Monday, December 31, 2012

2012: TechCrunch Year In Review

TC-yearJanuary: We started the year at CES where it was clear that Samsung is the new Apple. Late January brought the Crunchies, our annual awards fest where we gave Dropbox the nod for start-up of the year. We were also treated with the hip hop of Booby Hammer, son of the noted VC, Mr. MC Hammer. Seriously.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/gpMHzKZLu-E/

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What break time rules do we need to follow? ? Business ...

Q. We are changing our break policy. What breaks are required and can I require employees to take an unpaid meal break?

A. Federal law doesn?t require specific breaks. However, Minnesota law requires employers in the state to ?allow each employee adequate time from work within each four consecutive hours of work to utilize the nearest convenient restroom.? They ?must permit each employee who is working for eight or more consecutive hours sufficient time to eat a meal.?

Minnesota does not specifically require these breaks to be paid. The federal Fair Labor Standards Act generally requires breaks to be paid unless the break is:

  • At least 30 minutes long
  • The employee does not do any work during the break and
  • The employee is free to leave his or her workstation during the break.

Nothing prevents employers from requiring employees to take unpaid meal breaks. However, uniformly enforcing the rule could be difficult and it could create a risk if employees do not meet all three requirements for an unpaid break.

While you can require employees to regularly take an unpaid meal break if the requirements are met, you must also take care to pay employees for lunch periods if the employee performs work.

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Source: http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/33860/what-break-time-rules-do-we-need-to-follow

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NOAA lists ringed and bearded ice seal populations under the Endangered Species Act

Dec. 30, 2012 ? NOAA Fisheries announced on December 21, in compliance with a court ordered deadline, its final listing decision for four subspecies of ringed seals and two distinct population segments (DPSs) of bearded seals under the Endangered Species Act. Specifically, in line with the proposal, NOAA will list as threatened the Beringia and Okhotsk DPSs of bearded seals and the Arctic, Okhotsk, and Baltic subspecies of ringed seals. The Ladoga subspecies of ringed seals will be listed as endangered. The species that exist in U.S. waters (Arctic ringed seals and the Beringia DPS of bearded seals) are already protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

This science-based listing decision will not result in any immediate restrictions on human activities; however, Federal agencies that permit or fund projects that may affect a listed species must consult with NOAA Fisheries to ensure the existence of the species is not jeopardized. In addition, this listing will have no impact on the subsistence harvest of ice seals by Alaska Natives, a practice that is central to the traditional culture and nutrition in many Alaskan Native coastal communities.

"Our scientists undertook an extensive review of the best scientific and commercial data. They concluded that a significant decrease in sea ice is probable later this century and that these changes will likely cause these seal populations to decline," said Jon Kurland, protected resources director for NOAA Fisheries' Alaska region. "We look forward to working with the State of Alaska, our Alaska Native co-management partners, and the public as we work toward designating critical habitat for these seals."

NOAA will work with local, state and Native partners, as well as the public to help determine whether to propose critical habitat designations for Arctic ringed seals and the Beringia DPS of bearded seals. This decision will happen at a later date, after compiling significant additional scientific and economic data and public input. Earlier this year, the President directed that any future designations of critical habitat carefully consider all public comments on relevant science and economic impact, including those that suggest methods for minimizing regulatory burdens. Any potential future critical habitat designation will include a full analysis of economic impact, including impact on jobs, and will strive, to the extent permitted by law, to avoid unnecessary burdens and costs on states, tribes, localities, and the private sector.

Ringed and bearded seals depend on sea ice and snow to survive. After a comprehensive review of the best available science including climate models developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, NOAA has concluded that sea ice and snow cover are likely to further decrease in the foreseeable future resulting in population declines that threaten the survival of these seals.

Ringed seals nurse and protect their pups in snow caves, which are threatened by late ice formation in the fall, rain-on-snow events in the late winter, earlier break-up of spring ice, as well as decreasing snow depths, which are projected to be too shallow for snow cave formation by the end of the century. Both ringed seals and bearded seals rely on sea ice for extended periods during molting, and bearded seals live on sea ice during critical months for breeding, whelping, and nursing. Sea ice is projected to shrink both in extent and duration, with bearded seals finding inadequate ice even if they move north.

NOAA Fisheries proposed the listings in December 2010 and provided opportunities for public input through public comment periods and during public hearings held in Anchorage, Barrow, and Nome. In accordance with NOAA's Policy for Peer Review in ESA Activities, the agency also solicited comments from peer reviewers on each of the proposed rules. In December 2011, NOAA administratively extended the deadline for final listing determinations six months to June 2012 to allow for additional consideration of relevant science and information. In November 2012, the Alaska district court ordered NOAA to respond to a complaint about further delay by December 21, 2012.

The Endangered Species Act defines an endangered species as "any species which is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range." A threatened species is "any species which is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range."

The Endangered Species Act requires species listed as endangered to receive the full protection under the Act to prevent extinction, including a prohibition against "take," which includes harassing, harming, pursuing, wounding, killing, trapping, capturing, or collecting. These protections may also be established for threatened species to prevent them from becoming endangered, but NOAA does not propose pursuing such a rule at this time.

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/zX7CoN9eWps/121230180804.htm

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Sunday, December 30, 2012

India vs Pakistan: Start of 1st ODI delayed due to overnight rain

This is the first game for both India and Pakistan under the revised playing conditions for ODIs, which include the provision for two bouncers in one over, one new ball at either end, the abolition of the batting Power Play, etc.

NDTV Correspondent ?|? Last updated on Sunday, 30 December 2012 09:41 Print font size - + ').appendTo($jq('#gta')); $jq('').appendTo($jq('#gta')); },3000); } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { s += ''; } s += '' } } return; } // --> google_ad_client = "pub-7641565019577886"; /* Sports JS */ google_ad_slot = "8515735957"; google_ad_width = 640; google_ad_height = 70; google_max_num_ads = 1; google_ad_type = 'text'; google_ad_output = 'js'; //-->

Chennai:? Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul Haq has elected to bowl first against India in the first ODI of the three-match series in Chennai.

India have made just one change in their T20 team. Virender Sehwag comes in for Ajinkya Rahane. Pakistan bring in Shoaib Malik in place of Umar Akmal.

Damp patches on the outfield due to overnight rain delayed the start at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday.

