Fun London Drugs - More toy bargains

Note: London Drugs stores are in BC, AB, SK, and MB only.

Continued from this previous post:
http://forums.redflagdeals.com/londo...-ymmv-1269877/

Here's what else I found at the Georgia and Granville store in Vancouver, BC.

The small Thundercats action figures mentioned in the previous post were reduced from $1.99 to $1.00 each. All cleared out.

Thor action figures, $3.00
Sorry, no Natalie Portman action figure.

Angry Birds light, $4.00

Play-Doh 40-piece back pack set, $5.00

Play-Doh vehicle set, $5.00

Caillou doll, $5.00

Source: http://forums.redflagdeals.com/london-drugs-more-toy-bargains-1294686/new-post/

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Study finds improvement in German consumer mood

BERLIN (AP) ? A closely-watched survey shows German consumers are more optimistic, buoyed by the current calm in financial markets and expectations the economy will gradually revive over the course of the year.

The GfK institute reported Tuesday that its forward-looking indicator rose to 5.8 points for January, up from a revised 5.7 in January.

Analyst Carsten Brzeski says the indicator is "another small piece of evidence that domestic demand should be an important growth driver in 2013."

The report shows overall economic expectations still in negative territory, at minus 11.3 in January ? but that was an improvement from December's minus 17.9.

Income expectations rose to 36 in January from 21.2 in December, while consumers' willingness to buy was up to 35.3 from 20.1.

The report is based on 2,000 consumer interviews.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/study-finds-improvement-german-consumer-mood-082011974--finance.html

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Taylor Swift Joins Forces with Great Love of Her Life

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/01/taylor-swift-joins-forces-with-great-love-of-her-life/

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Wall Street opens lower after Apple results

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks opened lower on Thursday, a day after Apple Inc reported revenue that missed expectations, tanking the stock and weighing on technology shares.

As the most valuable U.S. company and a heavy weight in both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, a decline in Apple shares has an outsized impact on the broader market. Apple dropped 10.5 percent to $459.84 in early trading.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 21.73 points, or 0.16 percent, at 13,801.06. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 2.16 points, or 0.14 percent, at 1,492.65. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 24.98 points, or 0.79 percent, at 3,128.69.

(Reporting by Ryan Vlastelica; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/apple-revenue-miss-challenge-u-stocks-rally-140317715--sector.html

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Throwback Thursday: Top 5 90s Board Games | Surviving College

Throwback Thursday?is your weekly concentrated dose of nostalgia, where we round up the bests and worsts of all things 90s.?This week:?the best 90s board games. Tune in every Thursday for even more 90s goodness!

---

Forget about baseball.? The real American pastime is board games.? My favorite part of growing up was being forced to stay home on a Friday night, instead of getting to go to Becca C?s sleepover parties (okay so maybe it wasn?t my favorite, but it was definitely one of the most memorable) and have ?Game Night? with my family.? We played them all, from Sorry to Monopoly to Trouble.? And somehow, Dad always ended up winning, because of his ?strategies??Dad, I?m 22-years-old now, I know that?s code for ?cheating?! Anyways, here are the top 5 90s board games.

Dream Phone

This game taught me everything I needed to know about being a girl, but the most important lesson was: If you think a boy likes you, stalk him relentlessly until you win by stealing him from your friends.? This game makes me feel better about all of the Facebook stalking I do?hey, it?s just how I win the game!? It also taught me that, if I like a boy, I should call him relentlessly! It?s true, I learned the ways of young love from this game, although I?m not so sure my second grade boyfriend, Michael L. would say the same.

Don?t Wake Daddy

What every child needs instilled in them is a fear of their father in the night.? This game had me tiptoeing around my house at all hours, and I wouldn?t even go near the door frame to my parents? bedroom.? Suffice it to say, playing Don?t Wake Daddy came in handy eventually, and was excellent training for my rebellious years of sneaking in and out of the house.? Oh wait?who am I kidding, I never had rebellious years, I was just sneaking into the kitchen to steal the last slice of cake before anyone else.? But still, I think Don?t Wake Daddy prepared me for that.

Operation

Don?t all parents want their kids to eventually grow up to become lawyers and doctors? ?Well this game was basically a medical degree starter kit, although it was not a game for the shaky-handed.? That buzzer was loud enough to wake the dead?or even Daddy, but luckily I had my Don?t Wake Daddy skills down already!? The pieces in Operation were so tiny, I?m pretty sure many small children have needed actual operations after playing the game, and I wouldn?t be surprised if a cousin or two of mine still has a spare rib or funny bone stuck somewhere in their intestines.

Guess Who

Guess Who is the game that taught all of us 90s kids the importance of facial recognition.? But also, it taught us all just how many different kinds of mustaches there are out there!? This game was like 20 Questions,?only with flashcards of people.? Is it just me, or was the first question asked always ?Is your person a boy?? or ?Is your person a girl??? to eliminate half the board? Once you found out the gender of the other player?s person, the game was over in about three minutes.? And yet I could still play for hours! I think the reason I liked the game so much is because it made me feel like a detective?I guess at age six, I still hadn?t discovered Clue.

Hungry Hungry Hippos

It?s no wonder that obese Americans are mocked relentlessly by other countries for being fat.? But, it?s not our fault; we were taught by Hungry Hungry Hippos that eating the most, the fastest, makes you win!? While other kids in other countries were making shoes in factories, or fetching water from rivers, we were sitting in our living room trying to out-eat our opponents. This game lays down the groundwork for other American pastimes like pie and hot-dog-eating contests.? That being said, it had everything I wanted a kid, which was wild animals, and snacks?it?s the simple things in life.? Plus, if you happened to be playing on a slant, you had an advantage ?strategy? (cough, Dad, cough).

Did your favorite board games make the list? Tell us in the comments!
Next week on Throwback Thursday: Our 5 Favorite 90s Disney Movies

Source: http://www.survivingcollege.com/throwback-thursday-top-5-90s-board-games/

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Film review: 'Quartet' a too-gentle comedy about musicians in ...

