Real Estate Law ? Understanding Buyer's Agency and Subagency ...

Posted by aayana on 7/19/12 ? Categorized as Legal

Real estate law is not the easiest kind of law to understand. Whether you are buying or selling a home it is vital that you choose a legal professional to represent you who is able to meet the needs that you have. You have options for representation when it comes to property transactions. Once you understand your options in terms of agency relationships you will then be able to choose the one that is most fitting for you. The important thing is that you find a legal representative who will do everything in his power to ensure that your rights are protected, whether you are buying or selling a home.

One kind of agency relationship is known as buyer?s agency. If you are purchasing a house then you can hire an agent for yourself who will represent you and only you. This person is known as an exclusive buyer?s agent or representative. Real estate law in this case states that the buyer?s representative would owe you what is known as a fiduciary duty and would work in the best interests of you, the client.

If you wish you can choose to pay the buyer?s agent yourself or if you prefer you can ask the seller or the seller?s agent to see to it that your agent receives a share of the commission from the sale of the dwelling. This is up to you.

On the other hand if you are selling your house and decide to hire the services of an agent who will list it exclusively for you then you have hired an exclusive selling representative or agent who will owe duties of a fiduciary nature to you. In most cases you would see to it that the selling rep receives a commission when the sale closes.

Most selling representatives will agree to pay the buyer?s agent a percentage of the sales commission. Real estate law stipulates what the rights of both the buyer?s agent and the selling agent are. It is worth knowing though that if the selling representative finds a buyer then this agent is entitled to keep not just a portion of the commission but all of it.

In real estate law another agency relationship you may think about entering into is known as a subagency. When you buy a house the agent you may decide to work with may not actually be a representative or an agent but maybe what is known as a subagent of the seller. The subagent will represent the seller and the agent of the seller and will act in the best interests of those individuals.

If the agent you hire is a subagent then you can expect to be treated respectfully and honestly but you need to know that this person?s greatest loyalty is to the seller (s) and the seller?s agent. When you hire the right professional, you?ll have the advantage of real estate law knowledge on your side.

A professional knowledgeable in San Francisco real estate law?can give you a leg up in your next property transaction. Make sure you know all your rights:?http://www.morilaw.com.

Tagged as: San Francisco real estate law

Source: http://www.articlesrx.com/real-estate-law-understanding-buyers-agency-and-subagency-relationships/8896

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Effectively Lose Weight With These Easy Tip | GETSHOTPUT.COM

Posted by Alison Bell on Jul 18, 2012 in Fat Loss | Comments Off

There plenty of products out there that promise simple weight loss. If a diet seems unhealthy, it probably is. These people are aiming to make money, but their products may not necessarily be right for you. The below article will provide you with some solid advice that will work for you if you apply them in the proper way.

Eat foods that are filling but low in calories. If you eat a soup, salad, or other low-calorie vegetables, including carrots or tomatoes, prior to your main meal, you?ll feel more satisfied and won?t eat as much of the main entree that is typically higher in calories. Drinking water, coffee, or other unsweetened beverages before meals can have the same effect.

Plan your meals ahead of time so that you can figure out your budget and keep eating healthy. If you develop an advance planning routine, you will learn to prep the meal in less time and make your dinner time process easier.

When you make plans to finally begin shedding pounds, talk it over with lots of people. You could even start a blog about your weight loss adventures ! By doing this, you?ll be more likely to remain with your goal because you will do your best to not disappoint these people.

Finding a workout partner can help keep you motivated. Someone who shares your goals, does the same exercises you do and is on the same diet you are can be a powerful motivational assistant. This will allow each of you to keep the other motivated when the going gets rough.

If you?d like to lose weight, you need sufficient sleep. Studies have shown that those who are sleep-deprived tend to be hungrier and are prone to overeat. This will cause you to gain weight.

Taking a brisk walk prior to your evening meal increases the amount of calories you burn from that meal. In addition, you will also have a feeling of satiation. This applies to everyone, even if you are overweight at the time.

After eating breakfast, start drinking water. Water does not have any calories, sugar, or fat. It keeps you hydrated without adding to the unhealthy stuff you normally drink. To shed weight successfully, you should drink only water following breakfast.

If you have no idea where to begin or continue in your weight loss efforts, you might want to think about consulting with a professional. These people can give you a list of healthy foods, recipes, or just tips and advice. The professional will make it easier for you to follow your plans by removing all the excess work and stress.

Don?t eat right before going to bed. This allows your body to digest the food that you eat during the day and gives you a kick start to burning calories at night. If you must eat before bed, choose a low-calorie snack. Veggies are a good choice. There?s plenty of times when you can?t follow this rule, but you should try your best. Whenever your body is resting, any excess calories are stored as fat.

Take a hike outside if you desire to lose weight. Hiking allows you to enjoy the beauty of nature while burning calories. A rigorous hike will burn more calories.

If you find yourself feeling hungry when you do not think you should be, wait fifteen minutes to see if the feeling passes. Often times boredom or thirst can be mistaken for hunger. Wait fifteen minutes and drink some water. If you are still hungry after that, then you know it is really time to eat something.

Make sure that you drink an adequate amount of water during your daily routine. Try to stay around eight glasses to keep your body hydrated and to fight cravings. If the weather is hot outside, you will need to drink even more. Drinking lots of water keeps your digestive system running smoothly and helps you avoid overeating.

Consulting your doctor can mean the difference between success or failure when losing weight. In addition to your doctor being able to customize a plan for you specific situation, you will be given a healthy insight to weight loss. Additionally, you may save money in the long run because you won?t be purchasing unnecessary equipment.

Do you love pizza? If so, you can easily reduce the calories that you usually consume by eating it. You could wipe each pizza slice with napkins in order to get rid of the excess grease.