Play, which was scheduled to start at 9, had to begin an hour late, with no reduction in the overs. Billy Bowden and S Ravi, the two umpires, made an inspection of the outfield at 8.45 am and pegged the toss at 9.30 am.

This is the first game for both India and Pakistan under the revised playing conditions for ODIs, which include the provision for two bouncers in one over, one new ball at either end, the abolition of the batting Power Play, the mandatory presence of at least five fielders inside the 30-yard circle throughout the 50 overs and the statute that the bowling Power Play must be completed by the end of the 40th over.


Story first published on: Sunday, 30 December 2012 09:02

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NdtvNews-TopStories/~3/DIA7-8CN80c/story01.htm

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Watch Randi Zuckerberg Have a Facebook Freakout Over Her Photo Going Viral

You probably already read about Randi Zuckerberg?s faux-privacy violation on Facebook this week. But odds are you?re not part of her inner circle. Lucky for you, a tipster who?s ?Friends? with RZ gave up the goods directly from her wall.

Watch Randi Zuckerberg Have a Facebook Freakout Over Her Photo Going Viral

While Randi was admonishing people for lacking ?human decency? on Twitter?dispatches she?d delete shortly after writing?she was fretting to her vast Friend following about how to handle the situation. The situation being that a completely innocuous photo she?d inadvertently made public through tagging was circulating the Internet. And to think, it was a viral hit even without the original caption: ?Mark convinced everyone to download the ?poke? app, so now my family is standing around sexting. Awk. Ward.? Truly! Where was Priscilla?

So she asked: should she ignore the quasi-controversy? Was it just a slow news day? (Which, yes, it was)
Watch Randi Zuckerberg Have a Facebook Freakout Over Her Photo Going Viral

Hundreds of Randi?s Silicon Valley chums chimed in, including Google exec Hunter Walk, begging RZ to let it go.

Watch Randi Zuckerberg Have a Facebook Freakout Over Her Photo Going Viral

Ignore, ignore, ignore, the people said. Tech investor Michael Arrington chimed in with something incoherent.

Watch Randi Zuckerberg Have a Facebook Freakout Over Her Photo Going ViralFormer Microsoft big shot Robert Scoble warned that this will only get worse with the spread of Google Glass. Venture capitalist Dave McClure referred fondly to the time the three of them played Rock Band in 2008. Still, the friends all said let it go.

She never did.

It?s strange to look inside, from a friend?s point of view, and see Mark Zuckerberg?s sister miss the mark by so many yards. When something is out there, it?s out there, free to be shared like any other rumour, joke, or dog meme?and Randi?s family is rich because of it. It?s not even Facebook?s fault. No privacy setting could have prevented this, short of blocking everyone. Although whining about ?decency? should make our eyes roll, she?s got the human part spot on?so long as we?re friends with humans on Facebook, those same people are free to spread whichever parts of your life they choose, and spread it widely. Because we like doing it, and that?s what Facebook is for.

Randi?s brother?s?life goal?is ?Making the world more open and connected,? and he?s doing a good job at it. But the more connected we are, the quicker we?re just going to be the way we were a century ago. We like funny things. We like being in on the joke. And when you?re a self-appointed tech celeb, your frustration becomes a currency anyone will spend. One of your?over 2,300?Facebook friends sold you out for a quick laugh Randi, and they?ll keep doing it over and over again, to all of us, so long as we?re all making money for your brother.

Source: http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2012/12/watch-randi-zuckerberg-have-a-facebook-freakout-over-her-photo-going-viral/

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Clippers score 15th straight NBA win

LOS ANGELES, California - The Los Angeles Clippers routed the Boston Celtics 106-77 on Thursday to stretch their franchise-record NBA winning streak to 15 games.

The Clippers are the first team to win 15 in a row since the Celtics racked up 19 games straight in the 2008-09 season.

They improved to a league-best 23-6, staying atop the Western Conference ahead of Oklahoma City - who improved to 22-6 with a 111-105 overtime victory over Dallas.

Matt Barnes led the Clippers with 21 points, making five of their 12 three-point shots.

Jamal Crawford added 17 points and Blake Griffin contributed 15 points and eight rebounds for the Clippers, who last lost on November 26.

Kevin Garnett scored 16 points and Paul Pierce added 12 for the Celtics, who lost for the fifth time in seven games.

The Clippers seized control early, making nine of their first 13 shots to jump out to a 21-6 lead.

The Clippers were up 82-67 going into the fourth quarter and opened the period on an 8-0 scoring run.


Source: http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=221342

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Saturday, December 29, 2012

A personal finance to-do list for the year's end | The Salt Lake Tribune

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., on Monday, Nov. 12, 2012. U.S. stocks trimmed gains as technology and financial shares weighed down the market after an earlier rally boosted by takeover activity. Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg

Advice ? Tips for last-minute moves could save you money, lower taxes.

Even as the hours slowly tick down toward 2013, there still is time to make last-minute moves to enhance your finances and lower your taxes for the year, according to financial planners.

Sharla Jessop, a vice president and private wealth management consultant at Smedley Financial Services in Salt Lake City, said that if you?re thinking about giving cash to a favorite charity, you may instead consider donating stock that has appreciated in value.

"Provided [you] have held those shares for at least a year and a day, [you] can donate the stock before the end of the year and not have to pay any capital gains," Jessop said.

She also noted that parents holding stocks that have appreciated may want to give them to their children as a gift before year?s end. Although the children "still will have to pay the capital gains, they typically will be in a lower tax bracket than their parents."

Jessop added that if you anticipate selling stock within the next six months that has risen in value, you may want to liquidate your position now because capital gains taxes are expected to go up in 2013.

Here are some other year-end tips by financial professionals.

Do your donations ? If you want a charitable deduction on this year?s taxes, you need to write that donation check by Dec. 31. Donations made on a credit card by Dec. 31 are deductible for 2012, even if you pay the Visa bill in 2013, the Internal Revenue Service says. A gift by check also counts for 2012, as long it?s mailed in December. Gifts to individuals ? friends, family or strangers ? are not deductible.

Max out the 401(k) ? It?s a gift to yourself, a little more retirement cushion. If you haven?t maxed out the annual contribution to your 401(k) at work, do so now. For 2012, the annual contribution limit is $17,000; next year, it goes up to $17,500. If you?re over age 50, you can make an additional catch-up contribution this year of $5,500.

