2012: The year Microsoft finally battles back (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? In the constant game of thrones that is the Silicon Valley tech giants' battle for dominance, 2012 could be the year that Microsoft comes back from exile.

Having lost its beat about a decade ago, the software giant has more recently been plotting an aggressive grab for territory. And it's getting back in the game with actual innovation.

Flush with capital from its steady core businesses of software and servers, the company has been quietly busy with research and development in recent months and years.

The results are showing.

* Windows 8, expected to come out in February in beta, is meant to operate at the heart of a Microsoft-wide ecosystem, one that bids to challenge Apple's intuitive array of linked devices and functions. In introducing 8 at a developer's conference in Anaheim in September, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was expansive, promising, "If Windows 8 is Windows re-imagined, we're also in the process of re-imagining Microsoft."

* The X Box 360's upgrade, via an improved dashboard and the Kinect add-on, is ahead of the pack as a user-friendly voice- and gesture-controlled device and stoking enthusiasm not only among the early adopters and tech geek websites but on Wall Street. With its inviting user interface, it set a record for Black Friday weekend console sales.

Demand was so great that the national Black Friday X Box stampede, in which 800,000 units were sold, included what may be the first single-person-shooter shopping brawl, in which a Los Angeles woman pepper-sprayed the competition in a frenzy over half-price X Box 360s at a Walmart.

"The X Box is optimized for television and already connected to 50 million TV sets," says influential tech consultant and former head of digital for Oprah's network Robert Tercek. "If they can get everybody to sign up for their service (no mean feat with an upfront $60 fee to join X Box Gold and monthly charges for access to some channels), they could be as big a player as Netflix."

* Nor is the company shrinking from a battle for mobile phone -- and tablet -- business now dominated by Apple and Google's Android. The Lumia, which has been out in Europe in the form of the 710 and a fancier 800 model (introduced in London November 30 with Deadmaus deejaying), will be available January 11 in the U.S. at $49.99 with a two-year plan and is aimed at first-time buyers. (Upgraded versions are said to be on the way this spring.)

It's the first phone since the introduction of the iPhone to give Tercek gadget lust. "Have you seen the phone?" he asked TheWrap, pointing to the OLED screen that's easily read in sunlight and the tactile response of the touch screen compared to the iPhone's hard glass and the operating system. "It's a wonder to behold -- a terrific comeback."

Currently the Lumia runs on Windows Phone, but like the rest of the Microsoft offerings to come, it likely will move to the Windows 8 format.

"I've talked to people who are on the inside as developers and designers of the phone and they're pretty excited," Fred Hickey, who writes the widely read newsletter High Tech Strategist, told TheWrap. "So even people who were skeptical about Microsoft in the past are excited about these new offerings."

And if a report of a leaked internal document is correct, the company is planning to stack the deck for Lumia, combining with its phone partners what's described as a $200 million "marketing tsunami" in the U.S. alone for Lumia.

Finally, reinforcing the sense of company's refreshed zeal to compete in the phone arena, a Wall Street Journal report cited secret talks that Microsoft and Nokia were holding to acquire struggling competitor and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion.

* Even the search business that some thought Microsoft had largely ceded to Google is beginning to look more robust. Partly thanks to a useful partnership with Facebook and partly to a mandate to give customers more practical -- and fewer unfiltered -- results, its Bing has been growing in market share, mostly at the expense of Yahoo, in some part thanks to a re-energized ad campaign. (Though a Sunday New York Times piece on Google's new ad campaign for search noted, "An added incentive is that Google's main rival, Microsoft's Bing, also has a new ad campaign.")

Indeed, so promising is 2012 for Microsoft that Standard & Poor's equity analyst Angelo Zino has a "Buy" rating on the company, based both on the company's core business and the new initiatives, especially the much revamped new operating system.

"I think Windows 8 is the best thing they've got out there, and it's really going to be critical. It's almost like an 'all-in' kind of approach, and it's one of those things where they've got to get this right, and if they don't they're going to miss the boat on the whole mobile space," Zino told TheWrap.

But it's not just the products. Another change at the company is a more measured approach to going public with its innovations.

Microsoft, a giant presence at the annual Consumer Electronics Show, recently said next week's gathering will be its last, claiming the massive convention's timing is not always in sync with its product announcements.

