Trip To Miami - Japan court rejects Samsung claim against Apple

Source - http://www.zdnet.com/
By - Ellyne Phneah
Category - Trip To Miami
Posted By - Homewood Suites Miami

Trip To Miami

A court in Japan has rejected claims by Samsung that Apple stole its data transmission technology.

According to an AFP report, citing a Samsung spokesperson from the Tokyo office, the Tokyo District Court ruled on Thursday that the South Korean vendor had no rights over the transmission technology used in some of Apple's iPhones.

The South Korean electronics giant had sought an injunction to prevent the manufacture and sale of some of Apple's smartphones in a dispute over patent rights, the spokesperson explained. In response to the claim which was made in 2011, Apple filed a lawsuit seeking a court ruling that Samsung did not hold patent rights and had no claim to damages, he noted.

"[Samsung was] disappointed that [its] argument was not accepted by the court," a statement issued by Samsung's Tokyo office said. "After studying details of the court ruling, we will take necessary measures to protect our property rights."

A spokesperson for Apple Japan declined to comment when approached by the newswire.

In a separate case in August 2012, the Tokyo District Court rejected Apple's claim that Samsung stole its technology over synchronising a smartphone's music data with that on a computer. In January this year, Samsung asked the court to dismiss Apple's bid for appeal over the favorable ruling toward Samsung.

Thursday's ruling is the latest in a long-running global legal battle between both smartphone giants. According to a Samsung spokesperson, the two companies are waging the patent fight in about 10 countries, with a dozen cases pending in Japan alone.

Holiday In Miami - Brains Of Rats Connected Allowing Them To Share Information Via Internet

Source - http://www.guardian.co.uk/
By - Ian Sample
Category - Holiday In Miami
Posted By - Homewood Suites Miami

Holiday In Miami

Scientists have connected the brains of a pair of animals and allowed them to share sensory information in a major step towards what the researchers call the world's first "organic computer".

The US team fitted two rats with devices called brain-to-brain interfaces that let the animals collaborate on simple tasks to earn rewards, such as a drink of water.

In one radical demonstration of the technology, the scientists used the internet to link the brains of two rats separated by thousands of miles, with one in the researchers' lab at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, and the other in Natal, Brazil.

Led by Miguel Nicolelis, a pioneer of devices that allow paralysed people to control computers and robotic arms with their thoughts, the researchers say their latest work may enable multiple brains to be hooked up to share information.

"These experiments showed that we have established a sophisticated, direct communication linkage between brains," Nicolelis said in a statement. "Basically, we are creating what I call an organic computer."

The scientists first demonstrated that rats can share, and act on, each other's sensory information by electrically connecting their brains via tiny grids of electrodes that reach into the motor cortex, the brain region that processes movement.

The rats were trained to press a lever when a light went on above it. When they performed the task correctly, they got a drink of water. To test the animals' ability to share brain information, they put the rats in two separate compartments. Only one compartment had a light that came on above the lever. When the rat pressed the lever, an electronic version of its brain activity was sent directly to the other rat's brain. In trials, the second rat responded correctly to the imported brain signals 70% of the time by pressing the lever.

Remarkably, the communication between the rats was two-way. If the receiving rat failed at the task, the first rat was not rewarded with a drink, and appeared to change its behaviour to make the task easier for its partner. In further experiments, the rats collaborated in a task that required them to distinguish between narrow and wide openings using their whiskers.

In the final test, the scientists connected rats on different continents and beamed their brain activity back and forth over the internet. "Even though the animals were on different continents, with the resulting noisy transmission and signal delays, they could still communicate," said Miguel Pais-Vieira, the first author of the study, in a statement. "This tells us that we could create a workable network of animal brains distributed in many different locations."

Nicolelis said the team is now working on ways to link several animals' brains at once to solve more complex tasks. "We cannot even predict what kinds of emergent properties would appear when animals begin interacting as part of a 'brain-net'," he said. "In theory, you could imagine that a combination of brains could provide solutions that individual brains cannot achieve by themselves."

The research is published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Anders Sandberg, who studies the ethics of neurotechnologies at the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University, said the work was "very important" in helping to understand how brains encode information.

