The Ouya Kickstarter-funded android based game console has been eagerly awaited by gamers. And since the launch it seems the eagerness has evaporated, as a mere 27% (or less than a third) have paid for a single game.
The $99 console launched last month is by definition a cheap entry into the console market, and will appeal to those that are fed up with paying $40-60 for a game,? but it would be like buying a new Xbox one and not bothering to buy a game!
Many android games are of the ?freemium? variety, that is you can download a free version and pay if you want extra level or the full version. And of course, the android system makes for a great streaming device and XBMC media platform.
Most early buyers of the fledgling game console have been crowdsource investors, so possible the console is more of a trophy than a working product, and it could be that the second wave of public Ouya buyers may be a little less ?tight?.
Speaking to The Verge CEO of Ouya, Julie Uhrman put on a brave face saying that sales have been, ?better than expected,? and that, ? For 13 of the top 20 games on the system, at least eight percent of free downloads are converted into a paid purchase.?
And pointing to the fact is has literally just been released she said, ?I think there are a lot of social and mobile app developers that would kill for an 8 percent attach rate on a platform that?s 30 days old. These numbers will grow as more gamers pick up consoles and as we attract more developers, and I believe that by the end of the year we?ll see a few developers telling us they?ve made more than a million dollars on Ouya.?
As if the low sales are not bad enough, soon Ouya will have to contend with a rival android console from Google according to the WSJ. They report that the search engine giant are designing and marketing the device themselves following the success of Android which powers over 75% of all smartphones.
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Rush Limbaugh went after the so-called GOP establishment on Friday for avoiding measures to defund Obamacare, dismissing claims that shutting down the government shutdown over the law would backfire as it did for Republicans in 1995, and arguing that DOMA provided a model for reversing seemingly entrenched legislation.
?It?s the most unpopular federal program ever, and the Republican Party is choosing not to align themselves with the majority of the American people,? Limbaugh said. ?It just boggles the mind.?
Limbaugh excoriated the GOP for running from Senator Mike Lee?s recent proposal to threaten a government shutdown over funding for the Affordable Care Act:
?Folks, the Republican establishment?the GOP, RNC?is not interested in this at all. Quite the contrary. I mean, we?ve got Republican Party leaders actually advocating for the total implementation of Obamacare now, under the theory, ?Look, it?s law. You can?t stop it. And, if you shut down the government, the Republicans are gonna get blamed again just like 1995. It?s a lose-lose proposition. Just go ahead and let the law be implemented and watch it implode and kill the Democrats that way.? And I don?t intellectually understand it.?
?There?s a great story by Daniel Mitchell, National Review Online posted all the way back in February of 2011,? Limbaugh said. ?It is a great detailed story of how the 1995 budget shutdown really did not hurt the Republican Party. It wasn?t a deathblow. And in fact, not only did it not really do that much damage to the party, it was a good thing for the country.?
Limbaugh then argued that the Democrats? defeat of the Defense of Marriage Act could be used as a model for overturning unpopular legislation. ?The Republican Party has made the decision to side with Washington,? he said. ??Well, you know, it?s law now. We can?t stop it.? Well, I?m sorry, but the Defense of Marriage Act was the law, and Obama and the Democrats said, ?You know what? We?re not gonna defend it anymore. We?re not gonna litigate it. We?re not gonna enforce it.? And that was a Democrat law!?
Listen to the clip below:
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This post originally appeared on Gizmodo last March, but in light of Anthony Weiner's recent troubles, we thought it might be time for a reminder. If it's a nudie pic worth taking, it's worth taking right.
The retail game is all about scraping big profits out of tiny margins, and nowhere is that more evident than in Amazon's latest financial report. The company managed grow revenue by 22 percent year-over-year between April and June, and yet it confounded analysts' predictions by making a loss of $7 million, versus a $7 million profit in the same quarter last year. Then again,the loss has been attributed to the fact that Amazon is pushing to expand beyond the retail game, by investing heavily in its Kindle business, digital downloads and streaming products, as well as in building a bigger presence in China. This has been the company's strategy for a while, of course, and it's not the first time it has been pushed into the red as a result. But Jeff Bezos says that his company's top ten selling products last quarter were all either Kindles, accessories for Kindles, or digital content for Kindles, which suggests the transformation is steadily having an impact, even if it's proving expensive.
Rensselaer scientist Susan Gilbert awarded $2 million NIH MERIT AwardPublic release date: 25-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Mary Martialay martim12@rpi.edu 518-276-2146 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Long-term grant recognizes a legacy of outstanding research contributions
Troy, N.Y. Susan Gilbert, professor and head of the Department of Biology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has been awarded a National Advisory General Medical Sciences Council National Institutes of Health (NIH) Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) Award, a recognition of the high quality of her research contributions over time. The MERIT Award offers long-term grant support to investigators of proven research competence and productivity and is expected to facilitate creative, innovative research that will have an exceptional impact on the field.
"Susan is to be congratulated for a very significant and rare achievement in earning an NIH MERIT award," said Laurie Leshin, dean of the School of Science at Rensselaer. "It's a well-earned recognition of the long-standing, extremely high quality of her research. The award provides her the freedom to explore cutting-edge scientific ideas in ways that wouldn't otherwise have been possible. The National Institutes of Heath are to be commended for working to enable their researchers to seek paradigm-shifting breakthroughs."
The MERIT grant will support Gilbert's continuing research of kinesins, a class of molecular motors that ferry cargo along the cytoskeleton of a cell. The overall goal of her research proposal is to understand how the mechanochemistry of kinesin motors underlies their ability to promote intracellular transport, generation of cell polarity, and remodeling of the microtubule cytoskeleton for cell division, cell differentiation, and morphogenesis during human development. Her work could shed light on diverse pathologies that have been linked to defects in kinesins, including cancer, ciliopathies, neuropathies, and birth defects. Gilbert's research contributes to the School of Science interdisciplinary science theme of "biomedical science and applications."
"NIGMS selected Dr. Gilbert for a MERIT award in recognition of her pioneering work on microtubule motor proteins, which has set the standard for other researchers in the field," said Joe Gindhart, Ph.D., the program director who manages Gilbert's NIGMS grant. "Her work has the potential to enhance our understanding of how motor proteins work to segregate chromosomes, build cilia and move organelles in nerve cells, and to help explain how defects in motor protein function contribute to cancer, neurological diseases, and other conditions."
The MERIT award includes an initial award of about $2 million over five years, accompanied by the opportunity of funding for an additional three to five years. "I am thrilled to receive the NIH MERIT Award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, which has funded my research program since 1996," said Gilbert. "The overarching goal of my research program is to understand how molecular motors generate force and to apply this insight to understand their roles in cell organization and function in normal and in diseased states. This award will allow us to continue this important fundamental research and to pursue higher risk scientific questions to define the relationships between kinesin structure, mechanochemistry, and function."
Gilbert received a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Randolph-Macon Woman's College and a doctorate in cell biology from Dartmouth College. Her research focuses on cellular movements, and the molecular motors that drive these movements to better understand cellular function and dysfunctions. She performed much of her early research at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass. She completed her postdoctoral research at Pennsylvania State University. Gilbert received an NIH Career Development Award through the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.
Gilbert is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a member of the Biophysical Society serving as a member of Council and chair of the membership committee, a member of the American Society for Cell Biology, and the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. She served on the editorial boards for the Biophysical Journal, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Nanomedicine, and Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology, and Medicine.
