Singapore Stocks-Set to open lower, Wall St weighs

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Systems Of Outsourcing Guidance Clarified | Honest Reviews Online

Effective time management is a concern for every single business owner regardless of anything else.

And how well this is achieved will go a long way to determining the level of success for any business. Most new marketers have to learn how to do things like make websites, write copy, write articles, etc. Every IM marketer wants to reach that magical point where they can comfortably afford to pay someone else to do certain tasks. So once you?re approaching the point where you can do that, it?s time to sit down and make a list of everything you would want to outsource. Many jobs are really not in the realm of a successful business person such as submissions of any kind, small writing tasks, creating backlinks, etc. The most important thing for any business is to constantly market, and outsourcing can give you more time to do that. You?ll be able to enter the cycle in which you build more of your business and keep outsourcing more of it. Let?s move forward and take a look at several outsourcing hints that you can use in your own business.

Whenever you hire a job out you must verify that the person or team is has the adequate skills to satisfactorily complete the project. People are starting to realize the vast opportunities of online services so many people are offering them to make extra money. Keep in mind, if you?re the candidate is already familiar with internet marketing then it will make things flow a lot more smoothly. Apart from this, you need to constantly stay updated on their progress and how well they?re doing. Another key to success with outsourcing is to provide as much support as you can so they will have a clear understanding of what needs to be done. You can easily train hires how to do certain techniques for generating traffic to your site. Not many online marketers know this, but you can outsource almost any type of traffic generation you want. Let?s face it, social bookmarking is deathly boring, and many marketers pay others to do it for them. Forum posting is another less than exciting task you can outsource. It?s amazing but people will accept work such as RSS submissions, article submissions, directory submissions, commenting on blogs, etc.

You can always try to get recommendations from other online marketers. This is a great way to find out about excellent outsource workers of all kinds. People ask for recommendations all the time in the various marketing forums on the net. A lot of times marketers will recommend someone who?s good and they?re just trying to help them out with getting work. The real benefit for going with the best worker is that you can be sure of your work getting done on time, without worrying a lot. And that?s the beauty and reason behind outsourcing, it will give you choices and more opportunities.

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Wis archdiocese paid priests to leave ministry

MILWAUKEE (AP) ? The Archdiocese of Milwaukee confirmed Wednesday that it had a policy to pay suspected pedophile priests to leave the ministry.

The acknowledgement was prompted by a document made public by abuse victims' advocates from the archdiocese's bankruptcy that references a 2003 proposal to pay $20,000 to "unassignable priests" who accepted a return to the laity. The policy was crafted under then-Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who is now a cardinal and head of the archdiocese in New York.

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests characterizes the payments as a payoff and bonuses to priests who molested children. The archdiocese disputes that characterization, saying the payments were in part to more quickly move those men out of the priesthood.

The group is calling on the archdiocese to release all records involving the payments and its handling of clergy sex abuse cases.

"You don't give a bonus to a man who rapes children," the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel quoted SNAP Midwest director Peter Isely as saying Wednesday outside the federal courthouse in Milwaukee. "If they paid them anything it should have been for therapy and counseling."

According to the Journal Sentinel, the 2003 bankruptcy document appears to be the first public acknowledgement of a formal policy to pay trouble priests to leave.

Disputing that, archdiocese spokeswoman Julie Wolf told The Associated Press late Wednesday that both the payments and the policy regarding them had long been acknowledged by the archdiocese.

"It's not new news," she said.

"SNAP sounds like they're saying these were kind of payoffs to priests who had substantial allegations against them," Wolf added. She said the payments were to help the men transition to lay life without completely losing access to needs such as health care.

The Journal Sentinel article noted that Dolan used similar language in 2006 when he defended a payment to one former priest. A phone message seeking comment from the Archdiocese of New York late Wednesday was not returned.

Wolf also called the payments "a cost-savings for the archdiocese" because the process to involuntarily remove a priest is lengthy and involves Vatican approval.

The bankruptcy document highlighted by SNAP references a meeting of the archdiocese's Finance Council in 2003 that included Dolan, who was then archbishop in Milwaukee.

According to the document, members discussed offering "unassignable priests" $20,000 to accept the process known as laicization.

___

Associated Press writer M. David Nichols contributed to this report from Chicago.

Associated Press

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What $1 million will get home buyers around the U.S.

By Paul Toscano, CNBC.com

How much can you get for $1 million in today?s real estate market? The answer, of course, varies depending on where you?re looking to buy.

In the wake of the U.S. housing crisis, consumer confidence and home values fell sharply, while prices in some cities are less than half of what they were in 2007. In many local markets, however, such as in New York, San Francisco, Anchorage, Alaska, and Omaha, Neb., people on the front lines are optimistic about a recovery in sales volumes, prices and buyer confidence.

One price range of particular interest is the $1 million market, where affordability and luxury come to a crossroads. In some places, $1 million may buy you a mansion; in others it may fetch a more moderate home. Although in most markets, homes in the $1 million range are not typical, they provide a good reference point for spending across the country as well as the health of local economies.

CNBC.com: America's richest counties

CNBC.com surveyed real estate agents in 18 U.S. cities to gain individual perspectives on the health of America?s local real estate markets. The following slides include example homes from each market valued between $1 million and $1.25 million that are either currently for sale or recently sold. The participants in the survey offered a front-line perspective on how local markets are performing compared to last year, how the dynamics are changing and what buyers and sellers are asking when buying a home.

So, how far can $1 million go in today?s real estate market?

Omaha

CNBC.com

Listing price: $1 million
Bedrooms: 4
Bathrooms: 6
Size of home:? 5,629 sq ft

Local perspective:

?Last year, the high end market was dead, and it has picked up tremendously from this time in 2011,? says Deb Cizek of the Cizek Group. According to Cizek, homes valued above $1 million are among the hottest properties in the city, and aggressively priced homes can sell in as little as 30 days, while homes without significant reductions may remain on the market for 120 days or more before being sold.?

Cizek says that most home buyers in Omaha are relocating or upgrading from a previous home, with a noticeable lack of first time buyers. She maintains a positive outlook for prices and buying activity through the end of the summer.

New York

CNBC.com

Listing price: $999,999
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 1 full, 1 half
Size of home: N/A

Local perspective:
?The real estate market in Manhattan is much more vigorous than it was a year ago,? says Kelly Robinson of Town Real Estate, ?A lot of people feel like they missed the bottom of the market, and it has created a sense of urgency.? According to Robinson, sale prices in the luxury market rose by 8.7 percent per square foot, with the average sales price of homes in Manhattan standing just under $5.6 million in the first quarter of 2012.

