Thursday, February 28, 2013

'Fat worms' inch scientists toward better biofuel production

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Fat worms confirm that researchers from Michigan State University have successfully engineered a plant with oily leaves -- a feat that could enhance biofuel production as well as lead to improved animal feeds.

The results, published in the current issue of The Plant Cell, the journal of the American Society of Plant Biologists, show that researchers could use an algae gene involved in oil production to engineer a plant that stores lipids or vegetable oil in its leaves ? an uncommon occurrence for most plants.

Traditional biofuel research has focused on improving the oil content of seeds. One reason for this focus is because oil production in seeds occurs naturally. Little research, however, has been done to examine the oil production of leaves and stems, as plants don't typically store lipids in these tissues.

Christoph Benning, MSU professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, led a collaborative effort with colleagues from the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center. The team's efforts resulted in a significant early step toward producing better plants for biofuels.

"Many researchers are trying to enhance plants' energy density, and this is another way of approaching it," Benning said. "It's a proof-of-concept that could be used to boost plants' oil production for biofuel use as well as improve the nutrition levels of animal feed."

Benning and his colleagues began by identifying five genes from one-celled green algae. From the five, they identified one that, when inserted into Arabidopsis thaliana, successfully boosted oil levels in the plant's leaf tissue.

To confirm that the improved plants were more nutritious and contained more energy, the research team fed them to caterpillar larvae. The larvae that were fed oily leaves from the enhanced plants gained more weight than worms that ate regular leaves.

For the next phase of the research, Benning and his colleagues will work to enhance oil production in grasses and algae that have economic value. The benefits of this research are worth pursuing, Benning said.

"If oil can be extracted from leaves, stems and seeds, the potential energy capacity of plants may double," he said. "Further, if algae can be engineered to continuously produce high levels of oil, rather than only when they are under stress, they can become a viable alternative to traditional agricultural crops."

Moreover, algae can be grown on poor agricultural land ? a big plus in the food vs. fuel debate, he added.

"These basic research findings are significant in advancing the engineering of oil-producing plants," said Kenneth Keegstra, GLBRC scientific director and MSU University Distinguished Professor of biochemistry and molecular biology. "They will help write a new chapter on the development of production schemes that will enhance the quantity, quality and profitability of both traditional and nontraditional crops."

###

Michigan State University: http://www.newsroom.msu.edu

Thanks to Michigan State University for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127025/_Fat_worms__inch_scientists_toward_better_biofuel_production

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Wednesday, February 27, 2013

How Small Or Big Do You Want To Live? | Homes For Sale Madison ...

2013-02-27_0933

For more than a decade, Jay Shafer of?Tumbleweed Tiny House Company?has lived in an?89 square-foot home.

His decision to live in a tiny house came from concerns about the effects a larger house would have on the environment, and his desire to not maintain a lot of unused or unusable space.

Obviously Jay?s home is at the?extreme?low end of how small one can go with living space, but it meets his needs and allows him to live the simple lifestyle he was seeking. While it may seem impossibly small to the majority of people, 89 square feet is Jay?s right-sized home.

Contrast this with the average American home, which in 2004, was 2349 square feet, up from 1695 square feet in 1974. In 30 years, the size of kitchens?doubled, ground-floor ceilings grew by more than a foot, and bedrooms increased by 54 square feet. In 2004, the average family size was 2.6 people. Thirty years ago, it was 3.1 people.?Our homes have been getting larger while our families are getting smaller.

But earlier this year USA Today?reported a change in that trend:

New homes, after doubling in size since 1960, are shrinking. Last year, for the first time in at least 10 years, the average square footage of single-family homes under construction fell dramatically, from 2,629 in the second quarter to 2,343 in the fourth quarter, Census data show.

The average size of a new home is approximately 15 percent smaller than it was just a year ago. Architects and designers believe this trend toward smaller homes was caused by the economic meltdown ? but they expect it to be a lasting change.

Too big, too small
Buying or building too much home has a lot of drawbacks, including:

  • Environmental effects
  • Higher?mortgage?payment means more energy goes into paying for housing
  • Higher taxes and insurance
  • Requires more time and money to maintain and clean
  • Higher utility bills
  • More rooms to furnish

Buying or building too small is economical, but can cost in other ways. If your house is too small, you might face some of the following challenges:

  • No room to expand if you have kids.
  • Lack of storage space, even for basic household items.
  • Not enough room to entertain friends and family. (If you enjoy entertaining, that is!)
  • Lack of space for an office (if you work from home) or hobbies.
  • Feeling like you?re living on top of your family members, with no personal space.

Finding a size that is just right
Too big is a waste, and too small is a headache. How does one find a Goldilocks house ? sized just right? There are many considerations, such as the following:

    • Lifestyle.?Do you work from home and need office space? Do you travel a lot? How often do you entertain?

?

    • Family.?Do you have children? If not, do you plan to have kids (and plan to stay in the same home)? Are there elderly relatives who live with you or might need to in the future?

?

    • Hobbies.?Some hobbies require a bit of room, even if it?s just a sewing cabinet or a dedicated space for a piano.

?

  • Future goals.?Do you plan to live in the house for a long time? Do you want to travel? What are your savings goals?

Calculating the size of your Goldilocks home
Once you have an idea of what you need your house to do, you can calculate your magic number. In the article??Square Feat: Foot Steps?, architect Dan Maginn recommends starting with your current home and following these five steps:

    • Measure and record each of the rooms in your current home, thinking in terms of the functions of each room. Include cooking, dining, bedrooms, closets, bathrooms, living, storage, circulation, and mechanical/utility space.