###
Contact
Mary Martialay
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Office: (518) 276-2146
Mobile: (518) 951-5650
Email: martim12@rpi.edu
Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/RPInews
For more story ideas, visit the Rensselaer research and discovery blog at: http://approach.rpi.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Rensselaer scientist Susan Gilbert awarded $2 million NIH MERIT AwardPublic release date: 25-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Mary Martialay martim12@rpi.edu 518-276-2146 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Long-term grant recognizes a legacy of outstanding research contributions
Troy, N.Y. Susan Gilbert, professor and head of the Department of Biology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has been awarded a National Advisory General Medical Sciences Council National Institutes of Health (NIH) Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) Award, a recognition of the high quality of her research contributions over time. The MERIT Award offers long-term grant support to investigators of proven research competence and productivity and is expected to facilitate creative, innovative research that will have an exceptional impact on the field.
"Susan is to be congratulated for a very significant and rare achievement in earning an NIH MERIT award," said Laurie Leshin, dean of the School of Science at Rensselaer. "It's a well-earned recognition of the long-standing, extremely high quality of her research. The award provides her the freedom to explore cutting-edge scientific ideas in ways that wouldn't otherwise have been possible. The National Institutes of Heath are to be commended for working to enable their researchers to seek paradigm-shifting breakthroughs."
The MERIT grant will support Gilbert's continuing research of kinesins, a class of molecular motors that ferry cargo along the cytoskeleton of a cell. The overall goal of her research proposal is to understand how the mechanochemistry of kinesin motors underlies their ability to promote intracellular transport, generation of cell polarity, and remodeling of the microtubule cytoskeleton for cell division, cell differentiation, and morphogenesis during human development. Her work could shed light on diverse pathologies that have been linked to defects in kinesins, including cancer, ciliopathies, neuropathies, and birth defects. Gilbert's research contributes to the School of Science interdisciplinary science theme of "biomedical science and applications."
"NIGMS selected Dr. Gilbert for a MERIT award in recognition of her pioneering work on microtubule motor proteins, which has set the standard for other researchers in the field," said Joe Gindhart, Ph.D., the program director who manages Gilbert's NIGMS grant. "Her work has the potential to enhance our understanding of how motor proteins work to segregate chromosomes, build cilia and move organelles in nerve cells, and to help explain how defects in motor protein function contribute to cancer, neurological diseases, and other conditions."
The MERIT award includes an initial award of about $2 million over five years, accompanied by the opportunity of funding for an additional three to five years. "I am thrilled to receive the NIH MERIT Award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, which has funded my research program since 1996," said Gilbert. "The overarching goal of my research program is to understand how molecular motors generate force and to apply this insight to understand their roles in cell organization and function in normal and in diseased states. This award will allow us to continue this important fundamental research and to pursue higher risk scientific questions to define the relationships between kinesin structure, mechanochemistry, and function."
Gilbert received a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Randolph-Macon Woman's College and a doctorate in cell biology from Dartmouth College. Her research focuses on cellular movements, and the molecular motors that drive these movements to better understand cellular function and dysfunctions. She performed much of her early research at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass. She completed her postdoctoral research at Pennsylvania State University. Gilbert received an NIH Career Development Award through the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.
Gilbert is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a member of the Biophysical Society serving as a member of Council and chair of the membership committee, a member of the American Society for Cell Biology, and the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. She served on the editorial boards for the Biophysical Journal, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Nanomedicine, and Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology, and Medicine.
###
Contact
Mary Martialay
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Office: (518) 276-2146
Mobile: (518) 951-5650
Email: martim12@rpi.edu
Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/RPInews
For more story ideas, visit the Rensselaer research and discovery blog at: http://approach.rpi.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Cancer Research UK and Dundee based developer Guerilla Tea have joined forces to create GeneGame, a mobile title that will allow gamers to analyse gene data and contribute to the fight against cancer.
"We're absolutely delighted to have been selected by Cancer Research UK for this project," said Guerilla Tea CEO Mark Hastings.
"We've always believed games technology has the potential to provide huge benefits to other sectors and this project will be a wonderful example of that. We're very excited to get started and through our work look forward to helping speed up discoveries that one day might lead to new cancer treatments."
In March Cancer Research UK held a gamejam in collaboration with Amazon Web Services, Facebook and Google, where academics, scientists, gamers and designers created 12 gaming prototypes based on the needs of the charity's gene research. GeneGame will build on those foundations, and is due to be completed later this year.
Gamers are a useful resource for this particular brand of research, as the "terabytes upon petabytes" of data created can only be accurately analysed by the human eye. Utilising gamer's free time is an effective way of speeding up that process.
"We're right at the start of a world-first initiative that will result in a game that we hope hundreds of thousands of people across the globe will want to play over and over again and, at the same time, generate robust scientific data analysis," added Amy Carton, citizen science lead for Cancer Research UK.
"Combining complicated cancer research data and gaming technology in this way has never been done before and it's certainly no mean feat but we're working with the best scientific and technology brains in the business, we're ready for the challenge and believe the results will have global impact and speed up research."
This isn't the first time gamers have been given the chance to contribute to scientific research. In 2000 a programme called Folding@home launched which used people's home computers and PlayStation 3 consoles to to carry out molecular dynamics research. During its lifetime the PlayStation version of the programme had a huge impact, with 15 million users contributing more than 100 million hours of computation to Folding@home
The House bill rolls back much of the accountability requirements for the No Child Left Behind law. It also locks in lower levels of federal funding. The Obama administration threatened a veto.
By Stacy Teicher Khadaroo,?Staff writer / July 19, 2013
Speaker of the House John Boehner (R) of Ohio, smiles as he walks to the floor of the House of Representatives as the GOP majority passed legislation to replace the No Child Left Behind law, in Washington, Friday, July 19. Supporters of HR 5, the Student Success Act, say it restores flexibility to local school districts, gives broader choice to parents, and encourages innovation by scaling back the federal footprint.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
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Six years after Congress was supposed to reauthorize the federal No Child Left Behind education law, the US House of Representatives passed a bill ? with no Democratic support ? that would roll back much of the law?s accountability requirements and lock in lower levels of education funding.
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Supporters of HR 5, the Student Success Act, say it restores flexibility to local school districts, gives broader choice to parents, and encourages innovation by scaling back the federal footprint. Opponents say it would reverse longstanding efforts to improve education, particularly for the most disadvantaged groups of children.
In order for the law, formally the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) to be reauthorized, both the House and Senate would have to come to some agreement, but the differences between the House bill and the Senate bill (which has not yet come up for a vote) are so vast that many education stakeholders believe reauthorization is still a long way off.
The Obama administration issued a veto threat in advance of Friday?s House vote. The bill passed by a vote of 221 to 207. Twelve Republicans joined Democrats in opposing the bill.
Currently, dozens of states are operating under waivers from the US Department of Education, which relieve them from some provisions of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) that many agree are flawed and onerous. Those waivers come with conditions that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan sees as key to keeping states moving forward on boosting standards to ensure that all students graduate from high school prepared for college and careers.
To many Republicans, the Department has overstepped its bounds with such conditions, a point made by Rep. John Kline (R) of Minnesota, chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, when he urged his colleagues to pass the bill Friday. ?It?s time for the Congress ?? to step up and do its job ? and get the [Obama] administration out of the business of writing education policy,? he said.
Rep. George Miller (D) of California, the top Democrat on the education committee, fiercely opposed the bill Friday, and argued for a substitute proposal, saying the fight was ?about education justice and whether or not every student ? is going to have a high quality education that no longer depends on their zipcode.?
In addition to letting states and districts off the hook for key accountability measures, Representative Miller said, the bill would lock in sequestration-level funding, cuts that would amount to ?stealing from the poorest people in this country to achieve deficit reduction.?
Cliff Crooks of "Top Chef," Puck from "Real World" and Frenchie Davis of "Idol" were all booted from their reality competitions, whether by producers or fellow cast.
Reality TV shows celebrate outrageous acts. The more over-the-top the contestant, the more screen time they get. At least that seems to be the case.
But on rare occasions, a player somehow manages to cross the line between so-bad-it's-good and so-bad-it's-banned. That's when the-powers-that-be behind the show in question decide there's no time to wait for a viewer vote, eviction, torch-snuffing or whatever means of elimination traditionally takes care of the problem. Instead, the troublemaker gets kicked off the show.