Ditto for your IRA ? To boost your retirement savings, don?t forget these contributions. In 2012, the maximum contribution to IRAs and Roth IRAs is the smaller of $5,000 or your taxable compensation for the year. For those age 50 or older, the limit is $6,000.

If you?re not covered by a retirement plan at work, you can get a full tax deduction for IRA contributions. If covered by an employer?s retirement plan, you can take a deduction up to certain income limits (i.e. no deduction is allowed for married couples filing jointly with incomes above $112,000).

story continues below

"Moving" donations ? If you?re donating a car, boat or plane to a charitable organization at year?s end, the IRS reminds that you can deduct only the fair market amount when the car is sold by the charity. This applies to vehicle deductions valued at $500 or more.

Spend those FSA dollars ? If you have a Flexible Spending Account at work to cover health/dependent care costs, now?s the time to make sure you?ve exhausted all those tax-free, use-it-or-lose-it dollars you squirreled away. Once you?ve spent those dollars, you?ll still need to file claims through your employer?s health plan to get reimbursed.

Know your deadlines ? For dependent care (such as child care or adult day care), the deadline to incur expenses or file claims is Dec. 31. For health care expenses, many employers offer a grace period through the first part of 2013. Check with your employer?s plan for deadlines.

Note that not everything you buy is reimbursable as a health care expense. For a detailed list, go to IRS.gov or your health care provider?s website.

Prepare the paper ? Now is a good time to start gathering the paperwork for filing your 2012 taxes. Even if it?s simply tossing it into a shoebox, start collecting proof of income (pay stubs, 1099s, W-2s) and proof of deductions/donations (charitable receipts, canceled checks, credit card statements, payroll deductions).

Whether you use a professional tax preparer or do your taxes yourself, getting organized now can ease headaches down the road.

Copyright 2012 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/55534960-79/care-taxes-2012-health.html.csp

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UFC 155: 4 Questions We Have About Junior Dos Santos

Regardless of the outcome on Saturday, the train of Junior dos Santos will continue down its tracks.

So who will be next for him?

With a win, it's 100 percent Alistair Overeem. The two hate each other, and there's money to be made off of the white-knight champion against the black-hat challenger.

What if he loses?

You'd have to think dos Santos would still be in the mix given how thin the division is and how far ahead of the curve he is compared to most other contenders. He might see Antonio Silva across the cage from him or maybe even a rematch against Roy Nelson.

That's all speculation, though. He has the biggest fight of his life coming up at UFC 155, and that's all he or anyone else needs to be interested in right now.

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1461648-ufc-155-4-questions-we-have-about-junior-dos-santos

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Marketing On The Internet Has Never Been Simpler: Follow These ...

Many businesses are finding Web marketing to be the preferred marketing method. With the many choices that range from electronic newsletters to static websites, marketing online is becoming simpler. Keep reading to find out how you can get more out of your Internet marketing with email.

TIP! Add links to your website everywhere you go on the web by putting it with your signature. If you post to a forum, add your link to your signature so that it will be seen every time one of your posts is read.

If you are good at writing, write an article about your business and submit it to magazines that accept submissions. Ensure you have the business information for your company in the articles. Get the attention of the editors by offering affiliate commissions or freebies so that there is a good incentive for them to publish what you write.

It certainly sounds impressive to have profiles on all the social media sites you can think of, but you must give each your full attention so that it remains vibrant. Inactive profiles that are not updated regularly are useless.

TIP! It is important to not only gain your clients? trust, but keep it. When designing your marketing communications and promotions, include only the information which can be supported by facts.

Do you have a product that no one else offers? This detail should have the power to attract site visitors to your website in search of your products or services. The users will then likely look at your other products, bringing legitimacy to your site and therefore improving your page rank.

Try to find out what types of emails are effective at getting your customers to take action. A/B testing is a very popular method for determining effectiveness. After coming up with an email campaign, modify one detail in the email. You will be comparing the effectiveness of the alternate versions, so make sure that only one thing is different, whether it is the introduction, the call to action, or the subject line. Send out each version to an equally-sized random subset of your customers, and measure the success. When you find the correct email wording that really works, stick with it.

TIP! Internet marketing businesses can benefit from an effective email marketing campaign. It is important to protect your emails.

Capitalize on the mobile marketing revolution. Text notifications are a great way to let your visitors know there is a promotion on. This is a new method of advertising that also will boost your advertising campaigns in Internet promotion.

Talk with other businesses, and discuss the idea of packaging goods you both provide. This method allows you to link several markets, which will generate more sales for you. For example, we all know of the online travel sites that have pulled together packages that include your airfare, hotel and car rental all into one easy transaction. This tip is perfect for companies with supplemental or complementary products that are related to each other, but not being used by your competitors.

TIP! Record a video of you demonstrating the product you are attempting to sell. This will allow the customer to see you trying out your product.

Online marketing should not be very complicated but rather strive to make it simple. It?s an easy field to get into; you can make use of this article?s suggestions immediately to start getting the word out to potential customers online. Many people prefer to get information electronically, and that makes Website marketing the ideal way to increase your sales.

Source: http://www.cop15post.com/marketing-on-the-internet-has-never-been-simpler-follow-these-suggestions-2.html

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Friday, December 28, 2012

Insight: Under siege, Japan central bank wakes up to political reality

TOKYO (Reuters) - Within a day of Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party sweeping to power in elections this month, elite bureaucrats in Japan's central bank rushed to ready what amounted to a surrender offer.

Abe had run his campaign with a relentless focus on economic policy and had called on the Bank of Japan (BOJ) to take drastic steps to end the nation's long bout of deflation, or else face a radical makeover at the hands of parliament.

The vote had become an unexpected referendum on the BOJ itself, and the bank had lost.

Senior officials concluded that to preserve the BOJ's scope to act in a future crisis, it needed to move quickly to show it recognized reality, according to people familiar with the hurried deliberations. Abe had won a mandate for more forceful monetary easing, and Japanese taxpayers were frustrated with an economy slipping back into its third recession in five years.

In the early afternoon of December 18, two days after the vote, BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa was to pay a courtesy call on Abe. But even before then, a post-election plan had taken shape: the BOJ would consider the kind of ambitious 2 percent inflation target that Abe had insisted was needed to pull Japan out of nearly two decades of deflation and diminished expectations.

It was an about-face for Shirakawa who, since taking his post in 2008, had argued that by focusing too narrowly on consumer prices, the BOJ could miss signs of an asset price bubble like the one Japan experienced in the late 1980s.

