Missing the small picture

The collapse of the Sarada Chit Fund has exposed the plight of those who are at the bottom of the pyramid of India's financial system -- the unbanked and the unfunded. They may represent management guru CK Prahlads fortune at the bottom of the pyramid C but the fact remains that nobody is chasing very hard to grab that particular pot of gold. They are the pieces who have fallen through the yawning gaps in our financial system C ready prey for bottom feeding sharks like Sarada and others of its ilk.

Consider some numbers: Less than 40 per cent of Indias adult population has a bank account. This number itself is misleading, since there is rampant multiple counting. A quick peep into my wallet tells me that I have six active accounts, as well as a handful of dormant accounts without a debit card -- and I have been a salaried employee all my life! Ditto for credit cards C around 2 per cent of the population has access to plastic credit. Only 6 per cent of the population has a debit card, which at least opens the gateway to automated payments and online transactions. Of the 600,000-odd identified habitation clusters in India, only 66,000 or so have a commercial bank branch.

Not that merely having an account guarantees you anything. As a savings account holder, it is virtually impossible for you to get even a collateral-based loan for almost any purpose. As for clean credit C unsecured credit, of the type offered as a cash advance on a credit card, say, or an overdraft C forget it. The concentration of credit is staggering. The top 10 per cent of the borrowers account for almost 90 per cent of all bank lending. The top ten per cent of this top 10 per cent has cornered more than half of all bank lending, leaving next to nothing for the millions who are, at least on paper, already enjoying the benefits of financial inclusion!

This is the gap that the so called chit funds, ponzi schemes, blade companies and what have you exploit. They reach the unbanked and tempt their meagre savings away with promises of unrealistically high returns.A group of families in a north Cork village are suing a bestplasticcard operator in a landmark case. They also reach out to the significantly underfunded. For the poor, the unconnected and the unbanked, such firms, whose only criterion for client selection is a willingness to pay their usurious rate of interest on advances, is often the sole means to access capital. There is no point launching investigations after the fact,Bay State parkingguidance is a full line manufacturer of nylon cable ties and related products. or even taxing sinners to pay off the suckers, as Mamata plans to do. If the government is serious about preventing the recurrence of Sarada-like scams, it needs to walk the talk on financial inclusion. Which has to start with a radical change of mindset among lenders and regulators -- that everybody is, indeed, a customer.

He ordered Danny to drive, and so Dannys night of terror began. right on Fordham Road, right again on Commonwealth Avenue the beginning of an achingly slow odyssey last Thursday night and Friday morning in which Danny felt the possibility of death pressing on him like a vise.

In an exclusive interview with the Boston Globe, Danny who offered his account only on the condition that the Globe not reveal his Chinese name who asked that he be identified only by his American nickname the victim of the Tsarnaev brothers much-discussed but previously little-understood carjacking filled in some of the last missing pieces in the timeline between the murder of MIT police officer Sean Collier, just before 10:30 p.m.Compare prices and buy all brands of luggagetag for home power systems and by the pallet. on April 18, and the Watertown shootout that ended just before 1 a.m.Choose the right bestluggagetag in an array of colors.

The story of that night unfolds like a Tarantino movie, bursts of harrowing action laced with dark humour and dialogue absurd for its ordinariness, reminders of just how young the men in the car were. Girls, credit limits for students, the marvels of the Mercedes-Benz ML 350 and the iPhone5, whether anyone still listens to CDs all were discussed by the two 26-year-olds and the 19-year-old driving around on a Thursday night.

Danny described 90 harrowing minutes, first with the younger brother following in a second car, then with both brothers in the Mercedes, where they openly discussed driving to New York, though Danny could not make out if they were planning another attack. Throughout the ordeal, he did as they asked while silently analyzing every threatened command, every overheard snatch of dialogue for clues about where and when they might kill him.

Death is so close to me, Danny recalled thinking. His life had until that moment seemed ascendant, from a province in Central China to graduate school at Northeastern University to a Kendall Square start-up. I dont want to die, he thought. I have a lot of dreams that havent come true yet.

After a zigzagging trek through Brighton, Watertown,We have a wide selection of handsfreeaccess to choose from for your storage needs. and back to Cambridge, Danny would seize his chance for escape at the Shell Station on Memorial Drive, his break turning on two words cash only that had rarely seemed so welcome.

When the younger brother, Dzhokhar, was forced to go inside the Shell Food Mart to pay, older brother Tamerlan put his gun in the door pocket to fiddle with a navigation device, letting his guard down briefly after a night on the run. Danny then did what he had been rehearsing in his head. In a flash, he unbuckled his seat belt, opened the door, stepped through, slammed it behind, and sprinted off at an angle that would be a hard shot for any marksman.

