Syria rebels struggle to advance in Aleppo offensive

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebels said they were struggling to make headway against a barrage of government jet and artillery attacks in their latest attempt to take control of the country's largest city Aleppo after weeks of deadlock.

On the second day of an offensive they had billed as a "decisive battle", rebels also threatened to start fighting local Kurdish militants - a move which would further complicate a war that has already spilled over Syria's borders.

Fighters reached by telephone said they had been locked in hours of fierce combat in several neighborhoods of Aleppo, Syria's commercial hub, on Friday.

Rebels armed with machineguns and homemade rockets said they faced a difficult task against a better-equipped enemy.

"We reached the middle of Suleiman al-Halabi and liberated some neighborhoods so I am still optimistic. But I'm worried about our organization. We can't force the regime out. At best, I think we can advance some of our positions," one fighter said, requesting anonymity.

Other rebels told Reuters one of their units had been surrounded. One fighter said some insurgent battalions were pulling out of the front line or had never joined the battle.

The 18-month-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began as peaceful protests but has descended into a civil war. More than 30,000 people have been killed, say activists.

Syria's government says it is fighting Islamist hardliners, adding that thousands of Arab and foreign fighters have entered the country from Turkey.

MORE TALK, LITTLE ACTION AT U.N.

World powers have been meeting at the United Nations this week but are divided over the crisis.

Russia, China and Iran back Assad and oppose any UN sanctions on Syria's leader.

Western countries and Arab states supporting the opposition remain unwilling to take forceful action, despite Qatar's calls for Arab intervention. Some western diplomats say they have been frustrated by what they see as a lack of clear command structure and coordination among the rebels.

One group of countries sympathetic to Syria's opposition is planning to hold another "Friends of Syria" meeting, but there was little prospect of that resulting in action against Assad.

"I just expect ideas to be presented. There will be no concrete plans," Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby told Reuters at the conference in New York.

Diplomats on Friday said that Carla del Ponte, the International Criminal Court's former chief prosecutor, will be named to join a UN investigation into abuses in Syria. Del Ponte was known for doggedly pursuing former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic at the ICC. [ID:nL5E8KS58C]

Human rights investigators say state forces and some rebel groups have committed war crimes in Syria.

Inside Syria, neither side seems ready to put down its arms. Assad's forces have pounded rebel-held areas across the country, and clashes erupt daily. Yet both sides appear incapable of striking a decisive military blow.

A main international concern has been the security of Syria's chemical weapons sites. But U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta cited U.S. intelligence on Friday suggesting that the chemicals remained secure.

The rebels appear to be improving their reach. A bomb attack on Wednesday wrecked the army's command headquarters in the heart of Damascus, though no major officers were killed.

FIGHTING THE KURDS

The rebels also threatened to confront locally-based Kurdish militant groups who they said they suspected of supporting Assad.

They said the groups were linked to Kurdish Worker's Party (PKK) which has been fighting for autonomy in neighboring Turkey.

One rebel leader issued a warning to the Kurds through the Facebook page for the Tawheed Brigade, the largest rebel unit in Aleppo.

"Tawheed Brigade leader Abdelqadir al-Saleh made a final request by phone to the PKK gangs, to drop their weapons immediately and not drag themselves into a losing battle that is not their fight," it said.

"Whoever carries arms in the face of the opposition battalions will find themselves under fire."

In Aleppo's Kurdish neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud, rebels said they had captured at least eight men from the shabbiha - as the pro-Assad militias are known. Some of the captives were killed, they said.

It was unclear if the victims were Kurds, a stateless ethnic group who stretch over much of the region and have so far been split over their support for the uprising.

(Reporting by Erika Solomon and Mariam Karouny; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrians-moved-chemical-weapons-boost-security-u-145411382.html

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Marine plants can flee to avoid predators: First observation of predator avoidance behavior by phytoplankton

ScienceDaily (Sep. 28, 2012) ? Scientists at the University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography have made the first observation of a predator avoidance behavior by a species of phytoplankton, a microscopic marine plant. Susanne Menden-Deuer, associate professor of oceanography, and doctoral student Elizabeth Harvey made the unexpected observation while studying the interactions between phytoplankton and zooplankton.

Their discovery will be published in the September 28 issue of the journal PLOS ONE.

"It has been well observed that phytoplankton can control their movements in the water and move toward light and nutrients," Menden-Deuer said. "What hasn't been known is that they respond to predators by swimming away from them. We don't know of any other plants that do this."

While imaging 3-dimensional predator-prey interactions, the researchers noted that the phytoplankton Heterosigma akashiwo swam differently in the presence of predators, and groups of them shifted their distribution away from the predators.

In a series of laboratory experiments, Menden-Deuer and Harvey found that the phytoplankton not only flee when in the presence of the predatory zooplankton, but they also flee when in water that had previously contained the predators. They found only a minimal effect when the phytoplankton were exposed to predators that do not feed on phytoplankton.

"The phytoplankton can clearly sense the predator is there. They flee even from the chemical scent of the predator but are most agitated when sensing a feeding predator," said Menden-Deuer.

When the scientists provided the phytoplankton with a refuge to avoid the predator -- an area of low salinity water that the predators cannot tolerate -- the phytoplankton moved to the refuge.

The important question these observations raise, according to Menden-Deuer, is how these interactions affect the survival of the prey species.

Measuring survival in the same experiments, the researchers found that fleeing helps the alga survive. Given a chance, the predators will eat all of the phytoplankton in one day if the algae have no safe place in which to escape, but they double every 48 hours if they have a refuge available to flee from predators. Fleeing makes the difference between life and death for this species, said Menden-Deuer.

"One of the puzzling things about some phytoplankton blooms is that they suddenly appear," she said. "Growth and nutrient availability don't always explain the formation of blooms. Our observation of algal fleeing from predators is another mechanism for how blooms could form. Amazingly, looking at individual microscopic behaviors can help to explain a macroscopic phenomenon."

The researchers say there is no way of knowing how common this behavior is or how many other species of phytoplankton also flee from predators, since this is the first observation of such a behavior.

"If it is common among phytoplankton, then it would be a very important process," Menden-Deuer said. "I wouldn't be surprised if other species had that capacity. It would be very beneficial to them."

In future studies, she hopes to observe these behaviors in the ocean and couple it with genetic investigations.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Rhode Island, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Harvey EL, Menden-Deuer S. Predator-Induced Fleeing Behaviors in Phytoplankton: A New Mechanism for Harmful Algal Bloom Formation? PLoS ONE, 2012; 7(9): e46438 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0046438

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/jJsK6M4Y_2E/120929140340.htm

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High School Sports: Prep runner stops on course to aid rival

By Tim Martinez (Columbian Staff)

September 28, 2012

There's an old adage that says "Nice guys finish last." It was not intended as a positive remark.