Related posts:

1. Effectively Lose Weight With These Easy Tip

Source: http://getshotput.com/effectively-lose-weight-with-these-easy-tip-2/

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Japan?s Solar Tariff Bullish for Silver; Special Report by Leading Financial Web Site Penny Stock Detectives

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/japan-solar-tariff-bullish-silver-special-report-leading-110301392.html

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US panel: Improve child custody rules for military

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) ? A national legal panel that works to standardize state laws wants to simplify child custody rules for military service members, whose frequent deployments can leave them without clear legal recourse when family disputes erupt.

The Uniform Law Commission, an influential group of some 350 attorneys appointed by all the states, met in Nashville on Wednesday and gave final approval to the Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act. It is a set of uniform codes that state legislatures can adopt to standardize custody rights for parents who are deployed.

With deployments on the rise from the first Gulf War through the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, especially for National Guard and Reserve members, a majority of the states have implemented a patchwork of laws designed to protect service members in child custody and visitation cases. But the rules aren't consistent across the country, says Eric Fish, legal counsel for the Uniform Law Commission.

Some of the issues state courts have struggled with include how to determine jurisdiction when a military member is assigned to a base in another state, whether a stepparent or grandparent can have visitation rights when a parent is deployed, and whether a temporary custody arrangement should be made permanent when a parent returns from assignment.

"States are all across the board on those issues, so the impetus for the uniform act was to provide states with a well-conceived piece of legislation that takes the best practices from all the states that we have seen and give them some guidance," Fish said.

The commission has been crafting consistent state laws for over a century, including the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, which is used in 49 states as a standard for establishing jurisdiction and child support orders between states. Its drafts are recommendations and need to be enacted by state legislatures.

Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class John Moreno deployed in 2007 while his wife was pregnant with his daughter, Vanessa, at their home in Virginia. But when he returned, he found his wife had moved to Arizona and refused to let him see his daughter.

"She had fled from Virginia, where my daughter was born, to Arizona along with everything I owned and my daughter," he said. "She was 7 months old."

He petitioned a judge in Virginia to order her to return his daughter, but he said the judge claimed that he didn't have jurisdiction because Moreno had been given military orders to leave Virginia.

"The state of Virginia had jurisdiction and had every right to bring her back," Moreno said.

He's gone through a string of attorneys, but never had any legal success. He said he feels like he has fewer rights in the custody case because he is a service member and the courts don't know what rights he is afforded under the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. That offers legal protections to service members during their military service, such as suspending certain judicial proceedings.

"It seems like every time I go to court I get beat up because I am in the military," said Moreno, who is 31 and living in New Orleans, working as an air traffic controller for the Navy.

Federal legislation has been introduced in Congress to amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to include protections in child custody cases. But the Uniform Law Commission, which writes only state legislation, has opposed this effort because they argue family law is a states' rights issue.

Commission legal counsel Fish said while the proposed federal law and the uniform state code share some similarities, federal law is vague and would create unnecessary complexity to an already complicated area of law.

"Service members themselves are going to be completely lost because they are going to hear there is a federal law and not understand the difference of who is in charge, federal or state law," he said.

U.S. Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio) is the sponsor of the federal legislation that passed in the House for seven straight years but has stalled in the Senate. He said his bill wouldn't create federal jurisdiction for custody matters, but instead would ensure minimum protections for military parents.

"Our bill only establishes a floor minimum," he said. "States could have and do have much more stringent pro-military custody statutes."

Turner said family law courts are biased against parents who are absent, even if it's because of a military deployment.

"Our bill certainly permits the courts' taking into consideration the best interests of the child, however, it does not permit the service member's absence in serving our country to be used against them," he said. "The uniformed law that's currently being considered would do absolutely that and would result in service member's losing their children."

Attorney Mark Sullivan, who practices family law in North Carolina and is a retired Army reserve JAG colonel, participated in the committee that helped draft the uniform code. He said one of the key points of the law establishes that the mere absence of a military parent from a state will not be used to deprive that state of custody jurisdiction.

"For most cases, a move is a purely voluntarily thing. For service member, the move is not voluntary and that involuntary move should not be punished by the loss of jurisdiction," said Sullivan, who is the author of the Military Divorce Handbook, 2nd edition, 2011, published by the American Bar Association.

Sullivan believes that states should regulate child custody, divorce and other family law and that has traditionally been the rights of the states.

"We shouldn't be writing rules, specific rules about custody, in the U.S. code," he said.

Once the uniform code is approved, the commission's members plan to push for the code to be introduced starting next year in state legislatures, said Fish.

"This is an approach to maintain states' rights and protect service members across the country, without creating an invasive federal system that is just going to confuse child custody," Fish said.

___

Follow Kristin M. Hall on Twitter at http://twitter.com/kmhall .

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-panel-improve-child-custody-rules-military-085650633.html

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Condi Rice listed as top Romney VP candidate

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/drudge-report-lists-condi-rice-top-romney-vp-020039984--abc-news-politics.html

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Battered Groupon stock is a good deal, analysts say

? Frank Polich / Reuters / Reuters

People enter and leave Groupon Inc corporate office and headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, November 4, 2011.

By Martha C. White

Investors looking for a cut rate daily deal don't have to visit Groupon?s website or mobile app: They can just buy the stock.?

Concerns about everything from European exposure to the departure of chairman and co-founder Eric Lefkofsky last week pushed Groupon?s share price down to an all time low of $7.25 Wednesday. The rout continued at the opening of trading Thursday morning, although it crept up to roughly flat by midday. Even though the company faces skepticism on a number of fronts, at less than $8 a share, some analysts are starting to view the stock ? which made its public debut in November at $20 a share ? as a bargain.

Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney reiterated his buy rating and $19 price target in an interview with CNBC on Thursday. "This stock can move materially higher" he said, although he acknowledged that the company's youth made interpreting traffic data challenging.

According to market research company comScore, unique visitors to Groupon in the U.S. last month were below June 2011 numbers, but reflected an improvement over the previous four months of traffic. Globally, the number of unique visitors in May reflected a strong year over year increase.?

This international growth has a potential dark side though, with some analysts suggesting Groupon?s international sales in general and European sales in particular could be vulnerable amid?the long-simmering eurozone debt crisis.

There?s also the possibility that Groupon?s second-quarter numbers, due?out next month, could come in at the low end or even below guidance, said Raymond James senior research analyst Aaron Kessler.

Some of the softening in Groupon?s numbers could be attributed to the company's avoidance of big-ticket deals such as four-figure cosmetic procedures, a move analyst say is wise after the company was forced to restate fourth-quarter earnings last year in the wake of unexpectedly high return costs. There?s also a seasonality to the daily-deal business that could manifest as lower user numbers or earnings per customer.

The investors pushing Groupon?s share price down to its current lows are afraid that any slowdown would be due not to these factors, but to more fundamental flaws in the business itself, Kessler said. ?There is investor concern over the sustainability of the model,... consumer and merchant fatigue.?

In some experts? minds, this fear is overblown. ?We view GRPN as driving the secular shift in local retail and consumer behavior through innovation of curated, location-based, relevant offerings,? Goldman Sachs analysts wrote in a recent research note.

Far and away, Groupon?s biggest edge is its mastery of the mobile space. ?In April 2012, nearly 30 percent of North American transactions were completed on mobile devices, an increase from 25 percent in December 2011,? Kessler wrote in a recent research note. These users aren?t only growing in number, he added; they?re spending up to 50 percent more than web-only customers.

This sets Groupon apart from and ahead of its peers. Facebook?s challenge in monetizing mobile users has been well documented and was blamed for the company?s last-minute SEC amendment before going public. Zynga?s stock fell after CEO Mark Pincus acknowledged this week that mobile is a key growth driver, then said that the game manufacturer would focus on its desktop platform until the fragmented mobile software landscape becomes more standardized, Reuters reported.

In a recent research note, William Blair & Company analyst Ralph Schackart said Internet radio company Pandora is finding its footing with mobile advertising ? but selling small-screen ad space is a different game than selling products or services directly to consumers? smartphones.

Groupon?"is actually one of the few clear beneficiaries of mobile Internet," Mahaney said. This distinction could turn out to be the factor that makes an $8 share price look like a better investment than half-price restaurant vouchers.

You can keep track of Groupon's stock here.

Dennis Berman, Wall Street Journal Market Place editor, discusses what Groupon needs to do to turn around the company.

Source: http://marketday.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/12/12705416-battered-groupon-stock-is-a-good-deal-analysts-say?lite

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Banks are giving small businesses a helping hand ? Business ...

LOS ANGELES ? Fashion designer Alicia Estrada has gone from selling homemade dresses at rockabilly concerts and car shows to running a booming clothing line.

After running Stop Staring for 14 years, she wants to expand at a time when the economy is making it hard for entrepreneurs to succeed and banks aren?t lending like they used to.

She?s now getting help from an unlikely source: Wall Street.

UBS, Switzerland?s biggest bank, put her in a program that matches small-business owners with financial advisors and business experts. Estrada is one of 10 Los Angeles entrepreneurs whom the bank is connecting with mentors and helping to finance their expansion.

Similar programs are run by financial giants such as JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co.

?I didn?t really know a lot about UBS before this, who they were, what they did and what they were about, but I feel like the program is a really good idea,? Estrada said. ?It?s teaching business owners how to fish, instead of just giving them a fish.?

The program comes at a time when small businesses, touted as an engine of economic growth, need all the help they can get.

A recent report by the National Federation of Independent Business, a nonprofit lobbying group, said its small business optimism index fell for May on the negative economic outlook. Only 7 percent of small businesses said now is a good time to expand, according to the report.

?If [the banks] take people with good ideas that don?t have the business experience to get them off the ground, then that?s helpful,? said Christopher Thornberg of Beacon Economics. ?The complexity of a small-business operation grows quickly. It?s good to have a hand up.?

The UBS program is a relief for Estrada, 40, whose 26 full-time employees can?t keep up with demand. ?I felt like I?d been walking on tippy toes this whole time,? she said.

The program?s participants are not startups but established entrepreneurs who have gotten as big as they can, given their limited business acumen.

?We?re not backing business plans,? said UBS Group Americas Chief Executive Bob McCann. ?We?re backing people who have had some success.?

Estrada has made it this far without so much as a written elevator pitch, let alone a business plan. Still, her 1940s- and 50s-style dresses sell faster than she can order them, she said.

She recently gave UBS financial advisors Seth Radow and Glen Titan a tour of the facilities ? the showroom where celebrities and buyers check out the top products, the warehouse filled with 30,000 dresses, the old photo studio that now serves as fabric storage.

Radow and Titan ? with help from HBO producer Anne Thomopoulos ? have six months to help Estrada turn Stop Staring into an exploding business.

The UBS effort, called Elevating Entrepreneurs, is the second version of the bank?s small-business advisory program that launched last year. The bank is also making $10 million in loans available for small businesses in L.A.

Other major financial institutions have designed targeted programs for financing and mentoring small businesses.

Goldman Sachs has partnered with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa?s office on a training program for small-business owners. This is the third year of their five-year commitment, and they look for businesses with a three-year track record and at least $2 million in revenue.

Citigroup has worked with the city of L.A. and the Los Angeles Housing Department on a program to train local minority-owned real estate entrepreneurs. That program includes the availability of 25 housing contracts.

