The Keys to Success: Basic Marketing Initiatives | Mortgage News ...

Basic marketing initiatives are never too old to review. They are worth repeating, especially in such a volatile rate environment. Business planning, understanding your market and taking steps to engrain your services within the community, both real estate agent-based and consumer-based, are important keys to success. Those relationships are all critical to our production and on-going referrals. Best rates and lead generation services will not necessarily lead the way in the coming months.

We review a variety of marketing initiatives periodically with our branches. What is important is to establish a pattern of activities visible within the community. The activities must distinguish yourself from the inundation of e-mail, advertising and junk mail received daily by many of those same prospects.

Time to get back to basics. The following are just a few examples. Be active, grow the list, and think outside the box.

Important to remember that any marketing or promotional endeavors should always be reviewed and approved by your compliance officer. Interpretations can vary depending upon the specific event and circumstance. The following practices are examples only and should be viewed as prospective activities, and formally reviewed prior to rollout.

Join local community service organizations

The Better Business Bureau (BBB), Chamber of Commerce, community center, etc., support community events, some of which can be held at, or sponsored by your branch. Some organizations will sponsor a grand opening of a local business, including your branch, if new or recently opened. Many members are well-connected within the community and are individually, prospective leads. They will absolutely be a source of leads in the future. Some events will result in free press coverage and community access.

Be with your real estate agents everyday

Important activities would include open houses, tour day, weekly meetings, office visits, board meetings, community events, e-mail and phone follow-up. Real estate agent tour day and Sunday open house visits are productive time and time again. Purchase a case of red licorice at Costco, about 100 vines per jar. Then get the lists of open homes for real estate agent tour day and Sunday's opens, set a route, distribute the licorice and introduce yourself. Follow-up with office visits during the week.

Consider sponsoring a party bus to take your real estate agents to open houses on tour day. They key in this market is to strengthen, initiate and renew real estate agent contacts. Of course, for events such as a party bus, the agents should pay a proportionate share of the expense to be deemed compliant.

Every business in your market should have business cards or flyers on its front counter

Local businesses are thrilled to display your business cards in exchange for a commitment to send them referrals. No business is off limits: Restaurants, cleaners, beauty salons, bookstores, gyms?anyplace, anywhere. Settlement and service providers should not be included in this activity without checking with your compliance officer.

Every morning, read the newspaper twice

Read the newspaper daily, once for the news and once for your business. When you read it for your business, look at births, obituaries, marriages, local news, announcements of new business, new physicians in town, etc. Send out congratulatory notes, e-mails or mail acknowledgement cards. Send out a minimum of five cards a day. Clip the article and send it with the card. Individuals are always looking for another copy for friends, family and associates?and glow in the recognition.

Perhaps someone's child has won an award. The parents love the personal recognition and you leave a memorable, warm, caring feeling by sending the acknowledgement.

Check the Real Estate Section, especially in the Sunday edition. Who are the real estate agents advertising? Go and visit them. They may be the ones who are doing a majority of transactions. Who are the loan originators advertising? Hire them.

Homebuyer seminars

Organize a "Sunday Brunch With Your Branch" and prep buyers for the day's open houses. It can be just incidental food items, such as pastries and coffee. Invite a real estate agent, title officer, CPA or real estate attorney. There is an opportunity here to obtain free PR if listed in community events section of paper.

Examples:

?Be our guest at the Embassy Suites Hotel this Sunday for a free brunch, and join in on an informative discussion of the home loan process with industry experts.

?Learn from our panel of experts on how the purchase or refinance of your home can be a fast and hassle-free experience. Discover from the insiders what you need to know to take advantage of this thriving real estate market.

?Have brunch and learn from the experts, and visit Sunday's open houses armed with the tools necessary to purchase or refinance your dream home ? RSVP today!

Settlement and service providers should be contributing a proportionate share of the expenses, and a review by your compliance officer is highly recommended.

Participate in community events

Community involvement is just a good thing to do and also helps to promote your services and your branch name, such as serving food to the needy, charity walks, volunteering ay your local PBS TV phone bank, community clean-ups, schools, senior centers, etc.

Hire interns from local schools and colleges

You might be training a potential employee, but it also gets your name and services out there to the community, including the student?s parents.

Give seminars at schools and community organizations

Come with personalized pens and handouts. If you talk to a local high school or junior college on how to sell or buy a home, the students may be bored to death, but they will bring your pen or flyer home to mom and dad.

Allen Friedman has 20-plus years of experience in the mortgage industry. He has maintained key positions in operations and sales management, serving more than 10 years as vice president with Great Western Bank and Washington Mutual Bank (now JP Morgan Chase) and joined iServe Residential Lending in 2009 as western regional sales manager. He may be reached by phone at (415) 298-2500 or e-mail afriedman@iservelending.com.

Source: http://nationalmortgageprofessional.com/news41240/keys-success-basic-marketing-initiatives

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What's the Best TV Mount?

New York City apartments are small, so to make the most of my space, I'm mounting my 46-inch TV to the wall. One problem?which mount do I get? Is your TV wall mounted? Tell us which mount is your favorite. Do I go cheap? Any landmines to look out for? And go ahead regale us with any horror stories you may have of mounts falling off the wall and taking your TV crashing with it.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/WZKcY06M2eI/whats-the-best-tv-mount-950523352

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Space station OPALS points to ramped up returns for research

Public release date: 30-Jul-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Julie A. Robinson, PhD
julie.a.robinson@nasa.gov
NASA/Johnson Space Center

It is a good thing that nobody ever told the International Space Station that it is considered rude to point. Scientists plan to ignore this much touted rule of manners when using the orbiting research platform to host a technology investigation to "point" back to Earth to improve data return communication capabilities from space.

Current spacecraft send data to Earth using radio frequency, but the Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS) will test the use of laser optics to transfer information to the ground. The switch from radio frequency to a laser beamwhich can be hundreds to thousands of times narrower in comparison to radio wavescould improve communication data rates by a factor of 10 to 100. This advanced approach stands to increase the amount of data future missions can send using the same power resources, optimizing research return.

