Accommodation In San Diego - Facebook’s Android Homescreen Could Expose Apple’s Inflexibility

Source - http://techcrunch.com/
By - Josh Constine
Category - Accommodation In San Diego
Posted By - San Diego Hampton Inn

Accommodation In San Diego

The mainstream has had little reason to care that Android gives developers much more customization freedom than iOS. But if Facebook’s fabled Android homescreen is a hit, the stubbornness of Apple’s closed mobile platform could be framed as a drawback after years of its cohesive design and ease being seen as assets.

Cheapness and handset/carrier choice are two of the biggest factors convincing people to pick up Android phones today. There’s its premier integration of Google’s app suite and the “rebel without an iPhone” attitude too. But Android’s flexibility for app developers has been more of a selling point for geeks and early adopters than for the average Joe.

Meanwhile, the straight forward “it just works” aspect of iOS that leans on its rigidity has made it a popular introduction to smartphones for hundreds of millions of people. There just hasn’t been a killer brand name app to grab the mainstream’s attention that depends on Android’s cooperative architecture and that iOS won’t support. No one has forced the issue of open vs closed on the common man.

But six years after the iPhone’s debut, the average mobile consumer has matured. They crave more personalization through homescreen widgets and custom launchers. They want to make their phone truly theirs. The mobile world may finally have reached the turning point where the benefits of Android’s customization outweigh the benefits of iOS’ simplicity. And it’s Facebook homescreen for Android that could crystallize this moment.

Last week, Facebook sent out invites to a big press event to “see our new home on Android”. My sources got us the scoop that Facebook plans to unveil a new homescreen for Android that pipes in its news feed content and notifications for instant access. We’re told this experience will be debuted on an HTC handset running a version of Android that’s been modified by Facebook. The homescreen replacement is also likely to make its way to other handsets, either in the form a launcher app that can run on standard Android builds, or through Facebook partnerships with other OEMs.

The kicker is that Facebook’s homescreen cannot run on iOS as it exists today.

Now, for any of this to actually alter the mobile landscape, Facebook “Home” as it may be called will have to be a real success. Not just “Oh that looks cool”, but “I need to have that on my phone”. A lot people will never say that, because they just don’t care that much about Facebook. Beyond that, it may be tough to add a lot of value on top of the full-featured Facebook For Android app that’s just a few taps away.

Still, it’s possible that Facebook’ heads up display, a sixth sense for your social life, could be good enough to shift the balance in the Game Of Phones. Even if not directly or immediately, the mere existence of Facebook Home could bring the open/closed debate into the sphere of public consciousness. In that sense, it could at least begin to generate momentum for Android’s “do as you please” ecosystem.

Apple is typically resistant to diverging from its roadmap to head off potential threats. As I’ve said, Apple doesn’t care what competitors do. But if it stays locked down, we might outgrow its hand-holding. For all Google’s talk off Android being open, it could take Facebook to make us realize its liberty we really want.

Affordable Hotels In San Diego - Scientists Discover New DNA Regions Associated With Three Cancers

Source - http://articles.latimes.com/
By - Eryn Brown
Category - Affordable Hotels In San Diego
Posted By - San Diego Hampton Inn

Affordable Hotels In San Diego

A massive gene-hunting effort involving hundreds of scientists has identified 74 newly discovered regions of DNA that are associated with breast, ovarian and prostate cancers — diseases that strike about half a million Americans every year.

The international project, known as the Collaborative Oncological Gene-environment Study, or COGS, nearly doubled the number of genetic markers known to be linked with the three cancers, scientists reported Wednesday. Their findings could lead to more effective ways to screen, study and treat these diseases.

"While these papers may not be what the average person is looking for — e.g., a cure for cancer — they have important near-term value" for medical researchers, said John Witte, an epidemiologist at UC San Francisco and co-author of a commentary on the work that appeared in Nature Genetics, one of five journals that published 13 studies detailing the COGS results. Witte was not a member of the collaboration.

For the last decade or so, cancer researchers have been working hard to ferret out the DNA changes associated with cancers and other common afflictions. They examine the DNA of large groups of people with and without certain diseases to see if any genetic variations can be linked to particular conditions.

One hope has been to pinpoint the people at highest risk for developing health problems. Another has been to identify the individual genes that cause illness in the first place so that scientists can better understand how those genes cause harm and use that information to develop better treatments.

But the work has been difficult because many of the variations linked to diseases are turning out to be more rare than scientists had originally thought, said Harvard Medical School genetics professor Raju Kucherlapati, who was not involved in the COGS group.

By examining hundreds of thousands of locations on the genome in 250,000 people with and without cancer, the COGS study was able to reveal more associations than smaller studies could. In addition to confirming many genetic markers that had already been found, scientists discovered 41 new regions linked with overall risk for breast cancer, three associated with overall risk for ovarian cancer and 23 tied to overall risk for prostate cancer.

Researchers also found additional variations linked to subtypes of breast and ovarian cancer, and noted that 16 of the new regions associated with prostate cancer were linked to aggressive forms of the disease.

Generally, the risks associated with the genetic changes were modest — about 10% to 20% more than the small risks faced in the general population.

To put that in perspective, Kucherlapati said, more than half of women who have the most dangerous mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes will develop breast cancer during their lives.

But relatively small increases in risk can add up to become significant, said geneticist Rosalind Eeles of the Institute for Cancer Research in Sutton, England, co-author of a study in Nature Genetics that detailed the prostate cancer findings.

In Eeles' paper, men who fell in the top 1% of risk were nearly five times more likely to develop prostate cancer than the rest of the men in the study. (According to the National Cancer Institute, 16% of American men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime.) Perhaps targeting such men for additional tests could improve screening, Eeles and her co-authors wrote.

Trip To San Diego - Cyprus Banks To Reopen Under Tight Security

Source - http://www.bbc.co.uk/
By - Press Release
Category - Trip To San Diego
Posted By - San Diego Hampton Inn

Trip To San Diego

Armed police were on guard as lorries said to be loaded with cash arrived at the central bank on Wednesday night.