In Chase?s Mission Small Business program, entrepreneurs use social media to compete for 12 $250,000 grants.

Such moves are an effective way of stimulating small business, said Sue Baaden, Los Angeles regional manager for Chase Business Banking. ?That?s really been our focus, to make a bigger impact through very targeted programs.?

But some experts question the programs? overall effectiveness, reflecting sharp criticism of the big banks in the wake of the financial crisis. The Occupy Wall Street protests accused banks of catering to the nation?s top 1 percent of earners, while ignoring the middle class and poor.

?These programs are helpful, but they?re really a drop in the bucket overall in terms of what these small businesses need,? said John Paglia, a finance professor at Pepperdine University.

Thornberg argues that part of the push may be to improve public relations.

?It?s called venture capital,? he said of the programs. ?I don?t know if you?ve noticed this, but the banks have taken a bit of a black eye lately. Politicians have been pushing them to do this kind of thing.?

Source: http://bangordailynews.com/2012/07/11/business/banks-are-giving-small-businesses-a-helping-hand/

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Why the human body cannot fight HIV infection

ScienceDaily (July 12, 2012) ? University of Washington researchers have made a discovery that sheds light on why the human body is unable to adequately fight off HIV infection.

The work, directed by Dr. Michael Gale, Jr., a professor in the Immunology Department, will be featured in the August print issue of the Journal of Virology.

The researchers discovered that the viral protein vpu, which is created by HIV during infection, directly interferes with the immune response protein IRF3 to dampen the ability of the immune system to protect against virus infection.

"By understanding exactly what HIV does to hamper the innate immune response during early infection, we can develop a clearer picture of how the virus is able to evade immunity to establish a long-term infection," said Dr. Brian Doehle, a postdoctoral fellow and lead author of the article.

The research expanded on an earlier discovery by the Gale lab that HIV directly antagonizes the early innate immune response in infected cells by impairing IRF3 function.

The new studies found that the HIV protein vpu specifically binds to the immune protein IRF3 and targets it for destruction, thereby, preventing IRF3 from functioning to trigger an immune response within the infected cell.

The scientists also found that HIV strains engineered to lack vpu, which is made during infection, did not impair the immune response.

"We have effectively identified a new Achilles heel in the arsenal that HIV uses to overcome the defenses present in the body's immune system," stated Dr. Gale. "This knowledge can be used to design new HIV antiviral therapeutics that prevent vpu from interacting with IRF3 and targeting it for destruction, thus enhancing immunity.

The development of new HIV antiviral therapeutics is critical to successfully treating HIV-infected people. Even though HIV antiviral therapeutics have already been developed and can effectively treat HIV infections, over time they lose their effectiveness due to the ability of the virus to adapt and spread despite the therapy, said Gale. "Therefore, the identification of new targets for treatment therapy is essential to providing the most effective treatment for HIV-infected patients."

Gale's laboratory has already begun translating the knowledge from these discoveries to tracking the molecular events that occur in patients during infection.

Arjun Rustagi, an MD/PhD student in the UW Medical Scientist Training Program, has developed a procedure to measure IRF3 activity in human blood cells. This new methodology will be used to measure IRF3 function over the course of HIV infection -- from the early stages of acute infection to the later stages of chronic infection that lead to AIDS.

By linking IRF3 function with infection over time, researchers will be able to understand how antiviral therapeutics that are designed to improve IRF3 function might impact the overall course of the disease in an HIV-infected individual.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Washington, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. B. P. Doehle, K. Chang, A. Rustagi, J. McNevin, M. J. McElrath, M. Gale. Vpu mediates IRF3 depletion during HIV infection by a lysosomal-dependent mechanism. Journal of Virology, 2012; DOI: 10.1128/JVI.00423-12

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120712101551.htm

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FreedomPop jumping from WiMAX to LTE by year's end, iPhone sleeves intact

Followers of FreedomPop's saga have seen the fledgling data-only provider make a few audacious claims: providing free bandwidth, for one, and basing its 4G device lineup as much on iPhone sleeve cases as on traditional access points. Add another one to the list -- the MVNO is planning to switch from Clearwire's WiMAX network to Sprint's LTE before 2012 is over. While FreedomPop is still planning to go forward with WiMAX for the initial deployment, it's now looking to use tri-mode EV-DO, LTE and WiMAX modems and phone cases just months later. We'll see if that leads to existing iPhone 4 and 4S owners getting an LTE fix without having to spring for a new phone; marketing VP Tony Miller wouldn't tell GigaOM more. Either way, it's a mixed blessing for data addicts that might find themselves crashing that much faster through the 500MB regular cap on free data.

Filed under: Wireless, Networking

FreedomPop jumping from WiMAX to LTE by year's end, iPhone sleeves intact originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jul 2012 16:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/KokxH3LoPAE/

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Native Americans arrived in at least three waves, finds DNA study

A genetic study of Native Americans from Greenland to Peru has found that the Western Hemisphere was populated by at least three distinct migrations from Asia.?

By Eryn Brown,?Los Angeles Times/MCT / July 12, 2012

A member of the Aztec nation waits for the beginning of the Native Nations Procession during the opening festivities for the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC in 2004. A new study of Native American DNA from Greenland to Peru has discovered that ancient people traveled from Asia to the Americas in at least three separate migrations.

Andy Nelson/The Christian Science Monitor

Enlarge

Supporting a controversial view of how humans might have populated the Western Hemisphere, geneticists have found that groups from Asia traveled over the Bering Strait into North America in at least three separate migrations beginning more than 15,000 years ago ? not in a single wave, as has been widely thought.

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?We have various lines of evidence that there was more than one migration,? said Dr.?Andres?Ruiz-Linares, a professor of human genetics at University College London and senior author of a report on the findings that was published Wednesday by the journal Nature.

