Struggling Tech Stocks - Wealth Daily

Gone are the days when technology stocks lit the stock boards on fire, driving the computer and Internet booms of the 1990s. Just as quickly as the boom happened, the investment community realized that profits are still more important than ?pizazz?. As the millennium turned, so did the tide for tech.

There were short stretches in the 2000s between the corrections of ?01-?03 and ?08-?09 and afterward when tech stocks stole the spot light again.

But since the latter part of 2012, these tech shooting stars have been slowly burning out and falling back down to Earth. Once again, they are stuck ?between inventions??that lull between innovative break-throughs.

Falling Demand

Tech companies as a group recently reported lower earnings by 5.5%, as both government agencies and consumers cut their budgets on technology. This compares to a 2.5% rise in the broader S&P 500 marketplace.

Analysts agree that consumer, corporate, and government demand for computers, electronics, and other technologies has been falling and will likely continue falling further.

Bloomberg quotes Peter Sorrentino:

?It is looking as though the economy is going to flatline for a while, after the disappointing numbers from China."

Sorrentino ?helps manage about $14.7 billion including shares of Google Inc. and Intel Corp. at Huntington Asset Advisors in Cincinnati,? according to Bloomberg. ?He sold Accenture Plc [NYSE:ACN] and Apple [NASDAQ:AAPL] shares last year.?

For its part, the International Monetary Fund has once again lowered its global growth projections?for the fourth quarter in a row?with China, Europe, and the United States all expecting slowdowns.

When times get tough, people realize their old phones still work fine and their TVs are still as big as they were when they first bought them. They don?t seem to be in so much of a hurry to upgrade as they once used to be.

Tech behemoth Apple?currently the second largest company by market value on the planet?is feeling just such a pinch, recently reporting that sales will be lower than expected for this quarter.

The company is also returning $55 billion to shareholders through dividends and stock buy-backs, indicating it really doesn?t have much in the pipeline or under development.

When companies return money to shareholders, they are in effect saying, ?We don?t really have any use for this money.? And that spells trouble.

Another sign that the latest tech wave has crested and is falling down the other side is International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) missing its forecasts for the first time since 2005. It is also planning to cut jobs, which is yet another symptom of how ill the tech industry is.

Portfolios Are Re-Balancing

Throughout the sector, tech companies are missing estimates and lowering their projections going forward.

Walter Todd, CIO of Greenwood Capital Associates LLC summarized to Bloomberg:

?It has been nothing short of terrible in this space. We really need to see these downward revisions abate in the sector before you get sustainable outperformance.?

Robert Maltbie of Millennium Asset Management has a word of caution for holders of tech stocks. ?You don't want to own tech going into a summer slowdown,? he advised in USA Today.

As markets head into portfolio spring-cleaning, tech stocks can take a harder beating than others, as investors generally turn to the more defensive consumer staples.

Chief U.S. Equity Sector Strategist at Ned Davis Research, Lance Stonecypher, is outright bearish on tech. He told Barron's:

?We are downgrading the Technology sector to underweight from marketweight. Technicals have deteriorated considerably in recent weeks, with the S&P 500 Tech sector dropping to its lowest level since May 2009 relative to the market. In Q1, the sector underperformed by 580 [basis points], 300 bp of which came from Apple?s weakness. But now, the decline has become more broadbased, as the equal-weighted Tech sector also recently broke to new cycle lows.?

However, other analysts caution against throwing out the babies with the bath water. ?I?m as nervous about the large-cap tech growth stories as anybody, but I also think that they are getting to be really reasonable values,? James Paulsen of Wells Capital Management emphasized to Bloomberg.

At such low valuations, Paulsen believes the industry is a bargain, predicting technology stocks will rally as companies use excess cash to repurchase shares. Paulsen?s firm purchased more shares of Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE:CRM) and Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) late last year, according to his firm?s year-end filing.

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The Trouble with Success

The trouble with the technology sector is always the same, cycle after cycle. A new invention hits the market, lifting the potential value of companies in that new invention?s space. As a group, all stocks ride the wave of enthusiasm all the way to the top until that new invention is no longer new.

Once the love affair wears off, consumers settle into a more practical relationship with that new invention. And the same happens with that invention?s stocks?the sex appeal wears off and investors settle in with the expectation of a long-term committed arrangement.

This was seen with the introduction of personal computers in the mid-1980s, the Internet in the mid-1990s, and mobile devices from the 2000s until present. Almost all companies jumping onto each new invention flew high and strong for years.

Until the consumer?s relationship with that new tool became more practical. At that point, only those companies that were capable of providing practical long-term oriented products and services survived. Those companies that were selling only the sex appeal quickly fizzled away.

The trouble with success?especially for tech companies?is that they have to continually produce something fantastic, year after year, to dazzle consumers and steal their affections. They can do this for a few years, but ultimately the space gets saturated, the invention get old, and they run out of new ways to improve it.

As a case in point, Apple has introduced a series of cell phones, winning the adoration of consumers the world over. But after a while, consumers begin to realize that each new phone is not really new. A few extra bells and whistles, perhaps. But it?s still just a cell phone.

Tech companies are hopping across the river from stone to stone. When they run out of new inventions, they get stranded in the water. They need to spend more on research and development to introduce something that is really new. But R&D is awfully expensive to keep up long term.

Once flying as high as an eagle, the starlet on the world stage, each tech superstar eventually fizzles as it runs out of breakthrough products, re-enters the atmosphere and falls back down to Earth.

When investing in tech stocks, one might do well to research how many truly new products that company is developing. If it has nothing new in the works, nothing ground-breaking that will sweep the world off its feet and into their stores, then it might be time to take some profit and look for another tech company that is on the verge of the next big thing.

And just what might that next big thing in tech be? It just might be robots. Your next maid might be one!