This film image released by The Weinstein Company shows, from left, Billy Connolly, Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay and Pauline Collins in a scene from "Quartet." (AP Photo/The Weinstein Company, Kerry Brown)

Film review: ?Quartet? a too-gentle comedy about musicians in retirement

By Sean P. Means

| The Salt Lake Tribune

First Published 4 hours ago ? Updated 4 hours ago

For pity?s sake, can we keep Maggie Smith out of the retirement home?

On the heels of "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" comes "Quartet," which casts Dame Maggie as Jean Horton, a retired opera star who moves in, reluctantly, to a home for aged musicians. She finds her old colleagues living there: Lothario Wilf (Billy Connelly), dotty Cissy (Pauline Collins) and morose Reginald (Tom Courtenay), who was once married to Jean and still nurses a broken heart. The relationships come to a head during the run-up to a fundraising gala, when its imperious director (Michael Gambon) urges the four to perform their signature number, a Verdi quartet.

?

HH

?Quartet?

Opens Friday, Jan. 25, at area theaters; rated PG-13 for brief strong language and suggestive humor; 98 minutes.

Actor Dustin Hoffman makes his directorial debut here, and his mode of whimsical gentility won?t upset audiences but may lull them to sleep. Oddly, the movie?s most fascinating moments come over the closing credits, when Hoffman shows photos of his supporting cast members, many of them retired musicians and thespians, in their prime.

Smith is as delightful as ever, though the script (by "The Pianist?s" Ronald Harwood) doesn?t provide her the acid gems she drops regularly on "Downton Abbey."

movies@sltrib.com; www.sltrib.com/entertainment

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Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/entertainment2/55641873-223/quartet-musicians-hoffman-jean.html.csp

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Leaked press image of forthcoming Huawei Ascend P2 emerges ahead of MWC unveiling

This press image obtained by @evleaks claims to be the next high end offering from Huawei. Following on from the Ascend D2 which first launched at CES, the Ascend P2 that we see here is also reportedly joining the 1080p display club. Only, unlike the D2 which comes in at 5 inches, the P2 display is reported to be just 4.5 inches with on-screen buttons. 

Leaks of recent Huawei devices have proved pretty accurate, so while the usual rumor tag applies here too, there's plenty of cause to believe this is what we'll be seeing from Huawei in Barcelona next month at Mobile World Congress.

The P2, besides the display, is also reported to contain an in-house built 1.8GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, a 13MP camera and a pretty hefty 3000mAh battery. Software is said to be Jelly Bean, with no indication as to which version.  If it all pans out, it's clear to see that Huawei didn't just leave their big guns in Las Vegas. How much is true remains to be seen, but we'll be live from Barcelona next month to take a look at whatever it is that Huawei brings. 

Source: @evleaks (Unwired View)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/uE1Hvthz9No/story01.htm

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West Coast gets swing at San Francisco jazz center

The San Francisco Bourbon Kings perform on the red carpet before the opening night concert of the SFJAZZ Center Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013 in San Francisco. The 700-seat, specially designed concert hall nestled in the heart of the city's arts district attracted a crowd of hundreds with a high-energy, inaugural celebration emceed by Bill Cosby. Billed as the first freestanding building in the West built for jazz performance and education, the center opened Wednesday after raising more than $60 million over more than a decade to build a home for SFJAZZ, the nonprofit that puts on the city's jazz festival. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

The San Francisco Bourbon Kings perform on the red carpet before the opening night concert of the SFJAZZ Center Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013 in San Francisco. The 700-seat, specially designed concert hall nestled in the heart of the city's arts district attracted a crowd of hundreds with a high-energy, inaugural celebration emceed by Bill Cosby. Billed as the first freestanding building in the West built for jazz performance and education, the center opened Wednesday after raising more than $60 million over more than a decade to build a home for SFJAZZ, the nonprofit that puts on the city's jazz festival. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

Bill Cosby, right, jokes with Regina Carter about her violin during the opening night concert of the SFJAZZ Center Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013 in San Francisco. The 700-seat, specially designed concert hall nestled in the heart of the city's arts district attracted a crowd of hundreds with a high-energy, inaugural celebration emceed by Bill Cosby. Billed as the first freestanding building in the West built for jazz performance and education, the center opened Wednesday after raising more than $60 million over more than a decade to build a home for SFJAZZ, the nonprofit that puts on the city's jazz festival. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

Mary Stallings sings "I Love Being Here With You," during the opening night concert of the SFJAZZ Center Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013 in San Francisco. The 700-seat, specially designed concert hall nestled in the heart of the city's arts district attracted a crowd of hundreds with a high-energy, inaugural celebration emceed by Bill Cosby. Billed as the first freestanding building in the West built for jazz performance and education, the center opened Wednesday after raising more than $60 million over more than a decade to build a home for SFJAZZ, the nonprofit that puts on the city's jazz festival. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

Chick Corea, left, greets guitarist Bill Frisell before they performed together during the opening night concert of the SFJAZZ Center Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013 in San Francisco. The 700-seat, specially designed concert hall nestled in the heart of the city's arts district attracted a crowd of hundreds with a high-energy, inaugural celebration emceed by Bill Cosby. Billed as the first freestanding building in the West built for jazz performance and education, the center opened Wednesday after raising more than $60 million over more than a decade to build a home for SFJAZZ, the nonprofit that puts on the city's jazz festival. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

Saxophonists Joshua Redman, left, and Joe Lovano, right, perform during the opening night concert of the SFJAZZ Center Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013 in San Francisco. The 700-seat, specially designed concert hall nestled in the heart of the city's arts district attracted a crowd of hundreds with a high-energy, inaugural celebration emceed by Bill Cosby. Billed as the first freestanding building in the West built for jazz performance and education, the center opened Wednesday after raising more than $60 million over more than a decade to build a home for SFJAZZ, the nonprofit that puts on the city's jazz festival. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Full of shimmer and swing, San Francisco's sleek new jazz concert hall opened Wednesday with an opening night gala featuring McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea and Esperanza Spalding aimed at cementing respect for and expanding the reach of the jazz idiom on the West Coast.

Called SFJAZZ Center, the 700-seat specially designed concert hall nestled in the heart of the city's arts district was brightly lit amid a light rain and attracted a crowd of hundreds with a high-energy, inaugural celebration emceed by Bill Cosby.