But increasingly his own senior officials and members of the BOJ's policy-setting board were ready to take risks and test unorthodox and unproven measures that Shirakawa had long resisted, such as an unlimited debt-fuelled monetary expansion, officials familiar with their thinking say.

"The LDP's win was just too big, and it won an election calling for a 2 percent inflation target. If that's the will of the people, the BOJ must respect that," said a source familiar with the central bank's thinking. "Otherwise, the BOJ could lose everything, including its independence."

The central bank is now on track to pump 120 trillion yen ($1.4 trillion) into the economy - equivalent to the value of six Googles - even though skeptics argue that this tide of money cannot break Japan's real economic logjam: falling wages.

Instead, the skeptics say, the risk is that investors would end up concluding that Japan needed the central bank to cover its debts - a recipe for a selloff of government bonds, which already amount to twice the size of gross domestic product.

But after Abe's landslide election victory - and years of limited money-printing having failed to revive growth - senior BOJ officials wanted it understood they were ready to join the experiment in what media and investors called "Abenomics", a potentially high-octane mix of fiscal and monetary stimulus.

Abe's victory seemed to establish that millions of Japanese shared his views, people in the bank came to believe.

They felt he now held the trump card in any future standoff with the BOJ over monetary policy - a mandate to amend the BOJ Law in a way that would give the government power to impose a binding target on the central bank, or fire its governor.

BLIND EYE

In a symbol of the political significance of his monetary policy push, Abe scheduled a one-on-one meeting with Shirakawa just hours after setting up a first phone call as prime-minister-elect with the U.S. President Barack Obama.

Two days after the election, the central bank governor visited Abe at the fortress-like headquarters of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Abe reminded Shirakawa of his campaign promises. He wanted to see the BOJ sign a "policy accord" that would oblige it to support Abe's reflationary agenda and commit to a 2 percent inflation target, Abe told reporters later.

After the meeting, Shirakawa rushed through a scrum of reporters into his waiting car and declined to say what was discussed. However Abe, in another break with protocol, gave an unusually detailed recounting of the 15-minute meeting.

"The governor just listened," he said.

The next day, the BOJ began a scheduled two-day policy board meeting. The central bank announced its third shot of monetary stimulus in four months by adding another 10 trillion yen to its asset-buying program - essentially committing to create more money to buy government debt.

It marked the fifth time this year that the central bank had expanded asset purchases - its most active year in terms of monetary expansion in a decade.

More significantly, the BOJ also made a direct concession to Abe and pledged to review its existing inflation target of 1 percent at its next scheduled meeting in January.

The BOJ was retreating from the cautious stance of its classically trained boss, Shirakawa, and essentially turning a blind eye to the potential, long-term drawbacks of excessive money printing that he had long warned about.

Only a month earlier, many BOJ officials had preferred to hold off on taking action until the January meeting, according to sources familiar with the deliberations.

Shirakawa, in particular, had been in no mood to act again in 2012, let alone commit to studying a higher inflation target. He had been convinced that the BOJ's monetary easing steps in September and October were enough to stave off risks to the economy for now, the sources said.

LONG & WINDING ROAD

Shirakawa's five-year term ends in April and people close to him say he has no interest in staying on. But decisions taken under his watch over the next few months could influence the central bank's credibility well beyond his departure.

A fan of the Beatles, Shirakawa, 63, has often warned against the risk of an overly loose monetary policy.

He once described Japan's struggle to recover from its late 1980s asset bubble as "The Long And Winding Road", a reference to the plaintive Beatles song. He said rich economies risked repeating Japan's "lost decade" of slow growth if they kept ultra-easy monetary policy in place for too long.

But for the past year, a tight-knit group of officials in the BOJ's Monetary Affairs Department has been nudging the bank in the opposite direction. They favor more aggressive easing, such as a big increase in government bond buying, according to officials with knowledge of those discussions and former central bank officials who remain in close contact with policymakers.

Among the actions now under consideration at the BOJ is an open-ended commitment to buy government bonds or an expansion in the type of assets it purchases, the officials said.

Another idea, floated by board member Koji Ishida, is to nudge rates to zero by scrapping a 0.1 percent interest rate the BOJ pays on excess reserves parked with the central bank.

Proponents argue that such steps would hold down interest rates on bank and corporate borrowing, encourage money to flow to private investors and help weaken the yen.

Anticipation of BOJ action has already pushed the yen to a two-year low against the dollar. Tokyo stock prices have climbed to a 21-month high on the expectation for higher earnings for currency-sensitive exporters like automaker Toyota Motor Corp.

"Markets already expect the BOJ to set a 2 percent inflation target, so the question now is what the central bank would do to achieve it," said Masaaki Kanno, a former central banker and now chief economist at JPMorgan Securities in Tokyo.

"If it wants to influence currency rates, it needs to give markets the impression it is easing aggressively."

Abe has said he will choose a successor to Shirakawa whose views are closer to his own. He has not made up his mind yet on his favored candidate but aides say he may prefer someone with negotiation and management skills, rather than an academic, to oversee the BOJ as it pushes into unknown territory.

PRESSURE REMAINS ON

With the LDP's coalition partner, the New Komeito, Abe has enough votes in the lower house to overrule the upper house on key votes, including a potential revision of the 1998 BOJ Law that gave the 130-year-old bank its long-awaited independence.

Under this law, the central bank is guaranteed independence to guide monetary policy without political interference and is mandated to pursue price stability. Abe has discussed a law revision to impose a price target on the central bank and add a requirement to maximize job growth to its mandate.

Abe is already using threats of a BOJ Law revision to nudge the central bank into meeting his demands.

Koichi Hamada, a Yale University professor whom Abe admires, said the BOJ would have to accept more legal accountability to achieve its price target and beat deflation.

"Generally speaking, the BOJ is making an effort. But there is hardly any change to its pace of 'too little, too late'," said Hamada, 76, who was appointed a special adviser to Abe's cabinet and also taught Shirakawa at the University of Tokyo.

"It is necessary to amend the BOJ law," he said in a telephone interview on Thursday.

'A TOUGH SPOT'

One challenge now for the BOJ is setting a higher inflation target that is seen as credible. In February, the BOJ said that it would aim to achieve 1 percent price growth.

