Second Marriages Create Special Financial and Estate Planning ...

An oft-told tale describes a young man?s efforts to entice a beautiful woman to marry him because he would soon inherit $20 million from his ailing father. Impressed, the woman asks the man for his business card. At their next encounter, the beautiful woman introduces herself as the man?s stepmother ? i.e. showing that women are better financial planners than men.

This imaginary woman?s expertise in financial planning is based on laws that provide for surviving spouses before providing for a dead person?s children. The young man was now going to have to wait for his new stepmother to pass on, which ? if this was a May-December romance ? could be some years from now.?

Laughs aside, second marriages ? particularly when there are adult children on each side from first marriages ? create their own set of financial planning issues. Below are seven issues to consider:

Issue #1: If Dad dies first, the second wife has statutory rights in Minnesota to Dad?s estate upon Dad?s death regardless of what Dad?s Will says. This right is called an ?elective share? and entitles the surviving spouse to varying amounts of the ?augmented estate? depending on the length of the marriage. For example, the surviving spouse is entitled to 3% after one year of marriage and 50% at 15 years or more of marriage. The augmented estate includes practically every asset of both spouses whether it is life insurance, real estate, or property transferred prior to death. Under this scenario, the family cabin that was in Dad?s family for generations could end up with Dad?s second wife and her children. Solution: A pre-nuptial or post-nuptial agreement signed by both spouses in which each waives his or her right to the elective share.

Issue #2: If Dad and his second wife buy a new home or other real estate as joint tenants, Dad?s children from his first marriage may lose all claim to the property if Dad dies first. How? Under joint tenancy laws, Dad?s second wife becomes the sole owner of the home upon Dad?s death, and the second wife is entitled to use or dispose of the property as she sees fit. Her Will controls at her death, and she could have decided to pass the property solely to her children for her first marriage. Solution: A prenuptial agreement could require that real estate acquired during the marriage be held as tenants in common rather than as joint tenants. The difference is that the surviving spouse can claim the entire property under joint tenancy, but has no right to Dad?s half under tenants in common unless Dad specifically wills it to his second wife.????

Issue #3: The children of Dad?s second wife covet Dad?s wealth, which causes Dad?s children to worry about their inheritance. Dad likely wants to provide for his second wife after Dad?s death, but leaving assets directly to her enables her to pass those assets onto her children, or anyone else that she chooses, and to shut out Dad?s children. Solution: Dad could set up a Qualified Terminable Interest Property Trust, or QTIP Trust, for short, which is a Trust with strings attached. All income earned by the QTIP assets is paid to the second wife each year, but the second wife is only allowed to tap into the principal if an independent trustee ? not the second wife or children from Dad?s first marriage ? determine that she needs the money. Upon the death of the second wife, the remaining principal goes to Dad?s children from his first marriage. In this manner, the second wife is provided for, but a significant portion of Dad?s assets are protected for Dad?s children.????

Issue #4: If Dad dies leaving a much younger second wife as his widow, the adult children from Dad?s first marriage may need to wait a long time for the second wife to die so that the children can inherit Dad?s estate. ?Solution: If Dad purchases life insurance, which provides a death benefit to Dad?s children at Dad?s death, then a cash payout is immediately available.

Issue #5: Dad and his second wife acquire new property during their marriage, and now they wish to divorce. Solution: A prenuptial agreement could be used to provide that property acquired during marriage shall be divided between them in proportion to the contribution each made in purchasing the property.????

Issue #6: Dad and his second wife have given each other a durable power of attorney on their respective assets. A durable power-of-attorney document allows Dad to name someone to handle his affairs when he?s mentally incapacitated. It is a very powerful document that can cover everything from drawing money from Dad?s checking account to selling Dad?s real estate. Solution: Dad should name someone other than his second wife as the power holder under a durable power of attorney, and could limit the breadth of the power granted over his financial assets.

Issue #7: Dad and his second wife?s medical needs come to the forefront as each ages. In Minnesota, if either Dad or his second wife has significant medical needs, the state will expect the other to help pay for the other?s care regardless of what the prenuptial agreement states. Solution: The prenuptial could provide that each must purchase long-term care insurance. The prenuptial agreement could further provide that each agrees to pay for his or her own medical expenses even, if necessary, to the complete exhaustion of that person?s assets before the other spouse would be expected to give any financial assistance to their spouse. This language may not be sufficient to protect the assets of the spouse who doesn?t need the medical care, but it should at least provide some protection.??

?2012 Wittenburg Law Office, PLLC. All rights reserved.

Disclaimer: This Blog is for informational purposes only and is not to be construed as legal advice. If you have questions, please seek the advice of an attorney licensed to practice law in the state where you live. Wittenburg Law does not expressly or implicitly warrant the accuracy or reliability of any of the Blog?s contents. An attorney-client relationship is not formed by reading this Blog. If you are interested in Wittenburg Law?s representation of you, you must contact Wittenburg Law for a determination of whether your matter is one for which Wittenburg Law is willing and able to accept representation of you.

Bonnie Wittenburg

Wittenburg Law Office, PLLC

601 Carlson Parkway, Suite 1050

Minnetonka, MN 55305

952-649-9771

www.bwittenburglaw.com

Source: http://blog.bwittenburglaw.com/2012/09/second-marriages-create-special-financial-and-estate-planning-needs/

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Banks face rules to curb mis-selling incentives

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's banks have 18 months to stamp out incentives that encourage the mis-selling of financial products or face "intrusive" action, the Financial Services Authority said on Wednesday.

UK banks have been hit by a string of scandals in the last 20 years for inappropriate selling of products, such as insurance, home loans and pensions, to customers who often did not need them. Compensation for mis-sold loan insurance alone will cost the banks 9 billion pounds.

Martin Wheatley, the FSA's managing director, told a Thomson Reuters Newsmaker event it was time to tackle incentives for sales staff as banks were no longer serving customers properly.

"Some time ago, this changed - financial institutions have changed their view of consumers from someone to serve to someone to sell to," Wheatley said.

Wheatley said banks could no longer expect to make heady returns and should get back to offering "plain vanilla products" that customers can understand.

"If we think in a year to 18 months' time the industry has not cleaned up its act, then we will revisit it in a much more intrusive way," Wheatley said.

"The question is how intrusive we need to be," Wheatley told Reuters.

The FSA has started enforcement action against one firm over its sales incentives to stop what Wheatley called the "pile it high and sell them cheap" approach seen across the industry.

A person familiar with the situation said the enforcement action was being taken against Lloyds bank.

Lloyds said that since the FSA began its review of incentives in summer 2011 the bank has been working closely with the watchdog to keep them "updated on our progress and to ensure the changes we have made to the schemes are appropriate".

