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MallWeGo is launching at the Disrupt NY 2013 Startup Alley today with a social, gaming shopping experience for web and mobile. The company has built a virtual world for socialising with friends in avatar form, which looks like a simplified Second Life or The Sims, but the kicker is it's built for ecommerce, with a virtual mall where people can buy real-world products.
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Level Global Investors LP agreed to pay $21.5 million to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil charges that its co-founder and an analyst engaged in insider trading, in a case that caused the demise of the hedge fund firm.
The case against Level Global, which once invested $4 billion, arose from allegations that co-founder Anthony Chiasson and analyst Spyridon "Sam" Adondakis engaged in repeated illegal trading in computer maker Dell Inc and chipmaker Nvidia Corp shares in 2008 and 2009.
It is part of the broader government probe into alleged insider trading that was unveiled in 2009, and which has led to several dozen convictions and guilty pleas.
A federal jury in Manhattan convicted Chiasson on securities fraud and conspiracy counts in December, and he faces sentencing on May 13. Adondakis pleaded guilty in January 2012 and testified against his former boss.
"The insider trading at Level Global was hardly an isolated event - it occurred repeatedly, and involved multiple companies and multiple quarterly announcements," Sanjay Wadhwa, senior associate director of the SEC's regional office in New York, said in a statement.
Monday's settlement calls for Level Global to give up $10.08 million of fees linked to the alleged scheme, pay a $10.08 million fine and pay $1.35 million in interest.
Level Global neither admitted nor denied the charges, and the settlement requires court approval.
Lawyers for Level Global did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Level Global closed in 2011 after an FBI raid, and the Greenwich, Connecticut-based firm is winding down its business.
Todd Newman, a former portfolio manager at Diamondback Capital Management, was also convicted of insider trading at the same trial as Chiasson. Newman faces a May 2 sentencing, and Diamondback in December announced its own plan to close.
The SEC said its civil case against Chiasson is continuing. Adondakis has settled with the regulator.
The case is SEC v. Adondakis et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 12-00409.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in Washington, D.C. and Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Gary Hill and Chris Reese)
Apr. 25, 2013 ? Researchers previously have shown that a depth camera system, such as Kinect, can be combined with a projector to turn almost any surface into a touchscreen. But now researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have demonstrated how these touch-based interfaces can be created almost at will, with the wave of a hand.
CMU's WorldKit system enables someone to rub the arm of a sofa to "paint" a remote control for her TV or swipe a hand across an office door to post his calendar from which subsequent users can "pull down" an extended version. These ad hoc interfaces can be moved, modified or deleted with similar gestures, making them highly personalized.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon's Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII) used a ceiling-mounted camera and projector to record room geometries, sense hand gestures and project images on desired surfaces.
But Robert Xiao, an HCII doctoral student, said WorldKit does not require such an elaborate installation. "Depth sensors are getting better and projectors just keep getting smaller," he said. "We envision an interactive 'light bulb' -- a miniaturized device that could be screwed into an ordinary light fixture and pointed or moved to wherever an interface is needed."
The system does not require prior calibration, automatically adjusting its sensing and image projection to the orientation of the chosen surface. Users can summon switches, message boards, indicator lights and a variety of other interface designs from a menu. Ultimately, the WorldKit team anticipates that users will be able to custom design interfaces with gestures.
Xiao developed WorldKit with Scott Hudson, an HCII professor, and Chris Harrison, a Ph.D. student. They will present their findings April 30 at CHI 2013, the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, in Paris.
"People have talked about creating smart environments, where sensors, displays and computers are interwoven," said Harrison, who will join the HCII faculty this summer. "But usually, that doesn't amount to much besides mounting a camera up on the ceiling. The room may be smart, but it has no outlet for that smartness. With WorldKit, we say forget touchscreens and go straight to projectors, which can make the room truly interactive."
Though WorldKit now focuses on interacting with surfaces, the researchers anticipate future work may enable users to interact with the system in free space. Likewise, higher resolution depth cameras may someday enable the system to sense detailed finger gestures. In addition to gestures, the system also could be designed to respond to voice commands.
"We're only just getting to the point where we're considering the larger questions," Harrison said, noting a multitude of applications in the home, office, hospitals, nursing homes and schools have yet to be explored.
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CAIRO (AP) ? During a meeting in a Black Sea resort city, Egypt's president and members of his government turned to Russian President Vladimir Putin and asked for a sizable loan, according to a Putin aide.
Egypt's Mohammed Morsi appealed to Moscow and Cairo's past ties, recalling how the former Soviet Union stepped in to finance the building of the Aswan High Dam in the 1950s after the United States abruptly withdrew from the project, according to Russian media.
Still, the Russians' response seemed rather equivocal: We'll talk later.
Egypt has been knocking on doors around the region seeking billions of dollars in loans, bond purchases and grants, trying to fill rapidly draining coffers so it can keep power stations running and bakeries churning out cheap bread for the country's millions of poor.
The drive appears to have accelerated ahead of the summer, when the country's fragile electricity network often breaks down under increased energy use and when officials have predicted a drop in wheat supplies.
Several states ? including Qatar and Libya ? have responded in recent weeks. But strikingly, a few countries have balked, wary of pouring money into Egypt's worsening economy without some political stability after two years of turmoil since the fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
Moreover, economists worry that Morsi's government is relying on an unsustainable policy, scrambling for foreign cash as a temporary cushion that allows it to put off major ? and highly unpopular ? economic reforms and avoid compromise with its political opponents.
The most crucial piece of aid, a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, has been delayed by months of negotiations over how Egypt will reduce its massive system of subsidies, which the poor rely on for cheap fuel and food but which suck up large portions of the budget. The government has taken some limited steps, but many economists believe it is postponing extensive reforms until after parliament elections to avoid austerity measures that could hurt Morsi's majority Muslim Brotherhood party at the polls.
The problem is: No date has been set for elections, and they won't be held until the fall at the earliest. That could mean months of economic limbo, with foreign lenders and donors reluctant to give unless there is a clear economic plan. Securing the IMF loan is considered key to boosting investors' confidence in Egypt and unlocking further aid.
In the meantime, the government has been seeking injections of cash.