Cosby played percussion during the night's first number, along with several others including Oakland percussionist John Santos.

"This is just fabulous, it's a tremendous opportunity for everyone here," Santos said.

Billed as the first freestanding building in the West built for jazz performance and education, the center opened Wednesday after raising more than $60 million over more than a decade to build a home for SFJAZZ, the nonprofit that puts on the city's jazz festival.

A building that stood opposite the hall was decked out with giant black-and-white photographs of jazz greats.

"This is the revival of the jazz scene in San Francisco," said attorney and attendee Kirk Boyd.

After three decades of renting trucks to drop off pianos and drums for gigs at outside venues, spokesman Marshall Lamm said the organization was delighted to open a permanent home, which soon will boast a New Orleans-style cafe and cocktail lounge led by The Slanted Door's chef Charles Phan.

"It's just not like someone inherited some money and they built a building," said San Francisco bassist, jazz composer and bandleader Marcus Shelby. "This a concept and idea and practice that has been developed for decades and this building is the result of all of that hard work to give the West Coast a venue that has to be respected."

Wednesday, the show drew celebrities including Tom Waits, Danny Glover, Amy Tan, former Secretary of State George Shultz and hundreds of other jazz aficionados.

The venue will need to play multiple, distinct roles: attract exclusive, high-level performers, support local musicians and school groups such as the SFJAZZ High School All-Stars and celebrate the legacy of the city's Fillmore District.

A half-century ago, hundreds of black-owned businesses including jazz and blues nightclubs thrived in the Fillmore, then nicknamed "Harlem of the West." After the government decreed the area blighted, wrecking balls erased many such hotspots and forced thousands of people from the neighborhood through eminent domain. After a decades-long urban renewal project by the federal and local governments, the Fillmore was reshaped ? and gradually jazz clubs have started coming back.

None, organizers say, will have the weight and promise of SFJAZZ Center, whose acoustics are custom designed to showcase the sound coming off the stage and enhance the listener's experience.

"For the musicians to flow, it requires a stage where you can hear very clearly, " said Sam Berkow, who designed the acoustics and sound system for SFJAZZ Center as well as Jazz at Lincoln Center. "For the audience watching the band, with seating around the stage you'll get that collective sense of the listening experience, which is important when musicians are not just playing a chart but offering a solo in response to the crowd's energy."

___

Associated Press photographer Eric Risberg contributed to this report.

___

Follow Garance Burke at http://www.twitter.com/garanceburke

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-01-24-SF%20Jazz%20Center/id-586c0699c0fb4a5182954729bcdb10d9

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Today on New Scientist: 23 January 2013

Powerful prose stored in error-free DNA

It is one of the most iconic speeches of all time, and now Martin Luther King's speech has been immortalised in a very unusual way: in DNA

Why it takes a dog to wolf down a cake

Dogs love a bone, but a taste for starch may have helped tame their wolf-like ancestors at the dawn of the agricultural age

A shot at the truth about gun violence

The best ways to prevent gun-related crime have never been properly investigated. It is time for the scientific evidence to trump ideology

Touch-sensitive video-screen floor is in step with you

A prototype floor that senses your every step and displays interactive video could one day bring strange sights and new possibilities into your home

Pure colour mixing gets laser power

Three coloured jets of liquid mix to form white. But all the liquid is clear - how come?

Universe hopping wins Quantum Shorts film competition

A film depicting travel within a multiverse wins our Quantum Shorts film competition

Can we really 'cure' autism?

Some claim that new research shows people can grow out of autism, but it is more likely they simply cope better with it over time

See ya, latex: Reinventing the condom

Unchanged for 150 years, the humble rubber is about to get a serious makeover

Canada's new banknotes show wrong maple leaf

Instead of the iconic sugar maple leaf, Canada's $20, $50 and $100 bills feature a leaf of the highly invasive Norway maple, a native of Europe

Space-miners to crush asteroids and 3D print satellites

Once a wacky idea, commercial asteroid exploration has become a race, with the launch of a second company focused on mining near-Earth space rocks

Accidental physics: Why mass has a split personality

Watch an animation that explains why the concept of mass is two-faced, causing a conundrum in physics

David Attenborough: We're suffocating ourselves

Launching a new TV series at age 87, veteran broadcaster David Attenborough explains why the natural world never ceases to intrigue

MIT website hacked in tribute to Aaron Swartz

The MIT home page was replaced with a message paying tribute to the internet activist, who committed suicide earlier this month

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/492992/s/27d3b8d1/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Cblogs0Cshortsharpscience0C20A130C0A10Ctoday0Eon0Enew0Escientist0E230Ejanu0E10Bhtml/story01.htm

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After Gen. John Allen cleared, nomination back on track

A day after the Pentagon cleared Gen. John Allen of any wrongdoing in email exchanges with a Tampa socialite, his nomination to take over as NATO's supreme allied commander is back on track.

Currently serving as the top commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Allen's nomination was placed on hold last November when the Pentagon inspector general began an investigation into his conduct.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said at Wednesday's White House briefing that President Obama has decided to go forward with Allen's nomination.

"The investigation is now complete," said Carney. "We welcome its findings. And, therefore, we intend for the nomination to proceed."

Carney expressed hope that the Senate would consider the nomination "in a timely manner. And you know, we will press the Senate to do just that."

A spokesman for Allen released a statement saying the Marine general "was obviously pleased by the outcome" of the inspector general's investigation.

The Pentagon inspector general investigated whether Allen's email contacts with Tampa socialite Jill Kelley were inappropriate. Kelley was at the center of the scandal that led to the resignation of David Petraeus as CIA director after his extramarital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, came to light.

Kelley had contacted law enforcement to investigate a series of anonymous harassing emails later determined to have come Broadwell. After wrapping its investigation, the FBI referred to the Pentagon 20,000 to 30,000 documents of exchanges between Allen and Kelley that it felt needed further investigation.

Maj. David Nevers said Allen was informed that "the allegations against him were unsubstantiated and did not violate the requirement of exemplary conduct or the prohibition against conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman."

According to Nevers, Allen had "placed his faith in and fully supported the investigative process. He's obviously pleased by the outcome."

