Hotels Near Marlins Park - Apple Denied iPad Mini US Trademark

Source - http://www.bbc.co.uk/
By - Press Release
Category - Hotels Near Marlins Park
Posted By - Homewood Suites Miami

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The trademark application for the tablet was turned down because the name was "merely descriptive" and did not create a unique meaning, it said.

But Apple still has until July to persuade the Patent Office that the smaller tablet differs sufficiently from its iconic sibling.

Apple has been involved in a series of patent disputes with rival firms.

It won a landmark case against Korea's Samsung last year but this month, a judge in the US ordered the $1bn (£660m) in damages awarded to Apple be cut by 40% and set a new trial to assess the level of damages.

The award was the biggest in a series of global legal fights between the two companies over patents.

The Patent Office issued the letter in January, although it has only just emerged.

In it, it said the "applied-for mark merely describes a feature or characteristic of applicant's goods".

The terms "mini" and "pad" and the prefix "i-" were all descriptive, it decided.

Neither as individual terms nor as a composite result - iPad Mini - did they "create a unique, incongruous, or non-descriptive meaning in relation to the goods being small handheld mobile devices comprising tablet computers capable of providing internet access".

In its last quarter to January, Apple said that it sold a record 22.9 million iPads and iPad Minis.

Extended Stay In Miami - Google Vows Not To Sue Over Certain Patents For Open Source

Source - http://news.cnet.com/
By - Shara Tibken
Category - Extended Stay In Miami
Posted By - Homewood Suites Miami

Extended Stay In Miami

Google today is "taking a stand on open source and patents," vowing not to sue anyone on specified patents unless first attacked.

The company, which today announced its Open Patent Non-Assertion Pledge, said to start with, it has identified 10 patents related to MapReduce, a model for processing large data sets. It has pledged not to sue any user, distributor, or developer of open-source software based on patents related to MapReduce.

Duane Valz, Google senior patent counsel, said in a blog post that Google wants to ensure open source software remains open:

 Patent-related litigation has been rampant in the technology sector, particularly in the fast-growing smartphone and tablet markets. Apple and many other companies, including Google partner Samsung, have been suing each other over infringement, and Apple in August won its case against Samsung. Other companies have been making acquisitions -- like Google's purchase of Motorola Mobility -- to help build their patent arsenals.

So why care about MapReduce? Well, it was first developed by Google but has many open-source offshoots, including Hadoop. The technology, which gives users the ability to quickly analyze huge sets of data, is supported and used by Yahoo, Cloudera, and many other companies. As organizations create more data, specialized technology is required to make sense of all the information. Without context or analysis, big data is pretty worthless.

Google said today that it plans to expand the set of patents covered by the pledge to other technologies over time.

It also said it hopes the OPN Pledge will serve as a model for the industry, and it's encouraging other patent holders to adopt the pledge or a similar initiative. Google said leading companies and organizations such as Cloudera and IBM agree and endorse the OPN Pledge.

Google believes the pledge will provide more transparency around patent rights, and Google's pledge will expand to all open-source software that relies on the patents, not just a specific project. In addition, Google said its pledge remains in force for the life of the patents, even if it transfers them, and the pledge may only be terminated if a party brings a patent suit against Google products or services or directly profits from such litigation.

The company added that along with the OPN Pledge and other similar initiatives, it continues to support patent reforms that would "improve patent quality and reduce excessive litigation."

Airport Hotels In Miami - New U.S. Cyber-Security Law May Hinder Lenovo’s Sales Growth

Source - http://techcrunch.com/
By - Catherine Shu
Category - Airport Hotels In Miami
Posted By - Homewood Suites Miami

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The funding bill President Barack Obama signed this week didn’t just prevent a government shutdown. It also included a provision requiring that U.S. government technology purchases first go through a cyber-espionage review process–a move that could potentially impact the sales of Chinese tech companies like Lenovo, which relies on sales to U.S. government agencies and schools as an important part of its North American growth strategy.

The provision came to attention via a blog post by lawyer Stewart A. Baker, a former Assistant Secretary in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under George W. Bush. Baker wrote that the sanctions “[demonstrate] remarkable bipartisan angst about Chinese hacking and the risks in Chinese high tech equipment.” The law means that NASA, the National Science Federation, and the Justice and Commerce Departments, need to get approval from federal law enforcement officials before buying information technology systems in order to assess “cyber-espionage or sabotage” risk. In particular, federal law officials must first assess “any risk associated with such system being produced, manufactured or assembled by one or more entities that are owned, directed or subsidized” by China.

Baker writes that the legislation “could turn out to be a harsh blow for companies like Lenovo that have so far escaped the spotlight trained on Huawei and ZTE.”

