Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2011/12/29/mark-wahlberg-planet-of-the-apes-tim-burton/
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Saturday, December 31, 2011
Mark Wahlberg Explains Why His 'Planet Of The Apes' Reboot Failed
When "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" hit theaters earlier this year, fans and critics were quick to compare it to another "Apes" reboot: the Tim Burton-directed 2001 flick "Planet of the Apes." Both sought to bring new life to the "Apes" franchise, but while "Rise" was met with glowing reviews, Burton's faced a [...]
Friday, December 30, 2011
Jefferson's Va. estate highlights slaves' stories
RICHMOND, Va.?? When Thomas Jefferson died, scores of slaves were sold from his Monticello plantation to settle his debts. Peter Fossett, 11, was among them, recalling that he was "born and reared as free, not knowing that I was a slave, then suddenly, at the death of Jefferson, put on an auction block and sold to strangers."
Fossett's story is one of many included in several new projects launching this winter to shed light on the slaves who lived and worked at Monticello.
A website launching Jan. 27 will showcase oral histories of the slaves in an online project called "Getting Word: African American Families of Monticello." An exhibit at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. called "Slavery at Jefferson's Monticello: Paradox of Liberty" also opens Jan. 27 and will weave in some excerpts from the "Getting Word" project. And an outdoor exhibit, "Landscape of Slavery: Mulberry Row at Monticello," will open Feb. 17 at the Monticello estate in Charlottesville, Va.
"We don't shy away from slavery, we talk about slavery because we know that it's fundamentally important to understanding Jefferson and understanding America," said Susan Stein, a senior curator at Monticello. "In this time period, 20 percent of America's population was enslaved, and 38 percent of Virginia's population in 1790 were slaves."
Expanding the reach of the oral history project is among Monticello's ongoing efforts to give more prominence to the role of slaves as well as indentured servants and others who worked on the 5,000-acre plantation owned by America's third president. Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence, and although he owned slaves, he called slavery "an abominable crime."
Because the houses on Mulberry Row were made of wood, little physical evidence remains of what once included more than 20 buildings. About 130 to 140 slaves worked at Monticello in any given year, including those who worked on Mulberry Row, which grew from five buildings in 1770 to as many as 23 buildings in 1790. Jefferson kept meticulous farm books and lists of his human property, including names of the slaves and what jobs they performed.
The Mulberry Row exhibit will feature digital renderings and animations to help visitors better understand plantation life, including smartphone applications that will show what missing buildings looked like, Stein said.
Curators are also building mini-exhibits at key Mulberry Row sites, including one on the plantation's nail-making business that includes related artifacts from that period. Jefferson "had enslaved boys 10 to 16 years old making nails in the nail shop," Stein said, and tens of thousands of nails from the site were sold to neighbors and stores.
Future components of the ongoing Mulberry Row project will include restoration of the estate's mountaintop roads and two remaining original structures, the stable and weaver's cottage. A couple of buildings, including a slave dwelling, also will be reconstructed, Stein said.
After Jefferson died in 1826, all of his property was sold to repay his massive debts. While Jefferson's will freed some slaves, others were auctioned off.
Fossett, the 11-year-old whose story is one of those included in "Getting Word," was the son of Monticello's head blacksmith. His father was freed upon Jefferson's death, but he was sold with his mother and siblings to a Charlottesville-area merchant and farmer, Col. John R. Jones. Fossett knew how to read and had taught others to do so, he recalled decades later in a newspaper article. Fossett's new owner threatened to whip him if he caught him with a book, but he continued to educate himself and others in secret. His family and others finally purchased his freedom 23 years later.
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The "Getting Word" project began in 1993, with historian Cinder Stanton finding descendants of the plantation's black families and recording interviews with them about their histories. Since then, Monticello has obtained interviews with 170 descendants, including those of Jefferson and slave Sally Hemings, and traced their families' paths from Monticello to the present. Cinder's work also helped pull stories together from other sources like the newspaper interview with Fossett.
As for Fossett, he ended up operating a prominent Cincinnati catering business with his brother, assisted in the Underground Railroad and ultimately served as a church pastor for more than three decades.
Fossett returned to his childhood home in 1900. "Upon his return," according to a newspaper account, Fossett "frequently insisted that he now awaited the approach of death with extreme satisfaction, having seen all of this life's pleasures that heart might hope for." He died six months later, and more than 1,500 people, both black and white, attended his funeral.
The Mulberry Row project continues efforts to expand Monticello's history beyond a focus on Jefferson's accomplishments and interests. A new permanent exhibit opened last year in the house cellar to allow visitors to enter the place where slaves and other workers crossed paths with Jefferson family members, visitors' servants and others.
"I think it's important to be able to evoke the physical space and learn more about the people" who worked on the plantation, Stein said. "We hope that people will get a more comprehensive understanding about Jefferson, Monticello and how this place functioned."
___
If You Go...
MONTICELLO: Charlottesville, Va., http://www.monticello.org/ or 434-984-9822. Open daily 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Adults, $17, November-February; $24, March-October; children 6-11, $8 year-round. The outdoor exhibit "Landscape of Slavery: Mulberry Row at Monticello" opens Feb. 17 and is covered by general admission. Behind the scenes tours are $37 including regular admission to house and grounds. Oral history website "Getting Word: African American Families at Monticello" at http://www.monticello.org/site/plantation-and-slavery/gettingword launches Jan. 27.
SMITHSONIAN: http://americanhistory.si.edu/ or 202-633-1000. "Slavery at Jefferson's Monticello: Paradox of Liberty" runs Jan. 17-Oct. 14 at the National Museum of American History Museum, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW, Washington D.C. Open daily, free admission.
