SES New York Keynote Speaker Says Internet is TV's Best Friend ...

The Internet didn?t kill TV! According to Mike Proulx, the Internet has become TV?s best friend. Proulx will be the opening keynote speaker at SES New York 2013. The leading event for experienced marketing and advertising professionals will take place March 25-28, 2013, at the New York Marriott Marquis.

Proulx is a Senior Vice President and the Director of Social Media at Hill Holliday, a renowned advertising agency based in Boston, where he leads a team with a focus on cross-channel integration, emerging and social media. He has spent the last 17 years working at various interactive, high-tech, and new media companies on the agency-side, client-side, and as an entrepreneur. He has spoken at dozens of events and has been widely featured in the press including The New York Times, Fast Company, TV Guide, Forbes, BusinessWeek, Mashable, BuzzFeed, and NPR.

Proulx conceived, produced, directed, and co-host the TVnext summit, which took place in early 2011 and 2012. He is the co-author of Social TV, a best-selling book from Wiley publishing that launched in February of 2012. He is also the host of the social TV web series, ?The Pulse on Lost Remote?. He holds a Master?s degree in Computer Information Systems from Bentley University and in 2012 was named the Ad Club?s Media All Star.

His opening keynote is titled, ?Social TV: How Marketers Can Reach and Engage Audiences by Connecting Television to the Web, Social Media, and Mobile.?

Search Engine Watch (SEW) asked Mike Proulx (MP) five questions about his upcoming keynote. Here are his answers:

SEW: How does the convergence of television with the web, social media, and mobile change our behaviors and shake up our long standing beliefs about TV?

MP: There are those who believe that television is a traditional medium with an impending death. The web, social media, and mobile have evolved TV into a multi-screen experience that transcends devices. Not only are we watching more television than ever before, we?re interacting with programming on the ?second screen? in ways that enrich storylines and bring us together to virtually co-view. The modern era of television is a new media that?s more social, more connected, and more portable?and because of this TV is more alive than it?s ever been.

SEW: How has social media created a new and powerful "backchannel" and why does this fuel the renaissance of live broadcasts?

MP: There are a ton of posts happening in social media about any given TV show as it airs. Since Twitter is open and public, it acts as television?s backchannel filled with real-time commentary and conversation ? And it?s not just about TV series but also TV commercials giving producers and marketers instant feedback about their content. Live television events are seeing some of the highest ratings in years and social media brings a level of community and connection to TV watching the likes of which the medium has never before experienced.

SEW: Can you give us some examples of how mobile devices allow us to watch and interact with television whenever and wherever we want?

MP: Tablets, smartphones, and laptops enable television?s portability but it?s apps like HBO Go, ABC Player, Xfinity Remote, and CNN that deliver ?TV? content via those devices. And in the 4G world of mobile, we can watch TV in places once inconceivable. My favorite spot? Laying out on the roof deck on a warm summer night with my iPad in hand streaming HBO?s The Newsroom.

SEW: Why would ?connected TVs? blend web and television content into a unified big screen experience that will bring us back into our living rooms?

MP: Apple TV, Roku, Boxee TV, Google TV, Samsung Smart TVs, etc. stream online video (that was once relegated to our computer screens) onto the ?big screen? of our living rooms. HD YouTube clips suddenly come to life in ways that are far more impactful and dynamic than tiny smartphone screens further blurring the lines of what?s ?TV.? While the notion of TV everywhere lets us watch TV at will regardless of our physical location, the increasingly seamless ability to channel streaming video through the TV set makes the living room that much more compelling.

SEW: With the television landscape changing, why should brands approach the medium once labeled ?traditional? as new media?

MP: TV has become mashed up with the Web, social media, and mobile. Television networks, providers, brands, and agencies must continue to unshackle themselves from dated business and advertising models and rediscover television as a new medium. This means planning television and digital together to tell stories across devices and engage viewers with TV experiences not just TV shows. The speed, scale, and degree of change that has and is happening create enormous opportunity for those brands who have the courage to innovate.

SES New York 2013 offers a variety of conference passes and on-site training. If you register by Thursday, March 7, 2013, you can save up to $600 on Platinum or All Access passes.

For more information, click on Rates and Registration Details. Group discounts for 4 or more pass holders from the same company are also available by contacting [email?protected] and are the best value for the lowest price possible.

I should disclose that SES New York is a client of my agency. But, trust me, TV is not dead yet.

---

Become an Expert Digital Marketer at SES New York
March 25-28, 2013: With dozens of sessions on Search, Social, Local and Mobile, you'll leave SES with everything and everyone you need to know. Hurry, early bird rates expire February 21. Register today!

Source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2250850/SES-New-York-Keynote-Speaker-Says-Internet-is-TVs-Best-Friend

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10 things you can do to improve your application development ...

Takeaway: The dev landscape is changing to accommodate the demands of today?s apps. These strategies will help ensure the business value of your development projects.

Application development is rapidly changing so that mobile and Web-facing apps can meet the needs of outside customers. This means that IT has to adjust how it develops apps and also how it measures them for performance and for delivery of value to the end business. Here are 10 things IT should be doing NOW to make sure that its apps continue to deliver value in contexts (such as the Internet) that apps can no longer fully control and that can affect app performance.

1: Incorporate application development into business strategic planning

IT identifies application development projects within the overall framework of its own strategic plan. But it does not always ensure that major application development projects are linked into the corporate strategic plan, at least as objectives with forecasted results. When this is done, there is assurance that non-IT executives can see the vital applications work that is going on and that they understand and support how the work will contribute to the business.

2: Change the scope of responsibilities for application developers

The end user experience (EUE) is becoming so important that many shops are already expanding the responsibilities of application developers to include active testing for how end users experience the application. This work is being done as part of application unit testing. Moving some elements of QA into the application developer?s bailiwick gives them a more holistic view of what their applications should deliver to the end business.

3: Think about apps as business services and not as coding projects

If your application is intended to deliver a suite of real-time financial analytics to finance, it should be considered as a ?service? that finance ultimately assesses for completeness, accuracy, and timeliness. Accordingly, the metrics for application success should be evaluations from the end user unit (in this case, finance) on how well the application meets end business objectives like managing the health of a financial portfolio. This is a different set of metrics than application developers are accustomed to (uptime, speed of throughput, mean time to repair, etc). Instead, a business service focus forces technically oriented staff to keep their eyes on what the application delivers to the end business.

4: Use outside end user experience tools in testing

Testing an application within your own IT environment doesn?t guarantee that an end user using it in a different geographical area over Internet will get the same results. In some areas, Internet traffic is slow, producing an unsatisfactory user experience with an application. Internet testing tool providers can help you identify communications weak spots outside the enterprise so you can understand and mitigate these vulnerabilities.