In 2011, the U.S. imported a total of $129.5 billion in “advanced technology products” (ATP) from China, according to a May 2012 report on China-US trade by the Congressional Research Service, or 33.5 percent of total U.S. ATP imports that year. Lenovo currently serves the U.S. military and several government entities, including NASA. Last August, Lenovo said that a key part of its growth strategy is targeting Dell’s share of sales to U.S. schools and government offices. Thomas Looney, vice president and general manager for Lenovo North America, told Bloomberg that Lenovo can achieve “hyper-growth” of more than 20 percent a year in computer sales to elementary and secondary schools as well as local, state and federal agencies.

But Chinese tech companies may not be the only ones impacted by the new law. Baker also wrote that the legislation may bring “some surprises for American companies selling commercial IT gear to the government” because they might not know which suppliers and assemblers are directed or subsidized by the Chinese government. As Baker noted in another post, the new law restricts purchases from Chinese state-influenced companies, no matter where they manufacture their products. “This means that the provision could prevent purchases of Lenovo computers manufactured in Germany, or Huawei handsets designed in Britain,” Baker said.

Golf Resort In Miami - T-Mobile: No Contracts, And Cheaper iPhones

Source - http://www.tampabay.com/
By - Press Release
Category - Golf Resort In Miami
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T-Mobile USA, long trailing its rivals in the cellphone industry, is trying to catch up by changing the conversation: it is selling the iPhone cheaper than the competition, and most important, customers would not have to sign a contract.

He said that over two years, an iPhone on T-Mobile will cost hundreds of dollars less than it would on AT&T.

"Do you have any idea what you're paying?" Legere said about phone contracts. "You pay so much for your phones, it's incredible."

The iPhone 5 will be available at T-Mobile starting April 12 for $100 up front, with customers paying an additional $20 a month for 24 months for the handset. Other new smartphones, like the Samsung Galaxy S IV and the BlackBerry Z10, will be available with similar payment plans.

For $50 a month, under T-Mobile's Simple Choice Plan, customers can get unlimited minutes, text messages and 500 megabytes of data; they can pay an extra $20 for unlimited data.

Verizon Wireless charges $90 for 1 gigabyte of data and offers 4 gigabytes for $110 and AT&T charges $95 a month for 1 gigabyte of data and $110 for 4 gigabytes of data. The iPhone 5 costs at least $199 on their networks with a two-year contract.

When the phone is paid off under the T-Mobile deal, the $20 fee disappears. On traditional contract-based plans, the buyer is deemed to have ''paid off'' the phone after a certain period of time and become eligible for a new, subsidized phone, but the monthly payments don't decline.

Under T-Mobile's plan, once the phone is fully paid for, the company will unlock the phone with no questions asked, allowing users to select any carrier they wish.

After explaining the plan, Legere reiterated that because customers won't be tied to a service contract, "if we suck this month, drop us."

Although there would be no contract binding customers to T-Mobile, customers would have to pay off the balance they owe on their phone to end service before the two years are up.

Phone industry analysts said Tuesday that while they believed no-contract deals will eventually come to the rest of the American phone market, Verizon and AT&T will be slow to respond. Simply put, they don't need to — they're already on top.

"Being in last place, [T-Mobile] has nothing to lose so they have the freedom to experiment like this," said Chris Silva, an analyst with the Altimeter Group. "Now having MetroPCS and foreign ownership, they don't look like a traditional American-owned company. I'd love to see more of this, but I don't expect to see more of this in the next 18 to 24 months. Beyond that we can dream."

T-Mobile's 4G LTE network will debut in seven major markets: Baltimore, Houston, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Jose, and Washington, D.C. By the end of the year, T-Mobile says, it will be available where two-thirds of the nation's population lives.

T-Mobile said it will also offer the iPhone 4S, for $70 with 24 monthly payments of $20, and the iPhone 4 for $15 with 24 monthly payments of $15.

The company said Blackberry's new touchscreen Z10 smartphone is on sale now and will cost $100 up front with 24 monthly payments of $18.

Reporting: Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wired.com, CNN.com, Associated Press, Arstechnica.com.

Hotel Near FIU - Australian Prime Minister Emphasizes Loyalty Over Experience In Latest Cabinet Selections

Source - http://www.foxnews.com/
By - Press Release
Category - Hotel Near FIU
Posted By - Homewood Suites Miami

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Prime Minister Julia Gillard emphasized loyalty over experience in new Cabinet selections named Monday after a bungled leadership challenge laid bare intra-government turmoil further damaging her party's image months before an election.

Five ministers resigned or were sacked from their executive jobs for promoting a challenge by Gillard's predecessor Kevin Rudd that failed when he decided against running on the ballot within the ruling Labor Party.

Gillard called the leadership mess "appalling" in remarks Monday to reporters.

"It was an unseemly display," she said. "Today as a government we can be united and with a sense of purpose," she added.

Most of the lawmakers whom Gillard promoted were known loyalists in the longstanding rivalry between Gillard and Rudd.

