The future of computing? It's Minority Report: Gartner | memeburn

Gartner is pretty good at predicting the future. In the first part of our interview with the company?s head of research, Peter Sondergaard, we tackled a few predictions but mostly we chatted to him about Apple, Facebook and the current state of innovation.

Gartner is a New York Exchange-listed information technology research and advisory firm based in United States. Gartner knows everything. It has predicted the future of pretty much all devices and all web experiences. So we decided it was worthwhile to ask Sondergaard to gaze into Gartner?s crystal ball and give us some inside information. Sondergaard is responsible for the management and direction of the global research organisation, which includes Hardware and Semiconductors, as well as Software and Communications.

In short he knows what?s what. Sondergaard is of the opinion that the future will look a little like Steven Spielberg?s Minority Report where a sheet of glass is a computer. He reckons the next big thing in the tech revolution will see physical devices, such tables and chairs, connected to the internet.

The Gartner boss also spoke about where some of Gartner?s predictions are today and how many times the company has been wrong. According to Sondergaard, ?somewhere between 75 and 80% of the predictions that are generally accurate?.

Sondergaard believes that our web experience in 10 years time will be more 3D oriented, ?something that has wearable technology and different metaphors of navigation? and more visual.

Memeburn: How do geo-fenced and mobile payment technologies affect business and how do you see these themes playing out in the future?
PS: I think we, right now, are in a massive battle of mobile payment systems and alternative transaction systems for money. I think you?re seeing it with what?s happening with the credit card companies who are actually trying to work together with the telecom operators and establish partnerships for this. I think you?re seeing it with Square, with Google [Wallet] and PayPal, creating alternative networks.

I think the fascinating part of this is that it starts to rock the foundation of our financial services system. You can imagine that there could be a place in the future in which what happened with Iran six months ago (which is you shut down the SWIFT system access to Iran), that might not be possible anymore. Because if you have a multitude of different payment systems that operate in alternative manners, you now have complete democratisation and with that also comes the unfortunate situation that you can?t control things as well as you have in the past.

I think there are always good and bad things that come out of this, but we are in a massive competitive battle over how the transaction flows of the money are going to happen in the future. The forefront of that battle is what?s happening on mobile payment systems on mobile platforms.

But in the back-end, you also have alternative methods of creating money ? I?m an economist ? so that just starts to question whether our calculations for GDP is correct. Because if you have barter networks and networks that create other sources and definitions of money that I can trade with, or I can trade with other people, then how do you assess the size of an economy? This is a fascinating space.

MB: We?ve seen seismic shifts on the web: the search revolution, the web 2.0 revolution, then the social revolution, and now the mobile and tablet revolution ? each changing our online experience fundamentally. What is the next seismic shift in your opinion and where will it come from?

PS: The next thing ? and this is not going to be a surprise ? the next thing is actually the connection of physical devices to the internet (well, physical assets). So basically, table chairs, cars, airline engines, medical equipment, everything that has been using computers but in an isolated and closed environment will be connected to the internet and this is what will generate an unprecedented amount of data. I don?t think people can fathom the amount of data that will be created once it is such that every airplane that lands has every one of the two or four engines connected to the internet and we continually generate data from those engines when it?s up in the air.

So the internet of things is really the next step, then you have the internet of everything, because everything is connected. It?s this next phase that is fascinating because it actually generates whole new opportunities for revenue stream, because I can create different products. I can create value add on top of my product set because I can give you information that you never had that may be able to optimise what you?re doing. So that is really the next step.

Once we have that, then you start to integrate with the data, and what happens then is more on the software architectures on top of this, which is when you get to things like augmented reality, gamification in the systems, because you?re now talking about ?how can I use the systems and how can I operate differently in the environment??

MB: Gartner predicted that more Fortune 500 companies will opt for gamification apps by 2014. Do you have any stats on which companies have successfully done this?
PS: I don?t ? you?ll need to talk to some of the analysts on this, because there are a series of companies. There?s the linear evolution of gamification that happens on people?s websites as they?re trying to get the consumer to use the device differently. That?s wave one of gamification: implementing it in how consumers use my products and you see this in the integration with social networks. This is what companies like Starbucks do in terms of integration between the social network presence that Starbucks has and the in-store experience. So it tends to happen sort of in the retail space.

You could argue that this is also what has initially spun off things like Groupon, although it?s not gamification, it is ?we?re trying to get you to buy something and we?re creating a different experience.? The next wave, which I haven?t heard any of the analysts have examples of yet, is where we redesign our enterprise systems because [of] the way we want to have people operate (instead of paying people more salary, because this could be the way). They have people play games. It?s the one thing people can do for free and they?ll even pay for it, even though they know they won?t win anything. That?s where we think the next wave is but that hasn?t happened a lot yet.

MB: Gartner predicted that context will determine who wins in the tech industry. Who do you think is winning the battle of context-aware computing?
PS: It?s too early. We?re still trying to establish how we can use location-based information and how to do that in an efficient manner that allows you also to be cognizant of the privacy rules that exist. That?s also why there isn?t a global market for things like this, because privacy rules vary across the globe. There is no leader in this space. The only thing that?s clear is that the large providers are lagging behind what are sort of smaller startups. IBM doesn?t have a mobile strategy, so IBM is not a leader when it comes to context-aware computing in any way or form.

MB: Given that it is so easy to publish and distribute content online, is media a good business anymore?
PS: Trust and integrity is the most important thing, and it?s something you can break. There are millions of people who will read magazines (that they all know are false) about what happens with celebrities? but I do think that trust that is created in the media industry around a brand is valuable because people will flock to areas that they trust and areas that develop and that have demonstrated integrity.

It?s funny, when I arrived, one of the other analysts and I were talking about CNN. CNN uses YouTube so they have no clue who actually filmed it? so anybody can actually be a journalist. But the question is do you trust it? I think therefore trust which can be embodied in a brand is still incredibly important, and likely even goes greater in importance over the next number of years.