Overall, Egypt has sought or is in talks for more than $30 billion since the fall of Mubarak ? the vast majority since Morsi was inaugurated in June, according to a compilation by The Associated Press of what has been announced. In an email, an official in the president's office could not confirm exact numbers but said the figure is "close to accurate." The official, who was not authorized to talk to reporters and spoke on condition of anonymity, did not give further comment on economic policy.
The search for cash has opened Morsi's government to embarrassing opposition taunts that it is begging.
After Morsi and his team returned from Russia, his minister of industry and trade this week denied they asked Moscow for a loan, despite the Putin aide's public description of the closed-door meeting.
"Egypt does not beg anyone for aid," Hatem Saleh said. "What has been reported in the media is not worth responding to."
Egypt's need for funds is dire. After the 2011 uprising that toppled Mubarak, foreign investment in Egypt shriveled and tourism ? a top revenue source ? took a heavy blow. Neither has recovered since, with investors and tourists still scared away by the country's unrest and political uncertainty.
With revenues down, the government has been burning through its foreign currency reserves, which have fallen to just $13.4 billion, a third of the pre-uprising level. Much of that has gone to propping up the currency and importing fuel and wheat for the subsidy system. Egypt spends some $14.5 billion a year in subsidizing fuel and $4 billion in food subsidies, the bulk of which goes to bread. Nearly half of Egypt's 90 million people live near or below the poverty line of $2 a day.
Egypt seems to be "reaching out to others as a backstop" until the IMF deal is sealed, said economist William Jackson of the London-based consultancy Capital Economics. He said there is "a real lack of clarity" on what it has received from other countries.
This month, oil-rich Qatar ? a longtime ally of the Brotherhood ? promised $3 billion, on top of the $5 billion it has already given Morsi's government. Libya announced this month it has deposited $2 billion in Egypt's Central Bank.
Egypt asked Iraq for $4 billion in March, but Baghdad declined, judging it "too risky," according to an Iraqi official who spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to talk to reporters. Egyptian officials have declined confirmation of the request, saying only that discussions are ongoing with Iraq.
In Russia, Putin aide Yuri Ushakov was quoted in local press saying Egypt asked last week for a loan that "was not small." The two sides agreed to "get in touch about it," he said.
Turkey in September promised $2 billion in loans, half of which has been delivered, and Saudi Arabia gave around $1.5 billion in loans and grants.
"Propping up the budget this way only serves to artificially cushion the Muslim Brotherhood and allows them to delay an economic reform plan," economic expert Farah Halime wrote in her blog Rebel Economy. Without the funds, "the Brotherhood would be forced to be more conciliatory toward opposition groups and find compromises."
Morsi last fall reached a deal with the European Union to provide $6.5 billion over the next two years, mostly in loans that EU officials said would be directed at development projects. But parts of the package depend on Egypt reaching a deal with the IMF.
In recent days, the IMF and Egypt have given more hopeful signals. The presidency said Wednesday it expects a deal soon.
But both Egypt's largest investment bank EFG-Hermes and Capital Economics are skeptical, saying they did not expect it until after elections.
Egypt and the IMF were close to a deal in December, but Morsi quickly rescinded planned tax hikes and other measures in the face of public outcry. A burst of deadly street protests further set back the economy, forcing the IMF and Egypt to revise forecasts.
"We understand how important the IMF deal is," Mohammed Gouda, a member of the Brotherhood's economic committee, told The Associated Press. "We don't want loans or aid ... We want investments."
Economists at EFG-Hermes criticized the reliance on loans and aid to bridge the gap.
Such "last-minute, unstructured support further increases moral hazard risk," they said in a recent report. The aid is "making us less optimistic about the Egyptian authorities' ability and willingness to introduce a series of structural reforms in the short term to avert a balance of payments shock."
Still, Halime argues that loans and aid that go to actual development projects ? as opposed to just filling the budget hole ? should not be held up until the politics are worked out. Otherwise, she told AP, "you are waiting on Egypt's president to solve the problems while there is a society here that needs assistance now."
___
Associated Press writers Max Seddon in Moscow and Don Melvin in Brussels contributed to this report.
Measles cases in south Wales outbreak climb to 942 Figure for greater Swansea area rises by 56 as experts warn epidemic shows no sign of easingMeasles cases in south Wales have jumped by 56 in two days as experts warn the outbreak shows no sign of ending.
DAMASCUS (Reuters) - U.S. support for Syrian rebels may lead to more attacks on American soil like those of September 11, said a senior Syrian official who warned that Islamist fighters would spread "the fire of terrorism" around the world.
Western powers are alarmed at al Qaeda militants joining a revolt that began two years ago with rallies for democracy and President Bashar al-Assad has seized on that unease; now, 10 days after the Boston Marathon bombings, Syria's deputy foreign minister told Reuters that U.S. aid to the rebels may backfire.
"Once the fire of terrorism spreads in Syria it will go everywhere in the world," Faisal Mekdad said in an interview.
Referring to foreign jihadists whose presence has made the United States and European allies wary of arming Syrian rebels, he said: "These chickens will go back to roost where they came from because encouraging terrorism definitely backfires ... Once these terrorists succeed in Syria, they will go everywhere."
Speaking in fluent English at the heavily guarded white, stone-clad complex in central Damascus which houses the Foreign Ministry and prime minister's offices, Mekdad drew a comparison, made also by Assad himself, with the U.S.-backed Muslim holy war against Soviet occupiers in Afghanistan that fostered al Qaeda.
And asked whether the Boston bombings, blamed on radicalized Muslim immigrants, might change American views of a Syrian conflict that Assad has long painted as a war on terrorism, he replied: "I hope the American administration will remember again the September 11 attack - which we strongly condemned in Syria - and not repeat these policies which encourage terrorism."
Of 37 nationalities of "terrorist" he said were fighting in Syria, many were European, Mekdad said, including some from Russia's Chechnya region, ancestral home of the Boston suspects.
Assad's critics have argued that he himself is paying a price for helping Islamists from Syria and elsewhere - letting them cross into Iraq to fight U.S. forces there; some of those seasoned fighters have now joined the campaign to overthrow him.
Like other senior officials interviewed lately in Damascus, Mekdad projected a breezy confidence in Syrian forces' ability to win the civil war and denied the rebels were gaining ground.