But the implications of the technology and its potential future uses are far broader, said Sandberg. "The main reason we are running the planet is that we are amazingly good at communicating and coordinating. Without that, although we are very smart animals, we would not dominate the planet."

"I don't think there's any risk of supersmart rats from this," he added. "There's a big difference between sharing sensory information and being able to plan. I'm not worried about an imminent invasion of 'rat multiborgs'."

Very little is known about how thoughts are encoded and how they might be transmitted into another person's brain – so that is not a realistic prospect any time soon. And much of what is in our minds is what Sandberg calls a "draft" of what we might do. "Often, we don't want to reveal those drafts, that would be embarrassing and confusing. And a lot of those drafts are changed before we act. Most of the time I think we'd be very thankful not to be in someone else's head."

Hotels Near Marlins Park - World's Oldest Woman Is 114: Here's Her Secret To Longevity

Source - http://shine.yahoo.com/
By - Jessica Ferri
Category - Hotels Near Marlins Park
Posted By - Homewood Suites Miami

Hotels Near Marlins Park

Misao Okawa will be 115 years old next week. On Tuesday, she got an early birthday present when the Guinness Book of World Records named her the oldest living woman on the planet.

Okawa, the Japanese daughter of a Kimono maker, was born in 1898. She received the impressive title in a ceremony Wednesday, alongside her 3-month-old great grandson, after enjoying her favorite meal of mackerel sushi.  

Her secret to living a long life? "Watch out for one's health," she told a reporter after receiving her Guinness certificate. For Okawa that means eating whatever she likes–as long it's made in Japan.

With 50,000 living centenarians in Japan, there's evidence that the country's residents hold the secret to longevity: a healthy diet.
 Japanese women have one of the longest life spans of any country, only second to those in Hong Kong. The oldest living man (also the oldest living person) is also Japanese. Jiroemon Kimura is 115 years old. 

“The Japanese diet is the iPod of food," Naomi Moriyama, co-author of Japanese Women Don't Get Old or Fat: Secrets of My Mother's Tokyo Kitchen told Web MD. "It concentrates the magnificent energy of food into a compact and pleasurable size." 

SC woman, oldest living US citizen, dies at 114

The typical Japanese person consumes about 25 percent less calories per day than the average American. The base of their diet is vegetables and fish, a great source of omega-3 fats, which are excellent for heart health. Because their meals are largely vegetarian, they eat very little red meat, which can lead to health problems if eaten regularly.

The results of a 25-year study of the longest living group of Japanese people, the Okinawans, revealed that their traditional diet of rice, soy, and vegetables could be the reason that, on average, Okinawan women live to be 86 years old. 

Japanese women also go through natural menopause and don’t use hormone therapy, which can lead to health complications. Researchers believe they struggle less with the changes of menopause because their diet is high in soy. But American women hoping to take soy supplements will be disappointed: in order to receive the benefits, phytoestrogens must be ingested naturally, through foods rich in soy.

With all dietary suggestions aside, there is of course a genetic component to aging, meaning Japanese people are less genetically predisposed to certain diseases. A positive and low-stress lifestyle has also shown to lengthen life. The Okinawans don’t have rush hour or alarm clocks, and many meditate daily. 

Okawa was born in Osaka 1898, the year that the boroughs of New York were annexed, the Spanish American War began, and radium was invented. In 1919, she married and had three children with her husband. After his death, she moved back to Osaka. She has four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. 

Speaking to a group at her nursing home on making the Guinness Book of World Records, she said, “given everything, it’s pretty good.”

Extended Stay In Miami - 10 Things To Know For Thursday

Source - http://abcnews.go.com/
By - The Associated Press
Category - Extended Stay In Miami
Posted By - Homewood Suites Miami

Extended Stay In Miami

Our daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Thursday:

1. HOW THE POPE WILL BE REMEMBERED

Benedict XVI tried to set Catholicism back on a conservative path, believing that reforms of recent decades weren't in keeping with the church's teachings.

2. A LIKELY BOOST FOR SYRIA'S REBELS

The U.S. and some of its European allies appear poised to start delivering meals, medical kits and other forms of nonlethal assistance.

3. SUPREME COURT REVIEWS LANDMARK VOTING RIGHTS LAW

The justices signal that a key part of the statute may have outlived its usefulness. "Times change," Justice Anthony Kennedy says.