"OPALS represents a tangible stepping stone for laser communications, and the International Space Station is a great platform for an experiment like this," said Michael Kokorowski, OPALS project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. "Future operational laser communication systems will have the ability to transmit more data from spacecraft down to the ground than they currently do, mitigating a significant bottleneck for scientific investigations and commercial ventures."

During tests, a laser beacon will transmit between OPALS and a telescope at the Optical Communications Telescope Laboratory, a JPL ground station in Wrightwood, Calif., while the space station is flying overhead. OPALS's on-board camera system tracks the line-of-sight between the instrument and telescope while a two-axis gimbal and closed-loop system maintain a lock on the uplink beacon.

Each demonstration lasts about two minutes, during which OPALS will downlink a pre-encoded formatted video using the modulated laser beam. The precision of this pointing is the real challenge for optical communications, also termed "lasercomm."

"It's like aiming a laser pointer continuously for two minutes at a dot the diameter of a human hair from 30 feet away while you're walking," explained OPALS systems engineer Bogdan Oaida of JPL.

The instrument's system consists of three main components. The first is a sealed container that houses the laser and electronics. This container connects via cables to the second mechanism, a two-axis gimbal-mounted optical transceiver that includes a camera receiver and collimated laser transmitter for downlink. Finally, there is the Flight Releasable Attachment Mechanism (FRAM) that the sealed container and gimbal transceiver sit on. The FRAM also provides the electrical and mechanical connection to the space station and launch vehicle.

"Our particular payload is actually trying to do something that is relatively modest by optical communications standards," said Oaida during an interview. "That is because the focus is not so much to show that we can do high data rates, but rather to show that we can do optical communications. The sort of rates we will be getting are about 10 to 50 times faster than what you would get at home in your typical cable Internet."

Although OPALS is a demonstration, future applications of this technology promise to increase the efficiency of transmitting science data from the space station, while also having applications for deep space and satellite communications. Such optimizations factor into the ability of people on the ground to receive higher definition video feeds from near-Earth and deep-space assets, improving the interaction and experience with the related missions. Testing in orbit also helps train engineers on the ground and can lead to improved optical communication instrument design.

OPALS recently transferred from JPL to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. There, it is undergoing final interface testing before launch to the space station aboard the SpaceX Dragon commercial resupply capsule, scheduled for late 2013.

The instrument will be installed on the Express Logistics Carrier (ELC) on the exterior of the station where it will operate for 90 days, performing test demonstrations of the optical communications technology. Researchers will analyze the technical data to determine how well the hardware performs.

With the space station operating at full capacity, the amount of research taking place and generating data continues to grow. Likewise, advances in technology, such as high definition video feeds, require greater communication capabilities. An optimization such as OPALS may mean greater return for the investigations, providing scientists that much more data at their fingertips as they seek answers for studies looking at various science disciplines.

The goal is to use information from OPALS testing to improve future designs for optical communications systems. In the case of this instrument it would be rude not to point to the potential it provides for improvements in communications between spacecraft for future exploration missions and commercial endeavors.

###

Jessica Nimon
International Space Station Program Science Office
NASA's Johnson Space Center

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 30-Jul-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Julie A. Robinson, PhD
julie.a.robinson@nasa.gov
NASA/Johnson Space Center

It is a good thing that nobody ever told the International Space Station that it is considered rude to point. Scientists plan to ignore this much touted rule of manners when using the orbiting research platform to host a technology investigation to "point" back to Earth to improve data return communication capabilities from space.

Current spacecraft send data to Earth using radio frequency, but the Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS) will test the use of laser optics to transfer information to the ground. The switch from radio frequency to a laser beamwhich can be hundreds to thousands of times narrower in comparison to radio wavescould improve communication data rates by a factor of 10 to 100. This advanced approach stands to increase the amount of data future missions can send using the same power resources, optimizing research return.

"OPALS represents a tangible stepping stone for laser communications, and the International Space Station is a great platform for an experiment like this," said Michael Kokorowski, OPALS project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. "Future operational laser communication systems will have the ability to transmit more data from spacecraft down to the ground than they currently do, mitigating a significant bottleneck for scientific investigations and commercial ventures."

During tests, a laser beacon will transmit between OPALS and a telescope at the Optical Communications Telescope Laboratory, a JPL ground station in Wrightwood, Calif., while the space station is flying overhead. OPALS's on-board camera system tracks the line-of-sight between the instrument and telescope while a two-axis gimbal and closed-loop system maintain a lock on the uplink beacon.

Each demonstration lasts about two minutes, during which OPALS will downlink a pre-encoded formatted video using the modulated laser beam. The precision of this pointing is the real challenge for optical communications, also termed "lasercomm."

"It's like aiming a laser pointer continuously for two minutes at a dot the diameter of a human hair from 30 feet away while you're walking," explained OPALS systems engineer Bogdan Oaida of JPL.

The instrument's system consists of three main components. The first is a sealed container that houses the laser and electronics. This container connects via cables to the second mechanism, a two-axis gimbal-mounted optical transceiver that includes a camera receiver and collimated laser transmitter for downlink. Finally, there is the Flight Releasable Attachment Mechanism (FRAM) that the sealed container and gimbal transceiver sit on. The FRAM also provides the electrical and mechanical connection to the space station and launch vehicle.

"Our particular payload is actually trying to do something that is relatively modest by optical communications standards," said Oaida during an interview. "That is because the focus is not so much to show that we can do high data rates, but rather to show that we can do optical communications. The sort of rates we will be getting are about 10 to 50 times faster than what you would get at home in your typical cable Internet."

Although OPALS is a demonstration, future applications of this technology promise to increase the efficiency of transmitting science data from the space station, while also having applications for deep space and satellite communications. Such optimizations factor into the ability of people on the ground to receive higher definition video feeds from near-Earth and deep-space assets, improving the interaction and experience with the related missions. Testing in orbit also helps train engineers on the ground and can lead to improved optical communication instrument design.

