."
"It's gotten difficult for manufacturers to export, so they're they've moved production abroad so that products sold outside the country are made outside the country," he said.
The yen's surge to record levels against the dollar has made Japanese exports more expensive and also erodes the value of foreign earned income when brought home. Currency levels have forced manufacturers including Nissan Motor Co. and Panasonic Corp. to shift some of their output to factories overseas.
At the same time, Japan is facing intense competition from South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, where labor and production costs are cheaper.
Japanese manufacturers have been battered by a host of negatives in the past year. The tsunami temporarily disrupted the production of automobile makers and other manufacturers. Weakness in the U.S. economy and Europe's debt problems and recent flooding in Thailand, where many Japanese automakers have assembly lines, also contributed to export declines.
Another major factor behind the figures was the impact of the expensive energy imports Japan turned to after the March disaster touched off a nuclear crisis and led the country to shut down, or not restart, a large portion of its reactors, said Martin Schulz, senior economist with the Fujitsu Research Institute.
He said pressure to import energy will continue to weigh heavily on Japan for the next year, but will subside as the country pursues greater efficiency measures.
Schulz argued that Japan's competitiveness globally remains strong, but that companies have had to change their strategies.
"Japan's exports are really focused on high value exports and this market is fairly strong," he said. "Japan's competitiveness is not going down, but it is producing overseas."
The turmoil in Europe and the U.S. has driven up the yen as global investors flock to the currency as a relative safe haven. The yen hit multiple historic highs against the dollar last year.
The yen has weakened to around 77 to the dollar recently, but exporters say it is still too high. Five years ago, the dollar was trading above 120 yen.
Matsumura believes that Japan will likely log another trade deficit this year amid prospects for high energy prices and a persistently strong yen, but that renewed strength in the global and Asian regional economies in 2013 could put Japan back into the black in 2013.
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Russian Scientist Claims Signs of Life Spotted On Venus
The greenhouse effect IS responsible for the high temperatures. This is why the temperature stays pretty much the same even on the dark side of the planet. Solar radiation comes in but radiates away very slowly. This is demonstrated by the night side temperatures, which are pretty much the same as the day side temperatures. This is also verified by the stratospheric temperature difference from the surface (the stratosphere is very cold, since little heat is escaping from the troposphere).
Density plays a part because it further reduces the rate of heat escaping. However, it is the CO2 gas that is key. An atmosphere of 95% Nitrogen, for example, would not be nearly as scorching and given the slow rotational rate, the night side of the planet would be bone chilling cold. Our own atmosphere is mostly nitrogen and oxygen, and without the various greenhouse gases (water vapor, CO2, methane, etc.) our planet would be a block of ice.
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Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Android developer Stephen Erickson open-sources his BusyBox installer -- we're all free to learn from it
If you're an Android hacker or developer, you know about BusyBox. For the lay-people among us, it's a utility that extends the limited commands provided by the Android toolkit in the shell -- copying and renaming files, reading and writing data, that sort of thing. Here's a chance to learn a little more, as Stephen Erickson has open-sourced his BusyBox installer application. A look at the source will show you not only how to download and install BusyBox, but how to add all sorts of shell commands and assets to your custom application. You can then add these commands into custom menus in your ROM, or even write your own Android app with a little more study. It's things like that make us all love open-source software. Thanks, Stephen!
Source:Google Code pages; via +Stephen Erickson
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/DIMhuqaAfoo/story01.htm
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Monday, January 23, 2012
"The Artist" wins over producers at Guild Awards (omg!)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "The Artist" continued its love affair with American cinema after winning best-produced film on Saturday at the Producers Guild Awards (PGA), boosting its chances for an Oscar nod ahead of the Academy Award nominations next week.
The silent black-and-white French comedy, starring Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo, is a homage to the pre-talkie era of Hollywood in the 1920s and 1930s and tells the story of a fading silent movie star as sound began entering the world of cinema.