Demonstrators took to the streets to protest against the bailout plan and strict capital controls.

The restrictions on the free movement of capital represent a profound breach of an EU principle, correspondents say.

Cyprus is the first eurozone member country to bring in capital controls.

Customers will be limited to withdrawing 300 euros ($383; £253) a day, to prevent everyone fleeing with their savings.

Depositors with over 100,000 euros will also see their savings taxed in exchange for bank shares as Cyprus seeks to raise 5.8bn euros to qualify for a 10bn-euro bailout from the European Union, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the so-called troika.

An earlier plan to tax small depositors was vetoed by the Cypriot parliament last week.
Run fears

Correspondents say some fear a stampede as banks in Cyprus reopen between noon and 18:00 local time (10:00-16:00 GMT), nearly two weeks after they closed and progressively stricter limits were placed on withdrawals at cash machines.

Armed police are on guard and hundreds of staff from the private security firm G4S will be guarding bank branches and helping to transport money, said the AP news agency.

Severe new rules have been imposed on money movements to prevent a torrent of money leaving the island and credit institutions collapsing.

As well as the 300-euro daily withdrawal limit, Cypriots may not cash cheques. They can spend up to 5,000 euros on debit and credit cards.

Payments of over 200,000 euros require prior approval by a specially established committee - only the Cypriot government and its Central Bank are excluded.

There is a cap of 5,000 euros on transactions with other countries and travellers leaving the country will only be allowed to take 1,000 euros with them.

On Wednesday night, hundreds of protesters rallied outside the presidential palace, chanting: "I'll pay nothing; I owe nothing," the Reuters news agency reported.

Cyprus Finance Minister Michalis Sarris insists the controls are temporary, but many economists predict they could be in place for months.

The unprecedented restrictions represent a profound breach of an important principle of the European Union that capital, as well as people and trade, should able be to move freely across internal borders, says the BBC's economics correspondent Andrew Walker.

Meanwhile, depositors in Cypriot banks with more than 100,000 euros could see 40% of their funds converted into bank shares.
Bank merger

Bank of Cyprus chief executive Yiannis Kypri confirmed he had been removed as head of the bank, which is the country's largest commercial lender.

He said that he was forced to quit "upon demands of the troika", which comes after an administrator had been appointed to Bank of Cyprus to restructure the bank. It is being merged with the "good" parts of the failed Laiki Bank, which will be closed down.

But a European Commission spokesman denied that the troika had demanded Mr Kypri's removal.

Bank of Cyprus chairman Andreas Artemis handed in his resignation on Tuesday, along with four other directors, but the bank's board rejected the resignations.

Panicos Demetriades, the central bank governor, then sacked the entire board, according to the Cyprus News Agency.

Mr Demetriades was widely criticised on Tuesday for suggesting that Bank of Cyprus was going to be wound up in the same way as is planned for Laiki Bank.

His comments led to demonstrations, calls for his resignation from Bank of Cyprus staff, and a hastily-drafted denial from Mr Sarris.

Place To Visit In San Diego - Google Objects To 'Ungoogleable'

Source - http://www.informationweek.com/
By - Thomas Claburn
Category - Place To Visit In San Diego
Posted By - San Diego Hampton Inn

Place To Visit In San Diego

Speakers of Swedish who want to say that a search term cannot be found using a search engine will have to think twice about how they express that thought: The Swedish word used to describe searches that return no results -- "ungoogleable," or ogooglebar in Swedish -- has been removed from a list of newly recognized Swedish words following Google's objection to the term.

Ogooglebar entered common parlance in Sweden last year, according to the Swedish Language Council, a regulatory body that attempts to define the scope of the Swedish language. As a result, the Council added "ungoogleable" to its annual list of new Swedish words in December.

 But in a statement published on its website on Tuesday, the Council said Google had asked the organization to refine its definition of "ungoogleable" and to include a disclaimer.

Instead of doing that, the Council said it has deleted the word from its list of neologisms as a way to express its "displeasure with Google's attempt to control the language" (as Google Translate renders the Swedish).

 Google's objection to the word is based in U.S. trademark law, which requires trademark owners to police their trademarks to prevent the trademark from becoming diluted. Google's legal team has in the past pushed back against the use of "google" in English as a synonym for "search," more as a required bit of legal gymnastics than as an effective campaign for linguistic change.

The Council's statement suggests that Google threatened to litigate the matter and that the council removed the word from its list rather than engage in a costly court battle.

Google did not immediately respond to a request to clarify whether legal threats were made. However, the company did acknowledge that it looks after its trademarks. "While Google, like many business, takes routine steps to protect our trademark, we are pleased that users connect the Google name with great search results," a company spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.

The Council, in its statement, sounds far from pleased. It more or less accuses Google of cultural imperialism. Google Translate renders the group's sentiment thus: "Google has namely forgot one thing: language development [does] not care about brand protection. No individual can decide about the language."

The Council says that ogooglebar will remain online despite its removal from the list of neologisms and suggests that the controversy will enhance its survival as a term.

SeaWorld San Diego - Next-gen Windows' New Features Leaked Online

Source - http://www.gmanetwork.com/
By - Press Release
Category - SeaWorld San Diego
Posted By - San Diego Hampton Inn

SeaWorld San Diego

New screenshots recently leaked online suggest Windows Blue, Microsoft's next version of Windows, may have smaller Live Tiles and better customization controls, a tech site reported.

The screenshots of Windows Blue Build 9364 also suggest version 11 of Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser, tech site The Verge reported.

"Touch users can also use new gestures throughout Windows Blue. On the Start Screen you can swipe up from the bottom to bring up a list of all apps, and in the desktop mode you can swipe up or down to reveal a desktop app bar that provides access to snap, projector settings, and more," it said.

Windows Blue is not expected to enter public preview until later this year, though a full release may come before the year ends, The Verge added.