And until scattered recent announcements focusing on Windows 8 and mobile, the reinvigoration of the company has been mostly behind the scenes. Not surprising, since Microsoft may have been feeling chastened by some past -- and more ballyhooed -- attempts at rejiggering its profile.

Ironically, though it's only three places beneath Apple in the Fortune 500 -- at No. 38, with $62 billion in revenue, thanks mostly to its core software and server businesses -- its steadily strong profits have been overshadowed by the failure of such ancillary products as the Zune MP3 player and the Windows Vista operating system.

The recent acquisition of Skype for a pricey $8.5 billion also drew fire. By the time the Redmond, Wash., giant announced a deal with struggling Finnish phone manufacturer Nokia this past February, "Microsoft had pissed away the previous 10 years in mobile with one humiliating failure after another," Tercek told TheWrap.

"Microsoft Mobile was a joke, the Windows phone was a joke, and they were humiliated," he added. "So when the Nokia deal was announced the general reaction was, 'Great, you tie two stones together, they still can't float.'"

Ballmer has been the focus of much shareholder criticism and was even targeted in May by feared hedge-fund activist David Einhorn, not just for the stolid share price that's long hovered under $30, but for overseeing the company's $2.56 billion loss in their search unit.

No serious observers believed the fantasy solution that founder Bill Gates would step back in. Instead, it was announced last month that Andy Lees, head of the company's Windows Phone division for the past three years, will be moved into a "time-critical" mission to further integrate Windows 8 with mobile devices, in line with what Lees earlier this year described as "a single ecosystem" integrating phones, televisions and tablets.

Indeed, all this intuitive gadgetry, is helping people forget "the Microsoft of yore with the blue screen of death," Tercek told TheWrap. "With all these great user interface advances, they're showing they can continue to innovate."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/enindustry/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120106/media_nm/us_microsoft2012

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US rights activist denied entry into Bahrain (AP)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates ? An American human rights activist, who intended to observe a protest-related trial in Bahrain, was denied entry into the Gulf kingdom on Sunday despite authorities' pledge of transparency.

Richard Sollom, deputy president of the U.S.-based Physicians for Human Rights, told The Associated Press that Bahraini airport authorities gave no reason for their refusal to allow him into the Gulf country, which was hit hard by political unrest during last year's Arab Spring.

Sollom charged that Bahrain authorities do not want international observers at the trial of doctors and nurses who treated injured protesters, which is set to resume Monday. International human rights organizations have harshly criticized the prosecution of the health professionals who were working at the state-run Salmaniya Medical Center during the massive protests in February and March.

"I am quite stunned. This was the first time a member of an international rights organization came to Bahrain after authorities promised to respect human rights and told us we can come and see for ourselves," Sollom said in a telephone interview after he landed in Dubai Sunday evening. "We can see now that not much has changed," he added.

Bahraini authorities could not immediately be reached for comment.

The government had made a pledge of transparency following an international inquiry into months of anti-government demonstrations and the ensuing crackdowns that accused Bahrain of rights abuses, including denying a fair trial to arrested protesters.

Sollom holds a U.S. passport. He arrived in Bahrain on Sunday morning with a five-year, multiple entry visa. He said he wanted to observe Monday's retrial of 21 doctors and nurses who were convicted last year of anti-state crimes and received lengthy prison sentences from a special security court that was set up after Bahrain imposed martial law to quell dissent.

At least 40 people have died since February when Bahrain's Shiite majority started demanding greater rights by marching on the streets in numbers never seen before in the strategic Gulf island nation that is ruled by a Sunni dynasty.

Bahrain is a critical U.S. ally and is home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. Washington has taken a cautious line with authorities, urging Bahrain's leaders to open more dialogue with the opposition, but avoiding too much public pressure.

The government has accused the medics of participating in efforts to overthrow the ruling Al Khalifa family.

In November, independent investigators tasked by Bahrain's king to probe the unrest were highly critical of the special security court that has tried the medics, opposition leaders and activists behind closed doors. A 500-page report by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry said the court has issued harsh sentences ? including life in prison and death penalties ? and "denied most defendants elementary fair trial guarantees."

The document also spotlighted abuses at the Salmaniya hospital. The authorities saw its mostly Shiite staff as opposition sympathizers. Dozens of doctors and nurses who treated injured protesters were detained during the crackdown. Many of them received prison sentences of five to 15 years.

