Hi. I am looking for tutorials on developing DirectX 11.0 desktop games using the new?DirectX SDK (which is part of the new Windows SDK 8.0).?Most tutorials I found ask about downloading the June 2010 DX SDK.
I have Visual Studio 2012 ultimate installed on Windows 8 Pro.
I am a newbie to DX. Please suggest some non-MSDN beginner tutorials and/or a good book.
Source: http://www.gamedev.net/topic/636562-directx-110-desktop-games-using-windows-sdk-80-in-vs2012/
San Francisco: Facebook Inc's Instagram lost almost a quarter of its daily users a week after it rolled out and then withdrew policy changes that incensed users who feared the photo-sharing service would use their pictures without compensation.
Instagram, which Facebook bought for $715 million this year, saw the number of daily active users who accessed the service via Facebook bottom out at 12.4 million as of Friday, versus a peak of 16.4 million last week, according to data compiled by online tracker AppData.
The popular app, which allows people to add filters and effects to photos and share them over the Internet or smartphones, experienced the drop over the brief, often-volatile holiday period.
Other popular apps also saw slippage in usage, and some were more pronounced. Yelp, for instance, saw daily active users - again via Facebook -- slide to a weekly low of half a million on Thursday, from a high of 820,000 one week ago.
Instagram disputed the AppData survey, which was compiled from users that have linked the photo service to their own Facebook accounts, historically between 20 and 30 percent of Instagram members.
"This data is inaccurate. We continue to see strong and steady growth in both registered and active users of Instagram," a spokeswoman said in an emailed statement on Friday.
Looking out over a broader timeframe, Instagram's monthly active users edged up to 43.6 million as of Friday, an increase of 1.7 million over the past seven days, according to AppData.
"We'll have to monitor the data over the coming weeks to gain perspective on trends in Instagram's performance," AppData marketing manager Ashley Taylor Anderson said in an email.
Attention-seeking
The sharp slide in activity highlighted by AppData was bound to draw attention on the heels of the controversial revision to Instagram's terms of service that, among other things, allowed an advertiser to pay Instagram "to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata)" without compensation.
The subsequent public outrage prompted an apology from Instagram founder Kevin Systrom. Last week, a California Instagram user sued the company for breach of contract and other claims, in what may have been the first civil lawsuit to stem from the controversial change.
Instagram subsequently reverted to some of its original language.
The move renewed debate about how much control over personal data users must give up to live and participate in a world steeped in social media.
Analysts say Facebook, the world's largest social network, was laying the groundwork to begin generating advertising revenue, by giving marketers the right to display profile pictures and other personal information, such as who users follow in advertisements.
Source: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/facebook-instagram-use-dived-after-photo-fiasco-report/313061-11.html
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Last updated 3 hours 54 minutes ago
Almost everyone has been exposed to asbestos at one time or another, but repeated contact over a long period of time can heighten the risk of serious illnesses like lung cancer and mesothelioma. A certified asbestos removal contractor can help you determine if you and your family are at risk. In the meantime, keep reading for an overview of the link between asbestos exposure and cancer.
What Is Asbestos?
For a very long, asbestos had been firmly ingrained in Canadian industry and infrastructure. The very first asbestos mine was founded in Asbestos, Quebec in 1879. Throughout the next century, asbestos use in Canada thrived due to the mineral?s resistance to fire, heat, and chemicals. Today, older homes with asbestos-laden insulation can be found throughout the country. ?
What Are the Health Risks?
In the 1920?s, Canadian asbestos miners were known to suffer higher rates of lung ailments and mortality than the general population. It wasn?t until the 1970?s, however, when the true health impacts of asbestos exposure were made known. Studies have shown repeated asbestos exposure to increase the risk of serious lung diseases like lung cancer and mesothelioma, a rare cancer of the membranes in the chest and abdomen. Exposure to asbestos can also cause permanent lung damage, leading to breathing difficulties and other health problems.?
How Can You Limit Your Exposure?
When contained behind walls, asbestos presents very little risk to your health. The dangers arise when the fibers are disturbed and become airborne. If your home has insulation containing asbestos, do not disturb the materials. Call a certified asbestos removal professional before embarking on any interior demolition project that could result in exposed are disturbed insulation.
If your home has insulation or other materials containing asbestos, a certified professional can help you to better understand the risks to your health. At Belanger Environmental, we provide a range of environmental services for homeowners throughout the Toronto area, including asbestos testing, asbestos removal, and vermiculite removal. Call us today at (519) 949-3322 to schedule a free at-home estimate.
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TIP! Have you ever looked over the handles on your doors at home? Installing brass door handles give off that rich looking shine, and really add to a home?s decor. Replace your home?s current door handles with brass ones for a new look.
Home improvement projects certainly require a lot of effort to complete. If you are inexperienced, then there is much to think about before starting a project. The following article will give you a great place to start before beginning your project.
TIP! If you have no shower in your home, you might want to consider adding one. Not only is it easier to get into and out of a shower, but a shower reduce the quantity of water consumed by your household, particularly if there are children in the home.
Pay your contractor according to the tasks they complete, rather than an hourly or daily rate. This will give you the ability to fire the contractor if the work isn?t at the quality you expected without leaving incomplete projects or the contractor requesting more money.
TIP! It?s not a bad idea at all to pause before committing to a home improvement job and consider it from a financial aspect. Look for projects that will add more value to your home so you eventually get a return on the time and money you invested.
Do not go through demolition too quickly as you start your project. Check for structural integrity in the wall cavity before you remove something. If any electrical configurations are involved, repairs may be costly.
TIP! Do you need your renovation project to be completed quickly? If so, then you should know that you are probably going to have to pay some extra money. By talking to your contractor(s), you should discover that they will be more than happy to work harder.
