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A great receiver is the key to any home theater setup: it allows you to expand and connect more devices, gives you incredible control over sound quality and the individual components of your system, and it frees you of the limitations of your TV's speakers. Last week, we asked you which receivers you thought were the best, considering all of their features: inputs, audio quality, options, internet capabilities, and bang-for-the-buck. Then we took a look at the five best A/V receivers based on your nominations. Now we're back to highlight the winner.
Leading the pack with just about 36% of the vote was the Onkyo TX-NR Series, most notably the TX-NR414 and the TX-NR616, both of which earned high praise from those of you who nominated it, and from our friends at the Wirecutter.
In second place with 25% of the vote was the Denon AVR Series, which pack in Denon's Audyssey sound optimization technology and tons of features at reasonable prices. Behind Denon in third with just over 21% of the votes cast was the Yamaha RX-V Series, which many of your praised for their bang-for-the-buck and their well-made Android app that allows you to control your receiver from your phone (although Denon isn't the only contestant in our rundown with mobile apps for remote control!) In fourth place was the slim and great-sounding Marantz NR Series, bringing in just over 9% of the total vote. Bringing up the rear in fifth were Emotiva's separates, for the home theater builder who doesn't want a single receiver, but would rather assemble their own discrete components.
The Hive Five is based on reader nominations. As with most Hive Five posts, if your favorite was left out, it's not because we hate it?it's because it didn't get the nominations required in the call for contenders post to make the top five. We understand it's a bit of a popularity contest, but if you have a favorite, we want to hear about it. Have a suggestion for the Hive Five? Send us an email at tips+hivefive@lifehacker.com!
Fermi's motion produces a study in spirographPublic release date: 27-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lynn Chandler Lynn.chandler-1@nasa.gov 301-286-2806 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope orbits our planet every 95 minutes, building up increasingly deeper views of the universe with every circuit. Its wide-eyed Large Area Telescope (LAT) sweeps across the entire sky every three hours, capturing the highest-energy form of light -- gamma rays -- from sources across the universe. These range from supermassive black holes billions of light-years away to intriguing objects in our own galaxy, such as X-ray binaries, supernova remnants and pulsars.
Now a Fermi scientist has transformed LAT data of a famous pulsar into a mesmerizing movie that visually encapsulates the spacecraft's complex motion.
Pulsars are neutron stars, the crushed cores of massive suns that destroyed themselves when they ran out of fuel, collapsed and exploded. The blast simultaneously shattered the star and compressed its core into a body as small as a city yet more massive than the sun. The result is an object of incredible density, where a spoonful of matter weighs as much as a mountain on Earth. Equally incredible is a pulsar's rapid spin, with typical rotation periods ranging from once every few seconds up to hundreds of times a second. Fermi sees gamma rays from more than a hundred pulsars scattered across the sky.
One pulsar shines especially bright for Fermi. Called Vela, it spins 11 times a second and is the brightest persistent source of gamma rays the LAT sees. Although gamma-ray bursts and flares from distant black holes occasionally outshine the pulsar, they don't have Vela's staying power. Because pulsars emit beams of energy, scientists often compare them to lighthouses, a connection that in a broader sense works especially well for Vela, which is both a brilliant beacon and a familiar landmark in the gamma-ray sky.
Most telescopes focus on a very small region of the sky, but the LAT is a wide-field instrument that can detect gamma rays across a large portion of the sky at once. The LAT is, however, much more sensitive to gamma rays near the center of its field of view than at the edges. Scientists can use observations of a bright source like Vela to track how this sensitivity varies across the instrument's field of view.
With this in mind, LAT team member Eric Charles, a physicist at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University in California, used the famous pulsar to produce a novel movie. He tracked both Vela's position relative to the center of the LAT's field of view and the instrument's exposure of the pulsar during the first 51 months of Fermi's mission, from Aug. 4, 2008, to Nov. 15, 2012.
The movie renders Vela's position in a fisheye perspective, where the middle of the pattern corresponds to the central and most sensitive portion of the LAT's field of view. The edge of the pattern is 90 degrees away from the center and well beyond what scientists regard as the effective limit of the LAT's vision.
The pulsar traces out a loopy, hypnotic pattern reminiscent of art produced by the colored pens and spinning gears of a Spirograph, a children's toy that produces geometric patterns.
The pattern created in the Vela movie reflects numerous motions of the spacecraft. The first is Fermi's 95-minute orbit around Earth, but there's another, subtler motion related to it. The orbit itself also rotates, a phenomenon called precession. Similar to the wobble of an unsteady top, Fermi's orbital plane makes a slow circuit around Earth every 54 days.
In order to capture the entire sky every two orbits, scientists deliberately nod the LAT in a repeating pattern from one orbit to the next. It first looks north on one orbit, south on the next, and then north again. Every few weeks, the LAT deviates from this pattern to concentrate on particularly interesting targets, such as eruptions on the sun, brief but brilliant gamma-ray bursts associated with the birth of stellar-mass black holes, and outbursts from supermassive black holes in distant galaxies.
The Vela movie captures one other Fermi motion. The spacecraft rolls to keep the sun from shining on and warming up the LAT's radiators, which regulate its temperature by bleeding excess heat into space.
