Hotel Reservations In Santa Clarita - Google, YouTube, Twitter Get Into April Fools' Action

Source - http://www.usatoday.com/
By - Katharine Lackey
Category - Hotel Reservations In Santa Clarita
Posted  By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Hotel Reservations In Santa Clarita

Tired of all those vowels clogging up your tweets?

Twitter announced a solution late Sunday night, saying it will shift to a two-tiered service, dubbing its basic, consonant-only plan "Twttr."

The April Fools' Day joke kicked off with Twitter tweeting out, "Trd th nw Twttr yt? Mr tm fr mr twts!" (Translation: Tried the new Twttr yet? More time for more tweets)

The social media service says for a mere $5 a month, you can keep your vowels by using the premium "Twitter" service.

"We're doing this because we believe that by eliminating vowels, we'll encourage a more efficient and 'dense' form of communication." the company said on its blog. "We also see an opportunity to diversify our revenue stream."

In the announcement — which the company says was partially inspired by Wheel of Fortune — Twitter said that "Y" will remain free and other languages will be unaffected by the change.

The company is also offering a single character extension, allowing the length of a tweet to extend to 141 characters. "The price of the extra character is based on a bidding system reflecting the popularity of the character you would like to add," the company's blog states.

Twitter also announced a site that automatically transforms your tweets into a Twttr friendly format.

Joan Rivers got in on the action early, tweeting "Twyttyr? Why byy vywyls whyn yyy gyt "Y" fyr fryy? Syckyrs! #nvwls" (Translation: Twitter? Why buy vowels when you get "Y" for free? Suckers!)

Feeling like digging for buried treasure? Google also got into the April Fools' Day action, releasing a "Treasure Mode" overlay on its maps site Saturday.

In a YouTube video, Google explains the mysterious paper maps its Street View Team found off the coast of Madagascar in 2012 and later digitized belonged to Captain Kidd, who hid his treasures around the globe. Google calls on watchers to help decipher the maps and find the long-lost treasure.

A variety of techniques can be used to reveal hidden symbols, including applying sunlight to the maps, piecing multiple tablet and mobile devices together or aligning the map perfectly by skydiving over a specific landmark. The heat responsive ink is likely to get the most laughs, as Google shows some symbols can only be revealed by placing your laptop over an open flame (with the disclaimer do not attempt at home!).

STORY: Bosses often aren't amused by April Fools'

To access the feature, visit Google Maps and click on the "Treasure" picture icon in the top right corner. The overlay even contains street-view, applied with a sepia-toned filter to give it that historical feel. The maps contain a number of Easter eggs including a separate URL with a live pirate ship tracking map and symbols hidden around the globe that spell out "April Fool." Treasure Island near San Francisco, Calif., has a mini-map with an X marking the spot, and New York City is marked by a pirate's skull with mysterious numbers in its eyes.

California Vacation Packages - Facebook To Reveal 'New Home On Android' At April 4 Event

Source - http://abcnews.go.com/
By - JOANNA STERN
Category - California Vacation Packages
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

California Vacation Packages

Facebook is calling the press back to its headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., again -- and this time it's to show off a new Android-based product.

The invitations to the April 4 event, which were sent to members of the media this evening via e-mail, reveal only that the company will be showing off its "new home on Android."

Already, rumors are beginning to fly about what Facebook might announce.

TechCrunch reported that Facebook will unveil phone software based on Google's Android operating system. The software will have "extra Facebook functionality built in." According to the report, the phone software will run on hardware made by HTC.

According to 9to5Google, the two companies have been working on a marketing campaign for the phone.

HTC, a Taiwanese phone maker, released The Status in 2011, an Android phone that had Facebook branding and specialized Facebook software. The phone wasn't marketed by Facebook and received poor reviews. The company recently announced its new HTC One Android phone.

RELATED: Facebook Says New Mobile Products Coming, but No Facebook Phone

Amazon has taken a similar route, creating its own version of Android software to run on its Kindle Fire. It places Amazon's services front and center.

Facebook has been rumored to be working on a phone of its own for a number of months now. However, while Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said the company is focused on mobile and is a mobile company, he has denied the existence of plans for a "Facebook phone."

"We want to support an ecosystem where other apps can build on top of Facebook," Zuckberg said on an earnings call last year. "There are a lot of things you can build in other operating systems, as well, that aren't really taking, that aren't really like building out a whole phone, which wouldn't make much sense for us to do."

In the last number of months, Facebook has released a slew of new mobile products, including its Poke app and additions to its Messenger app, which added free calling.

ABC News will have the latest on Facebook's Android announcement on April 4.

Hotels In Northern California - Range Rover Sport Revealed In New York By James Bond

Source - http://profit.ndtv.com/
By - Siddharth Vinayak Patankar
Category - Hotels In Northern California
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Hotels In Northern California

They're calling it the fastest, most responsive model ever from Land Rover. That's the new all new second generation of the Range Rover Sport from the British car maker, a part of India's Tata Group. Since the massive turnaround of JLR under Tata, Land Rover has launched three all new products and one significant refresh. The Evoque was the first and has been a runaway success, making 2012 a very successful year for the company with 36 per cent sales increases over the previous year.

