The two comedians share their experiences working with actual magician, David Copperfield.
By Kevin P. Sullivan, with reporting by Josh Horowitz
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GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) ? A Wisconsin Gouda won top honors Wednesday night at the 2013 U.S. Championship Cheese Contest, edging out entries from Vermont and Illinois.
Marieke Penterman, of Holland's Family Cheese in Thorp, Wis., won the two-day competition in Green Bay with her Marieke Mature Gouda. Out of a possible 100 points, Marieke Gouda scored 98.31 in the final round of judging.
First runner-up, with a score of 97.89, was Tarentaise, a semi-hard alpine cheese made by Spring Brook Farm/Farms For City Kids Foundation in Reading, Vt. Second runner-up was Medium Cheddar, made by Team Cracker Barrel Natural Cheese, Agropur Weyauwega for Kraft Foods in Glenview, Ill., which scored 97.88.
Judges re-evaluated the top 16 cheeses at an evening gala to determine the overall winner.
"Every medalist should be extremely proud of being recognized as the best of the best in the largest national cheese competition ever held," said John Umhoefer, executive director of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association, which hosts the biennial competition.
More than 1,700 cheeses were entered, including pepper-flavored, smoked and sheep cheeses. This year, more than 30,000 pounds of cheese were entered in the contest.
Wisconsin captured the most gold medals, with 47 of the 81 categories judged. Vermont and New York came in second, with six gold medals each. Oregon had four gold medals, while California, Idaho, Illinois and Ohio each took three. Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico and Utah each captured one apiece.
The biennial event has been held at Lambeau Field since 2009. Organizers say this year's number of entries is a record.
___
Online:
http://www.uschampioncheese.org
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wis-gouda-named-2013-us-championship-cheese-022819194.html
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Fast-growing Russian online hotel booking service provider and travel agency Oktogo.ru has raised a third round of financing to the tune of $11 million, bringing its total raised to over $26 million.
Furthermore, the plan is to add another $40 million to the company?s coffers by the end of 2013, The Next Web has learned.
Prior backers such as VTB Capital, Mangrove Capital Partners and Ventech participated in this round, as did Internet entrepreneur and online marketing expert Victor Sazhin, who also joined the company?s board.
Angel investors in, and advisors to the company, include folks like Javier Perez-Tenessa (founder and CEO of Odigeo and eDreams), OLX founder Fabrice Grinda and Jose Marin (founder of IG Expansion and chairman of ViajaNet).
The new funds will be use for general ?brand building? purposes and strengthening Oktogo.ru?s regional business. Oktogo.ru is after a big chunk of the Russian online travel market, which is expected to exceed $10 billion in 2013 and double that by 2016, according to PhoCusWright.
It?s hardly alone, of course: a team of entrepreneurs with experience working for companies like Google, Booking.com, Yandex, TokBox and YouNoodle have started a rival site called Ostrovok.ru. According to Crunchbase, the startup has raised $13.6 million so far.
As for the founders of Oktogo.ru: they were also founding team members of Russia?s leading online property, Mail.ru, and helped build DataArt, a major software developer for the travel sector in Europe and the US.
It will be interesting to see just how big Oktogo and Ostrovok can get.
Marina Kolesnik, founder and CEO of Oktogo.ru, is confident:
?For the past year, Oktogo.ru has grown into the Russian market leader in online hotel booking. Our growth comes from converting travelers from offline to online.
We strive to build Oktogo.ru into the leading Russian online travel brand by innovating and investing in human capital.?
Designed specifically for Russian-speaking travelers, Oktogo.ru currently offers over 5,000 hotels in Russia and over 250,000 hotels worldwide.
The St. Petersburg-based company, which employs 120 staff, claims its website attracts more than 1 million unique visitors each month.
Oktogo.ru made $30 million last year, up from $6 million in 2011.
Kolesnik tells me that their main online competitors are indeed sites like Ostrovok and major international ones such as Booking.com, but that they?re really trying to get customers to move away from offline channels such as physical travel agencies and the like, which she considers a far bigger challenge.
The company is now focused on growing its presence throughout Russia, both physically (by opening new offices but also attracting new local distribution partners), and Kolesnik plans to raise a bigger round of financing in the range of $40 million by the end of this year.
That money will serve to support growth, but I gather that Oktogo.ru is also going to add value-added product such as car rental and activity booking services to its offering in the future. For that, Kolesnik says the company will likely with partners rather than building their own products.
Worth noting: Oktogo.ru was recently awarded with the title of most innovative company in Russia by Fast Company, and was voted the ?Best Internet Service? in the 2012 National Geographic Traveler Awards.
Image credit: Thinkstock
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LONDON (Reuters) - The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that adverts run by Japan Tobacco's Gallaher last year were "misleading", in an increasingly bitter battle between tobacco firms and anti-smoking campaigners over plain packaging.
Gallaher, which owns brands like Silk Cut and Hamlet and was bought in 2007 by Japan Tobacco, ran a series of British newspaper adverts in 2012 arguing against the adoption of plain cigarette packs.
The adverts were challenged by pressure group Action on Smoking and Health and charity Cancer Research UK, who said the adverts made misleading claims, a complaint that the ASA said on Tuesday it was upholding.
Australia ruled last year that cigarettes and tobacco must be sold in plain packets without branding, a move that is being watched closely by Britain and other countries.
Such a move would likely impact hardest on sales of premium brands, where companies are seeing strongest growth.
Britain passed a law in 2008 to ban the display of cigarettes at the point of sale, but held back from insisting on plain packaging.
In its adverts, Gallaher said that "the policy was rejected in 2008 because there was no credible evidence".
However, the ASA said that readers were likely to interpret that to mean that the government had decided in 2008 to abandon the proposal of plain packaging and not plan to revisit it.
The regulator said that it understood that the government was keeping the measure under review and planned to re-assess it at a later date, though.
"We therefore considered that the claims in the ads that the policy had been 'rejected' in 2008 because of a lack of credible evidence gave a misleading impression of the position and action taken at that time by the government," it said.
It said that the adverts must not reappear again in their current form.
Japan Tobacco said it was "disappointed" by the ASA's ruling.
"Whilst we disagree with the ASA's decision, we will not use the advertisements in question again," it said in a statement.
"We also disagree with those who it appears wish to close down this debate and will continue to express our concerns."
Some media reports have said Britain will introduce plain packaging this year and will announce the measure in May.
Japan Tobacco said it believed no decision has been made.
(Reporting by Rosalba O'Brien, editing by Paul Casciato)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asa-rules-japan-tobacco-ads-misleading-001302298--sector.html
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By Alexandra Ulmer
SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Across Latin America, the faithful rejoiced that the new Pope Francis was one of them.