    ?

      • Note whether each space feels too big or too small.

      ?

        • Write down how your needs for each function might change in the future. For example, if you plan to stay in the house and have kids, bedroom space is a consideration.

        ?

          • Given how the spaces currently feel and your future needs, adjust the sizes until the spaces feel right.

          ?

          • Add up the adjusted numbers.

          Right now our number is around 1800 square feet, with a loft that can be built out later if and when our needs change. That number sounds big to me, but looking at the?d, or could you use some more room?

          ?

          If you looking to buy or sell, please contact Forward Realty Group so we can sit down together & talk about it.

          Contact us at (608) 239-5593 or email us at mark@markgladue.com

          Source: http://forwardrealtygroup.com/2013/02/auto-draft-3/

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          New York "Cannibal Cop" trial opens; suspect's dark fantasies cited

          NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York City police officer accused of plotting to kidnap and cannibalize women had been having dark fantasies since he was a teenager, but had no intention of ever turning those thoughts into reality, his attorney said on Monday at the start of his federal trial.

          Attorney Julia Gatto also said that Officer Gilberto Valle, who faces 20 years to life in prison if convicted, talked online about torturing his own wife and her female friends and colleagues.

          "What really turns on is the idea of a woman - oiled, bound, laid out on a platter with an apple in her mouth, about to be cooked," Gatto told jurors in opening arguments. "That's his dirty little secret."

          She argued that Valle was engaged in online sexual fantasy role play involving a little-known internet subculture where people with unconventional desires gather to act them out in cyberspace but with no intention of every carrying out criminal acts.

          "There are literally thousands and thousands of people doing the same thing, online, every day," she told jurors, saying that government investigators misunderstood what they found on his computer.

          Federal prosecutors countered that Valle, who has pleaded not guilty, took the plot beyond fantasy and into real life when he "engaged in surveillance of some of the women he was targeting."

          Prosecutors say Valle 28, improperly accessed a federal law enforcement database to get information about one woman, and met a second women - a former classmate - for brunch.

          Assistant U.S. Attorney Randall Jackson also said Valle searched online for homemade recipes for chloroform to subdue victims and recipes for cooking human flesh.

          "Make no mistake," Jackson told jurors. "Officer Valle was deadly serious."

          Valle's estranged wife testified Monday that she placed web tracking software on the couple's computer last fall after she said he began acting strange. When asked what she discovered, she burst into tears.

          Kathleen Mangan-Valle, 27, said she found pictures of herself and her female friends and colleagues, attached to emails her husband sent discussing extreme brutality and murder.

          "I was going to be hung up by my feet and my throat slit," Mangan-Valle testified, choking back tears.

          She said Valle also discussed kidnapping one of her friends and delivering her to a New Jersey mechanic for torture and murder. Another was to be "burned alive" and two more would be "raped in front of each other to heighten their terror," she added.

          Mangan-Valle continued to cry as she quoted emails she said she found in which her husband discussed "driving a spit through their wombs over and over again."

          "He kept saying the suffering was for his own enjoyment,'' she said, sobbing.

          (Editing by Daniel Trotta, Alden Bentley, Cynthia Johnston and Eric Walsh)

          Source: http://news.yahoo.com/york-cannibal-cop-trial-opens-suspects-dark-fantasies-235128544.html

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          2013 Mayor's Small Business Award Winners | Maui Now

          ?

          Young Small Business Person of the Year: David ?Boze? Kapoi, Pride Ink Tattoo founder and Polynesian-style tattoo artist

          Young Small Business Person of the Year:
          David ?Boze? Kapoi (Pride Ink Tattoo).

          By Sonia Isotov

          A tattoo artist, two restaurants, a zip lining activity, and a transportation company were among the top winners at the annual 2013 Mayor?s Small Business Awards celebration held at the King Kamehameha Golf Club last week.

          Sponsored by Maui County Office of Economic Development and produced by the Maui Chamber of Commerce, the event was attended by members of the Maui County small business community, representatives of key business organizations,

          Exceptional Small Business (10 or fewer employees) Paris Nabayi (Cilantro Mexican Grill)

          Exceptional Small Business (10 or fewer employees):
          Paris Nabayi (Cilantro Mexican Grill).

          government and friends and family of award nominees and winners.

          ?Small business is Maui County?s most important economic engine, and we should never forget the sacrifices that business owners make every day to keep their businesses operating,? said Mayor Arakawa, in a public statement yesterday.

          ?They [small business owners] take on risk, work long hours, and put their personal assets on the line while providing jobs, services and goods to our community. We are fortunate to have such a strong small business community in Maui County and are privileged to honor them.?

          Exceptional Small Business (11-25 employees) David & Ululani Yamashiro (Ululani?s Hawaiian Shave Ice LLC)

          Exceptional Small Business (11-25 employees):
          David & Ululani Yamashiro (Ululani?s Hawaiian Shave Ice LLC).

          The winners in each category are as follows:

          Outstanding Non-Profit Business Habitat for Humanity Maui

          Outstanding Non-Profit Business:
          Habitat for Humanity Maui.

          Lifetime Achievement Award The Late Douglas Wayne ?Butch? Akina & Sandra Akina (Akina Aloha Tours)

          Lifetime Achievement Award:
          The Late Douglas Wayne ?Butch? Akina & Sandra Akina (Akina Aloha Tours).

