James Schramko Enriches Audience with Insights on Caching, Blogging and Pricing

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In his recent Internet marketing news update on company website SuperFastBusiness.com, online business expert James Schramko issues various tips on topics such as caching, blogging and pricing. Besides this, he shares news on Wistia’s free video hosting offer and the upcoming free business conversion live training over at his coaching community Fast Web Formula.Sydney, Australia (PRWEB) June 15 ...

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James Schramko Enriches Audience with Insights on Caching, Blogging and Pricing

Cloud music is still the future for Apple, Amazon — really

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Cloud music hasn't really caught on yet, but Apple and Amazon continue to bolster their services. The iPod proved that music drives hardware sales, and the big players can't afford to be without it.

Given recent headlines about cloud music, you might be forgiven for thinking that the feature is huge with consumers.

Word came Monday that Apple has finally caught up to Google and Amazon and begun to stream songs from the company's cloud. The following day, CNET broke news that Amazon is very close to reaching agreements with the top four record companies that would let it run a licensed cloud music service. Music industry sources also told CNET that Google and the labels continue to discuss cloud licenses.

Interesting news. Now here's the reality: Consumer adoption of cloud music has been lackluster, multiple music industry insiders tell me. The cloud has not yet led to a spike in interest or music sales, the sources told CNET. Data from The NPD Group supports that conclusion, said Russ Crupnick, the research's company's senior vice president and industry analyst.

"Despite the hullabaloo about cloud music, it hasn't gotten traction yet," Crupnick said, "I looked at our latest numbers and unreleased data, and only about 6 percent of the Internet population has even used something like [cloud music]."

That data suggests that music listeners are happy with the options they have now. Crupnick suspects that few people own enough music to max out their local storage, which would fuel the desire to store film and music libraries remotely. Representatives from Apple and Amazon did not respond to interview requests and Google declined to comment.

So why are the big music stores bothering to upgrade their music clouds?

One reason may be the iPod. Apple and the company's iconic digital music player proved music is a powerful driver of hardware sales. People want to listen to their jams on their mobile devices. Apple didn't care if the company's margins on song sales were thin. All the money was in selling iPods. Music has been a vital part of digital devices ever since. Keep in mind that in addition to being the Web's top retailer, Amazon is now very much a hardware maker.

The "cloud," of course, is the term used to describe where digital stuff "lives" when consumers store their files on a third party's servers rather than on their own PC or mobile device. While this type of data storage is old to techies, it is still relatively new to mainstream America. Heck, among the big three music stores, the cloud feature is barely a year old.

Amazon was first to launch cloud music with the initially unlicensed Cloud Drive and Cloud Player. Google later offered its own an unlicensed cloud-music service. Apple's system was the first to debut fully licensed.

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Evidence-Based Medicine Debate Series Tackles The Issue of Late-Stage Drug Development Failures In Alzheimer's Disease

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NEW YORK, June 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The second installment of the successful EBM Debates series, launched in March 2012, will go live tomorrow, Friday, June 15, beginning at 12:30 PM Pacific, 2:30 PM Central, and 3:30 PM Eastern. This debate will cover a topic of increasing importance in the field of Alzheimer's disease research: "Why are there so many late-stage drug development failures in Alzheimer's disease?" Powered 4 Significance LLC, a Blue Ocean Pharma company, is hosting the virtual event that will have faculty joining from two locations Houston and Las Vegas.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120125/NY41522LOGO)

We are excited to present our internationally recognized faculty for this debate, including the moderator and host, Marwan Sabbagh, MD, FAAN, and panelists Jeffrey Cummings, MD, ScD, Director of the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, Rachelle S. Doody, MD, PhD, Director of the Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders Center, Baylor College of Medicine Department of Neurology, and Martin Farlow, MD, Associate Co-Director of the Indiana Alzheimer's Disease Center.

Panelists will discuss the topic at hand and answer questions submitted by the registered audience prior to and during the live debate. "Our goal is to shed light on why the research community and pharmaceutical companies are not experiencing more success in the development of Alzheimer's treatments," said Alden E. Masonis, PhD, co-founding partner of Powered 4 Significance and Blue Ocean Pharma.

Virtual participants are able to register for the event and submit questions through the EBM Debates website (www.ebmdebates.com). The debate will be archived and available for playback after the event.

