Obama election tweet most repeated but Olympics tops on Twitter

An election victory tweet from President Barack Obama -- "Four more years" with a picture of him hugging his wife -- was the most retweeted ever, but the U.S. election was topped by the Olympics as the most tweeted event this year.
Obama's tweet was retweeted (repeated) more than 810,000 times, Twitter said as it published a list of the most tweeted events in 2012. (http://2012.twitter.com/)
"Within hours, that Tweet simultaneously became the most retweeted of 2012, and the most retweeted ever. In fact, retweets of that simple message came from people in more than 200 countries around the world," Twitter spokeswoman Rachael Horwitz said.
Twitter users were busiest during the final vote count for the presidential elections, sending 327,452 tweets per minute on election night on their way to a tally of 31 million election tweets for the day.
The 2012 Olympic Games in London had the most overall tweets of any event, with 150 million sent over the 16 days.
Usain Bolt's golden win in the 200 meters topped 80,000 tweets per minute but he did not achieve the highest Olympic peak on Twitter. That was seen during the closing ceremony when 115,000 tweets per minute were sent as 1990s British pop band the Spice Girls performed.
Syria, where a bloody civil war still plays out, was the most talked about country in 2012 but sports and pop culture dominated the tally of tweets.
Behind Obama was pop star Justin Bieber. His tweet, "RIP Avalanna. i love you" sent when a six-year-old fan died from a rare form of brain cancer, was retweeted more than 220,000 times.
Third most repeated in 2012 was a profanity-laced tweet from Green Bay Packers NFL player TJ Lang, when he blasted a controversial call by a substitute referee officiating during a referee dispute. That was retweeted 98,000 times.
This was the third year running that the microblogging site published its top Twitter trends, offering a barometer to assess the biggest events in social media.
Superstorm Sandy, which slammed the densely populated U.S. East Coast in late October, killing more than 100 people, flooding wide areas and knocking out power for millions, attracted more than 20 million tweets between October 27 and November 1.
European football made the list of top tweets when Spain's Juan Mata scored as his side downed Italy 4-0 in the Euro 2012 final -- sparking 267,200 tweets a minute.
News of pop star Whitney Houston's death in February generated more than 10 million tweets, peaking at 73,662 per minute.
Romantic comedy "Think Like a Man" was the most tweeted movie this year, topping "The Hunger Games", "The Avengers" and "The Dark Knight Rises."
Rapper Rick Ross who notched his fourth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart this year, was the most talked about music artist.
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Publisher Bonnier, Flingo partner to make Smart TV Apps

 Bonnier, the publisher of magazines like Savuer and Popular Science, and Flingo, the largest publisher of apps for Smart TVs, have partnered to create a series of apps extending Bonnier's titles onto Internet-enabled TV sets and set-tops boxes like the Roku.
Together, they will release a new app for each magazine, offering videos, images and archival content for fans. Savuer has a couple of web series, including "The Test Kitchen" which helps home chefs learn how to peel garlic or dice an onion. Those videos, currently on Saveur's website YouTube channel, will resurface in the apps, which will be distributed for free in app markets thanks to advertising and sponsors.
Though smart TVs remain a small segment of the TV market, Bonnier believes it is an ideal platform for leading media companies to extend their brand.
"This is about going after new technologies and being at the forefront," Sean Holzman, Bonnier's Chief Brand Development Officer, told TheWrap. "We don't look closely at what other publishing companies may be doing. Flingo has a universe of 15 million devices and that should double in 2013."
The emphasis will be on video since research demonstrates that it remains the top activity, even more than gaming.
Ashwin Navin, CEO of Flingo, said that while many media companies are putting secondary titles on Internet-enabled TVs, Bonnier is using its top titles.
"Major media companies aren't putting their crown jewels on smart TVs," Navin told TheWrap. He added that when they measure how long users spend online with certain brands, websites register just a few minutes.
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Facebook unveils new privacy controls

 Facebook Inc began rolling out a variety of new privacy controls on Wednesday, the company's latest effort to address user concerns about who can see their personal information on the world's largest social network.
New tools introduced on Wednesday will make it easier for Facebook's members to quickly determine who can view the photos, comments and other information about them that appears on different parts of the website, and to request that any objectionable photos they're featured in be removed.
A new privacy "shortcut" in the top-right hand corner of the website provides quick access to key controls such as allowing users to manage who can contact them and to block specific people.
The new controls are the latest changes to Facebook's privacy settings, which have been criticized in the past for being too confusing.
Facebook Director of Product Sam Lessin said the changes were designed to increase users' comfort level on the social network, which has roughly one billion users.
"When users don't understand the concepts and controls and hit surprises, they don't build the confidence they need," said Lessin.
Facebook, Google Inc and other online companies have faced increasing scrutiny and enforcement from privacy regulators as consumers entrust ever-increasing amounts of information about their personal lives to Web services.
In April, Facebook settled privacy charges with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission that it had deceived consumers and forced them to share more personal information than they intended. Under the settlement, Facebook is required to get user consent for certain changes to its privacy settings and is subject to 20 years of independent audits.
Facebook's Lessin said some users don't understand that the information they post on their Timeline profile page is not the only personal information about them that may be viewable by others. Improvements to Facebook's so-called Activity Log will make it easier for users to see at a glance all the information that involves them across the social network.
Facebook also said it is changing the way that third-party apps, such as games and music players, get permission to access user data. An app must now provide separate requests to create a personalized service based on a user's personal information and to post automated messages to the Facebook newsfeed on behalf of a user - previously users agreed to both conditions by approving a single request.
The revamped controls follow proposed changes that Facebook has made to its privacy policy and terms of service. The changes would allow Facebook to integrate user data with that of its recently acquired photo-sharing app Instagram, and would loosen restrictions on how members of the social network can contact other members using the Facebook email system.
Nearly 600,000 Facebook users voted to reject the proposed changes, but the votes fell far short of the roughly 300 million needed for the vote to be binding, under Facebook's existing rules. The proposed changes also would eliminate any such future votes by Facebook users.
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U.S. gun website sued for alleged ties to slayings

A prominent U.S. gun control group on Wednesday sued a gun auction website it says is linked to a mass shooting at a Wisconsin spa in October and the stalker slaying of a woman near Chicago in 2011.
The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence alleges that the design of armslist.com facilitates illegal online sales to unlawful gun buyers with no background checks, and enables users to evade laws that permit private sellers to sell guns only to residents of their own state.
"We as a nation are better than an anonymous Internet gun market where killers and criminals can easily get guns," said Jonathan Lowy, the Brady Center's Legal Action Project Director, in a statement.
The wrongful death lawsuit was filed in Cook County Circuit Court on behalf of the family of Jitka Vesel, 36, an immigrant from the Czech Republic who was shot and killed last year by Demetry Smirnov, a stalker.
The suit, which the Brady Center says is the first of its kind, alleges that Smirnov illegally bought the gun from a private seller he located through armslist.com.
Vesel was killed in the parking lot of the Chicago-area Czechoslovak Heritage Museum, where she was a volunteer preparing for a celebration in memory of Czech-American Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak.
Cermak was slain with a handgun during an attempted assassination of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933.
A representative for website owner Armslist, LLC was not immediately available for comment. The company is based in Noble, Oklahoma, according to public records.
The website includes a "terms of use" page on which users must promise they are age 18 or older and will not use the site for illegal purposes.
The Brady Center said that the case does not infringe on the Second Amendment right to bear arms, noting that 74 percent of National Rifle Association members believe that no guns should be sold without a criminal background check.
A representative for the NRA was not immediately available for comment.
Radcliffe Haughton, who killed his estranged wife and two other women and wounded four others before killing himself in a shooting in a Milwaukee suburb on October 21, also got his weapon through armslist.com, according to Wisconsin officials.
Haughton, who was under a restraining order for domestic violence, avoided a background check through a "lethal loophole" by buying a gun through the website, according to a letter to Armslist sent by Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and Wisconsin U.S. Representative Gwen Moore on October 26.
Sales conducted over the Internet also have been linked to mass killings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University. In 1999 eBay announced it was prohibiting online gun sales, according to the Brady Center lawsuit.
Craigslist did the same in 2007. Amazon.com and Google AdWords also prohibits the listing of firearms for sale, the suit says.
An undercover investigation of online gun sales by New York City last year found that 62 percent of private gun sellers agreed to sell a firearm to a buyer who said he probably could not pass a background check.
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Google, U.S. regulators close to deal in patents dispute: sources

 U.S. regulators are near a settlement with Google Inc in a dispute over the search giant's efforts to stop the sale of products it says infringe essential patents, according to two sources close to the probe.
But the Federal Trade Commission is not expected to reach a deal soon on the larger, more contentious issue of whether Google tweaks its search results to disadvantage rivals in travel, shopping and other specialized searches.
Its rivals say Google fears the specialized sites will siphon away its most lucrative advertising and the revenue that goes with it.
Under the expected settlement, which could be announced this week or next, Google will be required to drop demands for injunctions in lawsuits filed using a special class of patents called standard essential patents, or SEPs, the sources said.
SEPs ensure, for example, that one brand of wireless phone can call another brand.
There would be an exception to the injunction ban, however. Google would be allowed to request injunctions if companies refuse to negotiate SEP licensing at all, the sources said.
SEPs are usually expected to be broadly licensed for a reasonable price. One view is that if a company convinces a standard-setting organization to name its patent as the standard, that company should be barred from asking for an injunction if there is infringement.
The larger investigation, which is more than a year old, addresses search bias as well as smaller items that aggravate Google's rivals in Silicon Valley and beyond.
These include taking data, such as hotel reviews, from non-Google web sites to use on Google products, and preventing the export of data on advertising effectiveness to non-Google software so ad campaigns can be evaluated.
The European Commission is investigating many of the same allegations.
Google's critics, disappointed with the trajectory of the FTC probe, appear prepared to take their grievances to the U.S. Justice Department.
At least one Google adversary met with Justice Department officials recently, pressing them to investigate if the FTC fails to get a satisfactory settlement on search or litigate against Google, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.
The Texas attorney general's office is also leading a probe into Google's practices.
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Top 10 Reasons to Hire Older People

