Ten One Design Pogo Sketch Plus Review

The Pogo Sketch Plus from Ten One Design is a stylus for capacitive displays like those found on the iPad, iPhone and Android tablets. Check out my full report after the jump. Note: Click the images in this review to see a larger view. Made of anodized aluminum, the Pogo Sketch Plus is available in [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2012/02/15/ten-one-design-pogo-sketch-plus-review/

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US, Europe look at fast but risky penalty on Iran (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The United States and Europe are considering unprecedented punishment against Iran that could immediately cripple the country's financial lifeline. But it's an extreme option in the banking world that would come with its own costs.

The Obama administration wants Iran evicted from SWIFT, an independent financial clearinghouse that is crucial to the country's overseas oil sales. That would leapfrog the current slow-pressure campaign of sanctions aimed at persuading Iran to drop what the U.S. and its allies contend is a drive toward developing and building nuclear weapons. It also perhaps would buy time for the U.S. to persuade Israel not to launch a pre-emptive military strike on Iran this spring.

The last-resort financial effort suggests the U.S. and Europe are grasping for ways to show immediate results because economic sanctions have so far failed to force Iran back to nuclear talks

But such a penalty could send oil prices soaring when many of the world's economies are still frail. It also could hurt ordinary Iranians and undercut the reputation of SWIFT, a banking hub used by virtually every nation and corporation around the world. The organization's full name is the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications.

Meanwhile, violence is increasing. Explosions in Bangkok on Tuesday ? Israel's defense minister labeled them an "attempted terrorist attack" ? came the day after Israel accused Iran of trying to kill its diplomats in India and Georgia. Those attacks followed the recent killings of Iranian scientists.

In the financial world, the United States can't order SWIFT to kick Iran out. But it has leverage in that it can punish the Brussels-based organization's board of directors. Talks are focused now on having Europe make the first move.

Short of total expulsion, Washington and representatives of several European nations are in talks over ways to restrict Iran's use of the banking consortium to collect oil profits.

The Obama administration is divided over whether the possible gain is worth the risk in trying to threaten SWIFT into kicking out a member country, in part because of concern that it would set back the global financial recovery. Iran remains a global financial player despite years of banking sanctions, and blocking it from using the respected transfer system would be a black mark like no other.

More than 40 Iranian banks and institutions use SWIFT to process financial transactions, and losing access to that flow of international funds could badly damage the Islamic republic's economy. It would also probably hurt average Iranians more than the welter of existing banking sanctions already in place since prices for household goods would rise while the value of Iranian currency would drop.

Lawyers for SWIFT are holding meetings in Washington. People familiar with the talks say a compromise is possible in which SWIFT would voluntarily bar or restrict Iranian transfers.

But if SWIFT fails to act on its own, the U.S. expects Europe to require it to terminate services for Iranian banks, one Obama administration official said.

David Cohen, the Treasury Department's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, delivered that message to European Union officials in Brussels earlier this month, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly and thus spoke only on the condition of anonymity.

Mark Dubowitz, a sanctions expert advising the White House on Iran, said the Obama administration is having detailed discussions on the merits and consequences of forcing SWIFT to block Iranian transactions.

Some in the administration also prefer to give time for new sanctions on Iran's Central Bank, officially enforced starting just this month, to take hold before layering on a round of even more draconian penalties.

SWIFT was involved in a separate controversy when it was revealed in 2006 that it had skirted the EU's strict privacy laws after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by transferring millions of pieces of personal information from its U.S. offices to American authorities as part of the US Terrorist Finance Tracking Program.

"It is an essential cog in the wheel, if not the wheel itself, in international financial transactions and trade," said David Aufhauser, former general counsel at the Treasury Department who worked with SWIFT to set up that information transfer.

SWIFT handles cross-border payments for more than 10,000 financial institutions and corporations in 210 countries. It lets users exchange financial information securely and reliably, thereby lowering costs and reducing risk. It operates on trust and neutrality ? SWIFT accepts nearly all comers and does not judge the merits of the transactions passing through its secure message system. Its managers generally brush off investigators and enforcement agencies, telling them to take up suspected wrongdoing directly with nations or corporations.

Established in 1973, the essential but little-known hub is overseen by major central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank.