Evidence-Based Medicine Debates (EBM Debates)The EBM Debates series has been created by Powered 4 Significance (www.powered4significance.com) based on an identified need for an open dialog among physicians involved in disease research and management, for a better understanding of important and controversial issues in disease diagnosis and treatment. The goal is to bring together researchers, thought leaders, and treating physicians to gain insight into the evidence base and enable informed decision-making. For more information on the EBM Debates, please visit http://www.ebmdebates.com.

Blue Ocean Pharma LLCBlue Ocean is on the forefront of developments in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors. Our services span the clinical development and commercialization needs of our clients and focus on supporting pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and device development, giving healthcare professionals the opportunity to optimize patient care and improve outcomes.

The Blue Ocean Pharma Group of companies consists of Percolation Communications LLC, i.e. Strategy LLC, and Powered 4 Significance LLC. Together, the Group offers complementary and unique services that provide synergistic support addressing client needs. To learn more about Blue Ocean Pharma, please visit us at http://www.blueoceanpharma.com.

Blue Ocean Pharma Contact: Marco Winkler +1 917 376 3019 mwinkler@blueoceanpharma.com

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Evidence-Based Medicine Debate Series Tackles The Issue of Late-Stage Drug Development Failures In Alzheimer's Disease

KU looking for $30 million from state toward $75 med school building

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By SANGEETA SHASTRY The Kansas City Star

By SANGEETA SHASTRY The Kansas City Star

Updated: 2012-06-15T04:00:17Z

The University of Kansas is seeking $30 million in state funds to help pay for a new medical education building on its Kansas City medical school campus.

To reach Sangeeta Shastry, call 816-234-4690 or email sshastry@kcstar.com.

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KU looking for $30 million from state toward $75 med school building

Medical college at ace tech school

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The dream of IIT Kharagpur to start a medical college is set to become reality, with the institute receiving a central grant of Rs 230 crore for a 400-bedded super-speciality hospital.

The hospital, which will be part of Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy Institute of Medical Science and Research, is likely to be functional in two years. Institute sources said the number of beds would later be increased to 750.

Once the hospital starts functioning, the institute will offer MBBS, MD, MS and DM courses, all approved by the Medical Council of India. Officials said the teaching module at the medical college, which will have a tie-up with the University of California, San Diego, and Johns Hopkins University, will comprise elements of modelling, simulation and virtual reality to produce tech-savvy doctors.

The IIT, set to be the first among the 15 such ace engineering institutions in the country to start a medical college, now provides indoor and outdoor medical facilities for common ailments at BC Roy Technology Hospital, located at the heart of the campus.

Critical patients are referred to Kharagpur Sub-divisional Hospital or South-Eastern Railway General Hospital, around 2km from the campus.

The IIT now runs School of Medical Science and Technology that provides a platform for interdisciplinary teaching and research in medical science and technology. The school offers a three-year masters programme in medical science and technology for doctors, again a first of its kind in the country.

IIT officials said Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy Institute of Medical Science and Research, the foundation stone for which was laid in 2007 by then President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, would bring the diverse disciplines of engineering and medicine together and focus on biomedical, clinical and translational research. Drug design and delivery will be another thrust area.

In the first phase, the institute, which will focus more on postgraduate than undergraduate study, will have a bio-innovation centre, which will be a hub of research in biomedical engineering and remote healthcare delivery, and a healthcare outreach unit.

The unit will extend healthcare to remote, under-served areas through remote diagnostic, telepathology, teleradiology and other diagnostic tools compatible with the cellular network. A series of small healthcare kiosks manned by paramedics will be linked to the outreach unit, said an official.

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Medical college at ace tech school

Commonwealth Medical college taken off probation

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The Commonwealth Medical College moved a step closer to full accreditation on Thursday when it announced the national medical school accrediting body has lifted the college's probationary status and granted it provisional accreditation.

The advance comes a year after the Liaison Committee for Medical Education placed the school on probation largely because of concerns about its financial stability.

With the new status - a rung higher than the school's preliminary accreditation before the probation period - the accrediting body also determined that the college has the resources to expand its class size from 65 to 100 medical degree students beginning in 2013.

"This is an external statement by an accrediting body that this school is solid," Lois Margaret Nora, M.D., the college's interim president and dean, said. "For anyone who has any questions about permanence, this is just a major statement."