In 2012, the company also launched the new generation Range Rover flagship SUV, and now comes the third member of the Range Rover family. The new Range Rover Sport uses the same platform as its older sibling, and also uses similar all-aluminum construction. But despite this the company says nearly 75 per cent of its components are not shared with the Range Rover. The new Sport aims to be a more agile, and sporty offering, with greater dynamics, and tauter handling than before. It is too premature to speak about prices, but given the positioning and feature list, the Range Rover Sport is likely to be very premium. The aluminum construction makes it significantly lighter, and therefore a lot greener than the outgoing car too.

JLR chose New York to launch the car - symbolic of the fact that the US has been the largest market for the Range Rover Sport. In fact, the NYC area also stands for the largest single metropolitan market for this model globally too. So it was a fitting debut location. JLR also cashed in on the recent association that it had with Skyfall - the most recent film in the James Bond franchise. And although this wasn't about Bond as much as it was about Daniel Craig in his individual capacity, Mr Bond was on hand to help unveil the car, as he drove through the streets of New York - with the city's police department shutting down traffic on some roads during rush hour. Mr Craig arrived at the venue of the debut with much fanfare, as he drove on to the stage. 

The new Range Rover Sport will compete with the likes of the Audi Q7, BMW X5, and Volkswagen Touareg. It is expected to be made available in India in the second half of this calendar year, and will likely be imported for starters.

Vacations In Santa Clarita - T-Mobile Shakes Up Its Service

Source - http://www.nytimes.com/
By - BRIAN X. CHEN
Category - Vacations In Santa Clarita
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Vacations In Santa Clarita

But it may not be enough to persuade smartphone users to abandon the competition. 

Analysts said the new marketing strategy, which spreads the cost of a new phone over two years as a separate line item on the monthly bill, will still feel like a commitment to many customers, even if they can choose to pay it off early and walk away. And T-Mobile, which has a slower network than its competitors, is only just beginning to introduce major upgrades. 

The company on Tuesday said the Apple iPhone 5 would be available starting April 12 for $100 up front, with customers paying an additional $20 a month for two years. Other new smartphones, like the Samsung Galaxy S 4 and the BlackBerry Z10, will be available with similar payment plans. 

Although T-Mobile’s new phone plans require no long-term contract, customers would have to pay off the balance owed in order to end service prematurely. 

For several years, T-Mobile, the No. 4 American mobile carrier by market share, has been bleeding subscribers to Verizon Wireless, AT&T and Sprint. In earnings calls, the company has said its main problems were consumers’ negative perception of its network and its inability to offer customers the iPhone. 

Now that T-Mobile has landed a deal with Apple and turned on its new fourth-generation network, LTE, in seven cities, the company is hoping to mount a comeback. If T-Mobile does not find a way to bounce back, it risks losing even more market share to Verizon and AT&T and becoming a small niche player like Leap or U.S. Cellular. 

The carrier, led by its eccentric new chief executive, John Legere, has been undergoing a rebranding into what it calls an “uncarrier.” 

At a news conference in New York on Tuesday, Mr. Legere, wearing a blazer, T-shirt, jeans and sneakers with hot-pink shoelaces, casually dropped curse words while mocking his competitors, saying they were deliberately confusing customers with unclear two-year contracts and punishing them with fees for surpassing data limits or ending contracts early. 

“Do you have any idea what you’re paying?” Mr. Legere said. “I’m going to explain how stupid we all are because once it becomes flat and transparent, there’s nowhere to hide. You pay so much for your phones, it’s incredible.” 

He said that T-Mobile’s contract-free plans would be more straightforward and cheaper over all for consumers, and that by moving to contract-free plans, the company was doing away with overage and early-termination fees. 

Mr. Legere said that over two years, an iPhone on T-Mobile would cost $1,000 less than it would on AT&T. That would apply to heavy data users. But when looking at the cheapest plans on both carriers, the difference is much narrower. For example, an iPhone 5 on T-Mobile’s plan with unlimited text messages, unlimited minutes and 500 megabytes of data a month is only $360 cheaper over two years than an AT&T plan with unlimited voice and text and one gigabyte of data a month. 

At $580, buying an iPhone from T-Mobile would also be cheaper than buying a $650 unlocked phone directly from Apple. 

On Tuesday, T-Mobile formally replaced all its old phone plans with new plans that do not require signing a contract. For $50 a month, customers can get unlimited minutes, text messages and 500 megabytes of data; they can pay an extra $20 for unlimited data. 

At AT&T and Verizon, the most popular phone plans cost closer to $100 a month with a two-year contract for limited data. The iPhone 5 costs at least $200 on their networks with a two-year contract. 

Despite T-Mobile’s promise to be more straightforward than other carriers, some consumers might still find it confusing that they have to pay an extra device fee after paying $100 up front for an iPhone. 