Educating children on critiquing sources of information is actually increasingly important. The education system is structured around the fact that we use books that we know the people who wrote the book. But if you look at education today it?s done using the web and kids go out and search for things. We don?t actually teach them. I spend a lot of time with my son going ?where did you get it from? Do you trust them? Do you think that this sounds plausible, that it could be right?? I think that we need education and that will help the media as well.

MB: Given that the app experience is richer, faster and people are now bypassing the web for their ?internet media experience?, is the web in decline? How will the web evolve?
PS: I think if you don?t have a presence on mobile-based devices you will likely not have presence for long. I think it?s that simple, because people consume things and they?re going to consume them on the go. That does not mean that we won?t actually then sit back at some stage and it may involve a big screen and have a more immersed experience. But we will always have to have the experience available on a device like these, and if it?s not there, then certainly the more sophisticated experience is not likely valuable.

It?s interesting, because I was in Silicon Valley a few weeks ago, and I met with a couple of the large game companies (Electronic Arts and Ubisoft) and it was fascinating because they were both saying that they have about four years to dismantle half of their business. Because half of the business ? the number of people who work there ? are all looking at how you distribute CDs to game consoles. And they know it is dead. Who wants to do that when you can play games [online]?

But the other important thing which is really complex for them is that they build a game platform experience that runs from that one to that one to your large screen. You can?t only have the large screen; you have to be present here [on mobile] as well. The sophistication of the games is now that you need to determine which part of the game you play here [on mobile] versus which part of the same game you play on large screens. That?s the forefront of design in games because you have to be present here [on mobile] but people also want to play on large screens and that?s really complex.

That?s a fascinating world because it also demonstrates the forefront of where we are, because large companies need to think the same way. Because in essence, this is how the people who will be employed by large companies in the future will think.

MB: What will the web look like in ten years? time?
PS: I think the sort of tectonic plate evolution of the foundations of what we use means that there are some things that won?t be very different. They were not either 20 years ago. We had large enterprise systems and they were really slow. But I think the web is going to be something that is available to us everywhere. The usage metaphor is going to be very close to what we have experienced as kids in science fiction movies. It will be more 3D oriented, it will be something that has wearable technology and different metaphors of navigation and it will be very much driven around a visual experience of walking in an information-based environment.

I think with what you?re seeing with wearable technology and what we can do with that already today, you extrapolate out 10 years? I think it will be amazing. The forefront of what we can do today is determined by what we have in gaming environments, and if you look at what you?re doing on the Microsoft Kinect? what you?re doing there from a navigation-metaphor perspective, if you extrapolate that out with different devices that are now connected. That?s the usage experience that you will have ? the web will be simple. The web needs to continue to be simple. It needs to be intuitive and it needs to be simple for the user, but it will hide the complexity of what sits in the back-end. And that?s been the strength of the web.

The last thing is that the connection of things that we have ? every physical asset ? ten years from now, any product that would cost US $500, would be connected to the internet. Any new product we could buy a couple of years out would start to get connected to the internet. So the experience of the internet changes completely when that happens.

MB: Should media companies be worried about basing their business model on banner advertising? Will it fade out in the future?
PS: I think that certain aspects of banner advertising will be viable over the next couple of years. I just think we evolve in sophistication in terms of how we advertise and integrate the whole aspect of promotional activities into whatever we do from a media perspective. The fascinating thing that will happen with marketing is the complete digitisation of marketing. Because once it?s digitised, you can measure it.

You can assume that there is some impact of a TV commercial in terms of people buying stuff. When it is such that it is completely digitised, we can measure whether or not it is effective. So what will happen is that organisations will grow more and more sophisticated in terms of what works and what doesn?t work. So right now we only have rudimentary tools to actually figure out whether banner advertising works, but as we start to get the contextual environments more and more mature, we will be able to look at the derived impact of things.

So this digitisation of marketing will revolutionise things, so it could question whether or not certain forms of marketing (like using banners) is as effective as other things like product placement inside an article, which you then need to decide whether that?s a good thing to do.

MB: Are we in the post-PC era and what will computers look like in ten years? time?
PS: If you define ?the PC? as being a clunky piece of equipment of which part of it is under the table and part of it is on the table and part of it is a big clunky screen, then yes, we are in the post-PC era. We have disconnected the actual computational and storage aspect of things from the screen and the sheet of glass is now expandable or collapsible in the sense that it can be either a smartphone or a tablet or a screen that may not in fact look like the kind of screen we have. It could be your TV, we have shareable large screens. So in that sense we are in the post-PC era, and I think we will continue to evolve more sophisticated metaphors of interacting with that computational device and the screen.

Also, we will start to see how this moves from the two-dimensional to the three-dimensional capability of navigation, which you start to see in some aspects of how organisations are using it. We?re not far from what you see in movies where people can move things around. I mean in essence you can do that today.

If you look at Minority Report, in essence you can take that screen and I could have an air mouse, and the screen would be a real sheet of glass. It will be very close to what you see in Minority Report. You can do even more sophisticated 3D based environments. We?ve seen that in some of the projection systems that exist today where you can project people in a 3D perspective in on a stage.

MB: Have you ever made any predictions that went wrong?

PS: A couple of times throughout the last 10 to 15 years, we have tried to do a snapshot. Keep in mind, it?s not that easy. You have to go back in a certain time frame and then you have to look forward (because most of them are forward-looking) and you have to determine what is accuracy. A prediction includes a period of time and a statement of what we believe will happen and some of the details around what that is.

Is it incorrect if you get it wrong by one year? I don?t know. What is the definition of something being correct? On average, it?s somewhere between 75 and 80% of the predictions that are generally accurate. However, you could even then start to parse down the definition of a prediction. The statement about Windows 8: one, you base it on a lot of historic information and you base it on a lot of well-known information on what the behaviour of companies is. The time frame is very short ? it?s not like you?re stating something about Windows 8 in 2018, it?s now. You can also look at predictions that are short-term, predictions that are based on something that is 2017 or 2018 (something short-term) to likely narrow the likelihood of you hitting that prediction.

Bottom line: 75 to 85% is what we feel comfortable with, and is sort of in-line. It would be utterly wrong if they were all correct. I would stay if they were all correct then you?re predicting the known, and therefore there has to be something that could be incorrect.