The Resources and Energy Ministry, crucial to Australia's mining-oriented economy, was given to Special Minister of State Gary Gray, a former gas company executive from resource-rich Western Australia state. The position had been filled to acclaim by Rudd supporter Martin Ferguson since the Labor government was first elected under Rudd's leadership in 2007.

Transport Minister Anthony Albanese stayed, even though he had been tipped to be deputy prime minister if Rudd regained the leadership. Reports have said ministers urged Albanese not to resign because he was too important to the government.

Gillard promoted Albanese by giving him the portfolios Regional Development and Local Government. Those ministries had been held by Simon Crean, whom Gillard dumped for publicly calling for a leadership ballot.

Gillard said she was confident of Albanese's loyalty.

"I have always been able to work with Minister Albanese well," she said. "He's been very central to the life of this government and I believe he will serve very well and with a very strong sense of loyalty into the future."

Australian National University political scientist Michael McKinley said the promotions were clearly not made on merit.

"If they were any good, they would have been in the Cabinet already," he said.

Foreign Minister Bob Carr, who has denied media reports that he had been prepared to back a Rudd challenge, remained in his post.

Dumping Carr would have been a high-profile embarrassment for Australia since he is due to meet U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden at the White House later Monday.

The Australian government's internal turmoil played out in in the United States a year ago when Rudd quit as foreign minister while in Washington to challenge Gillard in a leadership showdown. He was trounced in that ballot by 91 votes to 31.

After last week's fiasco, Rudd said he would not seek the Labor Party leadership again. Party leadership ballots are often seen as a solution to abysmal public polling, which point to a sound Labor Party defeat at the national elections on Sept. 14.

The new Cabinet is Australia's sixth in three years. Gillard expects the reshuffle will be the last before the elections.

Hotel Reservations In Miami - Apple Patents iPhone Drop Protection Mechanisms That Are Built Right Into The Device

Source - http://techcrunch.com/
By - Darrell Etherington
Category - Hotel Reservations In Miami
Posted By - Homewood Suites Miami

Hotel Reservations In Miami

A new Apple patent filing describes a variety of methods to protect a dropped iPhone during a fall, lessening damage through a number of clever systems. The USPTO filing, spotted by AppleInsider, includes a rotational mechanism to change the orientation of a falling iPhone, for instance, as well as on-device thrusters, and a way to clamp down on inserted cables when a fall is detected.

The patent describes a number of ways Apple might be able to make a device that can change direction mid-flight, which would allow it to put its most impact-resistant surface forward to meet the ground. These include an internal gadget for shifting mass to one end of the iPhone, an actual “thrust mechanism” that could even include a “gas canister,” an air foil that activates in free fall, a way to contract external bits like switches within the case for protection, and a gripping system that can clamp down on charing and headphone cables to ensure those catch the falling phone.

Another aspect of the patent is a sort of on-board black box that would gather and store data about the fall and the impact, which Apple says in the patent would be used by the device manufacturer to help gather info about how devices fall, so that they can use that info in future designs. But of course such an on-board tool could also be used by technicians determining warranty repair status.

This patent contains pretty intense, innovation-heavy tech, a lot of which doesn’t have any real precedence out there on the market yet, so I wouldn’t expect to see it in any shipping devices soon. But it is a good look at how Apple is thinking about common issues such as damage to mobile device from accidental drops. And who knows? One day, this stuff could become actually practical – even positional thrusters built into your iPhone.

Budget Hotels In Miami - Australia Prime Minister Fights Own Party To Stay In Office

Source - http://www.nytimes.com/
By - MATT SIEGEL
Category - Budget Hotels In Miami
Posted By - Homewood Suites Miami

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The embattled prime minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, was fighting for her political life on Thursday after she accepted a public demand for a leadership ballot put forward by a senior lawmaker from her ruling Labor Party, who said that the party’s only hope of prevailing in upcoming elections was to return to office the man Ms. Gillard deposed in a 2010 party coup.

 The senior lawmaker, Simon Crean, who led the Labor Party when it was in the opposition from 2001 to 2003, told reporters at a hastily assembled news conference in the capital, Canberra, that he had personally asked Ms. Gillard to hold the ballot — known in Australia as a “spill” — because the party had lost its way and had no confidence in her leadership.

“Something needs to be done to break this deadlock,” he said.

A defiant Ms. Gillard quickly announced on the floor of Parliament that she would hold the ballot at 4:30 p.m. Thursday. In the meantime, she told her colleagues, “take your best shot.”

Ms. Gillard, who became Australia’s first female prime minister in a 2010 party coup that ousted Kevin Rudd, who was derided during his tenure for an authoritarian leadership style. But she has seen her poll ratings plummet since announcing in January, unusually early, that federal elections would be held in September.

