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Monday, August 5, 2013
Sunday, August 4, 2013
SMU Mustangs NCAA Football Gambling Odds & Predictions
June Jones is an established coach and when he left Hawaii for SMU big things were expected. After a disastrous 1-11 start the Mustangs have played .500 or better each season since, participating in bowl games the last 4 seasons ? winning 3.
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SMU Mustangs
Coach: June Jones
2012 Record: 7-6
Odds of winning BCS Championship: +2000 (Field)
Odds From Bet DSI
Now they are leaving Conference USA for the experiment that is the American Athletic Conference. A stellar introductory season is not expected given the state of the program though.
As Jones is an ?offense guy? Hawaii and SMU have generally been very good on that side of the ball especially throwing it. Last year they dropped off dramatically in that area not even ranking in the top half of teams nationally in that category.
The defense actually wound up carrying them, especially in their bowl victory over a good Fresno State team, but you can bet Jones will be working hard to get things back on track offensively this season.
It just might be a struggle even for a noted offensive mind like him.
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Senior QB Garrett Gilbert is a classic transfer story. He wasn?t going to be the guy at Texas so he transferred to a place where he could play and improve his NFL stock after being highly touted as a recruit. SMU seemed like a great fit for him but last year he just wasn?t as efficient throwing the ball as you would expect from a QB in Jones? system.
He completed just 53% of his passes with only a 15/15 TD/INT ratio. If he is not better than the Mustangs are sunk because the quality of defenses in their new league should be higher than what they are used to.
It would be helpful if the Mustangs had a solid ground game but that seems unlikely given that Zach Line(another transfer), the second leading rusher in program history (behind Eric Dickerson) has graduated.
Also not helping is that the line returns just 2 starters . They are trying to replace Line with another Longhorns castoff in RB Traylon Shead who played a year in junior college before matriculating to SMU.
Shead has looked good on the practice field but will need to produce in games in the fall.
Surprise, last year SMU had the third best scoring defense in C-USA and was #1 in the conference against the run.
On the flip side they were #11/#109 against the pass which is why it is a bit of a mixed bag that all the starters returning from the unit are in the back seven. Teams from the former Big East are generally pretty balanced on offense so SMU will have to find some linemen that can stuff the run and hope that experience will help a secondary that was torched at times last season.
C-USA was a passing league so those numbers could be a little inflated ? maybe.
2013-14 Record Projection: 3-9
Unfortunately I think this is going to be a down year for SMU.
The defense is likely to take a big step back this season and I am not sure the offense is ready to pick up the slack. QB Gilbert would need to have a super efficient season and I am just not sure he has it in him.
He does have a couple of starting wideouts returning but it might not be enough if the ground game doesn?t produce. Also not helping matters is a tough schedule. The non-conference is probably a 1-3 deal with games against Texas Tech and @Texas A&M and @TCU (plus a visit by Montana State). Even if they can split those there are at most three victories in their AAC slate as they have some tough home and road games and will be facing some unfamiliar opponents.
It doesn?t look very promising right now and this is probably a team to forget when it comes to wagering.
2013 Mustangs Schedule
AUG 30 ? Texas Tech
SEP 7 ? Montana State
SEP 21 ? @Texas A&M
SEP 28 ? @TCU
OCT 5 ? Rutgers
OCT 19 ? @Memphis
OCT 26 ? Temple
NOV 9 ? @Cincinnati
NOV 16 ? Connecticut
NOV 23 ? @South Florida
NOV 29 ? @Houston
DEC 7 ? UCF
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Fleeing Syria, Palestinians find little support from their brethren in Lebanon
Palestinians in Lebanon resent the additional competition for jobs and housing, already scarce because of discrimination.
A Palestinian child refugee, who fled the violence in Syria, stands outside a tent in front of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Beirut, March 21, 2013. The tent was set up as part of a sit-in to seek help from UNRWA to improve the living conditions of refugees.
Jamal Saidi/Reuters
EnlargeEvery morning, residents of Ain al-Halwah, Lebanon?s largest Palestinian refugee camp, scour the scattered leaflets advertising jobs for painters and menial laborers.
