Fred Wilson: Money Is Information, Like Bits, And We Want To Invest In Ways Of Moving It

Fred Wilson, legendary New York venture capitalist and partner at Union Square Ventures, is the latest VC to highlight his interest in startups that help move money, "an area that is still very much up for grabs," in his opinion. "Money is information, like bits," he said today, giving currency a spin that puts it in a continuum with the many blogging and content companies that his firm has invested in over the years. (That list has included Twitter, Tumblr, FeedBurner, del.icio.us and Disqus.)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/43XwQloczNY/

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Report: There's Going to Be a Lot of Jony Ive in iOS 7

With Jony Ive in the driver's seat for iOS 7, the scent of change is on the breeze. Change itself is inevitable, it's just a question of how much. And according to 9to5Mac's sources, the answer to that question is "a lot."

According to several unnamed sources who have been briefed on the upcoming iOS 7, the vibe is "flat." And we're talking really flat; one source went so far as to compare it to Windows 8 Modern UI-grade flatness. In addition to the unsurprising banishment of skeumorphism, word is all elements of gloss and shine will disappear as well.

Rumored to be codenamed "Innsbruck," iOS is shaping up to be a pretty big departure from the stitching and lined paper of iOS past. And although the changes may be slightly alienating?or if nothing else, a little surprising?to long-time users, they should make things more usable going forward, freeing apps from their leather shackles and velvet curtained cells. And what's left is rumored to still be "familiar," though how that will manifest exactly remains to be seen. The core fundamentals of iOS are said to remain unchanged.

The first hints of this evolution have already shown up in the recently modified Podcast app, and it's likely that's only the beginning. We'll have to wait for WWDC in June before we get a peek at what exactly is in store. It's bound to be interesting. And, hopefully, refreshing. [9to5Mac]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/report-theres-going-to-be-a-lot-of-jony-ive-in-ios-7-484762156

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As cyberthreats mount, hacker?s conviction underscores criticism of government overreach (Washington Post)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/302459819?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Neuroscientists use statistical model to draft fantasy teams of neurons

Apr. 29, 2013 ? This past weekend teams from the National Football League used statistics like height, weight and speed to draft the best college players, and in a few weeks, armchair enthusiasts will use similar measures to select players for their own fantasy football teams. Neuroscientists at Carnegie Mellon University are taking a similar approach to compile "dream teams" of neurons using a statistics-based method that can evaluate the fitness of individual neurons.

After assembling the teams, a computer simulation pitted the groups of neurons against one another in a playoff-style format to find out which population was the best. Researchers analyzed the winning teams to see what types of neurons made the most successful squads.

The results were published in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of April 29.

"We wanted to know what team of neurons would be most likely to perform best in response to a variety of stimuli," said Nathan Urban, the Dr. Frederick A. Schwertz Distinguished Professor of Life Sciences and head of the Department of Biological Sciences at Carnegie Mellon.

The human brain contains more than 100 billion neurons that work together in smaller groups to complete certain tasks like processing an odor, or seeing a color. Previous work by Urban's lab found that no two neurons are exactly alike and that diverse teams of neurons were better able to determine a stimulus than teams of similar neurons.

"The next step in our work was to figure out how to assemble the best possible population of neurons in order to complete a task," said Urban, who is also a member of the joint Carnegie Mellon/University of Pittsburgh Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition (CNBC).

However, using existing methods, scouting for the best team of neurons was a seemingly daunting task. It would be impossible for scientists to determine how each of the billions of neurons in the brain would individually respond to a multitude of stimuli. Urban and Shreejoy Tripathy, the article's lead author and graduate student in the CNBC's Program in Neural Computation, solved this problem using a statistical modeling approach, known as generalized linear models (GLMs), to analyze the cell-to-cell variability. Urban and Tripathy found that by applying this approach they were able to accurately reproduce the behavior of individual neurons in a computer, allowing them to gather statistics on each single cell.

Then, much like in fantasy football, the computer model used the statistics to put together thousands of teams of neurons. The teams competed against one another in a computer simulation to see which were able to most accurately recreate a stimulus delivered to the team of neurons. In the end researchers identified a small set of teams that they could study to see what characteristics made those populations successful.

They found that the winning teams of neurons were diverse but not as diverse as they would be if they were selected at random from the general population of neurons. The most successful sets contained a heterogeneous group of neurons that were flexible and able to respond well to a variety of stimuli.

"You can't have a football team made up of only linebackers. You need linebackers and tight ends, a quarterback and a kicker. But, the players can't just be random people off of the street; they all need to be good athletes. And you need to draft for positions, not just the best player available. If your best player is a quarterback -- you don't take another quarterback with your first pick," Urban said. "It's the same with neurons. To make the most effective grouping of neurons, you need a diverse bunch that also happens to be more robust and flexible than your average neuron."

Urban believes that GLMs can be used to further understand the importance of neuronal diversity. He plans to use the models to predict how alterations in the variability of neurons' responses, which can be caused by learning or disease, impact function.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Carnegie Mellon University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Shreejoy J. Tripathy, Krishnan Padmanabhan, Richard C. Gerkin, and Nathaniel N. Urban. Intermediate intrinsic diversity enhances neural population coding. PNAS, April 29, 2013 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1221214110

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/computers_math/information_technology/~3/UpRHO-B1TAY/130429154105.htm

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Will Mercedes-Benz Build a CLA Wagon?

?

Nothing taunts the North American car enthusiast like out-of-reach automotive fruit, and-- not to parse genres too finely-- but the phenomenon of pining for Europe-only wagons is a sore spot that's only exceeded by so-called hunchback-like shooting brake variants we can't get here.

?

Stoking the fires of envy, Mercedes-Benz design honcho Gordon Wagener let slip to What Car? that a shooting brake version of the $29,900 CLA is in the works, which would make it a sort of baby version of the CLS Shooting Brake you can't buy stateside-- a rare and jealousy-inspiring bird, indeed.

?