Ms. Gillard has led a tenuous minority government since her parliamentary majority was diminished in a disappointing 2010 election. Although she beat back a leadership challenge from Mr. Rudd early in 2012, she has since slid in the polls against Tony Abbott, the leader of the opposition Liberal-National coalition.

Mr. Rudd has insisted that he would not challenge Ms. Gillard for the leadership, but his supporters, including Mr. Crean, seemed confident that Mr. Rudd would be nominated and would prevail in Thursday’s vote. “I wouldn’t be doing this if I did not believe there was the mood and the need for change within the party,” Mr. Crean told reporters when questioned on the internal vote count.

The vote comes after Ms. Gillard failed to salvage contentious media-oversight legislation that angered much of the Australian news industry and emboldened the political opposition.

The legislation, which was withdrawn Thursday morning for lack of support, had been proposed by Stephen Conroy, the communications minister, after an inquiry into news media practices that Ms. Gillard announced in 2011 at the height of the phone hacking scandal involving Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. Most episodes occurred in Britain, and no major allegations were proved against Mr. Murdoch’s Australian media holdings.

The new proposals — particularly the creation of a government post given responsibility for overseeing the news media’s self-regulatory bodies and determining whether media mergers can proceed — were greeted by some of Australia’s leading news media outlets with a scathing public campaign. “For the first time in Australian history outside wartime,” said Greg Hywood, the chief executive of Fairfax Media, which publishes The Sydney Morning Herald, “there will be political oversight over the conduct of journalism in this country.”

But Susan Forde, a professor of journalism at Griffith University, said the proposed media laws were “fairly weak and timid” and “certainly nothing to be concerned about in terms of our democracy and freedom.”

Affordable Vacations In Miami - Jawbone UP Fitness Bracelet Makes Leap To Android

Source - http://news.cnet.com/
By - Steven Musil
Category - Affordable Vacations In Miami
Posted By - Homewood Suites Miami

Affordable Vacations In Miami

The Jawbone UP fitness bracelet is ready to bulk up -- on users, that is

First launched in 2011, the bracelet was formerly available on iOS devices -- most notably iPhones. But tonight a free Android app was added to the Google Play marketplace that allows the device to be used on devices running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich or later devices.

Coupled with a truly 24-7 wearable computer, it tracks users' physical activity to estimate the number of calories burned throughout the day. Worn to bed, it will even measure and evaluate user' sleep patterns.

Jawbone is also stretching the legs of the $129 device, expanding sales into Europe, Asia, and Australia, with availability in the Middle East coming next month. Meanwhile, the iOS version has been updated to support an additional 11 languages.

Jawbone unveiled a new and revamped version of its Up fitness solution last November, saying its bracelet had been significantly rebuilt from the inside out for increased strength and greater functionality. Apparently some users of the product, designed to be worn around the wrist to track activity and exercise, experienced glitches or failures due to wear and tear.

Trip To Miami - Australia And Burma Open Defence Talks

Source - http://www.guardian.co.uk/

By - Press Release

Category - Trip To Miami

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Australia is to ease restrictions on military engagement with Burma following democratic reforms since the country's ruling generals relinquished their half-century grip on power in 2011.

The Australian prime minister, Julia Gillard, said restrictions would be lifted on military humanitarian aid and peacekeeping but an arms sales embargo would stay in place.

Gillard met in Canberra with Burma's President Thein Sein on Monday. Thein Sein is the first leader of Burma to visit the Australian capital since 1974.

"What we've done today is taken a first step on defence relations between our two countries. It is not fully normalising defence relationships," Gillard said.

Myanmar's military junta let in a quasi-civilian government in 2011, triggering political and economic reforms. Western governments have cautiously dropped or eased sanctions against the country.

Burma still has a constitution drafted by the generals and reserves a quarter of parliamentary seats for military personnel, while barring the Nobel laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from the presidency.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar last week warned that progress had been erratic in Myanmar, with around 250 political prisoners still behind bars and 120,000 people internally displaced.

Gillard said Australia, a rotating UN security council member and close U.S. ally, would soon post a defence attache to its embassy in Myanmar and would provide additional aid worth A$20m (£13.7m) to train the government in human rights.

Thein Sein, a former junta general, said his government was looking to resource powerhouse Australia for investment and expertise in Burma's fledgling resource sector. Burma is Asia's poorest country "We have to make sure that the extraction and exploitation of these resources is done properly," Thein Sein said.

Gillard's government in 2012 lifted targeted travel and financial sanctions on Burma excluding military assistance. Australian aid to Burma is set to double to $100m a year by 2015.

Holiday In Miami - Samsung Adds Co-CEOs To Company's Executive Lineup

Source - http://news.cnet.com/

By - Steven Musil

Category - Holiday In Miami

Posted By - Homewood Suites Miami

Holiday In Miami

Fresh from revealing the Galaxy S4, its new flagship smartphone, Samsung announced the addition of two new captains to help run the ship.