OPALS recently transferred from JPL to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. There, it is undergoing final interface testing before launch to the space station aboard the SpaceX Dragon commercial resupply capsule, scheduled for late 2013.

The instrument will be installed on the Express Logistics Carrier (ELC) on the exterior of the station where it will operate for 90 days, performing test demonstrations of the optical communications technology. Researchers will analyze the technical data to determine how well the hardware performs.

With the space station operating at full capacity, the amount of research taking place and generating data continues to grow. Likewise, advances in technology, such as high definition video feeds, require greater communication capabilities. An optimization such as OPALS may mean greater return for the investigations, providing scientists that much more data at their fingertips as they seek answers for studies looking at various science disciplines.

The goal is to use information from OPALS testing to improve future designs for optical communications systems. In the case of this instrument it would be rude not to point to the potential it provides for improvements in communications between spacecraft for future exploration missions and commercial endeavors.

###

Jessica Nimon
International Space Station Program Science Office
NASA's Johnson Space Center

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-07/nsc-sso073013.php

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SearchPreview for Google adds preview images (thumbnails) to your Google search results.

About Opera

The most full-featured Internet power tool on the market, Opera includes pop-up blocking, tabbed browsing, integrated searches, E-mail, RSS Newsfeeds and IRC chat.

Product's homepage

Requirements:

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What's New in This Release: [ read full changelog ]

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Source: http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Internet/Opera-Extensions/SearchPreview-for-Google-for-Opera-65892.shtml

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Israel, Palestinians to engage in sustained peace talks

Posted on: 11:27 am, July 30, 2013, by Cary Docter, updated on: 01:26pm, July 30, 2013

JERUSALEM (CNN) ? For the first time in three years, Israelis and Palestinians will come to the negotiating table in Washington on Monday night.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry reiterated praise for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday morning.

The talks will be ?a difficult process,? but he added that the consequences of not trying could be worse. Kerry said the goal is to seek ?reasonable compromises? on ?tough, complicated, emotional? and symbolic issues, then he announced former U.S. ambassador to Israel, Martin Indyk, as U.S. envoy to the talks.

Indyk understands that peace will not come easily, but that ?there is now a path forward, and we must follow that path with urgency,? Kerry added.

The goal of the talks is to establish a Palestinian state with security arrangements and agreed-upon borders with Israel.

Indyk said that he recalled a screen saver that his son once created for him ? a single question that ran across his monitor: ?Dad, is there peace in the Middle East yet??

?For 15 years, I?ve only been able to answer him, ?Not yet,?? Indyk told reporters. But he said he is hoping that these talks would mark a change.

President Barack Obama said the talks are ?a promising step forward? but ?hard work and hard choices remain ahead.?

In a precursor to the talks, Netanyahu prodded the Israeli government into approving the release of 104 Palestinian prisoners ? a move that flies in the face of popular sentiment in Israel.

?This moment is not easy for me. It is not easy for the ministers,? he said. ?It is not easy especially for the families, the bereaved families, whose heart I understand. But there are moments in which tough decisions must be made for the good of the country, and this is one of those moments.?

The measure passed 14-6, with two abstentions.

?It?s easy to see why Israelis wouldn?t be happy about this because some of these prisoners are murderers,? said Elliott Abrams, an expert on U.S. policy in the Middle East with the Council on Foreign Relations. ?There are some of them who?ve thrown bombs onto buses. There are a lot of victims in Israel who are outraged and speaking out in media there asking, ?Why do we have to give Palestinians some kind of concession to get them to the negotiating table?? They?re asking, ?Why are we having to let people out of prison with blood on their hands?? ?

Defense Minister Moshe Ya?alon spoke in an internal Cabinet meeting Sunday, saying: ?There is a heavy price to pay about the freeing of prisoners, from the moral point of view, the legal point of view and deterrence.

?I wish we would not have such dilemmas,? he continued. ?However, in the situation which has come about, there will be a heavy price to pay if we decide not to go into a peace process and are blamed for that in our strategic connection with the U.S.A. and other Western countries.?

Also at Sunday?s meeting, the Cabinet approved the opening of diplomatic negotiations with the Palestinians and authorized a team headed by Netanyahu and four other top ministers to conduct the prisoner release.

The votes were designed to build confidence and help kick-start the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. The first of four waves of releases is scheduled to come after the negotiations get under way.

But Palestinian lawmaker Mustafa Barghouti called the gesture too little, too late.

?The number of prisoners who will be released will be 104 out of 4,800 Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli prisons, so it is a very small number in comparison,? according to Barghouti, who said this group should have been set free after the Oslo Peace Accords in 1993.

?Second, they will be released as announced by (Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi) Livni in stages, depending on the attitude of the Palestinian negotiators on the table, which means the issue of Palestinian prisoners will be used as an instrument of political blackmail,? he said.

?They were all arrested before the Oslo agreement. They lost 20 and 30 years of their life, and there is no justification for that at all.?

The players

The Israelis will be represented at the talks by Livni and Yitzhak Molcho, and the Palestinians will be represented by Chief Negotiator Saeb Erakat and Mohammad Shtayyeh, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement.

Some observers see the Palestinian prisoner release vote, for example, is a sign that the talks have a good chance at being successful.

But it?s not just in the hands of politicians. The Israeli Cabinet approved a measure stating that any agreement with the Palestinians will be submitted to Israelis for a vote.

And while leaders meet in Washington, violence raged in the region. Palestinian police in Ramallah, West Bank, clashed with marchers protesting the negotiations.

The protesters believe the talks indicate a ?willingness to concede, against the position of the Palestinian national consensus and even the decisions of the PLO institutions themselves,? and called the planned talks ?deeply dangerous to the Palestinian national cause,? said the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, a Jerusalem-based Palestinian nongovernmental organization.

And Hamas, which governs the Palestinian territory of Gaza, issued a statement saying that it ?rejects the Palestinian Authority return to peace talks with the Israeli occupation authorities.?