"When Michel Hazanavicius and I dreamed of making "The Artist," we knew we were dreaming of writing a love letter to American cinema. We never knew in return we would get a taste of the American dream," Thomas Langmann, the film's producer, said in his acceptance speech in Beverly Hills.
The film has been sweeping awards ceremonies in the run up to the Oscars, winning best picture at the Critics Choice and Golden Globes earlier this month.
It was up against nine other films in contention for best-produced film on Saturday, including female-led comedy "Bridesmaids," civil rights drama "The Help," and Steven Spielberg's epic tale "War Horse."
"The Adventures of Tintin," produced by Spielberg, picked up best-produced animated film.
The Producers Guild awards are significant in the race to the Academy Awards on February 26, as many of the 5,000-plus members of the PGA, are members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, who vote for the Oscars.
For the last four years, the producers' best-produced film picks have gone on to win the best picture Oscar, with "No Country For Old Men" in 2008, "Slumdog Millionaire" in 2009, "The Hurt Locker" in 2010 and "The King's Speech" in 2011.
Other PGA award winners on Saturday included "Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest" for best-produced documentary, which explores the journey of influential hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest.
Angelina Jolie received the Stanley Kramer award for "In the Land of Blood and Honey," which she wrote, directed and produced, an accolade reserved for contributions that highlight provocative social issues.
The Oscar-winning actress delivered a sober acceptance speech, noting that when war-film "Schindler's List" won a PGA in 1994 during the Bosnian war, "the world turned a blind eye" to the atrocities happening in Eastern Europe at the time.
Spielberg was awarded the coveted David O'Selznick achievement award and comic-book legend Stan Lee received the Vanguard award, presented by "Spiderman" actor Tobey Maguire. Both received standing ovations as they took the stage.
ABC's "Modern Family" was named best-produced television comedy for the second year running, while HBO's "Boardwalk Empire" was named best-produced TV drama. PBS' British period drama "Downtown Abbey" was named best-produced long-form television series.
(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Paul Simao)
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Music player app lets users sing along with lyrics (Reuters)
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) ? Can't remember the lyrics to your favorite songs? A new iPhone app might help.
Shazam Player, released last week, is a music player that, in addition to playing songs, shows the lyrics too. The app also provides access to the song's music video, album reviews and artist tour dates.
Shazam is already well-known for its song identification app that uses the smartphone's built-in microphone to gather a sample of a song being played in a room, and then instantly reveals the title and artist name. The service has over 60 million users in the United States and 175 million users globally.
While the core Shazam app is focused on providing a simple and straightforward way to discover new music, the Player app is designed to provide a rich experience for discovering additional information about the music that people already own.
"This is a great way to rediscover that music," explained David Jones, Shazam's executive vice president of marketing, adding that many people have forgotten the details about the music on their smartphones.
When playing a song, lyrics scroll across the screen in sync with the music, and visualizations are tailored to the album being played.
"People are figuring out what the lyrics actually are that may be in some fast moving rap songs or hard-to-hear songs," Jones said.
Lyrics are available for approximately 50,000 songs, with thousands being added weekly prioritized based on song popularity.
According to Jones, Shazam is the largest mobile affiliate for iTunes in the world, selling more than $100 million worth of music each year. The Player app is positioned to give people the opportunity to buy more music by the artists they already like.
"I bought two of Adele's songs, but I haven't bought the whole album. So when I play those songs, there's a convenient button there to click off to iTunes to buy the album," Jones said.
Since launching on the App Store, some users have complained about issues with lyrics being out of sync, and other user interface bugs. Jones said the company is working on the issues, and also has a feedback button for user input.
"If you think the lyrics are out of sync or wrong, all you do is press one button and that gets fed back to us and our team jumps on it right away," he said.
Jones said that in addition to focusing on the apps, the company is forging ahead with campaigns that incorporate Shazam with television content.
"In our shows that are shazamable, more people shazam the show than are tweeting about it," Jones said.