He described Allen as being "grateful for the support he received throughout this process from his chain of command, friends, family and colleagues. He remains focused, as he has always been, on leading the brave men and women of the ISAF team."

Allen is expected to turn over command of NATO forces in Afghanistan on Feb. 10 to Gen. Joseph Dunford, who has already been confirmed by the Senate.

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gen-john-allen-cleared-nomination-back-track-011805040--abc-news-politics.html

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Russia plans biggest war games since Soviet era

Some see the naval exercises scheduled later this month as cover for a massive evacuation of Russian citizens from war-torn Syria.

By Fred Weir,?Correspondent / January 3, 2013

People walk along the Admiralteyskaya Embankment in front of a Russian naval ship in the center of St. Petersburg in July. Russia is planning a massive naval exercise ? its largest war games since the Soviet era ? for later this month.

Alexander Demianchuk/Reuters

Enlarge

The Russian Navy has announced that it will hold its biggest war games since Soviet times in the Mediterranean and Black seas later this month.

Skip to next paragraph Fred Weir

Correspondent

Fred Weir has been the Monitor's Moscow correspondent, covering Russia and the former Soviet Union, since 1998.?

Recent posts

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The ambitious exercises, which will involve ships from all four major Russian fleets, are a sign of growing confidence on the part of Russia's military as it begins to enjoy the benefits of President Vladimir Putin's huge budget allocations for renewing and reequipping all branches of the armed forces.

The purpose of the war games will be to strengthen integration between different types of forces and gain practice with major military deployments outside Russia's immediate neighborhood, the Defense Ministry said in a statement Tuesday.

As part of the maneuvers, naval ships will arrive at an "unprepared" coast in the Russian northern Caucasus region to take amphibious troops onto transport vessels.

"The primary goal of the exercise is to train issues regarding formation of a battle group consisting of troops of different branches outside of the Russian Federation, planning its deployment and managing a coordinated action of a joint Navy group in accordance with a common plan," the ministry's statement said.

The participating ships, it said, will be drawn from all of Russia's four major naval formations: the Northern, Baltic, Pacific, and Black Sea fleets.

Some experts suggest the war games may be cover for an increasingly nervous Moscow's preparations to evacuate Russian citizens and their dependents from war-torn Syria.

About 9,000 Russians are registered with the Russian Embassy in Damascus, but some experts say the full number may be 30,000 or more. Over the nearly half a century that Moscow has enjoyed good relations with Syria, thousands of Russian women have married Syrian men and moved to the country. Many of them may urgently demand to return with their children to Russia if the situation turns critical.

This week the Russian Navy refreshed a fleet, including several huge amphibious assault ships capable of carrying thousands of people, which it had deployed to the eastern Mediterranean last summer.

Experts say the replacement fleet dispatched this week is of similar makeup, with at least five huge troop-transport ships at its core.

As part of Russia's eight-year, $659 billion rearmament program, the Navy is slated to receive 50 new warships by 2016, including new Borey-class nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarines ? a third of which entered service last weekend ? 18 major surface warships, and dozens of special purpose and support vessels.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/6YylKnknf94/Russia-plans-biggest-war-games-since-Soviet-era

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Blackberry App World store makes early switch to Blackberry World, but no music or video yet

We're still a few days away from BB10's genuine debut, but RIM's decided to press on early with its app store changes. Starting with the webstore front (which is rolling out in the next 24 hours, depending on your territory) then moving on to the PlayBook and existing BlackBerry phones, the renamed BlackBerry World store will also offer up access to videos and music -- RIM reckons it'll be your "one-stop shop" for mobile entertainment, but those channels aren't live just yet. Test out the store's new offerings at the source link to the right.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, RIM

Comments

Source: RIM, Blackberry World

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/rXB36YYhMk4/

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CyanogenMod 10.1 Milestone 1 hits Nexus and Samsung devices

Despite all the nightly builds of CyanogenMod 10.1, there hasn't been much of anything definitive to hang our hats on. There's at last some sense of reliability now that Milestone 1 versions have hit the servers. Most Nexus devices, as well as swaths of Samsung's Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab 2 ranges, can get the unofficial Android 4.2 build for themselves. The M1 code is deemed "mostly stable" and good enough for daily use, although that's relative -- it's not yet to the level of a fully stable build, let alone factory firmware. If you only needed fewer risks than before, though, the downloads and details await at the source links.

[Thanks, Rashid]

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung, Google

Comments

Via: DonAndroid

Source: CyanogenMod (1), (2)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/22/cyanogenmod-10-1-milestone/

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BPA substitute could spell trouble

Public release date: 22-Jan-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jim Kelly
jpkelly@utmb.edu
409-772-8791
University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston

Experiments show bisphenol S also disrupts hormone activity

A few years ago, manufacturers of water bottles, food containers, and baby products had a big problem. A key ingredient of the plastics they used to make their merchandise, an organic compound called bisphenol A, had been linked by scientists to diabetes, asthma and cancer and altered prostate and neurological development. The FDA and state legislatures were considering action to restrict BPA's use, and the public was pressuring retailers to remove BPA-containing items from their shelves.

The industry responded by creating "BPA-free" products, which were made from plastic containing a compound called bisphenol S. In addition to having similar names, BPA and BPS share a similar structure and versatility: BPS is now known to be used in everything from currency to thermal receipt paper, and widespread human exposure to BPS was confirmed in a 2012 analysis of urine samples taken in the U.S., Japan, China and five other Asian countries.

According to a study by University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston researchers, though, BPS also resembles BPA in a more problematic way. Like BPA, the study found, BPS disrupts cellular responses to the hormone estrogen, changing patterns of cell growth and death and hormone release. Also like BPA, it does so at extremely low levels of exposure.

"Our studies show that BPS is active at femtomolar to picomolar concentrations just like endogenous hormones that's in the range of parts per trillion to quadrillion," said UTMB professor Cheryl Watson, senior author of a paper on the study now online in the advance publications section of Environmental Health Perspectives. "Those are levels likely to be produced by BPS leaching from containers into their contents."