___
Zinie Chen Sampson can be reached on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/zinie
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45799456/ns/travel-destination_travel/
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Thursday, December 29, 2011
A new theory emerges for where some fish became four-limbed creatures
ScienceDaily (Dec. 27, 2011) ? A small fish crawling on stumpy limbs from a shrinking desert pond is an icon of can-do spirit, emblematic of a leading theory for the evolutionary transition between fish and amphibians. This theorized image of such a drastic adaptation to changing environmental conditions, however, may, itself, be evolving into a new picture.
University of Oregon scientist Gregory J. Retallack, professor of geological sciences, says that his discoveries at numerous sites in Maryland, New York and Pennsylvania suggests that "such a plucky hypothetical ancestor of ours probably could not have survived the overwhelming odds of perishing in a trek to another shrinking pond."
This scenario comes from the late Devonian, about 390 million years ago to roughly 360 million years ago. Paleontologist Alfred Romer, who died in 1973 after serving on the faculties at the University of Chicago and Harvard University, saw this time as a period of struggle and escape -- and important in fish-tetrapod transition -- to ensure survival.
Reporting in the May 2011 issue of the Journal of Geology, Retallack, who also is co-director of paleontological collections at the UO's Museum of Natural and Cultural History, argues for a very different explanation. He examined numerous buried soils in rocks yielding footprints and bones of early transitional fossils between fish and amphibians of Devonian and Carboniferous geological age. What he found raises a major challenge to Romer's theory.
"These transitional fossils were not associated with drying ponds or deserts, but consistently were found with humid woodland soils," he said. "Remains of drying ponds and desert soils also are known and are littered with fossil fish, but none of our distant ancestors. Judging from where their fossils were found, transitional forms between fish and amphibians lived in wooded floodplains. Our distant ancestors were not so much foolhardy, as opportunistic, taking advantage of floodplains and lakes choked with roots and logs for the first time in geological history."
Limbs proved handy for negotiating woody obstacles, and flexible necks allowed for feeding in shallow water, Retallack said. By this new woodland hypothesis, the limbs and necks, which distinguish salamanders from fish, did not arise from reckless adventure in deserts, but rather were nurtured by a newly evolved habitat of humid, wooded floodplains.
The findings, he said, dampen both the desert hypothesis of Romer and a newer inter-tidal theory put forth by Grzegorz Niedbwiedzki and colleagues at the University of Warsaw. In 2010, they published their discovery of eight-foot-long, 395-million-year-old tetrapods in ancient lagoonal mud in southeastern Poland, where Retallack also has been studying fossil soils with Polish colleague Marek Narkeiwicz.
"Ancient soils and sediments at sites for transitional fossils around the world are critical for understanding when and under what conditions fish first walked," Retallack said. "The Darwin fish of chrome adorning many car trunks represents a particular time and place in the long evolutionary history of life on earth."? UO Academic Support Funds supported Retallack's research.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Oregon.
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Journal Reference:
- Gregory J. Retallack. Woodland Hypothesis for Devonian Tetrapod Evolution. The Journal of Geology, 2011; 119 (3): 235 DOI: 10.1086/659144
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://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111227142628.htm
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Iran offers military cooperation to Iraq http://t.co/91nGVzJB
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Source: http://www.facebook.com/IraqiNews/posts/319540181402336
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Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Go Daddy Becomes Example in SOPA Backlash (NewsFactor)
Go Daddy is backpedaling over its support of the "Stop Online Piracy Act," or SOPA, that's working its way through Congress. It may be too little, too late. But is Go Daddy being unfairly boycotted for its involvement in the bill just because it's perhaps the most visible and largest domain registrar?
SOPA, also known as HR 3261, essentially gives U.S. law enforcement and copyright holders more room to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods.
The original bill would pave the way for the Department of Justice and copyright holders to seek court orders against Web sites that infringe on copyrights. SOPA opponents say the bill amounts to Internet censorship and tramples First Amendment rights.
As part of the firestorm, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales tweeted that Go Daddy's position on SOPA was not acceptable. News reports indicate that more than 70,000 domain names moved away from Go Daddy last week in response to its support of SOPA. And with a Reddit user working to organize Dump Go Daddy Day on Dec. 29, the bleeding could grow worse.
Changing Tunes
Go Daddy issued a formal statement on Dec. 23 hoping to stem the tide of defectors. Go Daddy admits that it initially supported the bill. In fact, Go Daddy and its general counsel, Christine Jones, said they worked with federal lawmakers for months to help craft revisions to legislation first introduced some three years ago.
"Fighting online piracy is of the utmost importance, which is why Go Daddy has been working to help craft revisions to this legislation -- but we can clearly do better," said Warren Adelman, Go Daddy's newly appointed CEO. "It's very important that all Internet stakeholders work together on this. Getting it right is worth the wait. Go Daddy will support it when and if the Internet community supports it."
Go Daddy said Jones has fought to express the concerns of the entire Internet community and to improve the bill by proposing changes to key defined terms, limitations on DNS filtering to ensure the integrity of the Internet, more significant consequences for frivolous claims and specific provisions to protect free speech.
Stuck in the Middle
Now Go Daddy competitors are getting in on the battle, perhaps sensing an opportunity to capture some of the momentum from the bad PR. Namecheap is accusing Go Daddy of blocking name transfers to its servers.
"Go Daddy appears to be returning incomplete WHOIS information to Namecheap, delaying the transfer process. This practice is against ICANN rules," the company wrote on its blog. "We at Namecheap believe that this action speaks volumes about the impact that informed customers are having on Go Daddy's business.
"It's a shame that Go Daddy feels they have to block their (former) customers from voting with their dollars. We can only guess that at Go Daddy, desperate times call for desperate measures."
Zeus Kerravala, principal analyst at ZK Research, sees this as a sign of how competitive the name registrar landscape has grown. Go Daddy, because of its advertising, is the most visible domain name registrar and is now being targeted, in part, because of its popularity.
"It's very easy to transfer a domain name to a new supplier," Kerravala said. "So far as SOPA, the DOJ needs to figure out what they want to enforce and what they don't. Technically it is a violation of First Amendment rights, but they can't go unmonitored completely."
