Facebook's new search feature, still being rolled out to users, promises to be pretty nifty if you want to find friends who, say, moved to another city or use a certain doctor. But if you don't want to be found???and pestered??? the social network wants you to know there are steps you can take to remove your information from its new Graph Search.
Privacy advocates are understandably concerned about Graph Search because, like other personal information you can't hide on Facebook, this is another feature?you cannot opt out of; you can only change your settings to try to?minimize what others find out about you.
"Ultimately, Graph Search will make everything you share with the public and with friends a whole lot easier for people to find," notes security software maker Kaspersky, on its blog. (For a funny???but scary???look at how Graph Search can be used, see Tom Scott's Tumblr blog;?hat tip to NPR's On The Media.)?
On Facebook, users can find a handy Q-and-A about Graph Search and a helpful video, shared below as well, about changing privacy settings.?
Facebook wants users to believe it takes their privacy seriously, especially after a settlement last summer?of federal charges that Facebook deceived consumers and forced them to share more personal information than they had intended. As part of the settlement, the Federal Trade Commission requires Facebook to get user consent for some changes to privacy settings. Facebook is?also subject to 20 years of independent audits about privacy.
Michael Richter, Facebook privacy officer for product, writes on the Q-and-A page that "privacy works consistently across Facebook, not just on Graph Search. When you control who you share your information with, you determine who it's shared with across Facebook???including News Feed, timeline and in Graph Search."
There are also two other Graph Search info pages that are very useful, one on How Privacy Works with Graph Search and another, Graph Search Privacy. Bookmark those pages, because you'll want to refer to them often once Graph Search is completely rolled out.
In a related move this week, Facebook said its Chief Privacy Officer of policy, Erin Egan, now has an "Ask the CPO" feature on the site's "Facebook and Privacy" page, where you can ask Egan?questions. Not all will be answered, but Facebook says, "Each month, Erin will respond to some of your questions."
Here's Facebook's video that?walks?you?through?the?steps you can take to help ensure privacy when it comes to Graph Search:
Check out Technology, GadgetBox, Digital?Life and InGame on?Facebook,?and on?Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.
Every new business or new product initially starts as an idea. Unfortunately the statistics don?t show promising news with up to 95% of new products failing each year and reports stating that anywhere between 50 ? 90% of new businesses fail in their first four years. Fortunately, design thinking is a methodology that can rescue many such cases.
SME?s, where the majority can be characterized as having a lack of available funds and resources when it comes to new service or product development, are under increasing pressure and financial strain, especially in the current economic climate, to deliver successful innovations. Following the Design Thinking Methodology, for the purposes explained above, can be a viable and less expensive option for SME?s than alternatives which can include hiring a consultant or simply introducing a new product and hoping that a good sized share of the market will purchase it.
Read full article ? blog.bullethq.com/design-thinking?
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LONDON (Reuters) - Martin Weale, a member of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee, said the cons of targeting nominal GDP outweighed the pros, according to an interview posted on The Independent website on Wednesday.
He accepted that NGDP may be more appropriate in other countries, but when asked if the cons would outweigh the pros in Britain, he said: "I think in the current circumstances they do."
"Our experience is very different from that of the U.S. and indeed Canada," he said, referring to recent levels of inflation in Britain.
Mark Carney, governor-designate of the Bank of England and currently Bank of Canada governor, is seen as more likely to favour a flexible inflation target than abandon it.
Weale also signalled that he remained open to the possibility of further quantitative easing under the right conditions.
"I certainly wouldn't say that I see QE as parked," he said. "With the policy stance as it is we expect the inflation rate to come close to target over the horizon. In those circumstances the case for strong further support would be if you thought it could be made without any substantial effect on inflation."
Britain's economy shrank by 0.3 percent in the final quarter of 2012, as the country risks entering a triple-dip recession.
(Reporting by Costas Pitas; editing by Andrew Roche)
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Jan. 29, 2013 ? New research from Oregon Health & Science University has provided significant insight into the reasons why early-onset puberty occurs in females. The research, which was conducted at OHSU's Oregon National Primate Research Center, is published in the current early online edition of the journal Nature Neuroscience.
The paper explains how OHSU scientists are investigating the role of epigenetics in the control of puberty. Epigenetics refers to changes in gene activity linked to external factors that do not involve changes to the genetic code itself. The OHSU scientists believe improved understanding of these complex protein/gene interactions will lead to greater understanding of both early-onset (precocious) puberty and delayed puberty, and highlight new therapy avenues.
To conduct this research, scientists studied female rats, which like their human counterparts, go through puberty as part of their early aging process. These studies revealed that a group of proteins, called PcG proteins, regulate the activity of a gene called the Kiss1 gene, which is required for puberty to occur. When these PcG proteins diminish, Kiss1 is activated and puberty begins.
PcG proteins are produced by another set of genes that act as a biological switch during the embryonic stage of life. The role of these proteins is to turn off specific downstream genes at key developmental stages.
OHSU scientists found that both the activity of these "master" genes and their ability to turn off puberty are impacted by two forms of epigenetic control: a chemical modification of DNA known as DNA methylation, and changes in the composition of histones, a specialized set of proteins that modify gene activity by interacting with DNA.
