angolisharma: জুন 2013

মঙ্গলবার, ২৫ জুন, ২০১৩

Neiman Marcus plans to raise up to $100M in IPO

FILE - In this Wednesday, March 11, 2009 file photo, the Chicago skyline is reflected in the exterior of Neiman Marcus on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Luxury retailer Neiman Marcus plans to raise up to $100 million from an initial public offering of its common stock, according to reports, Monday, June 24, 2013. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Luxury retailer Neiman Marcus plans to raise up to $100 million by returning to the stock market with an initial public offering.

That amount is likely to change, though, as bankers gauge investor interest. The plan to go public, announced in a regulatory filing Monday, comes about eight years after private equity firms TPG Capital and Warburg Pincus bought Neiman Marcus for $5.1 billion.

Neiman Marcus has benefited from affluent shoppers who are willing to drop $1,000 for a pair of stilettos. During the recession, Neiman Marcus was not as hurt by the consumer spending pullback as other retailers, because the wealthy suffered less in the poor economy.

Still, the initial public offering comes at a time when the stock market, which influences luxury spending, has become volatile.

Neiman Marcus won't receive any proceeds from the offering. The Dallas company operates 41 Neiman Marcus stores, two Bergdorf Goodman locations, and 35 discount shops under the Last Call brand. It also operates six Cusp stores, which cater to younger customers.

The Wall Street Journal article reported in late May that Neiman Marcus recently rebuffed a proposal that would involve buyout firm KKR & Co. investing in competitor Saks Inc., the operator of Saks Fifth Avenue, and then engineering a combination of Saks and Neiman.

According to the Journal, Neiman Marcus turned down the proposal for several reasons, including the terms and the complexity of the deal. At the time, Neiman's private equity owners were looking to sell the company outright or take it public.

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday on its website that Canadian department store operator and Lord & Taylor parent Hudson's Bay has now emerged as a potential suitor for Saks Inc. It cited an anonymous source familiar with the issue. Hudson Bay could not be immediately reached for comment. A Saks spokeswoman declined to comment.

Dan Hess, CEO of Merchant Forecast, an independent research firm that monitors the retail sector, believes that an initial public offering would do well and that there's an investor appetite for luxury companies.

Neiman Marcus, founded in 1907 by Herbert Marcus Sr., his sister Carrie Marcus, and her husband A.L Neiman, has had a series of owners during its rich history.

The company was sold to department store operator Broadway-Hale in 1969 and began planning national expansion outside of Texas. Through a series of deals, the retailer came under the ownership of the conglomerate Harcourt General, which also published textbooks and owned movie theaters.

In 1999, Harcourt General spun off Neiman Marcus stores and Bergdorf Goodman as its separate, publicly traded entity, the Neiman Marcus Group. In 2005, the current owners took the company private.

Neiman Marcus has a long-held reputation for coddling its wealthy shoppers with customer service that goes above and beyond the standard. In 1984, it established InCircle, the industry's first customer loyalty program. The program now has 144,000 members and generated 40 percent of the company's total revenue in the latest fiscal year. Neiman Marcus expanded its business online in 2000, becoming the first major luxury store to do so.

Now, like other upscale retailers, Neiman Marcus is trying to reinvent its shopping experience for its customers who are increasingly using their tablets and smartphones to research and buy their designer goods.

In the filing, Neiman Marcus says it plans to further meld the online experience with shopping at its stores. It also plans to expand its Last Call and Cusp chains.

In the SEC filing, Neiman Marcus Inc. did not disclose how many shares would be offered, or what the projected price range would be. A regulatory filing by the company also did not disclose what exchange it expects to list the stock on or what ticker symbol it plans to use.

For fiscal 2012, Neiman Marcus had net income of $140.1 million on revenue of $4.35 billion. The retailer had net income of $31.6 million and revenue of $4 billion in fiscal 2011.

Earlier this month the company reported that its fiscal third-quarter net income increased 13 percent on stronger sales, particularly online. Revenue from its online business jumped 15 percent in the period. Revenue from stores open at least a year, considered a key indicator of financial performance because it strips away the effects from recently opened or closed stores, increased 3.6 percent.