Source: http://fox6now.com/2013/07/30/israel-palestinians-to-engage-in-sustained-peace-talks/

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Sarah Palin leads GOP pack in would-be Alaska Senate primary match-up

She may not be communicating much with the new head of the state party, but former Alaska Gov. and 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin is the top choice for Republicans to run against Democratic Sen. Mark Begich in the state?s U.S. Senate race next year.

Thirty-six percent of GOP primary voters prefer Mrs. Palin compared to 26 percent for Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell, 15 percent for Natural Resources Commissioner Dan Sullivan, and 12 percent for Joe Miller, who defeated GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the 2010 Republican primary only to lose to her after Mrs. Murkowski launched a write-in bid. The numbers come from the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling.

Mrs. Palin generated national buzz earlier this month when she told Fox News? Sean Hannity that she has considered running against Mr. Begich.

?I?ve considered it because people have requested me considering it,? she said.

Mrs. Palin trails Mr. Begich by 12 points in a hypothetical match-up, 52 percent to 40 percent. Mr. Treadwell, who leads Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Miller in a three-way race if Mrs. Palin does not run, is the closest to Mr. Begich in a head-to-head match-up, trailing by just four points at 44 percent to 40 percent.

Mr. Begich leads Mr. Sullivan by 8 points, 47 percent to 39 percent, and Mr. Miller by a whopping 23-point margin at 55 percent to 32 percent.

?It looks like Begich/Treadwell would be a very competitive race,? said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. ?Republicans just have to hope their primary voters nominate the right candidate.?

Alaska Public Radio reported earlier this month that Peter Goldberg, the chairman of the state Republican party, has not talked to Mrs. Palin about a potential run, however.

?I would think she would want to at least speak briefly to the new head of the Alaska Republican Party. But no, never met the lady. Never spoken to her. I have seen her once,? Mr. Goldberg told the station.

The survey of 890 Alaska voters, including 507 usual Republican primary voters was taken from July 25-28 and has a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points. The margin of error for the GOP portion is 4.4 percentage points.

Source: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2013/jul/30/sarah-palin-leads-gop-pack-would-be-alaska-senate-/

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Off-duty Texas police officer kills crowbar-wielding shoplifter, report says

(CBS/AP) GARLAND, Texas - An off-duty Dallas-area police officer working security at a Wal-Mart store has fatally shot a shoplifting suspect who wielded a stolen crowbar.

Police say the uniformed officer used a Taser on the 19-year-old suspect as the man attempted to leave the store Sunday afternoon.

Investigators say the teen refused to put down a crowbar allegedly stolen from the business and threatened the officer with the tool.

Police say the officer, a 19-year veteran with the department, opened fire, according to CBS Dallas.

The suspect was shot in the chest and died Sunday night at a hospital.

Authorities didn't immediately release the suspect's name.

Garland police say the officer has been put on administrative duty during a review of the incident. Police spokesman Officer Joe Harn says surveillance video will be reviewed.

Source: http://feeds.cbsnews.com/~r/cbsnews/feed/~3/YD5Okz2s4Mc/

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Tyreke Evans Hits Seattle Mayor with Killer Crossover at Jamal Crawford's Pro-Am

NBA?superstars never stop, not even for government officials.

Playing at Jamal Crawford's Pro-Am Game in Seattle,?Tyreke?Evans took the city's mayor, Michael?McGinn, to exhibition school.

Going at?McGinn?with his left hand, Evans crossed over to his right, fooling his defender and laying the ball in for an easy two.

Evans' crossover earned a "cool-hand move" from the announcer, the highest of praises from anyone who's evidently attempting to curb their enthusiasm.

Not to be outdone,?McGinn?showed off some handles of his own on the next trip up the floor.

After turning to the crowd while sporting a "did that just happen?" face?which bore a striking resemblance to?LeBron James' "who, me?" frown?McGinn?put down a crossover of his own.

Dribbling with his right hand, he crossed over to his left, then dropped a one-handed dime off to a cutting teammate for the basket.

To answer your question, no, Evans did not provide the necessary help defense.

McGinn's response wasn't as flamboyant as his counterpart's, but it was equally effective. Both drew applause from the crowd and culminated in a made bucket. Nothing else matters.

Well, that's not entirely true.

Any time you see a bureaucrat going all NBA on the basketball court, it's impressive?and as you can see, worth writing/reading about.

Evans does this for a living. Exploiting the nonexistent lateral quickness of a 53-year-old politician isn't exactly a chore.

When that public servant gets into the paint and completes a show-stopping offensive set of his own, that's news.

His point guard-esque court vision is really something to commend. If you're devoid of a true floor general (see New York Knicks), you might want to consider offering him a 10-day contract.

Just remember to make sure he's never tasked with defending?Evans.

?

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1719880-tyreke-evans-hits-seattle-mayor-with-killer-crossover-at-jamal-crawfords-pro-am

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Driver of derailed Spanish train charged with 79 counts of homicide

Francisco Garzon is now under arrest, as the investigation centers on his role in the crash that killed or injured almost everyone on board. NBC's Keir Simmons reports.

By Tracy Rucinski, Reuters

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Spain - The driver of a Spanish high-speed train that derailed and killed 79 people was released pending trial on charges of reckless homicide, a judge ruled on Sunday night.

Francisco Garzon, 52, had been under arrest since Thursday. He is suspected of driving the train too fast through a tight curve on the outskirts of the northwestern Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela.

Examining Magistrate Luis Alaez formally charged Garzon with "79 counts of homicide and numerous offences of bodily harm, all of them committed through professional recklessness," the court said in a statement.

In a closed-door hearing before Judge Alaez, Garzon admitted taking the curve too fast, blaming it on a momentary lapse, according to media reports.

Alaez set the following conditions of release: Garzon must check in regularly with the court, surrender his passport and not drive trains.

None of the parties in the case, which include state train operator Renfe, state railway firm Adif and two insurance companies, had asked for Garzon to be jailed pending trial, and he was not seen as a flight risk, the court statement said.