In an interview, Mr. Legere said that the announcement of T-Mobile’s new contract-free plans was just the beginning of a conversation about greater transparency. He said T-Mobile would make every part of its plans visible to customers and break down their options for how they want to pay. 

“The dialogue has just started,” he said. “This is an ages-old industry that’s very opaque that people just gave up understanding.” 

Even though T-Mobile’s $50 plan costs less than its biggest competitors’ offerings, cheaper no-contract plans are already offered by smaller carriers, said Tero Kuittinen, an analyst at Alekstra, a mobile diagnostics firm. 

Virgin Mobile, for example, sells an iPhone for $650 and offers a plan including 300 minutes, unlimited data and unlimited text messages for $30 a month. 

Consumers still feel that T-Mobile’s network coverage is poor, Mr. Kuittinen added. And T-Mobile’s rivals are far ahead in deploying fourth-generation networks using LTE technology; Verizon is leading the race with LTE deployed in roughly 500 cities, while T-Mobile only recently started its LTE service in seven markets. 

“They can’t relaunch the operations from a clean slate because people have negative conceptions of what T-Mobile’s quality is,” Mr. Kuittinen said. 

The main difference between a traditional two-year contract and T-Mobile’s two-year device payment is what happens after that period of time. For T-Mobile customers who pay off their iPhone, their monthly bill would drop by $20. At other carriers, the monthly bill stays the same even after the two years of the contract are up.

Budget Hotels Santa Clarita - Asian Markets Rise As Cyprus Deal Eases Crisis Fears

Source - http://www.bbc.co.uk/
By - Press Release
Category - Budget Hotels Santa Clarita
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Budget Hotels Santa Clarita

Cyprus will now get a 10bn euro ($13bn; £8.5bn) cash injection to keep its banking system running and prevent it from crashing out of the eurozone.

Many investors had feared that its exit from the bloc may escalate the region's debt crisis and derail global recovery.

Shares in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Australia rose on the news.

"The news was what markets were waiting for, some kind of an agreement," said Yuji Saito, director of foreign exchange at Credit Agricole in Tokyo.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 1.8%, South Korea's Kospi gained 1.3%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.7% and Australia's ASX200 was up 0.7%.

Improving risk appetite

A failure to reach a deal may have seen the European Central Bank cut emergency funding to Cyprus's two biggest banks, leading to an effective bankruptcy of Cyprus's government.

The fears were that such a move may prompt the country's exit from the bloc.

Many analysts had been concerned that Cyprus's exit may cause a loss of confidence across the eurozone and prompt investors to withdraw from other troubled economies of the bloc, such as Greece.

These concerns had seen investors ditch the euro over the past few days in favour of other assets, such as the Japanese yen and US dollar, seen as comparatively safer.

However, news of the Cyprus deal boosted the euro.

The single currency gained 0.8% against the US dollar. It was trading at $1.3044 in early Asian trade.

It rose 1.3% against the Japanese yen to trade at 123.81 yen.

"This will likely limit the euro's downside, with those who shorted the euro covering their positions, and improve general risk sentiment," said Hiroshi Maeba, head of foreign exchange trading for UBS in Tokyo.

Ben le Brun, an analyst at OptionsXpress in Sydney, added that the deal was likely to have a positive impact on the oil markets as well.

"We should see some positive sentiment reverberate through energy markets overall for at least the next 24 to 48 hours," he said.

Brent Crude rose 0.3% to $108.34 per barrel in Asian trade, while US Light Crude gained 0.4% to $94.1 per barrel.

Uncertainties remain

Cyprus had agreed a bailout deal with the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last week.

However, the EU and IMF had asked Cyprus to raise 5.8bn euros in order to secure the funds.

They had proposed that Cyprus impose a one-off levy on bank deposits in order to raise the cash, a move that triggered protests in Cyprus and resulted in savers rushing to ATM machines to withdraw their money - a move that brought fears of a run on the banks.

The Cyprus parliament rejected the proposal last week, delaying an agreement to secure the bailout funds.

According to the latest deal, all deposits under 100,000 euros will be "fully guaranteed".

However, Laiki (Popular) Bank, the country's second-biggest, will be wound down and holders of deposits of more than 100,000 euros will face big losses.

The levy on accounts in Laiki Bank could be as high as 40%, correspondents say.

Large deposits in the Bank of Cyprus, the country's biggest bank, will also face a levy.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, president of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers, told a press conference in Brussels that the percentage to be levied on large deposits in the Bank of Cyprus will be decided in the coming weeks.

Analysts said that while the draft deal had helped ease market jitters, uncertainties surrounding its implementation were likely to hurt sentiment in the coming days.

"We might get a small relief rally if we do get one, but markets will then very quickly turn to the risk of a bank run and whether conditions for the aid will be implemented smoothly," said Greg Gibbs, senior currency strategist at Royal Bank of Scotland.