The city real estate market is fueled by confidence and increasing rental prices, says Robinson, and the luxury segment for homes priced above $5 million is where the most robust buying activity is focused. That?s because of a limited inventory in this segment and a pool of willing buyers waiting to enter.?

CNBC.com:?Floating homes

Robinson says she has seen a significant increase in activity and number of bidding wars for properties and is expecting strong second-quarter numbers, especially in the luxury sector. New York has seen a variety of buyers, from first time homeowners frustrated with the high price of renting to foreign investors and native residents looking to relocate.

She says that in New York, buyers are concerned about a home?s price per square foot but also have a variety of questions when purchasing, including the financial condition of the building itself, number of owner-occupied units on the property and restrictions on lifestyle and usability of the property, such as whether the owner is allowed to have pets, sublet the apartment or whether the property can be purchased for a child.

San Francisco

CNBC.com

Listing price: $1,099,000
Bedrooms: 3
Bathrooms: 2 full, 1 half
Size of home: 1,846 sq ft

Local perspective:
Although listing for $1,099,000, the home featured here ended with a final sale price of $1,170,000, according to the broker involved. This upward bidding reflects strength in the San Francisco market, and compared to last year the city is ?seeing more buyer confidence, more buyers, considerably less inventory and a more cautious lending environment, with no real appraisal issues,? says Mark Best of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage.

Homes priced in the $1 million range sell slower than entry-level homes priced up to $800,000, says Best, but are selling faster than homes priced above $2 million. However, San Francisco is one of the U.S. cities where homes are selling the fastest. Best sees this trend continuing to improve from last year. He believes that one of the biggest challenges to the market will be to reduce inventory, but sales are helped by low interest rates and a positive jobs outlook.

Honolulu

CNBC.com

Listing price: $1,250,000
Bedrooms: 4
Bathrooms: 2 full, 1 half
Size of home/lot: 2,574 sq ft / 5,998 sq ft

Local perspective:

Home prices are up 10 percent on Oahu, the island where Honolulu is located, says Patti Nakagawa of Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties, although sales have dropped slightly since last year. She says this is a result of low inventory, multiple offers on existing properties and qualified homebuyers waiting for new homes to come to market. In Honolulu, homes selling for more than $1 million take much longer to sell, with about an 11 month inventory waiting to be sold.

Nakagawa anticipates a strong overall market for 2012. She points out that the Hawaii property market has the benefit of a large number of second homes, with buyers from the mainland looking to snatch up vacation properties.

Atlanta

Listing price: $1,095,000
Bedrooms: 5
Bathrooms: 4 full, 2 half
Size of home:? 6,000 sq ft

Local perspective:
Shea Zimmerman of Harry Norman Realtors says: ?There is definitely a change in the market and all for good. Sales are up between 8 percent and 10 percent in our market area.? She says that homes priced in the $1 million to $3 million range are selling much faster than those in higher price ranges, and the area benefits from a light inventory, cutting the average time a house will spend on the market nearly in half from this time in 2011.

CNBC.com:?Cities where homes sell the fastest

Zimmerman?s outlook for Atlanta is increasingly positive. She says increased activity this spring began earlier than normal, a trend she expects to see through the second quarter. Most buyers are relocating or upgrading, she says, and most of their questions are in regard to quality of the neighborhood, instead of price.?

Read the rest of the list of million-dollar homes at CNBC.com.

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Pakistan doctor guilty of militancy, not CIA links

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) ? A Pakistan doctor who assisted the CIA in tracking down Osama bin Laden was sentenced to 33 years in prison for conspiring with an Islamist militant commander, a verdict that will make it more difficult for Washington to argue for his release.

The judgment against Shakil Afridi debunked the widely held assumption that he had been convicted for his involvement with the American spy agency.

The decision referred to unspecified evidence that Afridi had "acted" with foreign intelligence agencies, but went on to say any charges related to that couldn't be considered because the court didn't have jurisdiction. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the five-page document, first reported by Pakistan's Dawn newspaper, on Wednesday.

Earlier this week, Afridi's family and lawyers said he was innocent and would appeal. They said they had not yet seen the court verdict and refused to comment on his relations with the CIA. The trial was carried out in a court in the country's tribal regions close to Afghanistan. A political official, in consultation with tribal elders, ruled on the case in secret.

The United States has called for Pakistan to release Afridi, and his punishment has become another flashpoint issue in the fractured relations between the two countries. Pakistan's army was outraged by the unilateral U.S. raid that killed bin Laden in May 2011 because it was a violation of the country's sovereignty and added to perceptions it was a sponsor of terror.

Afridi ran a vaccination campaign on behalf of the CIA to collect blood samples from bin Laden's family at a compound in Abbottabad where U.S. commandos killed the al-Qaida leader. It was unclear whether he succeeded, but U.S. officials have publicly said he helped the effort to track bin Laden.

The fact Afridi was technically convicted for militancy, not helping the CIA, could complicate Washington's efforts to press for his release. Pakistan could argue that his trial was an internal matter that has nothing to do with the United States.

The verdict said Afridi was guilty of conspiring with a militant group led by commander Mangal Bagh. It said he gave money to the group and treated its leaders at a hospital in Khyber when he was stationed there. According to unnamed witnesses, he did this because of his "deep affiliation with the group." Others, also unnamed, said the group planned terrorist attacks in Afridi's office.

The verdict, which was passed down last week, found Afridi guilty of "conspiring against the state" and other charges.

Pakistani officials didn't attempt to correct widespread reports that the charges referred to his work with the CIA. The verdict triggered anger in the United States and elsewhere, with many questioning how helping kill bin Laden ? a sworn enemy of Pakistan ? could be seen as working against the state.

The full text of the verdict means Pakistan can now, technically at least, deflect that criticism.

Afridi's motivation for working with the CIA or whether he was aware who was employing him has never been established. He was once the top medical officer in the Khyber region.

Speaking last week, a friend said he had once been kidnapped by Mangal Bagh's group and paid a heavy ransom for his release. The friend didn't give his name because he didn't want to attract attention to himself.

Associated Press

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Column: Winning's grand, entertaining is enough - KCBD ...

By JIM LITKE
AP Sports Columnist

CHICAGO (AP) - The Cubs skulked back into town with their tails between their legs and plenty to answer for.

Then Monday dawned hot and hazy and by mid-afternoon, the sun was shining, the cold beer was flowing, the wind was blowing out and a fleet of baseballs hitched a ride on the jetstream over the walls at Wrigley Field. By the time the accounting was done, the Cubs had half of the eight home runs and an 11-7 win over the equally hapless Padres.