Wheatley said new rules could make certain that the FSA's "new, fairer, approach is hard-wired into the way firms do business, and enforceable if they disregard them".

He said cultural change was needed at the top of firms to tackle poorly designed incentive schemes that boost the earnings of the sales person but "too often result in customers being sold products they do not need or cannot use".

The FSA will attend more bank board meetings and raise its concerns when it meets bank chiefs collectively each quarter to end a "disconnect" between CEOs' willingness to correct shoddy sales practices and the apparent lack of action on the ground.

The FSA was not aiming to ban commission but to put pressure on banks to have the right sales incentives, as piling on prescriptive rules could encourage them to find ways round them, hence the emphasis on cultural change, he added.

Wheatley is due to make recommendations on September 28 on better supervision and governance for setting the benchmark Libor interest rate, which Barclays was fined $453 million (285 million pounds) for rigging.

Wheatley declined to comment on his public consultation on proposed reforms to Libor which ends on Friday.

"I have a busy weekend ahead," he said.

BLIND EYE

The FSA has already shown its teeth in changing culture at the banks. Chairman Adair Turner helped to force the resignation of Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond in July, saying he was not the right person to bring about a cultural change after the bank admitted manipulating Libor.

Financial consumer champion Martin Lewis told the Newsmaker that Wheatley's pledge to intervene in how banks "flog stuff" to consumer was music to his ears, but the challenge would be to deliver.

The FSA also published a review of sales incentives at 22 banks, insurers and investment firms, with most showing deficiencies that encouraged mis-selling.

"What we found is not pretty. Most of the incentive schemes we looked at were likely to drive people to mis-sell in order to meet targets and receive a bonus, and these risks were not being properly managed," Wheatley said.

The review found many examples of poor sales practices, such as "first past the post" incentives, where the first of 21 sales staff to reach a target could earn a "super bonus" of 10,000 pounds.

Another firm slapped big incentives on staff to sell the more expensive products to customers, despite claiming to offer impartial advice, the review said.

The watchdog also saw a sales person lie about the price of a product to increase his bonus, while another rushed through sales before the end of a quarter to avoid a pay cut.

Some firms intentionally "turned a blind eye" to mis-selling risks, while others that linked bonuses and other pay to the volume of sales needed to "dramatically" improve their standards, the FSA said.

The FSA review recommended rewarding good compliance with appropriate sales rules. Bonuses could also be reduced when sales volumes approach a certain level so there is no incentive to push through more sales.

Criminal sanctions were possible for "egregious" mis-selling, Wheatley said.

The FSA will be scrapped next year and replaced with a Financial Conduct Authority, headed by Wheatley, with a remit to protect customers. It will have powers to ban products and intervene earlier in their design to avoid people being ripped off.

(Additional reporting by Kirstin Ridley, Editing by Sinead Cruise and Will Waterman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fsa-tells-banks-change-sales-rewards-064020953--sector.html

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List Building: Opt-in List Can Be Profitable For Your Online Business ...

If done correctly, building your opt-in list can be profitable for your online business and the best use of your time. There are quite literally dozens of free and low cost how-to manuals available on the Internet for building an opt-in list and generating traffic for your website. For more help visit to: www.build-huge-list.com. However, there are also hundreds of unscrupulous marketers eager to get in your wallet, rob you blind and leave you with empty promises. This article will present 3 free yet highly-profitable opt-in list building methods you should master before purchasing over-priced push-button tools or traffic. After reading countless articles and seeking expert advice, you come to realize that it?s time to start building your own opt-in list and using it to market your wares. Besides, if you?re interested in what you have to offer, certainly other people will be interested in learning about your opportunities, products or services as well. Right? Right! So to get the ball rolling, you open up your browser and surf over to Enlace or post an ad on Craigslist in hopes of finding a reliable ghostwriter to write content for your e-zone or newsletter. After your newsletter content has been written, you load your auto-responder with your newly-written content and upload your site to your web hosting account If you?re someone who has attempted to build an opt-in list, have had some success but would like to revive your list, keep reading. For more detail go to: www.freelist-pro.com.On the other hand, if you?re new to opt-in list building but want to learn how to build a profitable and responsive opt-in list fast, here are Cheap Air max 95 three quick and Air Max 90 easy ways for you to do just that. Two of the easiest ways to start generating traffic for your website, building your opt-in list and your credibility is by writing articles and participating in related forums. Writing and distributing well-written articles will allow you to establish credibility with your readers and pre-sell your wares. Participating in forums related to your interests will aid you in developing products or services your fellow forum members might be interested in buying. Understand that people aren?t going to buy something from you based on your recommendation alone if they don?t know you. So when you?ve gotten a few articles under your belt and participated in helping people solve problems in forums related to your topic of interest, then expect to receive traffic for your website, subscribers to your opt-in list and sales. When your traffic and opt-in list begins to grow from writing and distributing articles and participating in related forums, your next step is to find products or services that people want and need. Make sure that you choose products and services based upon your new found information from the forums and from that you?ve gathered from your existing opt-in list of subscribers. Again, never choose products or services to sell based on what you think your subscribers might like or profit potential. Instead, choose products and services based on research gathered in forums and responses to your distributed articles. This especially holds true if it?s someone who has already launched a successful opt-in list. These are people who have the experience in opt-in list building and experience is still the best teacher. While there are countless articles and e-books available on the subject of opt-in list building online, there is nothing like getting a first hand account from someone you trust. Experienced opt-in list builders will be able to tell you what to do and what not to do Air Max LTD because they have gone through it. Even though most experienced opt-in list builders have a different slant on how to build a targeted and responsive opt-in list, you can almost always learn something new from their triumphs and failures and then take advantage of their experiences.

Source: http://ezwealthnetwork.com/blog/2012/09/06/list-building-opt-in-list-can-be-profitable-for-your-online-business/

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CoolestGadgets: New Post: Meb Keflezighi Edition Sony Walkman W Series arrive at Walmart stores next month http://t.co/F0rj27XJ

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://twitter.com/CoolestGadgets/statuses/243325248756400128

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SAD: Summary!

A small pride is on the run from death and betrayal, meanwhile a pack of wolves are trying to regain what they lost long ago.

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Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.
As of Tuesday Sep 4th, 2012

The felines successfully escaped the Central Pride but had been chased for days and nights, without rest or food, and arrived in the territory of the Colorado Pack. The felines realized that they were breaching the law but continued nevertheless because they refused to be caught by the Central Pride. However, after crossing the territory line Astrid didn?t realize that the fox kin had saw them, mistaking it for just a normal fox because she hadn?t expected a fox kin to live with wolves. So they just continued on, hoping that they wouldn?t be found in time but a red wolf came charging up to them and attacked Astrid.

