Insight: Who got Facebook shares? Fairness may not come into it

Posted on May 19, 2012 by marcion

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A lot of loyal Facebook fans and occasional investors are discovering a hard truth this week: Money and connections talk, especially when it comes to a deal handled by Wall Street.

The scramble for shares in what is one of largest initial public offerings in U.S. history quickly divided the haves from the have-nots on Thursday. Those with big brokerage accounts and a long history as customers of Wall Street firms likely got at least part of their orders for Facebook shares filled, but would-be buyers who had no such ties were lucky to get any.

“This is worse than not scoring an invitation to the best party in high school,” said Fran Carpentier, 57, a publishing and marketing consultant in New York City who wanted to get in on the social media company’s IPO but could not figure out how.

Facebook raised about $16 billion on Thursday by selling roughly 421 million shares at $38 each. That is approximately half a share for each of its 900 million active monthly users.

Demand for the long-awaited deal, meanwhile, has been surging, helped by wall-to-wall media coverage. Orders for Facebook shares outweigh the supply by a ratio of more than 20 to 1, according to traders’ estimates.

Aside from wanting the cachet of owning the next big thing, investors are eager to buy something that may deliver big, even astronomical returns — a rare opportunity in today’s low-yield and turbulent markets. IPOs often offer an early pop, even if the shares stumble later, and Facebook is seen initially climbing further than most.

Some analysts expect Facebook shares to rise by as much as 50 percent, or even more on the first day.

Facebook and underwriters, as usual, kept mum about overall demand ahead of the IPO. Facebook, which will trade under the ticker FB, did not return calls for comment.

There have been growing expectations in the market that small investors, as opposed to big pension and mutual fund managers, will get as much as 30 percent of the deal. That’s a bigger chunk than the 10 percent to 15 percent that is typically allocated to retail investors. It is a result of efforts by Facebook executives to make shares available to more users.

Underwriters are accommodating Facebook’s wishes. But the allocation may still not be nearly enough to meet demand.

That puts financial advisers and brokerage houses in the uncomfortable position of not having enough shares to satisfy Main Street investors clamoring to be a part of the hottest IPO since Google’s 2004 debut.

One of those investors is Mary Furlong, who runs a marketing firm for baby boomers in Lafayette, California. “I want to buy shares. I missed the Google opening,” she says, but did not end up getting hold of any shares.

Google, whose founders made “Don’t be evil” a core principle, in 2004 issued its stock through a more transparent process known as a modified Dutch auction. Underwriters gathered bids from investors regardless of their connections or size of their portfolios.

That created more of a level playing field for potential investors. Google’s shares were priced at $85, climbed to $100 on Day 1 and are now trading at about $623.

Facebook is selling its shares through a traditional Wall Street IPO, a more subjective process, one managed by investment bankers.

“The deal is probably not ‘fair,’ but there’s no way it can be,” said Bruce Foerster, owner of South Beach Capital Markets and former head of global equity syndicate at Lehman Brothers. “If you don’t have ties to Facebook management, if you don’t have accounts and an investment history with firms that are co-managing the deal, why should you get any stock?”

MANAGING EXPECTATIONS

The demand for Facebook shares has put immense pressure on the 17,000-plus financial advisers at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, the brokerage unit of Morgan Stanley, one of the IPO’s lead underwriters.

On Monday the company told advisers that its retail customers would be limited to a maximum 500 shares per account, only to increase the limit to 5,000 on Thursday, according to sources familiar with the situation.

Mindful that customers would be frustrated, Morgan Stanley early on distributed a script to its brokers on how to handle requests from clients, said one veteran broker.

“The minute someone says ‘Facebook,’ we’re supposed to say, ‘Yes, we’re the lead, but we can’t talk about it,’” the broker said. “I heard from three or four clients, and I told them there is no way I’ll be able to get them shares because I haven’t done IPO business in years.”

Other brokerages are in the same boat. Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch brokerage is limiting retail clients to a maximum 2,000 shares per account, according to brokers at the firm.

Wells Fargo Advisors, the brokerage arm of Wells Fargo & Co, has a scoring system for allocating shares among its more than 15,000 brokers. It weighs brokers’ annual revenue production, how much IPO work they do and how long their clients held positions in prior IPOs, according to one Wells Fargo broker.

Then in turn, brokers score their clients based on assets with the firm, how much they have traded in the past, and how long they’ve held onto previous allocations of shares in IPOs.