Presidents Boo-keun Yoon and JK Shin, who helped unveil the Galaxy S4 during a press event this evening in New York, have been appointed co-chief executive officers in recognition of their contributions to the company's recent string of record quarters. However, they won't be partners in charge; Oh-Hyun Kwon will retain his position as the company's chief chief executive officer and its chairman of the board, Samsung said

"The new leadership structure will serve to clarify and enhance independent management of the two set divisions, as well as the independent management of the set and component businesses," the company said in a brief statement.

Despite their new appointments, the two executives will continue their previous responsibilities within the company.

The company has experienced a remarkable string of record-setting quarterly performances. Samsung announced in January that its fourth-quarter profit rose 76 percent to $6.6 billion, the company's fifth consecutive record quarterly profit.

The company also reported sales of $52.6 billion, a 19 percent increase over same period a year earlier. Nearly half of that revenue came from its mobile communications division, particularly strong sales of its Galaxy S3 smartphone and Galaxy Note 2 phablet.

Hotels Near Marlins Park - Blackberry Scores Its Biggest Order Ever: 1 Million Phones

Source - http://www.slashgear.com/

By - Brittany Hillen

Category - Hotels Near Marlins Park

Source - Homewood Suites Miami

Hotels Near Marlins Park

Blackberry just achieved a new milestone, receiving a record order of 1 million handsets from one of its partners. This is the largest order it has ever received, and is a boon for the company that has put a lot of effort into revamping itself after a string of bad luck. Not surprisingly, the company’s shares took a big jump after the announcement.

The only information supplied provided is that the order came from an established partner, but Blackberry declined specifying what it means by such a statement or who that partner is. In addition to carriers, Blackberry supplies devices for both corporations and governments agencies, although the number that use its handsets declined dramatically in 2012.

Said Blackberry’s Executive Vice President of Global Sales Rick Costanzo, “An order for 1 million devices is a tremendous vote of confidence in BlackBerry 10. Consumers are ready for a new user experience, and BlackBerry 10 delivers. With strong partner support, coupled with this truly re-invented new platform, we have a powerful recipe for success.”

Bloomberg, which is reporting on the story, reached out to the major carriers – Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint – none of which offered a statement about whether they were involved in the transaction. While the latter two declined commenting, Verizon hasn’t yet given a comment either way. The announcement resulted in an 8.2-percent jump in shares.

Extended Stay In Miami - Asian Shares Ease, Sterling Remains Vulnerable

Source - http://www.reuters.com/

By - Chikako Mogi

Category - Extended Stay In Miami

Posted By - Homewood Suites Miami

Extended Stay In Miami

Sentiment toward riskier assets was not completely soured, however, with oil and copper clinging on to gains while gold struggled to extend its climb.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI marked another record close on Tuesday, rising for an eighth straight day and heading higher into overbought territory, but the S&P 500 .SPX slipped and European shares retreated from modest gains at the end of the session, just shy of a fresh 4-1/2-year closing high.

The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS fell 0.6 percent, pulled lower by a similar decline in Australian shares .AXJO. Hong Kong .HSI fell 0.8 percent while mainland China indexes .CSI300 .SSEC sagged more than 1 percent.

"We are still in the scare framework, people are still scared of risk," said Adrian Foster, head of financial markets research for Asia-Pacific at Rabobank International in Hong Kong.

This was despite the generous global liquidity still in place even when the risks that prompted central banks into accommodative stances have subsided, with Europe stabilizing and the United States skirting around its budget problems.

Michael Gavin, head of asset allocation at Barclays Capital in New York, suggests the return of the VIX volatility index .VIX to levels seen before the global financial crisis may indicate a "new normal", extended period of low volatility, buttressed by activist central banks ready to restore calm when they can.

"Of course, this whole context could change if some risk materializes that cannot be contained by activist central banks. But the main risks that have preoccupied investors in the past several years seem unlikely to return to such menacing proportions," Gavin said in a research.

"We think it makes more sense for investors to focus on navigating a generally low-volatility environment than to prepare for another outbreak of anxiety in the months to come."

STERLING UNDER PRESSURE

As the yen's weakness paused, Japan's Nikkei stock average .N225 fell 0.5 percent, after snapping an 8-day winning streak which took the index up to a 4-1/2-year high on Tuesday.

Japan's approaching fiscal year-end on March 31 was also prompting investors to sell to adjust their positions. .T

The dollar fell 0.2 percent to 95.87 yen after rising to 96.71 yen on Tuesday, its highest since August 2009.

The euro fell 0.1 percent to 124.94 yen, after reaching a one-month high of 126.03 on Tuesday. Expectations for much bolder monetary easing from the Bank of Japan when a new leadership takes over next week have kept the yen under pressure.

Sterling traded up 0.2 percent to $1.4933, after falling to its lowest since late June 2010 on Tuesday after data showed a surprise fall in British industrial output in January, pushing the pound down to $1.4832.