          Related Stories:

          Source: http://mauinow.com/2013/02/26/2013-mayors-small-business-award-winners/

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          Monday, February 25, 2013

          The NRA?s claim that Joe Biden?s gun advice is illegal (Washington Post)

          Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

          Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/287210711?client_source=feed&format=rss

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          Four new species of water-gliding rove beetles discovered in Ningxia, China

          Feb. 25, 2013 ? Four new species from the Steninae subfamily of the large family of rove beetles (Staphylinidae) have been discovered in the Ningxia Autonomous Region, China, as part of an exploration of the insect fauna of the Liupan Shan Natural Reserve, where a large number of specimens has been collected. The expedition also yielded 11 new records for the Ningxia province of previously described Steninae species. The study was published in the open access, peer reviewed journal Zookeys.

          The Ningxia Autonomous Region is mainly known as a dry, desert-like land. The region of the Liupan Shan Natural Reserve, however, is part of the Liupan Shan mountains, also known as the green pearl on the Loess Plateau. The area is also regarded as a "Kingdom of Animals" for its great biological diversity.

          The rove beetle family, Staphylinidae, is one of the most widely distributed beetle families in the world. However, the representatives of the Steninae subfamily are of particular interest. These fascinating beetles are known for their unique ability to glide on the surface of water.This special skill is made possible through evolutionary adjustment allowing the production of special gland secretions that reduce surface tension.

          Out of the four newly described species two are from the genus Dianous, and as all representatives are experts in water gliding. The other two belong to the genus Stenus where this ability is only partly present. One of the species, Stenus liupanshanus lives in leaf litter and is therefore believed to not demonstrate the ability. However the other one, Stenus biwenxuani, was found on shore and is therefore considered to be a water glider.

          Steninae are also specialist predators of small invertebrates such as collembola, which are frequently found in leaf litter. What is fascinating is the special hunting technique used by those beetles to catch their prey. Species in the genus Stenus can eject some of its mouth parts using blood pressure. The thin rod of the labium ends in a pair of pads with bristly hairs and hooks, called paraglossa, and between these hairs are small pores that exude an adhesive glue-like substance, which sticks to prey to secure a perfect catch and no escape.

          Dr. Liang Tang from the Department of Biology, Shanghai Normal University, comments: "As far as the Steninae are concerned, Ningxia Autonomous Region is one of the most poorly explored regions, with merely two species being recorded until 2008. In the summer of 2008, a team surveyed the insect fauna of the Liupan Shan in southern Ningxia and collected a large number of Steninae. In this paper, we report the results of the study, which includes two new Stenus and two new Dianous species, and new province records for eleven Stenus species."

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          Story Source:

          The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Pensoft Publishers.

          Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


          Journal Reference:

          1. Liang Tang, Li-Zhen Li. Discovery of Steninae from Ningxia, Northwest China (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae). ZooKeys, 2013; 272 (0): 1 DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.272.4389

          Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

          Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

          Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/gYGGjjiBkBw/130225102551.htm

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          Sunday, February 24, 2013

          HELCO lineman line up for rodeo (Feb. 23) | Hawaii 24/7 ...

          MEDIA RELEASE

          The county announces Makaeo Beach Park will host the first Hawaii Lineman?s Rodeo, which is a free event to be held Saturday, Feb. 23, at the Kailua-Kona facility.

          A friendly competition among more than 40 mainland and local teams of electric utility professionals and contractors, the rodeo highlights safety, skill and education in overhead electric work.

          The Hawaiian Electric Companies, which includes Hawaii Electric Light Co., and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1260 are sponsoring the drug- and alcohol-free Hawaii Lineman?s Rodeo.

          The event will support Toys For Tots and the Hawaii Food Basket, with a donated canned item, new toy or small donation per child earning unlimited rides in the event?s Kids Zone.

          HELCO will hire contractors to install fencing and prepare a surface of sand and wood chips to create a competition arena located away from park amenities. Next, they will erect 75 utility poles for the estimated 125 competitors to use.

          ?Working with the County of Hawaii Parks Department, HELCO plans to leave the park in better shape than we found it, with improvements to be enjoyed by future park users,? company President Jay Ignacio said.

          Once the competition has ended, the poles will be donated to the Department of Parks and Recreation for use in enhancing Maka?eo Beach Park.

          ?This is a win-win-win situation,? Deputy Parks Director Bob Fitzgerald said. ?We?re bringing in a whole bunch of visitors to Hawaii Island, providing free public entertainment and recreation, and improving Makaeo at little cost to the taxpayers.?

          Parks officials consulted with cultural descendants of the area, canoe clubs that use Makaeo and other community stakeholders before approving the competition and related park improvements.

          Holes drilled for the poles will not impact any cultural resources, while the park will remain open during the Feb. 23 event.

          For further information, contact Jason Armstrong at 345-9105, or jarmstrong@co.hawaii.hi.us

          Source: http://www.hawaii247.com/2013/02/23/helco-lineman-line-up-for-rodeo-feb-23/

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          Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Kerry Washington and More Stun at Spirit Awards

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          Independent Spirit Awards, Jennifer LawrenceFrazer Harrison/Getty Images

          From Jennifer Lawrence's top knot to Matthew McConaughey's sunglasses and wife Camila Alves post-baby bod debut, the Independent Spirit Awards pink carpet was sizzling with stars.?

          Check out Nina Dobrev's funky shorts look and Daniel Radcliffe's preppy tie and more celebs frolicking on the red carpet and backstage in Santa Monica at the casual-cool indie kudo fest.

          The anti-Oscars pack major star power! Spirit Awards: Backstage & Arrivals

          Source: http://www.eonline.com/news/391195/jennifer-lawrence-bradley-cooper-kerry-washington-and-more-stun-at-spirit-awards?cmpid=rss-000000-rssfeed-365-topstories&utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories

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          Microsoft Office 2013 - caveat emptor on licensing issues!

          Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational software corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services related to computing. The company was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen on April 4, 1975. Microsoft is the world's largest software maker measured by revenues. It is also one of the world's most valuable companies.

          Microsoft was established to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800. It rose to dominate the personal computer operating system market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems. The company's 1986 initial public offering, and subsequent rise in its share price, created an estimated three billionaires and 12,000 millionaires from Microsoft employees. Since the 1990s, it has increasingly diversified from the operating system market and has made a number of corporate acquisitions. In May 2011, Microsoft acquired Skype Technologies for $8.5 billion in its largest acquisition to date.

          As of 2013, Microsoft is market dominant in both the PC operating system and office suite markets (the latter with Microsoft Office). The company also produces a wide range of other software for desktops and servers, and is active in areas including internet search (with Bing), the video game industry (with the Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles), the digital services market (through MSN), and mobile phones (via the Windows Phone OS). In June 2012, Microsoft announced that it would be entering the PC vendor market for the first time, with the launch of the Microsoft Surface tablet computer.

          In the 1990s, critics began to contend that Microsoft used monopolistic business practices and anti-competitive strategies including refusal to deal and tying, put unreasonable restrictions in the use of its software, and used misrepresentative marketing tactics; both the U.S. Department of Justice and European Commission found the company in violation of antitrust laws.

          History

          1975?83: Founding and company beginnings

          Paul Allen and Bill Gates, childhood friends with a passion in computer programming, were seeking to make a successful business utilizing their shared skills. The January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics featured Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems's (MITS) Altair 8800 microcomputer. Allen noticed that they could program a BASIC interpreter for the device; after a call from Gates claiming to have a working interpreter, MITS requested a demonstration. Since they didn't actually have one, Allen worked on a simulator for the Altair while Gates developed the interpreter. Although they developed the interpreter on a simulator and not the actual device, the interpreter worked flawlessly when they demonstrated the interpreter to MITS in Albuquerque, New Mexico in March 1975; MITS agreed to distribute it, marketing it as Altair BASIC. They officially established Microsoft on April 4, 1975, with Gates as the CEO. Allen came up with the original name of "Micro-Soft," as recounted in a 1995 Fortune magazine article. In August 1977 the company formed an agreement with ASCII Magazine in Japan, resulting in its first international office, "ASCII Microsoft". The company moved to a new home in Bellevue, Washington in January 1979.

          Microsoft entered the OS business in 1980 with its own version of Unix, called Xenix. However, it was MS-DOS that solidified the company's dominance. After negotiations with Digital Research failed, IBM awarded a contract to Microsoft in November 1980 to provide a version of the CP/M OS, which was set to be used in the upcoming IBM Personal Computer (IBM PC). For this deal, Microsoft purchased a CP/M clone called 86-DOS from Seattle Computer Products, branding it as MS-DOS, which IBM rebranded to PC-DOS. Following the release of the IBM PC in August 1981, Microsoft retained ownership of MS-DOS. Since IBM copyrighted the IBM PC BIOS, other companies had to reverse engineer it in order for non-IBM hardware to run as IBM PC compatibles, but no such restriction applied to the operating systems. Due to various factors, such as MS-DOS's available software selection, Microsoft eventually became the leading PC operating systems vendor. The company expanded into new markets with the release of the Microsoft Mouse in 1983, as well as a publishing division named Microsoft Press. Paul Allen resigned from Microsoft in February after developing Hodgkin's disease.

          1984?94: Windows and Office

          While jointly developing a new OS with IBM in 1984, OS/2, Microsoft released Microsoft Windows, a graphical extension for MS-DOS, on November 20. Microsoft moved its headquarters to Redmond on February 26, 1986, and on March 13 the company went public; the ensuing rise in the stock would make an estimated four billionaires and 12,000 millionaires from Microsoft employees. Due to the partnership with IBM, in 1990 the Federal Trade Commission set its eye on Microsoft for possible collusion; it marked the beginning of over a decade of legal clashes with the U.S. Government. Microsoft announced the release of its version of OS/2 to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) on April 2, 1987; meanwhile, the company was at work on a 32-bit OS, Microsoft Windows NT, using ideas from OS/2; it shipped on July 21, 1993 with a new modular kernel and the Win32 application programming interface (API), making porting from 16-bit (MS-DOS-based) Windows easier. Once Microsoft informed IBM of NT, the OS/2 partnership deteriorated.

          In 1990, Microsoft introduced its office suite, Microsoft Office. The software bundled separate office productivity applications, such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. On May 22 Microsoft launched Windows 3.0 with a streamlined user interface graphics and improved protected mode capability for the Intel 386 processor. Both Office and Windows became dominant in their respective areas. Novell, a Word competitor from 1984?1986, filed a lawsuit years later claiming that Microsoft left part of its APIs undocumented in order to gain a competitive advantage.

          On July 27, 1994, the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division filed a Competitive Impact Statement that said, in part: "Beginning in 1988, and continuing until July 15, 1994, Microsoft induced many OEMs to execute anti-competitive "per processor" licenses. Under a per processor license, an OEM pays Microsoft a royalty for each computer it sells containing a particular microprocessor, whether the OEM sells the computer with a Microsoft operating system or a non-Microsoft operating system. In effect, the royalty payment to Microsoft when no Microsoft product is being used acts as a penalty, or tax, on the OEM's use of a competing PC operating system. Since 1988, Microsoft's use of per processor licenses has increased."