The red wolf happened to be the bloodthirsty Brandin and Cyra was right behind him ready to fight. Astrid and the pack tried to be diplomatic but threats were exchanged on both sides before Rose, the fox, came up and took control of the situation. Things simmered down and Astrid became more civil but Brandin still had a thirst for blood. The Alpha walked up and greeted the felines but his decision to bring the felines in and shelter them angered a few of the wolves. Renmy who was sitting in the trees, throwing knives at the felines wasn?t happy but she went to find Vale after the fight. Brandin, having been put at gunpoint challenged the Alpha and attacked Rose. Rose tried to fight back but was thrown at the Alpha and left to bleed. Brandin ran off after throwing one more challenge at Anvar. Astrid was disturbed by the bloodlust and shocked at the lack of the Alpha?s control but is willing to take shelter because of ulterior motives.

"A stupid man?s report of what a clever man says can never be accurate, because he unconciously translates what he hears into something he can understand."

Akantha

Member for 2 years

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Older Travelers Urged to Check Travel Insurance | Visitors Health ...

Travel professionals and government travel departments have given advice to older travelers to check their travel insurance before they go abroad in order to make sure they have the necessary coverage. Visitor travel insurance is essential for travelers of all ages but older travelers are particularly at risk of illness and injury abroad and need to be protected with the correct coverage.

The number of older travelers going abroad on vacation rises every year and more and more seniors are enjoying overseas vacations to all corners of the globe. Many of these travelers may take part in activities or events that they wouldn?t normally take part in at home. There is a higher risk of injury on vacation when travelers are being more active, and visiting places that are new to them.

However, many senior travelers are unaware that they are not covered by their regular health insurance when they travel abroad. Regular medical insurance is not enough for illness or injury abroad ? domestic plans could leave visitors at risk of high medical bills. Visitor health insurance is a good way of protecting against the cost of illness and injury abroad. Experts say senior travelers should be careful that the cover they buy is suitable for their needs.

Medical professionals also suggest senior travelers visit their doctor before travel to make sure they are safe to fly and travel. Despite the increased risk of injury and illness, older travelers are often not aware that a simple health check could mean the difference between a safe and healthy vacation and health problems abroad. Older travelers should make certain that their travel insurance is sufficient for their needs.

Source: http://www.ivisitorinsurance.com/visitors-health-insurance/older-travelers-urged-check-travel-insurance/

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'Fax38?' - a quick and easy way to convert your old fax ... - Telappliant

Telappliant News: 2012-09-03

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Telappliant, the leading Internet telephony provider for UK based small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs), today released Fax38TM, a new service to allow old fax machines to take advantage of VoIP. Fax38 enables low-cost faxes over Telappliant's VoIP network through a Cisco? T.38 compatible Analogue Telephone Adaptor (ATA). Transmissions can cost as little as one pence per page and potentially cut fax transmission costs by as much as 95 per cent a year.

Despite the ubiquitous use of email, fax messages remain an important means of business communication ? particularly for legal documents. There are still more than 200 billion pages faxed worldwide every year. The UK is the 13th highest fax-using country* which is the equivalent of one fax machine for every 40 people.

Tan Aksoy, Chief Executive Officer at Telappliant, commented, "Many organisations are already experiencing the benefits of VoIP for mobile and landline communications ? and VoIP adoption is expected to rise next year too. However fax continues to be an important means of business communication in the legal, finance and public sector for example. The launch of our Fax38 service will provide an easy-to-use, secure and cost effective method to help extend the savings already being made by organisations through VoIP telephony."

Telappliant's three simple steps to gain access to cheaper fax transmissions:

• Fax38 is automatically enabled for all Telappliant VoIPtalk accounts. Sign up for a free account at https://www.voiptalk.org/products/signup.php
• Connect an ATA to your fax machine and broadband router.
• Dial the prefix *38 to send a fax message via Telappliant's VoIP network.
• Fax messages will be charged at standard Telappliant call tariffs and you can use your call plan minutes for even greater savings.

Telappliant also provides an additional service called Fax2email, which is an ideal solution for individuals and businesses that want to receive fax transmissions direct to their email inbox without the need for a physical fax machine.

To learn more about Fax38 visit www.telappliant.com/fax38.

Notes to editor

* Source: statistical website www.nationmaster.com Japan, USA and Germany occupy the top three positions for fax usage.

Saving illustration

Destination	Fax38	BT	? saving	% saving
UK	?10	?76	?66	86%
USA	?10	?120	?110	92%
W Europe	?10	?220	?210	95%

• Estimated savings are based on an average transmission time of one minute per page (actual transmission time will vary based on page content). Locations with 1p-per-minute tariffs include the UK, USA, Canada and several European countries. For further details of pricing see http://www.telappliant.com/tariffs
• Fax38 is based on T.38, a global standard for sending fax messages across IP networks in real-time.
• Fax38 is not currently compatible with Telappliant VoIPOffice. VoIPOffice users should sign up for a free VoIPtalk account to use Fax38, or alternatively use Fax2email.

Source: http://www.telappliant.com/news/901440004/Telappliant+launches+'Fax38™'+-+a+quick+and+easy+way+to+convert+your+old+fax+machine+for+VoIP

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Self-proclaimed messiah, Unification Church founder Rev. Moon dies at 92

GAPYEONG, South Korea (AP) ? The Rev. Sun Myung Moon was a self-proclaimed messiah who built a global business empire. He called both North Korean leaders and American presidents his friends, but spent time in prisons in both countries. His followers around the world cherished him, while his detractors accused him of brainwashing recruits and extracting money from worshippers.

These contradictions did nothing to stop the founder of the Unification Church from turning his religious vision into a worldwide movement and a multibillion-dollar corporation stretching from the Korean Peninsula to the United States.

Moon died Monday at a church-owned hospital near his home in Gapyeong County, northeast of Seoul, two weeks after being hospitalized with pneumonia, Unification Church spokesman Ahn Ho-yeul told The Associated Press. Moon's wife and children were at his side, Ahn said. He was 92.

The church will hold a 13-day mourning period and start accepting mourners Thursday at a multipurpose gym at its nearby religious center, the church said in a statement. The funeral will be held on Sept. 15, and Moon will be buried at nearby Cheonseung Mountain, where his home is located, the statement said.

Moon founded his Bible-based religion in Seoul in 1954, a year after the Korean War ended, saying Jesus Christ personally called on him to complete his work.

The church gained fame ? and notoriety ? by marrying thousands of followers in mass ceremonies presided over by Moon himself. The couples often came from different countries and had never met, but were matched up by Moon in a bid to build a multicultural religious world.

Today, the Unification Church has 3 million followers, including 100,000 members in the U.S., and has sent missionaries to 194 countries, Ahn said. But ex-members and critics say the figure is actually no more than 100,000 members worldwide.