At 8:41 p.m. on Wednesday the eight-carriage, high-speed train slammed into a concrete wall, crumpled, and some of the cars caught fire. The impact was so strong that one of the carriages was thrown several meters high over an embankment.

The death toll from Spain's worst train disaster in decades rose to 79 after one injured person - a woman from the United States - died on Sunday.

Seventy people remain hospitalized with injuries from the crash, 22 are in critical condition.

Garzon has worked for Renfe for 30 years, 10 as a driver. His father also worked on the rails and he grew up in Renfe-owned housing in the northwestern town of Monforte de Lemos and went to school with other train-workers' children.

After the accident he was hospitalized with a head injury. On Saturday he was released from the hospital but remained in police custody until he was taken to the hearing at Santiago de Compostela's main courthouse.

Neither lawyers nor members of Garzon's family could be reached for comment.

Alaez has been assigned to investigate the case and will also look at whether the train, the tracks or the security system that slows down the trains were at fault.

UP TO THE DRIVER
The Alvia train involved in the accident, one of three types of high-speed train services that run in Spain, received a full maintenance check on the morning of the journey, the head of Renfe said, and security systems were in good shape.

"As far as we know, the train was in perfect condition when it set off on its journey," Renfe President Julio Gomez-Pomar told newspaper ABC.

The Alvia trains run both on traditional tracks, where drivers must heed warning systems to reduce speed, and on high-speed tracks where a more sophisticated security system will automatically slow down trains that are going too fast.

At the section of the track where the accident happened, it was up to the driver to respond to prompts to slow down.

Gomez-Pomar rejected criticism that the safety system was insufficient, saying the debate "does not make much sense".

CELEBRATIONS CANCELED
The city of Santiago was meant to be celebrating the yearly festival of St. James on July 25, with thousands of Christian pilgrims arriving after walking the famous Camino de Santiago ancient pilgrimage trail.

A week of concerts and other cultural events were canceled after the train crash on the eve of the festival. On Sunday, black ribbons of mourning hung on the empty stages that had been set up.

Pilgrims, many of them fresh off the trail and carrying backpacks, crammed into a standing-room-only Mass in Santiago's centuries-old cathedral where they were asked to remember the victims of the accident.

At the cathedral gates, along with flowers and candles commemorating the dead, some people left walking sticks from their journeys and others placed shells, the symbol of St. James and badge of honor for the pilgrims who complete the journey.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who visited the crash site after the tragedy, is due to return on Monday to Santiago, the city where he was born, for an official funeral ceremony for the victims.

Dolores Mato, 57, a shopkeeper who works close to the ancient cathedral, expressed sympathy and grief for the victims and their families, but also for Garzon, who she said had been "crucified" in the media.?

This story was originally published on Sun Jul 28, 2013 11:31 AM EDT

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663309/s/2f44feae/sc/6/l/0Lworldnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A70C280C197342790Edriver0Eof0Ederailed0Espanish0Etrain0Echarged0Ewith0E790Ecounts0Eof0Ehomicide0Dlite/story01.htm

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MolecularMD Corp. Obtains License to Commercialize Predictive Diagnostic Based on Actionable Biomarker, DDR2, for Uses in Lung Cancer and Targeted Kinase Therapy

PORTLAND, OR--(Marketwired - Jul 29, 2013) - MolecularMD Corp. announced today that it has entered into a license agreement granting the company exclusive patent rights to cancer diagnosis technology. Specifically, MolecularMD has obtained rights to commercialize patent-pending intellectual property pertaining to DDR2 mutations for diagnostic, prognostic and predictive uses for humans in the area of lung cancer. Such patent rights are jointly-owned by The Broad Institute and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The inventors named on the patent are Drs. Matthew Meyerson, Peter Hammerman, and Alexis Ramos.

About DDR2 Mutations in Lung Cancer
Research into understanding the genetic basis of cancer has led to identification of novel biomarkers that have been successfully exploited with targeted therapies. In non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), several such targets have been discovered for adenocarcinoma including EGFR, ALK, and MET. Unfortunately, these therapeutic targets are not relevant for squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), which is the second most frequent histological subtype in NSCLC. Recent discoveries identified mutations in the discoidin domain receptor 2 (DDR2) of SCC patient tumors that are oncogenic and also responsive to existing drugs targeting kinase inhibition. DDR2 is a membrane receptor tyrosine kinase involved in cell adhesion, proliferation and migration. In xenograft models, DDR2-mutant tumors regressed under treatment with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor, dasatinib. Remarkably, an SCC patient with no detectable EGFR mutation had a long-term response to the combination of erlotinib plus dasatinib. This patient was found to harbor a DDR2 mutation further suggesting that DDR2 mutations may be clinically relevant. Given the availability of a variety of therapies targeting tyrosine kinases, these findings provide a rationale for designing clinical trials for patients with SCC using existing FDA-approved drugs such as dasatinib, imatinib, nilotinib and ponatinib as well as novel, selective tyrosine kinase inhibitors for DDR2.

MolecularMD is developing DDR2 diagnostic assays, including next-generation sequencing tests, for clinical trials exploring efficacy of targeted therapies and DDR2 clinical utility. MolecularMD provides comprehensive clinical trial support through its CLIA-certified and CAP-accredited Clinical Reference Laboratory. In addition, MolecularMD provides IVD development and manufacturing capability to support companion diagnostic device commercialization. MolecularMD will also support commercialization of DDR2 technology through sublicensing to clinical reference laboratories and diagnostic assay developers and manufacturers.

According to Dr. Greg Cox, MolecularMD's Director of Licensing, "DDR2 is potentially the first actionable biomarker available for SCC patients, whose treatment options are currently limited to chemotherapy. It's exciting that these patients may benefit from existing FDA-approved targeted therapies, and we are eager to support clinical trials examining these novel treatment possibilities and enable widespread access to DDR2 diagnostics."