Family Hotels In Santa Clarita - Stocks Decline On Europe Growth Worries

Source - http://www.usatoday.com/
By - Kim Hjelmgaard
Category - Family Hotels In Santa Clarita
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Family Hotels In Santa Clarita

Stocks declined Thursday after the European Central Bank turned up the heat on Cyprus and said it will cut emergency liquidity to the nation's central bank unless Cyprus adopts a fiscal aid plan by Monday.

In the U.S., technology stocks dragged the indexes lower after Oracle reported an unexpected decline in sales in its fiscal third quarter. Oracle shares fell $3.47, or 9%, to $32.30.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 90.24 points, or 0.62%, to 14,421.49. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 12.91 points, or 0.83%, to 1,545.80. The Nasdaq composite index shed 31.59 points, or 0.97%, to 3,222.60.

The Dow's weakness today, which included a short-lived, intra-day drop of more than 100 points, could be the latest sign that the rip-roaring stock market rally, which has catapulted the Dow to fresh highs, might be running out of steam, at least in the short run, says John Praveen, chief investment strategist at Prudential International Investment Advisors.

The main stock indexes in Paris, London and Frankfurt were all lower.

The Cyprus situation as well as some weak earnings from well-known names such as Oracle and package delivery giant Federal Express, could be catalysts for a pullback.

"These increased risks are likely to cause stock markets to struggle in the near term and prompt profit taking after the strong gains thus far this year," says Praveen.

Pressure mounted on Cyprus to fix its financial system. It must raise about $7.5 billion in the next four days to avoid bankruptcy. Several plans have failed, including a proposal to tax deposits held by the nation's banks.

If the Mediterranean banking haven is unable to secure a bailout, its banks will fail and it could be forced to leave the euro currency.

In the U.S., the yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.93% from 1.96% earlier as demand increased for ultra-safe investments.

Trans-Atlantic jitters and technology stocks overshadowed encouraging data about the U.S. economy.

The number of people seeking unemployment benefits barely changed last week, the Labor Department said before the market opened.

Home sales rose in February to a fresh three-year high, according to the National Association of Realtors. It is the latest signal that the housing recovery is solidifying.

Besides technology, here are other stocks that fell:

— Struggling drug company AstraZeneca jumped after saying it would cut 2,300 more jobs worldwide and overhaul its research operations. That brings to 11,000 the number of job cuts announced in the past 13 months. Shares rose $1.77, or 3%, to $47.95.

— Publisher Scholastic Corp. plunged after shrinking demand for its best-selling "The Hunger Games" books forced it to cut its guidance for the year. The company's fiscal third-quarter loss nearly doubled. Shares fell $4.32, or 14%, to $26.75.

— Movado Group dropped after the luxury watchmaker said its fiscal fourth-quarter net income fell 26%. The stock fell $4.08, or 10%, to $33.04.

And among technology stocks that fell:

— Juniper Networks dropped 42 cents, or 2%, to $18.89.

— Cisco fell 83 cents, or 3%, to $20.84.

— IBM declined $2.80, or 1%, to $212.26.

— Intel lost 14 cents, or 0.1%, at $21.04.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 index surged 1.34% to 12,635.69. Benchmarks in Singapore, Indonesia and Taiwan also rose. South Korea's Kospi slipped 0.44% to 1,950.82. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.16% to 22,219.78.

Benchmark oil for May delivery was down $1.09 to $92.41 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said at the end of a two-day policy meeting that the Fed won't alter its aggressive monetary easing — $85 billion in monthly bond purchases to push down borrowing costs — until it is convinced the economy's gains can be sustained.

Fed officials reinforced their plan to keep short-term interest rates at rock-bottom levels at least until unemployment falls to 6.5%. The current unemployment rate is 7.7%.

Six Flags Magic Mountain - Voyager 1 Has Left The Solar System — Almost

Source - http://www.latimes.com/
By - Monte Morin and Amina Khan
Category - Six Flags Magic Mountain
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Six Flags Magic Mountain

It was welcome news to Earthlings: The Voyager 1 spacecraft had seemingly crossed a momentous threshold and become the first man-made object to enter interstellar space.

"Voyager 1 has left the solar system," the American Geophysical Union declared Wednesday in a news release. An accompanying study published online in the organization's journal, Geophysical Research Letters, also contained an unusually sentimental end note declaring that "we did it. Bon Voyage!"

Alas, the elation that spread through news and social media was short-lived. Voyager 1 was still in the neighborhood, NASA said, even after traveling for more than 35 years. Then the American Geophysical Union press office issued a correction of its headline, omitting any reference to the spacecraft having departed "the solar system."

"The Voyager team is aware of reports today that NASA's Voyager 1 has left the solar system," said Edward Stone, Voyager project scientist at Caltech and former chief of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, where Voyager was built. "It is the consensus of the Voyager science team that Voyager 1 has not yet left the solar system or reached interstellar space."

Though there is little doubt that the lonely probe will one day exit the solar system, scientists are discovering that the border is not as clearly defined as they expected it to be.