It's happened in the past, and now viewers want to know when it's going to happen again.
The sudden interest comes after weeks of bad behavior on CBS' summer-TV staple, "Big Brother." Racism, misogyny, homophobia ... you name the slur and it's a safe bet one or more of the houseguests have said it ? and then some.
In fact, the offenses have been bad enough to cost one player a job, another an agent and earn yet another a public reprimand. But what the offenses haven't done is earn anyone an early exit.
To date, CBS has yet to say much about this season's unacceptable behavior. Requests from TODAY.com for comment have been answered with statements that make no mention of possible consequences for the offending players. "At times, the Houseguests reveal prejudices and other beliefs that we do not condone," read one response by the network.
"We are weighing carefully issues of broadcast standards, an obligation to inform the audience of important elements that influence the competition, and sensitivity to how any inappropriate comments are presented," CBS later said.
As nasty as things have gotten this season, it isn't new for the show.
While the current unpleasant houseguests remain in the game ? yes, even Aaryn Gries ? for now, "Big Brother" hasn't shied away from making a cut in the past. Back in season two, Justin Sebik got the boot 10 days in. After smashing property and threatening fellow houseguests, he took things too far when he used a sweeper and a knife ? and a series of creepy lines ? to flirt and threaten player Krista Stegall. "Seriously, would you get mad if I killed you?" he asked before kissing her and holding the knife to her throat.
Season four saw the show kick out Scott Weintraub after he exhibited explosive mood swings and threw furniture. "Big Brother" handed out eviction notices again in season 11 when Chima Simone threatened producers, and when Willie Hantz threw food at a fellow player and head-butted another in season 14.
Other reality shows have had their issues with problematic personalities. Take MTV's "Real World," for instance.
Just last season, tensions between Nia Moore and Jordan Wiseley ran high. She stole his wallet, threatened to strike him with a clock, and more. He spit in her face and called her racial slurs.
The show's executive producer and co-creator Jon Murray told TODAY.com that though they were inundated with e-mails to kick out both housemates, the series is designed to let the participants solve their own problems. Whenever serious issues arise, the show leaves it up to the cast as to whether they want to evict the person in question. (And there have been several ousters; five people ? including the infamous Puck ? have been evicted in the show's 28 seasons.)
" 'The Real World' is about young people dealing with their own issues and hopefully figuring out ways to solve them on their own," Murray said. "But I could see us stepping in if somebody was purposely trying to use racist words to provoke a violent response."
Stephen Williams in season seven did get violent when he slapped housemate Irene McGee as she quit "Real World," but producers didn't step in. As Murray said, the show left the possibility of eviction up to the cast. They chose to keep Williams around.
One show that didn't tolerate physical violence is Bravo's "Top Chef." In the second season, contestant Cliff Crooks was yanked out of the competition when things got too physical. During a night of drunken shenanigans, Crooks dragged fellow chef Marcel Vigneron out bed and pinned him to the floor while yelling for the others to come shave the young man's head. (No one did, but they gathered around and laughed.)
After the shocking incident, head judge Tom Colicchio ? who also produces "Top Chef Masters" ? wrote on his Bravo blog, ?The Producers stepped in with a veto. Sending all of the chefs but Marcel home wasn?t going to happen. Bravo?s Legal department advised us that the Top Chef rules, which stated that harming or threatening to harm other contestants was potential grounds for disqualification. According to these guidelines, it was clear that Cliff needed to go.?
While physical violence is a very clear line to draw, for some reality shows, it doesn't take that much for producers to step in with a disqualification.
"American Idol" is one such example. The singing competition has booted several hopefuls in its 12 seasons, and none for violent behavior. Delano Cagnolatti from season one was the first to find out how a minor infraction can lead to the end of one's singing dreams: He was booted for being 29 years old when he claimed to be 23. (Contestants had to be under age 25 at the time.)
The following year, Corey Clark made it to the top 10 before he was disqualified. His crime? Crimes. According to producers, the singer never revealed his criminal record. But Clark claimed his real crime was having an alleged romance with judge Paula Abdul. Season two also saw now-Broadway star Frenchie Davis kicked out in the semifinals due to topless photos that were published online years earlier. She disclosed that detail from the start, but show staffers waited weeks to take action.
Later seasons saw the show disqualify hopefuls for undisclosed criminal records, drunk driving the night before the Hollywood rounds, past legal woes and a previous contract that might have interfered with the "Idol" agreement.
On "The Bachelor," it took getting a little too close to the staff be disqualified. In season 14 of ABC's romantic contest, Rozlyn Papa had her chances of getting the final rose crushed when it was discovered that she was having what host Chris Harrison called an "inappropriate relationship that got physical" with a show staffer. Both Papa and the employee were promptly dumped.
One good way of ensuring an elimination by producers is cheating and rule-breaking, something that contestants of "Project Runway," "RuPaul's Drag Race" and "America's Next Top Model" have learned.
"Runway" designer Keith Michael was booted in season three after he'd smuggled in pattern-making books ? a big no-no on the competition. "Drag Race's" Willam Belli was a frontrunner in season four until it was discovered that his husband was a frequent visitor when contestants were supposed to be sequestered. And on "Top Model," cycle 17 finalist Angelea Preston was unceremoniously dumped, causing The CW to reshoot parts of the finale. Rumor was that she may have announced her later-reversed victory before the finale aired
So with all these disqualifications in mind, what's it going to take to finally send the nastiest "Big Brother" contestants home for their bad behavior this season? Will the producers finally say "enough" and step in as viewer outcry continues to mount? Or will it be up to the housemates to make the move? Only time will tell.
? Additional reporting by Maria Elena Fernandez
Do you think bad behavior should mean contestants get the boot from areality TV show? Or is crossing the line just part of being real? Click "talk about it" and tell us your thoughts.
"Halo: Spartan Assault" Now Available Worldwide for Windows 8 Devices Experience the "Halo" universe on Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 for the first time in franchise history
Longtime fans and newcomers to the "Halo" franchise alike have a new way to get into the action against Covenant forces. Today at the San Diego Comic-Con, 343 Industries in conjunction with Vanguard Games announced the worldwide availability of "Halo: Spartan Assault," a new top-down shooter optimized for Windows 8 touched-based devices.
Available now for $6.99 1 only on Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 2, "Halo: Spartan Assault" is a new chapter of the award-winning "Halo" universe that explores the first missions of the Spartan Ops program and dives deeper into the backstory of the Human-Covenant War. Play through the eyes of either Commander Sarah Palmer or Spartan Davis, while stationed aboard the UNSC Infinity, as they fight never-before-seen battles against Covenant forces.
In the U.S., "Halo: Spartan Assault" for Windows Phone 8 is available first for Verizon Wireless customers from July 18 through August 16.3
With 25 unique missions featuring unrivaled action and intensity, the single-player experience allows you to compete against friends in Leaderboards or hone your skills with Weekly Challenges. Replay the missions to collect more than 40 in-game Achievements and Medals.
For fans who already have a prospering Spartan career aboard the UNSC Infinity, "Halo: Spartan Assault" lets you earn up to 50,000 experience points (XP), and a unique emblem for your "Halo 4" (for Xbox 360) Spartan, with additional integration features available after launch. Additionally, Fans who purchase and play "Halo: Spartan Assault" will unlock exclusive bonus content in "Halo 4" Champions Bundle or "Halo 4" Bullseye Pack (available Aug. 20), including a new weapon skin, two armor skins and a Spartan stance.4
In addition, 343 Industries has teamed up with Dark Horse Comics to create "Halo: Initiation,"5 a three-part comic series which reveals the story of how Commander Sarah Palmer became a Spartan-IV and leads directly into the thrilling missions of "Halo: Spartan Assault." Fans can check out a digital preview of the comic here.