          1995?2005: Internet and the 32-bit era

          1993 took over from the Federal Trade Commission, a protracted legal wrangling between Microsoft and the department ensued, resulting in various settlements and possible blocked mergers. Microsoft would point to companies such as AOL-Time Warner in its defense.]]

          Following Bill Gates's internal "Internet Tidal Wave memo" on May 26, 1995, Microsoft began to redefine its offerings and expand its product line into computer networking and the World Wide Web. The company released Windows 95 on August 24, 1995, featuring pre-emptive multitasking, a completely new user interface with a novel start button, and 32-bit compatibility; similar to NT, it provided the Win32 API. Windows 95 came bundled with the online service MSN, and for OEMs Internet Explorer, a web browser. Internet Explorer was not bundled with the retail Windows 95 boxes because the boxes were printed before the team finished the web browser, and instead was included in the Windows 95 Plus! pack. Branching out into new markets in 1996, Microsoft and NBC Universal created a new 24/7 cable news station, MSNBC. Microsoft created Windows CE 1.0, a new OS designed for devices with low memory and other constraints, such as personal digital assistants. In October 1997, the Justice Department filed a motion in the Federal District Court, stating that Microsoft violated an agreement signed in 1994 and asked the court to stop the bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows.

          Bill Gates handed over the CEO position on January 13, 2000 to Steve Ballmer, an old college friend of Gates and employee of the company since 1980, creating a new position for himself as Chief Software Architect. Various companies including Microsoft formed the Trusted Computing Platform Alliance in October 1999 to, among other things, increase security and protect intellectual property through identifying changes in hardware and software. Critics decry the alliance as a way to enforce indiscriminate restrictions over how consumers use software, and over how computers behave, a form of digital rights management; for example the scenario where a computer is not only secured for its owner, but also secured against its owner as well. On April 3, 2000, a judgment was handed down in the case of United States v. Microsoft, calling the company an "abusive monopoly"; it settled with the U.S. Department of Justice in 2004. On October 25, 2001 Microsoft released Windows XP, unifying the mainstream and NT lines under the NT codebase. The company released the Xbox later that year, entering the game console market dominated by Sony and Nintendo. In March 2004 the European Union brought antitrust legal action against the company, citing it abused its dominance with the Windows OS, resulting in a judgment of ?497million ($613million) and to produce new versions of Windows XP without Windows Media Player, Windows XP Home Edition N and Windows XP Professional N.

          2006?10: Windows Vista, mobile, and Windows 7

          Released in January 2007, the next version of Windows, Windows Vista, focused on features, security, and a redesigned user interface dubbed Aero. Microsoft Office 2007, released at the same time, featured a "Ribbon" user interface which was a significant departure from its predecessors. Relatively strong sales of both titles helped to produce a record profit in 2007. The European Union imposed another fine of ?899million ($1.4billion) for Microsoft's lack of compliance with the March 2004 judgment on February 27, 2008, saying that the company charged rivals unreasonable prices for key information about its workgroup and backoffice servers. Microsoft stated that it was in compliance and that "these fines are about the past issues that have been resolved".

          Bill Gates retired from his role as Chief Software Architect on June 27, 2008 while retaining other positions related to the company in addition to being an advisor for the company on key projects. Azure Services Platform, the company's entry into the cloud computing market for Windows, launched on October 27, 2008. On February 12, 2009, Microsoft announced its intent to open a chain of Microsoft-branded retail stores, and on October 22, 2009 the first retail Microsoft Store opened in Scottsdale, Arizona; the same day the first store opened Windows 7 was officially released to the public. Windows 7's focus was on refining Vista with ease of use features and performance enhancements, rather than a large reworking of Windows.

          As the smartphone industry boomed beginning in 2007, Microsoft struggled to keep up with its rivals Apple and Google in providing a modern smartphone operating system. As a result, in 2010, Microsoft revamped their aging flagship mobile operating system, Windows Mobile, replacing it with the new Windows Phone OS; along with a new strategy in the smartphone industry that has Microsoft working more closely with smartphone manufactures, such as Nokia, and to provide a consistent user experience across all smartphones using Microsoft's Windows Phone OS. It used a new user interface design language, codenamed "Metro", which prominently used simple shapes, typography and iconography, and the concept of minimalism.

          Microsoft is a founding member of the Open Networking Foundation started on March 23, 2011. Other founding companies include Google, HP Networking, Yahoo, Verizon, Deutsche Telekom and 17 other companies. The nonprofit organization is focused on providing support for a new cloud computing initiative called Software-Defined Networking. The initiative is meant to speed innovation through simple software changes in telecommunications networks, wireless networks, data centers and other networking areas.

          2011?present: Rebranding, Windows 8, and Surface

          Following the release of Windows Phone 7, Microsoft underwent a gradual rebranding of its product range throughout 2011 and 2012. Its logos, products, services, and websites adopted the principles and concepts of the Metro design language. Microsoft previewed Windows 8 in Taipei in June 2011. The operating system was designed to power both personal computers and tablet computers. A developer preview was released on September 13, and was replaced by a consumer preview on February 29, 2012. On May 31, 2012, the release preview version was released. On June 18, Microsoft announced the Microsoft Surface, the first computer in the company's history to have its hardware made by Microsoft themselves. On June 25, Microsoft announced that it was paying $1.2 billion to buy the social network Yammer. On July 31, 2012, Microsoft launched the Outlook.com webmail service to compete with Gmail. On September 4, Microsoft released Windows Server 2012. On October 1, Microsoft announced it is launching a news operation when Windows 8 launches later in the month. It is part of a new-look MSN. On October 26, Microsoft launched Windows 8 and the Microsoft Surface. Three days later, it launched Windows Phone 8. To cope with the potential increase in demand for products and services, Microsoft opened a number of "holiday stores" across the US to complement the ever-growing increase of bricks and mortar Microsoft Stores that have been sprouting up in 2012.