Will a Mercedes-Benz CLA Shooting Brake indeed be built, and if so, will it be available stateside? Nobody knows for sure (well, perhaps except for a few power players deep within Mercedes-Benz's hallowed halls)... but suffice to say, the triple-pointed star certainly has a reason to offer an alternative to BMW's $41,450 3-series Sports Wagon, upcoming 3-series Gran Turismo, and Audi's $39,600 Allroad wagon, making brand one-upmanship one helluva great reason for wagon aficionados to enjoy the fallout from the manufacturer wars.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/auto-blog/will-mercedes-benz-build-a-cla-wagon?src=rss

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Bangladesh owner is at nexus of politics, business

SAVAR, Bangladesh (AP) ? When the cracks in the building appeared early Tuesday afternoon, a stocky man in his early 30s, a feared political operative who a neighbor says dropped out of school in seventh grade, quickly arrived at the scene in this crowded industrial suburb of the capital.

By then, fear had spread through the 3,200 people who worked in the five clothing factories that jammed the upper floors of Rana Plaza, and the handful of shops on the lower ones. Most of the workers had gathered in the street out front. Few wanted to go back in. Inspectors said the eight-story building should be closed until it could be inspected.

But Mohammed Sohel Rana scoffed.

"The building has minor damages," Rana, the building's owner, told gathering reporters. "There is nothing serious."

The next morning, many of the building's shops and a first-floor bank remained closed. But the factories' 8 a.m. shift began as usual. About 45 minutes into the shift, the building suddenly collapsed, killing at least 362 people in a fury of falling concrete. It was the worst industrial accident in the history of Bangladesh. More than three days later, rescuers are still crawling through the wreckage, hoping to find anyone who has managed to survive so long. By Saturday, nearly all the people being carried out were dead.

By that point, though, Rana had disappeared. Local media reports said he left his basement office in Rana Plaza just before the collapse, drove away and dropped from sight. He was arrested Sunday as he tried to cross the border into India.

For years, though, Rana had sat at the nexus of party politics and the powerful $20 billion garment industry that drives the economy of this deeply impoverished nation. This intersection of politics and business, combined with a minimum wage of $9.50 a week that has made Bangladesh the go-to nation for many of the world's largest clothing brands, has made dangerous factory conditions almost normal, experts say.

Government officials, labor activists, manufacturers and retailers all called for improved safety standards after a November garment factory fire in the same suburb, when locked emergency exits trapped hundreds of workers inside and 112 people died. But almost nothing has changed.

"Successive Bangladeshi governments have paid lip service to worker safety but in reality it is only the factory owners who have the ear of policymakers," Brad Adams, the Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. "How many factory tragedies will it take before the Bangladeshi government ends its cozy relationship with powerful company owners and prioritizes worker safety?"

Before the collapse, Rana was little known outside of the few blocks of his tiny empire, a grid of poorly paved streets in the crowded industrial suburb of Savar, built up over the past decade or so around hundreds of garment factories.

The son of a local businessman with political connections, Rana became a neighborhood force by working as an organizer for the two political parties that have competed for power for decades in Bangladesh, according to local politicians, as well as someone who grew up near Rana and still lives in the area.

While Rana is currently a leader of the youth group of the ruling Awami League, he has also worked for that party's archrival, the Bangladesh National Party.

"He doesn't belong to any particular political party," said Ashrafuddin Khan Imu, an Awami League leader and longtime Rana rival. "Whatever party is in power, he is there."

In essence, these people say, Rana is a neighborhood political enforcer, regularly ordering thousands of people into the streets for rallies. Most recently, Imu said, he has been working for Awami League lawmaker Talukder Touhid Jang Murad. When Murad was asked about Rana after the collapse, Murad denied any connections. The next day, Dhaka newspapers printed photographs of Murad kissing Rana on the forehead after a successful rally earlier this year.

"He used to intimidate people whenever he needed them, like bringing people out for street marches in support of the lawmaker," said the neighbor, who spoke on condition he not be named, fearing Rana would send his men to beat him up after having been threatened once before. "Neighbors would avoid him ... No one wanted to upset him."

Money came with his political connections, with wealth built upon a string of government-owned properties he acquired at reduced prices, according to local media reports. He built a small apartment building and a small commercial building, where a Bata shoe store is now on the ground floor. In 2010 he built Rana Plaza on land that had once been a swamp. He had a permit to erect a five-story building, but built three additional stories illegally.

Until Wednesday, he lived just a few blocks from Rana Plaza, in a five-story red-brick building he owns at the end of a narrow alley. The ground floor has a hand-painted medieval scene, with an aristocratic woman, or perhaps a bride, being carried by scowling bearers in a covered palanquin. The neighbor says he is married, and has two children. The buildings indicate he is a man of considerable stature locally, but is almost certainly not a member of the country's tiny elite.

After the cracks appeared in the building, witnesses say Rana quickly went to work. On Wednesday morning, he and a number of factory managers ordered nervous workers into the building shortly before the collapse, according to the neighbor, who was present at the scene, and local press reports.

"I was too afraid to go inside the building. But the factory officials assured us they would also be in the factory, so there should not be any problem," said Kohinoor Begum, a factory worker who survived but whose hands were injured.

Cheers went up at the scene of the collapsed building when his arrest was announced over loudspeakers. After Rana disappeared, authorities detained his his wife, apparently to convince him to surrender.

What will happen to him? At first glance, the situation doesn't look good: His political allies have abandoned him, Bangladesh's most powerful garment industry association says he ignored their warnings to shut the building and the prime minister called for his arrest.

But in the streets of Savar, many note that while three managers have been arrested in connection with the Tazreen fire, the factory owner remains free.

___

Sullivan reported from New Delhi, India. Julhas Alam in Dhaka contributed to the report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bangladesh-owner-nexus-politics-business-051832391.html

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A few Ridiculous Financial Tips, Part 3 | - Snarkfinance

In not time flat, your scalp will smell horrible.

Personal finance is a world filled with ideas and opinions that are in conflict with one another.? Like the U.N, except without those silly Spaniards.? While all sides to all personal finance issues generally have their merit, even those encouraging people to spend freely and take on as much debt as they like.? After all, that is why we have personal bankruptcy laws in the country, right?