Winterizing your home should begin in the fall or even in the summer. Warmer air temperatures are better times for adhesive products and weatherstripping. You also will not have to insulate crawlspace pipes when the air is freezing.
TIP! Any budget can afford some home improvement. If funds are low, it is still possible to add value by doing smaller, less expensive jobs including repainting and adding some landscaping.
Weigh the pros and cons of having a security alarm set on your home when having showings. If the home is located in a sketchy neighborhood and the property is vacant, then it should be turned on.
TIP! Decide on your main style theme before you start to add customizing features onto your home. Identifying your decorating style will have a serious impact on the choices that you make.
Try this idea if you are plagued by hard water. Filter the water with a water softener. Magnesium and calcium deposits that cause water hardness are removed from water when a water softener is used. Various kinds of water softeners are available on the market, including those that utilize tablets. It?s up to you to decide which is best suited for your home.
TIP! If you are a do-it-yourselfer, you owe it to yourself to buy only the best tools and supplies. You might pay more to begin with, but it will cost less money over time.
Lampshades with simple designs give no life to the room. Go to your local crafts store, pick up some acrylic paint and stencils, and create designs on your lampshades. Keep in mind this can be done with dye based ink pads as well. You could literally create any design you can think of and give more personality to your home.
TIP! Focus on the front porch if you are thinking about home improvements. This area is the first space that your visitors notice and is often what they use to form their first thoughts about the residence.
To keep the outside of your home looking fresh and clean, add a bright new coat of paint. Nothing effects your home?s curb appeal quite like paint does, and paint also serves as a barrier that will keep your house protected. Choosing the correct color is what will make the home improvement project a success.
TIP! Plan any landscaping to complement your home. Styles that don?t belong together can clash with your home and make it unattractive whereas, a well put together patio and garden can bring the look together.
Doing your own home improvement can be great. However, some home improvement projects need the services of a professional. This can cause internal conflict, as you desire the knowledge to make repairs, while making sure the professionals get the job done. These things are very essential when it comes to remodeling. Be sure to use the tips from this article to begin your project the right way.
IF you need an electrician in Thomasville ga, please offer us a phone call at 229-234-9960. We can easily deal with household and commercial job. No job is too large or too little. Please visit our website at http://www.sharperelectrical.com/thomasvillegeorgia
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We all know that Internet is a one-stop destination, where we can find a range of products and services which we are looking for. With increasing demand for Internet, the popularity of online shopping is increasing rapidly as lots of people prefer to purchase products and services online from the comfort of their home. So, if you are looking to make your online business successful, Yahoo store is one of the best options as it is the most popular store among online shoppers.
By using Yahoo store, you can easily promote your products and services on the web and enhance the popularity of your online business. For small and medium-sized businesses, Yahoo Store is one of the finest options because it is an affordable e-commerce solution. There are many businesses looking for a reasonable as well as reliable e-commerce platform, so Yahoo store is the only solution that works speculate.
Currently in the market, all the businessmen want to start an online business, so opting for Yahoo store is an excellent option that allows them to gain huge profit. There are many e-commerce platforms obtainable, but selecting a Yahoo Store is beneficial for all the entrepreneurs. Yahoo Store carries a set of features such as menu, customization, layout, add-ons, RTML programming, graphics, and many more to make your online business popular.
Now, it becomes easily probable to build a profit generating store as Yahoo store integrates with lots of activities like improvement, store design, promotion, and customization. The development of Yahoo store is quite difficult, so every businessman needs to hire a professional designer and developer?s team, who can carry out this task very easily. The team of designers and developers can easily turn your simple online store into a popular and successful store. The team also assures you to provide a user-friendly and reliable online store with easy navigations and layout features.
Around the world, many designers and developers are obtainable, who claim to provide high-quality Yahoo store development at competitive rates, but you need to be careful while hiring them as there are some developers and designers, who are only claiming to be good. It is great for you to hire an offshore Development company from India as India has well-experienced and professional developers, who work hard to offer your desired services. Perception System is one of the well-known offshore Development Company based in India. The company offers complete online store solutions to its valuable customers, so you can Yahoo Store Development India at competitive rates.?
Source: http://blogs.perceptionsystem.com/make-your-business-more-popular-with-yahoo-store-development/
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There are many benefits to owning a business, such as unlimited profit potential and the ability to create your own schedule. In order to maximize the returns you get on your investments of time and money, you can market your business online to reach the broadest possible audience. Here are some tips to help you.
Always keep a track of what your competition is doing and see if you can boost your own sales from using, or modifying, some of their tactics. Browse competitors? sites to get ideas on marketing and advertising strategies, and then incorporate them into your own site.
Put comments from your customers about your products on your website. Because people enjoy sharing and reading others? experiences, be sure that these are somewhere on your page. Having honest comments from existing customers on your site makes potential customers feel at ease in purchasing products from you.
TIP! Design a game to entice customers to your website. People will come to your site to play a quality game and share it with their friends.
Getting your site listed by Google should be a key part of your Web marketing strategy. There are so many people using Google everyday to locate things, and you want to be able to be found by the people looking for your company?s products and services. The higher your Google ranking, the more profitable your business can become.
Do not overspend on advertising. There is no point in spending money on advertising techniques that will not work. Banner advertising is a form of advertisement that might be more likely to pay back your investment, so you reap benefits from those hard-earned dollars.
TIP! The purpose of Internet marketing is to recognize a problem in which you should fix. Make sure you know exactly what problems your business seeks to solve.
Even if you hit a few bumps in the road when it comes to internet promotion, you must persevere. Internet promotion takes a lot of hard work and trial and error before you will be successful. If you are designing a website, make sure you have done your research and are confident about the direction you are taking it in. This can be time consuming work. No matter how arduous this journey may be, always keep in mind that your efforts will pay off.