_____

Follow Anne D'Innocenzio on Twitter: ?http://twitter.com/ADInnocenzio

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-06-24-Neiman%20Marcus-IPO%20Filing/id-35b9babaa9b34309914b7dae772dab2b

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Edward Snowden tells South China Morning Post he took Booz Allen job to collect NSA information

Edward Snowden may now be far from Hong Kong, but the South China Morning Post has just revealed more details from an interview he granted on June 12th while he was still there. According to the paper, Snowden reportedly said that he took a job with NSA-contractor Booz Allen Hamilton in order to gather additional evidence about the spy agency's activities. "My position with Booz Allen Hamilton granted me access to lists of machines all over the world the NSA hacked," he said. "That is why I accepted that position about three months ago." He reportedly further said "correct on Booz," when asked if he specifically went to Booz Allen to gather evidence of surveillance. As the paper notes, Snowden also said that he took pay cuts "in the course of pursuing specific work" in an online Q&A with The Guardian last week, and he's also indicated that he has more information he intends to leak, saying that he'd like to "make it available to journalists in each country to make their own assessment."

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Source: South China Morning Post

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/aE-i8TCdsX4/

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সোমবার, ২৪ জুন, ২০১৩

Future Stunt Pilots Could Train in These All-Electric Planes

Didier Esteyne and EADS turned heads at the 2011 Paris Air Show when they debuted the the world's first all-electric airplane, the single-seat Cri-Cri. Fast forward two years, and the miniscule Cri-Cri has grown into a sleek tandem-seat training craft that's as green as it is acrobatic.

Snapjoy photo sharing service shut down following Dropbox aquisition

Snapjoy has announced that it'll be shuttering all of its services a mere six months after being acquired by cloud colossus Dropbox. In a blog post, the company said photos can no longer be imported into Snapjoy and the iPhone app is henceforth unavailable. If you've got images stored on the site, you'll have exactly a month to get them downloaded, since after July 24th, "all photos and data will be permanently deleted." The same thing happened to Audiogalaxy shortly after its acquisition by Dropbox, and of course other big fish like Google and Twitter are well known for similar behavior after eating smaller fish -- though at least we saw the #Music fruits of Twitter's buyout shortly after it happened. On the other hand, we've yet to see Dropbox do anything with Audiogalaxy, so we hope the defunct apps will be resurrected in some form soon.

Filed under: Internet, Software

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Via: CNET

Source: Snapjoy (Blog)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/24/snapjoy-photo-sharing-site-shut-down/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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One dead as shooting mars Albania's election

Albania?s Conservative Prime Minister Sali Berisha, 68, who is seeking a third term in office, speaks at a rally in Tirana, Tuesday, June 18, 2013. The general election taking place Sunday, June 23, 2013 is considered a test for the Balkan country to shed its post-Communist legacy of troubled popular votes, as it seeks closer ties and eventual membership in the European Union. Conservative Sali Berisha, is seeking a third term and will speak at his Democratic Party's main election rally Friday in the capital Tirana. (AP Photo/Hektor Pustina)

In this Thursday, June 20, 2013 photo, main opposition Socialist Party leader Edi Rama, speaks at a rally, in Tirana, Albania, ahead of the Sunday?s general elections. Political parties in Albania entered their final day of campaigning for Sunday's general elections, considered a test for the Balkan country to shed its history of troubled campaigns as it seeks closer ties and eventual membership in the European Union. (AP Photo/Hektor Pustina)

Trash bins in the capital Tirana Saturday, June 22, 2013, are filled with posters, banners and other materials used by the political parties during the month-long electoral campaign. Political campaigning stops in Albania Saturday, a day before parliamentary elections which are considered a crucial test for its ambitions for closer ties and eventual membership in the European Union. (AP Photo/Hektor Pustina)

An Albanian woman casts her vote in Tirana, Sunday, June 23, 2013 in the Albanian elections. An Albanian political candidate was shot and a supporter of a rival party killed in an exchange of gunfire near a polling station, police said Sunday, as the country held crucial elections already marred by a dispute that could leave the outcome up in the air. Both conservative Prime Minister Sali Berisha and his close rival, Socialist leader Edi Rama, have hopes for eventual entry to the European Union, and the election is seen as a test of whether the country can run a fair and safe vote. (AP Photo/Hektor Pustina)

TIRANA, Albania (AP) ? Albania's national elections Sunday were marred by violence after an exchange of gunfire wounded a candidate and killed a supporter of a rival party, tainting what had been a largely peaceful campaign and threatening to undermine the country's bid to join the European Union.

