TOKYO (AP) ? Japanese voters are chosing lawmakers for the upper house of parliament in an election expected to give Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition a strong mandate.
A victory Sunday would give Abe's Liberal Democratic Party and partner New Komeito control of both chambers of parliament ? an elusive goal for the government in recent years.
That would make it easier for Abe to deliver on reforms needed to cope with a rapidly graying population and bulging national debt. It also might give him the power to push through his party's nationalist agenda.
Abe says his first priority is sustaining a nascent economic recovery. Since taking office after the Liberal Democrats won a lower house election in December, the ailing economy has improved under aggressive monetary and fiscal stimulus.
The freemium debate continues to rage on. Some say it’s the future of how business will be run, while others say it’s synonymous with casual games (read: not for hardcore gamers). Now the tide appears to be changing for the latter group, spurred by the success of companies like Supercell?(Clash of Clans’ maker) and King?(which makes Candy Crush), that have inverted the model for free and picked up huge, dedicated gaming audiences in their wake. Rajeev Chand, managing director and head of research for Rutberg & Company, said that one of the biggest drivers moving everyone to freemium is simply that in-app purchases are generating a whopping 70 percent of game revenues today. Moreover, venture capital investment in mobile gaming was $224 million in the first half of 2013, as compared to $107 million over the same period in 2012, he said. He noted that this year’s investment has been buoyed mostly by Supercell’s $130 million?round. To look at it over the years, venture investment in mobile gaming was $185 million in 2012, $228 million in 2011, $118 million in 2010, $59 million in 2009, $35 million in 2008, and $14 million in 2007. He explained: “The takeaway is that mobile gaming has seen a significant increase in venture investment over the 2010-2013 time period as compared to 2007-2009 because of the high profile successes and exits such as Rovio, Supercell, Ngmoco and Omgpop.” Rovio makes the Angry Birds franchise, Ngmoco was acquired for $400 million in 2010, and Omgpop got acquired by Zynga for $200 million after its smash-hit, Draw Something (although Omgpop has since been shut down). Chand said: “Freemium is here to stay… Gamers hate in-app purchases, but they are still playing and buying.” Hopping on the freemium bandwagon The trend seems to have resonated with several game companies, which are moving over to freemium models, in spite of having enjoyed success with traditional monetization models. Boomzap Entertainment is an eight-year-old studio that has had many of its titles published by big names such as Big Fish Games and Reflexive Entertainment. The company has survived, maintaining its full-time employee base of 85 on its stable of paid games that are generally priced at the $14 mark. Its co-founder, Allan Simonsen, is vocal about “abhorring” the freemium model. And yet the company is breaking away from its tried-and-tested base to get on the freemium bandwagon. Simonsen said the
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Senate's deal to avert a showdown over its internal rules and confirm several long-stalled Obama administration nominees could upend a major case at the Supreme Court, one that would test the president's power to use recess appointments to fill high-level posts.
The case is shaping up as a major clash between President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans over the power granted the president in the Constitution to make temporary appointments to fill positions that otherwise require confirmation by the Senate, but only when the Senate is in recess.
Obama had sought to overcome Senate Republicans' refusal to allow votes for nominees to the National Labor Relations Board and the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by making recess appointments. Two federal appeals courts have said Obama overstepped his authority because the Senate was not in recess when he acted. Those courts invalidated actions of the NLRB as a result.
The Supreme Court is set to consider one of those cases around the end of the year, involving a dispute between a Washington state bottling company and a local Teamsters union in which the NLRB sided with the union. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia overturned the board's ruling.
But now that the Senate is on the verge of breaking the logjam that led Obama to make the recess appointments in the first place, his administration may find its appetite diminished for a major high court case. That may be especially so because the justices have been more skeptical of Obama's Justice Department than its predecessors and the court's conservative majority has been hostile to union interests.
The administration would have to ask the court to dismiss the case, although that almost certainly would leave the appeals court decision in place. The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
The justices also might now see less urgency to decide the questions at issue ? what is a recess, when must vacancies occur to be filled through recess appointments and can the president override Congress' own view of what constitutes a recess.
In some instances, the new NLRB appointees contemplated in the Senate agreement could re-enact some of the earlier decisions, removing any potential taint. The NLRB did just that following a Supreme Court decision in 2010 that invalidated actions taken by only two members of the five-person board. One significant limitation is that the NLRB would have to get judges to relinquish cases currently in the courts.
"One key aspect of constitutional law is the notion of not deciding unnecessary questions, and it may be that the agreement today provides an avenue for the CFPB and NLRB to revisit their decisions and sidestep the constitutional questions at issue in the Supreme Court's recess appointment case," said Neal Katyal, former acting Solicitor General under Obama.
The case stems from Obama's decision to fill the three NLRB vacancies on Jan. 4, 2012, with Congress on an extended holiday break. At the same time, however, the Senate held brief, pro forma sessions every few days as part of the Republicans' explicit strategy of keeping Obama from filling vacancies through recess appointments.
If the justices ratify the lower court ruling, it would make it nearly impossible for a president to use the recess power, giving the opposition party in Congress the ability to block administration nominees indefinitely. And more than 1,600 NLRB decisions could fall in the process.
Rachel Brand, a senior lawyer with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said she hopes the court decides the case in favor of the bottling company. With hundreds of other legal challenges pending to NLRB decisions, Brand said it "would be a mess to re-litigate" those cases if the justices were to punt on the case before them.
The head of a think tank that is opposed to the chamber on the recess appointments issue said he also wants the high court to remain in the case and overturn what he sees as a damaging appeals court ruling. "The fact that Congress has now cleared the way for the board to be fully staffed with Senate-confirmed members in no way changes that calculus," said Douglas Kendall, president of the Congressional Accountability Center.
In addition to the two rulings against Obama recess appointees, three federal appeals courts have upheld recess appointments in previous administrations.
For all the Democratic complaints about Republican obstruction of the president and GOP anger over Obama recess appointments, the subject is acutely susceptible to changing political fortunes.
The parties' roles were reversed when a Republican president, George W. Bush, was in the White House and Democrats controlled the Senate in the final two years of his presidency. Then, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid employed the same tactic of convening the Senate every few days to keep Bush from filling vacancies through recess appointments. Unlike Obama, Bush did not press the issue.
