Sunday, 30 September 2012

Sampson Sports 2013

Sampson Sports is a small manufacturer of bike frames, components, and accessories, based in Denver, CO. You may not have heard of them, but they stand as one of the very few companies making derailleurs and shifters outside of the Big Three (Shimano, Campagnolo, and SRAM). They were founded by none other than Eric Sampson, a former professional ski racer-turned-ski-binding-manufacturer. He got the cycling bug back in the 1980?s, started his own company, and still runs strong today ? albeit with a much expanded product line.

What does Sampson sell on? What are their key features and benefits? their ?mission statement?, if you will? According to Sampson, he aims to model his company after Honda, selling on extreme value (which he says is not the same thing as a unilaterally cheap price). He clearly has a passion for his business, and is known throughout the industry as a likable and driven guy.

Sampson offers nearly every part for bicycles, except tires and wheels. You can get frames, handlebars, cassettes, brakes, cranks, shifters, bottle cages, and even handlebar tape. The majority of his products are manufactured in Asia by a handful of factories, which he visits several times a year. Paint for the bike frames is done in-house, as is all complete bike assembly.

I took a tour through their Denver office and showroom, to meet the man and take a look at their products. I?ll have a handful of these products in my hands for testing shortly, and look forward to giving them a fair shake (keep your eyes peeled for a review). For now, enjoy this photo preview of their 2013 product line.

Sampson has a large showroom in Denver, Colorado.

This is a complete bike example of Sampson?s 745 TT model. Frame production is done in Asia, but most are painted in Colorado. Check out this custom silver and purple flame scheme: Sampson?s rear derailleurs feature a 2:1 cable pull, and are compatible with either Sampson?s own shifters, or Shimano 10-speed (105, Ultegra, Dura Ace). The Stratics SL Race cassette is made from a solid block of aluminum. According to Sampson, it is for racing-only and lasts about 1,500 miles. That?s not many, but he?s up-front about what you?re buying. And ? it weighs in at a measly ~90 grams, depending on which size you pick. Compare that to ~135g for the 2012 SRAM Red, or ~150g for Shimano Dura Ace 7900. Who says you can?t buy speed? The cassette receives a unique treatment process to prolong life as much as possible, and it results in a beautiful golden hue. The entire inside is machined out: Sampson is also getting in to a lower price point steel cassette. It features unique textured areas in very specific shift points. Sampson says that these aid in fast an accurate shifting. These are the new 2013 Stratics Carbon pedals: They are cross-compatible with LOOK Keo cleats. The key innovation, according to Sampson, is the fact that the middle of the pedal platform is concave. He mentions that many other similar-style pedals are actually slightly convex, which causes instability and power loss. I can?t personally vouch for this yet, but plan to test a pair of these pedals over the winter.

Note the carved-out platform area:

Sampson calls these EZ Grip Cages. They?re made of a polymer composite material and weigh in at 46 grams each. The design is said to be made for easy bottle entry and exit by the rider, but retain bottles well over potholes and rough pavement. This new brake lever is quite possibly my favorite Sampson product. At first glance, it looks like any old TT-style lever: If you squeeze it, however, you notice an important detail: The cable hole is above the compression plug bolt. Most other internally-routed TT levers feature a hollow bolt through which the cable runs. This presents two problems: 1) Limited leverage, because the cable runs relatively close to the lever?s fulcrum, and 2) Inability to tighten the compression bolt without first removing the cable. The first problem really shows itself on some frames with proprietary hidden TT brakes, which are not always very strong or confidence inspiring. Giving more horsepower can help solve the problem (his levers also feature robust return springs).

The second problem of cable routing can be a hazard when traveling. On more than one occasion, I?ve seen folks open up that bike box at their race, and find out that their TT levers got pushed off to the side during the flight and baggage handling. If your cable runs through the bolt, you must remove the cable, adjust the lever, and reinstall a new cable. On some of the more complicated bike frames, this procedure could require an hour or more of your time (or an emergency trip to the nearest bike shop).

This lever, however, features a simple cutout in the compression plug through which the cable runs. If your lever happens to get mashed off to the side during flight, it is a 15-second fix. Just loosen the bolt, move the lever, and re-tighten it. Bravo!