The church's holdings included the Washington Times newspaper; Connecticut's Bridgeport University; the New Yorker Hotel, a midtown Manhattan art deco landmark, and a seafood distribution firm that supplies sushi to Japanese restaurants across the U.S. It acquired a ski resort, a professional football team and other businesses in South Korea. It also operates a foreign-owned luxury hotel in North Korea and jointly operates a fledgling North Korean automaker.

The church has been accused of using devious recruitment tactics and duping followers out of money. Parents of followers in the United States and elsewhere have expressed worries that their children were brainwashed into joining. The church has pointed out that many new religious movements faced similar accusations in their early years. Moon's followers were often called "Moonies," a term many found pejorative.

Born in 1920 in a rural part of what is today North Korea, Moon said he was 16 when Jesus Christ first appeared to him and told him to finish the work he had begun on Earth 2,000 years earlier. Moon, who tried to preach the gospel in the North, was imprisoned there in the late 1940s for alleged spying for South Korea; he disputed the charge.

When the Korean War broke out in 1950, he went to South Korea. After divorcing his first wife, he married Hak Ja Han Moon in 1960. They have 10 surviving sons and daughters, according to the church.

In South Korea, Moon quickly drew young acolytes to his conservative, family-oriented value system and unusual interpretation of the Bible. He conducted his first mass wedding in Seoul in the early 1960s, and the "blessing ceremonies" grew in scale over the years. A 1982 wedding at New York's Madison Square Garden ? the first outside South Korea ? drew thousands of participants.

"International and intercultural marriages are the quickest way to bring about an ideal world of peace," Moon said in a 2009 autobiography. "People should marry across national and cultural boundaries with people from countries they consider to be their enemies so that the world of peace can come that much more quickly."

Moon began building a relationship with North Korea in 1991, even meeting with the country's founder, Kim Il Sung, in the eastern North Korean port city of Hamhung. In his autobiography, Moon said he urged Kim to give up his nuclear ambitions, and that Kim responded by saying that his atomic program was for peaceful purposes and he had no intention to use it to "kill my own people."

"The two of us were able to communicate well about our shared hobbies of hunting and fishing," Moon wrote. "At one point, we each felt we had so much to say to the other that we just started talking like old friends meeting after a long separation."

When Kim died in 1994, Moon sent a condolence delegation to North Korea, drawing criticism from conservatives at home. The late Kim Jong Il, who succeeded his father as North Korean leader, sent roses, prized wild ginseng, Rolex watches and other gifts to Moon on his birthday each year. Moon said Kim Il Sung had instructed Kim Jong Il that "after I die, if there are things to discuss pertaining to North-South relations, you must always seek the advice of President Moon."

The church also sent a delegation to pay its respects after Kim Jong Il died in December and was succeeded by his son Kim Jong Un.

Moon sought and eventually developed a good relationship with conservative American leaders such as former Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

Yet he also served 13 months at a U.S. federal prison in the mid-1980s after a New York City jury convicted him of filing false tax returns. The church says the U.S. government persecuted Moon because of his growing influence and popularity with young Americans.

In later years, the church adopted a lower profile in the United States and focused on building up its businesses. Moon lived for more than 30 years in the United States, the church said.

As he grew older, Moon also handed over day-to-day control of his empire to his children. His U.S.-born youngest son, the Rev. Hyung-jin Moon, was named the church's top religious director in April 2008. Other children run the church's businesses and charitable activities in South Korea and abroad.

In 2009, Moon married 45,000 people in simultaneous ceremonies worldwide in his first large-scale mass wedding in years, the church said. Some were newlyweds and others reaffirmed past vows. He married an additional 7,000 couples in South Korea in February 2010. The ceremonies attracted media coverage but little of the controversy that dogged the church in earlier decades.

Hyung-jin Moon told The Associated Press in February 2010 that his father's offspring do not see themselves as his successors.

"Our role is not inheriting that messianic role," he said. "Our role is more of the apostles ... where we become the bridge between understanding what kind of lives (our) two parents have lived."

___

AP writer Sam Kim contributed to this story from Seoul.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/unification-church-founder-rev-moon-dies-92-185236876.html

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8 Business Experts Provide Tips on Social Media Customer Service ...

News/Blogs/Posts

Source: http://greenappleit.co.za/4500/8-business-experts-provide-tips-social-media-customer-service/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=8-business-experts-provide-tips-social-media-customer-service

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Memories Control looking to cause an upset in a Grade A2 event at ...

Memories Control looking to cause an upset in a Grade A2 event at Hall Green

Memories Control is likely to cause an upset in the 480 metres flat race at Hall Green in England on Monday, September 3, 2012. He has not been in good form in recent times, but his talent cannot be doubted at all. He has got impressive speed and his stamina is also not bad. Therefore, he will definitely give a tough time to his opponents at the end of the day.

The winner of the Grade A2 event will be awarded a cash prize of ?122 in the end. There are some extremely talented participants lined up to fight for this money in the race, which is scheduled to start at 13:51 GMT.

None of the participants seem to be in dominant form right now, thus the competition will be an interesting one overall. The spectators will definitely enjoy this situation, as they will get a chance to witness some splendid action of greyhound racing.

The bookmakers have predicted a close fight amongst Eden Twister and Westmead Story, as both are in decent shape at the moment. The latter of the two has got more experience, thus he will be more confident of winning the race. He is also carrying the winning momentum right now, which will encourage the punters to risk some money in his favour.

On the other hand, Eden Twister has been delivering some very good results with consistency, which will put him in strong contention of fighting for a win. He is young and energetic and will be looking to exert a lot of pressure on his opponents.

However, both the favourite greyhounds will face a stiff challenge from Memories Control, who has proved to be highly competitive in the past. His confidence level is low at the moment, but he has the tools to bounce back strongly at Hall Green.

The C. Kyme?s trainee knows the conditions at this venue better than others and should not have any issues in the end. He has not won a single event out of his previous five outings, which will be a worrying sign for his team.

In his most recent race, the black dog finished sixth overall. However, his penultimate outing proved to be a good one, which means that he is not in that bad form at the moment.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely of the writer?s and do not reflect bettor.com?s official editorial policy.

Source: http://blogs.bettor.com/Memories-Control-looking-to-cause-an-upset-in-a-Grade-A2-event-at-Hall-Green-a184768

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Algerian army kills 10 Qaeda militants: reports

Security forces in Algeria have killed 10 militants presumed to be members of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in separate operations, press reports on Saturday cited the defence ministry as saying.

They said nine AQIM members including a chief named as Boubeker Zemmouri, 29, were killed by soldiers in a special operation at Jebel Djerrah in the Beni Amrane area of Boumerdes province, 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Algiers.

Another militant was reported killed in a village in the same area in the operations which took place on Wednesday and Thursday, security sources quoted in the Liberte, Le Soir d'Algerie and El-Watan dailies said.

