Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/ric-flairs-son-dies-at-age-25/
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Sunday, March 31, 2013
Kenyans await ruling in disputed presidential election
By Edmund Blair and Humphrey Malalo
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's Supreme Court said on Saturday it would issue its ruling no later than 1400 GMT (10 a.m. EDT) on legal challenges to Uhuru Kenyatta's win in a presidential election seen as a test of democracy, five years after vote disputes triggered widespread bloodshed.
The country's outgoing president called for calm ahead of a decision that will either confirm the victory of Kenya's richest man Kenyatta or force another vote.
Defeated candidate Raila Odinga says the March 4 poll was marred by technical problems and widespread rigging. Both politicians have promised to abide by the court's final word.
"Compatriots: The Supreme Court will deliver its decision not later than 5 p.m. today, Inshallah (God willing)," Chief Justice Willy Mutunga wrote on his Twitter account.
The ruling is expected to address a list of challenges to the result. It was not immediately clear if the timing announced referred to when the court would start reading details of its verdict or the time by which it expected to complete that task.
Police formed a security cordon around the court. Many ordinary Kenyans insist they will not allow a repeat of the violence that killed more than 1,200 people and hammered the economy following a dispute over the last election in 2007.
"We have moved on," said Monica Njagi, 28, owner of an Internet cafe in the port city of Mombasa. "Whatever the ruling, we shall go by it ... We have enough useful lessons from our past."
The peaceful voting in this year's election, and the fact that the dispute is being played out by lawyers not machete-wielding gangs, has already helped repair the image of east Africa's largest economy.
Saturday's ruling will test whether Kenyans trust their reformed judiciary and whether supporters of rival candidates accept the result quietly in a nation where tribal loyalties largely determine political allegiances.
"As the country awaits the Supreme Court ruling which is due this Easter weekend, I call upon all of us to accept the ruling and maintain peace," outgoing President Mwai Kibaki said in a message to mark the Christian Easter holiday.
"ESSENTIAL CONTACTS"
Kenyatta comfortably beat Odinga in terms of votes won, with 50.07 percent versus 43.28 percent, but only narrowly avoided a run-off by just edging above the 50 percent threshold.
Western donors are watching the fate of a regional trade partner and a country they see as vital to stability in a volatile area. They also face a headache if Kenyatta wins.
He is facing charges at the International Criminal Court of crimes against humanity, accused of helping incite the violence after the 2007 vote. Kenyatta denies the charges and has promised to cooperate with the court to clear his name.
Western nations have a policy of having only "essential contacts" with indictees of the court. They say that will not affect dealings with the Kenyan government as a whole, but will worry the issue could drive a long-time ally of the West closer to emerging powers such as China.
Neighboring African states are also keeping a careful eye on proceedings after they were hit by the knock-on effects when vital trade routes through Kenya were shut down five years ago.
Kenya's economy has yet to recover fully from the pummeling it took after the vote violence, with growth rates still yet to return to levels before that bloodshed.
"My worry is that if the court orders another election, tourism will suffer further," said Mohammed Hersi, general manager of the Whitesands hotel, a top Mombasa resort, saying clients were waiting to decide whether to come.
In the Supreme Court's hearing on Friday, the legal teams reviewed results of recounts ordered in 22 of the 33,400 polling stations after Odinga said more votes had been cast than there were registered voters. Both sides said the recounts supported their arguments.
Odinga's team argued that the failures undermined the vote. Rival lawyers said any irregularities or technical hiccups had an insignificant impact and did not change the overall outcome.
International observers said voting itself was credible, but diplomats say observers did not watch the full five-day count.
(Additional reporting by Joseph Akwiri in Mombasa, Hezron Ochiel in Kisumu and James Macharia in Nairobi; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kenyans-await-ruling-disputed-presidential-race-022046688.html
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S. Africa's Mandela 'comfortable,' responding to treatment
By Simon Evans March 28 (Reuters) - United States forward Landon Donovan, returning to soccer after a three-month break from the game, said on Thursday he hopes to be back with the national team for June's World Cup qualifiers. Donovan announced last December that he needed a break from the game, saying he had lost his passion and enjoyment for the sport, raising the question as to whether he would play at next year's World Cup finals in Brazil should the U.S. qualify. But after returning to training with his Major League Soccer club L.A. ...
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/africas-mandela-comfortable-responding-treatment-113733963.html
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Bank of Cyprus big savers to lose up to 60 percent
Personas hacen fila mientras un guardia de seguridad abre la puerta de una sucursal del banco Laiki en Nicosia, el viernes 29 de marzo de 2013. Los bancos abrieron normalmente por segundo d?a pero contin?an los l?mites a los retiros de dinero ante la crisis financiera. (AP Foto/Petros Giannakouris)
Personas hacen fila mientras un guardia de seguridad abre la puerta de una sucursal del banco Laiki en Nicosia, el viernes 29 de marzo de 2013. Los bancos abrieron normalmente por segundo d?a pero contin?an los l?mites a los retiros de dinero ante la crisis financiera. (AP Foto/Petros Giannakouris)
A hat with money belonging to a musician, is seen on the ground as he plays music at the main shopping street in central capital Nicosia, Cyprus, on Saturday, March 30, 2013. Big depositors at Cyprus' largest bank may be forced to accept losses of up to 60 percent, far more than initially estimated under the European rescue package to save the country from bankruptcy, officials said Saturday. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
A sign at a branch of bank of Cyprus reading in Greek, "In light of the emergency restrictive measures, you can withdraw up to 300 euro either from the tellers or the ATM", as people are reflected on the glass in central capital Nicosia, Cyprus, on Surtaday, March 30, 2013. Big depositors at Cyprus' largest bank may be forced to accept losses of up to 60 percent, far more than initially estimated under the European rescue package to save the country from bankruptcy, officials said Saturday. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
Seen through a bus stop bench, a woman passes an empty shop with a sign reading in Greek 'for rent' in central capital Nicosia, Cyprus, on Saturday, March 30, 2013. Big depositors at Cyprus' largest bank may be forced to accept losses of up to 60 percent, far more than initially estimated under the European rescue package to save the country from bankruptcy, officials said Saturday. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) ? Big depositors at Cyprus' largest bank may be forced to accept losses of up to 60 percent, far more than initially estimated under the European rescue package to save the country from bankruptcy, officials said Saturday.
