The Decisions to Start With ? Business Management Daily: Free ...

As leaders, we all have a lot of decisions to make, and since there are many, it can sometimes be difficult to stay on top of and feel confident about all of them. Would you like a framework, a process, a way to improve your decision-making effectiveness and your confidence in those decisions long after they are made??

Og Mandino, one of my favorite authors, penned this line, one of my favorites, and the underlying idea for this article: ?Use wisely your power of choice.??

Here is the concept behind the framework I am promising: if we are going to make better decisions, it is important to make some basic decisions first, as those become the foundation and guidance for all of the other decisions that follow. Using this suggested framework will make future decisions come easier and with more confidence.?

This framework does something else too ? something perhaps even more important. Your answers to these foundational questions (and your resulting actions) also determine what kind of leader you will become. ?

Let?s survey those most foundational questions and how they help you make so many others more effectively.

What is most important? This is a dual-use question. First of all you, need to know what the most important things are in the bigger picture. Beyond that though, asking this question in the midst of any decision or problem solving exercise will give you immediate perspective and will improve your choices.

What do you believe in? This is the values question. When you understand your most deeply held values and the values of your organization, it will make many decisions easier, and will make some superfluous. Consider this question like a deep breath before deciding. Does the decision you are making align with your values?

What is your purpose? One of the challenges in decision making for all of us, especially as leaders, is to decide what not to do. Chances are you will have many opportunities presented to you and your team, and one of the decisions you must make is to say ?no.? When you and your team are crystal clear as to why you are in business and what your mission or purpose is, it is easier to say no to things that aren?t in complete support of that purpose. You?ve likely heard the phrase ?say no to the good so you can say yes to the great?. . . you can?t do that without knowing your purpose.

What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses? This question must be asked both personally and in relationship to your team. (Of course it works organizationally too.) Knowing your strengths and weaknesses clearly will help you make better decisions. It will help you decide what to do, who to involve and what challenges you might face. It helps define the good options, ones that make sense but may not match our strengths, from the great options, the ones that play to and complement our strengths. While strengths and weaknesses don?t need to be static (you can grow; you can add new resources), knowing where they are at the start of a project (after deciding) is an important part of successful outcomes from your decisions.

What are your basic beliefs about people? Many of the decisions you will make in your professional life will be related to and directly impact other people. Your underlying beliefs about people will have an impact on your decisions subconsciously (and already do). Spending time thinking about both your basic beliefs about people and the specific ones for the people involved in a particular decision will help you make more informed decisions and will perhaps give you a more complete perspective in your decision-making process.

What kind of leader do you want to be? This question gets more to your intentions for individual decisions and your legacy. Do you want to grow your people? Do you want decisions that are more completely committed to by your team? If so, then you will engage more people in decisions more often. Do you want to be seen as a strong and decisive leader? Those choices might lead you to make more independent or unilateral decisions. While your answer to this question may not change the decisions you make, it can definitely impact the way you approach and make them.

Your answers to these questions become your decision-making guidance system. They will not only give you greater efficiency in the short term, but will also give you greater effectiveness and therefore better decisions. Time invested in thinking about these questions ? and helping your team think about and know the answers to them ? will aid in your quest for greater results.

Remarkable Principle: Remarkable leaders know that the best decisions start with the most important decisions.

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Murkowski Backs Same-Sex Marriage (Taegan Goddard's Political Wire)

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PFT: Denver sees Super Bowl opportunity after Miami failure

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With the Dolphins not getting public money to upgrade Sun Life Stadium, it?s widely being assumed that South Florida will be shut out of the Super Bowl rotation.

The logic is simple, which makes it far easier for me to follow.? The NFL has strongly suggested that Miami won?t get another Super Bowl without upgrading the stadium.? The Dolphins, who have made a more clear link between the lack of upgrades and the absence of Super Bowls, have said the upgrades won?t happen without partial public money.? The partial public money isn?t available.? Thus, the upgrades won?t happen.

So future Super Bowls won?t happen, right?

Perhaps.

While we?re told it?s ?not very likely? that Miami will get additional Super Bowls without a stadium upgrade, it?s not impossible.? Ultimately, the owners collectively decide where Super Bowls will be played.

Miami landed on the endangered Super Bowl species list after a continuous rainfall marred Super Bowl XLI between the Colts and the Bears.? The league wants the paying customers to be protected from the South Florida elements ? less than a year before the NFL will be subjecting the paying customers to the New Jersey elements.

That remains the biggest disconnect, in our view.? It?s fine to drop the Super Bowl experience into Manhattan in the dead of winter, and to charge fans four figures to freeze while watching the game, but it?s no longer acceptable to spend a full week in Miami with the remote possibility that it will rain for four hours on Sunday night?

The problem for the league is that, if the owners relent and award additional Super Bowls to South Florida, the not-so-subtle ?upgrade or else? mandate will come off as hollow.? But by removing Miami from the rotation, the league necessarily won?t have as much leverage to squeeze every last penny out of the other potential Super Bowl locations.

Even now, the owners need Miami at the table in order to get the best possible deal out of San Francisco for Super Bowl L and Houston for Super Bowl LI.? Likewise, it?s possible that Miami will launch a dramatic, eleventh-hour reconfiguration of its bid to give the NFL more money to make up for the lack of a stadium upgrade.

At a time when the NFL is trying to expand the universe of potential Super Bowl locations in order to have more bids to pit against each other, it makes no sense to slam the door on playing the game in one of the best places it can be played, regardless of whether the stadium is renovated.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/05/06/denver-sees-a-super-opportunity-in-miami-stadium-defeat/related/

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AT&T Beam is a USB LTE modem with built-in LCD, due May 10th for $20

With the onset of MiFis, smartphone hotspots and other methods of tethering your computer to the 'net, USB modems aren't exactly the most popular devices on the block anymore. It doesn't mean they're not desirable to business folk, however, so most carriers keep at least one or two in their lineup. AT&T just introduced the Beam, its latest dongle from Sierra Wireless, which offers the usual LTE domestically (700/AWS) along with tri-band HSPA+ (850/1900/2100) and quad-band GSM / EDGE.