Joseph Cafariello

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Source: http://www.wealthdaily.com/articles/struggling-tech-stocks/4235

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Tebow left to wonder what's next after cut by Jets

In this Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012 photo, New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow (15) warms up before an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park, N.Y. The New York Jets say, Monday, April 29, 2013, they have waived Tebow. (AP Photo/Gary Wiepert)

In this Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012 photo, New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow (15) warms up before an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park, N.Y. The New York Jets say, Monday, April 29, 2013, they have waived Tebow. (AP Photo/Gary Wiepert)

New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow arrives on the first day of NFL football offseason workouts at the Jets practice facility in Florham Park, N.J., Monday, April 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Tim Tebow is one and done in New York.

No more constant questions about his uncertain role with the Jets. No more criticism of the mostly non-existent wildcat offense. No more shirtless jogs in the rain after practice.

Now, the popular but polarizing quarterback is left to wonder what's left of his NFL career.

Tebow was waived by the Jets on Monday morning when he showed up at the team's facility ready to work out, the end of an embarrassingly unsuccessful one-season experiment in New York that produced more hype and headlines than production on the field.

"Unfortunately," coach Rex Ryan said in a three-paragraph news release issued by the team, "things did not work out the way we all had hoped."

It also left Tebow's football future very much in doubt.

"If he were to happen to call me, I would say, 'Look, you're starting over,'" former NFL GM Ted Sundquist said. "Tim Tebow needs to redefine who Tim Tebow is, in my opinion. He's no longer a first-round quarterback."

That's quite a fall for a player who came to New York in March 2012 as perhaps the biggest thing to hit Broadway since Joe Namath himself.

There were billboards outside the Lincoln Tunnel in New Jersey welcoming Tebow, and sandwiches named after him at Manhattan delis. He also had a legion of fans who followed him because of his strong Christian beliefs, and in New York, he would be able to take advantage of countless media and marketing opportunities.

And then, it all went terribly wrong.

Or, more like it, the whole idea was completely flawed from the start. For Tebow. And for the Jets.

"I think it's fair to say," Tebow said at the end of last season, "that I'm a little disappointed."

A year after he threw a TD pass to win a playoff game in overtime for Denver, the Heisman Trophy winner with two championships at Florida and a nationwide following may have suited up for the last time.

"I don't see any team giving him a chance because teams don't want to deal with the following that comes with Tebow," ESPN analyst and former NFL offensive lineman Damien Woody said. "Maybe Canada."

No NFL team has made a pitch to get him. The only nibble so far came from the Montreal Alouettes. They hold his rights in the Canadian Football League and said he could come compete for a job ? as a backup.

Tebow took to Twitter a few hours after being waived, citing a bible verse: "Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding," Tebow wrote, "in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."

The Jacksonville Jaguars have already ruled themselves out of giving Tebow a happy homecoming. But maybe the Chicago Bears, whose new head coach Marc Trestman tutored Tebow before the NFL draft in 2010, could give him a look as their backup.

Perhaps the San Diego Chargers would take a chance on him, adding to the circus-like atmosphere they'll likely endure after drafting Manti Te'o. New coach Mike McCoy was Tebow's offensive coordinator in Denver during the 2011 season, when the quarterback took over the offense and led the Broncos to comeback after comeback.

What about Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots? It would certainly give Belichick another chance to tweak the Jets.

As far as the CFL, it's anyone's guess as to whether Tebow would even be open to a move north of the border.

"If you can find a club that's mature enough to handle it as an organization, then you're going to find the right spot for him," Sundquist said. "What I mean by that is all the media mania and that sort of thing."

Tebow was brought to New York to be a dynamic addition to the offense, a complement to Mark Sanchez and a merchandising touchdown for the Jets. Instead, he attempted just eight passes for 39 yards and rushed 32 times for 102 yards ? and stunningly had no touchdowns.

The move to part ways had been expected for months, and the decision was sealed when new general manager John Idzik took former West Virginia star Geno Smith in the second round of the NFL draft Friday, giving New York six quarterbacks on its roster at the time ? and creating uncertainty about Sanchez's future, as well.

"Had this happened back in February, Tim might have had a chance to at least participate in free agency," said 2002 NFL MVP quarterback Rich Gannon, now an analyst for CBS Sports and SiriusXM NFL Radio. "I don't think there would have been a strong market for him, but at least he would've had that opportunity."

Gannon added that it's an even tougher situation for Tebow now because more than 20 quarterbacks were either drafted or signed as undrafted free agents in the last few days.

"Look, it's a two-way street, though," Gannon said. "It's a business. The Jets were trying to find somebody, a dance partner. Sometimes that goes into the draft and teams are calling around. I'm sure the Jets were trying to shop Tebow, and I'm sure they kept getting denied."

This is the same guy who led the Broncos to the postseason in 2011, but became expendable when Denver signed Peyton Manning as a free agent. Tebow was acquired by the Jets for a fourth-round draft pick and $1.5 million in salary. He was introduced at the Jets' facility to plenty of fanfare at a lavish news conference, with Tebow repeatedly saying he was "excited" to be in New York.

It turned out to be one of the few high points in Tebow's stay with the Jets. Along with that shirtless jog from the practice field in the rain during training camp, of course.

The Jets never figured out a way to use Tebow effectively, and he never forced the issue by being a good enough player in practice to make Ryan and his coaches put him on the field more in games.

"He seems like a great kid," Sundquist said, "and it seems like he could bring some positives to a club if he can just bury this whole thing about him being in your quarterback mix and just let him be No. 39 on your roster, one of your back-end guys who can go somewhere and help you win."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-04-30-FBN-Jets-Tebow-Cut/id-4f71c3cbcf0d49129badf0ab6575b2d7

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Silicone liquid crystal stiffens with repeated compression: Discovery may point toward self-healing materials

Apr. 29, 2013 ? Squeeze a piece of silicone and it quickly returns to its original shape, as squishy as ever. But scientists at Rice University have discovered that the liquid crystal phase of silicone becomes 90 percent stiffer when silicone is gently and repeatedly compressed. Their research could lead to new strategies for self-healing materials or biocompatible materials that mimic human tissues.