Idiocy aside, sometimes well-meaning advice (at least in my opinion) gets pushed to the outer limits of rationality. When I come across such advice I generally take note and list add it to my ?A Few Ridiculous Financial Tips? series.? All of the advice to follow is not my own.? I present the advice and basic rational, and then my feelings on it.? Please note that all of the advice below would benefit you financially; this is indisputable.? What the authors of such advice are missing is how alienating, cheap (not thrifty), ignorant and time consuming some of the advice and rational can at times be[1].? Put bluntly: the authors of these tips are overly prescriptive, general, and specific.? On to the ridiculous!

FICO scores don?t really matter. Whenever someone believes this piece of financial advice, an angel gets cancer.? The rational is that FICO scores don?t matter for people who do primarily two things: 1) pay for everything in cash (houses not withstanding), and 2) find a mortgage lender who will manually underwrite.? Paying for everything in cash makes sense; if you don?t use a credit card and pay for all non-house purchases in cash you don?t need a FICO.? It is in regards to finding a mortgage lender who will manually underwrite?meaning they will manually determine how much to lend you?that I take issue with.

Anyone who has tried and failed to attain a mortgage in the current tight-credit environment will tell you that banks are not making a habit these days of offering to do any extra work, or look at people with tarnished credit scores.? Although it is certainly possible to find a lender willing to manual underwrite, it does reduce your already reduced options. The best strategy is still to have a stellar credit score when it comes to buying a house.? With rates as low as they are, why wouldn?t you want as many options as possible to use other people?s money to increase your wealth?

Carry a credit card balance to improve your credit score.? ?The logic is that by carrying a balance improves your credit score is akin to Todd Akin stating that the female body can reject unwanted foreign rape sperm.? This piece of logic is a misinterpretation of the advice to make a payment to your credit card every month, with people taking this sound advice as an excuse to make minimum payments on their credit cards.? In fact, your credit score would benefit the same if you entirely paid off your balance every month, which you should.? By not carrying a balance you would be saving on interest, as well as lowering your risk of bankruptcy should any catastrophe occur.?? Don?t be a financial Todd Akin.

All consumer debt is bad.? Some of the financial blogs and advice out there is so tightly focused on ?financial freedom? the tone is closer to demagoguery than dialogue.? The reasoning behind advice to make your own laundry detergent, remove the light bulb in your oven to save on electricity costs, and to ?learn to sweat? in the summer is all geared towards a completely debt free existence, otherwise known as financial freedom.? Look, financial freedom needs to be a loosely defined term in personal finance, because this type of finance is personal.?? Individual; not one-size-fits-all.? There needs to be room for defining your own enoughness.? Thusly, anyone stating all consumer debt is bad is as open minded as a Grand Wizard.? Consumer debt can be leverage, and so sometimes for the right people consumer debt can be part of a larger wealth-building plan, rather than a detriment to it.? For example, the $3,000 mattress I sleep wonderfully on could have been purchased in cash, but for $1,000 down I could float the rest on a store-specific card over three years with no interest (about $55/month), on an auto-payment plan.? I put the remaining $2,000 in a mutual fund and came out ahead.

What do you think about this advice?

Like this article more than fresh linens? ?Join our email list, follow us on Twitter and Like us on Facebook! ?Links below.

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[1] Of course, we are all responsible for defining our own version of Enoughness.? Should you agree with any of the listed ?ridiculous? tips then have at it.

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Source: http://snarkfinance.com/2013/04/27/a-few-ridiculous-financial-tips-part-3/

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Conversion from 'bad' fat to good fat

Apr. 28, 2013 ? Scientists from ETH Zurich have shown for the first time that brown and white fat cells in a living organism can be converted from one cell type to the other. Their work, using mice as a model organism, provides important new insights into the origin of brown fat cells, which is a prerequisite for the development of successful anti-obesity therapies.

Two types of fat cells can be found in mammals and hence in humans: White fat cells function mainly as highly flexible energy stores which are filled in times of calorie abundance. The fat is stored in the form of lipid droplets, which are mobilized when energy is needed. Diametrically opposed in function are the so-called brown adipocytes: These cells specialize in burning energy in the form of fat and sugar to produce heat. New-born babies possess substantial amounts of brown fat and utilize it to maintain body temperature. Since it was recently shown that brown adipocytes also exist in adult humans, research has focused on understanding how brown adipocytes are formed. The ultimate goal of these efforts is to increase brown adipocyte number and activity in obese humans, allowing them to burn excess calories and thus reduce weight.

Against the current belief

It is known that both humans and mice can adapt to cold temperatures by forming brown fat cells within their white fat depots. These cells are called "brite" fat cells (brown-in-white) and are less common at warmer versus colder temperatures. However, the origin of these special brown adipocytes has remained a matter of debate. The prevalent hypothesis was that brite cells are formed from special precursor cells and are removed when no longer needed. The alternate idea of a direct interconversion between white and brown fat cells gained less attention. By demonstrating that this interconversion does occur and is one of the main contributors to brite fat cell formation, the current belief has been challenged.

Genetically labelled fat cells

To demonstrate how brite fat cells are formed the researchers in the laboratory of Christian Wolfrum, a professor at the Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, generated mice that allowed them to genetically label specific fat cells. These animals were kept in a changing environment: starting at 8?C for a week and for several weeks afterwards at normal room temperature. During the cold exposure, the mice formed brown adipocytes in their white fat depots -- a process called "britening." After warm adaptation the fat tissue turned white again. Using the genetic markers the scientists concluded from these experiments that white fat cells can convert into brown fat cells and vice versa. As humans have the same type of cells as mice it is likely that the same process occurs in humans upon cold stimulation.

Treatments against obesity

"To develop new treatment strategies we need to find ways to convert white into brown adipocytes," says Wolfrum. Most of the research has focused on identifying the precursor cells for brown fat cells, an approach that may be insufficient. Future work will address the question of how to manipulate this interconversion process either by pharmacological or by nutritional means.

This approach would represent a novel strategy. "Current anti-obesity therapies target the energy intake side of the equation by controlling appetite and the uptake of nutrients," says Wolfrum. The pharmacological treatments that are available are not very efficient and usually are associated with side effects. In contrast, this novel approach to treat obesity would target the energy expenditure side of the equation by promoting brown fat formation.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by ETH Zurich, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Matthias Rosenwald, Aliki Perdikari, Thomas R?licke, Christian Wolfrum. Bi-directional interconversion of brite and white?adipocytes. Nature Cell Biology, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/ncb2740

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/3LfJOKXIqoE/130428144925.htm

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Who Needs a Gun? (Powerlineblog)

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Budweiser?s Buddy Cup is Facebook-enabled

Facebook really is everywhere. Budweiser Brazil has announced the creation of a Facebook-enabled glass called the Buddy Cup.

