'Earthships' in the Desert Save Owners Cash

Out in the desert near Taos, N.M., they're building houses out of garbage.

Using old tires packed with dirt, trashed appliances, and discarded bottles and cans -- the stuff that stays in landfills forever -- architect Mike Reynolds and his crew are turning our trash into solar-powered, self-sustaining, energy-efficient houses.

"It's kind of a machine, not a house," Reynolds said. "And it's a machine that involves biology and physics to make it so that the people can NOT need municipal utilities."

He calls his creations "Earthships." They are off-the-grid wonders of physics -- angled south to catch the sun's rays through solar panels on the roof so they remain naturally cool in summer and warm in winter. No heat or air conditioning required, Reynolds said. Earthships hover at about 70 degrees year-round, even when it's below zero in the high-desert winter.

"You just have to orient it right," Reynolds said. "Admit the sun in the winter, because it's low. And block it in the summer, because it's high."

Touring his "model" home, a three-bedroom, two-bath Earthship which Reynolds calls The Phoenix, he points out that Earthships are comfortable on homeowners' wallets as well.

"The total utility bill of this house would be $100 per year to run the propane for the cook stove," Reynolds said. "That's $100 per year total."

Earthships begin with a foundation of old tires, about one thousand per house, each individually packed solid with dirt so they're firm as bricks. Reynolds said he "contrived" the use of tires just to recycle them at first. "But now, as an architect, engineer, contractor, builder," he adds, "I could not dream up a better way to build. If somebody gave me $30 million to invent the best building block, I'd invent the tire."

The tires are stacked high and cemented with desert mud, interspersed with aluminum cans, to form walls. The recycled cans create an irregular surface to hold the next course of mud, Reynolds said. Walls are then built to form rooms, just like a regular house -- living room, bedrooms, kitchen, and baths. Rainwater is captured and used -- and re-used. What looks like stained glass is actually the bottoms of plastic bottles and cans, added to let in light and give interest to the walls.

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Ten most significant gadgets of 2010

-inch diagonal screen compared to the iPad's 9.7 inches. But with an almost identical 1024 x 600 pixel resolution, it's got just as much screen real estate -- and it's a good deal more portable.

Add the full Android market, a decent camera, the ability to turn itself into a mobile hotspot, and a removable microSD card slot, and you've got bragging rights that your Mac-loving friends can't match.

And although Steve Jobs sneered at the diminutive size of 7-inch tablets, there's clearly a market for them: The Galaxy Tab sold 1 million units in its first two months. -- Dylan Tweney

7. MacBook Air

Steve Jobs called the new MacBook Air the future of computers, and we like where this is going. Coming in 11- and 13-inch flavors, the MacBook Air weighs less than 2.5 pounds, with a wedge shape that thins down to just a tenth-of-an-inch.

Most importantly, it ships with a flash drive, which makes the Air a surprisingly zippy performer for its size. And at an attractive starting price of $1,000, who wouldn't consider one of these as their next notebook? We look forward to the wave of low-priced, ultrathin laptops coming from competing manufacturers in the coming years. -- Brian Chen

6. iPhone 4

Tainted by early reports of a faulty antenna, Apple's latest iPhone was perhaps the most controversial product of the year, but nonetheless a resounding crowd pleaser.

Reviewers sang praise for the device's gorgeous "retina" display, which makes reading from a digital screen as pleasing as a glossy magazine page. Add to that a front-facing camera for video chat, a fast A4 processor and iOS 4, which enables multitasking, and the iPhone 4 is a killer upgrade.

Its debut was made more dramatic than usual by the accidental loss -- and subsequent publication on Gizmodo -- of a late prototype, several weeks before the phone's official launch. The consumer electronics industry is notoriously tight-lipped about its upcoming products, and no company exerts tighter control of its messaging than Apple. Gizmodo's scoop was a rare exception to the rule.

Despite the leak, and despite claims about a "death grip" causing the phone to drop calls, the iPhone 4 was Apple's hottest iPhone yet, selling 14 million units in just one quarter. -- Brian Chen

5. Sprint Evo 4G

It's bigger, beefier and more badass than almost any other phone we've tested this year. And thanks to its 4G connection, 4-inch screen and ability to beam out a Wi-Fi signal, the Sprint Evo makes an excellent traveling companion.

Granted, Sprint's 4G network isn't available everywhere in the United States yet, but the company has been lighting it up in an increasing number of metro areas. When it works, it delivers enough bandwidth that you might be tempted to cut your wired broadband connection.

The Evo's downsides include its bulk (though some people actually like that) and disappointing battery life. -- Dylan Tweney

4. Windows Phone 7 on Samsung Focus

In the wake of the iPhone revolution, Microsoft's Windows Mobile OS tanked in market share, and the software giant decided in 2008 to scrap everything and start over.

The company hired new managers, opened new lab facilities and shuffled around its entire mobile team to create a new Windows phone OS in a year. The result was Windows Phone 7, Microsoft's brand-new entry in the smartphone game.

Based on a fresh tile-based interface, Windows Phone 7 is an impressive start. It shines brightly on the lightweight Samsung Focus smartphone, which has a beautiful AMOLED screen and a solid overall construction.

Microsoft is pinning its mobile hopes on Windows Phone 7. If the Focus is any indication, it's got a good shot at getting back in the game. -- Brian Chen

3. Microsoft Kinect

Microsoft's Xbox add-on, formerly known by its code name of "Project Natal," may have been a latecomer to the motion-sensitive gaming category. But when it arrived, the Kinect blew Sony and Nintendo's wand-waving accessories out of the water.

Combining a visible-spectrum camera and an infrared sensor, the Kinect offers the most advanced real-time 3-D scanning and rendering we've seen in a commercial product. It's also got built-in face recognition. The upshot: Your Kinect can recognize you, and you can control it simply by waving your hands and moving your body.

The possibilities are even richer for game developers and hackers, who are already figuring out how to incorporate the Kinect's features into eye-popping demos and surprisingly intelligent robots. -- Dylan Tweney

2. Berkeley Bionics eLEGS

The feel-good gadget story of the year, without a doubt, was a lightweight exoskeleton from Berkeley Bionics that can help paraplegics walk again.

At the company's press conference, a person who'd been paraplegic for 18 years demonstrated the eLEGS by walking around onstage.

Her smile shows you everything you need to know about this remarkable invention.

You probably can't buy one, as it will cost around $100,000. But it's the sort of thing that a hospital or physical therapy clinic might buy to help people do rehabilitation exercises, which can be especially beneficial for people who were recently injured. That's because the eLEGS can help them get started on load-bearing, upright, walking exercises while they still have the muscle memory for walking.

The eLEGS exoskeleton is not the only such device: A company called ReWalk makes a similar, $100,000 gadget that appeared on Glee this month. -- Dylan Tweney

1. iPad

Thanks to Apple's iPad,2010 was the year of the tablet. The 9.7-inch touchscreen wonder created a brand-new product category that made digital content more attractive than ever.

The iPad checked off all the boxes where previous tablet computers completely missed the mark. Unlike its stylus-driven predecessors, the iPad offers a finger-friendly interface that people of all ages can learn in a few seconds, requiring zero antivirus software and barely any maintenance (apps update themselves with the tap of a button). In other words, it was the first true tablet -- not just a PC with a touchscreen skin.

The market reacted strongly. Publishers lined up to reinvent their magazines and newspapers for the shiny device, programmers embraced another new digital frontier to make innovative apps and games, and several competing manufacturers announced plans to whip up tablets of their own.

More controversially, the iPad extended Apple's dominion over its phenomenal media distribution channel, the App Store, for better and for worse. The tablet's beautiful 9.7-inch screen opens new possibilities for content creators to make money by selling apps through the App Store, but every so often Apple cracks the whip, demanding programmers to follow the company's vaguely stated but stringently applied rules. In short, the iPad unlocked an exciting opportunity for digital innovation, while also posing an alarming threat to creative freedom.

Nonetheless, the early numbers suggest customers are thrilled. Apple sold 4.2 million iPads during the tablet's first quarter of existence, claiming the title of fastest-adopted gadget in history. -- Brian Chen

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Copyright 2010 Wired.com.