While condemning support for the mainly Sunni Muslim rebels from Sunni neighbors such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, as well as the Western powers, he said his government enjoyed broad international support, not limited to Russia or to Iran, whose Shi'ite branch of Islam is close to Assad's Alawite minority.
"I would like to say, with all confidence, that all Syria is controlled by the government but there are places where armed groups have been armed, financed, by certain circles - namely Qatar, Saudi Arabia, France and the UK and other European countries - who due to logistical reasons may control this or that part of Syria," he said. "But this is moving every day."
A man living near the Foreign Ministry, who did not want to be identified, told Reuters the complex had been attacked four times in recent months, twice with mortars and twice by men firing machineguns: "We are very frightened," he said, recalling how he took cover during the last mortar attack 10 days ago.
Asked when the government might win, Mekdad said it was combating "terrorist groups and usually in all those countries which have suffered the plague of terrorism it takes time".
"Once this support from neighboring and European countries ceases we can easily deal with it," said Mekdad, who hails from Deraa where protests began in March 2011 after teenagers were jailed for pro-democracy graffiti inspired by the Arab Spring.
He cited apparent success in offensives in Homs and near the western border, where rebels say Lebanese Hezbollah fighters are supporting Syrian troops. Going was also slow, he said, due to "the care practiced by the government with civilians".
The United Nations has said more than 70,000 people, have been killed and many countries have condemned shelling and aerial bombing by Syrian forces of residential areas.
CHEMICAL "LIE"
Mekdad dismissed Western and Israeli claims that government forces had used chemical weapons, saying it was a "big lie" that Syria was blocking a U.N. investigation into the allegations.
He said Damascus had an initial agreement with the U.N. to look into claims that chemical weapons were used in the Khan al-Assal area near Aleppo but matters were complicated when the U.N. wanted to broaden the probe to include other allegations:
"We are ready to receive immediately the team to investigate the case of Aleppo, to provide all the logistics, help and support and protection and it is the responsibility of the U.N. secretariat if this delegation doesn't arrive in Syria."
A former Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, Mekdad accused Britain and France of trying to complicate the U.N. investigation to prevent evidence emerging of rebel use of chemical shells, but did not offer evidence for the allegation.
The United Nations wants inspectors to investigate claims of chemical weapons use in Homs in December; France and Britain say the mission should look into a third alleged case in Damascus.
President Barack Obama has warned Assad that deploying chemical weapons would cross a "red line" that could prompt the United States to intervene in unspecified ways in the conflict - so far, however, Washington has said firm evidence is lacking.
Mekdad denied that Damascus was receiving arms and military support from Russia or fighters from Iran or Hezbollah, Tehran's Lebanese Shi'ite ally; foreign supporters were providing only humanitarian aid and Syria had ample reserves of its own.
"We are not isolated, we don't feel isolated," he said of efforts to impose international sanctions. "Besides Russia, we have China, India, South Africa and we have almost all Latin American countries, and Africa and other Asian countries."
He warned the EU against helping rebels sell oil from captured fields in the north: "That is a direct theft of Syrian property," he said. "We are still a government and a strong government. We will stop them," he added without elaborating.
Mekdad reflected the government's contention that Syria has been targeted by U.S.-allied Sunni Arab powers because it was part of "an axis of resistance", along with Iran and Hezbollah, and accused Sunni-led states of secretly supporting Israel: "We believe the main objective in attacking Syria is to weaken it as a major power and to implement Israel's policies in the region in connivance with the United States and Western interests."
Asked how he believed the conflict would end, Mekdad sketched two scenarios: "Either we opt for a political solution as projected by President Assad in his speech on January 6 ... or the other scenario where the main objective of arming, harboring and smuggling armed groups into Syria will continue."
"In this case, we have a strong army, we have a strong country, we have determination by the majority of Syrians to combat terrorism. But our preference and the preference of the Syrian leadership is to work for a political settlement."
Assad offered in that speech in January to negotiate with the opposition if they laid down their arms but he refused dialogue with "gangs recruited abroad" and his foes dismissed the offer out of hand as it did not mention Assad stepping down.
The Coastal Georgia Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure recently awarded a record-breaking total of $345,000 for community services that will fund everything from educational programs to screening mammograms. This brings the total investment in the local community to over $1.3 million dollars since the Affiliate?s inception.
Susan G. Komen for the Cure has awarded eight grants to programs providing breast cancer services in the Coastal Georgia area. One of the recipients is Effingham Health System, receiving funding for a breast health education and screening program. ?Through our grants program, we are able to provide life-saving services to Coastal Georgia residents that might otherwise fall through the cracks,? said Beth Desloges, executive director of the Coastal Georgia Affiliate. ?This year we focused our funding on increasing access to care for underinsured women, particularly rural, African American and Latina populations.?
Effingham Health System will be hosting six breast health education forums at area churches over the next six months, and women in attendance will have an opportunity to receive a free clinical breast exam in addition to information on self exams and risk factors. Education will be offered in both English and Spanish as needed, and an interpreter will be on hand to assist with questions and family history collection.
?Our mission is to reduce the undetected breast cancers that threaten the women of our community,? said Melissa Waller, Community outreach coordinator at Effingham Health System. ?There are women out there who have never had an exam, much less a mammogram. We want to be sure that these women get information, and the needed services, regardless of their uninsured status.?
Grant funding is generated through a number of Affiliate fundraisers held throughout the year, the largest of which is the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure which was scheduled for April 13.
NEW YORK (AP) ? Julianna Margulies and Paul Rudd will team up as lovers for a one-night only benefit reading of Neil LaBute's play "The Mercy Seat."
The off-Broadway company MCC Theater said Thursday the reading will be held June 17 at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. Tickets are available from $75-$250 and go on sale to the general public May 7.
"The Mercy Seat" is set on the day after the 9/11 attacks in which a World Trade Center worker contemplates using the tragedy to run away and start a new life with his lover.
Margulies, the star of "The Good Wife," last appeared on an MCC stage in 2002's "Intrigue with Faye." Rudd, of "Anchorman" fame, was on Broadway this season in "Grace."
The event celebrates MCC's collaboration with LaBute, who has had seven plays produced there over the last decade, including this spring's "Reasons to Be Happy."
