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Sunday, March 4, 2012
Obama warns both Iran and Israel, 'I don't bluff' (AP)
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On The Shoulders Of Giants: Y Combinator Demo Day Brings The Future To Computer History Museum
Every year, Y Combinator Demo Day, where the latest batch of incubated startups make their pitch to investors, seems to get a little bigger. Now, for the first time since the event began in 2005, it's moving to a new home ? the Computer History Museum. At the last Demo Day, in August (they're held twice a year), you could already sense that the gathering was outgrowing YC headquarters in Mountain View. Organizers pushed out the walls to accommodate a larger audience, and in order to speed through the 63 presenters (an increase of nearly 50 percent), each company was limited to a few minutes of speaking, meaning they had to give rapid-fire pitches instead of full demos. There was even a tiny stage erected for the demos.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/yV_b1S2Z3RM/
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Saturday, March 3, 2012
Putin poised to regain Kremlin; protests likely
Russian police officers patrol at Red Square with the Lenin Mausoleum in the background, in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, March 3, 2012. Security is tightened on the eve of Sunday's presidential election in Russia. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel)
Russian police officers patrol at Red Square with the Lenin Mausoleum in the background, in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, March 3, 2012. Security is tightened on the eve of Sunday's presidential election in Russia. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel)
People walk in Red Square, with St. Basil's Cathedral in the background and the Lenin Mausoleum, at right, in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, March 3, 2012. Russia goes to the polls Sunday to vote in a presidential election. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze)
Russian police officers patrol in Manezh Square in downtown Moscow, Russia, Saturday, March 3, 2012. Security is being tightened on the eve of the Russian presidential election. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze)
Russian police officers patrol in Manezh Square in downtown Moscow, Russia, Saturday, March 3, 2012. Security is being tightened on the eve of the Russian presidential election. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze)
Russian police officers patrol at Red Square in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, March 3, 2012. Security is tightened on the eve of Sunday's presidential election in Russia. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel)
MOSCOW (AP) ? Vladimir Putin appears all but certain to return to the Kremlin in Sunday's Russian presidential election, but he'll find himself in charge of a country far more willing to challenge him.
An unprecedented wave of massive protests showed a substantial portion of the population was fed up with the political entrenchment engineered by Putin since he first became president in 2000, and police are already preparing for the possibility of postelection unrest in Moscow.
The Putin system of so-called "managed democracy" put liberal opposition forces under consistent pressure, allowing them only rare permission to hold small rallies and bringing squads of police to harshly break up any unauthorized gathering.
The Kremlin gained control of all major television channels and their news reports turned into uncritical recitations of Putin's programs, often augmented with admiring footage of him riding horseback, scuba-diving or petting wild animals.
But the protests, sparked by allegations of widespread fraud in December's parliamentary elections, forced notable changes.
Authorities gave permission, however grudgingly, for opposition rallies that attracted vast crowds, upward of 50,000 in Moscow. State television gave them substantial and mostly neutral coverage.
Whether that tolerance will last after the election is unclear. According to the most recent survey by the independent Levada Center polling agency, Putin is on track to win the election with around two-thirds of the vote against four challengers ? enough to bolster his irritable denunciations of the protesters as a small, coddled minority.
Putin has repeatedly alleged that the protesters are stooges of the United States and Western European countries that want to undermine Russia and he has insulted them, saying for instance that their white ribbon emblems looked like condoms.
In the past week, the rhetoric became even harsher as Putin publicly suggested the opposition was willing to kill one of its own figures in order to stoke outrage against him. That claim came on the heels of state television reports that a plot by Chechen rebels to kill Putin right after the election had been foiled. Some of Putin's election rivals dismissed the report as a campaign trick to boost support for him.
Protests after the election appear certain.
"People in Russia are not going to recognize Putin's victory in the first round," Alexei Navalny, one of the loosely knit opposition's most charismatic figures, declared flatly this week.
Another prominent protest figure, Ilya Ponomarev, a parliament member from the opposition A Just Russia party, said the protesters' mood has become more truculent as authorities consistently brushed off their initial demands for nullifying the results of the December parliament election.
"It has evolved from 'we demand a rerun' to 'go to hell'," he said.
The Interior Ministry is calling in 6,000 police reinforcements to the capital from other regions, the state news agency ITAR-Tass reported Friday.
Whether Sunday's vote is seen as honest is likely to be key; a count without reports of wide violations could deprive protesters of a galvanizing issue.
As the first protests roiled the country, Putin announced an expensive program to place two web cameras in each of the country's 90,000 polling stations, one showing a general view and one focusing on the ballot box. However, their effectiveness is in doubt.
"Cameras cannot capture all the details of the voting process, in particular during counting," the election observation mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe noted in a report on election preparations.