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What's all this #CES business about?

42-1_53-50097595.html?tag=mncol;1n" target=new>"gadget Super Bowl" and "Christmas morning" for nerds.

Really, just pick a metaphor and run with it.

"It's the World Cup of technology. It is the geek gathering for the world," said Gary Shapiro, head of the Consumer Electronics Association, which hosts the annual, international event. "And everyone touched by technology goes there, with over 120,000 people in one location. They're all there. It's the who's who of technology. Nothing replicates it."

There's some history to back up those comparisons. Commercial VHS, DVD and Blu-ray formats all debuted at the trade show. The personal camcorder, the Atari game "Pong," Microsoft's Xbox console and HDTV all chart their origins to CES, too.

The show essentially sets the year's tech trends, hitting on themes that will keep popping up and evolving all the way through the holiday shopping season. Last year at CES, 3-D television and tablet computers -- or at least the promise they represented -- were all the rage.

This year's show promises to be grander than those in recent memory, which suffered in attendance and scope in part because of the economic recession. About 2,500 companies will show off new tech toys at CES this year, Shapiro said, and their eye-poppingly opulent showcases will cover more than 1.6 million square feet of space at the Las Vegas Convention Center, which is up 11% over the size of last year's show.

"You can't even physically see the entire show in the four days of the show," he said, noting an issue that's always the talk of worn-out journalists and industry insiders who attend. "It's literally miles of exhibit space. There's over 20,000 products that will be introduced there. It's kind of overwhelming."

But bigger may not necessarily be better.

Ahead of the show, many bloggers and analysts are focusing not on the companies that will be at CES but the one that won't: Apple.

"Apple seems set to dominate CES once again next year, even though it won't actually attend the show," wrote a Computerworld blogger. Last year's CES was swirling with rumors about an impending Apple tablet device, which Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled as the iPad later that month.

This year, Apple "has two fangs to suck the blood out of CES," writes the blog TechCrunch, noting that two Apple rumors -- that it will soon announce an iPad 2 and an iPhone on the Verizon network -- may steal some CES thunder.

Apple is the world's largest tech company in terms of market capital. And, perhaps more important, it's arguably been doing more to advance consumer electronics hardware in recent years than Microsoft, Sony, Panasonic and the other big-name companies that exhibit at CES.

In 2007, Apple released the iPhone, one of the first touch-screen smartphones. Now everyone makes those. In April it began selling the iPad, the first successful touch-screen tablet computer, and created a market for an entire new category of consumer electronics.

Expect as many as 80 tablet computers to be on display at CES this week, said Shapiro. Bloggers have been calling this year's CES "tablet mania." But the iPad, the gadget everyone wants to compete with and that accelerated this frenzy for media-consumption devices, will be conspicuously absent.

Because it's so hot right now, Apple is able to take a go-it-alone approach to product releases, summoning the world's tech media to the Bay Area for press conferences that focus only on its new products and bottom line.

Others, however, still need the critical mass of CES to attract buzz.

Google is another missing player at the trade show, although its Android operating system -- which is competing most successfully with Apple's iOS -- will have a big presence at this year's CES, said Shapiro. That's because Google's Android powers many of the smartphones and tablets that aim to compete with Apple's products.

But Apple or no Apple, Google or no Google, CES still has a firm grip on driving the year's consumer technology trends and is worth the attention it gets, said Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst at Parks Associates, a research group.

"It's large and exhausting but at the same time I really find it to be the most important (event) of the year in terms of how it generates excitement about what's possible with consumer electronics and services," he said. "It's a really exciting show."

Shapiro said CES will "knock your socks off." We'll find out in a few days.

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5 iPhone alarm apps that actually work

Nightstand Central Free reminds us of the Android operating system Alarm Tunes Lite can wake you up to any song in your device's music collectioniClock Free offers a puzzle that you must solve before you can silence the alarm

(Mashable) -- When Apple's alarm clock app failed, letting down a multitude of users on New Year's Day and January 2 due to the bug the company still hasn't fully explained, we started looking around for alternatives.

Apple said yesterday that the failure of its clock app only happens when you set a one-time alarm, and it will somehow fix itself on January 3.

We have made a call and sent an e-mail into Apple asking why this happened. Meanwhile, we were thinking it wouldn't hurt to look around for something that might be dependable 365 days a year.

In this post, we mentioned one alarm clock app that costs $0.99 and gets the job done, but its design leaves much to be desired.

What about free apps? Are there acceptable alternatives to Apple's clock that's included in every copy of its mobile operating system? And most importantly, do those other clocks suffer from the same alarm problem?

We confirmed that the alarm failure problem in Apple's app is still happening today, when we set an alarm and nothing happened.

We found five free alarm clock apps that don't have that problem. We picked these acceptable alternatives out of the hundreds of choices available, and they all were able to reliably sound an alarm today. Each one has certain limitations, but the impact of those deficiencies is lessened by the fact that these apps are all free.

Nightstand Central Free

This ad-supported alarm clock reminds us of the Android operating system with its flip clock on top.

We like its helpful weather report included just below the timepiece. It works when you have the phone sleeping and the screen is locked, but for that background alarm capability, you'll be limited to just four different sounds with the free version.

Clock Pro Free

Another ad-supported app, this one can also multitask, so the app doesn't need to be running for its alarm to sound. We like the way it offers a choice of pleasant-looking analog clock faces in addition to the usual digital look. An unusual feature is its ability to display almanac information such as sunrise, sunset, the exact time of midday and even your latitude and longitude.

Theme Clock Alarm

Swipe from side to side, and you're offered a choice of a dozen different clock styles. Some of them are stylish. Others, not so much. Surprisingly, this app is not ad-supported, and you can wake to vibrate-only alarms without sounds.

What's the catch? Although you can lock your screen and put it in sleep mode, the app must be running for its alarm sounds to work. This one would work best in a dock overnight.

Alarm Tunes Lite

Here's another ad-supported app that has fast app switching for background alarms. However, there's only a few choices for alarm sounds if you want to use that feature. If you're willing to leave it in a dock overnight and keep it running, it can wake you up to any song in your device's music collection.

A slight limitation: Its orientation is vertical-only.

iClock Free

At first glance, iClock Free seems surprisingly full-featured, but maybe that's because it's ad-supported. It automatically adjusts for landscape or portrait orientation, but although you can turn the alarm off for different days, it only allows you to set one alarm time in this free version.

Still, it has a lot going for it, with its alarm sounds that work when you're not running the app, and for heavy sleepers, it offers a puzzle that you must solve before you can silence the alarm.

© 2010 MASHABLE.com. All rights reserved.

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The Vanishing Mind: Giving Alzheimer's Patients Their Way, Even Chocolate

6 and afflicted with Alzheimer’s, to sleep, be bathed and dine whenever she wanted, even at 2 a.m. She could eat anything, too, no matter how unhealthy, including unlimited chocolate.

And she was given a baby doll, a move that seemed so jarring that a supervisor initially objected until she saw how calm Ms. Nance became when she rocked, caressed and fed her “baby,” often agreeing to eat herself after the doll “ate” several spoonfuls.

Dementia patients at Beatitudes are allowed practically anything that brings comfort, even an alcoholic “nip at night,” said Tena Alonzo, director of research. “Whatever your vice is, we’re your folks,” she said.

Once, Ms. Alonzo said: “The state tried to cite us for having chocolate on the nursing chart. They were like, ‘It’s not a medication.’ Yes, it is. It’s better than Xanax.”

It is an unusual posture for a nursing home, but Beatitudes is actually following some of the latest science. Research suggests that creating positive emotional experiences for Alzheimer’s patients diminishes distress and behavior problems.

In fact, science is weighing in on many aspects of taking care of dementia patients, applying evidence-based research to what used to be considered subjective and ad hoc.

With virtually no effective medical treatment for Alzheimer’s yet, most dementia therapy is the caregiving performed by families and nursing homes. Some 11 million people care for Alzheimer’s-afflicted relatives at home. In nursing homes, two-thirds of residents have some dementia.