If the Supreme Court doesn't settle it now, the issue could arise again while Obama still is in office. Or the court could await a future president of either party facing a determined Senate opposition.
Never one to let a tragedy go unexploited, head Westboro nutbag Shirley Phelps-Roper announced via Twitter that the WBC will be picketing the funeral of 31-year-old Glee star Cory Monteith, who died on Saturday.
Apparently there were no puppies for Shirley to run over, and she was looking for something to do.
Phelps-Roper posted on the Westboro Baptist Church twitter account that Monteith was a ?fag enabler? who was ?struck down by raging mad God..? She took the effort to tweet Lea Michele personally and ?praise God for killing Cory Monteith? and wonder if Lea would also commit suicide.
Hopefully Monteith?s funeral will be in Vancouver?the Westboro clan has been banned from Canada since trying to protest the funeral of a murder victim in 2008.
New way to target an old foe: MalariaPublic release date: 17-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Sarah McDonnell s_mcd@mit.edu 617-253-8923 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Engineered liver tissue developed at MIT could help scientists test new drugs and vaccines
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Although malaria has been eradicated in many countries, including the United States, it still infects more than 200 million people worldwide, killing nearly a million every year. In regions where malaria is endemic, people rely on preventive measures such as mosquito netting and insecticides. Existing drugs can help, but the malaria parasite is becoming resistant to many of them.
Scientists working to develop new drugs and vaccines hope to target the parasite in the earliest stages of an infection, when it quietly reproduces itself in the human liver.
In a major step toward that goal, a team led by MIT researchers has now developed a way to grow liver tissue that can support the liver stage of the life cycle of the two most common species of malaria, Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax. This system could be used to test drugs and vaccines against both species, says Sangeeta Bhatia, the John and Dorothy Wilson Professor of Health Sciences and Technology and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT.
Bhatia is the senior author of a paper describing the liver-tissue system in the July 17 issue of the journal Cell Host & Microbe. The paper's lead author is Sandra March, a research scientist in Bhatia's lab, and scientists from the Broad Institute, Sanaria Inc. and the University of Lisbon also contributed to the research.
Reproducing infection
The malaria life cycle has several stages. Once the parasite infects a human victim, through a mosquito bite, it takes up residence in the liver. The parasite spends about a week in the liver, producing tens of thousands of copies that eventually burst free to infect blood cells. After this initial infection, P. vivax can lurk for weeks, months or even years, reactivating to cause another malaria bout.
So far, researchers have been able to grow P. falciparum in human blood and, to a certain extent, in its liver stages, but they have not been able to reliably grow P. vivax in either stage. P. falciparum has the highest malaria mortality rate, but P. vivax can cause debilitating, long-term infections. To eradicate malaria, drugs and vaccines that target both species will probably be needed, Bhatia says.
Bhatia who is also a senior associate member of the Broad Institute and a member of MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and Institute for Medical Engineering and Science has previously created micropatterned surfaces on which liver tissue can be grown, surrounded by supportive cells. These engineered cells survive for up to six weeks and mimic most of the functions of liver cells in the body, including drug metabolism and production of liver proteins.
Using unique, frozen samples of P. falciparum obtained in collaboration with Stephen L. Hoffman and his team at Sanaria, the researchers infected healthy liver cells and observed the development of liver-stage parasites using an automated imaging system designed in collaboration with Anne Carpenter's group at the Broad Institute. This system allows them to quickly evaluate not only how much infection has occurred, but also the effects of potential drugs. They can also measure how weakened forms of the parasites, which could be used as vaccines, perform in the liver.
To test the system's usefulness, the researchers studied a P. falciparum vaccine that is now in clinical trials. For a weakened, or attenuated, parasite to succeed as a vaccine, it must infect the liver and progress enough to raise an immune response, but then arrest and not reach the blood stage. The researchers showed that the vaccine now in trials does follow that trajectory.
The new system could also be used for larger-scale drug studies than previously possible, Bhatia says. Researchers now use liver cancer cells grown in the lab to study P. falciparum infection, but those cells have deficient drug metabolism and keep growing instead of providing a quiet home for the parasite to persist.
Seeking P. vivax
Obtaining enough P. vivax samples to test the system took several years, but the team eventually acquired samples, flown in from Thailand, India and South America. Using these samples, they were able to grow P. vivax in liver tissue and show that it produces small persistent parasites that appear to be dormant forms called hypnozoites.
"We don't want to call them hypnozoites yet, because nobody has a gold-standard marker for them, but we have persistent small forms that live for three weeks. So we are optimistic and doing more to wake them up again. Reactivation would be the ultimate confirmation," Bhatia says.
The researchers are now working on confirming that the P. vivax they grew in the liver tissue really did create hypnozoites. Once this is confirmed, they plan to start testing some candidate drugs, now in development, against P. vivax.
###
The research was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Medicines for Malaria Venture, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, the National Institutes of Health and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Written by Anne Trafton, MIT News Office
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
New way to target an old foe: MalariaPublic release date: 17-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Sarah McDonnell s_mcd@mit.edu 617-253-8923 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Engineered liver tissue developed at MIT could help scientists test new drugs and vaccines
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Although malaria has been eradicated in many countries, including the United States, it still infects more than 200 million people worldwide, killing nearly a million every year. In regions where malaria is endemic, people rely on preventive measures such as mosquito netting and insecticides. Existing drugs can help, but the malaria parasite is becoming resistant to many of them.
Scientists working to develop new drugs and vaccines hope to target the parasite in the earliest stages of an infection, when it quietly reproduces itself in the human liver.
In a major step toward that goal, a team led by MIT researchers has now developed a way to grow liver tissue that can support the liver stage of the life cycle of the two most common species of malaria, Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax. This system could be used to test drugs and vaccines against both species, says Sangeeta Bhatia, the John and Dorothy Wilson Professor of Health Sciences and Technology and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT.
Bhatia is the senior author of a paper describing the liver-tissue system in the July 17 issue of the journal Cell Host & Microbe. The paper's lead author is Sandra March, a research scientist in Bhatia's lab, and scientists from the Broad Institute, Sanaria Inc. and the University of Lisbon also contributed to the research.