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20111227/tc_nf/81545
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Senator Risch selects Idaho nominees for U.S. Military Academics
(Updated 3:38 p.m.) - Dozens of young men and women made the nomination list for the United States Military Academics for the 2012 school year. The released list, featuring selections by Senator Jim Risch, covers all four academies: Air Force, Army, Marine and Navy.
This is just the first step of the selection process. Names marked in bold are North Idaho nominees.
U.S. Air Force Academy
- Joseph Cardona III, Boise
- Anthony deVera, Meridian
- John French, Meridian
- Kaylee Kostka, Heyburn
- Adrianna Lutu, Boise
- Kevin Miller, Idaho Falls
- Zachary Morrow, Roswell
- Jonathon Riggers, Nezperce
- Nathaniel Rupp, Boise
- Ronald Weimar, Payette
U.S. Military Academy at West Point (Army)
- Adam Armour, Idaho Falls
- Reid Boorman, Bonners Ferry
- Layne Harper, Blackfoot
- Joel ?Parker? Heisey, Coeur d?Alene
- Colby Hyde, Eagle
- Zachary LaBenne, Hayden
- Parker Matthews, Rathdrum
- Bryan Perry, Rigby
- David Trompke, Eagle
- Kristine Westergard, Boise
U.S. Merchant Marine Academy
- Brennen Connolly, Meridian
- Andrew Fletcher, Boise
- Alex Foster, Ammon
- Zane Hardin, McCall
- Mason Menges, Nampa
- Konnor-Lawrence Moden, Boise
- Levi Sliwoski, Boise
- Eric Whitman, Priest River
- Kevin Wilmot, Jerome
- Rebecca Winzer, Coeur d?Alene
U.S. Naval Academy
- Nicholas Arnold, Boise
- Hallie Bonnicksen, Kellogg
- Andrew Brackebush, Silverton
- Joseph Dlugosch, Eagle
- Gaylen Edmo, Pocatello
- John Foulger, Chubbuck
- John ?Gil? Givens, Post Falls
- Kylie Johnson, Coeur d?Alene
- Skyler Means, Boise
- Jonathon Riggers, Nezperce
Note: A reader pointed out that there was no nomination list for Coast Guard. After speaking with Senator Risch's Office in Washington D.C., they said that the Coast Guard academy does not need nominations.
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Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Bored and looking for a literate partner
Hello people. I am not new to role-playing so do not be deceived lol. If you can't write more than a sentence, kindly press the back button. If you are not willing to write a story and only speak in text talk, again, press the back button. I am looking for a long term partner that can post at least once or twice a week. I know schedules are hectic. I'll get to my rules and such now so we can get onto role-playing!
What I ask of you:
-Be friendly. I like to talk to people in OOC besides just role-playing
-Be polite. Tell me if you are going to be gone and tell me if you're heading off for the night if we are rping back and forth.
-Obviously be literate. I need to understand what you are writing.
-Can help with adding to the plot. I don't want to be the only one coming up with stuff.
-Character development. I don't want perfect characters. I torture mine to make more of a story. I ask for the same.
A couple of things you should know:
-I do straight pairings and homosexual rps (of the male-male variety)
-I play both female and male roles.
-I like to add romance into my rps but not insta romance please.
-Ask me about a genre. I do just about everything except cowboys and steampunk.
-Ask about fandoms. I might do one. Don't ask about Twilight please.
-I am on a time limit in the evenings because I have to borrow a computer. As soon as I get a new one, you wont' have to worry about it. I will probably be on every day to at least respond once or twice.
I do a variety of pairings and stuff so if you have an idea, please let me know. I don't mind brainstorming. I don't have an idea right now but don't be afraid to throw some stuff at me.
I think that is about it for now. I'll update later.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/TTar3VOfeRw/viewtopic.php
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taipeinewsnet: Japanese scholar donates most of his books to Tsing Hua University http://t.co/9Jl0ACPz
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Japanese scholar donates most of his books to Tsing Hua University tf.to/UKVX 
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Monday, December 26, 2011
KCTV5: Jingle bells, wedding bells in Lot A at Arrowhead: While the rivalry between the Chiefs and Raiders is pretty he... http://t.co/LrXLkf3C
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Jingle bells, wedding bells in Lot A at Arrowhead: While the rivalry between the Chiefs and Raiders is pretty he... bit.ly/v2rkWy 
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Congress punts hard payroll tax work to 2012 (Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? President Barack Obama signed into law a two-month payroll tax cut extension on Friday, capping a year of fierce partisan combat over taxes and spending that will resume in January and play heavily in the 2012 elections.
The Senate and the House of Representatives, by voice votes in chambers nearly emptied for the holidays, passed a $33 billion (21 billion pounds) bill to keep the payroll tax rate at 4.2 percent through February. It had been scheduled to increase on January 1 to 6.2 percent. Obama swiftly signed the bill.
"We have a lot more work to do," the president said at the White House. "This continues to be a make-or-break moment for the middle class ... There are going to be some important debates next year."
Obama heads to vacation in Hawaii with an important political win in his portfolio after he and fellow Democrats prevailed in the message war by backing lower taxes for middle-class Americans in the midst of a fragile economic recovery.
The battle took a toll on House Republicans led by Speaker John Boehner, who were forced to make an embarrassing retreat and agree to a short-term deal Thursday after getting hit by critics on all sides, include their colleagues in the Senate.
The temporary fix lets lawmakers lower the curtain, for now, on a year of political deadlock that in the end produced only a series of inconclusive truces. The fiscal policy debate is set to rage straight through the 2012 election season and beyond.
While Congress is on a long winter break now and does not return to full swing until late January, newly appointed negotiators are expected to begin work soon on figuring out how to pay for extending the payroll tax cut through 2012.