Along with the OSCE mission, tens of thousands of Russians have volunteered to be election observers, receiving training for activist groups on how to recognize vote-rigging and record and report violations.
In the December election, observers from the non-governmental group Golos reported being threatened and kicked out of polling stations. Hostility to the group among officials remains; in January, the head of the Federal Security Service in the Komi republic called the group "extremists" inspired from abroad.
"The Russian government has done the right thing by allowing unprecedented public protests and proposing some reforms," Hugh Williamson of the international watchdog Human Rights Watch said in a statement. But "despite the positive developments, the climate for civil society is as hostile as it ever was."
In his past four years as prime minister ? a sojourn he took because of a constitutional limit of two consecutive presidential terms ? the steely Putin remained Russia's dominant political figure, overshadowing mild-mannered successor Dmitry Medvedev, who spoke often of reforms but accomplished little.
Putin has promised to appoint Medvedev prime minister if he wins the presidency in order to pursue his reform ideas, but many regard Medvedev as lacking the hard-edge political skills to be an effective reformer.
In addition, appointing him premier could anger the opposition by echoing an earlier humiliation ? the day in September when Putin and Medvedev told an obedient convention of the ruling United Russia party that Medvedev would step aside from seeking a second term in order to allow Putin to run.
The decision, done without public input and presented as a fait-accompli, was widely seen as cynical and antidemocratic ? even an analyst close to the Kremlin called it a "filthy deal" ? and contributed strongly to the growing disillusion with Putin.
Despite that dismay, none of the other candidates have been able to marshal a serious challenge to Putin. The Communist Party candidate, Gennady Zyuganov, gets support of about 15 percent, according to the Levada center survey, which claimed accuracy within 3.4 percentage points. The others ? nationalist firebrand Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Sergei Mironov of A Just Russia and billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov ? were in single digits.
_____
Associated Press writer Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow contributed to this report.
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Know more about Online Business - Internet Based Business Articles
Your internet is set with amusement opportunities, informative alternatives and a lot of the possibility to make money suitable from your home. If you are taking into consideration entering the actual world associated with making money on the internet, you could be offered countless online business ideas that could allow you to produce a perfectly operating business without becoming forced to established feet through your property.
Essentially the most simple associated with online business ideas is generally to make utilization of your talent basically by opening up a terrific online retailer with regard to things that are likely to be crafted basically by an individual. As an illustration, hand crafted cards, ceramic things and also other arts and crafts things may be obsessed about the actual internet without getting to manage an enormous wind turbine to set up go shopping. However, not just about every online business ideas start out employing this approach.
For example, if you are endowed making use of exceptional grammar understanding and an attention with regard to turning uncomplicated Language directly into magnificent language, you might be set for a different as an achievable online copy writer or perhaps publisher. Truth be told, that is one of the most useful online business ideas for all of us who?re hunting for a work making use of accommodating a long time and also inexpensive charges. Your client base is usually a wide one; from students trying to gloss upwards his or her documents all the way to key firms hoping to obtain his or her Search engine optimization tactic to be able to work. Moreover, you will most likely have the opportunity to formulate your own stock portfolio, earn a big income and also to develop your private understanding to attain your own objectives.
The internet is usually an excellent location for specialized niche marketing opportunities. By way of example, if you are able to spread out a great online retailer with regard to classic goods for example apparel, jewelry or maybe comic books together with figures, you?ll be able to attract several buyers from throughout the world. Nonetheless, whatever, online business ideas you might be possessing, you must not take issues at the same time lightly. Correct, you possibly will not have to handle a huge power production or to formulate your business methods because you may possibly get a normal business run from a business workplace. Nevertheless, you?ll wind up chilling, work and possibly a minimum quantity of money, in the end you need to make certain you attempt so that you can make your current online business ideas work by attempting to remain away from cutbacks.
There are many far more online business ideas which will assist an individual break out of the current nine to five and take impact by yourself circumstances so that you can earn improved earnings. Begin by organizing a summary of your current hobbies together with expertise then, commence seeking the top online business ideas which will work magic to suit your requires.
Creativity and good marketing strategy are the keys to make money online. Products that are salable are girl?s accessories and foot wear. For accessories check this site for fashionable earrings. For other option check fashionable slippers .
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Friday, March 2, 2012
than 50% of Women Buy or Influence Buying of Consumer Electronic
Women are taking a greater interest in consumer electronic products than they did just five years ago, says a new study. The study found women have very good knowledge of available consumer electronic products available on today?s market, specifically, women are more aware of consumer electronic products features than was previously thought. The study also found that women are not very concerned about color when it comes to practical consumer electronic products.
The study found women bought or influence the purchase of consumer electronic products valued at $55 billion out a total market size of $96 billion ? about 57% of all consumer electronic products bought where influenced by women or bought by women. The study also found that women are buying more electronic devices for themselves too.