But out of Tennessee this week came a positive story about a nice guy who did finish last -- because he stopped to help a fellow competitor in need.

Seth Goldstein of Memphis' Cooper Yeshiva High School stopped midway through a cross country meet to assist another runner who had collapsed with heat-related issues.

It's an uplifting story about a winner who didn't finish the line in first place.

Here' the link to the story.

Source: http://www.columbian.com/weblogs/highschoolsports/2012/sep/28/prep-runner-stops-course-aid-rival/

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Westfield Custom Home-Seller Financing?Lease w/Option ...

Beautiful custom home in Westfield. Seller will finance or Lease w/option. Brand new carpet and paint in entire house, stainless appliances, oversized 2 car garage, basement, basketball court, private patio, lowest price home in the neighborhood. Int [...]

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Source: http://www.indianapolisrealestatepros.com/westfield-custom-home-seller-financing-lease-woption-westfield-indiana-264900-4bd-2985sqft/

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Industry Analysis Is Out of Date - Rita McGrath - Harvard Business ...

by Rita McGrath??|?? 2:41 PM September 27, 2012

For some time now, I've been observing that one of the central principles of strategy ? that industries are a fundamental building block for strategic analysis ? is being challenged. It's been interesting to watch computer companies go after the entertainment business, Internet time-wasters competing with televised time-wasters, and games played on social media sites scooping up revenue that traditional game companies might at one point have called their own.

The Wall Street Journal published a story which shows just how blurred traditional industry lines have become. In an article entitled "Cell Phones Are Eating the Family Budget" the Journal reporter profiled case after case of couples and families who give up spending on restaurants, entertainment, cars and even clothing in order to cover their burgeoning cell phone bills. In other words, funds that used to flow into local restaurants, clothing chains or other forms of entertainment are flowing instead into the top lines of mobile phone operators. The Journal offers some numbers:

The trend has been a boon for companies like Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc. U.S. wireless carriers brought in $22 billion in revenue selling services such as mobile email and Web browsing in 2007, according to analysts at UBS AG. By 2011, data revenue had jumped to $59 billion. By 2017, UBS expects carriers to be pulling in an additional $50 billion a year

So let me get this straight ? by 2017, the analysts over at UBS are anticipating that more than $100 billion of consumers' disposable income will be heading into the pockets of carriers, and, by definition, not into the pockets of other things people used to spend their money on. Even today, before whatever new innovations will be unleashed by 2017, a family of four with two smartphones and two regular phones could be looking at over $300/month in bills. Now you have to add to that spending on Internet and Pay-TV to get a sense of what the average household is shelling out for connected services.

According to the NPD group, the cable bill for an average American household was $86 in 2011, and has been rising an average of 6% annually, while household incomes have remained flat or on the decline. As the report concludes, "NPD expects the average pay-TV bill to reach $123 by the year 2015 and $200 by 2020." Wow. Even at today's average prices, if you figure $300 for the mobile phone and $86 for cable TV and compare that to America's median household income of $45,800, after that household has paid their federal income taxes, spending on the phone and cable bill would eat up fully 13% of what's left over. All the rest of you industries ? from autos to haircuts to packaged foods to clothing to you-name-it ? you are all going to be dueling over what's left over.

Compare that, if you will, to the now-ancient world of the land-line. In that world, you only had one phone number, your monthly bill was pretty low unless you did exotic things like making long-distance calls, and the phone's major purpose was...talking.

The government data, which the Journal shared in the chart below, shows drops in a whole lot of categories, while cellular spending keeps rising, since the iPhone's introductory year in 2007:

So unlike many sectors of the economy where Moore's Law prevails, making things like data storage, data communication and even clothing less and less expensive, those phone bills are only going up.

This story raises a real challenge to conventional strategy analysis, in which a key activity is often looking at traditional competitors, assessing their intentions and moves and figuring out key trends that are going to be meaningful within the confines of an industry. In cases like this one, the traditional competitors are important, sure, but you can actually think of all the traditional competitors in the same boat, as the very category in which you compete loses ground.

To consider competition like this, you need to think more broadly about what I call "oblique" competitors. These are competitors who may not be in your industry, may not be targeting the same problems you target, and may not even intend to compete with you at all. To understand them, you have to redefine what you are competing for. In this case, it's share of family budget. To do a competitive analysis in this situation, you'd need to get into the heads of potential customers and try to understand the tradeoffs they are making and why. Until you get in the habit of doing that, the risk of being collateral damage of someone else's successful strategy is all too real.

Source: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/09/industry_analysis_is_out_of_date.html

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Name game: Six outrageous tag team mash-ups

All WWE programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves, trademarks, logos and copyrights are the exclusive property of WWE, Inc. and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. ? 2012 WWE, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This website is based in the United States. By submitting personal information to this website you consent to your information being maintained in the U.S., subject to applicable U.S. laws. U.S. law may be different than the law of your home country. WrestleMania XXIX (NY/NJ) logo TM & ? 2012 WWE. All Rights Reserved. The Empire State Building design is a registered trademark and used with permission by ESBC.

Source: http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/tag-team-mash-up-names

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Arrest of Google Brazil head stirs debate over Web

In this Nov. 22, 2011 photo, Google executive Fabio Jose Silva Coelho poses for a portrait in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Google Inc.'s head of operations in Brazil was detained by the country's federal police Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012 after the company failed to heed a judge's order to take down YouTube videos that the court ruled violate Brazilian electoral law. The detention came as another court ordered YouTube to remove clips of an anti-Islam film that has been blamed for deadly protests by Muslims around the globe, both joining a spate of court-ordered content-removal cases against Google's video-sharing website in Brazil. (AP Photo/Carol Carquejeiro, Agencia O Globo)

In this Nov. 22, 2011 photo, Google executive Fabio Jose Silva Coelho poses for a portrait in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Google Inc.'s head of operations in Brazil was detained by the country's federal police Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012 after the company failed to heed a judge's order to take down YouTube videos that the court ruled violate Brazilian electoral law. The detention came as another court ordered YouTube to remove clips of an anti-Islam film that has been blamed for deadly protests by Muslims around the globe, both joining a spate of court-ordered content-removal cases against Google's video-sharing website in Brazil. (AP Photo/Carol Carquejeiro, Agencia O Globo)

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) ? The arrest of a top Google executive is reviving a debate about Brazilian laws that hold services such as YouTube responsible for the videos posted on them, making the country a hotbed of attempts to stifle digital content.

Legal experts said Thursday that Google violated a judge's order to take down videos on its YouTube subsidiary that target Brazilian political candidates ? and that the judge was completely within the law in issuing the arrest warrant.

