Stocks edge higher, with Dow nearing record

NEW YORK (AP) ? The stock market pushed higher Thursday afternoon, sending the Dow tantalizingly close to a record high.

Analysts said the market's upward move was more about traders getting excited than any particular economic event. Government reports and company earnings painted a picture of an economy that was beating investors' low expectations, not one that's growing like gangbusters.

At mid-afternoon, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 34 points to 14,109, just 55 points away from its all-time high. Earlier, at around 2:30 p.m. EST, it came within 15 points.

If it closes above 14,164.53, it will beat the record it set in October 2007 ? a time before the financial crisis had fully imploded, when people still believed that stocks, housing prices and wages only went up.

To be sure, the milestone doesn't mean much in practical terms: Professional investors don't change their strategy because the Dow is hitting a record. But it's important for psychological reasons: It can make people feel like the economy is doing better, which can induce them to spend and invest more.

The day started with the stock market plodding more than rising. After gaining a combined 291 points on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Dow spent Thursday morning darting between small gains and losses before taking a decisive turn upward in the early afternoon.

Shortly before 3 p.m. EST, the Standard & Poor's 500 index was up nine points at 1,525. The Nasdaq composite rose 12 to 3,174.

"There was no dramatic, great news," said Leon LaBrecque, CEO of LJPR in Troy, Mich. "This is still not a solid, giant, wonderful rally that I could jump up and down about."

Company earnings were mixed. J.C. Penney and Barnes & Noble reported losses. Wendy's and Domino's reported higher profits.

The government reported that the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 0.1 percent in the last three months of 2012. That was better than the original estimate of a 0.1 percent decline, but hardly ideal.

The number of Americans seeking unemployment aid fell. Investors described the news as mildly encouraging.

Some investors said that the stock market's rise, and the Dow's near-record, reflected more what traders are feeling and the market's general tendency to rise over time and reach new records, not necessarily a surge in strength in the U.S. economy.

"Costs of goods are going up, wages are lower, that's why people's lives are so miserable," said Ed Butowsky, managing partner of ChapwoodFinance.com in Dallas. "People have to separate the economy from the stock market."

The gains of Tuesday and Wednesday are a case in point. The stock market rose partly because reports showed that Americans are more confident and are buying more homes. But investors were also relieved by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's avowal that the Fed will keep trying to prop up the economy with bond purchases and other programs. That means the Fed thinks the economy is still doing poorly.

Steve Sachs, head of capital markets at ProShares in Bethesda, Md., said it was "completely illogical" for the market to jump because of the Fed's intentions to continue with stimulus programs.

"The reason the Fed continues to pump money into the economy," Sachs said, "is because the economy is not that great."

In Washington, lawmakers prepared for government spending cuts set to automatically kick in Friday. There was no sign that Democrats and Republicans would work out their differences in time to prevent the cuts.

If investors minded, they didn't give much indication. Some said they'd learned not to get too excited after the effects of the previous budget showdown in Washington over the New Year proved anti-climactic.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note held steady at about 1.90 percent.

Among stocks making big moves:

?Groupon, the coupons website, plunged 21 percent after reporting late Wednesday that its quarterly loss had expanded. The stock fell $1.26 to $4.72.

?J.C. Penney fell 16 percent after the department store reported a higher-than-expected quarterly loss late Wednesday. The stock dropped $3.32 to $17.84.

? Wendy's, Domino's, clothing chain Chico's and energy drink maker Monster Beverage were all up after reporting higher profit and revenue.

?Barnes & Noble shot up 8 percent, up $1.19 to $16.42. The bookstore chain swung to a quarterly loss, though the CEO confirmed that the company was still in talks with its founder about a partial buyout.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stocks-edge-higher-dow-nearing-record-201628407--finance.html

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Part 5: What is Marriage? | Real Intent

This essay is the fifth in a series about?Gay Marriage and Proposition 8.

Is the institution of marriage just about recognizing couples ?who have chosen to share one another?s lives in an intimate and committed relationship of mutual caring??

This is a central issue in the continuing legal debate over Proposition 8 in California. According to the marriage traditionalists who defend Proposition 8 in court, encouraging procreation in the context of a stable relationship has been a central historical purpose of marriage as an institution. While few in the United States today would challenge the legal right of men or women to pursue romantic relationships with members of the same sex, a procreation-centered definition of marriage makes the idea of gay marriage a contradiction in terms. If traditionalists? definition of marriage is valid and important, there?s also some risk that we?ll redefine a core purpose right out of marriage if we insist its two-gender history is just a matter of prejudice.

But according to Judge Vaughn Walker, the first judge to rule against Proposition 8, two counter-examples prove this thinking wrong:

1) Couples who have no intention to have children are allowed to marry.

2) Couples with no ability to have children are allowed to marry.

The initial court ruling against Proposition 8 (and in favor of gay marriage as a constitutional right) asserts that these examples prove that marriage is fundamentally about mutual caring and therefore not restricted by definition to couples who plan to bear children. Without procreation as a core purpose of marriage, there seems to be little rational basis for the exclusion of same-sex couples. If there is no rational basis for keeping marriage definitionally male-female, the judgment goes, then Proposition 8 is actually rooted in animus (prejudice) against the gay identity group, and so the court is simply fulfilling its 14th Amendment obligation to strike down measures that create undue legal burdens for persecuted minorities when it invalidates Proposition 8.

I think Vaughn Walker?s ruling against Proposition 8 is intellectually honest. But I also think that careful consideration of his counter-examples shows that his ruling rushes too quickly to conclusions. Simply showing that couples can marry without having children (whether because of personal preference or medical complication), doesn?t actually prove that procreation isn?t deeply connected to the institution of marriage.

Here?s why:

Up until fifty years ago or so, getting married with no intention to have children was unthinkable. For one thing, contraceptive technology was limited enough that it was logistically difficult to have a lifelong sexual relationship without an extremely high chance of pregnancy and childbirth. For another, social attitudes simply precluded it: if you got married, having children was taken for granted as a next step. So to say that the existence of modern couples who don?t intend to have children sheds light on the social purpose of marriage is misleading.

What about couples who can?t have children? Ample historical evidence reveals that in every culture where marriage had legal status, childlessness was considered an extreme tragedy. A marriage could be started without children, but was not considered complete in cases where no children came. A story like this is the basis of the religious beliefs of the majority of the people in the world to this day: Abraham and Sarah long for children and feel incomplete when children do not come.

Except, of course, that a child does come to Abraham and Sarah in the story. This reveals, incidentally, another flaw in Walker?s reasoning: it is medical hubris to believe we can tell with absolute certainty which male-female couples won?t be able to have children. I have two nephews, actually, whose mothers had been told by doctors they would be unable to bear children. But doctors do not know everything, and two surprised women in our family each gave birth to a boy.

Let?s call the relationship between two people of the same rough generation lateral and the relationship between generations vertical. If we go back more than a hundred years in history, I think it?s clear that marriage as an institution was considered primary vertical (that is, designed to protect the relationships between generations) and only secondarily lateral (that is, designed to protect the relationships between individual lovers). That?s why Alexander never would have thought of marrying Hephaestion. Even though the two men?s strongest lateral relationship was with each other, Alexander married at least two different women for the sake of his vertical relationships. Ancient Greeks seem to have valued both types of relationships, but would have considered it ridiculous to assume they were the same.

However, you don?t have to look only to the past to see the vertical dimension of marriage. Attend an ethnic wedding in the United States today and you?ll see largely neglected kinds of clothing, music, and traditions rise to prominence. Even assimilated, clean-shaven men from traditionally Sikh families typically grow beards for their weddings as a sort of nod to ancestors. Even very American Jews use the Hebrew mazel tov to congratulate a new couple, because there?s an unspoken feeling at a wedding that the new couple is standing in a chain of couples that goes back to days before ancestors ever set foot on English-speaking shores, and that the couple is going to continue that chain of descendants until long after today?s English is dead.