“I can’t just get Facebook shares for my buddy,” said one Wells Fargo adviser, who declined to be named because he is not permitted to speak to the press.

At Fidelity, the funds and brokerage giant, Facebook shares will be reserved only for clients with at least $500,000 in assets, excluding 401(k) plans, or those who make at least 36 trades a year with the firm, according to Fidelity spokesman Stephen Austin.

Loyalty helps: Fidelity customers who have being doing business with the firm for the longest periods get higher priority in the IPO food chain.

While excluded investors may feel spurned, there’s nothing illegal about banks selling shares to their best customers. Whether it is fair to everyone is another question.

“People have argued that it leaves other investors out, especially for hot IPOs, where in the after-market the prices are likely to be much higher,” said Jill Fisch, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Maurice Costello, a former broker who works as an accountant in the Boston area, says he has ordered Facebook at $37 a share through his E*Trade account. But he has no idea how many shares he might ultimately receive.

The online brokerage, which typically caters to small investors, is one of 33 firms named by Facebook to distribute its newly issued shares. E*Trade would not comment on the Facebook IPO.

For some investors, buying into the IPO doesn’t necessarily mean holding on to the stock. Richard Laermer, who is CEO of social network ThankBank, is clamoring to get Facebook shares and flip, or sell them, at a profit.

“I am going to do what I did with LinkedIn, Groupon, Google, Research In Motion, AOL, Netscape, Dunkin Donuts … plus a host of 90s stocks that I can’t even recall,” Laermer wrote in an email to Reuters. “Buy on Day One, sell on Day Three. It never fails.”

(Additional reporting Alistair Barr, Olivia Oran, Jessica Toonkel, John McCrank and Jennifer Cummings; Editing by Jilian Mincer, Martin Howell and Steve Orlofsky)

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Glenn O'Brien: A Lot Seen | Hypebeast

Posted on May 19, 2012 by marcion

We recently sat down with Glenn O?Brien at his breathtaking downtown New York apartment for a thoroughly comprehensive interview regarding one of fashion?s seminal figures. While most know him for his work as a fashion writer, his career has seen a much broader horizon of fields, ranging from TV host to commercial writer. Recently Glenn has written a series of commercials for fashion houses Dior and Dolce & Gabbana, including a new three-minute spot which he collaborated on with photographer Steven Meisel. In our interview, he discusses his rich and fascinating career, and also offers up words of wisdom on the status quo of fashion, music, the internet, and society as a whole. You can read the interview in its entirety below.

In your view, what are the keys to being successful in any sort of business?
For me the main thing is sort of being true to yourself and doing what you like, instead of trying to second guess what a client wants. I always approach a commercial job like it?s an art thing. My basic idea was that the only difference between a great advertisement and art is that an ad has a logo on it. You can entertain, you can be funny, you can make a statement. But really it?s about pleasing yourself first.

Looking back, is that something you always had in you? As in you always knew that you were going to do what was true to you and what you thought was interesting?
I think so. I came out of just being a writer and I kind of fell into advertising. So I figured what made them want to work with me was just the way I write. And it worked out, I mean, it was successful so it kept going.

Our audience probably knows Glenn O?Brien as either the ?GQ Style Guy? or ?that guy who wrote the intro to my Supreme book.? But really your career began nearly 40 years ago at Andy Warhol?s The Factory. From a business standpoint, did you take away any valuable lessons from that environment which you carry with you today?
Well, when I started doing commercial stuff I was best known for writing a column in [Andy Warhol's] Interview [Magazine] known as ?Glenn O?Brien?s Beat.? I was covering the music scene, writing you know, whatever I was thinking about at the time. But that was my biggest audience and so I developed a style and I think my style kind of went into the advertising I did. Most of the stuff that I did for Barneys was sort of my first showcase and a lot of it was humorous.

I?ve seen before that you describe Andy as a workaholic. You even said that he considered being at parties work. Do you think you picked up on any of that work addiction, and as a second question do you think being a workaholic can be a good thing?
Well that?s what he really liked to do was work. I don?t really think I picked it up from him but I think seeing how he functioned made me feel good about the way I functioned. Essentially I think I became a writer to amuse myself.

You mean like even when you were a kid?
Yeah. I mean like I started writing a novel when I was 11. I didn?t finish it?it was called Fort Apache. But yeah, I like to write and so it?s great if you can do a job that you enjoy. That?s the best thing if your job is something you like.