The violence near a polling station, which drew condemnation from an EU official, added to the existing uncertainty surrounding the election. Though the leader of the main Socialist Party has claimed victory, it's unclear when the results will be announced because the body that oversees elections in the Balkan country hasn't enough members to certify them constitutionally following a political dispute. However, the law mandates they be revealed no later than three days after the polls.

Election day has been overshadowed by the violence. A police spokesman said Gjon Gjoni, 49, died after being shot in an exchange of fire that also wounded Mhill Fufi, 49, a candidate for Prime Minister Sali Berisha's governing Democratic Party. An opposition party leader identified Gjoni as a supporter. Another man, Fufi's relative Kastriot Fufi, 39, was also wounded.

Details surrounding the incident, which took place in the city of Lac, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) northwest of the capital, Tirana, were sketchy. However, the police spokesman confirmed that it started with an argument.

A spokeswoman for the ruling Democratic Party, Laura Vorpsi, said Fufi was trying to move away some opposition supporters who were trying to bribe voters, and alleged that they "responded with shooting rounds."

"The Democratic Party harshly denounces any act of violence," Vorpsi said.

Once one of the world's most hardline communist countries, Albania has had a rocky road to democracy over the past couple of decades. Corruption has plagued the impoverished country, and its elections have been marred by violence and vote-rigging.

Some 3.3 million registered voters were eligible to vote, the eighth national polls since the fall of communism in 1990. The monthlong contest had been relatively calm until election day, though there had been reports of civil servants and even school children being pressured to attend pro-government rallies.

Some polling stations remained open after the original close time but most have closed and ballot boxes have started to be transported to counting centers nationwide.

The conservative prime minister, Berisha, and his close rival, Socialist Party leader Edi Rama, have both expressed the hope that Albania can gain eventual entry to the EU, and Sunday's election was seen as a test of whether the country can run a fair and safe vote.

Berisha declined to comment on the killing after casting his ballot, saying he needed more information first. The prime minister invited all Albanians to take part in the vote and turn Sunday "into a day of festivities and good understanding."

"I assure you that your vote will be fully respected," Berisha said.

Later Berisha expressed condolences to the victim's family and called on his opponents not to exploit the death "for political capital."

"I ask police and prosecutor's office to investigate with absolute priority the event, discover the truth and the circumstances and the responsibility of each one," he said.

Rama, meanwhile, denounced "certain segments of police" for collaborating with "criminals" and insisted that participation in the vote was the best way to respond.

"It is barbarous that in an election day, in the midst of Europe, a human is shot dead from criminals supported from police," he told reporters.

In the evening Rama came to claim victory "based on operational data" and called on police and election authorities to guarantee the process.

"We are here as unshaken and invincible guarantors of each ballot which has been cast today to take Albania at the address set from its fate ? the European Union," he said in front of his supporters at party headquarters.

Ilir Meta, the leader of the Socialist Movement for Integration, confirmed that Gjoni, the man who died, was a supporter. Meta, whose party allies with Rama's, also blamed police and "criminal elements" of the ruling Democrats, whom he alleged were exerting pressure at polling stations.

"Sali Berisha is not Albania's premier any more. He cannot leave power without shedding blood," Meta said.

The shooting wasn't the only incident: A journalist was reportedly not allowed to enter a polling station, while a camera belonging to a private TV station, Top Channel was broken and the cameraman reported to have been beaten.

Albania's president called for unity in wake of Sunday's violence. "Peace, calm, citizens' life is important," Bujar Nishani said. "I appeal for calm and maturity because, we may vote for different parties, but we are one nation."

But the EU's top diplomat in Albania took a hard stand on the violence.

"I want to say something very clear, very firm. Among the international and European standards for elections, there is the refusal of violence," said Ettore Sequi, the EU ambassador to Tirana.

Albania joined NATO in 2009. But it has failed to gain candidate status from the EU, which is pressing for broader democratic reforms and an improved election record.