Against the Australian dollar, the pound skidded towards A$1.4370 on Tuesday, lows not seen since 1985, but was up at A$1.4489 on Wednesday.

"Sterling's weakness on the foreign exchanges remains intact as an absence of fresh initiatives from the Bank of England, and the lack of room to ease fiscal policy, leave much onus on a weaker pound to help stimulate growth," ANZ said in a note.

The euro was steady around $1.3034, after being weighed down by a warning on Tuesday from Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann, who is also a member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank, that the euro zone's crisis has not ended.

Investors will watch bond sales from highly-indebted euro zone countries later in the day to gauge the degree of anxiety. Italy will offer three-year and 15-year bonds on Wednesday, while Spain plans to sell bonds due 2029, 2040 and 2041 at a special, off-calendar auction on Thursday.

Airport Hotels In Miami - Heart Disease Present In Ancient Mummies

Source - http://www.bbc.co.uk/
By - Press Release
Category - Airport Hotels In Miami
Posted By - Homewood Suites Miami

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A study in The Lancet of 137 mummies up to 4,000 years old found a third had signs of atherosclerosis.

Most people associate the disease, which leads to heart attacks and strokes, with modern lifestyle factors such as smoking and obesity.

But the findings may suggest a more basic human pre-disposition.

Previous studies have uncovered atherosclerosis in a significant number of Egyptian mummies but it had been speculated that they would have come from a higher social class and may have had luxurious diets high in saturated fat.

To try and get a better picture of how prevalent the disease was in ancient populations, the researchers used CT scans to look at mummies from Egypt, Peru, southwest America, and the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.

They found that 47 or 34% showed signs of definite or probably atherosclerosis.

Where the mummies' arterial structure had survived, the researchers were able to attribute a definite case of atherosclerosis by looking for the tell-tale signs of vascular calcification.

In some cases, the arterial structure had not survived but the calcified deposits were still present in sites where arteries would have once been.
Age-related

As with modern populations, they found that older people seemed to be more likely to show signs of the disease.

The researchers said the results were striking because they had been able to look at the disease in people living in disparate global regions, with different lifestyles and at different times.

Study leader Professor Randall Thompson, of Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, said: "The fact that we found similar levels of atherosclerosis in all of the different cultures we studied, all of whom had very different lifestyles and diets, suggests that atherosclerosis may have been far more common in the ancient world than previously thought.

"Furthermore, the mummies we studied from outside Egypt were produced naturally as a result of local climate conditions, meaning that it's reasonable to assume that these mummies represent a reasonable cross-section of the population, rather than the specially selected elite group of people who were selected for mummification in ancient Egypt."

He said it is commonly thought that if modern humans could emulate pre-industrial or even pre-agricultural lifestyles, that atherosclerosis would be avoided.

"Our findings seem to cast doubt on that assumption, and at the very least, we think they suggest that our understanding of the causes of atherosclerosis is incomplete, and that it might be somehow inherent to the process of human ageing."

Maureen Talbot, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: "This small study takes us back in time to give an insight into the heart health of people in the ancient world.

"However, we simply don't know enough about the diet and lifestyle of the people studied to say whether behaviour or genetics lies at the root of the heart problems observed.

"We can't change the past, but lifestyle choices can help to affect our future.

"By eating well, quitting smoking and keeping active, you can help to protect your heart."

Golf Resort In Miami - China On Alert As Inflation Creeps Up

Source - http://www.cnbc.com/

By - Ansuya Harjani

Category - Golf Resort In Miami

Posted By - Homewood Suites Miami

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After a year of benign inflation consumer prices are ticking up in China amid an uneven economic recovery, posing a dilemma for policymakers.

The country's consumer price index (CPI) rose to a higher-than-expected 3.2 percent in February from a year earlier, compared with 2 percent in January, raising the question whether the People's Bank of China (PBOC) will tighten monetary policy in the near-term to control inflation, or focus on supporting growth.

Data released over the weekend, including industrial production and retail sales for February came in below analyst forecasts, highlighting softness in China's economic recovery.

"A slow recovery, coupled with higher than expected inflation and returning capital inflows, leads to a tougher call for China's policy tone," wrote Tommy Xie Dongming, economist, treasury research & strategy at OCBC.

While a rise in food prices, driven by the Lunar New Year holidays last month, contributed to a jump in inflation, non-food price inflation in the combined January and February period was higher than its historical average, according to Nomura, indicating that inflation has become broad based.

And economists forecast that the pace of inflation will stay high for the rest of the year given rising labor costs and abundant liquidity. Commerce Minister Chen Deming warned the country is also at risk of importing inflation from higher commodity prices as a result of the competitive devaluation of major currencies.

Citi, for example, estimates average inflation may top 3.5 percent in the fourth quarter of this year. Last week, the Chinese government lowered its inflation target for 2013 to 3.5 percent from 4 percent for the previous year. Average inflation in 2012 came in below target at 2.6 percent.