While men represent the biggest number of users of consumer electronic products, the difference is getting smaller each year. Studies have shown that men and women will each claim about 50% of the 1 trillion consumer electronic products expected to be owned worldwide by 2015.
Consumer electronic products offer a broad range of choices in terms of features, performance, cost, and even brand, yet narrowing down choices to the one consumer electronic product you want to buy can be a time consuming process. Using a search engine like Google to search for consumer electronic products yields millions of results, many of which either do not sell consumer electronic products or provide very little information about the consumer electronic products they do sell.
TopProductShop.com makes it easy to find consumer electronic products that suit your budget, your brand preference, and even certifications, like Energy Star.
?I created TopProductShop.com after spending a lot of time searching for digital cameras, GPS navigation, and home audio. Search engines like Bing were only a little helpful for finding online consumer electronic products retailers, yet I still had to research the consumer electronic products I did find online. TopProductShop.com makes finding consumer electronic products really easy ? you simply select a few options and click Find ? TopProductShop.com searches online for the best product that meets the criteria you selected and presents them on a search result page,? said the creator of TopProductShop.com.
With security-related issues and the identity theft always in the news, consumers are understandably worried about shopping online. Retailers like Amazon.com have got security right ? while many other retailers, banks, and websites have had their customer data taken and posted online, Amazon.com has proven itself to be a safe and reliable online marketplace.
TopProductShop.com offers online shopping and shipping of consumer electronic products through Amazon.com. You can buy new and pre-owned consumer electronic products at Amazon.com and with the buying power of Amazon.com, pricing on new consumer electronic products can?t be beaten by other retailers.
TopProductShop.com makes shopping for consumer electronic products fast and easy. Simply select the type of consumer electronic products you?re looking for, such as computers and accessories, eBook readers, home audio, office electronics and more. Optionally select the brand, condition (new or pre-owned), price range and availability (in stock or out of stock) and click Find ? TopProductShop.com finds the best matching consumer electronic products and presents them to you on Amazon.com.
Amazon.com is known for its active members that review consumer electronic products, helping you make a more informed buying decision.
Visit TopProductShop.com for fast and easy shopping for consumer electronic products.
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British galleries buy Renaissance masterpiece
Britain's National Gallery director Nicholas Penny, left, and National Galleries of Scotland director general John Leighton, talk in front of Titian's "Diana and Callisto", during a photo call at Britain's National Gallery in central London, Thursday, March 1, 2012. Britain's National Gallery and the National Gallery of Scotland announced they have raised 45 million British pounds to buy the Renaissance masterpiece that has been in the UK for 200 years and keep it on public display. The purchase means the painting will be reunited with its companion,"Diana and Actaeon," which the two galleries bought in 2009. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
Britain's National Gallery director Nicholas Penny, left, and National Galleries of Scotland director general John Leighton, talk in front of Titian's "Diana and Callisto", during a photo call at Britain's National Gallery in central London, Thursday, March 1, 2012. Britain's National Gallery and the National Gallery of Scotland announced they have raised 45 million British pounds to buy the Renaissance masterpiece that has been in the UK for 200 years and keep it on public display. The purchase means the painting will be reunited with its companion,"Diana and Actaeon," which the two galleries bought in 2009. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
A cameraman shoots next to Titian's "Diana and Callisto", during a photo call at Britain's National Gallery in central London, Thursday, March 1, 2012. Britain's National Gallery and the National Gallery of Scotland announced they have raised 45 million British pounds to buy the Renaissance masterpiece that has been in the UK for 200 years and keep it on public display. The purchase means the painting will be reunited with its companion, "Diana and Actaeon," which the two galleries bought in 2009. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
A cameraman shoots next to Titian's "Diana and Callisto", during a photo call at Britain's National Gallery in central London, Thursday, March 1, 2012. Britain's National Gallery and the National Gallery of Scotland announced they have raised 45 million British pounds to buy the Renaissance masterpiece that has been in the UK for 200 years and keep it on public display. The purchase means the painting will be reunited with its companion, "Diana and Actaeon," which the two galleries bought in 2009. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
Britain's National Gallery director Nicholas Penny, left, and National Galleries of Scotland director general John Leighton, talk in front of Titian's "Diana and Callisto", during a photo call at Britain's National Gallery in central London, Thursday, March 1, 2012. Britain's National Gallery and the National Gallery of Scotland announced they have raised 45 million British pounds to buy the Renaissance masterpiece that has been in the UK for 200 years and keep it on public display. The purchase means the painting will be reunited with its companion,"Diana and Actaeon," which the two galleries bought in 2009. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
Britain's National Gallery director Nicholas Penny, left, and National Galleries of Scotland director general John Leighton, talk in front of Titian's "Diana and Callisto", during a photo call at Britain's National Gallery in central London, Thursday, March 1, 2012. Britain's National Gallery and the National Gallery of Scotland announced they have raised 45 million British pounds to buy the Renaissance masterpiece that has been in the UK for 200 years and keep it on public display. The purchase means the painting will be reunited with its companion,"Diana and Actaeon," which the two galleries bought in 2009. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
LONDON (AP) ? Two major British art galleries have raised 45 million pounds ($72 million) to buy a Renaissance masterpiece that has been in the U.K. for 200 years and keep it on public display ? a purchase announced Thursday as a substantial cultural victory in tough economic times.