The key feature here is its built-in 96x64 black-and-white LCD panel, which displays signal strength, data usage and other stats. Finally, it offers mobile hotspot capability, GPS and microSD card support (up to 32GB), and will work on Win 8 / RT laptops and tablets. Dimension-wise, it weighs 1.91 ounces and measures a stout 1.97 x 2.58 x 0.46 inches (50 x 65.5 x 11.7mm). If that fits your purposes, the Beam can be all yours starting May 10th for $20 and a two-year commitment.

Filed under: Peripherals, Wireless, Mobile, AT&T

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Wind, not water, formed mound on Mars, new analysis suggests

May 6, 2013 ? A roughly 3.5-mile high Martian mound that scientists suspect preserves evidence of a massive lake might actually have formed as a result of the Red Planet's famously dusty atmosphere, an analysis of the mound's features suggests. If correct, the research could dilute expectations that the mound holds evidence of a large body of water, which would have important implications for understanding Mars' past habitability.

Researchers based at Princeton University and the California Institute of Technology suggest that the mound, known as Mount Sharp, most likely emerged as strong winds carried dust and sand into the 96-mile-wide crater in which the mound sits. They report in the journal Geology that air likely rises out of the massive Gale Crater when the Martian surface warms during the day, then sweeps back down its steep walls at night. Though strong along the Gale Crater walls, these "slope winds" would have died down at the crater's center where the fine dust in the air settled and accumulated to eventually form Mount Sharp, which is close in size to Alaska's Mt. McKinley.

This dynamic counters the prevailing theory that Mount Sharp formed from layers of lakebed silt -- and could mean that the mound contains less evidence of a past, Earth-like Martian climate than most scientists currently expect. Evidence that Gale Crater once contained a lake in part determined the landing site for the NASA Mars rover Curiosity. The rover touched down near Mount Sharp in August with the purpose of uncovering evidence of a habitable environment, and in December Curiosity found traces of clay, water molecules and organic compounds. Determining the origin of these elements and how they relate to Mount Sharp will be a focus for Curiosity in the coming months.

But the mound itself was likely never under water, though a body of water could have existed in the moat around the base of Mount Sharp, said study co-author Kevin Lewis, a Princeton associate research scholar in geosciences and a participating scientist on the Curiosity rover mission, Mars Science Laboratory. The quest to determine whether Mars could have at one time supported life might be better directed elsewhere, he said.

"Our work doesn't preclude the existence of lakes in Gale Crater, but suggests that the bulk of the material in Mount Sharp was deposited largely by the wind," said Lewis, who worked with first author Edwin Kite, a planetary science postdoctoral scholar at Caltech; Michael Lamb, an assistant professor of geology at Caltech; and Claire Newman and Mark Richardson of California-based research company Ashima Research.

"Every day and night you have these strong winds that flow up and down the steep topographic slopes. It turns out that a mound like this would be a natural thing to form in a crater like Gale," Lewis said. "Contrary to our expectations, Mount Sharp could have essentially formed as a free-standing pile of sediment that never filled the crater."

Even if Mount Sharp were born of wind, it and similar mounds likely overflow with a valuable geological -- if not biological -- history of Mars that can help unravel the climate history of Mars and guide future missions, Lewis said.

"These sedimentary mounds could still record millions of years of Martian climate history," Lewis said. "This is how we learn about Earth's history, by finding the most complete sedimentary records we can and going through layer by layer. One way or another, we're going to get an incredible history book of all the events going on while that sediment was being deposited. I think Mount Sharp will still provide an incredible story to read. It just might not have been a lake."

Dawn Sumner, a geology professor at the University of California-Davis and a Mars Science Laboratory team member, said that the specificity of the researchers' model makes it a valuable attempt to explain Mount Sharp's origin. While the work alone is not yet enough to rethink the distribution of water on Mars, it does propose a unique wind dynamic for Gale Crater then models it in enough detail for the hypothesis to actually be tested as more samples are analyzed on Mars, Sumner said.

"To my knowledge, their model is novel both in terms of invoking katabatic [cool, downward-moving] winds to form Mount Sharp and in quantitatively modeling how the winds would do this," said Sumner, who is familiar with the work but had no role in it.

"The big contribution here is that they provide new ideas that are specific enough that we can start to test them," she said. "This paper provides a new model for Mount Sharp that makes specific predictions about the characteristics of the rocks within the mountain. Observations by Curiosity at the base of Mount Sharp can test the model by looking for evidence of wind deposition of sediment."

The researchers used pairs of satellite images of Gale Crater taken in preparation for the rover landing by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter satellite managed by Caltech for NASA. Software tools extracted the topographical details of Mount Sharp and the surrounding terrain. The researchers found that the various layers in the mound did not form more-or-less flat-lying stacks as sediments deposited from a lake would. Instead, the layers fanned outward from the mound's center in an unusual radial pattern, Lewis said.

Kite developed a computer model to test how wind circulation patterns would affect the deposition and erosion of wind-blown sediment within a crater like Gale. The researchers found that slope winds that constantly exited and reentered Gale Crater could limit the deposition of sediments near the crater rim, while building up a mound in the center of the crater, even if the ground were bare from the start, Lewis said.

The researchers' results provide evidence for recent questions about Mount Sharp's watery origins, Lewis said. Satellite observations had previously detected water-related mineral signatures within the lower portion of Mount Sharp. While this suggested that the lower portion might have been series of lakebeds, portions of the upper mound were more ambiguous, Lewis said. First of all, the upper layers of the mound are higher than the crater walls in several places. Also, Gale Crater sits on the edge of Mars' northern lowlands. If it had been filled with water to near the height of Mount Sharp then the entire northern hemisphere would have been flooded.

Soil analyses carried out by Curiosity -- the rover's primary mission is two years, but could be extended -- will help determine the nature of Mount Sharp and the Martian climate in general, Lewis said. Wind erosion relies on specific factors such as the size of individual soil grains, so such information gleaned from the Curiosity mission will help determine Martian characteristics such as wind speed. On Earth, sediments need some amount of moisture to become cemented into rock. It will be interesting to know, Lewis said, how the rock layers of Mount Sharp are held together and how water might be involved.

"If the mechanism we describe is correct, it would tell us a lot about Mars and how it operates because Mount Sharp is only one of a class of enigmatic sedimentary mounds observed on Mars," Lewis said.