Yifan Hu, chief economist at Haitong International Research believes monetary policy in the mainland will remain accommodative through the first half of the year, because "the current state of China's domestic economy has not recovered a high level of dynamism yet."

The central bank will likely wait until the second half of 2013 to hike the official lending rate, according to economist predictions. In 2012, the PBOC cut interest rates twice, in June and July, to boost growth. 

"Chinese CPI rose quite sharply. We are not changing our view that the implication will be monetary tightening (but) we are keeping the second-half 2013 time horizon because only by then price pressures will be strong enough to warrant action," said Dariusz Kowalczyk, senior economist, Asia ex-Japan at Credit Agricole, who expects two rate cuts in the second-half.

In the meantime, the PBOC is likely to focus on draining liquidity in the second quarter through open market operations, Kowalczyk added. 

The central bank has begun withdrawing liquidity in recent weeks, draining a net 253 billion yuan ($40.6 billion) from the banking system through its open market operations in February, according to Reuters.

Hotel Reservations In Miami - Aronia Berries: The New Antioxidant Super Fruit

Source - http://shine.yahoo.com/

By - Lylah M. Alphonse

Category - Hotel Reservations In Miami

Posted By - Homewood Suites Miami

Hotel Reservations In Miami

Move over, Acai berries and mangosteen. There's a less expensive, easier-to-eat antioxidant in town, and it's a superfood that Native Americans have known about for generations: Aronia berries.

Also on Shine: 7 Antioxidant Foods for Glowing Skin

"It's got kind of an astringent taste to it. It's very naturally tart," Tammy Ross, director of marketing for Westin Foods, told to Yahoo! Shine in an interview. Westin Foods owns Mae's Health & Wellness, producers of the Superberries line of aronia berry products. "It's very similar in taste to a wine grape. What you're tasting in that tartness is actually very good for you -- a type of an antioxidant and type of a compound that can be found in wine and can also be found in tea."

Also on Shine: A Guide to the Best Antioxidants Out There

Aronia berries contains a natural blend of polyphenolic antioxidants that combat the cell-damaging free radicals created in our bodies by stress, environmental pollution, medical x-rays, and other aspects of daily living (even exercise!). Among those antioxidants are anthocyanins, which have been shown to help fight diseases caused by oxidative stress like certain types of cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic inflammation, and liver function, according to studies published by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and elsewhere. According to the USDA, Aronia berries have twice as much antioxidant power as cranberries and four times as much as pomegranates, strawberries, goji berries, and blueberries. (They're difficult to compare to chia seeds, another popular antioxidant, because chia seeds aren't fruits)

Also called chokeberries thanks to their super-tart taste, the dark-purple clusters grow wild in North America and have recently been cultivated by farmers in the Midwest. The distinctive berries grow on bushes, with several round fruit clumped together on rosy-red stems.

Unlike trendy acai berries, which are usually found mixed into other products or in powdered supplement form, aronia berries are available as whole fruit -- you can find them online at Amazon.com (about $10 per pound) where they cost far less per serving than dried goji berries (about $18 per pound) and dried wild blueberries (about $48 per pound). Native Americans used them as part of their diet, as preservatives for their meat, and also for dying cloth, Ross explained. And it's become popular in Europe, where they're now prized for their health and wellness properties.

Aronia berries aren't a dietary supplement, though -- they're a food. Like elderberries or black currants, aronia berries can be used to make wine, jam, syrups, and tea; you can stir them into fresh sauces or use them along with blueberries in your breakfast muffins.

Budget Hotels In Miami - 5 Ways You Pay More for Google Clicks

Source - http://mashable.com/
By - Kevin Lee
Category - Budget Hotels In Miami
Posted By - Homewood Suites Miami

Budget Hotels In Miami

The transition to Google Enhanced Campaigns — where you'll be bidding for tablet clicks combined with desktop/laptop clicks — will result in inflationary trends in billed CPCs for many advertisers. However, the advent of Enhanced Campaigns is just one of five reasons you might be paying more for clicks than you could otherwise be paying.

1. Enhanced Campaigns' Influence on CPC Inflation

The strategic decision as to whether or not to accept a blended average conversion rate and/or influence/micro-conversions across the mixed stream of clicks as your basis for bids will often have to do with the elasticity of the marketplace.

For example, let's assume that your CMO has asked you to manage campaigns based on conversion rates and ROI with a combination of attribution and last click. Assume you've calculated that tablet clicks are worth 80% of desktop/laptop clicks (after having optimized your site for tablets including Flash removal). Also assume that 20% of clicks come in from tablets when you are bidding the same cost-per-click (CPC) under Enhanced Campaigns.