A paper on the research appeared this month in Nature's online journal Nature Communications.

Silicone in its liquid crystal phase is somewhere between a solid and liquid state, which makes it very handy for many things. So Rice polymer scientist Rafael Verduzco was intrigued to see a material he thought he knew well perform in a way he didn't expect. "I was really surprised to find out, when my student did these measurements, that it became stiffer," he said. "In fact, I didn't believe him at first."

The researchers had intended to quantify results seen a few years ago by former Rice graduate student Brent Carey, who subjected a nanotube-infused polymer to a process called repetitive dynamic compression. An astounding 3.5 million compressions (five per second) over a week toughened the material, just like muscles after a workout, by 12 percent. What Verduzco and lead author/Rice graduate student Aditya Agrawal came across was a material that shows an even stronger effect. They had originally planned to study liquid crystal silicone/nanotube composites similar to what Carey tested, but decided to look at liquid crystal silicones without the nanotubes first. "It's always better to start simple," Verduzco said.

Silicones are made of long, flexible chains that are entangled and knotted together like a bowl of spaghetti. In conventional silicones the chains are randomly oriented, but the group studied a special type of silicone known as a liquid crystal elastomer. In these materials, the chains organize themselves into rod-shaped coils. When the material was compressed statically, like squeezing a piece of Jell-O or stretching a rubber band, it snapped right back into its original shape. The entanglements and knots between chains prevent it from changing shape. But when dynamically compressed for 16 hours, the silicone held its new shape for weeks and, surprisingly, was much stiffer than the original material.

"The molecules in a liquid crystal elastomer are like rods that want to point in a particular direction," Verduzco said. "In the starting sample, the rods are randomly oriented, but when the material is deformed, they rotate and eventually end up pointing in the same direction. This is what gives rise to the stiffening. It's surprising that by a relatively gentle but repetitive compression, you can work out all the entanglements and knots to end up with a sample where all the polymer rods are aligned."

Before testing, the researchers chemically attached liquid crystal molecules -- similar to those used in LCD displays -- to the silicones. While they couldn't see the rods, X-ray diffraction images showed that the side groups -- and thus the rods -- had aligned under compression. "They're always coupled. If the side group orients in one direction, the polymer chain wants to follow it. Or vice versa," Verduzco said.

The X-rays also showed that samples heated to 70 degrees Celsius slipped out of the liquid crystal phase and did not stiffen, Verduzco said. The stiffening effect is reversible, he said, as heating and cooling a stiffened sample will allow it to relax back into its original state within hours.

Verduzco plans to compress silicones in another phase, called smectic, in which the polymer rods align in layers. "People have been wanting to use these in displays, but they're very hard to align. A repetitive compression may be a simple way to get around this challenge," he said.

Since silicones are biocompatible, they can also be used for tissue engineering. Soft tissues in the body like cartilage need to maintain strength under repeated compression and deformation, and liquid crystal elastomers exhibit similar durability, he said.

The paper's co-authors include Carey, a Rice alumnus and now a scientist at Owens Corning; graduate student Alin Chipara; Yousif Shamoo, a professor of biochemistry and cell biology; Pulickel Ajayan, the Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor in Engineering and a professor of mechanical engineering and materials science, chemistry and chemical and biomolecular engineering; and Walter Chapman, the William W. Akers Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, all of Rice; and Prabir Patra, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Bridgeport with a research appointment at Rice. Verduzco is an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering.

The research was supported by an IBB Hamill Innovations Grant, the Robert A. Welch Foundation, the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, through the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Rice University. The original article was written by Mike Williams.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Aditya Agrawal, Alin C. Chipara, Yousif Shamoo, Prabir K. Patra, Brent J. Carey, Pulickel M. Ajayan, Walter G. Chapman, Rafael Verduzco. Dynamic self-stiffening in liquid crystal elastomers. Nature Communications, 2013; 4: 1739 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2772

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/61Z0GEWnuTs/130429164952.htm

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Yep, I Totally Agree (talking-points-memo)

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Vermont Telephone Company's gigabit internet service is live, half the price of Google Fiber

Remember how Google Fiber's recent announcement for planned service in Austin by 2014 spurred immediate competition from AT&T? It's safe to say telcos in other areas have taken note about the gigabit speeds, not to mention the $70 montly pricing. According to the Wall Street Journal, Vermont Telephone Company is now offering gigabit service to some of its customers for the crazy-low price of $35 bucks a month. To keep things in perspective, WSJ notes that roughly 600 folks are subscribed (out of VTel's total base of about 17.5K) and that the company is essentially going to be analyzing whether the current pricing will remain for the long-term. With Google Fiber to continuing to expand, it's certainly promising to see how superspeed internet is trickling across the US -- and how easy it's been looking on the wallet.

Filed under: Internet

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/28/vermount-telephone-companys-gigabit-internet/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Shots fired in Mass. as police seek bomb suspect

AAA??Apr. 19, 2013?7:19 PM ET
Shots fired in Mass. as police seek bomb suspect
By EILEEN SULLIVAN, MEGHAN BARR and KATIE ZEZIMABy EILEEN SULLIVAN, MEGHAN BARR and KATIE ZEZIMA, Associated Press??