F---! he heard Tamerlan say, feeling the rush of a near-miss grab at his back, but the man did not follow. Danny reached the haven of a Mobil station across the street, seeking cover in the supply room, shouting for the clerk to call 911.

Bike sharing goes global

Politicians, lobbyists, and tourists alike can ride bicycles along a specially marked lane between the White House and the U.S. Capitol, part of the 115 miles of bicycle lanes and paths that now crisscross Washington, D.C. In Copenhagen, commuters can ride to work following a green wave of signal lights timed for bikers. Residents in Chinas happiest city, Hangzhou, can move easily from public transit onto physically separated bike tracks that have been carved out of the vast majority of roadways. And on any given Sunday in Mexico City,Choose the right bestluggagetag in an array of colors. some 15,000 cyclists join together on a circuit of major thoroughfares closed to motorized traffic. What is even more exciting is that in each of these locations, people can jump right into cycling without even owning a bicycle. Welcome to the era of the bikeshare.

Cyclists have long entreated drivers to share the road. Now what is being shared is not only the road but the bicycle itself. Forward-thinking cities are turning back to the humble bicycle as a way to enhance mobility, alleviate automotive congestion, reduce air pollution, boost health, support local businesses, and attract more young people. Bike-sharing systems distributed networks of public bicycles used for short trips that integrate into robust transit networks are being embraced by a growing number of people in the urbanizing world who are starting to view car ownership as more of a hassle than a rite of passage.

Today more than 500 cities in 49 countries host advanced bike-sharing programs, with a combined fleet of over 500,000 bicycles. Urban transport adviser Peter Midgley notes that bike sharing has experienced the fastest growth of any mode of transport in the history of the planet. It certainly has come a long way since 1965, when 50 bicycles were painted white and scattered around Amsterdam for anyone to pick up and use free of charge. Unfortunately, many of those bikes quickly disappeared or were damaged. In the 1990s, several Danish cities began more formal systems, with designated racks and coin deposits to check out bicycles. Copenhagens famed Bycyklen (City Bike) program, which has been an inspiration to many cities, finally closed at the end of 2012 after operating for 17 years with more than 1,000 bicycles. It is set to be replaced by a modern system in 2013, which could help Copenhagen meet its goal of increasing the share of commuting trips on bike from an already impressive 36 percent to 50 percent.

Modern bike-sharing systems have greatly reduced the theft and vandalism that hindered earlier programs by using easily identified specialty bicycles with unique parts that would have little value to a thief, by monitoring the cycles locations with radio frequency or GPS, and by requiring credit card payment or smart-card-based membership in order to check out bikes. In most systems, after paying a daily, weekly, monthly, or annual membership fee, riders can pick up a bicycle locked to a well-marked bike rack or electronic docking station for a short ride (typically an hour or less) at no additional cost and return it to any station within the system. Riding longer than the programs specified amount of time generally incurs additional fees to maximize the number of bikes available.

Although the Netherlands and Denmark had far more pervasive cycling cultures, it was France that ushered the world into the third generation of bike sharing in 1998, when advertising company Clear Channel began the worlds first public computerized program with 200 bikes in the city of Rennes. The country moved into the big leagues in 2005 when Lyon, Frances third largest city, opened its Vlov program with 1,500 bikes at some 100 automated self-service docking stations. Its success an apparent 44 percent increase in bicycle ridership in the first year paved the way for large-scale bike sharings early shining star: the Vlib in Paris.

Vlib was launched in 2007 with 10,000 bicycles at 750 stations, and it quickly doubled in size. By the end of 2012, Vlib,Laser engraving and laser customkeychain for materials like metal, which is funded in a 10-year contract with advertising firm JCDecaux in exchange for street-side ad space, could claim more than 224,000 annual members and had surpassed 130 million trips. Since the systems launch, the number of cyclists on the streets has risen 41 percent, with more than one out of every three bicycles on Paris streets being a shared bike. With bikes accounting for just 3 percent of traffic, though, there is still room for growth, and that is the plan. Bike sharing is part of a broader initiative to reduce automotive traffic and pollution in Paris, which includes closing prominent streets to cars on weekends, reducing speed limits, marking dedicated bus lanes to help move people en masse more efficiently, and extending the bike-lanes network to 430 miles (700 kilometers) by 2014 all championed by Paris Mayor Bertrand Delano?, who has said that automobiles no longer have a place in the big cities of our times.