So, one would expect that the calculated reserve price on your blended clicks would drop by approximately 4% (20% of 20%). Keep in mind that if that 4% bid reduction results in an average positional change, then the loss in volume of clicks may not be worth the tradeoff. If your competition responds by lowering bids as well, one could expect a positional status quo (complicated slightly by differences in Quality Score).

In the end you'll have to make your own ROI-to-volume analysis and judge the elasticity of the marketplace for your keywords. Many advertisers will simply "suck it up" and take a hit on measurable ROI in order to maintain click volume. As you move campaigns over to the Enhanced Campaign structure you'll be able to run tests to determine the best strategy.

2. Geographic Mix

While you may have remembered to opt out of surrounding countries or geographies when setting up your campaign, perhaps you've forgotten, or perhaps you've inherited your campaign from someone else. Getting the geographic mix right goes beyond, for example, removing Canada from the default campaign setup for a North American Google campaign.

One of the positive outcomes from Enhanced Campaigns in Google (not live yet as of this writing, but announced) is the ability to do negative geographic bid modifiers. My team and I have spent hundreds of hours and filled terabytes of data warehouse space to crunch client data alongside IRS, Census and third-party data sources on geography and demographics. One can adopt quite a sophisticated positive or negative geographic bidding strategy even if mobile isn't a big deal for you yet.

Don't pay for clicks from the wrong audience and make sure you bid aggressively for your perfect audience.

3. Google Grants

Ever see a non-profit in the SERP near your ads? Well those ads might be paid for by a Google Grant of in-kind advertising funds. It's great that Google supports non-profits, but those bids escalate your bid prices and potentially even knock you down a position.

This is quite an interesting side effect of Google's grant program that may almost pay for the program due to increased bids all the way up the chain in the SERP. Medical and pharmaceutical advertisers are in an industry category more likely to see competitive bidding from a non-profit running a Google Grant.

4. Session-Based Broad Match

In order to adequately cover all eventualities, even the tightest Google AdWords campaign requires some use of broad match. Unfortunately a byproduct of broad match is session-based broad match clicks. You used to be able to see them listed separately when running a keyword detail report, but a recent test shows session-based clicks simply labeled as "broad match."

5. Affiliates, Competitors or Brand Bidders Flying Under the Radar

Just because you can't see an ad in the SERP doesn't mean it's not running. Affiliates, competitors, and channel partners that you have explicitly requested or contractually prohibited from brand bidding often use elements of day-parting and geo-targeting to jump in when you are unlikely to see them bidding.

Some of the above click inflation issues can be mitigated within Google. But don't forget Bing adCenter. The Bing/Yahoo partnership and other syndication partners are big enough that you should start paying attention to campaign performance there as well.

Affordable Vacations In Miami - A Unique Kind Of Tree Grows In Santa Clarita

Source - http://hometownstation.com/
By - Michelle Fechte
Category - Affordable Vacations In Miami
Posted By - Homewood Suites Miami

Affordable Vacations In Miami

Beginning in 2009 The ARTree was founded by local artist Bob Hernandez, the organization focuses on bringing art, both its creation and appreciation, into the community of Santa Clarita.

“We want everyone involved with The ARTree to have a personal stake in the visual and performing arts,” said Hernandez. This “community-integrated” art is what Bob Hernandez wanted to achieve with this community-based arts education organization.

The ARTree is not a tree, but it grows. The ARTree has grown as a non-profit organization that brings a variety of art education programs to young people in Santa Clarita and to adults who participate in its events around the city.

One of the organization’s earliest projects provided an example of this vision when it became a reality, especially for residents driving through Old Town Newhall. The Ever-Changing Wall appeared on the wall of an auto-repair shop along Railroad Avenue between 8th and 9th Streets.

Kids from The Newhall Community Center and The Boys and Girls Club became models for the photographic images, and worked alongside ARTree volunteers and members from the community to erect this impressive art piece.

 This is one of five murals that The ARTree has had a hand in creating throughout the valley. And while that mural has been taken down, The Ever-Changing Wall, as its title suggests, is morphing into a new mural that the organization is actively planning.

“We are very close to achieving our contribution goal for the wall to return,” said Hernandez, “and it will be sturdier and will stay up longer than the first one.”

Murals are just one on the projects that The ARTree uses to bring art to the community. Participation in the city’s monthly SENSES on Main Street event the newly created Art Slam on Main Street, the Literacy and Arts Festival, and Part of the strategy for The ARTree’s growth is working with other community organizations and expanding what it can offer to young people.

The newest offering is a class in video production. Organized by board member Dianne Foderaro, the 6-week class will create a video documentary on an aspect of life in Santa Clarita that the 6 participating students selected.

Participants learn not just about art, but about working together, trusting their individual instincts, and learning that creativity is not only in everyone, but emerges in many different ways.

If one child leaves an ARTree program with a greater sense of self and more confidence in their own abilities, then, the organization will have achieved its mission.