4. YET ANOTHER WORRY FOR AFGHANISTAN

The impending withdrawal of U.S. and other foreign combat forces means more than a loss of firepower. International aid will also decline.

5. HAPPY DAYS JUST MAY BE HERE AGAIN

The Dow rises to within 100 points of its all-time high on signs of a housing recovery.

6. WITH IMMIGRANTS FREED, OFFICIAL DEPARTS

The AP obtains a letter announcing the retirement of a top Homeland Security official after illegal immigrants were freed from jail as a cost-cutting measure.

7. NO GIRLS' ROOM FOR BOY

A Colorado couple is suing a school district for not allowing their son to use the girls' bathroom. The 6-year-old has a disorder and identifies as the opposite gender.

8. LUCKLESS — AND LIVID — IN LUXOR

An Egyptian city utterly dependent on foreign visitors sees its fortunes plummet with the fiery crash of a sightseeing balloon.

9. IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH. AND IN SPACE.

A tycoon announces plans to send a married couple on a privately built spaceship on a slingshot voyage around Mars.

10. THE ELVIS OF THE IVORIES

Van Cliburn, the pianist who outplayed the Soviets in 1958 and returned home to the first ticker-tape parade ever for a classical musician, dies at 78.

Airport Hotels In Miami - Apple Agrees To Pay Parents $100 Million In iTunes Credits

Source - http://www.mercurynews.com/
By - John Boudreau
Category - Airport Hotels In Miami
Posted By - Homewood Suites Miami

Airport Hotels In Miami

In the proposed settlement, Apple will provide iTunes credit to as many as 23 million customers whose children made "in-app" transactions for virtual goods without their parents' knowledge.

In some cases, parents were shocked to learn their children racked up hundreds of dollars in purchases with their credit card and PayPal accounts within a few minutes. Under the proposed settlement, parents who claim $30 or more can receive cash instead of store credit, a filing with the court said.

The settlement is aimed to reimburse parents like Naren Prabhu, a Silicon Valley networking engineer. "I've had my 7-year-old charge up a storm of over $600 via the in-app purchases," Prabhu said in an email. "I was not able to get any refunds from customer service for the iTunes Store, who said they could do nothing to help me."

The problem for some parents goes well beyond in-app purchases, said Caroline Knorr, parenting editor at San Francisco-based Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that helps adults manage the media and technology in their kids' lives.

"A lot of parents feel, 'I don't know anything about technology,'" she said. "That's how they got sucker-punched with the in-app purchases."

In 2011, Apple addressed the problem by requiring a password for each in-app purchase. Before that, children could go on a spending spree for 15 minutes before a password was required again.

Virtual goods such as "Smurfs' Village" Smurfberries and "Farmville" livestock are the new collectibles for children, said Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a Washington, D.C. nonprofit that focuses on consumer protection in digital media.

"This is the new toy room," he said.

The lawsuit alleged that Apple offered gaming apps that were "highly addictive, designed deliberately so and tend to compel children playing them to purchase large quantities of game currency, amounting to as much as $100 per purchase or more."

Apple did not respond to a request for comment on the proposed settlement.

Knorr credits the Cupertino company for settling the case and changing its software to give parents more protection.

"I think that companies like Apple have a responsibility to make sure parents have the tools they need to ensure their kids have a safe and responsible online experience," she said.

Chester said developers of apps for children -- and adults -- should be required to disclose up front their aim to generate significant revenue from in-app sales and also should disclose data they are using to target consumers.

"The consumer needs to know what the rules of the app game are," he said. The proposed Apple settlement comes at a time of growing concern among parents that the same technologies that can benefit their children also can threaten them. Internet and mobile technologies have created new ways for young people to get into trouble -- from online bullying to sending sexually revealing photos through mobile devices to overspending on virtual goods, experts say.

"Parents are digitally inept," said tech writer and Internet safety advocate Larry Magid, who writes a column for this newspaper. "Sometimes parents turn over their passwords to their kids because they don't have a clue on how to use these things."