For additional information, please contact MolecularMD at 1-877-459-4979 or visit its website at www.molecularmd.com

About MolecularMD
MolecularMD Corporation develops and commercializes specialty molecular diagnostics for oncology applications. Its tests are designed to allow appropriate selection, monitoring and management of patients treated with molecularly-targeted cancer therapies. MolecularMD incorporates gold-standard and innovative technologies in providing its partners with the highest quality results. Assays are designed to meet clinical trial needs, and MolecularMD has appropriate systems and standards in place to enable development of companion diagnostic tests in conjunction with partners' novel anticancer agents. A private company based in Portland, Oregon, MolecularMD was founded by Dr. Brian Druker, director of the Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health & Science University, and Sheridan G. Snyder, entrepreneur and founder of Genzyme Corporation.

Source: http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release.do?id=1815298&sourceType=3

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Hudson wedding party boat crash: Driver had 'signs of intoxication'

A boat carrying members of a wedding party struck a barge in the Hudson River Friday night. The boat's operator was charged with first-degree vehicular manslaughter Saturday. NBC's Lester Holt reports.

By Tracy Jarrett and Alastair Jamieson, NBC News

A second body has been found after two people, including a bride-to-be, went missing when a speedboat crashed into a barge on the Hudson River while carrying six members of a wedding party.

The second body was found on Sunday, about a mile downriver from where the first body was found a day earlier, Rockland County Sheriff Louis Falco said on Sunday.

Neither body has been positively identified as belonging to the missing persons.

The pilot of the speedboat was charged on Saturday with vehicular manslaughter.

Jojo John, 35, was also charged with three counts of vehicular assault over Friday night?s crash, said Rockland County Sheriff William Barbera, according to Reuters.

Read more at NBC New York

"There were signs of intoxication," Barbera added, although lab test results were still pending.

John was in custody at Nyack Hospital Saturday night where his condition was ?critical,? according to hospital spokesperson Lauren Malone. He was arraigned at the hospital around 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

After John is medically cleared, he will be sent to the Rockland County jail and held on $250,000 bail, Barbera confirmed to NBC News.

A female body was found discovered adrift and without a life jacket not far south of the Tappan Zee Bridge, Rockland County Undersheriff Robert Van Cura told NBCNewYork.com.

Four others remained in the hospital Saturday while investigators continued their search, the station reported.

The Coast Guard said six people were on a 21-foot Stingray near Piermont, N.Y., when it hit the barge at around 10:40 p.m. local time on Friday near the bridge.

The accident happened shortly after the boat left Piermont for a short trip across the river to Tarrytown, Rockland County Sheriff's Department Chief William Barbera said at a news conference on Saturday morning, according to the Associated Press.

"While the Rockland County Sheriff, N.Y. State Police and U.S. Coast Guard continue to investigate this tragic incident, the New York State Thruway Authority is conducting its own review of safety procedures on the Hudson River as part of the New NY Bridge Project,? said Brian Conybeare, special advisor to the governor, in a statement.

The bride-to-be, identified by family members as Lindsey Stewart, 30, was to get married on Aug. 10, relatives told NBC New York.

?Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families during this difficult time," Conybeare added.

Groom-to-be Brian Bond, 36, is among the four injured passengers, who were described as suffering severe injuries, including head trauma and broken bones. Bond is in ?fair? condition at Westchester Medical Center, according to spokesman David Billing.

Some of those injured are awake and providing information to investigators. Bond, however, is currently unable to speak due to his injuries, Walter Kosik, the bride?s stepfather told NBC New York.

Police said that while it would have been dark in the area at the time of the crash, the barge was lit up.

"At this point, Tappan Zee Constructors, LLC, has reported to the Thruway Authority that all Coast Guard lighting requirements were met and that the barges were properly lit Friday night. All lighting was checked Saturday morning and is fully operational at all barge locations associated with the project,? Conybeare said in the statement.

NBC News? Ali Fateh contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Sun Jul 28, 2013 3:09 AM EDT

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663306/s/2f3f8d11/sc/3/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A70C280C197263630Ehudson0Ewedding0Eparty0Eboat0Ecrash0Edriver0Ehad0Esigns0Eof0Eintoxication0Dlite/story01.htm

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Insight - Obama and Syria: a trail of half-steps, mixed messages (reuters)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/322139727?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Fast And Easy Excess Fat Loss Tips That The Majority Of Work

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Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Fast-And-Easy-Excess-Fat-Loss-Tips-That-The-Majority-Of-Work/5547489

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The 1200 Calorie Diet Regimen - ArticleSnatch.com

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Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/The-1200-Calorie-Diet-Regimen/5545700

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Russell Smith Ford is hiring

Russell Smith Ford
3440 South Loop W
Houston, TX, 77025
Phone: (713) 663-4111

Currently seeking a performance driven Automotive Sales Professional. Our commitment to excellence begins with selecting the right individuals. If you are a team player, hold high expectations, and can amaze our customers with exceptional service and unyielding integrity, our dealership may be the right fit for you!

Job Responsibilities:
Exhibiting a high level of commitment to customer satisfaction.
Knowing and understanding the federal, state, and local laws which govern retail automobile sales.
Keeping abreast of new products, features, accessories, etc., and their benefits to customers.
Meeting the goals and performance standards designated by our management team.

Requirements:
Previous experience and/or exposure in a sales environment
Exceptional communication skills (verbal, written and phone)
Professional appearance
Ability to quickly and confidently build relationships
Excellent negotiation skills
Results & process driven; continually seeks learning and improvement opportunities
Clean DMV/insurable; drug free (pre-employment drug testing required)

EOE

Source: http://houston.backpage.com/SalesJobs/russell-smith-ford-is-hiring/18723059

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Here's How to Start Your Weekend (talking-points-memo)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/322104295?client_source=feed&format=rss

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GOP stars head to Western Conservative Summit, debate strategy for success

DENVER- ? This isn?t an election year, but you wouldn?t know it from the number of potential Republican presidential candidates rubbing shoulders in swing-state Colorado this weekend.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker spoke Friday at the annual Western Conservative Summit at the Denver Hyatt Regency, insisting that Republicans don?t need to change their political positions in response to President Obama?s reelection win in 2012, just their approach.