5: Stick with vendor best practices

Most hardware and software providers have presets in their products that optimize performance. There are also overrides to these default best practices that advanced users can activate. The recommendation is that application developers (unless they are highly experienced) stick with the presets on the software and hardware that their apps use. By doing so, they can avoid unforeseen performance issues that could arise when they move away from standard app development and performance practices on the platforms they are developing on.

6: Be judicious in how you employ ?custom? code

If you are using a code generator for part or all of your app development and you need to customize code in certain areas of an app, strive to effect this customization within the customization ?windows? that your code generator provides. This assures that the code you produce will continue to be supported by the code generator vendor. It also makes the tasks of later enhancing or maintaining the code less complex, because the customization is within the vendor?s guidelines and best practices.

7: Document

Although there is a plethora of automated application documentation tools, documentation continues to be one of the weakest areas of application development. Poor documentation makes it difficult to maintain or enhance applications at later dates. Most IT shops still spend more than 50 percent of their time on system and application maintenance. They need good documentation to carry out this work efficiently.

8: Standardize mobile devices

With many businesses now using BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policies, it is imperative for corporate IT to standardize the list of mobile devices that employees can use within the enterprise. Nowhere is this standardization more important than in the development of applications for mobile devices. You simply can?t code for them all. By standardizing devices and device configurations, you set the targets for your app development and can ensure better results.

9: Learn from your help desk

Many IT departments continue to treat their help desks as spots for rookie IT?ers. Help desks are viewed as necessary evils that take people away from app development. But when IT takes a more engaging approach toward the help desk, help desk experience can enhance application development. The help desk is a rich source of information on apps, such as which ones get the most trouble calls and which ones seldom get calls. If application developers analyze these help desk reports, they will likely uncover app design and coding pitfalls that can be avoided in the future. The end result is greater end user satisfaction and fewer trouble reports.

10: Evaluate application utility

IT regularly assesses hardware utilization (e.g., only 20 percent of a particular server is being used on a daily basis). It should extend this utilization analysis to applications. Some years ago, I was working on a dairy ration app with a system engineer. We discovered that only 20 percent of the app was being used by users ? and that the other 80 percent of the app (the richest part!) was not being used at all. The problem was that the user interface into the more robust part of the app was too difficult for users to navigate, so they avoided it altogether. As a result, the company was losing a valuable competitive edge. If IT assessed its apps like it does its hardware, it could gain valuable insights into how to build and improve apps for a maximum return on effort.

Automatically sign up for TechRepublic?s 10 Things newsletter!

Source: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10things/10-things-you-can-do-to-improve-your-application-development/3610

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New Jersey Passes Online Gambling Law | GamePolitics

New Jersey lawmakers have approved a bill that will make online gambling in the state legal, opening the door for companies in the space -- including game companies like Zynga -- to operate online games that provide real-money gambling. Of course, you won't be able to play these games unless you reside in a state where it is legal to do so. Currently there are three: Nevada, Delaware, and now New Jersey. Nevada passed its online gambling bill last week.

Governor Chris Christie (R) has already signed the bill into law. The one caveat is that the bill will not take effect until the state's Division of Gaming Enforcement sets an official start date which could be somewhere between three and nine months after the law is signed.

One a related note, the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) issued a statement today applauding the move by lawmakers and the Governor:

"New Jersey has gone ?all in.? Residents now will have access to a safe and regulated online gaming market, and the state will have a new source for revenue and job creation -- something the federal government has failed to do thus far," said John Pappas, executive director of the PPA. "The U.S. represents the largest percentage of Internet poker players worldwide, so there is clearly a want and a need for a legal and regulated online gambling market. New Jersey will now serve as a leader in this thriving industry."

"Two dice" illustration ? 2012 Sergey Mironov, provided by Shutterstock.

Source: http://www.gamepolitics.com/2013/02/26/new-jersey-passes-online-gambling-law

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HideIPVPN

HideIPVPN is a personal VPN service that is easy to use, hides your online activity from eavesdroppers, and allows you to spoof your IP address to view content that is restricted to certain geographic areas. VPN technology encrypts all traffic leaving the computer online and ensures data remains hidden from third parties even when on an open wireless network. It has a nice balance of basic features and advanced capabilities, and most users will find the pricing plan that fits their needs.

I downloaded the Windows installer appropriate for my operating system from the website and was up and running within minutes. HideIPVPN supports Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Android, and iOS devices, which is still unusual in this space. Users can also use the VPN credentials to set up proxy servers within the Web browser and other applications, such as Skype.

Like Private Internet Access, the service also has custom instructions for users interested in installing the service on non-standard hardware, but at the moment the list includes only the Nokia N900 and a network router running the popular (and hackable) DD-WRT firmware. All in all, it is a solid VPN service to consider, so long as you don't need servers outside Germany, the Netherlands, the United States, and United Kingdom. There is also a "Canada-only" plan.

A Refresher on How VPN Services Work
Your Internet service provider assigns your computer an IP address. A geo-location lookup reveals the geographic location of the ISP or the data center containing the server assigning the address. Anyone can perform this lookup and estimate your location. There have also been recent cases when the courts forced Internet companies and ISPs to hand over user information when presented with the IP address.

With a VPN service, users hide in plain sight, as the assigned IP address comes from a server stored in a data center somewhere else.

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

Pricing Plans
Similar to many of its competitors, HideIPVPN uses OpenVPN SSL technology to create its encrypted tunnel, although SSTP and PPTP connections are also possible. Users can buy packages giving them access to a pool of IP addresses only in one specific country (United States, United Kingdom, Canada, or Germany) for just $5.99 a month, or buy a bundled plan to access servers in up to four countries, the US, UK, the Netherlands, and Germany, for $9.99.? The most comprehensive plan, including all four countries, is $14.99, which puts it slightly on the pricier end among other VPN services.

Most VPN services block users from using peer-to-peer services or accessing files via BitTorrent while connected. Offenders usually get blocked from the service. HideIPVPN treats the problem slightly differently. Instead of blocking the users entirely, the company offers a dedicated P2P/BitTorrent plan for $7.99, where users connect to Dutch and German servers and start downloading. Users can easily upgrade or downgrade the plan each month.

Users interested in trying out the service before buying can download the trial, which is capped at three hours of usage. It would have been nice to see a more full-fledged trial version, especially since three hours online (that's three hours after creating the account, not three hours of usage) is pretty limiting. The free trial version does allow users to connect to any of the servers in US, UK, Netherlands and Germany, although all P2P and BitTorrent activity remains restricted to Dutch and German networks. It appears there are eight servers available in each region.

Getting Started
I tried out HideIPVPN on a trip, as well as from a local coffeeshop and on our testing network. Performance and the available features are on par with similar offerings, even though some of its advanced features nudge HideIPVPN into the top tier of VPN services.