Watson and graduate student Ren Vias conducted cell-culture experiments to examine the effects of BPS on a form of signaling that involves estrogen receptors the "receivers" of a biochemical message acting in the cell's outer membrane instead of the cell nucleus. Where nuclear signaling involves interaction with DNA to produce proteins and requires hours to days, membrane signaling (also called "non-genomic" signaling) acts through much quicker mechanisms, generating a response in seconds or minutes.

Watson and Vias focused on key biochemical pathways that are normally stimulated when estrogen activates membrane receptors. One, involving a protein known as ERK, is linked to cell growth; another, labeled JNK, is tied to cell death. In addition, they examined the ability of BPS to activate proteins called caspases (also linked to cell death) and promote the release of prolactin, a hormone that stimulates lactation and influences many other functions.

"These pathways form a complicated web of signals, and we're going to need to study them more closely to fully understand how they work," Watson said. "On its own, though, this study shows us that very low levels of BPS can disrupt natural estrogen hormone actions in ways similar to what we see with BPA. That's a real cause for concern."

###

This research was supported by the Passport Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

---

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Public release date: 22-Jan-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jim Kelly
jpkelly@utmb.edu
409-772-8791
University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston

Experiments show bisphenol S also disrupts hormone activity

A few years ago, manufacturers of water bottles, food containers, and baby products had a big problem. A key ingredient of the plastics they used to make their merchandise, an organic compound called bisphenol A, had been linked by scientists to diabetes, asthma and cancer and altered prostate and neurological development. The FDA and state legislatures were considering action to restrict BPA's use, and the public was pressuring retailers to remove BPA-containing items from their shelves.

The industry responded by creating "BPA-free" products, which were made from plastic containing a compound called bisphenol S. In addition to having similar names, BPA and BPS share a similar structure and versatility: BPS is now known to be used in everything from currency to thermal receipt paper, and widespread human exposure to BPS was confirmed in a 2012 analysis of urine samples taken in the U.S., Japan, China and five other Asian countries.

According to a study by University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston researchers, though, BPS also resembles BPA in a more problematic way. Like BPA, the study found, BPS disrupts cellular responses to the hormone estrogen, changing patterns of cell growth and death and hormone release. Also like BPA, it does so at extremely low levels of exposure.

"Our studies show that BPS is active at femtomolar to picomolar concentrations just like endogenous hormones that's in the range of parts per trillion to quadrillion," said UTMB professor Cheryl Watson, senior author of a paper on the study now online in the advance publications section of Environmental Health Perspectives. "Those are levels likely to be produced by BPS leaching from containers into their contents."

Watson and graduate student Ren Vias conducted cell-culture experiments to examine the effects of BPS on a form of signaling that involves estrogen receptors the "receivers" of a biochemical message acting in the cell's outer membrane instead of the cell nucleus. Where nuclear signaling involves interaction with DNA to produce proteins and requires hours to days, membrane signaling (also called "non-genomic" signaling) acts through much quicker mechanisms, generating a response in seconds or minutes.

Watson and Vias focused on key biochemical pathways that are normally stimulated when estrogen activates membrane receptors. One, involving a protein known as ERK, is linked to cell growth; another, labeled JNK, is tied to cell death. In addition, they examined the ability of BPS to activate proteins called caspases (also linked to cell death) and promote the release of prolactin, a hormone that stimulates lactation and influences many other functions.

"These pathways form a complicated web of signals, and we're going to need to study them more closely to fully understand how they work," Watson said. "On its own, though, this study shows us that very low levels of BPS can disrupt natural estrogen hormone actions in ways similar to what we see with BPA. That's a real cause for concern."

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This research was supported by the Passport Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-01/uotm-bsc012213.php

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Ravens upset Patriots 28-13 to reach Super Bowl

Baltimore Ravens inside linebacker Ray Lewis, right, and Jacoby Jones (12) celebrate in the team's locker room after the NFL football AFC Championship game against the New England Patriots in Foxborough, Mass., Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013. The Ravens won 28-13 to advance to Super Bowl XLVII. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

Baltimore Ravens inside linebacker Ray Lewis, right, and Jacoby Jones (12) celebrate in the team's locker room after the NFL football AFC Championship game against the New England Patriots in Foxborough, Mass., Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013. The Ravens won 28-13 to advance to Super Bowl XLVII. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco (5) and inside linebacker Ray Lewis, right, celebrate near the end of the second half of the NFL football AFC Championship football game against the New England Patriots in Foxborough, Mass., Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013. The Ravens won 28-13 to advance to Super Bowl XLVII. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) walks past Patriots head coach Bill Belichick after throwing an interception during the second half of the NFL football AFC Championship football game against the Baltimore Ravens in Foxborough, Mass., Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013. The Ravens won 28-13 to advance to Super Bowl XLVII. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Baltimore Ravens inside linebacker Ray Lewis, right, celebrates with Vonta Leach after the NFL football AFC Championship football game against the New England Patriots in Foxborough, Mass., Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013. The Ravens defeated the Patriots 28-13 to advance to Super Bowl XLVII. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco (5) and inside linebacker Ray Lewis, right, celebrate near the end of the second half of the NFL football AFC Championship football game against the New England Patriots in Foxborough, Mass., Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013. The Ravens won 28-13 to advance to Super Bowl XLVII. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) ? Look for lots of Harbaughs in New Orleans next week. Two of them will be working the sidelines in the Super Bowl.

Oh, brother!

John Harbaugh and his Baltimore Ravens set up a family reunion in the Big Easy, shutting down the New England Patriots 28-13 Sunday in the AFC championship game.

Waiting for them will be his younger brother Jim and the San Francisco 49ers, who beat Atlanta 28-24 for the NFC title. It's the first Super Bowl matching siblings as head coaches.

"I'd like to think that our two teams are very similar," said John, who is a year older than Jim. "I'd like to think when you look at those two teams, you are looking at mirror images of two football teams."

What the Ravens (13-6) are looking at is their first Super Bowl in 12 years, thanks to three touchdown passes from Joe Flacco and a defense led by Ray Lewis that made Tom Brady look downright ordinary.

It will be quite a last game for Lewis, the emotional linebacker who will retire after the matchup with the 49ers, who opened as a 5-point favorite.

"For me to come out and say that this is my last ride and for me now to be headed back to the Super Bowl, for the possibility of me possibly winning a second ring, how else do you cap off a career?" said Lewis, who had 14 tackles to give him 44 in three playoff games after missing 10 weeks with a torn left triceps.

