Study: Apple iPhone 5 less toxic than Galaxy S III | Computerworld ...

The battle between Apple's iPhone 5 and Samsung's Galaxy S III rages on -- a study conducted by the disassembly firm iFixit and nonprofit organization Ecology Center has concluded that the iPhone 5 is less toxic than the Galaxy S III smartphone.

The study, which sought out the levels of hazardous chemical contents in smartphones, placed the iPhone 5 at the fifth spot with a 2.8 score out of an overall rating of 5, and the Galaxy S III in the ninth spot with a rating of 3.0. Both phones were topped by Motorola's Citrus, which took the top spot, followed by LG's Remarq, the iPhone 4S and Samsung Captivate.

The study's goal was to identify the environmental friendliness of smartphones, and to check the levels of hazardous substances that could be potentially damaging to the environment and human health. iFixit and Ecology Center disassembled 36 mobile phones released in the last 5 years, and tested for 35 substances including chlorine, mercury, lead, arsenic, chromium, cobalt, copper, nickel and cadmium. Tests were conducted on cases, processors, buttons, circuit boards, screens and other hardware. Results of the study are available on Ecology Center's HealthyStuff.org website.

The new iPhone 5 is a big improvement over the original iPhone, which was released in 2007 and has been rated the most toxic in the study. Also among the most toxic phones are the Nokia N95, which also shipped in 2007, and Research In Motion's BlackBerry Storm 9530, which shipped in 2008.

Every phone contained at least lead, bromine, chlorine, mercury and cadmium, according to the study. The Samsung Galaxy S III and iPhone 5 had some levels of lead and mercury contents.

The study was based on 1,100 samples of smartphones, with three for each brand, said Jeff Gearhart, research director at Ecology Center.

The goal was to point out the environmental friendliness of the smartphones, Gearhart said. The effects of hazardous materials could linger for years, and a wide range of contaminants could show up in air or soil years after smartphones are discarded.

It is critically important that smartphones are properly recycled to limit the effects of hazardous materials, Gearhart said. Smartphones tend to be chemically intensive, but the mobile industry is making great progress in reducing hazardous chemicals.

Part of the improvement in the smartphones comes through removal of hazardous substances. More smartphones are using cables free of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), mercury-free LCD displays and arsenic-free glass. Environmental organizations like Greenpeace regularly carry out tests to check computers for PVC plastic and brominated flame retardants (BFRs). PC makers like Apple, Hewlett-Packard and Dell have been reducing the use of PVC plastic and BFRs in computers in an effort to go green.

Electronics companies are producing cleaner smartphones, but the use of toxic chemicals needs to be discouraged through better regulation, Gearhart said. In 2003, the European Union adopted the ROHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive), which restricts hazardous substance use in electronics. Efforts are also underway in the US to restrict the use of toxic chemicals in electronics.

There are also ongoing concerns around consumers dumping toxic electronics in waste, which could eventually hurt the environment. Some nonprofit organizations such as Basel Action Network are encouraging recycling and chasing down organizations that send electronics to developing countries, where the products are burned instead of recycled.

Source: http://cw.com.hk/news/study-apple-iphone-5-less-toxic-galaxy-s-iii

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APNewsBreak: Coke, Samsung pull Vietnam site ads

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) ? Coca-Cola and Samsung have pulled their advertising from a popular Vietnamese website notorious for providing unlicensed downloads of Western and local songs, in a rare victory against online piracy in a country where it has grown unchecked.

The companies abandoned Zing.vn after The Associated Press alerted them to local and international concerns about the website, which is the sixth-most visited in the nation of 87 million people.

Zing's audience of young, tech-savvy web users has made it attractive to companies wanting to promote their products in a fast-growing Asian market where some 30 million people are online. It was unclear if the companies were ignorant of the content of the site or chose to ignore it.

Besides Coca-Cola Co. and South Korea's Samsung, other multinationals that have advertised on Zing include Canon, Yamaha, Intel and Colgate Palmolive. Zing said in a statement it couldn't comment.

The presence of international advertising added to the legitimacy of Zing, causing particular anger among Vietnamese artists who felt the site was profiting from their work without compensating them. After being contacted by The AP, Samsung and Coca-Cola said in separate statements they had withdrawn their ads.

"We highly respect and value intellectual property rights, and stand against acts of infringement, such as the unauthorized copying and distribution of copyrighted material," Samsung, which was advertising its Galaxy tablet on Zing, said in a statement. "Accordingly, our advertisements on Zing.vn have been withdrawn."

Coca-Cola said it had stopped advertising on the site and would "investigate their practices before making further decisions."