          Product divisions

          For the 2010 fiscal year, Microsoft had five product divisions: Windows Division, Server and Tools, Online Services Division, Microsoft Business Division, and Entertainment and Devices Division.

          Windows Division, Server and Tools, Online Services Division

          The company's Client division produces the flagship Windows OS line such as Windows 7; it also produces the Windows Live family of products and services. Server and Tools produces the server versions of Windows, such as Windows Server 2008 R2 as well as a set of development tools called Microsoft Visual Studio, Microsoft Silverlight, a web application framework, and System Center Configuration Manager, a collection of tools providing remote-control abilities, patch management, software distribution and a hardware/software inventory. Other server products include: Microsoft SQL Server, a relational database management system, Microsoft Exchange Server, for certain business-oriented e-mail and scheduling features, Small Business Server, for messaging and other small business-oriented features; and Microsoft BizTalk Server, for business process management.

          Microsoft provides IT consulting ("Microsoft Consulting Services") and produces a set of certification programs handled by the Server and Tools division designed to recognize individuals who have a minimal set of proficiencies in a specific role; this includes developers ("Microsoft Certified Solution Developer"), system/network analysts ("Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer"), trainers ("Microsoft Certified Trainers") and administrators ("Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator" and "Microsoft Certified Database Administrator"). Microsoft Press, which publishes books, is also managed by the division. The Online Services Business division handles the online service MSN and the search engine Bing. As of December 2009, the company also possesses an 18% ownership of the cable news channel MSNBC without any editorial control; however, the division develops the channel's website, msnbc.com, in a joint venture with the channel's co-owner, NBC Universal.

          Business Division

          The Microsoft Business Division produces Microsoft Office including Microsoft Office 2010, the company's line of office software. The software product includes Word (a word processor), Access (a relational database program), Excel (a spreadsheet program), Outlook (Groupware, frequently used with Exchange Server), PowerPoint (presentation software), Publisher (desktop publishing software) and Sharepoint. A number of other products were added later with the release of Office 2003 including Visio, Project, MapPoint, InfoPath and OneNote. The division also develops enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for companies under the Microsoft Dynamics brand. These include: Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft Dynamics GP, and Microsoft Dynamics SL. They are targeted at varying company types and countries, and limited to organizations with under 7,500 employees. Also included under the Dynamics brand is the customer relationship management software Microsoft Dynamics CRM, part of the Azure Services Platform.

          Entertainment and Devices Division

          The Entertainment and Devices Division produces the Windows CE OS for embedded systems and Windows Phone for smartphones. Microsoft initially entered the mobile market through Windows CE for handheld devices, eventually developing into the Windows Mobile OS and now, Windows Phone. Windows CE is designed for devices where the OS may not directly be visible to the end user, in particular, appliances and cars. The division also produces computer games that run on Windows PCs and other systems including titles such as Age of Empires, Halo and the Microsoft Flight Simulator series, and houses the Macintosh Business Unit which produces Mac OS software including Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac. Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division designs, markets, and manufactures consumer electronics including the Xbox 360 game console, the handheld Zune media player, and the television-based Internet appliance MSN TV. Microsoft also markets personal computer hardware including mice, keyboards, and various game controllers such as joysticks and gamepads.

          Culture

          Technical reference for developers and articles for various Microsoft magazines such as Microsoft Systems Journal (or MSJ) are available through the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN). MSDN also offers subscriptions for companies and individuals, and the more expensive subscriptions usually offer access to pre-release beta versions of Microsoft software. In April 2004 Microsoft launched a community site for developers and users, titled Channel9, that provides a wiki and an Internet forum. Another community site that provides daily videocasts and other services, On10.net, launched on March 3, 2006. Free technical support is traditionally provided through online Usenet newsgroups, and CompuServe in the past, monitored by Microsoft employees; there can be several newsgroups for a single product. Helpful people can be elected by peers or Microsoft employees for Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) status, which entitles them to a sort of special social status and possibilities for awards and other benefits.

          Noted for its internal lexicon, the expression "eating our own dog food" is used to describe the policy of using prerelease and beta versions of products inside Microsoft in an effort to test them in "real-world" situations. This is usually shortened to just "dog food" and is used as noun, verb, and adjective. Another bit of jargon, FYIFV or FYIV ("Fuck You, I'm [Fully] Vested"), is used by an employee to indicate they are financially independent and can avoid work anytime they wish. The company is also known for its hiring process, mimicked in other organizations and dubbed the "Microsoft interview", which is notorious for off-the-wall questions such as "Why is a manhole cover round?".

          Microsoft is an outspoken opponent of the cap on H1B visas, which allow companies in the U.S. to employ certain foreign workers. Bill Gates claims the cap on H1B visas makes it difficult to hire employees for the company, stating "I'd certainly get rid of the H1B cap" in 2005. Critics of H1B visas argue that relaxing the limits would result in increased unemployment for U.S. citizens due to H1B workers working for lower salaries. The Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index, a report of how progressive the organization deems company policies towards LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual) employees, rated Microsoft as 87% from 2002 to 2004 and as 100% from 2005 to 2010 after they allowed gender expression.