Even though some commentators said he had a reputation as being as conservative and inflexible as his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, Latin Catholics celebrated that cardinals had, in Francis' own words, gone "to the end of the world" to find him.
"A Latino is more open to others, while a European is more closed. A change like this, with a Latin American, will be very important for we Latin Americans ... (he will be) more open, more honest," said 75-year-old Ana Solis, a retired hospital worker, outside Santiago's Metropolitan Cathedral in Chile.
"I'm happy because another European pope would be like eating the same bread every day," Martin Rodriguez, a 49-year-old Mexico City cab driver, said of the first non-European pontiff in nearly 1,300 years.
The cardinals in the conclave had faced a tough task in finding a leader capable of overcoming crises caused by priestly child abuse and a leak of secret papal documents that uncovered corruption and rivalry inside the Church government or Curia.
The new pope will take up a burden that Benedict declared in February was beyond his physical capabilities.
The reaction from Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, who two years ago accused the Vatican of hampering an inquiry into child sex abuse by Irish priests, summed up the thoughts of many.
"We pray that he will have the strength, the good health and the spiritual guidance needed to lead the Catholic Church in the many challenges it faces," Kenny said.
CHALLENGES
Mindful of the scandals, Deise Cristina, 43, who goes to Mass every week, hailed the Church for having broken "a taboo" by choosing a Latin American, but said outside the cathedral in Sao Paulo, Brazil: We are facing a lot of challenges now and I pray that the pope will help lead our youth back to the church."
Home to 42 percent of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, Latin America far outweighs Europe's 25 percent, although the Church has for years been losing ground to Protestant and evangelical rivals across the region.
Orani Tempesta, archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, said: "This shows that the Church is now looking at Latin America."
But the man who was widely reported to have come second to Joseph Ratzinger for the papacy in 2005 is not seen as bringing many changes to the way Church is run this time round.
"He's not going to be a big liberal, there will not be big changes in Church teaching, probably in church outreach ... I think he will be careful and conservative and we hope for the best," said Father James Bretzke, professor of moral theology at Boston College, and a Jesuit priest, like Francis.
"He has a reputation of being rather inflexible and staunchly conservative."
For Catholics across the world though, his outlook mattered less, at least for now, than his origins and his quiet, calm demeanor as he was announced to the vast crowd in St Peter's Square - thanking God for choosing such a messenger.
Jorge Bergoglio is known in his native Argentina as a modest man from a middle class family who is content to travel by bus. He is media shy and deeply concerned about the social inequalities rife in his homeland and across Latin America.
Leonardo Steiner, general secretary of National Conference of Brazilian Bishops, in Brasilia, said: "He's a very humble man, very close to the people. We could perceive that in the way he asked for the prayer and leaned into the public."
In Nigeria, where many have hoped for a first African pope, Father Raymond Anoliefo, the priest who runs Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church, in Ibeju, on the outskirts of Lagos, said: "I'm very elated, emphatic, impressed.
"I've been shouting and screaming. It wasn't like an obvious, well known name or popular contender ... This is clearly a divine touch. The first Jesuit, the first from Latin America, something new."
"CHAMPION OF POOR"
The official reaction to the new pope was warm, with U.S. President Barack Obama calling him "a champion of the poor and the most vulnerable among us".
"As the first pope from the Americas, his selection also speaks to the strength and vitality of a region that is increasingly shaping our world, and alongside millions of Hispanic Americans, those of us in the United States share the joy of this historic day," Obama said in a statement.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said he hoped Francis would continue to promotion of inter-faith dialogue.
"We share many common goals - from the promotion of peace, social justice and human rights, to the eradication of poverty and hunger - all core elements of sustainable development," he said. "We also share the conviction that we can only resolve the interconnected challenges of today's world through dialogue."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, daughter of a Lutheran pastor, said in a statement: "Millions of believers in Germany and the whole world were waiting for this moment. Their hopes now rest on the new pope.
"I am particularly pleased, together with the Christians in Latin America, that one of theirs has been nominated to the head of the Catholic church for the first time." Benedict is German.
Hailing a "moment of joy" for the world's Catholics, former French Prime Minister Fran?ois Fillon said in a statement: In a century that is searching for meaning and peace, we all feel that the speech and influence of the Pope can help bring more light and wisdom to the human condition."
Despite the genuine emotion of the day, it was not long before the teasing and jokes on social media began.
The World Jewish Congress offered congratulations.
Some on Twitter called the choice of an Argentine "the hand of God", a reference to illegal goal scored by Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona during the 1982 World Cup. Maradona himself used the phrase at the time, after referees mistakenly allowed the goal, scored with his hand, as a header.
The banter also came thick and fast from Brazilians who had hoped one of their cardinals, including the Sao Paulo archbishop who had been considered a frontrunner, would emerge as pope.
"The pope couldn't be Brazilian, after all, GOD is Brazilian," tweeted Cristiano Romero, a journalist.
(Reporting by Reuters correspondents in United States, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria, Ireland; Writing by Alison Williams; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/latin-americans-hail-francis-man-lead-troubled-church-213014668.html
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Sleep patterns and markers in spinal fluid may hint at the first signs of the neurodegenerative disorder.
The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 5 million Americans have Alzheimer?s disease, and while there are no effective treatments, experts believe that detecting the disease early can help patients to strengthen memory and cognitive functions and potentially slow down the buildup of brain plaques that are the hallmark of the condition. Two studies, both published in the?Journal of the American Medical Association?(JAMA), hint at potentially encouraging ways to identify those who might be at risk, at the earliest possible stages of disease.
(MORE: Study Shows Alzheimer?s Protein May Not Spread like a Virus)
In one study from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, ?researchers found that levels of the protein amyloid, which makes up these plaques, were correlated with poor sleep quality. Previous studies in animals showed that animals that slept less tended to develop more plaques, but it wasn?t clear whether poor sleep can contribute to the formation of amyloid plaques, or whether the build up of these deposits causes disturbances in sleep.
To study the connection further, the scientists asked 145 cognitively normal individuals aged 45 to 75 who were enrolled at the Alzheimer?s disease research center to keep a diary of their sleep patterns for two weeks. The volunteers recorded when they went to bed, when the woke up in the morning, how many naps they took and whether they felt sleepy during the day. The scientists had the advantage of already having samples of the participants? spinal fluid, so they could also match up the sleep records with the level of amyloid protein in the brain of in each patient.
All of the participants slept about the same amount, but there were stark differences in the quality of that sleep. Thirty two participants showed higher levels of amyloid build-up that was classified as pre-clinical Alzheimer?s disease, and also had worse sleep quality. These volunteers were less likely to spend time their time in bed in restful, deep sleep than those with lower levels of amyloid.