Republicans have sought a continued freeze on federal worker pay and cuts in Medicare benefits for the wealthy. Democrats have rejected both ideas while proposing a surtax on the wealthy to cover the extension's cost. Republicans reject this.
Both sides have been open to cutting federal workers' pension benefits. There also were last-minute Senate negotiations last week on possibly ending some tax breaks for the wealthy, such as a small one involving corporate jets.
Minutes after the bipartisan deal was passed by Congress, the bickering that has come to dominate Capitol Hill resumed.
Republican Representative Tom Price, a leader of House conservatives, immediately criticized the short-term extension, calling it a "two-month punt" and saying it would not have been needed if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, and Obama had "been willing to do their job today."
'NOTHING OFF THE TABLE'
In a sign that the battle is far from over, Reid signaled that Democrats could renew their push for a surtax on wealthier Americans. Democrats had dropped that demand during the year-end negotiations that produced the two-month deal.
"There is nothing off the table," he said.
Obama scored a victory in the payroll tax struggle over Tea Party conservatives in the House who tried to block the two-month extension. They backed down on Thursday in the face of bipartisan criticism, but they are not going away.
Representative Tim Huelskamp, a first-term Republican, said on CNN that he was disappointed with Republican leadership caving in to pressure and accepting the two-month deal.
Next year could be a rough one for Boehner, the top House Republican, said Norm Ornstein, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.
Boehner spent 2011 having to negotiate with many of his own party members on just about every major piece of legislation.
Now that House Republicans have had to go along with Democrats in the payroll tax debate, "the idea that this group of angry Tea Party Republicans, who feel betrayed, now will go along or that Boehner will be more capable of defying them is a little bit wrong-headed," Ornstein said.
Meanwhile, Democrats might be emboldened, believing "they've learned to play poker," he added.
Patrick Griffin, associate director Of American University's Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies, said House Republicans "overplayed their hand. How they interpret that lesson will be very interesting."
Any edge conferred on Democrats might be short-lived, however. The 2012 election cycle is just set to kick off with the Iowa Republican presidential caucus on January 3 and a long road lies ahead until voters go to the polls in November.
The payroll tax funds the Social Security retirement pension system. If it had been allowed to rise, the increase would have hit the wallets of 160 million working Americans.
The $33 billion needed to pay for the two-month extension will be raised by increasing fees charged by housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for guaranteeing mortgages.
Analysts said the fee hike, which investors will likely pass along to borrowers, could raise financing costs for mortgages, but probably not enough to slow a housing market recovery.
Unemployment benefits set to expire soon were extended as well, while cuts in payments to doctors who treat patients in the government-backed Medicare health insurance program for the elderly were postponed, under the bill signed by Obama.
Also included in it was a Republican initiative aiming to force the administration into fast approval of an oil pipeline opposed by environmentalists and many Democrats. The provision gives Obama 60 days to either approve TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to Gulf of Mexico facilities in Texas, or declare it not in the national interest.
Obama wants more time to evaluate the environmental impact of routing the pipeline through sensitive areas of Nebraska. The White House has said that if pushed for a decision within 60 days, the administration would be forced to reject the project.
Not extending the payroll tax cut, analysts warned, could have jeopardized the recovery, even risking another recession.
The modest two-month fix drew fire from some businesses that said it will complicate payroll processing and tax planning.
The payroll situation "could get more confusing," said Robert Gard, an accountant with Gard and LaFreniere LLC in Alpharetta, Georgia. If the tax is not extended at the end of February, businesses will need to reprogram software, he said.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan, Rachelle Younglai, Patrick Temple-West, Margaret Chadbourn and Ayesha Raschoe. Writing by Kevin Drawbaugh; editing by Mary Milliken)
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Sunday, December 25, 2011
TheaGood: @sheikhusb Muslims have been in Texas since 1800s and we NEVER had a problem with them until 9/11 & I think that was falsely blamed on them
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@sheikhusb Muslims have been in Texas since 1800s and we NEVER had a problem with them until 9/11 & I think that was falsely blamed on them 
TheaGood Thea Goodman
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RENAN_INQUERITO: O RAP VIVE EM MIM! HJ EU ESCREVI UM SOM AQUI EM LONDRINA com meus manos do #PiraPura Conex?p SP/PR e ganhei um CAP dos Raiders, valeu!
O RAP VIVE EM MIM! HJ EU ESCREVI UM SOM AQUI EM LONDRINA com meus manos do Conex?p SP/PR e ganhei um CAP dos Raiders, valeu! Source: http://twitter.com/RENAN_INQUERITO/statuses/150361488463372288
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Saturday, December 24, 2011
Blackberry Messenger, WhatsApp and Apple iMessage Cannibalizing SMS Revenues
By: Ian Mansfield |
Year-over-year smartphone penetration doubled to reach 21 percent of wireless subscriptions by Q3 2011. ?Smartphones have stimulated healthy increases in non-SMS data revenues that continue to lift operator performance despite declining voice and static SMS markets, says Strategy Analytics.
"Over last 12 months, while wireless ARPU fell eight percent and voice ARPU declined 13-14 percent, data ARPU increased by more than five percent," noted Phil Kendall, Director Wireless Operator Strategies, and author of the report. "Non-SMS services -- which have become the real driver of growth -- increased from 55 percent of data revenues in Q3 2010 to 61 percent in Q3 2011."
"Regionally, non-SMS data revenues grew to 54 percent of total data in Western Europe and 72 percent in North America," Kendall added.
"Smartphones for existing wireless customers are a principal source of ARPU uplift which operators cannot afford to ignore. Tapping into the next wave of smartphone adoption through lower cost devices and entry-level data plans will be crucial to medium-term operator revenue growth."
Sue Rudd, Director of Service Provider Analysis at Strategy Analytics, pointed out, "Unfortunately smartphones are not a panacea and are accelerating the decline in SMS revenues as Over-The-Top (OTT) messaging platforms, such as Blackberry Messenger, WhatsApp and Apple iMessage, dramatically increase. As a result, SMS ARPU fell in all regions. Many operators face a tricky balancing act as they seek price points for data plans that are low enough to stimulate demand but high enough to compensate for SMS cannibalization."