But this early, it said the early Windows Blue build has been uploaded to file-sharing sites.

Citing screenshots posted at Winforum, it said the new OS' features include "smaller tile arrangements and even a larger desktop one to its Start Screen, along with greater control over the color personalization options."

New features

The Verge said added features include an additional "Snap Views" feature that lets users place apps side by side in the Windows 8 view.

It said Microsoft supports up to four apps snapped alongside each other.

"(W)e understand developers will be able to update their apps to support the additional Snap Views alongside other API changes and additions. The snapping improvements also apply to multi monitor support, where you can now run individual Windows 8-style apps across multiple monitors," it said.

More touch-friendly interface

Windows Blue promises to be more touch-friendly with SkyDrive showing "greater integration with auto camera uploads and control over device back ups and files."

The Verge also cited an app settings section that shows options on default apps and information on app sizes.

Devices Charm in Windows Blue has a new "play" option, while Share Charm allows quick sharing of images with applications.

Internet Explorer 11

Internet Explorer 11 is included in Blue, "although it's not immediately clear from the leaked screenshots what improvements have been made," The Verge said.

La Jolla Cove Attractions - Standard Chartered Says It Made False Comments On Sanction Breaches

Source - http://www.chicagotribune.com/
By - Steve Slater
Category - La Jolla Cove Attractions
Posted By - San Diego Hampton Inn

La Jolla Cove Attractions

LONDON (Reuters) - Standard Chartered Chairman John Peace apologized on Thursday for inaccurate comments he made earlier this month about his bank breaching U.S. sanctions over Iran.

The highly unusual retraction indicated U.S. regulators had put pressure on the bank to clarify the comments following a high-profile settlement last year which cost Standard Chartered $667 million.

The London-based bank agreed to deferred prosecution agreements with the U.S. Department of Justice and District Attorney of New York as part of the settlement.

Peace said on March 5 at a press conference with reporters that Standard Chartered "had no willful act to avoid sanctions".

But in a statement on Thursday, he said those comments were "both legally and factually incorrect" and he retracted them.

He said they directly contradicted the bank's acceptance of responsibility.

"To be clear, Standard Chartered Bank unequivocally acknowledges and accepts responsibility ... for past knowing and willful criminal conduct in violating U.S. economic sanctions laws and regulations," Peace said in the statement.

He said he "very much" regretted his earlier comments, which "were at best inaccurate".

The bank said the statement followed discussions with the U.S. Department of Justice and the District Attorney of New York. It declined further comment.

The settlements by Standard Chartered related to transactions for customers in sanctioned countries Iran, Sudan, Libya and Burma between 2001 and 2007.

U.S. authorities accused the bank of leaving out information from U.S. dollar wire payments, preventing regulators from identifying suspicious activity.

UK politicians and regulators were angered by the aggressive action of New York banking regulator Benjamin Lawsky against the bank. Lawsky's actions also angered other U.S. regulators who had spent more than two years investigating the bank and wanted a more coordinated settlement before he made public his accusations in August.

Balboa Park San Diego - Volkswagen China Recall May Cost More Than $600 Million

Source - http://www.bloomberg.com
By - Bloomberg News
Category - Balboa Park San Diego
Posted By - San Diego Hampton Inn

Balboa Park San Diego

Volkswagen AG (VOW) recalled a record number of vehicles in China to replace defective gearboxes that may result in the loss of acceleration, in a move that may cost Europe’s largest carmaker more than $600 million.

The recall of 384,181 vehicles, conducted by Volkswagen and its joint ventures, include the Golf, Magotan, Sagitar and Audi A3, China’s quality inspector said on its website. While Volkswagen declined to comment on the financial toll, research firm LMC Automotive estimated the replacements will cost between 3,000 yuan ($483) to 10,000 yuan per vehicle.

The move is a blow for Volkswagen, which counts China as its biggest market, as the company sets out to become the world’s largest automaker by 2018. The recall comes less than a week after state broadcaster China Central Television featured Volkswagen customers in China complaining about abnormal vibrations, loss of power and sudden acceleration in cars equipped with the company’s proprietary gearbox technology.

“It’s always reputationally damaging to have to deal with an issue that plays out in the public’s eyes,” said Bill Russo, president of auto consultancy Synergistics Ltd. “Will they take a hit? Of course. The issue is how can they recover from that and how quickly can they recover.”

21 Models

The company is recalling vehicles with the seven-speed variety of its direct-shift gearboxes, bearing the cost for replacing defective equipment and upgrading the software, it said in an e-mail statement. LMC estimates Volkswagen sold about 680,000 vehicles equipped with the potentially faulty DSG gearboxes.

“There have been no injuries or accidents reported due to the DSG gearbox problem, as far as we know,” Volkswagen China spokesman Christoph Ludewig said.

The recall covers 21 types of vehicles including versions of the Scirocco, Bora, Touran, Octavia, Passat vehicles produced as far back as 2008 and as recently as this month, according to the state inspector’s statement.

For Volkswagen, which sold 4 of China’s top 10 selling cars last year, complaints about its gearbox system in China aren’t new. In May, the Wolfsburg, Germany-based carmaker agreed to extend the warranty for the transmission technology to 10 years, compared with the standard warranty of two years, to address consumer concerns.

China’s quality inspector said it began investigating complaints related to faulty Volkswagen gearboxes in March 2012. Two months later, the company extended its warranty for the transmission system after several rounds of talks with the regulator, according to the statement.

Safety Threat

A malfunction of electronics in the gearbox or inadequate pressure may result in the loss of power, presenting a safety threat, according to the regulator. Last May, Volkswagen spokesman Harthmuth Hoffmann said that the reported problems -- noise, vibrations and failure to start in hot and humid weather -- were “absolutely not a safety issue.”

Volkswagen said today that although an electronic malfunction or a lack of oil pressure may result in a power interruption, steering and braking functions wouldn’t be affected. That means that even if the car loses power on the road, the driver would be able to safely stop the car, it said.