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Their ranks include both Palestinian refugees recently arrived from Syria and those who have lived in Lebanon for decades. As the number of Palestinian refugees from Syria swells, competition for the few odd jobs available to Palestinians in Lebanon intensifies, undercutting already abysmal wages, driving up housing costs, and aggravating tensions in the camp.
The burden on residents already living in dire poverty is straining Lebanon?s Palestinian refugee camps like never before. Vulnerable and resource-strapped themselves, Palestinians in Lebanon simply can?t absorb the unprecedented number of refugees arriving to their camps.
The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) estimates the number of Palestinian refugees from Syria may reach 100,000 by the end of 2013 ? a 20 percent increase to the number of Palestinians in Lebanon overall, which totaled about 450,000 before the Syrian war began. According to Fathi Abu al-Ardat, the representative of both Fatah and the PLO in Lebanon, the camps can only handle 35,000 refugees this year. It already hosts double that number and 6,000 Palestinians are arriving monthly.
At capacity
The Palestinian community in Lebanon has made it through numerous conflicts, and camp residents have grown accustomed to hosting the newer waves of displaced Palestinians.
But only 7 percent of Palestinian refugees from Syria have regular income, and almost all of them are living with host families whose employment prospects are equally dismal because Palestinians in Lebanon are banned from working in the public sector and in many professional fields, says Yasser Daoud, executive director of the child advocacy nonprofit Naba?a, which works in eight Palestinian refugee camps, including Ain al-Halwah.
The number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon now exceeds 1 million, according to Lebanese officials. Some 65,000 of them are Syrians of Palestinian origin, who are often only welcome or able to find housing in the camps that have housed Palestinians in Lebanon since they arrived following the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
Syria had 486,000 Palestinian refugees of its own before the war. They began fleeing in large numbers in July 2012, when fighting first broke out in the Damascus suburbs where several large camps are located. Most Palestinians arriving from Syria settle in one of Lebanon?s 12 Palestinian refugee camps.
The sheer number of arrivals has created an untenable situation, Daoud says. On July 17, Mr. Ardat, the PLO representative, warned that the influx of refugees into the Palestinian camps in Lebanon could lead to clashes inside the camps or the exploitation of vulnerable refugees by sectarian militias in need of fighters.
His fears were exacerbated last month when Palestinian gunmen from the outskirts of Ain al-Halwah joined militants loyal to the radical Sunni cleric Ahmed al-Assir in a battle with the Lebanese military that left 18 soldiers dead.
?The issue is not just worrying, it is dangerous,? Ardat says.
'Stay out' policies
Palestinians arriving from Syria must grapple with the same discrimination as their 1948 predecessors.
In Syria they had many of the same rights as citizens. This is not the case in Lebanon, where refugees rely primarily on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which administers the camps and provides assistance, protection, and advocacy for registered Palestinian refugees.
Palestinians in Lebanon are barred from owning property or entering several desirable occupations. This forces residents of the camps of both Lebanese and Syrian origin to compete for menial jobs in the informal economy. Poor Palestinians from Syria are undercutting the already abysmal wages of their Lebanese counterparts.
The Lebanese government maintains that the Palestinian refugee presence in the country is temporary, even though many of them have been there since 1948. The rules for the new arrivals are consistent with that "stay out" policy. To enter Lebanon, Palestinians from Syria must first collect a $5 form from the interior ministry in Damascus, which can be prohibitively expensive for the poorest refugees, explains Catherine Richards, Field Project Officer for UNRWA.
?This means that if you?re Syrian, and, God forbid, your house is burned down and you want to run, you can,? Ms. Richards explains. ?But if you?re Palestinian, you have to first go to Damascus, go to the Ministry of Interior to pick up this coupon, and only then are you able to leave Syria.?
Upon arrival at the Lebanese border, Syrian nationals are granted free six-month visas with one renewal, effectively granting them legal residency for one year. But Palestinians must purchase a?five-day visa that costs $17 and can't be extended more than 10 days, although UNRWA says that recent lobbying has prompted the government to waive this fee, at least temporarily.