The NASA Hubble Space Telescope has given astronomers their clearest view yet of Comet ISON, a newly-discovered sun grazer comet that may light up the sky later this year, or come so close to the Sun that it disintegrates. A University of Maryland-led research team is closely following ISON, which offers a rare opportunity to witness a comet's evolution as it makes its first-ever journey through the inner solar system.
Like all comets, ISON is a "dirty snowball" ? a clump of frozen gases mixed with dust, formed in a distant reach of the solar system, traveling on an orbit influenced by the gravitational pull of the Sun and its planets. ISON's orbit will bring it to a perihelion, or maximum approach to the Sun, of 700,000 miles on November 28, said Maryland assistant research scientist Michael S. Kelley.
This image was made on April 10, when ISON was some 386 million miles from the Sun ? slightly closer to the Sun than the planet Jupiter. Comets become more active as they near the inner solar system, where the Sun's heat evaporates their ices into jets of gases and dust. But even at this great distance ISON is already active, with a strong jet blasting dust particles off its nucleus. As these dust particles shimmer in reflected sunlight, a portion of the comet's tail becomes visible in the Hubble image.
Next week while the Hubble still has the comet in view, the Maryland team will use the space telescope to gather information about ISON's gases.
"We want to look for the ratio of the three dominant ices, water, frozen carbon monoxide, and frozen carbon dioxide, or dry ice," said Maryland astronomy Prof. Michael A'Hearn. "That can tell us the temperature at which the comet formed, and with that temperature, we can then say where in the solar system it formed."
The Maryland team will use both the Hubble Space Telescope and the instruments on the Deep Impact space craft to continue to follow ISON as it travels toward its November close up (perihelion) with the sun.
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University of Maryland: http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/
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Apr. 23, 2013 ? Medical interns spend just 12 percent of their time examining and talking with patients, and more than 40 percent of their time behind a computer, according to a new Johns Hopkins study that closely followed first-year residents at Baltimore's two large academic medical centers. Indeed, the study found, interns spent nearly as much time walking (7 percent) as they did caring for patients at the bedside.
Compared with similar time-tracking studies done before 2003, when hospitals were first required to limit the number of consecutive working hours for trainees, the researchers found that interns since then spend significantly less time in direct contact with patients. Changes to the 2003 rules limited interns to no more than 30 consecutive hours on duty, and further restrictions in 2011 allow them to work only 16 hours in a row.
"One of the most important learning opportunities in residency is direct interaction with patients," says Lauren Block, M.D., M.P.H., a clinical fellow in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and leader of the study published online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. "Spending an average of eight minutes a day with each patient just doesn't seem like enough time to me."
"Most of us went into medicine because we love spending time with the patients. Our systems have squeezed this out of medical training," says Leonard Feldman, M.D., the study's senior author and a hospitalist at The Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH).
For the study, trained observers followed 29 internal medicine interns -- doctors in their first year out of medical school -- at JHH and the University of Maryland Medical Center for three weeks during January 2012, for a total of 873 hours. The observers used an iPod Touch app to mark down what the interns were doing at every minute of their shifts. If they were multi-tasking, the observers were told to count the activity most closely related to direct patient care.
The researchers found that interns spent 12 percent of their time talking with and examining patients; 64 percent on indirect patient care, such as placing orders, researching patient history and filling out electronic paperwork; 15 percent on educational activities, such as medical rounds; and 9 percent on miscellaneous activities. The researchers acknowledge that it's unclear what proportion of time spent at the bedside is ideal, or whether the interns they studied in the first year of a three-year internal medicine training program make up the time lost with patients later in residency. But 12 percent, Feldman says, "seems shockingly low at face value. Interns spend almost four more times as long reviewing charts than directly engaging patients."
Studies in 1989 and 1993 found that interns still spent more time documenting than seeing patients, but they spent between 18 and 22 percent of their time at the bedside. In those studies, however, researchers found that a large chunk of time was spent sleeping at the hospital, something rarely seen today. Reduced intern work hours were designed to lessen trainee fatigue and improve patient safety.
Feldman says questions raised by his study aren't just about whether the patients are getting enough time with their doctors, but whether the time spent with patients is enough to give interns the experience they need to practice excellent medicine. With fewer hours spent in the hospital, protocols need to be put in place to ensure that vital parts of training aren't lost, the researchers say.
"As residency changes, we need to find ways to preserve the patient-doctor relationship," Block says. "Getting to know patients better can improve diagnoses and care and reduce medical errors."
The researchers say better electronic medical records may help reduce time spent combing through patient histories on the computer. Another improvement could be made by grouping an intern's patients together on the same hospital unit so the intern doesn't have to race from floor to floor to see patients, wasting time in transit.
Block says she would like to know how patients feel about how little time they see with interns, who generally are charged with overseeing many aspects of their care. Studies have shown that only 10 percent of hospitalized patients know who their resident doctors are.
"It's not an easy problem to solve," Feldman says. "All of us think that interns spend too much time behind the computer. Maybe that's time well spent because of all of the important information found there, but I think we can do better."
The study was funded by the Osler Center for Clinical Excellence at Johns Hopkins and the Johns Hopkins Hospitalist Scholars Fund.
Other Johns Hopkins researchers involved in the study include Albert W. Wu, M.D., M.P.H.; Sanjay V. Desai, M.D.; Kevin Wang and Timothy Niessen, N.D., M.P.H. University of Maryland researchers Robert Habicht, M.D.; Kathryn Novello Silva, M.D.; and Nora Oliver, M.D. also contributed.
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If you're single, Hamm argues that you can save for retirement, even on the smallest of paychecks.?
By Trent Hamm,?Guest blogger / April 21, 2013
Workers prepare for lunch in the kitchen at the Palio D'Asti restaurant in San Francisco. Hamm argues that saving on minimum wage is possible, if saving is the highest priority.
Eric Risberg/AP/File
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Greg writes in:
Skip to next paragraph Trent Hamm
The Simple Dollar is a blog for those of us who need both cents and sense: people fighting debt and bad spending habits while building a financially secure future and still affording a latte or two. Our busy lives are crazy enough without having to compare five hundred mutual funds ? we just want simple ways to manage our finances and save a little money.