The discovery was made possible by the sheer volume of genetic material the team was able to assemble and analyze, he said.

Ruiz-Linares?and colleagues around the world analyzed DNA samples, primarily from blood, taken from hundreds of modern-day Native Americans and other indigenous people representing 52 distinct populations. These included Inuits of east and west Greenland, Canadian groups including the Algonquin and the Ojibwa, and a larger variety of people spanning the southern regions of the Americas from Mexico to Peru.

Investigating patterns in more than 350,000 gene variants, the scientists determined that most of the groups they studied did indeed descend from an original ?First American? population.

However, they also saw that Eskimo-Aleut populations of the Arctic inherited almost half of their DNA from a second ancestral group, and the Na-Dene-speaking Chipewyans, from Canada, got about 10 percent of theirs from yet another group.

The results lined up nicely with a controversial model for the colonization of the Americas that was proposed in 1986 by Stanford University anthropological linguist Joseph Greenberg,?Ruiz-Linares?said.

By examining similarities between many native languages, Greenberg argued that the Americas were populated through three distinct migrations. But his hypothesis was widely rejected by researchers who didn?t agree with his classification of languages.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/ujH1zE0swtU/Native-Americans-arrived-in-at-least-three-waves-finds-DNA-study

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Samsung Galaxy S, II and III pitted against one another in DisplayMate shootout

Feeling nerdy? Good, because the folks at DisplayMate have put together quite the comparison of the three different AMOLED displays featured in the Samsung Galaxy S, II and III smartphones. While the study places an emphasis on quantitative measures -- and thus leaves more subjective qualities out of the discussion -- the comparison is nonetheless an insightful look into the progression of Samsung's AMOLED display technology. Curiously, some elements remain unchanged, such as color gamut, which is 138 percent of the sRGB standard across all displays and is to blame for images that appear over-saturated. In terms of color temperature, DisplayMate reveals that while Samsung is trending closer to a white of natural daylight, even the Galaxy S III -- which measures 7,900 K -- is still far too bluish in comparison to an ideal 6,500 K.

Believe it or not, but there's one area that DisplayMate suggests is subtly worsening over time, and that's light reflection. The issue is nearly moot, however, as the 5 percent reflectance of the Galaxy S III is but a small shift from the previous iterations, and what's more, this remains among the lowest reflectance in the industry. We'd be fools to try and summarize all of DisplayMate's findings, but if you're curious to learn more -- and we hope you are -- be sure to hit up the source link below.

Filed under: Cellphones

Samsung Galaxy S, II and III pitted against one another in DisplayMate shootout originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Jul 2012 01:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Mr2dNgbHSlU/

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Autodesk Scaleform lets you use Flash to build high-end portable device games for $299 (video)

Got some great smartphone game ideas and Flash talent, but no budget and little to no programming savvy? Autodesk's Scaleform for Mobile Platforms could let you launch those ideas from a catapult, cannon or any game weapon of your choice -- all you'll need is Adobe creation tools and $299. That's the price per platform (iOS, Android or Windows 8,) giving you tools to convert your Flash assets and animations into a full blown Unity game, as well as the engine necessary for the mobile OS. That would let your creation take full advantage of the latest smartphone graphics and multi-processing capabilities, giving users smoother play and sharper looking games -- according to the company. The software is heavily based on the console and PC versions of Scaleform, optimized for the small devices and costing thousands less. So, if you think you've got the mad Flash skillz to create the next Infinity Blade, check the PR and video after the break to see how to power up.

Continue reading Autodesk Scaleform lets you use Flash to build high-end portable device games for $299 (video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Tablet PCs, Software

Autodesk Scaleform lets you use Flash to build high-end portable device games for $299 (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Jul 2012 08:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Fxn66UKUK0U/

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Kit turns kiddie art into robots

6 hrs.

John Roach

Got kids who are?into arts and crafts but robots not so much? A kit that helps your kiddos turn their artistic creations into moving, sensing robots might help. No technical expertise required.?

Turn that cardboard dragon, for example, into one that gnashes its teeth at anyone who passes by. Or a static horse made of foam core into one that dances.

The idea behind the $199 Hummingbird kit is to hook young kids, especially middle school girls, on robotics at a time when they are known to express interest in them.?

If girls are hooked at a?young age, more may pursue careers in robotics as adults, the thinking goes.

Studies indicate that robo curiousness plummets among girls by the time they enter high school, according to Carnegie Mellon University?s Illah Nourbakhsh, whose lab developed the kit.

The kits are sold through CMU spinoff company BirdBrain Technologies.

Hummingbird differs from robotic kits available at toy stores where the focus is on building a specific robot; rather it comes with a control board along with lights, sensors, and motors that you use to roboticize your art project.

This incorporation step is thought to make robotics more?meaningful and useful to the user.

While the ?unboxing video? below is probably a turn-off for young technophobes, it does give parents plenty of detail on what they get for their money.

Programming is done with a ?free, easy-to-learn, drag-and-drop environment that requires no prior experience,? according to?Carnegie Mellon University.

For an example of a finished result, check out the dragon in the video below.

John Roach is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. To learn more about him, check out his website. For more of our Future of Technology series, watch the featured video below.

Source: http://www.futureoftech.msnbc.msn.com/technology/futureoftech/kit-turns-kiddie-art-robots-873998

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New biofuel process dramatically improves energy recovery, and uses agricultural waste

ScienceDaily (July 10, 2012) ? A new biofuel production process created by Michigan State University researchers produces energy more than 20 times higher than existing methods.

The results, published in the current issue of Environmental Science and Technology, showcase a novel way to use microbes to produce biofuel and hydrogen, all while consuming agricultural wastes.