Using this new information, researchers were then able to delay puberty in female rats. They accomplished this by increasing PcG protein levels in the hypothalamus of the brain using a targeted gene therapy approach so that Kiss1 activation failed to occur at the normal time in life. The hypothalamus is a region of the brain that controls reproductive development.
"While it was always understood that an organism's genes determine the timing of puberty, the role of epigenetics in this process has never been recorded until now," said Alejandro Lomniczi, Ph.D., a scientist in the Division of Neuroscience at the OHSU Oregon National Primate Research Center.
"Because epigenetic changes are driven by environmental, metabolic and cell-to-cell influences, these findings raise the possibility that a significant percentage of precocious and delayed puberty cases occurring in humans may be the result of environmental factors and other alterations in epigenetic control," said Sergio Ojeda, D.V.M., who is also a scientist in the Division of Neuroscience at the OHSU ONPRC.
"There is also much more to be learned about the way that epigenetic factors may link environmental factors such as nutrition, human-made chemicals, social interactions and other day-today influences to the timing and completion of normal puberty."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Oregon Health & Science University.
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Journal Reference:
Alejandro Lomniczi, Alberto Loche, Juan Manuel Castellano, Oline K Ronnekleiv, Martha Bosch, Gabi Kaidar, J Gabriel Knoll, Hollis Wright, Gerd P Pfeifer, Sergio R Ojeda. Epigenetic control of female puberty. Nature Neuroscience, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nn.3319
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Birdhouses are usually designed to blend into their local environments—but not this one. Taking inspiration from Google Maps, artist Shuchun Hsiao decided to give birds a taste of the search giant's navigational aids, too. More »
It was a cloudy winter night along the northeastern United States in February 1913, so most people might not have noticed anything unusual around 9 PM, but for a lucky few with clearer conditions ? and a penchant for staring up at the night sky ? there was a spectacular display of a series of fireballs moving from one end of the horizon to the other, following the same trajectory. It was a meteor procession ? an exceedingly rare event in which a meteor breaks up when it hits the Earth?s atmosphere. Normally, a meteor burns up as it plunges to Earth, but the fiery fragments in a procession travel in a nearly horizontal path running parallel to the surface of the Earth.
The meteor procession of February 9, 1913, captured newspaper headlines all over the northeast, and inspired a painting by Canadian astronomer Gustav Hahn. We?re approaching the 100th anniversary of that display, so it?s fitting that Donald Olson ? a self-described ?forensic astronomer? at Texas State University ? has a new article (co-authored by Steve Hutcheon of Australia?s Astronomical Association of Queensland)? in Sky and Telescope detailing his latest analysis of historical accounts describing the procession.
I?ve been a fan of Olson?s quirky research for years, and wrote about his findings several times for Discovery News. There was his intriguing hypothesis that the moon may have contributed to the sinking of the Titanic. He helped clear up confusion among historians as to the precise? location of Julius Caesar?s landing site when the Roman general invaded Britain in 55 B.C. He showed that Mary Shelley was probably telling the truth about a moonlit ?waking dream? that inspired her to pen Frankenstein. And he?s studied nagging astronomy-related issues in Chaucer?s Canterbury Tales, the photography of Ansel Adams, and Edvard Munch?s ?The Scream? (likely inspired by a blood-red sky at sunset, an after-effect of the 1883 eruption of Mount Krakatoa in Indonesia)
Depiction of the 1913 meteor procession by Canadian artist Gustav Hahn. Credit: University of Toronto Archives (A2008-0023), ? Natalie McMinn
Nor is this the first time Olson has tacked meteor procession. There was another such event in 1860, he discovered, one that likely inspired a classic poem by Walt Whitman, ?Year of Meteors?:
Nor the comet that came unannounced out of the north flaring in heaven, Nor the strange huge meteor-procession dazzling and clear shooting over our heads, (A moment, a moment long it sail?d its balls of unearthly light over our heads, Then departed, dropt in the night, and was gone;)
Originally historians assumed that Whitman was referring to the 1833 or 1858 Leonid meteor storms, or a well-documented meteor that fell in 1959, but Olson suspected that there might be a record of a meteor procession in the historical record around the samr time. There was: he found several eyewitness accounts and newspaper reports of ?a spectacular procession of multiple fireballs? on July 20, 1860. It even inspired yet another artist, Frederic Church, ?The Meteor of 1860.? (Artists seem to like incorporating astronomical events into their paintings.)
Frederic Church's "The Meteor of 1860." Public domain.
Olson came across the Church painting and the Whitman mystery a few years after stumbling upon Hahn?s canvas (Hahn was an amateur astronomer) in an article by astronomer Clarence Chant, who evocatively described the ?slow, majestic motion of the bodies., and almost equally remarkable was the perfect formation which they retained.?
Hahn?s painting also? had an inscription: ?Meteor display of February 9, 1913, as seen near High Park.?He quickly recognized the similarities between the Hahn and Church scenes, and from there made the connection to the Whitman poem.