Reproducing infection
The malaria life cycle has several stages. Once the parasite infects a human victim, through a mosquito bite, it takes up residence in the liver. The parasite spends about a week in the liver, producing tens of thousands of copies that eventually burst free to infect blood cells. After this initial infection, P. vivax can lurk for weeks, months or even years, reactivating to cause another malaria bout.
So far, researchers have been able to grow P. falciparum in human blood and, to a certain extent, in its liver stages, but they have not been able to reliably grow P. vivax in either stage. P. falciparum has the highest malaria mortality rate, but P. vivax can cause debilitating, long-term infections. To eradicate malaria, drugs and vaccines that target both species will probably be needed, Bhatia says.
Bhatia who is also a senior associate member of the Broad Institute and a member of MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and Institute for Medical Engineering and Science has previously created micropatterned surfaces on which liver tissue can be grown, surrounded by supportive cells. These engineered cells survive for up to six weeks and mimic most of the functions of liver cells in the body, including drug metabolism and production of liver proteins.
Using unique, frozen samples of P. falciparum obtained in collaboration with Stephen L. Hoffman and his team at Sanaria, the researchers infected healthy liver cells and observed the development of liver-stage parasites using an automated imaging system designed in collaboration with Anne Carpenter's group at the Broad Institute. This system allows them to quickly evaluate not only how much infection has occurred, but also the effects of potential drugs. They can also measure how weakened forms of the parasites, which could be used as vaccines, perform in the liver.
To test the system's usefulness, the researchers studied a P. falciparum vaccine that is now in clinical trials. For a weakened, or attenuated, parasite to succeed as a vaccine, it must infect the liver and progress enough to raise an immune response, but then arrest and not reach the blood stage. The researchers showed that the vaccine now in trials does follow that trajectory.
The new system could also be used for larger-scale drug studies than previously possible, Bhatia says. Researchers now use liver cancer cells grown in the lab to study P. falciparum infection, but those cells have deficient drug metabolism and keep growing instead of providing a quiet home for the parasite to persist.
Seeking P. vivax
Obtaining enough P. vivax samples to test the system took several years, but the team eventually acquired samples, flown in from Thailand, India and South America. Using these samples, they were able to grow P. vivax in liver tissue and show that it produces small persistent parasites that appear to be dormant forms called hypnozoites.
"We don't want to call them hypnozoites yet, because nobody has a gold-standard marker for them, but we have persistent small forms that live for three weeks. So we are optimistic and doing more to wake them up again. Reactivation would be the ultimate confirmation," Bhatia says.
The researchers are now working on confirming that the P. vivax they grew in the liver tissue really did create hypnozoites. Once this is confirmed, they plan to start testing some candidate drugs, now in development, against P. vivax.
###
The research was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Medicines for Malaria Venture, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, the National Institutes of Health and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Written by Anne Trafton, MIT News Office
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
MADRID (AP) ? Spanish opposition leaders on Sunday urged Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to resign after a newspaper published what it said were text messages Rajoy sent to his party's former treasurer after the treasurer was accused of making slush fund payoffs to politicians including Rajoy.
The ongoing scandal of alleged secret payments has shaken Rajoy's governing Popular Party and damaged its popularity ratings. The publication of the text messages by the El Mundo newspaper placed even more pressure on Rajoy, whose resignation was demanded by leaders of two key opposition groups.
The El Mundo report showcased what it identified as text messages over a period of three years between Rajoy and former Popular Party treasurer Luis Barcenas, who was a key player in the party's financial division for two decades.
Barcenas, jailed last month while he awaits possible trial on tax fraud and money-laundering charges, told El Mundo last week that the party has long been illegally financed. El Mundo said documents show Rajoy received 42,000 euros ($54,000) in payments while serving as a minister between 1997 and 1999.
The documents El Mundo published look like account ledger sheets that it says are genuine and show what it alleges is Rajoy's name next to payment amounts. What appear to be the same ledgers were previously ? some months back ? also published by another leading newspaper, El Pais.
The striking resemblance between the ledgers has led many observers, and opposition leaders, to give credence to the reports.
Rajoy and members of his party have denied wrongdoing, but the allegations have been huge news in Spain, where people are coping with harsh austerity measures and tough economic reforms aimed at reducing debt amid unemployment of 27 percent.
NEW YORK (AP) ? Just for fun, let's turn back the baseball clock a few months.
A well-rested Stephen Strasburg and the Washington Nationals are destined to face Josh Hamilton and the Los Angeles Angels in the World Series. The Houston Astros have the best record in baseball. Manny Ramirez is playing in Taiwan. And no one is quite sure how to pronounce the name of this Puig guy.
Well, a few things are still the same: Homer Bailey remains the last guy to throw a no-hitter, Miguel Cabrera swings the most devastating bat in the majors and, well, the drug cloud isn't going away anytime soon.
As the All-Star game approaches next week at Citi Field, a look at the first half of the season:
___
EXTRA! EXTRA!
By the time Matt Harvey and the New York Mets let the hovering seagulls take over AT&T Park well past midnight, they were wiped out. This week's win at San Francisco took 16 innings ? the Mets already had lost a 20-inning game and a pair of 15-inning contests.
"I've never heard of anything like this. It's unbelievable," manager Terry Collins said. "At least we're used to it."
All over, fans are getting way more than their money's worth. Going into this weekend, 19 games had lasted at least 14 innings; there were a total of 20 last year, according to STATS.
"Is a lunar eclipse coming?" Oakland outfielder Josh Reddick wondered. "I have no idea. Probably more of a coincidence than anything. That's how the game goes sometimes."
___
WACKY WEATHER
Even in ski country, this was a bit extreme: When the Atlanta Braves and Colorado Rockies started up at Coors Field in late April, it was 23 degrees. That made it the coldest game-time temperature in STATS' records, dating back more than two decades.
Braves pitcher Mike Minor threw six innings and won ? in short sleeves, no less. He figured long sleeves wouldn't help much. He also got a trainer to rub his arms, back and thighs with a heating ointment.
"I was burning up there," he said, smiling.
Snow at Target Field, hail at Yankee Stadium and buckets of rain from coast to coast. More than 30 games postponed so far, going in the weekend. Last year? Just 21, the whole season.