Here's how it works: When two Buddy Cup-holding revelers toast each other by tapping their cups, they become Facebook friends through a chip that's embedded in the cups.

According to the promotional video, the cup is being tested in Brazil. A message in the clip's YouTube description says, "Soon you will also be able to make friends with just a toast in the Budzone of Budweiser major events. Stay tuned!"

So, what's the point? TheDrum.com reports that the "aim of the 'Buddy Cup' is to enhance brand activation and increase the interaction between Budweiser consumers attending the brand?s sponsored parties, concerts and festivals." Or, in noncorporate speak, to make money.

The online feedback is mixed so far. Tech blog BetaBeat writes, "In the olden times, clinking your beers together with a stranger was a sign of celebration?a mutual agreement that things were about to get weird. The fact that you?d never have to see them again or explain why you puked down the front of your shirt was a significant part of the appeal. Now, Budweiser is about to destroy that sacred experience with the introduction of the Buddy Cup."

But Gadget Review thinks the idea might have merit. The blog calls the Buddy Cup "an interesting idea, and one that could actually work in bars."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/budweiser-buddy-cup-facebook-enabled-221306611.html

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Duncan leads Spurs' rout, pushing Lakers to brink

San Antonio Spurs guard Cory Joseph, right, blocks a shot by Los Angeles Lakers guard Andrew Goudelock during the second half in Game 3 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series, Friday, April 26, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

San Antonio Spurs guard Cory Joseph, right, blocks a shot by Los Angeles Lakers guard Andrew Goudelock during the second half in Game 3 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series, Friday, April 26, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Los Angeles Lakers forward Pau Gasol, of Spain,, right, blocks a pass by San Antonio Spurs center DeJuan Blair during the first half in Game 3 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series, Friday, April 26, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan, left, dunks over Los Angeles Lakers forward Pau Gasol (16), of Spain, during the first half in Game 3 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series on Friday, April 26, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Los Angeles Lakers forward Metta World Peace, right, shoots over San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard during the first half in Game 3 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series, Friday, April 26, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan, left, shoots over Los Angeles Lakers forward Pau Gasol, of Spain, during the first half in Game 3 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series on Friday, April 26, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? After 16 seasons, Tim Duncan knows the NBA postseason is no time for mercy. Particularly when an opponent is down and seemingly ready to go out.

In the opening minutes of Game 3, Duncan made three consecutive baskets and blocked Dwight Howard's shot, dominating with his usual ruthless grace.

He put the San Antonio Spurs ahead to stay, and they ended up handing the short-handed Los Angeles Lakers their biggest home playoff loss in franchise history.

After a 120-89 victory Friday night, all that's left is the finish ? something Duncan and the Spurs also know how to do pretty well.

Duncan had 26 points and nine rebounds, and Tony Parker had 20 points and seven assists in a largely silent Staples Center as San Antonio pushed the Lakers to the brink of first-round playoff elimination for the first time since 2007.

"We respect these guys, and we're not trying to give them any momentum whatsoever," Duncan said.

The short-handed Lakers played without their top four guards due to injury, and the Spurs posted their biggest win of a series thoroughly controlled by coach Gregg Popovich's playoff-tested club.

San Antonio led throughout the final 44 minutes, going up by 18 in the first half and 25 early in the fourth quarter with its smooth, flexible offense.

"I think we're playing fairly well," Popovich said. "Whether the team you're playing is whole, or banged up like the Lakers are ... we have to bring the energy and the professionalism to play."

They've had little trouble doing it so far, and the Spurs can close it out in Game 4 on Sunday night.

Tiago Splitter limped to the Spurs' locker room late in the third quarter with a sprained left ankle, but not much else went poorly for San Antonio while silencing the Lakers' enthusiastic crowd.

Howard had 25 points and 11 rebounds, and Pau Gasol added his first career playoff triple-double with 11 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists, but the Spurs were far too much for a team without Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash.

Andrew Goudelock scored a career-high 20 points in his first playoff start, and fellow starter Darius Morris scored 12 of his 24 points in the blowout fourth quarter.

With Bryant and Nash joined by Jodie Meeks and Steve Blake on the injured list, the Lakers started Goudelock and Morris, using a starting five that had never started together for the second time in three games. The young guards didn't play poorly, but they weren't enough to overcome Duncan's dominance and Parker's continued move back to top form.

"It's been a very tough year, but we're not going to make any excuses, and we're not going to quit," Howard said.

The Lakers exceeded their 29-point home loss to Portland on May 22, 2000, the previous worst home defeat for the 16-time NBA champion franchise. Staples Center's lower bowl was half empty in the final minutes, an unfamiliar sight in an arena used to celebrating championships.

"The first half, we gave everything we had, and it obviously wasn't enough," Los Angeles coach Mike D'Antoni said. "I thought our guys played as hard as they can play."

After finishing the regular season with a loss at Staples Center among their seven defeats in their final 10 games, the Spurs took control of the series with two methodical wins in San Antonio.

Nash was largely ineffective after missing the final eight regular-season games, and the Spurs' veteran chemistry was more than enough to finish off the Lakers.

The first half of Game 3 had the same theme. San Antonio jumped to an 18-point lead late in the second quarter with steady offense from 10 scorers, while the Lakers had an understandable lack of chemistry.

The Lakers' tumultuous season appears to be drawing to a merciful end, since they're nearly out of healthy players after beginning the season with a star-studded roster and championship aspirations.

Nine of the Lakers' 15 players were on their injury report for Game 3, and Metta World Peace played despite getting fluid drained from a cyst behind his surgically repaired left knee. After the game, World Peace said he'll probably sit out Game 4.

Bryant attended the game, hobbling through the Lakers' locker room before the game with crutches and a large walking boot on his immobilized ankle, but didn't join Nash, Blake and Meeks watching in suits at courtside.

