AP Source: NCAA found $170K in Shapiro benefits

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) ? The NCAA is alleging that former Miami booster Nevin Shapiro was responsible for providing about $170,000 in impermissible benefits to Hurricanes athletes, recruits, coaches and others between 2002 and 2010.

Shapiro allegedly spent more than half that amount ? at least $90,000 ? in an effort to get NFL players Vince Wilfork and Antrel Rolle to sign with a sports agency he was involved with, said the person, who spoke to The Associated Press Wednesday on condition of anonymity because neither Miami nor the NCAA has publicly released the allegations.

Also included in the allegations: That Shapiro spent at least another $56,000 on "meals, entertainment, clothing, jewelry, travel, lodging and cash" on football players, recruits and others. The NCAA alleged that Shapiro spent that on 72 then-players, three recruits and 12 "friends and family members" of those either on the team or being recruited by the school.

Virtually all of the Hurricane players listed as receiving some sort of extra benefit from Shapiro left the program several years ago.

The figures that the NCAA's enforcement staff cited in the notice of allegations add up to a significantly lower total than what Shapiro told Yahoo Sports in 2011, when he estimated his extra-benefit spending spree as going into the "millions of dollars."

If true, the NCAA only listed a sliver of that in the allegations. The figures that were sent to Miami also were described as "approximate total values."

The NCAA said Shapiro also provided extra benefits in the forms of impermissible supplemental compensation to at least three former Miami assistant coaches, along with travel benefits and other items.

Miami received its notice of allegations, ones that included a lack of institutional control for failing to properly monitor Shapiro's activities as a booster, last week. It also includes charges that three former assistant coaches broke what's known as the NCAA's Rule 10.1 ? governing ethical conduct ? by misleading the investigation. Two of those former assistants have asked that their cases be thrown out because of problems the NCAA acknowledged with the way it conducted the probe.

The NCAA's Committee on Infractions wants to hear the case in June.

The Hurricanes have already self-imposed several sanctions, including sitting out two bowl games and a conference football championship game. Miami President Donna Shalala said on two occasions last week that she believes those punishments should be enough, and on Wednesday, the Hurricanes' athletic director echoed those sentiments.

"I would say I agree with everything that was in the two statements by President Shalala," Blake James, Miami's athletic director, told The AP. "I think she was right on in her comments and was very reflective of the general feel of our institution and those involved in this case."

Shapiro is serving a 20-year prison term for masterminding a $930 million Ponzi scheme.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-source-ncaa-found-170k-shapiro-benefits-002801192--spt.html

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Thoughts on That Thing Called Marriage and Long-Term ...

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Hello internet-dwelling love bugs.

So, this will be an interesting experiment where I journey forward into writing about relationships. To summarize, my history with relationships that last longer than a year is bleak. It is perfectly ironic that I so quickly knew I wanted to marry Jake when we began seeing each other.

That being said, I must confess: I have very little hands-on experience being in a relationship. Do you want to know a secret, though? I haven?t needed any.

I learned this in many idiotic attempts to be everyone?s perfect girlfriend back when I was chain-dating. It never worked. Enough time would always eventually pass for either a portion of my real self to slip into a conversation, or for me to realize that I was really not with someone I wanted to be with.

Albeit, I was a few years younger than I am now, and it?s possible that the path of every young adult involves screwing up in both relationships with others and themself. I like to think so. It makes for a more empathetic connection to one?s mistakes.

I eventually stopped the identity altering and discovered how much easier it was to be myself (more fun, too). It was also simpler to understand that maybe whomever I was dating might just not ?click? with my reckless and wild soul. Each time I had a bad date or stopped seeing someone, I became more excited about the person I would meet who I did ?click? with ? they would just have to be that much more awesome.

I am telling you all of this because I think I am finally coming to a conclusion about relationships. I have been trying to write this blog post for the past four months and every time I think I?ve read something that encompasses the overall ?gist? of relationships, something comes up in my own in relationship that proves otherwise. I read many books during this period of relationship?philosophizing,?two of which stuck out. ?David Schnarch?s ?Passionate Marriage? was helpful, enlightening and convincing, and Thomas Moore?s ?Soul Mates?, although not quite as accessible, I think had something deeper melded to its core message.

The conclusions I have reached in regards to my own relationship did not come jolting out at me from either book? Or perhaps they are a combination of many ideas merging into a greater whole? Regardless, what follows are now my relationship goal posts. HUZZAH.

1. It?s intrinsic. No one can tell you how to navigate your own relationship with another person. Mostly because no one besides you and your partner has been heavily immersed in the weaving of your particular souls. Thomas Moore was ballsy enough to say in his own book that, ?Establishing intimacy with yourself or another is not a matter of finding new information or borrowing new words for your condition or your personality. Nor is it the application of these words and ideas to your experiences. New ideas about psychology often lead to suggested programs of self-improvement, but such programs work against the soul.? You will be the one to create your own story. Isn?t that a nice thought?

2. The lows are just as good as the highs. As a society we are quick to assume that any negative emotion is a gateway into depression or a disconnect from our inner workings. Feeling happy may be a whole lot healthier and genuinely feel better, but you can?t evolve as a person without experiencing the bad stuff. I don?t mean that you should go and make yourself a nest in the deepest, darkest hollow of your being so you can wallow, rather, you should at least allow yourself to touch upon that real, living sense of being. I say this because the more empathy we have for ourselves ? the more we can forgive ourselves, accept ourselves and feel for ourselves ? the more accepting and understanding we become of our also-imperfect fellow human beings. If more married people said that the good stuff also lies in the arguments and shaky emotions, maybe we wouldn?t feel like such fuck-ups every time we experience something other than joy.

3. I have only been married for six months, so everything I am typing now could be complete nonsense. But I feel once those vows have been said and the knot has been tied, you are left staring at a very real attachment to another person.?I am going to live with this person for as long as life permits it.?(A cab driver once informed me that his first wife died, and his second became a lesbian and left him ? thus, as long as life permits it). As I looked upon this wondrous commitment that I was so very compelled to make, I found myself seeking out a road map or a model that would frame and shape the existence of Jake?s and my relationship. Getting married really does suddenly make the relationship very different, but there were way too many movies, books and TV shows that presented a vision of what the role of husband and wife ?should? look like or ?should? be that did not resonate with me at all ? and that terrifies me.

Jake and I recently went and saw ?This is 40? in theatres? It was quite possibly one of the most depressing movies I have seen. I walked out of the theatre, with Jake?s hand in mine, popcorn-butter smeared across my fretful face, and I could not help but worry that this is what my fate might be. That, one day, I would wake up and my day would begin in and end in frustration and yelling.

When we first got hitched, I had it in my head that maybe we now needed to meet all these marriage requirements; that we now had to act, look and live like grown-ups because we had made this big grown-up decision.

To this, I now say: donkey bullocks.

It is our generation that I believe can rewrite this narrative. I would like to fill the world with more stories of marriages and relationships that embrace our inadequacies. I would like to stop trying to be a ?good? girlfriend or an ?effective? wife and just be me.