The crummy conditions have wreaked havoc with the schedule. With interleague games most every day, there's not a lot of wiggle room for makeups. So there's been a push to get the games in ? Tampa Bay waited out almost five hours of rain delays in Cleveland to win a game that started on a Friday night in May and finished on an early Saturday in June. The Mets, meanwhile, played in three different time zones in three days.
In St. Louis, there was a 4?-hour rain delay in the ninth inning before Kansas City outlasted the Cardinals. The game ended at 3:14 a.m. at Busch Stadium, and created travel trouble for the umpires, too ? they worked at Wrigley Field in Chicago the next afternoon.
"We worry about that game when we get to that one," crew chief Joe West said. "We had to worry about this game tonight."
And recently, a Giants-Reds rainout in Cincinnati had the teams talking about making it up at Coors Field, of all places. A neutral site in Denver might indeed be the most convenient spot for both clubs later this year.
___
NEW WAVE
Be it Manny Machado, Bryce Harper or Mike Trout, the face of baseball is changing. Young stars are dominating, and also revving up the debate: Should Dodgers sensation Yasiel Puig ? that's "Pweeg" ? be on the All-Star team?
Jeff Locke is trying to pitch Pittsburgh toward its first playoff spot in two decades, Shelby Miller is dealing in St. Louis and Wil Myers is finding his stroke in Tampa Bay while Paul Goldschmidt and Patrick Corbin are leading Arizona. They were all excelling at the same time former perennial All-Stars Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Ramirez were toiling in the minors.
Oh, and let's salute Orioles slugger Chris Davis, who's proven HR-or-K hitters can learn the strike zone. Davis hit his major league-best 35th homer in Baltimore's 8-5 victory over Toronto on Friday night.
___
SUMMER SURPRISES
Overhauled Toronto and R.A. Dickey, the powerized Angels and Hamilton, plus the revamped Dodgers have all struggled to reach the .500 mark. The Nationals also hit a wall ? rather, Harper did while chasing a ball and landed on the disabled list.
Houston moved to the American League and got off a terrific start, beating Texas in the major league opener. Reality quickly set in, however. Their next time out, the overmatched Astros came within one out of having Yu Darvish throw a perfect game against them.
Much harder to figure, Matt Cain and the World Series champion San Francisco Giants.
A year ago, Cain pitched a perfect game. This year, he had one start when he gave up nine runs in an inning, another start when he permitted nine hits in an inning and, earlier this week, he was chased in the first inning.
Added up, the pitching-rich Giants fell far below the break-even point as the All-Star neared.
"For the way we think we are as a group and the team that we are, we feel like this is really, really funky," Cain said.
___
AP Baseball Writer Janie McCauley contributed to this report.
Dr. Amar Bose, the man who founded one of the best-recognized consumer audio equipment brands in the United States has died at the age of 83. The MIT-trained electrical engineer, professor, and entrepreneur significantly altered the way people think about consumer audio, especially over the last few years as audio technology has become increasingly small and portable.
Finally the Team made a new easy to use tool capable of unlock and jailbreak iphone 5,iphone 4s/4 iOS 6.1.4.This amaizing team has finally released a untethered jailbreak and unlock for iPhone 4S/4 and 3Gs iOS 6.1.4 via SafeRa1n. Except for the iPad 2, this new untethered jailbreak and unlock iPhone 4S/4/3Gs 6.0.2 is compatible to work with all devices, including: iPhone 4S/4, 3GS, iPad (1st-gen) and iPod touch 3G/4G on the newly released iOS 6.1.4 firmware.
Note: This release WILL help you hacktivate or unlock iPhone 5/4/4S/3Gs iOS 6.1.4/6.1.3. Therefore, update to iPhone OS iOS 6.1.4/6.1.3 if you rely on an unlock, as upgrading will upgrade your baseband which will allow you to use SafeRa1n v0.2 to jailbreak and unlock iPhone 5/4/3Gs iOS 6.1.4/6.1.3. The Team has just released today which brings first proper untethered jailbreak, with working Cydia and MobileSubstrate for all iOS 6.1.4/6.1.3 devices.
To Jailbreak and Unlock your iPhone/ipad visit here
http://iphonejailbreak-unlock.com
We?ve been ourselves in all too familiar sad situation over the last couple of weeks, stuck in between wanting to update you iDevices to the latest iOS firmware and not knowing when we will have a functional jailbreak and unlock with iOS 6.1.4/6.1.3 untethered available. Keeping the history in our minds, we now should be able to easy rest that the researchers such as SoftRa1n have always finally managed to escape the restrictions put in place to bring a jailbreak and unlock to the masses and there will always remain a lettle part within us that has doubts when Apple released a new version of iOS.
Untethered Jailbreak for iPhone iOS 6.1.4/6.1.3 by Fast Unlock allows you to jailbreak iPhone 5/4/4S/3GS iOS 6.1.4/6.1.3 and unlock iPhone 5/4/4S/3GS iOS 6.1.4/6.1.3 and it works on iPhone 3G/3Gs , to get complete control over it. Currently, SoftRa1n allows you to perform a untethered jailbreak to your device that has already been upgraded to firmware iOS 6.1.4/6.1.3, which means you wont need to use SoftRa1n every time you boot the device, otherwise all your jailbreak data gets wiped. However, it will unlock iPhone 5/4/4S/3Gs up to iOS 6.1.4/6.1.3, enabling it to be used with different GSM carriers worldwide.
As a part of that they?r hard work, AppleUnlocker Team has released the necessary solution to their untethered jailbreak and unloack iPhone 5/4/4S/3Gs and iPad 2/3 tool, which first version was released last year. AppleUnloacker is an extremely simple 1 Click tool which now is allowing users to insert the necessary files into their idevices so that they can have the untethered jailbreak and unlock. If you happen to be waiting with a iOS 6.1.4/6.1.3 gadget in your hands, then please read on AppleUnlocker official website for the full information on how to use the app to achieve an untethered unlock and jailbreak on the iOS 6.1.4/6.1.3.
With the easiest jailbreak solution called SoftRa1n updated for any firmware, out that is browser based even those who may have hesitated in the past are flocking to sites to install the jailbreak and then take advantage of what the EFF fought for. The ability to be able to install any third-party software to make your iPhone more useful is a choice every smart phone owner deserves and now has.