          Criticism

          Criticism of Microsoft has followed the company's existence because of various aspects of its products and business practices. Ease of use, stability, and security of the company's software are common targets for critics. More recently, Trojan horses and other exploits have plagued numerous users due to faults in the security of Microsoft Windows and other programs. Microsoft is also accused of locking vendors into their products, and not following and complying with existing standards in its software. Total cost of ownership comparisons of Linux as well as Mac OS X to Windows are a continuous point of debate.

          The company has been in numerous lawsuits by several governments and other companies for unlawful monopolistic practices. In 2004, the European Union found Microsoft guilty in a highly publicized anti-trust case. Additionally, Microsoft's EULA for some of its programs is often criticized as being too restrictive as well as being against open source software.

          Microsoft has been criticized (along with Yahoo, AOL, and other companies) for its involvement in censorship in the People's Republic of China. Microsoft has also come under criticism for outsourcing jobs to China and India. There were reports of poor working conditions at a factory in southern China that makes some of Microsoft's products.

          Corporate affairs

          The company is run by a board of directors made up of mostly company outsiders, as is customary for publicly traded companies. Members of the board of directors as of June 2010 are: Steve Ballmer, Dina Dublon, Bill Gates (chairman), Raymond Gilmartin, Reed Hastings, Maria Klawe, David Marquardt, Charles Noski, and Helmut Panke. Board members are elected every year at the annual shareholders' meeting using a majority vote system. There are five committees within the board which oversee more specific matters. These committees include the Audit Committee, which handles accounting issues with the company including auditing and reporting; the Compensation Committee, which approves compensation for the CEO and other employees of the company; the Finance Committee, which handles financial matters such as proposing mergers and acquisitions; the Governance and Nominating Committee, which handles various corporate matters including nomination of the board; and the Antitrust Compliance Committee, which attempts to prevent company practices from violating antitrust laws.

          When Microsoft went public and launched its initial public offering (IPO) in 1986, the opening stock price was $21; after the trading day, the price closed at $27.75. As of July 2010, with the company's nine stock splits, any IPO shares would be multiplied by 288; if one was to buy the IPO today given the splits and other factors, it would cost about 9cents. The stock price peaked in 1999 at around $119 ($60.928 adjusting for splits). The company began to offer a dividend on January 16, 2003, starting at eight cents per share for the fiscal year followed by a dividend of sixteen cents per share the subsequent year, switching from yearly to quarterly dividends in 2005 with eight cents a share per quarter and a special one-time payout of three dollars per share for the second quarter of the fiscal year. Though the company had subsequent increases in dividend payouts, the price of Microsoft's stock remained steady for years.

          One of Microsoft's business tactics, described by an executive as "embrace, extend and extinguish," initially embraces a competing standard or product, then extends it to produce their own version which is then incompatible with the standard, which in time extinguishes competition that does not or cannot use Microsoft's new version. Various companies and governments sue Microsoft over this set of tactics, resulting in billions of dollars in rulings against the company. Microsoft claims that the original strategy is not anti-competitive, but rather an exercise of its discretion to implement features it believes customers want.

          Financial

          Standard and Poor's and Moody's have both given a AAA rating to Microsoft, whose assets were valued at $41?billion as compared to only $8.5?billion in unsecured debt. Consequently, in February 2011 Microsoft released a corporate bond amounting to $2.25?billion with relatively low borrowing rates compared to government bonds.

          For the first time in 20 years Apple Inc. surpassed Microsoft in Q1 2011 quarterly profits and revenues due to a slowdown in PC sales and continuing huge losses in Microsoft's Online Services Division (which contains its search engine Bing). Microsoft profits were $5.2 billion, while Apple Inc. profits were $6 billion, on revenues of $14.5 billion and $24.7 billion respectively.

          Microsoft's Online Services Division has been continuously loss-making since 2006 and in Q1 2011 it lost $726 million. This follows a loss of $2.5 billion for the year 2010.

          On July 20, 2012, Microsoft posted its first quarterly loss ever, despite earning record revenues for the quarter and fiscal year. Microsoft reported a net loss of $492 million; the 2007 acquisition of advertising company aQuantive for $6.2 billion and problems associated with it have been cited as the cause.

          Environment

          Microsoft is ranked on the 17th place in Greenpeace's Guide to Greener Electronics (16th Edition) that ranks 18 electronics manufacturers according to their policies on toxic chemicals, recycling and climate change. Microsoft's timeline for phasing out BFRs and phthalates in all products is 2012 but its commitment to phasing out PVC is not clear. As yet (January 2011) it has no products that are completely free from PVC and BFRs.

          Microsoft's main U.S. campus received a silver certification from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program in 2008, and it installed over 2,000 solar panels on top of its buildings in its Silicon Valley campus, generating approximately 15 percent of the total energy needed by the facilities in April 2005.

          Microsoft makes use of alternative forms of transit. It created one of the worlds largest private bus systems, the "Connector", to transport people from outside the company; for on-campus transportation, the "Shuttle Connect" uses a large fleet of hybrid cars to save fuel. The company also subsidises regional public transport as an incentive. In February 2010 however, Microsoft took a stance against adding additional public transport and high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes to a bridge connecting Redmond to Seattle; the company did not want to delay the construction any further.

          Microsoft was ranked number 1 in the list of the World's Best Multinational Workplaces by the Great Place to Work Institute in 2011.