Britain's National Gallery contributed 25 million pounds to buy Titian's "Diana and Callisto," which it will own jointly with the National Galleries of Scotland. The rest of the money came from an art charity, lottery profits and private donors. The galleries did not appeal to the public for funds.
National Gallery Director Nicholas Penny said the purchase had used up most of the gallery's 32 million pound reserve fund, accumulated from a century of bequests.
"It's true we've depleted our resources very considerably by the acquisition," he said. "But if we hadn't taken this opportunity I think we would diminish our chances of further bequests in the future.
"I know some people might think, why not buy 10 lesser things, but I think the National Gallery was founded primarily as a collection of great masterpieces."
The purchase means the painting will be reunited with its companion piece, "Diana and Actaeon," which the two galleries bought for 50 million pounds in 2009.
The prices, agreed with owner the Duke of Sutherland, are only about a third of what the paintings have been estimated to be worth on the open market.
Robert Korzinek, a fine art underwriter at insurer Hiscox, said the paintings are among a select group of artworks whose market value is potentially sky-high.
"These incredibly rare pictures so infrequently come to market, and when they do there are oil-rich nations that are seeking to put masterpieces on the walls of their museums, and they have infinite buying power," he said. "It has totally reset prices."
John Leighton, director-general of the National Galleries of Scotland, said they were "two of the greatest paintings in the world" and had always been meant to hang together.
Both works depict scenes from classical mythology. "Diana and Callisto" shows a nymph, impregnated by the god Jupiter, being expelled from the circle of Diana, goddess of the hunt.
It and "Diana and Actaeon" were painted by the Venetian master for King Philip II of Spain in the 1550s and came to Britain in 1798. They have been in the same aristocratic family ever since and form part of the Bridegwater Collection of Old Masters that have been loaned to the National Galleries of Scotland since 1945.
The Duke of Sutherland offered in 2008 to sell the works to public galleries, sparking a government-backed fundraising campaign. The galleries said he had agreed to knock 5 million pounds off the 50 million pound asking price for "Diana and Callisto."
Penny said trying to buy both paintings had been a gamble, especially given the dismal economic climate. Britain is experiencing rising unemployment, sluggish growth and government austerity.
"There have been many times when we thought, we've started something we can't finish," Penny said.
He said failure "would have been awful, but it would have been shameful not to try."
"Diana and Callisto" goes on display in London Thursday. The galleries said that in the future they would take turns showing the paintings together in London and Edinburgh.
__
Online:
National Gallery: http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk
National Galleries of Scotland: http://www.nationalgalleries.org
Jill Lawless can be reached at : http://twitter.com/JillLawless
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Thursday, March 1, 2012
The Fashion Law: Hermes Chinese Trademark Dispute
Paris-based luxury house, Herm?s, has been involved in a legal dispute over the trademark of its name in Chinese dating back to 1997, and as of today has lost. Apparently, while Herm?s has been using their namesake trademark in China since 1977, did not register for its Chinese name (???) trademark until later. The legal issues initially arose in 1997 when Hermes unsuccessfully appealed to the Chinese trademark board, arguing that Guangdong Province-based menswear maker, Dafeng Garment Factory's, registered trademark (???), was too similar to Herm?s' and could mislead Chinese buyers.
The French company reportedly appealed to the board again in 2009, stating that given its worldwide recognition, it should be allowed to prevent others from using a similar trademark, but was again denied. The trademark board said it had approved Dafeng Garment Factory's trademark under normal legal procedures.?
The most recent news is that despite its efforts to have the board?s decision overturned, the court ruled that Hermes is not necessarily a well-known brand in mainland China and that it cannot be proven that Dafeng's trademark was obtained by ?deceptive means.?
The ongoing legal battle eems especially relevant given the buying power of the Chinese and their love of luxury brands. Herm?s, which opened its own Chinese bespoke brand, Shang Xia, in Shanghai in 2012, has plans to expand to Beijing?and possibly Paris. The result is also interesting as it has been widely held that the Herm?s Birkin bag is so iconic that it has acquired secondary meaning and as such, the bag itself has become a famous trademark (via trade dress protection).
Source: http://www.fashion-law.org/2012/02/hermes-chinese-trademark-dispute.html
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