China’s quality regulator said it interviewed more than 3,000 consumers, received more than 10,000 reports of faultiness, conducted 12 spot checks and held 7 hearings with automotive experts before concluding that the Volkswagen gearboxes were defective and posed a safety concern.

New Laws

The move also comes after China introduced recall laws this year giving the watchdog broader powers to order investigations and impose fines on companies that fail to call back faulty products in a timely manner. The nation’s legislature approved plans last week to expand the authority of the food and drug regulator amid growing public discontent over quality and safety.

Volkswagen and its ventures sold 2.81 million vehicles in China last year, second only to General Motors Co. (GM) among foreign automakers. The German company and its Chinese partners generated operating profit of 3.7 billion euros ($4.8 billion) last year, up by 1.1 billion euros from the previous year.

Other German automakers have also faced scrutiny in the past week from CCTV, which said it found asphalt in China-made models of cars made by Volkswagen’s Audi, Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW)’s BMW and Daimler AG (DAI)’s Mercedes-Benz.

Pungent Smell

Samples taken from vehicles showed traces of asphalt, a road-paving material also used for reducing vibrations, CCTV reported. Owners reported a pungent smell in their cars and physical symptoms such as dizziness and swollen fingers, according to the CCTV report.

Representatives from all three companies said they have started investigations. Audi China spokesman Martin Kuehl said Audi has the same “strict standards” for all of its parts globally, and that the locally produced A4L and Q5 models had passed vehicle air quality tests conducted by the Chinese authorities.

Daimler spokesman Senol Bayrak said all its vehicles manufactured in China use only imported NVH damping materials that comply with existing regulations.

Attractions In San Diego - VW Issues Recall In China

Source - http://online.wsj.com/
By - Press Release
Category - Attractions In San Diego
Posted By - San Diego Hampton Inn

Attractions In San Diego

SHANGHAI--Volkswagen AG VOW3.XE -0.44% will recall 384,181 vehicles sold in China due to gearbox problems, according to China's quality-control agency, following a critical television report that illustrates the power of state-run media over foreign brands.

Volkswagen's local joint ventures beginning on April 2 will recall cars made or imported between December 2008 and March 2013, according to a General Administration of Quality Supervision statement posted on its website. The affected cars include imported and locally manufactured models, such as the Golf Variant, Cross Gold, Audi A3, Bora, Sagitar, Magotan, Touran, Octavia and Passat.

The company and its joint ventures "will replace the existing gearboxes with improved ones and upgrade the controlling software to the latest version for Volkswagen car owners to eliminate safety concerns. All such services are free," the statement said.

Volkswagen officials didn't immediately return requests for comment. Over the weekend, Volkswagen and its Chinese joint ventures said they would voluntarily recall cars suspected of having substandard direct-shift gearbox systems, though they didn't specify the number. "Volkswagen has been and will continue to fully cooperate with all relevant authorities," said Christoph Ludewig, a spokesman for Volkswagen in China.

The recall is a public relations blow to the German company in one of its most important markets. Volkswagen plans to nearly double its manufacturing capacity in five years. Its robust sales in the country and other emerging markets have helped it escape the brunt of Europe's shrinking auto market. Last week, the company said it plans to nearly double its manufacturing production capacity in China to four million vehicles in the five years.

"The event will surely have a negative impact on Volkswagen. At least, in the short term, Chinese consumers will be cautious about its models when considering buying a car," said Yale Zhang, a senior analyst at Automotive Foresight, adding local consumers will likely turn to cars made by General Motors Co. GM +0.21% and Hyundai Motor Corp. 005380.SE +0.23%

Volkswagen sold 2.81 million cars in China last year, up from 25% a year earlier, and operating profit at its two Chinese joint ventures jumped 42% last year.

The recall follows allegations against Volkswagen by China's national state-run television broadcaster, China Central Television. In a program held late Friday in honor of World Consumer Rights Day, CCTV accused Volkswagen of selling cars with substandard direct-shift gearbox systems, causing acceleration problems and car accidents for an unspecified number of consumers.

CCTV has demonstrated its power over the past year to disrupt business for foreign brands. Its broadcasts in December on a probe of the chicken quality at Yum Brands Inc.'s YUM -0.39% KFC outlets contributed to a 6% sales decline in the fourth quarter in China. The company apologized for poor communications and said it has overhauled its supply practices.

Volkswagen has two passenger vehicle-making joint ventures in China: one with Shanghai-based SAIC Motor Corp., 600104.SH +4.16% China's largest auto group in terms of sales, and the other with FAW Group Corp., the No. 3 car maker on the mainland.

The General Administration of Quality Supervision said that between January and October last year it conducted 59 recalls involving 2.75 million cars.

Hotels San Diego Downtown - Top US Court Weighs Voter Law Against Illegal Immigrants

Source - http://www.voanews.com/

By - Kate Woodsome

Category - Hotels San Diego Downtown

Posted By - San Diego Hampton Inn

Hotels San Diego Downtown

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Monday on whether the state of Arizona has the right to craft its own voting laws to prevent illegal immigrants from casting ballots, a process critics say opens the door to discrimination against legal voters.

Arizona, which shares a border with Mexico, has some of the strongest anti-immigration laws in the United States and the voting rights case is the latest in its efforts to deal with non-U.S. citizens illegally in the state.

It is asking the Supreme Court to uphold a 2004 state law requiring local voting applicants to provide physical proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate, passport, tribal forms or a driver’s license.

Opponents of Arizona’s voter-approved Proposition 200 say it violates the decade-old National Voter Registration Act, a federal law requiring voting applicants to state they are U.S. citizens without providing any proof. People caught lying can face perjury charges.

Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne argued the constitutionality of Proposition 200 before the Court Monday, saying an “honor system” is not strong enough to prevent voter fraud.