In the paper released Wednesday, lead author Bill Webber suggested that the probe had exited the heliosphere — that region of space dominated by solar winds and long considered to be the edge of the solar system — on Aug. 25, 2012.

It was on that day that Voyager's sensors registered drastic changes in radiation levels. There was a sharp drop in so-called anomalous cosmic rays — high-energy particles trapped within the "bubble" of the outer heliosphere — and a sudden surge in galactic cosmic rays from outside the solar system.

Together, those events seemed to indicate that Voyager had "crossed a well-defined boundary" and possibly entered interstellar space 11.3 billion miles from the sun, according to the paper.

"It appears that V1 has exited the main solar modulation region, revealing hydrogen and helium spectra characteristic of those to be expected in the local interstellar medium," wrote Webber, a professor emeritus of astronomy at New Mexico State University who is involved with cosmic ray experiments on Voyager.

But scientists at NASA and elsewhere said Webber's report did not address one of the most unexpected elements of the boundary between the solar system and interstellar space — a mysterious region that Stone and others have labeled a "magnetic highway."

In December, the Voyager science team reported that the spacecraft had reached a place where particles from the solar wind dropped off dramatically and cosmic rays from interstellar space increased. But they did not detect an anticipated change in the direction of the magnetic field emanating from the sun.

"If we had looked at particle data alone, we would have said, 'We're out! Goodbye, solar system!'" Stamatios Krimigis, a solar physicist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., said at the time.

Instead, the scientists surmised that Voyager had reached the magnetic highway, where interstellar particles can ride in and solar system particles can ride out. Only when the craft senses that the magnetic field has changed direction will they declare that it has reached interstellar space.

"And that change of direction has not yet been observed," Stone said Wednesday.

So the new report from Webber left his fellow Voyager scientists scratching their heads.

"We did not leave the solar system," said Merav Opher, an astrophysicist at Boston University and member of the Voyager team. "We are simply in a new region that is completely different than what we thought."

Webber did not return calls or email seeking comment Wednesday.

A good deal of the confusion can be traced to the American Geophysical Union's news release. A press representative said it was a challenge to convey the significance of the study. He said he realized soon after the release was issued that it may not have been fully accurate.

"We were trying to create a headline that was meaningful to reporters and to general audiences, and I guess we overstated the conclusions a little bit," said Peter Weiss, a public information manager for the American Geophysical Union in Washington.

The Voyager study was unusual for other reasons as well.

It was published by just two scientists and not the larger Voyager team. And one of those scientists, astrophysicist Frank McDonald of the University of Maryland, died in August — just days after he and Webber determined that Voyager had crossed a boundary of great significance.

McDonald, who helped design instruments for many NASA space probes, collapsed from a brain aneurysm while speaking at a symposium, said Gary Zank, a space physicist who witnessed the event. He died the next day.

Webber went on to write up the pair's findings. The end of the paper published in Geophysical Research Letters contained a rare sentimental note to his former colleague:

"Frank, we have been working together for over 55 years to reach the goal of actually observing the interstellar spectra of cosmic rays, possibly now achieved almost on the day of your passing," he wrote. "You wanted so badly to be able to finish this article that you had already started. Together we did it. Bon Voyage!"

McDonald's widow, Irene "Rene" McDonald, said her late husband was indeed looking forward to the day when Voyager exited the solar system.

"I know that when they do confirm that they actually have gone beyond the solar system with Voyager, he'd be pleased as punch," she said. "I know also as a scientist, he'd be extremely cautious about saying that it truly has happened."

Attractions In Santa Clarita - Another Bidder Joins Fray For Dell

Source - http://www.bdlive.co.za/
By - Serena Saitto and David Carey
Category - Attractions In Santa Clarita
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Attractions In Santa Clarita

NEW YORK — Blackstone Group is weighing a bid for Dell, the computer maker seeking offers to rival the proposed $24.4bn buyout by founder Michael Dell and Silver Lake Management, said people with knowledge of the matter.

Blackstone may bid as part of a group including other investors, said one of the people, who asked not to be named.

The private-equity firm has not made a decision, another person said.

Under the go-shop provision of the Silver Lake merger agreement, Dell’s board has until March 22 to seek superior proposals, and can negotiate beyond that date if it receives an offer it deems serious.

An offer from Blackstone would increase the pressure on Michael Dell and Silver Lake to raise their $13.65-a-share bid after Dell’s two biggest outside shareholders already opposed what would be the largest leveraged buyout of a technology company since the financial crisis.

Billionaire Carl Icahn has also amassed a stake and is pressing for a special dividend over a buyout. Still, it may be difficult for new bidders to turn Dell around without the CEO’s buy-in as PC business slumps, said Bloomberg Industries analyst Anand Srinivasan.

"It’s very hard to put a value on a business that’s in structural decline," he said. "Going private is all about how much value you can create."