Deposits of more than 100,000 euros ($128,000) at the Bank of Cyprus will lose 37.5 percent in money that will be converted into bank shares, according to a central bank statement. In a second raid on these accounts, depositors also could lose up to 22.5 percent more, depending on what experts determine is needed to prop up the bank's reserves. The experts will have 90 days to figure that out.
The remaining 40 percent of big deposits at the Bank of Cyprus will be "temporarily frozen for liquidity reasons," but continue to accrue existing levels of interest plus another 10 percent, the central bank said.
The savings converted to bank shares would theoretically allow depositors to eventually recover their losses. But the shares now hold little value and it's uncertain when ? if ever ? the shares will regain a value equal to the depositors' losses.
Emergency laws passed last week empower Cypriot authorities to take these actions.
Analysts said Saturday that imposing bigger losses on Bank of Cyprus customers could further squeeze already crippled businesses as Cyprus tries to rebuild its banking sector in exchange for the international rescue package.
Sofronis Clerides, an economics professor at the University of Cyprus, said: "Most of the damage will be done to businesses which had their money in the bank" to pay suppliers and employees. "There's quite a difference between a 30 percent loss and a 60 percent loss." With businesses shrinking, Cyprus could be dragged down into an even deeper recession, he said.
Clerides accused some of the 17 European countries that use the euro of wanting to see the end of Cyprus as an international financial services center and to send the message that European taxpayers will no longer shoulder the burden of bailing out problem banks.
But German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble challenged that notion, insisting in an interview with the Bild daily published Saturday that "Cyprus is and remains a special, isolated case" and doesn't point the way for future European rescue programs.
Europe has demanded that big depositors in Cyprus' two largest banks ? Bank of Cyprus and Laiki Bank ? accept across-the-board losses in order to pay for the nation's 16 billion euro ($20.5 billion) bailout. All deposits of up to 100,000 are safe, meaning that a saver with 500,000 euros in the bank will only suffer losses on the remaining 400,000 euros.
Cypriot officials had previously said that large savers at Laiki ? which will be absorbed in to the Bank of Cyprus ? could lose as much as 80 percent. But they had said large accounts at the Bank of Cyprus would lose only 30 to 40 percent.
Asked about Saturday's announcement, University of Cyprus political scientist Antonis Ellinas predicted that unemployment, currently at 15 percent, will "probably go through the roof" over the next few years.
"It means that (people) ... have to accept a major haircut to their way of life and their standard of living. The social impact is yet to be realized, but they will be enormous in terms of social unrest and radical social phenomenon," Ellinas said.
There's also concern that large depositors ? including many wealthy Russians ? will take their money and run once capital restrictions that Cypriot authorities have imposed on bank transactions to prevent such a possibility are lifted in about a month.
Cyprus agreed on Monday to make bank depositors with accounts over 100,000 euros contribute to the financial rescue in order to secure 10 billion euros ($12.9 billion) in loans from the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund. Cyprus needed to scrounge up 5.8 billion euros ($7.4 billion) on its own in order to clinch the larger package, and banks had remained shut for nearly two weeks until politicians hammered out a deal, opening again on Thursday.
But fearing that savers would rush to pull their money out in mass once banks reopened, Cypriot authorities imposed a raft of restrictions, including daily withdrawal limits of 300 euros ($384) for individuals and 5,000 euros for businesses ? the first so-called capital controls that any country has applied in the eurozone's 14-year history.
The rush didn't materialize as Cypriots appeared to take the measures in stride, lining up patiently to do their business and defying dire predictions of scenes of pandemonium.
Under the terms of the bailout deal, the country' second largest bank, Laiki ? which sustained the most damaged from bad Greek debt and loans ? is to be split up, with its nonperforming loans and toxic assets going into a "bad bank." The healthy side will be absorbed into the Bank of Cyprus.
On Saturday, economist Stelios Platis called the rescue plan "completely mistaken" and criticized Cyprus' euro partners for insisting on foisting Laiki's troubles on the Bank of Cyprus.
____
AP business correspondent Geir Moulson in Berlin and APTN reporter Adam Pemble in Nicosia contributed.
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Saturday, March 30, 2013
How Many Asiatic Cheetahs Roam across Iran?
How many Asiatic cheetahs still prowl on the planet earth? Compared to their African cousins, the Asiatic cheetah is more imperiled and known to be a critically endangered subspecies. Yet, no reliable estimates of its population are available despite such statistics being required as essential input for conservation and management plans. Despite this, several organizations did not tarry to find answers and to initiate conservation attempts.
The historical distribution of this member of the cat family used to range across diverse ? and vast areas from the Indian subcontinent, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran to the Peninsula of Arabia and Syria. In 1977 the last cheetah was recorded in Oman and it is believed that today the Asiatic cheetah?s population is confined to the Iran?s boundary. Observation records show that cheetahs have ceased to roar across the terrains of Saudi Arabia (1973), Pakistan (1972), India (1947), Kuwait (1942) and Iraq (1929), according to Hooshang Ziaie?s Field Guide to the Mammals of Iran.
The evidence pointing towards the cheetahs? extinction from its formerly inhabited regions was strong enough to convince international and national organizations to take an action. In 2001, the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) and Global Environmental Facility (GEF) funded a four-year conservation project with the budget of $725,000. Iran?s Department of Environment (DoE) also supposed to provide the same amount of budget in kind. However, the project was prolonged for 8 years; and DoE contributed more than the aforementioned tranche. The project, called the Conservation of Asiatic Cheetah and Its Habitat Project (CACP), was assisted by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and later by the Panthera organization. Additionally, several Iranian NGOs cooperated with CACP, conducting field surveys and enhancing the awareness of local people.
In 2009, a team consisting of Iranian and international consultants evaluated whether the outcomes of project concurred with its original goals of the proposal. The evaluation was difficult for the following reasons: repeated extensions of the project?s duration lasted; related fluctuations in managerial boards of the project (up to evaluation period, both the national and international project directors changed four times each. Changes repeated one more time for both positions after the assessment); a serious dispute over a lack of findings between a contracted Iranian NGO, on one hand, and DoE and UNDP, on the other; difficulties for staff and equipment of WCS, an important scientific partner, to enter the country due to delayed visa issuance; and finally practical problems such as miscommunication between the international and national evaluators in terms of technical language.