Now, over the past hundred years or so, it?s become increasingly common around the world to give the lateral elements of marriage more weight. Matches that start with love are now the norm rather than arranged marriages where love is a secondary feature the couple can choose to develop. Spouses are expected to be close friends in their personal lives as well as partners in an intergenerational enterprise. And even the most deeply pro-natal faith groups in America seem to support these trends and to feel good about a model of marriage that is equally vertical and lateral.

But those same groups are extremely uncomfortable with a definition of marriage that fully devalues the institution?s vertical elements. Don?t believe me? Go ask orthodox Jewish, LDS, Catholic, Muslim, Sikh, or Hindu religious figures sometime what they think about couples who plan not to have any children. I think you?ll see quickly that the old idea that marriage is complete only with the arrival of children is very much alive, and not just a pretense for homophobia as Judge Walker?s decision assumes.

Since few people organize to insist that it?s hateful to disapprove of couples who don?t want to have children, of course, and since it?s easy for couples who don?t want any children to simply change their minds, the erosion of the vertical dimension of marriage in their case hasn?t become a major political issue. But since most gay rights advocates insist that disapproval of same-gender sexual relationships comes from ignorance and hate rather than from different values, and because same-sex marriage is irreversibly distanced from at least biological vertical relationships, the underlying questions about the nature of marriage have become both political and heated.

Image credit: Keeping the Flame Alive, by Lars Justinen

Read the 6-part series

James Goldberg's family is Jewish on one side, Sikh on the other, and Mormon in the middle. Goldberg co-edits the Everyday Mormon Writer literary website, teaches composition and creative writing courses at BYU, and blogs at Mormon Midrashim. His debut novel, The Five Books of Jesus, was published in September 2012.

Source: http://realintent.org/part-5-what-is-marriage/

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Taliban infiltrate outpost, poison guards

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? An Afghan official says Taliban insurgents poisoned and killed 17 people in an overnight attack on a post manned by a government-backed militia in eastern Afghanistan.

Ghazni deputy provincial council head Abdul Jamhe Jamhe says the militants somehow infiltrated the outpost and poisoned those inside the compound before launching the Tuesday night assault. He says the assailants then shot the incapacitated men.

Provincial Gov. Musa Khan Akbarzada says 10 of those killed in Andar district were members of the government-backed Afghan Local Police group and the remaining seven killed were civilians who were friends of the local police. He says there was a conspiracy of some sort but declined to confirm if there was poison involved.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/taliban-poison-kill-17-afghans-attack-east-110229450.html

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Case-Shiller: Denver homes up 8.5% | Inside Real Estate News

Highlights:?

• Case-Shiller shows Denver home prices up 8.5%
  
• That is the biggest percentage gain since October 2001.
• Inventory shortage remains the biggest concern for Realtors.

This 1,858-square-foot in home sold for $300,000, close to the average price in the metro area.

The Denver-area housing market showed a 8.5 percent year-over-year gain last December, according to the closely watched Case-Shiller index released today.

That was the biggest year-over-year percentage gain in more than 11 years. The last time it was higher was in October 2001, when home prices rose by 8.9 percent.

Overall, the percentage gain was good enough for 10th place of the 20 major metropolitan statistical areas tracked in the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices.?The overall annual percentage gain in December for the 20 MSAs was 6.8 percent.

In December 2011, Denver ranked No. 2, with a 0.4 percent loss, a sign of how much the nation?s market has recovered.?In December of last year, New York was the only city to show a loss, dropping by 0.5 percent. Phoenix led the pack, rising by 23 percent.

On a month-to-month basis, Denver fell by 0.3 percent, on a non-seasonally adjusted basis.

?The non-seasonally adjusted index dropped slightly from November to December, but the seasonally adjusted index was up a strong 0.8 percent,? said Lane Hornung, CEO and co-founder of 8z Real Estate.??With annual appreciation jumping to 8.5 percent, I will repeat my prediction from last month that the Denver MSA will post a double-digit appreciation number some time this spring.?

However, the Denver-area market needs more homes to sell, he and other brokers say. With fewer than 7,100 unsold resale homes on the market in January, the inventory of available homes is believed to be at the lowest level since the 1970s.

?The market desperately needs inventory,? Hornung said.

?To avoid entering a bubble market (and we all know how that turns out), perhaps we need to broadcast the following public service announcement: ?Calling all sellers, calling all sellers-now is a good time to sell!?

Peter Niederman, CEO of Kentwood Real Estate, said he is glad that Denver?s housing market is not showing the big gains of places such as Phoenix, although he is glad that the national housing market is recovering.

?I think the best commentary is not that Denver is in the middle of the pack, but all markets are starting to rise,? Niederman said.??I like where Denver is. It is right where it should be. Denver is performing wonderfully.?

It was not that long ago, he noted, ?that ?we were talking about Denver bucking the national trend. Now, we are seeing this breadth of improvement across all markets. That is very healthy for the overall housing economy and the U.S. economy. It?s like that old saying ? a rising tide lifts all boats.?

He said if Denver homes showed the kind of appreciation that the Phoenix market is enjoying, he would be worried.

?I would be very cautious if Denver was in the top five markets right now,? Niederman said. If prices went go up too fast, too soon, it makes the market unaffordable. Companies looking to locate here or grow here, would have second thoughts if homes were too expensive. It also would price many people out of the market.?

The average price of a single-family home sold and closed in January was slightly more than $300,000.

On national news reports, Niederman noted that economist Robert Shiller, co-creator of Case-Shiller, said that a shortage of homes has become a concern in many markets across the country, Niederman said.

?Shiller said new home builders are helping to fill the gap, but they aren?t building homes fast enough,? Niederman said.

?In Denver, builders are definitely help fill the void,? Niederman said. ?It?s a tale of two stories. On one level, new homes are competition for homes we are trying to sell. On the other hand, they are creating new supply. A big concern is that people will sell their homes quickly and won?t be able to find another one. In many cases, they can move into a new home, after selling their existing home.?

Builders also are constructing homes that consumers want, he said.

?They build to meet the demand,? Niederman said. ?It?s not the super-luxury home builders that are doing the best, but the builders who are constructing homes that are priced at a level where the demand exists. New homes are a good option for someone selling their existing home.?

Independent broker Gary Bauer said the Case-Shiller report shows that Denver is in a very good place relative to other national markets.

?Once again, Denver did not experience the very high peaks nor did it experience the very low valleys like many of these other markets, which are now showing bigger percentage gains than Denver,? Bauer said.

?Slow and steady is much better than these huge swings other markets are showing,? he said.

He agreed with other brokers that the inventory is the biggest problem currently facing the Denver market.

?Soon we will have the February numbers (from Metrolist) and it will be interesting to see if we see another decline in the number of houses on the market,? Bauer said.

?All the Realtors I talk to are putting shoe-leather on the street, ringing door bells and talking to homeowners about why now is a great time to be putting your home on the market. Hopefully, their efforts will pay off and we will start to see an increase in the supply to help us meet the demand.?

The national housing market ended last year on a strong said, according to?David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

?Home prices ended 2012 with solid gains,? Blitzer said ?Housing and residential construction led the economy in the 2012 fourth quarter. In December?s report all three headline composites and 19 of the 20 cities gained over their levels of a year ago. Month-over-month, nine cities and both composites posted positive monthly gains. Seasonally adjusted, there were no monthly declines across all 20 cities.