But they said the arrest of Fabio Jose Silva Coelho, the head of Google Inc.'s Brazil operations, underscores the need to modernize laws that treat offensive material on the Internet like material that is carried by newspapers, television and radio, holding platforms such as Google responsible for user-provided content.

Coelho was released shortly after his arrest Wednesday and agreed to appear before a court at an as-yet undetermined time. On Google's official Brazil blog, Coelho wrote Thursday night that the company was forced to block the video in the case for which he was arrested after the company lost its final appeal.

"We are deeply disappointed that we have never had the full opportunity to argue in court that these were legitimate free speech videos and should remain available in Brazil," he wrote. "Despite all this, we will continue to campaign for free expression globally."

Legal experts said the case cast a spotlight on problems within Brazil's legal system.

"Our laws trying to govern the Internet are outdated," said Jose Guilherme Zagallo, head of the Brazilian bar association's commission focusing on information technology law. "It's not clear who is responsible for content, and that creates uncertainty for Internet companies, users and judges, who are left to interpret laws not written for the Internet."

Brazil's strict electoral laws limit what critics can say on television, radio and the Internet about candidates for office. On several occasions in recent years, media outlets have faced stiff fines for breaking the laws, but few if any officials were arrested.

Google's alleged infractions, however, are more widespread, simply because of its omnipresence. Ahead of municipal elections in Brazil next month, Google has received requests in more than 20 states to remove videos that allegedly violate those restrictions.

Google has faced a landslide of content-removal requests around the globe, including in the U.S., but Brazil makes more requests than any other nation, according to the company's summary of all the demands. Most such demands relate to legitimate attempts to enforce laws on issues ranging from personal privacy to hate speech.

Brazilian government agencies alone submitted a total of 194 content-removal requests during the final half of last year, according to a summary released by Google in June. Running just behind that was the United States, where police, prosecutors, courts and other government agencies submitted 187 requests to remove content over the same period.

Google says it complied fully or partially with 54 percent of Brazilian removal requests in the last half of 2011. Most requests involved YouTube and charges of defamation. Other requests involved the social networking site Orkut and requests to remove illegal content, such as child pornography.

Separately this week, another Brazilian court ordered YouTube to remove clips of an anti-Islam film that has been blamed for deadly protests by Muslims around the globe. Google is now selectively blocking the video clips in countries that include Libya and Egypt. Google has said it made the decision to block the video in such places due to "the sensitive situations" there.

Brazil's legal action targeting a Google executive, while rare, is not unprecedented. In 2010 in Italy, a judge held three Google executives criminally responsible for an online video of an autistic teenager being bullied. The executives were given six-month suspended sentences.

A judge in Mato Grosso do Sul state ordered Coelho arrested because the company had not removed YouTube videos making incendiary comments about an alleged paternity suit aimed at Alcides Bernal, who is running for mayor of the city of Campo Grande.

"Being a platform, Google is not responsible for the content posted on its site," the company said in a statement this week.

Bruno Magrani, a researcher at the Center for Technology and Society at Rio de Janeiro's Getulio Vargas Foundation, said that unlike the United States and some other countries, Brazil doesn't have legal protections for online service providers that host content provided by third parties.

There is pending legislation that would provide some protection for intermediaries such as Google. Earlier this month the company joined Facebook and online retail site MercadoLivre in sending an open letter supporting the passage of the law, called Marco Civil.

"Marco Civil establishes that providers of Internet applications are not responsible for content published by users," the letter says. "Various economic, social and legislative factors justify not holding providers responsible; without that protection, the use of online applications and platforms would be limited, which would be a loss to users."

While the measure would create some protections, it would not resolve the legal tangle facing Google's Coelho or prevent the situation from recurring, Magrani said.

The Marco Civil is general legislation, and could still be trumped by more specific electoral laws. Those laws treat an Internet platform such as Google as if it were a newspaper or a television station, holding it responsible for its content.

"It's a very serious situation," Magrani said. "Brazil needs to change its electoral law to accommodate the nature and the characteristics of the Internet. The Internet cannot be treated in the same way as traditional media."

First, he said, an Internet company cannot evaluate all the content it carries in the same way a newspaper or television channel can because of the sheer volume.

Second, "the Internet has no editor. And we don't want an editor," Magrani said.

He said asking a company to determine what users can upload is a dangerous step that could undermine freedom of information.

"If we continue threatening to jail heads of companies who don't verify content before it goes on the Internet, we will end up living in a state of censorship," he said. "If the company is running a high risk, it'll start posting less and less material. ... If companies start to feel afraid of retaliation, they'll start censoring."

The lack of protections for Internet platforms can also have a chilling effect on the development of small- and medium-size high-tech companies in Brazil that don't have the resources of big companies like Google, Magrani said.

The federal government is investing heavily to promote the tech sector, but Brazilian legislators need to diminish legal risks for startups, he said.

Maria Clara Garcaz, a 20-year-old university student in Rio de Janeiro, expressed worries about the court action.

"It's like we live in a silent, disguised dictatorship. When we had our real dictatorship, at least you knew for certain what you could and couldn't say," Garcaz said. "Political speech can be censored at any time and it's moving into the Internet, exactly where people speak out."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2012-09-27-Brazil-Google/id-f7e2a62e63e84233ace47ad4d6d35449

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Permanent Fixes: Stinginess Is Not The Only Option (To Philanthropy)

In a September 19 WSJ article, Geoffrey A. Fowler reported that more billionaires are signing on to the idea, promoted by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, of giving away large portions, at least half, of their money.? Well, it is certainly more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35), but whether such?largess?is a better idea than investing the funds in new GDP-generating, job-creating, and government funding enterprises depends, in my opinion, on what they give it to, how well the recipients manage it, and what other options the donors have for investing the money.

The article included a puzzling and blog-post-inspiring quote from Gordon Moore, 83 year old founder of Intel and author of the famous Moore?s Law: ?"?it's a good idea and has shaken loose a lot of money that otherwise would have been tied up for a long time."? Well, only if somebody had it stuffed in a mattress somewhere or in a safety deposit box would it have been ?tied up,? because otherwise the money was supporting some endeavor or enterprise already. ?

I have no first-hand information about this, but it is very likely that donations of Messrs. Moore, Gates, Buffett, and other billionaires are in the form of shares of appreciated stock, donated unsold to avoid capital gains taxes and estate taxes, to a foundation, which might continue to hold the shares and use the dividends from them to support its work.? So, the money would still be ?tied up? in those shares of stock.? Or the foundation might sell the stock and use the proceeds from the sale in some new or existing charitable effort which might even involve hiring a lot of people.? In that case, somebody else will have to come up with money to buy the stock so that equivalent amount of money would still be ?tied up,? having previously been ?tied up? in something else.? Only if the overall transaction were so large as to result in a decline in the value of the stock would less money end up being ?tied up,? and that would be a bad thing.