One way to market online is to encourage visitors to buy by using discount prices. You can do this easily, simply by showing the discounted price right next to an items original price. Also, make your special sound good. For instance, say something along lines of ?Order now and get (insert product) for half off?!
When planning your Internet marketing strategies, use a variety of techniques and approaches and don?t put all your effort into one narrow pathway. This is vital because Internet profits tend to be pretty slow at first. Don?t quit your day job until you are sure that you can support yourself.
TIP! Display a banner with your slogan, mission statement or a catchphrase on your website. Create a logo that will help consumers recognize and remember your company.
Make effective use of email in your business. Make sure these emails contain interesting information. Your goal is to give subscribers the feeling that your emails are useful to them, not spam messages. Newsletters keep your business in customers? minds months after they buy something, and subtly invite them to return for a second purchase.
When making your webpage, do your best to focus on content that is directly related to your keywords & topic, and also make sure it?s easy to understand. Your goal is to tell your customers what they need to know about the products they?re looking at in as few words as possible. Don?t pad or fluff; stick to stating the essential data that the customer needs to know.
In your advertisements and in your content, utilizing the word ?guaranteed? is a successful strategy. A guarantee makes purchasing your product a little less risky for potential customers, even if the real value of the guarantee depends on the company that makes it. A guarantee helps them feel better about buying from you than they would from a competitor that doesn?t offer the guarantee.
TIP! Internet marketing does not have to take place solely on the internet. Try reaching out regularly to bloggers, and them to attend a conference you are hosting to meet them in person.
You should complete a glossary full of various terms if you strive to be looked at as an authority figure in your particular field. This will help your customers, prospective customers, and competitors. People doing a search for those terms will be more likely to come to your website. You will get more traffic and be considered a reference.
Your internet promotion efforts should not be implemented without heavy forethought. Find an adviser who you trust and seek their assistance. There are many out there that can give you a fresh perspective for either free or at a small cost. Choose a method that suits you, and use that method. You may have a slow start, but in the end, it will be well worth the effort.
TIP! Regular blogging can have a large impact on marketing. Consistent blogging provides yet another way to keep your customers informed.
A client mailing list is vital. Include a place on your website for visitors to request information. Use these emails and the ones you acquire during purchases to compile your mailing list. You can find this info at a later date to communicate any deals you may have, or communicate with them.
Although your business might begin as small, you can build business by making goals for yourself. Don?t stop when you initials goals are satisfied, come up with new goals and continue to grow and improve. Continue to change strategies and learn until your set goals are topped. All the luck to you when dealing with your website marketing business.
Join me on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/maynaseric
Source: http://www.maynaseric.com/how-to-succeed-with-internet-marketing-today
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? A measure of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes increased last month to its highest level in two and a half years, the latest sign of improvement in the once-battered housing market.
The National Association of Realtors said Friday that its seasonally adjusted pending home sales index rose 1.7 percent in November from October to 106.4. That's the highest since April 2010, when a homebuyer tax credit caused a spike in sales. And after excluding those months when the tax credit was available, it's the best reading since February 2007.
The increase followed a 5 percent gain in October and suggests higher sales of previously occupied homes in the coming months. There's generally a one- to two-month lag between a signed contract and a completed sale.
In November, signed contracts to buy homes rose in the Northeast and West, and ticked up slightly in the Midwest. They were unchanged in the South.
Home sales are on track to rise 10 percent this year to their highest level in five years, buoyed by ultra-low mortgage rates and steady job gains. The Realtors' group forecasts that sales may rise in 2013 to about 5.1 million. That's still below the more than 5.5 million that is considered consistent with a healthy market.
The housing recovery that began earlier this year is looking sustainable for a number of reasons. The supply of previously occupied homes for sale has finally thinned out and is at an 11-year low. At the same time, more people are looking to buy or rent a home after living with relatives or friends during and in the aftermath of the Great Recession.
The combination of stronger demand and limited supply is pushing up home prices. That could encourage more sellers to put their homes on the market because they can expect a better price.
Builders are also more optimistic that the recovery will endure and are stepping up construction. The pace of home construction was nearly 22 percent higher in November compared with a year earlier. Builders are on track this year to start work on the most homes in four years.
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Ask Professor Pedagogy is a twice monthly advice column written by Center for Teaching staff. One aspect of our mission is to cultivate dialogue about teaching and learning, so we welcome questions and concerns that arise in the classroom; particularly those from Vanderbilt faculty, students, and staff. If you have a question that you?d like Professor P to address, please send it to us. |
Dear Professor Pedagogy,
I am looking for new, innovative ways of engaging my students with the local history and culture of the city.? As an instructor, I believe that using local, relevant resources for teaching makes the learning for my students more authentic and effective.? However, getting outside the classroom in a structured way seems so daunting and difficult to manage.? Do you have any ideas on how I might get my students engaged in learning about the local history of the community in which our university is located?? Are there ways of leveraging technology, too?? How can I assess that they have learned something if I have them moving around outside the classroom, and can?t be with them at all times?
Thank you for your response,
Learning on the Move
?
Dear Learning on the Move,
I applaud your efforts in thinking how learning could occur outside the four walls of the classroom, and wanting your students to engage with the local context in which they are both living and learning.? Moving outside the ?classroom as container? paradigm (Leander, et al., 2010) can be scary; there seem to be so many unknowns and variables to control.? However, other models of learning (e.g., apprenticeship models) show us that teaching and learning can happen in a variety of different ways that don?t resemble the traditional classroom model (e.g., Lave & Wenger, 1991).? Here, learning occurs within authentic activity, at the elbow of a more knowledge other (Hall & Greeno, 2008), and in spaces that necessitate moving and coordinating bodies (e.g., Hutchins, 1995).? This description is a stark contrast to our traditional image of a student sitting in a chair, legs under a desk, looking at a screen.? All this to say, move forward with your ideas of re-imagining university teaching and learning!? Feel good about yourself for problematizing the lecture-style model and engaging minds within bodies in places bustling with activity and history!