HideIPVPN sent me a VPN username and password after I registered my email address with the site. The step-by-step instructions for HideIPVPN clearly lay out the process for the newest users. Since HideIPVPN supports the OpenVPN protocol, the installer also adds the TAP-WIN32 adapter, in the same way as VPN Direct and ProXPN installed the adapter?Next: Using HideIPVPN, Performance

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/YTvWUsIfi7Q/0,2817,2415695,00.asp

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ResidualReach make Podio the 'Best Business Investment of the ...

26.02.13 Posted in Work by Britt van Slyck

This is a guest blog post from Marni Melrose of ResidualReach LLC, a Podio Preferred Partner based in California, helping implement Podio in small and medium sized businesses. From this series of blog posts from our parters we?re hoping to help you find the right partner?to get the most out of Podio in your company.??

Marni Melrose: ?ResidualReach LLC, is a boutique business consulting firm in La Jolla, CA. Our purpose as is to help small and medium sized businesses evolve, to reach beyond where they are now and leave something residual behind; some sort of long lasting impact on their stakeholders. We do that by architecting efficient business workflows. We have helped more than 250 companies in the last 11 years from many different industries.

?

Prior to becoming a Podio Preferred Partner we were the world leading implementer of a client /server product called Daylite on the Mac OS X platform. We continue to support that product but have fallen head over heals in love with Podio. What attracted us to Podio was that it is so far ahead of the curve with regards to collaboration and platform independence. It has revolutionized the way we ourselves produce the lessons for our online learning academy.

We don?t recommend what we don?t use so we had to be convinced before we ever recommended it to our clients. Podio passed with flying colors. We even made a 36 minute video on why and how we use Podio ourselves. You can see that here,?just click Get Access at the top of the site to watch the full length video.

The challenge and the opportunity with Podio is that you can?t quite put your finger on what it is, because it?s many things to many different people. I equate it to Legos in the cloud. You can build whatever your imagination can conjure up. Want a CRM, a project management solution, a way to get rid of email? Just build it. But there?s the rub. If I give you some Lego blocks and you have no skills building with them, you are going to build something simple that might get the job partially done, but by no means elegantly. However, working with a Podio Preferred Partner is like working with a master builder. You know, those people who build entire mini cities with Legos that have trains and transportation systems and the like?

Recently we worked with Inspireworks in Australia. (We do most of our work remotely with clients all over the world using another product from Citrix, GoToMeeting.)

Inspireworks is a video production company that helps clients connect with their audiences in more meaningful ways. Specializing in corporate communications across the utilities, construction and technology sectors, Inspireworks helps audiences understand accept and act upon their message.

They were feeling restricted by their ?out-of-the-box? software and wanted to do the following:

Give my producer the tools she needs to manage projects and client deliverables and expectations. To give my Producer the tools to communicate effectively with external sub-contractors so that everyone is on the same page regarding projects. (Sub-contractors do not need to see our entire client base but need appointments, tasks, and project objectives).

Ability for the same producer to track and manage expenses on a producer. To give their managing director and finance person the ability to report on budget versus actual for each project. For employees to track time on projects. To improve workforce planning and resource allocation for upcoming Video Projects. (People and equipment)

To be able to record information on-set into the system. For example when a client says to you on set ?can you add a title in at that part.?

To simplify our workflow and ensure that clients get the same great service everytime. For producers to use template correspondence. Improve our workflow documentation within an Intranet system. To improve our sales follow up system. To go paperless!

So we gave it to them, slightly under budget and on time. The client was so happy in his review on our website he said, ?Professional, reliable and simply brilliant! ?Best investment that we made on our business this year??He also told me that he considers his new system a competitive advantage. ?No one will work as closely with their clients as we do. It?s a game changer!? he said.

Those results are why we do what we do. It?s the passion that drives us to revolutionize a business and the way they work. Podio sets us free to be the creative geniuses that we love to be.

To give you an idea of how this was done, here?s a generalization of the workspaces and apps we built for them in Podio to achieve their objectives:

CRM Workspace

People

Companies
Linked to People

• See corporate details with maps to their location and a listing of all employees

Conversations

• All conversations are tracked here with the help of PodioTools

Online Enquiry

• Client fills out inquiry form on website
• Call client task
• Create creative brief task

Creative brief
Linked to Online Enquiry

• Task to connect on LinkedIn
• Task to add person to people app (minimal data entry because contact filled out contact block already in enquiry form)
• Create opportunity
• Share creative brief with client

Opportunity
Linked to Creative Brief, Person, Timeline, Quotes from quoteroller

Project
Linked to Company, Creative Brief, Timeline, and Call Sheets

• Shared with client using Podio Share
• Add project performance item to bill aginst this project

Project Performance
Linked to Project and Opportunity

• This is where we keep the time allocation and budgetary info so we can share the actual project with the client and interested parties while keeping sensative data private

Scripts
Linked to Project

• Shared with the producer, scriptwriter and client
• We allocate hours and calculate hours left to complete. In the instructions it has a webform where the outside contractors enter their timeslips

Call Sheets
Linked to Project

• Shared with interested parties: client, producer, location contact, agent, camera assistant, camera person, basic sound, lighting, cast, photographer, sound recorder, studio hire contact person, equipment supplier

Edits

• Pretty much?identical?to Scripts

Timesheets
Linked to Project, Edit, and Scripts

• Shared out as a webform for external contractors

Client Feedback form
Linked to Project

• Webform for clients to fill out after the job is done

Business Development Workspace

Timeline

• Tracks opportunities, projects and goals on a the GTD horizons

Coaching focus

• Client coaches with a business consultant and links goals to focus on for that session

Goals
Linked to Timeline

90 Day review

• Provides an area where client can review what was and was not achieved and and the reasons and impacts of such

About the author

I manage the Preferred Partner Program connecting users to the right partner to help them do amazing things with Podio. We're here to transform the way you work, for the better.

Twitter

@Podio

Email

britt@podio.com

Source: http://blog.podio.com/2013/02/26/residualreach/

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The White House, Totally Gutted

In 1948, the White House was almost abandoned. After it had been burned by the British in 1814, and endured the stress of the addition of modern amenities like plumbing and electricity, it was on the verge of being condemned. Staircases were sagging, a fresco in the East Room was held in by scaffolding, and it was actually dangerous to be inside. In fact, the 1948 social season had to be cancelled (gasp!). More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/x7tfw8bnXEs/the-white-house-totally-gutted

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Video: Brothers? passion for music a South Side inspiration

>>> finally tonight, most mentions of the city of chicago of late have, sadly, concerned gun violence, but tonight we have a story about two brothers enjoying a lot of success and showing some kids something they never thought possible. the mcgill brothers are among a group of 100 african-americans featured on our nbc news website, thegrio.com, and tonight ron allen has their story.