The drinks company had an especially close association with site, which also features games, instant messaging and a social media network. In 2011, it collaborated with Zing on a music awards ceremony, according to Zing's website. A special site created for the campaign attracted close to 6 million people who visited 10 million times, according to the website.

The music industry in the United States has complained about well-known companies whose ads appear on illegal downloading sites and is trying to get them to stop such advertising. Those commercials are mostly placed by ad networks contracted by agencies working for the companies. In May, the Association of National Advertisers issued guidelines to its members urging them to try and prevent such placements.

The decision by Coca-Cola and Samsung could add impetus to efforts by Vietnamese web companies to clean up their act.

Vietnamese company MV Corp, which represents around half of the local music industry, says some of the biggest sites, including Zing, plan to begin charging for music on Nov. 1. But it is unclear whether the deal means they will take down their infringing material, or whether Western recording companies will take part.

Stopping rampant illegal downloading of songs is a priority for the music industry worldwide, but progress has been patchy as consumers get used to free music. As broadband internet connections have grown in Asia, the problem has gotten worse. Vietnam has passed laws against piracy, but has failed to enforce them, enabling sites like Zing to grow into respectable businesses.

Recording artists in Vietnam no longer can make money selling music. They have had to live with the reality of illegal downloading as they seek promotional opportunities or sponsorship to earn a living. Zing's giant reach was important to them even as it attracted complaints. One entertainment music executive complained bitterly about the site, but said that he couldn't publicly speak out against it because it would not highlight his company's songs.

Still, one of Vietnam's most popular singers, Le Quyen, has begun legal proceedings against Zing and eight other websites to try and get compensation, according to her lawyer Le Quang Vy.

"By complaining against the offending websites, she wants to get justice for herself and remind them that they owe the performers," he said. "If no halt is put to the violation of copyrights ... the country's musical life will perish."

Zing is owned by VNG Corporation, a Vietnamese Internet company that is the leader in the lucrative online gaming market. The company has attracted investment from IDG Ventures of San Francisco and Goldman Sachs.

Like others around the world, Zing collects links to infringing content and gives users the ability to engage in piracy through "deep linking". According to Alexa, the web tracking company, about 20 percent of Zing's visitors come from outside Vietnam. It said 60 percent of the traffic on the site goes to the download section.

The International Intellectual Property Alliance, which this year accused Zing.vn of engaging in "notorious" piracy, welcomed the move by Coca-Cola and Samsung.

"It is essential that good corporate citizens refrain from spending advertising dollars on services that engage in or encourage infringement," said alliance representative Michael Schlesinger. "Breaking the chain of support for such notorious piracy services will erode the incentives for illegal services to operate."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/apnewsbreak-coke-samsung-pull-vietnam-ads-065235594.html

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The Norris Group Real Estate News Roundup 10/3/12 | The Norris ...

Today?s News Synopsis:

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported another increase in mortgage applications at 16.6%.? The Lender Processing Services reported foreclosures still remain high at 6.49% for judicial states and 2.28% for non-judicial states.? At the same time, prepayment rates are at their highest since? 2005 with the decrease in borrowing costs.

In The News:

Mortgage Bankers Association- ?Mortgage Refinance Applications Highest Since 2009 as Rates Reach Record Lows in Latest MBA Weekly Survey? (10-3-12)

?Mortgage applications increased 16.6 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association?s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending September 28, 2012.?

DS News- ?Foreclosures Decline but Remain High, Prepayments Surge: LPS ? (10-3-12)

?Foreclosure inventory continues to decline but remains more than eight times what it was in the decade prior to the housing crisis, according to the latest report from Lender Processing Services (LPS).?

Housing Wire ? ?Ocwen buys Homeward Residential from WL Ross? (10-3-12)

?Ocwen Financial Corporation ($28.96 0%) will buy Homeward Residential Holdings from private equity firm WL Ross & Co. for around $750 million total.?

Realty Times ? ?Fannie Mae Tightens Underwriting Rules for Condo, Refinance Loans, Borderline Borrowers? (10-3-12)

?Fannie Mae is putting the squeeze on underwriting guidelines this fall, making it tougher for some condo, borderline and refinancing borrowers to land a home loan. ?

Inman ? ?Top 4 property search apps dominate? (10-3-12)

?During the second quarter, 9 percent of U.S. iPhone users used real estate property search apps, according to an analysis by Onavo Mobile Ltd.?

Bloomberg ? ?Landlord Gains Slow as Homebuying Tops Renting: Mortgages? (10-3-12)

?Apartment occupancies rose in the third quarter at the slowest pace in more than two years as record low mortgage rates in the U.S. spur would-be renters to purchase homes instead.?