As in the previous two playoff wins against Indianapolis and Denver, the Ravens were brilliant offensively in spots. This might be 17-year-veteran Lewis' team, but it's also Flacco's ? and the quarterback's six road wins are the most in playoff history.

He has eight touchdown passes and no interceptions in this postseason.

"We've always believed in Joe," Harbaugh said. "And for Joe to come out and to have this kind of a game and this kind of a stage three weeks in a row ..."

Flacco, whose contract ends after the Super Bowl, is the only quarterback to win a playoff game in each of his first five seasons. He was dynamic with his arm and precise with his decision making. Looking much more the championship passer than Brady did, his scoring throws of 11 and 3 yards to Anquan Boldin and 5 to Dennis Pitta all were perfect.

"We didn't come all the way here to play it safe and hope to win," Flacco said. "We came here to win the AFC championship game and you have to play to win."

The defense played as big a part, shutting out the league's highest-scoring offense in the second half, twice picking off Brady.

Brady was 67-0 at home when leading at halftime, but this was no contest in the second half.

"We got behind in the second half there and became one-dimensional," he said. "We just couldn't string enough good plays together to get the ball in the end zone."

It also was a first for the Patriots, who hadn't lost an AFC championship at home.

"We've lost before. It takes a while to get over," Brady said.

After they had avenged last year's AFC title game loss at Gillette Stadium, many of the Ravens gathered on the field jumping, chest-bumping and whooping before several thousand fans wearing Ravens jerseys ? mostly Lewis' No. 52 ? who remained in the stands.

New England (13-5) lost a home AFC title matchup for the first time in five games. The loss denied Brady and coach Bill Belichick a shot at their sixth Super Bowl. They've gone 3-2, losing their last two times in the big game.

Instead, it's the AFC North champion Ravens heading to the Big Easy, seeking their second NFL championship. San Francisco has won five.

One of the Harbaughs will grab his first ring as head coach.

"I don't know if we had a dream this big," John Harbaugh said. "We had a few dreams, we had a few fights, we had a few arguments ? just like all brothers."

The Ravens have gotten there the hard way, with no postseason bye. Then again, five of the last seven Super Bowl champions took that route.

The Ravens also were pushed into a second overtime in frigid Denver last weekend before eliminating Peyton Manning and the top-seeded Broncos.

And now they've cast aside the league's most successful franchise of the last dozen years.

"I'd probably say we came up a little short in every area," Belichick said.

New England, which hasn't won a Super Bowl since the 2004 season, had four injuries, the scariest when running back Stevan Ridley hurt his head when he was knocked flat by Bernard Pollard in the fourth quarter, forcing a fumble. Baltimore turned that into the final touchdown, on the only short scoring drive it had, 47 yards.

The touchdown by Pitta capped the Ravens' best drive of the game, covering 87 yards in 10 plays and made it 14-13. It started with a 15-yard defensive pass interference penalty, and it was an indication of things to come.

The Ravens gained just 130 yards in the first half, yet trailed by only six points.

Brady guided a 13-play drive to Stephen Gostkowski's 31-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead. Neither defense yielded a big play, and punters Zoltan Mesko and Sam Koch were the busiest guys on the field.

That changed when the teams switched sides for the second quarter. Baltimore again was pinned deep, at its 10, but Flacco led a 13-play drive. Ray Rice, whose 83-yard run on the Ravens' first play from scrimmage in their wild-card round victory here three years ago, ran left untouched for the TD.

Awakened by Baltimore's march, the Patriots staged a long one of their own, 79 yards, aided by a 15-yard personal foul by Ravens linebacker Dannell Ellerbe. Wes Welker picked up 24 yards on a short pass, then got free in the right corner of the end zone after a mix-up in the Ravens' secondary, making it 10-7.

It was 13-7 by halftime as Gostkowski connected from 25 yards, with New England outsmarting Baltimore several times. But Brady and Belichick made mental errors by not calling a timeout quickly enough after a short scramble by the 35-year-old quarterback. So the Patriots didn't get a shot at the end zone and Gostkowski made his second kick.

Shockingly for an offense that scored 557 points this season, that was it for New England.

"We are probably the only team in the AFC that matches up good with the boy, No. 12 over there and his coach," linebacker Terrell Suggs said of Brady and Belichick.

Now comes another intriguing matchup ? for everything.

NOTES: Brady has 5,949 yards passing, the most in NFL history for the postseason. He threw for 320 yards Sunday but was picked off twice in the fourth quarter. ... Patriots CB Aqib Talib hurt his thigh and DT Kyle Love injured his knee. Backup safety Patrick Chung was helped off the field after one play. ... Baltimore beat San Francisco 16-6 in the 2011 season.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-01-21-FBN-AFC-Championship/id-d576d0218b7946f09b2d96d8362e50a3

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World's best big wave surfers compete at Mavericks

FILE - In this file photo from Saturday, Feb. 13, 2010, Ion Banner loses control on a giant wave during the Mavericks surfing contest in Half Moon Bay, Calif. As massive swells lumber across the Pacific toward Northern California, nearly two dozen of the world's best big wave surfers will be waiting to meet them Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013, a half-mile offshore at the infamous surfing break Mavericks. For the first time since 2010, the Mavericks Invitational surf contest ? which requires wave faces of at least 20 feet ? will occur at the bone-crushing break that has claimed the lives of two expert big wave surfers. (AP Photo/Ben Margot, File)

FILE - In this file photo from Saturday, Feb. 13, 2010, Ion Banner loses control on a giant wave during the Mavericks surfing contest in Half Moon Bay, Calif. As massive swells lumber across the Pacific toward Northern California, nearly two dozen of the world's best big wave surfers will be waiting to meet them Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013, a half-mile offshore at the infamous surfing break Mavericks. For the first time since 2010, the Mavericks Invitational surf contest ? which requires wave faces of at least 20 feet ? will occur at the bone-crushing break that has claimed the lives of two expert big wave surfers. (AP Photo/Ben Margot, File)

HALF MOON BAY, Calif. (AP) ? As swells lumbered across the Pacific toward Northern California, nearly two dozen of the world's best big wave surfers went to meet them on Sunday, a half-mile offshore at the famed surfing break known as Mavericks.