Sampson has a unique take on the ?bento box?: He intends these to be primarily used for endurance mountain bike racing, where reaching to a back pocket is not always safe or possible while riding on rocky terrain. Sampson makes super light brakes? ?and several models of nice-looking cranks. The man behind the company.

Source: http://www.slowtwitch.com/Products/Sampson_Sports_2013_3110.html

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Ryder Cup golf: Ian Poulter keeps Europeans in the hunt

Medinah, Ill. ? Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley helped stake the Americans to their biggest lead in the Ryder Cup in more than 30 years. Ian Poulter, eyes bulging and fists shaking with every clutch putt, at least gave Europe some big momentum over the final frantic hour Saturday at Medinah.

Right when it looked as if the Americans were a lock to win back the cup, Poulter birdied his last five holes to win a crucial point and keep everyone guessing. Steady chants of "USA! USA!" gave way to snappy serenades of "Ole, Ole" as both sides trudged to the team rooms in darkness to prepare for 12 singles matches on Sunday.

?

Sunday?s TV

Ryder Cup: Singles

10 a.m.

TV ? Ch. 5

The Americans still had a big lead, 10-6. Europe at least had hope.

"The last two putts were massive," European captain Jose Maria Olazabal said after watching Poulter stay undefeated in this Ryder Cup by rolling in one last birdie putt from 12 feet. "That gives us a chance. It?s been done before in the past. Tomorrow is a big day."

Only one team has ever rallied from four points behind on the final day ? the United States in that famous comeback at Brookline in 1999. Olazabal remembers it well. He was in the decisive match when Justin Leonard rolled in a 45-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole.

Is the Spaniard a big believer in fate?

"I believe momentum will come our way," Olazabal said. "Why not tomorrow?"

The final two matches Saturday were a showcase of what the Ryder Cup is all about ? one brilliant shot after another, birdies on every hole, suspense at every turn.

Luke Donald and Sergio Garcia were on the verge of blowing a 4-up lead to hard-charging Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker, hanging on when Donald matched two birdies with Woods, including a tee shot into the 17th that plopped down 2 feet from the cup.

Their 1-up win kept Woods winless for the first time in a Ryder Cup going into Sunday. Woods and Stricker lost all three of their matches, even though Woods made five birdies on the back nine for the second straight day.

story continues below

Woods was thinking more of the big picture.

"Being up four is nice," he said. "We are in a great spot right now to win the cup."

Poulter and Rory McIlroy were 2 down with six holes to play against Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson when McIlroy made a 15-foot birdie putt on the 13th, and Poulter took it from there.

"We had to make birdies, and wow! Five in a row. It was awesome," Poulter said. "I?ve got the world No. 1 at my side, backing me up. It allowed me to hit some golf shots."

The crowd was still buzzing as it filed out of Medinah, and Poulter grinned.

"It?s pretty fun, this Ryder Cup," said Poulter, who raised his career record to 11-3-0.

It?s been plenty fun for the Americans, who for the first time have not lost any of the four sessions since the Ryder Cup switched to the current format in 1979. Mickelson and Bradley were flawless in foursomes, matching a Ryder Cup record for largest margin with a 7-and-6 win over Donald and Lee Westwood.

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Copyright 2012 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/sports/54990916-77/cup-ryder-poulter-win.html.csp

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Friday, 28 September 2012

Quickspin get Alderney licence; Angler Gaming launches new brand ...

Jamie Hinks
September 28, 2012
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news in brief may 2Quickspin has become the latest firm to receive a licence from the Alderney Gambling Control Commission. The AGCC awarded the development studio a core service provider associate licence earlier this week and it gives them the chance to offer their full portfolio of games to any firm operating in the jurisdiction. Following the announcement Daniel Lindberg, the company?s CEO, said: ?I am very pleased that we have been granted this certificate by the Commission. Apart from it being a seal of credibility for our company, it enables us to offer our state of the art content to some of the largest gambling operators in the world.?

Angler Gaming have launched a new brand aimed at certain parts of the lucrative Latin American market. The Betsson subsidiary?s CasinoEstrella.com site is looking to capitalize on the Mexican and Chilean markets in particular and will offer over 100 casino games in total. Speaking upon the launch of the new site, the company?s CEO Hans Dahlgren said that they would be expanding into ?other market in the region during Q4?.

