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Monday, December 17, 2012
Report: Twitter Tried To Buy Instagram for $525 Million
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Egypt's referendum a vote on Morsi as well as the constitution (+video)
As Egyptians vote today in a referendum on a controversial draft constitution, the debate is dominated by President Mohamed Morsi's actions, not the document.?
Egyptians wait to vote in Cairo next to a defaced poster of President Mohamed Morsi.
Amr Nabil/AP
EnlargeEgyptians made yet another trip to the polls today to vote on a controversial constitution that has deeply polarized the nation, as the opposition warned of fraud.
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For many, it was not just a vote on the merits of the document, but a judgment on the performance of President Mohamed Morsi, whose recent decisions to consolidate his power and rush the constitution to a vote ignited public anger and widespread protests.?
But a fear that rejecting the draft constitution would prolong the instability that has roiled Egypt overshadowed the burgeoning frustration with the president and opposition to the constitution.
"Egyptians will say yes, but in their hearts they want to say no," says Youssef Amin as he waits outside a polling center in Matareya, a working-class district on the northern edge of Cairo.
Since former President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February 2011, many Egyptians have grown weary of the sustained political instability and unrest on the streets that has kept Egypt's economy from recovering.?
Mr.?Amin works in the tourism industry, which has been hit hard as protests and violence dissuade tourists from visiting. ?He opposes the constitution, but says he will vote for it anyway because he's afraid that defeating it would lead to even more instability.
"If I say no, it might take four years to get another constitution," he says. "We will go on and on and on like this."?
A referendum on Morsi
Egyptians waited to cast their ballots in long lines in many parts of the capital today. Nine other governates also voted today, while the rest of the 27 will vote on Dec. 22. Morsi divided the voting into two rounds, likely in an effort to deal with a shortage of judges willing to oversee the vote.
Their supervision is required by Egyptian law, but in protest of Morsi?s recent move to sideline the judiciary, thousands of judges refused to monitor the vote.
Egypt's main opposition coalition accused the Brotherhood of "attempted vote rigging" in a statement released today, and said it had documented multiple instances of irregularities, including the absence of judges to monitor the voting. ?
Last month, Morsi declared himself and the constitution-writing committee off limits to challenges from the judiciary. He also sacked the public prosecutor, an executive interference in the judiciary that was prohibited by the old constitution, and appointed a new prosecutor.
He rescinded parts of his controversial decree last week, declaring that he no longer considered his actions immune from judicial review. But that was after he called a quick referendum on the constitution his party members rushed to finish, moving ahead without input from the non-Islamist members of the committee who had resigned in the weeks before, claiming their views were ignored.
?Anger spills out
Anger at Morsi spilled out of voters in Matareya, a tired and shabby neighborhood. They are not the elite liberals that the president's supporters sometimes portray the opposition as being in an attempt to cast Morsi's critics as out of sync with the mainstream.
"Morsi says one thing and then does the exact opposite," says taxi driver Yehia Ibrahim, who lives in the neighborhood and was waiting in line at the polls. "You see this mess Egypt is in? What has he done to fix it? Nothing. He made it worse. He has led us into a very dangerous situation now."?
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Saturday, December 15, 2012
The Commercial Mortgage: Hotel And Guest Houses | Commercial ...
Whether you are new to the hotel business, or wish to grow your existing portfolio; a commercial mortgage broker can assist in ensuring the possibility of your venture.
The Hotel Mortgage
The hotel business can be broken down into the following sectors:
- City Hotel
- Town Hotel
- Bed and Breakfast
- Country Hotel
- Resort Hotel
For those requiring commercial finance for one of the above mentioned ventures; securing the ideal business loan can be difficult; with many smaller hotels considered risky investments. However, whether you have previously been denied commercial finance or not, a commercial mortgage broker, specialising in the leisure and hospitality industry, will assist in providing a multitude of financial options.
A commercial mortgage broker can assist new and existing hotel businesses with securing financial aid for the following:
- Purchase of existing hotel business/land/new property
- Refinancing
- Refurbishments and business expansion
- Debt consolidation
- Auction purchase
For those in need of commercial finance for a hotel, a qualified mortgage broker can assist in securing the right lending options.
The Hotel Mortgage: The First Step
For those setting up a hotel business for the first time, the leisure industry is difficult which is why, if you are to receive the financing you require to kick start your project; you must have a solid business plan, projections and an understanding of how your business will attract and retain the customers you will need to achieve lasting success.
- Type- What type of hotel are you establishing? Is it low budget accommodation ideal for a short night stay, a luxury family resort complete with all the amenities or a couple?s only, guest house? Understanding the type of business you wish to establish, the service you wish to offer and the customers you wish to attract will be the first step to your business plan.
- Location- This can often be greatly dictated by the type of hotel you wish to establish. Does your location have a need for your hotel? Will it appeal to those visiting the specific area? Will you be in a position to fulfil the needs of your customers? Location will play an important part in the success of your venture, thus it is wise to consider your options carefully.
- Why- Ask yourself, why your customers will choose your hotel? Do you offer everything they would desire? Will your hotel be able to cater for your customers, effectively?