?The National Composite increased 7.3 percent ?over the four quarters of 2012. From its low in the first quarter, it surged in the second and third quarter and slipped slightly in the 2012 fourth period. The 10- and 20-City Composites, which bottomed out in March 2012 continued to show both year-over-year and monthly gains in December. These movements, combined with other housing data, suggest that while housing is on the upswing some of the strongest numbers may have already been seen.

?Atlanta and Detroit posted their biggest year-over-year increases of 9.9 percent and 13.6 percent since the start of their indices in January 1991. Dallas, Denver, and Minneapolis recorded their largest annual increases since 2001. Phoenix continued its climb, posting an impressive year-over-year return of 23.0 percent; it posted eight consecutive months of double-digit annual growth.?

Metropolitan Area	Change from January 2000	November-December Change	1-Year Annual Change
Atlanta	-4.05%	0.3%	9.9%
Boston	53.81%	0.1%	3.6%
Charlotte	14.92%	-0.4%	5.3%
Chicago	12.61%	-0.7%	2.2%
Cleveland	0.56%	-0.1%	2.9%
Dallas	20.51%	-0.1%	6.5%
DENVER	34.14%	-0.3%	8.5%
Detroit	-19.96%	-0.6%	13.6%
Las Vegas	2.41%	1.8%	12.9%
Los Angeles	78.59%	1.1%	10.2%
Miami	52.36%	0.8%	10.6%
Minneapolis	26.09%	-0.1%	12.2%
New York	61.58%	-0.4%	-0.5%
Phoenix	25.33%	0.9%	23.0%
Portland	41.35%	-0.5%	6.5%
San Diego	64.28%	0.4%	9.2%
San Francisco	47.24%	0.7%	14.4%
Seattle	41.75%	-0.5%	8.2%
Tampa	34.04%	0.2%	7.2%
Washington, D.C.	88.72%	-0.1%	5.8%
Composite -10	58.49%	0.2%	5.9%
Composite - 20	45.95%	0.2%	6.8%

Month	How Denver ranked out of 20 MSAs	1-Year Change
January 2010	6	2.6%
February	5	3.6%
March	7	4.1%
April	8	4.4%
May	8	3.6%
June	9	1.8%
July	11	-0.1%
August	11	-1.2%
September	9	-3.1%
October	7	-1.8%
November	6	-2.5%
December	7	-2.4%
January 2011	6	-2.3%
February	5	-2.6%
March	7	-3.8%
April	6	-4.1%
May	5	-3.3%
June	3	-2.5%
July	4	-2.1%
August	3	-1.6%
September	5	-1.5%
October	4	-0.9%
November	3	-0.2%
December	2	-0.4%
January 2012	3	0.2%
February	4	0.5%
March	3	2.6%
April	4	2.8%
May	3	3.7%
June	4	4.0%
July	4	5.4%
August	5	5.5%
September	6	6.7%
October	7	6.9%
November	8	7.8%
December

Have a story idea or real estate tip? Contact John Rebchook at? JRCHOOK@gmail.com. InsideRealEstateNews.com is sponsored by Universal Lending, Land Title Guarantee and 8z Real Estate. To read more articles by John Rebchook, subscribe to the Colorado Real Estate Journal.

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Source: http://insiderealestatenews.com/2013/02/case-shiller-denver-homes-rise-8-5/

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The Engadget Interview: Qualcomm's Rob Chandhok on the Internet of things at MWC 2013

Few people understand the Internet of things better than Rob Chandhok -- president of Internet services at Qualcomm -- and we had the chance to sit down with him in Barcelona after our interview with Raj Talluri. We chatted about AllJoyn, a set of open source services which the company just revamped to incorporate a simple notification protocol -- an "SMS for things" -- small and durable enough to be useful for the life on an appliance, like a fridge or a washer. This provides a universal mechanism for notification and control, such as WiFi on-boarding, for example. He also mentioned AllJoyn audio, a streaming protocol that Qualcomm and DoubleTwist collaborated on. We then discussed various approaches and network topologies for building the Internet of things, such as IPv6-connected products with cloud-based logic vs. devices on local area networks that interact with the Internet via gateways (something that's prevalent in modern home automation). Check out the full interview video after the break.

Filed under: Misc, Networking, Mobile

Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/27/the-engadget-interview-qualcomms-rob-chandhok-on-the-internet/

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Experts: Pistorius violated basic firearms rules

FILE - In this photo taken Friday, Feb. 22, 2013 Olympic athlete, Oscar Pistorius, in court in Pretoria, South Africa, for his bail hearing charged with the shooting death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. Even if Pistorius is acquitted of murder, firearms and legal experts in South Africa believe that, by his own account, the star violated basic gun-handling regulations by shooting into a closed door without knowing who was behind it, exposing himself to the lesser but still serious charge of culpable homicide. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)

FILE - In this photo taken Friday, Feb. 22, 2013 Olympic athlete, Oscar Pistorius, in court in Pretoria, South Africa, for his bail hearing charged with the shooting death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. Even if Pistorius is acquitted of murder, firearms and legal experts in South Africa believe that, by his own account, the star violated basic gun-handling regulations by shooting into a closed door without knowing who was behind it, exposing himself to the lesser but still serious charge of culpable homicide. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)

FILE - In this photo taken Thursday Feb. 14, 2013 a police officer holds a gun that was alledgedly used in the shooting of Reeva Steenkamp, at the home of athlete Oscar Pistorius, at the Boschkop police station east of Pretoria. Even if Pistorius is acquitted of murder, firearms and legal experts in South Africa believe that, by his own account, the star violated basic gun-handling regulations by shooting into a closed door without knowing who was behind it, exposing himself to the lesser but still serious charge of culpable homicide. (AP Photo/Pretoria News, Phill Magakoe, File) SOUTH AFRICA OUT

FILE - In this photo taken Wednesday Feb. 20 2013 two Tuesday newspaper headlines carrying the news of Olympian Athlete Oscar Pistorius' applications for six firearms are photographed in Johannesburg. Pistorius applied for licenses for six guns a few weeks before he shot and killed his girlfriend and Pistorius says the shooting of Reeva Steenkamp was accidental. Prosecutors have charged him with premeditated murder. Afrikaans newspaper headline left, reads "Police refuse Oscar weapon, gets 9mm license after appeal". Even if Pistorius is acquitted of murder, firearms and legal experts in South Africa believe that, by his own account, the star violated basic gun-handling regulations by shooting into a closed door without knowing who was behind it, exposing himself to the lesser but still serious charge of culpable homicide. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell-File)

FILE - In this frame grab from CCTV footage leaked to M-Net's Carte Blanche program which viewed Sunday Feb 24, 2013, shows Reeva Steenkamp entering the secured access to the Silverwoods housing estate, home of Olympian athlete Oscar Pistorius, some hours before she was shot and killed at Pistorius' home. Even if Pistorius is acquitted of murder, firearms and legal experts in South Africa believe that, by his own account, the star violated basic gun-handling regulations by shooting into a closed door without knowing who was behind it, exposing himself to the lesser but still serious charge of culpable homicide. (AP Photo/M-Net Carte Blanche, File)

FILE - In this photo taken Friday, Feb. 22, 2013 Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius stands in the dock during his bail hearing at the magistrate court in Pretoria, South Africa. Even if Pistorius is acquitted of murder, firearms and legal experts in South Africa believe that, by his own account, the star violated basic gun-handling regulations by shooting into a closed door without knowing who was behind it, exposing himself to the lesser but still serious charge of culpable homicide. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe-File)

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? Even if Oscar Pistorius is acquitted of murder, firearms and legal experts in South Africa believe that, by his own account, the star athlete violated basic gun-handling regulations and exposed himself to a homicide charge by shooting into a closed door without knowing who was behind it.

