WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is planning a $100 million addition, including an outdoor floating stage on the Potomac River, in its first major expansion since it opened in 1971.
Three connected pavilions to house classrooms, rehearsal rooms, lecture space and other facilities were also included in initial plans for the U.S. capital's premier performance space, which were laid out on Tuesday.
The expansion, designed by architect Steven Holl, will take place south of the Center and includes an outdoor video wall. One pavilion will float on the Potomac as an outdoor stage, and public gardens will link the Center with the water.
"Steven's wonderful concept will create a strong visual presence that bolsters the Center's prominence as the national cultural center, while maintaining its unique presence among Washington's iconic landmarks," Kennedy Center Chairman David Rubenstein said in a statement.
The expansion will be paid for from private funds. Rubenstein, a founder of the Carlyle Group private equity firm, is contributing $50 million towards the roughly $100 million cost.
The Center is seeking to raise another $25 million for programming.
Exteriors for the project will include use of Carrara marble, the same Italian marble which clads the site now.
The project is expected to take five years - three years for design and approval by the various agencies and two years for construction.
(Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by David Gregorio)
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ROME (Reuters) - Naples residents were left stranded at bus stops across Italy's third biggest city on Wednesday as the public transport operator, hit by government spending cuts, ran out of fuel.
"Due to a lack of fuel our services are not guaranteed," transport operatorANM announced on its website and at bus stops around the city, enraging commuters.
"Can someone tell me if the C27 is going to show up? I have to get into the centre," Luana Pisano wrote on ANM's Facebook page. Several residents demanded a refund for their season tickets.
ANM said it hoped its services would be back to normal later on Wednesday. Italian newspapers reported that fuel companies had cut supplies to the transport operator because it owed them too much money.
ANM said it was a victim of cuts to local authority funding in a government austerity programme aimed at shoring up Italy's public finances, which has also included an increase in fuel taxes.
Naples, a popular tourist destination due to its art, history and proximity to Pompeii and the Amalfi coast is also renowned for its chronic problems of poverty, organised crime and ineffective administration, illustrated by a spectacular failure in recent years to deal with garbage disposal.
(Reporting By Catherine Hornby; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) ? Connecticut lawmakers on Tuesday began reviewing mental health care following the deadly Newtown school shooting, even though they and the public have little insight into the mental state of the 20-year-old gunman.
The prosecutor in the case, Danbury State's Attorney Stephen Sedensky III, said he cannot release information about Adam Lanza's mental health because of the Connecticut Rules of Professional Conduct, which covers all attorneys in the state. His office is reviewing whether details of Lanza's mental state can be released to the public after the police report is completed, possibly in June.
But Jeremy Richman, father of six-year-old Arielle Richman, one of the 20 first graders killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, told a legislative subcommittee on Tuesday that it is clear Lanza did not commit an impulsive act of violence, but rather a planned crime with the "goal of achieving infamy" like other mass shooters.
"The shooters in Sandy Hook, Tucson, Aurora, Littleton, Blacksburg ? we will not grant them the respect of using their names ? were not in their right minds," said Richman, who, along with his wife, has started a foundation in their daughter's name to protect vulnerable groups from violence and to understand the mental underpinnings of violent behavior.
"Too little is known in the mental health area about what drives these violent behaviors," he said. "Clearly, something is wrong with the person capable of such atrocities."
Besides gun violence and school safety, two task forces created by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and the General Assembly are focusing on mental health services and reducing the stigma of treatment as they review public policy and recommend law changes after shooting, which also left six educators at Sandy Hook dead. Police said Lanza also killed his mother at the Newtown home they shared and later committed suicide as police approached the school.
The massacre in Newtown has also set off a national discussion about mental health care, with everyone from law enforcement leaders to the gun industry, urging policymakers to focus on the issue as a way to help prevent similar mass shootings.
Members of Malloy's commission said they would like to have details of Lanza's mental health, but it's not essential.
"I don't think not having that information is going to prevent us from doing important work," said Dr. Harold Schwartz, a psychiatrist on the commission. "Adam Lanza is just one case. We really need to think about large populations. We need to think about improving the mental health system for everyone."
Nelba Marquez-Greene, mother of 6-year-old Sandy Hook victim Ana Marquez-Greene and a licensed marriage and family therapist, said she hopes Connecticut will become a national model to improve its mental health system. In written testimony read by her sister on Tuesday, Marquez-Greene suggested that exposing families to trained mental health professionals to de-stigmatize mental health access and treatment. She also called for the state to fully fund programs that provide support to parents.
"My Ana Grace was murdered. She was six years old. She was one of 26 innocent people massacred senselessly," Marquez-Greene wrote. "This tragedy could have been prevented."
Lawmakers were urged to look at numerous issues such as stronger civil commitment laws, mandatory mental health evaluations for gun purchasers, more funding for school-based health centers that provide mental health care and community-based mental health services, and allowing families to put a troubled relative on a list preventing them from obtaining a gun. At the same time, some people diagnosed with mental illness told the legislators not to take out their anger with Lanza against them.
Jennifer Maxwell, a Newtown mother of three whose youngest son is a first grader at Sandy Hook, told the panel about how she worries for her mentally troubled 12-year-old son, who she said can be abusive toward her and his brothers. Maxwell said she's been trying for years to get him services, but the shooting brought his problems to the forefront and prompted an emergency meeting with school officials.
"It took something like this. Because I don't want another tragedy. Would I think he would do it? I don't think so. But who knows? He's 12 years old," she said. "But if I don't get him social skills to prepare himself for when he's 18, what am I going to do?"
State lawmakers were told that individuals with private insurance have much more limited access to services than people using government insurance. Patricia Rehmer, commissioner of the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, said there are limits on the number of services that can be used annually, which can create problems for families.
"I am often called, especially by parents of young adults who are now keeping their children ? young adults ? on their insurance until they're 26, who need the services that we provide," Rehmer said of her agency, which serves only people without private insurance.
"They need case management. They need supportive housing. They need interactions with their peers," she said. "Those are things that private insurance companies do not pay for."
Prehistoric remains discovered more than a century ago have been identified as a new species of marine super-predator.
Researchers said the 165-million-year-old creature was distantly related to modern-day crocodiles.
Parts of its skeleton were found near Peterborough in the early 1900s and are held at Glasgow's Hunterian museum.
The species has been named as Tyrannoneustes lythrodectikos, meaning "blood-biting tyrant swimmer".
Scientists found that the partial skeleton - including a jawbone and teeth - belonged to a group of crocodiles that were similar to dolphins.