Caregiving is considered so crucial that several federal and state agencies, including the Department of Veterans Affairs, are adopting research-tested programs to support and train caregivers. This month, the Senate Special Committee on Aging held a forum about Alzheimer’s caregiving.

“There’s actually better evidence and more significant results in caregiver interventions than there is in anything to treat this disease so far,” said Lisa P. Gwyther, education director for the Bryan Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at Duke University.

The National Institute on Aging and the Administration on Aging are now financing caregiving studies on “things that just kind of make the life of an Alzheimer’s patient and his or her caregiver less burdensome,” said Sidney M. Stahl, chief of the Individual Behavioral Processes branch of the Institute on Aging. “At least initially, these seem to be good nonpharmacological techniques.”

Techniques include using food, scheduling, art, music and exercise to generate positive emotions; engaging patients in activities that salvage fragments of their skills; and helping caregivers be more accepting and competent.

Changing the Mood

Some efforts involve stopping anti-anxiety or antipsychotic drugs, used to quell hallucinations or aggression, but potentially harmful to dementia patients, who can be especially sensitive to side effects. Instead, some experts recommend primarily giving drugs for pain or depression, addressing what might be making patients unhappy.

Others recommend making cosmetic changes to rooms and buildings to affect behavior or mood.

A study in The Journal of the American Medical Association found that brightening lights in dementia facilities decreased depression, cognitive deterioration and loss of functional abilities. Increased light bolsters circadian rhythms and helps patients see better so they can be more active, said Elizabeth C. Brawley, a dementia care design expert not involved in the study, adding, “If I could change one thing in these places it would be the lighting.”

Several German nursing homes have fake bus stops outside to keep patients from wandering; they wait for nonexistent buses until they forget where they wanted to go, or agree to come inside.

And Beatitudes installed a rectangle of black carpet in front of the dementia unit’s fourth-floor elevators because residents appear to interpret it as a cliff or hole, no longer darting into elevators and wandering away.

“They’ll walk right along the edge but don’t want to step in the black,” said Ms. Alonzo, who finds it less unsettling than methods some facilities use, bracelets that trigger alarms when residents exit. “People with dementia have visual-spatial problems. We’ve actually had some people so wary of it that when we have to get them on the elevator to take them somewhere, we put down a white towel or something to cover it up.”

When elevator doors open, Beatitudes staff members stand casually in front, distracting residents with “over-the-top” hellos, she said: “We look like Cheshire cats,” but “who’s going to want to get on the elevator when here’s this lovely smiling person greeting you? It gets through to the emotional brain.”

New research suggests emotion persists after cognition deteriorates. In a University of Iowa study, people with brain damage producing Alzheimer’s-like amnesia viewed film clips evoking tears and sadness (“Sophie’s Choice,” “Steel Magnolias”), or laughter and happiness (Bill Cosby, “America’s Funniest Home Videos”).

Six minutes later, participants had trouble recalling the clips. But 30 minutes later, emotion evaluations showed they still felt sad or happy, often more than participants with normal memories. The more memory-impaired patients retained stronger emotions.

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The Social Web's Big New Theme for 2011: Multiple Identities for Everyone! [NetworkEffect]

Mark Zuckerberg famously said: “Having two identities for yourself is an example of a lack of integrity.”

Although he later clarified, “I wasn’t making a value judgment,” maintaining multiple identities, whether it’s as simple as publishing some photos to Picasa and others to Facebook, is becoming a big trend in online life.

Even as Zuckerberg’s Facebook extended its dominance in 2010 to the point where it seems to have a social Web monopoly, it was still a landmark year for social network competition.

Where in the past, tech industry watchers derided new start-ups for launching “yet another social network,” ever more users seem to be constructing multiple online presences that utilize the strengths of various platforms and networks.

And this splintered approach is only going to increase.

Internet users now have plenty of outlets for self-expression. They can prioritize individuality and choose to post on the highly customizable Tumblr, or instead value the comprehensiveness of a network and post on the blander Facebook.

A big part of this shift toward understanding the private online self versus the public online self has been the rise of Twitter. On Twitter, regular users make the sort of decisions celebrities do: What to share about their private lives with their public audience of followers.

Another shift has been the rise of smartphones, along with their quality broadband connections, good cameras and mobile apps.

As an early adopter of various social apps, I’ve recently been confronted with the choice of whether to post a picture taken with my Apple iPhone on-the-go to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Path or Picplz.

Each of them has different audiences, different associations with my personal or professional identities, and different expectations for how people will view and interact with my snapshot. (And I suppose there’s also the option of keeping the pictures to myself on my phone storage.)

Although the people noisiest about privacy on Facebook have at times been the media, publicity of the company’s highly confusing privacy settings seems to have led to many more people being aware of them and perhaps even changing them.

Perhaps that’s why I see an increasing–but still quite small–portion of my Facebook friends using pseudonyms on the service. And when I asked them why, I heard a variety of reasons.

One is a teacher, another prefers to go by the moniker he uses artistically. Yet another is a college student who is applying for jobs and who wants to be more anonymous for a while. Like many of today’s young people, she has become highly conscious of balancing the freedom to be herself online with the way she is perceived by professional contacts.

(A representative for Facebook declined to comment on whether the company has recently been more permissive about allowing pseudonyms, something it has traditionally frowned on.)

Of course, very little of what’s posted online can be trusted to never get out or never be linked to its originator. If you really want to keep your thoughts private and impermanent, of course, keep them in your head.

But there are now many more options for more private communication, many of them having first come out in 2010. They include small-group coordination tools like GroupMe, Fast Society and Beluga. There’s also Path, a start-up from a former Facebooker that is perhaps too limited by design, but is exploring the world of more intimate and personal communications.

For many people, their Facebook network is far from a direct match with their real-world friends, so it will be increasingly important to use these tools to dice circles up and make them more accessible. (Facebook is also trying to address that need with its own Groups tool.)

To be sure, that Facebook map of connections is a highly valuable asset, one the company has fiercely protected, as Google reformulates its approach to the social Web.

Splitting your users into an entirely new social graph will certainly hamper growth. For instance, another early Facebooker launched Jumo, a social network for people connecting with nonprofits that seems to risk being redundant with, and isolated from, similar efforts on other platforms.

And Foursquare, despite its zeitgeisty innovation for sharing real-time location updates, has accumulated only about five million users in the last two years.

However, the speedy growth of new social networks like the addictive Instagram–which is like Twitter for pictures and got one million users in its first two months–shows that there’s still an opportunity to take an independent path.

What seems particularly notable about the current moment is that many people are evolving their approach to expressing themselves online, and they now have many tools and contexts to do so. And it’s up to them if these multiple identities will be unified anywhere except in their heads.

(Image collage at top of post courtesy Flickr user shannonkringen.)

Please see the disclosure about Facebook in my ethics statement.

Tagged: Liz Gannes, NetworkEffect, 2010, anonymous, Apple, apps, audience, Beluga, broadband, cameras, early adopter, Facebook, Facebook Groups, Fast Society, Google, GroupMe, Groups, identities, Instagram, Internet, iPhone, Jumo, Mark Zuckerberg, mobile, monopoly, multiple, network, online, Path, Photos, Picasa, PicPlz, platforms, private, pseudonyms, public, publishing, smartphones, social, tool, Tumblr, Twitter, Web | permalink

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Top 10 Twitter Trends This Week [CHART]

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Jobs Strategic Account ManagerDesired Start Date: ASAPThink you're a marketing genius? Can you come up with the next best digital media strategy for Bacardi, Diane von Furstenberg, Williams-Sonoma ...

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Budding research links climate change and earlier flowering plants

percent) bloomed earlier from 2005 to 2008 than when he recorded the same species' blooming times from 1992 to 1996. Forty-five percent of the plants bloomed at the same time, and 16 percent bloomed earlier.

"I was doing a plant survey to see how the wetlands had changed over the years, and I noticed a lot of the plants were blooming earlier than they had in the previous survey," said Conover.

The biologist pointed out that the mean annual temperature during the survey periods increased nearly 2 degrees from 53.38 degrees (11.88 C) to 55.27 degrees (12.93 C) in roughly a decade's time.