Blackstone, Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo have inspected Dell’s books after signing nondisclosure agreements, people familiar with the matter said this month. Michael Dell is trying to take the PC maker private after a quarter century as a publicly traded company, as business has shifted toward cloud computing, where storage and software are delivered at low cost over the internet.

Dell spokesman David Frink declined to comment. Blackstone spokesman Peter Rose was not immediately available.

Dell’s shares climbed as high as $14.69 in after-hours trading on Tuesday, or 7.6% above the bid from Michael Dell and Silver Lake, signalling that investors are betting the price tag will ultimately exceed the $24.4bn offer. In German trading on Tuesday, the stock traded at the equivalent of $14.52 as of 9.30am in Frankfurt.

Mr Icahn this month asked Dell’s directors to pledge they will implement his $9-a-share special dividend proposal if shareholders reject the Michael Dell-led offer. Otherwise, Mr Icahn said, he will start a proxy fight and seek to replace the board with his own slate.

At least five analysts this month said a bid for Dell could reach as high as $15 a share.

Hotel In California - Obama To Nominate Justice Aide For Labor Post

Source - http://www.nytimes.com/

By - PETER BAKER

Category - Hotel In California

Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Hotel In California

WASHINGTON – President Obama plans to announce Monday that he will nominate Thomas E. Perez, who heads the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department, to be the next secretary of labor, a choice that promises to provoke a debate with Republicans about voting rights and discrimination.

Mr. Perez would replace Hilda L. Solis, who stepped down in January after four years running the Labor Department. Word of his possible selection has been circulating in Washington for days, and a White House official informed reporters that the president would make it official on Monday.

The announcement comes just days after a Justice Department inspector general’s report found that the voting rights section has been torn by “deep ideological polarization” with liberal and conservative factions in sharp conflict. The divisions date back to the George W. Bush administration, and most occurred before Mr. Perez was confirmed in October 2009. He portrayed the report as largely clearing the section on his watch.

But the report also raised questions about testimony he gave, and Republicans made clear that they would take issue with his handling of some cases over the last three and a half years. His critics question, for example, whether he acted inappropriately in persuading the City of St. Paul to drop a lawsuit seeking to limit fair housing claims when there is no intentional bias.

Liberals and labor leaders have hailed Mr. Perez, calling him a strong champion for workers and those who have faced discrimination. While at the Justice Department, he has pursued a record number of discrimination or brutality claims against local police and sheriff’s departments, including that of Joe Arpaio, the outspoken sheriff in Maricopa County, Ariz., who was accused of “a pattern of unlawful discrimination” against Latinos.

Mr. Perez also challenged voter identification requirements imposed by South Carolina and Texas, and his division reached the three largest residential fair lending settlements in the history of the Fair Housing Act. Under him, the voting section participated in the most new litigation in the last fiscal year than in any previous year.

Mr. Perez, 51, who would be the only Hispanic in the cabinet if confirmed, is the son of immigrants from the Dominican Republic. His father died when he was 12, but his family pressed the value of education so much that all four of his siblings became doctors. Mr. Perez graduated from Brown University and Harvard Law School.

He has spent a career fighting discrimination cases as a federal prosecutor, then, under President Bill Clinton, as deputy chief of the civil rights division that he now heads, and finally as head of civil rights enforcement at the Health and Human Services Department. He also served as an elected council member in Montgomery County, Md., and as the state’s secretary of labor, licensing and regulation.

The timing of the inspector general’s report on the voting section seems to ensure that it will come up during Mr. Perez’s confirmation hearings. The report found a toxic environment in which conservatives and liberals fought and maligned one another through the Bush administration and into the Obama administration.

The examples it cited generally preceded Mr. Perez, and he wrote the inspector general that he had made a point of correcting the situation. “Since 2009, the Civil Rights Division and the Voting Section have undertaken a number of steps to improve the professionalism of our workplace and to ensure that we enforce the civil rights laws in an independent, evenhanded fashion,” Mr. Perez wrote.

The inspector general, however, raised questions regarding Mr. Perez’s testimony about a case that preceded his time. Mr. Perez told the Civil Rights Commission in 2010 that no senior department officials were involved in a 2009 decision not to pursue further a case of voter intimidation involving the New Black Panthers. But the report noted that in fact senior officials did participate in discussions about the case, although the final decision was made by career lawyers as Mr. Perez had testified.

Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said the report showed that Mr. Perez was “woefully unprepared to answer questions” about a matter that he expected to be asked about. “This is troubling as it suggests a failure to also prepare for hearings before Congress, including the Senate Judiciary Committee, when questioned on this same topic,” he said in a statement.

Accommodation In Santa Clarita - Review: Tech In Galaxy S 4 Doesn't Come Together

Source - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

By - PETER SVENSSON

Category - Accommodation In Santa Clarita

Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Accommodation In Santa Clarita

The Galaxy S 4, Samsung's latest and greatest, has a cute feature we'll probably see in a lot of phones soon: You can shoot both yourself and your surroundings at the same time, using the front- and back-mounted cameras. It's a bit like having a two-camera film crew follow you around.