NYX Interactive?s new mobile casino suite ?Move? has been released with Leovegas the brand?s first sign-up. ?Move? powered by the NYX Open Gaming System (OGS) lets clients access a number of casino games that have been specifically designed for people on the move. Leovegas will get five games from the NYX portfolio including The Snake Charmer, Big Foot and Doctor Love. David Flynn, CEO of NYX Interactive commented: ?This is yet another new chapter in the unfolding book of NYX as we premiere our first set of game titles for mobile and tablet devices. Via NYX OGS our mobile content is seamlessly delivered to our licensees, without the need for any upgrades or changes on their behalf.?

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Source: http://calvinayre.com/2012/09/28/business/quickspin-get-alderney-licence/

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The Dark Knight Rises Blu-ray officially set for December 4th, limited edition Bat Cowl revealed (Update)

The Dark Knight Rises Bluray officially set for December 4th, limited edition Bat cowl revealed

After false starting a couple of weeks ago, the Blu-ray trailer for The Dark Knight Rises is back, and Entertainment Weekly has heard from Warner Bros. that December 4th is the official release date. Also on display from EW is this limited edition Bat Cowl packaging which will be available at launch. While there's not a full spec list, extras will include a Batmobile-focused documentary and more than a dozen featurettes about going behind the scenes of the movie with Christopher Nolan and his team. We expect to see more details soon, for now just check out the trailer embedded after the break.

Update: The press release with all the details and an image of the Blu-ray box art are out, posted by TheHDRoom. While it's not all listed on Amazon yet where the prices will likely be lower, the standard Blu-ray edition has an MSRP of $35.99, while the Bat Cowl Limited Edition's tag is $39.99. Additionally, fans can nab the whole trilogy in the The Dark Knight Trilogy Limited Edition Giftset which has a price of $52.99, although they might want to wait until 2013 when The Dark Knight Trilogy Ultimate Collector's Edition will arrive. Got all that? Check after the break for the list of extras plus the box art.

Continue reading The Dark Knight Rises Blu-ray officially set for December 4th, limited edition Bat Cowl revealed (Update)

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The Dark Knight Rises Blu-ray officially set for December 4th, limited edition Bat Cowl revealed (Update) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Sep 2012 23:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/27/the-dark-knight-rises-blu-ray-officially-set-for-december-4th-l/

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Who's watching? 3-D TV is no hit with viewers

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Phil Orlins knows everything about producing TV in three dimensions. The ESPN producer has captured the undulating greens of Augusta National and the flying motor bikes of the X-Games for ESPN's 3-D channel. But he can only guess how well his shows resonate with viewers. That's because 3-D audiences are so small they can't be measured by Nielsen's rating system.

"The feedback on The Masters was fast and furious. You could go on Twitter at any moment, and there'd be comments coming in every minute about 3-D coverage," said Orlins while giving a tour of a production truck at this summer's X-Games. "But then you go to some other events where it's pretty quiet."

Orlins' problem is that fewer than 115,000 American homes are tuned into 3-D channels at any one time. That's less than a hundredth of the 20.2 million-strong audience that saw television's highest-rated show, "NCIS," this week. 3-D viewership is so tiny that The Nielsen Co.'s methods are unable to capture any meaningful data about viewers' programming preferences.

ESPN 3D is one of nine 3-D channels that launched in the years following the late 2009 release of James Cameron's "Avatar." The 3-D blockbuster won three Oscars and ranks as the highest-grossing film of all time, garnering $2.8 billion at the global box office.

"Avatar" was supposed to change everything. Enthusiastic television executives expected the movie to spur 3-D's transition to American living rooms, boosting sales of TVs and, they hoped, getting people to pay for 3-D channels.

That never happened.

Only 2 percent of TVs in the U.S. are able to show 3-D programming, according to the most recent data from research firm IHS Screen Digest. That's about 6.9 million sets out of 331 million. After this year's Christmas buying rush, IHS expects the number of 3-D-capable televisions in homes to jump to 19.3 million, mostly because many new larger TVs automatically include the technology. If you're in the market for a big-screen TV, you're likely to wind up with 3-D, too. Even so, 3-D TVs will amount to fewer than 6 percent of all sets.

"We've learned with every passing day that we were ahead of the curve further than we thought we were," said Bryan Burns, the business leader for ESPN 3D. "We hit the on-ramp earlier than we realized at the time."