>> reporter: passion and artistry lift the mcgill brothers to lofty heights. demarre plays lead flute with the seattle symphony . kid brother anthony is the principal clarinettist for the world-renowned new york metropolitan opera . rising stars in the rarefied world of classical music , where just 4% of the musicians in national orchestras are african-american or latino. why classical music ?

>> i was drawn to the stories that i heard as a kid, musical stories, and my imagination would just go wild.

>> when i was listening to an orchestra or i was playing the clarinet, somehow, it got deeper into my soul.

>> reporter: they started on the south side of chicago , known for its urban problems, not the classics.

>> hi, sweetheart!

>> reporter: parents ira, a retired teacher, and demarre sr., a former firefighter, say they mortgaged the house five times to pay for lessons.

>> the pads look good.

>> reporter: they still have demarre's first flute and a little something he scribbled down when he was just 15.

>> "goals for the future, to be the best artist in the world

>> wlfer they perform on stage, it's almost like you forget to breathe.

>> reporter: they attribute their success to a chicago non-profit that's been offering free lessons to inner city kids after school since 1979 , the merit school, where they're now treated like rock stars .

>> they provided us a community of people that look like us doing the same thing.

>> reporter: they won competitions, scholarships to prestigious schools, and at age 14 and 18, performed in a very special neighborhood.

>> bravo, gentlemen.

>> reporter: where's the rivalry? all siblings have rivalries. who got better grades in school?

>> oh, see, well, there you go.

>> you probably did.

>> me.

>> reporter: now their goal is to inspire. and share their love of music.

>> it brings feelings to you and it helps you express yourself .

>> reporter: while taking their place among the great musicians of their time. ron allen , nbc news,

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/50964613/

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Fan's NASCAR accident video back on YouTube

Suzanne Choney , NBC News ? ? ? 14 hrs.

When a YouTube video is taken down for copyright infringement, most people get it: Don't post videos that are someone else's legal property. But when YouTube quickly re-posts a video it had pulled, that's an unusual step for the largest video-sharing site in the world.

At NASCAR's request, the Google-owned YouTube removed the 1 minute-and-16-second video taken by a high school student, Tyler Andersen, who was at the the NASCAR Nationwide Series auto race at Daytona Beach Saturday. His video captured part of the horrific accident that injured at least 28 fans, with chunks of debris flying into the stands.

When Andersen posted the video on YouTube, he was clear about his reason for doing so:

No disrespect intended to any of those injured or their families. I was just sharing my experience with a worldwide audience. I will continue to keep all affected by this incident in my prayers and I thank God for protecting me. Thank you.

NASCAR asked Google to take down the video, and it did. The Atlantic Wire points out that "NASCAR's legal fine print on any ticket says they own the rights to any video, sounds or data related to a race. The question became, eventually, whether or not that legal fine print extended to a fan video. Observers criticized NASCAR for taking the video down in the middle of a news story that was still unfolding."

But NASCAR says this wasn't about copyright infringement.

"The fan video of the wreck on the final lap of today's NASCAR Nationwide Series race was blocked on YouTube out of respect for those injured in today's accident," Steve Phelps, NASCAR's senior vice president and chief marketing officer, said on Saturday in a statement shared with NBC News.

"Information on the status of those fans was unclear and the decision was made to err on the side of caution with this very serious incident."

And so YouTube reversed course, allowing the video back up late Saturday, saying in a statement to The Washington Post, and again Monday to NBC News:

Our partners and users do not have the right to take down videos from YouTube unless they contain content which is copyright infringing, which is why we have reinstated the videos.

By late Monday, the video had done well over 600,000 views. NBC News has asked YouTube for comment, and will update this post when we hear back.

Phelps reiterated NASCAR's stance in a statement to NBC News: "This was never a copyright issue. This was never a censorship issue," he said. "The video ... was blocked out of respect for those injured in the accident. Google decided to lift that block."

What does it mean for most of us, who walk around with HD camcorders in our smartphones? Does the fact that Andersen's video continues to survive ? and even thrive ? mean that we can post our own footage of ticketed sporting events? Though tickets tend to warn against such behavior, are we really forbidden from taking a video and posting it on YouTube?

In many cases, yes. If the ticket is a contract, you may be in breach.

YouTube's "decision to allow the video to remain available, while a positive sign in terms of YouTube's willingness to scrutinize claims of copyright infringement, does not in any way prevent NASCAR from pursuing other remedies against the poster of the video ? including, potentially, enforcement of the contract embodied on the ticket or a direct claim of copyright infringement against the poster," Jeffrey P. Hermes, director of the Digital Media Law Project at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society, told NBC News Monday.

(In this instance, NASCAR has not indicated it would pursue such action.)

However, "NASCAR also cannot claim that the fan has granted NASCAR ownership of that recording based merely on the fine print on the back of a ticket," Hermes said.

Besides, he thinks there's "a serious question as to whether NASCAR has a valid copyright claim in an unscripted sporting event," such as Saturday's race. It's the kind of event, he said, that is "different from a scripted 'performance'" such as a rock concert "in which copyright might arise under U.S. law."

(Translation: Don't even think about posting that Beyonc? concert footage.)

Corynne McSherry, intellectual property director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told NBC News Monday that YouTube's decision to re-post the NASCAR video is "the right decision, because NASCAR does not hold the copyright in a fan video."

The EFF has seen this sort of thing before. When Showing Animals Respect and Kindness, an animal-rights activist group, filmed rodeos in order to demonstrate alleged abuse, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association fired back, requesting takedown of 13 videos. At the time, YouTube responded by eliminating the activists' account.

When the EFF took the case to court, it was settled in 2009. The agreement protects the group's "right to publicize their critiques."

"The (rodeo association) has no copyright claim in live rodeo events, just as NASCAR has no copyright claim in fan videos," says McSherry.

While the case didn't set a precedent, she said, "the law on this is not ambiguous: absent some other arrangement or exception (such as a work for hire), copyright goes to the person who created the video, not the person who created the event."

Check out Technology, GadgetBox, Digital Life and In-Game on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/fans-nascar-accident-video-returns-youtube-after-takedown-1C8537538

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France's Hollande juggles trade and rights in Moscow

PARIS (Reuters) - President Francois Hollande will aim to balance French concerns over Russia's human rights record with a push to boost trade ties during a debut Moscow visit on Thursday that could prove a diplomatic obstacle course.

An encounter in Paris last June between the newly-elected Socialist Hollande and Russia's Vladimir Putin bristled with tension, unlike the cozy meetings between Putin and Hollande's conservative predecessors Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac.

Aides on both sides want to avoid the full-frontal clash on rights that marked German Chancellor Angela Merkel's trip to Moscow last year, when she accused Moscow of stifling dissent.

Moreover, with the French economy edging closer to recession and domestic demand moribund, Hollande needs all the outside help he can get to kickstart growth, and will be pushing for Russian business to step up investment in France.