Regardless of these problems, however, a consistent issue across the board and mentioned repeatedly in the evaluation report is that the first and most prominent question has not been answered since initiation of the project: what is a reliable estimate of the cheetahs? population in Iran? While answering this formidable question is necessary for the design of a conservation plan, including the setting of priorities and identification of habitat hot spots, it is an arduous effort. The cheetahs? low number, intense shyness, and ability to camouflage make the search for these individuals scattered across the habitats of two vast Iranian deserts akin to finding a needle in a haystack. ?It is assumed that the cheetah population has even increased in recent years, but neither the initial baseline information nor the newest population estimates are reliable enough to assess this assumption?, according to evaluation report.
Some sporadic attempts at camera-trapping have been carried out to estimate the number of cheetahs since CACP began, but none proved to be adequate. ?In ten years of setting out scores of cameras, Iranian researchers have so far managed to obtain a mere 192 fleeting images. Those images document 76 gaunt individuals, pretty much all that remains of a noble subspecies of cheetah that once roamed throughout much of Asia?, writes Roff Smith in a November 2012 National Geographic article.
Dr. Luke Hunger, President of Panthera, the organization assisting the CACP in scientific work, told me: ?incidentally, the most up to date figure is 77 individuals. This is not a population estimate, it is just the total number of known individuals photographed since 2001; most of those animals are now dead.?
In the same month that the issue of National Geographic was published, the director of DoE cited at least 50 individual cheetahs to be living in Iran. Previously, it was presumed that Iran has?a cheetah population revolving around 70-120 individuals, based on Iranian biologists? guesstimations. Subsequently, complementary information about the cheetahs? status has been released. ?Scientific and comprehensive camera-trapping has been conducted in 7 out of 9 cheetah habitats. Preliminarily analysis revealed that at least 50 individual cheetahs exist in Iran,? Hooman Jowkar, the latest national director of CACP, said on a TV broadcast. He, in?a recently published interview, said that just 20 individual cheetahs were identified through 200 images taken by camera-traps. However, this number of individual cheetahs is not representative of the species? total population in Iran.
Dr. Hunter pointed out that the number is uncertain: ?We simply do not have a good estimate of the cheetah?s population. I am worried that the recent camera-trapping results were less positive than in the past, so it is possible the numbers are as low as 50 cheetahs. But we cannot say that for certain. The best we can probably say is somewhere between 50 to 100 individuals.?
Addressing possible reasons for uncertainty in the estimate Jowkar noted in a wildlife conference held in Teheran: ?the focus is just on specific protected areas; and it is not possible to conduct camera-trapping during fall and winter when cheetah is physically most active. Occurrence of livestock in those habitats is the most important challenge. Also, the method should be repeated in the next year in order to produce more reliable results.?
The second phase of CACP had been initiated in January 2009 to run as a four-year project with a budget of $4 million funded by national and international organizations. Recently, it was announced that the project will be extended until 2015. The news brought renewed hope and enthusiasm that not only the population size of the Asiatic cheetah could be scientifically estimated at last, but also that a conservation strategy plan will be compiled. To design and implement such plan could save the cheetah from the blade edge of extinction.
Image: Drawing by H. Weir, 1885. Routledge?s Picture Natural History by the Rev. J. G. Wood, engraved by the Dalziel brothers.
Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=ee9400771eb80208846579b5df06d16f
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Internet Marketing the easiest way | alipayzj.com
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In the same way yet another easy approach to take pleasure in Internet marketing achievement is always to engage a talking to company to organize and also perform the Internet marketing technique. Much like Search engine optimisation, Internet marketing is actually a time consuming task. Business people could have a good deal of problems attempting to work his or her company and also manage their own Internet marketing. Outsourced workers the job helps in reducing the responsibility for the manager and can probable create better outcomes.
Source: http://www.alipayzj.com/internet-marketing-the-easiest-way.html
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Keep police business off Facebook, NYPD tells cops
The New York Police Department has begun policing how its officers use Facebook, Twitter and other social media.
An internal order made public on Thursday advises members of the nation's largest police department to be careful with what they reveal online ? even urging them not to disclose that they're on the force.
Officers "are to exercise good judgment and demonstrate professionalism expected of them while performing their official duties," the memo says. It also warns that "personal social media sites may be used against them to undermine the credibility of the department, interfere with official police business, compromise ongoing investigations and affect their employment status."
The guidelines bar officers from posting photos of themselves in uniform ? with the exception of those taken at promotion or awards ceremonies ? unless they have permission from the department. Officers could face discipline if they don't comply.
Police officials said the policy has been in the works for about two years, and arose out of concern that police officers' online postings could embarrass the NYPD or be misinterpreted as official police policy. The department punished more than a dozen officers after they made degrading remarks about revelers at the West Indian Day Parade in 2011.
"We believe these guidelines are reasonable and make sense," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Thursday.
The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, which represents 23,000 police officers, declined comment. In the past, the union has cautioned its members about what they post and who they interact with on the Internet.
The NYPD edict prohibits the posting on personal websites of crime scene photos or witness statements. It also bars officers from using social media to contact witnesses, crime victims or lawyers involved in pending cases, or to contact minors who aren't part of their families.
"Such communications may be deemed inappropriate or unethical and may jeopardize an ongoing investigation," it says.
The adoption of guidelines was first reported in the Daily News.
? 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Friday, March 29, 2013
SKorea cuts growth forecast, plans stimulus
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? South Korea's government cut its forecast for growth in Asia's fourth-largest economy this year as exports stumble due to muted global demand and a weaker yen.
The finance ministry said Thursday that South Korea's economy will expand 2.3 percent this year. Three months ago it forecast 3 percent growth for 2013.
The lower forecast stems from the slower-than-expected global recovery, still weak investment and consumption at home and lack of consumer and corporate confidence, Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok, told reporters.
"Vitality in South Korea's economy has fallen sharply," Hyun said. "Situations ahead look tough. We cannot expect a significant improvement in exports."
South Korean manufacturers are struggling with weak overseas demand and increased competition from Japan where a new government has talked down the value of the yen, giving a boost to its exporting powerhouses such as Toyota Motor Corp.
The ministry said it will aid an economic recovery with a stimulus plan and spending more than 60 percent of the annual budget during the first half of the year.
Details of the stimulus spending will be announced next month, it said.
Hyundai Research Institute estimates that South Korea needs 11 trillion won ($9.9 billion) of extra government spending to add half a percentage point to growth. South Korea's last major stimulus was under former President Lee Myung-bak in 2009.
South Korea's economy grew 2 percent last year, the slowest pace in three years. The country's small domestic market means it is reliant on exporting to major economies such as China, Europe and the United States. None of those countries has fully recovered from the global recession in 2009.
"A full-scale recovery is being delayed," the finance ministry said in a statement.