Throw in a pre-game flight by the eagle Challenger and a seventh-inning rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" by actor Brian Dennehy - in town starring in the play, "The Iceman Cometh" - and it was entertaining enough to send fans out the door wondering where the party was relocating and exactly what they were so upset about in the first place.

Cubs manager Dale Sveum wasn't about to remind them.

"Let's not kid yourself. You lose 12 in a row, you finally win. It's a big relief," he said afterward

Just don't count on celebrating for long. Even in bad years, the Cubs usually don't swoon until June. This year they couldn't even make it to Memorial Day. At this rate, they could be mathematically eliminated by the Fourth of July.

The last six of the Cubs' dozen straight losses came during a seven-day road trip at NL Central rivals Houston and Pittsburgh, two of the only half-dozen or so teams Chicago actually has a chance against. It was like being told to bring back dinner and spending all night at the bar instead, then returning empty-handed and praying fans hadn't changed the locks on the gates at Wrigley Field.

"Patience is something a lot of fans don't have," Sveum had said Sunday in Pittsburgh.

Yet he marveled the way Cubs fans had stuck by his team thus far.

"We all understand -- I'm a huge football fan and I don't understand the Oakland Raiders losing every game. That's the way it is."

In Chicago, maybe.

Even so, Theo Epstein wasn't inclined to press his luck. His title with the Cubs is president of baseball operations, but Chicagoans think of Epstein as the boy genius-general manager who ended the Red Sox' decades-long World Series drought and was brought to town to repeat the trick here. Never mind that he preached patience upon his arrival last October and despite his best efforts, still has only two everyday ballplayers - Starlin Castro and David DeJesus - who could start for most clubs, a barely adequate rotation and a mess in the bullpen.

Even Epstein made it sound like he didn't sign on for this.

"I think we're clearly better than this ... on both fronts, short- and long-term, there's work to do," he said at a hastily arranged news conference.

Unfortunately, though beyond "start scrapping and keep grinding for pride," Epstein was short on specifics on how to improve things over the short term.

"Long term," he added, not much more optimistic, "it underscores the magnitude of the job here and sort of how far we need to go to get where we want to be."

At a century and still counting, Cub fans are either the dopiest of most patient bunch in sports. And over the course of all that losing, they've learned to savor the distractions that are often more interesting than anything the team has been able to cobble together on the field. That's why they happily blame black cats, real goats and imaginary scapegoats like Steve Bartman for the ballclub's unending run of futility.

Winning is great, but in these parts entertaining is still good enough.

Last week's brouhaha was over whether Joe Ricketts, the conservative patriarch of TD Ameritrade and the family that owns the Cubs, was really planning to finance a nasty political attack campaign against President Barack Obama - and whether that would make it harder for the Cubs to gain concessions to modify Wrigley Field from the city's staunchly Democratic mayor, Rahm Emanuel, and the city council.

The week before that, it was the nostalgia kicked up by the retirement of one-time pitching phenom Kerry Wood and an essay in The Wall Street Journal calling for the destruction of Wrigley Field, suggesting the aging shrine was actually the reason for all that losing:

"Destroy it. Annihilate it. Collapse it with the sort of charges that put the Sands Hotel out of its misery in Vegas. Implosion or explosion, get rid of it. That pile of quaintness has to go. ... When a house is haunted, you don't put in a new scoreboard, add ivy, get better food or bigger beers_you move!"

Sounding more like a fan than the Cubs left-fielder, Alfonso Soriano considered the option for the briefest of moments.

"Leave this place? No, never," he said after going 3 for 4 with a homer and three RBIs. "You saw how much it was jumping when we got it going. Let's see what can happen now. We just had some tough moments before."

Which is, give or take a few years, is how the Cubs still refer to the last century.

___

Jim Litke is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitke(at)ap.org and follow him at Twitter.com/JimLitke.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Iran signals wider UN access as nuclear talks loom

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Yukiya Amano from Japan speaks to the media after returning from Iran at the Vienna International Airport near Schwechat, Austria, on Tuesday, May 22, 2012. Amano says he has reached a deal with Iran on probing suspected work on nuclear weapons and adds that the agreement will "be signed quite soon." (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Yukiya Amano from Japan speaks to the media after returning from Iran at the Vienna International Airport near Schwechat, Austria, on Tuesday, May 22, 2012. Amano says he has reached a deal with Iran on probing suspected work on nuclear weapons and adds that the agreement will "be signed quite soon." (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Yukiya Amano, center, from Japan speaks to the media after returning from Iran at the Vienna International Airport near Schwechat, Austria, on Tuesday, May 22, 2012. Amano says he has reached a deal with Iran on probing suspected work on nuclear weapons and adds that the agreement will "be signed quite soon." (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Yukiya Amano from Japan returns from Iran at the Vienna International Airport near Schwechat, Austria, on Tuesday, May 22, 2012. Amano says he has reached a deal with Iran on probing suspected work on nuclear weapons and adds that the agreement will "be signed quite soon." (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Yukiya Amano, right, from Japan speaks to the media after returning from Iran at the Vienna International Airport near Schwechat, Austria, on Tuesday, May 22, 2012. Amano says he has reached a deal with Iran on probing suspected work on nuclear weapons and adds that the agreement will "be signed quite soon." (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)

Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, right, shakes hands with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Yukiya Amano, at the conclusion of their meeting, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, 21, 2012. The head of the U.N. nuclear agency arrived Monday in Tehran on a key mission that could lead to the resumption of probes by the watchdog on whether Iran has secretly worked on an atomic weapon. It would also strength the Islamic Republic's negotiating hand in crucial nuclear talks with six world powers later this week in Baghdad. (AP Photo/IRNA,Adel Pazzyar)

BAGHDAD (AP) ? Iran made the first move Tuesday in attempts to gain an edge in nuclear talks with the U.S. and other world powers: It agreed in principle to allow U.N. inspectors to restart probes into a military site suspected of harboring tests related to atomic weapons.

The tentative accord ? announced as envoys headed to the Iraqi capital for negotiations ? is likely to be used by Iran as added leverage to seek concessions from the West on sanctions. But U.S. officials have shown no willingness to shift into bargaining mode so quickly, setting the stage for possible tense moments after talks set for Wednesday resume in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone.

Still, Iran's move raises the pressure on the West for some reciprocal gestures to keep dialogue on track and further highlights Tehran's apparent aims of opening a long give-and-take process over its nuclear ambitions.

A major breakthrough in the yearslong impasse was not expected in Baghdad, with officials and experts saying both sides will seek to demonstrate enough progress to keep the process moving forward.

That could cool down worries in international markets over possible military action, but reinforce the suspicions of Israeli leaders who claim Iran seeks only to buy time to keep up its production of nuclear fuel.