For the first time since 2010, the Mavericks Invitational surf contest ? which requires wave faces of at least 20 feet ? got under way at the bone-crushing break that has claimed the lives of two expert big wave surfers.

Wave forecasters this week saw an excellent mixture of swell, wind, tide and sunny skies, though the waves Sunday morning were not quite as big as expected.

Contestant Tyler Smith said there were long waits between sets of waves, but there were some good rides for the patient.

"You just have to be in the right place at the right time," said Smith.

Once the decision was made to run the contest, the call went out to the surfers, giving them a couple of days to pack their boards and wetsuits, and hop a plane.

Surfing the wave at Mavericks is a feat that takes athletic skill, experience and nerve.

The swells travel through deep water for five days before hitting a small, finger-like section of shallow reef that juts out into the sea.

When the swell meets the reef, the wave jumps upward and crashes back down with a fury, eventually washing through a section of craggy rocks.

The takeoff is often so steep that the surfers' big-wave "gun" surfboards leave the wave face, forcing the surfers to land near the bottom and make a quick turn before being pummeled by the wave's lip.

The spot ? named after the dog of Jeff Clark, who is credited with being the first to surf Mavericks ? has earned a nasty reputation. Mark Foo, a legendary big-wave surfer from Hawaii, died while surfing Mavericks in 1994. In 2011, another seasoned waterman, Sion Milosky, died there just weeks after another surfer nearly drowned.

This year's contest will be different: spectators are forbidden access to the beach or bluffs. After a large set of waves crashed into the crowd in 2010, injuring dozens, local officials barred crowds from congregating there.

Also, people congregating on the bluffs and along tide pools during previous contests caused environmental damage.

This year organizers have set up a festival at a nearby hotel, featuring a large screen that will broadcast the surfing live. The surfers will hold the awards ceremony there at the end of the contest.

The Coast Guard has issued a high surf advisory for the weekend, and is warning people throughout the region to watch for "sneaker waves" and other hazards.

___

Follow Jason Dearen on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/JHDearen

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-01-20-Big%20Wave%20Contest/id-8bc05d8868e141ba991626b42b1c66fd

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Cameron to deliver long-awaited EU speech this week

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron will deliver his long-awaited speech about relations with the European Union in the coming week, Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Sunday.

After months of speculation, Cameron had been scheduled to deliver the speech on Friday in the Netherlands, but it was postponed because of a hostage crisis involving Britons at a gas plant in Algeria.

"It will happen in the coming week. We will make an announcement about exactly when and where tomorrow," Hague told the BBC.

(Reporting by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Alison Williams)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cameron-deliver-long-awaited-eu-speech-week-100435310.html

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University of Aberdeen ? Bnr.Co

University of Aberdeen in Aberdeen, Scotland is the 5th oldest of all UK universities. It has 14,000 students. With a history of academic excellence of much more than 500 years, many of its degree programs have been rated the best both in Scotland and in all UK universities. Some of the well-liked courses in Aberdeen are Medicine, Education, Divinity and Law and Engineering. Here every student has an academic advisor to provide guidance Aberdeen has received specific recognition for the teacher- student partnership.

Courses provided:

The University of Aberdeen has three colleges-

College of Arts and Social Sciences includes-
University of Aberdeen Company School
School of Divinity, History and Philosophy
School of Education
School of Language & Literature
School of Law
School of Social Science
Graduate School

College of Life Sciences and Medicine consists of-
School of Biological Sciences
School of Medical Sciences
School of Medicine & Dentistry
School of Psychology

College of Physical Sciences also contains analysis centres-
School of Engineering

School of Geosciences containing departments of geography and atmosphere and geology and petroleum

School of Organic and Personal computer Sciences containing departments of physics, chemistry, mathematics, engineering and computing

Study Centres containing Institutes for Coastal science and management, Energy Technologies and Transport and Rural Analysis

Admission Process:
For Undergraduate courses- applicants require to apply via UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admission Services). Fee charged for a single course is ?11 and for a lot more than a single it is ?21. Applications are accepted from September 2010 for academic year 2011. The closing date is 15th January even though applications may be regarded as till June subject to availability of seats.

Applicants for Dental, Veterinary Science/ Medicine want to take CAT admission test. Closing date is 15th October, 2010.

For Postgraduate courses ? applicants might either apply on-line or download the forms.

International students who wish to study in UK, can submit their applications from September 2010 to finish of June 2011 for academic year 2011. They also want to submit proof of proficiency in English.

For Main and Secondary Education Programmes ? applications might be created either online or through forms obtainable at Graduate Teacher Coaching Registry.
Scholarships and Bursaries: Some of the grants provided are-

Undergraduate Entrance Scholarship ? minimum ?1000 per year for academic excellence, economic help
Jim Duncan Scholarship for undergraduates
University of Aberdeen Alumni Discount Scheme
Funding for overseas students

Accommodation:
Aberdeen has on campus halls of residence. All freshers are guaranteed accommodation topic to acceptance of application. All rooms have access to wireless world wide web connection.

Jobs and Placement Assistance:
University of Aberdeen delivers a point based system under ?Working in Scotland Scheme? exactly where international students can work up to two years after completion of the degree. Students are also helped in getting placements in best companies. As several as 97% students start off work straight right after graduation.

Aberdeen also has ?Joblink?, a student support system to aid in finding portion-time jobs and provide employment guidance in the course of study years.

Other facilities:
Aberdeen?s library has a collection of more than a million books and yet another quarter of a million of historic and ancient books and manuscripts.

A sports venue consisting of an indoor hall housing 9 courts, complete size football pitch, fitness suites, squash courts and a lab for overall performance in sports.

Source: http://www.bnr.co/reference-and-education/college-university/university-of-aberdeen/

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Merkel's coalition loses German state vote

BERLIN (AP) ? Germany's center-left opposition won a wafer-thin victory over Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition in a major state election Sunday, dealing a setback as she seeks a third term at the helm of Europe's biggest economy later this year.