Some 400 international observers and about 8,000 local ones are monitoring Sunday's election.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-06-23-Albania-Elections/id-58458b7128d2462c9b1b991426061436

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রবিবার, ২৩ জুন, ২০১৩

Kerry: Political solution urgently needed in Syria

DOHA, Qatar (AP) ? U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called on Saturday for an urgent political resolution to the war in Syria, saying that unless the bloodshed stops, the region could descend into a chaotic sectarian conflict.

Kerry met in Doha with 10 of his counterparts from Arab and European nations to coordinate aid to the embattled rebels trying to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad in a two-year civil war that has left 93,000 dead. All the nations in attendance agreed to step up aid to the rebels, Kerry said.

While he offered no specifics, Kerry said the assistance would help change the balance on the battlefield, where regime forces have scored recent victories. Kerry blamed Assad for the deteriorating situation in Syria, saying that while the international community was attempting to hold a conference to set up a transitional government, Assad invited Iranian and Hezbollah fighters to bolster his troops.

It was Kerry's first meeting with his counterparts about aid to the Syrian rebels since President Barack Obama announced that the U.S. would send lethal aid to the opposition despite concern that weapons could fall into the hands of Islamic extremists in Syria. That decision was partly based on a U.S. intelligence assessment that Assad had used chemical weapons, but Kerry expressed deeper concern about Iran and Hezbollah fighters.

"That is a very, very dangerous development," Kerry said. "Hezbollah is a proxy for Iran. ... Hezbollah in addition to that is a terrorist organization."

Kerry blamed Hezbollah and Assad with thwarting efforts to diffuse sectarian rebels and to negotiate a settlement.

"We're looking at a very dangerous situation," that had transformed "into a much more volatile, potentially explosive situation that could involve the entire region," Kerry said.

The war already has spilled into neighboring countries and is increasingly being fought along sectarian lines, pitting Sunni against Shiite Muslims and threatening the stability of Syria's neighbors.

Kerry met with his counterparts in the Qatari capital on the first stop of a seven-nation trip through the Mideast and Asia where he is tackling difficult foreign policy issues ? from finding peace between the Israelis and Palestinians to trying to gain traction on U.S. talks with the Taliban to end the Afghanistan war. James Dobbins, U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, arrived in Doha on Saturday, but talks with the Taliban have not been scheduled.

Kerry seemed to put the ball in the Taliban's court, saying the Americans and Qataris were all on board to help negotiate a political resolution to the war and it was up to the Taliban to come to the table at a new political office they opened last week in Doha. "We are waiting to find out whether the Taliban will respond, Kerry said.

"We will see if we can get back on track. I don't know whether that's possible or not," Kerry said. "If there is not a decision made by the Taliban to move forward in short order, then we may have to consider whether the office has to be closed."

On Syria, Kerry has been pressing hard on Russia to back an international conference intended to end the bloodshed in Syria and allow a transitional government to move the country beyond civil war.

Russia has been the key ally of Assad's regime throughout the two-year conflict.

Top U.S. diplomats are ready to go to Geneva to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and other officials next week to advance the political process, Kerry said. The date and location of the international conference on Syria haven't been announced, but it's already being dubbed "Geneva 2" because a similar event was held there a year ago.

On Friday, Russia's foreign minister said Washington was sending contradictory signals on Syria that could derail an international conference intended to end that country's civil war, warning that U.S. talk about a possible no-fly zone would only encourage the rebels to keep fighting.

Sergey Lavrov also criticized demands that Assad step down. Russian leaders warn that if Assad steps aside, the resulting power vacuum could be quickly filled by al-Qaida connected rebels, who are well-armed and aggressive.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kerry-political-solution-urgently-needed-syria-154043827.html

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Hong Kong says Snowden has left for third country

HONG KONG (AP) ? A former National Security Agency contractor wanted by the United States for revealing two highly classified surveillance programs has been allowed to leave for a "third country" because a U.S. extradition request did not fully comply with Hong Kong law, the territory's government said Sunday.

A statement from the government did not identify the country, but the South China Morning Post, which has been in contact with Edward Snowden, reported that he was on a plane for Moscow, but that Russia was not his final destination.

Snowden, who has been in hiding in Hong Kong for several weeks since he revealed information on the highly classified spy programs, has talked of seeking asylum in Iceland.