MORE: New Research on Understanding Alzheimer?s
Because none of the participants were experiencing any symptoms of Alzheimer?s, the researchers believe that such sleep disturbances may be among the earliest signs of the disease, and could help to identify those at risk of developing Alzheimer?s. It?s still possible that the link between poor sleep and?Alzheimer?s?disease works both ways, and that amyloid build-up could interfere with neurological sleep functions while at the same time restless sleep could also create conditions that promote the deposit of the amyloid protein.
Either way, the scientists believe that sleep disturbances could not only help to identify the most vulnerable populations but also help in testing of new treatments. Measuring the effect that novel drugs or therapies have in improving sleep quality and lowering amyloid levels could serve as a marker for their effectiveness. ?Sleep measures themselves could be used as markers of brain function, thereby?facilitating faster and easier clinical trials of promising?treatments in the preclinical and early clinical stages of Alzheimer?s Disease,? the authors write.
(MORE: Is Alzheimer?s Caused by Contagious Proteins?)
In the second study, researchers from the University of Minnesota focused more specifically on which markers of amyloid were the best representatives of the protein?s buildup in the brain. They studied spinal fluid from 107 adults, about half of whom showed signs of Alzheimer?s or cognitive impairment, and half of whom did not. They then compared their results to those of 10 younger and?cognitively?normal controls to ensure that they were zeroing in on the most reliable markers for Alzheimer?s.
MORE: Use it or Lose it: Keeping Brain Active May Help Ward Off Alzheimer?s
For years now, scientists have known that the amyloid protein that builds up in the neurodegenerative condition actually comes from a larger protein that is broken down into various fragments. So the Minnesota researchers concentrated on two of these, the beta-amyloid trimers and beta-amyloid*56. They found that levels of these fragments were elevated among the participants who already showed symptoms of Alzheimer?s, but were lower among those who didn?t have the symptoms and among the younger controls. Levels of these compounds also increased with age, suggesting that they serve as a viable target for new treatments as well, since eliminating or hampering their aggregation might hold off some of the symptoms of Alzheimer?s.
MORE: Scientists Identify Rare Gene Mutation that Protects Against Alzheimer?s
Both methods require additional confirmation, but as experts learn more about the processes that drive Alzheimer?s, they hope to find more interventions that can reduce the severity of the disease or, ultimately prevent it altogether.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/two-studies-promising-news-ways-detect-alzheimer-earlier-153031285.html
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TALLINN, Estonia (AP) ? An Estonian man has returned a library book 69 years late, partly blaming a World War II aerial bombing that damaged the library for the late return.
Ivika Turkson of the Tallinn Central Library says that last week the man in his mid-80s returned the overdue book ? which was checked out on March 7, 1944, while Estonia was occupied by Nazi Germany ? along with an apology and an offer to pay a late fee.
Turkson said Tuesday that the library waived any penalty for the late return of the tome, which still contained the original emblem and serial number, allowing librarians to identify it.
It was not immediately clear why the man waited so long to return the book, a work of fiction by Estonian author Eduard Vilde.
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Oklahoma State guard Marcus Smart (33) dunks in front of Kansas State guard Angel Rodriguez (13) and forward Nino Williams (11) and Oklahoma State's Le'Bryan Nash (2) in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, March 9, 2013. Oklahoma State won 76-70. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Oklahoma State guard Marcus Smart (33) dunks in front of Kansas State guard Angel Rodriguez (13) and forward Nino Williams (11) and Oklahoma State's Le'Bryan Nash (2) in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, March 9, 2013. Oklahoma State won 76-70. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Oklahoma State forward Philip Jurick, left, fouls Kansas State forward Nino Williams as he shoots in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, March 9, 2013. Oklahoma State won 76-70. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Kansas State head coach Bruce Weber, center, talks to his team during a time out in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, March 9, 2013. Oklahoma State won 76-70. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Oklahoma State's Marcus Smart (33), Michael Cobbins (20), Markel Brown (22), Brian Williams (4) and Kansas State's Angel Rodriguez watch as Oklahoma State's Phil Forte (13) takes a free throw in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, March 9, 2013. Oklahoma State won 76-70. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Kansas State forward Thomas Gipson (42), guard Angel Rodriguez (13) and Oklahoma State guard Marcus Smart (33) watch a loose ball in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, March 9, 2013. Oklahoma State won 76-70. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) ? Coach Travis Ford can't be certain whether NBA prospect Marcus Smart has played his last home game at Oklahoma State.
If he did, he went out with one of his typical beyond-the-box-score plays, changing the game and the Big 12 championship picture.
Smart scored 21 points, but perhaps none of his plays were as big as the charging foul he drew that turned the momentum as the 13th-ranked Cowboys beat No. 9 Kansas State 76-70 on Saturday.
After officials had stopped the game to review a Smart jump shot and rule that it was not a 3-pointer but a 2, he got between Angel Rodriguez and the sideline and drew the foul as Rodriguez tried to catch an inbound pass.
Smart ended up with six points ? plus drawing Rodriguez's foul ? during the decisive 14-1 run for the Cowboys (23-7, 13-5 Big 12).
"The momentum changed for us, and we opened the game up," Smart said.
Smart's heady play came as no surprise to Ford, who has seen his freshman point guard develop into a Big 12 player of the year candidate without needing to be his team's leading scorer.
"He is going to be in the middle of the action and more times than not, he's going to make a positive play. ... That's just his game," Ford said. "That's just his nature. That's the way he plays."
Le'Bryan Nash contributed 24 points and Markel Brown scored 16, including seven free throws in the final 2 minutes for Oklahoma State.
The Wildcats (25-6, 14-4) came into the day tied with rival Kansas for the conference lead, but were left needing the Jayhawks to lose on the road at Baylor later Saturday to come away with their first regular-season conference title since 1977 in the Big Eight.
K-State led by as much as nine in the second half and was up 61-57 following Rodney McGruder's three-point play with 4:45 remaining. The Cowboys didn't allow another field goal for more than 4 minutes and hit 13 straight free throws during crunch time to come away with the win.
It was 61-59 when Smart drew the charge, then got fouled by Thomas Gipson on a 3-point attempt and hit two free throws to tie it. Nash followed with a driving layup to put the Cowboys ahead to stay at 63-61 with 2:47 remaining.
Kansas State coach Bruce Weber called Rodriguez's charge the "big, changing play" of the game.
"I bet if you went and watched it, it wasn't an offensive foul. So, that changed the game, the momentum a lot," Weber said. "But then they made plays and we didn't."
McGruder led the Wildcats with 22 points. He had a big game when the teams met in the Big 12 opener, scoring 28 points and making all five of his 3-point attempts to lead K-State to a victory. He couldn't match that this time, connecting on only six of his 15 shots.
Thomas Gipson chipped in 15 points and Angel Rodriguez scored 10, but also struggled to a 3-for-16 outing.