After you were at Interview, you became the ?Editor-at-Large? for High Times. Was that the first time you were really the one in charge of a business of that size?
No, actually I was the Editor of Interview. I was the Editor and the Art Director and I was basically the boss. I mean Andy was my boss but he gave us a real free hand so he would [only] see the magazine when it came out. Sometimes he would suggest I do something but I had a lot of responsibility. From there I went to Rolling Stone where I was sort of the New York office because they were still in San Francisco at the time. Then I went to work for Playboy in Chicago, which I didn?t like, living in Chicago. And then I went to High Times. I started out as the articles Editor, and then the guy who owned the magazine basically went nuts and so they said, ?We want you to be the Editor-in-Chief.? And I said, ?I don?t want to be the Editor-in-Chief. You couldn?t pay me enough.? And they said, ?Well how about?? and they named a figure and I said ?OK, I?ll do it.?

And that?s when you also told them you wanted to sort of flow in and out and not be there all the time?
No that came later. I did it for like a couple months. But I felt like my phone was tapped and so I told them I?d do the work, but I just didn?t want to come to the office anymore. So that?s when I became ?Editor-at-Large.?

As an aside, do you take credit for that term, ?Editor-at-Large?? One sees it all the time now, and I actually didn?t know its origin was you.
As far as I know, I was the first one. Maybe someday I?ll find out somebody was doing that in 1935. At Spin [Magazine] I was the ?Tri-State Editor? which I thought was pretty funny. I used to say that it was like being asleep, being awake, and being high.

You spent a lot of your earlier days in the ?punk? and art scenes. You then decided to take your talents to fashion, becoming Creative Director of Advertising at Barneys New York. It seems you went from doing all these things that would be considered ?underground? to making corporate advertisements. Can you attribute this creative shift from ?underground? to commercial to any one thing or was it something you had planned on?
Nothing I ever did was what I planned. I think my life is a complete illustration of what happens to you while you?re making other plans. I was basically recruited by Barneys. A friend of mine was the Art Director there and they were making a TV commercial and they weren?t happy so she asked me if I would consider doing it. I said ?yeah that?s great? and they really liked it so they asked if I would do their print work. I never imagined making that kind of money before so I was delighted, but I kind of just fell into it. See I think what happened was the ?underground? was sort of absorbed by the ?overground.? I don?t think we really have that so much. What?s underground now, like Ad Busters, Occupy? I don?t know. Everything kind of melted together.

I would probably say the underground can penetrate the overground a lot easier now. Like Occupy can use social media to be on the same playing field as those who have millions of dollars to push their agenda.
Yeah which is the greatest thing ever I think, because really underground is just another way of saying ?unsuccessful?. So we had like underground magazines and underground newspapers but all that really meant was we were under the radar of the more established ones. And that?s sort of your training ground [as an artist].

But I don?t think anyone would consider your ?underground? show [TV Party] unsuccessful. I don?t know if it was financially successful but?
No I still haven?t made a dime from that. I was actually just talking to my lawyer about that. But yeah it was a success.

Fast forward to present day. While you have a monthly column in GQ, your other projects include writing commercials for Dior and Dolce & Gabbana. How did this work start, how is different, and did you find the transition challenging as opposed to other work you had done?
The first commercials I did were for Barneys. The greatest ones I did were with Jean Phillipe Delhomme, who illustrates my column in GQ now. So we did animation when Barneys was opening up in Los Angeles. We did a series of animated spots that were really fun. But then around the same time I started working for Calvin Klein, and I worked on basically all of the commercials. And that was fun because with fashion I was basically always collaborating with a fashion photographer, so it was kind of like I was the words department and they were the image department, which is kind of a fun way to work. And I still do that now. I just did one with Steven Meisel and a lot what I do is with Jean Baptiste Mondino, who is a very good friend of mine and is really fun to work with.

Speaking of Steven Meisel, was the last time you worked with him on the notorious Sex book by Madonna [which you were an editor on]? Or do you guys always sort of do little projects together?
No. I actually just worked with him in January or February. But before that I probably hadn?t worked with him for several years. I?d work with him on some Calvin Klein stuff. We did the original CK1 stuff which is pretty great. They?re on YouTube and Vimeo.

So what was it like getting back together with Steven on a new project for Dior?
It was sort of like just picking right up where we left off.