Which brings us to Olson?s latest work. William F. Denning penned an article about the 1913 procession in Nature in 1916, observing that its extended trajectory seemed unparalleled in astronomical history. Based on reports from ship navigators around the world, as well as other eyewitness accounts, it seemed to space more than 6000 miles. Later that year, in the Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, he renewed his call for more navigational reports, since these were the best means of definitively confirming the range of the procession?s trajectory.
Olson and Hutcheon answered the call, albeit 100 years later. They combed through vast maritime archives and found seven new ship reports from that era. based on their subsequent analysis, they were able to extend the range of the 1913 procession?s trajectory by another 1000 miles. ?The track now goes more than 7000 miles ? that?s more than a quarter of the way around the world,? Olson said via press release. His new analysis is ?the most complete map ever drawn of the ground track of the procession.?
References:
Chant, C. (1913). ?An Extraordinary Meteoric Display?. Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada7: 145?19.
Olson, Donald and Hutcheon, Steve. ?The Great Meteor Procession of 1913,? Sky and Telescope, February 2013.
Pickering, W. H. (1922) ?The Meteoric Procession of February 9, 1913, Part I? in Popular Astronomy, 30: 632.
Google could face a bill of millions if British legal action
over iPhone, iPad and Mac privacy concerns is successful.
The claims, co-ordinated by London-based law firm Olswang,
centre around the way Google circumvented privacy settings on
devices using
Apple's Safari internet browser between September 2011 and February
2012 by installing cookies to allow user-targeted advertising
through its DoubleClick ad network.
According to Olswang, "The claimants thought that cookies were
being blocked on their devices because of Safari's strict default
privacy settings and separate assurances being given by Google at
the time. This was not the case."
If any of this sounds familiar it's because Google was already
on the receiving end of a $22.5 million (?14.4 million) fine
from the Federal Trade Commission in the US for the same thing in
2012.
Alexander Hanff, a privacy campaigner working with Olswang on
the legal claims, added that, although the focus is on protecting
consumer privacy, a successful action by UK Safari users could put
the US fine in the shade.
"This group action is not about getting rich by suing Google,
this lawsuit is about sending a very clear message to corporations
that circumventing privacy controls will result in significant
consequences,"
Hanff told the Guardian. "The lawsuit has the potential of
costing Google tens of millions, perhaps even breaking ?100 million
in damages given the potential number of claimants -- making it the
biggest group action ever launched in the UK."
Speaking about the US fine, Google did not admit any wrongdoing
and stated: "We have now changed [a help page the FTC claimed
misled consumers over Google's cookie usage] and taken steps to
remove the ad cookies, which collected no personal information,
from Apple's browsers."
However, UK claimant, 74-year-old Judith Vidal-Hall, said:
"Google claims it does not collect personal data but doesn't say
who decides what information is 'personal'. Whether something is
private or not should be up to the internet surfer, not Google. We
are best placed to decide, not them."
Dan Tench, a partner at Olswang, said: "Google has a
responsibility to consumers and should be accountable for the trust
placed in them. We hope that they will take this opportunity to
give Safari users a proper explanation about what happened, to
apologise and, where appropriate, compensate the victims of their
intrusion."
U.S. Azeris Network (USAN) launched a campaign to raise awareness about the successful project of Azerspace-1, the first Azerbaijani satellite to be launched in February 2013, AzerTac state news agencv reported.
Members of Azerbaijani-American community will send the letter prepared by USAN to U.S. legislators and media to inform them about enhancement of bilateral trade between the United States and Azerbaijan, including in non-oil sectors such as aviation, satellite, telecommunications, real estate, gold mining, financial services and equity investments and ask the lawmakers to facilitate these developments and encourage the mutually beneficial relations.
Built by the Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp. in the United States, the Azerspace-1 satellite has been a success story and has already been delivered to the launch site, where it will be launched on February 8 into space. Azerbaijan signed a contract with Orbital Sciences Corporation to design, build, and deliver its first communications satellite in June 2010. This contract is worth $230 million, and created 1,500 new American jobs, most of them in Virginia.
According to a January 2012 report by the Aerospace Industries Association, the U.S. share of the global satellite manufacturing market has dropped from 65 percent to as low as 30 percent since 1999. The report says U.S. companies lost $21 billion between 1999 and 2009 due to the export regime at a cost of 9,000 jobs annually. Now this is changing, and the Azerbaijani satellite is a trailblazer.
The Azerspace-1 satellite will offer telecommunication services to Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia and North Africa, providing digital broadcasting, Internet access, data transmission, creation of VSAT multiservice networks and communications. Some 20% of the satellite`s resources will be used for Azerbaijan`s needs, and the remaining 80% will be available for commercial purposes, including for U.S. government and private customers, such as in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Central Asia. After launching Azerspace-1, all of the territory of Azerbaijan, including its Nakhchivan exclave and Karabakh region, will be covered with quality TV and radio broadcasting, high-speed IP services, enabling a stable and quality platform for programs such as distance education and e-health, eliminating communication problems.
Azerbaijan also intends to launch its second satellite into the orbit in 2015, followed by a third telecommunication satellite in 2016. So there are still ample opportunities for more U.S. companies and states to sign lucrative contracts on designing, building and delivering these satellites as well as other products and services.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) ? Police in South Florida say rapper Rick Ross crashed his Rolls Royce into a building after hearing shots fired nearby.