Lawyers familiar with SWIFT's operations said it could bar processing actions with any Iranian party or third parties representing Iran, though that would open the consortium to complaints of favoritism or political influence. It could permit the processing but quarantine Iranian transactions, or require warnings to those doing business with Iran. Penalties on Iran short of expulsion could allow SWIFT to preserve a greater appearance of neutrality but make business partners think twice, lawyers said.

Proponents of blocking Iran from SWIFT say the financial network's own bylaws require that its services not be used to facilitate illegal activities and allow it to prohibit users that are subject to sanctions.

While the U.S. and Europe debate options, some American lawmakers are trying to increase pressure on SWIFT. The Senate Banking Committee passed a measure earlier this month directing the White House to press SWIFT to block Iranian entities.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also introduced a tougher bill that would compel the administration to sanction SWIFT unless it stopped providing services to Iran.

If lawmakers were to pass a compromise bill, final legislation could land on the president's desk in late spring or early summer, according to a senior Senate aide.

The pending legislation has caught the attention of officials at SWIFT. The financial network's general counsel and other advisers requested a meeting with congressional lawmakers and staff, the aide said.

Those meetings are scheduled in Washington for the week of Feb. 20, said the aide, who also spoke only on condition of anonymity.

Officials close to the White House say the Obama administration is comfortable with the less restrictive language in the Senate Banking Committee measure, but has concerns that more-binding legislation would leave the U.S. less flexibility in dealing with Iran.

SWIFT did not respond to requests for comment. In a brief statement posted on its website, the consortium said it is committed to fighting misuse of the financial system to finance terrorism and has cooperated with enforcement agencies in the U.S. and Europe.

Without addressing the specifics of a full expulsion or more limited block on Iranian transactions, SWIFT's statement urged caution.

"SWIFT remains committed to maintaining its role as a neutral global financial communications network" while complying with sanctions laws, the statement said.

___

Associated Press writer Slobodan Lekic in Brussels contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120214/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_us_iran

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U.N. urges Iraq to move Iranian dissidents to new camp (Reuters)

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) ? U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Iraq on Wednesday to speed up the transfer of Iranian dissidents at a camp near Baghdad to a temporary facility that the dissident group has compared to a prison.

Camp Ashraf, 40 miles from Baghdad, has been home for 25 years to the People's Mujahideen Organization of Iran, or PMOI, an Iranian opposition group the United States and Iran officially consider a terrorist organization.

The current Iraqi government has never concealed its desire get rid of the camp. Under pressure from the United Nations and European Union, Baghdad extended its deadline to close Ashraf late last year from December 31, 2011 to April 30, 2012.

But Ban is now urging Iraq and the PMOI to work together to begin moving Ashraf residents immediately because, as U.N. officials told Reuters, the United Nations is afraid that violence could erupt if the relocation does not begin soon.

"The Secretary-General believes that the time has come to start the relocation process without further delay," Ban's press office said in a statement. "He urges the Iraqi authorities and the residents of Camp Ashraf to continue to cooperate and complete the process in a peaceful manner."

The statement said the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has "confirmed that the infrastructure and facilities at the temporary transit location are in accordance with ... international humanitarian standards."

It was not immediately clear how the Iranians at Camp Ashraf reacted to Ban's call to accelerate their move out of the camp.

Earlier this month a spokesman for the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the PMOI's political wing, dismissed suggestions from U.N. special envoy to Iraq Martin Kobler that conditions at the new facility - Camp Liberty - were acceptable.

The spokesman, Shahin Gobadi, said in an email the new facility would have "prison conditions," with residents denied the freedom to come and go and without access to lawyers and medical services.

Camp residents will also be banned from taking vehicles and other property with them, apart from "individual belongings," and will only be able to contact U.N. officials by telephone, Gobadi said.

NEW CONDITIONS

In an article in Wednesday's New York Times, however, Kobler said the new camp would have medical facilities and would be monitored around the clock by U.N. observers. Residents would be interviewed by the U.N. refugee agency to determine their eligibility to resettle as refugees outside Iraq, he added.

Camp Ashraf continued to operate after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. But its future became unclear after Washington turned it over to Iraq in 2009. Baghdad has repeatedly said it does not want the guerrilla group on Iraqi soil.