Yet everything from Moscow's support of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in defiance of the West to Putin's very public relish at actor Gerard Depardieu's decision to take Russian nationality for tax reasons means the scope for misunderstandings is great.

"You can get on with someone without loving them," veteran Russia specialist Helene Carrere d'Encausse said of the strained pragmatism she saw defining the visit, whose high-point is an 1100 GMT joint news conference with Hollande and Putin on.

Hollande aides insist that, aside from Syria, the positions of Paris and Moscow converge in several areas - notably on Mali, where Russia has backed a U.N. resolution which is a key part of French efforts to extricate its soldiers and put African troops in the front line against al Qaeda allies.

RIGHTS RECORD

Russia sees Tuesday's move by major powers to offer Iran some sanctions relief in return for a halt of some atomic work as a sign that France and other Western states are moving closer to its thinking on an issue that has divided the U.N. Security Council for years.

"In bilateral ties I see no major problems," said Alexei Pushkov, head of foreign affairs committee in the Russian parliament's lower chamber.

"From my contacts with the French lawmakers I get the impression they have a calm attitude towards Russia. Of course there is come criticism, but not to the extent that can be heard in the U.S. Congress or the German Bundestag," he added.

French officials insist Putin's embrace of Depardieu after his decision to seek exile from French taxes on the rich will not jar relations - even with the actor's outing this weekend to the Chechnya region where rights groups accuse security services of extrajudicial killings and other abuses.

But Hollande is under pressure at home to raise human rights concerns including the fate of Putin critics such as Mikhail Khodorkovsky, 49, once Russia's richest man and now serving 13 years jail on fraud and tax evasion charges.

"The last year has been the worst for human rights in Russia in recent memory, and Hollande should not miss this chance to persuade Putin to turn things around," said Rachel Denber of New York-based Human Rights Watch, pointing to new laws which she said restricted public assembly and Internet content in Russia.

The two leaders may broach delicate energy issues, with the European Union seeking to wind down its gas reliance on Russia and Moscow angry over EU efforts to force dominant suppliers such as Russia's Gazprom to sell off infrastructure.

But Paris is keener to focus on raising Russian investment in France, which at around one billion euros only accounts for a 12th of the value of French investment in Russia.

While no major deal is due to be announced, small economic cooperation pacts, plans to facilitate visas and student exchanges are likely to be announced.

(Additional reporting by Gabriela Baczynska in Moscow; Writing by Mark John; Editing by Jon Boyle)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/frances-hollande-juggles-trade-rights-moscow-131910312.html

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Accra Genius Map A Worthwhile GPS Option

Finding your way around is the kind of thing that any small business needs to succeed, but when there?s no Internet connection around, what?s to be done? Accra Genius Map is ready to help with an offline mapping system that mostly does the job.

Accra Genius Map is geared to work with the iPhone, the iPod Touch, and the iPad; all of Apple?s devices will work here as long as they?re packing iOS 4.0 or later, though it?s not specifically optimized for the iPhone 5. But if you?ve got the appropriate device, it?s going to provide a set of offline maps to help users get around.

But it?s not just maps?it?s also packing an offline search service to allow for rapid location of streets, landmarks, placemarks and more. Users can establish their own custom placemark, and share those placemarks around as they see fit.? The newest version?version 2.0?boasts an increased number of placemarks, as well as support for Google Maps and an improved user interface.

The app itself works surprisingly well, with the touchscreen controls proving responsive and easy to work with. Considering that the app itself only costs $.99, it?s easy to say that this will prove a sound idea when it comes to mapping software, and will easily allow you to locate, for example, your car in a parking lot, or various businesses in the immediate area. This gives business users a lot of utility, serving as a market research app, a sales tool, or just a way to figure out where you are in relation to where you want to be. There?s nothing quite so galling as the thought of missing a sale because you were late to a meeting when you couldn?t find the building your potential buyer was located in, and it?s just the kind of thing that GPS navigation software like Accra Genius Maps can help get around.

Naturally, it will never be enough to easily find your way around in an unfamiliar area. Having the appropriate cloud-based telephony tools, like hold queues to better manage the flow of incoming calls and auto attendants to better handle those calls that come in after business hours, will go a long way in keeping a business running.

While the Accra Genius Map isn?t perfect, and it certainly isn?t a match for good communications tools, it?s going to do a sound job in terms of getting users where they need to be and where they want to go. That goes a long way in terms of keeping a small business running.

Related keywords: IDLC, ISDN, PBX, PSTN

Source: http://www.halloo.com/Blog/index.php/accra-genius-map-a-worthwhile-gps-option/

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Cell scaffolding protein fascin-1 is hijacked by cancer

Feb. 22, 2013 ? A protein involved in the internal cell scaffold is associated with increased risk of metastasis and mortality in a range of common cancers finds a meta-analysis published in Biomed Central's open access journal BMC Medicine.

The protein, fascin-1, is involved in bundling together the actin filaments which form the internal scaffolding of a cell and are involved in cell movement. Though it is absent, or only present at a low level in normal epithelial cells, several small studies have shown fascin-1 to be increased in many carcinomas, but its role in metastasis and mortality risk has been uncertain.

Researchers from the University of Bristol combined and reanalysed data from 26 studies looking at five different types of carcinomas. The meta-analysis showed that increased fascin-1 was associated with increased risk of mortality in breast, colorectal and esophageal carcinomas but not in gastric or lung carcinoma. It was also associated with disease progression in breast and colorectal carcinoma, but not lung carcinoma. It was associated with local and distant metastasis in colorectal and gastric carcinomas but there was no involvement of fascin-1 in metastasis of esophageal carcinomas.

These results show that the picture is not simple and that different types of cancer are affected in different ways. The story of fascin-1 not only provides a biomarker and potential avenue for research into anti-cancer therapy but also demonstrates the complexity of cancer.

Josephine Adams and Richard Martin who led this study said, "Our results show that fascin-1 is associated with several types of human carcinomas. The results will help focus further research into fascin-1 as a marker and potential target for cancer therapy to the most relevant types of carcinomas."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by BioMed Central Limited.

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Journal Reference:

1. Vanessa Y Tan, Sarah J Lewis, Josephine C Adams and Richard M Martin. Association of fascin-1 with mortality, disease progression and metastasis in carcinomas: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Medicine, 2013 (in press) [link]

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/NNO8Aq881R0/130225201820.htm

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Centre left takes strong lead in Italy election: polls

ROME (Reuters) - The centre left is strongly leading in Italy's election, raising the chances of a stable pro-reform government in the euro zone's third largest economy, according to two telephone polls published after voting ended.

The polls on Sky and Rai television after voting ended at 3 p.m. (1400 GMT/9 a.m. ET) showed the centre left of Pier Luigi Bersani 5-6 points ahead of the centre right of former premier Silvio Berlusconi, with the anti-establishment movement of Genoese comedian Beppe Grillo taking third place.

