Thursday, September 6, 2012

Organic (Growth) Only: Grocery List App Buy Me A Pie! Claims 2M iOS Downloads, Adds Gifting Functionality

bag_512x512Self-funded and hailing from Russia,?Buy Me A Pie!?is boasting some big numbers: The cloud-powered grocery list maker for iOS?now claims 2 million downloads for the fully-featured version of its app -- a version that is normally priced at $2.99 but has at times been heavily discounted and even given away for free as part of an 'organic' growth strategy that the app's developer says is baring fruit. Buy Me A Pie! also gets a significant update today that sees 'app gifting' functionality introduced, making it easy for friends, housemates and family members to purchase the app for each other, motivated by the convenience of sharing and synchronising their grocery shopping lists.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Omu3G-GLsSg/

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Monday, September 3, 2012

Years of U.S. fines over Iran loom for foreign banks

LONDON/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - For years, the United States struggled to get foreign bankers to comply with its effort to throttle Iran's economy - but a couple of billion dollars in fines, not to mention lurid headlines and talk of jail time, has suddenly got their attention.

A half-hearted shuffling forward to settle years-old claims of busting U.S. sanctions on Tehran is becoming a stampede since Washington tightened rules to punish Iran's nuclear program and a new aggression among regulators so alarmed many banks that shareholders will be paying out billions more for years to come.

Deutsche Bank and Italy's Intesa San Paolo are among big names that may soon join the still short list of foreign banks that have so far paid more than $2.3 billion in fines; some still protest their innocence but have regarded the cash as the price of keeping access to the U.S. market - and keeping executives out of court, or even jail.

The drama played out last month between Standard Chartered and the New York state supervisor who threatened to strip the august British institution of its vital Wall Street banking licence was not entirely typical. But StanChart's about-face within days, from vigorously defending past deals with Iranian clients to handing over $340 million - 5 percent of its pretax profit - was illustrative of an industry-wide shift in mindset.

"The acceleration in a sense is coming from (the banks') side defensively," said Michael Malloy, a professor at the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law in California.

"The notion being that it would be better to get out in front of this and confront the difficulty and come clean rather than wait for the authorities to ferret you out," said Malloy, who previously worked for the U.S. Treasury.

Clearly, it is not something all boards will shout about; when another British bank, Royal Bank of Scotland , made mention of talks with regulators on U.S. sanctions regulations in its quarterly report last month, it took another two weeks before many investors became aware of the issue via the media.

But, after Standard Chartered and June's record $619-million fine paid by Dutch bank ING , the list of European banks going public with warnings about possible U.S. payouts includes Germany's Commerzbank and HVB, a unit of Italy's Unicredit , as well as HSBC in Britain.

And Chinese banks have become embroiled in the process too, with the New York Times reporting on Wednesday that prosecutors said they had found evidence in their investigations that they, too, may have flouted U.S. sanctions against Iran.

By contrast, U.S. regulators long gave little opportunity to domestic banks to deal with Iran at all, leaving American bankers now little troubled by inquiries into past transactions.

FINED SO FAR

It has taken time to reach this point; since Britain's Lloyds TSB Bank Plc became the first to settle, forfeiting $350 million in January 2009 for masking the origin of payments to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran, Libya and Sudan between 2002 and 2007, others to pay penalties have included Credit Suisse , in December 2009, Barclays , in August 2010, and ABN Amro - now part of RBS.

Yet, as disclosures by the regulator in the Standard Chartered case made clear, bank executives were discussing among themselves the risk of personal criminal liability as long ago as 2006, as they sought to maintain profitable business despite confusion over exactly what was permitted under U.S. sanctions rules which had last been substantially altered in 1997.

Political heat over Iran's nuclear program grew as Tehran defied U.N. resolutions in 2006 and denied Western accusations it was seeking atomic weaponry, but only in late 2008 did the U.S. Treasury ban a key element of non-U.S. banks' business with Iranians, known as "U-turn" transactions, by which they passed dollars for Iranian clients anonymously through the U.S. system.

Since 2009, the U.S. Justice Department (DoJ), the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the Manhattan District Attorney's office have clamped down on banks dealing with countries blacklisted by Washington.

The sharp tightening of U.S. sanctions late last year, while not strictly relevant to past conduct, and the heightening of political drama over threats by Washington's ally Israel to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities also seems to have limited bankers' appetite for defending in public their dealings with Tehran, however strong many believe their legal cases would be.

"It is a very intense area of focus," said Michael Zolandz, an attorney with law firm SNR Denton in Washington.

"We're certainly sensing from large international banks ... that the pressure on them to disclose transactional information, to start sharing account data and monitor payments ... is definitely increasing."

"PRICE OF DOING BUSINESS"

The rules for U-turn transactions in particular have long been ambiguous at the least, legal experts say:

"Even after recent settlements there remained a need to clarify how the sanctions regime would be interpreted and enforced, which underlines how much uncertainty there is," said Susannah Cogman, at London law firm Herbert Smith.