In a world where traditional retirement makes less and less sense, the need and desire of older people to retain or find meaningful jobs depends in part on overcoming bogus attitudes about older employees. Smart and progressive employers get this. Sure, Google is probably not losing any sleep over failing to train septuagenarians about search-engine algorithms. But being uninterested in crowd-sourcing the best taco stand within four blocks of your smartphone is not a disqualification for being an excellent employee.
[See 10 Workplace Myths Debunked.]
Unemployment rates among older workers are lower than that of the general workforce. However, when an older person does lose a job, it has been much harder to find a new one. Older job seekers need to do an honest self-assessment of their skills and upgrade them if needed or set their sights on jobs that better match their current capabilities.
Employers need to make their own adjustments, beginning with tossing preconceptions of older workers out the window. Judge each job applicant as an individual. It's the law, and it's also the right thing to do. In assessing the suitability of older job applicants, here are 10 other things to keep in mind:
1. They are not unhappy. MetLife recently completed its 10th annual survey of employee benefits, based on extensive surveys of hiring managers and employees. It finds that younger employees are really unhappy these days. Older workers, by contrast, tend to be more appreciative of what they've got.
2. They are not going to jump ship. MetLife also found that alarming percentages of younger workers would like to be working somewhere other than their current employer in 2012. Among Gen Y workers (born 1981 to 1994), it was 54 percent, while 37 percent of Gen X workers (born 1965 to 1980) were ready, willing, and able to bail on their employers. The comparable figures were 27 percent for younger boomers (born 1956 to 1964) and 21 percent for older boomers (born 1946 to 1955).
3. They are not as needy. Upwards of two-thirds of Gen Y and Gen X employees want more help from employers in providing benefits that better meet their needs. Among older baby boomers, only 31 percent felt that way.
4. They don't want their boss's job. Older employees have, by and large, recognized where they are in terms of professional advancement. They don't waste a lot of time, either theirs or their employer's, with career concerns.
[See When Your Boss is Younger than Your Child.]
5. Their skills shortage may be way overblown. Don't assume that older employees don't know their stuff. Maybe they are not texting during meetings because they are more polite. Odds are, they may actually know how to spell complete words, too, if that's important to you.
6. They know what they want. Personal quests are great but they shouldn't be done on work time. Older workers tend to leave their angst at the door when they get to work.
7. They show up on time every day. Any older employee with a solid resume has already developed the kind of attendance and reliability records employers want.
8. They have few personal or family distractions. Seniors love their children but are gladly done with afternoon school runs, soccer games, and any number of other parental duties.
9. Benefits are not as crucial. The MetLife research found that much more pressure for better benefits comes from younger workers. In part, that's because they don't believe Social Security and Medicare benefits will be around for their later years. Older workers, by contrast, have much greater confidence in being able to count of those government programs.
[See Is an Extended Senior Career in Your Future?]
10. Wisdom still counts for something. Even a rock picks up something of value after 40 or 50 years. Imagine what older employees can bring to the job if they are encouraged to share it and even mentor younger colleagues.
One final note: Today's column includes several misguided stereotypes about younger employees. Before taking too much offense, imagine how older folks feel when they are treated the same way.
And by the way, happy birthday to the most influential arbiter of high-tech gadgets: Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal. He turns 65 tomorrow.

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Do Baby Boomers Resent Their Children?

When new research came out recently about 20-somethings' financial struggles, the survey also revealed some encouraging news: Not only are members of Gen Y optimistic about their future, but older Americans--Gen Y's parents and grandparents--agreed that young people today have it rough. That kind of cross-generational solidarity suggests a mutual understanding and support network that Gen Yers desperately need to get on their feet.
After all, some experts have found that help from family members, in the form of emotional support or financial assistance, can make the difference between falling further behind and finding a way to move forward. Luckily, many of today's 20-somethings benefit from so-called "helicopter parenting" and continued closeness with their parents--one reason why at least 1 in 4 feel comfortable enough to move back home after college graduation.
But the comments left by readers in response to our recent articles on the subject suggest that a far stormier relationship might be lurking beneath those cheery survey findings. Comments left by older Americans are often full of resentment toward the younger generation, describing them as spoiled brats who don't know how to be frugal and lack any appreciation for what's been given to them.
In response to the finding that half of young adults have taken jobs they don't want in order to pay bills, a commenter calling himself "old unemployed guy" wrote, "The shock! The horror! It's called being a grown up and it really sucks. Fortunately there is a support group that meets at the corner bar every night."
Another commenter wrote, "The problem with Generation Y is that they're[sic] idiotic enough to believe government can fix the economy." Another focused on student-loan debt and argued that young people should not complain about having so much of it. Rick of Texas wrote, "We worked our way through school, and graduated without debt. I have two sons, and both worked their way through school. If you built up debt going through school, you have to pay it off."
A commenter calling herself Kathryn also disagreed with the premise that young people have it harder today. "Things are no harder now, than [they were] in their grandparents' generation. They just want more, and sooner. They see the house the earlier generations have, and automatically think that is what they should have," she wrote.
The harsh words also flowed in the other direction. A younger American, calling himself Danny of New York, wrote, "I am really tired of older Americans trying to talk about how younger Americans are stupid? The economy is crap, not because of us but because of you."
Another story that profiled a young man surviving on $20,000 a year drew similar ire from older commenters. They wrote that it was irresponsible to live without health insurance and that he was too young to understand how hard life would become once he also had a family to support.
These commenters raise questions about how older and younger Americans are truly getting along. We might be living together more than in the past, and be more involved in each other's daily decisions and lives, but do we like each other? What explains this intergenerational anger? Do older Americans resent younger ones, and if so, why? Does either generation really have it "better" than the other?
The unfortunate truth might be that the economy has made it harder for everyone--young and old--to feel good about their financial state. And that frustration easily pours out into angry comments.
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Is a Rural Retirement Right for You?

Would you be willing to exchange Thai restaurants and unwavering wireless Internet for homegrown produce and birdsong?
If so, a rural retirement may suit you well. The bonus: Rural acreage is a rare segment of the real estate market that weathered the Great Recession.
[See 10 New Retirement Hotspots.]
According to a report from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, residential land values in the United States are down nearly 70 percent since peaking in the second quarter of 2006. During that same period, the value of cropland in the contiguous United States rose some 20 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That's also the downside; higher values mean higher points of entry for would-be buyers looking to get into the rural market.
But the category looks poised to grow even more (individual markets may vary, of course.) Higher overall commodities prices lift land values. And while commodities prices can be volatile, a rising global middle class population that's sure to eat better and drive more could keep a floor under the market. That helps land prices.
"Idyllic lifestyle-seekers" want a fresh start and a tangible investment, says Dan Duffy, CEO at the rural and coastal real-estate search network United Country, based in Kansas City, Mo.
"You can't create more land--it's a finite investment. And during the downturn, agricultural land produced a dividend-like yield in the 5 percent to 8 percent range, plus capital appreciation. This, while some bond yields hovered at zero or worse," Duffy says. Land is also broadly characterized as a "real" asset. It's tangible, and that makes it an inflation-fighter.
Land investment can be two-pronged: The land itself is worth something, and what it might produce has a separate value. There are other money-making possibilities: rental income, such as for livestock grazing, cash crops from corn to timber, lodging fees for cabins or a bed-and-breakfast, organic-vegetable selling, fishing and hunting rights, wind power or natural gas rights, and profiting from eco-tourism.
Crickets can be louder than traffic. A trend of retirees leaving the suburbs for small town and country life--a move that demographers call "out-migration"--was underway before the economic downturn. It held up relatively well during that period, although was slowed somewhat by weak home-selling markets that kept retirees and soon-to-be retirees in their existing homes. But with the number of baby boomers exiting the workforce, it's a trend that looks to continue.
[See the 10 Sunniest Places to Retire.]
USDA data show a "deconcentration" of population near metro centers. Urban areas will see a net loss of people age 55 to 75, while in non-metro areas, that age group will increase by 1.6 million nationally during the next 10 years.
Remember the Alpaca farm craze a few years back? Turning into a rancher overnight isn't for everyone. Luckily, there are dozens of ways to extend your "career" in the country. If remote life isn't quite your aim, small-town retirement hubs may allow for a service-focused second career--think restaurant or real estate office proprietor, or perhaps hanging out a tax-preparation shingle after a long accounting career at a Fortune 500 company.
Many retirees want land they can develop or recreate, at least partially, for their own residential or hobby use. A land purchase can be a wise "mini step" toward retirement: Buy the land while still working in a populous setting, rent it out, move there eventually, says Duffy.
Prime school districts may no longer top the list of real estate must-haves, but retirees want a certain level of service and cultural amenities, whether they're in population centers or not. This need may help drive their decision-making. Plus, there are potentially heavy maintenance costs and overall land management responsibilities that may turn off some buyers. An acreage is a big purchase, one that requires a considerable amount of due diligence. (Real estate firms are increasingly getting into the land-management business, so property owners can pay for help.)
Curtis Seltzer, a rural land investor and author of How to Be a Dirt-Smart Buyer of Country Property, says rural buying should start at the ground up, literally, with a focus on dirt. "Most buyers from the city and suburbs, including me, focus first and almost exclusively on the country house, whether existing or planned," writes Seltzer. "This comes at the expense of paying attention to the dirt on which the house stands and which surrounds it. We do this, I think, because all of us have a passing familiarity with houses. So we evaluate country property in terms of what we know rather than what we don't."
[See 10 Places to Buy a Retirement Home for Under $100,000.]
Seltzer offers these tips:
-- Look first at how the land lays--its topography. Which direction do its slopes face? How steep are they? If the land is flat, will it drain quickly or hold water because the subsurface contains a lot of clay? The surface vegetation and the feel of the dirt in your hands will give you an initial reading. Topographically interesting land is usually more interesting to spend time on, but it's also more expensive to work with and much harder to work against.
-- Second, look at your soils. Different soils have different characteristics and capabilities which will determine what you can do with your property at a reasonable cost. Your first stop in scoping property is to pick up a copy of the county's Soil Survey at the local U.S. Department of Agriculture office. County-level aerial maps and soil-survey information are available for some states and counties, and can be found at soils.usda.gov/survey.
-- Third, look at the location of your dirt. Will it be hard to get to in bad weather? Is it subject to flooding, earthquakes, mudslides, windstorms, fires, and prevailing weather? If you have shoreline, is the land low (bad) or high (good)? Is the shoreline eroding? Is the land facing in the right compass direction for your plans?
-- Finally, look at your dirt in terms of proximity to local goods and bads--hospital, fire station, public water and sewerage, rescue squad, floodplain, job opportunities, and distance from your current residence, post office, bank, supermarket, and objectionable facilities--however you care to define them.
Trending now. United Country's Duffy says rural destinations in the Mid-Atlantic are drawing rising interest for their temperate climate, mix of mountains and shoreline, and reasonable distance to centers such as Washington, D.C. This way, retirees may maintain consulting positions and ease into their retirement. One micro-trend is what he terms the "half-backers." It's a population that spent their working years in the Northeast, then retired to Florida, but are now finding unattractive pricing (or lack of housing or elbow room there) and are moving halfway back to the Northeast.
Duffy says "small" ranches of a few hundred acres in Texas are popular searches on his firm's website. He also notes increasing migration from California to the "unspoiled" and less-expensive mountain retreats of Colorado, Montana, and Idaho.
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10 Great Opportunities for Older Volunteers