Bahrain has abolished the special tribunal and has moved protest-related trials into civilian courts.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120108/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_bahrain

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Music video dancers rally outside Sony to secure union contract

Dancers
Dancers?who work on music videos for Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake?and other performers staged a "solidarity rally"?in Beverly Hills?on Friday, while similar?rallies were held concurrently at Sony offices in Miami and New York.

Dozens of members of the Los Angeles dance?community?held?a rally and a flash mob performance, set to the tune of Aretha Franklin's hit "Respect," outside the offices of Sony Music Entertainment in support of efforts by music video performers to secure a union contract.

"We dance because it's our passion, but we also expect to be taken seriously as professional performers in the entertainment industry,'' said Dana Wilson, a dancer who has performed with Justin Timberlake and others.

They protest targeted Sony,?an AFTRA spokesman said, because it?s one of the largest music labels and is an owner of Vevo, the fast-growing online music video service for?music videos.

The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which represents actors and other performers,?organized the protest in advance of negotiations with Sony and other music labels. For more than a year, AFTRA has been trying?to secure a union contract deal with music companies that would provide?minimum pay and benefits to dancers and others who perform in music videos.

The last round of talks ended in June, and the next is set to start Wednesday, with Sony, Universal Music Group, Warner, EMI and Disney and their subsidiary labels.

The union, which has 77,000 members, argues that the need for?such an industry-wide contract has?increased?as?the music video industry has grown, thanks to the popularity of?performers like Lady Gaga, Beyonc? and the fans that follow their videos online through services such as Vevo, a joint venture of Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Abu Dhabi Media.

"It's time that these performers receive contractual protections and health and pension benefits for their work, particularly when music videos have become a new source of revenue for the labels,"? Randall Himes, AFTRA national director of sound recordings, said in a statement.??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

A spokeswoman for Sony Music Entertainment declined to comment.?

RELATED:?

Actors unions to huddle for nine days of merger talks

AFTRA, music labels fail to make contract headway

Performers' union negotiates new TV contract?

? Richard Verrier

Photo:??Music video performers doing a flash mob dance during a rally at Electric Fountain Beverly Hills Park, January 06, 2012. The rally was?organized by The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. Credit: Ricardo DeAratanha/Los Angeles Times.

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/entertainment/news/~3/5EliorC-L0U/la-et-ct-music-video-dancers-rallys-union-contract-jan6-sl,0,328598.storylink

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Five reasons the world won't end in 2012

On Dec. 21, 2012, many doomsday believers fear the apocalypse ? anything from a rogue planet smashing into us to our world spinning end over end. However, the world should expect nothing more next year than the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, NASA says.

Many people point to the?end of the Mayan Long Count calendar?on Dec. 21, 2012 as evidence of the coming apocalypse, but astronomers have been quick to stress that there is nothing to be concerned about.

According to the ancient Mayan calendar, next year's winter solstice marks the end of a 144,000-day cycle. This cycle, which begins at the mythical Maya creation date, has already been repeated 12 times. The 13th will end in 2012, capping a full 5,200-year Mayan cycle of creation.

This date has long been shrouded in mystery, with many claiming that it will bring destruction to our planet. [End of the World? Top Doomsday Fears]

- Charles Q. Choi,?SPACE.com

One fear is that a rogue planet that has been dubbed?"Nibiru" or "Planet X"?is supposedly aimed at Earth. Self-proclaimed Nibiru expert Nancy Lieder, who says she is in contact with the aliens from Zeta Reticuli, first said Nibiru would cause widespread disaster in May 2003, only to change it to Dec. 21, 2012.

There is, however,?no evidence that Nibiru is real.

"Nibiru is ridiculous because it doesn't exist ? it never existed as anything other than a figment of the imagination by pseudo-scientists who don't seem bothered by a complete lack of evidence," astronomer Don Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near-Earth Object program office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., told SPACE.com.

There is no basis for the claim that it might be lurking behind the sun, as it could not have hidden from observation until now, Yeomans said. If such a planet was headed toward Earth by Dec. 21, 2012, it would already be visible to the naked eye.

Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter?@Spacedotcom?and on?Facebook.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/JnFK54X8rRc/Five-reasons-the-world-won-t-end-in-2012

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Works from Muskegon Museum of Art set for display at Grand Valley State University

ALLENDALE ? The Grand Valley State University Art Gallery will be hosting ?Regionalism and the Art of the WPA: Selections From the Muskegon Museum of Art,? an exhibition of more than 40 Depression Era works drawn from the Muskegon art museum's permanent collection.