At movie theaters, 3-D has attracted lots of viewers. But not at home. There's a supply problem: 3-D TV is expensive to produce, so there's not a lot of it. Of the content out there, some isn't very good. There's an equipment problem: Some people find the special glasses required for 3-D TV uncomfortable. And there's a money problem: Many wonder if it's worth the extra cost.

"It was kind of fascinating to me, but it's not all there," said Tim Carter, a graphic designer in Sarasota, Fla., who bought a large 3-D TV with other high-end features last year for about $1,800.

Today, the average 42-inch 3-D television costs about $900, according to IHS ? about $200 more than similar-sized, more basic models. A 3-D TV tends be more expensive because 3-D is one feature common to TVs with bigger screens. It is usually grouped with other upgrades that matter more to consumers, including motion-smoothing technology and light-emitting diodes that are more energy-efficient and display color contrast better than traditional liquid crystal display sets.

"There's very little direct consumer demand" for 3-D, said Tom Morrod, a TV technology analyst with IHS in London. "They don't see a value with it. Consumers associate value right now with screen size and very few other features."

A 3-D TV contains a high-tech chip and software that translates 3-D video feeds into the right- and left-eye images that create the 3-D effect for people wearing the right glasses. In some cases, special glasses can cost an extra $50 or so.

Watching home movies on disc requires a 3-D Blu-ray player that can cost another $120, and each set of 3-D Blu-ray discs costs about $27, according to IHS.

TV distributors now don't charge specifically for channels like ESPN 3D. But 3-D channels are only "free" if you're already paying up for a pricy package. They're bundled with add-ons like HD service and high-definition digital video recorders. For a DirecTV subscriber, for example, that means $200 high-definition digital video recorder and $10 per month for HD service.

All that for the privilege of watching 3-D at home in your pajamas.

Because of the cost, Carter said he's mainly sampled free 3-D movie trailers provided on-demand by his cable TV company. A trailer for the latest "Transformers" movie didn't make him more enthused. "One of the robots pops out at you, and it felt forced." He said that 3-D effects aren't noticeable much of the time. While he said he's not knocking the technology, he's disappointed with the way it's being used.

Sluggish demand for 3-D on TV has caused programmers to hit pause on rolling out new shows and channels.

In June, DirecTV turned its 24-hour channel, n3D, into a part-time network that only shows special event programming like the Olympics, in part to avoid the heavy use of reruns caused by a lack of new material. Last year, AT&T dropped ESPN 3D from its lineup, saying the $10 per month cost to subscribers wasn't justified given low demand.

So far, ESPN 3D is the most aggressive network in terms of shooting original 3-D productions. It has about 140 per year. It also has the widest distribution, according to research firm SNL Kagan, no doubt because popular sports network ESPN includes it in negotiations with distributors. Though few own the hardware to watch the channel, ESPN 3D now pipes into 60 million U.S. homes.

Without extra subscriber fees, it could be difficult to make a big business out of 3-D production, especially because it's more expensive than 2-D. Every 3-D camera set-up requires two cameras. They have to be mounted on a special computerized rig that aligns them. And someone in a back room has to adjust a knob that determines how cross-eyed the lenses are. That can require twice the manpower for the same camera position, boosting costs when revenues aren't going up very much.

Advertising, the other pillar of the TV channel business, is also hampered because of the lack of audience data.

That has resulted in an odd arrangement. Companies that run advertisements on ESPN 3D, like movie studios, actually have their ads played a second time in 2-D on ESPN and other channels so they can meet their goal of reaching a measurable number of people, Burns said. That uses up 2-D commercial airtime that might have been sold to other customers.

While he wouldn't say if it's profitable, Burns said ESPN 3D is still a revenue-generating business that is "doing well," because of how the network accounts for revenue from distributors and advertisers.

3-D TV is not a complete bust. Burns and others expect that as more TVs are sold with the capability, the more viewership will grow, just like it did for high-definition sets and programs a few years ago.

"It took five years before reporting systems caught up and we knew who actually had the service," Burns said of the launch of HD. "It's not unfamiliar territory to us. We've been down this road before."

For TV signal providers, carrying 3-D channels before they really become mainstream wins them points with their savviest technophile customers, the kind who jumped on the HD bandwagon early ?a decade ago.

In many ways, though, the comparison to HD isn't a good one.