If you have time and an interest in volunteering, you can literally create your own program. Aided by Internet sites that match needs and volunteers, along with other do-it-yourself online tools, boomers are rewriting the book on how volunteering works.
[See Top 10 U.S. Places for Healthcare.]
AARP has kicked off a large volunteer effort through its "Create the Good" program and website. "People want more flexibility in their volunteering," says Barb Quaintance, AARP senior vice president for volunteer and civic engagement. There is a preference for self-directed volunteer efforts: More than half of all boomers select this approach, according to AARP, as it allows them to satisfy their needs as well as those of the recipients they help.
Americans' willingness to volunteer has been steadily increasing, according to a survey from the government's Corporation for National & Community Service, which oversees the Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and related volunteering programs. Across different age groups, the rate of volunteering has grown dramatically. More than 26.5 percent of adults ages 45 to 64 volunteer, the corporation says, up from 22 percent 20 years ago. For older volunteers, the rate has increased during the same period, from 17 percent to more than 28 percent. In 2010, 21.9 million baby boomers dedicated 2.9 billion hours of service to communities throughout the country, most often with a religious institution--the most popular organizations through which this age group volunteers.
"The baby boomer generation is the largest, healthiest, and most educated generation in history," says Robert Velasco, II, acting CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). "While a large portion of older adults volunteer, it's crucial to not place them in the same category. Seniors aren't monolithic," he says. "All of them want to make a difference, but I think they may want to make a difference in different ways."
At the younger end of the senior age spectrum are people who are still working or have recently retired. They might have a preference for skills-based volunteering, in which they can put their career skills to work in volunteer settings. Funding cutbacks during the recession have increased the needs of nonprofits, he notes. Accountants are needed to work on agency finances. Social workers are needed to work with children and at-risk populations. Various nonprofits may need a range of skilled tradespeople--plumbers, electricians, and the like.
[See AARP Moves to Protect Social Security and Medicare.]
But it's the wave of younger volunteers that is changing the model. "There's a whole new world of volunteering," Quaintance says. In some cases, volunteers' demand for flexibility and control has been hard for nonprofits to accept. Some agencies are accustomed to recruiting volunteers who go where they are directed and do what they're told. "Nonprofits are waking up to the fact that they need to be more flexible," and it can be a difficult adjustment, Quaintance says.
On the Create the Good site, volunteers can access local volunteer needs by ZIP code and see these needs broken down into several categories: Show-Up, DIY (Do It Yourself), Online, and what it calls "5 Minute" opportunities that may be nonrecurring, relatively quick ways that people can help.
"The strategic nonprofits have figured out how volunteers can be a critical part of their solution," Velasco says. "Many boomers bring advanced professional and management skills that can help nonprofits increase their impact on community issues. Engaging boomers in more challenging assignments has the added benefit of increasing the likelihood they will continue to volunteer over a longer period of time because they find the work more engaging."
Here is a list of volunteering opportunities that might be of interest:
Preparing income taxes. The AARP Tax Aide program has more than 34,000 volunteers throughout the country who donate their time and expertise to help people with their taxes. It is a major example of "skills-based" volunteering, which is growing.
Road and waterway clean-ups. If it's green, people want to help. Weekend clean-up campaigns are great opportunities for people to improve their communities, meet like-minded neighbors, and get outside for some exercise. These activities also meet volunteers' growing interest in flexible and even one-shot volunteer opportunities.
Helping the helpers. Nonprofits have seen funding decline even as demand for their services soars. Skills-based volunteers are increasingly filling key roles at agencies that had been performed by full-time staffers.
[See The Secret to a Long and Happy Life.]
Applying for benefits. The steep recession has led to record increases in food and other assistance programs. Often, people need help in applying for benefits, to make sure they qualify and obtain benefits promptly.
Helping kids at school. Just about anything that has to do with children is high on the list of desired activities, ranging from reading to younger children, tutoring, helping coach sports teams, and assisting with a wide range of extracurricular enrichment programs. There are many other school-based volunteer opportunities, and the need will grow this fall because of widespread school funding cutbacks throughout the country.
Helping kids at home. The slow economic recovery has put tremendous stress on families, forcing all adults in a household to seek work and creating rising demand for home-based caregivers and after-school support programs.
Repairing safety nets. From assisting food banks to driving people to healthcare clinics, there is plenty of help needed. Cash-strapped governments and social-service support programs badly need volunteers to help meet a range of human needs.
Live the dream. There are loads of opportunities to volunteer in activities you've always wanted to try: working with animals, being a docent or tour guide, helping arts organizations, and the like. Someone needs and will appreciate having the benefit of your skills.
National and state parks. Parks often take an early hit when budgets are cut. The government regularly seeks volunteers to clean and even help manage the under-staffed and under-funded National Park Service.
When disaster hits. Americans step up when their neighbors are hurting. Recent weather volatility has produced unusually severe storm damage throughout the country, and a related increase in volunteer activity.

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Keeping Cartier contemporary: the jewelry house discusses modern art, mass market collaborations and the revival of classics

Ahead of the launch of Cartier, Jeweler of the Arts, the latest expo from Cartier's art museum the Fondation Cartier, which begins April 3 in Paris, Relaxnews met up with Cartier Europe's managing director Cyrille Vigneron to discuss how a prestigious maison stays ahead in an ever evolving luxury market.
Relaxnews: Cartier, Jeweler of the Arts brings together four artworks commissioned by Cartier and made by four very different artists (David Lynch, Takeshi Kitano, Alessandro Mendini, Beatriz Milhazes) using precious and semi-precious stones no longer deemed suitable for the brand's jewelry. What makes a luxury house decide to team up with contemporary artists?
Cyrille Vigneron: The artists can see what others don't see in terms of trends, arts, design, all forms of expression. They see a different way to represent the world and the foundation doesn't think about what Cartier is doing -- it just thinks about the art world. The Fondation won't become a design studio for Cartier products. Some other brands are doing that, calling artists or designers and saying 'sign our products' or making something that is co-branded. I won't say who but you can easily see. It becomes a hybrid which has some value but it changes the orientation and perception. A brand should be true to its own creative past, its own patrimony, and the designer should serve that as a purpose. When it comes to a designer working for himself it's something different.
RN: The Fondation Cartier is known for championing emerging contemporary artists from across the globe, but where does Cartier stand on rising US jewelry designers such as Alexis Bittar and Pamela Love? Do you feel a challenge to compete or consider them separate?
CV: For jewelry I say the more players the better. Having more famous designers gets people interested and creates stimulation and diversity. But each has to find its own style. For example, Hermès is moving into it and exploring its own way with the famous Hermès handbags being transformed into jewelry for the luxury market. This is something exploratory, something no one has done before. As long as we have many designers doing something genuine it's fine, when a designer starts to copy another one that's not fine.
RN: Cartier was one of the main luxury jewelers in the limelight following last year's Elizabeth Taylor jewelry auction, and some of the opulent designs inspired by the star's collection have been reinterpreted on a mass scale. What is your take on this?
CV: When you are copied it means that you're interesting, but if some brands just come and copy others without making any innovation or developments then it's counterfeit. You should respect others. If you just say, "We'll copy this and make it cheaper and it will be fine," it's just disgusting. But if you really go further and try something new and I'll find clients for that then it's great, then it stimulates everyone's creativity and inspires us to do things better.
RN: So would Cartier ever collaborate with a more affordable brand?
CV: No, never. There can be room for premium jewelry or costume jewelry; it can all be something interesting as far it is what it is. Then there is fine jewelry, then there is high jewelry and it's a different world. We can have simple designs; for example the trinity ring is very simple, a wedding band is a wedding band -- simple, straight, symbolic -- we're happy to do it.  But a lower end collaboration to diffuse via a mass production -- never. Projects such as the recent Cartier Odyssey movie make Cartier universal. Whether you intend to buy or not doesn't matter.
RN: How does Cartier maintain a balance between keeping traditional clients happy and attracting new ones?
CV: The maison has a stature and has been endorsed by really famous people from past and present: Liz Taylor, the Duchess of Windsor, Grace Kelly. But this can only continue if our contemporary creations are rejuvenated. Now the most demanded pieces come from the Tutti Frutti collection, each of them is new but has been inspired by the 1920s. We can make new ones out of the same inspired style and then have something really daring and new in terms of shape and style and ways to wear. Classics are the kind of designer pieces or products which can talk to anyone at anytime -- a design that has been outstanding whether made in the 1930s or 1970s or this generation. That's why collections go through generations; whether it's a trinity ring or a love bracelet. At some point they were daring and then they become classic because someone wears them. Our creations are constantly kept alive, adding new variants to the same model but also keeping the initial model alive itself and that's why we have many variants on the Tank watch collection or the trinity collection.
RN: What advice would you give someone considering investing in an expensive item of jewelry?
CV: The best way is to see what suits you; your style, lifestyle, what you want to express, who you want to look good for. Talk and let the magic work. You buy it for life. We have a lot of respect for people like mothers who will give their daughter their trinity ring when she turns 18. Our creations keep their value over time and there is currently a lot of demand for vintage pieces.
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Escape Villas Offers Family Vacation Rentals for the Holidays