Fort Lauderdale police say Ross and his companion, fashion designer Shateria L. Moragne-el, reported hearing multiple shots fired in their direction at around 5:00 a.m. Monday. Police say Ross lost control of the silver Rolls and crashed into an apartment building.
Neither Ross nor his passenger was injured and police say it did not appear that any bullets struck the Rolls.
The police report uses Ross's real name, William L. Roberts. Ross turned 37 years old Monday.
Authorities say unknown suspects fled before police arrived. TV news footage showed a bullet hole in the window of a nearby restaurant.
A Ross spokesman didn't respond to email seeking comment.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The House overwhelmingly passed a bill Wednesday to permit the government to borrow enough money to avoid a first-time default for at least four months, defusing a looming crisis and setting the stage for a springtime debate over taxes, spending and the deficit.
The House passed the measure on a bipartisan 285-144 vote as majority Republicans back away from their previous demand that any increase in the government's borrowing cap be paired with an equivalent level of spending cuts.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the chamber would immediately move to advance the legislation to the White House, which has announced Obama would sign it.
The measure would suspend the $16.4 trillion cap on federal borrowing and reset it on May 19 to reflect the additional borrowing required between the date the bill becomes law and then. The amount of borrowing required depends on the tax receipts received during filing season, but over a comparable period last year the government ran deficits in the range of $150 billion.
The measure also contains a provision that slaps at the Senate, which hasn't debated a budget since 2009, by withholding the pay for either House or Senate members if the chamber in which they serve fails to pass a budget plan. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., announced Wednesday that the chamber would indeed debate a budget this year but maintained the GOP's "no budget, no pay" move had nothing to do with the decision.
President Barack Obama vows not to negotiate over the debt ceiling as he did in the summer of 2011, though he promises further action on the budget. Wednesday's developments mark a shift of the budget debate away from failed head-to-head talks between Obama and Boehner
The idea driving the move by GOP leaders like Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, is to re-sequence a series of upcoming budget battles, taking the threat of a potentially devastating government default off the table and instead setting up a clash in March over automatic across-the-board spending cuts set to strike the Pentagon and many domestic programs. Those cuts ? postponed by the recent "fiscal cliff" deal ? are the punishment for the failure of a 2011 congressional deficit-reduction supercommittee to reach an agreement.
This "no budget, no pay" idea had previously been regarded by many as a gimmick but has been given new life by Boehner as a "reform" to pair with an increase in the so-called debt limit. Boehner previously had insisted that any increase in borrowing authority to avoid lapses in payments to contractors, unemployment benefits or Social Security checks ? and possibly even interest payments on U.S. Treasury obligations ? be matched dollar for dollar with spending cuts. Many Republican speakers preferred to focus on the pay provision.
"This is not a gimmick," said Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick, R-Pa. "For the past almost going on now four years, our colleagues in the Senate have failed in their most basic responsibility of governance, which is to pass a budget."
"All we're saying is 'Congress follow the law. Do your work. Budget,'" said House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis. "And the reason for this (debt) extension is so that we can have the (budget) debate we need to have."
Boehner promises that the GOP blueprint will project a balanced budget at the end of a 10-year window.
"Balancing the budget over the next 10 years means that we save the future for our kids and our grandkids," Boehner said. "It also means that we strengthen programs like Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid that can't continue to exist in their current form without some kind of controls."
But the White House weighed in Tuesday with a statement that the administration would not oppose the debt measure, even though Obama just last week dismissed incremental increases in the debt ceiling as harmful to the economy.
It also appeared virtually certain that Senate Democrats would accept the bill even though they would prefer a longer-term solution to the debt issue and believe that the "no budget, no pay" provision is silly.
While the measure permits an undetermined amount of additional borrowing through May 18, the actual date in which the government might be at risk of defaulting on its obligations would be several weeks later. That's because the government would retain the ability to juggle its books through what the Treasury Department calls "extraordinary measures."
With the debt battle averted, the next fight comes in March over across-the-board cuts that would pare $85 billion from this year's budget. They were delayed from Jan. 1 until March 1 and reduced by $24 billion by the recently enacted tax bill. Defense hawks are particularly upset, saying the Pentagon cuts would devastate military readiness and cause havoc in defense contracting. The cuts, called a sequester in Washington-speak, were never intended to take effect but were instead aimed at driving the two sides to a large budget bargain in order to avoid them.
But Republicans and Obama now appear on a collision course over how to replace the across-the-board cuts. Obama and his Democratic allies insist that additional revenues be part of the solution; Republicans say further tax increases are off the table after the 10-year, $600 billion-plus increase in taxes on wealthier earners forced upon Republicans by Obama earlier this month.
"We are not going to raise taxes on the American people," Boehner told reporters Tuesday.
According to the latest calculations, which account for the recent reduction of this year's sequester from $109 billion to $85 billion, the Pentagon now faces a 7.3 percent across-the-board cut, while domestic agency budgets would absorb a 5.1 percent cut. The calculations are not official but were released Tuesday by Richard Kogan, a budget expert with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities think tank.