The braided loops and convoluted curves drawn by Vela hint at the complexity of removing these effects from the torrent of data Fermi returns, but that's a challenge LAT scientists long ago proved they could meet. Still going strong after more than four years on the job, Fermi continues its mission to map the high-energy sky, which is now something everyone can envision as a celestial Spriograph traced by a pulsar pen.
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Fermi's motion produces a study in spirographPublic release date: 27-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lynn Chandler Lynn.chandler-1@nasa.gov 301-286-2806 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope orbits our planet every 95 minutes, building up increasingly deeper views of the universe with every circuit. Its wide-eyed Large Area Telescope (LAT) sweeps across the entire sky every three hours, capturing the highest-energy form of light -- gamma rays -- from sources across the universe. These range from supermassive black holes billions of light-years away to intriguing objects in our own galaxy, such as X-ray binaries, supernova remnants and pulsars.
Now a Fermi scientist has transformed LAT data of a famous pulsar into a mesmerizing movie that visually encapsulates the spacecraft's complex motion.
Pulsars are neutron stars, the crushed cores of massive suns that destroyed themselves when they ran out of fuel, collapsed and exploded. The blast simultaneously shattered the star and compressed its core into a body as small as a city yet more massive than the sun. The result is an object of incredible density, where a spoonful of matter weighs as much as a mountain on Earth. Equally incredible is a pulsar's rapid spin, with typical rotation periods ranging from once every few seconds up to hundreds of times a second. Fermi sees gamma rays from more than a hundred pulsars scattered across the sky.
One pulsar shines especially bright for Fermi. Called Vela, it spins 11 times a second and is the brightest persistent source of gamma rays the LAT sees. Although gamma-ray bursts and flares from distant black holes occasionally outshine the pulsar, they don't have Vela's staying power. Because pulsars emit beams of energy, scientists often compare them to lighthouses, a connection that in a broader sense works especially well for Vela, which is both a brilliant beacon and a familiar landmark in the gamma-ray sky.
Most telescopes focus on a very small region of the sky, but the LAT is a wide-field instrument that can detect gamma rays across a large portion of the sky at once. The LAT is, however, much more sensitive to gamma rays near the center of its field of view than at the edges. Scientists can use observations of a bright source like Vela to track how this sensitivity varies across the instrument's field of view.
With this in mind, LAT team member Eric Charles, a physicist at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University in California, used the famous pulsar to produce a novel movie. He tracked both Vela's position relative to the center of the LAT's field of view and the instrument's exposure of the pulsar during the first 51 months of Fermi's mission, from Aug. 4, 2008, to Nov. 15, 2012.
The movie renders Vela's position in a fisheye perspective, where the middle of the pattern corresponds to the central and most sensitive portion of the LAT's field of view. The edge of the pattern is 90 degrees away from the center and well beyond what scientists regard as the effective limit of the LAT's vision.
The pulsar traces out a loopy, hypnotic pattern reminiscent of art produced by the colored pens and spinning gears of a Spirograph, a children's toy that produces geometric patterns.
The pattern created in the Vela movie reflects numerous motions of the spacecraft. The first is Fermi's 95-minute orbit around Earth, but there's another, subtler motion related to it. The orbit itself also rotates, a phenomenon called precession. Similar to the wobble of an unsteady top, Fermi's orbital plane makes a slow circuit around Earth every 54 days.
In order to capture the entire sky every two orbits, scientists deliberately nod the LAT in a repeating pattern from one orbit to the next. It first looks north on one orbit, south on the next, and then north again. Every few weeks, the LAT deviates from this pattern to concentrate on particularly interesting targets, such as eruptions on the sun, brief but brilliant gamma-ray bursts associated with the birth of stellar-mass black holes, and outbursts from supermassive black holes in distant galaxies.
The Vela movie captures one other Fermi motion. The spacecraft rolls to keep the sun from shining on and warming up the LAT's radiators, which regulate its temperature by bleeding excess heat into space.
The braided loops and convoluted curves drawn by Vela hint at the complexity of removing these effects from the torrent of data Fermi returns, but that's a challenge LAT scientists long ago proved they could meet. Still going strong after more than four years on the job, Fermi continues its mission to map the high-energy sky, which is now something everyone can envision as a celestial Spriograph traced by a pulsar pen.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
The economy is slowly hobbling back to health, but for many Americans the rainy day fund is still looking a little dry and the credit card bill is still looking a little scary.
About 24 percent of Americans have more credit card debt than emergency savings, according to an annual survey released Monday by the personal finance website Bankrate.com.
The survey found that only about 55 percent of Americans have more emergency savings than credit card debt. About 16 percent had none of each, and the rest either didn?t know or wouldn?t answer.
The results are little changed from the same survey Bankrate.com did in 2011 and 2012. The results suggests that, in general, people?s ability to save up for a rainy day and keep a handle on credit card debt hasn?t gotten much worse in recent years - but it hasn?t improved, either.
Greg McBride, senior financial analyst with Bankrate.com, said a big problem is that people?s wages have been pretty stagnant in recent years, even as expenses for things like food and health care have edged up.
?It just leaves less money that can be put toward debt repayment or emergency savings,? McBride said.
Americans appeared to have been sobered by the Great Recession, and some people were able to get a better handle on their credit card debt in the years that followed.
The total amount of revolving debt, which is made up mostly of credit card debt, fell between 2008 and 2010, according to the Federal Reserve. Since then, it has held relatively steady at around $850 billion, the Federal Reserve data shows.
