Family Hotel In Santa Clarita | "Yahoo Uses Summly Techonology in Latest iphone App"

Source:      http://www.itpro.co.uk/
By:             Mehael Toso
Category:   Family Hotel in Santa Clarita
Posted By:  Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Family Hotel in Santa Clarita

Yahoo has unveiled a brand new app for iPhones, which implements technology from the recently acquired Summly.

Marissa Mayer, Yahoo CEO claimed the revamped Yahoo app will help to satisfy their “insatiable” appetite for information and has been designed with small screens in mind.

 “We acquired Summly less than a month ago, and we’re thrilled to introduce this game-changing technology in our first mobile application,” Mayer noted in the Yahoo blog.

The Yahoo app uses Summly’s natural-language algorithms and machine learning to deliver bitesized summaries.

Yahoo has also improved video and image search functionality on the app and Mayer noted that the app will adapt to your behavior as well.

“When you’re signed into Yahoo, the choices you make are saved across screens. The more you use Yahoo, the more relevant and interesting the experience becomes - on mobile and desktop.”
The rapid introduction of the technology acquired through the purchase of Summly shows Yahoo is keen to more forward in the mobile market.

Summly was first brought to the internet firm's attention after the application was downloaded over 500,000 times in the Apple App store. The text condensing technology was purchased in March from UK teenage entrepreneur Nick D’Aloisio for a reported $30 million.

The application claims to enhance user experience by employing natural language algorithms and machine learning to deliver quick story summaries, as well as personalising content to each user’s interest.

While it is rumored that Yahoo is to extend the service to other mobile platforms, such as Google’s Android, no such announcements have been issued at this time. 

Meeting Space Santa Clarita - Apple Wins Case by Google’s Motorola Over Phone Sensors

Source - http://www.businessweek.com/
By - Susan Decker
Category - Meeting Space Santa Clarita
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Meeting Space Santa Clarita

Apple Inc. (AAPL) averted an order that could have hindered imports of the iPhone 4 into the U.S. after persuading a U.S. trade agency to invalidate a patent owned by Google Inc. (GOOG)’s Motorola Mobility unit over a phone sensor,

The U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington yesterday upheld a judge’s findings that the Motorola Mobility patent is invalid, though for different reasons. The patent covers a sensor that prevents the phone from accidentally hanging up or activating an application when close to a person’s face.

The decision marks the latest instance in which neither Cupertino, California-based Apple nor Google has been able to strike a decisive blow against its competitor in a squabble that began more than two years ago. Each has claimed the other is infringing patents, and Apple accused Motorola Mobility of breaching obligations to license some of its most widely used technology on fair terms.

“This is not a surprise because the commission has heretofore not found a violation by Apple in any case as to any claim in any patent,” said Rodney Sweetland, a patent lawyer with Duane Morris in Washington who specializes in ITC cases. “The commission is particularly attentive to the details in cases involving Apple, which implicate such a popular product and such an important part of commerce.”

Matt Kallman, a spokesman for Google, said the Mountain View, California-based company was disappointed and is “evaluating our options.” Amy Bessette, a spokeswoman for Apple, said the company had no comment.

IPhone Revenue

The iPhone, in all models, generated $78.7 billion in sales last fiscal year for Apple, about half of the company’s revenue. The devices are assembled in China and imported into the U.S. Apple’s newest model, the iPhone 5, has been the company’s top seller since going on sale in September. Still, reduced-price older models like the iPhone 4 have retained their popularity, Canaccord Genuity Inc. said April 8.

Apple is scheduled to report earnings later today. The company is predicted by analysts to post its first profit decline since 2003, hurt by products with lower profit margins and slower iPhone-sales growth. Seventeen analysts surveyed by Bloomberg have lowered their outlook for the company in the past month.

The dispute with Motorola Mobility predates its acquisition by Google last year. Apple contends phones running on Google’s Android operating system copy the look and features that make the iPhone unique. In addition to Motorola Mobility and Samsung Electronics Co., Apple sued Taiwanese handset maker HTC Corp. (2498) in a case that settled in November with royalty payments and a pledge that HTC wouldn’t copy Apple designs.

Smartphone Market

At stake is a share of a U.S. smartphone market estimated at $51 billion last year by Neil Shah, an analyst with Strategy Analytics. Apple is the largest maker of smartphones in the U.S., with about 45 percent of the devices sold in the fourth quarter, he said last month.