The official APS news agency said security forces also recovered Kalashnikov-type assault rifles, three semi-automatic rifles, two shotguns, ammunition and other equipment, including two solar panels.

The newspapers reported that the nine were members of a militant group called El-Arkam, one of the most active in central Algeria.

Le Soir d'Algerie said the group had launched dozens of suicide attacks between 2007 and 2008.

APS quoted a defence ministry statement as saying the operation showed the army's "willingness and ability to anticipate the movements of terrorist groups and destroy them."

On August 20, official media in Algeria reported the arrests of three armed Islamists, including a senior AQIM member thought to be close to its leader, in the south of the country.

Necib Tayeb, also known as Abderrahmane Abou Ishak Essoufi, one of the oldest members of Al-Qaeda's north African branch, headed its so-called "judicial committee" and had been wanted since 1995, APS said at the time.

It cited well-informed sources as saying the operation by Algerian special forces had dealt a "fatal blow" to AQIM, given Tayeb's close links to AQIM chief Abdelmalek Droukdel.

An Algiers court in June sentenced Droukdel to death in absentia for a series of murders and bombings.

AQIM, which stems from a group started in the late 1990s by radical Algerian Islamists, formally subscribed to Al-Qaeda's ideology in 2007, but after a string of high-profile attacks, the army managed to severely curtail its operations.

It has since been boosted by the turmoil in neighbouring Mali that followed a coup there in March, with hardline Islamists occupying the country's vast northern region.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/algerian-army-kills-10-qaeda-militants-reports-104121408.html

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Leaping into bed on first date may harm your relationships ...

London, September 2 (ANI): Couples who delay sex until marriage, rather than leaping into bed on the first date, are more likely to have happier and longer relationships, according to a study.

The researchers from Cornell University, who carried out the study, said that early sexual satisfaction may stunt the development of other key ingredients of healthy relationships, such as commitment, caring, understanding and shared values.

Precocious premarital sexual activities may have lasting effects on relationship quality, the Independent quoted the researchers as saying.

Courtship is a time for exploration and decision-making about the relationship, when partners assess compatibility, make commitments and build on emotional and physical intimacy, they stated.

Almost 50 years since the sexual revolution, which began, according to Philip Larkin, in 1963, the evidence suggests an open-legs policy is not so rewarding after all.

The postponement of sexual involvement is associated with higher levels of relationship quality, said the researchers.

Women who deferred sexual involvement for over six months reported significantly higher levels of relationship satisfaction, commitment, intimacy and emotional support, as well as sexual satisfaction with their partner, than did those who became sexually involved within the first month, they noted.

In the research, being reported in the latest Journal of Marriage and Family, the researchers analysed data from 600 couples about their relationships. In each case, the woman was aged under 45.

Results showed that for one in three men and women, sexual involvement took place within the first month, while about 28 per cent waited more than six months.

Most of the couples cohabited before marriage, with 40 per cent marrying directly. More than half the women who married directly had deferred sexual involvement for longer than six months, compared with only 6.5 per cent of women who were cohabiting.

The couples were also asked about the quality of their relationships, including giving scores for commitment, intimacy, sexual satisfaction, communication and conflict.

Results showed that for women, all the scores were better if sex was delayed for one month. A similar trend was found for men, but the differences were not so great.

The researchers say the gender differences they found may be explained by women being more sensitive to the quality of their relationships. (ANI)

Source: http://www.bollywoodondemand.com/news/98711/Leaping-into-bed-on-first-date-may-harm-your-relationships.html

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Social Media: How Facebook Can Grow Your Business - Racquet ...

Home ? RSI magazine ? Business/Marketing ? Social Media: How Facebook Can Grow Your Business

Your current and potential customers are online a lot. If you?re not there too, you?re missing a great opportunity.

By Richard Dedor

If your business, club, parks & recreation association, or community tennis group is not on Facebook (or Twitter), you are missing a great opportunity to create a lasting impression on your customers and grow your business and ultimately the game of tennis.

The days of being scared about social media are over. You should be scared if you are not on one, both or many of these platforms. The reason is simple: People, your current and potential customers, are online ? and they?re online a lot.

According to Nielsen?s 3Q 2011 Social Media Report, over 80 percent of all Americans use a social network, and Americans spend more time on Facebook than any other U.S. website.

That same Nielsen report gave two hard stats that are key to the tennis industry: First, adults who are active on social networks are 19 percent more likely to attend a professional sporting event when compared to an average adult internet user. Second, those same adults on a social network are 18 percent more likely to work out at a gym or health club. Both of those statistics should shock you into logging onto Facebook right now.

The thing about social media is that it represents the greatest opportunity to engage ? that?s the key word, engage ? your fans in a way the world has never seen.

Build Your Presence

Most everyone has a website now. That is a fact. But hardly anyone goes to your website. In the tennis industry, it?s news about players, events and new products that people want and Facebook and Twitter have the latest news. This is where the opportunity sits ready and waiting for you. But to get started you need to be there. If you?re just starting, claim your Facebook page and start suggesting it to your greatest fans. You can run a few early contests to get your fans. And as your fan base begins to grow, that is the moment social media becomes beneficial to your business.

The ATP?s Facebook fan page recently went over 1 million fans and it is pretty clear why: tennis fans are passionate. The ATP Facebook page has a hybrid style of content distribution: hard news and soft news, always with a focus on engagement.

Just like with Community Tennis Associations or court contractors, it?s not like the ATP can sell tickets or memberships. But sports fans and especially tennis fans are extremely loyal. And it is that loyalty that drives the ATP?s engagement. ?We want to reach fans wherever they are, and that is increasingly on Facebook,? says Paul Macpherson, managing editor, ATPWorldTour.com & ATP digital marketing.

The ATP builds that presence with engaging and highly sharable content. Tennis fans love the inside scoop on their favorite players and tournaments. ?The immediacy of Facebook is also an attractive proposition,? Macpherson says.

And it is not just the major players in the industry who have jumped in with both feet. Some clubs across the country even post quick updates that they have open courts, because they know their members are likely on Facebook either at home or on their mobile devices. Those clubs have figured out what their members want and need, and so Facebook becomes a simple revenue driver in that situation.

Interacting With Members

What do you know about your members, your fans and your potential customers? The latest statistics on Facebook?s membership is staggering: The average age of a Facebook user is 38, there are 425 million active mobile users, 250 million photos are uploaded per day and there are 2.7 billion total ?likes? and comments per day. And chances are, those numbers will continue to grow. How can you be a part of it?

Will Sikes, the marketing director of the Western & Southern Open, says of the tournament?s Facebook presence, ?We like to post information on tennis that people may not be seeing that we find humorous, interesting, off the cuff, and from there we created a voice on the page.?