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/space_time/nasa/~3/ipMHIwY0nO4/130506132407.htm

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Video: Issa: "No question" Clinton's circle involved in Benghazi "cover-up" (cbsnews)

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OK, maybe some sages shouldn?t be on stages (Unqualified Offerings)

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Still 'Money': Floyd Mayweather Jr. picks apart Robert Guerrero

LAS VEGAS ? The countdown to the end of Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s legendary career began on Saturday with a brilliant performance in a victory over Robert Guerrero at the MGM Grand Garden.

Mayweather rolled his record to 44-0 and kept alive a dream to end his career with a perfect mark.

He signed a six-fight, 30-month contract with Showtime in February ?? likely his final contract ? and he started it off on the right foot.

Floyd Mayweather punches Robert Guerrero their WBC welterweight title fight. (USA Today)

He won a unanimous decision, with all three judges seeing it 117-111, to keep his WBC welterweight title.

Though Guerrero's trainer and father Ruben Guerrero shouted at the conclusion, "He ran like a chicken, baby," it was a masterful boxing performance by Mayweather.

Guerrero tried to pressure Mayweather, but Mayweather had none of it. Guerrero had some success pinning Mayweather in the corner in the first two rounds, but after that, Mayweather used his lateral movement and a laser accurate right hand to pummel Guerrero.

He landed more than 60 percent of his power punches and was never in danger. Only Guerrero's solid chin kept him from being stopped. He repeatedly took clean, hard shots from Mayweather.

[Related: Celebrities, athletes react to fight on Twitter]

Mayweather said he was injured in the middle of the fight, but he didn't show it.

He landed 195 of 476 punches and landed 153 of 254 power shots.

Robert Guerrero sits in his corner after the fifth round. (AP) "I don't remember what round it was, but I hurt my right hand," Mayweather said.

Mayweather rarely took two punches in a row during the fight and was able to spin away or duck under trouble. He reunited with his father, Floyd Mayweather Sr., and brought back the defensive brilliance that his father preaches.

"My father always talks defense first," Mayweather said.

Guerrero praised Mayweather for his performance.

"That's why he's the best," Guerrero said, shaking his head.

Guerrero said "he was slipping by the britches," and noted that Mayweather was very difficult to hit.

It wasn't one of Mayweather's classic performances, but that probably was not that much of a surprise given he was coming off a 57-day stint in the Clark County Detention Center on a domestic violence charge and hadn't fought in a year.

But if that was Mayweather at less than his best, it showed how great he is because he routed a quality fighter on Saturday.

Guerrero landed just 113 of 581 punches overall, and had dozens of his punches picked off or blocked by Mayweather.

"Give him credit," Guerrero said.

Unless he moves up in weight, there aren't a lot of great challenges to Mayweather remaining, particularly if he gets past a likely bout with Canelo Alvarez. Alvarez defeated Austin Trout on April 20, and a bout with Mayweather is likely the biggest pay-per-view bout that can be made.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. lands a left jab against Robert Guerrero in the fifth round during a WBC welterweight title fight, Saturday, May 4, 2013, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Related boxing content on Yahoo! Sports:
? Wladimir Klitschko retains belts with KO
? Watch: Mayweather's last moments before fight
? Abner Mares stops Daniel Ponce De Leon in 9th

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/boxing--floyd-mayweather-robert-guerrero-money-unanimous-decision-050412117.html

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EU predicts eurozone recession to continue in 2013

European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn addresses the media at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Friday, May 3, 2013. The European Union is predicting that the recession in the Eurozone will continue in 2013 and that unemployment will stand at record levels. In Friday's spring economic forecast, the EU said that gross domestic product in the 17 nations that use the euro currency will shrink by 0.4 percent this year, slightly better that the estimated -0.6 percent for last year. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)

European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn addresses the media at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Friday, May 3, 2013. The European Union is predicting that the recession in the Eurozone will continue in 2013 and that unemployment will stand at record levels. In Friday's spring economic forecast, the EU said that gross domestic product in the 17 nations that use the euro currency will shrink by 0.4 percent this year, slightly better that the estimated -0.6 percent for last year. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)

European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn addresses the media at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Friday May 3, 2013. The European Union is predicting that the recession in the Eurozone will continue in 2013 and that unemployment will stand at record levels. In Friday's spring economic forecast, the EU said that gross domestic product in the 17 nations that use the euro currency will shrink by 0.4 percent this year, slightly better that the estimated -0.6 percent for last year. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)

European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn addresses the media at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Friday, May 3, 2013. The European Union is predicting that the recession in the Eurozone will continue in 2013 and that unemployment will stand at record levels. In Friday's spring economic forecast, the EU said that gross domestic product in the 17 nations that use the euro currency will shrink by 0.4 percent this year, slightly better that the estimated -0.6 percent for last year. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)

European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn addresses the media at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Friday, May 3, 2013. The European Union is predicting that the recession in the Eurozone will continue in 2013 and that unemployment will stand at record levels. In Friday's spring economic forecast, the EU said that gross domestic product in the 17 nations that use the euro currency will shrink by 0.4 percent this year, slightly better that the estimated -0.6 percent for last year. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)

BRUSSELS (AP) ? Europe will take longer to recover from its economic crisis as it tackles a worse-than-expected recession in the eurozone and unemployment at record levels, the European Union warned Friday.

In its spring economic forecast, the EU said that gross domestic product in the 17 member countries that use the euro will shrink by 0.4 percent this year, better than the 0.6 percent contraction in 2012 but 0.1 percentage points worse than the EU had forecast back in February.

The report also had bad news for the wider 27-country EU: it now expects the region's economy to shrink by 0.1 percent in 2013, against a forecast of 0.1 percent growth in February.

"Grappling with the aftermath of a profound financial and economic crisis, the EU economy is set to pick up speed only very slowly in the course of this year," the report said.

The grim outlook even forced EU Commissioner Olli Rehn to raise the specter that France, the bloc's second biggest economy, may be given two extra years to bring its deficit within the target 3 percent of gross domestic product needed for a sustainable future.

"It may be reasonable to extend the deadline by two years and to correct the excessive deficit at the latest by 2015 in France," Rehn told reporters.

After the eurozone crisis over too much debt broke in late 2009, the region's governments slashed spending ? either to meet conditions for bailout loans, or to reassure jittery bond markets. But austerity has also inflicted severe economic pain. Slashing spending and raising taxes have proved to be less effective at reducing deficits than initially thought ? and perhaps counter-productive. As economies shrink, so do their tax revenues, potentially making it harder to close budget gaps.