??Another problem with the idea of self-improvement is that it implies there is something wrong with who we are. Everyone wants to be someone else, but getting to know and love yourself means accepting who you are, complete with your inadequacies and irrationalities.? ? Thomas Moore, Soul Mates

That?s what I wanted, anyway. When I got married, I just wanted Jake to always be there while I continued being myself.?When Jake and I began seeing each other, neither of us wanted a relationship, and when it came to the point where we were obviously more than just friends, we had a very awkward, but valuable conversation about our relationship. We were both afraid of having to follow the same ?relationship rules? that we had in previous relationships, that we would no longer be able to have the same fun we?d been having together. We concurred that we would approach our future in a manner that was similar to an art project. Onto a canvas we wanted to throw spontaneity, happiness and a mutual appreciation for one another (we hadn?t dropped the L-bomb yet).

With all of the wonderful marital advice we received, none of it really makes a dent until you are actually doing the marriage stuff. And even when you are, you very rarely remember the advice. But maybe this will help or sit somewhere deep in the subconscious of your future or current married/long-term committed brain: resist nothing and enjoy the ride.

?Nobody?s ready for marriage. Marriage makes you ready for marriage.? ? David Shnarch, Passionate Marriage

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Source: http://tobeaslut.com/2013/02/28/thoughts-on-that-thing-called-marriage-and-long-term-commitment-in-general/

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Philanthropy in Australia: It's What You Do With it That Counts | Pro ...

Highly publicised private benefactors are redefining philanthropy in Australia, so now is the time for a discussion on how this wealth can best be harnessed, says Professor John Fitzgerald, the Truby and Florence Williams Charitable Trust Chair in Social Investment and Philanthropy at Swinburne University of Technology. This article was first published by?The Conversation. It is republished here under?CreativeCommons - Attribution/No derivatives.

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The recent commitment by Fortescue Metals chief Andrew Forrest to contribute half of his private wealth to philanthropic causes, coming on top of investor Graham Tuckwell?s $50 million donation for equity scholarships at the Australian National University, draws attention to the role of private social investment in Australia as never before.

Philanthropy is not new to Australia. We are fairly familiar with the eminent names attached to museums, galleries, think-tanks, schools, university libraries, and art collections in honour of those who built them. Many lesser-known Australians make equally generous contributions. The country?s major banks between them manage several billion dollars in small to medium charitable bequests left by little-known or anonymous donors, many dating from over a century ago.

But just how the donations of generous private benefactors in Australia is used, is worth debating.

The role of philanthropy is gaining prominence as Australia grows richer but arguably less equal, while government funding is cut back. Something, if not someone, has to give.

Some critics condemn philanthropy as alien to this country, if not uniquely American, or as fundamentally hypocritical, self-serving, and idiosyncratic. Commentator Satyajit Das has argued it can serve to undermine social policy by reflecting the views of the benefactors rather than reflecting a rigorous analysis of the issues. ?Such influence may ultimately be unhealthy in a democracy,? he writes.

But surely the question is not whether philanthropy is a good thing or a bad thing. It can be both. The question at issue is how Australians can work together to ensure that private philanthropy is beneficial and effective for those who need it most, and how private donors can work together on a scale that could really make a difference.

It?s not the business of philanthropy to substitute for markets or to do the government?s job for it ? to run health and education systems, to provide basic care for the sick and the elderly, or to engage in poverty reduction on a scale that matters. Non-government organisations which do provide these services in Australia are largely funded by government. Indeed, private wealth contributes a fraction to these services relative to public funding.

But philanthropy and private social investment can help by drawing on two distinctive features of private giving that are often missing in market mechanisms and government operations: innovation and risk taking.

Private philanthropy is better equipped than government agencies or commercial investors to bear risk in support of innovation. When Muhammad Yunus approached the Bank of Bangladesh in the 1970s to expand micro-credit services to the rural poor, through his new Grameen Bank, the Bank of Bangladesh not unreasonably declined his request for core lending. The bank?s board and management considered lending to poor households inconsistent with its duty of care to depositors and shareholders in ensuring the security of their investments. No government agencies or government international aid donors stepped in to the breach either.

So Yunus approached a private philanthropic donor, the Ford Foundation, for an $800,000 loan guarantee as security against commercial micro-credit loans ? not as a grant but as a social investment. He offered to pay it back, but only if his plan worked. Ford carried the risk and, as we now know, Muhammad Yunus returned the loan in full once he had demonstrated the commercial viability of his micro-finance model to banks and to the market.

In a case study of the Ford Foundation?s dealings with the Grameen Bank, Harvard University professor Steven Lawry notes that the case suggests most innovative ideas do not come from the donors themselves, nor from their boards, but from among people living and working closest to the problems at hand.

Social justice donors need to keep their ears close to the ground and be sufficiently humble to recognise that they don?t carry solutions to every problem in their briefcases. The best of them bring resources, an open mind, and an appetite for risk. In this case, a private foundation carried the risk of someone else?s social innovation to the point where the innovation could get to market and prove itself ? in a style of investment philanthropy that would be considered innovative even today, 40 years on, in some parts of the world.

Taking risk alone is not enough. Once the appetite for risk is whetted then finding the smartest innovations to adopt, figuring out how to test them in the field, working to leverage additional resources from markets and the state, and scaling up a social program to the point where it has systemic impact, all involve challenges of a different order. But done well, a strategic risk investment of under one million dollars can have a beneficial social impact measured in the hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars over time.

Risk-taking is not new to Australian philanthropy either. In 1989, the Myer Foundation and the Commission for the Future created Asialink, a university based-entity promoting Asia literacy in Australian schools from kindergarten through senior high school.

Asialink in turn established the Asia Education Foundation which leveraged millions of dollars from the federal government for state-based Asia literacy programs. Through Asialink, the Myer Foundation invested in a future that was still in the making.

Philanthropy can never make up for lack of sound policy or lack of political will in government, nor compensate for serious market failures. But through its appetite for innovation and risk taking, it can help to expand access to public goods and improve the delivery of government services.

It can also prompt market corrections. Australia needs more, not less, of this kind of risk-taking innovation. We also need more open and inclusive discussion of how philanthropy can make a real difference to our communities, our environment, and our well-being. The question is not whether philanthropy is a good or a bad thing. It?s a question of finding out just how good it really can be.
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About the Author: John Fitzgerald is the Truby and Florence Williams Charitable Trust Chair in Social Investment and Philanthropy at Swinburne University of Technology.?

Source: http://www.probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2013/02/philanthropy-australia-it%E2%80%99s-what-you-do-it-counts

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Academy Awards: Oscar-Nominated Songs That Should Have Won ...

These Songs Were All Just Travelin' Thru

It?s happened to so many of us who devote all the days (and evenings) of our lives to watching the litany of awards shows that come our way this time of year: you?re rooting for your favorite to take the statue, but when the winner is announced another guy, gal, song, artist or act wins. And you want to scream, cry or take to drinking (we do all three) because you know in your gut that another song should have secured that prize. Happens all the time, right?

Well, Hollywood?s big movie awards are less than a week away, and we?re still obsessing over the music. As we mull over this year?s Academy Award nominations for Best Original Song, we can?t help but wonder about what should have been from Oscars past. Sure, they may get it right most of the time, but sometimes the Academy misses the mark (as it did often in the early 2000s). Below we look back at the last 15 years and make a case for five of our favorite Oscar-nominated songs that should have landed the little bald dude, but didn?t.