A combined heat and power unit in Germany. (Photo by Bilfinger SE via Creative Commons)
While experts say Ohio?s industrial infrastructure offers vast opportunities for energy production from waste heat, that potential could go untapped if efforts to roll back the state?s renewable standard succeed.
Ohio still has no rules to implement its law on combined heat and power and waste energy recovery, enacted last year as part of Senate Bill 315. As investors and companies wait for rules, legislative action threatens the law?s benefits.
SB 315 lets combined heat and power and waste energy recovery systems count toward meeting the state?s energy efficiency and alternative energy standards. Other provisions of SB 315 expanded hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, for shale gas.
Combined heat and power, or CHP, uses a single fuel to make heat and electricity. Waste energy recovery, or WER, captures waste heat or other energy for further use. Heat sources include things like cement kilns, coke ovens, blast furnaces, and other industrial equipment.
The law says it shall ?take effect immediately.? However, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) has not yet issued rules on exactly what projects qualify as combined heat and power or waste energy recovery.
Proposed rules will come ?likely later this summer? after PUCO staff considers input from an April 23 workshop, advises spokesman Jason Gilham. Final rules should follow a few months after the comment period ends.
Until then, companies and investors hesitate to commit money to projects.
?These are capital equipment projects,? says Ed Zdankiewicz, business development manager at Echogen Power Systems in Akron. Echogen?s technology makes electricity from hot waste gases that would otherwise ?go up the stack,? says Zdankiewicz.
As with most capital projects, companies must consider costs and benefits.
?The key thing is that it?s got to be economical for the customer,? says Shonodeep Modak, a spokesperson for GE Gas Engines. The company?s Cincinnati plant makes gas turbine engines for combined heat and power as an extension of GE?s jet airplane engine business. GE makes waste heat recovery systems too.
Saving on energy bills is one big financial benefit of combined heat and power and waste energy recovery. Both types of technology boost available energy output. Customers spend less on fuel. Or, they buy less electricity from outside sources.
SB 315 will let projects become a source of renewable energy credits or energy efficiency resource credits. Electric distribution and supply companies need those credits if they don?t otherwise do enough to meet Ohio?s alternative energy and energy efficiency standards.
Selling those credits can thus provide revenue and shorten the time for recouping project costs.
?Even without the incentives that are going to come, it makes economic sense for a factory to find ways to reduce costs,? says Zdankiewicz. ?This allows them to make a decision to say it?s more economically feasible.?
Contract arrangements for projects vary. Often companies sell system equipment to customers, who then own and operate it.
In contrast, Chicago-based Recycled Energy Development (RED) installs systems for customers at its own expense and retains ownership of the equipment. It makes money by sharing in customers? cost savings and selling credits for renewable energy and energy efficiency.
For RED, Ohio projects are risky until the company knows what will qualify under state rules.
?We?re in a gray area,? says Melissa Mullarkey, RED?s corporate affairs director. ?You need regulatory certainty in order to move forward and make investments.?
The same holds true for companies using their own funds to buy and install equipment, she says. ?They can?t justify these projects unless they understand what the regulatory treatment is going to look like.?
Untapped energy
?Ohio has a huge potential for deploying combined heat and power and waste energy recovery technologies,? says Trish Demeter, Director of Clean Energy Campaigns at the Ohio Environmental Council.
The state?s large industrial base and many commercial and industrial facilities rank it in roughly fourth place nationwide for potential energy from combined heat and power. Yet Ohio is in 44th place for the actual installment of CHP technologies, says Demeter.
?These are clean and highly efficient power options for electricity customers,? she adds.
While customers save on energy bills, combined heat and power and waste energy recovery provide high-tech jobs at companies like Echogen, General Electric, and RED. The technologies yield environmental benefits too.
Combined heat and power systems typically produce both electricity and heat from natural gas. ?Per unit for fuel input, you?re getting more output,? explains Mullarkey.
Customers also avoid losses that occur when electricity travels long distances over transmission lines.
?The power is generated right there on site, and therefore it?s much more efficient and a much smarter way to use that fuel source,? says Demeter.
Fuel for combined heat and power can come from a utility or sometimes even onsite. A Campbell Soup facility at Napoleon, Ohio, runs its CHP system with biogas from organic waste.
?In this particular situation it actually helps reduce a waste stream for the customer,? says Modak.
Waste energy recovery systems require no extra fuel. ?So from an environmental standpoint, they?re on a par with other emission-free technologies,? says Demeter.
Waste energy systems also avoid the need to burn more fossil fuels for power that would otherwise come from the grid. ?That actually reduces pollution,? says Zdankiewicz.
Uncertainty grows
?This is a piece of legislation that will last 100 years in Ohio,? Republican Gov. John Kasich said when he signed SB 315. One year later, the future of Ohio?s combined heat and power and waste energy recovery law is questionable.
In February, Republican State Sen. Bill Seitz introduced Senate Bill 58. That bill aims ?to review and possibly modify? Ohio?s alternative energy and energy efficiency standards. SB 315?s combined heat and power and waste energy provisions hinge on those standards.
SB 58 provides no specifics on how the standards could change. However, Seitz has a history of opposing Ohio?s renewable portfolio standard. Two years ago, Seitz co-sponsored a bill that would have repealed the law completely.
Seitz is also a board member of the American Legislative Exchange Council. The group?s model Electricity Freedom Act calls for repealing renewable portfolio standards.
Committee hearings on Seitz?s pending bill began this spring. The Ohio Environmental Council, Union of Concerned Scientists, groups representing renewable energy technology companies, and others have spoken in support of the standards. The Ohio Manufacturers? Association has also expressed support for continuing Ohio?s energy efficiency policies.
FirstEnergy Vice President Leila Vespoli testified against the standards, along with lawyer James Taylor of the Heartland Institute in Chicago. ?
Seitz plans to introduce another bill with specific changes after the SB 58 hearings end. If lawmakers ultimately relax or repeal the standards, incentives for combined heat and power and waste energy recovery could dwindle.
?Here we are not even twelve months later, and they want to remove these standards that they just used to encourage more CHP and waste heat development in the state,? says Demeter. ?We think it?s taking an opportunity before it?s even been fully realized.?