---

SEE ALSO: Rand Paul to Chris Christie: You need to talk to more real Americans

---

?There?s no doubt that if you are focused on an optimistic, relevant and courageous message, you can not only win, but more important, you can govern,? said Mr. Walker.

Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and ex-Rep. Allen West of Florida are also scheduled to speak over the weekend at the red-meat conservative gathering sponsored by the Centennial Institute, which drew a record 2,000 attendees in its fourth year.

Before headlining the Denver event, Mr. Walker appeared on a panel of Republican governors Thursday at the Aspen Institute along with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence.

Mr. Christie made headlines at the forum when he took a jab at Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, another oft-mentioned possible GOP presidential candidate, as part of their ongoing feud over security versus liberty.

?This strain of libertarianism that?s going through parties right now and making big headlines I think is a very dangerous thought,? said Mr. Christie. ?You can name any number of people and [Mr. Paul] is one of them.?

Democrats have dominated Colorado politics in the last few election cycles, but Mr. Walker said there?s no reason Republicans can?t reverse the trend with the right message. He pointed out that Democrats looked unbeatable in Wisconsin, which he described as ?the home of the progressive movement,? until 2010.

---

SEE ALSO: N.J. Gov. Chris Christie slams Sen. Rand Paul, calls libertarianism a ?very dangerous thought?

---

?In my state of Wisconsin a few years ago, everything was blue,? said Mr. Walker. ?Everything flipped after the November ?10 election.?

Mr. Walker, who survived a recall election brought by Democrats and labor unions in 2012, pointed out that even though Democrats control the White House and Senate, Republicans hold 30 governorships and majorities in 27 state legislatures.

?As frustrated as we were by last year?s presidential election, the reality is that real reform happens in the states,? said Mr. Walker. ?So as much as I want to see changes in Washington, and I?m going to continue to push for those, I?m optimistic about the future because I believe real reform happens in the states.?

He said Republicans fell short in the last presidential election in part because they failed to draw crucial distinctions between liberalism and conservatism.

?I thought we missed an opportunity to explain the fundamental difference between the left and right,? said Mr. Walker. ?I think the president and his allies measure success by how many people are dependent on government. We as conservatives, we should measure success by just the opposite, by how many people are not dependent on government.?

Mia Love, who gave a primetime address at the 2012 Republican National Convention, reinforced the GOP message of independence over dependence. The mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah, Ms. Love is again running against Rep. Jim Matheson, Utah Democrat, after losing by a whisker in 2012.

?Let me tell you what their [liberals?] message is,? said Ms. Love. ?Their message is, ?The American dream is dead. It?s over. The government is your solution. Give up your dreams.? ? Not with my words, but with my life, I will show them that the American dream lives on.?

Source: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jul/27/gop-stars-head-colorados-western-conservative-summ/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS

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TweetDeck Just Got Worse and Twitter Blames Google

If you're a heavy TweetDeck user?we are bloggers, and thus, we are heavy TweetDeck users?you might've noticed that notifications got way crappier this week. It turns out, it's not Twitter's fault, it's Google's. Hmph.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/NptohssJRJE/tweetdeck-just-got-worse-and-twitter-blames-google-932378381

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Rihanna Is Being Fined $47,050 For Missing Court Dates | Music ...

It looks like all that time being spent changing hair colors?and twerking on yachts is catching up to Rihanna!?The singer?has taken a legal page from?Lindsay Lohan?s book and?is now being fined $47,050 for missing various court dates. RiRi sued her former accountants after they allegedly handled her finances poorly, and in retaliation, the accountants countersued stating she missed numerous appointments for depositions regarding the suit, and should be held accountable for her actions. Now, the judge has made a decision to take the side of the accountants.

Rihanna made it into the Top 5 on Forbes??list of 30?top-earning celbrities under 30 list?after earning $43 million, so the Bajan popstress shouldn?t have any issues paying her dues.

[via?SPIN]

Source: http://idolator.com/7473626/rihanna-court-dates-fine/

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Business Highlights

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Hedge funds: From rock stars to fallen stars?

NEW YORK (AP) -- Hedge funds were once the rock stars of the financial industry. The smartest people worked for them. The wealthiest gave them their money. They were an easy path to fortune.

But if that get-rich-quick narrative was an exaggeration before the financial crisis, it's even less true since. The hedge fund industry's performance has been spotty in recent years; its public image, bruised. SAC Capital Advisors became the latest high-flyer brought low when the Justice Department on Thursday accused it of allowing insider trading and making hundreds of millions of dollars illegally.

To critics, hedge funds are secretive, risky, loosely regulated playgrounds for the super wealthy. And while the industry keeps expanding, its performance does not. This year could be the fifth in a row that hedge funds underperform the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index, according to Hedge Fund Research, or HFR, which analyzes the industry. That's an unwelcome reversal: For the 19 years from 1990 to 2008, hedge fund returns beat or tied the S&P 500 15 times.

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Signs point ? finally ? to end of Europe recession

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- After a year and a half of recession, Europe's battered economy could finally be showing signs of life.

It's not the kind of recovery that calls for a big celebration. Any upswing will be a slow and arduous climb ? up a slope strewn with high unemployment and scarce credit for businesses.

But signs of improvement are there. On Thursday, a German index of business confidence rose for the third month in a row. Meanwhile, surveys of purchasing managers in the euro area indicate manufacturing activity edged back into growth territory in July for the first time in 18 months.

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Toyota top-selling automaker despite China slump

TOKYO (AP) -- Toyota shrugged off China sales woes to stay the world's top selling automaker for the first half of this year, outpacing U.S. rival General Motors Co., which boasted such bragging rights for seven decades until 2008.

Toyota Motor Corp. sold 4.91 million cars and trucks around the world for the January-June period, down 1.2 percent from the previous year, according to numbers it released Friday.

GM said earlier this month it sold 4.85 million vehicles worldwide in the six months, growing almost 4 percent as it gained U.S. sales faster than Toyota. For the second quarter alone, GM had a slight edge, outselling Toyota by about 10,000 vehicles.