The LCME's deliberations are private, Dr. Nora said, but the committee performed a comprehensive review of databases, student surveys and the college's self-study and spent three days on site evaluating the school.

The committee has asked for a status report in February 2013 on two areas that require continued monitoring: the college's permanent leadership and its long-term financial stability. But Dr. Nora noted that it did not ask for follow-up reports on the strength of the teaching and student programs at the core of the school's mission.

"This is a very solid school from the perspective of its core business: growing physicians and other health professionals," she said.

Dr. Nora, who will be replaced by Robert Wright, M.D. as interim president and dean when she leaves the college at the end of June, said the school has largely addressed the leadership question by permanently filling several key chairman and dean positions that were previously vacant or temporary.

The college has identified "excellent" candidates in its national search for a permanent CEO and dean and will hold a second round of interviews before the end of the month, Dr. Wright said.

A new dean is expected to be named in late summer or fall.

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Commonwealth Medical college taken off probation

Liberty School District OKs new pact with teachers

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By Leonard Sparks

Published: 2:00 AM - 06/14/12

LIBERTY The Liberty school board approved a new contract with the district's teachers union on Tuesday, ending years of negotiations that began when the last contract expired in June 2009.

The agreement, which covers July 1, 2009, through June, 30, 2016, calls for annual 1.5 percent salary increases and larger health insurance contributions, and creates a new retirement-incentive plan.

"I think it's fair," said Superintendent Mike Vanyo. "I wish we didn't have to wait three years to get here."

Teachers will begin receiving annual increases in the fall. They will also up their share of health insurance premiums to 10 percent from 5 percent. The contribution will rise to 12 percent beginning July 1, 2015.

Those retiring under the incentive program would be eligible to have 85 percent of their individual health-insurance plan or 75 percent of their family plan covered by the district.

The district and union officials came to terms after a bargaining session on May 24 that went until 2 a.m. About 93 percent of LFA members approved the terms, said union President Tim Hamblin. "There was just give and take on every issue on salaries, on benefits," Hamblin said.

Liberty is also nearing an agreement with the union that represents its administrators, Vanyo said. It is also hoping to come to terms with its aides and custodial workers, he added.

"My hope is that we get back to the table with them very soon," he said.

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Liberty School District OKs new pact with teachers

Liberty Property Trust Announces Second Quarter 2012 Dividend

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MALVERN, Pa., June 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Liberty Property Trust (LRY) today announced that its board of trustees has declared a cash dividend of $0.475 per share on the company's common shares of beneficial interest for the second quarter of 2012. The dividend will be payable on July 13, 2012 to shareholders of record on June 29, 2012.

About the Company

Liberty Property Trust (LRY) is a leader in commercial real estate, serving customers in the United States and United Kingdom, through the development, acquisition, ownership and management of superior office and industrial properties. Liberty's 77 million square foot portfolio includes 650 properties providing office, distribution and light manufacturing facilities to 1,700 tenants.

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Liberty Property Trust Announces Second Quarter 2012 Dividend

Liberty Tax Service to Present at the Jefferies Global Consumer Conference

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VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

JTH Holding, Inc. (LTAXA.OB) the parent company of Liberty Tax Service, today announced that executives John T. Hewitt, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, and Mark F. Baumgartner, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, are expected to present at the Jefferies Global Consumer Conference in Nantucket, MA, on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 at approximately 10:30am EDT.

The presentation will be available via the Investor Relations section of the Companys website, http://www.libertytax.com.

About JTH Holding, Inc.

JTH Holding, Inc. is the parent company of Liberty Tax Service. Liberty Tax Service is the fastest-growing retail tax preparation company in the industrys history. Founded in 1997 by CEO John T. Hewitt, a pioneer in the tax industry, Liberty Tax Service has prepared over 10 million individual income tax returns. With 43 years of tax industry experience, Hewitt stands as the most experienced CEO in the tax preparation business, having also founded Jackson Hewitt Tax Service. Liberty Tax Service is the only tax franchise on the recently released Forbes Top 20 Franchises for the Buck.