In December, the Federal Trade Commission unveiled a major update of rules that limit what information can be collected when kids under 13 visit websites or use mobile apps. And Facebook has reportedly explored ways to provide extra safeguards for users younger than 13 rather than continue its current policy that bans them from the site -- a ban that millions of youngsters have easily circumvented by lying about their age.

Experts say adults need to pay close attention to what apps their children are playing with and how they are behaving on social networking sites -- just as they would keep an eye on them horsing around in the backyard.

"I don't think technology is out of control," said Gilroy resident Dia Camarillo. "It's the parents' responsibility to not let their kids get out of control. You can't stop the technology from advancing, but you can control your kids' behavior and monitor their use of the Internet."

Heather Parker, a San Jose teacher of special education students, went so far as to call the Apple in-app lawsuit "overkill."

"Ultimately, parents should be more responsible for their kids' actions," she said. "If their kids get their passwords, it's the parents fault."

Golf Resort In Miami - Budget Airline, Hotel In The Wrong Country, And You're Not a VIP

Source - http://www.independent.co.uk
By - ADAM SHERWIN 
Category - Golf Resort In Miami
Posted By - Homewood Suites Miami

Golf Resort In Miami

It was supposed to have been the VIP trip of a lifetime to the Belgium Grand Prix. But Red Bull has been censured after sending competition winners on a budget haul dash across three countries, making them share a bed and then sending them home early after they were barred from entering the race's VIP enclosure.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has criticised Red Bull for misleading the winner of a competition which stated: "Win a VIP trip to watch the Belgium Grand Prix."

The winner complained to the watchdog after a nightmare 48-hour round trip which offered little in the way of VIP frills. Instead of an upgraded flight to Brussels, the winner and his guest were told to take a budget flight to Cologne airport in Germany and then make their own way to a hotel in the Netherlands.

Red Bull did "not make clear that, other than the flights, winners would have to organise their own travel", the ASA reported.

The complainant had received an email indicating that "the prize consisted of stay in a 4-star luxurious spa hotel". But not only was the hotel not even in the country in which the race was taking place, it did not boast any kind of spa and the winner and his brother were forced to share a bed in a double room, instead of being allocated a twin.

The winners had to drag their luggage from Holland to the Formula 1 race-track in Belgium because "no arrangements were made for him or his companion to store their luggage at the event".

When they got to the circuit they were not allowed to use any VIP facilities. The pair were given ordinary grandstand tickets along with thousands of other fans. To rub salt into the wound, the pair had to leave the race early in order to catch their return flight – this time from Brussels.

The watchdog upheld the winner's complaint that he "had to share a bed with his brother despite requesting two single beds, the general organisation in which the airport, hotel and event spanned three different countries, that their suitcases had to be taken to the event and that they had to leave the event early due to the timing of the return flight".

Red Bull argued that the VIP description was accurate since the Grand Prix was "one of the most prestigious races on the F1 calendar". They said the advert did not claim that event tickets were VIP and that the VIP headline referred to "the entire package that entrants could win, which included tickets to the event, flights and accommodation at a 4-star hotel". Red Bull offered the winner compensation for having to leave the event early.

But the ASA said the term "VIP" would most likely be understood by readers as "exclusive" treatment, and specifically "non-standard", so they would not reasonably expect budget airline flights. "Given that the Grand Prix issued tickets that included admission to a VIP area, readers would expect the winning tickets to include this," the body also found.

Red Bull "did not make clear that, while the event was in Brussels, the winner would have to fly into Cologne airport in Germany and then travel to the hotel in the Netherlands, nor did it make clear that, other than the flights, winners would have to organise their own travel".

The watchdog found that the promoter "had not made available adequate resources to administer the promotion equitably or efficiently" and concluded that the "VIP trip" promotion was misleading and breached the ASA Code.

Hotel Near FIU - How Our Brains Stop Us From Achieving Our Goals (and How to Fight Back)

Source - http://lifehacker.com/
By - Gregory Ciotti
Category - Hotel Near FIU
Posted By - Homewood Suites Miami

Hotel Near FIU

As admittedly wonderful and fascinating as the human brain is, it can also feel like the brain is out to get us sometimes. In some circumstances, our brain's natural reaction actually does more to sabotage than help. Here,Sparring Mind founder Gregory Ciotti explains how to combat your brain's own brilliance, overcoming the instinctual reactions which often have devastating effects on your long-term goals.