But Shirakawa, who joined the BOJ during Japan's high inflation years of the early 1970s, and many other officials in the bank have resisted calls for a higher target. For one, Japan has not seen 2 percent inflation in the past two decades. The last time it did was during the real estate and stock market bubble of the late 1980s to early 1990s, when the BOJ was criticized for missing signs of an overheating economy.

Some officials share Shirakawa's doubts over whether further monetary easing will work. Two key metrics - the BOJ's holdings of government debt and the balance of deposits parked with the central bank - are already at record highs, yet the BOJ's pump-priming measures have failed to put an end to deflation.

Nationwide core consumer prices slid 0.1 percent in November from a year earlier after flat growth in October, which followed five straight month of declines.

Another concern for the cautionary wing of the BOJ centers on the unusual structure of Japan's economy. Japan's jobless rate - at 4 percent - is half that of the United States. But wages remain on the decline, down 1.1 percent in November from a year earlier to mark the third straight month of falls.

Unable to fire workers in mass layoffs because of rigid labour rules, Japanese firms are unwilling to raise salaries. Without a rise in wages, the only practical way overall prices could go up would be through higher commodity and fuel costs which would curb consumption, not boost it, the BOJ has argued.

Setting a 2 percent inflation target next month would require the BOJ to awkwardly steer around the arguments that Shirakawa and other officials have long made.

"If the BOJ contradicts too much of what it's been saying all along, that would put its credibility on the line. People will no longer believe what the BOJ says anymore," said Izuru Kato, chief economist at Totan Research Institute in Tokyo.

The BOJ also worries about a potential bond-market backlash. Its ultra-easy policy has pushed down five-year bond yields below 0.2 percent. But some investors balk at buying too many 20-year and 30-year bonds, concerned that Abe's pledge of big fiscal spending would strain Japan's already worsening finances.

Much will depend on Shirakawa's successor and how well the central bank communicates its policy target to investors - an area where Shirakawa has struggled by his own admission.

After the December 20 easing, his aides convinced him to try the kind of visual aid often used on Japanese television - a large flip chart - and to aim his presentation at the TV cameras. An economist suspicious of sound bites, he looked uncomfortable.

"The BOJ is pumping huge amounts of money and easing very aggressively. But that fact isn't understood well perhaps because of our restrained character. There's a huge perception gap," Shirakawa said.

"I hope this chart is broadcast on television and helps more people understand our point," he added.

($1 = 85.9250 Japanese yen)

(Additional reporting by Sumio Ito and Yoshifumi Takemoto; Editing by Kevin Krolicki and Mark Bendeich)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/insight-under-siege-japan-central-bank-wakes-political-084520566--business.html

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Green Blog: A Price Tag for the Gowanus Cleanup

The Superfund cleanup of the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn is expected to cost $467 million to $504 million and will require dredging the 1.8-mile waterway to remove contaminated sediment, the federal Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday.

The agency, releasing an updated plan for public comment, is also proposing controls to prevent raw sewage discharges by the city, which have been an ongoing source of contamination.

The worst contamination of the Gowanus however, comes from its past as a major industrial transportation route for paper mills, tanneries, chemical plants and other businesses that operated alongside it. The waterway is polluted with more than a dozen contaminants, including PCBs and heavy metals like mercury, lead and copper.

Despite the heavy contamination and government advisories against fishing, officials say that some residents continue to eat fish from the canal.

?The proposed cleanup plan for the Gowanus Canal will make essential progress in removing toxic contaminants from this heavily polluted and battered waterway,?? Judith A. Enck, the E.P.A.?s? regional administrator in New York, said in a statement. ?Our overall goal is to reduce pollution and protect the health of people who live and work in this community.?

In a phone interview, Ms. Enck said she expected the plan to be finalized by the end of next year. The design phase will then take about two years, and the cleanup itself will take until 2020, agency officials said.

?This is an area where millions of people live, and we?re going to work with the community so this is the least disruptive as possible, especially to local businesses,? Ms. Enck said.

Among the parties helping to pay for the cleanup are the city and other entities associated with the pollution of its waters, including National Grid, formerly the Brooklyn Union Gas company.

The Gowanus was added to the federal Superfund list in 2010 over the objections of the Bloomberg administration, which feared that the designation would deter development and had proposed a streamlined cleanup that it would help oversee. City officials have also clashed with the EPA over how to address the sewage overflow issue, given the costs the city would incur in seeking to address it.

But on Thursday, the city?s Department of Environmental Protection, which handles sewage treatment, said in a statement: ?We look forward to carefully reviewing the details of E.P.A.?s proposal and working with our state and federal partners to improve water quality and support the cleanup of the canal.?

The E.P.A.?s plan involves dividing the canal into three segments. For the first two, more heavily contaminated segments, the agency plans to dredge or ?stabilize? the sediment in some areas by mixing it with concrete or a similar material and then capping it with layers of clay, sand and gravel.
The third segment would be dredged and capped with sand, the agency said.

To prevent recontamination after the cleanup is completed, federal officials are also proposing installing controls at two major city outfall sites that discharge sewer overflows into the canal. The controls ? basically, holding tanks that would retain excess sewage and stormwater until the city?s treatment plants can handle it ? could reduce discharges of raw sewage by
58 percent to 74 percent, the agency said.

Two public meetings on the cleanup plan are scheduled, on Jan. 23 and 24, and the E.P.A. is accepting public comments until March 28. Written comments on the proposed plan should be addressed to:

Christos Tsiamis
Project Manager
Central New York Remediation Section
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
290 Broadway, 20th floor
New York, N.Y. 10007-1866

Source: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/27/a-price-tag-for-the-gowanus-cleanup/?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Thursday, December 27, 2012

US consumers lose confidence as fiscal cliff nears

In this Friday, Dec. 21, 2012, photo, shoppers walk past a store at a mall in Salem, N.H. U.S. consumer confidence tumbled in December, driven lower by fears of sharp tax increases and government spending cuts set to take effect next week. The Conference Board said Thursday that its consumer confidence index fell this month to 65.1, down from 71.5 in November. That's second straight decline and the lowest level since August. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

In this Friday, Dec. 21, 2012, photo, shoppers walk past a store at a mall in Salem, N.H. U.S. consumer confidence tumbled in December, driven lower by fears of sharp tax increases and government spending cuts set to take effect next week. The Conference Board said Thursday that its consumer confidence index fell this month to 65.1, down from 71.5 in November. That's second straight decline and the lowest level since August. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

In this Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012, photo, a couple descend an escalator while shopping at an H& M store, in Atlanta. U.S. consumer confidence tumbled in December, driven lower by fears of sharp tax increases and government spending cuts set to take effect next week. The Conference Board said Thursday that its consumer confidence index fell this month to 65.1, down from 71.5 in November. That's second straight decline and the lowest level since August. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? U.S. consumers peering over the "fiscal cliff" don't like what they see.