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FDA proposes rules for safer imported foods

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Chances are that about 15 percent of the food you eat ? more if your diet includes lots of fruits, vegetables and cheese ? comes from abroad, and the government is taking steps now to make it safer.

New rules proposed Friday by the Food and Drug Administration would make U.S. food importers responsible for ensuring that their foreign suppliers are handling and processing food safely.

Imported fruit and cheese has been responsible for many recent outbreaks, including 153 recent Hepatitis A illnesses linked to a frozen berry mix sold at Costco last month as well as four deaths last year that were linked to listeria in Italian cheese. Imported fruits or vegetables are also the top suspect in an ongoing outbreak of cyclosporiasis, a gastrointestinal infection that has so far sickened 321 people in 13 states.

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AP source: No Fed chair pick until the fall

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House says President Barack Obama is not expected to name a new chairman of the Federal Reserve until the fall, lowering expectations for an imminent announcement.

A senior official says the president has not made a decision on who will replace current Fed chairman Ben Bernanke. His term expires early next year.

The president's pick is highly anticipated, given the Fed chairman's impact on economic policy.

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US consumer sentiment reaches 6-year high in July

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Americans are more confident about the economy than at any time since July 2007, a survey found, suggesting consumers will spend more and accelerate growth in the months ahead.

The University of Michigan said Friday that its final reading of consumer sentiment in July was 85.1. That's up one point from June but nearly 13 points higher than a year ago.

Rising home prices and steady job gains are boosting household wealth and income. The proportion of Americans who expect their inflation-adjusted incomes to rise in coming year is greater than at any time since late 2007, the survey found. And the percentage of Americans who say their home values have risen is also at a six-year high.

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United finds 787 transmitter with pinched wire

United Airlines says it found a transmitter with a pinched wire on one of its Boeing 787s ? the same problem that investigators think may have sparked a fire on a parked 787 in London.

Christen David, a spokeswoman for United Continental Holdings Inc., says the airline inspected all six of its 787s, and found one emergency transmitter with a pinched wire. That transmitter was removed and sent back to Honeywell International Inc. for further inspection. It has been replaced and David says all six planes are flying with transmitters.

Earlier this month, an Ethiopian Airlines 787 parked at London's Heathrow Airport caught fire. Investigators said it may have been caused by an emergency transmitter. That prompted U.S. authorities to order inspections for pinched or damaged wires.

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Apple's smartphone market share slips

Apple's share of the global smartphone market fell during the second quarter to its lowest level in four years, according to data released Friday.

Apple took 13.1 percent of the worldwide market, according to ABI Research, down from 16.6 percent a year ago. That's the lowest level since the third quarter of 2009, two years after the launch of the first iPhone.

Apple Inc., based in Cupertino, Calif., sold 31.2 million iPhones in the April-to-June period, up from 26 million in the same period a year ago, the report said. But the company's sales growth isn't keeping pace with the overall smartphone market, which grew 52 percent from last year.

___

T-Mobile nixes down payments, ups monthly fees

NEW YORK (AP) -- T-Mobile said Friday that it is temporarily eliminating upfront payments on new phones, but it is increasing the prices for some models through higher monthly payments.

Unlike rival carriers, T-Mobile charges the full retail price of phones, spread over two years, but reduces monthly service fees for voice, text and data. AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and others typically charge $200 or so up front for high-end phones and make up for the rest of the phone's cost through higher service fees over the life of a two-year contract.

Under a new payment plan introduced in March, T-Mobile charges a down payment for the phone and monthly installments until the device is paid off in two years. For instance, customers pay $146 up front for an iPhone 5 and $21 a month for two years for a total cost of $650. That's about the same price Apple charges when someone buys the phone without a two-year contract for use at another carrier.

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Vivendi sells Activision stake for $8.2 billion

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Vivendi SA is selling most of its majority stake in Activision Blizzard Inc. for $8.2 billion, giving the video game company back its independence as the French conglomerate tries to strengthen its balance sheet.

Vivendi said Friday that 429 million of its shares will be sold to Activision itself for $5.83 billion, or $13.60 per share. Another 172 million shares will be sold for $2.34 billion to a consortium of investors including Activision CEO Bobby Kotick and Co-chairman Brian Kelly, who are contributing $100 million each.

Santa Monica, Calif.-based Activision makes games such as "World of Warcraft" and the wildly popular "Call of Duty" series. Vivendi acquired a majority stake in Activision in 2008 and combined it with its games unit, which included "Warcraft" publisher Blizzard Entertainment, so Activision will walk away a bigger company.

___

By The Associated Press=

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 3.22 points, less than 0.1 percent, to 15,558.83. The Nasdaq composite index edged up 7.98 points, or 0.2 percent, to 3,613.16. The Standard & Poor's 500 index inched up 1.40 points, or 0.08 percent, to 1,691.65.

Oil fell 79 cents to close at $104.70 Friday in New York. In London, Brent crude, which is traded on the ICE Futures exchange, fell 48 cents to $107.17 a barrel.

Wholesale gasoline rose 3 cents to $3.04 a gallon. Heating oil fell 3 cents to $3.01 a gallon. Natural gas shed 9 cents to $3.56 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/business-highlights-221928528.html

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Cut the Rope updated with Cheese Box episode, new characters too!

Cut the Rope has just released an update to the original game for both iPhone and iPad introducing a new set of levels in an episode called Cheese Box. Along with a whole new group of levels to play through, Om Nom meets a new mouse friend making his quest for candy a little trickier.

For those not familiar, Cut the Rope is a heavily entertaining game in which your goal is to feed Om Nom candy by figuring out how to lower the candy into his mouth. Many obstacles will stand in your way including a new mouse character.

Both the iPhone and iPad versions have been updated which are separate purchases for each. For current owners, the update is free.

• iPhone, $0.99 - Download Now

• iPad, $3.99 - Download Now

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/GeCpCIDUS48/story01.htm

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