But those aggregate numbers don?t? tell the whole story, said Lucia Dunn, economics professor at The Ohio State University.
Her research has shown that some people were able to pay off their credit card debt around the time of the Great Recession. But those who weren?t able to get control of their debt during that period are likely still struggling with it, she said.
?For those who were not able to pay off (their credit cards) and were still carrying a balance, that balance is still growing,? said Dunn, who was not involved in the Bankrate.com survey.
Dunn said her data also has shown that people continue to have elevated levels of stress about their debt, even though the recession has officially been over since June of 2009.
??We may be out of the recession, but debt?s still a looming problem for people,? she said.
The Bankrate.com data also showed that saving up enough money for an unexpected emergency remains a thorny problem.
Nearly 4 in 10 people said they were feeling less comfortable about their savings levels than a year ago, while nearly half were feeling about the same. Only 14 percent said they were feeling better about their savings levels.
They Bankrate.com survey was of a representative sample of about 1,000 adults, and it was conducted in early February.
McBride, from Bankrate.com, said many Americans may have the goal of increasing their savings but find that they have little left over after the bills are paid.
?I think that people care about it. I think most of it is just sort of the inability to make substantive progress,? he said.
Still, McBride said he wasn?t sure that Americans will improve their financial habits once the economy improves For many Americans, he noted, thriftiness has been forced on them because their credit lines have been cut, they?ve suffered a job loss or they?ve hit another financial brick wall.
As the economy starts to strengthen further, he expects Americans will be more likely to spend their extra cash rather than save it.
?At the point where incomes do start to grow, I don?t think it means that the savings rate?s going to go up,? he said. ?I think it means that consumer spending is going to go up.?
Are you comfortable with the amount of money you have saved for an emergency?
We are a small, but expanding law firm with a team of dedicated staff consisting of 4 lawyers and 8 full and part-time support personnel. We offer professional legal services in a casual, relaxed atmosphere. Our expertise includes: Business Law; Corporate Commercial Law; Tax-motivated Transactions; Wills & Powers of Attorney; Estate & Succes?sion Planning; Real Estate & Mortgage Transactions. Job Description: Experienced Real Estate Law Clerk required for busy Law Practice with minimum 5 years? experience. As a team player, you are familiar with all aspects of real estate and work well under minimal supervision at the same time as contributing to the team effort. Our practice is located in London?s Old South, beside Thames Park. Working in a beautiful Victorian home with the convenience of free parking, you are within walking distance of downtown and Wortley Village, which is rated as one of the top 5 residential neighbourhoods in Canada.
As an experienced Real Estate Assistant, you are able to complete purchase, sale and mortgage transactions from start to finish, including searching files in Teraview and attending on the registration of the files in a timely manner, meeting requisition dates. Having Corporate Commercial and Litigation experience would be considered a definite asset. Salary will commensurate with experience, benefits included. If you think you have what it takes to be a member of our team, please apply in confidence to [email?protected]
NEW DELHI/BANGALORE (Reuters) - As BlackBerry launches the first smartphone from its make-or-break BB10 line in India, one of its most loyal markets, the company faces new competition from a formidable rival that has long had a minimal presence in the country.
More than four years after it started selling iPhones in India, Apple Inc is now aggressively pushing the iconic device through installment payment plans that make it more affordable, a new distribution model and heavy marketing blitz.
"Now your dream phone" at 5,056 rupees ($93), read a recent full front-page ad for an iPhone 5 in the Times of India, referring to the initial payment on a phone priced at $840, or almost two months' wages for an entry-level software engineer.
The new-found interest in India suggests a subtle strategy shift for Apple, which has moved tentatively in emerging markets and has allowed rivals such as Samsung and BlackBerry to dominate with more affordable smartphones. With the exception of China, all of its Apple stores are in advanced economies.
Apple expanded its India sales effort in the latter half of 2012 by adding two distributors. Previously it sold iPhones only through a few carriers and stores it calls premium resellers.
The result: iPhone shipments to India between October and December nearly tripled to 250,000 units from 90,000 in the previous quarter, according to an estimate by Jessica Kwee, a Singapore-based analyst at consultancy Canalys.
At The MobileStore, an Indian chain owned by the Essar conglomerate, which says it sells 15 percent of the iPhones in the country, iPhone sales tripled between December and January, thanks to a monthly payment scheme launched last month.
"Most people in India can't afford a dollar-priced phone when the salaries in India are rupee salaries. But the desire is the same," said Himanshu Chakrawarti, its chief executive.
Apple, the distributors, retailers and banks share the advertising and interest cost of the marketing push, according to Chakrawarti. Carriers like Bharti Airtel Ltd, which also sell the iPhone 5, run separate ads.
India is the world's No. 2 cellphone market by users, but most Indians cannot afford fancy handsets. Smartphones account for just a tenth of total phone sales. In India, 95 percent of cellphone users have prepaid accounts without a fixed contract. Unlike in the United States, carriers do not subsidise handsets.
Within the smartphone segment, Apple's Indian market share last quarter was just 5 percent, according to Canalys, meaning its overall penetration is tiny.
Still, industry research firm IDC expects the Indian smartphone market to grow more than five times from about 19 million units last year to 108 million in 2016, which presents a big opportunity.
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd dominates Indian smartphone sales with a 40 percent share, thanks to its wide portfolio of Android devices priced as low as $110. The market has also been flooded by cheaper Android phones from local brands such as Micromax and Lava.