Particularly jarring for firearms instructors and legal experts is that Pistorius testified that he shot at a closed toilet door, fearing but not knowing for certain that a nighttime intruder was on the other side. Instead of an intruder, Pistorius' girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp was in the toilet cubicle. Struck by three of four shots that Pistorius fired from a 9 mm pistol, she died within minutes. Prosecutors charged Pistorius with premeditated murder, saying the shooting followed an argument between the two. Pistorius said it was an accident.

South Africa has stringent laws regulating the use of lethal force for self-protection. In order to get a permit to own a firearm, applicants must not only know those rules but must demonstrate proficiency with the weapon and knowledge of its safe handling, making it far tougher to legally own a gun in South Africa than many other countries where a mere background check suffices.

Pistorius took such a competency test for his 9 mm pistol and passed it, according to the South African Police Service's National Firearms Center. Pistorius' license for the 9 mm pistol was issued in September 2010. The Olympic athlete and Paralympic medalist should have known that firing blindly, instead of at a clearly identified target, violates basic gun-handling rules, firearms and legal experts said.

"You can't shoot through a closed door," said Andre Pretorius, president of the Professional Firearm Trainers Council, a regulatory body for South African firearms instructors. "People who own guns and have been through the training, they know that shooting through a door is not going to go through South African law as an accident."

"There is no situation in South Africa that allows a person to shoot at a threat that is not identified," Pretorius added. "Firing multiple shots, it makes it that much worse. ...It could have been a minor ? a 15-year-old kid, a 12-year-old kid ? breaking in to get food."

The Pistorius family, through Arnold Pistorius, uncle of the runner, has said it is confident that the evidence will prove that Steenkamp's death in the predawn hours of Feb. 14 was "a terrible and tragic accident."

In an affidavit to the magistrate who last Friday freed him on bail, Pistorius said he believed an intruder or intruders had gotten into his US$560,000 (?430,000) two-story house, in a guarded and gated community with walls topped by electrified fencing east of the capital, Pretoria, and were inside the toilet cubicle in his bathroom. Believing he and Steenkamp "would be in grave danger" if they came out, "I fired shots at the toilet door" with the pistol that he slept with under his bed, he testified.

Criminal law experts said that even if the prosecution fails to prove premeditated murder, firing several shots through a closed door could bring a conviction for the lesser but still serious charge of culpable homicide, a South African equivalent of manslaughter covering unintentional deaths through negligence.

Johannesburg attorney Martin Hood, who specializes in firearm law, said South African legislation allows gun owners to use lethal force only if they believe they are facing an immediate, serious and direct attack or threat of attack that could either be deadly or cause grievous injury.

According to Pistorius' own sworn statement read in court, he "did not meet those criteria," said Hood, who is also the spokesman for the South African Gun Owners' Association.

"If he fired through a closed door, there was no threat to him. It's as simple as that," he added. "He can't prove an attack on his life ... In my opinion, at the very least, he is guilty of culpable homicide."

The Associated Press emailed a request for comment to Vuma, a South African reputation management firm hired by the Pistorius family to handle media questions about the shooting.

The firm replied: "Due to the legal sensitivities around the matter, we cannot at this stage answer any of your questions as it might have legal implications for a case that still has to be tried in a court of law." Vuma said on Monday it referred the AP's questions to Pistorius' legal team, which by Tuesday had not replied.

Culpable homicide covers unintentional deaths ranging from accidents with no negligence, like a motorist whose brakes fail, killing another road user, "to where it verges on murder or where it almost becomes intentional," said Hood. Sentences ? ranging from fines to prison ? are left to courts to determine and are not set by fixed guidelines.

The tough standards for legally acquiring a gun were instituted in part because of a wave of weapons purchases after the end of racist white rule in 1994, said Rick De Caris, a former legal director in the South African police. Under South Africa's white-minority apartheid regime, gun owners often learned how to handle firearms during military service. Many of the new gun owners had little or no firearms training, which brought tragic results, De Caris said.

"People were literally shooting themselves when cleaning a firearm," said De Caris, who helped draft the Firearms Control Act of 2000.

Prospective gun owners must now take written exams that include questions on the law, have to show they can safely handle and shoot a gun and are required to hit a target the size of a glossy magazine in 10 of 10 shots from seven meters (23 feet), said Pretorius of the Professional Firearm Trainers Council.

In his affidavit, Pistorius said he wasn't wearing his prosthetic limbs "and felt extremely vulnerable" after hearing noise from the toilet.

"I grabbed my 9 mm pistol from underneath my bed. On my way to the bathroom, I screamed words to the effect for him/them to get out of my house and for Reeva to phone the police. It was pitch-dark in the bedroom and I thought Reeva was in bed," he testified.

Legal experts said they are puzzled why Pistorius apparently didn't first fire a warning shot to show the supposed intruder he was armed. Also unanswered is why, after he heard noise in his bathroom that includes the toilet cubicle, Pistorius still went toward the bathroom ? toward the perceived danger ? rather than retreat back into his bedroom.

"He should have tried to get out of the situation," said Hood, the attorney.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-02-26-Pistorius%20Shooting-Closed%20Door/id-d87a1cb6e5344be9ba8b91b6a40043ae

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Hot air balloon crash in Egypt kills 18 tourists

LUXOR, Egypt (AP) ? A hot air balloon flying over Egypt's ancient city of Luxor caught fire and crashed into a sugar cane field on Tuesday, killing at least 18 foreign tourists in one of the world's deadliest ballooning accidents and a new blow to Egypt's ailing tourism industry.

The casualties included French, British, Belgian, Hungarian, Japanese nationals and nine tourists from Hong Kong, Luxor Governor Ezzat Saad told reporters. Three survivors ? two British tourists and an Egyptian ? were taken to a local hospital.

Egypt's civil aviation minister, Wael el-Maadawi, suspended hot air balloon flights and flew to Luxor to lead the investigation into the crash.

The balloon, which was carrying 20 tourists and a pilot, was landing after a flight over the southern town, when a landing cable got caught around a helium tube and a fire erupted, according to an investigator with the state prosecutor's office.

The balloon then shot up in the air, the investigator said. The fire set off an explosion of a gas canister and the balloon plunged some 300 meters (1,000 feet) to the ground, according to an Egyptian security official. It crashed in a sugar cane field outside al-Dhabaa village just west of Luxor, 510 kilometers (320 miles) south of Cairo, the official said.

The official and the investigator spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Bodies of the dead tourists were scattered across the field around the remnants of the balloon. An Associated Press reporter at the crash site counted eight bodies as they were put into body bags and taken away. The security official said all 18 bodies have been recovered.

Hot air ballooning is a popular pastime for tourists in Luxor, usually at sunrise to give a dramatic view over the pharaonic temples of Karnak and Luxor and the Valley of the Kings, a desert valley where many pharaoh, notably King Tutenkhamun, were buried.

Luxor has seen crashes in the past. In 2009, 16 tourists were injured when their balloon struck a cellphone transmission tower. A year earlier, seven tourists were injured in a similar crash.

The toll puts the crash among the deadliest involving a recreation hot air balloon. In 1989, 13 people were killed when their hot air balloon collided with another over the Australian outback near the town of Alice Springs.

Among the dead Tuesday was a Japanese couple in their 60s, among four Japanese who were killed, according to the head of Japan Travel Bureau's Egypt branch, Atsushi Imaeda.

In Hong Kong, a travel agency said nine of the tourists that were aboard the balloon were natives of the semiautonomous Chinese city. There was a "very big chance that all nine have perished," said Raymond Ng, a spokesman for the agency. The nine, he said, included five women and four men from three families.

They were traveling with six other Hong Kong residents on a 10-day tour of Egypt.

Ng said an escort of the nine tourists watched the balloon from the ground catching fire around 7 a.m. and plunging to the ground two minutes later.