- Business Plan- This is a crucial part of the business, and by taking in the above points; will determine the success of your commercial mortgage application. Does your plan outline every detail and financial need of your business? Are your projections accurate?
The above points are just a few of the initial steps required to be undertaken by the hotel entrepreneur however, they may also be the questions asked by commercial lender in determining the capability of your business and in effect the success rate of your mortgage application.
The Hotel Mortgage: Financing ?
If the ideal location has been sought then, obtaining a commercial mortgage will be the next step for your business venture.
With high street lenders continuing to reject business proposals, the alternative lender is now considered the ideal source for commercial finance.
When commencing your commercial mortgage application process, you may need to supply the following information:
- Proof of identity
- Trading accounts
- 3 months personal bank statements
- 3 months trading bank statements
- Business plan
- Proof of experience
The above specifications may vary from lender to lender however, they will be used by your chosen commercial mortgage broker to determine the LTV ratio of your business. The LTV ratio is a term in which lenders determine the risk value of a borrower; the lower the percentage, the greater the chance for a business to achieve the desired lending.
If a commercial mortgage broker determines that the LTV ratio is acceptable; then they will scour a specialist database to secure the ideal lending and based upon the agreed terms (fixed rate and variable, are amongst the options) your commercial mortgage may be agreed for up to twenty five years.
For those who are beginning 2013 with a new hotel business venture, those who wish to minimise the struggle of their existing business or those who simply wish to access funding for growth and expansion; a specialist commercial mortgage broker will work for your business to ensure only the ideal financial solution is obtained.
Why not contact a mortgage broker and begin your commercial application process today?
Source: http://www.charlestonfinancial.co.uk/the-commercial-mortgage-hotel-and-guest-houses/
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Facebook app update on iPhone gets reconstructed timelines, promises faster reminiscing
Right on the heels of an Android update, Facebook's also gave its iOS iteration a similar refresh. According to the short iTunes listing, version 5.3 gives a speed boost to your news feed, with the primary social news page now loading updates quicker. We just updated the app on the iPhone 5 and there's certainly an improvement on news refresh speeds and when scrolling down to grab older updates. The new app also lets you designate which album photos are uploaded to -- a convenient addition if you haven't already automated that whole upload-to-Facebook thing.
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Facebook
Via: VentureBeat
Source: Facebook (iTunes)
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/cmr-UEjf35w/
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Engineers develop new energy-efficient computer memory using magnetic materials
Dec. 14, 2012 ? By using electric voltage instead of a flowing electric current, researchers from UCLA's Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have made major improvements to an ultra-fast, high-capacity class of computer memory known as magnetoresistive random access memory, or MRAM.
The UCLA team's improved memory, which they call MeRAM for magnetoelectric random access memory, has great potential to be used in future memory chips for almost all electronic applications, including smart-phones, tablets, computers and microprocessors, as well as for data storage, like the solid-state disks used in computers and large data centers.
MeRAM's key advantage over existing technologies is that it combines extraordinary low energy with very high density, high-speed reading and writing times, and non-volatility -- the ability to retain data when no power is applied, similar to hard disk drives and flash memory sticks, but MeRAM is much faster.
Currently, magnetic memory is based on a technology called spin-transfer torque (STT), which uses the magnetic property of electrons -- referred to as spin -- in addition to their charge. STT utilizes an electric current to move electrons to write data into the memory.
Yet while STT is superior in many respects to competing memory technologies, its electric current-based write mechanism still requires a certain amount of power, which means that it generates heat when data is written into it. In addition, its memory capacity is limited by how close to each other bits of data can be physically placed, a process which itself is limited by the currents required to write information. The low bit capacity, in turn, translates into a relatively large cost per bit, limiting STT's range of applications.
With MeRAM, the UCLA team has replaced STT's electric current with voltage to write data into the memory. This eliminates the need to move large numbers of electrons through wires and instead uses voltage -- the difference in electrical potential -- to switch the magnetic bits and write information into the memory. This has resulted in computer memory that generates much less heat, making it 10 to 1,000 times more energy-efficient. And the memory can be more than five-times as dense, with more bits of information stored in the same physical area, which also brings down the cost per bit.
The research team was led by principal investigator Kang L. Wang, UCLA's Raytheon Professor of Electrical Engineering, and included lead author Juan G. Alzate, an electrical engineering graduate student, and Pedram Khalili, a research associate in electrical engineering and project manager for the UCLA-DARPA research programs in non-volatile logic.
"The ability to switch nanoscale magnets using voltages is an exciting and fast-growing area of research in magnetism," Khalili said. "This work presents new insights into questions such as how to control the switching direction using voltage pulses, how to ensure that devices will work without needing external magnetic fields, and how to integrate them into high-density memory arrays.
"Once developed into a product," he added, "MeRAM's advantage over competing technologies will not be limited to its lower power dissipation, but equally importantly, it may allow for extremely dense MRAM. This can open up new application areas where low cost and high capacity are the main constraints."