So here?s my idea:? Starting with your objectives of getting your students out of the classroom, learning about the history and culture of the community, providing some structure, and perhaps introducing them to new technologies, you could do a geocache!? Yes, you heard me, a geocache.? If you don?t know what a geocache is, you might want to first visit this website for some very basic information.? Now, I don?t know the exact content area or discipline from which you teach, but connecting your big, disciplinary ideas to the resources of the community through a geocache could be an effective structured way of teaching som ?e material ?on the move.?
First, think carefully about the learning objectives you have in mind.? Then, do you want your students moving around an area of the community that is walkable?? Do you want them navigating the transit system?? What specific locations will afford your students with new information, and why is it important to actually be in that place?? Will they be in groups?? Will each group member have a particular task?? Do you want to use GPS (global positioning system) technology on smart phones or on devices?? Would you prefer them to use paper maps?? What do you want your students to produce, or bring back with them from this activity?
Once you have answered these questions for yourself, you might:
Let?s say you have five tasks to which you want groups of students to navigate and complete ? one could be a kind of written assignment, two could be more problem-solving tasks, one could be a group interpretation of the meaning of a place, and one could be a simple photo proving that they had arrived and noticed something noteworthy about the location.? You might find that the variety of ?task types? will differently engage your students and provide new ways of learning the material.? For some of your students, it will be the navigation and finding the cache that gets them most excited (especially if you have introduced this activity as a race or competition).
In response to your question regarding assessment, you should think carefully about how you debrief this activity in conversation with your students.? Maybe you want each group to share particular artifacts that they have either created or found at locations.? Perhaps you want students to discuss how each location and task relates to bigger disciplinary ideas that are important for the course.? Maybe you want students to do an individual, follow-up assignment at home that synthesize some of the major points you were hoping to get across via a geocache.? Regardless, make sure you do some kind of debrief or wrap-up so you can assess both what your students learned, and how well this activity went for your own pedagogical objectives and toolkit.
Good luck and have fun!
Professor Pedagogy
References:
Hall, R. & Greeno, J. G. (2008). Conceptual learning. T. Good (Ed.),?21st?Century Education: A Reference Handbook, (pp. 212-221). Sage.
Hutchins, E. (1995). Cognition in the wild . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Lave, J. & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning. Le-gitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Leander, K.M., Phillips, N.C. & Taylor, K.H. (2010). The changing social spaces of learning: Mapping new mobilities. Review of Research in Education 34, 329-394.
Tags: Ask Professor Pedagogy, Geocaching, Teaching Outside
Source: http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/2012/12/ask-professor-pedagogy-geocaching-in-the-community/
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Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2012/12/27/loki-outtakes-tom-hiddleston/
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Christmas and New Year, although just a scant week apart,?seem to be different seasons altogether for our little family here in Estonia. Throughout December and until Christmas, we eat black pudding and sauerkraut and pork roasts - the traditional Christmas fare - a lot. We'll start eating Christmassy food early, weeks before Christmas. You see, you need to identify the best brand of black pudding (aka blood sausages) at the market each year, so you start sampling in mid-November already. Sauerkraut, on the other hand, is the seasonal vegetable at this time of the year, so we eat a lot of that as well. When the Christmas comes, we still eat the traditional Christmas fare and enjoy it.
And then, suddenly, I've had enough. For the New Year's Eve I want to hear nothing about the heavy winter stuff, and am serving various elegant and light canap?s instead (and even if there is some black pudding on the table, it's hidden in puff pastry pinwheels or black pudding profiteroles).
Here's a little and light and elegant canap? I'm planning to serve this time*. Not so dissimilar to Toast Skagen or this Swedish shrimp salad, but being served on small crisp dark rye bread slices, it's a a great and festive mouthful. Oh, and once we are talking about rye bread appetizers - these?smoked salmon mousse?canap?s are wonderful, too!
* And yes, of course we are hosting a big New Year's Eve bash this year as well. The logistics of getting three kids to a party at a friends' house is too much to bear just now, so we are being lazy and staying at home, asking dear friends to come over instead :))
Shrimp salad on rye bread
(Krevetisalat rukkileivaviiludel)
Makes about 16
? 
250 grams cooked and peeled shrimps
2 Tbsp finely chopped red onion
1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh dill
100 g good-quality mayonnaise
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
lemon juice, to taste
To serve:
8 slices of dark rye bread
If using frozen shrimps, defrost them and drain thoroughly (I prefer those in brine, which are more expensive but easier to use). If you wish, chop them coarsely. Mix with onion and dill, then add the mayonnaise. Season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice.
Toast the rye bread slices, then cut into triangles or squares or small rounds. Spoon shrimp salad on top.
Garnish with some dill and serve.
Source: http://nami-nami.blogspot.com/2012/12/shrimp-salad-on-rye-appetizers.html
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Music Industry Newswire NEWS: Soundlib this past week announced a new version of their G-Player sample instrument, originally designed to enable playback of Gigastudio samples and instruments on Mac OS and Windows. The new version is a free upgrade for registered users.
New features include: New stack editor with independent VCA and VCF control, new Audio Mixer with Compressor, Equalizer and external effects, and more.
G-Player 2 is a native Gigastudio file player designed to play the large banks that require disk streaming. G-Player allows you to quickly modify some program parameters (ADSR, VCA, VCF?) without having to edit and save the giga file.