But despite that lack of clarity over their previous business dealings with Iran, few Western banks now seem ready to put up much of a fight against the United States government.

"To an extent this is the price of doing business in - and with - the U.S.," said Cogman, an expert on regulatory disputes.

Showing an early willingness to cooperate could also help the banks limit the damage and avoid criminal charges.

"There is also the very real possibility of criminal sanctions," said Malloy at the University of the Pacific. "A showing of good faith and attempt to cooperate once you've been made aware of the problem would protect you in most cases."

Deutsche Bank in 2007 stopped taking on new business with counterparties in Iran, and, in a mark of the sensitivity to the risk to employees of U.S. legal action, a regulatory filing from March this year shows it did not involve any American citizen in either a managerial or operational role in Iranian transactions.

Commerzbank warned last month it faced a financial hit to settle the U.S. probes into violations of sanctions on Iran and other countries, which could exceed provisions.

Also last month, Italy's UniCredit said it was reviewing its German unit HVB to check "historic compliance", adding that the New York County District Attorney's Office, the DOJ and the OFAC were leading an investigation.

French banks BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole are conducting inquiries into U.S. dollar payments to check whether they are in breach of U.S. sanctions, they said late in August.

And Intesa Sanpaolo is still subject to an assessment by the OFAC, which could lead to administrative sanctions, half-year financial statements show. It has no further information on the timing or the size of any possible fine.

(Additional reporting by Sarah White; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/years-u-fines-over-iran-loom-foreign-banks-124852456--finance.html

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Sunday, September 2, 2012

Samsung Galaxy S II 4G (Boost Mobile)


The unlocked Samsung Galaxy S II?made its debut more than a year ago. 15 months and all the major carriers later, it's finally arriving on Boost Mobile. 15 months is more like a few years in the smartphone?world, so credit should go to Samsung that it's still an excellent device. Not only that?the Samsung Galaxy S II 4G is actually the best phone in Boost's lineup right now. At $369.99 it's rather pricey up front, but it gets you a powerful dual-core processor, a great display, good call quality, and 4G speeds on Sprint's WiMAX network. It's our new Editors' Choice for smartphones on Boost.

Physical Design, Call Quality, and Data Speeds
Lovely as ever, the Galaxy S II measures 5.1 by 2.7 by 0.4 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.8 ounces. It's a large slab, available in either black or white, made entirely of plastic with a lightly textured back panel. Just keep in mind that this is a big phone; I was unable to hold it in one hand and drag down the notifications bar with my thumb. But if you like a large screen, you're in luck: The Galaxy S II has a beautiful, 4.52-inch, 800-by-480 Super AMOLED Plus display. This is lower resolution than the 960-by-540 display on the?EVO Design 4G, but Super AMOLED Plus looks richer.

The Galaxy S II is a quad-band (800/850/1900/2600) CDMA/WiMAX phone that runs on Sprint's 3G and 4G networks. You also get 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi. Reception is average and call quality is good. Voices sound full, clear, and natural, with plenty of volume in the phone's earpiece. The speakerphone also sounds good but isn't loud enough to use outdoors. Calls made with the phone sound clear, though voices can have a slightly robotic quality. I had no trouble connecting to a?Jawbone Era?Bluetooth headset and calls sounded fine. Samsung uses the powerful Vlingo app for voice dialing here instead of the usual Android option. It allows you to dictate texts messages and issue other commands by voice.

Battery life is good, at 6 hours and 54 minutes of talk time over 3G. But turn on 4G, and that number drops considerably, even when you aren't using the phone. You'll probably only want to connect to 4G when you know you're going to use it.

As we discovered in our testing for the?Fastest Mobile Networks, Sprint has the slowest 3G speeds of all the carriers we tested. That means that all 3G-only Sprint, Boost, and Virgin phones are running at some pretty challenged data speeds. Thankfully, 4G WiMAX support offers the Galaxy S II a nice boost. Unfortunately, WiMAX speeds on the Galaxy S II were not as impressive as the speeds I saw on the EVO Design 4G, Boost's other WiMAX phone.

I didn't have the EVO Design on hand to test against the Galaxy S II, so I used the Clear Spot Voyager?, which runs on the same WiMAX network. Upload speeds were similar on both devices, but the Clear Spot Voyager consistently pulled ahead on downloads, which leads me to believe the GS II's modem is a bit on the slow side.

Also, while WiMAX will get you faster data speeds, keep in mind that it isn't available everywhere the same way that 3G is. Make sure you're covered before factoring it into your decision.

The best reason to get a phone on Boost is to tap into the carrier's inexpensive pricing plans. Android plans start at $55 for "unlimited" data, talk time, and texts per month. That amount is reduced by $5 every 6 months you pay your bill on time, until you reach $40. If you don't need as much talk time, you can get a similar plan from Virgin Mobile, but with 300 voice minutes, for just $35 per month. But for either carrier, there is a downside for heavy data users: After 2.5GB of full-speed data usage per month, your speeds will be throttled significantly until the end of your billing cycle.