The impact of the eurozone's austerity measures and recession are being felt even in the region's more prosperous countries. The EU report forecasts GDP growth in Germany, Europe's largest economy, will fall from 0.7 percent in 2102 to 0.4 percent this year as demand from other parts of Europe falls. France, meanwhile, is expected to fall into negative territory in 2013, with GDP dropping 0.1 percent.

Against such a depressing background, Rehn chided France for the "persistent deterioration of French competitiveness" and called for "substantial structural reforms in the labor market."

Instead of moving toward a safe 3 percent deficit, France is forecast to have a deficit of 3.9 percent this year and 4.2 percent next year. The French government said that new legislation is already in the pipeline to cut spending and increase the fight against fiscal fraud to bring its deficit down.

In a move designed to help the eurozone's economic recovery, the European Central Bank on Thursday cut its benchmark interest rate a quarter-point to a record low of 0.50 percent. Bank President Mario Draghi added that the ECB was prepared to flex its muscles further, saying the ECB stood "ready to act if needed." But Draghi also implored Europe's governments to do more to stimulate economic growth.

Unemployment across the eurozone is expected to hit an average of 12.2 percent this year, up from 11.4 percent in 2012. In both Greece and Spain it is expected to peak at 27 percent.

Rehn said that "in view of the protracted recession, we must do whatever it takes to overcome the unemployment crisis."

There are currently 19.2 million people out of work in the eurozone, leaving EU leaders with an uphill battle to turn the economy around while making sure the population continues to back the austerity measures aimed at whipping public finances back in shape.

Rehn insisted that after the 2012 recession, GDP growth is expected to start picking up again in the second half of 2013. He added that, under the assumption of unchanged policies, GDP would even rise by 1.2 percent in 2014.

But overall, the news remained bleak as the report said that "the recovery of economic activity is expected to be too slow to reduce joblessness."

Not much improvement in unemployment is expected in 2014 and "differences across member states are expected to remain very large."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-05-03-Europe%20Economy/id-04d419e2225342fb8d4299ad2056eef5

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Telling time on Saturn: Undergraduate student shows how planet's magnetosphere changes with the seasons

May 3, 2013 ? A University of Iowa undergraduate student has discovered that a process occurring in Saturn's magnetosphere is linked to the planet's seasons and changes with them, a finding that helps clarify the length of a Saturn day and could alter our understanding of Earth's magnetosphere.

Saturn's magnetosphere is the third largest structure in the solar system, eclipsed only by the magnetic fields of the sun and Jupiter. Unlike Earth, which has a visible rocky surface and rotates once every 24 hours, Saturn is composed mostly of clouds and liquid gas layers, each rotating about the planet at its own rate of speed. This variation in rotation made it difficult for scientists to pin down time for the planet.

Decades ago, a strong and naturally occurring radio signal, called Saturn kilometric radiation (SKR), was believed to give an accurate measurement of a Saturn day. But data gathered by an ESA/NASA spacecraft proved otherwise.

Now, using data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which entered orbit around Saturn in 2004, UI space physicist Donald Gurnett and other scientists showed that the north and south poles have their own SKR "days" that vary over periods of weeks and years. How these different periods arise and are driven through the magnetosphere has become a central question of the Cassini mission, according to NASA officials.

The discovery by Tim Kennelly, a UI junior majoring in physics and astronomy, is one of the first direct observations of seasonal changes in Saturn's magnetosphere. In addition, the finding carries over to all planets having a magnetosphere, including Earth.

"I'm pleased to have contributed to our understanding of Saturn's magnetosphere so early in my career," says Kennelly, the lead author of the paper published online in the American Geophysical Union's (AGU) Journal of Geophysical Research. "I hope this trend continues."

Scientists have known for some time that Saturn's magnetospheric processes are linked together, from the activity generating the SKR emission relatively near the planet to the periodic signatures in Saturn's magnetosphere stretching millions of miles downstream in the planet's magnetotail. But they didn't know how they were linked.

Kennelly analyzed phenomena recorded between July 2004 and December 2011 by Cassini's UI-built Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) instrument and came to some novel conclusions about how the events are linked. First, he looked at inward-moving "flux tubes" composed of hot, electrically charged gas, called plasma. Focusing on the tubes when they initially formed and before they had a chance to dissipate under the influence of the magnetosphere, he found that the occurrence of the tubes correlates with activity in the northern and southern hemisphere depending upon the season.

Kennelly found that during winter in the northern hemisphere, the occurrence of flux tubes correlates with SKR period originating in the northern hemisphere. A similar flux tube and SKR correlation was noted for the southern hemisphere during southern winter. The events are strongly ordered, he says, and follow Saturn's seasonal changes.

This finding may alter how scientists look at Earth's magnetosphere and the Van Allen radiation belts that affect a variety of activities at Earth ranging from space flight safety to satellite and cell phone communications.

Commenting on his research experience, Kennelly says, "I'm really happy with the support I've received from Don Gurnett's group. They let me do a lot of the research on my own. I'm really appreciative." He adds that he will begin applying to graduate schools next semester and plans to earn his doctorate in plasma physics.

In addition to Kennelly, UI researchers include UI postdoctoral scholar Jared Leisner, associate research scientist George Hospodarsky and Donald Gurnett, head of the RPWS instrument investigation and the James A. Van Allen/Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver Professor of Physics and Astronomy.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Iowa. The original article was written by Gary Galluzzo.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. T. J. Kennelly, J. S. Leisner, G. B. Hospodarsky, D. A. Gurnett. Ordering of injection events within Saturnian SLS longitude and local time. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 2013; 118 (2): 832 DOI: 10.1002/jgra.50152

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/space_time/nasa/~3/jruyssL9gf4/130503094951.htm

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Jolla names Tomi Pienim?ki as new CEO, Marc Dillon to become Head of Software Development