"They've got some pretty good athletes that can guard and defend, and they made their focus ? there's no doubt ? to make sure that Rod and Angel were jammed up as much as possible," Weber said.
The Wildcats allowed Oklahoma State to shoot 57 percent while making just 39 percent of their own shots, but still managed to hang in until the final minutes for a chance to stretch their winning streak to seven and ? more importantly ? win an elusive conference title.
"We had an opportunity to be regular-season conference champs," McGruder said, "and we let that opportunity slip."
After McGruder's three-point play and Rodriguez's charge, Kansas State missed eight straight attempts. Smart said there had been some build-up to the call, with referees warning both Smart and Rodriguez to stop pushing off.
"At that moment in time, he gave me a little nudge that was enough for the referee to blow his whistle," Smart said. "Actually, I wasn't trying to fall. I actually slipped and it just looked like I fell, like I tried to make it a flop. But I actually slipped. It was a nudge but it wasn't enough to make me fall."
The Wildcats will be the No. 2 seed in next week's Big 12 tournament. Oklahoma State will be the third seed and face Baylor in the opening round.
Shane Southwell and Martavious Irving hit 3-pointers to get the Wildcats going after trailing 36-30 at halftime, and soon they put together a 14-1 blitz to charge into the lead. Rodriguez had two baskets and two free throws during the run, and Nino Williams made a jumper along the left baseline to put K-State up 50-41 with 13:12 left.
The Cowboys responded by pushing the pace in transition, and Nash had a two-handed slam and a pair of layups during an 11-0 comeback. Smart's three-point play off a driving runner along the right side of the lane put OSU back up 56-53 with 6:21 remaining ? and fans chanted "One more year!" to the NBA prospect as he hit the free throw.
Smart said he has tried to block out that kind of chatter all year long.
"If I was them, I want him to come back. No question," Ford said. "But I've seen him in a different perspective probably a little bit. I want what's best for him. I've read, and everybody thinks he's gone for sure. He might. I don't know. It has not been discussed. I wouldn't be surprised either way."
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Public release date: 10-Mar-2013
Share ] Contact: Ian Vorster
igvorster@gmail.com
508-444-1509
Woods Hole Research Center
An international team of authors from 17 institutions in seven countries, including the Woods Hole Research Center, published a study in the journal Nature Climate Change on the 10 March 2013 (10.1038/NCLIMATE1836: http://www.nature.com/nclimate). The study shows that, as the cover of snow and ice in the northern latitudes has diminished in recent years, the temperature over the northern land mass has increased at different rates during the four seasons, causing a reduction in temperature and vegetation seasonality in this area. The temperature and vegetation at northern latitudes increasingly resemble those found several degrees of latitude farther south as recently as 30 years ago.
The NASA-funded study, based on newly improved ground and satellite data sets, examines critically the relationship between changes in temperature and vegetation productivity in northern latitudes. "The amplified warming in the circumpolar area roughly above the Canada-USA border is reducing temperature seasonality over time because the colder seasons are warming more rapidly than the summer," says Liang Xu, a Boston University doctoral student and lead co-author of the study. As a result of the enhanced warming over a longer ground-thaw season, the total amount of heat available for plant growth in these northern latitudes is increasingcreating large patches of vigorously productive vegetation totaling more than a third of the northern landscapeover 9 million km2, which is roughly about the area of the USA.
A key finding of this study is an accelerating greening rate in the Arctic and a decelerating rate in the boreal region, despite a nearly constant rate of temperature seasonality diminishment in these regions over the past 30 years. "Some areas of boreal forest will be negatively impacted by warming temperatures, from increased drought stress as well as insect and fire disturbance, but this work shows that in most high latitude regions we see increased productivity resulting from a reduced range of seasonal temperature variability," says co-author Scott Goetz, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center. Dr. Goetz's research focuses on ecosystem responses to environmental change, including monitoring and modeling the linkages and feedbacks between forests and climate, land use change and disturbance.
The authors measured seasonality changes using latitude as a yardstick. They first defined reference latitudinal profiles for the quantities being observed and then quantified changes in them over time as shifts along these profiles.
"Arctic plant growth during the early 1980s reference period equaled that of lands north of 64 degrees north. Today, just 30 years later, it equals that of lands above 57 degrees northa reduction in vegetation seasonality of about seven degrees south in latitude," says co-author Prof. Terry Chapin, Professor Emeritus, University of Alaska, Fairbanks. The change equates to a distance of approximately 480 miles southward.
Based on analysis of 17 state-of-the-art climate model simulations, diminishment of temperature seasonality in these regions could be more than 20 degrees in latitude by the end of this century relative to the 1951-1980 reference period. These changes will affect local residents as change occurs in ecosystem services, such as in timber and traditional food production, as a result of warming temperatures. They will also impact the global community through changes in regulatory ecosystem services relating to emissions of greenhouse gases.
###
About the Woods Hole Research CenterWHRC is a private, non-profit research organization focusing on environmental sciences. Our scientists combine analysis of satellite images of the Earth with field studies to measure, model, and map changes in the world's ecosystems, from the thawing permafrost in the Arctic to the expanding agriculture regions of the tropics. We work locally and regionally, with in-depth expertise and collaborations in North and South America and Africa; and we also work globally, focusing on how humans are changing global cycles of carbon, nitrogen, and water. We merge natural science with economics to discover sustainable paths for human prosperity and stewardship of the Earth's natural resources.
Contact information for the authors:
Liang Xu: xuliang@bu.edu, Cell: +1-617-510-6583
Scott Goetz: sgoetz@whrc.org
Ian Vorster, Director of Communications at WHRC: ivorster@whrc.org
Experts to comment on this story:
Dr. Gavin Schmidt, gavin.a.schmidt@nasa.gov, Tel: 212 678 5627 Cell: 212 749 0006
Prof. Uma S. Bhatt, usbhatt@alaska.edu, +1-907-474-2662, +34-685-897-961
Prof. Ian Colin Prentice, Macquaire University, colin.prentice@mq.edu.au (Call UK Home Tel: +44-1392-851329)
Links:
http://cliveg.bu.edu/greeningearth/ssnltydim/ssnlty-dim.html
http://www.whrc.org
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Public release date: 10-Mar-2013 Share ] Contact: Ian Vorster
igvorster@gmail.com
508-444-1509
Woods Hole Research Center
An international team of authors from 17 institutions in seven countries, including the Woods Hole Research Center, published a study in the journal Nature Climate Change on the 10 March 2013 (10.1038/NCLIMATE1836: http://www.nature.com/nclimate). The study shows that, as the cover of snow and ice in the northern latitudes has diminished in recent years, the temperature over the northern land mass has increased at different rates during the four seasons, causing a reduction in temperature and vegetation seasonality in this area. The temperature and vegetation at northern latitudes increasingly resemble those found several degrees of latitude farther south as recently as 30 years ago.