Even if standards ultimately stay in place, the current legislative process postpones companies? commitment to projects.
?It?s just creating more uncertainty that there is this process underway to examine the law,? says Mullarkey. ?From the perspective of our company, it makes Ohio look very uncertain.?
?The policy treatment needs to recognize that these projects are beneficial for the environment and beneficial for society,? Mullarkey adds.
The Ohio Environmental Council and Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) are members of RE-AMP, which also publishes Midwest Energy News.
Kathiann M. Kowalski is a freelance journalist based in Ohio who writes often on science and policy issues.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? A month after suffering an embarrassing defeat, House Republican leaders are considering a new strategy to try to win support for the massive, five-year farm bill: splitting it into two separate measures, one for farm programs and one for food stamps.
It's an attempt to gather support from conservatives who voted against the $100 billion-a-year farm bill, and critics say it could lead to bigger cuts in both farm subsidies and the domestic food aid.
Republicans discussed the strategy in a Tuesday caucus meeting, with House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., saying for the first time that he would go along with a split bill if leaders could deliver the votes. Republicans were assessing support for the idea, and a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said no decisions had been made on how to revive the bill.
The House rejected the farm bill in June by a vote of 234-195 after some in the GOP complained that the legislation did not cut enough from food stamps. Democrats said the 3 percent cut in food stamps was too much.
The idea is that the farm portion of the bill could pass without the food stamp provisions. By splitting the two, Republicans might be able to make bigger cuts in food stamp programs and pass that bill with conservative support.
However, conservative groups, farm groups and nutrition groups all expressed concerns with the strategy.
Farm groups and anti-hunger groups have warned that separating the farm and nutrition programs after decades of linking them would be a major mistake. Rural lawmakers have added money for food stamps to the farm bill, which sets policy for agricultural subsidies and other farm programs, to gather urban votes for the measure. The Democratic-led Senate, which overwhelmingly passed a farm bill with smaller cuts to food stamps, would be reluctant to go along with a split bill or further cuts to the programs.
Spending on food stamps has doubled in the last five years to almost $80 billion a year and the number of members in both parties who make agriculture a priority has dwindled. Still, separating the two bills could create bigger problems as few members may not have an incentive to vote for either piece of legislation.
In a letter to Boehner last week, more than 500 farm groups discouraged GOP leadership from splitting the legislation.
"We believe that splitting the nutrition title from the rest of the bill could result in neither farm nor nutrition programs passing, and urge you to move a unified farm bill forward," the groups wrote.
Compounding the difficulties would be any changes to the farm legislation to gather more conservative votes. The farm bill passed by the House Agriculture Committee and rejected by the full House would have cut farm subsidies by about $2 billion a year, but some Republicans have wanted deeper cuts.
As the GOP counted votes for the split bill strategy, conservative groups proposed further cuts to farm subsidies. They expressed concern that House leaders were just trying to push the bill through so they could begin negotiations with the Senate.
"The end result of such a conference would be a perpetuation of subsidies and government intervention that will continue to harm consumers and taxpayers alike," said Michael A. Needham, CEO of the conservative advocacy group Heritage Action.
At the same time, Agriculture Committee members from both parties who helped craft the delicate balance of the bill don't want to see further reductions.
Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson, the top Democrat on the Agriculture Committee, said that splitting the bill is "stupid" and he doesn't believe any Democrats would vote for it.
"Even if they got this through the House, I don't see how you are successful in getting a bill out of conference and signed by the president, because you have alienated so many people in the process," he said.
More difficult than passing a farm-only bill would be passing a food stamp bill, as Republicans have disagreed on how much should be cut. The House Agriculture Committee bill cuts about $2 billion a year from the almost $80 billion-a-year program, now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. But some on the right would like to see much bigger cuts and to change the structure of the program.
Billy Shore, the founder and CEO of the anti-hunger group Share Our Strength, says the split would make SNAP vulnerable when many families and children are dependent on it. Around one in seven people used food stamps last year.
"The concern is that (splitting the bill) would make it easier for the Republican leadership to find support for those cuts," Shore said. "For a program that has worked so well for decades it feels a little short-sighted."
Farm groups agreed.
Jon Doggett, a lobbyist for the National Corn Growers Association, said that farm groups will continue to need allies as rural areas decrease in population and fewer members of Congress are elected on farm issues. In addition to nutrition advocates, the bill also brings together agriculture and environmental groups who favor conservation measures in the bill that protect environmentally-sensitive farmland.
___
Follow Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mcjalonick
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? Iranian state television says the country has opened its own domestically made national email service.
The report aired Sunday quoted Information and Communication Technology Minister Mohammad Hasan Nami as saying local experts created the service's software. The report said each Iranian will be assigned an email address.
The country's postal service will manage the email service.
Iran has discussed for years having its own domestic email service as the government occasionally has blocked access to foreign email providers like Gmail and Yahoo. The country also has blocked and made illegal virtual private networks that allow Iranians to freely use the Internet and access banned websites like those for opposition groups.
Official statistics suggest Iran, home to 75 million people, has some 32 million Internet users.
West Valley City ? Tim Branham has been named the new coach and general manager of the Utah Grizzlies, team CEO Kevin Bruder announced Monday.
Branham, 32, has spent the last four years as an assistant with the Reading (Pa.) Royals of the ECHL.
In June, Reading defeated Stockton in the best-of-seven Kelly Cup finals, 4-1.
"Tim helped implement a winning culture in Reading that ultimately led to a championship," Bruder said. "He is ... a bright young coach with high energy. We are very excited to have him in Utah."
Branham is a native of Eagle River, Wis. He was a third-round pick by Vancouver in the 2000 NHL entry draft. During an eight-year professional career, he played 284 games in the ECHL and the American Hockey League.
The Grizzlies will formally introduce Branham as their coach in August, after he relocates his family to Utah.
In a statement issued by the team, Branham thanked Grizzlies owner Dave Elmore and Bruder for giving him his first head coaching opportunity.
"This is a first-class organization with top-notch facilities," Branham said. "My wife and I are thrilled to move to Salt Lake City and join the Utah Grizzlies family. I look forward to building an exciting team for the fans."