The government estimates South Korea's exports were nearly flat during the first three months of 2013 over a year earlier, after a meager 0.3 percent growth in the final three months of 2012.
It attributed the slow improvement in exports to the uncertain economic situations in the U.S. and Europe, as well as the weak yen that made South Korean products less competitive in key overseas markets than Japanese goods.
The bleak economic picture adds to the challenges facing President Park Geun-hye during her first year in office. Park took office in Feb. 25 promising hefty welfare spending, more jobs and an increase of the country's middle class to 70 percent of the population from around 60 percent.
The finance ministry said it needs a bigger budget to aid recovery, to create jobs and to carry out Park's policies and welfare programs during her five year, single term. However, it estimated tax revenues will be lower than expected because of slower growth.
The ministry also pared its job market forecast as businesses remain reluctant to hire when the future is uncertain. South Korea will add only 250,000 new jobs this year, 70,000 less than its previous estimate.
It forecast the surplus in the current account, which is a broad measure of trade and investment balances with the rest of the world, to fall to $29 billion from $43 billion last year.
Inflation pressure will be lower as consumer prices will likely increase 2.3 percent, not 2.7 percent.
___
Follow Youkyung Lee on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/YKLeeAP
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/skorea-cuts-growth-forecast-plans-stimulus-053404541--finance.html
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Cyprus fallout: rise of digital currency
Worried that their bank deposits aren't safe from a banking crisis, some investors are moving their money into a form of digital currency called 'bitcoins.' The trading value of bitcoins has soared since the Cyprus crisis erupted.
Women sit and wait as other people stand in line outside a branch of Laiki Bank in the southern port city of Limassol, Cyprus, Thursday, March 28, 2013. Banks in Cyprus reopened to customers for the first time in nearly two weeks Thursday, albeit with strict restrictions on transactions. Some investors are moving bank money into an alternative form of digital currency, known as bitcoins.
Pavlos Vrionides/AP
EnlargeThey won't make a sound no matter how many of them you try to toss in a bucket, and you can't pitch them in a fountain and wish for good luck. But make no mistake, bitcoins are getting big.
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The online alternative currency, previously little more than a curiosity in financial markets since its 2009 inception, has zoomed in trading value since the Cyprus banking crisis erupted two weeks ago.
With fears spreading that even insured deposits might not be safe in similar nations hit by banking crises, those looking for a haven to store their wealth have fled to the complicated world of digital cash.
"Incremental demand for bitcoin is coming from the geographic areas most affected by the Cypriot financial crisis?individuals in countries like Greece or Spain, worried that they will be next to feel the threat of deposit taxes," Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at ConvergEx, said in a report on the startling trend.?(Read More:?It's Back! Dark Cloud From Europe Stalls US Stock Market Bull Run)
Bitcoins operate on a network that, at least on the surface, resembles a typical exchange on the capital markets. Buyers can exchange their paper currencies for bitcoins and use them wherever they are accepted. Sellers can exchange their bitcoins back for their original currency.
But the value of the currency has been anything but typical.
Bitcoincharts.com?lists the value of bitcoins compared to other currencies, including U.S. and Canadian dollars, euros and pounds.
On one of the U.S. currency exchanges, labeled "Mt. Gox," the bitcoin value has zoomed to more than $87 in Wednesday trade. That represents close to a 20 percent gain over just the past week, a one-month gain of 41 percent and nearly a quintupling of value in the past year.
The "Mt. Gox" euro trading has seen numbers nearly identical to the dollar pairing.?(Read More:?Cyprus Controls to Hit Foreign Transactions)
A more sober perspective might suggest that bitcoins are at best a momentary bubble and at worst a risky chance to take considering their novelty.
But the trend also exemplifies just how nervous cash-holders are over the European situation.
"This is a clear sign that people are looking for alternative ways to get their money out of the country," said Christopher Vecchio, currency analyst at DailyFX. "If we're going to talk about the stability of the euro and whether or not there are going to be capital controls in place not just in Cyprus but around the euro zone, I think there is some efficacy behind bitcoins as an alternative liquidity vehicle."
The role of alternative currency had been falling largely to gold over the past several years. But the precious metal has been on a pretty aggressive downward path since its most recent peak in October.?(Read More:?CNBC Explains the Wild World of Currency Trading)
Gold advocates, though, continue to stress its importance as a safe haven and store of wealth.
"Why would anyone trust an electronic form of money that could get hacked and then diluted into oblivion?" said Michael Pento, president of Pento Portfolio Strategies. "We already have a form of money that is indestructible and whose supply cannot be increased by any government or individual decree. It's called gold."
Yet currency pros are at least willing to give bitcoins the benefit of the doubt as a legitimate trading vehicle as situations like Cyprus continue to crop up.
The $964 million bitcoin network pales to the $4 trillion a day in total currency trading, but it's clearly growing.
"Right now it seems safe. Personally it wouldn't be my preferred vehicle to trade money because it's unregulated," Vecchio said. "But people are deeming it legitimate even though it's not backed by a sovereign. That could be the attraction behind it. There's no sovereign credit risks to bitcoins."
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/CljyiojjHTM/Cyprus-fallout-rise-of-digital-currency
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Actress Ashley Judd won't run for US Senate
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) ? Actress Ashley Judd announced Wednesday she won't run for U.S. Senate in Kentucky against Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, saying she had given serious thought to a campaign but decided her responsibilities and energy need to be focused on her family.
The former Kentucky resident tweeted her decision.
"Regretfully, I am currently unable to consider a campaign for the Senate. I have spoken to so many Kentuckians over these last few months who expressed their desire for a fighter for the people & new leader," Judd wrote.
"While that won't be me at this time, I will continue to work as hard as I can to ensure the needs of Kentucky families are met by returning this Senate seat to whom it rightfully belongs: the people & their needs, dreams, and great potential. Thanks for even considering me as that person & know how much I love our Commonwealth. Thank you!"
Her publicist Cara Tripicchio confirmed Judd's decision.
The 44-year-old Judd had hinted last week that she was nearing a decision about the race.
Now living in suburban Nashville, Tenn., Judd has said little publicly about her intentions. However, she has been meeting with several Democratic leaders, including Gov. Steve Beshear, to discuss a possible run.
Defeating McConnell would be the Democrats' biggest prize of the 2014 election. His seat is one of 14 that Republicans are defending while Democrats try to hold onto 21, hoping to retain or add to their 55-45 edge.