Available same day as "Halo: Spartan Assault," the "Halo: Spartan Assault" Soundtrack (composed by Tom Salta) will be available for $9.99 on all major digital music distribution channels. The soundtrack contains 27 full length songs with over 60 minutes of music.
1 Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 versions sold separately.
2 On Windows Phone 8, 1GB RAM currently required. Version supporting 512MB RAM Windows Phone 8 coming August 2013 Performance on 512MB phones may vary. 3 Available worldwide on July 18 for all Windows 8 PCs and Tablets. Available worldwide on July 18 for compatible Windows Phone 8 devices, except in the U.S. where the Windows Phone 8 version is available only on Verizon Wireless until August 16. 4 Halo 4 game, Championship Bundle, and Bullseye Pack all sold separately. Some game add-on content also requires an Xbox Live Gold membership (sold separately).
5Sold separately.
About 343 Industries 343 Industries is the publisher and developer of the blockbuster "Halo" series of videogames and, as part of Microsoft Studios, oversees the "Halo" franchise, including novels, comics, licensed collectibles, apparel and more. 343 Industries is home to world-class developers working on the Reclaimer Saga, which commenced with the arrival of "Halo 4" on Nov. 6, 2012, exclusively on Xbox 360.
About Vanguard Games Established in 2010, Vanguard Games develops high quality games for next generation mobile devices, game consoles, and PC. Based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Vanguard Games was set up by industry veterans Martin de Ronde and Michiel Mol (founders Guerilla Games) and Arthur Houtman (Atari, Disney Online), who played key roles in the development of a number of blockbuster titles. Vanguard Games' past projects include award winning strategy game Greed Corp and the critically acclaimed twin stick shooter Gatling Gears. The company's mission is to develop games that set new benchmarks for mobile and online entertainment. For more information visit http://www.vanguardgames.net.
About the "Halo: Initiation" Comic Series Created by Dark Horse Comics, follow the ascent of UNSC soldier Sarah Palmer from ODST to Spartan-IV. (English Only)
[unable to retrieve full-text content]New research shows that, under certain conditions, using two drugs in a "targeted therapy" -- a treatment approach designed to interrupt cancer's ability to grow and spread -- nearly all cancers could be effectively cured.
What did hospitals learn from Aurora movie theater massacre?
Following the movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colo., one year ago, the University of Colorado Hospital learned to keep the trauma team on speed dial and stock more supplies. Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital applied what they learned from Aurora to its response to the Boston Marathon bombings. Barry Petersen reports.
If you're a Starbucks fan and you're getting a little bored with the regular menu, welcome to the dark side. For those that don't know, there's tons of different recipes out there that aren't on the menu such as cotton candy, twix, and caramel apple Frappucinos. Some Starbucks locations even know of these items and can make them upon request.
Secret Menu for Starbucks gives you a pretty extensive list of these secret recipes and the directions so you know exactly what to ask for at the counter.
For the coffee fanatics out there, Starbucks' secret menu may not come as a complete surprise to you. I've found several locations that knew certain secret recipes by name without the help of a recipe. While I knew a few, I didn't know even a tiny percentage of all the different concoctions you could make at Starbucks, particularly with Frappucinos.
While Secret Menu for Starbucks doesn't have the most enjoyable interface, it is the only resource I've found, app or otherwise, that gives this much information into the secret world of Starbucks mixed drinks.
Whether you're bored with your same old Starbucks favorite or are intrigued by trying a Twix Frappucino, at $0.99 it's a great little resource to have for your visits to Starbucks.
The mass, peaceful, and relentless Bulgarian anti-government protest rallies have gotten the attention of media as far as in China.
The Chinese Xinhua news agency writes Friday in quoting leading political analysts that anti-governmentprotests have lasted for more than a month in Bulgaria and will continue if there is still no effective dialogue between the government and the protesters.
The article explains the situation and the reason for the rallies and publishes comments of leading Bulgarian pollsters and sociology experts, Boryana Dimitrova from Alfa Research, and Kolio Kolev from Mediana.
Below is the full text:
"SOFIA, July 19 (Xinhua) -- The anti-governmentprotests have lasted for more than a month in Bulgaria and will continue if there is still no effective dialogue between the government and the protesters, leading political analysts have told Xinhua.
The outcry began on June 14, two weeks after the election of the government led by Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski, by blocking central streets of the Bulgarian capital city of Sofia.
Initially, protesters wanted annulment of a controversial appointment of Delyan Peevski as chairman of the State Agency for National Security made on the same day. Parliament reversed the decision, but protests continued, with demands going all the way up to demanding the government's resignation and asking for new early elections.
Protestors attempted to block the entrance to the National Assembly and threw eggs and tomatoes at some MPs in the morning of recent weeks. Dozens of people have been arrested.
Reaching an agreement on holding elections in May 2014 would calm the situation according to Boriana Dimitrova, Managing Partner of Alpha Research Agency.
Kolyo Kolev, Director of Mediana Agency, said the solution could be in holding a referendum in March next year on whether early elections in May should be held or not.
TENSIONS COULD ESCALATE WITHOUT ANY GOV'T MEASURES
One month after their start, the protests have continued in a sustainable way, and the government has not tried to dialogue with the protesters, according to Dimitrova.
"The third, which is associated with these two things, is really unique: we have a month of solid protests in Sofia without a response from the authorities, but the protests remain absolutely peaceful and ultra-civilized," she said.
Kolev told Xinhua that because of the lack of dialogue, the tension between protesters and other has increased. "Protesters are becoming more adamant that they want the immediate resignation of the government; the others become increasingly firm that the government has to fulfill its four-year term; and everyone wants a clean victory," Kolev said.
The protests may subside in August when many Bulgarians choose to spend their days sunning on the beaches, instead of walking and sweating in the streets.
"But the protest could explode again in September, fueled by additional political, geopolitical and economic interests," Kolev said.
Meanwhile, Dimitrova also said that currently, this was a trench warfare, a war of nerves. "If the government does not reconsider its position, the pressure can only grow -- slowly and gradually or quickly, with the arrival of autumn," she said.
EARLY ELECTIONS WOULD BE OPTION NOT SOLUTION
According to Dimitrova, the quick early elections in two or three months could be a possible solution to this kind of crisis. "Whatever the outcome, you have a new legitimacy of the government, no matter what it is," she said.
Kolev said if there was no other political entity that can appear out of the new elections as an alternative to what exists at the moment, a quite fragile parliamentary body would be formed again.
"In this situation, we would risk entering a spiral of the first of many early elections, because only a month and a half or two, the new majority or potentially new government will be attacked in the same way as this has been attacked," Kolev said.
"If I were Oresharski, I would confess our mistake and ask the protesters to allow the government to operate until the end of March to show its capabilities, and in late March to hold a referendum on whether early elections should be held or not in May along with the European Parliament elections," Kolev said."
Meanwhile, on Friday evening, thousands of Bulgarians have taken once again to the streets of the capital Sofia to demand the resignation of the country's government for a 36th day in a row.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Panasonic Corp , its subsidiary Sanyo Electric Co Ltd and LG Chem Ltd agreed to plead guilty to separate price-fixing allegations involving automotive parts and notebook computer battery cells, the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday.
Panasonic agreed to pay about a $45.8 million criminal fine, Sanyo agreed to pay $10.7 million and LG Chem $1.1 million, the department said in a statement.
Japan's Panasonic agreed to plead guilty to price-fixing on turn, wiper and other switches and steering angle sensors sold to Toyota Motor Corp , among others, and high intensity discharge ballasts sold to Honda Motor Co Ltd , Mazda Motor Corp and Nissan Motor Co Ltd .
Panasonic will plead guilty to three felony counts in connection with the conspiracy.
