Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/03/01/korg-headtune-guitar-tuner-for-newbies/
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Friday, March 1, 2013
Korg Headtune ? Stringed instrument tuner for newbies
The Korg Headtune tuner takes all the mystery out of tuning guitar, ukulele and basses, so new players can concentrate on learning to play music instead of figuring out how to keep their instrument in tune. Shaped like the headstock of a?guitar, bass or ukulele, the tuner clips on and has an easy to understand [...]
Payday loan companies in government crosshairs ... - Financial Post
Once indulged as a necessary evil, payday loan companies are increasingly in the crosshairs of governments obsessed with consumers getting all tangled up again in loans they can?t repay.
Still bruised by the reckless lending practices of banks and irresponsible borrowing by consumers that sparked the 2008 financial crisis, governments in Canada, the United States and United Kingdom are cracking down on short-term loan providers for the way they operate ? and for trying to skirt the rules.
Canadian payday loan firm hit with proposed class action
The Cash Store Financial Services Inc., a publicly traded firm in the payday loan business, has been served with a proposed class action in four Canadian provinces.
Read full story here.
Earlier this month, the Ontario government took aim at the operating licence of Cash Store Financial Services Inc., an Edmonton-based company with 512 branches across Canada? and 25 in the U.K. Ontario wants to revoke Cash Store?s licence because it alleges that by charging fees, it allows the company to end run the province?s maximum borrowing cap of $21 per $100 lent.
Cash Store disagreed and filed for a judicial review. Meantime, the consumer protection branch of Ontario?s Ministry of Consumer Affairs, issued an ?alert? to consumers telling them of the investigation and reminding them of their rights.
It?s the latest imbroglio for Cash Store, which faced similar challenges in Alberta, Manitoba and British Columbia. Two years ago, the B.C. government? fined the company $25,000 and demanded it refund ?unlawful? fees paid by consumers. That hasn?t happened yet because Cash Store appealed.
Essentially, payday loan operators provide short-term funds or payday advances in small amounts, ostensibly to cover last-minute or emergency expenses. Typically, this type of loan is $1,500 or less for a maximum term of 62 days and the money is advanced in exchange for a post-dated cheque or some other form of pre-authorized payment.
On average, Canadians borrow $300 for a two-week term. According to Statistics Canada, about 3% of Canadian families have obtained a payday loan.
The bottom line: 1,350 players populate the Canadian industry that?s worth an estimated $2-billion annually. For a financially conservative country like Canada, that?s mighty big business.
Hence the hand wringing. Governments have never been comfortable with the idea that companies could profit by offering what amounted to predatory loans to a segment of society who can?t get a bank account or a credit card. Even so, the provinces decided to ring fence the payday lenders with a regulatory structure.
In the case of Ontario, where 750 of these companies operate, the Payday Loans Act was established in 2008, and amended in 2011 when the government worried lenders were getting around the maximum borrowing costs by charging fees.
Ditto for the other provinces ? except for Quebec, where payday loans are prohibited. Borrowing costs vary from province to province, for example, $25 per $100 in Nova Scotia, $23 per $100 in B.C., and $17 per $100 in Manitoba.
Interestingly, payday loan companies are under fire from provincial regulators just as giant U.K. short-term lender Wonga readies for its arrival in Canada. The online lender is in the initial phase of its Canadian launch and will primarily focus in Ontario and eventually branch out West.
By offering more flexible loans and terms ?uniquely built for Canada,? Wonga Canada CEO Mark Ruddock said in an email, the company? is ?committed to offering loans to those who have the ability to repay them.?
Over in the U.K., Wonga is among the group of 240 companies under formal investigation by the U.K.?s Office of Fair Trading after almost 700 complaints were filed last year.?Last November, the OFT said it is concerned about ?aggressive debt collection practices? and whether the companies are actually providing affordable loans. ?
In the U.S., 15 states have an outright ban on payday loans while others have been introducing stringent regulation to curb them. Even so, the measures have not stopped the sector from expanding. According to The New York Times, three million Americans obtained short-term loans in 2011, amounting to US$13-billion, more than a 120% increase from US$5.8-billion in 2006.
Clearly, the industry isn?t suffering even though lenders complain the borrowing limits are severely crimping profitability. That?s likely what?s spooking? regulators. Still, in the absence of default rates, it?s hard to gauge the extent of the problem, or if there actually is one. For now, the crackdowns appear to be motivated by consumer complaints.
And that may be the problem. Issuing public Buyer Beware alerts to consumers who are unlikely to see them, let alone heed them, won?t really fix much. Besides, at some point people have to be accountable and responsible for their actions ? and that includes reading the fine print.
Maybe the end game for governments is merely to send a message to payday lenders and the folks who use them. After all, having legitimized the business, all that?s left is to raise public awareness and hope for the best.