Sikes? last point is important to note: Be who you are. You want your social presence to feel just like they are at your courts, in your store and at your event. The overall goal, aside from making a sale, must be to simply engage with your fans.

In marketing and merchandising, it is all about maximizing touch points and the experiences therein. ?They (our fans) trust us to give them fun, interesting and engaging content,? Sikes says. That is why building a great page and interacting with your fans, especially those that begin the conversation with you, is vital.

But being on Facebook requires a commitment. Sikes went on to say that it isn?t something you can let your 13-year-old manage for you. There has to be a strategy behind it. Once you have the strategy, you have to execute it, religiously.

And that is where the eight-court Shavano Park Tennis Club in San Antonio, Texas, has the right plan in place. ?Facebook was used for brand awareness in the very beginning. But now it is about getting them engaged in the culture of the club,? Soeurette Shook-Kelly says of the social media efforts of the club.

No matter the size of your business, you can start today. You just need to log onto Facebook once in the morning, mid-day, and then at night. If you?re going to post something, be sure you have a few minutes to stay and interact with anyone who comments back. You can also set up Facebook so you get email notifications when someone comments on your page.

For many small businesses, hiring someone full-time to manage social media is not an option, but that?s okay. It should really only take you a half-hour each day to get this initiative going. From there, you suggest your page to your friends and promote it through your newsletter, posters and event sign-ups.

Growing Your Business

Of course social media is just one way to grow your business, and nothing beats the personal face-to-face connection of a club, the atmosphere of a professional event and the smile on a child?s face when they hold a racquet for the first time.

And that is the backbone to how using Facebook can grow your business. It is an engagement platform that can be an extension of the real-life experience someone would get from you in person.

For the ATP it is about an insider?s look into the world of professional tennis. For any tournament, it is about providing an inside look that a casual fan can?t get anywhere else. For a club, tennis association, gym, court manufacturer and anyone else involved in tennis, it is about providing great information, resources and a link to the experiences you offer.

In some instances, Facebook acts as the virtual suggestion jar. On E-Marketing Constant Contact?s blog, Martin Lieberman wrote recently, ?When you?re deciding how to reply to a comment on Facebook, remember: The most important thing to do is show you?re listening.?

Even better, when you listen, show you care. Imagine how a potential customer or fan would feel if they came to your Facebook page, asked a question, and when they came to you in real-life, you remembered them because of the online interaction!

?Facebook is used to announce events at the facility,? Shook-Kelly says of the Shavano Park Tennis Club. ?And the goal is always to engage potential members, but we don?t scream that very much.?

The same goes for ticket sales for events. The Western & Southern Open planned on trying different tactics for social selling for this year?s event. It has to be a value-add without becoming advertising.

So, is Facebook or other social media platforms right for you?

Sikes has a simple answer: ?Facebook is a great customer-service mechanism, for better or for worse. You have to be prepared to answer every single question.?

At the end of the match, the tournament, or when they need a recommendation, your fans go to Facebook and the people they know. Be one of the people they know and your business will thrive.

Richard Dedor, a former Tennis Service Representative for the USTA Missouri Valley Section, is a social media consultant, speaker and personal coach. His work has appeared in Sports ?n Spokes Magazine, The Community Manager and SocialFresh. You can find him online at RichardDedor.com and on Twitter @RichardDedor. He has written one book, ?Anything is Possible.?

?

Source: http://www.racquetsportsindustry.com/articles/2012/09/17_social_media_how_facebook_c.html

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Surveying The Mobile Landscape, Post Patent Battle

Last week, a jury in San Francisco ruled in favor of Apple in a patent battle with Samsung, fining Samsung over a billion dollars for copying parts of Apple's iPhone design and function. Christina Bonnington, who covered the courtroom saga for Wired, describes what the ruling might mean for other phone manufacturers and for consumers.

Copyright ? 2012 National Public Radio. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

IRA FLATOW, HOST:

This is SCIENCE FRIDAY, I'm Ira Flatow. If you have a smartphone or a tablet, you might want to pay attention to this story because last week a jury in California reached a verdict in a major patent battle case between electronics makers Apple and Samsung, a fight over the way their mobile devices worked and looked.

The jury found that Samsung had copied some of Apple's intellectual property and awarded Apple over a billion dollars in fines. But what comes next? And will that decision have any impact on what your next phone will look like? Joining me now is Christina Bonnington. She's a staff writer for Wired, based in San Francisco.

She was in the courtroom for the case. Welcome to the program.

CHRISTINA BONNINGTON: Hi, Ira, thanks for having me.

FLATOW: Before we talk about the facts of the case, what's the courtroom like in a battle like that?

BONNINGTON: So it's very quiet, and there's a lot of tension in the air. There's a lot at stake in this case, obviously upwards in billions in damages. There was Apple sitting on the plaintiff's side, which is the right side of the courtroom, and Samsung was on the left, and the - there were nine jurors.

FLATOW: And Apple made its presentation that - what was the Apple presentation like? I'm just curious because I know when they make those presentations, you know, new products, was it something like that?

BONNINGTON: It was. So Apple's lawyers were incredibly practiced and very eloquent. They told a very compelling story for their case, and they told it in terms that were very easy for the jurors to understand. They had lots of well-done slides and pictures illustrating their points, and when they finished speaking, you were convinced that they were in the right.

Samsung, on the other hand, they were - they came across as being defensive a lot of the time and kind of brash sometimes. And their case was also a lot more complicated and involved much more technical terms, and so I think that might have been much harder for jurors to understand.

FLATOW: And so what - what exactly did the jury find? They sort of had a mixed bag of things.

BONNINGTON: Right, so they found patent infringement for a whole host of Apple's intellectual property in the case. They found 28 cases of infringement for some of the smartphones involved. They upheld Apple's patents on iPhone and iPad design, and now Apple is seeking injunction against eight of those 28 smartphones that were found to be violating Apple's intellectual property.

FLATOW: But they didn't, the jury, rule equally on iPhones and iPads, did they?

BONNINGTON: They didn't. Curiously, they did not find any evidence of infringement on Samsung's Galaxy Tab products, which look remarkably like the iPad. In my opinion, they look far more like the iPad than many of the phones they found to be infringing look like the iPhone.

FLATOW: And they did not - Apple didn't make a case of or bring it up, the pinching on - that kind of movement where you pinch to close things up, and you spread your fingers to widen it. That was not under litigation there, was it?

BONNINGTON: No, that patent was not involved in this case. One that was heavily talked about is called the bounceback feature. So when you reach the end of a list in IOS, it kind of springs back into place, and so that's how you know you've reached the end of the list. And that's something that Samsung had originally included in its user interface on its Android phones.

FLATOW: I find it interesting that the thing that I think as their signature model, which is the pinching effect, they didn't care about or seem to want to protect that.