But other than that, it's hard to point to anything that will set the world on fire in the new phone, revealed Thursday at an event in New York. The S 4 has what you'd expect from a new smartphone: a bigger screen and a faster processor. It may prove to be unfortunate that didn't stop there when it presented the successor to its hit Galaxy S III, because the phone has a grab-bag of features that don't come together as a pleasing whole.

The phone will go on sometime between late April and the end of June period, from Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile USA, US Cellular and Cricket, Samsung says. If history is any guide, even smaller phone companies will get it, if not right away. The phone companies will set the prices; expect this phone to start at $200 with a two-year contract.

Samsung provided reporters with some hands-on time with pre-production units, which revealed the S 4 to be, in terms of hardware, a solid successor to the III. The screen is slightly larger, at 5 inches on the diagonal compared to 4.8 inches for the III and 4 inches for the iPhone 5. It sports a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels, as much as you'd find on a high-definition TV set. This should mean that the resolution chase is over in the smartphone area: the eyes just can't discern any more pixels on these small screens. Competing top-line Android phones already have the same resolution, so Samsung isn't breaking new ground here.

The bigger screen is crammed into a chassis that's actually a hair narrower and thinner than the S III's. This is quite a feat. Samsung shrank the frame surrounding the screen to make room. Shrinking other internal components allowed it to make the battery 20 percent larger than III's, but Samsung isn't saying whether that translates into longer battery life – the added battery power could be eaten up by software and hardware changes.

The body is still dominated by softly molded plastic, and the S 4 doesn't really advance the aesthetics of its predecessor the way competitors Apple, Sony and HTC have done with their latest phones. Apple and HTC, in particular, have put a lot of sweat into machining metal into jewel-like enclosures; Samsung doesn't seem to care all that much about looks.

Samsung does care about trying to push the envelope on what the phone does, but it may have poked through the envelope, tearing a hole or two in it. It's probably not a disaster, because most of its features can be turned off, but first-time users could be confused.

Hotel Reservations In Santa Clarita - South Korea Central Bank Holds Rates

Source - http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/
By - Press Release
Category - Hotel Reservations In Santa Clarita
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Hotel Reservations In Santa Clarita

South Korea's central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged for a fifth straight month Thursday, despite concerns over whether growth in Asia's fourth-largest economy is back on track.

The Bank of Korea's (BOK) decision to leave the inter-bank lending rate at 2.75 percent -- after two cuts in July and October last year -- was in line with most analysts' expectations.

South Korea's export-driven economy grew 2.0 percent in 2012 -- the slowest pace in three years -- compared with 3.6 percent growth in the previous year.

The deceleration was largely blamed on sagging demand due to the eurozone debt crisis and a slowdown in China.

The central bank recently slashed its forecast for economic growth for this year to 2.8 percent from 3.2 percent estimated last October.

The economy has shown signs of picking up since the third quarter of last year, but analysts say slowing manufacturing activity in recent months suggests weak underlying conditions.

With inflation running at just 1.4 percent -- well below the BOK's target range of 2.5-3.5 percent -- the bank is expected to consider a rate cut by the end of the second quarter if the economy is still struggling.

Korean exporters complain that business has been hit by the weakness of the yen that has given a market edge to Japanese automobiles and electronics over their own products.

California Vacation Packages - L.A. Archdiocese To Pay $10M In Priest Abuse Cases

Source - http://www.usatoday.com/
By - Michael Winter
Category - California Vacation Packages
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

California Vacation Packages

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay four men almost $10 million to settle allegations of sexual abuse by a former priest who more than a quarter century ago had confessed to molesting children, attorneys said Tuesday.

Two brothers will receive $4 million each, and the other two men will get nearly $1 million apiece, said John Manly, a plaintiff's attorney.

The settlement is the first since the Catholic Church released thousands of internal records detailing the actions of the defrocked priest, Michael Baker, and how church officials responded. Baker was convicted in 2007 of child molestation and paroled in 2011.

In January, as the files were about to be made public, a California judge ordered the archdiocese to identify all priests and church officials named in the documents.

STORY: L.A. Diocese told to identify officials in abuse cases

The confidential files -- medical and psychiatric records, abuse reports, church memos and letters with the Vatican -- revealed that in 1986, Baker told Cardinal Roger Mahony that he had abused boys beginning in 1974. Mahony removed Baker from ministry and sent him to New Mexico for psychological treatment.

A year later, however, he returned with a doctor's recommendation that he not spend any time with minors and that he should be defrocked immediately if he did. Nonetheless, the abuse continued until 2000, when Baker was finally removed.

Mahony retired as Los Angeles archbishop in 2011. Last month, his successor, Archbishop Jose Gomez, stripped him of his official duties.

Mahony is in Rome participating in the conclave selecting the next pope. He was aware of the settlement, J. Michael Hennigan, an archdiocese attorney, told the Associated Press.

"We have for a long, long time said that we made serious mistakes with Michael Baker, and we had always taken the position in these cases that whatever Baker did we were responsible for," he said. "That was never an issue."