Don?t get me wrong.? I believe we are stewards and not owners of our financial assets and responsible for using them wisely, voluntarily and systematically giving to worthy causes and people in need throughout our lives and, when possible, being personally involved in the work of the organizations and persons we give to and through.? These billionaires are generous to want to give the money away and spend time managing the gifts, and generosity always trumps stinginess. ??

But, stinginess?isn't?the only option.? If a wealthy person has a good idea for a new product or service that will be of benefit to humankind, investing money and time, hiring people, and taking risks to make it a reality, earning more money in the process, would not be less moral than giving away the money and would be better than irresponsible giving.? Such business development is no less important to the future than, and is a prerequisite for, philanthropy?and for tax revenues too, by the way.?

As an example of the point I am trying to make, think of George Vanderbilt, wealthy grandson of Cornelius, whom I wrote about in a July14, 2012 posting?on this blog.? Here is what I said:?

One bit of residue of the Vanderbilt fortune is Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC, built in the late 1800?s, the ?gilded age,? by grandson George. To many it seems to have been an extravagant indulgence (Check out this?recent?column by Mona Charen.), but he built a town to support the project, pushed the limits on technology, and employed thousands in the design and construction of it, artists and craftsmen and laborers, thereby revolutionizing the Western North Carolina economy. One hundred and forty years later, Biltmore Estate, a working farm and resort, employs 1700 people and hosts a million visitors annually from all over the world. Now that was a real jobs program!

I?m not arguing that George was virtuous for building Biltmore but just that, while he?didn't?live long enough to enjoy it, it was a worthwhile endeavor that paid off big for other people.? Had he just freely distributed the money to the citizens of Western North Carolina, he would have been widely celebrated and admired at the time but any positive effect would probably have long since disappeared.

Summing up the life of the infamously ruthless Commodore who made his fortune personally networking the nation with railroads and connecting its ports with steamships while driving down the cost of freight, I said this: "The Commodore lived into his eighties, rare for the time, but it?s too bad he?couldn't?have had an additional productive hundred years. If he had, the United States rather than Japan would have been the leader in high speed trains and Amtrak would never have been created."

A modern day Vanderbilt, smaller scale of course, recently introduced to me by a David Brooks column, is Elon Musk, entrepreneur extraordinaire, founder of Zip2, SpaceX, Tesla Motors, and PayPal and a philanthropist who has signed on to the pledge to give away at least half his fortune.? I just hope he?doesn't?give it all away before he runs out of ideas because he is a serious job creator and GDP generator.

Bill and Melinda Gates are apparently doing great work around the world in the fields of health and education.? Mr. Buffett is apparently giving much of his money to the Gates foundation.? If they all bring along their personal management skills with their money, I have no doubt that much good will be accomplished, many problems solved, and countless lives improved.? I thank and congratulate them.? But I would also be happy and offering congratulations if they had come up with another economy building, paradigm changing, job creating, idea such as MSDOS which launched the personal computer business and lifted far more people out of poverty than will ever be possible with charitable giving from their personal fortunes.

And here is another option to stinginess.? One curmudgeon billionaire quoted in the Fowler article, German shipping magnate Peter Kr?mer, said that individuals should not have the right to determine use of such large sums of money, that it should instead be taxed away and its use determined by the government.? I don?t like that idea either, nor apparently does Mr. Buffett since, although he has publicly announced support for a trivial increase in his income taxes, he is responsibly doing whatever he can to keep his vast personal fortune out of government hands which would disperse it completely in just a tad over one day.

Source: http://www.permanentfixes.com/2012/09/stinginess-is-not-only-option.html

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ZOTAC Announces GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP! Extreme Edition ...

ZOTAC International, a global innovator and manufacturer of graphics cards, mainboards and mini-PCs, today pushes the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 660 Ti to extremes with the new limited edition ZOTAC GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP! Extreme Edition. The ZOTAC GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP! Extreme Edition goes beyond the AMP! Edition and raises the engine clocks an extra six-percent higher for a greater performance boost in the latest games and applications.

?We wanted to build the ultimate GeForce? GTX 660 Ti based graphics card. The ZOTAC GeForce? GTX 660 Ti AMP! Extreme Edition is the result with its 13-percent performance boost from standard versions,? said Carsten Berger, marketing director, ZOTAC International.

The ZOTAC GeForce? GTX 660 Ti AMP! Extreme Edition comes bundled with a Roccat Taito gaming mouse pad for superior gaming precision. The Roccat Taito delivers a smooth surface for lightning-fast mouse movement with outstanding precision which compliments the ZOTAC GeForce? GTX 660 Ti AMP! Extreme Edition?s phenomenal visuals and class-dominating performance perfectly.

It?s time to play with the limited edition ZOTAC GeForce? GTX 660 Ti AMP! Extreme Edition.

Gallery

General details

• New ZOTAC GeForce? GTX 660 Ti AMP! Extreme Edition
• NVIDIA? GeForce? GTX 660 Ti GPU
• 1344 processor cores
• Engine clock: 1098 MHz (base), 1176 MHz (boost)
• Dual Silencer enhanced cooling solution
• 2GB GDDR5 memory
• 192-bit memory interface
• Memory clock: 6608 MHz
• Roccat Taito gaming mouse pad bundle
• PCI Express 3.0 interface
• NVIDIA? Surround capable
• NVIDIA? FXAA & TXAA technologies
• NVIDIA? SLI? ready (3-way)
• NVIDIA? Adaptive Vertical Sync
• NVIDIA? NVENC video transcoding acceleration capable
• DirectX? 11 technology & Shader Model 5
• OpenGL? 4.2 compatible
• Hardware-accelerated Full HD video playback
• Blu-ray 3D ready
• Loss-less audio bitstream capable

Specifications:

?Product Name	ZOTAC GeForce? GTX 660 Ti AMP! Extreme Edition
GPU	NVIDIA? GeForce? GTX 660 Ti
Engine Clock speed	1098 MHz (base), 1176 MHz (boost)
Unified Shaders	1344
Shader Clock	N/A
Memory Clock speed	6608 MHz
Memory	2GB GDDR5
Memory interface	192-bit
Display Outputs	DVI-I, DVI-D, HDMI & DisplayPort
HDCP	Yes
Cooling	Dual Silencer Enhanced Cooling? (dual-slot)
DirectX? version	DirectX? 11 with Shader Model 5
Other hardware features	Hardware accelerated Blu-ray 3D ready
Software Features	Hardware Video Decode Acceleration Technology, NVIDIA? CUDA? technology, NVIDIA? GPU Boost technology, NVIDIA? Adaptive Vetical Sync technology, NVIDIA? SLI? ready, NVIDIA? 3D Vision? Surround ready, OpenGL? 4.2
Windows capability	Windows 8 / Windows? 7 with DirectCompute ready