In Britain, tour operator Thomas Cook confirmed that two British tourists were killed in the crash, and two were in hospital.

"What happened in Luxor this morning is a terrible tragedy and the thoughts of everyone in Thomas Cook are with our guests, their family and friends," said Peter Fankhauser, CEO of Thomas Cook UK & Continental Europe. He said the firm is providing "full support" to the victims' families.

In Paris, a diplomatic official said French tourists were among those involved in the accident, but would give no details on how many, or whether French citizens were among those killed. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to be publicly named according to government policy. French media reports said two French tourists were among the dead but the official wouldn't confirm that.

Egypt's tourism industry has been decimated since the 2011 uprising and the political turmoil that followed and continues to this day. Luxor's hotels are currently about 25 percent full in what is supposed to be the peak of the winter season.

Scared off by the turmoil and tenuous security following the uprising, the number of tourists coming to Egypt fell to 9.8 million in 2011 from 14.7 million the year before, and revenues plunged 30 percent to $8.8 billion.

Magda Fawzi, whose company operates four luxury Nile River cruise boats to Luxor, said she expects the accident will lead to tourist cancellations. Tour guide Hadi Salama said he expects Tuesday's accident to hurt the eight hot air balloon companies operating in Luxor, but that it may not directly affect tourism to the Nile Valley city.

Poverty swelled at the country's fastest rate in Luxor, which is highly dependent on visitors to its monumental temples and the tombs of King Tutankhamun and other pharaohs. In 2011, 39 percent of its population lived on less than $1 a day, compared to 18 percent in 2009, according to government figures.

In August, Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi flew to Luxor to encourage tourism there, about a month after he took office and vowed that Egypt was safe for tourists.

"Egypt is safer than before, and is open for all," he said in remarks carried by the official MENA news agency at the time. He was referring to the security situation following the 2011 ouster of autocratic leader Hosni Mubarak.

Deadly accidents caused by poor management and a decrepit infrastructure have taken place since Morsi took office. In January, 19 Egyptian conscripts died when their rickety train jumped the track. In November, 49 kindergarteners were killed when their school bus crashed into a speeding train because the railway guard failed to close the crossing.

The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most powerful political force and Morsi's base of support, blames accidents on a culture of negligence fostered by Mubarak.

___

Associated Press writers Kelvin Chan in Hong Kong, Jill Lawless in London and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hot-air-balloon-crash-egypt-kills-18-tourists-132856605.html

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Information overload? Time to fix the filters - Web Analytics World

Only yesterday I was talking to a client about email overload and the very real challenge it continues to present to individuals, teams and organisations.

And what of new communication technologies ? Twitter, for example? Web developer Koobazaur has developed Tweetulator which calculates the time it would take someone to read all of the tweets of the people they were following. According to the article, for Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, it would take him more than 14 hours a day to read all the tweets of the 1,330 people he is following.

Now take a step back and widen the perspective to global internet usage and information creation and you see even more of a challenge.

Back in 2010 Google?s Eric Schmidt estimated that every two days we create as much information as we did from the dawn of civilization up until ?2003. Search ?information overload? on Google and you will find graphs showing the exponential increase in data ? the graph line starts flat on the left and rises sharply in a curve to the right. You?ll also find tips on how to manage information overload and infographics on how much data we produce on a daily basis such as this one and this one. You?ll also find mention of Moore?s Law which has has been used to describe the speed of growth? of technology.

If we think this is daunting then we need to think again. I recently heard futurist Gerd Leonhard talk about information overload. Unlike other futurists I have heard speak, Leonhard?s thinking is grounded in the present with a view on developments in the coming few years.

In his talk to the Learning Technologies conference in London, he said that we need to think about the fact we are going to grow from two billion people online to five billion ? and all connected and mostly on mobile devices.? He went as far as to say that we have yet to unearth nine-tenths of the data available to us.

In the shorter term, we should be thinking about mobile. In the next three years, 60% of internet traffic will be on mobile devices, that compares with 10% currently.

The key issue is not information overload ? it is sorting out the filters. Leonhard said we must first get comfortable with the fact there will be so much data around us, we then need to figure out how to filter it.

This something New York University new-media professor Clay Shirky has talked about (see video below).

The challenge now and for the future is how we ? as individuals, teams, organisations, networks, communities ? filter information and data to help us to work, play and learn. As we generate more data ? think the Internet of Things too ? so the making sense of it will become more of a pressing need. Data is the new oil, something organisations such as Nike are starting to realize.

Indeed, Gartner?s Peter Sondergarrd has predicted that by 2015 there will need to be 4.4 million IT jobs globally focusing on big data.

Leonhard ended his talk at the conference by looking at 10 future trends. These are grounded in the here and now and so look realistic. The also make the case for more human interfaces for technology and better tools to filter information.

Thankfully, he also suggested that we will all need time away from the information firehose to reflect.

1. Embrace and design for social, local and mobile.?In the next three years 60% of internet traffic will come from mobile devices

Currently 10% of global web traffic comes from mobile. Leonhard said that mobile devices will get cheaper and cheaper, as will connectivity, and this will see huge growth of web activity especially in emerging markets. Imagine having five billion people online, he said.

2. Multi-channel and multi-platform is the new default?

This is how content will be delivered, with all content eventually ending up in the cloud and being accessed at the point of need across different devices and channels.??

3. Centralised and decentralised and distributed products and services will co-exist?

Leonhard gave the example of a school (centralised) an online course provider (decentralised) and a social network such as Yammer (distributed) as ways in which learning will be created and shared. He said all three would co-exist in the future.?? ??

4. It?s an AND world not an either/or world: we need good algorithms and great ?humarithms??

Users will always be looking for other options to find things and to be able to do things to help them learn ? what Leonhard called the ?And? option rather than being an either/or decision. Technology will enable this but it is also crucial to consider the role of humans in the process ? what he called ?humarithms?. Technological interfaces have to be built with humans in mind.??

5. Embrace next generation interfaces (but don?t be a robot)?

Following on from the above point, Leonhard said the real opportunity for tapping data and information will come from creating human interfaces which enable us to easily connect with technology to find, filter and share information.??

6. Find, dissect and boot your toxic assumptions?

The future will require us to question assumptions and why we do the things the way we do. ??

7. If a technology doesn?t help us to be more human, junk it?

Coming back to the needs of users as humans, we need to ensure technology helps us behave and act more like humans, not behave and act more like machines. If technology is playing the latter role we should stop using it.??

8. Open ?as much as possible? is becoming mission critical

?The future is open, networked and all organisations will act as small wheels in a much larger connected ecosystem. This will mean being more open with information and data. For example, pharmaceutical company Glaxo Smithkline is putting $1bn of research resource into open source research networks as it believes it will reap far greater rewards from working with networks rather than only developing products in-house. ??

9. Consider starting your own ?collaboration kitchen??

Kraft has created a collaboration kitchen to work with customers on developing new products. Leonhard said this type of approach to collaboration will become more prevalent and increasingly valuable to organisations.??

10 Reduce overload with better filters and don?t forget to detox?

With the continued growth of data and information on the web, we will need to get more savvy about using tools to help filter and find what we need. Leonhard also recommended time away from the ?information firehouse? to be able to reflect.

[These 10 trends first appeared in a conference report I produced for the Voice of Lumesse blog]

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Source: http://www.webanalyticsworld.net/2013/02/information-overload-time-to-fix-the-filters.html

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Calgary's Olympic venues stand the test of time | Metro

Many Olympic sports require specialized facilities that, after the games are over, often fall into disrepair or are dismantled altogether.

Calgary, however, has managed to not only maintain most of the venues it built for the 1988 Winter Games but expand on them, too.

?The facilities here are not only still relevant, they?re flourishing,? said Dale Oviatt, communications director for Winsport, which operates the ski hill, sliding tracks, ski jumps and ice surfaces at Canada Olympic Park.