When you?re writing these commercials, do you have a formula? They all seem to be highly intelligent and better than most of the run-of-the-mill fragrance or fashion commercials. Or do you basically see for example that you?re working with Matthew McConaughey, and so you know what you?d like to see him do in one of these commercials.
I think it a lot of the time it comes out of the casting, yeah. But sometimes it starts with an idea. Like when I did the J?Adore commercials with Charlize Theron and she?s throwing down her jewelry. That was actually Jean Baptiste?s idea, because he said, ?I?m so sick of luxury. Let?s do something that?s anti-luxury.? You know like [typically in these] gold is coal, a limousine is a car. We were sort of making fun of this conspicuous consumption idea, biting the hand that feeds us.

How do you attempt to differentiate your work from the average fragrance commercial? Or do you just think you in general have a unique writing style that comes through?
No, I think it?s that a lot of advertising is bullshit. It?s trying to be romantic and have sort of a phony mood. I?d like to be sort of realistic I guess. We did a really fun Calvin commercial for underwear. I did it with Wayne Maser, and it was like a satire on Home Shopping Network. It was Antonio Sabato, Jr. and we put him on a Lazy Susan so he was like in his underwear rotating and we had people calling in like they do on Home Shopping Network. It was really funny.

In this realm, who is a favorite actor/director/creative you got to work with?
Well I love working with Mondino as a director and then I loved working with Charlize Theron and Scarlett Johansson, who are both really really nice and smart. With Scarlett on the last one we did, we did one take and I was like, ?OK. We?re done. That?s it. Let?s wrap it!? because she just got it so perfectly on the first take. We actually ended up doing about 15 after that but the first one was good.

What new ones do you have coming out that you would like people to know about?
I did a three-and-a-half minute commercial with Steven [Meisel] for Dior Jewelry which hasn?t come out yet. That?s coming in the next couple of weeks. It will probably be online?I don?t know if they?re going to make a 30-second commercial out of it but it?s with Raquel Zimmerman, who?s gorgeous. She wasn?t bad to work with either.

Getting back to some of your earlier work, from a business standpoint, what did you learn from writing, crafting and producing your film Downtown 81 [starring Jean-Michel Basquiat], which was shot in the early 1980s but wasn?t released until 2000?
Boy that was a tough one. What I learned was it?s really hard to make money on an independent film, and it?s really important to have a really good lawyer you get along with.

I can?t even imagine the challenges you must have faced, considering the film starred someone of the stature of Jean-Michel.
Well he had no stature when we first made the film?but if he hadn?t been in it, it never would have come out. But that was a strange project because we got the money from a European company. It didn?t come out at the time for reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with us. They were having problems and so it was just shut down and there was nothing we could do about it. Eventually I got the rights back, almost 20 years later.

It is safe to say there has been exponential growth in purely the amount of voices present in fashion since the beginning of your career. Whose career paths do you admire most in this world today? For example a lot of people like Nick Wooster because he has been able to utilize Tumblr and other social media platforms to build his image.
I like Nick. I was horrified when he lost his job [as Men's Fashion Director for Neiman Marcus].

Is there anyone else say on Twitter that you think has really made a name for themselves using the platform?
Well that?s like The Man Repeller, Leandra Medine. She?s a blogger but she?s like a teenager. Her whole thing is that like women only dress for other women and not for guys. So her whole concept is like being a man repeller, wearing things that girls will love but guys will never understand. She does a really good job, she?s very funny.

A lot of our readers are fans of Tyler, the Creator, someone you recently shared a story with in GQ due to your shared interest in Supreme. Having been a part of the underground music scene in the 1980s, what are your thoughts on the way musicians like Tyler have utilized the internet to ascend to fame?
Yeah it?s great. I think the internet is the greatest thing that ever happened in terms of creativity. Because it used to be that you kind of had to beat your head against the wall, so if you wanted to do something different it was really hard to break through. Still the literary establishment and I are not connected at all. My agent thinks it really funny. She thinks I?m a good writer but she realizes that there?s a disconnect between me and that world. I feel ghettoized a little bit.

Do you think that maybe the challenge today is simply ?being different? because there?s so much out there?
Well I never had any ambition to be a novelist. I always liked being an essayist. But there?s no gigs for essayists. I have an essay about this in my book Soapbox. When I was doing ?The Beat? column [my editor] said, ?You?re the best music writer that there is.? And I said, ?I don?t want to be a music writer! I just want to be a writer.? And now it?s like I?m a fashion writer but I never tried to be that. I would rather just be a generalist. I?m actually writing a political book now. I?m going to come out of the closet as a political writer.