Officials wearing tactical gear stand near an armored vehicle as they search an apartment building for one of two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, in Watertown, Mass., Friday, April 19, 2013. Two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing killed an MIT police officer, injured a transit officer in a firefight and threw explosive devices at police during a getaway attempt in a long night of violence that left one of them dead and another still at large Friday, authorities said as the manhunt intensified for a young man described as a dangerous terrorist. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Officials wearing tactical gear stand near an armored vehicle as they search an apartment building for one of two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, in Watertown, Mass., Friday, April 19, 2013. Two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing killed an MIT police officer, injured a transit officer in a firefight and threw explosive devices at police during a getaway attempt in a long night of violence that left one of them dead and another still at large Friday, authorities said as the manhunt intensified for a young man described as a dangerous terrorist. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

A police officer evacuates a shoeless man holding a child as members of law enforcement conduct a search for a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings, Friday, April 19, 2013, in Watertown, Mass. The two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing killed an MIT police officer and hurled explosives at police in a car chase and gun battle overnight that left one of them dead and his brother on the loose, authorities said Friday as thousands of officers swarmed the streets in a manhunt that all but paralyzed the Boston area. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Police in tactical gear conduct a search for a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings, Friday, April 19, 2013, in Watertown, Mass. The bombs that blew up seconds apart near the finish line of the Boston Marathon left the streets spattered with blood and glass, and gaping questions of who chose to attack and why. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

This photo released Friday, April 19, 2013 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation shows a suspect that officials identified as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, being sought by police in the Boston Marathon bombings Monday. (AP Photo/Federal Bureau of Investigation)

A woman looks out a window at her home as police start to search an apartment building while looking for a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings in Watertown, Mass., Friday, April 19, 2013. Two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing killed an MIT police officer, injured a transit officer in a firefight and threw explosive devices at police during their getaway attempt in a long night of violence that left one of them dead and another still at large Friday, authorities said as the manhunt intensified for a young man described as a dangerous terrorist. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

WATERTOWN, Mass. (AP) ? The sound of gunfire has been reported in Watertown, Mass., where authorities have been searching for a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings.

Emergency and military vehicles are speeding through town. Police tell The Associated Press that multiple shots have been fired. Boston police say people should stay inside around a street in Watertown.

It wasn't immediately clear whether authorities had found 19-year-old college student Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (JOH'-kahr tsahr-NY'-ev).

Authorities are telling residents of the area to stay indoors.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-04-19-Police%20Converge-Mass/id-99c43a0281f64a8581c0857965868986

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Free handbell concert planned Saturday at Temecula church

For the last three years, Hope Lutheran Church in Temecula has hosted a free handbell concert, and the event always gets a ringing endorsement from the audience, said Barbara Meinke, the church?s handbell ministry director.

?They can?t wait to come back next year -- they ask me for next year?s date,? Meinke said. ?They say they have never heard anything like it, that they didn?t know you could do that with a bell.?

A handbell choir harnesses the large range of chimes, dings and rings a bell can create to generate a vast array of music that sounds, well ? Meike said: ?Like something you might hear in heaven.?

?It?s an experience of a lifetime,? she said of the free concert, scheduled for 5 p.m. Saturday at the church, 29141 Vallejo Ave., in Temecula

A handbell is literally a bell on a handle. It?s made out of cast bronze and is finely tuned.

The concert is offered through the Southern California Region of the Handbell Musicians of America, and will draw about 150 handbell ringers from across the state for the performance.

They will rehearse Friday night and throughout Saturday in preparation for the performance.

The concert will feature all of the ringers presenting massed, single choir and small ensemble pieces, including arrangements of familiar tunes and original handbell music.

The musicians will be led by noted conductor Michael Glasgow of Raleigh, N.C., and Meinke said he really knows how to lead a handbell ensemble.

?He is like nobody else,? she said. ?He is an excellent musician, very funny, has a ton of energy. He will pull the best out of the volunteer musicians that they have to give.?

For information, call (951) 676-6262.

Source: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/apr/18/handbell-concert-temecula-hope-lutheran/

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Why Do Humans Cry?

Tears are obviously our body's mechanism to keep our eyeballs well lubricated, but why do humans start bawling when they're sad, in pain, or overjoyed? What purpose could crying possibly serve? More »

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Poll: Blocking Google Images After Image Search Traffic Drop?

In late January, Google launched a new design change for Google Image search. Google said they've "seen a net increase in the average click-through rate to the hosting website."

But webmasters are not seeing that or believing that. Shortly after, even before the stats were in, webmasters were skeptical and not happy with the changes. They believed it would result in less traffic from Google. And a month after that, we had stats to show huge declines in impressions drived from Google Image Search.

Google attributes the decline as not real, i.e. phantom visits that were caused in the old image search design. I.e. in the old design, Google loaded your page in the background even if the user didn't click through.

As I covered at Search Engine Land, a study done by Define Media Group said they had seen no instance of the phantom visit phenomenon and said on average, image search traffic is down 63% on average and as high as 78% in some verticals.

Google told us that this is not accurate, and that click through rates to webmasters is up 25% if you do not count phantom visits. They added they doubled the ways for searchers to click through the search site.

It has come to a point where webmasters do not believe Google and many are deciding to block Google from indexing their images. Here is a poll, what will you do?

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Source: http://feeds.seroundtable.com/~r/SearchEngineRoundtable1/~3/S7MESQz4w-g/block-google-image-search-16663.html

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Benefits to Owning a Home - Idaho Real Estate

Buying a home is an important financial decision. In fact, it's likely the most important financial decision you'll ever make, and likely the largest. It's normal to have reservations. But no matter what your reservations might be, 2013 has shaped up to be the year to buy real estate. It's a fantastic time to get into the market. And in case you need to hear more than just that, here are some rock solid reasons why buying a home is a good idea.

Pride

There's nothing like the feeling you get after becoming a homeowner for the first time. The pride of owning a home isn't like any other large purchase you can make; this is the big time. It means you've made it. It means you've made a solid investment into your future that's rolled up in stability and security. The sense of stability you get from owning your own home is paramount, particularly if you have children. You won't just be buying a home for yourself, it's for them too.