The star of such films as "Double Jeopardy" and "Kiss the Girls" is known for her liberal political views and she would have been running in a largely conservative state where Republicans hold both Senate seats and five of the six seats in the U.S. House.
Former State Treasurer Jonathan Miller, a Judd supporter, said she would have been a strong candidate.
"As a Kentuckian and someone who was really enthusiastic about her as a candidate, this wasn't the news I was hoping for," Miller said. "But as her friend, from the first time we talked about the race last summer, I was very candid about the grueling nature of politics. It's become a very unpleasant business and running against Mitch McConnell would be an extraordinarily difficult and grueling experience."
McConnell, who spent some $20 million on his last election and who has already raised $10 million for the next one, had already been taunting would-be Democratic challengers in a comical online video intended to raise second thoughts about taking on a politician known as brawler. The video plays on the fact that Judd lives in Tennessee.
Republican-leaning group American Crossroads in its own online video also plays on the Tennessee angle and ties her closely to President Barack Obama, who is unpopular in Kentucky.
University of Louisville political scientist Laurie Rhodebeck said Judd certainly wasn't frightened out of the race.
"She doesn't strike me as a shrinking violet," Rhodebeck said. "I think the real issue would be how much disruption she wanted in her life. This was the kind of thing that she would have to throw herself into 100 percent in order to make it worthwhile."
Judd and three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti separated early this year after marrying in his native Scotland in 2001.
Judd's decision not to enter the race leaves the Democratic Party in search of a candidate. Many of Kentucky's top Democrats, including Beshear, have said they won't run. However, a rising star within the party, Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, hasn't ruled the race out. Grimes declined comment Wednesday evening through her spokeswoman, Lynn Sowards Zellen.
___
Associated Press writer Janet Cappiello contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/actress-ashley-judd-wont-run-us-senate-213309573--politics.html
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Thursday, March 28, 2013
Amazon acquires Goodreads, aims to make better recommendations for Kindle users
So, Amazon has a reading platform called Kindle. Goodreads has a platform that makes fairly excellent suggestions when it comes to reading materials. You probably see where this is going. This evening, Amazon announced that it was acquiring one of the more popular reading recommendation engines, and while the outfit isn't making clear what it plans to do with the technology, it shouldn't take a scholar to see how it'd bolster Amazon's Kindle reader line as well as its array of Kindle apps. (What'll happen to Shelfari, however, is perhaps a bigger mystery.)
Russ Grandinetti, Amazon's vice president of Kindle Content noted that "Goodreads has helped change how we discover and discuss books and, with Kindle, Amazon has helped expand reading around the world -- together, we intend to build many new ways to delight readers and authors alike." It's entirely likely that this will add another social angle to the Kindle framework, further establishing an ecosystem where friends could see suggestions based on what they're independently reading through their own Kindle accounts. The companies are expecting the deal to be finalized in Q2, which suggests that we'll see a proper integration just as back-to-school season begins. Right, guys?
Filed under: Amazon
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/SOhzmKmoIpU/
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Apple iPhone Landing on T-Mobile April 12 for $99 Down
Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/03/apple-iphone-tmobile/
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Screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick on G.I. Joe: Retaliation
Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, the screenwriting pair behind 2009's Zombieland, have carved out quite a niche for themselves, bringing their unique blend of action and humor to several of Hollywood's major genre properties. This week sees the release of their G.I. Joe: Retaliation, a project that, as Reese explains, he's been prepping since childhood.The pair are also heavily involved in bringing the world of Zombieland to the small screen through Amazon Studios. A pilot has already been shot and, as announced this week, fans will have to opportunity to decide whether or not the show goes to series, streaming through the site's Prime Instant Video.
Also heavily discussed in the below interview is Reese and Wernick's script for Deadpool. Calling the script "our favorite script we've ever written," the duo maintain that, even though the project seems to be temporarily stalled, they'll do whatever it takes to get Marvel's "Merc with a mouth" into theaters as an R-rated action comedy.
Warning: The below interview contains some spoilers.
CS: How did "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" end up coming your way?
Rhett Reese: Well, it came across our desk because we had just written "Zombieland."
Paul Wernick: The summer of 2009.
Reese: They asked if we'd be interested in writing "G.I. Joe" and I was a huge, huge fan of the comics and the toys as a child. My very first home movies I made with the G.I. Joe characters. We really jumped at it. There was a chance to audition and we went for it. We pitched them a vision for the movie against a bunch of other writers and they hired us.
Wernick: I have a son who was six at the time. He wasn't able to see "Zombieland," obviously, and won't for a long time. This was an opportunity to make a movie for him, too, and that was very exciting for me.
CS: What goes into a pitch like that? Is it a full presentation? Do you already have the story mapped out?
Wernick: We pitched the movie from start to finish. It took us about an hour to present it. You're competing against a bunch of other writers to do it and, obviously, it's a very sought-after job because it's a big movie and a franchise and a sequel to a movie that made money. It's a movie that's definitely getting made and, in this town, it's hard to get movies made. It's especially hard to get movies made. We find that on a day-to-day basis, "Deadpool" being the prime example.
Reese: We're pushing the boulder on that one, still. It's been years.
Wernick: We also felt like we had a great in to the story and we were really excited about it, creatively.
CS: One of the cool things about it is that the story is such a medley of genres. There's a ninja movie. There's a military movie.
Wernick: Yeah, interestingly, it was kind of two parallel tracks of stories. There's the Storm/Snake story and the G.I. Joe revenge story. We pitched it as two parallel-but-intertwined stories that ultimately come together at the end, in the final set piece of the third act where Snake Eyes comes and has Storm Shadow with him. In a way, it was writing two movies.
Reese: In some ways, yeah. Snake Eyes is a very difficult character to write because he can't talk and he wears a black mask always. You can't really have him in public interacting with people. It's hard to have him in a scene with other people because it starts to get a little silly. You have to figure out physical things for him to be doing. We kind of centered it around the pursuit of Storm Shadow and the kidnapping of Storm Shadow and the turning of him from bad guy to good guy.
Wernick: We also wanted to work in a mislead about having him talk in his prison scene.
CS: I liked that a lot. I was genuinely angry for a second.
Wernick: That was totally intended. We wanted fans to react like that for just a split second. "Who gave them the keys to the car?!"
CS: Sort of to that same point, there's a whole segment that homages the "Silent Interlude" comic book where a full scene plays for about ten minutes without dialogue.
Wernick: That was in the original pitch. Larry Hama and his "Silent Interlude" obviously inspired Rhett in great ways as a child. The idea of working it in to a major spring/summer tentpole with no dialogue was kind of revolutionary. We didn't think the studio would let us do it.