Iran's envoys, meanwhile, promoted the Baghdad round as an opportunity to set aside past obstacles.

"That is the basis for the beginning of a new cooperation," said Saeed Jalili, the top Iranian nuclear negotiator, who arrived in Baghdad late Monday. "We hope that the talks in Baghdad will be a kind of dialogue that will give shape to such cooperation."

Iran's ambassador to Iraq, Hasan Danaeifar, said the Baghdad talks could be historic.

"Should the talks set a start for a serious, constructive settlement of the issues, it could be a historic meeting for all sides," Iran's official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying.

A senior Western diplomat in Baghdad said sanctions on Iran's oil exports, set to take effect July 1, likely pushed Tehran to the bargaining table.

"I don't think the Iranians are coming to these talks because they suddenly changed their minds about anything. They are coming to these talks because sanctions are beginning to bite," the diplomat said in an interview this week with The Associated Press. He spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations candidly.

In Iranian terms, that means offering some possible accommodations ? such as opening to greater U.N. inspections ? but sticking to its right to enrich uranium as a signatory of U.N. nuclear treaties. The Baghdad talks, involving the five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany, could offer a test of how much the U.S. and allies are willing to bend from demands for Iran to halt to all enrichment and instead concentrate on just stopping the highest-grade production.

The West and others fear the 20 percent-level enrichment can be turned quickly into weapons-grade of over 90 percent.

Iran has repeatedly denied it seeks nuclear arms and says its reactors are only for power and medical research.

On Tuesday, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported that Iranian scientists had inserted a domestically made fuel rod, which contains pellets of 20 percent enriched uranium, into the core of a research nuclear reactor in Tehran.

The advance would be another step in achieving proficiency in the entire nuclear fuel cycle. Iran said in January that it had produced the first nuclear fuel rod, and that it had to find a way to make them because Western sanctions prohibit their purchase from foreign markets.

Western claims about a clandestine atomic weapons program have often cited Iran's Parchin military facility, where the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency believes Iran in 2003 ran explosive tests needed to set off a nuclear charge. Iran describes Parchin as a conventional military site.

The agency's chief, Yukiya Amano, returned to Vienna on Tuesday from a one-day trip to Tehran and said an agreement is within reach to give inspectors "access to sites, scientists and documents it seeks to restart its probe."

He noted that some differences still exist but claimed they "will not be an obstacle to reach agreement." He gave no details on the unsettled points or when the pact could be signed.

Amano's remarks brought a measured response from Washington and allies.

Robert A. Wood, the chief U.S. delegate to the nuclear agency, said Amano's efforts were appreciated but Washington remains "concerned by the urgent obligation for Iran to take concrete steps to cooperate fully with the verification efforts of the IAEA, based on IAEA verification practices."

"We urge Iran to take this opportunity to resolve all outstanding concerns about the nature of its nuclear program," Wood said in a statement. "Full and transparent cooperation with the IAEA is the first logical step."

In Germany, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said the apparent inspection pact was an "overdue step in the right direction."

But he added: "The aim is to make progress not just atmospherically but also on substance."

Israel's defense minister, Ehud Barak, dismissed it as a "deception of progress" to stave off international pressure.

"It looks like the Iranians are trying to reach a technical agreement that will create a deception of progress in talks in order to reduce the pressure ahead of talks tomorrow in Baghdad and postpone harshening of sanctions," Barak said, according to a statement from his office.

On Monday, the U.S. Senate backed proposals for further sanctions on Iran, including requiring companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges to disclose any Iran-related business. U.S. and European measures already have targeted Iran's oil exports ? its chief revenue source ? and effectively blocked the country from international banking networks.

Even before the meetings begin in Baghdad, expectations were kept in check.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said they will "not produce a miracle."

"But everybody is looking for some tangible steps on the basis of reciprocity," Zebari told AP in an interview.

Zebari said there is consensus in Iran for the first time to reach a diplomatic deal.

Mahdi Mohtashami, an analyst and former Iranian foreign ministry official, said "the two sides should begin with small steps, not big demands, if they are to make any progress."

The U.S. has been vague about its immediate goals, with officials saying the talks will gauge Iran's seriousness and explore elements of a possible agreement.

President Barack Obama opposes a near-term military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. He has pressed Israel to give diplomacy and sanctions time to work while insisting that military options are available should talks fail. Republicans have criticized Obama for holding talks with Iran at all.

The West has made clear that Iran must show evidence that its nuclear program is peaceful before it will even consider lifting sanctions.

"What we need to begin to get things started is something concrete, real and detailed from the Iranians," said the senior Western diplomat in Baghdad. Chances for a final resolution in Baghdad are "very slim," he said. "There is no question of sanctions being lifted in exchange for promises, or in exchange for words on a piece of paper."

Fierce sandstorms since Monday have closed Baghdad's airport and could disrupt travel plans for some participants in the talks.

Having Baghdad as the venue is a symbolic victory for Iran and a showcase of its deep influence in the country more than nine years after U.S.-led forces toppled Tehran's archenemy, Saddam Hussein.

Iran pushed for Baghdad as a way to boost the international prestige of the Iraqi government, which has close ties to Tehran. The talks also will take place inside the Green Zone, which was once the hub of U.S. political and military operations after the 2003 invasion.

___

Associated Press writers George Jahn in Vienna, Brian Murphy in Dubai , Josef Federman in Jerusalem and Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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Former 'revenge porn' czar under FBI investigation: report

13 hrs.

Helen A.S. Popkin

"Revenge porn" is how the content of Hunter Moore's website, Is Anyone Up, is most always described.

Defunct since April, Is Anyone Up invited bitter ex-lovers to submit nude photos and videos of their former partners, along with that former partner's Facebook profile or other social media identity. This added burn allowed for the added humiliation of Google search results, and the possibility of further online harassment.?Thing is, many of those photos weren't submitted by a cadre of spurned lovers, but a single hacker. Now the FBI wants to know if ?Moore is connected to that hacker.?

According to?the?Village Voice:

The Voice has learned that the FBI's Los Angeles Internet Crime division has been actively investigating Hunter Moore and Is Anyone Up for months, according to four people who say they've been interviewed by the FBI about his now-shuttered site. The case's focus, according to those familiar with the investigation, was Moore's possible connection to a hacker who has repeatedly broken into the inboxes of countless victims, rifled through their attachments, and submitted the accompanying nudes to Is Anyone Up. (A Los Angeles FBI spokesperson would not confirm or deny such an investigation.)

When we contacted the FBI directly, the spokesperson said the same thing, that the bureau could neither confirm nor deny the Hunter Moore investigation.