Number two, the way we work with our clients is that they are continuously our clients, and therefore you can take something that we say that?s far-reaching, and then over time you can see how things narrow down into becoming accurate. When you take a snapshot in time, you?re looking at something that may have started here. Everything that we talk about with context-aware computing, six or seven years ago, was very far-reaching and the predictions then were not accurate. But I think that we would all agree that context-aware computing is here and happening and there are several phases of it.

Image: Axel B?hrmann

Source: http://memeburn.com/2012/09/the-future-of-computing-its-minority-report-gartner/

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Auction of $7 Renoir cancelled, may be stolen from Baltimore museum

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Virginia auction house on Thursday cancelled the sale of a Renoir painting bought at a flea market for $7 after signs the work was stolen from the Baltimore Museum of Art decades ago.

The painting "Paysage Bords de Seine" by Pierre-Auguste Renoir was to have gone under the hammer on Saturday but ownership questions halted the sale, said Lucie Holland, a spokeswoman for Potomack Co, the Alexandria, Virginia, auctioneer.

"The rest of the auction will go on, but the Renoir has been withdrawn," she said.

A Virginia woman bought the signed French Impressionist painting at a West Virginia flea market a year or two ago, hoping the frame would be of some use.

She ignored the work until it turned up again while housecleaning and had it appraised by Potomack in July. The auctioneers verified it as a Renoir and estimated its worth at $75,000 to $100,000.

The Baltimore Museum of Art told Potomack on Wednesday that its records indicated "Paysage Bords de Seine," or "Landscape on the Banks of the Seine," was stolen while on loan to the museum in 1951, the auction house said.

Potomack told the FBI and a federal probe is under way. There is no known police report on the theft.

BOUGHT IN PARIS

The Renoir came to the Baltimore museum through one of its leading benefactors, collector Saidie May. Her family bought the painting from the Bernheim-Jeune gallery in Paris in 1926.

The Washington Post found records in the museum's library on Tuesday that showed May had lent the paintings and other works to the museum in 1937, Potomack said.

After the newspaper told it of the findings, the Baltimore museum checked its files and found a loan record showing the Renoir had been stolen on November 17, 1951. What happened to it after the theft is unknown.

Doreen Bolger, the museum director, said the museum's probe into what happened to the painting was in early stages but was centred on May.

She died in May 1951 and the art collection was willed to the museum. As its ownership was going through legal transfer, the painting was stolen while still listed as on loan.

"At this point we just want to make sure that the painting winds up where it belongs and that we provide all the information we can to law enforcement about this issue," Bolger said.

Potomack said the painting had not turned up when it checked London's Art Loss Register, a database of stolen and lost art. It also consulted the FBI's art theft website to confirm it was not listed as stolen.

(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/auction-7-renoir-cancelled-may-stolen-baltimore-museum-021510318.html

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Adobe Lightroom 4 Serial Kaygen & Crack Tested Working! ? Nuve ...

Visit Page : adobe-cs6-collection.weebly.com Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Mac ? Multicore Intel? processor with 64-bit support ? Mac OS X v10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) or v10.7 (Lion) ? 2GB of RAM ? GB of available hard-disk space ? 1024?768 display ? DVD-ROM drive ? Internet connection required for Internet-based services* Windows ? Intel? Pentium? 4 or AMD Athlon? 64 processor ? Microsoft? Windows Vista? with Service Pack 2 or Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 ? 2GB of RAM ? 1GB of available hard-disk space ? 1024?768 display ? DVD-ROM drive ? *Internet connection required for Internet-based services* Based on my extremely unscientific testing, I would suggest that you need at least 4 gigabytes of RAM, and a display that can produce more than 1024?768 pixels, to truly enjoy this software. All versions of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom run better with more RAM and faster processing chips. It is worth noting too that use of the new Map Module requires a strong Internet connection. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom v4 Beta uses the Google Maps technology to power this module. Do not expect any of the tools in this area to function if you are not online.

Make your voices heard! Comment on the article at ? www.slrlounge.com Current Adobe thread for Lightroom 4 Performance issues ? forums.adobe.com Lightroom 4 Workflow System DVD Available at ? www.slrlounge.com
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Classroom in a Book - NEW

AU $47.50 End Date: Monday Oct-8-2012 3:12:40 EST Buy It Now for only: AU $47.50 Buy It Now | Add to watch list

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Source: http://nuve.com.au/design-2/adobe/lightroom/adobe-lightroom-4-serial-kaygen-crack-tested-working/

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Futurity.org ? Web tool balances online political news

The tool classifies more than 10,000 news websites and sections of news websites on a spectrum ranging from far left to far right, using results of previous studies and existing media-bias indices. The plug-in observes which news a person chooses to consume online and suggests sites to balance out the political perspective. See a preview below. (Credit: iStockphoto)

U. WASHINGTON (US) ? A new tool gauges if you?re getting a balanced view of the political news?and if not, it suggests sites that offer opinions from the other side of the political spectrum.

Balancer, a free plug-in for Google?s Chrome browser, was developed this summer by Sean Munson, a University of Washington assistant professor of Human Centered Design and Engineering.

As the US presidential election approaches, many voters become voracious consumers of online political news.?The new tool analyzes a person?s online reading habits for a month and calculates the political bias in their choices. It then suggests sites that represent a different point of view and continues to monitor reading behavior and offer feedback.

?I was a bit surprised when I was testing out the tool to learn just how slanted my own reading behavior was,? Munson says.

?Even self-discovery is a valuable outcome, just being aware of your own behavior. If you do agree that you should be reading the other side, or at least aware of the dialogue in each camp, you can use it as a goal: Can I be more balanced this week than I was last week??

The tool classifies more than 10,000 news websites and sections of news websites on a spectrum ranging from far left to far right, using results of previous studies and existing media-bias indices. For a few popular sites the tool also tries to classify individual columnists whose views may be different from those of the overall publication?s slant.

If a reader?s habits swing to one side of the spectrum, the tool will suggest top news sites on the other side. As more people start using the tool, it will instead suggest articles currently popular among study participants who show a different political bias.