After that, they must purchase renewable three-month visas for up to a year for $33 each. After one year, both the Syrian and Palestinian refugees must pay $200 for a renewable six-month visa.
Despite the many challenges their arrival poses, Richards notes that there are no reports of Palestinians either being sent back or arrested for failing to maintain the frequent visa renewals required to maintain legal status.
But stories abound of refugees, particularly Palestinians, being refused entry elsewhere ? at Syria?s border with Jordan.
?It?s clear that the number of refugees is having an impact [in Lebanon], but they?re still letting them in,? she says. ?Sometimes, we need to also acknowledge the positives, the small victories.?
New vs. old
And in in some ways, Palestinian refugees from Syria have access to more benefits than their Syrian national counterparts. Palestinian children can attend UNRWA schools, which follow Syria?s Arabic-language curriculum. In Lebanon, lectures are in French and English, preventing Syrian children from entering school at their appropriate grade level, Richards explains.
Additionally, cash grants and other services from UNRWA tend to be higher and more comprehensive than those from UNHCR, the refugee agency responsible for Syrian nationals displaced by the conflict. Since the start of the war, UNRWA has provided four cash grants to Palestinians from Syria, totaling a few hundred dollars per family.
The grants are not available to the Palestinians who have been living in Lebanon for decades. Watching these handouts being distributed further divides neighbors, Daoud says.
?They?re the ones hosting the new refugees from Syria,? he notes. ?They?re thinking: ?We?re getting nothing while that other family is getting support from the international community.? Some people don?t complain about that, but others ask, ?What about us???
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Saturday, August 3, 2013
Small Android tablets gain as Apple 'buzz' fades
The 7-inch Nexus 7: small tablets are in.
(Credit: Google)Samsung, Amazon, and other tablet makers gained market share in the second quarter as those vendors cut into Apple's dominant position.
While Apple still holds about 43 percent of the worldwide tablet market -- by far the single largest percentage -- Samsung, Amazon, Lenovo, Acer, and others saw hefty year-to-year gains in shipments during the second quarter, ranging from 228 percent (Acer) to 317 percent (Lenovo), according to a research note released Thursday by Canalys.
Overall Android shipments topped Apple.
The market researcher estimated that 68 percent of tablets shipped in the second quarter had a screen size smaller than 9 inches.
Apple's tablet shipments were down 14 percent year-to-year, the researcher reported, suggesting that Apple's heyday -- when it was practically the only tablet game in town -- is over.
"Apple's decline in shipments and share has been partly attributed to its aging portfolio," Canalys said.
"When Apple does decide to refresh its iPad...it will not experience the buzz of previous launches," Canalys Analyst James Wang said in a statement.
The reason? Tablets are mainstream products now and hardware innovation doesn't wow consumers like it used to, according to Canalys. Moreover, branded Android tablets -- like the just-released second-generation Nexus 7 that starts at $230 -- are inexpensive, luring buyers to that platform.
Samsung, which saw shipments jump 295 percent, had the second largest share with 22 percent on the back of 7.4 million units shipped in the quarter.
Canalys had this to say about Apple versus Android apps:
Despite its 53% share, Android still lags far behind iOS in the availability of fully-optimized tablet apps, and tablet app downloads from the Apple App Store dwarf those from Google Play.
But Android is expected to continue to close the ecosystem lead iOS has in tablets and increase share in coming quarters. 'Developers can and will quickly switch their priorities as different opportunities evolve and improve,' said Canalys Senior Analyst Tim Shepherd. '
And what about Apple profitability versus the rest of the pack? "While it is true that Apple is losing its stranglehold on the tablet market in terms of volume, it will remain its most profitable vendor for years to come," Canalys added.
Updated on August 2 at 12:05 a.m. PDT: corrects Samsung shipment numbers.