Fears of sharp tax increases and government spending cuts set to take effect next week sent consumer confidence tumbling in December to its lowest level since August.

The Conference Board said Thursday that its consumer confidence index fell for the second straight month in December to 65.1, down from 71.5 in November.

The survey showed consumers' outlook for the next six months deteriorated to its lowest level since 2011 ? a signal to Lynn Franco, the board's director of economic indicators, that consumers are worried about the tax hikes and spending cuts that take effect Jan. 1 if the White House and Congress can't reach a budget deal.

Earlier this week a report showed consumers held back shopping this holiday season, another indication of their concerns about possible tax increases.

The December drop in confidence "is obvious confirmation that a sudden and serious deterioration in hopes for the future took place in December ? presumably reflecting concern about imminent 'fiscal cliff' tax increases," said Pierre Ellis, an economist with Decision Economics.

The decline in confidence comes at a critical time when the economy is showing signs of improvement elsewhere.

A recovery in housing market is looking more sustainable. On Thursday, the government said new-home sales increased in November at the fastest seasonally adjusted annual pace in 2? years.

And the job market has made slow but steady gains in recent months. The average number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits over the past month fell to the lowest level since March 2008.

But the political wrangling in Washington threatens the economy's slow, steady progress. President Barack Obama and House returned to Washington Thursday to resume talks with just days to go before the deadline.

Mixed signals over those negotiations led to a rocky day on Wall Street.

Stocks plunged early after the weak consumer confidence report and a warning from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that the government appeared to be headed over the "fiscal cliff." At one point, the Dow Jones industrial average fell as much as 150 points.

But the market came back in the final hour of trading on a potential sign of movement in the talks: Republican leaders announced they would bring the House back into session on Sunday evening. The Dow recouped nearly all of its losses to close down just 18 points at 13,096.

A short fall over the cliff won't push the economy into recession. But most economists expect some tax increases to take effect next year. That could slow economic growth.

While consumers are more worried about where the economy is headed, they were upbeat about present conditions, according to the latest survey. Their assessment of current economic conditions rose this month to the highest level since August 2008.

A key reason for that is gas prices hit a 2012 low of $3.21 a gallon last week. Normally, that would prompt consumers to spend more on holiday shopping.

But the opposite has happened. A report from MasterCard Advisors Spending pulse indicated sales grew in the two months before Christmas at the weakest rate since 2008, when the country was in a deep recession.

There were other distractions this holiday season. In late October, Superstorm Sandy battered the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states, which account for 24 percent of U.S. retail sales. That coupled with the presidential election, hurt sales during the first half of November.

Shopping picked up in the second half of November. But "fiscal cliff" worries dampened sales in December.

The National Retail Federation, the nation's largest retail trade group, remains optimistic that sales won't be quite as bad as earlier reports have suggested. It is sticking to its forecast for total sales for November and December to be up 4.1 percent to $586.1 billion this year. That's more than a percentage point lower than the growth in each of the past two years, and the smallest increase since 2009 when sales were up just 0.3 percent.

___

AP Retail Writer Anne D'Innocenzio contributed from New York to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-12-27-Consumer%20Confidence/id-9b107017556f4bb08cffdc809e1a3780

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Ticket rush: Film fans hand Hollywood record cash

FILE - In this publicity film image released by Disney, Chris Hemsworth portrays Thor, left, and and Chris Evans portrays Captain America, in a scene from "The Avengers," expected to be released on May 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Disney, Zade Rosenthal, File)

FILE - In this publicity film image released by Disney, Chris Hemsworth portrays Thor, left, and and Chris Evans portrays Captain America, in a scene from "The Avengers," expected to be released on May 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Disney, Zade Rosenthal, File)

In this publicity photo provided by Warner Bros. Pictures, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as John Blake, is shown in a scene in Warner Bros. Pictures? and Legendary Pictures? action thriller ?The Dark Knight Rises," a Warner Bros. Pictures release. TM & ? DC Comics. (AP Photo/Warner Bros. Pictures, Ron Phillips)

FILE - In this file photo of a publicity film image released by Disney, Iron Man, portrayed by Robert Downey Jr., left, and Captain America, portrayed by Chris Evans, are shown in a scene from "The Avengers." (AP Photo/Disney, File)

In this publicity photo provided by Warner Bros. Pictures, Tom Hardy, center, as Bane, is shown in a scene in Warner Bros. Pictures? and Legendary Pictures? action thriller ?The Dark Knight Rises," a Warner Bros. Pictures release. TM & ? DC Comics. (AP Photo/Warner Bros. Pictures, Ron Phillips)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? The big deal for Hollywood is not the record $10.8 billion that studios took in domestically in 2012. It's the fact that the number of tickets sold went up for the first time in three years.

Thanks to inflation, revenue generally rises in Hollywood as admission prices climb each year. The real story is told in tickets, whose sales have been on a general decline for a decade, bottoming out in 2011 at 1.29 billion, their lowest level since 1995.

The industry rebounded this year, with ticket sales projected to rise 5.6 percent to 1.36 billion by Dec. 31, according to box-office tracker Hollywood.com. That's still well below the modern peak of 1.6 billion tickets sold in 2002, but in an age of cozy home theater setups and endless entertainment gadgets, studio executives consider it a triumph that they were able to put more butts in cinema seats this year than last.

"It is a victory, ultimately," said Don Harris, head of distribution at Paramount Pictures. "If we deliver the product as an industry that people want, they will want to get out there. Even though you can sit at home and watch something on your large screen in high-def, people want to get out."

Domestic revenue should finish up nearly 6 percent from 2011's $10.2 billion and top Hollywood's previous high of $10.6 billion set in 2009.

The year was led by a pair of superhero sagas, Disney's "The Avengers" with $623 million domestically and $1.5 billion worldwide and the Warner Bros. Batman finale "The Dark Knight Rises" with $448 million domestically and $1.1 billion worldwide. Sony's James Bond adventure "Skyfall" is closing in on the $1 billion mark globally, and the list of action and family-film blockbusters includes "The Hunger Games," ''The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn ? Part Two," ''Ice Age: Continental Drift," ''Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted," ''The Amazing Spider-Man" and "Brave."