A free opening reception for the exhibit is 5-7 p.m. Jan. 19. The gallery is located at 1121 Performing Arts Center on the GVSU Allendale campus.

The GVSU exhibit, opening Jan. 16, is in conjunction with the MMA's upcoming ?1934: A New Deal for Artists? show set to open Feb. 16. The ?New Deal? exhibit has been organized and is being circulated by the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.?

Call 616-331-2563 for information.

Email: nkversch@muskegonchronicle.com

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MuskegonNews/~3/sYYsmVUr5Uc/works_from_muskegon_museum_of.html

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Agency ranks 2011 as driest year ever in Texas (AP)

HOUSTON ? The National Weather Service says 2011 was Texas' driest year on record as well as its second hottest.

The agency said Friday the average rainfall for the drought-stricken state last year was 14.88 inches. The previous driest average total was in 1917 with 14.99 inches.

The weather service says 2011's average temperature was 67.2 degrees. Texas' warmest year on record was in 1921 with an average temperature of 67.5 degrees.

Last year Texas suffered its worst single-year drought, its largest agricultural losses and the hottest summer in U.S. history. From June through August, Texas averaged 86.8 degrees, beating out Oklahoma's 85.2 degrees in 1934.

The current drought started in fall 2010. Forecasters say it is expected to drag on at least through June.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weather/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120107/ap_on_re_us/us_texas_driest_year

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A Three-Step Approach to Ensuring Resolution Success [New Year's Resolutions]

A Three-Step Approach to Ensuring Resolution SuccessResolutions are a yearly tradition; unfortunately, so is failing to keep them. In fact, 81 percent of resolution's fail within two years. In this post, we're going to walk through the basics of how to make a resolution that sticks, then apply those ideas, one by one, to five of the most common types of resolutions.

The top New Year's resolutions rarely change year to year. The most popular typically revolve around losing weight, managing stress, getting out of debt, quitting smoking, and learning a new skill. We'll tackle each of those individually, but before we start, let's take a look at the basic you can use to form, schedule, and track your personal resolution.

Image remixed from original by abdulsatarid/Shutterstock.

Part 1: Focus, Plan, and Track Your Resolution to Make it Stick

A Three-Step Approach to Ensuring Resolution SuccessThree main factors stop you from keeping your resolution: unclear goals, poor self-control, and failure to gauge your progress. Each of these can be managed independently by following a three-step process.

Step 1: Form Your Resolution in a Way You Can Keep It

Focus is important no matter what type of resolution you have in mind. Make your resolution as specific as you can. For instance, "getting healthy" is a great idea, but it also means a lot of different things. Instead, figure out what you need to do to get healthy. This might mean losing weight, working out, or changing your diet. If you're struggling to focus your resolution, ask yourself a few questions:

  • Why do I want to do this?
  • What do I do everyday that needs to be altered?
  • Will this make me happier?
  • Can I start small?
  • What steps can I take to build this resolution throughout the year?

The goal is to come up with a concrete idea in one or two sentences. For health, look at what you can change. If taking a 30-minute walk three times a week will suffice, make your resolution "Take a 30-minute walk around the neighborhood ever Monday, Wednesday, and Friday."

Step 2: Schedule Your Goals and Plan for the Year

Once you have a concrete resolution, you can plan the ways you're going to achieve it. For the aforementioned walking example, it's as simple as picking the three days and times you're going to walk and entering those in a calendar.

The idea is that you integrate this schedule in with your regular calendar so you can make sure you have time to work on your resolution. You want your resolution to challenge you, but not be too time-consuming to accomplish. Creating a schedule helps you zero in on whether or not your resolution is feasible. You should consider this a self-imposed inflexible time and you have to stick with it no matter what. Consider your resolution's schedule the same as your work schedule and integrate the two into one calendar.

If you're wary about making your goals, schedule in half-year assessment so you can review and retool the idea if needed.

Step 3: Track Your Accomplishments and Failures Throughout the Year

A lack of self-control is one of the major causes for failing to keep your resolution, but self-tracking is a great tool for keeping them. When you're tracking your resolution, you can also keep an eye on your failures, so even if you end up bailing out of your resolution, you will still have the data to point you in the right direction. It's also a great means to judge your progress and according to Psychology Today you should reward yourself for doing well with short-term reinforcement. For instance, if you met your weight goal for the month, treat yourself to a nice dinner.

