ibibo travel: January 2013

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Google tweaks Google+ and Play Music apps for Android

Nobody can accuse Google of being lax with its recently-booming social network or Play Music Android player, as updates seem to be arriving at healthy intervals. Another one just dropped for each that fixes a Galaxy SIII freezing issue in Music, while adding instant mixes beyond 25 songs, the ability to shuffle by album, artist or playlist, new default album art and others for that app. Meanwhile, Google+ has added linking to new posts, a revised notification tray and more community moderation features. Those will make an automatic appearance on your device if your settings are in order -- if not, check the source for more info.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Google

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Via: Fone Arena, Phone Arena

Source: Google Play (1), (2)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/31/google-tweaks-google-and-play-music-apps-for-android/

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St. John's hosts 175th anniversary convention of the Florida Diocese of the Episcopal Church

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Source: http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20130126/LIVING06/301250039/1004/RSS03

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FOSS Patents: Judge, unlike jury, finds Samsung's infringement of ...

At close of business on Tuesday, Judge Lucy Koh, the federal judge presiding over two Apple v. Samsung lawsuits in the Northern District of California, entered four more of her long-awaited post-trial orders. The short version is that

she reversed the finding that Samsung's acts of patent infringement were willful (because Samsung had reasons to believe that what it was doing was legal) and overruled the jury with respect to a patent exhaustion question (which has no effect because the related patent was not deemed infringed by Apple), but otherwise upheld the jury's liability findings against Samsung, denying further modifications as well as a new trial;
as a result of finding no objective willfulness she denied Apple any damages enhancements for willful infringement (which could have resulted in a tripling of parts of the award); she also denied enhancements of trade dress damages on other grounds;
with the exception of declaring two Samsung patent claims (which the jury didn't find infringed anyway) invalid, she declined to overrule the jury in Apple's favor or to order a new trial on issues on which Apple didn't prevail last summer; and
she also ruled against Samsung's claims that one of Apple's multitouch software patents and four of its design patents were indefinite (which is one invalidity theory).

Let me put the Tuesday orders into context before elaborating on them. The jury rendered its verdict on August?24, 2012, and both parties filed a variety of motions to achieve improvements in their favor. A hearing on those motions, as well as on motions relating to remedies, was held on December?6, 2012. On December?17, 2012, Judge Koh adjudged two particularly important post-trial issues: she denied Apple a permanent injunction (a decision that Apple appealed that same week), and threw out Samsung's long-shot demand for a new trial because of alleged jury misconduct. Due to the complexity of this case and the overall caseload of the court it's not surprising that it took a while before any further decision came down, and with Tuesday's rulings we're still not done. The court still has to rule on Samsung's request for adjustments to the damages award (Samsung wants it tossed or reduced). Due to the denial of a permanent injunction, Apple will presumably move at some point for an award of ongoing royalties for future use of its patents by Samsung -- the denial of an injunction does not mean that Samsung is entitled to a freebie. And it's a given that either party will ultimately appeal (from the final district court ruling, to which we're now a lot closer) any unfavorable parts.

I previously assumed that Judge Koh was going to make only limited adjustments to the jury verdict. This prediction has so far been validated.

Now let's look at the Tuesday rulings on an item-by-item basis.

Ruling on Samsung's motion for judgment as a matter of law

The most important part of this JMOL ruling is that Judge Koh, unlike the jury, did not find a willful patent infringement by Samsung. In order to prevail on this one, Apple needed to prove both objective and subjective willfulness. "Objective" and "subjective" relate to the likelihood that its actions constituted infringement of a valid patent. The likelihood is objectively high if this is what someone knowing the patents and all other relevant facts (including all of the prior art that could be used to invalidate them) would think; it's subjectively high if the infringer actually knew these facts or if they were so obvious that he should have known. This is all just about patents, not Apple's trade dress claims, which the JMOL ruling addressed separately. The jury had found that Samsung's infringement was subjectively willful for three multitouch software patents and two design patents (in other words, Samsung knowingly and willingly copied Apple's designs and technology), but on this basis Apple still needed to prove an objectively high likelihood, which is for the judge (not the jury) to decide. The jury's findings of subjective willfulness were not addressed because the court found that there was no objective willfulness (so technically the jury wasn't overruled because its findings were only about subjective willfulness, but the result was reversed nevertheless). The order says that "[i]f Samsung had an objectively reasonable defense to infringement, its infringement cannot be said to be objectively willful". The order then looks at each of the five patents the jury found willfully infringed, and finds an objectively reasonable defense in each case:
- Rubber-banding ('381) patent: Judge Koh concluded that Samsung reasonably relied on its invalidity defense. The related part of the order does not mention the USPTO's first Office action tentatively rejecting all claims of this patent, but that first Office action was notified to the court and may very well have influenced Judge Koh's thinking. In a preliminary injunction decision in December 2011 she had not found this patent likely to be invalid.
- Tap-to-zoom-and-navigate ('163) patent: even though Judge Koh near-simultaneously denied Samsung's motion to find the asserted claims of this patent indefinite, she felt that this was a close question of law and Samsung was acting reasonably in its reliance on having an invalidity defense to this patent. In other words, the judge didn't find that Samsung was right on this, but it wasn't light years away from being right.
- Pinch-to-zoom API ('915) patent: here again, Samsung had an invalidity theory (against the asserted claim?8) that failed so far (the jury didn't buy it and Judge Koh declined to overrule the jury in this regard), but the theory was good enough that Samsung could have relied on it when deciding to infringe the patent. Like the rubber-banding ('381) patent, this one has also been tentatively rejected by the patent office, a fact that Judge Koh doesn't mention but which she was aware of.
- Design patents (D'677 and D'305): Judge Koh believes that infringement was a close question, so Samsung's infringement wasn't objectively willful. Apple would have had to show that Samsung's defenses were unreasonable, which is a higher standard than just being ultimately unsuccessful. Whether Judge Koh's requirements in this respect were too exacting is likely going to be a key issue on appeal.
Samsung achieved a partial improvement only in a formal sense with respect to its '516 patent, but not enough to win a liability finding (at least not prior to an appeal). The jury's finding of non-infringement was upheld, but its finding of exhaustion of the asserted claims (claims 15 and 16) of the '516 patent was tossed. Apple's patent exhaustion theory here was (in a simplified form) that Intel had a license to Samsung's patents and Apple's products implement the patented invention only by incorporating Intel baseband chips. Judge Koh agrees with the jury that Intel was licensed. She also concluded that "the authorized sales to Apple occurred in the United States", which is another requirement. But she saw a contradiction in the jury's finding of exhaustion and non-infringement, given that exhaustion would require Intel's baseband chips to substantially embody the patented invention: if Apple used Intel chips in the accused products (Apple's more recent products come with Qualcomm chips) and if those implement the patent, then Apple's products incorporating those Intel chips, by definition, also implement it. So there can only be a finding of exhaustion if there is also one of infringement. Again, this has no consequences: the non-infringement finding stands, and if it was overturned on appeal, then the question of exhaustion would have to be analyzed again.
According to Judge Koh, the jury reasonably found Apple's two phone design patents (D'087 and D'677) and its user interface design patent (D'305) to be valid and infringed. The jury finding was not against the clear weight of the evidence, the order says. I would agree with respect to the phone design patents. I do believe that the question of whether user interfaces -- as opposed to designs of physical objects -- can be claimed by design patents (which is what the D'305 start screen design patent is all about) could be a rather interesting one on appeal.
It's worth noting that Apple succeeded in salvaging the D'677 patent through a terminal disclaimer it filed with the patent office and notified to the court in November?2012. The terminal disclaimer limits the term of this patent so as to avoid double patenting.
The registered iPhone trade dress and unregistered iPhone 3G trade dress were found protectable and diluted. Judge Koh found that there is substantial evidence in the record to support the jury's findings.
In connection with Apple's multitouch software patents, which were found valid and infringed (and which findings Judge Koh decided to uphold), the most interesting issue is that there was indeed an inconsistency in the jury verdict because the '915 patent was found infringed by multiple Samsung devices running Android 2.2.1 or 2.2.2, but not by the Galaxy Ace (Android 2.2.1), Intercept (2.2.2) and Replenish (2.2.2, too). Samsung argued that at least there should be a new trial as a result of such inconsistency. But under Ninth Circuit law, verdicts are vacated on grounds of inconsistency only if they cannot be "reconciled on any reasonable theory consistent with the evidence". One distinction that is made in this context is the one between two legal conclusions that cannot logically coexist and a "mere inconsistent view of facts". Here, Judge Koh concluded that there is an inconsistency, but it can and must stand.
The jury held not only two Samsung U.S. subsidiaries but also Samsung Electronics Corporation, a Korean entity, liable for direct infringement. The Korean parent company was also found liable for inducing infringement by its U.S. subsidiaries. Samsung wanted these findings overturned, but Judge Koh upheld the jury's findings, which makes sense: those U.S. subsidiaries are obviously controlled by the Korean company. They are formally separate legal entities, but for all practical intents and purposes they are just like local offices of the Korean organization, and actually refer to the Korean company as their "headquarters".
The jury verdict was a disappointment for Samsung not only because Apple prevailed on most of its claims but also because Samsung's infringement claims against Apple failed in their entirety. After the JMOL rulings (and before the appeal), Samsung still doesn't hold any offensive win against Apple (with respect to this case) in its hands. In fact, things got even worse for Samsung because Apple proved the asserted claims of its '941 patent invalid. Judge Koh declined to find any infringements with respect to the other four Samsung patents-in-suit.
The court also disagreed with Samsung's assertion that the trial was manifestly unfair. Samsung had argued that it was prejudiced by
- the trial time limitation,
by court orders barring its witnesses from making certain arguments and not barring Apple's witnesses from making other arguments,
by a requirement to lay foundation for documents while Apple allegedly didn't have to meet such a requirement in some contexts,
by being barred from playing advertisements, which Apple was allowed to do, and
by not being allowed to use depositions to cross-examine Apple's witnesses while Apple was allowed to do so.