The NASA-funded study, based on newly improved ground and satellite data sets, examines critically the relationship between changes in temperature and vegetation productivity in northern latitudes. "The amplified warming in the circumpolar area roughly above the Canada-USA border is reducing temperature seasonality over time because the colder seasons are warming more rapidly than the summer," says Liang Xu, a Boston University doctoral student and lead co-author of the study. As a result of the enhanced warming over a longer ground-thaw season, the total amount of heat available for plant growth in these northern latitudes is increasingcreating large patches of vigorously productive vegetation totaling more than a third of the northern landscapeover 9 million km2, which is roughly about the area of the USA.
A key finding of this study is an accelerating greening rate in the Arctic and a decelerating rate in the boreal region, despite a nearly constant rate of temperature seasonality diminishment in these regions over the past 30 years. "Some areas of boreal forest will be negatively impacted by warming temperatures, from increased drought stress as well as insect and fire disturbance, but this work shows that in most high latitude regions we see increased productivity resulting from a reduced range of seasonal temperature variability," says co-author Scott Goetz, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center. Dr. Goetz's research focuses on ecosystem responses to environmental change, including monitoring and modeling the linkages and feedbacks between forests and climate, land use change and disturbance.
The authors measured seasonality changes using latitude as a yardstick. They first defined reference latitudinal profiles for the quantities being observed and then quantified changes in them over time as shifts along these profiles.
"Arctic plant growth during the early 1980s reference period equaled that of lands north of 64 degrees north. Today, just 30 years later, it equals that of lands above 57 degrees northa reduction in vegetation seasonality of about seven degrees south in latitude," says co-author Prof. Terry Chapin, Professor Emeritus, University of Alaska, Fairbanks. The change equates to a distance of approximately 480 miles southward.
Based on analysis of 17 state-of-the-art climate model simulations, diminishment of temperature seasonality in these regions could be more than 20 degrees in latitude by the end of this century relative to the 1951-1980 reference period. These changes will affect local residents as change occurs in ecosystem services, such as in timber and traditional food production, as a result of warming temperatures. They will also impact the global community through changes in regulatory ecosystem services relating to emissions of greenhouse gases.
###
About the Woods Hole Research CenterWHRC is a private, non-profit research organization focusing on environmental sciences. Our scientists combine analysis of satellite images of the Earth with field studies to measure, model, and map changes in the world's ecosystems, from the thawing permafrost in the Arctic to the expanding agriculture regions of the tropics. We work locally and regionally, with in-depth expertise and collaborations in North and South America and Africa; and we also work globally, focusing on how humans are changing global cycles of carbon, nitrogen, and water. We merge natural science with economics to discover sustainable paths for human prosperity and stewardship of the Earth's natural resources.
Contact information for the authors:
Liang Xu: xuliang@bu.edu, Cell: +1-617-510-6583
Scott Goetz: sgoetz@whrc.org
Ian Vorster, Director of Communications at WHRC: ivorster@whrc.org
Experts to comment on this story:
Dr. Gavin Schmidt, gavin.a.schmidt@nasa.gov, Tel: 212 678 5627 Cell: 212 749 0006
Prof. Uma S. Bhatt, usbhatt@alaska.edu, +1-907-474-2662, +34-685-897-961
Prof. Ian Colin Prentice, Macquaire University, colin.prentice@mq.edu.au (Call UK Home Tel: +44-1392-851329)
Links:
http://cliveg.bu.edu/greeningearth/ssnltydim/ssnlty-dim.html
http://www.whrc.org
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/whrc-sri030713.php
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Flickr/sneakerphotography
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Google wants you wearing computers from head to toe.The company already has computerized eyewear and is now showing off a prototype of a "talking shoe" at the South by Southwest conference in Austin this week.
The shoe isn't the brainchild of the famous Google X group either, the ones responsible for the Google Glass eyewear and self-driving cars. It's a proof-of-concept gadget developed by the Advertising Arts team, Aman Govil, head of the Art, Copy & Code initiative told the Washington Post's Emi Kolawole.
For instance, instead of using a running app on a smartphone, a connected shoe can log your run and give you feedback on your running mechanics. Imagine a shoe sponsored by an innersole company that can help you find the right support for your running style to prevent injuries.
When Kolawole tested the shoe, a screen on the shoe offered her encouragement as she picked up speed, saying on its built-in screen, "Go! Go! Go!?
Govil says that Google is not planning on releasing the shoe as a consumer product. It's just a prototype to inspire others.
Here's a look at the prototype shoe.
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/google-is-working-on-a-talking-shoe-2013-3
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Meet Google's "talking shoe," which aims to translate movement data in witty messages to users and their friends. The concept apparel, showcased at the search giant's swanky SXSW Interactive headquarters, is part of a new arts project?-?"Art, Copy, Code" - which aims to breathe a social, life-like experience into everyday objects. "If standing still was a sport, you'd be world champion," the trash-talking shoe projects on a monitor hanging over a rainbow-colored obstacle course after it senses I've been standing still.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/U4PltVemQFc/
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7. Rose, vanilla & shatavari tea has high levels of vitamin C and it really is employed for colds plus flu. It is employed to boost digestion, immune program, memory reduction, depression, anxiety and stress reduction.
Some of the criteria to determine telemarketing health Leads are which the clients ought to be currently working plus have a good health condition. In addition the money of the potential customer plus the financial or individual hardship must be noted down too.
Additionally, countless medical jobs are accessible to those whom have superior administrative skills. While this doesn't signify we directly help care for sick folks, we indirectly enable them by making sure the healthcare facility is well run, plus that resources are properly employed. This is merely because important as anything inside the healthcare industry.
. Honeybush tea is antioxidant wealthy. Its possible health advantages might include reduction in irritability, reduction in headaches, because a relief from sleeplessness. It is equally utilized to relieve hypertension, nervous tension and mild depression.
Science has noticed that oxidative stress could well function as the cause of over 70 well-known, widely-spread diseases. Depending about what form of toxin or stress the body is exposed to on an continuous basis, you may find oneself suffering, even at an early age, from illnesses which could be prevented when only you'd have minimized the dangerous free radicals in your system.
6. Rose, chamomile & lavender tea has high degrees of vitamin C. It is selected for colds, flu, anxiousness plus insomnia. It is additionally used to treat strain plus headaches.
Should you would like extra details on a knockout article head over to Cristi T. Geyer's site there's a lot of details not outlined in this article, take a look at Author's site to uncover added details.