Should Have Won: ?I Don?t Want to Miss A Thing? from Armageddon, 1998

Since you can?t win an Oscar for being the Most Awful Movie of the Year (or Ever), you might as well get to compete in a few other categories. With all of director Michael Bay?s stars-and-stripes-waving-in-the-wind scenes and meticulously-choreographed, slow-motion, mid-America montages, it would have seemed downright un-American, we suppose, for Armageddon not get some stateside awards attention. So why not let an icon like Diane Warren (who wrote the music and the lyrics) walk away with a statuette for the schmaltzy ballad that happens to be the very best thing about this disastrous disaster flick? If you can get past the image of a young Ben Affleck parading animal crackers on Liv Tyler?s bare midriff and belly button (seriously) while Liv?s dad Steven Tyler sings to the seduction of his daughter on a prairie somewhere, you know you just love Warren?s song ? even if it is a love/hate relationship. Sometimes cheeseball songs makes us feel better than, well, cheese or chicken soup, and we?re not ashamed to admit it. Besides, who remembers anything about a cartoon called The Prince of Egypt today, anyway? Anybody? C?mon now!

Winner: ?When You Believe? from The Prince of Egypt

Source: http://idolator.com/7442426/academy-awards-oscar-nominated-songs-aerosmith-dolly-parton-beyonce

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One latte away from millions? Don't bank on it

Helaine Olen, author of the controversial book "Pound Foolish," says that financial gurus who dole out advice are ignoring some of the core economic issues impacting Americans. NBCNews.com's Bob Sullivan speaks with Olen about her book.

By Bob Sullivan, Columnist, NBC News

Helaine Olen has begun an important discussion in the world of money: Is anybody's advice worth paying for?

The author's new book, ?Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry,? has rattled quite a few cages since it was published in January. It's also gotten a lot of attention, including glowing praise from The Economist. We sat down with Olen at our studio in 30 Rockefeller Plaza recently. (You can watch the interview by clicking ?play? above.)

Olen points out the folly of simplistic mass-market advice, such as the notion that forgoing a latte every day will make one a millionaire by retirement. She's an equal-opportunity critic, poking fun at everyone from late-night TV stock pickers, to financial gurus who make millions writing books, to newspaper business reporters who have no credentials for doling out advice.

In fact, that's how Olen started her career -- writing "Money Makeover" columns for the Los Angeles Times, where she matched up eager consumers with even more eager finance wizards, and described the advice that was doled out. Ten years on, these stories still gnawed at Olen, as she wondered if the consumers were genuinely helped by the advice. Her book's most telling moments detail meetings with these sympathetic characters, who unsurprisingly have not fared better after hearing the normally high-priced money wisdom.

---

Olen gets some cheap laughs by going back in time and showing mistakes made by financial prognosticators -- citing Suze Orman's advice to her fans that real estate was the best investment. But something more nefarious is at play in American culture, Olen says, when the myth of the latte millionaire persists. The subtle message from many financial gurus is that consumers simply have to suck it up a little, ditch the extravagances and everything will be fine. That's just not true, she argues.

"We believe very deeply in this country in the myth of Horatio Alger, which is ... this idea that we can do it all by ourselves," she said. "And that's just not true." Harsh economic realities, such as skyrocketing housing and health care costs, play a bigger role in our financial future than our ability to skip pricey coffee, Olen says.

It's undeniable that much personal finance advice is overly simplistic. But it's also undeniable that Americans are terrible at math, and many don't want to take even the simplest steps at improving their financial futures. So it may not be fair to criticize those who give simple advice to consumers who seem to want it. And behavioral economists have produced research for years showing that financial education doesn't do much good anyway, because people tend to take the path of least resistance when making decisions on 401(k)s, mortgages and so on. They prefer nudges from companies and governments, such as automated enrollment in the most beneficial retirement plans.?

What's the harm if financial gurus provide that nudge of inspiration to pay down debt or build up savings for someone who otherwise might not act? Olen didn't have a good answer. Still, her critique is eye-opening, particularly when readers are confronted with tale after tale of advice gone bad.?

Taken as a whole, ?Pound Foolish? is a good reminder that you are as qualified as anyone else to control your financial future. As the saying goes, if you want something done right, you should do it yourself. You'll be saving a lot of money in the process, too.

* Follow Bob Sullivan on?Facebook.

* Follow Bob Sullivan on Twitter

More from Red Tape Chronicles:

?ID theft on the rise again: 12.6 million victims in 2012, study shows

'Privacy tax' creator makes his case, says software is 'eating the world'

Death of the price tag: Stolen from us too soon

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Source: http://redtape.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/20/17033763-one-latte-away-from-millions-dont-bank-on-it-author-says?lite

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Honda goes solar with $65 million investment

Paul A. Eisenstein , The Detroit Bureau ? ? ? 5 hrs.

The first automaker to offer a hybrid-electric vehicle in the U.S. market, Honda is diving even deeper into renewable energy with a project it says could make solar power affordable for its dealers and customers.

The goal of Honda?s new partnership with SolarCity is to make energy from the sun less costly than utility-supplied power, according to the carmaker ? which has set up a $65 million investment fund to back the project.

"We believe Honda and Acura customers are going to be very interested in going solar once they find out that they can install solar at their home with little or no upfront cost, can lower their monthly utility bill, and can make a positive contribution to protecting the environment,? said Steven Center, vice president of the Environmental Business Development Office of American Honda Motor Co., Inc.

The Detroit Bureau: Audi set to reveal new plug-in version of little A3

Founded by brothers Lyndon and Peter Rive in 2006, and headquartered in San Mateo, California, SolarCity provides a wide range of sun-powered technologies, including commercial and residential solar energy arrays, as well as solar charging stations for electric vehicles which Honda says it also is ?envisioning? for its future EV and plug-in hybrid customers.

The project will target customers and dealers in the 14-state service area where SolarCity now operates ? which include a number of markets where battery cars are gaining the most traction, such as California, Texas and the Mid-Atlantic region.

The Detroit Bureau: NYTimes Admits Mistakes - But Says Tesla Also at Fault

The partnership will offer Honda and Acura customers and dealers several financing options with little to no up-front costs, including one option that the maker claims ?will be lower than the cost of their utility bill, with insurance, repairs and monitoring service included.?

The project will also offer owners of Honda vehicles the opportunity to make energy-efficiency upgrades, including weatherization and improved heating and cooling systems.

"By making it easier and more affordable for its customers to use clean power, Honda is reinforcing the fact that solar is the new normal," said SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive.

The Detroit Bureau: Prepping the Next Ford Mustang

A number of automakers have been exploring the potential of solar power. Several, such as Fisker and Toyota, offer vehicle rooftop panels that can be used to supplement battery power or operate a vehicle ventilation system on hot days.

General Motors, Audi and Volkswagen, meanwhile, have added large solar arrays at a number of their plants. GM?s Detroit-Hamtramck plant, for example, uses sun power to help charge up the batteries of the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrids produced at the facility. And VW recently switched on a solar park at its factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The 33-acre system generates enough energy to power 1,200 homes ? or about 12.5% of the assembly plant?s energy needs.

Copyright ? 2009-2012, The Detroit Bureau

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/honda-goes-solar-65-million-investment-1C8479426

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Ex-Senator Admits to Fathering Child With Other Senator's Daughter

Former New Mexico Senator Pete Domenici revealed today that he fathered a son in an extramarital affair with another senator's daughter more than 30 years ago and has kept the secret since then, only telling his own family in the last "several months."