The opposition Social Democrats and Greens won a single-seat majority in the state legislature in Lower Saxony, ousting the coalition of Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union and the pro-market Free Democrats that has run the northwestern region for 10 years. The same parties form the national government.

The 58-year-old Merkel will seek another four-year term in a national parliamentary election expected in September. She and her party are riding high in national polls, but the opposition hoped the Lower Saxony vote would show she is vulnerable.

The outcome could boost what so far has been a sputtering campaign by Merkel's Social Democratic challenger, Peer Steinbrueck.

"This evening gives us real tailwind for the national election," said Katrin Goering-Eckardt, a leader of Steinbrueck's allies, the Greens. "We can and will manage to replace the (center-right) coalition."

However, the close outcome also underscores the possibility of a messy result in September, with no clear winner.

Before Sunday's election, the main question had been whether the Free Democrats, whose support has eroded badly since they joined Merkel's national government in 2009, would win the 5 percent needed to gain seats in the state legislature. Polls over recent months had suggested that they might not.

The Free Democrats won 9.9 percent of the vote, thanks to tactical voting by supporters of Merkel's conservatives. Many chose the smaller party so that the coalition's "good policies for solid budgets, safe jobs and good education could be continued," said the general secretary of Merkel's party, Hermann Groehe.

Despite the popularity of David McAllister, the state's CDU governor, that helped push down the conservatives' support to 36 percent from 42.5 percent in Lower Saxony's last election in 2008. They finished as the biggest single party but fell short of expectations.

The combination of the CDU and Free Democrats has now lost control of four states since the smaller party joined Merkel's government in 2009.

At national level, the alliance has developed a poor image, with the Free Democrats taking much of the blame for frequent government infighting. Merkel and her party, meanwhile, have been bolstered by a relatively robust economy, low unemployment and the chancellor's hard-nosed handling of Europe's debt crisis.

Sunday's vote may calm intense recent speculation over whether the Free Democrats will force out their embattled leader, Vice Chancellor Philipp Roesler, whose home state is Lower Saxony.

Roesler proclaimed Sunday "a great day" for his party.

Merkel also has profited so far from stumbles by Steinbrueck, a former finance minister who drew criticism in recent weeks for saying that the chancellor earns too little ? adding to the controversy over his own high earnings from speeches.

His party improved a little on its feeble performance five years ago in Lower Saxony, polling 32.6 percent. Its allies, the Greens, made bigger gains, to 13.7 percent. That gave them 49 and 20 seats, respectively, in the state legislature in Hannover; the CDU took 54 and the Free Democrats 14.

Opposition leaders argued that their overall gains and the losses for the center-right showed that a change to a center-left government is possible in Berlin, despite unpromising recent polls.

Steinbrueck conceded that his recent troubles hadn't helped, though.

"I am well aware that there was no tailwind from Berlin, and I am also aware that I bear a certain share of responsibility for that," he told supporters. He said he felt "a certain amount of relief" at the result.

Two parties that have drained support from the center-left over recent years, the Left Party and the Pirate Party, failed to get enough votes Sunday to enter Lower Saxony's legislature.

A change of government in Lower Saxony will give opposition parties a majority in Parliament's upper house, which represents Germany's 16 states.

Though that has limited practical effect, it would enable the Social Democrats and Greens to showcase their plans for Germany by sending policy initiatives to the lower house ? controlled by Merkel's coalition ? on issues such as their call for a mandatory national minimum wage.

However, it remains to be seen whether they will be able to build up momentum and prevent Merkel keeping power ? possibly by finding a new coalition partner.

With eight months left before the national vote, "so much can change that I'd just say we should be careful about projecting such results onto the national level," Lothar Probst, a political scientist at the University of Bremen, told Phoenix television.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/merkels-coalition-loses-german-state-vote-230149932.html

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Social Media Marketing Campaign ? How to Establish A Strong ...

You should go over this article to learn how to develop a strong presence on social networks.

1
Get more customers to subscribe to your social media updates

Get more customers to subscribe to your social media updates by promoting a marketing campaign. Place links to your profiles where they will be noticed, including the signature of your emails and the homepage of your site or blog. Some blogging platforms will even let you add a box that displays your latest Facebook or Twitter updates on your homepage.

2
Mention your social media marketing campaign In Relevant Forums

Mention your social media marketing campaign as much as possible, for instance by writing about the content you share on these sites in your blog articles or in your newsletter.

Do not hesitate to list social networks as a way of contacting you for questions or comments. Encourage customers who have complaints to email or call you so you can deal with them more discretely since everything you do on social networks will be public.

3
Socialize with your competitors

Do you know what your competitors are doing on social networks? You should subscribe to their updates to get an idea of the kind of content or promotional offers they are sharing on social networks.

If your competitors join new social networks, consider developing a presence on these networks too.

Your social media marketing campaign should involve sharing valuable information. Do your best to share more valuable content and better promotional offers than your competitors so potential customers will subscribe to your updates rather than following your competitors? campaigns.

4
Adapt your Campaign to your customers needs

Your social media marketing campaign will be successful if it is adapted to your customers. There are a lot of social media marketing experts who will share tips with you but keep in mind that strategies adapted for a certain audience might not work with your customers.

It is up to you to find out more about your customers? social networking habits. You could have customers answer to surveys for a chance to win a free product or even meet with a selected group of customers to ask them questions.

You need to find out which social networks they use, how much time they spend on these sites, who they connect with and what kind of content they share or would like you to share with them.

5
Use social networks to share information about promotional offers and to give incentives to customers

More people will subscribe to your social media updates if you share coupon codes for your popular products or offer discounts to your subscribers. You could for instance hand out gift cards or prizes to random subscribers who comment or share your updates.

Keep in mind that your campaign should not be only about pushing your products; share valuable tips and informative or entertaining content so subscribers remain interested in your campaign.

These tips can help to develop a strong presence on social networks and also help keep track of your results to assess the impact of your campaign.

Stay up to date with new trends and networks so your social media marketing campaign remains relevant and adapted to your target audience.

Okay, let?s have your comments or tips too!

Technorati Tags: social media, social media marketing campaign, social networks

Source: http://www.money-ways.com/social-media-marketing-campaign-how-to-establish-a-strong-presence-on-social-networks/

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