"This is a big change for such a short time period," said Conover. "There is a lot of data coming from all over the world indicating that biological communities are being impacted by warmer temperatures."

To determine the impact of these changes, Conover said scientists would need to look closely at the complete ecological picture, including the impact on insects and birds that interact with the plants.

"If the right insects aren't out at the right time, it could affect some of the cross-pollination that goes on," he said. Or it could affect certain birds that depend on the seeds from those plants. Everything is interrelated. It is hard to say what impact it will have. We could also see things like more invasive species moving in because of the warmer conditions."

Conover worked closely with UC's Steve Pelikan, a math professor, who crunched all the data from the surveys. Pelikan said he found both the number of earlier-flowering plants and the temperature change from one survey to the next to be statistically significant.

Conover's wild-plant research follows a similar pattern of findings from a recent 30-year garden-plant study in southwestern Ohio (McEwan, et al.). Pelikan points out that Conover's published research is significant because it is one of the first to highlight the earlier flowering phenomena among plants in a natural habitat as opposed to a more-controlled garden setting.

"His is one of the first papers to reach this conclusion when working with native plants in a native setting," said Pelikan.

Further substantiating the work, Conover has found that his observations also aren't unique to the Shaker Trace Wetlands. He's finding similar results as he compares data he collected from a plant survey in 2000 at Oxbow -- a wetland at the confluence of the Great Miami and Ohio Rivers that spans southeastern Indiana and southwestern Ohio -- to data from today.

He's also noticed the presence of new invasive species in the Oxbow area such as Callery pear, Japanese stiltgrass and Japanese chaff flower.

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by University of Cincinnati. The original article was written by John Bach.

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.

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Happy New Year!

b-by-2015/">appification of, well, nearly everything, to name just a few — 2011 promises to be an even more exciting year as those changes take hold and pave the way for new innovations.

Om is starting off 2011 by taking a well-deserved vacation – a rare occurrence! – for the month of January. The rest of the GigaOM team will be here, bringing you the breaking news and thoughtful analysis that you’ve come to expect from us. And as always, we look forward to your thoughtful comments and energetic discussions.

Wishing you a happy, healthy, and happy new year, from all of us here at GigaOM!

Image courtesy of Flickr user cory schmitz

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Twins' Facebook Fight Rages On

, recently told portions of their story in a “60 Minutes” interview for CBS. They grew up in affluence in Greenwich, Conn., were varsity rowers at Harvard and competed in the Summer Olympics in Beijing in 2008. They now live here in San Diego, where they are training for the 2012 London Olympics.

They are as physically striking and imposing as they appeared in the film, “The Social Network, where they were portrayed by one actor, Armie Hammer. They are 6-foot-5 , and their frames are lean and muscular, shaped by years of rowing.

For the interview, they wore hoodies and jeans, and only the variation in the hoodies — one zippered with a Ron Jon Surf Shop emblem, one a pullover with a Quicksilver logo — helped to tell them apart.

As they talked about the Facebook case, no detail was too small to omit, from where they first met Mr. Zuckerberg (the Kirkland House dining room) to the layout of Mr. Zuckerberg’s dorm room, to the content of the e-mails he had sent them after they asked him to do computer programming for a Web site called Harvard Connection. They recited arcane facts about the valuation of private companies and even quoted from the Securities Act of 1934, which they say Facebook violated when it drew up the settlement.

In addition to a bigger payday, the twins say they want a court to reconsider their original claims about Facebook’s founding, pointing to instant messages on the subject sent by Mr. Zuckerberg to various friends. The messages have come to light since the brothers signed the deal. But they say Facebook executives and board members have known about the messages since 2006, and played dirty by concealing them when they negotiated the settlement.

“If you take all those documents, it is a dramatically different picture,” Tyler Winklevoss said.

Facebook declined to comment on the messages. In prior interviews, Mr. Zuckerberg said he had regretted sending some of them.

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nPower Brings Personal Energy Generator to CES 2011

.

The PEG will be as easy to operate as it gets. Set the little generator upright in a backpack or laptop bag and start walking. The energy you expend on movement won't be wasted. It'll go right into a battery and give you charge for those tight times away from a socket. Hiking in the middle of nowhere? The PEG's 1000 mAh battery will keep you rocking even when far off the beaten path.

This thing puts out 5 V of DC and weighs a smidge under 12 ounces. according to the site, 5 minutes of walking will give you 1 minute of talk time on an iPhone 2G. 10 minutes of walking gives you 1 minute on a 3G, while 1 minute gives you 1 minute of listening on a Nano.

The next (and most awesome) evolution of this technology will be a full-on gadget charger (laptop/tablet capable) that plugs directly into your device and keeps a trickle charge up throughout the day. Four or five hours of hiking could make a pretty fair dent in your laptop's battery life. Maybe mix it in with a solar charger for ultimate "green" efficiency.

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40 New Social Media Resources You May Have Missed

/free-social-media-icons-old-bottle-crowns-icon-set/" target="_blank">Dawghouse Design Studio

19 of the Best Infographics From 2010
Research can sometimes be a chore, but when good information is wrapped up in a visual medium, things can become that much clearer.HOW TO: Customize the New Facebook Profile
Here are some ways to put your best features forward with the new Facebook profile layout.HOW TO: Back Up Your Social Media Presence Before the Ball Drops
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5 iPhone Apps for Festive Photo Fun
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6 Free Chrome Apps and Extensions for Small Businesses
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Ochocinco brings Motorola Android Tablet to Super Bowl 2011

791791318368257">tweet (via TFTS) that he will be getting the new Motorola Tablet to kick off 2011. Chad Ochocinco plays for the Cincinnati Bengals and has been promoting Motorola already at the Super Bowl 2010 with the OCNN network. Ochocinco is a very "connected" NFL player. His Twitter account has over 1.5 million followers.

Motorola and its partners (Verizon?) will have to unlock marketing hell to make any impact with the new Tegra 2 Android Honeycomb based tablet against the Apple iPad. The Super Bowl XLV is the ideal venue to spend big marketing bucks and also have the chance to reach a large number of consumers.

Super Bowl 2011 takes place on February 6th. I assume that Motorola will ship the new Android Tablet they announce at CES 2011 around that time. If not, a Super Bowl ad would be a not very effective investment. The new Motorola Tablet is ideally already available for purchase during the big game.

For a list of the current official and rumored Super Bowl ads for 2011 check out our Super Bowl Ads 2011 Guide.
Just like last year, I4U News will be featuring again the Super Bowl for Geeks Guide. Of course the Super Bowl 2011 for Geeks Guide will be all about the Super Bowl Commercials and not the big game. The Super Bowl XLV will take place in the Dallas Cowboys stadium on February 6th 2011.

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Mining Groundwater in India Reaches New Lows

billion cubic meters) of water per year over the past decade. (Read: “NASA Satellites Track Vanishing Groundwater.”)

Local Water Management

Local planners told the researchers they were aware there was a problem with water shortages and stress on the groundwater supply, she said, but they weren't aware of the depth of the problem, Perveen added.

When presented with the results of the study, she said, the officials were "amazed."

The researchers found that some regions receive enough rainfall to supply their needs, as long as they build more reservoirs, ponds, and tanks to store water when supplies are plentiful.

Much of the yearly rain comes during intense monsoon downpours, so storage is needed to help get through the long dry periods of the year.

By analyzing the historical data, day by day, the researchers showed that water stress exists even where the average annual rainfall is apparently enough to cover the average water use.

But the majority of the country’s key food-growing areas would need far more water storage to be able to stop depleting the groundwater, Perveen said.

Water Storing Solutions

A more sustainable solution is to use small ponds, dams, and other ways of storing water locally, a new study suggests.

For about half of the country, their analysis suggests, if people used small-scale "rainwater harvesting"—capturing rain and storing it in tanks and ponds—they would have much of the water they needed, assuming they continued to grow the same types of crops.

(Related: “Lessons From the Field—Rainwater Harvesting in India.”)

By providing detailed information on small areas of the country, the analysis could help policy makers decide how much additional water storage they need to avoid depleting groundwater further, Perveen said.