Your brain can hurt your goals by fantasizing too much

Would you believe that fantasizing is the #1 way your brain unintentionally ruins your goals? It seems unlikely, right? The thing is, the proof is in the pudding (or in this case, the research): psychologists have found that while positive thinking about the future is broadly beneficial, too much fantasy can have disastrous results on achieving goals. Researchers tracked the progress of how people cope with four different types of challenges.

• Your brain procrastinates on big projects by visualizing the worst parts

  Procrastination, of all of the things on this list, is likely the most recognizable: everybody realizes that they procrastinate from time to time, and it's something we are forced to battle with every day. How can we fight this persistent opponent?

  • Your brain will "abandon ship" at the first sign of distress

    Anyone who's fought the good fight with dieting will likely recognize this phenomenon. Envision this:
    You're on a diet, and have been doing well for about 2 1/2 weeks, but you know your defenses are at risk. To make matters work, you're having dinner with friends tonight. Instead of the healthy meal you could have made at home, you're forced to use a restaurant menu.

    • Your brain loves mindless busy work disguised as progress

      One of the ways in which your brain continues it's trickery is through busy work: work that gets "something" done, but not something that produces any measurable results.
      In fact, research by John Bargh and colleagues reveals that our brain loves to become robotic and to mimic people out of habit. I shouldn't have to tell you that this is disastrous to achieving long term goals! This busy work is often a mechanism our brain uses in cohesion with avoiding big projects (mentioned above): instead of diving into the difficult tasks we KNOW we should get done, we'll instead float around doing semi-related (read: barely related) menial tasks to make ourselves feel productive without actually getting anything done.

      • Your brain is not good at "winging it" when it comes to planning...ever!

        Every night before I go to sleep, I like to write a simple to-do list that I group into two categories. I put some in category ‘A' (must be done tomorrow) and some in category ‘B' (must be worked on or done in 2-3 days). I do this because when I sit down at the computer without a plan, I tend to fall flat on my face. My so-called "work time" turns into the not-so-productive "check email time" or "browse Reddit" time; nothing of any importance gets done. It seems that I'm not alone!

Hotel Reservations In Miami - Why it’s Worth it to Purchase Your Own Domain Name

Source - http://lifehacker.com/
By - Harry Guinness
Category - Hotel Reservations In Miami
Posted By - Homewood Suites Miami

Hotel Reservations In Miami

Before I start, you should know that buying domain names is my dirty little habit. Some people smoke, others cheat—I go online in the dead of night and have a look at what domain names are available.

Just one look. But with all addicts, I can't leave it at a look, so I often buy a domain name...just the one...it's cheap—until you own ten of them!

With that guilty admission out of the way...

We have the opportunity to purchase millions of desirable domain names, from our own FirstnameLastname.coms to good LocationBusiness.coms and Singleword.coms. While a great LocationBusiness.com is worth holding on to, just like a good Singleword.com, the most important domain name is your own FirstnameLastname.com; those are the ones I'll be focusing on for this post.

For example, the most "valuable" domain name I own is HarryGuinness. Neither of the other two Harry Guinness's can have it; they're going to have to settle for some alternative like TheAustralianHarryGuinness.com or maybe HarryGuinnessRandomJobDescription.com; HGuinness.com is available but I'm seriously considering buying it as soon as this blog goes live. Whoever wants HarryGuinness is going to have to pry it from my cold dead, keyboard gripping, hands.

I'm lucky that my name is rare enough that I was able to get its domain. But the odds are that someone shares your name somewhere in the world. No matter how uncommon it seems where you live, the chance of someone having it in a different country or on a different continent are staggeringly high. If you're curious, just plug your own name into a Facebook search and see how many others show up. That will search about one-eighth of the population of the world so it should give you some idea.

So I've convinced you that domain names are being snapped up like beer at a student party but why should you care? You don't even need a domain name, what would you do with one?

First, trust me, you need a domain name. You might not need it today but in a few years time you'll want it. The way people think about websites is changing, and more personal landing page services like flavors.me and re.vu are popping up—and it takes a matter of minutes to set up. In a few years it may well be common to send a link to your online CV. It's worth future proofing yourself now, rather than gambling on ending up with some godawful domain name because it's the only one that includes your name.