?
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/cellular-news/LmiX/~3/oF36j71N_lo/52359.php
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Payroll tax and attack ads latest issues for Romney and Gingrich to lock horns over
A payroll tax?extension may be on the way but Republicans like Newt Gingrich?insist on a one-year?extension. ?Meanwhile?Romney supporters have continued airing ads attacking Gingrich in Iowa. ?Gingrich tried to take the?higher road but Romney says 'if it's too hot for you, get out of the kitchen.'
Mitt Romney refused to be pinned down Wednesday on how Congress should break an impasse that threatens to raise?taxes?for 160 million workers ? the latest pressing policy debate the Republican presidential hopeful has sidestepped. Rival Newt Gingrich, in contrast, castigated Congress for "an absurd dereliction of duty."
Skip to next paragraphWith less than two weeks before the Iowa caucuses, the two rivals exchanged ever sharper words over a barrage of negative ads coming from Romney's allies as they took a divergent approach on the?payroll?taxdispute deadlocking Washington.
"I'm not going to get into the back-and-forth on the congressional sausage-making process," Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, said in Keene, N.H., as the day began. "I hope they're able to sit down and work out a solution that works for the American people. My hope is that the solution includes extension of the payroll?tax?holiday."
But Romney left open the terms for an extension, which is the crux of the stalled debate in Washington. He suggested the extension should last more than two months and ideally a year, but called such details "deep in the weeds."
House Republicans rejected a bipartisan compromise in the Senate that would have kept the?tax?cuts going for two months, instead calling for talks seeking a one-year extension.
In Iowa, Gingrich called a two-month extension "insufficient" and scolded the Democratic-controlled Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid and President Barack Obama's administration for "lurching from failure to failure" and marveled: "They can't figure out how to pass a one-year extension, so the Senate leaves town?"
"It's game-playing," added the former House speaker, who stopped short of criticizing House Republicans and their leader Ohio Rep. John Boehner. Gingrich also did not criticize Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate leader from Kentucky who signed off on the short-term extension.
The different postures over the?payroll?tax?extension played out against a backdrop of intensifying rancor - and a dispute over negative advertising - between Romney and Gingrich with the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses drawing close.
Romney argued that Gingrich wasn't strong enough to withstand the criticism coming his way, especially from $2.8 million in ads by the pro-Romney group Restore Our Future. The group is going after Gingrich relentlessly in Iowa and exacting a price in the former speaker's standing in polls.
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Friday, December 23, 2011
Harrison Ford takes command in 'Ender's Game'
The sci-fi novel "Ender's Game" is mostly about a young boy, and the movie adaptation scheduled for 2013 will be as well. But the film has landed a pretty big grown-up star to play opposite the young lead.Harrison Ford has signed on to play Col. Hyrum Graff in "Ender's Game," Variety reports. The character is the commander of an elite battle school that trains kids to fight an interstellar enemy, and he quickly recognizes the special gifts the title character (Asa Butterfield of "Hugo") possesses.
The cast also includes Abigail Breslin ("New Year's Eve," "Zombieland") as Ender's sister Valentine, Hailee Steinfeld ("True Grit") as a battle school classmate and Ben Kingsley ("Hugo") as a war hero who takes Ender under his wing.
Gavin Hood ("Wolverine") is writing and directing the adaptation of Orson Scott Card's novel. "Ender's Game" is due for release in March 2013.
Photo/Video credit: Getty Images
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Monday, December 19, 2011
Hiring Hitchens
I became editor of The Nation in 1978, and one of the first and best things I did that year was to ask, via old-fashioned snail mail, a writer I didn't know, but whose elegant pieces I had been reading in the New Statesman, and everywhere else, since he seemed to be traveling the world anyway, why not write an occasional article for The Nation? Which he proceeded to do with elegance, wit, and brilliance.
As I wrote some years later: "Then, one day around five p.m. a dimpled five-o'clock shadowed face peered through my half-open door, surrounded by a haze of smoke. 'Drink?? asked the deep, richly accented baritone voice that accompanied all of the above. If it is possible in one word to convey an upper-class sensibility attached to a heart ostentatiously identified with the toiling masses, Christopher Hitchens succeeded.
"We repaired with some comrades, as he liked to call all who partook of his charismatic company, to the Lion's Head, our local [Greenwich Village] pub, where we indeed had a drink or three," and this was the beginning of an adventure which?despite our subsequent political differences?I like to think was as rewarding for him as it was for us.
See Slate?s full tribute to the life of Christopher Hitchens. Read Slate?s complete collection of Christopher Hitchens' columns.
Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=bf3256df7746255ea25871f78e623d9f
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Sunday, December 18, 2011
Chrome 15 overtakes IE 8 for top browser spot
By Athima Chansanchai
If you're reading this on Chrome, you're part of a wave that has ditched Internet Explorer or Firefox and helped vault Google's browser to the top Web browser spot worldwide.
We've been watching for a while now as reports have shown a consistent rise in Chrome's popularity. We saw how in one report, it's already gone past Firefox, knowing it was just a matter of time before it usurped one of the longest reigning dynasties in the browser world, IE.
But wait, there is a caveat to this: Chrome 15 beat IE 8, specifically, this one week at the end of November, with 23.6 percent of the worldwide market, compared to IE 8's at 23.5 percent.?With all the versions of IE floating around, IE is still No. 1 in the world, but Chrome is right behind it.
StatCounter
Ireland-based?StatCounter???which posts Web analytics based on aggregate data it collects from a?sample exceeding 15 billion pageviews per month (including 4 billion in the U.S.),?collected from the StatCounter network of more than 3 million websites???released a statement?about Chrome 15's ascension, humbling the initial enthusiasm of any Google devotee when it also made it clear that in the?U.S., reports of IE's demise are still premature. According to StatCounter, It was still able to capture?27 percent of browser action last week, compared to 18.1 percent for Chrome 15.