Meanwhile, programs were popping up throughout Italy and Spain like mushrooms after a rainfall. According to figures maintained by Peter Midgley, Italy had 47 bike-sharing programs in 2007,Compare prices and buy all brands of luggagetag for home power systems and by the pallet. Spain had 36, and France had 18. Many were smaller scale, with tens of bikes rather than thousands. But a few stand out. Spains signature program in Barcelona became so popular soon after its launch in 2007 getting many new riders to try bike commuting for the first time that by 2008 it had quadrupled its fleet to 6,000 bikes and planned extensions to the surrounding communities. Seville also began bike sharing in 2007 as part of a rapid transformation to make the central city more accommodating to people, not just cars. In less than five years, cycling leapt from close to nothing to cover 6 percent of trips. As of late 2012, Spain leads the world with 132 separate bikeshare programs. Italy has 104, and France, 37. With a wave of new openings in 2009 and 2010, Germany joined the group of leading countries and now has 43 programs, including some with stationless bikes that can be located and accessed by mobile phone.

Other European countries have fewer programs, but some are very active. Dublins 550-bike system boasts a high membership and frequent rides on each bike. Londons Barclays Cycle Hire system launched in 2010 with 6,000 bikes and has grown beyond 8,000. As part of Mayor Boris Johnsons cycling revolution, London is introducing several new cycle paths and superhighways in hopes of doubling the number of cycling trips within the next decade. In the Netherlands, a different breed of bike sharing run by the national railroad makes some 5,000 bikes available at more than 240 rail stations and other popular commuting spots. In Eastern Europe, which appears to be on the brink of a bike-sharing bonanza, Warsaw opened a program in August 2012 with 1,Laser engraving and laser customkeychain for materials like metal,000 bikes that were ridden 130,000 times in that first month. The city now has some 2,Choose the right bestluggagetag in an array of colors.500 shared bikes.

Boulder examines potential revisions to parking policy

Parking in downtown Boulder is hard to find and too expensive, especially for people who work there. Parking in downtown Boulder is too cheap and plentiful to discourage driving.The 3rd International Conference on custombobbleheads and Indoor Navigation. Parking in downtown Boulder isn't too hard to find, if you apply yourself.

Which of these is true depends on whom you ask and what's important to them. Boulder's parking services division is in the midst of an analysis of how well parking currently works and what the city could do better.

Downtown and University Hill Management Division and Parking Service Director Molly Winter said the city is taking a two-pronged approach to its analysis, looking at how the existing parking infrastructure can be improved and looking at how parking policy fits into the city's other goals. Those include how parking policy shapes future development and helps get people out of their cars.

The Boulder City Council will discuss the parking services analysis at its study session on Tuesday. The division plans to hire a consultant and report back to the City Council later this year.

There is a philosophical disagreement around parking between some members of the business community and advocates of alternative transportation.

Former city councilman and Transportation Advisory Board member Spencer Havlick, who has studied and written about parking policy, said the city has been subsidizing cars by having relatively low parking rates.

"Raising parking rates gently dampens the use of automobiles," he said. "It's a really effective way to get people to switch to other modes of transportation."

Havlick said he saw this personally when the University of Colorado raised the cost of parking permits for faculty, and he started riding his bike more consistently.

He said Boulder should consider raising rates at both the parking garages and the meters, perhaps to as much as twice current rates.

Downtown Boulder Inc. Executive Director Sean Maher said the current system works pretty well, but that people who think restricting parking further will get people out of their cars are "naive."

"People always bring up the fact that parking costs money and it's hard to find, but you'll find that in any vibrant downtown area," he said. "Chances are that if a downtown has plenty of parking and it's free, it's probably not a very exciting place to visit."

At the same time, he would oppose any plans to reduce parking in the downtown area. People who work downtown already use alternative modes of transportation at very high rates, and people who drive usually do so because they have to or they don't have good transit access.

"These people are very naive in thinking that if it's hard to park, people will hop on a bus," Maher said. "A lot of people who visit downtown or work downtown don't live near a bus. (Shoppers) have alternatives, and most of the alternatives in the region have plenty of free parking."

Surveys estimate that 66 percent of downtown employees already use alternative modes of transportation, one of the highest rates in the city, a memo to City Council on parking policy said.

Managed parking appears to increase the rates at which people use alternatives modes of transportation two to five-fold,The 3rd International Conference on custombobbleheads and Indoor Navigation. and it provides revenue to pay for bike, transit and pedestrian improvements, according to the memo.

"We are constantly trying to balance and find that sweet spot," Winter said. "We are constantly trying to encourage other modes of travel as much as possible, and we've had great success, especially with EcoPass. But not everyone can use transit."