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"I don?t see how a person making minimum wage can ever become financially independent. It?s basically impossible."
It?s far from impossible. It?s just a matter of priorities.
Let?s say you?re single and live in Washington state, where minimum wage is $9.19 per hour. You work forty hours a week for fifty weeks a year, earning $18,380. According to?this Washington state tax calculator, you?ll end up bringing home an amount very close to $295.20 every week throughout the year.
The first step is to?find an inexpensive place to live.?If you?re willing to work for minimum wage, you can find work in a lot of places.?This site?reports that a single parent and two children can live in Wahkiakum County on $32,997 per year, which means a single adult should be able to pull it off on $18,380 per year.
Once you?ve done that,?you have to pay attention to your expenses, starting with the big ones.?Do youreally?need a car in the area where you live? If you live close to work and have access to groceries and the doctor, you can probably do without it, which saves you a lot of money each month. Do you?really?need extra living space as a single person? Just rent a small space with one bedroom or even an efficiency, or rent an apartment or a small house with some roommates.
You should also?whittle down your monthly bills. Use a pay-as-you-go cell phone. Use the internet at the library and skip it at home. Don?t have a cable bill ? instead, just stick up an antenna and enjoy the dozens of over-the-air channels that are now out there (most stations now have two or three digital channels).
Food can be tricky, but you can live pretty cheap if you stick to generics, eat a lot of whatever produce is on sale, and watch for food sales. A single person can easily eat on $150 to $200 a month if they?re careful.
Afraid you?ll be bored? Cultivate a network of friends that do free stuff. See if the town has a parks and recreation department and get involved. Start an ultimate Frisbee league in the park. Invite people over for movie nights and have everyone bring a beverage to share. Get involved in any local organizations, as they usually have a lot of activities that are free. Go to any and all community dinners as you?ll usually get a good meal at the same price or lower than what it would cost at home and you can meet a lot of interesting people.
Channel the rest of your spare time into earning extra money. Mow lawns for $10 a pop. Deliver groceries. Deliver pizza. You can do these on a part-time basis to supplement your income.
Allot yourself a little money for incidental spending, but?make absolutely sure that you?re socking away at least 10% of your paycheck each week into a savings account.?That?s going to be about $30 a week. Do?nottouch that money. When it starts to build up, invest it. Spend time at the library learning about how to invest properly and start putting that extra money to good use. If you earn extra money from a side business or other jobs, sock some of that away, too.
Let?s say you?re able to save just $30 a week following a plan like this. $30 a week for 52 weeks adds up to $1,560 per year. Let?s say you invest that in stocks that return 7% over the long haul. After nine years, you?ll have more than a year?s worth of your income in the bank. After 20 years, you?ll have over $60,000 in the bank.
Now, let?s say you find a way to stick another $30 per week into the bank. At the thirty year mark, you?ll have $294,000 in the bank. If you continue to live on about $17,000 a year, that money will last you for the rest of your life ? you can live off the interest.
If you start this at age eighteen, you?re done working at age 48.
This is just an example, of course, and I?m not figuring in things like life changes (getting married, having a kid) and I?m not worried about inflation, either (I?m assuming that minimum wage keeps up with it and that you raise your savings to match your raises along the way).
Still, the point is clear:?anyone?can?do this if they choose to make savings a priority in their life.?If you choose not to do that, you pay for it over the long haul. Every frivolous thing you throw your money at pushes financial independence further and further away and, if you have a low income, every little bit matters.
It?s not a matter of ?I can?t do this.? It?s a matter of ?I choose other things instead of doing this.?
The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here. To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on www.thesimpledollar.com.
A year ago, Dave Girouard left his position as the president of Google Enterprise to start a new company, Upstart, that allows users (mostly recent college graduates) to raise money for the pursuit of entrepreneurial goals ? they pay their lenders back with a percentage of their income. And today, lining up with the anniversary of his departure, Girouard is announcing that he has raised $5.9 million in Series A funding.
April 22 (Reuters) - Pep Guardiola is not the only connection between Bayern Munich and Barcelona, who meet in their Champions League semi-final, first leg at the Allianz Arena on Tuesday. Both teams are dominating their leagues to an almost embarrassing extent, have won the Champions League four times apiece, share an acrimonious rivalry with Real Madrid, and owe part of their success to the flamboyant Dutchman Louis van Gaal. Both have also been in two Champions League finals in the last four years, though the Catalans won both of theirs and the Bavarians came out losers on each occasion. ...
Last night, the fourth annual Canadian Video Game Awards were held Vancouver, British Columbia. Below you will find the list of what Canada considers to be the best games of the year. Far Cry 3 was the big winner taking home Game of the Year, Best New Character (Vaas), The Fan's Choice Award, Best Animation, Best Game Design, and Best Visual Arts. It turns out Canadian's really like to romp around tropical islands fighting insane people and tigers.
You can check out the full list of winners and nominees below, or by heading to the Canadian Video Game Awards official website.