Trade the cold winter weather in North America for a tropical Christmas vacation in Costa Rica, where travelers can spend their holidays enjoying outdoor family adventures in the comfort of an Escape Villa family vacation rental.

Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica (PRWEB) December 19, 2012
As the holiday season approaches, more Americans are planning to travel for Christmas compared to 2011, according to a report by HomeAway, Inc. – an online vacation rental marketplace. The number of families traveling in December is expected to nearly double, rising from 22 percent in 2011 to 40 percent this year.
And while everyone looks forward to a “White Christmas,” some families are trading in blankets of fresh snow for the pristine white sands of a tropical beach. Costa Rica has long been a sun-kissed haven for vacationers seeking outdoor thrills and wildlife encounters, and its balmy weather is a welcome respite during the blustery winter season.
Escape Villas, Costa Rica’s leading vacation rental company, sees a ten-fold increase in reservations during the holiday season, with the majority of bookings made by large family groups. “One of the terrific features about vacation rentals is that extended families can stay together with all the creature comforts of home – but with a lot more space and privacy. They have their own swimming pool, kitchen, laundry facilities and an array of other amenities at no extra charge," says Escape Villas spokesperson, Sara Hopkins
With an impressive portfolio of villas and vacation rentals in some of Costa Rica’s most family-friendly locales, including Manuel Antonio, Tamarindo and Flamingo, Escape Villas caters to those seeking plenty of warm sunshine with easy access to national parks, beaches, nature tours and vibrant nightlife. According to Ms. Hopkins, most guests book their holiday beach vacation rentals at least six months in advance, sometimes even earlier.
On why families choose Escape Villas for their holiday plans, Sara Hopkins explains, “A Christmas vacation in Costa Rica takes the stress out of the holidays, as families can enjoy each other’s company in one of the most spectacular places in the world. The kids never forget the year Santa visited their beachfront home, where every day promised a new and exciting adventure.” Another built-in benefit to their vacation rentals: private chef services. No more slaving in the kitchen, as families can relax and spend time together while someone else prepares a home-cooked holiday feast.
When considering a holiday rental, timing is everything. Costa Rica has two tourism periods: a high season that lasts from December-April and corresponds with the country’s dry weather. And a low season, which runs from May-October, during Costa Rica’s rainy months. December and January are known for their fabulous climate, with cool breezes and average temperatures hovering around 82 F.
While prices may be steeper during this peak time, travelers are willing to shell out extra funds to reap the season’s many rewards, according to Escape Villas’ reservations manager. Recent statistics from a HomeAway, Inc. poll reveal that 31 percent of travelers are booking a vacation rental this December, and 21 percent say they’d pay more for more spacious accommodations, especially those that included a pool or spa tub, kitchen and laundry facilities.
Costa Rica has been a treasured vacation destination for many tourists during the festive holiday months. With its temperate climate, proximity to North America, and wealth of adventure activities, the perks of Christmas in paradise are many. And with more airlines offering direct flights into San Jose and Liberia, travelers have new budget-conscious options for booking their vacation. This past October, Canadian carrier WestJet announced non-stop seasonal service from Toronto to Guanacaste’s Liberia terminal. Other low-cost airlines including Spirit, JetBlue and Frontier also provide direct flights from major U.S. cities like New York, Denver and Orlando.
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Shiny Reputation Highlights Airbnb for their Focus on Local Neighborhood Information

Shiny Reputation proclaims their opinion on the recent launch of Airbnb’s Neighborhoods program, in which they are looking to narrow the focus of their site to concentrate on services in local neighborhoods where rental properties are located.

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) December 19, 2012
Shiny Reputation has issued an announcement about the launch of the Airbnb Neighborhood program, which seeks to give users of its online holiday lodging rental marketplace more information about the areas in which the lodging is located.
The editor of ShinyReputation.com stated, “Local businesses will benefit greatly from the launch of neighborhood ratings by Airbnb, in which local neighborhoods are rated based on transportation, services, quality of local restaurants and more. This will create an all in one service for renters. The service, which is in its trial stage in San Francisco, will lessen Airbnb’s members need to use services such as Yelp. We still see Yelp going strong and always tell businesses that improving your reputation online is key to developing the business relationship with patrons. The neighborhoods service is another resource.”
Airbnb is an online marketplace in which people can offer their homes, apartments, and other types of lodging for rent directly to travelers, bypassing hotels and apartment-finding services. Airbnb was founded in San Francisco in 2008, and has since grown to host more than 200,000 unique listings in 26,000 cities in 192 countries across the globe. On Airbnb, individuals can search for lodgings available in a certain city for a certain timeframe, and then choose from the listings on offer by private renters in that location. Payment is done through the website itself, while all interactions between renters and lodgers are done on a personal basis. The Neighborhoods program is an attempt to give travelers more information about specific local areas of cities they travel to and choose lodgings in the area of their choosing. Currently the program is for information purposes only, and is not yet a channel for marketing online. “That being said the photos used to highlight the local businesses on the neighborhoods tool are amazing. Most travel savvy individuals will seek out those businesses’ websites. It is always recommended that server uptime monitoring receive some attention as we are primarily connected via the internet.”
Airbnb has launched the Neighborhoods program in this city in which it is headquartered, San Francisco, California. San Francisco is the financial, cultural, and technological capital of the West Coast of the United States. With over 800,000 residents in the city itself and more than 7.5 million in the metropolitan San Francisco Bay Area, it is one of the largest and most important cities in the US. The San Francisco Bay Area is known for being the home of Silicon Valley, and the center of technological innovation in the US. Some of the tech companies with headquarters in the area include Apple Computers, Adobe, HP, Google, and Intel.
The launch of Airbnb’s local Neighborhood program will give local businesses further exposure within this large community of travelers, and possibly increase business. Additionally, it will position Airbnb as a rival to Yelp when looking at local businesses and determining where to stay, and what to do. It has yet to be determined if the program will be successful, but local businesses should be entranced by the thought of become visible to a new pool of potential customers.
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KSL Cars Adds Contact At Once! Live Chat in Ads

Utah Dealerships Can Integrate Chat to Connect with Potential Buyers

Atlanta (PRWEB) December 19, 2012
Contact At Once!, the leading live chat provider connecting online and mobile car shoppers to auto dealers, today announced that it has been selected by KSL Cars, Utah’s leading online marketplace, as its exclusive provider of live chat for automotive advertising. KSL Cars will bundle Contact At Once! in its auto dealer packages.
Contact At Once! live chat is used by over 10,000 automobile dealerships and the world’s busiest online automotive shopping sites. Dealers who use Contact At Once! say they typically experience a 25% increase in the number of connections with website visitors.
“Contact At Once! was the first to put live chat in online automotive classifieds and they have unique features that make the software especially well-suited for connecting thousands of shoppers with dealers through chat in ads,” says Eric Bright, KSL’s Vice-President of E-Commerce.
“More and more shoppers prefer text and chat to old-fashioned lead forms and they like the instant access, as well as the convenience,” says Lloyd Hecht, Contact At Once! Director, Business Development. Advertising with mobile and desktop text and chat options can draw more attention and appeal to shoppers who might be reluctant to call or email.”
KSL Cars is the leading provider of auto classifieds in Utah, serving more than 45,000 car shoppers per month. Another factor in choosing Contact At Once! was ease of use and implementation, says Bright. “Our advertisers can be chatting with potential car buyers in a matter of minutes.”
About Contact At Once!