All of this relates to decisions the court made at or before trial, and it's unsurprising that the court still stands by its orders. The JMOL ruling notes that Samsung would have had the option to put its own infringement claims against Apple on a separate track, and that Samsung had to simply manage its allotted time.

Ruling on Apple's motion for judgment as a matter of law

The only item on which Judge Koh overruled the jury in Apple's favor is the question of whether the asserted claims (claims 10 and 15) of Samsung's U.S. Patent No. 7,675,941 on a "method and apparatus for transmitting/receiving packet data using pre-defined length indicator in a mobile communication system" are invalid. The jury didn't find any of Apple or Samsung's patent claims invalid, and a few days after the jury verdict came down I described this as the single biggest issue with the verdict, given that a solid majority of all patent claims granted by patent offices ultimately turn out not to be valid as granted (some are entirely invalid while others survive only after being narrowed through amendments). It would be a statistical anomaly for all Apple and Samsung patents-in-suit to be valid as granted. Even though the hurdle is very high for a court to overrule a factual finding by a jury, Judge Koh has now concluded that U.S. Patent No. 6,819,658 on a "method and apparatus for segmentation, reassembly and inverse multiplexing of packets and ATM cells over satellite/wireless networks" anticipated (i.e., renders non-novel and thus invalid) the asserted claims of Samsung's '941 patent. Samsung argued that there were some differences between the two patents, but according to Judge Koh, "Apple has established anticipation by clear and convincing evidence".
All other items of Apple's JMOL motion, discussed in more detail below, were denied.
The jury found that Apple's unregistered iPad/iPad 2 trade dress was not protectable and not famous, and on that basis never addressed the questions of dilution and infringement. Judge Koh determined that the jury's related finding was not unreasonable, and just like the jury, she didn't reach the questions of infringement and dilution.
An item on which I once thought Apple had a relatively good chance of prevailing was the iPad design patent (U.S. Design Patent No. D504,889, given that Apple had won a preliminary injunction over that one. Apple wanted the court to find it infringed by the Galaxy Tab?10.1. But Judge Koh noted that the jury was not bound by the preliminary injunction decision and that certain evidence was considered by the jury that was not available at the preliminary injunction stage, including among other things Apple's concession that the original iPad did not implement this design patent.
The judge also denied all other request by Apple for additional liability findings, including among other things an inducement theory.
The other four Samsung patents-in-suit (than the invalidated '941 patent) were not ruled invalid.
Apple brought certain FRAND contract and antitrust counterclaims against Samsung, and the jury ruled against them. Judge Koh did not overrule the jury on those. It's important to consider that even if such counterclaims fail, as they did here (prior to an appeal, at least), FRAND defenses can still succeed. In another post-trial decision (which came down in mid-December) Judge Koh declined to rule on Apple's FRAND defenses because there is no need to address them as long as no standard-essential patent-in-suit is found both valid and infringed. Even after Tuesday's ruling on Samsung's JMOL motion there is no SEP-based liability finding, so the FRAND defenses won't come into play unless and until an appeals court lets Samsung prevail on at least one SEP claim.

Ruling on Samsung's motion to invalidate four Apple patents for indefiniteness

Indefiniteness is an invalidity theory, but it's one for the court, not the jury, to decide, which is why Samsung's related motion attacking four Apple patents (the asserted claim of one software patent, and four design patents) is technically a separate motion from its JMOL ("overrule the jury") motion.

For the four design patents Samsung claimed to be indefinite (D'677, D'087, D'305, D'889) it faced a very high hurdle. It needed to show that a skilled designer would not be able to understand, from looking at the drawings in the patent documents, what kind of design was covered. Samsung failed to meet this high hurdle. Even Samsung's own expert witnesses gave testimony that allowed the court to infer that they had understood the scope of those design patents quite well (for example, if someone says a patent is obvious, he must understand the patent in the first place). There may have been some issues with dotted lines that appeared in one drawing but not another, or with only one of several drawings in one of the design patents having color, but none of this was enough to prove those design patents indefinite.