Source: Zotac | News Archive

Tags: AMP! AMP! Extreme Edition Gaming GeForce GTX 660 GeForce GTX 660 Ti GTX 660 GTX 660 Ti Video Card Zotac

Source: http://www.thinkcomputers.org/zotac-announces-geforce-gtx-660-ti-amp-extreme-edition/

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Samsung Galaxy Note II launches on three carriers in Korea

Looking for Samsung's latest big phone? Get yourself over to Korea, where the Galaxy Note II has kicked off its launch "world tour" with a party in the center of Seoul. The 5.5-inch Jelly Bean superphone will be available across SKT, KT and LG U+ carriers, supporting LTE connectivity on all three, available in 32GB and 64GB storage offerings. The Galaxy Note II will eventually arrive in 128 countries -- and we're expecting a US arrival date sometime in November, on even more carriers than its Korean debut.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Samsung Galaxy Note II launches on three carriers in Korea originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Sep 2012 07:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Is equity release a gamble worth taking? | Which? Conversation

More grandparents are using equity release to help their family. Yet, is it really that sensible to release money from your home when it can be such an important safety net?

Stories of young people borrowing from ?the bank of mum and dad? aren?t new. But a report by equity release specialist Key Retirement Solutions has highlighted a new trend: young people borrowing from their grandparents, who have released equity in their homes to do so.

Home sweet home

Equity release is a way of freeing up the money in your home without having to move.

Last year, 23% of retired homeowners who took out an equity release plan said lending to their loved ones was their motivation. And in the first six months of this year that rose to 31%. Total lending also increased from ?385.7m to ?446.2m.

Before the recession, the most common reason retired homeowners gave for using equity release was renovating their property, followed by going on holiday. Although home improvements remain the most popular reason (58%), now more homeowners are citing grandchildren?s university fees or helping their children get on the housing ladder.

Does equity release add up?

For many UK retirees, their home is their largest asset ? so making practical use of it makes good financial sense. But it?s worth ensuring that your own financial future is secure before lending a slice of it to your family.

Even those who feel they have a comfortable pension may still find themselves needing to pay for care bills in later life ? which can run to ?50k a year and beyond.

For those who regard their home as a financial backstop, it may make better financial sense to gift it on to their children once they die, rather than removing the safety net before knowing whether they?ll need it.

Given the high charges, high interest rates and inflexible nature of most of the products on the market, equity release is best kept as a last resort. Is it one you?d take advantage of?

Source: http://conversation.which.co.uk/money/equity-release-plans-home-retirement-pension-borrow/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=equity-release-plans-home-retirement-pension-borrow

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Virgin America Announces 2nd Quarter 2012 Results ? Civil ...

Quoting ROSWELL41 (Thread starter): VX has posted a $4 million loss for the quarter. Unfortunate for what is supposed to be one of the strongest quarters of the year for airlines in general. Very disappointing considering that even bankrupt AMR posted an operating profit and a better net margin -- even including bankruptcy reorganization expenses! Load factor was down 3.2 points year-over-year and RASM declined 2 percent even as peer JetBlue's RASM increased 6 percent with a load factor increase of 3.8 points. The decrease in CASM was almost entirely attributable to lower fuel costs and longer average stage length. The exit scenario for Branson and the "U.S. investors" is an IPO, but these numbers won't support an IPO in the next 12 months unless Q3 is a complete blow-out -- and I don't think the macroeconomic environment supports that.

This would support the rumor that investors are losing patience. The key metrics are headed in the wrong direction. VX caters too much to the price sensitive customer looking for an exciting experience and not the loyal business traveler expecting first class upgrades etc. The long stage length of flights isn't helping either. Best of luck but I don't see VX having a bright future in this form.

Another fantastic quarter I dont see how that model can work in this economy?

I love the spin...$4M.... Now if we dig slightly deeper and don't read the Virgin America corporate koolaid and we look at the REAL numbers....Another $31M loss for the quarter...up $10M from last year. And for the year....$107M loss....just ever so slightly above their $66M loss a year before. People, these are not good numbers. But there is nothing to see here...Doing great...Keep on keepin' on.

Quoting SuperDash (Reply 4): But there is nothing to see here...Doing great...Keep on keepin' on. If AMR can turn it around, VX can turn it around too!?

While I detest Virgin America and its old school 1800's robber baron style origin story, i will grant them that showing an operational profit is the first key to sucess. Won't keep you alive, but that "$4M" is atleast close... You are right though, investors will want to see much more from a company as small and as middle aged as Virgin America has become. Can't play the startup card anymore with the money folks, yet its not a large established airline that shaving a few % here and there can suddenly start putting hundreds of millions in the bank.