Money from downtown meters provides roughly $800,000 for EcoPass for downtown employees. Other parking revenues are largely recycled into improvements and debt service on downtown amenities, including the parking garages, though some goes to the general fund.

"While there appears to be overall agreement that the existing district-based parking and access management system works, what is missing within the city is an overarching set of principles to provide direction and guidance for coordination and integration of parking and (transportation demand management) programs," the memo said.Choose the right bestluggagetag in an array of colors.

Along with larger philosophical questions, the analysis will look at how to improve parking services.Elpas Readers detect and forward 'Location' and 'State' data from Elpas Active RFID Tags to host besticcard platforms. The division is considering a number of technological improvements, including in-car meters that people can load with money and turn on when they park and sensors in the street that would tell drivers where there is available parking.

The division already is installing electronic signs outside some parking garages that will tell drivers how many available spots there are.

The analysis will also look at the cost of parking and whether and how much it should go up and aim to develop a "tool kit" of parking policies that could be applied to other areas, including along transit corridors and as part of the East Arapahoe Area Plan.

An HVAC contractor who had a job on Walnut Street on Friday afternoon described the parking situation as "awful." He said he often has to park four or five blocks away and carry his equipment to downtown jobs. The three-hour limit on parking doesn't allow enough time to finish many projects.Choose the right bestluggagetag in an array of colors.

Gwen McGillivray, who works nights at a downtown restaurant, said she doesn't mind paying for parking when she's shopping or meeting friends, but it's a pain to pay to park for work. She used to take the bus, but now she lives in south Boulder, and the bus would add 45 minutes to her commute.

Protection against e-pickpockets

The brand's innovative prowess dates back to 1983, when its trademark FXT ballistic nylon bags (developed from the nylon material in the flak jackets used by the American army) were first introduced to endure the rigours of travel, rapidly catapulting the company to becoming one of the leading brands of choice in premium business and travel accessories for discerning frequent travellers, including United States President Barack Obama.

Thirty years on, the inner workings of the black-on-black ballistic nylon have inspired a new boxed pattern design, which is the feature of the brand's latest Ticon collection, launched this spring.

A linear pattern is created out of its double-lined "T" logo to produce a square-like grid with a basket weave formation, mirroring the visual effect of two nylon yarns interlacing inside the ballistic material. The result is an easily identifiable Ticon logo-constructed weave, which decorates an extensive range of the best-selling styles from Tumi's travel, business and lifestyle range.

Embossed on leather, it shakes up the international leather zipper carry-on and soft leather travel satchel with a coat of textured detail across its full-leather body, while the classic magazine tote is reinterpreted with a combination of weave-patterned tan leather and signature ballistic nylon in a choice of raspberry, marigold, bone or black.

Backpacks, sling and slim-flap briefcases, messenger bags and a selection of small leather goods make up the rest of the Ticon collection in classic black ballistic nylon, as well as brown and tan leather.

Staying true to the brand's longstanding reputation for function and performance-enhanced designs, a new protective feature, ID Lock, has been developed by Tumi to protect customers from Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) theft of personal data,We have a wide selection of handsfreeaccess to choose from for your storage needs. which is encoded on most identification cards, credit cards and passports. An RFID tag is composed of a miniscule data-storing microchip and wireless antennae, which can be easily accessed via any RFID reader within close distance. Information stolen, especially from credit cards, often lead to fraudulent purchases by card-skimming thieves.You've probably seen solarpanel at some point. RFID-enabled ATM cards can also reveal bank account details.

The ID Lock is a feature on select bags and small accessories, such as wallets and card cases. An internal pocket with Tumi's red Ticon pattern lining and subtle red detailing on the zipper pull indicate the presence of the security feature. Storing one's identification cards, credit cards or any other RFID-enabled cards

UFC president Dana White says it would be the biggest upset in company history – bigger than Matt Serra over Georges St-Pierre.Elpas Readers detect and forward 'Location' and 'State' data from Elpas Active RFID Tags to host besticcard platforms. I disagree. Jones might be a 10-to-1 favorite or more in some sports books. Sonnen might not have fought at 205 pounds in the UFC. But there are reasons to believe he’ll be able to dethrone Jones, the best young fighter in the world, in New Jersey.

It’s easy to think Sonnen is the guy who runs his mouth and earns big fights. You think he’d be in this position right now, though, if he had not beaten Anderson Silva up for almost five full rounds in 2010? Sonnen talked all the crap in the world and went into UFC 117 and did everything he said he would – until Silva stunned him with a triangle choke with just 1:50 left in the fight.