Most smartphones sold in India are much cheaper than the iPhone, said Gartner analyst Anshul Gupta.
"Where the masses are - there, Apple still has a gap."
'I LOVE INDIA, BUT...'
Apple helped create the smartphone industry with the iPhone in 2007. But last year Apple lost its lead globally to Samsung whose smartphones, which run on Google Inc's free Android software, are especially attractive in Asia.
Many in Silicon Valley and Wall Street believe the surest way to penetrate lower-income Asian markets would be with a cheaper iPhone, as has been widely reported but never confirmed. The risk is that a cheap iPhone would cannibalize demand for the premium version and eat into Apple's peerless margins.
The new monthly payment plan in India goes a long way to expanding the potential market, said Chakrawarti.
"The Apple campaign is not meant for really the regular top-end customer, it is meant to upgrade the 10,000-12,000 handset guy to 45,000 rupees," he said.
Apple's main focus for expansion in Asia has been Greater China, including Taiwan and Hong Kong, where revenue grew 60 percent last quarter to $7.3 billion.
Asked last year why Apple had not been as successful in India, Chief Executive Tim Cook said its business in India was growing but the group remained more focused on other markets.
"I love India, but I believe that Apple has some higher potential in the intermediate term in some other countries," Cook said. "The multi-layer distribution there really adds to the cost of getting products to market," he said at the time.
Apple, which has partly addressed that by adding distributors, did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Ingram Micro Inc, one of its new distributors, also declined comment. Executives at Redington (India) Ltd, the other distributor, could not immediately be reached.
BlackBerry, which has seen its global market share shrivel to 3.4 percent from 20 percent over the past three years, is making what is seen as a last-ditch effort to save itself with the BB10 series.
The high-end BlackBerry Z10 was launched in India on Monday at 43,490 rupees ($800), close to the 45,500 rupees price tag for an iPhone 5 with 16 gigabytes of memory. Samsung's Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2, Nokia's Lumia 920 and two HTC Corp models are the main iPhone rivals.
BlackBerry will target corporate users and consumers in India for the Z10, said Sunil Dutt, India managing director, adding that it will tie-up with banks for installment plans.
Until last year, BlackBerry was the No. 3 smartphone brand in India with market share of more than 10 percent, thanks to a push into the consumer segment with lower-priced phones. Last quarter its share fell to about 5 percent, putting it in fifth place, according to Canalys. Apple was sixth.
(Additional reporting by Aradhana Aravindan in MUMBAI and Poornima Gupta in SAN FRANCISCO; Editing by Tony Munroe, Mark Bendeich and Chris Gallagher)
Kuna Community Sunday Supper
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Be our guest for Sunday Supper, February 24th, 5-7 pm - Kevin Kadel's Eagle Scout Project - You're invited to have dinner with us - FREE! All are welcome! Living Hope Kuna United Methodist Church - 260 West 4th Street (corner of 4th & Franklin) www.KunaUMC.org 208-922-4745
Link: http://wwwKunaUMC.org
Age Group: All Ages Venue: Kuna United Methodist Church Address: 260 West 4th Street (corner of 4th & Franklin) Phone: 208-922-4745
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FRIDLEY, Minn. - The head coach of the Hill-Murray High School football team has been cited in connection with a prostitution sting in Fridley.
Mark Mauer, 54, of Woodbury, was one of 19 men and four women arrested in the two-day undercover sting at the Liveinn Hotel in Fridley. Police say the hotel's management knew of and cooperated with the undercover investigation.
The men are cited with a misdemeanor of solicitation and the women with a misdemeanor of prostitution.
Mark Mauer is a cousin of Minnesota Twins player Joe Mauer.
According to the Fridley Police reports, Mauer arrived at the hotel just before 7:30 p.m.
On Tuesday, Feb. 19, and allegedly agreed to pay an undercover officer $100 for a half hour of "full service."
Police allege Mauer found the prostitution ad on the website Backpage.com in the escort section.
Mauer did not answer when KARE 11 called him on his cell phone Friday, nor was he at his listed address in Woodbury.
Hill-Murray school officials would not comment on camera, but but the school's president Susan Paul released the statement below:
"I want to share with you some distressing news regarding our school and make you aware of an alleged incident involving Hill-Murray staff member and head football coach, Mark Mauer, that is being reported in the press. I want to be clear that this incident is not related in any way to Hill-Murray, our students, or Mr. Mauer's work responsibilities. Nor will this incident affect the high quality education that our families expect at Hill-Murray School. We ask for your prayers for all members of the Hill-Murray School community."
Since Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation the Italian media has speculated there could be more to the story, and has written unflattering stories about the Vatican's administration. On Saturday, the Vatican accused the Italian media of spreading false reports.
By Philip Pullella,?Reuters / February 23, 2013
Pope Benedict XVI, (r.), delivers his message concluding a weeklong spiritual retreat, at the Vatican, Saturday. On Saturday, the Vatican called reports by the Italian media speculating on conspiracies and secret lobbies said to have pushed the Pope to abdicate, 'false and damaging.'
L'Osservatore Romano/AP
Enlarge
The?Vatican?on Saturday accused the Italian media of spreading "false and damaging" reports in what it condemned as a deplorable attempt to influence cardinals who will meet in a secret conclave next month to elect a new pope.