In a statement to the Albuquerque Journal, the 80-year-old Republican, who represented New Mexico for more than 30 years, said the mother of his son "made me pledge that we would never reveal that parenthood and I have tried to honor that pledge and so has she."

Domenici wrote that he was worried about the privacy of his son, a 34-year-old Nevada lawyer named Adam Laxalt, as well as the potential impact on Laxalt's mother, Michelle Laxalt, 58. Domenici has eight other children with his wife Nancy.

Check Out Some Other Politicians With A Love Child Here

"My past action has caused hurt and disappointment to my wife, children, family, and others. For that I am solely responsible," Domenici, who still lives in Washington, D.C., said in the statement. "My family has been aware of these events for several months. I have apologized as best as I can to my wife, and we have worked together to strengthen our relationship. I deeply regret this and am very sorry for my behavior. I hope New Mexicans will view that my accomplishments for my beloved state outweigh my personal transgression."

Michelle Laxalt, the daughter of former U.S. senator and Nevada Gov. Paul Laxalt, is a former government relations consultant and lobbyist. Paul Laxalt was a U.S. senator from Nevada from 1974 to 1987 and served as chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Domenici told the newspaper he made the confession because he believed someone else was about to make the story public.

"Rather than have others breach this privacy, I have decided to make this statement today. These circumstances now compel me to reveal this situation," Domenici said.

Michelle Laxalt also put out a statement to the Albuquerque Journal, saying, "one night's mistake led to pregnancy more than 30 years ago.

"I chose to go through with that pregnancy, although other choices were available," Laxalt wrote. "I also chose to raise my child as a single parent. Given the fact that both my father and the father of my child were United States senators, I felt strongly that I would make this choice according to my values, and would not seek advice, input or permission. My interaction with my child's father consisted of telling him my decision, asking that he avail himself for health-related purposes, and asking that he agree that this remain private between the two of us."

She said she raised her son Adam "surrounded by love and joy and opportunity."

"I am proud of him, yet saddened that the circumstances of his birth might be used like a weapon to hurt many we love," Laxalt said in the statement. "Recently information has come to me that this sacred situation might be twisted, re-written out of whole cloth, and shopped to press outlets large and small in a vicious attempt to smear, hurt and diminish Pete Domenici, an honorable man, his extraordinary wife, Nancy, and other innocents. Why after more than 30 years, would anyone insinuate pain and ugliness where joy and beauty have presided?"

Adam Laxalt returned an e mail interview request from ABC News writing that he has "lived my entire life as a private citizen and intend to remain one."

"I plan to address personal issues privately and will not be commenting or joining any public discussion," Laxalt wrote.

According to his online biography at his Las Vegas law firm, Adam Laxalt served for five years as a Naval Officer and lawyer in the U.S. Navy. He was also deployed to Iraq, where he provided legal advice on detainee detention operations.

Domenici served in the U.S. Senate from 1973 to 2009, and was the longest serving U.S. senator in New Mexico's history. He retired in 2009 when he was diagnosed with a type of dementia. During his time in the U.S. Senate he served as the chairman of the Budget Committee and the Energy Committee.

The confession comes just days after it was revealed that Re p. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) has a secret daughter, although the congressman has never been married. He was spotted trading tweets with a young woman during the State of the Union address and his "ilu" signoffs - digital shorthand for I love you - prompted inquiries into the identity of the congressman's tweet mate. Just days later he confessed that the woman - 24 year old Victoria Brink - is his daughter whom he learned about three years ago.

ABC News' John Parkinson contributed to this report.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/former-senator-admits-fathering-child-other-senators-daughter-200530558--abc-news-politics.html

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Academy Awards: Oscar-Nominated Songs That Should Have Won ...

These Songs Were All Just Travelin' Thru

It?s happened to so many of us who devote all the days (and evenings) of our lives to watching the litany of awards shows that come our way this time of year: you?re rooting for your favorite to take the statue, but when the winner is announced another guy, gal, song, artist or act wins. And you want to scream, cry or take to drinking (we do all three) because you know in your gut that another song should have secured that prize. Happens all the time, right?

Well, Hollywood?s big movie awards are less than a week away, and we?re still obsessing over the music. As we mull over this year?s Academy Award nominations for Best Original Song, we can?t help but wonder about what should have been from Oscars past. Sure, they may get it right most of the time, but sometimes the Academy misses the mark (as it did often in the early 2000s). Below we look back at the last 15 years and make a case for five of our favorite Oscar-nominated songs that should have landed the little bald dude, but didn?t.

Should Have Won: ?I Don?t Want to Miss A Thing? from Armageddon, 1998

Since you can?t win an Oscar for being the Most Awful Movie of the Year (or Ever), you might as well get to compete in a few other categories. With all of director Michael Bay?s stars-and-stripes-waving-in-the-wind scenes and meticulously-choreographed, slow-motion, mid-America montages, it would have seemed downright un-American, we suppose, for Armageddon not get some stateside awards attention. So why not let an icon like Diane Warren (who wrote the music and the lyrics) walk away with a statuette for the schmaltzy ballad that happens to be the very best thing about this disastrous disaster flick? If you can get past the image of a young Ben Affleck parading animal crackers on Liv Tyler?s bare midriff and belly button (seriously) while Liv?s dad Steven Tyler sings to the seduction of his daughter on a prairie somewhere, you know you just love Warren?s song ? even if it is a love/hate relationship. Sometimes cheeseball songs makes us feel better than, well, cheese or chicken soup, and we?re not ashamed to admit it. Besides, who remembers anything about a cartoon called The Prince of Egypt today, anyway? Anybody? C?mon now!

Winner: ?When You Believe? from The Prince of Egypt

Source: http://idolator.com/7442426/academy-awards-oscar-nominated-songs-aerosmith-dolly-parton-beyonce

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Article: Best iPhone Video Apps for iPhone Photographers: Cinemagram.Create a cross between a photo and a video.

Create a cross between a photo and a video.

By Malachy Sherlock

February 18, 2013

Digital shorts have been around for many years. But microMovie Apps for the iPhone have created a surge in video content created by iPhone photographers and visual artists. A microMovie is a style of visual storytelling or video capture that is based on some app-imposed short time limit.

Have you ever tried to make a cinemagraph, first described for the Adorma Learning Center by Pontus Edenberg? While it's possible in Adobe Photoshop via this technique, the iOS app Cinemagram makes it incredibly easy.

Description:

Cinemagram shoots four-second video clips. A frame within the video scene can be paused and elements animated with a simple but effective masking technique to create a hybrid image that is part video and part photo.? Up to three video clips can be combined together to create a short microMovie.

Cinemagram Snapshot:

Cost: Free	Version: 1.23	Why it's cool: Quickly create short videos or hybrid photo animations.
Updated: Feb 12th 2013	appOS: ?iOS 5.0 or later	Compatible?iPhone 3GS, 4, 4S, 5, iPod Touch 4th & 5th Gen, iPad 2, 3rd, 4th Gen, iPad Mini

Getting started:

Step 1? There are four ways to create a Cine video wtih Cinemagram.

• Film a short video clip. Select the four seconds you want to use. ?