Jesus Gonzalez is the lead plaintiff in the case. He tried to register to vote right after becoming a U.S. citizen but was rejected twice by state officials. Gonzalez used both his driver’s license and his naturalization certificate number, but officials said they still could not confirm his citizenship.

Civil rights groups supporting Gonzalez say his story is not uncommon. In a legal brief submitted to the court, the groups say more than 31,000 voting applicants were rejected between January 2005 and September 2007. Of that number, 11,000 eventually succeeded in registering to vote after repeated attempts.

The groups say Proposition 200 violates the U.S. Constitution “because it requires naturalized citizens - predominantly Latinos and Asians - to surmount additional and unique hurdles to exercise their fundamental right to vote.”

“The unique obstacles presented by the law effectively relegated this population to second-class citizenship,” they write in the brief.

The Obama administration is on their side, although it is focusing on another aspect of the case. It has filed court documents supporting the ruling of a federal appeals court, which ruled against Proposition 200 because it said federal law overrides state law.

The outcome of the case could determine how other states approach the issue. If the Supreme Court upholds Arizona’s request to determine its own voting guidelines, other states could follow suit, opening the door for new sets of rules like Florida’s attempt in 2005 to require voter applicants to prove their mental capacity.

Voter rights groups, including the Constitutional Accountability Center, expressed cautious optimism after Monday’s court arguments.

"A majority of the Court, including Justice [Anthony] Kennedy, appeared to recognize that the entire point of having a single federal form was to streamline the voter registration process, and that approving Arizona's law would pave the way for a patchwork of 50 state forms," Doug Kendall, the group’s president, said in a statement.

Even after the Supreme Court decides on this case, the battle over immigration is far from over. Arizona is at the center of a national debate on how to secure the country’s borders and treat the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. The issue is being tackled by lawmakers in Congress and advocacy groups across America.

San Diego Hotel Meeting Space - Samsung vs Apple, The Battle For Design Dominance

Source -          http://www.forbes.com/
By -                Haydn Shaughnessy
Posted By -    San Diego Hotel Meeting Space
Category -      San Diego Hampton Inn

San Diego Hotel Meeting Space

Shortly after Samsung’s famous loss to Apple in a San Jose court last year, the South Korean electronics’ giant opened a new design studio in San Francisco.

You’ll remember that case – it centered on design patents and cost Samsung $1 billion at the time.

The new design studio is run by ex-Googler Dennis Miloseski, a user experience specialist. It has end-to-end product responsibility across mobile, tablet and domestic appliances for what Dennis calls turning science fiction into science fact. That is some portfolio! But it’s a young studio and we’ve yet to see any outputs from it.

Still, it’s a sign of where Samsung is investing its money and at the Engadget Expand conference, this week, Miloseski explained some of the company’s evolving  design philosophy. I’ll come on to it in a minute.

While some commentators think last Thursday’s Galaxy S 4 launch heralds little threat to Apple, I disagree. And the more I learn about Samsung and the breadth of its talent investment, the more it looks capable of changing the smartphone paradigm.

Here’s a case in point, though it may seem like a slight diversion.

For those who don’t know the name Chris Bangle, Bangle is/was about the most controversial name in modern auto design.

For 17 years he headed design at BMW and revolutionized the German brand. He did for BMW what Steve Jobs did for Apple, prior to the iPhone.

Before the Apple vs Samsung  San Jose case, mentioned above, Samsung had already opened negotiations with Chris Bangle Associates, Bangle’s private consulting firm, to draw Bangle in as a Master Designer. The two parties have been pretty tight lipped about what happened.

Bangle is a major figure not just in design but in enterprise and product vision.

His car designs were not just emotive for the sake of it. They didn’t just sell more cars for BMW. They shook up the whole car industry.

Prior to Bangle’s arrival car design was all about an expression of power – ok, go back to the fifties and car design was an expression of fantasy (these things can fly). But by the eighties BMW owners believed they had bought the ultimate driving machine, ’nuff said. It had a great engine.

But BMW knew an engine did less and less to differentiate a vehicle. Engineering took you only so far.

When Bangle started to put a fancy back end on the BMW 7 series and oversaw innovations that tapped into the emotional spirit of customers, brought in the Mini, and even brought femininity to the 3 series, petrol heads around the world hated him and even campaigned for BMW to sack him.

So Bangle is controversial and good. When the Koreans began talking to him, the press said, ok, is this now Samsung’s Steve Jobs riding into town?

But the analogy is all wrong. Jobs was a multi-disciplinary business man, and start-up kind of guy, whose company hired a great designer in Ive. Bangle is a passionate advocate for design that taps into prevailing emotions. Bangle also talks unashamedly of design as art and even as love. He doesn’t just want to humanize product, he wants people to realize their potential. And what he sees right now is a new generation of people whose desire is to share.

But strange to tell he is not himself, necessarily, a great designer. He is a visionary and a manager of talent.

In fact he has a reputation as a supreme design manager who wrestles relentlessly with what the future will bring. His Deep Blue project at BMW, begun in 1996, was aimed at discovering what would supersede the SUV – when SUV’s were gaining solid market momentum. And that’s his BMW training – look far into the future and understand the consequences of everything you do.

Accomodation In San Diego - Boston Phoenix To Close; Portland, Providence Papers Remain Open

Source - http://www.boston.com/
By - Joseph P. Kahn, Globe Staff
Category - Accomodation In San Diego
Posted By - San Diego Hampton Inn

Accomodation In San Diego

In a poignant signal of a fast-changing media landscape, The Boston Phoenix sent out a short and simple tweet Thursday afternoon: “Thank you Boston. Good night and good luck.”

With that terse dispatch, the ground-breaking, Boston alternative weekly, which only six months ago reinvented itself from tabloid newspaper into glossy magazine, put a final punctuation mark on its announcement that its current issue, dated March 15, will be its last.