As Jolla gears up for the imminent unveiling of its first smartphone packing the MeeGo-inspired Sailfish OS, there's been another shake-up at the highest level of the company. Marc Dillion will no longer be CEO as of May 6th, with a man by the name of Tomi Pienimäki taking over leadership of the company. He's no stranger to Jolla -- he's an investor and his brother Sami is one of the company's founders. Using nearly the same wording as when previous CEO Jussi Hurmola changed roles, Dillon will now be able to "fully concentrate on the development of Sailfish operating system" under his new title of Head of Software Development. Pienimäki's record shows he's all business, with experience in management, logistics, supply chains and driving growth -- you know, all the fun stuff that keeps a company ticking. Following the handset reveal in May, Jolla expects to start a "pre-sales campaign" in the same month and have devices available for purchase during the second half of this year.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile

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Pickups spur increase in April auto sales

In this Thursday, April 25, 2013, photo, GMC trucks are lined up on the lot of Capitol City Buick Pontiac GMC in Montpelier, Vt. The auto industry is expected to post its best April sales totals since 2007 when major automakers report monthly tallies Wednesday, May 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot)

In this Thursday, April 25, 2013, photo, GMC trucks are lined up on the lot of Capitol City Buick Pontiac GMC in Montpelier, Vt. The auto industry is expected to post its best April sales totals since 2007 when major automakers report monthly tallies Wednesday, May 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot)

DETROIT (AP) ? Detroit was king in April, with demand for its big pickups helping to boost U.S. auto sales and offset a soft month for Toyota.

Ford, GM and Chrysler sold a total of 144,042 full-size pickups, up 29 percent from last April, driven by strength in the U.S. housing industry.

Overall sales grew 8.5 percent to nearly 1.3 million. While that's the industry's best April total since 2007, the pace slowed from the first three months of this year. On an annualized basis, April sales were 14.9 million, the first month below 15 million since October.

One reason for the slowdown: Toyota. The Japanese automaker's U.S. sales dropped by 1 percent, or around 2,000 vehicles, from last April. Alec Gutierrez, a senior market analyst with Kelley Blue Book, said he and other analysts underestimated the impact that increasing competition is having on Toyota.

Popular Toyota vehicles like the Corolla and Camry sedans lost sales to fresher models like the Hyundai Elantra and the Ford Fusion. Gas prices ? which are 30 cents cheaper than at this time last year ? hurt sales of the Prius hybrid, down 21 percent. Toyota's share of the market fell to 13.7 percent from 15 percent a year earlier, putting it behind GM and Ford.

Analysts still expect the industry to sell more than 15 million cars and trucks this year. Gutierrez is keeping his forecast at 15.3 million. That's up from sales of 14.5 million last year. The most recent high was 17 million in 2005, while the trough was 10.4 million during the recession in 2009.

"We're not reading too much" into the April number, Gutierrez said.

Ford, General Motors and Chrysler reported double-digit sales increases last month. Nissan led Japanese automakers with a gain of 23 percent, while Honda's sales rose 7 percent. Volkswagen sales dropped 10 percent, according to figures released Wednesday.

Detroit dominates the pickup segment, as U.S. buyers remain loyal to domestic brands despite efforts by foreign brands to win them over. Sales of Ford's F-Series, the best-selling vehicle in the U.S., rose 24 percent, while Chevrolet Silverado sales rose 28 percent. Chrysler's recently redesigned Ram pickup saw a 49-percent increase.

The gains bode well for second-quarter earnings, since pickups are among automakers' most profitable vehicles.

Truck sales have been strong all year because of customers like Adrien McFrederick, who recently put down a deposit on a 2013 Ram 3500.

McFrederick, 35, owns a marble and tile business, and needed to replace the 2007 Silverado he kept while work was slow. He started looking at Rams late last year after he and his wife bought a Chrysler Town and Country minivan.

Businesses like McFrederick's are getting a boost from a rise in home building, which increased 7 percent from February to March. A revived housing sector means higher sales of big pickups as companies and laborers return to the market. GM said its sales to small businesses rose 32 percent to 57,000 in April.

A different kind of business ? natural gas drilling ? is propelling sales at Chuck Eddy Jr.'s Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram dealership near Youngstown, Ohio. Eddy said energy industry workers from all over the country were coming in to buy trucks last month, keeping him in tight competition with a nearby Ford store.

"I'm selling heavy-duty trucks. We had people coming in from all over the country buying. We had a guy come in from Montana," Eddy said.

Jesse Toprak, a senior analyst for the TrueCar.com auto pricing site, said full-size trucks made up around 11.5 percent of sales in April, up from around 10 percent last year. He expects them to top 12 percent of total sales ? or nearly 2 million vehicles ? by the fall of this year, when truck sales are usually strongest. Full-size truck sales peaked at 15 percent of the U.S. market in 2004.

The growth in truck sales shows underlying strength in the economy, Toprak said, since small businesses won't buy them unless they're confident in the future.

The U.S. economic recovery is far from smooth. Unemployment stands at a stubbornly high 7.6 percent and factory activity expanded at a slower pace in April, held back by weaker hiring and less company stockpiling.

But many factors favor car and truck sales. Interest rates are low ? the average four-year loan on a new car is 2.4 percent, according to Bankrate.com. Credit is widely available, even to those with low scores. Buyers can currently get good trade-in value for their old cars. Lease deals are good. Gas prices have fallen since February, and ended April at $3.51 per gallon. And cars and trucks have reached a record average of 11 years old.

All that, plus record-setting stock markets and a recovery in home prices, is boosting sales in many segments of the auto market.

GM sales rose 11 percent in April, and not just because of pickups. Even though gas is cheaper than last year, small cars like the Chevrolet Cruze and Sonic saw 20-percent gains. Cadillac sales increased 34 percent thanks to the new ATS and XTS sedans.

Chrysler's sales also rose 11 percent. Sales of the Jeep Grand Cherokee SUV increased 27 percent. The Dodge Dart compact car posted its best month ever with sales of nearly 8,100. But sales of the Chrysler brand fell 13 percent.

Ford sales jumped 18 percent thanks to a 52 percent gain for the retooled Escape SUV and a 25 percent jump for the Fusion sedan, which both went on sale last fall. The new MKZ midsize sedan pushed Ford's struggling Lincoln brand to its first sales increase since August. Sales of the hybrid version have been so strong ? particularly in Los Angeles, where they make up 60 percent of all sales ? that Ford plans to increase the percentage of hybrid MKZs it builds from 20 percent to 30 percent.