Protection Against Inflation

If you've ever rented before, chances are you've had the rent increased on you. Landlords have a tendency to do that. Protection against inflation is one solid benefit to owning your own home, as you can lock yourself into a fixed-rate mortgage that will ensure you make the same familiar payment for the entire life of the loan. If you want to pay more, that's up to you. It's a pretty good feeling having that kind of control over your house payment.

Feeling of Permanence?

You'll create a sense of rooted-ness in the community. Owning a home isn't just a financial decision, it's a decision that can shape your well-being. By owning, you're giving yourself the ability to control your living environment, at least to a far greater extent than you ever could by renting. You can do things the way that you see fit, things that need to evolve along with your ever-changing lifestyle. Plus, you'll be living in a community with fellow homeowners who may be a lot like you, and that's a great asset for the whole family.

Increased Values

Prices are on the rise. The latest Home Price Index Report posted by Core-Logic revealed that Idaho has experienced a positive 14.9 percent increase in price gains. These positive numbers aren't only true for Idaho. The entire mountain region as well as the rest of the country have posted rising home values, contributing to levels that are hovering at their highest in more than three years.

Tax Benefits

The tax benefits are crazy. Home ownership is a supreme tax shelter that favors those who own their own home. Given that your home mortgage balance is less than the price of your home, mortgage interest is fully deductible on your tax return. That's not everything though. Deduct home improvement loan interest, private mortgage insurance, mortgage points/origination, energy efficient upgrades/repairs, property tax, and for 2013 owners can continue to benefit from the loan forgiveness deduction.

Home Equity

One way to think of your mortgage is as a forced savings program. You are giving your lender money each month to pay your mortgage, and except for the interest, that money still belongs to you-in the form of home equity. When you're renting, you're giving that money away. You're building your landlord's wealth, rather than your own.

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Advantages of Equity

Taking advantage of an equity loan is one benefit some homeowners choose if they need to pay off other debt, make home improvements, pay for college or medical expenses or to start up a business. Equity loan interest is oftentimes less than that of a credit card, and is deductible-unlike a credit card. Depending on your situation, it can make sense to pay off costly debt this way.

Decorating Freedom

You have so many more options if you own your own home. You have the freedom to do what you want with it, whether that means adding a sun-room or painting the walls whatever crazy color you like. You have no one to answer to but yourself, and that's an awesome feeling. You may have been itching to install a beautiful chandelier or ceiling fan, or to mount shelves for your own mini library. Landlords generally don't let you do that, but if it's your house, you can do what you want whenever you want.

Increased Credit

Credit opportunities open up to homeowners. You'll find that it becomes much easier to apply for other loans if you already own a home. Making your mortgage payments on time will help your credit score, which impacts your ability to get car loans, credit cards or any other type of loan that you'll ever need to take out. Having a good credit score is one of the most important things you can have in today's world.

Market Growth

Take a look at Money Magazine's latest issue, and you'll see that the real estate market today has made its comeback. There are several reasons why industry players as well as consumers are finally getting their confidence back. In addition to home price gains, high affordability, low inventory and a continuation of price increases, these all contribute to the healthy and vibrant housing market we're experiencing today.

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Sources:

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Corelogic.com: 2013 Home Price Index Report

Realtor.com: Top 10 Real Estate Tax Deductions for Homeowners

CNN Money Real Estate News: Housing is Back

Source: http://www.buyidahorealestate.com/blog/benefits-to-owning-a-home.html

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92% No

All Critics (92) | Top Critics (30) | Fresh (85) | Rotten (7)

"No" is a picture that perches precariously on the cusp of a paradox.

A cunning and richly enjoyable combination of high-stakes drama and media satire from Chilean director Pablo Larrain.

A mesmerizing, realistic and often hilarious look at the politics of power and the power of ideas ...

A political drama, a personal drama, a sharp-eyed study of how the media manipulate us from all sides, No reels and ricochets with emotional force.

It's a funny look at the way the media warp public opinion, and a curiously hopeful one.

On every level, "No" leaves one with bittersweet feelings about democracy, love and the cost of compromise.

...a bitter and knowing meditation on media manipulation and political subversion.

Larrain deftly mixes social satire and historical drama.

All historical and little drama.

Larrain does a fine job of making No look and sound authentic to its time period, although the VHS-quality photography, all washed-out with colors bleeding together as camcorders did in the '80s, is an occasional irritant.

Silliness is on the side of the angels in a brilliant and highly entertaining film that's part political thriller, part media satire.

It's clear that the language of advertising has become universal, and that political commodities can be sold like soap. But toppling a dictatorship? Now there's a story.

A reflection of a moment in time, made in the image of that moment.

Bernal deftly explores the layers of the character's complexity, including his political apathy.

"No" is filmmaking of the first order.

Old technology plus the packaging of a revolution add up to a Yes

Freshens up a decades-old story with vibrant humor and a good sense of storytelling.

No continually impresses for its slyness and savvy -- rarely has such an eyesore been so worth watching.

Larrain fashions an unlikely crowd-pleaser from a historical episode that has its share of tragedy as well as triumph.

Stirring as a celebration of voter empowerment, No may also inspire pangs of wistful nostalgia.

Fascinating work from director Pablo Larrain and screenwriter Pedro Peirano, who manage to slip into the skin of a beleaguered country and detail the urgency of a revolution, sold one jingle at a time.

Swims upstream against high-definition with a defiantly lo-fi approach that's also ingeniously evocative of the historical period.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/no_2012/

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Obama Plays Golf for Third Week in a Row (ABC News)

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Computer composition pioneer David Cope discusses his iPad app (video)

We probably shouldn't have been surprised when David Cope excitedly asked us if we'd like to see his new iPad app, as we began packing up our shoot for a forthcoming Engadget Show episode. After all, the former UC Santa Cruz music professor's name has, over the past several decades, become closely tied to the world of computer-generated music -- it figures that the journey that began with punch cards would have eventually led to tablets and smartphones.