Russia's Interfax news agency, citing an unidentified Aeroflot official, confirmed that Snowden was on a flight to Moscow and said he had a ticket for another Aeroflot flight Monday to Cuba.

Snowden's departure came a day after the United States made a formal request for his extradition and warned Hong Kong against delaying the process of returning him to face trial in the U.S.

The Hong Kong government said Snowden left "on his own accord for a third country through a lawful and normal channel."

It acknowledged the U.S. extradition request, but said U.S. documentation did not "fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law." It said additional information was requested from Washington, but since the Hong Kong government "has yet to have sufficient information to process the request for provisional warrant of arrest, there is no legal basis to restrict Mr. Snowden from leaving Hong Kong."

The statement said Hong Kong had informed the U.S. of Snowden's departure. It added that it wanted more information about alleged hacking of computer systems in Hong Kong by U.S. government agencies which Snowden had revealed.

Snowden's departure eliminates a possible fight between Washington and Beijing at a time when China is trying to deflect U.S. accusations that it carries out extensive surveillance of American government and commercial operations. Hong Kong, a former British colony, has a high degree of autonomy and is granted rights and freedoms not seen on mainland China, but under the city's mini constitution Beijing is allowed to intervene in matters involving defense and diplomatic affairs.

Hong Kong has an extradition treaty with the U.S., but the document has some exceptions, including for crimes deemed political.

The Obama administration on Saturday warned Hong Kong against delaying Snowden's extradition, with White House national security adviser Tom Donilon saying in an interview with CBS News, "Hong Kong has been a historically good partner of the United States in law enforcement matters, and we expect them to comply with the treaty in this case."

Snowden's departure came as the South China Morning Post released new allegations from Snowden that U.S. hacking targets in China included the nation's cellphone companies and two universities hosting extensive Internet traffic hubs.

He told the newspaper that "the NSA does all kinds of things like hack Chinese cellphone companies to steal all of your SMS data." It added that Snowden said he had documents to support the hacking allegations, but the report did not identify the documents. It said he spoke to the newspaper in a June 12 interview.

With a population of more than 1.3 billion, China has massive cellphone companies. China Mobile is the world's largest mobile network carrier with 735 million subscribers, followed by China Unicom with 258 million users and China Telecom with 172 million users.

Snowden said Tsinghua University in Beijing and Chinese University in Hong Kong, home of some of the country's major Internet traffic hubs, were targets of extensive hacking by U.S. spies this year. He said the NSA was focusing on so-called "network backbones" in China, through which enormous amounts of Internet data passes.

The Chinese government has not commented on the extradition request and Snowden's departure, but its state-run media have used Snowden's allegations to poke back at Washington after the U.S. had spent the past several months pressuring China on its international spying operations.

A commentary published Sunday by the official Xinhua News Agency said Snowden's disclosures of U.S. spying activities in China have "put Washington in a really awkward situation."

"Washington should come clean about its record first. It owes ... an explanation to China and other countries it has allegedly spied on," it said. "It has to share with the world the range, extent and intent of its clandestine hacking programs."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hong-kong-says-snowden-left-third-country-081745849.html

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Bankruptcy judge in Vegas OKs Newton estate deal

LAS VEGAS (AP) ? A federal bankruptcy judge signed off on a sealed agreement that resulted in "Mr. Las Vegas" Wayne Newton moving from his sprawling "Casa de Shenandoah" property after 45 years.

Newton family members and attorneys weren't in court Friday while U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Bruce Markell accepted the plan submitted by lawyers for new property owner CSD LLC.

Landowner Lacy Harber says he still plans to open a tourist attraction on the 40-acre estate that Newton named "Casa de Shenandoah."

Harber isn't saying whether the Newtons will be involved.

Harber bought the property in June 2010 for $19.5 million with plans to open a "Graceland West" attraction commemorating the "Danke Schoen" crooner's show biz career.

Newton, his family and their menagerie of exotic animals moved this month to another nearby property.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bankruptcy-judge-vegas-oks-newton-estate-deal-181712154.html

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শনিবার, ২২ জুন, ২০১৩

Loose Ends: What We Still Don't Know About Next-Gen Consoles ...