G-Player can play layered instruments with up to 8 layers of crossfade. Each layer?s crossfade is defined by 4 points which precisely determine the fade in and fade out segments. This feature is used by the most prestigious Gigastudio? sound libraries and is natively supported by G-Player.
G-Player is available on Mac (stand-alone, AU, VST and RTAS) and Windows XP, Vista and 7.
More information: http://www.soundlib.com/gplayer/ .
Christopher Simmons has been writing about music since 1984 when he sold his first feature to Polyphony (now Electronic Musician) magazine. He has composed music for two TV cable shows, is a member of ASCAP and PRSA, and is the managing editor for Music Industry Newswire(TM), as well as the CEO of Neotrope(R) Entertainment. His 80s music can be found on iTunes, Amazon, and CDBaby, among others. He played in several electronica bands in the '80s, and currently tries to find time to play with his studio gear. He is also an award winning graphic designer, photographer, author of one book "Fractopia," and has created digital art for numerous national magazines. ? Christopher Laird Simmons. More at: ChristopherSimmons.com .
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Related Topics: Industry Headlines, Music Software News, Story Index.Tags: Gigastudio, Soundlib G-Player
IMPORTANT NOTICE: for questions or clarification about any information in the above news item or article, contact the company(s) mentioned in the story and NOT this website. This online publication, Music Industry Newswire?, cannot assist you with information regarding any person, product, company or opinion expressed or mentioned in the above story. Some content is based on press releases issued by the "news source" when noted. All content on this site is covered by U.S. and international copyright laws, and is Copr. ? 2012 Neotrope?. Reproduction in whole or in part without express permission and/or for commercial purposes is a violation of our rights and the DMCA. ?|? 9 views
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Source: http://musicindustrynewswire.com/soundlib-updates-g-player-gigastudio-sample-player-to-version-2/
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FILE - In this photo taken June 25, 2011, file photo, Toyota keys sit in a fish bowl at the Toyota of Tampa Bay dealership in Tampa, Fla. A plaintiffs' attorney on Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012, says Toyota Motor Corp. has reached a settlement in a case involving hundreds of lawsuits over accelerations problems. Steve Berman said Wednesday the settlement, which still needs a federal judge's approval, was worth more than $1 billion and is the largest settlement in U.S. history involving automobile defects. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)
FILE - In this photo taken June 25, 2011, file photo, Toyota keys sit in a fish bowl at the Toyota of Tampa Bay dealership in Tampa, Fla. A plaintiffs' attorney on Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012, says Toyota Motor Corp. has reached a settlement in a case involving hundreds of lawsuits over accelerations problems. Steve Berman said Wednesday the settlement, which still needs a federal judge's approval, was worth more than $1 billion and is the largest settlement in U.S. history involving automobile defects. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)
In this Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012, photo, a Toyota dealership signs glows over a car lot in Tustin Calif. A plaintiffs' attorney on Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012, says Toyota Motor Corp. has reached a settlement in a case involving hundreds of lawsuits over accelerations problems. Steve Berman said Wednesday the settlement, which still needs a federal judge's approval, was worth more than $1 billion and is the largest settlement in U.S. history involving automobile defects. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? With a proposed payout of more than $1 billion, one major chapter of a nearly four-year legal saga that left Toyota Motor Corp. fighting hundreds of lawsuits and struggling with a tarnished image has ended, though another remains.
The settlement ? unprecedented in its size according to a plaintiff's attorney ? brings an end to claims from owners who said the value of their vehicles plunged after recalls over sudden and unintended acceleration.
Lawsuits claiming that the defects caused injury or death remain, with the first trial beginning in February unless another major deal comes first.
Steve Berman, a lawyer representing Toyota owners, said the settlement is the largest in U.S. history involving automobile defects.
"We kept fighting and fighting and we secured what we think was a good settlement given the risks of this litigation," Berman told The Associated Press.
The courtroom claims began with a highway tragedy. A California Highway Patrol officer and three of his family members were killed in suburban San Diego in 2009 after their car, a Toyota-built Lexus, reached speeds of more than 120 mph, hit an SUV, launched off an embankment, rolled several times and burst into flames.
Investigators determined that a wrong-size floor mat trapped the accelerator and caused the crash.
That discovery, and the accident's grisliness, spurred a series of recalls involving more than 14 million vehicles and a flood of lawsuits soon followed, with numerous complaints of accelerations in several models, and brake defects with the Prius hybrid.
The Japanese automaker has blamed driver error, faulty floor mats and stuck accelerator pedals for the problems.
The runaway Lexus case was settled separately for $10 million in 2010, before the cases were consolidated by U.S. District Judge James Selna.
Selna divided them into two categories: economic loss and wrongful death. He needs to approve Wednesday's settlement, which only applies to the first group of lawsuits. The deal was filed Wednesday and Selna is expected to review it on Friday.
Toyota said it will take a one-time, $1.1 billion pre-tax charge against earnings to cover the estimated costs of the settlement. Berman said the total value of the deal is between $1.2 billion and $1.4 billion.
As part of the economic loss settlement, Toyota will offer cash payments from a pool of about $250 million to eligible customers who sold vehicles or turned in leased vehicles between September 2009 and December 2010.
The company also will launch a $250 million program for 16 million current owners to provide supplemental warranty coverage for certain vehicle components, and it will retrofit about 3.2 million vehicles with a brake override system. An override system is designed to ensure a car will stop when the brakes are applied, even if the accelerator pedal is depressed.
The settlement would also establish additional driver education programs and fund new research into advanced safety technologies.