The Lakers were forced to rely on Goudelock, their second-round draft pick from two years ago who spent this season in the D-League until Los Angeles signed him 12 days ago, and Morris, another second-year pro who barely left the Lakers' bench for long stretches this season.

Goudelock, the MVP of the NBA's D-League this season, put up plenty of points with ample opportunity to shoot, but Parker largely matched him while Duncan thoroughly outplayed Howard and Gasol down low with his timeless game as the Spurs pulled away.

Goudelock started slowly, but scored 10 points in a 2:25 burst late in the second quarter to trim San Antonio's halftime lead to 55-44.

NOTES: Gasol is the seventh player to post a playoff triple-double in Lakers history. ... F Boris Diaw, the Spurs' only player with a significant injury, is running on a treadmill and shooting in his comeback from the removal of a cyst from his spine. He's likely to play 2-on-2 with contact next week. ... World Peace ran with obvious discomfort in his knee. Before the game, he considered sitting out, but didn't feel he could miss a game with the Lakers' injury woes. ... Ashton Kutcher, David Arquette, Jon Heder and "Mad Men" creator Matthew Weiner watched from courtside.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-04-27-BKN-Spurs-Lakers/id-69b5d96cc8b14bbc94336e4b674a40bc

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Amazon reports lower 1Q earnings, higher revenue

SEATTLE (AP) ? Amazon.com says its net income declined in the first three months of the year even though revenue increased 22 percent, as its expenses continued to grow.

Amazon.com Inc. said Thursday that it earned $82 million, or 18 cents per share, in the first quarter. That's down 37 percent from $130 million, or 28 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier. But it's higher than the 7 cents expected by analysts polled by FactSet.

Revenue rose 22 percent to $16.07 billion, from $13.19 billion. Analysts expected $16.14 billion.

Amazon's operating expenses rose 22 percent to $15.9 billion, from $13 billion.

Amazon says it expects revenue of $14.5 billion to $16.2 billion for the current quarter. Analysts had expected $15.92 billion.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/amazon-reports-lower-1q-earnings-higher-revenue-202944865--finance.html

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Humans may have reached the Americas 22,000 years ago

Humans lived in South America at the height of the last ice age, thousands of years earlier than we thought, according to a controversial study. A team claims to have found 22,000-year-old stone tools at a site in Brazil, though other archaeologists are disputing the claim.

Christelle Lahaye of Michel de Montaigne Bordeaux 3 University in France and colleagues excavated a rock shelter in north-east Brazil and found 113 stone tools.

The team dated the sediments in which the tools were buried using a technique that determines when the sediments were last exposed to light. Some tools were buried 22,000 years ago ? thousands of years earlier than any known human colonisation of the Americas.

For decades, archaeologists thought that the Clovis people were the first to enter the Americas, 13,000 years ago. But since the 1980s evidence has accumulated for an earlier colonisation, at least 15,000 years ago.

Could humans have been in Brazil 22,000 years ago? "The [dating] tests they present suggest they've got a good signal," says Ann Wintle at the University of Cambridge.

For others, it is the tools that are raising eyebrows. "Rock shelters are difficult to interpret," points out John McNabb of the University of Southampton, UK. Stones falling from above can break, making them look like human-made tools. As a result, McNabb calls the evidence "suggestive but unproven".

Lahaye says the falling-stone scenario is unlikely in this case: the tools are made of a rock not present at the site. "They come from at least 15 kilometres away," she says. Her group is studying tools from nearby sites, which she says show traces of having been used to cut wood and bone.

There have been many claims of an early human presence in South America, but none has proved conclusive, says Silvia Gonzalez of Liverpool John Moores University in the UK. She studied apparent ancient human footprints in Mexico, which turned out not to be footprints.

"We seem to be going around in circles," she says. "Until someone finds a human skeleton, no one is going to believe this."

Journal reference: Journal of Archaeological Science, DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2013.02.019

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On Syria, U.S. options appear limited

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The White House disclosure that the Syrian government has twice used chemical weapons still leaves the Obama administration stuck with a limited choice of military options to help the rebels oust President Bashar Assad.

Arming the rebels runs smack into the reality that a military group fighting alongside them has pledged allegiance to al-Qaida. Establishing a no-fly zone poses a significant challenge as Syria possesses an air defense system far more robust than what the U.S. and its allies overwhelmed in Libya two years ago.

President Barack Obama had declared that the Assad regime's use of chemical weapons in the two-year civil war would be "game changer" that would cross a "red line" for a major military response, but the White House made clear Thursday that even a quick strike wasn't imminent.

Reflecting a strong degree of caution, the White House said the intelligence community assessed "with varying degrees of confidence" that the Syrian regime had used chemical weapons on a small scale. The White House said in a letter to two senators that the "chain of custody" was unclear and that the determination was based on physiological samples.

The information had been known to the administration and some members of Congress for weeks despite public pronouncements from the White House. The revelation on Thursday strengthened proponents of aggressive military action, who challenged the administration to act and warned that going wobbly would embolden Assad.

Yet it also underscored the difficulties of any step for war-weary lawmakers horrified by a conflict that has killed an estimated 70,000 but guarded about U.S. involvement in a Mideast war.

"There's no easy choice here," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., a member of the Armed Services Committee. "All the alternatives are flawed. It's just finding the least flawed among them that will get Assad out."

The next move on Syria was high on the agenda for Obama's meeting Friday with King Abdullah II of Jordan, as the U.S. ally has struggled with the influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees escaping the Syrian violence. Vice President Joe Biden and Abdullah discussed the best path to "a peaceful, democratic post-Assad Syria where moderates are empowered" on Thursday.

"I think it's important for the administration to look for ways to up the military pressure on Assad," said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Armed Services Committee.

One of the most powerful of the rebel groups in Syria is Jabhat al-Nusra, which recently declared its affiliation with al-Qaida. Last December, the State Department designated the group a terrorist organization, and the administration's opposition to directly arming the Syrian opposition stems from concerns about the weapons ending up in the hands of Islamic extremists.

Arming the rebels, said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is a "lot harder that it was before."

"We've gotten to the point now where the opposition has been affected by the radicals," Graham said in an interview. "Right weapons in right hands is the goal. The second war is coming. I think we can arm the right people with the right weapons. There's a risk there, but the risk of letting this go and chemical weapons falling into radical Islamists' hands is the greatest risk."