Thanks to technology, tracking everything you do with nearly any type of resolution is easy. You can use the calendar and schedule you already created to track your goals, or you can seek out specialized apps and webapps to help you along the way. You can track nearly any type of data with webapps like Daytum or Quantter for general goals, or you can also seek out more specialized tracking tools for your specific resolution.

By the end of this process, you should have a full-fledged resolution and plan you can convey to anyone. For example:

My goal is to learn programming by reading and doing the examples in one chapter a week of The Best Programming Guide Ever and I'm tracking my progress on my calendar. By the end, I hope to release a game made in HTML5 on my website.

Part 2: Apply Successful Resolution Strategies to the Big Five

General advice is one thing, but how does it actually apply to your specific resolution? Below, I've applied these ideas to the five most common types of resolutions?diet and exercise, stress management, personal finance, quitting smoking, and education?to illustrate how to make your all-too-common resolution stick.

Eat Healthy, Get Fit, and Lose Weight

A Three-Step Approach to Ensuring Resolution SuccessAround 33 percent of Americans are obese, and another 34 percent are overweight. With statistics like that, it's not too surprising the most popular resolutions revolve around losing weight and eating healthy.

Step 1 - Form your resolution: Decide what you can and need to do in order to meet your goal, and boil it down from there. A few good, concrete examples would include:

  • Work vegetables into my diet four times a week.
  • Go on a one-mile jog every Wednesday and Sunday.
  • Lose 20 pounds by December 1 by cutting trans fats and walking a half hour a day.

Step 2 - Schedule: A good place to start scheduling a diet is the USDA's SuperTracker site where you can input your diet and get an idea where you're going wrong. Now that you know what you need, it's time to plan. You probably don't want to make a grocery list for an entire year, so start with one for the month. Instead of filling in foods you want to eat, start with the foods that can help you meet your resolution. If it's vegetables, write down some vegetables on each day of your calendar, and then structure the meals around the vegetables.

As for getting yourself in shape, you can be overweight or thin as a flagpole and make this resolution, so scheduling yourself out is going to depend on what your goals for it are. Regardless of your current circumference, a good place to start is by taking a look at our Lifehacker Workout to get an idea of what you can do for a simple, well-rounded workout. We also provide a schedule for your workout to make things easier and you can tweak that as you see fit as the year progresses. If our workout schedule isn't your thing. If you'd prefer to make your own plan, our gymless workout will get you fit without spending a dime.

Losing weight may very well be one of the most difficult resolutions on the list and scheduling plays an important role in your success. First, you need to set a realistic weight loss goal. A realistic goal should be as small as losing one or two pounds a week. Medically speaking, it's best to seek to lose five to 10 percent of your starting weight on your first attempt. To calculate that, multiply your current weight by 0.1 or 0.05. This will give you the weight you can realistically lose. Next, head over to a weight loss calculator and enter in your information. You can chose a target date for the weight loss as well as enter you current activities and you'll get a number of different options for a date to reach your goal by. You'll also get a target calorie count, which you can integrate in the aforementioned SuperTracker so you can modify your diet accordingly. Enter your weight loss goals, broken down by the month on you calendar, combine it with a new diet and maybe bits and pieces of a workout throughout the week and you now have a full schedule for keeping yourself in shape.

Step 3 - Track: Eating healthy, exercising, and losing weight are all easy to track. You can keep an eye on your fitness, weight, and diet on you computer or smartphone. For iOS, we like a few different tools. Notably, Lose It is a great calorie tracker, and RunKeeper is one of our favorite fitness trackers. For Android, we have some favorites as well, including the FastSecret Calorie Counter and CardioTrainer for tracking. For web and mobile purposes, Fitocracy and Fleetly are both excellent tools to tracking your workout. All of these tools combined allow you to track your workouts, your current weight, and what you're eating on a weekly basis. They'll show you when you're losing weight and how much so you can see if certain plans or diets are working better than others.

Photo by Konstantin Zamkov.

Manage Stress

A Three-Step Approach to Ensuring Resolution Success Somewhere around 54 percent of Americans are concerned about their stress level and often equate decreasing stress to happiness. What's more, stress has a direct relation to nearly everything else on this list, including smoking, alcohol consumption, money issues, and health.

Step 1 - Form your resolution: Identify your stress and come up with a plan. These might include ideas like:

  • Take one personal day every two months to watch movies all day long.
  • Do yoga every Monday and Wednesday for one hour starting at 6 pm.
  • Set aside two hours every Sunday for researching and making important decisions.