Live Poll
Which Web browser are you using?
171054
IE. Why mess with a classic?
23%
171055
Firefox. Mozilla all the way!
34%
171056
Chrome. So far it's working for me.
38%
171057
Safari. Ok, I'm old school, alright?!
5%
VoteTotal Votes: 4217
(Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.)
Different companies will issue different stats on just how much of a lead IE still has on Chrome, with companies such as?NetMarketShare?showing?IE's year-long steady free fall, but still at about 52 percent a month ago.?
Chrome has made a steady rise as IE declines, but Firefox still stands in its way. But not by much. And by StatCounter's measure, in the world outside the U.S., Chrome already brushed past Firefox in November, when it wrested the No. 2 spot with 25.69 percent of the worldwide market (up from 4.66 percent in November 2009) compared to Firefox's 25.23 percent.?
Will 2012 be the year that sees the fall of IE everywhere, including the U.S.? Take our poll and let us know which browser you're using.
More stories:
Check out Technolog on?Facebook, and on Twitter, follow?Athima Chansanchai, who is also trying to keep her head above water in the?Google+?stream.
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Saturday, December 17, 2011
Book Review : Galileo's Muse by Mark A. Peterson
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Golden Globe noms rev up Hollywood's Oscar race (AP)
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. ? The Golden Globes are good at predicting likely best-picture nominees for the Academy Awards. Not so much at predicting the eventual big Oscar winner, though.
Globe voters, who release their nominations Thursday, used to have a solid track record as a forecast for the Oscar best-picture prize. But they've been swinging and missing recently, with only one top Globe recipient going on to claim the main trophy come Oscar night during the last seven years.
Yet the Globes might have better luck this time. The show has two best-picture categories, one for drama, the other for musicals or comedies. The latter category usually doesn't offer serious best-picture contenders at the Oscars, which tend toward heavier drama.
But this season, the spry, black-and-white silent film "The Artist" stands as a solid comedy to challenge the dramas at the Oscars. If "The Artist" wins the Globe musical or comedy prize, it could end up in an Oscar showdown with the Globe drama winner, whose contenders might include the Deep South tale "The Help," George Clooney's family story "The Descendants," Steven Spielberg's World War I epic "War Horse" and Martin Scorsese's Paris adventure "Hugo."
Last season, the Facebook tale "The Social Network" emerged as the film to beat at the Oscars after it won for best drama at the Globes. Then the monarchy saga "The King's Speech" picked up steam with key wins at Hollywood trade union honors and wound up crowned best picture at the Oscars.
The year before, the Globes chose "Avatar" over "The Hurt Locker," the latter ending up the Oscar champ.
The last time the Globes matched up with the Oscars was three years ago, when "Slumdog Millionaire" triumphed at both ceremonies.
Before its current seven-year streak of mostly misses, the Globes had been on a run of eight-straight years in which either its best drama or best musical-comedy winner took home the best-picture Oscar.
Along with Clooney for "The Descendants," A-listers potentially scoring Globe nominations include: Brad Pitt for both his baseball tale "Moneyball" and the family epic "The Tree of Life"; Meryl Streep for the Margaret Thatcher chronicle "The Iron Lady"; Glenn Close for the Irish drama "Albert Nobbs"; Leonardo DiCaprio for the J. Edgar Hoover biography "J. Edgar"; and Michelle Williams for the Marilyn Monroe story "My Week with Marilyn."
"The Help" could have a big haul at the Globes, with acting prospects for Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Jessica Chastain, Emma Stone and Bryce Dallas Howard.
Among other fresher faces with a shot at breaking into the awards are Rooney Mara for the thriller "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"; Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo for "The Artist"; Michael Fassbender for the sex-addict drama "Shame"; and Clooney's "Descendants" co-star Shailene Woodley.
With drinks and dinner, the Globes are a laid-back affair for Hollywood's elite compared to the Oscars. The show turned a bit touchy last year as host Ricky Gervais repeatedly made sharp wisecracks about stars and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a group of about 85 entertainment reporters for overseas outlets that presents the Globes.
But Gervais helped give the show a TV ratings boost, and he's been invited back as host for a third-straight year.
Five-time Academy Award and Globe nominee Morgan Freeman ? who won the supporting-actor Oscar for "Million Dollar Baby" and a best-actor Globe for "Driving Miss Daisy" ? will receive the group's Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement at the Jan. 15 ceremony.
Thursday's nominations in 25 film and television categories will be announced by actors Sofia Vergara, Woody Harrelson and Gerard Butler.
___
Online:
http://www.goldenglobes.org
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Friday, December 16, 2011
Bahrain police crack down on march outside capital (AP)
MANAMA, Bahrain ? Bahraini security forces have used tear gas and stun grenades to try to disperse anti-government protesters marching along a highway toward the island kingdom's capital.
Associated Press journalists witnessed the clashes Thursday near the town of Diraz and other opposition stronghold villages west of the capital, Manama.
Hundreds of marchers, some waving red and white Bahraini flags, were seen marching along the Budaiya Highway toward the capital when the clashes broke out.
Opposition groups in recent days have issued online calls for marchers to occupy the highway.
The protest follows 10 months of unrest in the Gulf nation between the Sunni monarchy and an opposition movement led by the country's majority Shiites.