Jambandit hit the App Store a couple of weeks ago. It's the first offering from Recombinant Inc., a small company co-founded by Cope in Santa Cruz a few years back as a "commercial extension of a body of [his] academic work." His time in the field began during one particularly bad bout with writer's block -- tasked with writing an opera, Cope eschewed traditional paths for the earnest development of a new system for creating music, working to create a software program that could generate scores in the styles of different composer -- a move that, unsurprisingly, opened up a slew of questions on the subject of creativity.

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Source: iTunes

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

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Chaka Khan chosen for Apollo Legends Hall of Fame

NEW YORK (AP) ? R&B star Chaka Khan will be inducted into the Apollo Theater's hall of fame.

The theater announced Thursday that Patti LaBelle and Mary J. Blige will perform in Khan's honor at its June 10 New York gala.

The annual event raises funds for the Apollo's education and community outreach programs.

Khan and Blige received a Grammy Award together in 2008 for "Disrespectful."

Singer-songwriter Lionel Richie and the late Etta James were inducted last year into the Apollo Legends Hall of Fame.

Other previous inductees include LaBelle, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and Aretha Franklin, to name just a few.

Sarah Jessica Parker will present this year's corporate award to Time Warner Inc.

___

Online:

http://www.apollotheater.com/

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-04-12-US-Apollo-Hall-of-Fame/id-3c519dea7ee345e18117168d28ef447e

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Video: Sen. Ron Johnson Dissects Federal Budget

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Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/cnbc/51503210/

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Antibiotics in Organic Fruit? It's a common practice - Portland Food ...

An apple tree with fireblight

Antibiotics in organic fruit? According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, organic fruits can be labeled as such even if they?re treated with antibiotics, which are used to prevent disease a disease called fire blight. The blight occurs in the Rosaceae family, which includes apples, pears, quince, raspberries and other fruits.

Back in my agriculture days, this contagious?disease was a huge problem. It would spread rapidly through pear and apple trees, leaving the leaves looking scorched, sometimes destroying entire orchards. In those days, I don?t recall there being much we could do about it, other than accepting losses and being very careful to dip our shears into a sterilant every time we made a cut while pruning back infected limbs. Even bees, birds, rain and wind can spread the disease. Unfortunately, the bacteria can overwinter in infected plants, spreading again when the weather warms, and it is easy to miss new infections, which means many passes through the orchards are necessary to keep it under control.

These days the trees are sprayed with the antibiotics streptomycin, oxytetracycline and terramycin to prevent new infections, although overuse of those sprays have led to streptomycin-resistant bacteria in some states.

According to Earthfix.info, the National Organic Standards Board is meeting in Portland this week. Food safety groups are petitioning the board to ban the use of antibiotics in fighting the disease.

Perhaps due to my early agricultural background, I find myself conflicted on this question. On one hand, I have seen how this disease can ruin acres of fruit in a very short time. I?ve seen the pain on a farmers face who watches decades old trees laid waste by this disease. On the other hand, I abhor the use of antibiotics in food production, and do my best to avoid those products that contain them.

I?m guessing that a ban on the practice would result in even higher prices for these fruits, and will eventually lead to less orchards in production. However, as older orchards are replanted, new, more blight resistant rootstocks and tree varieties will be used to replace them. Of course it takes years to bring a new tree into full production. In addition, there are alternatives to the antibiotics coming down the pike, so there is hope.

What do you think? Should antibiotics be allowed to be used in ?organic? crops?

Source: http://portlandfoodanddrink.com/antibiotics-in-organic-fruit/

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Venezuela's opposition denies it would scrap Chavez welfare aid

By Andrew Cawthorne

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition candidate Henrique Capriles denied on Wednesday accusations from acting President Nicolas Maduro that he would scrap popular welfare policies if he wins Sunday's election.

Social "missions" in poor areas, from subsidized groceries to Cuban-staffed medical clinics, were a mainstay of the late Hugo Chavez's 14-year socialist rule and kept his popularity high.

His chosen successor, Maduro, 50, says he is the guarantor of their continuation and accuses Capriles of planning to disband the missions and also privatize state oil company PDVSA, whose export revenues fund the projects.

That, said Capriles at a dawn campaign event, was nonsense and scaremongering. The 40-year-old state governor likes to show off his social record in Miranda state and describes himself as a "progressive," but he is depicted by Maduro as a right-wing puppet of Venezuela's wealthy elite and U.S. interests.

Rather than end the missions, Capriles said he would improve, expand and de-politicize them.

"Simply being Venezuelan will give people the right to free education, quality healthcare, social security and housing," he said. "In our plans there will be no blackmailing ... People will not have to be members of a political party to get aid."

Capriles, who has shown plenty of Chavez-style populist traits himself, listed his social policy plans from a 40 percent rise in the minimum wage to subsidized medicines.

"The government elite get annoyed because they want total control over the missions as if they belonged to them. They don't understand they belong to Venezuelans, not those who put the red shirt on," he added, referring to the color of the ruling Socialist Party.

"Don't be deceived, the missions are not going to be ended. The government says that to cheat people and have control."

FRENETIC CAMPAIGN

Accusations and insults have been flying between both camps in the frantic run-up to Sunday's vote for leadership of the South American OPEC nation of 29 million people.

Most polls have shown Maduro comfortably ahead, but a couple of the latest weekly surveys put the gap at below 10 points and Capriles' camp believes the opposition is on a late surge as emotion over Chavez's March 5 death from cancer wanes.

Maduro, a former bus driver who rose to be Chavez's vice-president, has been playing up his working-class roots in contrast to Capriles' wealthy family background. His former boss successfully played Venezuela's class politics for years to guarantee passionate support among the poor.