The Royals posted a record of 143-89-23 and won seven playoff series during Branham?s four years in Reading. They were 16-6 in the playoffs this season.
Branham becomes the seventh coach in Grizzlies history. He replaces Kevin Colley, who resigned two weeks ago to accept the coaching job with the Prescott Valley-based Arizona Sun Dogs of the Central Hockey League.
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Texas Gov. Rick Perry leaves Holt Cat, Monday, July 8, 2013, in San Antonio after announcing he will not seek reelection. A staunch Christian conservative, proven job-creator and fierce defender of states' rights, Perry has been in office nearly 13 years, making him the nation's longest-sitting current governor. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Texas Gov. Rick Perry leaves Holt Cat, Monday, July 8, 2013, in San Antonio after announcing he will not seek reelection. A staunch Christian conservative, proven job-creator and fierce defender of states' rights, Perry has been in office nearly 13 years, making him the nation's longest-sitting current governor. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Texas Gov. Rick Perry reaches to shakes hands with supporters prior to announcing he will not seek reelection as governor, Monday, July 8, 2013, at Holt Cat in San Antonio. A staunch Christian conservative, proven job-creator and fierce defender of states' rights, Perry has been in office nearly 13 years, making him the nation's longest-sitting current governor. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Texas Gov. Rick Perry speaks to supporters at Holt Cat, Monday, July 8, 2013, in San Antonio where he announced he will not seek reelection. A staunch Christian conservative, proven job-creator and fierce defender of states' rights, Perry has been in office nearly 13 years, making him the nation's longest-sitting current governor. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
FILE - In this June 27, 2013 file photo, Texas Gov. Rick Perry speaks in Grapevine, Texas. On Monday, July 8, 2013, Perry has invited friends and supporters to San Antonio and the country?s largest Caterpillar equipment dealership to announce his future plans. The longest-serving governor in Texas history should reveal if he?ll seek a fourth full term in office next year. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)
FILE - In this Jan. 21, 2003, file photo Texas Gov. Rick Perry, with his wife Anita, walks under the Ross Volunteers saber arch during Perry's inauguration in Austin, Texas. Perry announced Monday, July 8, 2013, that he would not seek re-election as Texas governor next year. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
SAN ANTONIO (AP) ? Gov. Rick Perry was a champion of fiercely conservative social activism long before the tea party was born. He oversaw the "Texas Miracle" job-creation boom and became the state's most powerful governor since Reconstruction.
But nationally, Perry is better known for his 'oops' presidential debate brain freeze or for not opposing forcefully enough the notion that Texas could secede from the union. For many outside the Lone Star State, he's a political punchline on par with Dan Quayle ? if he's known at all.
Now, the longest-serving governor in Texas history is quitting his day job. Perry announced Monday that he won't seek a fourth full term in office next year, but notably didn't say whether another run for the White House in 2016 could be next.
"The time has come to pass on the mantle of leadership. Today I'm announcing I will not seek re-election as governor of Texas," Perry said Monday. "I will spend the next 18 months working to create more jobs, opportunity and innovation. I will actively lead this great state. And I'll also pray and reflect and work to determine my own future."
But for that future to include another run for president, Perry will first need to concentrate on rebuilding his tattered image outside of Texas.
"He's starting behind the eight ball," said South Carolina-based Republican operative Hogan Gidley, an adviser to former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee ? both unsuccessful presidential hopefuls who have remained national conservative forces.
Perry had never lost an election during his 27-year political career when he strapped on his signature cowboy boots and strode into the race for the GOP presidential nomination in August 2011, becoming a near-instant front-runner.
But his White House run flamed out spectacularly, culminating in a debate in Michigan where Perry remembered that he'd pledged to shutter the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Education but forgot the third one, the Department of Energy. Quipped late-night comedian Jimmy Fallon: "It turns out George Bush was actually the smart Texas governor."
It wasn't the first time Perry's mouth had gotten him into trouble. Ending a television interview in 2005, Perry smirked at the camera and signed off: "Adios, mofo."
Those incidents, however, did little to lessen Perry's influence in Texas, where he is considered the most powerful governor since the Civil War.
Perry, who took office when then-Gov. George W. Bush left for the White House in December 2000, set the tone for his tenure the following June ? vetoing more than 80 bills in what became known in Austin as the "Father's Day Massacre." Since then, he's vetoed scores of other would-be laws, including a $35 billion public education budget and a ban on executing mentally disabled inmates.
But most of Perry's power has come from his sheer longevity. He remained in office long enough to tap loyalists ? sometimes even his top donors ? to every major appointed post statewide.
"He's made the state into his personal fiefdom," said Matt Glazer, a Democratic consultant.
Still, Gidley and others note Perry has been successful at appearing regularly on national television, attracting a great deal of media attention in his recent job-poaching tours of California, Illinois and New York.
Perry also still has his TV anchorman good looks ? he's often dubbed "Governor Good Hair." He has been a ferocious fundraiser buoyed by both grassroots activists and mainstream Republicans while presiding over a flourishing Texas economy.
The governor said Monday he is "looking forward to the next 18 months as I serve out my term. Any future considerations I will announce in due time and I will arrive at that decision appropriately. But my focus will remain on Texas."
Longtime staffer and former presidential campaign spokesman Ray Sullivan attended Monday's event and said afterward that Perry would have more opportunity to prepare for a presidential run.
"Without the pressure of another campaign, a governor's campaign and without the pressure of another legislative session, there's a lot more opportunity to make those trips, to have those opportunities," he said.
Sullivan said of Perry's legacy: "He has held the line on government. He has created an economic engine that is the envy of the nation and has really stuck to his conservative principles and been successful doing so."
Perry's decision opens up the field to a wide swath of gubernatorial contenders. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is expected to seek the governorship and becomes the immediate front-runner. Spokesman Matt Hirsch said Monday that Abbott will announce his plans soon, and Abbott has said he plans to travel to many cities across the state.
Perry has been a leading voice on many social issues conservatives hold dear, including states' rights, relaxed environmental regulations, strict abortion limits and opposition to gay marriage.
An Eagle Scout, Perry urged the Boy Scouts not to accept openly gay youngsters. And the avid defender of gun rights once produced a laser-sighted pistol from his running shorts and shot a coyote while jogging in rural Austin.