Source: http://business.financialpost.com/2013/02/27/payday-loan-companies-in-government-crosshairs/
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The Engadget Interview: Qualcomm's Rob Chandhok on the Internet of things at MWC 2013
Few people understand the Internet of things better than Rob Chandhok -- president of Internet services at Qualcomm -- and we had the chance to sit down with him in Barcelona after our interview with Raj Talluri. We chatted about AllJoyn, a set of open source services which the company just revamped to incorporate a simple notification protocol -- an "SMS for things" -- small and durable enough to be useful for the life on an appliance, like a fridge or a washer. This provides a universal mechanism for notification and control, such as WiFi on-boarding, for example. He also mentioned AllJoyn audio, a streaming protocol that Qualcomm and DoubleTwist collaborated on. We then discussed various approaches and network topologies for building the Internet of things, such as IPv6-connected products with cloud-based logic vs. devices on local area networks that interact with the Internet via gateways (something that's prevalent in modern home automation). Check out the full interview video after the break.
Filed under: Misc, Networking
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/alKEXi6GWEs/
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Beware of Google Glass re-sellers, especially those asking for $15K on eBay
Google Glass, the wearable camera/display combo that has everyone excited, isn't available for sale just yet ? but that's not stopping at least one eBay user from auctioning off a device he or she can't even hand over to you.
"I've been selected as an early adapter [sic] for Google's upcoming release," an auction listing read on Wednesday, "you are buying a brand new unopened pair of Google's Project Glass glasses." The seller references Google's #ifihadglass application process, the only way for folks to enter the company's Google Glass Explorer program if they hadn't pre-ordered a device during the Google I/O 2012 conference last June, and explains that he'll be able to pick up the shiny new gadget thanks to his application being among the 8,000 chosen ones.
And that's where one of the many issues with the auction listing begin.
You see, Google won't be notifying the individuals selected as part of the #ifihadglass application process until mid- to late March, meaning that the seller couldn't possibly know that he or she will be eligible to purchase one of the very first publicly available Glass units for $1,500. Additionally, the #ifihadglass terms strictly forbid those who are invited to purchase Glass from transferring their invitations. You can bet that the terms of purchase will include similar stipulations.
"So what if it's against Google's rules? Like anyone will ever find out," you might say. But the reality is that Google Glass will, like most mobile Android devices, be associated with a Google account. Meaning that it shouldn't be difficult for the company to catch on if a member of the Glass Explorer program decides to hand his or her gadget to someone else.
As far as the auction initially mentioned goes, there are plenty of other things that make it scream "Scam!" and make me worry for the person who bid $15,900 on it. Like the fact that the seller's previous auctions include a "mason jar with trapped human soul."
Unsurprisingly, the auction disappeared from eBay before it ran its course.
Want more tech news or interesting links? You'll get plenty of both if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.
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A look at factors complicating Kenya's election
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) ? Kenya's presidential election on Monday is the most important and complicated in the country's 50-year history. More than 1,000 people were killed after Kenya's 2007 vote, and political leaders, civil society groups and international governments are pressing Kenyans for no violence this time.
Despite the push for peace, there are many reasons why the aftermath of the vote could turn tumultuous. Here are some of the factors complicating the election:
? One of the two top presidential candidates, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, faces charges at the International Criminal Court, for orchestrating the 2007-08 election violence.
? If Kenyatta wins the presidency, he may have to spend a significant portion of it in court at The Hague.
? A Kenyatta win will also see relations cool between Kenya and the U.S./Europe because of the ICC case.
? If Prime Minister Raila Odinga wins the presidency and Kenyatta refuses to report to the ICC, Odinga may have to order Kenyatta's arrest, risking serious clashes between their two tribes.
? Tensions between the Kikuyus ? Kenyatta's tribe ? and the Luos ? Odinga's tribe ? have been high in Mathare, Nairobi's most dangerous slum.
? Kenya has seen more than 200 people killed in politically-connected violence in recent months in the Tana River region and Kenya's north. More violence is expected.
? Kenyan polls show the race to be tight ? the top candidates poll in the mid-40-percent range ? raising the risk of rigging allegations. Fifty percent is needed to win the presidency; an April run-off between the two is likely.
? The Somali militant group al-Shabab may try to disrupt the vote by attacking polling stations. The al-Qaida-linked group has threatened large-scale attacks in Kenya ever since Kenyan troops moved into Somalia in 2011.
? A secessionist group on Kenya's coast which had been quashed by the government last year is said to be recruiting new members and planning attacks on elections, according to the government-funded, Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.
? New political divisions known as counties gives Kenya 47 new governors. Those governorships give more tribes a position in power, but they also create some new contentious races over which violence could break out.