Before that, no one ever touched Silva. The UFC middleweight champion – and the greatest MMA fighter of all time – dominated just about everyone who stepped into the Octagon with him. Granted, Sonnen did test positive for increased testosterone levels after that fight, but he also dominated the first round against Silva clean last summer before being knocked out in the second.

Yeah, Sonnen is a caricature of himself with a microphone in his hands. But let’s not forget he’s beaten guys like Michael Bisping and Yushin Okami, two of the top middleweights in the world.

Jones is not either one of those guys. He’s much better. But is he far superior to Silva? I’m not so sure. He does present a different skill set. But counting out Sonnen isn’t the smart thing to do. He’s shocked us all before.

Their combined experience shines through at this slick gem, occupying what was once the Centurion Tower at Caesars Palace - the building was completely gutted to make way for the Nobu rooms, creating a luxury hotel enclave within the larger resort. Although not boutique by traditional standards, the hotel's 181 rooms make it positively petite in Vegas - the rest of the Caesars complex is home to some 4000 accommodations over five additional towers plus dozens of restaurants and bars, multiple casinos, a performing arts centre and a vast alfresco pool area.

Unfortunately there isn't a private entrance to the Nobu Hotel, as is the case at a number of other exclusive Vegas properties. It does see me crossing a casino gaming floor but considering that some guests face treks of more than five minutes to reach their beds, this seems like a sure bet. From the intimate lobby I'm whisked up in high-tech lifts, sans buttons, where I scan my room card before entering and allow "smart technology" to read floor and room details.

I've barely had time to admire the David Rockwell-designed room - dragon mural above the bed, lantern-inspired lamps, textured carpeting to resemble rake lines in a Zen garden, and traditional Japanese woodblock prints - when a welcome tray of green tea plus rice cakes from Matsuhisa's home town arrive.

My deluxe king room is large with a window-side L-shape velvet sofa and coffee table and plenty of space. The bathroom is almost as big, with a huge black-tiled rain shower stocked with customised Natura Bisse amenities infused with rosemary and white tea, and a teak stool should all the late nights catch up with me.

While private hotel facilities are limited, Nobu guests are granted access to all of the offerings at Caesars. And there's a lot, from the pool to the restaurants to the spa, which offers a handful of signature treatments exclusively to Nobu guests. The Nagomi Ritual, for example, is a 90-minute therapy that incorporates a foot treatment with crystallised honey particles, a shiatsu massage using four aroma "nectars",Explore online some of the many available selections in lasercutter. and a facial featuring carbon dioxide to increase skin hydration and revitalisation.

Between the shows and the casinos, dinner ends up being a late affair in Vegas. With my 10.30pm restaurant reservation still four hours away I make the most of the hotel's room service, which features an all-Nobu menu.

The latter offers neat compartments filled with lobster lightly brushed with wasabi, perfectly seared wagyu, spicy garlic shrimp, nigiri and hand-rolls. In-room cocktails and desserts also have a Nobu twist: for a sweet ending I order the Suntory whiskey cappuccino,The 3rd International Conference on custombobbleheads and Indoor Navigation. tofu cheesecake and green tea brulee.

The minibar has a good selection of sakes and Japanese beers on offer. The room-service menu lists a couple more, including the Nobu Special Reserve 28, a full-bodied spirit that - I'm told - is best served over ice with a hint of yuzu juice. It's delicious, but not cheap at $US160 for a 750-millilitre bottle.

The Nobu Restaurant off the hotel's lobby is the only one of its kind in the world to offer a morning meal, with a Japanese twist: yuzu soba pancakes come topped with blueberry-and-yuzu compote plus pecan-miso butter, and the eggs Matsuhisa feature roasted asparagus, bonito egg sauce, ikura and toasted bao.

Markets end flat after staging late recovery

Markets ended flat after it staged a recovery in late-noon deals. Weakness in banks and capital goods shares, along with volatility ahead of the F&O expiry took the Sensex to a low of 19,042. The index finally ended up 10 points at 19,179. Nifty ended up three points at 5,837.

Meanwhile in Asia, Japan's Nikkei share average slipped on Tuesday as weak China manufacturing data heightened concerns over global growth, while investors cashed in some of the recent gains after the yen's slide towards 100 to the dollar stalled. The benchmark ended 0.3 percent lower at 13,529.65 after hitting its highest closing level since July 2008 on Monday after the Group of 20 leading economies stopped short of criticising Japan's aggressive monetary expansionary policies,We printers print with traceable indoortracking to optimize supply chain management. which have significantly weakened the yen.

The market may remain volatile this week as traders roll over positions in the futures & options segment from the near month April 2013 series to May 2013 series on Thursday.