"India's [water] storage infrastructure is very dismal compared to other countries," she said, because reservoirs there store only about 325 cubic yards (250 cubic meters) per person, compared with 6,500 cubic yards (5,000 cubic meters) per person in China, or 7,800 cubic yards (6,000 cubic meters) in the United States.

"This study points out that India needs to invest in more water storage infrastructure—whether large or small," Perveen said.

(Related: “How to Stem a Global Food Crisis? Store More Water.”)

Crop Insurance

In other parts of India, though, rainwater harvesting alone won't be enough to avoid depleting groundwater further, the study suggests.

So the team is studying how farmers could shift the crops they grow to ones that require less water.

To make a living from agriculture, farmers will have to shift away from water-intensive crops such as rice, sugarcane, and cotton. Or they will have to drastically change their ways of growing these crops to make farming more water-efficient, Perveen said.

"This [kind of] work needs to happen more," said Edward Moran, a water resources expert with the U.S. Geological Survey in Columbia, Missouri.

"The general public needs to be better informed" about looming water shortages, he said, because in many places around the world "we're really not addressing the problem."

(Related: “Groundwater Depletion Raises Likelihood of Global Food Crises.”)

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Facebook Close To Naming Sun Microsystems Campus As New Headquarters

/06/15/behold-the-new-facebook-headquaters/">moved into its 150,000 square foot office space at 1601 South California Ave in Palo Alto, but the rapidly growing company is already itching for a new home. Now we’re hearing from multiple sources that Facebook has chosen the site for its new headquarters: the former Sun Microsystems/Oracle campus in Menlo Park CA, just off the Bayfront Expressway at 1601 Willow Road (map). The campus is around six miles from Facebook’s current home, and is bordered by Menlo Park and East Palo Alto.

The move doesn’t come as a surprise. Facebook had practically outgrown its current offices on S. California Ave before it even moved in, and it’s already subleased additional space at 1050 Page Mill Road, just down the street from its current location (employees can take shuttles between the two buildings, but it’s not very convenient). With over 2,000 employees and no signs of slowing, the company needs a lot more leg room.

Facebook says it isn’t a done deal quite yet (actually, they wouldn’t even confirm the location they’re looking at):

“We are exploring options for a long-term location to fit our growing business needs. We are in the due diligence phase on one potential site, but it would be premature to offer any specifics. We hope to have more to share in the near future once things have been finalized.”

Prior to moving to its current home on S. California Ave, Facebook occupied a handful of buildings that littered downtown Palo Alto near University Avenue.  Based on Facebook’s comment it sounds like this new space could become their home for the foreseeable future. Back in 2003 Google had similar rapid growing pains and began subleasing SGI’s office space in Mountain View — it later purchased this land and expanded after its IPO.

Image via Dianiel Rosenthal’s Sun blog

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Plane to catch tomorrow Beware iPhone's alarm

natalimorris: I am so grateful for 2010! Husband, baby, family, friends, viewers, and health. Oh and the iPad too. Here is to more of the same in 2011!

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HOW TO: Land a Job at Twitter

/09/24/wow-twitter-to-raise-100-million-in-new-funding/">raised $100 million in September 2009 and another $200 million earlier this month.

Between that period, Twitter roughly tripled its employee base to more than 300 and disclosed plans to “have a small number of people on the ground in Europe in 2011,” a spokesperson said recently.

We’ve received inquiries from a number of you about how to land a job at the San Francisco-based startup and what it’s like to work there. We’ve compiled your most frequently asked questions here, including information about what kinds of jobs are available at TwitterTwitter, what the company culture is like, as well as a few tips about getting hired.

If you have interviewed for a position or worked at Twitter, we’d love to hear about your experiences and advice in the comments below.

There are many different departments at Twitter, thus many different kinds of positions and skill sets are needed for each. Twitter is currently filling out its business development and sales, engineering, finance, HR, legal, mobile, operations, product management, support and user experience and design teams. Other (seemingly non-hiring) departments include executive (management) and communications.

Twitter is very vocal about the quality of its corporate culture — and so are its employees. If you’ve ever followed a new Twitter employee during his or her first day on the job, he or she likely finished that day by tweeting that it was the “best first day of work ever,” or something similar.

And if you’ve ever asked an employee what they like best about working at Twitter, they’ll likely tell you about how most employees stick around on Friday evenings to spend time with their colleagues, listening to the company’s leaders talk about ideas developed in the past week over drinks and snacks.

Others have observed that it’s a “creatively stimulating,” place to work, filled with lots of natural light, whiteboards and meeting spaces. Employees are “buzzing with ideas” and “constantly brainstorming.” Because Twitter is rapidly expanding, parts of the office are frequently under construction — one recent visitor noted that although the space is well-designed, Twitter already needs more of it. An added bonus: breakfast and lunch are free.

As Twitter Director of Communications Matt Graves explains, “There’s no one set of skills or experience we’re looking for — it really depends on the position. But we do look for certain traits: hard workers, smart thinkers and respectful team players. Having a great sense of humor is a (big) plus; I’ve never worked with so many funny people in my life.”

Don’t forget to include your @username on your resume. “Seems obvious, but people forget!” he says.

For more information, check out Working at Twitter, and follow @jointheflock on Twitter. Those interested in university recruiting and other campus-related topics can direct inquiries to @TwitterU.

Every week we put out a list of social media and web job opportunities. While we post a huge range of job listings, we’ve selected some of the top social media opportunities from the past two weeks to get you started. Happy hunting!

- 19 Resources to Help You Land a Job in 2011
- 6 Ways to Score a Job Through Twitter
- HOW TO: Land a Job at Microsoft
- HOW TO: Land a Business Development Job
- 5 Ways to Get a Job Through YouTube

Image courtesy of FlickrFlickr, @Twitter

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Deutschen gehalten in Iran treffen Familien

Der iranische Prasident Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hat Angeklagten im Westen der overhyping eine iranische Frau Tod sentence.The Deutsche Staatsangehorige wurden im Oktober in TabrizThey verhaftet werden beschuldigt posiert, wie Journalisten, verwandten ein verurteilter WomanThe Familie Mitglieder zu interviewen reiste nach Iran am Freitag

(Dpa)--zwei deutschen Journalisten fur die Befragung der Sohn und Anwalt einer Frau zu sterben durch Steinigung verurteilt Spionage im Iran angeklagt haben traf mit Familienmitgliedern, iranische Beamte sagte am Dienstag.

Das Treffen fand statt Montag Nacht in der nordwestlichen Stadt Tabriz--wo die deutsche Staatsangehorige festgenommen wurden, Irans Au?enministeriums Sprecher Ramin Mehmanparast erzahlte Reportern auf seine pro News-Konferenz.

"Auf der Grundlage der humanitaren Grunden, dieses Treffen hat wurde moglich gemacht,", sagte Mehmanparast.

Die Familien traf auch mit Ali Akbar Salehi, Irans Au?enminister.

Die Verwandten nach Iran am Freitag begleitet von Brand Erbel reiste, berichtet dem deutschen Botschafter in Teheran, Iran's halboffiziellen Mehr News Agency.

"Der Status Ihres Case hangt von der Gerichtsverfahren und die Justiz-Beamten verlaufen. Wenn Sie kein Verbrechen begangen haben, werden dann Sie freigegeben werden. Und wenn Sie, haben dann Sie korrekt behandelt werden werden,", sagte Mehmanparast Dienstag.

Die beiden Manner, die nur als ein Reporter und Fotojournalist, identifiziert wurden verhaftet, im Oktober nachdem Sie, interviewt der Sohn und der Anwalt von Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, der war in 2006 des Ehebruches verurteilt und zum Tod durch Steinigung verurteilt.

"Ihre Berichte und Propaganda in Tabris bewiesen, dass Sie in dem Land wegen Spionage sind," war Malek Ajdar Shafiee, den Kopf von der Justiz Abteilung der East Azarbaijan, Worten von Irans Semi-official Fars News Agency zitiert.