• Shoot a four second stop-motion clip by stoping and starting the camera app.

• Import a video from the camera roll

• Select a partner video to animate.

Step 2 Apply one of 16 filters and adjust the films speed controls.

Step 3 Adjust the films speed controls.

Step 4 Animate a small section mask and change the speed and direction

Step 5 Save to Cinemagram, FB, Twitter, Tumblr, or Email

Tips for better Cine microMovies:

1. Cines work best when the phone is kept stable. Keeping the camera completely still is part of the trick to creating the animation illusion with Hybrid video and photos. Focus on your subject and dont overexpose the video.

2. Combine multiple cines to tell a micoMovie story. Its a simple process to select and edit the clip in the order you want them to appear. At present only three cine videos can be combines.

3. Clickable links can now be added to captions or comments. it is a great feature that can drives individual to your blog or website. Cine widgets, which is in beta right now,? should also increase the visibility of miniMovies as embedded content in websites & blogs.

Recommended Cinemagram Accessories

1. iPhone mini Tripod Mounts: Select a mini tripod and iPhone Mount. When you are shooting your next Cine have the talent or object move and keep the iPhone rock steady for best results.

2. iPhone Lens: A wide angle or Macro lens can add some creativity to your visuals. Connect the wide angle lens to your iPhone when you need to capture all your friends in the shot. Dont forget to isolate a part of the shot that your going to use at the still section of the animation.

3. iPhone Batteries: Never run out of juice with a pocket battery backup. Video apps tends to consume more battery power than you would expect. Add a spare battery to your microMovie process to keep your creative juice flowing.

Left: Joby GripTight GorillaPod Stand

Middle: Olloclip Quick-Connect Lens Solution (Fisheye Lens, Macro Lens, Wide-angle Lens)

Right: Eton BoostBloc 2000mAh Portable Backup Battery Pack

Need help or just a creative nudge? Check out the?Adorama Learning Center?for more articles on iPhone Photography & check out the lastest iPhoneography gear on the iPhone Toolshed.

Source: http://www.adorama.com/alc/article/14090

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KSDK reports that Lindenwood University diving coach Kyle Friesenhahn was arrested on assault charges for trying to punch and sp...

SbB LIVE FROM LA (Feb 19, 2013 @ 11:15am ET)

11:15 AM: The Wichita Eagle reports two brothers celebrated winning a $75,000 lottery ticket by buying some marijuana & meth, but then caused an explosion in their duplex when they tried to light their bongs with butane.

11:00 AM: The home arena for the Traktor Chelyabinsk hockey team, which was damaged in Friday's asteroid explosion, has been cleared by the KHL to host playoffs games starting on Thursday.

10:45 AM: KFOR-TV reports 41-year-old Gannon Mendez was arrested on child abuse charges for allegedly beating his 9-year-old son because the son said he likes Oklahoma better than Oklahoma State. Mendez is also accused of waking his son throughout the night & forcing him to do push-ups.

10:30 AM: Country singer Mindy McCready, who committed suicide on Sunday, reportedly shot a dog that belonged to boyfriend David Wilson before turning the gun on herself. Wilson was found dead at the same Arkansas home last month from an apparent suicide.

10:15 AM: KSDK reports that Lindenwood University diving coach Kyle Friesenhahn was arrested on assault charges for trying to punch and spit at police officers after he was pulled over for driving the wrong way down a street in St. Peters, Missouri.

10:00 AM: Texas A&M QB & 2012 Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel says he's taking all his classes online this semester due to all the attention & autograph requests he gets on campus: "I went one day - it was a small class of 20 or 25 - and it kind of turned into more of a big deal than I thought."

9:00 PM: NBC Dallas-Ft. Worth reports on Justin Nicholas, a Frisco Wakeland High School basketball player who missed the last two months while battling cancer but was allowed to score one final basket during Wakeland's senior night game.

8:45 PM: The Dayton and Gardner-Webb college baseball teams got into a snowball fight during a weather delay in Saturday's game at Boiling Springs, North Carolina.

8:30 PM: During Sunday's first full squad meeting with manager Dale Sveum, Chicago Cubs players took off their jackets to reveal they were all wearing bright orange hunting gear. Sveum was shot in the ear by Robin Yount during a hunting trip this off-season.

8:15 PM: The Kansas City Chiefs have signed safety Husain Abdullah, a practicing Muslim who sat out the 2012 NFL season to go on a speaking tour of mosques across the country & make a pilgrimage to Mecca.

8:00 PM: The Baltimore Sun reports that the city of Baltimore spent $585,000 on a study on how the city can save money.

7:45 PM: NFL Hall of Fame QB Joe Montana & New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton visited Tulane football practice on Monday. Montana's son Nick is a QB for the Green Wave, while Tulane head coach Curtis Johnson was a former Saints assistant under Payton.

7:30 PM: A man was found dead on a golf course in Sunrise, Florida early Monday morning after shots were heard from behind a nearby gentlemen's club.

7:15 PM: Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson said after speaking to NBA owners during All-Star Weekend about keeping the Kings from moving to Seattle: "I can just tell you that everyone I talked to - and I am not going to be specific - but everyone is rooting for Sacramento."

7:00 PM: New Jacksonville Jaguars general manager David Caldwell said he prefers to draft players from big schools: "I'm not saying I would never draft a small-school player, but they would have to dominate that level. I wouldn't say absolutes, but I'm a believer: Big school, big competition."

Source: http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/sbblive?eid=48326

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Pistorius: Get ready for your close-up, South Africa

Oscar Pistorius had the first day of his bail hearing on Tuesday. (Reuters)

"American sport stars just cheat on their lovers. Clearly in your country they shoot them," a 19-year-old Columbia University undergrad student tells me.

We were both back on campus after a long weekend, haven't seen each other since "the incident" but we have both been bombarded with the American media's obsession with Oscar Pistorius. My friend simply refers to "that Blade guy", which is not a bad nickname given that New York's Daily News now uses "legless Olympian" and "Blade Gunner" as synonyms for Pistorius in their daily reporting from South Africa.

For the past week, every slither of possible fresh information on Oscar's unfolding drama commanded American tabloid front pages, as it has in Britain. For the owner of the biggest tabloids on both sides of the Atlantic, Rupert Murdoch, a boost in sales of the Sun and New York Post would do wonders to his struggling company that just a week before announced plans to split his newspapers from the rest of his company due to falling circulation. Being the shameless newspapers these two tabloids have come to be known as, it was therefore no surprise that the Sun and the Post would try its utmost to tell the Pistorius saga in the sleaziest way possible.

The Post's front-page coverage started on?Friday with the headline "Blade Slays Blonde" stretching to "Blade's Bloody Bat" ? their way of talking about the blood-covered cricket bat found at Pistorius's home. Its tabloid competitor, Daily News, included a picture of some random bat.

When the?story received this much coverage in America, strangers express sadness, even empathy, to South Africans. While in Miami this weekend,?a 70-year-old man overheard where I'm from and just wanted to share in the gossip: "I must say, it was a pretty good excuse," he says, referring to initial reports that Pistorius attempted to shoot an intruder. "I've often heard it's so unsafe."