Gemma Reguera, MSU microbiologist, has developed bioelectrochemical systems known as microbial electrolysis cells, or MECs, using bacteria to breakdown and ferment agricultural waste into ethanol. Reguera's platform is unique because it employs a second bacterium, which, when added to the mix, removes all the waste fermentation byproducts or nonethanol materials while generating electricity.

Similar microbial fuel cells have been investigated before. However, maximum energy recoveries from corn stover, a common feedstock for biofuels, hover around 3.5 percent. Reguera's platform, despite the energy invested in chemical pretreatment of the corn stover, averaged 35 to 40 percent energy recovery just from the fermentation process, said Reguera, an AgBioResearch scientist who co-authored the paper with Allison Spears, MSU graduate student.

"This is because the fermentative bacterium was carefully selected to degrade and ferment agricultural wastes into ethanol efficiently and to produce byproducts that could be metabolized by the electricity-producing bacterium," Reguera said. "By removing the waste products of fermentation, the growth and metabolism of the fermentative bacterium also was stimulated. Basically, each step we take is custom-designed to be optimal."

The second bacterium, Geobacter sulfurreducens, generates electricity. The electricity, however, isn't harvested as an output. It is used to generate hydrogen in the MEC to increase the energy recovery process even more, Reguera said.

"When the MEC generates hydrogen, it actually doubles the energy recoveries," she said. "We increased energy recovery to 73 percent. So the potential is definitely there to make this platform attractive for processing agricultural wastes."

Reguera's fuel cells use corn stover treated by the ammonia fiber expansion process, an advanced pretreatment technology pioneered at MSU. AFEX is an already proven method that was developed by Bruce Dale, MSU professor of chemical engineering and materials science.

Dale is currently working to make AFEX viable on a commercial scale.

In a similar vein, Reguera is continuing to optimize her MECs so they, too, can be scaled up on a commercial basis. Her goal is to develop decentralized systems that can help process agricultural wastes. Decentralized systems could be customized at small to medium scales (scales such as compost bins and small silages, for example) to provide an attractive method to recycle the wastes while generating fuel for farms.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Michigan State University.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Allison M. Speers, Gemma Reguera. Consolidated Bioprocessing of AFEX-Pretreated Corn Stover to Ethanol and Hydrogen in a Microbial Electrolysis Cell. Environmental Science & Technology, 2012; : 120628130731000 DOI: 10.1021/es3008497

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/8vND9Cb-JcI/120710133054.htm

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Unravelling your other selves – with string theory

Claire O'Connell, contributor

(Image: Patrick Bolger)

When you were a kid, did you dream of becoming an astronaut? Or maybe a ballerina? Assuming you didn?t pursue either of those careers, are those versions of you out there now, orbiting and pirouetting in other dimensions?

And what about those other possible ?yous? - the you that chose to travel the world instead of going to university, the you that stayed with a partner instead of breaking up with them. Are they out there too?

That?s the thought experiment in That?s About the Size of It - a play in which performer Niamh Shaw views the twists and turns of her possible parallel lives from the crow?s nest of the 10th dimension.

Inspired by a visit to CERN, Shaw says that she wanted to further explore her fascination with dimensions.

Shaw, who wrote the play with artist ?na Kavanagh, explains that their interpretation of string theory led them to propose the 10th dimension as a vantage point for the performance.

?String theory says that all the atoms that make up who I am are composed of even smaller, wiggling strands of energy that look a lot like strings,? she says. ?These strings are infinitesimally small and exist on a higher dimension - the 10th dimension. We interpreted the theory as saying that the wiggling strands of energy in every atom of my body exist on the 10th dimension. So then I must exist on the 10th dimension. And if you take that to its conclusion, I can now observe every possible probable outcome of my life from the 10th dimension - all the possible parallel lives and every possible probable outcome of my life based on chance, my actions, my decisions, dreams and the actions of others. The 'what ifs? of my life.?

Through Shaw?s on-stage narrative, combined with short films, we meet many of those ?what ifs?, including astronaut Niamh, ballerina Niamh, artist Niamh, London Niamh, scientist Niamh in the lab and even Muppet Niamh (from a childhood fantasy of being one of the characters).

The performance is intense, funny and at moments deeply personal as Shaw talks frankly about some tough times in her life. Onstage she uses a chalkboard to help describe the Standard Model in physics and the need to find her own version of the Higgs boson - the missing piece of the puzzle - to complete her understanding of life.

But can?t mixing the evidence from particle physics with the prospect of viewing lives in other dimensions blur the boundaries a little?

?We may take the notion of some scientific theories way beyond the origins of the theory, but I don't believe that we misrepresent any of the science,? says Shaw. ?I wouldn't think we lead people astray. We used our imagination and thought about the potential magic of these theories in the hope that people watching the show will imagine their potential 'What If's?.?

Since the first performance of That?s About the Size of It in 2011, Shaw and Kavanagh have updated the play with some of the latest developments in the field, including the story of the neutrinos that were not faster than light after all.

The pair were also wide awake and watching last week when CERN announced that they had finally found the Higgs boson, and they have been sharpening their play-writing pencils in time for this week?s performances.

?It's what I love about this piece,? says Kavanagh. ?As the science evolves and changes so will the piece. I was so moved by the image of Peter Higgs crying in CERN last week that it only reinforced my belief in the humanity of science and the human endeavour behind it. Ultimately we are looking at the humanity behind the science and Niamh is the conduit; all life is constantly changing.?

That?s About the Size of It will run from July 12 -14 July at The Project Arts Centre in Dublin as part of the Science in The City Festival during Euroscience Open Forum 2012.