Over the past decade, Texas has created a third of the net new jobs nationwide, though critics note Texas has a disproportionate percentage of hourly workers earning minimum wage or even less, according to federal employment data.
Perry also credits the state's relaxed regulatory climate and limits on civil lawsuits for job creation, though some have pointed to the consequences of little oversight, noting the West fertilizer plant explosion in April that killed 15 people was lightly regulated and even firefighters were unaware of the highly combustible chemicals inside.
Perry detractors also note that the governor opposes expanding Medicaid coverage in Texas ? a centerpiece of the White House's health care reform ? even though Texas has the highest rate of uninsured residents in the country.
Perry first won a seat in the Texas Legislature as a Democrat in 1984, when Texas was still reliably blue. As the state turned deeply red, Perry shifted too. Democrats have not captured a statewide office in nearly 20 years.
The opposition party insists, though, that a booming Hispanic population means it's only a matter of time before Texas switches back ? a notion Perry has dismissed as a "pipe dream."
It didn't look so far-fetched last week, however, when Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis was on her feet for 12-plus hours as Democrats used the filibuster to help block sweeping new restrictions on abortion in Texas. She became a national political sensation, prompting many supporters to urge her to run for governor.
Perry's response was swift, immediately calling lawmakers back for an extra special session. He said he was confident they'd approve the law in record time.
Today, the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Twitter announced that you can now see Diagon Alley on Google Street View. Enjoy a glimpse into the studio here, and see if you can spot anything lurking in the shadows.
Click the audio link on this page to hear The Good Listener columnist Stephen Thompson and Weekend Edition Sunday host Rachel Martin discuss the intricacies of wedding music ? where and when to play everything from sacred music to Salt N Pepa's "Push It."(The column below originally appeared on June 20, 2013.)
We get a lot of mail at NPR Music, and amid the 30-plus copies of the latest CD by Jordanian singer Zade is a slew of questions about how music fits into our lives ? and, this week, the challenge of whittling down a list of songs to play at a wedding.
Kim writes: "I'm getting married in July, and the DJ is allowing my fianc? and me to pick 10 must-play songs. I am struggling with this. Every time I make a list, depending on my mood, it's always something different ? about the only thing that's consistent is Van Morrison's 'Into the Mystic' and Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons' 'Can't Take My Eyes Off You.' Any advice on how to narrow this down to just 10 songs?"
Reading your letter for the first time, I was immediately overcome with righteous indignation: How dare your wedding DJ dictate how many songs you yourself get to choose at your own wedding? Your DJ works for you, not the other way around! This is your day, dammit!
In fact, I'd worked myself into such a lather that it took me a minute or two to think: How in the holy hell are your wedding guests supposed to dance to "Into the Mystic"? You can sway to "Can't Take My Eyes Off You," but "Into the Mystic" isn't a song for dancing so much as standing around in admiration. Only a stubborn few would argue that "Into the Mystic" is intrinsically inferior to Salt-N-Pepa's "Push It," but I know which one I consider the best thing about wedding receptions.
Assuming you do stick to 10 must-play songs, I recommend making yourself a big list of everything you'd love to hear at your wedding ? check back every few days in order to capture a decent cross-section of your moods ? and then cross-reference that list against a list of songs to which wedding guests are likely to actually dance. (Good wedding DJs are happy to help with this sort of thing.) "Into the Mystic" would go great on a mix of music to play in the background during dinner, but once the reception is in full swing, you want songs that fit both your relationship and the occasion of your friends and relatives getting together to embarrass themselves.
Finally, I encourage you and your fianc? to document the occasion by making each other a mix CD ? songs that capture how you feel as you embark on married life together. Put the songs that are most important to you there, and think of it as a soundtrack to your vows. Each disc will be a lovely and eternal keepsake, but just as importantly, it'll lessen the pressure to get every song right when it comes time to dance. Your wedding is just a party, so focus on the songs that will make it fun for everyone. The most important music is in the marriage.
Got a music-related question you want answered? Leave it in the comments, drop us an email at allsongs@npr.org or tweet @allsongs.
The freemium debate continues to rage on. Some say it’s the future of how business will be run, while others say it’s synonymous with casual games (read: not for hardcore gamers). Now the tide appears to be changing for the latter group, spurred by the success of companies like Supercell?(Clash of Clans’ maker) and King?(which makes Candy Crush), that have inverted the model for free and picked up huge, dedicated gaming audiences in their wake. Rajeev Chand, managing director and head of research for Rutberg & Company, said that one of the biggest drivers moving everyone to freemium is simply that in-app purchases are generating a whopping 70 percent of game revenues today. Moreover, venture capital investment in mobile gaming was $224 million in the first half of 2013, as compared to $107 million over the same period in 2012, he said. He noted that this year’s investment has been buoyed mostly by Supercell’s $130 million?round. To look at it over the years, venture investment in mobile gaming was $185 million in 2012, $228 million in 2011, $118 million in 2010, $59 million in 2009, $35 million in 2008, and $14 million in 2007. He explained: “The takeaway is that mobile gaming has seen a significant increase in venture investment over the 2010-2013 time period as compared to 2007-2009 because of the high profile successes and exits such as Rovio, Supercell, Ngmoco and Omgpop.” Rovio makes the Angry Birds franchise, Ngmoco was acquired for $400 million in 2010, and Omgpop got acquired by Zynga for $200 million after its smash-hit, Draw Something (although Omgpop has since been shut down). Chand said: “Freemium is here to stay… Gamers hate in-app purchases, but they are still playing and buying.” Hopping on the freemium bandwagon The trend seems to have resonated with several game companies, which are moving over to freemium models, in spite of having enjoyed success with traditional monetization models. Boomzap Entertainment is an eight-year-old studio that has had many of its titles published by big names such as Big Fish Games and Reflexive Entertainment. The company has survived, maintaining its full-time employee base of 85 on its stable of paid games that are generally priced at the $14 mark. Its co-founder, Allan Simonsen, is vocal about “abhorring” the freemium model. And yet the company is breaking away from its tried-and-tested base to get on the freemium bandwagon. Simonsen said the
Apparently there were no puppies for Shirley to run over, and she was looking for something to do.![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 17-Jul-2013
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