When initial reports surfaced that Pistorius shot his girlfriend because he mistook her for an intruder, the American media latched on to it, gave it horns and tried to make it fly. They framed it as a gun control issue, not a fall from grace, as CNN's Johannesburg correspondent Robyn Curnow tried so hard to do. Following the mass school shooting in December last year,?when 26 children were fatally shot by a 20-year-old in Connecticut, US President Barack Obama last week visited Chicago in his continuing effort to ban assault weapons. For the right-leaning Fox News Channel, Obama's visit a day after the Pistorius incident acted as the ideal news hook to link the two narratives.

"It's not just Chicago that has strict gun laws," a brunette on the Murdoch-owned news channel reports. "South Africa has some of the strictest gun control laws in the world. We saw this week the Olympic superstar Oscar Pistorius, he had a gun, he allegedly shot his girlfriend, now South Africa is having its own gun control debate," she said,?while the question "Is South Africa's strict gun control working" flashes on screen. Her blonde co-anchor takes over, "The violence in South Africa is such that a lot of people feel they need to have guns to protect themselves. Whether or not the runner in the story [anchor fumbles as she forgets Oscar's name], if he had not had a weapon what would have happened? Domestic violence is a worldwide problem. I'm just sad for his girlfriend who is not getting as much attention," she says staring down at at least two New York newspapers in front of her carrying larger than life bikini-clad images of Reeva Steenkamp.

Over the course of the weekend,?Pistorius's mugshot disappeared from tabloid front pages as readers obviously started to know who "Blade" was. In the process these tabloids made more room for larger Steenkamp images from the photo agency Murdoch paid the most money to in an attempt, like they've always done, to get people buying a newspaper with a girl on its cover.

It was not?only Fox News's female anchors that felt the need to weigh-in on what South African realities have been brought to light by the shooting incident at the Silver Woods Estate, east of Pretoria. Two male anchors got into a heated debate on the topic, showing off just how much they know about Mzansi: "We need to point out in South Africa four out of five households are concerned about break-ins," the younger guy says. "So when you make it harder for law-abiding citizens to protect themselves, you instill fear and by that?way you make it more dangerous," thereby arguing that Pistorius never would have fired a shot had it not been for South Africa's strict gun laws.

His older co-anchor tries to play devil's advocate: "Most people are not killed with guns in South Africa," he says bragging about his age and by implication understanding of South African history. "You know they have a long history of putting tyres around their necks so [?] during Apartheid only the good guys had guns and all them other people didn't have guns, and I think it's like the NRA, the NRA would love to have an apartheid system. You want a gun culture of apartheid where only white people have guns, and you can't have that."

It could be that the pressure managers and editors face due to the underperformance of several businesses inside Murdoch's News Corporation (including Fox News and the Post) are to blame for this type of journalism, who knows. But as the court drama surrounding Pistorius's property on Valentine's Day is only just kicking off, Americans are in for weeks of cricket bat stock images on tabloid front pages while Fox News producers furiously seek more South African crime numbers to fill up a TV screen over heads babbling on about an Olympian whose name they cannot?remember.

In other words: get ready for your close-up, South Africa.

Andr?-Pierre du Plessis studies business journalism at Columbia University in New York City. Before moving to the US he worked as a TV reporter for eNuus and the eNews Channel in Cape Town.

Source: http://mg.co.za/article/2013-02-19-pistorius-get-ready-for-your-close-up-south-africa/

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Top 10 fundraising colleges at a glance

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Roughly 3,500 U.S. colleges and universities raised a total of $31 billion in the 2012 fiscal year, according to an annual college fundraising survey by the Council for Aid to Education in New York.

Here are the top 10 fundraising campuses:

1. Stanford University, Stanford, Calif. ? $1.035 billion

2. Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. ? $650 million

3. Yale University, New Haven, Conn. ? $544 million

4. University of Southern California, Los Angeles ? $492 million

5. Columbia University, New York ? $490 million

6. Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore ? $480 million

7. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia ? $441 million

8. University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, Calif. ? $405 million

9 New York University, New York ? $396 million

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass. ? $379 million

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/top-10-fundraising-colleges-glance-051550951.html

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Ding-dong, Hotmail's dead: All accounts switching to Outlook.com by summer

Wilson Rothman , NBC News ? ? ? 6 hrs.

It's official: Outlook.com will fully replace Hotmail as Microsoft's webmail service. The company will begin to auto-update accounts, and hopes they will be fully migrated from Hotmail to Outlook.com by this summer.

The move was spurred by surprise growth in the Outlook.com mail service, which has amassed 60 million active users in just six months. Microsoft will also remove the "customer preview" label on the product, and launch a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign.

Also read: How Microsoft can regain its footing (Hint: Less Windows, more Office)

I know the first thing you're thinking: "Does this mean my Hotmail address will just go away?" No. It just means that when you go to hotmail.com, you will be re-routed to Outlook.com, and when you log in on the Web, you will get the Outlook.com experience. You can keep your @hotmail.com email address forever, but you can also use that account to create multiple new @outlook.com email addresses, too, if you so desire.

And let me tell you, you shouldn't wait for Microsoft to switch your old Hotmail service over to Outlook.com. I am an unabashed Hotmail hater, but who can forgive the original webmail service for being so far behind the times? Even when Microsoft spent millions on a "new Hotmail" ad campaign a scant two years ago, nobody was fooled: You still had to refresh the thing every time you wanted to know if you had mail.

Enter Outlook.com, which really can give Gmail a run for its money. It's a very smart service with a very streamlined design, tasteful social integration and auto organization features such as inbox "sweep" and scheduled cleanup. Because of this last bit, it's ideal for use either as a main email or as a "spam account," the kind you provide to online retailers and other data collectors.

(Switching your account over takes almost no effort: Just log into Hotmail then click Settings at the top right ? you will see the option to convert to Outlook.)

Though Microsoft was pleased at the sudden growth of Outlook.com users, I grilled David Law, director of product management for Outlook.com, about how many of the 60 million users were just converts from Hotmail's existing 350 million or so accounts. My supposition is that this represents almost all of them, but while Law wouldn't tell me the number, he did say I would be surprised how many were totally fresh.

Law was forthcoming about a different statistic, one that demonstrates Microsoft's target: About one third of the current Outlook.com users are ? or, at least, were ? also Gmail users.

Outlook.com is a very welcome email option, and ? when partnered with the company's SkyDrive cloud storage services ? a sign that Microsoft may well regain some traction with consumers looking for reliable Web services.

One of its only obvious problems is that of branding: Because it's called "Outlook," many people (naturally) assume that it is some kind of Web client for managing any email account. It's not. It's a free service, like Gmail or Yahoo mail or, yes, Hotmail, that provides you with an email account. So don't go asking if you can create an Outlook.com account and then add your corporate email to it, because that's like asking if you can take Google Maps and stick Mapquest into it.

Perhaps that's why Microsoft is spending a lot of money on explanatory ads now. Like this one, featuring the irresistable audio stylings of Seattle's own Macklemore & Ryan Lewis:

Wilson Rothman is the Technology & Science editor at NBC News Digital. Catch up with him on Twitter at @wjrothman, and join our conversation on Facebook.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/ding-dong-hotmails-dead-all-accounts-switching-outlook-com-summer-1C8415366

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Reamaze Pulls Email, Twitter, Facebook And YouTube Into One Dashboard For Small-Business Customers

The small business world just doesn't get the love that it deserves. Salesforce.com and the other giants sell to big enterprise customers that need a far different set of tools than their small-business counterparts.?The gap is creating an opportunity for companies like Reamaze, which takes an approach that combines CRM with customer support.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Lz1Pbj8HjgE/

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Participation: The Trend That Is Bigger Than The Harlem Shake ...