People who install the tool get a cartoon of a tightrope walker holding a stick with a red block on one end and a blue block on the other end. If their reading is balanced, the blocks are equal and the stick is level. If not, the stick begins to tilt to one side as the character appears increasingly distressed.

A few dozen people now use the experimental tool, and researchers hope to recruit more before the November election.

It?s not perfect. While the tool tracks all the reading in that web browser, it misses reading on mobile browsers, through mobile apps and, of course, reading on paper. Munson would also like to develop more targeted ways to classify individual articles and to include more than just Democrat and Republican slants.

The tool was developed at the University of Michigan, where Munson earned his doctorate, with funding from the National Science Foundation.

Potential or problem?

Back when cable news talk shows and the internet first emerged, Munson says, many experts feared they would fragment news consumers into ideologically specific camps. Instead, it seems some people gravitate toward coverage that reinforces their opinions, he says, while other people use technology to seek out more diverse coverage. His research seeks to understand people?s habits and learn how technology might influence their behaviors.

?Depending on whether I wake up on the right or wrong side of the bed I either think that there?s this incredible potential for political discussion online, if we could only get it right, or that it?s just this huge problem,? he says.

Munson started a political blog as a high school student in New Jersey, and in his junior year in college he was awarded press credentials to the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

?My goal with the blog had been to have a dialogue and in the process educate myself about politics,? he says. But he found most of his readers already shared his opinions. ?In the end I didn?t feel like there was any sort of deliberative discussion or progress made, and I hadn?t learned a lot in the process.? He stopped posting and deleted the blog.

His research now explores ways the internet might be used to encourage constructive political dialogue, as opposed to the echo chamber of partisan news sites or what he describes as the ?appalling cesspool? of some online comments.

Munson is also teaching a research class this quarter on the internet and the 2012 election, which will explore topics such as political news reading habits, the spread of political rumors online, and the intersection of political preferences and social networking sites.

Source: University of Washington

Source: http://www.futurity.org/society-culture/web-tool-balances-online-political-news/

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iPhone4s VS. iPhone5 | quick camera comparison ? Orange County ...

So I wasn?t planning to get the iPhone5.

In October 2011 my Uncle Michael purchased the iPhone 4s. He was the supreme Mac geek. He was one of those guys. Totally bought into Apple products and always, always, always got the newest thing. Two weeks later he unexpectedly passed away. The phone was barely used when it was handed down to me.

It took me a long time until I could bring myself to set it up. To wipe it clean of his music, his notes, his fingerprint. But ? as the grief settled in I knew it was ridiculous of me not to.

I have now used it for eleven months. The camera blows my socks off and I haven?t had to delete any of my photos after importing because of course Uncle Mike bought the 60GB model. (I have over 5,000 photos currently in my camera roll.) I know his ghost isn?t attached to it or anything, I don?t believe in that, but in a way it is a connection to him. A memory of him, and the iPhone5 didn?t jazz me enough to trade in.

Oh, not to mention ? I have a phone that is less than a year old. It has a lot of storage space. And in the last two weeks, we have bled out enough cash to take a vacation. Only we had to replace the video card on my iMac, replace the brakes and tires on my car, buy school clothes and school supplies, and repair a major plumbing issue. So, was I going to bleed out another $200 on a phone? Nope.

?But you use it all the time,? my husband said. ?We can hand the old phones down to the boys,? he said. ?You depend on that camera every single moment of the day! Why wouldn?t you want to upgrade to the best that?s out there??

?Not really interested,? I told him.

But guess who was? (Interested.) My aforementioned main squeeze. His iPhone4 was slowly giving up, having lived a nice long life in his pocket and on his nightstand. When the iPhone5 arrived Monday I felt nothing except happy for him to play with his new toy. I sent him a text of a photo of the box, but not at all was my materialism piqued.

?The only thing that could possibly sway me would be the camera,? I told him one night we sat in the garage after putting the kids to bed, sharing a beer.

*

This morning I was testing the iOS6 panoramic camera feature on my phone. Then I thought I should test it with his. I am definitely most interested in how the new iPhone5 camera operates under low light conditions. I felt like this room would be a great environment for the test because there are shadows and light in one space.

?

As someone who takes approximately 10,000 photos a year on her ?phone?, I am pretty sure the choice has been made. Image quality trumps everything else. For me, that 100% zoom says it all. So much better sharpness and detail. (None of these were sharpened or edited in Photoshop.)

Feel free to make your own judgements. I know everyone has their own opinion about these types of things. But man, wow.
As Kip Dynamite says, ?I love technology.?

-Tara

PS : Uncle Michael would TOTALLY support this decision. It feels kind of strange to talk about his death here for the first time in a blog post comparing Apple products. But then again, it doesn?t seem strange at all. xo

?

Source: http://tarawhitney.com/justbeblogged/2012/09/iphone4s-vs-iphone5-quick-camera-comparison/

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Tired of killing, tribe resorts to old traditions

The Enga people of Papua New Guinea have long been used to a culture where small-scale wars were common, short-lived and ended in peaceful relations between clans. But in 1990, the younger generation ditched their bows and arrows for shotguns and semiautomatics, and the Enga experienced 20 years of runaway violence that claimed nearly 5,000 lives.

Now, research shows that clan elders have restored peace by using their traditional tribal court system. As a result of the state-sanctioned system, relatively few wars took place in 2010 and 2011, and the death toll per war has dropped dramatically. For example, from 2006 to 2010, 74 percent of wars ended after only one to five deaths, compared with 23 percent of wars from 1991 to 1995.

The results suggest complex societies don't always evolve from simpler societies that are much more violent, as some psychologists and anthropologists contend, researchers said.

"These simple face-to-face societies have very effective means of making peace," said study leader Polly Wiessner, an anthropologist at the University of Utah. "It's when societies coalesce and are driven into larger societies, when they become no longer face-to-face, that these peace mechanisms no longer work."