Contact At Once! pioneered the use of website chat in automotive advertising, enabling instant connections between online shoppers and dealerships through search websites, dealership websites, social media and mobile sites. More than 10,000 customers rely on Contact At Once! chat to drive incremental sales opportunities and increase return on advertising investments. For more information, visit http://www.autodealerchat.com.
About KSL

KSL.com is owned and operated by Deseret Digital Media (DDM), and powers the largest online marketplace in Utah - including auto, real estate, deals and local search verticals. In total, Deseret Digital Media properties attract more than 5.5 million unique visitors and serve nearly 300 million page views per month. The DDM network of web sites includes KSL.com, Deseretnews.com, DeseretBook.com, MormonTimes.com, LDSChurchNews.com, FM100.com, OK.com and 1035TheArrow.com. Deseret Digital Media's two-part vision is to become the largest and most compelling regional commerce marketplace in the United States and to also become a world-leading, values-based digital content marketplace. Deseret Digital Media is a part of Deseret Media Companies.
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BedEd.org Launches Blog for Mattress Reviews, Education, Consumer Tips & More

New blog, BedEd.org announces launch; to promote consumer awareness via buying guides, shopping tips, product reviews, and information related to mattresses and sleep.

Tempe, AZ (PRWEB) December 19, 2012
BedEd.org launches mattress education blog designed to offer consumer resources including reviews, buying guides, shopping tips, and more.
Shopping for a new bed can seem like a daunting task with so many brands, models, and types in the marketplace. How can consumers figure out the best bed for their needs? BedEd.org seeks to help shoppers make the research process a little smoother with informational support regarding mattresses, brands and innovations.
Using an easy to navigate blog format, the website will provide first hand research as well as write ups and summaries of third party reviews and research. As an information aggregate, the blog will contain information on the spectrum of companies and offerings available, making research simpler and more efficient for shoppers.
Planned topics are to include mattress buying guides, pros and cons of specific mattress types and brands, product reviews, and sleep hygiene tips. They will also run series detailing the best mattress types based on specific needs in response to common concerns and reader questions. The blog also hopes to serve as a social tool via commentary on personal experience and recommendations.
The blog’s initial post takes an informational stance on mattress material composition and effects on health. Titled “What’s in Your Bed? Choosing the Best Mattress for Your Health” the post outlines how flame retardants, volatile organic compounds, and allergens impact sleepers. Using these criteria, it is explained why natural latex and memory foam offer superior alternatives for individuals concerned about mattress health.
Upcoming posts will include tips for combating allergies in the bedroom, detailed information on mattress types, and how to pick the best beds for back pain and fibromyalgia. BedEd.org offers newsletter options and a Twitter feed for interested readers to receive updates on recent posts and industry news.
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Five Star Service Award for SIPP Providers Dentons Pensions

Dentons Pensions are the only Bespoke SIPP Providers to be Awarded 5 Stars at Financial Adviser Service Awards – the benchmark for service levels in the retail financial marketplace.

Godalming Surrey (PRWEB UK) 20 December 2012
Hosted by comedian Stephen K Amos, The Financial Adviser Service Awards were held on 22 November 2012 at The Natural History Museum. Dentons Pensions were the only bespoke SIPP Provider to win the 5 Star ‘excellent service’ Award, which is voted for by advisers.
The Financial Adviser Service Awards identify the importance of the highest possible quality services from all financial product providers to their IFA clients. They are well known to be the absolute benchmark for premium service levels across the retail finance marketplace.
“Dentons has always been focused on delivering exceptional service and flexibility – reacting to changes in the marketplace and making it easier for advisers to do business. It’s why we are delighted to have been awarded 5 stars at the Financial Adviser Service Awards 2012,” said David Fox, Director of Sales & Marketing.
These are not the first awards that Dentons has won. Having already received the Investor In Customers (IIC) ‘outstanding’ award, Dentons’ SIPP earlier this year was given a 5 star rating by Defaqto, a leading UK independent financial research company. The rating shows the level of benefits provided, allowing adviser’s clients to base decisions on features, not just on price. With this level of service and understanding, clients can be confident they will enjoy a comprehensive range of features, options and benefits.
These awards underline Dentons’ commitment to advisers and their clients whose ethos has always been one of delivering service and flexibility to clients without putting unnecessary barriers in the way. With the SIPP marketplace becoming increasingly crowded in recent years the continued delivery of a market leading service proposition has become crucial. As one of the few areas where a firm can really stand out from the competition, one can see that service remains a key focus for Dentons.
So the root of this success? The average pension consultant at Dentons has been there for over 20 years and each one is skilled at dealing with a range of investments from simple to complex transactions, including property purchase. Working with all appointed professionals to ensure everything runs smoothly and allowing clients to use their own contacts and to manage their own properties (if required) is part of the key to Dentons’ success. It currently manages in excess of 700 properties.
Dentons has made a huge investment in their SIPP and SSAS propositions, supported by an interactive website and secure adviser portal, giving advisers instant access to their client information 24 hours a day. The sales, technical and marketing functions have been strengthened and a new technical advisory service for advisers has been launched.
Overall, Dentons ethos has always been one of delivering service and flexibility to its clients without putting unnecessary barriers in the way. In such a competitive marketplace, introducers and clients want more than just competitively priced products. Dentons listens to client needs and this award endorses their ongoing commitment to deliver.
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US designates Syria's Jabhat al-Nusra front a 'terrorist' group at lightning speed

The US State Department designated the Jabhat al-Nusra militia fighting Bashar al-Assad's government in Syria a foreign terrorist organization Monday. The speed with which the US government moved to designate a fairly new group that has never attacked US interests and is engaged in fighting a regime that successive administrations have demonized is evidence of the strange bedfellows and overlapping agendas that make the Syrian civil war so explosive. The State Department says Jabhat al-Nusra (or the "Nusra Front") is essentially a wing of Al Qaeda in Iraq, the jihadi group that flourished in Anbar Province after the US invaded to topple the Baathist regime of secular dictator Saddam Hussein. During the Iraq war, Sunni Arab tribesmen living along the Euphrates in eastern Syria flocked to fight with the friends and relatives in the towns along the Euphrates river in Anbar Province. Think you know the Middle East? Take our geography quiz! The terrain, both actual and human, is similar on both sides of that border, and the rat lines that kept foreign fighters and money flowing into Iraq from Syria work just as well in reverse. Now, the jihadis who fought and largely lost against the Shiite political ascendancy in Iraq are flocking to eastern Syria to repay a debt of gratitude in a battle that looks more likely to succeed every day. The Nusra Front has gone from victory to victory in eastern Syria and has shown signs of both significant funding and greater military prowess than the average citizens' militia, with veterans of fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya among its numbers. The US of course aided the fight in Libya to bring down Muammar Qaddafi. In Afghanistan and Iraq, the chance to fight and kill Americans was the major drawing card. In Iraq, the US toppled a Baathist dictatorship dominated by Sunni Arabs, opening the door for the political dominance of Iraq's Shiite Arab majority and the fury of the country's Sunni jihadis. In Syria, a Baathist regime dominated by the tiny Alawite sect (a long-ago offshoot of Shiite Islam) risks being brought down by the Sunni majority. Iraq's Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is in the odd position of now rooting for a Baathist regime to survive, frightened that a religiously inspired Sunni regime may replace Assad and potentially destabilize parts of his country from Haditha in Anbar's far west to the northern city of Mosul. For the US, the situation is more complicated still. The Obama administration appears eager for Assad to fall, but is also afraid of what might replace him, not least because of Syria's chemical weapons stockpile. If the regime collapses, the aftermath is sure to be chaotic, much as it was in Libya, where arms stores were looted throughout the country. The presence of VX and sarin nerve gas, and the fear of Al Qaeda aligned militants getting their hands on it, has the US considering sending in troops to secure the weapons. That's the context in which today's designation was made – part of an overall effort to shape the Syrian opposition to US liking, and hopefully have influence in the political outcome if and when Assad's regime collapses. But while the US has been trying to find a government or leadership in waiting among Syrian exiles, Nusra has been going from strength to strength. Aaron Zelin, who tracks jihadi groups at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, notes in a recent piece for Foreign Policy that 20 out of the 48 "martyrdom" notices posted on Al Qaeda forums for the Syria war were made by people claiming to be members of Nusra. Zelin writes that it's highly unusual for the US to designate as a terrorist group anyone who hasn't attempted an attack on the US. In fact, the US only designated the Haqqani Network in Afghanistan, which had been involved in attacks on US troops there for over a decade, this September. His guess as to why the US took such an unusual step? The U.S. administration, in designating Jabhat al-Nusra, is likely to argue that the group is an outgrowth of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI). While there is not much open-source evidence of this, classified material may offer proof -- and there is certainly circumstantial evidence that Jabhat al-Nusra operates as a branch of the ISI. Getting Syria's rebels to disavow Jabhat al-Nusra may not be an easy task, however. As in Iraq, jihadists have been some of the most effective and audacious fighters against the Assad regime, garnering respect from other rebel groups in the process. Jabhat al-Nusra seems to have learned from the mistakes of al Qaeda in Iraq: It has not attacked civilians randomly, nor has it shown wanton disregard for human life by publicizing videos showing the beheading of its enemies. Even if its views are extreme, it is getting the benefit of the doubt from other insurgents due to its prowess on the battlefield. Will it hurt the group's support inside Syria? It's hard to see how. The US hasn't formally explained its logic yet, but it's hard to see how that will matter either. The rebellion against Assad has raged for almost two years now and the country's fighters are eager for victory, and revenge. The US has done little to militarily assist the rebellion, and fighters have been happy to take support where they can get it. Most of the money or weapons flowing into the country for rebels has come from Gulf states like Saudi Arabia and Qatar and some of that support, of course, has ended up in the hands of Islamist militias like Nusra.
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Campaña en Facebook contra diputado costarricense gana premio internacional