Editor?s Note:?This is a guest post by Mark Suster (@msuster), a 2x entrepreneur, now VC at?GRP Partners. Read more about Suster on his?Startup Advice?blog:?Both Sides of the Table

By now many of you know the Harlem Shake.

It is a YouTube phenomenon that in just two weeks has gone from nothing to on air on both Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert and collectively the Harlem Shake has been viewed around 200 million times. Two weeks. 200 million views. Suck it traditional TV.

But there is a much broader trend to be aware of and what we have seen on YouTube has mirrored my general views on how TV will work in the future.

Summary Version
Global audiences of prosumer video producers will create content that is viewed by global audiences in numbers far in excess of traditional TV. TV will enter the era of ?participation? which is a much more important trend than ?social video? even if it seems less sexy or less fundable.

It means the ?torso TV? consumption patterns will be more important than the head or the long tail for the next era of media companies.

TV of the future will not always have linear stories. I know that?s hard for many people to accept but when the medium changes from one-way broadcast to the millions to the ability to interact with each other through video it is unlikely that the future will resemble the past. Why would it?

I have started thinking about what the future might look like and I?ve started imagining what I call, ?MMOV? or massive multiplayer online video.

Sure, the revenue & margin will be significantly lower than traditional TV. ?You should only worry about this if you?re a large, traditional media company with fat margins. The future of TV will follow the rule of Deflationary Economics as I outline influenced by the book?The Innovator?s Dilemma.

It will enable the naturally creative but geographically and socially disenfranchised to make money doing what they love ? participating. Maybe small amounts of money for what founders reading these pages dream of but life-changing for many.

Gangnam Style Meets Torso TV
Of course you know Gangnam Style, which is now the most viewed video in history at 1.3 billion views. Before this South Korean wonder spread across the globe I had written about a trend in global audiences that exists when the costs of production are nearly zero and the costs of distribution are also nearly free. I called this trend ?Torso TV? because the ?head? of consumption (largest number of views) was dominated by platforms that had massive distribution (think TV stations, radio or retail outlets that sell CDs and DVDs. think Apple. think Amazon) and therefore hits with high production costs were more suited to the medium.

The problem with the ?long tail? content is that only the platform provider (ie YouTube) makes money. So if you want to be a content producer and want to make money you can develop content for global ?niches? of watchers who might like: Japanese Anime, South Korean drama, Bollywood productions, reality TV on any topic ? fashion, cooking, travel.

I saw this trend with the growth of companies such as Viki, Drama Fever, Crunchyroll and the like. Global niches that turn out to be much larger than you?d imagine.

Gangnam Style is the manifestation of this trend which turned what should have likely been a medium size global audience into an global phenomenon like we?ve never seen. The Macarena on steroids. Every now and again you can strike lightning in a bottle. Who knows why hits turn into memes? But it shows that when content is unleashed we can all appreciate it no matter of the country of origin.

Harlem Shake
For those who still don?t know the origins, the Harlem Shake started as a small skit from a YouTuber named Filthy Frank?(10 million views as of this writing) on January 30, 2013. It was then popularized into an Internet meme 3 days later by text an Australian group of guys called Sunny Coast Shake??in what garnered about 300,000 views in a short period of time (now at 11.3 million views).

But then the Harlem Shake went batshit crazy when Vernon Shaw of Maker Studios saw the video on Reddit and suggested that Maker should, well, make a video of the Harlem Shake in an office environment. That video is the most viewed Harlem Shake?(with more than 15 million views as of today). It was loaded on the channel of Hi I?m Rawn, a long-time YouTuber.

At 12.30pm in the afternoon the idea to create the video was hatched. They taped it at 3.30pm for 2 minutes. 1 take. Then back to work, people!

It was uploaded at around 4pm.

Maker?s talent started commenting on it and sharing it. ShayCarl?(a Maker Studios co-founder) in particular. And then ?

Boom.

It made national news. Maker was contacted by every major news outlet. And suddenly every office in the country was doing their own version of the Harlem Shake.

And here?s the thing. This is not Gangnam Style, a catchy tune consumed by billions.

This is Harlem Shake, a catchy tune produced by tens of thousands. As of this writing nearly 50,000 versions have been created and uploaded and watched by some 200,000,000 people. Yes. Two followed by eight zeros.

It is the production angle that is most fascinating to me and the biggest unspotted trend by most venture capitalists and traditional media executives.

I have been talking about the battle for the living room for years?and then followed up with?Why the TV Market is Ready for Disruption?with a more recent?discussion about Hollywood vs. Silicon Valley here?(the video version with an LA interview that can be viewed here?and then a subsequent session in NYC with Jon Miller which can be viewed here).

And I?ve opined on why the traditional media companies aren?t well poised to win at this new TV world. and again here.

So here?s the thing

The Broader Trend
While way too many startup companies (and investors) are focused on ?social TV? or on ?Instagram for TV? I believe they are missing the more fundamental shift in our industry.

There is a world filled with professional producers of video content who are extraordinarily talented but lack access to Hollywood. In fact, that?s how Maker Studios got started in the first place.

I first wanted to invest in this trend by backing a company called Filmaka. I didn?t end up investing but I always loved the concept. They help find talented film makers globally, enter them into competitions and advance the best of them toward winners that get to produce full-length films. Filmaka is the creation of Deepak Nayar who is the producer of films such as Buena Vista Social Club and Bend it Like Beckham.

But when you think about the movement we once called ?Web 2.0? it was the recognition of the fact that media doesn?t only want to flow one way.

Media in an age of:

• low-cost capture from mobile devices
• cheap post-production process by tools (think Pro Tools for audio, Instagram filters)
• cheap local storage (without which media creation is not possible)
• available bandwidth for uploading (which is assumed away as easy but only in recent years has been solved. most Internet connections have been asymmetric & optimized for downloads)
• cheap or free cloud storage (YouTube, DropBox, Facebook)
• easy sharing (through social networks or platforms like YouTube)
• social amplification (from which memes are spread) by Twitter and the like; and ?
• commenting

means specifically one thing. People are going to want to participate. Participation. We are the media. We want to be in it. Create it. Take part in it. Have a say, a vote. Think American Idol voting, where the audience gets to feel like they?re participating. And where they?re willing to pay by dialing a paid number to feel like they?re, well, participating.

And the end of the Maker Studios show, Epic Rap Battles of History, the end the show ways ?Who won, you decide?? where the audience gets to weigh in. Participation. At whatever level.

Serialized TV with Audience Participation
I?ve been thinking a lot about what I want to fund in the video creation world. One idea I?ve been searching for is a platform that enables the creation of serialized programs with audience participation.

And this is a concept that has been at work since at least the 17th century. An example of a great serialist was Charles Dickens in which Oliver Twist & Nicholas Nickleby and others were written and distributed serially.

From Wikipedia on Charles Dickens

?The instalment format allowed Dickens to evaluate his audience?s reaction, and he often modified his plot and character development based on such feedback?