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Liberty Tax Service to Present at the Jefferies Global Consumer Conference

The Politics of Silicon Valley: 'Obamacare Scares Me'

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Thanks to venture capitalistFred Wilson, a backer of hip tech companies like Twitter and Tumblr, there's a new catch phrase to describe Silicon Valley politics: "Obamacare scares me."That's what Wilson wrote in this post, "The Far Center Party," where he discusses his inability to fit in with our current political parties and praised New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "I am socially liberal. I was thrilled when Obama recognized a gay couple's right to marriage. I am fiscally conservative. Obamacare scares me," he writes. "I am not really comfortable in any political party." His comment has had quite the polarizing effect on Twitter, eliciting mocking responses like this from New York Times developer Matt Langer. "LOL @ Every Single Word Of This," he tweeted. But, there's a good amount of people hear-hearing Wilson. "Agree 100% with @fredwilson. The Far Center Party," tweeted Darren Herman, a Silicon Valley ad guy, demonstrating the tech world's particular breed of libertarianism.

Wilson has a lot of money, so it makes sense that he calls himself a fiscal conservative. But the Obamacare comment reveals a more complex version of libertarianism, embodied by PayPal founder and Silicon Valley investor extraordinaire Peter Thiel -- a "libertarian futurism" as George Packer described it in The New Yorker. Packer highlights the following quote from Thiel's essay 'The Education of a Libertarian,' which sums up the contradictory position of these Silicon Valley libertarians.

In our time, the great task for libertarians is to find an escape from politics in all its formsfrom the totalitarian and fundamentalist catastrophes to the unthinking demos that guides so-called social democracy. . . . We are in a deadly race between politics and technology. . . . The fate of our world may depend on the effort of a single person who builds or propagates the machinery of freedom that makes the world safe for capitalism.

Like Thiel, Wilson calls for an escape. "Our country is hostage to the two political parties who control our electoral process. Those of us in the Far Center Party should figure out how to change that," he writes. Though he doesn't call for a complete removal from American politics, like Thiel he believes American politics have failed. Thiel traces that failure back to 1920 -- the beginning of the American welfare state. He continues:

The 1920s were the last decade in American history during which one could be genuinely optimistic about politics. Since 1920, the vast increase in welfare beneficiaries and the extension of the franchise to womentwo constituencies that are notoriously tough for libertarianshave rendered the notion of capitalist democracy into an oxymoron.

Although it doesn't come off quite as offensive, Wilson is having this same realization with Obamacare, also a "vast increase in welfare beneficiaries." Obamacare is the marriage of his opposing liberal and conservative political values, to him, an oxymoron.

The rich of Silicon Valley have found themselves in a political predicament: They want to make the world a better (more progressive) place, but they think technology (a.k.a their businesses) should be the ones to do it -- not government. That doesn't fit well with the current political structure, neither the social nor economic policies. Politics is broken, they say, so let's abstain. Although it might sound like a particularly depressing political theory -- This isn't working, let's just ignore it -- Thiel hasn't lost all hope, he explains to Packer.

I actually think it is a big step just to ask the question What does one need to do to make the U.S. a better place? Thats where Im weirdly hopeful, in spite of the fact that a lot of things arent going perfectly these days. There is a very cathartic crisis thats gone on, and its not clear where its going to go. But at least everyone knows things are rotten. Were in a much better place than when things were rotten and everyone thought things were great.

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at rgreenfield at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.

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The Politics of Silicon Valley: 'Obamacare Scares Me'

Falkland Islands Holdings to raise £10m to invest in oil boom

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Falkland Islands Holdings plans to raise up to 10m to prepare for a potential oil boom in the South Atlantic.

The Aim-listed company owns 70 acres of land in the Greater Port Stanley area, which it plans to develop into warehouses or accommodation. The mini-conglomerate already owns logistics, warehouses and retail outlets on the islands. Yesterdays announcement came on the 30th anniversary of the liberation of the Falkland Islands from Argentine occupation.

We are excited by the opportunity to develop the groups existing assets in the Falkland Islands in anticipation of the growth in the economy, which the board believes will follow from recent hydrocarbon discoveries, said Brian Hudd, chairman.

A number of UK-listed oil companies have been exploring the waters around the Falkland Islands, including Falkland Oil & Gas (LSE: FOGL.L - news) , Borders & Southern, Rockhopper, Desire Petroleum (LSE: DES.L - news) and Argos Resources (LSE: ARG.L - news) .

The prospect of a commercial oil business in the region has led to a campaign by Argentine president Cristina Kirchner to try to gain sovereignty over the Falklands, including legal threats to the oil companies currently operating in the region.