A charger on every nightstand and a phone in every pocket -- it could be a presidential slogan, but it's really just reality. According to research from Strategy Analytics, a staggering 1.6 billion mobile phones were shipped (not sold) globally in 2012, and 700 million of them were smartphones. Samsung, Nokia and Apple, in that order, were the biggest movers of handsets, though the latter two change places when it comes to smartphones -- Espoo only shipped 35 million to Cupertino's 135, while Samsung topped the trio at 213 million devices shipped.
Surprising? Hardly -- smartphone sales climbed throughout2012, and the aforementioned manufacturers have been kings of the category since last February. The numbers are telling though -- according to ABI Research, Apple saw less growth in 2012 than the previous year, and may hit a plateau in market share in 2013. Samsung, on the other hand, may have some room to grow -- capturing 34 percent of total smartphone shipments in Q4 with over 60 million smartphones moved. Apple nabbed 24.5% of the market with 47.8 million shipped iPhones, while Nokia and RIM took up the tail of the quarter with 86.3 and 6.9 million shipped devices, respectively. Statistic lover? You'll find full numbers (plus a little analyst speculation) in a tiro of press releases after the break.
Show full PR text
Strategy Analytics: Global Mobile Phone Shipments Reach 1.6 Billion Units in 2012
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, global mobile phone shipments grew a modest 2 percent annually to reach 1.6 billion units in 2012. Samsung was the star performer, accounting for 1 in 4 of all mobile phones shipped worldwide last year.
Neil Shah, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics, said, "Ongoing macroeconomic challenges in mature markets like North America and Western Europe, tighter operator upgrade policies, and shifting consumer tastes were among the key reasons why global mobile phone shipments grew just 2 percent annually to reach 1.6 billion units in 2012. Fuelled by robust demand for its popular Galaxy models, Samsung was the star performer, shipping a record 396.5 million mobile phones worldwide and capturing 25 percent marketshare to solidify its first-place lead. However, Samsung's total volumes for the year fell just short of the 400-million threshold."
Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics, added, "Nokia's global mobile phone shipments fell 20 percent from 417.1 million units in 2011 to 335.6 million in 2012. Nokia faced tough competition from Samsung in developing markets like China, while Apple and others ramped up the pressure in developed regions such as Western Europe. Nokia's dual-SIM feature phones, Asha touchphones and Lumia handsets have been performing well, but this was not enough to offset a slump in demand for the company's aging Symbian smartphone platform last year."
Linda Sui, Analyst at Strategy Analytics, added, "Apple shipped a record 135.8 million mobile phones worldwide in 2012. Apple delivered 46 percent annual growth last year, which was bolstered by solid demand in North America and Asia. Apple's launch of the iPhone 5 in Q4 2012 was a success as volumes ramped up in dozens of countries worldwide, but negative media coverage of the model's new integrated maps service and supply chain challenges cast a slight shadow over the launch."
Other findings from the research include: o. ZTE captured 5 percent share of the global mobile phone market in 2012, as its shipments fell minus 8 percent from 2011, partly because of heightened competition in core markets like China and Western Europe from rivals such as Coolpad and Samsung.
Exhibit 1: Global Mobile Phone Vendor Shipments and Market Share in Q4 2012 1
Global Mobile Phone Shipments (Millions of Units)
Q4 '11
2011
Q4 '12
2012
Samsung
95.0
327.4
108.0
396.5
Nokia
113.5
417.1
86.3
335.6
Apple
37.0
93.0
47.8
135.8
ZTE
24.4
78.1
19.5
71.7
Others
169.7
630.4
189.3
635.4
Total
439.6
1546.0
450.9
1575.0
Global Mobile Phone Vendor Marketshare %
Q4 '11
2011
Q4 '12
2012
Samsung
21.6%
21.2%
24.0%
25.2%
Nokia
25.8%
27.0%
19.1%
21.3%
Apple
8.4%
6.0%
10.6%
8.6%
ZTE
5.6%
5.1%
4.3%
4.6%
Others
38.6%
40.8%
42.0%
40.3%
Total
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
Total Growth Year-over-Year %
9.9%
13.7%
2.6%
1.9%
_____________________________
1 Numbers are rounded. Total in the data-table does not include grey phone shipments.
Strategy Analytics: Global Smartphone Shipments Reach a Record 700 Million Units in 2012
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, global smartphone shipments grew 43 percent annually to reach a record 700 million units in 2012. Samsung was the star performer, capturing 30 percent marketshare worldwide and extending its lead over Apple and Nokia.
Neil Shah, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics, said, "Global smartphone shipments grew 38 percent annually from 157.0 million units in Q4 2011 to 217.0 million in Q4 2012. Global smartphone shipments for the full year reached a record 700.1 million units in 2012, increasing robustly from 490.5 million units in 2011. Global shipment growth slowed from 64 percent in 2011 to 43 percent in 2012 as penetration of smartphones began to mature in developed regions such as North America and Western Europe."
Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics, added, "Samsung shipped a record 213.0 million smartphones worldwide and captured 30 percent marketshare in 2012. This was the largest number of units ever shipped by a smartphone vendor in a single year, beating Nokia's previous all-time record when it shipped 100.1 million units during 2010. Despite tough competition in stores and courtrooms, Samsung continued to deliver numerous hit models, from the high-end Galaxy Note2 phablet to the mass-market Galaxy Y. Apple grew a healthy 46 percent annually and shipped 135.8 million smartphones worldwide for 19 percent marketshare in 2012, broadly flat from the 19 percent level recorded in 2011. Apple had a strong year in developed regions like North America, but this was offset partly by its limited presence in high-growth emerging markets such as Africa."
Linda Sui, Analyst at Strategy Analytics, added, "Samsung and Apple together accounted for half of all smartphones shipped worldwide in 2012. Large marketing budgets, extensive distribution channels and attractive product portfolios have enabled Samsung and Apple to tighten their grip on the smartphone industry. The growth of Samsung and Apple has continued to impact Nokia. Nokia retained its position as the world's third largest smartphone vendor for full-year 2012, but its global marketshare has dropped sharply from 16 percent to five percent during the past year. Nokia's Windows Phone portfolio has improved significantly in recent months, with new models like the Lumia 920, but we believe the vendor still lacks a true hero model in its range that can be considered an Apple iPhone or Samsung S3 killer."
Exhibit 1: Global Smartphone Vendor Shipments and Market Share in Q4 2012 1
Global Smartphone Vendor Shipments (Millions of Units)
Q4 '11
2011
Q4 '12
2012
Samsung
36.5
97.4
63.0
213.0
Apple
37.0
93.0
47.8
135.8
Nokia
19.6
77.3
6.6
35.0
Others
63.9
222.8
99.6
316.3
Total
157.0
490.5
217.0
700.1
Global Smartphone Vendor Marketshare %
Q4 '11
2011
Q4 '12
2012
Samsung
23.2%
19.9%
29.0%
30.4%
Apple
23.6%
19.0%
22.0%
19.4%
Nokia
12.5%
15.8%
3.0%
5.0%
Others
40.7%
45.4%
45.9%
45.2%
Total
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
Total Growth Year-over-Year %
55.9%
63.8%
38.2%
42.7%
Smartphone Pressure Mounts for Samsung and Apple Exiting a Strong Q4 2012, According to ABI Research
SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nearly 196 million smartphones and 451 million handsets were shipped during Q4 2012, according to the latest estimates from marketing intelligence firm ABI Research. This brings 2012 annual totals to 653 million smartphone and 1.6 billion handset shipments, representing a 36% and 2% YoY growth rate respectively. Smartphones accounted for 43% of all handset shipments in Q4, which pushed smartphones to 41% of all shipments in 2012.
Samsung retained its lead position overall by shipping 106 million handsets of which 60 million were smartphones in Q4 and capturing 31% of total smartphone shipments. In 2012 Samsung grew its handset shipments by 21.6% and its smartphone shipments by 123.8%. Despite missing most analyst estimates in Q4, Apple grew its smartphone shipment share to 24.5%, up from 16.4% in Q3. Apple shipped 47.8 million iPhones in Q4 bringing its 2012 annual total to 135.8 million. Apple's 2012 annual shipment growth declined from 96% in 2011 to 46% in 2012.
"It is clear that the iPhone's hyper-growth has ended, and ABI Research believes that Apple's market share will peak in 2013 at 22%," says mobile devices senior analyst Michael Morgan. "Unless Apple is willing to trade iPhone margins for low cost iPhone shipments, Apple's handset market share will become dependent on customer loyalty."
Looking at the rest of the pack, Nokia shipped 86.3 million handsets and 6.6 million smartphones in Q4 while RIM's shipments of smartphones declined to 6.9 million. ZTE had an excellent Q4 with 20.7 million handset shipments and 11.2 million smartphone shipments.
"Samsung and Apple are both under pressure to maintain their market lead as less costly smartphones gain momentum entering 2013," notes senior practice director Jeff Orr. "Technology optimization choices and a diverse handset portfolio are critical decisions over the next 6 to 9 months to come out ahead."
These findings are part of ABI Research's Mobile Handset Markets Database, which includes files detailing smartphone and mobile handset shipments, forecasts, and market share.
The vast majority of people commenting on newly-published plans for Bath's Recreation Ground have supported a shake-up which will lead to the city's rugby club developing a bigger arena.
The Charity Commission received 1,868 representations over a document it issued which suggests a land-swap to square Bath Rugby's expansion with the charitable status of the city centre site.
Of these, 1,624 (87 per cent) supported giving the club a lease for a bigger plot of land in exchange for the club's former training facilities at Lambridge passing into the ownership of the Recreation Ground Trust.
But the fact that there were 244 objections means the commission needs to assess these before deciding whether or not to confirm the proposals.
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The trust has the job of ensuring that the use of the Rec does not breach the covenant under which the land was passed to local people ? or beneficiaries as they are formally known ? in 1956.
The land swap will ensure that no one sport dominates the area which the trust administers, while new arrangements will also legitimise the presence of the city's sports centre.
Trust chairman Councillor David Dixon said: "The trust board is delighted with the strong support that the scheme received through its publication.