"The little bourgeois doesn't know what it's like to get up at 4 in the morning, have a coffee and half a piece of bread, then go to work early to keep a family," Maduro told a rally late on Tuesday.

"The only thing he knows is how to count the money gained from exploiting consumers."

Venezuela's election will not only determine the future of "Chavismo" socialism in Venezuela but also who controls the world's largest oil reserves and whether aid to a clutch of left-leaning nations around the region will continue.

Maduro is campaigning on Chavez's legacy, while Capriles wants to implement a Brazilian-style political model.

The winner faces a complicated set of problems, including strained state coffers after last year's heavy election spending, the highest inflation in the Americas, crime rates among the world's highest, and stuttering services.

(Reporting by Andrew Cawthorne; Additional reporting by Mario Naranjo; Editing by Eric Beech)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/venezuelas-opposition-denies-scrap-chavez-welfare-aid-154044118.html

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Fatheads: How neurons protect themselves against excess fat

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

We're all fatheads. That is, our brain cells are packed with fat molecules, more of them than almost any other cell type. Still, if the brain cells' fat content gets too high, they'll be in trouble. In a recent study in mice, researchers at Johns Hopkins pinpointed an enzyme that keeps neurons' fat levels under control, and may be implicated in human neurological diseases. Their findings are published in the May 2013 issue of Molecular and Cellular Biology.

"There are known connections between problems with how the body's cells process fats and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis," says Michael Wolfgang, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Chemistry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine's Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences. "Now we've taken a step toward better understanding that connection by identifying an enzyme that lets neurons get rid of excess fat that would otherwise be toxic."

Wolfgang says one clue to the reason for the neurodegeneration/fat-processing connection is that neurons, unlike most cells in the body, seemingly can't break down fats for energy. Instead, brain cells use fats for tasks such as building cell membranes and communicating information. At the same time, he says, they must prevent the buildup of unneeded fats. Neurons' fat-loss strategy is rooted in the fact that a fat molecule attached to a chemical group called coenzyme A will be trapped inside the cell, while the coenzyme A-free version can easily cross the cell membrane and escape. With this in mind, Wolfgang, along with colleagues Jessica Ellis, Ph.D., and G. William Wong, Ph.D., focused their study on an enzyme, called ACOT7, which is plentiful in the brain and lops coenzyme A off of certain fat molecules.

The team created mice with a non-working gene for ACOT7 and compared them with normal mice. The scientists saw no obvious differences between the two types of mice as long as they had ready access to food, Wolfgang says. But when food was taken away overnight, so that the mice's cells would start to break down their fat stores and release fat molecules into the bloodstream for use as energy, ACOT7's role began to emerge. While the normal fasting mice were merely hungry, the mice lacking ACOT7 had poor coordination, a sign of neurodegeneration. More differences emerged when the researchers dissected the mice; most strikingly, the livers of mice missing ACOT7 were "stark white" with excess fat, Wolfgang says.

Wolfgang cautions that his group's results are not quite a smoking gun for ACOT7's involvement in human neurological disease, but says they add to existing circumstantial evidence pointing in that direction. He notes that a special diet that changes the levels of fats and sugars in the bloodstream ? the so-called ketogenic diet ? can prevent seizures in epileptics; in addition, one study found that patients with epilepsy have less of the ACOT7 enzyme than healthy people.

"We think ACOT7's purpose is to protect neurons from toxicity and death by allowing excess fat to escape the cells," Ellis says. "Our next step will be to see whether this enzyme does indeed play a role in human neurological disease."

###

Johns Hopkins Medicine: http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org

Thanks to Johns Hopkins Medicine for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127643/Fatheads__How_neurons_protect_themselves_against_excess_fat

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Former Minnesota airport worker stole firearms from checked bags

By David Bailey

MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - A former Minnesota airport worker charged with stealing 10 firearms and other valuables from checked bags targeted luggage being routed from one flight to the next, making it harder to uncover the thefts, an airport spokesman said on Tuesday.

David Vang, 23, worked for a private contractor at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and was captured on surveillance video taking items from bags last year, according to a state criminal complaint charging him with 11 felonies.

Authorities recovered more than 700 items in labeled boxes at Vang's apartment in St. Paul including five shotguns, four handguns and a bolt-action rifle, the complaint said. The items recovered were valued at about $84,400.

Items recovered also included iPads, laptops, mobile phones, cameras, purses, clothing, boots, watches, jewelry, perfumes, cigars, fishing and hunting gear, backpacks and knives.

"He was taking everything from connecting bags, which is what really made it difficult," airport spokesman Patrick Hogan said. "We didn't know for some time that the problem even existed."

In most cases, passengers would report items missing from inside bags to the airlines they flew on or to the airports where they started or ended their trips, Hogan said.

Firearms are checked separately in their cases and their disappearance raised alarms with airport police, who set up the surveillance, Hogan said.

"We saw they had been scanned as arriving at this airport and had not been scanned as getting on to an aircraft, so we knew something was happening to them at this airport," he said.

Vang is accused of taking the items to a car in an unsecured employee parking ramp for his wife, Vue Xiong, 21, to transport away from the airport. Xiong faces a single felony theft charge.

No attorney was listed for Vang or Xiong on Minnesota court electronic records and attempts to reach them by phone on Tuesday were unsuccessful. Their first court appearances on the charges are scheduled for later in April.

Vang initially said the items had fallen out of bags, but eventually admitted to taking them from about June or July until October, according to the complaint.

(Reporting by David Bailey; Editing by Greg McCune)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/former-minnesota-airport-worker-stole-firearms-checked-bags-190623699.html

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Thatcher hailed for changing political landscape of the world

By Kevin Liffey

LONDON (Reuters) - Loved or loathed in death as in life, Margaret Thatcher left no one indifferent, finding some of her most ardent admirers among her political opponents.