"In keeping with our core principles, we have structured this agreement in ways that work to put our customers first and demonstrate that they can count on Toyota to stand behind our vehicles," said Christopher Reynolds, Toyota vice president and general counsel.
Current and former Toyota owners are expected to receive more information about the settlement in the coming months.
Plaintiffs' attorneys have spent the past two years deposing Toyota employees, poring over thousands of documents and reviewing software code, but the company maintains those lawyers have been unable to prove that a design defect ? namely Toyota's electronic throttle control system ? was responsible for vehicles surging unexpectedly.
Both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and NASA were unable to find any defects in Toyota's source code that could cause problems.
The company has been dogged by fines for not reporting problems in a timely manner.
Earlier this month, NHTSA doled out a record $17.4 million fine to Toyota for failing to quickly report floor mat problems with some of its Lexus models. Toyota paid a total of $48.8 million in fines for three violations in 2010.
Toyota President Akio Toyoda appeared before Congress last year and pledged to strengthen quality control. Recent sales figures show the company appears to have rebounded following its safety issues.
___
Online:
Settlement website: http://www.ToyotaELsettlement.com
Associated Pressfbi most wanted list stuttering james van der beek dyngus day indonesia quake stephen strasburg shabazz
By Michael L. Kaufman, NBC Los Angeles
A police chase turned deadly on Christmas night in Pasadena, Calif., when an SUV being pursued collided with a minivan, killing a woman and an 11-year-old boy.
Police were attempting to stop the sport utility vehicle after it drove through a stop sign at a location that had been cordoned off by police investigating a fatal shooting that occurred Thursday. Police had been looking out for a suspicious SUV leaving the murder scene.?
Read more at NBC Los Angeles
After a short pursuit, the?SUV?crashed into the minivan, which was carrying four people, at about 8:45 p.m. The woman and boy died at the scene; the two other passengers were hospitalized.
The four people in the SUV were arrested and taken into police custody. It is unclear who was driving the vehicle.
"We're trying to make sure that if they're connected, we can put the dots together and arrest the right people," said Pasadena Police Deputy Chief Darryl Qualls.
Police identified those arrested as Demarius Hanna, 22, Brittany Washington, 21, Jada Mays, 18, and Darryl Williams, 22. Police told NBC4 that the suspects have not cooperated with the investigation.
Jail records show that Brittany Washington is being held on $1 million bail.?
?
?
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I recently attended a Manhattan screening of ?Promised Land,? a new feature film written by and starring Matt Damon?and John Krasinski?that aims to examine America?s natural gas drilling boom as a case study in ?what happens when real people and real money collide,? as Krasinski explained in publicity materials.
The film opens Friday in New York City and Los Angeles and then expands to more theaters in early January. My sense is that it will not satisfy many people ? either as a drama or a potential weapon (for either side) in the fight over hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the drilling method that has opened vast regions of the country underlain with gas-rich shale to exploitation.?
An eager young industry deal closer, played by Damon, is dispatched to rural Pennsylvania to push presumably unwary village folk into leasing their farmland. But he runs into more than he expects ? both from the community and his own company ? and ends up sympathizing with a culture that values land, water and tradition more than money.
The plot has nearly all of the beats, but ? regrettably ? little of the heart and soul of the whimsical, near mystical 1983 film ?Local Hero.? In the new film rural Pennsylvania is a stand-in for coastal Scotland and America?s shale gas bounty takes the place of North Sea oil.
The filmmakers, led by director Gus Van Sant, could have drawn on the real and often wrenching drama in such regions ? the struggle between landowners and politicians eager for a way out of longstanding economic decline and those fearing contamination, industrial hazards or a loss of rural character. In my travels last spring and summer in Pennsylvania and New York communities situated over the gas-rich Marcellus shale, I saw plenty of this. Tom Wilber?s fine book on the gas rush in the Northeast, ?Under the Surface,? probably came out too recently to provide source material for the filmmakers, but depicts the regional tensions in vivid detail. (I recommend that you read Wilber?s thoughtful, informed assessment of the film.)
While the film nicely conveys the textures of small-town life in gas regions, its main characters too often border on caricature.?The industry duo moves from farmhouse to farmhouse, facing a sequence of lone, gullible property owners signing leases over a cup of coffee. That might have been commonplace in 2008 or so in Pennsylvania and other early frontiers in the gas boom, but the norm these days in gas country is?savvy landowner associations?that approach gas deals with skepticism and lawyers.
The plot at first seems crafted to provide no easy answers. An impassioned environmentalist (Krasinki?s character) is as unappealing as Damon and his equally duplicitous partner, played by?Frances McDormand. While the industry team offers town officials manila envelopes stuffed with cash, the activist conducts an absurd classroom demonstration ? drizzling a toy farm with toxic chemicals and then igniting it ? to make his point.
Whether because of budget constraints or by design, the movie never shows drilling itself, leaving the specter of the industrial invasion of rural America to the imagination of the townsfolk and audience. One way or the other, this works to its dramatic advantage.
The central tension in the story surrounds a planned vote by the town that would ban or allow gas drilling. From Ohio through Pennsylvania and New York, there?s been a building push to fight gas drilling by taking control of energy extraction at the local level through home rule.?Tom Wilber, again, is an ideal guide?to how this is playing out (mostly in the courts).
Unfortunately, any prospects of a compelling denouement evaporate in the film?s final act, when the plot veers cartoonishly, doing for the gas industry what John Grisham has long done for big law firms.
Nuance leaves the theater.
In the end, because of such missteps, the tussle?around?the film in recent months between?environmentalists and their allies?and?industry and its supporters?ends up (sadly) more interesting than what appears on the screen.
~~~
For more background on how ?Promised Land? came about (the initial scenario centered on wind turbine developers in upstate New York) and the views of its creators, watch the recent Times Talks discussion with Van Sant, Damon and Krasinski and read the recent Times feature on the film.