Moore, who sold Is Anyone Up to a for-profit "anti-bullying" website last month, operated his site for 16 months, seemingly under the protection of The Communications Decency Act of 1996. According to the Act, Internet service operators ? Facebook and the like ? are not considered the publishers of user posts, and so not liable for content that breaks the law. A connection with the hacker could cause Moore's fortunes to turn, however. As the Voice notes, Chris Chaney, the guy who hacked Scarlett Johansson and other celebrities, faces 60 years in prison and $2.25 million in fines.

Moore?said?he sold Is Anyone Up because he was burnt out on child porn submissions and ruining people's lives. He seems a mite sensitive about the FBI investigation however, telling the Voice's Camille Dodero that he would burn down the publication's offices if it wrote about his FBI investigation.?In the past, Moore readily admitted that many of the user submissions may be the product of hacks, but continually claims that even if he paid for the content, he's still untouchable. Looks like his claim is about to get tested.?

Helen A.S. Popkin goes blah blah blah about online privacy, then asks you to join her on?Twitter?and/or?Facebook. Also,?Google+.?Because that's how she rolls.

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Race to save the devil Down Under

It's been hundreds of years since the Tasmanian devil last lived on the Australian mainland but, in the misty hills of Barrington Tops, a pioneering group is being bred for survival.

Rat-like in appearance but with a marsupial pouch and carnivorous jaws that can crack bone, Tasmanian devils are an enigmatic Australian species.

They are reclusive creatures who sleep by day and forage by night, and are best known for the guttural cries which saw the early British settlers call them "devils" and inspired a Warner Bros. cartoon character.

But the burrowing, tree-climbing animals are in a battle for survival against an aggressive and contagious facial cancer which experts fear could see them become extinct in the wild in as little as five years.

"Its viability at present seems critical," said conservationist Tim Faulkner of the animal.

"In 1996 the disease was first found -- since then you've had a 91 percent population decrease," Faulkner, who is based at the Australian Reptile Park, said.

"There's no sign of a cure, there's no sign of a vaccine and there's no sign of the disease slowing up."

Devil facial tumour disease has seen the animals plunge from a pest species to endangered in a very short period, with Faulkner estimating their numbers -- once in excess of 250,000 -- in the "low tens of thousands."

They once roamed Australia but since about 1600 have been isolated to Tasmania, an island state south of the mainland, where a series of disease outbreaks has seen their genetic stocks severely diminished.

The cancer, which typically causes death within three to six months, is spread during fighting over food and territory, when a healthy devil will bite an infected devil's face and pick up cancer cells.

Because the devils are so inbred their immune systems fail to recognise the cancer cell as foreign and don't fight it off, according to geneticist Kathy Belov, who describes the animals as "immunological clones".

Belov's team at the University of Sydney are studying the tumour in search of a vaccine or cure, but she believes cataloguing the genes of healthy animals and selectively breeding them in captivity is the devils' best hope.

"In 30 years' time, a few generations down the track, we want devils that we can release back into the wild that can hunt and can fend for themselves," Belov told AFP.

"We want to have devils that behave like wild animals, but not to lose any of that (genetic) diversity, and that's going to be the challenge."

Enter "Devil Ark" -- 500 hectares (1,236 acres) of farmland set in pristine national park which was gifted to the Tasmanian devil conservation movement by the wealthy Packer family of casino and media fortunes.

Situated in remote and mountainous alpine forest very similar to the devils' natural habitat, Devil Ark is what keeper Adrian Good describes as a "free-range" captive breeding project.

Devils are kept in densely vegetated pens of between two and three football fields in size enclosed by a climb and burrow-proof fence, and their pen mates are chosen by experts from a genetic "stud book" to optimise breeding.

Their lives are designed to closely mirror those of wild devils; they are left a kangaroo or other carcass to eat in the evenings and will sleep through the day.

Each pen contains between six and 10 devils, with an even mix of males and females, and Good said there had been excellent breeding success last year, which was the Ark's first year of operation, with 24 babies -- or "joeys" -- born.

"They just love being here, all the signs are that they are happy and healthy devils," he said.

Social dominance is a constant battle in the wild and Devil Ark is no different -- having to share their territory with others forces the devils to fight for their food and mating rights, skills they can quickly lose in a zoo.

"Those wild traits are crucial for them being able to survive when they're re-released," said Good.

There are currently just under 100 devils living at the Ark and keepers are targeting 350 by 2016, with plans for as many as 1,000 in the years after that to be trickled back into Tasmania once the wild population dies out.

The Australian Reptile Park's Faulkner is overseeing the project and said it was unique in the world because unlike most other endangered species captive-bred devils would be able to be returned to their habitat.

"Its environment's pristine, feral predators aren't a problem, if we can just get past the disease you can put them back and it literally has a happy ending," he said.

Belov said there would be valuable lessons for the management of other vulnerable native species, including the koala.

"I think we have to learn from the devil, this disease simply couldn't have spread like it has had there been more genetic diversity," she said.

"It's a warning for us because we have a lot of wildlife populations that are isolated... and that's where you have problems."

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Donna Summer's Legacy: A Pop-Culture Guide

Classic disco tunes found their way into just about every corner of our culture, from 'American Idol' to Beyoncé's 'Naughty Girl.'
By John Mitchell

Donna Summer
Photo: Harry Langdon/Getty Images

The death of Donna Summer on Thursday (May 17) at age 63 after a long battle with cancer has many reflecting on the impact the disco legend had on music.

While many may not realize it, Summer is the foremother of, well, just about every pop song on the radio today. Her iconic 1977 anthem "I Feel Love," which peaked at #6 on the Billboard singles chart (one of 14 top 10 hits), was the first mainstream song to be produced using an entirely synthesized backing track. Until then, most disco recordings had been backed by acoustic orchestras, and the reception to the song revolutionized music.

For photos of Donna Summer through the years, click here.

"One day in Berlin, [Brian] Eno came running in and said, 'I have heard the sound of the future,' " David Bowie famously wrote in the liner notes to Sound and Vision. "He puts on 'I Feel Love,' by Donna Summer. ... He said, 'This is it, look no further. This single is going to change the sound of club music for the next 15 years.' Which was more or less right."

Indeed, imagine the music of Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Rihanna, Katy Perry and countless others minus their ubiquitous glittering synths. You can't. Without what was at the time a risky and bold move, modern dance music might not exist as it does today.

Summer's impact on music is so vast it's nearly incalculable, but in memory of the disco diva, we're looking back on some of the ways her music has survived through the years, has been brought to life by other artists and how many of music's biggest names counted themselves as fans of the Queen of Disco.