The animal's pointed, serrated teeth and large gaping jaw meant it would have been suited to feeding on large-bodied prey.
A team of experts led by the University of Edinburgh said it would help scientists better understand how marine reptiles were evolving about 165 million years ago.
'Missing link'
The researchers believe the species represents a missing link between marine crocodiles that fed on small prey, and others that were similar to modern-day killer whales, which fed on larger prey.
Their findings have been published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology.
Dr Mark Young of the University of Edinburgh's School of GeoSciences, said: "It is satisfying to be able to classify a specimen that has been unexamined for more than 100 years, and doubly so to find that this discovery improves our understanding of the evolution of marine reptiles."
Dr Neil Clark, palaeontology curator at the Hunterian, said little research had been done on the specimen since it was first listed in 1919.
He added: "It is comforting to know that new species can still be found in museums as new research is carried out on old collections.
"It is not just the new species that are important, but an increase in our understanding of how life evolved and the variety of life forms that existed 163 million years ago in the warm Jurassic seas around what is now Britain."
Jan. 27, 2013 ? A rustle of undergrowth in the outback: it's a sound that might make an animal or person stop sharply and be still, in the anticipation of a predator. That "freezing" is part of the fear response, a reaction to a stimulus in the environment and part of the brain's determination of whether to be afraid of it.
A neuroscience group at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) led by Assistant Professor Bo Li Ph.D., together with collaborator Professor Z. Josh Huang Ph.D., have just released the results of a new study that examines the how fear responses are learned, controlled, and memorized. They show that a particular class of neurons in a subdivision of the amygdala plays an active role in these processes.
Locating fear memory in the amygdala
Previous research had indicated that structures inside the amygdalae, a pair of almond-shaped formations that sit deep within the brain and are known to be involved in emotion and reward-based behavior, may be part of the circuit that controls fear learning and memory. In particular, a region called the central amygdala, or CeA, was thought to be a passive relay for the signals relayed within this circuit.
Li's lab became interested when they observed that neurons in a region of the central amygdala called the lateral subdivision, or CeL, "lit up" in a particular strain of mice while studying this circuit.
"Neuroscientists believed that changes in the strength of the connections onto neurons in the central amygdala must occur for fear memory to be encoded," Li says, "but nobody had been able to actually show this."
This led the team to further probe into the role of these neurons in fear responses and furthermore to ask the question: If the central amygdala stores fear memory, how is that memory trace read out and translated into fear responses?
To examine the behavior of mice undergoing a fear test the team first trained them to respond in a Pavlovian manner to an auditory cue. The mice began to "freeze," a very common fear response, whenever they heard one of the sounds they had been trained to fear.
To study the particular neurons involved, and to understand them in relation to the fear-inducing auditory cue, the CSHL team used a variety of methods. One of these involved delivering a gene that encodes for a light-sensitive protein into the particular neurons Li's group wanted to look at.
By implanting a very thin fiber-optic cable directly into the area containing the photosensitive neurons, the team was able to shine colored laser light with pinpoint accuracy onto the cells, and in this manner activate them. This is a technique known as optogenetics. Any changes in the behavior of the mice in response to the laser were then monitored.
A subset of neurons in the central amygdala controls fear expression
The ability to probe genetically defined groups of neurons was vital because there are two sets of neurons important in fear-learning and memory processes. The difference between them, the team learned, was in their release of message-carrying neurotransmitters into the spaces called synapses between neurons. In one subset of neurons, neurotransmitter release was enhanced; in another it was diminished. If measurements had been taken across the total cell population in the central amygdala, neurotransmitter levels from these two distinct sets of neurons would have been averaged out, and thus would not have been detected.
Li's group found that fear conditioning induced experience-dependent changes in the release of neurotransmitters in excitatory synapses that connect with inhibitory neurons -- neurons that suppress the activity of other neurons -- in the central amygdala. These changes in the strength of neuronal connections are known as synaptic plasticity.
Particularly important in this process, the team discovered, were somatostatin-positive (SOM+) neurons. Somatostatin is a hormone that affects neurotransmitter release. Li and colleagues found that fear-memory formation was impaired when they prevent the activation of SOM+ neurons.
SOM+ neurons are necessary for recall of fear memories, the team also found. Indeed, the activity of these neurons alone proved sufficient to drive fear responses. Thus, instead of being a passive relay for the signals driving fear learning and responses in mice, the team's work demonstrates that the central amygdala is an active component, and is driven by input from the lateral amygdala, to which it is connected.
"We find that the fear memory in the central amygdala can modify the circuit in a way that translates into action -- or what we call the fear response," explains Li.
In the future Li's group will try to obtain a better understanding of how these processes may be altered in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other disorders involving abnormal fear learning. One important goal is to develop pharmacological interventions for such disorders.
Li says more research is needed, but is hopeful that with the discovery of specific cellular markers and techniques such as optogenetics, a breakthrough can be made.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
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Journal Reference:
Haohong Li, Mario A Penzo, Hiroki Taniguchi, Charles D Kopec, Z Josh Huang, Bo Li. Experience-dependent modification of a central amygdala fear circuit. Nature Neuroscience, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nn.3322
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
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You need to be interested in employing Online marketing if you are sincere about your business venture. Do not doubt the truth of this statement. Your company could rise or fall based solely on your whether you have implemented a sound Internet promotion strategy. The following tips can ensure that you get the most out of the efforts you devote to Internet marketing.
One way to become an authority or subject-matter expert is to compile a relevant glossary on your website. This is a great tool for both current and prospective customers. People doing a search for those terms will be more likely to come to your website. You will get more traffic and be considered a reference.
Minimize the use of tools like Flash or AJAX. It may be aesthetically pleasing, but it will not add additional search engine results. If you want to employ Flash, use it sparingly and make sure you have plenty of other keywords and navigational tools available.
TIP! Figuring out your niche for your business is key to market on the Internet. Since there are no geographical constraints, you could easily reach out to a very small target audience.
It?s important not to become too reliant on one venue or source of income when engaged in Internet promotion. This is key when because income will vary in the beginning and may not be sufficient at first until you are more established. Keep your primary job until you are absolutely certain it is safe for you to give it up.
Keep in mind what your audience will be expecting when they come to your site. If you can figure out what they want, you will get more sales. Ask people you trust for opinions on your website. You can even ask some of your online friends to check it out or ask for feedback from forum members. Really research what would make an excellent site that delivers to your target market.
Deal with complaints personally. You should strive to handle all customer complaints yourself as this way you know when they have been resolved. Always respond to complaint emails yourself and with a solution to that complaint.