I think the doomsayers are just loving this but you dont invest in the airline business expecting short term return. VX is clearly on a 10 year model and i think they are progressing nicely. All figures point to getting closer to their goal each time. The PRESS RELEASE is just that but theres alot more to the VX story than what the posters above have detracted from it so i feel the entire post needs to be visible. SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Virgin America today reported its financial results for the second quarter of 2012. Total operating revenue for the second quarter grew by 29 percent to $347 million on a capacity increase of 32 percent. The Company narrowed its operating loss to $4 million for the second quarter, and improved earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization, and aircraft rental expense (EBITDAR) by 44 percent, to a record high of $54 million. EBITDAR margin for the second quarter rose to 16 percent, a 1.7 point year-over-year improvement. Year-to-date Virgin America reported total revenue of $614 million ? a 31 percent increase year-over-year. Operating loss for the six months ended June 30, 2012, was $53 million. Year-to-date the Company has achieved EBITDAR of $61 million, an improvement of 23 percent over the first six months of 2011. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090123/VIRGINAMERICALOGO) In the second year of an unprecedented capacity growth cycle, Virgin America's unit revenue (RASM) declined a modest 2 percent as compared to the second quarter of 2011. Over the past two years, the airline has increased available seat miles (ASM) by 72 percent with an 11 percent increase in RASM. The Company took delivery of one aircraft during the second quarter, ending the quarter with a total fleet of 52 Airbus A320 Family aircraft. The airline has taken delivery of 24 aircraft total since the first quarter of 2010. This rapid growth established Virgin America's core network and provided an important base for the carrier's future success. This phase of accelerated growth is now largely complete, as Virgin America will take delivery of just one additional aircraft through the second quarter of 2013. Cost per available seat mile (CASM) excluding fuel decreased by 1.5 percent, despite the cost pressures of growth, reflecting the benefits of economies of scale that Virgin America will see as growth slows. Fuel costs during the quarter averaged $3.40 per gallon ? a decrease of 3.4 percent year-over-year, although the quarter was still one of the highest cost periods in Virgin America's history. Virgin America maintains a hedging program to manage the volatility of fuel prices and provide some protection from short-term price increases. As of June 30, the Company has hedged 58 percent of its expected fuel consumption for the rest of 2012, and 30 percent for the first half of 2013. "With improved margins in the second quarter, our investment in building our network over the past two years is beginning to pay off," said Virgin America President and CEO David Cush. "Despite the economic climate and the historic rise in fuel costs faced since our launch, as a new carrier we needed to grow. After two years of record expansion, we're pleased to have built a strong foundation and to have delivered on our promise of offering the best product in the domestic skies. With just one aircraft delivery in the next twelve months, we will focus on maximizing the value of our network instead of managing additional growth. As we enter this period of slower growth, we expect the investment in our core network to continue to provide improved financial results." In the 12 months ending in June 2012, Virgin America launched new service to Puerto Vallarta, Palm Springs, Philadelphia, and Portland. Since its 2007 launch, the airline has created 2,600 new jobs, expanded to 19 airport destinations, signed up 2.5 million Elevate? members and swept the reader-based travel awards, including "Best Domestic Airline" in Conde Nast Traveler's Readers' Choice Awards and Travel + Leisure's World's Best Awards. As one of the few expanding U.S. airlines, Virgin America grew by 513 teammates year-over-year for the quarter. Top Line Second Quarter Reporting Highlights: Operating results: The airline reported an operating loss of $4 million in the second quarter on revenues of $347 million ? a 32 percent improvement year-over-year. Load factor: Revenue passenger miles increased 27 percent on a 32 percent increase in capacity, resulting in a second quarter load factor of 80 percent ? a three point load factor decrease for the quarter year-over-year. Top line progress: Revenue in the second quarter was up 29 percent versus second quarter 2011. RASM decreased by two percent year-over-year. Cost control: Operating expense per available seat mile excluding fuel (ex-fuel CASM) decreased by 2 percent in the quarter, reflecting the economies of scale from the Company's growth over the past year. Cash: The airline ended the quarter with $82 million in unrestricted cash. This year, Virgin America reached the threshold to be classified a major carrier for reporting purposes by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and as such began reporting its on-time performance, baggage handling and other key operational statistics to the DOT monthly. For the second quarter of 2012, Virgin America achieved an 85.2 percent cumulative on-time performance, placing the carrier seventh for on-time performance among all reporting major U.S. carriers for the quarter. The airline's baggage handling rate for the first six months of 2012 was 0.88 mishandled baggage reports per 1000 guests, which placed it first among all reporting U.S. carriers for baggage reliability for the first half of 2012. Key milestones achieved in the second quarter of 2012 include: In June 2012, the airline inaugurated service to Portland International Airport (PDX) from both San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX); In June 2012, the airline opened a new flight training facility with a state-of-the-art Required Navigational Performance (RNP)-certified CAE Airbus A320 full-flight simulator? the first such pilot training facility of its kind in Northern California; In May 2012, the airline launched ticket sales on its new Washington Reagan National (DCA) nonstop flight from SFO, after receiving DOT approval to operate the route; In May 2012,Virgin America, Virgin Atlantic Airways and Virgin Australia, announced a first of its kind joint entertainment, digital and out-of-home advertising campaign to celebrate the unique Virgin in-flight experience and mark the airlines' global frequent flyer partnership ? which went live earlier in the spring of 2012; In April 2012, Virgin America launched its first flights to Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) from SFO and LAX; In June 2012, Virgin America applied with DOT for its first codeshare agreement with Virgin Australia, which went live in July; Virgin America added Japan Airlines as an interline partner in June, further expanding the airline's reach. Virgin America has implemented multiple interline partnerships in the first half of 2012. The airline now has 17 interline partners total. Virgin America flies to San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Washington D.C. (IAD and DCA), Seattle, Las Vegas, San Diego, Boston, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Cabos, Cancun, Chicago, Puerto Vallarta, Palm Springs (seasonally), Philadelphia and Portland. Although a privately held company, Virgin America is announcing these earnings results in advance of the DOT quarterly reports. PR Newswire (http://s.tt/1odXk)

This airline's financial performance has gone from bad to worse....I just don't see light at the end of the tunnel

Quoting NWADTWE16 (Reply 7): I think the doomsayers are just loving this but you dont invest in the airline business expecting short term return. VX is clearly on a 10 year model and i think they are progressing nicely. All figures point to getting closer to their goal each time. No investor would willingly pour money into an aviation start-up whose business plan didn't forecast any kind of returns until the 10th year. VX can't show any trending data that suggests they are moving closer to profitability; if anything, it's the opposite. One number may look better in one quarter, but every time, another number suffers (i.e., CASM, RASM, etc).

look VX havent made a profit sense it began how long can they keep it up

Quoting NWADTWE16 (Reply 7): The Company took delivery of one aircraft during the second quarter And only one more to come in the next year. So much for growth spreading out costs. Their CASM is as low as it's going to go.

Quoting NWADTWE16 (Reply 7): Cost per available seat mile (CASM) excluding fuel decreased by 1.5 percent, despite the cost pressures of growth, reflecting the benefits of economies of scale that Virgin America will see as growth slows. Does VX management actually think people will believe this statement? The "cost pressures of growth" are generally DOWNWARD -- because fixed costs like back-office staff, I.T. systems, executive pay, marketing, etc. can be spread over more customers and tickets, because the new employees hired in to support that growth start at the bottom of the pay scale, and because the new aircraft entering the fleet enjoy a maintenance holiday for the first several years. As growth slows, VX will NOT see improved economies of scale; rather their labor & maintenance unit costs will increase. Quoting NWADTWE16 (Reply 7): "With improved margins in the second quarter, our investment in building our network over the past two years is beginning to pay off," The margins didn't improve because of their "investment in building [the] network." Their margins improved because fuel was less expensive. If fuel costs had stayed level, their operating margin would have been worse than in 2Q2011 at -2.6% vs -2.2%. The EBITDAR number is specious since you can't run the airline without planes and their fleet costs nearly $20 million/month to rent. EBITDAR is up $17 million largely because aircraft rent was up $14 million and fuel was down $5 million. Quoting NWADTWE16 (Reply 7): VX is clearly on a 10 year model and i think they are progressing nicely. VX is not on a "10 year model." They've been planning for an IPO this year or next -- but a net loss of $108 million for the fist six months of this year won't support an IPO in 2013, either.

Quoting NWADTWE16 (Reply 7): I think the doomsayers are just loving this but you dont invest in the airline business expecting short term return. Your right about one thing - don't invest in an airline period and expect any kind of return.