Escalating wars
There are currently 400,000 to 500,000 Engas. They're divided into 110 tribes, each of which has five to 10 clans. "The clans hold a piece of land and cooperate in exchange, warfare and marriage," Wiessner told LiveScience. [ Image Gallery: Faces of a Threatened Tribe ]

Despite the strong inter-clan ties, Enga history has been marked by occasional wars. These eruptions of violence typically lasted a few days to a few weeks, and served to re-establish power between groups, show a clan's strength or avenge some misdeed.

Around 1850, Enga leaders established a system of compensation to quash postwar violence. In a large, public ceremony, individuals handed over live pigs ? a major form of currency ? and other valuables to their enemies as compensation for deaths.

These "Tee" ceremonies helped form massive exchange networks between clans and tribes. "Part of war was to keep balance between clans so exchange could flow," Wiessner explained.

Papua New Guinea came under Australian colonial rule in the 1950s. Armed administrators kept the peace and disputes were settled in the court rather than on the battlefield. Many Enga traditions ended, including the Tee exchanges.

After gaining independence in 1975, the country established a dual court system. District courts mainly served business needs, while village courts handled local matters. Local leaders were elected as magistrates to preside over the village courts. In 1982, a branch of the village court called Operation Mekim Save (OMS) arose to specifically handle tribal wars.

At the time, battles were still fought with primitive weapons. "They could have had guns, but they didn't want to wipe each other out," Wiessner said. This changed in 1990 when hotheaded youths took power from the elders. They acquired guns from businessmen and hired skilled mercenaries to help in their wars, which could last for months. The number of wars spiked, as did the deaths per war, while unprecedented razing created thousands of refugees. [ 10 Major Innovations that Revolutionized Combat ]

Tide turns
The soldiers were able to keep up their bloody battles for many years because the public supported them, both monetarily and ideologically. But eventually, around 2005, the public got tired of the bloodshed and the hardships felt with funding the wars.

"And so the people turned to the village courts," Wiessner said. "The fighters think they're saving their own group, but when the public said they don't want this, there wasn't much the youth could do."

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Wiessner, who scoured data from pre-colonial warfare, 501 recent wars and 129 court sessions, says two other factors helped turn the tide toward peace: church influence (with its Christian ideology of peace) and an effective OMS court branch. In the past, OMS was slow to react when trouble sprang up. Now, magistrates are armed with cellphones and better vehicles. And their methods seem to work.

In 2011, OMS resolved 98 percent of its cases without fines or jail time. Many of the cases ended in compensation rituals seen in the past ? an exchange of pigs during a public ceremony. And just like in the past, the "restorative justice" of the tribal courts appears able to curb further clan hostilities, at least for the time being. "There are almost no wars now," Wiessner said.

The study was published Thursday in the journal Science.

? 2012 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49200167/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Lawyer-Proof Your Life in the Cook Islands and Panama | Sovereign ...

Bob Bauman (September 26, 2012)

If you?re waiting for a problem to start knocking ? whether it?s an individual litigant or the U.S. government itself ? it?s already too late. The best time for asset protection is long before a problem arrives.

Right now, like it or not, problems are heading straight up your driveway and your front door is within easy reach.

Through taxation and regulation, the U.S. government has stepped up attacks on our wealth. Eager to avoid dealing with our fundamental fiscal issues, our politicians will continue to dig deeper into our pockets to grab every penny they can, no matter who wins the upcoming election.

At the same time, a bad economy is making more people lawsuit-happy. Does your neighbor have a petty grievance against you and your barking dog? You?d better take that complaint seriously ? anyone with money (even people of moderate wealth) can become a target.

As sovereign individuals, we understand these trends and guard against them. Wisely, we choose where we place our assets and identify places where we can find safety and privacy guaranteed by law.

For true security, we require a system that also guarantees maximum possible legal tax avoidance, the highest possible financial privacy, the strongest asset protection and access to the most profitable investments available worldwide.

Fortunately, there is one legal device that does all of this: the offshore Asset Protection Trust (APT).

The idea of setting up an offshore APT may seem daunting, but it doesn?t have to be a complicated process. In some of my favorite offshore havens, you can lay the groundwork for a solid asset-protection strategy in just three days.

Making Yourself a Hard Target

One of the biggest threats to your financial well-being is litigation. The American judicial system is too often an enemy of prosperity. Courts in the United States are clogged with civil suits demanding enormous sums for imagined or statutorily-concocted injuries that create supposed victims of harassment, disability or discrimination.

No matter how safe you think you are, it doesn?t take much to have a lawsuit filed against you these days. Recent headlines have warned that people are now being sued for ?defamation? for writing negative product reviews on places like Amazon.

A U.S. group, Legal Reform Now, claims that more than 15 million lawsuits will be filed in state courts alone by the end of 2012, one new lawsuit every two seconds, one for every 12 adults in America. According to consulting firm Towers Watson, the direct cost of U.S. tort lawsuits in 2009 was $250 billion ? that?s a little over 1.5% of the entire U.S. gross domestic product.

For lawsuit protection, the best tactic is to shrink yourself and your assets as targets ? and an offshore asset protection trust can help you do exactly that. By transferring legal title and reducing control over assets through donating them to your offshore APT, you make yourself a smaller target. Once an APT is set up, this is something that can be done quickly and easily.

And any time hard assets are transferred to another nation (as when cash, stock shares or precious metals are moved to an offshore trust account, or an offshore trustee?s safe deposit box), a home country creditor will have difficulty reaching them, even if the existence of your offshore trust is known.

There is also the benefit of a harassing party knowing your assets are beyond immediate reach. The cost and difficulty of pursuit may discourage legal action or encourage an advantageous compromise.

A Foundation for a Secure Financial Future

Beyond being just a tool against legal threats, an offshore APT can serve as a powerful wealth-preservation structure in building a secure financial future for you and your family. The offshore APT has long been a favorite of those seeking a legal and safe way to distribute wealth to their heirs. While a U.S. domestic trust provides limited protection, that strength multiplies with distance when the APT is located outside U.S. jurisdiction.

As part of a sound estate plan, it can protect your assets while assuring that your heirs and chosen beneficiaries receive exactly what you wish after you?re gone. This can help you minimize estate taxes through planned giving, and also provide maintenance and tax-free income for a surviving spouse. Offshore APTs can also be set up to make sure you meet your family?s needs in the years ahead ? paying for medical care or arranging funds to pay for your grandchildren?s college education, for example.