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Maine Skifahrer gefangen, wie Kabel Snaps heben

Skifahrer taumelt auf broken Sesselbahn Neu: das Ski-Resort sagt schatzungsweise 220 Menschen waren auf der gebrochenen Lift gefangen Neu: die verletzten wurden ergriffen, um Krankenhauser fur TreatmentA CNN Mitarbeiter unter denen war TrappedWinds sind zwischen 30 und 50 mph im Bereich Boen

Kingfield, Maine (CNN)--mehr als 200 Menschen wurden gefangen und mehrere andere verletzt Dienstag nach ein Skilift im Sugarloaf Ski Resort in Maine brach, verursacht mehrere Skifahrer zu fallen auf den Boden, ein Resort Manager sagte.

Ethan Austin, ein Sprecher fur das Resort, sagte der Entgleisung auf einem Turm des Aufzugs Abflu?kanal Osten um 10: 30 Uhr ET, geschah wenn das Kabel uber den Rand der Riemenscheibe ubersprungen. Funf der 's Lift Stuhle fiel von 25 auf 30 Fu?e und den Boden beruhrte, sagte er.

Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington, Maine, erhielten die drei Patienten und vier weitere, laut Sprecherin Jill Gray erwartete. Ein anderer Patient wurde von Krankenwagen gebracht, aber wechselte zu Maine Medical Center in Portland per Helikopter, sagte Gray.

Robb Atkinson, ein CNN-Mitarbeiter, auch ursprunglich, auf der Lift gefangen, sagte, er sah Skifahrer vom Lift zu fallen, wenn es zu einem abrupten Stopp wahrend hohe Winde kam.

"Ich fuhlte einen Ruck,", sagte Atkinson, wer den Lift mit seiner Frau Ritt. Er beschrieb auch horen "Schreie von Skifahrer unten", als er sah mindestens drei Stuhle, die 20 bis 30 Fu?e auf den Boden fallen.

Hohe Winde wurden zwischen 30 und 50 mph im Bereich damals laut CNN Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras, Boen und Temperaturen im Resort sind unter dem Gefrierpunkt.

Austin sagte am Dienstag Nachmittag es gab schatzungsweise 220 Menschen auf die mehr als 100 Stuhle auf der Lift, und der Prozess der Evakuierung jeder von den Stuhlen baumelnd uber das Resort war im Gange.

"Sie hatte zu deaktivieren die Sesselbahn 40 Meter uber dem Boden in einem Schwung zu schieben,", sagte Atkinson. Danach wurden Skifahrer gesenkt zu Boden und musste auf der Basis des Berges, Skiverleih, sagte er.

Franklin County Emergency Beamten kontaktiert Gouverneur John Balducci mit Updates zu den Vorfall und die nachfolgende rettet, laut David Farmer, Balducci's stellvertretender Stabschef.

Zwei Inspektoren mit der Maine Safety Board zu Sugarloaf geschickt wurden, um zu untersuchen, sagte Farmer. Die Sonde ist "Protokoll fur jeden Unfall" in dem beaufsichtigt der Landesregierung Zertifizierung von ein Ski-Resort, fugte er hinzu.

Das Resort liegt etwa 100 km nordlich von Portland, Maine.CNN's Alta Zauberspruche und Justin Lear trugen zu diesem Bericht.

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Simbabwer Eile für S. African Visa

Frist fur die Menschen in Simbabwe in South AfricaZimbabwean Einwanderer muss anwenden fur Visa von Dezember 31 haben DeadlineZimbabweans Amnestie vor der Deportation genossen, seit April 2009Many Land, wegen des Mangels an Jobs geflohen, Verschlechterung der Wirtschaft am HomeMore als 100.000 Visa-Antrage bereits erhalten hat; viele mehr erwartet

Johannesburg, Sudafrika (CNN--Simbabwe Zuwanderer leben in Sudafrika haben nur ein paar Tage Zeit, um Visa beantragen, die Ihnen im Land bleiben rechtlich erlauben wurde.

"Lassen Sie es keine Illusion sein, die Regierung nicht Verlangerung der Frist fur die Registrierung von illegalen Simbabwer wird Leben in Sudafrika,", sagte Sudafrikas Minister of Home Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.

"Jede Ressource wurde zur Verfugung der illegalen Simbabwer Leben in Sudafrika, Ihnen die Moglichkeit, selbst zu bereinigen leisten gelegt."

Sie forderte Einwanderer, die noch nicht getan haben, um so bald wie moglich anzuwenden und nicht warten, fur die 31.12. Frist.

"Entsprechend, und sogar zu dieser spaten Stunde, wir nehmen diese Gelegenheit dem Schlussappell, diejenigen zu, die nicht fur ihre Regularisierung beantragt haben oder die mit betrugerischer Absicht erworben sudafrikanischen Dokumente anwenden oder ubermitteln solcher Dokumente jetzt und nicht warten, bis die Frist,", sagte der Minister.

Simbabwes Einwanderer wurden vor kurzem Schlange au?erhalb der Inneres-Buros in ganz Sudafrika gesehen. Viele haben auf dem Burgersteig, die darauf warten, ihren Status in Sudafrika zu legalisieren geschlafen.

"Es ist sehr schwierig, einen Job zu bekommen. So ist es leicht fur uns hier um zu erhalten eine Arbeitserlaubnis so dass wir auch unsere Familien zuruck nach Hause, unterstutzen konnen", sagte ein simbabwischer Immigrant, gebeten, durch seinen Vornamen, Lovejoy, identifiziert werden, wie er au?erhalb des Johannesburg-Buros gewartet.

Seit April 2009 hatten Simbabwe, die illegal in Sudafrika lebenden Amnestie vor der Deportation. Aber nachstes Jahr, Behorden haben gesagt Einwanderer ohne Visa abgeschoben werden werden.

Die Bedrohung gezwungen zuruck zu Ihrem angeschlagene Land hat weit verbreiteten Angst ausgelost.

Einmal hat ein regionaler Brotkorb, Simbabwes Wirtschaft rasch in den vergangenen zehn Jahren verschlechtert. Eine Einheitsregierung von Prasident Robert Mugabe und Premierminister Morgan Tsvangirai im Februar letzten Jahres gebildet hat mit dem Wiederaufbau des Landes beauftragt worden, aber die Fortschritte sind langsam.

Arbeitsstunden wurden erweitert und Personal in Sudafrika erhoht sich mit der mehr als 100.000 Visa-Antrage bereits erhalten. Viele mehr wird wahrscheinlich in den kommenden Tagen eingereicht werden.

Deportationen werden voraussichtlich nicht starten, bis alle Anwendungen, entsprechend der Innenminister verarbeitet wurden, obwohl es nicht war sofort klar, wie lange dieser Vorgang dauern wurde.

Wir sind Arbeits- und tun unser Bestes zu sortieren, Ihre Frage, "sagte Dlamini Zuma.

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Afrikanische Führer in der Elfenbeinküste für die Krise Gespräche

Apathie Spreads zwischen Cote d ' Ivoire PopulationThe Staats-und Regierungschefs von Benin, Kap Verde und Sierra Leone mit den CandidatesIncumbent Laurent Gbagbo und Herausforderer Alassane Ouattara treffen sind behaupten beide VictoryWest afrikanischen Fuhrer warnen Gbagbo zu Schritt nach unten oder Gesicht militarischen Gewalt

Abidjan, Elfenbeinkuste (CNN)--drei afrikanischen Prasidenten traf sich mit ihr trotziger Gegenstuck in der Elfenbeinkuste Dienstag in dem Bemuhen um politische Krise des Landes zu vereiteln.

Keine Details der Besprechung sofort verfugbar waren, aber etablierten Prasident Laurent Gbagbo's Minister hatte bereits signalisiert, dass der Mann, der glaubte, er Elfenbeinkuste die Prasidentschaftswahlen gewonnen hatte keine Absicht von Rucktritt hatte.

Boni Yayi Prasidenten von Benin, Ernest Bai Koroma von Sierra Leone und Pedro Pires von Kap Verde waren nachsten Treffen mit Gbagbo's Herausforderer, Alassane Ouattara, auch behauptet, der Sieg bei den Umfragen und wer hat die internationale Gemeinschaft Unterstutzung als legitime Fuhrer von Cote d ' Ivoire 's.