Two cases were scheduled for civil trial in April.

Another plaintiff attorney, Vince Finaldi, told the Los Angeles Times that he believed that the release of the files was a major factor in the settlement.

"Once we got the files it confirmed everything we had argued for years and years," Finaldi said. "Cardinal Mahony's fingerprints were all over the case."

Hotels In Northern California - U.S. Stock Futures Trade With Losses

Source - http://www.usatoday.com/
By - Kim Hjelmgaard
Category - Hotels In Northern California
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Hotels In Northern California

The Dow Jones industrial average stock index was trading with slight losses ahead of the market open on Tuesday.

In early-morning activity, the Dow was down 0.04% to 14,438. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 0.56% to 1,556.50 in premarket trade and the Nasdaq-100 index fell 0.19% at 2,804.50.

On Monday, the Dow rose 0.3% to 14,447. The S&P 500 index edged up 0.3% to close at 1,556. The Nasdaq added 0.3% to 3,252.87.

STOCKS ON MONDAY: Dow keeps climbing

Asian stock markets dropped Tuesday, dragged down by new worries about China's recovery and Europe's doldrums. Japan's Nikkei 225 index declined 0.28% at 12,314.81. China's Shanghai Composite index lost 1.09% to 2,285.31.

Benchmark crude for April delivery was down 16 cents to $91.90 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 11 cents to end at $92.06 a barrel on the Nymex on Monday.

Vacations In Santa Clarita - DeAndre Jordan Puts In Bid For NBA Dunk Of The Year

Source - http://www.usatoday.com/

By - Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz

Category - Vacations In Santa Clarita

Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Vacations In Santa Clarita

DeAndre Jordan might have taken the Los Angeles Clippers' dunking crown, if only for a moment.

With a comfortable lead in the second quarter Sunday against the Pistons, Chris Paul set up the center with an alley-oop pass normally reserved for Blake Griffin. Then Jordan, already rolling to the basket at full speed, rises up and extends over Pistons guard Brandon Knight, who gets knocked to the floor.

And as an exclamation point, Jordan steps over Knight as Paul gives him a congratulatory shove. The Clippers went on to win 129-97, and Jordan finished with 13 points and seven rebounds.

Staples Center featured so many great reactions, but here are power rankings of the most notable responses:

1. Children celebrating at :20. It's as if they've been transported into the second half of any given Harlem Shake video. Everyone should have something in their lives that makes them this happy.

2. DeAndre Jordan's face at :26. Someone has been studying McKayla Maroney. 

3. Blake Griffin and the Clippers' bench at :27. If Griffin has dunker's envy, he's hiding it well.

4. Vinnie Del Negro. Ugh. Not even a smirk as he attempts to brush Griffin back and move the game along. It's as though he thinks there's still another half left.

The move is one Knight will hear about for some time, as the second-year pro had his Wikipedia page vandalized shortly after the game.

As for dunk of the year? Milwaukee Bucks point guard Brandon Jennings says Jordan's move deserves the title -- and he's not alone.

Budget Hotels Santa Clarita - Sam Raimi Re-Builds Oz For a 3D Audience

Source - http://www.bbc.co.uk/

By - Georgie Rogers

Category - Budget Hotels Santa Clarita
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Budget Hotels Santa Clarita

As well as the Oscar-winning 1939 film, starring Judy Garland, there has been The Wiz - the Motown-produced version starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson - unofficial Disney sequel Return to Oz and even a Muppet version.

On stage the tale has also undergone many incarnations, including the recent Andrew Lloyd Webber West End production and the Tony award-winning musical Wicked - told from the perspective of the witches - which continues to be a hit in London and on Broadway.

For his new take on the tale, director Sam Raimi's plan from the outset was to make a film that serves as a prequel to Baum's book.

His 3D version, Oz The Great And Powerful, tells the untold story of how charming con-man Oscar Diggs became the wizard of Oz.

"Thank God we weren't trying to remake the sacred classic that everybody loves," says Zach Braff, who plays both Diggs' underappreciated circus assistant and provides the voice of a computer generated flying monkey.

"Audiences really like that world, so with all this amazing technology today... it made sense to tell an origin story of 'how did this guy end up behind the curtain?'" he says.

The film stars 127 Hours actor James Franco as Diggs, who finds himself in Oz after being caught up in a Baum-esque freak tornado.

He is greeted in turn by warring witch sisters Theodora, Evanora and Glinda, played by Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams respectively, who show him the good and the bad in the mystical land.

Academy Award-winner Weisz, says the chance to play a "good old-fashioned villainess" drew her to Evanora, in what marks her first fantasy film role.

"I thought it would be really fun to play someone really bad and evil... the more evil they are, the more fun they have." she says.

The actress recalls the 1939 MGM film as one of her first trips to the cinema.

"What makes that film very charming, is the sweetness," she says. "You can see the make-up and the special effects are at the beginning of what special effects can do."