Even as our privacy in the U.S. continues to dwindle and disappear, the security of offshore trusts are rooted in the financial privacy laws of the country in which they are created. And these are often always more strict than those at home.

While the U.S. economy continues to sputter, and the dollar continues its decades-long decline, an offshore APT can serve as an excellent investment vehicle with access to offshore profits and exposure to stronger currencies. These will provide you with the income you need to help build a secure retirement.

Where to Set Up Your Trust

While it is possible to set up a trust in as little as three days in places like Liechtenstein, or in five days in Panama, the more time you allow yourself to draft a solid plan, the more it will be able to meet all of your needs in the years ahead. That?s why the time to start planning is now ? when trouble is knocking at the door, it will be too late.

Many offshore financial centers specialize in the creation and administration of offshore asset protection trusts.

What the corporation-friendly State of Delaware is to U.S. companies, these jurisdictions are to asset protection trusts. Many are well developed, globally recognized financial centers. They boast modern, efficient banking, legal and other professional providers who understand servicing offshore APTs and offshore finance in general. Before you choose a place for your trust, always make certain of the latest developments in the jurisdiction you?re considering.

My top havens, based on my own personal experiences, are Panama and the Cook Islands.

Panama has had strong investor and asset protection-friendly laws in place governing trusts since the 1920s. The country has a growing, vibrant economy with a solid banking system that boasts maximum privacy.

A former British protectorate, the Cook Islands began adopting wealth protection laws in the 1980s that now have financial services second only to tourism as the biggest part of this island nation?s economy. The Cook Islands trust law embodies all the best legal concepts concerning modern trusts. As such, it has served as the example for many other offshore centers, from Nevis to Belize.

Both Panama and the Cook Islands can provide you with modern financial services and rock-solid financial privacy, making either an excellent home for your offshore trust. As places of both beauty and protection for your assets and your business interests, I would recommend either.

Faithfully yours,

?
Bob Bauman

P.S. Setting up an offshore asset protection trust is an important step towards securing your financial future, but it?s far from the only one. In my Offshore Confidential service, I?m tracking the latest threats to your wealth and liberty and what you can do to protect both. To learn more about how you can take advantage of my research and the steps you can start taking today, click here to read my special report.
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Source: http://sovereign-investor.com/2012/09/26/lawyer-proof-your-life-in-cook-islands/

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Cathys Insurance Insight: Watercraft theft prevention tips ...

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Source: http://spearsantony96.typepad.com/blog/2012/09/cathys-insurance-insight-watercraft-theft-prevention-tips.html

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Brother ImageCenter ADS-2000

Although Brother has a long history of building scanners into its multifunction printers, the ImageCenter ADS-2000 is the company's first foray into the desktop single-function scanner arena. It offers good OCR capabilities and some nifty features?such as the ability to scan to USB thumb drives? for a scanner in its price range. In our testing, it proved somewhat sluggish, particularly at default scan settings, for its rated speed.

The ADS-2000 is a duplex scanner with a 50-sheet automatic document feeder (ADF). It measures 11.8 by 8.7 inches (WD) when closed, and weighs 7.7 pounds. It has a straight-through paper path from the ADF into the output tray. It supports the scanning of business cards as well as plastic cards.

As is the case with most document scanners, the ADS-2000's optical resolution is up to 600 ppi. The default resolution for scanning to file (PDF) is 300 ppi, which should be more than enough for most business documents.

An uncommon feature of the ADS-2000 is the ability to scan to USB keys, as well as to Android phones (though only over a cable). Other interesting features are 2-in-1 scanning (stitching 2 documents together into a ledger-sized scanned document) and continuous scanning (the ability to scan documents longer than the ADF's 50-page maximum).

It also has multi-feed detection, for catching when more than one page is fed through the scanner at once and stopping the scan so you can re-feed the unscanned sheet(s). This is a good thing to have, especially as in my testing the scanner had a relatively high number of misfeeds?I had to scuttle several test runs because of them.

Software
Software bundled with the ADS-2000 includes Brother's Control Center 4 scan utility; Nuance Paper Port 12SE (for Windows) and Presto! PageManager 9 (for Mac) for document management and optical character recognition (OCR); Presto! BizCard 5; and Nuance PDF Converter Professional 7 (for Windows), which lets you create, edit, search, and collaborate on PDF files, and send them to Cloud-based services. It also has Twain and ISIS drivers, which let you scan from virtually any program that has a scan command. All of the programs are installed automatically during setup except BizCard and Nuance PDF converter, which although they're on the same disc as the other programs, you have to select and install them separately.

The Control Center scan utility is a simple and quite useful interface, with buttons for 4 scan destinations: Scan to Image (300 ppi JPEG); OCR (300 ppi .txt file), Email (200 ppi PDF); and File (300 ppi PDF). By right-clicking on any of the buttons, you can change the settings, such as resolution, scan type (auto black and white, gray (error diffusion), true gray, or 24-bit color), document size, simplex/duplex, and set brightness and contrast.

You can also initiate scans from Nuance PaperPort (or Presto! PageManager if you use the scanner with a Mac), which lets you scan to multiple destinations, displayed at the bottom of the screen with icons. The Twain and ISIS drivers let you scan to nearly any program that has a scan command. ?

Speed and Document Management
The ADS-2000 is rated at up to 24 pages per minute (ppm) for simplex (one-sided) scanning and 24 ppm/48 images per minute (ipm) for duplex scanning, in which each side of a two-sided document counts as one image. In my testing, using the scan utility's default settings to scan to file (color image PDF at 300 ppi), it averaged 1 minute 22 seconds or 18.4 ppm, to scan and save a 25-page file, a bit under its rated speed. For duplex scanning, its tested speed fell to 12.2 ppm or 24.4 ipm. In scanning to searchable PDF format, the ADS-2000 scanned our test document in simplex at 12.9 ppm; for duplex, it slowed to 8.8 ppm/17.6 ipm. I also scanned the test document to a text file using the scan utility's OCR button; it did so at 13 ppm.