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Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/212b0628/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Cblogs0Cculturelab0C20A120C0A70Cunravelling0Eyour0Eother0Eselves0E0E0Ewith0Estring0Etheory0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm

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Jordan sets up refugee camps for Syrians

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jordan-sets-refugee-camps-syrians-103212940.html

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HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE (Verizon Wireless)

No, this isn't one of the HTC 'One' Phones. Rather than keep the One design and slap a new name on it, like Sprint mostly did with the HTC EVO 4G LTE?($199.99, 4 stars), Verizon and HTC are going for something different here. The $149.99 HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE is more of an honest-to-goodness follow-up to the HTC Droid Incredible 2?(3.5 stars) than it is an extension of HTC's top-tier new One brand. That's both good and bad.

The Droid Incredible 4G LTE retains the same general shape and size of its predecessors, which is great news for anyone that isn't keen on the super large, hand-busting new smartphone trend. On the other hand, the Incredible eschews some of the best features from the One line, like a faster 1.5GHz processor and HTC's ImageSense camera processor. The Droid Incredible is still a very good smartphone?it's just a notch below the One.

Design and Call Quality
The Incredible 4G LTE measures 4.8 by 2.4 by 0.5 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.8 ounces. It might sound silly, but size is probably the primary reason to get this phone. While other top smartphones tend to rely on the idea that bigger is better, the truth is, phones with a 4-inch display are just more comfortable to hold if you have average size hands. The Incredible is a little thick, but it has a solid feel, with a textured, rubberized black panel. The glass front of the phone is surrounded by a thin, shiny black plastic band, and there are red accents around the camera sensor, on the Power button, and on the speaker grill for the earpiece. All told, it looks a lot like the original Droid Incredible?(4.5 stars).

The 4-inch qHD Super LCD features 960-by-540-pixel resolution. That's not quite on par with the brilliant 720p display on the HTC Rezound ($199.99, 4 stars), but it still looks sharp and bright. And despite the phone's smaller-than-average stature, typing feels fine on the onscreen keyboard.

The Incredible is a dual-band EV-DO Rev. A (850/1900 MHz) and single-band LTE (700MHz) device with 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi. Data speeds are excellent on Verizon's 4G LTE network, which recently led the pack in our testing for the?Fastest Mobile Networks. Download speeds averaged close to 10Mbps on the Incredible, while upload speeds were around 8.5Mbps. You can use it as a mobile hotspot to share that data with up to 10 connected devices with the appropriate plan. And if you're looking to conserve data, the Incredible connected to my WPA2-encrypted Wi-Fi network without a problem.

Voice quality is a strong point. Voices sound loud and clear in the phone's earpiece, if a bit digitized. Calls made with the phone are equally easy to hear, with a natural quality and good noise cancellation. Calls were fine through a Jawbone Era?Bluetooth headset ($129, 4 stars) and voice dialing worked well over Bluetooth. The speakerphone sounds okay, and volume goes loud enough to use it outdoors. The 1700mAh battery was good for a solid 8 hours and 43 minutes of talk time.

Hardware, OS, and HTC Sense 4
The Incredible uses the same dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 chip as the HTC One X?($199.99, 4.5 stars), except here it's clocked at 1.2GHz instead of 1.5GHz. That still makes for fast mobile performance?just not quite as fast as the One phones or the Samsung Galaxy S III ($199.99-$249.99). Still, you'll be able to run all of the apps and games available in the Google Play store without a problem.

Android 4.0.3 is on board here, along with HTC Sense 4.0. Sense 4.0 is a much lighter implementation of HTC's UI overlay than we've seen before, and very enjoyable to use. You get seven customizable home screens to swipe between. They come preloaded with some helpful apps and widgets, along with a hefty 15 items of bloatware from Verizon. None of the bloatware is deletable, but it didn't seem to impact performance.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/ycGE17wx4sU/0,2817,2406750,00.asp

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Report: New thinner Kindle Fire with HD display coming soon

7 hrs.

Wilson Rothman

Amazon's next Kindle Fire will be thinner and lighter, with a 1280 x 800 high-definition screen, according to AllThingsD, citing unnamed "sources familiar with Amazon's plans." The publication says that the redesigned?7-inch?tablet will ship in the next few months.

The screen resolution is the only specific spec in the piece,?though?AllThingsD's John Paczkowski?does also say that the next Fire will have a front-facing camera, along with a general improvement in body design. Given the aggressive pricing of Google's Nexus 7 tablet, one imagines Amazon would not increase the $200 price on the improved model. ?

All of this dovetails nicely with the other Kindle Fire rumors out there, which at this point are coming pretty?much non-stop. That's no surprise. It's been over six months since Amazon introduced its first media-friendly tablet, and ? given the cheapness (in both quality and?price) of the initial model ??we expected a fast?follow-up. That Amazon would adhere to the screen resolution Google is using ? and seeding to its Android?developers in the form of free hardware ? makes sense. After all, Amazon has been aggressively trying to sell?Android apps for both phones and tablets, so why fight the de facto standard?

The screen's pixel density will be 216 dots per inch,?as AllThingsD?points out, citing DisplayMate President Raymond Soneira. This is?a big improvement that would put its eye comfort level about on par with Apple's MacBook Pro with Retina screen, though still not quite as dense as the newest iPad. (For more on "Retina" displays, here's a sound Wikipedia item.)

Notably missing from the AllThingsD story is any mention of a larger Kindle tablet expected to compete more?directly with the 9.7-inch iPad. Other reports suggest that this may come "later" in the year, meaning closer to Christmas. My personal opinion is that, for 2012,?Amazon is going to focus on maintaining its dominance in?the 7-inch tablet category, especially now that Google is entering the fray ? and Apple is rumored to be doing so as well.