BONNINGTON: It was - so the pinch to zoom, it's something that they've litigated with (unintelligible) against, I believe, in the past. They were using - they had a handful of other different user interface features. There's one, double-tap to zoom, so when you double-tap, say, a little article on the New York Times homepage, it'll, you know, expand to take up the full screen.

FLATOW: And that was the core - the jury agreed that was something they owned.

BONNINGTON: Correct.

FLATOW: Yeah, what about - they talked about the shape of the corners, a rounded rectangle, things like that. What did the jury think about the design features?

BONNINGTON: Right, so the jury found that Samsung was infringing those design features and that those patents that Apple held were valid. There were two iPhone design patents, and one iPad one, and basically they cover a device that is a rectangle with rounded corners, a large screen on the front, a single button at the bottom, and then in the case of an iPhone, a lozenge-shaped earpiece at the top.

FLATOW: And did they find that both equally for the iPad and the iPhone?

BONNINGTON: No, so they - so they found that there were a lot of cases of infringement for the iPhone but not for the iPad.

FLATOW: Do you have any explanation for that? Can you speculate on why that would be so different?

BONNINGTON: You know, it's just very curious. They must have - you know, they had time to go hands-on with all of the products that were involved in the case, and so they may have, you know, seen from prior art that they thought that it was very clear that the phones involved stemmed from this iPhone design and - but not so much the tablets.

There were several instances of tablets and tablet patented designs that existed before the iPad. So they may have thought that, you know, Samsung got their ideas from somewhere else.

FLATOW: So what's this going to do to buying a future Samsung or other brand that might - you know, has Apple put the fear in people of copying them now?

BONNINGTON: We'll have to see. So one of the biggest consequences that could come out of this verdict is that the price of Android devices could go up in the future because now Apple's - this portion of Apple's patent portfolio has been validated by the court system, and Apple can pretty confidently go forward and start suing any other Android hardware manufacturers it thinks are infringing on these patents.

And so that means these companies are going to be tied up and spending a lot of money in litigation against Apple, and they could also end up owing Apple money in damages or licensing fees. And both of those lead to increased costs for the manufacturer, which could be passed on to the consumer.

FLATOW: And on the other hand, the tablets may not be affected that much.

BONNINGTON: Right, so I would assume we'll continue seeing kind of similar-shaped tablets, you know, a large screen, maybe one to three buttons on the face. There hasn't been a lot of design innovation on the tablet front, which is kind of disappointing, but we probably will start seeing more innovative smartphone designs in the future.

FLATOW: Now, when we talked before, before the trial, the analysts were saying this is really not about Samsung, it's about Google and its Android operating system. That's the shot across the bow.

BONNINGTON: Right.

FLATOW: How will that affect Google?

BONNINGTON: So Apple's - Steve Jobs had said in the past that he wanted to go thermonuclear on Android because he thought that they were just outright copying IOS, and he wouldn't stand for that. So this seems to be part of Apple's plan to go thermonuclear on Android.

And what they're doing is going after - instead of going directly at Google, they're going after the individual hardware makers. And so this just makes it harder for them to keep their products on the shelves and harder for consumers to get their hands on these products.

FLATOW: There's been reports this week that Google and Apple's CEO, Larry Page and Tim Cook, have been talking about their patent fights. Is it possible that this will all somehow be settled, and the companies can reach some agreement outside of the courtroom?

BONNINGTON: It is possible. In most situations like this, the two parties do end up settling. The fact that this case event went to a jury trial is pretty unusual, you know, putting this complicated technology, all of these patents, in the hands of jurors to decide if they're valid or not and what's being infringed and not infringed - it was a big chance for both Apple and Samsung.

So usually big giants like this will just talk amongst themselves, decide who owes who money behind closed doors.

FLATOW: To be continued, in other words.

BONNINGTON: Definitely.

FLATOW: Alright, Christina, thank you very much for taking time to talk with us.

BONNINGTON: Thanks, Ira.

FLATOW: Christina Bonnington is a staff writer for Wired, based in San Francisco, who was in the courtroom for that big fight.

Copyright ? 2012 National Public Radio. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to National Public Radio. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2012/08/31/160391682/surveying-the-mobile-landscape-post-patent-battle?ft=1&f=1007

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That Went Well (talking-points-memo)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

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Can Ethanol Cut Foreign Oil Imports?

The federal government has lent its support to various alternative energy policies as a way to jumpstart an uncompetitive industry. These have taken the form of loans guarantees, grants and other subsidies, says Ken Silverstein, editor-in-chief for Energy Central's EnergyBiz Insider.

The most recent vocal support has come from both presidential campaigns in favor of a Renewable Fuel Standard that mandates an increase in ethanol-blended gasoline. But ethanol would likely disappear from the marketplace absent federal subsidies and mandates, says Sterling Burnett, a senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis.

A large part of the debate centers on whether the ethanol that comes from corn is an efficient fuel source. Furthermore, corn ethanol cuts the overall supply of corn that would otherwise be used to feed livestock, thus driving up food prices.

But proponents of ethanol claim that a next-generation source of ethanol, cellulose, provides promise for the future.

• Cellulose could supply 130 million gallons a year of ethanol because of its abundant supply.
• Because of this, the government lent $4 million to Chemtex, a cellulosic manufacturer.
• This money will construct a refinery to convert 600,000 tons of energy grasses per year into about 20 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol.
• Oil giant BP says that biofuels could provide up to 23 percent of the global demand for transportation fuel by 2030.

While the outcomes seem promising, there are many reasons to be cautious because of the difficulty of financing large ethanol projects. Take for example past ethanol facilities.

• In 2007, Colorado-based Range Fuels received a $76 million grant to build a cellulosic factory.
• However, the facility was forced to close its doors recently.
• Furthermore, Iogen, another potential ethanol producer, received U.S. funds to team with Royal Dutch Shell to build advanced ethanol facilities in both the United States and Canada.
• But, the project has postponed all future plans.

Both political parties are kowtowing to the farm vote, which means that it is unlikely that the Renewable Fuel Standard will get eliminated. But the distinction between first-and-second-generation ethanol is important and one that may eventually give wider credence to the ethanol cause.

Source: Ken Silverstein, "Can Ethanol Cut Foreign Oil Imports?" Forbes, August 26, 2012.

?

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Japan: Nikkei hits 4-wk closing low; Sharp sags

Saturday, 1 September, 2012

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Source: http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/breaking-news/stock-markets/japan-nikkei-hits-4-wk-closing-low-sharp-sags-20120831

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From smart to genius: will design define the future of gadgets?

4 hrs.