Source: http://www.hellofour.com/blog/93833/health-and-fitness-skin-care-article-category/
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Copyright ? 2013 LanaMc.H Kilnmar
Scaling up your internet business is not as difficult as it seems on the surface. What you need to do is learn the new methods that are the best fits for your specific business model. There are a few methods that are going to be a far less effective for you than others. So while you can scale with a method that produces modest results, go for those that will be better suited for your business. If you are experienced, then you already have a good sense of what we?re talking about.
Remember that scaling takes your business to new directions and territories through your marketing and business endeavors. This suggestion involves finding new ways and places to network. You can make this happen both offline an online, depending on the product or service you offer. The absolute easiest way for you to do this is online an through social media and forum marketing. LinkedIn and Facebook are the best and simplest places to do this online. Just remember that it is important for you to consider your niche audience. Basically you should go where they are in significant numbers. If you are trying to network it can be helpful to simply brand your name or your company or product?s name.
Most of the scaling methods that you are going to see are marketing methods that have been around for quite a while.
It?s just that people may not view them as methods to scale up a business. An approach that works quite well is offering to be a guest content provider or sending in guest posts. Remember, the goal is to make your marketing net wider and to get more visitors to your business website. It is also important to keep yourself relevant and that means sticking to your own niche or market. When you take on guest posting you have to find a good candidate and get to work. You will have to market yourself and your writing ability, but even that is not so difficult either.
Even if you haven?t thought about it before, now is the time to start working on your branding. You can brand pretty much whatever you want if you have the best approach. Always remember, though, that the goal is to very specifically position your brand. There are so many ways that you can run your own branding campaign. As one example, it is possible to put your banner ads on a few different websites. Before you do anything else, you need to figure out precisely how you want to be branded. Most of the time this is either a short phrase or a logo design that you pair with some text. You have to understand an accept that branding, if you want it to work, is something that will take both commitment and time. Every so often you might hit on some method for scaling your business that actually works quite well. This is true both for businesses that work with physical products and businesses that use dropshippers. You should try and avoid over-selling anything to the point where you have a backlog of orders. This is a situation that will produce all sorts of customer service problems like having people be upset about back orders.
Seeking information about buy website traffic, visit LanaMc.H Kilnmar?s website.
Source: http://liveamericandreamnow.com/?p=6757
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Mar. 9, 2013 ? Even though a newly recognized cardiomyopathy, which mainly impacts women, is typically treatable, Tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy can also be deadly when compounded by other co-morbidities, such as heart failure, according to a study being presented March 9 at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Scientific Sessions.
This condition, formally known as Tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy (TTC) and informally known as stress cardiomyopathy or broken heart syndrome, has abrupt onset of symptoms and is characterized by a distinctive left ventricular (LV) contraction profile. Ninety percent of the time, this condition affects women, who are usually middle aged and older, and the condition usually is triggered by a stressful event.
"Although TTC is typically reversible and considered to have favorable clinical outcomes, we have identified an important subset of patients, particularly those with severe heart failure and hypotension, who can have a substantial mortality risk," says the study's lead author Scott W. Sharkey, MD, a research cardiologist at the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation and a physician at the Minneapolis Heart Institute? at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis. "It's also important that physicians are aware this is not a rare a condition, as it is present in nearly 10 percent of women who present to the hospital with suspected heart attacks."
MHIF researchers reviewed 250 TTC patients who presented to the Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital between 2001 and 2012. Then, they segregated those TTC patients presenting with particularly severe heart failure and very low pressure, or hypotension (systolic blood pressure < 100 mm Hg), who required supportive treatment.
They found that severe hypotensive heart failure occurred in 45 patients. In this subset, 9 female patients died in-hospital despite aggressive treatment intervention, representing the only TTC-related hospital deaths in the 250 patient cohort.
Therefore, Sharkey and his colleagues concluded that TTC is not necessarily a benign condition. Severe hypotensive heart failure of severity necessitating vasopressor and/or intra-aortic balloon pump occurs in nearly 20 percent of patients. Also, all TTC-related hospital deaths occurred in the hypotensive heart failure subgroup with an overall mortality of 3.5 percent.
Importantly, triggering physical stressors related to severe co-morbid non-cardiac conditions (8) or advanced age (1) were present in all 9 non-survivors, Sharkey notes.
"Unfortunately, there are not any guidelines or criteria to instruct diagnosis and treatment of these patients at this time," says Sharkey. "Therefore, this study could be a starting point for this process, as it provides a more complete profile of the clinical spectrum of TTC and provides useful guidance for the effective management of these acutely ill patients."
To raise additional awareness and improve care of these patients, he adds that guidelines would be helpful at this time, in order to standardize diagnosis and treatment across varied healthcare settings.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/wAeYa4uoVXc/130309155008.htm
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There?s long been a general picture of the climate of the Holocene, the period of Earth history since the last ice age ended around 12,000 years ago. It goes like this: After a sharp stuttery warm-up following that big chill ? to temperatures warmer than today ? the climate cools, with the decline reaching bottom around 200 years ago in the period widely called the ?little ice age.? (A graph produced by Robert Rohde for his Global Warming Art Web site years ago nicely captures the general picture.)
In a new study, researchers from Oregon State University and Harvard have analyzed 11,300 years of data from 73 sites around the world and added more detail to this picture. The work, posted online today, is being published Friday in the journal Science. [Justin Gillis's news story is posted]
While the researchers, led by Shaun Marcott of Oregon State, conclude that the globe?s current average temperature has not exceeded the warmth that persisted for thousands of years after the last ice age ended, they say it will do so in this century under almost every postulated scenario for greenhouse gas emissions.
In a news release, Candace Major, program director for ocean sciences at the National Science Foundation, which paid for the research, said:
The last century stands out as the anomaly in this record of global temperature since the end of the last ice age?. This research shows that we?ve experienced almost the same range of temperature change since the beginning of the industrial revolution as over the previous 11,000 years of Earth history ? but this change happened a lot more quickly.
In sum, the work reveals a fresh, and very long, climate ?hockey stick.?
The hockey stick climate analogy arose from a variety of studies of the last millennium or two of temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere, Arctic and planet. There?s a general pattern of a sharp warming from the 20th century onward. The shaft of the ?stick? has a lot of wiggles and warps and still comes with substantial uncertainty, but the general pattern is well established. The Wikipedia entry is a reasonable starting point for reviewing varied views of this body of science.
This work is complicated, involving lots of statistical methods in extrapolating from scattered sites to a global picture, which means that there?s abundant uncertainty ? and that there will be abundant interpretations. Here you can listen to one of the lead authors, Jeremy Shakun, a visiting postdoctoral fellow at Harvard, discuss reactions from other scientists and answer some questions I raised:
Below, you can also review an e-mail exchange among some climate scientists familiar with the paper. Finally, there?s a second part to my Skype conversation with Shakun in which he turns the tables on his interlocutor, asking me some questions about my view of that state of climate science and the complicated role of scientists thrust into public discussions not only of their work, but the options facing society.