Watching 3-D is a problem for about 6 percent of Americans with certain eye problems, according to Dr. Dominick Maino, a professor with the Illinois College of Optometry. They simply can't see in 3-D or suffer dizziness or nausea when watching.

And it won't get the same push that HD got by the hundreds of TV stations that switched to high-definition broadcasts in the last few years. Nor will it benefit from the nation's switch from analog to digital TV broadcasts in 2009.

Another awkward point: Some people just don't like 3-D. In a phone survey last November of 1,300 Americans who had seen 3-D TV, Leichtman Research Group found that 38 percent rated it poorly at 3 or below on a scale of 10. That's twice as many as rated it excellently, at 8 or higher.

That's a knock against 3-D that HD didn't have.

"It's one of those examples where seeing isn't believing, thus far," said Bruce Leichtman, president of Leichtman Research. "That's certainly not a great place to start."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/whos-watching-3-d-tv-no-hit-viewers-131822985--finance.html

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Google data center in Oklahoma to get 48MW of wind power, boost renewable energy in the Sooner state

Google data center in Oklahoma to get 48MW of wind power, boost renewable energy in the Sooner stateGoogle has made a point of relying on renewable resources for its data centers whenever possible, even down to the cooling. It hasn't had quite as unique an arrangement as what it's planning for its data center in Oklahoma, though. The search firm wants to supply its Mayes County location with 48MW of wind energy from Apex's Canadian Hills Wind Project, but it isn't buying power directly from the source. Instead, it's making a deal with the Grand River Dam Authority, a utility, to purchase the clean power on top of what's already supplied from the GRDA at present. The deal should keep the data center on the environmentally friendly side while giving it room to grow. Wind power will come online at Google's facility once the Canadian Hills effort is up and running later in 2012; hopefully, that gives us enough time to better understand why there's a Canadian River and Canadian Hills to be found in the southern United States.

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Google data center in Oklahoma to get 48MW of wind power, boost renewable energy in the Sooner state originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Sep 2012 01:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Podium Pro Helps You Go All Zig Ziglar Up In The Theatre

Screen Shot 2012-09-26 at 10.43.16 AMWhat do you get when you put a Navy SEAL, a pastor, and a graphic designer in the same room? While I'd wager you'd get some pretty badass Jesus comics out of the collaboration, what you really get is Podium Pro, an app that helps speakers of all persuasions give better presentations. The free app lets you view speakers notes while giving presentations. While this doesn't seem like rocket science, folks are usually forced to futz around in Pages or Keynote on the iPad to attend to speakers notes, which can get frustrating. In fact, Podium Pro is an entire system, allowing you to video your performance, keep presentations in a remote Dropbox folder, and even time your presentations. It works on iOS.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/a3ohdkMKPSI/

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Thursday, 27 September 2012

Is Kickstarter Bound To Stop Kickstarting?

Kickstarter used to be the idyllic startup. It was the embodiment of the American dream, supporting everyday people with big ideas by leveraging the small contributions of other everyday people who believed in good ideas.

This year, Kickstarter had its first million dollar campaign. Quickly thereafter, it had its first $8 million campaign. Suddenly, the scrappy startup was raising and investing funds with the powerful savvy of a venture capital firm. And expectations grew.

Earlier this month, NPR published a story entitled "When A Kickstarter Campaign Fails, Does Anyone Get the Money Back?" Near the top it contains a telling nugget about how the game has changed now that such big money is flowing into the company, and entrepreneurs have taken over a domain once dominated by artists hoping to scrounge up a few bucks for an eccentric project:

"A handful of entrepreneurs have raised millions of dollars more than they'd expected, by selling the concept of products they have yet to make. But financial backers have no clear way of getting a refund if the young businesses fail to deliver."

Kickstarter responded with a blog post of its own titled "Kickstarter Is Not a Store, in which the company announced changes intended to remind everyone that supporting a Kickstarter venture is very much not the same thing as shopping online.

So who is right? Neither. Sadly, this looks to be the inevitable evolution for a startup that's become a full-fledged company.

The (National) Public (Radio) Was Naive


Kickstarter has never defined itself as a store. It never promised anyone the opportunity to do anything but invest in an idea?and take on the inherent risk that the idea will flop. Still, NPR asked if a failed project could generate a refund, pointing out the fact that Kickstarter didn't even have a method to make this reverse transaction possible.