TIP! Make sure your customers know they can opt out of receiving email from you at any time. This is essential to today?s online world of unwanted opinions and spam.
Make sure that you implement all sorts of different software to make your Affiliate marketing strategy as successful as possible. If your customers use more advanced software than you do, they will wonder why you haven?t upgraded. On the other hand, if you demonstrate a willingness to take risks and employ cutting-edge business tactics, customers will respect your innovative practices.
Do some research to find out which types of Internet marketing are working for your competitors. For example, you may find that some of the best ways to go about marketing your site won?t cost you a single penny. But unless you?re first taking the time to really think about it, you may end up paying money for nothing. There are many ways to get people to come to your site. It just requires a little creativity.
Every image that appears on your website should have its own caption. Search engines use captions to help determine if a site is relevant to a user?s search. With good captions on your images, your site can raise in search engine rankings.
TIP! Long before site ranking becomes a concern for you, you need to build yourself an outstanding website. Creating a well-designed website is an essential first step for your business.
Do not use spam. Web crawlers, which quickly post hundreds or thousands of comments in a short amount of time, rarely produce the desired effect for your business. As a matter of fact if you are generic with advertising potential customers may be driven off.
Within businesses, those who are authoritative in their fields are widely respected. Don?t be afraid to let it be known that you are indeed the head honcho. You can refer to yourself as the ?President? or ?CEO? of your company.
Marketing your business wisely on the Internet is no longer an option but a requirement. It cannot be avoided or ignored by anyone who does business online. By following these steps you can ensure that you have every opportunity for your business to succeed.
TIP! You should be very careful about the information you are giving customers when you are marketing a small business. Do your best to write original and relevant content.
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I want to share with you the two most powerful marketing methods I?ve found for the copywriter. And they are (drum roll please)?direct mail and? networking! In my coaching program I have my students go through an intensive 24-session web/mail marketing program that gets them the high quality leads they need for financial and professional [...]
The article starts below...
Written on January 28th, 2013 Read more articles on Copywriting.
I want to share with you the two most powerful marketing methods I?ve found for the copywriter. And they are (drum roll please)?direct mail and? networking!
In my coaching program I have my students go through an intensive 24-session web/mail marketing program that gets them the high quality leads they need for financial and professional success.
However, as one of my previous students recently reminded me, networking is also a very strong marketing tool.
In fact, it was networking that got me my first clients, and it was direct mail that got me the right clients during the second phase of my freelance career.
Here?s what you need to know about networking?
Rule number one: Avoid the Chamber of Commerce!
Almost every copywriter I know (including me), automatically puts the Chamber of Commerce on the short list of good places to network. And almost every copywriter (myself included), is disappointed with the results.
Now I?m not saying the local Chamber is always a losing proposition; I have one past student who said Chamber networking paid off for him, but 99 percent of the copywriters I talk with agree the businesses found there are just too small (and usually clueless about direct marketing).
What?s more, the Chamber is comprised of many types of business, so niching is not possible.
It is much better to go to events and meetings that focus on marketing, like those of a local Direct Marketing Association and American Marketing Association. This is where you?ll find marketing directors, direct marketers, and marketing-related vendors likely to have a high interest in copywriting services.
When I first started my freelance career I joined the Oregon Direct Marketing Association and took every opportunity I could to get my name known.
I wrote the newsletter (and placed a free ad in the classifieds); I wrote the press releases and I accepted responsibilities for putting on the yearly conference. I even gave a speech on the proper elements of a good sales letter. And I put myself on the board.
All of this led to my first freelance clients: mini-cataloger and manufacturer Stash Tea, LawnPro, a small landscape maintenance firm, and an ad agency that locked me in a tiny room on site, as though to prevent me from making a personal call on their dime. Not the best clients, but it gave me my start.
Over the years, technology has made niche marketing the smart way to go, and for that reason I also highly recommend that you seek groups, organizations, trade shows, and associations that pertain to your niche.
Another one of my current students is niching into a very specialized area of the alternative health field. Within her unique niche she?s found huge trade shows she can attend, and is now making calls to vendors to introduce herself and let them know she?ll be stopping by their booth. The positive response she?s been getting has us both very excited!
Many copywriters find it difficult to network simply because they live remotely. For them, I like to point out online alternatives.
For instance, as a specialist in software who lives in California?s remote Palm Desert (near Palm Springs), I must seek online opportunities to network.
To this end I?ve participated in marketing forums on SoftwareCEO, a popular site for software execs. And I?ve also written articles for its newsletter.
I can report that networking on SoftwareCEO has paid off nicely, as a large chunk of last year?s income came from a client who saw my name there.
Online networking has another plus, and that?s that it?s an especially attractive route to take if you?re shy and have a difficult time of meeting people.
With online networking, all you have to do is answer a question, provide an opinion, or share a resource. It takes just a few minutes, you don?t have to dress up, or travel anywhere, and it doesn?t cost a thing!
In summary, there are many ways for copywriters to market themselves. Public speaking, writing articles, cold calling, running ads, and so on.
But most copywriters have neither the time nor the finances for multiple marketing efforts; most pick one or two methods that appeal to them, and work hard at making them effective.
One thing is sure: I wouldn?t be where I am now without networking. I found my copywriting mentor via networking and he taught me everything he knew.
With networking I made the connections that got me an agency job that changed the course of my career?and my life.
Reflecting on what networking has done for my career, I must wholeheartedly encourage my ambitious freelance friends to take advantage of its benefits.
I?ve often thought that in any business, it?s the people who make things happen. With networking, you can capitalize on this truism. You can develop relationships that last a lifetime?gain experiences that greatly impact your career?and enjoy rewards far beyond your initial imagination.
I encourage you to find networking opportunities, both online and off. Network consistently and I guarantee that when you?re ?fat and happy,? you?ll attribute some of your success to networking.
About the Author
Master copywriter and coach Chris Marlow publishes a free ezine for copywriters who want to quickly build a profitable business. Visit: FreelancersBusinessBulletin
Written on January 28th, 2013 Read more articles on Copywriting.
Hackers angry over the suicide of Internet activist Aaron Swartz took over the website of the United States Sentencing Commission (USSC) twice over the weekend, finally infecting the homepage with a playable version of the classic arcade game "Asteroids."
The hackers, claiming affiliation with the online movement Anonymous, also claimed to release a list of people in the federal Witness Security Program, also known as the Witness Protection Program, but that was quickly discovered to be a hoax.
Blood of the martyr
The attack began late Friday (Jan. 25), when the homepage of the USSC, which sets sentencing guidelines for federal courts, was defaced with a video regarding the prosecution of Swartz.