Wilson Rothman is the Technology & Science section?editor at msnbc.com. Catch up with him on Twitter at @wjrothman, and join our conversation on Facebook.

Source: http://www.technolog.msnbc.msn.com/technology/technolog/report-new-thinner-kindle-fire-hd-display-coming-soon-870051

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Having trouble getting online? Call your provider

Webroot's SecureAnywhere Complete 2012 software for computer security on display at Best Buy in Mountain View, Calif., Friday, July 6, 2012. Despite repeated alerts, tens of thousands of Americans may lose their Internet service Monday unless they do a quick check of their computers for malware that could have taken over their machines more than a year ago. The warnings about the Internet problem have been splashed across Facebook and Google. Internet service providers have sent notices, and the FBI set up a special website. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Webroot's SecureAnywhere Complete 2012 software for computer security on display at Best Buy in Mountain View, Calif., Friday, July 6, 2012. Despite repeated alerts, tens of thousands of Americans may lose their Internet service Monday unless they do a quick check of their computers for malware that could have taken over their machines more than a year ago. The warnings about the Internet problem have been splashed across Facebook and Google. Internet service providers have sent notices, and the FBI set up a special website. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Norton's Internet Security 2012 software for computer security on display at Best Buy in Mountain View, Calif., Friday, July 6, 2012. Despite repeated alerts, tens of thousands of Americans may lose their Internet service Monday unless they do a quick check of their computers for malware that could have taken over their machines more than a year ago. The warnings about the Internet problem have been splashed across Facebook and Google. Internet service providers have sent notices, and the FBI set up a special website. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

A customer holds Webroot's SecureAnywhere Complete 2012 software for computer security at Best Buy in Mountain View, Calif., Friday, July 6, 2012. Despite repeated alerts, tens of thousands of Americans may lose their Internet service Monday unless they do a quick check of their computers for malware that could have taken over their machines more than a year ago. The warnings about the Internet problem have been splashed across Facebook and Google. Internet service providers have sent notices, and the FBI set up a special website. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Having trouble getting online?

Some may find their smartphones working overtime because the family computer couldn't seem to connect to the Internet Monday morning.

You may be one of thousands across the United States who waited too long or simply didn't believe the warnings, and your Internet may have shut down just after midnight because of malware that took over computers around the world more than a year ago.

At 12:01 a.m. EDT, the FBI turned off the Internet servers that were functioning as a temporary safety net to keep infected computers online for the past eight months. The court order the agency had gotten to keep the servers running expired, and it was not renewed.

Now, if your computer is infected, your only hope is your Internet service provider's help desk.

In South Korea, there were no reports from affected computers Monday. As many as 80 computers there are believed to be infected with the malware that may cause problems in Web surfing, down from 1,798 computers in February, according to the government.

"The impact will be limited," said Lee Sang-hun, head of network security at the Korea Communications Commission, a government body. The government and private broadband providers opened helplines and issued warnings. They also asked users to check if their computers were infected and to download antivirus software. South Korea is one of the most wired countries in the world, with more than 90 percent of households connected to broadband Internet.

The problem began when international hackers ran an online advertising scam to take control of more than 570,000 infected computers around the world. When the FBI went in to take down the hackers late last year, agents realized that if they turned off the malicious servers being used to control the computers, all the victims would lose their Internet service.

In a highly unusual move, the FBI set up the safety net. They brought in a private company to install two clean Internet servers to take over for the malicious servers so that people would not suddenly lose their Internet.

And they arranged for a private company to run a website, http://www.dcwg.org, to help computer users determine whether their computer was infected and find links to other computer security business sites where they could find fixes for the problem.

From the onset, most victims didn't even know their computers had been infected, although the malicious software probably slowed their web surfing and disabled their antivirus software, making their machines more vulnerable to other problems.

Efforts to solve the issue have been hindered a bit by a few factors: Many computer users don't fully understand the technologically complex machines they use every day to send e-mail, shop, and surf for information. The cyber world of viruses, malware, bank fraud and Internet scams is often distant and confusing, and warning messages may go unseen or unheeded.

And other people simply don't trust the government, and believe that federal authorities are only trying to spy on them, or take over the Internet, by pushing solutions to the infection. Blogs and other Internet forums are riddled with postings warning of the government using the malware as a ploy to breach American citizens' computers ? a charge that the FBI and other cybersecurity experts familiar with the malware quickly denounced as ridiculous.

There is an underlying sense that this has been much ado about nothing ? like the hoopla over Y2K, when the transition to the year 2000 presented technical problems and fears that some computers would stop working because they were not set up for the date change. In the end there were very few problems.

Considering that there are millions of Internet users across the country, several thousand losing access isn't a big deal ? unless you are one of them.

Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., who co-founded the cybersecurity caucus in Congress, said computer users have a responsibility to practice good cyber hygiene and make sure their computers have not been infected or hijacked by criminals.

"These types of issues are only going to increase as our society relies more and more on the Internet, so it is a reminder that everyone can do their part," he said.

FBI officials have been tracking the number of computers they believe still may be infected by the malware. As of July 4, there were about 45,600 in the U.S. ? nearly 20,000 less than a week earlier. Worldwide, the total is roughly 250,000 infected. The numbers have been steadily declining, and recent efforts by Internet service providers may limit the problems Monday.

Tom Grasso, an FBI supervisory special agent, said many Internet providers have plans to try to help their customers. And some may put technical solutions in place Monday that will correct the server problem. It they do that, the Internet will work, but the malware will remain on victims' computers and could pose future problems.

Other Internet providers have simply braced for the calls to their help lines.

___

Associated Press Technology Writer Youkyung Lee in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.

___

Lolita C. Baldor can be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lbaldor

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2012-07-09-Internet%20Woes/id-a128c550b06d40d2a3fe96d7bf1da41c

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