Investment comes with a whole lot of risk. That's why investing is something that investors do. And that's why, beyond a 401k or a maybe a timeshare, most of the public doesn't get involved in investments. But Kickstarter did something new by scaling investment to the common consumer's level. The company mitigated investment risk by dividing it up between many small donors, allowing big ideas from small startups to thrive. Kickstarter offered us all the chance to take a risk. The reward wouldn't be a big IPO payoff, but a new iPhone case or smarter espresso maker. For a $50 investment that could garner a $100 product, that certainly seems fair.

But that reward still carries its risks. With its special gifts to donors of large amounts, and the promise that a product will happen if it reaches its Kickstarter goal, investing on a site feels a lot different than investing in the stock. Fundamentally, though, it isn't. Does the New York Stock Exchange offer refunds for bad investments? Neither does Kickstarter. Do venture capitalists get their cash back when a cocky CEO blows it all on chocolate fountains and Herman Miller chairs? Neither do Kickstarter investors.

The Unfortunate Response


Kickstarter tried to respond to the NPR uproar by reinforcing its core values, and defining exactly what it is (and isn't). But to me, there's already been negative fallout from the company's reaction to bad press.

Among the new policies that Kickstarter introduced is a prohibition on product simulations and renders?designers can only show what they have at the time of listing. Presumably, the idea behind this new rule is to prevent Kickstarter listers from baiting donors with pie-in-the-sky demonstrations that they could never realize.

The problem is that showing only what you have today is a lousy way to get investors for any idea. How would Silicon Valley have viewed Facebook or Twitter if it didn't imagine scale, bigger images or mobile apps? Providing context to a vision is key in a sell.

And more than that, it's the key to getting people excited about an idea. I read Kickstarter because it's a positive atmosphere?it's the American dream on a website. But now, as part of these latest changes, Kickstarter has promised to include a "risks and challenges" section on each pitch, in which the lister is supposed to be realistic about the hurdles they'll face in actually developing the product or project. As with the ban on simulations, it's easy to see the logic?forcing potential Kickstarters to be realistic with their donors-to-be. But it greatly alters the tone of this fantastically idealistic service.

It also brings up the question, since Kickstarter is prescreening these offers anyway, couldn't risk be an acknowledged, filtered part of the service?

Who Actually Needs Kickstarter?


The real cost of these changes isn't disclaimers or uglier Kickstarter pages. It's that, ultimately, if Kickstarter caves to the expectation to further mitigate risk, the products that dominate the site won't be those by garage tinkerers and dreamers, but those by big names who probably could have realized their dreams without Kickstarter's help.

A perfect example might be the video game Double Fine Adventure, Kickstarter's first million dollar campaign. A large part of this campaign's success was a plea from gaming-god Tim Schafer, a beloved icon of the 30-year-old male demographic that grew up with his point-and-click adventures and now rules the Internet. Could Schaefer have made his game without Kickstarter? It's likely?he's known for getting the unfundable funded. (But undoubtedly Kickstarter did allow Schaefer to sidestep the headaches of publishers.

Kickstarter's most successful campaign to date, the Ouya Android-based game console that raised over $8 million, was backed by designer Yves Behar, a borderline household name (in the kind of households who would embrace that project.) Behar's association gave the project an instantaneous halo effect, the kind of "you can trust us" reinforcement that you'd get from attaching an established name onto any fledgling enterprise. But Behar, like Schafer, is no stranger to wrangling investors when he needs them. If Behar made this console his life's mission, this console would have been made without Kickstarter.

Lastly, let's revisit that new ban on concept imagery. It might seem like such a trivial matter at first glance, but its implication is that inventors will be pushed to share more and more completed products as opposed to far-out cool ideas. Research and development is the huge cost behind many groundbreaking products. If an inventor has already done it, what do they need the kickstart for, then?

Breeding the Familiar


Maybe the best analog of all is Louie CK. He released his latest comedy special, not through the help of HBO or Comedy Central, but through his own website, available for a $5 DRM-free download. It was heralded as both brilliant and obvious?a disruptive approach for creatives everywhere. And it is... except for the fact that if Louie CK weren't already one of the top acts in the world, he couldn't have pulled off this stunt.

Kickstarter has been praised for its openness, for championing the underdog. But in an era when campaigns grow larger and scrutiny gets tighter, it's the sure-bets that Kickstarter and its users will back, not the true upstarts on their first tour.