» The refrain from Summer's 17-minute 1975 breakthrough "Love to Love You Baby" is sampled on Beyoncé's hit "Naughty Girl" from her debut solo album Dangerously in Love.

» For the elaborate opening sequence of Madonna's 2006 Confessions Tour, a 2-ton, $4 million disco ball was lowered onto the stage at the end of the runway and then opened to reveal the star, who started into her own synth-heavy "Future Lovers" before the song dissolved seamlessly into Summer's "I Feel Love."

» Summer's "Starting Over Again" was transformed into a #1 country hit for Dolly Parton in 1980, and even reached the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100, a rare feat for a country track at the time. Fifteen years later, another country superstar, Reba McEntire, named her 1995 album after the song, and her version was a hit country single the following year. In the set's liner notes, McEntire dedicated the song to both Summer and Parton, saying she admired both immensely.

» Summer's classics were go-to songs for films looking to capture the late-'70s/early-'80s era and are featured in, among many others, "Frost/Nixon," "Charlie Wilson's War" and "Splash."

» "Hot Stuff" and "MacArthur Park" are go-to songs for reality singing contestants looking to prove their range — Summer was a mezzo-soprano with a powerhouse delivery — while keeping things upbeat. Both songs have been performed on "The X Factor" and "American Idol."

» "She Works Hard for the Money" was covered by Kris Allen during an episode of "American Idol," and his performance was so well-received that the season-eight winner recorded the track for the American Idol Season 8 CD.

» Summer herself appeared as Aunt Oona from Altoona on two episodes of the hit sitcom "Family Matters."

» Bruce Springsteen was a big Summer fan and wrote two songs for her. The first one, "Cover Me," he ultimately recorded for his own Born to Run, but Summer recorded the second, "Protection," and Springsteen and the E Street Band supplied the track. The pair also recorded "Protection" as a duet, though it was never released.

» Keri Hilson portrayed Summer in her music video for her 2010 hit "Pretty Girl Rock."

» Summer is easily one of the most sampled artists in the history of music. "I Feel Love" has been sampled by some of the biggest artists in dance, from Madonna and Britney Spears to David Guetta and Moby, and covered by artists as diverse as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kylie Minogue and Blondie.

Share your condolences for Donna Summer's friends, family and fans in the comments or on Facebook.

Related Photos

• Donna Summer: The Queen Of Disco

Related Artists

• Donna Summer

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'90210' stars still not speaking to each other

Everett Collection

The "Beverly Hills 90210" cast seen in 1996, including Tori Spelling, Brian Austin Green, Jennie Garth, Tiffani Amber Thiessen, Ian Ziering, Jason Priestley, and Kathleen Robertson.

By Us Weekly

Former "Beverly Hills, 90210" stars -- and enemies! -- Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty recently ended their 20-year war and onset rivalry to forge a surprisingly solid friendship.

And while Garth, 40, and Doherty, 41, have also mended fences with Tori Spelling, things aren't quite so warm and fuzzy between Garth and fellow "90120" gal Tiffani Thiessen.

PHOTOS: Jennie Garth's life as a mom

Joining the cast of the beloved teen soap in 1994 after Doherty's scandal-plagued departure, Thiessen, 38, and Garth quickly became BFFs off-camera -- with Garth even tapping Thiessen to be a bridesmaid at her wedding.

But they've since had a falling out, sources tell Us Weekly.

During a 2009 party, a guest recalls, a stone-faced Garth wouldn't even look at the "White Collar" actress when Thiessen said hello.

PHOTOS: 90s stars then and now

"Finally, Jennie snapped, 'OK? You got me?'," the guest says. "Tiffani looked sheepish and Jennie walked away It was very awkward."

But things are much sweeter with Garth, Doherty and Spelling these days, with Garth even leaning on Spelling, 38, in the wake of her painful split from husband Peter Facinelli.

"It's like high school friends that you fought with but now love," another source says. "They're a big part of your past!"

Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images

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Related content:

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65+ Events in Business, Marketing, Social Media and Startups

Are you interested in networking with some of the biggest innovators in your own industry? Then make sure you check out the selection of more than 65 events on Mashable?s new Events Board. The board lists more than just business conferences and exhibitions ? you?re bound to find cutting-edge events held all over the world that can push your professional skills to new levels.

New listings in a variety of industries are added every day, and we present a digest of five new events that are worth attending every Thursday. Keep checking the board for the newest listings of conferences, meetings and expos spicing up the tech scene around the world.

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Business

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GigaOM?s Mobilize 2012

Date: 9/20/2012 ? 9/21/2012
Location: San Francisco, Calif.

Hosted by GigaOM, Mobilize 2012 is an in-depth discussion of the future technologies and trends surrounding the mobile industry. From ?SoLoMo? to connected cars, the event encompasses many frontiers of the mobile world. ?Early bird? tickets, which remain on sale until July 21, are $500 off the event?s general admission price.

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PR & Marketing

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MediaPosts Brand Marketers Summit

Date: 6/26/2012 ? 6/29/2012
Location: Kohler, Wis.

Taking place in a five-star hotel, the Brand Marketers Summit is a mix of professional marketing talks and engaging physical activities. Hosted by MediaPost, this year?s summit is focusing on digital and multi-platform integration across all company platforms and will hold outdoor events in the afternoon. Past attendees include executives from Disney, Williams-Sonoma and HauteLook.

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Social Media

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Social Media Strategies Summit, Miami

Date: 6/12/2012 ? 6/14/2012
Location: Miami, Fla.

Executives from Digg, McDonald?s and Verizon will be speaking at the Social Media Strategies Summit, a multi-track event discussing trends in social media marketing. In addition to lectures, attendees will have access to optional workshops for an additional fee. Enter the code ?Mashable10? to get 10% off registration when you sign up for the event.

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DOCUMENT Strategy Forum

Date: 10/29/2012 ? 10/31/2012
Location: Greenwich, Conn.

DOCUMENT Strategy Forum is a three-day conference that focuses on the trends and challenges of consumer messaging. Attendees can choose from more than 50 individual sessions and workshops that cover six strategic marketing tracks. When you register for the event?s ?Platinum Conference Package,? you will receive a free night?s stay at the Hyatt Regency Greenwich.

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Startups

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ICT Spring Europe

Date: 6/19/2012 ? 6/20/2012
Location: Luxembourg, Luxembourg

More than 2,500 professionals are expected to attend ICT Spring Europe, an international exhibition that addresses cutting-edge technology solutions with an emphasis on security. Vendors and exhibitors will be divided into specialized ?villages,? comprising a mixture of established companies and new startups. The event will also hold the ?ICT Awards,? which honors European startups and executives.