Reese: We said, "Give us ten minutes. Ten minutes without any lines." They were like, "Okay!" Once they saw the scene on the page, they realized why it would be so cool. It's a story that, much like that comic, you just didn't need words to tell. It's very physical. You know Storm Shadow is holed up there with all of his buddies. You know that these two people have to get him out. It just plays from there. We envisioned it originally taking place half in the monastery and half the chase down the mountain and we pitched squirrel suits, those flying suits, as a means of escape. Lorenzo di Bonaventura, the producer, was working on "Transformers" at the same time and said, "I hate to break it to you, but we're using those in 'Transformers.'"
Wernick: We were devastated. We were like, "There goes that sequence!"
Reese: We went back to the drawing board and went on the internet where we discovered a rock climber named Dan Osman who does this thing called rope jumping. Basically, he fixes a bunch of ropes into the side of a mountain. He jumps off the mountain and uses his rock climbing ropes to rest his fall and he swings around and stuff. He died doing this, very tragically. Before he did, he made a bunch of videos of himself doing it. We discovered them and thought, "Oh my god. That's the perfect means for them to escape." Flying on ropes meant we could do a kind of Tarzan and Jane thing with ziplines and ultimately a joust on the side of a mountain. It kind of came together. It was really exciting to see that happen. Jon did a great job directing it and I think it's our favorite part of the movie.
CS: Wasn't there an old Joe toy, too, that came with a zipline backpack?
Reese: You know, that's funny. Now that you say that, that's coming back to me. I had forgotten that. That never entered our heads, but, in any case, it's always good to have some zipline fun.
CS: Paul, were you as big a fan of Joe moving into this?
Wernick: I was absolutely a fan of Joe. Probably not as extreme as Paul. He had everything.
Reese: Everything but the aircraft carrier. The Flagg. It was so expensive that I couldn't quite talk my parents into it and I could never save enough allowance.
Wernick: Every kid growing up in our day and age was a Joe fan.
Reese: I had everything. The hang glider. The F-14 Tomcat. I had the H.I.S.S. Tank. Everything.
Wernick: You were spoiled.
Reese: I was spoiled. I would spend all my allowance on it, too. I was always buying G.I. Joe stuff.
Wernick: I think Hasbro has paid you back.
Reese: By now, yeah. It's win-win.
CS: How was it, then, to meet up with Jon, who is also a die-hard Joe fanatic?
Reese: That was so great. We needed that. We needed someone who came in and just got the tone and got the energy and the fun. He was exactly that guy.
CS: Ensemble films are doing very well lately and one of things that really drives them home for audiences are the little one-liners and character-specific moments that get injected into the screenplay. This is packed with little reference to old G.I. Joe file cards and episodes of the cartoon.
Reese: Yeah, there was a lot of lore that we wanted to wink at. Little things like Snake Eyes speaking for the first time. We just wanted to have fun with that because we knew it would, ultimately, appeal to the Joe fans.
Wernick: We went up to Rhode Island where Hasbro is based when we first signed on to the project. We kind of went to G.I. Joe school. It was really, really cool. They laid out all the characters and the toys and they said, "This and this and this." We got action figures made of ourselves, which was just the greatest thing ever. It was just a thrill. It just brings out the kid in you.
CS: It seems like "Zombieland" was the film that came out that made you both Hollywood names, especially in terms of fanboy properties. Is that an association you're happy to have fans make?
Wernick: Oh, absolutely. It's funny. We finished "Zombieland" and were talking to the press about it, hailing "Zombieland" as this original idea in a town that doesn't really make original ideas and that don't usually go on to great success even if they actually get made. We were kind of thumbing our noses at the idea of, "All this town makes are sequels and comic book movies and stuff based on toys!" "Zombieland" came out and, literally the next week, we booked "G.I. Joe 2," "Deadpool" and "Zombieland 2." Comic books, sequels and toys.
Reese: We're the ultimate hypocrites and we laugh about it.
Wernick: It's a world that we love. We love the fantasy of playing in that sandbox. It just brings a huge smile to our faces. The idea of taking something that is a huge commercial property and swinging it left of center as we did with "Deadpool" is incredible. The fanboys are our people and we are them and they are us.
CS: When you are dealing with "fanboy" properties, though, how do you divorce yourself from being too close?
Wernick: Interestingly, I don't think you can. I think you need to write for all the fanboys who are going to judge you based on the characters that they grew up with and that they love. I think you absolutely have to write with them in mind. That's how you stay true to a property. If you don't write with them in mind, you veer off from what the core of the character or the property is.
CS: So "Zombieland 2" is something that's totally on hold now because of the TV series, right?
Wernick: It is.
CS: But you're both heavily involved with the show?
Wernick: Very. We wrote the pilot and we're show-running it. We shot the pilot in Atlanta about three weeks ago. We're cutting it together now. It'll air on Amazon in mid-April. We hope to get a series pick-up soon thereafter and then, probably in November, we'll have a full 12-episode order. It's always been our baby. We've lived with it for nine years now. We wrote a spec pilot for CBS in 2005, before it became a movie. We wake up thinking about it and we go to bed thinking about it. It's a huge, huge thrill for us and one that I think the fans are going to be pleasantly surprised with how the pilot turned out. We're fired up.
Reese: We're very fired up. We have a new cast playing the same characters and they're wonderful. Just wonderful. They really invoke the spirit of the characters without stepping on the original cast too much. They're very different, but equally talented. We have a wonderful director who directed a movie called "Tucker and Dale vs. Evil." He did a great job on the pilot. We're just thrilled to give it new life and Amazon has given us that opportunity. It's an exciting place to be.
CS: And this is a continuation or is it sort of like "M*A*S*H" or "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" where it's re-inventing the film?
Reese: It's sort of like "M*A*S*H," yeah. It began as a TV pilot. It became a movie. We always had envisioned it as a series, so this really feels like episode two of the TV series with the movie being the pilot. The only real change is the cast. Everything else is the same. The world. The rules. The way we approach it. The way it's shot. All those things.
Wernick: And, story-wise, it picks up from the movie. It's two weeks later. They pulled out of Pacific Playland and they're still in Los Angeles. They're starting to head East on a road trip.
CS: How did the two of you meet and decide to work together creatively?