We do our official timings using default settings, as we've found that users tend to stick to them. But I also tried scanning the same document to image PDF at 200 ppi; the ADS-2000 turned in a similar 18.7 ppm simplex speed but a faster 18.7 ppm/37.4 ppm for duplex scanning, losing no time in scanning two-sided sheets. For searchable PDFs, it scanned at the same speed as at 300 ppi (12.9 ppm), but in duplex scanning it was a bit faster (14.1 ppm/28.2 ipm) than at the default resolution, and even a tad faster than its simplex scanning speed.

The bottom line is that although simplex scanning speeds were much the same at either 200 or 300 ppi, you may gain a little speed in duplex scanning by switching to 200 ppi. This comes at the expense of resolution, though there wasn't any obvious degradation in quality at 200 ppi in the PDFs I examined. (The higher resolution is more important with older or faded documents.) Curiously, when I tried scanning to black-and-white as well as grayscale PDFs (both image and searchable), these scans actually took longer than scanning to color.

I timed my scans from when I hit the scan button until the saved PDF of the scan showed up in its folder in Windows Explorer. However, I noticed that on occasion?particularly when scanning in duplex?the scanner would take additional time in "processing" (so the on-screen message said) before it was ready to scan another document. This could be an issue for people scanning multiple two-sided or multi-page documents.

We clocked the Editors' Choice Canon ImageFormula DR-C125, rated at 25 ppm/50 ipm, at 25.4 ppm and 50 ipm for simplex and duplex scanning, respectively, to image PDF, true to its rated speed. Impressively, it maintained the same speeds when scanning to searchable PDF. I recently timed the Plustek SmartOffice PS286 Plus, rated at 25 ppm for simplex and 50 ipm for duplex scanning, at 23 ppm and 37.2 ipm for simplex and duplex respectively, when scanning to image PDF, and at 13 ppm in scanning in simplex to searchable PDF.

The ADS-2000 did well at OCR, reading our Arial and Times New Roman text documents perfectly down to 8-point type. For business card management with BizCard 5, it did a reasonable job, entering data in the correct fields without an error on about half my test cards, and on most of the others had no more than two or three errors.

The Brother ADS-2000 is a good addition to Brother's repertoire as the company's first single-function desktop scanner?It has incorporated scanners into its multifunction printers for many years, and in the past two years has introduced portable scanners such as the Brother DS-700D ($200 street, 2.5 stars). The ADS-2000 has a good feature set for a moderately priced desktop scanner?many more expensive units can't scan to USB thumb drives?and it did well in our OCR testing. It is somewhat sluggish for its rated speed, particularly at default scan settings, and even took some extra processing time after some scans were saved to file before it was ready to initiate a new scan. The Editors' Choice Canon imageFormula DR-C125 not only matched its rated speed for both simplex and duplex scanning, it lost no time in scanning to searchable PDF.

More Scanner Reviews:

??? Brother ImageCenter ADS-2000
??? Plustek SmartOffice PS286 Plus
??? Plustek OpticBook 3800
??? Plustek MobileOffice S420
??? Canon imageFormula DR-C130
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/R-uO0hbMO5U/0,2817,2410002,00.asp

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Asbestos Lawyer ? Asbestos Cancer Signs and Symptoms | EzinePR

Mesothelioma, a deadly sort of cancer that attacks and kills the filters. Individuals anywhere may take the symptoms of mesothelioma cancer; it is an unique disease that symptoms do not usually show itself themselves until anywhere from 20 to Half a century after exposure to asbestos. Earlier symptoms tend to be standard, they often go overlooked or else confused pertaining to symptoms of less critical ailments. For people and doctors, this is the most frustrating aspect of the disease. The latency duration of mesothelioma is long; making the disease undiagnosable until finally its later stages when symptoms finally begin to appear and little can be done to be able to slow the advancement of the disease. Nevertheless, people begin to sense and show mesothelioma symptoms two to three months previous after being clinically determined.

Mesothelioma is a feared cancer that is commonly due to asbestos exposure. Unfortunate undeniable fact that many people in different region is poisoned from the deadly toxic amounts of asbestos. The deadly inhalation of asbestos fibers wronged many people that cause these people diseases like lung cancer.

People who are in great danger to have Mesothelioma are the ones who worked inside the mesothelioma lawsuit industry or in job areas in which asbestos is used as a component of a product. Many who have mesothelioma worked well for many years in work that have frequent connection with asbestos. Every time that this spring is being , processed, weaved, sprayed or altered, its microscopic fabric can be released in the air, where they might be inhaled, initiating the creation of mesothelioma.

The the signs of mesothelioma vary from case to case and with the severity of the condition. Type of mesothelioma ? whether pleural, peritoneal, or pericardial ? determines what are the symptoms might be. Most of the time, the general overall health of one particular person, as well as his/her age, may also play a role in how a patient is impacted by the disease and that symptoms are nearly all bothersome.

There are 3 types of mesothelioma:
Pleural mesothelioma cancer ? a healthcare term for the dangerous mesothelioma lung cancer caused by your inhalation of asbestos fibers. (Symptoms: difficulty taking, weight loss, coughing, swelling in the upper body, in particular the face and biceps, muscle weakness, pain in the side from the chest, fatigue, perspiration, shortness of breath, and lower back pain.)
Peritoneal mesothelioma ? influences the cells of the abdominal lining, also known as the particular peritoneum, which supports and safeguards organs in the tummy. (Symptoms: vomiting, bowel obstruction, stomach soreness, weight loss, swollen belly, blood clotting abnormalities, fever, nausea, as well as anemia.)
Pericardial mesothelioma ? affects the pericardium, which is a membranous cellular lining that surrounds the guts, providing both assist and protection on the organ. (Symptoms: chronic coughing, shortness of breath, a pounding heart and chest pain.)

Some other signs can be jaundice, thrombus, organ bleeds, as well as fluid buildup inside organs and lung area.