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Want to promote your upcoming event on Mashable?s Events Board? Click here.

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Subdivisions go urban as housing market changes | Keys2Retirement

By Haya El Nasser, USA TODAY

Townhouses and single-family homes are sprouting on old industrial sites in the heart of Southern California cities. In Florida, developers are coveting foreclosed golf courses in urban centers to put up new subdivisions. Builders in Texas are going after available land even near landfills for residential and retail development.

Why are the giants of the building industry, the creators for decades of massive communities of cookie-cutter homes, cul-de-sacs and McMansions in far-flung suburbs, doing an about-face? Why are they suddenly building smaller neighborhoods in and close to cities on land more likely to be near a train station than a pig farm?

A housing industry slowly shaking off the worst economic conditions in decades is rethinking what type of housing to build and where to build it. It?s a response to a new wave of home buyers who have no desire to live in traditional subdivisions far from urban amenities.

The nation?s development patterns may be at a historic juncture as builders begin to reverse 60-year-old trends. They?re shifting from giant communities on wide-open ?greenfields? to compact ?infill? housing in already-developed urban settings.

The market slowdown has given builders time to assess sweeping demographic changes that are transforming the way Americans want to live.

Young Millennials and older Baby Boomers are rejecting traditional suburban lifestyles in favor of urban living and shorter commutes. Many want to live near city centers so they can walk to work, shops and restaurants or take public transportation. They also prefer smaller homes because they?re single or have no kids and don?t want to spend their free time maintaining their homes.

?It?s the kids (ages 18 to 32), the empty nesters (Baby Boomers with no kids at home),? says Chris Leinberger, president of Smart Growth America?s LOCUS (Latin for ?place?), a national coalition of real estate developers and investors who support urban developments that encourage walking over driving. ?These two generations combined are more than half of the American population.?

The housing bust of the last five years hit hardest in subdivisions in remote suburbs, drying up financing for such development. At the same time, gas prices soared and so did environmental consciousness, giving consumers pause about living in distant suburbs away from services, jobs and entertainment.

California couple Maurice Turner and his wife, Preet Bassi, used to rent in the center of Anaheim. When they decided to buy, they found their choices limited at first.

?The majority of homes were single-family homes in the suburbs or older homes and multi-story condos in the city,? says Turner, administrative manager in a nearby city.

The 30-something professionals did not want to leave city neighborhoods and settle in a suburban subdivision. And they didn?t want to live in a multi-story condo building.

That was about the time Brookfield Homes, a leading developer of huge suburban subdivisions, began Colony Park ? more than 500 single-family homes, townhouses and condominiums in Anaheim?s Historic District on a site that once housed industrial warehouses. Many of the townhomes are across the street from restaurants, entertainment and other urban attractions.

Turner and Bassi now live in a three-story, 1,700-square-foot townhouse where they and their neighbors make ?a conscious effort to spend less time in your car commuting and spend more time in your neighborhood with friends, neighbors, family,? Turner says. ?The urban environment was a big key to staying.?

Growth patterns shift

Developers are listening because the market has spoken loud and clear.

Latest Census data show that population growth in fringe counties nearly stopped in the 12 months that ended July 1, 2011, and urban counties at the center of metro areas grew faster than the nation as a whole, a USA TODAY analysis found.

Central metro counties accounted for 94% of U.S. growth, compared with 85% just before the recession and housing bust.

A recent Case Western Reserve University study found that Cleveland?s inner city is growing faster than its suburbs for the first time.

In January 2000, the highest price per square foot in the Washington, D.C., metro area was in the leafy suburb of Great Falls, Va., according to Zillow, a real estate research firm. Ten years later, townhouses in the hip and urban Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington were worth 70% more per square foot than property in Great Falls.

?These are the market signals we?re getting throughout the country,? Leinberger says. ?The drivable suburban fringe is where the housing market collapsed ? 80% of the collapsed market was there. It?s a classic case of the real estate industry overproducing.?

Most major builders have created ?urban? divisions in the past five years to scout for available land in already-developed parts of cities and closer suburbs ? even if it means former industrial and commercial sites or land that may require environmental cleanup.

This shift doesn?t mean the end of sprawling suburban subdivisions in onetime cow pastures and corn fields, but it does signal a notable change that could alter the housing landscape for years to come.

?There has been a huge shift, particularly in the last 10 years,? says Marie York, president of real estate consulting York Solutions in Palm Beach County, Fla., and a board member of the American Planning Association. ?There?s an emphasis on walkability, an emphasis on health, an emphasis on commuting by bicycle ? a shift away from blatant consumerism and the McMansion model.?

The shift is not temporary, says Gregory Vilkin, managing principal and president of MacFarlane Partners, a San Francisco-based real estate investment company building 170 units on the site of former parking lots and auto repair shops in South Lake Union, a new urban project in Seattle.

Vilkin headed one of the nation?s largest urban redevelopments while at the helm of Forest City Enterprises? residential real estate division: Stapleton, a cluster of neighborhoods built on 7.5 square miles on the site of the old Stapleton International Airport in Denver. Developers built 11 units per acre compared with four per acre in traditional suburban subdivisions.

?I reject the premise that (the shift) is just because of the recession,? Vilkin says. ?It?s no longer the American dream to own a plot of land with a house on it and two cars in the driveway.?

Adds Leinberger: ?This is a structural change, not a cyclical downturn.?

Moving toward the center

Whether it?s temporary or a seminal moment in the nation?s development history, the housing bust and recession have prompted developers to set their sights inward. When property values drop, so does investment. And because values dropped the most on the outer edges of metro areas, developers are paying attention to sites they never considered before.

?It makes you not look at these large properties on the edge of the Earth anymore,? says Denise Gammon, president of the communities division of Florida-based Kitson & Partners. ?There?s a dramatic shift going on.?

Gammon also worked on Stapleton, and Kitson hired her to develop their infill business. In Tampa, the company is building Bay Pines, which will have multi-family housing, hotel, grocery store and shops on 60 acres that once was the site of a mobile home park.

?It?s an area of Tampa that hasn?t seen new housing in 25 years,? she says. ?The conventional model is obsolete. People are looking for something different.?

In California, KB Home built Primera Terra at Playa Vista, near Marina Del Rey, on the site of an old Hughes Aircraft site. The condos highlight energy efficiency, proximity to shops, parks and schools, and prices under $600,000 (no garages).

?It has drawn an incredible number of people,? says Steve Ruffner, president of KB Home Southern California. ?People are very interested in technology in a home that?s not only good for the environment but saves them ownership costs ?Energy Star, solar.?