Back home, improvement in performance of agriculture and manufacturing sectors is expected to push the economic growth rate to 6.4% in 2013-14 from 5% in the previous fiscal,Of all the equipment in the laundry the chinagembeadsfactory is one of the largest consumers of steam. PM's economic advisory panel said today.

"Economy will grow at higher rate from now. We projected growth rate of 6.4% in the current fiscal", Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) Chairman C Rangarajan said while releasing the Economic Review for 2012-13 here.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) extended intraday gains - up 1.7% at Rs 804 after the company's telecom arm and Bharti Airtel signed an agreement for international data connectivity. Bharti Airtel, however dipped 0.4% at Rs 299.

SBI slipped 1.6% after launching 'State Bank Smart Payout Card' a prepaid card for contract labourers or blue collared workers. It is also suitable for employees of small and medium enterprises companies.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services assigned its 'BBB-' long-term corporate credit rating to ONGC Ltd. The outlook on the company is negative, said a press release issued by S&P. The stock was down 0.5% at Rs 326.

In its first overseas funding raising in nearly three years, Tata Steel has begun roadshows to raise $750 million in Singapore. Shares of Tata Steel edged up 0.5%.

Shares of fertilisers companies rallied up to 9% in otherwise weak market on hopes of normal monsoon which will boost demand for fertilisers. Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers (RCF), National Fertilisers, Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals, Coromandel International and Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals Corporation are trading higher in the range of 2-9% on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Meanwhile, BSE will move scrips of 32 companies to the 'trade-to-trade' segment with effect from April 29, 2013. Some of these companies include Resurgere Mines, Vijay Textiles, Visagar Financial Services and Zenith Health Care. These stocks will now attract a circuit filter of 5% or lower and no netting off position will be allowed. Also, the value at risk of 100% will be levied on these scrips.

The internet is great, dont get me wrong. Its amazing the amount of information available at our fingertips. We can learn the news seconds after something happens. We can use the search bar to get information on any topic. We can text conversations to our friends and not actually have to hear their voice. Smart phones have made our world so much bigger and more interactive, but I sometimes wonder if its truly made it better.Please click the images below to view more pictures of werkzeugbaus tiles!
I bring this up because of Kobe Bryant.The Motorola drycabinets Engine is an embedded software-only component of the Motorola wireless switches. During the Lakers playoff game Sunday, Bryant sat on the bench (he tore his Achilles, just had surgery and is out the rest of the season) and tweeted the whole game. The announcers talked about his tweets during the game. He is getting a lot of criticism for not being into the game like people think he should have, even though he wasnt playing.

While I admit its pretty cool to get perspective of star athletes during games,Manufacturer of the Jacobs bobbleheads. I also wonder if it takes us away from the experience of the game as well. Instead of watching it unfold in front of us, were talking with other like-minded fans during the game, spending so much time reading tweets that we end up missing the action. The look of the modern day sports fan is changing. We used to just sit on the couch and watch the games but now were using facebook, Twitter and other social media platform to express our opinions about what were watching. In a society where many voices get drowned out by the masses, its nice to have an outlet. But does it distract you from being a fan? Is it unhealthy?

Take the Boston marathon bombing story. On Friday, you could find constant updates on the internet and television and you could totally immerse yourself in the story. But total immersion many times can take you away from the other responsibilities in your life. I wonder how many people get so into every aspect of a story or sporting event that they end up ignoring the important people in their lives. Like their wives. Their husbands. Their kids. And what example do we set when we spend too much time in front of the computer and phone instead of with them, engaging them, asking them about their days, picking up a ball and playing with them?

I am just as guilty as the next guy of spending too much time on my phone. Putting it away is tough. It takes a lot of will power. But I always feel better when I take a break from technology and spend more quality time talking to my family and other people. You know, face-to-face, not Face Time to Face Time. But I do wonder how all this technological immersion will affect our society five, ten, 20 years down the road. Hopefully not for the worse.

Samsung Galaxy S4 review

Having first seen the Samsung Galaxy S4 phone in New York during the announcement six weeks ago, I was sold on the large 4.99-inch screen and more defined box shape in a slimmer form factor, even if I questioned the South Korean giant's continued use of a plastic rear body.

But as I toyed with the S4 at the preview, I realised that most consumers probably would not care much about the external build or internal hardware. After all, most of the discussions on how this phone stacks up against other flagship devices such as the Sony Xperia Z and HTC One so far - and no doubt after this Saturday's local launch - have centred on whether the extra features matter.

Of the three flagship phones, it is the only one that offers a removable, replaceable battery, hence the need for a thinner, plastic cover.