San José, 11 dic (EFE).- Una campaña en la red social Facebook en contra de la designación del diputado cristiano Justo Orozco como presidente de la Comisión de Derechos Humanos del Congreso en Costa Rica, por sus posiciones en contra de la homosexualidad, ganó el premio Access Innovation Prize 2012. La agencia costarricense de publicidad en línea BigWebNoise, creadora de la campaña, en la que participaron miles de personas pidiendo la salida de Orozco de la Comisión, informó hoy sobre el galardón y que a partir de ahora trabajará con Access y Facebook en desarrollo de la herramienta a nivel global. La campaña "Fuera Justo Orozco" fue la ganadora de entre más de 300 postulantes de 66 países. La "manifestación virtual" FueraJustoOrozco.com inició en junio anterior tras el nombramiento de Orozco como presidente de la Comisión de Derechos Humanos de la Asamblea Legislativa de Costa Rica. Con el lema "si no bastó con la firma, pongamos la cara", la campaña invitó a los ciudadanos a "dar la cara", es decir a colocar su fotografía de perfil de Facebook en un espacio virtual para expresar su descontento por el nombramiento del diputado, que ha generando gran rechazo por sus posiciones abiertamente homofóbicas. La aplicación alcanzó las primeras 5.000 caras en solo 48 horas y y sumó 14.000 usuarios en los primeros 10 días en línea. También produjo un enorme eco en medios de comunicación locales e internacionales, y una masiva difusión viral en redes sociales. Esta es la primera vez que una acción costarricense de incidencia civil en línea es reconocida a nivel internacional. El Access Innovation Prize, entregado el lunes en Nueva York, premia "las mejores ideas y acciones que usen las nuevas tecnologías de información para promover los derechos humanos", de acuerdo con un comunicado de la organización. "En un país conocido por el respeto a los Derechos Humanos, esta iniciativa movilizó a los ciudadanos para dar la cara contra quien los amenaza", dijo al entregar el premio el gerente de Políticas Públicas de Facebook, Mathew Perault. Para el director de Estrategia Online de BigWebNoise, Cristian Cambronero, "la frontera entre el mundo desconectado y el conectado cada día es más difusa. Internet ha probado ser una potente herramienta para la participación y la incidencia de los ciudadanos. Es una extensión del espacio público". El jurado para este premio estuvo integrado por expertos en comunicación, innovación, derecho y emprendimiento como el consejero general de Twitter, Alex MacGillivray; el exCEO de Mozilla John Lilly y el vicepresidente de Comunicación y Políticas Públicas de Facebook, Elliot Schrage. El premio otorga un reconocimiento económico de 20.000 dólares para garantizar la sostenibilidad del proyecto galardonado, pero además, los costarricenses trabajarán ahora junto a Access y Facebook en una segunda etapa que consiste en convertir la aplicación usada en FueraJustoOrozco.com en una herramienta "open-source" que pueda ser utilizada para causas sociales y de defensa de los Derechos Humanos en cualquier lugar del mundo. EFE
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Samsung Galaxy Muse is like an iPod Shuffle that Syncs with Your Phone

In perhaps the most awkwardly titled tech press release ever, Samsung Mobile announced the launch of the new Samsung Galaxy Muse, a device which appears to have nothing to do with "CORRECTING and REPLACING and ADDING MULTIMEDIA" but everything to do with being a music player crossed with a smartphone accessory. ​Say goodbye to iTunes? While most handheld music players (and smartphone or tablets with music apps) sync with a PC or Mac music app, like iTunes or Banshee, the Samsung Galaxy Muse syncs with your Android phone itself. It uses the Muse Sync app, which Google Play says will install on devices like the Nexus 7 tablet but which Samsung says will only work with the Galaxy S II, Galaxy S III, Galaxy Note and Galaxy Note II smartphones. ​Plug it in, turn it on The pebble-shaped Muse connects to your Samsung phone via its headset jack. It doesn't have a screen, so you have to control it iPod Shuffle style, and use the Muse Sync app to see how much of its 4 GB of space are free and decide which playlists to sync. Since it only has those 4 GB, it can only hold a fraction of the music that can be put on the much more powerful smartphones. ​Who is Samsung selling the Galaxy Muse to? Samsung says "users can sync the songs they want and leave their phone behind," the usefulness of which may depend on whether or not you feel limited by having to bring your smartphone with you. The press release mentions its "wearable design and small form factor," and suggests taking it "in place of [your] smartphone ... at the gym or on the go." ​What other gadgets are like the Galaxy Muse? The most obvious comparison is to the iPod Shuffle, Apple's similarly tiny and screen-less portable music player. At $49, it costs the same as the Galaxy Muse (although a Droid-Life tipster found a $25 off coupon code for the Muse), but comes in seven different colors and has an embossed click-wheel controller instead of a flat and featureless surface. It requires you to use iTunes on a desktop PC or Mac, though. ​On the upside The Galaxy Muse's six hours of battery life may not be suitable for all-day listening, but may at least take the pressure off of a battery-hungry smartphone (so long as it's one of Samsung's flagship models). And as PCMag's Chloe Albanesius notes, "it's not very convenient to strap a 5.5-inch Galaxy Note II to your arm when you hit the gym." Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.
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Facebook, Google tell the government to stop granting patents for abstract ideas

Facebook (FB), Google (GOOG) and six other tech companies have petitioned the courts to begin rejecting lawsuits that are based on patents for vague concepts rather than specific applications, TechCrunch reported. The agreement, which was cosigned by Zynga (ZNGA), Dell (DELL), Intuit (INTU), Homeaway (AWAY), Rackspace (RAX), and Red Hat (RHT), notes the only thing these abstract patents do is increase legal fees and slow innovation in the industry. The companies claim that “abstract patents are a plague in the high tech sector” and force innovators into litigation that results in huge settlements or steep licensing fees for technology they have already developed on their own, which then leads to higher prices for consumers. “Many computer-related patent claims just describe an abstract idea at a high level of generality and say to perform it on a computer or over the Internet,” the briefing reads. “Such barebones claims grant exclusive rights over the abstract idea itself, with no limit on how the idea is implemented. Granting patent protection for such claims would impair, not promote, innovation by conferring exclusive rights on those who have not meaningfully innovated, and thereby penalizing those that do later innovate by blocking or taxing their applications of the abstract idea.” The companies conclude, “It is easy to think of abstract ideas about what a computer or website should do, but the difficult, valuable, and often groundbreaking part of online innovation comes next: designing, analyzing, building, and deploying the interface, software, and hardware to implement that idea in a way that is useful in daily life. Simply put, ideas are much easier to come by than working implementations.”
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Verizon Offering $5 Shared 4G Plan for Samsung Galaxy Camera

Imagine the powerful Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone, except that it can't make phone calls and its backplate has been replaced by a digital camera -- handgrip, zoom lens, and all. That's basically the Samsung Galaxy Camera in a nutshell, and whether it's a small, awkwardly-shaped Android tablet or a digital camera that you can play Modern Combat 3 on depends on how you look at it. When the Galaxy Camera launched last month, it was only available in white, and cost $499 on AT&T's network with a month-to-month data plan. But on Dec. 13, it launches on Verizon's network, in both white and black. The Verizon Galaxy Camera costs $50 more up front, but in return it has 4G LTE instead of HSPA+, and Verizon is offering a "promotional price" for the monthly charge: Only $5 to add it to a Share Everything plan, instead of the usual $10 tablet rate. A 4G digital camera While it's capable of functioning as an Android tablet (or game machine), the biggest reason for the Samsung Galaxy Camera's 4G wireless Internet is so it can automatically upload photos it takes. Apps such as Dropbox, Photobucket, and Ubuntu One offer a limited amount of online storage space for free, where the Galaxy Camera can save photos without anyone needing to tell it to. Those photos can then be accessed at home, or on a tablet or laptop. Most smartphones are able to do this already, but few (with the possible exception of the Windows Phone powered Nokia Lumia 920) are able to take photos as high-quality as the Galaxy Camera's. Not as good of a deal as it sounds Dropbox is offering two years' worth of 50 GB of free online storage space for photos and videos, to anyone who buys a Samsung Galaxy Camera from AT&T or Verizon. (The regular free plan is only 2 GB.) The problem is, you may need that much space. The photos taken by the Galaxy Camera's 16 megapixel sensor take up a lot more space, at maximum resolution, than ordinary smartphone snapshots do. Those camera uploads can eat through a shared data plan, and with Verizon charging a $15 per GB overage fee (plus the $50 extra up-front on top of what AT&T charges) it may make up for the cheaper monthly cost. On top of that, the Galaxy Camera's photos are basically on par with a $199 digital camera's -- you pay a large premium to combine that kind of point-and-shoot with the hardware equivalent of a high-end smartphone. It does run Android, though, right? The Galaxy Camera uses Samsung's custom software for its camera app, and lacks a normal phone dialer app. Beyond that, though, it runs the same Android operating system found on smartphones, and can run all the same games and apps. Some apps don't work the same on the Galaxy Camera as they do on a smartphone, however. Apps which only run in portrait mode, for instance, require you to hold the camera sideways to use them (especially unpleasant when they're camera apps). And while it can make voice and even video calls over Skype, it lacks a rear-facing camera or the kind of speaker you hold up close to your ear. So you may end up making speakerphone calls and filming the palm of your hand.
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Cricket-Tsotsobe ruled out of Twenty20 series