The early polls cheered markets worried that the election could produce a weak, unstable government. Italian shares extended an earlier rally and bonds gained.

The poll for Sky television showed the centre left ahead by 5.5 points in the lower house and by six points in the Senate although the result there will depend on key battleground regions. In the most important, Lombardy, Sky said the centre left was tied with Berlusconi.

Sky had Bersani on 34.5 percent in the lower house, Berlusconi on 29 percent, Grillo on 19 percent and the centrist group of outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti slumping to 9.5 percent after a lackluster campaign that deeply disappointed his backers among foreign governments and investors.

The RAI poll showed a similar line-up, with the centre left six points ahead of Berlusconi in the lower house.

The spread between Italy's benchmark 10-year bonds and the German equivalent narrowed to less than 260 basis points after the poll results, in a sign of investor optimism that the centre left will be able to form a stable, pro-reform government.

The picture could change after computer projections of the result in both houses, expected shortly.

Italy's electoral laws guarantee a strong majority in the lower house to the party or coalition that wins the biggest share of the national vote.

However the Senate, elected on a region-by-region basis, is more complicated and the result could turn on a handful of regions, including Lombardy in the rich industrial north - which the polls showed was tied - and the southern island of Sicily.

Italy, the euro zone's third largest economy, is pivotal to stability in the region as a whole. The period of maximum peril for the currency was when Rome's borrowing costs were spiraling out of control at the end of 2011.

BITTER CAMPAIGN

A bitter campaign, fought largely over economic issues, has been closely watched by financial markets, anxious about the risk of a return of the kind of debt crisis that took the whole euro zone close to disaster and brought the technocrat Monti to office, replacing the scandal-plagued Berlusconi, in 2011.

Monti helped save Italy from a debt crisis, but the polls suggested few Italians see him as the savior of the country, in its longest recession for 20 years.

A surge in protest votes supporting Grillo's 5-Star Movement had raised uncertainty about the chances of a strong, stable government that could fend off the danger of a renewed euro zone crisis.

Grillo's movement rode a huge wave of voter anger about both the pain of Monti's tough austerity program and a string of political and corporate scandals. It had particular appeal for a frustrated younger generation shut out of full-time jobs.

"I'm sick of the scandals and the stealing," said Paolo Gentile, a 49-year-old Rome lawyer who voted for 5-Star.

"We need some young, new people in parliament, not the old parties that are totally discredited."

Bad weather, including heavy snow in some areas, was thought to have hampered the turnout in Italy's first post-war election to be held in winter. This could have favored the centre left, whose voters tend to be more committed than those on the right, which has strong support among older people.

The 76-year-old Berlusconi, a billionaire media tycoon, pledged sweeping tax cuts and accused Monti of being a puppet of German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a media blitz that halved the lead of the centre left since the start of the year.

But many voters said they were sick of his broken promises and his campaign faltered at the end, with Grillo stealing some of his votes. The election could mark the end of a flamboyant two-decade career at the centre of the political stage.

Whatever government emerges will inherit an economy that has been stagnant for much of the past two decades and problems ranging from record youth unemployment to a dysfunctional justice system and a bloated public sector.

(Additional reporting by Stefano Bernabei, Steve Scherer, James Mackenzie and Giuseppe Fonte in Rome, Lisa Jucca in Milan and; Writing by Barry Moody; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/protest-votes-add-uncertainty-close-italy-election-070325879.html

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2nd round of heavy snow in Plains, Midwest; 2 dead

Traffic moves on the I-40 service road Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. A blizzard packing 50 mph wind gusts and more than 11 inches of snow blasted Amarillo and Texas Panhandle Monday, making travel nearly impossible. Interstate 40 and many major highways in the Panhandle have been closed. (AP Photo/The Amarillo Globe News, Michael Schumacher)

Traffic moves on the I-40 service road Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. A blizzard packing 50 mph wind gusts and more than 11 inches of snow blasted Amarillo and Texas Panhandle Monday, making travel nearly impossible. Interstate 40 and many major highways in the Panhandle have been closed. (AP Photo/The Amarillo Globe News, Michael Schumacher)

Vehicles navigate along Interstate 27 during blizzard conditions in Lubbock, Texas, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. State troopers are unable to respond to calls for assistance and National Guard units are mobilizing as a winter storm blankets the central Plains with a foot of snow in some places. Roads are closed Monday throughout West Texas and the Panhandle. (AP Photo/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Zach Long)

Amarillo emergency personnel assist a stranded motorist on the I-40 service road Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. A blizzard packing 50 mph wind gusts and more than 11 inches of snow blasted Amarillo and Texas Panhandle Monday, Feb. 25, 2013, making travel nearly impossible. Interstate 40 and many major highways in the Panhandle have been closed. (AP Photo/The Amarillo Globe News,Michael Schumacher)

Cattle stand in blizzard conditions in Lubbock, Texas, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. State troopers are unable to respond to calls for assistance and National Guard units are mobilizing as a winter storm blankets the central Plains with a foot of snow in some places. Roads are closed Monday throughout West Texas and the Panhandle. (AP Photo/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Zach Long)

Chance Cain, from left, Simon Mourning and Nathan Talley walk towards a sledding hill near downtown Wichita, Kan. as a winter storm moves through the area on Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. (AP Photo/The Wichita Eagle, Travis Heying) LOCAL TV OUT; MAGS OUT; LOCAL RADIO OUT; LOCAL INTERNET OUT

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) ? The nation's midsection again dealt with blizzard conditions Monday, closing highways, knocking out power to thousands in Texas and Oklahoma and even bringing hurricane-force winds to the Texas Panhandle. Two people have died.

Already under a deep snowpack from last week's storm, Kansas was preparing for another round of heavy snow Monday evening and overnight, prompting some to wonder what it could do for the drought.

"Is it a drought-buster? Absolutely not," National Weather Service meteorologist Victor Murphy said. "Will it bring short-term improvement? Yes."

The storm is being blamed for two deaths on Monday. In northwest Kansas, a 21-year-old man's SUV hit an icy patch on Interstate 70 and overturned. And in the northwest town of Woodward, Okla., heavy snow caused a roof to collapse, killing one inside the home.

Earlier on Monday, blizzard warnings extended from the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles into south-central Kansas. The blizzard warnings were dropped Monday evening for the far western portion of the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles.

Meanwhile to the east, lines of thunderstorms crossed Arkansas, Louisiana and Florida, bringing heavy rain and an occasional tornado warning.

As many as 10,000 people lost power in Oklahoma, as did thousands more in Texas.

"I have a gas cooking stove and got the oven going," said Ann Smith, owner of the Standifer House Bed and Breakfast in Elk City, Okla., late Monday afternoon. Her daughter and grandchildren had come over because they lost power.

"If it gets cold tonight, I guess we'll have to put pallets in the kitchen," Smith said with a laugh.