Before television, movies were the biggest thing going, with ticket sales estimated as high as 4 billion a year domestically in the 1930s and '40s.

Movie-going eroded steadily through the 1970s as people stayed home with their small screens. The rise of videotape in the 1980s further cut into business, followed by DVDs in the '90s and big, cheap flat-screen TVs in recent years. Today's video games, mobile phones and other portable devices also offer easy options to tramping out to a movie theater.

It's all been a continual drain on cinema business, and cynics repeatedly predict the eventual demise of movie theaters. Yet Hollywood fights back with new technology of its own, from digital 3-D to booming surround-sound to the clarity of images projected at high-frame rates, which is being tested now with "The Lord of the Rings" prelude "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," shown in select theaters at 48 frames a second, double the standard speed.

For all of the annoyances of theaters ? parking, pricy concessions, sitting next to strangers texting on their iPhones ? cinemas still offer the biggest and best way to see a movie.

"Every home has a kitchen, but you can't get into a good restaurant on Saturday night," said Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros. "People want to escape. That's the nature of society. The adult population just is not going to sit home seven days a week, even though they have technology in their home that's certainly an improvement over what it was 10 years ago. People want to get out of the house, and no matter what they throw in the face of theatrical exhibition, it continues to perform at a strong level."

Even real-life violence at the movie theater didn't turn audiences away. Some moviegoers thought twice about heading to the cinema after a gunman killed 12 people and injured 58 at a screening of "The Dark Knight Rises" in Colorado last summer, but if there was any lull in attendance, it was slight and temporary. Ticket sales went on a tear for most of the fall.

While domestic revenues inch upward most years largely because of inflation, the real growth areas have been overseas, where more and more fans are eager for the next Hollywood blockbuster.

International business generally used to account for less than half of a studio film's overall receipts. Films now often do two or even three times as much business overseas as they do domestically. Some movies that were duds with U.S. audiences, such as "Battleship" and "John Carter," can wind up being $200 million hits with overseas crowds.

Whether finishing a good year or a bad one, Hollywood executives always look ahead to better days, insisting that the next crop of blockbusters will be bigger than ever. The same goes this time as studio bosses hype their 2013 lineup, which includes the latest "Iron Man," ''Star Trek," ''Hunger Games" and "Thor" installments, the Superman tale "Man of Steel" and the second chapter in "The Hobbit" trilogy.

Twelve months from now, they hope to be talking about another revenue record topping this year's $10.8 billion.

"I've been saying we're going to hit that $11 billion level for about three years now," said Paul Dergarabedian, a box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. "Next year I think is the year we actually do it."

___

Online:

http://www.hollywood.com

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-12-26-Film-Hollywood's%20Year/id-df6a82e44d8d4e57bc551c529ad706c1

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weak brain power - Health, Fitness, and Sports

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Post new topic???Reply to topic ???Wrong Planet Autism Forum Index -> Health, Fitness, and Sports ????
soulburner
Blue Jay
Blue Jay

Joined: Jan 17, 2012
Posts: 79


PostPosted: Wed Dec 26, 2012 7:58 pm?? ?Post subject: weak brain power Reply with quote

my brain power havent been strong. my mind take awhile to process information. when i was in high school this year, my mind was right. i could think and process thing carefully. This past summer, ever since my sister quit her job, my brain power went down. my sister been irritating me, constantly telling me what i did wrong where the stuff i got wrong, i made a mistake with it before. my whole family disregards the fact that i made the A honor roll graduating and treat me like some moron. as soon as i try to increase my brain power, my sister is in my face annoying me. she always saying me and my neice are stupid and dumbasses. so if she think im dumb, im going to act dumb. my sister like to be the only smart person in the house and she likes that position because she has nothing else to do.
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 26, 2012 9:17 pm?? ?Post subject: Reply with quote

Your sister has no idea what she is talking about. She is the dumb one. You need to just be yourself. Everyone else is taken.
_________________
I'd like to make myself believe that planet Earth turns slowly. It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep 'cause everything is never as it seems.
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Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Kazakhstan military plane crashes, killing 27

MOSCOW (AP) ? Kazakhstan's acting border service chief was among 27 people killed in a military plane crash Tuesday near a southern city, another blow to the agency after he was appointed in June to deal with the aftermath of a mass killing involving a conscript.

The Russian-made An-72 crashed at 1255 GMT (7:55 a.m. EST) about 20 kilometers (12 miles) away from the city of Shymkent near the border with Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan's Committee for National Security said in a statement.

The fatalities included a crew of seven and 20 border guards, including the acting head of the ex-Soviet nation's border protection service, Col. Turganbek Stambekov, the statement said.

Without specifying further details, authorities said an investigation was opened into the crash. No cause was given, but southern Kazakhstan over recent weeks has been buffeted by winds, heavy snows and low temperatures, causing widespread flight delays.

Stambekov was appointed acting head of the border service in June, after a mass killing of 14 frontier troops in a remote Kazakh outpost near China the month before. Vladislav Chelakh, a 20-year-old conscript, was sentenced earlier this month to life in prison after being found solely responsible for the killings.

The border service has come under close scrutiny in Kazakhstan since the killings, which many argued showed the lack of readiness and professionalism among serving troops. Legislation approved Thursday by the upper house of parliament and supported by Stambekov was designed to improve the process for selecting conscripts for the service.

The Kazakh-Uzbek border stretches 2,200 kilometers (1,350 miles) of Central Asian steppes and deserts.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kazakhstan-military-plane-crashes-killing-27-155634042.html

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Economics and Investing: - SurvivalBlog.com

This page contains a single entry by Jim Rawles published on December 26, 2012 12:46 AM.

Odds 'n Sods: was the previous entry in this blog.

Letter Re: My Travails in Buying Rifles, Magazines, and Ammo is the next entry in this blog.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.

Source: http://www.survivalblog.com/2012/12/economics-and-investing-1390.html

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DIY Apps for Small Business ? Part 2 at Monitor Everything IT ...

calcultorIntroducing the ?Go for Good Enough? Awards.?

In Part 1 ,?we discussed factors you need to consider when you set out to create a custom app for your business, as well as how these affect ?what method or tool you choose to get the job done.? Today we are going to help you find a DIY App Development Tool that is a ?best fit? for your needs.?