Kobler said Camp Ashraf's leaders, after agreeing in principle to move out an initial group of 400 residents, had hesitated in recent days to do so, placing new conditions on the transfer to which the Iraqi government rejected.

"The government's patience is wearing thin, and further delay could lead to provocation and violence," he said. "Change is understandably unsettling for the residents, but maintaining the status quo is neither a safe nor viable option."

In the 1970s, the PMOI led a guerrilla campaign against the U.S.-backed shah of Iran but after the 1979 Islamic revolution turned against Iran's new clerical rulers. It was hosted in Iraq by former leader Saddam Hussein, a bitter foe of Iran.

Late last year, there were several rocket attacks on Camp Ashraf, which the NCRI blamed on the Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps "and its Iraqi agents."

In April 2011, Ashraf was the scene of clashes between residents and Iraqi security forces, during which 34 people were killed, according to a U.N. investigation.

(Editing by Todd Eastham and Will Dunham)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120216/wl_nm/us_iraq_iran_un

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small-scale mining in Namibia ? Business ? Sales ? The Mining ...

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small-scale mining in Namibia by Ljx19880123

in Business / Sales (submitted 2011-12-30)

Direct your clients directly to the correct franchise using 1300 Number Voice Recognition.

Equipment Finance in India

The Indian mining and construction equipment finance market is yet to evolve. There are only 3 major players SREI Infrastructure finance, Cholamandalam DBS and Birla Global finance which cater to approximately 3% of the market as compared to 65% in developed countries. SREI also provides assistance to its customers throughout the lifecycle of the equipment and has initiated reverse auctioning of equipments in 2007.

Rental Equipment

The equipment rental business in India is currently pegged at around 7-8% of the total construction equipment industry which is nowhere close to what is seen in more developed markets with around 80% in Japan, 60-65% in USA and 35% in china . The Rental Equipment business in India is expected to grow to about 25% by 2010. The prominent organized players are SREI?s Quippo, Sanghvi movers, Gremach Infrastructure equipments and Caterpillar .The average cost of hiring has gone up by approximately 30-40% over the last two years.

Nigeria Construction Equipment Industry Background & Historical Trends

Nigeria coal mining equipment cover a variety of machinery such as hydraulic excavators, wheel loaders, backhoe loaders, bull dozers, dump trucks, tippers, graders, pavers, asphalt drum / wet mix plants, breakers, vibratory compactors, cranes, fork lifts, dozers, off-highway dumpers (20T to 170T), drills, scrapers, motor graders, rope shovels etc. They perform a variety of functions like preparation of ground, excavation, haulage of material, dumping/laying in specified manner, material handling, road construction etc.

These equipment are required for both small-scale mining in Namibia. With a wide production capacity base, India is perhaps the only developing country, which is totally self-reliant in such highly sophisticated equipment. India has only a few, mainly medium and large companies in the organized sector who manufacture these.

Small scale gold mining equipment is machinery used to build and demolish bridges, buildings and other structures. These machines usually save labor, time and money. One of them can do more work in an hour than a hundred of workers using hand tools could do in a day. The chief kinds of building machines include earthmoving machineries hoisting, material handling machines and pumping machines. Other construction machinery used is for preparing the land and materials for construction. Demolishing machines are used to demolish structures and buildings.

The Indian construction equipment industry today faces stiff competition, great opportunities and challenges, but India has a total command over all these things as according to confederation of the Indian industry report, 2005 as for engineering and capital goods base. The Indian engineering manufacturing sector has been growing at the rate of about 5.9% in the nineties. India today produces a variety of machinery whose range is quiet wide and deep. Rapidly increasing construction sector has been the indication of good times for companies manufacturing construction equipments.

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Source: http://www.themininginvestment.com/2012/02/small-scale-mining-in-namibia-business-sales/

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Source: http://vacationlyricssimpleplan.jeremypinc.com/2125/small-scale-mining-in-namibia-business-sales-the-mining/

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Twitter Adds Always-On Encryption

Twitter Bird Logo

Twitter this week took another step towards securing its network by making encryption opt-out rather than opt-in.

"Now, HTTPS will be on by default for all users, whenever you sign in to Twitter.com," Twitter said in a blog post.