Step 2 - Schedule: Unfortunately, stress management is a hard beast to schedule around, but you can fill you calendar with days dedicated to curbing stress. As we outlined in a previous post, one way to deal with stress is to pick up a hobby. We'll get to outlining ways for you to learn something new in a second, but hobbies can also include things like watching movies or playing video games. To this end, you can populate your calendar with scheduled "play days," where you relax. If you have vacation time, dedicate a day every couple months to a personal day. This is also a good time to plan out a yearly vacation. Even if you can't afford a vacation at the moment, pick a date, put it on your calendar and work out the details later. Another possible method is to schedule in your worry time each week on your calendar so you can dedicate time to deal with your stress or schedule out renewal times for daily debriefings.

Step 3 - Track: No magical recipe for stress management exists, but you can track your progress of dealing with stress throughout the year. You can use the same calendar you already made as a tracking tool. First off, check off the days you scheduled off to make sure you're taking those mini-vacation days. Second, make a short note on the calendar when you experience stressful days and why they happen. You might start noticing a trend. For instance, maybe on Monday's you always work late and eat lunch at your desk. If this is happening every week, you can reclaim this time for yourself or plan around it to make it more manageable.

Photo by Robert Banh.

Manage Debt and Save Money

A Three-Step Approach to Ensuring Resolution SuccessThe average American's credit card debt is around $10,000 and the average overall debt is around $117,000. The idea that people might want to start cutting their debt down makes a lot of sense.

Step 1 - Form your resolution: Getting out of debt and saving money happen to be the two easiest resolutions to lay out in a concrete way. For instance:

  • Pay 20 percent more than my minimum payment on my credit card debt every month by cutting out Starbucks.
  • Take my lunch to work on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and transfer the $120 saved each month to a savings account.
  • Pay my credit card bill in full by August by adjusting my payments to $150 a month by working an extra day every other week.

Step 2 - Schedule: Managing debt and saving money are easy to schedule in advance. With your goals in hand, look at what you need to do each month and write it out. If you're paying off a debt, figure out how much you want to pay and adjust the rest of your budget accordingly. If you're saving money, do the same thing and set up an automatic withdrawal from you checking account. If you need a little help, you can check out our guide to teaching friends to budget to pull a few tips for yourself. In order to manage your debt or save money, you need to recalibrate your budget and then work you goals and payments into your calendar.

Step 3 - Track: We've seen a lot of options for budgeting, but on iOS, we like Jumsoft Money. On Android and desktops, we like Mint. If you decide to go with Mint, we've made a simple guide to creating and sticking to your budget that should make your resolutions a little easier to keep. Regardless of which ones you choose, the purpose is to track your spending and ensure you're meeting your target savings and debt reduction goals.

Quit Smoking and Drink Less Alcohol

A Three-Step Approach to Ensuring Resolution SuccessOver 50 percent of Americans are considered regular drinkers and an estimated 20 percent of Americans smoke, so we'll do our best to outline good practices for keeping your resolution for both.

Step 1 - Form your resolution: Set your quit date for smoking on a specific day. For drinking, consider curbing your intake by regulating days. Your resolution might be as simple as:

  • Quit smoking February 3.
  • Relegate drinking to Friday and Saturday evening, after 8 pm.

Step 2 - Schedule: Theories exist that long term treatment might be the best way to quit smoking. In this case, it's an eight week program followed by an additional 48 weeks of counseling when needed. A good place to find this support is SmokeFree, which will provide you with a few tricks to quitting smoking as well as call center backup and discussion forums. One of these is "smoke free Monday's," where you dedicate one day a week to not smoking. Put that on your calendar and then start adding more days as the year goes on, with a big star next to your final quit day. To curb your alcohol consumption, consider picking one or two days a week where you can drink, then cut it every other day. Schedule these out on your calendar in a way you're comfortable with.

Step 3 - Track: Two popular ways to quit smoking are by pacing and motivating. For pacing, iQuit for iOS is a free tool that uses a scheduled reduction method to cut back on your smoking. It shows you exactly how much you smoke and tells you when you can again. For Android, Smoker Reducer does the same thing. If you're looking to cater your own plan and get some motivation, LiveStrong's MyQuit Coach for iOS is a great place to start. You can set reduction methods, track your progress and get counseling when needed. For Android, you can track all the same numbers with QuitNow!. Both of these will show off the health benefits and also work in the money you've saved over time.