Apple is appealing the loss of its own case against Motorola Mobility at the agency over touchscreen technology, and both companies are challenging a decision by a judge in Chicago to toss infringement claims they filed against each other. A federal judge in Miami presiding over another dispute between the two called them “obstreperous and cantankerous” and said they were more interested in never-ending litigation as a business strategy than in resolving disputes.

Google paid $12.4 billion for Motorola Mobility in large part to get access to its trove of more than 17,000 patents and gain leverage against Apple.

Sensor Patent

The sensor patent was all that was left of a case that also involved claims that Apple infringed Motorola Mobility patents for third-generation wireless technology used throughout the industry. The ITC in August cleared Apple of those allegations.

ITC Judge Thomas Pender in December said the Google sensor patent is invalid because it isn’t different enough from earlier inventions, and said he didn’t consider his decision to be a close call.

Motorola Mobility argued the sensor technology wouldn’t have been obvious to engineers in 1999, when the patent application was filed, because there were few touchscreen mobile devices so people were unlikely to realize it would be a problem. The company quoted the late co-founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, as saying the incorporation of a proximity sensor in the iPhone was a “breakthrough.”

Apple in turn contended the sensor is little different than those that prevented accidental dialing on keypads, and touchscreens have been around for years. It also said the paraphrased Jobs comment, which came from his official biography, was not about the same technology as that covered by the patent.

The case is In the Matter of Certain Wireless Communication Devices, Portable Music and Data Processing Devices, Computers and Components Thereof, 337-745, U.S. International Trade Commission (Washington).

Santa Clarita Local Colleges - Dollar Resumes Run Toward ¥100 Level

Source - http://stream.marketwatch.com/
By - Carla Mozee
Category - Santa Clarita Local Colleges
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Santa Clarita Local Colleges

The U.S. dollar rose against Japan’s currency Monday, flirting with the 100-yen level after financial officials from the world’s top economies refrained from criticizing Japan’s weakening of the yen through its monetary-policy program.

The dollar  rose to ¥99.82, up from ¥99.52 late Friday in North American trade.

Monday’s decline in the yen drove Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average  higher, as a weaker yen provides a competitive boost to Japanese exporters.

The dollar on Friday climbed more than 1% against the yen after the Group of 20 major economies said Japan’s recent monetary-policy actions are aimed at ending long-running deflation and supporting domestic demand, rather than accusing it of competitive devaluation.

The “G-20 and the [Bank of Japan] have made it very clear to the financial community that Japan has the green light regarding continued [quantitative easing] and resulting [yen] weakness,” wrote Chapdelaine Foreign Exchange managing director Douglas Borthwick to clients Friday.

“The ¥100 level in [dollar/yen] will fall soon, with ¥110.00 possible in coming weeks,” Borthwick said.

The dollar had jumped close to the ¥100 level in the days after the Bank of Japan’s April 3 announcement of a two-year campaign to defeat deflation in the country’s stagnant economy. The dollar had traded at ¥92.89 just before the announcement.

However, the greenback ran into resistance at the psychologically important ¥100 level, which it hasn’t crossed since April 2009, according to FactSet data.

Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda reportedly told Japan’s upper house budget committee Monday that, last week in Washington, he explained to the G-20 that the Japanese central bank’s monetary-easing plan was aimed squarely at achieving its target of 2% consumer-price inflation.

“No one is prepared to get in Japan’s way when it comes to Abenomics and their goal of creating inflation,” said Borthwick, referring to Japan’s monetary and fiscal initiatives pushed by Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

“The global hope is that inflation will drive growth in Japan, finally awaking this sleeping giant. [Yen] weakness is now a given — the only uncertainty is the pace at which this unfolds,” Borthwick said.

The euro changed hands at ¥130.52, stronger than ¥130.09 on Friday.

This week, investors will look for any further comments from the Bank of Japan in its next policy announcement, due Friday.

Euro slips, sterling steady

Against the dollar, the euro  fetched $1.3076 on Monday, down from $1.3108 late Friday in North America.

The euro had pushed above $1.31 Friday after Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann said the European Central Bank would only cut rates if economic data further deteriorated. Weidmann is a member of the ECB Governing Council.

In other major pairs, the British pound  traded at $1.5227, unchanged from Friday when the currency fell after Fitch Ratings cut the United Kingdom’s long-term issuer default rating to AA+ from AAA.

The Australian dollar   was at $1.0298, down from $1.0343 late Friday.