Game of the Year WINNER: Far Cry 3 Assassin?s Creed III Far Cry 3 Mark of the Ninja Mass Effect 3 Papo & Yo
Future Shop Fans? Choice Award WINNER: Far Cry 3 Assassin?s Creed III Batman Arkham City Armored Edition Far Cry 3 Mark of the Ninja Mass Effect 3 Papo & Yo Prototype 2 Sleeping Dogs Sound Shapes Waveform
Best Console Game WINNER: Mass Effect 3 Assassin?s Creed III Far Cry 3 FIFA Soccer 13 Mass Effect 3 Sleeping Dogs
Best Downloadable Game WINNER: Mark of the Ninja Incredipede Mark of the Ninja MechWarrior Online Shank 2 Waveform
Best Game on the Go WINNER: Sound Shapes Baldur?s Gate: Enhanced Edition My Singing Monsters Shellrazer Sound Shapes The Bard?s Tale
Best Social / Casual Game WINNER: The Secret World i saw her standing there Jurassic Park Builder Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth Rubber Tacos The Secret World
Best Animation WINNER: Far Cry 3 Far Cry 3 Mark of the Ninja Prototype 2 Shank 2 Sleeping Dogs
Best Audio WINNER: Assassin?s Creed III Assassin?s Creed III Incredipede Mark of the Ninja My Singing Monsters Sound Shapes
Best Game Design WINNER: Far Cry 3 Assassin?s Creed III Far Cry 3 Mark of the Ninja Mass Effect 3 Sound Shapes
Best Game Innovation WINNER: Sound Shapes Far Cry 3 Mark of the Ninja Papo & Yo Sound Shapes Waveform
Best Indie Game WINNER: Mark of the Ninja Mark of the Ninja Papo & Yo Shank 2 Sound Shapes Waveform
Best New Character WINNER: Far Cry 3 Far Cry 3 ? Vaas Nun Attack ? The Nun Squad! Papo & Yo ? Quico Prototype 2 ? James Heller Sleeping Dogs ? Wei Shen
Best Original Music WINNER: Mass Effect 3 Assassin?s Creed III ? Main Theme Song Mass Effect 3 - Leaving Earth Papo & Yo ? Liberation Sleeping Dogs - Sleeping Dogs Score Sounds Shapes ? Cities
Best Technology WINNER: Assassin?s Creed III Assassin?s Creed III Mark of the Ninja MechWarrior Online Prototype 2 SSX
Best Visual Arts WINNER: Far Cry 3 Assassin?s Creed III Far Cry 3 Incredipede Mark of the Ninja Mass Effect 3
Best Writing WINNER: Mass Effect 3 Assassin?s Creed III Far Cry 3 Mark of the Ninja Mass Effect 3 Sleeping Dogs
An overview of classic psychological research on expectancy and observer effects published in Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition
Amsterdam, April 22, 2013 A target article recently published in Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition (JARMAC) reviews various high-profile false convictions. It provides an overview of classic psychological research on expectancy and observer effects and indicates in which ways forensic science examiners may be influenced by information such as confessions, eyewitness identification, and graphical evidence.
The target article authors, Saul Kassin and Jeff Kukucka, of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and Itiel Dror, University College, London, point out that when the instrument of analysis is a human examiner, then even evidence considered by the public to be highly objective, such as fingerprint evidence, is actually subjective in its judgment. Therefore, they argue, there is a potential for confirmation bias because psychological research shows that "people tend to seek, perceive, interpret, and create new evidence in ways that verify their preexisting beliefs."
The authors reveal that even DNA evidence, more famously known for exonerating wrongfully convicted people, has contributed to false convictions, especially when other, flawed, evidence chronologically precedes it, such as a mistaken eyewitness identification or false confession.
"Popular TV programs, such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, communicate a false belief in the powers of forensic science, a problem that can be exacerbated when forensic science experts overstate the strength of the evidence," explained leading author, Saul Kassin.
The study does not just point out flaws it details many things that can be done to limit or avoid these problems, both during an investigation and during a trial. The authors propose various best practice recommendations to reduce confirmation biases. During the investigation, for example, an easy solution would be to shield forensic examiners from everything other than the evidence they are examining. This minimizes chances of fitting the evidence to a known suspect.
"The target article describes an important force that has the potential to erode the quality of our judicial system. Solving the problem will require psychological researchers, legal scholars and forensic scientists communicating with one another a process that is fostered by the exchange of ideas," says Ronald Fisher, Editor-in-Chief of JARMAC, and Professor of psychology at Florida International University.
###
The target article is "The Forensic Confirmation Bias: Problems, Perspectives, and Proposed Solutions" by Saul M. Kassin, Itiel Dror and Jeff Kukucka (DOI: 10.1016/j.jarmac.2013.01.001). It appears in the Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, Volume 2, Issue 1 (March 2013), published by Elsevier on behalf of the Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition.
The commentaries on the target article follow in the same issue http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/22113681/2/1
Notes for Editors
Full text of the articles are available to credentialed journalists upon request; contact Irene Kanter-Schlifke at +31 20 485 3359 or i.kanter@elsevier.com or Linda Henkel at +1 203 254 4000 (ext. 3269) or lhenkel@fairfield.edu. Journalists wishing to interview the target article authors may contact Itiel Dror at i.dror@ucl.ac.uk
About the Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition
The Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition (JARMAC) is an official journal of the Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition (http://www.sarmac.org, SARMAC). It publishes innovative, creative empirical research targeting the overlap between cognitive theory and real-world application. Its articles examine any cognitive process (e.g. memory, attention, decision-making, problem-solving, perception, mental representation, etc.) applied across many applied domains (e.g., education, health, aging, law, security, athletics, transportation, business, military, etc.). The ultimate goal of this unique journal is to reach not only psychological scientists working in this field and allied areas but also professionals and practitioners who seek to understand, apply, and benefit from research on memory and cognition. Therefore, each empirical article includes a section clearly describing the practical applications of the research. http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-applied-research-in-memory-and-cognition.
About SARMAC
The Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition is a non-profit professional organization that fosters applied research in memory and cognition. SARMAC primarily aims to promote the communication of high-quality research within and between the applied and basic research communities, and to other interested people and groups. The Society was founded in 1994 at the Third Practical Aspects of Memory Conference held at the University of Maryland. Every two years, it showcases the latest work in a wide and varied program at an international conference. http://www.sarmac.org
About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and close
to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include SciVerse ScienceDirect, SciVerse Scopus, Reaxys, MD Consult and Nursing Consult, which enhance the productivity of
science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite and MEDai's Pinpoint Review, which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.
A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC, a world-leading publisher and information provider, which is jointly owned by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Forensic sciences are 'fraught with error'Public release date: 22-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
An overview of classic psychological research on expectancy and observer effects published in Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition
Amsterdam, April 22, 2013 A target article recently published in Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition (JARMAC) reviews various high-profile false convictions. It provides an overview of classic psychological research on expectancy and observer effects and indicates in which ways forensic science examiners may be influenced by information such as confessions, eyewitness identification, and graphical evidence.
The target article authors, Saul Kassin and Jeff Kukucka, of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and Itiel Dror, University College, London, point out that when the instrument of analysis is a human examiner, then even evidence considered by the public to be highly objective, such as fingerprint evidence, is actually subjective in its judgment. Therefore, they argue, there is a potential for confirmation bias because psychological research shows that "people tend to seek, perceive, interpret, and create new evidence in ways that verify their preexisting beliefs."