The Falkland Islands government will receive a production royalty of 9pc of oil production and corporation tax on profits which together will amount to several billion dollars in respect of the [Rockhopper discovery] Sea Lion project alone, Falkland Islands Holdings said.

Elsewhere in the oil sector, Royal Dutch Shell has extended its offer to buy East African group Cove Energy (Berlin: LPC.BE - news) , but it did not raise its offer to match a competing bid. Cove shareholders now have until June 27 to agree to Shells offer of 220p. Last month Thailands PTT trumped Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) and offered 240p a share for Cove, valuing it at 1.22bn.

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Falkland Islands Holdings to raise £10m to invest in oil boom

Falkland Islands Holdings raises funds totalling 10m

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LONDON (ShareCast) - Falkland Islands Holdings, the AIM quoted international services group, has raised eight million pounds following a subscription for shares by Blackfish Capital, an investment fund. In addition, the company is making an open offer under which the company's existing shareholder can buy one open offer share for every 15 ordinary shares they own, with the aim of raising a further 2.0m. The open shares will sold at 320p each, the same price as which Black Capital subscribed. All of the company's directors are participating and excess application will be accommodated to maximise participation in the offer. The proceeds will be used to exploit what it believes are "significant opportunities" that exist following recent hydrocarbon discoveries, as well as developing and expanding its existign business interests on the Falkland Islands. Falklands emphasised that Blackfish Capital Management is supportive of providing further project related equity and debt-finance either directly or via its extended client network. Chairman David Hudd said: "We are excited by the opportunity to develop the group's existing assets in the Falkland Islands in anticipation of the growth in the economy, which the board believes will follow from recent hydrocarbon discoveries. Given the company's history in the Falkland Islands and our leading position, we are confident that further investment now, will generate attractive returns. "We are delighted to have a supportive keystone investor in Blackfish Capital and we believe that further investment now in the Falkland Islands is in the best interest of our shareholders to enable the Company to participate in what we believe could be an explosive period of growth." The share price fell 5.59% to 337.50p by 13:13. NR

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Falkland Islands Holdings raises funds totalling 10m

Falklands Islands: 30th Liberation Day

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PORT STANLEY, Falkland Islands, June 14 (UPI) -- The Falklands Islands Thursday celebrated the 30th anniversary of the end of the Falklands War between Britain and Argentina.

A service of thanksgiving marked the occasion, held at Christ Church Cathedral in Port Stanley, followed by a military parade to the Liberation Monument led by veterans of the 1982 conflict, the BBC reported.

Prime Minister David Cameron expressed Britain's support for the islands, which had "not wavered in the last 30 years and it will not in the years ahead."

The Falklands government announced it would hold a referendum on its political status, emphasizing islanders wanted to remain British.

Britain liberated the islands June 14, 1982, after 74 days of Argentine occupation. About 225 British servicemen, three Falklands civilians and 650 Argentines were killed in the armed conflict that ensued after Argentina invaded in an attempt to reclaim the islands.

Despite the defeat, Argentina still claims sovereignty over the islands.

Britain has laid claim to the Falklands since the Royal Navy expelled Argentina in 1833 when it re-established its status as a U.K. territory.

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Falklands Islands: 30th Liberation Day

Geneticists condemn 'racial purity' test

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BRUSSELS, June 14 (UPI) -- European geneticists have condemned the use of genetic testing by a Hungarian politician intended to establish his "racial purity."

The European Society of Human Genetics, which promotes research in basic and applied human and medical genetics, said the use by a member of Parliament from the Hungarian far-right Jobbik Party of a genetic test to attempt to prove his "ethnic purity" was ethically unacceptable.

"This is a gross distortion of the values of genetic testing, which is intended to be used to diagnose disease rather than to claim racial purity," Joerg Schmidtke, president of ESHG, said in a release from the society.

Hungarian company Nagy Gen scanned 18 positions in the MP's genome for variants it said were characteristic of Roma and Jewish ethnic groups and concluded Roma and Jewish ancestry could be ruled out.

"The test proves nothing," Schmidtke said. "It is impossible to deduce someone's origins from testing so few places in the genome.

"I am sure that clinical geneticists worldwide will join me in condemning this scandalous abuse of a technology that was developed to help the sick, rather than to promote hatred."

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Geneticists condemn 'racial purity' test