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Social networking websites have continued to grow in the country despite various bottlenecks ranging from slow 3G penetration, patchy broadband services to legal tussles. The growth has now prompted the businesses to extensively harness the social media as their marketing medium and increase their revenues, according to an Economic Times report.
The report notes social networking sites other than Facebook such as LinkedIn and Twitter have also gained massive popularity. Also, newer sites such as Pinterest and Quora are also seeing a sharp rise in the last 12 months. Facebook, the largest social networking site, already leads with 65 million users in the country.
?From being an absent afterthought on Facebook, brands and companies have today morphed to aggressively targeting social networkers with bespoke plans and initiatives as they seek new avenues for growth,? says the report.
Facebook India Business Head Kirthiga Reddy also acknowledges the 'social media revolution' unfolding over the last 30 months. Facebook, from April last year, has expanded its user base from 25 million to over 65 million.
"With such an engaged user base, India is one of the fastest growing countries on Facebook," she is quoted as saying.
Reddy says the growth has been driven by growing number of 'hyper-networked' mobile users, who manage to stay logged despite 'patchy' net connectivity.
"We are a mobile-first company and are constantly working to improve the experience across all devices. Globally, of the over 1 billion Facebook users, more than 600 million access the social networking site on their mobile devices. In fact, Facebook has added 225 million new mobile users in the last 12 months," adds Reddy.
Source: Economic Times
Also read,
Facebook's user base in India grows to 65 million
More Indians access Facebook via mobile phones
India topples Indonesia to become 2nd largest Facebook nation
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? Efforts to save the nation from going over a year-end "fiscal cliff" were in disarray as lawmakers fled the Capitol for their Christmas break. "God only knows" how a deal can be reached now, House Speaker John Boehner declared.
President Barack Obama, on his way out of town himself, insisted a bargain could still be struck before Dec. 31. "Call me a hopeless optimist," he said.
A look at why it's so hard for Republicans and Democrats to compromise on urgent matters of taxes and spending, and what happens if they fail to meet their deadline:
___
NEW YEAR'S HEADACHE
Partly by fate, partly by design, some scary fiscal forces come together at the start of 2013 unless Congress and Obama act to stop them. They include:
? Some $536 billion in tax increases, touching nearly all Americans, because various federal tax cuts and breaks expire at year's end.
? About $110 billion in spending cuts divided equally between the military and most other federal departments. That's about 8 percent of their annual budgets, 9 percent for the Pentagon.
Hitting the national economy with that double whammy of tax increases and spending cuts is what's called going over the "fiscal cliff." If allowed to unfold over 2013, it would lead to recession, a big jump in unemployment and financial market turmoil, economists predict.
___
WHAT IF THEY MISS THE DEADLINE?
If New Year's Day arrives without a deal, the nation shouldn't plunge onto the shoals of recession immediately. There still might be time to engineer a soft landing.
So long as lawmakers and the president appear to be working toward agreement, the tax hikes and spending cuts could mostly be held at bay for a few weeks. Then they could be repealed retroactively once a deal was reached.
The big wild card is the stock market and the nation's financial confidence: Would traders start to panic if Washington appeared unable to reach accord? Would worried consumers and businesses sharply reduce their spending? In what could be a preview, stock prices around the world dropped Friday after House Republican leaders' plan for addressing the fiscal cliff collapsed.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has warned lawmakers that the economy is already suffering from the uncertainty and they shouldn't risk making it worse by blowing past their deadline.
___
WHAT IF THEY NEVER AGREE?
If negotiations between Obama and Congress collapse completely, 2013 looks like a rocky year.
Taxes would jump $2,400 on average for families with incomes of $50,000 to $75,000, according to a study by the non-partisan Tax Policy Center. Because consumers would get less of their paychecks to spend, businesses and jobs would suffer.
At the same time, Americans would feel cuts in government services; some federal workers would be furloughed or laid off, and companies would lose government business. The nation would lose up to 3.4 million jobs, the Congressional Budget Office predicts.
"The consequences of that would be felt by everybody," Bernanke says.
___
THE TAXES
Much of the disagreement surrounds the George W. Bush-era income tax cuts, and whether those rates should be allowed to rise for the nation's wealthiest taxpayers. Both political parties say they want to protect the middle-class from tax increases.
Several tax breaks begun in 2009 to stimulate the economy by aiding low- and middle-income families are also set to expire Jan. 1. The alternative minimum tax would expand to catch 28 million more taxpayers, with an average increase of $3,700 a year. Taxes on investments would rise, too. More deaths would be covered by the federal estate tax, and the rate climbs from 35 percent to 55 percent. Some corporate tax breaks would end.
The temporary Social Security payroll tax cut also is due to expire. That tax break for most Americans seems likely to end even if a fiscal cliff deal is reached, now that Obama has backed down from his call to prolong it as an economic stimulus.
___
THE SPENDING
If the nation goes over the fiscal cliff, budget cuts of 8 percent or 9 percent would hit most of the federal government, touching all sorts of things from agriculture to law enforcement and the military to weather forecasting. A few areas, such as Social Security benefits, Veterans Affairs and some programs for the poor, are exempt.
___
THERE'S MORE AT STAKE
All sorts of stuff could get wrapped up in the fiscal cliff deal-making. A sampling:
? Some 2 million jobless Americans may lose their federal unemployment aid. Obama wants to continue the benefits extension as part of the deal; Republicans say it's too costly.
? Social Security recipients might see their checks grow more slowly. As part of a possible deal, Obama and Republican leaders want to change the way cost-of-living adjustments are calculated, which would mean smaller checks over the years for retirees who get Social Security, veterans' benefits or government pensions.