When choosing a service to create your app, it?s a given that you want to keep costs down as much as possible but you still want to have an end-product that you can be proud of. ?With so many DIY app programs on the market (and more on the way) ? all claiming to be the ?best? and ?easiest? to use ??the process of choosing one can seem a bit daunting, especially if you are a busy entrepreneur with little ?free? time for research. ? We reviewed dozens and dozens of articles and websites and put together a list of DIY App Programs that we consider worthy enough to receive our brand new ?Go for Good Enough?Award.

Programs were evaluated on these criteria:?

  • DIRECT relevance for the needs of businesses ??this was the most important factor in judging.? A free app that doesn?t meet your needs is useless.
  • Ability to build in quick contact and location-based directions (GPS).
  • Ability to EASILY connect app to your existing social media accounts.
  • Variety of pricing plans.? To be included, a business had to be able to start out at a low cost (Free is better) and be to scale up over time.? There needed to be an effective way to get a good ROI (as compared to building an app that would be purely an expense ? or just for the fun of it!).
  • Ability to develop cross-platform apps (ex. Android, iPhone, etc).? Consumers don?t all use the same mobile devices so the apps that businesses develop need to be flexible and not tied to a specific platform.
  • Quick to learn and/or have really good tutorials and instructions.? Let?s face it, if you have no experience, there is going to be a learning curve. You will need to learn how to build your app ? but it shouldn?t be rocket science.
  • Gallery or portfolio for you to see examples of what can be done. ?Programs with pre-made templates are even better. Since the idea of developing an App is probably new territory, you may have no idea of the possibilities.
  • Experience, established client base and/or mainstream media reviews. ??To be considered a ?winner? a program couldn?t be brand new.? This doesn?t mean that our ?runners-up? aren?t good (or may be even better) ??they just haven?t had the test of time .
  • Bonus Points??? ?Have the ability to either add e-commerce features directly to the app and/or the ability to monetize the app.

And the Winners are (in alphabetical order) ?

Bizness APPS?-?Bizness Apps was built from the ground up with small businesses in mind. From our ease of use to the features that we offer inside our apps ? we are specifically designed for small businesses.? Try for free.? Because pricing starts at $29 month, Bizness Apps is likely to be a TOP solution for businesses on a budget when it comes to developing a quality app with room to expand.

KitApps?- Forget about printing hundreds of copies of your event guide, only to reprint if something changes. Turn your guide into a mobile app in as little as 30 minutes. It?s always up-to-date and has all the features you need like a schedule, speaker list and much more.? At the time of this article, KitApps provides a way to make apps that are designed for conferences and events but site says that other options such as real estate, restaurants and bars, schools and news organizations will be coming soon.? Read our review of KitApps.

Magmito - From everyday people to small and mid-sized businesses, anybody can create apps with Magmito to promote products, events, services and more and publish, for as low as $4.99 per app. Magmito for Business ? Create and publish an app, ad-free up to 50 pages for just $9.99. Includes one month of unlimited updates. To update your app after 30 days, pay $9.99 for each month you wish to make updates. OR, pay $99.99 for one year of unlimited app updates.

Mobile Roadie - Mobile Roadie is an app creator that allows anyone to create and manage their own iPhone app, Android app, iPad app or mobile website.? Has a free trial.? Compared to some of the others on this list, starting at $99 month, Mobile Roadie is a little more pricey ? but if you want to develop a more advanced app with lots of features, it?s definitely worth looking into.? You will ?recognize some of the names on their client list.

SwebApps ? SwebApps is a way to build, track and update a native mobile application for your business or organization. It allows you to create an iPhone and/or Android application online. Once your app is available for download via the iTunes Store or Android Market, you can update your content in real time (at any time).? Like Mobile Roadie, SwepApps is more expensive than some of the other winners (Basic has $399 development fee and monthly hosting charge of $29) but depending upon your needs, it might be the right solution.

TheAppBuilder ?- With TheAppBuilder you can build a simple to use, yet powerful App in minutes for your business, event, group, class, band, sport, guide or whatever you want! Anyone can create and distribute a web app instantly for FREE. If you wish to submit your App to the 4 major stores (Apple? AppStore?, Google Play?, Windows? Phone Marketplace and Windows? 8 Store) or distribute it privately within your organization you can choose one of their premium plans.

Tiggzi ? Build real HTML5, jQuery Mobile mobile apps and hybrid apps for Android, iOS and Windows Phone (with Apache Cordova/PhoneGap). As the builder is running in the cloud, there is nothing to install or download so it?s very easy to build your app.? Has Free plan, bigger plans range from $15 to $50 per month/per user.

Special Recognition goes to?

Aisle Buyer?for its Ground-Breaking Mobile Commerce Platform.? Aisle Buyer (recently aquired by Intuit) provides businesses the ability to develop a very specialized type of app ? one with FULL e-commerce features that can be used instead of traditional stationary cash registers.?? AisleBuyer?s platform and applications combine the best of e-commerce and in-store retail with the capabilities that mobile technology provides ? empowering your store employees with the tools to assist shoppers without ever leaving their sides.

Appcelerator for creating Titanium, the leading mobile platform of choice for thousands of companies seizing the mobile opportunity. ??Although Appcelerator was not specifically designed for business, it is definitely one of the leading app development tools. Gartner Research called Appcelerator a ?Visionary? in their recent Magic Quadrant Analysis of the rapidly growing market for mobile software platforms.? Depending upon your experience and knowledge, Appcelerator may not be the best choice for you but it is worth taking a look at. Appcelerator offers plans (including a free one) and pricing to help you think big, start small, and scale according to your needs.?

The Runners Up are?

Programs in this category are either relatively new (but show potential) or don?t have as many advanced features.? All promote themselves as being geared towards businesses. For SMBs on a VERY strict budget (or who want to test their feet in the app world before making a big commitment), these tools may be the best place to start.

  • AppBreeder ? Test for Free. Fees $29 to $59 month
  • AppsBar?? For beginners this is a good place to start ?since it?s absolutely free.
  • AppsGeyser? Free but Ad-Based. Can monetize.

Honorable Mention goes to?

These tools all have great features and are leaders in the DIY app arena, but were not specifically designed with the needs of small businesses in mind.? Depending what you want your app to do, one of these may be the direction you want to go.

Resources for Additional Research

Source: http://blog.monitor.us/2012/12/diy-apps-for-small-business-part-2/

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