Wernick: We went to high school together in Phoenix. We're old, old friends. Rhett came out to LA to be a screenwriter. I was a news producer and I jumped into reality TV. Our first collaboration was this hybrid scripted/unscripted reality show called "The Joe Schmo Show" in 2001. We came up with the idea and then we did that for a couple of years. A couple of seasons. That was the beginning of a wonderful partnership that has lasted now for 12, 13 years.
CS: When you look at comic books or any other properties now, are you more aware that you could be the one turning it into a film?
Reese: Sure. In the position that we're in now, it's not really a function of going out to find them. They kind of find us in a way. The agencies bring us various comics and various books all the time, asking, "Are you interested in this or that?" We see a lot of comics come across our desk without having to go out and search for them too hard. It's just a question of, "Do we spark to it?" Do we love the characters? Is it well-written? Is the artwork cool? In the case of something like "Cowboy Ninja Viking," we fell in love with it and pursued it. Other times, we don't fall in love and decide not to do it. Comics are just a wonderful kind of proving ground or mad scientist laboratory where people can use their imaginations to come up with anything. They don't have to worry about budgetary restrictions. I think that's what's so wonderful about them. They really are just purely created.
CS: Do you ever feel like approaching it the other way around? Saying, "This is a great original idea. Let's do it as a comic!"
Wernick: Sure! We've thought about starting an original idea as a comic and potentially transitioning it into a movie. We'd want to conceptually structure it as a comic first, though, before it becomes a script in our heads.
Reese: We've also thought of taking things and going the route of a video game, too. That interests us at some point. We've always wanted a "Zombieland" video game, so that might still come to fruition. A story like "Epsilon," which we wrote on spec and sold to Sony, was completely original but we'd love to see that become a video game or a comic book. We definitely enjoy different mediums and would love to work in them. Mostly, the problem is time. We don't have a lot of hours in the day to devote to different things. If there are any restrictions on doing that, it's just how many hours we have.
CS: It must be pretty exciting to be at the forefront of this new wave of television coming from things like Amazon and Netflix.
Wernick: What's so great is that "Zombieland" is this out-of-the-box idea of this wish fulfillment post-apocalyptic world. It's a new spin and very un-"Walking Dead"-like. The idea of forging new ground with a brand new network in a format that I think entertainment is going [is incredible.] I think we're on the forefront of it. It's pretty exciting for us and I think we're able to do things on Amazon that we wouldn't otherwise be able to do. The blood. The violence. The scares. The swearing. We can do all that on Amazon and not only do it, but they encourage it. We can make the show we want to make without the restrictions of being on a Fox or an NBC. The "Zombieland" that we're doing is actually a half-hour format. Those are a very strict 22 minutes on networks. Our pilot is 26 minutes and, if we have a story that goes 26 minutes, we can make it that long. Amazon says, "Fantastic. If that's the way to make the best story you can tell, make it 26 minutes." It's a little bit of the wild, wild west and a little bit of a whole new world. We feel that "Zombieland" is the perfect piece of content to fill that brand.
Reese: We love Amazon. They're a wonderful company that takes risks and they've never really failed in any space. When they go into a space, they go very intelligently. They strategize and have a good reason for being there. So far, they've done a really, really incredible job of moving into new territories and planting their flag and staying there.
Wernick: They can also hit a button and blast a hundred million targeted audience members. Do you know how much a network would pay to be able to do that?
Reese: They have more hits on their homepage in a day than all the American television networks combined. On any given day, more people click on Amazon than have watched television in America. It's crazy. Numbers like that make you sit up and take notice.
Wernick: The other big that appealed to us, because this is a big new network, we have the opportunity to be that signature show on a brand new network. On a brand new way to tell stories. Much like "The Joe Schmo Show," which aired on Spike when they re-branded TNN to be Spike, we had the signature show. We're hoping we can become that for Amazon.
CS: Is there any update on "Deadpool"? I know a lot of people are very, very eager for that one.
Reese: There isn't. What has happened so far is that we wrote a script, which we subsequently developed. It actually leaked online, so it exists out there. It's not hard to find, bizarrely. Since then, Fox gave Tim Miller, who's our director and a wonderful guy who is brilliant at what he does, some money and had him go make a test sequence. He directed about a three-minute long test sequence from the movie, all built within a computer. Ryan Reynolds did the motion capture for it. He came in and did the voice for it in an audio session. It is awesome. It is the greatest three minutes.
Wernick: If we showed it to you right now, you would lose yourself.
Reese: So that's out there. Ryan is still committed. Tim is still committed. It's just a question of convincing the powers-that-be that we can make it at a price that's reasonable to them and have it be an R-rated movie that can still make a lot of money. We love it when R-rated movies like "Bridesmaids," "The Hangover," and "Ted" do well.
Wernick: We're hoping "Kick-Ass 2" does great because that could open people's eyes to the audience that an R-rated comic book movie can bring in.
Reese: It's our favorite script we've ever written. We really are proud of it and excited for it to happen more-so than anything we've ever done.
Wernick: People ask what our passion project is and you think it would be this small, independent project. Our passion project is actually "Deadpool." We will, come hell or high water, get that thing made somehow. We're so committed to it and we've got the greatest team around with Ryan and Tim. We won't rest until it gets on screen.
(Photo Credit: Apega / WENN.com)
Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1927114/news/1927114/
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Wednesday, March 27, 2013
N.D. readies for legal battles on abortion
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) ? North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple said his decision to sign strict new abortion laws, including the nation's toughest restriction on the procedure, was not based on "any religious belief or personal experience" and that he believes legislators have a right to ask such questions about abortion restrictions.
The Republican governor signed three anti-abortion measures on Tuesday ? including one banning abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, or when a heartbeat can be detected. By doing so, Dalrymple positioned his oil-rich state as a primary battleground in the decades-old fight over abortion rights.
Within minutes of signing the laws, unsolicited donations began pouring into the state's lone abortion clinic to help opponents prove the new laws are unconstitutional. The governor urged lawmakers to set aside cash for an inevitable legal challenge.
"Although the likelihood of this measure surviving a court challenge remains in question, this bill is nevertheless a legitimate attempt by a state legislature to discover the boundaries of Roe v. Wade," Dalrymple said in a statement, referring to the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion up to until a fetus is considered viable ? usually at 22 to 24 weeks.
In an interview later Tuesday, Dalrymple told The Associated Press that the courts opened the door for a challenge by picking a specific moment in the timeline of gestation. He also said he studied the fetal heartbeat bill and "educated myself on the history and legal aspects as best I could. My conclusion is not coming from any religious belief or personal experience."