Colorado and New Mexico were the first to see the system Sunday night, with up to 2 feet falling in the foothills west of Denver.

As it moved into the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles Monday, the storm ground travel to a halt, closing miles of interstates and state highways.

Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Daniel Hawthorne said about a dozen motorists had to be rescued, but no one was injured. The National Weather Service in Lubbock reported at one point that as many as 100 vehicles were at a standstill on Interstate 27.

Extremely strong winds whipped around at least a foot or more of snow in the Texas Panhandle, and a hurricane-force gust of 75 mph was recorded at the Amarillo airport. Amarillo recorded the biggest snowfall total in Texas ? 19 inches, just short of the record of 19.3 ? while Fritch was second with 16.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol closed all highways in the Panhandle and much of the state's northwest because of blizzard conditions. Trooper Betsy Randolph said several dozen motorists have reported being stranded or have abandoned their vehicles.

Chris McBee, a storm chaser, got stuck outside Woodward in northwest Oklahoma in the mid-afternoon. By then, the city was leading Oklahoma's snow totals with 15 inches of snow.

"We were planning to go back to Oklahoma City tonight, but the road was just impassable," McBee told The Associated Press. "You couldn't see 50 feet in front of you." A man with a bulldozer dug out McBee's vehicle.

"He's just helping people," McBee said, adding he assumed the man was still out there. "We tried to pay him and he refused."

While the wintry precipitation is "a shot in the arm," National Drought Mitigation Center climatologist Mark Svoboda said, the drought in the Plains and Midwest is far from over. Svoboda, speaking from Lincoln, Neb., said 12 inches of snow is equivalent to about 1 inch of rain.

"We would need 2-4 feet of snow to just erase the October to present deficits," in Kansas, he said.

Jim Shroyer, a wheat specialist with Kansas State University Extension, said snow is more efficient than summer rain in replenishing soil moistures because rain tends to run off or evaporate during the summer months.

But it can take months or years for pastures and rangeland to recover to the point where there is good forage there for livestock.

"There is a lag coming out of drought where some of these impacts will linger on long after 'climatological drought' is gone," Svoboda said. "And there is always a sense of false security there."

Texas rancher Jay O'Brien warned the storm could be deadly for grazing cattle, with the wind pushing animals into a fenced corner where they could suffocate from the drifts.

"This type of snow is a cattle-killer," he said.

Parts of Kansas are bracing for anywhere from 8 to 24 inches of snow as the system moves through the state overnight. Wichita figures to take another hit after last week's storm that dumped about a foot and a half of snow.

In preparation, many Kansas school districts already have called off Tuesday classes, as has the University of Missouri-Columbia. And Kansas City, Mo., Mayor Sly James declared a state of emergency Monday, as another foot or more could fall, adding to last week's 10 or so inches.

"This one has the potential to be quite serious," James said at a news conference.

Through the day Tuesday, the storm is forecast to spin toward the upper Midwest, bringing snow to Chicago and eventually Detroit before heading toward Buffalo, N.Y, and northern New England in the middle of the week.

___

Associated Press writers Jill Zeman Bleed and Kelly P. Kissel in Little Rock, Ark., Daniel Holtmeyer in Oklahoma City, and Roxana Hegeman in Wichita, Kan., Bill Draper in Kansas City, Mo., and John Milburn in Topeka, Kan., contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-02-25-US-Winter-Storm/id-3b6e2e92d5134c80b6c7ed0a35f9279d

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BP to face day in court over Gulf of Mexico oil spill

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Nearly three years after a deepwater well rupture killed 11 men, sank a rig and spewed 4 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, BP and the other companies involved are about to face their day in court.

The trial over the worst U.S. offshore oil spill is set to start this morning in New Orleans before a federal judge and without a jury. Few expect the case, seen lasting several months, will be decided by the judge.

Efforts to pull together an eleventh-hour settlement over the weekend did not result in a deal, but legal experts expect a resolution, at least with the U.S. Department of Justice, in the coming months. Early testimony is likely to set the tone for any settlement talks, depending on how damaging the evidence is, the experts said.

"This is a game of corporate chicken," said John Zavitsanos, a Houston civil litigator. "We have tangled with BP often, and they blink."

Joining well owner BP Plc in Judge Carl Barbier's courtroom will be rig owner Transocean Ltd and well cement services provider Halliburton Co .

Lined up against them will be the Justice Department, several Gulf Coast states and other plaintiffs.

BP has a history of settling civil cases before or during trial. Four trials began over the 2005 explosion at its Texas City refinery that killed 15 people. All were settled. Payouts totaled $3.1 billion. BP has since sold the refinery.

The stakes are higher this time, though. The Macondo well explosion and spill on April 20, 2010, affected five state coastlines, prompted a six-month ban on oil and gas drilling in the Gulf, and disrupted the livelihoods of fishermen, hoteliers and others.

BP has spent or committed $37 billion on cleanup, restoration, payouts, settlements and fines. That includes $8.5 billion to most plaintiffs, a record $4.5 billion in penalties, and a guilty plea to 14 criminal counts to resolve criminal charges from the Justice Department and civil claims from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company has sold $38 billion in assets to help cover its spill-related costs, including its older, smaller Gulf of Mexico operations.

But the company could end up paying tens of billions more, depending on whether the U.S. government, Gulf states and plaintiffs convince Judge Barbier that BP was grossly negligent.

Simple negligence involves mistakes. Gross negligence involves reckless or willful disregard for human and environmental safety and is a difficult standard to prove, experts say.

A finding of gross negligence would open the door to punitive damages against BP, Transocean and Halliburton.

The first phase of the trial, expected to last several months, will focus on the level of negligence as well as apportion blame between the defendants.

The second phase, slated for September, will focus on the flow rate of the oil that spewed from the well. The third phase in 2014 will consider damages.

(This story was fixed to correct dateline to NEW ORLEANS from HOUSTON)

(Writing by Patricia Kranz; editing by John Wallace)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bp-face-day-court-over-gulf-mexico-oil-133041055--finance.html

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Much needed test for river blindness infection developed

Feb. 21, 2013 ? Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found a telltale molecular marker for Onchocerciasis or "river blindness," a parasitic infection that affects tens of millions of people in Africa, Latin America and other tropical regions. The newly discovered biomarker, detectable in patients' urine, is secreted by Onchocerca volvulus worms during an active infection. The biomarker could form the basis of a portable, field-ready test with significant advantages over current diagnostic methods.

"There has been a need for an inexpensive, non-invasive test that can discriminate between active and non-active river blindness infections during treatment campaigns," said Kim D. Janda, who is Professor and Ely R. Callaway, Jr. Chair in Chemistry, member of the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, and director of the Worm Institute of Research and Medicine at TSRI. "We think that this new biomarker can be the basis for such a test."

The work is described in an online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences during the week of February 25, 2013.