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Friday, August 2, 2013
All work and no play makes my smartphone something something - Talk Mobile
There was a time when the smartphone was a tool of the businessman. The BlackBerrys and Treos and Windows Mobile smartphones were connected corporate networks - and often issued by those corporations. Over the last several years that has changed dramatically, with smartphones becoming the province of the consumer.
So prevalent has smartphone usage become among the general public that corporations are beginning to perform a 180 on smartphone policy. They're increasingly comfortable with you hooking up your personal device to their secured corporate network.
Does that mean we need a new breed of device, something that can balance the needs of the personal user and the business user? Or do we already have the smartphones and tablets that can do that? And how do you manage the distraction of the personal at work and the work at home? Would we be better off just shoving the phone into a drawer throughout the day, or is there benefit to being able to pick it up and get in a quick Facebook check?
Navigating the world of smartphones and business, work and personal, isn't the easiest thing, but there's got to be a solution, right?
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/UMQAEzHNNDA/story01.htm
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Riley Cooper's Future in Philadelphia Depends Solely on Football
If the Philadelphia Eagles cut wide receiver Riley Cooper, the reason will be simple: His risk outweighed any potential reward.
According to PhiladelphiaEagles.com, Cooper has been excused from all team activities while he undergoes counseling in the aftermath of his now-viral racist epithet at a Kenny Chesney concert in June.
If Cooper ever plans to return to the team, it will be a football decision by the front office and coaching staff, not a social statement one way or the other.
From the apology perspective, Cooper has seemingly done everything he can.
According to a tipster at Deadspin, Cooper had been drinking since 11 a.m. before the night concert and was upset that he was not allowed backstage. His inebriated state and anger led him to say some terrible things he would later regret.
Cooper's apology seems to echo the sentiment that he was not in full use of his mental faculties at the time. First, he took to Twitter:
Then, Cooper released a statement (released widely, here via the Associated Press) explaining that he "was raised better than that" and "this isn't the type of person I am." In all likelihood, Cooper could be telling the 100 percent honest truth, and it isn't really fair to cynically impugn his motives or question his sincerity.
Sadly for Cooper, his apology and sincerity mean little to his future with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Although quarterback Michael Vick has shown support for Cooper (via Phillymag.com's Sheil Kapadia), it's notable that Vick's statement included these words:
We all have an understanding that the most important thing for this football team is to learn to move forward as of right now, and that?s what we?re focusing on.
Understand what Vick means there?Cooper isn't more important than the overall goal of the Eagles, and neither are the personal feelings of his black teammates (or his white teammates, for that matter). The purpose of a football team is not to create harmony amongst its members like a group therapy session, nor is it to help settle racial tensions in America.
The purpose of a football team is to win football games, period. Where the lines get blurred is when issues like this hurt the chemistry, morale and makeup of a football team. You know, things like this:
The Eagles can probably win football games without Cooper and running back LeSean McCoy inviting each other over for tea and crumpets. They don't have to reenact the scene from Remember the Titans where Ryan Gosling attempts to make black teammate Earl Poitier appreciate Buck Owens' music?though maybe McCoy can get Cooper a spot in the next music video he's in.
If only it were just the two of them, maybe then we could hope for a Disney-themed end to this drama. According to ESPN.com's Ashley Fox, that isn't the case:
After every drill?Riley Cooper?ran in practice Thursday, he jogged to the sideline and stood by himself. He didn't interact with teammates. He didn't talk. He was a man among 89 others, yet he was alone. ...
No one was playing with, much less for, Cooper in practice Thursday. It's hard to envision that changing, which is why the Eagles are going to have to cut him.
This is head coach Chip Kelly's first season in the NFL. This is his first major NFL scandal. He's already got a team in the spotlight because of an innovative tempo and offensive scheme that he's bringing to the pros from his time at Oregon. The quarterback battle has the cameras pointed firmly at the practice fields, and he's thinner at wide receiver because of the injury to Jeremy Maclin.
So, if Kelly says the locker room needs to heal, it'll heal.
It'll heal just like the Denver Broncos' locker room found a way to heal when Bill Romanowski reportedly made racist remarks overheard by a teammate and told to Sports Illustrated. That locker room healed because Romanowski was a former Pro Bowl linebacker who had helped lead the team to a couple of Super Bowls.