Several lawmakers, including Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., have called for the U.S. to create a narrow, safe zone inside Syria, along its border with Turkey.

Either a safe zone or a no-fly zone would require neutralizing Syria's air defenses. According to a report by the Institute for the Study of War, Syria's largely Soviet-era air defense system includes as many as 300 mobile surface-to-air missile systems and defense systems, and more than 600 static missile launchers and sites.

"You can establish it (safe zone) by taking out their aircraft on the ground with cruise missiles and using the Patriot (missile) also. No American manned aircraft in danger," McCain said.

The U.S. has taken only minimal military steps so far, limiting U.S. assistance to nonlethal aid, including military-style equipment such as body armor and night vision goggles.

The U.S. has deployed about 200 troops to Jordan to assist that country's military, and participated in NATO's placement of Patriot missile batteries in Turkey near the border to protect against an attack from Syria.

It's unclear, however, what arming the rebels or patrolling a no-fly zone over Syria would accomplish.

"The options are all bad," says Aram Nerguizian, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic & International Studies. "Arming the opposition doesn't do anything regarding chemical weapons or solving proliferation concerns in Syria."

Targeting a facility, he added, might send a message to the Assad regime. But it does little to address the larger direction of the civil war, which is tilting back toward government forces again after a counteroffensive.

"Here's one thing you can do," argues Andrew Tabler at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy in a similar vein. "If they load this stuff into bombs or mix the stuff, we can hit it," he said, but agreed that wouldn't eliminate the larger stockpiles or address the larger context of a conflict that is destroying Syria.

In testimony to Congress last week, Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was asked whether he was confident that U.S. forces could secure the chemical weapons caches within Syria.

"Not as I sit here today, simply because they've been moving it and the number of sites is quite numerous," Dempsey said.

Tabler pointed to the Israeli attack earlier this year on a Syrian weapons convoy going to Hezbollah as an example of a possibly targeted U.S. intervention. He said the question of arming the rebels should be looked at beyond chemical weapons use, considering the 200 Scud missiles that have been launched by Assad's regime in the last five months and the government's ongoing escalation "all over the place."

Even if U.S. interests aren't immediately affected, they could be over time.

"Syria isn't Vegas," Tabler said. "What happens in Syria doesn't stay in Syria. Where do these chemical weapons all go?"

___

Associated Press Intelligence Writer Kimberly Dozier contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-options-limited-syria-despite-weapons-report-071116497.html

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Joe and Tina Simpson: Divorced!

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Instant View: Amazon sustains growth, revenue up 22 percent

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc kept up a strong pace of growth in core retail and newer businesses like digital media, posting a 22 percent jump in revenue to $16.1 billion in the first quarter, while its earnings beat expectations.

Commentary:

KERRY RICE, ANALYST, NEEDHAM & CO

"Gross margin is definitely better than expected. That is something that investors are certainly keen on.

"Guidance was light, both top- and bottom-line. That certainly won't help the stock perform, although they have over the last several quarters exceeded expectations on the operating income side. So for the guidance, people are more concerned about revenue than operating income."

(Reporting By Malathi Nayak and Poornima Gupta)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/instant-view-amazon-sustains-growth-revenue-22-percent-202758794--finance.html

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Israel: OK to check emails of foreigners at border

JERUSALEM (AP) ? Israel's attorney general on Wednesday upheld a practice to allow security personnel to read people's email accounts when they arrive at the airport, arguing it prevents militants from entering the country.

The ruling followed an outcry last year when some people trying to enter Israel were ordered to open their emails after hours of interrogation at Israel's Ben-Gurion airport. In one instance, three Palestinian-American women were forbidden from entering after email checks were conducted.

Critics say it primarily targets Muslims and Arabs and appears to be aimed at keeping out visitors who have histories of pro-Palestinian activism, citing a history of such people being turned away from Israel's border crossings.

Security personnel may ask visitors to open their email accounts for inspection if they are perceived as being suspicious, wrote Nadim Aboud of Israel's attorney general office. In a response to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, he said potential entrants may refuse to allow their emails to be checked, but that would be a factor in deciding whether a person would be allowed to enter the country.

Aboud said the checks were justified because there was an increasing risk of foreigners being involved in militant activity. He said security services could not properly investigate the backgrounds of some potential entrants without the additional check.

A Justice Ministry official said the search was conducted only in "extraordinary cases." He spoke anonymously in line with ministry policy.

The attorney general's office wrote the letter in response to a request for clarification by ACRI after incidents were reported last year, said attorney Lila Margalit of the organization. She said Aboud's response effectively legalized the checks, which could now be challenged only in court.

"It was a concern because of the level of invasion inherent in (checking) a personal email account," Margalit said. "It constitutes a violation of privacy."

She said inside Israel, police could search a person's computer data only with court approval, even if there was a criminal investigation underway.

Israeli officials tend to conduct exhaustive checks on foreigners entering the country, or passing through border crossings they control, if they are deemed suspicious.

It particularly affects people who hope to travel to Palestinian areas of the West Bank. The Palestinians a measure of self-government in the West Bank, a territory east of the Jewish state; but Israel controls entry into those areas.

Such visitors frequently complain that they risk not being allowed into the country if they announce they will visit areas under Palestinian Authority control; but risk being accused of lying if they omit that information to security investigators.

There are no statistics on how many people are refused entry into Israel or through border crossings that Israel controls.

One aspect of the issue is that most people entering Israel obtain visas at the airport or other border crossings. Unlike many countries, Israel does not require people to obtain visas from their embassies in advance of their trips, eliminating possible screening before visitors arrive in Israel.

In contrast, Israelis themselves are required to obtain visas far in advance before visiting many countries. Even the U.S. requires an exhaustive interview process at its embassy in Tel Aviv, and it does not grant visas to all who apply. Iranian-born Israelis, for example, are often refused visas.

The practice of email checks appears to be a step beyond what some Western countries allow, while others permit similar measures.

Germany does not allow such searches. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has seized computers and other electronic devices from people arriving in the United States to search them.

In a narrow ruling last month, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that while Customs and Border Protection officers can do "a quick look" at a laptop computer or other equipment, reasonable suspicion is required for a more in-depth forensic exam of electronics. It was not immediately clear if that included email.