Second, even if you never totally need it, it's damn handy. It doesn't need to link to your own website, you can forward it to Twitter, Tumblr, or one of the personal landing pages that I mentioned above. Set up Google Apps on it and get Firstname@FirstnameLastname.com as your email address. Save yourself from giving out that ridiculous hotmail address you set up when you were sixteen.

So that's why you need one, and what you can do with it, but what are the advantages of having your own domain name? Honestly, they're endless:

Budget Hotels In Miami - Govt To Crack Green Whip On Polluting 5-Star Hotels

Source - http://www.hindustantimes.com/
By -  Darpan Singh
Category -  Budget Hotels In Miami
Posted By - Homewood Suites Miami

Budget Hotels In Miami

The 35-odd five-star hotels in Delhi will on Tuesday be shown the example of ITC Maurya and told to follow parts of its mechanism to cut down on pollution, besides water and energy consumption.

A case study on the hotel will also be presented, when top government officials and experts tell all five - star hotels in the Capital to ensure time-bound execution of green-hotel guidelines or face action.

“ITC Maurya has set up a dedicated waste water treatment plant as per its actual requirement and no waste water goes down the drain. It has also ensured zero discharge of waste by using treated water for horticulture usage, cooling towers and the ridge. If they have shown the way, why cannot others follow suit?” asked a Delhi government official.

Delhi’s chief secretary DM Spolia, environment secretary Sanjeev Kumar, Delhi pollution control committee member secretary Sandeep Mishra and environment director Anil Kumar will talk to the hotel owners. Smaller hotels will be addressed in the second phase of this drive.

A top official of the energy efficiency department of the Centre will make a presentation on energy conservation. Jamia and IIT-Delhi experts will speak on water auditing and water treatment technology.

“We’re concerned because the electricity consumed by one five-star hotel is roughly the requirement of 600 households. Similarly, the water consumption at a hotel is sufficient for 1,000 households,” he said. 

Experts have, however, found the government’s effort “too late, too little.”

“It is surprising that the government has now realised that hotels use huge quantities of water and energy. Why these issues were not discussed during the environmental clearance or consent to operate,” said a representative of a group which works for environment sustainability and energy management.

Affordable Vacations In Miami - Andy Murray Bought A $3 Million Hotel In Dunblane

Source - http://www.businessinsider.com/
By - Press Release
Category - Affordable Vacations In Miami
posted By - Homewood Suites Miami

Affordable Vacations In Miami

The US Open and Olympic champion is the new owner of Cromlix House Hotel in Stirlingshire.

The hotel currently has 14 bedroom suites, a chapel, reception hall, two drawing rooms, conservatory, dining room, library and meeting rooms.

It is set in 50 acres of woodlands and garden with a trout loch.

Murray plans to transform the Victorian mansion, where brother Jamie married Colombian bride Alejandra Gutierrez in 2010, into a five-star venue and attract more visitors to the area.

The tennis star said he was "pleased to be able to give something back" to his home town.

The refurbished hotel is scheduled to reopen next spring ahead of the 2014 Ryder Cup, which is being staged a short drive away at Gleneagles.

Murray said in a statement: "I am pleased to have acquired Cromlix House and look forward to securing its future as a successful business.

"By re-establishing Cromlix as a leading luxury hotel at the heart of the Dunblane community we will be able to attract new visitors to the area, create a number of new jobs and focus on supporting other local businesses.

"I'm pleased to be able to give something back to the community I grew up in."

Its previous owners of more than 30 years, the Eden family, said they were happy the venue was staying in local hands.

The hotel will boast a Chez Roux restaurant. Renowned chef Albert Roux, owner of Le Gavroche in London, is one of a group of industry experts consulted by Inverlochy Castle Management International (ICMI) which will manage Cromlix House on behalf of Murray.

ICMI managing director Norbert Lieder said: "Our team of experts has experience in every aspect of the hospitality industry and specialise in working with independent properties and transforming them into luxurious destinations.

"I am confident that, with Andy, we can create a very special hotel in his home community.

"While we aim to create a destination that attracts visitors from around the world we are also determined to ensure it remains a venue of choice for local people."