Other automakers reporting Wednesday:

? Nissan's sales rose 23 percent on demand for the recently redesigned Altima midsize car and Sentra compact. The company also took a step toward boosting future numbers. It announced price cuts on seven models that make up 65 percent of its U.S. sales. The cuts, effective Friday, run from $580 on the top-selling Altima to $4,400, on the Armada big SUV.

? Honda's sales rose 7.4 percent thanks to growing sales of its newly redesigned Civic and Accord and a big increase for the subcompact Fit.

? Hyundai's sales were up 2 percent, hurt by tight supply of the Sonata midsize sedan. Sales of the Elantra small car jumped 45 percent.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-05-01-Auto%20Sales/id-fe33ab9dc728410ba13c77824a5a8ae5

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Turning human stem cells into brain cells sheds light on neural development

May 2, 2013 ? Medical researchers have manipulated human stem cells into producing types of brain cells known to play important roles in neurodevelopmental disorders such as epilepsy, schizophrenia and autism. The new model cell system allows neuroscientists to investigate normal brain development, as well as to identify specific disruptions in biological signals that may contribute to neuropsychiatric diseases.

Scientists from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research led a study team that described their research in the journal Cell Stem Cell, published online today.

The research harnesses human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), which differentiate into a broad range of different cell types. In the current study, the scientists directed the stem cells into becoming cortical interneurons -- a class of brain cells that, by releasing the neurotransmitter GABA, controls electrical firing in brain circuits.

"Interneurons act like an orchestra conductor, directing other excitatory brain cells to fire in synchrony," said study co-leader Stewart A. Anderson, M.D., a research psychiatrist at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "However, when interneurons malfunction, the synchrony is disrupted, and seizures or mental disorders can result."

Anderson and study co-leader Lorenz Studer, M.D., of the Center for Stem Cell Biology at Sloan-Kettering, derived interneurons in a laboratory model that simulates how neurons normally develop in the human forebrain.

"Unlike, say, liver diseases, in which researchers can biopsy a section of a patient's liver, neuroscientists cannot biopsy a living patient's brain tissue," said Anderson. Hence it is important to produce a cell culture model of brain tissue for studying neurological diseases. Significantly, the human-derived cells in the current study also "wire up" in circuits with other types of brain cells taken from mice, when cultured together. Those interactions, Anderson added, allowed the study team to observe cell-to-cell signaling that occurs during forebrain development.

In ongoing studies, Anderson explained, he and colleagues are using their cell model to better define molecular events that occur during brain development. By selectively manipulating genes in the interneurons, the researchers seek to better understand how gene abnormalities may disrupt brain circuitry and give rise to particular diseases. Ultimately, those studies could help inform drug development by identifying molecules that could offer therapeutic targets for more effective treatments of neuropsychiatric diseases.

In addition, Anderson's laboratory is studying interneurons derived from stem cells made from skin samples of patients with chromosome 22q.11.2 deletion syndrome, a genetic disease which has long been studied at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. In this multisystem disorder, about one third of patients have autistic spectrum disorders, and a partially overlapping third of patients develop schizophrenia. Investigating the roles of genes and signaling pathways in their model cells may reveal specific genes that are crucial in those patients with this syndrome who have neurodevelopmental problems.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Asif?M. Maroof, Sotirios Keros, Jennifer?A. Tyson, Shui-Wang Ying, Yosif?M. Ganat, Florian?T. Merkle, Becky Liu, Adam Goulburn, Edouard?G. Stanley, Andrew?G. Elefanty, Hans?Ruedi Widmer, Kevin Eggan, Peter?A. Goldstein, Stewart?A. Anderson, Lorenz Studer. Directed Differentiation and Functional Maturation of Cortical Interneurons from Human Embryonic Stem Cells. Cell Stem Cell, 2013; 12 (5): 559 DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2013.04.008

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/top_news/~3/imh1RSlsK1U/130502131933.htm

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Police arrest Tupelo, Miss., man in ricin case

The FBI arrested Tupelo, Miss., resident Everett Dutschke in connection to the ricin-laced letters sent to President Obama and two other officials, police said Saturday. NBC News' Kristen Welker reports.

By Matthew DeLuca, Staff Writer, NBC News

A Tupelo, Miss. man has been arrested and charged in connection with the letters addressed to President Obama and a U.S. senator that initially tested positive for the poison ricin, police said Saturday.

James Everett Dutschke, 41, was charged with possessing and attempting to use ricin as a biological weapon, the Department of Justice announced. Dutschke could face life imprisonment and a $250,000 fine if convicted.

He was arrested in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday morning by federal agents. Investigators searched Dutschke?s home on Tuesday in the expanding case into the letters sent to the president, U.S. Senator Roger Wicker and Lee County, Miss., Justice Court Judge Sadie Holland.

The arrest took place at Everett?s home in Tupelo without incident, an FBI spokesperson said.

The possibility that Dutschke might be of interest to investigators was raised earlier in the week by an attorney representing another Mississippi resident, Paul Kevin Curtis, who was arrested on April 18. Charges against Curtis were dropped on Tuesday.

?I respect President Obama and love my country,? Curtis said at a news conference on Tuesday. ?I would never do anything to pose a threat to him or any other U.S. official.?

As Dutschke?s home was searched on Tuesday, he told reporters that he had nothing to do with the case.

?I guess Kevin got desperate,? Dutschke told the Jackson Clarion Ledger. ?I feel like he?s getting away with the perfect crime.?

?I don?t know anything about this. Where are the allegations coming from? Who made the allegations? The defense attorney for the accused,? Dutschke said.

Curtis, 45, a professional Elvis impersonator, was the first man arrested in the case. Wicker said that he recognized the man after his arrest, and had once hired the man he called ?very entertaining? to perform as Elvis at a party.

The letters sent to Obama and Wicker were both postmarked April 8, 2013, and mailed out of Memphis, Tenn. They end with an identical phrase, according to an FBI bulletin obtained by NBC News: ?to see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance.?

The letters also ended with the message, ?I am KC and I approve this message.?

An FBI agent testified on Monday that a search of Curtis? home and vehicle did not turn up any ricin or castor beans, which are used to make the poison.

?There was no apparent ricin, castor beans, or any material there that could be used for the manufacturing, like a blender or something,? Agent Brandon Grant said in a courtroom in Oxford, Miss., according to the Associated Press.