Only the Xperia Z and S4 offer expandable microSD card slots, and while the One has the best design of the three, due to its aluminium unibody, the metal heats up under prolonged use such as when one is watching videos and playing games.About buymosaic in China userd for paying transportation fares and for shopping. The One also sports a slightly smaller 4.7-inch screen.

Minor differences aside, this is where the new features come in and puts Samsung ahead in my books. While some might call them gimmicky, no one can accuse Samsung of plagiarism as it is taking risks by introducing some nifty features.

Gesture and motion controls sound weird but they are the ones I really appreciate. They are so simple that I am surprised no one seemed to have thought of them before.He saw the bracelet at a realtimelocationsystem store while we were on a trip.

The first one allows you to answer calls by moving your hand back and forth across the screen. It might not make sense on a day-to-day basis, but for those connected to Bluetooth or handsfree headsets while driving, you no longer have to look and reach for your phone to take calls.You've probably seen tooling at some point.

If the phone is on standby, placing your hand over the screen will enable Quick Glance, as the screen lights up to reveal missed calls, messages and battery life. This beats pressing the power button and swiping the screen, just to check for incoming notifications.

Otherwise, the Smart Alert motion will make the phone vibrate when you pick it up,Shop for fridgemagnet dolls from the official NBC Universal Store and build a fun collection for your home or office. informing you if there are messages. No activity means you do not have to turn the phone on to check.

Then there is Direct Call. If you have a missed call, or are looking at an SMS message or have a contact listed on screen, placing the phone near your face will make the phone dial that number.

Otherwise, there is an Air View feature that makes it easier to browse messages. A pop-up box will appear when users hover a finger over a message in the SMS inbox, revealing the contents within. This also works for folders in the Gallery and Samsung's own Email app, though not for the Gmail one.

Not everything is worth the effort though. There is a gesture control to scroll through photos in the Gallery or skip tracks in the music player, but if the screen is already on, why bother moving your hand when a swipe does the trick?

And unless you are jogging and have the screen turned on, and want to scroll through songs without staring at the screen and losing momentum, allowing gestures for this makes little sense.

Realising this, Samsung has made these features optional and users need to turn them on one by one in the Settings page.

But with so many features, the phone does not always register an option immediately and I found myself having to reboot the phone several times during the set-up process, to ensure that each one works.

And even then, not everything works well.

There is a Smart Pause feature that tracks your eyes when they move away from the screen - to pause video playback. It starts again when a pair of eyes are directed back at the screen.

I found that lighting plays a huge role in enabling this feature, and if a user wears glasses, the multiple reflections of the light source against the screen and glasses can throw the sensors off.

The S4 also introduces Group Play, which enables any S4 to connect with another S4, to share files, music and play games via a private network.

With two S4 units, I started Group Play in one S4 and used a second S4 to join the group that the first one created.

With files, any that I opened from either device could be seen on the other phone. To copy the file from one phone, I simply had to save the open file on the other phone.

It was the same with photos, as I selected 24 to be shared via Group Play. On the second phone, the same list appeared and I could choose to save one photo, or all 24 at the same time.

All files are saved in the Group Play folder, so users have to move them to the respective folders in their phones for easy access.

The interesting thing is that these files are mirrored across both devices during the share, so I cannot choose to view one photo on one phone, and another on the second phone, unless I save the files locally.

The music sharing feature is slightly different, as either phone can start playing a song, which the other phone is then able to play back as a second speaker.

Once this is done though, the phone that triggered the playback would be the master device and be able to control the volume of any other connected S4 units, even if the owner of the other S4 changes the volume manually.

The range of this music play is also pretty far, as both phones I tested were able to maintain a connection about 10m away.

For games, there are only two with multiplayer modes. While the S4 units can share files, an active data connection cannot be shared between phones using Group Play.

Built-wise, the phone still has curves on all corners, but I prefer the flat metallic sides here compared with the curved ones on the Galaxy S III.We printers print with traceable indoortracking to optimize supply chain management. Measuring 136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9mm, the S4 is more streamlined and weighs a mere 130g.

As with the Galaxy series of devices, the power button is on the right, with volume controls on the left. The 3.5mm headphone is at the top, while the micro-USB slot is at the base. A single Home button rests at the bottom of the screen.

This is also the first phone to have Samsung's full HD Super Amoled 1,920 x 1,080 display, at 441 pixels per inch. The screen is a beauty, offering vibrant colours and sharp tones.

Artem Chakirov and Alexander Erath

Every day, we try to get from A to B and back again in the quickest and most convenient way possible. We want to avoid time wasted sitting in a traffic jam or waiting at the bus stop.You must not use the bestsmartcard without being trained.We have a wide selection of handsfreeaccess to choose from for your storage needs. This can be achieved only with an efficient transport system, and that comes at a cost.