The ICE dollar index , a measure of the dollar against a basket of six other major currencies, slipped to 82.694 from 82.731 on Friday.

But the WSJ Dollar Index , a rival gauge that uses a slightly larger basket, rose to 73.99 from 73.94.

Six Flags Magic Mountain - NASA Spots Three Distant Worlds That Seem Ideal For Life

Source - http://www.courier-journal.com/
By - Dan Vergano
Category - Six Flags Magic Mountain
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

 

Six Flags Magic Mountain

Earth is looking a little less lonely after NASA astronomers reported Thursday the discovery of three more Earth-sized worlds orbiting nearby stars.

Astronomers have spotted more than 800 planets orbiting nearby stars in recent decades, but only a handful have been Earth-sized, “Goldilocks” worlds, not too hot and not too cold for water. Astronomers consider water an essential ingredient for the possibility of life on other planets.

The Kepler space telescope findings reported in the journal Science by a team led by William Borucki of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., add to that total. The report finds that the star, Kepler-62 has two planets, Kepler-62e and Kepler-62f, traveling in ocean-friendly orbits around the star.

“This appears to be the best example our team has found yet of Earth-like planets in the habitable zone of a sun-like star,” said team astrophysicist Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution for Science of Washington. Kepler-62 is close by astronomical standards at about 1,200 light years away (708,000 trillion miles). It’s slightly smaller than our sun, so its “habitable zone” for planets is closer in. The two ocean-friendly planets have “years” of 122 days and 267 days — the time it takes to orbit the star — for that reason.

Another star spotted by Kepler, dubbed Kepler-69, appears to have a planet in the habitable zone. The planet, Kepler-69c, is 70 percent larger than Earth and circles its star once every 242 days.
 

Attractions In Santa Clarita - America's Jobs Are Moving To The Suburbs

Source - http://money.cnn.com/
By - Steve Hargreaves
Category - Attractions In Santa Clarita
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Attractions In Santa Clarita

Jobs within 3 miles of a city center fell from 24.5% of overall positions in 2000 to 22.9% in 2010, according to a report released Thursday from the Brookings Institution. During the same time, jobs in the outer suburbs -- between 10 and 35 miles of a city's center -- grew from 40.9% in 2000 to 43.1% in 2010.

The recession halted the flight of jobs to the suburbs for a few years as industries like manufacturing, construction and retail -- businesses that thrive in a city's outer regions -- bore the largest brunt of layoffs. But by 2010, the suburbs accounted for nearly twice the share of jobs as city centers, continuing a trend that has been underway for decades.

"Where the jobs are matters to the overall development of a region," said Elizabeth Kneebone, a fellow at Brookings' Metropolitan Policy Program. "It can impact long-term productivity."

Related: Firms are firing less, but not hiring enough

Low-density development away from city centers can be a drag on growth for several reasons, Kneebone said.

For poorer people without access to a car, it can make it harder to physically get to a job. For those with a car, it can lead to longer commute times and more money spent on gas.

It's also more expensive for taxpayers. Infrastructure costs can be 40% higher in low-density areas than higher ones, she said.

Innovation can also be crimped, as fewer people from similar industries get to interact with one another. Brookings pointed out in a separate report that patenting rates are higher in more densely populated locales.

Kneebone noted that not all suburban job growth is done poorly. Some metro regions, like San Francisco, have done a good job concentrating suburban job growth in specific areas, eliminating many of the potential negatives. Other regions are physically constrained from growing any more near their downtown, due to obstacles like mountains or water.

The metro regions with the highest rate of job density are San Jose, Calif.; Las Vegas; Virginia Beach; Salt Lake City and New York.

The regions with the most "job sprawl" are Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia and St. Louis.

Despite the much-hyped revitalization taking place in many city centers across the country, Kneebone said the jobs are not necessarily following the shift of residents toward downtown districts. In many places, these new urban dwellers end up reverse commuting to the suburbs for work.

She thinks better planning and zoning laws are required to encourage denser development, and urged more cooperation at both the regional level and among government agencies, such as economic development and transportation departments.

The Brookings report looked at the nation's 100 largest metro areas, which account for about two-thirds of both the country's population and its jobs. To top of page

Hotel In California - Microsoft Bringing Back the Start Button With Windows Blue

Source - http://www.pcmag.com/
By - Damon Poeter
Category - Hotel In California
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Hotel In California

Microsoft is rumored to be building a new version of Windows 8 that will have an option to boot to the traditional Windows interface instead of the "Metro"-style Start Screen used in the current edition of the PC and tablet operating system.