If it doesn't heal, it's going to be because Cooper isn't nearly as important to the 2013 Eagles as Romanowski was to the 2000 Denver Broncos. It doesn't make what Cooper said any better or worse; it means that his usefulness was outweighed by the risk of keeping him around.
Should the Philadelphia Eagles Cut Riley Cooper?
-
Yes
-
No
Should the Philadelphia Eagles Cut Riley Cooper?
NFL teams draft and put up with players that may strain the locker room. Frankly, they do it all the time. However, they don't do it when the player isn't talented enough to warrant the risk. That's where Cooper's fate ultimately lies.
Now, separated from both his teammates and the practice field, Cooper's chances are going to be that much slimmer. He's taken a passive role in the process. He can't show that he's needed by the team. He'll need to hope that the rest of the Eagles receivers do that for him by either lackluster play or injury.
Although he is set for a big season and a big role in the Eagles' depleted receiving corps, Cooper has never caught more than 23 passes and three touchdowns in a season. He wasn't a first-round pick; he was a fifth-round pick. That same fifth round in 2010 included Ricky Sapp, a talented pass-rusher out of Clemson later cut by the Eagles because of injury.?
Fifth-round picks who only catch 23 passes don't get to divide the locker room. That's not how the NFL works. It never has and never will.
If the Eagles keep Cooper around, it won't be a whitewashing of what he did. It won't be a tacit approval of his actions or some sort of tribute to his sincerity. It will be because they need him on the football field.
If they cut him, it will not be a social statement. It will be because Cooper?as a part of the Eagles?was deemed not as important as the team that employs him.
What Cooper said was objectively and morally wrong. Some don't think it was actually that bad?they're wrong. Some forgive him. Some will forgive him in time. Others never will.
All of that, however, is academic. Cooper's future has nothing to do with any of it. This is a football team, and if Cooper's actions alongside his lack of elite talent have made him expendable, that's a reality he'll have to live with.
?
Michael?Schottey?is the NFL National Lead Writer for Bleacher Report and a?member of the Pro Football Writers of America. Find more of his stuff at?The Go Route.
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Escaped chimps cause zoo closure
1 August 2013
Last updated at 08:19 ET
Josie, Tojo and Jomar were three of the chimps which got into the secure area of their enclosure
A Leicestershire zoo had to close when eight chimpanzees found their way into service corridors in their enclosure.
At 09:35 BST, the chimps at Twycross Zoo escaped into an area they were not meant to be, leading to safety concerns.
A police spokesperson later said "everything was now in order".
Twycross Zoo, which reopened two hours later, said the animals were encouraged back into their enclosure with ice cream and fizzy drinks.
'Cupboard fun'A zoo spokeswoman said: "At no time were the public at risk, and no people or chimps were harmed during the incident, however it is part of our safety procedures that we close the zoo whilst such events are resolved.
Continue reading the main storyGreat apes
- Chimpanzees are found in the forests of central Africa
- The primates share 98% of human genes and are our closest living relative
- They demonstrate learned behaviours and use tools
"All of the chimps are fine, if not a little excited about having ice cream for breakfast. They are all on view to the public as normal."
Sharon Redrobe, the zoo's director, told BBC Radio Leicester: "Eight adventurous chimps got into the service corridors, but still within the main building, so it was still reasonably safe.
"They had a fun time running up and down, opening and closing cupboards. It took about an hour to get them into their day place.
"We apologise for closing but it was for a very good reason."
An internal investigation will now take place to discover how the animals escaped.
Leicestershire Police said the problem occurred during the moving of eight chimps and officers were called as a precaution.
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Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-23533133#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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Nevada brewpub shames patron online for unpaid tab
RENO, Nev. (AP) ? A Nevada brewpub has turned to Facebook to publicly shame a patron who left the restaurant without paying his $100 tab.