For the tap-to-zoom-and-navigate ('163) patent, indefiniteness was a closer question. The term that Samsung claimed to be indefinite (meaning that it's not amenable to construction and insolubly ambiguous) is "substantially centered". Without "substantially", the word "centered" would be mathematically precise. But "substantially" is a word of degree. Five pixels to the right of a center location on a screen that is 400 pixels wide is still "substantially centered" in most people's opinion, but how about 20 or 30 pixels? Where must the line be drawn? Samsung raised a legitimate question, but the answer is that a lack of precision does not necessarily render a patent invalid. Even one of Samsung's own witnesses talked about items being "substantially centered" on the screens of certain Samsung devices, suggesting that he was able to apply the term to a particular screen layout.

Ruling on Apple's motions for damages enhancements

In a post-trial motion Apple had asked for the damages award to be increased on different grounds. On the basis of the jury's findings of willful patent infringement, Apple wanted parts of the award to be tripled. It also wanted enhancements for trade dress infringement and dilution. And it asked for supplemental damages relating to the period between the trial and the final ruling. The question of supplemental damages still has to be decided by the court. The requested enhancements for willful patent infringement and for trade dress infringement and dilution have, however, been denied in their entirety.

The part on enhancements for willful patent infringement was simplified by Judge Koh's finding that Samsung's patent infringement was not objectively willful.

The legal basis for enhancements of trade dress damages is the Lanham Act (U.S. trademark law). Judge Koh's order notes that "[t]his type of enhancement is intended only to compensate a plaintiff for additional losses not compensated by the existing award, not to punish a defendant". Simply put, Judge Koh saw no indication that the jury did not consider all of the damages Apple suffered when it determined, on a per-product basis, its damages award. Apple wanted a reasonably straightforward jury questionnaire with total damages per product as opposed to a complex matrix of damages per product and per intellectual property right. While the jury questionnaire still ended up being huge (roughly 700 questions), Apple's wish for reasonably simple damages awards was granted, but as a result, Apple was unable after the trial to disaggregate the jury awards in order to show to the court that the part attributable to trade dress infringement was insufficient to compensate Apple for any losses.

[Update] AppleInsider has uploaded all four orders summarized in this post (link?#1, link?#2). [/Update]

If you'd like to be updated on the smartphone patent disputes and other intellectual property matters I cover, please subscribe to my RSS feed (in the right-hand column) and/or follow me on Twitter @FOSSpatents and Google+.

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Source: http://www.fosspatents.com/2013/01/judge-overrules-jury-finds-samsungs.html

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Local Golf Notebook, Jan. 31: Harbour Town climbs in Rolex course rankings

Harbour Town Golf Links at Sea Pines Resort inched closer to the top of the most recent golf course rankings by Rolex published in the February issue of Golf Digest.

Harbour Town, home to the RBC Heritage, South Carolina's only PGA Tour event, moved from a tie for 100th to 96th in the 2013-14 edition of America's 100 Greatest Courses and jumped from 21st to 18th among America's 100 Greatest Public Courses.

Also listed among America's 100 Greatest Public Courses was Bluffton's May River Golf Club at Palmetto Bluff. May River was 27th, down from 22nd.

For the first time, the magazine listed the second 100 Greatest Courses in America. Long Cove Club on Hilton Head Island (138th), Beaufort's Secession Golf Club (150th), Colleton River Plantation Club's Nicklaus Course in Bluffton (160th) and the Chechessee Creek Club in Okatie (178th) made that list.

Harbour Town is third among the top 30 courses in South Carolina, behind just Kiawah Island's Ocean Course and Yeamans Hall Club in Hanahan. Also on that list are May River (sixth), Long Cove (eighth), Secession (ninth), Colleton River (12th), Chechessee Creek (15th), Colleton River Plantation Club's Dye Course (17th), Haig Point Club's Calibogue Course on Daufuskie Island (19th) and Belfair Golf Club's West Course in Bluffton (24th).

The rankings are determined by panelists who play and rank the courses using seven criteria: shot values, resistance to scoring, design variety, memorability, aesthetics, conditioning and ambience.

IJGT PLAYS AT DOLPHIN HEAD

Aaron Terrazas of Mexico, a full-time student at Hank Haney International Junior Golf Academy, fired rounds of 71 and 75 to defeat classmate Charlie Spencer-White of Bluffton by two strokes in the Boys Division of the International Junior Golf Tour's two-day, 36-hole event last weekend at Dolphin Head Golf Club on Hilton Head Island.

Bluffton's Bryson Nimmer was fifth, six shots off the lead.

In the Boys Under 14 Division, Jan Schneider of Germany, also an IJGA student, posted rounds of 75 and 79 to edge classmate Andre Becerra of Mexico by three strokes.

Ayaka Nakayama of Japan, an IJGA student, shot 79 and 70 to defeat classmate Rei Nakatani of Japan by one stroke in the Girls Division. Bluffton's Kasidy Beckel was third, seven strokes back.

HOLES-IN-ONE

Eric Brownell hit a hole-in-one Jan. 13 on the 12th hole at Okatie Creek Golf Club. He used a 9-iron. Witnesses were Jack Anderson, Linda Anderson, and Amy Brownell.

Source: http://www.islandpacket.com/2013/01/31/2361735/local-golf-notebook-jan-31-harbour.html

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In Senate farewell, Kerry speaks of need to listen

This handout frame grab image provided by C-SPAN2 shows Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. giving his last speech as senator, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, on the floor of the Senate on Capitol Hill in Washington. Kerry's last day as senator is Friday as he prepares to become the nation's next secretary of state. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. is at right. (AP Photo/CSPAN2)

This handout frame grab image provided by C-SPAN2 shows Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. gesturing as he gives his last speech as senator, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, on the floor of the Senate on Capitol Hill in Washington. Kerry's last day as senator is Friday as he prepares to become the nation's next secretary of state. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. is at right. (AP Photo/CSPAN2)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? His voice quavering, Secretary of State-designate John Kerry bid farewell to the Senate after 28 years with a plea for comity and cooperation.

"The political process works only when leaders are willing to listen," Kerry told his colleagues in his valedictory speech on Wednesday.

More than a dozen Democrats and just a few Republicans listened as Kerry stood at his desk and spoke for close to an hour. The Massachusetts Democrat became emotional when he tapped on his desk and remarked that it had been used by both John F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy, one who became president, the other a Senate legend.

It was a sober reminder that senators are merely "temporary workers," Kerry said.

The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Kerry for the nation's top diplomatic job, succeeding Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan will swear in Kerry on Friday afternoon in a private ceremony, and his first day at the State Department is Monday.

Kerry thanked his staff, Senate employees, even the 1,393 interns who worked in his office. Congressional aides sat along the wall at the back of the chamber and the senator's wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, watched from the gallery above.

Kerry said he was "closing a chapter, not the final one."

Expressing his appreciation for the Senate, he dismissed suggestions that the institution is broken in a politically divided Washington and urged senators to sit down, listen and work together.

Kerry said lawmakers face three major challenges ? the decline of civility, the corrupting force of campaign money and the disregard for facts.

He recalled moments of bipartisanship during his tenure, from working with Republican Sen. John McCain on normalizing relations with Vietnam and the fate of POWs to joining forces with former Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., on combatting AIDS.

"The Senate cannot break unless we let it," Kerry said.

The unsuccessful 2004 presidential candidate remembered his travels throughout the country during the campaign when he came "within a whisper" of winning the presidency against a wartime commander in chief, President George W. Bush.