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Since Pope Benedict announced his resignation on Feb. 11, Italian newspapers have been full of rumours about conspiracies, secret reports and lobbies in the?Vatican?that they say pushed the pope to abdicate.
"It is deplorable that, as we draw closer to the time of the beginning of the conclave ... that there be a widespread distribution of often unverified, unverifiable or completely false news stories that cause serious damage to persons and institutions," a?Vatican?statement said.
The Italian reports have painted an unflattering picture of the?Vatican's central administration, known as the Curia, depicting it as being full of prelates more concerned with their careers than serving the Church or the pope.
Some Church officials, speaking privately, have said foreign cardinals coming to?Rome?to choose the next pope have been alarmed over reports of corruption and might be inclined to elect someone not connected with the Curia, which is predominantly Italian.
The?Vatican?statement said the Italian media reports were an attempt to influence the outcome of the conclave through negative public opinion much like states and kings tried to influence papal elections centuries ago.
The pope has announced that he will step down on Feb. 28, becoming the first pontiff to abdicate in some six centuries.
The 85-year-old Benedict said his failing health no longer enabled him to run the 1.2-billion-member?Roman Catholic Church?as he would like.
DISCREDITING THE CHURCH
In a separate statement, Father?Federico Lombardi, the?Vatican?spokesman, said the reports were trying to "discredit the Church and its government" ahead of the conclave.
Italy's Repubblica newspaper ran a series of unsourced stories this week about the alleged contents of a secret report prepared for the pope by a commission of three cardinals who investigated the so-called Vatileaks scandal last year.
(Reuters) - Four Somali immigrants, including a popular imam at a San Diego-area mosque, were convicted by a U.S. federal jury on Friday of conspiring to provide material support to an al Qaeda-linked Islamist militia in the Horn of Africa nation.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California said that the men - the imam, two cab drivers and an employee at a money transmitting business - had conspired to raise and send money to Somali al Shabaab rebels.
Al Shabaab militants want to impose a strict version of Islamic law in war-ravaged Somalia, but have lost significant territory in the southern and central parts of the country in the face of an offensive by African Union troops.
According to the evidence presented at trial, the men conspired to transfer funds from San Diego to Somalia through the Shidaal Express, a now-defunct money transmitting business in San Diego.
The U.S. Attorney's office said the jury had listened to intercepted phone conversations between one of the men, San Diego cab driverBasaaly Saeed Moalin, and an al Shabaab leader who was later killed in a U.S. airstrike.
Aden Hashi Ayro implored the cab driver in those calls to send money to al Shabaab, telling him it was "time to finance the Jihad."
"You are running late with the stuff. Send some and something will happen," Ayro told Moalin. He also repeatedly asked him to reach out to Mohamed Mohamed Mohamud - an imam at the City Heights mosque - to obtain funds for the group.
U.S. warplanes killed Ayro, the Afghan-trained then-leader of al Shabaab who was said to be al Qaeda's top man in the country, in 2008. Under Ayro, al Shabaab had adopted Iraq-style tactics, including assassinations, roadside bombs and suicide bombings.
Prosecutors also presented a recorded telephone conversation in which Moalin gave the rebels permission to use his house in the capital Mogadishu. Prosecutors argued he was offering the home as a place to hide weapons.
U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said the prosecution was the result of a lengthy investigation by the San Diego Joint Terrorism Task Force.
"This case proves that our efforts to detect and disrupt terrorist financing - and prevent the violence that goes along with it - has paid off," Duffy said in a statement.
"The jury clearly did not accept defense claims that months of intercepted conversations about bullets, bombings and Jihad were actually conversations about their charitable efforts for orphans and schools," she added.
Convicted alongside Mohamud and Moalin were 37-year-old Anaheim cab driver Ahmed Nasiri Taalil Mohamud and 56-year-old Issa Doreh, who worked at a money transmitting business.
The four men are due to be sentenced on May 16 on various conspiracy and money laundering charges, which each carry maximum penalties of 15 to 20 years in jail and combined fines of up to $1 million.
An underground network, working to take down a shady corporation and their main asset. A sci-fi adventure with fantasy aspects.
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Congratulations to Hugh Grant, on the birth of his second child with Tinglan Hong. Hugh's first son was born recently, and the actor decided to confirm it via Twitter when he began being contacted by the press, according to?Sky News."Am thrilled my daughter now has a brother," Grant tweeted, "Adore them both to an uncool degree. They have a fab mum." Grant followed that a few hours later, joking, "And to be crystal clear. I am the Daddy." He mentioned that he felt the need to confirm the birth, after some journalists got?a hold?of the birth certificate.Grant's first child, Tabitha, was born in September 2011. Grant has been outspoken on the need to reform press and paparazzi laws, originally joining Twitter to use the platform to support that fight. He was also involved in the News Of The World phone hacking scandal, for which the paper paid him an undisclosed sum of money.
More than 80% of Apple's suppliers are located in Southeast Asia Source: David Barreda. Click to explore interactive map. FORTUNE ? Drawing on the list of suppliers Apple (AAPL) posted along with?
Read the original post: Map of the day: Apple Inc.'s Asian supply chain ? Apple 2.0 -Fortune ?