Speaking about your writing, your book How To Be A Man is a wonderful guide for the modern man searching for success. Is being commercially successful important to being a man?
I think not being under financial duress is important. Money was never my goal but struggling is tough because there were a lot of times when I really had no money at all. So I was happy that I was able to make money without feeling like I was prostituting myself.

So you mean as long as you can put food on the table then that?s what?s important. It doesn?t necessarily mean you have to buy your family the most lavish gifts in the world but as long as you guys are not living in the street then you?re doing a pretty good job about being a man.
I do believe in building up some personal wealth because I think there is a lot of this anti-family feeling around now. Someone just wrote a book saying that in the future everyone is going to be single. But I think it?s good to provide for your family. It gives your kids opportunities. Of course then you get spoiled kids but you know?

If you told the kid hosting TV Party that in 30 years he?d be writing fragrance commercials, living in Connecticut, and giving style advice to thousands of GQ readers, what would he say? What words of wisdom would you offer him?
?OK.? [pause] No the difference about the TV Party days is that everyone looked great. The main difference was that there was no such thing as designer clothes. So I think the whole branding thing is sort of a recent phenomenon. I think that I would have been surprised [by that]. It?s a little bit like ?Sleeper,? you know? I wouldn?t have anticipated that. Do you know Veblen? He wrote at the end of the 19th century about ?The Theory of The Leisure Class.? He invented the terms ?conspicuous consumption? and ?conspicuous waste.? I think we?ve reached the pinnacle of conspicuous consumption. To me the epitome of conspicuous waste is like nightclubs where you spend a thousand dollars for a bottle of vodka. To me that?s insane. But what [Veblen] was saying is that with the decline of aristocracy and the emergence of democracy that is where it was gonna go. It was really prophetic. So now things that would have been perceived as incredibly vulgar are the norm. Like clothes that have labels on the outside. I remember the first time I saw that I was so shocked. I saw a coat with a big ?YSL? and I was like, ?My God!? I guess I?ve gotten used to it.

Well speaking of conspicuous waste, I find it interesting that if you look back, design was created with the intention of being used and then thrown out. That to me sort of seems directly at odds with things like sustainability that we have today.
Well you know like the early light bulbs?basically there?s a light bulb somewhere that?s been burning for a hundred years. But they decided that to create jobs they had to make things that would wear out. It?s really insane. They followed the lead of fashion. They took fashion and applied it to other things. I always get in trouble when I quote Mussolini, but he said, ?We?ve solved the problem of production now we have to solve the problem of distribution.? The West cannot accept the idea that people shouldn?t work 40 hours a week. We could have a completely different system where people didn?t have to work like that. If things were expected to last, life could be a lot different but we would have to change our whole culture for that to exist. You know Mussolini, he really fucked up, but in the beginning he was very pro-art. He was actually involved with some pretty interesting artists and architects?I shouldn?t talk like this.

Photography: Mike Knapp

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Ezine Promoting Recommendations | Excelsig's Blog

Posted on May 19, 2012 by marcion

Web experts know that marketing and advertising an internet small business is no simple chore. It requires time, as well as a really good information of marketing. Spam emails are one thing that an excellent online advertiser will remain apparent of. Spam does not deliver any fantastic issue to some small business. Actually spamming will most possibly get men and women irritated, get your business enterprise a negative track record or black-listed. I know similar to everybody else that getting your hyperlinks into doable customer?s emails is a thing which can really assist your on the net business enterprise. However you don?t must spam to complete this. Publish an ezine, that is an digital publication that you just deliver by way of email.

When you operate from household on line and you?ve your own net business enterprise then you ought to know that your own ezine can bring you the promotional advantages of email marketing and advertising but with out possessing to take care of the complications that come with spamming. By creating and sending your ezine you constantly remind achievable and outdated buyers of the internet company. By doing this you also improve your respectability.

When you see an ezine can deliver you a lot of rewards, moreover beginning to publish one is really simple.

Like every thing else when you start off your ezine you will need to understand what you are going to write about, so the first thing to complete is pick out a subject. It could be news of different activities or activity and so on. It all depends upon the sort of on-line organization you own. In case your web-site sells tuning parts for automobiles it?s obvious which you will choose a topic that relates to that, for example automobile racing or one thing like that.