Jeremy Wagstaff , Reuters

In a pre-iPhone age, mobile phones came in all shapes and sizes. Remember the clamshell, candy bar, swivel, backflip, slider, dual-slider, lipstick, and, of course, the taco? Nowadays, most phones have a touch screen, rows of icons and are rectangular.

In short, they all look a lot like the iPhone.

Now, in the wake of the Apple Inc vs Samsung Electronics trial, where the U.S. firm won what the South Koreans scathingly called a "monopoly over rectangles with rounded corners," the fear is that an era of rapid and exciting innovation in mobile design is over. The iPhone has won the day and all those whose handsets use Google's Android operating system, the argument goes, will either give up or tread carefully for fear of litigation.

But others argue the opposite.

Paul Pugh, creative vice president at frog, a San Francisco-based design company owned by India's Aricent Group, believes companies may now unshackle their designers to come up with genre-busting form factors and user interfaces that breathe fresh life into the industry.

"We don't know yet how far the impacts are going to go from here," says Pugh. "I do hope it's an inspiration moment for the Android platform and the manufacturers to put their bets on innovation ... to come with great user experience based on users' needs, and not stagnate based on the patents crippling them."

Smartpad
Frog knows how hard this is to bring to market. Take the SmartPad; a prototype Android phone the company unveiled last year that at first glance looked, in the words of one reviewer on the technology website Engadget, like "yet another plain smartphone - dark, nondescript, and maybe a little like an iPhone 4 that's had its right-most extent sliced off."

Flip open the two layers, however, and you had a phone with twice the normal screen size. "Suddenly it's a little tablet, two screens forming a 6-inch slate," the Engadget reviewer wrote.

The prototype, which belonged to Imerj, part of Singapore-listed contract manufacturer Flextronics International, intrigued: The Engadget article attracted more than 400 comments. It wasn't a wholly new concept, but the design was impressive, including the software, which included apps that made the most of the extra screen. Imerj promised a kit for software developers, and a team worked on a slew of apps that made use of the innovative dual screen. They dreamed big: to take on Research in Motion's BlackBerry.

"We had an idea that the smartphone was going to be the primary computing platform for most people going forward," recalled Brett Faulk, then Imerj's vice president of marketing. "However, it has two challenges: small screen and small keyboard. So the concept was to create a product that scales as my productivity needs increase."

After a few months, however, everything went quiet. Imerj's Twitter account went dead, as did its website. Both are now offline. Faulk and others left the company. Flextronics declined to comment, as did frog's Pugh.

A former member of the Imerj team said the project was deliberately aimed at a niche far from Apple's consumer-driven world, but that was part of the reason for its demise.

Building a device and the suite of office applications to go with it required at least five years gestation, an investment the parent company in the end couldn't make. "We were very ahead," said the person, who was not authorized to speak about the project and declined to be identified. "We were very sad to see innovation being pushed aside."

Limited room
At issue now is whether the Apple vs. Samsung verdict might upend such conservative calculations.

It may already be happening: The latest addition to Samsung's Galaxy range of devices - at the centre of the court case - is a camera with a display that looks, feels and acts like an Android smartphone, including WiFi and 3G connections. And Samsung itself has a patent on a dual screen device, according to patent blog patentbolt.com, that looks a lot like the SmartPad.

But there are limits to what can be done with hardware.

"There was a lot of ingenuity about the mechanical configuration of designing buttons and cameras and exposing these particular features," said Horace Dediu, a former Nokia engineer who now runs a consultancy and influential blog called Asymco. With the rise of the iPhone "all that went away when you have a clean glass display with touch interface."

The problem he says, is that the operating systems available to device makers - Android and, to a lesser extent, Microsoft's Windows Phone - are designed for that shape.

So, if there is going to be a change in what a phone looks like, Google needs to be the one to change. "Theoretically, if Google thinks that this isn't a winning game for them they may go to the manufacturers and say OK, we're going to allow you to have mechanical differentiation," said Dediu.

Until that happens, manufacturers have limited room to move. They can toy with the specifications and proportions of the device - Samsung has had a surprise hit with its outsized Galaxy Note, the second version of which was unveiled on Thursday - or by tweaking the Android operating system itself.

Indeed, frog's most visible success in smartphone design has been a user interface that Sharp Corp recently launched for its Android phones in Japan. Sharp, said Pugh, was looking to maintain its market lead as Japan shifts from older feature phones to smartphones, and gave frog a broad remit to come up with something to make their Android devices stand out.

The so-called 'Fresh UI' software adds an extra layer, or skin, to Google's basic operating system, which Pugh says improves access to the most used features on a device.

Skins and forks
Indeed, such skins are an increasingly popular way for handset makers to differentiate their devices from those of competitors. Huawei on Thursday unveiled its own 'Emotion UI' skin which it said will give consumers "one more reason to choose a Huawei smartphone over another brand's." It's not just for the big boys: Meizu, a small Chinese smartphone maker, has gained a cult following with its quirky customization of Android that once earned the ire of Steve Jobs, but is now fending off its own copycats.

But taking this route is not without its problems.

For one thing, skins are usually just that: a surface layer that users either love or hate, and which quickly peels away to the standard Android interface that is little different whether the device costs $500 or $50. And while the goal is to differentiate, they can end up pushing the Android interface into more closely resembling Apple's own iOS. Indeed, Apple presented slides at the trial alleging that Samsung's tweaks to the home screen on 13 devices made it mimic that of the iPhone. The jury agreed.

Some makers have already taken note. Meizu, the Chinese manufacturer, was happy when the home screen of one of its models was cited in court by Apple as an example of not infringing on its design patents, but the Chinese firm has nevertheless "modified some aspects of our user experience" for future products, according to the Zhuhai-based company's product director Yang Yan.

Still, in the longer run innovation needs to go beyond mere tweaking, argues Brandon Edwards, Shanghai-based colleague of Pugh. He believes more manufacturers will follow Amazon's path of taking Android in their own direction with the Kindle Fire, effectively parting company with Google.

Such so-called forks are likely to appeal to device makers beyond phones, Edwards says. Clients have been talking to frog about embedding technology into smart systems, cars and healthcare, and those devices could well be running Android.

Design value
Innovation in smartphones, meanwhile, is likely to move beyond form factor and apps to how they interact with their surroundings, says Pugh. Expect to see smartphones better controlled by voice and gesture, moving beyond the restriction of the device's shape and touchscreen in the next year or so.

The most significant outcome of the Apple Samsung spat, however, may be that design is no longer merely an afterthought.

There may have been a lot of different shaped devices in the pre-iPhone world, but that doesn't mean they offered consumers a better user experience, says Pugh. "All this confirms that there is a monetary value to design," he says.

"In the past, they were competing on speed and the technology base itself. Those things are now relatively normalized and design is really defining the device and the device experience."

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Check for restrictions at: http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/smart-genius-will-design-define-future-gadgets-973974

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