For alcohol, you can use the NHS Drinks Tracker for iOS or AlcoDroid for Android to track your drinking over the weeks and see an estimated blood alcohol content for each day. It might also be a good idea to utilize one of the budgeting apps listed above so you can get an overview of how much money you're saving by not hitting up the bar or liquor store every day.

Learn a New Skill

A Three-Step Approach to Ensuring Resolution SuccessLearning a new skill, trade, or hobby is enjoyable on a lot of levels. Not only can it help increase your marketability as a worker, it also means you can tackle DIY projects on your own throughout the year, which will inevitably save you money.

Step 1 - Form your resolution: You need to start by deciding what skill you want to learn, but a good way to form your plan is to include your final goal. For instance:

  • Learn Kung Fu by taking a class once a week so by December I can audition as an extra in a Jackie Chan movie.

Step 2 - Schedule: Learning something new is an easy idea in theory, but it's often difficult to find a good starting point. If you're learning a new skill, finding a good book is a great place to start and makes it easy to plan your progress. You can treat this like a syllabus in a college class. When you're scheduling out your year, tackle one chapter of the book every one or two weeks. If you're learning a skill like programming or Photoshop, you can dedicate one day a week to reading and another to practicing. You can also add in your own goals throughout the year. For instance, if you're learning Photoshop, one early goal might be, "crop and remove redeye from all the family photos by June 2," while a later goal might be, "use the picture of Billy on Santa's lap to create a photo of him on a dragon with a sword in his hand." You can also use our Lifehacker Night School guides if you're interested in topics like building computers, making a website, or learning to code.

Step 3 - Track: Tracking learning a new skill or hobby is easy enough that it doesn't require any additional apps. Instead, you can refer back to your schedule when you need to and make sure you're following it. If you get behind, take on an additional chapter one week, or shift everything back. If you're learning a construction or artistic skill, consider sharing your final project with the rest of the world. Once you've finished your first DIY project, share it on a site like Instructables or WonderHowTo so we can all see how you did it. If you've dedicated the year to learning a kind of art, Deviant Art is great for getting feedback on art, and Soundcloud is a great place to showcase your songs for free. If you plan on sharing some of your projects, you'll be documenting and tracking the process by default. It makes it easy to see exactly how much you've progressed and learned over the year.

Photo by Bill Bradford.


The most important thing to remember with New Year's resolutions, or any life altering decisions you make, is that they're not easy and you will occasionally fail. Hopefully, if you've planned it out well and you picked a realistic goal, your failure rate will be less. Even if you don't make your target each month, stick with your plans, outlines, and track everything you're accomplishing. You'll likely feel as good as if you had met those goals.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/e3LmFg2OdLI/a-three+step-approach-to-ensuring-resolution-success

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Is claim on Florida?s gambling rank among states true?

Supporters of a proposed bill that would allow three massive destination casino resorts in South Florida often argue that gambling is already big business here.

?Florida is considered the fourth-largest gambling state in the nation, but it has let the industry drive policy decisions and that has produced the worst kind of gaming,?? Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, said in an interview about her casinos bill. ?To me, no kind of gaming is good, but we as policymakers have to decide, do we want gaming with five-star hotels or Internet cafes in strip malls??

The fourth-largest ranking claim has been repeated by many people. But is it accurate?

Bogdanoff?s source is an Oct. 24 report by Bernstein Research, a leading watcher of gambling stocks.

?Florida has more gaming options than Las Vegas,? the report states. ?There is currently $3.4B of gaming occurring in Florida or $7.4B if one includes the lottery. .?.?. There are 8 casinos in the state run by Native Americans. Seven of these are Seminole and one is Miccosukee. These casinos generated revenues of just over $2B in 2009, making Florida the fourth-largest state for tribal gaming. .?.?.?

We?ll note straight off that the Bernstein report is discussing tribal gaming not gaming overall, a distinction not made by Bogdanoff.

?She misspoke,? said Aaron Nevins, Bogdanoff?s legislative assistant. ?Florida is the fourth-largest state for tribal gaming.?

Setting aside that mistake, we started looking for other measures.

Nevins directed us to a report about states? gambling revenues in fiscal year 2010 by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, a group that describes itself as the public policy research arm of the State University of New York.