And all of a sudden, Kickstarter really will become a store, full of products from people you already know.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/news/is-kickstarter-bound-to-stop-kickstarting-13098612?src=rss

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Wednesday, 26 September 2012

U.S. court revives ex-Chrysler executives' age bias claims

(Reuters) - Hundreds of former Chrysler LLC executives claiming they lost retirement benefits because of age bias can sue the company's former parent Daimler AG, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Tuesday.

More than 450 former auto executives have said they lost retirement benefits in Chrysler's 2009 bankruptcy.

The decision by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals partially revives a lawsuit against Germany's Daimler and a unit of State Street Corp, the trustee of the former executives' retirement plan.

The appeals court upheld the dismissal of other claims of breaches of fiduciary duties by the defendants.

Mayer Morganroth, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said reinstatement of the age discrimination claims would allow his clients to pursue "hundreds of millions of dollars" in damages.

Daimler spokeswoman Andrea Berg said the company was still reviewing the decision but was pleased that the appeals court had upheld most of the lower court's ruling. "In any event, Daimler intends to continue to defend this case vigorously," she said.

A State Street representative did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The former executives claimed that following the bankruptcy, they lost much or all of their benefits under a supplemental executive retirement plan.

They also claimed Daimler and State Street hid the true state of Chrysler's finances before selling its majority stake in the company to the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP in 2007.

Daimler owned Chrysler from 1998 to 2007 and kept a minority interest in the No. 3 U.S. automaker when Cerberus took over in 2007.

Cerberus Capital was the majority owner and ran Chrysler until 2009, when the company was restructured in a government-sponsored bankruptcy that led to its management control by Italy's Fiat SpA. Fiat since has become majority owner of Chrysler Group LLC.

The former executives claimed Daimler discriminated against them in 2005 and 2006 when the company and State Street used retirement plan trust assets to buy annuities for some active Chrysler executives and selected retirees to protect them from future shortfalls.

The plaintiffs said that because the company did not also buy them annuities, they suffered when the retirement plan did not survive the bankruptcy intact.

In June 2011, the lawsuit was dismissed entirely by U.S. District Judge Julian Cook in Detroit.

Tuesday's decision was issued by a three-judge panel of the appeals court, which sits in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In dismissing the claims over fiduciary duty, the appeals court said the plaintiffs' allegations, which arose out of Michigan state law, were trumped by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act, a federal law regulating employee benefit plans.

In Tuesday's decision, Judge Jeffrey Sutton wrote that the state law-based claims of age discrimination were not preempted by the ERISA.

He also found that the discrimination claims were not "implausible" because the executives who got the annuities were younger than the ones who did not.

The case is Loffredo v. Daimler AG, 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, 11-1824.

(Reporting By Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Martha Graybow)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-court-revives-ex-chrysler-executives-age-bias-204906531--finance.html

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Pentagon calls for steps to prevent sexual assault

By Jeff Black, NBC News

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has ordered all military branches to review policies and procedures in an effort to curb sexual assaults in basic training and to improve how officers and senior enlisted leaders are educated and respond to reported incidents.

The goal of the latest initiatives, Pentagon press secretary George Little said, is more uniform and comprehensive training across all armed forces.


"It is clear that the department must continue to do more to prevent sexual assault, especially in initial military training environments," Little said. "Our newest service members are the most vulnerable and most likely to experience a sexual assault."

Panetta directives, which come less than six months after the Pentagon revised how sexual assaults are reported, includes an assessment of how new recruits are trained, who trains them and oversight of instructors. In addition, the department intends to improve training for prospective commanders on sexual assault prevention and response.

Related: Air Force relieves training commander at Lackland over sex scandal

Last year, 3,192 sexual assault were reported across all branches of the military, though the Defense Department says the true number of incidents was closer to 19,000 because most sexual assaults go unreported.

The announcement comes after a number of reports on sexual assaults within the military.

Lackland Air Force Base trainers are under investigation for sexual assaults against 31 recruits. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski speaks with one victim from another case who said she was drugged and raped by a recruiter in Maine, but she felt powerless to fight back.

At Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, at least a dozen instructors were accused of sexually assaulting at least 31 recruits and 35 instructors have been removed from their posts during the investigation. The Lackland cases were considered in the latest initiatives, Little said.