I have talked to several YouTuber?s about my idea but haven?t yet gotten any takers.

Here?s what I imagine. You create a narrative episodic show and do the first four episodes to get the story arc and characters going. On the fifth episode the audience gets to create it?s version of the next show. You look at submissions and pick the best one. You reshoot that episode with a higher budget and your original cast but that producer now gets a financial take in the show or gets to participate in the production or whatever. Then you move on to the sixth show with new submissions.

You need to build a platform that allows submissions, workflow, multiple story flows, awards, producer profiles and the like. It can?t just be videos on YouTube but I?ll be that YouTube is the distribution platform.

Here?s the thing ? if well done I think you could see the Harlem Shake effect where many people want to have a go at participating on the production. Most won?t be of the quality that you want but you now have tons of material and inspiration for your show and you own all of the submitted IP. You share financial results and/or fame as the incentive to participate. It?s American Idol for makers.

The first time you do it the participation will be light. The next time you?ll get more. And the fan producers all help market your show because they too want the attention. Whether they are selected or not! I repeat ? free marketing. Done by the masses.

And finally you could stitch together multiple narratives or versions of shows for people who WANT to watch all of the derivative shows. Your costs of production of these additional versions ? zero.

To all of the traditional TV people who keep telling me this ?low cost, low quality YouTube content will eventually go away. The production quality is terrible? I say, ?Please study The Innovator?s Dilemma because it predicts the disruption of your industry presciently.? Let me remind you of the math: Gangnam Style = 1.3 billion views. Each episode of Epic Rap Battles of History gets between 30,000,000 ? 75,000,000 views.

And to those who keep telling me that the CPMs are too low to make a business please stop thinking about two-way entertainment in only CPM terms. ?There are many more ways to monetize an audience of fans that simply pre-roll ads.

Think creatively. Study the video game industry. The music industry. Your world is changing, too. And you have so many examples from which to build your future that you have no excuse to put your head in the sand.

MMOV
The other theme I?ve been playing around with in my head (and in the numerous debates with media execs who aspire to do startups) I?ve started calling MMOV.

It?s a play on MMOG (massive multiplayer online games, think World of Warcraft).

What exactly is World of Warcraft?

It?s entertainment. With rich graphics and characters. It has a story, a world, that unfolds. It has interaction with other players. It is ? by definition ? participation. It exists precisely because there is a network. I grew up in the era where we got to play video games alone. I was inspired by Zork. It was a computer challenging my imagination and crying out for logic and participation. It was text-based. And anything but MM or O. But it scratched the same need ? participation. Engagement.

And when the O is attached and thus other humans are on the other end of your game and when graphics are professional it is the ultimate in computer entertainment with other human beings letting young people all over the world who feel disconnected from other human beings form friendships.

I once heard a father describe how his son played World of Warcraft. He said this to me, which formed an impression, ?My son leaves World of Warcraft to play other video games with his friends. But then they always come back to World of Warcraft to talk about it with their friends. WoW is their home base.?

So WoW in a way is his son?s social network.

I imagine MMOV this way.

You start out watching video. And this might be humans but it might also be animation. It might feel like TV or might feel like an animated video game or maybe there is no difference? You start watching with friends, peers or strangers ? who might become friends or peers in the future (think that?s weird? check your Twitter stream. It?s filled with people like this. Aren?t all online communities like this?).

You watch the first ?episode? together. Then you discuss it with those in the room with you. They are watching it?synchronously. It is your job to get them watch the next video based on plot or character development you want to see. Which way do you go next? The audience decides.

And the show develops like this. No linearity. Only the evolution through a video game board with other players trying to agree how the story unfolds. Maybe for a fee you get to choose your own direction without the crowd?

Don?t like how Homeland has become a total farce like 24? Chart a different path. Don?t like that a characters in Downton Abbey gets killed or another might get banished from employment? Chart a different course.

In an online world, why wouldn?t we?

Television today is being charted by those who grew up in a one-way world of: we decide, we write, we broadcast. Doesn?t that sound like the websites of yore that implored us to read their stories?

We have too much evidence from the text-based Internet that this model doesn?t hold in an online world.

Think Zork. It?s how things were. Then think World of Warcraft. It?s how things will be. It?s why we use Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. To be part of a conversation. And even if it?s only very occasionally that you want to chime in, it?s why UGC works. 1/9/90.

And read this MG Siegler piece on TechCrunch. He?s one step ahead of the rest of the market. And he?s spot on with this analysis about how Apple will enter the TV market. Spoiler ? video games.

Online Events
Finally, I?m fascinated with the future of live events. We?ve only just scratched the surface. As you now know 8 million people tuned in to watch Felix Baumgartner jump from 24 miles above the Earth in a Red Bull capsule.

It will always be a milestone in the Internet, YouTube, Twitter, Mobile world etched in my memory. And that of my two boys.

Like many of you we were laying around watching NFL football games. And also paying attention to the Twitter. Watching only is so one-way. With our second screen we suddenly have ? participation.

And that?s where I first saw it. I know many of you knew the Felix was going to jump. I hadn?t been paying attention.

But Twitter cried out that I MUST! Tune in. NOW. As only Twitter can dictate.

So on my iPhone I clicked on a link and saw Felix going up. WTF? What is that guy doing?

I called my boys over. We sat transfixed to my iPhone. Was he really jumping from outer space? Is this real? Is this really live? Did I just click on a button and watch a man prepared to jump from that little capsule watching real-time streaming from my mobile device that I only knew about because random people (some of whom I?ve never met in real life) demanded that I do so on Twitter?

I was sincerely amazed by all of those things. And we watched. And watched. And watched. And the NFL seemed so uninteresting at that moment. I?ll never remember who was playing or who won (probably not the Eagles).

But along with 8 million people globally we shared a moment. And then another 32 million people (at least) watched on YouTube afterward.

That fascinates me. Twitter. YouTube. Mobile. Live. Watch this space. It?s going to form a larger part of our future.

Oh. And it won?t be brought to you by Comcast. That interests me, too.

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/18/participation-the-trend-that-is-bigger-than-the-harlem-shake/

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EU regulators unsatisfied with Google's response to privacy policy concerns

European Union regulators weren't exactly content with Google after it rolled up most of its privacy policies into a monolithic document early last year, and it doesn't seem like that's about to change. After giving Page and Co. four months to respond to 12 recommendations regarding its new policy, French regulator CNIL has come to the conclusion that "Google did not provide any precise and effective answers." Though EU officials aren't happy with Mountain View's responses, Google says its policies respect European law and that it replied with steps to address the concerns by the January 8th deadline. Still, data protection regulators are committed to their investigation and are aiming to form a group before the summertime that would respond to the search titan.

Filed under: Internet, Google

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Source: Reuters

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/CFS2ahE85XU/

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Iphone 5 boot loop

Hi i downloaded evasi0on 3.0 on my iphone 5 ios version 6.1.1 a day before this happened and i was in cydia waching a video about a package when all of a sudden it started to reboot. At first it was normal but then it got stuck on the dimmed appke logo and after waiting five minutes i force rebooted it (held down home and lock button) but the same thing happened each time. Ive waited teenty minutes + and trued holding down the up volume button while restarting. Please help!

Source: http://www.jailbreakqa.com/questions/156369/iphone-5-boot-loop

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