Employees of the Brewer's Cabinet in Reno posted a picture of smiling patron Saul Zelaznog on Tuesday, telling him his actions were "pretty uncool ... pathetic, really," and urging users to visit his profile to "let him know he sucks."
They also warned other restaurants to watch out for the "serial" tab-skipper.
The message had been shared nearly 600 times by Thursday morning.
Zelaznog told the Reno Gazette-Journal (http://on.rgj.com/16miNZN ) he had forgotten a method of payment when he visited Tuesday, but planned to return to pay the tab.
Zelaznog says he was asking relatives to wire him money in hopes of paying the bill by Thursday.
___
Information from: Reno Gazette-Journal, http://www.rgj.com
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Fido gets even techier tools
Technology 
18 hours ago
Melody Jackson
Sky the Border Collie chomps into a bite sensor, one of a few different doggie communication tools that researchers at Georgia Tech are developing.
Divided as we may be on the right and wrong places to wear Google Glass, the numbers have spoken: the wearable electronics' market for humans is about to explode into a $6 billion festival by 2016. In development are wristbands, health-sensing tattoos and more.
That tech is also reaching our four-legged friends. Researchers around the world are building trackers and sensors ? animal-friendly ones that are light, waterproof, and activated by bites, tugs and taps of the nose. Not long from now, they'll help humans track the health and ailments of their pets, and even let man's best friend finally talk back.
The FIDO ? Facilitating Interactions for Dogs with Occupations ? research team at Georgia Tech wants to give some of our smartest helpers a voice.
"If a dog could communicate clearly with a human being, there are so many ways it would be life-changing for the human and even life-saving,"Melody Jackson, associate professor at Georgia Tech and director of the BrainLab, told NBC News. Jackson herself wears a FitBit "all the time" and she also has six dogs.
Jackson and a group of researchers at the university including Google Glass pioneer Thad Starner, are building communication tools activated by bites, tugs and taps of the nose.
Since 1995, Jackson has trained assistance dogs for Canine Companions for Independence, and she's using some of that experience to help train assistance dogs to use sensors that are activated by gestures that uniquely canine.
The group has tested two different bite sensors, a tugging sensor worn on the dog's back, and a motion sensor detector, like those in paper towel dispensers in public restrooms. "We wanted to see if the dogs would wave their nose at it," Jackson said. "The dogs figured it out better than I figured out the paper towels."
Though the team tested FIDO on highly-trained assistance dogs, Jackson believes any dog would be able to pick up some of these tricks. Her own Border Collie, Sky, and Pappillon, Lazer, have been in the lab and Lazer's quite good at pushing the sensor with his nose, Jackson said.
Not too long from now, when a seizure assistance dog senses that her owner is about to have an episode, Jackson hopes the dog will be able to push a button on a vest, or tap a sensor with his nose to send a text message: "Stu's having a seizure, here's where we are now. Love, Fido."
Cassim Ladha
A waterproof collar designed by researchers at Newcastle University has been tested on pigs, horses, cats and dogs.
'Like a FitBit on steroids'
Whether you're a person or a pug, having a wearable tracker that's waterproof is always handy.
In the United Kingdom, Cassim Ladha and his fellow researchers were testing the water-resistive ability of a new wearable sensor that people could wear as they washed up. He tested it by strapping it to his dog's collar and playing fetch near a river. That's when it hit them: What if they just used the tracker for pets all the time?
In the last 18 months or so, Ladha and and a team of researchers at Newcastle University in Newcastle Upon Tyme has been modifying sensors that can track sheepdogs in therapy, pet dogs, dressage horses, cats, and pigs.
"It's like a FitBit on steroids," Nils Hammerla, who is Ladha's colleague on the project, told NBC News.
The group recently finished a study on dogs, and showed that they could track 16 different dog movements ? including running, shaking, sitting and chewing ? just by placing a small accelerometer and transmitter on their collars. The dogs didn't notice a thing, Ladha said: the recommended weight for a 45-pound dog would be 11 pounds, or about two Coke bottles. "We've got a sensor that weighs less than a bag of chips," he said. "It's no problem to these particular animals."