"We have seen the erosion of due process, the dilution of constitutional rights, the usurpation of the rightful authority of courts by the discretion of prosecutors," said a voiceover on the video. "We have seen how the law is wielded less and less to uphold justice, and more and more to exercise control."
Swartz, who hanged himself in his Brooklyn apartment earlier this month at the age of 26, was facing decades in federal prison for allegedly downloading millions of academic documents from an online archive to a laptop hidden on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
According to a report released last week, local authorities in Boston had not intended to seek any jail time for Swartz.
Federal prosecutors then took over the case, first indicting Swartz on four charges that carried a maximum penalty of 35 years in prison, then adding nine more charges in a second indictment that increased the possible prison time to 50 years.
Two weeks ago, Anonymous defaced the websites of MIT and the U.S. Department of Justice in Swartz's memory.
[Are You Looking at This Website? You Might Be Breaking the Law]
Fire away
The USSC site was fixed Saturday (Jan. 26), but late Sunday the Twitter feed @OpLastResort issued a cryptic message.
"ussc.gov --> enter Konami code (with cursor keys) ???????? B A ---> CAEK (repeat for NyanCat powers...)"
The Konami cheat code was a well-known method of gaining extra points on the Nintendo Entertainment System in the 1980s. On a computer, it would be up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right on the keyboard arrow keys, then "B," "A" and "Enter."
On Sunday evening, the USSC site appeared normal until the cheat code was entered, at which point a silhouette of the popular Internet meme "NyanCat" appeared.
The arrow keys maneuvered NyanCat and fired his thruster engine; pressing the spacebar fired his laser cannon, blowing away elements of the page until a background image of the Anonymous logo appeared.
On Monday morning (Jan. 28), the USSC's site was unreachable, but the game had been ported to the website of the Eastern Michigan branch of the U.S. Probation Office at http://www.miep.uscourts.gov/.
This story was provided by TechNewsDaily, sister site to LiveScience.
Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Mental Attitude: Vitamin D and Alzheimer's Disease. Higher vitamin D dietary intake is associated with a lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. Women who developed Alzheimer's disease had lower baseline vitamin D intakes (an average of 50.3 micrograms per week) than those who developed no dementia at all (an average of 59.0 micrograms per week). Journals of Gerontology, December 2012
Health Alert: Pesticides and Food Allergies. Dichlorophenols are chemical compounds commonly found in pesticides and used for tap water chlorination. A recent study of 10,438 Americans showed 24.4% had dichlorophenols in their urine. Researchers found those with dichlorophenols in their urine were more likely to suffer from food allergies. Further research is needed to determine whether or not dichlorophenol exposure is a cause of food allergies. Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, December 2012
Diet: Risks of Obesity! Being obese or overweight heightens the risk of diabetes, some cancers, high blood pressure, stroke, coronary heart disease, infertility, some forms of arthritis and respiratory problems. British Medical Journal, December 2012
Exercise: Memory. In this study, adults ages 50-85 years old (both with and without memory issues) looked at pictures of pleasant things. Afterwards, half rode a stationary bicycle for 6 minutes at 70% of their maximum capacity. An hour later, everyone took a surprise recall test on the images they viewed earlier. Outcomes revealed those adults in the group that rode the bike for 6 minutes were better able to remember the pictures they'd seen than the adults who did not, regardless if they suffered from memory issues. UC Irvine, December 2012
Chiropractic: My Degeneration. What causes the pain associated with spinal degenerative joint disease (DJD)? 1. The instability caused by disk degeneration. 2. The mechanical compression of nerve by bone, ligament, or the disk. 3. The chemical mediators of inflammation. Spine, 1997
Wellness/Prevention: Essential Oils. Essential oils, which form the basis of aromatherapy for stress relief, are reported to have a beneficial effect on heart rate and blood pressure following short-term exposure and may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. After 45 minutes of exposure, blood pressure dropped by 2.1 mmHg and heart rate by 2.2 beats per minute (bpm). However, after 120 minutes, blood pressure rose by 2.2 mmHg above baseline, and heart rate by 1.7 bpm above baseline. Because of these results, researchers believe prolonged exposure to essential oils may be detrimental to the cardiovascular health of spa workers. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, December 2012
Quote: ?It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.? ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti
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While there's no denying First Lady Michelle Obama and the First Daughters, Malia and Sasha, stole the sartorial show this week--there were also a few other style standouts worth noting.
Jennifer Lopez looked lovely in white while attending a screening of her new film 'Parker' in New York City. The short ivory Lanvin dress boosted a a peplum waist and definitely helped showoff her famous curves.
Britain's Got Talent judge, Alesha Dixon, got colorful for one of the show's audition sessions on Tuesday in London. The singer/dancer/rapper/model paired a black-and-white H&M blazer with multi-colored, abstract printed Aqua April Bodice and matching capri pants. And her Charlotte Olympia pink-and-black pumps were a perfect complement to the ensemble.
Kerry Washington has been on a roll lately. She's a big star on the
small screen with "Scandal,"
a box office queen with "Django" and has managed to find a seemingly permanent place on our Week's Best Dress List. This past weekend Kerry was in Washington D.C. for The Daily Beast Bi-Partisan Inauguration Brunch. Her chevron printed red-and-black dress was bold without being too over the top.
Check out those lovely ladies and the rest of the style stars, including--Beyonce, Jay-Z and Kimora Lee Simmons.
Contact: David Ruth david@rice.edu 713-348-6327 Rice University
Researchers create fine patterns that combine single-atom-thick graphene, boron nitride
HOUSTON (Jan. 28, 2013) Rice University scientists have taken an important step toward the creation of two-dimensional electronics with a process to make patterns in atom-thick layers that combine a conductor and an insulator.
The materials at play graphene and hexagonal boron nitride have been merged into sheets and built into a variety of patterns at nanoscale dimensions.
Rice introduced a technique to stitch the identically structured materials together nearly three years ago. Since then, the idea has received a lot of attention from researchers interested in the prospect of building 2-D, atomic-layer circuits, said Rice materials scientist Pulickel Ajayan. He is one of the authors of the new work that appears this week in Nature Nanotechnology. In particular, Ajayan noted that Cornell University scientists reported an advance late last year on the art of making atomic-layer heterostructures through sequential growth schemes.
This week's contribution by Rice offers manufacturers the possibility of shrinking electronic devices into even smaller packages. While Rice's technical capabilities limited features to a resolution of about 100 nanometers, the only real limits are those defined by modern lithographic techniques, according to the researchers. (A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter.)