Kerry praised Republicans and Democrats, highlighting President George H.W. Bush's willingness to raise taxes in a budget deal and his recognition that it might make him a one-term president.

"He did what he thought was right. That's courage," Kerry said.

Kerry said it was only fitting that he came to Washington some 42 years ago as an activist protesting the Vietnam War. He had served in the Navy and was wounded during the war. He testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and famously asked, "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"

Last week, he testified before the same committee ? as its outgoing chairman seeking approval for his nomination to be secretary of state.

Kerry said he came to Washington as a voice, not a vote.

Hours before he spoke, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick selected a former top aide, William "Mo" Cowan, to serve as interim senator until a special election to fill the seat.

At the conclusion of Kerry's remarks, senators, staff and those watching in the gallery all rose and applauded. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., hugged Kerry; other senators shook his hand and wished him the best.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-01-30-Kerry-Senate/id-6aa746aa35fd4b6b961e99c57a844998

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Wednesday, January 30, 2013

The Perfect Description of One of the Most Important Moments of Your Life

An exhausted astronaut searching for oxygen. A soldier bleeding to death crawling to complete his mission. A sailor sinking into the deep sea trying to reach the surface. That's the perfect description of one of the most important, head spinning moments of every human being's life. Watch this outstanding short film directed by Martin Rosete and you will understand why and what that moment is. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/OYQwpaU44_0/the-perfect-description-of-one-of-the-most-important-moments-of-your-life

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The Surprising iOS Games That Saw The Most Active Usage In The U.S. Last Month

Because of the rankings, the top-grossing games and the ones that get the most downloads are known. But Apple and Google are much more conservative with what they reveal about apps and their active usage. And active usage is a far more important metric than the download, because the more?retention and engagement an app has, the more opportunity there is for users to transact inside of it. Onavo, a Sequoia-backed company that tracks active app usage for millions of users through its data compression products, took at a look at the most used games in the U.S. in December. What Onavo calls “market share” below is the percentage of U.S. iPhone owners that used the game that month. Some of them are surprising. The top few like Zynga’s Words With Friends and Imangi Studio’s Temple Run are not. But the next one is — Touch Hockey from Flipside5. Flow by Big Duck Games comes after that. Following that is Rovio’s Angry Birds – an obvious candidate for one of the top 10 apps. If we look at the reach of developers, you’ll see that Zynga is in the lead (again not surprising given that they said they had 33 million daily active users on mobile platforms in July). While mobile daily actives likely declined in the third quarter because of Draw Something’s decline, CEO Mark Pincus said on the last earnings call that the company definitely had the largest mobile gaming network in the West on Android and iOS. They’re followed by Temple Run-makers Imangi Studios. Apple said the husband-and-wife team behind Temple Run saw their game downloaded more than 75 million times last year.??They’re followed by Flipside5, which is ahead of Electronic Arts, the $4.6 billion gaming company that said it brought $1.18 billion in fourth-quarter revenue in its earnings release today. Is it weird that totally bootstrapped teams like Imangi can outrun (hah!) multibillion dollar companies like EA on iOS??Yes, but this is the nature of the iOS platform, with its comparatively low barriers to entry — at least relative to the packaged goods world. Time and time again, we’ve seen small teams like Angry Birds-maker Rovio in 2009 come out of nowhere and build businesses that gross near or more than nine-figures in revenue per year. Last month’s breakout dirtyBit’s FunRun is from a hobbyist team of computer science students from Trondheim, Norway. Just for background on

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/uOlGa1EUJMk/

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Ford: Fusion Hybrid Buyers Are Younger Than Toyota's

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It isn't easy bringing a new hybrid to market against the might and experience of Toyota--but Ford is certainly managing.

The 2013 Ford Fusion Hybrid is setting record hybrid sales numbers for the company, and even beating down Toyota's share of the hybrid segment.

The striking styling of the Fusion Hybrid, with its Aston Martin-like front facia, is apparently resulting in other benefits for Ford--Fusion Hybrid buyers are proving to be five years younger than buyers of the previous Fusion Hybrid, and six years younger than buyer's of Toyota's equivalent, the Camry Hybrid.

Ford's research has shown that 22 percent of Fusion Hybrid customers are under 35--compared to 13 percent for the Camry.

Most of the Fusion's sales are in San Francisco and Los Angeles, as well as Washington D.C. Those west-coast sales in particular are important for Ford, in a market normally dominated by imported marques.

?We?re bringing new hybrid buyers into the market, many of whom wouldn?t be considered traditional hybrid buyers,? said Amy Marentic, Ford's marketing manager for Global Small and Medium Cars.

Marentic notes that Ford's hybrids are scoring with those with a green ethic, but additionally, "the car also puts some excitement into the segment through design; it shows hybrids can have beautiful and sophisticated styling. This, in turn, means different buyers.?

Most buyers are actually new to the brand, meaning all-important conquest sales from its rival, Toyota.

That's borne out in the numbers--Ford Hybrid sales were up 9 percent in December, for a market share of 16 percent.

That's still small beans compared to Toyota's 60 percent share, but those numbers don't tell the whole story--Toyota's share of the hybrid market actually fell 8 percent in the same period. In the fourth quarter, Ford sold a total of 19,554 hybrids--up 193 percent on its previous best sales record.

Sales have also increased in the Central, Southeast and Great Lakes regions, where traditionally, hybrids haven't had strong sales.

A positive result in recent Consumer Reports tests will no doubt boost the Fusion Hybrid's reputation further--though Ford still needs to overcome claims its hybrids don't quite stack up to EPA test results.

+++++++++++

Follow GreenCarReports on Facebook and Twitter.

Source: http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1082010_ford-fusion-hybrid-buyers-are-younger-than-toyotas

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13.01.30 11:00 The Community Resource Day - Wednesday January 30, 2013 from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm @ Snow Hill Christian Church

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Source: http://www.calendarwiz.com/calendars/popup.php?op=view&id=56747219&crd=wmdt

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Karzai: Afghan government should lead peace talks

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? Afghanistan's president warned on Tuesday that all efforts at peace talks with the Taliban should go through the government, and appealed on the country's powerbrokers not to engage in such negotiations if the authorities are sidelines.

Hamid Karzai insisted the government ? and not foreign powers ? must lead the talks if the country is to have any hope of emerging from a decade of fighting as a strong and unified nation.

He said some Afghan powerbrokers and prominent political figures had been approached by foreign powers to hold talks through side channels, rather than working through the High Peace Council set up by the Afghan government.

"All our politicians must know that the peace process will only have a good result if we are unified and the process goes forward and the process will go forward through the High Peace Council," Karzai said.

The president said participating in talks with the Taliban without the government would weaken the country and urged all to refuse those offers.

Bombings and fighting have continued to rock the country as officials make the slow steps toward peace negotiations.

In the latest violence, gunmen on Tuesday shot and killed Mushtaq Sadat, the head of a district government in the eastern Kapisa province. Qais Qaderi, a spokesman for the provincial government, said Sadat was shot in front of his house as he walked out to pray at the neighborhood mosque.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the assassination in a text message to The Associated Press.