Die drei Staatschefs darstellen der 15-kopfigen wirtschaftliche Gemeinschaft der westafrikanischen Staaten (ECOWAS), gehalten, ein Notfall Treffen am vergangenen Freitag in Nigeria und ein Ultimatum an Gbagbo geliefert: step-down oder militarischer Gewalt droht.

Gbagbo's Minister des Innern Emile Guirieoulou sagte Sonntag drei Fuhrer ware "als Bruder, erhalten Freunde."

"Wir werden Ihnen zuzuhoren, horen Sie die Nachricht, die Sie tragen," sagte er. "Wenn Sie zu unserer Verfassung festhalten, werden wir um zu sprechen... unsere Verfassung ist nicht verhandelbar."

Allerdings sagte Au?enminister Minister Alcide Djedje Gbagbo wurde nicht Schritt nach unten.

Die ECOWAS-Delegation traf fruher Dienstag mit Young-Jin Choi, UN-Generalsekretar Ban Ki-moon's Sondergesandten und ein Vertreter der Afrikanischen Union.

Es ist unklar, ECOWAS beabsichtigt gut auf Ihre Bedrohung oder welche Art von Kraft verwendet werden wurde. Es hat in Liberia und Sierra Leone vor interveniert.

Cote d ' Ivoire 's unabhangigen Wahlkommission, unterstutzt von den Vereinten Nationen, erklart Oppositionsfuhrer Ouattara zum Sieger der eine Stichwahl November. Aber seine Verfassungsrat fur ungultig erklart diese Ergebnisse und etablierten Gbagbo zum Sieger erklart.

Die internationale Gemeinschaft, einschlie?lich der USA, der UNO und der Afrikanischen Union, hat Ouattara als der Gewinner erkannt und drangte Gbagbo, macht abzutreten.

Das politische Patt Cote d ' Ivoire in die Krise ausgelost hat, und Dutzende von Menschen gestorben im Verwandte Gewalt.

Die Afrikanische Union hat ausgesetzt Elfenbeinkuste aus der Organisation "bis so eine Zeit der demokratisch gewahlte Prasident effektiv Staatsmacht annimmt." Und die Weltbank hat angehalten Kreditvergabe und ausschuttenden Fonds an die Elfenbeinkuste und hat sein Buro in Land geschlossen.

Mehr als 15.000 Fluchtlinge haben fur die benachbarten Liberia, entsprechend der UN-Fluchtlingsagentur, eine gro?e Anzahl von Ihnen Frauen und Kinder floh.

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Russland verteidigt Chodorkowski Urteil

.

"Der Prozess war eine Farce der Justiz, die Gebuhren waren absolut falsch, aber ich furchte, die Verurteilung sein sehr real," fuhren Verteidigung Anwalt Vadim Klyuvgant in einer schriftlichen Erklarung sagte.

Chodorkowski und Partner Platon Lebedew wurden beschuldigt, der Milliarden von Dollar Wert von Ol von Yukos Produktion Tochtergesellschaften von 1998 bis 2003 zu stehlen. Chodorkowski underpaying Steuern auf das Ol bereits verurteilt worden und dient ein acht-Jahres-Satz fur Betrug und Steuerhinterziehung.

Voraus der das Urteil, versammelten sich Hunderte von Fans au?erhalb der zentralen Moskau Gerichtsgebaude.

Sicherheit-Offiziere, die eine starke Prasenz au?erhalb des Gebaudes beibehalten, entfuhrt mehrere Personen entfernt, wahrend andere in unten-Einfrieren Temperaturen singen "Freiheit" und "Russland ohne Putin"--unter Bezugnahme auf den Premierminister Stand.

Chodorkowski hatte au?erte einen Wunsch, zu einer Zeit fur Office ausfuhren und oppositionellen politischen Parteien finanziert. Er hat gesagt, der Prozess war Teil einer Kampagne Kreml um ihn zu zerstoren und nehmen Sie die Firma, die er von Privatisierung Angebote der 90er Jahre gebaut.

Der Kreml hat keine Rolle verweigert.

Pavel Chodorkowski sagte, dass er fur seinen Vater einen Schuldspruch erwartet hatte, aber auch "hatte gehofft, dass Prasident (Dmitry) Medwedews Rhetorik uber die Reform der Justiz tatsachlich einige Fruchte tragen wurden."

"Allerdings heute, ich erkennen, dass der Richter vollstandig unterwurfig und ein Sklave, der politische Wille der Herr (russische Ministerprasident Vladimir) Putin und andere Burokraten im Kreml ist," sagte der jungeren Chodorkowski.

Eine wei?e Haus Erklarung Montag kritisierte auch den Fall ist, sagen Sie "erscheint eine missbrauchliche Verwendung des Rechtssystems fur unsachgema?e enden zu sein."

"Die scheinbare selektive Anwendung des Gesetzes auf diese Personen untergrabt Russlands Ruf als ein Land, die Vertiefung der Rechtsstaatlichkeit verpflichtet", sagte die Anweisung vom Wei?en Haus Pressesprecher Robert Gibbs. Die Anweisung hinzugefugt, dass die USA weiterhin Beobachtung der Entwicklungen in der Fall.

In einer separaten Anweisung sagte US-Au?enministerin Hillary Clinton die Uberzeugung "wirft ernsthafte Fragen uber Selektive Verfolgung-- und der Rechtsstaatlichkeit, die von politischen Uberlegungen uberschattet wird."

"Diese und ahnliche Falle haben eine negative Auswirkungen auf Russlands Reputation fur die Erfullung seiner Verpflichtungen der internationalen Menschenrechte und Verbesserung seiner Investitionsklimas," sagte Clintons-Anweisung.

Das Gericht war ursprunglich geplant, das Urteil in der Studie auf Dezember 15 zu lesen, aber es wurde unerwartet verschoben.

Die Olgesellschaft Yukos war einst Russlands gro?te Ol-Produzent. Spater wurde aufgebrochen und absorbiert durch den Staat.

Chodorkowski sagte zuvor dem Moskau-Gericht, dass seine Entscheidung weit uber ihn und Lebedev auswirken wird.

"Es ist viel mehr als nur die Schicksale von zwei Personen in Ihren Handen", sagte Chodorkowski. "Hier und jetzt, ist das Schicksal aller Burger unseres Landes entschieden wird."

Im Oktober Staatsanwalte bat um eine 14-jahrige Haftstrafe aber sagte, es den acht-Jahres-Begriff, den Chodorkowski bereits dient, umfassen sollte, die im Oktober 2011 enden wird.

Der ehemalige Ol-Magnat wurde zuvor in ein Arbeitslager in der Nahe von der Stadt von Krasnokamensk, 6.500 km (4.000 Meilen) von seiner nativen Moskau, inhaftiert, aber wenn die neuen Gebuhren gegen die beiden Manner gebracht wurden, waren beide zog nach Moskau im vergangenen Jahr stehen trial.

Das Gericht ordnete auch Chodorkowski und Lebedew uber 600 Millionen US-Dollar auf der Ruckseite Steuern zu zahlen.

Nur wenige Zweifel, dass Chodorkowski Verfolgung auf eine Symbolik weit uber seine eigene Unschuld oder Schuld genommen hat. Kritiker sagen die Unterschlagung Gebuhren gegen ihn absurd sind; Analysten sagen, Russland selbst, und sein Engagement fur die Regel des Rechts, ist vor Gericht.

"Dieses Urteil wird ein Urteil auf, ob Russland ein Gesetz-regierten Staat ist, oder ob es jemals werden bestrebt sein ein," sagte Masha Lipman von der Carnegie-Stiftung, "weil aktuell es kein Recht-regierten Staat ist und die Testversion von Chodorkowski und seine Partner Lebedew das deutlichste Beispiel davon ist."

In seiner abschlie?enden Rede an das Gericht wurde Chodorkowski letzten leidenschaftliche appelliert.