DURBAN, Dec 21 (Reuters) - South Africa left-arm pace bowler Lonwabo Tsotsobe has been ruled out of the three-match Twenty20 series against New Zealand starting on Friday after suffering an ankle injury, Cricket South Africa said.
Lonwabo, 28 was taken for a scan on Thursday after bowling 10 balls in the nets on the eve of the first international.
His withdrawal follows the news that another pace bowler Vernon Philander in an injury doubt for the first test starting in Cape Town on Jan. 2 after injuring a hamstring in a domestic first class match.
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Tsotsobe ruled out of Twenty20 series

DURBAN (Reuters) - South Africa left-arm pace bowler Lonwabo Tsotsobe has been ruled out of the three-match Twenty20 series against New Zealand starting on Friday after suffering an ankle injury, Cricket South Africa said.
Lonwabo, 28 was taken for a scan on Thursday after bowling 10 balls in the nets on the eve of the first international.
His withdrawal follows the news that another pace bowler Vernon Philander in an injury doubt for the first test starting in Cape Town on January 2 after injuring a hamstring in a domestic first class match.
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Cricket-South Africa v New Zealand Twenty20 scoreboard

DURBAN, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Scoreboard from the first
Twenty20 International between South Africa and New Zealand at
Kingsmead Stadium on Friday.
New Zealand
R.Nicol c de Kock b Kleinveldt 3
P.Fulton c Morris b Steyn 9
B.McCullum c Steyn b Kleinveldt 6
J.Franklin c de Kock b McLaren 0
C.Munro c and b Morris 23
C.Anderson c Levi b Morris 5
N.McCullum b Peterson 1
J.Neesham b Peterson 10
D.Bracewell not out 21
R.Hira c Kleinveldt b Steyn 5
M.McClenaghan c Peterson b Kleinveldt 0
Extras (lb-1, w-2) 3
Total (all out in 18.2 overs) 86
Fall: 1-9, 2-19, 3-19, 4-27, 5-34, 6-36, 7-54, 8-60, 9-81
Bowling: McLaren 4-0-27-1, Steyn 3-0-13-2 (1w), Kleinveldt
3.2-1-18-3, Morris 3.4-0-19-2 (1w), Peterson 4-0-8-2, Du Plessis
0.2-0-0-0.
South Africa
R.Levi c Fulton b McClenaghan 0
H.Davids b Hira 20
F.du Plessis not out 38
Q.de Kock not out 28
Extras (w-1) 1
Total (for two wickets in 12.1 overs) 87
Fall: 1-0, 2-45
Bowling: McClenaghan 3-1-20-1, Bracewell 2-0-21-0 (1w), Hira
3-0-15-1, Anderson 1-0-11-0, N.McCullum 2-0-7-0, Nicol 1-0-11-0,
Neesham 0.1-0-2-0.
South Africa won by eight wickets and lead three-match
series 1-0.
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Tennis-Robson, Watson to warm up for Australian Open in Hobart

MELBOURNE, Dec 22 (Reuters) - British Olympic silver medallist Laura Robson and compatriot Heather Watson will warm up for the Australian Open at the Jan. 4-12 Hobart International, organisers said on Saturday.
The 18-year-old Robson, who won mixed doubles silver with men's singles champion Andy Murray at the London Olympics, will make her first appearance at the Tasmanian tournament headlined by former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone of Italy.
Watson, 20, who became Britain's first WTA champion in 24 years with her win at the Japan Open in October, returns for her second appearance after playing this year's tournament as a qualifier.
The Australian Open starts Jan. 14.
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Robson, Watson to warm up for Australian Open in Hobart

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - British Olympic silver medalist Laura Robson and compatriot Heather Watson will warm up for the Australian Open at the January 4-12 Hobart International, organisers said on Saturday.
The 18-year-old Robson, who won mixed doubles silver with men's singles champion Andy Murray at the London Olympics, will make her first appearance at the Tasmanian tournament headlined by former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone of Italy.
Watson, 20, who became Britain's first WTA champion in 24 years with her win at the Japan Open in October, returns for her second appearance after playing this year's tournament as a qualifier.
The Australian Open starts January 14.
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Wall Street sinks after election as "fiscal cliff" eyed

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow industrials lost more than 300 points in a sell-off on Wednesday that drove all major stock indexes down over 2 percent in the wake of the presidential election as investors' focus shifted to the looming "fiscal cliff" debate and Europe's economic troubles.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index posted its biggest daily percentage drop since June, with all 10 S&P sectors solidly lower and about 80 percent of stocks on both the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq ending in negative territory. Both the Dow and the S&P 500 closed at their lowest levels since early August.
Financial stocks and energy shares, two sectors that could face increased regulation after President Barack Obama's re-election, were the weakest on the day. The S&P financial index (.GSPF) lost 3.5 percent, while the S&P energy index (REU:^GSPEI) fell 3.1 percent. An S&P index of technology shares (.GSPT) slid 2.8 percent as the stock of Apple Inc (AAPL) entered bear market territory.
Obama's victory had been anticipated, though many polls indicated a close race between the president and Mitt Romney, his Republican challenger, going into election day.
The election was considered a major source of uncertainty for the market, but now the focus turns to the fiscal cliff, with investors worrying that if no deal is reached over some $600 billion in spending cuts and tax increases due to kick in early next year, it could derail the economic recovery.
The Republican Party retained control of the U.S. House of Representatives, while the Senate remained under Democratic control.
David Joy, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial in Boston, said this kind of divided government was disappointing "since that configuration has resulted in gridlock and there's no clear path towards unlocking that.
"It holds implications for how quickly we resolve the fiscal cliff issue, or whether it gets resolved at all," said Joy, who helps oversee $571 billion in assets.
The market's losses were broad, with pessimism exacerbated by overseas concerns after the European Commission said the region would barely grow next year, dashing hopes for improvement in the short term.
Still, some viewed the day's slide as a buying opportunity, saying it was unlikely that no deal would be reached on the fiscal cliff and arguing that Europe's troubles were already priced into markets.
"There's no question that Europe is lagging the rest of the developed and emerging world, but stocks will find a base soon, when investors start seeing through some of the smoke over the region and cliff," said Richard Weiss, who helps oversee about $120 billion in assets as a senior money manager at American Century Investments in Mountain View, California.
The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI) slid 312.95 points, or 2.36 percent, to close at 12,932.73. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (^GSPC) fell 33.86 points, or 2.37 percent, to 1,394.53. The Nasdaq Composite Index (^IXIC) lost 74.64 points, or 2.48 percent, to close at 2,937.29.
The S&P 500 closed below the key 1,400 level for the first time since August 30, while the Dow ended under 13,000 for the first time since August 2.
About 7.81 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, slightly below last year's daily average of 7.84 billion, though Wednesday's volume did surpass that of many recent sessions.
Contributing to the Nasdaq's decline, Apple shares fell 3.8 percent to $558, off 20.8 percent from an all-time intraday high of $705.07 set on September 21. That slump puts the stock of the world's most valuable publicly traded company in bear market territory.
Despite Wednesday's sell-off, all three major U.S. stock indexes were still up for the year. At Wednesday's close, the Dow was up 5.9 percent for 2012 so far, while the S&P 500 was up 10.9 percent and the Nasdaq was up 12.8 percent.
Wednesday's plunge was a reversal from Tuesday's rally when voting was under way. Defense and energy shares were among the market leaders that day, causing speculation that some investors were betting on a Romney win.
On Wednesday, an index of defense shares (.DFX) fell 2.9 percent, its biggest one-day drop in a year. Shares of United Technologies (UTX) dropped 2.9 percent to $77.68 while Lockheed Martin (LMT) sank 3.9 percent to $91.15.
Energy shares fell as investors bet that the industry may see increased regulation in Obama's second term, with less access to federal lands and water. Crude oil shed more than 4 percent while an index of coal companies (.DJUSCL) plunged 8.8 percent. Coal firms Peabody Energy (BTU) lost 9.6 percent to $26.24 and Arch Coal (ACI) sank 12.5 percent to $7.58.
Among financials, JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM) fell 5.6 percent to $40.46 and Goldman Sachs (GS) dropped 6.6 percent to $117.98.
"The notion that you may have gotten a respite on the financial services side (with regulation) if Romney had been elected is obviously being unwound," said Mike Ryan, chief investment strategist at UBS Wealth Management Americas in New York.
Healthcare stocks were mixed as President Obama's re-election rules out the possibility of a wholesale repeal of his healthcare reform law, though questions remain as to what parts of the domestic policy will be implemented. The S&P health care index (REU:^GSPAI) shed 1.9 percent. In contrast, Tenet Healthcare (THC) was the S&P 500's biggest percentage gainer, up 9.6 percent at $27.34.
In 2008, stocks also rallied on election day, but then fell by the largest margin on record for a day following the vote, with each of the three major U.S. stock indexes posting losses ranging from 5 percent to 5.5 percent.
After the bell, both Qualcomm Inc (QCOM) and Whole Foods Market Inc (WFM) reported results. Qualcom's revenue beat expectations, sending shares up 8 percent to $62.75 in extended trading, while Whole Foods dropped 3.3 percent to $92.75 after the bell. In the regular session, Qualcomm slid 3.7 percent to close at $58.12, while Whole Foods dropped 2.1 percent to $95.93.
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Coal company announces layoffs in response to Obama win