"It should be possible to make fully functional devices with circuits 30, even 20 nanometers wide, all in two dimensions," said Rice researcher Jun Lou, a co-author of the new paper. That would make circuits on about the same scale as in current semiconductor fabrication, he said.
Graphene has been touted as a wonder material since its discovery in the last decade. Even at one atom thick, the hexagonal array of carbon atoms has proven its potential as a fascinating electronic material. But to build a working device, conductors alone will not do. Graphene-based electronics require similar, compatible 2-D materials for other components, and researchers have found hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) works nicely as an insulator.
H-BN looks like graphene, with the same chicken-wire atomic array. The earlier work at Rice showed that merging graphene and h-BN via chemical vapor deposition (CVD) created sheets with pools of the two that afforded some control of the material's electronic properties. Ajayan said at the time that the creation offered "a great playground for materials scientists."
He has since concluded that the area of two-dimensional materials beyond graphene "has grown significantly and will play out as one of the key exciting materials in the near future."
His prediction bears fruit in the new work, in which finely detailed patterns of graphene are laced into gaps created in sheets of h-BN. Combs, bars, concentric rings and even microscopic Rice Owls were laid down through a lithographic process. The interface between elements, seen clearly in scanning transmission electron microscope images taken at Oak Ridge National Laboratories, shows a razor-sharp transition from graphene to h-BN along a subnanometer line.
"This is not a simple quilt," Lou said. "It's very precisely engineered. We can control the domain sizes and the domain shapes, both of which are necessary to make electronic devices."
The new technique also began with CVD. Lead author Zheng Liu, a Rice research scientist, and his colleagues first laid down a sheet of h-BN. Laser-cut photoresistant masks were placed over the h-BN, and exposed material was etched away with argon gas. (A focused ion beam system was later used to create even finer patterns, down to 100-nanometer resolution, without masks.) After the masks were washed away, graphene was grown via CVD in the open spaces, where it bonded edge-to-edge with the h-BN. The hybrid layer could then be picked up and placed on any substrate.
While there's much work ahead to characterize the atomic bonds where graphene and h-BN domains meet and to analyze potential defects along the boundaries, Liu's electrical measurements proved the components' qualities remain intact.
"One important thing Zheng showed is that even by doing all kinds of growth, then etching, then regrowth, the intrinsic properties of these two materials are not affected," Lou said. "Insulators stay insulators; they're not doped by the carbon. And the graphene still looks very good. That's important, because we want to be sure what we're growing is exactly what we want."
Liu said the next step is to place a third element, a semiconductor, into the 2-D fabric. "We're trying very hard to integrate this into the platform," he said. "If we can do that, we can build truly integrated in-plane devices." That would give new options to manufacturers toying with the idea of flexible electronics, he said.
"The contribution of this paper is to demonstrate the general process," Lou added. "It's robust, it's repeatable and it creates materials with very nice properties and with dimensions that are at the limit of what is possible."
###
Co-authors of the paper are graduate students Lulu Ma, Gang Shi, Yongji Gong, Ken Hackenberg, Sidong Lei and Jiangnan Zhang; Aydin Babakhani, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering; and Robert Vajtai, a faculty fellow in mechanical engineering and materials science, all at Rice; Wu Zhou, a research associate at Vanderbilt University and Wigner Fellow at Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Xuebei Yang, a former research assistant at Rice, now at Agilent Technologies; Jingjiang Yu, a scientist at Agilent Technologies; and Juan-Carlos Idrobo, a research professor of physics at Vanderbilt and a guest scientist at Oak Ridge. Lou is an associate professor of mechanical engineering and materials science. Ajayan is the Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and of chemistry at Rice.
The work was supported by U.S. Army Research Office and U.S. Office of Naval Research Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative grants; the Nanoelectronics Research Corp; a U.S.-Japan Cooperative Research and Education in Terahertz grant; the Welch Foundation; the National Science Foundation; and Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Shared Research Equipment User Program, sponsored by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy.
This news release can be found online at news.rice.edu.
Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews
A photolithography process was used at Rice University to develop a patterned, one-atom-thick hybrid of graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). Graphene is a conductor and hBN is an insulator, so the 2-D material has unique electrical properties. (Credit: Zheng Liu/Rice University)
A scanning transmission electron microscope image shows a razor-sharp transition between the hexagonal boron nitride domain at top left and graphene at bottom right in the 2-D hybrid material created at Rice University. (Credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratories/Rice University)
An atom-thick Rice Owl (scale bar equals 100 micrometers) was created to show the ability to make fine patterns in hybrid graphene/hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). In this image, the owl is hBN and the lighter material around it is graphene. The ability to pattern a conductor (graphene) and insulator (hBN) into a single layer may advance the ability to shrink electronic devices. (Credit: Zheng Liu/Rice University)
Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,708 undergraduates and 2,374 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice has been ranked No. 1 for best quality of life multiple times by the Princeton Review and No. 2 for "best value" among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance. To read "What they're saying about Rice," go to http://tinyurl.com/AboutRice.
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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.
Contact: David Ruth david@rice.edu 713-348-6327 Rice University
Researchers create fine patterns that combine single-atom-thick graphene, boron nitride
HOUSTON (Jan. 28, 2013) Rice University scientists have taken an important step toward the creation of two-dimensional electronics with a process to make patterns in atom-thick layers that combine a conductor and an insulator.
The materials at play graphene and hexagonal boron nitride have been merged into sheets and built into a variety of patterns at nanoscale dimensions.
Rice introduced a technique to stitch the identically structured materials together nearly three years ago. Since then, the idea has received a lot of attention from researchers interested in the prospect of building 2-D, atomic-layer circuits, said Rice materials scientist Pulickel Ajayan. He is one of the authors of the new work that appears this week in Nature Nanotechnology. In particular, Ajayan noted that Cornell University scientists reported an advance late last year on the art of making atomic-layer heterostructures through sequential growth schemes.
This week's contribution by Rice offers manufacturers the possibility of shrinking electronic devices into even smaller packages. While Rice's technical capabilities limited features to a resolution of about 100 nanometers, the only real limits are those defined by modern lithographic techniques, according to the researchers. (A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter.)
"It should be possible to make fully functional devices with circuits 30, even 20 nanometers wide, all in two dimensions," said Rice researcher Jun Lou, a co-author of the new paper. That would make circuits on about the same scale as in current semiconductor fabrication, he said.