If you have a history of asbestos direct exposure and have experienced all of these symptoms, you should consult physician immediately. The previous that mesothelioma is found, the better the chances regarding survival and higher standard of living.

For more information about asbestos mesothelioma cancer please visit the website.

Source: http://ezinepr.com/computer-gaming/asbestos-lawyer-asbestos-cancer-signs-and-symptoms/

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Obama leads in Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania, new poll finds

President Barack Obama departs the White House. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

President Barack Obama has stretched his lead over Republican nominee Mitt Romney in battleground states Ohio and Florida and retains a 12-point lead in Pennsylvania, according to a Quinnipiac University/New York Times/CBS poll released Wednesday.

The president is ahead 53 to 43 percent in Ohio and 53 to 44 percent in Florida, according to surveys of likely voters conducted Sept. 18-24. In Pennsylvania, Obama leads 54-42 percent.

Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, attributed the swing in Obama's favor to negative media coverage of Romney over the past few weeks but said the Republican nominee still has time to reverse the president's lead.

"Gov. Mitt Romney had a bad week in the media and it shows in these key swing states," Brown said. "The furor over his 47 percent remark almost certainly is a major factor in the roughly double-digit leads President Barack Obama has in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The debates may be Romney's best chance to reverse the trend in his favor."

If national electorate models hold, Florida and Ohio will be crucial for Romney to reach the 270 Electoral College votes needed to best Obama on Election Day. According to the Quinnipiac University poll, Romney continues to struggle with female voters, who favor Obama by 19 percentage points in Florida, 25 percentage points in Ohio and 21 percentage points in Pennsylvania. The surveys in Ohio and Pennsylvania have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percent and plus or minus 2.8 percent in Florida.

Other recent polls, however, show closer races in these battleground states. A Mason-Dixon survey unveiled Sunday and conducted Sept. 17-19 showed a statistical tie between Obama and Romney in Florida. According a recent Washington Post poll, Obama leads by 8 percentage points in Ohio and 4 percentage points in Florida.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/poll-obama-leads-ohio-virginia-pennsylvania-121943706--election.html

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Common Problems That Can Develop in Automotive Air Conditioning

Last updated 17 hours ago

Nothing is more uncomfortable or inconvenient than a broken down air conditioner in the middle of the summer. Fortunately, you can use these auto repair tips to catch problems in your car?s air conditioner to keep the cold air blowing as long as you need it. Early prevention and maintenance can also help you avoid many of the problems associated with damaged automotive air conditioning systems, including:

• Uncomfortable Temperatures ? Your air conditioner won?t be much use if it only blows warm air. Thankfully, an uncomfortable temperature is one of the simplest air conditioning system problems in the book. The issue is usually caused by a low volume of refrigerant. Have your auto repair technician check for reservoir leaks when your refrigerant is being refilled, as an unrepaired leak will result in temperature control problems throughout the summer.
  ?
• Low Airflow ? Some air conditioners refuse to blow straight on target. If your air conditioner is suffering this problem, then you likely have a broken vacuum supply line. This series of tubes helps to lead air to the right vent or exhaust. Ask your mechanic about vacuum supply line issues if your fan is working but your passengers aren?t receiving any air.
  ?
• Excess Noise ? The soft whirr of fans is typically the only sound an automotive air conditioner should make. In fact, additional noises from your vehicle?s air conditioner may indicate a serious problem. For example, these loud noises may be a result of a broken down compressor or a corroded fan belt. Keep your air conditioner components in good repair to avoid these noisy problems.
  ?
• Offensive Odors ? You may notice strange odors coming from an aging car?s air conditioner. This smell is likely the result of mold and bacteria that have taken up resident in the evaporator. Let a team of professionals wash away these smells with specialty chemicals that won?t harm the engine.

The experts at Dekalb Tire and Automotive Repair can have your automotive repairs finished quickly. We pride ourselves on our flawless repairs and great customer service. Learn more about our company and our technicians today by calling our office at (678) 954-1728.

Source: http://www.myatlantatiredealer.com/549131/2012/09/19/common-problems-that-can-develop-in-automotive-air-conditioning-systems.html

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California governor signs work injury insurance bill

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Israel army in snap exercise to simulate war scenario

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's military launched a surprise large-scale exercise on Wednesday on the occupied Golan Heights, testing its battle readiness amid tensions over Iran's nuclear drive and civil war in Syria.

A military spokeswoman, appearing to play down any speculation the drill heralded imminent hostilities with Iran or Syria, said it was part of a routine training schedule. A similar snap exercise was held around this time a year ago.

Israel has urged world powers to set a red line for Tehran's nuclear program, saying time was running out to stop what it sees as its quest for atomic arms and raising international concern it could launch a go-it-alone strike against Iran.

In the early hours of the morning, reservists were summoned from their homes by telephone after the end of the two-day Jewish New Year's holiday and told to report for duty.

Along with units of conscript soldiers, the troops were to be flown by helicopter from central Israel to the Golan Heights bordering Syria for a live-fire exercise, due to end later in the day and overseen by the chief artillery officer.

Israel Radio said the drill simulated a sudden outbreak of hostilities on Golan Heights that would require swift troop deployment. The radio's military affairs correspondent, who is briefed regularly by senior officers, said the timing of the exercise was "not mere coincidence".

In a brief statement, the military said the exercise had been ordered by its chief of staff, Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz, "to examine the competence and preparedness of several units in the Israel Defence Forces".

The statement gave no troop figures, but Israel Radio said large contingents were involved. Military sources said an even bigger exercise, which was announced in advance, was held for several days along the border with Lebanon two weeks ago.

Iran denies it is seeking nuclear weapons. It has vowed to strike back against Israel, widely believed to be the only country in the Middle East with atomic arms, if it is attacked.

Israel fears such retaliation could include rocket salvoes from Iran's guerrilla allies in Lebanon and Gaza. It is also concerned rogue elements in Syria could seize chemical weapons and launch attacks on the Golan.

Israel captured the Golan Heights in a 1967 Middle East war and annexed the area, in a move that was not recognized internationally, in 1981.

(Editing by Ralph Boulton)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israel-army-snap-exercise-simulate-war-scenario-120653348.html

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