The Afghan peace process has made little headway since it began several years ago and has been hobbled by distrust between the Afghan government and the United States. Karzai has repeatedly decried foreign, and specifically American, efforts to jumpstart the talks while keeping the Afghan government in the dark.

On Tuesday, Karzai upbraided his Western allies for trying to undermine what he said had to be an Afghan process.

Though he referred mostly to the interference of "foreigners" in general, Karzai at one point directly targeted the United States, which is in the process of negotiating terms for its long-term presence in the country.

"We told American government during our recent visit that no foreigners should try to hold the Afghan peace process in their hands," Karzai said.

Since U.S.-backed talks broke down last March in a dispute over the release of five Taliban detainees held in American custody at a military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the High Peace Council has tried to take a greater role.

The Taliban, meanwhile, have established a presence in Qatar and the council says they are hoping to be involved in talks with those in the Doha office.

"I want to call on the Taliban and our politicians not to let the foreigners cheat them. Peace is only possible from one source: the High Peace Council, which includes all Afghans, all parties," Karzai said.

Karzai spoke Tuesday at a conference about water management, where he first talked about the need for clean water systems and then broke off to address what he described as a "very important issue" ? the varied attempts at peace talks with the Taliban.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/karzai-afghan-government-lead-peace-talks-081743980.html

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Twinkie lovers can relax: Hostess sale is imminent

36 min.

From wire services , NBC News

The indestructible Twinkie appears to be one step closer to a comeback.?

Hostess Brands is close to announcing that it has picked two investment firms ? C. Dean Metropoulos & Co. and Apollo Global Management ? as the lead bidders for its Twinkies and other snack cakes, according to a source close to the situation.??

The so-called stalking horse bid would be for more than $400 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. It would serve as the baseline offer for the business and could be topped by others at an auction.??A judge would have to approve any final sale.??

A deal, part of Hostess's bankruptcy reorganization, is not yet final, said the source, who declined to be identified as the discussions are not public.??

Spokesmen for Metropoulos and Apollo were not immediately available to comment. Hostess declined to comment.?

After years of management turmoil and turnover, Hostess declared it was going out of business and selling its brands in November.?

Earlier this month, Hostess chose a $390 million offer by Flowers Foods , maker of Tastykake products, as the stalking horse bid for several brands including Wonder bread?and?Drake's.

?On Monday, Hostess said it chose McKee Foods Corp, maker of Little Debbie snack cakes, as the initial bidder for its Drake's cakes, which include Ring Dings, Yodels and Devil Dogs. It also chose United States Bakery as the lead bidder for four of its smaller bread brands plus bakeries, equipment and depots.?

The?Associated?Press?and?Reuters?contributed?to?this?report.?

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/twinkie-lovers-can-relax-hostess-sale-imminent-1C8161026

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The 5 P's to Becoming a Fitness Nurse Consultant

As you may know, deciding who you want to work with is not as easy as it sounds. You all have seen me change my message a few times. ?I realize that this makes people uncomfortable and less likely to trust me. ?But as crazy as this sounds, I?m willing to take that risk because as much as I may alienate some of you, I yearn to really connect with those nurses who feel like I do:

You hate working in a traditional clinical setting
You hate not being able to express your ideas for prevention & getting healthier naturally
You hate med passes (you feel like it is not in alignment with your beliefs)
You are tired of working as a nurse in your current setting?and running around to do what you love as a fitness professional (but, no time to develop and implement your dream)
You love movement and following a plan that you live by and want to promote it to help heal others

And my movement & vision:

To get every person with a diagnosis or ?medical label?
to worship & move in their body, regardless of prognosis
or age.? This is done through community, connection
and compassionate guidance to promote independence
and freedom from long term medication use.

To try and define, market and create ?real? substance a new field/ profession (not just stick two words together) and find the ?right? nurses take it into the scary world of working for yourself, is not an easy task. ?What I?ve learned is that it?s not enough to just want to call yourself a ?Fitness Nurse?. ?You have to perform duties as one. ?Get your clients they want from you as a nurse with a specialty in fitness. ?But what are those duties? ?What distinguishes you from other fitness professionals, really? ?I know my answer. ?Do you know yours?

One problem with this is, and I speak from experience, if you are working in the fitness profession, you don?t feel like a nurse and that title?fitness nurse? is not respected among people who are there for usually vanity reasons. ?They may have concerns about their health too, but? They don?t necessarily want others to know that they have to see the ?Fitness Nurse? when everybody else is killing themselves in body pump and ass-kicking bootcamps. ?Yes, people DO CARE what others think in a gym. ?Heck, they care what their neighbors think when they are walking through their neighborhood.

Now this is not to say that people with health concerns can?t do bootcamps, but the majority of people who you can help the most by combining your skills aren?t in the gym. ?Or they have stopped going, probably for the reasons many stop going? Too much, too soon and they?ve become what I call an exercise casualty; and/or no results because of high expectations of results. ?This usually comes from not getting to the root of their (client) problem, not enough personal guidance? a poor assessment from the beginning of who?s training them. ?(mental & physical)

This is why, until ?fitness nursing? is fully out there and in demand, we need to promote ?that program?, that we have inside of us, that we know can help heal people, specifically, specific problems. ?The nurses who want to do this have to have the hunger and the drive to do so. This is very much needed or we are just going to be teaching group exercise with our nursing license in our back pockets?. not recognized for our skills in fitness AND nursing. ?If you love teaching group exercise and being a personal trainer, I?m happy for you? don?t ever stop doing what you love. ?But if you want to utilize your nursing skills and get compensated for them too, please read on?

On Thursday, January 31st, Kevin Ross, RN, BSN, of Innovative Nurse and I will be speaking on the 5 P?s, via a webinar, of becoming a Fitness Nurse Consultant?:

The Promise ? What we will do to support you & get you results.
The People ? Who this is for & who is it not for.
The Problem ? Why what you are currently doing is not working.
The Pathway ? How to start and pull in all your skills to deliver your signature fitness nursing program in a 6-step process.
The Plan ? You will be given steps to take right away that are no cost and will help you decide if you want to continue developing your own fitness nursing program and making your own money offering it to specific people who need and want your services.

To call in (206) 402-0100, code: 704896#

Encore presentation on February 1st, 11am EST, 8am PST

same number & code

Make a difference with BOTH of your skills (and other skills too, like coaching and assessment, medication management and speaking)

Till then

Yours in Fitness & Nursing,

Lori

Source: http://certifiedfitnessnursing.com/2013/01/the-5-ps-to-becoming-a-fitness-nurse-consultant/

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Apple Has Been Granted A Trademark For Its Retail Store Design ...

Apple has been granted a trademark by the U.S. government for the design and layout of its retail stores, according to a filing at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The company had applied for the trademark back in 2010 but it was rejected twice before finally being approved now,?according to ifoAppleStore.

The trademark covers the glass storefront, furniture arrangement, shelving, the Genius Bar and more.

In fact, it's quite detailed.

Here's the mark description from the USPTO:

The mark consists of the design and layout of a retail store.

The store features a clear glass storefront surrounded by a paneled facade consisting of large, rectangular horizontal panels over the top of the glass front, and two narrower panels stacked on either side of the storefront.

Within the store, rectangular recessed lighting units traverse the length of the store's ceiling.