Graphene has been touted as a wonder material since its discovery in the last decade. Even at one atom thick, the hexagonal array of carbon atoms has proven its potential as a fascinating electronic material. But to build a working device, conductors alone will not do. Graphene-based electronics require similar, compatible 2-D materials for other components, and researchers have found hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) works nicely as an insulator.
H-BN looks like graphene, with the same chicken-wire atomic array. The earlier work at Rice showed that merging graphene and h-BN via chemical vapor deposition (CVD) created sheets with pools of the two that afforded some control of the material's electronic properties. Ajayan said at the time that the creation offered "a great playground for materials scientists."
He has since concluded that the area of two-dimensional materials beyond graphene "has grown significantly and will play out as one of the key exciting materials in the near future."
His prediction bears fruit in the new work, in which finely detailed patterns of graphene are laced into gaps created in sheets of h-BN. Combs, bars, concentric rings and even microscopic Rice Owls were laid down through a lithographic process. The interface between elements, seen clearly in scanning transmission electron microscope images taken at Oak Ridge National Laboratories, shows a razor-sharp transition from graphene to h-BN along a subnanometer line.
"This is not a simple quilt," Lou said. "It's very precisely engineered. We can control the domain sizes and the domain shapes, both of which are necessary to make electronic devices."
The new technique also began with CVD. Lead author Zheng Liu, a Rice research scientist, and his colleagues first laid down a sheet of h-BN. Laser-cut photoresistant masks were placed over the h-BN, and exposed material was etched away with argon gas. (A focused ion beam system was later used to create even finer patterns, down to 100-nanometer resolution, without masks.) After the masks were washed away, graphene was grown via CVD in the open spaces, where it bonded edge-to-edge with the h-BN. The hybrid layer could then be picked up and placed on any substrate.
While there's much work ahead to characterize the atomic bonds where graphene and h-BN domains meet and to analyze potential defects along the boundaries, Liu's electrical measurements proved the components' qualities remain intact.
"One important thing Zheng showed is that even by doing all kinds of growth, then etching, then regrowth, the intrinsic properties of these two materials are not affected," Lou said. "Insulators stay insulators; they're not doped by the carbon. And the graphene still looks very good. That's important, because we want to be sure what we're growing is exactly what we want."
Liu said the next step is to place a third element, a semiconductor, into the 2-D fabric. "We're trying very hard to integrate this into the platform," he said. "If we can do that, we can build truly integrated in-plane devices." That would give new options to manufacturers toying with the idea of flexible electronics, he said.
"The contribution of this paper is to demonstrate the general process," Lou added. "It's robust, it's repeatable and it creates materials with very nice properties and with dimensions that are at the limit of what is possible."
###
Co-authors of the paper are graduate students Lulu Ma, Gang Shi, Yongji Gong, Ken Hackenberg, Sidong Lei and Jiangnan Zhang; Aydin Babakhani, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering; and Robert Vajtai, a faculty fellow in mechanical engineering and materials science, all at Rice; Wu Zhou, a research associate at Vanderbilt University and Wigner Fellow at Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Xuebei Yang, a former research assistant at Rice, now at Agilent Technologies; Jingjiang Yu, a scientist at Agilent Technologies; and Juan-Carlos Idrobo, a research professor of physics at Vanderbilt and a guest scientist at Oak Ridge. Lou is an associate professor of mechanical engineering and materials science. Ajayan is the Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and of chemistry at Rice.
The work was supported by U.S. Army Research Office and U.S. Office of Naval Research Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative grants; the Nanoelectronics Research Corp; a U.S.-Japan Cooperative Research and Education in Terahertz grant; the Welch Foundation; the National Science Foundation; and Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Shared Research Equipment User Program, sponsored by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy.
This news release can be found online at news.rice.edu.
Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews
A photolithography process was used at Rice University to develop a patterned, one-atom-thick hybrid of graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). Graphene is a conductor and hBN is an insulator, so the 2-D material has unique electrical properties. (Credit: Zheng Liu/Rice University)
A scanning transmission electron microscope image shows a razor-sharp transition between the hexagonal boron nitride domain at top left and graphene at bottom right in the 2-D hybrid material created at Rice University. (Credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratories/Rice University)
An atom-thick Rice Owl (scale bar equals 100 micrometers) was created to show the ability to make fine patterns in hybrid graphene/hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). In this image, the owl is hBN and the lighter material around it is graphene. The ability to pattern a conductor (graphene) and insulator (hBN) into a single layer may advance the ability to shrink electronic devices. (Credit: Zheng Liu/Rice University)
Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,708 undergraduates and 2,374 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice has been ranked No. 1 for best quality of life multiple times by the Princeton Review and No. 2 for "best value" among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance. To read "What they're saying about Rice," go to http://tinyurl.com/AboutRice.
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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.
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Consumers spent six times as much time in retailer apps in December compared to a year earlier, showing that shopping and commerce is finally beginning to take off on mobile platforms. Flurry, the mobile analytics startup, looked at about 1,800 iOS and Android apps from December 2011 to December of last year. They also broke it down into five other categories including Retailer Apps, Price Comparison, Purchase Assistant, Online Marketplace and Daily Deals. Time spent in apps overall grew by 132 percent year-over-year, so as you can see above, basically every category except for daily deals outpaced growth in the rest of the ecosystem. Retailer apps like ones directly from Walmart, Target, Macy’s, Victoria’s Secret, Gap and Saks 5th Avenue, grew the most in terms of time spent. Time spent in ‘Price Comparison’ apps like eBay’s RedLaser and Grocery IQ grew by 247 percent year over year. At the same time, “Purchase Assistant” apps like ShopSavvy and ShopAdvisor saw 228 percent more time spent. Even though Daily Deals apps like Groupon, which have spent millions on user acquisition, have seen their market share fall, they still saw the time spent metric at least double. Groupon has said in the past that one-third of its revenues come from mobile purchases in North America. But you can see how market share has changed for mobile commerce apps. Daily deals apps, which were very early to mobile platforms and could spend millions upon millions to acquire users every year, were first-movers. Now the rest of the space is catching up as big box retailers figure out how to use mobile apps to promote transactions. Retailers nearly doubled their market share in the shopping category, with 27 percent of time spent up from 15 percent a year ago. Virtually every other category was either flat or down year-over-year in terms of market share. Marketplace apps like eBay and Amazon fell to 20 percent marketshare from 25 percent a year ago, while price comparison and purchase assistant apps were basically flat year-on-year.
Editor's Note: All reviews and information aggregated from?Moviefone and RottenTomatoes.