With E3 in the books, the vision of Sony and Microsoft's next-generation consoles is starting to take shape.?We've seen the consoles, played with the controllers, and previewed the game libraries, but we still have a few burning questions for both camps.?

What are the official release dates?
Both Sony and Microsoft have committed to a holiday release, but gamers still don't know which days they need to request off work to dive into their new consoles. If we were to bet, our money would be on the announcements taking place before or during Gamescom in late August. ?

What are the day-one launch lineups?
Both Microsoft and Sony have announced a broad collection of next-generation games, many of which look amazing. Which of these games will be available to purchase when the system hits store shelves? We expect many of the cross-platform games like Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Battlefield 4, Call of Duty: Ghosts, FIFA 14, Madden NFL 25, NBA 2K14, and Watch Dogs to show up on day one or in the weeks following the launch. For the first-party games, the only intel we have to go off right now is pre-order bundles being sold by Amazon and GameStop. We know Sony is selling both Killzone: Shadow Fall and Knack bundles, so those two are likely a given on day one barring unforeseen pitfalls. For Xbox One, GameStop is selling Dead Rising 3, Forza Motorsport 5, Kinect Sports Rivals, and Ryse: Son of Rome bundles. The full lineups should take shape in the coming months.

Which cable/satellite companies are compatible with Xbox One?
Microsoft's promise of an all-in-one entertainment device comes with a catch ??we don't know which cable companies are compatible with the Xbox One. Previous demonstrations featured Comcast, so we expect the console to be compatible with that service. However, Microsoft's dreams of living room dominance could be rendered moot for a large swathe of the population if the Xbox One fails to support DirecTV, Dish Network, U-Verse, and/or Time Warner. With more than 30 cable providers operating across the United States alone, Microsoft is facing a lot of compatibility issues. Once we know the companies that the Xbox One supports, then the question becomes which cable/satellite boxes are compatible?

What are the finer details of Sony's streaming library?
We know Sony plans to roll out Gaikai's streaming service for PlayStation 4 starting in 2014 with a select number of PlayStation 3 titles. This service will evenutally come to the Vita as well. What we don't know is how deep this library will eventually get (will it eventually include PSOne and PS2 titles?), if it will cost you money to stream these older titles, or if the back catalog will be available free of charge as a part of the PlayStation Plus subscription. ?

What does the full picture look like regarding DRM?
While Sony says used games work on the PlayStation 4 and Microsoft eventually reversed course to arrive at the same position with the Xbox One, one wild card is still in play regarding DRM ??publishers.

At E3, Sony Computer Entertainment head Jack Tretton said, "PS4 will not have any gating restrictions for used disc-based games," but he also said, "we will not dictate the online used game strategy (the ability to play used games online) of its publishing partners." Microsoft has also pushed the gate keeping down the line, saying publishers can enact their own DRM measures as they see fit on the Xbox One.

Watching what happens next should be interesting. Already voted the worst company in America two years running, EA would likely suffer another seriously blow to its reputation if it chose to place consumer restrictions on its titles, especially in light of its decision to?kill online passes. Ubisoft has publicly stated that it wants a single set of rules across both platforms, which it now has in control of thanks to Sony and Microsoft taking a step back. Having previously stated it sees the value of the used games market, the French publisher would also take a hit in the public relations department should it decide to enforce its own brand of DRM, something the company has struggled with?in the past. ?

If publishers decide to put content on Xbox One behind a DRM gate, don't be surprised if they try a back-door method of getting a similar system in place on the PS4 via an online pass (which you can guarantee would be re-branded to distance itself from the previous policies).?

What features are hidden behind the Xbox Live Gold/PlayStation Plus pay wall?
At E3 Sony announced that access to PlayStation 4 online multiplayer is going behind the PlayStation Plus pay wall, which got us thinking ??are there any other features for either PS Plus or Xbox Live moving to the other side of the pay wall?

Both parties have been forthcoming regarding the increased benefits to having the premium subscriptions. Microsoft is rolling out a PlayStation Plus-style free games promotion that grants Live subscribers two free games a month through the release of the Xbox One, Fable III is already free, and in July Halo 3 and Assassin's Creed 2 are getting the same treatment. PlayStation Plus subscribers can look forward to early access for game betas, automatic updates, and free games (including a special edition of DriveClub).