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Samsung takes aim at Apple with Australian Galaxy Tab ad, credits Cupertino for its popularity
Now that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 has been cleared for sale in Australia, Samsung is taking the opportunity to publicly celebrate its courtroom victory, at Apple's expense. Exhibit A: a local newspaper ad that flatly brands Sammy's slate as "the tablet Apple tried to stop." The spot, which ran in the Sun-Herald this week, came just a few days before Samsung Australia's mobile head openly credited Cupertino for making the Galaxy Tab a "household name." Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, Samsung Australia's vice president of telecommunications, Tyler McGee, declined to say how much his company lost in sales revenue due to Apple's temporary injunction, but was more than willing to laud the iPad maker for inadvertently turning the spotlight on the Galaxy Tab. "At the end of the day the media awareness certainly made the Galaxy Tab 10.1 a household name compared to probably what it would've been based on the investment that we would've put into it from a marketing perspective," McGee explained. The exec went on to say that the manufacturer is bringing to market "as many units as we can," since it expects the device to be in "short supply against the demand." To the courtroom victor go to the spoils -- including, apparently, bragging rights.
Samsung takes aim at Apple with Australian Galaxy Tab ad, credits Cupertino for its popularity originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Dec 2011 05:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink |
@maungle (Twitter), The Sydney Morning Herald | Email this | CommentsSource: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/15/samsung-takes-aim-at-apple-with-australian-galaxy-tab-ad-credit/
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Wednesday, December 7, 2011
7 Silly Google+ Business Page Mistakes to Fix NOW
7 Silly Google+ Business Page Mistakes to Fix NOW
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As marketers and business owners are getting more comfortable using Google+ and integrating it into their overall social media strategy, it's time to start considering some of the finer points of managing a Google+ business page. As more and more examples of excellent Google+ business pages and creative use of the network's unique features arise, more instances of huge Google+ misses are also becoming apparent. If you're using Google+ business pages or thinking about setting up a page soon, consider these 7 mistakes many people are making but are luckily incredibly easy to fix!
1.) Not posting consistently. Many marketers rushed to set up Google+ business pages for their company, but as marketers tend to do, they got busy. Many posted a few times in the first week, and then went silent. Maybe they came back and posted two or three times in a day, and then went silent for another week or two. This publishing inconsistency throws followers for a loop and prevents you from building momentum. Short bursts of publishing quickly loses steam. Google+ business pages are still young; if you're going to make an attempt to leverage it for marketing, give it more time and dedicate yourself to regularly publishing fresh content.
2.) Poor use of photos. Google+ business pages are a phenomenal platform for sharing photos, and there are a few best practices for leveraging your photo sharing there. First, provide a mix of text and photo updates; only posting text doesn't leverage the awesome Google+ photo display capabilities that improve the visitor's experience. Second, be sure you've uploaded a profile picture that relates to your company, otherwise visitors won't be sure they've reached the right Google+ business page. Third, don't post boring pictures! You know who is doing this? Believe it or not, Google+.
Instead of pictures of the page moderators, fun cartoons, or snapshots into Google HQ, we see brand icons that provide little value and no entertainment.
3.) Not applying for Direct Connect. If you don't register for Direct Connect, you won't be eligible to get found in SERPs and added to searchers' Circles simply by querying +YourName, nor will your Google+ business page posts appear in search engine results. This will impede not just the growth of your social media followers, but your SEO, too.
4.) Not using recommended links. Recommended links can be found on the 'About' section of a Google+ business page, and it allows you to drive traffic to your website and generate leads from landing pages. Google+ business pages also provide a field for your website URL. Not using these fields is a missed opportunity for your business, plain and simple.
5.) Vague personal taglines. The personal tagline should succinctly and clearly describe who you are. This is particularly important to help followers avoid confusion if you are a popular brand or a company with a popular name that many other businesses may have. For an example, let's take a look at the first result returned when performing a search for Facebook on Google+.
Look at that page! Their follower number is in the high thousands, they're posting really interesting content every day, engagement is high, and their photos are very high quality. This looks like Facebook's Google+ business page. But wait...check out that tagline: "facebook community on google+." Is this the official Facebook page? Frankly, it's pretty unclear. The page is maintained so well that it certainly could be, but the tagline seems to indicate otherwise. Don't put your followers through this confusion; make it blatantly obvious in the tagline.
6.) Not verifying your page with Google+. Verifying your page with Google+ helps establish a connection between your Google+ page and your website, mitigating the possibility that someone will make a copycat page around your brand name. It also gives you preference in search results on Google and Google+ if you are approved for Direct Connect. If you haven't verified your page yet, Virante has written a detailed blog post on how to go through the verification process.
7.) Not leveraging Circles to segment your followers. Circles is one of the features unique to Google+ business pages that made lots of people want to jump on the bandwagon. Instead of talking to your entire follower base, you can put people into Circles that let you target communications better. Time magazine is an example of a business that is segmenting Google+ circles well, creating topic Circles so readers only hear about the content that interests them. Circles are also an excellent solution for international businesses or businesses with an international base that frequently communicate with customers in multiple languages.
Have you noticed any other mistakes that Google+ business pages are making? Share your tips with readers!
Image credit: cambodia4kidsorg
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Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Relax With The Don?t Panic iPad Case
If the iPad had existed back in 1972, and Doug Trumbull had used it in his awesome movie Silent Running, its case would have looked just like the Don’t Panic Case and Stand from Thomas Fulton. Its combination of brightly-colored felt and shaped, multi-paneled leather is straight out of the retro sci-fi world.
Fulton’s case is [...]
Fulton’s case is [...]
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/C-oj8L9YSSo/
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Monday, December 5, 2011
Video: Sergeant at Arms Livingwood retiring
>>> we learned this week that the man who says this every year is retiring.
>> mr. speaker, the president of the united states ! [ cheers and applause ]
>> that's our friend bill livingood , the house sergeant at arms . 33 years with the secret service and five seconds of air time every year. a popular figure on capitol hill with the very big job of keeping everyone there safe.
Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/45530478/
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Sunday, December 4, 2011
Some hot ticket toys already cleaned out online
Developers for LeapFrog explain the lessons they learn when kids get a hold of the company's latest games and devices.