Now you must incorporate an opt-in choice on your site. This is often placed wherever you want however it has to be somewhere noticeable and also have a thing of a ?in-your-face? attitude. For example if individuals register on your site or purchase one thing you could put the opt-in alternative around the registration page. Also you can location it on your homepage or on integral portion of every single page of your internet site like a header or sidebar. You don?t want to make an independent page only for this because you simply will need your visitor?s email messages.

Now all you?ll need will be to commence producing the actual ezine. In case you plan on creating along then you ought to understand that it is actually quite time-consuming plus the ideal thing could be to obtain an element on the content articles from a third party. You can find on line repositories that grant you cost-free entry to articles. You don?t need to possess a great deal of posts in your ezine for each problem. Just remember to consist of information about your enterprise and a link again for your site.

For those who grasp ezine publishing you will be capable of industry and market your web-site inside a really effective and truthful way.

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MintLife Blog | Personal Finance News & Advice | 4 Tips to Avoid …

Posted on May 18, 2012 by marcion
sad face

I write the words ?I wish I had better news for you? almost every day.

They?re usually in an email to a consumer with a complaint and they?re preceded by a brief explanation that they don?t have a valid case against the company they?re complaining about.

Consumers usually think it means I?m telling them, ?No ? I can?t help you.? But it?s actually much worse than that: it means the case is unsolvable.

Unsolvable cases ? not to be confused with cases I refuse to mediate ? come in all forms.

This morning I wrote ?I wish I had better news? to someone who wanted a refund from a business that had declared bankruptcy in 2010 and no longer existed, after telling him I couldn?t help him get his money back.

Yesterday, I sent the message to someone who was treated rudely by a customer service agent (how do you compensate someone for rudeness?). And the day before, I said it to someone whose credit expired, in accordance with the terms and conditions of his purchase.

I hate having to say it, by the way. That?s why I?m writing this story.

Here are my four favorite ?lost? causes and how to avoid becoming one.

The bankrupt business.

When a company is struggling to survive, it may have a last-minute fire sale to drum up business. Tempting? Sure, but watch out. If that company folds, you may find yourself holding a service that?s worthless or a product that isn?t covered.

But you can avoid this lost cause by doing business with a company that is healthy and protecting your purchases by making them with a credit card, which can sometimes retrieve the money you thought you?d lost.

The slight.

In this ?always-on? society, the idea of good customer service often takes a back seat to profits. So when readers complain to me about bad service, I?m sympathetic. But to what are you entitled when your server sneers at you or your mechanic tells you ?your car will be done when it?s done??

Nothing, actually.

You are entitled to take your business elsewhere, to a company that values it and wouldn?t dream of letting one of its employees sneer or snub you. Sadly, that?s the only solution I can recommend.

The onerous terms.

If you?re a regular reader of my posts on this site, then you know that companies try to slip some of the most outrageous contracts under your nose (and sometimes they don?t even let you read them). All the more reason to pay attention to the terms and make sure you know what they are before making your purchase. Once you?ve plunked down your credit card, it?s too late ? you?ve agreed to the terms and the company policy governing it, whether you like it or not.

My advice? If you don?t like what you read, move on and find a business that offers a fair contract.

The rules you should have known (but didn?t).

I get a fair number of questions about travel visas and passport requirements. These rules can be complex, but one thing never changes: meeting them is your responsibility before you get on a plane or board a ship. I?ve seen many cases of people buying a product or service without being aware of all the rules, even though they should have.

You are unlikely to persuade a business to drop the sales tax on an item or let you board a flight without the right visa. I can?t persuade them to, either. Know the rules before you make your purchase.

The world is filled with lost causes, and every time I have to tell a consumer that theirs is one, it pains me. But these simple steps can help you avoid the worst of them.

Christopher Elliott is a consumer advocate who blogs about getting better customer service at?On Your Side. Connect with him on?Twitter?and?Facebook?or send him your questions?by email.