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USOC: 10 cities interested in hosting 2024 Games

The U.S. Olympic Committee is talking to 10 cities about a possible bid for the 2024 Summer Games, including a joint proposal from San Diego and Mexican neighbor Tijuana.

Following failed bids for the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, the USOC sent out letters to 35 American cities in February to gauge interest in a potential run for 2024.

"We're in discussion with about 10 cities actively now," USOC chief executive Scott Blackmun said in an interview after speaking to the Associated Press Sports Editors in New York. "The process is really working the way it was supposed to."

Los Angeles and Philadelphia have publicly announced their interest, and Blackmun said San Diego and Tijuana have approached the USOC about a joint bid.

Blackmun declined to identify the other cities being considered as potential candidates, saying they preferred to keep it confidential for now. He said three cities have formally said they are not interested in bidding.

Blackmun said he would be surprised if any other cities came forward at this point.

"We don't want to submit a bid we don't think we can win," Blackmun told the APSE gathering.

The United States hasn't hosted a Summer Olympics since the 1996 Atlanta Games. New York mounted a failed bid for the 2012 Games, which went to London, and Chicago suffered a stinging first-round defeat in the IOC vote for the 2016 Olympics, which were awarded to Rio de Janeiro.

The USOC has since reached a revenue-sharing agreement with the IOC, ending a long-running dispute that contributed to the failed bids. With relations back on track and the USOC working to increase its international presence, the chances for a successful U.S. bid in 2024 are considered vastly improved.

"We've got plenty of time," Blackmun told the AP. "There are no specific deadlines on this process."

The USOC has said it plans to decide by the end of 2014 whether to bid. The International Olympic Committee will select the 2024 host city in 2017.

Blackmun said a joint bid can work in some geographical areas, citing the Bay Area and the cities of San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose as a "natural" possibility.

As for San Diego and Tijuana, he said, "That would have its challenges. We haven't looked at it carefully. We just learned about it."

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/usoc-10-cities-interested-hosting-2024-games-152432575.html

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City, Cubs push $500 million Wrigley renovation

CHICAGO (AP) ? The historic home of the Chicago Cubs will get a $500 million facelift, including its first electronic outfield video board, as part of a hard-fought agreement announced Sunday night between the City of Chicago and the ball team.

Wrigley Field also will host an expanded number of night games under the announced pact, as part of Cubs owner Tom Ricketts' plans to renovate the second-oldest ballpark in the major leagues, boost business and make baseball's most infamous losers competitive again.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel hailed what the two sides called a "framework" agreement in a joint statement issued Sunday night, noting that it includes no taxpayer funding. That had been one of the original requests of the Ricketts family in a long-running renovation dispute that at times involved everything from cranky ballpark neighbors to ward politics and even the re-election campaign of President Barack Obama.

"This framework allows the Cubs to restore the Friendly Confines (of Wrigley) and pursue their economic goals, while respecting the rights and quality of life of its neighbors," Emanuel said in a news release sent to The Associated Press.

Still uncertain was how the agreement will sit with owners of buildings across the street from Wrigley who provide rooftop views of the ball games under an agreement with the Cubs that goes back years. This month they threatened to sue if the renovations obstruct their views, which they claimed would drive them out of business. Messages left late Sunday with a spokesman for the rooftop owners was not immediately returned.

The statement from Emanuel's office says a "video board" is planned for left field and a second sign would be erected in right field patterned on an existing Toyota sign in left field. The statement does not indicate how large the video screen or second sign would be, saying only that "the Cubs will work with the city on placement of both ... to minimize impact on nearby rooftops to the extent consistent with the team's needs."

The city and ball club said they hoped that the agreement would allow the Cubs to obtain necessary city approvals for the work by the end of the current baseball season.

The Ricketts family, which bought the Cubs in 2009 for $845 million, initially sought tax funding for renovation plans. With that out in the new agreement, the owners will seek to open new revenue streams outside the stadium. Under the agreement, the Ricketts family would be allowed to build a 175-room hotel, a plaza, and an office building with retail space and a health club.

Also included in the agreement are plans for 40 night games, four yearly concerts and easing of restrictions on smaller events. Currently the team plays about 30 night games. The plan also addresses chronic complaints about parking in the densely populated Wrigleyville neighborhood, including the addition of 1,000 "remote" parking spots that will be free and come with shuttle service.

"We are anxious to work with our community as we seek the approvals required to move the project forward," Ricketts said in the statement.

The site of Babe Ruth's "called shot" home run in the 1932 World Series and more heartbreak than Cubs fans would like to remember, the 99-year-old Wrigley is only younger than Boston's Fenway Park. It has long been a treasured showplace for baseball purists ? night games were only added in 1988 ? but team officials for years have desperately wanted a true upgrade, saying it costs as much as $15 million a year just to keep up with basic repairs.

The ballpark has also played no small part in the lore of the team, as fans were reminded April 10 when someone delivered a goat's head in a box addressed to team chairman Tom Ricketts. Neither the team nor the Chicago Police Department have talked about a possible motive for the strange delivery, but as every fan knows it was in the 1945 World Series when a tavern owner arrived at the park with his pet goat ? which had a ticket. According to legend, the owner was told that the goat smelled and was denied entry. The angry tavern owner then put the "Curse of the Billy Goat" on the Cubs and, this is the part the fans know the best, the team has not been back to the World Series ever since.

Getting to an agreement hasn't been easy. After failing to reach an agreement when Mayor Richard Daley was in office, the family kept talking after Emanuel took office in 2011. Emanuel the next year said city officials and the Ricketts family were in the "final stages" of talks on a renovation plan that could include public help.

But even presidential politics presented an obstacle for the plans at one point.

During the 2012 election, the patriarch of the Ricketts family, which created the TD Ameritrade brokerage firm, was considering a $10 million campaign against President Obama that would refer to the racially incendiary sermons delivered by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright at a Chicago church Obama once attended. J. Joseph Ricketts dropped the proposal, but the episode brought a huge dose of unwanted bad press.

The news especially angered Emanuel, Obama's former White House chief of staff. Emanuel, staffers said, was so livid he refused to take phone calls from Tom Ricketts.