          Marketing

          In 2004, Microsoft commissioned research firms to do independent studies comparing the total cost of ownership (TCO) of Windows Server 2003 to Linux; the firms concluded that companies found Windows easier to administrate than Linux, thus those using Windows would administrate faster resulting in lower costs for their company (i.e. lower TCO). This spurred a wave of related studies; a study by the Yankee Group concluded that upgrading from one version of Windows Server to another costs a fraction of the switching costs from Windows Server to Linux, although companies surveyed noted the increased security and reliability of Linux servers and concern about being locked into using Microsoft products. Another study, released by the Open Source Development Labs, claimed that the Microsoft studies were "simply outdated and one-sided" and their survey concluded that the TCO of Linux was lower due to Linux administrators managing more servers on average and other reasons.

          As part of the "Get the Facts" campaign Microsoft highlighted the .NET trading platform that it had developed in partnership with Accenture for the London Stock Exchange, claiming that it provided "five nines" reliability. After suffering extended downtime and unreliability the LSE announced in 2009 that it was planning to drop its Microsoft solution and switch to a Linux based one in 2010.

          Logo

          Microsoft adopted the so-called "Pac-Man Logo", designed by Scott Baker, in 1987. Baker stated "The new logo, in Helvetica italic typeface, has a slash between the o and s? to emphasize the "soft" part of the name and convey motion and speed." Dave Norris ran an internal joke campaign to save the old logo, which was green, in all uppercase, and featured a fanciful letter O, nicknamed the blibbet, but it was discarded. Microsoft's logo with the "Your potential. Our passion." tagline below the main corporate name, is based on a slogan Microsoft used in 2008. In 2002, the company started using the logo in the United States and eventually started a TV campaign with the slogan, changed from the previous tagline of "Where do you want to go today?". During the private MGX (Microsoft Global Exchange) conference in 2010, Microsoft unveiled the company's next tagline, "Be What's Next.".

          On August 23, 2012, Microsoft unveiled a new corporate logo at the opening of its 23rd Microsoft store in Boston indicating the company's shift of focus from the classic style to the tile-centric modern interface which it uses/will use on the Windows Phone platform, Xbox 360, Windows 8 and the upcoming Office Suites. The new logo also includes four squares with the colors of the then-current Windows logo. This logo is, however, not completely new - it was featured in Windows 95 commercials from the mid-90s. Moreover it resembles the new logo of DVDVideoSoft, which was introduced several months prior the new Microsoft's logo.

          File:Microsoft - Where do you want to go today.svg|Microsoft "Pac-Man" logo, designed by Scott Baker and used from 1987 to 2012 with the 1994?2002 slogan "Where do you want to go today?". File:Microsoft logo & slogan.svg|Microsoft logo as of 2006?2011, with the slogan "Your potential. Our passion." File:The Microsoft logo & slogan.png|Logo by Microsoft with the slogan"Be What's Next." 2011?2012. File:Microsoft.svg|Introduced on August 23, 2012 to symbolize the "world of digital motion" and Microsoft's "diverse portfolio of products." 2012-present .

          See also

        1. List of Microsoft topics
        2. References

          External links

          Category:1975 establishments in the United States Category:Cloud computing providers Category:Companies based in Redmond, Washington Category:Companies established in 1975 Category:Software companies of the United States Category:Software companies based in Washington (state) Category:Companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average Category:Companies in the NASDAQ-100 Index Category:Multinational companies headquartered in the United States

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          Source: http://article.wn.com/view/2013/02/24/Microsoft_Office_2013_caveat_emptor_on_licensing_issues/

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          Saturday, February 16, 2013

          Goodell paid more than $29 million by NFL in 2011

          NEW YORK (AP) ? Nice job, Roger Goodell. Here's your pay: $29.49 million.

          NFL owners nearly tripled the commissioner's compensation in the 2011 tax year and likely made Goodell the best paid commissioner in U.S. sports.

          According to the league's most recent tax return, much of Goodell's pay comes in the form of a $22.3 million bonus. His base pay was $3.1 million. The NFL was scheduled to file the return Friday.

          While the league declined comment on specifics, it must, by law, make the return available upon request.

          In 2011, the NFL went through a long lockout prior to the season. Goodell helped work out the new 10-year labor deal that ended the labor strife. That was followed by lucrative new TV contracts with CBS, ESPN, FOX and NBC.

          For the year beginning April 1, 2011, and ending March 31, 2012, Goodell was paid $29,490,000, which included $3,117,000 in base pay, $22,309,000 in bonus and incentive compensation, and most of the rest in "other reported compensation," the tax return said.

          Goodell earned a total of $11.6 million in 2010.

          "The NFL is the most successful and best-managed sports league in the world," said Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, who is chairman of the league's compensation committee, in a statement. "This is in no small part due to Roger's leadership and the value he brings to the table in every facet of the sport and business of the league. His compensation reflects that."

          By comparison, Saints quarterback Drew Brees is the league's highest paid player with a five-year deal averaging $20 million.

          Goodell's compensation was first reported by SportsBusiness Daily.

          The next-highest paid NFL official in 2011 was general counsel Jeff Pash. He earned $8.829 million, including $5.93 million in bonus compensation. Pash was the chief labor negotiator during the collective bargaining agreement talks.

          Former Commissioner Paul Tagliabue received $8.58 million, all but $1 million in retirement and deferred compensation.

          It is believed Major-League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig and NBA Commissioner David Stern earn somewhere in the mid-$20 million range, but neither league's tax returns are public. Both leagues are set up as for-profits.

          "Unlike most CEO's of major companies, who are compensated with stock options, the NFL does not provide that," said Marc Ganis, the president of SportsCorp, which does consulting work with the NFL. "So a performance-based bonus is another way of compensation."

          Source: http://news.yahoo.com/goodell-paid-more-29-million-nfl-2011-222807173--nfl.html

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