Sony reiterated that video services like Hulu and Netflix won't require a PlayStation Plus account, which is one of its major points of distinction against Xbox Live. Microsoft could win some goodwill by moving these services into the Silver membership territory, especially considering the company's push to attract more non-gamers to the console.

Source: http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2013/06/21/loose-ends-what-we-still-dont-know-about-next-gen-consoles.aspx

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Volvo nears 3 million miles. Is it greener than a hybrid?

A 1966 Volvo owned by a retired teacher will pass the 3 million mile mark this fall. Getting the most out of your vehicle is to be applauded, but sometimes a upgrading to a more energy efficient model is the greener thing to do.?

By Antony Ingram,?Guest blogger / June 22, 2013

Irv Gordon's Volvo P1800 in Babylon, N.Y.last year. Gordon's car already holds the world record for the highest recorded milage on a car and he is nearing three million miles on the Volvo.

Seth Wenig/AP/File

Enlarge

One of the more familiar perceptions of green vehicles is that the energy they require to build outweighs any benefits they may have in use.

Skip to next paragraph GreenCarReports

The website focuses on the auto industry?s future, the evolution of cars beyond fossil fuels, and the green movement's relevance to car shoppers today. For more stories on green cars, click here.

Watch: 'Families Are Forever': Trailer

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Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/video/families-forever-mormon-family-embraces-gay-son-19421186

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Insight: Losses loom for investors enmeshed in mortgage chaos

By Michelle Conlin

(Reuters) - Since the financial crash, banks have been accused of wrongfully foreclosing on homeowners because they failed to create and maintain proper mortgage paperwork. Now, there are signs that chaotic document management is harming investors in mortgage bonds, too.

A review of loan documents, property records and the monthly reports made available to investors show that mortgage servicers are reporting individual houses are still in foreclosure long after they have been sold to new buyers or the underlying mortgages have been paid off.

These delays enable banks and other mortgage servicers to continue to charge monthly fees to investors in these mortgage-backed securities, the banks' investor reports show. It means that investors are buying mortgage bonds that may have billions of dollars of undisclosed losses that will become apparent only at a later stage. It could also lead to a new round of litigation for banks just when some appeared to have been putting their mortgage problems behind them.

The review, conducted by foreclosure investigator Lisa Epstein, found hundreds of instances across the United States where information about the status of individual home loans was incorrect. The information about the mortgages is sent from the mortgage servicer, which handles tasks such as collecting monthly mortgage payments and handling foreclosures, to the trustee of the mortgage bonds, which administers monthly reports and makes sure investors get paid.

In 2009, Epstein helped uncover the robo signing scandal, in which she discovered that banks had hired low-level workers to pose as executives, signing hundreds of legal affidavits a day without verifying a single word, as is required by law. The reporting lag issues she identified in mortgage bonds involved many of the same mortgage servicers who engaged in robo signing.

"This is all part and parcel of having servicers who are unable to keep the documentation straight," said Linda Allen, a banking professor at Baruch College, who specializes in mortgage servicing. She said Epstein's methodology was sound.

Mortgage experts estimate these reporting delays could mean that billions of dollars in losses may still be hidden in these bonds. Mortgage servicers may have also been charging late fees, property inspection fees, legal fees and other penalties against these loans long after they have been paid off, inflating the losses, they said.

"The losses are building up inside these deals, and this is going to happen all over the place," said William Frey, founder of Greenwich Financial Services, which specializes in securitization.

Frey said his team analyzed about 500 mortgage-backed securities originated by every major bank and that he has yet to find a single bond where the accounting adds up as it should.

In one case, Reuters found that Bank of America Corp had been collecting a monthly servicing fee of $50.73 from investors on a loan that had been paid off nearly two years ago, investor reports show.

Bank of America filed a document at a local county office on July 22, 2011 showing that the $162,400 loan on a cream-colored duplex in Greenacres, Florida, owned by a drywall hanger named Roman Pino, had been satisfied and "cancelled." But investors in Pino's loan and more than 6,700 other similar mortgages that are bundled together in a subprime mortgage bond still have not been informed that the loan no longer exists, according to the last investor report in May.

Bank of America spokesman Lawrence Grayson said reporting lags are not typical, and can occur because a sale or mortgage insurance proceeds may not be finalized. Loans can sometimes be subject to litigation, which could explain the ongoing charging of fees, he said.