Want to catch a movie this weekend? Here is Patch's roundup of movies playing at the two nearest theaters in the St. Michael-Albertville area:
New this weekend:
Parker One sentence plot: Parker (Jason Statham) is a professional thief who lives by a personal code of ethics: Don't steal from people who can't afford it and don't hurt people who don't deserve it. Moviefone viewer score: 85 Reviews: "How does Hackford fall so far off the rails with the pedestrian crime thriller Parker, based on the 19th book in the Parker series by the late Donald E. Westlake (no slouch himself, with scripting credits on The Grifters and The Stepfather)? For starters, Westlake didn?t pen this script, and the John J. McLaughlin screenplay is a mess, both highly ludicrous and predictable. McLaughlin ? yeah, the same dude who wrote Black Swan and the recent Hitchcock ? really treads in the shallow end of the gene pool here." Montreal Gazzette. Full review
"'Parker' plays like the bloodiest promotional video ever made for Palm Beach tourism. Stabbings, explosions and furniture-smashing brawls occur at some of the ritziest (and name-checked) locations within the sun-splashed, pastel-soaked slab of Florida opulence. Kinda gives a whole new meaning to the idea of The Breakers." Star Tribune. Full review
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Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters One sentence plot: After getting a taste for blood as children, Hansel (Renner) and Gretel (Arterton) have become the ultimate vigilantes, hell bent on retribution. Moviefone viewer score: 91 Reviews: "High-concept pitch or no, the movie doesn?t really work. They were shooting for sort of a witch-hunting 'Zombieland,' an F-bomb-riddled 'Van Helsing' packed with comical anachronisms ? a Bavarian forest past with witch trials, pump shotguns and primitive Tasers, where bottles of milk have woodcut pictures of 'missing children' on the labels." Norfolk Daily News. Full review
"In the 3D?Witch Hunters, the kids were taken into the woods and left on their own by their father. They stumble into a candy-covered witch house, are taken prisoner and when they figure a way out of their fix - working as a team - they've found their calling. They'll track, shoot, stab, behead and burn witches. Whatever it takes." The Age. Full review
"Even though their skillsets are essentially limited to finding and killing witches, Hansel and Gretel decide to rescue the children themselves. Really, the film should have been called Hansel and Gretel: Occasional Child Recoverers, but that doesn't scan so well. So, who could have abducted the children? A witch?" The Guardian. Full review
Other movies in theaters:
Mama One sentence plot: Guillermo del Toro presents 'Mama', a supernatural thriller that tells the haunting tale of two little girls who disappeared into the woods the day that their parents were killed. Moviefone viewer score: 84 Reviews: "What's under the bed? Who's behind that door? What's making those vaguely satanic noises? These and other thought-provoking questions are entertained in Mama, a visually polished but overly repetitive chiller." Variety. Full Review
"It never hits the high notes of Mr. del Toro's own films or successfully weaves between reality and fantasy as it should." New York Observer. Full Review
"Nothing in the movie is quite original, yet Muschietti, expanding his original short, knows how to stage a rip-off with frightening verve." Entertainment Weekly. Full Review
Do you plan on seeing this movie? Please tell us what you thought in the comments below.
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Broken City One sentence plot: The mayor of New York City hires a disgraced ex-cop to identify his wife's lover, setting into motion a scandalous series of events in this post-noir thriller from director Albert Hughes. Moviefone viewer score: 91 Reviews: "'Broken City' is an evocative and over-ambitious title for a so-so political potboiler that wants to be a gritty, expansive epic of moral and urban decay." Variety. Full review.
"Broken City tells a sordid tale of big city corruption that would have made for a fine film noir sixty years ago but feels rather contrived and unbelievable in the setting of contemporary New York... It's never really convincing that the characters would do some of the far-fetched things required of them by the script, resulting in a sense of detachment that is never helpful for a thriller." The Hollywood Reporter. Full review.
Do you plan on seeing this movie? Please tell us what you thought in the comments below.
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Gangster Squad One sentence plot: Ruthless, Brooklyn-born mob king Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) runs the show in this town, reaping the ill-gotten gains from the drugs, the guns, the prostitutes and--if he has his way--every wire bet placed west of Chicago. Moviefone viewer score: 90 Moviefone critic score: 43 Reviews: ?The cops play things as dirty as the crooks in Gangster Squad, an impressively pulpy underworld-plunger that embellishes on a 1949 showdown between a dedicated team of LAPD officers and Mob-connected Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) for control of the city.? Variety. Full Review.
?Made up of synthetics rather than whole cloth, this lurid concoction superficially gets by thanks to a strong cast and jazzy period detail, but its cartoonish contrivances fail to convince and lack any of the depth, feeling or atmosphere of genre stand-bearers like ?L.A. Confidential.?? The Hollywood Reporter. Full Review.
?Despite the unrelenting action and the terrific cast, Gangster Squad comes up more scattered than successful.? Austin Chronicle. Full Review.
Do you plan on seeing this movie? Please tell us what you thought in the comments below.
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Zero Dark Thirty One sentence plot: The filmmaking duo behind The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal) takes on the hunt for -- and the killing of -- Osama bin Laden in this Annapurna Pictures production that tracks SEAL Team Six, the special-ops team who eventually brought down the terrorist leader. Moviefone viewer score: 63 Moviefone critic score: 95 Reviews: ?Telling a nearly three-hour story with an ending everyone knows, Bigelow and Boal have managed to craft one of the most intense and intellectually challenging films of the year.? The Guardian. Full Review.
?Like the fictional Clarice Starling in ?The Silence of the Lambs,? Maya is a consummate professional who brilliantly performs her job in an often hostile work environment.? New York Post. Full Review.
?A monumental achievement that documents a coordinated and complicated response to a monumental tragedy.? Philadelphia Enquirer. Full Review.
Do you plan on seeing this movie? Please tell us what you thought in the comments below.
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The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey One sentence plot: The adventure follows the journey of title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug. Moviefone viewer score: 72 percent Moviefone critic score: 58 Reviews: ?Charming, spectacular, technically audacious; in short, everything you expect from a Peter Jackson movie. A feeling of familiarity does take hold in places, but this is an epically entertaining first course.? Total Film. Full Review.
?A mesmerizing study in excess, Peter Jackson and company's long-awaited prequel to the Lord of the Rings saga is bursting with surplus characters, wall-to-wall special effects, unapologetically drawn-out story tangents and double the frame rate (48 over 24) of the average movie.? Time Out New York. Full Review.