A coal company headed by a prominent Mitt Romney donor has laid off more than 160 workers in response to President Obama's election victory.
Murray Energy said Friday that it had been "forced" to make the layoffs in response to the bleak prospects for the coal industry during Obama's second term. In a prayer circulated by the company, CEO Robert Murray said Americans had voted "in favor of redistribution, national weakness and reduced standard of living and lower and lower levels of personal freedom."
"The American people have made their choice. They have decided that America must change its course, away from the principals of our Founders," Murray said in the prayer, which was delivered in a meeting with staff members earlier this week.
"Lord, please forgive me and anyone with me in Murray Energy Corporation for the decisions that we are now forced to make to preserve the very existence of any of the enterprises that you have helped us build."
Murray cited pending regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency and the possibility of a carbon tax as factors that could lead to the "total destruction of the coal industry by as early as 2030."
In August, Murray shuttered an operation in Ohio, again blaming the Obama Administration and its alleged "war on coal."
Mitt Romney echoed this line on the campaign trail, accusing Obama of undermining the country's energy security.
Administration officials responded to these attacks by affirming that Obama supports "clean coal." They also pointed out that more coal miners were on the job in the U.S. this year than at any time since 1997, and that U.S. coal exports have risen 31%.
Domestically, however, coal production has dropped sharply, falling roughly 15% in 2011 versus years prior, according to the National Mining Association.
But the industry's woes go way beyond Obama's policies.
Utility companies are increasingly ditching coal in favor of cheaper, cleaner natural gas. In addition, the recession and improved energy efficiency have crimped demand for power.
Looking ahead, the coal industry faces a rule going into effect in 2015 that tightens the amount of mercury coal plants can emit, as well as regulations on mountain-top mining. Both will make coal production and coal-fired power plants more expensive.
The rules themselves are not Obama's doing, although he has implemented them fairly quickly. Most stem from the Clean Air Act, which was signed by Richard Nixon and strengthened during the first Bush presidency.
CNNMoney's Steve Hargreaves contributed reporting.
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U.S. to Pass Saudi Arabia in Energy Production, IEA Says: Huge Foreign Policy, Economic Implications

A new report by the International Energy Association says the U.S. will become the world's largest oil producer by 2017, overtaking current leaders Saudi Arabia and Russia. U.S. energy policies initiated by the George W. Bush administration and implemented by President Barack Obama have moved the U.S. toward energy independence and away from Middle East energy sources. U.S. oil production has risen rapidly since 2008 and oil imports are at their lowest level in two decades.
"North America is at the forefront of a sweeping transformation in oil and gas production that will affect all regions of the world, yet the potential also exists for a similarly transformative shift in global energy efficiency," says IEA Executive Director Marian von der Hoeven in a statement.
The IEA also says the U.S. could become self-sufficient in energy by 2035 and a net exporter of natural gas by 2020. The Obama administration's push to develop and grow domestic natural gas capabilities has led to a natural gas drilling boom. Production has jumped 15% in four years but the glut in natural gas supplies have also caused the price of natural gas to plummet. According to the White House, the U.S. holds a 100-year supply of natural gas and domestic production is at an all-time high. The Daily Ticker's Aaron Task and Henry Blodget both agree that the explosion in domestic energy production could alter the geopolitical landscape and U.S. labor market.
"The foreign policy implications are maybe even bigger than the economic ones," says Task.
"For 50 years or more we have been just addicted and coupled to a region of the world where so many people hate us," Blodget adds.
Oil and petroleum imports have fallen an average of more than 1.5 million barrels per day and domestic crude oil production has increased by an average of more than 720,000 barrels per day since 2008. As domestic drilling has expanded so has the number of oil and gas production jobs. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, job growth in these industries has risen 25% since January 2010.
Related: The Fracking Revolution: More Jobs and Cheaper Energy Are Worth the "Manageable" Risks, Yergin Says
President Obama says natural gas production could support 600,000 jobs by the end of the decade. Most of these positions are highly desirable from a financial standpoint. Drilling and support jobs pay about $34.50 an hour, 50% more than the national average according to The New York Times.
Cheap natural gas and the administration's eagerness to expand U.S. energy production has shifted resources away from green energy technologies like solar and wind.
Related: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: Renewable Energy Is Key to U.S. Growth
The method of extracting natural gas from shale rock formations has come under intense scrutiny. Many local cities and communities have already banned the practice. Hydraulic fracturing, more commonly referred to as hydrofracking or fracking, involves injecting large amounts of sand, water and chemicals into the ground at high pressures. Critics of fracking say this process produces millions of gallons of wastewater that contain highly corrosive salts and carcinogens. These radioactive elements could pollute water sources such as rivers and underground aquifers and pose serious dangers to the environment and individuals.
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Eurozone back in recession in Q3

LONDON (AP) -- The 17-country eurozone has bowed to the inevitable and fallen back into recession for the first time in three years as a sprawling debt crisis took its toll on the region's stronger economies.
And with surveys pointing to increasingly depressed conditions across the eurozone at a time of high unemployment in many countries, there are fears that the recession will deepen, and make the debt crisis even more difficult to handle.
Official figures Thursday showed that the eurozone contracted by 0.1 percent in the July to September period from the quarter before as economies including Germany and the Netherlands suffer from falling demand.
The decline reported by Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, was in line with market expectations and follows on from the 0.2 percent fall recorded in the second quarter. As a result, the eurozone is officially in recession, commonly defined as two straight quarters of falling output.
"We can dispense with the euphemisms and equivocation, and openly proclaim that the euro area economy is indeed in technical recession," said James Ashley, senior European economist at RBC Capital Markets.
Because of the eurozone's grueling three-year debt crisis, the region has the focus of concern for the world economy. The eurozone's economy is worth around €9.5 trillion, or $12.1 trillion, which puts it on a par with the U.S. economy. The region, with its 332 million population, is the U.S.'s largest export customer, and any fall-off in demand will hit order books.
While the U.S has managed to bounce back from its own savage recession in 2008-09, albeit inconsistently, and China continues to post still-strong growth, Europe's economies have been on a downward spiral — and there is little sign of any improvement in the near-term.
The eurozone has managed to avoid returning to recession for the first time since the financial crisis following the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers, mainly thanks to the strength of its largest single economy, Germany.
But even that country is struggling now as confidence wanes and exports drain in light of the debt problems afflicting large chunks of the eurozone.
Germany's economy grew a muted 0.2 percent in the third quarter, down from a 0.3 percent increase in the previous quarter. Over the past year, Germany's annual growth rate has more than halved to 0.9 percent from 1.9 percent.
Perhaps the most dramatic decline among the eurozone's members was seen in the Netherlands, whose economy shrank 1.1 percent on the previous quarter.
Five eurozone countries are in recession — Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Cyprus. Those five are also at the center of Europe's debt crisis and are imposing austerity measures, such as cuts to pensions and increases to taxes, in an attempt to stay afloat.
As well as hitting workers' incomes and living standards, these measures have also led to a decline in economic output and a sharp increase in unemployment.
Spain and Greece have unemployment rates of over 25 percent. Their young people are faring even worse with every other person out of work. As well as being a cost to governments who have to pay out more for benefits, it carries a huge social and human cost.
Protests across Europe on Wednesday highlighted the scale of discontent and with economic surveys pointing to the downturn getting worse, the voices of anger may well get louder still.
"The likelihood is that this anger will continue to grow unless European leaders and policymakers start to act as if they have a clue as to how to resolve the crisis starting to unravel before their eyes," said Michael Hewson, markets analyst at CMC Markets.
The wider 27-nation EU, which includes non-euro countries, avoided the same fate. It saw output rise 0.1 percent during the quarter, largely on the back of an Olympics-related boost in Britain.
The EU's output as a whole is greater than the U.S. It is also a major source of sales for the world's leading companies. Forty percent of McDonald's global revenue comes from Europe - more than it generates in the U.S. General Motors, meanwhile, sold 1.7 million vehicles in Europe last year, a fifth of its worldwide sales.
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Are We Regulating Ourselves Back Into Recession?

"Let us put an end to self-inflicted wounds," President Gerald Ford told Congress in 1975. "And let us remember that our national unity is a most priceless asset." While Ford was talking about the scars from the Vietnam War, his words seem relevant today. Our nation grapples with not one divisive issue, but a basket of them, each pulling and undermining our already battered confidence, while testing our resolve and straining the limits of logic.
What are we doing to ourselves, America?
In just two short weeks, instead of closing the books after a bruising election, we've not only kept the rancor alive but have doubled down on it. In this morning's papers alone, I easily counted a dozen different areas of discourse before growing tired of it all. As my colleague Mike Santoli and I discuss in the attached video, with so much going on — and with so much wrong — is it any wonder stocks are moving in reverse at a fast clip since the second quarter correction.
"It feels like a particularly heavy round of one of these anti-business — or at least calling business to task — moments," Santoli says in the face of my long and growing list of negatives, which include higher taxes, the fiscal cliff, the Benghazi aftermath, turnover at the CIA, federal probes of FedEx and UPS over mail-order medicine, BP's record fine, further investigation into banks for money laundering, as well as another round of mandatory stress testing.
Before you go off and call me some kind of zero-regulation advocate or pessimist, all I am saying is that it strikes me as slightly counterproductive to be building up and and tearing down the banks at the same time. And Santoli seems to agree, saying that it is alarming to see how much banks have to spend on compliance, legal and regulatory issues, calling it a "massive weight."
As much as we had recently been gaining some degree of comfort over the economy, housing and jobs, it suddenly seems as if we're doing everything wrong.
''Is it ever going to be a good time to cinch up tax rates?" Santoli questions. Obviously the answer is no, and yet the markets cling to the belief that our elected officials will break ranks and reach some sort of last-minute grand bargain solution.
Maybe I am just being cynical, but I am of the mind that no major changes will emerge without first going through a period of calamity. Santoli is a smidge more optimistic, however, clinging to a ''residual hope'' that the President has a ''Nixon-to-China moment" and that his second term is not about fighting individual, ideological fight. "That is the distant hope you have to hold," he says.
How about you? Have you given up hope in the face of so much negativity?
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