"The response of 87 per cent in favour reflects our previous consultation and confirms its validity. Although we are disappointed that the scheme has to go through a further stage, we recognise that the commission has to follow this procedure.
"We are confident that the scheme is in the best interests of the beneficiaries and that our proposal is the right way forward for the Rec."
The trust also says it expects the Rec to host a Somerset County cricket game this summer.
The club has worked on several stadia plans in the last decade.
It will come up with its most definitive plan yet once the commission has given its blessing.
The club ? which is keen to dramatically improve the look of the ground from the riverside ? would then have to submit a planning application to B&NES Council.
Apparently creating a company called "Qwikster" wasn't the only bad idea Reed Hastings had: in an internal motivational video uncovered by FastCompany, you get a look at the CEO's idea of humor. Let's make fun of overworked, unconscious Chinese workers. More »
President Obama's FY2014 budget will double funding for the national ballistic imaging system, an aid to law enforcement. A participant in the Jan. 10 meeting with Biden had suggested the move.
By Linda Feldmann,?Staff writer / January 22, 2013
A child stands on a police barricade outside New York's city hall park during the One Million Moms for Gun Control Rally on Monday.
John Minchillo
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To read the headlines, one might think Vice President Joe Biden?s recent meeting with gun groups was a total bust.
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After all, the National Rifle Association, which had a representative in the room Jan. 10, blasted the session immediately after, saying it was more about attacking the Second Amendment than about keeping children safe.
But another gun rep in the room, Richard Feldman, president of the Independent Firearm Owners Association, reports progress. He has received word from the vice president?s office that President Obama?s FY 2014 budget will double funding for the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network. NIBIN is a ballistic imaging system that enables the capture and comparison of images of bullets and cartridges to aid in solving crimes and establishing links between crimes.
In the 2014 budget, funding for NIBIN will rise by $24 million, to $50 million ? a tiny sum in the context of the federal budget, but still meaningful to law enforcement.
?That budget request will allow ATF [the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives] to make necessary upgrades to equipment, assist state and local law enforcement with input and analysis of ballistics information, and train state and local partners,? Mr. Biden?s office told Mr. Feldman in an email.
Feldman says he pushed for more NIBIN funding in the Jan. 10 meeting with Biden.
?This tells me they listened,? he says.
"We still have some major disagreements,? Feldman adds, ?but we shouldn't allow the things that divide us from moving forward on the many issues we agree upon, this [NIBIN] being an important one.?
Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, discussion of the next steps to take to combat gun violence continues. On Wednesday afternoon, the Congressional Gun Violence Task Force will hold a hearing, with testimony from sportsmen, gun-rights advocates, law enforcement, and mental-health professionals.
According to Rep. Mike Thompson (D) of California, chairman of the task force, the hearing will focus on steps Congress can take to keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have them, while protecting the rights of responsible, law-abiding citizens.
Gun violence became a top concern for the Obama administration after a massacre of schoolchildren last month in Newtown, Conn. Obama mentioned Newtown in his inaugural address Monday, as he went through the priorities of his second term. On Tuesday, three people were wounded in a shooting at a community college near Houston.
Facebook may have given phishers a reason to rejoice last week when it announced its new way to search for information about its billion members. Graph Search allows a Facebook member to use semantic search to find and aggregate information about people on the Social Network. Because Graph Search can return groups of people with similar interests in an organized way, it could become a phisher's best friend.
Personal development is an important part of being the best that you can be. From developing a healthier lifestyle, to developing better spending habits. It?s always a good idea to improve different aspects of your life. You may never stop developing yourself personally, because there is always a way to improve in some area in your life. You are sure to have a much happier and healthier life if you find a way to develop and maintain good habits every day.
Keep in mind the well-known saying that you can?t please everybody all of the time. Your main concern should be yourself. This doesn?t mean you should place your own preferences above those of everyone else; however, you should take your happiness and your own opinion seriously and take good care of yourself. Stay true to who you are as well as your moral compass.
Avoid making a self improvement goal that is unnecessarily complicated, or not well defined. You should make your goal very specific. These are the kinds of goals that will get definite results.
If you find yourself consistently falling short of self-imposed goals and guidelines, step back and assess the possible problems. Look for resources related to your issues and ask your friends about their struggles. You may realize you have been unrealistic, not having given yourself the means necessary to achieve your goal, or that perhaps you have set too high a mark.
You cannot provide care for others unless you care for yourself. No matter your path, or whether you?re failing or thriving, take time out to restore and rest yourself.
It may become discouraging to begin developing better personal habits and lifestyles, but once you start noticing your life developing towards a better future, you will never want to stop. You can always develop better ways to do things and it?s important to always try hard towards any personal development goals you have.
From dark hearts comes the kindness of mankindPublic release date: 22-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Morgan Kelly mgnkelly@princeton.edu 609-258-5729 Princeton University
The kindness of mankind most likely developed from our more sinister and self-serving tendencies, according to Princeton University and University of Arizona research that suggests society's rules against selfishness are rooted in the very exploitation they condemn.