___

AP writers Alicia A. Caldwell in Washington and Robert Reid in Berlin contributed.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-04-24-ML-Israel-Email-Search/id-b1b4bcf4c51d46ed912a424792988f16

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African Union brings Sudan, rebels together for peace talks

By Aaron Maasho

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - The African Union on Wednesday brought together for the first time for peace talks Sudan and insurgents fighting government troops in two states bordering South Sudan, in a conflict that has affected almost a million people.

Fighting broke out between the Sudanese army and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North, or SPLM-North, in the states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile around the time of South Sudan's secession from Khartoum in 2011.

The violence has displaced or severely affected more than 900,000 people, according to the United Nations.

Sudan previously refused to meet the SPLM-North, and accused South Sudan of backing the rebels, charges denied by Juba.

Khartoum altered its position after ties with South Sudan greatly improved last month with the signing of a deal to resume cross-border oil flows, the lifeline for both. Both sides also agreed to open 10 border crossings on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, an AU panel led by mediator Thabo Mbeki, a former South African president, met with Sudanese delegation chief Ibrahim Ghandour and the SPLM-North's leader, Yassir Arman, in Addis Ababa at the start of peace talks, diplomats attending the negotiations said.

Ghandour and Arman were later set to meet directly for the first time, diplomats said.

No quick breakthrough is expected as both sides harbor deep mistrust and even hostility. Diplomats see the fact that talks actually take place as success and hope both will agree to allow the United Nations to deliver badly needed aid via Sudan to rebel-held territories in both states.

In an opening statement to the AU panel and Sudan's delegation, the SPLM-North said it was "looking forward to fruitful negotiations" to address the humanitarian crisis and find a solution for the conflict in both states.

Rebels in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states sided with South Sudan during the civil war with Khartoum, which ended with a peace deal in 2005. They were left on the Sudanese side of the border after southern secession and complain of marginalization.

"We see clearly that this negotiation represents a new historical opportunity to realize a just peace and peaceful democratic change that will lead to building a strong new Sudanese state on the basis of equal citizenship," SPLM-North leaders said in the statement sent to the media.

The rebels also demanded the release of 600 people they said were held by Sudanese authorities as political prisoners.

The SPLM is part of a an alliance with three rebel groups in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, scene of a separate insurgency, which seeks to topple President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

(Editing by Ulf Laessing and Peter Cooney)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/african-union-brings-sudan-rebels-together-peace-talks-235321452.html

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Most Canadian Homeowners Have No Plans to Downsize

Recently I wrote a Realty Times story quoting professor John Andrew about a trend for Canadians to move to smaller homes and condominiums. Based on a Statistics Canada report, Andrew said demand will increase for smaller units in cities, and there may be less demand for three- and four-bedroom homes in the suburbs.

But since that story, several housing observers have said the baby boomer generation and their children are not finished with those big homes yet.

A recent survey by Leger Marketing, sponsored by Royal LePage Real Estate, found the demand for suburban detached homes remains strong among baby boomers and their children, known as Generation Y.

"Baby boomers are the wealthiest generation in Canadian history," says Phil Soper, CEO of Royal LePage. "They live in large homes with ample space for their many possessions. They love their garages and their yards. This study clearly indicates that contrary to popular belief, most boomers do not intend to downsize anytime soon."

Just over 40 per cent of boomers surveyed said they planned to move, but of that group, almost half plan to buy a home that?s the same size or larger than their current house.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) says that Canadians aged 55 to 64 have the highest rates of homeownership among all age groups, at about 78 per cent. In households where the primary household maintainer is aged 75 or more, 67.9 per cent are homeowners.

"The biggest increase in age-specific ownership rates in recent decades has been among those 65-74 and 75 plus," says Adrienne Warren of Scotiabank Economics.

"Contrary to some dire predictions, population aging will not fuel a demographically induced selloff in Canadian real estate," she says. "Today?s seniors are healthier, wealthier and living longer than prior generations. They are increasingly likely to own their own home and to live in their homes for longer. Many will not need to tap into their principal home to finance retirement."

CMHC says about 85 per cent of Canadians over 55-years-old want to remain in their current home for as long as possible, according to a 2008 study conducted by the federal housing agency.

One reason why boomers are choosing to stay in their larger homes is because the next generation hasn?t moved out yet.

"The adult children of baby boomers aren?t going anywhere fast," says Soper. "Good jobs have proven more difficult for them to find, they?re extending their studies and they?re living at home. It is no wonder the concept of swapping a family-sized home for a small retreat has lost its lustre."

But when Generation Y (born between 1980 and 1994) is ready to buy a home, most intend to purchase in the suburbs, says the Leger Marketing survey. Fifty-five per cent said they would buy in the suburbs, while 21.7 said they would prefer living in the downtown core of a city.

"The young people who make up Generation Y are our first-time home buyers," says Soper. "Like their parents, they dream of owning a lovely house in the suburbs, which provides value as well as access to parkland for children to play and the perception of greater family safety. Even as condominium living becomes more popular across Canada, the study results do not point to a corresponding decrease in demand for traditional single-family homes. For the baby boomers that do head downtown, there is a generation waiting to move in."

Immigrants are likely to become more important to Canadian population growth during the next 20 years and currently account for almost two-thirds of growth.

Scotiabank says that immigrants are more likely to settle in large and mid-sized urban centres than their Canadian-born counterparts, and that immigrant households are twice as likely to live in a condominium as non-immigrant families. Affordability is cited as the main reason for this choice.

CMHC?s Online Guide for Older Canadians says that ethnic groups have different settlement patterns and housing preferences. "For example, immigrants from Hong Kong typically bypass inner-city reception areas in favour of immediate settlement in the suburbs."

It says that a study of a Toronto suburb "found that immigrants from Italy had the highest rate of homeownership (95 per cent) followed by immigrants from Hong Kong, Portugal, Germany, the People?s Republic of China, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and India. The study also found that immigrant housing preferences come to resemble the preferences of Canadian-born households over time; that is, they tend to choose single-detached homes in low-density suburbs."