?When you look at some of the previous countries that have hosted Winter Olympics,? Oviatt added, ?their venues are no longer used for what they were intended for, or they?re completely shut down.?

By comparison, COP still hosts World Cup luge, bobsled, and skeleton events, as well as freestyle ski and snowboard competitions. The same facilities are also regularly used for public recreation.

The national ski jumping team still trains on COP?s smaller ski jumps, and while the largest jump is no longer in use, Oviatt said it?s largely because athletes? ability and equipment has advanced so much the jump would need to be retrofitted for safety.

?They would pretty much almost land on the Trans-Canada Highway,? Oviatt said.

The Olympic Oval at the University of Calgary, meanwhile, has not only remained a hub for competition and training ? and become known for being ?the fastest ice in the world? ? but has also grown into a centre for sporting excellence, in general.

?This building, connected with the sport medicine centre, Canadian Sport Centre Calgary, and the research the laboratories at the university, has created one of the greatest training environments you will find in any country, in any city in the world,? said Roger Jackson, who served as CEO of Own The Podium 2010. ?You just cannot put together what we have put together on the campus for high-performance sport.?

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Catriona Le May Doan recalled dreaming of a facility like the Oval as an aspiring young speed skater in Saskatchewan, but thinking it would never become a reality.

?Back in Saskatoon, I remember seeing the models of this oval and thinking, ?That would never, ever happen,?? she said. ?And yet, it did happen. And it happened because of these ?88 games.?

Tale of two Ovals:

• In the past 25 years, a total of 287 world records have been set at Calgary?s Olympic Oval in long-track and short-track speed skating.
• Meanwhile, the Richmond Olympic Oval, built for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, is no longer used for speed skating and has been criticized by some for being a ?money pit.?

Source: http://metronews.ca/features/calgarys-olympic-moment/572537/calgarys-olympic-venues-stand-the-test-of-time/

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Airpush and Apsalar announce new partnership, will bring deeper in-app analytics for developers

Developers will be thrilled to hear that Airpush and Apsalar have announced a partnership at MWC that will bring better in-app analytics to Android. Airpush is a mobile ad network and Apsalar is a leader in Mobile Engagement Management solutions.

Airpush will continue to work to get developers paid while Apsalar will provide the ability to measure:

• User behavior
• Retention
• Engagement
• Monetization

More data is better and the better developers can use the data to monetize apps on Android, the better for us all. Full press release after the break.

Source: Business Wire

 

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/bB95JGsxXeU/story01.htm

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More than 160 Israeli Companies Exhibit at Mobile World Congress ...