?I'm holding the filmmaker responsible for getting us all back again - to feelings of excitement and delight. Vital as they are, Gollum and Bilbo can only do so much to keep us enchanted. Is Jackson able to sustain the magic in two more installments? I peer into Tolkien's Misty Mountains and embrace the journey.? Entertainment Weekly. Full Review.
Do you plan on seeing this movie? Have you seen it already? Leave a review of the film with a comment below.
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Django Unchained One sentence plot: Set in the South two years before the Civil War, Django Unchained stars Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx as Django, a slave who forms an unlikely partnership with German-born bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz. Moviefone viewer score: 73 Moviefone critic score: 80 Reviews: "A sharp shock of a film in an Awards season very full of movies so noble they become immobile. It's wildly unlikely to get much love from the Academy, and that's fine-bluntly, it's too good for them. With its bloody stew of history and hysteria, action taken from movies and atrocities taken from fact, Django isn't just a movie only America could make-it's also a movie only America needs to." Boxoffice Magazine.?Full Review.
"Exactly what you might expect from the fearless, controversial director of "Pulp Fiction" - it's overlong, raunchy, shocking, grim, exaggerated, self-indulgently over-the-top and so politically incorrect it demands a new definition of the term. It is also bold, original, mesmerizing, stylish and one hell of a piece of entertainment." Rex Reed of New York Observer.?Full Review.
"Django Unchained also has the pure, almost meaningless excitement which I found sorely lacking in Tarantino's previous film, Inglourious Basterds, with its misfiring spaghetti-Nazi trope and boring plot. I can only say Django delivers, wholesale, that particular narcotic and delirious pleasure that Tarantino still knows how to confect in the cinema, something to do with the manipulation of surfaces. It's as unwholesome, deplorable and delicious as a forbidden cigarette." Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian.?Full Review.
Do you plan on seeing this movie? Have you seen it already? Leave a review of the film with a comment below.
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Les Miserables One sentence plot: Set against the backdrop of 19th-century France, Les Miserables tells an enthralling story of broken dreams and unrequited love, passion, sacrifice and redemption, in a timeless testament to the survival of the human spirit. Moviefone viewer score: 81 Moviefone critic score: 63 Reviews: "Stirring and striking, Hooper's epic musical won't be wanting for awards and plaudits. Danny Cohen's cinematography is stunning and Hathaway's Oscar is guaranteed." Neil Smith of Total Film.?Full Review.
"Russell Crowe's pained vocal stylings (they sound more like barks) as relentless Inspector Javert can be forgiven after hearing Hugh Jackman's old-pro fluidity in the central role of Jean Valjean, hiding a criminal past." Joshua Rothkopf of Time Out New York.?Full Review.
"Fortunately, this sprawling epic is well-anchored. There cannot be a better big-screen showman than Jackman." Elizabeth Weitzman of New York Daily News.?Full Review.
Do you plan on seeing this movie? Have you seen it already? Leave a review of the film with a comment below.
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This is 40 One sentence plot: Five years after writer/director Judd Apatow introduced us to Pete and Debbie in 'Knocked Up', Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann reprise their roles as a husband and wife both approaching a milestone meltdown in 'This Is 40', an unfiltered, comedic look inside the life of an American family. Moviefone viewer score: 53 Moviefone critic score: 58 Reviews: "This Is 40 isn't always hilarious, but it's ticklishly honest and droll about all the things being a parent can do to a relationship. And why it's still worth it." Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly.?Full Review.
"Judd Apatow's instincts have rarely been sharper, wiser or more relatable than in This Is 40, an acutely perceptive, emotionally generous laffer about the joys and frustrations of marriage and middle age." Justin Chang of Variety.?Full Review.??
"In short, This Is 40, in tried and true Apatowian style, mixes weighty issues about intimacy and cohabitation with astute and smart-alecky pop culture references, crude bathroom jokes, stoner riffs, boob ogling, and existential angst." Steven Rea of Philadelphia Inquirer.?Full Review.
Do you plan on seeing this movie? Have you seen it already? Leave a review of the film with a comment below.
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Jack Reacher One sentence plot: The Usual Suspects' Christopher McQuarrie brings Lee Child's Jack Reacher character to the big screen with this Paramount Pictures release starring Tom Cruise as the lone-wolf investigator on the hunt for a murderous sniper. Moviefone viewer score: 65 Moviefone critic score: 49 Reviews: "In terms of pure pop entertainment value, you'll be hard-pressed to find a more smartly constructed, beautifully shot, pulse-pounding movie this holiday season." Drew Taylor of The Playlist.?Full Review.
"A superior thriller, with Cruise and McQuarrie slotting together like a bullet in a clip. Like Reacher on the firing range, the aim isn't always true ? but the misses are fractional." James Mottram of Total Film.?Full Review.
"Tom Cruise is in fine form as mysterious tough guy Jack Reacher finally reaches the big screen." Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter.?Full Review
Do you plan on seeing this movie? Have you seen it already? Leave a review of the film with a comment below.
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Public release date: 27-Jan-2013
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Consumers spent six times as much time in retailer apps in December compared to a year earlier, showing that shopping and commerce is finally beginning to take off on mobile platforms. Flurry, the mobile analytics startup, looked at about 1,800 iOS and Android apps from December 2011 to December of last year. They also broke it down into five other categories including Retailer Apps, Price Comparison, Purchase Assistant, Online Marketplace and Daily Deals. Time spent in apps overall grew by 132 percent year-over-year, so as you can see above, basically every category except for daily deals outpaced growth in the rest of the ecosystem. Retailer apps like ones directly from Walmart, Target, Macy’s, Victoria’s Secret, Gap and Saks 5th Avenue, grew the most in terms of time spent. Time spent in ‘Price Comparison’ apps like eBay’s RedLaser and Grocery IQ grew by 247 percent year over year. At the same time, “Purchase Assistant” apps like ShopSavvy and ShopAdvisor saw 228 percent more time spent. Even though Daily Deals apps like Groupon, which have spent millions on user acquisition, have seen their market share fall, they still saw the time spent metric at least double. Groupon has said in the past that one-third of its revenues come from mobile purchases in North America. But you can see how market share has changed for mobile commerce apps. Daily deals apps, which were very early to mobile platforms and could spend millions upon millions to acquire users every year, were first-movers. Now the rest of the space is catching up as big box retailers figure out how to use mobile apps to promote transactions. Retailers nearly doubled their market share in the shopping category, with 27 percent of time spent up from 15 percent a year ago. Virtually every other category was either flat or down year-over-year in terms of market share. Marketplace apps like eBay and Amazon fell to 20 percent marketshare from 25 percent a year ago, while price comparison and purchase assistant apps were basically flat year-on-year.