For an additional $10 per month, you can use the Galaxy S II as a mobile hotspot to share your connection with up to eight devices. Just keep in mind that you're drawing from the same 2.5GB well of full-speed data.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/AvaAC0-Ecks/0,2817,2409019,00.asp

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Home Improvement | For building projects hire qualified roofers :: By ...

When you choose to invest in real estate market, you might want to create a home instead of buying one. Building can be a complex and dear project which makes usage of various contractors because of its completion. The project requires careful planning and budgeting before embarking on its achievement. The planning involves mapping out the type of home you want to build as well as the various contractors you have to engage. One of them includes an roofing company.

These contractors operate under roof companies? names, there are many them in that you should hire to do your roofing. However, you have to be careful while searching for the roofer to engage because the companies are teeming with under-qualified roofers. You should investigate all of the roofing Richmond businesses that blow you away to determine the ones who're legit and well reputed. You have to then consider their prices and how favorable these are for your project. You settle for the roofing professional that has a license, and can provide you with quality services in the fairest price.

The roofing area of the building project is really as expensive since the others, and may be also adequately budgeted for. When you engage among the roof companies on the oncoming of the construction project, it helps you save on costs as the roofer coordinates the complete project. This requires networking with reliable installers, which decreases the costs of extensive stages from the project, like plumbing, electrical wiring, framing and installing concrete.

This eliminates the expense of supervision, that your general Roofer Richmond would certainly charge a fee. The roofing companies offer services that range from roofing to sheet metal flashing and cleaning upon completion of the job. Should you currently have a property and also extend it and even remodel your kitchen area, the task-force readily available roof companies provide this particular service.

In addition, incidents where install moisture management systems. This goes to show that keeping the contacts of one's roofing contractor following the building project is complete will be handy at some point in the future, when you need to accomplish repairs to your residence. You will not even need to do any research of roof companies since you will have first-hand knowledge about their services.

Should your construction project is over a commercial scale, you can find commercial roof companies that will coordinate and install moisture management systems. Such as installing substrate moisture barriers at any excavations on your own construction site. The top companies also perform the complex installation in making your underground making garage and structural deck waterproof.

The complexity of these tasks signifies that you have to hire probably the most competent roofer Ealing to make sure that your constructions are above standard. Your commercial roofing experts will also foresee installing the roofing materials and sheet metal flashing. They are going to connect the roofs towards the downspouts and gutters too. Their combined services are a great and trouble-free method of substantially saving around the expensive building project.
For qualified roofers log on to: http://www.firmingerroofing.co.uk


Article Source:?http://www.bharatbhasha.net
Article Url: http://www.bharatbhasha.net/home_improvement.php/393036

Article Added on Saturday, September 1, 2012
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Source: http://www.bharatbhasha.net/home_improvement.php/393036

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Football player loses kidney after pitch clash

AN AMATEUR footballer underwent emergency surgery to remove his kidney after a freak accident mid-game.

Johnstown Youth player Kieran Morgan, 21, ruptured his kidney after a collision with a Ruthin Town player at a match at Heol Kenyon, Johnstown.

The father-of-one, of Brynteg, Wrexham, was rushed to Wrexham Maelor Hospital? where he underwent a three-hour operation to remove his kidney.

He is now in a stable condition after a spell in intensive care.

His mother Karen Morgan told the Leader: ?It was just a freak accident, it?s nobody?s fault.

?Kieran was involved in a tackle for the ball from a corner, which resulted in an unfortunate accident.

?He was in extreme pain at the time, and is still quite poorly but he?s conscious and he can talk.

?He?s now stable and on the mend.?

Kieran, who lives with partner Cassey Jones and their eight-month-old daughter Demi-Leigh, was goalkeeper in the Welsh National League (Wrexham area) reserves and colts game on Saturday when tragedy struck in the second half.

A spokesman for the Welsh Ambulance Service said: ?We were called to a football injury at Heol Kenyon, Johnstown, on Saturday at 4.25pm.

?One ambulance was sent and a male in his 20s was taken to Wrexham Maelor Hospital with stomach injuries.?

Karen said her son, a former pupil at Ysgol Bryn Offa, who is self-employed and works on the Oswestry pipeline, is looking forward to returning home to his family and dog, Tye.

She added: ?Kieran would like to give a massive thanks to the ambulance staff, A&E staff and consultant who have been - or are - involved in his care.

?Thanks also to his family, close friends and football manager Mark Baddeley for his support.

?He?s in pretty good spirits and is looking forward to getting fit and well enough to return to work.?

The match ended in a 4-2 defeat for Johnstown.

Source: http://www.leaderlive.co.uk:80/news/115728/football-player-loses-kidney-after-pitch-clash.aspx

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