CNN Money ? ?September jobs report probably won?t sway election? (10-3-12)

?Only two monthly jobs reports remain before the presidential election, but don?t expect either of them to swing undecided voters.?

Housing Wire ? ?California AG: Dual tracking halves in September? (10-3-12)

?Dual tracking, the process of launching a foreclosure while a borrower is still pursuing a loan modification, is down by almost half in California, according to law University of California Irvine professor Katherine Porter, who serves as a monitor for the national mortgage servicing settlement.?

Realty Trac- ?Foreclosures Impact Presidential Election Swing States? (10-3-12)

?The big debate in the 2012 presidential election concerns the question of who will win? the swing states.?

Bloomberg- ?Mortgage Prepayment Rate Reaches Highest Level Since 2005? (10-3-12)

?Mortgage prepayment rates have soared to the highest in seven years as homeowners take advantage of the lowest borrowing costs on record to refinance.?

Cathedral City, California hard money loan closed by The Norris Group private lending. Real estate investor received loan for $150,000 on a 2/3 bedroom, 2/2 bathroom home appraised for $240,000.

?

Bruce Norris of The Norris Group will be at the Apartment Owners Association in Los Angeles on Wednesday, October 17, 2012.

The Norris Group is holding its fifth annual I Survived Real Estate 2012 in Yorba Linda on Friday, October 19, 2012.

Bruce Norris of The Norris Group will be at the OC Investors Club in Tustin on Friday, October 26, 2012.

Looking Back:

Bloomberg reported spending on construction increased in August 2011, the most it had been in two years.? Foreclosures were also increasing again, accoring to the Realty Times.? Despite this, a new study was released by CoreLogic showing that there were still positive numbers for equity in the country, showing that more homeowners were doing well than it seemed.

For more information about The Norris Group?s California hard money loans or our California Trust Deed investments, visit the website or call our office at 951-780-5856 for more information. For upcoming California real estate investor training and events, visit The Norris Group website and our California investor calendar. You?ll also find our award-winning real estate radio show on KTIE 590am at 6pm on Saturdays or you can listen to over 170 podcasts in our free investor radio archive.

About Bruce Norris

Bruce Norris is an active investor, hard money lender, and real estate educator with over 30 years experience. Bruce has been involved in over 2,000 real estate transactions as a buyer, seller, builder and money partner.

Tags: apartment, bruce norris, dual tracking, fannie mae, freddie mac, Homeward Residential Holdings, kamala harris, Lender Processing Services, mortgage applications, Mortgage Bankers Assocation, Mortgage prepayment, Ocwen Financial Corporation, the norris group, Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012 at 10:53 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Source: http://www.thenorrisgroup.com/blog/news/the-norris-group-real-estate-news-roundup-10312/

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Nest thermostat gets new features and design

11 hrs.

Devin Coldewey

While home?thermostats?aren't exactly the most exciting area of technology, the Nest made a splash last year with its good looks and intuitive interface. Now there's a new Nest with a few design tweaks and new features.

Thermostats, unlike smartphones and other personal gadgets, don't really need to be replaced all the time, so the point isn't to make people update their old device, but to make it possible for more people to buy their first one.

The new Nest is 20 percent thinner and has a snazzy new mirror-finish steel border, which should help picky interior designers square themselves with the idea of a big gadget sticking out of the wall. Nest also?claims its?device is now compatible with 25 percent of low-voltage heating and cooling systems.

It also ships?with a few new?features, which existing Nest owners will be happy to learn will also be coming to their original Nests shortly in a software update.?They've improved the scheduling function, allowing the device to learn when it should be hitting the heat or A/C early, and when it should be shutting them off as soon as you're out the door. It should also work better with some less conventional heating systems and those of you with?radiators.

You can now set it to use Spanish or French as the display language, and the app has been upgraded to support Android tablets. You can use the app to adjust schedules and temperatures, or to track your household's energy usage.

The new Nest keeps the same price as the old one ? $249 ? or you can pick up the original now for $229. There's more information on the new features and compatibility at the blog post announcing the device.

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC?News Digital. His personal website is coldewey.cc.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/nest-thermostat-gets-new-features-design-6240387

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B Corporations to Expand ?Business for Good? - Triple Pundit

It was busy at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) last week.

Along with President Obama and Mitt Romney both speaking, as well as Hillary Clinton, the program kicked off with an endorsement of Smokey Robinson?s new social media site Smoke Alarm and CGI?s global efforts in support of safe drinking water for children.