Company URL Location Description Accel Telecom http://www.accel.co.il Hall 5 Stand 5I70 Next generation connected-car systems for wireless operators Aerotel Medical Systems http://www.aerotel.com/en Hall 5 Stand 5H70 Modular, home and mobile telecare and telemedicine solutions Allot Communications http://www.allot.com Hall 5 Stand 5I70 IP service optimization of over-the-top Internet traffic in fixed and mobile broadband Altair Semiconductor http://altair-semi.com Hall 5 Stand 5MR4 Ultra-low power, small footprint 4G chips for LTE Amdocs www.amdocs.com Hall 3, Stand 3B74 Provides BSS, OSS and network control product portfolio with professional services and managed services AMOS ? Spacecom http://www.amos-spacecom.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Satellite operator delivering broadband and broadcasting services to Africa, Europe, ?Middle East and US Anywhere Software http://www.basic4ppc.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Mobile development tools, including Basic4android to develop native Android applications Applicat http://www.applicat.co.il Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Software house for mobile, web and new media applications across mobile platforms Audiocodes www.audiocodes.com Hall 5 Stand 5I60 Advanced Voice over IP and converged VoIP and Data networking products for Service Providers and Enterprises BoomeRing http://www.boomering.com/home Hall 5 Stand 5I84 FREE ROAMING solution in 165 countries; App-less mobile voice, SMS & data CallApp http://www.callapp.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Social dialer & Caller ID with real-time, relevant info & tools CALLUP www.callup.net Hall 2 Stand 5D50 Drag & drop service creation environment to create ?a supporting BSS flow for any VAS quickly and without coding Cellebrite http://www.cellebrite.com Hall 6 Stand 6D65 Mobile data extraction & analysis CellGuide http://www.cell-guide.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Fabless semiconductor company with GPS/GNSS IP licensing and design for location and navigation Cellint Traffic Solutions http://www.cellint.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Road traffic solutions for mobile operators, governments, traffic integrators and navigation providers CellO (Cellvine & Optiway) http://www.optiway.biz Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Solutions to enhance wireless coverage for cellular broadband customers Cellrox http://www.cellrox.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Multi-persona solution for smart mobile deviceswith lightweight virualtization technology Celltick http://www.celltick.com App Planet ? Hall 8.1 Stand 8.1B10 Home Screen Marketing for mobile operators Celtro http://www.celtro.com Hall 5 Stand 5F11 Backhaul optimization to maximize network capacity, increase network efficiency and improve transmission Ceragon http://www.ceragon.com Hall 5 Stand 5G50 Wireless backhaul optimization to expand capacity, reduce TCO and cut time to revenue Comarcom http://www.comarcom.biz Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Cellular radio access for indoor and outdoor coverage Comigo http://www.comigo.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Advanced Smart TV platform across devices, middleware for Android-based STBs and backend server CommuniTake http://www.communitake.com Hall 5 Stand 5I60 Remote access over mobile devices Comverse www.comverse.com Hall 3, Stand 128 Telecom business enablement solutions through a portfolio of BSS, Mobile Internet, VAS, IP Communications and Professional Services Decell www.decell.com Hall 2 Stand 2D50 Real-time traffic information by monitoring ?location and movement of phones and GPS devices Definiti Media www.definitimedia.com Hall 2 Stand 2D50 Sales Side Platform (SSP) for mobile publishers to manage and optimize ad impression inventory Digital Turbine Logia http://www.digitalturbinelogia.com Hall 5 Stand 5I94 Content development & management for white-label app/media stores Discretix Technologies Ltd. http://www.discretix.com Hall 2 Stand 2A70 Embedded security and DRM to securely deploy premium content across devices DragonPlay www.dragonplay.com App Planet ? Hall 8.1 Stand 8.1M20,Hall 2 Stand 2D50 Social games, based on gambling formats, for smartphones and tablets DSP Group (DSPG) http://www.dspg.com Hall 2 Stand 2MR94 Wireless chipset solutions for converged communications Echo Tubez http://www.smart-safe.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 ?Personal radiation protection? solutions for cellular phone users through accessories Ethernity Networks http://www.ethernitynet.com Hall 2 Stand 2D50 Carrier grade multi-service fabric flow processor supporting any form of data Exent Technologies http://www.exent.com Hall 5 Stand 5I70 Games on Demand across platforms through all-you-can-play subscription and free, ad supported offerings eyeSight Mobile http://www.eyesight-tech.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Gesture recognition technology, powering touch-free UI solutions FibroLAN http://www.fibrolan.com Hall 5 Stand 5I94 Integrated access systems and solutions for carriers, service providers and mobile operators Flash Networks http://www.flashnetworks.com Hall 5 Stand 5G90 Mobile Internet optimization and monetization solutions with in-depth traffic and user analytics Flixwagon http://www.flixwagon.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Live & Interactive mobile video Streaming as a Service (SaaS) Foxcom http://www.foxcom.com Hall 5 Stand 5I60 RF over Fiber solutions for integration into any building of any size Friendly Technologies http://www.friendly-tech.com Hall 2 Stand 2D50 Optimized device and customer experience management solutions for fixed and mobile operators FTS http://www.fts-soft.com Hall 5 Stand 5I70 Convergent charging, billing and policy control solutions Gama Operations Ltd http://www.gamaoperations.com Hall 5 Stand 5I94 Encrypted and Secure VoIP , IP-PBXs and Remote extensions Ginger Software www.gingersoftware.com Hall 2 Stand 2D50 Voice recognition with writing assistance and virtual personal assistant GoNet Systems http://www.gonetworks.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Outdoor WiFi solutions to carriers for 3G data offload and Wi-Fi access applications GreenRoad www.greenroad.com Hall 2 Stand 2D50 Wireless enabled driver performance and vehicle management for safety and ecology Hermon Laboratories TI http://www.hermonlabs.com Hall 6 Stand 6F53 Compliance testing for chip manufacturers, terminal OEMs, test labs and network providers HypnoCore http://hypnocore.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Mobile and web based device to address sleep disorder IDOMOO www.idomoo.com Hall 5 Stand 5I70 Personalized video solutions for enterprises InfoGin www.infogin.com Hall 2 Stand 2D50 Allows website owners to quickly create mobile optimized browsing environments InforUMobile www.inforu.co.il Hall 5 Stand 5I94 Integrated web software to address mobile marketing requirements of businesses Inneractive Ltd www.inner-active.com App Planet ? Hall 8.1 Stand 8.1G16MR Mobile advertising exchange Intucell www.intucellsystems.com Hall 2 Stand 2D50 Dynamic and automatic management of mobile radio networks Inuitive www.innuitive-tech.com Hall 2 Stand 2MR114 Fabless IC company specializing in Natural User Interface IPgallery Inc www.ipgallery.com Hall 5 Stand 5I60 Unified Communication Applications, Services and Core Switching for Communication Service Providers IsItYou www.isityou-online.com Hall 2 Stand 2D50 Biometric and face authentication systems for mobile commerce, banking and sensitive services Jacada Europe www.jacada.com Hall 5 Stand 5H70 Integrated systems for advanced customer and agent interactions via process optimization tools justAd www.justad.mobi Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Self-service platform for the production of rich-media and interactive ads KIDO?Z www.kidoz.net Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Kids? mobile platform to turn Smartphones and tablets into safe, rich media environments Lexifone www.lexifone.com Hall 5 Stand 5I60 Low cost direct or translated calls to over 100 countries in 12 languages LifeWatch www.lifewatchv.com Hall 7 Stand 7D41 mHealth delivery platform monitoring more than 300,000 patients per year Magic Software www.magicsoftware.com Hall 2 Stand 2D50 Application development and integration for enterprise business processes MailVision www.mailvision.com Hall 5 Stand 5I60 Mobile VoIP cloud solution MARS Antennas & RF Systems www.marsant.co.il Hall 6 Stand 6D130 Antenna design and manufacturer, RF solutions provider and R&D company MassiveImpact Ltd. www.massiveimpact.com App Planet ? Hall 8.1 Stand 8.1B50 Mobile ad network focused on performance advertising with leadership in Asia Pacific Matomy www.matomy.com App Planet ? Hall 8.1 Stand 8.1B48 Performance-based advertising across affiliate, display, mobile, search and virutal currency mBox www.mbox.co.il Hall 5 Stand 5I84 End-to-end digital services offering for mobile operators and service providers MCE Systems www.mce-sys.com Hall 2 Stand 2D50 Tools for retail staff to perform sales, service and support services on all mobile devices MCR Media Group www.mcr-m.com Hall 5 Stand 5I94 Mobile value added services and online marketing Mellanox Technologies www.mellanox.com Hall 5 Stand 5I60 Supplier of Infiniband and Ethernet interconnect solutions for servers and storage Mer Telecom www.mer-telecom.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 VAS for mobile operators including billing, back office and financial services MIND CTI www.mindcti.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Convergent real-time billing, customer care and accounting solutions MobeeArt www.mobeeart.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Integrated mobile / web / Facebook platform for intermediaries to provide their SMB / SOHO customers Mobile Tornado www.mobiletornado.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Instant communications for workforce management Mobixell Networks www.mobixell.com Hall 5 Stand 5MR82 Mobile video optimization and web acceleration MTI Wireless Edge www.mtiwe.com Hall 6 Stand 6C92 High quality, low-cost antenna solutions for both military and commercial markets from 100 KHz to 90 GHz Netalizer www.netalizer.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Cloud based SaaS enterprise mobility solutions including mobile field and back-office management NICE Systems www.nice.com Hall 7 Stand 7MR90 Software solutions to capture unstructured data and enable organizations to take Next-Best-Action NovoSpeech www.novospeech.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Speech recognition engine for device-side Smartphones and tablets OK2go www.ok2go.co.il Hall 2 Stand 2D 50 Mobile tools for enterprises to measure and analyze employee worktime, attendance and productivity One Smart Star www.onesmartstar.com Hall 5 Stand 5H70 Enables corporate mobile re-branding through a shortened nickname using the * symbol plus four digits Optiway www.optimway.biz Hall 5 Stand 5I70 Extends in-building cellular reach and delivers multiple cellular technologies on a single optical fiber OriginGPS www.origingps.com Hall 5 Stand 5I60 Miniature positioning modules and antenna solutions PeerApp www.peerapp.com Hall 2 Stand 2D 50 Transparent caching platform provides scalable OTT Video, Media, P2P, and Web caching solutions Perfecto Mobile www.perfectomobile.com Hall 2 Stand 2D 50 Mobile application testing via the web on real phones operating on live mobile networks in 6 countries Play My Tone www.playmytone.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Analyzes and extracts meaningful characteristic from any music track in real-time Pointgrab www.pointgrab Hall 2 Stand 2D50 Control your TV, PC, All-in-One or mobile device through simple hand gestures using a standard 2D camera Pontis www.pontis.com Hall 5 Stand 5MR88 Real-time, segment-of-one marketing solutions for Communication Service Providers Quickode www.quickode.com Hall 2 Stand 2D 50 Creates customized, highly secure and encrypted mobile applications for government, medical and healthcare sectors RAD Data Communications www.rad.com Hall 2 Stand 2MR218 Technologies for wireless and fixed line operators to deploy multi-generational backhaul services RADCOM www.radcom.com Hall 2 Stand 2MR216 Service assurance solutions for communications service providers and equipment vendors Radvision, an Avaya company www.radvision.com Hall 5 Stand 5H70 Voice and video communications over IP and wireless networks, products and technologies Radware www.radware.com Hall 2 Stand 2MR218 Integrated application delivery and application security solutions for business-smart networking used by enterprises and carriers worldwide RADWIN www.radwin.com Hall 5 Stand 5H70 Provider of point-to-point and point-to-multipoint solutions deployed by wireless carriers in over 140 countries RayV www.rayv.