The authors reveal that even DNA evidence, more famously known for exonerating wrongfully convicted people, has contributed to false convictions, especially when other, flawed, evidence chronologically precedes it, such as a mistaken eyewitness identification or false confession.
"Popular TV programs, such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, communicate a false belief in the powers of forensic science, a problem that can be exacerbated when forensic science experts overstate the strength of the evidence," explained leading author, Saul Kassin.
The study does not just point out flaws it details many things that can be done to limit or avoid these problems, both during an investigation and during a trial. The authors propose various best practice recommendations to reduce confirmation biases. During the investigation, for example, an easy solution would be to shield forensic examiners from everything other than the evidence they are examining. This minimizes chances of fitting the evidence to a known suspect.
"The target article describes an important force that has the potential to erode the quality of our judicial system. Solving the problem will require psychological researchers, legal scholars and forensic scientists communicating with one another a process that is fostered by the exchange of ideas," says Ronald Fisher, Editor-in-Chief of JARMAC, and Professor of psychology at Florida International University.
###
The target article is "The Forensic Confirmation Bias: Problems, Perspectives, and Proposed Solutions" by Saul M. Kassin, Itiel Dror and Jeff Kukucka (DOI: 10.1016/j.jarmac.2013.01.001). It appears in the Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, Volume 2, Issue 1 (March 2013), published by Elsevier on behalf of the Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition.
The commentaries on the target article follow in the same issue http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/22113681/2/1
Notes for Editors
Full text of the articles are available to credentialed journalists upon request; contact Irene Kanter-Schlifke at +31 20 485 3359 or i.kanter@elsevier.com or Linda Henkel at +1 203 254 4000 (ext. 3269) or lhenkel@fairfield.edu. Journalists wishing to interview the target article authors may contact Itiel Dror at i.dror@ucl.ac.uk
About the Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition
The Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition (JARMAC) is an official journal of the Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition (http://www.sarmac.org, SARMAC). It publishes innovative, creative empirical research targeting the overlap between cognitive theory and real-world application. Its articles examine any cognitive process (e.g. memory, attention, decision-making, problem-solving, perception, mental representation, etc.) applied across many applied domains (e.g., education, health, aging, law, security, athletics, transportation, business, military, etc.). The ultimate goal of this unique journal is to reach not only psychological scientists working in this field and allied areas but also professionals and practitioners who seek to understand, apply, and benefit from research on memory and cognition. Therefore, each empirical article includes a section clearly describing the practical applications of the research. http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-applied-research-in-memory-and-cognition.
About SARMAC
The Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition is a non-profit professional organization that fosters applied research in memory and cognition. SARMAC primarily aims to promote the communication of high-quality research within and between the applied and basic research communities, and to other interested people and groups. The Society was founded in 1994 at the Third Practical Aspects of Memory Conference held at the University of Maryland. Every two years, it showcases the latest work in a wide and varied program at an international conference. http://www.sarmac.org
About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and close
to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include SciVerse ScienceDirect, SciVerse Scopus, Reaxys, MD Consult and Nursing Consult, which enhance the productivity of
science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite and MEDai's Pinpoint Review, which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.
A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC, a world-leading publisher and information provider, which is jointly owned by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
A general view of the Geminid meteor shower in the National Park of El Teide on the Spanish canary island of Tenerife on December 13, 2012.
AFP/AFP/Getty Images
A general view of the Geminid meteor shower in the National Park of El Teide on the Spanish canary island of Tenerife on December 13, 2012.
AFP/AFP/Getty Images
Keep your eye on the sky Sunday evening, the Lyrid meteor shower is expected to peak tonight. It's the first meteor shower of the spring season.
The Lyrid shower is caused by Earth passing through the orbit of a comet known as Thatcher, though the comet itself hasn't been seen since 1861. Dust particles from the comet will be seen as flashes of light as they burn up in our atmosphere.
Kelly Betty, senior contributing editor for Sky and Telescope magazine, tells Weekend Edition Sunday host Rachel Martin that best time to watch will be in the early hours of Monday morning, just before dawn.
"The nice thing about meteor showers is that they are very widespread," Beatty says. "This shower lasts about a day and a half."
Beatty also recommends finding a place that is dark, without a lot of streetlights, to have the best odds of seeing the flashes of light in the sky.
"Meteor showers are truly magical," he says. "It's like the universe communicating with us on some primal level. Meteors are the cosmos in action."
The Clipless clip system gives you the ability to secure any device to clothing, with or without a belt or pockets. It’s held by a safe (shielded), industrial strength magnet and can be useed around the house, at the office, when working out at the gym, and even in the car. Clipless can be secured [...]
Volunteers with the Llano Military News Group are unsure of
the future of the organization and its fundraising events to help Llano?s
soldiers.
As of December, the group is an official legal entity with
the ability to manage donation accounts. However, the original volunteers
aren?t sure whether they are even still members, or whether the fundraising
events will continue.
Both sides say they cannot get an answer from the other.
For the full story, see Wednesday's Llano County Journal.
Apr. 18, 2013 ? Georgia Tech researchers have developed a computational model that can predict video game players' in-game performance and provide a corresponding challenge they can beat, leading to quicker mastery of new skills. The advance not only could help improve user experiences with video games but also applications beyond the gaming world.
Digital gaming has surged in recent years and is being adopted almost as fast as the mobile devices that are enabling its growth. The Georgia Tech researchers developed a simple turn-based game, then used participant scores to apply algorithms that predict how others with similar skill sets would perform and adjust the difficulty accordingly.
"People come in playing video games with different skills, abilities, interests and even desires, which is very contrary to the way video games are built now with a 'one size fits many approach,'" said Mark Riedl, co-creator of the model and assistant professor in the School of Interactive Computing.
The researchers used a method called collaborative filtering, a popular technique employed by Netflix and Amazon in product ratings and recommendations. While Netflix recommends movies, the gaming model recommends the next challenge for players, adjusting game difficulty by computationally forecasting in-game performance. Riedl said the approach can scale to tens of thousands of users.
The data-driven gaming model outperforms other current techniques specifically because it models player improvement over time, said Riedl. It uses an off-the-shelf algorithm, called tensor factorization, for the first time in gaming research to tailor challenges to individual players.