Sister publications in Providence and Portland, Maine, will stay in business, but WFNX.com, the Phoenix Media/Communication Corp.’s online radio station, will not continue in its present form, its fate to be decided shortly. The company’s custom publishing unit and MassWeb Printing operation, based in Auburn, Mass., will remain open.

The online edition of the Boston Phoenix, slated to appear March 22, will be its last, too.

New Yorker staff writer Susan Orlean, one of many prominent journalists whose career started at the Boston Phoenix, said from Los Angeles, “It’s like finding out your college has gone bankrupt and is gone. I am a child of the alt-weekly world and I feel like it has played such an important role in journalism as we know it today.”

Employees at the Phoenix, whose origins date back to 1966, were told of the closings by owner and publisher Stephen M. Mindich at a 2 p.m. meeting Thursday. It is expected that about 40 employees will be let go within the week and another ten or so soon after, according to executive editor Peter Kadzis, who described the general reaction among Phoenix staffers as “shell-shocked.” Several people were crying during the meeting, according to one person who was there.

There had been widespread apprehension about a shutdown on Wednesday, when the meeting was announced, Kadzis said, and staffers in Portland and Providence feared they might also be let go.

“Keeping the Phoenix afloat was costing Stephen more than $1 million a year,” Kadzis calculated. “He’s performed an incredible service to the community, and I don’t think most of the employees here realize how committed he’s been to keeping the paper going.”

Employees will not get any severance pay.

“We’ll get paid for this week and if we’re owed vacation time, but no severance,” said staff writer Chris Faraone. “It’s sad, but also not. It’s not an anger thing. Everyone’s really proud. We went as hard as you could to the end.”

The Boston Phoenix’s owner and publisher doesn’t plan a formal bankruptcy filing, but the company has hired The Gordon Law Firm in Boston to liquidate the paper’s assets and distribute the proceeds to creditors.

Attorney Stephen F. Gordon, who will oversee the process, estimated the business had $1.2 million in debts, but said it’s likely the assets will fetch significantly less than that. The company’s main asset is roughly $500,000 in promised services and goods the Phoenix received in exchange for advertising, but it’s not clear how much a buyer would pay for the bartered goods. It also has some intellectual property and furniture.

Gordon first plans to pay any taxes, employee wages, and fees related to the liquidation process and then distribute any remaining cash evenly to other creditors. In addition to employees, the company owes money to roughly 40 other creditors, including law firms, accountants, utilities, landlords and suppliers.

According to Kadzis, the switch from tabloid to glossy last October won favor with readers and local advertisers. At the time, Phoenix Editor Carly Carioli said, “It’s not a surprise this has been portrayed as the sky is falling, but that’s not what it feels like to us here.”

Six months later, however, the end came. There were not enough national advertisers to make the glossy weekly economically viable. Providence and Portland have been better able to sustain themselves with local advertising, Kadzis noted.

Last spring, Phoenix Communications sold its interest in other media properties, notably the Spanish-language paper El Planeta and terrestrial radio station WFNX 101.7 FM.

News of the Phoenix’s closure only six months after the format change blindsided even alternative media insiders.

“It was shocking to me; I was not expecting this at all,” said Tiffany Shackelford, executive director of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia in Washington. “My understanding was that the new format was successful and that the glossy was starting to attract national advertisers.”

Local media critic Dan Kennedy, a former Phoenix staff writer, wrote on his “Media Nation” blog that he was “not even going to try to write a real post about this today.”

“I’m getting bombarded from all directions, and besides that, I’m devastated,” Kennedy wrote.

Orlean, too, was “reeling,” saying she received her “education as a writer” at the Phoenix when she worked there in the 1980s. Others who started at the paper include Joe Klein, Sidney Blumenthal, Janet Maslin and David Denby.

The weekly’s closing, Orlean continued, “Removes one more venue for a certain kind of writing that I know was very important to me.”

Shackelford said that despite the loss of a “storied brand” like the Boston Phoenix, the alternative news industry remains healthy.

“Many of our papers are actually improving circulation,” she said. “This [closure] is not indicative of the larger health of the industry. I don’t think any of our other publications are in danger of closing.”

In general, however, alternative newspapers in large markets, like Boston, are not flourishing at the level of their counterparts in smaller, less competitive cities, Shackelford added. It makes sense, she said, that the Portland Phoenix will remain open, as will the Providence Phoenix, which plans to add four full-time reporters.

The question that worries Shackelford is whether another news outlet will “speak truth to power” in the way the Boston Phoenix, which started as Boston After Dark, did for 47 years.

Mindich, in his statement to employees, said he was “extremely proud, as all of you should be, of the highest standards of journalism we have set and maintained throughout the decades in all of our areas of coverage and the important role we have played in driving political and socially progressive and responsible agendas; in covering the worlds of arts and entertainment, food and fashion – always with a critical view, while at the same time promoting their enormous importance in maintaining a healthy society; and in advocating for the recognition and acceptance of a wide range of lifestyles that are so valuable for a vibrant society.”

Affordable Hotels In San Diego - McDonald’s Adds Egg Whites To Menu After U.S. Store Sales Drop

Source - http://www.bloomberg.com/

By - Leslie Patton

Category - Affordable Hotels In San Diego

Posted By - San Diego Hampton Inn

Affordable Hotels In San Diego

McDonald’s Corp. (MCD), the largest restaurant chain by sales, will next month begin selling an egg- white breakfast sandwich at all U.S. locations to help boost sales.

The chain will roll out the new 250-calorie Egg McMuffin on April 22, Ofelia Casillas, a spokeswoman for the Oak Brook, Illinois-based company, said in an e-mail. An egg sandwich with yolk has 300 calories. McDonald’s is making efforts to promote healthier food at its stores as U.S. consumers demand more nutritious fare. Last year, the chain began advertising a “Favorites Under 400 Calories” menu.

The Big Mac seller is also facing more competition from Burger King Worldwide Inc. (BKW) and Yum! Brands Inc. (YUM)’s Taco Bell chain. Sales at U.S. McDonald’s stores open at least 13 months fell 3.3 percent last month, the company said on March 8.