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Delivers high quality Live TV and VOD content to PCs and connected devices through the Cloud RCS Rampal Cellular Stockmarket www.rcs.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Leading international distributor of mobile phones, digital cameras and tablets across 128 countries Runcom Technologies www.runcom.com Hall 5 Stand 5I60 Mobile Wimax products including base stations, user terminals and solutions for operators Saguna Networks www.saguna.net Hall 5 Stand 5I94 Radio access network acceleration and mobile content delivery on HSPA and LTE networks Screenovate Technologies www.screenovate.com Hall 5 Stand 5I94 Wi-Fi Display service solution for cellular operators and Wi-Fi display connectivity for IC vendors and smartphone OEMs SerVision www.servision.net Hall 5 Stand 5I94 Manufactures professional video recording and transmission systems for the security and transportation sectors Siklu www.siklu.com Hall 5 Stand 5H70 Develops milimetric-wave Gigabit Ethernet systems for service providers? backhaul networks Silent Communication www.silentcom.com Hall 2 Stand 2D 50 Device and network agnostic mobile solutions for network operators, device OEMs and VAS providers Skyter www.skyter.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Software service for telcos to package, distribute and support 3rd party cloud apps as one managed IT suite for SMBs Snapily / HumanEyes www.snapily.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Technology to create, display and print in 3D, using 2D cameras Snapkeys www.snapkeys.com Hall 5 Stand 5I94 Data entry technology for touch-screen mobile devices SpeedBit www.speedbit.com Hall 2 Stand 2D50 Provides faster internet experience via download accelerator, including fastest video downloader and converter SundaySky www.sundaysky.com Hall 2 Stand 2D50 Automated transfer of static, text-based data into engaging video formats Telco Systems www.telco.com Hall 5 Stand 5I70 Creates telecom network solutions for service providers to create an intelligent end-to-end service assured Carrier Ethernet/MPLS network TeleMessage www.telemessage.com Hall 5 Stand 5I70 Intelligent and secure messaging solutions over any communication device Telmap www.telmap.com App Planet ? Hall 8.1 Stand 8.1C20 Mobile location-based services for mobile operators through integration of local content, community interactions, and relevant offers TriPlay www.triplay.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Cloud-based, unrestricted digital media access across multiple platforms through automated synchronization and other processes Tvinci www.tvinci.com Hall 2 Stand 2D50 Centralized platform for the management of content, business rules and user experience across devices TvTak www.tvtak.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Platform for instant interaction with TV shows, games and ads through the Smartphone Ubiqam Ltd www.ubiqam.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Antenna technology that combines smart RF and DSP for wireless utilization in 3G and 4G relay, repeater and small-cell backhaul UiU Mobile www.uiumobile.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Segmentation platform that delivers Smartphone accessibility enabling end-user tailoring via remote assistance Umoove www.umoove.com Hall 2 Stand 2D50 Identifes and tracks real-time natural head and eye movements to engage and interact with applications Vasona www.vasonanetworks.com Hall 5 Stand 5I70 Provider of platforms for mobile network capacity and resource management Vayosoft www.cellace.com Hall 5 Stand 5I70 Large scale mobile and web systems for telecommunication companies, including MoBackup and MoConsole VI www.vi-app.com Hall 2 Stand 2D50 Social platform to rank your friends? characteristics and create virtual ID?s Viaccess-Orca www.viaccess-orca.com Hall 5 Stand 5C56 Partner for content service providers with TV Everywhere, Hybrid TV and content security Vringo www.vringo.com Hall 2 Stand 2D50 Intellectual property portfolio of over 500 patents and patent applications covering telecom infrastructure, internet search and mobile WeFi www.wefi.com Hall 5 Stand 5H70 Technologies leveraging their database of 150 million wifi hotspots for data optimization Wilocity www.wilocity.com Hall 2 Stand 2D50 60 GHz multi-gigabit wireless chipsets for mobile computing, CE and peripheral markets WiseSec www.wisesec.com Hall 5 Stand 5I60 Advanced mobile micro-location solutions for the security, defense and retail sectors XTR3D www.xtr3d.com Hall 2 Stand 2D50 Turns any consumer electronics device with a standard 2D camera into a full-body motion controlled gaming system Ybrant Mobile www.ybrantmobile.com Hall 2 Stand 2D50 Mobile ad network with sales teams in over 20 countries Zimperium www.zimperium.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Mobile device and network security for organizations based on proactive threat detection Applications Wall AMPhealth by Applicat www.applicat.co.il Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Mobile platform for health service providers and HMOs, providing patients with 24/7 healthcare information and services AMPinsure by Applicat www.applicat.co.il Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Tool for insurance companies and customers to manage policies, file claims, locate service providers, access offers, etc Basic4android by Anywhere Software www.basic4ppc.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Complete development solution for non-expert programmers to build native Android applications BeeHD by Radvision (Avaya Company) www.avaya.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 VoLTE/RCS video communications client, allowing service providers, developers and device manufacturers to launch video calling for all mobile platforms BoomeRing www.boomering.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Reroutes calls initiated from the mobile based on user location, network connection & destination number dialed CallApp www.callapp.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Dialer & Universal Social Caller ID connecting phones to a universal contact-book Cellrox www.cellrox.com/demo Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Multi persona solution for smart mobile devices based on proprietary virtualization technology, enabling separate personas on one device Craze Digital www.crazedigital.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Flixuniverse is a movie streaming App successfully launched on Windows 8 in October 2012 Exent by Exent Technologies www.exent.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 A fully-managed subscription or ad-supported service for operators and OEMs to offer all-you-can-play access to Android games across devices GoGetMi www.GoGetMi.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Comprehensive customer and service provider interaction tools for improved customer service Hormiga by Applicat www.applicat.co.il Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Mobile field service management and workforce software to help organizations streamline field tasks and activities Jacada www.jacada.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Enables organizations to create cross-channel mobile customer service interactions, allowing a seamless connection to the call center Lexifone www.lexifone.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Android App enables affordable translated or untranslated calls to over 100 countries in 12 languages and dialects MADA by Groboot SmarTech www.groboot.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Android app for medical online information and social networking via the Cloud and on-line storage mBox www.mbox.co.il Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Provides content aggregation, content management and multi-content/screen delivery platforms Mobile Tornado www.Mobiletornado.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Push to Talk over Cellular with near zero latency, low power consumption and support of wide variety of devices and accessories moBuynet by CellMedia www.mobuynet.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Rich-media mobile advertising for Incoming Call + End Call, Unlock Screen or through a Text + Visual push notification Motekon www.motekon.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Transforms any photo, sketch or video into personal chat emoticons MultiSearch by CallingID www.callingid.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Advanced search tool to select applications for search or search simultaneously among apps installed on your device myLinks by Applicat www.applicat.co.il Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Customizable white label platform which supplies a set of tools for content managers for managing and publishing their content Parko www.parko.co.il Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Crowd-sourced social networking tool to connect and reward people searching for parking with people leaving parking spots Pixplit Technologies www.pixplit.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Creative collaboration network where friends create images & photo collages together in a single frame Place Reminder by CallingID www.callingid.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Location based services platform that enables continuous operation of LBS applications while preserving battery power Screenovate www.screenovate.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Allows movies and games to be projected on a large TV, while transforming the phone into a powerful controller, set-top box and game console Snapily http://www.snapily3d.com/ Hall 5 Stand 5I84 App for shooting 3D photos using a smartphone?s regular camera and ordering 3D prints directly from the app Syntomo www.syntomo.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Cmail application for Android mobile devices to improve email UX / UI TeleMessage www.TeleMessage.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Enables enterprises and consumers secure and encrypted messaging with enhanced multi-media functionality Trophit by Kankado www.trophit.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Mobile Reward Network using gamification techniques to reward and monetize loyalty activity TourPal http://bit.ly/WKspK8 Hall 5 Stand 5I84 GPS based audio guided tours in a wide variety of countries and languages Trippinin by Trippinin www.trippinin.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Collects, aggregates and analyzes mentions across social media for recommendation engine via mobile app and API Twiize www.twiize.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Personalization of calling including customized greetings, Facebook integration or draw & send personalized notes, designs and photos VascoDe vasco-de.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Transforms simple feature phones into multi-media Smartphones at no cost Visualead www.visualead.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Non-technical tool to embed QR codes into any image or advertisement VivoText www.vivotext.com Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Cloud-based and embedded architecture of Text-to-Speech for content creators across smart phones and tablets Vodio app.vod.io Hall 5 Stand 5I84 Video discovery magazine for ?iPad and iPhone that matches users? personal taste and preferences

Source: http://www.vccafe.com/2013/02/25/more-than-160-israeli-companies-exhibit-at-mobile-world-congress-2013/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss

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