Said Alzate: "The recent announcement of the first commercial chips for STT-RAM also opens the door for MeRAM, since our devices share a very similar set of materials and fabrication processes, maintaining compatibility with the current logic circuit technology of STT-RAM while alleviating the constrains on power and density."
The research was presented Dec. 12 in a paper called "Voltage-Induced Switching of Nanoscale Magnetic Tunnel Junctions" at the 2012 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting in San Francisco, the semiconductor industry's "pre-eminent forum for reporting technological breakthroughs in the areas of semiconductor and electronic device technology."
MeRAM uses nanoscale structures called voltage-controlled magnet-insulator junctions, which have several layers stacked on top of each other, including two composed of magnetic materials. However, while one layer's magnetic direction is fixed, the other can be manipulated via an electric field. The devices are specially designed to be sensitive to electric fields. When the electric field is applied, it results in voltage -- a difference in electric potential between the two magnetic layers. This voltage accumulates or depletes the electrons at the surface of these layers, writing bits of information into the memory.
"Ultra-low-power spintronic devices such as this one have potential implications beyond the memory industry," Wang said. They can enable new instant-on electronic systems, where memory is integrated with logic and computing, thereby completely eliminating standby power and greatly enhancing their functionality."
The work was supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) NV Logic Program. Other authors included researchers from the UCLA Department of Electrical Engineering; UC Irvine's Department of Physics and Astronomy; Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (a Western Digital Company); and Singulus Technologies, of Germany.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Los Angeles. The original article was written by Matthew Chin.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/d0bloDU7lis/121214191516.htm
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Israeli FM charged with breach of trust
JERUSALEM (AP) ? Israel's attorney general has indicted the country's powerful foreign minister for alleged breach of trust, but decided not to file a number of more serious charges in a fraud and money-laundering case.
While Avigdor Lieberman escaped the most serious accusations against him, Thursday's decision could still jeopardize his political career and throw the Israeli political system into upheaval on the eve of elections.
The investigation into Lieberman's personal business dealings goes back more than a decade. Prosecutors suspected he illicitly received money from businessmen and laundered it through straw companies.
But they apparently decided they had insufficient evidence for a conviction. Instead, a statement says he was charged with receiving official material from the investigation against him from the former Israeli ambassador to Belarus.
Lieberman had no immediate comment.(equals)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-fm-charged-breach-trust-143710031.html
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Friday, December 14, 2012
The value of transparency in a Business Process Outsourcing ...
The value of transparency in a business process outsourcing relationship with clients ? how to get the wahoo effect after going through difficult times?
(Dreamstime)
Transparency in the client-vendor relationship in the multilingual Business Process Outsourcing industry has become as important these days as value-for-the-money services and high quality customer satisfaction ratings.
Until the financial crisis of 2008 the topic about business transparency as a competitive advantage was rarely on the daily agenda of CEO?s and Sales Managers. The reason for that is that back in that period most companies could afford to hire and fire numerous business process outsourcing providers without this having a big impact on their business. Since the business process outsourcing providers were used to clients working with their competitors on the same project, they took additional measures to preserve their Know-How and employees, as well as allocating resources from projects that were deemed too uncertain.
After the financial crisis in 2008 both potential Clients looking for Customer Care services and Business Process Outsourcing providers had to change the way they do business. Companies looking to outsource their multilingual Customer Service often need to ?make this right? from the first try because any disruptions of services and complaints from customers may damage their brand and reputation irreparably. On the other hand Business Process Outsourcing providers have to use every single competitive edge they have to win contracts and new clients ? including significant increase and innovation in the quality of the multilingual Customer Service and facilitating productivity performance improvements.
Transparency is the only real way to build a business relationship that will last ? assuring long term stability when it comes to multilingual Customer Care for the clients and business growth for the Customer Service providers.
The integrated production process refers to achieving business relationship transparency during the Customer Care project implementation phase. The Outsourcing of a Business Process is not simply a client-vendor-services-rendered relationship ? it?s a long term strategic partnership for both companies and its outcome affects both parties significantly. This requires a more integrated approach to building transparency and trust and it requires active participation from both parties in the project implementation of the Customer Care service.
What is more importantly ? transparency and building rapport between the client and the multilingual Business Process Outsourcing provider has to be a structured process for both parties and an underlining work ethics in all communication ? from the initial sales and contract negotiation, the Customer Care project implementation, to the staff hiring and the Day-To-Day operations/reporting/quality assurance.
(CallPoint)
Sharing information and Know-How between the Client and the multilingual Business Process Outsourcing provider is the key factor in dealing with business uncertainty and the long term stability of the Customer Care project between the two companies. The more the Business Process Outsourcing provider is open about both the challenges and strengths of the project, the less is the Client inclined search for alternative options from competitors.
The most important thing about establishing a culture of transparency between the Client and the multilingual Business Process Outsourcing provider is that it goes both ways. Not only the Customer Service provider is more proactive in identifying issues and resolving them, but the Client itself has the incentive to promote business stability by stating and resolving concerns when they arise.
Please feel free to share your own views on business transparency and how your company communicates with both clients and vendors.
?
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