"Fur mich, als jemand, es ist schwer, im Gefangnis zu leben, und ich will nicht, es zu sterben. Aber wenn ich zu haben, ich werde nicht zogern. Die Dinge, denen sind zu sterben lohnt ich glaube an,", sagte er, .CNN 's Maxim Tkachenko zu diesem Bericht beigetragen haben.

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Niederländisch verhaften 12 auf Terrorismus Verdacht

9 Personen, wurden wahrscheinlich durch Selbstmordattentater aufrechnen.

Die USA berechnet dieses Jahr mehrere Personen mit dem Versuch, Geld Trichter oder sonst Somali Extremisten unterstutzen. Al-Shabaab wurde zu al-Qaida verbunden.

Somalischer Prasident Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed im September fragte andere Lander Somalia's Krafte Zahler militante Gruppen zu trainieren.

Die Niederlande ist besorgt uber Gefahren fur die westlichen Lander, einschlie?lich ihrer selbst, sagte Sluiter. Sie machte einen Verweis auf die jungste Selbstmordanschlag in Stockholm, Schweden.

Ein niederlandische Intelligence-Bericht 2009 angegeben eine verminderte Bedrohung von inlandischen militante Netzwerken.

Inlandische militanten wurden der Bericht sagt, immer starker fokussierten auf Jihad au?erhalb der Niederlande. Aber es hat gesagt, das Land sah mehr Dschihad-Bedrohungen aus Somalia und Jemen.

Der Bericht erwahnt mehrere Falle von niederlandischen Burger versucht, Reisen in Somalia, al-Shabaab, darunter vier in 2009 in Kenia verhaftet beizutreten.

Die Verhaftungen in den Niederlanden folgte eine unabhangige Sweep ein paar Tage vor im Vereinigten Konigreich.

Eine Operation Montag fuhrte durch den britischen Geheimdienst, MI5, resultierte in Verhaftungen von 12 Verdachtigen im Alter von 17 bis 28 in den Stadten von London, Stoke und Birmingham, England, als auch die Cardiff, Wales.

Ein hohen britischer Beamten nicht autorisiert, auf der Platte zu sprechen, sagte die Verdachtigen festgenommen auf Verdacht der Vorbereitung "oder Anstiftung ein Akt des Terrorismus in Gro?britannien", aber er sagte auch, die Verdachtigen wurden "Absichtserklarung" anstatt ausgestattet und "ready to go".CNN Terror Analyst Paul Cruickshank zu diesem Bericht trugen.

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Blast in Philippine Kapelle verletzt 6

Schaden in einer Kirche in Jolo in den Philippinen, nachdem ein IED wahrend Weihnachten Mass.Explosion gezundet wahrend Weihnachten MassPolice erlischt sagen einer selbst gebastelten Sprengkorpern vom Dach Riss

Manila, Philippinen (CNN)--A Blast at eine Messe am Weihnachtstag verletzt mindestens 10 Personen in sudlichen Philippinen, einschlie?lich des Priesters, die amtierenden des Service, Behorden, sagte.

Einer selbst gebastelten Sprengkorpern von der rechten Seite von der Kapelle 's Dach riss, teilte die Polizei mit.

"Die Verletzungen waren geringfugig, aber was uns wirklich verwirrt war wie ein Sprengsatz geschafft, schleichen Vergangenheit die Sicherheit des Dorfes und der Kapelle," sagte General Ben Latag der autonomen Region Muslim Mindanao.

Die Kapelle ist in einem Polizei-Lager in Jolo. Es hat hohe Sicherheit, und Marines zuvor gesendet worden sein, um es folgende Angste der militanten Angriffe wahrend Weihnachtsfeiern, die 16. Dezember gestartet zu schutzen.

Latag sagte Behorden die Moglichkeit suchen, dass das Gerat auf eine Struktur nah an den Zaun Perimeter der Flachbau Kapelle gepflanzt haben konnte.

"Wir diesen Akt der Gewalt zu verurteilen und Bemuhungen um die Tater verfolgen verdoppeln wird", sagte er.

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Jemen: "Bringing Kampf zu al-Qaida"

Jemenitische Sicherheitskrafte auf Patrouille in der Hauptstadt Sanaa--das Land baut seine Anti-terror Krafte sagt der government.It werden die "nachste Phase auf den Krieg gegen den Terrorismus," eine offizielle said.The-Regierung wurde mit AQAPHadramawt zu kampfen haben das gro?te Kontingent

(Dpa)--Jemen ist eine wichtige Initiative in ihrem Krieg gegen Terror und Plane fur den Bau von vier neuer Niederlassungen fur des Landes Elite Terrorismusbekampfung Einheiten nachstes Jahr, ein Sprecher fur das Land der amerikanischen Botschaft sagte am Samstag beginnen.

Mohammed Albasha, sagte die Zweige befindet sich in vier verschiedenen Standorten--geschichtlich, Shabwa, Abyan und Hadramawt.

Hadramawt, Albasha, sagte, haben das gro?te Kontingent counterterror Einheiten.

"Dies ist die nachste Phase im Krieg gegen den Terrorismus - wir bringen den Kampf zu al-Qaida."

Jemen wurde in einen Kampf mit al Qaida in der arabischen Halbinsel oder AQAP, die Ableger von der al-Qaida-Terror-Netzwerk mit Sitz in Jemen gesperrt.

Er packte die Aufmerksamkeit des Westens mit die versuchte Bombardierung von Northwest Airlines transatlantischen Flug wie es in Detroit, Michigan, am Weihnachtstag in 2009 landete.

Im vergangenen Jahr haben US Special Forces die Art der Ausbildung erweitert, die Sie, Jemens Militar, gibst wahrend auch das Hinzufugen mehr Special Operations Krafte fur die Ausbildungsmission der gibt.

Anfang dieses Jahres genehmigt Verteidigungsminister Robert Gates Ausgaben $150 Millionen auszubilden und auszurusten Jemens Sicherheitskrafte, speziell so, dass Sie al Qaida kampfen konnen. Dazu gehort, Hubschrauber, Flugzeuge und andere Ausrustung und es mehr als verdoppelt die Menge der Beihilfen, die das US-Militar in 2009 autorisiert.

Ein senior Verteidigung-Beamter sagte CNN letzten Monat, dass die Vereinigten Staaten und Jemen Uberwachung und Intelligenz auf AQAP Aktivitat innerhalb des Landes geteilt haben.

Letzte Woche bei einem Forum an der Carnegie-Stiftung fur internationalen Frieden, John Brennan, Assistent des Prasidenten fur innere Sicherheit und Terrorismusbekampfung, sagte AQAP ist "immer aktiv" reaching out, terroristische Rekruten zu finden, sogar in den Vereinigten Staaten.

"Al-Qaida auf der arabischen Halbinsel ist jetzt die meisten operativ aktiven Knoten des dem al-Qaida,", sagte Brennan.

Laut einer Erklarung veroffentlicht durch das Haus der while Brennan genannt jemenitisch Prasident Ali Abdullah Saleh Donnerstag und betonte "die Bedeutung der energische Ma?nahmen gegen die al-Qaida auf der arabischen Halbinsel um seine Plane zur Durchfuhrung terroristischer Anschlage im Jemen sowie in anderen Landern, darunter in der U.S.-Heimat vereiteln."

Anfang dieses Monats, eines Fahrzeugs, US-Botschaft Personal im Jemen wurde angegriffen, aber niemand wurde verletzt.

Im Oktober wurde die Fahrzeugkolonne des britischen stellvertretender Botschafters angegriffen und im April der britische Botschafter 's Auto war das Ziel von einem fehlgeschlagenen Bombenangriff.

Wahrend es noch nicht, der fur verantwortlich ist bekannt ist, dass Angriff, der Sate-Abteilung 's jungsten Beratung fur Reisen warnt Jemen Amerikaner der Bedrohungen fur die US-Interessen aufgrund der aktiven terroristische Aktivitaten, speziell aus AQAP.

Botschaft Mitarbeiter in Sanaa sind angewiesen, Vorsicht zu verwenden, wenn Sie Restaurants, Hotels oder touristischen Gebieten in der Hauptstadt zu besuchen und von au?erhalb der Hauptstadt reisen verboten sind.

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