According to the Rockefeller report, 43 states operate lotteries, 15 allow commercial casinos, 12 have racinos, and over 40 states allow pari-mutuel wagering. Lotteries and casinos generate the bulk of gambling-related revenues.

In Florida, revenues totaled about $1.4 billion ? ranking the state third behind New York and Pennsylvania.

How could Florida be ahead of Nevada, which had $829.3 million in revenues, placing at No. 12? Rockefeller looked at gambling revenues from four sources ? lotteries, casinos, racinos and pari-mutuel wagering. Nevada only has one category (casinos) while Florida has the lottery, racinos (race tracks with slot machines) and pari-mutuel wagering.

But let?s take a look at a few other charts in the Rockefeller report that examine states? gambling rankings in various ways:

States? reliance on gambling revenues: In fiscal year 2009, Florida was 15th at 3.3 percent. Nevada ? at 12.5 percent ? had the highest percentage of gambling revenue as a share of the state?s own-source revenue.

States? share of nationwide gambling revenues: Florida was third at 5.8 percent behind New York and Pennsylvania for fiscal year 2010.

Gambling revenue per resident 18 & above: Florida was 21st at $94.4. Rhode Island was No. 1.

Gambling revenue as a percentage of personal income: Florida was 19th at 0.2 percent. West Virginia was No. 1.

So each measure of gambling can result in a different state being the top, second or fourth.

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/31/2575575/is-claim-on-floridas-gambling.html

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It's a Snap: Travel photos from around the world

Submitted by Andrew Schwartz / UGC

Penguin, Antarctic Peninsula

Our readers have submitted some stunning photos from far-flung corners of the globe. This week's gallery features images from the Serengeti, the Antarctic, the Pacific Coast and other beautiful settings.

Scroll through this gorgeous set of images and vote for your favorite at the bottom.

Submitted by Robert Weiser / UGC

Pacific coast, Baha, Mexico

Submitted by Jesse Brisendine / UGC

Submitted by Thomas Young / UGC

Pacific Coast near Montara, Calif.

Submitted by James Sumner / UGC

Submitted by Steve Stillman / UGC

Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

Submitted by Peter McIntosh / UGC

Autumn Valley, Rabun County, Ga.

Submitted by Greg Sorlie / UGC

Elephants and lion in Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya

Submitted by Kelly Shortreed / UGC

Smith River, Oregon Coast Range

Submitted by Jim McAnallen / UGC

Iguana on St. Maarten, Caribbean

Submitted by Kevin Pappas / UGC

Colorado River, Grand Canyon

Submitted by Rebecca Brenden / UGC

Angkor Thom, Siem Reap, Cambodia

Submitted by Ed Monster / UGC

Letchworth State Park, Castile, N.Y.

Submitted by Ron Haak / UGC

Zebras on the Serengeti, Tanzania

Submitted by Karen Kloke / UGC

Lower Mesa Falls on Henry's Fork of the Snake River, Idaho

Submitted by Pat Abbott / UGC

Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park, Wash.

If you have photos you'd like to share, submit them for a chance to be featured in the weekly gallery by clicking here.

You can also join our It's A Snap Facebook community by clicking here, and share your photos with others.

Which is your favorite photo?

?

6. Autumn Valley, Rabun County, Ga.

?

17.3%

(468 votes)

2. Saint George, Utah

?

11.3%

(304 votes)

8. Smith River, Oregon Coast Range

?

10.3%

(278 votes)

12. Letchworth State Park, Castile, N.Y.

?

9.3%

(251 votes)

1. Antarctic Peninsula

?

9.3%

(251 votes)

14. Lower Mesa Falls, Snake River, Idaho

?

7.8%

(211 votes)

10. Colorado River, Grand Canyon

?

7.5%

(203 votes)

15. Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park, Wash.

?

7.1%

(192 votes)

5. Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

?

6.4%

(173 votes)

7. Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya

?

4.1%

(112 votes)

3. Pacific Coast near Montara, Calif.

?

3.1%

(83 votes)

11. Angkor Thom, Siem Reap, Cambodia

?

2.6%

(69 votes)

13. Serengeti, Tanzania

?

2.3%

(62 votes)

9. Iguana on St. Maarten, Caribbean

?

1.1%

(31 votes)

4. Water buffalo, Botswana

?

0.5%

(14 votes)

Source: http://todaytravel.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/05/9976743-its-a-snap-travel-photos-from-around-the-world

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