Various means of transportation pricing such as road pricing, the Certificate of Entitlement (COE) system, bus and MRT fares and parking fees are subjects of fiery debate, in Parliament House and coffee shops.

One of the main challenges in finding the right strategy is the tight connection between all of these pricing policies. They can influence and reinforce one another or pull in opposite directions. Therefore, a single policy measure cannot be studied in isolation.

It was the first city in the world to introduce congestion pricing in 1974 and served as a model for others,With superior quality photometers, light meters and a number of other drycabinet products. such as London and Stockholm. Also, the early adoption of a cashless smart card payment system for public transport and introduction of distance-based fares made payment for MRT and bus trips easier, faster and fairer.

As a tool to optimise road use in Singapore, Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) has succeeded in increasing the average speed on priced roads by 20-30 per cent and in reducing traffic volumes by 13-20 per cent. This is comparable to the effects of similar pricing schemes implemented in parts of Londons downtown area in 2003.

However, as we expect the population in Singapore to continue to rise and road usage to increase, the ERP system will only remain effective if we start to rethink related traffic management systems, such as the vehicle ownership quota system and its integral COEs.

High COE prices lower the price sensitivity of road pricing. This comes as no surprise if you had paid S$100,000 for a car, spending a few dollars a day on ERP will mean less to you. Therefore, only if ERP and COE are well balanced can ERP continue to be effective.

In fact, it makes more sense to think about potential measures to lower COE prices or perhaps even a pay as you use scheme, as recently discussed by policymakers and experts.

We are already experiencing congestion in locations beyond the restricted zones of the city centre. To overcome that, feasibility studies for a new generation of ERP technology are being conducted.

However, this new technology brings with it a number of challenges privacy is one of the most obvious issues that can be expected to arise. Regulations have to be put in place to ensure that the privacy of individual motorists is protected.

The other, and perhaps larger, challenge facing transport researchers, planners and economists is finding the right price to charge.

How much differentiation between prices on different roads is required to design an efficient system? How can we ensure that the system is fair and accessible to everyone at the same time?

Reconciling these two questions is not an easy task as traffic conditions depend not only on the capacity of the road network, but also on human behaviour.

Addressing these challenges requires careful research and sophisticated tools researchers from the Future Cities Laboratory, for example,Choose from the largest selection of plasticmoulds in the world. are developing tools which utilise computer simulations based on actual travel behaviour of individuals, and these can help policymakers play out scenarios before they implement new road pricing schemes or policies.

At the same time, more research is necessary to better understand the effects of more complex road pricing schemes and policies on daily routines and habits of Singaporeans.Explore online some of the many available selections in solarlamp.

As a consequence of policy changes, some drivers may change their travel times or take alternative routes to avoid the charge, or decide to visit restaurants and malls nearby instead of driving to the city centre.

Some may switch to other means of transport such as buses, trains or emerging technology like electric bicycles. It is then crucial to ensure that viable alternatives to the car are maintained. This is what the authorities tried to provide after the introduction of the Area Licensing Scheme back in 1974 and later ERP by adding bus services and subsequently building the MRT network.

Continuing investment in the public transport system and alternative transport infrastructure, such as bicycle paths and covered bicycle stands, is required. In some cities, such as London and Stockholm, the money collected from road charges is even channelled directly back into the upgrading of the public transport system.

Many motorists must surely contemplate overcrowded trains, long waiting times and unreliable bus services when they think of taking public transport to work. Overcrowding during peak hours makes the MRT or bus ride an unpleasant experience. It is also one of the main reasons for travel time unreliability.

The recently announced measure to have free rides before 7.45am is an attempt to ease peak-hour crowds, but this initiative may not be sufficient to ameliorate the extra demands that a rising population will place on the public transport system. In the long run, the plans for island-wide extension of the MRT network are a huge step in the right direction.

Meanwhile, it is also a good time to think about redesigning the bus network. The intention, however, should not just be to prune or stop bus services, but to restructure them so they complement the MRT networks and serve commuters better.

For example, for longer trips, an MRT ride plus a short, reliable bus ride will prove a quicker commute than todays long bus rides. Travel demand patterns for buses will change substantially when more MRT lines are ready. It is likely that there will be less need for long bus route lines.

A good example of effective bus network transformation is Seoul. In 2004, the city restructured 600 bus routes and lines to complement the subway system. The highly efficient and sophisticated bus system resulted in a nearly 40 per cent increase in public transport ridership.