They also announced the expansion of B Lab?s Certified Benefit Corporation?s (also known as a B Corporation) program into South America.

This exciting new trend in corporate governance ties a company?s mission and charter directly to the triple bottom line. According to B Lab?s website, ?Benefit corporations are exactly the same as traditional corporations except for three little things that make them game-changers: higher standards of purpose, accountability, and transparency.?

It was developed as a mechanism for entrepreneurs and investors to codify their desire to use business as a tool for solving social and environmental problems.

According to The Economist, ?To qualify as a B Corp, a firm must have an explicit social or environmental mission, and a legally binding fiduciary responsibility to take into account the interests of workers, the community and the environment as well as its shareholders. It must also publish independently verified reports on its social and environmental impact alongside its financial results. Other than that, it can go about business as usual.?

B Corps are often confused with Benefit Corporations ? the former is the certification discussed here. The latter is a legal structure (currently enacted at the state level in 11 states) that incorporates a material positive impact on society and the environment into the company?s bylaws.

B Corp certification is not mandatory, nor does it confer legal standing. However, it does offer the validation of an independent body acknowledging that the company has met a responsibility performance standard. It also offers a community and a set of helpful tools.? Says B Lab, ?B Corp certification is to sustainable business what Fair Trade certification is to coffee or USDA Organic certification is to milk.?

The two approaches differ in the details of implementation, but their intentions are the same.

Now the certification program is spreading beyond the 50 states. At the CGI meeting last week, B Lab announced its commitment to certify 100 B Corporations outside the U.S. in 2013.

B Lab cofounder Andrew Kassoy said, ?Impact requires scale and global reach; by extending the B Corp movement into emerging markets in South America, India, Asia, and Africa, the B Corp movement will have dramatic impact on the development of more inclusive and sustainable economies.?

B Lab announced a South American partnership with Sistema B to build the B Corp movement in South America. Together they will build a founding class of 100 B Corps by the end of 2013 in South America alone. ?B Lab also committed to expanding into other regions of the world, with the goal of having B Corps in 20 countries on six continents, and of reaching a total of 750 Certified B Corps globally.

According to the Sacramento Bee, ?B Lab will establish partnerships with organizations that have regional presence and expertise and leverage financial and technical support provided by the Inter American Development Bank, the Rockefeller Foundation, Halloran Philanthropies, Prudential Foundation, Linklaters, the Ford Foundation, the Avina Foundation, InnovaChile CORFO and Deloitte LLP.?

The B Corporation journey has thus far been characterized by pioneers like Yvon Chouinard, the iconoclastic CEO of Patagonia, who was the first CEO to sign on once B corps became recognized in California.

Chouinard has called prior laws governing corporations and charities too restrictive. He says that for-profit firms often face pressure to abandon social goals in favor of increased profits, while non-profits are overly restricted in their ability to raise capital when they need it to grow.

The B Corporation is another important step in the journey to build a new, more Earth-centered, more sustainable economy.? Perhaps something along the lines of what David Korten writes about in his latest book, Agenda for a New Economy, where he says, ?to create an economic system that works for all, we need a different design grounded in different values and a different understanding of wealth, our human nature, and the sources of human happiness and well-being.?

Sometimes, in order to change the game, you need to make new rules.

?

RP Siegel, PE, is an inventor, consultant and author. He co-wrote the eco-thriller Vapor Trails, the first in a series covering the human side of various sustainability issues including energy, food, and water in an exciting and entertaining format. Now available on Kindle.

Follow RP Siegel on Twitter.

Scroll down to see comments.

Source: http://www.triplepundit.com/2012/10/corporations-expand-business-good-initiative-globally/

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The Connectome Debate: Is Mapping the Mind of a Worm Worth It?

Scientists have mapped a tiny roundworm's entire nervous system. Did it teach them anything about its behavior?

By Ferris Jabr

WORM ATLAS: An in-progress 3D reconstruction of the C. elegans connectome. Dots represent the cell bodies of neurons; long lines represent the neurons' axons and dendrites. Image: The OpenWorm Project, image generated by neuroConstruct

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  Showcasing more than fifty of the most provocative, original, and significant online essays from 2011, The Best Science Writing Online 2012 will change the way...

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In the 1970s biologist Sydney Brenner and his colleagues began preserving tiny hermaphroditic roundworms known as Caenorhabditis elegans in agar and osmium fixative, slicing up their bodies like pepperoni and photographing their cells through a powerful electron microscope. The goal was to create a wiring diagram?a map of all 302 neurons in the C. elegans nervous system as well as all the 7,000 connections, or synapses, between those neurons. In 1986 the scientists published a near complete draft of the diagram. More than 20 years later, Dmitri Chklovskii of Janelia Farm Research Campus and his collaborators published an even more comprehensive version. Today, scientists call such diagrams "connectomes."