McDonald’s has been trying to attract Americans with new menu items, such as Fish McBites and chicken wings. Later this month the company will introduce new wraps including sweet chili chicken and chicken and bacon. The fast-food chain will also begin selling a blueberry pomegranate-flavored smoothie on May 15, Casillas said.

McDonald’s shares advanced 13 percent this year through yesterday, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index has gained 9 percent. The company has about 14,000 U.S. stores.

Trip To San Diego - Samsung Galaxy S 4: What to Expect March 14

Source - http://www.eweek.com/
By - Michelle Maisto
Category - Trip To San Diego
Posted By - San Diego Hampton Inn

Trip To San Diego

Samsung has all but acknowledged it will introduce a Galaxy S 4 March 14. The rumor mill tells a far more detailed story.

Samsung will unveil a Galaxy S 4 Thursday, March 14, during an evening event at New York City's Radio City Music Hall. While rival Apple's strategy has been to acknowledge nothing until an executive is standing on a stage ready to hold up something, Samsung has instead been trying to walk a line between revealing and concealing.

It's not an easy line to walk, when seemingly highly guarded secrets continue to leak out.
On March 12 @SamsungMobileUS Tweeted an almost entirely dark image that showed one corner of the rounded-edged Galaxy S 4 in silhouette. The company asked, "Who's ready for the Global Unpacked Event on March 14?"

From the little one can tell, the Galaxy S 4 will bear a strong resemblance to the Galaxy S 3—a suggestion also made by photos posted this week to Chinese user forum 52 Samsung and said to be the Galaxy S 4. The photos show a phone generally shaped like the S III, though larger, and with a pattern or perhaps texture in the back paint.

An odd disconnect—Samsung used Roman numerals with the S III, but in advertisements in conspicuous areas of New York, London and beyond, it's been using a 4. Also odd—a series of videos featuring a rather wanting child actor as the keeper of a box said to contain Samsung's (sunshine-bright) next big thing.

A March 3 leak from an Android developer suggested the S 4 will feature a 5-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1080p HD, run Android 4.2, known as "Jelly Bean," have an 8-core processor, up to 64GB of storage, 2GB of RAM and a 13-megapixel camera.

Three days later, Boy Genius Report posted screenshots from GSM Israel and SamMobile, said to be from the Galaxy S 4. They detail features including Smart Scroll, which, by watching the user's eyes, automatically scrolls the display when a user gets to the bottom of the screen. It's an advancement on the technology in the Galaxy S III that prevents the screen from dimming, when the phone knows the user is reading.

"The screen will start to scroll automatically if the device detects that you are looking at the screen," explains the screenshot in the image.

The latest leak is that the Galaxy S 4 will feature a 3D camera.
Samsung filed a trademark request March 5 that hints at a 3D feature, Patently Apple reported March 11. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a Samsung-filed logo, in its online paperwork, that shows a 2D-to-3D "Movie & Still" logo that matches the "Unpacked" branding—a three-dimensional white box with two sides showing—that Samsung has used to promote the Galaxy S 4's unveiling.

Research firm Strategy Analytics says that it's also expecting the next Galaxy to have better touch capabilities, a better battery, "jazzier maps," more Hubs, such as a Reader's Hub, and iPhone-like pricing.
Regardless of what's being revealed, concealed or leaked, what's for certain is that Samsung needs the S 4 to continue the momentum created by the S III.

Samsung introduced the S III last May, and enjoyed an entire summer of sales without a new iPhone to slow it down. Analysts have suggested that Apple has smartened up, and will introduce its next iPhone much earlier in the year than its last. Though clearly Samsung, too, has adjusted its timeline.

During the third quarter of 2012, the Galaxy S III unseated the iPhone and became the world's top-selling smartphone. It was a short-lived accolade—the iPhone 5 look the title during the fourth quarter—but a very telling one. 

The most important thing for Samsung to do now is "not to do or say anything 'bad,'" Strategy Analytics Executive Director Neil Mawston wrote in a March 12 blog post. "Apple lost heartshare when it mislaunched Maps alongside the iPhone 5 last year. Samsung must not replicate Apple's strategic misstep."

Place To Visit In San Diego - US Official In China Hacking Call

Source - http://www.bbc.co.uk/

By - Press Release

Category -  Place To Visit In San Diego

Posted By - San Diego Hampton Inn

Place To Visit In San Diego

The Chinese government should acknowledge and investigate cyber-theft from China, a top US official has said.

National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon said cyber security was a "growing challenge" to the US economic relationship with Beijing.

The pointed remarks appeared to reflect growing US concern over cyber-crimes said to originate in China.

On Saturday China's foreign minister criticised claims China was behind hacking attacks on US companies.

'Acceptable norms'

In a speech at the Asia Society in New York on Monday, Mr Donilon said that US businesses were increasingly concerned about "cyber intrusions emanating from China" that stole confidential business information or intellectual property.

"We seek three things from the Chinese side," he said. "First, we need a recognition of the urgency and scope of this problem. Second, Beijing should take serious steps to investigate and put a stop to these activities."

"Finally, we need China to engage with us... to establish acceptable norms of behaviour in cyberspace."

China has long been suspected of a role in cyber-hacking. But the issue has become more high-profile in recent months following widely reported hacks into media outlets including the New York Times - in that case apparently linked to a report by the paper on the wealth of relatives of outgoing Premier Wen Jiabao.

In a report in February, US cyber security firm Mandiant said that it had linked hundreds of data breaches since 2004 to a Chinese hacking team it had traced to the site of a military unit in Shanghai.

Last month, US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that the hacking issue came up "in virtually every meeting we have with Chinese officials".

China, which called the Mandiant report flawed, says that it opposes hacking activities and is a victim of cyber attacks itself.

Speaking on Saturday, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said: "Cyberspace needs rules and co-operation, not war."