By Marisa Taylor
It happens every year. The special toy that every child wants for Christmas flies off store shelves and parents are left scrambling to find little Susie or Johnny that must-have item, sometimes resorting to eBay (or, more recently, pepper spray).
This year looks to be no different, if Black Friday numbers are any indication. Retail foot-traffic increased by 6.6 percent on the day after Thanksgiving according to the shopping data analysis firm ShopperTrak, a slight edge over the 5.1 percent increase in shopping traffic on Black Friday in 2010.
So what?s a parent to do when the must-have toy is out of stock online? Needham and Company senior analyst Sean McGowan advises parents to keep checking in with local stores about when a new shipment of the item will be arriving, and then show up that morning to buy.
He also suggests networking with other parents and making pacts to buy enough of the item for the entire group if one parent finds it online or in a store.
The Catch-22 with holiday toys, he said, is that ?in order for [the toy] to be really big, there has to be enough in stock for it to sell. But if it?s available in mass quantities, there?s a perception that it?s not hot.?
So what will be this year?s the hot ticket toy? All signs indicate that the LeapFrog LeapPad Explorer, a tablet for kids with a built-in camera and video recorder, will be high on the list,?McGowan said. Even at this early stage, ?it?s the one thing you can?t find anywhere,? he said. ?For $100, you wouldn?t think it would be sold out, but it is.?
Indeed, at the time this story was being written, the LeapPad Explorer appeared to be out of stock on the websites of Toys ?R Us, Wal-Mart and Barnes and Noble.
The LeapPad Explorer also appeared to be unavailable for Internet purchase on Target and Kmart?s websites, though an in-store search for availability in the New York City area yielded a few store locations that had it in limited stock. Most, however, were sold out.
On Amazon.com, a number of sellers had evidently stocked up on the LeapPad Explorer only to hawk it for more than double the original retail value.
Another in-demand toy is the Lalaloopsy Silly Hair Doll by MGA Entertainment. An earlier model of the little pink doll was on the market last year, but it has been upgraded for 2011 with bendable pink curls that appear to be all the rage. For she, in all her wild-haired glory, is also out of stock online on Toys ?R Us, Wal-Mart, Kmart and Target, and is marked up to $67 from around $30 on Amazon.com.?
Toys ?R Us said that the Thanksgiving weekend also yielded big sales of the Trash Pack ?Trashies? Garbage Truck by Moose Toys and the Animal Planet Air Swimmers eXtreme Radio Control Giant Flying Sharkand Clownfish, the latter of which does require the additional purchase of a helium tank. But both are still available online for purchase, as are hot sellers like Monster High dolls and Skylanders Spyro?s Adventure video games.
Company spokesperson Jen Albano said Toys ?R Us will continue to receive daily deliveries of its top selling items throughout the season up until Christmas Eve.
At Kmart, in addition to the LeapPad Explorer and the V-tech Innotab Tablet, the Fijit Friends Interactive Toysare slated to be extremely popular this season, according to spokesperson Sarah Fitzgerald. (Indeed, all three items are currently sold out at Kmart.com.) Regarding the tablets, she says, ?If moms are thinking about them, I would start scouring and securing them now.? Same goes for the Fijit Friends. But what about Lalaloopsy, her crazy-haired compatriot? ?You?re not going to see her in December,? said Fitzgerald.
For boys, Fitzgerald said Hot Wheels Wall Tracks, which uses 3M Command Strips to adhere racing tracks up walls, are already a big seller at Kmart, with the starter setcurrently unavailable for online purchase.
Overall, Fitzgerald said that innovative toys that feature some sort of upgrade from a popular classic are always big holiday sellers, even in the case of a more expensive item like the LeapPad Explorer. ?It doesn?t matter what the price or the year is; innovation carries the day when it comes to toys,? she said.
Some parents have resorted to creative measures to find the most coveted toys of the season for their kids. Judy Greenfield, 36, a stay-at-home mother of three in Sanford, Fla., hits up Facebook to figure out where to buy hard-to-find toys. One of her friends was looking for Squinky toyslast year, for example, and Greenfield was able to advise her that she?d spotted them at CVS; Greenfield will post about what she's looking for so that her friends can return the favor.?
Last year, when Greenfield was searching for the ever-popular ZhuZhu?Pets hamsters for her kids, she struck gold by visiting smaller versions of chain stores like Target and Walmart after finding that the larger stores were out of stock. This year, though, there?s no one item on her 4-year-old daughter?s list that she feels the need to strategize for. ?I think?due to?the economy we are not going to see a cabbage patch/tickle me Elmo type of scenario,? she wrote in an email.
But Jenny Robertson, 39, a sales and account manager for a sign company and single mother based in Columbus, Ohio, was able to turn the holiday toy craze into a major money-making opportunity. Last Christmas, she had a hunch that the ZhuZhu Pets would be popular, and stocked up on 30 of them back in September. She ended up selling about 200 of them on eBay, along with around 75 Crayola Crayon Makers, for a tidy profit that paid for her family?s Christmas presents and a trip to Washington D.C. with her two children.
Her tricks of the trade? Befriend sales people at the big box stores, because they can tell you when the next shipment of toys is coming in. ?They?re not beyond putting something back for you or tucking it behind a more common Fisher-Price toy and giving you the wink and the nod that it?s there,? Robertson said. She also discovered that the customer service counter was a great place to find returned items that parents didn?t know was a must-have, before they're returned to shelves.?
This year, however, she?s not doing any reselling on eBay, particularly since her 10-year-old daughter had to go without a coveted Zhu Zhu pet last year when Robertson ran out of stock. ?My friends thought I was nuts,? she said. ?We still laugh about the hamster Christmas.?
Circa 1956: From train sets to fluffy, stuffed poodles, TODAY's Dave Garroway and Helen O'Connell take a look at some of the popular toys of the decade.
Taryn Mohrman, lifestyle editor for Parents magazine, highlights the best toys of the year for your child, just in time for holiday shopping.
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