Leading Cause of Vision Loss

A leading cause of vision loss, Onchocerciasis infections are transmitted among humans by river-dwelling blackflies in tropical regions. The vast majority of cases occur in sub-Saharan Africa, although pockets of endemic infection exist in Yemen and in Central and South America. The major symptoms of the disease, including blindness, result from the spread of O. volvulus "microfilariae" -- early-stage larval worms -- to the eyes and other tissues, where they trigger damaging inflammatory reactions.

Mass treatment campaigns, begun in the 1990s, have used the anti-worm drug ivermectin, as well as the antibiotic doxycycline, which kills a symbiotic bacterium within the worms. The World Health Organization's African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control has set a target date of 2025 for the eradication of the disease in that region. But Onchocerciasis treatment is seldom effective immediately, and often spares adult worms. The latter can remain in protected nodules under the skin of a patient and secrete microfilaria for a decade or more. Health agencies need better diagnostic methods not only to monitor the progress of Onchocerciasis treatment campaigns, but also to limit the use of ivermectin and doxycycline to reduce the risk of resistance.

Current diagnostic methods include the painful cutting of "skin snips" from patients for microscopic analysis, and an ELISA antibody test for microfilariae, which may yield positive results even for non-active infections. "You can still have circulating antibodies to a nemotode antigen in your blood for a long time after the infection is gone," said Janda.

Looking for a Better Way

A better diagnostic marker would be a metabolite of O. volvulus that appears only during an active, microfilariae-producing infection and that could determine both the presence and the severity of disease. In 2010, Janda's laboratory demonstrated the feasibility of this approach by sifting through the small-molecule metabolites within blood samples from river blindness patients -- a technique called "metabolome mining" -- and finding a set linked to active onchocerciasis infection. For the new study, the team sought a simpler set of biomarkers -- or better yet a single unique biomarker in urine.

Daniel Globisch, a postdoctoral fellow in the Janda laboratory, started with samples of urine from onchocerciasis-infected and non-infected Africans. Using a powerful laboratory technique called liquid chromatography mass spectrometry, he measured the concentrations of hundreds of small-molecule metabolites in the samples. Excitingly, between the infected and non-infected urine samples, one difference stood out clearly: "An unknown small molecule was highly elevated in the samples from infected individuals," said Globisch.

In a process akin to looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack, Globisch was able to purify the mysterious metabolite, and, using mass spectrometry, determine the chemical identities of its individual pieces. "The metabolite itself wasn't present in the databases, so I searched the literature for what is known about the biosynthesis and metabolic pathways in these nematodes," Globisch said. Ultimately, he was able to identify the metabolite as N-acetyltyramine-O,?-glucuronide. Remarkably, this molecule's inception can be traced to O. volvulus as a neurotransmitter molecule that is secreted by young, reproducing worms and then modified by the human body on its way to being excreted in urine.

"It's a spectacular find in terms of biomarkers as it does not occur naturally in humans," Globisch said. Levels of the metabolite in a non-infected North American control sample were near zero.

Toward a Field Test

In urine samples from Africans with active onchocerciasis infections, Globisch found that levels of the biomarker were on average four to six times higher than in samples from Africans with non-active infections. In a separate test, the team determined that a full course of doxycycline treatment, which sterilizes or kills infecting worms by destroying their symbiotic bacteria, also reduced levels of the biomarker to near-normal. "This biomarker appears to be specific for an active infection," Globisch said. The wide gap between biomarker levels in active and non-active infections suggests that a field test based on the biomarker would be robustly useful.

Such a diagnostic, said Janda, might ultimately be a simple urine dipstick test, much like a home pregnancy test, which would indicate the amount of the O. volvulus biomarker present in the sample. "Ultimately for this to be of value in Third World countries we will need to morph this biomarker into something that's inexpensive, simple to use, tolerant of extreme temperatures and portable -- basically distilling our finding to a test that can be carted around in a backpack," Janda said.

Importantly, he adds that Globisch's metabolome-mining approach in theory should be applicable to the development of diagnostic tests for other worm diseases.

Other contributors to the study, "Onchocerca volvulus Neurotransmitter Tyramine is a Biomarker for River Blindness," were Amira Y. Moreno, Mark S. Hixon, Ashlee A. K. Nunes and Judith R. Denery of TSRI; and Sabine Specht and Achim Hoerauf of the University Hospital Bonn, Germany.

The study was funded by WIRM, which was established at TSRI through a generous donation by John J. Moores.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by The Scripps Research Institute.

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Journal Reference:

1. Daniel Globisch, Amira Y. Moreno, Mark S. Hixon, Ashlee A. K. Nunes, Judith R. Denery, Sabine Specht, Achim Hoerauf, and Kim D. Janda. Onchocerca volvulus-neurotransmitter tyramine is a biomarker for river blindness. PNAS, February 25, 2013 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1221969110

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/Hfbp9EgrqDY/130225153048.htm

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ZTE Grand Memo hands-on: a first look at Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 in action (video)

ZTE caught us by surprise today, outing a Snapdragon 800-infused version of the Grand Memo at its MWC 2013 presser. The device, which still features the same 5.7-inch 720p display, 13-megapixel rear camera and 3,200mAh battery, is nearly indistinguishable from the other variants we've seen. But for this go-round, ZTE's added in Dolby Digital Plus Surround for a superior audio experience and an extra GB of RAM.

Its external chassis may have remained the same -- plasticky and lightweight -- but the difference in this 8.9mm thick Memo's real-world performance is immediately noticeable. OS actions on the skinned Jelly Bean UI don't just zip, they now quite literally fly -- truly, this device is deserving of the long-deceased "beast" moniker. Although international tradeshow WiFi connections are typically dreadful, we did manage to successfully run the Sunspider benchmark to get a quick taste of its rendering performance. The result? The Grand Memo notched a score of 1,186.7ms -- an unimpressive result when contrasted with the Tegra 4's 499ms (as derived from a reference tablet).

As for ZTE's MyFavorite UX layered atop Android 4.1.2, well, we're pleased to say it yields some neat animations. The entire homescreen, including widgets, revolves with a smooth 3D effect that just imbues the handset with a special "feel." It's a shame then that the Memo's encased in a less than premium shell, as it creates a disconnect between the smoking internals and humdrum exterior. But with a newly announced commitment to building its brand (a sentiment popular with Chinese OEMs as of late), this particular Memo is proof positive that ZTE's serious about raising its profile and consumer perception.

You won't be seeing this Grand Memo hit US shores anytime soon -- it's a China and Europe-only affair for now. So while you wait (and hold onto hope), check out our video tour after the break.

Gallery: ZTE Grand Memo with Snapdragon 800 hands-on

Gallery: ZTE Grand Memo reappears at MWC 2013

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/25/zte-grand-memo-hands-on-snapdragon-800/

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