The change, which users will have to switch on, is coming in Windows 8.1, also known as Windows Blue, according The Verge.

Blue is the follow-up to Windows 8, which was released last October, and will reportedly be released this year. Microsoft has publicly stated that it is tightening the release cycles for new versions of its flagship operating system and acknowledged in March that the company's employees are "working together on plans to advance our devices and services, a set of plans referred to internally as 'Blue.'"

However, the chances of the final product being called "Windows Blue" were "slim to none," Frank X. Shaw, Microsoft's corporate vice president of corporate communications, said at the time.

The Verge cited unnamed sources as saying Redmond was currently testing Windows Blue builds "that include an option to boot directly to the traditional desktop" with the "hot corner functionality, for access to the Charms and Start Screen [remaining] intact if the boot to desktop option is enabled."

As further evidence that Microsoft plans to revive its traditional Start Menu and Start button, The Verge pointed to "references to a 'CanSuppressStartScreen' option in early builds of the Windows 8.1 registry," as spotted on MyDigitalLife's forums.

The site's sources indicated that the current Windows 8 interface would remain the default one for an updated version of the OS, however, and that it's "highly unlikely" that Redmond would push out a traditional Windows look as anything but an extra option for users.

Microsoft's Metro-style interface built for Windows 8 has met with sharp criticism from some corners. The UI, optimized for PCs and mobile devices with touch screens, hasn't been well received by many Windows users who still depend on keyboard-and-mouse configurations.

Business and organizational Windows customers have been particular hostile to the UI change, perhaps Microsoft's most radical since introducing a graphical interface for the first time with 1985's release of the first Windows system shell on top of its MS-DOS operating system.

As to whether Microsoft is really planning to revive its traditional UI as an option for Windows 8 holdouts, there's some recent history that suggests the software giant is capable of backtracking at times to placate vocal Windows users. The Windows Aero visuals incorporated in 2007's Windows Vista release were derided by many Windows users as nothing but resource-hogging eye candy—and were subsequently downplayed in Windows 7, released in 2009.

For more, check out What Is Windows Blue?, Beware of Windows Blue, and Microsoft Readying RT Version of Windows Blue.

Accommodation In Santa Clarita - SKorea Plans $15 bln Extra Budget To Boost Economy

Source - http://www.boston.com/
By - YOUKYUNG LEE
Category - Accommodation In Santa Clarita
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Accommodation In Santa Clarita

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The South Korean government proposed a $15.3 billion stimulus Tuesday to boost slowing growth in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.

The stimulus would be South Korea’s third-largest supplemental budget ever, exceeded only by those approved after the 1998 Asian financial crisis and the 2008 global financial turmoil.

The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said the budget will be used to cover a tax revenue shortfall, aid small and medium firms, create jobs and boost the stagnant real estate market. The statement said the ministry will submit the 17.3 trillion won ($15.3 billion) plan to parliament on Thursday.

It estimated a tax revenue shortfall of 6 trillion won due to the slower-than-expected economic recovery and another 6 trillion won shortfall from the delay in selling stakes in state-owned banks. The remaining 5.3 trillion won will be a net increase in the government’s budget.

In addition to the extra budget requiring a parliamentary approval, the ministry will also use 2 trillion won in state funds that do not need to go through the assembly to stimulate the economy.

The stimulus plan comes after the ministry sharply revised down its growth forecast of South Korea’s economy last month.

It said South Korea’s economy will expand 2.3 percent this year, instead of 3 percent it had predicted three months earlier, citing the yen’s slide that is hurting South Korean exporters, weak consumer sentiment and sluggish capital investment.

The stimulus move underlines how the government is seeking a quick fix to the slowdown. South Korea’s economy expanded 2 percent in 2012, the slowest rate in three years, as weak global recovery and trade.

The extra budget will stimulate growth by 0.3 percentage point this year and add 40,000 new jobs, it said.

Despite the government’s calls for all-out efforts to boost the economy, South Korea’s central bank resisted calls to lower borrowing costs.

Last week, Bank of Korea kept its key interest rate unchanged at 2.75 percent for a sixth month. Gov. Kim Choong-soo said the economy is on track to a slow recovery and the monetary policy is ‘‘accommodative’’ to encourage borrowing and spending.end of story marker