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Google bots learning to read webpages like humans, one step closer to knowing everything

Posted on May 18, 2012 by marcion

Google bots now read webpages more like humans, one step closer to knowing everything

Google just launched its Knowledge Graph, a tool intended to deliver more accurate information by analyzing the way users search. Of course, with a desire to provide better search results comes a need for improved site-reading capabilities. JavaScript and AJAX have traditionally put a wrench in Google bots’ journey through a webpage, but it looks like the search engine has developed some smarter specimens. While digging through Apache logs, a developer spotted evidence that bots now execute the JavaScript they encounter — and rather than just mining for URLS, the crawlers seem to be mimicking how users click on objects to activate them. That means bots can dig deeper into the web, accessing databases and other content that wasn’t previously indexable. Looks like Google is one step closer to success on its quest to know everything.

Google bots learning to read webpages like humans, one step closer to knowing everything originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 May 2012 00:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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North Lebanon fighting kills one; ninth in five days

Posted on May 18, 2012 by marcion

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IKEA Uppleva HDTV to retail for $960 in Europe beginning next month, US launch in 2013

Posted on May 17, 2012 by marcion

Image

Details continue to emerge as we approach the IKEA Uppleva’s June launch. GigaOM has discovered that the set will be available in sizes ranging from 24 to 46 inches and will be priced “around $960″ — with a scale relative to the display size, we presume. The TV will feature a built-in Blu-ray player and a wireless subwoofer, and is being assembled by TCL Multimedia a manufacturer in China. Uppleva is expected to roll out to France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Sweden beginning next month, then to other European countries later in the year, followed by the US in 2013. There will also be a handful of applications that will vary based on region, including Dailymotion, Vimeo and YouTube, along with games, music playback and video-on-demand apps, and the Opera for TV web browser. There’s a familiar sneak-peek vid awaiting you just past the break.

Update: Due to an error at the source article, we originally identified the manufacturer as TLC, rather than TCL Multimedia. The text above has been updated to reflect the correction.

Continue reading IKEA Uppleva HDTV to retail for $960 in Europe beginning next month, US launch in 2013

IKEA Uppleva HDTV to retail for $960 in Europe beginning next month, US launch in 2013 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 May 2012 00:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ensign aide set for plea agreement hearing

Posted on May 17, 2012 by marcion

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Want to avoid ED following prostate cancer surgery? Find an …

Posted on May 17, 2012 by marcion

This image shows an earlier nerve-sparing technique (left) and the new nerve-sparing technique (right). Credit: UCLA

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed non-skin cancer in the U.S., and radical prostatectomy, the surgical removal of the prostate gland, remains the most popular therapeutic option, accounting for half of treatments.

The procedure, however, is not without possible side effects, primarily erectile dysfunction and incontinence. But a good nerve-sparing surgical technique can lessen the likelihood of these undesirable outcomes, as can the skill and experience of the surgeon, according to a new UCLA study that focused on robotic-assisted prostate surgery.

The study findings are published in the June 2012 print edition of the international peer-reviewed journal European Urology.

Based on their research, the study authors recommend that men undergoing robotic-assisted surgery for prostate cancer should look for a doctor who has performed at least 1,000 surgeries and who actively seeks to improve and enhance his/her surgical skills to help ensure a successful post-surgery recovery of erectile function.

The authors also found that new, refined techniques that prioritize the gentle handling of the delicate nerves around the prostate also make a difference in improved erectile function.

The study is one of the first to characterize a surgeons’ learning curve for improving erectile-potency outcomes and to demonstrate and quantify gentler handling techniques that involve minimizing stretch injury to the nerves around the prostate as the gland is removed, the researchers said.

“It would be helpful for men who seek a surgical cure for their prostate cancer to appreciate the nuances required by a surgeon to successfully protect erectile function,” said Dr. Jim Hu, director of minimally invasive surgery in the department of urology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and lead author of the study. “Like improving a golf swing, a technique for nerve-sparing surgery has many subtleties that are influenced by training, talent, a desire to improve, and meticulous review of technique and outcomes.”

The research team developed a video demonstrating the new techniques so that robotic-assisted surgeons may achieve better outcomes more quickly and potentially shorten their learning curves. Hu noted that the anatomic concepts and techniques extend to traditional, non?robotic-assisted surgery as well.

For the study, the team looked at nerve-sparing techniques and maneuvers used in the operating room in 400 surgeries performed by Hu over a two-year period at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Massachusetts. Hu tracked his patients’ erectile-potency recovery outcomes by groups of 50 up to one year after surgery.

While this is a single-surgeon study during robotic-assisted surgery, Hu used standardized questionnaires to quantify patient-reported recovery of erectile function, which is not often done by individual surgeons and which helped in assessing outcomes.