Please read on:
Besides asking some scientists about the quality of the work, I sought their thoughts on its broader meanings, one of which, I proposed, was this:
While folks have long talked of ?abrupt climate change? (as in?NRC reports) as a plausible prospect, this paper builds on the idea that we?ve been in the midst of abrupt climate change since the early 20th century.
Here are a few initial replies (some e-mail shorthand is fixed), starting with a back-and-forth with Michael Mann of Pennsylvania State University. (This section is for deep divers; the replies are technical in spots and unavoidably contain references to graphs and other cotent in the paper that is behind the journal?s subscription wall.)
Michael Mann:
This is an important paper. The key take-home conclusion is that the rate and magnitude of recent global warmth appears unprecedented for at least the past 4,000 years and the rate at least the past 11,000. We know that there were periods in the past that were warmer than today, for example the early Cretaceous period 100 million years ago. The real issue, from a climate change impacts point of view, is the rate of change ?because that?s what challenges our adaptive capacity. And this paper suggests that the current rate has no precedent as far back as we can go with any confidence ? 11,000 years arguably, based on this study.
My only real concern is that their data and approach (e.g. the use of pollen records in the higher northern latitudes) seems to emphasize the higher latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, during the summer season. This is an issue because we know there is a substantial long-term natural cooling trend for high-latitude summers because of Earth orbital effects, but the trend is nearly zero in the global annual average. One gets the sense from looking at their reconstruction that there is a very strong imprint of this orbital cooling trend ? stronger than what one would expect for the global annual average.
The interesting thing about that, is that it suggests that the true conclusions might even be stronger than their already quite strong conclusions, regarding the unprecedented nature of recent warming. That is, it may be that you have to go even further back in time to find warmth comparable ? at the global scale ? to what we are seeing today. If you look at their tropical stack for example (Figure 2J) [a particular set of data], the modern warmth is unprecedented for the entire time period (i.e, the past 11,000 years). That?s why I said that there results suggests recent warmth unprecedented for at leaat the past 4,000. It?s possible, given the potential seasonality/latitudinal bias, that there is in fact no precedent over the past 11,000 years (and likely longer, since the preceding glacial period was almost certainly globally cooler than the Holocene) for the warmth we are seeing today. In that case, we likely have to go back to the last interglacial, i.e. the Eemian period (125,000 years ago) for warmth potentially rivaling that of today.
But, again, the take-home conclusion: the rate of warming appears to be unprecedented as far back as the authors are able to go (to the boundary with the last ice age). And the rate of warming appears to have no analog in the past, as far back as the authors are able to go.
My followup question for Mann:
Separate from the potential northern bias, are you confident that jogs similar to the one recorded in the last century (a well-instrumented century) could not be hidden in the ?smear? of millenniums of proxy [indirect] temperature data? (This is where my ignorance of the strengths/weaknesses of these statistical tools forces me to rely on expert judgment.)
Michael Mann:
Regarding the resolution issue, this was my main concern initially when I looked at the paper. But I?m less concerned now that I have read the paper over more carefully, because I think that Figure 1a and 1b give a pretty good sense of what features of higher resolution reconstructions (specifically, our ?08 global reconstruction which is shown) are potentially captured. Based on that comparison, I?m relatively convinced that they have the resolution to capture a century-long warming trend in the past were there one comparable to the recent trend.
In the same e-mail thread, Robert Rohde, the chief data analyst behind the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature project (and Global Warming Art, as I noted above), weighed in this way:
I found the Marcott et al. paper interesting and read it with some care. There are many details, such as proxy data locations and the exact method of averaging, that are not presented in the main text of the paper. In all likelihood many of these factors are discussed in the supplemental material, but since I don?t have access to that I can only comment on the parts that I can immediately see.
That caveat aside, I have long believed that the last 10,000 years was a time period ripe for further study, and the authors seem to have approached the problem in much the same way I might have imagined doing it myself. Their results should help provide an important context for understanding the history of climate change.
The Marcott et al. results may refine our understanding the last 10,000 years; however, the broad picture of Holocene climate does not seem to have been significantly changed by their findings. Previous work had already pointed towards a period of early Holocene warmth somewhat higher than recent centuries. Similarly, earlier studies had also revealed some of the same details, such as warming peaking earlier in the South than the North, for reasons likely related to changes in the tilt of Earth?s axis. The scientific community has also known for some time that the predicted future global warming in most climate models (more than 2 degrees C.) would probably be well above the long-term average temperature present at any time during the Holocene.
Hence, the Marcott et al. results are for the most part not surprising, and generally confirm the previous understanding of the Holocene. That said, the details are still important. Having better constraints on the timing and magnitude of past climate changes should ultimately lead to better constraints on climate sensitivity and the role of natural variability in the climate system. Like Crowley, I find the magnitude of estimated warming during the early Holocene to be somewhat larger than I would have expected based on prior work and known forcings, and if that magnitude holds up to further scrutiny then it may offer an important insight into past climate dynamics.
In discussing their result, there is one important limitation that I feel deserves more attention. They rely on proxy data that is widely spaced in time (median sampling interval 120 years) and in many cases may also be subject to significant dating uncertainty. These effects will both tend to blur and obscure high frequency variability. They estimate (page 1, column 3) that only 50% of the variance is preserved at 1,000-year periods. This amount of variance suppression is roughly what you would expect if the underlying annual temperature time series had been smoothed with a 400-year moving average. In essence, their reconstruction appears to tell us about past changes in climate with a resolution of about 400 years. That is more than adequate for gathering insights about millennial scale changes during the last 10,000 years, but it will completely obscure any rapid fluctuations having durations less than a few hundred years. The only time such obscuring might not occur is during the very recent period when dating uncertainty is likely to be low and sample spacing may be very tight.
Because the analysis method and sparse data used in this study will tend to blur out most century-scale changes, we can?t use the analysis of Marcott et al. to draw any firm conclusions about how unique the rapid changes of the twentieth century are compared to the previous 10,000 years. The 20th century may have had uniquely rapid warming, but we would need higher resolution data to draw that conclusion with any certainty. Similarly, one should be careful in comparing recent decades to early parts of their reconstruction, as one can easily fall into the trap of comparing a single year or decade to what is essentially an average of centuries. To their credit Marcott et al. do recognize and address the issue of suppressed high frequency variability at a number of places in their paper.
Ultimately, the Marcott et al. paper is an interesting addition to the study of millennial scale climate variability during the Holocene. Their results are broadly consistent with previous findings, but the details are interesting and likely to be useful in future studies. However, since their methodology suppresses most of the high frequency variability, one needs to be cautious when making comparisons between their reconstruction and relatively rapid events like the global warming of the last century.