With all of these airline mergers UA/CO, DL/NW and Southwest/Air Tran and AA going down the tubes ,it is going to be impossible for airlines like Virgin America to survive in this economic environment. Southwest very dominant in as a low cost carrier and they are going to be hard to compete with. The only way I see Virgin America Not closing up shop is if they merge with Jet Blue and/or Alaska Airlines.

Now i only see what i see but since VX joined Sabre, maybe a year ago (not even sure if its that long) they have become much more accessible to especially Business travelers and i can say for certain they have an extremely loyal base. Besides the base people are jumping all over any opportunity to fly them and the prices are much higher than what i was seeing 6 months ago. They are always full on all the red-eyes from SFO/LAX-FLL-BOS-PHL-JFK looks like ORD loads might not be so great and PDX looks light. SEA seems pretty good and DFW is a sure winner, especially as they are picking up alot of new pax due to the current AA debacle. Once people have flown them they litteraly beg for them if its even an option. Not sure the RASM on the inter-Cali routes but they are all always at capacity as far as availability. Even the LAS-JFK is usually 80% or so. I know everyone sees no profit as 'oh so horrible, its all over news' but im willing to bet that VX investors are seeing the progress and we are NOW in the busy business traveler season not just out of it as someone said before. Summer is leisure and their routes are hardly leisure. maybe someone from VX can confirm this but they must be banking alone off the Transcons, there is always limited or No availability in all classes..and overall take into account they must have one of the higher stage lengths comparitably.

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NASA's Chandra shows Milky Way is surrounded by halo of hot gas

ScienceDaily (Sep. 24, 2012) ? Astronomers have used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to find evidence our Milky Way Galaxy is embedded in an enormous halo of hot gas that extends for hundreds of thousands of light years. The estimated mass of the halo is comparable to the mass of all the stars in the galaxy.

If the size and mass of this gas halo is confirmed, it also could be an explanation for what is known as the "missing baryon" problem for the galaxy.

Baryons are particles, such as protons and neutrons, that make up more than 99.9 percent of the mass of atoms found in the cosmos. Measurements of extremely distant gas halos and galaxies indicate the baryonic matter present when the universe was only a few billion years old represented about one-sixth the mass and density of the existing unobservable, or dark, matter. In the current epoch, about 10 billion years later, a census of the baryons present in stars and gas in our galaxy and nearby galaxies shows at least half the baryons are unaccounted for.

In a recent study, a team of five astronomers used data from Chandra, the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton space observatory and Japan's Suzaku satellite to set limits on the temperature, extent and mass of the hot gas halo. Chandra observed eight bright X-ray sources located far beyond the galaxy at distances of hundreds of millions of light-years. The data revealed X-rays from these distant sources are absorbed selectively by oxygen ions in the vicinity of the galaxy. The scientists determined the temperature of the absorbing halo is between 1 million and 2.5 million kelvins, or a few hundred times hotter than the surface of the sun.

Other studies have shown that the Milky Way and other galaxies are embedded in warm gas with temperatures between 100,000 and 1 million kelvins. Studies have indicated the presence of a hotter gas with a temperature greater than 1 million kelvins. This new research provides evidence the hot gas halo enveloping the Milky Way is much more massive than the warm gas halo.

"We know the gas is around the galaxy, and we know how hot it is," said Anjali Gupta, lead author of The Astrophysical Journal paper describing the research. "The big question is, how large is the halo, and how massive is it?"

To begin to answer this question, the authors supplemented Chandra data on the amount of absorption produced by the oxygen ions with XMM-Newton and Suzaku data on the X-rays emitted by the gas halo. They concluded that the mass of the gas is equivalent to the mass in more than 10 billion suns, perhaps as large as 60 billion suns.

"Our work shows that, for reasonable values of parameters and with reasonable assumptions, the Chandra observations imply a huge reservoir of hot gas around the Milky Way," said co-author Smita Mathur of Ohio State University in Columbus. "It may extend for a few hundred thousand light-years around the Milky Way or it may extend farther into the surrounding local group of galaxies. Either way, its mass appears to be very large."

The estimated mass depends on factors such as the amount of oxygen relative to hydrogen, which is the dominant element in the gas. Nevertheless, the estimation represents an important step in solving the case of the missing baryons, a mystery that has puzzled astronomers for more than a decade.

Although there are uncertainties, the work by Gupta and colleagues provides the best evidence yet that the galaxy's missing baryons have been hiding in a halo of million-kelvin gas that envelopes the galaxy. The estimated density of this halo is so low that similar halos around other galaxies would have escaped detection.

The paper describing these results was published in the Sept. 1 issue of The Astrophysical Journal. Other co-authors were Yair Krongold of Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico in Mexico City; Fabrizio Nicastro of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass.; and Massimiliano Galeazzi of University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla.

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls Chandra's science and flight operations from Cambridge.

For Chandra images, multimedia and related materials, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/chandra

For an additional interactive image, podcast, and video on the finding, visit: http://chandra.si.edu

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Engadget Giveaway: win a Nexus 7, courtesy of Amzer!

We can't get enough of the Nexus 7, and we'll wager that you feel the same way. That's why we're teaming up with Amzer to hook you up with another chance to win one of Google's signature tablets. If the name doesn't ring a bell, Amzer sells cases for nearly every phone and tablet available on the market, but today it's promoting ShatterProof, a screen protector that's certified to be resistant to scratches, stress and drops. So feel free to leave a comment below to enter and then head over to the company's Twitter or Facebook accounts (linked below) to express your undying gratitude for the opportunity.

Continue reading Engadget Giveaway: win a Nexus 7, courtesy of Amzer!

Filed under: Announcements, HD, Mobile, Alt

Engadget Giveaway: win a Nexus 7, courtesy of Amzer! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 11:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple Is Following Microsoft's Path In Alarming Ways

A company at the height of its glory releases a new operating system. Some of the things it offers are considered to be copies of what another company already offers.

If it?s 1995, the company is Microsoft and the operating system is Windows 95. If it?s 2012, the company is Apple and the operating system is iOS 6.

Where is Steve Jobs?

Two years ago, the iPhone 4 was released and users quickly experienced issues with the antenna built directly into the case. The furor prompted Apple to publicly apologize for the mistake and offer some quick fix to deal with an offering that wasn?t fully there yet.

Last year, Apple releases the iPhone 4S, with Siri as the primary innovation it presented in the new phone. But Siri wasn?t fully baked and people were quick to take to social networks and tell the world about the disappointing offering.

This year, one of the big innovation Apple was to offer in iOS 6, the operating system powering the iPhone 5, was to be a new map offering, ?the most beautiful, powerful mapping service ever? if you?re to believe what the Cupertino giant said. But maps, which replaced a similar offering by Google on previous iOS devices, appears to have some issues.