There are cantilevered shelves below recessed display spaces along the side walls, and rectangular tables arranged in a line in the middle of the store parallel to the walls and extending from the storefront to the back of the store.

There is multi-tiered shelving along the side walls, and a oblong table with stools located at the back of the store, set below video screens flush mounted on the back wall.

The walls, floors, lighting, and other fixtures appear in dotted lines and are not claimed as individual features of the mark; however, the placement of the various items are considered to be part of the overall mark.

You can check out the filing here at the USPTO's website.?

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-store-trademark-2013-1

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Video: 'Show-Me Time' for RIM: Jon Najarian

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/50631974/

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The Yeshiva World Bloomberg: NYC Schools Could Lose 2,500 ...

New York City?s public schools over two years will lose $724 million in state aid and as many as 2,500 teachers through attrition, because of a labor union conflict over a teacher evaluation system, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Monday.

The schools lost $250 million of that total earlier this month after the city and United Federation of Teachers failed to agree on a way to evaluate teacher performance.

City schools would lose that same baseline funding amount in the state?s coming fiscal year, which begins April 1, plus another $224 million under the state budget proposed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo last week, Bloomberg said at a joint legislative hearing.

State legislators passed a law in 2010 that tied state aid to teacher evaluations. About 99 percent of the state?s school districts have implemented some kind of evaluation plan, Cuomo has said.

Lawmakers began on Monday to review Cuomo?s proposed budget. Bloomberg is scheduled to present his own budget for the city on Tuesday.

Separately, the city?s $22 billion public school system, which is controlled by the mayor, lost $200 million in federal education funding when it missed the deadline.

As a result of the missing funds, the city will lose 700 teachers through attrition this year and could lose another 1,800 in fiscal 2014, Bloomberg said during the televised hearing.

The state used to pay for about half of New York City?s school budget but now pays 39 percent, even as the system has expanded with more students, Bloomberg said.

(Reuters)

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Source: http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/?p=154534

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The Two Classes of Cyber Threats

Aaron Swartz at a Boston Wiki Meetup

Photograph by Sage Ross/Flickr/Wikimedia Commons.

There is one number that matters most in cybersecurity. No, it?s not the amount of money you?ve spent beefing up your information technology systems. And no, it?s not the number of PowerPoint slides needed to describe the sophisticated security measures protecting those systems, or the length of the encryption keys used to encode the data they hold. It?s really much simpler than that. The most important number in cybersecurity is how many people are mad at you.

Let?s say, for example, that your organization has done something that has angered a few hundred million people around the world. Suppose that 1 percent of them are computer whizzes, and 1 percent of that group has the time and inclination to devote themselves to waging war on your information technology infrastructure. That means you?re up against tens of thousands of people committed to bringing your systems down. Some of them are going to succeed.

Case in point: On Friday, Anonymous took over the U.S. Sentencing Commission?s website in response to the recent suicide of Aaron Swartz, who had been facing the prospect of more than 30 years in prison for downloading academic articles without authorization. In an action the group calls ?Operation Last Resort,? Anonymous announced on the Sentencing Commission?s website that it has compromised and extracted secret files from multiple U.S. government systems. It threatened to release excerpts from those files in the coming weeks to various media outlets. After being intermittently restored to service, the Sentencing Commission?s website was hacked again on Sunday, this time turning into a playable game of Asteroids.

The image of Anonymous running roughshod over a Department of Justice website doesn?t inspire confidence in the level of U.S. government cybersecurity. In the DOJ?s defense, it could be pointed out that the Sentencing Commission site is merely an outward facing portal, and that most of the government?s systems and networks are buried behind many more layers of protection. But in today?s world, all electronic systems are connected. Even those that are separated from the rest of the Internet by an ?air gap??so that they don?t talk directly to the outside world?can be compromised via software delivered (and later extracted) by a USB stick or CD drive by a malicious or unwitting insider.

Anonymous, of course, is not the only group that might have an interest in compromising American computer systems. State actors have long been suspected of conducting industrial espionage on American companies, and unlike hacktivists, they aren?t likely to announce their successes. But it doesn?t take a genius to look at what Anonymous can do and conclude that true cybersecurity is an illusion, and that anyone who claims otherwise is lying, delusional, incompetent, or some combination thereof.

There are degrees of protection, and it is certainly possible and prudent to eliminate known vulnerabilities. But given the literally incomprehensible complexity of today?s systems, there is a never-ending stream of previously unknown vulnerabilities that cyberattackers are just as well-qualified?and in some instances better qualified than cyberdefenders?to find. Cybersecurity is a game of whack-a-mole on a large and rapidly expanding playing field, and when the number of moles is orders of magnitude higher than the number of people holding mallets, the moles will often have the upper hand.

Against this backdrop, it is interesting to consider a recent report that the government plans to add 4,000 people to the Department of Defense?s Cyber Command, which currently comprises only 900 personnel. In the current era of tightening federal spending, any staffing growth is unusual; an increase of this magnitude may be unmatched in any other sector of government. It telegraphs that the Department of Defense recognizes the increasingly critical role that cybersecurity plays in U.S. national security. And, to the extent that Cyber Command can help make critical infrastructure such as the power grid and financial system less vulnerable to a massive attack that could endanger the lives and livelihoods of tens of millions of people, its efforts will be an important and much-needed contribution.

If Cyber Command succeeds in safeguarding these systems, it will be in part thanks to the high skills and dedication of the people they will hire. But in large measure it will also be because there are few would-be hacktivists who would take any pleasure in an attack that could leave large swaths of America shivering in the dark on a cold winter night, or unable to purchase food because the country?s payment systems have stopped working.

Thus, what the government calls ?critical infrastructure? really describes two different classes of systems that call for very different cybersecurity strategies: Some, like the power grid, are viewed by everyone as critical, and the number of people who might credibly target them is correspondingly smaller. Others, like the internal networks in the Pentagon, are viewed as a target by a much larger number of people. Providing a high level of protection to those systems is extremely challenging but feasible. Securing them completely is not. That?s a realization that, despite all evidence to the contrary, one suspects hasn?t fully sunk in inside the Beltway.

This article arises from Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, the New America Foundation, and?Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, visit the?Future Tense blog?and the?Future Tense home page. You can also?follow us on Twitter.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=02531636834fb3daa1a4799960bf9328

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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Nexus 4 smartphones back on Google Play in Germany, get 'em while they're hot

If the Nexus 4's recent scarcity has been making you want it even more, there's good news: it's now back on Google Play shelves. After a lengthy shortage resulted in a minor finger-pointing episode between Mountain View and manufacturer LG, the pair have starting restocking the popular quad-core, Android 4.2-pure device, on Play, well ahead of LG's February estimate. So far, it's only popped up in Germany, and there's no word yet on when they'll arrive elsewhere. Given the pent-up demand, however, you may want to grab one when it does.

Filed under: Google

Comments

Source: Google Play

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/29/nexus-4-smartphones-back-on-google-play/

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Study finds significant microorganism populations in middle and upper troposphere

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

In what is believed to be the first study of its kind, researchers used genomic techniques to document the presence of significant numbers of living microorganisms ? principally bacteria ? in the middle and upper troposphere, that section of the atmosphere approximately four to six miles above the Earth's surface.