? More than 530,000 illegal weapons are in civilians' hands, according to the police.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/look-factors-complicating-kenyas-election-185328508.html
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Pianist Van Cliburn has died at 78
By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, TODAY
Pianist Van Cliburn died Wednesday at age 78 of bone cancer, his publicist confirms. The music legend became famous in 1958 at the young age of 23 when he won an international piano competition in Moscow at the height of the Cold War, returning home to a parade in his honor and the beginning of five decades of fame.
"Van Cliburn was an international legend for over five decades, a?great humanitarian and a brilliant musician whose light will continue to shine through his extraordinary legacy," publicist Mary Lou Falcone said in a statement. "He will be missed by all who knew and admired him, and by countless people he never met."
Fort Worth Star-Telegram / Getty Images
Legendary pianist Van Cliburn is seen here in 2012.
Harvey Lavan Cliburn took his nickname from his middle name. Born in Louisiana in 1934, he came into the public eye when he won the first International Tchaikovsky Competition, held in Moscow in 1958 as the Cold War raged. Though just 23, in a sense he had been preparing for the contest for a decade, making his orchestral debut in Houston at age 12, entering Juilliard at 17, and playing Carnegie Hall at 20.
"The lanky young man from Texas stunned the world by traveling to Moscow and winning the Soviet Union's most prestigious piano competition," wrote Tim Madigan in Cliburn's hometown newspaper, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 2012. "He had done so by playing Russia's most beloved music. The Cold War thawed a little then."
Despite the heated political climate, Cliburn stayed above the fray. "Oh, I never thought about all that," he told the New York Times in 2008. "I was just so involved with the sweet and friendly people who were so passionate about music."
When Cliburn returned to the United States the victor, he was honored with a ticker-tape parade in New York, believed to be the only parade of its kind ever accorded a classical musician.?
Jason Reed / Reuters file
President Barack Obama presents the 2010 National Medal of Arts to Van Cliburn in 2011.
"I appreciate more than you will ever know that you are honoring me, but the thing that thrills me the most is that you are honoring classical music," Cliburn said. "Because I'm only one of many. I'm only a witness and a messenger. Because I believe so much in the beauty, the construction, the architecture invisible, the importance for all generations, for young people to come that it will help their minds, develop their attitudes and give them values. That is why I'm so grateful that you have honored me in that spirit."
After the victory, he reportedly always carried a good-luck five ruble coin once owned by his hero, Russian composer and pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff. Cliburn's later recording of the?Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 became the first classical record to be certified platinum.
Cliburn's many awards include?The Presidential Medal of Freedom presented by President George W. Bush, the National Medal of Arts presented by President Barack Obama, the Kennedy Center Honors, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Russian Order of Friendship presented by President Vladimir Putin on behalf of the Russian people.
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Conoco CEO says Canada deal landscape is changed
(Reuters) - ConocoPhillips
In December, Canada put in place new rules limiting control of its oil sands by foreign state-owned companies who would like to own more than a minority stake in a project.
The changes followed the contentious takeovers of Canadian energy producers Nexen Inc
The complexity and size of Conoco's oil sands projects in Western Canada have prompted the Houston-based oil major to take its time finding the right partner, Conoco Chief Executive Officer Ryan Lance told Reuters. But he added Canada's new rules have changed the landscape for investment.
"I just think we need to be cognizant and aware of the current lay of the land, the politics that are up there," Lance said.
"Certain kinds of buyers and certain kinds of deal structures may have a more difficult time in Canada as a result of the investment Canada decisions that came through the Progress deal with Petronas and through the CNOOC deal with Nexen," the executive said.
Last January, Conoco said it is seeking a buyer for 50 percent of a large portion of its Canadian oil sands holdings, assets that could eventually produce more than half a million barrels a day.
Conoco also has 50 percent interest in the Surmont, Foster Creek and Christina Lake oil sands projects in Alberta.
"It's a mix of stuff we have and it appeals to buyers in different ways, Lance said in an interview.
The planned oil sands stake sale is part of the company's effort to reduce exposure to higher cost projects to free up funds for shale development, Lance told analysts attending the company's analyst meeting in New York.
Oil and gas companies including Conoco are spending billions to increase crude oil output from lower-cost and stable basins in North America and other parts of the world.
Houston-based Conoco has promised investors that its production, margins, cash flow and dividend will grow over five years, helped by higher output of crude from places like the Eagle Ford formation in South Texas.
Conoco also said it is looking to sell some of its 37.5 percent 37.5 percent interest in the Australia Pacific LNG project with Origin Energy
Shares of Conoco rose 5 cents to $58.09 in afternoon New York Stock Exchange trading.
(Reporting By Anna Driver; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Marguerita Choy and Sofina Mirza-Reid)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/conoco-plans-shed-lng-oil-sands-interests-ceo-165505803--finance.html
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