In this frame-grab from state television channel SABC 1 a tribute is devoted to slain model Reeva Steenkamp, girlfriend of Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius. South Africa?s national broadcaster went ahead with the screening of the reality TV show "Tropica Island of Treasure" Saturday, Feb 16, 2013, featuring the dead model. Steenkamp encouraged her family to watch in one of her last conversations with them before her shooting death at the home of Pistorius. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)
In this frame-grab from state television channel SABC 1 a tribute is devoted to slain model Reeva Steenkamp, girlfriend of Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius. South Africa?s national broadcaster went ahead with the screening of the reality TV show "Tropica Island of Treasure" Saturday, Feb 16, 2013, featuring the dead model. Steenkamp encouraged her family to watch in one of her last conversations with them before her shooting death at the home of Pistorius. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)
In this undated handout publicity photo supplied by Stimulii taken on the island of Jamaica, Reeva Steenkamp poses on set during the shooting of the reality show Tropika Island of Treasure which premieres on state television Saturday, Feb 16, 2013. South Africa's national broadcaster says it will screen the show featuring the dead model girlfriend of double-amputee athlete Oscar Pistorius, two days after she was shot and killed at Pistorius' home. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Stimulii-HO)
In this undated handout publicity photo supplied by Stimulii taken on the island of Jamaica, Reeva Steenkamp poses on set during the shooting of the reality show Tropika Island of Treasure which premieres on state television Saturday, Feb 16, 2013. South Africa's national broadcaster says it will screen the show featuring the dead model girlfriend of double-amputee athlete Oscar Pistorius, two days after she was shot and killed at Pistorius' home. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Stimulii-HO)
In this frame-grab from state television channel SABC 1 a tribute is devoted to slain model Reeva Steenkamp, girlfriend of Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius. South Africa?s national broadcaster went ahead with the screening of the reality TV show "Tropica Island of Treasure" Saturday, Feb 16, 2013, featuring the dead model. Steenkamp encouraged her family to watch in one of her last conversations with them before her shooting death at the home of Pistorius. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)
Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius leaves the Boschkop police station, east of Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013. Pistorius was taken into custody after a 30-year-old woman, Reeva Steenkamp, was shot dead at his home. (AP Photo)
JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? The family of Reeva Steenkamp says her body is back in her hometown of Port Elizabeth and a private funeral has been planned for Tuesday.
Adam Steenkamp, the late model and law graduate's brother, says "Reeva is back home."
The family said Sunday that Steenkamp, who was shot dead inside boyfriend Oscar Pistorius' house early Thursday, will be cremated in a ceremony closed to the public and the media in the city on South Africa's southern coast.
Pistorius was charged with her murder and is expected to make a court appearance on Tuesday for his bail hearing.
The 29-year-old Reeva was seen laughing and smiling on South African television Saturday night after national broadcaster SABC chose to air the first episode of a reality TV show she featured in.
Kim Kardashian has sold her gated, faux-Tuscan estate in Beverly Hills. The reality TV star, who just bought a huge place in Bel-Air with her boyfriend, rapper Kanye West, has been quietly shopping the 4,000-square-foot home around for a while for $5M, although the exact sale price hasn't been disclosed yet. [Trulia Luxe Living; previously]
Sony is really playing hardball now. This can only mean that they have a lot of big titles to announce alongside the PS4. Otherwise, why say ?PlayStation changes gaming?. If they do have games that they plan on being PS4 launch titles, I feel that they should let third party games carry the PS4 for a little, then they can slowly start bringing out the big guns.
But, that's just how I would play it. Who knows, their usual method has always worked, and "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" right?
Newest Review:?... opened. The set up works exactly the same as any other apple product (asks for Apple id, Wifi etc.) and I thought it was extremely quick. B... more
As soon as Apple released the smaller version of the iPad I was online straight away. I received my iPad Mini on Christmas Day (2012) and have loved it since.
With an easy set up, my iPad Mini was being used almost instantly after being opened. The set up works exactly the same as any other apple product (asks for Apple id, Wifi etc.) and I thought it was extremely quick. Being my first iPad I was totally impressed.
The screen of the iPad is of a very high resolution even though I didn't pay for any extras (like people do for no reason!) which surprised me a lot as it is quite an upgrade from my 3rd Generation iPod Touch! The black & slate casing of the iPad is an amazing and great design. The colours go great together and really suites the job of the iPad which works well.
The side buttons for volume etc. are on the opposite side to the iPhone which confuses me often when playing on my Mum's iPhone 5 or Dad's iPhone 4S. Apart from that the buttons work fine and are easy to press.
So the overall look and work of the iPad is fantastic and I would recommend to anyone.
Summary: Overall fantastic. Would recommend to anyone.
More reviews in the field of Tablet PC / eBook Reader
Businesses increasingly deploy advanced communications and collaboration applications in order to enhance employee productivity, streamline business processes, and reduce costs. However, they also face various challenges that prevent them from investing in enterprise communications and collaboration technologies or that delay their investment decisions. This service provides insights into current usage and adoption strategies for enterprise communications as well as into the future investment plans that will enable vendors, service providers, and channel partners to develop sustainable and competitive business practices. The base year for this service is 2012 and the region covered is the United States.