Jeremy Shakun responds to some of these points in our Skype chat above. Here?s the second part of our conversation, in which he asks me some good questions about my climate views:
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However, it looks like Sony decided to kick off the deployment of Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean upgrade for Xperia J a few weeks earlier.
According to some XDA Developer forum users, a Jelly Bean update is now available for download via PC Companion desktop software.
Sony Xperia J owner may want to connect their phones to a PC and check for the update. Keep in mind that the upgrade may not be available right away, as Sony usually rolls out these major update gradually.
Current upgrade will update the firmware to version 11.2.A.0.21 and the kernel has been bumped to 3.4. Stay tuned for more info on this one.
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Since we last reviewed Huddle, the cloud-based collaboration tool has seen major changes. It's now positioned not as a project management tool so much as an accompaniment to PM software, an alternative to SharePoint in particular for enterprise-level collaboration. Web-based Huddle provides tools for sharing files and collaborating with colleagues and partners. It offers version control management, meaning as you and your teammates work together on files, Huddle saves all the history of the work and past versions of the documents?and can manage the restriction different users have, as well as workflows and approval processes.
While Huddle formerly offered a free version, that's no longer the case (some existing accounts may have been grandfathered in, but they do not receive support, according to a company representative), and prices vary based on a number of factors, such as number of users. Baseline prices start at $20 per user per month for small businesses, and $40 per user per month for enterprises. You can still get a free 90-day trial, which includes 100MB online storage space and a few other limitations.
While services like Zoho Projects and AceProject function as Swiss Army Knives of online tools, Huddle is more of ?a scalpel. Where Huddle operates, it's effective: file management is exceptional, and online collaboration is finely tuned. Just don't expect it to be your all-in-one project management suite.
Consider Huddle an intermediary between the more focused approach of Basecamp and the wider ambitions of Zoho Projects. While its feature set pales in comparison to Zoho's, Huddle offers plans with plenty of online storage (from 1GB to 25GB) and great tutorials. Small business owners looking to invest in a suite of products for the long haul will find Huddle comes up short. But if all you need is a central place to collaborate, it's not a bad option.
First Glance
At first glance, Huddle couldn't be more different from Zoho Projects. Huddle has less, does less, and aspires to do less. But the interface is clean, clear, and highly modular. Your online Huddle dashboard displays a variety of task-management boxes, or widgets?Files Awaiting Approval, My Tasks, Files I'm Working On, My Calendar, My Notifications, etc.?that you can drag around the screen and rearrange, collapse, or remove on a whim. The flexibility can't be beat.
Huddle also lets paying customers upload their business logos to further customize the experience for their employees (with the free trial, you'll be greeted with the Huddle logos only).
"Workspaces" help you break down your work by project, or arms of a business, or really whatever you want. Each workspace has its own dashboard view, and you swap among them via a dropdown menu at the top left of the screen.
Although Huddle has a streamlined and intuitive interface, it also provides a bit of handholding when you need it. Video tutorials, online interactive demos, and live webinars can coach you through how to use different areas of the site. The selection of learning tools is ample, and the content worth exploring.
Huddle Up
Huddle's name comes from the concept of huddling around something to collaborate on it, and, with this fact in mind, most of Huddle's primary features and functionality are self-explanatory. Some of the main areas include Whiteboards, Discussions, and Meetings. Types of things you can share and collaborate around are tasks and files, and files can of course be nested into folders with subfolders.
Whiteboards are the most versatile way to collaborate on a project, with less structure than some of the other systems. Think of Whiteboards as Wiki pages. You can make as many as you please, embed images, and attach links. Edit any Whiteboard, and Huddle will retain version information so that you can turn back the clock if you or someone else introduce errors or accidentally delete information you wanted to save.?
Another nice inclusion is the People section, which doubles as an address book, but also lets you quickly see who does what. Users' profile includes their names, titles, companies, contact information, and whether they've recently been active on Huddle (an inactive user may be a quick indicator that a person is no longer with the organization, or perhaps out of office on an unexpected leave). For larger organizations where not everyone knows other employees by their faces, the people feature can add a lot of value.
File Management
Huddle's real strength lies in its file-management features, which are surprisingly capable. In addition to supporting folders and subfolders, you'll see options to add comments to files andnotifications, or even request user-specific approvals.
The best thing, however, is that Huddle encourages you to work with numerous files at a time. Once the files are uploaded?which I found surprisingly fast?you can tick off boxes to make batch changes: Select multiple files to lock for editing; zip, download, or delete. The files don't have to stay in Huddle. You can email one or more files to users outside the system so they never need accounts. For those working in Huddle, you can create documents and spreadsheets online through what looks like a Citrix-based Office. Even though Huddle provides a generous 100 megabytes of online storage for free, because adding files was so easy, I managed to nearly fill it in two days of testing.
Meetings and Tasks
The Meetings section works for the most part like a standard online calendar. You can set recurring meetings, add members, and include email addresses for users outside the system. Once a meeting is scheduled, invitees receive a calendar request that they can add to their Outlook Calendar (this integration comes in addition to an independent iCal feed). Ordinary enough so far. Whatdifferentiates Huddles are its options. Huddle offers you the option to include a conference dial-in, which is ready to go with multiple international phone numbers. There's also a section to add webinar details to a meeting (Huddle provide the system optionally for a fee, or you can include your own webinar details in the field if you use your own system). All of these add-ons will cost you, but, thus far, Huddle is the only online project management software to integrate all of these communications directly into its calendar functionality.
Finally, Tasks deserve brief mention. The nice thing about a task is that you can link it with document(s) in your Huddle file inventory. At any given time, you can export all your tasks into an Excel-ready CSV file for bookkeeping.
What's missing are the project reporting tools you'll find in bigger project management suites and the online chat boxes available in business-grade social media platforms, such as Yammer.
When you step back and look at the functionality of Huddle, the software seems best tailored to multinational companies, or businesspeople who collaborate heavily with a disparate team. A lot of attention is paid to time zones and different means of electronic communication, be it web, audio, or video.
Huddle In
Huddle isn't as full-featured as Zoho Projects. It doesn't have the user base of Basecamp. And it doesn't live in a larger ecosystem. In a sense, it has made an attempt at differentiation through specialization, becoming a very specific tool for collaboration and file management. ?
Despite these shortfalls, what Huddle does, it does well. The interface is lean: simple menus, consistent UI, and plentiful tutorials make this software easy to master. Huddle's file management is, quite simply, the best of the group--and the quantity of free online storage is second only to that provided by AceProject. Furthermore, if you're looking for collaborative tool for geographically dispersed employees or freelancers, Huddle's optional Web, audio, and video conferencing lets you connect without ever leaving the service.
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