Sanyo and LG Chem pleaded guilty to fixing prices of cylindrical lithium ion battery cells used in notebook computers, the department said. They face one count each of price-fixing. The charges were the first in a battery cell investigation.
Ten other companies have pleaded guilty or agreed to plead guilty in the auto parts probe. They are Japan's Diamond Electric Manufacturing Co Ltd , Tokai Rika , Autoliv , TRW Deutschland Holding GmbH, Nippon Seiki Co Ltd, Fujikura Ltd , Furukawa Electric Co Ltd , Denso Corp , Yazaki Corp and G.S. Electech.
Fifteen executives either face sentencing or have already been sentenced to jail time and fines.
(Reporting by David Ingram and Diane Bartz; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Grant McCool)
Advance columnist Cormac Gordon's story on a baseball camp started by Harold Reilly Sr. in 1954 elicited fond memories from long-time Staten Islanders.
The idea for a summer day camp was new in those days and the story remembers Reilly's inspiration and imagination in launching the far-reaching project.
One SILive.com user who goes by calvados weighed in on the story and the following opinion is Friday's SILive.com's "Sports Comment of the Day."
"There was nowhere else you could go for a full day of baseball. Many thanks to Harold Reilly Sr. for his foresight and to knowing how much this would mean to the kids of Staten Island."
Read the story and sound off by leaving a comment below
The action in the secondary free agent market is heating up, as teams are beginning to target veteran players discarded by others teams this summer.
The free agency action has slowed down considerably in the NBA, but a secondary market has emerged in which teams are pursuing veteran players discarded by rival teams later in the summer. Mike Miller and Marcus Camby are two such players, and they have generated interest from various contenders around the league. The Oklahoma City Thunder are a particularly active team in the rumors after learning the league will reimburse them for a portion of Kevin Durant's contract. Elsewhere around the league, the Lakers' general manager is scouting assistant coaches, and the Suns have put a point guard on the trade block. Here are the latest free agency rumors.
Thunder Targeting Mike Miller, Repayment on Durant's Super-Max Deal May Help
Mike Miller was waived by the Miami Heat on Tuesday via the amnesty provision, and after clearing waivers on Thursday, the 33-year-old forward is now an unrestricted free agent. The Spurs, Grizzlies and Rockets are all reportedly interested in signing Miller, but the Thunder are considered the front-runner at this point, according to Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman. Thunder general manager Sam Presti is scheduled to meet with Miller this week in Miami. OKC doesn't have a lot of cap room to spare, so a one-year, $1.4 million deal is all they have to offer without going into the luxury tax zone. DeAndre Liggins or Daniel Orton could be released to make room for Miller, who is shopping for a role on a contender.
In a rare move, OKC will be reimbursed several million dollars by the NBA for a CBA rule change that was retroactively applied to Kevin Durant's max contract in 2010, according to Zach Lowe of Grantland. The league will apparently not pay the full difference between a max and super-max deal for Durant (~$15 million), and the cap situation will not change for the team, but ownership will have some extra money to throw around -- if they decide Miller is worth the investment.
Marcus Camby Drawing Interest from Bulls, Clippers, Heat
The Toronto Raptors bought out Marcus Camby's contract on Thursday, and the big man is already drawing interest from the Heat, Rockets, Bulls and Clippers, according to ESPN and Jared Zwerling. The New York Knicks are barred from pursuing Camby because they recently traded him to the Raptors in the deal for Andrea Bargnani.
Chuck Hayes Open to Trade from Kings
The Sacramento Kings are looking to trade veteran big man Chuck Hayes, and Hayes is open to the possibility of moving to another team, according to Chris Haynes of Comcast Sportsnet - Northwest. Hayes is a stout defensive player, but he's on the back end of his career and he has two years and $11 million remaining on his contract.
Lakers' GM Scouting Rival Assistant Coaches?
Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak attended Summer League action in Las Vegas on Thursday, but he was apparently more interested in assistant coaches for the Cavaliers and Spurs than he was in any players, according to Jason Lloyd. The team is still working on filling out Mike D'Antoni's coaching staff for the upcoming season.
Kendall Marshall on Trade Block
The Phoenix Suns are suddenly flush with point guards after new GM Ryan McDonough traded for Eric Bledsoe earlier this summer, and while the team wants to experiment with pairing Bledsoe and Goran Dragic together, second-year PG Kendall Marshall is on the trading block, according to Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com. The Suns are reportedly trying to attach the young guard to any potential deal they discuss, and Marshall has essentially become the "price of admission to any trade" with Phoenix.
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MEXICO CITY (AP) ? Alleged drug lord Miguel Angel Trevino Morales fled into heavy brush and fell at least once scratching his face in a failed attempt to escape capture two days ago, a Mexican federal government official said.
The official told The Associated Press that Trevino Morales tried to run away near the border city of Nuevo Laredo, long the base of operations for his brutal Zetas cartel, after marines in a Black Hawk helicopter stopped his truck.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the case.
On Tuesday, officials said three men were in the pickup truck and two dropped to the ground while one fled. The official said Trevino Morales was the one who ran and scraped his face against trees and shrubs.
Trevino Morales had what appeared to be scrapes and bruises in photos distributed by authorities after his arrest.
Authorities have said the marines found $2 million in cash and eight rifles and 500 bullets in the truck. Trevino Morales and the others were detained without a shot fired.
The official said that in recent weeks Trevino Morales had been keeping a low profile and moving before dawn on dirt roads and with only a few bodyguards between the border states of Coahuila and Tamaulipas.
He is being questioned by prosecutors in Mexico City.
Better known as "Z-40," Trevino Morales is one of the highest-level drug suspects captured recently.
His arrest was the first major blow against an organized crime leader by the administration of President Enrique Pena Nieto, which has struggled to drive down persistently high levels of violence.
The arrest was at least the eighth capture or killing of high-ranking members of the cartel since 2011. Experts on the Zetas said the arrest could leave behind a series of cells scattered across northern Mexico without a central command but with the same appetite for kidnapping, extortion and other crimes against innocent people.
In season four, 'Game of Thrones' will introduce a myriad of new faces. Two new cast members have been announced.?
By Casey Lee,?Contributor / July 18, 2013
The entire cast of 'Game of Thrones" from season one. Some are still with us, others will be replaced with new faces.
Enlarge
We're all waiting impatiently for season four of HBO series "Game of Thrones." Nothing new about that. What is new is the announcement about two new cast members ? Mark Gatiss and Pedro Pascal ? who will be joining the "GoT" family in season four.?
Skip to next paragraph Casey Lee
Contributor
Casey Lee was born and raised in Indiana, a proud Hoosier. She is currently interning at the Christian Science Monitor under Marjorie Kehe in the Book Section. She's pretty sure this is the best summer ever. Casey is a rising senior at Principia College where she is majoring in Mass Communication and minoring in Spanish. She is also the book reviewer for the school's news paper, Principia Pilot.?
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The role of Mark Gatiss, who has had a hand in writing, producing, and acting in "Dr. Who" as well as playing Mycroft in "Sherlock," will be kept a surprise according to Entertainment Weekly. The point of this is probably to drive viewers insane. After all, the books' author, George R.R. Martin, makes a habit of keeping readers on the edge of their seats constantly. Why should it be any different for viewers?
Thanks again to Entertainment Weekly, we do know that Pedro Pascal will be playing Prince Oberyn Martell from Dorne. He is also widely known as The Red Viper. Series creators David Benioff and Dan Weiss said that finding someone to play the ?sexy and charming, yet believably dangerous; intensely likable, yet driven by hate? Red Viper was not exactly a walk in the park. Happily, they have succeeded.
Pedro Pascal is a veteran of TV series such as "Graceland," "Red Widow," and "Nikita" just to name a few. Hopefully, his experience with acting in intense series such as these will have properly prepped? him for portraying a charming and deadly man out for revenge against The Mountain for killing his sister.?