Whether the microorganisms routinely inhabit this portion of the atmosphere ? perhaps living on carbon compounds also found there ? or whether they were simply lofted there from the Earth's surface isn't yet known. The finding is of interest to atmospheric scientists, because the microorganisms could play a role in forming ice that may impact weather and climate. Long-distance transport of the bacteria could also be of interest for disease transmission models.

The microorganisms were documented in air samples taken as part of NASA's Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes (GRIP) program to study low- and high-altitude air masses associated with tropical storms. The sampling was done from a DC-8 aircraft over both land and ocean, including the Caribbean Sea and portions of the Atlantic Ocean. The sampling took place before, during and after two major tropical hurricanes ? Earl and Karl ? in 2010.

The research, which has been supported by NASA and the National Science Foundation, was scheduled to be published online January 28th by the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"We did not expect to find so many microorganisms in the troposphere, which is considered a difficult environment for life," said Kostas Konstantinidis, an assistant professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "There seems to be quite a diversity of species, but not all bacteria make it into the upper troposphere."

Aboard the aircraft, a filter system designed by the research team collected particles ? including the microorganisms ? from outside air entering the aircraft's sampling probes. The filters were analyzed using genomic techniques including polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and gene sequencing, which allowed the researchers to detect the microorganisms and estimate their quantities without using conventional cell-culture techniques.

When the air masses studied originated over the ocean, the sampling found mostly marine bacteria. Air masses that originated over land had mostly terrestrial bacteria. The researchers also saw strong evidence that the hurricanes had a significant impact on the distribution and dynamics of microorganism populations.

The study showed that viable bacterial cells represented, on average, around 20 percent of the total particles detected in the size range of 0.25 to 1 microns in diameter. By at least one order of magnitude, bacteria outnumbered fungi in the samples, and the researchers detected 17 different bacteria taxa ? including some that are capable of metabolizing the carbon compounds that are ubiquitous in the atmosphere ? such as oxalic acid.

The microorganisms could have a previously-unidentified impact on cloud formation by supplementing (or replacing) the abiotic particles that normally serve as nuclei for forming ice crystals, said Athanasios Nenes, a professor in the Georgia Tech School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

"In the absence of dust or other materials that could provide a good nucleus for ice formation, just having a small number of these microorganisms around could facilitate the formation of ice at these altitudes and attract surrounding moisture," Nenes said. "If they are the right size for forming ice, they could affect the clouds around them."

The microorganisms likely reach the troposphere through the same processes that launch dust and sea salt skyward. "When sea spray is generated, it can carry bacteria because there are a lot of bacteria and organic materials on the surface of the ocean," Nenes said.

The research brought together microbiologists, atmospheric modelers and environmental researchers using the latest technologies for studying DNA. For the future, the researchers would like to know if certain types of bacteria are more suited than others for surviving at these altitudes. The researchers also want to understand the role played by the microorganisms ? and determine whether or not they are carrying on metabolic functions in the troposphere.

"For these organisms, perhaps, the conditions may not be that harsh," said Konstantinidis. "I wouldn't be surprised if there is active life and growth in clouds, but this is something we cannot say for sure now."

Other researchers have gathered biological samples from atop mountains or from snow samples, but gathering biological material from a jet aircraft required a novel experimental setup. The researchers also had to optimize protocols for extracting DNA from levels of biomass far lower than what they typically study in soils or lakes.

"We have demonstrated that our technique works, and that we can get some interesting information," Nenes said. "A big fraction of the atmospheric particles that traditionally would have been expected to be dust or sea salt may actually be bacteria. At this point we are just seeing what's up there, so this is just the beginning of what we hope to do."

###

Georgia Institute of Technology: http://www.gatech.edu

Thanks to Georgia Institute of Technology 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/126507/Study_finds_significant_microorganism_populations_in_middle_and_upper_troposphere

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Home prices gain for 10th month in row

7 hrs.

Reuters

U.S. single-family home prices rose in November, building on a string of gains that points to a housing market that is on the mend, data from a closely watched survey showed on Tuesday.?

The S&P/Case Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas gained 0.6 percent in November on a seasonally adjusted basis, in line with economists' forecasts.?

Prices on a non-adjusted basis slipped 0.1 percent. The non-adjusted numbers showed prices fell in about half of the cities covered by the survey, with the winter months typically a weak period for housing, the survey said.?

"Housing is clearly recovering", David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indexes, said in a statement.?

Prices in the 20 cities rose 5.5 percent year over year.?

It was the 10th month in a row that prices have increased, the longest string of gains since before the market started to turn down in 2006.?

The housing market became a bright spot for the economy last year as prices rose and inventory tightened. The sector is expected to contribute to economic growth in 2013.?

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economywatch/home-prices-gain-10th-month-row-survey-shows-1C8156931

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All The President's Plans

By MICHAEL FALCONE ( @michaelpfalcone )

NOTABLES:

OBAMA IN VEGAS: President Obama maps out his immigration plan at this afternoon in Las Vegas where, a senior administration official tells ABC's Reena Ninan, he will focus largely on what he's discussed before. The president won't put forward a bill - instead he'll support the Senate's principles outlined yesterday and explain what else needs to be done. The White House feels Las Vegas is a community symbolic of the growing Latino population in both the state and the nation and since immigration reform is a pledge the president made during the campaign, the White House says he wants to deliver.

EL DIABLO IS IN THE DETAILS: Even the senators who wrote the immigration reform proposal outlined yesterday admitted there's lots of work still ahead. One land mine: Some Republicans want to link getting green cards to whether the border is secure. Border security still a gray issue. If the Gang of Eight's efforts fall apart the president's team will step in with its own proposal, Ninan notes.

SECRET CONGRESSIONAL GROUP WORKING ON IMMIGRATION ALTERNATIVE: A separate bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House of Representatives is on the verge of finalizing its own designs for comprehensive immigration reform, ABC's John Parkinson reports. The discussions, which top aides close to the talks discussed on the condition that they not be identified, are described as "Washington's best-kept secret." Multiple sources say those involved in the talks include Democratic Reps. Xavier Becerra (California), Luis Gutierrez (Illinois), Zoe Lofgren (California), and Republican Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart (Florida), Sam Johnson (Texas) and John Carter (Texas). The House's not-yet-finalized proposal is expected to address five general areas of immigration reform, according to aides close to the negotiations. Secure the border, implement a permanent E-verify system nationwide, reform the visa system, address the predicament of how to handle immigrants already in the country illegally in a "fair" and "legal manner" while determining how to handle those who have applied for legal immigration and are currently waiting in line, and reform the immigration system for future applicants. http://abcn.ws/WnjOfh

THE ROUNDTABLE:

ABC's RICK KLEIN: What could possibly go wrong? The bipartisan Senate proposal is on the table, with boldfaced names like McCain, Rubio, Graham, Schumer, Durbin, and Menendez signed on. The House isn't far behind. And the president takes up the mantle himself today, as he lobbies the public to force action at last on immigration reform ? Wait, this could get interesting, after all. The White House has had mixed results with letting Congress handle the details of much of anything. But these are the kinds of details that members of Congress from both parties have spent months if not years wrestling through; witness the twin failures of immigration reform, in 2006 and 2007, under the leadership of a different president. The real question for the White House: Will heavy involvement - and pushing in directions the Gang of Eight doesn't want to go - be more harmful for helpful?