?The Invisible War?,?? a documentary film released this summer, unveiled more chilling stories from service members who describe a pattern of assault, intimidation and retaliation, and a failure by the military to hold perpetrators accountable for their crimes. The film is highly critical of the military, and in particular the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, which oversees Defense Department policy on sexual assaults.

The review of training will also assess the potential benefits of increasing the number of female instructors.

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"That review will assess initial training in several areas," Little said, "including the selection, training and oversight of instructors and leaders who directly supervise trainees and officer candidates; the ratio of instructors to students; and the ratio of leaders in the chain of command to instructors." It is to be completed by February 2012.

In April, Panetta ordered that sexual complaints be handled by higher ranked officers -- a colonel or officer of equal rank -- to improve accountability. In the past, a service member?s local unit commander would evaluate charges and decide whether to pursue disciplinary action.?

Service members who report a sexual assault also were given the option to quickly transfer from their unit or installation to get away from an alleged assailant.?

Greg Jacob, policy director for the Service Women's Action Network (SWAN), an advocacy group for women in the military, told NBC News that the latest Pentagon moves are a step in the right direction, but fall short of having unbiased lawyers determine whether sexual assault cases should be prosecuted.

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"We're really excited to see the secretary stepping out with leadership, saying 'OK I want to get a snapshot to see what's going in these schools'," Jacob said of the training review. "But as long as commanders are making those decisions you're never going to have completely unbiased dispositions coming out that command -- unless they kick it over to a criminal prosecutor."

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Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/25/14100631-pentagon-orders-new-steps-to-prevent-sexual-assault-in-the-ranks?lite

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Iran says it blocks Gmail based on court decision

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Tuesday, 25 September 2012

Finding the statistical fingerprints of election thieves

ScienceDaily (Sep. 25, 2012) ? The art of swaying an election is as old as democracy itself. Strategies like ballot stuffing, redistricting, voter venue switching, and temporary traffic detours have skewed regional results, and sometimes determined the winner.

While some tactics get exposed the old fashioned way -- by angry voters or investigations -- others don't. But new research suggests some kinds of election fraud leave a trace in the voting data.

In a paper appearing September 24 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team led by Stefan Thurner brought science to the problem.

"We got into this by chance, when a Russian colleague brought us the 2011 Russian Duma-election data and asked us to take a look," says Thurner. "From the first look we were all pretty shocked, and decided to take a second look."

Thurner, a Santa Fe Institute External Professor who heads the Section for Complex Systems at the Medical University of Vienna, and colleagues looked for two kinds of rigging: incremental fraud, where votes for one party are kept in the ballot box while those for the other candidates are tossed, and extreme fraud, which shows 100 percent voter turnout in a district, all voting for the same party.

The team examined data on number of eligible voters, valid votes, and votes for the winning candidate (or party) from a dozen recent elections around the world. By comparing the distributions of votes for the winning candidate against turnout numbers, they found that rigged elections show a different voting pattern than fair ones.

In fair elections, a nation's voting pattern tends to feature one cluster, showing a general trend of voter turnout and vote for the victorious party (though some nations' regional voter preferences can distort it). Rigged ones show a cluster, but with a smear of votes toward the upper right for incremental fraud. Extreme fraud has a second, smaller, completely separate cluster at the top right corner, signifying up to 100 percent turnout and votes for the winner.

Next, the team developed a model to detect how much forged or manipulated results affected the outcome, then ran through all possibilities of both fraud types playing 0 percent to 100 percent of a part in the election, and compared those to actual data to determine their prevalence.

Among the countries studied, data from recent elections in Russia and Uganda showed both the smear of incremental fraud and the second cluster of extreme fraud, with up to 64 percent of districts being affected in Russia's 2011 vote and 39 percent in 2012. Other countries' data showed little to no such trends.

"I think it could contribute to the benefit of democracy if for every nationwide election on this planet, the raw data is made available on say a United Nations or OECD database," says Thurner. "One could then think of a set of quality standards and checks for any election -- like the ones we presented -- or better ones."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Santa Fe Institute.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. P. Klimek, Y. Yegorov, R. Hanel, S. Thurner. Statistical detection of systematic election irregularities. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2012; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1210722109

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

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/XsRpLrBGRRg/120925152137.htm

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