In recent weeks, fans also had to deal with the unlikely specter of the Cubs leaving Chicago. With the talks bogged down, the mayor of nearby Rosemont piped up, saying the village located near O'Hare International Airport would be willing to let the Cubs have 25 acres free of charge to build a replica of Wrigley Field.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/city-cubs-push-500-million-wrigley-renovation-041430116--mlb.html

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How Will Google Glass Change Internet Marketing? - Search Engine ...

For all the hype about Google Glass, not much has been said about how it's going to change Internet marketing.

Could it be that for all our gadget drool, we're overlooking what could be the biggest Internet marketing explosion of the decade? Or will Google Glass even make a ripple in online marketing?

Let's look at some possible outcomes, lay out the facts, and propose some ways you can be ready for the rollout of Google Glass, and the impact it will have on the Internet marketing world.

Possible Outcomes

For the best perspective on this question, it's best to take a step back and consider Google's marketing strategy. Obviously, Google isn't going to divulge whatever marketing secrets they have for their tricked-out glasses. The nearly-$1,500 price tag is a sign that they're not giving them away for free.

But isn't there more to it than just selling glasses? How might Google capitalize on Google Glass beyond the first wave of sales?

It's a tricky question for several reasons.

Google Glass is unlike anything that Google has done before. Come to think of it, it's unlike anything that anyone has ever done. Humankind is treading into an area of vague outcomes.

There is so much potential for Google Glass that it's hard to get our head around all the possibilities.

There are a few options.

• Google has no bigger marketing plans. It's just a cool gadget. It's just technology. Let's take Google at their word and believe the Google rep who said, "We're more interested in making the hardware available, [than advertising on it]." That would be nice. Google may not be completely altruistic, but they may indeed have a pure desire to advance technology in the world today.
• Google Glass will fizzle and die. Some people seem to think we've reached the utopia of technology: "Sooner or later [Google Glass] will become a staple in our daily lives," writes one zealous technophile. Then again, maybe not. Forbes contributor Rob Asghar pessimistically prognosticates, "Google Glass seems a longshot to endure past the early fascination of the early adopters." Maybe the Glass will join the Google graveyard alongside Google Reader, Buzz, and iGoogle.
• Google will use it for advertising. "At the moment, there are no plans for advertising on this device," said Babak Parviz, lead engineer on the Google Glass project. Operative word: now. Babak said so in a December 2012 interview. Thus, there might be some future chance at advertising revenue. Todd Wasserman at Mashable has suggested that Google Glass will provide coupon offers, personalized ads, and gamification? ? in other words, advertising on spectacle steroids.
• Google is going into gaming, or something else entirely. During the interview cited above, Babak spoke opaquely of "augmented reality." Augmented reality is the realm of gaming. Though Google isn't exactly known for their games, maybe they're trying to edge into the market with augmented reality hardware. This, however, is unlikely. Perhaps when the API comes out and Google releases developer kits, then the gamers will jump in and have their heyday. But augmented reality glasses aren't just the domain of gamers. Those who are itching to get a pair of glasses are excited about using them as politicians, adventurers, farmers, performers, service personnel, military, medical professionals, and nearly every other field of labor known to humankind. Just like we can all think of some way to make a smartphone useful to anyone, so we can imagine that Google Glass will have a similar impact.

Maybe Google is just innovating the future again. As Babak plainly stated, "We constantly try out new ideas of how this platform can be used. There's a lot of experimentation going on at all times in Google."

And maybe that's the whole point. It's not like Google has exactly cashed in on unmanned cars (yet). It's probably safest to predict nothing, while still expecting the technology to shift and shape our world.

Such shifting and shaping is unpredictable. Consider this. You're wearing your Google Glasses, riding the subway downtown with friends. You say the words "hungry" and "dinner," and your Google Glasses inform you that Molinari Delicatessen is a few minutes away at the Broadway & Grant Avenue station. Plus you get a free drink for just checking in on Foursquare. Is that advertising? Is that an invasion of privacy? Weren't you just talking with friends?

Things can get a little blurry.

3 Back-to-Reality Facts

Prophesying aside, what do we actually know about Google Glass? Is there anything that we are confident will happen? There are at least three.

At-a-Glance Search Results

Forget having information at your fingertips. With Google Glass, you've got it at a glance, quite literally. Google Glass responds to voice commands and queries, meaning that users can easily gain results for questions about nearby restaurants or other local establishments. This would provide very little new in terms of search results, but would instead provide a different interface for results, and perhaps more instantaneous searching while on the go.

Location-Specific Searches

The technology of Google Glass will make it possible to look at a restaurant, check out their rankings, view their menu, find out if there is seating, and maybe even snag a coupon code, all the while dawdling on the sidewalk out front. Google Glass is primed for on-the-spot activity. There's no hidden agenda here. Google proudly announces that their spectacles will provide "directions right in front of you" for driving, walking, or just knocking about town.

More Social Interactivity

Google Glass will play directly into social networking. One of the main features of the device is taking pictures and videos, and sharing them. Such sharing will provide instant marketing, negative or positive, for whatever establishment or event the user is at. Social reviews will also register on search results, giving users a better perspective on whether they want to patronize a certain business establishment.

Get Ready for Google Glass: A Strategy

If you read this article expecting to get to the Google Glass gold rush early, you might be disappointed. There's not exactly a gold rush going on. Nevertheless, there is some rock-solid advice for how to posture yourself and your business for the unleashing of Google Glass.

• Stick close to Google. It pays to keep your ear to the ground about Google trends and developments. What happens in the Googleplex is crucial to your marketing future. As much as we may dislike it, we rely on Google for a lot. When they flinch, we scramble. That's all there is to it.
• Keep your Google+ profile robust and active. One obvious trend that will impact all things search related is Google+, along with authorship and Author Rank. Stay plugged in to it. Google+/Local results will be immediately accessible to Google Glass, meaning that you want to get in on those searches.
• If you're a local company, focus in on local search results and social media. Google Glass is a geospecific marketing tool. Don't get left behind. Furthermore, there is talk of other social sites like Twitter amping up their efforts to get in on the Google Glass action.

Google Glass is going to be here in just a few months. Don't expect a tsunami of change all at once. Instead, wait, watch, and listen. Google Glass will probably stick around for a while. Somehow, some way, Google Glass and Internet marketing are going to meet up for a magical connection. You want to be ready.

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Source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2261321/How-Will-Google-Glass-Change-Internet-Marketing

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