In journalism, there is a rule of 3s: 3 similar events are generally seen as making up a trend. So it appears that, with the last 3 releases, Apple has had at least one major issue. In the old Steve Jobs days, products weren?t released until they were considered good enough; in the post Steve Jobs era, it appears that this form of quality control may be suffering.

Spit and polish

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While calling Apple an innovator may be a bit of a stretch, the company has had, in the past, a great ability at bringing refinement and polish to things that had been introduced in a clunky way by others. When they released the iPod, it wasn?t the first MP3 player on the market but it was the first digital music player that was easy to use; When they released the iPhone, it wasn?t the first smartphone on the market but it was the first polished smartphone experience on the market; When they introduced the iPad, it wasn?t the first tablet on the market but it was the least geeky one with the best overall experience. In each case, what Apple did was take an existing category and polish up the offering so that it presented a new standard for what a decent offering in that category ought to be.

But with the last few releases, the spit and polish has been lacking from the new offerings. Yes, the new antenna on the iPhone 4 was a revolutionary design but no it didn?t work; Yes, Siri looked like a good idea for a better voice-driven interface, but it didn?t work; Yes, Apple?s concept of bringing more 3D resolution to maps is something that looks like it could be better than Google maps, but it doesn?t work.

If those innovations worked, they could be seen as an improvement, a next step in the upmanship between Apple and its competitors but, in those specific cases, they can be seen as a step back. And, more troubling for Apple, they could show some unraveling in what had made Apple great in the past.

Screening and messaging

Another big innovation Apple mentioned with the introduction of the iPhone 5 was a new form factor and a larger screen. But the screen ended up with dimensions that did not conform to any other format known in the industry. Most of the screen industry has gathered around some standard sizes. So most of the larger screens on other smartphones end up being 1280x720 in order to support a 16x9 form factor.

Apple?s marching to the beat of a different drum, however and the iPhone 5 sports a screen that is 1136x640 pixels, a dimension not seen on any other devices in the industry. The reasoning is that your tumb needs to be able to move from one side of the screen to the other. That?s a very valid argument made in a powerful ad by the company.

But the messaging because inconsistent when one sees the other ads made by the company to highlight key features of the device. In each of those other ads, the primary use case is two handed, with no thumb really moving around the screen. I?ve put together a composite of the other ads:

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Coming from a company that use to put so much care into displaying the right time on slides and in ads, this is an odd oversight.

Apple: the new Microsoft?

There seems to be a cyclical approach to how companies grow. A couple of decades ago, Microsoft went from being a scrappy startup (up until the release of Windows 3.1) to a growing force and market leader (with its high water mark being the release of Windows 95, heralded as a cultural event in itself), to being seen as a power-hungry monopolist (with an eventual antitrust lawsuit won by the government in 1999) and eventually becoming a timid, government-controlled also-ran as a new dominant player emerged (nowadays).

Looking at Apple, we might detect some similarities. In the pre-1997 days, Apple was a scrappy computer maker, seldom gathering more than 10% of the market but always primed for a fight. With the introduction of the iPod, iPhone, and iPad, Apple?s rise to power has turned it into a clear market leader, defining where the industry ought to go next and?imitated?by a myriad competitor. But if you look at the last few iPhone releases, the company is increasingly falling into a legacy trap where defending what has brought it to the top becomes more important than substantial new innovation.

iOS, now in its 6th outing, is clearly sitting at the core of what makes Apple hum and defending it against attacks from Google (with Android) and others (Amazon, with a reskinned Android; Microsoft with a new operating system) is a core priority to the continued success of Apple?s products. And so Apple is working hard to replace those competitors with Apple products. Whereas it once had a friendlier relationship with Google, leading to the integration of YouTube and Google Maps in iOS, Apple is now seeing them as a major threat and thus had to remove or replace their product. This led to the inclusion of Siri as a new way to deal with search, going after Google?s bread and butter, and the removal of Maps, another critical function of most smartphones today.

The pattern that is starting to appear in Apple tea-leaves reading is that the Cupertino company is now focused on two efforts: first, it must protect and extent the reach of iOS; second, it works on optimizing its operational capacity to sell as many devices as possible (the speed at which the company is rolling out the iPhone 5 around the globe is nothing short of impressive and clearly highlights the operational genius of Apple?s new CEO Tim Cook).

But lurking in the distance is the specter of antitrust. Whether it is fair or not, the moves the company is making to protect its existing business could be seen as power-hungry land-grabs when presented under the wrong lens. And the recent flap over maps has that feel.

Hopefully, the leadership at Apple is smart enough to have studied history and learned from the mistakes made by Microsoft. If not, the company could find itself branded as a monopolist and dragged into court with emails taken out of context (I?d expect Steve Jobs ?Thermonuclear war on Android? being shown as proof of wrong-doing even if it were nothing more than an angry aside about a competitor).

What next?

?

So Apple has a few problems on its hands: on the one hand, there?s the immediate issue around maps and how to deal with it; on the other hand, the company has to worry about the signals it is sending in terms of quality as they may lead some customers to sit on the sideline (when quality at Microsoft started dropping, common wisdom became that you didn?t buy a Microsoft product until its 4th iteration); and then the company has to worry about being seen as a nasty monopolist.

The third part limits the company?s options on dealing with maps. Yes, it does have the hordes of cash needed to buy a superior map company (Tom-Tom or Nokia would come to mind) but doing so could be seen as a negative signal in the marketplace, thus forcing the company to do the fixing work on its own, or by tacking on smaller startups to help it with fixing its offering (I?ve already heard whispers that people saw an Apple / ?Foursquare tie-up making sense).

Attention to details is something Apple has been known for but the trend appears to some of those details falling by the wayside. Steve Jobs??obsessive?attention to every aspect of the company, from its ads to its software to how the back of its hardware looked is legendary and it?s time for the company to find a way to return to that model of cohesive integration of all aspects of the company.

While it continues to defy what can be done at scale in hardware and will probably continue running loops around its competitors when it comes to engineering feats in hardware, Apple must right itself on the software side of the house and pay the same attention to quality there as it does on hardware.

What we?re seeing here is a company where the CEO has a strong understanding of what makes a solid supply chain work but it?s high time for Tim Cook to step out of his comfort zone and focus the same manic energy on software: what made Apple great under Steve Jobs is that its leader understood that software and hardware work hand in hand to deliver revolutionary products and failing to continue in that understanding, the company may find that its best days are behind it.

Tristan Louis is the founder and CEO of Keepskor and writes the influential tnl.net weblog, where this was initially posted under the title The devil is in the details. You can follow him on twitter here or receive his weekly newsletter by subscribing here.

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Read more posts on TNL.net ?

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-devil-is-in-the-details-2012-9

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