ABC's MICHAEL FALCONE: At yesterday's bi-partisan news conference announcing the Gang of Eight's immigration reform principles, Sen. John McCain's answer about why Republicans were so eager to move on the issue was telling. "Elections, elections," the Arizona senator said. "The Republican Party is losing the support of our Hispanic citizens." He's right: Hispanic voters are becoming a larger share of the electorate and GOP presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, won just 27 percent of the vote among the group compared to 71 percent who supported President Obama. There was also something striking about watching Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a member of the immigration reform group, launch into Spanish during the press conference. Neither Rubio's language skills nor his familiarity with the immigration issue are breaking news, but I imagine it will give other potential 2016 Republicans pause.

ABC's SHUSHANNAH WALSHE: Currently, the prevailing theory about Sarah Palin is that because she doesn't have the megaphone of Fox News anymore, the "Palin moment" is now officially over. It might be true, but there have been so many "Ends of Sarah Palin" that it's almost hard to keep track. She was over when she lost the 2008 campaign, she was over when she quit the Alaska governorship, she was over when she decided to do a reality show, she was over when she decided not to run for president. Now she's over because she severed her ties with Fox. But the reality is different. Even after she decided to resign as governor and to pass up a 2012 presidential bid, people who both love her and hate her still just couldn't get enough information about her. Palin still got an incredible amount of coverage and her voice was heard - loud and clear. It's yet another example of what she's able to pull off that others who came before or after just aren't: She's been written off since Day One, but she keeps coming back.

ABC's JASON RYAN: The FBI has released new gun background check data yesterday showing that the week after the Newtown massacre (December 14, 2012) was the busiest for gun background checks ever, followed by the week President Obama announced new gun control proposals on January 16, 2013. As ABC News has reported, gun sales have been booming since Newtown. After previously denying journalists access to gun data, National Instant Check System figures show that overall in December 2012 there were more than 2.78 million background checks carried out to purchase firearms surpassing the previous record from November 2012 when more than 2 million checks were performed. The number of total sales during the first month of the new year will be released in the first few days of February.

VIDEO OF THE DAY: MEET DEFIANT DEMOCRAT, HEIDI HEITKAMP. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., defied the odds in November when she won the closest senate race in the country, and now that she's arrived in Washington, she's defiant as ever. But now, instead of defying the pollsters, she's defying the Democratic caucus by taking divergent opinions on issues central to the President Obama's second term agenda, ranging from gun control to the environment. Heitkamp, who says growing the economy is her top priority, is concerned that the president is changing his focus to issues like climate change and gun control. "I think, you know the one thing that has gotten lost by everyone is one of the best ways that we can perform here is by getting people back to work, making sure that this economic recovery, slow as it is, gets amped up and moves forward," Heitkamp tells ABC's Jonathan Karl, host of "Politics Confidential." "It's one of the reasons why I've been such a big proponent of the Keystone Pipeline. There's a shovel ready, private sector jobs program, good paying jobs." WATCH: http://yhoo.it/TQOxTJ

BUZZ

IMMIGRATION REFORM PLAN INCLUDES A PATHWAY TO CITIZENSHIP. The Senate's plan does not grant undocumented immigrants automatic "amnesty," rather it requires them to go through an arduous process that includes undergoing a background check, paying fines, back taxes and learning English and American civics over the course of a number of years, reports ABC-Univision's Jordan Fabian. The new law would grant eligible undocumented immigrants permission to live and work in the U.S. legally, but would not confer permanent legal status, or a green card, until the border is deemed to be secure. Young people brought into the U.S. illegally as minors and some agricultural workers would face an easier path to citizenship. "We will never put these people on a path to citizenship until we have secured the border," New York Sen. Chuck Schumer said yesterday. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who helped lead the last effort on a comprehensive immigration bill in 2007 said, "We have been too content for too long to allow individuals to mow our lawns, grow our food, clean our homes, and even watch our children while not affording them any of the benefits that make our country so great." http://abcn.ws/YBGY4Q

OBAMA TALKS GUN VIOLENCE WITH POLICE CHIEFS. President Obama is enlisting the help of police chiefs from communities devastated by mass shootings as he continues a public push for Congress to act on his proposals to curb gun violence, ABC's Mary Bruce notes. "No group is more important for us to listen to than our law enforcement officials," the president told reporters before a White House meeting yesterday with sheriffs and police chiefs from across the country. "They are where the rubber hits the road." The president and members of his cabinet met with the police chiefs who responded to the deadly shootings in Aurora, Colo., Oak Creek, Wis., and Newtown, Conn, along with representatives from the Major Cities Chiefs Police Association and the Major County Sheriffs' Association. "I welcome this opportunity to work with them; to hear their views in terms of what will make the biggest difference to prevent something like Newtown or Oak Creek from happening again," Obama said.

CHICK-FIL-A CEO AND GAY ACTIVIST FIND COMMON GROUND. The leader of a national gay-rights group says he's coming out-as a friend of Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy, ABC's Chris Good reports. "I've gotten to know Dan, he's gotten to know me. He's shared concerns about young people, about Chick-fil-A being used for certain purposes," Shane Windmeyer, executive director of Campus Pride, told ABC News. Last year, Cathy sparked a national controversy by telling a radio host that "we're inviting God's judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say we know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage. And I pray God's mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude that thinks we have the audacity to redefine what marriage is all about." Windmeyer said that Cathy called him last year, during the heat of the controversy that led national gay-rights groups to protest Chick-fil-A. Cathy reached out seeking advice and understanding, Windmeyer said. Windmeyer was a guest of Cathy's at this year's Chick-fil-A Bowl between LSU and Clemson at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. The activist also says Chick-fil-A has stopped donating to anti-gay groups, according to his review of the company's 990 tax forms. http://abcn.ws/WxuchC

GOVERNMENT WASTE IN THE SPOTLIGHT. The Government Accountability Office is due to produce its biannual report on the areas of the government that present the highest risk for squandering tax payer dollars in the next couple weeks. Though the GAO does not preview this list ahead of time, ABC's Sarah Parnass takes a look at what might be targeted: http://abcn.ws/113uncb

WHO'S TWEETING?

@DavidMDrucker : How central to immigration reform's success is @marcorubio?I'll predict that if he ever backs out bill is dead in House. W/ him: it passes.

@ByronYork: Speaking of deal killers, what will Chairman Leahy do to Gangof8 plan in Sen Judiciary Committee? http://ow.ly/hdUOC

@onetoughnerd: Speaking at @GOVERNING Magazine conference in DC today about how we're reinventing Michigan. http://ow.ly/hdUkP #govlive

@JoshDorner: 4 years ago today, President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. It was opposed by all but 8 Congressional Republicans.

@kjplotkin: RT @BobbyJindal: Let's Meet, Mr. President http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/bobby-jindal-to-fix-medicaid-listen-to-governors/2013/01/28/ff5c8e5e-6711-11e2-85f5-a8a9228e55e7_story_1.html ?