"Very few leaders get to change not only the political landscape of their country but of the world. Margaret was such a leader," said Tony Blair, the centre-left Labour leader who brought his own party back to power not least by heeding the lessons of "Thatcherism".

Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet leader whom she famously declared she could "do business with", said their mutual understanding "contributed to a change in the atmosphere between our country and the West and to the end of the Cold War".

Thatcher's warm relations with Gorbachev's direct adversary, U.S. president Ronald Reagan, and their shared espousal of the free market and individual liberty, along with her readiness to provide a base for U.S. nuclear missiles, gave Britain greater influence in Washington than it has normally enjoyed.

"The world has lost one of the great champions of freedom and liberty, and America has lost a true friend," said U.S. President Barack Obama.

"Here in America, many of us will never forget her standing shoulder to shoulder with President Reagan, reminding the world that we are not simply carried along by the currents of history - we can shape them with moral conviction, unyielding courage and iron will."

Pope Francis recalled, with appreciation, "the Christian values which underpinned her commitment to public service and to the promotion of freedom among the family of nations".

At home, Conservatives mourned the leader who set a free-market agenda in Britain and Europe and famously announced "there is no such thing as society" as she put individual enterprise and self-reliance before the state and the social safety net.

David Cameron, the prime minister who led the Conservatives back to power but without the absolute majority Thatcher enjoyed throughout her premiership, said: "We've lost a great prime minister, a great leader, a great Briton.

"As our first woman prime minister, Margaret Thatcher succeeded against all the odds, and the real thing about Margaret Thatcher is that she didn't just lead our country, she saved our country. And I believe she'll go down as the greatest British peacetime prime minister."

THATCHER AND THE EU

Thatcher is remembered in Britain for resisting the idea that the European Union should move ever closer to political union, but, at a time when Britain is once again agonizing over its role in Europe, EU leaders much keener on closer integration had warm words for her.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said she would be remembered "both for her contributions and her reserves to our common project":

"She signed the Single European Act and she helped bring about the single market. She was a leading player also in bringing into the European family the central and eastern European countries which were formerly behind the Iron Curtain."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a fellow conservative who grew up in communist East Germany and went on like Thatcher to become the first woman to head her country's government, said:

"The freedom of the individual was at the core of her convictions; in that sense Margaret Thatcher recognized the strength of the movements for freedom of eastern Europe early on and stood up for them.

"Margaret Thatcher was not a women's politician - but by asserting herself as a woman in the highest democratic office at a time when this was not yet a given, she was an example to many."

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thatcher was "a pragmatic, tough and consistent person" and that these qualities had enabled her to help pull Britain out of economic crisis, for which people should be grateful despite the criticism she faced.

Putin, who once called the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century", said Russia "will always be thankful" for the contribution Thatcher made to British-Soviet and British-Russian ties.

It was left to Vaclav Klaus, former Czech prime minister and president and a self-proclaimed "Thatcherite", to set her vision against Europe's current crisis. He said the European Union's ailing economic and social model was "exactly what she, as the first woman in the post of British prime minister, fought against since the end of the 1970s".

"Her voice is also missing in today's discussion on European integration," Klaus added. "Many of us will never forget her famous speech in Bruges, where she clearly said that the suppression of nation states and concentration of power in Brussels will destroy Europe."

LINGERING RESENTMENT

But there were plenty of voices in Britain ready to express the resentment that still lingers against a woman who broke the power of the trade unions, ran down or privatized many state-run utilities and institutions and eroded the post-war welfare state.

"She did make war on a lot of people in Britain and I don't think it helped our society," said Tony Benn, a left-wing Labour minister in the 1970s.

Some opponents said on social media that they would hold a party to celebrate her death, while a website set up to ask if Thatcher was dead yet received 180,000 "likes".

"She wanted to crush the trade unions, the working class movement; she didn't finish us off but that was what her aim was," said Judith Orr, editor of the left-wing Socialist Worker newspaper. "I'm glad to see the back of her."

Leftist former London mayor Ken Livingstone blamed Thatcher for making many Britons jobless and dependent on welfare: "She decided when she wrote off our manufacturing industry that she could live with 2 or 3 million unemployed," he said.

The present leader of the GMB trade union, Paul Kenny, said she would be remembered for "destructive and divisive policies":

"Her legacy involves the destruction of communities, the elevation of personal greed over social values and legitimizing the exploitation of the weak by the strong," he said.

NORTHERN IRELAND, SOUTH ATLANTIC

In the British province of Northern Ireland, Thatcher is still detested by Irish nationalists for her uncompromising policies towards them, not least her hard line during a hunger strike in 1981 in which 10 prisoners died.

For their part, Irish Republican Army militants came close to killing her in a bomb attack in 1984.

Gerry Adams, who spoke for republicans during much of the IRA's three-decade guerrilla war against British rule, said Thatcher's "espousal of old, draconian, militaristic policies prolonged the war and caused great suffering":

"She embraced censorship, collusion and the killing of citizens by covert operations ... and refused to recognize the rights of citizens to vote for parties of their choice.

South Africa's ruling African National Congress reminded the world that Thatcher had opposed the use of economic sanctions to try to end white-minority rule:

"The ANC was on the receiving end of her policy in terms of refusing to recognize the ANC as the representatives of South Africans and her failure to isolate apartheid after it had been described as a crime against humanity," the party recalled.

Yet to the population of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic, where Thatcher sent British troops to drive out an Argentinian invasion force in 1982, Thatcher is a hero and a liberator - "our Winston Churchill", as one local man put it.

"She was very happy to have restored freedom to the people of the Falkland Islands," said Mike Summers, chairman of the islands' eight-member legislative assembly.

"And the Falklands were always in her heart."

(Additional reporting by Reuters bureaux; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/thatcher-hailed-changing-political-landscape-world-180406100.html

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