Dalrymple seemed determined to open a legal debate on the legislation, acknowledging the constitutionality of the measure was an open question. He asked the Legislature to set aside money for a "litigation fund" that would allow the state's attorney general to defend the measure against lawsuits.
He said he didn't know how much the likely court fight would cost. But, he said money wasn't the issue.
"The Legislature has decided to ask these questions on additional restrictions on abortions, and I think they have the legitimate right to ask those questions," he said.
He also signed into law measures that would makes North Dakota the first state to ban abortions based on genetic defects such as Down syndrome and require a doctor who performs abortions to be a physician with hospital-admitting privileges.
Lawmakers endorsed a fourth anti-abortion bill last week that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy based on the disputed premise that fetuses feel pain at that point. The governor stopped short of saying he would sign it, but said: "I've already signed three bills. Draw your own conclusion."
The signed measures, which take effect Aug. 1, are fueled in part by an attempt to close the Red River Women's Clinic in Fargo ? the state's only abortion clinic.
Tammi Kromenaker, the clinic's director, called the legislation "extreme and unconstitutional" and said Dalrymple "awoke a sleeping giant" by approving it. The clinic, which performs about 3,000 abortions annually, was accepting cash donations and continued to take appointments Tuesday, she said.
"First and foremost, abortion is both legal and available in North Dakota," she said. "But anytime abortion laws are in the news, women are worried about access."
The Center for Reproductive Rights announced Tuesday that it has committed to challenging the fetal heartbeat bill on behalf of the clinic. The New York-based group already represented the clinic for free in a lawsuit over a 2011 law banning the widely accepted use of a medication that induces abortion. A judge has temporarily blocked enforcement of the law, and a trial is slated for April in Fargo.
Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem told the AP that lawyers from his office would defend any lawsuits that arise but an increase to the agency's budget would likely be necessary. He did not have a dollar amount.
The state has spent about $23,000 in legal costs to date defending the 2011 legislation, according to agency records obtained by the AP.
Julie Rikelman, litigation director for the Center for Reproductive Rights, said the group has provided three attorneys to argue that case. But in the recent round of legislation, the fetal heartbeat measure is the priority because it would effectively ban abortion in the state, she said.
"The impact is very, very clear," she said. "It would have an immediate and very large impact on the women in North Dakota."
Rikelman said the center also would support the clinic in other litigation, if need be and at no cost.
Kromenaker said other states have spent millions of dollars defending legislation, if the case reaches the nation's highest court. Rikelman said it's impossible to put a dollar amount on the impending legal fight in North Dakota.
"Litigation is so unpredictable," she said. "It could be very quick with a ruling in our favor."
North Dakota's law, since it would ban most abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, goes further than a bill approved earlier this month in Arkansas that establishes a 12-week ban ? prohibiting them when a fetal heartbeat can be detected using an abdominal ultrasound. That ban is scheduled to take effect 90 days after the Arkansas Legislature adjourns.
A fetal heartbeat can generally be detected earlier in a pregnancy using a vaginal ultrasound, but Arkansas lawmakers balked at requiring women seeking abortions to have the more invasive imaging technique.
North Dakota's legislation doesn't specify how a fetal heartbeat would be detected.
Doctors performing an abortion after a heartbeat is detected could face a felony charge punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Women having an abortion would not face charges.
The legislation to ban abortions based on genetic defects also would ban abortion based on gender selection. The Guttmacher Institute, which tracks abortion laws throughout the country, says Pennsylvania, Arizona and Oklahoma also have laws outlawing abortion based on gender selection.
The Republican-led North Dakota Legislature has endorsed a spate of anti-abortion Legislation this year. North Dakota lawmakers moved last week to outlaw abortion in the state by passing a resolution defining life as starting at conception, essentially banning abortion in the state. The measure is likely to come before voters in November 2014.
Dalrymple attended a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday for a new diesel refinery in western North Dakota and made no public appearance to explain his signing of the abortion legislation.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nd-gears-legal-dispute-abortion-laws-222233847.html
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Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Weight Record for iPhone review
Weight Record for iPhone is an iPhone app that will help you keep track of your weight. It features a gorgeous interface with quick entry, BMI calculator, and the ability to record a voice memo with each entry.
To record a weight entry, you simply tap the giant weight button at the top of the screen, slide to the correct weight, and tap the button again. Below the weight, you can see your BMI and the amount of weight change since the previous day. Unfortunately, the weight change is only calculated for consecutive days and is not displayed if the time since last entry was more than one day.
Weight Record also allows users to record a voice memo with each entry. This is a unique feature for weight tracking apps, but it makes me wonder why there isn't the ability to add a text note as well.
At the bottom of the screen, there is a horizontal calendar that you can scroll through to look at past entries or submit an entry for a past date. In the middle of the screen, you can see your entries displayed as a graph. Unfortunately, this graph can only be viewed 7 days at a time
Rotating to landscape orientation will increase the number of days in the graph from 7 to 13 days, but again, the zoom cannot be altered.
At the top of the screen, there is a progress bar that represents your weight-loss progress. Pulling down on the little arrow will reveal your average weight change by day, week, and month, as well as display your start weight and goal weight.
One of the baffling things about Weight Record is that you cannot delete an entry. It's possible to change an entry, but I cannot figure out how to delete one. The description of Weight Record claims to include this ability, so if it's really there, it's definitely not intuitive. The developers have actually let me know that in order to delete an entry, you must change its value to 0 and it will disappear. It's definitely not elegant, but at least the ability is there!
The good
- Beautiful interface
- Simple setup
- Create audio notes to keep track of diet changes or other events
- Calculate your ideal weight
- View your BMI
- Set weight goals and monitor progress
- Change weight from any day
- Support for US and metric units
- View your average weight loss/gain by day, week and month
- Infinite Graph displays audio notes and overall loss/gain direction
The bad
Can't delete a weight entry (or I just can't figure out)Deleting an entry is a bit cumbersome- Can't zoom out graph and view by week, month, year, etc
- Can't add text note with each entry, only voice memo
- Weight change only displayed for consecutive days. It should calculate and display since previous entry. Some people only weigh themselves once a week and want to quickly know weight change since previous weigh-in.
- No sync
- No projections
The bottom line
Even though Weight Record is missing some features that I would love to see, especially when it comes to graphs, I really like this app. I'm a sucker for a pretty interface and that's how Weight Record grabbed my attention. It reminds me a bit of WeightBot and is now my go to weight-tracking app.
- $0.99 - Download now
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/iG8j6uZwA2M/story01.htm
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