? The price of milk could double. If Congress doesn't provide a fix for expiring dairy price supports before Jan. 1, milk-drinking families could feel the pinch. One scenario is to attach a farm bill extension to the fiscal cliff legislation ? if a compromise is reached in time.
? Millions of taxpayers who want to file their 2012 returns before mid-March will be held up while they wait to see if Congress comes through with a deal to stop the alternative minimum tax from hitting more people.
___
CALL THE WHOLE THING OFF?
In theory, Congress and Obama could just say no to the fiscal cliff, by extending all the tax cuts and overturning the automatic spending reductions in current law. But both Republicans and Democrats agree it's time to take steps to put the nation on a path away from a future of crippling debt.
Indeed, the automatic spending cuts set for January were created as a last-ditch effort to force Congress to deal with the debt problem.
If Washington bypassed the fiscal cliff, the next crisis would be just around the corner, in late February or early March, when the government reaches a $16.4 trillion ceiling on the amount of money it can borrow.
Boehner says Republicans won't go along with raising the limit on government borrowing unless the increase is matched by spending cuts to help attack the long-term debt problem. Failing to raise the debt ceiling could lead to a first-ever U.S. default that would roil the financial markets and shake worldwide confidence in the United States.
To avoid that scenario, Obama and Boehner are trying to wrap a debt limit agreement into the fiscal cliff negotiations.
___
SO WHAT'S THE HOLDUP?
They're at loggerheads over some big questions.
Obama says any deal must include higher taxes for the wealthiest Americans. Many House Republicans oppose raising anyone's tax rates. Boehner tried to get the House to vote for higher taxes only on incomes above $1 million but dropped the effort when it became clear he didn't have the votes.
Republicans also insist on deeper spending cuts than Democrats want to make. And they want to bring the nation's long-term debt under control by significantly curtailing the growth of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security ? changes that many Democrats oppose.
Obama, meanwhile, wants more temporary economic "stimulus" spending to help speed up a sluggish recovery. Republicans say the nation can't afford it.
___
IT'S NOT JUST WASHINGTON
Seems like they could just make nice, shake hands and split their differences, right?
But there's a reason neither side wants to give ground. The two parties represent a divided and inconsistent America. True, Obama just won re-election. But voters also chose a Republican majority in the House.
Republican and Democrats alike say they are doing what the voters back home want.
Neither side has a clear advantage in public opinion. In an Associated Press-GfK poll, 43 percent said they trust the Democrats more to manage the federal budget deficit and 40 percent preferred the Republicans. There's a similar split on who's more trusted with taxes.
About half of Americans support higher taxes for the wealthy, the poll says, and about 10 percent want tax increases all around. Still, almost half say cutting government services, not raising taxes, should be the main focus of lawmakers as they try to balance the budget.
When asked about specific budget cuts being discussed in Washington, few Americans express support for them.
___
THE COUNTDOWN
Time for deal-making is short, thanks to the holiday and congressional calendars. Some key dates for averting the fiscal cliff:
? Lawmakers aren't expected to return to the Capitol until Thursday, leaving less than a week to vote on a compromise before year's end.
? Obama and his family also left town for a Christmas vacation in Hawaii. The president said because the fiscal cliff was still unresolved, he would return to Washington this week.
? If lawmakers reach Dec. 31 without a deal, some economists worry that the financial markets might swoon.
? The current Congress is in session only through noon Eastern time on Jan. 3. After that, a newly elected Congress with 13 new senators and 82 new House members would inherit the problem.
___
Associated Press writers Jim Kuhnhenn, Alan Fram and Andrew Taylor and Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.
___
Follow Connie Cass on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ConnieCass
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/over-fiscal-cliff-kind-landing-082917997.html
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? Posted Today, 12:32 AM
I downloaded new free synth Podolski and new Bazzile beta from u-he and have a problem: when I trying render selection to sample, renoise render only few miliseconds of sound, rest is a silence. When rendering few notes, second note rendering normal. Older renoise 2.1 does not have this problem, all works fine.
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? Posted Today, 12:38 AM
Perhaps try to disable the "Auto-suspend" option in the plugin options [?] Or change the static buffering checkbox there.
cpu Intel Core2 Quad CPUQ6600 @2.40GHz
chipset nVidia nForce 4 SLI x16 -> Driver rev:5.1.2600.445 (management 4.4.5.0)
mem 8 Gb 800Mhz
os Win 7 64-bit SP1, DirectX 11
audio ESI ESP1010e - > Driver rev:2.0.1.0
video nVidia Geforce GTX580 - > Driver rev:306.23
Renoise Official Manual
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? Posted Today, 01:10 PM
I just downloaded this, to check the behavior out.. erm, "I agree," this is totally broken. However, its likely a bug on Urs' end, as every other synth, does this without issue.Btw, what a great sounding free Podolski is..
If you email U-He, I am sure they will sort this out. Urs likes to look after his synths...
You should try the 32bit.. Have you tried the 32bit Podolski? I only installed the 64bit vst2. I'm curious about the 32bit, but I've already deleted that zip folder.. so...
I woke up with my mind on the floor...
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? Posted Today, 01:15 PM
I have seen Diva act like that when not receiving regular note-off messages. Maybe it was an old version or only certain patches, I don't recall very well what was going on, but I do remember it happening and it was like the envelopes didn't start again. Seems likely to happen in Renoise too since note-offs are not mandatory? Doesn't exactly fit your symptoms, but I thought I would mention it, anyway.
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? Posted Today, 02:03 PM
Sounds a bit like a problem I had God have mercy on your hipster soul.
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Source: http://forum.renoise.com/index.php?/topic/36885-u-he-synths-problem-in-renoise-281/
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