The group is exploring using the sensors as surrogate trackers for humans who may be a bit vary of wearing health trackers themselves. After all, dogs are often emotionally and physically in sync with their owners. If there's a sudden drop in activity levels ? if walks suddenly become shorter or less frequent ? Hammerla said, "Either there's something wrong with the dog, but more likely there's something wrong with your grandmother."
Cassim Ladhi / Celine Fraysse
A movement tracking sensor is attached to the rump of a farm pig.
Pigs and sitting
The sensors have also found their way onto the rumps of pigs. The group was invited to test their sensors in tracking the muscle movements of these farm animals, some of which had a genetic condition which made them clumsy sitters.
"They go down to their elbows, then they struggle with the back legs underneath them, and then lean to one side" and then, Ladha said, "The bad ones flop to one side."
Sometimes, they sit on their piglets by accident. "That's obviously a problem if you're a pig farmer," Ladha said, possibly more so if you're a piglet.
But, with the sensor, "You can detect all the different stages of the sit," he said, and "[identify] the pigs which are good at sitting down."
The waterproof animal gait tracker is also being used to collect data on the effectiveness of hydrotherapy relaxation sessions in sheepdogs, to find the best bit to use on a dressage horse, and how to tell if the purr you hear from your cat is one of affection, or a run-up to "Attack!"
Urban pet owners may not fret daily about falling pigs, but their animals suffer a serious ailment: obesity. Over in Cincinnati, one company believes that technology could help treat that. Healthy Pet Technologies is building what's essentially a FitBit for dogs, with the simple goal of making sure your pet gets enough exercise, even if you don't.
The company, co-founded by Ashwin Nath, is developing a smart collar that's like a FitBit that's been adjusted for the movements of a dog. Without using a smartphone app, Nath explained, the collar would light up to indicate if your dog's been active while you've been at work, or if its long overdue for a long walk.
For a more nuanced read, the collar transmits information via Bluetooth to a computer or phone application. Nath, in collaboration with researchers at Fordham University, has tested a prototype collar on about 60 different dogs that include terriers, labradors and various mixes. At WagTag.com, the team's opening up a beta test to trial the collar on dogs of various sizes.
You'd think that after 33,000 years of dog domestication, humans are happy with the relationship they've settled on with their best friend. But the researchers have found that pet owners are overwhelmingly enthusiastic about being able to talk to their pets, whether they train seeing-aid dogs every day, or are merely concerned that lately, Milo's been getting a bit of a paunch.
Nidhi Subbaraman writes about science and technology. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.
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Thursday, August 1, 2013
Macau gross gaming revenue hits MOP29.5 billion in July - Online ...
August 1, 2013
According to data released by Macau?s?Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau,?the gambling town generated MOP29.5 billion in gross gaming revenue in July, a number bested only by March 2013 when revenue hit a record MOP31.3 billion and May 2013 when it reached MOP29.6 billion.
This month?s revenue total is also better by an impressive 20 percent than last year?s figures, proving that more and more people are still flocking the only gambling destination in China to get their gambling juices flowing.
The final revenue total for the month also exceeded analyst forecasts, including Sterne Agee which pegged gross gaming revenue to ?only? hit MOP29.2 billion. Making the month?s total even more impressive was the surge in money coming in the latter part of the month. Gross gaming revenue only stood at MOP12.8 billion in July 14, which meant that in the next 16 days, casinos raked in an impressive MOP16.4 billion.
The MOP29.2 billion total also represents a strong start to the second half of the year for Macau after? the gambling destination posted MOP171.4 billion from January to June, 15.3 percent better than what it did in the first half of 2012. The objective, at least as far as analysts and prognosticators are concerned, now is whether Macau can post an even higher gross gaming revenue total in the second half of the year.
The way things are going ? January to July?s total has reached MOP200.9 billion, 15.9 percent better that its 2012 numbers in the first seven months ? it sounds like nobody should be betting against Macau from hitting that number.
Source: http://calvinayre.com/2013/08/01/casino/macau-gross-gaming-revenue-hits-mop29-5-billion-in-july/
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