Seeing as Martin has a penchant for killing off his characters, it?s probably a good thing that so many new ones are introduced through out the series. Other characters that Entertainment News says we can look forward to seeing include Mace Tyrell and the Magnar of Thenn.
Season four of? "Game of Thrones" is expected to premier in spring 2014, with a very rough guess of 255 days to go.?
The Eye of Sauron, here in the film Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
Courtesy of New Line Cinema
What can literary fiction teach us about recent revelations that the National Security Agency has aggressively been gathering massive amounts of data on American citizens? The novel one usually turns to, of course, is George Orwell?s Nineteen Eighty-Four, with its terrifying vision of the Thought Police. Even President Obama, in response to questions about the NSA, has been forced to deny that the government has engaged in ?Big Brother? tactics. Orwell?s book, however, isn?t the most compelling or accurate literary prediction of modern surveillance. That award goes to a less obvious title: J.R.R?Tolkien?s Lord of the Rings.
Tolkien?s most potent and intimidating image of centralized surveillance, the Eye of Sauron atop a tower, taking in the whole world, has resonated with those who are paranoid about government monitoring. But it?s Sauron?s vulnerability that has the most relevance for America today. Consider the basic premise of Tolkien?s trilogy: a small group of dedicated subversives willing to sacrifice their lives slips in under the surveillance system of a great power, blends in with an alien population, and delivers a devastating blow to the heart of its empire, leaving its security forces in disarray and its populace terrified. Even a tower or two crumbles to dust. Far from being covert, much of this operation is conducted in plain sight, with the great power aware of its enemies? existence, if not their intent. Given its prescience about modern-day terrorism, Tolkien?s vision offers at least three lessons for present-day America.
1. All-Seeing Is Not All-Knowing
The most salient fact about Tolkien is not that he was a fantasist, but that he was Catholic: His Christian beliefs drove him out of realism and into a world of orcs, ents, and Dark Lords. That?s why The Lord of the Rings has been dismissed, as Edmund Wilson put it soon after the book?s publication in 1954, as ?a children?s book which has some how got out of hand.? Yet the world he created allowed Tolkien to address problems that conventional realism had seemingly abandoned. The most important of them was the distinction between omnipotence and omniscience. In Orwell?s work (as well as that of other dystopian writers like Aldous Huxley and Yevgeny Zamyatin) those two terms are nearly synonymous: The Thought Police always know what Winston Smith is up to. But for a believer like Tolkien, only God can know everything. And in Sauron, Tolkien is able to imagine a figure of godlike power and seemingly infinite resources, but crippling interpretive fallibility.
Sauron?s main problem, in a nutshell, is a lack of empathy: He is unable to conceive of anyone possessing a set of values fundamentally different from his own. For Sauron, power?embodied by the one ring?is self-evidently a good in itself. Therefore anyone who possesses the ring will attempt to use it and thus fall into his clutches. The thought that someone might choose instead to destroy the ring (and possibly destroy himself in the process) never crosses Sauron?s mind. He suffers from a crippling case of ?confirmation bias??a fundamental problem for every intelligence agency. We see the things we want to see, which is a problem when one?s enemies have worldviews utterly different from one?s own.
2. The Enemy Controls the Plot
Tolkien?s second lesson for us: Surveillance is typically reactive. Intelligence professionals try to anticipate and counter the actions of their opponents; this leaves them on the defensive. For all our justifiable fears of the ?watchers,? the advantage is often on the side of the watched. Every act of surveillance entails a struggle over meaning, narrative, and plot, with the infiltrator often creating the story in a way that exploits the surveillance mechanism?s weaknesses. In The Lord of the Rings, determined individuals (Frodo, Gandalf) with an adequate understanding of the enemy?s blind spots are able to rebel in plain sight.
This isn?t to say, however, that Tolkien was naive about the very real abuses of totalitarian power. Quite the opposite: He was every bit as repelled by the KGB and the Gestapo as Orwell or Arthur Koestler. In this respect, the most interesting sections of LOTR are the final chapter of Book IVand the first of Book VI. This is the sequence in which Frodo and Sam slip past ?Homeland Security,? as it were, and evade the vast security apparatus on the borders of Mordor.
It is here that we get Tolkien?s canniest depiction of Mordor?s workaday employees: the orcs?Sauron?s TSA agents, to continue the metaphor. Here is a conversation Sam overhears between two of them about Frodo, who has been captured:
?What is it, d?you think? Elvish it looked to me, but undersized. What?s the danger in a thing like that??
?Don?t know till we?ve had a look.?
?Oho! So they haven?t told you what to expect? They don?t tell us all they know, do they? Not by half. But they can make mistakes, even the Top Ones can.?
?Sh! ... They may, but they?ve got eyes and ears everywhere; some among my lot, as like ? as not. But there?s no doubt about it, they?re troubled about something. ? Something nearly slipped.?
Isn?t this a more convincing depiction than Orwell?s hyperefficient Thought Police (or Zamyatin?s Guardians) of how power actually works in a surveillance state? Without in any way shorting the terror of living under the secret police, Tolkien captures the way that power mistrusts its own agents, and how it deprives them of information. He captures both the cynicism and paranoia of surveillance work?and also how, in this mix of suspicion, disgruntlement, and incompetence, things do slip through. The security apparatus, of Mordor or the United States, is only as strong as its weakest link, and weak links abound.
3. The Louder the Noise, the Fainter the Signal
As a common saying in the intelligence community would have it, processing raw intel is like drinking from a fire hose. Most dystopian authors cheat their way around this problem, ignoring huge swathes of the population to get the volume of information down to garden-hose levels. Huxley lops off ?eight ninths? of the populace through eugenics. Orwell imagines the proles?85 percent of Oceania?to be politically neutered and not worth watching. By contrast, Sauron, like the NSA, has no such luxury. As Tolkien understands, nothing is harder to parse than visible anonymity. And that is the state Frodo and Sam remain in, so long as they don?t wear the ring.
How to recognize the treacherous or psychopathic needle in the haystack? As recent months have proved, it?s not so easy. Our surveillance state, in contrast to Orwell?s, has had its share of failures. A dangerous assumption underlies many contemporary debates about government surveillance: the assumption of interpretive competence. Without diminishing the seriousness of the recent NSA revelations, Tolkien is finally more convincing about why total surveillance often fails than Orwell and his endless progeny are in imagining its inevitable success. That?s at once some small comfort and reason for concern.