The report in the journal Evolution proposes that altruism society's protection of resources and the collective good by punishing "cheaters" did not develop as a reaction to avarice. Instead, communal disavowal of greed originated when competing selfish individuals sought to control and cancel out one another. Over time, the direct efforts of the dominant fat cats to contain a few competitors evolved into a community-wide desire to guard its own well-being.
The study authors propose that a system of greed dominating greed was simply easier for our human ancestors to manage. In this way, the work challenges dominant theories that selfish and altruistic social arrangements formed independently instead the two structures stand as evolutionary phases of group interaction, the researchers write.
Second author Andrew Gallup, a former Princeton postdoctoral researcher in ecology and evolutionary biology now a visiting assistant professor of psychology at Bard College, worked with first author Omar Eldakar, a former Arizona postdoctoral fellow now a visiting assistant professor of biology at Oberlin College, and William Driscoll, an ecology and evolutionary biology doctoral student at Arizona.
To test their hypothesis, the researchers constructed a simulation model that gauged how a community withstands a system built on altruistic punishment, or selfish-on-selfish punishment. The authors found that altruism demands a lot of initial expenditure for the group in terms of communal time, resources and risk of reprisal from the punished as well as advanced levels of cognition and cooperation.
On the other hand, a construct in which a few profligate players keep like-minded individuals in check involves only those members of the community everyone else can passively enjoy the benefits of fewer people taking more than their share. At the same time, the reigning individuals enjoy uncontested spoils and, in some cases, reverence.
Social orders maintained by those who bend the rules play out in nature and human history, the authors note: Tree wasps that police hives to make sure that no member other than the queen lays eggs will often lay illicit eggs themselves. Cancer cells will prevent other tumors from forming. Medieval knights would pillage the same civilians they readily defended from invaders, while neighborhoods ruled by the Italian Mafia traditionally had the lowest levels of crime.
What comes from these arrangements, the researchers conclude, is a sense of order and equality that the group eventually takes upon itself to enforce, thus giving rise to altruism.
###
The paper, "When Hawks Give Rise To Doves: The Evolution and Transition of Enforcement Strategies," was published online Jan. 11 by the journal Evolution. The work was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health.
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From dark hearts comes the kindness of mankindPublic release date: 22-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Morgan Kelly mgnkelly@princeton.edu 609-258-5729 Princeton University
The kindness of mankind most likely developed from our more sinister and self-serving tendencies, according to Princeton University and University of Arizona research that suggests society's rules against selfishness are rooted in the very exploitation they condemn.
The report in the journal Evolution proposes that altruism society's protection of resources and the collective good by punishing "cheaters" did not develop as a reaction to avarice. Instead, communal disavowal of greed originated when competing selfish individuals sought to control and cancel out one another. Over time, the direct efforts of the dominant fat cats to contain a few competitors evolved into a community-wide desire to guard its own well-being.
The study authors propose that a system of greed dominating greed was simply easier for our human ancestors to manage. In this way, the work challenges dominant theories that selfish and altruistic social arrangements formed independently instead the two structures stand as evolutionary phases of group interaction, the researchers write.
Second author Andrew Gallup, a former Princeton postdoctoral researcher in ecology and evolutionary biology now a visiting assistant professor of psychology at Bard College, worked with first author Omar Eldakar, a former Arizona postdoctoral fellow now a visiting assistant professor of biology at Oberlin College, and William Driscoll, an ecology and evolutionary biology doctoral student at Arizona.
To test their hypothesis, the researchers constructed a simulation model that gauged how a community withstands a system built on altruistic punishment, or selfish-on-selfish punishment. The authors found that altruism demands a lot of initial expenditure for the group in terms of communal time, resources and risk of reprisal from the punished as well as advanced levels of cognition and cooperation.
On the other hand, a construct in which a few profligate players keep like-minded individuals in check involves only those members of the community everyone else can passively enjoy the benefits of fewer people taking more than their share. At the same time, the reigning individuals enjoy uncontested spoils and, in some cases, reverence.
Social orders maintained by those who bend the rules play out in nature and human history, the authors note: Tree wasps that police hives to make sure that no member other than the queen lays eggs will often lay illicit eggs themselves. Cancer cells will prevent other tumors from forming. Medieval knights would pillage the same civilians they readily defended from invaders, while neighborhoods ruled by the Italian Mafia traditionally had the lowest levels of crime.
What comes from these arrangements, the researchers conclude, is a sense of order and equality that the group eventually takes upon itself to enforce, thus giving rise to altruism.
###
The paper, "When Hawks Give Rise To Doves: The Evolution and Transition of Enforcement Strategies," was published online Jan. 11 by the journal Evolution. The work was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
It was a cloudy winter night along the northeastern United States in February 1913, so most people might not have noticed anything unusual around 9 PM, but for a lucky few with clearer conditions ? and a penchant for staring up at the night sky ? there was a spectacular display of a series of fireballs moving from one end of the horizon to the other, following the same trajectory. It was a meteor procession ? an exceedingly rare event in which a meteor breaks up when it hits the Earth?s atmosphere. Normally, a meteor burns up as it plunges to Earth, but the fiery fragments in a procession travel in a nearly horizontal path running parallel to the surface of the Earth.
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Public release date: 22-Jan-2013
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