Research Background Businesses increasingly deploy advanced communications and collaboration applications in order to enhance employee productivity, streamline business processes, reduce costs, and gain a competitive advantage. However, they face various challenges that prevent them from investing in enterprise communications and collaboration technologies or delay their investment decisions. An insight into customer perceptions, current usage and adoption, and future investment plans enables vendors, service providers, and channel partners to develop sustainable business strategies and improve their competitive position. Objectives Frost & Sullivan aims to determine the following: ?When organizations are planning to deploy communications and collaboration applications ?Whether organizations are planning to integrate communications into business processes ?How organizations use, perceive, and plan to implement social media strategies ?What devices are often used for videoconferencing ?What communications solutions are used more often and which of these solutions have been migrated to the cloud/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Research Background, Objectives, and Methods 6 Executive Summary and Implications 10 Overall Workforce Trends and Communication-enabled Business Process Implementation 15 Attitudes, Implementation, and Usage of Social Media Strategy 20 ?Attitudes toward Social Media Strategies 21 ?Industry Comparison of Positive Attitudes toward Social Media Strategies 22 ?Impact of Importance on Social Media Strategy Implementation 25 Devices Used for Videoconferencing 28 ?Frequency of Use of Videoconferencing on Different Devices 29 Usage of and Migration to Cloud for Enterprise Communications Solutions 31 ?Frequency of Use of Enterprise Communications/IT Solutions 32 ?Enterprise Communications Solutions in the "Cloud" 34 ?Prioritized IT/Communications to Move to the "Cloud" 36 ?Impact of Current Cloud Use on Future Plans for Moving Communications/IT Solutions to the "Cloud" 37 ?Industry Comparison of Short-term Plans for Moving Communications/IT Solutions to the "Cloud" 42 Trends in Enterprise Mobile Communications 47 ?Ownership Trends in Smartphones Used by the Workforce 48 ?Ownership Trends in Tablets Used by the Workforce 49 ?Mobile Applications Currently Deployed and Future Deployment 51 ?Current and Future Use of Mobile Application Implementation 54 ?Most Important Benefits in Deployed Mobile Application Solutions 57 Firmographics 60 The Frost & Sullivan Story 66/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>
To order this report: e-Commerce Industry: />2012 IT Decision Makers' Views on the Evolution of Enterprise Communications />
Every business has its own unique communications needs. Some businesses are almost entirely phone based, while employees in other firms may largely communicate through email and instant messaging, or another might be mobile-focused and heavily dependent on cell phones or text messages. Regardless of your business' performance preference, there is a customizable Avaya communications solution for you. Communications solutions are systems and tools working together to increase productivity. Seamless integration allows users to navigate between devices putting you in control of your communications system wherever and however you need it. Customizable solutions are tailored to your exact needs; with Avaya there is no one-size-fits-all solution, there is only the solution that is right for you. System Implementation Communications system solution providers, like Arrow S3, work closely together with businesses prior to the system implementation plan to develop mutually agreed upon system components and project sequences. On-site installation includes full diagnostic testing to ensure error-free functioning of core processes and backup functions as well as connectivity tests and guaranteeing that security features are fully in place. Providers offer ongoing monitoring to support Avaya systems and keep communications systems working at peak performance levels throughout the year. Refined to perfection True communication solutions build off the progress of past campaigns. Good communications solution providers, like Arrow S3, refine their processes after each implementation to provide customers with the most streamlined services available. Arrow S3's goal is to provide the best communications solution with unsurpassed customer satisfaction. To that end, Arrow S3 incorporates each project with a post-implementation review that: examines internal and external conditions for review identifies root causes of challenges and ensures appropriate corrective action is taken analyzes excellent results and incorporates findings into ongoing best practices Each post-implementation review improves Arrow S3's established best practices to provide the best possible customer service experience for Avaya support on the market. Unified Communication Solutions Unified communication solutions simplify the integration of various communication components an organization deals with every day making voice, video and data work together on your behalf. User-friendly design incorporates how the people in your organization actually use technology to provide practical solutions that increase your overall efficiency, productivity and effectiveness. Unified communication strategy is set based on the habits and needs of a given corporate workforce. Arrow S3 provides seamless integration of real-time services like telephones and instant messaging with non-real-time services like email and voice messaging. Take this practical example: while trying to communicate with a colleague, a team member might contact that person five different ways: by calling the desk phone and cell phone, and by sending an instant message, text message and email. If the colleague is unavailable, he will have any of five different avenues from which to reply, from five different failed attempts at communication. By unifying internal communication processes, businesses can streamline this approach to: automatically send voice mail files by text, email or instant message automatically transcribe voicemails into text emailed to the user make desk phones and cell phones ring simultaenously Any of these processes saves businesses time on both ends of the communication as messages are left only once and guaranteed to be received through optimal forms of communication. Whether you're looking for efficiency and savings in the physical setup, streamlined processes or practical use of your communication systems, there is a customizable Avaya communications solution that will work perfectly for you.
-Chris Gaffney
Shared Solutions and Services, Inc. (S3), a wholly owned subsidiary of Arrow Electronics, Inc., is a uniquely-capable total solutions provider specializing in unified communications, voice and data technologies, contact center and network security, and Avaya support.
NEW YORK (AP) ? A sister of FacebookCEO Mark Zuckerberg has a two-book deal.
HarperCollins announced Wednesday that Randi Zuckerberg, a social media executive and entrepreneur who left Facebook in 2011, plans a memoir/lifestyle book titled "Dot Complicated" and a children's story.
"Dot Complicated," scheduled for release Nov. 5, will combine personal and professional insights for the digital age, from Zuckerberg's years as Facebook's marketing director to becoming a mother in 2011. "Dot Complicated" also is the name of her online newsletter.