He criticised recent reports that said China was responsible for cyber attacks against Western companies, saying they were "built on shaky ground."

SeaWorld San Diego - Pig Virus Detected In Shanghai River Water

Source - http://news.xinhuanet.com/
By - Press Release
Category - SeaWorld San Diego
Posted By - San Diego Hampton Inn

SeaWorld San Diego

SHANGHAI, March 11 (Xinhua) -- A pig virus has been found in a water sample of a river where 1,200 dead pigs had been fished out, Shanghai authorities said.

Laboratory tests found porcine circovirus (PCV) in one of the water samples taken from Huangpu River, a water source for city residents, sources with Shanghai municipal agricultural commission said Monday.

The virus causes porcine circovirus disease in pigs but does not spread to human beings, a commission statement said.

All other tests of the river water provided negative results, including tests for common pig-borne diseases such as foot and mouth, swine fever, hog cholera and epidemic diarrhea.

Authorities are investigating where the dead pigs came from. The commission said they are working with neighboring provinces to trace their source, and have warned riverside residents to refrain from dumping animals into the river.

Local media reports said the pigs mainly came from Shanghai's neighboring Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.

The city and Songjiang district governments retrieved the pigs from Friday night to Sunday. Enditem.

La Jolla Cove Attractions - Yankees’ Mariano Rivera expected to retire after 2013 season

Source - http://www.boston.com/
By - Press Release
Category - La Jolla Cove Attractions
Posted By - San Diego Hampton Inn

La Jolla Cove Attractions

The Yankees reliever plans to announce this weekend that he will retire after the 2013 season, a person familiar with the decision told the Associated Press Thursday.

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because there was no announcement.

A news conference was called for Saturday at the Yankees’ spring training complex in Tampa.

Rivera, 43, is baseball’s career saves leader with 608. He missed most of last season after he tore a ligament in his right knee while catching fly balls during batting practice May 3. He had surgery the next month.

Rivera returned home to Panama this week for a personal matter, and is expected to rejoin the Yankees Saturday. There is a good chance Rivera would pitch in an exhibition game for the first time this spring later that day.

Hank Steinbrenner declined to say what would be announced Saturday. But the Yankees cochairman said he would like Rivera to remain involved with the team when he does end his playing career.

‘‘Greatest closer of all time. No question in my mind,’’ Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.

‘‘At times it seemed like it wasn’t fair. That’s how good Mo was. He was so dominant.’’

Sabathia stronger

Yankees ace CC Sabathia, who had offseason surgery to remove bone spurs from his pitching elbow, threw a 49-pitch bullpen session in Tampa and is scheduled for a simulated game Sunday.

“Getting stronger every time out and not feeling any pain is encouraging,’’ Sabathia said.

Injured teammate Mark Teixeira, out 8-10 weeks with a strained tendon in his right wrist, said he expects to resume limited drills in the next week or two. The first baseman said surgery will not be required.

Furcal out for season

Cardinals shortstop Rafael Furcal will undergo ligament replacement surgery in his right elbow and expects to miss the 2013 season. Furcal made the decision after visiting Dr. James Andrews’s clinic in Pensacola, Fla., Wednesday.

Furcal, 35, strained the elbow ligament near the end of last season. There was concern then that he’d need Tommy John surgery, but Furcal chose to try offseason rehab instead. A bone spur in his elbow complicated the rehab.

Furcal expects the bone spur will be removed at the same time he undergoes ligament surgery, which is expected to happen next week.

‘‘I think going into this we always knew this was a plausible outcome,’’ general manager John Mozeliak said.

New deal for Sale

The White Sox and left­hander Chris Sale agreed on a five-year, $32.5 million contract. Sale will receive $850,000 in 2013, $3.5 million in 2014, $6 million in 2015, $9.15 million in 2016, and $12 million in 2017. Sale went 17-8 last season . . . Pitching for the first time since signing a $175 million, seven-year contract last month, Felix Hernandez gave the split-squad Mariners two strong innings in a 12-2 exhibition win over the Royals in Surprise, Ariz. It was Kansas City’s first loss this spring after an 11-0 start. Hernandez allowed one run and two hits, striking out two and walking none . . . Lefthander Drew Smyly whiffed four in four innings as he extended his scoreless streak to nine innings, strengthening his bid for the final spot in Detroit’s rotation as the Tigers beat the Braves, 9-2, Kissimmee, Fla.

Scorpion 1, Melvin 0

Brewers general manager Bob Melvin spent three hours in a Phoenix emergency room Wednesday night after he was stung by an Arizona bark scorpion inside his spring training condominium. Melvin said he was eating dinner with his wife when they saw a bug on the floor. He reached down with a tissue to pick up what he thought was a spider and was stung on his left middle finger. He said his hand started swelling almost immediately and he decided to head for a hospital. Melvin was back at the team complex Thursday.

Italy rallies for win

Anthony Rizzo hit a two-run double off Sergio Romo in the ninth inning and Jason Grilli escaped a bases-loaded jam in the bottom half as Italy rallied to beat Mexico, 6-5, in Scottsdale, Ariz., in the opening game of Pool D in the World Baseball Classic. Italy got a tying two-run homer from Drew Butera in the fourth off Red Sox reliever Alfredo Aceves, who gave up five hits in three innings. Aceves was followed to the mound by Red Sox teammate Oscar Villarreal, who worked a scoreless seventh. Italy faces Canada on Friday . . . The United States plays Mexico Friday night in its Pool D opener in Phoenix. Blue Jays knuckleballer R.A. Dickey will get the ball. Under WBC rules, starters are limited to 65 pitches in the first round. ‘‘If I'm throwing 65 pitches and can execute 60 good knuckleballs,’’ Dickey said, ‘‘then we’re probably going to be in a good position.’’ . . . Blue Jays third baseman Brett Lawrie is off Canada’s roster because of a rib injury. Lawrie felt discomfort in his left side during Canada’s exhibition against the Reds Wednesday.