The bank declined to comment on the specifics of Pino's loan. According to Fitch Ratings, the loan did not have mortgage insurance.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp, the trustee, said that in keeping with industry practice, it relies on the information provided by the mortgage servicer.

Some of these latent losses are beginning to surface. Earlier this month, for example, investors learned of $1 billion in losses on dozens of subprime bonds, containing more than 75,000 home loans that were created during the housing boom. Many of the losses were not reported for a year or more.

"For whatever reason, these losses were basically pending out there for a while, and the reporting mechanism finally caught up and hit the bonds in the trust," said Roger Ashworth, an analyst with mortgage advisory firm Amherst Securities.

The bonds' trustee, Wells Fargo & Co, said that it relied upon the servicer, Ocwen Financial Corp, for the reclassification.

Ocwen said it stands by its monthly reporting. It added that it has helped tens of thousands of struggling families save their homes from foreclosure and significantly lowered investor losses, benefiting investors in mortgage bonds.

SIDE DEALS

Latent losses could play a role in some of the settlements that investors have already reached with banks over other mortgage misrepresentations.

For example, many of the mortgage bonds with reporting lags that Epstein identified are the same securities that are at issue in ongoing litigation between Bank of America and investors in those securities.

Bank of America settled with 22 large investors, including two of the biggest - Pacific Investment Management Co and Blackrock Inc - agreeing to pay $8.5 billion to end legal liability for more than one million Countrywide Financial mortgages whose borrower histories and credit quality were allegedly misrepresented by the bank.

Some other investors in the bonds, including American International Group Inc and Grand Rapids Police and Fire Retirement System, have objected to the settlement. They project the losses to be more than $100 billion.

An AIG spokesman said no one had reviewed the individual loans to analyze the merits of the settlement, which was originally over what the bank had told investors about the quality of the loans.

If opponents to the settlement prevail, the reporting lag issues could crop up in the discovery phase of the case.

BlackRock and Bank of America declined to comment on the case. PIMCO did not respond to a request for comment.

Estimates of latent losses in mortgage bonds vary. In a report on Monday, Fitch Ratings said that it had talked to major servicers and more such losses were possible, though it was unable to quantify the amount.

In June last year, independent credit rating agency R&R Consulting analyzed $1.4 trillion worth of residential mortgage-backed securities that were not guaranteed by a government-sponsored entity like Fannie Mae.

It found an estimated $300 billion in total expected future losses, meaning borrowers who were either in foreclosure, bankruptcy or 90 days delinquent. But of those, the firm says there are $175 billion that investors haven't learned about.

"There is such a thing as gravity, and sooner or later you have to do something with these numbers," said R&R founder Ann Rutledge.

(Reporting by Michelle Conlin in New York; Editing by Paritosh Bansal, Martin Howell and Leslie Gevirtz)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/insight-losses-loom-investors-enmeshed-mortgage-chaos-052549994.html

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Markets are roiled by prospect of early Fed exit

NEW YORK (AP) ? There was no let-up in the flight from stocks and bonds as traders reacted to news that the Federal Reserve could end its massive bond-buying program as next year and as China's manufacturing slowed.

The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 353 points, or 2.3 percent, to 14,758 points Thursday.

The Dow has lost 560 points in the past two days, wiping out its gains from May and June.

The Standard & Poor's 500 dropped 40 points, or 2.5 percent, to 1,588. The Nasdaq fell 78 points, or 2.3 percent, to 3,364 points.

The price of gold dropped and bond yields rose sharply.

Stocks fell across the board. Twenty stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Trading was very heavy at 4.8 billion shares.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/markets-roiled-prospect-early-fed-exit-201549383.html

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Rand Paul's NSA rebukes could help or hurt in 2016 (The Arizona Republic)

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The New "Handmade" (Part Three)

Consumer interest in 3D printing is booming, thanks to increasingly affordable?printers,?crazy stories about 3D-printed candy, human?ears?and handguns, all of which are impressive technological leaps. But 3D printing is fueling artists' creativity, too, whether those artists are formally trained experts or self-taught newcomers,?finding their way around by watching YouTube tutorials.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/u89insTN5mU/

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