A TD Economics report about the long-term outlook for house prices says: "In our projections, we have assumed that baby boomers will not sell their homes in droves, driving down average prices. Even if they did - and the jury is still out on how many will downgrade their properties - baby boomers will not all sell their homes on the same day. These adjustments happen over years, which mitigate their impact."

Published: April 23, 2013

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Source: http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20130423_cahomeowners.htm

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College Football Playoff to replace BCS

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby talks to reporters during a break from a meeting of the Bowl Championship Series NCAA college football conference commissioners in Pasadena, Calif., Tuesday, April 23, 2013. The Bowl Championship Series will be replaced by the College Football Playoff. A person familiar with the decision tells The Associated Press the new four-team playoff starting after the 2014 regular season will be called the College Football Playoff, and the conference commissioners will make it official with an announcement later Tuesday. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby talks to reporters during a break from a meeting of the Bowl Championship Series NCAA college football conference commissioners in Pasadena, Calif., Tuesday, April 23, 2013. The Bowl Championship Series will be replaced by the College Football Playoff. A person familiar with the decision tells The Associated Press the new four-team playoff starting after the 2014 regular season will be called the College Football Playoff, and the conference commissioners will make it official with an announcement later Tuesday. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) commissioner John Swofford talks to reporters during a break from a meeting of the Bowl Championship Series NCAA college football conference commissioners in Pasadena, Calif., Tuesday, April 23, 2013. The Bowl Championship Series will be replaced by the College Football Playoff. A person familiar with the decision tells The Associated Press the new four-team playoff starting after the 2014 regular season will be called the College Football Playoff, and the conference commissioners will make it official with an announcement later Tuesday. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany talks to reporters during a break from a meeting of the Bowl Championship Series NCAA college football conference commissioners in Pasadena, Calif., Tuesday, April 23, 2013. The Bowl Championship Series will be replaced by the College Football Playoff. A person familiar with the decision tells The Associated Press the new four-team playoff starting after the 2014 regular season will be called the College Football Playoff, and the conference commissioners will make it official with an announcement later Tuesday. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany talks to reporters during a break from a meeting of the Bowl Championship Series NCAA college football conference commissioners in Pasadena, Calif., Tuesday, April 23, 2013. The Bowl Championship Series will be replaced by the College Football Playoff. A person familiar with the decision tells The Associated Press the new four-team playoff starting after the 2014 regular season will be called the College Football Playoff, and the conference commissioners will make it official with an announcement later Tuesday. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby talks to reporters during a break from a meeting of the Bowl Championship Series NCAA college football conference commissioners in Pasadena, Calif., Tuesday, April 23, 2013. The Bowl Championship Series will be replaced by the College Football Playoff. A person familiar with the decision tells The Associated Press the new four-team playoff starting after the 2014 regular season will be called the College Football Playoff, and the conference commissioners will make it official with an announcement later Tuesday. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) ? The Bowl Championship Series will be replaced by the College Football Playoff.

The BCS conference commissioners announced the name of the new postseason system that starts in 2014 on Tuesday, the first of three days of meetings at a resort hotel in the Rose Bowl's backyard.

They also will choose the remaining three sites for the six-bowl semifinal rotation in the new system and the site of the first championship game to be held Jan. 12, 2015, this week.

The website www.collegefootballplayoff.com is already up and running and allowing fans to vote on a new logo. It also has a Twitter handle: (at)cfbplayoff.

"It's really simple. It gets right to the point," BCS executive director Bill Hancock, who will hold the same position in the playoff system, said at a short news conference with the 10 commissioners of the FCS conferences.

"Nothing cute. Nothing fancy. We decided it would be best to call it what it is."

Premiere Sports Management in Overland Park, Kan., was hired to help come up with a name and brand the new system. A committee of commissioners handled the naming of the new system. Hancock said they ran through "in the neighborhood of three dozen" names.

Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said, "We're clearly trying to make a clear break from the BCS."

Before the news was reported, Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said he'd be happy with whatever was selected.

"I'm am not good with names ? obviously," Delany said during a break in the meetings, referring to the Big Ten's division names, Legends and Leaders, that produced so much negative feedback the conference has already decided to change them.

The new postseason format will create two national semifinals to be played New Year's Eve or New Year's Day, with the winners advancing. The six bowls in the playoff rotation will host marquee, BCS-type games on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day during the seasons they do not host a semifinal.

"I don't think you can ever go too wrong calling something what it is," Scott said. "Things that make sense tend to stand the test of time."

Three semifinal spots have already been decided: the Rose, Orange and Sugar bowls.

Four other bowls have bid for the final three spots. The clear front-runners are the Cotton, Chick-fil-A and Fiesta. The Holiday Bowl in San Diego also put in a bid, but even its organizers have acknowledged they are a long shot at best to land the game.

Those decisions will be announced Wednesday.

The coaches on the Big 12's spring teleconference were already talking about the Cotton Bowl having a spot in the rotation as if it was a done deal.

"I think it's really exciting for this region, for everybody, and I think all of the schools in this region, to have Dallas as one of those sites is great for everybody in this region, and exciting for everybody," Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. "Obviously, everybody knows what a great and quality, what an awesome stadium it is, then the location for us is an advantage, or should be."

The first semifinals will be played at the Rose and Sugar bowls.

The site of the first national championship game in the new system will also be determined at these meetings and the finalists are Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the billion dollar home of the NFL team and the Cotton Bowl, and Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., home of the Buccaneers.

Arlington is the favorite to land that first championship game, but the competition from Tampa has been serious.

"I'm glad it has," Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said Tuesday. "I think it will give us a better outcome."

Also on the agenda this week for the commissioners will be the composition of the selection committee that will set the field for the playoff. They have said they would like the committee to be similar to the one that picks the teams for the NCAA basketball tournament, made up of conference commissioners and athletic directors.

Bowlsby said he expected both current and former administrators to have a spot on the committee.

"The hardest thing is making sure we're arming whoever is on the committee with the tools that it takes to differentiate among closely proximal teams," Bowlsby said. "You have to have some metrics available to differentiate between three, four, five, six and seven."

"You can't just say we like blue uniforms and not gold uniforms. You've got to arm the committee with the tools that it takes to do their job."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-04-23-FBC-BCS-Changes/id-27cfefca434b4ece97baedfec2ab6caf

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