The gaming model also includes a performance arc with which an algorithm selects in-game events for gamers that brings the predicted player performance in line with the developer's specifications for target performance (i.e., completing the game). Current games use player progress to make small adjustments to what's going on in the game, sometimes called "rubberbanding." The classic example: fall behind in a racing game and the other cars slow down; blow away the field with a large lead and the cars speed up.
"This is very reactionary," said Riedl, who directs the Georgia Tech Entertainment Intelligence Lab. "You have to wait for things to fall apart, and then the game tries to correct it in this ad-hoc way."
Riedl said that the new gaming model, which grows alongside the learner, has significant potential for educational and training applications as well. Students struggling with math concepts, for example, could use the model to master arithmetic and mitigate the chances of falling behind in a course, said Riedl.
"We've also done some work with the U.S. Army," he said, "to generate virtual missions where we choose and tailor the types of things that have to happen in the mission so that we don't overwhelm the novices or that we can really challenge the experts.
"Our approach could allow novices to progress slowly and prevent them from abandoning a challenge right away," said Riedl. "For those good at certain skills, the game can be tuned to their particular talents to provide the right challenge at the right time."
Alex Zook, a Ph.D. candidate in human-centered computing, said that they were able to predict, with up to 93 percent accuracy, how players would perform in-game by modeling the changes in a player's skills and applying the recommendation algorithm. Zook was primary author on the paper he and Riedl presented on their findings at the 8th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment in Palo Alto, Calif.
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Video chat may be the bastion of tablets and smartphones, but that's only useful for talking to one or two people at a time. To get a real family chat going, you need a wider lens and a camera placed further than arm's length. Ideally, this is a camera you place in front of your HDTV, so you can see your friends or family on the screen while you chat. Devices like the Tely Labs TelyHD?and the Biscotti pull this off, as do a few high-end HDTVs equipped with webcams either built-in or available as accessories. Logitech now offers its own solution, and as one of the biggest names in webcams since long before they were built into every smartphone, tablet, and notebook computer in existence, it has put out a very good one in the TV Cam HD. This $199.99 (direct) camera has a great interface and solid video and video quality, even if its Skype-only design will keep you from joining any Google Hangouts any time soon.?
Design and Setup The TV Cam HD looks like a Microsoft Kinect or the Tely Labs TelyHD: a black, rectangular device with a tilting base you can put under your HDTV or on a shelf above it. It measures 2.1 by 9.6 by 2.8 inches (HWD), making it low enough to fit comfortably in front of most HDTVs without getting in the way of the bottom of the screen. The base doesn't pivot left or right, but it can tilt up and down and has a screw mount if you want to place it on a tripod. It sports a single lens on the front and four large grilles on top to cover the camera's multiple microphones. The back of the camera holds an HDMI connection, an Ethernet port if you don't want to use the built-in Wi-Fi, a micro USB port for power, and a small switch for resetting the device. The camera doesn't have any controls on its chassis. Instead, you have to use the small black plastic remote included. The remote is simple, with a large direction pad and Zoom In/Out, Back, and Home buttons.
Instead of doing many things merely competently, the TV Cam HD focuses on doing one thing very well: Skype. It doesn't support Google Hangouts or other Google services, it doesn't support video or voice chat for any other messaging services, and it doesn't have its own proprietary system, either. It's solely a Skype device. The camera's?Skype interface is very simple and easy to navigate with the remote, with large text and icons that can be readily seen from across the room.
Setup is very fast: plug the included micro USB power adapter into the wall and the camera, connect the camera to your HDTV using the included HDMI cable, and either plug in an Ethernet cable or enter your Wi-Fi information through the on-screen menu. Once the camera is connected and, if necessary, updated, you can log in through your Skype account.
Performance and Conclusions Placing calls is as easy to do as it is through the Skype software on your PC or the Skype app for your mobile device. If your friend is online, select his name to make a call. The video or voice call will then show up on the screen and you can talk to whoever is on the other end. The camera supports one-on-one video calls and group voice calls. However, for group video calls you can only join group calls in progress and only in audio-only mode. As of the most recent firmware update you can initiate group voice calls, but you can only add five parties unlike the total of 25 participants the Skype PC software allows.
Because it plugs into your HDTV through HDMI and doesn't have a pass-through or provide an overlay, you need to use up an HDMI input for the camera and have the input selected to take calls. However, a built-in ringer lets the camera itself ring one of several ringtones when a call comes in, so you don't have to have the input on the screen when you're expecting a call.
The camera's lens is wide enough to capture my entire couch with room to spare from approximately six feet away, and I had no problem zooming and adjusting the picture with the remote (the camera and lens don't move, but it digitally crops the picture to show or hide whatever you want). It works well in relatively low light, and captured my apartment with only the illumination of my 42-inch HDTV. The TV Cam HD supports 720p video, which looks fairly good on a large HDTV, especially since you can't expect super-high-clarity video streamed through any video chat service at this point. The multiple microphones with active noise cancellation worked exceptionally well, capturing my voice clearly while keeping out the street noise from an open window next to the couch. In a test video call with my parents, the picture and sound were both very good, hampered only by a few network hiccups on my modem's side that caused the video to break up for a few moments.
The Logitech TV Cam HD is one of only a handful of webcams that let you make video calls from your couch without a computer. It's easy to set up and easy to use, but its Skype-only and group chat limitations keep it from being the ideal communications hub. It works far better than the uncomfortably tiny Biscotti, which lacks Skype but offers Google support, and manages to edge out the TelyHD with a lower price tag and more streamlined menu system.?If you want to keep in touch with your family and you don't want to fiddle with positioning a tablet just right to get everyone in frame, it's a great device. You just have to decide whether the $200 price tag is justified by your Skype use first.?
MallWeGo is launching at the Disrupt NY 2013 Startup Alley today with a social, gaming shopping experience for web and mobile. The company has built a virtual world for socialising with friends in avatar form, which looks like a simplified Second Life or The Sims, but the kicker is it's built for ecommerce, with a virtual mall where people can buy real-world products.
A year ago, Dave Girouard left his position as the president of Google Enterprise to start a new company, 
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Public release date: 22-Apr-2013
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