HTTPS keeps data encrypted as it travels between your Web browser and servers and is mostly used for things like banks and credit card company Web sites.

Sites that deal with sensitive personal information have typically used HTTPS during the sign-in process to protect password information and then reverted back to HTTP afterwards because full encryption can sometimes slow down your experience on that site. But as more and more people sign on to services like Twitter on public or insecure networks, it makes it easy for cyber criminals to hack in and gain access to personal account information.

Twitter provided users with the option to encrypt their accounts back in March 2011, but now it will be turned on at all times. To switch it off, head to your Accounts Settings page.

"HTTPS is one of the best ways to keep your account safe and it will only get better as we continue to improve HTTPS support on our web and mobile clients," Twitter said.

The move comes about a week after LinkedIn made encryption an opt-in service on its site; it will roll out gradually in the next few weeks, LinkedIn said in a blog post.

As Sophos security analyst Graham Cluley noted today, logging in to Twitter over an unencrypted network - like an airport lounge or during a work conference - "then a hacker could sniff your session cookie. And anyone who can sniff your session cookie can pretend to be you."

"That means they can post tweets as you or read your private direct messages. And you don't want that," he continued. "Turning on full-time Twitter HTTPS keeps your session cookie encrypted throughout your login session. That's definitely a good thing."

In January 2011, Facebook introduced the option to encrypt your Facebook session at all times, as well as an easier account authentication process. Hotmail has a similar option. In 2010, Google announced that it would encrypt Gmail at all times, not just during sign-on, and make the process an opt-out feature rather than opt-in.

For more from Chloe, follow her on Twitter @ChloeAlbanesius.

For the top stories in tech, follow us on Twitter at @PCMag.

Source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2400252,00.asp

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The Kinds of Real Estate for Sale | Man and Van Moving Blog

The best way to make a good profit out of your money today is to invest on real estates. Homes that are foreclosure and are for sale are in demand today for investments. This can let your investments earn as fast as possible. For the past years, these homes for sale are not as valuable as what they are today. These are those which are sold due to foreclosures. If and when mortgages are not being paid, government taxes are not being regularly paid, or other offences for that matter, houses can become foreclosed and will be for sale. When owners are not able to pay mortgage, banks will get their homes and will be owned by the bank.

There can also be diverse kinds of foreclosed house that are being sold. The types of homes foreclosed are, homes being sold at some foreclosure property auctions, those not paid pre-foreclosures, and the REO or real estate owned by the government and banks. Investors then take this opportunity to invest on this property and own it at a price which is lesser than its original price. Then you can also have short sales but they are not belonging to a certain category especially made for them since they can fall under pre-foreclosure.

The owner of the home may be granted foreclosure of the home by the lender if and when he is not able to pay the mortgage for three consecutive payment deadlines. Then it goes to follow that the lender would have to pay completely for the not yet paid balance of the overall debt.

When you plan to invest on homes for sale to whichever type which was mentioned, there can benefits and disadvantages. One advantage of the real estate owned homes is that you need not to worry on the documents or any matters since they have been completed already. All you need is to choose them and they are good to go. You need not to worry about any taxes hanging since it has been taken care of and the total mortgages have been foreclosed. It will be the bank?s initiative to clear all issues before they try to sell it. Among the three choices, this may be the most costly however all needed settlements have been already settled here so you are safe and will have a clean title.

Take note that those real estate owned properties, when you like to buy it, needs your bargaining methods which are firm. You can have offers which will be bargained or changed. The main goal of the bank is for them to receive payments on or before the deadline which was agreed upon. Banks can make some favorable terms and conditions for the investor so that the process can be faster.

Never ever go for REO when you haven?t really checked the property itself because the major drawback of their homes is that many revisions or renovations may be needed for the house. The houses here are sold as what they look like when owners left them, thus you have to see if there are damages which are so major that might as well change your mind in buying.

Search Rockwall Homes for Sale into the search engine; do you find the thing you need?