With television commercials, users can learn more about brands and products such as accessing product discounts, discovering the closest place to test drive a car, or getting a quote from an insurance company.
"Advertisers are spending tens of millions on their television ad campaigns and these campaigns before Shazam were not clickable," he said.
(Reporting by Natasha Baker; editing by Patricia Reaney)
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In Paterno death apology, a lesson for CEOs
Companies screw up all the time, and have to write up statements to apologize for their mistakes. But all too frequently, the apologies are weak, conditional and completely insincere.
Saturday night, a kid from a little student-run website at Penn State showed everybody how you're supposed to apologize for a terrible mistake.
It started when the site, Onward State, reported on its Twitter account that Penn State coach Joe Paterno, who is in the hospital and near death, had passed away.
The news was picked up by CBS Sports without attribution, and published an obituary of Paterno. It spread nationally from there (check out Poynter's full breakdown of how things went down).
Turns out, it wasn't true. The Paterno family debunked the report, and Onward State made an official retraction. Paterno died Sunday morning, following the incident.
21-year-old Onward State managing editor and Penn State senior Devon Edwards then published a letter on the Onward State website and Facebook page that every CEO and PR pro needs to read.
This is how you apologize for a mistake:
A Letter from the Managing Editor of Onward State
Earlier this evening, Onward State reported that Joe Paterno had passed away; however, the mountain of evidence stacked opposite that report became too much to ignore. At this time, I would like to issue an official retraction of our earlier tweets.I never, in a million years, would have thought that Onward State might be cited by the national media. Today, I sincerely wish it never had been. To all those who read and passed along our reports, I sincerely apologize for having mislead you. To the Penn State community and to the Paterno family, most of all, I could not be more sorry for the emotional anguish I am sure we at Onward State caused. There are no excuses for what we did. We all make mistakes, but it?s impossible to brush off one of this magnitude. Right now, we deserve all of the criticism headed our way.
In this day and age, getting it first often conflicts with getting it right, but our intention was never to fall into that chasm. All I can do now is promise that in the future, we will exercise caution, restraint, and humility.
I can only hope and pray that the outstanding work our writers and photographers do on a day-to-day basis is not overshadowed by the events of tonight. I understand that our reputation is in serious question, but I hope you will continue to stand by us as we do everything in our power to make amends.
To begin that process, I will be stepping down from my post as Managing Editor, effective immediately. I take full responsibility for the events that transpired tonight, and for the black mark upon the organization that I have caused.
I ask not for your forgiveness, but for your understanding. I am so very, very, sorry, and we at Onward State continue to pray for Coach Paterno.
Sincerely,
Devon Edwards
There's not a line of bull in there.
Did he need to resign? Perhaps not. Either way, it's sincere, heartfelt and human. There are no conditions set, no distancing and no excuses. He screwed up, and he accepted full responsibility.
Why is it so hard for big-time CEOs (and media folks, for that matter) to do the same when something happens on their watch?
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Copyright 2012 by Business Insider, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission from Business Insider, Inc.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46091333/ns/business-us_business/
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Sunday, January 22, 2012
T-Mobile's 'Nudge, nudge' bonuses revealed
Walk into any T-Mobile store and dither a bit and you'll find a cavalcade of freebies thrown in. The operator's outlined an "under the counter" bonus to coax fence-dwelling customers to open their wallets. Upgrade to "Unlimited-Premium 5GB" or "Unlimited-Ultra 10GB," wink at the cashier and tap your nose three times (we made the last two up, we admit) and a $15 "Mobile Hotspot" and $5 "MobileLife Album Plus" could appear in your package. In the corporate missive TmoNews scooped above, the company wants to keep these as a secret sweetener, but will add both if you request them directly. We'd suggest you pull your finger out, because when everyone starts asking for them, we can't imagine it sticking around for long.
T-Mobile's 'Nudge, nudge' bonuses revealed originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/lRtcAEYaeQk/
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