So far, C. elegans is the only organism that boasts a complete connectome. Researchers are also working on connectomes for the fruit fly nervous system and the mouse brain. In recent years some neuroscientists have proposed creating a connectome for the entire human brain?or at least big chunks of it. Perhaps the most famous proponent of connectomics is Sebastian Seung of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, whose impressive credentials, TED talk, popular book, charisma and distinctive fashion sense (he is known to wear gold sneakers) have made him a veritable neuroscience rock star.
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Other neuroscientists think that connectomics at such a large scale?the human brain contains around 86 billion neurons and 100 trillion synapses?is not the best use of limited resources. It would take far too long to produce such a massive map, they argue, and, even if we had one, we would not really know how to interpret it. To bolster their argument, some critics point out that the C. elegans connectome has not provided many insights into the worm's behavior. In a debate* with Seung at Columbia University earlier this year, Anthony Movshon of New York University said, "I think it's fair to say?that our understanding of the worm has not been materially enhanced by having that connectome available to us. We don't have a comprehensive model of how the worm's nervous system actually produces the behaviors. What we have is a sort of a bed on which we can build experiments?and many people have built many elegant experiments on that bed. But that connectome by itself has not explained anything."

Because a lone connectome is a snapshot of pathways through which information might flow in an incredibly dynamic organ, it cannot reveal how neurons behave in real time, nor does it account for the many mysterious ways that neurons regulate one another's behavior. Without such maps, however, scientists cannot thoroughly understand how the brain processes information at the level of the circuit. In combination with other tools, the C. elegans connectome has in fact taught scientists a lot about the worm's behavior; partial connectomes that researchers have established in the crustacean nervous system have been similarly helpful. Scientists are also learning how to make connectomes faster than before and to enhance the information they provide. Many researchers in the field summarize their philosophy like this: "A connectome is necessary, but not sufficient."

"Some people say we don't know anything about how C. elegans's brain works and I am like, 'Yes, we do!'" says Cornelia Bargmann of The Rockefeller University, who has studied the nematode for more than two decades and attended the Columbia debate. "A lot of what we know about C elegans's rapid behaviors we have learned through and with the connectome. Every time we do an experiment, we look at those wiring diagrams and use them as a starting point for generating hypotheses."

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=5c461d3fe80e7e409e94fc8b7a7bdd13

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UWA scores Doug Ellis trophy at Australian University Games ...

Students from The University of Western Australia have punched above their weight to take out the Doug Ellis Trophy at this year?s Australian University Games in Adelaide.

It?s the second time UWA has won the Doug Ellis Trophy, which is awarded to the university winning the most pennants per student population.

Strong performances in men?s touch, beach volleyball, lawn bowls, women?s and men?s tennis, men?s AFL, men?s soccer and ultimate Frisbee saw the university come 9th overall but top of the weighted rankings.

More than 6000 student athletes, team managers, staff and volunteers took part in five days of intense competition which ended last Friday. Athletes competed across 30 different team and individual sports.

The UWA team, although outnumbered by its big Eastern states rivals, won one gold, four silver and four bronze medals in the team pennants which made up the final result. UWA athletes also won individual medals across sports including fencing, rowing and sailing, with a sailing gold won by members of the same team that dominated the World University Match Racing Championships held in France last month.

The University of Melbourne won the overall competition over fierce rivals Monash University, securing 13 of out the 50 gold medal pennants on offer.

UWA?s per capita win makes it the only university to have won all three major titles in the games: the John White Memorial Spirit of the Games Shield in 1998 and 2001, the Doug Ellis Trophy in 2008 and 2012 and the Overall Champion Trophy in 2010.

UWA Acting Vice-Chancellor Professor Bill Louden said the University?s founders recognised that sporting and cultural pursuits played a significant role in campus life.

?They also realised that sport can teach us some of life?s most important lessons ? such as the value of perseverance, hard work, sacrifice, and respect for authority,? Professor Louden said.

Media references

Bea Sonnenberg (UWA Sport and Recreation Association) (+61 8) 6488 4659 / (+61 4) 24 946 986
Michael Sinclair-Jones (UWA Public Affairs) (+61 8) 6488 3229 / (+61 4) 00 700 783

Source: http://www.news.uwa.edu.au/201210025044/awards-and-prizes/uwa-scores-doug-ellis-trophy-australian-university-games

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