Source: http://www.123manandvan.com/movingblog/real-estate/the-kinds-of-real-estate-for-sale/

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Felony Employment

Felony Employment

Correctional facilities are actually prisons, and while rehabilitation poses a lofty description for real punishment, the prospect of employment for people with felonies occasions few high rises. While the reasons are many that jobs for felons are limited, employment with a felony record is an uphill battle for the individual. Failure to hire felons in meaningful employment for which they are qualified plays a major role for unemployed felons who return to a prison facility. In many respects felons released from prison have as good a chance at a casino with whatever money they have than they do in becoming reestablished in society. Being broke means whatever you wish to imagine.

Victor Hugo's classic book, Les Miserables, done many times over in plays and film, illustrates a grim portrait of a man named Jean Valjean, imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread. A life of banishment is disproportionate to the crime. As the plot unfolds Jean Valjean's resourceful industry makes him wealthy. He uses this wealth to fund his own benevolence. However, he is pursued by Inspector Javert who's fixed attitude does not allow Jean Valjean to escape the designation of being a felon. Hugo's novel shows that some attitudes of society may be as destructive to society as is crime itself.

In the land of the free and home of the brave there are more prisoners held than in any other country in the world. In this land of opportunity employment with a felony record remains a bleak proposition. Some felons attempt to expunge their felony. Some take jobs below their capability. Some start businesses. Some go back to prison.

Despite the fact many programs have been instituted, subsidies granted, and employer participation rewarded, the bottom line for employment for people with felonies will be their own resourcefulness and adaptability in response to both opportunities and obstacles. Understanding the negative impact of the label is not the same as overcoming it. I'm not sure that is even possible. Like Jean Valjean, his benevolence was as much to his chagrin as was his crime. It's a hard to swallow fact of life.

In today's world there are more ways than ever to garnish a felony. One of my favorite felons is Martha Stewart whom I'm not sure committed any crime. One good thing you can say for her is that she holds her head up and still makes some of the best cakes and cookies around. Anyone who wishes to understand the obstacles felony employment presents should think about Ms. Stewart. In my book she is heroic, but in someone else's book she is an example of their own job security.

Source: http://www.streetarticles.com/anthropology-sociology/felony-employment

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Why you need Business Accounting and Payroll Management ...

Business accounting software like QuickBooks 2012 and QuickBooks Enterprise, and payroll management software, like Mepay, are very valuable resources for any business, big or small. These are essential for running any business concern efficiently and profitably. However, if you are not familiar with these software solutions, you may feel that they are not necessary for you. You could not make a bigger mistake; they can make all the difference to whether your business survives in the fiercely competitive economic scenario today. Here are more points to convince you: 1. Save Time: With the help of professionally designed accounting and payroll management software, you can save a lot of time that would otherwise be wasted on data entry, manual calculations and coordinating different databases. Software like QuickBooks 2012, QuickBooks Enterprise and Mepay are designed to shave off valuable minutes from all your accounting and payroll management tasks, through features like automated data entries, common database maintenance and automated calculations. 2. Save Effort: Another advantage of business accounting software like QuickBooks 2012 and QuickBooks enterprise is that they stop you from duplicating your efforts. For instance, there is a feature in QuickBooks 2012 called ?Calendar View?, which manages your working schedule, complete with appointments, to-dos and alerts. This saves you from juggling a real calendar and a virtual one. Similarly, Payroll management software like Mepay makes it easy for you to track labor costs, analyze trends and create detailed management reports through a single digital interface.

3. Save Money: This is a very obvious point that seems to escape many people who prefer to stick to manual accounting and payroll calculation. Human beings are prone to errors and manual accounting puts your business at risk. Accounting mistakes could seriously affect your business? finances, or discredit it with banks and other financial institutions. With the right software, you avoid all these, and you are able to save money as you can accurately calculate labor and business costs down to the last cent. Moreover, you are saved from hiring trained professionals to handle your accounting and payroll management requirements, as these software programs can be operated easily by anyone.

4. Improve your market profile: Because these QuickBooks software and Mepay payroll management systems help you save all the above mentioned resources, you are able to devote more time and effort in cultivating a larger clientele for your business and in improving your relations with existing customers. Your business? reputation for efficient and quick service will also ultimately help you get a better position in the market and gain an edge over your rival business concerns.

Source: http://snipsly.com/2012/02/13/why-you-need-business-accounting-and-payroll-management-software-4-points/

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