Executives of Dallas-based Huffines Communities sensed a revolution was afoot after attending a builders? show in Orlando in 2005 when they realized that investors were the dominant buyers of suburban housing ? not consumers.

The company had nine so-called ?master-planned communities? in the works that would go up on undeveloped land in outer suburbia.

?We sold six and kept three,? says Robert Kembel, Huffines president. The company redeployed its capital to redeveloping sites in cities. ?If people prefer to live closer to the jobs center, the pricing you can command is higher and there?s less competition,? Kembel says.

Huffines is developing Viridian, 5,000 units on a 2,300-acre site in a flood plain near a landfill in Arlington, Texas. The project required lengthy and costly cleanup and wetlands restoration measures.

?Developers who have the patience to go to the city or county and negotiate public-private partnerships to help mitigate huge costs, those are the guys who win,? Kembel says.

No time for big yards

Suburbia is changing, too.

Established suburbs such as Virginia?s Fairfax County, outside Washington, D.C., are building town centers that combine residential and retail on greenfields. Rapid transit lines are expanding through Tysons Corner, site of two shopping malls and headquarters of major corporations. Plans are for dense, high-rise development.

Even traditional communities built on greenfields are transforming. In Southern California?s Inland Empire, an area where housing prices are lower and appeal to first-time buyers, Brookfield is building Edenglen in Ontario. The homes are built on smaller lots ? 4,500 square feet instead of the more conventional 7,200 square feet ? and priced from $200,000 to $300,000.

?We?ve seen a lot of single females, single males, couples without kids,? says Carina Hathaway, vice president of marketing. ?They don?t really have time to maintain huge yards.?

But Kembel predicts infill development is the wave of the future. Military bases that have shuttered offer huge opportunities, and so do old subdivisions built when sprawling suburbia was born in the 1950s and 1960s, he says.

?For the first time in history, Americans have stopped pushing development to the edge,? says Robert Lang, professor of urban affairs at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and author of Megapolitan America. ?The shift is from the old crabgrass frontier to the new Main Street.?

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On-line Auctions - How you can Turn On the internet Auctions into ...

Today Air Jordan most people are aware of what On the web Auctions are all about. The majority of us have, at a while or the other bought or offered a thing on On-line Auctions. But really few men and women realize that On-line Auctions could be a really lucrative home-based enterprise. Lots of people worldwide have created a lot of money with their on-line public sale web sites.

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Video Conferencing and the Dinosaurs? | Stuart Henshall

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Andy Abramson pointed me to his post and another on the state of the video conferencing Industry this morning. What?s wrong with the Video Conferencing ?Industry??and his post ?Taking Aim and Telling the Truth?. Fact is, I all but ignore the Video Conferencing Industry now. What I don?t do is ignore video and the impact it is having on people?s lives and communications. The Video Communications Industry ?was ?companies like Polycom and Cisco. They are looking a little like dinosaurs now. A few years ago we were also all talking telepresence. We can still wish for teleportation! These pioneering companies ended up with incredible expensive solutions that required rooms in different locations and more. Meanwhile I just kept Skyping my friends and colleagues. ?In that time it has become easier and easier to have a video call and Skype today makes a multiparty video conference pretty cheap. Video is more likely to be very distributed than 6 people in one office talking to 4 in another etc. Even the logistics of getting people there on time makes it a hassle.

Andy notes the impact of Tango and FaceTime. These are mobile solutions! If there is a power video user then I?d hold up Andy and his firm ?Comunicano as a good example. He notes multiple endpoints and knows the enterprise need. Yet I?d go further. The future of Video in all forms starts with the mobile device. Like the PC and Skype proved effective video conferencing mobile will drive the next generation solutions. The cost comparison I?d use versus Scott?s ruminations would be:

Three employees enter the room. 5 colleagues are in the field. All have iPhones (true now in an increasing number of companies). Our three colleagues sit at a table. You can now go with three or one phone for them? and the TV screen in the room which has some AirPlay+ features. It?s not going to be that hard to see screensharing, a presentation, the people in the room, etc and then all the colleagues in the field. Even in the field we will see projectors on phones closing the gap. The cost of this was some AirPlay device or it came preinstalled with the screen ? the employees brought their gear and always have it with them. The big telecom companies can give up on big switch gear now. It really is in the software.

That?s perhaps part of Scott?s challenge in the future. Right now VidTel has a solution that works across the cloud and enables various different video services to connect. I?m not sure how optimized or HD that makes the interconnect. I suspect better quality exists on some one to one solutions. Still a key benefit of this solutions is the ease in which other enterprises can connect their video systems with each others and remote users. It?s not really for consumers. It gives everyone a little leverage of their video assets before they perhaps disappear or are really superseded by the mobile evolution. It may also make some users more happy in their companies as they can now use the device and hardware of their choice.

The biggest problems for mobile ?video are still social and a lack of bandwidth everywhere. If I?m a manager with a rep in the field and I want to see the example or help re talk them through a situation or make suggestions then video is just a natural extension. We see it in shopping, and I?ve been using it with research respondents. Video is going to save time and open up new conversations. The most important element of why the old models is dead is their static location. Mobile video may be more?flawed; of a lower quality (although I?d hardly ever complain about that) that?s just part of it?s disruptive nature. The big benefit is? there is no setup cost. It potentially works at anytime and anywhere, in anyplace. iPhones and iPads make it particularly easy. I believe the majority of video conferencing minutes will soon be via mobile devices.

This type of discussion like many makes me wonder why our focus isn?t more on simplicity and simplification. As users carry more and more powerful devices in their pockets building or adding the same functionality to our environments (car, office, home) seems redundant. The office doesn?t need video conferencing. People do. The car doesn?t need a radio or music player ? it does need great speakers. Does the car need a video? Perhaps not. It needs a dock for my phone and it can video everywhere I go and only save if I have an accident etc. Will that reduce my insurance cost? The revolution in video is now in mobile. From video social networks (socialcam), to recording apps and editing options. Even broadcast TV has been a mobile option for awhile.

Ask yourself. What mobile video conferencing system would you build today? And then ask, how you can make it functionally different? Video is just core basic functionality. I?d look to Camera+ for video and conferencing options perhaps. Video has a live feed component. Yet the point is? Create an API for usage like Camera+ and then video is integrated into other apps more quickly. Look at Viber or Tango. With an API on their app that functionality could be added to others. If you ever looked at Pair you will see the developers integrated FaceTime. That had zero cost to them. It?s more important how people use it and make it quickly available when required. Video today is just there. It?s not quite ubiquitous although it soon will be.

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Tagged as: andyabramson, video, videoconferencing, vidtel, VoIP

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