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Provide links in your testimonials, so that people can use it to visit your web page. 36. Using keywords in internet profiles. When you make use of keywords in your online profiles, you would be increasing your chances of gaining more traffic to your site. The reason behind this is that, a profile that is optimized by effective keywords would be easier to find by other people. Once they find your profile, make sure that it leads them to your site. 37. Take advantage of press releases. Making press release articles can help you, especially if they are filled with keywords. Make sure to research about the keywords used, so that people would be able to find your press releases easier. Aside from that, the press releases should also be written in high quality. 38. Visit web pages of your competitors. To find out why competitors are beating you in the game, try to enter certain keywords on the search engine, and visit the first website that appears on the results pages. When you visit the websites of your competitors that are topping the ranks, try to see what they are doing right. Try to learn as much as you can, so that you may be able to identify what aspects in your SEO techniques need improvement. 39. Visit your own website. Try to visit your own web page, as if you are just one of the people browsing through it. Review all the things that you could come across with. By visiting your site as another person, you would be able to see whether it provides a pleasant browsing experience or not. Aside from that, it also makes your browsing experience easier. 40. Have a friend visit your web portal. If you want to see how people react to your site, then have a friend visit it. At first, do not let your friend know that it is your website, if possible. By doing that, you can be assured that he would give you his honest opinion about it. Make sure to finish your site first, and take criticisms in a positive way. 41. Learn more about SEO. Learning more about SEO is one of the most important things that you need to do prior to starting your online business. This can be done by thorough research about the subject, which you can do through the internet. Aside from that, you can also choose to hire an expert in it to become your mentor, or read eBooks about it. 42. Your meta keywords section. Avoid using single keywords in your Meta keywords section. Instead, make use of phrases, if you want to expect better results from it. Aside from that, you should also do a thorough research about the best phrases to use, so that you won?t be wasting your time in it. 43. Web hosting. The type of web hosting service you have signed up with, can also affect your site?s performance. Because of this, you need to make sure that you have signed up with a reliable service provider. Read reviews and testimonials of such providers, so that you can easily compare them. 44. Prefer new fads and topics over older ones. There are certain topics that were popular a few years back, but are not able to achieve the same kind of popularity today. Therefore, if you are still at your starting point, then it is best if you tackle topics that are current and are already popular. By doing that, you would be able to gain more visitors to your website. 45. Get involved with new affiliate programs. New affiliate programs are usually offering more lucrative rewards, which is why more people get involved with them. Aside from that, in most cases, some can also offer free tools that you can use, in order to promote your site more effectively. Find the affiliate programs you are most interested in, so that you would do well in it. 46. Be helpful in online forums. If you want more people to visit your site, then you should become more helpful in online forums. Being helpful means that you offer valuable information to people, by answering their questions that are related to your chosen topic. Aside from that, you can also start a thread about a certain topic, and providing it with valuable tips and tricks. 47. Add a forum section on your site. People would visit your site more often and in a regular basis if you are able to add a forum section to it. This section would be dedicated for discussions about the different aspects of what your website is all about. When you have a forum on your site, you can provide more answers to people?s questions in it; and, by word of mouth, many people would also visit it. 48. Create eBooks that you can offer for free. Creating your own sets of eBooks, which you can offer for free can go a long way, as far as gaining more volume to your website is concerned. Most people are always looking for free stuffs these days. Thus, downloading an eBook is an idea that would be most appealing to many of them. Make sure to insert links in certain pages of the book, so that people can use it to visit your site. 49. Let other people know that you are an expert. When people view you as an expert in the topic that you are involved with, they will follow your posts and visit your site more. Therefore, you should make yourself present in certain online discussions. Aside from that, make professional comments or answers to questions, so that people would know how well versed you are in your chosen topic. 50. Make use of backlinks. Backlinks are simply links that lead people to your site, which come from other sites. It is best to make use of one way links, since such links would imply that your site is the important one. Choose the sites you would insert these backlinks on properly, so that you would be able to gain more from them. 51. Take note of keyword density. The keyword density refers to the number of times you should make use of your keywords or keyword phrases in certain pages of your site. In most cases, the density should be within 3 to 7 percent only, so as not to overdo it. If you go beyond that percentages though search engines may penalize you by not showing your site on its result pages, which is why you should be careful in it. 52. Use website analytics tools. It is very important to keep track of the number of people that visit your website on a daily basis. To do this, you should make use of a website analytics tool for it. Some of these tools are for free, while others are not. With such a tool, not only will you be made aware of the number of people that visit your site per day, but it can also provide you information about where such traffic came from, as well the keywords they used to find your site. 53. Make sure there is good rate of demand of your products and services. Always keep in mind that no matter how good your SEO techniques are, as long as is it not highly demanded by people, it may not allow you to earn money from it. Thus, you should properly research about the demand of your products and services first. Do your research beforehand, so that you can get involved with something that is worthwhile. 54. Making use of PPC or Pay Per Click. Pay Per Click advertisement is something that is used by lots of online marketers these days. It should be noted though that the more people clicking your ads, the more money you will have to spend for them. Thus, make sure that your title and content for it would be catchy and not misleading. 55. Purchasing your domain should be done last. It is best if you purchase your domain last, instead of rushing into it. By doing that, you will be providing more time for yourself to make up your mind about it. With that, you can be assured that the domain name you would be selecting would be the best for your site, in order to increase traffic. 56. Consider all types of buyers. There are people who are already decided on buying something and will indicate the brand name of the products they want. Because of that, you should also make use of certain brand names in your articles or your site?s content. By doing that, you are increasing your potentials for more sales, especially when people visiting your site are already sure buyers. 57. Targeted traffic is more important than just traffic. Gaining more internet traffic is very important. However, it is best if your site obtains targeted traffic, instead of just online traffic. This is because targeted traffic means that people visiting your web page are those that are really interested in the services and products that you can offer to them. 58. Use hyperlinks. Using hyperlinks is another SEO technique that you can use in order to have more people visiting your site. A hyperlink can help you, since you can insert or include your keywords into it. When you do that, a person who wants to visit your site can simply click on the keywords to get routed to it. 59. Hire a mentor in SEO. If you want to learn more about using SEO to improve the performance of your site, an option that you can consider is hiring a mentor for it. A mentor can teach you in using various strategies in order to optimize your site better. Once you have learned more techniques from him, you can have him assess your performance, to see if you can already be on your own. 60. Finding the best SEO eBook. Reading a Search Engine Optimization book can help in learning more about SEO, especially at the starting part. To find such books, all you have to do is to make use of your search engine, or ask your friends for their recommendations. Make sure to do your research about the eBook, especially about its writers, so that you can be assured of its quality. 61. The first paragraph on your website. There are cases when search engines would base its results on the first paragraph of websites. In this case, you should also focus on making the first paragraph of your website as catchy as possible. Optimize it with your main keywords, so that it would rank better in search engines 62. Don?t forget the value of social networking. If you have not started making use of social networking for your SEO efforts, then it is best to start now. Starting early with social networking is always better than starting late. This is because reaping the benefits from social networking takes some time. Thus, you need to be patient in going about it, so that you would be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor soon. 63. Be persistent. Gaining success in your online marketing efforts through SEO may take some time. Thus, you should be persistent about it. Always strive to improve the content of your website. Aside from that, you should also continue doing all the necessary things to build traffic. 64. What to do once you achieve traffic. Once you achieve good amounts of traffic to your web portal, it is not the time to take it slow. Rather, you should try to determine the things that you were able to do, which helped in building your traffic. Aside from that, don?t stop in finding out new ways, or applying new techniques, so that you won?t lag behind your competitors. 65. Identify the best niches. There are lots of niches that always stay as popular as they are, even when thousands of sites have already been launched for them. Some of these niches would include wealth, pets or animal care, health, and relationships. This is because, such topics always interest most people all around the world. 66. The SERP rankings. The SERP or Search Engine Results Page rankings are always fluid. In other words, since search engines base the SERP to different factors, any change in such factors may also create a change on the page rankings. Therefore, you should also be flexible. In other words, you should try to use other sets of keywords from time to time, and add more content to your site. 67. Focus on one website first. In getting involved with SEO, you need to consider the fact that it is a full time job. It involves lots of things, in which you need to be alert for changes that may happen. Such changes can affect the trends, rankings, links, and many more. Thus, it is best to focus on one website first, since if you manage more websites, you may lose track on some of them. 68. The number of keyword phrases on your website. When it comes to deciding on the number of keywords or keyword phrases you want to make use on your site, it is best to stay within the 13 to 15 phrases boundary. It should be noted though that this can depend on the length of your article on the landing page of your site. The longer your article would be, the more keywords you can insert. 