Researchers found that greater surgeon experience and more delicate handling of the nerves to minimize stretch injury helped improve erectile function significantly. At five months post-operatively, patients went from zero to as high as 33 percent in erectile-function recovery and at 12 months post-operatively, they went from 15 percent to as high as 59 percent.

“These are very good outcomes for the early months after surgery,” Hu said. “Most men will continue to see erectile-potency improvements up to two years after surgery, so we would expect to see even better outcomes by then, especially if surgeons are effectively adopting the newer nerve-sparing techniques.”

Hu adds that one of the goals of the study is to develop and share these optimal techniques with other surgeons.

These findings were combined with the results of an earlier study of Hu’s that assessed his work on an additional 600 cases. The researchers found that surgeon improvement hit a plateau after 950 cases. However, other factors also contribute to a surgeon’s skills, said Hu, who carefully tracked his surgical outcomes, diligently reviewed videos of his operations and studied with a pioneering surgeon in nerve-sparing techniques.

“In addition to performing many cases, surgeons really need to have the desire to improve, take the time to learn new techniques and actively pursue quality improvement,” Hu said. “Similar to golf, if you’re only a weekend golfer and don’t keep score, watch videos and analyze your swing, you may not get better, even after playing 1,000 games.”

Hu also notes that other surgeons who are dedicated to surgical improvement may find that they may hit the plateau sooner than 1,000 cases.

In addition, Hu found that younger patient age and better pre-operative erectile function were associated with better five- and 10-month erectile function after surgery.

The traditional nerve-sparing technique, which involves peeling nerves from the prostate, similar to peeling an orange, was associated with the worst five-month sexual-function outcomes. The newer, gentler approach uses less peeling to minimize displacement of the nerves.

Surgeries performed as a trainee were associated with the worst 12-month erectile-function outcomes. According to Hu, more simulated robotic surgery may help trainees learn key techniques before operating with patients.

Provided by University of California, Los Angeles (news : web)

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Web-sites for Married women having affairs | MEET WOMAN | HOW …

Posted on May 16, 2012 by marcion

How To Meet Women 15 May 2012 | 0 Comments

Relationship is based on believe in, commitment, and trust and of course, definitely like. If there is certainly deficit of any of those, as an example if a married women having affairs, then the relationship of course becomes spoiled and there continues to be little point in ongoing to have it. There is a thin line among possessing an matter and staying useful with an individual with the opposite sex. Unique men and women may have different outlooks on this, but most will possibly acknowledge that possessing an matter is just not just about receiving to sleep with an individual apart from your partner or sweetheart. You will find different sorts of infidelities, but they all can be significantly classified into psychological and actual sorts of becoming disloyal. Each relationship has a different framework, and apart from the ones which are known as begin relationships, in each and every other relationship, believe in, definitely like and commitment are principal requirements. The complications appears when wanting to select what precisely is comparative to possessing an affair.

It?s very good when you have an affair to be sincere together with your sweetheart that you just are committed. It is important to be advance about your relationship place together with your mistress. This can help to create issues just somewhat much less complicated. Be advance about what you are expecting to acquire out of the matter. Identify obvious limitations and adhere to them. There is also a good deal of temptations in our community and lots of people are disappointed simply because they feel that they may be not with all the individual which will make them satisfied. Be cautious not to place an overemphasis on your general appear. When man instantly begins putting a extraordinary focus on the way he looks it can induce caution alerts of an matter with his partner. As appealing as it can be to be a component of a gym, purchase a new clothing collection, and select up a new perfume you ought to prevent undertaking so.

Luckily, you?ll find websites which are targeted of committed matters and will let men and ladies to search for out like oriented men and women. The majority of these websites will let you be a component of for free and begin in search of an individual instantly. You will find fundamentally lots of people who indication up for these committed on line relationship services each and every year so you will not have any issue discovering a go with. Avoiding house moreover tends to create it easy to be able of sit about their relationship place, on account of the fact you are able to obtain definitely no men and ladies about who knows his personal circumstances. You will be able to possibly wish to implement an corporation whom in the very same way lately just as drastically to decrease as you realize, which indicates you will need to find 1 far additional committed personal to be within a place to have an matter with. Nevertheless it can be possible to find personal men and ladies around that are bold sufficient to obtain an matter or relationship receiving a committed personal.

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