Zuckerberg said in a statement technology has changed almost every part of people's lives, resulting in a digital society "that feels a lot like the wild, wild west."
"I am thrilled to be working with HarperCollins to share some of my own crazy experiences on the front lines of social media and to inspire people of all ages to embrace technology, as well as the new set of social norms that come along with it," she said.
Zuckerberg, who has founded her own Zuckerberg Media company, is known in part for opposing anonymity online, saying it enables cyberbullying. Her brother co-founded Facebook in his Harvard University dorm room in 2004, and his net worth is estimated at $9.4 billion.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The myriad designs parading on the runways of New York Fashion Week converged on one standout style-savvy look for fall and winter 2013: the black jacket.
Ubiquitous in the latest collections, the jacket appeared sporting a boxy silhouette, swinging lines or oversized shoulders, but the black was non-negotiable. It was by far the dominant color among the hundreds of the fall and winter women's collections unveiled by designers at the semi-annual extravaganza.
New York Fashion Week, which is followed by similar events in London, Paris and Milan, concludes on Thursday with shows by Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren. Michael Kors will be among those showing his designs on Wednesday.
In shows this week, the black jacket appeared tuxedo-style with contrasting satin lapels, as a bolero, in edgy motorcycle cuts, playfully cropped at the waist, as a tailored blazer, as a blouson and with ruffles at the waist. Among designers highlighting the piece were Nicole Miler, Yigal Azrouel and Kenneth Cole
The black jacket was paired with skirts, most of them pleated or pencil, and trousers that veered between slim and slouchy.
Fur was also omnipresent - in narrow neck pieces, stoles, snoods and wraps and adorning everything from anoraks to evening gowns. Designers dyed it eye-catching reds and greens.
"Furs are so prevalent, it's unbelievable," said David Wolfe, creative director of The Doneger Group fashion consultants.
"It's luxury and drama and glamour, and it's escapism because we're still not out of the economic woods," he said. "This is kind of kidding yourself that everything is the way it was in the '80s when times were good."
The fall and winter collections were unexpectedly lush, said luxury consultant Robert Burke.
"It's not exactly a boom time period, but designers are designing like it is," he said.
Evening wear featured rich textiles and heavy ornamentation, especially in collections by Tadashi Shoji and Pamella Roland who took inspiration from old St. Petersburg in Russia and Naeem Khan who looked to 1920s Art Deco.
"If I'm a designer and I'm in a higher-end market, how do I differentiate myself from fast fashion? It's the ornamentation," said retail consultant Tom Julian.
Leather made a strong showing - cut into lacy evening dresses, folded into pleated trousers, trimmed into skinny leggings and even feathered into hemline flounces. Shearling was popular too.
Layering played a big role. Designers put short jackets over long shirts, letting the tails hang out the back, and brought out plenty of vests, from biker to brocade, as well as hoods.
"I was intrigued by the hoodie that gets layered with the cardigan that gets layered with the tunic that gets layered with the slicker," said Julian.
Necklines were high. Turtlenecks were popular, as were stand-up collars and bows tied at the front of the neck.
Accompanying all that black was gray, in versions dubbed fog, smoke, slate, pewter, gun metal, charcoal, lead and mercury.
For those craving a bit of color, a dark red described variously as oxblood, Bordeaux, Windsor wine, Merlot and wineberry made a subtle appearance, as did deep greens described as moss, malachite and viridian and purples named aubergine, amethyst, amaranth and black plum.
"Women who pass on the bright color are going to bite on these more sophisticated, darker, muted colors," said Wolfe.
A great receiver is the key to any home theater setup: it allows you to expand and connect more devices, gives you incredible control over sound quality and the individual components of your system, and it frees you of the limitations of your TV's speakers. Last week, we asked you which receivers you thought were the best, considering all of their features: inputs, audio quality, options, internet capabilities, and bang-for-the-buck. Then we took a look at the five best A/V receivers based on your nominations. Now we're back to highlight the winner. 
Leading the pack with just about 36% of the vote was the Onkyo TX-NR Series, most notably the TX-NR414 and the TX-NR616, both of which earned high praise from those of you who nominated it, and from our friends at the Wirecutter.![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 27-Feb-2013
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Congratulations to Hugh Grant, on the birth of his second child with Tinglan Hong. Hugh's first son was born recently, and the actor decided to confirm it via Twitter when he began being contacted by the press, according to?Sky News."Am thrilled my daughter now has a brother," Grant tweeted, "Adore them both to an uncool degree. They have a fab mum." Grant followed that a few hours later, joking, "And to be crystal clear. I am the Daddy." He mentioned that he felt the need to confirm the birth, after some journalists got?a hold?of the birth certificate.Grant's first child, Tabitha, was born in September 2011. Grant has been outspoken on the need to reform press and paparazzi laws, originally joining Twitter to use the platform to support that fight. He was also involved in the News Of The World phone hacking scandal, for which the paper paid him an undisclosed sum of money. 
Kim Kardashian has sold her gated, faux-Tuscan estate in Beverly Hills. The reality TV star, who just bought a huge place in Bel-Air with her boyfriend, rapper Kanye West, has been quietly shopping the 4,000-square-foot home around for a while for $5M, although the exact sale price hasn't been disclosed yet. [Trulia Luxe Living; previously]