69. Number of words per website page. If you are trying to create content for your site, focus on having at least 200 words per page. This way, search engines would have enough words to work on. Aside from that, it can also provide you the chance to offer more relevant information to your site?s visitors. 70. Including your brick and mortar establishment?s address. If you have a brick and mortar business, and you want to establish better web presence, then make sure to include your office?s local address on your site. Include it in the contact section of the web page. Aside from that, you can also apply it on the landing page of your portal. 71. Never make text the same color as its background. One of your goals in order to have people revisit your site or stay longer in it, is to provide people utmost convenience in browsing through it. To make sure that this is the case, then you should not make your text with the same color as its background. The reason for this is that, it would make it difficult for people to read them. 72. Post classified ads on your web portal. Having classified advertisements on your website would increase its traffic. Lots of people like it when there are classified ads, since it gives them more access to other products and services, as well as to other sites. Make sure to choose ads that are relevant to your website?s content though, so that more people would visit your site. 73. Free web-based software programs. If you have the skill to create certain types of software programs, then make a bunch of them that can be used through the internet. Lots of people are searching for web-based programs these days, which they can use for free. By announcing your free programs through forums and discussion threads, you will be having lots of people visiting your site for it. 74. Make a video tutorial. Create a video tutorial and post it in a website that allows video uploads for free. As long as you make good use of your imagination, you would be able to come up with videos whether it is for your products or services. Place a link on it to route people to your website, so that you would have more volume of traffic. 75. Private Label Rights. Private Label Rights products or PLR products are highly searched by lots of people these days. If you offer them for free, by simply accessing your site for it, you would be able to convince people to visit it, since it is a win-win situation for them. Make sure that you offer quality PLR products, so that they would check your site on a regular basis for more. 76. Use long tailed keywords. These are simply more keywords in a keyword phrase. In other words, you would be using longer keyword phrases for your articles, as well as for your website?s content. Just make sure that the keywords within the phrase are significant to your site?s topic though, and they should not have much competition. 77. Do the split testing method. As the name of the method suggests, this simply means to try out different routes of promoting a product. It can involve promoting a product on a certain section on your site, and doing it in another page as well. After some time, you need to compare their results, so that you can determine which of the routes you took is the best way to do it. 78. Think of ways to stand out from the rest of the pack. There are always certain ways that you can think about, which have not been used by other people yet. As long as you put your mind into it, you may be able to find an angle, or a new way of looking at something, which can help you gain more edge over your competitors. Keep on looking for it, so that you would be able to come up with a method or a strategy that you made on your own. 79. Always focus on providing call to action phrases. Call to action phrases are simply sentences, which make suggestions to people in taking a certain step. It could mean taking a quiz, taking a survey, taking advantage of a free program, and such. By doing that, you would see more activities on your site, which is very favorable. 80. Add internal hyperlinks into your website. Internal hyperlinks are links that can lead a person to another section within your site, by simply clicking on them. Search engines see these links as important parts of the site, which can become a factor when it comes to the rankings. If you have not added such links yet, then it is time that you do. 81. Logging out of Google first if you use it to check your SERP. It is a good idea to log out of your Google account first, if you are using it to check your SERP or Search Engine Results Page. The reason behind this is that, if you are still logged in to your Google account, it may tailor the results to be in line with your previous search preferences, which can show your site to rank much higher. To see more accurate results, log out from it first, or make use of another computer. 82. Using deep linking method. The deep linking is a method, in which you would be using links, which would direct people not towards your site?s homepage, but to another section of it. Search engines actually favor sites that make use of it. However, you need to be careful, since such links may get broken every time you make some adjustments on your site. 83. Modifying the keyword or keyword stemming. Keyword stemming is a process, in which you would be modifying certain keywords before making use of them for your site, or articles. This would actually increase your chances of getting more hits on your web portal. An example is that, if your keyword is ?reading?, then you should also make use of read, readable, and such. 84. People search for information by asking questions. When a person is searching for information, in most cases, he may be typing an actual question on the search bar of the search engine to find the answers to it. Thus, it is a good idea to make the subtitles of your website into questions. By doing that, you would be increasing your sites potentials in appearing on the first page of the search engine results. 85. Bolding or italicizing your important keyword phrases. To emphasize on your keyword phrases, you can actually bold or italicize them. By doing that, you would be making the keyword phrases more eye catching, which is good, especially if you are also using some of them in hyperlinks. Just don?t overdo it, since it may not look good on your site. 86. Making certain pages of your site more important. If you want certain pages or sections of your site to become more important for search engines, then you should make use of internal links to it. The more links you would be placing on your site for that certain section of it, the more vital that page becomes. By doing that, you can improve your site?s rankings in search engines. 87. Making an About Us page. Do not forget to include an About Us page on your web portal. This is because, when people search for information about certain things, there is a good chance for them to enter keywords that describe your site or company. With that, the said page would make your website rank better on search engines. 88. Age of the domain name. Some people may not know it, but search engines also consider the age of the domain names as a factor when it comes to ranking websites. With that, search engines prefer to show sites that have older domains. This is because, it gives search engines assurance that the website is reliable, and not another ?now you see it, now you don?t? type of site. 89. The rate of speed in getting backlinks. It is true that more backlinks can help your site in gaining more traffic. However, you should not get them as quickly as you can, since search engines may become suspicious of your site?s activities. Thus, make it in a slower but in a more constant manner, just to be on the safe side. 90. Make your own Warm List. A Warm List can come in handy in certain times. This is simply a list of your friends, relatives, colleagues, as well as contacts that you may established through online forums. Make use of your Warm List only from time to time; and, save them for more important product or website launches, in order to gain extra traffic to your site. 91. Try to target a hungry crowd. Targeting a hungry crowd can offer lots of benefits to your online business. This is because, they are people searching for immediate solutions to their questions or problems. If you are able to present them the solution they are looking for, then you can expect lots of traffic to your site as well as sales. 92. Consider the reasons why people would visit your site. If you want more visitors to your site, then you should determine the reasons why they should. Aside from that, you should also try to see why current visitors are browsing through its pages. One way of doing it is to identify the needs of your target market. Aside from that, you can also check what pages on your site are frequently visited by them. 93. Consider your own way of browsing the web. Keep in mind that as an online marketer, you are also one of the millions of people, who make use of the internet to search for information, products, or services. Thus, try to consider how you make use of various search engines. Aside from that, try to pay attention on what attracts you more, as well as what drives you to click on certain links. 94. Use tools for site analysis on other websites. The tools that you use to analyze your site can also be used on other web portals that you visit. By doing that, you would be able to see what keywords they are using, what they are doing wrong, what they are doing right, and more. Visit sites that are visited by lots of people, so that you can gain more positive ideas. 95. Determine the reason or reasons why you are getting good traffic. It is very important that you know the reasons why your website is getting good volumes of traffic on a regular basis. By doing this, you would be able to make adjustments on your site, which would not affect its performance. Keep in mind that it is possible that there is just a single sentence on your site that makes it attractive to search engines; and, if you accidentally delete it, then it may abruptly change its performance. 96. Support other websites on your own portal. Supporting other websites on your own web page can also offer lots of benefits for you, especially when it comes to gaining more traffic. This is because, such sites can also provide more traffic to you. Just make sure that you are not supporting competitor websites, since they might not return the favor. 97. Make some reviews. If you are selling certain products, you can also make reviews about them on your site, or on other web portals. This is actually one of the reasons why some online marketers make use of the products they promote. This way, you would be able to come up with more detailed reviews, which would showcase the advantages and disadvantages of the products, in order to help people make informed decisions about it. 98. Make sure to provide links on your online forum profiles. When you participate in online forums, it is best if you provide a link to your website, just right below your name or on your profile. This way, people would be able to visit your site, whenever they want to. Just make sure to leave interesting and informative comments, so that people will take notice of your expertise. 99. Provide links on your social networking profiles. Don?t forget to provide links on your social networking profiles, so that people would be routed to your site whenever they want to. However, make sure to gather more friends and contacts first, prior to posting your links. By doing this, they would already trust you enough to check out the links you suggest. 100. Be patient. It is very important to be patient in applying your SEO techniques. Keep in mind that it may take some time, before you could reap the benefits from it. Aside from that, SEO is something that you need to do continually, even if you have already attained your goals. Thus, it is a continuous process, as long as you want your site to be competitive.
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